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Updated Saturday 10 May, 2008 12:19 PM | Headlines | Discussion Forum | International Edition |
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Extinction Event By Doctor What
Chapter 8 The great extinction that wiped out all of the dinosaurs, large and small, in all parts of the world, and at the same time brought to an end various lines of reptilian evolution, was one of the outstanding events in the history of life and in the history of the earth.... It was an event that has defied all attempts at a satisfactory explanation. - Edwin Harris Colbert, The Age of Reptiles ** Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 – ‘Prospero’s Books’ – Queens, New York City “Is it gone?” asked Barry. David was at the doorway, poking his head around the corner of the open door, looking down the street to his left. “I…I think so.” “That was a dinosaur.” “I know, Barry.” “A dinosaur.” “Yes.” “A really big dinosaur.” “I know, Barry.” “What the hell is a dinosaur doing in New York?!” “Cause he’s on vacation and dropped by to see some Broadway shows and pick up a few hookers – how the hell should I know?!?” “What do we do?” “Good question.” “Got a good answer, Mr. Elias?” “First things first—we turn on the radio and find out what’s going on. Second—“, David sniffed and made a face and took a step or two back, “—you’re going to go the bathroom and change your pants.”
By the time Barry changed his clothes and came back from the bathroom – lucky for him, David had a garbage bag full of old clothes that he was meaning to donate to the Salvation Army in a few days - David and the three other customers were sitting around a radio near the back of the store. “What’s going on--?” began Barry. “Shhhh!” shushed David as he turned up the volume on the radio. “ –tage has hit the entire New York City region. Residents are advised to stay in their homes. Repair crews are working on the problem. We repeat—a power –“ “What about the dinosaurs?!” yelled Barry. David shook his head as he switched the station. “--Rochelle Show will not be airing at this moment due to...uh…technical difficulties. We apologize for this inconvenience –“ A burst of static drowned out the rest of it as David switched stations again. “—asking citizens to refrain from using phones for non-essential purposes due to the extremely high volume of 911 calls they are receiving –“ Crackle of static again as David turned the tuner. “—crazies are already coming out of the woodwork, people. Check this out—some lady just called the station a minute ago telling us that the mall across her street vanished in a flash of light and there’s now some kind of big swamp there. Ah—New York--gotta love this city! Ok, I’m going to be putting on some Miles Davis in just a moment—“ Twisting of the tuner. Crackle of static. A blast of music-- “-Invaders from the true worlds David turned the radio off. “Nobody has noticed dinosaurs running around?” yelled Barry. “I think a lot of people have—it’s just not making the news just yet” said David. “It’s only been…uh…ten or fifteen minutes since…uh…since…that…” he trailed off, waving at the forest across the street with a hand. “So what do we do?” “I DON’T KNOW!” roared David, causing Barry—and the other customers—to jump back a step. David looked at Barry and the customers and blushed in embarrassment. They’re scared, David. None of them are even out of university. They look up to you. They see you as their wise old Saba – the nice, laid back and cool old guy of the neighbourhood—the one who has survived everything that this city has gone through and still retains all his humour and can always be counted on to be calm and intelligent in any situation. So—stop yelling at the kids and think of something and stop being a schmuck! David took a deep breath. When he spoke, the words came out in a rush, stream of consciousness style. “Ok—we’re going to need water, food, a place to sleep, someplace to stay in until all this blows over…ok...we’ll go to my apartment…it’s just a few blocks away…hopefully we won’t meet another one of those Hadrasaurus…it’s a small place but we’ll manage somehow…once we’re there we can figure what else to do…okay, let’s get Rosie and…” David heard the bell over the front door ring. Every single person turned to stare at the door. The front door was slowly being pushed open by a…a…creature…. Picture an eagle. Now make it the size of a German Shepherd. Give it a long, straight and stiff tail that’s almost the same length as its body—a tail that looks vaguely like a reptile tail—but covered with feathers. Give its feet extra large talons. At the tip of its wings, give it large 3 fingered claws. Now extend its beak so that the beak is now a set of jaws nearly a foot long. Fill the jaws with dozens of small razor sharp teeth. That was what was standing at the front entrance of the door. The creature reared up, standing about four feet high, hissing at the people. It took a few steps forward. A large ball of fur and claws erupted from behind the front counter, howling like a demon, and pounced on the creature’s back. “ROSIE!” shouted David. The creature howled as Rosie’s claws buried deep into its back and as she started spitting and hissing and biting. The creature thrashed and turned, trying desperately to get Rosie off its back. Books, tables and chairs were overturned and flung about the entrance. Something inside David’s mind went…click. David was well aware of all the jokes about how pet owners—and especially cat owners—tended to be a bit…peculiar. How they doted on them—on how they tolerated virtually anything from their ‘little darlings’. David had first seen Rosie 16 years ago when she—as a half starved and bedraggled kitten—wandered into his bookstore one wet spring morning. It was love at first sight. She soon became the unofficial—and later on, the ‘official’ – bookstore guard cat and was considered practically a mascot of the neighbourhood by many of the children. She was in many respects almost like the daughter David never had—and she was certainly one of his closest friends in the world. And now…NOW…some fucked up looking creature was attacking HIS Rosie!.... David took a few steps forward, his hands blindly reaching out to the table next to him, looking desperately for something he can use as a weapon. His hands touched a big heavy book—very heavy by the feel of it—and he clasped it and started pulling back his arms, like a batter getting ready to hit the game-winning home run. The creature twisted his head behind it and clamped down on Rosie’s leg. Rosie let out