Chapter 7: Into the Jungle

Zack slowly started to wake. When the hazy fog of sleep had cleared from his mind and he started to think, he was aware that he was in a different position than he was before. The last thing he remembered he was sitting cross-legged—now he was lying on his side. The velociraptor he had met yesterday was not in view… but there was something very warm behind him. And the warm being was more than just behind him, it had its arms on him and a leg on top of him. Zack looked at the clawed hands that held him.

He tried to move to get a good look at Zara but the second he moved too much she held him in place.

"Hey, Zara. Lemme up."

He only got a few unintelligible mumbles as a response. The raptor was still half asleep. After the human started struggling again Zara woke up.

"What do you want to get up so badly for?"

"There's sunlight out. I'm hungry."

Zara groaned. She did not want to get up yet. She was far too comfortable. The human was a great source of warmth. She hadn't slept this well in a long time, despite the wound on her foot.

"Fine." She finally released him from her iron grip. He got up and looked out the broken window. "Are the soldier bugs still out there?" Zara didn't believe they would still be around but asked anyway.

"No. They're all gone."

"Any meat left?"

"No. It just looks like bones to me."

"So much for an easy breakfast." Zara slowly stood up, testing out putting weight on her injured foot. It was sore but it felt like it had healed well over the night, though Zara knew she probably wouldn't be one hundred percent for a few more days.

"Looks safe enough." Zack said as Zara came over to see for herself.

Zara sniffed at the air. "Yeah, we can go."

The human opened the door and the pair left the bathysphere, carefully making their way down the pile of trash it was on top of.

"Where'd all those extra soldier bugs come from yesterday? I only saw the three at first but there were more that killed those two carnivores. I would like to think I'm not blind and missed over half of the giant scorpion-things."

"They live underground. They pop up right out of the ground to ambush prey. They live beneath this area."

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?"

"How was I to know you didn't know that? You were in the junkyard. I figured your old pack might have cared to mention there were terrible things living underground on the outskirts."

"Nope. They never said a word about it to me."

"Well now you know."

"Isn't it dangerous for us to be walking around here then?"

"Us? No. You usually gotta be really loud to entice the soldier bugs to burst out from underground. We're both light on our feet. I would have mentioned something if you were being overly noisy but you weren't. With the exception of that one time, but that was an accident."

"Oh. So, what are we gonna do for food?"

Zara went over and picked at the skeletons of the dead ceratosaurus. The soldier bugs had picked the bones clean, there was nothing left for her to eat. "I dunno. I can wait though."

"I'm hungry."

"You still have those worms of yours, don't you?"

"They won't be enough."

"I don't think I'm well enough to hunt… at least not on my own. Not much to hunt around here anyway."

"I can just scavenge food. Could we go back to that train car? I can get some more food there." Zack knew eating nothing but candy and junk food would be bad for him and ultimately not very filling but he knew where the food was and wanted to be out of the area quickly since learning the soldier bugs could pop out of the ground at any moment.

"Sure."

They backtracked to the train car. Fear of the soldier bugs had made Zack more aware of his surroundings. Near the train car he found a dusty old black backpack he hadn't noticed before. He took it for himself. Zack made sure to put plenty of snacks in his new backpack in case he didn't get any more meals for the day. When he slipped the backpack around his back he noticed his exposed arm from the side of his jacket that no longer had a sleeve. His arm was still red, though it didn't itch as much as before.

With his pack full Zack went about eating breakfast. He tried offering Zara various treats but she rejected them all. When the human had enough they turned around and started walking again.

"Zara, where are we going, exactly?" Zack felt stupid for not asking this sooner. He figured they were going back to her home but he had no idea what a raptor might call home.

"To my pack's nest."

"With other raptors?"

"Of course. What? You think I live by myself?"

"No. I didn't think about it much at all, really. Do you think they might attack me?"

"Not as long as you stay with me."

"Okay. How many raptors are we talking about here?"

"You'll see when we get there." Zara liked Zack, though she knew it was stupid to give the human specifics on her pack's strength, especially since he was going to see for himself soon enough.

In the distance Zack saw that the dry desolation of the outskirts didn't go on forever. There was a hint of green on the horizon. It looked like they were heading towards a jungle.

"What's your home dimension like?" Zara asked.

"Well it's…" Zack had to stop and think for a second. He wasn't sure where or how to start on describing what his home dimension was like.

"It's what?"

"Kind of a terrible place, actually." Zack had come to a decision. Thinking about home and all the things that had gone through his head, he decided to be honest.

