Pteranodon Mall Page 6

  Jefferson looked over the counter and immediately wished he hadn’t. He saw a bloated body sprawled across the tiles. If it hadn’t been for the lad’s nametag, Jefferson wouldn’t have had a clue to the body’s identity. The flesh beneath the boy’s uniform strained against the material. His exposed flesh had swollen like a balloon. “Oh God, that’s disgusting.” Jefferson took a deep breath and said a silent prayer for the poor boy. “What happened to him?” He didn’t know Simon that well, only enough to exchange nods in passing. A split stretching from his wrist up to Simon’s elbow had opened, and thick glutinous blood-streaked yellow pus bubbled over the edges.

  “One bite, mate. That’s all it took. Simon was on the counter with me. We were trying to get over to the main entrance to see if we could get those shutters up, then those dinosaurs appeared. The next thing I knew, balloon boy down there was on the floor, doing this jerky dance.”

  Janine had climbed off the table and returned to his side. Jefferson turned away from the dead boy and watched David’s eyes widen when the woman interlinked her fingers with his, but he kept quiet about this unexpected turn of events. Jefferson guessed that David’s quiet and serious friend was still capable of surprising him after all. Then again, maybe David just had too much going through that brain of his to actually care; after all, for his mate, this must be like winning the lottery, it was a dream come true. David must think that all his birthdays had come at once.

  It might also explain his casual approach to Simon’s death. It’s almost as if David was describing something as banal as spotting roadkill or noticing that the fries on his plate had gone cold. He looked at Janine, wondering if she had seen this. She didn’t seem that bothered over the fact that only that counter separated her from some swollen corpse. Maybe the shock of their situation played a large part in how David was behaving, how that all were behaving.

  “I don’t get this, Jeffdude. I mean, the dinosaur you splatted was a Coelophysis. Nice shot, by the way.”

  Jefferson felt himself zoning out already. He just knew David was about to launch into one of his speeches.

  “You see, the time-frame is all out of whack. The Coelophysis went extinct in the early Jurassic, yet all the others that I’ve seen are from the late Cretaceous. The sauropods—”

  “The what?” interrupted Jefferson.

  “Fuck’s sake. The stripy dinosaurs. I’ve also seen a bunch of Pteranodons, a couple of small raptors, as well as a small Ankylosaur. That’s something else that’s done my head in. I mean, none of them are any larger than an average human. Good thing too, cos I tell you if an Allosaur or a Spinosaur or a Carchodontosaurus came galloping down the middle of the mall, I’d proper shit myself.”

  This was just unreal. Jefferson stared in disbelief at the boy’s flushed face, seriously wondering if the true reality of their dire situation had actually sunk into that thick head of his yet.

  “Will you shut the fuck up?” Jefferson let go of Janine, dropped the bat, and wrapped his arms around David. “You’re such an annoying nerdy bastard, and I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.” He let him go and held David at arm’s length. “What about the others, have you seen anything of Alan or Sandy?”

  He shook his head. “Apart from Simon, you two are the first people I’ve seen in ages.” He grinned. “Thanks, by the way. I’m happy to see you as well.” David gazed at the woman. “Hello there, Mrs. Butler. Love the new look.”

  Janine smiled back at him. “Cheeky little sod.”

  “So come on, man. What happened here?”

  David shrugged. “To be honest, there isn’t that much to tell. You know that Mr. Hussain left for that meeting?”

  Jefferson nodded.

  “Well, once he’d had buggered off, and while you were in the back, I took it upon myself to take a breather in the toilet. Gloria said she’d cover for me.”

  “I did wonder where you had sneaked off to.”

  “Anyway, there I was—”

  “Playing Candy Buster on your phone.”

  “Maybe. Well, the Wi-Fi just went off. I couldn’t even log into mobile data. Hell, I couldn’t get anything out of this piece of shit phone. I left the toilets and found the mall was now almost deserted. There were a few people around, but they were all either waiting by the lift doors or pushing through those double doors over there. It was well weird. They all had this kind of odd smile plastered across their faces as well.”

  Jefferson thought he knew the reason for that smile. It had to have something to do with whatever was around the shutters, real or pretend one.

