Pteranodon Mall

by Ian Woodhead

  Gloria clicked her fingers, and Jane hopped up to her side. She tickled the animal under the snout before she gave it another piece of meat. “Did Jasmine and Julie change too?”

  He nodded. “Yes. We were not the first sentient species to develop. Four million years before we became self-aware, the older ones ruled two continents. Their mistake was to allow the creatures we evolved from to continue existing, for once we were able, our race exterminated every last one of them. It took the best minds from our technician caste four centuries to reverse engineer and decode their technology. Once those obstacles were down, our race spread out amongst the stars. We discovered over-intelligent species, and as doctrine demanded, they were crushed utterly.”

  “And now the shoe is on the other foot, love? For here you are, living amongst the hairless vermin. From what I’ve guessed, the people beyond the mall are probably dying?”

  “Not everyone. Mortality rates appears to be levelling off at sixty per eighty.”

  “Still, that does leave a lot of people left alive who’ll no doubt be rather upset at your failed attempt to cleanse their friends and family.” She watched Julie and Jasmine playing hide and seek under the tables. She smiled. It was so nice to see them play. They so reminded her of her two young cats back home. Gloria blinked. Goodness, she hoped they’d be okay. If the people truly were dying in the streets, she doubted her friend would be popping across to check on that casserole, meaning that her little fur babies would be getting very hungry about now. This was a bit of a pickle. “It’s likely that the last few of you could end up having the stuffing knocked out of you once you do leave the mall?”

  “No. That will never happen. Your primitive weapons are like toys to my shock troops. There is nothing that your soldiers possess which will even scratch their armour of the warrior caste.”

  “I’m sure a dozen nuclear warheads might give them a bit of a headache, though.”

  “Even your species are not insane. They would not use that amount of firepower on their own civilians.”

  She sighed. “So much for you studying our behaviour.” Then again, it didn’t shock her that much. Some folk who are further up the ladder don’t always see the world the same way as the little people. Her boss was just the same. Not Mr. Hussain. He was nice. The man who came around once a month, dressed in that posh suit, with his two attached office monkeys. Now he didn’t truly understand the mind of the common people. If he had, the silly man wouldn’t suggest a gourmet section and fill it with items over £4, believing the company would only grow by attracting a better class of people.

  “Dailess, love. People panic. Folks do not behave in a rational way. They certainly don’t when they see their loved ones and strangers dropping like flies. It won’t take long for the source to be discovered. Do you not think the other countries won’t do anything when they see pictures of your big, hard soldiers prancing about and shooting things with their ray guns? You’ll have a hundred nuclear missiles on your heads before you can say Jiminy Cricket. I’m sorry, love, but that’s just how it is.”

  The poor man looked just like a feeding goldfish. Gloria guessed that he wasn’t expecting the truth. It was just the same when the boss was walking around the shop. He had his monkeys agreeing to his plans of stocking all this lobster and venison, explaining to Mr. Hussain that the common folk would likely be suspicious at first, perhaps even fascinated. In the end though, they’d follow the lead of their betters and snap it up. Poor Mr. Hussain was clearly uncomfortable. He knew the shoppers would have it all right, the stuff would walk out under their coats. That was the hard truth. It’s just how it was. Gloria pulled the cap off the cup and took a sip. The tea wasn’t quite cold. “Love, you’re the one who called us herd creatures. Don’t they panic at the sight of a predator?”

  He nodded. “Then we are truly doomed. I have failed my people.”

  Jane was now decidedly most upset when Julie and Jasmine came back to her, obviously expecting some more treats. “Stop that, you naughty girl. There’s enough for everyone.” She gave them all some more meat, nodding and smiling when she saw her handsome chap drinking the tea.

  Gloria took his free hand again. “Calm yourself down, dear. It’s never as bad as you think. Trust me. I know these things.”

  “I should be consulting Doctrine on what to do.” He sighed. “Why are you even helping me? This is one matter that I do not understand. I have tried to destroy your entire race. You should be wanting to kill me. The animals which are under your spell are quite capable of pulling me apart. You could quite easily order them to do so.”

