The first hour of their journey was quiet. They walked in relative silence, listening to the sounds of the woods around them. The more Jack studied the trees and foliage, the more obvious the stark divide between the river basin and the mountain jungle was. The trees here were taller on average, but much less dense. Several trees had large leaves that reminded him of an oak. And while there were still plenty of large palm-like leaves, they were much less common than in the jungle. He also noticed a few trees that hung down like a willow. They were always close to water, be it a stream from one of the waterfalls or the river itself.

  The river valley supported an entirely different ecosystem from the jungle above them. He hadn't seen any more of the massive spiders that he had crushed on day one, nor had he seen any snakes. He suspected there were snakes, but they were just rare down here. Parasaurs lived in both biomes, but he remembered something about them being migratory. He wondered what dinosaurs only lived in the jungle and if he would one day go searching for them to provide some unique purpose for the tribe.

  There was a large variety of dinosaurs that lived in the valley. From the massive Triceratops and Brontosaurus, to the smaller Gallimimus and Pachysepholaurus, they had seen dozens of subspecies of each family, and Jack could see uses for any of them. The smaller dinosaurs were candidates for swift mounts. The Gallimimus especially he knew was extremely fast. The question would be if it could hold enough weight to be useful. The “medium” sized dinosaurs like Thrasher and Mike were incredible for both defense and labor. They could haul heavy trees and carry large quantities of resources, like the clay Thrasher had helped collect. Each of them could carry six or seven fully grown men without showing any sign of discomfort. If they could somehow make a saddle for them to better distribute the weight Jack was sure that they could hold even more.

  It was the large dinosaurs that were the real goal though. If they could tame a Brontosaurus or one of the slightly smaller but still massive Diplodocus, they could push over trees and carry just about anything they wanted, maybe even transport the entire tribe on the back of one creature. He hoped the aliens would provide some sort of saddle for them, as he had no idea how to even begin gathering the amount of resources it would take to properly outfit one of the giants.

  The biggest worry were the carnivores. Regardless of size, each one they tamed would be another mouth to feed. That didn’t matter as much right now when a single successful hunt would last the tribe until the meat rotted, but even a few of the medium or large carnivores would force them to hunt more often. And if winter did come, they would have a hard enough time keeping the herbivores fed and happy. Hopefully the snow would be infrequent and the vegetation could sustain them. Eventually the farm that Justin had talked about would be realized, but hopefully it would be used to feed the tribe, and not just keep their herbivores alive.

  So far in the river basin they had seen Velocraptors, Sabertooths, Baryonyx and Sarcosuchus up close. They had also watched a group of medium sized Theropods hunt from the clifftop on their first day. Jack wasn’t sure what they were, but he was always on the lookout for anything in the trees and bushes. They had looked at the biome information in the encyclopedia and found that Spinosaurus, Carnatorus, something called a Masiakasaurus, and Skorpiovenator were also common in the biome. No one had any idea what the last two were, even Mavis had been stumped. When they looked at the encyclopedia, Masiakasaurus had been some sort of raptor-like dinosaur. It was slightly larger than a raptor and without the hook claws. Instead they had weird teeth that jutted out from its lower jaw. The picture that had come up had been strange. Jack had no doubt that it would be a dangerous creature to run into unarmed, but he had a hard time taking it seriously. The other new dinosaur had been much more intimidating. The Skorpiovenator was related to the Carnatourus, though it was much smaller. It was about the height of an adult man and close to fifteen feet long. It had the wimpy arms he associated with T-rex, but its jaws were a serious threat. Unlike the long nosed Bayonix, its jaws were heavily muscled. Its neck was designed to shake anything it got a hold of, ripping its prey apart with ease. The worst part was that it traveled in packs. He knew it was only a matter of time before they encountered one.

