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Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation
Amazon Kindle
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Kathryn Meyer Griffith
ISBN-10: B00B1W4A2K
Type: Fiction
Pages: 285
Copyright: Jan. 1, 2015
Price: $5.99 (eBook)
Sequel to Dinosaur Lake I & II:
Crater Lake is threatened by dinosaurs for the third time...but this time they're everywhere, crawling,flying and swimming and infiltrating more than the park.
Chief Park Ranger Henry Shore has dealt with and fought real live dinosaurs at his beloved Crater Lake National Park for over six years. With the help of his rangers, a few brave FBI friends and army soldiers he’d been victorious over a prehistoric lake creature and years later some particularly fiendish, and clever, specimens of the flying variety. He and his newspaper publisher wife, Ann, thought their park was finally rid of the monsters and they could reclaim their tranquil life in a place they cherished. Not so. For suddenly across the park new and even more malevolent mutant species of dinosaur begin to appear and create havoc, attacking the park’s visitors and threatening its peace. And this time the primeval scourge isn’t confined to just their park. The creatures have moved into the nearby towns, across the western United States and up into Canada. They are so much more aggressive, smarter and hungrier than any that have come before and the infestation is spreading further and faster than Henry and Ann can even imagine. This time there’s no easy way to defeat the dinosaurs. There’s too many of them and they’re too devious. This time it’s full out war and the victor will someday claim Earth.
Excerpt
EXCERPT:
He turned around slowly and three things happened at once. He saw he’d left the front door slightly open, the cat came bounding out onto the porch heading for the edge of it, and he caught something moving out of the corner of his eyes at the end of the yard. Something that shouldn’t have been there.
He reached down to snatch up the escaped kitten, but it slipped through his grasp and raced across the yard towards the mistiness lurking among the trees.
Almost without thinking, Henry dashed into the house, grabbed his .40 caliber SigSauer from his gun belt where he’d left it on the couch, and ran back out in the direction the kitten had gone. Yelling, “Stay inside, Ann! Stay inside!”
“What’s wrong?” She cried behind him as he slammed the door shut and took off after the cat down the yard. He didn’t have time to answer. Not if he wanted Sasha to live. The feline was going after what he’d heard, glimpsed, at the edge of the woods. Whatever it was.
The kitten had entered the trees and Henry was right behind her, gun raised and ready. “Sasha! Sasha!” he called out. “Come back here, you little runaway! It’s not safe out here for you.”
He plunged through the perimeter of the forest and into instant night. The woods was like that at twilight. One step beneath the canopy of limbs and leaves and it was utter darkness.
“Sasha!” He yelled again when he saw her. Crouched against a tree base, back up, hissing like a big cat at something poised above her. Swooping her up with his hand, he swung around and stared at what she’d been hissing at. A shadowy form about twenty feet away hiding behind a tree.
“Gosh darn, I should have grabbed a flashlight, too.” But he hadn’t had time.
The shadow moved. Crept closer. It was about four feet tall, slender, erect on two thin, but lengthy, legs; with a overlong neck and a compact angular head. Large claws at the end of upper arms held out, curved, in front of it. It had triangular stripes across its back and up along its head. Huge eyes that glittered in the faint light when the creature tilted its head at him. It saw him. It saw the kitten crying in his grasp and its tongue flicked in and out in hungry anticipation. Henry knew if he would have been a child or if the creature would have been bigger, he might have been the intended target and not the feline.
It wasn’t a natural park animal. Not the way it moved, stood, glared at him, with a stumpy tail snapping back and forth. Another low growl echoed in its skinny throat.
Good lord, another dinosaur. What the hell…was the park infested with them now? A whole Jurassic Park right where he lived? Well, why not? What had begun years ago could be finally reaching its full and frightening potential. Dinosaurs, of different species, roaming the woods. Good God.
Henry, clutching the struggling, crazed kitten tightly against his chest as it dug its claws into him, stared at the creature. It was hard to see it in detail but what he saw was bad enough. He knew what he was looking at. Trouble.
The miniature dinosaur released a shrill wail that reverberated into the night, a war cry, and lunged at the kitten in Henry’s arms. The dinosaur butted up against Henry and its mouth, now all razor-sharp teeth, gaped open as it attempted to wrestle away and swallow the small cat. It almost got her.
Henry thrust the kitten above his head to keep it from the hungry maw and with his free hand he brought his duty weapon up and shot the little monster and somehow–as close as he was–missed it. The explosion of the gunshot seemed to aggravate it.
Really pissed off now, instead of scuttling away in fright, the monster hissed at Henry, barred its wicked-looking fangs and slashed at him with its claws. Its saucer eyes flashing with malevolent intent.
Henry jumped back just in time and the claws barely ripped through his shirt and raked across his flesh. Pain made him realize they’d gotten some skin, but the wounds weren’t deep. They’d skimmed flesh, not dug in. Still hurt like hell, though.
This time when he shot at the creature, at least one of his bullets hit dinosaur flesh. Got it! The little monster shrieked in pain, knocked Henry and the kitten to the ground, and scuttled away into the woods.
Sprawled in the grass and stunned, clutching the meowing kitten with one hand and his gun with the other, Henry watched the dark forest close around the fleeing dinosaur.
Only when it was gone did Sasha cease meowing, squirming, and digging her claws into him. Between the dinosaur and the cat, man, was he going to be scratched up.
He shuddered and came to his feet. “Let’s go home, Sasha, before that thing returns and maybe…brings a bunch of its little monster friends with it. Wouldn’t put it past it, either. It looks like the type of vermin that runs in packs. I know. I’ve seen Jurassic Park. All three of them.”
Sending quick looks behind him every second or so in case he was being followed, he wasted no time reentering the cabin and getting inside. Nothing followed, or nothing he could see. That creature hadn’t been afraid of him. Ha, what was next, invisible dinosaurs? Wouldn’t put it past them. Talk about adapting. ***
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