Prehistoric Survival | Book 1 | Doomed City

by Sander, K. G.

  A few seconds later, the backup gas generators for the hospital started up. The lights flickered back on and John stood from his knees.

  Hannah burst into the room.

  “Did you just feel that?”

  John turned. “Yeah, yeah I did.”

  “The lights went out in here?”

  “Yeah. And if felt like someone was squeezing the life out of me.”

  “Gas leak?” Hannah’s face went white. A gas leak would mean evacuating the five hundred bed hospital. The effort would be enormous and had never been done before. Yes, they’d had meetings about it, but removing patients to the street, when most were on life-saving measures, wasn’t feasible.

  “I’m not sure,” John answered, still shaking his head trying to clear it. Damn, it was hot. “The gas generators are running. I can hear them. Maybe it was a weird power outage or something?”

  “I’ve never had a power outage make me feel like that.”

  That was true. Sweat beaded on John’s forehead. “Why aren’t the generators kicking the air conditioning on? I don’t remember it being this hot in May before.”

  Hannah headed to the phone on the wall. “I’m calling Mark, he will tell me if the gas detectors have gone off or anything.”

  Mark was the head of maintenance for the hospital. And an asshole. John didn’t envy Hannah having to make the call and didn’t want to be in the break room when she did.

  “I’ll just head back to triage,” John said, trying to shuffle by Hannah as she pulled the phone to her ear. “Break is over.”

  Hannah held out a finger, stopping him. “Phone’s dead,” she said.

  “It’s a landline. It doesn’t need electricity to work,” John said, pulling out his cellphone. “That’s weird. It shouldn’t be dead.”

  Hannah slammed the receiver back onto the phone and tried again. “Nothing.”

  John held out his phone to her, “Here, use mine. Mark is in my contacts.”

  Hannah looked at it, “No bars.”

  “What? What do you mean, no bars?”

  John took the phone from her. She was right, there were no bars. “I’ll try to Facebook message him. He’s always on.”

  “There’s no WiFi either.”

  “What the hell?”

  They’d barely come to the realization that they had no means of communication when Becky burst through the door.

  “Hannah, computers are down.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, they’re down. They turned off when that weird head squeeze thing happened, then they turned back on with the generators, but they don’t have access to the server. I can’t see beds at all.”

  “Well, what the hell is going on?” Hannah said, storming from the break room.

  “Why doesn’t she just call from the landline?” Becky whispered to John.

  “Phones are down.”

  Becky pulled her cellphone out of her scrubs and turned it on. “Well, my cell is working.”

  “Check the bars.”

  “What the hell? There’s always service here.”

  “And the WiFi is down.”

  Worry crossed Becky’s face. “John, my kid wasn’t feeling well this morning. I asked daycare to call me if things got worse. What if they can’t get a hold of me?”

  John was spared from answering when a scream came from the waiting room outside of triage.

  “What now?” John said, running out of the break room, with Becky close behind.

  The emergency room waiting room was lined with windows. One feature John liked about where he worked. He got to see outside. It may just be to the parking garage for ambulances, but that was open, and he could see the sky once in a while.

  Everyone in the waiting room was standing, so John couldn’t see the windows. All of them were looking out, paralyzed with fear.

  “What?” John said, pushing through the crowd to the woman who had screamed, Hannah and Becky close behind.

  John broke free of the crowd.

  “Holy shit!”

  There, on the other side of the glass, stood a huge Pterodactyl. It was easily three meters tall and its long wings were folded behind it. It was feathered, with a lush blue and green plumage coming from its head. A long, glimmering beak turned sideways and a black eye stared through the windows.

  John froze with the rest of the emergency room.

  A dinosaur was staring at him.

  A fucking dinosaur.

  The Pterodactyl shrieked, and John covered his ears. It knocked on the window with its beak, sending spider webs up through the glass. It wouldn’t hold for long.

  And standing there would do nothing.

  “Everybody,” John said calmly, “Please head back through triage.”

