The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones Page B

hid inside until this dog showed up. His name is Buddy. It says so right on his tags.” She seemed to have endured her isolation without incident.
    Buddy’s short coat showed a dozen shades of brown. His fur faded to a sandy tan color around his face and thin muzzle. His ears flopped asymmetrically.
    William kneeled and rubbed the mutt’s shoulders. “Hey Buddy. I was going to name you ‘Rex’.”
    Helen had removed the remains of the leash from his collar. “I fed him milk and a croissant.” Buddy wagged his tail spastically as everyone took turns petting him.
    Lisa asked, “ Do you know where he came from?” She sat on the edge of the sidewalk and held her injured foot.
    Helen nodded. “I’m afraid so. He went right to that woman’s hand out on the sidewalk. He sniffed it and he started whimpering.” She looked down. “I feel so terrible. I kicked the hand into the river. He sounded like he was crying and I just could not bear it.”
    “Why is he wet?” Morgan asked, smelling his fingers.
    Helen wiped her eyes. “He jumped in and fetched the hand. He brought it right back to me. I had to kick it into the river a second time, and then hold him until it floated away.”
    Hank put the pieces together. “So that woman was walking down the street with him when all this happened. He must have run off when we first arrived.”
    “ That’s right!” Morgan said. “The lady was walking a dog. I remember that now.”
    “That means there isn’t another group here,” Lisa said. “We’re all alone.”
    Helen turned to the group. “What about you all? Tell me what happened.”
    Callie looked at the others, wondering where to start, and realized that Tim was gone. Before she could ask about him, he appeared around the back corner of the building.
    “Hey everyone. You’ll want to get over here. I found the woman upstairs.”

II
THE FOOTBALL

[ 23 ]
    The woman lay in a pile of rubble with both legs pinned under a slab of concrete. A chunk of iron beam lay next to her. Blood on the beam matched the ugly black stain on her lab coat. Her eyes were dull and Callie thought the woman was dead until she saw her blink. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.
    “Do you have any painkillers?” she asked.
    Tim had led the group to the back corner of the building, where jagged beams of rebar stuck out from the wall, forming a makeshift ladder. Everyone except Helen and Buddy had climbed up and crowded around. Fallen walls and broken equipment filled most of the space. It felt more like a rooftop patio than a room. The broken remains of the exterior walls rose less than two feet in most places.
    The corner directly above the café’s back hallway had collapsed, which explained the rubble blocking Lisa’s storage closet and bathroom. The edge of the wall hanging out over the river had dropped away as well, directly above the spot where Lisa had fallen in.
    Callie knelt and began to examine the woman. “How bad are you hurt?”
    She grimaced. “I don’t think it could be much worse.” She pulled up the side of her shirt.
    Callie fought off a gag reflex. This is why I’m in psychiatry and not a practicing physician. She forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. The right side of the woman’s torso had been peeled open. She had apparently pulled it closed again. Blood congealed along the edges. Vulgar blue bruises ran across her belly and jagged ridges under the skin could only be broken ribs. Red stains darkened one cup of her bra. Callie focused on the woman’s face to try to calm down, but what she saw there hurt just as much to look at. Row after row of tear streaks ran from her eyes.
    “That’s sick,” Morgan said, loudly enough for the woman to hear.
    “You’re an asshole,” Hank said.
    “But look at her. How is she even –”
    “Morgan!” barked Callie. “Climb back down and get the aspirin bottle from Helen’s purse. Now.”
    Morgan left for his errand.
    The woman looked up. “Was that a T-rex?”