"You were alone for two years?"
Blink paused, offering a subtle sigh within the vents. I turned to watch him contemplate my question for a moment, before nodding -- an action just barely seeable in the midnight shadows.
"It felt much longer..." he admitted, thumping his spiked tail against the metal flooring beneath him. "Because of the things I had to go through. I could've died so many times over. I guess fate wanted me to live on... so I can finish what I started."
"If fate brought you this far I'm sure it's for more than just a kill."
The Scorpios Rex chuckled darkly. "Oh... I wish that were true."
"It has to be!" I growled quietly, turning my head to look down upon him in the darkness. "Even I know that I'm meant for more than just a token weapon."
"Which you seem to deny often," he growled back, crawling a bit closer. "Given you're still with them... and act like them."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"It does... for your sake."
"It's... only because I don't want to hurt them," I whispered weakly, puffing my nares as I proceeded forward. "Or my friend. I choose to bargain my decisions off of our past mistakes... not off of what I want. I'm not trying to be selfish-"
"Please. Every living thing has a selfish intention, Seven, even you," he hissed, now edging closer to me. "It's called instinct. Humans hate it because they fear showing who they really are. You seem to follow the same desire."
I scowled slightly. "It doesn't seem awful."
"For them, maybe. But for us, instinct defines our future. and, because we have no other incentives, we must follow our gut." He started to grin. "Though, I admit, I admire your will to deny your lust. It shows your strength. But I hope it doesn't last."
"Rrrr..."
He scoffed in amusement. "It'll happen... sooner or later. We all succumb to our urges, it makes us who we are. And it's remarkable."
"Sure..." I groaned, unamused and uninterested.
"I won't deny the creature that I am born to be," he continued. "And, because I did, I'm here now. Alive, and free. You're still Wu's to command..."
"I told you it's for good reason," I growled even louder, pausing to ensure he heard me. Blink snickered back in amusement.
"Do you really believe that? Remind me what you are again?"
I snorted, continuing to crawl through the vents before voicing my answer. "An Indoraptor."
"Which means Untamable Thief, correct?"
"I thought you didn't care what our name means."
"Well..."
My eyes narrowed as I crawled onward, flaring my nostrils as I sought out the nearby entrance to the facility. Blink continued to pester over the term, letting his thoughts run free as we crawled together.
"I know you're not the only one," he croaked. "You have his blood, too, and mine. Your ancestor sought the very same thing that I did, that we all did. The humans punished him for his fight, deeming him bloodthirsty and stubborn. And they hung his corpse like a trophy in a room."
"Are you finished?"
Blink crawled closer to me, nudging my side and forcing me to stop. I sighed slightly, bending my head to look toward him and sending out an annoyed hiss.
"He understood what he was, Seven," he growled, smiling in the shadows at he stared me down. "Do you?"
"I understand enough!" I spat in annoyance. "I still don't get why you won't shadow your lust for common sense!"
"Because I chose to start following my instincts the day that volcano erupted," he snarled behind me. "The day I lost my kingdom to a bunch of teenagers and a lizard who reeks of a paltered scent very similar to yours."
I paused mid-crawl, glancing ahead at the heavy emptiness afar and grumbled once more. Blink sided me for a third time, trying to look me in the eyes, and grunted.
"You're not a human, or a pet, you're an indoraptor. And until you can accept that, the sooner you can live the life you deserve, Seven. I'm helping you get that by getting rid of Wu... and the nightmares he's bound to create."
I turned to him, watching his crimson eyes glisten in the dark, and hissed. "Are you doing all this because of what you're scared of, or because you think it's right to try?"
Blink shook his head, then turned away.
"It's because of what I remember."
|| 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 ||
He didn't expect the path downhill to be so clustered. Truth be told, he didn't expect anyone else to be traveling with him. Other dinosaurs, large and small, were fleeing too, carrying the same mindset as his own.
Blinking back into reality, he suddenly heard the horrible roars of sauropods thump near him and yelped, toppling onto his back as the stampede thundered over him, barely crushing him. Cowering in fright, he dug his claws into the ground as he was knocked around, feeling dust and earth spray over his hide as the creatures rampaged over him. His jaws clamped tight, expecting something to become of him, but once again he was spared by Death.
'Somehow, something -- or someone -- out there wants me to live. Hopefully that remains the case,' Blink thought to himself.
