Chapter 4

Standoff Battles

Near Ark Village, James was on a dodo hunt. They took the meat, and either ate it in the village, or smoked it in the village smokehouse. He found one, and harvested it. He wondered if he'd ever be able to create a dodo farm, but the village had bigger problems right now. They were still building up their lives. It surprised James sometimes, that he really didn't miss the world back home. He found another dodo and harvested it. That would be enough meat to last for a few days. He also gathered some thatch and wood.

He went along the beach, headed back to the village and saw an Apatosaurus charging down the beach. It bellowed, and James gave it a wide berth. He saw Tom coming from behind it.

James yelled over, "Tom! What are you doing?!"

Tom yelled back, still running after the Apatosaurus, "Behind you!"

James looked behind him and saw something he'd never seen before charging towards him. It was a gigantic carnivorous dinosaur, with a huge sail on its back, charging towards on two legs, with its arms outstretched. It was a Spinosaurus. James sprinted, and the Spinosaurus looked over in his direction. It roared and changed directions towards him. He was running away from the ocean, and the Spinosaurus ran after him. James kept looking behind, and after going a good distance, it slowed down, but kept coming. After a while, it turned back and stalked off without a roar. James was confused. He crept back down, and waited till the Spinosaurus was a bit closer to the water, and then daringly shouted to it. It turned, roared and charged again. He ran back to where the Spinosaur turned back again, and it did the same. When it reached that spot, it just turned and nonchalantly went back to the seashore. James had just learned something very interesting about the Spinosaurus. The closer to its territory you were, the more aggressive it was. However, the further away you got, the less aggressive it became.

"That will come in handy in the future," he told himself.

He returned to the village with the meat, and he told Shadow about the new dinosaur he had discovered. Tom was with him.

"You found what!?" Shadow said.

"Spinosaurus. It was chasing Tom."

Shadow said even he had never seen one before. They lived in the center of the jungle, and Spinosaurus lived in the seashore, which explained why.

"Well…one more thing to be afraid of in this place," said Shadow.

He went out again and ate some Coelacanth he gathered. He had gone out to collect some stone for some buildings. He took his stone hatchet and hacked at some rocks. Suddenly, he heard a bellow above him. There were three Triceratops who were visibly angry with him. He sprinted towards the ocean as fast as he could. He got some distance between him and the Triceratops. They charged like an angry herd of bulls, and he jumped into the water. One thing they had learned about Triceratops was that it would never go into water unless it was a matter of life or death. As expected, the angry Triceratops bellowed, and returned back to the forest.

He clambered out of the water when he felt a searing pain rush up his leg. He had gotten stung by a stingray. James screamed as hammering fiery pain enveloped his leg. James thought he could describe it as a demon biting him. He limped back to the beach with the excruciating pain slicing into him, and just as he reached the grass he fell to the ground, convulsed in agony, and all faded into black.

He woke up in the same place, but he felt something grabbing his leg. Instinctively, he lunged towards the thing.

"James! It's OK! Calm down." it was Rhino.

James' head fell back on the grass, his head drenched with sweat. The pain suddenly slammed into him with the force of a freight train. He winced.

"Don't worry James. I'm putting a healing salve on it that'll relieve the pain." Rhino said.

James crushed the grass in his hand and gritted his teeth. It felt like his leg was being stabbed by butcher knives non-stop. The pain only intensified when Rhino put the salve on. But the pain soon lowered down dramatically. James sighed and mopped his soaking forehead.

He took a day to recover, but the healing salve Rhino gave him worked wonders. He went out to get some of his strength back after spending an entire day bedridden. He had a slight limp that would disappear in a few more days. He looked around the beach and saw an Apatosaurus charging towards somebody. It was McClure. The Apatosaurus apparently was charging him. James watched helplessly as the Apatosaurus gained on him, about to crush him to death. There was a 10 foot tall cliff ledge, and McClure climbed it and escaped the Apatosaurus, which stopped chasing him.

When James met up with McClure, he explained, "There was a Raptor that was attacking it. The Apatosaur warded off the Raptor but stampeded, and I couldn't get out of its way."

Fortunately, the cliff saved him from almost certain death.

