Pteranodon Mall (8 page)

Zinik-Tow approached Desmond, and for the first time, he saw the size of those talons on the creature’s hands. It didn’t take much imagination to see how much damage they could do to Desmond’s soft flesh if this feathered fuckwit decided he wasn’t needed anymore. He wrapped his fingers tighter around the stuff holding her to the slab and tried not to shiver in fright as the creature leaned over his shoulder.

“Tell me again why you want me to unshackle this particular female.”

He jerked his head away from the creature’s hot breath, totally thrown by this turn of events. Was he playing with Desmond? He was painfully aware of just how close those talons were to his balls. Was Zinik-Tow going to castrate him as soon as he repeated his intentions as a punishment? Oh God, this situation was almost unbearable. He was so close to hanging his head in shame and apologising when the tips of his fingers found Sandy’s soft, warm skin and the thought of making love to this beautiful woman from now until the end of time drown out every other thought. It even stamped on Desmond’s well-tuned instinct for self-preservation.

“I want this woman to be my mate, Zinik-Tow. I want to do things to her that would make a porn star blush. I want to—”

“Enough. You have said enough.” The creature pushed a claw into a hole in the slab underneath Sandy’s head. “I believe that we both have understood your intentions.”

He watched the black cord-like material untangle and retreat into the edge of the grey slab. The girl’s eyes flickered. Desmond sighed inwardly. He had never seen a more sightly woman. He felt like a prince awakening sleeping beauty. There were going to live happy ever after as well. Desmond wanted to turn around and thank Zinik-Tow for making his dream come true, but he dare not take his eyes from her. He couldn’t wait for her to thank him for saving her life.

Sandy snapped open her eyes. She must have seen the creature standing behind Desmond and assumed he was one of her captors. She let out a quiet sob before cringing back from Desmond’s hand.

“Keep away from me, you vile thing!”

Desmond blinked, momentarily confused. Was she talking to him?

“You fucking dirty old bastard!” she snapped. The woman jumped off the other side of the slab and ran into the corner of the room. “I wouldn’t be your mate if my life depended on it.”

“You don’t understand, you stupid bitch!” he shouted. “Your life does depend on it.” Desmond turned and glared at Zinik-Tow. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought she was going to be like all those bubble-headed idiots out there!”

“The field in nullified in here. I thought that would be obvious.” The creature then wrapped those claws around Desmond’s throat. “You are but a herd animal. You are livestock, nothing more. Do not forget your place again or the consequences will be unfortunate.” He picked him up and carried Desmond out of the room. He dropped him on the floor and sealed the door. “You can find your way to the chamber on your own, Desmond. If you are lucky, it is quite possible you will get there without anything eating you. Farewell.” He turned around and stormed down the corridor and disappeared through another membrane.

Desmond to his feet and raced after him, only to discover the membrane wouldn’t fold back. “Wait, come back! Don’t leave me in here. I don’t know the way back.” His calls went unanswered. Desmond walked back to that blue cube, now noticing that he could see into the other room. The girl saw him staring and gave Desmond the finger before she buried her head back in her arms.

“Yeah well, fuck you too,” he snarled before shuffling off in what he hoped was the right way to get out of this hellish place.

Chapter Nine

That old woman wearing an oversized brown coat had just spat at him. Her reaction took Steven White totally by surprise. He picked up the
animal cruelty
booklet which she had dropped in the gutter and folded it in half, idly wiping off some of the wet black slime that had just leaked out one of the seeping blisters on his index finger.

Maybe he should get over to the train station. It’ll be rush hour soon. There’ll be plenty of customers disembarking from the packed trains. Some of them are bound to take his remaining booklets. He really did want to go home and crawl into bed. Since meeting up with that very nice Mr. Smith inside the mall, he hadn’t been feeling that great. Steven had noticed how moist he was getting under these clothes as well. As if his skin was slipping around his muscles. It sure was a weird feeling.

Still, he had a promise to keep and that’s exactly what he was going to do. Steven White never backed out on a promise, that’s for sure. Besides, it wouldn’t take him that long to hand out the last of his booklets. Just another few more minutes, and he’d be able to go home and have a soak in a nice warm bath before crawling into bed.

