Dinosaur

Survival Hunt - Part Seven

            Now the group was counted up to six people. They all collected their belongings and tried to think of what to do next.

The sun on the east side was shining at an angle above their heads. Though it was bright and caused everyone to wish they had sunglasses, the air was chilly and unpleasantly bitter. The clouds hung low in the sky, splashed with light grey. Wind blew the trees; leaves falling and twisting in a high pitch whistle.

Casey put her hood on and pulled the drag strings tight. Her neck felt hot with nervousness and the sense of trepidation, but the feeling of feeling cold on the inside made her ignore the body heat.

“If there haven’t been any dinosaurs in this area, don’t you think there would be more people around?” Chouchou asked suddenly.

Casey took a step back and looked up at the yew tree they had stayed in the last night. She sighed and opened her mouth to speak. But before she had the chance, something sharp whizzed by. Following that was a raspy, low and irate screech.

The ground began thumping. Trees were swaying harder than they were before. Vision started blurring and it seemed as if things were moving quicker than before as well. Behind them, probably a few dozen metres, sounded an earsplitting and extended screech.

Matthew turned around and oddly squealed breathlessly, as if he had lost his voice, “Spi—! Spino—!”

“Run!” a voice shouted loudly.

Casey felt her heart starting to race. Without turning back or even developing the next thought, she almost tripped over her feet, trying to catch up with her group members, who had already started sprinting.

“Split up!” Lenny yelled. He turned around a row of trees and disappeared. Chouchou followed his direction.

Everything was funny. The early, quiet mood had abruptly converted into a fast paced, confusing, and scary feeling. It was obvious a dinosaur was heading their way, angrily trying to reach out its short arms for something to fill its stomach. But not knowing which direction to head, not knowing where the creature following was the scariest part.

Up ahead, Casey saw the trees starting to move apart. She had no idea where she was going, but following whoever was running in front of her. She was afraid something new would appear out of the blue and trample them for sure.

She ran and ran non-stop but her eyes were swelling with tears. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeves, still moving. The figure in front of her had vanished.

Then a voice was heard, “This way!”

Casey’s eyes turned but things were fogging up. Behind her, she heard quick and loud, heavy pounds. The pace was increasing and the noise was going louder. Inside her head she wanted to stop running; her legs were wearing out on her. Her heart was racing faster than ever imagined, both from freaking out and running.

“Hurry!” The voice was there again. But it was strange how there was not much panicking in the tone.

Sweat and tears were mixed on her face. Casey had her fist clenched and still running. This time, she had absolutely no idea where she was going. She saw a large tree trunk in front of her. She wanted to slow down, or try and make a turn, but her legs were not listening to her anymore.

Finally something thin and tight grasped onto her arm. She tried to scream but panic and alarm were getting the better of her. Her voice was completely lost.

In a split second, she felt herself being picked up off the ground. Her right arm was stinging with pain. Her legs frantically kicked, wanting to be put back down. Then, the pain was beginning to go away. Her whole body was flung in the air and over the trees, across the forest.

She landed with a thud, on her front. Her arms were bent under her body, saving her head from face planting into the hard ground.

Her heart was still racing but the anxiety and sense of fright was flowing out of her chest. Quickly she rolled over and pulled herself to her feet. Her legs wobbled and she almost fell back on the ground. Her head was dizzy and vision was still blank and white.

“Sorry! Are you all right?” The familiar voice spoke again.

Casey used her palms and pressed hard against her eyes. She opened them again and started exhaling loudly.

In front of her was a short boy. She had never seen him before. His dark brown hair was straight but curled up out of place and full of knots. Around his forehead was a dark band—a ribbon to be exact. Across his face were several scratches and blotches of grime.

He reached his brown, almost black sleeved arm forward and hit Casey’s head. She made a grunt and blinked one eye after the other. Her whole body was aching.

“You’re safe now, Mei— Mei Xing’s got this under control,” he said with a grin.

Casey nodded but she could not move any part of her face. She then felt herself being pulled behind a large tree and pushed inside the trunk. He followed her inside.

“This is one of our hideouts,” he said with pride. He opened his arms and turned around. “Sit down. I’ll quickly bandage you up.”

He pulled a stick out from between some thin roots and started to dig a hole. He pulled out a small brown box.

The tree was not very large. The trunk only had a small opening from the roots growing out of place. In fact it looked more like someone had pried it open more so something could fit inside.

They were underground, to be exact. On the surface, it looked like a tree with a hole small animals crawled into, except there was some large and dried piece of dirt shaped like a door that covered the hideout up.

Inside, however, was a different story. The trunk had been hollowed out just a little, and the ground had been dug up deeper, to fit three or four people at the most. All around were sticks. They were stabbed into the dirt.

Finally Casey coughed and choked. She looked up at him with scared eyes. Then she grabbed his hood before he turned away. She tightened her grip, still staring at him. He turned around and watched every move she made, ready for her next.

With a shaky voice she whispered, “How about the others? Where are they?”

The boy shook his head and shrugged, “Well, I managed to swing two others but both ropes got detached so they flew off somewhere. I’m sure they’re somewhere close by. I’ll go find them now. You stay here and don’t touch anything and don’t make a noise.”

“What’s your name?” Casey asked, scrunching her face from the stinging ointments the boy put on her bandages.

“Jonathan,” he said and jumped out of the hole in one go.

“Thank you,” Casey said.

For a moment Casey sat on the damp soil with her legs stretched out in front of her. She slowly leaned back and stared up at the inside of the tree. There were webs formed with lifeless insects glued. She turned her head to the other side and saw the same thing. Next to her was a worm wiggling in and out of the dirt, sliming it up.

Casey shut her eyes and winced at the pain. The side of her head had been badly bruised. Both knees and both elbows were also scratched up. She carefully pulled her jacket back on and rubbed the injured parts.

She held up her left hand and looked at the watch. A day had gone by and just less than half the next also. Her hand dropped and she shut her eyes again.

