Dinosaur World

by Logan Jacobs

  “Yeah?” the brown-eyed girl asked. “I like this one.”

  “What about you, Hae-won?” I asked. “See anything you like the look of?”

  The Asian beauty picked up a club-like mace with decorated spikes and tested it before putting it back down. It probably wouldn’t have worked very well on the dinosaurs since they had incredibly thick skin. We would all need something that could pierce them and get down into the vital organs. She picked up another sword that was about the same length as mine but not quite as thick. The blade was entirely black, along with a simple black handle and cross hilt.

  “British military sword, 1880-1900,” I read the tag where that sword had been. “How heavy is it?”

  “Not bad.” She twisted and swung the sword around in the air a few times with a graceful ease.

  “Do you think you can use it and carry it for a long time?” I pressed.

  “I can handle it.” The blue-eyed woman smirked at me.

  “Hmm,” I said as I raised an eyebrow. “Do you know how to use swords? You seem pretty familiar with it.”

  “Maybe,” the beautiful Asian girl said as she half-smiled at me.

  “Okay,” I laughed. “You can keep your secrets.”

  “Maybe I’ll tell you later.” She licked her lips a bit and stared into my eyes.

  “Hey,” Becka called out before I could respond to Hae-won, and I turned to see the other beautiful girl glancing at a display with chain mail.

  “What’s up?” I asked as I walked over to her.

  “With these weapons and armour, it might be easier for us to go across campus and get my charger,” the British girl said as she tapped on the case. “We have a place to retreat to now, too. Isn’t that what you said you needed?”

  I looked down at the array of plate armour and weapons. It was true that these would be a much better defense against any dinosaur that tried to attack us, but it wasn’t perfect and we would still be risking ourselves by getting close enough to stab the creatures. I was about to tell her we just couldn’t do it when I looked up into her pleading soft-brown eyes.

  “Please, Jason,” she whined. “I know that it doesn’t seem worth it to risk everything for a charger, but it’s for my mum. She doesn’t have anyone else around her to look after her. I just need to know that she’s somewhere safe.”

  I sighed, it was hard to argue with that. What would I have wanted if our situations were reversed?

  I thought through the options for getting back to her dorm building. It was across the campus, but it would only take about ten minutes to cross the quad and get behind the cover of the buildings on the other side. With these weapons and armour at least we would have something to fight with if anything did appear and maybe we would get lucky and the place would be clear.

  “Fine,” I said at last. “We can see if we can go over there. We’ll gear up with this stuff and scout the quad from the cover of the class buildings before we head out there, though. If we see anything in the field--”

  “We’ll head back here, I understand,” she cut in, and her soft brown eyes glittered as she gave me a perfect grin. “Thank you so much.”

  “Hae-won, you can stay--” I began but I didn’t get any further.

  “No,” the dark-haired woman protested. “I’m coming with you. You said you’d help me try the armour on, too.”

  “Okay, as long as you’re sure.” I smiled at her enthusiasm. “But it might be dangerous, so we need to be careful, okay?”

  Both women nodded at me.

  “Okay, let’s suit up.” I picked up my sword and studied the edges. “We’ll need to sharpen these before we go, too.”

  “Isn’t that difficult?” Becka asked. “Don’t you need like, special equipment and stuff.”

  “I guess if you wanted to do it professionally,” I said. “I think we can figure out some basic way to sharpen it, though.”

  “I can look it up,” Hae-won suggested.

  “Yeah, there must be something online about how to do it,” I agreed.

  “I’ll check,” the Asian girl said.

  Becka and I crowded in around Hae-won as she searched for some type of tutorial. A lot of them did look like they would require equipment we didn’t have like whetstones and sharpening rods, but I stopped her as she scrolled past one.

  “What’s that one?” I asked. “That video, Brad Buckner. He’s just using a rock to sharpen a knife. Click on that.”

