I awoken in a jumble of tree vines, bark, and mud in a flat area. Smoke soared into the sky as I looked around with my right eye. Turning my throbbing around, I shook myself out of the pile of dead plants to expose myself to the world. But the sight of the world made me feel sick. The forests, the lush beauties of green glory were flatter than a desert after a sandstorm. Water, a few feet high flowed around the area, dragging dead organisms around like ocean waves. Some were dinosaurs, dead and lifeless, and unlucky for escape. The sky was dark grey, sucking the life out of the sun, and the air was smoky and hot. During my viewing, I saw the same ankylosaur nearby me, but what made me gasp was that, he wasn't moving.
"No," I breathed, then struggled to my broken feet. I bit hard on my painful jaws as I limped painfully to the herbivore in the water. After a while, I managed to get my claws onto the herbivore's shelled back as assist, and limped towards its head. Its eyes were shallow and barely working as it stared at me with wisdom and relief. I let go of his shell, to finally stumble down painfully onto my pelvis and chest to look at him. Sticks and boulders wrecked his body and back plate, and a piece of bark impaled his back foot, lodged into the earth. I felt fear shatter my mind as I looked, but questions rumbled through my mind for him.
"Why'd you save me?" I asked softly, looking at him solemnly. The ankylosaur just stared at me, and groaned in pain.
"Can you even hear me?" I clicked and rumbled. The ankylosaur nodded.
"I....hear.....you clearly....kid," He muttered. My eyes widened as he spoke to me, and I felt worry spread to my tail as I curled it with worry.
"Predator to prey relationship," The dinosaur coughed, "You helped me get back on my feet. And you made me realize that even our own enemies aren't truly enemies to my eyes," He whispered.
"You didn't need to save me," I rumbled in my throat, "I'm not your kind. I'm not you, why would you protect me unlike anyone else?"
"Every dinosaur deserves a second chance," He grumbled, "We don't. We're older than you, stronger than you-"
"You're saying I'm weak?"
"I'm saying you're vulnerable," He replied, then doubled over in wheezes and a choke of pain. My heart shattered.
"No, no, no! Stay awake! Hold on, I'll think of something!" I clicked, "I'll go get help!"
"NO!" The ankylosaur snatched me by the arm with speed, pulling me back into the splashing water, "I'm a lost cause kid. My time's up."
"I won't let you die!" I strangled myself from his grip, but he held on tightly.
"Listen....to me!" He growled angrily, "I'm not done with you...though. I need to tell you....something...important." I stopped strangling, and at the same time, he let go of his weary worn paws and laid them back into the rushing water.
"My parents believed.....that....one day...Mother Nature, would turn on us," He wheezed, "And I never believed them until now. This is a war...that I'm afraid you cannot win."
"Why not?"
"We were all supposed to die. That's why that thing came. Kid, this is no fairy tale where everyone survives. And you need to start believing it too..."
"Believing in what?"
"In yourself is what's most important," He hissed, "But the end is near. And this,....all of this...that happened, it's not over. Nature does find a way......of putting an end to its plans, and it will stop at nothing until everything that we love and know....is gone. The countdown to the end......has already begun."
"Countdown?"
"Can't you hear it?" He rasped, "Time? The ticking of our end?"
"You're saying this is survival, but that's normal," I replied, "It's just a disaster, some of us bound to be alive..."
But he shook his head.
"This is....extinction," He whispered, "Not survival of the fittest or survival of the survivals."
"Then how much time do I have?" I felt worried, feeling its reign spread between my claws as my sickled toe trembled, "Do you know?"
He shook his head, "All I know is that this may be the end. For all of us." I bent my head low, understanding the meaning of his words.
"Are you scared?" He asked wearily. I looked at him with fear in my eyes.
"I'm not scared," I clicked back, "I'm actually terrified."
"Good..."
"Good?" I felt threatened by anger, "Predators are not supposed to fear!"
"Everyone has a fear of something," The ankylosaur wheezed, "But we need to fear in order to survive."
"I don't need fear."
"Y-Yes....you....do...." He stuttered with a smile, "We all do. You need to fear, fear itself."
I brushed away his comment and sided back to the original topic,
"What do I do?" I clicked, seeing his small brown eye slowly close.
"The best thing I could say....is to hold on dear to what or whom you love most. Because from here on out, everything's changing. Time is running out for everyone....but...but you're a carnivore. Huh...you might be able to make it for some time with all the new carcasses around here."
"But-"
"Listen..." His voice was drowning in nothingness, "Kid...."
"How-"
"K-Keep...Going...Keep Fighting...And stay afraid..."
He sighed, then closed his eyes. That's when his chest stopped breathing, and heart stopped pumping. And my savior was dead. I felt something strange hit me, something I thought wouldn't. Loneliness. Sadness. Anger. Those feelings locked onto me like my own jaws, strangling in my throat as I stared at the carcass of the ankylosaur who saved me. Normally in the Cretaceous, dinosaurs would take the dead animal for granted, as food, as a source of survival. But survival was dying by the minute, and I felt hesitant to dig my snout into his hide. It felt......what's the word......disrespectful. Painful to even watch. I put my claw on his chest, and squeezed tight, hoping for a sign of luck from the old dinosaur. If luck didn't run out yet.
