I feel so terrible that I haven't updated in forever! I am so sorry, but I hope the coming chapters make up for it a little.
I own nothing. Don't sue me.
The next morning Sarah woke curled at the base of the old tree. She grimaced; her back was sore and her head still ached from yesterday. She bit her lip as she struggled to wake up.
This was the point of her day, in the 'present' at least, where she'd have groggily pulled herself out of bed and been a total zombie until she had her coffee. Here, there was no coffee. She mumbled a curse and pulled herself out of the little hole.
She saw that Becker was already up and about; his place in the tree was empty. A flash of worry pierced her--what if a dinosaur had--no, she saw him coming towards her, holding several long, rather thick sticks.
"Hey," he said, rather brightly for their situation. "Thought I'd make a fire for us."
"Good idea," Sarah said, holding a hand up to scratch the back of her head. Grainy sand and strands of dead plants were caught in her hair, which was tangled like a crow's nest. She knew she must look like a wreck and she cocked her head to the side. "Becker, I wonder if I can find a place to--you know, get cleaned up."
Becker furrowed his brow before opening his mouth and nodding. "Oh. Yeah, maybe there's a stream coming off of the lake. But stay close to our camp."
Sarah nodded, stepping out carefully into the forest. If they had to stay in this time period for any longer, she'd have to fashion some sort of shoes.
She didn't want to think about what would happen if their stay became permanent.
She walked for about ten minutes before she found a cool, clear stream. She wondered where it met the lake, but she decided right now she had greater needs.
She didn't like the idea of taking off what little she wore, but there was coarse sand grinding at her underneath her bathing suit. She removed her skirt first, laying it out on a large, flat rock. Then she warily pulled off the rest of her bathing suit, using the water of the stream to wash away the sand on her skin and on her clothes. She allowed her bathing suit to dry in the sun and used her skirt (she didn't have any great need for that) to dry her skin. Then she pulled on the bathing suit and her curiosity got the best of her.
She crept along, following the stream in the direction of the lake. She heard the skittering of little creatures in the brambles and stepped with care, not anxious to tread on any little critter that would give her the nice souvenir of an infected bite.
A dragonfly buzzed past her face and she leapt backwards with a shriek, her hand catching the trunk of a tree to brace herself from falling. If Becker saw her he'd be laughing….
She heard the sound of the creatures before she saw them; two little therapods shot out at her, snapping their sharp teeth angrily. But someone saw them.
Becker bolted out of the bushed behind her just as the dinosaurs appeared. He didn't look like he was thinking at all; he had a stick in his hand and he cracked it across the first one's head, knocking it to the ground. The second dinosaur he treated likewise, and it fell as well.
Sarah stared at him.
"Am I always gonna have to save your skin?" he breathed, a weak smile crossing his face. He dropped the stick to the ground and came towards her, laying an arm across her shoulders.
"Becker?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah?"
"What were you doing out here?"
Becker winced, a scarlet splotch crossing his cheeks and growing up into his ears.
"Nothing," he said.