Volume 7: Copal
Issue 6: Hell Let Loose
Florian Reyes Honeywell
By Roach
The Triceratops bellowed as it charged ahead, emitting a deep rumble from its chest—drowning out any other sound. I lay on the ground, shrouded in dust from the shattered wall. I glanced at Jay, who breathed hard next to me. They met my gaze with their own wide-eyed stare. Although the moment only lasted a split second, it seemed like whole minutes went by before either of us could react.
The floor shook under the Triceratops’ stomping feet. Rows of tacky souvenir mugs and snow globes started to rattle on the shelves ahead, before the animal had even reached them. Once it did, the Triceratops rammed through the shelf with the ease of a wrecking ball—flinging splintered wood and broken glass in its wake.
As it skidded into the refrigerators of water bottles, sodas, and energy drinks, the Triceratops let out another moan and swung its massive head back and forth. Its horns ripped through the glass doors.
Crawling on my hands and knees, I quickly scrambled to the nearest intact shelf. Jay followed, hunching down next to me. Together, in a sort of unspoken agreement, we started to crouch alongside the rows of shelves. While the displays of dinosaur plushies made for a terrible cover, it somehow still seemed better than lying on the floor.
While the Triceratops kept huffing and bellowing as it trashed the shelves behind us, I glanced back at the hole it had left behind in the wall. If the Triceratops was in here… If it had bypassed the force field… What the hell was happening outside?
But, as I tried to see through the hole, the settling dust and debris blocked my view of the world outside. Instead, I spotted the basket Daniel had been carrying. Now, it lay on the floor.
But where was Daniel?
Shrieking sounded somewhere between the smashing. Unable to distinguish where it was coming from—Daniel, the cashiers, or both—I instinctively reached for the swarm.
As I did, my nausea from before welled through me again. I read the swarms’ pheromones; their signals were distorted, confused. When I tried to seize control of them, it was like pulling the broken strings of a marionette. They were directionless, sizzling with fury. All I could do was use my own signals to mute their anger.
I didn’t understand what, or how, but something had affected the swarm—simultaneously provoking them while also dulling their senses. I wasn’t entirely sure what I would have done, especially without anyone else’s notice. Maybe I could try to distract the Triceratops somehow—but even if I had wanted to wield the swarm, I simply couldn’t.
Something was very wrong. But—as more shelves toppled over and I heard the spinning feet of the Triceratops skid across the floor—there was no time to figure out what. We had to get out.
“This way!” a voice shouted.
Jay and I both turned to look in the direction of the voice, and—cowering near the wall opposite of us—stood Daniel. A wave of relief washed through me as I realized that he hadn’t become part of the rubble around us. When the Triceratops had smashed through the wall, he must have leaped for cover. He waved his arms in the air, pointing to a flickering, green exit sign just behind him.
But my relief was short-lived, as the thrashing continued around us. I could still hear yelling, although fainter now; wherever the store employees had gone, they were out of my sight. Meanwhile, the Triceratops barrelled through the gift shop—the sound of shattering glass and splintering wood growing closer.
I exchanged one look with Jay, before we both bolted toward Daniel. A loud smash boomed behind us. I tossed one look over my shoulder, just to see the shelf we had been hiding behind slide across the floor. For a brief moment, it looked like it moved on its own accord—that is, until the Triceratops came into view. Its huge, almost hippo-like body shoved the shelf as if it weighed little more than a sheet of paper. Then, in a single motion, it swung its head and flung the entire display into the wall. Magnets and mugs scattered in every direction.
I ran harder. Jay, gasping for air, followed just at my heels. As the Triceratops thrashed the shelves behind us, the swarm bristled and writhed inside me. While my panic rose, it became harder to restrain them, and a buzz started to reverberate through my body.
I focused on Daniel ahead of us, who waved his arms harder—as if the gesture could somehow help us go faster. Within moments, we sprinted to his corner of the gift shop.
Another crash sounded from behind us. I glanced over my shoulder as the Triceratops slammed through another wall. Its huge figure then disappeared into the bathroom stalls. As I heard more shattering followed by a spray of leaking water, all I could do was hope that no one had been in there.
“Go! Go! Go!” Daniel yelled. Even now, I could hear the Albatross intensity in his voice.
