by Logan Jacobs
I readied the spear and angled it toward the door.
“Are you two ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” they both said at once.
“Okay, I’m going to unlock it.” I waited for the raptor to slam against the door once more, and then I clicked open the lock and turned the handle. “Alright, let the rope out a little.”
They gave me some slack, I pulled the door toward me, and kept a tight grip on the spear.
“Just a bit more,” I said.
They let it go some more, and I used my foot to open the door wider so I could hold the plastic handle in both my hands. We had opened the door about four inches and the raptor finally came into sight. I lowered the spear, he met my eyes, and I waited to see if he would come closer so I could strike.
The raptor’s muscles tensed, and it sprang toward me.
I leaned forward and drove the spear into his chest with the combined force of my weight and his momentum. The spear sunk deep and must have slid halfway through the creature, and the dino then let out a piercing cry as I felt the glass top shatter inside of him.
I tried to pull the spear back, but it was stuck in his chest, and he kind of pulled me toward him as she stepped back.
“Shit!” I pushed on my spear again, snapped it toward me, and hoped that his backwards force would free the blade from him.
Still the raptor didn’t fall, he just sprayed blood all over the carpet floor of the hallway, and I knew it would take more than one hit to bring him down.
Becka may have been right, maybe this guy was the terminator of dinosaurs.
Then my spear broke free of his chest, and I confirmed that the entire tip of the glass was missing when I pulled the broom back into the room. All that was left was the tape wrapped around a useless rectangle of glass, and some dripping dino blood.
“Hand me another one!” I yelled to the girls, and they both dropped the rope to grab a spear.
“Not both of you!” I shouted as my heart leapt into my throat.
The door swung open a few more inches as the beast threw himself at the opening. He still couldn’t fit his whole body through, but his head leaned in and snapped at the empty air. It was so close I could smell its breath and the scent of rotting meat reached me and made me gag.
“Jason, here!” Becka shoved the handle of another spear into my hand.
I took a step back and dropped the useless plastic one at my feet. The beast clawed and fought at the ropes. He reached up with his good arm and swung his claws at them. In one frozen instant I saw them slice through the thin rope. There was a snapping sound and before I could react the rope broke, and the door swung open.
The monster tumbled into the dorm room, and I heard Becka scream from behind me.
“Jason, I'm here,” Hae-won said from right beside me as I stepped farther back.
I steadied my spear and aimed it toward the throat of the raptor. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Hae-won had her own spear and was leveling it at the beast as well. Despite his fall he was still super strong and fast, and I knew that I needed to act quick.
“Three, two, one!” I yelled, and I hoped that Hae-won would know what to do.
The two of us dived forward at the same time, my spear aimed for the creature’s throat, and hers for its bleeding chest. I felt the wooden handle of the spear slide against my hands as the glass impacted into him, but I kept leaning forward until he fell back, and then I had him pinned to the ground.
Hae-won’s strike hit the wound perfectly, and he let out another cry. As he toppled onto his back, she lost her grip on the handle and the weapon remained stuck in his chest. The creature writhed on the floor beneath my spear, but it couldn’t get out from under it, so I grabbed the end of Hae-won’s spear and pushed it even deeper into the monster’s chest.
He gave a couple last dying twitches before falling still. I let both the spears drop, took a few steps back, and breathed in deeply.
“Say song ehhhh!” Hae-won cursed in Korean as she moved closer to the raptor’s body for a better look.
“Fucking Terminator,” Becka said.
The light in the hall was still on, triggered by the raptor’s movements, and it poured into the dorm room illuminating the three of us and the dead body on the floor. Its blood had started to soak into the carpet, and I knew there was no way I would get the security deposit back now.
I stepped up next to Hae-won to get a better look, and I saw that the raptor’s skin had to be at least half an inch thick. Some of the feathers along his broken arm looked like they had fallen out, but the ones on his other arm and head were thick and a deep shade of black. It was hard to say what the creature really was, it looked to be part lizard but then it also had these feathers. There was no question about it not being able to fly, the feathers merely seemed to coat its arms rather than create wings. It looked like something that I'd seen in a science textbook, in between the states of evolution.
I’d been thinking about them as dinosaurs, and although I wasn’t a paleontologist, it really seemed as if my assumption was correct.
I stuck my foot on top of its barreled chest and pulled out both spears. Both of these had broken, so I knew we would definitely have to figure something else out. I threw the broken spears to the side and watched as another sliver of blood oozed out from its chest cavity.
“What do we do with the body?” Becka asked.
That was a good question, since clearly it couldn't stay here, but I didn't want to leave it sitting right outside our door, either. Who was to say that there wasn't something else out there that would be drawn to the smell of blood and see the raptor as a good meal?
“I think we should try to move it,” I said.
“But where?” Hae-won asked.
“Ideally outside, but for now we might have to settle for the first floor,” I replied.
“Do we just drag it?” Becka asked.
