Dino Island 7: The Apocalypse Project Read online

  Dino Island 7

  The Apocalypse Project

  Written by J. R. Hogan

  Copyright © 2022 Locksmith Books

  All rights reserved

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Legal Notes

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  Chapter One

  TOC

  Jessica’s breaths came low and shallow as she cradled the assault rifle in one hand and her stomach in the other. “Professor…” she breathed, “what is this place?”

  I wanted to give a better answer than “something impossible,” but couldn’t lie to the mother of my child. “Stay close,” I warned them. “Eyes in every direction.”

  Daisy moved to my right side. Her rail-thin frame, covered only in a soaking wet t-shirt and shorts, looked timid until she drew her twin Glocks and aimed them at the mysterious building before us. The fierce look on her chiseled, angular face was still enough to send my stomach into somersaults.

  Ling leaned against my left side, her shotgun raised high. My heart fluttered as her warm, wet skin pressed against my body. With only a bra, panties, and ankle socks covering her smooth, feminine frame, I still found it impossible to think straight whenever I was looking at her. She brought out the raw, red part of my mind that made me simpler but stronger than I realized I could be.

  Jessica stepped in front. It might have been my imagination, but I could almost feel her body changing as our child grew inside of her. Her hips and breasts seemed even rounder, her face brighter, her eyes fuller. That seemed an impossible condition; the beautiful blonde woman had already seemed physically perfect and had been bound for a career as an NFL cheerleader when we were all forced to this place. But watching her now, hair still perfect and AR-15 still deadly, I realized that human connection could go far deeper than I had ever believed.

  Sarah moved into place last. She was the least likely warrior, which just meant that her rise to the occasion was significant in ways that no one else could replicate. Her brown eyes stared unwaveringly over her glasses as she stepped up to cover our rear, looking warily across the water we had just traversed. She was a study in contrasts: the practical blouse and knee-length black skirt over bare feet was an accurate image of the best student in my class, her fierce intelligent masked by a mousey quietness. But the katana held high in her hands reflected a willing fighter, far more experienced than her eighteen years of life would suggest, that had been underestimated by several dead foes.

  I hated when they tried to protect me. I’d die for any one of them, but couldn’t stand protectively in front of all four when they surrounded me like this.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m just fine,” Chastity called as she found her dino-leather boots in the pile of equipment that we’d brought to the island. She placed the boots, her briefcase, and her pistol on the sand before removing her soaked lab coat.

  The sight took me off-guard. Now that she was only wearing a black dress, had tucked her glasses away in a pocket, and was dripping wet, Chastity looked striking. She put so much effort into maintaining a gruff exterior that glimpsing her soft, feminine side caused me a double take.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Ling deadpanned, snapping me back to earth as a stony look settled over Chastity’s countenance.

  I looked up, taking in the sight before us.

  We had landed on the island in the middle of the lake after nearly being lunch for a Mauisaurus. But the risk had been worth it, everything pointed to this island as the most likely answer to the questions that had been lingering since we showed up in this impossible world.

  The beach was covered in the same coarse sand that had been on the opposite shore. Heat from the clear, blue sky beat down on us as we stared over the placid lake behind us and the steamy jungle just ahead. A clear, fresh stream ran from the jungle to the beach, identical to the ones we’d been using for drinking and washing. As with so many other places in this world, it would have been the ideal setting for a resort, if it weren’t for the men trying to shoot us and the dinosaurs attempting to eat us.

  But just past the beach was where things got strange.

  The sand ended in a tree line fifty feet past the water’s edge, just like every other beach in this place. A large swath of the jungle had been cleared out of the space just before us, visibly the work of a skilled team with modern technology and planning. Up to this point, the most sophisticated structure that we’d seen was the rotting boathouse on the opposite shore; everything else we’d encountered had been built from logs and hand-woven rope.

  This building was altogether different. It was entirely made from lustrous metal, shaped like a trapezoidal prism, and clearly full of secrets. Now that we were closer, we could see that the four palm trees on its four corners were entirely made of metal and designed to look natural, like some sort of cell phone towers.

