Jack gulped as he eyed the predator. It looked back at their group with curiosity and barely restrained hunger. Its large rib cage was visible through its size, and the dinosaur seemed gaunt. Long lines of sticky drool dripped from its jaws, and its long tail flicked back and forth. For the briefest of moments, Jack was lost in the excitement of seeing such a creature.

The moment of tension was broken when one of the women in the middle of the group broke. She screamed in terror and tried to run back into the jungle. As soon as she turned her back to the creature its predatory instincts flared and it let out a rumbling bellow and charged forward.

“SPEARS UP!” Marcus called out, and Haden, Jack, Mattock, Miles, Soren, and Gorden stepped in front of the panicked tribe, their mismatched and jagged spears forming a less-than-impressive wall of teeth that the Baryonyx ignored. Mavis attempted to raise her spear, but her hands were shaking so much that she stumbled and dropped it. Marcus pulled her behind him and stepped forward alongside a woman that Jack did not know the name of.

That was all the time they had to organize as the Baryonyx was on them. Its long neck and jaws shot forward towards Haden, who was the thinnest person in the spear line, but Mattock and Jack were already thrusting their spears forward and the Baryonyx’s charge was interrupted by the sharpened sticks. Jack’s spear wasn’t sharp enough to pierce its scales, but Mattock’s was, and the carnivore took a small wound on its head and was pushed back.

The others all stabbed outwards, but their attacks missed or failed to break blood as its head reared back its hooked claws flared out to try and grab Miles. The young man screamed and tried to step back, but he tripped on the uneven footing and fell back, hitting his head hard on the forest floor.

Jack, Gordon, and Haden stepped to the creature’s right and thrust their weapons into its side as it focused on trying to maul the fallen Miles while Marcus and Mattock tried to keep its attention off the young man. Skye ran forward and grabbed Miles, and with the help of two of the eighteen-year-old boys, she dragged him away from the fight.

Jack’s spear failed to break the skin again, and he grew frustrated that the best he could do was poke the monster that was trying to eat his friends. He swapped his grip on the spear and whipped it around to use as a club, smashing the gnarled end into the Baryonyx’s chest and smiling as he heard the crunch of breaking bones.

Before Jack could blink he felt the dinosaur's heavy tail slam into his side and he was lifted off the ground and sent flying into the bushes. The wind was knocked out of him and he landed hard. But he rolled to his feet quickly and didn’t feel anything broken. He knew he would be heavily bruised in the morning, but it wasn’t enough to stop him as he grabbed his club and ran back towards the fight.

Seeing the tribe’s warriors do battle, many of those who had been too shocked to move or had started to run gained their courage and rushed forward with their own spears. Mattock and George had managed to score a few deep wounds on the Baryonyx’s head and neck, and it seemed like they were going to drive it back when one of its claws hooked into one of the newcomer’s arms and yanked him to reach of the creature's crushing jaws. In less than a second the young man was dead, and his body went limp. The Baryonyx whipped around and its tail smashed into the people who were trying to surround it. It let out a loud hiss of pain from its many wounds and started to flee with its kill still stuck on its claws. One of the men who had been knocked down attempted to stab out as the dino ran past, but the Baryonyx brought its foot down and crushed the man’s chest in like a bug.

The tribe started to throw their spears at the retreating dinosaur, but hardly any of them flew straight, and those that did hit the creature were not sharp enough to hurt it.

Seconds later, the Baryonyx had vanished into the jungle on the far side of the creek. And the clearing was silent save for the flowing creek and the crying of the wounded.

The following reorganization was swift. Marcus closed the eyes of the man who had been crushed, and the wounded were all directed to sit against a tree near the creak. The Stego’s had been spooked by the fight and had moved downstream and the Compy’s had vanished into the taller grass. The spears were gathered, and no one complained anymore about carrying them. Gordon made sure that Jack was ok, and made him sit with the others who had taken wounds from the tail and claws of the dinosaur. Other than Miles taking a fall to the head, Jack was probably the most injured.

Once the camp was secured, Gordon and Mattock went back into the woods with three others to try and find the women who had panicked and ran off at the start of the fight.

Marcus started organizing people to make fires, clear the area, and gather water to boil. Mavis checked on Jack and the wounded, then went to help stack firewood. Time seemed to pass in a blur, with no watch or phone to check every few minutes the day seemed to pass by quicker as Jack rested against the tree and chatted about nothing with the three other people who had taken some scrapes and bruises.

A young woman in bright blue pajama pants and a green hoodie approached the wounded tree with the last bottle of water. She had shoulder-length strawberry blond hair that had been tied into a ponytail and worried amber eyes. Her skin was covered in freckles with a nice tan from long days in the sun. She had no shoes on but seemed unbothered by walking barefoot. Her expression was nervous, and she constantly shot glances over her shoulder to Marcus, and back to Miles and the wounded. Jack tried to give her a friendly smile.

“Hello. Um. I'm Lottie. I um. I was studying to be a vet before um.” She gestured around them at the jungle.

“I’ve um. I’ve never actually done any medicine before with people. But I’m the closest our group has to any sort of medical professional.” Her tone was apologetic and full of doubt. Jack felt bad for her. He knew next to nothing about healing or medicine and knew she would probably not be able to help all that much. But he was happy that she was willing to try.

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“It's a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jack. I think most of us here just have some bruises and scrapes. You should take a look at Miles first.” He gestured to the young man, who was starting to wake up.