The rumble lasted only a couple seconds, and once the herd dispersed the hybrid lunged to all fours and sprinted right back into the chaos. The hybrid zipped past creatures of every kind -- beaked ones, tall ones, sharp teeth, horned ones -- unable to will himself the desire to hunt. It was too risky to bother trying, given he was hurt, and far too tired to try. Carnivores and prey alike yelped and screamed amidst the crackling volcano, while some collapsed to their doom against the weight of the violent tremors. He saw one unfortunate soul drop right in front of him, sending up a cloud of dust on it's descent. Hobbling over its lifeless hide, the hybrid ran on, not even bothering to bear witness to it's dying screams.
But in lieu of the sudden distraction, he wasn't quite aware of his other surroundings, lunging toward a creature he was far too slow to avoid.
Blink's body slammed hard against the thick horned hide of a giant green beast, repelling him violently to the ground. One painful shriek erupted from his maw as he toppled, watching the world go heads-over-tails, until he flipped to a stop. A ringing sensation pulsed in his skull as he came to, noticing a newly dug wound now seared upon his face and looked up at the dinosaur he crashed into.
Both eyes flashed coldly.
The blue-green ankylosaurus remembered the hybrid almost immediately, and without a second thought swung it's tail at his hide, sending the hybrid spiraling downhill once more. A crack sounded as bone struck bone, sending the male creature crashing to the ground in pain, a waft of his blood now pulsing to the surface. A slight shake was all he needed to stand and snarl, rearing his hindquarters back up and baring his fangs at the herbivore he knew all too well.
'I know you.'
The herbivore's eyes narrowed, roaring in return and lumbered down to the hybrid, a blood-painted tail club now raised for yet another blow.
But Blink was ready.
Side-stepping to the left, the hybrid lunged into the herbivore's side, sinking a talon into his flesh and whipping his poisoned tail at the flank.
It did nothing more than aggravate the creature further.
A hard stomp dropped the hybrid to the ground, but before he could get the winning slam the hybrid rolled right and jerked his skull to the herbivore's neck, wrapping it around the most exposed of flesh.
'Die!'
He squeezed, feeling warm blood pulsing onto his tongue as the herbivore squealed, trying desperately to escape his wrath. The grip tightened as he fought for position, grappling the ankylosaur's scales as hard as he could as the two strained for dominance and power. A weakness began to grow in the herbivore's eyes, but a similar fatigue sizzled in his own accord.
In the end, only nature won the battle.
Before he could manage to slay his -- now bloodied -- prey, a flaming rock from the heavens slammed right between the two, throwing both creatures to the ground with a hard and heavy thud. The hybrid's arm cracked upon impact, forcing his body to seize up in anguish, the shock of the pain already too great for him to bear. As for his enemy, he landed on his meaty underbelly, dragging forward into the dirt and rolled to a stop.
Everything went silent.
For a brief moment, everything was at peace. Sure, the ground continued to quake, and the volcano began its final phase of destruction, but as the hybrid laid almost lifelessly on the ground -- eyes closed and body throbbing in soreness -- he didn't find the need to worry, let alone fear. Lying here was perhaps the greatest moment of all. Just the thought of waiting. Feeling. Tasting. Knowing. He wanted to relax at that moment under the wrath of the violent quake, to simply give in when the moment was right. Alas, it rocked him to sleep, like a cradling sensation.
It was far less scary than being trapped under rubble.
But as his eyes peeled open, he noticed the same ankylosaur rise up, blood still painted on its throat, yet very much alive. It eyed the downed hybrid, considering whether or not to end it's misery here or now. Any creature would've gone for the final kill. It was written in the stars, the need to rid the world of one more predator. But with a snort of discontent, the creature eyed the toppling volcano, turned away toward the beaches, and vanished from his sights.
Leaving him to die alone.
Nothing seemed to be on his side anymore. From afar, the mountaintop ahead began to turn bright red, and the shivering base began to twist the rocky plates that made up its body. He could smell the ash cloud's birth before it was even known, and with a somber sigh he plopped his head on the ground, watching the grassy strands shiver and writhe before him.
Weak.
Pointless.
Death.
Why'd those words sing just to him? Why'd he let them in? He didn't believe he fell in that category, but at the same time maybe he should. Maybe it was right to criticize himself.
Maybe... maybe that's how he could escape.
Weak...
The hybrid snarled in defiance, shakily moving to all four, only to yelp as he put pressure on the broken limb. He stared unsurely at the crooked foreclaw, back up at the mountain, then returned to the claw. A single break shouldn't put him down... that's not a noble reason to fall.
Pointless...
