Day 17: The day the Earth woke up

Ancient creatures tear themselves from the earth and run rampant across an unprepared, modern world.

(This is just a straight-up adventure setting. I like dinosaurs.)

It began with a rash of slayings in Washington, D.C. At first, the authorities thought a feral cougar or wolf had come into the city and was picking off lone unfortunates. Police and animal control officers were trained and prepared to deal with a large, probably rabid predator.

Six days after the first body was found, a video surfaced on YouTube. Called "The Monster In My Alley," it showed something large, bipedal and reptilian digging through garbage bins behind an apartment complex. It went viral, appearing on several other websites; widely considered a hoax, it was vindicated when the 8-foot-tall body of what the media called "the raptor" was found in a Washington street.

The next morning, before any herpetologist could be brought in to identify the corpse, reports began pouring in across the region -- reptilian creatures were roaming Virginia. Media reports were less tentative than many paleontologists -- the "Day of the Dinosaur" was announced.

National Guard quickly asserted some control over the region, but the sightings spread -- soon, ancient fauna were trampling across North America. While many of the initial creatures weren't native to the regions they infested, creatures such as tryannosaurs and giant sloths roamed the Great Plains.

Now, scientists from around the world work feverishly to discover the source of these creatures. Though they're simply beasts, they're ferocious, hard to kill and huge -- and they're reproducing at a far faster rate than anyone thinks is natural. The problem is, for now, contained in North America, but everyone's convinced that it's only a matter of time before it spreads further. Most in affected areas now live in walled camps of armed refugees; the National Guard and various police groups have set up reptile-free safe zones across the U.S. Some hardy souls continue to live in their homes, avoiding or fighting -- or being eaten by -- the rampaging beasts.