SO SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT GUYS! I had to rush this chapter, so its not the best or very good, but its an addition to the previous one. i had a lot of school work and stuff, so the next update might also take a while. But don't worry, the end it coming soon!
Whiteclaw!
I rushed through the debris surrounding me, tumbling upon tons of bricks and stone, rocks and soil, even bark for that matter, scattered endlessly all over where the once powerful forest stood. It too became a victim, gone in a flash without any warnings or support to its cause. Not a single tree was left now.
Nothing.
Whiteclaw was the one who pushed me out the way, but I never saw what had happened to him. I thought we were both crushed. But I guess the world kept us alive for some apparent reason. For the first time, as I noticed earlier, the ground was silent and haste. Wind rampaged and howled across this earth like flyers, blowing up any remaining dust in snow-like designs. It only took a few more minutes of silence before my beak touched the Deinonychus's soft white exterior, and with a haul, I yanked him upwards to the surface. His body silently plopped onto the rocks, and I too had to follow up with that example, panting beyond the limits of my lungs. Whiteclaw laid silent and still, though he was stirred awake thereafter, and breathing a bit normally. His eyes stared at me shallowly, and his heart pumped slow, a bit to slow for me. And I was slow.
"You alright?" I panting. He nodded, then winced weakly.
"A-A little..." I lowered my head in a breath, then glanced up at him, nodding slowly.
"See what I mean?" I smiled, "You're better than you know." He just looked up at me as I continued.
"You saved me...and I know no other carnivore would do such a thing. You're not the bad one you say you are."
"I know," He replied, "But I wasn't just saving you....I was protecting you." I cocked my head in wonder, seeing his tail pressing on his chest with strength.
"Protecting?" His face looked twisted in pain.
"I stopped it."
"Huh?"
"I stopped the tree," He muttered. Slowly, he lifted his tail up from his chest.
And all I saw was blood.
Tons of it, wrapped around an indent in his bone that was shaper than a jutted rock.
He was impaled.
"Oh my-" My eyes looked all over him, as if they were scanning for some virus. His eyes were closed and squeezed tight, and a slight little squeak fluttered from his trembling mouth.
He was in so much pain as I could tell.
But for me, I was speechless.
I had to take it out.
I looked at him with concern as I lowered my beak, wrapping my bone around the wood in his chest.
"This is going to hurt kid," I whispered softly. He shuddered ugly again, then nodded. And with a swift motion, a horrible crack and slip echoed my ears as the stick drew away from his chest. Almost immediately, Whiteclaw screamed, and his whole body went stiff as his agony raged onwards. I dropped the bloody stick and rushed to him.
"Breathe!" I screeched, holding him down, "Calm yourself..." His chest slowed down a bit, and his heartbeat pumped low, yet shook his skin above its outer core. His eyes just stared at me with sorrow and pain, though when he next spoke, his voice was slurred a bit, in strain.
"T-That t-thing wasn't natural. That was the c-clock...And it wasn't coming for me." He rasped. I stared at him as I placed my paw on his bloody wound, ceasing the bleeding, "I-It was c-coming for y-you."
My eyes widened slowly, "H-How do you know?"
"I-I heard him in there," He whispered in pain, "When he got me. He's killing us all off Stella. A-And y-you were next-t"
Suddenly, the ground jolted for a second, but it was enough to make me panic. A huge roar sounded somewhere off in the distance along with it, and a faint glow illuminated the plateau horizon.
"Oh no..."
I turned to Whiteclaw then grabbed his arm, pushing one claw on his wound, and the other on his helping shoulders, "Put pressure on it..." I demanded, "You're bleeding out-"
Another huge rumble shook everything in my sight, and in fear, I grabbed Whiteclaw in the holes of my horn like a bundle, hearing his gasp and groan as more blood dripped away. The ground shook again, as if I was standing on something awakening, before a huge crack split the earth and carved its way towards me. I backed up a bit as it edged closer, splitting in some places, but it cut on.
And then it turned sharp right.
Straight at me.
