As he walked toward the tree line in front of him he kept a wary watch on the ground and sky for any possible threat. The tall grasses stretched up to Bepergians waistline. He was a fairly tall man at nearly 2 meters tall. For him it was rather disconcerting to have the ground obscured by the grasses, but he was glad he was tall enough to see over the tops. He walked for what seemed a long time. The sun was hot on his head and shoulders. He was grateful for the hat he wore. As he neared the trees the sun had begun its slide down to the horizon toward late afternoon. He could see individual trees on the outer edge of the forest, but he knew it would take another fifteen minutes of walking to get there. The sun was a hand’s-breadth over the top of the trees, when he stopped to take a mouthful of water from his water pack. He readjusted the pack on his back and took only one step. The next he knew he was flat on his face after a heavy blow pushed him to the ground.

Startled, Bepergian lay very still. He hoped to see what had knocked him down. Before he even caught a glimpse of his attacker he heard a deep guttural noise that made the hair on his neck rise. Moving very slowly he reached for the knife strapped to his belt. He hadn’t even touched the knife when he felt something roughly nudge his shoulder and then snort hot breath on his neck. The stench of rotting flesh assaulted his nose and he had to fight the urge to gag.

He could not see what was pushing at him since his head was turned the opposite direction. Suddenly he was lifted off the ground by his pack. Whatever had picked him up had three toed feet with a dew claw in the place of a heel. They looked like enormous lizard feet. He didn’t get a much better look as the creature began to shake him like cat worries or places with a rodent. It tossed him into the air and he landed on his stomach about 3 meters away. The fall knocked the breath out of him and he couldn’t move.

He heard the creature utter a high pitched whine and then he heard it crashing through the grass toward him. He tried to move and felt as if he were swimming in mud. He managed to roll onto his back and get his knife out of its sheath by the time the creature found him.

The creature nearly stepped on him as it hopped into view. He finally got a good look at what it was and nearly dropped his knife. It was a dinosaur. It was bipedal dinosaur with small upper arms and a large body and head. The mouth was large and full of razor sharp teeth. It leaned toward him and sniffed at him. It dripped foul smelling saliva on him and he nearly retched with the stench of its breath. It reared up and called out as if to communicate to others that it had found something. Bepergian felt doomed. While its attention was away from him he started scooting away from the creature toward the cover of the tall grasses.

He nearly got away when it looked down and saw what he was doing. He scrambled faster and got to his feet to run. He ran two or three steps when it caught him and picked him up again. This time it was carrying him and he could see above the grasses. He could not see any other dinosaurs but he heard answering calls in the distance. The image of himself being torn to shreds between two or more of these creatures flashed through his mind.

He still had his knife in hand but he couldn’t reach the creature while it carried him. Reluctantly, as it loped along he decided to cut the straps on his pack. He hated to lose it and his gear but he hated the thought of being eaten more. Quickly he cut the shoulder straps on his pack and dropped three meters to the ground. This time he was prepared to fall and landed on his hands and knees. He scrambled for his knife and then ran as fast as he could for the cover of the trees. This time he ran about ten meters before it caught him again. This time, without the protection of his pack, he felt the teeth as they sank into him. The pain was blinding and he felt his consciousness fade.

Before he completely blacked out he felt the dinosaur tilt and saw the ground rush up to meet him.