Outside, the rain poured down onto the old, battered building. Inside, X ran through the ruined cinema, hoping there would be somewhere to hide. Folding chairs were wrecked, mouldy popcorn was everywhere and the cinema screen had a big hole in it. To his disbelief, this huge cinema didn’t have a second exit. There was no way out.

The man stood at the back of the cinema, pulling his gun out of his pocket. X squeaked…

… In an instant, something grunted, rumbling the whole cinema. Out of the hole in the cinema screen a long brown trunk and two white tusks appeared. It stomped past X and stopped in between him and the man. 

It was colossal. Hairy and brown. X realised he was standing beside a woolly mammoth. It stood on its hind legs and trumpeted. A second later, the man ran as fast as he could. X ducked behind the wrecked chairs, realising that the mammoth had crushed them.

The mammoth lay on its side, looking at X. He could see she had lost a part of her trunk. It was bleeding as it lay there. He had never seen a prehistoric creature before. He could smell an ancient, icy scent and watched as its tail swished around on the floor.

It stared with its huge eyes at him, as if it was surprised to see him, waiting to see what he would do. He stopped ducking behind the chairs and walked over to it stroking its mane. It made a tiny happy trumpet as if to say it liked that. Its eyes looked like two tiny planets in its face. He could see it was happy but also worried.

Then it spoke. A prehistoric, deep voice seemed to come from the air all around him. “I need your help,” It said, quickly. ” We need to find the hatch.”

X looked at it, nodding pretending he knew what it meant. He new right there that no matter what, he had to look after this creature. No matter what. “They will be back soon,” Said the mammoth “Help me hide.”

An hour later, X and the mammoth were back in Scotland hiding in the ruins of the hydro. No one went in there anymore. There used to be big gigs played and monster trucks driven in it but nothing happened anymore. He often slept in a little stall he had found there. The mammoth sat behind the stall and slept. X kept watch.