With no power, they were stuck here.
Forever.
“Mom?”
Kennedy from behind her. She had to be strong. For Kennedy. If this was their new reality, then they had to survive. Had to keep moving forward.
Emotions restarted its loop on full blast and Maggie winced. That song would get old before long. Although annoyed was better than dead.
POP!
POP! POP!
Three gunshots, loud and clear, echoed through the quiet campus.
The group looked at each other, each considering. To go towards the gunshots, or to run away?
Maggie had to give the teens credit. Especially the girl who was driving the dirt bike, while Mason happily held her waist from behind. It didn’t take her long to decide. With a rev of her engine, she spun the dirt bike on her heel and raced towards the sound of the gunshots. The rest of the teenagers followed. Maggie had to go. She wasn’t about to leave her son. Plus, they had the speaker. She was safer with them by a long shot. And she had Kennedy to think about.
With a rev of her engine, she turned the quad and headed towards the gunshots.
It was time to stop running.
Chapter Fifty
John
“Pick it up!” John called back to Jimmy, who was picking his way carefully around a particularly putrid mound of dinosaur shit. That was one thing John never thought of, all those times in museums and watching all the movies. Dinosaur shit was huge. And it smelled for a quarter mile, easy.
John wrinkled his nose as the wind picked up, blowing the smell right into his face. It was something he’d need to get used to, that’s for sure.
Roar.
It came from the west. Where “upriver” used to be. Now that the river was dry, it was hard to say if that was even west anymore.
The herbivores grazing all lifted their heads again and looked behind them. A Triceratops in front of John pawed at the ground in more discomfort than the last time the roar sounded. Something was getting closer.
Something big.
A low rumble reverberated through John’s feet and up to his knees. His heart raced, and he looked towards the west. Something was coming. Fast.
POP!
POP! POP!
Three gunshots sounded in the distance, carrying over the clear air. They were coming from the direction of the University, John could tell.
The Triceratops in front of him sent a series of low clicks out to the rest of the herd. And with that, all hell broke loose.
Dinosaurs roared, grunted, trumpeted and clicked around them. The gigantic animals reared up and charged through the dusty riverbed.
“JIMMY!” John yelled.
His friend ran hard towards John at the sound of the gunshots, worry about getting shit on his boots forgotten in the impending stampede. A huge Edmontosaurus crashed towards John and he froze, looking at the four ton animal as it ran for its life.
Jimmy hit him in the side and knocked him out of the way, an enormous foot crashing down inches away from the pair and directly where John had been standing.
Without saying a word, Jimmy scrambled to his feet and pulled John up alongside him. Hundreds of dinosaurs were barreling towards them, fear in their eyes, foam frothing at the mouth. A tiny Triceratops cried out, maybe looking for its mother, only to be crushed under the foot of an Iguanodon.
Panic took hold of every living being in that riverbed, including John and Jimmy.
“THIS WAY!” Jimmy pulled John along with him. They ran east, downriver, with the herd a little, each keeping their heads up and trying to keep track of the crushing legs and feet in the rising dust. It sounded like a jet engine, and soon John couldn’t hear anything coming from Jimmy or if he was speaking at all. Hell, John wasn’t sure if he was making a noise. He could have been screaming, but he had no idea. One thought pounded through his head… Follow Jimmy. Follow Jimmy. Follow Jimmy.
Jimmy, his Hagrid, guided them through the pounding stampede at a diagonal, eventually leading them to the other side of the river. Luck. That was the only reason they had survived this long. Jimmy pointed up at a low hanging metal beam that remained from the fallen bridge. He patted his leg and stood with his hands cupped on his thigh.
John could barely see him through the rising dust, but he got the concept. Charging the last ten feet, lungs burning, eyes watering, he launched his foot into Jimmy’s hands. Jimmy pushed up with all his might as John jumped. And, somehow, someway that John would never understand. He grabbed the twisted beam ten feet above his head.