  “Is that what Doctrine would be suggesting? As for the people who have died, most of them will have been arseholes anyway.”

  He jumped up, his chair falling backwards, startling the three meat-eaters. “You dare to insult Doctrine? The word of the Great Deity has enabled our species to be the absolute masters of twenty-five star systems for over two million years. I should not have to listen to the words vomiting from some mammal of low intelligence.”

  Gloria drained the tea that he had left before pulling off some more meat strips for when her girls came back. She looked up at the furious creature and gave him a smile. “If you’ve finished, perhaps you’d like to sit back down again, or perhaps you might want to stamp your feet and say that life isn’t fair?”

  “Do not call me Dailess, love again,” he muttered.

  She allowed him to sit back down before speaking. “I am a mammal, love. I know that, but as for low intelligence, well that depends on what you are comparing me with. Dailess-Zaid, I know that your species evolved in an alternate timeline. One where the asteroid never wiped out the dinosaurs. I know that you are from a rigid society where the idea of sudden change is alien. I believe that is so rigid that even your soldiers and scientists are now close to becoming a sub-species.” She shuffled in her chair. “That, is the kicker. As you are all so fabulously xenophobic, the very idea of inter-caste mating churns your stomach.”

  “You have given me much to think about.”

  “Fine, just don’t take too long about it, love. Even with most of the human race wiped out, the ones remaining will bounce back.” She looked up to the ceiling. “I’m guessing that the rest of your friends and your time machine thingy are up there. My advice is take everything that belongs to you, including all your friends, and find somewhere nice and quiet, live a happy life. Believe me, love. If any of your stuff fell into the hands of our men in white coats, it won’t take them four hundred years to work out how it all works.” She paused. “It was twenty-five star systems you annihilated? Well, here, in this timeframe, those people are not dead. How would they react if they found out about you?”

  “That would be suicide. They would target this planet and vapourise it. The humans would not do such a—”

  Gloria held up her hand. “We’ve already been down this road, love.”

  He stared at the three dinosaurs crouching beside the woman. “Do you wish to go home? Displacing you would be the least I could do for the help you have been.”

  “Sure, but I can’t leave my three girls here.”

  “Would you not be worried that the predators would not consume your cats?”

  “Oh, you know what fur babies are?”

  He smiled. “No, I did not. I consulted the ship’s index first.”

  Gloria tickled Jasmine under the chin, and then did the same to Julie when she began to squawk. “You are such a jealous lump.” Gloria shook her head. “No, they won’t fight. Maybe Jessica will probably get a bit moody, but as long as they don’t lie in her bed, she’ll soon come round eventually.”

  He stood. “Do not move from this area. I will be back presently. Wait, before I do go. Tell me, what you are feeding these animals.”

  “Oh, that’s my boss, Mr. Hussain. I found the poor chap lying beside this table with most of his insides missing and no head. I guess he’d must have fallen foul of one of the bigger dinosaurs. Still, it did seem
a shame to waste him.”

  Gloria watched the strange man vanish, taking the corner of the table with him. “That is a neat little trick. I wonder which race you stole that from.” She got out of her seat and wandered over to the burger stand to get herself another cup of tea. This saving what remained of the human species was thirsty work.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Out of the group, it appeared that only Sandy and Janine had been able to keep their heads. Even when Sandy had bent down to tie her shoelaces and the hippo-sized soldier pushed the gun’s muzzle against her head, she still remained cool as a cucumber. Oh Christ. Her head could have fit inside that sodding barrel!

  Janine’s death grip was hurting his fingers, but Jefferson dare not say anything in case any of those huge lizard-bird-things took a sudden dislike to his face. The crossbow was still in his other hand. That felt so unreal. The bastards hadn’t even bothered snatching it away. It’s like they already knew that it posed about as much danger to them as a pissing egg whisk.

