Julie leaned forward, exhibiting no sign of backing down. “Well, according to the chair of the IAU’s own planet definition committee—”
Not three seconds into her presentation and it had devolved into an ugly brawl of the minds. TJ became so wrapped up in the excitement of the mental battle that he didn’t realize what it meant when Mrs. Baker shut it down.
“Okay, class, please. Class. Class!” Mrs. Baker slammed her yardstick on her desk. Ernest sank back into his seat and wiped the spittle from his mouth with his sleeve. Julie didn’t appear to be bothered at all. “Thank you for that. It was very…stirring. Now, who do we have left to present?”
It was TJ’s turn. He stared down at his desk, hoping she’d pass him over. But as hard as any kid has ever wished, being passed over by the teacher on science experiment presentation day had never happened and probably never would. It certainly didn’t on that day.
Mrs. Baker’s heat-seeking missile eyes zeroed in on TJ in seconds. “Last but not least, Mr. Beaumont.” She gestured to the podium in the front of the room.
TJ took a deep breath and was pleasantly surprised when his body responded to his mental command to move. His muscles ached from the constant tension of the last forty minutes. He imagined this was what it must feel like to walk from your prison cell to your execution. Those last few breaths of sweet, sweet air before everything went dark.
He heard Sam’s voice in the back of his mind. Stop being so melodramatic. Everything will be fine. You’ve practiced this. Just chill. Be cool. Like a super spy.
TJ set the box on the table and pivoted behind the podium.
Mrs. Baker encouraged him to begin after a moment of awkward silence. “The floor is yours, Mr. Beaumont.”
Be…
“Cool,” TJ said, forcing a smile. “I’ve always wanted my own floor.” Several of his classmates chuckled. Ernest rolled his eyes, likely thinking TJ’s brand of humor was pedestrian and beneath him. TJ met Ernest’s skeptical glare. “I’ll ask you all to save your questions and inappropriate outbursts until I’ve finished.” Some more chuckles, and some more glaring from Ernest, cut the tension. TJ breathed a little easier as he lifted the lid off the box.
Before lifting Rex out TJ leaned down and whispered, “power down.” Then he hooked his fingers under Rex’s arms and revealed him to the world. TJ and Rex were showered with “oohs” and “aahs,” and a long, hardening stare from Ernest. Rex remained perfectly still, his training paying off—at least for the moment. TJ could see Rex’s eyes already starting to wander.
“I present to you, MechaRex. He is a robotic replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex.” TJ did his best to maintain eye contact with the class, but he glanced at Rex every few seconds to make sure he hadn’t moved, almost having a mini heart attack each time before seeing him still in the same position.
“The Tyrannosaurus rex is a theropod that lived during the Mesozoic era. Often called the king of the dinosaurs, the T-rex was the fiercest of all the carnivores.” TJ almost whispered those last words, hoping Rex wouldn’t hear them and get any ideas. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rex’s resolve begin to waiver. The muscles in his legs twitched. He wouldn’t stand still much longer. He looked at Rex and, as though he were issuing commands to a machine, said, “MechaRex, action.”
Rex reacted like he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. He leaped off the table to the absolute amazement of the class. Some kids in the front row screamed and jumped out of their seats.
TJ continued his presentation as though it was all part of the show. “When fully grown, a T-rex could reach a length of more than fifty feet, standing ten feet at the hips and weighing nearly eight tons.”
Most of the class was on its feet now in a circle around Rex, who was exploring his strange, new surroundings. Even Mrs. Baker ogled him as he wandered. That’s when TJ noticed the disguise that he’d made for Rex was already looking like it would soon be too small.
Wow! Talk about growing fast. If the science fair were a day later, I’d need a whole new getup.
While the rest of the class watched in wonder, Ernest maintained his skepticism. “Where are the controls?” He sounded like a detective in the midst of an interrogation.
“It’s voice activated,” TJ responded. He said a silent prayer. Then, so all could hear, “Power down.” Rex immediately stopped moving and froze.
Ernest was not impressed. “How do I know you didn’t just super glue some tin foil on an old toy?” He leaned in close to Rex to get a better look. “I think I used to have one of these. Back when my scientific curiosity was still…juvenile.”
