by Mark Leney
After long moments of staring at its escaped prey the monster just turned and stalked away.
Sean and the others said nothing. They just heaved a collective sigh of relief.
There would be time enough to worry about what had just happened later. Right now they needed to get back to the others.
Then they noticed the state of the surrounding area.
Oxford Circus looked like a war-zone!
Almost all of the shops that drew the daily crowds that Oxford Circus was famous for had been caved in by some unknown destructive force. Those crowds were also conspicuous by their absence. This was not so surprising considering the city’s current state of being infested with dinosaurs, but the level of devastation apparent in the buildings was something that none of the men had seen so far on this strangest of days.
Whatever had caused this was big… big enough to scare a tyrannosaurus rex.
“We should get out of here.” Sean said.
There was no argument from the others.
Michael put the car in gear and drove away.
As the car disappeared round a corner Deborah Jackson arrived in Oxford Circus…
Chapter Fourteen
Back at the Pret a Manger café everyone was occupying themselves, passing the time while they waited for Sean and Roger to return; with or without Michael. Assuming that they ever did return.
Penny and Aisha were sitting drinking lattes while Anya was trying to stop Peter from stuffing himself with too many muffins. Meera and Rav were sitting in a corner arguing quietly amongst themselves.
“How much longer are we going to wait for them?” Meera asked. “We don’t even know if they will come back. They could be dead.”
“We’ve all made it this far together. If we leave now how long do you think we could last?” Rav argued. “There is safety in numbers. What else are we going to do? Go home? How do we know that we still have a home to return to? Like it or not we are trapped in a city that has become over run by dinosaurs. The best we can hope to do is to stay alive until some form of rescue arrives.”
As if on cue a black, battered BMW screeched to a halt outside the café.
Everyone immediately forgot what they had been doing and rushed outside.
Roger and Sean were the first to exit the vehicle.
“Did you find…” Penny began.
And then Michael climbed out of the driver’s seat.
Penny threw herself at him, flinging her arms around his neck and her legs around his waste. She kissed him long and hard on the forehead.
“You’re alive! God, I was so worried about you! Don’t you dare leave us like that again!” she scalded, though she was grinning from ear to ear.
Michael carefully disengaged himself and lowered her to her feet again. He too was grinning.
“Alright, I promise I’m not going anywhere.” He replied.
“Where did you find the car?” Rav asked as he greeted Sean and Roger.
“That was Michael’s doing. Another perk from his misspent youth it seems.” Sean explained.
“We were actually in Oxford Circus at one point.” Roger told Penny.
“Did you see my mum?” Penny enthused hopefully.
“We weren’t there long, but it didn’t look hopeful.” Sean answered her.
“There’s not a lot left of it and it looks like something very big and nasty is living there.” Roger added.
“Big enough to scare old T-Rex away.” Michael agreed.
“But we aren’t going to just give up are we?” Penny looked up at Michael with tears in her eyes.
“No, of course not.” It was Sean who replied. “We’re all going to go and look for her, but this time we’re going to drive there.”
“Only, I think we’re going to need a bigger car.” Michael agreed.
Chapter Fifteen
Deborah looked around in stunned silence at the carnage that was now Oxford Circus.
If Penny had made it here before she did then where was the hope that she was still alive?
No, she mustn’t think like that. If Deborah had made it this far then she had to believe that Penny could too.
After her run in with the albertosaurus, Deborah had come straight here, hiding and running whenever the need arose. She couldn’t put a name to any of the prehistoric monstrosities she had glimpsed along the way, but the way she saw it she didn’t need to know what they were called to get eaten by one.
On the way Deborah had encountered other survivors hiding or braving the dangers with their own agendas.
Here there was no one.
For Oxford Circus that was a big deal.
If Penny was here then she had to be in hiding somewhere.
Or eaten; she might have been eaten, but we aren’t thinking about that are we, Deborah mentally rebuked herself.
She picked her way through the debris and ruined cars, trying not to look too closely at the mangled remains of an unfortunate driver who had been caught in his vehicle when it had been trodden upon. At least she thought the remains were male… it was difficult to tell.
What could have done all of this?
And where was it now?
Deborah wasn’t in too much of a hurry to find out. All that mattered was finding her Penny.
When she turned the corner at the end of the street Deborah came nose to nose with the very thing she had been hoping not to meet.
Literally nose to nose because she barely stopped herself from walking smack back into the creature’s huge reptilian snout which lay before her on the tarmac road.
Deborah back pedalled as quickly as she could to put as much distance as she could between herself and the dinosaur.
The dinosaur, however, did not move a muscle.
It wasn’t dead because Deborah had felt and smelt it’s warm, fetid breath exhaling from its nostrils. The large scaly eyelids were tightly shut.
It was asleep!
If she just turned and walked back the way she had came then it would never know she had been there.
