by Simon Rosser
Amber panicked, lost her grip, and slipped off the dolphin, landing on the fluke of the Blue Whale fifteen feet below. She twisted her left ankle again, still badly injured and torn from where the Smilodon had caught her earlier, and shrieked in agony. She managed to stand, trying to block out the pain, and scrambled along the back of the blue whale, towards the head, as quickly as she could.
She heard a loud thud behind her, and turned around. Forty feet away, at the tail end of the whale, the Smilodon steadied itself, following its leap, and slowly advanced towards her.
Instead of running, she froze, finding that her legs refused to move. This is it, she thought. This is how I’m going to die.
The sabre-toothed tiger closed in on her, snarling, baring rows of dagger-like teeth. It let out a mighty roar, which echoed around the gallery, and opened its jaws wider, as it prepared to rip into her with its massive canines.
Amber’s head started to spin and she began to feel faint and dizzy. She saw flashing lights, and then the hall started to go dark.
The Smilidon pounced, just as she felt her legs give way beneath her, causing her to slip off the side of the whale to the floor, ten feet below.
As she fell to the ground, the last thing she saw was the creature land at the spot she’d been standing at a second earlier, before its own momentum carried it to off the whale’s head, and down onto the rhinoceros display below.
Amber heard a blood-curdling roar, which morphed into a cry, before everything around her went black, and then…silence.
CHAPTER 21
A DISGUSTING ODOUR filled Amber’s nose and she opened her eyes. What the hell is that smell? Then, as her head and vision cleared, she recalled the bizarre dream she’d had, about being chased through the museum by a sabre-toothed tiger.
Amber felt a sharp throbbing pain in her left ankle and, as she moved to clutch it, realised that her back was also injured. She was lying on the floor at an odd angle, and just inches in front of her, was a huge animal’s hoof.
Oh God! She looked up as she scuttled away from the foot. To her relief, standing above her was a replica of a large brown stag, positioned on a platform below the blue whale. She suddenly recalled the events that had led her here. She must have landed on the platform, after falling from the back of the blue whale.
Amber’s heart started to pound in her chest, as she realised the Smilodon stalking her hadn’t just been a bad dream.
Despite her ankle throbbing with pain, she scrambled to her feet, and made a bolt for the gallery’s exit. The foul smell became much more pungent as she crossed the exhibits positioned in front of the whale, and then she saw where the smell was coming from.
Lying on its side, and positioned just below the head of the Blue Whale, was a rhinoceros exhibit, and splayed across its head, and embedded on its horn, was the Smilodon.
Amber stared at the scene in bewilderment. The weird thing about it, as if anything could be any weirder than what had already happened, was that what was left of the Smilodon, seemed to have, melted, or at least rotted extremely quickly. There was almost nothing left of the huge cat, which had been stalking her before she fell, apart from a lot of sagging skin and muscle, intermingled with mushy red/brown entrails, splayed across the floor and the other exhibits.
“Jesus, I need to get the hell out of here,” Amber whispered, as she hobbled to the exit. Outside, she could see dawn had broken, and the light inside the gallery was significantly better. The Orca, and Bottlenose Dolphin exhibits above her, were both still swaying ever so slightly back and forth on their support wires, confirmation she’d not been unconscious for too long.
As she headed for the door, she stopped and listened. All was quiet inside the mammal gallery. She took one last look at the model of the Blue Whale that had, undoubtedly, saved her. Its long slender head appeared friendly, as if it were smiling at her. She turned, and ran through the exit into the dark corridor beyond.
Amber limped quickly along the corridor towards the main hall, stopping every few feet, to rest her ankle and to listen for any strange noises, but she heard nothing. She pushed through the swing doors, and moved along a second passage, lit with the indigo-coloured emergency lighting, before finally finding the main hall again.
A wave of relief washed over her upon entering. Light from outside filtered through into the hall, but the place still gave her the creeps. Which other animals could be, or had been, reanimated in the same way as the Smilodon?
