by Ian Woodhead
“Why, what are we doing?”
“We need to even the odds,” he replied, pulling her over to the shop. “We’re going to get tooled up.”
He hurried past the football shirts and the trainers, not slowing down until he reached the counter. “You’ll have to let go of my hand a moment.” Jefferson climbed onto the surface and reached for the crossbow attached to the wall.
“It’ll be locked. You’re going to need the key. You’ll need the key for that metal cabinet too. It’s where they keep the bolts.”
“Great,” he muttered. “Just great.” He turned around, using his higher elevation to survey the shop. Just like everywhere else, the place looked deserted. He’d already discovered, though, that this didn’t mean there wasn’t anybody about. Even so, he wasn’t about to start shouting for assistance. The woman pushed her body between his feet. She reached over the counter and chuckled.
“This might help.”
He jumped down, grinning at the sight of the cricket bat she held. It wasn’t one they sold in here. It looked more at home in the hands of some dodgy-looking pub landlord with those metal spikes embedded in the end.
“This belongs to Danny,” she said. “Some guy came into his shop a few months ago and pulled this out of a carrier bag. He told the young girl that if she didn’t give him all the money in the till then he’d use this on her face. What the idiot didn’t know was that Danny had already seen him. The would-be burglar was on the floor and out cold before another threat could come out of his mouth.” She handed it to him. “It’s not as good as a crossbow, but it’s bound to help you more than the original owner.”
“I wish Danny was here now,” said Jefferson.
Janine took his hand. “I think you’re doing just great.”
Jefferson didn’t think he was doing great at all. Right now, he wanted to drop this stupid bat, run to the toilets, and hide in a cubicle, hoping all this was some weird dream caused by drinking too much coffee. Not like he’d be able to run anywhere alone. Mrs. Butler’s vice-like grip on his hand would make sure of that. No matter how much he tried, Jefferson could not picture this woman currently holding his hand, giving him those puppy-dog eyes as that stern-looking, bad-tempered old bat who took great pleasure in giving David a hard time whenever the pair of them walked through her shop.
He smiled back at her. It’s odd how she never had a dig at him. David used to say that it’s because she thought he and David were riff-raff because they worked at the poor and scumbag store, that they brought down the tone of the whole mall. David used to call her the chair leg witch.
Would his mate see Janine as anything but the chair leg witch? Like a potential girlfriend for Jefferson, for example? No, of course not. David saved most of his lust for the untouchable Sandy, with whatever remaining, dished out to any pretty girl who happened to walk into the shop wearing a low cut top.
He came to the conclusion that she must wear that makeup just to look a lot older than she really was, because right now, she did not look a bit like the old crone that he and Davis used to take her for. He reckoned Janine to be in her late thirties, certainly no old than forty. Not that much older than him, give or take a decade.
She really did have a lovely smile and smooth skin.
Oh Christ. What was wrong with him? Why had he suddenly started to think with his loins at a time like this?
“What’s on your mind?” she blurted out.
Jefferson reddened again. He felt like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar by his mum. “I was just thinking about those shutters outside your store. I know we can’t get out the main entrance, so I was trying to think of another way out of here.”
All the blood drained from the woman’s face. She even let go of his hand to steady herself. “We don’t have any shutters. I’ve already told you that.”
“In that case, why didn’t you leave the store when you could?”
Jesus, what the fuck was wrong with him? A single tear ran down the side of her face. He waited for the inevitable mantra of she loves her job and she has lots of friends to tumble from her mouth. Instead, Jefferson found himself looking at the woman who snarled at David this morning. All traces of her recent femininity had vanished. She spun around and walked out of the shop, leaving him feeling utterly wretched.
Why couldn’t she keep his big mouth shut?
“Wait up!” he shouted, running after her. The woman had not gone far. He found her sitting in one of the many seating areas dotted around the mall. All the chairs in this one were green. “Look, I’m sorry, Janine. I shouldn’t have snapped at you, it’s just…” his words trailed off when he realised that the woman wasn’t taking the least bit of noticed in what he said. Her gaze was fixed of the group of dark brown, armoured dinosaurs munching their way through the contents of the fruit and veg in the mini-market.
“Look at them,” she said. Her tears had gone; she now looked almost blissfully happy.
“Janine?”
She turned her head and smiled. He couldn’t help himself. Jefferson smiled back and took her hand when she offered it.
“Come on.” She stood and pulled him into the shop.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean. They’re not exactly small.”
“Don’t be a baby. They are so beautiful!” Janine walked straight up to the first one. She grabbed an apple and held it under the creature’s muzzle. Incredibly, it took the fruit straight out of her hand.
He was a little relieved to find it hadn’t chomped off any of her fingers too. The woman gave it another apple before she reached out, grabbed Jefferson’s arm, and pulled him over. “Go on, pet its head. Look at them, Jefferson. Look how beautiful they are.”
“I wish David was here. He’d be able to tell us what they are. I mean, your new pals look like a Brontosaurus, but even I know they’re supposed to be a lot bigger than these are, Janine.”
