CHAPTER 15: Separated
Rudy stomped his thick hided boulders of clawed legs on the floor, creating epic earthquake sensations as he did so, walking through the jungle away from the Plates of Woe as he viciously finished off his arch enemy in Buck. The Baryonyx, thirsty for vengeance with much more rage than ever following being shoved off the edge by Momma Dino, had satisfied one part of his vengeful driven brutality.
Rudy's legs stomped against the ground as his grey hide body clashed and collapsed all the trees around him as he marched through the jungle following his conquest of Buck mercilessly, leaving the vicinity as quickly as he emerged. A frightened Nathan and Michael refused to even leave the gap even a step.
They could hear Rudy's demonic roars and growls, and his stomping legs as the Baryonyx created more distance between himself and them, not knowing their presence was there. Rudy's dangerous roars were so loud they were close to giving both Nathan and Michael a headache.
"I...I...I can't process this, I just can't!" whispered Michael, tears running down his face like a waterfall as death remained at the forefront of his rational thinking.
Nathan was equally as horrified. Seeing Rudy just show up, all sneakily and stealthily behind Buck and just ending him like that, with a stomp to the weasel followed by a chomp, was enough to make him also panic. The two men felt like they were about to die.
"We CANNOT let this hinder our return, Michael, just calm down."
"We can't calm down...Rudy's HUGE, he's MASSIVE, I really regret ever coming down here, I wanna go home, I wanna go back to work!"
It was now truly a case of being careful what you'd wished for. Getting out of here without Buck, with a vengeful, brutal Rudy on the loose. The two men were trembling in their shoes as they couldn't think straight. Nathan was able to think straight enough to have a solution and assurance.
"Listen here, Michael," he said, whispering but with a firmer tone, "forget everything we went through before, forget whatever arguments we had before. This is about us surviving and making it out of here, we need to stay united, we can't let our emotions ruin our ability to find our way back."
"How do we even know which way to begin? we can't start where we came from because Rudy's right there! the sight of him more than anything...at how tall he is, was like looking up to a tall tower, I felt lightheaded at seeing him, let alone him killing and eating Buck!"
"I'll quietly peek my head out," Nathan said, as he and Michael were cramped together in a small gap within the rocks just besides a couple of flat stone platforms, "don't say or make ANY noise. From what I can hear, we might be in the clear."
Michael's breathing was still rapid, like he was fearful of death at any moment. But he managed to keep his composure - somewhat. He didn't want to die down here, and he was especially worried about never seeing his family, his mum, or anyone ever again. Nathan was the same, but for Michael he just couldn't comprehend the thought of dying and leaving his family. Coming down here was the BIGGEST mistake of his life, something he acknowledged just now.
Nathan's head slowly emerged from the gap he and Michael were wedged into as a hiding spot, checking around to see the area where Buck was stood and where he and Michael departed from to get to these early portions of the Plates of Woe. The trees nearby were collapsed like a hurricane had struck, and Rudy's footprints even left the ground looking smaller in height. Buck's Rudy tooth was still planted in the ground where he last left it before making his assuring 'speech' before facing his end.
"He's gone," Nathan said, "it looks damaged over there, and Rudy's tooth from Buck is still in the ground. We can't stay in this gap forever, Michael."
The two of them continued to whisper.
"I don't wanna go out there," Michael frantically nodded, "I do NOT want to go out there."
"The more we stay down here, the more we'll remain away from our families back at the surface. We have to make a move, Michael, we need to use our ears and our eyes and our sense of direction."
"Honestly Nathan, I'm such an idiot, I'm really sorry about this. I really am. I'm absolutely horrified, look at me, I'm crying like a kid even though I'm 24. I just wanna go back home and see my mum, I don't want to die."
Nathan leaned down to face Michael. He patted his friend on the shoulder.
"I'm horrified too, mate, I really am. I fear for my life now just as much as you, I don't want to die down here at the hands of Rudy. But listen, and count on this - all we have to do is backtrack and keep our listening up. We...need each other to pull this off, if we're gonna get out of here safe, and we'll need each other if we're able to successfully say we can clock into our next shift at work."
Even something as little as the job they both worked at, they both felt grateful for it and once again realized how good they both had it prior to coming down here. It was a motivator of sorts, a realization that you had to appreciate everything you got in life. You might not like it in the moment, but something could happen which'd quickly make you realize how good it was and how much you missed it. For Michael and Nathan, that sort of motivation was what they needed if they were to safely get out of here.
