Dinosaur Breakout (19 page)

A terrible screaming split the air. It all happened so quickly, Daniel didn’t know where the sound was coming from. Was the shrieking from the raptor-types, the Nelwins, or him? He felt himself falling to the ground in a whoosh of turbulent wind. Screams echoed around him.

~

J
ed stood in front of them,
joining in their screams just inside the cave as if they’d never left! Craig and Todd’s traumatized shrieks died on their lips as they realized they were back in the present.

Everyone stood stunned, staring at one another with their faces frozen in mute terror. A moment later, Daniel sensed Mr. Pederson at his side and then felt himself being gently shaken to bring him out of shock.

“Daniel, can you hear me?” Mr. Pederson stared anxiously into his eyes, as if looking for a conscious response.

Bewildered, Daniel turned his glazed look onto Mr. Pederson and then around at the others, as if seeing them for the first time. Slowly he dropped his hold on Craig and Todd. Jed ran over to him and gave him a brief hug.

“I thought you were gone forever!” Jed stammered, thumping Daniel’s back. “Where did you go? You just disappeared!”

Pederson put his arms around Daniel’s shoulders and squeezed him in a bear hug. The old man’s arms seemed to tremble. “I have to admit, lad, you gave us a bit of fright!”

“I’m okay,” Daniel whispered hoarsely.

He still couldn’t believe they’d escaped the terrible claws and flesh-ripping teeth of the
Dromaeosaurus.
The fierce, intense eyes of the creature would haunt him forever. He glanced over at the Nelwin brothers and saw them slide to the ground and lean against the cave wall. He’d never seen them so docile.

Slowly, the story came out of how Jed wasn’t sure what to do, whether to stay or get help. In the end, he’d run for Mr. Pederson and they’d only just returned when the three boys suddenly appeared again.

“You look dreadful,” Jed said. “What happened to you?”

Stuttering and stammering through his story, Daniel again felt the terror. He began with the first time he’d been knocked out and transported to the prehistoric world.

“I knew something uniquely extreme had occurred,” Pederson said. “Something so real you were afraid to talk about it, and something you didn’t understand or think was possible, but I didn’t imagine for a moment it would be repeated.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Jed demanded, giving his friend a slight punch on the arm.

“Because,” Pederson answered for Daniel, “who
would have believed him? Do you even now?”

Jed thought about it for a minute or two. “I guess it is hard to imagine it happened,” he answered truthfully. “But I do know they disappeared somewhere right before my eyes, and look at his clothes! His pants are muddy and wet and his shirt is torn. It wasn’t before.”

Daniel looked at his attire. He’d already known about the pants, because they’d landed in the shallow lagoon, but the rip across the chest of his shirt came from something knifelike. He almost fainted when he realized how close he’d come to having his flesh ripped open. Then he noted the tear in his pant leg and gulped again.

“This time, though, he had witnesses,” Pederson continued, looking over at the Nelwins. “Well, boys, how was your experience?” he asked with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

“Well, uh...” Craig started and stopped, totally lost for words.

“I didn’t believe him at first, but...” Todd added and couldn’t say any more.

“Do you now?” Pederson inquired.

Both boys nodded.

“That’s the main thing!” Pederson said.

Daniel suddenly remembered Todd’s accusations, and couldn’t resist. “Okay, Mr. Pederson, I think we can turn off our dvd projector now!”

The Nelwins scrambled to their feet, abruptly indignant and angry. Pederson and Jed looked puzzled.

Daniel chuckled at the Nelwins. “Get a grip! You
know it was real!”

Daniel explained to Jed and Pederson how the Nelwins had thought he was playing a trick on them.

Uncomfortably, the brothers slung their hands into their pockets and bowed their heads in embarrassment.

“It was incredible!” Craig said in awe. Then he turned to Daniel. “Now I think I see...I mean...uh...I can understand your interest in dinosaurs and stuff!”

“For sure,” Todd agreed. “That was awesome!”

Daniel nodded. “I know.”

“Something we’ll never see again!” Craig’s eyes
widened in wonder.

“Let’s hope not!” Daniel said.

Todd turned to Craig, “And
we
got to do it! Just us and no one else.”

Craig nodded his head towards Daniel.

“Yeah, and Daniel, of course,” Todd agreed.

“That was plenty enough for me!” Craig added.

“That’s for sure!” Then Todd said to Craig, “Let’s get out of here!”

“Just a minute,” said Pederson, blocking the doorway. “We have a couple of things that we need to deal with. First, we have the problem of what you did last night to Daniel and to the Bringhams’ property. Then we have to deal with what you’ve done here today.”

Daniel had almost forgotten about the damage to his hideout. Both boys looked guilty and scared as they peered around at the shambles they’d made. Pederson and Jed stared in silent amazement at the destruction the Nelwins had caused in such a short time.

“It’s up to Daniel what he wants to do about this mess.” Pederson turned to Daniel then. “Daniel, do you think you can handle this part?”

Daniel nodded. Jed left the hideout to let Daniel work things out and waited patiently outside.

“I told the police what you did last night,” Daniel said, eyeing them with confidence. “I’m surprised they didn’t talk to you yet.”

“Guess we weren’t home,” Todd shrugged his shoul
ders in more like his old attitude, then dropped his
manner abruptly.

“Then how did you know I’d called them and they were looking for you?”

“We haven’t been home since last night. We camped out in the hills,” Craig said as if that answered the question.

Daniel knew this probably meant the boys were
staying clear of their father and his latest binge until he sobered up. Now that they were older, they had figured out how to escape his violent rampages. Daniel also figured they’d seen the rcmp vehicle at their house and had been hiding.

