Atlas (18 days after)

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Sometimes, being a carnivore in a huge world of endless possibilities is a pretty good thing. There's no limit to the amount of food that surrounds the earth itself, nor is there a limit to the amount of water to drink, or oxygen to breathe. There was no need to adapt in my opinion in a time, such as this. Plant-life was scarce, and thus from their deaths resulted in the deaths of those who eat them; herbivores. Their bodies supply needed more plants that what was in store, and thus led to their own starvation. And perhaps their extinction. But that wouldn't happen in a while.

It was somewhat miraculous and astonishing when we caught the first signs of life and food. There wasn't a lot of us carnivores, perhaps only six to be exact, so finding such a scent in the open world of a desert is like finding the x that marked the spot. There was a huge herd, my nose told me, all types of breeds of herbivores. Long-necks, Mauisaurs, Triceratops, Brontosaurs, and much more. They had a different smell to them however, a new-kind of smell is what I should say. It wasn't Asia, I know that. We were on a different type of land this time. The food that I usually hunt and kill isn't the same as those before my nose. Through the crestfallen atmosphere that shadowed our own footprints, we felt pride in ourselves that we made it this far, and were gifted with the prize of food. Perhaps there was a bit of hope still left within us. And still left to keep us alive. For now. There was an Indosuchus I befriended, though I didn't really know her name fully. A Lythronax, who I also befriended and didn't know his name yet, was pleased with the smell of fresh meat, just moving nearby on the horizon. And as we walked towards the stomach gurgling stench, a final view of what they looked like came into focus to my far-out sight. It was like looking at a buffet of herbivores, just there for the taking.

"I thought I might never see such a sight," The Lythronax inhaled the scent again, then licked his teeth, "Thank the stars for this."

"We could finally eat actual food!" The Sinraptor proclaimed, tapping his toe-claw on the ground impatiently.

"We can't just go on and attack," I muttered intelligently thinking hard, "It could turn dark for us you know."

"Eh...but it'll be fun," The Indosuchus nearby grinned, "Just look at all that meat! Just laying there..." She did have a point. My stomach was bubbling inside, thirsty to lick the pounds of blood that'll sink between my teeth and flood into my esophagus. I just wanted to sink my jaws into a freshly-warm hide of flesh. I really at this point didn't even care what part of the animal the flesh came from too. I just needed to eat.

We followed the herd silently, sniffing out their tasty hides for miles, until eventually, we caught up to them when the sky went darker than usual. They were sleeping together in a huge group, their chests rising and falling with each heavy breath. I volunteered myself, along with the other Indosuchus to go hunt the herbivores that slept in the clearing, or at least the ones that were a bit separate from the others.

"Slide your feet on the ground," I hissed softly, "Walking normal could easily be detected." The Indosuchus nodded, moving her feet forwards in a drag, which left a small mark in the earth. And thankfully, using my own feet, I couldn't feel any vibrations. We were really incognito this time.

The wind in the distance howled upon us, a breeze strong enough to make me wrinkle my face and squint my eyes. It was cold and devilish, and the scent from its presence was warm and old. I slid my feet upon the earth a bit more, dragging it through the sand particles and around the herbivores. They slept so soundly and gracefully, it made me sleepy. The sky thundered above us, while little flashes of lightning danced a rain duet all the way in the distance of the skyline. We turned a sharp corner, following the circle of prey until I hit the other side of the pack.

"We're roaring at them towards our group. They'll attack from there." The Indosuchus spoke. I rolled my eyes. Clearly she knew more about the plan than I. I bent low, keeping my tail below my skull level and moved around, hissing to myself. After a few minutes, the Indosuchus got up, breathing in hard.

"Ready?"

"Ready," I smiled. I took in a deep breath and released the fullest power inside my chest to the world. My roar was louder than my partner's, and echoed the ravine like a shockwave. Literally every eye in the herd popped open, and they all jumped up, looked at us once, then fled in terror, roaring in cries. I closed my mouth and laughed.

"Look at 'em run! Nothing like a good roar to wake some dinosaurs up!" I joked. I swallowed back my smile when I saw her face just looked down at me shaking from side to side. I grumbled.

"Oh c'mon, can't you just enjoy it?" I teased, bumping her. I saw a small hint of a smile splash over her jaws, but it faded a few seconds after.

"We got some prey to get," She clicked, "C'mon, no time for play yet." She thumped off, shaking the earth. I felt a spike of pure fun and play inside of me, like a young kid again, and rushed forwards.

"Oh but we got afterwards, right?" I grinned, running alongside her. She smirked.

"Maybe."

Ahead of us, Thunder and his group cut off the dinosaurs, attacking many of them with wide teeth and powerful jaws. Most went down quick, some got away. But I needed some. So I turned my head towards a Triceratops. It was out of breath and stumbling, the lacking one of the group. When it spotted me, and realized how far it was from protection, it turned its head towards me with growls and threatening hisses that meant, stay away, or I'll hurt you!

Ah, but I didn't care.

He was alone. Against me.

And I was about to murder him.

He slammed his foot into the ground, breathing hard, then rushed forwards. I just stood there, already knowing the outcome of this fight. He was weakened by the loss of plants and water. So I had an advantage. He swung his frill at me with three pointed tusks, but I jumped to the side and sank my teeth into his fleshy neck behind his frill. A screech of pain emitted from the struggling Triceratops, but I lifted him up above the earth and tossed him like a rag doll. He hit the floor with a crash, which shook the earth. I just shook my head at the female Indosuchus.

"This is too easy." She just laughed behind me as I stomped over to the strangling Triceratops, slammed my feet into his side and threw my jaws into his neck. A sickening crunch hit my ears, and the herbivore hit the earth with a quiet deathly sound of a thud. I backed up, licking my lips from the excess blood that dripped all over, then spat hard. Yuck.

"We got food!" The carnivores ahead of me roared in happiness and relief over the plentiful meat that was scattered from the hunt, "Yes!"

The female Indosuchus kept smiling, as if she couldn't hide her grin and nudged me with her skull.

"You're funny and so annoying."

"That's me," I shrugged, "It's always been."

"Not since two days ago," She pointed out, "But I'm glad to see someone at least enjoying life for once. I thought I was the only one."

"Not anymore." I saw her eyes light up as she lowered her thick enlarged head towards the Triceratops and dug into the flesh, pulling away the skin to reveal the blood-soaked flesh.

"What's your name? Never had the chance to ask," I muttered. She grinned.

"Feather."

"Feather," I repeated the name, "that's a....beautiful name!" Then I frowned as I saw her stuff her mouth with meat.

"Hey, this was my kill!" I growled playfully. She eyed me.

"Sharing is caring!" She bumped me. I shrugged.

"Eh..."

And together we ate.

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