Dinosaur Showdown: Dino Squad, #3

By Tom Wright

Book 3 of Dino Squad...

WARNING: This book contains action. Lots of action. Dinosaur-fighting action. Jurassic Park meets Transformers.

The countdown ticks away as the raptor menace seeks to end the war on their terms, once and for all.

Dino Squad mounts a rescue mission, but even if they succeed, will they be too late to stop the raptor threat?

The fate of the world hangs in the balance as the two primal foes clash one last time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tom Wright
• Release date: Aug 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516321230

Tom Wright

I’m Tom Wright. Web guy by day, author… also by day. My wife, Molly, co-founded the Austin Science Fiction/Fantasy Book Club, so I read SF/F pretty regularly. After several books, I can firmly say I enjoy fantasy with lots of action. I write what I enjoy, hence the popcorn fantasy. I live in Austin, TX with Molly and our two daughters.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Penny

The t-rex filled Penny’s targeting system as she swiveled the large gun back to the giant dinosaur. Let’s see if we can’t make this interesting. She fired, and a sizzling energy bolt shot out, hitting the tyrannosaur in the chest. The dinosaur reeled, then shook her head, gobs of saliva flinging on both sides of her. Disgusting. And there are still people who think dinos aren’t animals?

Penny thumbed the loudspeaker. That’s for destroying my TV and speakers, she said, her tone petulant. After a pause she added, And just to get you riled up. I need you in a real rage for this to be a good hunt.

She turned up the translator microphones to catch the stegosaur say to his companion,

The tyrannosaur showed no signs of hearing the other dinosaur. Instead, she ran at Penny’s tank with murder in her narrowed eyes. In any other circumstance, Penny might have been afraid. Instead, she felt a shiver of anticipation. The t-rex slammed into her tank, rebounding off to the side. Penny glanced at her gyroscope levels, then fired a small energy blast at the confused dinosaur for good measure. The t-rex roared more in anger than pain, and leapt to her feet.

Spike

Spike yelled too late. He watched Rexie rear her leg up, bringing it down on the tank with a vicious kick. She was thrown backward for her trouble.

Rexie growled, and threw herself at the barrel as Penny turned her sights on Spike. She nudged the barrel out of the way just in time, and a searing energy bolt missed Spike by several meters. Dirt plumed upward where the bolt impacted, raining back down on top of them. Rexie shouted.

The t-rex resumed her assault on the turret, getting zapped by some of the smaller guns for her trouble.

Spike hurried forward, trying to keep his bulk out of the line of fire. He spoke quickly. He flicked his tail to indicate the armor covering the tank’s treads, protecting their vulnerability.

Penny’s voice emerged from a loudspeaker as she fired off stinging projectiles from a side-mounted blaster. And here I didn’t think you’d figure me out. Well, good luck. Another salvo of tiny darts sprayed from a secondary gun. I always did like to play with my food before I ate it.

The turret spun around, but didn’t make it very far before Rexie grabbed the main barrel in her jaws and gave it a powerful tug upward. The tank didn’t budge, but the barrel curved neatly upward just as Penny fired, destroying the barrel and sending the energy bolt back into the interior of the tank. Spike heard Penny sputtering and coughing as the energy blast dissipated, and nodded to Rexie.

Spike cut off as the rest of the tank’s weaponry lit up, firing stingers, energy bolts, and sharp metal projectiles. The loudspeaker blared again as Penny screamed in rage. Both Spike and Rexie hightailed it away from the spitting tank and its painful arsenal, which followed their footsteps immediately.

Rexie said, running alongside him.

He grunted in pain as an energy bolt washed over his hide.

Rexie nodded, peeling off in the direction the tank had come, heading toward the trees.

Spike watched the slagged metal barrel track Rexie as she ran. Oh no you don’t. He stopped abruptly, stepping to the side of the still moving tank. As it passed, he transferred his weight to his two left legs. With a swing of his tail for momentum, he came down on his right legs, slamming into the tank. The vehicle shuddered, but otherwise carried on. I may have just sustained more damage than the tank did, he thought, grimacing at the painful flares from his flank.

His blow messed up the tank’s aim at Rexie, sending salvos of small darts wide, but standing so close now made him a target. More energy bolts flew into him, drawing yelps as he rammed the tank again. This time, the armored vehicle shifted further off track. Spike cracked his tail into the small guns extruding from the tank’s ports, bending them down as they fired. They malfunctioned and fizzled.

This baby has dozens of guns, stegosaur! Keep on trying to break the-

Penny’s voice cut off as Spike muscled into the tank once more, shaking it slightly even as more projectiles launched from neighboring gun ports. Hey! You think a little shake will stop me? This isn’t even my big tank!