"Terrible how?"

"For starters, all the dinosaurs are extinct. And since meeting you, I've learned that dinosaurs are awesome—way more awesome than I could ever have imagined. Even if some want to eat me this is just too cool. Only humans are capable of speaking where I come from. It's actually really boring. And before you ask—no we don't eat each other. There are animals and plants we eat." Zack remembered some of what he had told the members of the Last Remnant, he could just tell Zara what he had told them.

"Only humans can talk and no dinosaurs… it does sound terrible… and boring."

"Well, the humans make it less boring by dividing into factions and trying to kill each other."

"I take it humans are the dominant species then?"

"Yeah. Who's the dominant species here?"

Zara thought for a moment. That was indeed a good question. "I'm not sure. I don't think any one species is dominant over the others. Whoever is winning kinda goes in cycles." At the current point in time the humans of the Lost Land were doing very well, but Zara didn't want to admit that to Zack. She feared that if he knew that he might go and try to join with one of the human groups. The velociraptor could kill him if it came to that but she really didn't want to.

As they reached the edge of the jungle the ocean of dead-brown dirt gave way to various bushes and shrubs. As they went further in the dusty boulders and scrap was replaced by vibrant plant life.

Zara led the human through the easier paths that weren't clogged up with so many trees. They were taking a risk as they faced a greater chance of running into larger herbivores or carnivores where the flora wasn't so dense but it was a chance Zara was willing to take. She wanted to make it back to the nest before nightfall. She knew humans had weak eyesight and didn't want Zack meeting a bunch of new raptors in the dark.

Up ahead Zara saw what she had been dreading. In a large clearing in front of them there was a shallow lake. Around the lake was a mixed herd of stegosaurus, parasaurolophus and triceratops. It was a nightmare herd for velociraptors: the stegosaurus could defend from behind, the triceratops from the front, and the parasaurolophus were good all-around rumblers. Though it wasn't as if Zara would dare try to take on any of the herbivores by herself anyway. They'd be fine as long as they gave the herd a wide berth—but that option disappeared when the human bolted forward.

"This is amazing!" Zack was hardly an expert on dinosaurs but he recognized the ones before him immediately. With a small head, large body with bony plates going down the back and a spiked tail it was hard to confuse a stegosaurus with anything else. Parasaurolophus was easy to distinguish from other hadrosaurs from the giant snorkel-like structure atop its head. The three-horned triceratops was one of the best-known dinosaurs from Zack's dimension.

"Zack!" Zara quietly hissed. She didn't want to be too loud and alert the large dinosaurs to her presence. "Come back here you idiot!" The human obviously didn't hear her. He had been cooperative so far and she didn't believe he was willfully ignoring her.

She couldn't believe what he was doing. He was going right up to them!

"Hello! I don't mean to bother you but…" Zack tried to talk to one of the stegosaurus. The massive creature looked at the human with its tiny eyes. Uninterested, the stegosaurus turned and went back to eating some ferns near the lake.

Zara couldn't believe what she was seeing: the idiot was trying to talk to the herbivores. Though an even greater surprise was that the herbivores didn't see him as a threat. If she had wandered over there they would have attacked on sight. She didn't understand why they didn't attack him; she had seen their kind attack humans before. There must have been something different about Zack.

Zara dared to sneak a little closer. She hoped the human would pay attention to her this time. "Zack! Get back here!"

The human turned his head in her direction. He had heard the velociraptor but he didn't make out what she was saying.

"Come back here. Get away from them!"

Zack still couldn't hear what Zara was saying so he decided to walk over to her.

"What are you doing hiding back here?"

"Follow me and be quiet." Zara slowly backed away from the area; Zack was casually following her.

The velociraptor led them into a more congested part of the jungle—far away from the large, dangerous herbivores.

"What is the matter with you?" Zara turned to Zack when she was sure they were a safe distance away.

"What do you mean?"

"What in the Lost Land possessed you to walk up to those dinosaurs like that?"

"I'd never seen them before. I wanted to get a good look and try to introduce myself."

There were so many things wrong with that statement Zara had no idea where to begin. "Get a good look at them? They're huge! You can see them just fine from a distance! They could'a attacked you!"

"They're just plant-eaters. Why would they attack me?"

"Normally they would have. I've seen their kind attack humans before."

"They didn't do anything to me. They ignored me."

"Yes. I saw that. I'm not blind."

"Why did they ignore me?"