I let Jay pass through first, followed by Daniel, before we headed outside again.
At first, we ran without any sense of direction. As the sounds of the Triceratops demolishing the gift shop continued behind us, we came to a halt on the treeline.
“What the hell…” Jay heaved for air before finishing, “…is going on?”
I didn’t have an answer for them except that everything seemed to be going wrong. The entire herd of Triceratops—peaceful just a few minutes ago—now rampaged through the clearing. Two of them charged through the trees as they headed toward the Expedition Center on top of the hill, where Archean had said we would be going for lunch soon. The gift shop had been reduced to a skeleton of planks and rubble. Adding to the chaos, a new cacophony of unfamiliar animal calls, cries, roars and—more troublingly—a staccato of explosions sounded all around us.
As I surveyed the scene, I didn’t see many people around. A few of the Refuge’s employees had scattered, now running away from the rampaging dinosaurs. But there was no sign of our classmates or Archean.
“What’s the game plan?” Daniel asked. While he didn’t appear as out of breath as Jay, I detected a slight shake to his otherwise deep voice.
As the swarm continued to write through my insides, I tightened my hold on them. My control over them still felt shaky, and I realized that—whatever plan we came up with—I had to manage without them.
And, as I watched a Triceratops smash through the walls of the bathrooms, I couldn’t help but wonder… Whatever was affecting the dinosaurs, could it be getting to the swarm as well? While Jay and Daniel definitely seemed on edge, they hadn’t said anything about feeling physically unwell. Was I the only one who had felt nauseous? Was it because of the swarm, and whatever had set off the Triceratops herd?
The Triceratops we had encountered in the gift shop now charged out from the remains of the building, continuing through the clearing. It darted past a tall gingko tree before crashing into another building. When I spotted the tree, a sudden sense of déjà vu struck me. The tree looked oddly familiar—not just the species, but the tree itself. I had definitely seen it before; its height, the manicured look of the leaves, and the curves and twists of its branches—it was all so familiar. But, the last time I saw it, it hadn’t been in the clearing between the portable buildings. No, how I remembered it, the clearing had been empty just minutes before. And, as for the tree? It had been at Chapel High.
It was Camilo’s good luck gingko.
“Wait here,” I said to Jay and Daniel. “I’m gonna check something out.”
“Okay,” Jay said. But, when I started toward the clearing, Daniel caught up to me.
“Bro, what are you doing?” he said.
“I said wait,” I hissed back.
His unflinching stare took me by surprise. “We need to stick together,” he said. “Have you ever seen a horror movie? If we split up, it’s not gonna end well.”
I nearly rolled my eyes. There was no easy way to explain that I was almost certain that the gingko tree was one of Camilo’s illusions, meaning that my friend was most likely hiding near it. Not to mention that my odds going into a herd of rampaging dinosaurs were better than theirs, simply because I wasn’t all flesh and blood. That didn’t necessarily mean that I could measure up against a Triceratops, but I’d rather put myself at risk than Daniel or Jay.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I looked between the two of them. “I think I saw someone hiding behind that tree.” I pointed to the gingko. “I’m going to check it out.” It was the best explanation I could offer them.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Jay said, but the usual hostility in their tone had been replaced by exhaustion. When they crossed their arms over their chest, they shrunk back—somehow appearing smaller.
“I thought…” I paused, articulating something close to the truth in my mind. “I thought it looked like Camilo.”
Jay’s icy stare swept over me, but they didn’t say anything else when I turned away again. I surveyed the portable buildings and the surrounding area. The Triceratops herd had scattered around us: a few were closing in on the Expedition Center, while others continued to rummage through the ruins of the gift shop. Huge flying creatures swept across the sky, an orchestra of screeching sounding above us.
Yet, for a brief window, a clear route appeared between us and the ginkgo tree.
I didn’t hesitate as I launched myself into a sprint. Daniel followed suit, and caught up to me within a heartbeat. Although the swarm’s alterations to my body allowed me more endurance than the average person, I was still no match for an athlete—and the football player quickly surpassed me. Another set of footsteps trailed after us, as Jay followed just behind.
