Unnatural Disasters

by Daniel Pyle

  “Come on,” Bonnie said. “Get you and your young ones in here.” She put the chainsaw down and held out her hands.

  Lori managed to stand, but the roof was even more slippery now than before, so she stepped very carefully. She handed Greg to Bonnie, who pulled him close to her. “Whoooie. This child needs changing,” she said.

  Lori scrambled back up the roof, scanning the surrounding waters for the second shark, trying hard to remember to breathe.

  At first, Zane wouldn’t let go of the pipe. He stared at Bonnie, trembling.

  “It’s all right,” Lori said. “You know Mrs. Graden. The boat’s safe.”

  When he loosened his grip, she picked him up.

  Getting Zane and herself into the boat wasn’t easy. He wouldn’t let her hand him off to Bonnie, and the boat swayed erratically. But she did get in finally and sat on one of the wooden seats with Zane in her lap.

  “Where did you find a boat?” she asked. It seemed like both a stupid question and the only question that really mattered.

  “It was floating along, no one to claim it. Maybe that Mr. Feldman owned it, he always talks about fishing.” She handed Greg back to Lori.

  Lori didn’t know Bonnie all that well, but everyone in town knew her story. She grew up in Watts, the African American community in Los Angeles. She had a daughter at sixteen, and the daughter had a son at seventeen. When her daughter died of an overdose, Bonnie was left caring for her grandson, Kenny.

  Kenny turned out to be a science prodigy. He finished high school at twelve and college at fifteen. He was in grad school when Collins Research came calling. They paid through the nose to get him.

  “Thank you so much,” Lori said. “If you hadn’t come along, we—”

  “Just glad to find some folks alive,” Bonnie said. “You don’t know how many dead ones I seen.” She sat at the back of the boat and turned to the outboard motor.

  “You haven’t found anyone else?”

  “Nope. I figure we head to the tower, check on the men.” She meant the scientists. There were a few women among the elite team Collins had assembled, including Helen Feldman, wife of the fisherman.

  “Steve called just when it started,” Lori said. “Then the phone went dead.”

  “Glad to here it. He say anything about Kenny?”

  “No, I’m sorry.”

  Bonnie handed Greg back and turned to the motor. “Push us away,” she said.

  Lori leaned over and pushed against the bloody roof tiles with her foot. When the boat was clear, Bonnie started the engine and the boat moved away from the house.

  “What’s this?” Bonnie asked, pointing to the towel wrapped around Zane’s arm.

  “He was bitten by a—”

  “Dinosaur,” Bonnie finished. “What they have to be, right?”

  “Yeah, but I can’t explain it.”

  “I don’t explain it, I just try to keep alive. I sliced up a few of them dinos with my friend here.” She patted the chainsaw. “They was just suddenly in my house. But I, well, I kind of been ordering a lot of stuff on the computer. With Kenny making so much, I couldn’t resist.”

  “You ordered a chainsaw online?”

  She nodded. “Had a dead tree in the back yard needed taking care of. Wanted to do it myself. Ordered some other stuff would be useful now, but I couldn’t get to it.”

  “I miss real shopping,” Lori said. Everyone ordered everything online in Collins.

  “Me too. Love that Home Depot.” Bonnie steered the boat through the choppy waves toward the top stories of the Collins tower sticking up through the new ocean. The sky bloomed with lightning again. A clap of thunder followed, and the rain poured harder than ever.

  A group of enormous birds floated on the water like ducks. They were skinnier than ducks, though, and at least five feet long from beak to tail. They had little stubby wings like chickens. They didn’t look like they could fly, but their legs moved them through the water quite fast.

  “Watch out,” Lori said.

  “These ones never attack,” Bonnie said. One of the birds dived underwater and came up with a fish. It tilted its head back, and the fish slid down its throat.

  “At least there’s one thing that doesn’t want to eat us,” Lori said with relief.

  The water under one of the birds erupted as something impossibly huge came up from underneath and swallowed the bird whole. The creature had a long snout with many teeth. It had whale-like flippers and a head the size of a car.