Steven bent over to scratch a particularly itchy spot under his socks, a little confused to find two more of his fingernails must have dropped off. No matter, he rolled up the booklet, pulled the sock down, and used the edge of the card instead.

He sighed loudly as the card scraped the jelly-like flesh away from his bone. Steven didn’t realise that his body was slowly dissolving, nor did he care. All that mattered was to deliver every single booklet and to touch as many people as possible. It’s what Mr. Smith had ordered him to do.

His girl, Lisa, would have a right fit if she saw the state of his socks. He had no idea how he’d managed to get all this weird goo all over them, but he knew she wouldn’t be happy if she saw them. Maybe Steven could take them off before he got home and drop them in the bin outside. She’d be none the wiser. He certainly did feel funny.

It took him a few seconds to realise what he was supposed to be doing. It wasn’t until he heard one of the trains pulling into the station, on the other side of the square, when he remembered. Steven grinned, spitting out three of his front teeth. That’s right, it was the rush hour. There were soon going to be hundreds of people about to brush past him.

It wasn’t just the prospect of all those people which gave him cause for happiness, oh no. He had made over three hundred pounds today as well. Gavin at the Animal Care Foundation was going to be
over the moon
with the amount of cash he was going to hand over. Oh, Gavin wasn’t going to get all of it, no chance. Steven intended to put away a hundred so he could buy himself a decent phone. Why not? It’s about time he bought something for himself for a change. Gavin wouldn’t mind, basically because he wasn’t going to tell him.

Who said being nosy didn’t pay dividends? Oh, that’s right, his girl said those exact words to him only this morning. That’s cool. It just meant she wouldn’t have half of the pizza he would be ordering once Steven climbed out of the bath. He took a couple of steps forward and stopped beside a low wall. It was no good, he would have to take a breather. He sat on the wall and looked back the way he came, watching a man over the road on his knees. It looked like he was coughing up blood. Simon was sure that he gave a booklet to that guy a few minutes ago.

Thanks to Steven’s nosiness, the phone that he’d clocked this morning would be in his pocket this time tomorrow. Moe’s Mobile Shop had a huge selection in their window. He passed the place every day, and it made him so annoyed to think that he’d never have enough money to afford one. He should also thank that rude boy too, the one who worked in that discount shop. After all, it’s him who got Steven inside, even if he wasn’t aware of it.

He had already been around the back of the mall a few minutes after the shutters came down unexpectedly, and it did come as a bit of a surprise to find another set of shutters over the entrance to the furniture shop. He was sure they weren’t there the last time he was around here. That was a couple of weeks, though, so he just guessed he’d been blind.

Steven got the shock of his life when the rude boy just seemingly passed straight through the metal. He wasn’t shocked enough to leave it alone, no chance of that. He crossed the distance between the corner of the mall and those pretend shutters in less than a minute. He waited for two girls to pass him before he investigated these mysterious shutters.

He could see the rude boy on the other side of them making his way further into the interior of the shop. Steven couldn’t see anybody else in there. He counted to five before closing his eyes and walking forward, expecting his nose to smash into the metal. Apart from a fleeting feeling of finding himself wanting to go back to work and the need to make friends, Steven’s nose surprisingly stayed intact.

His recollection became a little hazy once he had wandered into the furniture shop. Steven did recall seeing a couple of people, dressed up as dinosaurs, running from one shop into another. It was just a shame that there were no shoppers about to see the costumes; the detailing was fantastic. He guessed they must have either been in the eatery or in the restaurants on the next level. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Had he blacked out or something? He did remember having to sit on the side of a bed. There was a guy in front of him, only it wasn’t a guy. Maybe it was another one of those festival people, only this one was dressed like some big yellow bird. Did this bird do something to him? Steven frowned, remembering some fragment of this bird pushing a needle into his left arm. No, that couldn’t have happened. The whole idea was just too ridiculous for words. He must have dozed off for a second. That bed was very comfy.

