by Logan Jacobs
“Hae-won?” Becka called out.
“Back here,” the Korean’s voice replied from behind a rack of clothing. “I thought we could hide in here until the Difo leaves.”
We eased the bikes over toward Hae-won’s voice and found the Korean still on her bike but hidden among the sale racks.
“Where is it?” Hae-won asked.
“It was still on the road,” I said quietly. “I’m not sure it realized we’d come in here.”
“Good,” Becka replied as she sank low on her bike and looked toward the door. “Maybe it will go hunt those other dinos we saw.”
Even though we were idling the bikes and were buried among racks of soft clothing, the engines still seemed extremely loud, and I worried that the Difo would be able to pick up the noise if it moved toward the store.
“We should turn the engines off,” I suggested.
“You think it will hear us?” Becka asked.
As if in response, another roar rattled my bones, followed by the sound of something tearing away at the area around the door.
“It’s too big to fit in here!” Becka protested.
“I don’t think it cares,” I replied.
“This way,” Hae-won called as she started to drive through the racks.
It was a tight squeeze for the Triumph, and the police bikes were even wider. Racks clattered to the floor and clothing hung from my handlebars. I left tire marks across designer shirts and toppled a display of summer sandals. Hae-won was heading toward the back of the store, and I wondered if she planned to escape through the loading dock.
But the Korean suddenly veered to her left and we raced past display cases filled with jewelry. I sideswiped a table with sports watches and hundreds of boxes spilled to the floor. There was a crunching sound as Becka plowed through the mess I made, and then another roar echoed through the building.
“Up here!” Hae-won yelled.
We’d reached the escalators, which were still running for some reason. Hae-won drove her Bonneville onto the steps, and after pushing off against the side of the elevator, she proceeded to drive up the moving steps.
“Shit,” Becka muttered as she watched. “Are we supposed to do that?”
“We don’t have any choice,” I replied as I looked toward the front of the store.
The Difo was tearing at everything in its path, sent high-end clothing into the air, and demolished the lights that dangled from the ceiling. I wasn’t sure it had seen us yet, but it wouldn’t take it long once it figured out where the engine noise was coming from.
I revved the engine and moved the bike onto the escalator. At first, I thought I would be stuck on the steps until I reached the top, but with some effort, I managed to bounce the bike up the steps. I glanced behind me to check on the Brit and saw that she had rolled the bike onto the steps but seemed uncertain about how to get it up the steps.
I looked toward the front of the store and saw that the Difo had stopped its destruction and was moving more patiently through the racks and display cases. It’s head tilted from side to side as it tried to zero in on the source of the engines, and then it seemed to realize just how close it was. It started to trot again, straight toward the escalator.
“Becka!” I yelled as my bike bounced onto the second floor.
Becka looked toward me and then back toward the rapidly approaching acid spitter. She squealed as the dino opened its mouth and sent out another glob of skin-eating acid. Becka ducked as the acid sailed over her head and struck the escalator on the other side. There was a sizzle and pop as sparks flew up from the down escalator, and then the thing ground to a halt with an ear-splitting crunch.
Hae-won and I were off our bikes by then and had our rifles ready. The Difo came closer and looked toward the mess it had made of the other escalator. I motioned to Becka to stay down, and then the Korean and I opened fire.
If the engines had sounded loud in the confines of the store, the guns were deafening. Even the Difo’s roar seemed muted amid the thunder as we pummeled the beast with the automatic and the .308. Smoke started to waft toward the ceiling, and I could smell the slight sulfur scent of the gun and the peaty smell of the dinosaur. I could see red spots appear against the dark skin as our bullets found their marks, and the beast started to back away from the assault.
Becka finally reached the top, and she edged around us even as she pulled her own rifle from her back. She opened fire as well, though the Difo was stumbling by that time. I lined up one last shot, and waited for the head to swing sideways again. When it did, I found the eye and fired a shell straight toward the golden orb.
Looking through the scope, I saw the moment when the .308 penetrated the eye. The great globs of white goo and bright red blood fanned out from the head and left a wet and nasty trail across much of the lower level. The Difo shrieked and swung blindly with one clawed hand, but then its head cocked heavily toward the left, and the rest of the body soon followed.
It fell onto the tiled floor with a heavy thud that boomed throughout the store. The limbs twitched for a moment, and then it went still. The girls finally stopped firing, and the sudden silence was unnerving.
“Is it dead?” Hae-won asked as she peered over the railing.
“I think so,” I replied.
“Okay, I know I wanted to find my mother, but this is crazy,” Becka added. “We haven’t even made it out of Cambridge yet, and we almost got eaten. We are even on motorbikes!”
“It’ll be better once we’re out of the city,” I replied. “The reports all say that most of the sightings are in large cities.”
“Most,” Becka replied. “Not all.”
She was right. Just because reporters said one thing didn’t mean it was an accurate survey. For all we knew, there were just as many dinos, if not more, out in the countryside, but fewer people around to report sightings so it only seemed like there were less.
Still, we needed a bit of hope.
“We can’t go back,” Hae-won pointed out. “We left the keys with those men.”
