by Logan Jacobs
“See you soon, stud,” Becka said as she and Hae-won stepped into the women’s showers.
I laughed and ventured into the men’s showers. I blinked when I stepped inside, convinced I’d just walked onto the set for a M*A*S*H episode. There was even a short guy with thinning hair and wire rim glasses in one of the showers, and he blushed when I selected the shower next to him.
“The Marines have already been in,” the kid squeaked. “So there’s not much hot water left. You’ll need to clean up quickly unless you want to wait an hour.”
“No can do,” I said as I turned on the water. “Supposed to be heading to the cathedral in an hour.”
“You’re the American,” the kid noted.
“That would be me,” I agreed.
“I heard you are brilliant.” The kid’s eyes widened.
“Uhh… brilliant?”
“You know. Merlin. You kill bunches of dinosaurs and have two beautiful girlfriends? Brilliant.”
“Oh… Yeah….” I didn’t really feel like chatting anymore, so I jumped into the shower, did a quick rinse, then I lathered up with my bit of traveling soap. I found a hand mirror nearby and even managed a quick shave before the water turned ice cold. I decided I was as presentable as I could be, and while my mother might not approve of my hiking gear ensemble for church, it was the cleanest outfit I owned since I hadn’t actually worn them yet.
I dropped off my gear, gathered up the soiled uniform I’d worn the day before, and went back to the mess tent. I’d just missed the Marines again, who demolished the sausage biscuits and the tea, but I managed to salvage some blueberry muffins for myself and my girls, along with three glasses of orange juice and two mugs of coffee. Becka’s tea would have to wait until the cook had time to heat more water.
The girls appeared as I finished my first muffin and took seats across from me at the table. Hae-won took a grateful slurp of her coffee while Becka sipped at the orange juice and waited impatiently for the hot water to appear. We didn’t talk much, since we were already behind schedule, but when the young man who had managed to arrange the uniforms for us stepped into the mess hall, I waved to him and then held up the shirt.
“I can take those,” the soldier said. “I’m heading that way. Did you get your clothes back?”
“Not yet,” I said.
“I’ll check,” he replied. “I know you’re supposed to be leaving soon. I’ll just meet you in the parking lot before you leave.”
I nodded my thanks, and he gathered up our camo in one hand while he carried his orange juice in the other. He slipped away, and for a few minutes, we were alone in the mess tent.
“Bugger,” Becka sighed. “I’m not going to get any tea this morning.”
“It’s not looking good,” I admitted. “We’ll have to report for duty soon.”
We finished our breakfast, made a quick stop at the loo, collected our bikes, and then we returned to the visitor lot. Hayes and his Marines were already there, in full battle gear, though a four-door Audi had been added to the collection of armored carriers. Hayes spotted our arrival, and I saw him frown when he took in the two police bikes, but he walked over and held up the hunting rifle I had left him with the night before.
“I assume you’ll be wanting this back,” the captain said as he looked at the rifle with grenade launcher I had.
“Well…” I hesitated.
“You don’t get to keep that,” Hayes snapped.
“At least let us keep it until the service ends,” I said. “Just in case something does turn up.”
“You’re not trained,” Hayes replied.
“But we were trusted with it last night,” I pointed out. “And we did okay.”
“That wasn’t my doing,” Hayes snorted. “If I had my way…”
“But Brigadier Walston is in charge, and he trusts us,” I replied as I pulled the hunting rifle from the captain’s grasp and slung it over my shoulder.
I tried not to snicker as Hayes glared at me, but I wasn’t about to give up the new addition to our armory. It was too effective against large dinos, and we could save ourselves some ammo if we had it. The rest of the soldiers had stopped to watch our exchange, and I knew Hayes was debating how much authority he could assert. He started to reach for the grenade launcher, but Walston arrived and nodded to us.
“Glad to see you decided to travel with the convoy,” the dusky-skinned commander said. “Much safer. Ah, good, and you still have the rifle from last night. That should be helpful if anything appears on the way there, though I think it would be better if you left it outside. Wouldn’t want to bring down the whole cathedral, now would we?”
“No, we won’t want to do that,” I agreed. “Of course, there won’t be any weapons inside the cathedral anyway.”
“The Archbishop is quite firm about that,” Walston sighed. “I do wish I could change his mind, but some people can be quite stubborn about these things. So, here’s the letter of introduction. Leonard will be expecting you.”
I accepted the envelope and tucked it inside one of the many pockets on my pants. Hayes had stood by and watched all of this with an air of disapproval, but the letter of introduction was apparently the last straw. The captain sniffed, looked over our rides again, and then rejoined his men.
We were obviously all waiting on Rhys, and I could tell that Hayes and the rest of his crew were starting to get impatient. Fortunately, it gave us time to complete our business at the power station. Our clothes were delivered, cleaned and pressed, and we returned the minivan keys to Hepplewaite. Walston waved another soldier over with a large wheeled bag and grinned as I was presented with the luggage.
“Thought it might be easier to stow certain items inside,” Walston said. “In case you didn’t want to leave anything on your bikes while you were inside the cathedral.”
