Extinction Event Chapter 9

Updated Saturday 10 May, 2008 12:19 PM | Headlines | Discussion Forum | International Edition

Thanks

To Our

Friends

Alternate

History

dot Com

Extinction Event

By Doctor What

Chapter 9

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos. – Will Durant - US historian (1885 - 1981)

Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 – Benicia State Park- Approx. 50 miles north of San Francisco, California

James woke up to the feel of water splashing on his face.

He snapped open his eyes and raised himself into a sitting position in virtually one move, gasping for air.

“Huh? Wha? Gaaah? Who-?”

James heard voices from behind him.

“Was that really necessary, Erikka?”

“No, Karla—but it was quite fun. Plus he really needs a good shower. Pe-eww!”

James glanced behind him, wiping the water that was dripping into his eyes away with a hand.

The two blonde women he saw who blew away the …crocodile?....James glanced forward to confirm that he really hadn’t been seeing things…

…Yup—thirty foot long dead crocodile lying just a few feet away from me….

James turned his gaze back behind him.

…the two blonde women were standing side by side. Aside from the fact that they were both blonde, they were different as night and day.

The one holding a bucket…presumably ‘Erikka’…looked like she could make good money doing Wagnerian operas. Easily 5’10’’, maybe even 6 feet tall, big boobs, even bigger hips, long straight blonde hair, arms that can probably snap his neck with one punch, looked like she was in her early to mid 30s.

The other one—Karla?—was almost her exact opposite. Barely 5’5’’—if that, skinny arms, curly blonde hair, petite body frame, and looked a bit older---early 40s, maybe?

“Uhhh—ladies? Uhh—thanks for saving my ass back there.”

Oh—real smooth there, James…frigging great first line….

“Meh”, said Erikka, “Don’t thank us—thank the fact that we had to stop to kill that Loch Ness monster crossing the road. We would have been miles away from you when that croc attacked you if it wasn’t for that thing.”

James… blinked.

“Sorry. I think I still have water in my ears. Did you say that you had to kill the Loch Ness monster? As in—a dinosaur?”

Erikka looked at James as if he was a small child—and a really dumb one at that.

“The whole freaking state is over-run with them! Where the hell have you been for the last two hours?”

“Ummm…” said James, pointing behind him at the bay as way of an answer.

Erikka and Karla exchanged a glance.

“Don’t say it, Karla…”

“We can’t leave him here.”

“I TOLD you not to say it!”

“Look at him! No clothes, no weapons, no food…”

“We barely have enough food for us and Raymond as it is! Now you want to bring him along as well?! For all we know, he could be some freak low-life scum-sucking bastard!”

“Uhh—with the exception of my ex---nobody calls me that, if that’s any help….” said James helpfully.

Erikka turned her gaze at James. James could almost feel his testicles shrivelling up under that look.

The look softened…ever so softly….

“You got any skills other than walking around in your underwear, dude?”

“Ummm—James. And yeah—I’ve got useful skills….”

“Like what?!”

“Uhhh---“

“Thought so…” said Erikka, turning her gaze away. “Let’s leave this dude—we’re wasting time…”

“Erikka….” said Karla, looking at her with a look of intense disapproval and sadness.

“Don’t give me that look—you know I hate it when you do that!”

Karla continued to give Erikka a Look.

“Fine! FINE! We’ll take him as far as Fairfield, ok?” shouted Erikka.

Karla just smiled and nodded her head.

“Uh—thanks---Erikka?”, said James. “Really appreciate the lift. I’ve got an uncle in Sacramento. I’m pretty sure I can figure out a way to make that 50 mile trip to there from Fair-“

“Sacramento is gone, James” said Erikka.

“Uh---what? What happened to it?”

“Wiped out by a tidal wave apparently”

“Tidal--? The same one that took out San Francisco?!”

“Nope—the Sacramento one came in from a big lake to the north.”

“The …north? There’s no fucking lake north of Sacramento!”

“There’s a big lake there now”

“Wha?”

“It’s been a very confusing few hours, James…”

“You’re telling me” said James, morosely.

“So—are you moving your ass or aren’t you?” said Erikka, as she and Karla started walking away.

Less than a minute later, the three of them walked over a ridge and towards a road.

James…stopped.

There was a rather large—and heavily laden—SUV parked on the road. About 50 feet in front of the SUV however was a ….thing.

The body was about the size of a large car. Four large flippers were attached to it. There was a long tail on one end and an equally long neck on the other. Where a head should have been, however, was just a bloody stump.

It looked exactly like all those pictures of the Loch Ness monster he had seen.

“That’s…that’s…a…whatchamallcallit…a pleosaurus or something….”, stammered James.

“Don’t give a shit what’s it called—it tried to take a chomp out of Becky” said Erikka.

“Becky?”

“It’s what she calls the SUV” said Karla helpfully.

“Ah. But—wait—dinosaurs?”

“Told you dude—whole fucking state is filled with them—happened about two hours ago. Half the state has already been trashed—other half looks like its going to be trashed. Me and Karla are bugging out while we still got the chance.”

