Countdown ✓

Whiteclaw (12 days after)

"It all makes sense!" I muttered as Drexel passed me, "It's a clock, l-like a timer! A countdown of some sort. As time passes, it counts down until it hits zero. And when it does something miraculous happens!"

"But what is it counting down towards?" Amberclaw asked puzzled, sniffing the brass/gold like surface, "Is another impact happening again?"

"I doubt that," Drexel spoke, "Impact already happened. This is different." He laid on his pubis, then on his chest, thinking hard,

"We don't have all the pieces yet, it just doesn't really make any sense as to what's going on." I stared up at the flashing lights blinking neon red and thought hard. All my memories swarmed through my brain, but none could possibly match whatever was going to happen. Or what 20:03:15:04 meant. Somehow it even helped us decrypt its 'numbers' as what it was called. Like we could understand it, it could understand us. It was something not made from this world at all. The hole that I went in yesterday was closed up from our cautiousness, preventing another curious fellow to stumble right into his own deathly fate. Amberclaw looked around at the gold mesmerizing structure, sniffing, and sneezing hard.

"Did you touch this yet? Smells dusty," He questioned. I shook my head.

"No...Why?"

Amberclaw just shrugged, then slowly lifted up his clawed feet and wiped the tip of his Deinonychus foot claw on the clock with a screech. A grinding noise sparked on the clock like ripping minerals in a collapsing cavern. I gritted my teeth at the noise in annoyance.

"Seriously Amberclaw, stop with the noise!" I groaned, and he pulled back grinning.

"Sorry, it's just that it looked dirty and-" Amberclaw's voice suddenly died, and his eyes bulged out from his head. He froze solid, petrified in his original state, both feet down, claws clenched, eyes wide and mouth gaped. His smiled faded quick. His left foot was still locked on the wall. I looked at him strangely. What was he doing?

"Amberclaw?" I called. Nothing. Drexel lifted up from the ground at me, pulling his presence into the current situation. Amberclaw was dead silent, still like a standing rock.

"Amber?" I called again, standing up on a limping foot. He still didn't move.

"What's wrong with him?" Drexel said.

"I don't know!" I clicked back, "Amber!" His breathing was shallow but quick, and his pupils were pulling backwards. Something was wrong. The clock began to gleam bright yellow, blaring our own eyes.

"Amberclaw!" I called, placing my claws on his shoulder. He was burning up! Hot like fire!

"He's burning!" I yelped out to Drexel, already seeing steam rise. His heart was racing like a fireball.

"He's what?!" Drexel wasn't buying it again.

"He's literally burning!" I shook him. Even while shaking him, he felt stoned.

"Oh my gosh..." Amberclaw was trembling now, pupils shrinking lower and lower, "Oh my gosh....Oh my gosh..."

"Amberclaw!" I shook him hard, ignoring the burns, "Wake up!" Drexel stumbled over to me and Amberclaw, unable to say a word.

"What do I do?!" I shrieked to Drexel. His eyes flashed upon his claw still touching the wall, and he pointed with his snout,

"Pull him from the wall! I'll yank him by the scruff!"

"What?! Yank him?! You wanna what-"

"Just do it!" He snarled nudging me forwards. I limped hard to the clock, careful not to touch it, and grabbed his claw. Somehow, it wouldn't even budge from the clock, as if it fastened onto him. I saw Drexel yank hard at Amberclaw's flesh, but nothing worked. I shook my head, seeing Amberclaw look even worse, drained for some reason, and went to my last option,