“Won’t Rhys find it odd that we have a suitcase with us when we go inside?” I asked.
“I suspect he won’t notice,” Walston replied. “And if he does, he’ll be too consumed with his own business to pay it any mind. You just don’t want to be seen with actual weapons in the church.”
“Dare I ask where you found a suitcase with dancing dogs?” I snickered.
“You’re not the only ones who can scavenge,” Walston said, and I chuckled in response.
After that, we stood around for a few more minutes until Rhys finally appeared. The church man was so clean that his skin had turned pink, and his hair glimmered even in the weak sunlight just from all the gel he had used. His clothes were freshly pressed and there wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt to be seen within a five-yard radius of the man. Holy wasn’t the first word I would have thought of, though it was clearly what Rhys was going for. He cast humble smiles on the gathered crowd, though it was clear the Marines were used to the whole show. Only Hayes acknowledged Rhys’ arrival, and he tried to hustle the Archbishop into the back of the Audi before Rhys could speak to anyone.
“Well, this is it, then,” Walston said as he turned toward me and the girls. “Good luck on your journey north. I hope you find your mum in good shape.”
“Thank you,” Becka replied with the most respect I’d heard her use for the army man.
Walston watched as the convoy started to pull out of the power station, and he even waved as our motorbikes turned onto the road. I waved back, and then I turned my attention on the vehicles in front of us. The Audi had place of honor in the middle of the pack, while the three of us were stuck following along at the rear. We could have easily peeled away and made our way north at that point, and Hayes probably would have been happy to see us go. But that just made me want to stay even more, and so I put up with the bits of rock and clods of dirt that came our way, just so I could thumb my nose at Hayes when we reached the cathedral.
The dino hunt had apparently gone well the night before, and though we passed a couple of dino bodies, nothing emerged from the mist to challenge the convoy. The cathedral itself was little more than the
tops of the towers even as we turned onto the narrow lane that led to the edifice. We were nearly on top of the building before the mist cleared enough to reveal the full scale of the church, and I had to admit that it was a spectacular sight.
There were three grand archways, topped with rose windows and flanked by two taller square towers. Spires reached toward the heavens and served as a frame for the great bell tower that loomed just behind. Even in the murky light of a misty morning, the stone had a warm, honey color that made the place look inviting rather than intimidating.
The convoy came to a halt, and while Hayes dealt with getting Rhys inside, I pulled my bike around the side of the building and the girls followed suit. We found a protected spot alongside a nearby building, and we left the bikes under a worker’s tarp that had been abandoned along with a pile of old stones. We hadn’t lost the luggage on the way to the cathedral, despite its precarious position on top of my backpack. We loaded the rifles inside, hid the Glocks in our waistbands, and made our way back to the crowd at the front of the church.
“What about the one with the grenade launcher?” Becka asked.
I considered it, then looked at the ancient cathedral.
“Walston did ask us to leave it outside,” I replied.
“Oh, was he being serious?” Hae-won asked. “I can’t always tell with the English.”
“He was,” I assured her. “And we should probably respect his wishes. Besides, we’ve been able to take down the other dinos we’ve encountered with just the rifles we have, and if there are other people inside for the service, we’re more likely to kill them with the grenade than the dinos.”
“You’re probably right,” Becka said. “We can stash it on one of the police bikes. If someone does discover our rides, they’ll probably take the Triumph first.”
“I will be angry if someone steals my bike,” Hae-won huffed. “But it is a compliment that they would prefer it.”
“Well, not really,” Becka replied. “It’s just the fact that they’re police bikes. You know, respect for authority and all that.”
Hae-won frowned, and I had to hide my grin by finding a spot to conceal our new weapon. I tucked it into the spot recently abandoned by the vodka bottle and shifted two other bottles around, but by the time I was done, Hae-won was back to her perky self and Becka was admiring the soaring structure of the church.
“It really is something,” Becka mused.
“It’s impressive,” I agreed. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”
I made sure the bikes were well concealed, and then we made our way back to the entrance with our wheeled bag in tow. Rhys and Hayes were nowhere to be seen, and only one Marine stood by the door. He recognized us, though he looked puzzled by the luggage we toted behind.
“What’s in there?” the Marine demanded when we tried to go around him.
“Just some files we’re taking north for the brigadier,” I replied. “It didn’t seem like a good idea to just leave it outside.”
“I saw Walston hand it to them,” another Marine added as he strode up. “And I heard that Corporal Grant say they’d been charged with carrying some materials to Scampton. You can go on in.”
“Can’t believe the army’s using civilians for this stuff,” the guard snorted.
“Did well enough last night,” his fellow Marine replied. “We don’t have enough bodies to do everything. Come on, we’ve got to check behind the rectory. Someone spotted some small flying things around there recently.”
The Marines walked away, and we stepped inside. The cathedral was just as impressive on the inside, with a long, three-storey colonnaded nave that drew the eye to the far end of the church where the altar stood. The ceiling was adorned with a gold and red diamond pattern that provided most of the color in the otherwise very white interior.