  She pulled up the five minute clip and we watched as a guy took a flat garden rock and used it to sharpen a large knife. At the end of the video, the guy took the knife and sliced through a piece of paper with what looked like zero effort.

  “There’s no way it’s that easy,” Becka said. “It can’t be that sharp.”

  “It looks like it worked pretty well for him,” I argued. “It wouldn’t hurt for us to try. There’s plenty of landscaping rocks just outside.”

  “I’ll give it a shot,” Hae-won said.

  “Guess it won’t hurt,” the blonde agreed.

  We walked back out the front door and over to a row of stones lining a well groomed garden area. Most of them looked a lot bigger than the stone the guy used in the video, but after searching around for a bit, I found a suitable one. The front surface was flat, the material was rough, and it was just small enough for me to hold it in the palm of my hand.

  We headed back into the gallery and I went to work on the metal first. I figured I would try the technique on a smaller sword that none of us planned on using, just on the off chance that it got completely ruined.

  The girls watched as I spent about ten minutes sharpening the sword I’d chosen. At first I wasn’t sure that the rock was doing anything, but I started to see a metal color show on the surface just like the guy did in the video. When I thought that I ran both sides of the blade across the stone long enough, I figured we should test it out.

  “Becka, can you grab one of those gallery pamphlets from the reception desk?” I asked.

  “Okay.” She ran back to the entrance, grabbed the brochure, and carried it back over to us.

  I took the paper from her, opened it up, and ran the small sword down the paper diagonally. Without tearing any of it, the sword cut a clean triangle piece that broke off and fluttered to the ground.

  “That is amazing,” Hae-won said.

  “I can’t believe it’s actually sharp,” Becka said and stared at the sword.

  “Gotta love Youtube.” I smiled. “Let’s sharpen ours up.”

  We started with my sword and I let each of the girls have a go at sharpening it with the stone. We played the video again to review and soon all of us had the technique down.

  When my sword was done, I looked over the weapons that the girls had chosen. Hae-won’s sword needed a bit of sharpening, but the short sword Becka picked was already razor sharp. When we finished, we looked at the rest of the armory to find some pieces we could use as protection against any teeth that might come into contact with us.

  Men in the olden days were a lot smaller than modern men, and I quickly found that all the chest plates of armor were too small for me. I did find some metal plated arm guards and used the included leather straps to fit those on my shoulders and arms.

  Becka had thought most of the chest pieces were too heavy, but she strapped on some knee and thigh guards and wrist covers that went up to her elbows. Then she strapped on her new sword sheath, spun around, and stood a bit hipshot as she raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Well?” the blonde asked.

  “You look badass,” I said. “I’d call you Armor Spice for sure.”

  “You know we don’t only have the Spice Girls,” she snickered at me.

  “Yep,” I laughed. “You also have Kate Beckensale, Keira Knightley, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Cara Delevingne, and Emma Watson. Oh, but let’s not forget the greatest.”

  “Greatest?” Becka asked as her lips twisted up into a smirk.

  “Elizabeth Hurley, of course,”
I scoffed. “How could you not even think of her?”

  “Wow,” Becka snickered. “You know your British babes, eh?”

  “Well, you are prettier than all of them.”

  “Oh?” she laughed. “Is it the armor?”

  “Part of it,” I said, and I gave her a wink. I’d never actually been much of a charmer with the ladies. I tended to be the guy who stayed up late studying, playing video games, or watching Anime, but hey, it felt like the world was ending, so I figured that I should flirt like I was going to get eaten by dinosaurs soon.

  I probably was.

  “Well, uhhh, thanks,” Becka cleared her throat, and then she actually blushed a bit as she turned away from me and pretended to look at the display case again.

  “Jason,” Hae-won called out to me from behind. “Can you help me with the armor?”

  “Sure,” I said, and then I turned to see her pulling her long black hair into a ponytail at the top of her head.

  “I’m going to head downstairs,” Becka said as she lifted her tea mug. “I need another cuppa before we go. Meet you both down there?”

