His concentration was interrupted by the loud blowing of a horn and the sensation of being lifted. He opened his eyes and saw two lizard men standing over him, carrying his raft laden with skulls and bones like pallbearers hoisting a coffin. They took several steps forward, and Peter was lowered again. Only this time, the ground wasn’t solid. He bobbed up and down. By the time he realized he was floating in water, they had released the raft, and the current took him away.
As he passed away from them and reached what he figured to be a safe distance, he lifted his head to look at his feet. He was, indeed, being sent down a river, away from the lizard hive. Again, he heard the blaring of a horn, over and over again. As he lay back, out of the corner of his eye he swore he saw movement. Startled, he sat up on his elbows and caught the crest of something dip beneath the water.
His heart raced as he reached out for signs of life in close proximity, and he found something. Something big. The sensation reminded him of fishing on his uncle’s boat and the fish finder pinging something large. Only Peter wasn’t fishing. He was the bait.
To his left, in his peripheral vision, he caught a swift movement and turned his head in time to see five feet of arched neural spines disappear under the water, followed by two feet of a longer run of spines. Peter saw a large shadow pass ahead of the raft.
He sat up on his raft, spilling bones into the river as the current gently swept him along. Up ahead, he saw a long rock rise out of the water. However, as he was swept closer, he realized it was no rock. It was a crocodilian head breaching the water’s surface, elongated spines rising behind it. Peter rolled off the raft and into the water as a large mouth opened, chomping down on the raft with large conical teeth.
The raft immediately splintered under the force of massive jaws as Peter frantically kicked his legs, swimming sideways towards shore. Fifty feet of shadow passed under him. Its tail swept back and forth, propelling the predator through the water. Peter knew this theropod, and he knew that he didn’t stand a chance against a Spinosaurus in the water.
He also knew, given the length of the Spinosaurus and the width of the river, he had a brief moment to make it to shore before it turned completely around to make another pass at him. As he swam, attempting a direct perpendicular route to shore, his trajectory took on more of a hypotenuse due to the river’s current. He heard a massive splash behind him, and fear gripped his brain as he registered its meaning. It was coming for him. He had only seconds.
He felt the river bank ride up to meet him, and he shifted to a standing position. He ran, splashing, making a break for shore as he caught the massive theropod rising up out of the water behind him. He darted to the right as it dove at him, missing him. It, however, collided with him, spinning him sideways and knocking him off his feet.
It turned abruptly, pushing him back into the river. Its size made its movements on land clumsy and imprecise, and it struggled to snatch the tiny morsel. However, the current took Peter once more, rolling him past its hind legs. It spun around on its legs, roaring in fury and whipping its fanned tail, as it searched the river for its elusive meal.
Peter quickly held his breath and dipped below the surface of the water. If it couldn’t spot him, he had a chance. If it spotted him, in the water using its fanned tail, it would close the distance within seconds.
Under the water’s surface, rolling in the current, Peter was unable to see if the massive beast was pursuing him. Instead, he curled into a ball, bracing himself for large teeth closing in on him. At last, he had to come up for air. He breached the surface, gasping, his lungs burning as they filled with much needed oxygen. He rubbed the water out of his eyes as he heard another roar and saw the Spinosaurus slide back into the water.
Peter felt the current pick up, and the jungle on either side raced past him. The water gurgled louder now, and he turned to find that he had entered rapids. He looked over his shoulder and saw the arched spines racing towards him, closing in fast.
Suddenly, he felt the sharp pain of being slammed against a rock, knocking the wind out of him. He dipped beneath the surface, swallowing water, and popped back up again. He collided with another rock, slamming his head, and warm blood ran into his eyes. He moved faster now, merciless against the quickening current, bouncing like a pin ball against rocks, being rolled by dips and turns in the river.
Massive jaws opened and snapped shut, barely missing him, as the Spinosaurus was forced to stand up in the shallow depth, buying Peter just enough time to be swept away from it and out of its reach. He glimpsed that it only stood there, its chest heaving from exertion. Apparently, it had decided against pursuing such a small morsel through the shallow rapids.
Relieved, Peter’s triumph was cut short by a massive blow to his head and the world going dark.
Chapter 4
Tracey saw the clearing made by the aptly named ‘Daisy Cutters’ out of the helicopter window. Her stomach lurched as the copter dipped, hovering