  One of them had already had a go at David. The one standing next to Janine, currently stuffing its ugly face with some more of that dead dinosaur, lightly tapped his friend on the shoulder a couple of minutes ago. Jefferson guessed that the thing wasn’t too happy about David’s sobbing. The blow had thrown the poor lad into one of the stone pillars. Even Sandy had winced at the impact.

  A couple of sharp jabs with one of those guns encouraged David to get back onto his feet. His friend now leaned against the pillar. He hadn’t stopped sobbing. Jefferson didn’t think that he was likely to stop anytime soon either.

  After all the disruption, the slaughter, and hurt he’d ridden through, David had finally broken with watching Alan die and literally fall apart. He and Alan had been close. Jefferson knew that. Despite the lad’s childish behaviour and his apparent disregard for basic social interaction, he had helped Alan through two break-ups. He’d even offered his bedroom when Alan’s parents threw him out. Knowing their history made it all the harder to understand why the little bastard had run out on them and put them into this dire position in the first place.

  Jefferson wished he’d stop it with the waterworks before the lad got him crying too.

  The hippo-sized soldiers were now chirping in that weird bird-like language. Their leader fiddled with a device the size of a tablet, on his thick wrist. Jefferson bit down on his bottom lip when his dam of bottled-up emotions threatened to burst.

  A thin, warbling noise erupted from the creature’s device. Immediately, every soldier went down on one knee and bowed their heads. Even the ones guarding the group followed suit. Janine smiled at Jefferson before she caught Sandy’s eye. What were they up to? Jefferson’s silent enquiry went unanswered as the air in front of the leader shimmered and another form appeared.

  Jefferson tried to jump back only for Janine to jerk him closer to her. He blinked rapidly, finding it hard to focus on the image. It hurt his eyes. He shut them for a moment and only opened them again when another chirping voice broke the silence. He found himself looking at another weird reptilian bird creature. Although it bore some resemblance to the hippo soldiers, it was built more like a human. From what Sandy and Alan had described, it was too well built to be one of the crane-like creatures they fought in inside that structure.

  Jefferson wondered if he was looking at one of the big guys, the ones in charge. The soldiers’ behaviour certainly supported that idea. The new creature’s rapid chirping was making every soldier shiver. Jefferson so wished he knew what they were saying to each other. Whatever is was, it didn’t sound good. That much he was sure about.

  Janine let go of his hand and then reached over and dragged David towards them, keeping her gaze fixed on the soldiers. David didn’t react to her taking his hand. The lad looked utterly stoned out of his box. His friend’s unusual behaviour concerned him more than whatever Janine and Sandy were up to. She had taken Janine’s place by taking Jefferson’s hand. He tried not to shiver in anxiety at what Sandy had planned.

  “Don’t do this, Sandy,” he hissed. Jefferson tensed up when one of the soldiers moved its head. “Please, they’ll kill us all.”

  The girl put her heel on his toe. “Stop fretting, you,” she whispered, while grinning.

  She raised her other arm. He now saw she had something held in her hand. It looked like a gun, a gun which looked just like the ones clipped to the belts of the hippo soldiers. Oh fuck! Sandy hadn’t been tying her lace after all! Jefferson wasn’t the only one to notice Sandy moving. The blue hologram chirped out an incomprehensible noise as well. The leader spun around at the exact moment that Sandy fired.

  The air filled with the stench of ozone and burning meat as the leader’s whole body just deflated. His armour clattered to the floor. All that remained of the creature’s flesh were a few blackened toes. The other soldiers jumped to their feet and screamed in unison. They were acting like crazed chickens at the sight of a fox.

  Janine and David had already started running. Sandy dragged Jefferson away from the panicking soldiers. It took him a second for his dazed mind to catch up with what had just happened. He shook away the malaise and ordered his legs to function properly. Jefferson found his feet and raced after the other two, still keeping a tight grip of Sandy’s hand. Amazingly, she was laughing. If it wasn’t for having to leave Alan behind, he probably would have joined in.

  David had woken up enough to inform Janine that the two huge dinosaurs inside the pet shop were Triceratops. He seemed to be having difficulty in trying to figure out how they had gotten inside the shop without breaking the glass as they sure as hell hadn’t walked through the door.

