65 Million Years Ago

Prologue
251 million years ago, dinosaurs originated after a mass extinction event.
These creatures ran the gamut, from absolutely massive to very very small. They
roamed all over the world, and populated the land, sea and air. They lasted
through what is summarized as three periods: The Triassic, The Jurassic, and
The Cretaceous. These animals are assumed to have expressed complex social
behavior, coordinated hunting, and good parenting skills. These animals endured
two mass extinctions throughout their lifespan, before mysteriously going
completely extinct at the end of the cretaceous period, about 65.5 million years
ago. Their extinction gave way to the rise of the mammals, and eventually homo-
sapiens, who continued to evolve their freakishly large brains to the point where
evolution began to phase out instinct in humans to allow their skulls to fit through
the birth canal. Humans, like dinosaurs before them, have complex social groups
where families, or ones close to the offspring, teach them their way into the
world, rather than having instinctual programming(like other animals). Humans
went on to use their brains to develop amazing things like the wheel, the hand
pump, the aqueduct, gunpowder, and eventually computers. They consider
themselves the most advanced species to ever roam the earth.
However, what do they really know about animals of the past. They have
bones, and some skin tissue. They know the dodos died out from hunting, they
know that the dire wolf was phased out of evolution for the smaller wolves. But
what do they know about dinosaurs. They've existed for a FAR longer time on
earths calendar than we have, and yet we immediately assume they were
primitive in comparison to us. What did they act like? What did the breed like?
How did they feed? How did they live? These animals survived not one, but TWO
mass extinctions, and humans have yet to encounter ONE. What killed the
dinosaurs? Was it a meteor, was it mass volcanic eruptions, was it their own
behavior that killed them off? If so, then could our own behavior eventually be
humanity's demise? Look around you. What could be a cause of extinction?
Pollution, guns, nuclear weapons, meteor impact? Let's look a little more locally.
It seems, in 2008, that everywhere you go, you see computers. Since the 90's,
computers have come to be an integral part of our everyday lives. They're in the
cars we drive, the microwaves we cook our food in, the TV's we watch, and the
rooms we sleep in. They are an integral part of society now. If humans are to go
extinct by means of their own behavior, perhaps computers are the culprit.
Or perhaps it is the humans themselves that will cause their own
extinction(as opposed to their inventions). As a result of computers, people have
become lazier, fatter, and live more convenient lifestyles. Take an average
middle class house anywhere in the country. You could take a Roman emperor
and bring him into your house and it would make his palace seem like a shack.
And that's without even showing him the wealthy! Modern conveniences may be
devolving our civilization, rather than evolving it. Humans evolve out of necessity:
and when there is no need, we will not evolve. Life was a lot harder in the period
of the dinosaurs. Could the pampered 21st century humans survive the
harshness of the prehistoric word?
Take six 10th graders for example. Six, pampered, 10th graders saturated
with computers, electronics, and the conveniences of modern life. Absolutely 0%
experience with survival, 0% experience with handling weapons, 0% experience
driving, and 0% experience with life outside their society. Teenagers born into a
world of electronics. Could they survive in the late cretaceous period? A little
story just might open up your mind to just how much easier life really is in this
century.
Journey

The six students: Ross Pemberton, Ryan Eason, David MacNeill, Matthew
Crossman, Bryan Sylvia, and Elijah Maynard-Snow were selected to be suddenly
dropped into North America the Late Cretaceous period for the rest of their lives
as a test of survival. The ultimate test of wits and strength, proving just how
strong the human will to succeed is. They were allowed to take with them what
they could carry plus a little more.
The teenagers chose the following:

Ross Pemberton -
M1 Carbine .30 caliber
10 Magazines 30 rounds each
1 Canteen fresh water
Utility vest
Box of matches
3 incandescent flares

Ryan Eason -
M14 Rifle
5 20 round Magazines
Utility vest
Box of matches
1 canteen fresh water

David MacNeill -
M2 carbine .30 caliber
10 Magazines 30 rounds each
2 Canteens Fresh water
Utility vest
Box of matches
Deck of playing cards

Matthew Crossman -
Rosin-Nag ant M1898 – with scope to spare
150 Rounds of ammunition in 5 round en-bloc clips.
Hiking Backpack
1 Canteen water
Box of matches

Elijah Maynard-snow
FN-FAL
4 Magazines of 20 rounds each
Hiking backpack
1 Canteen of fresh water

Brian Sylvia
Dragunov
Magnesium Flint stick
200 rounds 7.62 x 54mm
Combat knife
Water purification cap
Water bottle
Backpack
Folding knife

Global -
M3 half track modified with solar panels for power. No mounted Machine Gun, for
more room
2 Crates of K-rations weighing in at around 86 lbs
Oil can
3 first aid kits
Box of basic carpentry tools.
Day 1
Arrival
The hot sun shone through the thick tropical treetops in crevices. The air
was thick and humid, almost nauseatingly humid. The chirps and squeaks of
animals was everywhere. Ryan Eason got to his feet, and then immediately
collapsed to his knees from the weight of his equipment. He looked around,
dazed and confused for a moment. Then he glanced over at David MacNeill who
was laying on his back, panting in the heat. He then looked over and saw Matt
some 4 feet away from David, and Elijah over a little ways to MacNeill's right,
slowly getting to his feet.
“Oh my god.” came a voice from behind him.
He swiveled and saw Ross kneeling on one knee, wiping sweat from his
forehead.
“It's so hot.”
Ryan held his breath and stood up, trying to balance the weight out. The utility
vest tugged his overweight body, but he fought it. This equipment was so heavy.
Everyone was trying to get up. MacNeill sat up, and reached into his vest and
pulled out a canteen, which he then proceeded to take a big swath of. Matt took
off his backpack, laid his rifle down, and stood up. He too was overweight, and
he found it difficult to stand in this dizzying heat. Elijah got to his feet, grunted,
and shifted the weight of his pack to one shoulder, the muzzle of the FN-FAL
stuck straight out of the top like a radio antenna. MacNeill struggled, got to his
knees, then one knee, and finally, with all his might, he stood up. His face was
beat red from exertion. He took another swath of his canteen, then looked at his
rifle in amazement.
“Well I'll be damned.” he started.
“Its a genuine M2 carbine. Label's here and everything.” he looked at his many
pockets, and lifted the hard cloth flap of one, revealing a black magazine.
“Yup, the ammo's here.” He patted himself down. Everyone stared.
“Holy shit every thing's here!”
All at once everyone started looking through their equipment, making oohs and
ahhs as they slowly found everything that they had asked for.
The truth was, however that nobody really knew how to use any of this
equipment. Out of everybody Elijah was the most in shape, and he knew the
basics about firearms, but these were military grade weapons. Clearly nothing he
had handled before.
Elijah stared at the dense, wet foliage for a moment, and then spoke.
“Where are we?”
immediately everyone stopped shuffling and looked at him. The truth slowly
dawned on them.
Truly, where were they. Everyone paused for a short while, looking all around in
silence. In truth Ross knew where they were. Everything added up. The heat, the
humidity, the dense foliage. This was no ordinary jungle.
Ross had always been a mesozoic nut, especially for predators. He knew
all about the cretaceous period, and if this wasn't a dream; then they truly were in
North America 65 million years in the past. And they were never going back.
Ever.
Ross sighed, “Well by the looks of things-” he turned his head left, then right
“-we're in the right place.”
Matt looked at Ross straight in the eyes.
“Okay Ross, so tell us, because I know you know it: are we really 65 million
years in the past, or present, or whatever?”
Ross took a deep breath and said,
“Yes Matt, We are.”
“And there's no way to ever go home?”
Ross stared into his eyes.
“No Matt-” He took another breath.
“-there isn't.”
Matt nodded slowly. MacNeill shuffled in his clothes, then puffed, “I'm hungry.”
At this, Elijah looked up.
“Hey, where's the Half track?”
“What?” Eason said. “Oh the Half Track, yeah where is it?”
“I don't frigging know.” snorted MacNeill.
“Shit” Elijah sighed, “We'd better go look for it.”
 Half-Track
Matt was trudging through the forest, panting. His feet sunk slightly into
the wet soil as he stepped.
“Elijah's so stupid” he thought to himself.
“He didn't even set a meeting place or anything. I could get lost out here, and I'd
never know how to get back, all because of him.”
He stumbled over a root and grunted. A wet fern slapped against his face.
“Damn it!” he shouted. “I don't even know where the hell I'm supposed to be!”
All around him was a collage of green and brown. He stopped, and breathed
heavily. Foliage was everywhere. All around him. Vines seemed to hang from the
heavens. He had only been walking for a good 10 minutes. He decided to go
back, but when he turned around he saw no path, or clearing. He saw only more
plants. And he realized that he was lost.

Eason and MacNeill were wading through the foliage at a steady pace,
grunting.
“Oh my god!” MacNeill whined.
“I can't even see past my waist.”
“MacNeill just stop bitching!” Eason snapped. “I don't wanna hear you complain.”
MacNeill looked at Eason,
“I wasn't complaining.” he protested. “I was just saying that-”
“MacNeill you were definitely bitching.”
“No I wasn't!”
“Yea you were.”
“No, I wasn't”
Eason stopped.
“MacNeill.”
MacNeill stopped and looked back at him.
“You were bitching.” Eason continued walking.
MacNeill threw up his hands in disgust.
“Eason...”
Ryan scrunched up his face and did his impression of David.
“E-A-S-O-N!?!?!”
MacNeill stopped.
“Eason...”
“E-A-S-O-N!?!?”
“Eason...”
“E-A-S-O-NNNNNN!!!”
MacNeill pointed into the trees.
“Eason! Look!” MacNeill was pointing at what appeared to be a white star
amongst the wet, green ferns. Eason squinted his eyes to look.
“What the hell?” he said.
Eason could see the star, on what appeared to be a metal plate. Little bolts were
in combinations of two among the sides of the plate. These connected the plate
to another plate.
He looked down below the star and saw brown...treads? Surrounding a system of
wheels and pulleys, similar to a bulldozer. Then it dawned on him.
“The half-half track-track!” Eason looked over at MacNeill, who had shouted
exactly when he shouted. Eason jogged forward, brushing through the ferns as
he went on.
“Wait up!” MacNeill groaned as he ran after him.
Suddenly, MacNeill tripped on a root, and fell hard, throwing out his hands in
front of him. Eason heard a brief crunch of leaves, but paid no attention. Instead,
he walked up to the star, and touched it. It was warm and moist from the
humidity.
Then, it sprang to life, and shook. Eason yelled and stepped back. The object
was steadily vibrating, and emitting an electric whir. MacNeill got to his feet. His
hands, knees and chest covered with mud. His brushed his knees off and wiped
his hands, before looking in the direction of the humming noise.
Without warning, the wheels screeched, and the whole object lurched forward,
snapping branches and crashing through foliage.
Eason jumped back.
The object stopped about 10 yards away. MacNeill was now next to Eason,
peering at what was now clearly a half track, their half track. Some asshole was
driving it. They looked at each other, then back at the vehicle.
An audible click came from the door. Eason and MacNeill watched intently. The
door swung open, and Brian Sylvia stepped out onto the ground.

Brian
Brian slammed the door, and walked around the side to the front on the vehicle.
He walked in front of the hood and squatted down, looking at something that
completely amazed him. There was a small, green, little bird like creature about
three feet away, looking up at him. It was the about a foot tall, and stood on its
hind legs, with a long neck stretching out to its small, beak like head. Brian
smiled. It cocked it's head and stared.
It chirped softly. And quickly bent down, taking a bite out of-
Dung.
There was a big pile of steaming whitish brown spoor at the little animal's feet.
The steam floated up to Brian's face, up his nose. A flash of revulsion hit him and
he scrunched up his face, standing up.
Brian groaned, and waved his hand back and forth in front of his nose. The little
animal buried it's head in the dung.
“What is this?” he thought to himself. He knew that he had heard of it before. No,
he had seen it before. But what.
What was this animal?
“Brian!” came a voice from behind him.
He looked behind him and saw Ryan Eason and David MacNeill running towards
him. They looked angry.
“Brain you little son of a bitch!” shouted Eason. “Where have you been! We
completely forgot you were even with us!”
Brian put out his hand.
“Shut up and look over here!” he whispered, pointing to the front of the half track.
Eason and MacNeill peered around the hood and saw a little green animal with
its head buried in the small mound.
“Holy shit!” MacNeill said aloud.
The animal raised it's head quickly and stared at MacNeill. It's mouth lips were
covered in brownish spoor.
Brian glared at MacNeill and put his finger to his mouth.
“Sorry” MacNeill whispered. The animal chirped loudly at them, then hopped up
on the mound, raising it's head up high. It chirped again. Everyone stared.
The animal began chirping loudly, bobbing it's head up and down. Eason
whispered softly.
“It's light enough to stand on that pile of shit, but it's like not even afraid of us.”
The animal continued chirping.
“MacNeill it eats shit, just like you.” Eason snorted. MacNeill shook his head.
Why, he wondered, was he always a jerk to him. What did he ever do to deserve
it? He accepted the harsh reality of surviving here the rest of his life, wasn't it the
least Eason could to not being an asshole to him?
But no, it was always him, “MacNeill your a fat ass” or, “MacNeill you're a little
bitch.” “MacNeill grow some balls.” “MacNeill you have no friends.”
Always him who got the shit. Always him who was last picked. Always him who
did the homework. “Why?” he always wondered. “What could I possibly have
done to deserve this crap from people who are supposed to be my friends?”
The animal was hopping up and down, chirping loudly. Another little green animal
jumped out of the woods, which started to chirp at the teenagers.
“Is that the whore of a wife?” Eason joked. Two more appeared from the foliage
behind them, chirping aggressively. MacNeill was startled and he swiveled
around.
“Guys theres two more.” MacNeill said, nervously. Eason and Brian turned and
looked at the two approaching ones behind them.
Without warning, the original animal leaped forward and nipped Brian's leg.
Brian's eyes widened as he yelped in pain. He flung his leg, sending the animal
tumbling through the air, before coming down and disappearing into the foliage.
Another one jumped up and bit MacNeill's shirt. MacNeill shrieked in suprise and
started flailing his arms around screaming. Eason ran to the door of the half
track, and pulled the handle.
Locked.
MacNeill was screaming something. Eason started shouting to get over his voice
and the chirping and-
“You locked the door! Are you fucking stupid?!?” He tugged on the handle
frantically. Another animal emerged from the ferns somewhere, and bit Eason in
the back of the leg. He winced in pain, turned his head and saw it biting him. It
hurt, a lot. He also the the M14 slung over his shoulder.
He scrambled his rifle into his hands, aimed it within inches of the animal which
still bit his leg, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He pulled it again, and
again nothing happened. He yelled in the searing pain, and in a newfound panic
he jabbed the barrel into the animal's head, forcing it to let go.
It shrieked, and scurried away. He looked at MacNeill who was still flailing his
arms around frantically, and Brian, who was trying to pry the door open. The
animals still chirped inexorably, leaping up at David and Brian trying to bite them.
MacNeill kicked one as it came close, sending it yelping to it's side. Brian, was
trying desperately to get to his rifle in the truck. He had to get it open.
He had to.
Suddenly, the first animal, with dung still on it's lips, jumped up onto the side
mirror, and sunk it's teeth into his ear. Brian immediately let go of the door, and
reached at his ear, grabbing the animal. Blood was flowing freely from it. He was
screaming loudly, and Eason ran over to help. Brian was delicately trying to pull it
off. The pain was immense on his sensitive ear. Suddenly, the animal was torn
off, ripping the flesh with it's tiny teeth as it pulled away. Brian howled and
clasped his ear. Eason had the animal in his hands. It spun it's head around
revealing cartilage dangling from its jaws, and bit his finger. He yelped and threw
it against a tree. He looked over at Brian who's eyes were squeezed tight, and
his mouth wide open. His hands over his ear were dark red. Eason's panic was
immense. He looked around. He saw the path, where they came.
Safety.
He turned to run, when suddenly loud repeated bangs filled his head over and
over again. He covered his ears and saw MacNeill, rifle in hand, flinging it back
and forth pointing to the ground like he was sweeping the floor, he mouth gaping.
The sound of his voice completely drowned by the deafening gunfire filling his
ears. He saw puffs of mud coming up from the ground, before he close his eyes.
The sound was too much.
Too much to bear. He thought of home as he clasped his ears.

