Close Encounters: New World Order (Six Campers Side Stories)

A Bird or Something?

8 Months after Fallen Kingdom:

Unknown P.O.V: Tampa, Florida:

Man......today is hot. School decided to go ahead with it anyway. This sucks....listening to this sub drone on and on and on until my ears decide to fall off. I lean my head down and try to sleep, it's too hot an stop boring to pay any attention anyway.

DING! DING!

The lunch goes off and I rush out of the classroom and down the hall. "Robert Thompson! Slow down!" The sub calls out and I just laugh and ignore him. Fuck him, he can't stop me. I get my skateboard from my locker and ride it down the hall, many of the other kids jump out of the way as I turn down another hall towards the quadrangle. I kick the board up and walk down the steps to see my friends. "Aayyy! Robbie! About time you showed up!" One of my friends, Jackson, called out to me. I smile and bring him in for a bro handshake and hug. "Sorry I take a awhile. Math was upstairs today." I tell him as I trade my banana for his packet of chips. "I don't know how you let him get away with that? You know he's never going to replace them, right?" Our friend, Sara, says as she points to our exchange. "I know, he is currently at 237 packets of chips for 236 bananas." Jackson says as Sara looks confused. "What happened to the last one?" She asks as I chuckle. "He was being a smartass so I stole them......he deserved it." I say as I too the crumbles down my throat. "I wasn't being a smartass. I was staying facts." He tries to defend himself. "We'll, to me, you were being a smartass." I say as he groans and me and Sara laugh at his expense.

I look over and see the jocks across the quadrangle, I narrow my eyes in disgust as they wolf whistle a passing girl. "Let's get out of here, let's head inside." I say as I ride my skateboard towards the library building. "Wait, Robbie, slow down!" Sara calls out as I kick the board up and walk inside. "Jesus Christ, slow down." Jackson says as I lean my board against the wall and drop my bag down next to it. Jackson and Sara follow as we walk into he main library. Many kids are in here, either for study, to get out of the heat or for computer games.

"It sure is nice in here." Jackson says as myself and Sara look at him. "No shit, Sherlock." Sara says as I laugh and climb the stairs to the upper levels. "Over here." I say as point out a secluded spot away from everyone else. We just sit and talk about things like movies or other pop culture things. Jackson brought up the new wave of Covid variant and we just waves it off. "Mate, trump knows what he's doing, we have nothing to worry about." Sara says as I laugh. "Trump is about as useless as a gator in a shopping mall, scary to look at but not really useful." I say as the both of them laugh at my joke.

We go silent as we hear something scurrying in the vent beside us. "What the hell was that?" Sara asks as I walk closer to the vent. I peep through only to find something bang on the vent cover. "Jesus Christ!" I shout as I back up from the bang. "What? What is it?" Jackson asks as he hides behind Sara. The vent pops open as something jumps out. I back up tot he other two as I stare at the.......animal. It was small, no bigger than a chicken. Have green skin with a red colour on its under jaw. It's moved like a bird but it didn't have any feathers. The neck was long, so was the tail. "What is it?" Jackson asks as I tilt my head at the animal who tilts its own head as well. "I don't fucking know." I say as I back up slowly. I see another one pop out, only this time, it doesn't have a red colour on its chin. Soon, more come, making the total to seven of these things. "Do you think that maybe.....they're......dinosaurs?" Sara says as I look at her, bewildered. "Dinosaurs? Are you kidding? We live in Florida, how the hell could they get here from California?" I say as the, dinosaurs, start chirping. Quite loudly too. "Shut up. Shut up." I whisper quietly but harshly at them, last thing we need is the librarian to come up and have a heart attack at seeing them.

I step forward cautiously and kneel down. "Robbie, whatcha you doing?" Sara asks as I reach my hand out. "Can't be that bad can it?" I reply as the small animal sniffs my hand. I smile but frown when the animal snaps at my finger. I pull my hand back before it can take my finger. "You little shit!" I shout before backing up completely. The little things start chirping and trilling. "Ok.....time to go." Jackson says as I nod. "Absolutely." I reply as we make our way back downstairs.

After School:

We had gone home after we had told a teacher and the principal about the dinosaurs in the library. The police and Wildlife Rescue and Removal had showed up and removed the dinosaurs. It was when we got home and saw the news that said that 4 species of dinosaurs had migrated, shipped or trafficked into Florida. Species like Compys, the ones that me, Jackson and Sara had ran into in the library. The other species include Suchomimus, Stegosaurus and Brachiosaurus. The last one got me excited since I had seen one on my way back from school. Its head reached over the tall trees, th kids on the bus were so surprised at seeing that.

"It's a good thing that you told your teachers, Robbie. Many of the police and Wildlife people have been herding the dinosaurs for awhile. And we don't need those small ones getting in the house." My mum says as I hmm-hmm her.

CLANK! CLANK!

The both of us perk up as we look outside. "What was that?" My mom says as I walk over and peak out the kitchen window. The darkness of the night, makes it hard for me to see anything until I jump as a Compy jumps on the window seal. "God!" I shout as mum comes up and sees. "My God.....are these things everywhere now?" She says but the creaking of wood alerts us to a shadowy figure coming out of the trees. I see it's long snout and I pull my mum down against the sink, out of sight. "Robbie....." She doesn't finish as I cover my lips with a single finger, universal sign of quiet. She nods as a loud growl is heard. We look to the left and see the backyard flyscreen break as the snout comes into h house. The snout is directly next to my mum as she covers her mouth. I slowly edge away as I gesture for my mum to follow. We see the snout actually pull back as we peak over the sink to look outside and see the massive Suchomimus snatch up a jumping Compy. A single snap of its long and narrow jaws kills the tiny dinosaur. The crocodile like predator walks out of our backyard, back intot he swamping marsh. "Robbie......get the tequila out." My mum says as I breath a sigh of relief before collapsing back down against the sink. "What a day."