Rex

by Cody B. Stewart

  Rex

  Cody B. Stewart, Adam Rocke, and Mark Rogers

  Rex

  Copyright © Cody B. Stweart, Adam Rocke, and Mark Rogers

  Published, October 5, 2016 by Common Deer Press

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Stewart, Cody B.; Rocke, Adam; Rogers, Mark

  ISBN: 978-0-9950729-0-9 (E-book)

  ISBN: 978-0-9950729-1-6 (Print)

  Cover Images: Adobe Stock

  Interior Images: Ellie Sipila

  Design and E-book Production: Ellie Sipila Move to the Write

  For more information about this or any of our other publications, please visit our website:

  Common Deer Press

  Dedications

  C. S.

  For Malcolm, whose wild imagination always inspires and whose equally wild nature has shown me what it’s like to live with a baby Tyrannosaurus rex.

  A. R.

  For everyone with a dream... Don't be afraid to pursue it, no matter where that pursuit takes you. You never know what you’ll find along the way. Just ask TJ.

  M. R.

  For my grandkids Ashley, Alexander, and Yalilth, who every day remind me there’s magic and joy in just being alive.

  Chapter One

  Homo neanderthalensis, more commonly referred to as the caveman, has been extinct for forty thousand years. There are several theories explaining the hows and whys. They evolved into Homo sapiens. They were killed by Homo sapiens. They were abducted by aliens, experimented on, and transformed into Homo sapiens. They all clubbed each other to death. Regardless of the hypotheses, one caveman has miraculously managed to survive. His name is Eddie Figley, and he is currently grinding his heel into TJ Beaumont’s temple.

  I wish he were extinct, thought TJ. I’d go back in time right now and tie mastodon steaks around his great-great-great cave-grandfather’s neck and set a sabre-tooth tiger loose on him if it meant Eddie Figley would have never existed.

  Eddie’s lip twitched with a smile, making his wispy starter mustache dance.

  His mustache! Yeesh! He’s thirteen! Maybe he really is a caveman.

  “What’s in the box, dweeber?”

  One of Eddie’s goons, Carson, tapped the large cardboard box with his toe.

  TJ groaned, his pounding headache building thanks to the stench of Eddie’s ancient sneaker. He swore he could feel Eddie’s festering toe squiggling around inside, poking at his face. “Kinda hard to hear you over the sound of my skull breaking, but did you just say you’re a Belieber?”

  Eddie stepped off, but the sudden relief on TJ’s brain was short lived. Eddie yanked him up by the collar and shoved him hard against a tree, knocking the breath from TJ’s lungs.

  TJ mocked between gasps. “It’s okay, Eddie. I belieb too.”

  Eddie cocked back his arm, half a second away from driving his fist into TJ’s stomach with all his mustache-powered strength, when someone yelled, “Drop the nerd!”

  Eddie and his goon squad turned on their heels.

  Samantha Redfield, TJ’s best friend and frequent knight (er, knightess) in shining armor, zeroed her best death stare in on Eddie.

  I wonder if cavemen are immune to death stares, TJ thought, as his shirt slipped from Eddie’s grip. A bead of sweat formed on Eddie’s slightly hairy lip. Probably not, TJ chuckled to himself. Maybe that’s why they’re extinct.

  “This ain’t none of your business,” Eddie grunted, sounding very caveman-like.

  Sam pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long, pained sigh. “Not only are you pummeling my best friend, but you’re also pummeling the English language? This is even worse than I thought.”

  Eddie stepped toward Sam, his shadow falling over her. She didn’t so much as flinch. Sam never flinches. “Lucky for you, I don’t hit girls.”

  “No, lucky for you. Because unlike other girls, I hit back.” Sam slid her foot back, preparing to kick, taking aim at a particularly vulnerable area between Eddie’s legs.

  Eddie sneered at TJ. “You gonna let a girl fight your battles, butt-munch?”

  TJ lifted his chin proudly. “I’m comfortable enough in my masculinity. Besides, have you ever seen her punt a football?” He shook his head. “Yowza.”

