Chapter 3
Talia And Sharptooth

A day has passed since the young dinosaurs and their human companion left the Great Valley in an effort to rescue the younglings' trapped parents from being obliterated either by a volcano or by pack hunting Utahraptors. It was 7 am local time and everyone was exhausted, Cera especially since she lugged the heaviest load of them all. They still had twenty miles left, or six to seven hours of travelling.

In the lead, Bryan sighed, wishing he brought something which could've ferried him and the young ones straight into the fray in less than an hour. Meanwhile twenty miles ahead, a female Tyrannosaurus Rex emerges from the forest a few feet in front of the volcano's base. She grins as she watched the adult herbivores, who still struggling to free their leader. One of her commanders rushed to her side, reporting that his forces were ready to attack on command.

She smiled. There was no hurry or need to attack now. Those "dumb herbivores" were stuck on the side of a live volcano about to erupt any minute from now and if she could, Talia would much rather let nature take its course than waste her loyal followers on an entire herd. A confrontation would almost certainly result in casualties, not something the female wanted.

But the Tyrannosaurus Rex had no idea she was being the dumb one here. Twenty miles behind her, Bryan and the young dinosaurs have made contact with her rear guard and they were dealing heavy blows to her followers. Thanks to the M60 machine gun mounted on Cera's back, the male human was able to even the odds through volume of fire, mowing many Theropods at a time.

Bodies littered the ground, most with multiple gunshot wounds. Some of the predators died a quick and painless death but others weren't so lucky. Those who weren't shot in vital areas or the triangle of death bled from their wounds, screaming as they felt sharp, burning sensations throughout their body. The engagement itself lasted no more than a couple of minutes but Bryan had ran through two ammunition boxes containing two hundred round belts each and had killed over fifty Theropods.

The barrel on his gun was smoking hot. If he had been firing any longer, the male human might have to perform a barrel change in the head of battle. Fortunately he didn't and now he had one final task left; mercy kill anyone mortally wounded and leave the ones who could be saved alone. He draws his Inland Mfg. M1911A1 pistol and proceeds to walk over the carnage.

One shot per mortally wounded Utahraptor, each shot to the head. Every shot he took scares all of the wounded. They could do nothing, only hope that he would spare them. The mortally wounded knew their time was up and a quick death was welcome; they didn't hope, only prayed that their afterlife wouldn't be full of torment.

As he takes aim at yet another Theropod, the male human finds something which shocks him. Unlike the others, this little one had a different color scheme; she was bluish as opposed to the Raptors, who were either green with dark green stripes or red with black stripes. And she had a small sail on her back. This little fella wasn't an Utahraptor; she was a Spinosaurid, an Irritator Challengeri to be precise.

Forced to fight for Talia, she was nearly killed. A bullet had been shrieking towards her but one of the Raptors took the bullet as he ran by her. She was safe, tucked in under the Utahraptor's body. What shocked Bryan even more was the fact that the little Spinosaurid was barely a year old.

"By golly…" he struggled for words. "What is going through her mind?"

"Who's mind?" Littlefoot asked.

"Talia or whatever her name was."

"Sharptooth's wife?" Cera asked. "I thought we were going to save our parents?"

"We are. But the only reason the others can't move forward is because of a screen provided by a clan of Utahraptors. Talia enlisted their help so she could kill off your families and bring hurt to the ones who killed her husband."

"I'm scared…" the young Spinosaurid squeaked. "I-I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"Shh, it's okay…" Bryan slings his rifle on his back and cradles the young Theropod. "Care to tell me your name?"

"Lima."

"Okay Lima, don't worry. We aren't here to kill you; we're just passing through the woods to get to a volcano."

"The one that's about to erupt?"

"Yeah."

"C-Can I follow you? Please? I've been travelling alone ever since Sharptooth killed my family."

"Sure."

Chaos has erupted in the mysterious beyond. A clash of continent has struck the land, catching the herds off guard. New divides and cracks begin to form on what was once a single continent. But the situation was even worse for Bryan and Littlefoot. They were being chased by Sharptooth, the undisputed Lord of the mysterious beyond, after stumbling upon his den.

The human's attempts to subdue the beast with his rifle was met with initial success but ever since the beast adjusted to the stinging sensation caused by Bryan's bullets, he was no longer affected. No amount of gunfire could bring down Sharptooth, not unless the bullet caliber increased. If only Bryan had brought his M14 over instead of his XM16E1.

As they continued to run, Bryan spots a herd of Apatosauruses moving through unstable ground which was rapidly crumbling. Before they knew it, the earth gave way, sending them plunging to their deaths. It was at this moment, the male human realized he and Littlefoot could not keep running like this. They needed room to breathe and plan each step carefully. One wrong move and they too could end up like the Apatosaurus herd.

Bryan spins around, the selector of his rifle set to fire. He unleashes yet another barrage of fire in Sharptooth's direction. Unlike last time, he did not simply point and shoot. Instead, he aimed for the behemoth's chest, hoping to perforate the lungs or better yet, penetrate the heart and cause death within two seconds. Either way was lethal but the time it took to kill Sharptooth differed.

It didn't matter to Bryan however. He just wanted the behemoth dead and the two of them safe from predators. The male human takes aim at his target's chest area and fires. Several rounds penetrate the behemoth. Most were blocked by the ribcage since they were fired in the direction of his lung but one, fired in the direction of the heart, penetrates and hits its target. Presumably due to light powder load, the bullet did not go all the way through, but it did lodge itself in Sharptooth's heart.

An indescribable amount of pain shoots through Sharptooth's receptors, causing him to rear back and snarl in agony. He stumbles back and falls right off the edge of a recently opened divide, presumably to his doom. There was no time to celebrate the victory. Bryan and Littlefoot had to get to safety and the human led the youngling through the rapidly crumbling landscape.

Just then the ground underneath them rises, pushing them high above the carnage as a cloud of dust impaired their vision of the world below. They hugged each other in an embrace. Far away from home and with no family member to turn to, each other was all they have left. The embrace gave them comfort, and comforting was something they could really use now.