As we ran, I kept looking back and forth—watching out for any stray Triceratops. Their heavy steps thumped all around us, but none had come our way yet. Still, a part of me wished I could disperse the swarm across the area, to get a better overview of what was going on. I quelled their restless buzz within me.
Daniel reached the tree first, quickly followed by Jay and I.
“Bro, get out of here!” Daniel said before I could see who he was talking to.
I rounded the trunk, and—to my relief—I saw Camilo, Amber, Hannah, and Lucy cowering behind it. For a moment, Camilo didn’t even seem to register me. Instead, his brows furrowed in deep concentration. At the same time, Amber stared at me with eyes wide in shock. Lucy’s face had reddened with tears, while Hannah’s gaze darted around restlessly—surveying the chaos around us.
“Where’s everyone?” I said, not really sure who I was referring to—Archean, Mrs. Porter, Holly, anyone who would know what to do.
Jay—who seemed to have someone more specific in mind—added, “What about Gabriel? Ellie?”
Camilo shook his head weakly. “I… I don’t know.” His voice sounded distant somehow, and I couldn’t be sure if he had really heard the question.
“Have you seen Jazmine?” Amber said.
“No…” I trailed off. If we hadn’t seen anyone, I could only hope that was a good sign… That they had gotten away.
“We need to get out of here,” Hannah said. Her voice had an unfamiliar harshness to it. “We don’t have time to look for everyone.”
Around us, the Triceratops herd was still moving erratically. As I took stock of our surroundings again, I noticed that the herd—although scattered—appeared to be drifting in the general direction of the hill and the Expedition Center. That, however, didn’t stop them from demolishing everything and anything that crossed their path.
“Let’s look for Archean,” I said. It seemed safer than staying here, especially if the Triceratops turned back around. When I had seen him last, he had ridden one of his dinosaurs down an offshoot of the main path. Which also happened to be the opposite direction of the Triceratops’ current whereabouts.
We took this as a sign. Together, the seven of us scurried away from the gingko and back the way we had come from. I ran side by side with Camilo and Amber. Although Camilo still appeared deep in thought, I exchanged a look with Amber. She bit her lower lip, while her green eyes brimmed with fear. I wanted to tell them about the swarm’s behavior, about my nausea. I wanted to ask them what they thought it meant, but knew this wasn’t the time or place.
Just as we approached the path Archean had gone down, I threw another glance over my shoulder. The gingko tree was still standing, but had grown fainter—Camilo still seemingly struggling to keep up its façade.
Once we were all on the path again, we slowed to a half-jog but continued with a steady pace. Although the Triceratops weren’t in immediate range, they were still too close for comfort. I didn’t want to wait around to find out what they were capable of, especially if they decided to turn around again.
That noise… The Queen winced. I felt her clumsy writhing from her nest inside my liver. It’s getting worse.
Aside from the screeching pterosaurs above us and distressed calls from all around, I still couldn’t figure out what noise she was referring to. Instead, my insides twisted with the same nausea as before.
I turned to Amber. “Do you feel that?” I said, my voice falling to a hush.
She scrunched up her face in a puzzled look. “Feel what?”
I shook my head, not sure what I could say without sounding suspicious to any of our classmates. “Probably nothing,” I muttered. But, as I said it, I locked my eyes with her for an uncomfortably long pause—hoping she could tell that it wasn’t nothing. She gave a solemn nod, as if maybe she understood.
Something flickered in the sky. For a second, I thought maybe the force field was coming back—but this light was something much more different. We all came to a simultaneous halt.
A ribbon of orange light flashed far above us. For a moment, the brilliant, electrifying threads hung below the clouds, as they continued to drift further away.
The strange light continued to float toward the silhouette of a pterosaur. Then, with a sudden bang, the flying creature collided into it. I shrunk back as the ribbon burst into an explosion. The closest I had seen to anything like it was fireworks—except this explosion was much louder, and the strange light faded away like ripples in water.
Although the pterosaur was too far away to see properly, I could make out its wings flapping helplessly as it started to fall. It plummeted toward a cluster of trees.
For a moment, we were all silent. Lucy was the first to speak. “What the fuck is happening?” Her voice trembled.
No one responded. Exchanging glances with one another, we headed toward the treeline. Now, crouching along the edge of the redwoods, we looked over the scene unfolding before us.