  Sam dug her feet into the ground and flexed the muscles in her legs. Her mouth curled into a snarl. “Eddie, last chance. If you don’t leave TJ alone, you’re going to become very uncomfortable in your masculinity.”

  Eddie winced, obviously not relishing the thought, but quickly puffed out his chest and brushed it off. “You’re not gonna do nothin’. Waste of my time.” He nodded at Carson and goon number two, Lyle, and they all walked off, grunting to each other in a language only their underdeveloped caveman brains could understand.

  Sam shook her head and sighed that same pained sigh again. “Double negatives.” She picked up the box at TJ’s feet and handed it to him.

  TJ accepted the box in silence.

  Sam raised her eyebrow, waiting on an acknowledgment of her rescue efforts. When none came… “I think the words your big brain is searching for are thank you.”

  “You called me a nerd,” TJ said instead, his face scrunched.

  “Yes, I did. I also stopped Eddie from kicking your butt. Again.” She eyed the box. “What’s that, dweeber?” she asked with a grin.

  TJ jiggled the box like a Christmas present, listening to the metal inside clink and clank. The Technology teacher, Mrs. Lewis, had given it to him after last period. She always set aside spare or broken parts and gave them to TJ whenever the box was full. She knew how TJ loved to tinker. “Just some junk,” he said with a shrug. His bubbling enthusiasm for his new junk box was almost enough to make him forget his plight. Almost. “You called me a nerd.”

  Sam snorted and sucked in a laugh. “We went over this already.”

  “Yeah, you saved my butt, I get it. But sometimes words can hurt just as much as hands or feet you know.” A moment later he added, “Or more.”

  Sam rolled her eyes and punched TJ in the arm.

  “Ouch,” TJ yelped, rubbing his puny biceps. “Okay, maybe not in your case.”

  The two laughed most of the way home, the threat of present-day Neanderthals fading into the distant past. TJ and Sam had known each other since they were five and had been friends since they were six, though there had been an incident on the story time rug in Kindergarten that had taken them a while to move past. Names were called, glue sticks were thrown, Transformers were ruthlessly broken. Optimus Prime never saw it coming. They didn’t like to talk about it. But now, at ten years of age, they were practically inseparable. Siamese Twins couldn’t have been closer—except for the shared skin and organs and all that.

  Sam didn’t miss a skip as she turned down her sidewalk and called to TJ over her shoulder. “See you at the hike tomorrow.” Her dog, Hank, ran around the family’s yard, chasing the ball being tossed by her father and brothers. Sam timed her leap perfectly, snatched the ball out of the air, then screeched with joy as Hank chased her.

  TJ stood at the edge of the yard and watched, like a child staring through a store window during the holidays longing for all the wonderful things on the other side of the glass. Mr. Redfield spotted him and waved him over. TJ waved back and shook his head, no.

  “Sorry, Mr. Redfield,” he said politely. “I gotta get
home, otherwise my mom will think I’ve been abducted by aliens.”

  Mr. Redfield laughed and held up his hand, fingers spread, making the sign of Spock. “Live long and prosper.”

  It was TJ’s turn to laugh as he headed off. After a few strides he turned and looked back at the big, happy Redfield family playing together. His smile quickly disappeared.

  TJ cut through the woods and side yards of the small town of Greenmarsh, Florida, heading for home. Everyone in Greenmarsh knew their neighbors—and everyone else for that matter. Here, you couldn’t go to the grocery store without seeing someone who was on your T-ball team or in your Cub Scout troop, or bumping into that weird kid who ate cotton balls in the back of your Kindergarten class. It’s that kind of small. But it also borders Everglades National Park. Swamps that you could easily get lost in forever, teeming with mosquitoes that could carry off a poodle—one of those big ones—and alligators that could swallow a cow whole. It’s that kind of huge. But of course, all that excitement stopped at the border of the park. Nothing really exciting ever happened in Greenmarsh.

