by Mark Leney
“We didn’t see anything… we just heard something, very big and very scary and it sounds like it’s coming this way.” Meera stammered fearfully.
“What ever it is it must have heard the baby like we did.” Sean reasoned.
“How can you possibly know that for certain?” Roger argued.
“Look, if the baby’s crying did bring it here… he’s quiet now. Maybe that thing will just pass us by.” Sean suggested.
“Sean’s right. We’ll just wait in here until that monster… whatever it is… is gone.” Rav agreed.
The station seemed to shake as more footsteps pounded the streets outside.
From where they were hiding it was difficult to tell if the tremor-making tread was getting nearer or further away. The roar did not sound again… just the WHUMP – WHUMP – WHUMP of the creature’s feet.
As suddenly as the threat had come it just as suddenly went away. After the crashing and crunching the silence was almost deafening.
The survivors waited and waited…. And heard nothing more.
“I think it’s gone.” Anya couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice higher than a whisper.
“Who wants to go out and see?” Michael quipped only half serious.
“We need to get Beaky to his own kind.” Sean reminded them.
“You’ve named him now?” Rav barely stifled a snigger.
Everyone was afraid to make too much noise. Who knew how good the hearing of a dinosaur really was.
Sean just gave him a look that conveyed ‘so I named him… sue me!’
“But Beaky….” Rav began.
“He’s got a beaky mouth okay? Look just shut up will you!” Sean flustered his face darkening with embarrassment.
“You know I’ve got your back.” Michael assured him.
“Me too.” Roger added.
“Thanks guys.” Sean smiled. He took hold of one of the spikes on Beaky’s frill and guided him slowly towards the exit.
Michael grabbed a spike on the opposite side. Roger brought up the rear.
They came out onto the still deserted London street. The road and pavement were cracked in places where something heavy had trodden.
The coast clear the three men began to guide the styracosaurus back towards the park where his larger cousins were grazing.
They had barely covered even half the distance before the world began to shake again.
The tyrannosaurus rex had not gone far and it was thundering towards them from down a side road, its huge head with its gaping mouth of daggers lowered for a bite that none of them would walk away from.
Chapter Seven
This T-rex was easily the largest dinosaur that they had encountered so far.
It covered the ground with long strides of its powerful, muscular hind legs with three-toed feet that ended in lethal looking talons like butcher’s hooks. The tiny two-fingered forearms were held close to its broad scaly chest. The head was huge and mostly consisted of mouth and teeth; the weight of it was counter balanced by the long tail that swished out behind it.
As it swiftly closed the gap between itself and its intended prey, Sean and the other two men had no time to admire the predator’s lethal grace… admiration was the last thing on any of their minds. They had no time to run or even decide which of them would be the starter and which the main course… the tyrannosaurus probably didn’t care any way.
Beaky brayed fearfully. Sean, Michael and Roger screamed… the tyrannosaurus opened wide… the stench of rotten flesh was overwhelming and was that a piece of denim between its teeth?
Sean closed his eyes…
The T-rex’s jaws snapped shut on empty air just inches from the huddled group as the Tyrant King of dinosaurs was bowled off its feet by the charge of a pissed off bull styracosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus fell heavily on its left flank and rolled over onto a nearby abandoned Mercedes. The huge predator regained its footing and furiously turned to face the newcomer. A small localised earthquake had accompanied the dinosaur’s tumble.
The owner of the Mercedes would later try and claim on his insurance, but oddly enough found he wasn’t covered for dino-damage.
Sean and the others now found a styracosaurus between them and the colossal carnivore.
The other members of its herd were also there behind them. They were grouped together facing off against the T-rex, the charging male glaring with his horn lowered, a deep menacing rumble sounding in his throat.
The tyrannosaurus roared angrily, but made no move to attack. Its huge head swayed from side to side as it weighed up the odds before it.
Sean was gripping Beaky’s horn so tightly he feared he would break it.
The tyrannosaurus snorted once as if to say ‘sod you then’ and then it turned on its heel and stalked away back where it had come from.
None of the men spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Sean finally found himself able to release Beaky’s horn. Then, rather unnervingly they found that the adult styracosaurs had focussed their attention on them.
Sean found himself eye to eye with the bull that had tackled the tyrannosaurus.
The creature bellowed low in his throat.
“It’s okay.” Sean stammered, he joined Roger behind the baby and signalled for Michael to do the same. “We were bringing him back any way.”
Beaky looked up at the bull and brayed. He was answered by a low rumble from the adult male.
Perhaps this animal was Beaky’s father, Sean thought. He was about to give Beaky a gentle nudge in the right direction when the baby dinosaur began to amble forwards of his own accord.
Sean and the other two men watched as Beaky rejoined his own kind. There were brays and rumbles of greeting from everyone as they turned as one group and headed back to the greenness of the park.
As the three men walked back to the station Sean felt the need to unburden himself.
“For a moment there, when that T-rex was bearing down on us, there was a part of me that wanted to abandon Beaky to be eaten.”
