Chapter Three
‘Who Are You?’
The boys hit the bottom of a deep
hole with a resounding thud. Jason
struggled to sit up, his body protesting loudly. Tommy lay motionless beside him.
“Tommy? Are you alright?”
“Yeah I think so,” said Tommy. “What happened?”
Jason saw leaves scattered around
them. They were the same leaves that
covered the ground up in the clearing.
“We fell in a hole.” he said picking up one of the leaves. “These leaves were hiding it.”
Tommy made no attempt to get
up. His body felt like it would fall
apart. Jason stood up and pain seared
through his right ankle. He hobbled
over to a wall and steadied himself.
Tommy could see something was wrong.
“Jason what’s wrong,” he asked.
Jason tried to downplay his sudden
injury. “Nothing. I’m okay.”
He knew Tommy was feeling pretty bad already and he didn’t want to make
him feel any worse.
“Are you sure?” said Tommy. “You don’t look okay.”
Jason smiled the best he could. “I’m okay, honest. My leg’s a little stiff from the fall, that’s all.” He turned away from Tommy so he couldn’t see
how much pain he was really in.
Jason dug his fingers into the dirt
wall. “Anyway,” he said trying to
change the subject. “I think we can dig
some hand and foot holes and climb out.”
He looked up at the distant opening.
“But it’s going to take a really long time.”
Neither boy had asked the all
important question... why was the hole there?
And who had dug it? Maybe
neither of them really wanted to find out.
They just wanted to leave.
Jason sat down and leaned against
the wall. He was totally exhausted and
his ankle throbbed like mad. This was
so unreal. Here they were stuck in a
big hole in the middle of a prehistoric jungle inside a bedroom closet! How believable was that!
High above them faint jungle sounds
swirled in the air like ghosts from a distant past. Sounds of animals no human had ever seen or would ever see. Millions of years from now ending up as
colorful pictures in a child’s book or a pile of bones in some museum
basement. For Tommy and Jason Barker
the pictures had become all too real.
Well, they weren’t going to get out
of the hole by just sitting around. The
boys were going to have to dig for their freedom. Jason struggled to his feet.
His ankle screamed at him to sit down again. He leaned against the wall and tried to wish the pain away. That’s when he noticed the wall was
vibrating. Clumps of dirt shook loose
and fell to the ground. The vibrations
increased and spread to the floor.
Ignoring his aching body, Tommy got to his feet. The air was thick with confusion and
fear. With a violent explosion the dirt
wall in front of Tommy gave way, spraying dirt in all directions. The force sent him tumbling backwards. Following the blast there came a piercing
screech as a huge worm like creature rocketed out from the crumbling wall! Its dark gray body was as thick as a
rhinoceros and had a gaping mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Jason screamed and jumped out of its
way. Tommy, however, was still sprawled
on the ground dazed. The worm continued
to screech, whipping its massive head around then headed straight for
Tommy. Jason screamed at his little
brother.
“Get up Tommy! Get up!”
Jason grabbed handfuls of dirt and
threw them at the advancing worm but it took no notice. Tommy brought himself back to reality in
time to roll out of the way just as the worms mouth ripped through the ground
beside him. Jason quickly helped Tommy
to his feet and they moved back as far as the walls would allow. Realizing there was no way out, Jason pulled
Tommy close. The giant worm’s eyes
scanned the dirt hole and when it found the boys, it made its move. It would have reached them too if it hadn’t
been for a sudden and unexpected shower of rocks. The creature screeched in anger as it tried to avoid the pelting
rocks. In horrified bewilderment Tommy
and Jason looked up to see where the rocks were coming from but couldn’t see
anything. A few stray rocks slammed
into the walls around them. They
crouched down and covered their heads.
Then just as quickly as the worm appeared it disappeared. In a matter of moments it was gone.
Tommy and Jason still cowering in
the corner, slowly uncovered their heads.
The worm was gone and the ground was littered with rocks. They waited in terrifying silence to see
what would happen next. Several tense
moments went by before they noticed movement from above. A piece of rope dropped into the hole and a
dark figure, shrouded by the sun, ascended down it. The shadowy figure’s feet landed on the ground and turned towards
the boys. Tommy and Jason were shocked
to see a dinosaur looking at them!