by Ian Woodhead
He watched as the train stopped and the automatic doors opened. Like an overstuffed cushion, the contents spilled out onto the platform. Steven shuffled towards the ticket barrier, eager to touch as many of commuters as he could.
Chapter Ten
The doors leading to the next level came into sight just as the eruption of human screams blasted out from the floor above. It wasn’t just from above them. Jefferson jumped back, almost tumbling back down the steps, when a shriek erupted from Janine as well.
The woman let go of his hand. She slammed her palm over her mouth and pressed her body against the wall in the stairwell, looking at the two boys, in utter horror.
Jefferson listened to the screams from beyond the doors die down until all he could hear was moans and groaning.
“Honey, are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Thanks, I’m fine, thank you. Please though, don’t call me that. I’m old enough to be your mother.”
David giggled. “Looks like your sci-fi gas has worn off. I should have known.”
Jefferson resisted the impulse put a crossbow bolt through the side of David’s head. He also resisted the urge to cry. God, he really was beginning to grow fond of this woman as well. “Can you tell me what you last remember?” He fully expected her to tell him and David that she knew nothing after opening up, that the effect of whatever their intruders had injected into the mall had made her forget everything.
She glanced up at the double doors before turning her attention back to him. “Jefferson, I remember everything, and it makes me feel…” She shook her head. “Look, forget it. I think we have more important issues to resolve.”
The woman looked at the katana she held in her hand, as if it was the first time she had seen it, despite helping David unscrew them from the wall of the sporting shop.
David held the other katana while Jefferson held his prized crossbow.
He couldn’t argue with her, no matter how much Jefferson so wanted to, not when there was too much at stake. They still need to find his other friends, and Jefferson had no idea what faced them on this level. He guessed that there’d be more dinosaurs up here and believed they’d have to face whoever or whatever had done this to the mall. Jefferson notched a bolt and ran up the remaining steps with the two others bringing up the rear.
“Are you ready?” he asked. Jefferson didn’t wait for a reply before he silently pushed open the door. He saw a couple of shoppers running out of the Happy Mex restaurant and down the wide corridor which led to the restrooms. He saw nobody else. Still, finding somebody up here alive and kicking gave him hope.
Jefferson slithered through the door, holding it open for the other two. “I’ve just seen a couple of people running out of the restaurant!” It was about time they had some good news. Jefferson was about to follow the shoppers when both David and Janine cried out. They both stared past Jefferson, their eyes bulging. He spun around and gasped out when the reason for fleeing shoppers became apparent.
Ducking its huge head so it could squeeze the rest of its huge body through the doorway, a monster which almost made Jefferson lose control of his bladder, moved that jaw bristling with curved teeth. The teeth were the size of Jefferson’s little finger. He felt a pair of hands trying to pull him back into the stairwell, but he shrugged them off. He wasn’t going to run, not now.
The large dinosaur dropped its head to the floor and sniffed at the tiles. It was acting as though he wasn’t even there! Jefferson then noticed the few spots of blood. He raised the crossbow, making he sure made no sudden moves.
The dinosaur then jerked up its head, switching its gaze from the corridor. The dinosaur’s eyes finally settled on Jefferson. It growled before running straight at him.
He squeezed the trigger before he dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way. The sudden roar of pain, which almost burst his eardrums, told Jefferson that his bolt had hit home, but the bastard still lived. The creature’s large shadow turned his world dark. He rolled again, just avoiding the wounded dinosaur’s sharp teeth as it lunged forward, its jaws snapping shut exactly where Jefferson’s head used to be. The crossbow flew from his grip and skittered along the floor. He managed to get to his feet and reach the edge of the next restaurant. His fingers curled around the back of a metal chair.
He spun around, ready for this roaring behemoth to lunge at him again, only to discover the creature dancing with both Janine and David while they slashed at its flesh with their swords. He let go of the chair, scooped up his crossbow, and managed to push his foot through the stirrup and pull back the string without slipping. He heard the sounds of crying and whimpering. It took Jefferson a moment to realise the noises were coming from him.
