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Chapter 12

This only is denied to God: the power to undo the past. - Agathon ( 440 BC- 400 BC), from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

**

“Mr. Elias? David?”

David looked up at Barry as he wiped away the tears from his eyes.

“B…Barry? Yes? Wha…what is it?”

“Ummm…I can help you find a box…uh…to put…Rosie in…”

David stood up, still trying to blink away all the tears from his eyes.

“I…I always promised her that I’ll give her a proper funeral…when the time came. I even picked a spot at the pet cemetary for her….”

“And you’ll still do that, Mr. Elias. I’ll even be there with you when the time comes! But not now—first we have to figure out what we have to do to get out of here.”

David nodded. Much as he hated to do so—he had to put thoughts about Rosie aside. For now at any rate.

“Right. The way I see it, we can’t stay here. Not for long in any case. We’ve already seen two dinosaurs and you’ve heard the radio about other places disappearing. If this is happening in other sections of the city…” David trailed off. After a few seconds, he continued “With the blackout and the dinosaurs, this whole city is going to be in total chaos by the morning. I say we beat the rush and get out of here tonight.”

“Where do we go?”, asked Barry.

David frowned as he thought about that question. After a few seconds, he suddenly broke out into a grin and snapped his fingers.

“Hunter’s Point Ferry! Tons of boats there! We get there and get the hell out of Queens!”

“And then what? Where do we go to from there?”

“The operative word, Barry, is ‘away’, not ‘to’. We are getting away from Queens. We’ll worry about the to part later.”

David suddenly frowned.

“What’s wrong?”, asked Barry.

“How the hell do we get to Hunter’s Point? It’s a good eight or ten miles from here and I would imagine with the blackout the subways are out and I sure as hell not going to walk that distance.”

“We can take my car, Mr. Elias” piped up Barry.

David stared at Barry for a full 30 seconds with a stare that could have only be described as a ‘Are you freaking kidding me?” look.

“Barry—you drive a Yugo. A twenty year old Yugo. My Nanna—the one who’s 93 years old, has emphysema and needs a walker—can move faster than your car. It barely qualifies as a car!”

“That’s a lie! The Yugo is a wonderful car!”, said Barry, indignantly. “The only reason it didn’t succeed being sold here in the States was because major auto producers—with the approval of Republican politicians and warhawks in the Pentagon determined to bring down the Soviet Union-- were collaborating with influential automotive media in efforts to eliminate competition! I put up all kinds of reference links about this on my blog! I’ve gone through all this before with you! Beside—“ said Barry, leaning back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, “You don’t have much choice in the matter—I’m the only one with a car.”

David opened his mouth to say something—and then shut it a few seconds later.

“God—I hate it when you’re right. Ok—so where’s the car parked?”

“Ummm—six blocks down the street”

“Six blocks? With killer dinosaurs running around? In the dark? With no weapons? Oy vey….”, said David, running a hand over his face. “Ok—everybody grab a big book. But first—before we go—I need to take care of Rosie….”

David ended up putting Rosie’s body—wrapped up in her favorite blanket-- in an old milk crate he found in the back of the store. As a final gesture, he put her cat toys and her bowl in it and then took the box down into the basement. He spent several minutes putting several heavy boxes of books on top of it before covering the whole thing with an old sheet.

He made sure to lock the basement door as he came back up.

Picking up the copy of War and Peace from before, he looked at the gathered customers.

Barry was holding a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. The other three customers were each holding one volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

David nodded his head.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

The ‘Prospero’s Books Five’ ran out of the bookstore without looking back.

They got to the car one minute later.

The Yugo wasn’t built for large groups of people and they were essentially sitting on each other’s laps when they piled into the car.

As Barry tried to start the car, David, sitting in the front passenger seat, glanced up—and drew in a gasp.

Coming down the street were four more of the creatures that attacked them earlier.

They were running straight towards the car.

“Uh—Barry—start the car.”

“I’m trying.”

“Start the car.”

“Stupid key won’t turn.”

“Start. The. Car.”

The four creatures were now only 30 feet away from the car.

“START THE DAMN CAR!” screamed David, just as the four creatures jumped on the hood of the car and started clawing at the windshield, leaving long deep scratches on it.

With a small explosion of smoke from the exhaust pipe, the engine started up. Barry put the car into reverse and slammed down on the accelerator, knocking the four dinos off the car.

The careening Yugo crashed into a parked car a block away and literally bounced off, swinging around in a 180 turn, its tires screeching in protest. David actually felt the rear bumper of the car falling off and crashing onto the street.

The four dinos, hissing and spitting and clearly very annoyed at their missed opportunity for a late night dinner, gave chase. One—either faster or hungrier than the others—pulled ahead of the pack and leaped onto the Yugo.

It landed on the roof of the car, denting it in the process.

David and Barry looked out the windshield—and screamed as the dino poked its head over the roof and hissed at them through the windshield. With its head facing them upside down, the snarl on its face looked vaguely like a smile instead.

None of the passengers returned the smile however.

Barry slammed down on the accelerator and the car leaped forward.

