by Eric Braun
“What?” you ask.
He puts his hand over your mouth and points. Up ahead is a Tyrannosaurus rex. Standing tall on its massive hind legs, it looks bigger than a house.
It opens its gigantic jaws. Its teeth look like enormous daggers ready to slice flesh. Drool streams from its mouth.
It turns one red eye on you and leans forward. Suddenly it lunges downhill toward you. Before you can think of what to do, Harriet grabs your hand and pulls you between some boulders. You crouch there, hidden in a tight space. The T. rex bangs its head against the rocks. You can smell its swampy breath. The boulders shake, but the T. rex can’t get through—for now.
The giant beast lunges again at the rocks, and this time Harriet stabs at its eye with a big stick. It flinches and rears up. The T. rex roars angrily and crashes its head against the rocks again. You can feel them moving. This hiding spot won’t hold for very long.
You’re suddenly distracted, though, as the volcano you’ve been climbing belches up a huge cloud of smoke. The earth rumbles, and the T. rex turns its attention to the present danger. It seems now more concerned about its own survival than eating you.
To stay hidden from the T. rex, press here.
To get away from the volcano, press here.
Your instincts take over. All you can think to do is pull, pull, pull. You try to get away.
“Help!” you yell.
Harriet finds a big rock and smashes it on the snake. You feel its muscles flinch against your leg and you pull again. You are loose for half a second, but then the snake rewraps. It gets farther up your leg. You scream again for help.
Luis is pulling its tail, trying to separate you. But the huge snake is too strong. Then it twists up around your waist. It’s getting hard to breathe. Harriet hits it again and again, but it doesn’t help. The snake wraps around your chest. It wraps around your neck. It opens its big mouth.
You can’t breathe.
Your friends are screaming. It squeezes even harder.
You can’t breathe.
It hisses into your ear.
You can’t—
THE END
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You fall to the ground. Near your face is a rock the size of a softball, and you grab it. Whack! The snake hisses. Just then, something scurries under the brush nearby. You feel the snake’s grip relax as a brown mammal the size of a beaver steps out of the bushes. You know these from your test: multituberculates. Just as quickly as it grabbed you, the snake releases you and slithers after the mammal.
Luis says, “Thank goodness that thing looked like an easier meal than you.”
You sit on the ground catching your breath. Your friends sit next to you and hug you, and you realize you’ve been crying. You almost died.
While you rest, Luis searches the area for water or something to eat. Harriet stays with you. For a second you think it’s a bad idea to separate. But then you fall asleep.
When you wake up, it’s dark. You’re not sure where you are. Was the Cretaceous just a dream? You rub your eyes and look into the darkness around you. A figure is standing there. You think maybe you are home in bed.
“Mom?” you say.
The figure moves, and you realize it’s not a person. It’s a dinosaur about the size of an adult man. It walks on hind legs and has a hard, flat skull with spines on it. Next to you, Harriet grabs onto your arm.
“Oh no,” she says.
It’s a Pachycephalosaur. The spines on its skull are the last thing you see as it charges toward you.
THE END
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Luis scrambles into the tall weeds to hide. Smoke is spreading fast, and it’s hard to see. The duck-billed dinosaurs wail their wild horn sounds. The T. rex growls and stomps. Holding hands so you don’t get separated, you and Harriet run through the smoke, calling for Luis as you go. Soon the sounds of the dinosaurs fade.
Eventually you reach a lake. You’re worried about Luis, but you don’t dare go back toward the fire. Besides the flames, there’s also that T. rex. You just hope Luis has found a safe place to hide.
Through the smoke you see one of your favorite dinosaurs: a Dracorex hogwartsia. Named after a character from your favorite book series, it is a plant eater with a hard, flat skull, spiky horns, and a long muzzle. It trots away when it sees you.
When you gaze back down into the water, you see Ms. Turrey’s classroom. The lake water combines with the pool of misty water inside the terrarium.
“I think this must be the portal home,” Harriet says.
Overjoyed, you reach into your hoodie and pull out the toy Triceratops. You take Harriet’s hand again and step into the lake.
“Wait!” Harriet says. Right as she speaks, you feel the world spin.
When you open your eyes again, you’re in the classroom. Your friends are looking at you in amazement. You’re home! But your happiness quickly fades when you see Harriet’s troubled face.
“I said, ‘Wait!’”
“Why?” you say.
But then you realize why. You left Luis behind. A sick feeling comes over you. How will you live with the knowledge that you abandoned him?
THE END
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“We have to help Luis!” you say.
The two of you run up the mountain toward the T. rex. The fire spreads quickly. The flames rage dangerously close. All sorts of creatures are dashing past you—mammals, lizards, and snakes. Birds are flying away from the mountain. The insects have disappeared.