The next thing she heard was a kick at the dirt wall. Her eyes enlarged as she shrunk into the corner of the tree. With all her heart she hoped it was not a nosy dinosaur. To her relief, she saw Jonathan again, who had just kicked both Acacia and Elias in. They both looked fairly in good shape, except some bruises, and extra pain caused by Jonathan.

He jumped in after them and pushed the dirt door back. Quickly he pulled out sticks and started digging out random first-aid kits.

“Where’d you get all those kits?” Elias asked.

Jonathan opened another box of bandages and pulled out a strange container with a gooey and clear substance inside. “Some of them we packed and the others we found in this arena.” He pointed at Acacia. “Sit still.”

She nodded obediently and followed his movements with her eyes.

“Where’s Matthew?” Casey asked, crawling out from behind a large pile of dirt.

“No idea who that is,” Jonathan said.

After he tied the bandages together on Acacia’s arm, he buried the previous boxes and went to dig up another box.

“Thanks…” Acacia turned to Casey and then at Elias. “We lost him when we started running away from that Spinosaurus.” She sighed, “We were all so freaked out.”

“Who’s Mei Xing?” Casey asked next, suddenly remembering the named being mentioned.

Jonathan suddenly stopped fumbling with the first aid and looked up. “Ah, I was supposed to meet up with her after this. She said she saw some hungry Rugops nearby after realizing a Spino was chasing after you guys. You should thank her after. Thanks to you guys, she did do something she hates doing the most.”

Casey watched him bury the last box. “What’s that?”

He stomped on the dirt to pack it down and looked at Casey with his crystal-like blue eyes. “Killing a dinosaur.”

“Sorry about that,” Casey said.

“Where is she now?” Acacia asked.

“No idea,” Jonathan said. He stood up and stretched. “You guys don’t know anything, right?”

“What does that mean?” Elias asked. He rolled down his jacket sleeve.

Jonathan swung his backpack on and pulled the dirt door down. “You’ve rested long enough. I’m sure Mei’s dealt well with the Spino and the Rugops.”

Acacia scratched her head and laughed a little. “I don’t really know my dinosaurs so what exactly is… a Rugops?”

“Basically they’re wrinkled up faced dinosaurs that eat meat. There had to be at least a group of them to take down a ferocious Spino.” Jonathan started climbing out of the hideout. “Now, get out.”

* * * * *

The four of them walked in the forest for a long time by now, probably for at least fifteen minutes at the most. Nothing spectacular happened, luckily.

Just then, someone jumped down from a tree in front of them. She rolled up her ropes up in second and put them in her pocket.

“Mei! You’re back already,” Jonathan said.

The girl patted his shoulder and nodded, “Yup. So Nathan, were you—?” She looked at Casey, Acacia, and Elias. “You have a really large group.”

“Oh, you’re Mei Xing, right?” Acacia said.

Mei Xing nodded.

She was tall in comparison to Jonathan. But how they dressed in the same outfits and looked friendly made them seem like siblings.

Casey looked around and held her hands together. She looked at Acacia and Elias, who were not exactly doing anything.

Mei Xing brushed the wisps of hair in front of her ears aside. Her hair was dark and looked almost black, but a tint of it looked brown in the sun. She blinked her eyes and then gave them a forthcoming smile.

“Your pack’s other half is safe.” Then she turned around and frowned. “That’s funny. They were behind me just a moment ago. Well, that was before I started looking into the trees…”

Elias pointed. “They’re there.”

Lenny, Matthew, and Chouchou were seen now. They had just turned towards them and ran to catch up. All of them looked tired and unharmed.

“Oh, there you are,” Mei Xing said and clapped her hands together in relief. “I thought I lost you with another dinosaur or something.”

“Why’d you start running away?” Chouchou asked with a grumpy expression. “I thought you tricked us and just left us.”

“Well you were slow,” Matthew said to her. She frowned at him and turned the other way.

Lenny stopped walking. He looked at Mei Xing and sighed. “You even had us watch the Spino roar at us, trying its best to escape the ropes you tied on it. It almost broke free until those ugly dinosaurs appeared out of the blue.” He shook his head in dissatisfaction.

Matthew nodded in agreement. “You totally went Tarzan on us.”

The others laughed. Mei Xing shrugged an apologetic face. Jonathan jumped up and tried to stand as tall as he could. He was smaller in size, in evaluation with the others, but the same height as Acacia.

“Stop talking.”

“Oh,” Casey remembered. “Thanks, Mei Xing.”

Mei Xing shook her head and waved her hand. “No, it was nothing.”

“But Jonathan said you had to kill the dinosaur…” Acacia said. She looked up from her fumbling fingers at Mei Xing.

“It’s more important to save human lives. And besides, I didn’t kill them. I just… sorta set up a trap and had the other dinosaurs go for it. Spinosaurus are strong and vicious. It got so mad at me when I tried to tie it up. But when they’re weakened, I guess that goes for anyone, when they’re weakened, they become a good target.”

Now, the eight of them stood silently among the trees for a minute. For that one minute, they were all focusing on other things, be it staying cautious, feeling sorry, fear accumulating, or anything in that range.

With a good ear, a faded boom was heard.

A few seconds later, the slow booming was louder.

“Is that another one?” Casey asked. Her eyes shook as she turned to the others. She realized their stance were further apart than before. She took a small step closer.

Jonathan pulled out a rope and held it tightly in his hands. He had an angry facial expression, staring into the distance of one direction. Mei Xing was looking that way as well. She took a deep breath in and let it out. In a low voice, she said, “It’s an Aeolosaurus.”

“How can you tell?” Lenny asked.

Mei Xing put a finger to her ear. “If you can hear the pattern of steps, then you will know. I’m pretty sure it’s having lunch now. Aeolosaurus can stand up on its hind legs to eat off of those super tall trees. They don’t eat people but you have to be careful anyway.”

“Let’s get going,” Jonathan said a little irritated. “We can’t stand here listening to it until it comes this way. Another meat-eater might show up again and seriously, I don’t have any effort to save you.”