  After the first hour Jack didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to the trees and ponder the potential dinosaurs they could encounter. Instead he had to focus on the immediate dangers. They had traveled as close to the cliff as they could, having to move into the woods to avoid the steeper ground and larger boulders. The woods were dense, almost overgrown and full of Compys and chirping raptors, whose pack watched them from the woods. Jack counted four adults and two juveniles, but he guessed there were a few more. They must have not liked their chances of taking Thrasher and the humans and decided to keep their distance. Jack adjusted his grip on the torch. It had burned down more than half way and he was starting to feel the heat of the flame on his hand. He would need to pull a new one out soon, but waited until they were clear of the raptor pack to pull out a new one.

  As they stopped for a moment to grab new torches, they kept an eye on the wood line. The Raptor pack could be heard chirping and squawking to each other, until they suddenly went silent before letting out a high pitched alarm screech. Something was fighting them. One of the raptors let out a bone chilling screech of pain. Jack grabbed his spear and the group of hunters all backed away from the trees. The fight continued, each scratch and bite conveyed to them through the dying screams of the raptors. Something made a yelping sound, but Jack couldn’t place what it was, but it was clear that the raptors were losing.

  “We should go before whatever is in there finishes with the raptors. I don’t want it to think we are challenging it for its kill.” Jack said, and the others nodded, spears gripped tightly in their hands.

  They moved quickly for the next three hours, constantly looking over their shoulders and scanning the wood line. Jack swore he could see something stalking them, flashes of movement at the edge of his vision. But when he tossed a stone at the rock he thought the creature was hiding behind, nothing happened. No one else saw anything and Thrasher seemed at ease. He was probably just being paranoid.

  The cliff slowly started to curl to the east, breaking away from the river. The woods slowly grew less dense and they came across another waterfall spilling off the cliff and crashing into a deep pool. There was no cave behind the waterfall to everyone's disappointment. They decided to rest and let Thrasher play in the water. Soren started a small campfire and they each tossed their mostly burnt down torches into it. Without a cave they had to keep their backs to the cliff and a close eye on the woods as they worked. Clara started gathering wood to make more while Jack started boiling water using the beer can. He couldn’t wait until they figured out how to make the clay bowls and mugs. They would probably keep the beer can, but boiling the water with it was so inefficient.

  Once the fire was a good size, Soren took watch and all three of them ate their packed meat. They took turns sipping from the water bottle and refilling it with the boiled water. They were nearly ready to leave when the ground shook. They all froze as it shook again.

  “What the fuck?” Clara asked.

  “Footsteps.” Jack and Soren said at the same time, each of them quickly packing up their camp. Jack grabbed the beer can, and Soren grabbed and lit a torch from the fire. The ground shook again and Thrasher pulled himself from the water to stand beside them, sensing their agitation. The big dinosaur didn’t seem worried, which was a good sign, but they weren’t going to take any chances. Clara grabbed one of the bola’s from the now wet basket on Thrasher’s side, and started to spin it around her hand.

  “Any idea what…” She started to ask, but was cut off when a massive creature stepped into the clearing. It’s neck towered above the tallest of the trees, and its gargantuan body pushed the smaller trees over without care or notice. Its body was around twenty feet tall, but its massive neck more than doubled that. The creature had light gray skin, similar to an elephant, that looked almost leathery rather than scaled. Its skull was somewhat flat, nothing like any creature from earth that Jack had seen, but he recognized it immediately from the movies. The Brontosaurus was probably around ninety feet from head to tail if it stretched out. It was like a walking building just emerged from the forest. Seeing it stunned them, and they all stared at it slack jawed until it let out a long bellowing cry that echoed off the cliff wall and drowned out the sound of the waterfall.

  They each took a step back as the sound seemed to reverberate through their bones. Clara stumbled and fell, fortunately avoiding hitting her head on any of the stones. Jack and Soren managed to keep their footing, but another three steps from the Bronto had it beside the pool. Its head bent lower to look at them, its massive eye taking them in. It huffed and Thrasher immediately took the message and started to move away from the behemoth.

  Jack stepped forward and helped Clara up while Soren grabbed an extra torch and kicked some dirt on the fire. The Bronto didn’t seem to be afraid of it, only irritated, and that wasn’t how they wanted this interaction to go. Once they backed off at least thirty feet the Bronto dipped its head into the pool of water, drinking deeply with loud gulps. The waterfall beat on its neck, thousands of gallons of water pouring down, but the dinosaur didn’t seem to care. Jack knew that even if the entire tribe was here, they wouldn’t be able to do more than annoy this creature. Its tail alone could kill them all in one sweep.

