Chapter Nine - Where is She?

My eyes flickered open. My head was throbbing with pain, making my vision blurry. All that I could really remember was falling forward into a seat when we hit something but now, I was outside the plane and lying on the ground next to the wreckage of it. It had seemed like a split second and I was amazed to find that I had actually been knocked unconscious.

With a great deal of effort, I pulled myself into a sitting position and cupped my head in my hands. I didn't know how it could hurt so much, but it did. It hurt like heck!

"Lane? LANE!"

I looked up and saw Tina running towards me, limping slightly. She looked scared; REALLY scared.

"Oh, Lane, you weren't breathing and then the dinosaur came and ... I think it was a T-Rex ... oh, Lane; are you hurt badly?" Tina asked, hugging me.

"No, Tina," I moaned. "I think I just got knocked out is all. Where is everyone?"

Tina let go of me and stood back up, helping me to my feet as well. "They're all over there," she said, pointing to a tree. There was a small group of people standing in a group at the bottom.

"Did the - the T-Rex get anyone?" I asked, looking around for Hannah.

"No," Tina said, stepping over some fallen branches on the ground. "Some smaller dinosaurs came and attacked it and chased it off."

"What kind were they?" I asked. I wanted to keep talking because it lessened the pain in my head.

"I'm not sure. They looked like Raptors but they were way too big. About four feet taller at least!"

"Oh," I said. I honestly didn't really want to talk about dinosaurs but didn't know what else there was to talk about at the moment. But luckily, by that time we had reached the group. I could see that not many were there. With a quick scan I counted seven and Hannah wasn't there ... neither was Eric. But Mr. Polycarp, Sally, Cassy, and Kimmy were. Not to mention Daniel Pike, a football player, Jessie Gray, a social outcast, and Kale Meyers, a stupid hot guy.

"Lane; good; you're all right," Mr. Polycarp said. He looked a little panicked. "Now we just have to find the others."

"Who all is missing?" I asked.

"Well let's see … Eric Kirby, who I most want to find, Hannah Denison, your friend … uh ... let's see ... there are several others. Six died in the plane crash, though. Six children!" Mr. Polycarp's hands went to his face and he breathed in long and deep.

"So Hannah's ok?" I asked.

Sally glared at me while Mr. Polycarp didn't respond. "How can you think of your little friend when my boyfriend is out there?" She snapped.

I guessed that meant that Brad Kim was missing also and not dead in the crash.

Tina grabbed my hand. "It's going to be ok, Lane; we'll find her."

I nodded, forgetting all about my throbbing headache, and joined the rest of the group huddled around the tree.

This mist came down quickly, darkening the sky more than I would have liked. We all agreed that it was a much better idea to sleep in the trees than on the ground. The trees wouldn't have been hard to climb had it been light out side, but it wasn't and there weren't that many flashlights. We did manage to climb the trees however and Tina and I found a spot all to ourselves but not too far away from everyone else.

Slumping against a huge branch, I looked down at the ground below. The white mist was slowly floating in between the trees, looking a lot like cotton and reminding me of the corny effects in old movies. But it wasn't fake; it was real. It was so hard to believe that we were on an island infested with dinosaurs and we could do nothing to control them. Things that we had learned in the past weeks flashed into my head and I was frustrated that I had not paid more attention.

There was the Spinosaurus, which was the largest of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, and the Velociraptors, which were really smart, and so very many more that I could hardly remember. Some seemed more like fairytale creatures and others like horror story mutants. Being on this island was scary and intoxicating (in a good way, people) at the same time.

I sighed and turned away from looking at the ground. Tina was leaning against the branch opposite me with her eyes closed. I didn't have the heart to disturb her, so I rested my head on the branch and closed my eyes.

The low murmur grew louder and louder. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. The sun was streaming in through the leaves, already hot against my skin, and the scattered groups of people were all talking in hushed voices. I yawned, stretched, and stood to my feet, rubbing a particularly sore spot on the back of my neck.

Tina was sleeping soundly so I decided to go use the restroom. I slowly climbed down the trunk of the tree and stepped onto the ground. The leaves crunching under my feet were much louder than I had expected and I almost yelped in surprise. But what stopped me was not the fear of dinosaurs hearing me, but the fear of the dinosaur staring me in the face that did it … and I didn't need to use the restroom any more.

Author's Note: I have been called the queen of cliffhangers more than once. You should probably get used to these.

Now, I am excited to have 19 reviews, but you know, it never hurts to get more (hint, hint!).