He felt confident at first about hunting the dinosaur, but he was horrified when he actually had to track it down. When it comes time to fire the dinosaur, he becomes quite frightened. However, once the shot is fired, he shows his courage by going back into the cave even though it's probably haunted. During one of his transformations, Eckels hears a loud noise like thunder and then sees lightning flash outside the cave entrance. This makes him think that someone has found them and so he hides inside the cave until dark. The next day, when the hunters go looking for food for themselves and Eckels, they don't find anything except more signs of the dinosaurs presence. With no choice left, they shoot the poor bird and eat it. After this terrible mistake, everyone starts to turn on each other until only Eckels is left alive. He runs away from home because he thinks it's safe and then hears another loud noise like thunder. At this point, we know that something bad will happen to Eckels because he's been struck by lightning twice before everything went wrong. When Eckels wakes up from his coma, he realizes that something strange has happened during his sleep. There are no trees near his house anymore and so he goes out to look for food for himself and the others.