  When they were at the tree line, Soren passed out the torches again and they all took another minute to just stare at it. Jack noticed that it was male, and once he did it was hard to not look. He turned away to keep watch on the forest. It seemed that nothing was willing to mess with them while the Bronto was nearby.

  “Should we try and tame it?” Clara asked.

  “I don’t think that's a good idea. It didn’t seem to like us and it could have easily killed us. We need to study them, maybe figure out its favorite food or wait for it to sleep before trying. Can we even tame things while they sleep?” Soren answered, turning to Jack to ask his question.

  “Um. I think so. We haven’t tried it. The alien, Kyrxess, said the creature had to be trapped, unconscious, or totally calm. I think.” Jack answered. He checked each of his belongings to make sure he had the backpack, torches, his club, the water bottle, and his food. It seemed that they lost one or two torches but nothing else.

  “Let’s get going. That thing looks grumpy and if it's anything like elephants, the lone males are more aggressive.” He said as he pet Thrasher’s nose. The big dinosaur didn’t need to be told twice, and quickly started moving away from the Bronto. The three humans did their best to follow after him.

  They gave the Bronto a wide berth, but after twenty minutes returned to the cliff. As the trees thinned out even more they encountered a herd of Gallimimus. Unlike in the movies, they weren’t orange and yellow but instead were a wide variety of colors. They were also covered in feathers and looked like a strange mix between an ostrich and parrot. Bright reds, greens, and yellow feathers all danced together as they ran across the valley floor. Jack counted around sixteen of them, but it was hard to tell since their figures easily blended into each other as they moved.

  “So, is that a herd or a flock?” Soren asked.

  “I mean, they are birds. So, flock?” Clara said, but she clearly didn’t know.

  “I see feathers. I say flock.” Jack said with a shrug.

  “Fair.” Soren said.

  “Prehistoric ostrich.” Clara said as she shook her head. “What will this place throw at us next?”

  No one had anything to say, so they continued on. Jack was tempted to try and tame one of the big birds but knew it was needlessly dangerous, especially without a plan. They continued to follow the cliff as it turned fully to the east. The woods fully fell away, leaving a sprawling valley covered in tall grass. The river could be seen a good three or four miles to the west of them, still flowing south. The cliff was growing shorter as it pulled away from the river basin, or maybe the ground was rising up to meet it? Jack wasn’t a geologist.

  They could see several herds of large herbivores roaming the planes. Triceratops, Stegosaurus, more Gallimimus, and a variety of other species they hadn’t seen before but followed the general body shape of the more familiar dinosaurs. The most notable however was the herd of Brontosaurus. Twelve of them were in the center of the grassland, wandering around. They didn’t seem to be eating the grass, but they were far away so Jack wasn’t sure.

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  “Wow. That's a lot of dinosaurs.” Clara said.

  “Why would they all be here?” Soren asked.

  “What do you mean? They seem just as at home as any of the other massive dinos.” Clara said.

  “They aren’t eating the grass.” Jack said, and Soren nodded.

  “If they aren’t here for food, why hang out in the middle of this valley?” He asked.

  “Maybe this is just where they socialize? Those all look a bit smaller than the big male we encountered back at the watering hole. They could all be younger ones, or a herd of females.” Clara suggested.

  “I think you are right.” Jack said. “I bet this is their nest. They probably spend most of their day at the edge of this valley eating from the taller vegetation, then walk back here for the nights to stay safe. They probably also lay their eggs here. I bet the center where they are all standing is completely empty of grass.”

  The others just nodded as they watched. The grass was around four feet tall. Not a problem for the fully grown herbivores, but it was a perfect hiding place for the Velociraptors and Sabertooths that Jack had no doubt would be lurking in the valley. It was a bit shorter near the cliff, but they would be going the wrong direction if they kept following it.

