At the last second, Jack yanked the wheel left. The Carnotaurus lunged, its jaws snapping shut on empty air where the driver’s door had been. The Caddy’s bumper clipped its ankle, sending the beast into a skidding, furious tumble.
“Mechanic,” said Hannah, Dundee’s voice crackling from the dashboard radio. “We got a trail. Fresh. Something big pulled a tanker off the road near the old refinery.”
He found the beast in a collapsed plaza, snout deep in the ruptured tanker, lapping up the last dregs of synthetic gasoline. Its hide was a mosaic of leathery brown and angry red. Twin horns jutted above its eyes. It was beautiful, in the way a hurricane is beautiful. Cadillacs And Dinosaurs
Jack followed the trail into the rusting skeleton of the city. The skyscrapers leaned together, their windows long since shattered, vines and ferns bursting from every crevice. A humid, prehistoric stink hung in the air.
The Carnotaurus hit the end of the line. The pylon cracked, but held. The dinosaur crashed onto its side, legs kicking, tangled in a web of its own momentum and high-tension steel. It bellowed in confusion and rage, but it wasn't going anywhere. At the last second, Jack yanked the wheel left
Jack dove back into the driver’s seat. The Caddy’s V8 roared to life, a sound the dinosaur had never heard but instinctively hated. He slammed the gas. The rear wheels spun, kicking up gravel, then caught. The Cadillac shot forward, straight at the charging monster.
Jack stepped out, dusting off his jacket. He lit a cigarette, watching the beast thrash. “Big, dumb, and thirsty,” he said. “Aren’t we all.” Something big pulled a tanker off the road
“One hell of a tow bill, Mechanic,” Hannah said, nodding at the Caddy. The car’s side panel was dented, the paint scratched down to bare metal.
He found the wreck. The tanker lay on its side, its steel hide peeled back like a tin of sardines. The tracks were unmistakable—three-toed, each print the size of a manhole cover, dragging a heavy tail. A Carnotaurus . Fast, mean, and stupid enough to mistake a fuel truck for a sleeping herbivore.
“Easy, girl,” Jack whispered to the Caddy, cutting the engine. He climbed onto the hood, balancing the harpoon gun on the roof. The Carnotaurus ’s head snapped up. A vertical pupil narrowed. It let out a guttural hiss that smelled of primordial swamp and petrochemicals.