Amber felt her skin crawl, as she thought about the possibilities. She moved stealthily and swiftly through the hall, alongside the collapsed Diplodocus skeleton.
She found her backpack, still lying where she’d left it earlier, now pinned down by one of the ribs belonging to the Diplodocus. She dragged the bone off her rucksack, and pulled open the bag’s top flap, and pulled a bottle of water out. She opened it, and gulped down half the remaining contents, conscience of not drinking too much. It tasting so refreshing and good, however, she couldn’t stop herself. She now only had three full bottles left, and the water needed to last her until she reached West Wales. If the plan she had didn’t work, it could take her at least another seven days to get home, and the water would never last.
Amber quickly pulled her trainer off to inspect the damage to her left ankle. She had four jagged gashes on the outside of her lower leg and ankle. She cleaned the wounds as best she could, then pulled out the small first aid kit, found the tube of antiseptic cream, and smeared it over her damaged skin, before tightly wrapping a bandage around her ankle, and tying it. She replaced her sock and pulled her trainer back on, before shoving the first aid kit back into her backpack.
Amber stood, pulled the backpack on and secured it. She moved toward the main door, carefully stepping over the large pieces of bone fragments belonging to the collapsed Diplodocus. As she got to within ten feet of the exit, she heard a door open and slam closed, somewhere inside the museum, beyond the main hall.
Amber turned and scanned the hall, her heart rate rapidly accelerating. She couldn’t see anything, but after the experience she’d just had, she wasn’t going to hang around. She sprinted for the main door, and upon reaching it, immediately pulled back the heavy bolt, that she’d secured the evening before. As she did, the sound of heavy footfall echoed along the vast hall, behind her.
Amber spun around. Coming towards her, at full charge, was a huge rhinoceros. Its head bowed, and threatening horn, directed right at her. She looked long enough to see that it was the same rhino that the Smilodon had impaled itself on. The sabre tooth's loose skin and entrails, were still hanging off it.
In renewed panic, Amber turned back toward the exit, grabbed the handle, and with shaking hands, pulled open the door.
Nothing happened.
The door appeared to be jammed! “Open, you son of a bitch,” Amber screamed, each muscle in her body feeling like they were about to seize.
Behind her, the rhino continued to charge, and had reached the collapsed neck of the Diplodocus. It would impale her in a matter of seconds.
Amber looked down, quickly realising why the door wouldn't open. A chunk of white bone fragment, a piece of vertebrae belonging to the Diplodocus skeleton, was wedging it shut.
Amber kicked frantically at the piece of bone, dislodging it. She pulled on the large door again. This time it opened, and slipped through the gap.
Just as she cleared the doorway, the charging rhino smashed into the other side of the thick wooden door with an almighty thud. The long curved ivory horn punched through the wood, slamming the door shut; the point of the rhino horn narrowly missed Amber by a matter of inches.
“Holy shit!” she screamed, moving back out onto the museum steps.
The rhino then retreated, pulling its horn from the door as quickly as it had appeared. Amber could hear the grunting and panting animal on the other side of the door, restlessly walking around behind the entrance door.
Amber, petrified the thing would ram the door
again, and this time break out, jumped down the steps, ran across the crescent-shaped car park, out through the wrought iron exit gates and onto Cromwell Road.
She stood on the pavement and stopped, to catch her breath and in order to survey the road and surrounding buildings, making sure she wasn’t walking into a trap. All the vehicles appeared to be in the same positions as before.
There was no feeling of immediate danger, or any sign of the alien tendrils. She turned right, and hurried along the street, continuing on her journey west.
Amber reached the main Queen’s Gate junction, when she discovered that her route ahead was blocked, again, by a number of crashed vehicles. With her ankle in excruciating pain, she didn’t fancy clambering over the bonnets of the vehicles, so decided to go through them instead.
