Free The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones Page B

boulders dotted the forest floor. The light grey rocks were easy enough to see in the morning light, but Tim felt a pervasive paranoia that he would slam into an unseen branch at any moment. As he ran, he searched for a boulder that might be big enough to hide behind or crawl under, but he saw only smooth low shapes. The feeling of exposure ran up his spine like nails on a chalk board.
    The crash ing sound of breaking tree trunks came from behind. The tyrannosaur was gaining.
    Tim found himself planning his route carefully as the rocks grew more numerous. Ahead, through the trees, he saw William and Morgan catch up to Al and Lisa. Lisa stumbled to the ground with a shriek . Al pulled her to her feet without stopping. She kept running, but favored one foot, the one without a shoe. The four of them moved to the right, where the ground rose slightly. Out in front, Tim caught a glimpse of Callie, farther ahead and alone.
    A new shape came out of the woods next to Tim. His heart skipped and he flinched away before he realized it was Hank. “It’s coming,” Hank said between breaths. They could hear branches crack as the tyrannosaur followed them through the woods.
    Hank, twenty years Tim’s senior, pulled ahead and passed him by. Tim remembered the old joke about outrunning a bear in the woods. You don’t need to outrun the dinosaur, he thought. You only need to outrun the slowest guy in the group. Right now, Tim was the slowest guy.
    Ahead, the forest grew brighter as the trees grew thinner, exposing another clearing. The ground sloped down and away to the left. As Tim ran through the last few trees, he saw a rock wall on the right side of the clearing. Above the cliff, the forest sloped up and away.
    Al shouted, “ Here, here! ” He wove around a jumble of boulders where the cliff first began. The whole clearing looked as if giant hands had grabbed the ground and pulled up on one side while pressing down on the other side at the same time. Al, Lisa, William, and Morgan raced up the slope on the right.
    Below them, Callie and Hank had already passed the split where the cliff began. They saw the others up above and veered toward the wall. It rose up only ten feet high where they met it. William stopped and reached down to help them scramble up. Using their hands to climb, they quickly reached the top and continued forward along the cliff’s edge.
    If the Tyrannosaurus takes the high path, then what? Tim thought. There was ample room along the top of the cliff for the dinosaur. Tim stayed to the left, on the lower ground. He passed the spot where Callie and Hank climbed up, hoping the tyrannosaur would follow him. The wall grew taller and steeper next to him as he ran.
    He looked back to see the dinosaur enter the clearing behind him. Tim tried to speed up, but couldn’t. His legs burned. He picked a spot along the cliff about twenty feet high and ran up the scree of loose rocks at the base. He hit the wall and began to climb. In seconds he was halfway up.
    “Tim! Hurry! Hurry !” William shouted from above. Tim found a diagonal ledge that allowed him to scramble a bit higher. “HURRY!”
    The snorting of the dinosaur behind him grew louder. Tim’s lungs ached. The top was just out of reach and there was nothing he could grab, no way to get any leverage on the smooth rock surface.
    William appeared above, reaching down. “I gotcha boy, jump! ” He looked at Tim, glanced off beyond him, and then looked back. “JUMP NOW!”
    It was a one shot deal. He could jump and he could easily reach William’s hand, but if the man did not hold onto him, there was no way he could keep from sliding back down the wall.
    He pushed off and reached, his right hand grabbing William’s wrist just as William clasped his own. Tim waited for the Tyrannosaurus to bite his legs and pull him back down.
    William held tight and hoisted him up over the top of the cliff. Tim rolled away from the edge and lay on the ground.
    Panting, Tim swung