  “Any idea how far the smoke was from here?” Jack asked, looking at Soren who just shook his head.

  “No clue. We couldn’t see past the cliff. It was just off in the distance, but we can’t be more than two or three miles away. Maybe on the far side of this valley?” He said.

  Jack looked around. He had a bad feeling about the grass. If they tried to camp in it, they would probably start a fire, which could start a stampede. He didn’t want to be in the tall grass at night, and he didn’t think they could safely reach the other side before the sun went down.

  “Let's make camp here, close to the cliff or maybe back a quarter mile to that stream. I don’t want to risk the grass at night, we will need wood for more torches and I don’t want to start a grass fire.” Jack said.

  “The grass looks pretty green, it probably won’t burst into flames if we bring the torches through it.” Clara said.

  “Still, I don’t trust a fire overnight. If we mess up, we burn the grassland down and start a Bronto stampede. If there is a tribe on the far side of the valley, that could honestly wipe them out. I think a single pissed off Bronto could wipe out all our fortifications.” Jack said.

  They backtracked to the nearest water source, a small stream that trickled down from the cliff and flowed towards the river. It was only a few inches deep, but it was fast moving and clear. They set up camp, building a larger fire than before. Soren took over water duty while Clara and Jack built a small lean-to against the cliff wall with sticks and leaves. It wasn’t pretty, but it would keep them slightly warmer while they slept.

  They ate some more food, and each of them greedily drank whatever they could. While the sun set, it made for a beautiful sight as the colors behind the mountains faded to pink and orange. The shadows slowly stretched across the valley, and soon after they finished eating night had fallen. The sky was clear, and the moon was close to full, providing plenty of moonlight. In the distance they could hear the sounds of dozens of giant herbivores calling out into the night. The stars twinkled in the sky, drawing the eye away from the tree line.

  Clara had been playing with the bola she had taken from the basket as they walked, and although she had broken one, she had gotten pretty good at it. Jack had tried throwing it a few times. It was difficult to throw in a straight line, but he thought with practice he could master the tool. Soren on the other hand was completely unable to use them. Each time he tried, one of the rocks would hit his arm and spin down around him. After giving himself two bruises he decided it was best left to his friends. Clara pulled one out again now, spinning it over her head and tossing it onto one of the small boulders beside the fire. Her aim slowly improved with each shot.

  Soren volunteered to take the final watch, and crawled into the lean-to. Jack sat by the fire, keeping it fed and watching the tree line. The distant calling of the herbivores slowly settled down.

  “So, what did you do before all this?” Jack asked Clara.

  “I was studying sports health and working at the gym on Eighth Street. I had another year of college left, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do afterwards. My parents ran a grocery store in Texas, but I got sick of the heat and moved up north for school.” She shrugged. He could see some sadness in her eyes when she mentioned her parents. She wound up the bola again and threw it, then walked to pick it up.

  “What about you?” She asked.

  “I was a hockey player. I tried to go pro but didn’t quite make the cut. Before this, I was looking for any job that would take me. I was a mediocre student, and put most of my energy into sports. After that didn’t pan out. . ..” He shrugged as his voice trailed off.

  “Honestly, life here might be harder, but it does feel good not having to worry about jobs and stuff. I could do with less violence, but I don’t mind steak for every meal, and the air here is great.” She said, putting some humor into her voice. Jack chuckled.

  “Yeah. Could use some salt, but who knew Hadrosaur would be so tasty.” He said.

  Thrasher let out a rumbling moan from where he had fallen asleep beside the lean-to almost immediately after lying down. That caused another round of chuckles.

  “How smart do you think he is?” She asked, looking at Thrasher.

  “I’m not sure. But when I tamed Mike I could sense his emotions, sort of? It’s hard to describe. But I don’t think he is very smart. Thrasher though seems to understand more. Maybe the aliens' magic technology helps him understand orders. Or, maybe he is just capable of learning. Who knows?” He shrugged.

