Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Hunter-Gatherer [Pt. 1]

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Neither male said a word when they began eyeballing the destruction and chaos around them, as if it were a masterpiece that couldn't be turned away from. Seeing the town like this (and their people) only drew more guilt into their abdomen, feasting on their courage and drenching their hearts of dread. Every so often they'd come across something jaw-dropping -- a truck halfway into a building, a leaning line of electrical lines, even a massive gash pressed into the side of their tallest apartment -- only for it to turn when reality came into play. He knew Seven had no part in this, but even a dinosaur wouldn't be so cruel to decimate everything over the sake of something else.

Click's eyes caught something ivory sticking out of a wooden plank. And his heart froze.

Unless that something else was a threat bigger than the both of them.

Stepping away from Jameson's wanders, Click motioned toward the hidden jewel in the ashes. He knocked away a few timbers and glass frames before three of his fingers could fasten upon the object. And, with one tug, it came to him.

And it didn't take long to realize what it was.

The tooth felt odd -- not as rounded as a normal carnivore, and not as dull as an aged one. Molded with the blood and damages from a fight, it felt more or less fake than real. It even smelled wrong. And, even when every urge within him said otherwise, he couldn't tie this to any living creature.

Only another that was dead. But that was impossi-

"Isn't that something?"

"Hm?"

Click's head turned, noticing a male crouching a few feet away from him. He, too, also had a fallen tooth in his hands, a different kind of sorts, and leveled it with the incision of the torn building before them. The male sighed again, his brown hair flickering in the wind as he exhaled.

"Two dinosaurs began fighting one another here at around 1 am. Left a mark in the town, for sure, but not one themselves. Nothing vanishes that easily."

"You think they snapped?

"Well, if you're aggravated enough," he stood upright, brushing off his pants. "You get bullied by a dummy for a few days, eventually you're going to swing. You get triggered by an enemy, then you aim to kill. A fight for dominion turns into vengeance.... And then all that self-care goes straight out the window."

Click puffed out a breath, rubbing his fingers across the tooth in his hand for a moment, and sighed. "What do you mean by 'vanished'?"

"All predators leave a sign," said the man before his head began to bow. "And, as much as I want to believe that they wandered off after they had their fun, this is too unusual to call normal. No body, no trail, no blood, no anything-"

"As if they cleaned up after themselves."

"Only one creature on Earth is that smart," he huffed, gazing at Click while pointing a dirty finger to himself. "All the more reason why I need to see about this before something else goes haywire."

Click nodded uneasily, his fingers gripping tight to the tooth for a moment before he tucked it away into his jeans. The man from his right looked away for a time, doing the same for himself before motioning to him.

"You're military?"

"Active." Click's eyes raised. "You?"

"Ex." The man's hands tucked to his pockets. "Left ten years ago."

"Army?"

"Navy, actually."

"Hmph, The Marine Corps is better."