  The Pterodactyl shrieked again and pecked at the glass, this time shattering it. John covered his face as the glass exploded into the emergency room.

  “RUN!”

  John turned with everyone and tried to hop over chairs to get through the room. A woman fell in front of him and John tried to pick her up as panic ensued around him. The Pterodactyl shrieked again, almost sending John to his knees.

  A dinosaur.

  A fucking dinosaur.

  John heard someone yell behind him, but he was too busy hauling the old woman with him to turn. The yell was cut off suddenly by a squelching sound.

  A dinosaur.

  A fucking dinosaur.

  As John ran for his life, the thought kept crossing his mind.

  A fucking dinosaur.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Maggie

  Dust flew around them as Maggie drove. Tires spun and the loose gravel pulled at the SUV, threatening to pull them into the ditch or roll the top-heavy car.

  Silence surrounded them in the car. The satellite radio hissed in the background, SERVICE UNAVAILABLE scrolling across the screen. Annoyed, Dirby leaned forward and slammed the power button.

  A soft piece of gravel grabbed the back tires and, white-knuckled, Maggie fought the vehicle to stay on the road.

  “Slow down,” Dirby said, wiping the sweat out of his eyes.

  Maggie didn’t hear him. Barely keeping the vehicle on the road, she turned aggressively right on Warman road.

  “Where are we going?” Ginny asked, face looking greener as Maggie drove.

  “St. Paul’s,” Maggie said. “We will go see John. He can tell us why we’re all hallucinating.”

  “Hallucinating the same thing?” Dirby said, voice a full octave higher than usual. “And how are you going to get through that?” He pointed out of his window.

  Maggie followed his gaze. The treeline surrounded the city in a perfect circle, following the small flags above ground that mapped the super collider. Some trees clearly caught in the middle of whatever had happened lay fallen into the circle of Saskatoon. Maggie drove fast, following the road, not watching where she was going. The treeline grew closer to the road. The supercollider went underneath Highway 11.

  That meant there was no getting to St. Paul’s from this way. She should have gone through the city.

  What the fuck was going on here? Hell, maybe Theo was right. Maybe they were dead. Her heart lurched when she thought of the TA, the gross crunch that happened when the dinosaur had stepped on him-

  “STOP!” Dirby yelled, eyes forward, bracing himself against the dash.

  Maggie refocused on the road and slammed on the brakes. Other drivers behind her did the same. She could hear the tires squealing on the road behind her.

  Well, she could barely hear them.

  As the SUV skidded to a stop and she knew they wouldn’t hit the mound in front of them, her mouth gaped open.

  A giant lay dead across the road. Easily three meters high on its side, the head and chest lay across the road. The back half ended in a spurt of blood across the trees that now curved towards the road in a perfect circle.

  Mouth gaping, Maggie opened the door of the car.

  “What the fuck is your-�
� The driver behind her stopped yelling and stared, open-mouthed, at the hunk of flesh in front of them.

  “Dr. Knight,” Lindsay gasped, her first words in the last five minutes. “Stay here. Where are you going?”

  Maggie ignored her and stepped out of the car. The road was now backed up and Maggie could hear the doors of cars opening and shutting behind her. It didn’t matter; the road was blocked off up ahead by the curving forest, cut in a perfect circle.

  The animal in front of her had a ridge of feathers lining its back, tan and black. A large duck-billed nose faced them. Maggie wanted to touch it, to feel that it was real, but she couldn’t.

  What had killed it?

  “Dr. Knight,” Dirby yelled from the SUV. “Get back in the car.”

  Maggie ignored him.

  “The fuck am I looking at,” the man from the car behind her said, walking up to join her.

  “I think it’s a dinosaur.”

  “It’s an Edmontosaurus,” A small woman said, joining them and staring at the wretched dead creature across the road. Maggie raised her eyebrows and looked at her. “Preschool teacher,” the woman said, shrugging. “Kids like dinosaurs.”