"I have no idea." Zara started to walk and the human obediently followed. They still needed to get to the nest and they had wasted a great deal of time.

"Well, I'm glad they didn't attack me but they didn't bother to say hello either."

"What? Why would they say hello?"

"Why not?" Zack asked.

"Why would you think you could understand them?" Zara now at least understood why Zack was trying to talk to them.

"I don't see why I couldn't." Zack shrugged his shoulders. "Why can't I understand them? I can understand you."

"They can't talk, they're just animals."

"Maybe they can and you just can't understand them?"

"I can understand plenty. They just can't talk."

"Alright." Zack didn't want to argue the issue. It didn't make any sense to him that he could speak with a velociraptor just fine but couldn't communicate with a stegosaurus, parasaurolophus or triceratops. With all the other things he didn't know about the Lost Land this was likely going to be a mystery he would have to figure out later.

Conversation became sparse after the encounter with the herbivore herd and became non-existent when Zara told Zack he needed to be quiet. They were getting close to the pack's nest and Zara didn't want any of her pack staging any sneak attacks on the human. She needed to focus and listen in case any other raptors were nearby, luckily there didn't seem to be anyone around.

The pair finally came to a stop in front of a rugged plateau. The pale brown rock was covered in overgrown green vines.

Suddenly a head poked through some of the vines. Zack recognized the long, angular face as belonging to a velociraptor. The head suddenly retreated into the vines and a second later the raptor leapt out from the vines and landed on the mossy ground before Zara and Zack.

The velociraptor was larger than Zara. Gray scales were cut by black stripes. Green eyes stared at the human intruder.

"Zara, you brought a human here?" The gray velociraptor bared his teeth.

"This one can talk with us!" The lavender raptor beamed.

"You're joking."

"Am not. Zack, say something."

"Something." Zack wasn't intending to be a smartass but he really couldn't think of something to say and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Big deal. Humans talk all the time."

"You missed the important part. This one just listened to me…"

The gray raptor was still for a moment.

"Onyx, this is Zack Skellington. Zack this is Onyx."

"Hi, Onyx."

Onyx stood in silence, his jaw slightly moving as if he were trying to speak but couldn't. Finally he found his voice. "Ice! Get over here! Zara brought a human!"

A moment later and a second velociraptor jumped through the tangled vines that ran down the side of the plateau.

The white raptor with blue stripes immediately closed in on the human, her clawed hands raised up, ready to seize him.

"I haven't had human in a good long while."

"Back off!" Zara hissed and stood in-between Zack and Ice. "This human is not for eating!"

"What are you babbling about? Of course it's for eating! What else would you do with a human?"

"Talk with him," Zara answered.

The white raptor froze for a second before she started laughing. "Ha ha! Yeah right! The day a human speaks to me is the day I—"

Onyx cut Ice off before she said something she'd regret. "The human can talk to us. I heard it myself!"

"What?"

"Hello," Zack said.

"Uhh… you can understand us?" Ice asked dumbly.

"Yes."

Ice inhaled deeply before… "Hey everyone! Get over here! Zara found a talking human!"

Four more raptors came bounding out of the vines. This was precisely what Zara was afraid of. Apparently the whole pack was at the nest. They didn't even have any eggs or hatchlings to look after; her pack was just full of lazy raptors. She was hoping there were maybe one or two raptors lingering around so she could introduce Zack to the pack by degree instead of everyone at once.

"What is it?" An orange raptor with black stripes asked. His sleepy eyes attested to the fact that Ice's yelling had just woken him up.

"Didn't you just here me? Zara brought a human to the nest!"

"So?"

"She brought a live human! That can talk to us!"

"Prove it," the orange raptor demanded.

"Yes, I can understand all of you," as Zack spoke all the raptors went silent.

"What the… Say something else," a raptor with light magenta scales and dark violet stripes ordered.

"Something else."

"It can talk! And it obeys!" The magenta raptor yelped.

Suddenly a green raptor with dark green stripes burst forward, claws raised. Zara snarled and tackled him before the green raptor reached Zack.

Zack stepped back. This was not going well. It looked like Zara was suddenly locked in a death battle… all because of him.

"Moss, that's enough!" The orange raptor yelled. When the green raptor didn't respond the orange one slammed into him and knocked him over. "I said that's enough, Moss!"

Moss hissed. "It's a human! What are you all waiting for?! We should kill it now before it kills us!"

