Chapter 6 - Return of the King

Drew Luczynski was sitting in his office, waiting for his team to arrive, smirking happily – he'd spent the past week excited about this mission. Suddenly, he noticed the door opening and turned to see Leon Gilbertson, Adrian Sky and Jack and Alice Denham enter the room.

Drew looked at his assembled team, smirked and cleared his throat, ""Today, we're going after a dinosaur that you all should know about… None other than Tyrannosaurus rex." He paused, as if to let it sink in, "The best fossils of Tyrannosaurus have been found in a place in Montana called Hell Creek, which has fossils found from it right up to the K-T boundary." Drew gave a smirk at this thought and said, "We're headed to about three days before the meteorite hits; that'll give us enough time to get as much as we can and leave. Hopefully, we'll get out of there before the meteorite even breaks the atmosphere." Jack nervously said, "And… what if we don't?". In response, Drew simply shrugged and said, "We improvise." The team all looked at each other nervously and headed off to the portal site.

As they headed down, they passed the freshwater holding pens "Jackie!", a Trinidadian-accented voice yelled, to which Jack muttered fondly, "Aaron, you son of a bitch." The team turned to see a Trinidadian man, about Jack's age, wearing a gap-toothed smirk. Jack walked up to him and shook his hand confidently, "A little lizard-croc told me the gang's all here today." Aaron smirked, "Yup – me, Hugo, Maria and Carmen. I'm looking forward to all the new stuff…" Jack smiled, "Yeah, did the research – after the last two, we're getting some new additions!" Aaron smirked, "Lookin' forward to it! Those guys on the mammal team are getting too full-of-themselves, man – let's remind 'em who really runs this joint!" Jack smirked, "Yeah!" The rest of the team all looked at each other, before Drew said, "Anyway, let's get to the portal."

At the portal site, an employee entered the time period and location and the portal flared to life at the push of a button. Shortly after, the portal opened again. Drew put the portal remote in his pocket and secured it. He turned to his team, who all gave him a thumbs-up. Drew returned their gestures, smiled at them and they went through the gleaming portal.

. . . . .

Once the blinding light from the portal had died down, the first thing that hit the team was the humidity. They looked around to see where they had emerged and the sight was breath-taking. They had emerged in the centre of a dense forest, with large trees looming over an undergrowth of ferns and flowering plants. In the air, they could hear the calls of birds and pterosaurs and, in the undergrowth, they could hear the squeals and hisses of dinosaurs. The team looked around, awestruck. "It's beautiful", Alice said, almost lost for words at the beauty of their surroundings, "It's just so beautiful". Jack, overawed, said to his cohorts, "When you signed up, was this what you were expecting?". In response to this, they all nodded and Alice said, "Yeah"

Their thoughts were interrupted by Drew loudly clapping, "Enough being overawed, D-bags! We have dinosaurs to find!" The team rolled their eyes at him and they began searching through the forest. After about an hour, they found a large herd of herbivores browsing for food.

"Wow," said Leon.

"Look at them," Alice agreed.

Jack, Adrian, and Drew nodded in agreement – the sight was awe-inspiring, with at least seven different herbivore species browsing contentedly.

Positioned at the edge of the clearing were a herd of dryosaur-like ornithopods covered in golden-yellow feathers, except for the heads, which were bald and reddish-coloured, and a large flock of ostrich-like dinosaurs covered in emu-like feathers, except on their necks, heads, hands and feet, which were covered in blueish-grey and leathery-grey scales respectively.

However, the most impressive herbivores were in the centre of the clearing. A herd of incredibly large duck-billed dinosaurs was browsing from some conifer trees; the largest was a little over forty feet long. They were largely greenish brown, with tan stripes on the flanks and black stripes on the tails. Their most distinctive feature was their long, flat heads, ending in a beak, attached to powerful-looking, muscular necks. Some in the herd had large red throat pouches and bright blue heads.

Alongside them was a herd of dome-headed dinosaurs, each about ten feet long and covered in dark green scales with golden yellow spots. Some of the herd had small horns on the tips of their noses and long, sharp-looking spikes surrounding the edges of their domes.

The remaining two groups gathered in the centre were both ceratopsians – and who both looked identical at first glance, with both being about the same size, and having large frills and three impressive horns on their heads.

However, differences revealed themselves at closer inspection – one group was slightly smaller, at about twenty-five feet, and had a shorter, rounder bony frill, and were covered in bright lime green scales, with red stripes on their backs and on their frills. The other group, meanwhile, was slightly larger, at about thirty feet, and had a longer, more elaborate frill with a pair of large red eyespots, with large openings on it, Their scales were steely grey with black stripes on their backs.

However, the most impressive creature in the clearing was an incredibly large sauropod, browsing from the tallest trees. There was a vague resemblance to the brachiosaurs back at the park – however, its head lacked the distinctive bump and it had armour plates running along its back.

Naturally, Leon knew what they all were. "The ornithopods are thescelosaurus, the ornithomimids are ornithomimus, the hadrosaurs are edmontosaurus, the pachycephalosaurs are pachycephalosaurus, the green scaled ceratopsians are triceratops, the gray ones torosaurus, and the sauropod's an alamosaurus."

"How are we going to get this lot through the portal?" said Alice, as Jack looked to Drew. "Let me guess, you have a plan?"

Drew was about to speak when suddenly, a large dark shape moved stealthily through the scrubby trees, moving so fast that it was practically a blur. All the animals in the clearing went on edge… then an Ornithomimus turned to look at something and let out a shrill cry of alarm. The shape, now visible as some large bipedal dinosaur, reappeared again, joined by three others, moving with a determined speed and the herbivores scattered, whipping up a flurry of dust that rendered the events visible.

When the dust cleared, they saw what had caused the stampede.

Four giant theropods stood in the clearing. At about forty feet in length, the largest was about the same length as the Torvosaurus; however, their greater bulk made it look more powerful. The adults had large and powerful heads and a snarl revealed conical, banana-shaped teeth. Its skin was tannish-brown and leathery, grading to a light tan on the underbelly.

There were four in total, two adults and two adolescents, twenty feet long and eight feet tall – the younger ones had thinner muzzles and longer legs, and an overall lighter built. The team all knew what they were – what person didn't? This was Tyrannosaurus rex. The leader of the pack snarled and shook its head irritably, before letting out a low bellow and leading the pack out of the clearing.

Jack sighed, "Great. Just great. We've just missed our target and all the herbivores are gone." Drew turned to look at something, "Not all of them." The rest of the team turned to him, confused, before seeing the Alamosaurus, still peacefully browsing – it hadn't fled from the tyrannosaurs. Drew turned to his team and smirked, "Want to salvage something?" The team nodded.

Stealthily walking up to the alamosaurus, the team left a trail of vegetation leading to a single pile. Once the alamosaurus had gotten close enough, the team tossed the vegetation through the portal, which the titanosaur followed.

"Well," said Drew, a happy smile on his face. "We're off to a good start."

"Debatable," Alice muttered.

"I have to agree," said Adrian, "Could have been worse, but it could have been a lot better."

Drew nodded, before smirking, "Yeah, we're running out of time – but it's not the end of the world…" "Yet," Leon and Jack both said dryly in unison.

"We've got three days before the asteroid hits," Drew continued, smirking, and oblivious to Jack and Leon's glare, "I think we should be able to get quite a haul…", before a sound of warbling chirps filled the air. Drew pointed his finger that way, "Let's see what animal made that noise." The rest of the group looked at each other, and they all headed off to investigate.

. . . . .

Kyle nodded his head, a look of awe on his face at the sight of the large sauropod that now stood in the holding pen before him. "An alamosaurus," he said aloud, partially for the benefit of the holding pen team. "Not a bad start."

"I was expecting more," Mohinder stated from his position behind the head keeper.

"Oh, there's going to be more where this one came from, definitely" Kyle responded dryly, "However, let's get him moved."

"Yes sir!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the Cretaceous period, the gang looked at the animals they had found. Gathered around a small clearing was a flock of brown-feathered, turkey-sized dinosaurs, half of which had larger feathered crests on their heads and tails. Currently, the whole flock were pecking around on the ground in search of insects.

