I awoke. That's all that happened. I felt something. And I awoke. I didn't understand death yet, perhaps he wasn't ready for me. Or perhaps he disregarded me for a purpose. Or unless, he's waiting for me to die. Giving me extra time. That didn't seem about right. But if he was, perhaps waking up to a devastated world wasn't a good idea. I felt my body grow cool and dry, and my eyes began to focus up. I twitched my arms a bit, my tail, and then my clawed feet to make sure that I still existed, then opened my eyes. I was immediately greeted by surprise.
"You're alive?!" Queen's eyes flashed wildly, "How-" She was lying down, eyes red from crying.
"She is?" Thunder's voice followed up thereafter, and I felt the ground thud as he stumbled over towards me. The pain inside me throbbed like an endless current of electricity, and when I glanced down at my chest, I noticed that there was no wound. Perhaps scratches and bruises, but that's it. But I did notice that part of it was inflamed and enlarged. I tasted blood in my mouth again, and swallowed. But swallowing only increased the pain. I winced, gripping my chest as if to pull my skin from its flesh. Queen noticed me in discomfort, and shifted over, examining me with her usage of smell. But then, she shook her head.
"You've been like this since I pulled you out," She muttered, "with a large belly as if you're having eggs. But then again, I smell blood too."
"Same..." I grunted. It was harder to talk as well. I coughed suddenly, feeling the blood rush to my mouth, but to prevent another scare, swallowed the distasteful liquid back into my system, "How long?"
"How long...."
"Was I out?" I squeezed out the last three words in a wheeze.
"A day," Thunder replied, "I think. It's hard to tell without the sun." Then a thought quaked in my mind.
"Queen? What happened to..." I didn't even need an answer. She just glared at me with tears flowing to the bottom of her eyes again, pulled herself up, and stomped away with earth trembling steps. My eyes widened, and my toothed jaw closed up the question.
"She's....been pretty rocked about what happened-"
"What did happen Thunder?" I asked. The Tyrannosaur let out a puff of air, inhaled, then sighed.
"Melody's dead." Those two words almost made me faint. The world spun around like my own dizziness, and I held in my breath to prevent a splatter of vomit.
"Oh my gosh..."
"She blames you because you dropped her...." Thunder continued, "She snapped her neck and-"
"Oh my gosh..." I sobbed.
"Alicea?" Thunder stared at me, "Hey....?!"
"What did I do?!" I cupped my arm over my mouth, "What did I do?"
"There was nothing to do," Thunder reassured, "You did all that was possible."
"No..." I shook my head, swallowing the blood that entered my mouth again, "It wasn't enough. I didn't do it."
"Melody's death wasn't-"
"It was! It was all my fault! She was my responsibility Thunder!" I cried, "And none of this would've happened if I hadn't of been so careless and wake Kai up, but he was dead the entire time! I didn't know!"
"Alicea-"
"Thunder stop it!" I growled, "Just stop it! Stop trying to help me, its not-" I coughed hard, making him flinch. The blood I tried to hold it splattered out onto the ground, staining the earth with gooey purplish liquid, that turned red from the atmosphere around us. I tried to take in a breath, but nothing entered my throat. My eyes went wide for a second, before everything finally settled back to normal. I just suffocated. Thunder sniffed the blood on the ground worrisome of me, but before he could ask, I turned my head away.
"I'm fine....just...leave me alone." Thunder closed his jaws, looked at me once more, then turned away, moving his feet over the other carnivores that slept soundly on the earth. But I couldn't sleep. For the first time in my life...I was restless. Restless because also for the first time in my life, I was the cause of another life taken away. A younger one than my own.
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Every step was a painful spasm that shook the earth, and myself. Every breath was a wheeze. And every heartbeat was slower than its previous beating. The temperature rose from normal to extreme on our trek through the debris and devastation that arose across the horizon, and our main objective now with the carnivores was finding food and the herbivores. And Shadow. That was all for now. Since Kai was gone, I wasn't sure exactly who was leading the large group. Or should I say herd? We weren't that cooperative and loving to each other. We just wanted to get somewhere. I just wanted to get away for once in my life. The Female Zhuchengtyrannus, Queen, clutched her one egg and now one baby in her mouth, careful not to drop them both. I don't think she trusted me any longer than she did before. Which scared me too. What if I'm the one in trouble, and she doesn't help? Thunder's been ignoring me too. As if I were diseased. Perhaps I was, scaring him with a blood-splattering cough the day before. Or hour before. The heat anyways was intense. Sometimes, random dust storms blew in our faces. Other times, the sky roared with lightning and thunder, though no rain fell. We did find a watering hole on the way, and I drank silently, staring at a Sinraptor drinking with his wife. If I had a life like that, I'm sure everything would be normal. But I never knew what George had in mind for me. I never will know. There were some dinosaurs that didn't make it, one in particular, this Tarbosaurus, who I never knew, who fainted part of the way through. Her heart stopped beating thereafter. Another Sinraptor, and a Oviraptor passed as well. Towards some point in time, my chest began to turn my scales different colors. At first it was numb with a orange-ish look. Then it turned red, and itching. And soon afterwards, it turned purple. And nobody noticed but me. Eventually, we reached an area of our journey, through this valley in between these large plateaus or mountains when my chest suddenly bursted with agony. I thought it was some type of major stomach virus or ache, since I hadn't eaten yet, but I could still feel the blood on my tongue. Why was it still there? Halfway through the tiny valley, the pain increased, slowing my walk. And seconds later, I was stumbling around, struggling to take even a mere step and see. My vision fogged up as well. That's when I knew something was wrong. Something terrible happened to me the day that Melody died. The rocks crushed me that day. And blood came from my throat. Well, the blood didn't come exactly from my throat, it came from inside of me.
Inside of me...
