It took twenty minutes of walking through the trees before Tilly noticed that something was following them. Jack felt a mix of excitement and annoyance from the predator before she grunted and pointed behind them with her nose. Before he could do or say anything she vanished into the tall brush they were walking next to.

  Jack kept walking, doing his best to look casual as his hand moved to the base of his club. He wasn’t sure what was following them, but it was likely dangerous. Maybe one of the Thylacoleo that he had spotted the night before. Clara caught onto his movements and gripped her spear tighter, her eyes searching the bushes ahead of them. Shelby and Thrasher seemed blissfully unaware of the potential danger, and Soren still had his head pointed at the tops of the trees.

  Soren had volunteered to keep an eye out above them, and was riding Thrasher as he kept his eyes on the sky and used his vantage point to guide them around anything dangerous. So far they had only spotted one animal lurking beside the trees and once Soren pointed it out, the creature had fled into the foliage before Jack was able to identify it.

  Before Jack could signal Soren that something was wrong they heard a loud squawking sound that was cut off almost instantly. They all turned to look behind them, seeing Tilly proudly step from the bushes with a strange looking turkey in her jaws. The bird wasn’t as plump or large as the turkeys back home, only about half the size of one. It had vibrant blue feathers covering its wings and legs, fading to brown as they got closer to its body.

  “What is that?” Shelby asked.

  “I'm not sure. Jack, what does the artifact say?” Clara asked, petting Tilly behind the ears as she rejoined the group.

  Jack triggered the alien device.

  “It's an Archeopteryx.” Jack said, reading off the information to the others.

  “I’ve heard of those. They are supposed to be the link between dinosaurs and birds.” Soren said. Looking down at its body. “I thought they were supposed to be bigger.”

  Jack nodded. He had heard of them as well, but had expected something the size of a velociraptor. This was closer to the size of a large raven. Tilly had already crushed its skull and neck. Its blood was running down its body to stain its feathers. He decided to let her eat it.

  “All yours girl.” He said, patting her head.

  Tilly made a happy gurgling noise and started to messily eat the Archeopteryx. The group stopped for a minute to let her do so in peace.

  “Think we need to keep an eye out for them?” Clara asked.

  “It said they travel in small flocks, I doubt they will mess with a group of us, but if we are alone they would probably jump us. Remember the buddy system.” Jack said. The others all nodded, with Shelby looking a bit confused. Soren noticed and started to fill her in.

  “The tribe made some basic laws. Basically everyone has to contribute, don’t hurt each other, you have a right to personal property, don’t cause conflict with other tribes, and have a minimum of two buddies you go everywhere with.” He gestured to himself, then to Jack and Clara. “Those are the basic rules of the tribe to avoid getting eaten or starting wars.”

  Shelby frowned when he talked about the rule against starting wars. “Does that mean the tribe won’t help deal with Gerling and his gang?” She asked.

  “No. We won’t start trouble for no reason, but shit like that needs to be stamped out as soon as possible. I am confident that the others will agree with me. Especially with support from the Wild Bunch and hopefully the tribe we are going to meet now.” Jack explained.

  Tilly finished shredding the bird, leaving behind a pile of feathers and some of the guts. She had eaten some of the bones with loud crunches. She seemed to enjoy it, but Jack expected that she would cough them up at some point. His childhood cat had caught and eaten birds before, and then thrown up the bones and feathers on his mother’s carpet. He suspected that Tilly’s digestive system was far more robust.

  When she was done, the group continued to move, making their way through the tall trees. Jack decided he did not like the redwoods. The trees were so large that literally anything could be around each corner. They were also at risk from above, the Thylocoleo’s or any other threats could drop down on them like leopards. A quick bite to the back of the skull, they wouldn’t even know they were dead.

  After an hour of walking, Soren called out a sighting of a Dilophosarus hiding forty feet above them, its long claws and light body easily sticking to the bark of the tree. Dark brown scales let it blend in against the bark, and Jack was impressed Soren had noticed it at all. It was poised to drop off the tree onto the back of anything that walked under it. If the momentum didn’t bring its prey to the ground, its long claws and sharp teeth would.

  They took a detour, giving the Dilophosaurus as much space as they could without turning around. The predator watched them, but didn’t move from its ambush spot to follow them.