Half-Track
Ross and Elijah were running full speed, holding their weapons by their
sides as the ran towards the sound of distant gunfire. They leaped and bounded
over the jutting roots and low foliage. The gunfire was a continuous rattling; it
went on and on without pause, and it grew louder as they approached it. Neither
Ross nor Elijah spoke as they ran, they just kept going. Their legs burned. The
gunfire was very loud now. Almost unbearable. They were crashing through
leaves, and jumping over branches. The sound filled their ears.
Christ it kept going.
There was a clearing up ahead, and they ran into it.
The gunfire stopped.
Ross and Elijah stopped, and looked at each other. They looked all around.
Where could they be-
“Hey you guys!” yelled Elijah. Ross turned around and looked in the direction of
Elijah's call. He saw Eason and MacNeill standing next to the half track. Brian
leaned on the hood, his hands were covering the side of his head. All down his
body was covered in blood...
At the shout, MacNeill twisted around and pointed the rifle at Elijah. Elijah threw
his arms out in front of him.
“MacNeill it's me! Calm down!”
Eason was staring at them panting. Brian weakly turned and glanced at them.
They were all wide eyed, and stayed completely still. Ross couldn't believe what
he was seeing. MacNeill still pointed the rifle at them. Even from their distance,
he could see MacNeill trembling. All of them were trembling.
“Jesus.” Ross said softly. He looked at Elijah, who had his hands in front of his
face, and was speaking softly, trying to calm MacNeill down.
“MacNeill!” Ross shouted. “It's okay! It's just us. Tell us what happened”
He didn't answer. He just stared.
“MacNeill!” Ross shouted again. “Hello?!?”
Suddenly Eason reached up and grabbed the rifle, forcing it down. MacNeill
looked over at Eason, Brian, and finally Elijah and Ross. At this, Elijah and Ross
ran over to them. They slung their rifles over their shoulders.
“Holy shit!” said Ross, approaching them. “You guys alright?”
MacNeill immediately spoke “No.”
Everyone looked at him. He was still trembling. Elijah was talking to Brian.
“What's with your ear?”
He moaned. “-bit me”
“What bit you?”
He winced in pain “Don't know.”
Elijah brought his hand to Brian's head and grabbed his arm. “Let me see-”
“No!” Brian shrieked, slapping his hand away.
Ross spoke. “Okay, is somebody gonna tell me what happened, because I-”
Eason interrupted, “MacNeill and I found the half track. Brian got out and he
showed us this little green animal that started calling and a whole bunch of them
showed up.” He cleared his throat.
“Then, they attacked us, and I got a chunk of my leg bitten, Brian's ear got ripped
off, then MacNeill scared them away with his rifle.”
“Why didn't you go into the half track?”
Eason, snorted and pointed to Brian.
“This idiot locked the keys in it, along with his rifle.”
Ross looked at Brian, frowning.
Elijah spoke harshly.
“Brian...”
Brian pointed to the bushes nearby.
He groaned, and stood up.
“There...there's the thing...in there.”
Eason looked up and started towards the brush.
“Hey that's right, I threw one of the animals against the tree and-”
He yelled in pain when he put pressure on his leg. Elijah walked over and started
rummaging through the foliage. He spoke “So Brian's hurt, possibly severely,
Eason has a leg wound so he's going to be a drag, and MacNeill's got...” He
stopped, and looked over at MacNeill, who seemed to be coming to grips on the
situation. He still clasped his rifle tight.
Elijah continued.
“...less ammo now.”
There were shell casings and small bullet craters all around the group.
Suddenly, Elijah rose up from the foliage.
“I think I found it.”
Ross walked over to where he was standing, and peered down.
“Son of a bitch.” he said.
Eason looked at him.
“What?”
“If I'm right; then this is a compsognathus.”
Brian looked up.
“Yes, you were attacked by compy's”
Suddenly reinvigorated, Brian shouted.
“I knew it!”
The group looked at him.
“I knew I had seen it before, and I just couldn't put my finger on the name.” He
sighed, then scrunched up his face from the pain. “Compy's...”
“Brian you look like shit.” said Eason. “We should probably try and get the half
track unlocked.”
“Yeah” Brain said, weakly. “Theres a couple of first aid kits in the back.”
Elijah unslung his rifle.
“Alright, step aside.” He said, gesturing to clear away. He approached the half
track. The nice green paint made his not want to damage it. He took a deep
breath and raised his rifle.
“Wait a minute!” yelled Ross.
Elijah paused mid swing and looked.
“Has anyone seen Matt?”

Reunion
Matt burst through the foliage to everybody's left, gasping for air.
“Holy shit Matt!” yelled MacNeill, who was slowly getting his bearings back.
Everyone stared.
“Okay” he gasped. “What the fuck!?”
Before anyone could say anything he continued,
“I get lost in the fucking woods, and nobody even thinks to come look for me?!?”
He said, interrogatively. Everyone looked, astonished.
“No you don't” he continued, “you just sit around by the half track, and have
yourselves a grand old fucking time, while I'm stepping in swampy mud, looking
for you assholes!”
He took a breath.
“But wait, I should have gone to our meeting place right? Wrong! Because this
idiot didn't designate one!” He was pointing to Elijah, who had an angry
expression on his face. Eason stared at Matt, who was red in the face.
“Matt, we were attacked!” he shouted.
Matt's jaw dropped.
“You were?”
“Yeah”
“By what?”
Eason nodded “Compy's, a lot of compy's.”
“Why didn't you go in the half track?” Matt questioned. Eason turned to Brian.
“This retard locked the keys in, and he got part of his ear taken off.”
“Because of you!” Brian shrieked. Eason looked back at Matt.
Matt laughed.
“You were attacked by a few dinosaurs a foot tall, got severely wounded, and
couldn't realize that we have a half track with a tent roof!” He had a big grin on
his chubby face. MacNeill's jaw dropped, and he looked at Brian, who looked at
Eason, who looked back at Brian. Elijah and Ross looked at each other, mouths
open also. Everyone just stared for a moment.
Some animals chirped in the distance.
Suddenly, Elijah chuckled, and then began to laugh hysterically. Ross smirked.
Eason, MacNeill and Brian glared at Elijah menacingly. Elijah's face was cherry
red. He was laughing very hard now. Ross looked at the back of the vehicle, it
was was indeed tarp. He started towards it.
“Ill be damned.” said Ross.
“Fucking Brian...” murmured MacNeill. Ross pulled the tarp to the side and
peered in. He saw two large boxes with the red lettering “CrackerJacks K-Ration
inc.” stamped on. There was a big box labeled “Carpentry” to the side of the
rations. He also saw three first aid kits and lone revolver stashed in the corner.
There was plenty of living space in here.
He stepped up and climbed in. There was a hatch that could be opened or
closed, leading to what used to be where the machine gun was. He squatted
over to the front of the half track, which had a little door that lead to the cockpit.
He opened it, and crawled in.
Next, he saw the keys on the dashboard, and sure enough, the lock pin on the
door was pushed in...
He reached over and pulled it up.
“Idiot.” he thought.
He climbed into the seat. Leaning forward, he saw that there was no gas
indicator. It had been replaced with a modern LED showing how much wattage
was stored. The seats were the old World War II style, with just a seat cushion,
and plain metal for your back. My god the whole interior seemed metal. Brian's
Dragunov rested against the door.
Ross heard metal steps in the back; then a voice echoed.
“Oh here's the food.”
Ross peered through the crawlspace and yelled “Hey! We have to ration that!”
But MacNeill was already taking the cover of the crate off and peering inside.
“Dude! Ham, eggs, bacon! Oh, and look here, biscuits, and powder for grape
juice. Look theres also a pack of four cigarettes. This is so cool we should-”
MacNeill felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him hard, backwards.
“No.” said Eason, firmly.
“Eason...”
“No MacNeill!”
MacNeill looked at the Ration...
“The bacon, oh what he would do for some bacon...” he thought to himself. He
frowned, and looked away, tossing it back into the crate haphazardly. He walked
towards something else. Eason mumbled something harsh, and bent down to
grab the cover to the crate. He fastened it and looked backwards, out of the
truck.
Elijah was trying help Brian with a first aid kit, but Brian was strongly protesting.
Elijah shouted something, and Brian carefully let him look, wincing in pain. Matt
was sitting on a fallen tree, taking a swig of his canteen. He thought about
dealing with MacNeill and Matt for the rest of his life, and that made him shiver.
“Why does Matt always talk to me?” he thought. Matt was always following him
around, doing what he did, saying whatever went along with what he said. He
enjoyed the constant attention, but in truth it annoyed him. Eason knew he
couldn't possibly have been his only friend, right?
Well, none of that mattered anymore, he was going to be with him for the rest of
his life no matter what. The same with MacNeill. Eason got nervous just thinking
about-
“Who's going to drive this thing?” yelled Ross' voice from the cockpit.
Nobody had thought of it before.
“I mean I guess I could drive. But it would just be a little awkward.” He continued.
MacNeill threw the revolver he was holding on the ground. It slammed hard,
making a metallic clang.
“I'll drive!”
immediately everyone, including Matt, some ten yards away, outside, exclaimed
“NO!” simultaneously.
“I could drive.” commented Eason.
“No I'll drive” said Elijah, opening the driver door. Ross looked back at Eason and
MacNeill.
“Yeah, I guess that makes the most sense” he said wearily sliding into the
passenger seat. Elijah positioned himself correctly, and reached over his
shoulder-
No seatbelt.
“That's good.” he said, putting his finger on the ignition.
“What?” asked Ross. Elijah pushed the button. The whole vehicle whirred to life.
Suddenly, lights came on the dashboard.
“What's good?” Ross asked again.
“Theres no seat belts.”
Ross grinned crookedly.
He saw Elijah reach over to his side, and pull up Brian's dragunov. He positioned
it, and pushed it through the crawlspace shouting, “Take this piece of junk.”
They heard Eason shout something. One monitor on the dashboard in particular
sparked his interest. He leaned over and saw a blue outline of the half track from
a birds eye view. The display showed the solar panels on the roof, and how
much sunlight they were getting from it.
“Cool” he thought to himself.
He heard footsteps thumping into the back. Elijah looked through the crawlspace
and asked, “Is everybody on?”
Matt shouted back, “Yeah.”
Elijah swiveled back around and looked at the foliage in front of him through the
glass.
“Ill be your eyes.” said Ross to Elijah.
Elijah laughed halfheartedly, cleared his throat, and put his hand on the shift. He
glanced at Ross briefly, and shifted into drive. He stepped on the pedal, and they
lurched forward into the foliage.

River
The half track suddenly burst through the dense jungle into the open,
instantly illuminating the cockpit. The clearing was surrounded on all sides by
dense jungle. It had been a nightmare getting out here. A good 45 minutes of
driving at 10 mile an hour through dense forest with someone who barely knew
how to drive. Constantly reversing, and going forward. It was so agitating to
everyone. So it was a mystery as to why there was suddenly a large clearing in
the midst of this dense wilderness. Elijah slammed on the brakes, sending Ross,
along with everyone in the back, flying forward. Ross hit his head on the
windshield.
“God damn it Elijah don't do that!” he exclaimed.
Elijah put the half track in park. People were shouting in the back. Elijah paid no
attention to them. He pointed forward stunned, and Ross looked, still grabbing
his forehead. Ross' mouth immediately dropped.
Ahead of them some 20 yards, was a whole mix of dinosaurs all drinking from a
rather large river, that ran alongside this flat clearing they were in, before running
into the forest again.
“Oh my god.” said Ross, quietly.
“What are they?” asked Elijah, softly. Ross looked at Elijah slightly.
“Well over there are some Triceratops. Oh and over there are some
Pachycephalosaurus, you see those massive skulls?”
Elijah nodded.
“Those are believed to be for display and attracting a mate, but I wouldn't piss
one off if I were you.” Ross pointed over to the left side of the river.
“You see those duck billed dinosaurs?”
“Yeah” said Elijah.
“They are called Edmontosaurus.”
Elijah looked around.
“So you think they all come here to drink?”
“Yeah, I would imagine” answered Ross.
All of the dinosaurs were lapping up water, and were barking, and honking too
each other.
“I want a closer look.” said Elijah. Ross looked at him sharply.
“...Okay...but drive slow, and for the love of our lord, don't beep the horn.”
Elijah nodded, and put the half track in drive. He grabbed onto the metal steering
wheel with both hands, and drummed his fingers.
Suddenly MacNeill's head burst through the crawlspace.
“Why the fuck have we stop-oh my god!” he blurted out. Ross snapped.
“Shut the fuck up!” and he pushed MacNeill's head back through.
He shook his head in frustration, and looked over at Elijah. Elijah slowly pressed
on the pedal, sending the vehicle slowly whirring forward.
MacNeill was saying something to the others in the back. The animals continued
to drink.
“Easy now.” Ross whispered.
The half track slowly advanced towards the animals. They still ignored the
oncoming vehicle. Ross gripped his rifle tight.
“Easy now.” he said again, more anxiously. The half track was now a good 8 feet
from the tail of one the trikes.
“That's enough!” whispered Ross, harshly. The vehicle stopped abruptly, jerking
Ross forward again. Elijah was shuffling around.
“What are you doing?” asked Ross.
“Going outside.”
Ross stared for a moment. He was really gonna do it.
Ross looked back through the crawlspace and said
“Listen up, we're going outside” Everyone stared. Brian groaned, still clutching
his wounded ear.
He continued, “now, nobody can afford to be a fuck tard; got it?”
Ross heard the Elijah shut the door.
“Okay” MacNeill answered. Matt said nothing. Eason scrunched up his face and
began to mock him in a girly voice.
“No being a fuuuck tard this tiiiime.”
“Eason...”
“I know Ross!” he snapped as he climbed out of the back. Brian groaned again.
“I'm going to just stay put.” he said.
“Alright.” said Ross.
He pulled his head back through the crawlspace, and saw Elijah in front of the
half track, slowly inching up to the the tail of the nearest trike.
“Stupid idea.” Ross thought to himself. He grabbed his M1, and opened the door.
“Stupid idea.”

Elijah slowly walked up to the side of the trike. He felt the sweat beading
down his cheeks. He reached out his hand slowly, and touched it.
He touched the triceratops.
It didn't even seem to care. Elijah grinned, and looked back at the rest of the
group. MacNeill stayed as close the the half track as possible. Clearly he was still
traumatized after his last encounter. The trike's skin was pebbled, and rough to
Elijah. This was amazing! He was petting a real dinosaur, and it wasn't even
paying attention to him. He no longer felt scared around these gentle giants. One
of the Edmontosaurs cocked it's head and gazed directly at him. Elijah swiveled
his head and looked at Ross.
“Quick, get me a ration!” whispered Elijah. Ross shook his head.
“No! Those are for us!” he whispered back.
“Just get me one!”
“No!”
“Get it!”
“No Elijah!”
Elijah grunted, and the Edmontosaur was already approaching him.
“Elijah get out of there!” whispered Ross. Elijah didn't move.
“Elijah Now!”
But the Edmontosaur was right next to his face, sniffing it with is huge duck bill.
Elijah thought it looked sort of like a big cow. Big and dumb. Lazily, the
Edmontosaur opened it's mouth, revealing a long dark tongue that flopped out
and carefully began licking his shirt...
“What the hell?” thought Elijah.
Ross pointed his rifle at the Edmontosaur.
The animal kept licking Elijah's shirt, until with a groan, it finally turned away, and
went back to the river. Elijah slowly looked back at everybody, smiling like a little
kid.
Ross was red in the face.
“I ought to shoot you for that you dumb shit!”
Elijah chuckled, “Calm down Ross.”
“Don't tell me to calm down, you keep acting like this and you're gonna get us all
killed!”
Elijah perked up, and his eyes widened.
“Hey, let's make our houses here.”
“What?” asked Eason, who was moving closer to them
“Yeah think about it. We have plenty of water, and theres plenty of trees we can
use in case we're ever attacked.” said Elijah.
Eason looked up at the trees, 50 feet high.
“I don't know about the trees...”
“Elijah, we don't even know what lives around here. This could just be a residual
watering hole where everything in the immediate area congregates to drink. This
could be dangerous territory, and I don't know about you, but-”
Elijah cut Ross off, “Ross, we have guns, plenty of ammo, massive herds that
come to drink here, and a half track. I think we're good.”
Eason droned.
“But the trees.”
“What about the trees?” asked Elijah.
“I...don't really do well in high places.”
Ross chuckled to himself.
Eason looked at him, and glared for a moment.
“Okay.” he started, “Let's build here.”
Elijah smiled, “Good it's settled then!”
He started towards the half track.
“Wait a minute!” Shouted Ross. The nearby trike still ignored him, even with the
shouting. Elijah turned around.
“What?”
Ross pointed to the half track and then MacNeill.
“What about what they want?”
Elijah looked directly into Ross' eyes.
“Who cares what they want.”
Ross nodded.
Elijah continued, “Now, it's getting dark. I think we should all get in the half track
now.”
Ross looked back, and saw the herd begin to move on. The alpha
Edmontosaurus honked loudly, and all at once the other Edmontosaurs got up
and began to move in a single file line, back into the forest. They way the moved
amazed him: with such finesse. They appeared to have complex hierarchy,
something we could never have imagined. These animals, while primitive in our
minds, behave in ways that we still can't achieve. Leaders of humans still have
trouble keeping their followers in line, however these animals do not. They
assume their formation without question, and do it well too. It hasn't become
clear to people yet that we need to learn from earth's own animals to succeed as
a race. The squirrel gathering enough nuts for hibernation, the birds carrying food
back to the nest for the chicks, the bees all helping to protect their queen. It's all
in us to be those things, but we forget too much, far too much, that we are a
living thing on this planet. We place ourselves above the rest, however we, like
the dinosaurs, will come to an end. We will give birth to a new dominant species
that will dominate the planet. Maybe insects, maybe reptiles, maybe birds, maybe
something we make. Either way, they will look back on us as they uncover our
bones, just as we have uncovered the dinosaurs, and think about just how
primitive we were. With all these successes, and advancements in technology,
we couldn't even survive our own planet. Yet still we attempt to control it.