I tried to figure out the best way to move it. Dragging it was certainly the easiest option, but that would leave a trail of blood that pointed directly to us, which was really the same thing as just leaving the dinosaur there.
“We could wrap it in one of the blankets,” I suggested. “That way it won’t leak everywhere.”
“Ew, can you please not say it like that?” the blonde groaned as she scrunched up her beautiful nose.
“Okay, so its blood won’t spill everywhere,” I corrected. “Is that better?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, actually.”
We gathered up the blanket and laid it out beside the dead dinosaur. I had Becka and Hae-won on either side while I gave the thing a shove from the middle so it would roll onto the sheet. Then the girls picked up the corners and wrapped it up while I made sure they rolled the creature in the blanket at least once so the bottom would have more protection and prevent its blood from coming out.
Once we were sure that we had it wrapped, I moved over to the side by the door and grabbed the two corners of the roll.
“Do you two want to grab that side, and I'll take it backwards down the stairs?” I asked.
“If I have to, I guess,” the blonde sighed.
“Well, Hae-won and I did do all the heavy lifting in the fight,” I teased. “It’s only fair that you do some now.”
“Yeah. Okay. Only fair.” A reluctant smile spread onto her face, and we all lifted the creature up.
I tried to keep my steps small to match them with the girls’, and we all moved down the hall and toward the stairs. Somehow the corpse felt even heavier dead than it did slamming into our door, but I suppose that could just have easily been because of how tired I was.
“Should we dump it in the bin?” Becka asked.
“I think we should have pushed it out the window,” Hae-won huffed.
“They don’t open wide enough,” I explained. “I think maybe we leave it in the hall on the first floor but at the far end from the exit. That way if something does find it, we can’t get cornered easily
.”
“I can see that, but why not put it outside?” The dark-haired woman asked.
“If we set it too close to the door, we could get trapped in here. Plus I don’t think it’s a good idea to go further and walk around in the dark carrying a smelly carcass. Anything could appear and decide it’s time for a midnight snack.”
“Okay, the farthest hallway from us then,” Becka stated.
We made slow progress down the stairs and I ended up taking on the bulk of the creature’s weight while the girls struggled to keep him balanced for me. When we got back onto level ground again, it was much easier and we moved as quickly as we could manage down to the end of the far hall and placed the bundle onto the ground.
“Do you want your blanket back?” Hae-won asked after we were finished.
“Honestly,” I replied. “I never want to see that blanket again.”
“Ahhh.” She smiled to herself.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing, I was just thinking ‘dinosaur body bag’ would be a cool band name.” She grinned.
“I think you may have to wait a while to use that one,” I laughed. “People will think you’re being morbid.”
“It would be a punk band,” she explained as she gave me the kind of cute wink that only Asian girls seemed capable of. “Morbid works.”
In the florescent light of the halls I could see that her eyes were no longer a bright blue. Now they were a deep shade of brown, nearly black, and they reminded me of something open and limitless like an endless pool or a void in space. Though they weren’t as brilliant they were just as mesmerizing as when they were blue.
“Your eyes,” I said.
“I don’t have my contacts in.” She turned away from me quickly. “I took them out for sleep.”
“I like them,” I said.
It was the truth, since the real color was beautiful. Hae-won was the perfect blend of cute-Asian doll, goth, punk, and posh style, and I couldn’t quite tell if she came about it naturally, or if it was a carefully put together persona made up of a mashed designer clothes aesthetic. Either way, she was absolutely gorgeous, and I couldn’t quite keep my head from spinning when she smiled at me.
“You’re trying to make me feel better,” she said. “They look empty, I know.”
“No, really,” I repeated.
“Thank you, then.” The corners of her mouth lifted for a second but fell again quickly.
“What sort of contacts do you use?” Becka asked. “I honestly couldn’t tell that it wasn’t real.”
“They’re prescription,” The Korean girl answered. “They have a lot of colored contacts in Seoul, I get them there.”
“Well, that’s out for me, then.” The British girl shrugged.
We made it back to the dorm room and started to barricade the entrance again, but this time the rope was in three pieces so I had to settle for just the desk and the lock. Luckily, the desk covered up most of the blood stain on the carpet so we didn’t have to look at it.
“Where are you going to sleep, Jason?” Hae-won asked as she looked down at the stained floor and single remaining blanket.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I need to turn those sticks into spears before morning anyway. Besides, you two can sleep better if I stay up and keep an eye out.”
“Ah, so the glass didn’t work,” Becka pointed out. “If only someone would have said that before.”
“Hey, it killed one raptor,” I snickered.
“That’s true, I suppose,” she said. “Are you sure you’re okay staying up, though?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t sleep much anyway.”
That was true for the most part. My studies kept me up pretty late and the few shows and games I allowed myself usually made it even later. Some days even when I did have the time to sleep a bout of insomnia would keep me awake anyway.
“I guess I will sleep better knowing that you’re watching,” Hae-won said.
