Read Online Pteranodon Mall by Ian Woodhead - Free Book Online Page B

quiet and serious friend was still capable of surprising him after all. Then again, maybe David just had too much going through that brain of his to actually care; after all, for his mate, this must be like winning the lottery, it was a dream come true. David must think that all his birthdays had come at once.
    It might also explain his casual approach to Simon’s death. It’s almost as if David was describing something as banal as spotting roadkill or noticing that the fries on his plate had gone cold. He looked at Janine, wondering if she had seen this. She didn’t seem that bothered over the fact that only that counter separated her from some swollen corpse. Maybe the shock of their situation played a large part in how David was behaving, how that all were behaving.
    “I don’t get this, Jeffdude. I mean, the dinosaur you splatted was a Coelophysis . Nice shot, by the way.”
    Jefferson felt himself zoning out already. He just knew David was about to launch into one of his speeches.
    “You see, the time-frame is all out of whack. The Coelophysis went extinct in the early Jurassic, yet all the others that I’ve seen are from the late Cretaceous. The sauropods—”
    “The what?” interrupted Jefferson.
    “Fuck’s sake. The stripy dinosaurs. I’ve also seen a bunch of Pteranodons, a couple of small raptors, as well as a small Ankylosaur. That’s something else that’s done my head in. I mean, none of them are any larger than an average human. Good thing too, cos I tell you if an Allosaur or a Spinosaur or a Carchodontosaurus came galloping down the middle of the mall, I’d proper shit myself.”
    This was just unreal. Jefferson stared in disbelief at the boy’s flushed face, seriously wondering if the true reality of their dire situation had actually sunk into that thick head of his yet.
    “Will you shut the fuck up?” Jefferson let go of Janine, dropped the bat, and wrapped his arms around David. “You’re such an annoying nerdy bastard, and I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.” He let him go and held David at arm’s length. “What about the others, have you seen anything of Alan or Sandy?”
    He shook his head. “Apart from Simon, you two are the first people I’ve seen in ages.” He grinned. “Thanks, by the way. I’m happy to see you as well.” David gazed at the woman. “Hello there, Mrs. Butler. Love the new look.”
    Janine smiled back at him. “Cheeky little sod.”
    “So come on, man. What happened here?”
    David shrugged. “To be honest, there isn’t that much to tell. You know that Mr. Hussain left for that meeting?”
    Jefferson nodded.
    “Well, once he’d had buggered off, and while you were in the back, I took it upon myself to take a breather in the toilet. Gloria said she’d cover for me.”
    “I did wonder where you had sneaked off to.”
    “Anyway, there I was—”
    “Playing Candy Buster on your phone.”
    “Maybe. Well, the Wi-Fi just went off. I couldn’t even log into mobile data. Hell, I couldn’t get anything out of this piece of shit phone. I left the toilets and found the mall was now almost deserted. There were a few people around, but they were all either waiting by the lift doors or pushing through those double doors over there. It was well weird. They all had this kind of odd smile plastered across their faces as well.”
    Jefferson thought he knew the reason for that smile. It had to have something to do with whatever was around the shutters, real or pretend one.
    “I even tried a couple of the fire doors as well.”
    He wanted to slap himself. Why hadn’t he thought of those? Janine let out a quiet moan. Jefferson guessed that one slipped her by as well.
    “The first time I touched the metal bar, I got this, well, weird thought going around my bonce, Jeffdude. I mean, really well weird. Can you believe that I actually thought that I enjoyed working at that shitty discount store? I mean, me, for fuck’s sake? Anyway, I tried again, this