Sienna braced her feet firmly against the ground and pushed. "It's too heavy!"

Ethan backed out of the tunnel squinting in the light and threw his weight onto the hatch too. "We don't have time for this. It's right behind me!" He shone his flashlight into the tunnel, its glow pale against the daylight. "Let's go!"

Sienna gave one last, futile heave and followed after.

"Someone will find it open soon," she croaked more to convince herself than to tell him. As much as she was worried about what was about to come out, she was concerned about what could get in.

He mumbled his response as he took off at a run, neither noticing the door control hand panel tucked behind the door, partially hidden by overgrown ferns. They were in too much of a rush.

"How far behind is it, do you think?" Sienna asked, keeping up with him easily. They had no particular direction right now, they just needed distance between them and the compound.

"Not far!" Ethan had no breath to say more. He just kept running. Sienna took the lead. She took them through bushes and deep puddles. Anything to make tracking their footprints harder. As they burst through one bush, a theropod landed a foot from them. It had leapt the bush, cutting them off. It wasn't particularly tall, almost as tall as Ethan, but its teeth and claws showed just how lethal it could be. Sienna didn't wait, she grabbed the canister at her hip and sprayed it in the dinosaur's face. It squealed and squirmed backwards. Taking the moment they bolted past it. Ethan forgetting his breathlessness kicked up his speed, his feet eating up distance between him and the dinosaur.

"Wait!" He skidded to a stop.

Sienna pulled up and jogged back to him. "There's something that way." He pointed to their right. "I think it's a herd." Sienna swallowed consciously. This was part of the plan, but not one she was comfortable with. They needed a way to confuse anything or anyone following them and a herd was one of their options. She had been hoping for a river, but they didn't have time to be picky. Now she just hoped they would be a friendly herd.

"Let's go find out." Slowly, stealthily, they crept in the direction Ethan had indicated. They ran between tree trunks and bushes, using them for cover, watching their feet carefully now, not wanting to alert the herd to their presence. Until there, in a clearing ahead of them was a pack of hadrosaurs grazing casually. Sienna heard Ethan gasp next to her. She totally understood. They had seen hadrosaurs before - in fact they had even seen maiasaurs, the dinosaurs in front of them now - but always in a lab, behind a glass panel. Here, they were in the wild. Here, they were calm and somehow more alive.

"So beautiful," Ethan murmured. Slowly, they crawled into the pack. Keeping small and non-threatening and distributing their weight so their marks would be lost amongst the herds seemed the logical move. Even knowing these dinosaurs were gentle didn't make it completely safe. They were still giants whose bodies or feet could crush them if they moved in just the wrong way. They worked their way to the edge of the clearing, where two maiasuars were close to the treeline. "How are we going to get there?" Ethan whispered. But they were too late. The hadrosaurs started groaning and stomping nervously at the ground. They were drawing in towards each other at the back of the clearing from where they had entered - away from the theropod that was striding forward. It paused, raised its head, then sneezed. The maiasaurs started running - in whichever way they were facing - into each other causing further panic. Ethan and Sienna didn't wait. They bolted for a tree with low branches and leapt into it. Scurrying as high as they could, they turned to look below. The theropod was being tossed and turned by those huge bodies and feet, until one knocked him against a tree and he fell limply to the ground.

Sienna let out a long, slow breath. They were safe. For now. Until the humans caught up with them. Or another dinosaur found them. But for now, the danger was over and they were where they wanted to be - in the treetops. Slowly, now they didn't have to race, they climbed through the trees. Carefully choosing limbs that reached to the branches of other trees, they made their way slowly, but hopefully untraceably through the forest.

Finally, the trees met a rocky hill. They climbed down, and stepping only on bare, white igneous rock they were able to move more swiftly.

"We're going to need to stop soon," Ethan cautioned, nodding towards the sun. There would still be an hour of light left - hopefully enough time to find somewhere to settle in.

"Can you see anywhere suitable?" Sienna had been looking out for any kind of suitable shelter herself, without luck.