"Talon, he's friendly," Zara said to the orange raptor. "I brought him here. I wouldn't have done so if I thought he was a threat. He's harmless."

A black raptor with broad green stripes slowly walked towards the human.

"Vertigo, if you—"

"Don't worry, Zara. I'm not going to hurt him." The raptor started to sniff at Zack. "This human smells… different. Though it's hard to tell with your scent all over him." Vertigo eyed Zara.

"So… what are we going to do?" The magenta raptor asked.

"You are not going to do anything, Amethyst. I am going to go get the Alpha. It is her responsibility to decide what we do about this." Talon turned around and leapt back up into the vines, disappearing.

The magenta raptor—Amethyst tried to move closer to Zack but she was impeded by Zara. "Back off!"

"What? How come Vertigo gets to see the human but I can't?"

"You can see him just fine from there." Amethyst was Moss' mate and Zara didn't trust her, not after the way Moss had been acting.

Talon returned back through the vines, this time another raptor accompanied him. All the velociraptors Zack had seen were rather… colorful but this one took the cake. It looked like someone had taken a blue raptor and dunked her upside down into a vat of oil. Her head, neck and back was a rather nice shade of black. She had a couple of dark blue stripes on her head and her eyes were a brilliant green. On the top of her neck and shoulders were a few yellow stripes punctured by smaller green stripes. Her claws were jet-black.

The black-blue raptor shook the remaining sleep from her eyes. She had been in such a deep, peaceful sleep that she hadn't been awoken by Ice's earlier call.

"Talon tells me you brought a human that can talk to us. Zara, explain yourself."

"Alpha Crystal," Zara bowed her head. "I found him yesterday."

"Is that what you were doing yesterday? Playing with your new human friend?" Talon sniggered.

Zara knew better than to shoot her mouth off to the pack's beta, at least not right now. Not when she was trying to help the human out. "He came out of the junkyard. He told me he's a foreigner. The pack that took him in was attacked. He managed to escape a sludge beast before he found me."

"And you think that makes it okay to bring him back here?" Crystal took a couple of steps closer to Zara and bared her teeth in a display of dominance. "What if this is a human trick to find our nest?"

"It's no trick! This human is different! He can understand us and talk with us! He means us no harm. He's never even seen velociraptors until yesterday. I'm the first one he's ever met."

"A human that can communicate with us? And doesn't attack us on sight? Such a thing is impossible."

"It's true," Vertigo spoke up. "The human understands us. And he has not acted aggressive."

Crystal turned her head towards Zack. "Come, human. Talk to me."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

The black and blue raptor nearly fell backwards in shock. "You can talk!"

"Yes I can."

It took a moment for the leader of the pack to regain her composure. She thought this was going to be some elaborately annoying prank but it turned out to be completely real.

"I am Crystal, Alpha of the Shattered Sickle Pack. Who are you and where do you come from?"

"My name is Zack Skellington. I come from an alternate dimension. I've only lived in the Lost Land for a few days. I came through a portal but it closed and I have no way back home."

Crystal cocked her head to one side and started to circle around the human. Zack stood in place. Crystal forced Zara to back away a few paces.

"Why can you understand us?"

"I don't know. It was a complete surprise to me."

The alpha raptor finally stopped circling and stood right in the human's face. "What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know how to get back home and the group that took me in is dead. Zara seemed to think I might work something out with you guys and I might stay here."

Crystal turned to glare at Zara.

"What? Having a human on our side would be helpful."

"I agree," Vertigo added.

"I don't like it," Moss said.

"What are you afraid of, Moss?" Vertigo snapped, "He's clawless. What do you think he's gonna do? Gum us to death with those dull teeth of his?"

Moss kept his maw shut after that.

Onyx laughed. "He is clawless. Afraid of the clawless one, Moss?"

The green raptor merely hissed at the gray one in response.

"If you don't want me around then I'll leave. I have no where else to go through."

"You could go back where you came from," Crystal offered.

"I can't, the portal closed—"

"That's not what I meant. I meant going back to the junkyard."

"I don't think anyone survived the attack."

"Can't survive on your own?"

"Humans follow a pack structure, just like us," Zara spoke up. "A human on its own won't last. Sending him away is a death sentence."

"And I don't know my way back," Zack added.

"Look he's nice," Zara spoke up again. "Yesterday we were chased by a pair of ceratosaurus and I hurt myself. He helped to heal my wound." She pointed at the makeshift bandage wrapped around her right foot. She purposefully neglected to mention that she had hurt herself trying to provide a distraction so the human could get away.

