The Dinosaur Four (27 page)

“It’s got to be the same cliff.
Come on.” William started to the right, straight down the middle of the clearing.

“Hold on,” Al said
. He remained motionless. “If this is the same cliff, that means there’s an angry Tyrannosaurus up ahead.”

Figured that out on your own,
genius?
mocked the voice in Callie’s head.

Al pointed back
in the other direction. “Let’s head that way and look for a way around to the top.”

“We don’t have
time
,” William said. “For Christ’s sake, Al, we have to get back before the device goes off. I want to get back to my sons. We’re not going to wander off exploring.”

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes us,” Al
countered, “if we are all dead.”

“How much time do we have left
?” Callie asked.

Tim looked at the readout on the device. “Three hours and
two minutes.”

“If it’s the same cliff,” Al countered, “T
he café should only be a half hour or so away, depending upon how far out we are. We still have time to try to go around.”

William looked angry.
“We don’t have any idea where we are right now. We could be miles away. The only thing we know is that the river in
that
direction.”

“And the Tyrannosaurus?”

“With any luck, the Tyrannosaurus ate his fill and he’s long gone. And there could be ten Tyrannosauruses in the other direction. We have to head toward the river.”

Al stared.

Tim broke the silence. “I’m with you, William. You’ve gotten us this far.”

Callie thought about it.
“Me too,” she said. Anything to stop the arguing. She moved closer to Tim and William and instantly regretted it. She didn’t want to alienate Al any further. They needed to work together.

Al held his hands open and shrugged.

William’s face softened. “Let’s go,” he said. “And let’s all be a bit more quiet from here on.”

Al gestured at the football. “Tim, give me a turn.”

Callie saw hesitation on Tim’s face. “Come on. Let him help out,” she nudged.

Al
took the device and held it under one arm.

They proceeded silently along the base of the cliff for
another half hour before they found their answer. Callie pointed out the giant boulder they had once hoped to pry off the wall and onto the tyrannosaur. It had tumbled to a stop in the center of the clearing.

William stopped the group next to a
large evergreen that had been upended by the Triceratops when it chased Buddy into the clearing. The roots of the tree were pried up from the ground at a forty-five degree angle. Underneath, dozens of large black beetles scurried about. They made a clicking sound, like the noise made by insects in the movies. William shuddered and kept his distance.

Beyond the boulder,
halfway to the end of the clearing, lay the Triceratops corpse. A row of meatless ribs curved up into the air. The group huddled near the upended tree, trying to stay close to the shadows. The smell hit them after a moment.

“That could be a source of meat for us,” Al noted.

“Who wants to eat
that
?” William asked, grimacing.

“It won’t smell so bad once it’s been cooked. Have you ever smelled a cow?”

“Do you think he’s still nearby?” Callie whispered. Then she heard the noise. Her heart raced. “Quiet. Listen.” A raspy rumble came from up ahead. “There.” Callie pointed. “He’s asleep.”

The tyrannosaur slumbered
in the trees at the lower edge of the clearing, near the Triceratops corpse. Lying motionless on its belly, it looked like another boulder.

William laid out their options: “Ok, we
can sneak along the bottom of the cliff and stay in the shadows or we can circle down through the woods below him. Or I suppose we could backtrack and try to find a way up top.”

“We should have done that in the first place,” Al pointed out.

Callie looked around the upended tree roots. Once they reached the far end of the clearing, it would be an easy ten-minute hike to the café. She wanted to collapse behind the counter until the timer expired. She didn’t even want to look at this world any longer. “I want to take the straight route,” she said. “The way the sun is right now, you can’t see anything in those shadows at the base of the cliff.”

“Oh my G
od,” Al said, as if it was the dumbest idea he had ever heard. “Walking across this clearing will leave us completely exposed if that thing wakes up. Do you remember how easily it grabbed Beth?”

“Then let’s go through the woods,” Tim said. “At least we’ll have some cover.”

“What cover?” Al spat. “The tyrannosaur chased us through the woods before. The trees didn’t slow it down at all.”

William
made a chewing motion with his mouth. “Why don’t we split up, Al? You go around your way and meet us back at the café.”

“Will you let me carry the time machine?”

“Not a chance.”

“I didn’t think so
.”

Tim held up his hands, clearly annoyed by their bickering. He gave Al a sidelong glance and turned to William.
“What do you think we should do?”

Callie
wondered what would have to happen before Tim would start taking action on his own.

William stepped away from the stump and looked around.
“Let’s go down through the woods. If we don’t go too far out of our way, it won’t take all that much longer. And let’s be quiet about it.”

“Fine
by me,” Callie said. “As long as we get moving.”

Before they could start, Buddy
walked up behind them. Callie gave the dog a quick pat on his head. He sniffed at the beetles under the tree roots and then started off, straight across the clearing, following the same route he had taken earlier, when the Triceratops had chased him here.

“Buddy!” Callie whispered. “No!”

The dog ignored her, but lurched to a stop when it noticed the sleeping tyrannosaur. He hung his head low and sniffed. The fur at the base of his neck stood on end. Buddy started up again, walking just as steadily as before, but now he moved to the left. He disappeared in the shadows along the bottom of the cliff wall.

“Would you look at that,
” William whispered.