  “It… looks exactly like the Endor moon base,” Sarah whispered over her shoulder.

  She was right. The building looked like it had been plucked directly from the sixth Star Wars movie set, complete with otherworldly jungle. But this structure was surrounded by a sleek-looking metal fence that was topped with several vicious-looking points; whoever had built this place was intent on keeping visitors at bay.

  “How do we get inside?” Daisy asked, her voice trembling. “We’ve never had to face something like this before. Every person we’ve met was faced with the same playing field. Professor,” she pressed, turning her sky-blue eyes toward us, “did we make a mistake in coming here?”

  It took three attempts to swallow because my throat was so dry. “I promise that I won’t lead you anywhere without going first myself,” I answered.

  “But that still doesn’t tell us how we’re going to get inside,” Ling countered. “If these people don’t want our company, it will be very hard to convince them otherwise.”

  I clenched my fists. I wasn’t afraid to fight, and I wasn’t afraid to die fighting, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the women unprotected. My mind raced; we’d come so far and had gotten so close, but I didn’t know how to take the next step without getting caught by some unseen defense system. Even if I could climb the metal fence without skewering myself, the process would l
ikely make me a sitting duck for any waiting attackers. This puzzle seemed impossible to solve.

  “If you want to get inside so badly, why not use the front door?” Chastity asked in an exasperated voice. She plucked her briefcase and pistol from the sand, leaving her lab coat and boots to dry in the sun, and headed toward the fence.

  “Wait!” I called, “you don’t know what—”

  But before I could continue, Chastity moved toward a part of the fence that I hadn’t seen. A gate was cracked open; she grabbed it and swung wide, stepping inside the building’s protected grounds. “Well?” she called over her shoulder.

  “Coming?”

  Chapter Two

  TOC

  I balked.

  I simply hadn’t considered walking through the front door. After spending so much time in a primitive world, I hadn’t considered that there would even be a front door. Everything around us had been rudimentary and brutal.

  A chill ran through me. We were facing something that required a different mindset than what I currently had, and I needed to adjust.

  “Jessica, tell me what you see,” I instructed.

  “A building that is either undefended, or that is designed to appear undefended. Either way, the danger isn’t on the outside.”

  “And Ling, what do you see?”

  “Nothing is moving around the jungle,” she answered, gazing into the trees. “If any apex predators were nearby, we would have seen them by now. The island is too small for them to hide this long.”

  I pivoted. “Daisy, what’s in front of you?”

  She took a deep, rattling breath. “I’m not looking in front of me, Professor. My mind has been on the sky ever since the Pterosaurs first attacked us.”

  My stomach dropped as I realized how careless I’d been in neglecting our weakest flank. I whipped my head up and looked for any potential predators.

  “Don’t worry,” Daisy answered in a stony voice. “I’d have told you if we were about to be eaten.”

  “Good girl,” I breathed. “Okay, Sarah—tell me what’s in front of you.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Sarah?” I repeated, gentle but firm at the same time.

  “I…” she began. “I’m looking at what’s behind us. The water, the trees on the other side of the lake. There were so many things waiting to attack us, but there’s nothing now. It seems peaceful, because… Professor, I think our enemies have learned to be afraid of us.”

  Warmth flooded through my core at those words. The thought should have humbled me, should have scared me, but while I waited for those emotions to touch me, they never came. Instead, I understood a reality that touched on the deeper, redder, animalistic part of me that I’d never known until meeting these women.

  We were the apex predators in the jungle.

  “I think we should follow Chastity,” Jessica pressed, her eyes still peaking over the assault rifle as she gazed at the compound. “Whatever answers we’ve been hoping to find, if they exist at all, are going to be inside that building.”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I responded. “Let’s move.”

  I moved in front of the group as the five of us headed warily toward the foreboding gate. It looked unnatural against the backdrop of lush jungle. I hadn’t realized how foreign the modern world now seemed until being faced with such a large part of it. In a short span of time, the jungle had become my home, and I felt unnatural stepping away from it.