Crystal looked at Zara's injured foot, and then looked back to the human. "You willingly helped a velociraptor?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"Humans always attack," Crystal stated bluntly.

"I'm different from the other humans."

She sniffed him. "Yes… you are."

Zack suddenly had a coughing fit, prompting Crystal to take a couple of steps away from him.

"Are you ill?" Vertigo asked.

"No, I don't think so. It's probably just all this excitement. Plus I'm new here. There might be something in the air that I'm not used to. I hope I'm just adjusting."

Vertigo walked up and sniffed at the human.

"He might be diseased. We should send him away immediately," Moss said.

"Relax." Vertigo turned to the green raptor. "Human diseases wouldn't transfer over to us. He's not falling over coughing blood. It might be nothing more than a tummy ache. You know how frail humans are. Uh… no offense."

"None taken." Zack had to wonder how Vertigo came up with a tummy ache as the source of his coughing fit, but didn't bring it up.

Crystal had come to a conclusion. "You will stay with us for the night. Zara, you brought him here. He is your responsibility to look after."

"You're really going to let him stay here?" Moss spoke up.

"You challenge my decision?"

"No, Alpha. But I think it's a dangerous one."

"If he is truly the enemy then sending him away would be a bad idea. If he leaves he could get other humans and bring them right to us. Here is he trapped and helpless." Crystal had no need to explain herself to Moss, but she did so anyway. She always thought it better for her pack to understand things… and hopefully learn from them. The pack would be stronger for it in the long run. "Tomorrow we will determine if this human can be trusted. But for tonight, we rest."

Zack didn't like the sound of that. He wasn't sure how raptors would go about testing his trustworthiness.

The raptors leapt back up through the tangle of vines until only Zack, Zara and Crystal were left.

"Well, come on." Crystal motioned for the human to move up to the vines.

"I can't jump that high. I'll have to climb." Zack found the climb to be rather easy. There were plenty of rocks to grab hold of and the side of the plateau wasn't perfectly vertical. Zack was easily able to reach the vines and pushed through them, they gave way and revealed a secret cave. A few small holes in the side of the rock wall provided some light, allowing the human to see several nests made out of sticks, leaves and moss. There were several bones scattered about, most of them were devoid of any meat. They few that did have some meat still on them were collected and lazily chewed on as the raptors made themselves comfortable.

Zack quickly moved away from the entrance. He figured Zara and Crystal were coming up after him and didn't want to be knocked over. A few seconds later and Zara came through the vines, followed by Crystal.

"Stick with Zara and do not bother the rest of us if you wish to live, human," Crystal whispered to Zack before moving off.

The human turned to look back at his one friend. "So, where am I staying?"

"Follow me."

Zack stayed as close to Zara as he could without bumping into her. Various raptors stared at him as he did his best to stay clear of the nests. Eventually Zara stopped at one nest in particular. Zack turned around and noticed this nest was quite a bit further from the others. It was also significantly smaller.

"This is my nest," Zara said, "you will sleep here with me."

"I don't think there's enough room for both of us. I can just sleep on the stone…" Zack really didn't want to but he doubted a nest of twigs and leaves would be all that more comfortable than stone.

"You'll fit. Do you really want to chance leaving my side?"

"No. But I could…" Zack was going to say he could sleep right next to the nest but decided against arguing for it. Sleeping on the stone floor didn't really have any appeal. And he had already slept with Zara last night when they were stuck in the bathysphere. There really wasn't any point in arguing.

Zara's stomach growled as she lay down in her nest.

"Want something to eat?" Zack took off his backpack.

"That weird human food? No thanks."

"Okay then." Zack took a few bites of the junk food just so he could say he had eaten dinner.

"Well? Come on. It's started to get late and I know you humans don't see too well in the dark."

Zack placed his backpack against the side of the nest and squeezed in next to Zara. It was a tight fit. Zack noticed they were getting a few looks from the other raptors as they settled down in their own nests. It was at this point Zack realized there was a reason Zara's nest was so much smaller than the others—the others were made to accommodate two. Every raptor in the pack was paired off… except for Zara and the owner of a yet claimed nest that was also smaller than the others. There were three raptors that had yet to settle in—the Alpha Crystal, Talon and Vertigo. They were far off from the others, stuffed in a corner where Zack couldn't hear them. He figured that was on purpose. Of course they wouldn't want him to listen in as they discussed what they were planning for him.

