GET THE TISSUES READY, CAUSE THIS CHAPTER CAUGHT ME TOO!
Yeah, it really did.
Alright, only 5 or so chapters remaining, we're almost out of the clock. Or done with this story... IDK! Anyways guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter, cause this took a while to make. There's a Part 3 coming up next too, so be prepared. Also, for your dinosaur fans, check out Epicness1000's story, VIRALS. Its a mix of dinosaurs and 28 days later, and its really awesome and sad. You guys should check his stories out, they're just as good as mine, maybe even better, and he needs more views too! :D
Anyways, hope you enjoy this story....and don't cry. :D.... :(
Whiteclaw was dying.
And we both knew that.
The injuries he obtained, the broken bones, all the blood lost....., he was losing himself. He couldn't even stand.
His scarlet murked blood discolored the water around him, and his breathing was like shattered glass, to hard to pick up, to hard to rebuild, and sounded like rubbing scales in a burning fire.
But he could still think.
Just by hand signals and eye movement, I knew his quick plan by heart. He wanted to use the 'gun', or whatever it was called, but shoot it at a square object in the distance.
Apparently that killed him once.
But I disliked the plan.
"It could kill you again," I muttered, watchin the shadow jerk alive once again at the corner of my eye, "This isn't a good plan."
"Y-You have to trust me," Whiteclaw croaked, choking up some blood before recomposing himself, "I need to g-get to that gun."
"What about me?"
"F-Force h-him t-towards the huge square," His jaw moved like the limp twigs of trees, cutting his words like knives in the cold air, "Then t-take cover once I'm d-done-e...." His fingers curled once more, and I could only imagine how much more pain he could embrace.
But done with what?
"Go," He screeched lastly, nudging me away by his fragile snout, "T-There's n-no time..."
His voice scared me, though his eyes reflected a brazen sign, brighter than the dead sun. And unfortunately, I had to agree.
"Alright."
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"Where are you Triceratops?" The Shadow's voice sneered threadfully, shaking a uprising feeling into my throat, one that was a mixed rubble of anger and fear. My eyes settled on Whiteclaw, still laying on the ground and in watch of the Shadow's movements. Another earth rumbling stomp made my claws quiver, and slowly, I shifted away, seeing the Shadow's face curl around the rock I was hiding behind.
"You can't hide forever!"
His head slid left suddenly, but somehow, I slipped away faster than he could blink. A dark growl came from the, now Spinosaurus Clock, shaking the earth with every step of annoyance. I found myself on the other side of the rocks, seeing Whiteclaw now dragging himself towards the gun, each pull more painful than the first. His eyes widened when he saw me, and in sync, we bobbled our heads once.
One breath later, I took off.
"Hey!" The Shadow roared, breaking the rock into a thousand tiny fragments, then rushing on a wild goose chase towards me. My heart was thumping louder and louder, for he was catching up quick, even when the square was in my sights. But then, the Clock stopped.
And turned directly towards Whiteclaw, now a few feet away from the gun. Though the shadow couldn't see the gun, he felt suspicious.
"What are you up to," He hissed, then charged the other way.
NO! That's not how it supposed to go! I shrieked in my mind, then spun around. With a inhale of air, I let my throat quake as a huge painful roar dried my lungs and basked my beak. The Shadow snarled once, but yet didn't turn around.
He still went after Whiteclaw!
I jerked forwards, then closed my beak upon the Spinosaur's swishing tail. Out of rage and annoyance of my bite, he swirled his slithering limb out my jaws, then slammed its side underneath my frill, clapping itself on my green neck. My body slid sideways, before a quick trip knocked me to the earth.
I looked down at Whiteclaw once more, only to see his body get covered by the shadow of the Spinosaurus.
My heart shattered.
"DIE!" The clock roared, then raised his arm.
"NO!"
I could only watch helplessly as the Spinosaur's claws slid perfectly though his exposed belly, diggin deeper than any cut has gone before. Whiteclaw's scream filled my mind, and quickly, before any other horror could revolve around the void, I head butted the Spinosaurus into a couple of rocks, where he slid to the ground, dazed and stunned. Then my eyes flew towards Whiteclaw.
And complete sorrow filled my throat.
Three long lines dug like trenches into his muscles, pink flesh now drowning in purple blood, and his skin seemed less albino than ever. He writhed there, trying to dismantle the pain and agony. But it raged on an on, and his cries vanquished my sorrow, and turned it into terror. And then it stopped.
But worst of all, he wasn't even moving.
'Whiteclaw?'
Out of nowhere, the Spinosaur's tail struck me again, making me fall to my back, then land on my stomach with a painful grunt. A searing spike of pain bruised my scales on my bone, turning red with irritation. I looked up with burning red eyes as a flawless monster approached my frontal horns, gleaming as if nothing bad has ever occured in his life.
