by Logan Jacobs
“The guns you two have hold thirty rounds each,” I said. “If you two shoot sixty shots without killing something, I don’t think reloading is going to help.”
“But what about your gun?” the Korean girl asked. “You only put five bullets in yours.”
“Rounds,” I corrected automatically. “And there aren’t a ton left in the bag, so I need to be careful about using them.”
“Five still doesn’t seem like much,” Becka said. “Maybe just take a few extras and leave the ammo bag here. You can put the rounds in with our lunch.”
The blonde held up the backpack she was carrying, and I considered her suggestion. I did need to be more parsimonious with my rounds, at least until we figured out how to make more, but we were also traveling fairly far, with the distinct possibility of encountering townies, dinosaurs, and now helicopters dropping explosives.
“That’ll work,” I finally said as I picked three more rounds out from the bag and tucked them into the side pocket of the backpack. “But you guys are in charge of shooting the smaller things, like those vultures and the raptors. I’ll take care of the big things like the one from yesterday.”
“That Dilo… Diphlo… something like that saurus,” the British girl added.
“Should we just call them Difos?” Hae-won suggested.
“Or Barney,” I replied.
“Oh, that’s just cruel,” Becka chuckled. “Difos is good, though.”
“Difos, it is,” I said. “Now let’s go rescue those contact lenses.”
Hae-won actually tittered and Becka gave me a smirk as the pair stepped back outside. I locked the door, double checked that it was secure, then led the way to the gate. Tim was in his appointed spot, and though the neighborhood was quiet again, there seemed to be more rubble on the street. I unlocked the carrier, and we piled inside, then peered anxiously at the street. We waited a moment, but no humans appeared to ask questions and the sky remained ominously quiet.
“I think we can sneak out,” I said. “Hae-won, you can lead the way since you probably know all the different routes to get there.”
“Yes,” the dark-haired woman nodded. “I know all the shortcuts. Follow me.”
We climbed out the other side of the vehicle, and the girls kept watch while I locked it. When Timothy was once again secure, Hae-won crossed the street and then ducked around the next corner to the left. We followed that street for a few blocks, and then we made another turn, and then another. We were deep in the maze of old streets, the kind that curve back on themselves or end in brick walls for no apparent reason. It always gave me a headache to try to navigate these roads, and I hoped Hae-won knew this route better than I did.
At the next turn, I caught a glimpse of sunlight on water and the scent of the river. I felt a moment of relief, but that was short lived. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.
“Stop, don’t move,” I ordered as I grabbed Hae-won’s shoulder.
Becka nearly ran into me, but she stopped as well. We stood still for a moment, and then we heard the sound of dinosaurs roaring at each other. A moment later, a difo came into view and it looked really angry. It swatted at something as it stepped onto the road where we were, and then two Torvosauruses came into view as well.
The Torvos butted their large football shaped heads into the Difo’s side as they dodged his teeth and venom, and whenever they had enough time, the Torvos would sink their teeth into the Difo. The Difo would screech and swing its claws, and every so often, it would strike one of the Torvos. Blood was splattered across the fronts of the buildings and dripping onto the streets, but it was hard to say who was winning and who was losing.
“Do you see the different color schemes?” Hae-won noted. “I don’t think these are two species that live in the same conditions. They probably have never encountered each other before.”
“Fascinating, but I’d rather have this discussion later,” Becka said. “Like when we’re far away. Is there another route we can take?”
One of the Torvos squawked in pain and reeled away from the Difo. A wisp of smoke marked the spot where the venom had finally found its mark.
“Yes,” Hae-won said with a nod. “We can go around this--”
The rest of Hae-won’s response was drowned out by the sound of a helicopter engine.
“We need to move!” I yelled as I started to tug both girls away from the fight.
“This way!” the blue-eyed woman shouted.
The Korean sprinted down yet another winding lane, with Becka and I close behind. This time, at least, there was no giant bomb, but I could hear automatic weapons firing and the roar of the dinosaurs.
Hae-won led us on an even more twisting route, but somehow we ended up back at the river. We peeked around the edge of the last building, but the street was empty except for some abandoned cars.
“Which one is your building?” I asked.
“The one in the middle there,” Hae-won replied.
“Then let’s go,” Becka urged. “It’s not going to get any clearer.”
We darted across the street and jogged toward the row of dormitories. Unlike the roads we’d followed to get here, this one was wide and straight, and it was hard not to feel like a duck in a shooting gallery as we moved along the sidewalk.
We could still hear the helicopters, and a quick glance at the sky showed at least two more were flying over the city. Hae-won fumbled with her key card as one of the choppers flew directly over the building, but no bombs fell and no gunfire strafed us. Hae-won finally unlocked the door, and we spilled inside the building and then slammed the door shut behind us.
“My room is on the next floor,” Hae-won said.
We took the steps two at a time, and then fast walked to a door about halfway down the hallway. Hae-won opened the door and stepped inside with an audible sigh.
“Wow, you have such a nice view,” Becka said as she followed the Korean girl inside.
