by Logan Jacobs
“We got it there safely,” I assured him. “To be honest, I’ve been really curious if our efforts were worth it, so if you feel comfortable telling us what you know, I’d certainly appreciate it. The more knowledge we have going forward, the more likely we are to survive this thing.”
“I can understand that, but if that’s the case, we’ve got more than just a briefcase to discuss,” the neurologist sighed, and he sat forward as he sipped his coffee. “You know that they’ve been studying the DNA, trying to work out as much as they can about these creatures, but they also wanted to study the way they get here.”
“The portals.” Kat nodded.
“Exactly,” Amir said. “Malik told me that they’ve found some strange information regarding the portals. More specifically, they’ve picked up strange radio signals coming from them.”
“Radio signals?” I asked. “So, what does that mean? That someone’s controlling them?”
“We don’t know.” The doctor shrugged. “They found a portal near the base that kept opening at the same time every few days, so they used that for their research.”
“These things are timed?” Kat asked. “Like they have some kind of schedule? I thought they were just random.”
“Not all of them,” I cut in. “I read about it online a while back.”
“Yeah, some of the portals seem to open on a schedule.” Amir nodded. “Not all, but one of the scientists noticed that this same one kept opening at the same time of day, right to the second.”
“And that’s how he worked out where these radio signals were coming from,” I concluded. “Traced it back to a certain satellite or something?”
“They tried to, but they couldn’t work it out,” Amir said. “Malik said the signal is coming from a band of the radio spectrum that we don’t use with our satellites.”
“What?” Hae-won and I both gasped.
My mind raced with the new information, and I immediately thought back to the alien theory we had discussed before. It had sounded so ridiculous, but I kept coming back to it in my mind, and these strange new radio signals fit neatly into the theory.
“Wait, if we don’t use this spectrum thing, are you saying they still have no idea where the radio signal is being transmitted from?” Hae-won asked as she placed her empty cup on the floor.
“Exactly,” Amir confirmed. “It’s impossible for them to trace it when they don’t know what they’re even looking at.”
“This is some crazy shit,” Kat said as she ran a hand through her curls. “I didn’t hear about any of this at the power plant base.”
“Do they have any theories?” I asked. “Anyone that they suspect might be behind this?”
“They did at the start,” Amir sighed and took a sip of coffee. “Sounds like every country blamed each other when the portals first appeared. We all thought it was some form of terrorism that had been created to take over Britain. Then we realized this is happening in every corner of the Earth.”
“Nowhere is safe.” Kat nodded.
“That’s why this radio signal is even more concerning,” Amir added.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s not just the satellites we have that don’t transmit signals in this band of the spectrum,” the doctor explained with wider eyes. “Even our spacecraft don’t use this. Nothing human-made transmits signals this way. Not on the ground, not in the atmosphere, and not even when we send crafts into space.”
Amir gestured toward the sky, and I got chills as I realized what he was saying.
“It can only be coming from another life form,” I breathed.
The doctor looked uneasy with the conclusion, but I could tell he couldn’t find another answer, either. He grimly shrugged and sipped his coffee instead, and we all sat for a moment in tense silence.
“But… what about the DNA?” Hae-won finally asked. “Did they find anything out that could help get some answers.”
“They did,” Amir assured. “But they didn’t exactly find what they expected to with that, either.”
“Shit,” I sighed. “What did they find?”
“They’ve essentially confirmed these dinosaurs aren’t lab-grown as they previously conjectured,” Amir said. “Not in any labs we’re capable of possessing at least. Now, my brother and I aren’t molecular paleontologists, but Malik filled me in a bit as well as he could. He said any gene pattern we could hope to acquire of prehistoric reptiles would be incredibly degraded and require gene splicing in order to clone a dinosaur species as well as we could.”
“Yeah, I read an article about that not long ago,” I said with a nod. “I thought some scientists found evidence that some modern gene-splicing stunt had been done.”
“Yes, they’ve discounted that evidence now,” Amir said in a bleak tone, and I furrowed my brow. “In order for that to be the case, we would first need to acquire this prehistoric sample, which simply hasn’t been possible. Then, a modern animal would need to be used in the splicing process. The traces of their genetic pattern would be present in these samples Scampton has been studying. But they aren’t.”
“So…we’re not dealing with a Jurassic Park scenario,” Hae-won mumbled and slumped in her seat.
“Doesn’t look like it,” the doctor replied with a slight smile. “No bullfrog gene splicing with these dinos.”
“Wait, you’re saying there is nothing recognizable in these samples?” I clarified as my pulse quickened. “There’s nothing that even sort of resembles a creature from Earth--”
“Nothing.” The neurologist’s eyes widened. “The genetic patterns they’re reading from these samples are entirely foreign mutations. They can’t be traced in any way to any species on Earth. Not even partially.”
“I can’t believe this,” I sighed as I rifled my hair. “I mean, fuck. I’ve… I’ve worried this alien conspiracy felt too plausible for a while now, but this shit almost confirms it. It all fits together, the unidentifiable radio signals, and these unknown dino genes.”
