by Logan Jacobs
“The old man that led them out didn't seem like he wanted to fight,” the Asian woman pointed out. “He might keep the others from coming back.”
“I wouldn’t trust that old codger,” the blonde girl said. “He was just as angry as the rest, but he was smart enough to realize that we could have killed them all. He’s probably whispering into their ears right now, telling them how they have to break in here and steal our stuff, and we’ll deserve it after what happened to Alan.”
“You don’t think very highly of your fellow Englishmen,” I snickered.
“I know his type,” Becka replied. “He’s a right bastard when he’s at home, believe me.”
“So we have two looming threats that we need to address,” I said. “But which one is the more immediate threat? The bird or the men?”
“We could solve them both if we went up north,” the blonde girl noted.
“That’s one solution,” I replied. “But then we’d just be replacing the threats we do know with a lot of threats we don’t know anything about.”
“I do not think the bird threat is as bad,” Hae-won added. “It can’t hide and sneak up on us, and if we are careful, it can’t catch us when we go outside. And it can’t get to us in here.”
“But all it takes is for one of us to stop looking for a moment, and then it can swoop down and grab us,” the blonde girl replied. “Just like it did today.”
“The dinosaur also doesn’t understand enough to stay away even though I shot it,” I added. “It’ll just keep coming back as long as it thinks there’s food here.”
“You could say the same thing about the men,” Hae-won pointed out.
“So which one would be easier to deal with?” I asked.
None of us had an answer for that, and as we unpacked the bags and worked out where to store everything, I wondered if we should even bother. As much as I wanted to stay in our little bunker, it was really starting to feel like our time in the gallery was coming to an end. Even if we somehow killed the Pterodactyl, other dinosaurs would probably appear to take its place, and eventually, we would have to face the locals, and that was not a war I really wanted to fight in the middle of a dinosaur invasion.
“I think there is only one real question,” Hae-won said when we’d finished stowing our supplies. “Is it safer to stay or to go?”
“There’s no way to be sure,” I sighed. “At least here, we know the risks. But those are just the ones we know about today. As long as the portals keep opening and people become more desperate, that could change. So leaving is tempting, but then we have no idea what we might encounter on the road, or what it will even be like once we get wherever we’re going.”
“Well, we can always check the news for information about the roads,” Becka said as she picked up her phone and started to type.
I nodded as I moved toward the sink. I filled three cups with water and passed them around, and then sipped on my drink while I waited for Becka to speak. The Brit scowled at her phone and jabbed at the screen a few times, then sighed and shook her head.
“The roads are still mostly blocked,” the blonde woman said with a note of defeat. “No one’s been out to move the cars from the roads.”
“They have been a bit preoccupied,” I pointed out.
“But isn’t Tim designed to drive across grass and sand and such?” Becka pressed.
“It is,” I replied. “But I don’t think it would do very good in forests or tight spaces.”
“Maybe we could find another way to travel,” Hae-won said.
“Like what?” I asked. “I’m definitely not getting in a plane with Pterodactyls flying around. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven’t heard or seen a commercial jet since all this started.
“Maybe a boat,” Becka suggested. “We could travel along the rivers and canals.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I wonder if there are dinosaurs in the rivers?”
“If we stay in the smaller rivers, then the dinosaurs would be smaller,” Becka said. “Right?”
“Ummm, yeah,” I said doubtfully. “Maybe.”
“We should check,” Hae-won replied. “See if people have seen any dinosaurs in the rivers.”
“If you’ll work on that, I’ll see what news there is about the River Cam, and I guess the other rivers as well,” I said. “It might give us a better idea about whether we should stay or go.”
I moved to the table and opened my laptop while the girls both sank onto the sofa with their phones. The sound of tapping filled the air as we entered our requests, and a moment later, I looked over the results for my search for news on river monsters.
“Wow, Cambridge has nearly been destroyed,” I said as I looked over the picture results.
“It’s those bloody bombs they’ve been dropping,” Becka asserted.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “The dinosaurs aren’t helping, either.”
“I just hope there still is a Cambridge after all this is done,” Becka sighed.
“I’m sure there will be, though there will be a lot of reconstruction,” I noted.
“At least someone will still have a job,” Becka snorted.
“Maybe we can all work as builders,” Hae-won suggested with a grin.
I grinned back, then pulled up some of the news sites. Most of the articles just rehashed information that I’d read before, though the number of deaths was growing, as were the number of dinosaur sightings. The creatures were spreading across the island now, and as we’d seen, it seemed to be more of the smaller, faster packs of dinosaurs instead of the large predators. I was about to give up and move to another site, when a small piece caught my attention.
“This is interesting,” I said. “They’ve found a pattern to some of the portals, and when one of them opened recently, they sent a special ops team through.”
“What did they find?” Hae-won asked.
“They don’t know,” I replied as I scanned the article. “As soon as they stepped through, their radios and cellular communications stopped working.”
“Poor bastards,” Becka said. “Just imagine what they stepped into, if they even survived stepping through at all.”
