by Russ Watts
James left and ordered Vic to come with him. Following meekly, Vic mumbled an apology to Maria for James’ behaviour, and then the two women were alone.
“I can’t stand this,” said Maria as she approached the door. The monster was astride the bus now, sniffing it, trying to figure it out. “Where are they? Where did they go? What are we going to do?”
Laurel bit her lip before answering quietly. “I don’t know. I know Mac will do what he can, but…” She joined Maria at the glass door, watching as the monster began kicking the bus.
“I’ve a gun under the counter,” said Maria suddenly. “I didn’t want anyone to know in case things got out of hand. I guess we’re past that point, huh? It’s just a Crosman Semi-Auto. Nothing much, but I thought I should have one, just in case, you know? I read too many stories of serial killers hitch-hiking their way across the state, picking off lonely women.” Maria managed a small laugh. “I’m quite sure they go for younger women than me. Anyway, I’ve only a couple of rounds of ammo. Never thought I’d really need it to be honest with you.”
“You think it’s going to work against that?” asked Laurel. She couldn’t imagine it penetrating the dinosaur’s thick skin, let alone hurting it. “It’s not going to do much damage to that monster outside.”
“It’s not the monsters outside I’m so worried about.” Maria turned to face Laurel. “We need to watch out for each other.”
“Well, I’ve never even held a gun, so I think we should keep it just between us for now. You can handle it, right?” asked Laurel. “And when did you go around hitting people? Not that I’m saying James didn’t deserve it.”
“I’m sorry. I just snapped. I suppose I should apologize to him, but I’m fairly confident he would just dismiss it. I worked ER for a few years, met a lot of odd people, a lot of hurt people, and a fair few dangerous ones too. That boy is messed up. One who slipped through the cracks. There’s something about him I don’t like.”
“Fair enough.” Laurel looked around the shop. The counter was full of boxes of chocolate bars and snacks. There was one row of shelving left intact at the center of the shop which was lined with a variety of books and maps. The cooler in the corner near the corner was stocked full of cans and bottles of assorted sodas. She looked at the dining area and the upturned tables. The store must have looked good when it was running normally. Now, after all the fighting, the tremors and the monster outside rattling it constantly, it was a mess. “You know we can’t stay here long.” Laurel thought about her daughter, about how Amy was coping. She didn’t know if the monster was isolated to the desert, if it was the only one that had appeared. Morbid thoughts swam around her head of what might be happening elsewhere, dark thoughts that she couldn’t allow to gather momentum. She just hoped San Diego was unaffected.
There were echoing noises above her head, clattering sounds that were like footsteps, and she glanced up.
“I bet that’s Mac,” said Maria. “He got up on the roof.” She whirled around to look at the bus, hoping to find Mr. Stepper running back to the store. Instead, she saw the monster had picked up the bus and was in the process of destroying it.
“Holy shit. I think Mr. Stepper’s in there,” said Laurel. “Should we—?”
The bus smashed down into the ground, and then the monster set about tearing it apart.
“We need to get back. It’s not safe here.” Maria took Laurel’s hand. “If Mac’s up there, he’ll be okay. We can—”
The bus exploded, engulfing the monster in a fireball. The warm blast shattered the store’s front windows, and Maria and Laurel fell to the floor, covered in tiny shards of glass. They screamed as they scrambled to get up and away from the open windows.
Laurel shook the glass from her hair and stared outside at the black smoke rising up into the blue sky from the remains of the bus. “Mac? Mac, are you there?”
Maria began dragging Laurel away, pulling on her arm, shouting at her to get to the back store room. Laurel tried to refuse. She had to know that Mackenzie was all right. “Mac, answer me!”
Laurel watched, terrified, as the monster began lumbering toward the store, leaving the smashed smoldering remains of the bus behind. She lost sight of the giant creature’s head, and then its upper body disappeared as it got closer. All she saw were its thick strong legs getting larger and larger, filling in the now empty windows, blocking out the sun like an eclipse.
“Laurel, move it!” Maria finally got Laurel moving, but only an inch at a time. With the rate at which they were moving, the monster would be upon both them and the store long before they had moved into the relative safety of the store room. Maria didn’t want to give the thing any excuse to get into the store. They had to be quiet and hide. “Mac will be okay. We can help him another way. There’s another way up to the roof. Just come with me, please?”
Laurel nodded and let Maria lead her back, away from the advancing monster.
* * *
“Akecheta,” hissed Maria. “We need to get Mackenzie back inside, quickly. I need your help.” Maria told Laurel to wait and ran her hands through her short hair. “In the corner over there is an access shaft. I haven’t used it in years and the only ladder I have is outside. You think you can help me get up there?”
“Hold on, what the hell is going on? What was that explosion?” asked James. He was sat on an upturned bucket drinking a beer. “If that monster is right outside, I hardly think exposing ourselves by opening up a hatch right above our heads is a good move.”
Maria didn’t have time to argue with him, much less debate the merits of whether they should rescue Mackenzie or not. She already knew what James wanted: self-preservation. All he was interested in was riding this out and saving his own neck.