  The thing sank back into the water, sending a wave in all directions. The boat rocked madly.

  “What the hell?” Lori shouted. She held Greg in her arms, and Zane clutched her leg. Greg wailed.

  “WHAT THE HELL?” she repeated.

  Bonnie expressed herself with much stronger language.

  “Make it go away, Mommy,” Zane said.

  The thing, the monster, must have seen them when it jumped. It came back, sliding under the boat. There was no fin on the top; it was no shark. First its head, then a long sinuous body went by.

  The thing kept coming and coming. It was as long as a semi trailer truck, at least.

  “I have never heard of anything like that.”

  “Kenny loved dinosaurs when he was little,” Bonnie said. “His books talked about some mighty big ones lived in the water.”

  The creature dived, its tail still visible for a while until the whole animal disappeared into the depths. Bonnie sped up the motor. The front of the boat rose and fell, slapping the water and sending up spray.

  “Look down, tell me if you see it,” Bonnie said.

  Lori looked. The water was dark and murky. Greg still cried loudly, and Zane clung to her.

  “Turn left!” Lori shouted. Bonnie steered to the left, and the huge head of the creature missed when it came up. It snapped at air instead of cutting the boat in two. It fell back in the water, producing another series of enormous waves.

  Lori frantically looked all around to see where the thing would come up again. It was very hard while holding Greg and with Zane clinging to her.

  There was a moment when they thought they had left the creature behind. The motor strained. The tower in the center of town got closer.

  Instead of breaching like a whale this time, the thing came a little out of the water ahead of the boat. Then it quickly dived. This threw up a large wave.

  When the boat hit the wave, it almost completely left the water. Its nose sailed up, then down at an angle that took it into the water. Lori flew into the air. The back of the boat hit the water hard, sending a wall of water outward. Lori came down on the seat with a painful thump. She squeezed the boys harder than ever, and looked toward Bonnie, who had almost lost her grip on the motor control.

  She felt Zane trembling with fear. Greg redoubled his crying.

  Another wave hit the boat from another direction.

  “It’s trying to swamp us,” Lori said.

  The boat tilted from side to side.

  “Maybe I can kill it with my little friend,” Bonnie said. “Or at least wound it.” She bent down.

  “Where is it?”

  Lori looked too. There was no chainsaw in the boat. It must have flown out when the boat went airborne.

  “Zig zag,” Lori said.

  “What?”

  “Drive side to side, fast.” Lori moved her hand like a snake.

  Bonnie pressed the motor control. “Damn,” she muttered. She pulled the starter cord.

  “Oh no,” Lori said.

  “I’ll get it.” Bonnie pulled the cord again. Then again and again, as fast as she could. The motor didn’t start.

  The dino-reptile-whale-thing swam a leisurely circle around the boat.

  “Bonnie,” Lori said.

  “Hold on.”

  The creature dived.

  Bonnie pulled the starter cord. The motor coughed, then died.

  “Is it out of gas?”

  “Don’t know, ain’t my boat.” Bonnie kept
pulling the cord.

  Greg twisted in her arm, and she clutched him more tightly. Zane held her and trembled.

  There was a moment of silence. Then with a crack and a brilliant flash of lightning, the storm opened up its full fury. In a moment Lori felt like she had stepped into the shower and turned the cold water up as far as it would go.

  Rain splashed against the water already pooled in the bottom of the boat.

  Lori hoisted Zane over her shoulder. She held onto Greg as tightly as she could. “Can’t get any wetter,” she said.

  “What?” Bonnie said. “No, you ain’t gonna—”

  Lori kissed each of her sons on his head, pulled them tightly against her body, and jumped. They hit the water with jarring force. It was cold, but no colder than the rain. Behind her, the boat exploded upward , the sea creature pushing the craft into the sky as it tried to swallow it whole.

  Underwater, she kicked up. She pushed the boys toward air. She fought to find the surface between surging waves.

  They finally emerged and gasped for air.

