The first raptor's head was through the fence. Below him, Malone saw Challenger tense. The creature's teeth glinted viciously in the morning light and Malone imagined that the beast was smiling smugly at his defenseless prey. It was only a matter of seconds now.
The frustration was terrible. Malone searched his mind frantically for a plan but nothing presented itself. The men outnumbered the journalist five to one and their spears were already poking threateningly into his back. Malone had not a single weapon to attack with, he couldn't even throw Challenger a mode of defense. Either Malone was going to watch while his friend was ripped to pieces or he could jump into the pit and give the raptors something else to chew on first. Time to make a decision.
"Hi."
Malone spun around, startled by this new, but familiar voice. It was his own.
"Marguerite!" Malone blurted out, not bothering with their new identities. "Wha-"
The Lanadu quickly surrounded Marguerite, their knives at the ready. The chief yelled something angrily at Malone, gesturing sharply at Marguerite. He couldn't understand it, but he didn't need to because Marguerite answered for him.
The leader regarded Marguerite and her mastery of his language with confusion. Once he reestablished his bearings, however, he smiled darkly and barked an order to the warriors. They grabbed Marguerite's arms and started shoving her towards the pit.
"What did you say to him!" Malone cried, as he watched his body about to be thrown in with Challenger and the raptors.
"That I'm here to exchange myself for you," Marguerite called over her shoulder.
"Well, it's not working!" Malone looked desperately around him, expecting to see Veronica and Roxton emerging from the jungle, guns drawn, but they were alone.
The warriors threw Marguerite forward, and she teetered on the pit's edge for a moment, before steadying herself. One of the men wound up for a final push when she yelled, "Tonta!"
Malone decided it had to be the equivalent for 'wait' because the natives froze long enough for Marguerite to address the chief again. He seemed unimpressed with Marguerite's new appeal, but then she reached inside her shirt and brought out a pouch that had been concealed under her arm. The leader immediately straightened up and some of his disdain was replaced with cautious interest.
Encouraged, Marguerite loosened the mouth of the bag and slowly took out a sparkling gemstone. One of the natives took a step towards it but Marguerite quickly held the still bulging bag over the pit. The man quickly stepped back.
"Marguerite!" Malone urged through clenched teeth, finally grasping what the attackers were looking for. "Just give them their jewels and let's get out of here!"
Marguerite shook her head, the bag still suspended threateningly over the hole and the sound of the snarling raptors. "If I do that then we both go into the pit."
"Great, then I sure hope there's more to your plan than this!"
"When I say 'now', we jump in the pit."
"What!" Malone cried in disbelief.
The leader was getting inpatient with the conversation between his captives. He said something in a sharp tone to Marguerite and held his hand out insistently for the bag. Marguerite smiled at him and then flung the pouch and the jewel in her hand as far away from them as she could manage.
All of the natives' heads turned automatically to follow the valuable bag's trajectory, and Marguerite yelled, "Now!"
Not knowing why he was doing it, Malone ran to edge of the pit and flung himself over. He tried to keep his body limp as the ground rushed up to meet him, but he still hit hard. He rolled over a few times before stopping on his back, his entire left side screaming in pain.
Challenger's worried face appeared, looking down on him. "Marguerite! Are you alright!"
"I thought so," Malone groaned as he sat up, "but since I just jumped into a raptor pit, I'm going to have to say no." He pushed dark, curly hair out of his face and then took Challenger's extended hand.
As Challenger was helping Malone up he called over him, "Malone? What about you?"
Marguerite was sitting up, leaning against the dirt wall and biting her lip in pain. "My ankle. I think I might have broken it."
"What!" Malone, ignoring his own discomfort, rushed over to her. He touched her ankle experimentally, and she cried out. "Great idea, Marguerite! Jump into the pit!" Malone stormed at her. "Now you've broken my ankle!"
Challenger was staring at them oddly. "Your ankle?" he asked.
Suddenly, one of the raptors let out a bloodcurdling cry. It had finally managed to make a hole in the fence but it had gotten stuck halfway through. Above him, Malone heard cheering from the bloodthirsty warriors. The fence was about to give.
The four Lanadu warriors were all standing at the edge of the pit, waiting impatiently for the vengeful carnage to begin. The leader was standing off to the side smugly examining the retrieved jewel, the bag tucked carefully in his belt. He didn't know anything was wrong until he heard the guns cock.
"Hello boys." Roxton stood only a few feet away, his two pistols aimed at the warriors. The natives were more than familiar with guns by this point, and they obligingly dropped their own weapons onto the ground. Roxton smiled and nodded at Veronica. "Shall we lower the ladder?" he asked her, and she headed towards it.
Before Veronica reached it, however, she froze.
"Veronica?" Roxton asked curiously, his eyes never leaving the Lanadus.
Veronica swallowed and slowly reached for her knives. "I think the sound of the raptors drew some unwanted attention." Her eyes flicked from Roxton to the jungle behind him.
Before Roxton could question her further, an ear-splitting roar echoed through the clearing and Roxton's face fell.
Malone, Marguerite, and Challenger all snapped their heads up at the same time, trying to see out of the pit.
"I'm sure that t-rex is miles away," Marguerite started.