"Down there." Ethan pointed. Sienna could see something white between the trees, but couldn't make out what it was. Any destination was better than none, though.

Breaking some branches from a scrubby bush to drag behind themselves, they stepped off the rocks and headed downhill.

Once they were back amongst the trees, Sienna felt relief. The hillside had felt too exposed. She knew it was ridiculous though. They were as likely to be spotted here as there were out there.

"Do you think there will be people here?" she asked, knowing full well Ethan would not know the answer either.

"I hope so," was all he replied. For weeks it had been all they spoke about when they were alone. One of the doctors had mentioned her sister living "outside". Never before had they considered the possibility. For their whole lives, they had been taught that "outside" was overrun by dinosaurs. Never once had humans been mentioned.

"Do you think they'll be like Dr. Manish? Or Dr. Alvarez? I hope Dr. Alvarez - I think - "

"Shh." Ethan cut her off. He'd heard it all before anyway. "I'm listening."

Sienna snapped her mouth shut and tried to listen too. She could hear their breathing and footsteps. Ahead of them, they could hear a bird trill. She couldn't hear anything to be concerned about - but maybe he was just being cautious as they approached the possible shelter. Ethan stalked forward. Sienna followed.

They continued in this manner - taking silent, careful steps - until a white square building stood in front of them. The jungle had grown right up to it and vines spread their broad leaves across the walls. Clearly, no people had lived here - unless they were underground.

"There's a door." Ethan stepped over and started stripping leaves from it.

"Or we could just climb in the window." The glass had long gone.

Sienna didn't wait for him. She jumped up and scrambled through, landing heavily on the floor.

"Wait!" Ethan called. "Are you crazy?!" He leaped to the windowsill and Sienna hauled on his shoulders to help him through. "We have no idea what is in here," he grumbled at her as he patted down his loose black slacks. "Let's be a little more careful." He scanned the room they were in. He recognised some items - chairs rotten through, a TV smashed, face-down on the floor. "Let's see if there's a safer room."

He inched down the hall, opening doors slowly. Sienna followed quietly, her can of capsicum spray at the ready in case something jumped out.

Nothing did.

They found a large bathroom with a small window and two entrances. It was perfect. They dragged some rotted bedding in to cover the cold floor. They found and piled some bits of broken furniture in front of each. It wouldn't hold long, but the delay it would take something to get in one door would give them time to get out the other. The last detail before settling in was to light a compi stick. That would cover the smell of any food they planned to eat from any nearby compsognathus.

Finally, they placed their weatherproof jackets over the blankets and opened a packet of susto-bars. They weren't very tasty, but they were designed for longer expeditions to keep the scientists fed and healthy when far from the compound. Looking around their nest, Sienna could help but feel proud.

"We made it," she sighed. "Our first night in the real world."

Ethan held his canteen of water up in salutation. "To our first night."

It took Sienna a moment to recognise the sound that woke her. It was the yap of a raptor. Maybe a deinonychus, maybe veloci. A second yap told her it was close. "Ethan," she hissed. As she sat up, she realised he was already awake and alert. He was tucking the canteen into his pack.

"I hear it," he whispered back, his words barely audible. "It's at the front, where we climbed in. So far I have only heard the one. We need to sneak out the back."

Sienna got up, and rolled up the weatherproof jacket she had been lying on. She tucked it into her pack as she moved towards the window. She couldn't see anything moving out there.

Ethan was listening at the door that headed towards the front of the building, then came up over to her at the window. "I don't think they've entered the building yet," he whispered directly into her ear. He scanned the view from the window. "It looks okay out that way, too." Finally, he listened at the opposite door. "Ready?" He mouthed this rather than speaking it.

Sienna nodded. As quietly as they could, they shifted the rotting furniture that barricaded the door. Each held their breath as they swung the door open. There was nothing in the corridor. Swiftly but silently, cans of pepper spray in hand, they crept down the hall and pushed open the door at the back of the building. As the forest grew right up to the building, they wouldn't need to go far to be lost from sight. Still, it took all of Sienna's self control not to bolt into the trees - she knew that any sudden movement would draw the attention of a predator - and running madly through the bush would make it extra hard to keep track of Ethan. They couldn't afford to get separated. So, consciously, she placed one foot at a time.

