Dinosaur Breakout (17 page)

“Get up, both of you! Now! MOVE!” Daniel
screamed at them. He’d just caught sight of what he thought might be a
Troodon,
coming down a path through the trees some distance away. Although a
Troodon
was human-sized and small in comparison to other dinosaurs, it was one of the smartest and fastest of the meat-eaters. And one of the most vicious!

Daniel yanked both of them to their feet amid a flurry
of splashing water and mud. He’d also noticed what
looked like a long, rough, greenish log a few metres away, turning slowly in their direction. Probably a
Borealosuch-
type crocodile, but he didn’t want to find out for sure! And he didn’t want to scare the still speechless Nelwins any more than they already were.

They slogged through the muddy sea bottom through the reeds and cattails. When they reached the shore and Daniel tried to make the Nelwins pass the tanklike
Ankylosaurus,
they balked.

Huge horns projected from the back of its head and large oval plates similar to medieval armour scaled its leathery skin, except for two rows of spikes along its back. The most dangerous part looked to be the powerful club-like tail. One flick and they’d all be ancient history too!

“We’ll be eaten alive!” Craig whimpered, falling back behind Todd.

“No! It’s a herbivore!” Daniel urged them forward. “It eats plants!” he yelled when they didn’t move. “Come on, we have to get to safety, FAST!”

The
Ankylosaurus
looked up as they passed, but other
wise paid them no attention, continuing to dig at
tuberous roots of some kind. Daniel peered about as they headed for the trees in the opposite direction from where he’d spotted the
Troodon.
Maybe the
Troodon
would be sidetracked by the
Ankylosaurus,
although it would have a hard time penetrating through the tough bony plates that protected the herbivore.

Daniel herded the Nelwins along, keeping them
hidden as much as he could by the cycads and other bushes as they made their way over to the tall redwoods. Could they climb a tree? He hoped so. They gawked about in stunned awe, plodding and stumbling along, their muddy pant legs and runners soaked. They didn’t seem to be able to take in what was going on.

“Where is this place?” Todd whispered, as a huge dragonfly droned past him. He stared at it, slipping on some thick moss underfoot and startling a small rodent-
like animal. Probably a
Purgatorius,
Daniel thought,
having brushed up on the Cretaceous Period intently over the last couple of days.

“Prehistoric time – the Cretaceous Period to be exact!” Daniel informed him, jabbing a finger into Craig’s back. “Thanks to your bone-headed brother.”

“What’d I do?” Craig asked, astounded and offended. He still held the piece of bark.

Daniel wasn’t sure what to do about the bark. He figured if they let it go, they’d go back into their current life, but besides needing to convince them of the need to drop it, they probably all had to be touching for it to work, so that someone wasn’t left behind. He hoped it wasn’t him! First, he had to make them understand what was going on.

“That!” Daniel pointed to the bark.

“This? It’s just a dumb piece off a tree,” Craig said with disdain, opening his palm where the chunk lay.

“It’s not just any ‘dumb piece,’
” Daniel declared. “It’s the reason we’re here! Don’t drop it! Better yet, how about giving it to me?”

“No way!” Craig said, clenching the bark inside his fist.

“See those giant trees over there?” Daniel pointed. “Now look at the piece of bark.”

All three of them stared as if mesmerized.

“You don’t see that kind of tree back home, do you?” asked Daniel, as he dragged them under a cycad while they discussed the situation.

“I guess not,” Craig answered, crouching tight beside his brother.

“But how did you get it?” Todd asked, as Daniel pulled at his legs so they weren’t sticking out.

Daniel sighed. “That’s a long story, I’ll tell you sometime. Trust me, it’s why we’re here. So how about handing it back to me and we’ll go home now?”

“No way!” Todd said, suddenly. “You’re making this all up. You just want that piece of bark because it’s valuable. You
used some sort of visual projection thing to make us think
we’re in dinosaur time. We’ve had enough! Turn off your
wacky dvd machine or whatever it is and let’s go home.”

Daniel stared at Todd in disbelief. Why wouldn’t he believe where he was? How much more proof could he possibly want?

“How would I be able to do that?” Daniel asked, astounded. “Where would the power come from?”

“You and that old bone hunter probably cooked
something up between you!” Craig defended his brother. “You two are weird!”

“Is that so?” Daniel said, pointing at the ground beside Todd. “Well, then I dare you to touch that snake coming your way.”

Todd leapt out of the ferns. Obviously, real or not, snakes terrified him. Daniel and Craig followed Todd. The creature with its menacing-looking head, beady eyes, and long fat body slithered past them in a rustling of underbrush. If the reptile hadn’t been so scary, Daniel would have laughed at the look on Todd’s face. But they had other terrors to handle. Straight ahead was the back end of something larger than a school bus!

Daniel motioned them to a stop and mouthed to them to be quiet. Slowly, he dropped to his knees and crawled towards some bushes as quietly as he could. He inspected it for inhabitants, then seeing it was safe, motioned the others to follow. They crowded under the branches of several white flowering bushes, perhaps small magnolias.

He whispered to them, “I don’t know what kind of dinosaur it is yet. I can’t see enough of it, but we’ll assume it’s dangerous.” He pointed to the redwoods several yards away on the other side of the bushes. “That’s where we need to go.”

He stared hard at Craig. “How about giving me the bark now?”

Craig shook his head defiantly.

“Well, then, at least put it in your pocket, so you don’t drop it or lose it!” Daniel commanded. There wasn’t any time to argue!