  She turned back to face him, and suddenly froze. Jack noticed her body language and turned to follow her gaze, looking into the eyes of a saber tooth tiger. It was stalking towards him and was only ten feet away. Its eyes glinted in the light and all of its attention was on Jack. He reached for his club, but it had fallen away from him. The tiger pounced, and Jack brought his arms up between them. The Sabertooth landed on him, knocking him off the rock he was resting on and onto his back. Its claws dug into his arms as its jaws snapped at his throat. He pushed with all his strength, and with a massive surge of adrenaline he managed to toss the tiger away.

  It landed gracefully on its feet. Ignoring the pain in his arm, Jack reached for his club as he rolled over and jumped to his feet. The tiger roared, causing Thrasher to sit up in panic and Soren to yelp as he was suddenly awoken. Clara still had the bola in her hand, and started to swing it over her head as she took aim. Blood trickled down Jack’s arms. The long wounds stung as he moved, but the pain was manageable due to the adrenaline. He knew he would have to end this fight as quickly as possible and stop the bleeding.

  The Sabertooth charged again, incredibly fast. Jack swung his club to the side and the cat backed off, allowing him to take a step forward. The tiger hissed and swiped at him. He avoided its claws but it also dodged his club. This one was smaller than the male that he had killed the night before, probably a younger one.

  Thrasher stood up and bellowed, charging the Sabertooth from the side. Soren was scrambling to get out of the lean-to with his spear in hand. The tiger knew its ambush had failed, and with Thrasher joining the fight it decided to run. It turned and made a beeline for the trees, only for its legs to be caught by Clara’s bola. The stones wrapped around its back legs and spun, catching its front right leg but missing the left one. It was enough to make the cat stumble and crash to the ground, yowling in displeasure as it squirmed its way free.

  Jack didn’t hesitate. Running to the cat, he leapt on top of it and pushed its head down, stunning it against the rocks. He tried to keep it pinned but the cat was incredibly strong. It thrashed against him, trying to roll over. It swiped out with its one free claw trying to reach him, as he desperately tried to keep it restrained.

  “I need some help!” He called, and a moment later Clara was beside him. She gave him a look like he was crazy, but jumped onto the Sabertooth as well. She was only around one hundred and fifty pounds, but she wrapped her arms around the creature’s neck, doing her best to keep away from its teeth. That let Jack focus on its claws. He managed to grab the free leg and force it down, but it cost him another cut from its bound legs.

  “Soren! Get over here!” Clara shouted. Thrasher was standing beside them, looking nervous. He clearly wanted to fight, but wasn't willing to hurt his friends. Soren ran over, dropping his spear and landing on the cat’s backside. He pulled its bound legs away.

  “Now what?” He said, panic and confusion clear in his voice as he took in the situation.

  Jack adjusted his grip, he was sitting on the tiger’s chest and he swung his legs around to keep its arm pinned. He brought his newly freed hand up and reached down to pet the tiger.

  “Tame!” He said, focusing on the alien bracelet. The taming charge had returned shortly after the sun had gone down, and now was the perfect time to use it. The green energy built up in the tooth shaped charm, then washed though Jack and over the tiger. He suddenly became aware of its feelings; hunger, pain, anger, and a deep sadness. It was not what he was expecting from the creature. Once the light faded, it stopped fighting against them.

  Jack slowly stood and gestured for the others to let go. They nodded and stepped away. Clara went to calm Thrasher down, who looked nervous, but not because of the tiger. He was looking at Jack’s bloody arms. The compassion in the dinosaur's eyes made Jack smile.

  “So um, we need to name her.” Jack said as he finally took in the extent of his injuries. His arms stung, and blood was still dripping from them. A set of long gashes ran down his forearms, and his left arm had an extra cut that was surprisingly deep.

  “Are you ok?” Soren asked, stepping beside him and looking at his wounds.

  “If we were on earth, I would go to the hospital. It stings like a bitch, but the adrenaline hasn’t faded yet and it's keeping me going.” Jack said.

  The Sabertooth made a sad moaning sound, and tried again in vain to free itself from the bola. Jack wanted to pet her and help her free, but he was starting to feel a bit light headed. Soren guided him back to the fire and tossed a few extra logs into it.

