In "the sound of thunder," the author builds to Eckels' death by doing all of the following except..

a. describing the antigravity path
b. asking Eckels' to sign a release before leaving
c. Travis threatening to leave him back in prehistoric time
d. having the official quote the number of deaths from the previous year

D?

Have you read the story? Did you comprehend it at all? If so, you must know what did or did not happen in the story. If not, try reading it, or read it again.

Yes, you are correct. The answer is D. In "The Sound of Thunder," the author builds to Eckels' death by describing the antigravity path, asking Eckels to sign a release before leaving, and having Travis threaten to leave him back in prehistoric time. However, the author does not have the official quote the number of deaths from the previous year. To arrive at this answer, one would need to carefully analyze the events and details mentioned in the story.