“I don’t want to go back,” Becka sighed. “I’m just a bit terrified at the moment. Give my heart a moment to recover, and I’ll be ready to move on.”
We sat there for a few more moments, and then Hae-won moved over to examine the other escalator.
“This looks bad,” she remarked. “And there is still acid on the steps.”
“There must be regular stairs somewhere,” I said.
“Or something even better,” Becka replied with a grin. “I happen to know this store has a lift.”
“Even better indeed,” I laughed.
“Where is the lift?” Hae-won asked.
“Near the maternity section,” Becka replied as she started to move slowly along the open pathways on the second floor.
There probably wasn’t a good reason for us to stay on the bikes, but it seemed easier and faster than walking them through the store and back outside. And with Difos and other carnivores on the prowl, no one wanted to waste time restarting their motorbikes. At least, that’s what I told myself. Truthfully, it was a little bit cool to realize we’d just driven the motorbikes through a department store and up the escalator, and then stopped to kill a giant dino.
We found the lift near the maternity section as promised, along with the restrooms, the offices, and a pair of human corpses that were missing their heads and most of their limbs. A man and a woman, I decided, and they’d been dead for a while judging by the decay. It was a reminder that even though we’d killed the Difo, other dinosaurs could still be nearby, and we all grasped our guns tighter as we waited for the elevator to arrive.
When the bell dinged, we all pointed our rifles toward the opening doors, but the car was empty except for some blood splatter on the back wall. We eased the bikes inside, and though the elevator groaned under the weight, the doors closed and the car started to move slowly toward the ground floor. Chirpy eighties music played while ads for the latest sales popped up on the sma
ll video screen, and we arrived at our stop just as a dark haired woman with unnaturally long eyelashes began a pitch for the latest perfume from Chanel.
Becka held the door open while Hae-won and I eased our bikes out of the elevator and did a quick scan of the store. The Difo had caused a lot of damage and smashed glass and broken racks were everywhere. The main entrance looked to be about twice as large as it had been originally and I could see the claw marks where it had dug its way through.
“We’re good,” I called out as I started forward.
Becka and Hae-won joined me as I rode slowly toward the exit. I did another check of the parking lot, then pulled out into the sunshine.
“We can take the loop,” Becka said as she pulled up next to me. “It will bring us back onto the Huntingdon road just a few miles north of here. It probably won’t have so many cars.”
“How much time will it add?” I asked as I glanced toward the sun.
“Not much,” Becka assured me. “In fact, it might be faster if we don’t have to drive around as much debris.”
I looked over at Hae-won, who had pulled out her phone to check the map.
“We are close,” Hae-won said. “And… oh, there is something that we should investigate.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Hae-won grinned and stowed her phone.
“Just something I came up with,” she replied. “When we were wondering how to find fuel for Tim.”
“Does that mean we could refill the bikes?” Becka asked.
“I think so,” Hae-won replied.
“Now I’m curious,” I said.
Hae-won rode off at a more sedate pace, and Becka and I followed. At the exit to the lot, the Korean turned away from the Huntingdon Road and made a quick right and then a left. We found ourselves on a wide, curving street that was still cluttered with cars but considerably less than we had seen before. We didn’t spot any people or dinosaurs as we passed by a gym, another grocery store, and a pair of banks, but we did see rats for the first time.
“I can’t believe there are still rats around,” Becka moaned.
“They’ll survive anything,” I noted.
We started to move faster as we hit a more industrial area with almost no traffic and a wide open path to the edge of the city. It felt good to let my hair blow in the wind and to smell something besides rotting meat. Never mind that the smell was largely diesel fumes and something like bleach, at least it wasn’t dinosaurs.
“There!” Hae-won called out in an excited voice.
The Korean started to slow down, and then pulled up to a padlocked gate. There were no signs on the gate or the fence, but I spotted several rows of DHL trucks inside the gate.
“This is a delivery hub,” I guessed.
“Yes,” Hae-won replied. “And all these big delivery companies have their own fuel pumps. It doesn’t look like anyone’s broken in yet, so I’ll bet we can still find petrol.”
“But don’t they use diesel?” I asked.
“Those trucks do,” the blue-eyed Korean agreed. “But they have other vehicles that don’t.”
“They use motorbikes a lot inside London and such,” Becka added. “And I’ve seen a few around Cambridge.”
“It’s worth a try,” I agreed. “Can we pick the lock or do we need to shoot it?”
“It’s a bit more than I usually deal with,” Becka admitted. “I’m not sure I can get this one open. Too bad we don’t have a way to collect some of that dino acid. That would solve the problem.”
I started to point my rifle at the lock, but Hae-won placed a hand on my arm as she leaned in to study the lock.
“ I think I can get us inside,” Hae-won said. “But it will take a few minutes.”
“Jason and I will just keep watch, then,” Becka replied as she started to scan the street.
A few minutes dragged on for what felt like an hour, but the street remained empty. I spotted a curl of smoke from a nearby stack and wondered if someone was still trying to keep their factory going. It seemed like an odd thing to worry about, but maybe they made supplies for the government or had been taken over by military forces. Whatever the reason, it seemed like a good idea to leave the area as quickly as possible, especially since we were riding around on a pair of stolen police motorbikes.
