Monstrous Rampage (Dynosauros #5)

Chapter 1 Holly

HOLLY

Thank the stars above for a bedroom far enough away from Natalie’s that I didn’t have to cover my head with a pillow while my favorite Sleep Token songs thundered in my earbuds to block out the sounds of her pleasure.

I wasn’t judging or slut shaming. Get it, girl. Get it all.

But I didn’t need to hear every fucking detail.

Which only made me even more jealous. Then guilty. I’m a shitty friend.

My quaint two-room cottage might be small but the view more than made up for its size.

Soaring volcano peaks surrounded Lake Atitlán below, its waters dark and mysterious.

So deep it hasn’t even been fully explored.

Staring at it made me shudder—but in a good way.

Like I could just jump in and sink into another dimension.

Where I have five hunks staring at me with devotion and obvious hunger like Natalie’s squad.

Okay, the dyni weren’t “hot” by normal human standards, but I’d never classify myself as “normal” either.

Certainly my family had never understood me.

Why I wanted to go to college for something as boring as archeology and botany, when I could simply smile on some billionaire bozo’s arm and use his credit card to shop.

For one thing, ew. Never. For another, I actually had a brain and loved to learn new things.

Obsessed. I’d rather sell off my useless gifts of designer bags, shoes, and clothes from my grandmother as needed to pay for another semester of college and feed my brain than ever find satisfaction in shopping.

Dad might have cut me off for refusing to step into line, but his mother had no problem with our little arrangement.

I probably had a few gifts waiting for me at my apartment in Texas, assuming I ever went back.

That’s the real dilemma I pondered as I sat rocking on my little front porch staring out at Lake Atitlán.

I’ve seen too much, discovered too much, to ever go back to basic life.

So whatever Natalie did last night—even though I didn’t feel a thing—needed to work.

Maybe I can feel something. My skin prickled with a weird buzz that made all the hairs on my arms stand.

I straightened, looking around for anything unusual, moments before a wave of blue energy rolled over—through—me.

I gasped like a bucket of icy water had been dumped over my head.

Still shivering as the wall of energy rolled down the slope toward the lake, I hugged my arms around myself.

Axxol’s jump rings were the same brilliant blue, like a gas flame burning from orange-red, hotter, toward ice-blue and then white. Had they jumped somewhere?

And left me?

I waited, my eyes straining to see anything in the darkness. Searching the sky, the water, even the jagged line of mountains around us. No giant space creature attacked. No dinosaur came charging out of the wilderness, cracking mighty trees like kindling. Minutes went by without any sign of danger.

Finally, I heard voices in the night, coming from behind my cottage toward the main house. I couldn’t make out their words but I recognized Kroktl’s easy voice and Natalie’s laughter. They hadn’t jumped somewhere. We weren’t under attack.

Relieved—and a little disappointed, yeah—I decided to head to bed. The quicker I went to sleep, the sooner I’d be one day closer to hopefully finding my own squad.

Though how was that going to work, exactly?

Images filled my mind as I showered and went through my bedtime routine.

Natalie had gotten lost in the jungle. I could certainly wander around the forests and hope for the best, but the squad would know if there were more of their kind anywhere nearby, right?

Rizan was constantly scouting with his special radar for anything that might be suspicious.

If a squad did find us…

They’d be our enemies. They’d have orders to kill Natalie and her squad. From everything I’d seen already, her squad would wipe the ground with anyone who even thought about hurting her or their baby.

Including my potential squad.

Frustrated, I flopped around in bed, tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable in a new place. I finally drifted off into sleep, hoping to dream up some kind of solution.

My cottage only had a single burner portable stove and no food to speak of, so in the morning, I headed up to the main house.

Someone was always up, no matter what time of the day or night.

Rizan or Lohr were generally the only ones who ventured into the kitchen.

I liked both of them, once I adjusted to their unusual appearance, and we’d formed a bit of a routine, at least at the other house.

As I hoped, the coffee was fresh and hot, and Rizan was taking a pan of muffins out of the oven.

This kitchen wasn’t as sleek and modern as the other house, but it had a four-chair round table in a breakfast nook overlooking the rear garden.

I brought my laptop like usual and started it up before grabbing a cup of coffee and a muffin.

“This looks fantastic.” I peeled the paper wrapper off the outside and took a bite of soft crumb. Tart lemon with a delicious sweet and crunchy crumbled streusel on top. “Wow. How’d you get so good at baking so quickly?”

He made a low, pleased whirring sound as he joined me at the table. “It’s easy after watching every episode of Chopped, Good Eats, and the Great British Baking Show.”

“Where do you find the time to watch so much of our television shows?”

“I don’t watch it, exactly. I can absorb entire years of television shows and movies in a matter of minutes. Then all of the instructions, recipes, and tips are simply there in my databanks. Ready to be used.”

I started going through my email and sighed. “I wish I could absorb information so easily. Then maybe I’d be done with my dissertation already. Though of course it’d help if I’d quit changing my mind on what I want to focus on.”

“Humans have a great capacity for creativity and curiosity.”

Which was a nice way to say we were chaotic, nosy, and easily distracted. Wait, that’s me. I smiled wryly. “I wish I’d gotten a sample from that criollo grove before we left. I could write a hundred pages on those cacao pods alone.”

His eyes unfocused for a few seconds and then he clacked his beak. “The trees are too thick in this area for me to definitively identify the same species using echolocation, but I marked a few possibilities. I sent the image to your device.”

My MacBook pinged and a jpg photo popped up. “Whoa, you can do AirDrop with your mind? That’s so cool. Oh wow, there’s a potential grove not far from here. Well, I’m not sure there are any roads in the area, but it’s a possibility. Thanks!”

