by Logan Jacobs
The three women nodded, and I opened the minibus door. I stepped down first and tried to study the perimeter, but the glare of the headlamps made it difficult to see anything past our immediate area. I started forward, and the three warrior women followed behind, their weapons all raised and ready to shoot.
The jeep was on its side with one door bashed in and a dark oil stain slowly collecting beneath it. We had to climb over the snake, which had a thin coat of slime on its scales, and squeeze around the branches of a shrub. I found the switch for the headlamps while Grant went to work on the spare tire.
“Need a hand?” I offered as Grant let an f-bomb slip out.
“Do you see the toolbox?” she asked. “The tire iron will be in that, as well as a wrench.”
I looked around the ground near the jeep, then slowly expanded my search until I saw a glint of metal in the moonlight. It turned out to be a canteen, but I spotted the toolbox a short distance away, so I picked it up and carried it back to the Corporal.
“These things weren’t designed to be pulled off while the jeep was on its side,” Grant sighed.
“Maybe if we both work at it,” I said. “It’s at such an awkward angle that I don’t think one person can do it.”
Grant nodded and with wrench and tire iron in hand, we started to free the spare from its spot. After ten minutes of hard work, the tire bounced to the ground, and I had to stop it from rolling away.
“Let’s get this on first,” I said. “If no one from Coates comes out to investigate, then we’ll come back for the machine gun.”
Grant and I rolled the spare to the side of the minibus and then stared at the flat we had to replace.
“It’s a different size,” Grant noted.
“Yeah, it won’t be a comfortable ride,” I said. “But it will at least get us to Whittlesey. Maybe Mick can find us the right tire.”
“Mick?” Grant asked as she opened the toolbox.
“He’s a mechanic,” I said. “He’s already had to repair this minibus for us once.”
“Just between Peterborough and Whittlesey?” Grant asked. “You do seem to attract dinosaurs.”
I chuckled and then looked around.
“We definitely need some sort of light,” I said. “There’s not enough moonlight to be able to do this.”
“Right,” Grant agreed. “I’ll take one of the girls and find something we can burn. Why don’t you ask around on the bus and see who has a lighter.”
“There’s the one in the dash,” I said.
“We’ll need one with an actual flame,” Grant pointed out. “Trust me, at least two people in that lot are smokers, and they’ll have their lighters and ciggies stashed somewhere.”
“Why don’t we swap?” I suggested. “I’ll forage for wood and you can ask for a lighter.”
I could feel the corporal’s hazel eyes studying me in the dark, and I could just pick out the smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“Do you really think I can’t handle something as simple as looking for firewood?”
“I’m sure you can, but--” I began.
“But what, I haven’t run around Cambridge with you, stealing groceries and what not?” the curly headed blonde finished.
“That isn’t--” I tried again.
“But you will send one of your fellow uni students out into the night, to stand on guard duty with a weapon, I’m sure they’ve only just learned how to shoot,” the corporal cut in again. “Do you really have such a low opinion of the British Army?”
“Not at all,” I said quickly, even though my own experience during this apocalypse seemed to indicate that Becka, Hae-won, and I were more capable than anyone in the military we’d run into. “In fact, you and I could go search while Becka and Hae-won ask about a lighter and keep an eye on the minibus. That would work.”
“Fine, then let’s go,” Grant said before I could say anything else.
“Wait, let me tell the girls what we’re doing,” I replied.
I spotted Hae-won near the jeep and the giant snake and Becka by the door to the bus. I ran toward Hae-won first, who gave me a smile when I appeared.
“Grant and I are going to look for something we can burn,” I said. “You and Becka should stay close to the minibus, and see if anybody on board has a lighter or matches or something. Grant thinks there’s some smokers in the group, and they’ll probably have something we can use.”
“Okay, Jason,” Hae-won replied. “But if you just need wood to burn, there were some leftover logs by the barn.”
“There were?” I asked as I tried to remember the scene.
“Not many,” Hae-won replied. “And they might be wet after the rain, but I saw them when we parked. They were on the side, near the old pump.”
I remembered it then, the last few logs in what had been a much larger pile in the farm’s heyday. There was no telling how long the wood had been there, and as Hae-won had pointed out, it could all be too wet, but it was a good place to start and at least we wouldn’t be wandering aimlessly through the dark.
“Thanks, Hae-won,” I said as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “We’ll be back soon. You’ll tell Becka?”
“Yes, of course,” the Korean replied. “And I will let her ask about the lighter. They may find her more intimidating.”
“Why would she need to be intimidating?” I chuckled.
“I imagine smokers will be reluctant to give up lighters and matches now,” Hae-won replied. “It will be one of those things that becomes hard to find.”
She was probably right, but if anyone could talk the smokers into giving up their lighters, it would be my beautiful girlfriends. I chuckled again, and then fast walked back to Grant.
“There were some old logs by the barn,” I said. “We should start there.”
Grant didn’t respond, but she started to walk back along the minibus’ trail. I trotted after her, and I caught up when she reached the road and stopped to look toward the town.
“I guess they decided not to risk coming for a look,” Grant noted.