The rooms on this side of the building all had a wall of windows and a view of the river beyond. There were willows along the bank and lush green grass right up to the edge. Punts and kayaks were stacked on a landing a short distance down the shore, and if it hadn’t been for the giant dino print on the opposite shore and the crushed oak trees, it would have looked like a very typical English scene.
“I like it,” Hae-won said as she started to pull stuff out from her desk and her closet.
I turned away from the view and looked at the room. It was painted the usual beigey white, and featured a desk, a chair, a dresser, and a bed. It barely looked lived in aside from the books on the desk and the small potted cactus on the windowsill.
“This place is so…” I searched for the right words to describe it without being offensive.
“Empty,” finished Becka. “How come you haven’t put up any pictures or posters or anything?”
“Oh,” Hae-won said as she moved to the dresser. “No reason. I guess I just didn’t think about doing that. I didn’t think I was going to be here that long.”
Becka threw a sidelong glance at me, and I could tell she thought it was crazy that Hae-won had left the room so blank. But my own room was only a little better. I had an old Spinal Tap poster, mostly because it was cool and had been left behind by the previous resident. In fact, the paper looked like it had been there since the movie first came out, and I doubted it could be removed without the use of some heavy duty paint remover. As Hae-won had said, there didn’t seem to be much need. If things had gone the way they were supposed to, I would have been heading home soon enough and whatever I wanted to keep would have to fit into a suitcase. T-shirts were definitely a better souvenir.
“Oh!” Becka gasped as she pulled open a door. “You have a full bathroom here. Jason, do we have time to take a shower? My hair is struggling from all these sink rinses.”
“I know it’s tempting,” I replied as I turned back to the window, “but I don’t think we can chance it. If one of those helicopters drop
s a bomb nearby, I don’t know that this building will survive.”
“Bloody bombers,” the blonde groused as she stared at the shower.
“I am almost ready,” the Korean girl replied as she slipped past Becka. “Just a couple more things.”
Hae-won emerged with an armload of bottles and packages that she somehow managed to squeeze into the already overstuffed backpack. She took another look around the room, took the cactus into the bathroom to water it, then declared herself ready to go.
“Is there a way to get back that won’t take us past those dinosaurs?” I asked as we started down the hall.
“Yes, but it will take us longer,” the blue-eyed Korean warned.
“That’s not great,” I admitted. “But I’d rather avoid that area if we can.”
“Then we can take the long route,” Hae-won replied with a nod. “Maybe it won’t take as long, since there won’t be any cars on the road.”
When we were back at the main door, I scanned the street through the glass pane before I slipped outside. I could still hear the helicopters, though none of them sounded very close, and the only movement was a plastic bag that rolled down the street in the breeze from the river. I nodded to the girls, and they both stepped outside as well.
“This way,” Hae-won said as she jogged off in the opposite direction from where we had arrived.
We jogged along until we reached another wide, straight road. This one was lined with shops, and signs of looting were everywhere, as were the debris from a large dinosaur’s passage. There was no cover as far as I could see, but Hae-won set off at a determined pace before I could say anything.
It was all going well until Hae-won rounded the corner onto a smaller side street. It was darker along this stretch, with upper stories that jutted out over the street and blocked the sun, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust.
“Oops,” Hae-won said as she came to a sudden halt.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, but I saw the answer before she could say it.
In front of us, there was what I could only think to describe as a horde of small dinosaurs. There must have been close to fifteen of them all huddled together in a group, not unlike a pack of wolves.
They were vaguely raptor like in their appearance, but with more feathers and smooth black skin adorned with a thick blue stripe that ran from the crests of their heads to the top of their tails. They weren’t large, maybe about the size of a good-sized labrador, but their numbers gave them an advantage.
“Back away, quietly,” I whispered.
We started to ease away from the pack, but something must have alerted them. One looked in our direction, and then another one. A moment later, a third mini raptor cawed, and the rest of the pack swung their heads full of pointy teeth in our direction.
Shit, we were in trouble.
Chapter 10
“If we’d stayed and showered, we probably wouldn’t have run into these things,” Becka observed.
“Keep backing up,” I said. “Maybe they won’t attack.”
On cue, one of the dinos squawked, and the rest of the pack started to move toward us.
“Shoot!” I yelled as I brought the rifle to my shoulder.
It seemed like a waste to use the .308’s on such small creatures, but there were too many for the girls to take down on their own, especially since the targets were now moving.
The sound of gunfire drowned out everything else, even the squawking from the mini raptors as two of their numbers fell to the ground and a third squealed and then limped toward some trash bins. The pack stopped for a moment as they tried to understand what was happening, and I didn’t need to yell run to get the girls moving.
We started to run down the main street between chunks of concrete and smashed cars. Our shoes crunched on broken glass, and Becka stumbled as her feet got tangled up in a plastic bag.
“We need to find cover,” I called out as I steadied the Brit. “We’ll never be able to hold them off out here.”
“Shit, they’re fast,” Becka gasped as she risked a glance over her shoulder.
“Just keep running,” I huffed as I scanned the street.
Store windows had long since been shattered, and doors swung lazily on their hinges. There would be no escape through any of the buildings, I realized, and I was starting to regret that we hadn’t taken the armored carrier after all. Protecting the campus was pointless if we couldn’t make it back.
