The Hunt

Just a quarter past seven on a dark winter day. In the shadow of a bell tower, long since abandoned, a pool of oily black water sat still on the floor. Its murky tourmaline shades were glowing under the stained glass windows and small fires burned perpetually on the surface of the pool. Only the sound of the whispering wind could be heard, kicking against the loose shingles in the roof.

From the holes in the ceiling the light flooded the room, illuminating the pool and the statues with scattered rays. Solitary drips fell from wooden beams above with an echo, making ripples in the mirrored sky. It was bled red from years of radiation and pollution.

Then a footstep destroyed the pristine reflection, tearing through the toxic water. The silver suit and the blue glowing mask to which the errant foot belonged blurred through the church sprinting at full speed. The suit was tarnished and stained with blood.

The figure jumped over pews and knocked over candelabras that had been untouched for the last decade at least, disturbing the webs of surely generations of spiders. Black gloves with the same blue glow as the mask reached under the pew, shaking away more webs, and grabbed for a small black box.

All of the figure’s movements were rushed and shaky, and the box couldn’t be opened before the figure looked up to see a massive shadow lumber towards the stained glass windows and crash through the wall.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex ripped through the church wall, bellowing a horrifying roar as hanging bricks and debris fell, bouncing off the back of the dinosaur as they clamored to the rubble below. The figure had quickly hid behind a pillar, holding on to the box tightly.

As the dinosaur stalked through the decimated church corridor looking for the figure, it sniffed and shuttered, revealing massive jagged teeth and the unpicked bones and entrails of previous meals. A quick look had shown the beast was irradiated and marred by a life of survival — It’s reptilian skin was still steaming with burns from the showers of acid rain and small growths had been forming on it’s back. One of the T-Rex’s eyes were lacerated and closed shut. The dinosaur emanated a relentless, insatiable hunger that could fuel a lifetime of rampage.

The dinosaur sniffed, drool falling from its mouth, as it trudged further into the church, shaking the entire building as it went. The figure hurriedly opened the box, this time revealing a set of matches and a few century old sticks of dynamite.

Those sounds alerted the Rex as it shifted its head towards the pillars and narrowed it’s gaze. It roared again, and it’s tail whipped through the wall, destroying another massive stained-glass window, tossing the shards of tinted glass across the hall. Yet the figure continued to unpack the box, there was a sling and a flair gun too.

After a few seconds when the figure was just about to light the match, the Rex had moved it’s head right next to the pillar, exhaling hot Jurassic breath as it moved closer. Before the figure could spark it the dinosaur cocked it’s head and bit into the pillar, crumbling it to dust.

The force of the bite only pushed the masked figure out of harm’s way, who now turned revered up towards the dinosaur with the dynamite in hand.

The match was lit the dynamite was sparked.

The T-Rex roared in response, stepping towards the figure.

Yet, no sooner before it could move a foot closer had the dynamite been flung towards the creature. When it hit the leather reptilian skin it detonated, shaking the entire building again, causing more and more debris to fall from the ceiling. The figure looked up at the unstable structure, the building was going to come down.

Then the mask face dropped and the glowing eyes looked back at the dinosaur. The irradiated creature was shrieking as it’s body burned from the oily pool that had ignited from the explosion.

It looked at the masked figure with it’s one eye, infused with pure rage as it stumbled from the burning pool to attack him but the figure reacted too quick, pulling out the flair gun and aiming it not at the dinosaur but above it, at the bells above them.

The gun fired off, launching a glowing flair towards the ceiling which struck the roof and exploded on a bright flurry of light.

Both the figure and the dinosaur were suspended, frozen for a moment, as they looked up at the flair. Suddenly though, two massive bells emerged from the colored fog, falling at terminal velocity and striking the dinosaur with a death blow. The body of the massive genetically modified Tyrannosaurus Rex crunched under the ringing tons of brass and exhaled it’s last prehistoric breath as it crumpled under the weight.

For a moment, only the sound of fires burning on undisturbed could be heard, raging on in the aftermath of this chaos.

The masked figure shook off some debris and dust, wiping it from the suit. After an awkward pass it stood up, the glowing blue eyes looking directly at the carcass of the Rex. The figure then stepped gingerly towards the smoldering body, with a little bit of a limp.

Now the figure stood before the dinosaur with black gloves hovering over the stomach; the same blue lights on the gloves were shining bright, scanning the innards of the dinosaur.

Not long after the scanner beeped and the figure pulled out a dagger which glowed red hot upon a single button press. Now piercing reptilian’s skin gizzard it burned open a slit in the stomach. The insides of the dinosaur erupted out with puss and bile, but the figure only pulled back the dagger, and replaced a gloved hand into the stomach. It was slimy and grotesque but there was no reaction as the figure continued to feel inside.