I backed up quickly, feeling the ground bounce underneath my feet, but despite the anger and fire raging in my heart, I couldn't bear attack him. It felt suicidal to face a killer who cannot die.
"Submit to your destiny," The Shadow sneered, then lunged. Without hesitation, I turned my back and ran, feeling the sultry breath of the carnivore hot on my tail. For some reason, my legs carried me towards the large square component on the wall, but when I got there, fear rushed into me again.
Whiteclaw wasn't up.
Nor did he have the gun.
I set myself up, I groaned to myself, that was very stupid-
A huge splash of pain sank into my neck suddenly, making me yelp, and with a twist, I yanked my neck out the Spinosaur's jaws. Warm blood trickled down my neck, making my vision stumble, but I could still stand and fight.
Whatever it takes.
The carnivore circled close towards me, then began to change.
"A little more challenging for you Stella," He grinned, then swallowed in his new form.
A T-Rex.
I flinched when he stomped towards me, then bellowed out a huge roar that shattered my eardrums. With a lunge, it snapped at me, only to fail with a huge pop in the air.
I attacked again, bending my horns to poke at his flesh a bit. The T-Rex stumbled back, then caught my horn in its mouth, wriggling it around like a chew-toy. I screeched as I fought his power, but my skull and frill began to follow, until everything was moving all over the place. When he finally let go, I was dizzy, and felt a strike of force knock me into the wall. Everything went fuzzy for a second before I dropped to the ground, eyes closed and vision now blurrier and unfocused than ever. I laid there, feeling agony wash over me, and weakly, stared up at the demon positioned to serve a fatal blow to my body. His jaws were partly open, heaving with every foul breath, and teeth stained scarlet. I bent my head feeling tears wash over me.
Whiteclaw's probably dead.
And I'd be too.
"What are you waiting for?" I croaked. The T-Rex grinned, nodding his head.
"It's about time you listened to me Triceratops," The clock spoke, then jerked his jaws open to wrap around my strengthless neck.
I could only close my eyes as the darkness fell over me, and as the teeth sank into my flesh.
But then it stopped.
By two words.
"HEY!" A gurgled voice hissed. The Shadow paused in his kill, then released me, letting go of the pain and agony to turn towards the face. I turned too, glanced through the T-Rex's legs to spot a familiar figure.
"DOOFUS!" Whiteclaw croaked again. He was trembling in pain, and though his hands were empty, his tail and foot claw were holding onto something black. I squinted as he lifted it up a few inches, until I gasped in shock.
It was the gun.
How'd he-
"Guns don't stop me raptor," The clock growled, "Nothing will. And you don't know how to wield it."
"Well, you'd be wrong," he growled, then using his other weakened arm, his claw pulled back on the top of the weapon in a chip-chip noise. He aimed it at the Shadow, then whispered.
"Cause I was h-human once."
The trigger flicked suddenly.
A sharp abrupt bang shook the air, then popped through the Shadow's thin and utterly impossible skin, then hit something metal with a loud clunk. The Clock cocked his head in confusion, then lowered it towards his chest with a laugh.
"You think that'll kill me?" He cackled. Whiteclaw shrugged jokingly from the ground in dying breaths.
"No. I just wanted to see how.........indestructible......you really are," He simply stated, then smirked through his teeth.
Surprisingly, fear shot straight into the clock's face, and in realization of what Whiteclaw aimed for, I scrambled myself behind a rock and held on for dear life.
A sudden popping noise, a hiss, then a light of pure fire scorched the spot the Shadow originally stood, and illuminated the world like the sun itself. I screamed as the explosion shook the ground, spraying a firestorm right around the rock where I took cover. Heat boiled my skin and my horns, and I squeezed my eyes shut as more of the warmth flowed everywhere.
Pieces of rocks, metal, and other sharp materials fell like comets to the surface, and along for the ride were tiny fire breathing pellets, floating ever so softly in the newborn wind. The ground finally shook to a stop once the explosion finished, and an eerie silence darkened the world. I opened my eyes once again to the sights of these new things, and carried my frill over to see the other side.
Surely there was no more Shadow-Clock-Thing, for what remained were bits and pieces of space dust, polluting the water of darkness. Besides those remains, there was the ribs of the skeleton, containing the very thing that Whiteclaw, Amberclaw, and Shadow have been after.
I stood up, ignoring wherever Whiteclaw was, and lumbered over towards the glowing golden sphere of some particle, levitating in the scariest way. I felt a sense of fear wash over me as I went to grab it, as if something was warning me not to.
But I broke those rules anyway.
With a exhale, my paw slid underneath the figure, and sank into the core, whereas it lifted to my height. It seemed like stars almost, flashing and fiddling everywhere at once, and moving so fast, it was hard to keep an eye on one portion of it.
