CHAPTER 9

TAKING A BREATHER

It didn't take long for gathering parties to be organized and sent out in all directions; and it didn't take much persuasion, either, to recruit eager volunteers to go searching and collecting all of the plants they could find.

As for the green eaters, while Cera and Petrie set out to search and gather the plants, Lesik and Alaina stayed in the valley to continue taking care of the sick. Chomper stayed in the valley to be with his son, in case he regained conciousness.

During a break, Lesik and Alaina wandered towards the edge of the valley for a little bit of peace and quiet. Chomper came to join them.

"Yesterday was a rough day!" Lesik began. "I've never seen so many sick in my entire life!"

"Mm Hmm!" Alaina hummed.

"This is a real epidemic!" Lesik said

"At least now, we have hope!" Chomper smiled.

"Did Cera sleep in your cave last night?" Lesik asked Chomper.

Chomper nodded. "She did!"

"That's funny. When we were young, we often huddled together for warmth while we slept; but I never thought she'd want to cuddle up with a sharptooth."

Chomper just shrugged. "Maybe she finally saw past her differences... and her prejudices about us. Besides, it seemed like she needed a friend, and just wanted to sleep under a roof, for a change; instead of underneath the little points of light in the sky, like she usually does."

Lesik nodded. "Come to think of it, you two seemed to have really warmed up to each other. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you two were mated!"

Chomper just laughed. "Maybe she's finally truly accepted me as a dear friend."

"It would seem so... I'm glad! She certainly has changed a lot since we set out on this journey! She's more eager to help, she's less selfish, and is more open to the ways of the sharptooth. She's like a completely different threehorn!"

Chomper nodded. "Whatever the outcome, this whole sequence of events will change our lives forever!"

"And how!" Alaina added.

They reached a shallow cliff where they were horrified to see all of the dead sharptooth bodies that were tossed in after they died.

"By the First Egg, look at all of 'em!" Alaina exclaimed. "There must be dozens of bodies down there. HUNDREDS of bodies!"

Just as she said this, two sharptooth nurses came over and dumped a body they were carrying into the abyss.

"With many more to follow, I fear." Lesik sadly said.

Chomper sniffed. "You know what the sad part is? Somewhere, down there, at the very bottom of that pile, lies my best friend: Patient Zero! The first one of us to get infected. We often hunted together. We were inseparable! Kinda like you guys!" Chomper laughed. "We..." he couldn't complete his sentence before he started sniffling and breathing in a shallow fashion again, and then came the tears again.

"Aw, Chomper!" Alaina said as she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to start crying again?"

After a few moments, his shallow breathing and sniffling subsided. "I'll be alright." he said weakly as he wiped his cheeks with the backs of his hands.

"Come on! Let's get back to work." Lesik said.

As they were leaving, the same two sharptooth nurses were back to dump another body into the abyss.

As Chomper was walking back towards the sick area, he saw Cera was back with a first batch of medicine plants. She set them down on the grass as he came to greet her.

"I saw you were talking to Little Foot and Ducky. What were you talking about?"

Chomper just shrugged. "Nothing special."

Cera eyed him suspiciously. "You didn't tell them, did you!"

Chomper smiled. "I only told them what they needed to know." and winked at her.

Cera broke out in laughter. Chomper did, too. He then wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed her cheek.

"Anyway, where do you want these?" Cera asked, indicating the medicine plants.

"Uhm... Over by the valley entrance would be a good place to put them."

"Okay." She gathered up the plants to bring them over to where Chomper indicated he wanted them to go.

As they walked back towards the valley entrance, he saw that V'Leck was racing towards him.

"Teekul! TEEKUL! I've been looking all over for you!"

"What is it!"

"It's Roary! He's regained consciousness! He's calling to you!"

Chomper eyes lit up. "I'll be right there!"

With this V'Leck ran back towards Roary's lying place on the grass

"I'll see you later!" he said to Cera as he ran towards Roary's lying place himself. Cera proceded towards the valley entrance.

When Chomper arrived at his son's grasside, he saw he was already sitting up. "It's okay, son! I'm here."

"Dad." Roary managed weekly. He tried to smile, but he couldn't hold it for long. He also couldn't hold himself up. He fell back, and wouldn't landed hard on the back of his head, had his mother not caught him. "Oh, Roary! Please son, you must stay still. You are still very weak."

He looked up at his mother and mouthed the word "Water!" to her.

"I'll get some for you. Teek?" she said. Chomper immediately took told of his son's head and laid it down in his lap.

After a moment, Roary looked up at his father. "Dad? Is it true what mom said, that your green eater friends found the cure to the sickness?"

Chomper nodded. "It's true! The threehorn Cera and the healers are gathering up the medicine plants as we speak."

Roary's eyes grow wide. "Plants! I have to eat...plants!"

Chomper stroked the side of his son's head and smiled down at him. "It won't be so bad. They'll mix it with long neck meat so that you can swallow it."

By this time, V'Leck had returned with a leaf tray full of water from the nearby pond. Chomper tilted Roary's head up so that he can drink. "Here you go, son! Slowly! Slowly, dear!" V'Leck said as she put the tray to his mouth. Roary took a sip, then gagged. Chomper was quick to turn his head sideways to keep him from choking.

"Roary! I said 'slowly'!"

"Sorry, mom!" Roary said when he stopped coughing. His mother brought the tray to his mouth again. He laid a hand on it as he slowly drank. He sighed contently as he laid his head back down in his father's lap. "Thanks! I needed that!"

"Anytime, son!" his mother lovingly said.

Roary laid a hand on his mother's shoulder and smiled up to him. "I'm so glad that we're together again as a family... Just like old times..." Roary laughed hoarsely, then got another fit of coughing. He had to turn his head to spit up the mix of blood and mucus that had foamed into his mouth. Both V'Leck and Chomper looked very worried.

"How soon will they be ready to administer the antidote?" V'Leck asked.

"Very soon, I hope!" was all Chomper could say as an answer. He looked over and saw that more sharptooth healers were bringing in other armfuls of the medicine plant. Then he heard sharptooth volunteers running past them towards the huge long neck carcass in the distance. They were starting to gather up the meat to prepare the dosages.