Ms Hollister, the school nurse, had a hard time focusing on her task with all the noise around her. Outside the infirmary, she could hear the complaints of the other wounded students waiting for their turn, while inside, Chloe was weeping in a corner of the room, sitting beside the bed where lay a still unconscious Max.

"Is she gonna be okay?" the punk girl kept asking. "Why isn't she waking up?"

"I told you, Chloe, I don't know," Ms Hollister told her as softly and patiently as she could while cleaning the gash on Taylor's head. "I cleaned and dressed all her wounds already, and they're pretty minor, there's no sign of any serious trauma. It looks like she's in a coma, but I see no external factor… I don't have any equipment or knowledge for a more serious examination, she should be taken to the hospital to be sure. But don't worry too much, Chloe, all her vitals are normal, so I'm sure she's going to wake up soon!"

The young punk nodded in understanding, and returned to her tearful vigil. Ms Hollister sighed and focused again on her blond patient. The infirmary had two beds, one was occupied by Max, and on the other Taylor and Kate were sitting, side by side, waiting patiently for her to finish patching them up. The girls' bare legs were so covered in gauze they looked like mummy legs. Kate also had shallow cuts on her forearms, and Taylor had that nasty gash that had to be taken care of, but other than that, they seemed to be in good enough condition.

"Jesus," Ms Hollister commented as she finished cleaning and started applying surgical glue on Taylor's head, "did you girls crawl on broken glass or something?"

"Actually, yes," Kate said. "When that, uh… thing burst through the windows it pinned me down on the shards, and Taylor helped me out."

"You did?" the nurse asked her patient with wide eyes. "Wow, that was incredibly brave of you!"

Taylor shrugged: "It's… not much, really…"

"Not much! And modest with that! What was that thing anyway?"

"Well, I don't know," Taylor answered, "but it kind of looked like a-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, allowing them to hear Victoria's outraged voice: "…and please tell her to hurry up, I'm gonna bleed myself dry here!"

"Miss Chase," they heard David growl, "there are other students who need way more medical attention than you at the moment, so please stay still and wait for your turn! For God's sake you just have a couple scratches on your face, I've seen soldiers in Afghanistan with way worse injuries who kept going without whining like prima donnas!"

Kate and Taylor shared a knowing glance as they both struggled to repress a chuckle as Victoria answered nothing and David entered the infirmary and shut the door behind him.

"Mr Madsen, what the hell!" Ms Hollister yelled when she saw him.

"What?" he asked.

"Why didn't you come see me right away? Look at you!"

The chief of security still looked like he'd crawled through a giant cheese grater with his uniform in bloody tatters.

"I'm fine," he said. "Seen way worse than that in-"

"In Afghanistan, yes I know," the nurse interrupted him with an air of supreme annoyance. "But I won't take this macho crap, not in my infirmary! So do me a favor and take off that uniform so I can patch you up properly!"

He sighed, then nodded. He knew her enough to know that there was simply no way he could win an argument with Ms Hollister. She was a tougher piece of work than his wife, and Joyce was something. "Yes Ma'am, as soon as you're done with them. Are you two okay?"

Kate and Taylor nodded, and David then moved to Chloe.

"How're you holding up, kiddo?" he whispered gently, but the girl just shrugged in reply and dodged the comforting hand he'd tried to put on her shoulder. He didn't insist and turned his attention to Max.

"What about her?"

"I don't know," the nurse said. "Her vitals are all perfectly normal, and she presents all the characteristics of someone in a deep, peaceful sleep. What could've put her in that condition and why she's not waking up, that… can't tell without a brain scan."

"Unfortunately, we won't be getting that anytime soon," the chief of security answered somberly.

"What do you mean? What's going on outside?"

"It's… I don't understand any of it. It looks like the whole city is just… gone. It's a jungle out there as far as the eye can see. I asked this drone girl, Brooke Scott, to do a recon flight, for once I'm glad she keeps that toy around. I'm waiting for her report."

Then, turning to Chloe, he added: "Sorry, kid, really. Max Caulfield, she's… the Max Caulfield, isn't she? The one Joyce told me about?"

Chloe nodded sullenly.

"Well I… I'm sure she'll be alright. We'll do everything we can to make sure of that, okay?"