This was no longer an exciting utopia, it was a life or death maze they needed to somehow escape. Michael seemed to 'sober' up a bit and wiped the tears from his eyes. The motivation of being able to see his family again was all he needed to overcome the fear of death and find a way out of the dinosaur world.
"Right," he sighed, leaning up with his bag, "let's do it."
Nathan patted Michael on the back.
"I just can't believe Buck...you know, just like that. We were only hearing his voice a little over 5 minutes ago and now he's gone, just like that."
"I know," Nathan said, "it is weird. All of that time he's successfully managed to duck and play Rudy, and all it took was for him to have his back turned and his eye off the ball."
The two men both stood up fully, ready to face the unguided wrath of the dinosaur world to get back to the surface. However, looking up at the sky was enough to cause concern - the sun was going down, and the sky was a lot more orange and the overall environment was cooler. It was starting to get to the end of the day.
"It's getting dark, the sun's going down."
"Yeah it is. Damn, I didn't even realize," said Nathan, "you got your flashlight on your phone? I've got mine."
"I do," Michael said, "but using the flashlight at night is gonna attract attention to us, Rudy's out and about in the night as well."
Michael felt like he was on a sinking ship, like he was in a completely trapped room on the ship as the water level rose and rose towards his chest. He was in that sort of panic. Nathan was equally as panicked and scared, but he knew in order for them to get out of here, they had to take the risk of venturing the dinosaur world through the night.
"I mean, it could be a lot brighter at night than we expect, and I hadn't thought about the extra attention it'd probably bring. But we can't hang around hiding inside this gap, we'll need to get moving now to beat the clock."
Michael slowly walked out of the gap he and Nathan were hiding in, walking slowly like he was balancing on a fine wire ten meters above the ground. He poked his head from the rocks towards the open area where the stone table was, and where Buck's prized possession, the tooth, was left hanging in the ground. Rudy didn't seem to have noticed it amid his attack on Buck, probably due to how vengeful he felt.
"Coast seems clear, we'll keep a low profile. We just need to walk directly back the way we came, we'll follow our general path back all the way."
Suddenly, to the opposite side of where Michael and Nathan were looking, where the rest of the Plates of Woe stretched out with the numerous rocky platforms and greyness, a couple of Guanlongs, picking up on the presence of a new creature they hadn't ever scented before, gradually embarked towards the direction Michael and Nathan were. Luckily, they were on the bottom level of the Plates of Woe, right below the stone platforms, but they were extremely good climbers. Seeing what was clearly a pack of Guanlongs approach made Michael and Nathan instantly bolt out of the gap.
"Oh god, oh god, get away from here, quick!" Nathan subtly yelled, to which Michael naturally obliged.
The two of them made a sprint and jumped over the various small gaps between the two rocky platforms, before emerging back onto the bare grounds of the dinosaur world. They didn't even take another look at the stone table as they'd ran straight past it back into the green jungle. Their breathing was so heavy their throats started hurting. They had enough water on hand to be able to stay hydrated, and the night was a lot cooler than the day down here, making their water situation even better.
"Did you see them? they looked right at us!" Michael said, referring to the Guanlongs back at the Plates of Woe.
The Guanlongs, with their blue bodies, their snarling faces, yellow eyes surrounded by red, and their overall demeanor, had approached the area Michael and Nathan were situated at with both curiosity and a seemingly obvious intent to get to them, for all the dangerous reasons. Michael and Nathan were quick to react logically before they had the chance to get to them.
Now all that was left around them was a gradually decreasing level of light as the sky underwent further changes with the gradual sunset, and a maze of jungle that'd prove scary and dangerous to navigate. Even more so considering the two of them had noticed the footprints of Rudy from when he'd walked away after killing Buck.
"Oh my god...look at that?" Michael said, still tearing up in his eyes from the utter horror he was feeling from potential death at the hands of Rudy.
Seeing the debris in front of him did him no favours, either. Trees all collapsed like an earthquake had shattered the ground, footprints which resembled craters from an asteroid, and clusters of palm tree leaves which were in a messy, scattered collection all across the rocky ground. Michael was contemplating if it was even a good idea to be roaming the jungle knowing Rudy was still clearly close by.
"I don't think we should be going this way, Nathan. We need to go another way."
"Don't say a word, Michael, listen for a moment."
Upon Nathan's words, both him and Michael could feel a sensation thumping the ground, followed by a distant roar. He was still in this area.
"No, no, no no NO NO NO NO NO!" Michael uttered, overtaken by his panic as he sought to sprint away from Nathan's side.
"MICHAEL, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Nathan yelled, following him from behind as the stomping steps of Rudy grew louder.
