Collision
“Scientists say this animal species hasn’t been seen before.”
“Like… ever?”
“That’s what they’re saying. Though they do say it resembles a creature that was alive during the Cretaceous Period.”
Brenda brushed mascara over her lashes and then glanced over to the TV screen and chuckled. “Cretaceous? Not likely.”
“That’s about a million years ago.”
“Try sixty-six million years,” Brenda said as she placed her mascara on the marble counter and pulled lipstick out of the drawer.
“And it was just wandering around Central Park?”
“Actually, it was… Folks, this next part might be disturbing, so those of you with weak stomachs or a love of animals may want to change the channel.”
Brenda paused as she turned her focus fully on the live broadcast.
“It was eating a dog.”
She examined the station to see if she’d somehow changed it to some nutso program. Nope, these morning news people were a bit dramatic, but this was a legit news network.
“The dog was leashed, but the leash was cut, and the owner has yet to be located.”
“Wait! The owner is missing?”
“Apparently. When the police contacted the owner’s employer, she said he’d missed work that very evening. They have yet to locate him.”
“Do they think he was attacked by this animal?”
“It’s unclear, but one witness in the park was able to record something on their cell phone. Once again, I must warn viewers that the following may be disturbing for some audiences.”
Brenda gaped at the screen as her open lipstick container clattered into the bathroom sink. When her cell phone rang, she jumped out of her skin. Looking down at the screen, she swore. Swiping the phone, she put it to her ear and said, “I bet you think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”
“I do have the highest IQ on this continent,” a deep, warm voice answered. “Oh, and it’s nice to hear your voice too, babe.”
“Don’t call me babe.”
“Fine,” he said. “You always were prickly.”
“I’m assuming you called for a reason.”
“You know exactly why I called.”
“How could–”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re terrible at playing dumb. Besides, I can hear the strain in your voice. You heard the reports, and you know what’s happening.”
“You never said anything about–”
“I told you the fabric was beginning to unravel.”
“Unravel? Thomas, there’s a dinosaur in Central Park!”
“We don’t know for sure that’s technically a dinosaur, but yes, I did expect some signs, though the fact the creature is alive is fascinating.”
“So, you think we’re on a collision course.”
“Sort of. It’s more like we’re… overtaking something from a parallel dimension.”
“Overtaking a negative-matter planet.”
“Well,” he sighed, “it may be a bit larger than a planet. I didn’t have enough data for my initial calculations.”
“How much larger are you talking?”
He sighed. “I’d say, you probably ought to quit your job.”
“Hmm, right. Where have I heard this before?”
“I’m just saying—”
“I’m not doing anything until I identify what in the hell that was in Central Park.”
“You think they’ll be asking you to do it?”
“Probably.” As if on cue, her phone vibrated as another call came in. She glanced at the screen. “I’ve got to go.”
“It’s them, isn’t it? Before you hang up, you need to listen to me.”
She disconnected. She really couldn’t handle him right now. Swiping the screen, she pressed the phone to her ear and said, “Hello, Dr. Brenda Moore speaking.”
Less than an hour later, Brenda was deep inside a government facility. Her heart pounded as she stepped into a cool, sterile room. The walls were white, the lights fluorescent; the room nearly blinded her as she entered. The floor was smeared with brown mud tinged with red and it led her to an exam table with a tarped lump. The green canvas rose and fell slightly as the creature hidden beneath the fabric breathed. The animal looked to be smaller than she’d expected, but still large enough to make her cautious. She glanced over at a mirrored window set into a wall. She could feel eyes on her, judging her actions, judging her expertise.
Captain Torres stepped up behind her, a large rifle in his grip. He followed her gaze. “They’re not coming in.”
“What if it wakes up?” Brenda said, turning to him and raising a brow.
He chuckled darkly as he shut the door and the latch clicked into place. “That’s why they’re not coming in.”
Brenda paused just inside the door. She couldn’t help recalling the video captured by the woman in the park, it was dark and the image shaky, but she could see enough to recognize an apex predator devouring its prey. “Are you sure the vet gave it enough sedative?”
“We’re not sure about anything with this animal.”
“Great,” Brenda huffed. “That makes me feel so much better.”
“It is strapped down to the table.”
She shrugged. “At least there’s that.”
Her heart felt like it would pound out of her chest when she reached for the edge of the tarp. Not wanting to take a minute longer than she’d need to, she flung it off the animal and sucked in a breath.