  “It's good those things only seem interested in ambushes. They are fast enough to easily chase us down. Fragile enough though, that if they don’t get a successful ambush it can take life threatening injuries easily.” Shelby mused.

  “Their ambushes are plenty deadly.” Clara said.

  Jack and Soren nodded and kept moving, guiding Thrasher through some of the tighter gaps in the bushes that he was unwilling to walk through on his own. Clara stabbed the bushes with her spear, with Jack backing her up with his club in case anything jumped out. Soren and Shelby kept watch, and Tilly stood beside Jack, ready to pounce on whatever came after them.

  Their prodding only ever dislodged squirrel-like creatures and small birds. None of which were a threat. They pushed the bushes back and Thrasher moved through without issue, though not without complaining.

  Two hours later they emerged from the woods and found themselves at the banks of the river where three regular sized crocodiles were sunning themselves in the mud. Jack wasn’t sure if they were the same species as the massive Sarcosucus they had seen in the waterfall lagoon north of the tribe’s home and the main river.

  Thrasher seemed agitated seeing them, and the normally peaceful herbivore looked like he wanted to throw down with the crocs. His massive tail swept back and forth aggressively. If Soren hadn’t been rubbing his neck Jack was sure the big dinosaur would have charged them..

  “If we follow the river north from here we should find the lake tribe by the end of the night. Cassady told us to stick to the right side of the river, but I’m not sure we want the trees at our back.” Jack said, starting to guide them up the river. If they did cross, they wouldn't do it in sight of the crocodiles.

  “Is it easier to spot ambushes from the tall grass? Or the redwoods?” Shelby asked, her eyes following the tree line.

  “I think we will actually have fewer issues on this side of the river. There are a lot of raptors hiding in the grass. And we risk coming across nesting mothers.” Soren said. He stood up on Thrasher’s back and used his crest to stabilize himself. One hand blocking the early afternoon sun, he pointed across the river and to the north.

  “There are at least two Bronto’s over that hill. I say we stay on this side of the river at least until we pass them.” He said.

  Jack ran his fingers across the tribe's artifact. The taming charm was warm to the touch, ready to be used. He didn’t think it was worth the risk of going after a Bronto, though the massive creatures would be a boon to the tribe if he could manage it.

  “I agree. We stick to this side of the river for now. Soren and Shelby, can you both keep your eyes on the trees? I want to make sure nothing surprises us. I’ll keep my eyes ahead, and Clara you handle our left. Watch the river and the planes.” Jack ordered as they started their march again.

  The next three hours were filled with idle small talk as they marched against the edge of the woods. Shelby filled them in on life before the asteroid, and they all took time to do the same. Shelby had originally studied to be a doctor, then changed her mind and went into nursing, only to change her mind a year later and end up in economics. She had tried a few more classes to try and discover a passion to help guide her career, and ended up studying veterinary science and then enrolled into vet school.

  She was a few years older than Jack, Soren, and Clara, none of whom had fully chosen a career after finishing school. Clara was the oldest of three of them at twenty three, and had been working at the campus gym as she looked for a real job.

  They slowly followed the river uphill, occasionally moving into the trees to avoid unknown and predatory dinosaurs. They passed a group of three juvenile Baryonyx fishing in the river, and dozens of young crocodiles laying in the sun. The Baryonyx were scared away by the fires, and the Crocodiles didn’t seem to even notice them.

  As they passed a bend in the river they were surprised to see a massive Brontosaur drinking from the river. It wasn’t with its herd, and was covered in scars down its right shoulder. Blood dripped from a bite mark on its front right knee and stained its leg red. Jack wasn’t sure what had attacked it, but he could tell from the Bronto’s pained moans and sluggish body language that it had done quite a number on the massive dinosaur.

  “Wow. She doesn’t look too good.” Soren said, bringing Thrasher to a halt as they all stared at the giant.

  Jack took a closer look. Originally he had thought it was one of the larger males that was lacking a herd. But upon closer examination he could tell it was a female.

  “Why is it alone?” He asked.

  “Maybe it wasn’t able to keep up with its herd?” Clara suggested.

  “It could be close to its nest. Lions back on earth would leave their prides to give birth and stay with the cubs until they were a few days old. Maybe its eggs were close to hatching, or it just laid them?” Shelby suggested.