Day 15
Decision
Deciding on how to build houses in a tree was a difficult task. However, it
was decided that everyone would get a house built for them in separate, but
close together trees. As the one with the most carpentry experience, David
MacNeill mostly oversaw the construction, while Matt, Ross, and Elijah did most
of the actual work. The houses were built in 50 foot trees on the edge of the
clearing. Sticks were nailed to each tree as a ladder. Brian had become far too ill
to help with project, and Eason at first tried to help, but was far too afraid of
heights to get anything done. Elijah had almost started a fire when he smoked
one of the cigarettes and didn't put it out properly. Also, over the course of the
first week it had been discovered that they were close to a Tyrannosaurus'
territory, as in broad daylight, it came out and attacked and killed a member of
the Edmontosaur herd that drifted to far away from the rest. This shocked
everyone, and they were glad that they were in the safety of the half track when
in happened. The K-Rations were at about half, and the group had begun talks
about food when the rations run out. When night came, everyone gathered in
Eason's hut to discuss it.
“So” Ross started, swatting a fly away. “What are we to do?”
MacNeill raised his hand and said, “Well, we have plenty of ammo, so why don't
we just hunt?”
Eason and Elijah nodded.
“You know what, that's actually not a bad idea.” said Elijah.
“Preservatives?” asked Ross. Elijah frowned.
“Good point.”
Eason looked around. Then, he lit up and said, “Wait”
Everyone looked at him.
“That river, it must lead to an ocean somewhere, right?”
“Go on” droned Ross.
“Well then let's follow it and get some salt. Think about it. We have all the
materials.”
Ross immediately interrupted,
“Eason, we have no idea what could possibly live down that river. We've only
begun to explore even the outer rim of our little housing area. It's far too
dangerous.”
Matt looked at Ross, “Then what would you have us do Ross?”
Ross paused for a moment.
Everyone stared.
“We could...” he droned on for a moment.
“We could live off of eggs.”
Elijah spoke,
“Ross, that could be potentially more dangerous!”
MacNeill spoke, “Well it's easier than saying: Okay let's just drive down this river
for an unknown number of miles to an ocean that for all we know doesn't even
exist, avoiding carnivorous freaks on the way. Then, we get there, fill up like 8
canteens with salt water, boil it, and get a little bit of salt that's barely enough to
preserve a turkey let alone a damn triceratops.”
Eason glared at David.
“MacNeill, it was your idea to hunt in the first place, and now your contradicting
yourself. Man, you always do that.” He cleared his throat, and continued.
“Just because Ross says something, doesn't mean he's right.”
MacNeill raised his arms and protested,
“Eason!”
Eason scrunched his face up and mocked MacNeill in a girly voice.
“Easssooooon!”
Brian coughed loudly.
“Why won't you guy's ever just stop fighting?”
Eason looked over at Brian.
“Brian, go be bitchy somewhere else.”
Matt looked over at Eason, smiling, and said.
“No Eason, MacNeill's just trying to suck up to Ross so he doesn't have to
actually work for his food.”
Eason laughed. MacNeill yelled back in protest. Ross looked over at Elijah.
“I don't wanna have to do anything that requires cooperation with those people.”
he said, jokingly.
Elijah laughed, “Tell me about it.”
Ross yelled, and clapped his hands.
“Okay so tomorrow we'll go looking around for some eggs to steal.” At that, he
got up, walked towards the edge of the platform on which the hut stood, and
began to climb down the ladder.
 Day 16
Nest
The half track bounced along the forest floor. Everyone knew what was
about to happen, and they were preparing themselves mentally. Brian stayed
behind due to his increasingly worsening condition. Nobody spoke. Except for
MacNeill, who was trembling the most. He was asking millions of questions.
“Guys, what if the dinosaurs attack the half track?” He whined. Eason replied.
“Then we floor it.”
“It's not too late to hunt you know. We could just kill a member of that herd that
always drinks from the river. They wouldn't care.”
“MacNeill, they're our alert beacon in case of emergency.” Answered Matt.
“Couldn't we just steal some of their eggs? I saw some down by the river-”
“MacNeill, just stop being a pussy.” snapped Eason. Eason reached down and
picked up MacNeill's carbine.
“MacNeill, if anything goes wrong” He gestured the weapon, “This is your
protection.”
He gave the rifle to MacNeill. He looked out the back of the half track through a
little opening in the tarp. He saw the trees flying past them.
“It's going to be a piece of cake” He started.
“As soon as the time comes, we're going to jump out the back and dash for the
eggs, then, we run back, jump back in here, and have food for a week.”
He looked back at MacNeill, and nodded reassuringly.
“Piece of cake if you're not a pussy.”
MacNeill didn't look convinced.
He had been dreading this for the past 15 hours since the decision was made.
The only reason he went was to try and prove himself. He hated being called a
wuss. The only thing was, deep down, he knew he was. But he wasn't going to
let that stop him from doing this. Not this time. No more. He would prove Eason
wrong, he would prove them all wrong. David Hume MacNeill is not a wuss.
The vehicle slowed to a stop. Nobody spoke.
“I think we got something” whispered Ross' voice from the cockpit.
Silence.
They heard shuffling up front, and then the passenger door clicking open.
Silence.
MacNeill's heart was racing. He clasped his rifle, and looked over at Eason, and
then Matt.
“Shit” he thought to himself.
Suddenly he heard the passenger door close quietly. Ross' head poked through
the crawlspace.
“Okay.” he whispered.
“We got a nest of Utahraptors up ahead.”
MacNeill began shaking his head.
“Before you say anything MacNeill, I already checked, and we don't have enough
power to risk finding another nest. Now one could be just a couple miles from
here, or another 20 miles, and we don't wanna risk going hungry.” Ross shook
his head.
“This thing uses up so much fuel. I guess we should have figured it. It'll take a
good 12 hours to get even half a tank charged. And we only get like 5 mpg. So
we're just gonna take this one.”
MacNeill was taking heaving breaths. He was sweating a lot. Ross continued.
“Now, you all remember what these things are like, right? About six and a half
feet tall, twenty-one feet long. Massive, dagger like claw on the middle toe. 1500
pounds. Not fun. So keep your distance.”
Eason spoke.
“Ross...”
Ross looked at Eason.
“We're not fucking retarded.”
Ross pulled his head back through the crawlspace.
MacNeill was never so afraid in his entire life. He needed some assurance.
Someone to tell him it would be okay. He wanted more than anything to just go
back home. To his own time.
Eason put his hand on MacNeill's shoulder.
“MacNeill.”
David looked over, straight into his eyes.
“Don't fuck this up” he said, climbing out of the back.
Matt climbed out after him.
MacNeill's heart sank. Why did he need all this pressure? He could have just
stayed behind and let them do it. He didn't need to be here. He didn't want to be
here.
“Christ.” he said under his breath as he began to shuffle out the back.

Elijah stepped out onto the warm soft ground. He felt the humid air on his
face, and he began to sweat almost immediately from the heat. Animals chirped
and hooted throughout the forest. He unslung his rifle, and looked over his
shoulder at Ryan, Matt, and David who stood next to the half track. All silent,
their rifles shouldered. Elijah shouldered his FN-FAL, and looked over at Ross,
who was pointing ahead.
“Just beyond those trees.” he whispered.
Ahead there was a wall of foliage. Elijah squinted his eyes, trying to see.
Nothing.
He raised his leg and stepped forward, silently. His foot sank slightly into the wet
soil. He began taking silent steps into the thick wall, before he finally disappeared
from everyone's view.

Elijah pushed one last fern away, and saw a moderately big clearing near
a stream. It looked like a smaller version of their home. Immediately, he saw the
animals.
Directly ahead were three large, feathered Utharaptors, all caring tentatively to
their own distinct cluster of eggs. They nudged their eggs with their snouts,
carefully positioning them. He could clearly see their sharp teeth protruding out of
their upper jaws. They looked like big, mean, toothed birds.
He waited for a moment. They still methodically catered to their eggs. One stood
up straight, and roared briefly, before again resuming it's delicate catering. It was
obvious to him that they were not leaving anytime soon. Not that that mattered
anyway, they had all day to wait. But Elijah was impatient. He wanted to just get
those damned eggs and leave. They were big eggs. Three could last a week.
That was all that he needed. Just three eggs.
The hell with waiting, he thought.
He raised his rifle, aimed carefully through the sights at the closest one's eye.
And fired.
The combination of a massive bang and an enormous kick-back disoriented him
for a brief moment, but he saw the first animal puff out a small cloud of blood
from it's head, and then fell straight to the ground, crushing the eggs.
The other two immediately looked up and stared directly at him, then snarled.
Elijah carefully aimed again, at the second one, and fired three shots, sending it
toppling to the ground squealing. The third one lowered it's head , took a deep
breath and let out a shrieking, ear splitting roar. Then, it threw itself at him, full
speed. Elijah flicked the rifle into full auto and squeezed the trigger, spewing out
a hail of lead that kicked so crazily, he lost control of the rifle, and it flew out of
his hands.
Onto the nearby ground.
The raptor leaped into the air, roaring. It's claws protruding at him. Elijah
screamed in fear, and fell to the ground, covering his head with his hands. He felt
the stinging slash of it's claws digging into his back briefly, and then ripping out.
He heard the animal crash into the foliage behind him. Then he felt the warm
blood running down his back.

The raptor burst through the foliage and crashed to the ground, rolling.
MacNeill screamed at the top of his lungs, and then, suddenly, the world erupted
into gunfire. The raptor shrieked as it was shot to pieces by everyone.
“What the fuck happened!?” screamed Eason.
“Elijah!” Ross screamed.
There was no answer.
Then, suddenly a voice yelled from the underbrush, “The eggs! Get the eggs!”
Ross immediately turned to Eason.
“Now's your chance! Go!” he yelled, before running back to the half track.
Eason began to run forward.
“Let's go!” he shouted. He ran into the thicket with Matt.
MacNeill was frozen with terror. He simply just didn't budge. He heard the whirr
of the half track starting up, and his brain sent him only one message.
Safety.
He twisted around, and ran full speed to the passenger side of the half track. He
threw open the door, climbed in, and slammed it.
“What the fuck are you doing MacNeill?!?” screamed Ross at the top of his
lungs. MacNeill didn't answer. Ross was glaring at him. He was sweating, and
breathing very heavily. Almost hyperventilating.
“MacNeill I asked you-”
Ross cut himself off in terror as he saw a Utahraptor burst through the foliage to
the right of the half track, and with a bang, slam into the passenger door, sending
MacNeill flying on top of Ross, and the half track careening precariously at a
diagonal angle, before coming back down on two wheels again. MacNeill and
Ross screamed at the top of their lungs in horror.
“MacNeill get off of me!” Shouted Ross, pushing him away.
The raptor turned around, ran back a good ten feet, swiveled back, and charged,
slamming into the door again. MacNeill again was thrown onto Ross. Alarms
started sounding all over the place.
“MacNeill get off!” yelled Ross.
“I can't!”
Ross again pushed MacNeill away, resumed his position in the seat, and clasped
the steering wheel before MacNeill was once again thrown into him, this time
slamming Ross' head into the metal door. Ross, looked over gently, past
MacNeill, at the raptor, swiveling around, and charging the half track. Rocking it
again. He saw MacNeill screaming, and closing his eyes. He saw the lights on
the dashboard flashing red and blue. Then he saw stars, and everything faded
into blackness.

Escape
Eason and Matt both burst through the wall of foliage, each carrying three
eggs. Immediately they saw the half track being slammed repeatedly by a
Utahraptor. It careened dangerously to one side, and then crashed back down.
The raptor repeated this relentlessly. Eason looked at Matt.
“Shit, what the fuck do we do?” Matt shook his head back and forth nervously.
“I don't know. Where the hell is Elijah?” His voice could be barely heard by the
snarls, slamming, and screeching of metal.
Suddenly they heard a voice from the half track scream,
“For god's sake, get in!”
Eason looked at Matt once again, and then sprinted as fast as he could to the
half track. Matt followed. In the dash, Eason dropped an egg. He heard it crack
on the ground behind him, but he didn't care, he just ran. The Utahraptor saw
them, stood up high, balancing with its long tail and bellowed it's terrifying
screeching roar. Eason broke into a dizzying sweat. He ran to the driver's side of
the half track.
Almost there.
In the corner of his eye, he saw the animal only a few feet from him; but then he
was on the other side of the half track, and safe. He threw himself onto the driver
door and began screaming.
“Open up! Open the fucking door!” He heard a snort, and he saw the huge,
seven foot body leap up onto the hood of the half track. It's claws screeched on
the nice paint. Matt screamed at the top of his lungs, and threw his eggs to the
ground, smashing them all...
He scrambled the rifle into his hands as the raptor leaned forward, jaws gaping,
ready to pounce. It's big claws clicked on the hood. Matt was bringing it to his
shoulder to aim, when 1500 pounds suddenly hit him like a mack truck, sending
him toppling to the ground. The entire animal was on top of him, and he couldn't
breathe. But he was alive. He looked up at the big snout of the raptor clamped
onto his rifle, jerking it around. Hot saliva dripped onto his face. Matt gripped the
rifle for dear life. He just yelled and shouted. He jerked his eyes downward,
seeing the seven inch razor on it's foot raise up.
Death.
Then a loud gunshot rang out, and the massive raptor fell off to the side of Matt,
taking his rifle with it. The raptor howled, and thrashed it's limbs wildly. Matt was
pulled to his feet by Eason, and then was pulled towards the back of the half
track.
The raptor got to it's feet.
Matt and Eason threw themselves into the back, their legs sticking out.
Eason shrieked “Go!” and suddenly, the vehicle lurched forward, and began to
drive away.

MacNeill was leaning over Ross' unconscious body, steering and pressing
the pedal with his foot that was awkwardly positioned under Ross' leg. Out of the
passenger door the raptor was glaring through the glass, at MacNeill as they
drove. The raptor bellowed, and charged the driver door. MacNeill quickly threw
the steering wheel to the left, sending everything in the back flying to the right.
The half track drove straight at the raptor, and struck it hard, sending it
screeching up onto the hood and into the windshield, spiderwebbing it with a loud
crack. A piece of glass broke off and flew into MacNeill's lap. The raptor thrashed
about as it lay, completely blocking MacNeill's view. He heard Eason shouting
something. MacNeill slammed on the brakes, and the raptor catapulted off the
hood, into a tree, some three feet away. The raptor let out roars as it fell to the
ground.
“We almost fucking hit the tree” MacNeill thought.
He looked at the stick for reverse, but the raptor roared menacingly as it got to
his feet again, and stared at MacNeill, right in front of him. MacNeill threw his
back against the seat, yelled, and stepped on the pedal. With a loud shrill cry the
raptor was crushed against the tree, bones and all. Streams of blood gushed out
from it's neck and painted the windshield. But MacNeill was still pressing the
pedal. The front wheels lost traction, but the back treads still pushed, and sent
the half track quickly, diagonally, up the tree. The raptor was torn at the neck,
and was dragged up the tree, it's jaw instinctively snapped at MacNeill across the
hood in twitches. He heard things smashing, crashing and sliding out the back.
He let go of the pedal. And sat there at that 45 degree angle, looking through the
bloody windshield at the green leaves which blanketed the dented hood. The
raptor's head and neck lay on the hood, lifeless. The eyes still fixed on MacNeill.
MacNeill stared at them, hyperventilating.
“Holy shit” he said aloud.
Suddenly, the raptor head slid down the hood, and fell through the glass, landing
in MacNeill's lap. Blood spilled out the neck, down his pants, and to the side, on
Ross. MacNeill screamed and grabbed it, throwing it repeatedly against the walls
of the cabin, before he finally threw it out the front, and it crashed into the wet
leaves below. He laid his head back against the hard metal, and closed his eyes
for a moment. Then, he opened them at the sound of Eason's voice.

Elijah
Elijah peered out through through the underbrush at the half track. The
vehicle was at a 45 degree against a large tree. Steam was bellowing out from
under the hood. Blood and feathers were smeared over the tree, and blanketed
the hood. Out the back ,on the ground, lay the rest of their K-Rations, along with
the empty box of carpentry tools, a first aid kit, and a silver revolver that glinted in
the afternoon sun.
Next to these laid Eason and Matt, who both were slowly moving on the
ground, groaning. He wondered where MacNeill was. Then he squinted his eyes
at the cockpit. He couldn't see. He suddenly grew furious at himself.
He knew he had messed everything up, and he had failed everyone. He saw
Eason and Matt get to his feet. He knew he was going get to get it from everyone
for a good long while. Especially now that they were stranded.
He sighed.
Why had he been so damn impulsive?
He shuffled to his knees, and then he heard a very loud, shrilling squeal that
made him fall back to his stomach in panic. He swiveled his head to the sound.
His back burned. In the foliage ahead he saw a dark shape shuffling behind the
ferns, squealing. Elijah tensed up and waited. His back burned fiercely. Suddenly
the raptor burst through the ferns and bit him in the nose. He yelled, jumped back
and opened his eyes. He saw the small little jaws of the baby Utahraptor
clamped on his nose. It didn't hurt. Its little teeth gummed his nose. Elijah sighed
in relief at the sight of the little animal. It was only about a foot tall. Having no
feathers made it seem more lizard-like. Propping himself up with one arm, he
pulled the little jaws off his nose. He felt the short, little breaths on his fingers.
The animal squirmed as and squealed as he set it down. The raptor looked at
him, and waited. Elijah smiled. This little animal actually calmed him, rather than
repulsed him like the adults did. The animal raised its head up, and squeaked at
him. He slowly got up to his knees, the animal didn’t move. He reached out his
hand, palm up. The animal stumbled over to it and sniffed it. Then, it raised his
head to him, and squeaked again.
“Comon” Elijah said in a calming voice.
The animal looked cautiously at his palm, then at his face, then at his palm again.
“It’s okay” he reassured.
The animal raised a leg, and stepped up onto his hand. He felt the very light
weight of the animal on his palm. He chuckled. The little claws pressed into his
skin.
The animal circled around, and looked up at him. It hopped up and down and
squeaked.
“What the fuck MacNeill?!” blurted Matt’s voice nearby. The raptor cowered.
Elijah looked towards the sound.
“All this shit’s spilled and....oh my god MacNeill all of our food is all over the
ground!”
The baby snarled.
“What the fuck are you doing up there?” Matt continued. Elijah heard the click of
the driver door.
“Matt, stop complaining, I can’t see much, theres blood everywhere...” said
MacNeill.
“MacNeill reverse the half track down the tree, now!” Screamed Eason at the top
of his lungs. The raptor cowered into his hand. Elijah Covered it’s ears.
“MacNeill now!” shouted Eason.
MacNeill began to scream hysterically.
“Eason! I can’t reverse because Ross is laying on the fucking stick!”
He heard the half track rocking from MacNeill.
“Fuck! I can’t move him!”
Elijah looked at the raptor, which was raising it’s head again to listen. It hopped
off of his hand, and surried to the edge of the foliage.
“No!” Elijah shouted. “Come back!”
Elijah shuffled over to it. They both poked their heads out. They saw Eason and
Matt looking up at the driver’s seat.
Everything was still spilled over the ground.
The metal screamed and protested.
“MacNeill what the fuck are you doing up there?!” yelled Matt.
Suddenly, the driver door flew open, and Ross slid out. His body dangling by a
leg.
“MacNeill!”
MacNeill shouted something, and began to pull him back in, when suddenly the
entire half track lurched downward slightly, and Ross was jerked free from
MacNeill’s hands. MacNeill yelled “Nooo!” and Ross fell freely from the the cabin,
down past the tarp back, and with a loud thud, he hit the dirt.
And he lay limp.
“Shit!” Elijah whispered to himself.
Eason ran over to Ross.
Elijah heard Eason and Matt screaming at the tops of their lungs. The raptor
cowered again, and Elijah, again, covered it’s ears. It whined as they screamed.
Suddenly the raptor broke free from his cupped hands, and ran backwards, back
into the foliage.
Back to the nest.
Elijah looked forward, at the chaos, at the screaming.
It was all his fault, he thought.
He didn’t want to go back to that, not right now. He turned around, and ran after
the raptor.