Several metres from the house, with no sign of the theropod that woke her, Sienna began to relax.

"Freeze!" Ethan threw an arm out in front of her just as a long, lithe, black body rose from the ground, fangs bared.

"What is it?" she couldn't help but wonder aloud, looking at its puny hind legs resting on the ground with the tail as the rest of the body rose on one long snake-like neck.

"I don't know," Ethan hissed, "But it looks angry."

Even though it was far less terrifying than a gigantic dinosaur, those fangs looked pretty lethal. Sienna slowly raised her can, ready to spray. Perhaps her movement was too fast. Perhaps she wasn't the trigger at all, but the next moment was a blur of motion as the legged snake struck, was stopped suddenly by a theropod lunging between it and the children, catching it by the long neck and whipping it backwards and forwards.

Neither Ethan nor Sienna stayed to watch the fight. Sienna grabbed Ethan's hand and took off at a run. Now was not the time to be cautious. Again they were running for their lives.

Sienna felt Ehan dragging on her. They'd been running flat out for probably three full minutes and he was struggling to keep pace.

"Here," she dragged him to their left and up the slope of a how branch. "Let's get higher." she leapt from one branch to the next, then slowed to help Ethan as he needed it.

Soon they were high enough that she felt safe. "This is what our lives are going to be like now, isn't it?" She stared down through the trees. "Running from one danger to the next."

Ethan was panting heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"I know," she answered for him. "We just need to reach civilisation, and we can seek their protection. It's just… I didn't think it would be so bad so soon."

"I think," Ethan puffed. "It's just the one guy."

"The theropod? It's tracking us?" Sienna felt a splash of fear across her back as her spine twinged. "We're being hunted?" And sure enough, the theropod came running along under their tree.

Sienna's hope grew as it bounded past, but then was shattered as it returned, stalking back and forth at the base of the tree, before riving a single bark, then settling down on its haunches.

"It knows we're here," Sienna sighed. "What are we going to do?"

She studied the creature below them. It appeared to be a mid-sized true velociraptor - though featherless and with a hint of blue in its face. The lack of feathers indicated its recent lineage had been grown in a lab. She also noticed that it didn't watch them like they were prey. It would turn its head periodically, almost as if checking they were still there, but mostly its attention appeared to be away from them.

"Ethan," Sienna whispered. Even that small sound caused the dinosaur below to twitch. "Is it keeping watch for us?"

"You mean is it waiting for us to come down from the tree?"

"No. I mean like a sentry."

Ethan didn't answer straight away. "You think it woke us this morning to warn us about the snake thing?"

"Maybe."

"Are you sure this isn't just because you've always wanted a dino-mo-gen?"

She had to think about that. She'd seen the ads on their clips - and even though they were probably twenty years old, dino-mo-gens seemed awesome. Dinosaurs modified genetically to be the perfect pets was an amazing idea. The loyalty of a dog, the cleverness of a cat and a lack of moulting. Maybe she was hoping the monster below was actually domesticated.

"Has it tried to attack us? Bite us? Claw us?" She asked instead as she was unable to answer with certainty.

"Maybe not. But do you want to test out your theory?"

He had a point. She didn't really want to go down there with it. Even if she could probably get back into the tree faster than it could attack.

"No. You're right. It can't be a dino-mo-gen. I don't think they're still making them right?"

"Right."

They sat quietly waiting for the theropod to get bored and hunt for prey elsewhere. Unfortunately, he seemed to have endless patience. He sat there happily.

Finally, Sienna had had enough. "We can't sit here forever." She huffed. "I'm going to check."

"And if it wants to eat you?"

"Then I'll jump up to that brach there and haul myself out of reach."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Well, unless we want to sleep here the night, we don't have any other option."

Before she could overthink it, Sienna jumped to the ground, bending her knees to soften her landing. It still jarred her and the second of surprise she had over the theropod at her sudden appearance was vaporised as it took at least as long for her to recover. As she straightened, shaking her head trying to clear it, the dinosaur raised its head and gave the all too familiar yap.