What lay sleeping before her left her speechless for a moment. When she finally spoke, she said, “God, it’s so beautiful!”
“That wouldn’t be the word I’d use, but you’re the expert.”
The animal was about a meter long, with a prominent elongated head, two forearms with three sharp claws on each appendage, and powerful lower legs. Unfortunately, the tail was missing, but still, this creature was an incredible specimen.
She looked down the length of the body to examine it more closely. The upper arms were small but longer in proportion than that of a tyrannosaur. The hind legs were muscular, matching the robust bone structure of a therapod. She couldn’t get over how impressive it was seeing a prehistoric animal in actual flesh and blood. Tufts of feathers sprouted from around the neck, but they were brown instead of the suspected bright colors people were painting them with nowadays. She ran her hand over the creature's feathers. They were as soft as they appeared. As she continued to run her fingers over its body; she was surprised at how warm it felt. She lifted its forearm, and it didn’t resist but was completely pliant.
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking I can shoot fast enough to keep you from losing a limb,” Captain Torres said, the strain clear in his voice.
“This is what I was brought here for.” She shrugged and then turned her attention to the leg and lifted it. It was heavier than expected, but there was no resistance from that limb as well, and she was able to identify the gender.
Female.
When she stroked her fingers down her back, she was careful to stop before coming to the open wound. Strange how it was not still bleeding. “What happened to the tail?”
“We don’t know. Maybe someone hacked it off?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s cut cleanly, even through the bone. It’s like it was sliced with a laser.”
A shuddering breath from the animal had her jumping back. “God!” she breathed as Torres cursed; his rifle shaking as he pointed it at the creature.
“Don’t shoot!” she said stepping between Torres and the animal. “It’s still asleep.”
They stood watching for signs that it was waking, but after a few minutes of peaceful slumber, Brenda stepped forward and continued her examination. The jaw was slack allowing her a good view of the teeth. They were flat, triangular, and serrated, much like the teeth of a great white shark.
“So…” Torres whispered, not lowering his weapon, “the big question everyone wants to know is. What is it?”
She narrowed her eyes, frowning. “I’m pretty sure we’re dealing with a baby Carcharodontosaurus.”
“Karra… what?”
“Carcharodontosaurus. It’s native to northern Africa.”
“Africa? Don’t you mean the Americas?”
“No, if I’m right, this species was only ever found in the old world.”
“Interesting. Wait, did you say baby?”
“Yeah. The size and the downy feathers would suggest that.”
“How big do these things get?”
“Have you seen the Jurassic Park movies?”
He didn’t answer, just gave her a bland look.
“Full grown, it measures about a meter longer from tail to snout than a T-Rex but it’s smaller than a Spinosaurus.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, though without its tail, it’s probably not as agile.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t see the trouble we had capturing it.”
“May I ask—”
“You can ask,” he said interrupting her, “but I may not answer.”
Undaunted, she said, “How did this animal come back after millions of years?”
He huffed, glancing briefly at the one-way mirror. “You know I can’t tell you. It’s classified.”
“Hm.” She raised a brow. “Does it have anything to do with a certain collision with negative matter?”
“Dammit.” Torres shook his head. “Thomas told you.”
“I don’t know why you’re so upset. None of you believed him. I didn’t even believe him.”
“That’s irrelevant. An event of this magnitude should not be broadcast to the general public.”
“I’m not the general public. I’m his wife and a scientist.”
“I thought you two got divorced.”
“We’re separated.”
“You do know he could go to prison for revealing classified information.”
“Right now, I don’t think he cares what you do with him.”
“Torres,” a voice came over the intercom. “We need you—now! Get her out of there.”
“Well, Doctor Moore, looks like we’re done here.”
“Wait! I need to know.”
“Know what?”
“What are they going to do with her?”
“Oh, so it’s a her?”
“Obviously.”
“Like you heard, we’re done here,” he snapped, pushing her toward the door.
“Torres…” she said, turning to face him, her eyes pleading. “Please tell me they’re not going to kill her.”
“It hasn’t been decided yet… but I doubt they will. There’s too much to learn.”
Brenda nodded, immensely relieved.
They weren’t kidding about getting her out of there. Two minutes later, she was being pushed out of the entrance. They’d just closed the door behind her when Thomas stepped around the corner. She looked him up and down and couldn’t help noticing how good he looked. Damn her. It was his fault, though. He’d obviously been working out.
“Finally,” Thomas said, approaching her. “God, you took long enough in there.”