Everyone started walking again. Casey halted and looked in the direction where the dinosaur was rumoured to be at. She heard uneven pounds on the land. Quickly she shook her head and followed.

Deep inside she could only think of why she was where she was. No reason formed. She could only tell herself that it was the tradition of the land she lived on. But no matter how hard she tried backing up her origin, she shook her head and began arguing instead.

It was a strange thing. The hosts of the Dinosaur Survival Hunt probably did not even have a reason when asked. But they never worried about it because no one had ever, in the history of this, has ever asked for it.

And Lenny was right. He was right about what had happened already. He was right about the time traveling, the thing about being transported when exiting a safe house, the mutations of dinosaurs.

Casey felt herself starting to understand yet stay confused. She was an insider, yet she did not think the same as any insider she has seen. An insider would keep their mind closed, believing that the tradition of the land was the most important and true belief.

But during the short, just beginning journey in the dinosaur era, she had been with outsiders. Their way of thinking… The thing about life being important and the fact it was insane to be putting lives into a dangerous arena with ferocious, hungry, and angry dinosaurs. That had soon influenced.

I don’t want to die…

Her feet stopped moving. Casey blinked back into reality. She shook her head and held tightly to the straps of her backpack.

I don’t want to die. Why? Have I always been afraid of dying? Everyone back in the building… They were scared as well. But all the leaders, the hosts, the adults… they didn’t feel a thing. This doesn’t make any sense… at all.

Actually now it does. This year is different, that’s what it is. It’s… all changed.

She turned around and stared. Her hands trembled as they tried grasping at anything on the trunk of an old oak. Her nails dug into the cracks.

“Casey.”

She looked up. Acacia was waving to her to tell her to hurry up. Casey caught up and walked next to Acacia.

“They said there’s some cliff nearby here,” Acacia said.

Casey stared at Acacia. Quietly she asked, “Are you not scared?”

“Of course. I’m terrified,” Acacia responded. She stared ahead. “Although I have no idea what I’m doing here and what I’m going to do or even what will happen to me, I’m stuck here. So I’m going to try and face this reality, somehow.” She laughed.

“Somehow,” Casey nodded. “You’re so brave to think like that.”

“What do you mean?”

Casey shook her head. She stared at the ground in front of every step she took. “I feel so useless and stupid. For an insider like me to feel even more afraid than an outsider… Doesn’t that make me a failure?”

Acacia patted Casey’s back. “All people are different. It’s okay if you think like that.”

Casey then stood up straight and pumped her fist in the air. “That’s right. I’m going to face this reality, somehow, also. I’ll do my best to stay alive and make sure you do as well. I did promise you, didn’t I?”

“Forget about that,” Acacia said.

* * * * *

The cliff ahead was clear now. A small open ground was seen. It was almost as if the trees purposely left that space open to mourn. The trees had bent trunks, curving towards the open space. The branches were hanging low, dangling their leaves towards the middle. A single, awkward, patch of grass was on one side. A huge grey boulder was on the side of the patch, like a tangent. The whole panorama looked like it was set up this way on purpose.

Sunlight was shining towards them. The shadows were growing to the eastside now, indicating evening was arriving. Clouds were loaming and floating in one direction. They never left the sky, almost as if they were lost, following each other.

“Do you see those long necks on the other side?” Mei Xing asked.

Everyone was standing amongst the trees, camouflaging by the trunks, and looking across the deep canyon.

“They’re so far away,” Elias commented. “Is that side perhaps…?”

Mei Xing shrugged. “I want to go to that side and collect information. It would be so much easier since apparently they’re all herbivores.” Then she looked back into the dark forest. “But carnivorous dinosaurs are harder to study and find anything new. It’s too dangerous but… I just feel like everything is like Jurassic Park!”

“There she goes again,” Jonathan shook his head.

Casey thought for a moment. She remembered watching the Jurassic Park movies back at home when her father was out at work. As a single child, bored and alone at home, she would search the house for new things to do. The Jurassic Park movies were hidden behind a cabinet though.

“Was this survival hunt supposed to be like Jurassic Park?” Casey asked. “Were there scientists experimenting fossils and DNA and created dinosaurs again?” She looked at Lenny, since he had been in the arena before.

He shrugged his shoulders. “It could be but it might not be.”

If scientists were curious about dinosaurs and brought them back to the earth for studying and experimenting, it would be understandable. If they created a time machine to travel back in time to get a good look at how dinosaurs used to act, it would be understandable. The whole story, the tradition, of going back in time to collect information would all make sense. But…

But if that was true, why were teenagers doing this? Why were they forced into doing this for seven years of their lives the moment they step out of their house? Was it serious when they said no one had died in the previous hunts?

That could not be possible anymore. No one died in long, long ago hunts, when the dinosaurs were probably only robots. Now, they had minds of their own. No, they were real from the past…

Those were questions of an outsider. Those were questions that an insider began thinking. The number of outsiders seemed to have increased over the years. It must have been like Elias said: they take you back.

“Uh…”

Casey looked at Chouchou.

She was pointing behind them with an open mouth. “Is that…? Is that…?”

Mei Xing looked up. She opened her eyes wide and blinked. “That’s the dinosaur from before. We better move out of the way.”

It was true. The Aeolosaurus who was eating from multiple trees had finally caught up to them. It was enormous—beyond sophisticated words to describe its height. The towering neck attached to the colossal body… It looked as tall as the beanstalk Jack climbed in the fable.

The neck lowered at a high speed towards the group. They quickly scattered, trying to find a way around the large, rough skinned creature.

Elias turned around and ducked under its tail. “Casey, Chouchou, behind you!”

Casey turned around and found herself almost at the edge of the cliff. She looked over at Chouchou, whose foot was right at the edge.

“Cho watch out!” Casey ran to her.

Everything seemed to get scarier and more unrealistic. The ground under Chouchou suddenly crumbled and she disappeared behind the cliff.

 “Chouchou!” Lenny shouted.

