Chapter 6: When Disaster Strikes

So far in their journey, the four Tarbosauruses had covered over 120 miles from where they began, and it had taken them almost a year to make it that far. They still had another 593 miles to go. It'd take them over 3 years to cover this distance and finally reach the Valley, the paradise Mom had told them about.

3 years later:

After traveling days on end for almost 4 years, the five Tarbosauruses eventually caught sight of Saurus Rock, "Look! It's Saurus Rock! We're finally here!" Speckles said.

At this time, they were all now eight years old. Claw had stayed with them all that time, and he was now 10, "Well, let's go! We'll never have to worry about food again if your mother is right about the herbivores here." he said.

Speckles gave him a sideways glare, but Claw didn't notice, "I know she's right." he thought. They all walked toward the entrance, but then they realized that the Valley had herbivores, they were carnivores.

They saw the Secret Caverns and decided to got through. They came to the end of the Secret Caverns, and the had a view of most of the Valley. There were a good amount of herbivores, but they quickly realized that there weren't any young herbivores around, only large adults that could easily kill them.

Then, Speckles thought that they couldn't kill the herbivores and survive that way, but he came up with a more…extreme idea, "Maybe we can live among these herbivores if we deem ourselves as no threat to them."

All his siblings looked at him, eyes wide open, "Are you insane!? They will always take us as threats, no matter how small we are. We CANNOT physically live among herbivores as carnivores. Besides, even if we could, our instincts as hunters would take over us and we'd kill one of them." Quicks said.

Claw overheard them, although he was still looking straight ahead, "Actually, maybe we can. I speak a little bit of herbivore, and maybe I can communicate with them and tell them that we mean them no harm and just want to live alongside them." he said.

Now everyone, including Speckles, looked at him, "You speak herbivore? Since when?" Scarlet queried. Claw just looked at her, "Okay. Then let's infiltrate the Valley and see how these herbivores live instead. Does that sound better?" he said. They all decided, even though it was a suicidal idea, Claw was older and had slightly more knowledge than he did, so they went along with infiltrating the Valley, "Well, okay. If we're going to be watching these herbivores, we need to make sure they don't ever see us or we'll have to either kill them or run." Claw said.

Along with his age, Speckles and his siblings had become best friends with Claw, and they all trusted each other equally with their lives, so they all followed Claw towards the exit of the Secret Caverns.

Then, about halfway out, a powerful earthquake began shaking the caves. They all saw the stalactites hanging from above, and they knew instantly that they needed to get the hell outta the caverns, "Go! Sprint! We need to get out of here before we're crushed!" Claw said.

They all started sprinting just seconds before a stalactite landed where they were just standing. Quicks instinctively looked back and saw the sharp rock shatter into a million pieces upon impact. This made him run a little faster.

They all saw the light of the exit getting closer, and they were about to run right out of the Caverns when a rock fell and blocked them in, "NO!" Speckles yelled. Claw saw this happen and his lowered his head and growled.

Everyone wondered what he was trying to do, but then they all understood. Claw was going to ram through the rock like a Trike or Pachyrhinosaurus. Although he was a 10-year-old Tarbosaurus, he ran into the rock and fell to the ground, "Ow." he said, slightly dazed.

Everyone else came skidding to a stop, "I don't know why I thought that that might've worked. (Sees something) Wait. We can push the rock aside! Claw, help us! We'll all push that way and get out of here!" Speckles said.

Everyone else saw what he saw, a slight gap between the edge of the mouth of the caverns and the rock. Claw got back up and everyone started pushing the rock.

It wasn't budging at first, but then Claw curled his toes to get a stronger grip, then Speckles did the same, and his siblings followed one-by-one. They started making progress with reopening their only exit.

Eventually, Speckles heard a faint rumbling sound, and he paused on pushing and looked back where they had come from. He saw that the top of the cave was breaking and collapsing down, and it was happening foot-by-foot as it got closer to them, "The cave roof's collapsing! We've gotta hurry!" Speckles alerted everyone. He soon got back to pushing the rock.

They did get the rock out of the way, and they ran out right as the cave roof above them gave out and fell right where they were. They kept running a short distance away from the cave so they didn't inhale too much dust and debris.

They shortly after stopped, right at an entrance to the Great Valley. They stood there, thinking they were safe as the earthquake kept going. Then, another crumbling sound became audible to them all. Speckles looked up to see that the rocks on top of the entrance to the Valley were falling down, "Get into the Valley before those rocks block us!" Speckles yelled.

He ran into the Valley while everyone else looked up to see the same thing, "Wait for us!" Scarlet said. The rest of them ran in and followed where Speckles went. He found some very thick foliage with nothing capable of crushing them nearby and hid in them. The others followed suit.

They saw the herbivores having similar calamities, not the ones the five were just in, but worrying about things falling on top of them. One Pachyrhino even fell over after a tree fell in front of it and it couldn't stop running quick enough.

They all stayed well hidden while they watched how the herbivores handled an earthquake.

One thing Speckles found quite peculiar was just the immense power and duration of the earthquake. It had been going on strong for about 7 minutes, and it wasn't showing any signs that it was dying down, "This earthquake will probably have a lot of aftershocks." he joked. Nobody laughed, or even looked at him for that matter. He didn't really care, but to him his joke was funny.

