WONDER WORLD

CHAPTER FIVE

The pterodactyl landed on top of a rocky outcropping, about one-thousand feet high, with a large cave behind the rocks. The reptile squinted and glared at Anna.

It approached, and sniffed the air next to Anna's head. "What are you, creature?"

Anna's body shook as she said, "I'm...I'm a human. My name is Anna"

"You look like dinner to me."

Anna looked into the cave, seeing various skeletons from all sorts of animals, obviously remnants of this monsters past meals. The pterodactyl chuckled. "Don't worry, your bones will be enshrined in my cave soon enough." He stood up, showing his twenty foot tall height. "I am Tarek, the most feared creature in all of Wonder World!"

"Nice to meet you."

Tarek let out a loud, high pitched squawk that echoed off the rocks. "There's nothing nice about me...human!"

Tarek leaned closer to Anna, placed his mouth just above her head, and opened his mouth. Trembling, she squirmed a few feet away just as Tarek's jaws slammed shut like a bear trap. When she moved, she cut her ankle on one of the sharp rocks, leaving a seven inch gash above her foot. She also had puncture wounds in her shoulders where Tarek stuck his large talons for the flight. Anna laid on the dusty rock floor in pain, cold and shivering. Dust arose from the ground as Tarek stomped his foot with squinted eyes. "No one gets away from me!" He leaned over Anna's body, casting another big shadow over her. She rolled to the right just in time, as Tarek's jaws closed inches from her torso. Tarek re-grouped, and came at her talon's first. Anna rolled to her right further, causing her to fall into a crevasse so narrow, she barely fit her human body into it, but she was safe from the giant attacker, with sheer rock walls surrounding her.

Anna inched her way down the crevasse, and saw a sandy flat area below. The crevasse narrowed and she could not move her arm to push herself down any further. Her attention was drawn upward, as the big eye of Tarek looked at her from above. "Stuck, are we?" Tarek laughed. "I'll just wait til you die of dehydration, then I'll get you out with a stick. Don't worry, you're still going to be my dinner one day soon." Tarek grinned, went into his cave, and laid down. Darkness fell over the land, and soon after Anna saw a pair of eye's glowing from below. The eyes got closer to Anna's feet, using the rock walls as leverage to climb. Anna thought, "What is that? It must be pretty slender to be able to move in this crevasse." As the eyes got closer, she made out the outline of a large snake. She estimated the snake was about twenty feet long, big enough to squeeze the life out of her.

Anna kicked her feet downward, her one foot had blood on the top from the dripping gash on her ankle. "Go away! Get!" The snake opened his mouth as if to take a bite. Instead, the snake spoke. "Looks like you're in a jam."

"Yes sir. I've got Tarek above me and you below, and I'm stuck in this crevasse between you two. I've been in better situations." The snake wiggled its tongue, which tickled the bottom of Anna's foot. The snake opened his mouth again. "Listen..."

"Anna. My name is Anna."

I'm going to tell you softly so I don't wake that old, flying beast. No one likes that bully Tarek. He's the sole creature responsible for terrorizing Wonder World. We're a peaceful bunch, except for him. Listen, my tongue felt I'm at a distance to where I could bite your foot. So, I'm going to bite you in the foot."

"What? No!"

"Oh...don't worry. I'm just going to grab hold of your foot, and pull you down."

Anna's stomach hurt again. "Okay, I guess. I don't have many alternatives."

"Now Anna, you're going to feel a little pinch."

"You sound like a dentist. And it's never feels like a little pinch."