Chloe just shrugged, her wet eyes still fixed on her sleeping friend. David was thinking of something he could add, when an angry knock at the door startled him. Soon after, they heard Victoria's impatient voice:

"Helloooo? There's people bleeding out here!"

"Jesus," Ms Hollister chuckled, "that girl will never give up, won't she? Okay you two, I'm done with you, now-"

"Yes," David interrupted, "you girls all come with me so we'll let Ms Hollister work in peace."

"No way, Mr Madsen!" the nurse called out. "You stay here and let me take a look!"

"It can wait," David protested with a handwave. "There's the kids to take care of first."

The nurse sighed: "And to think I'm on my own to treat them all… I'm in for a long, long evening…"

"Uh, Ms Hollister?" Kate asked with a soft, timid voice.

"Yes?"

"Uh, I was thinking… maybe I could help? I have first aid training, if you have a spare medikit, I can, maybe sort them out and take care of the more lightly wounded by myself, leaving you only with the more serious ones?"

"Really? You would do that for me? After what you've been through?"

Kate shrugged: "It's not as bad as it looks, really. I feel like I can do it."

"My God, Kate Marsh you're an angel! There's a spare medikit in the closet behind you, thank you very much!"

The girl blushed at the compliment and went to grab the medikit. Just as she was about to leave with Taylor, she turned to Chloe and called her softly:

"Chloe? Are you coming with us?"

The girl shook her head. "I'd rather stay here," she said with a weak, choked voice.

Kate went to kneel by her side and gently grabbed her hands so she would look at her.

"Look, Chloe," she explained as gently as she could, "there isn't much more you can do here for her, and as Ms Hollister said, she looks fine. I'm sure she will wake up really soon."

"But what if I'm not there when she does?" the punk sobbed.

"Then I'm sure Ms Hollister will call you as soon as possible."

She punctuated her sentence with a look toward the nurse who nodded.

"But right now," Kate resumed, "she needs space to work, she has to treat Mr Madsen and then the other students, and I'm sure you will be better outside, getting some fresh air in the meantime, don't you agree?"

Chloe snorted: "Yeah, right, don't wanna be here when she treats David, it'd give me nightmares if I saw his tiny tool."

"Chloe!" David scowled, though weakly. He preferred to see her crack jokes, even if it was at his expense.

Once the girls had left, David started stripping as he was told, while Ms Hollister asked him:

"Still having a hard time with her?"

He sighed: "I don't know how to handle her, really. We could have a peaceful family, the three of us, but she keeps disrespecting my authority and pushing my buttons."

"Well, if I may say, I haven't seen her in a long time, but the Chloe I remember, back when she was a student here, tended not to react well to… bossy people."

"I'm not bossy!" the chief of security protested.

"David, you gotta admit, you're not the most laid-back person on campus. You see every student as a potential criminal, and anything that's just slightly out of your control is a problem waiting to happen. I dare you to say I'm wrong."

"I, uh… I… damn, alright, alright, I admit I can be a bit… stiff. But kids are wild these days, if you're not here to check their every move, they do drugs and drink and whatnot!"

"Do you seriously think no-one at Blackwell does drugs thanks to your watchful eye? Honestly, I know who does drugs or drinks in here, and there's a lot of them. You can't control them entirely, and it's not what you're expected to do, you're not in the army anymore! Why don't you just enforce basic rules so these kids can live their lives safely, and be there for them as a guide, a grownup they can turn to when they're in trouble? That's how you're supposed to behave when you work in education. Or… when you're a dad."

He paused for a moment to ponder on her words, then asked, confused:

"So… does this mean I should just let Chloe do drugs and hang out with the wrong crowds?"

"No, it means you should try to treat her like a human being with her own emotions and desires, instead of a ticking time bomb that will explode the second you stop bossing her around. Next time you want something from her, try asking instead of ordering. You'll see, it can work wonders."

"Uhm… yeah I… I'll keep that in mind."

He was now standing in just his boxer shorts, and he sat down on the bed so she could have a look at his bloodied back, crisscrossed with deep claw marks.

"What the hell!" she gasped. "You look like you lost a fistfight to a tiger!"

"That's… about what happened."

"What is going on out there? You said there's a jungle where Arcadia Bay should be? It doesn't make any sense! The kids say they've been attacked by some flying monster, and you… what kind of animal could leave marks like that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"It had feathers, like a bird, but… it looked like a velociraptor."

"A velo… you mean, like in Jurassic Park?"

