The climb up around and around the trunk was long and hard, but Josh knew it was worth it. At the top of the spiral stair was a ladder, which he climbed up and into a spacious room above. The room wasn't why people made the climb though. He wove between several hammock chairs suspended from the ceiling, then strode across to the circular window that gave a 360° panoramic view, and looked out. Laid directly below him was a forest of trees, and just beyond that an endless, blue ocean glistening in the late afternoon sun. It was the perfect time of day, and after ten minutes of waiting and watching, Josh was rewarded. The arched neck of a plesiosaurus raised from the water. He grabbed the telescope mounted beside him to get a better view. Amazing! He recognised it instantly. An elasmosaurus. It's long neck and distinctive black back and white belly making it highly distinctive. He pulled out a small notepad and marked a line. This was the fifth day in a row that he had seen one. He wasn't sure if it was the same one each day or a different one, but five days in a row had to be important. He returned his eye to the scope to look as long as the glorious creature remained above the surface. Watching carefully, he looked for scars or marks or discolouration that might help him identify if it was the same creature tomorrow. But he was just too far away. There may have been the same scar across the back of his neck that he'd seen at least one other time, but it was too light to be certain it was genuinely there. He sighed, noted it down and returned to watching.
Minutes later, to his utter delight, a second creature raised its head above the water. That was definitely new! Eye glued to the eyepiece, he studied their interaction. At first, the knocking together of necks looked like they were fighting, but then it looked more like caressing and playing. They stayed on the surface, swimming south, playing for a good twenty minutes. When finally they dipped back underwater, Josh stepped back delighted. Two elasmosaurus! He moved to the other side of the room, avoiding the other hole in the floor and dropped himself into a seat at a single person desk to write up his notes for the day. There was a lot to write today. He couldn't wait to share it with his mum. And this would be the pinnacle of the information he'd share with his aunty when he saw her next.
Doing one last reread of his notes and adding a little texture to one of his drawings, he was satisfied. He closed the book and slipped it back into his pocket. It was almost sunset now, so he may as well stay to see the view. He loped across to one of the hammock chairs that had been positioned for the best view and slumped into it, his long legs tucked beneath, toes scraping the wooden floor.
Just as he got comfortable, his phone chirped. Probably his mum. She hated him coming home from here after dark. Seriously, what did she think could happen to him here? A quetzalcoatlus could get through the guards and then break in through the window in the hopes that he would be in there? Nothing could get through these windows. And he'd never even heard of anything getting past the guards.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the screen. Only old people displayed texts. Huh. It was from his aunty. Unexpectedly, she was going to arrive soon… she wanted him to pick her and her friends up at the transit terminal at the pedestrian gate. His mum wouldn't be happy, but any excuse to take the car out was great. Even if he did have to somehow find "the biggest tarp he could". A strange request, but he'd do anything for his aunty. And maybe she had an injured baby triceratops like she snuck in when he was seven. He really hoped it would be something cool like that.
He swiped her a quick message to say he was on his way - with the addition to say she'd need to explain it to his mum. He then extricated himself from the hammock and stepped over to the slide hole. He'd never admit it to anyone, but half the fun of coming up here was taking the slide that ran down the outer edge of the staircase. It was also a super quick way of getting back down. He lowered himself down and let go. In a whoosh, he slipped downwards, around and around until he was almost dizzy. The base let out into a foam pit that was much easier to climb out of now his legs were so much longer.
So it was that in minutes he was back on his way home to collect his mum's car to retrieve his aunty.
Ethan wanted to grumble when Audrey made them get out of the transport. He was still half asleep. But then he remembered who he was with. Audrey, Dr. Santos and even Sienna wouldn't grumble. They were all too brave and heroic for that kind of thing, so blinked hard to clear his eyes and he gave himself a shake. "Are we there yet?" he asked.
"Sorry buddy," Audrey ruffled his hair. He'd never let Sienna do that, but it was okay when Audrey did it. "We have to walk the last connection. The arrival of a transport would alert the terminal master who is supposed to meet everyone who comes in that way."
"We have to sneak in?" he asked with a frown. He and Sienna did run away. They would probably have to sneak a lot from now on.
"They won't let Blue in. No dinosaurs in the town."
"No dinosaurs in the town?" he repeated disappointed. Now that he was safe, he remembered how much he had wanted to see all the dinosaurs when he escaped. The scientists had told him they were everywhere. But they were the same scientists that told him the only humans left were in the facility. Sometimes they had walked through other parts of the building and it seemed to make sense. There were so many people there: maybe a hundred! Not like the clips obviously, but as many people as he could imagine.
"Sorry kiddo. No dinosaurs."
"You want more dinosaurs?!" Sienna burst in incredulously. "I think I've had my fill for a while." She turned to Blue and scratched her head. "Except for you of course."
Ethan followed the group into the lift. This time they only went a short distance. They ended up right beneath the rail of the transport. Looking ahead of them was a long, straight tunnel. He shivered. The last tunnel he had been in was when they left the compound. They were worried they were being chased by scientists until he realised they were being chased by worse - a dinosaur - though looking back now, Ethan realised that that dinosaur must have been Blue. Yet even that didn't comfort him. It was still daylight and the tunnel was mostly glass, yet it looked dark and distant.
No-one else seemed to mind though. They straightened their backpacks or ponytails and headed forward. If there were ever people to head into the unknown with, it was these. That still didn't stop him from listing all the ways that stopped dinosaurs from getting into the transport system. His thoughts paused a moment - he was disappointed that there were no dinosaurs in the town, but scared they were in the tunnel. He sighed, not able to work it out. Then with a small skip he rushed to close the distance that had grown between him and everyone else.