“I was never too keen on the alien theory,” Kat said with a grimace. “I knew the idea was thrown around on the internet a bit, but I honestly never gave it much thought. I don’t know why, it’s no crazier than living, breathing dinosaurs running riot all over the Earth.”
“Who else knows all this?” Hae-won asked the doctor. “Everyone who is at the base?”
“Pretty much.” Amir nodded. “Malik said it’s not really common knowledge as far as the public goes, but the base has all been let in on the discoveries. I guess they hope if the soldiers have all the facts, they might have more chances during battle. And they need all the help they can get, especially with all the damage to bases that’s happened recently.”
“What do you mean?” Kat asked.
“I’ll show you,” Amir said, and he reached into his white jacket and pulled out his phone.
“Your internet works?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” the doctor replied. “The Wi-Fi occasionally connects here, but very slowly. It’s gotten almost unusable. The last time I tried, it took an hour to load half of an image, but I took screenshots of some news updates that Malik sent me.”
Amir opened his photo album and clicked on a picture. Then he handed me the phone, and the two girls shuffled their chairs closer to get a good look.
I looked down at the screenshot, and it was a picture of a destroyed building with a wreckage of helicopters and military Jeeps beside it.
“What am I looking at?” I asked.
“That was one of the head military posts for scientific research,” Amir answered. “Scroll through the photos to see the others.”
I swiped onto the next picture and looked at a similar scene with different surroundings. There were two more pictures, and all of them showed the bases had been completely trampled by dinos.
“So much research was lost,” Amir continued. “Those buildings had tons of DNA samples, findings, and equipment. They were all attacked by herds of din
osaurs, and I mean the big ones.”
“When was this?” Hae-won asked as she took the phone and studied the images.
“Two days ago,” the doctor said. “Malik said they got calls of distress from all these bases at the same time.”
“Like it was synchronized?” I asked, and Amir nodded.
“A planned attack to destroy the research?” Kat asked.
“That’s what it looked like,” the doctor said with a frown. “The dinos weren’t only interested in the people, it really looks like they wanted to destroy the whole building. And they succeeded.”
“This is fucking nuts.” I rubbed my forehead.
“I have to agree with you there,” Amir replied as Hae-won handed him back his phone. “All I have is the information Malik tells me, but I still don’t think I’ve fully processed it all.”
“If the attacks really weren’t a coincidence,” I mused, “then that means someone, or something, was specifically targeting the research labs to destroy as much as possible. This could only be to keep us from working out what’s going on and how to stop it.”
The door into the ward opened, and an older man in scrubs walked in and headed straight for the coffee machine. He had bushy white hair and wore the same coat as Amir, although his attire was still crisp and clean.
“Hey, Colin,” Amir said as the man gave him a tired wave. “How are you?”
“Same as ever,” Colin sighed as he grabbed a blue mug and started up the machine. “There’s just too many people getting attacked, and not enough staff. It’s getting worse out there.”
“Do you have enough supplies here?” I asked.
“We’re very well-stocked,” Colin replied as he picked up his coffee and leaned against the table. “Certainly, enough supplies to last a while, but that isn’t much good if there aren’t enough staff members to use them. I just needed a little pick me up. I’m not sure the girl with the neck bite is going to make it.”
The doctor sipped his coffee and hurried back through the doorway, and I knew tensions must be high with so much pressure on the staff.
“The attacks are becoming more frequent,” Amir told us. “We’re getting more and more people every day turning up with injuries. Some of them are half-dead when they arrive. I don’t recognize the world outside anymore.”
“Nobody could have prepared for this,” I said as I leaned back into the comfort of the soft chair. “I’m amazed things like hospitals are still running to some capacity. It’s good to be reminded there are always people willing to help each other.”
“I don’t know how much longer we can keep going, though,” Amir admitted. “I think some of the staff want to leave, but they either feel guilty, or know they probably wouldn’t survive for very long. You must have seen a lot of towns and cities on your drive. Are other places still running?”
“It’s been a lot of ghost towns,” Hae-won said. “All the houses are abandoned, and there are cars everywhere. The highway was covered in them.”
“Society in general has gone down the toilet,” Kat added. “That’s why I left my military base that I was stationed at. The men were getting animalistic in their panic.”
“Really?” Amir asked with disgust. “That didn’t take long, did it? I knew people would do whatever they could to survive, but I hadn't anticipated how awful some would be to each other.”
“It’s been a real eye opener into morality,” I snorted. “We’ve had to defend ourselves from people as well as dinos. Even a priest tried to pull a fast one on us.”
“Well, on that jolly note,” Amir chuckled, and then he yawned. “I should get back to work. There’s always something that needs doing. I can’t believe I used to get a big salary for doing this stuff.”
“But now you’re helping save the world,” I reminded him. “That’s a pretty big reward.”
The tired doctor smiled at me and drained the last of his coffee before he stood up.
“Are you going to wait here for your friend?” he asked. “There are some free rooms down the hall if you want a nap, and the loos are down that way, too.”
