Liam was listening, he gave no sign. He continued to poke and prod the tar pit with his stick, shoving it deeper into the depths. He wasn’t fishing so much as stirring the tar like a thick pot of boiling stew.
Suddenly he froze.
“I think I got something,” he hissed.
“Seriously?” Charlotte asked. How could he catch something just by poking a stick in the tar?
He strained, trying to pull the stick free. “Help me,” he requested.
“What do you think it is?”
“Probably a dinosaur,” he smirked.
“I’m sorry I asked,” Charlotte muttered.
Despite her feelings about the dinosaur conversation, she scooted closer to her friend. She knelt down, leaned forward, and grasped the stick in both hands behind his.
“On three,” she said. “One … two … three!”
They pulled like contestants in a game of tug-o-war. They grunted and groaned. They bore down into the dirt. Whatever was in the tar didn’t want to come out.
Or it didn’t want to let go.
Then, with a crack, the stick broke loose. The sudden lack of resistance threw Liam and Charlotte backward. They landed heavily, panting loudly.
“Check it out!” Liam exclaimed.
Lying on his back, he held the stick above his chest. Droplets of tar dripped down from it and from something lodged on its tip.
“Is that a … a fossil?” Charlotte whispered.
The object stuck to the tip of Liam’s stick looked like rock and was about as wide as a pancake. As the kids stared at it, one additional fact became clear.
The object had fingers.
“Awesome!” Liam exclaimed. He wrenched the object off the stick, wiped it in the grass, and cradled it in both hands.
Even covered in tar, the skeletal object was unmistakable. It was an animal’s fossilized paw. And not just any animal—a big one.
“I think it’s from a dire wolf!” he said in astonishment. “Or maybe a saber-toothed tiger.”
“Cat,” Charlotte corrected. The term saber-toothed tiger was scientifically inaccurate.
“Cat, tiger—whatever,” Liam countered. “The paw is huge.”
Charlotte nodded, her thoughts racing. She hadn’t expected Liam to find anything in the tar, especially not something so amazing.
And so frightening. The fossilized paw was completely intact. It was equipped with four long toes and one smaller toe along the side. Based on its size, Charlotte imagined the rest of the animal had been very large.
“What are we going to do with it?” she asked.
Before Liam could respond, voices drifted to them from across the park. The glow from a flashlight cut a yellow swath in the fading light. Mr. Cruz was coming back!
“Let’s get out of here!” Liam whispered.
Charlotte didn’t argue. She didn’t know what they should do with the fossil, but she didn’t want to get caught with it either.
They ran. The parking lot was just ahead. Streetlights cast pools of pale light on the asphalt, dimly illuminating the few cars that remained in the lot. There were no other people in sight. Liam and Charlotte were alone.
Breathing hard, Liam slowed on the far side of the lot. He shot a glance over his shoulder but kept walking.
“I think we’re safe,” he said.
“So now what?” Charlotte pressed. “You’re going to get into trouble just for having tar on your shirt.”
“Who cares about that?” he said dismissively. “Just look at this thing!”
He waved the tar-covered fossil in front of Charlotte’s eyes.
“It’s definitely from a saber-toothed cat,” she said. “It looks just like the ones in the Page Museum.”
“I know, right?” Liam smiled.
Charlotte shook her head. Thinking about the museum made her feel guilty. “Maybe we should give it back,” she suggested softly.
“Give it back?” Liam repeated in disbelief. He clutched the paw protectively to his chest. “I found it and it’s mine. I’m going to put it on my—”
Suddenly a loud roar erupted behind them. It sounded like an angry grizzly bear or lion, or possibly something worse. The panicked shouts and screams of people rang out after it.
The kids ducked behind a minivan and flopped onto the ground on their rear ends. They sat with their backs against the cool metal of the vehicle’s sliding door.
“What was that?!” Liam gasped, still cradling the fossil against his chest.
“I think it was Mr. Cruz,” Charlotte worried.
“Not the screams,” Liam said. “The roar. The monster roar!”
“Maybe Mr. Cruz is playing a joke on us,” she hoped. “Maybe he knows you stole that fossil.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” Liam retorted. “I found it. Just like an archaeologist.”
Charlotte barked a laugh. “You’re not an archaeologist!”
“I’m not a thief either!”