Rex’s lizard brain must have come with an extra sense, one that detected snotty little weasels with glasses and Velcro shoes and who think they’re the smartest things on the planet. He snapped his jaws at Ernest, who tripped backward and fell on his butt.
The class erupted in a fit of laughter. Ernest’s already pink face turned crimson.
“Power down,” TJ commanded. Rex took a step toward Ernest. “Power down!” TJ commanded again. Rex stopped, but snapped his jaws again for good measure.
Ernest scrambled to his feet. “You made it do that!” He shoved through the circle and waved an accusatory finger in TJ’s face. Mrs. Baker tried to step in to diffuse the situation, but the crowd had grown thick with laughter.
Ernest marched to Rex, intent on revealing TJ as a fraud. “This thing has controls somewhere. You’re controlling it. You made it do that. You didn’t build this.” He reached down for Rex, ready to grab him, to dismantle him, to take him apart and learn all his secrets.
Rex readied to do the same to Ernest.
“Power down!” TJ yelled, but the command seemed to backfire. Rather than Rex, it was TJ who couldn’t move. He could only watch as Rex opened his mouth wide and shook the walls of the classroom with a ferocious growl.
The force of it knocked Ernest clean off his feet and sent the circle of giggling onlookers scrambling, like a flock of frightened sheep bleating through the halls. Mrs. Baker’s instincts got the better of her. She ran screaming out of the classroom, too. If she wasn’t sweating now, she was simply not physically capable of perspiring.
Ernest scrambled back as Rex stomped after him. For the first time, TJ saw the dinosaur for what he really was—a prehistoric predator.
“Rex!” TJ yelled with all the authority he could muster.
Rex seemed to shrink under TJ’s exaltation. He turned to look at TJ with the same expression he’d had after unleashing gastrointestinal hell on TJ’s bedroom wall. In that moment, he became TJ’s pet again.
But no one else knew that. Screams of fear incited by a rogue robot dinosaur filled the halls.
Sam was suddenly in the doorway, face red, eyes wide with shock and terror and confusion. “What happened?”
TJ’s mouth opened and closed, like he was chewing the air, hoping to find words in there somewhere. He didn’t. So he just pointed at Rex then buried his face in his hands. He used every last ounce of determination not to fall apart and break into tears. He had nothing left to formulate a plan, offer up an explanation, or to even move. Breathing, even, had become something of a challenge.
Sam shook him from his daze. “They’re going to be here soon.” She sounded like she was yelling from under water. Or maybe TJ was under water. “We need to leave. Now! C’mon Beaumont, let’s get moving!” She put her arms out, asking Rex for permission to pick him up. He tilted his head as if to say yes. She barely managed to hoist him off the floor and struggled all the way to the window under his heft. She looked back at TJ, who was still obeying his own command to power down. “I can’t carry you, too.”
TJ finally broke free of his self-imposed fog. He darted to the window just as Rex hopped out with a happy squeal. Sam and TJ climbed out after him and sprinted across the open schoolyard toward the originally planned rendezvous point. Rex galloped gleefully ahead of them, thinking they were chasing and playing with him.
“So
we’re on the run now?” TJ’s voice was weak, with barely enough breath in his lungs to make his vocal chords work. “We gonna live in the swamp, too?”
Sam scoffed. “This was just a hiccup. One of those really loud ones where you accidentally hiccup and burp at the same time, but it’s still just a hiccup.”
TJ nearly tripped over himself. “How can you say that? It was freakin’ Jurassic World in there.”
Sam stopped and spun on her heels as they reach the woods at the edge of the schoolyard. “He roared. Big deal. Robots roar.”
“First, robots do not roar. They…” TJ scratched his chin. “I don’t know what they do, but they don’t roar. And besides, the walls shook.” TJ paused a moment to catch his breath. “I think Ernest peed himself.”
Sam was unflappable. “We can still spin this. Your robot got a little out of control. You used some spare parts from a Decepticon and it turned evil for a second. Whatever. Stuff happens. We freaked when people started running because you thought you were going to get in trouble, so that’s why we bolted.”
Rex darted into the woods after a squirrel. TJ called for him to stick close. “You really think anyone’s gonna believe that?”
