Dinosaur World 2

by Logan Jacobs

  “Only in the movies,” the Korean girl replied as the truck started forward. “A lot of cars now have security measures against it. We are lucky that British people drive old cars.”

  “Hey,” Becka protested. “We do not.”

  “Then why could I start them all?” Hae-won teased.

  “They’re called classic, not old,” the blonde argued.

  “There is no such thing as a classic Nissan,” the Korean replied.

  “Well, not everyone is crazy rich,” Becka said as she flipped a blonde tress from her eyes.

  “Yes,” Hae-won said quietly, “And some would consider that lucky.”

  I wondered if she was teasing Becka, but something about her tone told me she might really believe that not being rich was lucky. I saw Becka’s eyes narrow as she studied Hae-won, and I could tell the blonde was trying to get a read on the Korean as well.

  “What else do you look for in a car you want to hotwire?” I asked before Becka could press the Korean. “Are there types of cars to avoid?”

  “Well, the military will make it impossible, for sure,” the dark-haired woman answered. “Most police cars, too. Also if there are locks on the steering wheel, like bar locks.”

  “Are you sure you’re not a criminal?” I teased. “Maybe a car thief, at least?”

  “Knowledge is not a crime,” Hae-won replied in a sharp tone.

  Both Becka and I went silent for a moment, and then Hae-won took a deep breath and cast a smile in our direction. The tension ebbed away, and I took a deep breath myself. Clearly, Hae-won was feeling touchy about some of her skills and it might be better not to mention it.

  “Well, that depends on who you ask,” Becka muttered. “But I suppose I would agree. Do you think you could teach me how to hotwire a car? It seems like good knowledge to have these days.”

  "Sure," the Asian woman replied. "You will learn it in no time."

  The conversation died away, and I watched the familiar streets go by. I spotted a sandwich shop I’d been to a few times and wondered what had happened to the owner. As we neared the college, I saw a pack of dogs in a narrow street and I wondered if that was yet another problem we would have to face.

  Hae-won stopped the tow truck near the gates, and I hopped out. After a quick check for pterodactyls and raptors, I ran to Tim, climbed inside, then started the engine. It sounded unbelievably loud in the narrow streets of the college town, and I found myself watching for oversized reptiles as I eased the armored carrier forward enough for the tow truck to move in and out of the gate.

  With Tim out of the way, I went to take a look at the three dinos by the gate. I tried to gauge how much room we would need to get them outside the college grounds, and I realized that we would need to move some of the other cars if we wanted to move the corpses quickly.

  “Let’s get the burnt cars out of the way first,” I suggested as Hae-Won pulled up next to me. “That will leave us plenty of room to move the raptors.”

  “That sounds like a plan, dude,” Hae-won replied. “The cars will be easy enough to move.”

  “Becka, you keep watch on the street, and we’ll load up the first car,” I said.

  “Sure, I can do that,” the blonde replied.

  Since none of us had worked a tow system before, Hae-won and I spent several minutes playing with the controls and the chains until we could work the thing well enough to load it. We couldn’t promise that the car wouldn’t get scratched, but given the current status of the burnt remains, that didn’t really matter. We loaded the first car easily enough, though it was noisy work, and I saw that Hae-won was also checking the area for signs of movement.

  With the first car loaded, we drove to the next block and dropped the car onto the street, though it ended up partly on the sidewalk. I shrugged at the Korean beauty, and we backed up and returned to the gates to retrieve the second burned car. We managed that one a little more quickly, though the old metal frame dangled awkwardly to one side when we were done. But we were all feeling the tension now, with the stench from the dinosaur corpses and the sound of the tow truck. I was amazed that something hadn’t come to investigate yet.

  We dropped the remains of the second car unceremoniously among the rubble of a destroyed house and then returned to the gates one more time. Hae-won backed the tow truck through the gates and parked as close as she could to the nearest raptor. The two of us climbed out of the truck while Becka jogged over from her hiding spot, and then the three of us stood in a circle and stared at the bodies.