Erikka walked to the rear of the SUV and opened the door and stowed her and Karla’s guns. James—who was tagging behind her like a lost dog—saw that the truck of the SUV was jam packed with canned food, bottled water and what looked like half the contents of a gun shop.

Moving to the back doors of the SUV, Erikka pulled out a small baby seat—on which rested an equally small child—no more than a year old, at least to James’ less than expert opinion on such matters. The child was gurgling and looked half asleep.

“How’s the widdly little Raymond doing?” said Erikka, wiggling her finger in front of the child.

“Hrumph…cute kid..”, said James.

“We’re very proud of him” said Karla, grinning like a …well…a proud mom.

Wonder which one is the mom? wondered James.

James did a double take when he noticed a sticker hanging on the rear window of the SUV (next to the ‘Baby on Board’ one).

It was a pink triangle. On the triangle was the silhouette of a person firing a handgun. Directly under the triangle was the caption ‘Pink Pistols: Pick on someone your own calibre”

James—like every other person in California—had heard of the Pink Pistols. If politics make strange bedfellows, then the Pink Pistols managed to combine the two ultimate strange bedfellows—pro-gun rights and pro-gay rights—into one group that managed to simultaneously piss off everybody.

This day is just getting weirder by the minute, huh, James…?

Raymond looked like he was having a bad day and just sat there in Erikka’s arms, looking vaguely annoyed and mildly depressed.

“What’s the matter, fellow—not feeling too good?…” said James, as he waggled his finger in front of the little kid.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were—“ , began Karla—just as Raymond bit down on James’ finger.

James pulled his finger away, screaming.

“Goddamn little bastard has a mouthful of teeth!” yelled James, cradling what he was sure was a nearly severed finger.

Raymond glanced up at James---and smiled, gurgling contently. Karla and Erikka glanced down at Raymond with wide eyed disbelief—glancing back and forth between him and James several times. Karla and Erikka looked at each other and grinned.

“He made Ray smile.”

“Yes he did”

“Damn freak may actually be useful after all.”

“Uh—am I missing something here—“, began James, as suddenly Erikka thrust Raymond into his arms.

James held the baby in much the same way as a man would hold a suspicious brown paper wrapped package that is ticking ominously.

Raymond just looked up at James—and grinned.

Shifting position, he lay his head on James’ shoulder—and fell asleep a moment later, gurgling contently.

“Hmmm—looks like we found out what you’re good at.”, said Erikka, grinning.

“Now hang on—I didn’t sign up to be a freaking nanny!”

“Too bad”, said Erikka, “Cause if you did, this means that we won’t dump you off in Fairfield to fend for yourself.”

“Allow me to clarify my statement—when I said I won’t be a nanny, I was using post modern irony there and what I meant to say was I would LOVE to be a nanny.”

“Good—now get your skinny white ass into the back seat.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“The mountains—away from all this crazy dinosaur shit.”

A few moments later, the SUV pulled away.

Great—I’m going on a road trip as a nanny to the evil psychotic child of a heavily armed survivalist militia lesbian couple across a devastated post-apocalyptic California filled with killer dinosaurs thought James.

Mom told me there’ll be days like this….

Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 – Approx. seven miles outside Crenshaw, Mississippi - About halfway between the Davies Family Home and Pleasant Grove

Sion had been walking for nearly two hours in the dark when he realized that there was something else in the forest with him—something very, very big.

When the sun had set about half an hour after he set out for Pleasant Grove, he was initially very scared. Walking that four miles in daylight could be a bit dangerous, with all the small winding roads, kudzu vines that could trip him if he wasn’t looking carefully and even the occasional bobcat or coyote that could show up.

In the dark—it was downright scary.

Fortunately there was a small but powerful mag-light in the gun kit that daddy used to check the insides of gun barrels and stuff. It wasn’t as strong as some of the flashlights daddy had at home but it did the job. And when the nearly full moon rose about an hour and half later—well, he had more than enough light to see where he was going then. As for the critters—90% of the time they were more scared of him than he was of them-and if he met that other 10%, he had his flashlight and his gun to scare them off.

It was also a good feeling for him to look up and see all the familiar constellations.

For a few scary moments before nightfall, he had the crazy idea that it had not been daddy and mommy that were taken away but that he was the one who had been taken away to…someplace else.

But now he knew--he was still ‘home’. He still wasn’t sure what had happened but he was still in Mississippi and it was still the year 2008.

He took comfort in that.

Now if only he could do something about the darn mosquitoes!

Sion suddenly came to a stop.

There was something…wrong…with the road ahead.

Scanning his light back and forth in front of him, he became—if anything—more confused.

On his right were some woods. There was a…hole…in one section of the woods, where numerous branches, bushes and even the occasional tree itself were pushed or torn apart.

The ever present kudzu that grew on the side of the road was gone as well—torn up completely. No—not torn up, noticed Sion, as he focused his light on it for a few extra seconds. It looked like the kudzu was….mulched?