“I don’t care what they are. I think they’re gorgeous.” She picked up another apple. “Aren’t you a hungry little thing? I love their colours.”
“They look like giant bees.” The woman chuckled. “Janine, I don’t want to sound rude here, but we’re supposed to be looking for the others.”
“I know. Just one more apple first.” She picked up a golden delicious and twisted off the stem. “You do know that we’re perfectly safe here in here, David.” She placed the apple in her hand. “Safe from that monster, I mean.”
Jefferson nodded. He waited for her new friend to take the apple before he gently pulled the woman out of the store, seriously wondering if she was aware of the danger they were both still in. He tried to keep his temper in check and not to tell the woman that this wasn’t a fucking petting zoo. All the other shoppers and staff were still missing. If any of them had run into the monster from the furniture shop, then they’d be in bits. It was that simple.
“Come on, we’d best get a move on while that other thing is still behind us.” He turned around to make sure that none of those stripy dinosaurs had decided to follow them. Hell, if that thing did come down this way, those poor buggers wouldn’t stand a chance. Still, while it was busy eating them, it meant it wouldn’t be chasing him and the woman.
Jefferson pulled her across the concourse until he reached the mall corner. He flattened his back against the glass storefront, breathing in the fumes of fresh-brewed coffee drifting out of the open door. There was another more unpleasant smell mixed in with the roasting coffee beans. A taint which had already assaulted his nose when that large predator slaughtered the smaller one.
He squeezed her hand tightly, shut his eyes, and pressed the back of his head against the glass trying to calm himself down. He told himself that it was just another dinosaur corpse lying between those tables and not some headless teenage barista or a waitress with her steaming guts spread across the tiled floor.
“Are you okay, honey?”
He wanted to tell her that he was far from all right, that all he wanted to do was to find
his friends and get the hell out of here. He also wanted to tell Janine that his name was Jefferson and not honey. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit tired, that’s all.” Jefferson pulled the woman a little closer to his side and breathed in her perfume, hoping it would mask that sour stench of death.
“I can’t hear anything apart from the mall music.” He gazed into her eyes. “Please, stay close to me and watch my back. I’m Jefferson, by the way.”
She smiled back at him. “I already know your name.” She leaned in and gently kissed him. “Don’t worry, I’ll watch your back.”
Jefferson peered around the corner.
“What can you see?”
“Oh no!” he gasped.
Chapter Five
His sodden shoes splashed through the shallow pools of black water as Franco raced down the narrow passageway. The man’s legs cramped as the burning muscles screamed at him to stop. Every gasping breath that his blow-torched lungs took in felt like his last, and yet he refused to give up.
Thick blood streamed down both his upper arms where the occasional jutting-out nails ripped through his sweat-soaked skin as Franco ran past, but he hardly felt the pain. Nothing was going to get him to stop. Not until he was sure he was safe. Not until Franco had reached the old door which led into the sewer.
“They thought they’d caught me. Well, I showed them. Sure I did. Fuck Killmore. Fuck those stupid shoppers, and most of all, fuck whatever those things were.” Franco slowed, just enough for him to get enough air inside his body and to glance back the way he came. None of those things were following him. Of course they weren’t. They were as thick as frozen shit, the lot of them.
He broke into a relieved grin when the old door came into view. He’d done it, nobody or nothing could outwit old Franco on his patch. No matter what the creepy janitor thought, this was his patch.
It was a little odd how he’d not seen that dirty old man on the upper levels when they were all being herded together. Then again, knowing that cowardly piece of frozen shit, as soon as the fucking lizard birdmen showed, Desmond would have disappeared faster than the food the janitor stuffed down the front of his pants.
He saw Killmore though, swanning through that crowd of bubble-headed morons giving out all these annoying reassuring platitudes. Thing is, Franco knew she was just going through the motions, that her words weren’t having any effect on the assembled shoppers and staff. They weren’t working because those lizard birdmen had already done something to them first. They didn’t catch him, though. No way was he going to march to any pied piper.
Franco’s bones had been itching like a bastard all night. He always got like this before one of his deals were close to finalising. He sighed heavily, deciding that they weren’t chasing him after all. He sat down on an overturned metal box and wiped his brow. Franco had been that close to saying fuck it and staying in bed. It’s not like he really needed to open the pet shop. No bugger came in there anyway, not to buy stuff. He’d only be spending the day getting stressed out at the sight of the bubble heads coming in all the time and disturbing his rabbits and guinea pigs by ignoring his signs and tapping on the glass.
The kids were the worst. If he had his way, Franco would have every one of the little fuckers euthanized. It was the only way to deal with them in his book. Granted, he knew his temper had gotten worse over the past couple of days. It wouldn’t get any better until the deal had gone down.
Not all of his animals came through the proper channels. Some of his more expensive clients preferred an animal either endangered or illegal, and he knew enough contacts who could supply him with either.
The ultimate irony of his little side-line is that he would have made a bastard fortune if he’d been able to get to some of those nasty little critters that he had noticed running between the legs of the lizard birdmen.