 “Gotcha!” Casey breathed. But she was sliding slowly off the cliff as well, holding on tightly to Chouchou’s wrist. She reached her other arm down and tried pulling her up. “Come on; try climbing with your feet!”

Acacia and Matthew stood behind the tree farthest. They peered over and started coming closer. They were just as frightened.

But when they got closer, the Aeolosaurus turned its head and started walking towards them. Elias and Lenny began backing away next to them.

“It’s coming!” Acacia pointed. She grabbed tightly to Elias’ sleeve.

Meanwhile on the other side of the dinosaur, Jonathan and Mei Xing were putting together ropes.

Chouchou’s eyes were filled with tears of horror. She grabbed onto Casey. “Please Casey. Please don’t drop me, Casey!”

Casey felt her hands sweaty again. Her hands were feeling numb and wet. She bit her lower lip and tightened her grip. Her eyes suddenly looked past Chouchou, down into the deep canyon. Her head began feeling dizzy. “I’m totally lost. I can’t…”

“Casey, don’t!” Chouchou shouted. Her eyes shook, feeling herself falling lower. Casey’s hand around her wrist was feeling slippery. Determined, she kicked with her feet but it was useless.

The two of them were slipping. Rocks started crumbling beside them. Chouchou felt herself lower about a foot deeper into the canyon. She desperately glanced up at Casey. In a split second, a huge chunk of the cliff under Casey’s stomach cracked. She screamed as they fell, gripping tighter to Casey’s wrist than before, digging her nails into her skin.

A rope tied in a loop suddenly appeared dropped down from above. Casey felt it squeeze around her waist. She felt like choking and throwing up, but it became their miracle.

The rope tightened. Casey still hung onto Chouchou. They dangled at the edge like a tiny decoration.

Chouchou raised her head trying to see what had happened. Casey turned around and saw Mei Xing at the top. She finished tying the rope to the tree trunk. Jonathan stood by the tree.

“Casey, grab on!” She shouted.

Casey forced herself to bend up, kicking with her feet and managing to get her leg tangled with the rope. She reached as far as she could possibly and grabbed the rope.

“Hurry, help!” She screamed. She felt her grip on Chouchou’s wrist slip. She clutched tightly to her hand.

After a long while of chasing, crying, and frantically panicking, Chouchou and Casey were brought back onto the land. They coughed, trying to catch their breath.

Close among the trees, the dinosaur had thumped away. The others were out of sight.

Casey rubbed her elbows, wincing at the extra pain. She shook her hands but the numbness in her wrists did not go away. She could hardly feel her hands or legs. Chouchou crawled away to a nearby tree and sighed in relief. Her forehead was covered in sweat and cheeks smeared with tears. Her brown hair was sticking to her face.

“Nathan, bring the rope back,” Mei Xing said, untying half of it from the tree.

Jonathan jumped up from behind the tree and dove for the rope. “Mei, catch!” He swung the rope up into the air in a loop motion. But he swung it a little too hard. The heavy rope whipped into the forest and hit something hard. A loud roar replied.

Mei Xing let out a loud yell. Jonathan jumped out of the way, pulling the rope back with him.

Casey looked up and saw the dinosaur angrily thumping towards her. She started backing up. She heard rocks falling and knew she was close to the side of the cliff. Panicking, she rolled to her front and got to her feet.

After a step or two, the bandages on her knees started loosening. She felt something wet, sticky, and warm rolling down both knees. In pain, she dropped to the hard ground again. She saw blood soaking through her pants and turned away.

I feel totally hopeless! Why can’t I save myself like the others?

She tried crawling, as she was afraid of losing her balance, despite deepening the scars on her legs. As fast as she could possible go, she crawled across to the patch of grass, hoping she could hide behind the boulder.

 “I’ll get her.” Mei Xing dug through her pocket and looped her rope onto a branch. She confirmed it tightened by giving it a hard pull. Just before she swung up, everyone gasped in horror.

The Aeolosaurus lowered its neck and pushed its head at Casey.

I’m finished! It’s gonna trample me!

Casey squealed and rolled onto her side and back on her feet, running to the forest where the others were hiding. She saw a tree in front and picked up her pace, running at full speed towards it.

Just then, her boots stepped on a large rock and lost her balance. She got her foot tangled into a large branch of leaves. She tripped over a loop in the branch and toppled over. Her hands were shaking as she tried to reach for the branch.

“Casey!” Chouchou screamed, having just opened her eyes from relieving dizziness.

The dinosaur’s small head swooped down and with its teeth, bit into the branch and began turning away, with Casey still attached.

“Nathan!” Mei Xing shouted. “Climb the tree!”

He shook his head frantically. “I can’t make it in time!” He started running to the tallest tree he could see.

Angrier thumping sounded in the air, echoing across the cliff and forest. The dinosaur was walking faster now and soon disappeared into the forest before the others could take another step.

From the bushes meters away, the others realized the dinosaur was not after them. They looked around from where they hid after hearing loud footsteps. Then they saw the large long-necked dinosaur and something in its mouth.

“Casey!” Acacia screamed again. “Come back, you A-whatever-saurus! Give her back now!”

She turned to Elias and then Matthew with scared eyes. She looked at Mei Xing. “What do we do? It took her. It’s gonna drop her somewhere, or leave her somewhere! It might lose her in a crowd of carnivores.”

Matthew stared at Acacia’s frightened expression. He reached his hand out to pat her back, to comfort her, but he shook his head and turned away.

Mei Xing sighed loudly and glanced at Jonathan. “I don’t know what to do. Why couldn’t we have gotten her back?”

Slightly guilty, Jonathan turned away.

By the cliff, Lenny pulled Chouchou back onto her feet and brought her to the others. She had her head down and tears welled in her eyes.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m completely useless.”

Acacia turned to her and sighed.

Mei Xing looked at Chouchou as well. Her focus shifted when she saw a huge tear in her jacket and pants. Her leg was bruised red and her fingers slightly scratched. “Let’s go find some first aid for you.” She turned to the others. “Are you guys all okay?”

