by Logan Jacobs
“Maybe,” I said. “Try to do that toward the end of the list, though. It will take a lot of time to research and there’s no guarantee that the information will be relevant. I mean, I love dinosaurs as much as any red-blooded dude, but it’s pretty obvious the ones with the big teeth are going to try to eat you, and I’m not sure what else we can learn about them from scientists that only study their bones.”
“What about maps?” the blonde asked. “I don’t know about you chaps, but I always use my phone to get around.”
“Good point,” I replied. “We should definitely try to print off maps of the areas nearby and maybe the wider London area.”
“How about medicines and diseases?” Hae-won asked as she gestured to Becka’s wrapped hand. “We would need to know all the technical names for drugs if we need to get them.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that,” I admitted. “It’s a good idea. We should figure out all the technical names for the shot you need, too. They aren’t just going to label it ‘tetanus shot.’”
“I’ll look it up,” Hae-won said and held her phone up above her head.
“Is there anything else you can think of?” I asked as I racked my own brain for ideas. “Maybe water filtration, just in case that gets cut off?”
“Sure, that seems like a good list we have,” Becka said.
“We can start there and see what else comes up.” I turned to the blue-eyed girl. “Did you find the name?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “So there are two things, there’s tetanus immunoglobulin which they use to treat the toxin and then there’s the Tdap booster with the vaccine.”
“Which one do we need?” I asked.
“Well, it says for people who aren’t fully vaccinated or aren’t sure they give them the vaccine booster,” the Asian girl explained. “As long as the wound is recent and they don’t have any symptoms.”
“So we should go for that one,” I said.
“Wait, it says though that sometimes they give the immunoglobulin to people with wounds, even if they are fully vaccinated,” she continued. “It says that it depends on if the wound is deep or burned and if there is dirt, dust, or foreign bodies in the wound.”
“It sounds like we need that, too,” I groaned. “It went all the way through her hand and there was definitely dust, maybe even chips from the metal in there.”
“Does my hand even count as deep?” Becka asked.
“I’m pretty sure all the way through counts as deep,” I replied and turned to Hae-won again. “Does it say how much of the immunoglobulin she would need?”
“Yes, it says 250 units for adults,” the dark-haired girl said. “It sounds like we should use that and the vaccine if we can find them both.”
“Alright,” I said. “Becka, do you want to write that stuff down so we don’t mess it up?”
Becka nodded and took the phone from Hae-won.
“I think that’s everything for tonight,” I said. “I should go shut off the lights so we can get some sleep.”
“Yes,” Hae-won said.
I smiled and got up from my spot beside her, “I’ll be back in a second, no one stab me.”
“No promises,” Becka smirked.
I walked back through the empty gallery and I felt why Becka was apprehensive about sleeping here in the dark. It was definitely an eerie place to be in alone with all the open space and empty feelings from the white walls. Some paintings could be unsettling, too. There were lots of strangely scribbled ones and some with faces that stared out at you. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad with the three of us all together. It was definitely much less scary than a surprise pterodactyl visit, either way.
I reached for the light switch and moved the key to the downstairs switch before clicking it into the off position. I took one last look over the barricade on the door until I assured myself that it would hold pretty well against anything that was trying to push its way inside. I walked back down the stairs and into the dark level of the gallery.
“Hello,” I whispered into the darkness.
“Hey, Jason.” I heard Hae-won whisper back.
I followed the sound of the whisper back over to our group of mattresses and crawled into my one. The room was pretty dark, but now that my eyes had adjusted from the blazing lights, I could start to make some things out. I saw the edge of Hae-won’s figure laying in the space beside me.
“Goodnight,” she whispered into my ear, and I couldn’t help but remember the wonderful sex we’d had just a few hours before.
“Goodnight,” I replied, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep faster than I thought I could.
I woke up with a sudden jolt, a loud noise still sounding in my head.
“Jason, what was that?” the dark-haired woman asked and gripped onto my arm.
There was another loud bang that sounded like something exploded, and I thought I could feel the floor shake.
Chapter 16
“It sounded like a bomb,” Becka said. “Do you think it’s a bomb?”
“Do you think someone is attacking England?” the dark-haired girl asked.
“What do we do?” the blonde girl asked. “Should we look outside and figure out what’s going on?”
“No,” I said as the floor shook, and the banging sounded again. “It’s safer for us if we stay indoors.”
“What if it’s something big?” Becka asked. “Shouldn’t we at least know what we’re dealing with? We might have to move.”
“We saw that article saying that they deployed the military,” I said. “It probably has something to do with that. They might be using explosives to fight the dinosaurs, like grenades or something.”
“That could be it.” Hae-won started going through her phone. “It’s nothing like an atomic or nuclear bomb. It has to be something smaller, so it’s probably not an attack on us.”
“Maybe, but I still think we need to look,” the blonde insisted.
“If they are hiding something we would be exposing ourselves to their attacks and the dinosaurs,” I replied. “We just need to stay calm and stay inside. We can figure out what’s happening tomorrow.”
There was another explosion, and I knew that that would be easier said than done.
