CHAPTER 6
The ATV bounced into an open grassy field, and suddenly Seth was getting screamed at by a twelve-foot tall orange ostrich. Kyra cut the handlebars hard to avoid hitting the dinosaur. Seth quickly saw that there were at least fifteen others running past them. In most ways the creatures really did resemble ostriches, bearing only a handful of differences.
Instead of short wings they had long skinny arms that they kept tucked close to their chest. Each arm had three lengthy fingers with sharp claws. They had a tail.
"Gallimimus!" Kyra hollered over the rumble of the dinosaurs' feet.
She slowed the four-wheeler down allowing the gallimimus to pass on either side. Seth watched in amazement as their tiny ostrich heads bobbed up and down on their slender necks, and their fluffy feathers jostled with every stride. They were altogether incredibly graceful. He thought to himself.
The gallimimus followed a near by tree line that bordered the valley, and Kyra kept on their tail.
"We need to stay close to the trees to keep out of view of the cameras." Kyra shouted over her shoulder. "Oooh! Look!" She quickly pointed ahead of them.
Two brachiosaurus were coming over a small rise to their left. The sixty-foot tall giraffe-like beasts were astoundingly steady as they forged their way up the gentle slope.
"Wow." Seth breathed out.
Seeing the dinosaurs at the observation deck was nothing like seeing them this close up. He could make out the bumpy texture of their scaly skin, and see the tone of their muscle as they walked, or watch how their scales glided over their ribcage as they took a breath. It was extraordinary.
Two more brachiosaurs emerged out of the tree line to their right grazing on mouthfuls of vegetation as they came. Kyra cut hard to the left as to avoid their powerful tree trunk legs.
"Whoa! Close call!" She sounded shaken up at first, but then she burst into a playful laugh. "I've got mad skills!" Kyra sang out loud as she danced on the seat of her four-wheeler.
As they sped past the brachiosaurs they came to a steady drop off that overlooked most of the valley. Shelly and Dallas were already waiting there. As the gallimimus rumbled down into the valley Kyra stopped the ATV next to her friends.
Seth gazed down the slope and suddenly saw all kinds of dinosaurs. Kyra pointed out the individual species, slowly arching her index finger across the landscape.
"Triceratops, stegosaurus, ankylosaurus,… pa… para… aaa… parasaurolophus, corythosaurus, tyrannosaurus."
"What!" Seth's heart jumped.
"Just kidding." Kyra laughed.
Nearby Dallas and Shelly chuckled to themselves.
The dinosaurs in the valley mostly seemed to segregate each other by distinct species, but a few of their herds appeared to intermingle. Mainly they were grazing or simply meandering while others slept among the shade of the tree lines or drank from a sparkling river that snaked through the lower regions of the valley.
After a short while of admiring the view Dallas piped up. "Let's move along to the jungle, friends. I don't want us to be seen out here."
"Hey why don't we take Seth to the bog?" Shelly said excitedly.
"Yeah." Dallas agreed. "Let's take Seth to the bog."