I limped to the left a bit, then took another large step to the side.
And it followed.
It's really after me!
"RUN!" Whiteclaw choked his the palm of his claw on my frill, "GO!"
In terror, I backed up a few more steps, then spun a full 180 to stumble into my off balanced sprint. To be honest, I've never run that fast before. But with an entity chasing after you, there's no point to trot or lumber. My life was on the line this time.
"Why me?!" I snarled, then dodged left. The caves were only a half a mile away, just seeable in the distance. Whiteclaw was watching the exact definition of death streaming towards us, splitting the earth in thunderous quakes. The crack was literally racing right besides me after a few more seconds, before it suddenly split and zoomed on ahead.
And then cut a small trench in front of me.
Rocks and trees fell into the glowing area, and my heart skipped a beat as I imagined that I saw myself falling in there too.
"CRAP!" I began to slow for a seconds. But as I ran, I thought of some idea.
A crazy one.
"I gotta jump!" I roared, "Hold onto my horns!".
"What?!" Whiteclaw cried, then turned ahead to see what I was seeing. Full shock flooded his eyes, and ignoring whether or not I had the strength to make it, he shrieked, "NO WAIT!"
But I was already making my plans to lunge.
With two huffs, my knees bent so low, I thought I was going to crash. But then, like springs, they recoiled, thrusting me right over the trench.
"Yes!" I cried after I landed, then began running.
But the crack already caught up to me.
It dropped the entire side of the trench I jumped towards, along with my body, and horrifyingly, all of it began to slide backwards into the crack.
With me on it.
There wasn't any way to get away from this one, and in horror, I kept swinging my arms to reach the cliff.
But they all failed.
"No, no, no, no, NO!!" I screamed, digging my claws in further as my back legs went over.
And then my belly.
And just like that, my body went weightless. For a few seconds.
Something snagged onto my tail mid-way down, and I had to open my beak to snatch Whiteclaw's before he could fall to a fiery death. Slowly, the thing that grabbed me tightened its grip into my flesh, dragging us onto land like flesh-bags in an open forest. Even on land, the dragging continued for a few more minutes, until we were about half a mile away from the trench. I didn't realize that I was holding my breath the entire time, and I released in relief when I did.
Only to face a T-Rex's sorrowful eyes.
"Thunder?" My heart skipped a beat, "How....Why-"
"It's time I did something right for a change," He grumbled, "Even if I hate your kinds. If this world is ending, I'm not dying alone, or cowardly." His eyes lowered towards Whiteclaw and pure fear raced through his body, "Oh Jeez..."
"He's bleeding out," I muttered, "Thunder, it's after all of us. We need to stay as close to the clock as possible."
"That murderous-"
"I know but....Its the only way. If we go too far," She sighed, "Well, you already saw."
"It's killing us all by range," Thunder cocked his head, "But when it shrinks down to nothing, then what."
"That's the 33rd day," I whispered, "When everything's gone." A rumbling tremor erupted in the distance where the trench laid, spewing small bits of lava to the surface.
"What know then?" Thunder turned back to me, puffing up steam, "There's gotta be another way."
"There is," Whiteclaw's voice caught both of our attentions, and we all stared down at him as he laid, "To solve all our problems I hope."
"What do you mean?"
"I think there's a way to stop the shadow in that clock," Whiteclaw whispered, coughing harshly, "And maybe a way to bring Shadow back." Thunder's eyes flashed with fiery energy, and it seemed as though hope ran wild in every heartbeat.
"If there's a way to bring my son back," Thunder lowered his head towards the Deinonychus, "I'd take that chance. Even if it means trusting you." Whiteclaw smiled, before responding with a sharp gasp of pain. His body curled up as more blood drenched his body, and terror sparked in my frill.
"We gotta get back to that clock," I hissed, "Whiteclaw's dying. If we stay.....it's coming after us."
"But Stella," Thunder looked worried, "We don't have enough time. It took days for Whiteclaw to come back. What makes you think it's going to be any faster."
I just smiled darkly.
"Cause I'm going in there with him."