After what felt like a literal eternity, the earthquake finally stopped. During the quake, there were some herbivores that had taken shelter, and they started coming out and they seemed to be assessing all the damage the quake had done, which, in truth, wasn't that much, if you didn't count than one entrance was blocked with rocks, and almost all of the trees fell down.

The carnivores watched how the herbivores were reacting to the powerful quake. The first thing they noticed was that there were different species of herbivore all living together peacefully. Speckles was about to make a comment on this, but they heard footsteps approaching their location.

Speckles looked all around to see what and where the creature making the noises was, and the answer he got was right in front of them. A Gallimimus came strolling right past them. When Speckles saw it, he froze and held his breath.

The Galli went right past them without stopping. Speckles was relieved, but then the Galli stopped shortly after and turned around. It looked right at the foliage they were in, and then Speckles tensed back up, "Guys, I think we've been spotted already. Look." Speckles whispered.

They all turned around and saw the Galli walking directly toward them, "We can't run. The exit has been blocked and none of us, not even me, can climb that wall quick enough before the other herbivores get to us." Claw said.

Speckles was readying himself to jump, grab, and then kill the Galli and drag its body into the bushes. He was about to lunge at it when it spoke to them, "I know you five are hiding from the residents of the Valley. I will not alert them to your presence if you tell me why you are here."

They felt like it was a trick, but seeing how the Galli knew that there were five of them and that they were in the foliage even though they were hiding so good, especially for their large sizes, that even a person with the sharpest of eyes never would've seen them. They had mastered the art of hiding in foliage which camouflaged them all very well.

They peeked out and looked at the Galli, "Who are you and how did you know we're here?" Claw asked. The Galli had a blank expression before, and it still had it, although it seemed to prefer speaking in carnivores, "I am Sage. We Gallis have a sense in us that tells us when a dinosaur we can't see is nearby." it said. They all believed him.

When he told them about the sense thing, he was making it up. He wasn't allowed to tell them how he really knew that they were there, "You five are hiding to spy of the residents to see how they live and interact, correct?" he said.

By now, all the Tarbos were exchanging looks with one another as to how Sage knew basically everything about what they were doing, but they didn't question him about that, "Yes." Speckles said.

Sage smiled slightly, "Okay. If you want to see how the residents interact here, you have two options. One, you can continue hiding and secretly watch them, which will result in you being caught and killed." he began.

Claw cocked his head, "Or?" he said. Sage looked at him, "Or…you can let me testify on your behalf of wanting to live among these residents in peace, which there is a high chance that they will accept you as they hold me as the wisest dino in the Valley. But what you do is ultimately your choice." he finished.

Of course, all the carnivores liked the sound of living amongst the herbivores, no hiding from them, but they again remembered that their carnivorous instincts would most likely kick in at some point and they'd kill an herbivore, and then be most likely chased out from the Valley.

They all huddled together like a football team discussing a game plan. They took a minute, but they finally made their decision. It was a risky one, but they had a felling Sage might've been able to help them with it, "We'll live among the herbivores in peace." Claw said.

Sage smiled, revealing his semi-sharp teeth, "Good. Let's go. You'll have to prove your worth, and helping them clean up the debris left by that earthquake." he said, beginning to walk towards the rest of the Valley residents.

The moment that a Pachyrhino saw the five carnivores, it gave a yell that all residents heard, "Carnivores!" All herbivore heads snapped to the five approaching carnivores. All the residents stopped cleaning up the debris and started running towards them.

Sage stopped them all, "No! Stop, all of you! They've come here to live alongside you in peace. They mean none of you any harm." he said. All the residents went wide-eyed at that, "Peace? No carnivore has ever wanted peace with herbivores! Besides, the Valley is only for herbivores in the first place, no carnivores are ever to be living here!" the Pachyrhino who originally alerted the Valley of the Tarbos' presence.

Sage knew there'd be heavy opposition to Claw, Speckles, and his siblings living with them peacefully, and he was prepared for this, "No, the Valley is not just for herbivores. Truthfully, the Great Valley is for dinosaurs who just want a home and to feel like they're part of a family. These five all lost their homes and their families over 3 years ago, and they've survived long enough to make it here. How can you all possibly deny any dinosaur, whether they have sharp teeth and eat meat, or have flat teeth and eat plants, a safe place to live and the satisfying feeling of being a member of a family? Isn't that what the Great Valley is really meant to be?" he said.

That statement had no possible answer. With just a few words, Sage single-handedly questioned whether not allowing the five to live in the Valley was really right. The residents all looked at each other, and then back to Sage.

"Okay. You're right. But don't think we've forgotten that they still have their natural hunting and killing instincts. If they wish to live among us, they must either adapt to eating fish from the river, or hunt and eat outside the Valley. One single death inside the Valley from them, and they'll be gone faster than you can say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.' You understand that, Sage?" the Pachyrhino said.

Sage nodded and then glanced back at them, "Okay. I will make sure to keep an eye on them if that makes you all feel safer." he said, looking back and winking at the carnivores.

The Pachyrhino nodded, "Yes. We would all appreciate you doing that, Sage. At least until the carnivores get the idea of what they're allowed and not allowed to do." he said before turning around an resuming cleanup of the debris that was all over the place.

The rest of the residents also turned around and they all went back to the part of the Valley they were previously at, cleaning up. Sage looked back at them, and he spread his arms, "Welcome to your new home!" he said.