We were just kids. Two teens that did almost everything together. One in love and one completely oblivious to it. In 1995, I had been pushed into a flickering light that just spat me out into a dense jungle filled with deadly creatures. Now, at the human age of 38, I have found myself in a world that its main rule is "Kill or be killed". I've learned how to fend for myself. How to dodge the predators of this time and how to scavenge for food like the herbivores. Living in trees helped with looking out for predators and staying out of reach of some of the smaller ones. The funny thing is that the only thing really keeping me alive is the will to see my beloved friend once more. Without that then I'm sure I would be predator chow in no time at all.
I've lived here for almost fourteen years now. Traveling by tree tops, I come across humans. A single aggressive roar rang out throughout the forest. Quickly climbing to the highest part of the tree, I found that it was a predator to stay clear of. I followed the group of humans for a few hours trying to figure out where they had come from and why they were here. Another roar and I had no choice but to make myself known. The predator was getting much closer and if these humans were to live they would have to join me up here in the safety of the trees. Sighing I leapt down and landed on top of the leader of the group. The next thing I knew I had guns pointed at me from every direction. Looking up I growled at all of them and then listened. Crawling off of the leader I lay next to him on my stomach. Placing my ear to the ground I listened for the vibration of the approaching predator. Getting back up I assisted the leader up and pointed towards the trees. Looking back behind the group I took it upon myself to just push the humans to do what I needed from them. Growling lightly I pushed the leader towards the tree. Falling against it, he turned and looked at me in wonder and shock. A deep growl erupted from my throat as I pointed up. He got the message finally and started to climb. As he did so, he instructed the rest of the humans to do the same. Just as everyone got up to a safe distance from the ground I started my assent. This climb only took me a few seconds while it took the others a couple of minutes. I nodded towards the direction I was going. The leader of the group nodded and followed. The rest of his group sat there and questioned him but finally decided followed.
We had traveled only a few miles when we arrived at what looked like a tree house. Pulling aside a few leaves that made up a door, we walked inside. The leader looked around and instantly noticed that hanging from a wall was a necklace. He walked over to it and right before he reached it he saw what looked like to be an old CD player. Picking up the CD player he examined it to find that the tape on the back had faded writing on it.
"The batteries died years ago." I said looking at the man.
"You can talk?" One of the other male members of the group asked/stated.
"Yeah. Didn't want the predator to hear me though. That's why I didn't say anything when we met." I answered as I turned my attention back to the man holding my dead CD player. "A good friend gave me that two weeks before I arrived here. Oh and sorry for the landing."
"What's your name?" The girl asked.
"Kathline. Kathline Lester." I answered as the whole group gaped at me. "What?"
"Kathline?" The leader asked
"Yes?"
"What was the name of the friend that gave you this?" The leader asked looking down at the CD player.
"Don't you know?" I asked slyly.
"You know who I am don't you?"
"I saw the necklace you're wearing when I landed on you. A girl gave you that when you gave her that." I smiled as I pointed to the necklace hanging from the wall. "That and living here for nearly fourteen years you tend to rely on your scenes for everything."
"Are you saying that you could smell him?" The girl asked.
"Yes. Not that it's a bad thing or anything. It's just that I would know that scent anywhere. We use to do just about everything together. Isn't that right, Danny?" I smiled.
"Kathline…I can't believe that it's really you. How?"
"How can I still be alive?" I asked fully for him. "Simple, observe the creatures here and learn from them. Avoid the predators at all costs and foliage for food as the herbivores do. Most of the 'hunting' I do is really fishing and even that is deadly at times." I smiled as I watched Danny look around my "house". "You want to know something Danny?"
"What?"
"The thought of seeing you again is what's been keeping me alive out here." I smiled calmly as a slight blush appeared upon his features. "So who are your friends Danny?"
"Oh, right. This is Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, and this is Agent Becker." Danny introduced.
"It's nice to meet you all. Sorry again for the primitive greeting earlier. Can someone please tell me where I am and how you guys got here?"
"You're in the Jurassic." Connor answered.
"You mean like the movie Jurassic Park?" I asked sounding very confused.
"Sort of. This time of Jurassic seems to be different somehow."
"Well I haven't seen any anything really. Raptors yeah but there's a huge predator with a sail on it's back. That's what was following you guys. He's the only one I've seen so far. Thrasher really doesn't like anyone in his territory." I explained.
"Thrasher?" Becker questioned.
"The predator with the sail. That's what I've named him. Hey when you've lived here by yourself for fourteen years you tend to name things…a lot of things."