Down the path we had been following, I spotted Archean. Rather, I saw his Spinosaurus first—one of his signature fossils. Archean sat on the space in front of the huge fan on its back, holding onto its neck as the giant animal charged ahead. The ground shook with each of its titanic steps. Standing at about the same height as Edmontosaurus, the Spinosaurus had a large, crocodilian head—a mouth long enough that I could have laid down inside of it and still fit. The mossy green dinosaur snapped its jaws in the air, showing off a large set of teeth that were terrifying even from a distance.
Then, I saw what the dinosaur was snapping at. Three figures faced Archean and his Spinosaurus.
The man in the middle drew my attention immediately. A metal helmet, canine in its shape, cloaked his head. He wore camo clothes underneath a kevlar vest, while what looked like a stumpy shotgun rested in his hands. The two figures flanking him wore similar outfits, albeit with ski masks rather than a stylized helmet. The one to the left had large tears scattered throughout his clothes.
Although I didn’t recognize any of them, I felt like I should. The guy in the dog mask definitely had the look of a villain.
But it was the man to the left who charged toward the Spinosaurus. Spit flew from the Spinosaurus’ mouth as it greeted him with a roar. The man didn’t flinch, instead continuing on his trajectory straight ahead. At the same time, white points extended from his skin—tearing new holes through his clothes. At first, I thought maybe they were additional limbs. But when they slashed at the Spinosaurus’ feet, I realized that they were unflexing and solid—looking more and more like sharp, malformed bones as they grew from his body.
The bone-like appendages didn’t do much against the Spinosaurus’ thick skin. Instead, they snapped on impact. In turn, the Spinosaurus spun around—driving its thick tail into the man’s stomach. It flung him into the air. As the Spinosaurus flicked the man away, new white points emerged from his body—growing around him like a protective ball, before he slammed into the ground. The white ball cracked open, and the man crawled out of it.
At the same time, the figure on the right reached out her palms. Threads of orange light formed between her hands—like a game of cat’s cradle. Then, with a flick of both her wrists, she released the light from her hands. As threads of light rushed through the air, they started to grow–taking on the ribbon-like shape we had seen in the sky before.
Archean steered his Spinosaurus to the left. The air crackled around them as the ribbon of light flew past. Just then, I realized that it was on its way toward us.
“Move!” Hannah’s shout seemed to break us all free from our entranced staring.
With rampaging Triceratops in one direction and a powerfight in the other, there was a shortage of escape routes. Left with little choice, I spun around and sprinted into the trees. As we turned to the redwoods, a gunshot sounded behind us. I glanced back, just in time to catch a glimpse of the man in the dog mask running away from the Spinosaurus. While pointing his gun back at the dinosaur, Archean now charged after him.
I didn’t see much else before something boomed above us, followed by a flash of light bursting into sparks. Surprised and panicked screams spread through our small group. The crown of a sequoia had caught the ribbon of light, and splinters from branches and trunks now rained down on us.
The sound of explosions continued behind us as we maneuvered between the trees. I leaped over roots and fallen branches, only slowed by the ocean of ferns around us. Lucy, Jay, and Camilo made up the back of our group. Daniel and I ran a few paces ahead of the rest, while Hannah and Amber followed just behind us.
I didn’t know how long we had been running—ferns and branches whipping against our arms and ankles—before Daniel started to run out of breath. At that point, the rest of my classmates had already been panting behind us for a while. Now, we collectively began to slow down. My nausea had started to ebb away as we put more distance between ourselves and the powerfight. But, even if we were deep enough into the woods that the canopy blocked out most sunlight, I could still hear explosions and see the occasional flash of light filter through the redwoods’ needles above.
As we slowed down to a half-jog, I heard Jay mutter, “Where are we?”
Just as we rounded another large tree trunk, something rustled between the ferns. We all froze, like deer caught in headlights. Among the green fronds, I glimpsed a flurry of black and brown feathers. Then, a familiar, prickling stare met my gaze. The bright yellow eyes of a Dakotaraptor had locked onto me.
I took a careful step back. But, it was faster. In an instant, the raptor had cleared the distance between us. Its jaws of curved fangs opened up before me, and the creature lunged for my throat.