Suddenly, Sienna realised just how ridiculous her plan was - she made a leap for the branch above her head, but her trembling legs gave out beneath her and she sprawled instead.

The dinosaur hastened towards her, its head, filled with glistening ivory teeth, getting closer.

"Hey!" She heard Ethan yell followed by a dull thud as she assumed he dropped to the ground out of sight from her. Hope swelled and dashed as thoughts of a moments distraction clashed with her fear for Ethan. And then both evaporated as the dinosaur continued forward, teeth inching closer, as the head lowered. The top of the mussel pushing up under her chin.

Sienna's eyes sprung open - she'd closed them reflexively not wanting to see her last moments - but since she was still alive, she had to see why. The dinosaur nudged her again, then backed away.

Sienna sat up, regretting it instantly as the theropod moved towards her again. But again, it just got close enough to nussle her.

"Sweet dino loving craziness!" Ethan exclaimed. "You were right!?"

Sienna looked towards him over the dinosaur's head. "It looks like!" She wiped a tear from her eye. "Our own dino-mo-gen!" The tears kept coming and she kept wiping.

"You wanted one that much?" Ethan asked, handing her a cloth.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "I thought I was going to die." She wiped her eyes with the cloth, then tried to stand. Her legs still trembled erratically and she couldn't get up.

"Maybe we should stay here a minute. I think our friend here will warn us if we're in danger."

Sienna just nodded and accepted the canteen he handed her, as well as the food which followed.

Through uncontrollable shivers, she washed the acid from her mouth and nibbled a protein bar.

It took a while, but the tears stopped and the trembling subsided.

Sienna opened her eyes and lifted her head from the tree behind her. "Okay," she exhaled. "I think I'm okay to get moving."

"Good." Ethan climbed to his feet and helped her up. "Let's get going."

"Come on, Blue," Sienna called as the duo headed off.

"Blue?" Ethan queeried. "You and your stories!" He shook his head.

"Not stories. HIstories. They really happened. Anyway, she's got blue on her snout. '

"You know the velociraptors back then were genetically modified to be bigger."

"Of course I know that. And they were fiercer too - I hope. That doesn't change that Blue was awesome and our dino-mo-gen will be awesome too. I mean, look how loyal she already is."

Ethan did look at the dinosaur creeping along with them - speeding ahead, dropping behind, scouting each side, but always close by.

"Doesn't that seem kind of weird to you? Why would it be loyal to us?"

"Maybe the doctors finally listened and got her as a pet for us and they trained her to be loyal to us - we just left before they gave her to us."

Ethan was sceptical. The scientists had never done anything that kind before. Why would they start now? There was something they were missing.

"You know, I think it's time we found the river." They'd been so busy running they hadn't really planned where they were going. He'd meant to check the map this morning before they headed out, but that hadn't worked out. Instead, he now pulled it from his pack and tried to look at it while he walked.

He found the compound pretty easily. And the river that ran behind it. The tricky bit would be finding where they were now.

He located the sun - it was late morning now, so that would be east… He tried grinding the building they had slept in last night without luck. The map was useless - or more accurately, he was useless at reading it.

After a moment of trying to follow the creases, he gave up, folding it quickly and shoved it roughly into his bag. This whole idea was useless. When they were planning it, it all seemed so fun and exciting, but now they were out in the world, lost and surrounded by dinosaurs, he was beginning to realise how naive they'd been.

They had some survival training, and some dino-tactics, but that wasn't enough to help them reach some unknown civilization. That was really the biggest flaw in their plan - they didn't even know where they were going - they just wanted to find people who weren't scientists. People who lived outside of a compound who got to see the sky from more than just an exercise yard. Really, they just wanted to find a home. Like the ones in Sienna's books. But now that he was living the adventure, he was realising those books weren't anywhere close to being scary enough to be real. And if they were wrong about that, then maybe they were wrong about homes too. Maybe they'd just run away from the only real home there was.