"They appear to be some kind of alvarezsaurid" Leon whispered, "Possibly Trierarchuncus – it was only named last year."

"Pity you don't have those in the recordings," Jack grumbled under his breath.

"I'll handle this."

The boys all looked to Alice, who drew out a can of mealworms. "Got this from the kitchen," she explained. "It should be good bait."

"I say we let her do it," said Adrian.

Drew nodded. "Well, get to it."

Alice walked carefully into the clearing, before coming to a stop once one of the scouts caught sight of her and chattered, alerting the flock. When the entire flock stared at her tensely, Alice slowly opened the can, took out a small handful of the mealworms, and placed the grubs on the ground near her feet. With the alvarezsaurids watching, Alice slowly moved backwards, laying a trail of the grubs as she went. By the time she'd finished laying the trail, the dominant pair of the flock had tentatively approached the beginning of the trail and began feeding on the grubs, with the rest of the flock following suit. Once they got close enough, Alice opened her portal. While briefly startled, the alvarezsaurids noticed Alice drawing out the last of the mealworms and throwing them through the portal. This was enough to convince the little dinosaurs to eagerly run through to claim their snack.

After Alice closed the portal, Jack gave his sister a double thumbs-up. "Way to go, Ally."

"Agreed," said Adrian.

"Thanks, guys," said Alice.

Suddenly, what sounded like a mixture between a pig squeal and a parrot squawk filled the air, and the gang turned their heads towards the direction of the noise to see a small herd of strange-looking, pig-sized dinosaurs entering the clearing, resembling miniature versions of the triceratops and torosaurus – however, they had no horns, a considerably smaller frill and a much thicker tail, and were covered in dark olive-green scales with chocolate brown patches, and with orange scales on their crests and frills, with a long line of dark green bristles lining across the backs of their tails. Their feet looked almost like scaly paws, complete with hand-like front feet.

"Those are leptoceratops," said Leon. "A small ceratopsian that could walk on both its hind legs and on all fours." Ignoring Leon, Jack turned to Drew, "I suppose you have an idea how to get these through?"

Drew was just about to answer when the sound of hoarse barking squawks filled the air. The ceratopsians tensed up, instantly alert, whilst the rescue team also tensed up, but for a different reason.

"Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like the ornitholestes?" Alice asked.

An instant later, a pack of turkey-sized theropods burst into the clearing and surrounded the leptoceratops, scanning the herd for weaker individuals. Unlike the ornitholestes, these raptors were covered almost completely head to toe with thick, brownish feathers, with the only bare parts of their bodies being their snouts, feet, and uppermost fingers.

Jack pointed his finger at the raptors, smirking giddily. "Those are acheroraptor, one of the smaller predators in the area."

Drew was smirking. "Two for the price of one." He looked to Leon. "Thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You bet."

Leon lifted the broadcasting device into position, selected a recording, and hit the play button. In that moment, the sound of Broken Jaw's rumbling bellow filled the air, and the raptors instantly halted and scanned the clearing for what they presumed was a larger predator. The leptoceratops similarly went alert, but relaxed when they noticed Drew waving plant matter in his hand before summoning the portal and tossing the plant matter through.

Eager to escape from both the raptors and the mysterious sound, the entire herd began to stampede straight towards the portal. The acheroraptor pack noticed the herd running away, and bolted after their escaping prey, hissing indignantly. Within minutes, both groups had successfully gone through the portal in their entirety.

"Two for the price of one," said Drew, trademark grin on his face as the portal closed.

Jack chuckled and rubbed his hands together, "Boy, I'm looking forward to working with those new raptors."

Leon rolled his eyes. "I'll bet you are," he grumbled, directing an annoyed glare towards the younger Denham.

Jack immediately turned to face Leon, his face indignant, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Guys," Alice hissed. "Not now."

"She's right," said Adrian. He pointed towards the sky. "Look up there."

The entire team looked up, promptly gaping in surprise at the sight of the darkening sky.

"It's evening here already?" Jack stated.

"I thought you said the coordinates were entered to allow us to arrive at noon," said Leon.

"It appears we may have miscalculated," said Alice.

"It's a complication," Adrian agreed.

"Nothing we can do about it now," Drew stated, shrugging. He looked to the rest of his team, right fist pressed against his left palm. "Well guys, we've got to set up camp – make sure it will be easy to strike if we can. And, we'll look at the sky at nightfall – get a good idea of just how much time we've got."

The entire team nodded in agreement. And once they'd made camp, they all looked up at the sky to check for anything that could indicate how long they had before the asteroid hit the earth. And sure enough, they could see an orb of light looming ominously in the night sky.

"I'm guessing that's the doom-bringer, isn't it? Bit of a reminder, isn't it? The end of the world's coming - soon," said Jack. "Yeah," Leon agreed.

Analysing the meteor, Adrian stated. "We've got 36 hours, best case" He looked to Drew. "But I think we should keep a close eye on it during tonight's watch."

"Agreed," said Drew. He looked to the rest of the team. "I'll take first watch tonight."

The rest of the team saw no reason to argue, and once they'd all agreed upon a watch schedule for the night, Drew took first watch, but it wasn't like anyone was going to sleep soundly; everyone knew that they were on borrowed time.

. . . . .

Colette and Nikolai were observing the holding pens alongside several other guards as Kyle and the team worked to handle the latest arrivals, nodding with approval at the three new species.

It was the acheraptor that Colette was focusing on. "Jack's probably really looking forward to training those," she thought to herself, smiling slightly, before mentally reminding herself to focus. However, unbeknownst to her, her brief smile was noticed by David, who surreptitiously grinned.

. . . . .

The next morning, Drew had explained to them the plan; they would split into two groups, in order to double their chances of finding animals – he and Adrian would go east from the camp, whilst Leon, Jack and Alice would go west.

Drew and Adrian had been trekking through the forest for about an hour when, suddenly, a loud, booming squawk echoed through the air. Following the sound, they saw a small group of ostrich-sized dinosaurs standing in a clearing, resembling a cross between a cassowary and a chicken – their prominent crest and shortened beak gave them a strangely goofy look. Some were larger than the others, and with large throat wattles.

"Anzu", Drew said, "a kind of oviraptorid." Adrian gave a look, "I think this is a lek." Drew gave him a confused look, "A what?" Adrian rolled his eyes and said, "The males are gathering to display to the females. Lekking males can be quite aggressive – in fact, I think I've come up with a plan to get them through the portal."

And so, Drew walked into the clearing and began blaring his horn at assembled dinosaurs. The males' grudges forgotten at the sight of this new competitor, they charged at him and, when they had gotten close enough, Drew opened the portal and they dived through, into the present. The females, confused, followed close behind.

After this was done, they suddenly heard a chattering sound. Following it, they found a group of small mammals, resembling a cross between an otter and a Tasmanian devil. The creatures' was largely grey, with white on the belly and snout and black on the back, limbs and tail. Drew gave a look, "Didelphodon. It's a marsupial found in the area.", the nearest snapped at him, "Mean little bastards, aren't they?" Adrian snorted, "Best be careful; if I recall correctly, it was big enough to eat baby dinosaurs." Drew smirked, "I've got a plan."

The plan was to leave a trail of insects, leading up to a large pile – the swarming mammals followed the trail and, once they reached the end of it, Drew opened the portal – after initially recoiling, the mammals tore through the portal after the insects, into the present.

Drew noticed that Adrian was quiet – well, quieter than usual. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to ask, "What's up?" Adrian sighed, "Should you have put Jack and Leon on the same team?" Drew shrugged, "Why the hell not?" Adrian rolled his eyes, "They haven't been seeing eye-to-eye for a while." Drew only gave a shrug as response, prompting Adrian to mutter, "Forget it."

. . . . .

Jack and Leon hadn't talked to each other since they'd left camp – much to Alice's consternation. After about an hour of walking, Jack sighed, "Look – I'll scout ahead and look in this clearing. See if I can find anything – if I can't handle it, I'll call you guys in." Alice sighed, "Fine."