The dog trotted daintily
at the base of the cliff. They heard a few rocks roll under his feet, but the tyrannosaur did not wake up.

Finally, the dog reached the point where the cliff tapered down to a low ledge. Buddy turned and looked back at the others, as if to say,
what are you waiting for,
and then continued on in the direction of the café.

William watched
Buddy disappear into the woods at the end of the clearing. “Okay then, if he can do it, we can do it.” The dog proved they didn’t need to loop around through the woods. The café was close. His sons were close.

Tim
said, “Are you sure?” He looked pale. “I’m as eager to get back as you are, but this will take us less than fifty feet from that sleeping Tyrannosaurus.

“
If we keep quiet, he won’t hear us. If we stay in the shadows right at the base of the cliff like Buddy, he won’t be able to see us.” William inhaled deeply. “And the stink of the rotting Triceratops will mask our smell.”

“Sp
eak for yourself,” Callie said, sniffing her armpits. “I could really use a shower.”

William wondered what would happen if
their plan worked and they prevented themselves from going back in time in the first place. Would they all suddenly smell better? He rubbed a scratch on the back of his hand. He wasn’t sure when or where he had gotten it, but he knew it had not been there in Denver. If they prevented all of this from happening, would the scratch disappear? He vowed to check the back of his hand as soon as they got home.

William looked at
Tim. “Listen to him snore. He’s fast asleep. That thing is in a food coma. Look how much of the Triceratops is gone. It has to have eaten several thousand pounds. And honestly, there’s no telling what we’ll run into if we circle through the woods. Are you up for it, Tim?”

Tim nodded.
“I guess so. Buddy made it look easy.”

“
We should go one at a time,” Al suggested. “We’ll be less likely to wake it up.”

“I’ll go first,” Callie said
. “I want to get it over with.”

William saw that she was
trembling. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes. “You’ll be fine. Step on the larger rocks. They’ll be more stable. They won’t move on you. And take your time.”

Callie walked over to the base of the cliff, stepping across large gashes where the earth had been torn open by the two giants in their earlier battle. She listened for the snoring of the tyrannosaur, but could not hear it over the sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

When she passed out of the
late afternoon sunlight and into the shadow below the rock wall, her skin still felt hot. She realized that she was sunburned. Her shoulders would be screaming at her in a few hours, and then after a day or so the itching would start.

Callie put her left hand up on the wall as she walked.
The cold rock helped her stay steady. She felt a sneeze coming on and froze in her tracks. She grabbed her nose with her free hand and wiggled it until the need passed.

The sleeping tyrannosaur was about forty feet away at the closest point.
Callie stared at it as she grew closer. Hank returned from wherever he had disappeared to and yelled at her.
Pay attention, babe.
Watch your step, not that fucking thing.

I know you mean well,
Callie thought back at him,
but could you please be quiet?

After she passed the tyrannosaur, she could
no longer see it without turning her head over her shoulder and she knew if she did that, she would trip. So she listened instead. She listened for the sound of it waking and rising and coming after her. A creature that large could not get up quietly, could it? Her body tensed, ready to sprint. If she heard anything at all, she would bolt for the woods. She would zig and zag around the widest trees. She would weave in and out until she lost it in the underbrush.

At the far end of the clearing, Callie
allowed herself to turn and look back. The tyrannosaur lay in the same spot, a motionless gray-brown hump. A wide grin formed on her face and she wanted to break into giggles. Callie clamped one hand over her mouth.

They hadn’t
discussed what she should do once she reached the woods. Should she wait or move on? Looking around and feeling unprotected, she decided to continue the short distance to the café. She held up her hand and gave a brief wave, even though she could not see the others. Then she turned and disappeared quickly into the trees.

William turned to Al. “You wanna go next? Be good to see Lisa again, right?”

Al stared. “Tim should go. I can wait.”

Tim’s eyes darted down to the football in Al’s hands
and William understood immediately. Tim did not trust Al with the football. William gave him a very small nod.

“Fine by me.” Tim
said. He started off.

Al did not seem to notice the exchange. William thought that something
was definitely strange about Al, but he was willing to chalk it up to the situation. He wondered how each of these people acted in their normal lives. Al was probably ordinary and boring.

They watched in silence as
Tim chose a route a little farther out from the wall, just barely in the shadows.
Careful
, William thought. Tim struck him as someone he would like to be friends with once they got home. He would be a good influence for his sons.

When
Tim came even with the Triceratops carcass, he dislodged a rock. It shifted a half turn against another rock, which fell over with a slap.

The tyrannosaur let out a long nasal snort.

William stopped breathing.

Tim
scampered over to the wall, dislodging more pebbles along the way, and tucked himself into a shallow depression. He disappeared in the shadows.

“Why didn’t you finish college?” Julie had asked over a plate of scattered pizza crusts. She locked her gaze
on Tim, her turquoise eyes never glancing down or away.

“I didn’t see any reason to, I guess. I took a summer job in construction, building houses. When fall came and school started back up, I just didn’t see the point.” The answer was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. The construction work came easy to Tim. College, on the other hand, was difficult. He could spend lots of money doing something difficult, or earn lots of money doing something easy. At the time
, the choice had been pretty simple and Tim had often bragged about it. Now he felt embarrassed.