  TJ arrived home within minutes. Unlike the Redfield yard, his yard had no father and brothers throwing balls, and no dog to chase them. All it had was some un-mowed grass and weeds. Mostly weeds.

  “Mom, I’m home,” TJ called.

  No answer. TJ expected as much. His mom worked a couple jobs to make ends meet, so she’d never really know if he were to actually get abducted by aliens for real. He found her handwritten note in the typical spot on the kitchen counter.

  TJ,

  I picked up an extra shift at work. Be home late. Leftovers in the fridge for dinner. I’ll bring home some of Lulu’s famous cherry pie. If you manage to stay out of trouble, I might even let you eat some of it.

  Love,

  Mom

  TJ made himself a dill pickle peanut butter and ham sandwich with almost enough mustard to paint a car yellow—the only way he’d take it—and then ran upstairs to his room. He flipped a switch (otherwise known as a plastic army man) and his homemade lock—a series of pulleys and counterweights created from all sorts of odds and ends such as a bowling pin, a yo-yo, a bag of marbles, a bicycle pedal, a fishing reel, and a few things he didn’t know the names of—swung into action, securing his bedroom against aliens, zombies, swamp mutants, yetis, and any other home invader you could think of.

  He dumped the contents of his new junk box onto his bed and began sorting through his new treasures. He took a piece of lettuce from his sandwich, licked off the mustard, and dropped it into the terrarium on his desk. “Dinner is served, Spike.” The yellow and black box turtle slogged over to the lettuce and began munching away.

  TJ sorted the junk into piles. It didn’t take him long. Hinges. Pulleys. Bolts and screws. Same stuff as usual. He let out a sigh.

  Boring.

  He went to the window and looked out at his empty, lonely yard. “Another Friday night of just you and me, Spike.”

  A long shadow suddenly fell across the yard. TJ looked up at the sky with the faint expectation of seeing something amazing…only it was just a bunch of fat, black clouds rolling in.

  Maybe getting abducted by aliens wouldn’t be so bad.

  Something exciting for a change.

  Chapter Two

  “I see this bright light and hear this whirring sound overheard. I feel the heat on my face. And I know it. It’s finally happening.” Larry Doyle looked up at the shiny chrome ceiling of Lulu’s Diner, reliving his story. “The aliens have finally come to take me.”

  A sudden flash of lightning and crack of thunder perfectly accentuated Larry’s story. The storm had been raging for over an hour. Rain was coming down in sheets. The wind howled and threatened to snap the cypress trees in half.

  Ellen Beaumont refilled Larry’s coffee mug. “Uh huh. And where’d they take you?”

  “Don’t go encouraging him, now,” Lulu scolded from behind the counter.

  Ellen just smiled, moving on to the next empty mug.

  “I know it sounds crazy, Lulu, but I’m tellin’ you, I saw what I saw.” Larry sipped his fresh coffee.

  Lulu waved her dishrag at him dismissively then wiped down the counter. “You saw some lights, you crazy old fool. After a day of fishing under a hot Florida sun. It could have been anything… Anything except little green men.”

  “I ain’t never seen anything like them before in my life. I’m tellin’ ya, something strange is going on in that swamp.”

  Ellen couldn’t help but chuckle at Larry Doyle’s wild stories. Sounds like something TJ would say, she thought. Her smile drooped into a frown at the thought of her son coming home yet again to a note and an empty house. She hated not being there when he got home, not being there to make him dinner—not being there for a lot of things—but she didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t work as much as she did, they wouldn’t have a roof overhead or food to eat.

  “Enough of that nonsense, now.” Lulu’s word was law inside her diner, causing Larry to swallow the rest of his story with a bite of cherry pie. “No more talk of spacemen and UFOs and whatnot. Honestly, if there were some alien intelligence poking around these parts, I hope they’d have enough sense to abduct a better representative of our race than you, Larry Doyle.”

  Larry slouched in his chair and pushed away his plate of half-eaten pie.