As Jack walked through the clearing, he got thinking – according to Alice, Leon had been using that damn recording device on the last mission. And simply put, he was not at all amused. "I give him that nickname to try to let him down gently," he thought to himself. "And instead it inspires him to cook up an unorthodox strategy to use as a crutch. Isn't that just wonderful?"

He entered the clearing… and immediately regretted it. The familiar shapes of four tyrannosaurs stood, silently walking through the clearing in search of prey. In the back of his mind, Jack recognised them – these were the tyrannosaurs they'd encountered before; perhaps this hadn't been a good idea after all…

Jack stood, rooted to the spot as the theropods scanned the clearing; he didn't want them noticing him. When the theropods ignored him, he quietly sighed in relief – they'd been scary at a distance, but seeing them up close, Jack felt as insignificant as a mouse.

Quietly and slowly, Jack began to back away from the giants, in the hope that he wouldn't be seen. Suddenly, the nearest tyrannosaur paused and sniffed the air, before turning its head to look at him. Jack went rigid; he'd been found.

The tyrannosaur let out a low, crocodilian hiss, before turning towards Jack, regarding him with a vicious coldness, and beginning to move toward him, its massive strides quickly covering the distance. There was only one sensible thing to do. Run.

Jack turned and sprinted out of the clearing. The tyrannosaurs, their prey drive activated, took off after him. Suddenly, Jack foot hit a rock and he fell, before standing up, tired and bruised, to see his pursuers now advancing towards him; whilst their average top speed was slower than his, they had a longer stride length. He stood no chance, unless he hid.

He ran towards a hollow log and dived inside, wedging himself in. As he hid, he saw the theropods' cold yellow eyes staring intently and smelt their hot, stinking breath – for these predators, out of sight did not mean out of mind.

A squawk alerted him to two other creatures, hiding in the log – a snake and a small theropod dinosaur. The snake was about eight feet long and looked a little like an African rock python, with scales arranged in yellow-brown blotches joined in a broad, irregular stripe, and with copper eyes. From its lack of pelvic spurs, Jack could tell it was a female.

The theropod was about six feet long with short, muscular arms, covered in dark brown feathers, grading to white on the tips, with three grasping fingers ending in curved, vicious-looking talons. Its three-toed feet were featherless and viciously taloned; the second toe was tipped with an incredibly large, sickle-shaped claw. Its long tail was ringed with white plumes. Jack knew this was a dromaeosaur of some kind – possibly Dromaeosaurus.

Suddenly, the log began cracking and crunching – Jack turned to see a tyrannosaur lodging its massive head in the log, splintering the log as it moved forward. The snake and dromaeosaur moved closer to each other, any previous hostilities forgotten – in the face of these superior predators, all of them were prey.

Noticing a hole in the log made by the tyrannosaurs, the dromaeosaur turned to both Jack and the dinilysia and gave them an almost regretful look, before jumping out of the hole in the log and running out of the clearing. Fortunately, this seemed to be the distraction Jack and the dinilysia needed. The tyrannosaurs took off after the smaller theropod, chasing it out of the clearing.

However, Jack knew that the tyrannosaurs would be back – he had to use this opportunity. Gently as he could, he picked up the terrified dinilysia, making sure to restrain her head in order to prevent being bitten. Launching himself off the ground, he tore out of the log like a shot, rushing to meet his teammates outside the clearing, being careful not to drop the snake as he did so.

When he returned to his teammates, Alice and Leon gave him funny looks. It was Leon who spoke first, "Might I ask how you found the snake?" Jack smirked, "Found her in a log that was being torn apart by tyrannosaurs – nearly ate the both of us." Alice gave her brother a shocked look, as Leon rolled his eyes, saying "Do you want me to send the snake through the portal?" Jack gave him a bitter look and nodded – the portal was prepared and the snake sent back to the park. After this, Jack turned and looked to his teammates with a gleeful smirk, "What are we waiting for? Allons-y, dear sister and Leon – we've got animals to save!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Drew and Adrian, after their encounter with the Anzu, had been searching for animals for about an hour, before they heard a low, panting sound. Adrian turned to Drew, "That's the sound of a wounded animal." "Yup", Drew nodded, and they took off after the sound.

Following the sound into a clearing, they saw a large animal, hunched over and breathing heavily in a clearing. It looked like a cross between a bat, a marabou stork and an Andean condor, with a twenty-foot wingspan. Its body was covered in black fur, except for the neck and head, which was bare and covered in grey skin. The head was large, with a straight, stork-like, toothless beak and a small crest. According to the info-packs, this was a Quetzalcoatlus, one of the larger pterosaurs.

The pterosaur looked a sorry sight. One of his wings was torn and several deep wounds covered his body – he had lost so much blood he could barely stand. He blinked as a wound on his head dripped blood into his eyes. The pterosaur let out a quiet caw; from such an awe-inspiring creature, it sounded weak, almost plaintive. Drew and Adrian looked at each other and came to one conclusion.

He was going to die if he stayed here.

Adrian got some meat out of the bait bag and dangled it in front of the giant pterosaur, who raised his head to regard the human, before saying quietly and reassuringly, "C'mon, big fella. Follow the meat. C'mon, big guy; you know you can't stay here."

The giant pterosaur, attracted by the lure of the fish, waddled tentatively, weakly, towards Jack and the fish. Drew activated the portal and the giant pterosaur went through to the present, with Drew and Adrian accompanying him to get him to treatment.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Alice, Jack, and Leon were peeking from behind a large tree, cautiously observing a small, slow-moving river… which was alive with crocodiles. At the shore directly in front of them, they could see a float of large reddish-brown scaled crocodiles that looked like saltwater crocodile-sized gharials, whilst on the opposite side, there was a float of grey-scaled crocodiles that resembled Nile crocodiles. Swimming in the water were a float of lime green scaled gharial-like creatures.

Swimming in the water were two species of turtle. Ten of the turtles resembled African softshell turtles, but greenish brown in colour, whilst the other nine were covered in greyish-brown scales, had flat brown shells with golden spots, webbed turtle-like feet, and tortoise-like heads. Resting on a group of lily pads nearby were eight large frogs that resembled African bullfrogs. Rather curiously, there was a cluster of slate-black logs floating idly near to the turtles.

Leon was about to speak when Jack suddenly began talking, "The crocs directly in front of us are thoracosaurus, the ones in the water are champsosaurus, and the grey ones right next to them are borealosuchus. The frogs here are palaeobatrachus. As for the turtles, the green ones are axestemys and the gray ones are basilemys."

Leon took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily. "That's. Correct," he growled, his teeth gritted and an irked look in his eyes.

Jack directed a smug smirk Leon's way from the corner of his eyes. "You snooze, you lose."

Leon swiftly turned his head, a retort already on his tongue...

"Boys..."

Leon and Jack winced at the tone in Alice's voice, before sighing and directing sheepish looks towards Alice, wincing at the annoyed glare she was sending their way. "Focus, please," she hissed. She pointed towards the river. "Any ideas on how to get this lot through the portal?"

Jack and Leon thought carefully to themselves for about a minute, before Leon happened to see a fallen tree bridging the river. And in that instant, he thought up an idea, and he raised his hand.

Alice turned to him, sounding like an old-fashioned schoolmistress, "I presume you have an idea?"

Leon nodded his head, and then pointed at the makeshift bridge. "You and Jack can use that tree as a bridge so that you can get behind the champsosaurus and borealosuchus and use fish to bait. I'll stay here and use the broadcasting device to attract the thoracosaurus. Once the crocodilians are all out of the way, we can figure out a way to take care of the frogs and turtles."

Alice nodded her head. "Sounds like a plan." She looked to Jack. "What do you think?"

Her brother simply sighed. He was torn – on the one hand, it was somebody that he didn't like, but on the other hand, it was a workable idea. "Worth a shot," he managed to say.

"Excellent." Alice clapped her hands together. "Let's get to work. Remember, Armageddon's in 36 hours."

"Yes ma'am."