"NO, I'M NOT DOING THIS, I'M NOT DYING! NO!" Michael yelled, rushing through the various bushes and leaves.
Already, Rudy was on their backs. The Baryonyx hadn't ever seen humans before but the apex predator, roaring as he neared, the famous roar heard in the movies from him, was in no sort of temperament to do anything but kill anything in his way. Nathan and Michael would be no exception. Michael was sprinting as his throat became dry, his whole body feeling as weak as jelly as he sprinted completely terrified unable to think straight.
Nathan was equally as terrified. He was no longer the motivational pal in this predicament but the equally panicking sidekick. He couldn't comprehend being eaten alive. The two of them ran as their families roamed their mindsets - to die now would be to never see their families again, and that was a huge fuel behind the ongoing fight or flight sensation causing them to run.
Michael had suddenly charged in the complete opposite direction to Nathan, much to Nathan's bewilderment.
"MICHAEL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" he yelled, but he himself didn't stop to follow Michael due to hearing the stomps of Rudy emerging closer and closer.
Michael was too panicked, much like Nathan was, for the two of them to stop and rationalize why they were suddenly going in the opposite directions of one another, thereby getting separated. The fear of being killed was far too great, and the sound of Rudy's steps were so loud it was hard for them to pinpoint where exactly he was, which was why they both ran in opposite directions at Michael's unintended initiative.
Eventually, Michael ended up at a much smaller cliff edge having ran down the path from the stone table. At the very bottom rested a medium sized lake, it was unclear how deep it actually was. Michael looked down, estimating from a quick look that it was about 60 feet down from here to the bottom of the jungle that they were overseeing.
In the short distance amid the cluster of palm trees and an ever decreasing skylight, two red eyes and a thick grey hide, gigantic body became much more distinguishable as Rudy closed in. The stomping increased, the ground shook, and the Baryonyx had seemingly spotted Michael. His large body was getting taller and taller as the gap seemed to be closing between him and Michael.
Michael was stood as close to the edge as he physically could've, his back turned to it. He continued looking down towards the lake below, before looking back up. Rudy's long snout, with his swords for teeth and red albino eyes, busted out from the trees with his giant thick hide grey body and legs. Rather than trying to snatch Michael into his mouth, the Baryonyx had lifted up his claw to try and seemingly grasp him into the ground, similar to how he did with Buck. Rudy knew this strange being was utterly terrified and helpless, hence why he'd switched his focus primarily to him.
But Michael wasn't going to let himself be caught by the Baryonyx and die.
The 24 year old, through wanting to live, jumped off the edge JUST as Rudy's claw aimed to clamp down on him, and sent himself like a rollercoaster downwards through the warm air, his body as weightless as a feather for a brief moment as his heart felt like it was about to shut down with all of the excessive air passing him. He'd closed his eyes and could feel the gradual speed at which he descended.
The horrifying descent downwards through the air ended with a complete crash landing into water, feeling his legs not even touch the bottom. The lake suddenly turned into a wave machine the moment his body hit the body of water.
When he hit the water, his ears had seemingly felt like they'd just been close to a rocket launch, the impact was so strong. He was suddenly soaked and wet, and almost instantly he started kicking his legs and arms through the water, not knowing how far down he was due to keeping his eyes closed. The taste of salt water was the most undesirable thing he could've wanted at this point of urgency.
Rudy, with his focused albino red eyes, and open snout, glared downwards and let off a roar which'd sent all the trees nearby wobbling, roaring to the direction the strange creature had jumped. Michael had heard the roar even underwater as he tried to get his bearings. The 24 year old was utterly terrified, but for the time being, he'd managed to, through survival instincts, avoid certain death at the hands of Rudy by making the scary jump. The Baryonyx wasn't just an apex killer, he was a psychological sort of dinosaur, utilizing his appearance to strike fear in the hearts of his prey, and it'd evidently paid off when the giant dinosaur had caused Michael to jump off the edge just now.
Rudy once again roared with a devilish snarl, standing on his forelegs and hind legs, stretching his long thick hide grey neck over the edge to roar directly at the waters to which the strange creature had just jumped. The Baryonyx was hungry to kill, thirsty for blood, especially after the humiliation of being initially defeated by Momma Dino - so much so, that he was going to make sure he'd get that specific creature.
Michael had not only become a target, but he was now separated from his friend - he and Nathan were now utterly stranded and lost in the dinosaur world, with Michael becoming the hunted by Rudy. He'd brought himself some time by jumping off the edge and avoiding death, but Rudy would find him, very easily, very quickly. The night was approaching and getting home looked more like a wish than a real prospect.