"Exactly. And the flying thing… good God, this doesn't make any sense!"

In the hallway, Chloe sullenly said she was going for a smoke and strode outside, leaving the two girls to deal with a line of impatient students, the least of which being a very cranky Victoria and the ever faithful Courtney holding her arm for emotional support:

"About time! Now, let me in!"

"Uh, Vicky," Taylor said, "actually you have to wait, she's taking care of David right now."

"What?" the rich girl yelled out in outrage. "Then who's taking care of me?"

Kate raised her hand sheepishly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Victoria asked, frowning.

"I have first aid training," Kate explained with a very low voice while looking at her shoes. "So I volunteered to give Ms Hollister a hand. We can use the drama room as a second infirmary? Um, everyone, please?"

Nobody heard her, and she realized with horror that she would have to do something she hated with a passion: she would have to speak up. Shaking, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and mustered all her strength to utter audibly: "Everyone, please?"

The other students turned to her, and she suddenly felt her courage abandon her.

Don't falter now! Come on, there's Alyssa and Stella, they're your friends! And there's Daniel, he's nice, and Hayden isn't too bad for a Vortex Club member!

She cleared her throat and continued: "Okay, um, since a lot of you need attention, I'm gonna take care of the more lightly wounded, so if you could please line up in front of the drama room? Thank you!"

And on these words she entered the drama room, with Victoria, Courtney and Taylor in her wake.

"Sit down," she told Victoria, then, upon seeing the other girl's outraged look, she blushed and stuttered pathetically: "Uh, I mean, you can sit, if you want, I mean, I didn't mean to give you orders or anything like-like that, r-r-really…"

Victoria sighed and sat down on a chair, her posse standing on either side of her, then crossed her legs and stared at Kate with her head held high: "Get done with it now," she ordered.

Kate nodded and stooped to take a closer look at Victoria's face. She only had a couple light cuts on her forehead, and another one on her cheek, nothing a little cleaning and some disinfectant couldn't handle. She dutifully went to work cleaning the wounds with a wet gauze pad, then applied disinfectant on another pad and applied it. As soon as the pad touched Victoria's skin, the rich girl jumped, gasped, and grabbed her friends' hands so hard the other girls hissed with pain.

"What the fuck!" she squealed. "It hurts like hell, can't you be more careful, you idiot!"

Kate winced and shrank. "S-Sorry," she muttered with a weak voice. "But, it's disinfectant, it stings a little…"

"Then make it not sting!"

"Alright, I'll try my best, sorry Victoria."

She went back to work, trembling a little, anxious to apply the pad as softly as possible. Victoria didn't complain again, it seemed to be working. Relaxing, Kate turned her attention to Taylor:

"By the way," she told her, "I, uh… I didn't get to thank you yet for… you know, for saving my life."

"Oh, that… was nothing, really."

"Of course it was! It was incredibly brave, coming under that thing to get me… it was heroic!"

"Well, I…" Taylor started to blush. "I didn't really think about it, to be honest, just saw you needed help, and I came. Oh, and while we're at it… sorry for the ball of paper. It wasn't cool."

Kate giggled: "To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it. But thank you, I appreciate. You know, I thought you… didn't like me."

Taylor chuckled and replied with a gentle smile: "I'm not your biggest fan, it's true, just like I'm not Max's biggest fan, but it doesn't mean I should let you get crushed to death by a flying monster, does it?"

"I guess," Kate answered, returning her warm smile.

"Yeah, yeah, it's cute," Victoria intervened, "Taylor, you can hang out with your new BFF all you want when she's done but right now she's got work to do! And you," she ordered as she turned to Kate, "focus!"

"Yeah, right, sorry Victoria," Kate answered sheepishly as she turned all her attention back on her work.

Outside, the teachers and the security guards were trying as hard as they could – and failing even harder – to contain the horde of shocked and curious students in the main campus area. Not knowing how to deal with such an unusual event, they had followed standard fire procedures and gathered everyone around the fountain, save for those who needed medical attention, to wait for further instructions. Only this was not a fire, and the outside was no longer the safer zone, on the contrary it had become a different world, a hot, damp jungle surrounding them, resonating with sounds of unknown wildlife, as scary as it was fascinating. In these conditions, it was nigh impossible to keep everyone gathered and quiet, as one would naturally tend to wander off to explore this strange environment.