That nice Mr. Smith got Steven back on his feet again. Such a pleasant chap. His dress style was a little outlandish, though. He wasn’t sure why Smith thought looking like some nineteenth century gentleman, complete with top hat and cane, was a proper way to dress. Then again, who was he to criticise, considering his dreadlocks came halfway down the tattered US army coat that never came off his back? His girl had even threatened to burn the bloody thing on more than one occasion. Still, it was a little weird how the nice Mr. Smith looked exactly like the poster on the wall, coming down the stairs from the upper level.

Obviously, Smith had come from the horse races. It would explain the outfit and why he handed over so much money to a complete stranger.

As for the insistence of Steven to hand out every one of his booklets while making sure he touched every person, well,
the guy was on a guilt trip
, it stood to reason.

Steven eased himself off the wall, shedding some more of his liquefying flesh. There were a few more people across the square on their knees now. He shrugged to himself. There must be something going around. He wasn’t exactly feeling that great himself. The tip of his index finger snapped off when Steven scratched the top of his head.

He watched as the train stopped and the automatic doors opened. Like an overstuffed cushion, the contents spilled out onto the platform. Steven shuffled towards the ticket barrier, eager to touch as many of commuters as he could.

Chapter Ten

The doors leading to the next level came into sight just as the eruption of human screams blasted out from the floor above. It wasn’t just from above them. Jefferson jumped back, almost tumbling back down the steps, when a shriek erupted from Janine as well.

The woman let go of his hand. She slammed her palm over her mouth and pressed her body against the wall in the stairwell, looking at the two boys, in utter horror.

Jefferson listened to the screams from beyond the doors die down until all he could hear was moans and groaning.

“Honey, are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Thanks, I’m fine, thank you. Please though, don’t call me that. I’m old enough to be your mother.”

David giggled. “Looks like your sci-fi gas has worn off. I should have known.”

Jefferson resisted the impulse put a crossbow bolt through the side of David’s head. He also resisted the urge to cry. God, he really was beginning to grow fond of this woman as well. “Can you tell me what you last remember?” He fully expected her to tell him and David that she knew nothing after opening up, that the effect of whatever their intruders had injected into the mall had made her forget everything.

She glanced up at the double doors before turning her attention back to him. “Jefferson, I remember everything, and it makes me feel…” She shook her head. “Look, forget it. I think we have more important issues to resolve.”

The woman looked at the katana she held in her hand, as if it was the first time she had seen it, despite helping David unscrew them from the wall of the sporting shop.

David held the other katana while Jefferson held his prized crossbow.

He couldn’t argue with her, no matter how much Jefferson so wanted to, not when there was too much at stake. They still need to find his other friends, and Jefferson had no idea what faced them on this level. He guessed that there’d be more dinosaurs up here and believed they’d have to face whoever or whatever had done this to the mall. Jefferson notched a bolt and ran up the remaining steps with the two others bringing up the rear.

“Are you ready?” he asked. Jefferson didn’t wait for a reply before he silently pushed open the door. He saw a couple of shoppers running out of the Happy Mex restaurant and down the wide corridor which led to the restrooms. He saw nobody else. Still, finding somebody up here alive and kicking gave him hope.

Jefferson slithered through the door, holding it open for the other two. “I’ve just seen a couple of people running out of the restaurant!” It was about time they had some good news. Jefferson was about to follow the shoppers when both David and Janine cried out. They both stared past Jefferson, their eyes bulging. He spun around and gasped out when the reason for
fleeing shoppers
became apparent.

Ducking its huge head so it could squeeze the rest of its huge body through the doorway, a monster which almost made Jefferson lose control of his bladder, moved that jaw bristling with curved teeth. The teeth were the size of Jefferson’s little finger. He felt a pair of hands trying to pull him back into the stairwell, but he shrugged them off. He wasn’t going to run, not now.

The large dinosaur dropped its head to the floor and sniffed at the tiles. It was acting as though he wasn’t even there! Jefferson then noticed the few spots of blood. He raised the crossbow, making he sure made no sudden moves.

The dinosaur then jerked up its head, switching its gaze from the corridor. The dinosaur’s eyes finally settled on Jefferson. It growled before running straight at him.

He squeezed the trigger before he dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way. The sudden roar of pain, which almost burst his eardrums, told Jefferson that his bolt had hit home, but the bastard still lived. The creature’s large shadow turned his world dark. He rolled again, just avoiding the wounded dinosaur’s sharp teeth as it lunged forward, its jaws snapping shut exactly where Jefferson’s head used to be. The crossbow flew from his grip and skittered along the floor. He managed to get to his feet and reach the edge of the next restaurant. His fingers curled around the back of a metal chair.

