The Dinosaur Four (6 page)

Lisa crossed her arms
. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Through a mouthful of dough, Morgan said, “I’ll pay you back later.”

William placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “We’ll need to share whatever supplies we have here, don’t you think?” She looked down and her scowl faded. William continued, “Since we don’t have any power, why don’t you and Beth see if you can figure out what will spoil? We’ll eat those things first.”

Callie’s mouth dropped.
Barely an hour had passed and William was suggesting they might be trapped here long enough for food to spoil. She shuddered.

Beth took Lisa by the arm. “That will mostly be the milk.
Come on boss, let’s take inventory.”

Helen
remained at the open side wall and watched the giant creatures on the far bank. They made little noise as they milled about. Their hides were various shades of green, one so dark it looked iridescent. A short layer of furry down covered its back and shimmered in the breeze. Every so often, it rose up on its hind legs to look around, like a meerkat on the savannah.

“Dinosaurs
,” the old woman said after a long while. “Goddamn dinosaurs.”

Beth joined
William and Tim near the front windows. Until the herd wandered away, they were trapped. From inside the café, they could not see out onto their side of the river. Both walls facing in that direction were windowless. They took turns leaning out the front and craning to the right so they could watch the closest dinosaurs.

Their size astounded
Beth. One of the larger ones rolled in the mud not too far from the building. Its motion shook the earth. When it rose, a thick layer of brown mud coated its back and flanks. “It’s taking a mudbath,” Beth whispered over her shoulder.

“That probably
keeps the insects off,” William said.

“
Some of them maybe,” Beth noted. A swarm still buzzed around the creature’s head.

William
put his hand on Tim’s shoulder. “Hey, man. I think you saved my life out there. Thank you.”

Tim nodded.
“You were just trying to do the same for Patricia.”

Beth
divided her attention between the conversations inside and the giants outside. Of all the people in the café, William seemed the most real. Free of bullshit. He was probably a good father, she thought with a pang of jealousy. He seemed like the sort of guy you would want watching out for you.

A racket came from inside and Beth pulled her head back in the window.
Hank stood in the center of the seating area, picking up fallen chairs and trying to put the room back in order. “What the hell was that woman thinking? That’s what I want to know. That was stupid.”

Beth looked over at Callie. Hank seemed like a bully
. He made Beth nervous. Callie looked annoyed, but kept quiet about it. Beth didn’t blame her.

Morgan had finished his bear claw and moved on to a slice of coffee cake. “
Why does he get to call her stupid? Stupid is way worse than bitch.”

Callie held up a hand. “Morgan, shut up.”

Beth leaned back out the window for one last look around the corner. The muddy hadrosaur walked over to the river near Patricia’s lone boot and took a long drink. It relieved itself at the same time, spraying a stream of wet feces onto the ground behind it.

Beth
stepped away from the corner. “Hey Tim. Your turn, man.”

“I never saw anyone die before,” William said
quietly. “That was rough.”

Tim moved over to the window. “When I was a kid, m
y dad used to take me to the rodeo every January. We stopped going after a rider got gored by a bull right in front of us. It ran around in circles with the poor bastard impaled on its head.” He leaned outside and peered around the wall.

Lisa spoke up. “At least the rodeo guy knew what he was getting into. Patricia was just a woman buying a cup of coffee.” She looked ashen, even in the dim light.

She feels responsible for what’s happening,
Beth thought.
It’s her store.

Lisa glared at Hank.
“And she may not have been very smart, but that doesn’t mean she deserved to die.” She shivered and rubbed her arms. Al picked up his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“
What are we going to do about her body?” asked Helen. She had returned to her seat on the orange couch. “We can’t leave her out there. Rats will get at her.”

“Have rats even been invented yet?” asked Morgan.

“Evolved,” corrected Hank. “And what do you propose we do with her, Ma’am?”

Helen
frowned. “Well, don’t you think she needs a proper burial?”

Hank count
ed off on his fingers. “One, I don’t have a shovel. Two, those things out there don’t respond so well to the sight of people. Three, they don’t look like they are going anywhere any time soon. And four, she’s half buried already. I know you didn’t see what happened, but that woman was stomped so deep into the mud I don’t think we could move her if we tried.”

Beth
nudged William and mouthed quietly, “So angry.” William winked at her.

“What about the smell?” asked Al. “If we leave that body out there, it might attract something worse.”

“I don’t know how it could be much worse,” Morgan said. “That bastard was fast.”

William nodded. “Hippos are the same way. They look slow and fat, but they are actually the most dangerous animals in
Africa. Not the lions or tigers, like everyone thinks.”

Beth looked at him with wide eyes.
“Wow, that’s a helpful piece of information, mister. Do you go to the zoo a lot or do you watch the nature channels?” She peeled open a chocolate almond biscotti she had swiped earlier from the back counter.

William smiled. “
You
are
a sassy one.” She gave him a wink and he went on to explain, “My boys used to love going to the zoo.”

“You sound like a good dad,” Beth said, chewing.

“Didn’t your old man ever take you to the zoo?”

“
Nah. My asshat father went to prison for insurance fraud. That’s why I’m working now instead of college. But I’m saving up. In a couple of years I’m going to film school.”

“Oh, you want to be a movie star?” William smiled.