“Excuse me? I was in there for less than thirty minutes, and this is the biggest event—”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “And I would love to talk to you more about it, but we’re running out of time.” He took her elbow and tried to lead her away, but she shook him off.
“What are you even doing here?” she asked.
“Trying to save your butt. I tried to get to you sooner, but they threatened to shoot me.” He dragged his hand through his hair, leaving strands standing on end. He looked like he’d completely lost it.
She covered her face with her hand, “You’re doing it again.”
“What? Trying to save your life or trying to talk sense into people?”
“See, there you go again, thinking you’re the only one that knows the truth. Thinking that everyone else in the world is crazy, and you’re the only sane one.”
“Everyone’s not crazy, they’ve just been living in denial.”
“Whatever, all I hear is you’re right, and they’re wrong.”
“I'm not going to play dumb just to make everyone else happy.” He took a step toward her. “Of all the people in my life, you were the one who should have believed me.”
“How could I when you’re talking crazy?”
“Crazy? Dammit, take a look around you, Bren.”
“What are you talking… about…” her voice trailed off when she heard it, screams in the distance. Several people rounded a corner from behind a brick building across the street, running flat out. They looked, not just panicked, but horrified.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her. This time she didn’t resist. “I’m sorry, Bren, but we’ve got to keep ahead of it. We just need to make it to my car around the corner and down the block.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, as they ran.
“I’ll explain as best I can,” he said, not slowing, “but we don’t have time to go into depth right now.”
“But—”
“Don’t interrupt me.”
“Okay, okay,” she said.
“You already know about the collision.”
She nodded.
“Well, because of it, the world is being torn apart, and I don’t mean that figuratively. There are rips all around us, and those rips are resulting in time… displacements. It’s why there’s a dinosaur here. Time displaced between then and now, resulting in him being brought here—”
“It’s… a her,” she said, panting.
“Okay, well then she was brought here, and a piece of our world sent there, to her time. And this is just the beginning.”
“Right, you told me before, the world is going to end.”
“More or less.”
“And you think you don’t sound crazy?” she said, trying to ignore the crazy things she’d seen herself that day.
“God, you still don’t believe me?”
She shook her head. How could she believe him? Even if he was right, how could she begin to face that kind of reality? Still, denying what was happening in the face of so much evidence… Maybe she was the crazy one.
“You want more proof?” he said, “Look there, on your right.”
She followed his gaze and sucked in a breath, her heart slammed like a battering ram against her chest wall. She only saw it for a moment as they continued to run, but the image was burned into her brain. A body lay on the ground, a woman—at least half of her lay there. It’d looked like she’d been sliced clean in half, her organs spilled onto the sidewalk; her blood pooled and dripped over the edge of a pavement slab as it wetted the grass beside it. A round patch of vines and trees cut a circular shape into the sidewalk at the edge of where she’d lain. It was like a puzzle piece from a jungle scene that was shoved into a cityscape. It looked strange and oh so wrong.
“Do you understand now?” He pulled her along. “It’s happening everywhere. They started out small, but they are growing in size, and becoming more numerous. We need to go home.”
“Then… what?” she said, barely able to speak as she gulped in the air.
“I don’t—"
“No,” she shook her head. “Don’t say you don’t know.” The image of her aging parents came to her mind. They lived states away. What would happen to them? Would they survive? Would she ever see them again? “We have to do something.”
“I’m pretty smart, but even I can’t stop planets from colliding.”
She pulled away from him, breaking his grip. She needed some space. She needed time to process what was happening.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to his side. “Don’t do that!”
She tried to shake him off, but his hand was a vice around her arm. “What’s your problem?”
“Come on Brenda,” he said. “Think about it.”
She thought about the bubbles of time displacement, the dead woman, the man who was walking his dog one moment and the next… The world tilted.
“I’ve got you,” Thomas said as he put his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. “You understand now, I don’t want you to be—”
“Alone,” she breathed, finishing his sentence. Her feet continued to move; her legs felt like wet noodles slapping the pavement beneath her as the world continued to spin.
“Right.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Or we couldn’t end up like…”
“Don’t think like that,” he said, slowing as they approached his car. “We can survive this.” Opening the passenger door, she climbed in.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she put on her seat belt.
“Home.”
“What about my mom and dad? What about your sister?”
“We can’t help them.”
“We can warn them.”
“I’ve already tried. They wouldn’t listen to me.”
“But… but if I call them—”
“Your mom and dad live to the east of us. It’s too late for them. And do you really think Angela will answer your call?”