“They probably figured that whatever came through the portal ate everyone,” I replied. “And I don’t think Dean is the kind to risk his own head just to be sure.”
Grant stared at the wall a moment longer, and then she shook her head.
“Dean’s the kind that will get impatient,” she remarked. “He may send someone out before the sun is up just to take a look, especially once they spot a fire. We should try to be gone before then.”
Grant started to move again, although I noticed she was careful to stay close to the trees and bits of old fence and to avoid patches of moonlight. She moved quickly and quietly, and I was hard pressed to keep up and still keep an eye out for dinosaurs.
“Hold up,” I called in a loud whisper when I saw something move in the shadows.
Grant froze and looked toward me, and then toward the patch of young trees where I pointed. We moved behind some shrubs and waited, but nothing moved among the trunks. I was about to chalk it up to nerves and our encounter with an enormous snake, when Grant grabbed my arm. I saw something flicker again, and this time, there was the faint rustling of dried leaves as well. The corporal and I both raised our rifles and waited.
At least ten minutes went by while we listened to something move among the detritus, and then the source of the noise emerged. It looked like a prehistoric boar, with a leathery hide, two impossibly long tusks, and a row of spikes that stood up on its back. It wasn’t much taller than some of the hogs I’d seen on the farm, but it was wider and had four very well muscled legs that were clearly designed to help it move around with great speed.
“Should we shoot it?” I whispered as the dino pig sniffed the air.
“If it charges us, yes,” Grant replied. “Otherwise, we should just let it go. I’d rather not let Dean know we’re out here until we light the fire.”
Dino pig must have heard our voices because the ears swiveled in our direction,
and it started to grunt as it sniffed the air again. It took two steps toward us, and both Grant and I eased the triggers back on our rifles. The dino pig froze, then it made a more panicked grunting sound before it started to run away.
“What scares a dino pig?” I asked as we watched the thing head for a nearby treeline.
“I guess we should find out before we go any further,” Grant suggested.
Another five minutes went by, and then I felt the ground beneath me start to shake. I was certain we were about to be visited by some gargantuan meat-eater, and Grant and I both scanned the horizon for the invader. Instead, what ambled into view was the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaur that is a prime feature of every kid’s cartoon that features dinosaurs. It didn’t really seem to be doing anything other than walking along, but that was destructive enough as it crushed anything that ended up beneath its feet.
“Okay, I get why the pig ran for it,” I said.
“I hate to let it go, but we should,” Grant said. “It doesn’t seem to be heading for the town.”
“I think there’s a lake that way,” I said as I tried to remember what the map had shown. “Well, and the Strait is that way.”
“Maybe it will decide to go visit France,” the corporal said.
We watched the diplodocus until we were certain it wasn’t about to crush the town, and then we darted down the road and back into the rutted field where the barn stood. Somehow, the old structure was still there, and I led the way around the side and toward the old well pump. The logs were scattered on the ground rather than neatly stacked, but we found enough dry ones, along with some small branches for kindling, to start a fire.
“I’ll carry, you shoot,” I suggested when we had a neat little pile, since I imagined someone in the military had more experience with the rifles than I did.
I held out my arms, and Grant piled everything into my grasp. I could still see far enough in front of me to avoid tripping over most things, but I was slowed considerably by the weight and the awkwardness of the bundle. The trip back along the road felt like a ridiculously long slog, made even longer when we heard a dino roar somewhere nearby.
“I don’t suppose that was the diplodocus,” I said as I peered around at the darkened fields.
“I’d say that was more likely to be something that was hunting the diplodocus,” Grant said.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No,” she replied a moment later. “Let’s keep moving, and maybe we won’t have to find out what it is.”
By the time we were back at the field where the minibus stood, I was down to a walking pace. Grant finally took some of the logs, and I realized it was because Hae-won had stepped off the bus and was scanning the area.
“Did you hear that?” Hae-won said when she joined us a moment later.
“We did,” I said as I let my load tumble to the ground. “But we didn’t see anything.”
“Neither did we,” the Korean replied. “But Becka and I think we should move the machine gun over now and put it on the back of the bus. Corporal Terry said he’s well enough to manage it, and we can cover the town if anyone comes out, or we can shoot whatever made that call.”
“It’ll take two of us to move the machine gun,” Grant said.
“Becka and I have a lighter and pack of matches,” Hae-won replied. “We can get the fire going while you two get the gun.”
“Found the smokers, I take it,” I said.
“We did,” the Korean agreed. “And Becka convinced them that they’re lives depended on us lighting a fire.”
I caught Grant looking back and forth between the logs and the overturned jeep, and I guessed that she was trying to decide which task needed her attention more. No doubt the soldier would have preferred to do both, but that would take too much time, probably more than we had. Once we lit the fire, I had no doubt that Dean would send someone out to investigate, and that was assuming that some man-eating dinosaur didn’t kill us all before that.
“Grant and I will get the gun,” I said as I picked up the wrench we’d left by the tire. “You two work on the fire. Just make sure someone is keeping an eye out for dinos.”
