By me, with art by Sam Messerly.
Click here to read from the beginning.
“Warbell is a criminal?” I asked.
“Who?” said the orange lizard. “Warbell is tyrannosaurus?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” I said. “Warbell is dinosaur, big smile, nice teeth. Come on, tell me what’s going on!”
The newcomer cocked its head, eyes focused on me, the atmosphere taking on a conspiratorial air. I stepped back and sort of hid behind my couch.
“War-bell”—the dinosaur pronounced the name with a sort of click stop between the syllables of his name for some reason—“is criminal. Escape from Kingdom of all Eternity and Perfection of our People and the Future. I come find tyrannosaur. Where? You know?”
“Wait, what did Warbell do?” I asked. “Buddy, you put a big hole in my wall. That makes you a criminal, too!”
The dinosaur glanced at the wall, then back at me, then hissed and rumbled and warbled under its breath.
“Will fix,” it said. “Very important, must move quickly. War-bell murderer. Said research virus on TV, yeah? But really he murderer. He lie. Can’t trust. He kill again future. Capture. Justice.”
I stood staring at the massive orange thingee standing in my room, brushing the ceiling, cracking my floors, and I just felt exhausted. I couldn’t take it all in. Anger blossomed, choked me with its force, and was replaced by a buzzing numbness. Could it really be true? Is that what Warbell was researching? To kill?
It seemed to fit. Warbell was so secretive. He was definitely interested in the disappearing death virus. Maybe he saved that bacon kid because he wanted to study him and use the virus to kill others. And who was I to get in the way of dinosaur justice if this big fellow was actually the dinosaur version of the police?
The orange beast was reaching for me when I snapped out of the haze of confusion. I practically shouted my answer.
“He is going to First Pumpkin,” I said. “To the museum, to see the dinosaur skeleton there. That’s all I know.”
The beast stopped reaching for me. A fire lit behind the its eyes.
“Thank you, and good bye,” it said. “Justice will serve. You did right thing.”
The orange lizard backed out, and suddenly the hole was gone, replaced by the wall and door, which just materialized back in place with a snapping/whipping sound. I ran to look outside, and I saw the dinosaur bound away with surprising agility. I didn’t stick around to watch his orange behind disappear in the distance. Instead, I walked out to the garage, feeling a mix of emotions.
If what this newcomer said was true, then maybe Warbell really was responsible for the deaths of so many, even for the loss of my leg. But how could that even be possible? What kind of technology could do such a thing?
Of course, if it wasn’t true… I might have just sentenced Warbell to prison or worse. Unfortunately, it was done, and I really couldn’t change anything now.
But maybe I could find out what was really going on.