The metal tore at his hands, but John didn’t feel it. Blood dripped down his straining arms and, with strength given to him by a healthy dose of adrenaline and fear, he pulled his legs up to the beam and crossed them. He wrapped his foot, and in a spectacularly stupid move brought on by adrenaline, he let go of his hands and hung over top of the stampeding dinosaurs, straining for his head.
“GRAB ON!” He yelled to his friend, who stood staring at him from the riverbed below. Jimmy was out of reach.
Jimmy smiled at him, a calm smile that John knew too well.
It was the smile of someone who was resigning themselves to the end. John had seen it countless times in Emergency, and it was something he hoped to never see again.
“JIMMY!” He yelled.
Without losing his smile, Jimmy walked into the center of the stampede.
There wasn’t a crunch. There was no spurt of blood. John stared at the mass of charging animals, desperate to see his friend among them.
A roar sounded, closer this time, and John looked upriver to see a Spinosaurus, something he only thought was in the movies and bigger than a Tyrannosaurus, barrel down the riverbed, sail in the air, snapping at the fleeing herbivores.
John had to get out of there before the giant carnivore saw him. Tears dripped from his eyes as he swung his body back towards the beam and slid, hand over hand, towards the rock wall.
He managed it, and he didn’t know how. But somehow, someway, when the stampede was dying down, and the Spinosaurus lay in the center of the riverbed, happily feasting, a sweating and exhausted John made it to the top of the bank.
“Jimmy,” he sobbed. His friend’s half-cocked smile burned in his brain.
He didn’t look back. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to see Jimmy’s crumpled body. It was more than he could take.
But Jimmy had died so John could live.
John ripped a piece of his shirt off and wrapped his still bleeding hands. Stumbling up to his feet, he took one step towards the University. Then another. Then another.
And, leaving his good friend behind, John went to find his family.
Chapter Fifty-One
Maggie
Maggie was a little behind the group of teenagers. So, by the time she got to the source of the gunshots, she saw the tail end of a Velociraptor as it whipped around the corner.
A police officer had his gun out and was standing in the center of the main Campus drive. Behind him, still clutching to each other in fear, were what looked to be three University students.
The police officer pointed down to the ground. Ellis got the gist and lowered the music on his speaker.
“Thanks for that,” he said over the music. “I fired three into the first one, but it didn’t even phase it.”
“All good,” Ellis said, flashing a smile. “We like chasing these guys away. Keeps us occupied.” He gestured towards the cowering University students. “Whatcha got there?”
“I’m Bennett. This is Shoji, Cleo and Padma. That’s a FM transmitter that the smart ones wired up. We were hoping to get a message out, so that maybe people who were stuck could know to come to the University.”
“Could we broadcast this?” Mason asked, gesturing to the pop song blaring from the speaker. “It’ll keep all the dinos back. The ones we’ve seen, anyway.”
“Gotta rig up a way to charge the speakers and stuff,” Ellis said. “We’re below half. On both the phone and the spea
ker.”
“Anyone else have Emotions by Mariah Carey stored on their phone?”
Sheepishly, Bennett raised his hand. Maggie tried her best not to laugh. The teenagers weren’t so kind.
“Shut up,” the cop said, blushing, “It’s an excellent song.”
“Not when you’ve listened to it on repeat,” Mason said.
Bennett smiled. “Fair enough. So, what’s the plan?” He looked to Shoji.
“Me and a couple of these guys rip back to the lab and rig up some charging ports and more speakers. You and Padma with some of the others use your phone speaker to broadcast the song over the FM transmitter. Once we figure out some speakers and a way to keep the music pumping, we meet in the Murray Library.” He pointed to a tall white building to their right. “Windows are small, and the roof is flat. We should be able to set up a perimeter, including something that keeps away the death birds.”
“Death birds?” Ellis asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Bennett said, blush deepening.
“You guys will need the quad,” Maggie said. “To strap the generators and stuff to.”