But this time—the dinosaur was prepared. David saw the dino’s front claws grab onto the windshield, scrabbling for a hold as the car rushed down the street.

“Do a hard left turn at this corner!” screamed David over the shrieks of the car passengers and growls of the dino.

The Yugo turned—and then slid sideways as its tires lost their grip on the road.

With a crash, the Yugo slammed sideways into a parked van, knocking the determined dino off. David noted with some satisfaction that the dino did a rather impressive bounce off the van and several more bounces as it landed on the street.

The passengers had barely a moment to congradulate themselves on this when they heard more growls from behind them.

The three surviving dinos were still chasing them.

“NOW would be a good time to go, Barry!” screamed David.

The now heavily damaged Yugo moved forward and rushed down the street, its tires smoking and peeling.

David looked into the side view mirror and groaned.

The dinos were still chasing them.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?!”

"This is a Yugo! It's built for economy, not speed!"

“Well, we have to—look out!!!” screamed David as he glanced up and pointed at something ahead of them.

Standing in the middle of the street directly in front of them was—a Hadrasaurus.

The Yugo swerved again, barely missing the large dinosaur.

The Hadrasaurus bellowed as the Yugo—bouncing off yet another parked car—drove away.

Ignoring the by now nearly continuous screaming from Barry, David took another glance in the side mirror—and grinned as he saw the Hadrasaurus bellow as it saw the three dinos. The three dinos –clearly unprepared to take on such a large dinosaur—stopped running and began to slowly back away. The Hadrasaurus—apparently also having a really bad day as well—bellowed again.

And then it charged at them, scattering them like bowling pins.

The Yugo—having suffered more damage in the last two minutes than it had in the last two decades combined—roared—or rather—puttered—away….

“…-not a joke. We repeat—reports are coming in from throughout the tri-state area—dinosaurs – living dinosaurs – have appeared throughout the region. Several deaths and injuries have been reported with more reports coming in every minute. Police have opened fire on at least two T-Rexes—neither one of the T-Rexes have been reported to have been killed and both managed to get away and police are speculating that more of them may exist. Authorities are urging people to stay in their homes until the crisis is resolved. For those of you just joining us—we repeat—reports are coming…”

David leaned over and turned the dial on the radio.

There was a crackle of static and then –

“…--have a witness on the line—now Sir—tell us what you see…

“I’m at Liberty State Park looking out at Ellis Island—only it ain’t there! The whole fuc—uh—freaking—island is gone! Just gone! There’s this massive churning pile of dirt and debris where it used to be and there are…there…are…things … SWIMMING in there! Big things! Like that Loch Ness Monster things—only they’re in the freaking water! One of them actually attacked a ferry that was tied up at the dock! And there’s all kinds of other weird things swimming around too! My God—what the hell is happening here—“

David turned the dial again. There was a brief chunk of very faint heavy metal sounding music and -

“…-being slowly emptied as word of the…uh…extraordinary event that has occurred is spreading like wildfire. Traffic is backed up on all bridges and tunnels on the Island as police are overwhelmed with containing the…ummmm…dinosaurs that have been reported in all sections of the city, including Central Park. Contact with our affiliate stations outside the city has been sporadic and we are unable to confirm whether the event is confined to just the New York area or whether it has occurred elsewhere. Stories of sections of the city being apparently replaced with forests or swamps are running rampant. We are also unable to confirm rumours that contact has been lost with federal authorities in Washington. Residents are advised to use extreme caution if they leave their homes….”

A twist of the dial. The briefest echo of faint voices…like distant ghosts calling out…all alone in the night…followed by--

“…-foretold in the Bible! Have I not been telling you people all along that the coming Wrath is imminent? And sure enough the wicked have been cast out and the beasts are walking the Earth. And I sayeth onto you that-…“

Another twist of the dial. A burst of static. A high pitched squealing sound. And then-

“…Woo Weee! Power blackouts and dinosaurs and all manner of craziness, people! Is this freaking awesome or what?! Well—I’m locked up safe and sound in my little booth here with a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and my trusty .38 in the other! We’re running on generator power here and got enough juice to last us a good 24 hours. I’ve been doing a show every night for 18 freaking years and never let it be said that I’ll let a little thing like the end of the freaking world keep me from doing my job! So sit back my children and light up that doobie and crack open that special bottle of booze that you keep in the back of the closet and we’ll party like it’s the end of the world cause—guess what?—it just might be! Eeeee-hah! ....”

David turned the radio off.

“Aaaah—New York….” said David, rolling his eyes.

The Yugo drove onwards into the setting sun.

Getting to Hunter’s Point took nearly thirty minutes due to having to avoid bumper to bumper traffic on the main streets, several groups of looters, numerous traffic accidents, a few buildings on fire, two ostrich-like dinosaurs defending some kind of nest they made in the back of a pick-up truck—and the fact that a half mile wide section of the Long Island Expressway (as well as the surrounding streets) between Mt. Zion Cemetery and Mt. Olivet Cemetery had been replaced by a swamp.

