Free The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones

and Lisa joined them. Lisa took Al’s hand and gave him a wink. He smiled at her like a kid in a toy store.
    “Beth, that might not be a good idea,” Hank called out.
    The rustling in the jungle grew louder and closer. Al finally saw movement and realized he was looking too low. A shape grew in the shadows, towering over Beth. She stopped swinging her spoon.
    A forty-five foot long Tyrannosaurus rex shouldered through the last few rows of trees.

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    Beth dropped her instruments, turned on her heels , and ran, all in one fluid motion. She made it ten feet before the platter and spoon hit the ground. The tyrannosaur stepped onto the mud flat and lowered its jaws toward the girl.
    Beth continued to scream as she ran. Her blood-curdling cry pierced the jungle, louder than any of the ruckus they had made with the pots and pans. She screamed like someone in pain, even though she had not been hurt yet. She did not realize she was screaming. She only knew that the monster coming out of the trees looked far more dangerous than the hadrosaurs and did not care one bit about her little clang-clanging.
    As Beth ran, one thought went through her mind over and over: Don’t slip, don’t slip, don’t slip. The mud was thick, but she wore a decent pair of shoes. Her job required her to stand on her feet for hours, after all.
    She felt t he ground shake with each step of the giant dinosaur behind her. Beth pushed herself faster. The café was within reach, but she meant to run past it, around the back, and then leap into the river. The current would sweep her right behind the building and out of sight. She pictured her escape as a scene in a movie, both clever and thrilling. Hollywood producers would line up to buy her story once she got home. She wouldn’t need to save for film school. She wouldn’t need to work her way up the ladder.
    Beth closed in on the building, only a few steps from the corner.
    The tyrannosaur snaked its head forward. Beth felt pressure on the sides of her body. For a fraction of a second, she thought someone had grabbed her to shove her out of the way. Probably William. William had come to save her.
    The pressure tightened and Beth knew she was wrong. The ground dropped away as the tyrannosaur lifted her. She looked down on the café and the open floor above it. Then the jaws ground together, separating her hips from her body. Beth felt a horrible incontinence as organs slipped from her abdominal cavity. The tyrannosaur bit down again. Nine-inch teeth frayed Beth's spine in three places and she ceased to feel anything at all.
-  -  -  -  -
    Hank grabbed Callie and Lisa by the shoulders and started backing away slowly. “Don’t run from a predator,” he hissed. “You’ll trigger a pursuit instinct.” They weren’t quite in the center of the clearing, but they were close enough. There was no cover nearby.
    The tyrannosaur raised its head upward and pulled Beth’s mangled body deep into its mouth with its pale tongue. Her legs, arms, and head all disappeared down its gullet at the same time.
    Without pausing, the tyrannosaur turned toward the two couples out in the open. It normally ate two thousand pounds before it felt full. Beth Caldecott barely broke one hundred.
    Hank, Callie, Al and Lisa had been backing away steadily. Now Lisa froze, hyperventilating. Hank gave Callie a firm shove toward the forest. Al began to run also, holding onto Lisa’s hand and yanking her along. The tyrannosaur took two steps in their direction, blood dripping from its lips.
    Not my wife , Hank thought, even though Callie was still only a fiancé. He stuck two filthy fingers in his mouth and whistled, a high-pitched screech that he used at parties and weddings to silence a noisy crowd.
    The giant dinosaur stopped and tilted its head. That’s it, Hank thought. He dug in his heels and sprinted downstream along the riverbank.
    The tyrannosaur raised its tail high in the air and kicked forward after Hank, ignoring the