Mason hopped off the dirt bike and headed over to Maggie. “Good call, mom. Cherry, take care of them, alright?”
The girl who’d been driving him on the dirt bike, apparently named Cherry, nodded.
“No,” Maggie said, grabbing his arm. “I don’t want to lose you. Not again.”
Mason smiled and gently placed his hand over hers. “You won’t. They need me, mom. And you and Ken will be with the cop. Cherry will look after you. I promise you.”
“But who will look after you?”
Mason waited and stared at her with steady eyes. Maggie knew it was the best plan. Just as she knew that Mason was way more adept at riding quads and hooking up generators than she was. But that didn’t mean she liked splitting up.
“Fine.” Maggie said. She swung her leg over the quad. Mason picked Kennedy up from the back and fireman carried the giggling nine-year-old to Cherry’s dirt bike. He plopped her on the back. “Hang on, squirt,” he said, smacking his sister’s bright yellow helmet. Cherry turned and flashed the girl a smile.
“You can come with me, Mrs. K,” a boy said from a dirt bike. “I’ve ridden double plenty of times.” Maggie recognized the voice. He’d been over to their house a few times in the last couple of years.
“Sure thing, Zach,” she said. Then, turning back to Mason, said under her breath. “I love you. Be careful.”
“I love you too, mom. We won’t be long.”
The guy named Shoji hopped on the back of Ellis’ quad. The blonde girl hopped behind Mason. Maggie turned a side eye in Cherry’s direction, but the girl didn’t seem to care. Mason flashed her a smile and Cherry winked back.
Well, that was something to watch out for.
But the way Cherry leaned effortlessly over her red dirt bike and yet kept glancing a watchful eye towards her daughter, made Maggie think Mason could do a lot worse.
“That’s settled then,” Bennett said. “Where’s the observatory?”
“Just up the street to the left,” Padma said. “We can walk it, if you guys keep the music going.”
“Meet in Murray hall in an hour,” Maggie said to the group. “Deal?”
“Roof of Murray hall one hour,” Mason repeated. “Let’s go, boys.”
Without a look back, the quads and one of the dirt bikes ripped away, taking the music with it. Bennett scrambled on his phone and pressed play, Emotions blasting as loud as the internal speaker could play.
“We gotta go fast,” Maggie said. “That won’t keep them away for long.”
Cherry nodded and kicked her bike into gear, drowning out the music.
“GO NOW!” Maggie yelled. Bennett and Padma started running, Cherry and Kennedy close behind. This left Maggie and Zach, with another guy on a dirt bike.
Zach kicked the starter. Nothing. He kicked it again. Nothing.
Fear was rising. If they didn’t get out of here soon, the dinosaurs would come back. Zach reared up and…
“STOP!”
A voice from behind them One she recognized.
She turned as Zach hovered over his kick starter.
Dr. York stumbled towards them, holding his arm as blood seeped between his fingers.
“WAIT! Please,” he begged.
Before she could react, the other teenager hopped off her bike and ran towards the bleeding scholar.
He was alive.
The last time Maggie had seen him, she’d left him for dead as a Triceratops charged towards him.
And he’d survived.
Shit.
The teenager helped him to her bike. Behind them, two bright eyes emerged from the trees. The velociraptors were coming back.
“LET’S GO!” Zach yelled. All but jumping on his kick starter, his bike roared to life. The girl kicked hers and they sped away. Maggie wasn’t quite prepared for the change and almost slid off the back of the bike. But she held on, barely. With a quick turn of her head, she confirmed that nothing was following them.
The observatory wasn’t far, and it took them less than a minute to reach the nearest window. Bennett was leaning out of the window waving at them. They stopped the bikes and Dr. York stumbled off and towards Bennett.
“Who’s this guy?” He asked, helping him through the window.
Maggie couldn’t answer. She had a lump in her throat and if she tried to talk; she was sure she’d vomit.
