The Lost Country, Episode Four

First came the time-storm, which erased half the population. Then came the Dinosaur Apocalypse ... How did it all begin? Well, that depends on where you were and who you ask. In some places it started with the weather-which quickly became unstable and began behaving in impossible ways. In still others it started with the lights in the sky, which shifted and pulsed and could not be explained. Elsewhere it started with the disappearances: one here, a few there, but increasing in occurrence until fully three quarters of the population had vanished. Either way, there is one thing on which everyone agrees-it didn't take long for the prehistoric flora and fauna to start showing up (often appearing right where someone was standing, in which case the two were fused, spliced, amalgamated). It didn't take long for the great Time-displacement called the Flashback-which was brief but had aftershocks, like an earthquake-to change the face of the earth. Nor for the stories, some long and others short, some from before the maelstrom (and resulting societal collapse) and others after, to be recorded. Welcome to the Lost Country. From "The Devil's Triangle": And then they were coming, not in a gaggle but in a staggered formation, bounding forward but in turns, running and pausing, as we turned and flat-out bolted-sprinting for the ferry as the sun shone hot and merciless and without compassion; veering for the island shuttle once we realized we'd never make it, piling through its driver's door and slamming it behind us as the raptors fell upon the vehicle like a threshing machine and began climbing and tearing at its canopy."Wait, don't-"My ears rung as she started firing, blindly, into the animals, at least two of the slugs hitting the beams and ricocheting-one of them close enough to nick my ear."There's too many of them," I shouted, even as a dark snout stabbed between the beams and banged to a halt, gnashing its teeth. "Just stay low, they can't get through."After which I eased the rifle from her hands and we hunkered near the floor; the raptors screaming and tearing the roof apart even as ragged pieces of it fell and they began reaching between its beams with their human-like forelimbs-swiping at us with their curved talons, blindly; reaching and groping and searching-like zombies. Neither of us behaved bravely or kept our wits about ourselves. It was the screams that were the worst; which tore through the air like knives-like fighter jets passing so close you could see the rivets. Which split your mind so that you were too disoriented to think, to do much of anything. I'm afraid they got the better of us both as we cowered near the floor and covered our ears; as Amanda reached for me and pulled me close and I wrapped her up in my arms and squeezed her tight ..