Within a few minutes, with Leon using recorded crocodile vocals and the Denhams using canned fish, all three floats came charging through the portal to the park. After this, Leon flashed a thumbs-up. "Good job," he said, before gesturing at the frogs and turtles. "What do you think we should do about these?"

In response to this, Jack reached into his backpack. "This might help," he stated as he drew out a net. "A spare from the Ancient Mariner," he explained. "I figured we could use something like this to get any freshwater creatures in the future. Granted, Theodore's said something about an easier way, but I guess we'd have to make do for now."

Alice nodded her head. "In that case, let's see if we can get the frogs. If we don't get them now, it'll be hard finding them again; and the turtles don't seem to be going anywhere."

And so, Jack carefully draped the net over the lily pads where the eight palaeobatrachus were resting, hauled them in, and opened the portal as the frogs hopped out from under the net and went through the portal. "Now for the turtles," Jack said as he and Alice looked up from the now empty net to see the turtles.

Looking away, they saw the axestemys swim towards where Leon was positioned. The basilemys, meanwhile, continued browsing peacefully. Leon, without saying a word, waited for the axestemys to reach him, allowing them all to calmly waddle through the portal as they climbed out of the river.

Alice nodded. "Well I suppose that's one down," she said. "Yeah," Jack agreed, staring in annoyance at, in his eyes, been upstaged in rescuing some of the turtles.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a massive cacophony of splashing, followed by a low, crocodilian hiss. Jack, Alice and Leon immediately turned their heads, surprised, to see the basilemys trying to desperately swim away from the nine logs...or, rather, a float of grayish black scaled alligator-like crocodillians. Jack managed to get a brief glance inside the jaws of one to notice that its teeth were oval-shaped, with rounded tops. "Brachychampsa," he yelled breathlessly as he pointed towards the crocodilians, "A kind of alligator with teeth made for cracking turtle shells."

"Great, just great. This is going to be difficult," Alice grumbled.

"Not necessarily," Jack noted, pointing once more at the crocodilians. "Right now, the brachychampsa are in a frenzy; they're fighting each other over who gets the prey. That could work to our advantage..."

"I see the turtles," Leon yelled, pointing to the left of the crocodilians, "Over there!"

Sure enough, they could now see the basilemys swimming towards the shore where the Denhams were positioned. In a flash, Jack had his portal open in time for the turtles to start swimming through. But as this happened, he noticed something. "That's only eight", he muttered concernedly, "There's one missing."

"There it is!"

Jack looked to where his sister was pointing, and mentally cursed at the sight of a basilemys struggling in the jaws of a brachychampsa, as the rest of the float tried to get it. Jack reacted in an instant, pausing only to alter his portal co-ordinates before running to the water's edge and jumping straight towards the snarling crocodilians, yelling, "GERONIMO!", as, much to Leon's shock and Alice's horror, he dived straight into the middle of the float, barely managing to pull the basilemys from the surprised brachychampsa's jaws and throw it on to the safety of the shore. Alice managed to open her portal in time to send the injured turtle through, but her mind was running in fear of what might happen to her brother.

Within seconds, the water seemed to calm as the crocodilians circled at the strange creature. After what felt like an eternity later, a massive burst of light pulsed underneath the water; at which point a small whirlpool formed, sucking the brachychampsa like bathwater down a plughole. After the last one went through, the portal closed, sending up a massive burst of bubbles to the surface. After that, Jack's head finally breached the surface, a mighty gasp bursting from his mouth as he finally opened his mouth and took a deep breath. "Wow", he said, before turning towards Leon, a smug look on his face. "And that, friend, is how the experts do it."

Leon raised his eyebrow, before snorting, "Experts? Yeah, right."

"Huh?" Jack turned around, only to gulp at the sight of Alice standing right at the edge of the water, fists clenched, with an expression that was equal parts stunned, horrified, and enraged, plastered on her face. He chuckled nervously, as a sheepish grin appeared on his face, "Now, I probably should have warned you, but..."

With a thunderous kick, Alice sent a burst of water splashing into her still partially submerged brother's face. "You bloody fool" Alice said, now clearly apoplectic as she kicked at the river again and again to send more and more splashes her brother's way without giving him a chance to get a word in. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! HAVE YOU GONE FUCKING MENTAL?! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK! AND THAT'S TWICE NOW YOU'VE DONE SO TODAY YOU BRAINLESS ARSE! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US BOTH KILLED WITH THESE INSANE STUNTS OF YOURS?!" Jack shrugged, "Saved that snake the first time and that turtle just now, though, so no regrets."

Leon whistled, and shook his head side to side. On one hand, he couldn't help but feel amused at Jack's expense. But on the other hand, he couldn't help but wince in sympathy. After all, he did not want to get on Alice's bad side. "I'll take Jack over her any day of the week," he whispered under his breath. He spent the next 15 minutes standing quietly on his side of the river as Alice's rage simmered into a smouldering indignation.

. . . . .

Kyle and his team at the land-based holding pens couldn't help but stare at what had just unfolded before them. Seconds ago, the portal had opened and a small waterfall's worth of water had poured out onto the ground within the holding pen, followed by nine alligator-like crocodilians. And at this point, everyone assembled was gaping at the sight of the crocodilians, now thrashing and writhing in the holding pen.

At this point, Carmen turned her head to face the stunned Aaron and Maria, uncertain exactly what to think. "I'm not sure if I should be gasping or laughing."

Aaron shook his head side to side, a numb look on his face. "Ten to one Jackie did this."

Maria sighed, and shook her head side to side. "What on Earth was I thinking when I signed up to work here?" She thought to herself.

. . . . .

After getting Cirrus treatment, Drew and Adrian had returned to the clearing to find more animals. They didn't have far to go – entering another clearing, they saw two species of ankylosaur browsing. The larger kind was thirty feet long and heavily armoured, with large armour plates covering the body, except for the belly. The head was wide and heavily armoured; even the eyelids were armoured. Their armour was brown-orange, becoming darker on the flanks, legs and head and lighter on the underbelly. The tail ended in a large, rounded club, which swished menacingly.

The smaller kind looked very similar to the Gargoyleosaurus and Dracopelta back at the park, only about twenty feet long. They lacked a club and their amour was less elaborate – they were also more reddish in colour, had narrower muzzles and long shoulder spikes

Drew smiled "Ankylosaurus and Denversaurus – the plan with these guys is we make some noise and attract their attention. When they move towards us, we open the portal." Adrian nodded. As Drew lifted the horn and began blaring, the ankylosaurs became more and more angry, before they all came charging towards Drew. Adrian quickly grabbed his portal remote, causing the portal to whirr into life. The ankylosaurs all charged through the portal, into the present.

Suddenly, Jack's voice echoed through the communicator, "Fearless leader? Where are we making camp?" Drew chuckled, "I'll send you the co-ordinates – meet you there. We've had a bit of an eventful day." In reply, Jack's voice chuckled, "So have we, fearless leader, so have we."

. . . . .

The very next day, the rescue team cleared up the camp immediately after they'd finished eating some apple slices for breakfast. One way or another, this would be their last day in the Cretaceous. Once the entire team was ready, Drew positioned himself in the centre of the clearing. "Alright guys," he stated. "Now, I know we all talked about it last night, but we need to pick up the pace." He pointed up towards the sky. "See that up there?", pointing at the orb, "That is the DoomBringerTM, ready to hit us sometime this afternoon."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"Excellent." Drew gestured towards his watch. "Judging by the meteor's current positioning and speed, I'm estimating we've got about five or six hours before it arrives. For the next two hours, we split and see if we can find anything else within these forests. After that, I'll send you some co-ordinates and we'll meet up and see what else we can find before the you-know-what shows up." He looked at Jack and Leon, almost casually. "No arguments please."

The two rivals gulped nervously, and nodded their heads. "Yup," they both said in unison.

"Good." Drew clapped his hands, "Let's move!"

And at that, the team split up, eager to rescue as many animals that they could find – however, they were aware they were operating on borrowed time.

. . . . .