  Maggie shook her head. Curiosity overtook her, and she walked towards the forest, reaching out to touch the creature in front of her. She had to touch it; it was a part of her she didn’t like, but really helped as a scientist. The smell of death was already starting to reach her as flies buzzed around the dead reptile’s bottom half.

  Maggie slowly held out her hand and, looking back at the crowd that had gathered, she placed her hand on the carcass.

  It was solid. Not a hallucination, then. Still warm to the touch, the skin felt like that of a snake. The ridge of feathers was small and across the back.

  “How did it die?” Ginny called. The group of scientists had finally left the SUV and joined the crowd gathering.

  Maggie shrugged and walked to the back of the animal that was lying perpendicular to the treeline. She grimaced as the grizzly sight greeted her. The animal had been cut in half. The back legs were gone, blood and guts spilled out onto the grass and splashed up the trees. Maggie had the vision of the Edmontosaurus reaching up for leaves from the tree on its back legs, when suddenly a giant guillotine cut it in half. The legs gone, it must have fallen into the perfect circle that was Saskatoon.

  How had this happened?

  The trees rustled beside her, but Maggie didn’t notice, she was so engrossed in the dead animal in front of her.

  It was dead. Edmontosaurus had been dead for over 65 million years. So how was one of them dead in front of her?

  The treeline was her answer. Really, she’d known it since leaving the research facility.

  But it made little sense.

  The treeline rustled again.

  “Dr. Knight?” Lindsay said from the road.

  Maggie didn’t hear her. She was so engrossed in the dead animal in front of her. It was an animal. A once living and breathing thing, not a skeleton. Not a hallucination.

  The squeezing of her brain, the electric field in the air, it all pointed to one thing-

  “DR. KNIGHT!”

  Annoyed at the interruption, Maggie spun, only to be greeted by a gaping jawline full of teeth. A huge Tyrannosaurus was facing her, drooling at the sight of its next meal.

  Maggie froze, staring at the monster. It stared back at her, not sure of what to make of the tiny, fleshy primate staring at him slack-jawed.

  The small woman screamed.

  Chaos ensued.

  The Tyrannosaurus lunged for Maggie. Brought back to the present by the scream, Maggie dove to the side, the giant mouth missing her and grabbing some Edmontosaurus flesh. Maggie sprinted towards the cars. The other people ran in between them, back towards the city.

  Lindsay waited for Maggie to catch up. They ran together, weaving in between cars. Maggie didn’t see Dirby or Ginny. They must be in front of them.

  The Tyrannosaurus roared, and Maggie stumbled. Lindsay caught her and they continued to sprint. They were the closest to the T-Rex. The rest of the people were long gone after Maggie’s curiosity got the best of her.

  The heavy footsteps of the beast followed them. A car alarm sounded as the T-Rex stepped on it, chasing the group of fleeing morsels.

  A hand grabbed Lindsay’s arm and pulled Lindsay and Maggie behind a truck. Dirby locked eyes with them and held his hands to his lips. A terrified Ginny was pressed up against the back of the pickup, along with the preschool teacher.

  Maggie nodded. Dirby was right, there was no outrunning it. The best they could do was hide.

  The T-Rex ran, faster than anything that big should be able to, after the sprinting crowd. It pushed cars away in its path. A back leg bumped the truck and Ginny closed her eyes tightly. Maggie grabbed her hand and gripped it. The T-Rex ran by, and the group exhaled.

  A scream sounded farther down the highway, cut off short. Ginny looked like she was going to be sick.

  Too scared to move, the group stayed hidden, a small circle behind the pickup truck.

  Finally, when the heavy thumps of the dinosaur’s footsteps had receded, the group relaxed. They locked eyes and smiled awkwardly at each other.

  “Holy shit,” Dirby whispered.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Ginny asked.

  “The super-collider,” Maggie gasped, pulling her heels off and rubbing her sore feet. “It fucking made a black hole.”

  “So… we’re in the past?”

  Maggie nodded. “Ask Lindsay. There was an instability complex in the algorithm. The fucking protesters were right.”

  Maggie nodded towards Lindsay, who wasn’t paying attention.