Yes, that’s what she would do…
As Deborah turned to do just that the dinosaur’s eyes flicked open…
Chapter Sixteen
The survivor group had ditched the BMW in favour for a larger people carrier which could seat all of them comfortably. The family sized vehicle had been abandoned by its owners, but was undamaged and bore no blood stains or other signs of violence. Maybe the previous owners had gotten out of it in one piece. Sean wondered why it had been abandoned at all. He could only assume that the driver must have been on his own and had panicked when the dinosaurs had appeared. Panic makes people behave in odd ways Sean reasoned.
Where would this group be now if they had all surrendered to panic, if they hadn’t all banded together in the common cause of reuniting the sweet young Penny with her mother.
Sean was sure that staying together as a group and having a goal to aim for had kept them all alive under the new bizarre circumstances that had been thrust upon them.
Once again Michael was driving. In just a few moments they would be entering Oxford Circus.
Everyone was thrown forward in their seats as Michael slammed hard on the breaks and brought the car to a screeching halt.
At the same time an attractive blonde woman in her forties just about stopped herself from colliding with the people carrier.
The woman slammed her hands down angrily on the bonnet.
“Watch where you’re fucking going!” she shouted.
“Mum?” Something clicked in Penny’s head as recognition set in, “Mum!”
The woman peered in through the windscreen. “Penny?”
Then something big, green and nasty rounded the corner.
Forget the T-Rex; this was the biggest dinosaur that any of them had seen so far.
If it had been standing up straight on its long muscular legs it would have towered over the tallest building in the street. It also had long arms that ended in three fingered claws.
&nb
sp; Its mouth was like that of a huge crocodile and was home to hundreds of flesh rending sharp teeth. The whole creature summoned forth the image of a gargantuan crocodilian dragon with a sail like appendage growing down the length of its spine from neck to tail.
This was what had quailed even the mighty tyrannosaurus… this was the spinosaurus.
“Get in!” Michael shouted to Deborah.
Without hesitation Deborah pulled open one of the side doors and clambered inside.
Michael performed a U-turn that tested the limits of the people carrier and sped the vehicle away from Oxford Circus.
The spinosaurus gave chase.
Michael’s route of escape took them back the way they had spent most of the day traversing; back into the territory of the T-Rex.
An idea began to form in Michael’s head.
The spinosaur’s jaws thundered shut behind them; its front teeth latched onto the back bumper… for a moment everyone in the car thought they had been caught as they felt the vehicle being pulled backwards. With a screech of tearing metal the bumper tore away from the car.
The spinosaurus tossed away its tasteless morsel and stepped up its pursuit.
Michael floored the accelerator little realising that he was already squeezing the car for all it was worth. The next time their spiny friend took a bite that would be it.
Time for the plan…
Michael slammed his hand on the horn.
The air was filled by a deafening yowl that reverberated through the surrounding buildings.
“What the fucking hell are you doing? You’ll have that other one down on us, as if this one weren’t bad enough!” Meera yelled.
“That’s the fucking idea!” Michael snarled, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.
“You what? Are you fucking crazy?” Meera retorted, missing the point entirely. She was leaning over into the front now. Rav pulled her back down and whispered to her the idea that she had failed to grasp.
The blast of the horn continued.
Behind them the spinosaurus prepared to lunge again…
As the tyrannosaurus rex stepped into the road ahead Michael veered left to avoid it.
The spinosaurus was unprepared for this change in direction and charged head on into the path of the T-Rex.
On seeing the spinosaurus the tyrannosaurus started to turn as if to run back the way it had came. Before it could get very far the spinosaur’s huge vice like jaws fixed upon the T-Rex’s neck. The force involved in that one bite was enough to snap the tyrannosaur’s neck instantly.
The once mighty predator spasmed once and went limp.
The humans in the car did not linger long enough to see what happened next.
Once Michael felt that they had put enough distance between them and the spinosaur he slowed the people carrier gradually before finally bringing it to a full stop.
He turned around in the driver’s seat to look at the others.
“Now what?” he said simply.
“We’ve found my mum. Let’s just get out of here.” Penny suggested.
“And go where?” Meera once again brought in the voice of doubt.
“I hate to admit this, but Meera’s right. We don’t know how far this dinosaur infestation is spread. Is it just localised to London? Is it nationwide? It could even be a global catastrophe. What if the whole world is swarming with prehistoric monsters?” Sean surmised.
Everyone took a moment for this possibility to sink in.
“Even so, there must be some places that have been set up as sanctuaries by the Armed Forces or somebody.” Rav wondered.
“There maybe rescue teams scouring the city as we speak.” Roger conceded.
“If there is then we must find them. It could be our only hope of getting out of London alive.” Sean decided.
He was met by nods of approval. Only Michael was doubtful.
“We’ve survived this long together. If we all stay in this car and stay together then we can drive out of London on our own. If we need to refuel at any point that shouldn’t be a problem. First petrol station we come to we’ll siphon off enough fuel to last us until we get to where we’re going.” He said.
“Wherever that maybe.” Meera grumbled.