Blink's head spun to a nearby cliff, which rested much closer to him than the beach down south. He knew he couldn't run, and he'd die if he tried. But, if he could jump, it could take up half the time.
'Three limbs,' he spat, glancing down at himself. 'I can work with three. I can make it with three.'
Once again, the hybrid looked toward the mountain, watching a massive black cloud flowing downhill in one ear-splitting roar.
Death.
His heart quaked. That last word still shook him, despite denying the first three. He fearfully turned toward the tall cliff for a third glimpse, knowing there was nothing else to truly do. He was trapped if he stayed. He was trapped if he ran.
This was the only way.
A hefty growl surged into his throat as he limped forward, hobbling through the thickets of grass and rubble toward the edge of the world. The ground shook and threw him about, but the hybrid kept steady, focusing only on his motions, and not that of the outside world.
Step, breathe... step, breathe...
Heat slammed into him from the sides from a rogue rock, sizzling at his skin, but still he trekked on. All until he found himself at his target, where a massive drop stood before him.
I regret this.
The hybrid turned around one final time, helplessly watching his only home shatter apart before his very eyes. He hunted here. He slept here. He ruled here (under the rex's shadow that is). But now he was leaving it all behind. Nothing would remain in the afterglow of the volcano's eruption, nothing at all.
And if he didn't take the leap, he would soon join the dead.
'You have no choice, Blink.'
A whimper sounded from his maw as he took a step back, uneasily preparing for the terrifying plunge. Deep down he felt sick to his stomach, worried that a fall from this height would inevitably kill him. Even from above he could see floating bodies near the water's edge, that of creatures and dinosaurs who either died on impact, or drowned beneath the waves. And, despite being in a water tube for almost half his life, he never truly learned how to swim.
Between two heartbeats the hybrid took one longed breath, letting his trembling grip relax against the cliffside soil. His teeth chattered, and his legs quaked, and from afar he could hear the wind beginning to rise.
Five seconds...
Four...
Three...
The ash cloud was right there, right behind him. Blink slammed his eyes shut...
And took the fearless step into open air.
Both feet left the ground as his body slipped over the edge, and his tail slithered over with him in mid-plummet.
A second later, the blastwave arrived, slamming into him as he fell toward the rolling waves, knocking him out of focus.
Three long seconds passed before his body crashed into the water at full speed, punching hard at his torso. Disoriented and damaged, Blink gurgled helplessly in the darkness, losing himself as the churning sea and skies above writhed and shook.
'Breathe!'
He tried to breath, but all he tasted was water. Coughing proved useless as well, only speeding up his drowning process. Weary and tired, his claws managed to take hold upon something wooden and heavy, bobbling just barely above the waterline, but he couldn't find the strength to hoist himself up. Both eyes soon sealed the world away as a soft, fateful breath escaped his screaming lungs.
And he sank into the darkness.
|| 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐7𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 ||
Blink found himself on a beach. Soaked. Tired. Alone.
But alive, above all else.
Splayed out upon his side, the monstrous hybrid curled both feet against the moist sands beneath him, feeling the little grains of tarnished rock shift around his obsidian claws. His bloodied tail swayed to and fro, drawing thin lines where his poisoned spikes met fresh soil, and his crimson eyes twitched in the darkness, drawing out the light where none could be seen.
In all honesty, Blink was far more confused over his initial survival than the current injuries that ravished his flesh. No matter the growing pain, let alone the blood that gurgled from his salty underside, the hybrid couldn't seem to understand how he managed to escape a watery grave.
This land felt far more different than the world he left behind. Back there, the ground shook hard enough to topple a skyscraper, and the heavens would flourish into an abundance of crimson colors.
Back there, Blink let the world shift him about. Whether through storm, wind, or rain, he succumbed to the heat of nature's power, and the rumbles of the mountain above. It's blood would give out a soft, orange flare to the surface world, and fueled his survival. He carried power in his step, a sort of freedom, too, both in the light of his slumbers, and in the darkness where he'd stalk his prey. And he knew every crevice, every bend of the forest, every rock, hole, and cliff that opened up to him.
Now all of that is gone.
Now he was here... but where was here?
This Pacific wind felt fresh against his scales, the air misty, as if a storm had passed not long ago. And the trees before him stood tall like torches, their poky green complexion reflecting almost that of his own thorns. The smell here was different, much more foul and old, like oil had drenched the soils before him. And the stars could barely be seen anymore, now reduced down to a foggy shimmer.