That night, James went out with Shadow to gather some meat. Certain animals only come out at night, or are more active at night, including the hippo-like elephant Phiomia. It was active during the day, but it fed at night, to get away from certain predators. However, some predators were active at night, and more aggressive. They found a Phiomia a mile from Ark Village, and they brought it down. They were harvesting some of the meat when they heard some loud crashing footsteps. In the moonlight, the dim shape of a Carnotaurus tore into them.

The Carnotaurus was a 25 foot long carnivorous dinosaur with armor, and two horns above its eyes. It was also dangerously fast.

Shadow yelled, and swiped at the beasts' head with his gutting knife. That wouldn't do much, since the Carnotaurus had extremely thick hide. Its only accessible weak spot was its eyes. James took his knife, and swiped at its eyes. It roared, and just as quickly as it had arrived, it sped away back into the jungle. James and Shadow took a bit more meat and quickly left the area. Sometimes Carnotaurus worked in pairs, and two Carnotaurus could be overwhelming.

The next day James went out to try to find some berries. He was on the beach when he saw something he had never seen before. It looked like a huge cat. He could tell by its shape, but when it pounced onto the beach in front of him, James could see it completely. It was jet black, and bigger than a tiger. It had two gigantic fangs in its mouth. It was a Smilodon, more popularly known as a saber-toothed cat.

James got out his stone hatchet, and looked away from it. he knew to never look a big cat in the eye. He slowly grabbed some meat out of his pocket, and threw it on the ground, while praying for God's protection. The cat seemed to relax, and then, it took the meat in its mouth, and stalked back into the brush. James let out a sigh and retreated back to Ark Village. He had enough close calls for one night.

The next morning came quickly. They were constantly building and repairing, and it called for a lot of wood. James had to go into the forest to collect more.

He entered the forest and saw something speed in front of him. It was running perpendicular to him. it was definitely a Raptor. James was terrified of those creatures. They were silent killers, and he hated them. They were tamable however; since Rhino's old tribe had several tamed Raptors. He saw something then tear after the Raptor. It looked like a titanic vulture, with a wingspan of 20 feet.

It was an Argentavis, or Giant Vulture. It was actually attacking the Raptor, and James quickly tried to escape the fray. The Raptor came back, being chased by two Argentavis. One of the Giant Vultures grabbed the Raptor and flew away with it. This terrified James most of all, because if it can carry of a Raptor, the vulture could certainly carry him off. The Argentavis that was left looked at James and uttered a horrible guttural squawking scream. James looked for anything he could hide under. There was a rock, but the Argentavis may be able to reach in and grab him with its razor sharp talons. He decided to fight. He always took some kind of a weapon, and this time he had his stone hatchet, which he used. The Argentavis came over, and James swung with his hatchet. The bird screeched and it stretched out its featherless pink head. James swung at it, and the vulture screamed and flew off, causing a mild whirlwind from its broad wings.

Returning to Ark Village after his encounter with the Argentavis, he saw some activity on the beach. There were three Triceratops all ganging up on a Carnotaurus. The Carnotaurus was being absolutely minced by the horns all around it, and when the Triceratops all dispersed, James saw the carcass of a very unfortunate Carnotaurus. He harvested the meat and hide, and thanked his generous benefactors, which shook their frilled heads and began browsing on some ferns along the jungle's edge. He was returning to Ark Village when he saw two Dilophosaurs coming at him. Sighing, he started running. He was able to outrun the pesky creatures for only a short distance. He suddenly turned when they got close, raised his arms, and yelled loudly. The Dilophosaurs, without glancing back, headed for the hills. James shook his head. It was getting quite dark. The sun was nearing the horizon, and he decided to quickly head back to Ark Village before it got too dark. That's when the predators came out, and there were way too many of them on this island. He gathered his things, and started off.

After escaping the Dilophosaurs he was just inside Ark Village's gates when he heard a whisper. It was dusk, and dark enough to where James couldn't quite make out where or who said it.

He looked around, "Hello?"

Coming out of the shadows was Shira. James was surprised.

"Shira." he said, "What is it?"

She looked at the ground. "Thank you."

Before James could reply, she disappeared, but she had said all she needed to say, and James fell asleep that night with a light heart.