Chapter 1 of the The Rose by Jake appears in our Spring 2009 issue.

The Rose

Conclusion

          A fly the size of an eagle screamed past the men who were sitting, nearly hidden, in the dense undergrowth. Bugs and monkeys chattered in a jungle lost to time, a tropical rhythm that beat on the pair’s covered ears.

          Trees four hundred feet tall grew like crab grass, extending to the farthest reaches of heaven. Gigantic bats swooped high above those, larger then mini-vans, feet catching prey like it was moths… only, the prey was about the size of a human figure in turn. They screeched horrible sounds. Evil sounds.

          Entangled tree roots, blackened by the toxic atmosphere, led open to plants and ferns unlike anything of the world 65 million years in the now future.

          Cummings whaled, looking up into the sky. “Where are we Drake?” he gasped, trying to grip the tightening air.

          Drake looked up from charcoaled hands, the button had short-circuited. “We are in the Cretaceous era, Cummings.”

          Cummings looked back out into the world that spread horrifyingly out before him. A jungle that expanded the vastness of earth, forever beyond. He gazed into the only thing that resembled his original time, the drifting clouds. But even they seemed strange. It was as if there was no silver lining on them.

          Then the problems that he would have to face brought him to the ground in fear; a cold sweat dripped down his brow.

          “What time of Cretaceous? Do you have any idea?” Cummings shouted, hands clenched into fists.

          Drake noted a fine, blood-red rose that stuck out from a tree, thorny roots gripping the black trunk. Roses didn’t grow until late cretaceous- this is what Drake said to Cummings.

          “Then there are T. Rex’s running all over the place! We’re going to die! We’re going to get eaten alive by some horrible monstrosity! Even if we are able to get into present time, the damage we have done will be insane! We might not even exist!”

          “Then I guess the ending of our story has been brought upon us already, am I correct, Cummings?”

          “Yes you are! This was your fault! Your folly!”

          There was a rather large thump in the distance, like a bearing of large weight being released onto the ground.

          “Cummings, hope is not completely lost. The materials we need to get back are most likely much more abundant here.”

          Another, stronger thump.

          “What about the disease we have inflicted into the atmosphere? What about the plague that could kill us right now?”

          “I don’t know, Cummings. I honestly don’t know.”

          The third thump ripped across the dense forest vegetation. Only Drake was able to hear it in Cummings insane rant.

          “You hear that?” whispered Drake.

          THUMP.

          “Hear what, Armageddon?”

          THUMP.

          “That sound! It’s getting louder!”

          THUMP. THUMP.

          “Ha! It’s probably a Tyrannosaurus out to get us as we speak!” cried Cummings. The rainforest’s rhythm seemed to stop at the last remark.

          THUMP. THUMP.THUMP.

          “The pace is quickening.” Drake softly spoke. He then burst off in a flash, running crazily.

          “Where are you going “Destroyer”? Trying to run away from your fate?” laughed Cummings.

          THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!

          Cummings looked around. Trees started to fall and crack as something extremely heavy barreled through. There was a thunderous roar.

          Cummings’ face turned from an insane laugh to a cold, unfortunate emotion, as he watched the dreadful monster appear. He couldn’t remember exactly how it looked… black; beady eyes… teeth the size of bananas…a never-ending throat…

Cummings flew to the side and into a heap of mud. The Tyrannosaurus snapped its fleshy, meaty jaws; the smell of it was horrible, and it dripped down low below its massive hulking feet. The eyes of the monster were crude and blood shot, the pupils black and small. Its emerald armor shook with defiance, the scales glistening. The haze and fog of the forest suddenly grew thick and illuminated its figure; one ton of meat sunk into each thigh and shinbone, and when it roared, all the trees shook and wept. Its power was mighty; when it laid a crusty, jagged foot to the ground, the world shook. Its tail swiped from side to side. All Cummings could do was lay face down. And quietly, ever so quietly, breathe.

The monster-king wearily kept moving on. It sensed the meat it had once smelled was gone. It could smell something even bigger in the distance. It paraded through the trees with thunderous footfalls. And then it was gone and the regular, clairvoyant voices of the forest began to sigh and screech and scream once again. Drake approached from his hiding place on the forest floor. He helped Cummings from the mud.

“Cummings,” he said, “You feel alright?”

A pause. Cummings replied.

“What I did before was stupid. My fit had only wasted time; and nearly got me ruined in the process. Let's walk for a bit and smell the roses. They are the only thing from the future that is still here... and maybe, even after our own time they will be here... growing somewhere far off.”

Cummings limped, caked in dry mud, retrieved a rose and breathed in its scent. He let it fall to the ground. It rested upon the floor. No hideous shadows, bugs, no evil things came to touch it. It rested there. Quietly. Waiting. Waiting for something.

“Even though we've traveled through time, Drake,” Cummings abruptly continued, “ we've not moved through space whatsoever. Leaving it here will mean we will one day find it; should it survive 65 million years. Too bad nothing survives this. Except plastic. Plastic survives anything. And so do fossils, tree sap does too.”

Drake understood. He walked over to the rose. “What are you suggesting?”

“Give me your driver's license.”

In a moment Drake's license was covered in sap with the rose. Cummings said with a dull tone, “The license will make sure this never happened, tipping off our future selves not to go in the past, and this ancient species of Rose will earn us a Nobel Prize and a spot on the Today show. This will have never happened.”

“Could that cause a paradox?”

“We won't notice if it does. It's our only shot.”

And so Cummings dropped the hard sap stone on the ground. In an instant it hit the floor...

In an instant Cummings and Drake were back in the lab. They rested their hands upon the time machine and then walked away. They walked back to the lab table where an amber globe held an ancient rose tucked around something that seemed to be plastic.