“Will do,” Hae-won said cheerfully.
“The fire doesn’t need to be big,” Grant said as I started to pull her toward the jeep. “Just enough for us to change the tire.”
“Got it,” Hae-won replied.
“They know what they’re doing,” I assured the soldier.
Grant didn’t look convinced, but she gave up on the minibus and turned her attention on the jeep. The machine gun and its mount were still attached to the jeep, though the ammo box had tumbled free and was lying in the dirt next to one of the snake’s coils.
“So where do we start?” I asked.
Grant took the wrench from my hands and slipped it in between the rollbar and the jeep. She started to unfasten the bolts that held the mount in place, and I was happy to see that the work went much more quickly than when we’d tried to remove the spare tire.
“If you could just hold this up,” Grant replied with a grunt. “I think I can get the mount off. It’ll take both of us to lug this back to the bus, but we should be able to manage.”
I did as instructed, and after some more grunts and a muttered fuck, something metallic clattered against the side of the jeep and my shoulder was suddenly supporting a good deal more weight then I’d been expecting.
“Give me a moment, and I’ll grab the box,” Grant whispered. “Then I can give you a hand with the gun.”
“No worries,” I grunted as I heard the ammo clang against the box.
A moment later, the load on my shoulder lightened, and I heard Grant grunt again.
“Okay,” the corporal announced. “We’re set. Let’s get this back and set it up, and then we can change the tire.”
We hurried back to the minibus with the machine gun even as another roar sounded nearby. We reached the door, and then we stopped as we tried to figure out how to load the thing into the bus. A few of the engineers who had been watching our escapade offered suggestions, and after two bad starts, we managed to haul the gun into the minibus with only a few bangs against the ceiling. We managed to set the thing up at the broken back door, and we left Corporal Terry and the ex-Royal Marine in charge.
By the time Grant and I had climbed back outside and returned to the flat tire, Hae-won had a nice little fire going. It wasn’t big enough to cook a meal on, but it provided just enough light for us to see what we were doing.
“Told you she knew what she was doing,” I whispered.
Grant chuckled, then she opened the tool box and started to pass me the equipment we needed. As we set to work, I was amazed by the fact that the jack and the wrench could have come straight from my grandfather’s farm. Somehow, I’d been convinced that the modern military would have found a faster way to change a tire. But it was still a hands on, brute strength operation, and it was almost a full hour before we were done.
The corporal and I were both getting nervous by then, despite the patrols that Becka and Hae-won made. The sky was starting to edge toward gray, and though we’d made it a decent distance from the barricade at Coates, I could still see the town, and I was sure they could probably see us in the field as well..
“That’s it,” Grant said with a sigh of relief after we had the mismatched tire on. “Shall we see if we can make it to the next town?”
I nodded, and we gathered up the tools before we retreated to the front of the bus. I spotted Becka and pointed to the bus to show we were ready to go. The blonde nodded, and then she gave a sharp whistle. Hae-won appeared from behind the jeep a moment later, and the four of us climbed back inside.
“They’re moving some of the barricades,” Corporal Terry called out just as I dropped into the driver’s seat. “Looks like they’re driving out to investigate.”
“Took them long enough,” I replied as I turned the key.
The engine sputtered for a mome
nt, and then cold air blasted through the minibus as I shifted into drive. I tried to follow the path we’d carved through the field the night before, but we were still bounced around like rocks in a tumbler. We made it across the furrows without getting stuck and dropped onto the blacktop with a thud. I hit the gas, and the minibus jolted forward before settling into its top speed. I heard the machine gun in the back rattle off a few shots, and Brills gave a celebratory hoot, but I didn’t bother to look.
We passed the last of the fields and the outlying homes, and rattled into the outskirts of Whittlesey. It felt like years since we had been here, and I was surprised that the place looked exactly like it had when we had left.
“Should we stop?” Becka asked from her spot on the step.
“Let’s get back to the town square,” I suggested. “I doubt Dean and his goons will be willing to travel that far, and even if they do, we’ll be able to protect ourselves.”
“And then we can have a real breakfast,” Becka said. “And maybe some tea before we move on.”
“That sounds good,” I agreed. “We can also see if there’s still a doctor in town. I really think someone with medical experience on humans needs to look at Corporal Terry.”
A few moments later, we drove into the square, and I pulled the minibus into the same spot under the bandstand. I was happy to see that the dino bodies had been removed, and someone had even found a few boards to try and shore up the broken-into house. Becka was the first one off as soon as I opened the door, and one by one, the rest of the group stepped down as well. Rory emerged from the pub along with Mick and a few more of the locals, and the two groups converged at a spot halfway between the pub and the minibus.
I was the last one off the bus, and by the time I joined the large group of people standing in the wide open space of the town square, Brills and several of the others were well into the story of their dramatic rescue. Rory wrapped me in a bear hug, and then announced pints for everyone.
“Is there a doctor nearby?” I asked as the group started to flow toward the pub.
“Already sent for,” Rory replied. “I had Dana take the soldiers inside and set them up in my quarters. I didn’t think the lad would make it up the stairs.”