  “I even tried a couple of the fire doors as well.”

  He wanted to slap himself. Why hadn’t he thought of those? Janine let out a quiet moan. Jefferson guessed that one slipped her by as well.

  “The first time I touched the metal bar, I got this, well, weird thought going around my bonce, Jeffdude. I mean, really well weird. Can you believe that I actually thought that I enjoyed working at that shitty discount store? I mean, me, for fuck’s sake? Anyway, I tried again, this time with some gloves, same thing happened.” He shook his head. “And that’s when I started to see the dinosaurs. Jeffdude, I think we may be in a bit of trouble here.”

  Janine laughed. “That’s the first sensible thing you have said.”

  Jefferson looked up, he saw the reflection of himself and Janine holding hands, while David wouldn’t stop plucking at his trouser pockets. He only did that when he was nervous, and he didn’t think it was just because a member of the opposite sex was talking to him. What concerned him was what exactly was above that mirrored mosaic? It’s the only place where the shoppers and the remaining staff could have gone, and from David’s description of the events he saw, they weren’t exactly fleeing from any dinosaurs.

  “I think we’ve gone back in time,” murmured David.

  He looked straight at Jefferson and saw the terror in his mate’s face. David really did believe this. Jefferson’s stomach rolled, and thought that perhaps his mate hadn’t thought that he’d found himself in paradise after all.

  “It fits with the energy shield around the shopping mall, it obviously fits with the dinosaurs. As for the reason why there’s no large ones, my guess is that the hole inside is only big enough to allow the smaller ones inside.”

  Jefferson nodded. “Is that your final answer or do you want to phone a friend? Oh wait, you can’t cos your phone doesn’t work. David, you dork. There isn’t any prehistoric jungle beyond those walls, just our shitty town. Where do you think I went at lunchtime? I got back in through the furniture store.” He squeezed the woman’s hand. “It’s how I rescued Janine.” Jefferson grinned like an idiot when she smiled at him. He decided to leave out the bit where he threw up and hid under that bed. He picked up the cricket bat, noting the spots of blood on the end. He rested it on his shoulder. He had the girl, he had a weapon, he had his trusty sidekick, all was well.

  “Are you going to stop smiling, Jeffdude? You look like you’ve been snorting coke, or in your case, frigging tea leaves. Look, if we can get out, then let’s do it. We need the police. No, fuck them. We need the army and lots and lots of guns.”

  “Wait on, no. What about Alan and Sandy, man? We can’t leave them in here.”

  “What other choice do we have? I mean. We’re not fucking superheroes. There’s me, some woman, and a guy with a cricket bat against some of the most efficient killers ever to walk the Earth. It doesn’t take a genius to see that we’re fucked if we stay.”

  David’s fidgeting grew worse, that wasn’t his only concern either. Janine was shaking, really shaking, like she was about to have a fit.

  “Oh, and let’s not forget the one obvious flaw in this!” he yelled. “It’s still fucking time travel, and if we haven’t gone back, then someone or something has come here!” He grabbed the front of Jefferson’s shirt. “And they’re still here, waiting for us on the next fucking level.”

  Jefferson felt the woman’s legs go. It too
k most of his strength to stop Janine from smashing the back of her head on the floor tiles. He spun to face her, grabbed Janine’s other arm, and eased her down on the floor. David had quietened down, but Jefferson could still hear the lad rattling on in the background. “For the love of God, will you shut your gob for a second?”

  He slipped out of his jacket, scrunched it up and placed it under her head, and stroked the back of her hand with his forefinger. Jefferson didn’t have a clue what else to do.

  “My sister has epilepsy, you know,” said David. “Don’t worry. Your new girlfriend will be out of it soon. You just need to make sure she doesn’t swallow her tongue. Tip her head to the side. She’ll probably want a drink once she’s done. That’s what our Debbie asks for.”

  The woman tilted her head towards Jefferson and slowly opened her eyes.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I think so.” She suddenly gulped down a mouthful of air. “Oh God. That was bloody horrible. It felt like my eyes were going to explode and all my internal organs were on fire.”