“Got it,” Hae-won announced.
I heard the Korean pull the chain off the fence and the creak of the gate as Hae-won pushed it open. I took a last look at the street, then eased my bike through the narrow opening. Becka closed the gate behind us, and then the three of us slowly rode deeper into the station.
There were two giant warehouses with loading docks, and about half still had trucks pulled into place. There were dollies stacked with boxes near some of the docks, left to molder in the rain and sun of the last few weeks.
“The fuel station should be in back,” Hae-won said.
“This is weird,” Becka said as she looked around. “Why did they all just run away?”
“Maybe a dinosaur came through,” Hae-won suggested.
“But the gate was intact,” Becka pointed out. “And locked.”
“That one was,” Hae-won replied. “But the dinosaur could have come through the fence somewhere else.”
“There is something off.” I looked around. The facility looked empty at first glance, but there weren’t any bodies or signs of a dino attack and there was something a little too neat about the way everything was placed. “I don’t think this place is empty. Maybe we should leave.”
“But this is our best chance to get fuel,” Hae-won replied. “And see? There are the pumps.”
Hae-won pointed to a refueling station that would have been the envy of any gas station owner near the East LA interchange. I’d had the displeasure of trying to navigate that mess a couple of times while visiting distant relatives when I was kid, and all I could remember was a lot of fumes, honking horns, and my uncle’s panic that we would run out of gas before we’d made it through. The rows and rows of shiny boxes with hoses would have made him weep for joy.
We pulled up next to the high octane stuff, and after one more check of the area, we switched off the engines and dismounted the bikes.
“If you keep watch, I’ll fill you two up,” I said.
“You can certainly fill us up,” Becka replied. “And I’d certainly be happy to watch while you did.”
Both girls snickered and exchanged knowing looks.
“Maybe once we find somewhere to sleep tonight,” I chuckled. “Bikes first, then I’ll take care of you two.”
Hae-won and Becka both laughed again, a sound that echoed in the empty space. I looked around once more, but the DHL lot remained ominously still.
Becka and Hae-won took a few steps away while I selected a hose and moved Becka’s bike into position. It was all going well, until we heard a voice start yelling at us. It was a woman’s voice, angry, defensive, and so heavy on the accent that I wasn’t sure what she was saying. It came from a small repair area about fifty yards away from us and behind a row of air stations.
“What did she say?” I asked as I looked toward the line of air hoses.
“She wants us to stop pumping petrol or she’ll shoot,” Becka translated.
I stopped, mostly out of curiosity than any real fear that we were about to be shot. I couldn’t imagine that DHL allowed arms in its facilities, though there was always the possibility that the woman had found one in a shipping box.
“How do we know you’re armed?” I called out during a break in the woman’s tirade. “You can see we’re armed, and if you do shoot at us, we’ll shoot back. And I’d be willing to bet you’re not as good a shot as us.”
I could hear a small argument behind the hoses, then, and I tried to figure out exactly how many people there were. A moment later, a dark-skinned woman appeared with a flare gun clasped in her hand.
“That’s enough,” the stranger carefully enunciated. “Step away from the pumps and no one ge
ts hurt.”
I couldn’t help myself. Though the woman had a fierce expression on her face, and no doubt she was an intimidating figure to most people, I started to laugh.
Chapter 2
“Jason?” Becka asked in a worried tone as she and Hae-won lifted up their rifles to point at the woman.
My girls must have thought I’d lost my mind because I couldn’t stop laughing. But the situation was completely ridiculous, and though no doubt there was some scene in a Hollywood action flick somewhere that had the hero outshoot military grade weapons with a flare gun, there was no way that could happen here.
“Seriously?” I called out to the woman. “A fucking flare gun? In a place filled with gas tanks? You’ll set everything here on fire.”
“We’re ready for that,” another woman’s voice declared.
Three more people emerged from behind the air machines, which included an older woman with red hair holding the business end of a fire hose and two men, one blond and one brunette, each armed with fire extinguishers. They all wore DHL shirts, and the blonde man even wore a DHL cap.
“You’ll never be able to put it out in time,” I pointed out as I stuck the hose in the tank of Becka’s bike and started to fill it. “And this quiet little hiding spot you’ve got will be blown sky-high, and you’ll go up with it. This is the dumbest move I think I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s our petrol,” the dark-skinned woman asserted. “So stop pumping it! It’s not yours to take.”
“We’re just going to top off the bikes and then we’ll be gone,” I replied. “We can either fill our bikes and leave, and the only thing you’ll have to show for it is a few less gallons of fuel, or we can trade. We have some supplies that you might need if you’re going to stay here, which it looks like you are since none of you has tried to drive away.”
“Who says we haven’t?” the blond man asked and was quickly hushed by his fellow employees.
“Did you?” Becka asked. “Did someone try to leave here? Is that why you stayed? Because something happened to those who left?”
“What do you care?” the dark-skinned woman demanded. “You’re little better than thieves. So step away from the pumps.”