Chapter: Izza Skwerl

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I turned around slowly. Behind us, a hulking grey animal was looking straight at us.

The animal changed color to a neon blue. It looked just like a dilophosaurus, but much, much larger. Its neck muscles must have been strong, because it had captured one of the duck beasts and was holding it completely off the ground. It was barely taller than the duck beast it had brought down.

Sorka whispered to the group, "On three, everyone run to that cave. One... Two..."

Mega dilo dropped its quarry and began to screech in ascending notes, then down again.

"Three!" Sorka said her voice almost inaudible over the now blue thing's roars.

Everyone ran to the cave, but the big bird with teeth didn't bother with us, instead it made a quiet noise that shook the earth.

Once in the cave, the noise was echoing loudly. Then the ground stopped shaking. But the huffing was still echoing. Dim lights appeared in the cavern with us. Dim, ovular lights with a split in the middle. Eyes.

Someone screamed, and everyone else made a break for it. We ran past the big animal, but it still made no move towards us, it just watched as I heard more people go down, but I didn't turn my head. Sorka started climbing a tree with her knife, and everyone followed suit. Before I could find a tree to scale, there was a tearing pain in my quadricep. I whipped my body around to get a look at what had caught me, but it was stuck fast to my leg.

I felt something triangular under me scoot away, and the pain dulled a little. Before me stood a smaller version of the blue beast, but this one was brownish-green and without crests shaking its head. More behind it we ripping apart the downed men, their cries extinguished.

A bang, and the animal was on the forest floor, screeching and writhing with blood streaming from a wound in its neck. The others looked on and hissed, and the large one came around a stand of trees. The shot one stopped moving.

I started to crawl backwards, but I knew I couldn't climb a tree with my leg bitten. The big one, wich I assumed was the mother, turned black and walked towards me silently. Its young started towards me, but the parent stopped them with its tail.

Another bang, and the large one jerked. It snarled up at the trees then went back to the carcass, and the smaller ones looked at each other and took hold of theirs. I could hear the adult dragging away the duck beast. The young were content to stay as they were until the adult snorted again, and they grudgingly dragged away the dead crew.

The duck beasts trumpeted mournful cries somewhere, but the forest stayed silent.

"Thanks," I said to whoever had saved me. Other crew members scooted down their trees.

"Welcome," said someone I didn't know. I looked around for Sam. I didn't see him.

"Sam?" I tried to stand, but I couldn't get to my feet and fell over.

Sam appeared from behind Sorka. "Present," he said.

"Oh good. I thought they got you." I sighed.

The foliage rustled, and the tiny crocodile reptiles sprinted into the clearing. It looked like the same seven that had stayed at camp with us.

The black one dashed up my leg again and sat on its haunches. The others did the same as the other night.

"Guess he likes you," Sam said.

"Maybe," I was saying when it yelped and leaped off of me and up a tree. "Or not."

A voice squeaked faintly from above, "Help me. I'm not good with heights."

Steven, who was basically still a kid, and had spent all his spare time sniveling since we crashed, was clinging to a branch. One of the land crocs was standing on him. When they had first came through, he had stopped sobbing for a while and began shivering uncontrollably. He was doing the same now, and his grip was sliding from the branch. His eyes were squeezed shut, but when he opened them, he fainted and fell out if the tree.

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