“You’re not the only one, mate!” Michael admitted, “I mean Beaky was cute and all that, but not that cute!”
“I would have run the first chance I got.” Roger agreed.
“So why didn’t you?” Sean wondered.
“Abandoning a baby dinosaur is one thing… but abandoning a human being… I couldn’t do that.” Roger replied.
“Besides, that thing was coming at us so quick I don’t think we’d have gotten very far.” Michael chuckled.
“You know our route to Oxford Circus will take us right through where that thing came from… where it ran back to. We could run into it again.” Sean warned them.
Michael sighed and shook his head. “You know by the time we get there I think I’m gonna need to loot Primark for a clean pair of under pants.” He laughed.
The others laughed with him as they re-entered the station to join the rest of the survivors.
Chapter Eight
Deborah Jackson was awakened by a terrifying inhuman screeching.
She sat up in bed hugging the lavender duvet cover self consciously to cover her bare breasts. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she looked around her in the darkened bedroom in a bid to locate the source.
Deborah’s sleepy bewilderment gave way to irritation as she realised that it was the alarm clock. One thump from her clenched fist soon shut it up.
First thing she noticed as she got used to being so suddenly awake was that Enrico had let himself out in the night again. That bastard never would stay until the morning.
Then she noticed the time… 9:02am.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Deborah leapt out of bed, no longer concerned about her nakedness.
She was supposed to be meeting Penny at nine o’clock.
As she rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower she cursed herself.
Why did she always set the alarm for the exact time she was supposed to meet someone?
It was why she was a
lways late for everything… it was why it was always best to have doctor’s appointments in the afternoon when she was awake… why she worked evenings at the hospital three nights a week.
Penny was never late for anything. She’d be there now. Of course she wouldn’t be angry… Penny never was. One of these days, Deborah vowed, she would be on time for her daughter.
Deborah showered quickly, brushed her teeth and threw on her jeans and a t-shirt.
As soon as she’d pulled on her shoes and grabbed up her bag she was out of the house.
When she got outside the first thing that Deborah noticed, naturally, was the dinosaur standing in her street as if it owned it. Her first thought was that since there were no other people in evidence, this dinosaur pretty much had no one to contest its ownership of said street. It then occurred to her that by rights there should not actually be a dinosaur standing there at all.
The dinosaur in question was an albertosaurus and was a smaller cousin of the tyrannosaurus rex with its large tooth filled head, tiny arms, powerful legs and long tail.
Its name and its relationship and size compared to the T-rex were aspects that Deborah remained blissfully ignorant of. Had she known that the albertosaurus wasn’t as big as its more famous cousin she wouldn’t have cared much… it was still far too big for her liking and it was looking straight at her with a ravenous gleam in its yellow eye.
Trying very hard to remain calm and stifle the urge to scream Deborah hastily turned to unlock her front door.
For the moment the albertosaur regarded her with murderous intent, confident of an easy meal. Then it lunged…
Deborah laughed with hysterical relief as the key turned and she pushed the door open.
She rushed inside and slammed the door shut behind her. For the moment she felt safe.
The door behind her exploded as the dinosaur’s head burst through it.
Deborah screamed as she was thrown onto the floor amidst the splinters of her front door, wincing as shards of wood bit into her.
The albertosaur’s jaws snapped at her heels only missing by mere inches. She gagged as she inhaled its fetid breath. For the moment the dinosaur was being caught short by the door, but not for long. As it thrashed its head from side to side the door frame shattered and the albertosaur inched ever closer into the hallway.
Deborah scooted backwards, slowly regaining her footing as she neared the door that would take her out of the hall and into the kitchen.
The albertosaur had now completely obliterated the front of the house and was bearing down on her.
She made it through the door and carried on running, limping slightly from her cuts and scrapes, without stopping she unbolted the backdoor and fled out into the back garden.
She scrambled over the fence at the bottom and hit the ground running and she didn’t stop.
Chapter Nine
The survivors had made some little progress in their journey to rendezvous with Penny’s mother, little realising that the woman they searched for had only just begun her own journey.
Along the way they had encountered no more dinosaurs so far… apart from a swarm of small pterodactyls that had been more intent upon eviscerating a flock of local pigeons than causing problems for the humans.
The tyrannosaurus had yet to put in another appearance… something that the group was eternally thankful for.
There had been very little in the way of human contact too. Considering that this route had become the stomping ground of a ravenous T-rex it was not surprising that the streets and vehicles were deserted.
Occasionally they saw traumatised faces peering out at them in astonishment, but no one attempted to communicate with them. They were literally the only living people abroad in Central London at this moment… or so they thought.
It was in Fenchurch Street that the sound of breaking glass alerted them to the presence of someone… or something, nearby.
The group approached the area from where the sound had originated cautiously, huddled together for safety in numbers, but ready to scatter at the first sign of toothy tyrannosaurus trouble.
The smashed window belonged to a jeweller’s shop and it soon became clear that the perpetrators were quite human. Three men stood in the shop, two white, one black… all dressed in hoodies. They were stuffing jewellery from the display cases into hold-all bags. One of the white men (grey hoodie, faded black jeans and a pierced lower lip) was brandishing a sawn-off shotgun.