Franco licked his fingers and gently wiped off some of the dried blood on his arm while trying to make some sense in what had been a thoroughly strange and fucked-up morning. His first thought at the sight of those man-shaped creatures, covered from head to foot in a soft yellow down striding along the upper balcony, was that the mall had put on some kind of stupid festival again. His opinion soon changed when a security guard ran at one of them, only for his intended target to pull out a short pipe. Within seconds, the uniformed fool stopped dead in his tracks. Even from his position behind his till, Franco could see this man develop a huge grin over his face before turning around, walking up to the thick glass barrier, and throwing himself over the edge. Right at that moment, when the bone-smashing noise reached his ears, he realised that it didn’t matter about the reason for their sudden appearance. All that mattered was for Franco not to end up as a concourse pizza. His own survival took precedence over everything else, and that included the two young girls who’d been sighing over his two floppy-eared grey rabbits.
He remembered ducking behind the counter and waiting for the two brats to hear the fun and games outside. Franco’s mum did not raise any fools. He knew just how important it was for those kids to believe that he had fucked out of the shop as well. Kids were gobby. They seemed to get off on grassing over people.
Just like the stupid rabbits they had been cooing over, the two girls quickly forgot their object of fascination as soon as they heard the excitable noises coming from outside. Franco watched them from behind his hiding place, silently urging them to hurry up and get the fuck out of his shop before those yellow-feathered bastards reached his shopfront. They’d only have to look through to glass to see his fat arse cowering under his cash register.
Franco allowed a slight smile of relief to ghost over his face when they finally buggered off. He ran around to the other side and hurried straight for the rabbit cages. He glanced around just once, before he ran his fingers along the side of the wooden cage until reaching a groove in the grain. Digging in his fingernails, he pulled out a block of wood the same size as a postage stamp, revealing a metal keyhole. Franco pulled out his wallet, took out a small silver key, and pushed it in before turning it. He heard a quiet click before a door-shaped panel swung open.
After replacing the block back into the slot, Franco disappeared behind the panel. As the false door closed behind him, the sounds of those two girls shrieking reached him. Franco guessed that their mothers did raise fools. If he had been in their shoes, Franco wouldn’t have gone out there, no chance. He’d have thrown himself under the shelving and pulling down some dog food bags. As far as he was concerned, it served them right for being so bloody nosy.
Franco finished cleaning his left shoulder and got to work on his other one. It had only been about an hour since he’d escaped from the carnage on the upper floor, and yet it felt like a full day had passed. He closed his eyes, wincing as the pain from the shoulder wounds finally caught up with him.
He had waited for a few minutes before leaving his beloved pet shop. His professional curiosity piqued to the maximum at the thought of some new life-form in his proximity. Now that he felt safe, Franco could at least indulge his inquisitive nature, even if it was for just a minute or two.
His heart rate went into fucking overdrive when two of them ambled into his shop. Oh Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the stable animals! They weren’t birdmen at all. The two of them reminded Franco of upright bearded dragons without any tails, but only in a superficial way. He knew without a doubt that these creatures were intelligent, and deadly. The claws on their hands and feet proved that. They both moved like a cross between a stalking cat and an excitable fat kid in a cake shop, especially when they spotted his caged animals.
He jumped back, almost crashing into the cages which he stored his illegal animals, when they ran up to the two rabbits. God, they were fast! Thankfully, this area was completely soundproofed. So even if he had made any noise, they wouldn’t have heard him, he hoped.
These new creatures were hunters though, so who knows what other senses they used to find their prey. Franco decided, while one of them was trying to
figure out how to open the rabbit cage, that enough was enough. He left them to it and left the hidden room by way of a hatch, set into the wall behind him.
Franco stood and examined the holes and grazes on his shoulders before he made his way towards the next door. He so wished he had grabbed his phone before running. Like the fool that he was, he had left the bloody thing beside the cash register. It would have been nice to have snapped a few pictures before leaving the mall.
Then again, maybe not. Any hesitation on his part might have meant that poor Franco here could have ended up back in there, along with all those other bubble heads, all waiting like stupid cattle at the gates to an abattoir, waiting for their imminent slaughter.
The feathered iguanas had pulled out ten people from the assembled crowd. Franco did note that each person selected was either from a different ethnic background or a different age. The last one was a little girl that one of them pulled out of a green pushchair. Just like that security guard, none of those shoppers had shown any distress at being herded into the middle of the concourse between a craft shop and a music store. From his hiding place behind a supporting pillar in the jewellers next to his pet shop, Franco witnessed a sight which even eclipsed the appearance of these terrible invaders. Franco had given their arrival some thought whilst squeezing his body between the outer wall and the false partitions. He came to the conclusion that the Earth had been invaded by aliens. It was either that or some kids had cooked them up with those chemistry sets that had been on sale in that shop opposite him over Christmas.
He saw dinosaurs, honest to God dinosaurs. They weren’t the size of that T-rex, or the one with three horns, but they were dinosaurs all the same. He counted eight animals, about the length of a pony, with their heads coming up to his shoulder. These looked just like the other dinosaurs from that kiddie movie set in a park. Velociraptor, that’s what they were called. Only in the movie, those nasty bastards weren’t covered in fucking canary feathers.