"Time for bed, son," his father said. "Say goodbye, now."
Johnny got into his armor, said goodnight to Jeb and followed his father outside. In the deep green twilight every building of the settlement stood out sharp and clear. A cool breeze was coming up. Johnny looked over to New Plymouth Rock. Behind that towering rock lay the vast and menacing jungle.
[CHAPTER TEN]
Alone in the Jungle
Johnny was afraid. Behind a boulder by New Plymouth Rock, he had been sitting and waiting for Baba for almost one hour. It was too long a time to wait with nothing to do but imagine what might happen in the jungle. Johnny was dressed for the cold night to come in a synthetic fur parka. Strapped on his back was a pack containing food and jungle equipment. Beside him was Baba's harness. He was very tired and sleepy.
He leaned over and peeked cautiously from behind the boulder. The lights around the storage shed were still on. He wondered what was keeping Baba. He made himself comfortable again and listened to the night sounds. He listened hard for any sound of rhinosaurs outside. There was only the sigh of wind through the trampled marshberries.
As he listened, his head nodded down on his breast, and his eyes closed. He wished Baba would come. Maybe he couldn't make it. Maybe he.... But his thought trailed off into a dream. He was up in the meat tree being attacked by a rhinosaur standing twice as high as the tree. Far away someone began shooting at the rhinosaur. Then the tree was being shaken back and forth. Baba was clicking something in the dream Johnny couldn't understand.
"Wake up, Johnny! Wake up!"
Johnny's head jerked up. The shaking was real. It was Baba pushing his shoulder. The shooting was real too. Men were running about the settlement with flashlights. It was hard to see for any distance through the green twilight which would last for many hours longer.
"Hurry, Johnny!" Baba clicked.