Before he could stop himself Sean found himself saying: “Oi!! What do you think you’re doing?”
The shotgun was on him before its owner turned to look at him.
“What’s it to you? Piss off!” the Pierced Hoodie spat.
The other two were taking notice now. The African guy (dark blue hoodie, white jeans) saw Michael and his face broke into an infectious grin.
“Mikey! You made it, bruv! What happened to you? Who’re this lot?” Blue Hoodie eyed the other survivors with suspicion.
“You know these people?” Sean glanced at Michael in disbelief.
“Course he does!” the Blue Hoodie replied.
Michael turned sheepishly to the others.
“I’m not really a builder. I made that up. I don’t actually have a job.” He told them, his face heavy with guilt.
“So where were you on your way to this morning before the train crashed?” Rav wondered.
The Pierced Hoodie provided the answer.
“He was on his way to meet us. We was all gonna rob the Lloyd’s Bank this morning while it was quiet like. That was before Jurassic Park hit us. Now it’s every man for himself.”
“Are you with us, Mikey?” the Blue Hoodie called.
Michael addressed his shotgun wielding friend when we spoke.
“Things are different now, Baz. People are dying! We should be helping people!” he said.
“We are helping people, Mikey.” Baz sneered, “We’re helping ourselves! Now if you’re not with us… piss… off!”
“Come on, let’s leave them to it.” Roger said turning to leave.
The third hoodie had been silent up to this point (he wore a white hoodie and black jeans), but as the survivors were about to leave he found his voice. Throughout the confrontation he had been leering at Penny, rubbing suggestively at his crotch.
“You don’t all have to go.” He pointed at Penny, “She can stay.”
Penny moved closer to Sean and put her arm around his waist for protection.
“She’s with us.” Sean insisted.
“I think she’ll change her mind when she sees what I’ve got for her!” White Hoodie made as if to unbutton his jeans.
Before anyone else could react Michael leapt over the counter and began raining punches on the surprised hoodie, knocking him to the ground. Only the cocking of Baz’s shotgun brought Michael’s tirade to an end.
“Get off him, Mikey!” Baz shouted.
Michael backed away from the bloodied and battered form of his former friend. A groan told them that he was still conscious.
“Is this how you treat your old friends now, Mikey?” Baz sneered.
The Blue Hoodie started helping his battered friend to his feet as Michael rejoined the survivors. He stood defiantly beside Penny and Sean.
“If any of you fucking touch her I’ll kill you!” he snarled.
There was a sudden loud retort as Baz discharged his shotgun into the ceiling.
Various members of the survivor party ducked or screamed. Some did both.
“That’s right, I’m the one with the gun, remember!” Baz yelled, “I was gonna let you leave… all of you. But maybe I should let Nev have your girlfriend?”
Nobody said anything.
In the distance there was a loud primeval roar that the survivors recognised as belonging to the tyrannosaurus rex. Had it heard the gun shot?
Baz had not heard it, or at least chose to ignore it.
“You’ve put me in a bad fucking mood now and I’m not feeling q
uite as generous as I was. Give me one good reason why I should let her go with you.”
“We’re leaving now. We won’t bother you anymore. It’ll be like we were never here.” Sean soothed in an attempt to placate the psycho before him.
“I’ll let you go, including the girl… on one condition.” Baz decided.
“Name it.” Roger replied, jumping at any chance to get them away from these people.
Baz seemed to pause for dramatic affect.
Finally he said… “Mickey has to stay here.”
“Unacceptable!” Sean protested.
“No…” Michael stepped forward, “If it’ll keep the others safe I’ll stay.”
He looked into first Sean’s eyes and then Penny’s, stopping any protestation with a smile.
“It’s alright. I’ll be okay. Just go. I’ll catch up if I can. Get out of here…” the last bit he added in a sotto whisper, “That T-rex will be coming. Get the others to safety.”
“Will you be okay?” Penny asked.
“I can look after my self.” Michael assured her, but his words addressed the entire group.
He took Penny’s hand and kissed it tenderly. Then he stepped over to stand by Baz.
“Now piss off!” Baz spat at Sean, but the projectile fell short.
With a few lingering backward glances at Michael the survivors filed away.
Once they were gone…
“Okay, so why am I here?” Michael wondered sarcastically.
Nev pounced on him and slammed him backwards into one of the counters. He held Michael by the throat and pulled out a flick knife, holding it to his face.
Michael looked up into the bloody mask of Nev’s face, contorted into an angry grimace made even more grotesque by the two missing teeth that had been knocked free earlier.
“Let me cut him, Baz!” Nev slathered furiously.
Baz just shrugged indifferently and the Blue Hoodie (Max) sniggered.
Nev took this as the green light to go ahead. He grinned wickedly and shifted his grip on the knife.
Michael brought his head forward and butted Nev between the eyes. The thug staggered back in pain and bewilderment. Michael grabbed the wrist of his knife hand and twisted hard. The crack of breaking bone was clearly audible.
