The only thing I could think about were the dinosaurs.  Don’t stop they’re right behind me I told myself as I pushed my body to the limit.  Sweat rolling down my shirt on this cloudless sunny morning as I run for my life.  There right behind me!  Dont look! Keep running!  I kept telling myself, but as I turned my head back it lept.

All of a sudden I was there, 11 years old, my mom got the letter that would tell us my father died in afghanistan.  As she opened the letter she began to cry, and I pried it out of her wet hands.  As I read, I sank to my knees and also began to cry.  

Then a flash and I was in junior high watching a puny kid getting beat up by a broad square jawed boy named Bill.  Bill threw the puny kid on the ground.  Anger rushed through my body as I started sprinting towards them.  Just as I go to tackle him there was another flash.

 I was bound up with a blindfold on my head.  Then a cold agitated voice spoke ”its time, its been an hour kill a hostage” There was a sudden jolt of someone pushing me forward.   I thought, be brave i’ll be the first, someone else can survive,  then a distressed high pitched voice came out that I knew to be my mom’s “NO! TAKE ME! TAKE ME INSTEAD!  Then I heard footsteps running toward me.  I yelled “NO!”  Then BANG!

I was lying flat on the ground.  Something cold and scaly lay on top of me.  Then I realized I had a sharp pain in my shoulder where a claw was sticking in.  I looked to my side where an old scrawny looking man was standing. He was wearing a yellow jacket and right beside him a really strong looking man wearing a bulletproof vest took the gun from the scrawny man and yelled “I TOLD YOU THAT HE WASN'T WORTH SAVING!” Then the scrawny looking man replied,  ”DID YOU THINK I WAS JUST GOING TO LET HIM DIE JOHN!” John looked infuriated and grabbed the scrawny looking man and said, ”you're more important than him Vince.” As he pointed to me. I tried to get up but failed and Vince broke free of John’s grasp and ran to me.  Vince said,”You’ll be alright if I can just get you somewhere safe”.  Vince pulled the claw out of my back and the pain was excruciating. Then Vince muttered “ Velociraptor” then “There are going to be more they don't hunt alone” He pulled me up and I wrapped my arm around him, and said “what is going on?” Then he said “A better thing to say would be your name.”  Then I said, “ It’s Michael” Then he let out a deep sigh as we got back to John.  

John said, in a angry voice,”Were not taking him”. Then Vince said, in a if possible even angrier voice,” You want me to just leave him”. John replied,“No, I’m telling you we must leave him.”

Then Vince half carried me inside a house and set me down on a sofa and said, “I'll explain as much as I can while I patch you up” Then Vince went into the next room and a moment later came back carrying a backpack.  He put it down beside me and pulled out some alcohol and gauss then he said, “ This is going to hurt” He poured the alcohol on the deep cut and I put my fist in my mouth to keep from screaming. He started to bandage it up with the gauss and said, “ okay this is going to be hard to explain but I’ll give you the just” he explained as he was wrapping the gauss around my shoulder.”

Basically there has been a rift in time that the dinosaurs are coming through to get into this time period” he said as he cut the gauss finishing then said, “ you're good, but I still have to check if your infected” as he bent down drew up a small machine and a long needle. When I saw the needle I jumped back over the sofa and ran to the corner as vince said “ its just a needle michael”. Then I said, “ theres no way you're gonna stick me with that”.  Vince said half laughing “ you just got slashed by a velociraptor with three inch claws and you're worried about this little needle”.  Then I retorted, “ well it looks like you're enjoying yourself.”

“Look I just need some blood to see if your infected or you’d been infected by that velociraptor. I was going to explain just before you had your panic attack that there is a highly intelligent disease that the dinosaurs brought.  It attaches to your central nervous system and takes over your body.  The only thing these infected do is eat anything living in site, now will you just come over here and let me sample your blood.”

It came as a shock, “ do you mean like zombies”.

Then vince said “yes yes now let me get a sample of your blood” I held out my arm then the needle went in and extracted blood. A green light flashed on the machine when vince dropped the blood into it.  Then vince said, “you're good”.

Then I said, “ if there is a zombie apocalypse then why haven't I seen any”.

Then vince said, “ it,s because we’re too far from any city John and I are heading towards a safe zone set up by the military when this started”.  “It’s a little ways away, but we should be able to make it by nightfall.”

