by Logan Jacobs
“Who’s there?” an unfamiliar voice called from the other side of the fence.
“Did you guys hear that?” Becka whispered.
“Hello?” Another voice called out, slightly louder. “Who’s there?”
“Shit,” I muttered. “This could be trouble.”
Chapter 8
“Stay low, get behind the dorm building,” I whispered.
We retreated back to the corner of the building and into the narrow alley where the shadows would keep us hidden. I drew a deep breath and waited to see if anyone would approach the fence from the road. A moment later, I spotted a man in an old trench coat as he stepped out from an empty doorway. A handful of other men soon appeared as well.
“I think it is the men from before,” Hae-won whispered to me.
The men all carried cricket bats and whatever other weapons they had found, though I still didn’t see any guns. They scanned the area, including the sky, I noticed, and then they crept closer to the dinosaur we’d just killed.
“You heard those gun shots, right?” I heard one of them say. “They must have taken out this beast.”
“Hey, who’s there?” another one asked and raised his voice so it carried across the campus. “We know you’re in there. Just come out and talk to us.”
“What do we do?” Hae-won asked.
“Should we go talk to them?” Becka asked.
“Hold on,” I said and tried to listen to what they were saying to each other.
“How many guns do you think they have?” one of the men asked.
“And do you think they have that truck out front, too?” another added.
“Are you sure they’re college kids?” one asked. “I don’t see how they could get equipment like that.”
“Maybe they found it in the truck,” someone suggested. “Or maybe in one of the buildings. I hear they’ve got all sorts of things they’ve hoarded away on the campus. They could have found some big guns from World War Two.”
An argument broke out among the men as they debated what, if anything, the campus would have hidden away in its secret tunnels and ancient catacombs, including, according to one bloke, an entire missile silo.
“I say we keep quiet,” I whispered. “We know they tried to steal Timothy, and I’m sure they’ll want the guns as well. If they figure out there’s only three of us, they’ll probably hatch some crazy plan to steal those as well. I’d rather not have to shoot another human right now.”
“I don’t know, Jason,” Becka said. “They’ll spot us eventually if they keep up this surveillance of theirs. Maybe it’s better if we just confront them now and tell them to get lost.”
“I don’t think that will go over very well,” I said. “Especially when they realize we’re just students, and we aren’t concealing some platoon of army guys in here.”
“But we’re the ones with the guns,” the Brit protested.
“I just don’t think starting a feud right now is a good idea,” I replied.
“Hae-won, what do you think?” Becka asked.
The blue-eyed girl tilted her head as she considered the question.
“If it would make them leave us alone, I would say we should confront them,” Hae-won replied. “But I haven’t seen anything that makes me think they’ll just leave. They seem very determined.”
“Exactly,” I said. “My guess is that they’ll leave now but come back later to try to steal everything.”
“But then why not just do that now?” the British girl asked. “Why try to talk to us?”
“Because they don’t know who we are,” I said. “They’ve seen the armored carrier, and they know that we have guns, so for all they know, it’s ten military guys that have camped here. I’d like them to keep thinking that for as long as possible”
Becka huffed as she gazed at the men again. They were prodding the dinosaur through the fence with their bats, and the discussion seemed to have veered to one about baiting a trap for the Pterodactyl using the dino we’d just shot. There were several suggestions on how to get the corpse to their side of the fence, most of which involved hacking it to pieces and pulling it between the bars.
“It’s just annoying to have to tiptoe around whenever we want to do something,” Becka replied.
“What would you rather do?” I sighed since it was clear Becka wasn’t going to let this go.
“What if you go out by yourself as a ‘representative’,” the blonde suggested. “Take one of the guns and tell them you and your army mates are here to protect the national treasures on the campus or some such nonsense.”
“There’s a couple of problems with that,” I said. “I’m not in a uniform, for starters. And I have an American accent.”
“Well,” the blonde hesitated. “There are American soldiers in Britain.”
“Who would no doubt be protecting American bases right now,” I pointed out. “Not holing up on some college campus protecting national treasures.”
“He is right,” Hae-won agreed with a nod.
“Right,” Becka finally sighed and smiled at me. “We’ll ignore them for now. But I still think we’re going to have to confront them at some point, and you’ll kick their asses. You are brilliant, and you’ve got us this far.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said as I returned the beautiful blonde’s smile.
“Speaking of dinosaurs,” Hae-won said and gestured toward the big green creature. “What do we do about that one?”
The men were still there, though they’d start to drift back toward the other side of the road. I couldn’t hear them as clearly, so I had no idea if they were still planning to use our latest kill as a way to trap the Pterodactyl.
“We’ll have to leave it for now,” I said. “If we’re lucky, maybe those guys will get rid of it for us. If not, we’ll have to find a time when they’re not watching the body to move it.”
“I really didn’t picture myself as a dinosaur corpse remover,” Becka sighed. “I had plans for my future, you know?”
“We all did,” I chuckled. “And maybe we can get back to those plans one day soon if the government can figure out how to stop those portals from opening.”