I felt this strange throbbing tingle in the paw in which I held the golden object, but I ignored it for now. But it only grew stronger. And that when I realized a darker situation flowing from the clock.
My paw was turning Shadow
More pain filled the deepest part of my hands, and I yelped, feeling fire course through my veins and arteries. My paw was quaking up and down, and I couldn't even control it.
"Oh no," I cried, seeing the darkness reach my elbow, then make its way to my underbelly, "No, no, no!" I spun around frantically, searching for something that could stop this.
My only option was the clock itself, standing there with its bright yellow glow, not far from where I was. My heart raced as I limped there, feeling the power not touch the tip of my pubis, snatch away the flesh from my tail, then rush up my throat and other half of my body. I vibrated horrifyingly in pain as I edged closer to the clock, the suddenly collapsed, feeling the darkness grab my heart in its long claws.
NO!
My eyes sank into nothing but a socket, and my horns looked devilish, like a skeleton almost.
"Please!!" I screamed, lifting my arm up with the orb. At the last second, before my eye could turn to blackness, my claw touched the cold soft wallside of the the countdown clock.
There was first silence.
Before the rumble of chaos erupted everywhere.
The light exploded and rampaged through the clock, bring a bit of light into the darkness, a fire in the night sky. The clocks, gears and pieces o the clock began to whirl around a bit, then gleamed a white bloom, before descending into nothing. I bounded back seeing the light scorch my eyes as the key unlocked, and gleamed on an on through its body. My flesh slowly pulled back like tides of an ocean current, into the color of my scales, until everything was restored back to normal.
Until I realized something else.
"Whiteclaw!"
I fell at first into the water, then splashed puddles everywhere, until I reached the young albino Deinonychus. He was squirming a bit, muscles twitching and part of his body limp and useless. Tears were flowing faster than a river from his burning eyes, and his jaws laid open, choking through excruciating breathing.
The injury itself was worse, black on the edges and red-bloody meat at its center. It twisted, and only spoiled more blood to seep out from the cut. The smell itself shook me, like rotted or burning flesh in my nostrils, and with that in mind, I too wanted to weep. I bent down low, softly putting my beak on his side, and placed him on a dry rock, flat and low enough for us to see each other.
I wanted to say something, but all I could do was cry.
"I let him hurt you," I sobbed, squeezing my eyes shut, then trembled harder, shaking my head, "You should've never deserved this..."
He looked at me, tearing up as well as blood dripped out his mouth.
"I-It's not-t you're fault-t."
"It's not yours either," I whispered, nudging him. He screeched again as another spasm of pain rushed into his bones, then thrashed for a second, before settling back down.
"Make it stop," Whiteclaw begged horribly, erupting more sorrow into my heartbroken soul, "Please." He coughed hard as blood spurted out, and shook uncontrollably, small that I could see it, but in his eyes, all I saw was fear.
Even in his own words too; "I-I'm scar-red."
With a weak and salt-filled mouth, I whispered.
"Its okay to be afraid," I muttered, nudging him back, "You don't have to be afraid anymore."
"Promise?" He choked, then hyperventilated. I swallowed and choked back on tears.
"P-Promise..."
Whiteclaw allowed his lips to curl into a grin, and softly with ease, I carried him off the rock to the water, and grasped him in my paws where I laid. His strength was fading as he gripped onto my arms, and horrible choking sounds filled the void, sounds that scared me more than a T-Rex's bellow.
The sound of death.
"It's okay to be afraid," I wept, holding on tighter to him, "It's okay......it's okay..." The chokings grew louder and louder, cries and weeps, moans and groans that made me quiver in my own earthquake. He begged and cried in some raptor language, clicking constantly as if the words too flowed out his body. Blood colored my arms and horns from his injury, cold and lifeless to each touch. Whiteclaw's body jerked sometimes as I held him, then rippled in a sickening cough and gurgle.
Then all went silent.
As if something shot my heart, I trembled in sadness, feeling his body turn cold. And in one swift motion, his Deinonychus claw that dug into my flesh slipped off, plummeting to the water in one smooth splash.
And it just hung there.
"No," I gripped my claws tighter, struggling to stop the tears, "No..."
The burning liquid fuzzed my vision and rolled down my cheek in seconds, plopping into the water in one fluid motion. My head exploded with agony and pain and the more I thought of the Deinonychus I was trying to save, the worse the feeling got.
Until it was too much.
I bawled in misery over the raptor's body, burying my head into his chest, and let out all the tears I contained from the moment a space rock hurled straight into our home. I wept harder and harder in long wails, bending my frill over to let each droplet fall faster than the rest, to let my tall horns fall low to grieving.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed, "I'm so sorry."
And for the first time, even with a clock veering its action alive to save us all, I lost hope.
I was finally hopeless.