• HEATHER • Chase Randall

Chapter Twelve - Dawn of the Dilo

• HEATHER •

*Nathan pov

Settling into my car, I sit in silence. My nephew's coworkers are power rangers, how do I even begin to unpack that?

Shaking the thought, I start my car, beginning the drive back home, but not before trying to call Eliott's phone again.

I certainely don't believe that he's on some kind of work trip, otherwise why would his friends all be here still? But right now I need to get home, sleep on it and march down to the museum tomorrow.

• HEATHER •

*Eliott pov

I wander in the dense brush of the forest, careful with my step as to not trip into or over anything.

"It's safe to say i'm not in 2015 anymore..." I mutter, recognising that, aside from the 6ft killer reptile, the flora was not of the modern era. Not a blade of grass in sight, and more cycads, conifers and horsetails than I would have ever thought.

The sun's begun to set, casting a foreboding hue on the land and filtering through the canopy like amber floodlights.

My hands are shaking now. 'They really don't do it justice in the movies as to how scary the dark is when you're being hunted by dinosaurs.'

Soon, night befalls me. I come to a slow, clinging to the trunks and the undergrowth out of fear. I don't dare make a noise, for the dead air remains threateningly still as if something is always watching you.

'...Something's watching me'

My body freezes flat against the conifer trunk, the sound of my own heartbeat fills my ears but I'm too scared to breathe. After a moment of silence, I muster up the will to peer around the trunk.

Glancing around the wood, I immediately pull my head back as two tiger orange eyes stare unmoving at me, only lined with a tall, onyx silhouette. Seconds later, there's the deceptively gentle sound of crushed ferns, and they grow closer.

I hear the beast breathe, inhaling through its snout which ominously pokes around the trunk. I shift around the tree as its head snakes around it.

'I can't run from it any more, I have to fight.' Gulping down my apprehension, I run.

The dinosaur immediately gives chase, hissing and growling. As it pounces, I run up the nearest trunk, jumping off in a backflip and landing square on the beasts back. It thrashes and shrieks, trying to throw me off like one of those mechanical rodeo bulls.

"Get 'ere!" I grit, grasping the neck of the dinosaur.

A second wind flows through my veins, granting me the strength to bring it down to the ground, pinning it down with my forearm on to head.

The same reptilian eyes glare up at me, however the fiery glow had faded. Now, its eyes were wider, more human, conveying something akin to respect in them.

Suddenly, the creature's skin surges with an orange glow - currents of apricot light covering its body. I step back for a moment, watching in awe as its features melded into pure energy, condensing into a small mass that then lay still, illuminating the darked forest arena. There lay the orange energem, my energem.