Drew and Adrian calmly made their way through the forest, the latter making sure to take a glance up at the dreaded asteroid's positioning in the sky every now and then just to be safe. After about fifteen minutes, they finally found their first animals. Perched on a log nearby a small river was a 19-strong flock of cormorant-like birds covered in black and white feathers. They all currently appeared to be intently watching the water, in search of prey.

"I remember reading about these," Adrian whispered as he pointed at the birds. "These are brodavis; a relative of hesperornis."

"They'll certainly make good residents for the park," Drew stated. He looked to Adrian, "Think you can get them through?"

Adrian nodded his head. "Just leave it to me," he said as he carefully drew out three cans of tuna from his backpack. Once he had all three cans opened, he allowed the tuna's scent, plus some whistling, to attract the attention of the flock. Curious, the birds turned to face Adrian and the opened tuna cans, hopped off the log, and waddled over. Once they'd all started eating, Adrian calmly drew out a fourth can and opened it as well. Once the brodavis had finished eating, he opened the portal. The birds briefly reared back, flapping their wings and squawking in surprise. However, Adrian got their attention in time for them to see him send the contents of the can through the portal. Their instincts triggered, the birds jumped off the ground and flew through the portal, into the present. Once the portal closed, Adrian turned to face Drew. "How did I do?"

Drew flashed his friend a thumbs-up. "Excellent."

The sound of a small splash turned Drew and Adrian's attention to the river, turning to see two small fins cut through the water. They noticed more animals as they got closer. Gathered around upon a small log were a group of small amphibians that resembled fire salamanders, only much longer. Nine other amphibians that resembled giant axolotls were swimming around underwater nearby, as were a swarm of horseshoe crabs, a school of gars, several guitarfish and paddlefish, several large bowfins, and a shiver of small freshwater sharks.

"I remember reading about these in the dossier," Drew stated as he started pointing at each of the species present. "Those salamanders are scapherpeton, the ones that look like axolotls are habrosaurus, the horseshoe crabs are casterolimulus, the guitarfish are myledaphus,, the paddlefish are Paleopsephurus, the bowfins are melvius, and the sharks are lonchidion." He pointed at the gars. "As for those? I think they're lepisosteus occidentalis."

Adrian silently whistled and shook his head. "How do you recommend we get all these through the portal? Considering the time limit, I'm not sure if it's wise to do what we did at the Morrison formation."

Drew nodded and drew out two small nets. "Until they've finished making that device Jack asked them, we're just going to have to make do with these."

"Worth a shot," Adrian muttered and accepted the net. After a couple tries, the two managed to get the hang of it and, after connecting the portal to the freshwater holding tanks, managed to get first the amphibians, then the fish, and finally the casterolimulus through the portal and to the safety of the park.

"And done," said Drew once he'd closed the portal, "A couple more for the tanks."

"Now what do we do?"

Drew was about to speak when the sound of a familiar screech filled the air. Drew and Adrian tensed up, listening intently.

"That sounds like the quetzalcoatlus we rescued yesterday," Adrian noted.

Drew smiled, "Well, let's go get him some company then."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Leon and the Denhams had approached another small clearing, which had a number of small animals gathered. Five large Komodo dragon-like lizards coloured similarly to Gila monsters were basking in the sun as they lounged upon a large rock, whilst ten smaller lizards with blueish black bodies, fiery orange scaled heads, and chocolate brown patches on the backs of their heads and necks scampered around in search of food. And at least three different species of mammal, two of which resembled opossums and the third of which resembled a mix between a rat and a Tasmanian devil, were likewise scattered throughout the clearing as they fought with each other for food. And coiled up on top of a large log were six dinilysia.

Leon immediately got to work pointing out each species and identifying them. "The monitor lizards are palaeosaniwa. The smaller lizards are chamops. The gray furred opossum-like mammals are alphadon. The reddish-brown ones with white faces and body patches are cimolestes. The Tasmanian devil rat hybrids are meniscoessus. And you probably recognise the dinilysia."

The Denhams nodded their heads. "These should be relatively easy to rescue," said Alice.

"Agreed," said Jack.

And sure enough, getting the smaller animals through the portal proved easy, with Jack taking care of all the reptiles while Alice and Leon worked together to lure the mammals through the portal with a mixture of recordings and food bait. Once all the animals in the clearing had been accounted for, Leon looked to Alice. "Now what?"

Alice had just started to look at her watch when the distinctive barking squawks of raptors filled the air several yards ahead of the trio. Jack smirked. "There's our answer."

The trio headed off to investigate the noise, eventually arriving at another clearing in time to find a pack of raptors feasting upon a dead pachycephalosaurus, covered in black and white feathers.

"Pectinodon," Jack whispered gleefully, "A troodont."

"Fascinating." Alice nodded her head. "I presume you've got a plan?"

Jack was just about to answer when a series of raptor squawking abruptly split the air from right in front of the two siblings. Flabbergasted, they looked ahead in time to see Leon standing in front of them, brandishing the broadcasting device as it finished playing its recording of the ornitholestes. The pectinodon snapped their heads up from the carcass, hissing in fury at the strange new noises.

Alice and Jack gaped at Leon, a surprised look on Alice's face and an enraged look on Jack's, as the entire pack of pectinodon charged towards them, only to end up rushing through the portal when Leon calmly summoned it right as the raptors were practically seconds away from reaching him and the Denhams. Once the last of the pectinodon had entered and the portal had closed, Leon turned to face the two siblings, lowering his trusty broadcasting device in the process. "How did I do?"

Alice nodded her head, seeming approving, whilst Jack, on the other hand, said, "Are you effing stupid?!"

Leon and Alice both glared irritably at Jack, before the former asked "And what makes you say that?"

Jack pointed angrily at the carcass. "You basically goaded them into attacking us!"

Leon raised his eyebrow. "Funny – isn't that what you did with the brachychampsa?"

Jack gave Leon a withering look. "Please leave the sarcasm to the experts." "Experts? Really." Leon placed the broadcasting device on the ground at his feet and folded his arms across his chest. "Consider us even."

Jack snarled, and clenched his fists. "You know you can't rely on that machine for ever."

"At least I'm working to improve my skills," Leon hissed, eyes narrowed, "And I'm making progress. Not that you'll admit to as much."

"Boys," Alice hissed, an irritated look on her face.

"Progress?," Jack snapped. "There's a difference between trying to improve and using something as a crutch, which is what you're doing."

"Better that than to swan-dive into a bloodbath," Leon snarled.

"First off," Jack said in a smug tone, "I did not 'swan dive' into that frenzy. I did a cannonball. There's a difference. And secondly, I knew what I was doing – I've worked with crocs before and I know that, with things they don't recognise, they keep their distance. I was an unfamiliar creature – that's what kept them back. And, also, that turtle is still alive – that's a success. Question my methods all you want, but I get results. You can't even last five minutes without tripping up and having one of us to bail you out."

"First off," Leon snarled, "not the point! Secondly, I only tripped up once!"

"While working here," Jack snarled, folding his arms across his chest. "But what about the other jobs you drifted through before coming here? They never lasted."

"I didn't get fired from any of them, if that's what you're insinuating" Leon growled. "I walked out because of extenuating circumstances. There's a difference."

"Same difference!" Jack chuckled, "Might I ask exactly what made Drew recommend you? All you are is a walking textbook with a gizmo. Besides that, what do you have?" Leon recoiled, unable to find an answer…

A sudden blast of loud noise caused them both to flinch. Once the noise had ended, Leon had barely any time to react before Alice slapped him in the face. Jack chuckled and said, "Serves you...", before Alice slapped him in the face as well. Cursing under his breath, he glared irritably at his sister. "What gives...?"

"That's enough" Alice snarled, stony-faced, "Can you not get along for one goddamn minute?"

Jack pointed his finger at Leon, narrow eyed glare on his face. "He started it."

"Oh really," Leon hissed, "Remind me. How, exactly?"

"You're the one who basically goaded the pectinodon into attacking us, before we could even agree on a plan!"

"Blame Drew and your sister. They told me I needed to start taking more initiative - I'm just following their advice."

"ENOUGH!"

Both boys looked back at Alice, who took a deep breath, and then exhaled in a rather violent sounding burst of air. "I don't care who started it! Just stop it! And if you still want to keep trying to kill each other, how about you at least wait until there isn't a giant fucking meteor!?"

