The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

“No,” Xin says, “But they might slow their progress long enough for our forces to get in place.”


With no more disagreement from Kainda, Xin leads the way. We follow him single file through the jungle, though we really don’t have to try. The dinosaurs maintain the formation on their own, forming a living train of green and red striped carnivores just over a mile long.

We journey in silence for nearly thirty minutes before starting up an incline that takes us high above the jungle below. Looking back, through the gaps in the canopy, I catch glimpses of distant jungle. There’s a river and beyond that, a streak of gray.

The wall, I think. It’s the wall upon which I first discovered that Merrill had returned to Antarktos, and the wall that took me inland to where I found Em, Kainda and Luca. The river running in the same direction must be the one that leads to the lake, the same river on which Merrill, Aimee and eventually Mira, on the back of Gloop the Weddell seal, made their escape to the coast. We’re not far from Clark Station 2. That little bit of knowledge brings me some peace. In many ways, this is my home—where I was born, where I last saw my parents, where I lived with Em and Luca, and trained with Tobias. It looks far different now, of course, but it’s still familiar.

The trees thin and then clear as we reach the hill’s crest, though it might actually be a small mountain rather than a hill. Xin leads me toward a cliff’s edge.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Don’t worry,” he says. “The others will stay back.”

“But why?”

“I want you to see,” he says.

“See what?” I ask, but then the trees part and the view is exposed. I can see all the way down the mountain, as the jungle stretches toward the coast. It all looks normal until about a mile inland where the tree line abruptly ends at a field of stumps. The jungle has been cut away.

Half the distance to the coast is the forward operating base. It is far more massive than I was expecting. Sandbag walls, razor wire and armed guards fringe the whole compound. Hundreds of guards, both modern military and hunter alike. There are artillery cannons, large jeeps, helicopters and even a handful of giant looking tanks.

So much for the Antarctic Treaty, I think. Part of the treaty’s mandate was that no country would deploy military on Antarctic soil. Not that I’m complaining. The military hardware is a welcome sight, for now at least.

There are several buildings, a sea of tents and a level of activity that reminds me of ants at work, which is probably how the Nephilim will see it too. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. The memory of the Old Testament verse comes and goes quickly, not because it’s a poignant reminder of what we will face, but because I see what lies beyond the FOB, in the ocean.

An aircraft carrier and many more dangerous-looking naval ships fill the ocean. Jets. Missiles. Heavy guns. And an army of men and dinosaurs. It’s a gathering of forces unlike any ever seen before...except maybe for the Nephilim army that will eventually descend on this place like a plague of impervious, oversized locusts.

All of this is yours to command, Xin thinks to me, but only if you take it.

Take it?

Men do not give up control of such power willingly. Kat’s opinion of you alone will not be enough. Trust between men forms like fossils found in the earth—very slowly. Time is short, so trust in you must be...forced. He looks at me, his yellow eyes serious. “I do not mean for you to attack them,” he says aloud. “But you will need to impress upon them your right to lead. There can be no doubt. If you fail to do this, all else is lost.”





30



Approaching the FOB gates feels similar to when I stood before the gates of Tartarus for the first time. The sight of soldiers and hunters, all training their untrusting eyes—and weapons—on our prehistoric caravan is unnerving. I am powerful. I know this. But could I stop every single bullet if these men decided I was an enemy? Could I protect the people with me? The shofar wouldn’t help in that situation. So I decide to do everything in my power to avoid it.

I pull back on the reins, bringing Grumpy to a stop, two hundred feet from the still closed gates. The rest of the dinosaurs follow suit. Xin looks a little surprised, but then nods at me.

The beasts, at least, will follow you, he thinks to me.

I climb down and motion for the others to follow.

I should wait here, Xin thinks.

I will probably need your help, I reply.

They fear me.

They need to learn not to, I think. You are my brother and they will learn to accept you, just as they will learn to follow me.

Very well, Xin thinks in reply. But you may find yourself safeguarding me rather than the other way around.

It would be a nice change, I think. Let’s go.