Prehistoric Love

Crap, crap, crap.

“Cass, calm down” Nate whispered as the Raptors sniffed at our clothing.

“Yeah, easier said than done,” I whispered back

He moved his mouth closer to my ear so he could talk quietly, “Think of it this way. These guys are animals, and animals are empathic. The Utahraptors can feel your emotions and they’re going to react to them.”

Still holding eye contact with the Raptor behind Nate I swallow, “I think the one behind you is their leader, the others didn’t come out until it called.”

I barely caught his nod, “I think so too. I have a plan, though. To you right is a tree, if we slowly shuffle to it we should be able to make it up there without them knowing.”

“Are you insane?” I rasped, “Raptors are smart, they’ll catch on pretty easily.”

“Do you have a better idea? At least my plan has us up off the ground.”

I sighed, “Okay, but how do you plan to do this?”

“Easy,” he breathed, “We’ll walk slowly, so that we don’t scare them into action or make them want to chase us. When we get to the tree I’ll slowly hoist you up, then follow you when you reach a good height.”

“I can’t leave you down here! What if they attack when I start climbing?”

He leaned back to look in my eyes, “Then you continue to climb, not coming down until they’re gone.”

I glared at him, “Superman, Batman, and the Power Rangers are the heroes in my life, Nate. I don’t have room to add you to that list.”

He sighed, and without answering started to move us toward the tree.

I watched the lead Raptor’s eyes, seeing the wheels turn in its brain.

“Nate….”

“Trust me,” he whispered.

As we moved the Raptors followed us step for step, watching and calculating.

When we finally reached the tree Nate moved so that he stood between me and the Utahraptors.

“Climb, Cass.”

I shook my head, “Nate, you can’t stay down here.”

“Cass,” he growled quietly.

Swallowing my fear I turn and begin to climb, trying not to move too fast.

But that wasn’t good enough for Nate.

“Cass, move faster.”

“I don’t want to startle the Raptors.” I called down

“I know, but I can’t climb up until you’re farther from the ground.”

Alright, point taken. Moving faster I climb up on a limb about 25 feet from the ground.

Once settle I look down to see Nate pressed up against the tree, facing the Raptors who were pressing their noses against him.

“Nate, hold on.”

Breaking of a limb above me I toss it into the forest. The noise from the falling limb catches the Raptors attention long enough for Nate to scramble up the tree. Once he sat by me we looked down to see the Raptors all looking up at us.

“Now what, hero?” I asked

He shrugged, “We wait them out.”

I was about to respond when I heard a short cough like roar from below.

Looking down I see the lead Raptor take a few steps back, “Nate, I have a really bad feeling.”

We watch as it stood for a few seconds then took a running leap up the tree.

Nate cursed as we watched the Raptor slowly sink its nails into the tree, sliding a few inces every time it moved forward.

“My God, it watched us and is learning how to climb. Do you know what kind of thinking ability it takes to work that out so fast?” I asked in wonder.

“Well, I do now, Cass,” he voice rose with every step up the Raptor took, “I thought they couldn’t climb!”

“Yeah, well, let me quote you here, ‘This isn’t Jurassic Park’! That movie is based on assumptions and is science fiction, but guess what. This is science fact!” I cried nervously.

“Your screaming isn’t helping.” He growled.

“Fine,” I said with fake calmly, “What shall we do, oh hero of mine?”

He watched the Raptors slow climb then glanced at our surroundings.

“Okay,” he said, “Climb over onto the tree,” he gestured to a tree limb on my side, “then we’ll continued to hop from tree to tree until we lose them.”

I stared at him, sitting in silence for a little while.

“Are you crazy?!” I finally burst out, “You want to hop from tree to tree thinking we can lose one of the smartest dinosaurs ever known?”

He nodded, “Basically.”

I opened my mouth, but Nate interrupted me, “Cass, move it, unless you want to be a prehistoric appetizer I suggest you follow my plan, ‘cause it’s the only one we’ve got.”

Taking a deep breath I follow his direction, carefully jumping to the next tree. When I looked over I saw the lead Raptor staring at us, still hanging onto the previous tree.

“Keep going, don’t look back.”

Turning back I keep moving. After jumping through so many trees I’ve lost count. I finally just collapsed on a limb.

“Cass, why’d you stop? We’ve got to keep moving.”

“Nate, I-“

“Cass, Look!” he interrupted, pointing to something behind me.

Turning I gasp in shock to see the cave we entered in about three miles from here.

Then my excitement is extinguished when I realize it’s three, long, terrifying miles full of dangerous dinosaurs and unknown anomalies.

“Cass.”

I looked back at Nate.

“Don’t think about the danger, just think about home.”

Home, where the only thing that’s worthwhile is my job.

I sighed and looked back at the cave, “Yeah, home.”

~*~

An hour later we were still hoping through the trees.

I suppose we were still paranoid about the Raptors, even if we haven’t seen or heard them for a while now.

Just as we hopped into the last tree rain started to pour down.

“Why does it always rain in the most inopportune situations?” Nate asked

“I don’t think the rain just chooses-“

“It was a rhetorical question, Cass.” He snarled

Humph, guess he’s back to the pissed off and grumpy Nate.

Sighing I sit on the limb and watch the rain come down from the clouds.

We sat in silence for a while, a few drops of rain traveling through the leaves to land on us.

“Cass, I’m-“

“Let’s just get to the cave,” I said, not wanting to hear him accuse me of anything else, or hear him making cracks about my decision.

It’s not like I had any other choice.

Without waiting for him to respond I quickly search the ground and, seeing no predators, I climb down. When I hear Nate jumping to the ground I start to walk toward the cave.

Or at least the area where I last saw the cave.

“Cass.”

I ignore him.

“Cass, I-“

“I really don’t want to talk right now, Nathan.” I push through the foliage, looking back to glare at him.

“You don’t understand- Cass, look out!”

His warning came too late.

My footing slid in the muddy ground and I fell down the steep hill into a pile of mud. Pushing my head out from under the mud I gasp air into my lungs.

“Cass! Cassandra, can you hear me?”

I looked up to see Nate leaning over from the top of the hill.

“Yes, I’m-“

Did my foot just sink?

“Cass, you’re what…?” Nate’s worried voice traveled to me through the rain.

I swallowed, “I’m just-“

Why does my body feel like it’s being pulled down?

“Cass!”

“Uh, yeah. You might not want to come down here.” I called up.

A few seconds ticked by before he answered, “Why?”

“Because I’m in a bunch of quick sand.”