“Akecheta, Myles, can you help me? We’ll see if we can get the roof access open, get Mac down from there before that thing sees him.”
Myles cast James a dirty look, and then asked Michele to stay with Alyce. Michele had finally got the radio working and set it up on a small table by the door. Myles wanted to fill the rest in on what they had heard, but it was clear from the urgency in Maria’s voice that any updates would have to wait.
“Be careful,” pleaded Michele before letting her husband go.
Akecheta started pulling boxes out of the way. “Mr. Stepper. Is he…?”
Maria nodded. She tried not to think about it, but she knew he was gone. There was no way he survived the destruction of the bus.
“Damn it,” muttered Myles. He helped Akecheta move some boxes out of the way, trying to ignore the fact that James and Vic were doing nothing to help. He knew there was no point in asking the two men. Any conversation with them seemed to end in an argument. He looked at Akecheta and, ensuring he was out of earshot of his daughter, asked if anyone would miss them if the bus didn’t return or check-in at a certain time.
“We’re not due back to Baker until six this evening. Nobody’s going to figure out we’re missing for a long time. Right now our focus is just staying alive. I’m not even thinking beyond surviving the next five minutes.”
As they threw boxes aside, the store continued to shake. It was evident that the monster was close.
“You knew Mr. Stepper well?” asked Myles.
Akecheta closed his eyes briefly, and then looked intently at Myles. “I worked with him for years. He was a good man. He served his country more than once and was good to everyone we took around the area. Never had a single complaint about him; only compliments. He was a man of few words, but I shall miss him. I don’t want to have to mourn anyone else today, so let’s get this done.”
Myles helped Akecheta drag one of the shelves over to the roof’s access hatch. There was little room to maneuver, and they had to negotiate their way around piles of boxes that seemed to clutter up every spare inch of floor space. There were no windows and only one fluorescent strip light above to see by, and despite the cold gloom, both of them were sweating.
As they dragged the she
lf over the floor, with Maria and Laurel trying to move things out of their way, Myles noticed for the first time the various refrigerators that lined one wall of the room. The center of the room had one tall shelf still standing, stacked full of items for the shop: boxes of canned food, emergency first-aid kits, camping equipment, postcards, pens and a variety of souvenirs.
“Hold it steady,” said Akecheta, snapping Myles’ attention back to the job in hand. “I’ll go.”
The ground rumbled and rolled, as if constantly moving and shifting. Myles and Maria held the metal shelving firmly, and Akecheta quickly climbed it, as if he were no more than a nimble boy scout climbing a tree. He banged three times on the hatch above him.
“Mac? Mr. Brown, you there?” Akecheta paused, and looked down at Maria. They waited for what seemed years for an answer. Surely he had felt the vibrations? Had he not heard the shouting outside?
Laurel saw concern in Akecheta’s eyes and she couldn’t help but to call out. “Mac, come on, open up. Please, Mac, just come down.”
“Laurel, why don’t you go check on Chris,” said Maria. She knew that although Chris was unconscious, Laurel needed distracting. It was clear that Mac might be in trouble.
“No, I’m waiting here. I’m not going anywhere without Mac.”
“Mac, open up,” said Akecheta again as he banged with his fist on the roof. The metal shelving shook, but he kept his balance, and Maria and Myles did their best to keep it upright.
“You think he’s okay?” whispered Laurel.
“He’ll be fine,” said Maria as she gripped the cold metal shelves tighter. She lowered her voice and looked at Laurel with steely determination. “He’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine. It has to be.”
“What about Mr. Stepper and those two kids? What about the bus? What’s going to happen to…?”
“I don’t know, Laurel, okay? Just hold this thing steady, and stop asking me questions that you know I can’t possibly answer.”
Laurel looked away furtively, and Maria instantly regretted snapping at her. The woman was just worried about her husband. It had been so long since Tony had passed that she had forgotten what it was like to care about someone so deeply.
“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” A deep rumble from underground turned into a wave that rippled across the store’s floor, and threatened to upset the shelves entirely. A huge roar from above sent jitters down Maria’s body and she had to hold onto the shelving with all her strength as the vibrations threatened to topple it over.
“You got it?” asked Akecheta as he braced himself between the upper shelf and the roof.
Myles nodded. “We’re good.”
“Hurry up, Akecheta. This thing is bucking wilder than a horny bull in rodeo season.”
Maria tried to catch Laurel’s eyes, but she was avoiding her, looking across the room at Alyce and Michele. Maria knew she had spoken out of order, but apologies could come later. For the moment, it was all they could do to keep the shelving upright, and she was worried about what was going on up on the roof. Maria was genuinely afraid that the dinosaur, the monster, or whatever it was, was about to come crashing through the store’s roof and kill them all. When she looked at the worry on Laurel’s face, and the concern in Akecheta’s brown eyes, there was nothing there to reassure her that her fears were misplaced. It was what she couldn’t see that scared her the most. It was what was outside causing the ground to shake that really bit into her and made terror run through her blood.