Sam shrugged. “They’ll have to. What other possible explanation could there be? A baby T-rex has come back after millions of years of extinction to terrorize a class of middle-schoolers? Worst-case scenario, you’re looking at a week’s suspension for causing the chaos. I’ll probably get a few days of detention for being an accomplice.”
Some hope actually started to bloom in TJ’s mind. “As long as we don’t have any more hiccup burps before getting Rex into the swamp, everything will be fine.”
Yeah, sure. Everything will be fine.
He started to breathe easy. And that’s when the cavemen showed up.
“Hey, dweebers.”
Chapter Sixteen
Eddie and his goons, Carson and Lyle, stepped out of the woods, the rancid smell of cigarette smoke clinging to their clothes. Eddie grinned, showing his yellow teeth. “Where you off to? Couldn’t be skipping out. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Carson looked up from his phone. “Just got a text sayin’ something’s going on at school. Everyone’s running around all crazy.”
The three of them studied TJ and Sam. They must not have seen Rex before he took off into the woods. Which meant they’d have no reason to think TJ and Sam had anything to do with the chaos at school. Why would they? If anyone was taking bets on who was responsible, chances are the smart money was on Eddie. “You two take the opportunity to sneak off into the woods? If I didn’t hate you, I’d be impressed.”
TJ’s heart rate spiked. One hiccup burp after another. “We aren’t sneaking anywhere. We’re just—”
“Holy crap,” Carson interrupted, looking down at his phone again. “Just got another text sayin’ this nerd trashed a classroom.”
Lyle took out his phone. “No way. You’re blowing up the Twitterverse, man.” He slapped his hand over his mouth to suppress the sudden, manic burst of laughter. “Ernest Morrison peed his pants.”
Eddie’s mouth fell open and then twisted into a yellow smile. It matched the yellow skin on his face where TJ had punched him. “So you’re the kid, huh? Every school has one. The kid who gets decent grades, who everyone thinks is sweet and nice, and then who totally freaks out and loses his mind. You’re the kid no one sees coming.” He stepped forward, inches from TJ’s face. “But I saw you coming. You freaked out on me, but, of course, no one believed me. Maybe I’ll get a medal now for pounding you into the dirt.”
Sam moved to intervene. As she stepped between Eddie and TJ, Eddie shoved her backward into the arms of Carson and Lyle. She shrieked like an angry banshee and thrashed against them, but their grip was too strong.
“Let her go!” TJ lunged for Carson, but Eddie drove a fist into his gut. TJ dropped to his knees, wheezing for breath.
Sam kept thrashing, refusing to be held still. She slammed her forehead into Carson’s temple. His eyes glazed over and he swayed like a thin tree in the wind. She broke free from his now slackened grip, but Lyle quickly wrapped her up in a bear hug, pinning her arms at her sides.
Eddie stood over TJ. “Should be more concerned about yourself. You’re in quite the pickle. You’re gonna regret hitting me, Beaumont.”
TJ muttered something, but Eddie couldn’t make it out through the gasping. He crouched down by TJ’s head. “What was that?”
TJ looked up, his face just inches from Eddie’s, so close he could smell the stench of Eddie’s breath. “I said, you should be more concerned with my science project.”
The bushes rustled behind them. Two shiny marbles seemed to be looking out at them. Eddie leaned closer to investigate. “What the heck—?”
The world exploded with the force of Rex’s roar. TJ felt it in his chest, the same kind of rumble as when he used to watch the Space Shuttles launch. He thought his heart was going to shake loose from his ribcage. An instant later, Rex burst out of the bushes in a flash of green. He slammed into Eddie’s chest, lifting him clear off the ground. Rex stayed perched atop Eddie as they came crashing back down.
Sam took advantage of the confusion. She slammed her head back into Lyle’s nose and slipped from his grip when Lyle’s eyes filled with tears and blood ran down his cheeks. She rushed to TJ’s side and helped him stand. They had just started to run for the safety of the woods when they heard the screams. Looking back, they saw Eddie’s blood splattering on the ground.