Night
Elijah ran after the raptor through the wall of foliage. He burst out into the
clearing, and saw the nests. The two dead raptors, the crushed eggs, the blood.
But no baby.
“Hello?” shouted Elijah.
“Where’d you go little guy?” he called again.
He heard nothing but the forest ambience. He could still hear the screams in the
distance. He took another breath.
“Hello?” he screamed again.
He spun around 360 degrees.
“Where the hell did you go?”
Suddenly, the raptor leaped out of the bushes and climbed up his leg, scurried up
to his chest and then his shoulder. Elijah laughed. The raptor began licking his
cheek, and then began to gum his cheek. He reached his hand up, and pet it’s
soft skinned forehead. The raptor let go, spun around, and began gumming his
finger.
“Hey!” chuckled Elijah.
He held it up in front of his face. It still gnawed on his finger. A breeze blew past
them. He slowly held it to his chest. The air was growing cooler as the day
ended. The raptor let go of his finger, curled it’s tail up around it’s head, and
burrowed close to him before it resumed gnawing on his finger again.
Elijah walked slowly up to the nest. He said aloud,
“I killed your family, didn’t I?”
It’s eyelids sagged.
“I can’t just leave you here. You’ll die without a family.”
He looked up at the sinking sun, and sighed.
“We’ll all die without a family.”
The raptor’s eyes were closed. It drooled on his finger slightly. Elijah turned back
towards the wall of foliage, and started towards it.
“This'll just be out little secret.”

Eason and Matt propped Ross against the tree. They turned at the noise
of the half track coming to life. The distinctive whirr that they used to associate
with the half track had turned into a dying whine. The whine grew louder and
louder as MacNeill hit the gas slowly, trying to get it out of the tree. The treads
pulled the damaged hull backwards, and slowly, the hood began to come to the
ground.
“Okay MacNeill, easy, easy...” shouted Eason.
Suddenly the bumper slipped off the bark and crashed to the ground, creaking
the suspension. MacNeill was lifted out of his seat, and then he crashed back
down under the metal dashboard. Outside he heard Eason and Matt cheer
briefly. And then Eason came over to the door.
Eason opened the door carefully, and he saw MacNeill sandwiched under the
dash. Eason smiled.
“You okay?” he said, reaching out a hand.
“Owwww! ” MacNeill moaned in pain.
Eason helped him out of the half track.
“Can you walk?”
MacNeill stood up, and walked a bit.
“I'm good” he yelled.
Walking up to them, Matt joked,
“Eason don't help MacNeill. He's a little retard. He fucking wrecked the half track
like a fat ass.”
Eason ignored him. He was looking in the cockpit.
“Holy shit there's a lot of blood.”
MacNeill was panting. He nodded.
“Fucking raptor...hosed me...”
Eason pulled his head out of the vehicle and looked at the sky.
“Shit, it's getting dark. We need to get back.”
MacNeill looked into the wall of foliage.
“What about Elijah?”
Eason turned.
“What about Elijah?” he said climbing into the drivers seat, carefully avoiding the
blood puddles.
Matt leaned over to Eason, who was shutting the door.
“No, Eason, MacNeill just wants Elijah back cuz' he won't have anyone to tuck
him in at night if he's not, and Ross is unconscious.” Eason just stared for a
moment, and then, with a click, the door was shut.
Matt walked over to Ross, who was bleeding from the head.
“Fucking David...” he thought as he threw his hand over his shoulder, and carried
him back to the half track. MacNeill climbed in. Matt suddenly began shouting.
“MacNeill! Don't think your fucking climbing in there and not helping me pick up
your mess. Clean this shit up.”
MacNeill shook his head, and climbed out to help Matt pick up the trash.

Day 40
Update
After the incident in the nest, everyone became much more aware of the
situation they were in. Everything that happened seemed to be done in a much
darker theme. The group decided to just steal from the herds that drank from the
river, as the half track was in horrible shape. Everything drew into a lull. The food
scarcity began to take it's toll. The herds slowly began appearing less and less,
until recently, they just stopped coming altogether. Eason had once gotten sick
from eating spoiled eggs. MacNeill had gotten bad diarrhea from the river, and
recently Elijah had been acting just plain old strange. Brian had gotten slightly
better, but he was still very sick. Everyone grew very irritable. Elijah had
recovered his FN-FAL, but only with one magazine to spare. Ross had to recover
from a mild concussion, and he too was out his rifle. Only MacNeill, Brian, and
Eason still had their guns as they were; albeit with less ammunition, due to
pointless wasting. MacNeill took the rest of Ross' ammunition, and added it to his
own. It was decided that the half track be used only it absolutely necessary
situations. MacNeill and Eason fought more than ever. Eason and Matt even had
their fair share of fights. Elijah and Ross rarely talked anymore, due to Elijah's
seclusion, and Brian was always getting yelled at for something. It was
increasingly harder for anyone to establish anything of a leadership, as most of
the recent egg hunts had been utter failures.
Out of everybody, the lull hit Elijah the hardest. Everyone always
wondered what he was doing when he locked himself in his hut for hours a day,
only coming out for food and drink. It had been decided that, for the sake of their
lives, you never left the trees without first telling someone. However, Elijah often
ignored this. He became very secluded, and also very irritable. Ross had begun
to descend into a state of dementia, due to the monotonous nature of their lives.
Everyone in a sense was gaining some sort of a mental illness. MacNeill had
slipped into a small state of insanity, due to Eason and Matt’s constant
antagonizing, but nobody was even suspicious of Elijah’s secret.
Elijah named his little friend Naw, because of her incessant gnawing on
everything. Naw had grown another foot and a half, and it grew harder and
harder for Elijah to hide her. Sometimes she would screech or roar, luckily when
the rest of the group was away stealing eggs or exploring. He had to teach her
silence. In fact, he discovered that she was in fact, very intelligent. One day,
when everyone was driving the now damaged half track, he put an egg up on a
higher branch, and she climbed up the tree to get it. Another time, he began
singing his favorite song Blitzkrieg Bop, and Naw began to roar the beat.
Hoewever, as Naw grew larger, so did her appetite. Recently, everybody had
been noticing mysterious disappearances in their food supplies, and all fingers
began pointing to MacNeill. Everyone began to grow even more irritated, and
Esaon, MacNeill, and Matt had lost considerable weight. Progress slowed to a
halt. Nobody went down to scout anymore. Nobody built any additions to the
houses. Nobody really talked to each other anymore. Everything was the same,
everyday. Boring and starving. Except for Elijah, who had Naw to deal with. She
had grown in feathers, and at night Elijah slept next to her, sharing body heat.
Meanwhile, everyone was chilled from the rapidly descending temperatures that
got worse and worse everyday. Nobody could have predicted that the cretaceous
could get so cold. So damn cold. Scientists always depicted the cretaceous as
warm year round, and tropical. But here, in this harsh world, it was clear what
scientists were right about, and what they were wrong about. Bones can only tell
you so much about how much the climate was different than ours. Everyone lost
track of what day it was. It felt like years since they appeared here. They longed
for home. All of them did.
Elijah
Elijah, opened up his wooden door slightly, and peered out. The chilly air
numbed his face. Naw whined behind him. He put his hand behind him and
gestured for it to be quiet, then he poked his head out and saw the other huts.
Everyone was inside.
He fully opened his door, and stepped out onto the platform. His shoes were torn
and muddy. He walked over to the ladder, swung himself over the side, and
waited. Naw quickly darted over to him, and climbed on his shoulder. She dug
her toes into his pockets, and gripped his shoulders with her forearms. He
winced from the pain, and grunted from her weight that seemed to be ever
increasing. He climbed down the ladder and looked over to the river. There was
no herd. Naw jumped off, and Elijah felt the lightness.
“Shit” he mumbled to himself.
He looked back up the 50 feet. He had forgotten his rifle. He shrugged his
shoulders.
“Oh well” he said aloud. “I’ll be right back anyway.”
Elijah and Naw walked over to what used to be the nests of the herd. All of them
were empty, and partly destroyed. He bent down and moved around the brush.
Nothing.
Naw sniffed rapidly in the air, and then quickly darted over to a nest some 20 feet
away. Elijah looked over at her.
“What?”
Naw bent down, and lifted up her head, holding an egg. Elijah ran over.
“It’s probably rotten.” he said, glancing at it with a withered face.
A cool breeze swept over them. It chilled Elijah. Naw sniffed the air, and looked
up into the trees, growling.
Elijah looked first at Naw, and then at the trees.
“What?” he whispered tentatively.
They began to hear rhythmic thumping on one of the hut's platforms.
Footsteps.
Naw lowered herself, and poised to strike.
“Fuck!” Elijah whispered, “Get down!”
Naw walked forward a ways, still growling, showing her sharp, backwards facing,
serrated teeth. She was only a couple months old, but she was lethal. The
thumping came closer to the edge of the platform
“I can't be seen with you!” Elijah whispered, frantically looking around for a place
to hide.
He saw the river.
“It must be freezing” he thought. But he had to hide, somewhere, right now.
Now.
“Elijah what the hell are you doing down there?” came MacNeill's voice above.
Elijah gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. He turned around an looked
up at David looking over the side.
“Hey MacNeill, what's up?” he said wearily.
MacNeill looked over a couple feet to the side and saw a small Utahraptor
looking up at him, teeth glistening, feathers ruffled, eyes glaring. MacNeill
choked.
“Oh my god Elijah run, look out! Run! Go! Now!”
MacNeill sprang into action, running for his hut. Elijah darted over to Naw, and
threw his arms around her, tackling her to the hard ground.
“Get down!” he yelled loudly.
Suddenly, the rattling of gunfire exploded from above, sending dozens of lead
bullets whizzing past them, popping the dirt up as they hit. Elijah screamed at the
top of his lungs as he took the automatic fire. Naw flailed about and roared. A
bullet whizzed past Elijah's shoulder, slicing his shirt, and thinly cutting the skin.
He winced his in pain as he screamed.
Abruptly the gunfire stopped.
Elijah's ears rang, and his shoulder stung. Naw was digging her claws into his
skin, but he held on. For if he let go, she would die. Elijah started shouting, “Stop!
Stop!”
From above he heard MacNeill's shouting voice.
“Elijah get out of there!” Elijah quickly shouted back,
“No It's okay! It's okay, she's not hurting me!”
MacNeill screamed back.
“Just move a little so I can kill it...”
“MacNeill, No!” Elijah shouted back in pain as Naw began to bite him.
MacNeill lowered his rifle slightly.
“What?” Everyone ran over to MacNeill, some had rifles. Elijah started,
“Don't shoot, she's not gonna hurt anybody.”
Ross yelled.
“Who's not gonna hurt anybody?”
“Elijah looked up at them, still gripping her.
“Naw, my pet Utahraptor.”
In sync, everyone gasped.
“What?!?”
“Yes, she's my pet, I've had her for several months now. I can't release her, or
she'll die. Trust me she's tame, and she's very intelligent. Don't be mad, and
don't shoot her.” he pleaded, releasing Naw.
Naw jumped to her feet and looked up at everyone, who all stared back. Elijah
looked over at her, and continued.
“Look, she won't be a burden, she can climb well, and she can steal eggs pretty
damn easily too-”
He winced in pain and clutched his shoulder. Eason looked over at MacNeill,
shaking his head. Naw carefully strode over to Elijah. She raised her head up,
and sniffed the wound. Elijah looked down at her. She opened her mouth.
Everyone tensed.
She snaked her tongue out, and began to lick the wound. Her warm tongue
soothed the pain.
Ross stepped forward screaming,
“Are you insane? Do you know how much bacteria-”
Eason jerked his head over, looking at Ross.
“Ross, shut the fuck up. You don't know that.”
Ross slunk back. It was truth. He didn't know that. He didn't know anything about
all of these animals. Since the day they arrived at the River he realized just how
little he knew about this world. Everything about it was completely different than
what he had assumed prior. Raptors showing the ability to comprehend pain?
Complex animals capable of thought? Not in modern birds, which they believed
to be derived from raptors. Scientists knew that raptors were smart, based on
their brain cavity size. But these animals evolved completely different than we
have. They were obviously much more intelligent than was previously thought,
this alone proved it. This is simply a case of scientists again assuming that the
world revolves around humans. Our brain cavity proves how smart we are. But
who knows what proves how smart animals 65 million years old were?
Elijah pet Naw on the head, and she brought her head back down, closing her
mouth. Elijah ran his finger across the skin around his wound. His wound stung
only a little now. He raised up his finger, and showed everyone the saliva.
“I told you.” He said smiling. He rested his arm on her head.
“I am alive.”
Eason looked into her eyes. He got the feeling of innocence. Ross was also
looking into her eyes. He got the feeling of disaster.
“Alright Elijah.” Eason said, walking towards the ladder.
“I want to pet a dinosaur.”

Paradox
Thousands of things interacting. This conjunction of Naw and the group
forms a paradox. Things that shouldn’t happen by the laws of nature have been
happening throughout the couple months they’ve been here. Since the beginning
of the trip; from the very instant they arrived, a paradox was created. However
everything that happened, from the first attack by the compy’s to the river to the
first attempt to steal eggs; all of it was leading up to this meeting. The positive
interaction between man and dinosaur has shown a slight devolution in the
human mind. If humans could interact intellectually with an animal 65 million
years old, then that proved just how primitive humans actually are. Ross could
tell that everyone was slipping into this devolvement. This raptor, “Naw” they
called her, was the beginning of the end. This bothered him immensely. It was
now that he had to take control of the situation, or all else would be lost. He had
to take action, but he knew he had to do it slowly. Not him. He would not let
himself become something lower. And he wasn’t about to let some oversized bird
turn the only humans in the world into its slaves either.
Do it slowly.
Day 43
Sunset
In the sinking sun, Ross opened the door to his hut and walked out. He
was immediately greeted by the sight of Brian, David, Ryan, Matt, Elijah and Naw
all laying down on his platform, staring at the sunset. Ross stamped his foot
down, creating a loud thump. Elijah spun his head.
“Oh hey Ross”
Ross stared.
“We came over to your hut because it has the best view. You don’t care, right?”
Ross just stared.
Naw swiveled her head in a bird like fashion and looked at Ross with one eye.
Ross stared into that eye.
“Get off my porch.”
Elijah frowned.
“What?”
“All of you, off, now.” He said fiercely. He pointed to the ladder.
Now everyone was looking at Ross. Eason spoke.
“Ross, just because you have a stick up-“
Ross exploded,
“Eason I don’t want to hear your fucking bullshit right now, I’m fed up with it. Now
get off my porch!”
Ross was still staring into Naw’s eye.
She had a blank, innocent stare. Nobody moved. Brian spoke wearily,
“Maybe we should just go.”
Eason put his hand in front of Brian’s face.
“No, No I’ll handle this. He’s just being a little bitch.”
Eason scrambled quickly to his feet. He had lost a lot of weight since the
beginning of the trip.
“Ross, what’s your problem?”
Ross still stared into Naw’s eye. She cocked her head to the side and stared with
him other eye.
“Ross I’m talking to you!” Eason shouted.
Ross still stared. Naw tilted her head to the side like a puzzled dog.
“Okay” he said, still staring into her eye.
“You can stay here and watch the pretty sunset, but this is the last time,
understand.”
There was a pause. Eason smiled and laughed.
“Are you serious?”
Ross pointed to Naw.
“That thing weighs way too much for these supports. Have your little slumber
party on your own damn porch.”
Elijah shook his head,
“Why are you being such a dick all of a sudden?”
Ross spun around, ignoring him, and walked into his hut. Without turning around,
he reached his hand back, and slammed the door, creating a soft brushing sound
as the thatch door rubbed against the straw. Eason looked at Elijah. They both
shook their head and looked at Naw.
“He really doesn’t like you Naw.” joked Elijah. She tilted her head the other way,
confused. Elijah shook his head, and pet her soft feathers on top of her head. He
then turned and watched the sunset. The brilliant cascading shades of Red and
orange amazed him.
Every dark cloud has a silver lining, even this one.
Everyone stared silently. Naw opened her jaws wide and yawned.
“Do you believe in god Eason?” asked Elijah. Eason turned to him, and smiled.
“That is a damned good question.”
“Do you?”
“Not at all. God is just something we create to help us. God is there, but as a
figment of our imagination. The belief in god is like the most vivid dream humans
have. God is around us because we make him there, and that is all. I however,
do not believe in this aura, and because of such I do not believe in god. I also do
not believe in religion.”
Elijah frowned and raised himself up, propping up himself on one arm.
“How so?” he questioned.
“Well, people think that God will punish them if they do bad things, so they create
another false hope called nobility. They try to act good in hope that God will
reward them with good things. Nobility is stupidity.”
Elijah Nodded.
“I believe in god, just not in any religion.”
Eason smirked and said, “Then you, my friend, have a garbled impression of
god.”
Elijah nodded.
They both looked back at the sunset.
“Do you think I’ll see my family in heaven?” asked Eason. Elijah opened his
mouth and shouted.
“You just said you don’t believe in god!”
Eason looked at him, weakly.
“Do you?”
Elijah just stared. He turned around and looked at Naw. she had curled up in a
ball next to him, keeping him warm. He smiled, and turned back to Eason. He
took a deep breath.
“Eason, we’re your family now.” He said, looking around.
“All of us.”

