by Logan Jacobs
We moved away through the building and found our way onto the ground level. The doors were all locked with keys, so we opened one of the windows and jumped down into the square. Across the grass, I could see the gallery standing alone and untouched, but we still made sure the area was clear before we all walked over and back inside the gallery.
Even though we hadn’t managed to fortify the place yet, I still felt a surge of relief as the door clicked shut behind us.
“I’m sorry, you two,” Becka said as she turned to us as we started into the main gallery. “I shouldn’t have asked to go all the way across campus.”
“It was for your mother,” Hae-won countered. “We understand.”
“Still,” the British girl continued, “it was stupid. I put all of us in danger, and we almost died.”
In a way she was right. If we hadn’t crossed the open field, the larger dinosaurs wouldn’t have spotted us. Still, they might have made their way to our side of the campus eventually and I couldn’t fault Becka for wanting a way to check in on her parents.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “We agreed to help you, and we knew it could be dangerous. Everyone is okay now, and you got your charger, so there’s no need to apologize.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t say anything more about it.
“Let’s get this armor stuff off,” Hae-won broke the silence. “It is starting to feel heavy.”
“Wait, we have a couple hours left of daylight,” I said. “I think we should try to get some supplies from the dorm building. That way we can have enough mattresses and blankets in here for all of us. We might even get luck and find some more food.”
“You think we should keep this on?” Becka asked.
“I think if I didn’t have it on back there, I’d be missing an arm,” I replied. “We should wear it any time we leave the gallery and especially on any longer trips.”
“What longer trips?” the blonde asked.
“We need more food,” I replied. “Maybe not right away, but if this goes on, we’ll run out of food in a couple of days.”
Becka seemed to ponder this, and she looked like she might argue but stopped herself.
“What about the swords?” Hae-won questioned. “Do we keep those all the time, too?”
“Yes,” I said. “We’ll keep the swords with us all the time, even in here, just in case.”
The girls nodded, and I could tell the dark-haired woman was happy about keeping a hold of the weapon.
She definitely had an edge to her, and I really liked it.
“Should we head to the dorm now?” Becka asked.
“I do need to fix this arm piece,” I replied and held up the pounded metal. “There was a hammer in the toolbox in the library and a bunch of nails that we would need if we want to board up the windows.”
“We’re boarding up the windows?” the British girl asked.
“I think we should,” I replied. “But it’ll have to wait for tomorrow. They’re all in the entrance, at least, so for tonight we can just block the door from there into here.”
“Okay,” the blonde said. “Then we should grab the toolbox and search those dorms as soon as possible. We’ll need some time to make sure the door is barricaded before dark.”
Hae-won and I nodded and the three of us headed for the library after we emptied our bags so we could carry more stuff back to the gallery. The girls waited by the doors while I grabbed the tool box from the supply cabinet. Then I headed straight back to them and decided it was best to fix the arm piece right there.
“Can you help me with this?” I asked the Korean woman.
“Sure.” She smiled and helped me unlatch the piece and work it off. It was difficult, but I managed to slip my hand out of it with only a few scratches.
“I’ll keep a lookout,” Becka said as she glanced around us.
“Great.” I went to work with the hammer, and it took no more than a couple minutes to crudely pound out the dents the dinosaur had made in the metal. When I was done, I slipped the piece back on and inspected it. It certainly wasn’t as delicately crafted as it had been before, but it still looked strong and that was all that really mattered.
“Okay, let’s get going and grab the supplies,” I said.
“Roger that,” Becka replied and did a mock salute.
I smirked and gave her a sideways glance before the three of us headed for the dorms. We approached the side of the building and I realized that even though we had access into the building, it would be much harder to break through the room doors than to just go around on the outside and break in through the ground level windows of each room.
We went up to the first room and Hae-won shattered the glass with another stone. These windows didn’t have moving panels like the other ones we had gone through, so we had to be careful as we stepped through the glass. In the first room we pulled out the mattress and pushed it back through the broken window. There was nothing else there that was of much value to us, since all we really needed at this point was more food supplies.
The second room was better because in addition to a mattress, we found a pile of spare blankets, some bags of doritos, and a pack of crumpets. It wasn’t much, but it might last us another meal at the least. Becka also grabbed some candles and a lighter from the room and spare towels from the bathroom.
The third room had more blankets, and I figured what we had found would be enough for the three of us, at least for now. Hae-won also raided the wardrobe there, as whoever’s room it was seemed closer to her size than Becka. We found another pack of small candles as well, and I figured it would be a good idea to save them in case the power went out.
“Let’s stack up all the supplies on top,” I suggested after we had pushed the third mattress out the window and piled it on top of the other two. “That way we can all carry it in one go.”
They agreed and we piled up blankets, clothes, and towels on top. The sun was starting to set now and the edges of the surroundings were getting harder to see. We would definitely need to wait until the morning to board up the windows. There was no way I was going to be out here when anything might appear from a shadow without warning.
