by Logan Jacobs
“This one seems to think that the dinosaurs could be created in a lab,” I said.
“It is Jurassic Park,” Becka said in disbelief.
“Well, like I said, they don’t seem very sure,” I replied. “There are other scientists who say that isn’t possible.”
“How would they know if they come from a lab?” Hae-won asked as she rejoined us at the table.
“It has something to do with the DNA and genetic coding,” I replied and skimmed for more information. “Lab-grown dinos wouldn’t have complete DNA on their own because what few samples we do have are all seriously degraded. Whoever created them would have to splice DNA from a modern animal to complete the strand. Some scientists think they’ve found signs that this was done, but others seem less sure.”
I pushed the laptop around so the girls could see it as well. Becka frowned as she read, but Hae-won looked intrigued.
“Is that a video of one of the autopsies?” Becka asked as she pointed to a pop-up video at the bottom of the page.
“Yes, I think so,” Hae-won said in an excited voice.
“Should we watch it?” the British girl asked.
“I think so,” Hae-won said enthusiastically. “Maybe we will learn something that will help us fight them.”
“Like where the important organs are,” I agreed. “Or where the weak points are.”
Hae-won nodded, and Becka did a few moments later. I was about to start the video when a ringing sound filled the room. I hadn’t heard that familiar tone in so long that it took me a heartbeat to recognize it.
“Someone’s phone is ringing,” I said as I tried to find mine.
The three of us scrambled to find the source, and then Becka held her phone up.
“It’s my mum,” the blonde squealed with joy. “My God, she’s still alive.”
Chapter 4
“Answer it!” I urged. “Before she hangs up.”
Becka blinked, then she stabbed at the screen of her phone. The ringing stopped, and Becka took a deep breath.
“Hello?” the blonde whispered into the phone. “Hello, mum? Are you there?”
It sounded like whoever was on the other end let out a cry of joy, and Becka smiled at the sound. A torrent of words poured down the line before the blonde could say anything else, though I couldn’t hear what was being said.
“Mum, I’m fine, I--” she stopped short. “Hello? Mum?”
Becka glared at the screen on her phone, then tried to redial. I heard the phone on the other end ring once, and then it cut out.
“I lost the call,” Becka wailed as she stared at the empty screen. “I barely got to talk to her.”
“But at least you know she’s okay,” Hae-won offered. “And you got to hear her voice.”
“Yeah, but…” Becka started to protest. She stared at the offending phone. I could see the glimmer of tears on her eyelashes, and I felt my own heart lurch as I thought of my own mother, trapped in her house in the Florida heat, with only her new husband for company.
I stepped closer to the blonde, and when she didn’t turn away, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a hug. I felt her tears soak the fabric of my shirt as she leaned into me, and heard her sigh as she returned the hug.
“I don’t know if she’s okay, you know?” Becka muttered. “She’s alive, but anything could have happened. Maybe she’s injured, or maybe she doesn’t have any food. She’s probably so scared.”
“I know,” I said and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry.”
I held Becka until she took a deep breath and stepped back. The blonde looked into my eyes, apparently searching for an answer.
“I need to find her,” Becka announced.
“Becka, I know how you feel,” I replied quietly. “I just don’t know if that’s possible right now.”
Becka shook her head and took another step back. She looked over at Hae-won for a moment, then turned her gaze back to me.
“I have to do this,” she insisted. “And I’ll chance it on my own if I have to, but I’d rather have company. And besides, it’s probably a better place to be. We wouldn’t have to worry about people trying to steal our food, and there are plenty of good hiding spots out in the country. A lot easier to defend than this college, that’s for sure.”
“Becka--” I started to protest.
“You’re the one that keeps warning us that this could drag on, right? That we might lose power and water and food.” Becka cut in. “Do you think we can just ride around town looking for supplies? If we get to my mum’s, we’ll have a place where we can grow our own food and collect water from the stream. We could even jerry rig Mrs. Dingle’s solar panels.”
“Maybe,” I said as I tried to calm her down.
“Well, maybe the answer is getting out of the city,” the British girl said.
“We wouldn’t be the first ones to try,” I pointed out. “And we’ve seen what happened to a lot of those folks.”
“But not all of them,” Becka insisted. “Besides, we have our armor and our weapons and Timothy.”
Hae-won finally stirred at the mention of the armored carrier, and she cast a speculative glance toward the windows, and the gate beyond where Timothy was parked for the night.
“Perhaps she is right,” Hae-won said, “but I think Jason is right, too. We still have plenty of food, and the scientists are working on the problem. Maybe we should wait a few more days? If the dinosaurs aren’t dead by then, we should get in Timothy and drive to her mother’s house. We can take whatever food and supplies we still have and drive really fast.”
Becka didn’t seem very pleased with the suggestion, but Hae-won wouldn’t budge. Becka was outvoted, and though I caught a flash of anger in her eyes, the blonde finally nodded.
“Just a few days,” Becka insisted. “Before the food runs out.”
“Yes,” Hae-won agreed.