  Tilly pushed her head into Jack’s hand, and he pet her like he would a regular cat.

  “If the normal ones are cranky, that one will probably squash anything that she can.” Soren said to a chorus of nods.

  “Let's dip into the woods. Her tail could get us if we keep following the riverbank.” Jack said, starting to lead the group away. His legs were sore from the constant walking and he was hoping they would find their way to the Lake tribe soon. He was tempted to pull up the map and check, but he didn’t want to do it until they were back beside the river again.

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  “Wait. Look. At its feet.” Shelby said, stopping the group from entering the redwoods.

  They all turned back to the river, searching the tall grass at the Bronto’s feet. Hidden under its torso was a baby Bronto that stood no more than four feet tall. Its skin was closer to a brown than the grey elephant like skin of its mother. It blended in with the dry grass very well and if some of the mother’s blood hadn't dripped onto it, Shelby never would have seen it.

  “It's got a hatchling with it.” Clara said.

  They all spent another minute watching it in silence. They all knew Jack had a taming charge. The mother was injured, the baby could be a blessing to the tribe in the long term. But the risk of trying to tame either one was massive, and even if they did, it would slow down their travel massively.

  “Shelby. You are the closest that we have to a specialist. What is the chance that mother will survive its wounds?” Jack asked.

  It took another minute before she spoke.

  “It's hard to say. Going off what I know of elephants, which I am no sort of specialist in, if her herd comes back to her she has a good chance of making it. The leg looks bad, but she can still walk on it. But if she is attacked again. If a rex or something big comes after her, I would bet on her either abandoning the baby or fighting to the death. I don’t know how the predators here will respond to her in this condition, but something was already willing to take a bite out of her. So.” She shrugged. “It fully depends if the herd comes back. I wouldn’t give the baby good odds of survival without its mother.”

  “I don’t think it's worth the risk. Even if we were successful, we would add days of travel. We need to get to the lake tribe and then home as soon as possible. Maybe if we find them on the way back we can give it a try, but right now we have too many lives relying on us.” Clara said.

  Jack nodded and scratched Tilly. She made a chirping sound and then took off into the forest. She vanished behind a redwood. No growls or yowls escaped the woods, so it was about as safe as they could hope for. With longing looks back at the baby Bronto they all followed Tilly into the woods.

  An hour later they had reached the end of the grasslands. The jungle sprouted like a wall and the terrain became drastically steeper. If they followed the edge of the grasslands they would have found the cliffs that surrounded their valley. The water in the river flowed much faster, and was much shallower than the one they had been walking along. Rocks jutted out of the water, and swift rapids danced between them.

  The riverbank was still mostly clear of vegetation from the many large animals that crept from the jungle to drink and fish. It was only ten to twenty feet of clear ground before the jungle swallowed their sight.

  “Only a mile or so to the lake, then we hug the right side of it and we should find the tribe by nightfall. Lets cut the small talk and keep your ears open.” Jack said. He gripped his club as he eyed the tree line. He hadn’t missed the suffocating feeling of a potential ambush around every corner. It was similar to the Redwood forest, but at least there they had room to fight and run. The jungle could hide anything from snakes and giant spiders all the way up to T-Rexes and all manner of medium sized predators. The Baryonyx they had fought off twice, that now had a taste for human flesh, could have very easily wandered towards the lake.

  No one complained, each of them gripping their spears and staying close to Thrasher. Shelby was riding on his back now, letting her feet rest.

  When they entered the jungle, they felt the drastic increase of humidity that came with the shifting biomes. It hadn’t been as noticeable when they left the jungle for the first time. A storm had been brewing and the river valley was much more humid than the planes they had been in. It felt like stepping into a shower, which was very strange. Tilly shook herself at the feeling, but Thrasher seemed to love it.

  “Uggg. Think we can convince the lake tribe to move to the river and out of this jungle?” Clara asked.

  “Maybe if we get rid of our bug problem. We need to tame some of those big frogs.” Soren grumbled.

  A bird chirped in the branches ahead of them, and everyone went silent. A moment later the bird flew off, but no one relaxed.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Jack said, leading the group forward.