“Luis!” Harriet screams.
“Luis!” you scream.
There’s no answer. You keep searching. Dinosaurs run past you. Some are the size of big dogs. Some are the size of people. Some are much bigger. You dodge the great legs of the T. rex. Maybe it’s not even the same one. Four-legged dinosaurs also run past. All the creatures are terrified, running for their lives. Flames rise into the sky.
The smoke makes it hard to breathe and to see. Something knocks you to the ground. Pain races up your arm into your shoulder. Your hand dangles like something dead—your wrist is broken. But you have worse problems. Something large steps on your leg and crushes the bones. You can’t get up. You can’t see. You don’t know where your friends are.
You curl up and cover your head. You hope Luis and Harriet will survive, even though you will not.
THE END
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Is the volcano erupting? You’re not sure. But you are sure that there is a T. rex out there somewhere. You tell Luis and Harriet that it feels safer here, where at least you won’t be eaten.
“Good point,” Luis says.
You hunch behind the rocks and wait. You keep watch from your cove, but you do not see the T. rex anymore.
It was already hot, but now it’s getting much hotter. All three of you are sweating. Something is crackling. You look out from the rocks and see lava streaming down the mountain. Trees and bushes and all those flowering plants are going up in flames.
“Um, you guys?” you say. “I think we better get out of here.”
“I think you’re right,” Harriet says.
You jump out of the rocks and start running downhill as fast as you can. Looking behind you, you see a fresh lava stream lapping at the earth. You trip over a big tree root and get the wind knocked out of you. Luis turns and lifts you up. The air is scorching
hot. You run to catch up to Harriet. But the lava is coming too fast. You were worried about making it home, but you won’t even make it to the bottom of this mountain.
THE END
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“I think this volcano is erupting,” Harriet says nervously.
“We better get out of here!” Luis cries.
“What about that T. rex?” you ask.
“She’s smart,” Harriet replies. “She’s running away from the volcano!”
You climb out of the rocky hideout and run down the mountain. Fat streams of lava seem to chase you. The sky is darkening as the volcano belches black smoke. The flowery field catches fire. Nearly out of breath, you get off the mountain just in time.
You run until you reach a lake with a wide, muddy beach. Walking along the shore, you find a cave that seems safe from the fire. The three of you climb inside and wait. You drink some fresh water from a stream that trickles down the wall.
A few days later, the fire dies down. You climb out of the cave and look around. The landscape is smoking and barren.
You walk all day looking for food. You find some nuts and a tree with yellow fruits on it. You’re so hungry that everything tastes amazing.
Days pass. Then weeks. You and your friends make a home in the cave by the lake. You collect nuts and fruits, and soon you have a large store of food.
“Do you think Ms. Turrey knows where we are?” you ask one day.
“I hope so,” Luis says. “Maybe she’ll get us home.”
In the meantime, you have gotten very good at surviving in the Cretaceous Period. You know you can wait a long time, if you have to.
THE END
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CHAPTER 4
SEAFOOD SPECIAL
You stand up in the mud and take a step forward. But there is nowhere for your foot to land. You fall off a cliff and splash into frigid water. The mist thickens around you. You shiver.
“Hello?” you call.
“Over here!” someone says.
“Luis? Is that you?”
“It’s me!” he says.
You swim toward the voice. Finally, you find him. His lips are trembling and turning blue. It sure is cold!
“We have to get out of this water!” you say. “I fell off a cliff around here somewhere.”
“Let’s swim this way,” Luis says.
You follow him through the mist, which is quickly turning into rain. A strip of land appears out of the gloom, and you crawl up onto the beach. You’re both lying in the mud catching your breath.
“You okay?” you ask.
“I’m okay,” Luis says. “You?”
“I’m good.”
You get up and walk up the beach toward a rocky outcropping you can barely see through the mist. You find a place to hide under the rocks until the rain stops. When it does, the sun comes out, and the temperature spikes. You start sweating. You step out of the rocks into the blazing sun. Your clothes dry out quickly. You’re so hot you almost wish they’d stayed wet.
You look around. You’re on a small rocky island. About 50 yards across the lagoon is a larger landmass where you can see fruit trees. You peer into the water and see a school of giant rays, even bigger than manta rays, swimming past.
To swim for the large landmass, press here.
To explore your island, press here.
You and Luis decide to swim for the shore. The rays swim beneath you. You look into the water and watch them glide right below you. They’re as big as cars! Luckily, they don’t seem to mind you swimming with them.
When you reach the beach, you and Luis scramble up out of the water as fast as you can. You lay in the sun drying off for a few minutes.
