Mesozoic Park (Part 6)
#7 of Mesozoic Park 2
Back at camp, it was growing late, and Matt and Jayden where both drifting off when two more members of the team came out of their tent "would you like for us to take over?"
Matt looked at them sleepily "yes please" and gently shakes Jayden "come on sweetie, its time for bed"
"but I need to pee" Jayden mumbled, half asleep
"alright" Matt said, pulling her up "i'll take you to the trees" and started to lead her over to the tree line.
Shortly after the pair left for the trees, the new night watch started hearing noises. Chirps, cracks, footsteps. They take out a powerful hand held flashlight and shines it around, intentionally avoiding where Matt and Jayden went to give them privacy. There was nothing in the first sweep with the flashlight and so they went to do a second. The beam of light mover only a few feet when several long, bipedal animals scattered from the light, seeking refuge in the shadows.
"What was that!?" one of them asked, straining his voice to keep it a whisper.
The other shook his head "no idea"
They both heard slow footsteps drawing closer "do you have a camera?" he got a nod in response.
He shut off the flashlight and let their eyes adjust to the dark night for a moment, when they could see the silhouettes of the creatures they almost jumped. The shapes where mere feet away, They quickly turned up the flash and took a picture. The bright flash shot out into the night, where they expected one animal, they saw half a dozen dinosaurs, long and slender, with little quills over parts of their bodies. The dinosaurs scattered.
"What where they!?" one asked, not even trying to whisper anymore.
"I don't know" the other replied shaking his head "it was too quick"
They readied their flashlight again but heard the dinosaurs scatter as two sets of footsteps came running towards them. They swung around and turned on the flashlight. Matt and Jayden covered their eyes and slowed to a stop "Turn that off dude!" Matt said.
They fumbled with the light before turning it off "s-sorry, but we thought we where under attack"
"Under attack?" Jayden questioned "why?"
"There was a group of dinosaurs, small, slender looking Theropods, and they came really close"
"Is everyone safe?" Matt asked and got a nod in response.
"Did you get a picture?" Jayden asked.
"I think so" one of them said and started going through the camera. "yes" he said a little too excitedly and looked at the picture on the little screen "come see"
Jayden and Matt quickly moved closer and looked on the screen and gasped. "They where that close to you!?" Jayden questioned.
She got a nod "it was pretty scary, but i think your running scared them"
Jayden stomped her foot "thats twice now I missed the dinosaurs!"
"Thats okay, Jayden... but, do you know what they are?" Matt said and Jayden shook her head. "Coelophysis" Matt stated "or at least i think so, I used to think they where pretty cool, so i think i can recognize them"
"Do you think they are dangerous?" one asked.
Matt shook his head "They typically like to eat small prey, lizards, insects... But i guess if they where hungry enough, they might try a bite at one of us"
The rest of the night is uneventful, the night shift changes a few times, but a few minutes before everyone is supposed to get up, the night watch split up and started to wake everyone.
A large heard of small dinosaurs has moved onto the sandy area and very near the camp.
A team mate looked out with a pair of binoculars and after a moment announced "Psittacosaurus and Microceratus... the larger ones with the big bush of quills on their back is Psittacosaurus and the smaller ones are Microceratus"
Jayden and Matt where given a little shake "you two have to see this!"
Matt, still half asleep asked "why? what is it?"
"A heard of dinosaurs, come see"
Matt and Jayden nearly jumped awake and rushed out of the tent, Matt only in his shorts and Jayden wrapped in a blanket.
The heard of dinosaurs calmly walked around the clearing, some taking dust baths, others looking for food or trying to find grit.
Jayden covered her mouth to silence an excited cheer "oh my god, they are cute!"
Matt put his arm around her, mostly so her blanket doesn't fall off and he kissed her cheek "not as cute as you" and Jayden blushed.
A Psittacosaurus slowly approached the river and started to drink. A large shape burst out of the water, narrowly missing the small dinosaur, which started to run as the heard scattered. What everyone first thought was a crocodile continued the chase, running out of the water on two legs and soon catching the little dinosaur, pushing it into the sand and quickly killing it.
Jayden covered her eyes "w-what is it!?"
Matt smiled excitedly "oh my god, i remember this one, there was one back in the park!" he replied "its an Ichthyovenator!"
There is suddenly a bit of a rustle behind them, Jayden turned around and saw a little Microceratus trapped in their tent. "oh you poor little thing" she said and knelt down, carefully shifting closer and holding her hands out.
The little Microceratus cautiously approached Jayden, sniffing the air around her before growing comfortable. She carefully picked it up "aww, it's so cute"
Matt chuckled and nodded "yeah, it's pretty cute"
Jayden nuzzled the tiny dinosaur "you wanna hang out with us till we find your heard buddy?"
The little dinosaur seemed happy to be with Jayden and Matt replied "Yeah, thats a fine idea, I mean, if we let him go now, he might never find them"
"I hate to interrupt, but did anyone notice where the Ichthyo-... whatever went?" A team mate questioned.
A few mumbled "no" or shook their head. It was not what anyone wanted to hear, they lost track of a hunting dinosaur.
"Thats okay" Jayden stated "Listen, we need to get moving, everyone start packing up and avoid the water"
Everyone split off to their tents and Jayden passed Matt the Microceratus and stepped into the tent "Give me a moment to get dressed please"
Matt chuckled and looked the little dinosaur over "You'r a tiny little thing" he said and tried to guess the weight "You must be a young one"
Jayden came out "nope, they are just that tiny" she held her arm out and it hopped on.
After a few minutes, all the tents where packed and ready to go.
"Alright everyone, 5 minutes and we are out of here, if you need to do anything, do it now" Jayden stated.
A few people split off and found spots just out of view to relieve themselves. One team member started heading for the water.
"What are you doing?" Jayden called out at the otter.
He was already at the rivers edge, filling a bottle "Getting some water, why?" he questioned.
"Thats where we saw the-" The Ichthyovenator burst out of the water like a crocodile, snatching the otter up in its jaws, its powerful arms moving in and the large claws ripping through the otter like he was nothing before dragging him into the water.