When his aunty burst from the lower door of the terminal, Josh was instantly grateful he had managed to arrive before her. Moments earlier he was annoyed at having to wait. Now he realised it was better him than her. Rushing along beside her were the most unexpected group of people he had ever seen. A tall doctor or scientist, judging by the lab coat, with long black hair caught up in a ponytail; a young girl - maybe twelve - in baggy clothes, looking like a sprinter in the seconds before reaching the rope, her torso and head extended forward; a boy who was shorter and skinnier, but about the same age as her wearing very normal jeans and t-shirt, his too cool long hair hanging over his face. But then there was the thing that was the most surprising, running along beside them was a … judging by the height, head shape and limbs, it was a featherless velociraptor!
Instantly, Josh looked around to see if there was anyone else on the street. Bringing a dinosaur into town was very illegal. Even worse, it was carnivorous. He had no idea what his aunty was thinking, but if they were seen they would all be in serious trouble. He opened the back of the car and grabbed the tarp. Now he knew exactly what it was for… He just wasn't sure a velociraptor was going to allow them to stick it under a tarp. This was no injured baby.
"Sienna, you jump in first. Show Blue that it's safe." Aunty Audrey apparently had a plan. She always had a plan.
The girl raced towards him and the car, her baggy pants flapping from her speed. But that wasn't what really caught his attention. At the bottom of those pants were shoeless… feet. Could he call them feet? They were longer and wider than any girl of twelve, but more than that, they only had four toes on each, very thick, and ending in a claw. Where her big toe should be, was an even larger claw - like that of a theropod.
She didn't look at him with his jaw hanging open, his eyes staring at her feet. Instead, she launched herself into the back of the vehicle, arriving well before the others. "C'mere Blue," she coaxed to the dinosaur, arms outstretched, fingers beckoning. Her feet disappeared into the darkness of the car and Josh was able look away, just in time to be confronted with Blue. Josh froze. Balancing on her tail, raising to her toes, and extending her snout upwards, it felt like Blue was inches from his chin. She backed away, then moved to the side, head swinging back and forth, like a guard checking for approaching pterosaurs.
"Maybe you too, Ethan." Aunty Audrey suggested, her eyes also on Blue.
The boy reached the car, flicked his head back in what could have been a boy greeting, and climbed in the car after the girl. He joined in the coaxing.
"Aunty Audrey." Josh finally spoke up.
""Hi Sweetie. I swear we will explain everything when we're somewhere private.
"That's gonna be a hell of a story." Aunty Audrey's stories were always thrilling. He assumed this one would be extra interesting. "Sienna, right?" Josh turned to the kids in the back of the car. The girl nodded, her eyes wide, now staring at him as if he were the most attractive guy she had ever seen. He liked to think he was good looking, but not so much to get that kind of a look. Especially since she was not the only one: the boy was giving him the same. "I'm going to pass you this. If… Blue ever gets in, you're going to have to cover her up. We'll be driving through areas where there are people around and it's really important they don't see her. Okay?" She nodded and held out her hand. He passed her the tarp.
Instantly, Blue was there, sniffing him. Sniffing the material. At that distance, the kids took the chance and grabbed Blue, pulling her into the car. The doctor and Aunty Audrey jumped in behind to help. Josh went to swing the back door shut behind her, but Aunty Audrey caught his hand. "Not yet." Blue spun around to the people who had manhandled her rear quarters. Aunty Audrey stood there, arms raised. The doctor copied her. The kids patted her and whispered to her until she hunkered down into a squat. It was a good thing she wasn't the size they originally made velociraptors or it would have been much squishier in there. Finally, Aunty Audrey closed the door, and turned to her nephew. "It's so good to see you, Sweetie." She wrapped him in a big hug. She always ignored the fact that he was almost an adult, and he let her. When your aunt is as big a badarse as Aunty Audrey, you let her give you hugs.
She peeped through the windows. Blue wasn't letting them cover her with the tarp. Before she could offer them advice though, the kids were pegging the corners in the windows of the seats in front of them. The three adults climbed into the front of the car and saw the kids were holding the tarp against the back window, creating a barrier around three sides. Only someone looking directly in the front window would see anything and with headlights on, that shouldn't be a problem. "You know Mum's going to freak." Josh glanced at his aunty as he pulled away from the terminal.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how Blue will like being inside your home…"
"She'll be fine," the doctor spoke up.
"Sorry, Faren. Josh." Aunty Audrey took a moment to introduce everyone before Faren explained:
"She's spent her whole life in the facility. She is used to moving through corridors and being still in bedrooms. It's these two that will mess up your house!" Faren nodded to the kids.
"Hey!" Ethan cried. "We always put our toys away!"
Faren laughed gently. Then sighed. "You're good kids. Awesome kids. And we're going to find a way to look after you."
Awesome? Josh wondered. Creepy. Strange. Maybe even interesting, but he wasn't sure about awesome. Aunty Audrey had promised to explain though, so he was going to ignore the fact that the girl had dino-legs. Instead, he worried about getting home, weaving his way between tree houses smoothly so as not to throw Blue around. There were still people out and about, but none paid them any real attention other than neighbourly waves from those who recognised the car. Soon they were pulling up at Josh's home, pulling the car into the square garage nestled between four broad trunked trees. Completely out of sight of any nosy neighbours.