You’re about to go check out the fruit on the nearby trees when you hear a loud squawk. In the trees at the top of the beach, a dinosaur stares at you. It reminds you of an ostrich. It has a long, sharp beak and feathers all over. Its arms and legs have long claws. You freeze. You think this is a Troodon. You remember studying them in school. Troodons likely ate both plants and animals. Though they probably hunted small animals, you still don’t like the way it’s looking at you.
The Troodon raises its wings to scare you. It works. As you back away toward the water, you bump into Luis.
“Better stop,” he says.
You turn around. He’s staring at a 10-foot crocodile at the edge of the water. It opens its big jaws and claps them shut.
To go toward the Troodon, press here.
To go toward the crocodile, press here.
“Let’s not get back in that water,” you say, pointing to the giant rays. “I feel safer here.”
“I agree,” Luis says.
You scout the island looking for fresh water and shelter. You walk through a swampy stand of trees and come out at a cliff edge. This must be where you fell off when you first arrived. Birds and several pteranodons soar overhead. Out over the water, you hear splashes and churning waves.
What is creating this ruckus? A giant head rises out of the water on a long, powerful neck. A sauropod wades through the water and begins chomping on some trees nearby.
The sauropod has a beardlike frill on its throat. You recognize it as an Alamosaurus. Compared to it, you feel like an ant.
Luis gasps, and the massive creature startles. It looks at you for a second, then lifts its tail out of the water. It’s like a massive oak trunk, except it flexes like a whip.
The tail thrashes into the water and a giant wave pounds up onto the island and knocks you down. You get up, and the tail swings again. This time it’s coming right at you. Luis jumps into the water. You’re not sure if that’s a good idea, but then neither is staying here.
To join Luis in the water, press here.
To hide behind the trees for protection, press here.
No way are you going to let some prehistoric crocodile take a shot at you. You run up the beach toward the Troodon. It opens its wings again and squawks. You know that croc is lumbering after you, so you keep charging ahead. The Troodon turns and runs off along the sand.
You look back. The crocodile chased you halfway up the beach, but now it sits and looks at you. It’s a fast sprinter, but those short legs make it hard to run that quickly for a long time. It just snaps its jaws at you a couple times, then turns to waddle back to the water. All the muscles in your body relax when you realize you’re safe—for now. Your heart is still pounding as you turn your attention to the trees.
“Look at these enormous fruits,” you say.
Luis joins you at the tree and you shake a branch until a couple of orange fruits fall down. They’re as big as coconuts with a soft, fleshy peel. You poke your thumb into the top of one and rip it open. It tastes like honey and orange.
“Amazing!” Luis says.
You each eat one of the fruits. Then you have another. You are relaxing in the sand with full bellies when you hear something rustling in the bushes. It’s coming from deep in the jungle. It sounds slow. And it sounds big. The sun is getting low in the sky, meaning night is coming soon. A fire could keep you warm and scare away predators. On the other hand, you might want to find out just what’s out there.
To try to build a fire on the beach, press here.
To investigate, press here.
You know the Troodon is not likely to hunt you. Even if there’s a pack of them, you are too big. But somehow it seems too scary to get any closer. At least a crocodile is something you’ve seen before.
So you linger on the beach. Luis keeps an eye on the croc, and you watch the Troodon.
“He’s
coming closer,” Luis warns.
“More Troodons are coming out of the woods,” you say.
“He’s coming closer,” Luis says again.
You turn to look. The croc is stepping slowly and surely toward you. You look back to the Troodons. Suddenly, they all squawk and run away.
“Let’s go!” Luis says as he runs past you.
You start running, but the croc latches onto your foot. You try to twist away, but its jaws are too powerful. Your leg is crushed. The croc is pulling you backward toward the water.
“Luis!” you yell.
Your fingers rake lines in the sand, trying to hold your ground. Luis comes and kicks the crocodile in the belly, but it doesn’t do any good. In a few seconds, it has pulled you under the water.
THE END
To follow another path in the Cretaceous Period, press here.
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It’s best to stick together, even if this is crazy! You jump off the cliff and plunge back into the cold water. You stay underwater and swim in the opposite direction of the Alamosaurus. Even underwater, you hear its giant tail hitting the island. When you finally surface, you look up. The place where you were standing is rubble.
“Luis!” you call out. “Luis, where are you?”
Finally, you see Luis swimming toward the mainland. You swim after him. Suddenly a fish almost as long as a minivan swims upward toward you. It has gaping, sharp-looking buck teeth. It’s a Xiphactinus, and it opens its mouth to chomp you. It looks like your time in the Cretaceous Period is over. You only hope Luis finds a way to survive.