“We can head out of the city by all means, but if we should encounter any rescue teams along the way then we should definitely try and make contact if possible.” Sean suggested as a compromise.
Michael nodded. Now they were all in agreement.
The car started up again and they set off north on a route that would ultimately take them out of London.
They had barely travelled a mile before the silence that pervaded the vehicle was broken by a sound that none of them had expected to hear ever again.
Someone’s mobile phone rang.
Everyone looked around to see where, or rather, who the noise was coming from.
It was Sean who took out his mobile and answered it.
“Katrina?” Sean spoke into the phone with disbelief.
The others in the car strained to try and hear the tinny voice that spoke from the phone into Sean’s ear.
“Katrina, slow down, it’s okay. Stay where you are for now. You’ll be safe there. I’m coming to get you.” Sean responded reassuringly before hanging up.
“Who was that?” Penny asked.
“That was Katrina. A friend of mine from where I work. Some how she made it in, but now she’s trapped there and there are dinosaurs trying to get in. I have to go back for her.” Sean replied with grim determination.
“And you expect us all to go with you?” Meera asked incredulously.
“Of course not!” Sean retorted angrily, “I would never expect that. I’ll go alone on foot. You guys should leave without me. I’ll be okay. I’m getting quite good at dodging dinosaurs.” He grinned at this despite himself.
“I’m coming too.” Michael asserted.
“Me too.” Roger affirmed.
“And me.” Penny chimed in.
“Penny, no!” Deborah protested.
“I want to, mum. Sean helped me find you. Now I want to return the favour.” Penny pleaded.
“You do not speak for all of us!” Meera’s protest started a confusion of arguing amongst the survivors. As the quarrel raged as to who would go and who would not Michael pulled the vehicle over. He did this because even over the sound of the car’s engine and all the raised voices he alone had heard the helicopter.
“Shut up!” he shouted, sounding like the drill sergeant from a Hollywood Vietnam War movie.
Everyone shut up and all eyes were on Michael and then they too heard the chopper.
They all got out of the people carrier and looked up at the sky.
The helicopter was an RAF Chinook and it was headed in their direction.
Had it seen them? Deserted as the streets of London were a lone people carrier would have been difficult to miss. The survivors weren’t taking that chance; as one they began to leap and holler at the approaching chopper, waving their arms about and whooping loudly.
The Chinook was beginning to descend towards them. Now there was no doubt that they had been seen.
The helicopter didn’t land completely, but hovered over the road ahead of them, just low enough to allow a soldier to drop down from the passenger compartment.
He beckoned them over. “Come on!”
They all ran forward.
“How many of you are there?” the soldier barked over the sound of whirring blades.
“Just the ten of us.” Sean replied.
“Okay, you can climb on board.” The soldier instructed.
Sean stepped aside and allowed the others to scramble aboard the chopper.
Meera went first, then Peter, followed by his mother, then Aisha and then Rav. Deborah was the last to climb on and then turned to help Penny on.
But Penny was hanging back along side Sean, Michael and Roger. She was holding Michael’s hand.
“Come on, Penny. This is our chanc
e to get out of here.” Deborah pleaded, holding out her hand to her daughter.
Penny just shook her head. Hot tears glistened on her young face.
“Your mum’s right, Penny you should go.” Sean urged her.
“Please!” Deborah begged, she was crying now too.
“I’ll see you soon, mum. I promise.” Penny sobbed.
The soldier was incredulous that anyone was staying.
“You’re not coming?” he enquired.
Sean shook his head. “There’s someone I care for deeply who’s still alive in this city somewhere and I mean to find them. My friends here have been kind enough to volunteer to help me. If you can return to this spot in two days time, we’ll try to be here and we’ll gladly leave with you then.” He explained.
“I can’t make any promises, but if we can return in two days we will. Good luck.” The soldier replied before climbing back into the Chinook.
“Penny, no!” Deborah’s cry was the last voice they heard before the chopper rose back into the air and flew away.
The four remaining survivors stood and watched the helicopter’s departure. At least they knew that their friends were headed towards relative safety.
And then the pteranodon flew up as if from no where and attacked the chopper.
One minute the sky had been clear apart from the receding helicopter; the next thing they knew the great pterosaur had launched out from the buildings below and had collided with the Chinook in an effort to get at the meaty morsels within.
It clung to the underside of the chopper with the clawed fingers on its wings and tried to snatch one of the humans inside with its huge beak.
The creature gave up on that when the soldier slammed the butt of his rifle into its head.
It let go of the helicopter and flapped away just in time to avoid a spray of bullets from the gun.
But the pteranodon hadn’t given up. It swooped under the chopper and then rammed its great body into the hull of the air craft. The force of this blow sent the chopper reeling out of control towards the buildings below.
Inside the pilot tried to regain control and pull up, but the approach of the looming cityscape proved too swift for his expertise.
The Chinook struck one building a side on glance. It spun and the upper blades bit into the concrete with enough force to buckle and break one of the blades.