Day 50
Starvation
MacNeill rummaged through the half track looking for food. Any food.
Anything to keep this nauseating pain from the pit of his stomach. Every step
took all of his energy. He was horribly weak from lack of nutrients, and had lost
so much weight since the first day. He saw part of the K-Rations crate lying on
the floor. It was just a splintered piece of wood.
What the hell he thought. He picked it up, and sure enough, there was nothing.
He looked up through the torn tarp roof at the sun. He closed his eyes, and
groaned.
“Why...” he moaned.
A sharp pain struck his abdomen, and he doubled over. He wrapped his arms
around his stomach, and howled. He squeezed his eyes shut. The pain was like
sand paper rubbing up against the intestinal wall. It came In throbs. Excruciating
throbs. He just wanted this horrible moment to end. End the pain. He opened his
eyes slowly, and stared at a glistening silver glow.
The revolver.
He thought about it for a moment. Would it really be worth it? The pain quickly
overwhelmed his thoughts, and he scrambled for the gun. He slipped on the
humid metal floor and fell, slamming his jaw on the steel. Overwhelming pain
shot to the top of his skull. He yelled in agony, and reached out one hand,
searching for the gun.
He touched it, and felt the cold, harsh metal on his hands. He didn't care. He
clutched it, and pulled it to his head. He pulled back the hammer, and heard the
click of the cylinder. He squeezed his eyes shut.
No more pain. No more.
A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. His whole life. Before his eyes.
The fuzzy yellow light shining through his eyelids was suddenly gone.
Was this heaven? Was he actually dead?
He sent the impulse to his eyes to open. And he saw a figure standing in front of
him.
He blinked twice.
He stared at the feathered, majestic form of Naw, towering above him, staring
into his eyes.
“Naw?” he weeped.
Something was different about her. Her face. There was something in her mouth.
Something red, and bloody.
She bent down closer to his face, and he saw the familiar dead carcass of a
compy in her mouth. She opened her jaws wide, and let it fall in front of his face,
thumping on the metal. He looked at it, and then her. She just stared, and tilted
her head diagonally. MacNeill dropped the revolver, and grabbed the compy by
the neck, and brought it up to his face. He didn't even think about it. He opened
wide, and took a heaving bite out of it's abdomen.
Suddenly, it squealed to life, kicking and thrashing about. MacNeill let go and
screamed, the sound echoing through the half track. The compy fell to the
ground and tried to upright itself, crippling away with one leg working and the
other bloody leg limp. It squeaked and squeaked.
MacNeill looked at it in disappointment.
Naw turned to the side, bent down, and clamped her jaws around it's neck. The
squeaking became a high pitched whistle. Then, Naw jerked her head up, and
the snapping of the compy's neck sent a slight shiver down his spine. But this
was overwhelmed by shear hunger. Naw turned slowly towards MacNeill, and
again dropped it. This time in his hands. He brought it to his face and began to
devour it. Naw watched him eat it with such a ferocious intensity.
“Naw?” came Brian's voice from behind. Naw spun around and looked at Brian,
who had a pale and gray, sickly face about him. Elijah and Eason appeared
behind him.
“Where'd you go Naw?” questioned Elijah.
Naw walked towards them, clicking her toes on the metal, before leaping by. Her
five foot, 700 pound body sent a whirlwind past them, blowing their overgrown
hair. She ran over to a small little pile, in which laid the carcasses of 5 more
compies. She bent down, and gestured them. Eason, who was also starving, lit
up.
“You went hunting for us?” he asked excitedly. He, Brian, and Elijah ran overto
the pile. Brain screamed while running, “Wait, we should probably cook these
first...”
Neither of the others paid attention as they each grabbed a carcass, and began
to tear it apart. Brian reached into his torn backpack and pulled out his
magnesium-flint stick. And began to strike it.
Nothing.
He looked at Eason and Elijah. Both their faces completely covered by the
carcasses they consumed.
He stuck it faster.
Nothing.
Faster still. He heard Elijah and Eason making guttural sounds.
Nothing.
He moaned and said, “The hell with it” as he reached down and picked up two.
Suddenly, Naw roared and snapped at the other carcass Brian held. Brian yelled
and jumped back, throwing it to the ground. Naw bent over and sniffed it
delicately, before picking it up In her big jaws. Brian carefully took a bite out of his
other carcass. She seemed to not care. He then preceded to submerge his face
into the raw meat as they did. Naw began to stride over to the ladder leading up
to Ross' hut.
She reared her big leg up, and began to climb, using her forearms in a
disturbingly human way.

Worsening the Situation

Ross sat on a log inside his hut, staring at the floor. He had been staring
for a while, not moving; Frozen in hunger. His stomach ached, cramped, and
growled. He couldn’t stand being famished any longer. He could hear the others
eating and groaning with pleasure.
There was definitely food out there, undoubtedly brought by Naw. Oh it pissed
him off just thinking about it.
The only humans left in the world paid more attention to a deadly predator than
him. Humans that were supposed to be his friend!
His stomach ached and throbbed. How long had it been since his last meal? Last
week? It felt like a year. A year since he felt rejuvenated.
The truth was that since they ran out of K-Rations he never truly felt rejuvenated.
The eggs that they ate must not have had certain vitamins that humans needed.
How malnourished was everybody? This world was completely unfit for human
survival. It truly was a completely different world. It felt like an alien planet to him.
An alien planet with alien inhabitants. That what was standing outside, an alien;
feeding what used to be his friends.
Outside he heard a loud thump on the wooden platform. The wood creaked, and
he felt the floor sag down. He stood up, and walked to the door, opened it up,
and looked outside.
In front of him he saw Naw standing there with a compy in her mouth. She stared
at him for a moment, then lowered her head and let it drop to the floor.
Ross stared at the carcass at his feet. Saliva poured down its abdomen. There
were teeth marks in its belly. Blood poured down and mixed with the saliva. The
eys were open, and dark. Frozen in the place they were when it died. To Ross it
honestly looked revolting. But it was food.
He looked up at her, and frowned.
“You think I’m gonna eat this shit?” he snorted. He slid it forward with his foot.
“I don’t fucking want this. Get off my porch.”
Naw stared at him, puzzled.
“Are you retarded or something?” She cocked her head and stared at him with
one eye.
“Don’t fucking look at me”
Naw bent down, and carefully picked up the carcass with her jaws. She lifted her
head up to him and whined.
Ross clenched his hand into a fist, pulled his arm back behind him, threw his arm
forward and punched her in the nose. She squealed, and stepped back, dropping
the compy to the floor.
“Fucking animal!” He screamed.
“Get the fuck out of my sight before I kill you!” She opened her jaws wide and
growled.”
The wooden floor creaked with protest as she stepped forward. Suddenly,
shouting erupted from below.
“What the fuck is going on up there!”
“Are you guys okay!”
“Where’s Naw?”
Naw spun around and looked at Elijah, who was climbing up the ladder as fast as
he could.
He shouted up, “Naw!”
Suddenly, a wooden stick slammed into the back of her head and she fell to the
ground, half hanging off the side.
“Fucking asshole!”
She howled and thrashed her feet about as she started to slide off the edge.
Elijah screamed, “Naw!”
She slid off the side, and clasped the side of the wood with her forearms. She
was yelping and screeching. Ross raised up his foot, and slammed the soul of
his heel on her claws, pinching the skin between the wood and his shoe. She
screeched. Elijah reached her, and raised his hand up, trying to push her back
up. Her feet kicked wildy.
“Calm down Naw, calm down!” he shouted.
“Calm down!”
She kicked him hard in the face, slicing him hard. He brought his hand up in pain,
and clasped his face, screaming hysterically.
Ross reached down and picked up the compy carcass with two, hands. He
brought it to his face, ripped a bite out of it’s abdomen, and then preceded to
shove it in Naw’s face, attempting to smother her. Her roars and cries were
muffled by the body. Elijah slipped and let go, still grabbing his face. He slipped
backwards and fell for a short while, before suddenly jerking to a stop, and with a
crack! His shin snapped in two. His eyes widened and his mouth opened.
Nothing came out but a slight cry, and then his eyes rolled into his head, and he
went limp.
Naw couldn’t breathe, she was flailing everywhere, and she could see the
50 foot drop below. Just below her lay Elijah, hanging from his leg, completely
limp. Her lungs were burning. And her wind pipe was closing. A horrible
sensation overcame her, and her eyes closed. She let out a small cry, and then
with a hiss, she was out of breath, and she went limp. Her eye opened in a
spasm and looked up at Ross, who just stared back, sweating and smiling. He let
out his breath and sighed, and pulled the compy away. He looked at it.
Naw’s foamy saliva dripped from it.
He sighed again, and took another bite from it. He wiped his mouth, and stared at
her. She just lay there, propped up by the ladder below.
“Now, you will no longer infect my friends with your hideous personality.” He said,
calmly. He walked over to the side, and stared over the edge.
To his surprise, nobody was there. He looked at the half track.
Nobody.
He threw his arms up in the air, the compy still dripping blood from one arm, and
screamed.
“No more!” He laughed, “No more distractions! I’m free! Rejoice my friends!
rejoice with me! Come out of your hiding! Its okay, she’s gone! Nothing will come
in between us now!” he laughed hysterically. He looked into the sky and yelled at
the top of his lungs for a good, long while, before looking back down at the half
track. Eason stood there with his M14 pointing at him. Ross frowned.
Bang!
The bullet whizzed up and struck Ross in the arm, sending him falling back to the
floor, screaming in pain. He clasped his arm, and slammed his eyes shut,
screaming. He jerked his head to his wound and stared and it. Blood covered his
arm, and was starting to pour down his hand. He looked at the sky and
screamed.
“Why!?” he howled at the top of his lungs.
He convulsed his back in an arc, and then slammed it back down. He started to
hear thumping, and the tree began to shake slightly.
Someone was climbing the ladder.

Day 55
Update
After being shot by Eason, Ross was thrown into his hut in pain. They
instead tended to Elijah and Naw. Naw recovered flawlessly, however Elijah's leg
was in bad shape. After Elijah fiercely protested and eventually passed out from
the pain, Eason set his broken bone in place to heal correctly. Then they tended
to Ross, and wrapped gauze around his gunshot wound. After they healed Ross,
they decided to forgive his bout of insanity and allow him to assimilate back into
the group. However no one truly forgave him. Especially Elijah. For the past three
days, the crippled Elijah organized pranks to be played on Ross. One of the
pranks was unhooking his door, so that when he shut it the entire door came off
the frame. Another one had MacNeill cut one of the ladder steps in half, and then
carefully place it back together. When Ross walked up it, it fell in half, and he
slammed his chin on another step, almost falling off. More recently, Ross noticed
the area around his hut smelled strongly of urine. And on day 54 he found out
why. He walked out his door only to find the back of Naw's body on his porch, tail
raised in the air, urinating on his doorstep, which splashed up all over his pant
legs and shoes. He yelled in protest, and slammed his door shut. That night, he
heard a faint hissing sound and was shocked to see the roof sagging down and
urine leaking through his ceiling! The urine leaked on his chest, and dampened
his bed. They knew he couldn't jump in the river, for it was far too cold. He was
going to smell strongly of her urine for months now. Oh it just riled him up
thinking about it. It was an attack on his dignity. He was her territory now. He just
had to ignore her, and she would leave. Just ignore her and go to bed. These
“friends” of his were starting to get on his nerves. These friends were not acting
as equals, but acting as superiors. Superiors using his most despised object to
turn him into it's slave.
Sleep Ross.
Sleep.

Breakfast
Ross awoke to the familiar strong odor of scent. All around him.
Scent
The thought repulsed him, but he ignored it and stood up.
“I'm going to make up with the guys today.” he thought to himself. After this
thought, he felt the shock of cold air hitting his damp clothes. And shivered. He
walked over to the door, and pushed it open, stepping onto his porch. He heard
laughter. He leaned over the side and saw everyone eating something bloody by
the half track.
“Typical.” he thought.
“She brings them food, and they're happier than pigs in shit.”
He turned around and began climbing down his ladder.

He jumped off the last step and spun around, looking at the group.
“Hey guys.” he said aloud. Everyone ignored him.
“I said hey guys” he repeated, agitated. Nobody looked. He walked over to the
half track, and stared at the carcass that everyone had ripped chunks out of.
Most of the meat had gone to Naw, who was separated from the rest. A big pile
of meat laid at her clawed feet.
Ross looked again at the carcass. Bones and rotten meat. He looked behind him
at Elijah, Matt, Brian, and Eason, all of whom had decent portions. He cleared his
throat and slowly strode over to Naw. Coming up beside her, she pulled her head
out of the meat and turned her head to look at him. He stopped moving. She
snarled, and sniffed his whole body in fast whiffs. Her nostrils flared in front of his
face, and warm mist condensed on his cheeks. She could smell the scent. He
knew it. She raised her head up above his and shrieked briefly, before letting her
head fall down, smacking her jaw into the top of Ross' head, forcing his head to
stare at the ground. He gritted his teeth in anger and pain.
My dignity, my dignity, my dignity he kept repeating in his mind.
She swiveled back and dug her face into the meat once again, chomping it, and
tearing it with her vicious forearms.
Still looking down, Ross spoke,
“Excuse me? Uh, do you think I could have some?” he started moving towards
the meat.
“Just a little piece” he said in a soft, calming voice.
“I’m not questioning your dominance” he continued. “I just want a little bit of
food.”
He was within reaching distance of the meat. He squatted down and reached
over right by her head to grab a piece of meat.
Naw rumbled a deep growl, spun towards him, and rammed into his chest with
her snout. His mouth opened and he coughed the air out of his lungs as he fell
back onto his back. The wind was knocked out of him. He heard Elijah and
Eason laughing behind him. He saw and heard Naw eating noisily, snorting and
clicking her teeth together as she ate. His friends were laughing at him.
Laughing.
At.
Him.
In.
Front.
Of.
Naw.
He regained his breath, and flew to his feet. He ran over to the halftrack where
everyone sat. Now he had their attention.
He threw his head back, then forward, and screamed nothing comprehensible in
this language at the top of his lungs at the for a moment. Then, he abruptly
stopped, and stared at them. He smiled, and began to laugh hysterically. A high
pitched, Insane laugh. He then cut himself off, and ran to his ladder, scrambling
back up it.
Elijah looked at everyone with his swollen, scarred face.
“He’s completely insane.” He said, shaking his head.
Eason was laughing, “I love being a douche to that fucking know-it-all.”
Matt was watching Ross climb the ladder.
“We should just kill him.”
Brain protested,
“What?!”
Matt spun his head and glared at Brian,
“Ross is obviously insane, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want an insane
person running around our camp. Especially a starving insane person.”
MacNeill opened his mouth in shock.
“Matt, ok then you go do it. I’ll give you the pistol, and you can shoot him.”
Matt frowned”
“No I wont do it, I’m just saying-“
“Exactly” MacNeill interrupted. Brian looked over at Naw, who was still eating.
“Maybe we should stop.”
Elijah looked.
“Stop what?”
“Stop having Naw be mean to Ross, I mean she’s already relatively tame right?”
Elijah nodded.
“We’ll she’s still only 2 months old, and you’re teaching her to treat Ross like her
property. She might actually hurt him one day.”
Elijah shrugged.
“Let her.”
Eason was nodding,
“Everyone needs somebody to talk down to, it builds character.”
“Besides,” Elijah interrupted. “She’s perfectly tame. Watch.” He raised up his
arm.
“Come here Naw.” He said in a high pitched voice.
She perked up and swiveled around looking at him.
Elijah patted his thighs, and she darted over to him. My god she had gotten big.
Her feathers in shades of blue and green whizzed up to Elijah. Her face was still
covered in blood. He threw his arms around her neck, and she burrowed her
bloody face into his shoulder, rubbing it up and down. Eason reached over and
pet her.
“She’s freaking awesome.” He impressively stated.
“Yeah” Elijah said his face half covered in her thick coat.
“She is.”

