The jungle loomed around us, dense and moist as we pressed forward, the tension palpable in the air. Something seemed wrong, a strange tugging at my inner sense. Never before had I felt it and now in an era entirely different, I could not do anything but wait…

Then I saw it, the beast loomed before us, a towering creature of scales and mighty muscle. Its massive form cast a shadow over the silent jungle, its reptilian eyes gleaming with ancient wisdom. With each thunderous footstep, the ground trembled beneath us, as if even the earth quaked in its presence.

Several times in the past, I had seen prehistoric relics, untouched by time, they portrayed raw power and ferocity. But this was no mere reptile, it was a living representation of the magnificent wild, the free species that once dominated this planet.

The rows upon rows of dagger like teeth imprisoned in the slimy drooling jaws of the creature. A noxious scent was overpoweringly strong as it wafted through the moist jungle air.

As the creature emerged from the thick foliage and stood magnificent above the trees, I felt Eckels freeze beside me. Fear gripped him like a bound chain. I turned and his eyes widened with a mixture of awe and dread, his breaths came in shallow gasps as he processed the magnitude of the creature before us.

I watched as Eckels stumbled backwards, his lips quivering and his face pale, drained of almost all colour. I had seen this too many times before. The proud, the confident, the mere hunters driven into a prison of fear by the mighty reptile of eons past.

He whimpered and I barked a sharp command, my voice clearly ringing through the daunting jungle, but Eckels remained frozen in place. His gaze did not leave the dinosaur’s and it was as if time had ceased.

A thunderous roar from the creature shook him back to his senses however and with a sheer cry of terror, he stumbled blindly into the overgrown wilderness. I clenched my teeth in sheer frustration, his cowardly panic could cause disasters that could not be erased for we were in the world of the past, where every action had consequences, a single mistake could alter the course of history itself.

Time was passing, precious moments were escaping our grasp as it stood there, a towering weapon of destruction. Eckels had fled abandoning us, leaving us to face the consequences of his reckless actions.

With a forced determination, I took aim, my fingers trembling slightly against the cold metal trigger. There was no room for error now, the fate of our expedition, our lives, depended on the accuracy of my shot.