Embers & Ice

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Alfie exploded. And expanded. And transformed before every eye in the breakfast hall into a gigantic, twenty-foot beast with a mammoth mouth opening and closing in slow motion. Slivers of rope-thick saliva stretched from one deadly tooth to the other. He had russet brown scales and crazy black eyes the size of tennis balls. His tiny hands hung limply from his body, and his tail swung back and forth, knocking over tables with a loud crash.

The Men in White were slow to react, because they weren’t sure what was going on. Alfie had had a restraint around his neck like Chantal’s that stopped him using his powers. How could he have changed?

One of the guards was stupid enough to take a shot at Alfie with the taser, but his skin was too thick for it to do any damage. The dinosaur turned his head and spotted the guard who stood frozen in fear. He stretched his mouth wide open and let out a terrific roar that caused the thick glass across the canteen windows to shatter.

“It’s Jurassic Park, people!” Zac shrieked. As he did, the ten-ton tail of a T-rex slammed down on a table just feet away from him. He leapt out of the way, rolled twice across the floor, and scrambled to his feet just in time to yell with incredible calm, “Seriously, does anyone have a tranquilizer gun?”

The breakfast hall was in utter chaos. Half the room had emptied, but Alfie the dinosaur was blocking the way out and there was nowhere else to run to. The canteen was jammed with tables that had been thrown against the kitchen glass. An alarm like an alien ringtone was blaring. The Men in White couldn’t contain him because the tasers didn’t have any effect on Alfie’s skin. The more they tried to take him down, the angrier he became. And there was nothing worse than a pissed off, twenty-foot dinosaur.

“Zac, get down!” Hunter shrieked, and in a matter of seconds they had scattered like petrified rabbits to their rabbit holes.

“We have to do something!” Marcus screamed at the others.

They were all cowering behind upturned tables. A few of the younger kids were holding tight to Hunter’s jumpsuit, and if she weren’t so preoccupied by the stomping dinosaur, her heart would have broken for them.

“Okay,” said Zac, “you grab a rope and lasso him around the neck while I run around and pretend to be a nice juicy cow or something.”

Hunter didn’t have the time to roll her eyes.

“This is all your fault Hunter!” hissed Jet from behind the next table. “You shouldn’t have interrupted our conversation, now he’s confused!”

“How can you even be that stupid?” she snarled back. “It’s because you called him gay!”

“Uh, he is gay!”

“Shut up you two!” Marcus waved frantically at them.

A crash and a scream caused them to peer over the rim of the table. Alfie was stomping towards two of the guards who were cowering in the corner. As she watched, her heart beat faster. Alfie’s giant tail wagged back and forth and he let out an almighty roar that shook the room. One of the guards pulled out a knife from his belt and managed to run forward and drive it into Alfie’s leg. The dinosaur roared it pain before opening wide his mouth and snapping it around the guard’s body. His scream was cut off and blood sprayed across the white walls of the breakfast hall. The other guard scrambled away and ducked behind some chairs.

Alfie chewed on the guard, his bones cracking. The terrible sound of blood and entrails falling to the floor with a splat echoed throughout the room. Hunter dropped back behind the table and little Sammy cried and wriggled closer to her.

“Block your ears,” said Hunter and she held him tight against her.

Will placed a hand on her shoulder. Hunter turned her eyes to his fear-filled face and furrowed brow. He really had no idea what to do.