Plan
Ross sat in the corner of his hut holding his knees, rocking back and
forth. Sweat beaded down his forehead. The odor of Naw’s urine made it almost
unbearable to sit here. The hunger ate at his gut, but he was focused, too
focused to think about anything. Anything but how he could get rid of Elijah and
Naw. Especially Naw. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. The slow
approach wasn’t working. It was backfiring. He needed a new approach to this.
They weren’t ready to attack Naw yet. They needed that extra edge. The group
was so focused on Naw. Nothing would break that bond. She brings them food,
and they give her a family. He stood up and walked to the hole in the hut he
made. He bent over and peeked out. The cold air was refreshing against the
humid, urine stanched air inside the hut. He saw Naw running in circles around
MacNeill. MacNeill was grinning like a little kid as she circled around him. He
clapped his hands and she stopped, ran over to him, and began rubbing her
feathered face up against his.
MacNeill was too unpredictable. He couldn’t be used as a reliable tool. He looked
at Eason, who was standing there with his arms on his hips laughing.
Eason was far too fond of Naw to do anything for Ross.
Matt was Eason’s little pet, so he couldn’t be used.
Elijah couldn’t be used for obvious reasons.
Ross looked over, and saw Brian.
Brian.
Perfect.
Ross gave an eerie smile, and he stepped back, walked to the corner, sat down
on the damp wood, grabbed his knees, and began rocking back and forth. He
began humming twinkle twinkle little star softly to himself as he swayed.

Break
The sun was setting, and it had been decided that everyone would
sleep down in the back of the half track because it was too cold up in the huts,
and Naw was getting too heavy for the supports. Ross of course, refused to
come out of his hut. The sun was setting, and everyone huddled around Naw.
She laid in a ball in the half track while everyone crowded around her for warmth.
Elijah laid on her belly, staring at the clouds through the hole in the tarp. His head
rose high and fell deeply as she breathed. The warmth combined with the
feathers reminded him for the first time of home. For the first time in months, he
was home. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he was in his bed, laying on
his soft pillow, drifting into sleep. But then he heard Naw whine, and she bent her
neck over to him, and licked him with her purple tongue up his face. He smiled,
and swatted her head away.
“All because of her.” he thought.
Eason laid by her tail, which curled up to her face. He had his arms wrapped
around her tail, bringing the feathery tail close to his face like a little kid with a
teddy bear. The moonlight lit the night sky. Animals chirped in the distance.
MacNeill was laying beside her head. One of his arms was wrapped around her
neck. Brian laid opposite Elijah huddling around his big rifle, one arm wrapped
around her tail, pulling it close to his head for warmth. Matt laid in between
MacNeill and Elijah, resting on her chest. Like Elijah, his head rose and fell with
each breath.

Elijah stared up at the sky, and the north star. It fascinated him how the
north star was still there. 65 million years from the present it was still in that same
place. He thought briefly about how minuscule humans are on Earth's time line.
Then, he opened his mouth wide and yawned loudly. Naw followed, and opened
her mouth with a low growl, yawning. Then MacNeill, Eason, Brian, and Matt all
yawned at once. Elijah stared at a cloud moving by.
“You guys remember Mario?”
MacNeill smiled.
“Of course I remember Mario.”
Eason laughed.
“Mario was the best game.”
Elijah shook his head.
“No” he started, “Ocarina of Time was the best game.”
Eason nodded.
MacNeill shrugged his free hand.
“Never played it.”
Elijah's head sunk down as Naw exhaled. He looked over.
“You never played Ocarina of Time?” he asked, shocked. His head rose back up.
MacNeill shook his head.
“Not enough to really know what it's about.”
Elijah looked back up at the clouds. It was silent for a moment.
Brian shivered, then lifted Naw's tail up over his head, and onto his chest like a
blanket. Eason adjusted his head slightly.
“I never even got to say goodbye to my parents.” In succession everyone gave
their response.
“Mmm”
“Me neither”
“Yeah”
“That sucks”
A branch snapped in the distance, Naw rose her head quickly, and sniffed the air.
After a moment, she rested her head back down on the metal floor, and sighed.
She had been doing this whenever there was a loud nosie.
Always alert.
Each time someone exhaled they could clearly see their breath. It was very cold.
In truth they were all very thankful to have Naw around. She brought them their
food, she brought them their warmth, and she was also their protection. Matt
sighed, and said.
“What are we going to do about Ross?”
Eason frowned, and nodded.
“Nothing.”
“But, he's tried to kill Naw already, and he snapped Elijah's leg. He's not stable
mentally” Matt whined.
Eason laughed.
“Ross is Naw's bitch. As long as Naw is alive, she's perfectly safe. As are we all.”
Matt nodded.
“Besides” Eason continued, “It's Ross, what's he gonna do?”
Everyone was silent, except Naw, who inhaled, and exhaled loudly.
Elijah looked at the clouds, and then at Naw's face. Her eyes were closed.
She slept so soundly.
He looked back at the sky.
Softly, slowly, he began to whistle quietly. This caught Eason's attention.
He began to tap the metal with his hand slowly, and rhythmically. He softly began
to sing to himself.

“You know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you
I can't laugh, and I can't sing
I'm finding it hard to do anything.”

Eason looked over. Elijah was swaying his head back and forth. He began to
sing louder. Eason joined in, singing along with him.

“You see I feel sad when your sad

I feel glad when your glad
If you only knew what I was going through
I just can't smile without you.”

Eason and Elijah tapped the floor with their feet to the beat of the tune.

“You came along just like a song.

And brightened my day
Who would have believed, that you were part of a dream
Now it all seems light years away.”

They were singing loudly now, tapping their feet, and bobbing their heads in
sync. Soon MacNeill joined in, bobbing his head and tapping his feet along with
them.

“And now you know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you
I can't laugh and I can't sing
I'm finding it hard to do anything
You see I feel sad when you're sad
I feel glad when you're glad
If you only knew what I'm going through
I just can't smileeeeeeeeeeeeeee”

Naw awoke, and looked at them singing, puzzled. She tilted her head as they
bobbed curiously. Matt had joined in, and was swaying and tapping his feet.
Soon Naw found herself clicking her claws against the floor to the beat, and
suddenly they started singing again.

“Now some people say happiness takes so very long to find

Well, I'm finding it hard leaving your love behind meeeeeeeeeee.”

“Fucking assholes!” They heard Ross scream at the top of his lungs way up in
the tree. Everyone, including Brian, was singing. His shout made them sing
louder. So loud it blocked out the outside noise.

“And you see I can't smile without you!

I can't smile without you!
I can't laugh and I can't sing!
I'm finding it hard to do anything!
You see I feel glad when you're glad!
I feel sad when you're sad!
If you only knew what I'm going through...”

They all took one last deep breath”

“I just can't smile without yyyyyyyyyooooooouuuuuu!”

They broke song and collapsed back, laughing hysterically.

Suddenly, Naw lifted her head up high. Everyone looked. She squeezed her eyes
shut, and opened her mouth wide, letting out a straining whine.
“What is it Naw?” asked Elijah in a concerned voice.
Suddenly, a very loud flatulent expelled from behind her, blowing Brian's hair
forward. Everyone started laughing uncontrollably for a moment.
And then they smelt it.
They all began groaning and shouting and pulling their ragged shirts over their
faces, swatting their noses.
“Naw!” shouted Elijah, half laughing.
It was the worst one Elijah had ever smelled. It was if you had shoved your face
into a porta potty, right to the bottom, and took a big whiff. Elijah looked over at
Brian. He was still sitting there. His head rested against her back end...
“Brian?” asked Elijah, scooting over to him.
He leaned around and looked at his face. He was completely still, as if he was
sleeping.
“Brian?” He asked again. The smell was unbearable back here. Elijah waved his
hand In front of Brian's face to get his attention. Nothing.
Elijah leaned forward, and opened one of his eyes. They were white. He could
see the pupils at the top of his eye socket, almost completely rolled back.
Then it hit him.
He had passed out.
He was out cold. Elijah smiled, and began to laugh 'till his gut hurt. He clutched
his side, and fell over. He just couldn't stop laughing. Everyone looked over and
saw Brian laying there, unconscious. Everyone collapsed in pure laughter. The
hardest they had laughed in years.
Naw was just staring, puzzled. She blinked, and cocked her head, staring at the
laughing. Suddenly, she clenched her teeth together, and let out another bout of
flatulence, this time blowing Brian slightly forward.
In all the laughter, Eason could just barely blurt out
“Oh my god Naw!”
They all laughed for a good while, before finally laying back down again.
Eason choked with laughter.
“Someone's gonna be sleeping well tonight!”
Everyone laughed, then let out a long sigh.
In a moment, it was silent again.
Matt whispered to Eason.
“Eason, I think MacNeill's not passed out because he's used to the smell of
asses.”
Eason looked over at Matt.
“Matt, shut the hell up, I don't care what you have to say.” he blurted, irritably.
Matt shook his head, and laid back down. Eason looked back up at the sky for a
moment, and then thought of home.
Family.
Mom.
Dad.
Brother.
Sister.
Home.
He shut his eyes slowly.
Inside his mind he heard Barry Manilow singing “I can't smile without you.”
Everyone felt Naw's body convulse, and a low hissing sound came out of her
behind.
Eason's eyes shot open.
All at once, everyone except Brian screamed
“Naw!”

Day 56
Trip
The morning sun broke through the hole in the tarp, shining onto
Elijah's face. He awoke groggily, squinting his eyes, and blocked the sun with his
hand. He still rose and fell as Naw breathed. Elijah looked around, trying to get
his bearings. He heard Eason shuffling, and he turned. Eason groaned, and
turned away from the sun, pulling Naw's tail over his head like a pillow. Elijah
looked over at MacNeill, who was still sound asleep. Matt was laying down next
to him snoring as he sunk and rose with each of Naw's breaths. He put his hand
down, and groaned. He looked over at Naw's head. MacNeill's arm was still
wrapped around her neck. To his surprise Naw was wide awake, staring at Elijah
with her yellow eye. Elijah waved.
“Mornin” he said lazily.
She blinked, then yawned.
“Ugh” moaned Eason, “It smells like shit in here.”
Elijah smiled, and patted Naw on the belly.
“Someone's got a stomach ache.”
Eason got to his feet.
“I'm so hungry.” he moaned. “Wake Naw up so she can get us some breakfast.”
Elijah pointed at Naw.
“She's awake, she's just being really lethargic.”
MacNeill awoke.
“It smells in here.” he said, groggily. He unwrapped his arm from her neck, and
got to his feet.
“Is there any food?” he asked.
Elijah scooted over to Naw. He bent down to her ear.
“Hey Naw, you want to get us some food?” he asked nicely.
She blinked slowly.
He patted her head.
“Well, come on. Get up.”
She looked into his eyes.
“Come on Naw, on your feet.” Elijah said, impatiently.
Eason was walking over to Brian.
“He's still out cold” he laughed, bending over to check him.
Elijah snapped his fingers.
“Come on Naw, get up.”
Naw whined. Elijah looked at MacNeill. He shook his head.
“She’s so lazy.” He said, disgusted.
MacNeill laughed.
“Give her a break Elijah.”
Suddenly, Naw opened her mouth and let out a shrill cry.
A large amount of flatulence came out of her back end, blowing Brian's hair
forward again.
“Okay somebody move Brian.” said MacNeill, putting his shirt over his nose.
Eason picked Brian up, and moved him to the corner.
Matt scruched up his nose and got up.
“What the hell is that smell?” he whined, covering his nose.
“Naw farted again.” groaned Elijah.
Matt shook his head.
“Some thing's wrong with her stomach. That's not natural.”
With no one else on her, Naw curled up in a ball, and groaned. Everyone stared
at Naw. She shut her eyes again.
“Whats wrong with her?” asked MacNeill. Nobody answered.
Suddenly, Ross appeared in the opening of the tarp. He had a big grin on his
face.
“Good morning group!” he said cheerfully.
Elijah looked up at Ross.
“What do you want Ross?” he said impatiently.
“Just coming to say good mor-” he sniffed, “What's that smell?”
Elijah's face turned purple.
“What the fuck do you want Ross!?” he screamed.
Naw lifted her head up, startled.
Ross looked at everybody's face. They all looked at him with blank expressions,
except Brian, who was mysteriously asleep.
“Damn, Naw looks like shit.” He commented in a caring voice.
“Ross, just go on with it.” Eason said, shaking his head.
“Okay, I'm just thinking why don't we go hunting for once and give Naw a break?”
Elijah looked over at Naw, and then back up at Ross, who stared back into his
eyes. Grunting, Elijah got to his knees, and then slowly to his feet. He yelled
briefly in pain, but he stood. He limped over to Ross and straightened his back,
sizing him up. Staring him face to face.
Ross still had a happy grin on.
“What do you really want Ross?”
“Food.” he said happily.
Elijah didn't look convinced.
“Ross, you're not going.” he said. Everyone nodded.
“Wait why?” asked Ross, suddenly concerned.
“Ross, you tried to kill me, and Naw, what's stopping you from just shooting us
when we're in the half track.
Eason walked around Naw up to Elijah.
“We can't just leave him here. What if he tries to kill Naw again?”
Elijah smirked, and looked at Eason.
“Let him.” he started. “even when she's got an upset stomach, she'll still rip him
to shreds.”
Eason looked unimpressed.
“But Elijah...”
“Too bad!” Screamed Elijah, shoving his hand in front of Eason's face. “I don't
want to deal with him!”
Eason shook his head.
MacNeill was looking at Naw.
“Well” he started, “Brian's not going, because he's passed out. So let's just take
his rifle, and leave him here with Naw and Ross. I'm not worried about Naw.
She's big enough to defend herself now, even if she's sick. Besides, you can
smell Ross a mile away.”
Ross was still smiling.
“Yeah that works.” said Eason. Elijah limped over to the crawlspace, groaned,
leaned over, and looked in.
“The cockpit's crap.” he commented. His voice sounded distant in the cockpit.
Eason look at Ross one last time, then turned around and walked towards the
cockpit.
“Okay let's go, I'm fucking starving.”
MacNeill walked over to Naw and bent down. Her eyes were dilated.
“Come on Naw, you have to move.”
He shook her. She still didn’t move. She blinked slowly.
“Comon Naw, get up.” Matt was talking to Eason and Elijah in the cockpit.
“Hey guys, Naw wont move.” MacNeill yelled. Matt turned around, and walked
over to Naw.
“Okay MacNeill, we’re gonna pick her up. Don’t be a weakling.” Matt said in a
condescending tone. He turned around and looked at the crawlspace.
“Hey fatasses, come back here and help us” He yelled.

