Cretaceous Sea

were uprooting dried plants and tossing them downstream. They were already covered with mud. Their duffel bags and the guns hung on the gnarled branches of a small overturned tree.

'We need a fireproof spot,' said Rick.

Con placed her duffel bag with Rick's and Joe's, then joined them in pulling up plants. Most of them came up easily from the soft mud. The deeply rooted ones that didn't were stomped down into the muck. Gradually, the clear spot was widened from five to ultimately fifteen feet. While they worked, the flames advanced.

Driven by the fire, panicked animals arrived long before the flames did. Con could hear them splashing through the water. Sometimes she could also make out a shadowy form in the ever-thickening smoke. A lone Triceratops lumbered by so close she could hear its ragged gasping. The appear-ance of the animals did not frighten Con. Instead, it gave her hope, for it was evidence there still were other living beings in the world. Joe's reaction was different. He walked over to the upturned tree, grabbed a gun, and turned it on. 'Fresh meat,' was all he said. The words made Con's stomach rum-ble. Joe stood vigilantly at the perimeter of their clearing and strained to see through the smoke. Twice he fired at vague fleeing shadows, but missed both times as the haze defeated the gun's targeting scope. Con and Rick watched him as they crouched down close to the surface of the water, where the smoke was less dense. The smoke thickened into choking clouds that drove Joe, coughing and wheezing, to abandon the hunt. He hung the gun on the overturned tree, then flopped down on his back in the water next to Con.

'You know,' said Joe as he settled in the ooze, 'this isn't half-bad. Like some fancy spa.' Con followed suit and lay down full length also. By .plac-ing her hands behind her head, she was able to keep her face above the water. The water in her ears shut out the roar of the oncoming fire, and the air was less acrid. The mud and the lukewarm water were not entirely refreshing, but they provided some relief from the heat. Exhausted and emotion-ally drained, she was past caring about anything else. She was no longer hot, and that was sufficient for the moment. Con closed her eyes. A feeling of numbness came over her, the closest thing to peace she had experienced since the pre-vious morning. Rick remained sitting upright, breathing through his wet shirt, as he watched anxiously for the onrush of flames. Rea-son told him they had done everything they could and now they must sit tight. Still, he wanted to be on guard. The fleeing animals were all gone. That's the difference between intelligence and instinct, thought Rick. The river's the only safe place to be and they ran right through it. The dark land on the other bank only looked like a refuge. The river, choked with tinder-dry plants, would prove no barrier to the fire. It would pass over this puny obstacle and continue its pursuit. The animals would be overcome in the end.

Yet Rick's intellect could not calm the fear he felt as flames became visible through the smoke. They rose much higher than he had imagined they would. The terror of yes-terday's events lacked the immediacy of these flames. The burning sky had remoteness and even grandeur. This had the visceral impact of a blowtorch pointed at his face. Rick was about to lie prone in the water when he remembered that the guns and the duffel bags were still in the tree branches. They might burn when the fire passed over the river. He was about to retrieve them when he heard the sound of a very large animal approaching. He froze to listen. It came from up-stream, and it seemed that the creature was not crossing the river but walking down its middle. So much for my theory about blind instinct, he thought. He wondered what creature had the sense to remain in the water. From the rhythm of its footsteps, they sounded like those of a biped.

Rick shook Con and Joe, while he strained to see what was making the noise. Con sat up, her hair and back dripping with mud. She rubbed her eyes and looked around stupidly. When she saw the flames, her eyes widened in fear.

'What's up?' asked Joe. 'Shouldn't we be lying down?'

'Something's coming!' said Rick.

A towering shape materialized from the smoke. It was a huge Tyrannosaur, taller than either of the two they had spot-ted on their excursion. The flames had reached the river, and the foliage above its surface was beginning to ignite. Flames licked at the creature's flanks, and it roared in pain and rage. Then it spied the patch of cleared water and headed for it. Rick was rising to dash for the guns when the dinosaur bounded into the clearing and blocked his path. He made a startled jump backward, lost his footing, and fell. As he went down, a yard-long foot splashed in the water just inches from Con's leg. The foot rose again, and Rick saw sharp, eight-inch claws dripping with mud.

Joe seized Con by the waist, pulled her toward him, then rolled over. The maneuver bought them two feet of safety. Afraid to stand up, Rick, Joe, and Con scrambled on their hands and knees away from the oversize talons. The mud fought their every movement. They struggled in frantic haste, aware the Tyrannosaur might maim or crush them without even noticing it.

The entire river was on fire by then, yet the safest place was close to the flames, for the giant creature would not stay still. No matter where it stood, it was too large to avoid the fire entirely. It moved constantly and erratically, churning the slow-moving water into a muddy pudding. Several times its heavy tail missed bludgeoning diem by inches. Sometimes, when it bent forward to lift its tail up as high as it could, they could stare into its tormented yellow-green eyes. They appeared not to stare back, as if they were blinded by pain. Then the creature would jerk its head away, seeking respite in another position. None came and it roared hoarsely as parts of its hide began to blacken, and to bubble with huge blisters. Con huddled with Rick and Joe near the burning perimeter of the clearing. She dared not take her eyes off the frantic monster in their midst, even though watching it exposed her to the searing heat. The Tyrannosaur held her in thrall, as might a gun pointed at her head. Every detail of the massive legs was impressed into her brain—the rippling muscles, its pebbly, mud-caked hide, the dewclaw above the rear of its foot and, most of all, the three, wicked claws at the ends of its huge, birdlike feet. The animal seemed less of a riving crea-ture than a force of nature, a smaller but equally deadly cousin to the meteor, the earthquake, and the burning sky. It could kill her with equal indifference. Her mangled body would register to its tortured mind as only a difference in the texture of the mud—if it registered at all. Wet mud offered the only protection from the flames, aside from the shallow water. Rick, Joe, and Con scooped it up and helped each other to coat the exposed parts of their bod-ies to keep them from blistering. The mud quickly grew hot and had to be refreshed with new coats. While they did that, they kept a wary eye on the Tyrannosaur. Rick slathered mud on Con's neck and shoulders saying,

'Everything will be fine.' His words reminded her of Pandit and Sara. When the vegetation in the river burned to the waterline, the flames extinguished. Gradually, dark spots appeared in the riverbed. They enlarged until the river was