He notched in a bolt and ran towards his friends, needing to put this monster down before the creature killed them both.
Janine brought the sword down on the base of its tail, the blade sank deep into the flesh.
Jefferson watched in horror when the dinosaur twisted like a ballet dancer. She lost her grip on the weapon and its tail whipped around, sweeping David off his feet.
It lunged at the woman, those wicked fangs missing the top of her head by inches. Luckily, the woman saw that massive head falling towards her and dropped to the floor. It raised its foot.
Jefferson’s heart missed a beat. It was going to pin her to the floor!
“Over here, you scaly bastard!” he yelled, running up to it. Jefferson’s shout went unheeded; the thing must have decided that he wasn’t worth bothering with. He went down on one knee, steadied his aim, and fired. The bolt plunged into the dinosaur’s huge eye.
“And fuck you too!” he shouted when it fell forwards and slammed onto the floor. Jefferson jumped over its tail and ran over to Janine. “Oh God, I thought I had lost you!” He helped her up, deliriously happy to be holding her hand again, even if it was for a few seconds.
Jefferson retrieved her katana and helped David up. He brushed himself down and grinned at the pair of them.
“What a rush!”
“I’ll agree to that, David,” she said. “Who needs a gym membership when you can fight dinosaurs?”
These two wouldn’t even be alive if it hadn’t been for his quick reactions. Jefferson kept that little info nugget to himself. “We’d better go see if those people are okay.” He loaded his crossbow, hoping he’d have enough bolts to last. If they encountered any more of these buggers though, Jefferson decided that their lifespan would be measured in minutes. “Come on, guys, we had better get a move…” His remaining words dried up when he saw they were no longer alone.
“No,” hissed David, when Jefferson raised his crossbow. “That pack of Coelophysis aren’t here for us.”
Several of the little brown dinosaurs were dancing and hopping across the concourse, their heads darting left and right. Two of them jumped onto a table a few feet from where they stood, each one issuing bird-like chirps.
David quickly wiped his sword clean on the fallen dinosaur and motioned Janine to do the same. He then grabbed Jefferson’s arm. “We need to get past them.”
“Are you having a laugh?” Two on the table had now jumped off and were heading straight for them, he could hear their jaws snapping shut.
“Are you having a laugh, dude?” The two small dinosaurs on the table leaped off and were now heading straight for them. He heard their jaws snapping shut. “We should get those others out of toilets before it’s too late!”
Jefferson felt so betrayed when Janine skirted past him and joined David as he slowly edged along the wall. The two dinosaurs now became four, then five, as more of them skittered closer to the corpse.
“Leave them, Jefferson!” David commanded. “Seriously. It’s already is too late. They’ll be fine as long as they don’t leave.”
“But one bite!”
Janine ran over to him and grabbed his hand. “Do as you’re bleeding told!” The woman pulled him over to David. She didn’t even give the two little dinosaurs tha
t ran past them a single glance. She gently squeezed his hand, her grip becoming tighter when the rest of the excitable animals raced over to the corpse. He heard them fighting amongst themselves, each one trying their hardest to stay on top of the dead dinosaur’s head. He looked away when one of them pushed its snout into the corpse’s damaged eye.
“That’s a Troodon!” gasped, David. “I’ve never seen one so big before. I bet nobody has.”
“See a lot of them, do you?” snapped Jefferson. “Oh yeah. Shit, I forgot about the dinosaur family who pop into our shop every Saturday. They love the doggy treats. Don’t blame them, you won’t find them cheaper anywhere else.”
“Are you done?”
He turned on David. “No, I’m not fucking done. Look at your seal thigh thingies. Just look at them, for crying out loud. How are we going to help those people trapped in there now? Oh God, listen to me. I’m a dinosaur expert. I know all their names and everything. Everybody follow me. When, in fact, you know shit!” Jefferson rested his back against the glass front of a sushi restaurant, panting like a knackered dog. He knew he’d just gone too far, that him lashing out at his friend was purely from fear as well as frustration. He couldn’t find a way to stop his mouth from running off.