  The reptilian behemoth threw its head back and forth nearby, making more waves. She saw a large piece of the boat in its toothy maw, seemingly stuck there. The monster gagged on it.

  It dived.

  “Bonnie!” Lori shouted. No response.

  I’m sorry I abandoned you, she thought, but I had to save my boys.

  She turned toward the building. She had to get them out of the water before some other monster showed up.

  It was hard to swim without using her arms. She flipped onto her back and kicked and kicked to keep all three heads out of the water. Still it washed over them with every wave.

  Something bumped her leg. A fish? A shark? Something worse? She gasped and tried to pull away. The object became visible as it floated to the surface.

  A person. No, part of one. Enough left to recognize her as Amanda Hotchkiss, a sweet, shy young lady who came to Lady’s Poker every week and never won.

  Lori kicked away from the partial body. Zane and Greg were too busy coughing and blinking water out of their eyes to see. She was grateful for that.

  Her back hit something. It was hard, but it didn’t bite or pull her under. She turned and found a computer desk bobbing on the water.

  Not letting go of the boys, Lori touched the desk. It moved with the waves, one side up, then the other. It wasn’t a very stable platform, but it would get the kids out of the water, she hoped.

  “Zane, honey,” she said.

  “Wha—” He coughed and opened one eye.

  “I need you to climb up a little.”

  “Don’t want to.”

  “It’s important.”

  “No!” He clung to her fiercely.

  “Please, honey. Mommy can’t swim like this much longer.”

  Zane lifted his head and looked at the bobbing desk. He let go of Lori’s neck.

  “Good boy,” she said. She helped him up onto the wooden surface. It wasn’t easy, any weight on one side tilt up. “Sit in the middle,” she told him.

  When he was almost centered on the desk, Lori pushed Greg up onto it. “Hold him,” she said. Zane put his arms around his brother and pulled him close.

  Getting herself onto the desk seemed impossible. It tilted too easily, as well as riding the waves up and down. She decided she needed to be the motor for this little craft anyway.

  The tower was closer, about three stories out of ten above the water, its antenna going up another thirty feet or so. She could make it. She had to. She started pushing the desk toward the tower, using her legs for propulsion, trying not to think about what kinds of horrors might be swimming below.

  At least the rain had let up a little. The thunder receded into the distance, muttering softly. Lori looked up every minute or two to make sure she was still going the right direction.

  “Mommy,” she heard Zane say.

  What now?

  “Mommy. Mommy. Mommy.”

  “Little busy here, honey.” She looked at him. He pointed out over the water.

  “The lady.”

  She twisted her head but couldn’t see anyone. Then she heard a cheery call. “Hey y’all!”

  “Bonnie!” Lori shouted. “Where are you?”

  In a moment, Bonnie swam up to the desk and put a hand on it. Her hair was a mess and her makeup washed off, but it looked like she was in one piece.

  “Look!” she said. “People. And Kenny is there!”

  Lori looked where Bonnie pointed. Behind the glass windows, on the floor just above the water, a group of people stared out at them. Finally, help.

  A fish popped out of the water. Silver, and very large. It looked like the kind of catch a proud fisherman might have mounted on a plaque. It had a blunt mouth full of teeth and an ugly bump on its head.

  The fish latched onto Bonnie’s uplifted arm and pulled it down as it splashed back into the water.

  Bonnie screamed.

  Zane burst into hysterics as Bonnie disappeared under the water.

  Lori dived down, letting go of the computer desk. Bonnie was still within reach. Her eyes were wide, and a silent scream bubbled out of her mouth. Lori grabbed the woman’s free arm and tried to pull her away from the fish.

  The air in Lori’s lungs started to run out. She needed to resurface, to breathe, but the fish pulled Bonnie farther and farther down.

  Something moved through the water beside her.

  Another fish?

  No. A man.

  He swam down past her, holding something in his hand.

  More blood, lots of it, flowed up toward the surface. The downward pull stopped. Lori kicked toward air, and life. She pulled on Bonnie and sensed the man nearby doing the same.