He spun around, ready for this roaring behemoth to lunge at him again, only to discover the creature dancing with both Janine and David while they slashed at its flesh with their swords. He let go of the chair, scooped up his crossbow, and managed to push his foot through the stirrup and pull back the string without slipping. He heard the sounds of crying and whimpering. It took Jefferson a moment to realise the noises were coming from him.

He notched in a bolt and ran towards his friends, needing to put this monster down before the creature killed them both.

Janine brought the sword down on the base of its tail, the blade sank deep into the flesh.

Jefferson watched in horror when the dinosaur twisted like a ballet dancer. She lost her grip on the weapon and its tail whipped around, sweeping David off his feet.

It lunged at the woman, those wicked fangs missing the top of her head by inches. Luckily, the woman saw that massive head falling towards her and dropped to the floor. It raised its foot.

Jefferson’s heart missed a beat. It was going to pin her to the floor!

“Over here, you
scaly bastard
!” he yelled, running up to it. Jefferson’s shout went unheeded; the thing must have decided that he wasn’t worth bothering with. He went down on one knee, steadied his aim, and fired. The bolt plunged into the dinosaur’s huge eye.

“And fuck you too!” he shouted when it fell forwards and slammed onto the floor. Jefferson jumped over its tail and ran over to Janine. “Oh God, I thought I had lost you!” He helped her up, deliriously happy to be holding her hand again, even if it was for a few seconds.

Jefferson retrieved her katana and helped David up. He brushed himself down and grinned at the pair of them.

“What a rush!”

“I’ll agree to that, David,” she said. “Who needs a gym membership when you can fight dinosaurs?”

These two wouldn’t even be alive if it hadn’t been for his quick reactions. Jefferson kept that little info nugget to himself. “We’d better go see if those people are okay.” He loaded his crossbow, hoping he’d have enough bolts to last. If they encountered any more of these buggers though, Jefferson decided that their lifespan would be measured in minutes. “Come on, guys, we had better get a move…” His remaining words dried up when he saw they were no longer alone.

“No,” hissed David, when Jefferson raised his crossbow. “That pack of
Coelophysis
aren’t here for us.”

Several of the little brown dinosaurs were dancing and hopping across the concourse, their heads darting left and right. Two of them jumped onto a table a few feet from where they stood, each one issuing bird-like chirps.

David quickly wiped his sword clean on the fallen dinosaur and motioned Janine to do the same. He then grabbed Jefferson’s arm. “We need to get past them.”

“Are you having a laugh?” Two on the table had now jumped off and were heading straight for them, he could hear their jaws snapping shut.

“Are
you
having a laugh, dude?” The two small dinosaurs on the table leaped off and were now heading straight for them. He heard their jaws snapping shut. “We should get those others out of toilets before it’s too late!”

Jefferson felt so betrayed when Janine skirted past him and joined David as he slowly edged along the wall. The two dinosaurs now became four, then five, as more of them skittered closer to the corpse.

“Leave them, Jefferson!” David commanded. “Seriously. It’s already is too late. They’ll be fine as long as they don’t leave.”

“But one bite!”

Janine ran over to him and grabbed his hand. “Do as you’re bleeding told!” The woman pulled him over to David. She didn’t even give the two little dinosaurs that ran past them a single glance. She gently squeezed his hand, her grip becoming tighter when the rest of the excitable animals raced over to the corpse. He heard them fighting amongst themselves, each one trying their hardest to stay on top of the dead dinosaur’s head. He looked away when one of them pushed its snout into the corpse’s damaged eye.

“That’s a
Troodon
!” gasped, David. “I’ve never seen one so big before. I bet nobody has.”

“See a lot of them, do you?” snapped Jefferson. “Oh yeah. Shit, I forgot about the dinosaur family who pop into our shop every Saturday. They love the doggy treats. Don’t blame them, you won’t find them cheaper anywhere else.”

“Are you done?”