Claustrophobic
Brian slowly came back to consciousness and opened his eyes slightly.
The midday coolness swept over his face. His ear hurt a lot. He reached up to
grab-his arm didn't move.
He tried again, and again it didn't move. He tried his other arm, and it didn't move
either. He fully opened his eyes and looked down. He saw rope laced across his
chest, spiraling around him all the way down to his knees. He panicked, and
wriggled his whole body.
He couldn't move.
He brought himself under control and looked down. The ground was under his
feet.
He looked behind him. He was tied to a thick tree. He looked to his left, and saw
the remains of yesterday's carcass. Further down he saw the trees, and then he
saw the ladders, all leading up to the tree huts. He scanned his eyes up Ross'
ladder. On the platform he saw Ross kneeling down, holding something. Even at
this distance he could hear Ross whistling to himself. Brian snapped his head to
the right, where the muddy tread tracks of the half track used to be. The tracks
turned further left, and disappeared into the trees.
“What the hell” he thought to himself.
Why was he tied up? Why was Ross not paying attention? Where was Naw?
Naw.
He opened his mouth to call to Naw, but he caught himself and thought,
“If Ross is up there, he must know that he is tied up right? Who else would have
done it? Eason, Elijah, Matt? Everything was a blur. Maybe I should just wait it
out.”
He was breathing heavily. His breath came out of his mouth like smoke in the
cold air. Ross was still whistling. Brian turned his head and saw Ross stand up,
and walk into his hut. Suddenly, a loud snort came out behind Brian. He tunred
his head as best he could, and saw Naw sleeping some ten feet from him. Curled
up in her ball that she always makes, snoring. Her mouth was open as she slept,
and mucus drooled down her nostrils. Her stomach growled loudly, and she let
out a big belch.
Brian again looked at Ross' hut. He was still inside the hut. Naw was smart,
right? She could carefully slice this rope right?
Either way, he was going to try. This was his chance.
Now.
He opened his mouth, and whispered,
“Naw.” She still slept, unaffected.
“Naw!” he whispered fiercely.
No response. Frigging raw meat must have got her sick he thought. She was
sleeping like a baby.
“Naw!” he again whispered. She still slept and snored. Brian looked back at the
hut.
Ross was still inside. He thought about it.
Do it fast Brian, come on, do it fast.
He opened his mouth wide and screamed,
“Naw!”
immediately, she raised her head and stared at him.
“Quickly, quickly, come slice these ropes!” he said frantically.
She stared, dumbly. The thumping of shoes on wood was heard up in Ross' hut.
“Hurry hurry!” he said in a high pitched voice. She lethargically got up, and
walked over to him.
A loud voice echoed through the air that made his heart stop.
“Brian!!”
Brian ignored Ross and kept calling to her. He raised a sliver of the rope to her
mouth.
“Bite this Naw, please, bite this!”
She just stared at the rope, and then looked back up at him.
“Naw!” he screamed.
Ross was already half way down the ladder, shouting curses as he climbed.
“Don't you cut that fucking rope Naw!”
Brian looked at her with frightened eyes. She looked back with a glazed, sickly
look. He began to beg hysterically.
“Naw, please Naw. Please. Just bite it please.”
Ross ran over to them both. Brian looked at him.
“Ross what the hell is going on?” he asked, frantically. Ross stopped in his tracks
and stared at Brian. Brian's eyes were completely filled with panic. He stared into
Ross' eyes.
They were fully dilated. His pupils were dilated,
Mid day.
Ross just glared into his eyes. Brian looked down and saw Ross grasping a
rather large tree branch.
“What are you gonna do?” he asked, suddenly frightened. Ross looked over at
Naw, who was looking at Brian with a glazed look. She was swaying side to side,
hardly keeping her balance. Her eyelids half closed over her long, thin pupils.
Ross looked back at Brian and spoke.
“Well Brian.” He sighed, “This is the end of the road I'm afraid.”
Brian's eyes widened.
Ross took to this, and continued, “You really have no idea what I'm talking about,
do you?”
Brian shook his head slightly.
“You know Brian, as the last moments of your life go by, I would think you would
be in your best character. But instead your are flabbergasted.” Ross tilted his
head.
“Why aren't you in your best character?” he questioned. Brian was staring
astonishingly at Ross.
Ross continued.
“Okay, then I shall continue. Brian, how ironic would it be for you to meet your
demise by the one you trust the most? Wouldn't that just be a shot in the foot for
you?”
Brian looked at Naw.
“That's right! Naw! Your best fucking friend in the whole world!”
Brian stared at her. Her sharp teeth and razor like claws never really frightened
him, until now. He jerked his head back, and looked at Ross.
“She would never do that, because she's not messed up like you are!”
Ross leaned in close to his bloody ear, and whispered.
“Brian, look at her, does she look well to you? She can barely stand.”
Brian looked at her swaying back and forth.
“No” Brian cleared his throat. “She doesn't.”
Ross smiled, and got within inches of his ear.
“Well then I guess you'd better start praying to whatever falsity you believe in-”
he took a deep breath and screamed directly into his ear loudly, “Because its all
gonna be over for you soon!” Brian yelled, and winced in pain from his ear. Ross
took a few steps back.
“Your insane!” Brian screamed.
Ross just looked at Naw.
“I know you're hungry Naw. You have to be.” he said.
Brian began wriggling around.
“You're not gonna get away with this. She wont do it! She's my friend. She's been
a better friend to me in the past 3 months, than you have in the past two years
you over-jealous, ignorant, fuck!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Ross yelled, threw his arms to the right, branch in hand, and swung it fast,
slamming Brian's head hard against the tree.
A splash of blood sprayed out of his mouth onto the ground by Naw's feet.
“That shut you up!” shouted Ross into Brian's face.
Brian coughed weakly.
Ross turned to Naw.
“And you!” he shouted, pointing the branch at her.
“Get eating. I'm sick of looking at his face.” She still stayed still, swaying side to
side.
Ross waited impatiently for a moment, then threw his head back and screamed
garbled gibberish into the trees. The voice echoed throughout the forest.
“Okay Ross...” Said Brian, faintly. Ross turned to him. Brian continued, “Why
don't you just kill me yourself?” Ross squatted down, and flicked Brian's nose.
“Well silly goose, I'm glad you asked. You see this is just a precaution.”
Brain coughed blood.
“A precaution?”
“Yes, a precaution. In case they come back.”
“What do you mean, if?”
“I mean I know something they don't.”
Brian stared faintly. He was losing consciousness.
“What might...that be?”
Ross rolled his eyes, “Some people don't know anything, do they? It's really quite
simple. The changing seasons change the animal's perceived territory.”
Brian stared, weakly.
“It's just like the migratory patterns in modern birds. As the weather gets colder,
the birds go further south. A child could figure that out.” Ross pointed towards the
tracks, and continued.
“And there's no reason to believe that dinosaurs, which are believed to be the
descendent's of birds, wouldn't do the same thing. For example, that herbivore
game trail that we usually hunt on isn't a herbivore game trail anymore. Trust me
Brian, your friends, who used to be my friends, are walking right into a slaughter.”
Brian looked into his eyes.
“And they don't even have a clue.” Ross said, smiling.
“Oh, and if they do come back, I want them to see just how stupid they are for
picking a savage beast as a friend.”
Brian looked astonished. Ross continued, “I tried to stop her, but-” he reached
into his vest and pulled out Brian's combat knife. He flicked it open, and happily
sliced three raptor shaped claw marks in his arm.
“-she attacked me and I got knocked out.” Ross raised his hands like a magician
at the end of an act, “Pretty awesome, huh?”
Brian blinked slowly, and looked at Ross.
“That savage beast you were talking about.” Brian whispered.
Ross leaned in closer to listen. Brian nodded.
“That's you.”
Ross looked at him. Brian nodded again, and pointed to Naw.
“Naw is a pure soul Ross. Raised from birth to do good. To serve and protect her
friends in return for love. You on the other hand, are a corrupter of souls. You are
the opposite of pure. You corrupt souls in return for enjoyment and pleasure. You
were so jealous, that you couldn't even allow a little attention to be drawn from
you for Naw. The truth is Ross, Naw is better in every way than you. She's faster
than you, stronger than you, certainly a better friend than you, and also smarter
than you.”
Ross was frowning.
“What's the matter, don't like the truth? Are you gonna try to make up some
bullshit to get you out of this argument? No you're not, because I am my best
character. I always am. I have proof that you're inferior. Smell your clothes. Oh
whats that? Is that Naw's scent covering your body to mark that she is superior?
If you're such a biologist, can you tell me what that means? I can! It means that
you fail, and she wins! She wins Ross. She does, not you. Soon you'll learn that.
But one last thing if you don't believe me. Grab a lock of your hair. You feel how
it's sticking together like gel? That's Naw's piss caked onto your scalp! Ross the
great got pissed on by a so-called, inferior, animal! If you can't figure out how to
wash piss out of your hair, then how are you going to pull this one off!?” Brian
was laughing hysterically at Ross.
Ross reached out and choked Brian.
“Easy.” He said, sternly, “I'll wash it out with your blood.”
Brian's eyes widened as he stared into Ross'.
Ross released him, stepped back, and swung the branch to the right. Brian
braced for impact, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt the branch swing past him,
blowing his hair to the left. He opened his eyes in time to see the branch slam
into Naw's belly. Naw screeched a shrieking roar. Then, her stomach gargled,
and she belched then heaved a copious amount of chunky green and orange
vomit onto the ground. When the gushing vomit slowed, the runoff dribbled down
her chin as she looked up at Brian.
Ross was laughing hysterically, holding his gut.
“Comon Naw you have to be hungry. No? Okay then, I'll make you hungry.” He
slammed the branch into her belly again, forcing more vomit to be heaved.
The noise she made when she heaved made Brian almost cry. It really sounded
painful.
“I know there's more in there Naw! Don't let me down!” He again smashed the
branch into her belly, this time causing her to vomit blood into the big pile of bile.
When the stream stopped, she whined and moaned.
“Hungry yet?!” Ross screamed. He smashed her belly three times in quick
succession. She shrieked loudly each blow.
“Everyone has their snapping point Naw! When will I hit yours?” he yelled,
smashing her two more times in the stomach, until she hunched over. Then he
rasied the branch over his head, and yelled “Yee-haw!” as he smashed it down
onto the back of her neck. She screeched ear splittingly loud, and splashed into
her own vomit, wetting her feathers. She let out a soft cry. Ross smacked his lips
together.
“That's a damn shame Naw. I thought you had more in you than that. Looks like
you have good self control after all.” Ross looked at Brian, smiling.
“I tell you what Naw, you proved me wrong fair and square. I'll make a deal with
you.” He looked back at her. “If you get up, right now, and eat Brian. I won't
murder every single one of your friends when they return.”
Brian leaned as close to Naw as the ropes let him, and screamed.
“Don't you listen to him, he's bluffing, he wont do it!”
Ross swung the branch and smashed Brian in the head, instantly knocking him
out cold.
“You see Naw, when we came back here we brought a big oil can to do some
maintenance on the half track. Fortunately for me, nobody did, so I have a full oil
can and a box of matches hidden in somebody's hut. Anytime I want I can kill
every, single, person that you know. I'm giving you an opportunity to stop that.
So, let me spell this out for you. You-” he pointed to her as she lay, soaking up
her own vomit, “Eat-” he made a big chomping animation with his hands, “Brian”
he finished, pointing to Brian.
“If you do this, Elijah won't go Boom!” he made an explosion the best he could
with his hands. He stared at her smiling. He bent down to her.
“Come on I know you're hungry.” he said in a caring tone.
She looked up at him, and stared.
He splashed her bloody vomit up into her face.
“Get up!” he shouted.
He splashed some again, this time hitting her eye. She howled in pain, and
scrambled to her feet. Vomit dripped from her neck to the ground.
“That's better” Ross said. He stepped back, and waited.
Naw slowly looked at Brian. Her stomach ached with emptiness. Her neck ached,
and was probably bruised. She looked around briefly, looking in Elijah's usual
spots. His hut, the half track area, the river, the carcass.
He had abandoned her.
She looked at Ross, who was grinning like a little kid. He stared her right in the
eye. Those blue eyes burned into her skull. He nodded in approval. He turned to
Brian, who still lay limp, unconscious.
“Don't worry, he won't feel a thing!” Ross assured.
“Go on! Feast!”
Naw slowly stretched her neck out, and opened her jaws with a low growl. Her
hot breath washed over Brian's face as she put his head into her jaws. Ross
tensed up.
She slowly closed them, teeth pressing on the temples.
She have one last look at Ross, and he nodded.
Suddenly, Brian woke up and realized that his head was in Naw's jaws.
“No Naw! Noo! Please don't!” he pleaded. She was breathing in ragged gasps.
Brain could feel every inch of her breath on coming down his face. When he
moved his eyes side to side he saw the sharp teeth. Most of all, however, he felt
the excruciating pain in his temples and she had him in her vice grip.
“Please!” he cried, tears pouring down his face.
“I'm your family!”
Naw looked at Ross, who was grinning, and staring with those big, blue eyes. He
kept making the explosion animation with his hands. Reminding her of the
consequence. She squeezed her eyes shut, and chomped hard.
Brian shrieked and squealed a loud, continuous shriek that was heard as her
teeth pierced his temples, and blood gushed out, spurting onto both Ross and
Naw. Naw kept biting. Soon the crunching of bones filled their ears, and the
scream was cut off abruptly when Naw's jaws finally snapped closed, splitting
Brian's head in half like a pumpkin.
She opened her eyes. And saw Ross, staring at her with that same grin, and
those same eyes. His face had blood all over it. She opened her jaws and
stepped back, staring at the corpse. She whined and cried like a dog.
Ross laughed.
“Remorse Naw? Do you feel remorse? Now you know what it's like to gamble.
Unfortunately for you the bet's not over yet. You have to finish it.”
She stared at the corpse.
“Finish it”
Naw roared, and leaped into the air, pouncing on Brian, her weight snapped the
ropes, and she took him to the ground. Then, she began to devour him, making
the same noises Ross remembered the Utharaptors at the nest making.
He was shaking his head.
“Sickening.”
He stared for a moment, and then turned to the tracks that led off into the trees.
He took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh.
“And now Naw,” he started, “we wait.”

Half-Track
The half track rolled over a stream sending the water cascading over
the sides like a log flume. The ground was bumpy, but this was the path they
always took to the herbivores. Eason drove, while Elijah sat in the passenger
seat. Matt and MacNeill sat in the back.
“Hey Matt” yelled MacNeill over the whirring of the engine. Matt looked at him.
“What?” he questioned. He popped up as they rolled over a bump.
“You really think it was a good idea leaving Ross back there?”
Matt shrugged.
“Who cares if he’s back there? Brian and Naw are both there. What’s he going to
do?”
MacNeill nodded.
The half track slowed slightly.
“Uh, something’s wrong here” Yelled Elijah’s voice from the cockpit.
The half track came to a stop. MacNeill leaned forward and poked his head
through the crawlspace. Through the broken windshield he saw the remains of
the herbivore nest.
“This clearing…” Eason said, “This is the right place, right?”
Elijah nodded.
“This is where we always go” he shrugged. MacNeill was scanning his eyes
along the clearing.
“Hey look at that!” MacNeill said, pointing.
Through some foliage he saw what looked like a big sleeping animal. Probably a
carcass, he thought.
Elijah and Eason both squinted their eyes through the foliage. Elijah picked up
his FN-FAL by the barrel with one hand. He turned to Eason.
“Ready to get some food?” he said, smiling. He turned to MacNeill’s head.
“Lock and load. Tell Matt.”
MacNeill pulled his head back through the crawlspace. He sat down and turned
to Matt.
“Lock and load, Matt” he said, grabbing his M2.
Matt reached over and pulled up Brian’s dragunov.
“Fucking crappy rifle…” he grunted.
The half track lurched forward, and drove slowly.
Elijah was carefully pressing on the gas, he had done this many times
before. Like always, he took his rifle, and rested it on the windowsill, the barrel
pointing out the window. Eason got his rifle in hand. The half track slowly
flattened the foliage, and Elijah maneuvered carefully around trees. They could
see the object clearer and clearer now. Elijah and Eason leaned close to the
windshield to see it.
It wasn't a carcass at all.
It was a forty foot long Tyrannosaurus Rex, sleeping, directly in front of them.
Elijah gasped, and slammed on the breaks. The vehicle thumped rhythmically
from the motor. The rex snored loudly, it's big chest heaved as it inhaled. Elijah,
looked over at Eason, who stared at it with wide eyes.
MacNeill poked his head through the crawlspace.
“What's the deal?!” he blurted out. Elijah looked at him and shushed him harshly.
Then, he looked back at the rex, which repositioned itself slightly.
My god the head was massive. Almost too big for it's body. The teeth were
yellow, and very very sharp. They were very clearly protruding out from it's upper
jaw, over it's lower jaw. It slept on it's side, the little forearms swatted flies away.
Most of all, it smelled terrible. A sweet, sour odor. Almost like vomit.
MacNeill was watching the rex, and then he slowly pulled his head back through
the crawlspace, wide eyed.
Eason looked over to Elijah.
“Get us out of here.” he whispered. Elijah nodded, and put his hand on the stick.
Eason was aiming his rifle at the rex.
Elijah put the vehicle in reverse, and stepped on the pedal.
Inexplicably, the clutch burned, and made a loud, grinding roar. Elijah gritted his
teeth, and looked at the rex.
It lazily opened it's jaws, and yawned.
“Shut up!” Eason whispered fiercely to Elijah.
Elijah again hit the pedal, and again the clutch groaned, and burned. He threw
the gear into drive, and then reverse again, stepped on the pedal, and again the
grinding continued.
The T-Rex raised it's head up, it's body still laying down, and it stared right at
them.
Directly at Elijah and Eason.
It quickly scrambled to it's feet, slamming the ground as it flailed clumsily to it's
feet.
“Go go go!” screamed Eason.
Elijah stomped on the pedal, and the clutched sickeningly growled.
“Go!”
Elijah looked up at the Rex, which lowered it's big head forward, and roared
loudly. An earth-shaking, ear splitting, roar that came from far within the chest
cavity.
Elijah screamed at the top of his lungs, and threw the heavy metal door open. He
stepped out and missed the step, falling to the wet ground with a thud.
Eason yelled and fired off a few shots as the Tyrannosaur charged them,
snapping it's massive jaws. The huge head covered the entire windshield as the
lower jaws slid fast into the cockpit, coming within inches of Eason and slamming
his gun down under the dash. Eason screamed and pushed himself back against
the metal as far as he could. Soon, he felt the front of the half track lifting off the
ground. The rex was growling. Eason looked out the window and saw the ground
some seven feet below. Suddenly, he was jerked side to side rapidly. He
smashed his body against the dented door repeatedly as the cockpit shook. He
could faintly hear MacNeill screaming in the back. And then it hit him.
The crawlspace. The rex growled and pulled it's jaws out of the windshield, letting
the whole front of the vehicle fall freely to the ground. Eason was lifted out of his
seat slightly, and then slammed, hard onto the floor when it hit the ground. The
tires exploded loudly outside. He shook his head, regaining himself, and looked
out of the metal frame that used to be the remains of the windshield. Teeth marks
scraped the ceiling of the cockpit. The Tyrannosaur cocked it's head, and stared
at Eason. Eason looked away, at the crawlspace. He scrambled for it.
The T-Rex roared loudly, reverberating off of the metal chassis, rumbling his ear
drums. Eason was half way into the back of the Half Track, when he saw
MacNeill, reaching for him.
“Grab hold!” he shouted, grabbing his hand. Eason grunted, and MacNeill pulled
him through completely, allowing him to fall to the metal floor. Eason turned on
his back, breathing heavily.
“Where's Matt?” he asked. MacNeill pointed towards the back end of the half
track.
“He ran out, where's Elijah?”
Eason opened his mouth to speak, when they heard high pitched screams from
the back of the vehicle. They both turned to see Elijah throw himself into the back
with Matt close behind. Eason and MacNeill helped them in.
“Where the fuck did you think you were gonna go Elijah!?!” shouted Eason.
Elijah pushed him.
“Shut the fuck up-”
The T-Rex burst through the back of the half track roaring, slamming Elijah and
Matt onto the floor with it's large snout. MacNeill and Eason screamed and
scrambled to the front of the half track as far as they could go. Elijah crawled
after them close behind, and behind him Matt.
They were all cramped together. The T-Rex snapped it's jaws, loudly, and then
opened it's mouth wide and roared point blank at them. The hot breath stank of
urine and blood. Matt was too far back. He wasn't close enough to the wall. The
Rex dug it's head in after them snapping it's jaws, snapping the stainless steel
coils, and ripping the tarp that rested on them. Elijah reached his hand forward to
Matt and shouted.
“Matt, come on!”
Matt reached out and grabbed his hand. He heaved himself forward. Everyone
heard the continuous snapping of jaws and coils, and the ripping of the tarp.
Their worlds were all filled with chaos, shouting and pushing, and roaring, and
snapping.
Suddenly, one of the snaps was followed by a loud crunching from Matt's leg,
which was in it's mouth. Matt squeezed his eyes shut, and screamed loudly,
continuously.
“Matt!” Eason and Elijah shouted. Eason scrambled for him and grabbed his
shirt. Elijah was pulling his arm. He still shrieked loudly. The Tyrannosaur
growled deeply, and began to pull it's head, along with Matt, Eason and Elijah out
of the half track. The pulling from both sides sent Matt excruciating pain.
“MacNeill fucking help us!” screamed Eason. But MacNeill was reaching into his
vest, and pulled out the silver revolver. As the trio was being slowly dragged out,
MacNeill pointed the gun at the massive, snarling, hideous head, cocked the
hammer with a click, and fired off five shots in rapid succession. The muzzle
flashes and bangs made things even more chaotic. Blood poured out of two
spots on the Rex's head, and blood also covered the floor from Matt's leg.
MacNeill put the gun back in his vest and reached out, grabbing Eason's
shoulder. They all heaved the flailing and screaming Matt.
He opened his eyes, looking just inches from Eason's face. He managed to get
himself under control for a brief moment as he was pulled from both sides.
“Kill me...” he shivered. Eason stared blankly.
“I don't want to live anymore!” he shouted. Eason shook his head.
“No! You're not going anywhere!” he replied, pulling hard. Matt yelled again.
“Just shoot me in the head!” he pleaded, tears running down his face.
Frustrated, the Tyrannosaur reared up one of it's hind legs, and pressed it's foot
on the back of the half track for leverage, causing the whole back side to lean at
an awkward angle. It heaved it's head back, tugging Everyone forward. It's head
almost completely left the half track. Everyone was yelling, terrified.
“We have to let go!” screamed MacNeill as everyone was pulled forward in
sudden jerks. Eason let go of Matt's shirt with one hand and grabbed onto one of
the metal bench.
“No! I won't give up!” he shouted.
“Don't let me get eaten! Shoot me!” Matt pleaded. The nerves in his leg were
snapping from tension, his bones cracked. The Tyrannosaur growled as it won
the battle.
“Shoot me! Shoot me!” he screamed. Eason heard a different tearing sound than
the tarp, and he realized that it was Matt's shirt.
“Shoot me!”
The rex's jaws were painted in Matt's blood.
In a last heaving effort, Eason let go of the bench, and threw his arms around
Matt, causing them both to be pulled out of the half track.
In the last second, both MacNeill and Elijah threw themselves at Eason, grabbing
his legs. They pulled hard, and he let go of Matt, crashing to the floor. The T-Rex
took it's foot off of the half track allowing it to spring back up. It lifted it's head
high, Matt's screaming body flailing about. Elijah crawled back into the cockpit,
and into the driver's seat. The LED's on the dashboard were flashing blue and
red. He put the vehicle in drive, and stepped on the gas. The vehicle lurched
forward.
“Yes!” he said to himself. He put his hands on the metal steering wheel, and
positioned himself in the seat.
Eason looked out the back as they rolled away, and saw the Rex throw Matt into
the air with it's jaws, and then slam them back down on him as he fell, silencing
his screams. Blood gushed out the sides of it's mouth. Eason closed his eyes
and looked away. In the distance he heard the Tyrannosaur let out a bellowing,
triumphant roar as they sped away, out of it's territory.
Eason looked over to MacNeill, who was breathing heavily, staring back at him.
Eason, quivering, held up his hand and opened it. A piece of Matt's blue shirt
fluttered to the ground. The entire back side of the half track was destroyed. Coils
hung over the side. What remained of the tarp fluttered in the wind as they drove.
MacNeill shook his head, collecting himself.
Everything happened so fast. In the first instance of the attack he had dropped
his rifle, and Matt ran out. After that, everything was a blur.
Eason was weeping.
“We should have shot him” he said, somberly.
MacNeill looked over at him. In truth he knew he felt no pity for him, or Matt. They
were both always poking fun at him, and he was always the victim to their insults.
Always.
But now the roles were reversed, and Eason was the victim. Matt was dead, and
without him, MacNeill would surely endure no more insults.
Eason kept refreshing in his head the negative things he had thought about Matt,
when in truth he was his only friend. And now he was gone. Dead.
All Elijah wanted to do was get back to the huts, his home, no get back to Naw.
Because Naw was him home. He had a sneaking suspicion that something was
wrong. Why was the herd gone? Why was there a T-Rex in the place they always
went hunting? If Ross were here, he could probably explain why-
Ross.
Elijah frowned, and slammed on the gas revving the beaten engine. The solar
panels were damaged, and this was the last charge they would get out the half
track for good. Thunder rumbled in the distance as they drove.