She reached out to the rear door handle of the first vehicle blocking her route, a Volkswagen Golf, and pulled. The door opened and Amber climbed into the rear seat, shuffled across, opened the passenger door and climbed out.
Amber had no option but to scramble over the bonnet of the next car, a grey BMW, as the doors were locked. She shuffled across the rear seat of a black Mercedes and got out, before carefully making her way around the crumpled front of a red London bus. The bus had careered off the main road, into a lamp post, leaving just a narrow gap between it, and some railings lining the pavement in front. She carefully negotiated the narrow space, crunching smashed glass under her feet, the sound cutting through the eerie silence.
She reached the other side of the smashed vehicles, and surveyed the main Cromwell Road ahead, which was clear. The pavements were also clear of any debris or obstacles, and so she walked on, passing some nice cream-coloured brick apartment buildings, and hotels, stopping occasionally to listen for any noise and look for any movement. The entire city was as quiet as a morgue, the only sound coming from a light breeze, which whistled along the street and around the buildings.
There were no birds flying in the sky, no insects around, and no signs of terrestrial life, apart from her, and whatever intelligence was behind the ability to mimic Earth’s life forms, using nothing but water.
Still, at least she was outside in the fresh air, and daylight had arrived. The sky was still a light crimson colour, but not as angry looking as it had been yesterday. The occasional small gap in the clouds allowed the sun’s golden rays to penetrate, down to the land below.
As Amber passed a Radisson Hotel on her right, she scrutinised the vehicles on the road to her left. The idea that had struck her yesterday was that; if she could find a suitable vehicle, which didn’t rely on a water-filled radiator; such as a Porsche, she might be able to drive it. She knew that some Porsche models were air-cooled, and may still be drivable. She’d only seen three so far, but they’d all been smashed up.
Amber continued on, her damaged ankle now getting increasingly painful. She tried to ignore the pain, but it was getting almost impossible. She passed a National Westminster Bank, and doubled-back to sit down in the inset doorway. She needed a rest, and something to snack on. The museum was about a mile behind her now, and she felt safe from whatever creatures might be walking around inside there.
She tried to fathom what biological or technological process could have brought the animals back to life, or, whether the alien intelligence had somehow recreated the long-ago extinct animals, by replicating their DNA? She had no idea; it was beyond her at the moment, with all the other thoughts racing through her mind.
Amber figured it must be around 7 a.m. by now, judging by the length of time it had been light. She pulled out a Mars Bar from a side pocket on her backpack, and wolfed it down. She realised she needed to consume some proper food soon, and planned on checking out the next, safe-looking, grocery store she saw, and get something decent to eat, if she could.
A clanking sound a short distance away caused Amber to jump and she froze to the spot, cowering back into the bank’s entrance. The sound got louder. Then, a dented old Dr Pepper can came into view, rattling along the pavement in front of her, being blown along by a gust of wind.
“Oh, shit,” Amber whispered, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest, but she began to laugh at her initial fright. With the initial rush of panic gone, and as her laughter drained away, she started to feel uneasy again. It was time to get moving. She pulled her backpack back on, leaned out of the doorway, and checked up and down the street. She stepped back onto the pavement, crossed over a main road, and continued west, along the Cromwell Road, her nerves raw with fear.
A short distance ahead, Amber spotted a Tesco Metro on the opposite side of the street. A bit further along, an ugly 1970’s apartment block, towered above her. She continued on, reached the glass fronted store, cupped her hands against the glass and peered in. Everything inside the store appeared normal. She could see rows of stocked shelving, and empty aisles. On the floor were at least six neat mounds of ash, lying on the cream, tiled floor. Amber had an uneasy feeling she was being watched, and she turned to check the road behind her. All appeared clear, so she proceeded into the shop.
The door opened silently and Amber cautiously entered the store. The piles of ash reminded her of the hopelessness of her situation. Could she really be all alone? Surely there had to be more survivors? She couldn't possibly be the only person left.