“But if they did survive, this could be very helpful,” the Asain girl mused. “Maybe it will explain where the portals have come from.”
“Except they can’t talk to anyone still here,” Becka pointed out.
“At least, not until the portal returns,” I said. “Maybe they’ll be able to walk back through again.”
“A fixed point on both sides,” Hae-won mused. “It could be possible.”
We returned to our searches, but the only other interesting tidbit I could find was a map of the known portals. There were different colored dots scattered around the island that indicated whether or not a pattern had been detected in the appearance of the portals. I zoomed in on the blue dot for Cambrigde and was told that while the portal had been detected on more than one occasion, no one had spent much time working out the pattern.
“I need a break,” the British woman declared. “And I definitely need food. I think sausage rolls are called for.”
“Um, sure,” I replied. “Never tried one before, even though I’ve been here for months.”
“You’ll love them,” Becka assured me. “True English food.”
“That’s really not much of a recommendation,” I noted.
Becka winked at me, but she abandoned the couch and moved toward our kitchen area. She found the promised sausage rolls in the freezer and placed them in the toaster oven, and soon the staff room began to smell like baking dough and warm fennel. Hae-won and I took turns in the bathroom so we wouldn’t dump dirt, dust, and other detritus onto our food, and after checking on the sausage rolls, Becka also retreated into the bathroom to wash up.
“I want a real shower,” the blonde announced when she returned. “It’s been over a week since we managed to get one and I think that we’re all starting to get a bit… well , gamey.”
“It would be nice,” Hae-won sighed. “It is very difficult to clean my hair in the sink.”
“The idea of standing under a spray of hot water does sound wonderful,” I agreed. “My dorm’s the closest. Maybe we can head over there tomorrow and use the showers.”
“Really?” the British girl asked with her eyebrows scrunched together. “I thought it was going to take more convincing than that. Can we go in the morning?”
“Sure,” I said. “It would probably be a good idea to stay on campus tomorrow anyway. I’m sure those men have set up a watch to keep an eye out for us if we try to leave again.”
“Does that mean we have a free day?” Hae-won teased.
“A holiday,” Becka added with a laugh.
“The only thing I wanted to work on tomorrow was the portal,” I said. “No one’s tried to work out the pattern for the one that’s here, but I was hoping I could combine some of the information online with what we’ve seen and work out when it’s likely to reappear.”
“That would be nice to know,” Hae-won said. “Then we could be prepared for the next appearance.”
“We could greet the thing as it stepped through,” Becka noted. “Give it a taste of our guns before it can do any damage.”
“That’s the plan,” I agreed.
“I think there is one other thing we should do tomorrow,” the Korean sighed. “We keep saying we are going to do it, but we never do.”
“Ah,” I murmured. “The pills.”
“Yes,” the Korean agreed. “The pills. Perhaps we could find the ones I dropped?”
“Forget that,” Becka said. “We’ll just find the nearest chemist and head out after we clean up. I’m sure many of the stores have been looted, but I doubt anyone thought to take birth control pills. Or condoms.”
“I think Becka’s right,” I replied. “Let’s just find a store and take all the ones we can get our hands on. Who knows when they’ll start making them again so we might as well lay in a large supply.”
Hae-won smiled and nodded, and Becka gave the Korean a wink.
“It will be a good day,” Hae-won declared.
The oven dinged, and Becka found a large plate to put the rolls on. I refilled the cups, and then we gathered around the table to feast on sausage rolls, bags of chips, and plenty of water. The sausage rolls were great, with lots of onion and sausage packed into a thick, yeasty roll. I could have eaten another dozen just by myself, but my stomach was happy if not completely full, and I didn’t want to be the one to ruin our rationing. With a sigh, I finished the last of my potato chip crumbs, then helped Hae-won with the small bit of clean-up that was required.
We turned back to our research afterwards, and I started with one of the books on dinosaurs. I didn’t have much more luck than Hae-won had, though, and I finally gave up on trying to identify all of the creatures we’d seen and grabbed the fishing book instead. It turned out to be a good read as well as a fantastic source of information, and I even practiced a few of the knots using a ball of twine I found in one of the drawers. The more useful knots I made over and over again until I was confident I could recreate them in a pinch without having to consult the book.
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly, though we all froze for a moment when a large shadow passed by the window. Becka prepared more noodles for dinner, in a vaguely Italian style, though I don’t think any of us really tasted it as we continued to flip through the books and the laptop. When we finally decided to call it a day, I made a last round of the windows and doors, set a few sharp objects under the windows in case someone or something decided to pry the boards off during the night, then joined the girls upstairs on the mattresses.
The sun was fully up when I finally opened my eyes, and a quick glance at my phone showed it was eight o’clock already. I’d slept heavily, and I felt a moment of paranoia as I wondered if someone had managed to sneak in last night without stepping on any of the traps I’d set. I shimmied off the mattress as I tried not to wake the girls, and I padded across the cold floor to the window. I watched the quad and the roofs of the buildings, but the Pterodactyl hadn’t returned, and the townies were nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, Jason,” Becka called from the mattress in a sleepy voice.