Suddenly two strong arms wrapped around my frame and pulled me close. Danny had me close to his body in a tender embrace. My stomach started to flip in a way it had never done before and my heart started to flutter. This feeling was new to me and for some reason I didn't want Danny to ever let me go.
"Well 'Thrasher' sounds like a Spinosaurus. Which would mean that you're not in the Jurassic," Connor stated.
"Ok then where am I?" I asked as I reluctantly pulled away from Danny.
"Cretaceous." Connor answered.
"Joy." I said as I rolled my eyes. "So how do we get back to the present time?" I asked.
"Well if we hurry we could get back to the anomaly and return home, but," Abby started.
"But?"
"If the anomaly has closed then we are stuck here." Abby continued.
"Well then, let's make our way back to this anomaly thing and see if it's closed or not. If it is then we'll have to make our way back here and figure out a plan of action." I stated.
"Now that's the best plan I've heard all day." Becker stated.
We started out after a quick rest so that we could get to know each other a little better. I led them back to the path that they had come from. Following it for a few miles we came up to a large river. I knew this river well; it was the main river of this area. The problem with this is one, it's a wide river and two is that it's the main water source. This means that not only will herbivores be here but also carnivores.
"So are we close to this thing or not?" I asked a little tense.
"You ok Kathline?" Becker asked.
"It's just this river. It's the main water source. Just a little tense and alert is all. I'll be ok."
"What does that mean for us?" Danny questioned.
"Simple, carnivores," Connor answered for me.
"Right and Thrasher is still around looking for you guys." I added. "We need a body guard."
"A body guard? And where are we going to find a body guard that can take on a Spinosaurus?" Abby snapped.
"An old friend will love to help." I smiled.
"An old friend?" Becker asked in a skeptical tone.
"Yeah, do me a favor and stay out of sight for a few minutes so I can get the message out to him." I said as I turned and scaled a tree.
I left the humans on the ground and couldn't help but wonder if they would be alright without me. As I reached the highest part of the tree that would support my weight, I let out a roar loud enough for all to hear. Upon the end of the roar I listened for a reply. Nothing reached my ears. Another roar out into the open forest in hopes that he would hear me. Finally, a returning roar of confirmation. I sighed a sigh of relief and started my decent. Jumping down the last few feet, I landed next to Danny.
"I thought I asked you guys to hide?" I lightly snarled.
"We did till that ate it." Becker stated as he pointed at a large herbivore.
"That's a Maiasaura Peeblesorum." Conner stated.
"Mai, you better get out of here. Rex is on his way to help me. If you don't want to be hurt then I would hurry and get out of here." I calmly and sweetly said to the herbivore.
The Maiasaura Peeblesorum turned its head to look at me and then made a few vocal sounds. A single impact tremor changed the dinosaur's mind. Smiling I watched as Mai walked off to avoid Rex. The humans on the other hand were starting to get a little worried.
"Who's Rex?" Danny asked.
"The friend I told you guys about. He'll be here in just a few moments." I smiled as I turned at the sound of trees collapsing. "Like I said, a few moments."
Suddenly a huge Tyrannosaurus, black with red stripes, burst into the small clearing that we were standing in. Its head lowered to almost my level. My hand rose from its resting place to land upon its scaly skin. A single deep growl erupted from the rex's chest as a smile played upon my features. A growl back was my thanks to the massive creature that stood before me. The rex's head rose as he turned his demeanor from friendly to protective and alert.
"Kathline, what's going on? You do know that that's a t-rex right?" Abby asked in a voice just above a whisper.
"You don't have to whisper Abby. Rex won't hurt us." I smiled.
"How is this possible?" Connor asked in surprise.
"He was the last one in the nest. I had watched his parents die trying to kill a three horn. Feeling bad for him I raised him. I didn't try to change him but he decided to change for my sake. He would do all the hunting for me once he was of age. I thought I had lost him when I sent him to live with another family of rexes. To my surprise, he returned to me. Funny thing is that he had returned to me with a leg of a three horn." I answered proud.
"So you two have been looking out for each other all these years?" Abby questioned.
"Yeah. Well for the past nine years anyways. He helped keep me alive with meat in payment for me keeping him alive. We're friends. He'll do anything to keep me safe." I smiled happily. "We better get going before Thrasher gets here."
We all headed closer to the river in search of a way across. Half of us went up river and the other half went down. Both groups, however, stayed in sight of the other group and of Rex. After an hour we regrouped by Rex to form a new plan.
"Well that was useful. We didn't find anything to help us get across." Conner sighed disappointed.
"It's alright Conner, we didn't find anything either." Abby smiled trying to re-encourage him.