Leon and Jack gulped. They'd completely forgotten that detail.

Alice sighed and wagged her finger at them both, "Now, I'll keep mum on this little incident for now. But if I catch you doing this again, I'll tell Drew. Are we clear?"

Leon and Jack nodded, "Crystal".

"Good." Alice checked her watch. "We've got about another hour. Let's see what we can find."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, after following the sounds, Drew and Adrian walked on nine Quetzalcoatlus assembled in a clearing, picking off a Triceratops carcass. As Drew and Adrian entered, the nearest Quetzalcoatlus sniffed the air and let out a hoarse squawk and the entire flock turned to look at them. Adrian turned to Drew and said, "What are we going to do?", to which the latter smirked, "Oh ye of little faith, I've got a plan."

Suddenly, Drew charged towards the Quetzalcoatlus and began blaring the horn at them, to which the pterosaurs began to hiss and squawk at him. Eventually, they all dived towards him, at which point, Drew set up the portal and the pterosaurs came diving through, moving as if a single entity. Drew turned to Adrian and smirked, "Let's get heading to the rendezvous point."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Leon, Jack and Alice were still walking through the forest, heading for the rendezvous point. As they walked through the forest, something would move through the undergrowth periodically, before they walked out into a clearing and heard a barking caw. The three turned to each other; something had been following them.

The caws got louder and louder as the bushes rustled, before a theropod dinosaur emerged in the clearing in front of them. It was about six feet long and covered in brown feathers, grading to white on the head, with only its eyes and its muzzle being bare. Jack looked closely – the theropod looked awfully familiar…

"Dromaeosaurus", Leon said, breathlessly, "We must have walked into their territory." Suddenly, the Dromaeosaurus threw back its head and cawed loudly; the three humans backed closer to each other as the undergrowth rustled all around them. Suddenly, several more burst out from different angles, surrounding them. However, the dromas were hesitating, as if wondering whether to attack.

During the standoff, Jack turned to Alice, "I think I know one of them." Alice gave her brother a perplexed look, "What?". Jack nodded, "I was trapped in the log with one of them – the leader. I recognise him." Alice stepped back, "OK…" The lead dromaeosaur sniffed Jack, an intent look of realisation in its eyes. Jack smiled and threw a bunch of jerky in the air, whilst Alice opened the portal. The raptors dived after the meat, moving as if a unified entity. After the last one had gone through, Alice shut off the portal.

. . . . .

Kyle couldn't help but shake his head side to side in bemusement at the sight of the dromaeosaurs and quetzalcoatlus. "Three raptor species in one mission. I'm actually kind of impressed."

"Let's just hope these guys aren't as difficult as the pectinodon," one of the keepers amongst the holding pen team grumbled.

"Forget them," said another, pointing at the quetzalcoatlus. "Who's the poor sap who'll have to handle THOSE?"

As if responding to the statement, one of the pterosaurs let out a loud shriek, which reverberated painfully through the air. Kyle and the holding pen team winced, several of them placing their hands against their ears, with even the team at the holding tanks covering their ears. "Just run me over now," Hugo grumbled. "I hear you, man," Aaron agreed, wincing as he kept his own hands pressed against his ears.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the Cretaceous period, the entire rescue team was gathered at the entrance to the valley. "We've probably got a couple of hours before the meteorite strikes," said Drew. "So we need to make that time count."

"Agreed," said the rest of the team in unison.

"And I know where to start." Drew pointed at a series of dinosaur footprints in the dirt. "The herd's regrouped and headed thataway."

The rest of the team breathed out a sight, "That's good news," Leon stated. Drew smiled awkwardly, "However…", before he pointed at a series of large three-toed footprints. "The T-rex have followed the herd, too, so just be careful. Look for any surprises…" Drew suddenly noticed that Jack was pointing in the distance, looking disturbed, "Umm… Drew…"

Before Drew could ask what was going on, the ground began to rumble. Suddenly, a massive herd of herbivorous dinosaurs tore down the hill, pursued by the four tyrannosaurs. Instantaneously, Drew snapped into action. "Everyone," he yelled, "We need to get into position – head to the bottom of the path! If we can beat them there, we can get them through the portal!"

Galvanized into action, the entire team hurriedly rushed ahead of the stampede, hoping to get the herd through the portal before they could scatter. As they got closer to their destination, the bellowing of the herd and hisses of the tyrannosaurs were audible.

By sheer luck, the five adventurers arrived at the bottom of the path minutes ahead of the stampeding dinosaurs. Heart in his mouth, Drew whipped out his portal remote and summoned the portal. When the portal opened, all the herbivores started barrelling right through, too preoccupied with escaping the predators to care about this new object. Unfortunately, an old ornithomimus had lagged, before the large female tyrannosaur grabbed it, held it in the air and shook it violently, eventually killing it. Their kill successful, the pack stalked off.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back at the park, Kyle and the holding pen team were working to contain the massive herd of herbivores whilst Linda was closely watching the injured male quetzalcoatlus. So far, he was doing rather well, and was currently exploring the recovery aviary he was in. She nodded her head and looked to her team, "Good work everyone," she said. "So far he appears to be on the mend, but let's keep a close eye on him, just in case."

The rest of the assembled veterinary staff members nodded. Little did anyone know that something big was about to happen in another recovery pen several yards away - a pen which was currently occupied by the male torvosaurus, who was having a routine checkup.

However, the machine on the pen's door designed to serve as both a lock and a source for an electrical shock system had been accidentally shut down when the tip of the pterosaur's wing had happened to brush up against it while it was being escorted down the path to its own recovery pen. And the torvosaurus was now awake...and placing its head against the door, clearly curious as to why it was no longer feeling any resistance...

. . . . .

After an hour following the t-rex family, they finally came to a stop near a small cave. As the team watched from behind a nearby boulder, with Leon occasionally looking nervously towards the sky every now and again, the female t-rex opened her jaws and dropped the ornithomimus corpse in front of the cave entrance. The two adolescents dived on the carcass, beginning to feed, under their parents' watchful gaze.

The team couldn't but smile at the surprising domesticity of this scene. After several minutes of eating, the two youngsters lifted their heads, letting out a warbling call in unison towards their parents, who joined them in feeding.

"It's kinda like watching Broken Jaw and his family," Leon stated.

"Yeah," Jack agreed.

Drew nodded his head, whilst watching the rex family continue their feast. "Let's let them finish eating," he stated. "Once they're finished, we should be trying to get them through the portal."

The rest of the team nodded their heads, before Leon suddenly looked back up towards the sky, and his smile faded. "Guys…" he stated, clearly nervous.

"What?" Drew asked, as the rest of the team looked up, as did the t-rex family, seeing the light in the atmosphere streak across the sky before dissipating. For a few minutes, everything was calm, before, suddenly, the land began to shake and a deafening roar echoed through the atmosphere.

Adrian turned to Alice and whispered, "This is bad," he whispered. "Really?" Alice whispered back sarcastically. "What gave it away?"

The roar suddenly transitioned into the roar of a hurricane-force wind and, within mere seconds, the winds began to intensify. The tyrannosaurs hissed, shrieked and growled in alarm at the apocalypse going on around them, whilst the rescue team struggled to remain upright and to avoid swallowing dust.

"This is insane!" Jack howled.

"No shit, Sherlock," Alice shrieked.

"Join the club," Leon hissed.

"Now might be a good time for the portal," Adrian snarled.

"Working on it," Drew growled as he struggled to activate the portal. However, eventually, he succeeded, and the vortex hung lazily in the air, "There! It's open!"

Eager to help, Leon ran in front of the portal, drawing out a meat sandwich and waving it through the air while yelling as loud as he could to get the tyrannosaurs' attention. It was the juveniles who reacted first, bolting towards Leon, who hurriedly ran through the portal with the two youngsters on his heels. The two adults, following close behind them, vanished through the portal at around the same time that Drew, Adrian, and the Denhams entered the portal themselves. Mere seconds after the two adult t-rex completely vanished into the portal, the vortex closed. Just in time

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at the park itself, the rescue team was lucky enough to make it to the ladder leading to the upper catwalk surrounding the large holding pen they'd appeared in and climb up to safety while the t-rex family was still disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. Kyle nodded in approval at both the rescue team making it to safety and the sight of the mighty tyrannosaurs, as was everyone else.

