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Alicea (8 days after)

"I'm fine....just...leave me alone." Thunder closed his jaws, looked at me once more, then turned away, moving his feet over the other carnivores that slept soundly on the earth. But I couldn't sleep. For the first time in my life...I was restless. Restless because also for the first time in my life, I was the cause of another life taken away. A younger one than my own.

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Every step was a painful spasm that shook the earth, and myself. Every breath was a wheeze. And every heartbeat was slower than its previous beating. The temperature rose from normal to extreme on our trek through the debris and devastation that arose across the horizon, and our main objective now with the carnivores was finding food and the herbivores. And Shadow. That was all for now. Since Kai was gone, I wasn't sure exactly who was leading the large group. Or should I say herd? We weren't that cooperative and loving to each other. We just wanted to get somewhere. I just wanted to get away for once in my life. The Female Zhuchengtyrannus, Queen, clutched her one egg and now one baby in her mouth, careful not to drop them both. I don't think she trusted me any longer than she did before. Which scared me too. What if I'm the one in trouble, and she doesn't help? Thunder's been ignoring me too. As if I were diseased. Perhaps I was, scaring him with a blood-splattering cough the day before. Or hour before. The heat anyways was intense. Sometimes, random dust storms blew in our faces. Other times, the sky roared with lightning and thunder, though no rain fell. We did find a watering hole on the way, and I drank silently, staring at a Sinraptor drinking with his wife. If I had a life like that, I'm sure everything would be normal. But I never knew what George had in mind for me. I never will know. There were some dinosaurs that didn't make it, one in particular, this Tarbosaurus, who I never knew, who fainted part of the way through. Her heart stopped beating thereafter. Another Sinraptor, and a Oviraptor passed as well. Towards some point in time, my chest began to turn my scales different colors. At first it was numb with a orange-ish look. Then it turned red, and itching. And soon afterwards, it turned purple. And nobody noticed but me. Eventually, we reached an area of our journey, through this valley in between these large plateaus or mountains when my chest suddenly bursted with agony. I thought it was some type of major stomach virus or ache, since I hadn't eaten yet, but I could still feel the blood on my tongue. Why was it still there? Halfway through the tiny valley, the pain increased, slowing my walk. And seconds later, I was stumbling around, struggling to take even a mere step and see. My vision fogged up as well. That's when I knew something was wrong. Something terrible happened to me the day that Melody died. The rocks crushed me that day. And blood came from my throat. Well, the blood didn't come exactly from my throat, it came from inside of me.

Inside of me...

Inside of me...

Another agonizing pain made me let out a squeak of pain, and forced me to stop moving. Thunder somehow noticed and turned to me, unaware of what I was going through. Dizziness splash over me, and my breathing began to slow. It was hard to see Thunder for some reason, but I could hear him properly.

"Alicea c'mon. We need to keep moving." He said. I took another step, then felt my knees give way. Somehow I caught myself too, before my body could fall, and struggled back up. I had a feeling that Queen was looking at me strangely, but she pushed on as well.

"Alicea c'mon!" Thunder growled, "We could lose the group."

"No..." My voice sounded far away, "Wait..."

"Wait for what?" He sounded agitated, "We need to go!" I heard him stomp off again. I took another step, the felt something pierce my stomach and rush up my throat. An awful smell rushed out of my mouth as I vomited violently. But no food came out. Only blood. A puddle of blood dripped onto the earth, growing larger every minute. Thunder turned around and gasped. And I'm sure every other dinosaur there gasped with him. I stood, trembling on both feet, now unable to take another step. I couldn't even speak. But I had to try. Cautiously, I lifted one clawed foot into the air. But as I lowered it in front of me, my legs slipped clumsily on the rough earth. My knees buckled without warning. And I plummeted to the ground with a crash. The ground shook for a second when I fell, and everything around me flew out of focus.