But that was not all.

The road directly in front of him had been torn up – like the way a pick-up truck messes up a road right after a rain, thought Sion

And to his left….

The same thing.

The kudzu was mulched and there was yet another hole in the woods.

It was as if the biggest pick-up truck in the world drove right out of the woods on his right, cut across the road and then kept driving right into the woods on his left.

There was only one problem with that.

While there were tracks on the road in front of him, they weren’t tire tracks….

Sion took a few extra steps forward.

There were…footprints.

Dad had bought him ‘The Ultimate Guide to Animal Footprints’ for his birthday last year and he had spent hours going over that book and studying it.

These footprints looked a bit like…

Camel footprints?

Sion used his foot to measure their size.

TWO of his feet end to end were the size of just one of the footprints!

That’s a REALLY big…camel?…..

Sion glanced around, holding the rifle in his sweaty nervous hands.

OK—Sion—relax—it’s not here now. And it looks like it only eats plants. So you’ll be okay, right?

Uh-huh—and horses and bulls only eat plants and how many people get hurt by those animals every year?

Taking a deep breath, Sion marched forward—walking just a little bit faster than he did before.

Sion was muttering under his breath – so low that even he wasn’t aware that he was saying it— three words over and over again—like a mantra.

Or a prayer.

…don’t be scared….don’t be scared…don’t be scared….don’t be….

Sion was on Owens Road and about a quarter of a mile away from highway 315—which would take him straight towards Pleasant Grove—when he heard screaming coming from the woods to his left.

A little boy screaming…..

Sion—without thinking—ran into the woods, the kudzu vines on the ground nearly tripping him as he did.

A few seconds later he ran into a clearing to see…

A boy—a bit younger than him, a bit overweight and wearing what looked like very nice—and expensive—clothes.

He was screaming and yelling at something in front of him—to Sion’s left.

Sion turned to look---and actually felt his jaw drop.

The…creature…was big. As long as a pick-up truck—maybe even a bit longer. It stood on two legs and had two short arms with small five fingered hands. It had a long tail. And its head…

It had what looked like a huge dome on its head—made out of…bone? It had a ring of scary looking sharp spikes all around the dome and a few more sticking straight up on the tip of its nose.

It was easily twice as high as Sion.

Sion… blinked.

He’s seen this before. Daddy got him a book for his sixth birthday – the Guide To Dinosaurs And Other Prehistoric Animals. The…dinosaur…in front of him was a …

The boy screamed again—but now he was yelling something…

“You don’t scare me! I’m freaking Master Chief, man! You can’t mess with me! I’ll kill you! Yeah! Yeah! Come on, you ugly turd! Go ahead! C’mon!”

The boy screamed again—this time jumping up and down, waving his arms and then actually running a few feet towards the dinosaur.

The dinosaur reared up—and then noticed Sion for the first time. The dinosaur bellowed like a fog horn for a few seconds and turned and ran back into the woods towards the north.

The boy turned and noticed Sion for the first time.

"Ha! You see that! I'm the best! I scared off a freaking T-Rex!”

“Ummm--that wasn't a T-Rex”

“Oh yeah? Well--it was probably one of those....ummmm...raptors! Like in Jurassic Park! Yeah! And I scared it off all by myself! Yeah--I'm the best! I’m like…freaking Master Chief from Halo! Yeah!”

“Actually that wasn't a raptor either...”

“Oh yeah? Well it was probably one of those other meat eater things...”

“Actually that kind only ate plants. That was a Pachy…uh…Pachy…cephalo…saurus. I think…”

The boy looked at Sion with a vaguely disgusted look on his face.

“What are you—a freaking dino expert or something?”

“Read all kinds of books on dinosaurs that my daddy got me for my birthday—so I guess I would be an expert.”

“Books? Your dad buys you books for your birthday?”

“Yeah—and what’s Halo? And who’s Master Chief?”

The boy gave Sion a look of utter confusion.

“You’ve never played Halo? Never?”

Sion shook his head.

The boy looked up at the sky as if he was calling out to the Heavens.

“Oh God—I’m in freaking inbred hillbilly redneck land!”

Sion narrowed his eyes. The boy became suddenly aware that Sion was holding a rifle and took a step back.

“You are a very rude person,” said Sion, “And I don’t like all the cussing you’re doing. And I really don’t like being called an inbred hillbilly redneck. Now I’m going to go to the volunteer fire station that’s just a mile or so away from here to get help. Now you can come with me or you can stay here. If you come with me you best behave yourself.”

“Ummm…okay.”

The two of them walked down the road again, towards the highway.

“My name is Sion Davies. What’s your name?”

The boy straightened his back and announced his name using the same tone of voice a King would.

“My name is Jay Garrity Romney. The Third. Of the Boston Romneys.”

Sion sighed and glanced up at the sky.

Lord—give me strength….

On to Chapter 10

Please Comment In The Discussion Forum

Hit Counter