“Are you definitely sure?” I could see the blonde girl start to grind her teeth together. “I’ll trust you, but I don’t like it. Anything could be happening out there.”
“I’m sure,” I replied. “It’s the safest option we have.”
“Look,” the blue-eyed girl interrupted and pointed at her phone screen. “In that alert it does say something about them using explosives and high-powered weapons. They want people to stay off the streets.”
“Ok, fine,” Becka said. “I just hope they have good aim.”
Another explosion sounded and both Hae-won and Becka grabbed my hands tightly. I had to admit that Becka’s suggestion played to my first instincts. It was hard to just sit there and not know exactly what was happening outside, but I knew there wasn’t much we could do against a bomb, or a dinosaur large enough to need one. I just hoped that both of them would stay far away from campus.
The next explosion sounded like it was getting farther away, so I tried to relax my muscles and breathe evenly. We still needed to get some rest, as impossible as that seemed now.
“Sounds like it’s going away,” Becka muttered.
“Let’s try to relax,” said. “there’s no need to work ourselves up even more. We have a long morning tomorrow.”
The two women scooted closer to me on our bed, and neither of them let go of my hands. I didn’t say anything more. I just gave them both reassuring squeezes, and then the three of us laid there in silence for a while listening to the distant noises of a fight. After a while it was hard to make them out, and my eyes grew more and more heavy. At some point I must have fallen asleep again, and when I woke up, it felt like a good deal of time had passed. Both women had let go of my hands, but they each were pretty much glued to my s
ided, and Hae-won had one of her hands on my chest while Becka had a hand on my stomach. I could tell by their breathing that they were both in a deep sleep, so I carefully threaded my hand up between Hae-won and my body so that I could grab her phone and check the time. It was a bit after six in the morning, but it was impossible to tell without any windows.
We needed to get going soon, so I set the phone back down and took a deep breath.
“Hey, wake up,” I whispered as I brought both my hands up and gently stroked each of the women’s hair.
“What?” Becka asked in a groggy voice as she snuggled deeper into my shoulder. “What is it? I’m warm and comfy.”
“It’s time to wake up,” I replied. “We need to get moving soon.”
“What time is it?” Hae-won asked.
“Six-fifteen AM,” I said. “We should get dressed and eat something so we can leave soon.”
“Okay, okay,” Becka said, but neither of the girls moved from the spots under the blankets pressed against me.
“I’m going to get the lights,” I said.
“Five more minutes,” Becka sighed, and then she pushed her face into my neck and ran her hand up my chest.
Becka’s hand found Hae-won’s on top of my rib cage, and then the two women’s fingers threaded through each other’s. Hae-won didn’t say anything. She just mirrored Becka’s movement and let out a long sigh into my ear as she gently pushed herself against me.
It was kind of awesome having both women rubbing up against me, and the scent of their hair and bodies combined with their touch made my heart start to beat a bit faster. My arms were still kind of stuck between them, so I gently pulled them free, raised them up, and then brought them down so each woman could rest their heads on my biceps at my shoulders.
“Much better,” Becka purred once she’d laid her head on my arm and wiggled her body against my side. “You are a good pillow, Jason. You are warm and smell good.”
“He is good,” Hae-won agreed.
“We… uhhh. Should we get going?” I whispered, but neither woman replied, so I didn’t say anything more. I just rested my hands on each of their hips and then pulled them a bit closer into me.
I suppose there were worse places to be than stuck between two beautiful women who felt comfortable sleeping up against me.
Then, a few minutes later, both women began to twitch slightly, and I realized they’d fallen back into a deep sleep.
I closed my eyes, too, and sleep must have taken me.
“Jason,” Hae-won muttered and I felt her fingers brush my face.
“Hmmm?” I asked as I opened my eyes and saw the light from her phone.
“It’s seven,” Becka muttered.
“Ahh, time to get going.” I sat up and inhaled their scents again. The mattress, blankets, and pillows were super warm and smelled like the three of us, and I thought again about how I’d held each of them for the last forty-five minutes.
But then I let the memory go. It was time to do some hero shit.
I stood up and made my way to the panel and then turned on the light switch. Both Becka and Hae-won groaned, and I let out a little chuckle as the light was nearly blinding after the total darkness. Then I made my way down the hallway, I flipped the key in the switch, heard the click on the lower level, and then headed back down the stairs.
When I came back, Becka and Hae-won were both sitting up and squinting in my direction.
“Damn lights,” the blonde groaned as she pushed herself up to her feet. “I need coffee first. Either of you want a cuppa?”
“Yes, please,” Hea-won replied.
“Sure,” I said, and then I followed her into the staff room to get my clothes for the day.
In a few minutes, all of us were dressed and seated back by the table in the staff room with coffee and a few scones.
“Well, nothing broke through the window,” Becka observed. “And we didn’t explode from the bombs or whatever, so that’s good.”
“Yeah, I’d say.” I smiled. “We can try to get boards on these windows as soon as we get back.”
“Did you get the route saved on your phone?” Hae-won asked.