A second later, Roxton and Veronica came tumbling into the pit.
"Well, I'm sure he can't reach us in here," Marguerite quickly restated.
Up above, screams ripped the air as the Lanadu scattered. The t-rex stampeded into the clearing and started snapping at the small warriors. Using the courage that had gained him his respected position, the chief grabbed a spear from the ground and brandished it in front of him. As the gigantic dinosaur's head passed low over the ground, the leader threw the sharp weapon into the creature's eye. It let out a terrible cry of pain and then fixed its good eye on its attacker. His resolve stretched to the limit, the leader screamed and tried to run but the t-rex's fangs caught him, and it swung him into the air. Tipping back its head, the t-rex swallowed the chief whole, silencing him.
Its appetite piqued, the t-rex turned to the other fleeing natives. Desperately, one of them flung himself into the pit and landed with a sickening thud near the explorers. The man cried out as he clutched his side where something appeared to have broken.
"If you two are down here, who is going to lower the ladder!" Marguerite snapped, looking up at Veronica and Roxton.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack as the last of the fence gave way. The raptors leaped, unhindered, out onto the floor of the pit.
Roxton reached for his pistols but came to the sickening realization that they must have flown from his hands when he had fallen into the hole. He saw one of them glinting several yards away and dove for it. He landed hard on his shoulder, the gun just out of reach.
Veronica grabbed for her two hunting knives from her belt and flung them at the approaching raptors. One of the creatures fell into the dirt with a screech of pain but the other two continued to advance. The warrior, still laying in pain on his back, was the closest to the fence, and a raptor fell on him hungrily. He screamed in horror as the razor-sharp teeth dug into him.
The last predator turned on the explorers. Cocking its head at its prey, it quickly picked out a wounded victim. The raptor charged Marguerite, and she screamed. Just before it reached her, the raptor mirrored her scream and fell to the ground. Behind it, Roxton still lay on his side, his pistol smoking.
Roxton pulled himself, painfully to his feet and hurried over to the others, who were now looking warily at the last raptor. The creature was still enjoying its current meal of Lanadu warrior but they had no desire to tempt him with seconds.
Roxton crouched down beside Marguerite and quickly surveyed her injured appendage. "Normally I'd be more than happy to carry you," Roxton said to her dryly, "but considering the circumstances, you're going to have to try and walk."
Marguerite groaned as she swung her arm around Roxton's shoulders, and he started to lift Malone's bulk.
"We don't have a ladder but we can make it out the fence," Roxton advised the others.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just shoot it!" Malone exclaimed, gesturing frantically at the feasting raptor.
The others looked at Roxton expectantly. He took his pistol out of its holster and pointed it at the sky before squeezing the trigger. The gun made a hollow clicking sound. He was out of bullets.
"Let me help you," Challenger offered as he supported Marguerite on the other side.
The others sprang into action, and they hurried towards the broken fence. As the others squeezed into the narrow cave, past the splintered fence, Malone looked back at Roxton's second gun. It was still lying where it had fallen when the hunter tumbled into the pit. It was only a few feet from the raptor, who was quickly finishing his raw meat. Maybe if he went fast enough…
"Forget it, Malone!" Roxton warned as he helped Marguerite through the fence.
"I think I can make it-" Malone twisted back around toward their escape route, the danger of the carnivore momentarily forgotten. "You told them!" he asked Marguerite. But we couldn't tell them when I wanted to, he thought in exasperation. "And they believed you?"
The explorers were forced to walk through the tunnel single file as they wondered just how the large raptors had possibly squeezed through in the first place. To make matters worse, the floor was littered with the occasional human bone or puddle of unidentified liquid. That and there was an angry raptor somewhere behind them.
Challenger, from his place near the front, was trying to pick his way over the uneven ground while looking behind him at Malone and Marguerite. "Told them what? What is going on!" When no one answered, he bristled, "Well?"
It was Roxton who relented. "Marguerite and Malone have switched bodies."
Challenger blinked as he absorbed this but his confusion soon turned into a deep frown. "If you're not going to tell me-"
"Uh, I think we need to go faster," Malone interrupted from the rear of the procession. He could hear a scratching noise coming from somewhere behind him, and he had a sickening feeling that it was claws on the tunnel floor. "Right now!"
"I see light!" Veronica called back from the lead.
Encouraged by the thought of escape and prodded on by a panicked Malone behind them, the explorers hurried out into the jungle. Right into a group of apemen.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Marguerite cried.
The apemen were just as stunned as the explorers to see a group of humans suddenly stumble out into their path, but they quickly recovered. The beast that was closest to them let out a yell and charged at Malone. The journalist dodged out of the way, and the apeman flew past him into the mouth of the cave. And into the mouth of a still hungry raptor.
The other apemen started to shriek as they saw their comrade being taken down by the ferocious predator. They charged the raptor, their crude weapons above their heads.
The explorers watched the chaos in front of them for a moment with open mouths.
"We should get out of here," Veronica suggested, pulling on Challenger's arm.
"Right," the scientist answered, still mesmerized by this odd turn of events.
Veronica, Challenger, Malone, Marguerite, and Roxton eased cautiously backwards into the jungle and disappeared.