Brenda pressed her palms into her temples as her head began to throb.
They drove silently for a long time as they attempted to leave New York. Everywhere they went, there was chaos. Buildings, cars, people… The entire city was splattered with patches of lush greenery, flooded streets with dying fish, animals from every stage of evolution, and then she saw... “Is that…? It couldn’t be…”
“Looks like a samurai, no, not samurai, a shi.”
“But they’re not even from this continent.” Then she remembered the baby dinosaur, native to the old world. “How is that possible?”
“It’s complicated,” he said, “but let’s just say, it has to do with the rotation of the earth.”
“So, we could literally end up anywhere?”
“Anywhere along the same latitude line.”
“Oh, man.” What if they ended up in the middle of the ocean?
They broke about a million laws as they drove, swerving around cars, bumping over sidewalks, driving through sweeping patches of wilderness that had no place in New York City, but finally, they made it home.
As they moved through their house, Thomas insisted Brenda stay within a few feet of him, but even that felt too far away. Despite the comfort of home tempting them to ignore the insanity outside, Thomas wouldn’t relent. He drove them on in a frenzy. “Be sure you pack your long dresses, warm clothing, comfortable shoes, anything you’d pack camping, anything you think you might need.”
“What about food?” she said.
He swore. “Yes, how could I forget?” He pivoted and pulled her in the direction of the kitchen. “Grab all the nonperishable food. Don’t waste your time on food that will spoil. And don’t forget a can opener.”
Normally, his bossiness annoyed her, but today she was grateful. She couldn’t even think straight, which was strange. She’d always been the level-headed one in their relationship. An hour later they sat on a mattress in the middle of their home. The drapes were closed; the lights were off. They leaned against mounds of packed suitcases, boxes, bins, and shopping bags that surrounded them. Thomas insisted they keep the most important things closer to them. He put a mysterious pack on her lap. It was darn heavy.
“What’s in the pack?” she asked.
“I liquidated all our bank accounts.”
“Into what?”
“Gold and silver. Nearly every civilization I know of values them.”
“You have no idea where we’ll end up?”
“None. I’m just hoping there’ll be people, and that they’re civilized. But if they’re not…” he lifted a tarp, showing her a stash of firearms.
“But you hate guns.”
“Desperate times.”
“Don’t you think introducing guns too early into the past will mess up the space-time continuum?”
“Like I care. The future is already screwed up.”
“But won’t we disappear and cease to exist if we disrupt the past?”
He rolled his eyes. “You watch too many movies.”
“What if we stay here, in our time?”
“I’ve a feeling that would be worse.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“We wait.”
As darkness fell sounds erupted from their neighbors—screams, groans, roars… Brenda wished she could have helped them, wished she’d been able to warn them. She didn’t even want to know what her parents were going through. At least they were always together.
When she heard heavy footsteps outside that made the ground shudder and the light fixtures clink, she prayed it was an elephant. She refused to admit it sounded bipedal and a lot larger. She hardly dared to breathe.
Finally, after the footsteps faded, she leaned into her husband and whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
He huffed and then after a long pause, he said in a low voice, “I wouldn’t have believed me either.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer so that she was plastered into his side. “It hurt that you didn’t, but… I understand.”
Eventually, Brenda’s back began to scream at her to lie down. Thomas must have sensed her distress, because he said, “Why don’t you lay down and try to get some sleep? I’ll keep watch.” She was too tired to argue, instead followed his advice and curled up on her side next to him. Still, there was no way she’d be able to sleep.
Thomas brushed his hand over her head. Brenda relished his touch, the comfort he gave her. She’d missed this. She’d missed him. They remained this way for what felt like days, though the fact it remained dark outside, proved it was still only one night—an endless night spent listening to the horrors surrounding them.
Just before dawn, Brenda fell asleep.
When she finally woke, the silence was eerie. She peeled her eyes open and looked around. Memories flooded her mind and anxiety squeezed her chest.
Thomas was gone.
She exhaled a shaky breath when she found him at the window. Thank God he was here and in one piece. Sunlight haloed around him as he stood in front of the pane with the drapes pulled open; he must have felt it safe enough to open them. From what she could see, the house seemed to be intact. That was much better than she’d feared. Then she noticed Thomas’s hands pressed so hard against the glass that the joints of his fingers were white.
“What is it?” Brenda asked. “What do you see?” She stumbled to her feet.
He shook his head, his eyes wide as he turned to her, his expression filled with disbelief. “You are not going to believe this.”