“Dr. York,” he wheezed. “Thank you. Thank you all.”
Maggie kept her hair over her face. She didn’t need that asshole to recognize her.
“The door is up here,” Bennett said.
“We will keep a perimeter,” Zach called as Maggie hopped off the bike and headed towards the window. The teenage girl nodded. They revved their bikes and started heading in opposite directions around the observatory.
The teenagers sure had a system. Maggie had to commend them for their instinctual survival skills in a dinosaur apocalypse.
“The observatory,” York gasped, pushing past Kennedy and Cherry to the stairs. “That’s good, that’s good. It’s a good place to hide. Good idea. Good idea.”
“What’s with that guy?” Bennett muttered to Maggie under his breath.
“World class asshole.”
“Good to know,” he said, a little surprised by the venom in her voice. Deciding to leave it for now, the group followed York up the stairs.
He opened the big metal door.
“Good place to hide,” he muttered to no one. “No one can get in. It’s a good place to hide.”
And, before anyone could do anything about it, he closed the metal door behind him, locking the group on the stairs.
“Hey!” Bennett called, slamming on the door and pressing his face to the glass. “Let us in!”
“Safer just me,” York called back through the window of the door. “Safer just me.”
Maggie pushed by Bennett and slammed on the door. York jumped and backed away from the door. “You left me for dead,” he called. “You did. I’m not letting you in. You or your friends. You can die out there!”
Two amber eyes opened behind York.
“YORK!” Maggie yelled, pounding on the door. “BEHIND YO-”
It was too late. York tried to take a step back on his pudgy legs, but they were frozen in place. A giant anaconda, bigger than any snake that Maggie had ever seen. Bigger than anything in existence, unraveled itself from the walls of the observatory and worked its meter diameter body around York’s torso.
He couldn’t scream. The snake wrapped itself around and reared up, squeezing the life out of him.
Maggie watched. She couldn’t look away.
With a sickening crunch, the snake snapped York’s spine. The whites of his eyes turned blood red and his tongue lolled from his slack jaw, face turning a sickening purple.
Finally, the giant titanoboa snapped its jaws onto his head, and started working i
ts dislocated jaw down the body of the scientist.
“Maggie,” Bennett said, pulling on her arm. “Maggie, come one,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go.”
And Maggie let herself get pulled away from the sight.
“We will go to the roof of Murray Library now,” Bennett said as they pounded down the stairs after Cherry, Kennedy and Padma. “Padma says it will work just fine. They wanted the observatory because it would be easier to defend. Really any roof would work.”
And, with that, the group made its way out of the observatory.
The two running laps stopped, and Maggie loaded on to Zach’s bike.
They revved and left.
Maggie didn’t look back.
Karma was a bitch.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Maggie
“They should be here by now,” Maggie said, chewing her nails. The FM transmitter was set up and sending out Emotions on repeat. They had it as loud as they could make it, and it was enough to keep the Pterodactyls (or death birds as they affectionately called them) at bay. The stairs were too narrow for anything else to sneak up behind them, and the group had a chance just to breathe.
“What happened to that old dude,” the teenager named Brittany said. “The one who hopped on the back of my bike.”
Only Maggie and Bennett had seen the titanoboa and the resulting carnage inside the observatory. They exchanged glances.
“He wanted to stay in the observatory,” Maggie said.
“Hm, alright then,” Brittany said. “Anybody got any food?”
Zach reached into his pocket and pulled out a granola bar. With a swift motion, he tossed it to Brittany, who opened it eagerly.
“They should be here by now,” Maggie muttered. “Mason should be here.”
“Relax,” Bennett said, touching her shoulder as she paced beside him. “Shoji and Cleo are smart. Sounds like your boy is too. They’ll make it.”
A quad engine sounded.
It trickled closer and closer and Kennedy and Maggie ran towards the edge of the library roof, staring out over campus to catch a glimpse.
Prehistoric Survival | Book 1 | Doomed City Page 18