  "How are we doing this?" Becka asked.

  "We can use the cables," I replied as I climbed onto the back of the tow truck. "The cars weigh more than these small guys so the motor should be able to lift them without any problems."

  "Yes, that should work." Hae-won nodded. "But, we will have to get the cable around the middle of the dinosaur or else we will just pull it apart and then we’ll have to move little bits and pieces."

  "Ew," Becka’s nose scrunched back into her face. "We should definitely avoid that."

  "Here." I pulled the cable out from the rigging and dragged it across the truck bed to the girls. "See if you can get this around that guy."

  The closest dino was the straggler that had dragged itself over the armored carrier. It wasn’t the largest of the three raptors, so it seemed like a good one to test out our plan on. Becka and I unwrapped the coil while Hae-won carried the hook to the carcass.

  The Korean woman studied the creature for a second, trying to figure out exactly how to attach it. The lizard had landed on its stomach, but the arms were bent enough that there was some space between the dino’s chest and the ground. Hae-won nodded, threaded the cable through the narrow space, wrapped the cable around the chest several times, and then clipped the end around the coil.

  "That should work," Hae-won informed us. "His chest is strong, it will take the strain of the cable."

  "Let’s give it a try," I said as Becka and I hopped off the back of the truck.

  I grabbed the controller, then turned to study the corpse. It had been easy enough to figure out how to load a car, but the dino presented a few unique problems, not least of which was the fact that we didn’t want the thing to fall apart before we could move it away from the college. I moved it forward and up, just to test that it would hold, and though the cable protested for a moment, I was able to move the body without any problems.

  "Okay, I’m going to start loading it," I called out. "Yell if anything starts to go wrong."

  Slowly, the dinosaur body inched across the ground, and though it still left a trail of blood, at least it didn’t leave any limbs or major organs behind. I sighed in relief and kept up the slow pace until I had the body at the ramp. I started to drag the raptor upwards, and the head loomed over me once again.

  "Stop!" Hae-won yelled when the raptor was barely onto the ramp.

  "What’s wrong?" I asked as I hit the stop button.

  "We need to move him," she explained. "It will be better if he is on his side, so his face and arms do not catch on the truck."

  “Ewww,” Becka protested as she squinted. “She’s right. They might tear off if we leave it like that.”

  "Okay," I replied, though I thought the dino hide might be tougher than they thought.

  Still, if it was on its side, there was less chance that it would tumble from the back of the tow truck as we made our way to the dump site. I studied the corpse again, then slowly lowered it back down. I jumped off the back of the truck, and the three of us managed to twist the body around until it was on its side. I rechecked the cable, then climbed back onto the truck.

  “Everyone ready?” I called out as I picked up the controller.

  “Ready,” Hae-won replied.

  I glanced at Becka, who gave me a thumbs up.

  The cable tightened and slowly started pulling the dinosaur onto the flatbed. It was definitely easier with the creature on its side, and in just a few seconds, the dino was loaded and ready
to go. The lizard didn’t look nearly as large or impressive in the back of the truck, and I realized there was still room for more.

  "We still have space back here," I said. "And the fewer trips we have to make, the better. I think we should try loading at least one more of these raptor things."

  "Then let’s go get them,” Hae-won declared as she moved toward the driver’s side.

  "Wait for me," Becka called as she ran to the passenger side.

  I grabbed onto the arm as Hae-won drove the tow truck across the grounds to the other two raptors. We bounced along as the truck plowed across the grass and the ancient stone walkways, and I nearly slid out of the truck twice. I tried to yell at Hae-won to slow down, but we’d arrived at the last two dinosaurs by then and the truck stopped so abruptly that I hit the back of the cab.

  “Were you trying to say something?” Becka asked as she and Hae-won stepped from the cab.

  “I was going to ask you to slow down,” I replied as I tried to get back on my feet. “But we’re here now.”