“Screw that. I want to be a director. I want to make blockbus-”

“Shhh!” Tim hissed. He
shoved William and Beth away from the front. “One of them is coming.”

Al pulled Lisa close. They were once again huddled in a circle on the floor behind the counter.
Al’s heart raced. He snaked his arm further around her, feeling the weight of her breast against his wrist. Sitting with his arm around Lisa Danser was more unbelievable than finding himself millions of years in the past. He shifted as he felt himself growing aroused and hoped she did not notice. She rested her head against his shoulder and Al lowered his face into her hair, breathing in the scent of her.
Unbelievable
.

“What’s happening?” Hank whispered.

William leaned around the counter, looking out front. He spoke softly back toward the others. “It’s sniffing around. Its head is just inside the room.”

The
animal snorted. The sound filled the space and Al felt the air move all the way in the back of the café.

“Somebody do something,” whispered
Helen.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” Hank answered.

William turned to face the group. “I think it’s leaving. It pulled back outside.”

The building rumbled. Lisa let out a scream and Al squeezed her. The vibration continued, as if someone was operating a jackhammer
in the room upstairs. Plaster dust fell from the ceiling.

“What’s going on?” demanded Hank.

William took another peek and then put his hands up. “It’s okay,” he told the group. She’s just scratching herself.”

“She? What, did you get a look at her titties?” Morgan craned his neck.

The building continued to shake. “She’s rubbing her belly on the front corner,” William said.

Al rose to look for himself. He peered over the counter. Several others joined him, including Lisa.
The wall of bookshelves on the right blocked most of their view. At the end of the wall, one muddy paw hung in front of the window as the hadrosaur scratched against the corner.

The shaking stopped and suddenly the building was jolted to the left. Al steadied Lisa.

The dinosaur out front dropped back down to all fours, her head visible through the window again. The wattled face of the alpha appeared, nipping the back of the female’s muddy neck. She jerked away and they both disappeared from view. The alpha bleated a low, stuttery warning.

“I think that’s the only male,” William said. “That’s why I called the other one a ‘she.’ He’s got a harem.”

The alpha reappeared at the front window.

“Down!” William whispered. They all dropped back behind the counter again. “He’s looking for us. Keep your voices down.”

“Why is this happening?” asked Helen.

“Ma
ybe the world was about to end,” Beth said. “You know, back in the present. We all got saved by aliens. They sent us back in time so someone would survive.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Beth,
you have made up a lot of weird stuff, but that might be the winner.”

“Hey, now,” said William. “Maybe it’s true and maybe it isn’t. Right now we don’t know anything. Any ideas could be helpful. Even if they are wrong
. They might spark other ideas.”

Hank
leaned in to the group. “Here’s an idea. I think that as soon as those dinos are gone, we should get the hell out of here. Remember what the girl said earlier? There might be other groups like us. This may not be an isolated event. It could have happened everywhere, for all we know. We have to look for others and try to group up.”

Al wondered what would happen if they joined another group. “This is our only shelter. There’s food here, and tools.” In the back of his mind, he
wasn’t sure he wanted to find anyone else. He knew where he stood with everyone in the café.

“This shelter is going to get knocked into the river if it takes many more hits like that,” Hank said.

Helen squeezed the handles on her purse. “Do you know how long it took me to walk two blocks from the parking lot? You can’t really expect me to go traipsing off through the jungle with you.”

Callie prodded. “You said
Lawrence used to take you hiking all over the place on his hunting trips.”

“Young woman, my days
of hiking died with Lawrence a long time ago.” She pursed her lips and shook her head at Hank. “I am not leaving this café. Whoever sent us here will surely try to bring us back. I intend to be right here when that happens.”

Al
wondered if the old woman might be on to something. If the group wandered away, they might miss out on a chance to get back home. Back to their normal lives.

Hank
looked at Helen. “Those things don’t seem to be going anywhere. At this rate, we might be trapped in here for a while, no matter what we want to do.” He turned to Lisa. “How many more muffins do you have stashed away?”

“Not enough.”

“That’s great,” Morgan said. “You can add starvation to our list of problems.”

Beth chuckled. “Morgan, you don’t need to worry about
starving. You’re gonna piss off someone and get thrown into the river long before that point.”

“I might jump in the river myself if I have to sit huddled back here with all of you much longer. Is it still out there?” They had not heard anything for several minutes.

William leaned around the counter. “Let me have a look.” He stood and crept out into the room. A moment later, he told them the coast was clear.

As Al rose to his feet,
Beth placed her hand on his arm. “Hey. That was a pretty cool thing you did earlier, saving my boss.”

Al felt his heart speed up.
Normally, Beth would not give him the time of day. She was out of his league. To be fair, Lisa was out of his league as well. But Beth was far too cute to even talk with someone like him. Now she was holding onto his arm, right in front of everyone.

“Um, thanks,” Al said.
He wondered how old Beth was. Her face was perfectly smooth, without a hint of a wrinkle.

Beth smiled, gave his arm a squeeze, and let go.

Al felt scared, but he also felt excited.
Attention from two babes in one day.
He wondered how much he really wanted to go back to his normal life.

Thick chunks of white
skin hung from the bricks where the hadrosaur cow had scratched herself. The stink of vinegar and rotten vegetation filled the room. Lisa felt a gag in her throat. Morgan walked over and pulled a piece of skin from the bricks.