And then I saw a slim thread of hope down one of the side streets. Someone had lowered one of the fire escape ladders and left it hanging down.
“This way!” I shouted as I suddenly veered down the one lane road.
Becka and Hae-won turned with me, though I could tell they were confused.
“Becka, start climbing,” I ordered. “Hae-won, swap guns with me, and then follow Becka.”
The dinos had reached the corner with the main street, and while the first few in the pack had kept going, the smarter ones had stopped and were looking around. Hae-won jumped when she heard the thing caw, and though she managed to hand me her weapon, she dropped the overstuffed backpack. Clothing, bottles, and other items spilled out onto the road.
Hae-won cursed in Korean as she started to scoop things up into the bag, but the dinos were closing fast now that they’d seen us again, and I fired four quick shots at the dinos in the lead. One landed face first in the road after a bullet found it in the eye, and a second managed to take two more steps before flopping onto its side with a bright red hole in its neck. The third bullet caught one in the chest, and it reared back in surprise and pain. It squealed and plowed into two more mini raptors as blood started to gush from its wound.
“There’s no time!” I yelled at Hae-won. “Leave it and go!”
I fired again, this time taking down a mini raptor that was trying to sneak up on us from behind the line of parked cars. I heard the bullet ping off the roof of the car, but at least the dinosaur ducked down and froze in place. Hae-won finally started up the ladder, and a moment later, two more shots were fired from the fire escape.
“Come on, Jason,” Becka called. “I can hold them off while you climb.”
I fired at another dino who had taken the lead in attacking us, but the mini raptors had already learned what the sound of the gun meant. This one tried to duck to the side, but I still managed to catch it in the rear leg. It gnashed its teeth as the bullet dug into the skin, but at least it didn’t keep charging forward.
I heard the rifle fire, then, and another mini raptor toppled to the ground as the Korean girl threw back the bolt of the .308 like she’d done it a thousand times before. I was glad to see that Hae-won’s aim with the rifle was just as good, and decided that letting her use the rifle had been the smart move. Two more shots rang out, one from Becka, and one from Hae-won, and I swung the strap over my shoulder, grabbed on to the fire escape, and started to climb.
The mini raptors saw me start to climb and knew their meal was escaping. Despite the shots being fired from above, the pack seemed to reach some sort of agreement, and they charged toward me. I was nearly to the first landing where I could pull up the ladder when I heard Becka scream. And then something sharp pierced my ankle, scraped downwards, and latched onto my sneaker. I looked down and saw a trail of my blood dripping from my leg and a raptor claw stuck in the fabric of my shoe. The owner of the claw had managed to jump up and grab the first rung of the ladder, where he now swung with one clawed hand, while the other hand kept me pinned in place.
“Fuck!” I yelled.
“I can’t see it clearly,” Becka cried out in a panicked voice. “I might hit you if I shoot.”
The mini raptor hissed at me, and then it tried to pull itself up higher on the ladder. I waited until its head was near my shin, and then I kicked as hard as I could with my free leg just as it opened its jaw. The dino’s head snapped back, and as it struggled to hold on to the ladder, I kicked again, this time catching it in the throat. It gurgled and the arm
it had used to climb the ladder suddenly released. It was only hanging on by the claw tip still caught in my sneaker.
The ladder wasn’t especially stable, and I wasn’t crazy about hanging on with only one hand and one foot, but I needed to get rid of the mini raptor before it could gather itself and one of its mates decided to join in on the action.
I tried to pull the gun around where I could reach it, but I nearly lost my grip on the fire escape in the process. That just left the sword, which I managed to pull from my belt one-handed and swing at the raptor claw. It was hard to get much power, but the mini raptor squawked in surprise and blood appeared along the cut I’d made.
“Fuck off!” I kept hacking at the claw until the raptor finally released its hold and tumbled from the fire escape. It landed on top of the other mini raptors who had gathered below it, and the confusion that caused gave me just enough time to scurry up to the first landing and pull the ladder up behind me.
“Jason, you are bleeding,” Hae-won said as she and Becka helped me with the ladder.
“I can still walk on it,” I said as I sat back and examined my ankle. “But I’ll definitely need to clean it with some of that alcohol we collected when we get back to the gallery.”
“We should wrap it,” Hae-won insisted as she opened her backpack.
The Korean pulled out an old t-shirt, a tube of antibiotic cream, and a bottle of saline solution. She rinsed the ankle with the saline, then ripped a few strips of cloth from the t-shirt, which she held against the ankle until the bleeding subsided. She then lathered on plenty of antibiotic cream and used the rest of the shirt to cover the wound.
“Are you bleeding anywhere else?” the Korean asked as she looked me over.
“I don’t think so,” I assured her. “Nice shooting with the rifle, by the way.”
Hae-won smiled and ducked her head as she blushed.
“Now what do we do?” Becka asked as she peered over the edge of the fire escape. “They’re still down there, and they don’t look like they’re going to leave anytime soon.”
“Maybe another dinosaur will come along, and they will attack that one,” Hae-won suggested.
