The Jenny Lewis Chronicles

Episode 4

Chapter 8

"Dad!" called Tracy as she entered the house.

"Yes love" answered her dad from the living room. Tracy went in there to find him sitting on the sofa watching Bargain Hunt.

"Where do you keep your specimen jars?" she asked.

"Specimen jars?" said Mike quizzically.

"It's...a school project we're working on." said Tracy, not too hastily she hoped.

"They're in my vet's bag upstairs" said Mike. Tracy sighed in relief as she went up to her dad's room, he didn't suspect a thing.

* * * * * *

Tracy emerged from her house carrying the specimen jar. Jenny was waiting outside the garden gate for her.

"I've given the team a call, to let them know what's happened. They said that they'll get here as quickly as they can and do something about it."

"Wait!" cried out a voice from across the road. Jenny and Tracy turned to see Harry come out of his garden gate with Yogi Dog on the lead.

"I'm coming with you!"

"I thought you didn't want anything more to do with this" said Jenny.

"I didn't mean that really" said Harry. He sighed and looked up at Jenny. "And I didn't mean any of that other stuff I said to you. It wasn't your fault, I wanted to see dinosaurs. Who wouldn't?"

Jenny smiled.

"It's alright Harry, I understand." She looked down at Yogi Dog. "But why are you bringing him along?"

"He can help us track that thing down" said Harry. "You should have seen him earlier, he was standing outside its hole in my garden, he wouldn't leave it. Anyway, my mum called. She said... she said that the doctors said that my dad probably only has an hour left. I reckoned that if we could catch that thing then maybe, maybe we could collect its venom, for an antivenom."

"That's just what we thought!" said Tracy.

"Well let's not waste anymore time." said Jenny. "If Harry's dad only has an hour to live, then its all the more important that we track that cynodont down, before anyone else is bitten."

Harry let Yogi Dog off the lead. At first, the bear dog didn't really seem to do anything, he simply wandered about the pavement, then across the road. But as he reached the other side, he suddenly perked up. His ears pricked and he put his nose to the ground. At first he wandered down the pavement, sniffing as he went. Then suddenly, he let out a loud bark and trotted off in the direction that the scent lead, with Jenny and the others in hot pursuit.

* * * * * *

For about a half an hour, Jenny and the gang hurried after Yogi Dog (Jenny stumbling in her ever present high heel shoes), as the bear dog hurried along the pavement, hot on the trail of the cynodont. He did not stop except for a couple of times to pick up the scent again after he briefly lost it.

Finally though, Yogi Dog halted by the turning point of a tall fence. He put his nose to the ground and started sniffing. Slowly, he headed towards the fence corner and looked around it. Jenny, Tracy and Harry did the same thing. In front of them, they could see the cynodont growling and snarling as it fed on its latest victim. This time it was a pigeon, but the next thing it bit could very well be another human. Jenny knew that they had to act fast before that happened.

"Got that specimen jar, Tracy?" she asked.

Tracy nodded and handed the jar to Jenny. No sooner had she taken it however, Yogi Dog snarled and charged towards the cynodont before Hary could stop him. The cynodont heard the barking of its old enemy, this time though it did not run, it turned and stood its ground against the bear dog, snarling and baring its poison coated teeth at him.

Jenny gasped, she knew how poisonous the cynodont's venom was. If it had taken half and hour for Harry's dad to start going down, then it would take even less time for the smaller Yogi Dog to be killed. She had to do something, otherwise Harry would never forgive her. Quickly, she dashed forward just as Yogi Dog made a mock charge at the cynodont. The cynodont snarled and made a real charge at Yogi Dog.

"Hey, leave him alone, you rabid reptile!" shouted Jenny. The cynodont turned towards her and snarled. Jenny made false jabs at it with the specimen jar, holding its leathery lid to the cynodont's jaws, all the while irritating it even further. Finally it could take it no more, it leapt for Jenny's jar holding hand.

Unfortunately, it grabbed the edges of the lid, rather than sinking its teeth into the lid itself. Jenny screamed with horror and dropped the jar. The cynodont rolled it to one side and then charged towards Jenny.

At that moment though, Yogi Dog leapt on to the cynodont's back, pinning it to the ground. Harry dashed out and grabbed the specimen jar.

"Harry, stay back!" barked Jenny. "This is my call!"

"No way!" shouted Harry. "That thing bit my dad and now he's dying. I'm taking on it."

He waited with the specimen jar at the ready as the cynodont wriggled and writhed beneath Yogi Dog. Suddenly it rolled over onto its back, throwing the bear dog off with a yelp. It righted itself immediately afterwards and bared its fangs at the humans in front of it.

That was when Harry made his move. He lunged with the jar at the cynodont, the teeth in its top jaw buried themselves in the lid. Transluscent slime oozed out of them and into the jar. Snarling through a mouthful of jar, the cynodont struggled to dislodge its jaw from the lid. Finally though it suceeded, but only because Yogi Dog grabbed it by the tail and pulled it backwards, wrenching its jaw out of the lid. Jenny and Harry rejoined Tracy as the cynodont wriggled out of Yogi Dog's grasp. It snarled at him one last time before dashing off at top speed towards some nearby bushes.

"Quick, stop it!" cried Jenny. "Before it bites someone else!"

But even as she said that the cynodont was disappearing amongst the bushes. They rustled as the mammal-like reptile looked for a place to hide amongst them.

Suddenly though, they came a loud snap and the cynodont howled in anger. Jenny, Tracy, Harry and Yogi Dog all headed for the bushes. Pushing back the branches, they saw something which greatly relieved them.

The cynodont was caught in a small cage which looked not dissimilar to a rat trap. It snarled and rattled the bars of its cramped prison, but to no avail. On top of the trap were two things, a small, flashing, red light, and a sign that Jenny had never been happier to see: the ARC insigna.

"Oh thank god" she gasped. "They've caught it, the team, this is one of they're traps."

"Shouldn't we call them then and tell them they've got the cynodont?" said Tracy.

Jenny shook her head and pointed to the flashing light.

"That's a tracking device. At this very moment there is an alarm going off in the ARC to let them know that they've got something."

"Yeah yeah. that's great, but my dad has only got fifteen minutes left, and we've got the venom now so..." said Harry, holding up the jar.

"Oh right, yes, sorry about that" said Jenny somewhat sheepishly. "Well, come on then, it's only a two minute walk to the hospital."