When the bark was safely stowed in Craig’s jeans pocket, Daniel motioned them to follow. He led them through the underbrush on their hands and knees. They swatted at strange flying insects and kicked away several crawling things on the ground. Although they’d existed in a cocoonlike space while in the bushes, a cacophony of sounds whirled all around them.

From his previous experiences, Daniel could pick out the loud screeching of the pterosaurs, which flew overhead in the direction of the water. The droning of insects and snuffling of small mammals in the forest cascaded around them. And the earth seemed to tremor from time to time as some large creature plodded over the terrain. With any luck it wasn’t a
T. rex
!

Reaching the outside edge of the bushes, Daniel
looked around. The redwoods were several hundred
metres away across an open, marshy meadow. They also had to find a way across the narrow riverbed. He hadn’t seen it when they’d started out. He felt little doubt that he’d returned to the same time and place, although he didn’t understand how that had happened.

They plunged forward, carefully making their way through the tall grasses and down to the riverbank. They followed the river’s meanderings along the edge, looking for a shallow place to cross. Several hundred metres ahead, Daniel saw a curve and a likely looking place. As they plodded along, they kept watch all around them. Daniel assigned Todd the ground, Craig the water, and himself the sky and the top of the riverbank. Secretly, though, he watched for any kind of movement anywhere. They were too out in the open and could easily be attacked at any moment.

As they rounded the curve, Daniel heard some sort of snorting sound. He stopped in his tracks and motioned the others to stay still. As he crept forward, the noise became louder and he thought he heard a little squeak. Slowly he moved closer to the bend. His heart pounded as he peered around a piece of protruding earth.

In amazement he stared at the bulky body of an
Edmontosaurus
lying on its side curled by a huge nest. She lay underneath an embankment of earth several yards high that had once been carved out by a raging river. It hung precariously over the nest where some of the eggs were cracked as if the babies were going to hatch.

Daniel inched closer. The mother’s huge left hind-quarter seemed bent at a peculiar angle. Her sides heaved and her breathing came in short snorts. Her eyes were closed and she seemed oblivious to his approach or to her hatching babies. She let out another moaning snort. She was hurt! Was she the
Edmontosaurus
from the first time he’d been transported into prehistoric time?

Daniel trembled in excitement! The
T. rex
must have injured her before he attacked the
Stegoceras.
Was there anything he could do for her? She didn’t seem able to move. And she was huge!

Before he had time to think of anything, Craig called shrilly, “Daniel, hurry!” Backing away from the
Edmon-tosaurus
and her nest, Daniel headed back to the Nelwin brothers.

“What took you so long?” Todd demanded.

“An injured
Edmontosaurus,”
Daniel answered,
peering around for danger.

“Todd thought you’d left us!” Craig declared. Todd stomped on his brother’s foot to keep him quiet.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw a flying reptile circling farther down the river. Time to get moving to safety! That’s when he noticed some kind of huge dinosaur he’d never heard about before, standing in the middle of the river a few yards downstream. It stood about fifteen feet high with a long neck, munching on water plants. Daniel could see most of its legs. The river wasn’t that deep. They could probably walk across it!

Choosing a narrow point nearby, Daniel waded into the water, keeping a sharp lookout for crocodiles and other dangerous water creatures. Looking down, he noted that he could see his feet, and the water was clear all the way across. Good thing, because he wasn’t much of a
swimmer, and didn’t relish going for a dip in the
unknown river.

He motioned the Nelwins forward, and they crossed as swiftly as they could. Craig and Todd seemed to know that silence was best and they kept the ripples to a minimum so as not to attract predators. Daniel tried not to think about anything that might be lurking in the water. The sandy bottom sucked at their sneakers each time they took a step, but once they’d started, they didn’t stop until they reached the opposite side.

Daniel sighed in relief when they stepped onto the other bank. It was only a short distance to the redwoods now. Eerie sounds erupted to their left, and Daniel gulped involuntarily.

Earnestly he asked, “Can you climb trees?”

The brothers nodded in unison.

“Quickly?”

They shrugged in uncertainty. They’d obviously never tried before.

“You’ll have to! And you have to go really high, so nothing can reach you. Understand?”

They nodded again, their mouths tight with worry. Daniel could see the beads of sweat forming on their foreheads, and knew he was perspiring too. And it wasn’t just from the moist air. He pointed at each boy in turn and then to a tree, indicating where they were headed and which ones to climb.

“Okay, when I say, ‘go,’ you run as hard as you can and start climbing. Got it?” Daniel whispered. “Your life depends on it! I’m not joking!”

Daniel surveyed the surroundings, making sure as best he could that they would be safe venturing out. He couldn’t hear the huge creature any more, but he was sure it was to the left of them somewhere. Before something else came into view, he decided it was as good a time as any to make their move.

“Go!” he whispered hoarsely.

He led the way as they raced across the open meadow to the redwoods. They dodged potholes filled with water, rounded a cycad, avoided lizards, and stopped short when a
Stegoceras
suddenly appeared in front of them.

“Easy now,” Daniel said, holding his hands out
towards the two-metre-long herbivore, who eyed him curiously. Quietly, he explained to Craig and Todd, “It’s just curious, it won’t hurt us, but go slowly.”

With slow, sure-footed steps, they passed the
Stegoceras
as it twisted its thick dome-shaped head to watch them. Then it turned to forage the leaves of a small sycamore tree, and soon lost interest in them. They scrambled the last three feet to the edge of the redwood stand. Daniel pointed to the trees they should climb.

There was a sudden squawking of winged creatures lifting off from the forest.

“Climb!” yelled Daniel, as the ground suddenly trembled beneath his feet.