Rex was in a full-blown frenzy, raking his razor-sharp claws across Eddie’s forearms, which he barely managed to bring up in time to protect his face. Eddie squirmed and kicked his legs, desperate to get away. His blood tinted the air.
Bile burned the back of TJ’s throat as he fought to keep his food down. He was frozen in place as his pet dinosaur mauled the cavemen, Eddie Figley. TJ couldn’t believe how stupid he had been to think he could keep Rex as if he were just some stray dog and not an actual, honest-to-goodness Tyrannosaurus rex. He was so desperate, so wanting, so…
No, wait. Rex is my friend. This isn’t really him. This is just his wolf side.
Somehow, TJ managed to thaw the ice around his muscles. “Power down!” But Rex didn’t stop. He didn’t even flinch. “Rex, stop!” Rex continued slashing at Eddie. And as much as TJ hated Eddie, he couldn’t allow this to continue. Not even Eddie deserved this. TJ grabbed Rex’s arm just as it was about to come down on Eddie’s neck like an executioner’s ax.
Rex spun, knocking TJ back with a swipe of his tail. His big, shining eyes had become narrow slits, completely lost to instinct, seeing only prey where once he’d seen friends.
TJ quickly backed away. Rex stalked after him. “Hey, pal, it’s me, TJ. I fixed up your stomach. Remember? I fed you?” Rex’s entire body shook with prehistoric bloodlust. “C’mon, boy,” TJ pleaded. “You were alone. I was alone. Then we were together. We’re friends.” His heartfelt words were lost on the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Rex lunged forward and snapped his jaws. TJ swung his arm out of the way just in time to keep from losing his hand, but not so fast that Rex missed taking a small chunk out of it. As soon as TJ’s blood hit Rex’s tongue, the dinosaur’s eyes changed. In an instant, the predator disappeared, leaving a confused, guilt-ridden pet in its place.
Rex’s roar softened to a whisper as he tried to nuzzle TJ’s bleeding hand. Sam jumped between them. “Get away from him!” She was shaking as much as Rex was. She made herself look as big and imposing as she could, as if hoping to intimidate Rex.
Rex looked past her, his eyes fixed on TJ’s injured hand. The hand that he’d bloodied. The hand that had taken him out of the swamp when he was alone. The hand that had helped him when he’d been sick. The hand that had slipped pancakes to him under the table.
Rex sprinted past Sam, a sad cry trailing behind him, and disappeared into the woods.
Carson and Lyle lifted Eddie from the ground and the three o
f them ran off toward the school.
TJ called after them, but they were long gone. Sam took TJ by the wrist to inspect the wound. “It’s just a scratch,” TJ said.
“He could have taken your hand off,” Sam snapped back.
“It was an accident.”
“Was what he did to Eddie an accident?”
TJ wanted to say yes. He wanted to tell Sam that Rex would never do something like that intentionally. “Eddie attacked us. Rex was defending us. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. We need to find him.”
Sam pointed to his wound. “We need to clean that before you get dinosaur rabies.”
Flashing lights in the distance set their hearts leaping into their throats. Police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck pulled up to the school. Greenmarsh’s first responders did not take threats at school lightly. Normally, TJ and Sam would be grateful for that. Not so much when they were part of the threat.
TJ tugged on Sam’s arm. “Wherever we go, we need to get away from here. I really have no idea how to explain any of this.”
They ran into the woods as the world descended further into chaos behind them.
Chapter Seventeen
The Nike HM-69 compound could be a strangely relaxing place at times. Odd, considering it was a decommissioned missile base. Truth be told, Colonel Brock Horne didn’t know exactly what was being done deep in the concrete bowels of the place. He served as the military intelligence liaison attached to Agent Osborne’s team, which meant he was a glorified babysitter, nothing more. Dotting I’s and crossing T’s. Except there was also a dinosaur. He never thought he’d be hunting dinosaurs when he joined the army.
Thing is, he’d gotten the distinct feeling that Osborne had been hiding something from him since the moment he’d come on board. And just what kind of babysitter would he be if he let the kids get away with lying?
His boots echoed through the empty halls of the compound. Osborne was out. At least Horne thought he was. He never really knew where Osborne was or what he was doing unless he was doing it right in front of Brock’s face.
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