She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, comforted in the hope that this cataclysmic event was just limited to London, or restricted to the entire UK, at the worst. Surely the entire planet couldn't have been affected?
She focussed on the aisles, stocked with food, ahead. To get there, she passed some shelves filled with bottles of red wine and stopped to gaze at the bottles of Spanish and Chilean red. She longed for a glass of red wine, but common sense told her that it wouldn't be a good idea. The bottles of wine on the shelves were full, strangely not affected by the vaporisation process that had evaporated, or sucked dry, the water from everything else.
She moved over to the aisle containing the tinned goods, and pulled off two cans of HB Beans. These will do for lunch, she thought. She found a small bag of plastic cutlery, and pulled if from the spike where it was hanging.
She turned to leave the store, and looked towards the till. Two of the cash tills were open, their contents of notes and coins visible. Just four neat piles of grey ash and bone fragments could be seen behind each of the four cash tills. It must have been quite busy in here at 4 a.m., Amber considered.
She looked at the cigarettes, and grabbed a packet of Camel Lights, and a plastic yellow lighter, and headed for the door. If she couldn’t drink, she was going to smoke instead. She sure as hell needed something to calm her nerves.
She exited the store, and walked back out onto the pavement. She checked both left and right along the Cromwell Road, and glanced over at the surrounding buildings, then she turned left.
The first thing Amber noticed, after leaving the store, was the smell of burning rubber. There was a faint smell of it over at The Shard, but it was much stronger here. As she looked up into the light crimson sky, she could now see, for the first time, several plumes of black smoke, rising from the ground way off in the distance.
Amber moved off, continuing along the road for about ten minutes, sticking to the left side of the street. Over to her right she could see the Cromwell Hospital.
Then, an odd, deep, rumbling sound caused her to freeze. She stood motionless and listened. The noise appeared to be subterranean, somewhere over towards the hospital. Could it be an earthquake?
Amber stood there, wondering what was going to happen next. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She looked right, and noticed some stationary vehicles parked in the street start to move, and then drop down a little. Then some of the windows in the hospital building blew out, smashing onto the pavement below.
A huge crack appeared in the hospital’s brick walls, and quickly travelled up toward the top of the modern building, just as the pavement on the opposite side of the
road started to collapse. A huge black hole opened up, where the pavement had once been, engulfing two of the cars that had been parked there. The rumbling continued, and then, to Amber’s horror, a vast crack opened up and tore along the tarmac road, towards her.
CHAPTER 22
AMBER RAN AS fast as she’d ever run in her life, away from the advancing crevasse opening up in the road behind her. She reached a main junction controlled by traffic lights, which started to wobble and topple over, as she passed.
She continued running past some parked cars, and under a green signpost, saying Heathrow and the West. When she saw the sign, she knew that she couldn’t be that far from the Earl’s Court Junction.
A cluster of vehicles looked as if they’d braked suddenly in the middle of the road, a short distance ahead. The nearest vehicle was an old, white, Porsche 993, the last of the air cooled models, she was certain. She only knew this because an ex-boyfriend of hers had owned the same model, except his had been a blue one. She recalled him telling her that it was one of the classic air-cooled models, which didn’t have a traditional water-filled radiator.
Fast cars didn’t impress her, but she was now thankful for the knowledge that he’d imparted. The only issue would be: whether there was any fuel left in the tank. The fact that the engine would have been running since its owner had been vaporized at the wheel, following the Event, three days ago, meant that it was unlikely.
As she sprinted toward the Porsche, a loud sound, similar to the branches of a tree snapping, resonated around her. A huge crack then zigzagged down the middle of the road towards her.
Without warning, a huge tendril burst up through the road. Tarmac, earth, and old brickwork, rained down from the top of the thing as it erupted from under the Cromwell Road, before coming to settle on the remaining intact sections of the road still able to support its weight.