Angelica was running around the complex with her brother Samuel and their friend Manny, looking for her mother, a paleo-botanist, and one of the first settlers of Deltren 4419, a planet 18 billion light years away from earth, that could only be reached via wormhole. Angelica remembered the trip quite well. She had been having nightmares about the wormhole for three months prior to their departure and when they did finally approach the wormhole, Angelica had become so scared, she fainted. That was five years ago, back when she was seven. They had been on Deltren 4419 ever since, and even though it was far more physically dangerous than Earth, which was practically a wasteland, at least the air here didn’t make her cough at nearly every breath. She was glad she didn’t have to go through the wormhole again. Angelica spotted her mother.
“Don’t run, Bunny,” her mother told her.
“So, what’s the plan for today? Can we go outside and explore?” Angelica asked.
“Yeah, can we?” Samuel added.
“Not today,” their mother replied. “The threat level is red. They say there may be a new predator moving in. It might be a couple of days before we can go back outside.”
“But Mom, it’s boring in here,” Angelica whined.
“Go swimming or play in the rec room. I have to meet your dad in the lab. We’ll have dinner at five.”
“But Mom…”
“Angelica, stop. You know what is out there just as well as everyone else. Now I have to get going.”
“Fine,” Angelica said as she led Samuel and Manny back to their living quarters.
“You wanna go swimming, I guess?” Angelica asked reluctantly.
“I guess.” Samuel replied.
“Screw that,” Manny interjected. “I’m going outside. My mom didn’t tell me no.”
“But the threat level is red. The guard will never you pass,” Samuel told him.
“Ah, but I know a way to sneak around the guard.”
“Sure you do,” Angelica said.
“We’ll see later who is outside having a good time, and who is stuck inside using the swimming pool,” Manny stated confidently, before disappearing back off the way they had just come. Angelica began to follow, but Samuel grabbed her arm.
“If you go out there with him, we’ll all get in trouble. You heard what Mom said. It is dangerous out there.”
“But Manny is a little snot. I can’t let him go out there without us.”
“I don’t want to get in trouble. Also, remember last time the threat was red? Remember those things that came out of the sky?”
“Yes. I remember.”
“Let’s just go swimming, huh? I promise when the threat level goes down, I will go out there with you, and we can spend the whole day doing whatever you want.”
“Fine,” Angelica agreed. “But you owe me.”
Samuel smiled, and they continued to their rooms to get changed.
A few minutes later, Angelica and Samuel showed up at the pool, in full swimming attire, with towels in hand. They set their things down on the pool chairs, across the room from the giant, virtually indestructible, glass, domed window that looked out onto the new and strange world they had learned to call home.
“Oh hey, what is that? Do you see that?” Angelica said, pointing to something in the bushes.
“Oh yeah, what is that?” Samuel asked, getting a little nervous. They moved in closer and as soon as their faces were pressed against the glass, Manny jumped out from behind the bushes, scaring the pants off both of them.
“No fair,” Angelica said as she watched Manny dance around and play by the bushes. “I wish we were out there.”
“Yeah, but the threat level is in the red, and you never know,” Samuel replied.
“Nothing really serious has ever happened. We’d be alright.”
No sooner had Angelica spoken, yellow and red flashing lights erupted all over the complex and a voice came on over the PA.
“THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS A REAL EMERGENCY. EVERYONE REPORT TO A SHELTER AREA IMMEDIATELY.”
Manny stopped dancing, and his eyes went wide. His young face filled with fear.
“Get back inside! Get back inside!” Angelica yelled as she pounded on the thick glass dividing them.
“Manny! Manny!” Samuel shouted as he joined his sister in beating against the glass.
Manny ran up to the dome from the outside, frantically looking for a way in. He was utterly panicked, and he didn’t seem to know how to handle himself.
Angelica began making hand signals and gestures to try to get Manny to go back the way he had come, but he was apparently too overwhelmed to process this information.
A moment later, two things happened simultaneously. First, the enormous, heavy, metal security doors on the outside of the glass came to life and began to converge toward the middle of the dome from both sides. The second thing that happened was the ground began to tremble ever so slightly, as the trees, tall as skyscrapers, began to ruffle and sway on the edge of the forest, beyond the clearing of the encampment.
Angelica and Samuel stopped beating against the glass and looked out toward the gargantuan woods. Their faces melted with horror as something tall, almost as tall as the trees themselves, and dark gray in color trampled wildly out into the clearing. It looked almost like a Tyrannosaurus Rex from history class, but it was taller and lankier. Also, it had a long, pointy snout, like a giant bird beak, except for it was reptilian, and a thin, darting tongue, surrounded by rows upon rows of narrow, piercing teeth.
Manny was still beating on the glass when he noticed that his friend’s faces had gone ghostly white. He stopped slamming his fists on the dome and just let hands rest by his sides instead. The outer wall was about a quarter of the way closed now. Manny didn’t want to look behind him.
The creature screeched so loudly that it hurt Angelica and Samuel’s ears, even through the glass. Manny began to shake violently. He slowly turned his head around to see what had made the loud noise. When he saw the creature behind him, he instantly released his bladder and began to scream. The thing, which was about a third of the way across the clearing, seemed to hear their friend’s scream, because it looked right at him. The big metal doors were about halfway closed.
Manny left the window and began to frantically run around, trying to find a place to hide, but the big thing behind him always seemed to be staring right at him. It was now about two-thirds of the distance across the clearing. The doors had closed three quarters of the way.
Angelica and Samuel screamed. Manny kept scrambling around in dead terror. He didn’t have any clue what to do or even what he was doing. All his actions managed to do was to draw the attention of the creature. The thing itself was moving rapidly. It was most of the way across the clearing, its short arms tucked in at its sides, and its gargantuan head and neck lowered, like a rooster chasing after a field mouse.
Manny ran back to the glass. He looked crazy, and he appeared to be pleading with Angelica and Samuel to help him somehow. All they could do was watch. The creature was almost upon the camp. There were only about five feet left for the big metal doors to finish closing.
Angelica watched in horror, holding her brother’s hand as Manny began to beat and claw wildly at the glass so hard his fingers bled. She watched as the giant creature closed the last bit of distance to the complex faster than seemed possible. She watched as the doors closed around her friend, threatening to squish him in seconds. Angelica even watched as the giant creature pecked her friend off the glass, just like a bird at a worm, cracking the thick, protective dome, and blotting out the last little bit of their vision with what seemed like too much blood for such a small body to contain. The shrill, gut-wrenching scream that escaped Manny as he was being pulled away lasted long after the protective doors finished closing.