They nodded their heads and looked at one another without a word.

* * * * *

Another hideout was in the roots of a larger tree.

A packed chunk of dirt served as a doorway, just like the previous hideout. This one was larger but still short in space. Everything was dark except a few specks of light coming in through small holes in the soil.

Mei Xing finished wrapping Chouchou’s injuries. She sat down on the lumpy ground and sighed, taking out a bottle of water. “Get some rest if you can.”

Elias and Matthew sat on one side of the tree trunk. Acacia was squished with them. Just next to her was Chouchou, still wide awake and feeling scared and culpable from the previous experience. Lenny sat next to her. And on the other side of the tree were Mei Xing and Jonathan—closest to the random stick buried first aid.

In moment’s time, they fell asleep without making another noise.

Chouchou leaned backwards, pillowed by her ponytail. She stared up and the dark, barely visible tree ceiling. She sniffed and continued staring. Her eyes started stinging from keeping her eyes open, not even blinking. Her hand covered her face and she turned her head back down, resting her chin on her knees.

“You still awake? Go sleep.”

Chouchou looked around. “Who?”

“You.”

She turned to her right, hearing Lenny’s voice. She nodded, not giving a care about how dark it was and how no one would see her. She kept silent.

After a moment, Chouchou shut her eyes. “Thanks…”

Allies

Survival Hunt - Part Six

               Slowly walking without any sense of direction, Casey started muttering to herself.

Her boots were grey with custards of dried substances. They shuffled across the ground, creating both noise and a trail without leaves. Her boots were also picking up a lot of extra dirt and grass.

“It’s begun… It’s started…”

In her mind, the roar sounded again.

Casey let out a small cry and covered her ears. No matter what, she wanted to get out of the arena. She wanted to be brought home. She hoped with all her heart that she was still in bed, tossing and turning, and finally waking up from an awful nightmare.

Sweat continued rolling down her face. Her nose started running. Everything seemed to be going out of hand. Panicking only made things worse.

Several loud screams were heard. The noises kept up.

Casey fell to her knees again and rested her head on a thick tree trunk. Her legs would not stop quavering. Every emotion she once had all mixed and mashed together into one: fear.

“Casey!”

She raised her head and looked around.

Again the low hiss sounded, calling, “Casey!”

Casey stood up, grabbing onto the tree. She looked up and felt herself begin to settle down at last. She inhaled and exhaled evenly.

“Casey, come here!” Acacia hissed again.

She was with Lenny behind another tree a little less than fifty metres away. Acacia’s hands were frantically motioning Casey to hurry up and join them.

As quickly as her legs would carry her, Casey met up with the others again.

“I thought you were gone!” Acacia exclaimed. She brushed grass off of Casey’s back. “I only met up with Lenny just now. He said there was a safe house a little south from here. Do you have a compass?”

“I thought I almost died,” Casey said. She pulled a compass out of her pocket. It was attached to a chain, which was tied tightly to her pants. “South is that way…” She pointed into the direction she had once felt a wall.

Lenny nodded. “Have you seen anyone around?”

Acacia shook her head. “Except for you and Casey, no. When I heard a roar, I almost jumped out of my skin. This place is really real. I have no words to describe how freaked out I am right now…”

“I saw a girl earlier. But that was before the bell chimed.” Casey put the compass back into her pocket. “I felt a wall earlier.”

“A what?”

“I felt a wall. It must have been the arena’s wall,” Casey repeated. “But that was also before the bell chimed. After that, it just disappeared.”

Acacia immediately glanced at Lenny. “You were right! What do we do now?”

“I seriously don’t know what to do now,” Lenny said. “It’s best we try not to run into any monsters—but that’s inevitable. It’s still bright right now. Tomorrow will be winter… and it’ll be much colder and much darker.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Casey asked. She peered behind the tree. “Should we climb a tree?”

Lenny sighed. “It’s best if we don’t. Some winged dinosaurs perch on tall, thick trees. We might want to start by creating as many safe possibilities. Like, suggesting where it is safe to rest, besides the safe houses.”

“Why not the safe houses? I bet there are a million people in those by now,” Acacia said.

Lenny fumbled with something in his pocket. He pushed his blond hair out of his eyes and said, “People always go for the safe houses first but once they’re in there, they’re kinda trapped. It’s like the safe houses are portals themselves. You go in there to rest and become healed but when you go out, you’re not in the same place you thought you were. You’ve transported. So it’s not that safe.”

“Could you be transported into a dinosaur’s nest…?” Casey shivered.

“You might, but that’s not so likely, since these dinosaurs… don’t lay eggs at this time of year…” Lenny said.

Casey pulled out a shovel. “I took this just in case. I feel like digging a hole and just hiding in there. Does that count as a safe spot?”

Lenny laughed. “That’s one if you can get in and out without dinosaurs keeping their eyes on you.”

Acacia looked around at the quiet surrounding. She turned back to the others and poked Lenny’s arm. “How did you survive?”

The wind started howling. A noisy crowd of leaves swayed to the ground. After just landing, some were carried away by the wind again.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“What?”

“But that was before. With seven days this time… Chances of surviving are very slim. It’s more than double the previous times.” Lenny kicked a rock. “We’ll need food too. In previous years, it was possible to not eat for three days. But for seven days, there are only a few people who can manage. They go hungry soon enough and won’t be able to move as far or quickly. And attacks… There are more chances of those… and being eaten.”

Acacia squealed in horror. “It feels as if this is a one-sided war. It’s so unfair. Dinosaurs are huge and ferocious and they don’t care a thing about little people like us, that just looking like ants they can step on, or gobble up as a snack!”

A second later, a roar sounded again. This time it was much louder and the length of it was longer as well. A thumping started. Even and slow paced thumping was heard. Although it was some distance away, they knew it was slowly heading their direction.

Casey stared at the ground. The pebbles under the leaves were rumbling. She looked up at Acacia and Lenny with horror in her eyes. They returned the same glances.