Then there was a gunshot from outside and Vince sprang to his feet and ran out the door and I followed.  As I looked it took me a second to see what had been shot. But, it was lying there, about six foot tall, scaley and razor sharp claws and jagged looking teeth.  Vince identified it to be a velociraptor.  Then a lizard like  foot with a three inch claw came prowling around the corner and it dawned on me that this was bad by the look of sheer terror in Vince's face.  The velociraptors leg came around the corner and it was the scariest thing that I had ever seen.  I was frozen with fear until John grabbed Vince and bolted through the house.  My first instinct was to follow, as I did, I grabbed Vince’s bag and ran after John and Vince.  

The backyard was flush with grass and had a wooden fence lining the area.  Then I saw him. He didn't look alive, but he was moaning and eating a woman and a child the sight of them made me freeze. Then he turned around with a moan and started to shuffle towards me. I stood there frozen until it was right in front of me. It had a slack face and had a slash down his face that was covered in blood from eating that woman and child.  It was getting closer, I couldn't move then the zombie fell on top of me flailing its arms.  Its mouth was close to my neck. It was trying to bite me. I pushed with all my strength then vince came crashing into the man and his head hit the stair it didn't move for a second. Then with a moan it started to move again this time towards Vince. Then John’s foot came slamming down into the mans face completely crushing his head off.   I got up completely dazed and for a brief moment forgot about the enormous lizards chasing us.  John pulled Vince up and Vince said, “that is what I call an infected” at that same moment John was pulling Vince across the yard. I followed but my heart stopped when I heard that loud screech.

I stopped in my tracks and turned my head and saw it standing there. It had saliva dribbling from his open mouth and blood red eyes that a lens retracted from to show cat like pupils.  Then I bolted and leaped as high as I could to jump the fence. I could not make it but I pulled myself over with dire urgency.  I fell onto the ground and when I got up I was face to face with a large group of infected.  Although, most of them were worried about Vince and John ten feet ahead of me, a few were focused on me.  I ran to catch up but John and Vince weren't slowing down.  I could hear the lizard behind me. Its feet were pounding the ground.  I looked over my shoulder and saw the infected stumble into the giant lizard behind me, and it toppled over.  The large group of infected behind me made it impossible for any of those lizards to follow, but the infected were catching up turning from a shuffle to a slow run. They were catching up with me.  I just realized how many there were, one hundred at least.  I turn my head right and just focused on running.  My legs were burning as they slowly turned to jelly.  My lungs were on fire, every breath felt like it was going to be my last until I gasped the next one in.  My eyes were watering now.

Ahead of me John and Vince turned into a house.  I ran through the house. The infected are behind me and I can hear them going through the house.  As I get to the back door, I flip a table over the door and close it. I look around and see a hatch. Vince is getting in with John’s help.  I run over to the other side of the yard and stick my foot in  as John is closing the hatch.  

The pain makes me wince but I have too much adrenalin for it to affect me.  I squeeze through the hatch and tumble down a small set of stairs maybe six or seven.  I roll out on the floor close my eyes and gasp.  Large sweaty hands clasp my neck and slowly pull me up. I clenched my eyes shut as my feet leave the floor.  No air can escape my throat as my back slams against a cold wall.  This is it I thought as I dangled . This is how I'm going to die.  Not by infected or a giant lizard but by murder.  I open my eyes to see John with a murderous look in his eye, and Vince trying to pull him back.  I see patches of light, my vision is fading, and everything goes black.

When I gained consciousness again I was lying in a bed that felt like a rock.  I decided to go through the good things in my mind like how I wasn't dead, or how my lung pain had diminished.  Then I remembered this world I lived in, and it didn’t feel good.  I opened my eyes and peered around the room.  There at the opposite end stood John sharpening a bowie knife.  Then just a bed to the right of him, Vince sat with his hands in his face.  I tried to sit up and succeeded.  John gave me the nastiest scowl you could imagine. Then turned back down to his bowie knife sharpening it harder than ever. I turned my attention over to Vince.  He wasn't crying, but his hands were in the position as if he was weeping or hiding his face.  I said in the softest voice possible”Vince what's wrong”  he didn’t move for a second then hesitantly pulled his hand’s from his face.  Vince looked up at me. He had a mark that followed the socket of his eye.  It had turned black.  This was the first time I got a good look at Vince. His bright blue eyes were full of fear. He had wrinkles on his face, but not many. His silvery grey hair was combed and went down to his eyebrow.  I frowned at him and said “ what happened”  then when he spoke his voice cracked  like he was afraid someone was going to hurt him if he said the wrong thing. “I… I got hit by john… it… it was an accident but...” he got up and started to walk in my direction. “I guess he stopped choking you so thats a plus,”  he patted me on the shoulder and sat on the bed opposite of me.  He looked at me wearily and smiled. He would glance at John every other second.  I could tell something was wrong.  They just stared at each other for a second.  For an old man, Vince seemed intimidating, his shirt was torn and he had a bandage on his side where the shirt was torn.

