CHAPTER 8:

SAFETY IN NUMBERS

Justin and Feena quickly woke Sue and Rapp and moved away from the river as fast as they could. They didn't want to take the chance that more of those big snakes could be lurking under the water. Or worse, that even bigger ones had made their home there.

They soon settled down for breakfast, which Feena decided to prepare instead. The eggs seem to like her better, Justin thought as Feena cracked egg after egg with ease. Everyone soon had a plate of eggs, fresh from the skillet, right in front of them.

Just as Rapp was about to grab his third helping, he heard a loud 'squawk' from the thicket of trees behind him. And as he turned around, a large flightless bird strutted out of the forest towards him. The bird looked similar to a dodo, except that it was six feet tall. It cocked its head in a curious way, eyeing Rapp's egg. Obviously it, too, wanted the egg.

"What?" Rapp asked the bird. "Ya hungry, or somethin'?" He took a bit of his scrambled egg and tossed it to the ground in front of the large bird. The bird immediately bent down, snapped the scrambled egg up in its hooked beak, and tossed it into the back of its throat. Rapp turned back to his egg, but the bird pushed his way through, and attempted to eat out of his plate. This, of course, made Rapp angry. He pushed the bird's beak away from his plate. The bird pushed back, knocking Rapp to the ground and causing him to drop his plate. The bird continued to eat Rapp's egg.

"Hey!! Give me that!!" Rapp ordered, trying to shoo the bird away.

"Uh, Rapp," Feena began. "I'd just let him have it if I were you."

"Yeah, Feena," Rapp answered, cracking his knuckles. "I'll just let him have it!" Rapp charged towards the bird.

"I didn't mean it that way!" Feena protested. However, she was too late. Just as Rapp was about to clobber the bird with his fist, the bird turned to face him, and vomited egg and predigested meat all over him!

"Oh, God!!" Rapp screamed as the foul-smelling vomit hit his chest with a sickening 'splat'.

"I warned you," Feena said.

They soon moved on, Rapp quite irritable with leaving his breakfast for a bird to finish.

"Ugh, Rapp, you stink!" Sue complained as she walked beside Rapp.

"Hey, you wouldn't exactly smell like a meadow of wildflowers either if a scavenging bird puked up its stomach contents all over you!"

After a while, the group left the jungle and had come to a huge savannah. There were trees growing in the area, but they were much more spread out than in the jungle. Almost all of the trees had leaves missing in the very tops of them. And the travelers soon found out why.

All of a sudden, the ground shook slightly. "Wh-what's that?" Sue wondered out loud.

"N-nothing to worry about," Justin said. "Just a small tremor."

"But, we're nowhere near a fault line," Feena added.

"I think I've figured out what it is," Rapp said, pointing in the distance.

Everyone looked out to where Rapp was pointing. There, in the middle of the valley, was a herd of enormous animals. The creatures were huge!! Each was almost 60 feet tall, except for the calves, which only stood a mere 20 feet. The animals were strange looking. Their heads were shaped like those of hairless camels. The front legs were like human arms with elephant feet, and were longer than their back legs, which were all elephant in structure. The tails of the animals were short with a hairy tip, and the skin that covered the entire animals' bodies was like that of a rhino's. The creatures lumbered across the prairie, pulling leaves off of the trees with their hooked lips. This explained why some trees had no leaves at their tops.

"It's a herd of females and their young," Feena informed the others.

"Are they...dangerous?" Justin asked, gripping the hilt of his sword nervously. He didn't feel too comfortable around wild animals of such large sizes.

"I doubt it. They're herbivores, and because of their size, I don't think they would see us as a threat."

One of the calves spotted them, and waddled towards them curiously. It made Sue giggle as it sniffed at her. The calf seemed completely unafraid of these strange things on two legs. It bent down to get a closer look at Rapp and, without warning, grabbed his knife by the hilt.

"Hey!!" Rapp yelled. "Give that back!!"

The calf just looked at him playfully. It didn't know what to make of this noisy, little creature in front of him. The calf quickly lost interest in Rapp, and waddled back to the herd, still carrying Rapp's knife.

"Hey, come back here!! I said to give that back!!"

The calf kept going, without looking back. Rapp quickly grew angry, and ran after the calf. The calf looked back, saw Rapp coming straight for him, and ran, bleating back to the herd. The entire herd heard the calf's distress calls, stopped eating, and looked up in alarm. The largest one, the alpha female, emitted a deafening bellow that could be heard for miles. The calf ran into the herd. Rapp stopped right in front of them. The adults had seen Rapp chasing their calf. Bellowing loudly, they formed a circle around the calves, creating a defensive barrier around the babies.

"I don't think this is good," Feena told the others as they watched Rapp looking up at the now angry behemoths.

Rapp took a chance and attempted to run into the herd. He had to get his knife back. However, he stopped when he saw the alpha female glaring down menacingly at him. Suddenly, she reared up on her hind legs, making herself look even larger and more fearsome.

"Rapp!! Get out of there!!" Justin called to him. He knew things had finally gotten ugly when he saw the alpha female rear up, making Rapp appear so small and insignificant.

But Rapp was overwhelmed with too much fear to just 'get out of there.' All he could do was stand there, as he watched the alpha female tower over him. Then, to everyone's horror, the alpha female's forelegs plummeted down towards Rapp, and hit the ground with the force of a plane crash! Fortunately, Rapp jumped out of the way of the feet as they attempted to crush him.

"RAPP!!! GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!!!!!" the others screamed at him as the alpha female reared up again.

This time, Rapp listened. He ran back towards his friends as fast as he could, but the alpha female bounded after him. It caught up with him in one enormous stride, reared up, and brought its feet crashing down. The group got one last look at their friend as the foot came down over him.

"RAPP!! NO!!!" they all screamed.

The alpha female then walked back towards the herd, which began to dine at the treetops once again. Justin and the others ran over to their fallen friend, fearing to see his unrecognizable remains. They looked down at the ground, where they last saw him. Miraculously, they saw Rapp curled up in a small depression in the ground, alive and unhurt. The depression was too small for the alpha female's foot to fit through, and Rapp had fallen through it just as its foot came down!

All of a sudden, Rapp stood up. "That...was...AWESOME!!!!!"

"Rapp, you idiot!!" Feena screamed at him. "You could have been killed!!!"

"So awesome! So awesome! Did you guys see that?! Did ya?! Did ya?!!"

"Yes, we saw it!! And for a while, we thought you were squashed into jelly!!!"

Now, Justin was certain that a guardian angel was watching over them!

TO BE CONTINUED