a shriek of pain—a shriek that David knew….knew…he will hear in his sleep every night for the rest of his life… …however long that may be, he thought In horrifying slow motion, the creature pulled Rosie off its back and flung her at a table. Rosie sailed in a long slow arc and landed on the table on her back, skidding and sliding along the table for over ten feet—scattering books like a wave in front of her. The creature turned to face David… …who was now only five feet away from it. David put all his strength….all his anger…all his fear…all his hatred…into that swing…. The book slammed into the side of the creature’s head—and a part of David’s soul was immensely satisfied to hear a loud crack! sound—knocking it off balance and into a wall. It collapsed onto its knees, obviously stunned and wounded, flapping its wings in confusion. David swung the book over his head as the creature turned to face him. David brought the book down on the creatures head, watching with glee as it fell face down on the floor. Swinging it over his head once more, David brought the book down on its head again…and again…and again…and again…and again… David sat on the floor, the bloodstained book slipping from his grasp. He glanced down and saw the title of the book he had used. War and Peace. “Rosie!” David stood up and rushed towards Rosie. She was still on the table, her breath coming in ragged gasps. David picked her up and cradled Rosie in his lap and nuzzled her and wept, the tears refusing to stop flowing. She died in his arms two minutes later. ** Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 – Rutgers University – Piscataway, New Jersey “So—you want chips or chocolate?” asked Behrouz. “Chips—I think we have enough chocolate bars to last us until Thanksgiving.” replied Janice. SMASH! Behrouz pulled his crowbar out of the shattered display window of the vending machine and started pulling out bags of chips, stuffing them into a knapsack. Behrouz had to admit—Professor Caesius was right about the university being a good place to go. With his key they were able to slip into the university without any trouble. Being the middle of summer and early evening as well, the building was completely deserted and they had free run of the place. He and Janice had just spent the last 30 minutes smashing open every vending machine they could find. With the stuff they collected so far, they didn’t have to worry about food for days, at the very least. Mind you—it wasn’t going to be a very healthy diet--junk food of every imaginable kind was the main stuff that had been found. Of course—your average college student lives on that crap for months at a time thought Behrouz. “Where’s Doctor Caesius?” asked Behrouz. “Still upstairs surveying the area.” Behrouz nodded his head and turned his attention back to a row of soft drink machines. “Hmmmm…these ones are going to be a bit tough to break into” he said, lifting up his crowbar again and walking forward.
Charles looked through his binoculars again and then glanced down and made some more marks on the map in front of him. The biggest…forest?…seems to be centered around where highways 287 and 22 intersect about seven miles away towards the northwest. It seems to have— Another glance up with his binoculars. —about a two mile radius. It extends east to just before Victor Crowell Park, extends west to – Another double check with his binoculars – to the parking lot of Bridgewater Mall, extends north to where the 525 hugs the Washington Reservoir –another glance – damn—looks like the whole reservoir is slowing draining away into the forest—and extends south to the northern chunk of Manville. The second biggest forest is located to the south at where St. Peter’s Cemetery used to be. That one is –glance up—about a mile in radius—maybe a bit more. It extends all the way to the east to - glance up – damn! Literally to the parking lot of the Douglass Campus and extends to the west to JFK Boulevard. It extends south to – another glance – the corner of How Lane and Livingston Avenue – glance up – yup—took out nearly the entire Brunswick Shopping Center --and extends north to – glance – shit—almost right to Easton Avenue and literally across the street from the New Brunswick Campus! It looks like it completely took out both the Johnson and St. Peter’s Hospitals – another glance—a very long glance –fuck! It cut St. Peter’s Hospital in half! Literally in half! And it looks like – glance – yup—it’s on fire… Charles looked to the east – yeah—there it is –that forest where the Jersey Turnpike used to be. It looks pretty small—the whole forest can’t be more than 3/4 of a mile across… Charles looked to the north – Hmmmm…starting just ten miles north—just past Plainfield and stretching in a long slow arc all the way towards –glance up -- Newark –are what looks like a LOT of new parks. Charles wasn’t sure just how many new ones there were—that area was jam packed with parks, golf courses and reservations, making it difficult to tell the ‘old stuff’ from the ‘new stuff’– but there certainly seemed to be at the very least half a dozen there. Good thing that most of them seem to be about the size of the Jersey Turnpike one…maybe even smaller… Charles leaned back and tried to think what all this meant. For starters said an inner voice we are well and truly fucked… Charles was beginning to come to hate that inner voice of his…. There was something else…something that he saw just a few minutes ago that was trying to get his attention….something about the first big forest…. Charles took a closer look at it.. It took him a full minute to realize what he had missed before. The first forest had reached a bend of the river where it almost did a 180 degree turn –the ‘forest’ completely blocked the flow of the river at that point. With its usual path blocked, the river was now slowly moving down …alternate… paths. Specifically—highway 287 that looped south through South Brook and then looped back north into Piscataway. Even now—Charles could see a small trickle of water slowly snaking its way down the highway. And he could see the river was beginning to overflow its banks in a few other locations as well. Half the city could end up under a few feet of water by tomorrow night thought Charles. And it will just get worse after that. Combine that with the fact that there are actual honest to God dinosaurs running around the city…. Yup said the inner voice Like I said—we are well and truly fucked… Oh shut the hell up replied Charles. ~~ On to Chapter 9 Please Comment In The Discussion Forum
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