“Let’s get out of here.”

* * *

The three of them dashed the other direction. They stumbled over awkwardly grown tree roots and dodged low hung branches.

“Slow down, Len!” Casey shouted, trying hard to keep up.

“Keep up, I’m not running that fast.”

Lenny was the tallest of them and he sure knew how to run. And if he said he was not running that fast, his sprint must be fast enough to escape a lion in a hungry fest.

Behind, Casey heard a short yelp. She turned around expecting to encounter something horrific or frightening. She stopped running so quickly when she saw Acacia slowing down.

“What are you doing?”

“My shoe! I just lost it,” Acacia replied, feeling slightly embarrassed. She turned around, only to crash into someone. They both fell into the mud.

Casey walked to the mess and held out her arms to pull them both up. Up ahead, Lenny had already started turning back to see what was holding them up.

“Hey, it’s you, the friend,” Casey said, staring at the boy who ran into Acacia.

He stared at her with a blank expression.

Another boy appeared from behind. He held up a shoe with a confused expression. Then he looked towards the others and shook his head.

“Elias!” Acacia shouted. She quickly brushed away the dirt and tried scraping the mud off her pants and jacket but it did not come off.

“Here,” he said, handing her the shoe. He looked at her browned socks. Then he looked at Casey and Lenny and started laughing. “What are you guys doing?”

Acacia tightened the laces of her shoe and stared up at everyone.

“We heard a dinosaur coming our way so we ran,” Casey explained. She fixed her ponytail and looked at the other boy. “How about you guys?”

Elias shrugged. “Matthew and I were just wandering around, looking for any specific tracks. We’re sorta finding a safe place to spend the night but I doubt things are going to work out well. I mean, we’re probably not able to sleep.”

Casey looked at Matthew. His hair was darker than the last time she saw him. His clothes were dirty from the fall and so was his face. She watched him hold out his hand to Acacia, who unknowingly pulled herself up.

“We were doing the same,” Lenny said, “As in trying to find a safe place to stay.”

Matthew looked at Lenny. “Who are you?” Then he looked at Casey. “You’re that girl from earlier but… who are you?”

Acacia rolled her eyes and pushed Matthew’s shoulder. “You’re so rude. Here, let’s just be quick.” She went around in the circle. “This is Casey, Len, and well you know Elias. Done.”

“What’s the plan now?” Matthew asked.

Elias looked at his watch. “My watch has both the time and timer. It counted up since last midnight so it’s kind of like the time we’ve been in here. But the clock doesn’t really mean anything since we’ve been transported.”

“Basically this time period and the one back in the building are different,” Acacia said. She looked up at the sky. “Can you see what time it is by reading the sun?”

“Who cares about all that,” Matthew said with a shake of his head. His short, spiky hair did not even move thanks to the hardened mud on his head. “We can find that out after one day, knowing when the moon comes up. Oh and when we pass by a safe house we can ask for the time.”

“What do you think?” Casey asked and looked at Lenny. He stared off somewhere else. Suddenly he felt as if someone was watching him. His blue eyes glanced at her and then he looked at the others.

 He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well,” Acacia said, raising her eyebrow at Lenny. “You said we should have some sort of plan.” She looked at Elias again, then at Casey. “What plan should we have?

“I honestly don’t think we’ll be able to come up with anything,” Elias said. “That’s what I think because things here happen unexpectedly.”

Lenny nodded. “Yep. I didn’t even have a plan in the first place. I just wanted to think I did.”

“What?” Casey shouted. “Now what?”

“Should we split up?” Matthew questioned.

“It doesn’t matter,” Elias said. He zipped his jacket higher and put his hands in his pocket. “I wonder how big this arena is.”

“It’s not exactly impossible to find each other again,” Acacia said. She grabbed Casey’s hand. “I mean, Len and I found her after the bell chimed.”

Matthew snorted. “Well that was right after the bell chimed, right? After we split up now, we will never find each other again.”

“Hey, you always know how to ruin the mood!”

Suddenly a huge gust of wind came running wildly towards them. The trees started swaying and causing the wind to move out of balance. All the leaves from the ground were raised up, higher than a human could ever reach, and they disappeared. A new layer of dead leaves replaced the old ones.

“Whenever the wind blows, I feel that something bad happened,” Casey whispered.

“Agreed,” Acacia said. “Let’s go somewhere now.”

After a while of silently shuffling through the forest, Matthew stopped and shouted, “Whoa!” He pointed up at the sky. “See that?”

The other four stopped walking and looked up as well.

Casey’s eyes grew wide. She reached her hands up and stood on her tip toes. “It’s the sky! I can see the sky!”

“It’s not that blue but at least we can tell there’s still light. It’s probably evening,” Acacia said.

“I’d say it’s around six o’clock,” Elias said.

“No, not that,” Matthew shook his head. He lowered his arm and said, “I mean, did you see that huge thing?”

Lenny’s eyes narrowed. “Stop and listen. Matthew’s right. Something’s up there.”

The mellow mood took a down turn.

A thump sounded. Casey’s hand grabbed the front of her jacket. Her eyes quivered as she continued staring up. She stole glances at the others, who were silent, not even daring to take a breath. Casey held her breath and listened.

“Pterodactyl," Elias hissed.
Acacia gulped. "Do they eat people?"
Without any movement, Elias whispered. "They're usually not that big. They eat fish and some animals. Never heard of them eat people."

"Don't be too relieved," Lenny said. "There are some mutated ones."
"Don't scare us," Casey said.
"I'm just warning you. Stay still for now."
The five of them stood in place staring up at the sky. One or two more of them flew by. There was a long pause after that.
Casey turned away. "Do you think a dinosaur could creep up behind us while we're not paying attenion?"
Matthew jerked his head away from staring up. He looked at the darkened distance. "It's possible isn't it, Len?"
He shrugged and looked back up. "We should keep going. Maybe find some water source if there are any."

"If we follow a dinosaur, maybe it will lead us to the water?" Casey suggested. "Not that I want that to happen though."

