Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 49: They see me rollin'

We somehow lost each other, and I only noticed after I shouted for him and got no reply. There's no time to look for him, though, as it seemed our attacker decided I was the target he wanted.

I barely managed to leap into the carved base of a tree, covered by spikes of roots and shrubs, just as the Omnisourus stomped right in front of it. My breath hitched and I held tight to my knees. The fact that I was currently being slaughtered with mud and dirt due to still being wet didn't phase me. Well, the swimsuit and bandages were actually quite annoying.

I kept as still as I could, waiting, watching, listening.

All I could see were the large claws and thick-skinned feet of the dinosaur. It's low growls, thundery and whispy, felt like echoes in a dreary dark fog.

The foot in front of my hiding spot stomped, shaking the ground below me with a rumble so startling, I accidentally let out a scream.

At the sound of my cry, the dinosaur roared. Luckily, it wasn't sure where it had come from.

Or...I thought it didn't.

It's platypus-esc head suddenly came into view and sniffed at the soil. It's eyes were beady and swollen to where red lines could be seen erupting from the sockets. I held back another cry, even as it got closer to me space.

Tense. Lonely. Dark. Silence.

No matter how much I tried to will it to, the Earth would swallow me whole. The Omnisaurus sniffed around. It was so close I could feel the air around me being pulled into its nostrils.

I didn't know if it was minutes, seconds or hours, but time get expansive nonetheless and it was horrific.

I was going to die.

This is it.

My death is-

There's barely any time to process it. A loud roar interrupted me thinking and I suddenly feel the entire ground once again rumble. Then a force, a strong, powerful one, slams into the trunk of my tree.

I'm screaming as dust and pieces of bark crumble around me. The shaking is so loud that it almost blocks out the sound of roots violently ripping from the ground, in turn breaking my hold as the tree starts to lean back.

Thump after thump, I fall back further, scraping my back and shoulder blades on the surface behind me. My chest cries, my eyes cry, the dinosaur cries.

It's a few minutes until the tree finally breaks free of the soil.

My body flings back, and I'm suddenly rolling within the trunk of the tree. My hands clamp onto anything they can as the tree rolls down some sort of slant. Every scratch that rips my skin makes the situation even more scary, and my chest, of course, doesn't agree with our problem either.

I'm getting dizzy at this point. My head lolls from side to side and my vision begins to blur.

Before I know it, the movement comes to an abrupt halt, and darkness succumbs me.

{}{}{}{}{}

Everything hurts.

That's my first thought as I wake up. It doesn't take long for me to remember my situation, and where I currently was; however, it does take a painfully long time for my body to start working at full capacity again.

Even when I can fully operate my limbs, I'm sore to the point it feels like I'm going to fall apart. And maybe I was? It was too dark in the tree trunk to even see or observe my condition.

My hands start to reach around aimlessly for the entrance of my hiding spot. I'm no longer as concerned about the "innocent" dinosaur as I am now about dying in a fucking tree of all things! That is not how I want to go out, thank you very much.

Not that it really mattered. If I stayed and waited, would anyone find me?

The compies would before any of my friends, and by then I'd probably be dead already.

I considered it for a moment: staying would be a lot less painful then putting any effort into leaving, but it would also be a lot more painful as if eventually starve to death or some stupid shit.

Both options sucked.

I found the carved hole I'd slipped through earlier. Without second guessing myself, I slipped my arms through and pulled my body through.

No wonder it's so dark in there, I think. When I crawl out, all I see is dense fog surrounding me. The trees that hadn't been purged by their rolling peer (they'd been torn up it seemed as it had rolled down a steep hill, though it was curious that none of them had stopped it sooner) were standing around me in the form of dark shadows. They towered upward, and the fog was so thick that I couldn't even see the canopy.

I crawled out and collapsed onto the jungle floor. My entire body is dirty and bloody and wet. My swimsuit is no longer recognizable under all of the rubble stick to my skin, and my bandages were squeezing rather painfully against my chest.

I let out a quiet cry.

Of pain?

Of fear?

No. Both.

Because I'm lost and tired, and I probably should have stayed in that tree.