Inside of me...
Another agonizing pain made me let out a squeak of pain, and forced me to stop moving. Thunder somehow noticed and turned to me, unaware of what I was going through. Dizziness splash over me, and my breathing began to slow. It was hard to see Thunder for some reason, but I could hear him properly.
"Alicea c'mon. We need to keep moving." He said. I took another step, then felt my knees give way. Somehow I caught myself too, before my body could fall, and struggled back up. I had a feeling that Queen was looking at me strangely, but she pushed on as well.
"Alicea c'mon!" Thunder growled, "We could lose the group."
"No..." My voice sounded far away, "Wait..."
"Wait for what?" He sounded agitated, "We need to go!" I heard him stomp off again. I took another step, the felt something pierce my stomach and rush up my throat. An awful smell rushed out of my mouth as I vomited violently. But no food came out. Only blood. A puddle of blood dripped onto the earth, growing larger every minute. Thunder turned around and gasped. And I'm sure every other dinosaur there gasped with him. I stood, trembling on both feet, now unable to take another step. I couldn't even speak. But I had to try. Cautiously, I lifted one clawed foot into the air. But as I lowered it in front of me, my legs slipped clumsily on the rough earth. My knees buckled without warning. And I plummeted to the ground with a crash. The ground shook for a second when I fell, and everything around me flew out of focus.
"ALICEA!" Queen's terrified voice roared out. She dropped her egg cautiously onto the ground with Breeze. Thunder bolted over to me frantically, already scenting my own blood.
"Oh no, its another one," A carnivore whispered.
"Oh gosh..." a mother gasped. Thunder stared at my body, looking around me for any signs of wounds. But there was none. Queen joined thereafter, looking with him.
"She looks fine!" Thunder cried, "What's wrong with her? There's no wound!"
"I don't know!" Queen had no ideas, no ways to help me. She was empty all over. I let out a small cry as the pain went from intense spasms, to just one sharp sting in my gut. I opened my mouth, but no noise came out, just my harsh breathing. Blood began to spill from my mouth more smoothly, but this time, I couldn't swallow back. I couldn't contain it.
"What's happening?!" Thunder bellowed, "What's happening to her?" Now this time, Queen was speechless. She backed up as if I was some contagious object, shaking her head.
"Wait, let me, I know some things..." The Sinraptor from before announced, making Thunder stare back. For a second, both of them stared at each other, untrustworthy in their eyes, until finally, Thunder backed up. The middle-sized raptor then rushed to my side. I couldn't see anything now, especially since the blood was now rushing into my eyes.
"Alicea..." Thunder's voice came into my head, "Everything's gonna be okay..." I coughed hard, looked up at his grey bleak face and exhaled shakily.
"You promise?" I sobbed. Thunder hesitated, which I noticed, then seemingly nodded, though I wasn't sure. I felt little pinches on my side for a second, until I could see the Sinraptor come back into my view. But he didn't look promising.
"I don't know what it is that caused it, but she's bleeding," He concluded.
"How? There's no-"
"Inside her..." He interrupted, knowing what he was going to say, "She's bleeding internally." Internally. A word I've never heard of before. Insides, like the insides of prey. Like the stomach, the organs, the ribs. I was bleeding inside there. Thunder turned back to me, eyes turning red and redder every minute.
"Can we do anything...." He swallowed. The Sinraptor stared back at the carnivorous pack, then shook his head,
"No." No was a word I used a child, I thought. I used it to say, 'I don't want this!' or I don't wanna play this or that. But this type of no was something said to a dead animal. No we can't save her. No we can't do anything. No....it's no use. I cleared out my thoughts, embracing the sudden blows of pain that almost made me double over. Was it really over for me?
"Alicea..." Thunder's saddened voice and face came back, and my eyes looked up at the blurry figure, "I'm sorry."
"You promised...." I choked with a straight face, "That I'd be okay..." Thunder looked away, letting a tear shed from his eyes, then gulped. I never saw him so sad before.
"You are gonna be okay..." He breathed, "I know you will." He nudged me with his large snout, inhaling my scent.
"I know you're lying," I grinned weakly, ignoring the shots of pain that consumed my body, "I could see it in your eyes..." Thunder bit his lip, looked away again with another tsunami of tears upon him, then let out a choking sob. Queen moved in a bit, listening in grief.
"I...don't want to lose you....like the way I lost....the way I lost..." Thunder was shattering from inside, "Oh gosh,....oh gosh..."
"Hey..." I was crying too, "It's going to be okay. You have Queen. You have a load some of carnivores. And you're son..."
"No-" He wept, "I can't lose you...I just can't..."
"You could see your son again. Tell him about your stories. Huh...and...about meeting me. About surviving..." I giggled. Thunder hit the point when his sobbing went into a full out cry. Suddenly, I felt my heart burst like fire, and my world around me began to turn whitish. Fear sank into my throat, and I struggled to stay awake. But something was holding me back.
"Alicea," Queen whispered, more held together than Thunder, "I-I'm so sorry....about blocking you out. You deserve better."
"I didn't save her though," I whispered.
"No, but...you saved my own life......And.......I apologize for that..." She smiled.
"I accept you apologize." I struggled to squeak. I saw Breeze silently walk over to me, and glanced at me without a word. I nudged her with the last bit of life I had left inside of me and breathed.
"Keep....this......future.......alive, okay....?" Breeze laid her head upon my snout without a word, but obviously she knew what was going to happen to me. The bright light grew larger and larger, and despite my fighting, I couldn't withstand it. And just like that, everything went silent. And my heart froze silently for the last time.
To tell you the truth, I actually did shed a tear while writing the last part. And then I got angry at myself. LOL. ITS JUST A STORY! Hopefully you didn't though :D. If you did, I feel you pain, *sob* :(