“I’m going to have another coffee,” Kat said as she stood up and made her way over to the table. “The stuff we drank at the power plant tasted like shit compared to this. You guys are living the life of luxury.”
“Oh, definitely,” Amir laughed. “If you want biscuits or--”
He was interrupted by the sound of gunshots and a scream, and I jumped to my feet.
“What the hell?” Amir muttered, and the sound of screeching tires rang out down the hall.
I raced to the ward door and ran out into the main lobby of the hospital with the girls behind me.
The sound was coming from the parking lot right outside, and we ran over to the doors to investigate.
The scream came again, but it wasn’t a pained sound, it was more of a manic laughter.
I pulled back a corner of a hanging bedsheet to see three dirty, graffiti-covered vans screech to a halt outside. A man with a red mohawk leaned out of one of the passenger seats and made the same hysterical scream, and then the doors started to open, and another ten large, armed men stepped out.
“Fuck,” Kat whispered as she peeked out of another window.
“What the hell do they want?” Amir asked and stepped back from the glass.
“I doubt they’re looking for stitches,” I muttered. “Looks like they’re here to raid the hospital.”
“They have weapons,” Kat confirmed.
“I see one with a pistol,” I reported. “The guy with the mohawk. All the others have blunt instruments.”
“What?” Amir asked in a panicked tone as we turned away from the doors. “We have sick people here, they can’t… they can’t just--”
“They can, and they will if we do nothing to stop them,” I cut the man off. “We need to move fast and barricade this door.”
I raced back to the ward where Becka was resting, and Amir and the girls followed close behind. There were a few staff members chatting in the hall as I came to a quick stop, and they looked alarmed at our sudden appearance.
“The hospital is about to be raided,” I warned. “You need to move the most vulnerable patients somewhere secure, and we need to barricade the entrance immediately.”
“Wh-What?” one of the nurses stuttered.
“What can you use to block the doorways?” I barked. “Hurry!”
“There are lots of empty beds,” Amir said with wide eyes. “And some old broken equipment we have hanging around.”
“Get it all,” I said. “Spread the word, get to work now. Are these windows bulletproof?”
“They are,” Amir assured me.
“They’d break if a van drove through that front entrance, though?” Kat asked next, and the man paled so much, I knew the answer was yes.
“What’s going on?” Mary asked as she stuck her head out of Becka’s room. “These people need to rest.”
“We need to move them,” one of the nurses said as she ran into the room. “Hospital is under attack.”
“Jason?” Becka called from the room, and I ran over as one of the injured men was wheeled out on his bed.
The blonde Brit was fully alert, and she started to swing her legs off the bed.
“No,” I ordered as I rushed over to her. “You need to rest, stay hidden, and stay alive.”
“No, I always fight with you guys,” Becka insisted as she tried to jump down.
“Becka, listen to me,” I said, and I firmly held her shoulders. “Your injury puts you at a huge risk right now, and there’s no way you can help if you can barely walk. Please do as I say. We’ll be okay.”
There was a panicked shout, and I heard large objects being scraped over the floor as the staff started to move patients and barricade the doorways.
I knew Becka would always want to fight with us, but I had to keep her safe.
“I love you,” I said, and I leaned in and kissed her soft lips.
> She hungrily kissed me back and ran a hand over the back of my neck, and I lingered there longer than I probably should have just because my nerves were on edge. The idea of separating from the beautiful blonde during all this made me twice as anxious.
“I love you, too,” Becka whispered when we finally parted. “Keep Kat and Hae-won safe.”
“Of course I will,” I promised, and a tall young man appeared and grabbed Becka’s bed and IV stand.
“I’m taking you to a safer spot,” he said as he started to wheel her out the door. “Please keep still.”
Becka blew me a kiss as she was taken out of the room, and I swiftly ran back out to get to work.
The staff had moved quickly, and I figured they were used to dealing with stressful situations as efficiently as possible. When I raced back into the main lobby, they were already securing the barricade at the entrance. Kat and Hae-won were helping stack beds on top of each other while doctors and nurses pushed large computers and kitchen appliances behind the beds.
“Have they made a move?” I asked as I hurried over to the girls.
“They were examining all the windows up front when we started making the barricade,” Kat reported. “I think they were trying to suss out if there were any booby traps or anything.”
“Knock, knock!” came a cry from outside, and the staff looked around nervously.
There was a tapping on the glass door, and then the sound of someone throwing their body weight against it.
“Time to open up!” the voice called, and the man sounded like he was enjoying this. He had a thick and sloppy British accent, and I could hear him snort a wad of snot into his throat before he continued. “We just need to borrow a couple of plasters if you can possibly spare a few.”
A roar of laughter broke out from the other men, and one of them made a howling noise as they slammed against the door again.
“They sound fucking feral,” Kat said, and then her face drained of color. “Fuck. The Jeep.”
We’d parked close to the door to rush Becka inside, and the storage box on the Jeep was full of Kat’s weaponry from the base.
“But you’ve got the keys,” I countered. “They can’t open the box without the keys, right?”