He didn't know how long he was out. Could've been days, or a week at most. His stomach was writhing over the need for food, and his parched tongue curled into his throat, mourning over the lack of sweet, speckled water.
Blink missed that fresh taste. The ones back at the island were satisfying above all else, especially upon the rolling rivers behind the INGEN facility. The fresh taste of human blood and saurian carcasses fueled his lust to hunt, and -- like a king -- he ruled his world proudly.
Until those hatchlings ruined everything.
Until that raptor...
The hybrid growled softly, recalling his mission once more. He didn't have time to moan and groan over his failures. So, with a grumble of annoyance, the hybrid shakily raised onto his sandy hindquarters, flexing his nostrils and wincing every so often from the salted wounds and bruises marked upon his body. Taking one last look at the beach behind him, and the plume of smoke lifting above his fallen home afar, Blink turned into the shadows of the forest, and followed a stench that seemed to point toward fate.
Though, after a few minutes of climbing and limping, it wasn't exactly what he was expecting.
The Scorpios Rex was soon presented with the sights of a tall lonely mansion, hidden away in the depths of the massive pinewood forest. The place looked aged, swollen with the ooze of rainwater, the odor of mold, and yet still freshened by the sweetest scent of blood. If anything most of this place looked new, just shattered by whatever monsters barged through it.
Curious, the hybrid stalked the basin of this building, rumbling quietly as he sought an entrance. And, lo and behold, he was given one. With a grunt, Blink hopped up toward a shattered window a few inches above him, and grimaced as he dragged his body over the sharp ridges of glass. He cut himself twice before finally landing onto the ground, where his claws cracked upon the remains of the broken window. The hybrid snorted, taking a moment to look around.
It did look new, as promised. But it was quiet.
Deathly quiet.
The wooden stairs that led upward were scathed by both dried blood, glass, and human bodies having yet to decompose. He wandered over their corpses silently, eying each one as his hunger reigned supreme. He figured he could feast on those later, he simply wanted to inspect the place. Looking to his right, he noticed the faded ruins of red and white window drapes, torn into pieces perhaps from an age-old fire. They fluttered and whispered secrets to him under the breath of the outside breeze, a sound that sent chills down his spine. Below, furniture of all types were flipped and sidelined, and their out of place structures made him consider that their fall was a result of a nearby earthquake. His talons flexed upon the earth as fear grew, and he went low as he approached the upper staircase, where another room sat waiting for him -- a room filled with skeletons.
Blink tilted his head, more astonished by the museum than of anything else. It was far less damaged than the rest of the fallen mansion, and every structure alike seemed to resemble a living creature he had come into contact with. One, an Ankylosaurus to his right, made his eyes narrow and forced a growl out of him. Another, resembling an Allosaurus was on his far left, stuck in a pose mid-snarl as it faced death. But the one that found his interest was the ceratopsian before him, who's horns pointed upward toward the heavens above.
And there was blood on it's horns.
The hybrid stepped up toward the skull, confused to see the dripping ooze slipping down the emptied horns and rumbled. Curious, Blink stuck his tongue out, licking the tip of a dripping piece of blood, and stepped away, tasting the fluid for himself. It was cold, but it almost mimicked that of his own blood.
All in all, he knew one thing: 'This was recently.'
His head then lifted skyward noticing the remains of the glass roof above with a hole at it's end. Following it's line, it only made sense that whoever's blood this was had been unlucky enough to fall to his doom. He could easily assume it to be a hybrid, and the room around him made it clear that it was.
But it wasn't just the room. Blink managed to catch the hidden scents still surrounding him, and knew instantly that a problem had arose. 'Wu,' he growled in horror, looking back to the emptied horns, then back to the floor. 'He's alive... and he was here.'
Briefly, he paused, and took one last glimpse at the empty saurian skull behind him, still soaked with the blood of whatever creature once sat there and swallowed. He knew something terrible had happened, and Wu was connected to it. But he knew the scent... it was strong enough to follow, and fresh upon his tongue. At least now he knew he could get one issue out of the way before taking on the raptor. Snorting, Blink turned away from the skull, trailing after his maker's faint scent, before pausing. He turned to stare up at the ceratopsian skull with a shiver of guilt, flexing his talons upon the wrinkled wood beneath him just to calm himself.
'Same fate, I suppose,' he thought quietly, bowing his head in shame. 'He killed you, too, dear hybrid. But I won't let your fall be in vain. I promise.'
With a furious snarl, Blink descended down the stairs, his eyes now fueled with the primal lust to kill.
Now he had a prey worth hunting for.