CHAPTER 225

Gary was still below the brachiosaurus, attempting to keep up with the dinosaur for protection. He did not know what was going on above, but the brachiosaur was doing nothing now but meandering in circles and stumbling into trees. Gary could not see much beyond the herbivore's legs, because many of the same vines that Daniel was tangled in above reached all the way to the ground. There were no velociraptors that he could see, but it didn't mean that they weren't there. Still he began to wonder perhaps if they'd been scared off. It didn't seem likely, but at the moment it felt like it was just him and the brachiosaurus. As the towering herbivore smashed into another tree Gary made up his mind. He was going to make a run for it. He figured at this point that his chances weren't any better if he continued to hang around.

"Screw it!" he said. Gary didn't have a better idea, and he wasn't even certain if Daniel was still alive. If his bearings were correct they were actually fairly close to the hanger.

As the brachiosaurus swaggered away from the tree Gary broke into a mad dash. Sprinting out from beneath the dinosaur's belly he thrust himself amongst the vines. Almost instantly he was met with a fearsome snort. The vines ahead of him were brushed aside like a ragged stage curtain by the tail of a scaly beast. Gary stammered to a halt. The animal was like a stegosaurus, though it was only about the size of a rhinoceros, unlike its much larger cousin. The plates on its back were smaller, and pointier, and only went half way up its back. The latter portion of its back and the entire length of its tail were lined with pairs of long bony spines. The dinosaur also had another spine that came out from each shoulder blade, jutting back to guard its mid section.

Gary grit his teeth as he worked his mind to decide how he should proceed. "Kentrosaurus!"

The dinosaur circled its hindquarters towards Gary, and it flung its spiny tail through the vines. Dropping to the ground Gary rolled away from the kentrosaurus, but didn't realize that he was rolling right under one of the brachiosaur's stomping feet. As he saw the giant, scaly, elephant-like toes coming down on him he cringed and shifted just enough to avoid being crushed.

Again he heard the snorting kentrosaurus, and the tail whipped over his head. Grazing his hair the tail spines buried into the brachiosaur's ankle. With a loud moan the long necked beast stumbled away.

Gary felt a shower of blood as the kentrosaurus shook off its spikes. It snorted, and huffed, and scuffed its feet through the dirt. Again its hindquarters circled toward Gary, and there was no doubt the kentrosaurus was going to follow through with a tail swing. Gary fled beneath the belly of the brachiosaurus as the lethal spines whooshed behind him. He sprinted straight through and tried to exit from under the brachiosaur on the other side, but a second spiky tail swung at him. Gary retreated, and through the vines he saw half a dozen more kentrosaurus barreling by. As the brachiosaur's legs thundered around him all the plated spiky herbivores stampeded onward. Gary was just seeing the last of them disappear through the vines when he heard what sounded like an angry pig coming his way.

"Dear God, now what?" He turned around just in time to see a herd of twenty or so hog sized creatures charging at him. Each one looked like a miniature hornless triceratops. "Oh shit!"

The first of them plowed into his knees, and he pitched over onto its back. Tumbling down the animal's scaly hide his arms flailed, and he grasped for anything he could.

Gary's fingers clasped onto fistfuls of something rough and bristly. His legs and bare belly were dragging through the dirt and bouncing over rocks and foliage. Ferns and low branches slapped at his face. Gary opened his eyes. He was holding onto the feathery tail of a protoceratops. His head snapped back to look over his shoulder. The rest of the herd of small triceratops-like creatures were pounding their feet behind them. He was afraid to let go. He would certainly be trampled.

Gary could no longer see the brachiosaurus. They were out of the vines and stampeding through lush green jungle. He turned his head forward again. As he continued to be drug through the jungle he had no idea what direction they were going. All he could see was blurs and flashes of foliage as he bounced along through it. The occasional scurry of a compsognathus would scamper past him while shrieking at the intrusion.

Quite abruptly the protoceratops that Gary was clinging onto dug its feet into the ground. Gary looked up and saw a fan of kentrosaurus spines spread out in front of them. Both dinosaurs bellowed at each other, and the protoceratops bounded right. Gary's shoulders almost got tugged out of their sockets as the pig-sized dinosaur kicked off. He did not want to let go though and be left behind with the angry kentrosaurus that was whipping its tail at them.

Once more Gary was bouncing along on the jungle floor, only now many of the other protoceratops had caught up, and he found himself surrounded in something that felt like a herd of stampeding swine. There was a splash as he was pulled into a mud pit, and for a few moments the stamping feet of the dinosaurs created an ascending rain of brown water around him. He couldn't see anything through it.

With a slam he hit dry ground again. Gary winced as his bare chest and belly were being rubbed raw. As a herd the protoceratops veered right and then jogged left. A few moments later they were banking right again. One of the protoceratops near Gary crossed paths with the one he was holding onto. They side swiped each other, and Gary's protoceratops bucked and kicked, throwing him off. He tumbled through the stampede getting kicked, trampled, and head butted the entire way. When the last protoceratops pounded past him he rolled into the side of a small boulder and curled into a ball of pain.