  Jefferson looked towards David, and then switched his gaze back to Janine. He never believed in coincidences, and Janine feeling like shit all of a sudden fit right into the category. She wasn’t faking it, that much he did know. “Okay, David. Let’s go with your ridiculous bollocks idea of some time travelling thingies are hell-bent on stopping us from escaping. I mean, who’d be daft enough to stick around once they unleash their pet dinos? Apart from you that is, but you’re a bit of a prat. I mean normal people.”

  “Dunno, I guess it depends on their tech level.”

  “For crying out loud, David, they have time travel. How more advanced do you want?”

  “I’d use an energy shield. Yeah, that’s what I’d do.”

  This was getting him nowhere. So much for David being the crown king of geek. “I was thinking of some kind of science fiction gas that makes people want to stay inside. It fucks with people’s heads when they the opportunity to get out arises.”

  “Yeah, sure, seems reasonable. It won’t be called that though, cos your name is lame.”

  “Doesn’t fucking matter about the name, man.” Jefferson helped Janine into a sitting position. “You don’t want to go back to the furniture shop, honey.”

  She shook her head. “Oh God, you must think me a complete fool. No, I don’t want to go back there. Most of all, Jefferson. I don’t want you to leave me.”

  “I’m not going to leave you. I promise.” He grabbed the cricket bat by the middle and offered the handle to David. “Here you go, buddy. You might need to hang on to this. If you do manage to make it outside, can you please be quick with the rescue teams? Oh, and make sure they bring some heavy artillery.”

  David frantically shook his head. For a couple of seconds, Jefferson though he was going to have to look after two epileptics.

  “Come on, guys. I don’t want to leave you behind, but it makes sense to get help.”

  “Don’t worry about it, man. We’ll probably be okay. Oh, I forgot to mention. I saw one of those seal thigh dinos in the furniture shop.”

  “Seal thigh? You are such a dork. They are pronounced Coelophysis.”

  “Whatever. Anyway, this guy ended up being another dinosaur’s dinner. It just reached down and bit its head clean off. A real big bastard it was too. In fact, that little guy in Alan’s pet shop, trying to eat all those bats with beaks, looks just like it.”

  “Oh fuck.”

  The blood had drained from David’s face. He wrenched the bat out of Jefferson’s hand before pressing his back tightly against the wall.

  “There might have been two of them, David,” said Janine.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We make our way onto the next level. We look for Sandy and Alan, then find another way out of this place. Before that, I want to go back to our shop and grab a screwdriver set.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “There’s something in the sporting shop that I want.”

  Chapter Eight

  Zinik-Tow had already told Desmond that the shock of seeing the plague of the hairless vermin infecting and ruining the planet was enough evidence to prove that the sons of Maulis-Bow had been right all along about denying their true nature. He’d explained that the great deity didn’t want any of his creations to evolve and flourish, to become a technically advanced society. At first, Desmond thought this featured fuckwit was banging on about the humans, until it dawned on him that he was going on about his own species.

  It took Desmond a while to work out what it was trying to suggest. The feathered fuckwits use of long words confused the hell out of Desmond, but eventually, its reasoning did sink in. Somehow, this idiot believed the humans were a punishment from their Great Deity, to prove to that following the way of reason only led to destruction.

  It obviously hadn’t thought this one through. If the idiot hadn’t set off that bomb in the first place, then none of this wouldn’t have happened anyway. The feathered fuckwit reminded Desmond a lot of his granddad. Now that was one complete religious nutcase. He spent his life using the God excuse to explain everything from the crappy weather to losing his wallet at the bookies.

  Desmond was the youngest boy from a large family. He had another five brothers and two sisters. His mum’s sister hadn’t exactly been known for her ability to keep her legs shut either back in her wilder and prettier days. She had given poor Desmond five older cousins, who just loved knocking the crap out of their ugly cousin. Thankfully, the beatings were few and far between as the two families only met up once a month, when they all converged on their grandparent’s place for Sunday lunch.

