By me, with art by Sam Messerly.
Click here to read from the beginning.
Chapter 70
The first dinosaur that we got a good look at was a triceratops, stalking forward, its horns (instead of its shoulders) jerry-rigged into cannons. The beast had a colorful frill and by this time I was yelling out some colorful expressions. Nearby was a parasaurolophus dashing towards the road, tail waving behind, the now familiar cannons emerging from it’s upper arms. The last was some kind of theropod dinosaur—look, I don’t know what they are all called. This one had lots of spots and a nasty annoyed expression. He also had a limp. I hoped that was from Furbud.
I was going to try to just dash through at top speed, but then the triceratops shot twin blasts from his cannons at a patch of road in front of my truck, causing a massive dome of green fire to block our path. I hit the brakes, and we skidded to a stop. The smell of burnt rubber assaulting my nose shortly after we stopped moving.
“A bit of a warning would be nice,” called a cramped voice from the back of the truck. Colander. “I think I just got plastered against your back window.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m distracted!”
Warbell slowed nearby, though he walked around in circles several times instead of completely stopping.
“My legs are killing me,” he said.
“What do we do?” asked Colander. “My grenades aren’t real grenades. Itching powder isn’t going to scare these big bruisers away.”
“Stall them,” Warbell said, crouching awkwardly behind the truck now and grunting in pain. “I am going to turn off my cybernetic enhancements, but it will take some time. After I accomplish that, they can’t stun me. And if I actually try to fight them physically, there is a good chance they will run away. These dinosaurs have lived immortal lives for countless centuries in the frozen world. They are probably extremely uncomfortable right now, just being here, knowing they can die. They are probably nearly as scared as we are.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Not entirely,” said Warbell. “But I am very confident that they would never turn off their cybernetics. They are in for quite the surprise.”
There were more green explosions nearby, on the road behind us. I could hear people screaming and yelling—other drivers caught in this nightmare trying to escape from First Pumpkin. I could see some of them, too—a couple in a little two-seater, cowering and crying not more than a hundred yards away, parked awkwardly on the side of the road. Colander in the back seemed to be trying to find a miracle bomb that would kill three giants in one blow.
She was like a female Jack and the Beanstalk.
This wasn’t going to work. None of this was going to work.
I swallowed. The dinosaurs were getting closer. Another green explosion erupted nearby. I took a deep breath.
And I stepped out of the truck and started walking towards the oncoming dinosaurs.