“But we can still remove the others today, yes?” Hae-won asked.
“I think we still have time,” I replied. “And everything should fit on the tow truck, especially since we cut up the raptors in the classroom. Let’s split up and get this done quickly. Hae-won, why don’t you get the tow truck and start collecting the remains we left at the classroom and the vultures on the quad. Becka and I will head to the library and chop up the dinosaurs there. You can bring the tow truck over when you’re done, and we’ll finish loading it up.”
“Don’t forget about all our supplies,” Becka added.
“I will put those in the truck as well,” Hae-won replied. “Then we can drop them off at the gallery on our way to the dump site.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “Okay, let’s go.”
We crept down the alley as quietly as we could. The men were still on the other side of the fence, apparently hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever had killed the big dinosaur. I spared one last glance in their direction, then followed the girls back into the depths of the campus. Near the quad, Becka started off toward the library while Hae-won turned toward the gallery. I grabbed the Korean girl’s elbow as gently as I could, though, and nodded at the sky.
“If that Pterodactyl returns, don’t mess around,” I said. “Get inside as fast as you can, even if that means you drive the truck through a door.”
“I will,” the Korean promised.
I glanced at the sky again, then at the scavenger bodies that dotted the quad.
“Maybe I should take care of those,” I said.
“Perhaps we can do those last,” Hae-won suggested. “I will do the classroom, then drive to the library. We will load everything there, then stop and collect the ones in the quad.”
“That might be safer,�
� I agreed. “Let’s do that.”
Hae-won nodded, gave me a smile and a kiss on the cheek, then left me in the drizzle to retrieve the tow truck. I watched her until she reached the relative safety of the truck, and then turned to follow Becka to the library. The blonde was already standing by the bodies by the time I arrived, an axe in one hand and the roll of bin bags in the other.
“Gloves are over there on the window sill,” she said.
I pulled out a pair of heavy duty gloves from the pack, grabbed the other axe, then joined her by the corpses. We grinned at each other, and then started to hack away at the bodies. It was backbreaking work, but we soon had the limbs, heads, and tails off, and stowed them in the plastic bags. Becka found the cleaning supplies, and we did what we could to remove the muck on the floor, though a reddish stain remained despite our scrubbing. Hae-won arrived as we were moving the bags to the door, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of disinfectant that now permeated the library.
“It doesn’t smell like a library anymore,” she said.
“Give it a couple of days,” I said as Hae-won joined us. “The smell will go away.”
“Let’s get these on the truck,” Hae-won said. “And then we can collect the ones in the quad.”
“We should chop those up as well,” I said. “It will make it easier to move them.”
“Sure thing, Jason,” Hae-won agreed as she grabbed one of the bags with dino parts.
Hae-won had piled the other garbage bags onto the back of the tow truck and placed the bags of supplies in the cab. It was starting to get crowded in the truck, but I really wanted to have as many of these dead dinos off the campus as we could manage. We loaded up the rest of the dino bits, then grabbed the books, printouts, and even a printer from the computer lab and added those to our collection.
Hae-won then drove the tow truck to the last collection of bodies while Becka and I followed behind with the axes. When we arrived, Hae-won was standing near the bodies with a roll of bin bags in her hands and a frown on her face.
“I think we need to cut the wings from the torsos,” the Korean girl said as we joined her. “Otherwise, I don’t think they will fit inside the bags.”
“Oh, yay,” Becka sighed. “More chopping.”
“I will help this time,” Hae-won said quickly. “We will trade like we did before. And I will go first, since you just did the ones in the library.”
Becka gave Hae-won a grateful look as she handed over the axe. Hae-won grinned and turned to look at me with an expectant look.
“I guess you’ve got watch,” I said to Becka.
“Right.” The Brit nodded and then climbed on top of the tow truck’s hood with her gun and her sword. She started to hum a tune as Hae-won and I began to cut up the dinosaur version of a vulture. The thin neck and limbs were easy enough to remove, especially since the things had hollow bones like a normal bird. The wings, however, turned out to be more difficult, and it took all three of us to finally remove the last set of wings and toss them into the garbage bag.
“I thought we were never going to finish,” Becka said as she brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “So is this all of them?”
“There’s one still in the dorm,” I replied as I glanced toward the sun. “If we take the tow truck, we might be able to get rid of that one as well.”
“I’d forgotten about that one,” Becka sighed. “Well, we might as well collect him as well.”
“What about the librarian?” Hae-won asked.
I glanced at the bags on the back of the truck. It was actually easy to pick out the librarian’s remains since it was the only bag with a double knot.
“It does seem awful to just toss him with the dinosaurs,” Becka mused. “Maybe we should bury him?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But we’d have to bury him pretty deep, and we haven’t found any shovels.”
“Still,” Becka protested.
Both girls looked upset at the idea of just tossing the librarian out with the dinos, even though there wasn’t anything left that you could identify him by. I nodded, though, and moved the bag apart from the others.