Ross
The rain poured down in sheets, creating a relaxing slapping sound on
the trees. Naw lay in the wet mud, soaked by the rain, her blue and green
feathers drenched. Her eyes were half closed. Her stomach and neck ached.
Next to her laid the soaked carcass of Brian. Above him stood Ross, also
drenched in the rain, knife in hand, cutting the ropes tied to the tree.

Ross pressed the knife hard against the last rope, and cut it.
“There we are” he said, proudly. He folded the knife up, and put it into his vest.
He took a few steps back to make sure all of the ropes were cut-
Crunch!
He swiveled around and saw that he had stepped on one of the halves of Brian's
jaw.
“Oh, sorry Brian” he said. He raised his foot up and swiped it down the bark of
the tree. He looked over and saw Naw, laying in the drenched mud, staring at
him with one yellow eye. Ross smiled, and walked over to her. His feet splashed
in the water as he walked. He squatted down and stared at Naw.
“What's the matter? You should be nice and full!” he laughed.
Naw's stomach growled.
Ross pointed.
“You see, I knew you would be good on food for a while” he joked. Suddenly his
face became serious. He leaned closer.
“I'm curious.” he said, darkly.
“How did he taste? You sure pounced on him fast.”
Naw was still staring at him. Ross suddenly laughed.
“I'll take that as a good.”
Ross' expression turned into a seemingly surprised one.
“Oh and Naw, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.” he whispered, just barely
audible over the rain. Ross leaned right up to the side of Naw's head and
pressed his cheek against hers.
“The oil can isn't up in the huts with matches set to explode.” he whispered,
smiling. Naw's eyes widened. Ross turned and kissed her soaked cheek, before
standing up again. Naw raised her head, roared loudly, and snapped her jaws at
him in vain.
Ross shook his head.
“It's such a shame that you in this pathetically ill state, otherwise you could have
just killed me and none of this would have happened.” he stated.
“Maybe if you didn't get horribly bacteria infested food for everyone, and then
gotten sick, I would be the one getting digested instead of Brian.” he said. Ross
looked her in the eye, and frowned.
“I know what you're thinking” he started, “Yes, you're thinking just how you're
going to kill me.”
Ross threw his hands up.
“Okay then Naw, kill me.” he said. Naw stared, her eyes suddenly widened.
“That's right, kill me right now. I won't resist.”
Lightning flashed.
“I know you want to, so do it.”
Naw began to slowly get to her feet. She grunted as she arched her back up,
slowly digging her feet into the mud, lifting her up.
Ross stared at her as she slowly lifted her self high above him, he tilted his head
back to stare at her head, a foot above his. She was staring down at him,
salivating at the mouth. The rain poured off of her head onto his. Ross stood on
his tippy toes, and looked at her, grinning. He pointed to himself, and spoke
slowly, deeply.
“I know you want this. You want it all to end.” he was nodding his head slowly. He
raised the pitch of his voice.
“Take it.”
She opened her mouth slowly, letting out a rumbling growl. She leaned closer to
him, breathing heavily onto his face.
Behind Ross' back was the knife, with his hand clenched around it.
Just a little bit closer he thought. She twisted her head, and brought it down to
Ross.
Ross stared as the rows of sharp teeth came over the sides of his head, and then
slowly bit down on his temples. Ross laughed.
“You're going to kill me like you killed Brian? You really are smart.”
The pain became more and more intense on the sides of his head as she bit
down and he gritted his teeth. He was staring at her neck.
Cut the jugular
Excruciating pain.
Ross yelled, and reared back his hand with the knife in it but before he could
slash her throat, a blinding white light illuminated Naw. Suddenly, she released
his head, and threw herself to the side.
Dazed, Ross turned around and saw the headlights of the half track blind him
before he was slammed with amazing force up onto the hood, then flung over the
broken coils and torn tarp, and finally splashed down in the wet mud. He stared
blankly into the cloudy sky as the rain fell on his face. He felt only the sensation
of the water hitting his cheeks: no cold, no warmth, no pain, just the pressure of
the water splashing onto his face. He heard the whirring of the half track
suddenly cease.
He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them he saw Eason and MacNeill
both standing above him, frowning.
And then he faded, slowly, out of consciousness, and into blackness.

Assessment
Eason and MacNeill stared down at Ross' still body. Blood ran freely
from his mouth. The rain soaked his clothes, his hair, his whole body. The rain
soaked everything. MacNeill slowly looked to Eason, who was looking back at
him. Lightning flashed. MacNeill spoke.
“Should we move him?”
MacNeill had a very doubtful look about him, thought Eason.
“No” replied Eason, shaking his head, “Leave him hear to rot.”
He looked back down at Ross' still body and snorted.
“He's alive, although I'm guessing he's not waking up for a good while.”
Eason shook his head and laughed halfheartedly.
“You know it's funny David. Matt gets eaten alive, and this fucker just goes to
sleep.”
They both stared at the still body for another moment, and then MacNeill
shrugged.
Eason snapped his head up at him.
“What was that MacNeill?”
David looked at Eason, who was glaring at him.
“What?” he spoke, dumbly.
“What was that? That shrug you just did?” Eason interrogated.
“No, nothing.”
Eason still stared at MacNeill, obviously not convinced.
MacNeill shrugged again and said,
“I just think Matt got what he deserved.”

Elijah's mouth lay slackly open as he stared at the mangled corpse of

Brian. He didn't speak, he didn't even make a noise. He just stared.
From the corner of his eye he saw Naw laying in the mud, staring at him. Elijah
slowly closed his mouth and cleared his throat.
The rain poured down. Thunder rumbled.
Elijah slowly turned his head to Naw, who didn't move. Elijah slowly forced
himself to frown. He stared at Naw for moment, squinting. Eason and MacNeill
argued in the distance. Elijah spoke just barely loud enough to hear.
“You ate Brian Naw?”
His lip quivered.
“You ate him?” he nodded to her. Elijah took a step forward.
“What the fuck is that about?” he shivered.
“Huh!?”
Lightning flashed and a loud bang erupted. Naw began to stir. Elijah stepped
forward again.
“Matt's dead Naw. Matt is dead. Gone. Poof, dead. Never coming back. Ever.”
“Because we were hunting to give you a break.”
Elijah took another step forward, and pointed at Naw, squinting.
“And you fucking eat Brian?”
Naw scrambled to her feet and began to back away.
Elijah was shaking his head, and he began to walk towards her faster, and faster.
“Who's next Naw? Me? Eason? Who?”
Still walking, he frowned, and then exploded.
“How could you do this to me Naw?!” he screamed.
Naw backed into a tree, and could go no farther.
She could see the blood soaked form of Elijah, acting strange, walking towards
her. Steadily. Methodically.
“How?!” Elijah yelled.
Naw felt a sudden and instant fear of Elijah. Like he was going to hurt her.
Elijah put his hand out.
Five feet.
“HOW?!”
Suddenly, Naw threw her head back and began to let out shrieking, bellowing,
calls.
Elijah stopped and looked at her, startled.
She was throwing her head about, calling and calling. It was a very loud call, and
it echoed through the forest, even in this rain.
“Naw?” yelled Elijah.
She was flailing about, bellowing.
“Naw it's me!”
She continued to swing her head up and down, bellowing.
MacNeill and Eason ran up behind Elijah.
“What the hell is she doi-Oh my god Brian!” screamed MacNeill, cupping his
hand over his mouth. Eason turned away from the body and yelled something,
barely audible from these constant calls.
Elijah was now up close to her, trying to calm her down, but she kept flailing
about. Screeching and bellowing. Elijah was yelling, “Naw, Naw, Naw!”
Eason looked at Elijah's blood stained clothes.
Of course, she sees the blood and doesn't think it's Elijah, and he's moving
closer towards her. Even in this defensive state, she still isn't aggressive. If she is
this calm, then why would she attack Brian? What could have provoked her?
Then it hit him, it all made sense, and amongst the mayhem he slowly turned
around, and stared some 20 yards away at the indentation in the mud, now filled
with rain.
The indentation where Ross had been, just a minute ago.

Approaching Equilibrium
Elijah was waving his arms in front of Naw, shouting. Naw was retching
and flailing around, still shrieking. Suddenly Eason's voice rang in Elijah's ear.
“The blood! Elijah the blood!”
Elijah turned and looked at Eason. Naw still flailed about.
“She-She thinks it's your blood! She must.” continued Eason.
Elijah still stared at him. Naw's cries pierced through his head. Eason leaned
forward, frustrated.
“Elijah take off your fucking vest!”
Elijah took off the vest and through it to the soaked ground. The blood seeped
from the vest onto the ground. He then approached Naw again, this time in a
calmer voice.
“Naw, it's me, Elijah. Look. I'm fine.”
Naw began to look at him more attentively as she cried.
“It's okay girl, it's okay!” he assured.
“Other animals are gonna hear this.” said MacNeill, worried.
“Yeah, and Ross is gone.” Eason added.
Suddenly Elijah turned quickly and faced Eason.
“Wait what?!” he questioned.
Eason pointed to the half track and looked. What he saw was Ross standing in
front of the half track cradling MacNeill's carbine precariously beneath his arm.
Naw stopped calling and looked. Everyone looked.
He was covered head to toe in blood. His left arm hung limp, obviously broken.
He was shivering.
“Ross, what the hell happened and why are you holding a gun!?” shouted Eason.
Ross took a step forward with a limp.
He opened his mouth slowly, revealing a bloody mouth littered with missing teeth
holes. He put his lips together and whispered.
“It's...all...relative...”
In an instant the rifle barrel was ablaze and the world erupted into chaos. Eason
was gunned down in a hail of lead, sending his body splashing to the ground.
Then MacNeill was machined in the legs, sending him toppling to the ground.
Elijah dove to the ground, but in the process was penetrated with searing lead
through the lung. He collapsed to the mud with a grunt.
The gunfire abruptly ended with a click.
MacNeill was screaming, and Elijah was coughing loudly. Naw darted over Elijah
and bent down to him.
Eason was silent.
Ross coughed, and began to limp over to Elijah, he allowed the rifle to slip from
his grip and fall into the mud. He fumbled into his torn belt and retrieved Brian's
combat knife. He cracked a half smile, and began to chuckle as he walked past
Eason and MacNeill, towards Elijah and Naw. MacNeill was still crying in agony
behind him.
“Well Elijah” Ross grunted, “I ca-can't seem to piece together how this
happened.”
Naw looked and Ross and snarled, showing her teeth. Ross gestured to Naw.
“Ah, that's how it happened.” Elijah was staring at Ross, each breath was a
struggle.
“I mean you fucking h-hit me with the half track and you still end up like this. It's
all because of your beloved Naw.” He shook his head.
“Your beloved fucking Naw.” Suddenly, he lurched over and coughed blood onto
the ground. He took a deep. Labored breath, and looked at Naw.
“And to think I gave you the chance to kill me.”
Elijah took a heaving breath, and spoke.
“Wh-what happened to Brian?”
Ross smiled.
“Naw ate him of course. What did you expect? She's nothing but a hungry
predator. That's all she is and you just can't seem to get that. But when the tables
are turned and she has a chance to make things right by killing me, she can't do
it, she lets go, again, because she's just an animal. You had a choice between
her and me for friendship and you chose the frigging animal!”
Elijah coughed loudly, and pointed to Eason.
“L-Look at what you've done.” he started You are an animal.”
Ross frowned.
Elijah frowned, disgusted.
“I would never be your friend. Not in a million years.”
Ross yelled and plunged the knife into his chest. Elijah's eyes widened and he
looked at Naw, who was standing still, frozen in shock. Elijah looked back up into
Ross' eyes and whispered.
“Not in sixty five million years.”
And then Elijah went limp. Ross pulled the bloody knife out of Elijah and looked
up at Naw, smiling. The rain still poured in drenching sheets.
Naw was still looking at Elijah's body.
Ross kept smiling.
Suddenly he burst into a scream.
“The paradox ends with you Naw, die!”
Ross threw his arm back, knife in hand.
Suddenly a thunderous crack erupted through the air, and Ross froze in place.
Naw looked down at him. Ross slowly turned his head to the left side of his
chest, where a massive hole laid. Blood began to pour out from the hole down
his abdomen and onto the floor. Ross clutched this hole, and collapsed to his
knees. He slowly turned his head in shivering jerks around and saw MacNeill
laying on his back propped up with one arm, while the other clutched his silver
revolver with its smoking barrel.
The Last Shot.
Ross then turned his head back around and looked up and Naw. Blood began to
pour out of his mouth. Naw slowly walked over to Elijah's body and laid next to it,
like she always did. Ross looked at her one last time. She looked into his eyes.
“You have had your day. Soon, we will have ours.”
And at those last words Ross fell forward and died in the dirt.
At seeing Ross' death, MacNeill collapsed backwards and succumbed to his
wounds.