  “Let’s do this!” Hae-won said enthusiastically as she moved to the nearest dino.

  We had a much better idea of what would work this time, and we were able to load the last two raptors with a minimum of fuss. I was becoming positively handy with the controller, though I did whack one dino head against the back of the truck rather hard.

  "This really works," I said as I surveyed the back of the tow truck. "Maybe we should go into business as a dinosaur removal service."

  "No, thank you," Becka laughed. "I never want to see a dinosaur again. Not even one of those dinosaur-shaped chicken bits for the kiddos."

  "Yeah, those don’t seem quite so fun anymore," I agreed. "But once we get rid of these fellows, you won’t have to look at them anymore.”

  "Good," the British girl said with a nod. "Then let’s strap these down and get moving."

  "Works for me," I said as I started to adjust the support straps over the dinos.

  With a hand from the girls, I soon had the dinos secured in the back of the truck. I gave the rope one last tug, then jumped to the ground and signalled my two companions that we were ready. We piled back into the cab of the tow truck with Hae-won behind the wheel and Becka in the middle.

  "Where should we put these?" Hae-won asked as she started to drive back toward the gate.

  "I don’t want to go too far away," I replied. "Just so we don’t use up too much gas. But we don’t want them so close that anything drawn to the smell will be able to find us. And we don’t want to block off any road we might want to use."

  "Got it," the dark-haired woman said.

  We drove through the gate and Hae-won stopped long enough for me to hop out and move Tim back to his spot in front of the gate. When I was back inside the cab, Hae-won looked around the streets for a moment, then turned to the left. The Korean followed a winding path through narrow back roads until we reached the edge of a park. Despite the wide, open space, we didn’t see anything moving around, so Hae-won pulled forward, over the curb, and onto the edge of the grass.

  "This is perfect," I said.

  "Yes, I think it will work," Hae-won replied.

  "So, do we just shove them off?" Becka asked as we started to climb out of the truck.

  "Yeah, I don’t see any other way," I replied. "I don’t think we’re going to offend anyone, it looks deserted around here."

  And it was. I spotted a baby stroller and a pair of umbrellas abandoned in the park, and even the remains of a newspaper. But the trees and hedges had been smashed and part of the wrought iron fence had been ground into the soil. There were more rust colored stains as well, and I tried not to think about what those stains meant.

  “We can do it,” Hae-won declared. “We’re all strong.”

  "Yeah, it’ll be easy," Becka replied with a grin.

  The three of us climbed onto the back of the truck, and with a lot of grunting and pushing, we finally managed to shove the top carcass off the back. It hit the ground with a sickening splat, and I saw both girls cringe at the sound. Despite that, the girls quickly leapt in to help me move the second dino off the truck, and then the third.

  "There," I said with a note of satisfaction. "That wasn’t too bad. Three down already."

  "That Toro whatever guy is going to be a nightmare," Becka huffed. "He must weigh these three put together."

  "But now we know the tow truck can handle that kind of weight," I pointed out. "So we should probably do him next. He’s the biggest target for anything that’s looking for a snack."

  "I think you are right," Hae-won agreed. “That much meat will bring many scavengers.”

  "We better head that way, then," Becka agreed. "It’s nearly mid day already, and who knows how long it will take to move that monster."

  "Yeah, let’s get to it," I said with a nod.

  We climbed back into the truck, and Hae-won drove back to the campus as quickly as she could along the ancient streets. We were feeling pretty good about our dino removal, and we spent most of the trip joking about names for our new company. Becka couldn’t stop giggling by the time we pulled up next to Tim, and I stepped out long enough to move our armored carrier so Hae-won could drive by. Then I backed Tim into his regular spot, climbed back into the cab of the tow truck, and Hae-won set off toward the Torvosaurus. As the beast came into view, the Korean slammed on the brakes and peered at the windshield in dismay.

  "What…?” I started to ask as I followed her gaze.

  "More dinos," the raven-haired beauty replied quietly.