  “Yep,” I said as I walked over to Hae-won.

  “I can not hold my hair up and lift the chest piece at the same time,” Hae-won said as soon as Becka walked down the stairs. “Can you put it on?”

  “Yeah,” I replied as I grabbed the armor, gently brushed her silky hair away from her shoulders, and then slid the chestpiece over her head.

  Once the armor was in place, I helped tighten the leather straps onto her lithe body over her white button down blouse, and then I ran my fingers over the creases and made sure that it wasn’t loose.

  “How does it feel?” I asked after I completed my inspection. “You sure it’s not too heavy? You can move in it?”

  “Yes, Jason.” She looked over her shoulder at me with a smile. “It feels fine.”

  “What about the shoulder guard?” I asked and pointed to the curved piece on the right side of the armour. “Can you move it?”

  There were several interlocking plates there that allowed someone to be able to move their arm while still keeping it protected, but it had been a few hundred years since any of them were oiled, so I had my doubts.

  Hae-won lifted her sword arm and moved the shoulder around in the armour. I heard a few squeaks, but it all looked to be moving properly.

  “It’s loose,” she said.

  “Okay, I’ll tighten the arm parts,” I said.

  The plate had straps and ties around the middle just underneath the arms, so I pulled both sides tight and looked up into Hae-won’s stunning face.

  “How’s that?” I asked.

  “Perfect,” she whispered as her blue-eyes drifted down my face to settle on my lips. “Just right.”

  I stood up and looked at her for a minute, admiring the sexy Asian badass in front of me. The armor stopped at her waist, and her short black-plaid skirt fluttered out from beneath it so that my eye naturally drifted down to her perfectly toned legs. I wondered if the armor was made for a woman. Even though it wasn’t as common, there were several pieces made like that going back to the 1600s.

  “Jason?” Hae-won asked, and I realized that she had caught me eye fucking her.

  “Uhhh… Your sword?” I cleared my throat.

  “Ahhh. Yes.” She picked up her jet black military sword, and I thought my heart might have skipped several beats.

  “Do you like it?” She looked at me, and her eyelashes fluttered.

  She totally knew what I was going to say. There was no way a girl as hot as Hae-won wouldn’t know she was devastatingly beautiful. Especially wearing armor and carrying a sword like a sexy anime character.

  “You look incredible,” I breathed, and I realized that I could hear my heart hammering in my ears.

  “I’m glad you think so.” Her cheeks flushed a light pink, and she stepped closer to me.

  Then our eyes locked, and I remembered that we were completely alone in the second level of the gallery.

  Hae-won also seemed to realize we were alone, and she smiled and eyed me with a hungry look before placing her hand on the back of my neck.

  She leaned in as she caressed my nape, and I bent down slightly to meet her lips. She kissed me passionately and let out a cute little moan as soon as I accepted her kiss. Her mouth tasted like mint tea, and my tongue gently played with hers while I wrapped my hands around her slender waist and pulled her in closer. I thought about lifting her up to me but it would be difficult with all the armour in the way and I didn’t want to interrupt the moment.

  After another second, she pulled away, and her lips spread into a sly smile.

  “Damn,” I gasped. “That was…”

  “Heroes get kisses,” she whispered as she gave me a coy smile.

  “I’m not sure I’m a hero,” I chuckled.

  “Becka and I would be dead without you.” She shrugged her slender shoulders.

  “Hey, if it means I get more kisses, then I’m cool with you calling me a hero.”

  “We should get going,” she said and turned slowly to head down the stairs.

  I watched as the beautiful Korean girl started to descend the stairs, and her skirt swished and revealed more flashes of skin as she walked. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, and I played the kiss back again to myself. It was incredible, and I hoped I’d have a chance to do it again soon.

  I took in a breath and followed her down the stairs in time to see both of the beautiful women exiting out the front door, so I picked up my pace so that they wouldn’t be standing out there for too long without me.

