Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

End Of A Beginning [Pt. 2]

THUMP.

It caught Click's attention, too. The two of us looked up from the bulking earth, watching the clouds roll across the blistering heat until a shape broke through the smoke. A shadow, larger than the buildings themselves, smothered in blood, and spiked from head to tail. A creature we both recognized. Once it cleared the fogging region, snarling aloud for the world to hear, our hearts sank into oblivion.

It's still alive.

"SEVEN!" The Ultimasaurus screamed, rattling the ground and shattering any lone window that had survived the earlier nightmare. I whined quietly; submitting to the wrathful outburst of the monster towering the broken city, and looked away. My instincts begged me to fight him, to challenge him as I had done before. But I didn't even have the strength to try. And seeing him wander freely without Blink, Ripper, or Rexy at his tail...

My eyes began to water. We were never going to win.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the blinded Ultimasaurus growled, tilting his torn head to the flaming city. His broken jaw hung at a slant, giving an eerie appearance for the beast, along with the two lines of red oozing down his empty eye sockets. "There's no point... in h-hiding... from me, pet!"

Click exhaled, turning over to me. Already, I had buried my face into my claws, accepting what was yet to happen to us. It saddened Click even further, and his eyes started to wetten in knowing what I was afraid of. Because now, more than ever, death felt more real, and more present, than the lives we cradled .

THUMP!

Two hands suddenly sought my cheekbone, lifting me from my cowardice to gaze into his eyes. There were tears living there, too. Specks of glistening pain and fear spilled down his swollen face and mine as we looked at one another, just sharing one last intimate moment of peace. He rubbed my snout again and again, breathing deep to push his panic away, and nodded.

"No m-matter what happens," Click whimpered, resting his skull against mine. "I'm p-proud of you."

A tear finally rolled down my face. I drew toward Click to nuzzle him, digging my talons into the ground as the vibrations grew closer. Another hard tremor shook us both, and our heartbeats quickened in reflex. We didn't have a lot of time left. Click inhaled, planting a firm kiss between my eyes, and shuddered in his exhale.

"But I'd be damned... if it ends... like this," he panted, realigning his eyes to mine. "Our ancestors... were better than that... and so are we."

I sniveled shakily, blinking in agreement as a fifth tremor shook the road. Click looked to the advancing Ultimasaurus in the distance, reconfirming the scars of red where his eyes used to be. His head swiveled about the region: tree to tree, building to building, vehicle to vehicle, until he struck a point; a yellow construction crane stood tall amidst the flames and embers of Clearlake, like a beacon of hope in the darkest night. At its tip was a pointed spire, with two jagged spears pointing to the east. I followed his gaze further, noticing an abandoned firefighter station hiding beneath it. Within two seconds, our eyes lit up with realization.

Maybe there still is a way.

"It doesn't hurt... to try," Click grunted, followed by a playful click. "Ready for one more mission, girl?"

I parted my maw to suck in one accepting breath, raised my head, erected my quills, and growled.

Born ready...

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"I'm going out there," Henry hissed, gathering his things in front of a laid out Dodgeson. "I'm not watching her die again, not like this."