September's dryness

Disclaimer: Abby and Connor belong to Impossible Pictures™.

It was five months later, according to calculations of Abby and Connor. The nearby river, so full of water back then, now had significantly dried down and the two chronologically displaced people now had to trek for quite some distance to get their water, and that was quite dangerous.

To make matters worse, as the water level dropped, so did the vegetation wither, and if before Abby and Connor felt that they were usually well-concealed from the carnivores, now they weren't – and when the pterosaurs began to appear, it was practically the last drop.

"Okay, what in this time is that and why does it look like a lovechild between a heron and a giraffe?" Abby spat through dust-speckled lips as they observed several vaguely griffon-like giants drink their own fill from the river that was no longer green and semi-transparent, but yellowish and clearly murky. "Don't tell me – they have come from the future as well."

"No, those are pterosaurs, most likely a family of quetzalcoatlus," Connor said with less enthusiasm than before. "These flying reptiles were the last of their kind and certainly the biggest."

"Yeah, well, as far as flying reptiles go, these ones appear to be remarkably reluctant to lift-off," Abby said flatly, as she and Connor watched the pterosaurs walk on dry land about as fast as some of the smaller dinosaurs, and neatly catch small animals such as mammals and lizards with their beaks. "Are they dangerous to us?"

"Probably no more than some of the bigger waterfowl back in the Britain," Connor shrugged. "I'd say that we risk it."

"And I say no. If a crane – a bird, not a machine – would want to peck your eye out, it could very easily do so, and a big swan could break your leg with a similar ease. Those guys look taller than some of the animals back in the zoo, so we give them a wide berth, okay?"

"Abby, I understand your point, I really do, but do you think that we can afford it?"

Abby fell silent and looked at her interlocutor. During the five months (give or take a week or three, accuracy was not the stronger point of either of them) their appearance changed drastically. Formerly clear-cut Connor (not that there was a lot of facial hair to cut away initially) now sprouted a rather amazing amount of facial hair that grew from his chin down almost to his navel and from the back of his head even further down.

But then again, so it was with Abby, as her former pixie cut now was more closely related to Rapunzel's famous hair...only not so well-combed, but rather tied-up in several literal knots several times in several rows... and that was just the beginning of the problem. The severe wear and tear on their clothing was another part, and so was the basic hygiene – something that Connor didn't hesitate to talk about next.

"Abby, I look as hairy as Robinson Crusoe...and not in a good way, I should add. You, um, you're well in the same state as I am, so can we really afford not to bathe?" Connor said meekly, aware that recently Abby could be really irritable.

"Don't preach to me, Connor, I am aware of our situation as well," Abby snapped. "The only thing that irritates me more is that Danny, apparently, has either died alongside Helen or was forced to abandon us here, for those are the only reasons-"

"Abby! Hush!" Connor frantically gesticulated and pointed to the other side of the river. There, seemingly manifesting straight out of the dry haze came another pack of raptors, very similar to the ones that had chased them and Danny Quinn up a tree almost half a year ago, during spring. Only right now there were no trees to flee to, the only obstacle was a rather shallow river... and a flock of grazing pterosaurs, who looked decisively less than impressed by the new arrivals.

"And now... we retreat," Abby muttered angrily. Unlike the tyrannosaurs, raptors were much more interested into smaller prey, such as them. Consequently, they would chase it with a lot more enthusiasm than the T-Rex would, and the results were potentially much deadlier.

This time, though, the attention of the raptors was focused not on Abby and Connor, but on the pterosaurs, who reciprocated fully, and clearly did not intend to flee in panic – a fact noticed by Connor.

"This doesn't make sense," he muttered, as they retreated back to the now-scanty tree cover. "On ground, they are much slower than the dinosaurs, by now they should be trying to pick up speed to get airborne-"

The raptors charged. Instead of fleeing, the quetzalcoatlus formed a semi-circular line of defence and began to lash-out with their beaks, clearly calling the raptors' bluff, which did indeed hesitate and began to wonder, if this meal was worth an injury-

The ground shook as a heavy body trod upon it – one of the giant crocodilians has been attracted by the commotion as well, and unlike the raptors, it was more than qualified to take on the landed quetzalcoatlus.

Immediately, as if their limbs had springs installed in them, the pterosaurs jumped upwards. Their wings unfurled like sails on ships, and with several quick flaps they were up and away in the high sky. But the raptors weren't so lucky: the deinosuchus' jaws snapped shut upon one of them.

As the rest of the dinosaurs fled from the still-hungry river giant, chattering like monkeys or birds, Abby and Connor just fled deeper into the drying-out forest, further away from the river.

"It's official," Abby muttered, the look on her face daring Connor to defy her. "Life in the late Cretaceous sucks."

TBC