Daylight flooded into the room, the square access hole above Akecheta’s head opening up suddenly. The hatch was lifted up into the air, and sunlight burst into the room, penetrating the gloom. Maria was momentarily blinded as the bright sunlight punctuated her vision and she had to look away to allow her eyes to adjust. When she looked back, Akecheta was gone, already up through the hatch and onto the roof.
A shadow slowly spread across the hole in the roof, bringing back the desolation and gloom. Maria and Myles looked at each other as they began to hear scuffling noises from above.
“Laurel, hold this,” said Myles. Without waiting for her to grab hold of the shelving, he began to climb up.
“Myles, get down here, now.” Maria’s arms and muscles ached. Her grip was weakening as the shelving tried to wrench itself free from her grasp as the building shook. She watched Laurel replace Myles, and too quickly, Myles was gone up through the small opening onto the roof, exposed to the monster.
Suddenly, the vibrations stopped, the building settled, and there was nothing but the sound of her own quick breath and the radio in the background. Maria’s ears rang loudly with the silence, and she lowered her arms, her muscles and tendons grateful for the release, however short.
A thud, followed by a hollow banging noise, and then the silence was replaced by the familiar yet unsettling bellowing of their dinosaur. Maria looked at Laurel as suddenly a spray of red mist came down through the square hatchway, showering them both in fine warm droplets of blood. It splattered their faces, entered their open, shocked mouths, and dribbled through their hair like a strawberry shampoo. The coppery smell of the blood invaded Maria’s senses, and the taste made her gag.
Laurel looked up at the hatch. “Mac!” she screamed. “Mac?”
CHAPTER 10
“Hey, honey, what’s going down?” John spotted Amy through the throng of passengers exiting San Diego’s Lindbergh Field airport, and began to walk toward her, the bunch of yellow roses tucked under his arm.
Amy smiled and gave him a hug. “John, come on, that’s lame. I’m not a kid anymore.” They had developed a ritual over the years that her father still clung to, despite the growing distance between them. He would ask her what’s going down, she would ask him what’s up, and then he would pull a face that she would inevitably laugh at.
John hugged his daughter close, relishing her warmth and smell. It had been too long since they had seen each other. “You’ll always be a kid to me.”
As they parted, Amy took the roses and looked at him. He was tired. He looked older than her last visit. Though that was literally true, it looked as if he had aged in the last few months. There was excitement in his eyes, and she knew he was pleased to see her. But she detected a hint of sadness too, and all of a sudden she wanted to keep the ritual going.
“Anyway, what’s up?” Amy grinned as her father’s eyes lit up.
“Nothing. Everything’s sideways.” John furrowed his brow, stuck out his tongue and pulled his ears out.
Amy genuinely giggled. It wasn’t so much the face that made her laugh, but the fact that he still tried; he was still there for her, still trying to show her how much he loved her.
“All right, weirdo, let’s get out of here.” Amy reached for her trolley case, but John beat her to it.
“I’ve got it. Car’s out front.”
As they left the airport, Amy looked at him. Had he lost weight too? He still wore his uniform from the zoo, and it hung off him as if it was a size too big.
John caught her looking at him. “I know, the uniform, right? Sorry, but I had to come here straight from work.”
Amy just nodded and said nothing. They had a strange relationship, but they made it work. She knew he was technically her father, but she always thought of Mackenzie as her dad. He had brought her up and was the only father she had known. John was more like an uncle, or a friend. She was pleased they knew each other. So many of her friends’ parents were divorced, and it felt like so many of them were torn between choosing sides. Amy knew she didn’t have the most conventional family, but who did these days? They made it work, and everything was cordial. It wasn’t like her biological parents had ended their relationship terribly, it just wasn’t meant to be. Amy had come along when they were still young, and they’d been honest with her from the start.
“Here we go,” said John. He opened the trunk and put Amy’s bags inside.
“What happened to the Ferrari?” asked Amy as she climbed into the passenger
seat. The thought of John driving a Ferrari was amusing to both of them, and they chuckled together. John lurched from one old car to the next, only changing when they completely died. He didn’t have the money for a new car, and Amy knew that even if he did, he probably wouldn’t buy one. He would rather save the money for her trips to see him. She smirked when she saw the mess on the back seat. It was littered with pizza boxes, old books and dirty boots.
“The Ferrari?” John slipped behind the wheel and turned the key to start his battered old Toyota. The engine whined, and then gently wheezed into life as John revved it up. “Swapped it for this old baby,” he said, slapping the dash. “Thought I’d upgrade.” John winked at Amy, and then pulled out slowly, taking them away from the airport and into the city.
“Shame you couldn’t get a clean one,” said Amy as she glanced again at the back seat where she had placed the roses.
“Yeah, I was going to clean it up, but I just haven’t had time this week. I pulled a double-shift all week. A couple of guys took leave, so I thought I may as well. The extra will come in handy.”
Amy stared out of the window at the blazing sunshine and snapped her sunglasses on. She wound down the window to feel the breeze on her face. “You know, we don’t have to do a million things when I come. Sometimes it’s nice to just chill out and hang with you. I don’t want you blowing all your money on me.”
“On you?” John pulled the car onto the freeway. “Oh, the extra’s not for you. I was going to spend it all on hookers.”