Crystal had never thought she would ever have met a human that could talk with velociraptors. Such a notion was ridiculous, the stuff of fantasy. Zara had always been curious about humans but her curiosity was relatively harmless, until now. Crystal never would have thought Zara would bring a live human back to the nest, or that the human would be friendly. This was certainly awkward and highly unorthodox but Crystal knew this was an opportunity she couldn't afford to pass up. Right now her pack had no eggs or hatchlings to look after, this one human wasn't going to be a threat to a bunch of adult velociraptors. With no young to care for they could focus all their attention on the human.

Crystal knew there had to be some way they could make use of a friendly human that could understand them, even if she wasn't sure how yet. That is why she was talking with her beta Talon and his mate Vertigo—they were far smarter than she was. If the position of Alpha were determined by intelligence rather than the ability to fight, Talon or Vertigo would be leading the Shattered Sickle Pack instead of Crystal. Crystal was not an idiot and could handle most things, but this situation called for advanced critical thinking and had little room for error.

"How can this human talk with us when no others can?" Crystal wondered aloud.

"He is a foreigner," Vertigo offered, "maybe in his dimension humans and raptors communicating with each other is normal?"

"If that were the case then I doubt the human would have been so fearful of us," Talon said.

"You give him too little credit, my mate. He held his ground and didn't flee, nor did he attack. That's more than I have ever seen from any human before."

"Do either of you have any ideas on how we could use him to our advantage?" Crystal asked.

"I think we should worry about testing his loyalty before seeing what we could have him do." Talon looked over at the human. Zara was already sharing her small nest with him. The sight made Talon a little sick to his stomach. Humans were meant for eating in his opinion but he would not disobey Crystal's decision to keep him alive for the time being.

"Maybe we can test his loyalty and usefulness at the same time," Vertigo said.

"And how can we do that?" Crystal asked.

Zack spared a glance at the three raptors muttering to themselves in the corner. He couldn't make out a single specific word they were saying. He was sure the other raptors lying in their nests could hear; they were much closer than he was. He was certain raptors had better hearing than he did as well.

Eventually Zack gave up on wondering what they were saying. His mind kept conjuring up bad ideas: that they might decide to turn on him and eat him or give him some sort of test he couldn't possibly accomplish. He instead turned to look at Zara; she was staring down some of the other raptors that were glaring at them. When she felt Zack's eyes on her she turned to look at the human.

"What is it?" Zara asked.

"Why do you trust me?"

"You can talk to me."

"That's not a good reason."

"You chose to talk to me."

"That's all it takes?"

"No other human has done it before, not voluntarily. Here's another reason: you can't hurt me. You humans are worthless without your weapons. I could kill you any time I wanted. It's you that has trust in me. Plus I smelled the fear on you when we first met. You cannot fool me. I know you have no malicious intentions." Zara almost let out a chuckle but held it in; the expression on Zack's face was rather amusing.

"If you can tell all that then why don't the others trust me?"

"They've only just met you. They didn't see how you were willing to help me. Plus they're just bent out of shape. If our places were reversed, would your pack be so quick to accept me?"

"Probably not."

"Just give them some time to get used to the idea of having a friendly human around."

"Okay." Zack realized the raptor pack was being rather accepting of him. There was no way the humans back home would have been as kind to a velociraptor. Zack figured the raptors could somehow sense his honesty. They did tend to sniff at him a lot. Perhaps honesty had a certain smell? Zack thought a moment before speaking again. "If our positions were reversed and my pack was suspicious of you, I'd fight to let you stay with us."

"I believe you would," Zara let loose a light laugh. "You do seem to like dinosaurs."

"I think I like velociraptors."

Zack looked over when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The three standing raptors had dispersed. Vertigo and Talon went to a nest together, leaving Crystal to take the other small nest. He would not have guessed the leader of the pack was alone, he would have guessed leaders would attract mates more easily than others. It wasn't something he was going to ask about though. But there was something else he did want to ask.

"How's your foot doing?"

"It feels fine."

"Even after all that walking we did today?"

"Yes, it's healing very well. Much better than I would have thought."

"That's good to hear."

It was started to get notably darker and Zack was having trouble seeing. With no technology around things could really get dark—the kind of dark Zack had only seen out in the countryside back home. It was something he was going to have to get used to. He wasn't cold though. The air did get a tad cooler than what it was during the day but the body heat he and Zara shared felt like it had reached volcanic levels. It was easy enough for the two to drift off the sleep.