“Well, I think you’d better contact the police and let them know where you are,” Pederson said. “You know you can’t get away from them, and there’s no point in trying?”

They nodded in agreement.

“Now we need an apology,” Pederson directed.

“Sorry, Daniel,” Todd said, sincerely.

“I’m sorry too,” Craig stated, shuffling his feet in the dirt.

“Well, that’s a start!” Pederson seemed pleased. “But you still have the consequences to pay for the incident the other night.”

Daniel interjected, secure in his demands, “And I want some sort of restitution for what you’ve done here today too! And I want my arrowheads back!”

“Please don’t lay any more charges against us,” Todd begged, handing over the arrowheads.

“We’ll do whatever you like to make things better,” Craig nodded morosely beside his brother.

“Well, for starters, you can clean up this mess,” Daniel instructed, righting his stump and sitting down weakly.

“Can we do it later?” Todd asked. “I need a rest. And we’re hurt.”

Daniel looked at the scrapes and bruises on the
Nelwins and raised his eyebrows at them.

“You think I’m not?” he asked, pointing to his bandaged head, and the other marks on his body. “What you did to me hurts too!”

“Okay, we’ll do it now.” Craig agreed. He began picking up the pails and gathering the rocks. Reluctantly, Todd helped.

As they worked, Daniel groaned inwardly. He’d have to sort the stones all over again, but he wasn’t going to complain for now. They’d never be able to figure it out. He removed his backpack and searched for his water bottle. When he found it, he took several big gulps, and then passed it to the Nelwins. They took it gratefully, before turning back to their work.

Abruptly, Daniel headed outside with a slight limp. Pederson followed him, and they stood with Jed at the entrance. They could hear Craig and Todd shuffling and banging around inside.

“Geeze, Daniel,” Jed whispered, “how did you manage that?”

“I didn’t give them a choice,” Daniel said, grinning at Pederson.

Pederson grinned. “Good going, lad!”

“What else are you going to make them do?” asked Jed.

“Stay away from my place!” Daniel answered without hesitation.

They all laughed. Just then Todd stuck his head out.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

Daniel crawled back inside, leaving Pederson and Jed behind. He peered around, not saying anything at first. They’d put things upright again, but his belongings were still greatly disturbed, things were broken, and the dirt floor all cluttered with debris. Not only were they bullies, they were lazy!

“Well, this doesn’t exactly look like it was.” Daniel said.

“We can come back again later,” Craig suggested meekly, realizing they hadn’t done a good enough job.

“And I have a snakeskin at home. I could replace yours with it.” Todd offered.

Daniel struggled with himself. Should he let them come back and mess with his stuff some more, or did he want to do all the work himself? Which would better teach them their lesson? Suddenly, he felt sore and tired. He needed to go home and lie down.

“Tell you what,” he finally said. “You can go for now, but I want you to come back tomorrow morning with a shovel, a broom, and a garbage bag to finish it off. Be here by nine a.m.”

They nodded, satisfied with the arrangement.

“What about the other charges?” Todd ventured to ask. “Is there any way we could do some sort of restitution for them too and have the charges dropped?”

Daniel stared at them thoughtfully. “You’ll have to ask my dad about the damages to his property. He may let you work it off, but I can’t say for sure. As for me, well...” Daniel thought again for a moment. Then suddenly he had an idea. “I could use some help until I’m healed.”

For the first time, it seemed, the Nelwins actually looked at Daniel as a person instead of someone to taunt. They eyed him up and down, noting his bandages, and the cuts and bruises on his head and arms and legs. They seemed to realize for the first time how much they’d injured him.

“What do you want us to do for you?” Craig asked, sighing.

Daniel smiled. He still had chores to do, and now he was going to have help. He explained the situation to them.

“Fine, we’ll be there at five,” they agreed, reluctantly. Then they all crawled outside to join Pederson and Jed.

“Anything else?” Todd asked, sure there was more to come.

“You can’t breathe a word about our trip to prehistoric time to anyone!”

“Who would believe us?” complained Craig.

“They’d lock us up on the insanity ward for sure!” Todd grumbled.

Craig asked, “What else?”

“I’ll think about it and let you know later,” Daniel said politely. “For now, let’s go home.”

“One more thing,” Pederson said thoughtfully,
stroking his chin. “What would you boys say to helping us out at the new dinosaur dig?”

“Could we really?” Craig’s face lit up with excitement. Todd stood quietly by in obvious hopeful anticipation.

Pederson turned to the others. “What do you think, Daniel, Jed?”

Jed shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I’m just the new guy!”

Daniel thought about it for a moment, staring hard at the Nelwins, remembering the stalking and how much damage they’d done to him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to include them. Or maybe it would be a disaster and they’d do more damage. Did he really want them to be part of his paleontology world? They all waited for his reply. Daniel looked at Pederson, who said nothing. Then Daniel knew he had to give them a chance.

“Sure. I guess that would be fine,” he answered, trying to keep the doubt out of his voice. He hoped that would mean they’d quit hurting him.

The Nelwins faces lit up with pleasure.

Craig asked, “When can we start?”

“After you’ve sorted out your problems with the police and Daniel’s dad!”

The Nelwins nodded in unison and started heading across the hills.

“One more thing,” Daniel called to them, remem
bering the most crucial thing of all. “This place is my secret place and I expect it to stay that way.”

“No one will hear about it from me!” Craig shouted back.

“Nor me!” Todd promised sincerely.

“Okay, see you at the barn in about an hour!” Daniel turned to see Pederson and Jed staring at him in disbelief.

“Uh,” Todd hesitated.

Daniel turned back.