"Good work," Kyle said, to which Drew grinned. "Was there ever any doubt?", as the rest of the rescue team rolled their eyes.

"Nonetheless," Nikolai broke in, a firm look on his face. "These creatures are not to be taken lightly. We must handle them with the utmost care."

"Naturally," Jack responded dryly, resulting in a raised eyebrow from both Nikolai and Colette.

"Well no time like the present," Kyle said… Suddenly, the alarms went off, and everyone's communicators started ringing. Nikolai was the first to respond. "Koshkin, over?"

"Red alert!" Linda's voice screamed in, "The male torvosaurus is loose! I repeat, the male torvosaurus is loose!"

As if to emphasize the fact, the snarling hiss of a large theropod split the air from several miles away. The t-rex reflexively lifted their heads and let out loud, crocodilian bellows.

In an instant, Nikolai and Kyle moved to act. "Red alert!" Nikolai roared. "All able personnel must move to recapture the escaped animal at once and all others must move to the nearest safe location immediately!"

"Everyone get ready," Kyle growled. "We have an escaped animal on the loose! We need to find it as soon as possible!" If it got out of the park, it would reach the Everglades and finding it would be impossible. The staff all scurried into action, with a skeleton crew being left to tend to the t-rex family and herbivores.

. . . . .

The male torvosaurus stealthily moved towards the junction at which the paths leading to the main staff-related buildings met, yellow eyes narrowed, its leathery scales shining in the sun. It was aware that the agonizing pain in its jaws that had been present before blacking out was now no longer present. It sniffed the air curiously – aware of a thousand new scents. Its thoughts were interrupted when, suddenly, a blaring, high-pitched shrieking sound cut through the air – from a source that it couldn't detect. It snapped its head irritably, letting out a low snarl, before it went charging down the path, yellow eyes staring intently and vicious teeth shining in the sunlight.

. . . . .

"I've got visual on the target," Willoby's voice said on the communicators. "It's heading right towards the entrance!"

"That's bad," Leon whimpered. At that moment, he and Drew were at the area were in a jeep, with Drew driving and Leon in the front passenger's seat.

"There's an understatement," Drew mumbled. However, his eyes widened, and he smirked darkly. "But I might just have an idea."

Leon raised his eyebrow, nervous "OK, I've seen that look before. Why do I get the feeling that you're going to do something insane?"

Drew chuckled. "You know me all too well"

"That's not exactly rea..."

Without warning, Drew gunned the gas pedal, swerved the jeep in a direction that would allow them to take a very bumpy shortcut from their current location to where Drew now planned to go, hopefully in time to prevent the torvosaurus from getting out.

Leon shrieked as the Jeep hit a pothole, briefly jerking him against the seatbelt. Rather sadly, it just got worse as the Jeep rattled chaotically as Drew tore down the uneven terrain like a mainiac. "Drew… what are you doing?"

. . . . .

Several minutes later, the torvosaurus was standing near the 'Main Street Entrance' zone, the collapsed remains of what would, one day, be a gift shop lying in the dust behind it as it scanned the area, equal parts irritated and curious. Eventually, it noticed the large metal gate ahead of it attached to a large wall – what was behind it?

With a snarl, the male torvosaurus briefly crouched and then charged towards the gate, as the shrieks continued to split the air around it, but at that moment it didn't care; its curiosity was the greater priority. And, besides, getting away from the sound was important.

Within minutes, it had reached the large circular area directly between the gate and 'Main Street' proper, its right foot coming down on what would, one day, be a fountain. It moved closer and closer into the park.

Suddenly, a loud, crocodilian bellow echoed through the air and the torvosaurus skidded to a stop, scanning the air in confusion. That other noise...what was it? Was it its mate? Was it a rival? A different creature entirely? The male torvosaurus snarled in irritation and confusion – where had that new sound come from?

As the sound echoed again, the beast shook its head, bellowed, and started charging away from the gate and towards the noise. Perhaps, investigating this strange noise might prove fruitful...

The strong scent of raw meat suddenly came upon its nose, and it let out another raspy shriek-roar as it proceeded to start running even faster. One scent at least was familiar – food.

. . . . .

Several minutes earlier, on a dirt road near what would one day be known as Main Street, Leon slipped his recording device into his backpack, zipped it up, and placed it back over his shoulders before drawing out his communicator and calling Drew, who had abruptly dropped him off before driving off in the opposite direction.

"Umm, Drew," Leon said, nervously, "I've gotten its attention, and it's heading my way. What now?"

"Spray yourself with that device I gave you."

Leon raised his eyebrow in confusion, before drawing an unusual looking device Drew had given him out of a side pocket. "The thing that looks like a weird air freshener?"

"Exactly!"

"How's that supposed to help?!"

"JUST DO IT!"

"Sheesh, ok."

Leon pointed the device at himself, pressing the button...only to be engulfed a gigantic cloud of foul-smelling red smoke. Briefly disoriented, he dropped the device, "What.. what's going on?" he howled.

"It smells like rotting meat – it's bait for the carnivores," Drew explained from the other end of the communicator. "They do something similar with sharks. Pretty cool huh?"

Leon was about to retort when he heard the torvosaurus let out its raspy shriek-roar once again before seemingly doubling its efforts at reaching the area. "Not particularly," he grumbled.

Ignoring him, Drew continued, "All you have to do now is run and try not to get eaten. The rest of us will take care of things from there. Good luck buddy!"

Leon went rigid, his face turning pale, before lifting his communicator, "…What?

A second later, Leon turned to see the of the male torvosaurus charging right at him! "Crap," he muttered as he bolted off, the torvosaurus following him.

"Like I said," Drew's voice said from the communicator. "Just keep him busy for the next 20 yards or so – we'll take care of the rest." "Easy for you to say," Leon said, quietly, as the Torvosaurus pursued him.

For what felt like an hour Leon ran as fast as he could, the torvosaurus remaining close behind the entire time, occasionally snapping at the back of his shirt. It was a miracle he didn't stumble or fall.

Eventually, he happened to notice a large container lying directly ahead of him – a possible escape route. He ran through the corridor and out the other end...only to come to a stop at the sound of doors slamming shut and the dinosaur's indignant cries. He looked behind him to find two metal doors had suddenly slid into position and sealed the container shut, leaving the theropod trapped inside it.

"No harm done, I see."

Leon briefly jolted in surprise and turned to see Drew standing nearby, smirking and flashing a double thumbs-up. The rest of the rescue team, plus Kyle, Nikolai, and various other keepers and security guards, came out of the foliage behind Drew, gathering around what Leon now realized was in fact one of the specially designed transport containers.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the dazed Leon glaring at the smirking Drew. "Man, the look on your face," he chuckled, amusement barely hidden, to which Leon glowered at him. Adrian and Alice, however, looked nervously into each other's eyes. While they weren't going to admit it, they weren't comfortable with what Drew had done.

. . . . .

Two days later, once the dust had settled, all the animals rescued during the t-rex mission were now living happily in their brand-new homes within the appropriately-titled Hell Creek. To start, positioned within several feet of the designated 'entrance' to this exhibit zone was a large building designed to serve as a recreation of the Cretaceous Hell Creek forests, where all the smaller animals now lived. Three of the paddocks, containing the leptoceratops, thescelosaurus, and Trierarchuncus, had minimal barriers separating the animals and any humans, staff or otherwise, that would later visit the building.

The brodavis flock also lived in this building, with a small aviary themed to look like a Cretaceous riverside – they shared the exhibit with the basilemys and axestemys – the only exception was the basilemys Jack had saved from the brachychampsa float, now named Basil, who was being treated for damage to her shell in the vet offices.