Lenny sighed and took a step. "Usually dinosaurs walking on two legs with short arms are carnivorous. But all types of dinosaurs we should avoid. Herb or carn, they can kill you quickly."

"Aw, you're a better mood-killer than Matt," Acacia groaned and followed him.

* * *

The small group walked a long way but did not find any water or even see any other people that came into the dinosaur era with them.

The sunlight was fading behind the trees. Strong rays blinded them as they continued down the non-existent path of the forest. The sunlight only peered through tree trunks for a while. After a few more minutes and looking and walking, the strong light disappeared.

“It’s so dark. We can’t use flashlights either,” Casey said. She turned and tried to make out the others’ faces. “Should we stop?”

Lenny looked around and sighed. “We can’t stop in the middle of nowhere. It’s best to make sure the surroundings are better known.”

“Shh,” Elias suddenly hissed. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Casey asked. She stopped moving and tried to listen.

Everything grew silent—or as silent as a dinosaur territory could be. They listened to the buzzing of insects, quiet chirps of birds, secluded roars and moans of dinosaurs. Then they heard something twinkling.

“Is that water?” Matthew asked.

“It is!” Acacia jumped. “Are we anywhere close to it?”

Elias pointed to his right. “It’s coming from that way.”

“It’s not safe to spend too long there,” Lenny said. “Water is also a dinosaur’s source. We’ll quickly get some and go.”

Again, they headed into the direction they assumed was the best for the time being. It was obvious that nothing in the location would be determined.

Finally they came to an opening. The trees had grown further apart until there were no more. A vast piece of grassy land filled the rest of the way until a rushing river was in sight. Across the water was another grassy land and trees behind. Further, behind the trees were mountains, barely made out.

“It’s so glittery,” Acacia said. She poked her finger in the water and licked it. “Wow, I’ve never liked water so much before.”

“Stop talking,” Matthew said. He quietly lowered his bottle and filled it up.

Acacia stuck her tongue out at Matthew and quickly stood up. “Don’t tell me what to do.” She spun around but her footing was lost. She slipped in the cold mud and was about to shout for help.

A hand pulled her up and covered her mouth. Acacia looked up, wide-eyed at Matthew. She gasped and pushed away from him.

Matthew snorted and stood up. “Be careful. Are you going to tell me not to tell you what to do now? You’re welcome, by the way.”

Acacia scrunched her nose at Matthew and bit her lower lip. She took out her spare bottle and filled it with water and joined the others.

Casey stared at Acacia and then looked at Matthew. She bit the inside of her mouth and dropped her shoulders. She quickly looked away when Matthew glanced up. When he turned away, she felt her eyes focus on them again.

What is this? I feel like I know nothing. Acacia, you want Elias to notice you, but it seems like something else is going on at the same time…

She sighed and screwed the lid back on her bottle and tucked it into her backpack.

“Do you think back where we started would be the safest place to stay?” Lenny asked.

“You mean all the way back to where the bell chimed, that place?” Casey asked. She looked at the others. “Were there fewer dinosaurs there? We didn’t see any.”

“We can do that,” Elias agreed. He brushed his sandy hair aside. “We can sleep separate, even have someone on guard.”

Casey shook her head to try to stay alert. She swallowed hard. She zipped her backpack and swung it over her shoulders. A huge sigh was let out and she looked behind, back into the forest. “Is this like… try or die?”

Acacia patted Casey’s shoulder. “Don’t think of it that way even if it is.” She looked at the boys and nodded.

“Don’t worry so much,” Lenny said. “The forest is tight. Smaller dinosaurs may be seen. The big ones… well I’m sure you’ll hear them when they approach. They can be silent but they might have to knock over trees to get by.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

Eventually they reached the point where Matthew and Acacia had slipped in the mud. The wet puddle was still there, slightly seen in the dim moonlight.

Lenny pointed at a large trunk tree. “That’s a yew tree.”

The trunk looked old and rough. The bark was peeling and a part of it was bumpier than the other. Partway up the trunk was a huge split. Multiple branches sprang out from the center trunk. Dark green needles covered the figure like a mop-head hair style.

“There’s another one over there,” Casey said. “We can sleep in the trunk, right?”

“That’s so cool,” Acacia said. “The branches are like the canopy covers. We’ll be safe inside, right? Come on, Casey.”

Casey was about to take a step forward when Lenny spoke.

“This might sound weird but will it be all right just the two of you girls in there? Not to be mean but honestly you don’t seem to be ready for anything to happen.”

Acacia stopped and blinked without saying a word.

“Are you going to come with us?” Casey asked, gripping tightly to her backpack. “Or should one of us be in each tree?”

Lenny opened his mouth but did not say anything. He looked at Matthew and Elias, who were standing nearby, watching for an answer as well.

Casey looked at Acacia, then at Elias and nodded. “In that case, Acacia can go with Elias…” She looked at Matthew and added, “…and Matthew.”

“What are you saying, Casey?” Acacia exclaimed. “We’re perfectly strong enough to handle anything.” She looked at Lenny and sighed.

“Just the first time,” Casey said. “I’m sure we’ll be much better tomorrow.” She pumped her fist in the air and nodded. “I won’t lose!”

She watched Lenny go into the other tree and followed closely behind without turning back. She bit her lip and held her hands into fists, trying not to shake or feel nervous about anything.

Sorry Acacia, but I want to do this for you. I promised that I’d help you. I’d help you survive and I’d help you so Elias will notice you… somehow. But… it’s not as easy as I thought it would be…

* * *

Inside the yew tree, Casey and Lenny sat next to each other with at least two feet space in between. They put their bags in front of them.

Casey sighed. She put her hood up and leaned back.

Lenny looked at her and looked back up at the insides of the tree. Branches were swinging here and there, making a huge crowd.

“Did you plan something?”

She shook her head and pulled her hood lower, covering her face. “No.”

“You tried to plan something, right?” Lenny asked.