He turned on David. “No, I’m not fucking done. Look at your seal thigh thingies. Just look at them, for crying out loud. How are we going to help those people trapped in there now? Oh God, listen to me. I’m a dinosaur expert. I know all their names and everything. Everybody follow me. When, in fact, you know shit!” Jefferson rested his back against the glass front of a sushi restaurant, panting like a knackered dog. He knew he’d just gone too far, that him lashing out at his friend was purely from fear as well as frustration. He couldn’t find a way to stop his mouth from running off.

Jefferson turned around, he knew he should apologise, but he just couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to look at their faces anymore. He saw half a dozen people in the restaurant. Every one of them were staring right back at him. Jefferson felt like sticking out his tongue.

“Listen to the man of action. The hero of the flipping day. Listen, Jefferson. If you hadn’t been showing off in front of your girlfriend, that
Troodon
wouldn’t have even noticed us. No, not you. You just had to shoot at it and piss it off.”

Jefferson tried not to jump when David spun him around.

“As for not knowing shit.”

He thrust his fingers under Jefferson’s jaw and savagely twisted his head to the side. Another two smaller species were hovering around the perimeter. They and the Coelophysis all scattered when two larger animals appeared on the scene. Jefferson realised that the new arrivals looked exactly like the one he had brought down, just a little smaller.

“A large kill always attracts attention. It’s what’s happening now, so it stands to reason that it’s what would have happened back when these monsters ruled the planet as opposed to a shopping mall. Now, just imagine us running out of those bogs with our rescued people. How many of those things will the
mighty hero
take down before we all get ripped apart?”

Jefferson peeled David’s fingers away. He looked at the boy and sighed. “Sorry, man. I was out of order.” He pulled David into an embrace. “I’m an idiot.” Over his shoulder, he saw Janine talking to one of the people who’d ventured out of the restaurant. Judging from the changing expression on Janine’s face, the people up here hadn’t exactly had an easy time of it either.

He wanted to shout out to Janine and get her to find out if any of them knew what was going on. Jefferson decided to keep his gob shut, at least until he reached the strangers. He was sure that Janine will have already asked this question. Blurting out the same thing with all those meat-eating dinosaurs within sight wouldn’t be one of his better ideas. He released David and watched his mate silently wander over to the others, leaving Jefferson alone.

Had he really been showing off to impress Janine? No, that wasn’t true. He only wanted to protect them, wanted to make sure his friends were safe. Christ, surely David didn’t really think that? He watched his friend slip into his standard behaviour pattern, now that he had a captive audience, no doubt telling all how these fuckers romped about in their natural habitat. Basically doing exactly what David accused him of doing. The annoying turd was showing off. By the looks of the way events were progressing, Jefferson would soon have to rescue the idiot as well.

It didn’t surprise Jefferson to note that one particular individual had taken an instant dislike to David. As per usual, David was completely oblivious to the danger.

He walked over to the three people who’d left the restaurant to greet Janine and David. Jefferson didn’t recognise the big man and the smaller blonde woman standing by his side. Although he guessed they were attached, judging for the way the woman’s dark green eyes kept darting from the man beside her, to David, and back again. There was also the weird way she kept tugging at the man’s green trousers. She reminded Jefferson of an eager dog trying to get her master’s attention.

He had seen the other woman talking to Janine. She worked in the scented candle shop next to the pet shop, on the far side of this level. Both Alan and Sandy spent a fortune in there every week. Jefferson never saw the attraction of forking out a bloody fortune for a few candles that smelled of flowers or sickly fruit. Not when a can of air freshener would do the job just as effectively.

He remembered all those times in that shop, bored out of his pissing mind, watching those two push candles against their noses. Right now, he would do anything to travel back in time to one of those occasions. Oh God, just listen to him banging on about time travel. He was getting as bad as David.

Speaking of David, if he didn’t do anything soon, that big man, who his friend was unwittingly pissing off, looked like he was about to crack the lad with that broken table leg he held in that troll-sized hand. It didn’t escape Jefferson’s attention that the splintered end was stained with wet blood. It did please him to find that it wasn’t just their little gang who was fighting back. He just hoped that the blood belonged to a dinosaur, and not another clever dick who also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of sodding dinosaur names.