We carried the mattresses together, though keeping the items from falling off was a bit of a challenge. Luckily, the gallery was close by and before long we had everything back into the main part of the building.
“Where should we set these up?” Becka asked and gestured to the beds.
“I’m not sure,” I replied. “Definitely upstairs. If you two want to take the staff room, I could sleep out in the gallery.”
“No,” Hae-won said suddenly, and she looked at Becka, “I mean, I’d feel better if we all stayed in the same room.”
“Yeah, I agree.” the blonde said. “We can all sleep in the staff room. The gallery seems like it will be eerie at night.”
I thought she was probably right, and I was glad they wanted me close to them.
“Okay, then we’ll move everything up to the staff room,” I said. “We should make sure the doors are locked and everything is barricaded first, though. Hae-won, here are the keys. You get the front door and this one locked, and Becka and I will try to find stuff to barricade it with.”
The blue-eyed Asian girl nodded and took the keys from me.
Becka and I searched the lower level for anything to block the door with. There were some heavier benches that we could use, but I still thought we needed something bigger. About halfway around the maze of walls I spotted a large display case full of beautiful blue painted Welsh pottery on exhibit.
“That one is perfect,” I said to Becka and pointed to the case.
Hae-won had secured the doors and joined us again.
“That would work,” the dark-haired girl said as she studied the display. “We can lay it on its side. It will be very hard to knock over.”
“What about the art?” Becka asked.
As much as I loved art, I also didn’t want to
get eaten by dinosaurs while I wasted time taking each piece out, so I was fully prepared to leave it in place and let whatever happened to it happen, but Hae-won seemed to agree with Becka.
“Yes, we should take it out carefully,” the petite girl said.
I let out a sigh, fished the key for the displays out of my pocket, and handed it to Becka.
“Here, you two take that stuff out, and I’ll start moving those benches over to the door,” I instructed. “Just be quick, we don’t want to leave the door unblocked for long.”
She took the key from me, and they both started emptying the case of its contents and setting them carefully on the floor.
By the time the two of them had finished, I had pushed three solid wooden benches over to the door. They had to weigh about fifty pounds each, and I figured if we wedged them up against the case, they would be hard enough to dislodge. The three of us set about moving the case, but it was much heavier than anything we could lift, so we ended up walking it to the door by tilting it onto one side, rocking the other side forward, and then switching.
It took much longer than I would have liked for us to get it around all the extra walls, but once we had it on its side and pushed flush against the door, I knew the effort was worth it. There was no way something would push past that easily, and if it did, it would make a lot of noise in the process. We took the benches and wedged them up against the side of the case for some extra assurance, and when I looked over the barricade, I was pleased with the result. It was miles better than what we’d set up in my room last night and hopefully tomorrow I could make all of us even more secure.
“Okay, should we carry these mattresses up now?” the British woman asked.
“Why don’t you two take the supplies and stuff up,” I said. “I can get the mattresses.”
They both looked relieved at my offer, and I knew the day must have taken a lot out of them. Besides, the giant display case had taken most of our collective effort to move.
“Thank you, Jason,” Hae-won said.
“Yes, thank you,” Becka chimed.
The two of them collected the rest of the supplies and started for the staff room in front of me. I tried to pick up the three beds together, but I could only comfortably get my arms around two. I would have to come back for the third one, but at least without all the other supplies on them, they weren’t too heavy. I dropped the two outside the staff room door and went back again for the third one.
When I got down to the main door again, I debated whether I should switch off the lights. There were no windows, though, so nothing would be able to see the light and if I did shut them off, I doubted I could find my way through the maze of walls in the darkness. In the end I thought it was best to leave them on and headed back up with the last mattress.
When I reached the staff room, I could see that the girls must have moved the first two beds inside. I opened the door and set the last one up against the wall. The girls had moved the plush chair into the center of the room and pushed the couch back against the wall so that the mattresses could be set up on the rug.
“This looks nice,” I said as I surveyed their work.
“We thought it would be cozier over here,” Becka said.
“And the rug is soft,” Hae-won added.
“Good idea.” I smiled.
“Bring the other bed over,” the dark-haired woman said.
“Oh, ok,” I replied and brought it over to them.
I hadn’t realized they’d want me to sleep right next to them. I watched as they pushed the third mattress in and set up the blankets. Becka caught me looking, and I guess I must have looked curious.
“It will be warmer this way.” The brown-eyed woman shrugged. “And if we need to, we can wake each other up without moving.”
I nodded absently, and though Becka made it sound like the most practical thing, all I had in my head was the two of them sleeping with their bodies pressed up against me.
I can’t say I hated the image.
“Should we have ramen for dinner?” Becka’s voice cut through my fantasy.