  Janine glanced over her shoulder. She winked at Sandy, and then blew Jefferson a kiss. He couldn’t help but to smile back. They had gotten away. He didn’t know how, but they had. Janine stopped by the doors which led to the lower level. She peered through the glass before nodding.

  Jefferson stopped when he reached his friends and turned around. He heard their screams, but he couldn’t see the soldiers. He got the feeling that they hadn’t even noticed that their prisoners had gone. Janine’s arms snaked around his waist. She kissed the back of his neck.

  “We’re still alive!” she said.

  “They’re all in deep shock,” said David. The lad sighed heavily. He then looked straight at Jefferson. “I know how that feels. Dude. I’m really sorry for running out on you.” He turned to Sandy. “I guess I panicked. Shit, I’m such a shit.”

  Sandy wrapped her arm around him and kissed the tip of his nose. “No, you’re just you.” She gingerly handed the creature’s device over to Jefferson. “I think you had better take charge of this. It’s too scary for me.”

  “Listen to you, girl. I don’t think you even know the meaning of the word.” Jefferson held the gun tightly, surprised at its lightness. It looked and felt exactly like the dart guns they sold in Alan’s shop.

  “David. What do you mean that they’re all in shock?”

  “It’s quite simple, Sandy. They operate as a single unit, with the squad commander acting like the nexus for each individual. I believe that it isn’t just training that has made them so efficient. It’s breeding too. They are genetically predisposed to behave as they did.”

  “Well, that’s cleared that up,” replied Sandy. “Now how about repeating that in English?”

  “Think of them as a living organism, and you have just melted the brain and the heart.”

  “Time to go?”

  Jefferson turned around in Janine’s embrace. “I think so.” He kissed her soft lips. “Yeah, time to go. I mean, it’s not like there’s anything left that can stop us now, is there?”

  Sandy and David pushed through the doors and made their way down the stairs. Jefferson untangled himself from Janine, grabbed her hand and then ran down the stairs, needing to get to the bottom before Sandy. They might have left the soldiers on the next floor but they sure as hell weren’t in the clear just yet. He couldn’t work out i
f Sandy was fearless or just plain stupid.

  He grabbed her arm just before they reached the doors.

  “Wait on, how did you know that those soldiers wouldn’t melt us back in the department store? I mean, I thought we were all dead.”

  She looked over at Janine before she unfolded her sleeve. “Take a look at this.”

  An irregular-shaped patch of red skin ruined Sandy’s otherwise perfect tan. She gently pressed her forefinger against the blemish, and Jefferson winced as her fingernail broke through the softened skin. She pulled the finger away then looked up and Jefferson. “It’s happening to me as well,” she uttered. “Only whatever it is they injected inside me is acting a lot slower than it did with Alan.” She folded the sleeve over the blemish. “I don’t think that either Alan or I are infectious. Although I think that was what they intended. That’s why we were spared, Jefferson. We were supposed to spread this to everybody else.” She shrugged. “I guess they fucked up somewhere along the line.”

  “Oh no.” Jefferson took hold of her hands. “There must be something we can do to stop it from spreading!”

  Fat tears rolled down Sandy’s cheeks. “I hope so,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to go the same way as Alan.”

  Janine opened the doors and held them open as they walked through. “Nothing has changed. We still need to get out of this damned place and find a doctor. Until then, Sandy, I suggest that you try to stop thinking about your arm and focus on trying to stay alive.” She pointed over at the pretzel stand. “For example. How the how do we get past that thing?”

  “Oh my God!” uttered David. “That’s a Tyrannosaur! A real, proper T-rex. Look at the size of the thing, just look at it! My God!”

  He spun around to stare at Jefferson. His face shone as bright as a torch. He couldn’t believe the change in the lad. It wasn’t that long since David looked ready to top himself. Is that all it took to bring the lad out of his slump? He chided himself for acting like an arse again. It wasn’t David’s fault that his passion made him seem so heartless on the surface.