Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or any of its characters. I only own my OC's.

Chapter 7

I woke up to find I was laying beside the campfire from the night before. My arm was wrapped in some large leaves and some of my adhesive tape from my first aid kit. I'm guess they must have picked up on treating wounds from where I treated Diego. It may have looked like a five year old's attempt at wrapping a present, but I'm sure the treatment probably saved my life.

I looked around to see to see the herd standing around me with joyful faces upon seeing my awakening.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"For about 36 hours; you lost a lot of blood back at that confrontation with Soto. I'm surprised you are even awake at the moment." Ellie answered.

My mind raced as I began to remember how I ended up here. As my mind flooded with memories of the recent conflict, I looked down at my watch to see how much time I had left.

One hour left…

As I recalled Soto's threat, I realized that we were in the same cave that we were in the previous night. This was strange; I remember Manny talking about how we should be out of this valley by now if we would have kept a decent pace. Why were we still here?

"Why haven't we left the cave yet?" I asked out loud.

"Two reasons, actually." Diego answered. "For one, we thought you would recover quicker if you were able to rest on the ground than being carried on the back of either Manny or Ellie. Second, we thought we might be able to dispose of Soto's pack once and for all with your help."

"What do you mean, 'with my help?" I said in confusion.

"You mentioned earlier that your tribe was searching for new lands to settle upon, correct?" Manny asked for my conformation.

I simply nodded my head. I already knew where they were taking this, and I was praying that they wouldn't be asking for what I thought they were about to ask for. To my misfortune, they did.

"We were hoping that you could bring your tribe's warriors here and fight off Soto's pack," Manny continued. "Once they are dead, your people could settle in this valley, and we could be free from the pack's constant threat."

"And your tribe could use sabres' pelts as clothes!" Sid said with enthusiasm. I noticed that Diego shifted uncomfortably at the thought of his former comrades being used as mere coats. However, I was more concerned about breaking the truth to the herd at the moment. It was time to stop telling lies and speak the truth for once. The herd at least deserves that from me.

"Guys, I don't think that plan will work," I began. Everyone looked at me in surprise. I knew this wasn't going to go over well with tell them.

"I haven't been completely honest with you guys," I said. "I don't think my tribe will be willing to help fight Soto's pack because, well, they don't exist."

Everyone but Manny was had been taken back at my confession. "What do you mean, 'they don't exist?" Diego asked with accusation in his voice.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted," Manny said.

"Look," I began, "I'm sorry, I truely am. I am not from around here, let alone, time period. I am from the twenty-first century A.D, which is quite a bit further in the future from this current time. I am a writer who was tasked to write a fictional story, but I have had severe trouble doing so. However, my neighbor recently told me that he invented a time machine, and he wanted me to be the first person to use it who wasn't himself. The main reason I came here was to find inspiration for the story, which just so happened to be found in you guys: The Great Unusual Herd. When you guys asked me about my origins, I didn't think you guys would believe me when I told you I was from the future. That's why I lied to you. I didn't want to cause any friction between us till my expedition ends in about an hour."

"Well you sure did a great job of that," Manny said sarcastically. "You lied to us once, how do we know that story wasn't just another fictional tale you made up?"

I thought for a moment. There was no way I could prove that I was telling the truth. Somehow, they just had to believe me. With Soto on the prowl, I couldn't risk being by myself again.

"You don't," I said in a sigh of defeat, "I realize it is a hard story to believe, let alone that it is coming from me. Somehow, I will make this up to you guys, but I need your protection till I have to go back to my time period in less than one hour."

"And then what?" Manny said angrily. "You run back like a coward to the safety of your time while we are left defenceless to Soto's pack? That sounds like the normal selfishness of a human."

"Manny!" Ellie cried.

"Don't you 'Manny' me," Manny shouted. "If it wasn't for this idiot, we would be out of this deathtrap of a valley by now. Instead, we lost valuable time waiting for Henry to regain consciousness. Soto is probably on his way to kill us right now and we don't have enough time to escape."

Everybody seemed taken back by Manny's outburst. However, nobody seemed to disagree with him. He only said what everyone else was probably thinking.

This entire situation looked bleak for everyone, and my actions made it that much worse. If I would have just stayed inside the cave yesterday, I wouldn't have been attacked, and we may have been able to make our escape.

On the bright side, I just have to survive in the Ice Age for only about an hour and I am home-free. I should be happy about the fact that I have a brilliant story that could turn my career around, but I can't shake the feeling that I may have indirectly killed the herd by causing them to wait on my recovery. I suppose time will tell if any of us make it out of here alive for it to matter.

"I'm sorry," I finally spoke, breaking everyone from their thoughts. "I had no intentions of coming here and bringing harm to any of you."

"Well, you certainly did, genius," Manny said coldly. He then turned to everyone else and said with sorrow in his voice, "Soto could be here any minute. I say we go ahead and at least head towards the exit of the valley. At least they will have more trouble cornering us out in the open than here in the cave. Let's go."