We had reached a truce of sorts, and we slowly returned to the table. The computer was still on the page that mentioned the dinosaur autopsies, and I pointed to the clip at the bottom.
“So, do you want to watch this video?” I asked.
“Yes,” Hae-won said quickly. “I think it will be helpful.”
“Let me make some tea,” Becka suggested as she stood up again.
“It’s an autopsy video,” I pointed out. “Not It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Becka scowled and stared at the two of us.
“Tea would be excellent,” Hae-won interceded. “In fact, why don’t we move to the couch. It will be more comfortable there than in these plastic chairs.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll take some tea, too.”
Becka seemed satisfied for the moment, and she set about producing more tea while I retreated to the couch with Hae-won. I scanned a few more pages as we waited, but Becka finally passed around our mugs before settling onto the couch. I ended up in the middle, with the laptop propped on my lap and the two gorgeous women leaning against either side. When everyone was settled, I switched to full screen mode and started the video.
The setting looked like something from CSI or the thousand spin-offs and knockoffs that have since followed. There was the flickering light, the tiled walls and floor, the mystery figures in scrubs and masks, and the large metal table. But the video soon turned into something like a cheesy alien autopsy video as the ‘subject’ was loaded onto the table. It was one of the red and orange dinos we’d encountered early on, and it took several men, also in medical gear, to heave it onto the table.
Once the dino was on the table, the other men left and just the two original figures remained. The pair took their time examining the outside of the creature and commented on the dino’s skin, claws, teeth, and eyes as they moved along. There was a long monologue about the tail that I fast forwarded through and another section about the small ear drums. At last, one of the figures picked up a scalpel and made an incision into the dino’s chest.
“The incision was made in the upper thoracic
region...” the person who had made the cut said as the other scientist peeled back skin to expose the creature’s internal organs. “You can see the heart here... and the respiratory and circulatory systems indicating that this particular animal is closer to the bird family than the reptile one. However, a lack of flight feathers, an abundance of muscle tissue, and the bone structure in the upper limbs, all point to a different family. It is a strange case, and scientists have failed to find a proper categorization for these creatures.”
“How about creepy,” Becka said. “Can they make that a new category?”
I smiled and watched the rest of the video as they removed various organs and explained what they were. After about ten minutes the video ended, and I looked at the girls for a reaction.
“Well,” Becka said. “It does look like a regular animal on the inside.”
“What were you expecting?” I teased.
“I don’t know,” the blonde replied with a smile. “Maybe some type of machine in the middle with a very small man inside or a microchip in the brain.”
“I was expecting something… more dramatic,” Hae-won added. “But it was like something you would watch in Anatomy class.”
“Well, except for the dinosaur,” I pointed out.
“Well,” the brown-eyed Brit girl sighed. “At least we know there’s no real secret to killing them. I, personally, don’t need to watch any more autopsy videos.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think we can just wait for the report to come out.”
Becka yawned, then, and try as I might, I yawned as well. A moment later, Hae-won gave in and yawned, and then giggled.
“I guess we’re all knackered,” Becka commented.
“I’ll bring the mattresses back in here,” I offered, “if you two will finish the clean up.”
“You’re going to move them before you wash up?” the blonde asked. “You still have dried dino blood on your arms.”
“Oh, no, you can’t do that,” Hae-won added. “I don’t want to sleep on a mattress covered with dino blood.”
I wasn’t covered exactly, but I had splatters of blood on my shirt and sleeves as well as the front of my jeans. It was clear that some of the blood had seeped beneath the armor, and as I looked at the girls, I realized the same was true for them.
“I’d say we all need to clean up,” I remarked. “But I’ll go first, and then I can bring the mattresses in while you two get cleaned up.”
“Can I borrow some of your soap when you’re done?” Hae-won asked me. “I like the way it smells.”
“Sure, I guess.” I grinned. “I’m sure Becka’s soap is better, though.”
The dark-haired girl shrugged and looked off to the side coyly.
“Right, then,” Becka said. “Off you go. We’ll just finish up in here.”
I grabbed the bag I had packed in my dorm room and retreated to the bathroom. There were plenty in the place, since it had been open to the public, but there were no showers. There were large plastic storage bins in one of the back rooms, large enough for a person to sit in, that we could probably fill with water, but we’d have to haul a lot of water from the tap to the tub. I’d hoped we might find a hose at some point, but wherever the gardener kept his supply of hoses was well hidden.
With a sigh, I made do with the sink, my washcloth, part of a roll of paper towels, and my soap. Since the blood and sweat had dried, I had to scrub pretty hard, but I was glowing pink and smelling much better by the time I was done. I checked myself in the mirror and saw that the stubble was starting to grow in again. I didn’t feel like shaving, though, especially if I was just going to tumble into bed, so I just brushed my teeth, did a quick floss, then decided I was as clean as I was going to get.
I found some clean sweatpants and a t-shirt at the bottom of the bag, and I slipped those on before I returned to the staff room. The room smelled like lemon scented cleaner and was probably cleaner than it had been in years. The girls were seated on the couch with the laptop between them and their bathing supplies stacked neatly on the table.