  “Any thoughts, Lindsay?”

  A feathered dinosaur, about three feet long, hissed from around the truck and lunged at them. The reddish-brown feathers glistened in the sunlight. Maggie pulled Lindsay away, but it latched on to Lindsay’s arm. She screamed. Dirby slammed his hand over her mouth, silencing her. The group held on to Lindsay as the small dinosaur pulled at her arm, chirping in the back of its throat.

  Maggie took the heel she was holding and slammed it over and over into the dinosaur’s face. Finally, it let go and hissed at them, running away to the treeline.

  “Sinornithosaurus,” the pre-school teacher said, gasping as the group fell back to the asphalt. “A small dinosaur, one that they thought was poisonous.”

  Lindsay groaned. Her coat was ripped, and the bite mark glinted with clear saliva.

  “You okay?” Maggie said, scrambling to her student’s side.

  “Hurts like hell,” Lindsay said. “It’s burning.”

  “You,” Maggie said, pointing to the preschool teacher. “What’s the poison?”

  “They aren’t sure if it’s even poisonous,” the woman replied, “it was just a theory-”

  “Okay, so we wait,” Maggie said. “Dirby. I have some Benadryl in the SUV. Can you and Ginny go get that and the tire iron from the trunk?”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Ginny said defiantly.

  Maggie shot her a glare. “You want to stay near the forest, go ahead, but we will not last five minutes. Benadryl, as we have no history or immunity to anything that’s coming at us, and a tire iron.”

  Ginny nodded and Dirby grabbed her arm and they jogged through the wrecked cars on the street.

  Lindsay gritted her teeth. Maggie ripped the sleeve off her suit and tied it the best she could around the bite on Lindsay’s arm.

  “Can you tough it out?” Maggie asked warmly. “We need to get you to St. Paul’s.”

  Lindsay nodded and pushed herself to a sitting position.

  “What’s your name?” Lindsay asked the teacher.

  “Trudy,” she said.

  “Trudy, you know way more about dinosaurs than a normal preschool teacher,” Lindsay said, sweat dripping from her brow.

  Trudy flashed her a worried grin, “I’m kind of a nerd.”

  Dirby and Gi
nny jogged back, Dirby holding the tire iron and handing Maggie the Benadryl. Maggie poured two pills out and put them in Lindsay’s good hand. “Take these. They’re gonna make you groggy, but might as well.”

  Lindsay nodded and popped the pills into her mouth, swallowing them dry.

  “Can you stand?”

  Trudy pulled Lindsay to her feet. Maggie looked at the ragged group in front of her.

  “St. Paul’s,” she said. “Heads on a swivel.” She reached out and grabbed the tire iron from Dirby, who gave it up freely.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  John

  The beast lay dead at his feet.

  John was covered in its blood, head to toe, and was left gasping and holding an IV pole like a baseball bat.

  “Get her out of there,” Hannah said, equally covered in blood, rushing forward to help Becky. The Pterodactyl had fallen on her legs with a sickening crunch when she’d given it a syringe full of undiluted fentanyl. Then John had finished it with the IV pole in spurts of anger and blood.

  John rushed forward with Hannah. Two Paramedics lifted the large, awkwardly hanging wing off Becky. John and Hannah grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out.

  The crowd gasped.

  Becky looked down at her legs, ashen faced, “Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.”

  “It’s okay,” Hannah said, grabbing her hand. “It’s okay. Don’t look at them.”

  “Where the fuck else am I supposed to look?” Becky gasped.

  She had a point. The bottom of both her legs were crushed. Her tibia stuck out of the skin of her left leg in a jagged point. The right leg was completely flat.

  “I have morphine here,” a medic said, leaning in beside John to look and pulling a syringe out of his breast pocket. “It was for Dillon over there on the stretcher but-”

  Becky grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him towards her. “Give it to me. Fucking now,” she demanded, before laying back down and covering her face.

  “Get me the IV tray,” John barked. Abby scrambled away and found it, bringing it back quickly.