Without any other words spoken, everyone got up slowly from where they were and headed toward the opening of the cave. Not even Sid was not his normal, perky self; the whole herd seemed to walk in the dead silence. Very carefully, I got up from my resting place and started to walk. I felt like I was half dead from my injury, but I knew I would completely be if I didn't start walking.

As we walked in numbing silence, I could only pray that Soto's pack wouldn't catch us before I left. This entire situation was such a mess. I kept telling myself that I saved Diego's life, so my actions that would cause his and the herds doom would be justified. However, I knew that I was just lying to myself. No matter how I looked at it, my actions up to this point have caused their inevitable death. There is no way that they stand a chance against the 20+ sabers that were in Soto's pack, even if the herd consisted of three mammoths. If they were out of this valley, the pack would have lost their scent when they crossed over the river, but they would never make it there in time since they lost over a day's travel time waiting on my recovery.

Nobody would make eye contact with me, even Diego wouldn't. At first, I was mad at him since I saved his life, but after some thought, I figured out why he resented me so much: I indirectly killed his family. Even though I saved his life, his whole family will die because of me.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As we passed by the mouth of a large cave, my watch's alarm went off signifying that I had two minutes left before I was transported to the present. Everyone stopped and turned to me with contempt in their eyes.

"So this is it, huh?" Diego said.

"I suppose so," I murmured.

The next thing I heard was a rustling in the bushes behind us. All of us knew who the mystery animal was, so we just waited for it to show itself.

As the large saber walked out of its hiding place, I could see at least twenty sabres immediately surround the herd. The pack seemed very strong and, more importantly, very hungry. As we surveyed our current predicament, Soto spoke up:

"Nowhere to run now human. Nobody can save you this time. You are completely surrounded. After I sink my teeth into your flesh, my pack will dine on you and your little herd's corpses." He then turned to Diego with a prideful grin on his face. "Except for you, Diego. You will receive the great honour of watching your family be torn apart by your former pack while being able to do nothing to prevent it."

Diego let out a fierce roar at Soto's threat. "You won't get near them if I have anything to do about it!" He shouted as he lunged at the audacious tiger. However, he was pinned down long before he reached Soto. Diego futilely fought under the weight of the two larger sabres on top of him. After a few seconds of struggling in vain, Diego gave up, laying in fear of what would happen to his beloved family.

"Now that the coward has been taken care of," Soto said with confidence, "I say we first kill the human whose kind killed half our pack so many years ago!" The whole pack roared in agreement. "We were defeated by the terrible humans when they destroyed half of our numbers and wore their skins as trophies to keep their own useless hides warm" This earned another outcry from the sabres as they cheered their leader on.

I glanced down at my watch: Sixty more seconds. If I could just survive till then, I would be home free.

"Mankind has troubled this pack for too long. I say we slaughter this human to get our revenge for our brothers who shed their blood by the hand of man!" Once again the sabres roared in accordance.

Fifty seconds…

Soto then turned to me as the roars of the others quieted down. "You will pay for defying me, human. Let this be a sign to all of your kind that Soto's pack is not to be taken lightly. Any last words, human?"

Forty seconds…

I glanced at the herd as they looked to me with the same amount of fear I must had been expressing. I saw Manny and Ellie holding their daughter as closely as they could. Ellie had tears flowing down her face as Peaches sobbed into her father's shoulder. "It will be okay, Peaches," I heard Manny whisper, "I'm not sure how, but it will be okay."

Thirty seconds…

Crash and Eddie was holding each other, crying their eyes out. The sight might have been comical if it wasn't for the context that it was in.

Twenty seconds…

Sid was hiding behind a rock as two sabres chuckled maniacally the two slowly approached him from behind.

Fifteen seconds…

I finally cast my gaze over to Diego whose eyes also met mine. Without any words spoken, I knew what he wanted to say to me: How could you do this to us?

Ten seconds…

I slowly mouthed the words, I'm sorry, which was really directed to all of the herd.

Five seconds…

That was when the idea that could save the herd came to my mind. Why had I not come up with this idea before now? Still, it was a long shot, but I guess it was worth a shot. The herd deserved at least a chance to make it out of this alive.

Four…

"Yes, I do, Soto." I finally said.

Three...

"Sometimes, to go forward, you have to go back."

Two…

Soto had a confused look on his face, but quickly brushed it off, saying, "Foolish final words, human. I suppose it won't matter anyway. Prepare to die."

One…

Just as Soto lunged at me, I was surrounded by a bright light, blinding me of all my senses.

-End of Chapter Seven

A/N: Sorry for the long delay since my last update. With school and having a part time job, finding time to write is somewhat difficult. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take near as long to finish.

So what did you guys think? Like the cliffhanger? I'd love to know what you think, so please review!

See you in Chapter 8!