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Shadow (28 days after)

"The deviled thing can't be the key," Stella cocked her head, "There's no way. It's been trying to kill us ever since."

"But Whiteclaw found a pathway to some other place a week ago," I pointed out, "Some tunnel. He told me about it, yet despised of going back in it." I lowered my head towards the pile of rocks that covered the once open tunnel,

"It's been closed for weeks. Whiteclaw's been unconscious for days. How the hell is there another way?" She snorted hard, the shook her frilled head, "I don't see one."

If only Whiteclaw was awake, we'd understand how, I thought annoyingly, but then again, I wish he wouldn't wake. Especially in a world where he's the last of his kind.

It's been a day since Amberclaw died, and ever since his last warning, fear has gripped me tighter than anything else. What key was he talking about specifically? And it was hard to remember what went down in the clock when I touched it. All I remember now is my mother's death, which I'm still pissed about against my father's own will, which he still kept from me. Stella coughed hard once, then turned her back,

"Going out, want to join me?"

"You?" I frowned, "Going out?"

"Yeah, me," She grinned, then took another step. But it only took a blink before another horrifying event happened. One seconds, Stella was fine, the next, she collapsed onto her belly with a hard boom. The cave shuddered a bit, and a small roar flickered from her mouth in agony.

"Stella!" I cried out with wide eyes. But I wasn't as panicked as I was with Amberclaw. Perhaps the real reason was because of how I was used to death nowadays. The Herbivore laid limp on the ground, still breathing, but in rasps, and her eyes stared at me in fear. And I shared the same fate back to her own heart.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Stella looked up, around, then back at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just.....tired....just very tired."

"Hungry you mean?" I ushered to her, sniffing her trembling scales. From seeing my friend on her side, I could get a clear picture of how badly starved she was. Her belly seemed to cave in now, old and wrinkled, and her scales were drier than the desert crust. I could've mistaken her body for a burnt skeleton on a hot summer's day to describe her pain a bit more. Her chest heaved up and down, out of que in beat.

"You gotta get up," I whispered, "Please." Stella just sighed, groaning painfully.

"I hope we can get through this," She muttered, "Or at least I want to get through this life. I want see the sun again. I don't want to suffer anymore. Neither do I want you to suffer for protecting a herbivore for this long in starvation, even though you're a carnivore."

"I'm not going to eat you," I chuckled, nudging her, "C'mon, get up. I know we can get through this. There's always a way." Stella looked up at me and grinned, and with a wheezing haul, she thrusted her two front paws onto the earth, then followed up by her back paws to a wobbly stand. I lowered myself to catch her, feeling her weight shift over to my side in pain. Seeing the last Triceratops of the valley, if not the world, did draw a scar across my heart. If I lost her, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Or how to live. Maybe it's not the same relationship as my parents, but she was like a mother to me, despite our clear differences.

And I've never felt such a powerful bond between us like this before.

We exited the cave, leaning upon each other as help, and found ourselves on the other side of the cave in the Barren Lands, watching Everett, Thunder, and Finch conversate with one another. Though I had to admit, their conversation sounded like an argument. As protection for some apparent reason, I blocked the view of Stella from their eyes for now, while I eavesdropped with my right ear, walking around the small group of three to get to Three-Toed Caverns, were Whiteclaw laid.