Chapter 2
I woke up to the sound of an extremely loud roar that was right over me. As I opened my eyes, I saw two large brownish-gold eyes staring directly down at me. It only took me a few seconds to see in the corner of my eye that these two brown eyes weren't the only eyes on me. There were maybe twenty others.
"Woah! Woah! What's goin' on?" I looked to my left as a furry creature emerged from the trees. Now that I looked, I saw that all these eyes belonged to several different dinosaurs, all that I thought were extinct, and this furry creature was a weasel.
The dinosaurs got out of the way as the weasel walked through, as if they were at his command. The weasel had a leaf patch on his right eye and was carrying a knife that looked like a tooth strapped to a stick by some kind of vine.
Once he was close enough, he started to sniff, his rather large nose twitching as he took in my scent. After a few seconds of sniffing, he smiled, his lips curving crookedly to reveal two sharp bottom teeth in the form of a smirk.
"She's harmless! Just an innocent little ferret!" I grit my teeth. "I'm a ferret-weasel. Both." His smile vanished. "What'ya say, mate?" I kept silent. He shrugged it off and held out a hand. I took it and he helped me up with great force. By now all the dinosaurs had left.
"So what's your name, ferret?" I grit my teeth harder. "It's Jade." I seethed. He nodded and turned away, "And I'm Buck, short for Buckminster! But just use the short name, mate!" I nodded without a word. He turned back. "What're you doin' 'ere?"
I looked up to the crack in the ice in the area where I had fallen. He looked up and did that crooked smirk again. "I see! Ya fell! Hmm, knew it would happen eventually!" I blushed. I had been the first unlucky one? How embarrassing!
Now I was worried though. Was I deep underground? How would I get back? Could this guy help me? Could I trust him? What would I do if I couldn't get back to my family? How could I just leave them all alone like that? All answers were floating around in my thoughts and I let out a whimper.
Buck turned at the sound. "What are you cryin' 'bout?" I looked up. "I need to get back to m-my family!" I cried. "I can't leave them! I'm the oldest, in charge, the adult! I've got to be there for them!" Buck's ears drooped and his crooked smile completely faded.
I fell on my knees and wept. It didn't take very long before I felt a hand on my shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, mate. You'll get back. I'll even help ya!" I looked up. "Really?" He nodded. "'Course I can! Let's go!" I got up to my full height and followed him.
The journey's silence lasted a minute before I finally spoke, "So how come those dinosaurs didn't attack you or whatever. Those guys seemed to like meat." Buck laughed, "I'm probably the most fierce creature you'll find here. I've conquered all of these dinos, including the most ferocious one of all. I call him…Rudy! But he's still not obedient yet!"
My eye twitched. "Rudy?" He nodded. I held back the urge to laugh, but ended up squeaking instead. Buck turned. "You think that's funny!?" I tried to stop as he continued to speak. "He's the one who forced me to wear this!" He pointed to his leaf patch. "My right eye is no more 'cause of him, and yet you're laughing at the situation as if ya enjoy the fact that I've lost half my sight."
Now this made me stop laughing immediately. I hadn't meant that, but the look on Buck's face made it quite clear that that's what he thought I meant. I held up my hands. "I swear I didn't mean that! It's just a kind of funny name, that's all! I'm sure he's scary and mean and powerful, but then shouldn't his name be something intimidating?"
Buck snorted and walked ahead without another word. I followed closely so I wouldn't lose him. He seemed like the only one here that could tame these dinosaurs. And when we talked, he made it sound easy to live here when I'm sure it wasn't. His patch made it very obvious.
"So, is there anything left of your eye?" I asked at some point. He looked at me. "Well, I don't feel much, so I'm not sure." I nodded, not wanting to make him upset. He was, after all, my only ticket out of here. "So," I said after some silence. "Where are we going?" Buck pointed into the far distance, to an area I couldn't see. "Ya fell far back, so we 'ave ta head past Death Pond, Lava Falls, the remainder of the Plates of Woah, the Chasm of Death, and through the Jungle of Misery."
I flinched at each name. They all sounded difficult, although maybe the Plates of Woah would be easy. But then again, all of them sounded terrible so why wouldn't the Plates be terrible too. It only seemed reasonable or logical.
I had noticed before but when I had fell, it had been daylight. Now, it was nearly dark above. Buck also realized this as well. "Okay, we stop here! Good thing because at least now you won't have to worry about the dangerous stuff till tomorrow! Aye?" I nodded shakily and sat down on a rock, bringing my knees up to my chin. This was going to be a big adventure…
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