I finished a sip from my coffee, “Yeah, we should be good.”
“Okay, great,” Becka said. “I know we talked about this yesterday, but I want to thank you guys for doing this again. I know I sounded like I didn’t want us to make the trip, but I’m lucky to have people that would risk their lives for me like this. I just didn’t want you to put yourselves in danger for me.”
“Don’t think about it like that,” I said. “We’re a team now, we’re doing this for all of us.”
“Okay,” Becka smiled. “Thanks, Jason. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You are a great guy. I’m so happy I’m here with you instead of… well… it could be a lot worse.”
“Yes,” Hae-won said as she nodded. “Jason is wonderful.”
“Let’s get geared up and head out,” I cleared my throat as I felt my cheeks start to heat up.
I wasn’t used to getting complimented this much, especially by a beautiful woman, and while I realized that Hae-won and I had really great sex yesterday, it still seemed totally insane that she was into me. Hell, if you’d asked me what was more likely: a girl like Hae-won and I becoming lovers, or dinosaurs coming back to earth, I probably would have gone with the whole “dinosaurs thing.”
Yet here we were.
Hae-won insisted on wearing the chestplate again, so I helped her into the piece and fastened the straps at her sides before getting my own armor on. She claimed the armor didn’t feel as heavy as before, and I had to admit to myself that if nothing else, she wore it well. Beneath it she wore a long sleeve fitted white t-shirt and distressed denim shorts with black stockings and white boots. Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail that swished over a metal piece. With the long black sword in her hand, there was no doubt that she looked dressed to kill.
Becka looked impressive, too. Her wrist and leg armor complimented her long wavy blonde locks and made her look like a Norse warrior princess. She had opted for jeans and a pale blue v-neck that’s softness made her look graceful.
I picked up my sword, studied the image of it with my arm pieces, and I hoped I looked at least half as badass as these two women.
“Let’s head out.” I smiled at the girls.
“Cool.” Hae-won grinned back, and we pushed the barricade aside.
We stepped out, after we checked for dinosaurs, and I was surprised to find it wasn’t sunny as it had been the last few days. The air was still warm, but the sky was overcast, and it looked dark in places like it was threatening to rain.
Just our luck.
“What do we do if it rains?” Becka asked as she glanced up at the sky.
“Keep going, I guess,” I replied. “We might be able to risk using a car on the way back, so hopefully it stays dry until we get there. I just don’t want to get stopped by the police before we manage to get you your medicines.”
She nodded, and we all walked around the gallery and out toward the side gate. As we stepped closer, I started to see that there was something wrong with the barricade Hae-won had set up. The cars weren’t aligned like the one by the main gate that I had been to with her. They looked scattered around, and I didn’t think they would actually work as a barricade anymore.
“What happened to it?” the Asian girl asked as she took a few hurried steps closer to the cars. “It was perfect yesterday.”
“Be careful,” I warned as she got closer. If she hadn’t left the cars like this, that meant something else had moved them and we didn’t know what.
We all kept our swords raised in our defensive stances and slowly moved up to examine the gate. Once we got to the first cars, there was no doubt about what had happened. The outer ones blocking the gate had been blown back and the two cars in front had massive burn marks and nearly all the windows had shattered.
“It was grenades or bombs,”
Becka said as she looked more closely at the vehicles. “Or at least something like it. I can’t believe it got this close to us. How could they be using these in the streets like this?”
I looked down the street and saw what the explosives had been aimed at. There were two Torvosuarus corpses lying on the ground, both partially blown up. Further down the street there was a row of temporary barricades that had been broken through. They were concrete barriers, like the kind you would find on a highway during construction and could only have been knocked back by something powerful. Behind the broken barriers I could just see the colors and outlines of what must be fallen soldiers. They were human shaped blurs of camo-print from this distance, but the grim effect of their bodies hit me like a brick.
“Do you see them?” I asked the girls. “Past the dinos.”
“Yeah,” Becka said and looked defeated. “Soldiers. Even they couldn’t fight the monsters off.”
“It looks like the dinosaurs must have attacked as a group,” I observed. “The army got two of them down with the explosives, but who knows how many there were. At least one must have gotten through.”
“This is a bad sign,” Hae-won said as she studied the scene. “Do you think there are many of them still out there?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “We’ll just have to make sure we’re being extra careful.”
“Yes, let’s make this trip as quickly as we possibly can,” the dark-haired woman agreed.
We weaved our way through the remaining cars and out into the main street. The rest of the scene didn’t look any better than the piece we could see from inside. Some chunks of the street had been blown away and a few boutique store windows had shattered, their contents thrown everywhere. I glanced further down the road, and it looked like the military had retreated to a second barricade and fought the dinosaurs from there. The barricade was still intact, but the military were gone and there were no other corpses, so it was hard to tell how the battle had turned out.
“Which way is it?” Becka asked.
“We go straight from here for a few blocks,” I replied and glanced down the road we were supposed to go down with the abandoned barricades and dinosaur bodies. “Maybe we’ll go a block up that way first and then over. Let me check the map.”