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I scented my family, my pack a few hours later, after trekking through a war-torn wasteland. My nose could catch 100 miles of any aroma, even familiar ones. But my eyes never laid off the landscape before me.
Dead trees littered the earth like the bugs that walked upon it before, and organisms that never made it past level one laid drowned and broken all around. I limped around each one, feeling that hollow feeling break down inside me. Fear fear, the ankylosaur's voice echoed in my head. Though I didn't understand. Predators aren't supposed to fear fear, we use it for granted against our enemies. Unless he's telling me to be prey. To fight for me. I could still feel his hand grab me from before, which shook me even harder. What possibly could he be warning me about? What is there to come besides the end? But the end could be the beginning as well. Nothing lasts forever, but ends don't really come true. There's always another reset button to press. Which brought up the thought, what's after death?
I found myself climbing up a steep mountainside, following the weak scent to my pack. Colors and images roamed around in my head, my only area of expertise and help. But all I saw was red. Brighter than the fireball, darker than death. I escaped that thought bubble and continued my trek. I opened my jaws a bit, taking in the scents, which bent around the mountain, into a dead forest.
My eyes were wide. I was close. I was soon in the dead forest, curving around the fallen trees, and the ones which miraculously stood tall, but still decapitated. I heard something strange behind me catch me off guard from the sight-seeing, and spun around to check behind me.
Nothing.
Cautiously, I continued limp, using the trees as support for my leg, until I splashed into a wet area of the forest that was deep to my knees. The water felt cold, and I think was contaminated too. Bits of blood and dead plant parts floated in the water, making me feel sick. Scent-wise, my nostrils died from the stench of the swamp area. That's when I felt something zip past me. I paused, growing tense. My muscles twitched. Something was here. Nearby. Living. Close. Words popped up in my head since I couldn't make full sentences (as of now) in my mind. I heard a splash and turned around quickly, hissing out into the fog-gish area.
"I know you're here," I growled, even though I didn't know what was there, "So show yourself!"
And it showed itself.
Way too fast.
I got struck by a wall basically and cartwheeled into the water. A Utahraptor! I thought they were extinct! I gasped in shock as its jaws snapped at my face, then bolted out of the water to land.
"What the heck!" I shrieked, tumbling backward. Limping to my feet was a struggling process, but it didn't pose a problem since the raptor didn't return. My heart was beating fast. Did it drown?
Seconds later, it lunged at me with speed, claws out, teeth prepared, and tail upright. I wasn't ready to attack, so standing my ground was my only option. My jaws met his as the raptor landed short of me and lunged, and we both were locked quickly, teeth with snout. But being broken was a liability, and he noticed my limp foot in a flash. He yanked his head sideways, throwing me off balance, and finished me with a swipe of his claws. I felt pain strike my face hard as I tumbled onto my side. Seconds later, his teeth snatched my tail, and with a haul, he threw me forwards into a dead tree, which snapped on impact. As it fell backward, the leaves shook violently, falling from the sky over me. I fell too, lying on my side in pain as the leaves fell, only to see the Utahraptor approach me with hunger in its eyes.
The same hunger for death like the herbivore who slayed me 12 days earlier.
THINK! I thought horrified, THINK! Then I saw it: dry dirt and a steep hill. Without hesitation, I began dragging myself towards the dirt nearby, but the Utahraptor got to me first. It flipped me over, then slammed its foot claw on my pubic bone. Frantically, I swung my arm hard, throwing up dust at the dinosaur's eyes. It let out a shriek of pain, releasing me for a few seconds, just enough to escape. Realizing its mistake, it swung its claw at me again, but I quickly escaped, tumbling downhill on the mountainside to the ground below. Everything spun around as my body flipped over and over, then landed with a painful crash on my underside. My tail thumped as the agony strengthened, bu my mind was locked on another part of my anguish, which was snarling as it too stumbled downhill.
Run! My mind screamed and scrambled to my feet, but pain shocked me halfway through, and gravity pulled me back down. I tried again, but my injured leg gave way again, dropping me to the ground again. Panic rose inside me as I struggled to get back up, but my leg was stuck to the earth with pain pulling it down.
"C'mon!" I growled at myself when a shadow fell over me. I had no time to prepare unless you could count my heart skipping a horrified beat. It was going to attack me, again. And uselessly impotent to myself, I cowered with a silent whimper.
"Whiteclaw?" A familiar voice and scent entered my nose and ears. I looked up into the darkness, staring up at a memorable face.
"Amberclaw?!" I gasped in surprise. It was a dream, thankfully. I felt nonplussed at first, before bending my head in relief, "Oh gosh.....oh gosh damn...." I rubbed my head with my claws, "You scared me."
"I thought you were dead!" He gasped before a loud roar sounded from the bottom of the hillside.
"What's was that-"
"Help me up!" I cried, "No time to explain!" Amberclaw nodded, then bent his head low to the underbelly of my body, then thrusted upbound to lift me to my feet.
"You're leg's broken."
"Nevermind that, let's go!" I hissed. Using him as an assist, we both limped out of the forest, but behind me, I could feel the deathly stare of the Utahraptor pulling me back, bloodthirsty for round two.