He was hot, wet and tired. Something rough scrapped along his face, like sandpaper. He ignored it, he was too tired to be dealing with anything right now. It happened again, this roughness on his cheek. Felix growled. Something dripped on his neck. He smelled an odd, and yet familiar sweetish odour. There was a deep growling sound. Then the rough scarping again, starting at his neck, moving up to his cheek.
Slowly, he opened an eye and stared up into the face of a rat. The big dull eye of the rat peered down at him, with soft eyelashes. The rat was licking him with its tongue. It was almost pleasant, almost reassuring. Lying on his side in the mud, with a rat-
It wasn't a rat.
It was way too large. He jumped up, scrambling to his feet.
The animal's large head was almost level with his own, leading to a surprisingly thick neck, and a heavy body. And one sight made the animal instantly recognizable. It was wagging its tail. The great dame looked at Felix oddly, trying to figure what exactly he was. Felix growled, attempting to scare the dog off.
This startled the furry beast, which whimpered in alarm, and moved slowly away. It walked a few steps down the muddy shore and then turned, watching Felix again. Confused and dazed, Felix barked at the animal again, attempting to drive it off. Much to his surprise, the animal barked in response, but much, much louder. Felix took a step back, almost falling back into the river. He had never seen an animal like this before, so he was naturally cautious.
There was a sudden snap from the foliage behind the dog. The dog paused teasing Felix, and glanced over its shoulder in the direction the noise came from. The same sound repeated. Suddenly the dog took off running in away from the tree's, up the muddy shore. Soon the animal disappeared into the distance, and Felix was left alone. Or so he thought.
A raptor which matched the size of himself stepped out. Then another behind it. And then another. And another.
Soon stood before him was a pack of raptors, all different species, colours and sizes. The pack totalled six as they surrounded him, and he could spot small hatchlings staying in the tree line. There was no overall species for the pack. Instead, the overall species was a rag-tag team of different raptors. Two of the raptors where of his own species, small with black and white spots. At the back of the pack was the same species of Alpha, only slightly smaller, with black and white tiger strips.
The alpha of the pack was surprisingly small, but made up for its size with a two pairs of killing claws, instead of one. The female stood beside him, a raptor slightly bigger than Felix, with a dark body and reddish stripes, also like a tiger. The finale member of the pack was also this species, only a lot smaller, and probably out on its first hunt.
The alpha female hissed at him. Then it occurred to him, they were hunting that animal, and he had let it get away. A fatal mistake. And on top of that, this was probably their territory.
Felix hissed, ready to defend himself, and gestured to the river behind him.
The alpha male approached him, a lot gentler than the female.
The alpha male chirped.
Felix answered with another, slightly more aggressive chirp. He shook off some of the water on his back.
The large, black and white species approached and motioned towards the pack, and then to him.
Felix barked in response.
The alpha male and female turned to one another and gave each other a small series of growls, before turning back to the weak raptor. The male pointed towards Felix with his snout, and then towards his own pack. He wanted him to come with them. Should he? The pack didn't seem that strong; it was made up of rejects from other packs. Other, with all their abilities put together, they could make a rather decent group. Especially at bringing stuff down. And as it happened, Felix did want to take something down. Or shall we say some raptor.
Slowly, Felix agreed to join them. In the distance, a hurricane over the ocean, thunder dramatically cracked overhead.
The trio sat in the grass, staring out over the plains, watching the dinosaurs go through their daily routines.
"Those are a species of Triceratops… I'm not sure which though, they seem a little too small to be actual Trikes." Abby continued their conversation, pointing the horned herd of animals, slowly moving by the river.
"Paras-Porsul-Parasour-Para." Jason stuttered, pointing to a heard near them.
"Parasaurolophus." Abby corrected him.
"Yeah." He blushed.
"And those." Abby pointed to a herd on the very opposite side of the plain. "Are Apatosaurus."
"I thought they were Brontosaurus?"
"They are, well, no were. It turns out Brontosaurus doesn't actually exist; the skeleton they found was a misidentified Apatosaurus."
"Weird." He said, clearly not interested.
"It doesn't make sense." She said.
"I know, I mean what does that say for the ? Couldn't that just be a misidentified Spinosaurus?" He asked.