  We’d all gone silent by then as we studied the scene in front of us. The Torvosaurus was where’d we left him, his body crumpled in the quad, just a football field away from us, but two smaller figures now darted around the carcass while two more hopped around on top.

  I slipped out of the truck as quietly as I could and walked a few steps closer for a better look. They were some type of flying dinosaur, which explained how they had gotten inside our safety zone. They were smaller than the pterodactyl that had taken the man on the street outside campus just a few days ago, but they were definitely more bird-like than any of the creatures we’d seen so far. In fact, they reminded me of giant vultures, with gray-purple feathers that covered every part of their bodies except their heads.

  I watched as they tore into the rotting flesh with their pointed beaks and shredded the meat with their sharp talons, while they squawked at each other in between bites. It was clear that these scavengers could pull a human apart easily enough, and though the Torvosaurus remains were enough to keep them occupied at the moment, I didn’t think letting them stay was such a good idea. Once they finished their current feast, we were the next obvious food source for them, and I personally didn’t want to find out just how sharp those beaks and talons were.

  Chapter 2

  "What should we do?" Hae-won asked after both girls got out of the truck and joined me on the grass at the edge of the quad.

  "They look distracted," Becka noted. "Maybe we just head back to the gallery and let them finish. It might even help us if they eat most of him. He’ll be a lot easier to move, then."

  "That might work," I replied. "But we don’t know what kind of dinosaurs they are. They might decide to see what else is around here once they finish, and they may not be so picky about whether it’s alive or dead."

  "There are still other dead dinosaurs on the campus," Hae-won reminded us. “If these birds eat dead things, they will probably find them, too. They would probably prefer to eat those than come after us."

  "But what if they fill up on the big guy?" Becka asked. "Will they just stay around here until they’re hungry again or will they fly off somewhere?"

  "I’d rather not find out," I replied. "I think there’s a very real chance that they’ll be just as happy to come after us the next time they get hungry, and if they’re anything like modern vultures, there will be more arriving to join the feast. I say we deal with them now, while they’re distracted
. If we wait for them to leave on their own, they could return and catch us off guard.”

  "Ooh, I don’t think I want more of them around," the blonde replied. "Will you be able to shoot all of them, though? Won’t they fly off when you fire the gun?"

  "I think I can take out two quickly enough," I replied. "The other two might be able to take flight, though, before I can hit them, so keep your swords handy in case they decide to attack instead of retreating."

  "Maybe we should use guns as well," Hae-won suggested. “So they don’t get that close.”

  It was tempting, but neither woman had yet handled a gun, and the targets would be flying rather than sitting still on an old fence post.

  “I think it’s better if I’m the only one shooting,” I said. “I know how to shoot birds in flight, which is a lot harder than you might think. And if one of these things does decide to turn on us, I don’t want someone to get freaked out by a five foot bird and fire off a bunch of stray bullets. We can’t lose our ammo that way.”

  "We would not freak out," Becka replied with a hit of annoyance in her tone.

  "Maybe not,” I replied, “but I’d rather not take that chance while you’ve got an automatic in your hand that you’ve never handled before. That’s got disaster written all over it."

  "Fine, whatever." Becka huffed. "But you have to teach us to shoot soon. I will not be some damsel in distress who has to wait for her American knight with a gun to arrive."

  "Deal," I snickered.

  "What do you want us to do?" Hae-won asked. "Do we just stand here while you shoot them?"

  "You two should stay in the tow truck," I said. "Your job will be to warn me if any more dinosaurs appear, or if one of these things gets too close while I’m shooting one of the others.”

  "Just be careful," Becka said.

  “And do not miss,” Hae-won added.

  "I’ll do my best," I replied with a smile.

  We walked quietly back to the tow truck, though the scavengers didn’t seem to notice as they continued their feast. I grabbed the rifle from the cab and shooed the girls back inside. I made sure the passenger door was closed before I moved around the edge of the open door on the driver’s side and pointed the gun at the dino birds.