I jumped at the sudden sound, then chuckled to myself. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the blonde was sitting up, though she still looked half asleep. Her hair was in disarray, and her nose crinkled as she squinted in the bit of sunlight that slanted across the floor.
“How’s it look out there?” the Brit asked.
“All clear, from what I can see,” I replied.
“Good, then we should be able to take a shower,” Becka said with a yawn.
The blonde stood up and moved toward the sink. She filled the kettle and set it to boil while she found the tea bags and some clean mugs.
“Coffee or tea?” Becka asked.
“Coffee for me,” I replied.
“And me,” Hae-won called out from beneath her blanket.
“Heathens,” Becka said with a shake of her head.
“Last night was nice,” the Korean said as she took a seat at the table. “It felt like I was really in school again. I like relaxing for some time.”
“It felt like we could stop and think again,” Becka added. “With all this running around and killing dinosaurs, we haven’t had much time to stop and be still.”
“It was nice,” I agreed. “But don’t jinx it.”
“What does that mean?” Hae-won asked.
“If you talk about how good things are going, then something bad will happen and screw things up,” I said.
“Ah, yes,” Hae-won nodded. “We have a similar belief.”
“So, showers today,” Becka said gleefully as she tossed the last of the crumpets into the toaster. “After that, I don’t care.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to take a shower,” Hae-won agreed. “But do we have to wear our armor just to walk over there? It’s not that far, and I don’t want to get dirty when I put it back on.”
“We shouldn’t go outside without the armor,” I replied. “Even if we’re just crossing the quad. Besides, we can clean the armor as well. It definitely needs it, and then you won’t have to worry about getting dirty just by putting it on.”
Hae-won didn’t look happy at the idea, but she nodded at least. Becka placed the french press on the table, already filled with grounds and hot water. The scent of roasted coffee started to fill the room, and I drank in the scent while I waited for the beans to finish steeping. A few minutes later, and we had our crumpets and beverages spread out before us, a meal that had become our normal breakfast routine.
We ate quickly and then gathered up everything we would need for the showers into one of the new backpacks so at least two people would always have easy access to their guns, then headed downstairs to the main entrance. Hae-won held her nose as she picked up the various bits of armor, but she still loved the kick-ass image too much to remain disgusted for long.
“You should see yourself,” Becka laughed as she watched Hae-won slip the last piece into place.
“It will be better when it’s clean again,” Hae-won replied.
“Whoo, I hope so,” Becka said as she sniffed at her own armor.
When we were armed and armored, we moved our barricade, then opened the door slowly. The quad was empty so we stepped outside into the bright spring day. I locked the door, and after another quick check, we started along the edge of the quad toward my old dorm.
“Jason!” Becka called out in a frightened voice when we were in front of the next building.
It only took me a second to spot what had caught her eye. A dinosaur had just stepped into view, its head lowered slightly as it tried to peer in windows and sniff the nearest buildings. It wasn’t as tall as the Difo, but it was more muscular and had its own impressive array of very sharp teeth.
Chapter 15
“Crap,” I muttered as I took in the latest edit
ion to the menagerie.
There was no doubt this was another carnivore, with its large, pointed teeth, massive hind legs, scrawny forelegs that looked like withered arms compared to the rest of it, and thick claws that could easily tear me in half. The skin was scaled like a snake, though the dusty orange color and bright red spots didn’t look like any snake I’d ever seen. There was also a single horn on top of its head and a swishing tail that left a path of destruction in its wake.
“Just back up slowly,” I said quietly. “We need to get inside the gallery and figure out what to do. No sudden movements.”
We started to back up slowly, and I heard Becka shift the backpack so she could reach for her gun. We tried to stay in the shadows, but somehow the thing spotted our movements. Its head suddenly swung in our direction, and it let a noise that was somewhere between a roar and growl.
“Jason, what do we do?” Becka asked. “Do we run?”
“We won’t make it to the gallery,” I said as the thing took a step in our direction.
It sniffed the air again, as if to confirm what it had seen, and then it started to rumble across the quad toward us. I could feel the tremors in the ground as the thing moved, and the chunks of grass that were tossed into the air every time its foot lifted off the ground.
I aimed my rifle at its chest, and then opened fire. The sound of my rifle, followed a moment later by the rat-a-tat from the girls’ guns, bounced off the surrounding buildings, and I saw my bullet hit square in the middle of its chest as it did. Blood spurted from the wound and fell toward the ground in a red shower, but the hole barely looked like a scratch in the dino’s massive torso.
This time the dino let out a full-throated roar that shook the windows in the surrounding buildings. The head came down again, the teeth on full display, as the hind legs tensed, and I knew it was about to charge. Even if we could make it back to the gallery, we’d never get the door open in time, and then the thing would crash into our base and probably crush it.