Such was the case for Stella Hill who, without really thinking about it, walked down the couple of steps leading down to the road and crossed it to reach the lush foreign vegetation. She studied the nearest tree: it was tall, maybe five times her size, culminating in a large crown of leaves, and its sturdy trunk was covered with vines and creepers that grew to wrap around the nearby trunks, forming an impenetrable barrier. The soil was almost invisible, concealed under a thick blanket of large ferns. Fascinated, the young girl reached out to touch the nearest vine, and drew back with a gasp when she saw something move, and to her horror, a dragonfly as long as her forearm emerged from the vegetation to buzz around her head.
Wrapping her hands around her head, she stepped back with a yelp and bumped into something behind her. Immediately then, she felt hands closing on her shoulders, and she started to struggle in panic.

"Shh, don't worry, you're safe," a boy's soothing voice called from behind.

The hands released her and she turned around to face the newcomer: a boy of her age, rather skinny and pale, in glasses, wearing a Jurassic Park t-shirt. The boy gave her a comforting smile and pointed to the monstrous bug that was hovering above them.

"It's just a dragonfly," he said, "not gonna hurt you."

On these words, he raised a forearm, and the bug landed on it. It looked peaceful enough, and Stella started to relax.

"B-but… it's so big!" she said.

"I know," the boy replied. "It's fascinating. Dragonflies of this size have been extinct since… long before mankind… incredible... beautiful… sorry," he said as he noticed her odd look. "I'm kind of a dinosaur nerd… I'm Mike Clayton, usually people call me Clay."

"S-Stella," the girl replied, confused. "Did you just say, 'dinosaur'?"

"Why, yeah, giant bugs were around during the dinosaur age, so they fall in the same field of study… and, I've heard of that thing that crashed into Mr Jefferson's class, from the way people describe it, it sounds like a pterodactyl, so a kind of dinosaur… damn, how I wish I could've seen it!"

"Well, I've seen it, I was in Mr Jefferson's class" Stella retorted. "Way too close for comfort, believe me."

"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. "Must've been, like… terrifying…"

"You bet it was… so, are you saying these animals… they belong to-"

The girl was interrupted by another loud buzz over her head that spooked the dragonfly away, and looking up, she saw another giant insect, this one made of steel and plastic, pass by to land on the campus ground, at its owner's feet. Then Brooke waved at them before packing up her drone, and Mrs Grant came to talk to her. Stella frowned:

At a time like this, she's still chiding Brooke for using her drone? Come on…

But it didn't look like this was the topic of their conversation, as Warren then approached them and Mrs Grant told him something while waving in Stella's direction. Confused, she watched the boy walk to them and wave at them:

"Hi Stella," he greeted. "Clay, Wells wants to see us."

"Us?" Clay asked.

"Yup, you, me, Brooke and Mrs Grant. Dunno why, but he's waiting for us in his office. Oh, and Stella, Mrs Grant told me to tell you not to walk off campus, it could be dangerous."

"Yeah, I know," she said as they all started walking back toward the fountain. "Uh, can I come with you, guys? I'd really like to know what's going on here."

"You're not the only one," Mrs Grant commented. "But Mr Wells wanted me to come with my best science students only, I don't think he would like it if we brought unexpected guests."

"Oh… right," she murmured, disappointed.

"Don't worry," Clay told her, "if you want I'll fill you in on what's going on as soon as we're done."

"Oh, thank you, that's… nice."

"No problem," he said with a gentle smile.

As she stood by the fountain, watching the four of them walk inside the building, Clay turned to wave at her with another smile. She waved back before he got in.

"Is everyone here?" David asked as he walked inside Principal Wells's office, wearing a fresh uniform. Good thing he kept spares! He looked much better than the blood-soaked wreck he was half an hour before, but he still had a slight but noticeable limp. Whatever he had run into, it had done a number on him.

"Mr Madsen," Wells greeted him, "come in please."

He took a seat among Mrs Grant and the three students. Wells, standing behind his office, considered them all with a stern look in his eyes. He was sweating profusely and trying very hard to conceal his ragged breathing.

He's terrified, David thought. I can't blame him for that, but Dear Lord I hope he won't go to one of his bottles for comfort! This ship needs a captain, now more than ever!