  They had to slow down as the terrain got steeper and the dense roots of the trees made the path uneven. Tall ferns made up the majority of the vegetation, a handful of large colorful flowers speckled the woodline. It was beautiful, but strange to Jack. He took a closer look at the flowers. Some of them were buzzing with dozens of brightly colored bees. They were the first he remembered seeing them since he arrived. It was strange to see such normal creatures. He let his mind wander for an hour about how modern day creatures must be trying to fit in all over the planet.

  The first dinosaur they came across was similar to a stegosaurus, though much smaller. Where Lego the Steggo of the Wild Bunch was nearly the size of a double decker bus, the stegosaurus before them was closer to four feet tall at the back. Its plates were only a half dozen inches long, but its four tail spikes looked deadly and had an extra inch or two on the back plates. The front plates resembled a standard stegosaurus plate, but each one became thinner and sharper as they moved towards the tail. Notably, they also had tall shoulder spikes that protruded nearly a foot on each side. Their tan colored scales covered most of their bodies, with dark green stripes patterning them. They were around twelve feet long from head to tail, and were drinking from the river.

  “What are those?” Soren asked. The party had stopped thirty feet away from them, and Tilly was still in the woods somewhere to their right.

  Jack pulled up the bracelet and identified them.

  “It's a Chungkingosaurus.” Jack said, returning his attention to the strange creatures.

  “That's a mouthful.” Soren said.

  “Yeah. I think I’ve heard of those. They were found in China.” Shelby said.

  “They are quite pretty. I like the stripes.” Clara said.

  “There should be a few more of them, the encyclopedia said they travel in herds of up to thirty. These three must have either gotten separated or there are a lot more in the trees there.” Jack said.

  “They look…simple.” Clara said. “We might be able to befriend them with some food easy enough. Do we want to try and tame one? The others will probably follow along if we have food.”

  “No clue what they eat. The encyclopedia didn’t say.” Jack held up his arm to show the bracelet. “We probably could. But is it worthwhile? They don’t look particularly fast.”

  “We haven’t exactly been sprinting through the woods. They wouldn’t make for good mounts, but could be incredibly useful as defenders. I think it's worthwhile to try and tame one.” Clara rebutted.

  Jack looked to Shelby, who shrugged, then to Soren.

  “Thoughts?” He asked.

  The red head watched the three drink from the river for a few moments.

  “Let’s see if we can find some fruits or berries. If they like it, we might as well give it a try.” Soren said.

  The group nodded and spent ten minutes searching the nearby woods for fruit. All of the low hanging fruit had been picked, but Shelby had found a tree with some sort of green bananas hanging from the highest branches. Jack triggered the charm to check for poisons and the fruit came back clean. Clara climbed the tree, and a few minutes later they had filled one of Thrasher’s baskets with the small fruits.

  Soren decided to try one, and it was not tasty. There was some bitter flesh once they pulled the skin off, but the fruit was so full of seeds that there was barely anything to eat. There were some sugars in the fruit, but nowhere enough to want to add them to a regular diet.

  “Ugh. Gross.” Soren complained.

  They offered one to Thrasher, but he wasn’t interested. He had been snacking on the reeds beside the riverbank all day, so it wasn’t a surprise.

  “Ok. Who wants to see if the Chungs like these?” Jack asked.

  “I’ll do it.” Clara said. Grabbing a handful of the fruits and leading the party to the river again. The three dinosaurs were still milling about, taking turns drinking at a furrow in the riverbank. Clara took the taming bracelet, and started to slowly approach them, the fruits held out at their head height. She moved slowly, doing her best to be non-threatening.

  The dinosaurs looked at her with curiosity. They didn’t move towards her, but they didn’t bellow or shy away from her. From what Jack could tell, they weren’t making any hostile movements. Shelby also seemed to be relaxed and he trusted her judgement when it came to animals.

  Clara got within five feet of the closest one, well within striking distance of its tail should it choose to swing at her. She bent down on one knee and slowly extended her hand towards them. The dino eyed her, cautious but curious. It had probably never seen a human before, and with none of the teeth, claws, and feathers of its normal predators, the dinosaurs likely just saw them as fellow herbivores.

  The Chung took a few steps forward and sniffed Clara’s hand. It seemed interested in the fruit, and after eyeing Clara once more, it took the fruit from her hand and bit it in half. As soon as it did, the others noticed the food and walked over to see if there was more. They nuzzled into her hands and made happy clicking noises. She fed each one some of the fruit, before gently reaching to the largest one and petting the side of its head.