Jefferson turned around, he knew he should apologise, but he just couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to look at their faces anymore. He saw half a dozen people in the restaurant. Every one of them were staring right back at him. Jefferson felt like sticking out his tongue.
“Listen to the man of action. The hero of the flipping day. Listen, Jefferson. If you hadn’t been showing off in front of your girlfriend, that Troodon wouldn’t have even noticed us. No, not you. You just had to shoot at it and piss it off.”
Jefferson tried not to jump when David spun him around.
“As for not knowing shit.”
He thrust his fingers under Jefferson’s jaw and savagely twisted his head to the side. Another two smaller species were hovering around the perimeter. They and the Coelophysis all scattered when two larger animals appeared on the scene. Jefferson realised that the new arrivals looked exactly like the one he had brought down, just a little smaller.
“A large kill always attracts attention. It’s what’s happening now, so it stands to reason that it’s what would have happened back when these monsters ruled the planet as opposed to a shopping mall. Now, just imagine us running out of those bogs with our rescued people. How many of those things will the mighty hero take down before we all get ripped apart?”
Jefferson peeled David’s fingers away. He looked at the boy and sighed. “Sorry, man. I was out of order.” He pulled David into an embrace. “I’m an idiot.” Over his shoulder, he saw Janine talking to one of the people who’d ventured out of the restaurant. Judging from the changing expression on Janine’s face, the people up here hadn’t exactly had an easy time of it either.
He wanted to shout out to Janine and get her to find out if any of them knew what was going on. Jefferson decided to keep his gob shut, at least until he reached the strangers. He was sure that Janine will have already asked this question. Blurting out the same thing with all those meat-eating dinosaurs within sight wouldn’t be one of his better ideas. He released David and watched his mate silently wander over to the others, leaving Jefferson alone.
Had he really been showing off to impress Janine? No, that wasn’t true. He only wanted to protect them, wanted to make sure his friends were safe. Christ, surely David didn’t really think that? He watched his friend slip into his standard behaviour pattern, now that he had a captive audience, no doubt telling all how these fuckers romped about in their natural habitat. Basically doing exactly what David accused him of doing. The annoying turd was showing off. By the looks of the way events were progressing, Jefferson would soon have to rescue the idiot as well.
It didn’t surprise Jefferson to note that one particular individual had taken an instant dislike to David. As per usual, David was completely oblivious to the danger.
He walked over to the three people who’d left the restaurant to greet Janine and David. Jefferson didn’t recognise the big man and the smaller blonde woman standing by his side. Although he guessed they were attached, judging for the way the woman’s dark green eyes kept darting from the man beside her, to David, and back again. There was also the weird way she kept tugging at the man’s green trousers. She reminded Jefferson of an eager dog trying to get her master’s attention.
He had seen the other woman talking to Janine. She worked in the scented candle shop next to the pet shop, on the far side of this level. Both Alan and Sandy spent a fortune in there every week. Jefferson never saw the attraction of forking out a bloody fortune for a few candles that smelled of flowers or sickly fruit. Not when a can of air freshener would do the job just as effectively.
He remembered all those times in that shop, bored out of his pissing mind, watching those two push candles against their noses. Right now, he would do anything to travel back in time to one of those occasions. Oh God, just listen to him banging on about time travel. He was getting as bad as David.
Speaking of David, if he didn’t do anything soon, that big man, who his friend was unwittingly pissing off, looked like he was about to crack the lad with that broken table leg he held in that troll-sized hand. It didn’t escape Jefferson’s attention that the splintered end was stained with wet blood. It did please him to find that it wasn’t just their little gang who was fighting back. He just hoped that the blood belonged to a dinosaur, and not another clever dick who also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of sodding dinosaur names.