  I asked “what happened” and gestured towards the shirt.

Vince said very quickly”nothing”  he probably saw how sceptical I was so he said “it was a piece of metal sticking out of the house, it scratched me, I’m alright”.  Although I didn't quite believe Vince I didn't want to argue more.

So I just said two simple words “what's next.”

The next words that came out of Vinces mouth were full of confidence, but didn’t compute. “ We’re charging them,” then I glanced at him, my mouth half open.

I managed the sputtered word ”w-what”.

Then John said in his deep low voice that projected, “you heard him you imbecile.”  I stared back and forth between Vince and John in disbelief. Then he packed his voice with fake confidence and said “lets do it.”

 Vince took some canned corn out of his pack and tossed it to me and said “ you can be corn fed Jr.” “ John is corn fed. “ He leaned in closer and said, “ thats how he said he got so big”.

I laughed, it felt good.  It felt good to feel normal again.   I scarfed down the corn quickly and stood up.  I felt better to have something in my stomach, but I didn’t know how long that it would last.  I felt queasy and had butterflies churning.  I stood up and looked at John.  John looked at me as if sizing me up. Then he threw me something that was laying under his bed.  It was a samurai sword.  Oh my gosh! It looked amazing! It has an ivory handle that is engraved with some japanese marks.  I had so much confidence now I said “ lets get this done”. To my surprise Vince and John grabbed their stuff and headed towards the door and  up the staircase that I previously fell down.  When they got to the door Vince said, “were going quick, nobody stops for anyone else,  this is our final dash to either success or a painful death.”  “ARE... WE… READY!”  

John and I yelled back in unison “YEAH!” Then we high fived. That’s the first time I actually bonded with the brute.  Then Vince pushed the door open and bolted. John followed after and I ran behind.  We ran like there was no tomorrow. I played the eye of the tiger over  and over  in my head.  There was nothing there, something must be wrong, but they ran for about fifteen minutes slowing down after the initial sprint to a jog.  The woods were thick on each side of us. The trees must have been ten feet tall.  We ran and approached a horde of infected.

I thought I was going to run around like the other two, but something caught my eye.  I saw the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.  She was surrounded.  Looking at her made my heart thump and beat.  I felt like it was about to pump through my neck.  Then my legs guided me.  I lifted my sword not knowing what I was doing or why.  I unsheathed it and with some new found strength I cut straight through four infected.  I continued the pattern straight to her. I saw her eyes out of the corner of my eyes.  They were hazel brown and she had long dark hair that went to her shoulders. She had a few freckles scattered across her face.  This has got to sound crazy, but this girl made me want to fall over and pass out.  If my heart got any faster I was going to have a heart attack.  She looked at me and yelled in the most beautiful voice that has ever entered my ears,” are you going to help or what samurai”. I regained my focus. I found some sort of new strength inside me. I grabbed her arm and pulled and swung at the infected carrying her towards John and Vince.  When we got out of the herd. I realized how lucky I had been.  I found myself staring at her with her white face covered in earth.  I dragged her towards John and Vince. They had taken a dirt path into the woods. I said to her,  ” please just trust me, come with us to safety.”  Hearing those words she stopped struggling against me and followed.  We just ran for thirty minutes following John and Vince. Then I saw it!  It had walls fifty feet high with spikes jutting out.  I turned my head and saw a blur of colors and out of it was some sort of lizard with spiky frills.  Tt was four times the size of the trees and it wanted us dead.  I just pulled her running, 10 feet, 2 feet, then we fell in the door. The wall shuddered as the giant lizard hit it behind us. I looked into her hazel eyes and said “we made it” .