“I’ll go grab the mattresses,” I said as I dropped my bag in the corner.
“And I have got to wash my hair,” Becka replied as she stood up. “I can practically feel the dino blood on my scalp.”
“Here,” I said as I pulled the soap from my bag. “If you need it.”
Hae-won accepted the bar as she walked past me. She gave me a quick smile, then ran to catch up with Becka, who was already halfway down the hall. I watched until they disappeared around the corner, and then I turned my attention to the mattresses. I managed to move them inside the staff room, though they didn’t look nearly as neat as they had when I’d started moving them. Well, I decided, we were about to go to bed anyway, so it’s not like they needed to be perfectly tidy.
Since the girls weren’t back, I sat down with the laptop and saw that they had been perusing tips on how to hack the cell phone system so you could make calls. None of them sounded particularly promising except the guy who posted that landlines were still working if you lived in an area where the cables were either underground or hadn’t yet been knocked down. I wondered if there were any landlines still on campus somewhere, and realized that there had to be. We hadn’t found any in the gallery, but the gallery was supposed to be an ultra-modern building. But there were plenty of older buildings on campus, and some probably still had landlines.
“Thanks,” Becka said as she walked back into the room with a light blue towel wrapped around her head and a pink robe wrapped around her body. “I am so knackered, I think I would have collapsed trying to move the bed.”
“No problem,” I said. “I know what you mean. I’m pretty tired, too, even though it’s not that late.”
“We did a lot today,” Becka said. “I think we earned the rest.”
“For sure,” I agreed as the British girl sat down on her mattress and straightened up some of the covers.
I went back down to the discussion on landlines while the blonde rubbed at her hair with the towel, and then she stood up and crossed to the couch. She sat next to me for a minute, then patted my hand to get my attention.
“I know I was angry earlier, and I know you were only trying to help,” she said when I looked at her. “I do understand that this is a safe place we’ve created here, and it would be nuts to leave it. I’m just worried about my mum.”
“I understand, believe me,” I replied. “I’m worried about my mom as well.”
“But your mum is on the other side of the pond,” the blonde sighed. “Mine is so close. I just feel like I need to do something.”
“And we will,” I assured her. “If we need to. Like you said, we’ll run out of food if we stay here, so we’ll have to leave eventually. And who knows? By then, the military may have figured out how to shut down these portals and all the dinosaurs will be dead.”
“You don’t really believe that,” she replied.
“Well, I can hope,” I said.
“Hope and glory,” she said in her most proper British accent. “The cornerstone of the Empire.”
We both burst out laughing and were doing our best Monty Python imitations when Hae-won returned. Her hair was wet as well, though she hadn’t wrapped it in a towel. It clung to her shoulders and left dark trails on the oversized t-shirt she wore which only emphasized the shape of her body.
“What are you two talking about?” Hae-won asked as she returned my soap to my bag and then turned to face us.
“We’re just making a pact between vandals,” I said. “If this blows over, we say someone else wrecked the campus.”
“Deal.” the dark-haired girl smiled. “That way I can keep the sword.”
“And the armor,” Becka added.
“And the armor,” I agreed. “So, are we ready to call it a day? I expect tomorrow’s going to be just as hard.”
“Ugh,” Becka moaned as she stood up and stretched. “I thought uni was supposed to make my life easier.”
“I’ll get the lights,” Hae-won offered. “Since I sleep closest to the door.”
Becka and I dropped onto our respective mattresses, and a moment later, the room went dark. A thin beam of moonlight made it past our window guard, just enough to guide the Korean girl to our make-shift bed. I felt her weight sink onto the mattress next to me, and then an intoxicating blend of my soap and her floral shampoo filled my nostrils.
“Goodnight, Jason,” Becka said groggily as she rolled over to face me. I caught a whiff of the same floral shampoo as the blonde leaned in to kiss me goodnight. It was a short kiss, but she caught a bit of my lip between her teeth as she pulled away, and I felt my blood surge even as the Brit rolled back onto her other side.
“Yes, goodnight,” Hae-won whispered as she grabbed my chin with her delicate fingers and tilted my head toward her so she could deliver her own kiss. This was a deeper, lingering kiss, and I could tell she wanted more, but Becka murmured something in her sleep, and Hae-won pulled back.
“Goodnight,” I managed to get out even though serotonin had flooded my body. I could still feel and taste their lips, and it was almost impossible not to groan in disappointment when I found myself staring at the ceiling. But sleep was calling to me, and my eyes soon drifted shut.
“Jason,” someone whispered into my ear.
I came to in a fuzzy state as I tried to remember if I had gone back to the dorm room with a woman. And then I remembered I was in the gallery, not my dorm room, and that I was stuck here with two beautiful women because dinosaurs were roaming the Earth once again.
“Jason,” the voice called again, and I sat up instantly. I peered around the room, certain that someone must have heard something and that’s why one of my companions had been calling my name.
“It’s okay,” Hae-won said softly as one pale hand emerged from beneath her blanket and found its way beneath my shirt. “I was just wondering if you were asleep.”
“I’m definitely awake,” I replied as her hand started to move lower.