“No, you’re wrong, glasses boy. We were all doing just fine until you and Rambo here bumbled up here with your noise and fancy crossbow.”
It took Jefferson a moment for him to realise that the shaved gorilla was talking about him. He would have said something back if this fool wasn’t holding that table leg. Then again, maybe not. This guy would look formidable holding an egg whisk.
“You take no notice of our Kevin,” said the woman, squeezing past the man’s bulky gut. “We’ve not had the best of days, you see.” She leaned to one side, staring at the noisy animals ripping into that carcass. “Those things aren’t helping either. People ought to be ashamed of themselves, letting their dogs off the lead all the time.”
Jefferson’s eyes flickered across to David’s twitching face, praying that the lad wasn’t going to burst out in a fit of giggles.
“What have I told you, Margaret? I’m dealing with it.” He pushed her behind him. “Why don’t you go back inside and see if your new friends want another cup of tea?”
“Well, if you say so, Kevin. You just be nice to these kiddies and don’t take too long. Remember, we’re supposed to be visiting Uncle George this evening, and you know jittery he gets when we’re late.”
“Yes, dear,” he replied, pushing the woman closer to the open doorway. Why couldn’t they have found a squad of off-duty soldiers or even a few police marksmen who’d gotten themselves caught up in here? Trust him to bump into a pair of outcasts from the Addams’s Family.
The middle-aged woman, wearing a very fetching lime-green knitted cardigan and a shit-brown pleated skirt, gave Jefferson a little wave and a big smile before she disappeared inside. He turned to find the other half of this mad pair glowering at him and his crossbow.
He would have preferred this ape to have gone inside instead of her. She might have been as mad as a box of frog, but at least she didn’t look like she wanted to pull off Jefferson’s head. He wondered if Janine would be upset if he accidentally shot him in the face.
“Why don’t you and your lot just bugger off back to your own level? We were doing just fine until you lot blundered up here with your noise.”
“Noise? What noise, big fella?” asked David. “We have a crossbow and swords, not grenades.”
The other woman left Janine and rested her hand on the man’s wrist. “Easy now, Kevin.” She gently stroked his lower
arm. “Do you know what I’ve left inside? I’ve only come out here and left my glasses on my table. Could you be a dear and get them for me?”
“Wait, what about these guys? I mean, they’ve made so much noise and I’ve told them to bugger off and everything. They’re going to bring the others down here. The nasty ones with guns and everything. I really don’t like those.”
“Don’t you worry about it, Kevin,” she said. “I’ll sort it. While you’re in there, go have another ice cream.” She winked. “I promise I won’t tell Margaret.”
Jefferson could listen to her silky tones all day. This was so weird. He never knew the woman had such a sensuous voice. Granted, most of the times he heard her speak, she was asking for money while standing behind her till. Her words did have the desired effect, though. The big guy nodded once before following the mad woman inside.
The remaining woman waited until he was out of sight before turning around and resting her back against the wall. “Bloody hell, that fella is hard work.” She stuck out her hand, which Jefferson dutifully shook. “Still, without him and his table leg, we’d have all been dino food ages ago. He sure can fight.”
“I’m Jefferson,” he said, lamely.
The woman laughed. “You’re cute. I can see why Janine’s taken a shine to you.”
“Stop it, Lindsey!”
“Stop what? I’m only making an observation, honey. You know me.” She smiled at Jefferson. “Even under these dire circumstances, it’s nice to find someone who’s melted the heart of the ice-maiden. As you’ve heard, I’m Lindsey.” She looked past Jefferson and David. “Kevin did have a point about the noise, though. Come on, you’d better come inside. I don’t think it would take much longer for those horrible things to finish off their meal.”
Jefferson slyly punched David in the back to ensure the goon wouldn’t spoil everything by opening his mouth to give out another pointless fact about dinosaur feeding times. He could still taste Janine’s lipstick from the last time they’d kissed.