A second roar cut through the night. It sounded angrier and closer than before.
“I think something disagrees with you,” Charlotte muttered.
A dark shape streaked across the parking lot toward them. It ran very fast on four legs, but with a limp. It was taller than a German shepherd and had foot-long fangs jutting down from its upper jaw.
“Is that…?” Liam couldn’t finish. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Yes!” Charlotte said, almost a shriek. “It’s the rest of the saber-tooth! Look at what you’ve done!”
“It’s a skeleton!” Liam yelled. “That’s impossible! Run!”
They sprang to their feet, terrified and screaming. This couldn’t be happening. The fossilized remains of a saber-toothed cat were chasing them through Los Angeles.
“Hurry!”
Leading the way, Charlotte charged down the sidewalk that led to the main road. Liam raced on her heels. Both of them shouted and waved their arms crazily over their heads.
“Help, help!” Charlotte cried.
“Something’s after us!” Liam howled.
The saber-tooth caught them easily.
Snarling savagely, the boney cat leaped onto Liam’s back. Its back legs were longer than its front and designed for jumping. The impact knocked Liam to the ground. He and the cat tumbled into the grass.
“Liam!” Charlotte shrieked.
The saber-tooth scrambled to its feet. Still snarling, it swatted Liam with one big paw and pinned him to the ground. Its other front paw was—
Missing.
Charlotte gasped. “The fossil!” she shouted. “Give it back its paw!”
“I can’t!” Liam sobbed, trapped beneath the undead monstrosity. “I threw it when we started running!”
“Then what does it want?!”
Charlotte didn’t understand, but Liam did. He knew. He saw it in the monster’s empty, tar-stained eye sockets.
The saber-tooth wanted revenge. It wanted his hand, a paw for a paw.
As Liam screamed, the big cat opened its mouth for the final bite.
The End
This story and twelve others appear in the book Mystery Underground: California Creatures. Look for it on MysteryUnderground.com.
Happy Hairy Birthday
Walled Lake, MI
November 26, 6:47 pm
Cody Wolf peered doubtfully into the trees. He saw little in the darkness but heard plenty. Branches twitched like restless spirits. Leaves rustled, whispering in dry voices.
He knew instantly that the trees were nowhere he wanted to go. Not today, not on his thirteenth birthday. The woods always freaked him out in the dark, but a party waited for him on the other side.
If he could only get there.
“What are we waiting for?” his fourteen-year-old brother Brendan asked with a toothy grin. “You missed my thirteenth birthday party. Don’t miss your own. Let’s go, chicken.”
Cody ignored his brother and squinted harder into the trees. Darkness stared back, and his mind sho
uted silent warnings for him to be careful. Beware, Cody. Stay out. Don’t even think about going in there.
He knew he should listen, too, but the lure of his party was too much. Cutting through the woods was the fastest route home. It was the fastest way to cake and ice cream, presents, and cards stuffed with cash. As a bonus, it would also shut up his brother.
Finally Cody straightened his shoulders. He had made up his mind.
“I’m not chicken,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go through the woods.” And with that he started to walk toward the trees.
Brendan clapped his hands together, impressed. “You’re a big dog now, bro. No more little pup.”
“Whatever,” Cody grunted. “I just want to open presents before my next birthday. Now hurry up.”
With Cody in the lead, the boys shuffled into the woods. Dry leaves crunched under their feet. Shadows melted together, blending into solid darkness.
Overhead, the full moon was a rude, pale eye, staring without blinking. Its eerie light peeked through the branches like a nosey neighbor who watched but never helped. Cody couldn’t imagine a creepier setting.
The brothers walked without speaking for a time. They made it halfway through the woods. Then Brendan grabbed Cody’s arm.
“Freeze!” Brendan hissed. “Did you hear that?”
Cody stopped and frowned. “Hear what?” he asked. He listened but heard nothing more than he had earlier—the wind, his own breathing, other unidentifiable but normal sounds of the woods.
Was his brother trying to play a trick on him?
Brendan held a finger to his lips for silence. In the moonlight, his normally brown eyes looked yellow.
Was that a trick too? Some kind of optical illusion in the dim light?
“Stay here,” Brendan said. “I’m going to check it out.”
Before Cody could stop him, Brendan turned and loped away back the way they’d come. He disappeared into the darkness as if swallowed.
Long,