Klexos

-Three-

68 million years ago, Late afternoon

As I'm approaching the bottom of the towering tree, I notice a boxy shape resembling a house. It's completely covered in separate peice's of thick tree bark and deep green vines. It was blending into the tree behind it, flawlessly. I cautiously walk up to the wooden door and knock three times. Waiting there with nothing happening made me feel very vulnerable.

I step back and take in this peculiar structure. It's obvious they were in a hurry, the angles on this possibly abandoned home were very off. The far left and right sides were taller than the middle. It made the roof look like an awkward V. Though, the way it looked like just another extension of the tree was awe-inspiring. Id love to meet the person responsible for this. I decide to knock one more time, it was a rhythmic tap. This time, almost immediately a slim elderly man opened the door with a surprised look on his face, "Out of all my years..." His wrinkled eyes closed as he takes a deep breath and says, "Its getting late, come on inside."

I probably looked almost as surprised as he did, as I stood there dumbly with my mouth open. I had completely expected this oddly astounding home to be abandoned.

His thin silver curls were peaking out of his cloth bandana, his clothes looked to be hand stitched leather. He had a large arched nose, skinny lips, and his cheeks we're sunken in. This man looks like a malnourished high schooler with wrinkles.

Though he appears the opposite of dangerous, so I follow him into the dimly lit cabin. The inside walls are covered in differently shaded leather patches, similar to the tree bark outside. As I looked throughout the room, I wondered how long it took this man to aquire all the things he had. It was obvious he handmade a lot of it. There was a dingy stone forge in the back corner, sitting next to it was a wooden rack filled with different types of tools. He had what looked like a kitchen, with wooden counter space and a sink. No faucet, just a light brown pipe made of something similar to bamboo sticking out of the window. It was connected to a discreet stone barrel outside.

"Would you like a drink, son?" the man questioned, while pouring a opaque brown liquid into a peculiar shaped cup. I agree, he hands me the cup and sits down in front of me with his own. I take a sip thinking it's some kind of tea. When my throat starts to burn I do all I can to not spit out the whiskey, or a sorry excuse for some. He drinks his own cup like it's the water keeping him alive. I set mine aside on the table next to me. His deep grey blue eyes looking at me like I was a new movie.

"Do you have a name?" my head swimming with so many questions, I start simple.

"Oh, i'm sorry for being so rude, you see its been ages since I've had any company. The names Cadwell, son. Yourself?" His hurricane hazel eyes which visibly held many harrowing stories were focused on me.

I was a mere second from replying when this child sized bird/raptor thing came sneaking around a doorway inside the cabin. I'm not kidding you when I say I about crapped my pants.

"Holy hell, CADWELL! Watch out!" I cry like I'm telling my mom to kill the spider in my room. How did this thing get into the cabin?! My eyes big as asteroids, I back into something behind me followed by an unmistakable metallic crash. This makes me jump again, "There's more than one!" Falling forward onto my knees trying to get away.

"Oh for heaven's sake boy, that's my Lucy." His voice dripping with annoyance. "Come here, girl! And that boom? It was my machete, calm down." My heart starts pounding a little less, and I look over the creature in front of me. Lucy has deep chestnut brown feathers. They start at the top of her tiny raptor shaped head and end at the tip of her long skinny tail. Her brown and black scales start right above her luminescent turquoise eyes, which run down her face. They also covered her stomach, the bottoms of her arms and all over her legs. Her long dark claws pointed forward, and more feathers protruding from her bicep area. My first dinosaur, Lucy, she's terrifyingly beautiful.

Realizing in that moment that I just made a complete fool of myself, I feel my cheeks flush. I pick up my wooden chair from its side, and sit.

"Sorry." My voice was low and laced with humiliation. "You can call me Isaac by the way."

"Don't sweat it, son. I remember my first oversized lizard. I had a rough first week. I think it was only a week? I had saved her from drowning, her leg was stuck under a log. A few days later she suddenly appeared and ran off some trouble for me, practically saved my life!" His voice filled with nostalgia. At the same time he was showing off teeth mark scars on his left calf and thigh. Its probably the first time he's gotten to tell that story. I felt a tad special in that moment.

"So tell me Cadwell, you know anything about this whole thing the Council has going on? How come there aren't more people here?" The curiosity in my voice, prominent.

"Ahh, the Council. Boy, has it been forever since I've heard that damned name." He takes a deep breath in and continues, "From what I've gathered, they mostly send people to the beginning periods of the Mesozoic. We are in the cretaceous; when the Lizard era comes to an inevitable end. Granted, we still have a few million years til that happens, but in the computer algorithm that calculated our time, thats not too far off."

So I got the short end of the stick. The period where no one else comes. What makes us two so different?

"Why do you think they get sent to a different period? What if you haven't met them yet?" I questioned.

"Son, I've been here for 38 years. Not a soul has walked these woods. But aside from that, I've seen footprints in fossils and ruins from previous colonies."

"Colonies? Like families?" Im not comprehending this as reality yet.

"Of sorts. Yes, you could call them that. But that implant there on the back of your neck? It instanly brings infertility as soon as it's used. No kids, at least they had enough mercy for that. Did they stop telling the people this stuff? It was common knowledge in the 2050s." He looked at me analyzing something in his head.

"What time are you from, son? How long have you been here? You look like raw meat." His voice was raspy. My heart felt a pang of homesick, even though I'd been gone for less than a day, "2088. Its my first day, believe it or not." I felt weak, my new life starting to weigh heavy on my shoulders.

"Not! Honestly? How on your first day do you meet a living person: Me! When my eyes haven't met anything other than lizards for decades!" Cadwell was visibly annoyed. A few seconds after the word lizard came out of his mouth, Lucy made this weird gurgling throaty hiss at him. The annoyed look and tone immediately dissipated and he looked empathetically at her, "Oh Lucy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Is he really talking to this dinosaur like it can understand him? This guy is more of a nutcase than I thought.

"Hey Cadwell," I tried to refocus his attention on me.

"Call me Cad." He said lightly.

"Okay. Cad, will you take me to see the ruins?" That highly peaked my interest. Might as well get to know my surroundings and learn the way of the wild.

"Not tonight. It's much too dark. I don't like to go out much, anyway." He squints his eyes at me, "But I suppose I will show you tomorrow, sunrise. Get some rest, up the stairs."

There were stairs? Wow this guy is a genius at camouflage.