  Jack watched a faint green glow emanate from the bracelet and cover both Clara and the Chungkingosaurus. As soon as the glow faded, the dinosaur pushed its head into her palm like a cat asking for scratches. The tension left all of them, and the group started to approach. The tamed one seemed overjoyed to have a larger herd and to Jack’s surprise, the others seemed interested as well. He couldn’t tell if they were that social or just very simple. He remembered some saying about Stegosauruses having walnut sized brains, but even if that was true, that didn’t mean they would be friendly or even stupid. They would probably just be aggressive to anything they didn’t understand. The jungles were not kind.

  “I am honestly amazed it was that easy.” Soren said, moving to pet the tamed one. “Thought of a name for her?”

  Jack opened his mouth to suggest Ralph. But both Soren and Clara spoke over him.

  “Jack isn’t allowed to pick names.” Soren said.

  “I’m naming her Rose. And the other two are Blanche and Dorothy. After the Golden Girls.” Clara said. Rose made a rumbling sound similar to the ones Mike would make, which Jack could only assume meant she liked the name. He shrugged, and didn’t argue. Instead he offered a fruit to Dorothy, who happily took it.

  “Is it normal for them to all be this friendly?” Shelby asked.

  “Not really. For the tamed ones it is, but usually the wild ones need a while to get used to us.” Soren said, feeding Blanche.

  “I won’t complain. This will make it much easier for them to follow us and stick around. Let’s keep moving, the sun is going to go behind that mountain soon, and I want to reach the lake before it does.” Jack said. He started leading the group forward again, surprised that the new dinos didn’t seem to mind the torches either. He made a note that fire might not be as big a deterrent against the animals that live in the extremely wet environments. It might not be common here, and they have not yet learned to fear it.

  Thirty minutes later they reached the lake. Deep blue water stretched at least two miles to the other side. The mountain rose steeply from the other side of the lake, forming a large bowl that directed all the rain and snowmelt into the lake. The top of the mountain was shrouded by low hanging clouds, and its sides were green with vegetation.

  The lakeshore was made of rough gravel and large stones. The trees were pushed back from the lake a good twenty to forty feet, replaced with small meadows of green grass and flowers. Jack could make out dozens of species of small dinosaurs bedding down in the grass. From a small herd of trikes, to a pack of raptors, even a tall sauropod that was much longer than a Bronto, but its head didn’t reach above the trees.

  The shoreline was jagged and uneven. It wound back and forth through the forest like a child had drawn its borders on a map. Jack couldn't help but feel like the topography was unnatural, but it was beautiful. The lake also held several small islands covered in dense forest. It was quite picturesque, but Jack didn’t trust those dark depths for a second. If this world had dinosaurs, it also had all the crazy monsters that lived in the seas. He had no doubt this lake was full of monsters.

  “I see firelight.” Soren said, pointing to the far side of the lake to their right.

  The others turned their heads to look, and they could see several glowing dots surrounding a larger bonfire. They were too far away to make out the individual torches, but the fire stood out against the darkening sky. Jack had no doubt that the tribe could see their party's torches as well.

  “Let's start making our way over. They might send a group to meet us, so keep your eyes open. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can rest and hopefully enjoy some fresh food.” Jack said. He swung his club onto his shoulder and started walking.

  They had to weave between the groups of resting dinosaurs, but none of them seemed to be aggressive. The raptors stayed away from the fire, and Tilly warded off juvenile Carnotaurus that had started to follow the party. The three Chungkingosaurus, whom they had all decided to call Chung’s, spent their time grazing on the tall grass as they easily kept pace with Thrasher and the humans. Shelby and Soren were starting to flag, exhaustion and dehydration evident. Clara and Jack were doing better, but both of them were still looking forward to resting.

  Jack estimated that they walked another five miles before the sun had fully set. Fireflies had started to come out, and the jungle sounds changed. The birdsong faded and was replaced by a cool wind rustling the grass and the sounds of insects. Herbivores bedded down in meadows or under ferns, but the Raptors and other carnivores started to prowl more aggressively.

  They heard a roar from the jungle. It was impossible to tell how far away it was, but it helped the tired travelers pick up their feet. After another hour they saw a group of torches headed towards them.