TIMESCAPE

9

  Dante was too afraid to scream. A murderous dinosaur was standing less than a foot away from him. All it had to do was take one bite and it would all be over. Dante was horrified, but he was also in awe at what was before him. Rows of sharp teeth still dripping with blood, breath that smelled like rotten fish, and a mouth that could fit half of his body in one bite!

Dante swallowed, trying not to vomit. Don't be a hero, the chief's words echoed in his head. It was too late for that. He began to back up slowly, the dinosaur following him with its eyes, waiting for the right moment to attack. He kept the stick out in front of him, the only weapon he had. Dante looked around for his options. All he could see through the pouring rain was trees and in every direction. One of the trees had large, twisting roots that created a cavity deep enough to hide in...maybe. First he'd have to get there and it was all the way across the clearing. Behind the allosaurus.

Dante was panicking. He realized he was still backing up. He quickly glanced behind him to see the mud covered ridge he and Katrina had fallen down. He couldn't climb up it in the rain. The allosaurus was trapping him. And he had backed his way right into it.

Dante stopped moving, keeping his feet rooted in the mud. The dinosaur continued to move forward, it was only feet away. Dante held his ground, he stared the dinosaur right in the eyes, he wanted it to know he wasn't going down easy. He hoped the message got across.

The allosaurus lunged forward, but Dante was expecting it. He sidestepped out of the way of its clamping jaw. He felt like Luke in Return of the Jedi fighting the rancor. Only he had a walking stick instead of a lightsaber. Dante twirled the stick in his hands, keeping the allosaurus focused on him. It lunged at him again, this time faster. Dante barely had time to dive out of the way before the jaws closed. One of it's sharp teeth sliced his arm. He was bleeding, he could feel it, but he couldn't do anything about it. He swung the stick as hard as he could at the dinosaur's legs. It roared in anger, louder than anything Dante had ever heard in his life. He continued to move. Don't stop moving, he thought, make it as hard as possible for it to catch you.

The allosaurus turned, it was facing him again. He couldn't keep this up forever. The dinosaur was quickly losing patience. But what could he do? What would Luke Skywalker do? An idea hit him like a lightning bolt. It probably wouldn't work, but it was the only idea Dante had.

The allosaurus attacked again, lunging forwards, thrusting it's jaws open. Dante stared down it's open throat, the smell of death spraying him in the face. As it's mouth began to close, Dante took the walking stick in his hand and shoved it all the way down the creature's throat. He quickly retracted his hand from the creature's mouth, his fingers escaping just in time.

To his surprise, the allosaurus began to choke, the stick was in a position where it couldn't bite it, it was struggling to try and break the stick, but the stick was already down its throat so there wasn't anything it could do. It was working! Dante didn't wait to stick around and see what would happen. He took off running for the deep roots of the tree across the clearing.

Dante slipped in the mud, but quickly got to his feet. Mud was better camo anyways. He reached the tree roots and was able to squeeze down inside. This was amazing, it was almost like a tunnel in here. He could move to his left and his right for several feet. Dante watched the allosaurus through the roots to see what would happen. He was shocked to see that it had somehow managed to cough up the broken stick and spit it out. Now it was lumbering toward him, and it wasn't happy.

Dante ducked back inside the roots, and not a moment too soon! The allosaurus began snapping away at the tree roots, trying to rip them open, trying to tear a hole so he could get to Dante. And it wouldn't take it long. Already the tree roots were beginning to rip away. Dante took advantage of the time he had and climbed and shoved his way through the roots, as deep as he could go.

The first layer of roots tore free. The allosaurus tossed them away with its teeth, then returned to keep digging. I hope Katrina was able to get free, Dante thought, I hope she finds Paige, and all this will be worth it. Dante didn't want to die, but if he was going to die, he at least wanted his death to mean something. Please let Katrina escape!

The allosaurus ripped away more roots, now it was digging with its claws, and it was moving faster. Dante dug deeper, pulling himself through more roots, the squeezes were getting tighter and tighter. Tough, slimy roots clawed at his face and pulled at his clothes, but Dante fought through it. This was survival. He looked up to see a wall of dirt. He tried to claw at it and pull it away, to dig deeper, but there was nowhere deeper to go. That's when he realized there was no getting out of here. He had dug himself into a dead end. Dante had reached the trunk of the tree. On either side of him were more roots, but they were so thick there was no way he was going to get through them without a knife or a machete. He was stuck.

Dante turned around to face the allosaurus. If he was going to die, he was going to do it facing his fears. Like a man.

The allosaurus tore through the last layer of roots. This was it, there was nothing protecting him, he was face to face with a bloodthirsty killer and it was going to tear him in half.

"Hey! Look over here!" Katrina's voice. Dante's heart sank. The allosaurus leered over him for a second, rain and filthy drool dripping down on top of him. Then the creature turned away from him.

Dante climbed up and looked out of the roots and the clearing. Katrina was holding a lit flare, standing across the clearing. The flare sparked and spit flames, drawing the creature's attention. It stumbled toward her, fast and hungry. Katrina dropped the flare on the ground and the ground instantly burst into flames. What? How is that possible? Dante thought. He climbed out of the hole, standing again on his two trembling legs.

Now Dante was able to see what he hadn't seen before. The flare had fallen in a tar pit. It was a black layer of oil, almost impossible to see in the rain and mud. But Katrina had seen it. The ground around the allosaurus lit up in flames. The creature stumbled forward, terrified, stepping in the flaming oil, covering itself. Now it too, was on fire. It roared, a sound that shook Dante's head and made him cover his ears. His head felt like it wanted to explode. The dinosaur ran, shaking it's head, rolling, slamming into things, trying to put the fire out.

Soon Kate was at his side. "Come on!" she screamed. Dante followed her into the trees, he didn't need to be told twice.