"Now," the Principal said, "I asked Mr Madsen to join us as our chief of security, and Mrs Grant as our science teacher, who brought in Miss Scott and Mr Graham and Mr Clayton, who are our three most brilliant science students here at Blackwell. My question is simple and straightforward: any one of you has any idea what the hell is going on with my school?"

David stood up, straight as a soldier reporting to his CO:

"Sir," he stated, "at 0345 today, I was told by Mr Robertson of an unidentified animal spotted on campus ground, near the dormitory building. I tracked the animal down to the basement of the building and was attacked. I had to kill it. At this moment, I was told by Mackenzie of a major communication breakdown on campus, as well as another animal attack, this time in Mr Jefferson's photography class. I went there immediately and saw the animal in question was already dead, and several students wounded. At that moment, Miss Hill, who was present in the classroom, pointed out that…" he took a pause to catch his breath, as if his next words were too difficult to utter: "that the whole city of Arcadia Bay appeared to be… gone. Replaced by a forest."

Wells nodded solemnly and asked: "Those… animals… what are they?"

"Sir, they looked like din… giant birds, sir."

"Giant birds?"

"Yes, sir. I asked Estevez and some members of our football team to store the bodies in the cold storage for further investigation."

"So, if I understand well, our campus is all of a sudden stranded in the middle of a forest, with no electricity, no communications, and with giant birds attacking us? Mrs Grant, does that even make any sense to you?"

"Absolutely not," the science teacher said. "But I think we can have a better idea of what's happening once we have identified the animals. I asked Mr Madsen to describe the animals to me, and decided to bring Mike Clayton, he has a deep interest in paleontology and might help us on this case."

Wells raised an eyebrow: "Paleontology? Are you implying that these animals were… dinosaurs?"

"Sir," David said, "they sure looked like it."

The Principal sighed with annoyance: "Can anyone here tell me something that makes even a tiny bit of sense?"

"I asked Miss Scott to survey the area with her drone," David said. "Miss Scott?"

Brooke stood up and took out her tablet.

"So, yeah," she said, "I flew it around campus to try and see what's with this forest thing. I'll show you the footage but I'm warning you, it's weird as fuck! Uh, I mean, it's very weird."

She looked at the Principal with dread, but he slightly shook his head to signal that this was no time to make a fuss about her choice of words. Everyone gathered around the desk as she put her tablet on it and played the video. There was a collective gasp.

What they saw on the screen was the campus as seen from above: they could make out the front area with the students gathered around the fountain; the main building; the swimming pool; the parking lot; and Prescott Dormitory, with its lawn and the Tobanga totem and the groves around it. And that was it. They were completely surrounded by the forest, as if nothing had ever been built around the campus. What struck them the most, however, was how neat the delineation between the campus and the forest was. They could even see where exactly, around the dorm building, the red alders and maples that made up the groves made way for the more exotic, tropical vegetation. And this boundary made a perfect circle.

"What is it I am looking at?" Wells muttered in awe.

"As you can see," Brooke explained, "we are now in the middle of an unknown forest, and this circle is so perfect, it looks just like the school was cut off from the Arcadia Bay we know with a cookie cutter and placed here."

"But where is this 'here'?" Wells asked, impatient. "Does anybody have any idea?"

Clay timidly raised his hand and swallowed hard when everyone actually turned to him, waiting for him to speak. "Hum, I took a look at the trees… I'm not a botany expert, but I'm pretty sure it's not vegetation you'd normally find in Oregon. It looks more… tropical."

"Tropical," Wells repeated. "So what, we've been teleported to the Amazonian forest or something?"

"Actually, I believe we are still in Arcadia Bay," Brooke intervened.

Her remark was met with silent, wide-eyed glances of disbelief.

"Look, I know how crazy that sounds, but look at this!"

And she played another video on her tablet. This time they had several horizontal views of the landscape around Blackwell, with the terrain rising smoothly behind campus to form small hills, and in front of campus, the forest spread flat over what seemed to be a few miles before giving way to a beach of rocks and white sand, and a seafront that looked eerily like the Bay they were all too familiar with. Only without its port and seaside boardwalk, restaurants and shops, and the cliffs upon which the lighthouse used to stand proud was now a tall island, a rock spire crowned with humungous trees disconnected from the mainland by what looked like a large lagoon.

A heavy silence filled the office.

"It… it looks like Arcadia Bay alright," Warren murmured eventually.

