the grenades going off. He eased off the throttle but didn’t stop, although he looked back down to see how well it had worked. The grenades didn’t do a lot of damage but it was enough to bring the tree down across the road. It wouldn’t stop them but it would slow them down.
He turned the throttle as far as it would turn as he took off again. Occasionally he would glance and see the lights getting further away. He cleared the top of the mountain, shot through Newfound Gap, and streaked across the top. Finally able to concentrate on his surroundings again, he nervously looked around for any possible dangers. He did spot a few dinosaurs but nothing that had the potential for trouble. His biggest worry at the moment was wondering if pteranodons hunt at night. At the speed he was going he wasn’t worried about any land based dinosaurs. ….that is, unless they were blocking the road. Pteranodons were a different thing altogether. Although the night vision helmet had good range, Marcus was worried that a pteranodon could be just on the peripheral edge of its capability. It could swoop in and be on them in a matter of seconds. They had been lucky so far.
A red light began flashing on the far right of the helmets face shield and a message began scrolling across the screen. Jocelyn was sending a message. Marcus slowed the motorcycle and eased off the edge of the road. He had forgotten that Jocelyn was probably still watching everything with the drone.
“Warning: Reinforcements from the Jackals are on the way to Cherokee at the foot of the mountain. ETA: forty-five minutes. Also…Massive migration of dinosaurs heading through the Nantahala River Gorge so beware.”
The Nantahala River Gorge was where Marcus was heading. This narrow valley was his route home. He sat and thought for a minute. Deep in his thoughts, he felt a small tap on his right shoulder. It was Savannah. He turned and looked at her.
She said, “Is everything okay?”
“I just received a message via my face shield that there is some serious danger ahead. We can’t go forward and we can’t go back. I’m just trying to figure what our best chance would be,” he said. “Hang on.”
Marcus made up his mind. Going back was not an option. This was the way home and he would just ‘wing’ it. They took off and finished crossing the mountain. The air was cool this time of year in the valley. In the mountains, it was downright cold. Marcus’ adrenaline kept him from feeling it but he could tell that Savannah was getting cold.
He had guessed she was about thirteen and she was probably average height for a girl that age. She was somewhat skinny and had long brown hair. As they continued riding he could tell she was squirming trying to stay warm. It helped some as they came down the mountain. It was still cool but at least it wasn’t cold. Near the bottom, he eased the motorcycle off the road and paused for a second to look ahead. He didn’t see any lights ahead but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Marcus was afraid he was walking into a trap. All he could hear was the stream rolling as they continued travelling down the outskirts of Cherokee.
Marcus had been to Cherokee several times before. Cherokee was one of the reason’s Marcus’ parents always liked vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains. His parents had told him that he could trace his ancestry back to Cherokee and the Cherokee Indians. His great, great, great, great grandfather, Silas Rainwater had lived on the Cherokee reservation.
The red light on the head’s up display started flashing red again. Jocelyn scrolled a message through the helmet that basically told him that they were surrounded. The group behind him had cleared the tree at ‘The Loop’ and was about ten miles away.
Each of the narrow valleys that converged in Cherokee had Jackal gangs that were advancing on him.