Chairs had been set up in tidy rows near the altar, and some of Peterborough’s braver citizens had already taken seats. Rhys was near the altar, locked in an intense discussion with what appeared to be the cameraman. The three of us dropped into empty chairs at the back of the cathedral, and we watched as a few more brave souls trickled inside. I counted twenty-three locals, not exactly a sell out crowd, but large considering the present circumstances.
Rhys checked the camera angle and made changes to the placement of one of the crosses, and then he looked at his watch. He signalled the lone church official standing in the door, and the man pulled the door shut. According to Walston, that was the signal for the service to begin, which meant the Marines would be moving out to the edge of the park. On cue, the sound of the organ filled the air of the cathedral and the loyalists of Peterborough rose to their feet.
Rhys was an amazing speaker, which I should have expected from someone of his position and experience, though I still found my mind wandering as the service dragged on. Since there was no one else close to us, the girls and I slipped our phones out from our pockets and found other ways to entertain ourselves as we waited for the final blessing. I was watching a video of a dino rampaging through Disneyland when I heard a familiar popping sound. I looked at the girls, just to be sure they had heard it as well, and then a moment later, a huge roar resounded off the walls of the cathedral. Rhys stopped midway through his sermon, and several of the attendees leapt to their feet.
“Looks like Walston was right,” I said as I opened the suitcase.
“It’s big,” Becka warned as she looked toward the doors.
We could hear shots being fired off in the distance, but the dinos were at the doors already. The sturdy wood that had withstood centuries of attacks, invasions, and drunken frat boys shook under the weight of the assault. The people inside the church started to scream, and Rhys tried to offer reassurances.
I handed out the rifles, and then we waited for the dino to make its next move. I could see shadows moving along the windows, and for a few moments, the dino seemed to move away from the church. I hoped that meant that the soldiers had succeeded in at least chasing it away, but there was another burst of gunfire, and then something heavy crashed into the front of the church.
The door shook again and stones tumbled to the floor. The girls and I backed away as some of the castings from the ceiling started to fall, and then the whole front of the church gave way. The doors crashed to the ground first, followed by the surrounding stones and a statue of one of the saints. The head of another saint bounced past us as the stained glass shattered and sent out a deadly spray of glittering shards.
When the dust cleared, there were two large dinosaurs standing where the door used to be, and the body of a third one on the ground behind them. These were easily twice as tall as the average man, with mossy green skin on top, a white stripe along the belly, and a large hump on their backs that made them look like the chubby version of a Tyrannosaurus. Their heads were long and flat, and each featured a wide mouth filled with large, serrated teeth.
“We can’t let them get inside,” I called to the girls as I took aim.
I aimed for the head of the nearest dino, but the people inside the cathedral started to panic. Someone knocked against me as I fired, and my shot caught the dino near the nostril. The dino roared and looked around for the offender, but a screaming woman had latched onto my arm and was yelling at me to shoot the beast.
“I will if you’ll let go,” I shouted at the woman.
Becka managed to squeeze off several rounds that left a trail of blood along the other dino’s torso, but I saw that Hae-won was surrounded and though she tried to shove people away, they just seemed to keep coming.
“How could this happen?” the woman hanging onto my arm wailed as the dinos focused on all the bodies moving through the nave.
I had to push her away so I could free my arm, but the dinos were moving up the aisle by then in pursuit of those who sought shelter behind the altar. Chairs were crushed to kindling beneath their feet, and one of the dinos tore down a banner that flapped in its face. Rhys was in front of the altar and tried to
direct people toward the exits, but no one was listening any more. The only sound in the church was the heavy breathing of the dinos and the screams of those who were trapped inside.
Freed from the woman’s grasp, I aimed for the bleeding dino, which was running toward the altar and the choir space just behind that. One shot hit in the hump, which didn’t have any effect on the dino and another hit high on one of the legs. That stopped the dino for a moment, and as its head swung around for a look, I lined up another shot at a spot between the eyes.
I fired just as the dino decided it was more interested in the people it could see straight ahead, and the bullet grazed along the side of the head, but the beast barely seemed to notice. Rhys, who had ducked low behind the altar, chose that moment to make a run for it. The second dino, the one injured by Becka’s shots, spotted the fleeing church man, and it closed the distance with two large steps.
Rhys froze, uncertain if he should duck back behind the altar or keep going toward whatever shelter he had hoped to find. One of the locals called his name and tried to urge him to keep running, but the dino was on him by then.
“Keep going,” I yelled but the man was locked into place.
I fired the rifle just as the dino’s shadow closed over the Archbishop, but before my shot could even clear the barrel, the dino’s head whipped downwards and the massive jaws closed around the churchman. Blood dribbled out of the dino’s jaws as it chewed on the body, and then it lowered its head to study the small group of people that had run into one of the transepts.
Becka opened fire again, joined a moment later by Hae-won, who had finally pushed her way through the crowd of people. I saw their shots hit the dino heading for the choir, and spurts of blood appeared along the dino’s back and tail. It turned around, angry and determined to find whatever was causing it so much annoyance, and the girls opened fire again.
“Just die!” Becka yelled.