  Lulu flashed him an apologetic smile. “Now don’t go pouting. I’ve known you forty years, Larry. You know I love you, darlin’.” She squirted some whipped cream over his pie, which made his eyes light up. “Like Ellen, here.”

  Ellen snapped around toward the counter in the middle of taking an order. “Like Ellen, what?”

  Lulu gestured for Ellen to turn back and continue tending to the customer. “If aliens were to come study humanity, I hope they’d pick someone like Ellen is all I’m sayin’.”

  Ellen raised an eyebrow. “Let me get this straight… You want me to get abducted by aliens?”

  The entire diner chuckled except for Larry Doyle, who was too busy licking whipped cream and cherry pie filling off his plate.

  “I think what Miss Lulu’s saying is that you are a fine specimen.” The diner suddenly went silent and everyone turned to look at the stranger in the corner booth. He almost seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, a quiet man that no one noticed until now. Sturdily built, chiseled, and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, he looked just north of forty with eyes that sparkled like those of a mischievous teenager each time he peeked over the edge of his coffee cup.

  Ellen’s eyes hardened along with her tone. “Pardon me?”

  Lulu cleared her throat and whispered when she had Ellen’s attention. “C’mon now, honey, that ain’t how we talk to paying customers. Especially mysterious, fine-looking ones like that. Now go on and take that boy’s order.”

  Ellen glared at Lulu as she marched across the diner to the stranger’s table. “What can I get you?”

  The man set his coffee down and leaned back in his seat. “You know, I’ve been here for about twenty minutes, and no one has asked me that yet. I had to get my coffee at the counter.” He had a playful twitch in his smile, which made Ellen scrunch up her face suspiciously. “If I were the type to complain, I might ask to speak to a manager.”

  Ellen nodded toward the counter. “Be my guest. She’s right over there.”

  He scanned the diner, looking at each and every person as if studying them under a microscope. “You don’t get many strangers in your fine town, do you?”

  “Fine town? Guess you don’t get out much,” Ellen murmured under her breath. “What makes you say that?”

  “I drew some curious stares when I first came in, and then everyone promptly pretended that I didn’t exist. I’ve traveled a lot, seen it before in other small towns.”

  Ellen’s eyes fixed on the crumpled corner of a paper napkin the man had used to wipe up…something. She had often dreamed of traveling the country, the world, getting away from Greenmarsh. Far away
.

  She’d mapped out routes when she was younger, spent hours reading about the cities and wilds that she would explore. It had been a long time since she’d felt the travel bug crawling under her skin, but now her curiosity overshadowed her irritation with the stranger. “Why, what kind of places have you been?”

  He seemed both surprised and delighted at Ellen’s shift in attitude. “All over. Name it, and chances are I’ve been there.”

  “Africa?” Africa was the last dream trip that Ellen had planned. She’d planned it all out right after TJ was born. She wanted to take him on a safari to see giraffes and lions and gazelle in their natural habitat, living how they were meant to, not caged up in some zoo. Then TJ’s father left and those dreams faded, along with most of her other dreams. You can’t afford to dream when you have to work two jobs to pay the rent.

  “Once or twice,” the stranger said. “But I’d love to go back.” His smile widened, stretching the little scar on his chin. His face lost its mischievous twitch and became a bit more genuine. “It still amazes me that so many different kinds of places can exist on the same planet.”

  Ellen felt her mind wander to something else that she hadn’t thought about in a long, long time.

  The man jerked suddenly, jumping at a sound no one else heard. His cheeks reddened with embarrassment as he raised his hand and pressed a button on the small wireless device in his ear, which Ellen hadn’t noticed prior to that moment. “Hello?” All hints of playfulness and embarrassment disappeared in an instant. His jaw tightened. “I’m on my way.” He took some money out of his pocket and dropped it on the table. “Thank you for the coffee…and the conversation.” His mouth hung open for a moment like he wanted to say something else, but instead he just nodded and walked out.

  A violent flash of lightning lit up the parking lot. Ellen caught a glimpse of the stranger climbing into a large black SUV. And then he was gone.