13

You've been so intent on your immediate situation that you haven't been as cognizant of your Cretaceous environment as you should be.

"Heads up," Casey shouts. "Trouble coming."

The ground begins to shake. Animal cries of fear come from downstream, and a great tide of dinosaurs sweeps up along the riverbank toward you—a bobbing, weaving mass of green and brown, uttering clacks and bracks and yips and yelps as it comes.

"Take cover," Casey cries. "Quick!"

Not sparing so much as a single glance for his crew, Vance utters a half-shout, half-scream as he bolts for the camper and jumps inside. You look around. There are no easily climbable trees at hand. Zooming off in your Land Rover is impossible, as it's hemmed in between the river, the RV, the rock ledges, and the onrush of dinosaurs. You could bull your way into the camper even if nobody exactly extended an invitation. If you and Brett push in ahead of Casey and Skyler, it seems unlikely that Vance will throw you out. You quickly assess whether you want to be close enough to an unpredictable Vance to head off whatever craziness he takes it into his brain to unleash. Or is it preferable to keep your distance from him?

If you want to, you'll have just enough time to grab your weapon and hop into the RV with an offer on your lips to help fend off whatever's coming after those creatures. Vance isn't foolish enough to refuse sorely needed aid.

Brett hasn't exactly waited around. With a rifle slung across her back, she's climbing up the camper's outside ladder to take refuge on the roof. Being above the fray looks like it may be a decent idea.

The moving animal mass comes into better focus—it's the entire hadrosaur herd. The dinosaurs gallop inexorably toward you. Much later, when you play back the video on your GoPro, this is the point where you hear yourself gasp.

The Land Rover is parked by a rocky outcropping rising above a jumble of boulders, some of them several times your height. When you selected this camping spot yesterday evening, you liked the fact that the rockfall served as an impenetrable barricade. Now, it looks altogether different—like a prison wall barring easy escape. But wait. There is a sizable pit beneath one boulder, which is big enough for you and someone else to crawl down into. That could serve as a secure hideaway.

Quick! Before the hadrosaurs overrun you, what do you do?