  The gate creaked as I pulled it open wide enough for us all to move inside. I crossed the threshold first.

  The place emanated neglect, but it felt like a recent condition. I struggled and failed to articulate exactly why I got that feeling, but I was confident that I was correct.

  “Chastity,” I whisper-yelled, “don’t go too far on your own.”

  She rolled her eyes before walking back toward us. “Should I pretend that you’re concerned about my safety, or ask if you’re afraid to go exploring without me?” she asked without trying to lower her voice. “If anyone were waiting for us, they’d have made themselves known by now. I think we’re alone.”

  The gate creaked as it inched back toward its original position. Every hair on my neck stood up as the noise filled an otherwise silent world.

  Chastity remained silent as the six of us peered in every direction, looking for signs of life that refused to show themselves.

  “Let’s do a circuit of the building before going inside,” I suggested. “I don’t like surprises.”

  No one challenged the suggestion. The four women moved along with me, none of us needing further verbal instructions, as Chastity raised an eyebrow at us. Then she moved to the front alongside me, gripping her pistol but keeping it lowered.

  We moved through the space between the outer fence and the building’s wall, trying to take in everything at once as we moved. I noticed that every square inch of the structure was crafted in metal, highly polished and precisely measured. I’d long ago learned to accept the impossible, so instead of asking how this thing had come to be, all my thoughts were focused on ensuring that it didn’t surprise or harm our group.

  The unnerving part is that nothing seemed threatening. If someone is intent on hurting me, I’d rather see them and face the danger head-on. That was impossible here; while the building was linked to our imprisonment in this world, it refused to give us the respect of displaying what that danger really was.

  “Look,” Jessica whispered, gazing over the assault rifle at a small hatch on the building’s exterior, “it’s the same symbol that we saw in the boathouse.”

  I looked over and recognized the image. The symbol had been painted on a wooden box near the dynamite: an elaborate key with its teeth appearing to form the letter M.

  We reached the edge of the building. I stepped forward, indicating to the others that I wanted to step around the corner first. I clenched my fists and moved to the building’s edge, peeking my head forward to see…

  Nothing. This side of the compound was as peaceful as the rest of it had been.

  I didn’t like it.

  The entire walk around the compound revealed the exact same lack of information that we had discovered up to this point. We stopped our circuit upon returning to the gate that had allowed us entrance in the first place.

  “Well, there you have it,” Chastity announced. “In a world filled with dinosaurs and sociopaths, the strangest part has nothing on the outside.” She looked at me and smiled coyly.

  “Are you ready to go in?”

  Chapter Three

  TOC

  The five of us stared back at Chastity. “Is there any chance that you know more than you’re saying?” I asked, hoping that I sounded calm.

  She folded her arms. “Everyone knows more than they say, Mark.” She looked over her shoulder at the building’s front door. “But if you’re asking whether I’d lead us into danger, then don’t be ridiculous. You know that I’ll always keep myself safe, and you also know that your band of merry warriors is the most likely to keep me alive.” She shook her head. “Brutus’s idiot followers were wrong about you, and I was the only one smart enough to see it. That’s why I’m alive and they aren’t. Let’s not overcomplicate things, okay? I want to see what’s inside.” She turned and faced the metal door.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “But how do you think we can get past the—”

  With a click and a groan, Chastity pulled the door open. “The same way that we got past the gate, Mark. Once you stop believing something’s impossible, you can begin the process of accomplishing it.”

  Her black dress spun as she turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

  For a moment, no one moved.

  Then Ling stepped forward.

  I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She stopped and rested her cheek against my fingers. Relaxation and confidence radiated through my arm and settled in my mind; I released her and stepped forward,
keeping ahead of the group as I approached the entrance.

  I realized that, other than the rudimentary boathouse, I hadn’t entered a man-made structure since being whisked from Stringer’s laboratory. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the door farther open and stepped inside.