  Air was sweet. She took it in. Other heads popped out of the water next to her. Bonnie with her eyes closed. And another.

  “Kenny?” Lori said.

  She heard a call of “Mommyyyyyyy!” The computer desk. The kids. She turned in the water, desperately trying to see them, but all she saw was water and the scientists in the window.

  “They’ll be okay,” Kenny said. “We’ll get them.” He had a big kitchen knife in one hand. A strip of scaly fish skin dangled from the blade.

  Lori turned Bonnie and looked at her bitten arm. It was shredded below the elbow.

  “Stop the bleeding,” she said. “Tie something around her arm.”

  Kenny nodded. He squirmed in the water and produced his belt. He tied it around his grandmother’s arm and pulled it tight. Not tight enough, probably, but sufficient for the time being.

  “Let’s get out of the water.”

  Kenny pulled Bonnie toward the tower. Lori saw that one of the big glass windows was now broken. Several of the scientists stood behind it looking out.

  “Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

  Which way? Where were they?

  Then Zane’s voice: “Daddy!”

  Where was he? She saw him, swimming and pushing the computer desk toward the tower. When he got to the window, scientists kneeled and pulled the two boys into the building.

  Lori almost fainted with relief. She had really done it, really saved her kids.

  She swam toward the tower. Steve met her in the water. With a splash, they came together in a hug, then a kiss.

  He said, “Let’s get into the building.”

  The scientists who helped Lori, Steve, and Kenny up into the tower, clearly had their own stories to tell. Most of them had scratches or wounds. Some of them were armed with guns or knives or makeshift clubs.

  Kenny knelt nearby, tending to his grandmother. Some of the others helped, trying to make her comfortable. She didn’t look good.

  Lori checked on Zane and Greg. Both were shivering.

  “Are there any blankets or anything?”

  “Here,” a man she didn’t know said. He took off his suit jacket and gave it to her. She put it on Zane. Someone else provided a sweater to wrap Greg in.

  She needed to change him
out of his soaked diaper.

  She turned to the group. “What the hell did you do?”

  The group looked blank.

  “A sea in the desert?” she prompted. “Dinosaurs?”

  Steve started to say something.

  “We can’t tell her about our work,” hissed a short man with thick glasses.

  Steve said, “Do you still think we have jobs, Carl?”

  Carl shut up.

  “It’s the Narobrian Sea,” piped up a man with a bushy mustache.

  “Huh?”

  “The Great Inland Sea that covered a lot of North America during the Cretaceous.”

  “It’s a time bubble,” Steve said.

  Lori looked at him.

  “The theory was that a time bubble could be formed in a fusion reactor bombarded with enough neutrinos, and—”

  “We’ve been making time bubbles for months,” the mustached man said. “Today we tried to expand one. It…well, it worked. But the neutrinos—”

  “Forget the physics,” Lori said. “It doesn’t matter. Tell me why.”

  “Collins,” Steve said.

  Walter Collins, who founded Collins Research Ltd. The press called him a reclusive billionaire, but he had appeared at a company dinner not long after she, Steve, and the boys moved to town. He was a silver haired man in his seventies, still in good shape. Lori had shaken his hand.

  “He started all this for one reason,” Steve continued. “To send a message.”

  “A text message,” another man chimed in. Lori recognized him. Bernie, the team’s computer expert. She’d talked to him for half an hour at the company dinner. “The first text message sent back in time.”

  “Steve, honey,” Lori said, “you all sound like lunatics.”

  “I know.” He waved his hands apologetically. “But it’s true. The message he wants to send is ‘Darling, please take the car this morning.’”

  “Mrs. Collins died in a commuter train crash six years ago,” another man said.

  Lori couldn’t take it all in. “The whole thing,” she said. “The company, the town, the secrecy, were all so Collins could tell his wife not to take the train.”

  “Yeah,” Steve said.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “Fix—”

  “Turn it off, make it right, put everything back to normal.”

  “We can turn off the reactor,” Steve said. “But we don’t know what will happen. We might be stuck in the Cretaceous permanently.”