  “Sit down. Jade gave me one of the needles and some thread. I’m no doctor, but I took first aid classes like, five years ago or so. I’ll see if I can clean these and stitch you up.” Soren said. He immediately started boiling water, and helped Jack remove his shirt. It had some blood splatter on it, but that wasn’t new at this point.

  “Well, time to make use of this shirt to make bandages. I’ll wash it with boiling water before we wrap your arms.” He continued, and Jack nodded. He focused on the fire, trying to ignore the pain.

  Clara settled Thrasher down, and the big dinosaur laid behind Jack, happy to be a backrest for him. He gently pet the big lizard, and Thrasher made a deep rumbling sound that caused Jack to smile. Clara then went about freeing the Sabertooth. She petted its head, and scratched behind its ears. Once the bola was removed the big kitty sat up and nuzzled into her touch.

  “Awww. She is surprisingly soft. What a sweetheart. I think I’ll name you, Tilly.” Clara said.

  “What?” Jack complained, with humor in his voice. “I was going to name her Megatron, call her Meg for short.”

  Clara rolled her eyes.

  “Save that for when we tame a Megalodon.” She said, as she led Tilly over to the fire. She was hesitant to get close, but with Clara and the rest of them gathered around it, she slowly settled between Clara and Jack. Her eyes never watched the flames and Jack could sense a deep distrust of the flames from her.

  “You know about Megalodons, but haven’t seen Jurassic park?” Soren asked, his tone teasing. He was still focused on the water.

  “Well there was that Jason Stathem movie. It was so good they made a sequel.” She said. Which made Jack chuckle.

  “I must remember it differently.” He said.

  Clara blushed slightly, looking away from them. Soren cut any further teasing short by grabbing the can of boiling water and the bone needle he had been sterilizing in the fire. He threaded the needle with some of the twine they had been given, it wasn’t ideal, but it would work. He passed it to Clara to hold and gestured for Jack to follow him to the stream. There they slowly and painfully cleaned his wounds using the stream water and a long piece of Jack’s now cut up shirt. The cuts needed to be stitched up badly.

  “Ok. This is going to hurt a lot. I will do my best to make this quick, but you should probably bite onto this.” Soren said as he passed Jack a stick. Jack nodded, and they returned to the fireside. He put the stick in his mouth and bit down. It didn’t taste great, but that was the least of his worries as Soren took the needle from Clara and started to sew his wounds closed. It was agony. The needle was nowhere near as sharp as the metal ones he was used to and Soren was far from experienced. He bit down so hard on the stick that it snapped and Clara had to get him a new one to stop his screams. By the time they were done Jack had nearly passed out from the pain, but his wounds were now smaller, and not bleeding.

  “Ok. I’m done. We give these a few days to heal, and then Lottie or the doctor we find can take them out. Until then, we keep them clean as much as possible.” Soren said as he wrapped the wet bandages over the wounds. He had stuffed them into the can, letting the boiling water clean them as much as possible. He let them cool before wrapping them around Jack’s arms, and binding them with some twine. After the torture of Soren’s stitching, he barely felt the bandages being applied.

  “How are you feeling?” Clara asked him. It took Jack a moment to respond.

  “Pretty bad but I should be ok. Nothing is broken. Just hurts. A lot.” He slowly reached down to pet Tilly and she leaned into his touch. Some of the sadness he was feeling from her faded.

  “It will be worth it though. Tilly here is going to be a very valued member of the community. She is probably going to be our best hunter.” He said, and Clara smiled.

  “Yeah. I won’t lie, it feels good to have something as badass as a Saber Tooth Tiger as a companion. I mean, Thrasher is amazing, but he doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of our foes.” She said.

  “Jack, you should try and sleep. Clara and I will take the next watch, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.” Soren said, sitting beside him and leaning against Thrasher. He gently petted the dinosaur's side, though the big guy was already asleep.

  “Sounds good.” Jack said, giving Tilly a final scratch before walking over to the lean-to. He was asleep as soon as he laid down.