Escape From Dinosauria (Dinopocalypse Book 1) by Vincenzo Bilof, Max Booth III Page A

wet from dark, spreading stains.
    “Welcome to Dinosauria,” Mr. Tanaka said, and dropped to his knees. “ Kenshin. ”
    The wind was suddenly hot, and Jamie turned her head and found herself looking into a black hole with blood-red spikes bordering the edges. She felt herself rushing forward, and she inhaled the smell of burning meat. She thought Jordan said her name again.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO:
    THE SHIT PALACE

1
     
    And he inhaled a deep breath and smiled.
    The arrow notched, he listened to the crunch of foliage. He was perched in a veil of trees, waiting patiently. He sweated in the trees and waited. Poised. The arrow, bow, string—he had made it all by hand and had earned every victory that approached his path.
    There. Small. Feathered and walking on its hind legs, mouth open with sharp, curved teeth exposed, his prey stumbled into the brush. Its long, stiff tail kept it balanced while it scanned for tiny creatures to eat. Its head moved quickly, and from experience, he knew how fast the chicken-like beast could move if surprised. Upright on its hindquarters, its eyes blinked quickly.
    He waited one more breath.
    The arrow fled the bow and struck its target directly in the side of the face, pinning the small creature’s head to the trunk of a tree.
    Around him, a sudden rush of air and noise through the jungle. The pack had fled.
    Wait patiently. Be thankful for a successful hunt. All creatures in the wheel of time and life were meaningful. The doctor would know the name of this beast. He had said it before, but the name was forgotten.
    He closed his eyes. Felt the wind upon his face. Inhaled the smell of earth.
    Tomorrow, it would rain.
    He moved fluidly, soundlessly, through the overgrowth and plucked his prize from the tree trunk. Nothing was wasted. The arrow returned with him.
     
    2
     
    “Kenny, you dumb fucker. Chicken again ?”
    The doctor looked up from his console inside their hidden underground lab, and laughed at the older man’s approach. The small dinosaur swung from Kenshin’s belt.
    “This is not chicken.” He didn’t appreciate the doctor’s sense of humor. Even though the certified genius was only nineteen, he had to make sure he remained adamant and strong; the young man responsible for cloning and breeding dinosaurs for military weapons programs hardly had the maturity to understand how important life truly was.
    “It’s another compy,” Doctor Israel said. “ Compsognathids . Little chicken bastards we made to keep the kids happy. They were the first ones to drop the programming code. Shit man, we’ve been through this. Don’t want to eat no more of those fuckin’ things. Can’t you kill a cat or a bearded dragon or some shit?”
    Kenshin grunted. “Doctor Israel, I will remind you that your racist joke is off, because I am Japanese, not Chinese.”
    “Izzy,” the young man said. “You call me Izzy. How many fucking times I gotta say it? I’m tired of this shit, man. Done.”
    Doctor Israel sat up from his swivel chair. A dark-complected South African scientist whose passion for biology and science had earned him both the accolades and attention of organizations around the world was finally breaking. Survival was a difficult proposition, a subject he hadn’t been taught in school.
    But Doctor Israel was much younger when he needed to start learning how to survive.
    Kenshin sat beside the console. Doctor Israel wandered through the cavern’s winding darkness, mumbling obscenities. His voice wandered back from the echoes that had swallowed all meaning from these repetitive tantrums. “… And you think that bitch is about to be all Kill Bill and wake up wanting to kill but I’m telling you she ain’t waking up. I’m telling you she ain’t gonna make no difference. And they ain’t dropping no nukes but we know they’re gettin’ closer every day, every goddamn day…”
    Kenshin wanted to hear the birdsong outside. He wanted to leave the cave and consider