  While Gran entertained the adults, Granddad took the kids upstairs, out of the way. If it hadn’t been for the others, Desmond might have enjoyed playing with the old toys and listening to his granddad bang on about the evils of the world and how God came down harshly on any bastard who stepped out of line.

  He sighed heavily. Perhaps if Granddad had looked a little closer to home, he might have noticed a few bastards stepping out of line as soon as the old man left the room to visit the toilet. As soon as they were alone, his cousins took turns punching Desmond in the guts or nipping him, or slapping his face, while Desmond’s brothers looked on, giggling away.

  Granddad visited the toilet a lot in those days.

  After Granddad died, Desmond used to wonder why the old man’s God never bothered to tell granddad to get himself checked out. They might have detected the bowel cancer early enough to do something about it.

  The old man’s God obviously thought that telling him that it would be pissing down when he went to collect his horse race winnings was more important.

  Even so, despite his grandad’s dodgy interpretation of God, the old man had been the only person who’d ever treated poor Desmond with any respect when he was growing up. Perhaps his religious ideas weren’t as daft as he once thought?

  After all, Desmond was still here, walking around this mall, still alive and relatively safe, unlike all the other poor buggers who’d been caught up in all the excitement. Oh, Desmond didn’t put his narrow escape from the jaws of death down to his granddad’s God, fuck no. He put it down to meeting someone who acted just like that mental old bastard.

  Zinik-Tow told Desmond that the Great Deity had allowed their species to conquer their planet before reaching for the stars. In the millions of years since discovering warp drive, they’d colonised the nearby star systems, encountering over two hundred other sentient species as they spread throughout the outer spiral arm. Naturally, their species believed that the Great Deity had placed these alien races on those planets just to taunt the species, implying they should have reached these planets long before such lesser creatures could develop to become an embarrassment to the Great Deity. Consequently, they had wiped them out.

  His new pal explained that he believed his species shouldn’t have used kinetic warheads on their planets followed by the release o
f millions of assault drop-troops landing on the surface, ready to vaporise anyone still standing once they had demolished their cities. Zinik-Tow said that using such advanced weaponry against creatures who couldn’t defend themselves was blasphemy. The Great Deity created them to hunt and to kill their prey in face-to-face combat. Where was the honour to their God into turning a city of millions into molten slag from the safety of an orbiting weapons platform?

  If it was truly necessary to conquer the galaxy, then instead of taking a few days to annihilate the new alien races they encountered, the species should follow The Sons of Maulis-Bow and show the proper respect to The Great Deity by hunting them down in a more appropriate manner. Why should it matter that the extermination would take a couple of years?

  Back in that chamber, with the dinosaur sleeping with her head resting on her blood-stained claws, Zinik-Tow had spoken in great detail over his plans to complete to work of The Sons of Maulis-Bow. First, there would be a great purge, to remove most of the hairless vermin before starting work to create a new species, combining his advanced DNA with his ancient ancestor. The combined creation would spend their lives hunting the remaining humans and mating, as The Great Deity had intended.

  Desmond had no issue with his new pal’s grand plan, especially as he’d be spending all his time impregnating the females to ensure the new species had a sufficient stock of young prey to hunt and eat. The thought of him producing hundreds of annoying brats for Zinik-Tow’s creations to eat pleased him greatly.

  His new pal’s companions couldn’t be allowed to win. That’s for sure, not after what Zinik-Tow had told him. He had asked the feathered fuckwit why they didn’t just time travel back to the past and stop Zinik-Tow before he could set off his bomb. If they did that, then everything would be put back right. Desmond had obviously asked this question after his new pal explained that the quantum chamber, currently wedged in Martin’s Department Store, stored the whole knowledge of their species advancements in its data storage crystals. His new pal patiently explained that the materials needed for the quantum chamber’s repair were located on just two planets, the nearest one was thirty-four light years away. Also, the commander would have no wish to go back and fix the past. Why should he want to do that? Thanks to Zinik-Tow’s bomb, he now had the opportunity to building up the species from scratch. He would see this as the ultimate gift from The Great Deity. To go back would mean the commander’s name would be forgotten within a few thousand years. This way, his revered name would fall off the lips of his descendants for millions of years in the future.