Casey pushed her hood up and looked at him. She shook her head again. “I didn’t plan anything. It just happened because… I talk too much for some reason.”

Lenny shook his head too, but not to disagree. “They’re outsiders, aren’t they?”

“How do you know that?”

“Just the way they seem to know each other well makes me think that.” He put his backpack on his lap and stretched his legs out. “I thought you were an outsider when Acacia showed up but something made me think you weren’t.”

“What was that?”

He shrugged. “You don’t act like she does. You seemed to be confused.”

Casey pulled her hood back down and sighed. “That’s true. I don’t know a lot of things. I’ve never gone out of my house until now. I feel like a newborn that was educated before being born.”

Lenny laughed. “I felt like that too at one time. It went away really fast after that. People can’t hide themselves forever and are automatically able to open up to things around. So when you suggested that to Acacia… you might have rushed it. You shouldn’t interfere with their… relationships when you don’t know anything.”

Casey did not give a reply. She had her eyes open, peering at the outside world through a sliver of her hood. She tucked her knees in and turned her head the other way.

I might have rushed it…? I shouldn’t interfere…? True, I don’t know a thing about life. I don’t even talk to my dad normally. I would never understand the feeling Acacia has when thinking about Elias. In fact, what exactly is ‘like him’? Admiration? Romance? Hero? I’m confused. But that’s natural since I’m an ‘insider’.

Her eyelids slowly grew heavier and heavier. She tried keeping them open by sticking her fingers to pry them but her arm grew heavy as well. She felt the back of her hand hit the rough bark and nothing else. Everything went black.

* * *

Something extremely bright pierced into sight.

Casey’s eyes opened slowly but her eyelids dropped again. She rolled uncomfortable around and ended up hitting her head on another bumpy piece of bark. Her hand shot up to rub the pain off her cheek. She smacked something in the process.

“Ow!”

“What?” Casey exclaimed suddenly and now wide awake.

She looked beside her and saw Lenny. She let out a huge sigh in relief and leaned backwards again. “Sorry, you scared me.”

He slowly sat up and stretched. He looked around and stood up, avoiding a weirdly grown branch right overhead. He looked out from behind some branches and pushed some needles aside to see clearly.

“What’s out there?” Casey whispered.

Lenny got back down. “The others seemed to have made it through the night.”

“These trees are really convenient,” Casey said with a grin. “I’m going to go out and see how Acacia’s doing.” She pulled her backpack on.

“Yeah, sure,” Lenny pulled his hood on and leaned back again.

Casey covered her head as she pushed herself out of a branch’s way. She snapped a few needles accidentally. Quietly she poked her head out of the branches.

Just when she was about to climb out, she saw a face. As an instantaneous reaction, she tumbled backwards and screamed at the top of her lungs for a long time, hoping someone would save her from something frightening. “A dinosaur!”

Her scream was echoed and much higher pitched. Casey stopped screaming.

Lenny pulled her up and shook her shoulder. “Hey, are you still alive?”

Casey coughed and rolled up. “I’m fine but…”

With a shake of his head, Lenny crawled over Casey and pulled the yew branches aside. He jumped out of the branch and landed on his feet. He stood up straight and raised his eyebrow at the figure.

“That’s your dinosaur, Casey.”

Casey climbed out of the tree and opened her mouth in surprise.

It was a girl, slightly taller than her. She was a quite beautiful girl too. She had long elegant yet messy wavy dark brown hair. Her hair looked like it had been tied up at one point but pulled apart due to some natural environment. She was dressed in the similar dark green jacket and black pants. Her face was pale and smooth, unusually unscratched.

Acacia, Elias, and Matthew had come out of the other tree to see what had happened.

Elias looked away, uninterested.

“I thought you died!” Acacia shouted, running over to Casey. She stared at the girl. “Who’s this?”

“No idea…” Casey said. Then she looked at the girl and tilted her head, thinking.

A scene flashed in her head. A girl in a sleeping bag nearby… She held some keychain in her hands and had shiny rings on her finger…

Casey looked at the girl’s hand and saw a familiar ring. Then a light bulb clicked in her head. She jumped and exclaimed, “You’re that girl!”

The girl frowned and crossed her arms. “What are you talking about? First I’m your dinosaur and now I’m that girl?”

“No, you were that girl from the preparation back at that building. And I saw you in the arena too. Your hair… Wasn’t it blond?”

“I had to dye my hair because I had too much of it, and it was gold. I didn’t want to be a dinosaur’s light bulb,” the girl said. She looked around and raised her eyebrows. “Wait, all yesterday I didn’t see a single soul. But today, why exactly are there so many people all of a sudden?”

Lenny and Casey stood nearby the yew tree they were in. Acacia stood close by Casey. Elias and Matthew were standing behind the girl, still confused what was going on.

“What’s your name?” Lenny asked.

The girl looked at him. “I’m Chouchou Belle.”

“Cho—?” Casey started.

“Who are all of you?” Chouchou turned around and stared at Matthew. Then her eyes darted to Elias. “You look oddly familiar. You were… something Eli.”

Elias looked at her and shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t recognize you.”

“Hey, how do you know him?” Acacia asked suddenly.

“Did you meet him at preparation too?” Casey solicited. She put her finger to her chin, thinking or remembering the time back at the building.

Chouchou turned around. “I actually don’t know. I remember something because my guardian said once… Never mind.”

Casey stared at Elias. “Wow, you know a lot of people.”

Then Chouchou made a noise as if she just remembered something. She clapped her hands together, “I can’t go another day by myself. I’m going to follow you guys.”

“The more the merrier,” Casey said quietly.

“Fine,” Lenny nodded. “But we don’t exactly have anything figured out.”

Chouchou shook her head. “I don’t care about that. I can’t go another day by myself. If I die, no one will even know. My bones would probably have been eaten already… No, no one will even recognize me if I was only bones!” She adjusted her backpack. “Do you have anything to eat?”

Casey laughed.

Acacia rolled her eyes. “Seven days are going to feel longer than they already do…”