Three separate tanks nearby contained the habrosaurus, palaeobrachtus and Scapherpeton; for the latter two, the tank allowed them to go on land. A larger tank nearby contained the various fish brought back, each species swimming around without paying each other any attention while the casterolimulus crawled around into the tank's sandy bottom.

Meanwhile, two separate paddocks served as home to the flock of anzu wyliei and the pack of acheroraptor, the former resuming their vigorous mating displays, whilst the latter were either searching for food or climbing through the trees.

The five palaeosaniwa were all either basking or searching for food, whilst in a smaller exhibit nearby, the ten chamops were exploring their new territory. The seven dinilysia, meanwhile, had all been given a specially designed exhibit near the palaeosaniwa. Jack had spent a lot of time working with the female he'd rescued from the log, who he'd named Kaa.

Four other land paddocks near the back entrance of the building, with burrows and underground viewing, served as home to the four rescued species of mammal, all of which were currently scouting out their new homes.

And finally, a large pit was in the very centre of the building, and had a bridge built over it for staff and future guests. Within it was a large lake divided into four portions for the four rescued floats of crocodilian.

Outside the Hell Creek forest building now served as home for all the larger herbivorous dinosaurs. The ornithomimus flock were currently milling about in the paddock, squawking and warbling to keep in touch. The triceratops and torosaurus herds were browsing together in the very centre of the clearing, with the juvenile triceratops resuming their play fights. The pachycephalosaurus herd were browsing nearby, as two younger males play sparred.

The edmontosaurus herd was currently browsing nearby, with the matriarch Carina browsing calmly, completely oblivious to the splashing from the playing juveniles nearby, whilst the ankylosaurs were peacefully browsing for food on the bushes near the edge of the trees. Towering above them all was the alamosaurus, who had been named Custer, who was calmly browsing for food head and shoulders above the other animals. Whilst he seemed fine with being on his own, the park were making plans to bring back more at some point.

A massive aviary nearby currently served as home to the quetzalcoatlus flock. At that moment, all ten of the pterosaurs were exploring their new territory, waiting for food to arrive. But even so, the keepers made sure to continue keeping watch over the now-recovered male, whom Linda had named Cirrus, and another male named Zephyr. Over the past two days, the two had been squabbling frequently, since Cirrus had been brought into the aviary.

Finally, three separate large paddocks near herbivore paddock served as home to the three species of larger carnivorous dinosaur. In one of the paddocks, the entire dromaeosaurus pack was heartily feasting upon a cow carcass, with the alpha male Duke and his mate Cassie feeding alongside their three subordinates. Next door, the rescued pectinodon were either exploring their new territory or resting in the sun.

The t-rex family, housed in the largest paddock, appeared in quite good spirits. At that very moment, in the thick forest within their paddock, the adult female, named Rexy, was happily feasting upon a large cow carcass alongside her mate Tyrannor, their son Terrence, and their slightly older daughter Matilda. And over the course of this feast, Tyrannor and Rexy only briefly paused once just long enough to let out their territorial bellows in response to the distant sound of the grumbling bellows made in the distance by the alpha male and female of the allosaurus fragilis pack. The male torvosaurus had been returned to his paddock, with security keeping a close eye on him.

The park staff, now that the monumental mission was over, were appreciating the lull. At that moment, all the various staff members were hard at work on their respective duties.

Jack had begun training the three new dromaeosaur species; hoping that he'd be able to get the raptors to view him as their mutual alpha. Jack was particularly interested in the dromas, especially Duke, the alpha male.

Alice, meanwhile, was also in the Hell Creek forest building, helping Khatin and some of the research division in behavioural observations on the Trierarchuncus. Adrian, meanwhile, was currently amongst the keepers watching the quetzalcoatlus, particularly focusing on Cirrus and Zephyr.

Leon, meanwhile, spent his morning break period observing the new arrivals, and recording their vocalisations. He was about to start his keeper duties over when he got a call from Drew asking him to meet up in his friend's office.

When Leon arrived, Drew was sitting at his desk, a wide smile on his face.

"You wanted to see me?" Leon asked as he closed the office door behind him.

Drew nodded his head and gestured to an unoccupied chair, "Take a seat."

Leon did so, but not without a slightly wary look on his face, "OK, I know that look," he stated, "Theodore's already called and told you what he wants us to rescue for the next mission. Hasn't he?"

"We have a winner ladies and gentlemen," Drew responded, a cheeky grin on his face.

Leon sighed, and said "Well between you and me, I'm kinda hoping that we're not about to go after another giant carnivore. After the torvosaurus escape…"

"Understandable," Drew stated, nodding his head in agreement. "But don't you worry, no big theropods this time." He looked back at Leon once more, smile back on his face. "Even better, since we're building an entire building for the creatures we'll be bringing back, we'll all have at least two whole weeks from now to prepare."

Leon whistled silently, clearly impressed. "An entire building? Sounds like we're getting ambitious."

"You could say that."

Leon raised his eyebrow, "In that case, enlighten me."

Drew raised his eyebrow, feigning reluctance. "You really want to know?"

Leon's eyes narrowed, "OK, I know that look. What's the target?"

Drew chuckled and opened his mouth to speak…

About a minute later, everyone within 50 feet of Drew's office was surprised when they heard Leon's voice quite loudly shouting, "ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!"

* Acheroraptor temertyorum (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Alamosaurus sanjuanensis (1; 1 adult; 1 male)

* Alphadon marshi (26; all adults; 13 male, 13 female)

* Ankylosaurus magniventris (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)

* Anzu wyliei (21; all adults; 7 male, 14 female)

* Axestemys splendida (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Basilemys sinuosa (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Borealosuchus sternbergii (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Brachychampsa montana (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Brodavis baileyi (18; all adults; 9 male, 9 female)

* Casterolimulus kletti (17; all adults; 8 male, 9 female)

* Chamops segnis (10; all adults; 4 male, 6 female)

* Champsosaurus sp. (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)

* Cimolestes inscisus (17; all adults; 7 male, 10 female)

* Denversaurus schlessmani (6; all adults; 2 male, 4 female)

* Didelphodon vorax (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Dinilysia patagonica (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)

* Dromaeosaurus albertensis (5; 3 adults, 2 adolescents; 2 male, 3 female)

* Edmontosaurus annectens (36; 27 adults, 9 youngsters; 17 male, 19 female)

* Habrosaurus dilates (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Lepisosteus sp. (9; all adults; 3 male, 6 female)

* Leptoceratops gracilis (16; 9 adults, 7 younsters; 7 male, 9 female)

* Lonchidion selachos (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Meniscoessus robustus (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Melvius thomasi (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)

* Myledaphus pustulosus (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)

* Ornithomimus velox (23; all adults; 11 male, 12 female)

* Paleopsephurus wilsoni (10; all adults; 4 male, 6 female)

* Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis (18; 12 adults, 6 youngsters; 6 male, 12 female)

* Palaeobatrachus occidentalis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Palaeosaniwa canadensis (5; 2 male, 3 female)

* Pectinodon bakkeri (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Quetzalcoatlus northropi (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Scapherpeton tectum (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Thescelosaurus neglectus (27; 18 adults, 9 youngsters; 13 male, 14 female)

* Thoracosaurus neocesariensis (19; all adults; 9 male, 10 female)

* Torosaurus latus (20; 11 adults , 9 youngsters; 5 male, 20 female)

* Trierarchuncus prairiensis (20: all adults; 10 male, 10 female)

* Triceratops horridus (20; 11 adults, 9 youngsters; 13 male, 14 female)

* Tyrannosaurus rex (4; 2 adults, 2 youngsters; 2 male, 2 female)

Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

The rescue team travel back to when insects ruled the world.

(A massive millipede-like creature suddenly rears up from the ground in a large swamp, noticeably startling a nearby Drew, Adrian, and Leon.)

Where they'll find several big surprises.

(A small green and red lizard-like animal scampers hurriedly across the swamp ground...only for a massive black spider to suddenly land on it from above.)

But could their seventh mission somehow prove when their luck runs out?

(A massive fire rages around a clearing in the swamp in which a large jeep is positioned in the center and very clearly having difficulty starting.)

All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Alien Empire!