"This just gets weirder and weirder," Carrie said as the road started to curve strangely in front of them. The carefully planned suburban curves they had been following were becoming more chaotic and twisted.
"Well," Todd squeaked. "The closer we get to the center, the more time the area has been under the influence of the energy field. Things will be getting weirder and weirder as time goes on."
As if on cue, a forest started to grow around them just outside of the bubble. Vine covered trees and ferns sprouted all around, up through grass and pavement alike.
"Um, Todd?"
"Just keep walking," he said. "We have to keep moving. If we don't get there soon, we might not be able to contain the singularity."
Carrie carefully climbed through the underbrush, following Todd's directions through the jungle. It was hard to see which way they were going as the fog had gotten thicker, but she trusted his navigation.
"Well," she said. "This isn't so b-"
A sudden roar cut her off.
"Oh, boy," said Todd.
"Is that," Carrie said and paused to take a breath. "Is that a T-Rex? It sounded like a T-Rex from the Jurassic movies."
"It could be. It could be anything really," Todd said. "But, that did sound like it."
They stood there in silence listening for any other sign of its presence.
"We have to move," Todd whispered. "We have to hurry."
"My legs are, kind of, not listening to my brain at the moment," Carrie whispered. "That first movie scared the crap out of me as a kid."
"If we stay here, you might get eaten."
"Okay," she said, but stood still.
"Let's try moving very slowly. Okay? Just take one step."
Carrie took a breath and sighed. Then, she slowly edged one foot over a root, followed by the other. They inched along listening and looking all around them for any signs of the dinosaur.
"Maybe it left. Maybe it headed off somewhere else," Carrie said. A light thump from behind them indicated otherwise. The ground shook. They froze. Another thump followed. Then, another. Walking. It was walking toward them.
"Move!" Todd cried. "Run!"
Carrie stumbled forward through the underbrush, prehistoric tree branches and ferns scraped against her skin almost severing the delicate wires and straps on the devices she wore. Todd held on for dear life to the straps with his hamster paws.
They entered a bare clearing in the jungle and Carrie paused. "Which way?" she screamed, looking around frantically.
Just then, the trees behind them cracked and burst in an explosion of leaves and splintered wood. As if in a nightmare, the T-Rex emerged from the fog and destruction and took a couple of menacing steps towards them. Carrie froze. Todd froze. The whole world seemed to freeze except for the beast standing above them. It was real. It was as real as it looked in the movies, only more so. And it smelled. It reeked of swamp and fish and rotten meat. It breathed on them, and the smell only got worse. Its hot breath made them break out into an even heavier sweat. It gurgled a deep growl.
Carrie wanted to run, every primitive evolutionary instinct in her said, "run," but she remembered the movies. She stood still. The dinosaur scanned the clearing in front of it, turning its enormous head from side to side. It was hunting them. Don't move, she thought. It looked right at them. Carrie was sure they were dead. Then, it let out a frustrated huff and took a step, setting down a massive foot and claws just inches from Carrie's foot. She stood as still as a statue as it passed, its tail sweeping over her head, thumping away and crashing though more trees as it went. She only took a deep breath when it was out of sight and the sound of its steps was receding away from them.
"Oh my god," Todd said.
"I can't believe that worked," she said.
"I guess its vision really was based on movement," he said.
"Well, at least whoever made that thing or became that thing thought that was true. Thank you, Mr. Spielberg."
"Let's get this over with before something else tries to eat us," he said. "Turn around and keep walking. We're getting close now."
Carrie headed where he indicated, but she did not turn her back on where the T-Rex had gone, preferring to sidle along sideways towards their destination.
The T-Rex roared one last time in frustration faintly in the distance.