"Except that lagoon," Clay replied, "it's not here in the Arcadia Bay we know. Or, not anymore."

"What do you mean, 'not anymore'?" Wells groaned, increasingly nervous.

Clay froze, spooked by the principal's reaction and unsure of what to do next, but casting a quick glance at the other adults and his classmates, he saw them all nod to him in encouragement. So he took a deep breath and spoke up:

"Well, I… listen, I know this will sound absolutely crazy, but outside, I saw a dragonfly. A really big one. Actually, I thought dragonflies so big were long extinct, so imagine my surprise when-"

"How long?" David asked. "Extinct, I mean."

"Um, it's difficult to say for sure, but… around 300 to 80 million years ago."

Silence. Blank stares. Livid faces. Then Brooke grabbed the boy's arm so hard it hurt and asked him, a mix of panic and excitement in her voice: "Clay… are you really saying what I think you're saying?"

He gulped, and nodded: "I know it's crazy, but it's the only explanation I got so far."

"What is it? What explanation?" Wells urged.

Warren sighed: "He's saying that we may have gone back in time, sir. Like, millions of years back in time."

Another heavy silence. Then Wells laughed.

"Back in time? Thank you, kids, I needed a good laugh!" Then, regaining his composure, he turned to the science teacher: "Seriously, though, Mrs Grant, I hope you have a better explanation to our situation than this… science-fiction nonsense?"

The teacher shook her head sullenly: "Sorry, sir. I can't come up with a better explanation yet."

"But surely you don't believe this!" The principal broke out. "You can't believe this, it's… absurd fantasy!"

"Sir," David interrupted softly but firmly. "I… I think we should take a look at the… animals."

"What, now?"

"Yes, sir. It may give us a better view on the situation if we could positively identify them."

On these words, he started walking out of the office slowly, and after exchanging confused looks, everyone decided to follow him. He lead them to the deserted cafeteria and from there, to the kitchen, where Estevez the security guard as well as Logan, Zach and a couple other members of the Bigfoots were sitting against a metallic countertop, panting.

"Mr Madsen!" Logan called when David entered. "We did as you asked, but fuck, these dudes were heavy as shit!"

"Thank you, Mr Robertson," David said without adding any comment about the young man's choice of language. Which made Logan gulp. That could only mean some real serious shit was going down.

The chief of security opened the heavy steel door to the cold storage and invited everyone inside with a gesture of his hand. Then he closed the door behind them to preserve the cold. Although the power was out, the room was still pretty chilly and they all shivered, surprised by the sudden transition from the damp heat outside.

A safety light against the opposite wall cast a dim greenish glow around the room, barely enough for the people gathered here to make out the two bulky figures lying on the floor. David turned on a flashlight and aimed the beam of light at the figures.

And everyone gasped in awe. Mrs Grant turned to Clay:

"Now, Mike… can you help us with those?"

The boy swallowed hard, trembling with dread and excitement, as he slowly, respectfully knelt beside one of the dead bodies and started to examine it.

"I… It's hard to believe," he uttered with difficulty, "but I'm… I'm pretty positive this is a pterosaur. The toothed beak, the bat-like wings, the overall shape… this blue crest on its head, it's actually made of bones, you see, and it's a pretty distinctive feature of a species from the Western US, Kepodactylus insperatus."

"So is it, like, a pterodactyl?" Brooke asked.

"Not exactly, but it's a cousin, yes. It's not really known when these things went extinct, but they first appeared during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago."

He turned to his audience and yelled out: "It's a dinosaur! This thing is… it's a goddamn dinosaur!"

There were whispers among the crowd, the teens uttering some "holy shit" while the adults were wondering aloud if they were dreaming. Then David raised a trembling hand and pointed to the other dead body:

"Mr Clayton… this is the thing that attacked me… I believe it's a… a velociraptor, like in Jurassic Park. What's your opinion?"

Clay got up to kneel by the raptor's body to examine it, and quickly shook his head:

"Impossible. Velociraptor mongoliensis lived in Central Asia, and was hardly taller than a dog. You see, in Jurassic Park they admitted to wrongly calling their dinosaurs 'velociraptor' because the name sounded more dramatic, but the animals featured were actually another species, Deinonychus antirrhopus."

David frowned, confused: "So this thing is a Dino Nick… something?"