  “Okay, everyone ready?” I asked as I closed and locked the door behind me.

  “Ready,” Becka answered as she pulled her sword, swung it in the air, and then sheathed it.

  “Yes.” Hae-wan smiled as she tapped the hilt of her blade with her fingers.

  The three of us set off toward the edge of the quad, and I had to admit to myself that walking with armour, swords, and two gorgeous battle-clad women at my side felt pretty amazing.

  We got to the quad, and I scanned the area and the paddock leading outside the campus. It didn’t look like anything was out there, but I made sure to study the far ends of the paddock with extra attention. For a second, I thought I saw something move, but I looked again and couldn’t find it. I listened for anything that was out of place, but the only thing I heard was a couple of far away gunshots.

  I guess that meant there were still dinosaurs out there and the police hadn’t handled them yet. They must have been hunting them down for nearly a day now, which must mean there were either a lot fewer police or a lot more dinosaurs than what we previously thought.

  I hoped it was the latter.

  “Okay, we should go now, while the coast is clear,” I said to the women. “We should move quickly but without running. Running will attract a lot of attention, but we don’t want to be exposed for longer than we need to be.”

  They nodded, and we started into the quad at a fast walk. Every few seconds I looked back to the paddock, across the other side, and then behind us.

  And I kept my sword gripped tightly in my fist.

  I wondered to myself if I should name the sword. It did look pretty cool, after all, and all cool swords had names. But then again, I had never actually used it, so maybe I’d wait until I actually had to use it. Then I realized I really didn’t want to use it. Then I realized I was spending way too much time thinking about my sword instead of being scared about dinosaurs, so I focused back up on the task at hand.

  We reached the other side without an incident and took cover behind one of the larger buildings.

  “How far?” I asked Becka.

  “Over there, the Howard Lodge.” She pointed to the large dormitory in the center of another square.

  “Okay, let’s go around this way,” I explained.

  I led our little group around the outside of the square so we could keep the buildings between us and any la
rge open spaces, but as we started to approach the dormitory, I hung back and let Becka take the lead so I could cover our rear.

  “Made it.” The beautiful blonde walked us up to the front door and swiped her ID card through to unlock it.

  The keypad beeped, lit up green, and then the door clicked unlocked, and we all piled into the dorm building as quickly as possible.

  The door had been intact when we entered, so I figured there was little chance that anything inside was going to attack us, and I let my guard drop slightly as Becka led us to the elevator and pressed the call button.

  “I think we should take the stairs,” I said.

  “What’s wrong with the lift?” Becka asked.

  “We don’t know what’s going on everywhere else,” I replied. “There's a chance that the power could cut out at some point. I really don’t want that to be while we’re stuck in an elevator.”

  “It’s pretty unlikely,” Becka said. “Though, I suppose you do have a point.”

  She turned, pushed in the door for the stairwell, and held it open for us to walk through.

  “I almost hate to ask this, but what floor do you live on?” I asked.

  “Seven,” She answered.

  “Figures,” I snickered, and then we started our way up the steps.

  We reached the next level and there was a ‘first floor’ sign by the exit door. I remembered that the Brits liked to do everything twice, so they called the first floor the ground floor and the next one the first.

  So that meant Becka actually lived on the eighth floor.

  My sword started to feel a bit heavy by the time we reached her floor, and I could hear Hae-won puffing from the climb with the added weight of her armour. At least the way down would be easier and it was better to be safe than sorry.

  The blonde led us through the hall to number 734, swiped her ID card again, and gestured when the door opened. “Welcome!”

  I stepped inside behind the two women and studied the room. She had at least twenty books on her desk and the surrounding shelves, but they were novels rather than textbooks. There were a few paintings hanging on the wall, and I wondered if she had been the artist. There was a pin board above her bed covered in photo collages and hand-drawn quotes and below it her bed spread was a fluffy pastel green.