The other wounded people gave introductions as Lottie moved to Mile’s side and started to examine him. It was clear that Miles was dazed, but as Lottie questioned him he was able to answer clearly and he still remembered everything that happened. His only complaint was his killer headache and a twisted ankle. Lottie examined the ankle and agreed with him that it wasn’t broken but he would need to be careful for the next few days to let it heal. They suspected that he had a minor concussion, but Lottie just didn’t have enough medical knowledge to know if that was all.

Jack had suffered from two concussions during his hockey career. He tried to remember what his doctors had done to test if he had one, but all he remembered was them shining lights in his eyes and moving a pen back and forth to check if he could focus on it. He brought this up to Lottie and they tried it with her finger, neither of them noticed anything off about Miles’s eyes so they didn’t have much to go on.

“As the tribe doctor, I’m telling you to rest and take it as easy as you can. If you want to help out ask Marcus what small tasks need doing around the camp, and make sure you drink plenty of water. Maybe sit with the team boiling it and help them out.” She told him as she helped him stand and test his ankle.

Miles started to nod, but winced when he moved his head too quickly and spoke instead.

“I'll do that. I used to work construction and was studying civil engineering before all this. I can help with some of the planning. Will you help me over to Marcus?”

Lottie shook her head and sat him down beside the tree again.

“In a minute, I need to make sure everyone else here is ok, then I'll send you over to Marcus for your work orders. Everyone has to pitch in.” It was clear she was quoting what Marcus had told her a few minutes ago.

When he was settled she moved on to Jack. She had him pull his shirt off and he caught her smile a bit as she checked out his muscles, but she remained professional as she checked him over. As he suspected, he had taken a hard hit and was already starting to bruise, but his ribs were not broken and he should be fine. When she was done examining him, Lottie had him help Miles over to where Marcus had started to light a fire.

“That was pretty crazy.” Miles said as they walked together, leaning on Jack to keep the pressure off his ankle.

“Yeah. It sorta makes this all feel more real. Like we just had to fight off a carnivore. I'm honestly pretty scared.” Jack replied. He had only managed to keep himself calm throughout the day by focusing on the moment-to-moment situation and ignoring the bigger picture. He had even enjoyed the hike through unfamiliar trails and the fresh clean air around them. But now that he had stopped, been forced to rest, and witnessed two people die in as many seconds he could feel his chest start to tighten and the emotions he had pushed down started to bubble up.

“Yeah, man. But like. We fought it off. If it hadn’t run we would have killed it. And I bet we gave it more than enough wounds to not want to mess with us again. And once we have more time we can make better spears and stuff. I know we lost people, but I was worried it would get us all. And we are still here.” Mile’s words helped Jack focus a bit and nod as they approached the tribe leader.

“Yeah. We survived. Next time we will get the bastard.” He said, forcing a smile onto his face. Miles started to nod, but stopped himself and just returned Jack’s smile.

They reached Marcus as he lit a single match, and started gently blowing on kindling that had been collected. The flames took easily, and the kindling caught as he placed the bundle into the pile of wood and watched the fire slowly grow. When the sticks caught fire they all let out a breath, and Marcus stepped away to let Skye continue to build up the fire.

Jack and Miles greeted Marcus with a wave, and Jack spoke up first.

“Lottie thinks Miles has a minor concussion and a twisted ankle, so he needs to rest. I’ve just got some bruises and sore muscles so I’m good for whatever you need.”

Marcus took a moment to look over Miles before nodding.

“Good to hear. I’m glad you are both alright.” He was holding himself together well, but his gaze was somber. The responsibility of leading people and the death of two was not a pleasant burden to bear. He continued.

“Miles, why don’t you have a seat here and rest? You can help Skye organize the firewood and try to figure out the best way to boil enough water for seventy people with a single beer can. Jack, tell me how you really feel. Can you go back into the jungle today? Or do you need rest?” Jack helped Miles down beside Skye, who gave them both a happy smile.

“I don’t think I could haul rocks around, but I can swing my club just fine and none of my ribs are broken. Honestly, I think the worst I’ll have is not being able to sleep on my stomach for a few days.” He said honestly. He felt fine, and while he knew he should rest he also knew that he would crash once he did, and he wanted to help.

Marcus nodded and led him away from the growing group at the fire. Soon Haden, Gordon, Lottie, Soren, and a fit woman in workout clothes that seemed to have a genuine smile on her face all joined them. Marcus gave each of them a smile.

The new girl stuck out a hand to Gordon and Jack, shaking their hands.

“Howdy. I'm Clara. It's nice to meetcha.” Jack was surprised at her strength and took a moment to reexamine her. She was around six feet tall and was very fit, with dark black hair in a pixie cut and vaguely Asian features with amber eyes. He recognized the logo on her shirt as belonging to the gym staff near his apartment, though he didn’t recognize her.

“Nice to meet you. I'm Gordon. This is Jack.” Gordon responded first, and Jack ducked his head in acknowledgment.

Clara grinned.

“I was in the back of the group when the fight broke out, but I watched you guys kick major ass. You nearly knocked the bastard over with your club Jack. It was awesome.” Her enthusiasm was lightening, and his own smile became a bit more genuine.

Marcus nodded, raising a hand to cut off more conversation.

“I wanted to introduce you all because you were the first to react to the Baryonyx, and between the six of us, I think we have the best chances of successfully bringing some food back. And with this.” He held up his bracelet.

“We can figure out how to tame a dinosaur.”