“We can work something out tonight,” I said. “In the meantime, let’s get the one in the dorm and then get these bodies out of here before nightfall.”
Satisfied, we climbed into the crowded cab of the truck and drove to the dorm room. Hae-won went slowly, so none of the bags would bounce off the back of the truck, and Becka and I kept checking out the back window to make sure we hadn’t lost any.
Despite the aches we were all feeling, we made quick work of the last dino and added it to the large collection of bags on the back of the truck. Hae-won turned back to the quad, and we made a quick stop to drop off the supplies we had collected for the gallery and found a shaded spot to leave the remains of the librarian. We also gulped down a few glasses of water and polished off a bag of chips while we were in our new home. Feeling slightly refreshed, we climbed back into the cab of the tow truck for our last big mission of the day.
“I do have one small request,” Becka said as we neared the gate.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Can we go by Butterfield’s and grab some more stuff?” the brown-eyed girl asked. “They have better tea, and I bet they have better coffee, too. Besides, I’m dying for a pint after this.”
“You want a pint?” I laughed.
“Or wine. Anything alcoholic,” Becka said. “There has to be something left. I know there were taps.”
“Sure,” I replied. “I could use a drink, too, honestly. We can swing by there after we drop off the dinos.”
“Yes,” the blonde grinned. “Do you like beer, Hae-won?”
“Not really,” the Korean girl replied. “Only if it’s with soju.”
“I don’t think you’re going to find that here,” I said.
“Don’t worry, we can figure out something you like.” Becka smiled. “They have, well, had, a pretty well stocked bar.”
“To the dump site,” I declared. “And then to the bar.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Becka asked.
“Unless someone has a better name,” I replied.
“Hmmm,” Becka mused. “Her Majesty’s Charter Disposal Facility.”
“Not quite royal enough,” Hae-won said. “We need a better word for disposal.”
We’d arrived at the gate by then, so I gave up on finding a better word for disposal and studied the surrounding area. No one appeared as we drew even with Timothy, and I didn’t spot anyone lurking in the shadows, either. Still, the townies had managed to conceal themselves before, and I didn’t want to move the truck until I was sure.
“I’ll do a quick sweep,” I said as I picked up the rifle. “If it’s clear, I’ll move the carrier and you pull through.”
“Will do,” Hae-won agreed.
“I can go with you,” Becka offered. “Two sets of eyes would be better than one, especially since we have to look for dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs, and angry townies.”
“Sure,” I replied. “But make sure you only shoot if there’s really something there. The last thing we need to do is alert everyone to our presence because we started shooting at shadows.”
“I will not shoot at shadows,” the brown-eyed girl scoffed. “And I shot that big dinosaur without missing.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said with a grin.
“Okay, maybe a few shots missed,” Becka conceded, “But Hae-won took most of the shots that missed.”
“I hit him,” the Korean cut in. “One hundred percent.”
“Come on, Annie Oakley,” I teased. “Let’s make sure we don’t have any company.”
We climbed from the truck and approached Tim. I checked the door to make sure the carrier was still locked, then checked underneath for any signs that someone was standing on the other side. I lifted Becka up for a quick peek on top, but she reported that Tim remained townie free.
“Stay here,” I said as I passed t
he key to Becka. “I’ll check out the street.”
I rolled underneath the carrier, did another check for any signs of approaching humans, then crawled out the other side. I pulled myself into a crouch and scanned for any signs of either humans or dinos, but the road remained empty and quiet. I thought about checking the windows across the street, but the sun was getting low and there was a real chance we would get caught with all the dinosaur bits at night.
“Okay,” I called to the Brit, “Go ahead and move Tim.”
I heard the doors unlock, and then I saw Becka’s blonde hair through the windshield. She turned the engine on, and then eased the truck forward just enough for the tow truck to squeeze through. Hae-won pulled through the gate, and then stopped in the road while Becka backed Tim into his usual spot.
I waited until I heard Becka close the door as quietly as she could, and then the click as the locks were activated. I ran over to the tow truck and hopped in behind Becka.
“I think we’re good,” I said. “Let’s get this done before we lose the light completely.”
Hae-won nodded and moved the truck into gear. We rumbled down the street, faster than we’d moved around the campus. I glanced back once, but I wasn’t as concerned about losing a bag or two out here. The only thing that really mattered at the moment was ditching the bags before nightfall.
“We are here,” Hae-won announced as we pulled to a stop by the park.
“Looks like the scavengers have been here, too” Becka noted as she stared at some of our earlier deposits.
It was clear that something had already been eating the remains. Ribs had been picked clean and limbs had been chewed off. One head had been severed from the body and the eyeballs pecked out. It was a gruesome sight, and not one I wanted to be a personal witness to.
“Then let’s do this quickly,” I said. “Everybody hop into the back and just start tossing bags off.”
We climbed into the trailer and started throwing bags over the side. Most were light enough that one person could handle the bag, but a few heavier ones required two people to get the bags away from the truck. I didn’t realize just how many bags we had filled until it was time to get rid of them, and then it felt like an endless pile.