The turquoise feathers fluffed up around his neck. “You’re most welcome. Would you like me to arrange for a car to be delivered?”

I grimaced and shook my head. “No, thanks. I never learned to drive, and I definitely wouldn’t want to try in a foreign country on mountain roads.”

“Maybe Axxol can jump us over to explore. We’ve got nothing better to do, right?”

Behind me I heard a loud exhalation of disgust. “What the fuck are you volunteering me for?”

I shrunk down a little in my chair and focused on my muffin. Axxol scared the shit out of me. I’d never get the image of him eating Dr. Snyder out of my head. Chomp. Blood everywhere. His bloody stump of an arm still around Natalie’s neck.

“A field trip,” Rizan said. “Just a quick hop to the other side of the lake.”

“Maybe a quick stop on the way to a new location.”

Rizan made a low chirp of surprise. “We just got here. You want to move again already?”

“In case you missed it, I put a big blue fucking bull’s eye right here on the map last night. Snyder won’t have missed such blatant phenomenon. For all we know, they’re already building an attack plan ready to deploy to our location, only this time, they’ll send everything they’ve got.”

“But he’s dead,” I blurted out. Axxol’s head whipped around, a mean snarl twisting his lips. His bald bullet head and gigantic shoulders made him look like a seven-foot-tall silverback gorilla.

“His human body is destroyed, but I guarantee that motherfucker is already devising a new plan of attack to steal Natalie and Akylla right from beneath our noses. Even worse, the bastard knows how we were operating. He knows we were monitoring any alien sightings, especially blue lights in the sky. Last night every living soul around the fucking lake saw blue lights.”

Rizan’s beak snapped sharply twice. “There are numerous reports in the local news of blue lights in the sky.”

I bit my tongue to keep from blurting out, “Why would you do such a thing?” I didn’t want him to chomp on me.

Luckily—or unluckily for him—Rizan didn’t have the same restraint. “Why the fuck would you blast the entire area with energy like that anyway?”

“I slipped, just for a moment. But it was enough.”

The way Rizan stared at him, eyes flashing, his beak partially hanging open, Axxol had just done the impossible.

He admitted he’d made a mistake.

Focusing on my email to keep from snickering, I finished cleaning out my inbox and emptying my spam, when a new email pinged. The sender’s address alone made my heartbeat quicken. Dr. Ibarra from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, the largest and oldest university in the country.

Before we left the US, I’d emailed his department and asked if any of their research professors would have time to meet with us. I’d planned to badger Snyder into taking us on an excursion to Guatemala City if anyone would be willing to share an hour or two with us.

Dear Ms. Price,

Thank you for your interest in our research.

I am presently vacationing in the Sololá Department but if you happened to be near Lake Atitlán, I would be pleased to meet with you.

I’m staying in Santiago Atitlán today but will be leaving for Panajachel in the morning to fly out to Costa Rica.

If you can meet today in the village, let me know.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jorge Ibarra

“Holy shitballs,” I whispered. “How close are we to Santiago Atitlán?”

“It’s the village at the bottom of the volcano,” Rizan replied.

Suspicion burned through me. What were the odds? We arrived yesterday, and this morning I got an email that one of Guatemala’s premier research professors was not only here but also was willing to meet with me? “Can you check this email? See if it’s legit?”

Rizan leaned over my shoulder, staring at my screen. “The IP address checks out to a hotel called Tiosh Abaj in Santiago Atitlán. It doesn’t appear to have any embedded coding or trackers.”

What was I worried about anyway? Draco Sirius Command had no clue who I was and certainly no reason to care about my interest in paleobotany. Even Dr. Snyder hadn’t given a damn about my specialty, only bringing me along to Guatemala because of my looks and who my father was. Ugh.

I quickly typed a reply to the professor.

Dr. Ibarra, that would be great! What time would be convenient for you to meet? Thank you, Holly.

I sipped my coffee, wandering how long it might take him to reply. But if he was checking email over breakfast—like me—he might…

Another email pinged.

Holly, I’ve arranged for a boat tour of the lake today. If you can meet me at Cetcafé by 10AM, you’re welcome to join my wife and I. She’s as interested in paleobotany as you and already marked some areas she wants to explore. Jorge.

“Any concerns?” I asked. “Do you think Natalie will need me for anything this morning?”

Rizan laughed softly. “I doubt she’ll be up by ten. Even if we decide to move locations again, we won’t be ready to jump until later.”

“Unless we’re fucking attacked,” Axxol snapped. “No one’s coming back to save your ass.”

I gnawed on my lip, trying to decide if it was worth the risk of being left behind. I didn’t think Natalie would leave me to fend for myself, but if it came down to protecting her baby or helping me, she’d save Akylla and rightfully so.

A little window popped up on my screen.

We won’t leave you behind whatever the Big Rig says.

Relieved, I flashed a smile up at Riz over my shoulder. “Call or text me if anything changes, but I’m going to meet Dr. Ibarra while I have the chance.”

“You got it,” Rizan replied. “Can you find your way to the village? Or would you rather have a car come pick you up?”

I drained my coffee and shut my laptop. “It’s not far, right? I think I’ll just walk down the mountain. I’ve got maps on my phone if needed, but I’ll probably see if I can get a taxi to drop me off. I’d rather not climb up the slope especially after a day hiking around the lake.”

Rizan grabbed some bottled water out of the fridge. Grateful, I tucked the bottle into my bag. I’d need to grab some sunscreen too, probably bug spray, my camera for sure—

On my way out the door, I yelled back, “Thanks!”

“Have fun!”