"Don't be so sure Abby. I think that one of the trees on the bank might be long enough to reach the other side." I stated looking up at the trees.
"And how are we going to get it to reach the other side Kathline? We don't have anything that can cut it down." Becker slightly snapped.
"You forget that I have a mega ton bulldozer that does whatever I ask." I snapped back as I leaned against Rex's leg, well more like foot but whatever. This left Becker speechless. "Hey Rex," I called up. A single growl let me know he was listening. "Do you think you could push over a tree for me and my friends? We need to get across the river."
Another growl and a sudden swipe of his tail signaled for me to move. Getting out of Rex's way, I stood next to Becker and in front of Danny. I could feel Danny's eyes upon me. Smiling as Rex pushed the tree over so it fit perfectly across the river, I turned to the others and nodded towards it. Standing by the root end of the tree I assisted everyone in getting up on it. Danny was the last one to get on other than myself. He had gotten up on it relatively easily before stretching out his hand to help me up. Taking his hand he pulled me up with ease and held me close as a large impact tremor nearly made us fall off. Grasping a hold of Danny's shirt I, without realizing I was doing so, pulled myself closer to him. A deep roar rang in my ears as Thrasher came into view. Rex turned with an equally deep roar, and stood between Thrasher and me.
Danny wrapped his arms around me as he started to move towards the other side of the river. Rex was keeping Thrasher busy so that we all had enough time to get across. Struggling against Danny's hold I called for Rex. I was pulled halfway across the tree when Rex slammed his tail into it causing it to fall into the river. Danny and I narrowly made it to the other side before the whole tree was swept away by the under current. Crying I continued to struggle against Danny and call out for Rex to run. All I could here was something about something closing and that we had to hurry. I wasn't going to leave without Rex. He had always been there for me and I was to be damned if I wasn't there for him when he needed me.
Rex looked back as he stepped into the river. The look in his eyes was clear as day. He was telling me that everything would be ok and that I should go. With tears streaking my face I was pulled into a bright light just as Thrasher snapped Rex's neck. Screaming out for Rex I found myself in a cold, damp, dark room with the others. Sobbing I felt someone pick me up and help me out of the darkness.
The light blinded us all for a few seconds before our vision adjusted. My once blue eyes were now blood shot from crying over my friend. Danny and the others stood around me apologizing and telling me how sorry they were. I couldn't take it anymore and snapped. Yelling at them to fuck off and that they have no clue as to how I was feeling. Without thinking I took off in a dead sprint in some direction to god knows where. Their voices called out for me as I ran from them. The next thing I knew I was laying on my back. Opening my eyes I looked behind me to find Danny. He had pushed me out of the way of a speeding truck. A thought entered my mind and brought even more tears to my eyes. How could I have been so foolish as to run away like that? I rolled over so that I was lying on top of my friend and just cried into his chest.
Becker and the others finally caught up to us to find us in that position. Connor just couldn't help himself as he made a comment on how Danny and I were. I quickly got off of him and offered my help to him. Taking my hand I hulled him to his feet with an abnormal amount of strength for a woman my size. He looked at me with wonder as a small group of black vehicles surrounded us. A light growl passed my lips as two hands landed upon my shoulders. I looked to see who it was, expecting it to be Danny, to see one hand from Danny and one hand from Becker. They opened the back door to one of the vehicles for me and then looked at each other from across the roof of the vehicle. Sighing I just opened the front passenger door and got in. I wasn't in the mood to deal with two males fighting over my attention.
Becker got into the driver's seat of the vehicle that I was in, while Danny got into the other vehicle with Abby and Connor. I sat quietly in the seat next to Becker just looking out into the world. Tears started to fall as the image of Rex entered my mind. Forcing back the sobs I sat through the whole ride in almost complete silence. The only sound was my light whimpering. As we pulled into a parking area I cleaned my face so that it wasn't so obvious that I was crying. Becker got out and rounded the front of the vehicle to open my door. Danny and the others parked and got out. If I didn't know better I would have thought that Danny was doing everything in his power not to run to me. We headed inside the building to be greeted by tons upon tons of soldiers. I gripped Becker's arm in slight fear and looked over my shoulder at Danny. His small smile calmed me down as we entered a large room with a large multi-screen computer.
"What part of 'not going into anomalies do you guys not understand?" A man in a business suit snapped from an upper level.
I looked up to see someone that I thought I would never see again. "Father?"
The man, along with everyone else, looked at me in shock. "Kathline? Kathline is that really you?"
"How do you two know each other?" Danny asked in shock.
"She's-" The man started but couldn't finish do to shock.
"I'm his daughter." I answered looking up at him.