By the time they arrived, David had a leg cramp and the beginning of a major migraine, while Barry was openly weeping and rubbing a hand over the dashboard muttering “It’s okay sweetie—you can do it—just a bit longer—daddy loves you…” over and over again like a mantra.

When they finally climbed out of the car, David took one look at the pier—and groaned.

They were not the first people to come up with the idea of using the Ferry to get out of Queens.

About ten thousand other people had come up with the same idea—and nearly all of them were attempting to get on what appeared to be the last ferry left in all of Queens.

This was causing…difficulties.

The difficulties were not being mitigated by the fact that the Ferry looked dangerously overloaded and was trying --with limited success-- to pull away from the pier or the fact that there were about a dozen extremely frazzled looking police officers standing in front of the Ferry screaming and waving guns over the heads of the mob or the fact that the mob looked like they either thought the police won’t fire or didn’t care if they did.

David looked at the tableau in front of him for a moment, glanced back at the ‘Prospero’s Books Four’ behind him and said just one word.

“Duck.”

He threw himself to the ground beside the Yugo and was followed by the others a few seconds later—just as gunshots and screams and the sounds of many people running began to be heard from the front.

When David dared to glance back up two minutes later, the Ferry was already about a hundred feet away from the pier, the police officers were nowhere to be seen, the crowd of ten thousand had been reduced to a few hundred milling around in small groups and about a dozen wounded people were wandering around in a semi-daze, holding bloodsoaked rags on their wounds.

David made his way to one group of about twenty or thirty people, seemingly arguing among themselves..

David’s migraine was approaching head exploding levels.

It had been a very rough hour for David and even the calmest and quietest person have their breaking point. Still—nevertheless—even David was surprised by his next actions when he suddenly took in a deep breath and screamed—

“SHUT THE HELL UP, ALL OF YOU!!”

The group of people who were arguing stopped—whether out of fear or surprise was anyone’s guess.

David was vaguely aware of several other groups of people milling around the pier staring at him. The dying echoes of his yell - …all of you…of you…you… - bounced around the assorted warehouses and buildings for a few more seconds.

David stared at the group for a few seconds before continuing again—this time in something resembling a normal voice.

“Does ANYBODY actually KNOW anything? Something that they personally heard or saw? Not something they heard from a friend or a friend of a friend or whatever but something that THEY personally know?”

Nothing but silence was his response.

“Fine—thank you very much—have a nice night—goodbye!” said David as he stormed off. As he walked away, he heard behind him –

He got back to the Yugo a few seconds later, rubbing his temples furiously.

He saw—with some surprise—three of the customers standing together in a group.

“What’s all this?”, asked David.

“Mr. Elias—thank you very much for bringing us this far but we’ve decided that we’ll make our own way from here on.”

“Where will you go?”

“The radio has some additional updates—now they’re telling people to make it to the nearest community centre or hospital and stay there until help arrives. We three are going to try to get to Mt. Sinai Hospital.”

“That’s—like—over 20 blocks away or something. And it’s going to be jam packed with people! It will be totally insane! Plus you know that you might end up having to go somewhere else?”

The three shrugged their shoulders.

“Beats staying out here in the open. We’ll walk along all the busy streets to avoid getting caught by any dinosaurs.”

“Walking? What’s wrong with the Yugo?”

Barry started weeping at the mention of his car.

“Ummmm—the engine kind of exploded just now…”

“Ah. Well—good luck!”

The three of them, one by one, took turns hugging David.

He waved at them as they walked away. David turned to see Barry, who was slowly wiping away tears from his eyes.

“OK Barry—how come you’re not going with them?”

“Told you—I’m sticking by you no matter what! Someone’s gotta make sure that you don’t get yourself hurt!”

“And that someone is you?”

“But of course!”, said Barry.

“Very well. Any ideas where to now, Oh Fearless Protector?”

“I say we try to make it to Staten Island.”

“Staten Island?! Are you insane? My heart will never survive that walk! Why not Brooklyn or something—it’s much, much closer.”

“Yeah—Staten Island is a hell of a walk but we’re more likely to find some room available there then in any of the other boroughs. Can you imagine how fast the hospitals in Brooklyn are going to get filled up, especially with everyone in Queens AND Manhattan trying to get in them?”

“Why not try for Jersey City or Hoboken or Union City? They’re just on the other side of Manhattan. They’re much closer than Staten Island and most of the bridges and tunnels off of Manhattan are on this side of the river so they’re not going to get quite as much people going towards them.”

“Yeah—we could do that—but that will require us to go into Manhattan. Radio specifically is telling people to get the hell out of Manhattan. Only an insane person will try to—hey, where are you going?!”

David paused in his walking and turned to face Barry.

“Where else? I’m taking the Midtown Tunnel.”

“But Mr. Elias! The whole island is being evacuated!”

“Even better! No crazy insane crowds to deal with in there! Plus it’s the exact same distance from here to Union City as it is from here to Brooklyn—and like you said, Brooklyn is going to be totally jam packed in no time. C’mon!”

Barry shook his head and glanced up at the sky.

“Oy vey….”

~~

On to Chapter 13

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