Suddenly strange screeches from the distance emerged. Alerted, the figure looked up. While continuing to search inside the creature it pulled out another device which was blinking a bright yellow light. The figure looked back towards the direction of the sound and immediately turned back, searching with both hands now.

The screech emerged louder and louder and the figure pulled out the dagger again, this time thrashing at the stomach, making the whole bigger and bigger. Then the arm finally jerked back out from the dinosaurs innards, carrying a gold chain in hand, the figure looked at it in the red light. It was broken. Frustrated, the figure shook it’s head in confusion, clenching it’s fist around the chain before angrily throwing it away.

Suddenly, the screeching stopped and a rusted metal cyborg with dented and scratched armor emerged from behind the rubble. The masked figure and the cyborg were now starring each other down.

“Prohibited sentience detected.” Uttered the cyborg in a shrill, digital voice as it’s right arm re-shifted parts to turn into a cannon which it then pointed towards the figure.

In the split second before it fired, the figure noticed a shimmer out of the corner of it’s eye. It was the rest of the chain and a piece of metal still lodged in the teeth of the Rex. The figure dived to the ground near the mouth, avoiding the cannon fire as the cyborg unloaded a single warning round at the dinosaur’s body..

The figure hid behind the dinosaur and ducked from the fire heading to the head and yanking the rest of the chain and the metal pendant out of the mouth of the T-Rex, cupping it gently for a moment — a scuffed, heart shaped locket.

The cyborg blew a hole in the dinosaur with the cannon and stepped on top of the dead body to overlook the comparably small gray suited figure who looked up with the blue glowing mask, crawling back and away.

“You have to wear a mask, you cannot breath outside, look how futile your organs are.” The cyborg exclaimed, pointing the cannon at the figure again.

Then the cyborg was hit by a strafe of machine gun fire, and then another strafe which sparked off it’s shoulder harmlessly. The cyborg looked towards the source of the gunfire and started firing back with it’s cannon, sending volley after volley. The recoil alone shook the ground.

As the cyborg turned away, the figure jumped up and sprinted around the corner before looking back at the cyborg who was now fighting a band of humans. Suddenly a laser beam scorched straight through the head of the cyborg, revealing a brain that started to melt into mush as the cyborg slowly powered down.

Without a second thought, the figure sprinted away, it was everyone for themselves. After exiting the church, the figure saw the damage in full scale. The bell tower was standing only by the good graces of a few beams. The figure then watched as more cyborgs flew towards it, shooting rockets at the wooden foundation until the building collapsed.

After an hour of navigating the radiated wasteland the figure reached a seemingly abandoned mine shaft with a door that was sealed shut. The figure peered at a small hatch in the corner which it tapped opened, revealing a thumb scanner.

After taking off one of the black gloves, a feminine hand pressed against the scanner. There was air exhausted from the corners of the door before it unclamped to open. The figure then opened it and slipped inside quickly.

Upon entry the door sealed shut again and oxygen was flooded into the room. In a matter of moments, the figure unlocked the blue glowing masked helmet and took it off, revealing a full head of long brown hair and the slender features of a woman.

Her eyes were a hazel brown as she looked into a monitor, placing the heart shaped locket in a box to be cleaned before she could touch it with her bare hand. She then left the airlock, and entered the makings of a small laboratory. A holographic fireplace crackled as a piano played softly from a sound system.

“Natasha,” an old man sat down with a cup of steaming hot coffee. His eyes grew wide when he noticed the locket. “You found it?”

“I tracked the him down.” She was still shaking from the adrenaline wearing off. “He’s finished.”

The old man sat back, pondering, “So it was in the stomach of escaped Rex, after all.”

“We need to mark the location where I was at, the cyborgs tracked me using the sound of T-Rex. If we’re not careful they’ll find us here.”

“We’ll worry about that later, please, Natasha, I want to see her again. Can I see it?”

The woman reached for it from her desk, now holding the heart shape locket in her hand. She looked at him with a melancholy smile, they traded the locket for the mug.

The man clasped it like a treasure beyond all compare. He slowly hinged open the locket, revealing the digital display that immediately flickered on. Holographic scenes played before her eyes. Scenes of an same old man and a woman laughing, her mother, who was wearing the same locket as the one she held now, and then a child enjoying a dinner setting on floating vessel that overlooked a dinosaur filled forest.

She switched it to the next view, there was a wedding scene and a picture of mountain where an old town was situated under. The bell tower could still be seen in the valley, fully intact and there were cyborgs giving sermons, she saw her family sitting in the pew next to her.

With tears in his eyes, he placed the locket back on the desk, unsheathing a warm, forlorn smile before embracing Natasha.

“Thank you my child,” He whispered, “Thank you.”