Dinosaur Armageddon Vol. 1: Vengeful Promise

Chapter 9

Vincent lowered himself to the ground, placing his hand into the footprint. "What do you make of this, Walter?"

Walter squatted down next to him, his eyes behind his mask staring at the track. It was the middle of the day and the sun was blazing down. Vincent and Walter were deep in the forest some distance from the river. The two of them had been on the move after dawn. It wasn't until now did they find something interesting: fresh trackways made by a whole herd of large animals.

"Hmm," Walter said. "Let's see. Four toes on each foot, quadruped stance, weighing about seven-maybe eight tons, obviously some kind of herbivore." He stood up straight. "I think we're looking at an example of a ceratopsian dinosaur."

Vincent rose from the ground. "It must be a big one, too," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He looked all around, seeing the numerous footprints. "How many do you think there are?"

Walter gazed at the tracks for a moment, calculating as if counting in his head. "I'd like to say six, maybe seven individuals," he answered. "Adults and juveniles."

Vincent's eyes followed the tracks. They seemed to be heading to the east. Some of the low-lying vegetation was either snapped or crushed. It was exciting; trying to identify which species had made the tracks. This gave Vincent and Walter a thrill.

In the near distance, Vincent heard a series of bellows and roars. Some kind of commotion, as if some animals were dogging each other.

"What was that?" Walter said, the amber lenses on his mask reflecting from the sunlight.

Vincent smiled. "Only one way to find out for sure." He lifted his backpack and shouldered it on to his back. He watched as a bird swiftly flew above him, chirping, it's wings a bold blur. "Let's follow this trackway and find the source."

And so they followed the path made by the large animals. With each passing moment, Vincent could hear the roars and cries of the dinosaurs nearby. And in all that time, Vinny began to wonder once again if there was even a slight possibility that there might be other human survivors. It sounded crazy. He and Walt hadn't seen any other human beings for over five years. It seemed that there was not even a chance that other humans had managed to live as long as Vinny and Walt.

He remembered talking to Walter about it a few days back late in the afternoon. They were sitting on the ground, resting from a long day of traveling.

"Do you honestly think that there are more survivors?" Vincent asked. "Other people?"

Walt lifted his chin thoughtfully, his face looked puzzled behind his mask, as if trying to think what he was going to say or solve a math problem. His gray eyes were narrowed behind the amber colored lenses.

After another moment, a brief one, Walt finally spoke. "Let's think about this logically. Dinosaurs were the most successful animals to ever walk the planet. The lived on every continent, including Antarctica. They remained unchallenged for over one hundred sixty million years ago. If not for the cataclysmic events that rendered themselves to extinction, humans wouldn't have even evolved.

"Now, somehow, the dinosaurs have returned to the planet, completely unchanged for millions of years, and in less than five years, they have conquered the world all over again. Civilizations were destroyed, people slaughtered, even our own military couldn't stop them; there are just too many animals.

"So your point is...?" Vinny said.

"I think that the chances of there being other living people are slim to none," Walt replied, his face grim. "Chances are, we are the last of our species. But humans are a hardy race. We face many obstacles in our lives, but none more so than the fact that our extinction is inevitable. All animals eventually die out, even we can't stop our own fate. If there are other survivors, then it would have to be a hell of a miracle."