“Oh, yes.” Hae-won grinned. “I love ramen.”
“It’s probably not as good as the kind you’re used to,” I explained.
“Still, it sounds good,” the Korean beauty replied.
Becka heated the kettle again and made us each a packet of ramen and a hot drink. We all sat down at the table to eat, and I felt grateful we finally got some warm food.
“You know, there was a toaster oven back at the Butterfield Bar,” The blonde girl said. “I bet we could bring it back here. If we’re going to get supplies from the shop, we should at least have something to cook things in.”
“Yeah, we can try to get that tomorrow,” I agreed. “It would be nice not to have to use a microwave all the time.”
“When do you think we should go to the store?” Hae-won asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I think the first thing should be the windows. If we can get those boarded up this place will be pretty safe.”
The Asian beauty nodded and slurped some of her ramen.
“What flavor is this?” she asked.
“The best flavor,” Becka answered. “Curry.”
“Why?” Hae-won asked, but I noticed her take another bite.
“Just trust me,” the blonde said. “It beats the standard beef any day.”
I tried the noodles myself, and they weren’t too bad. I had never heard of curry as a flavor of ramen noodles, but it was mostly like chicken but with a bit of spice. I finished mine quickly, sipped at the coffee, and pulled my phone from my pocket.
“I’ll start looking at some of the news,” I said.
I opened up the browser and started scanning through some new articles. One of them said that despite the constant efforts, more dinosaurs seemed to keep cropping up around the city. The article speculated that they might be regenerating or being added somehow. I didn’t know what exactly that meant, but I figured the main message was that this was nowhere near over.
There were more articles about the appearances around the world. Apparently some countries were trying to find someone to blame, and America had made threats and accusations to China, while North Korea considered launching an attack on the South. I read some reports about people raiding stores, especially food stores and some of the websites had footage of riots, looting, and dinosaur attacks.
“Look at this,” I said to Becka and Hae-won.
I held out the screen so we all could see it and played the videos. The first one showed people in America, donning rifles and camouflage and shooting down dinosaurs before breaking through to a Wal-mart. Another showed people in China using spears to raid an open market. In Germany, a group of teens with baseball bats had been caught raiding a convenience store.
“Do you think it’s the same here?” Becka asked as her expression wavered.
I typed in ‘UK shops’ in the search bar and played the first video that showed in a news article. There was a group of people with sharpened fence posts and wooden cricket bats trying to push their way into a Tesco past some more dinosaurs.
“Okay,” I said, “I think we need to change the plan. I know I said we should get the windows done and then worry about food, but I don’t think we can wait much longer.”
The girls nodded in agreement, probably convinced by the sight of the videos.
“We’ll go in the morning, first thing,” I said.
“Okay,” Becka said. “Should we get ready for bed soon, so we can wake up early?”
“Yeah, pretty soon,” I agreed. “Hae-won, I think we should try calling home now. I read something that said North Korea was making threats of war on South Korea. You should make sure your parents are okay and see if they know anything about what’s happening there.”
“Yes. We should all call our parents.” Hae-won nodded.
I realized then that I would have to stop putting off contacting my parents. It would be bad if I could r
each them, or if I found out they were fighting the same threat, but I couldn’t keep pretending everything was okay there forever.
I went over and took a seat in the lounge chair, Hae-won moved to the couch, and Becka stayed at the table. Then we all started calling our parents and relatives.
I tried my dad first and there was no answer, so I moved on to my mom and still no one picked up the phone. I sighed and decided I would have to try step dad, too. I reluctantly clicked his number and listened to it ring. For a second I thought I heard it click, like it had been answered, but then the line went dead. It was strange, so I called the number again, but this time I was sent directly to voicemail.
I cursed under my breath and thought about whether I should try any cousins or my grandparents, but the three calls I had already made seemed to drain me. As much as I wanted to hear from someone, I didn’t know how many more unanswered calls I could take. I would spread them out and make some more calls tomorrow.
I looked up from my phone to Hae-won and then to Becka.
“Anything?” I asked.
“No.” The beautiful blonde shook her head..
I was hoping that at least one of us would have been able to reach someone and now that I knew they hadn’t, it made me wonder if something might be wrong with the phone lines. It seemed unlikely that none of our parents were able to take a call, but then again we didn’t have a great idea about what things were really like. I made a mental note to look up if something was going on with phone signals.
“Okay, we should probably just get some sleep for now, then,” I said.
“Wait,” Becka cut in. “You said we would all look at the news together. I know you showed us some, but I still want to look up a few more things. I think we should do that first, that way we have time to get it off our minds before we sleep.”
I wondered at Becka’s sudden interest in looking at the news. She had told me earlier that day that it was almost too much to handle, so I thought she would be more than okay with me relaying it second hand. I thought maybe her sudden urge had something to do with her failing to reach her mother for the second day.