Clay examined the body more thoroughly, and shook his head again:

"I don't think so. This one's way too tall and sturdy to be a deinonychus. It looks like it's over twenty feet long from head to tail, and…" he turned to Logan: "You said it was heavy?"

"Fuck yeah," the football star said, "we couldn't even lift the thing! It took the five of us to drag just this one, and we barely made it!"

Clay nodded: "Very heavy, then. Okay, let me think…"

He closed his eyes, one hand still laid on the thing's feathered thigh, and muttered to himself, like a mantra: "Large dromaeosaurid, heavier than deinonychus, endemic of the Western US…"

Then he opened his eyes and announced with authority: "Utahraptor ostrommaysi. Large American predator, appeared in the Early Cretaceous era, roughly 120 to 100 million years ago. It's a dinosaur too."

"W-Wait a sec," Zach intervened, "aren't dinosaurs supposed to be, like, big lizards or something? That thing looks more like a bird with its goofy rainbow feathers!"

It felt weird for Clay to have this kind of conversation with Zach. Usually, their interactions were limited to the Bigfoot member stuffing him in his own locker, like the puny little nerd he was. But in this situation, Clay realized he was listened to. Respected. He was the specialist, and people were looking up to him. This felt quite pleasant.

"Dinosaurs have been long thought to be exclusively reptilian," he explained in a professorial tone, "with skins covered in smooth gray or green scales. It was the most popular depiction during the Victorian age and the early twentieth century, and movies like The Lost World or King Kong have really burned it in people's minds. But in the 1980s, studies have started to posit that a lot of dinosaur species, including the dromaeosaurids like Utahraptor, were actually closer to birds than reptiles, and had both scaly skins and feathers. It's the most widely accepted theory today, and it's actually been addressed in Jurassic Park, even though they kept the reptilian look to stick to audience expectations… and also because it looks scarier, I guess. Anyway, the theory is that lots of dinosaurs were actually big birds, and now we can see them for real, well, it's true… damn, do you guys realize? We're seeing dinosaurs for real!"

Brooke and Warren shared his excitement. For the others, dread and disbelief prevailed.

"M-Mrs G-Grant," Wells stuttered, "what do you make of this? Is this possible?"

"Sir, an hour ago I would have called that fantasy, wild speculations, but I have to believe what I see with my own eyes. These creatures, the vegetation, the fact that a lagoon exists where there's none in the Arcadia Bay we know, the climate… it all looks like we have traveled millions of years back in time."

"But is this even possible? From a scientific standpoint?"

"If you don't mind me saying," Warren intervened. "Time travel has long been thought to be theoretically possible. There's general relativity, wormholes, quantum mechanics, loads of things we barely understand yet but that open the door for this possibility."

"But you said theoretically," Wells roared, impatient. "What does that mean? Can it be actually done?"

"It would be awfully hard to pull off, but it's not wholly impossible. We just don't know how it works. Yet."

Livid, sweating profusely, the principal kept shifting his gaze back and forth to David, Mrs Grant, Brooke, Warren, Clay…

"So, you all agree to this? You… you all believe my school, with all its students, is somehow now stranded in the Jurassic with millions of years separating us from the Arcadia Bay we know?"

"No," Clay replied, "for all we know, it could be the Cretaceous as well."

Wells froze as if his system had crashed. Then he nodded, muttered a weak "Fine", and walked off.

The others stood dumbfounded by his reaction. David was the first to react: he followed his boss all the way to his office, but before he could enter, Wells had slammed the door to his face and locked it.

"Mr Wells?" David called, knocking. "Mr Wells, are you okay? We need to discuss this matter now, Mr Wells! Whether this is true or not, we have a bunch of kids to protect until things get back to normal! Mr Wells?"

There was no answer from the other side, save for the telltale sound of a bottle being opened and liquid being poured into a glass.

"Mr Wells, I think this is really not the time for that!"

Still no answer.

"Mr Wells? Raymond, for God's sake! Open up! You're the principal, you have to take charge, now get a move on and do what needs to be done, you useless drunkard!"

Estevez, who had just joined his supervisor, froze in surprise at these words. He had never seen David get so mad as to straight up insult people!

"Uh, David?" he asked timidly.

"Of course!" The chief of security groaned. "Why do you ask? I've got a drunk principal locked up in his office, a jungle full of hostile critters surrounding us, and a whole lot of confused kids to protect until – and if – things get back to normal. Couldn't be better!"