“Good.” I smiled. “Then get some sleep, we’ve got a lot to figure out tomorrow.”
They both agreed and settled themselves into bed. I went for the two wooden spears laying on the ground, fished in my drawer for a pocket knife, and set up the desk chair so it was facing the window. The first step would be to get this glass and tape off the poles.
I set one against the wall and took up the other one to work on. I made a quick vertical cut with my knife along the duct tape, then folded the knife and set it in my lap. The duct tape was difficult to peel up from the wood at first, but after I managed to get a good grip on the corner, the rest of it came off in a snap.
I picked up the second pole and repeated the action. By the time I had finished with that one, I could hear the two women sleeping soundly. Now, I would just need to use the knife to shave the end of it into a point. I had never made a spear like this before and the closest my experience came was one time in elementary school when I’d taken a kitchen knife to a stick so I could shave the bark off and pretend it was a magic wand.
That time I had sliced into my index finger and sent my mother into a panic. At least that was one lesson learned and this time I would cut away from my fingers. I gripped the pole in my left hand and kept the end out past my knee. I took the knife up in my right hand and started scraping down and away from me on the wood. To my surprise, a piece curled away from the knife immediately and I realized this may not be as hard as I thought.
I continued to work at the spear for another fifteen minutes, turning it every so often and holding it up to make sure it was even. It wasn’t long before I was satisfied that I had made a decent weapon, so I picked up the next one and went to work on it.
A few minutes later I was done, and I looked at the two spears against the wall. I was happy that I’d done a good job, but then I reached for my phone and saw the time. It hadn’t taken me as long as I thought to make the spears and the girls were sure to be asleep for another couple hours at least.
I went to the window and peered out. I had said that I would keep watch, so I needed to find a way to pass the time. Dawn had just started and the faintest gray light lit up the campus. I could see the library from here and I studied it to see if I could tell that anything strange had happened there, but I really couldn’t. There was no outward sign that hinted at the three bodies lying inside: two animal, one human.
I scanned over the rest of the campus, but it was much less clear than the library. There were still no lights on anywhere, and with the faint glow from the rising sun, it almost looked peaceful. I could see everything going back to normal and the thought was comforting, but it only lasted a moment.
I supposed that might be a good use of my time, if I looked up more about what was happening. Maybe if I figured things out and got all the highlights, I could save the girls from looking at all the gory details. Although, the way Hae-won talked, I wondered if she almost liked knowing the gory details.
For the second time, I wondered what kind of idiot had broken up with her. She was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever seen and seemed incredibly smart. If things did go back to normal, I wondered if I would have a shot with her.
I walked back to my spot in the chair, sat down, and picked up my phone to start searching for more news. This time, I skipped the dinosaur tag and simply typed in ‘UK news.’
Hundreds of results appeared and all the top ones mentioned either dinosaurs, animals, or the term ‘attack.’
“Shit,” I whispered under my breath.
This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
The first article headline read, “Armed Police Battle Threat But Dinosaur Sightings Continue”. Below that, the next article read, “Nationwide Terror: More Animals Spotted Outside of London.” I hated to be the one to have to mention that to Becka when she woke up, but hopefully she would get a hold of her mom right away and it would be fine.
There were various other articles with similar messages as I scrolled down the page. A few gave
first-person accounts of the animals and while some of them sounded like the ones we fought, several sounded very different. I wondered how many types there were out there and if any were more deadly than the ones we killed. From reading all the articles, one thing was certain, this would not all be over in the morning.
We needed a better plan of action and a better place to stay. This dorm clearly wasn’t dino-proof, and trying to fortify a building this size would take way too much time and resources. I’d have to discuss it with the girls in the morning and figure out a better shelter for us.
I considered the idea of leaving the campus and getting farther out of the city. Maybe there would be less of a threat outside of London, but the sight of another article stopped that line of thought. It talked about people trying to leave the city and all the traffic that built up on the M1. Some of the stopped cars had even been attacked by the dinosaurs. I didn’t want to risk something like that happening and anyway, we didn’t really have a place to go.
At least if we stayed on campus we knew the area and the buildings. We could make a better plan to defend it than if we just drove out into the countryside.
I let myself read a few more articles about what was happening in America and thought about calling my parents. Mid day would be the best time, really, so I figured I would wait until then and try to reach them.
Before I knew it, the sunrise was streaming in through the windows and the girls were starting to wake up.
“Good morning,” Hae-won said and sat up in her spot on the bed. “Did anything happen?”
I looked up from my phone at her and saw Becka still sleeping.
“No, not really,” I replied. “Didn’t see anything on the campus.”
“That’s good.” She yawned and stretched out her arms, and her long dark hair fell over her shoulder as she twisted her neck from side to side. “Are those the new spears?”
She had spotted the poles leaning next to me and I nodded, picked one up and held it out for her to inspect.
“What do you think?” I asked.