"Not that. And, no, those are entirely different-" She said.
"Then what?" He asked, standing up. Before she could answer, Alpha stood up and growled at Jason, who raised his hands in defence.
"Alpha, leave him alone." Abby told him, not turning away from the scene.
Alpha stopped growling, but kept his eyes on Jason. Jason shook it off and took a step forward into the plain. Alpha leaped in front of Jason and barked viscously, making him fall back onto the grass, shielding his face. But that was all, no attack, he just went back to Abby. Abby watched him strangely. When he saw this, he pointed towards the ground with his snout.
The she noticed, going in a perfectly straight line around the plain, was a worn down path. The path looked like it had been trampled on by a thousand animals, all going in the exact same direction. And, Jason was about to cross the line.
If Abby was right, the line was a territory line, and whatever owned the territory...well, if Alpha didn't want to face it, Abby doubted she did.
"It's a territory line, don't cross it." She told him, slowly rising.
"A territory of what?" He asked.
"I don't know, but considering he doesn't want to cross it, I think its best we don't." She said.
"Speaking of that, come on, we better get going." Jason turned around, and started to walk back to the tree line.
"Go where?" Abby asked.
"Home. It's what I was sent here to do, remember?" He said playfully.
"Oh yeah..." Abby trailed off.
She still hadn't figured out what to do about that. She had hoped before he brought it back up in conversation she'd have found a solution to it. But, nothing. Her best idea was to, 'accidently' un-ock the Anomaly once she got through, and then Alpha 'accidently' come into the present, and then somehow found his way into her house… And that was crap, if she said so herself.
There was only one option left...
"About that… I can't leave yet." She said sheepishly.
Jason turned and looked at her. "Don't be silly. Now come on, I want to get out of the forest before dark."
"No Jason, I'm serious." She said, stroking Alpha's back.
"This raptors been orphaned, and he's only a juvenile he won't survive by himself. I just need to stay here long enough for him to be okay by himself, or until I can think of another solution. And… that anomaly is always reopening it's not like this is my last chance to go home… but I will need you to give Connor a message, and preferably come back with some supplies for me."
Jason sighed. "Abby I really, really don't want to do this, but-"
"Do what?"
"But the ARC told me to bring you back no matter what the consequences, by force if necessary."
Abby sighed. 'This isn't going to be easy.' She thought.
"Can't you say you didn't find me?"
"They told me not to come back without you. If I go back without you, I don't get paid. And don't get me wrong I completely see what you're saying, but I still want to get paid."
"We are sixty five million years away from society, and it's still all about money? Look around at how beautiful this place is Jason, and yet you're only concerned about the money, do you see the problem with that? People wonder why I prefer lizards." She spat.
"Look Abby, you seem a really nice girl and everything, so I really don't want to do this. Can't you just come quietly? It will save us both the trouble." He asked.
"No, I'm not going with you." She said, getting impatience.
"Abby." Jason took a step forward. Alpha leaped between him and Abby, snapping his jaws and hissing menacingly. Jason stepped back.
"Jason, go home before you forget the way." She said firmly. "I'm staying here with Alpha until I either find him a pack, or find a way to keep him in the present."
"Oh can't he just come with us?!" He snapped.
"No! He deserves to be free, and if I took him into the present he'd either be shot on sight, locked up in the menagerie or worse." Abby snapped.
"Oh for god sakes Abby. Please, I really don't want to force you." He said calmly.
"How are you going to force me? You don't have any weapons." She said, folding her arms.
"I don't need one." He said matter-of-factly.
Jason took another step towards her; Alpha lunged forward. Jason shouted and jerked his head back, Alpha narrowly missing him, but his jaws closed on his T-shirt. Jason whipped out a small device from his jacket and plunged it into Alpha's neck. There was a flash, an electronic buzz, a small explosion, and Alpha fell to the ground wheezing and gagging, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.
Abby swore under her breath and lunged for Alpha, but Jason tackled her to the ground. She blindly hit him with her arms, swinging everything she had at him. She was a trained fighter, but she was too preoccupied checking on Alpha that he'd caught her by surprise. Jason was too strong, and he quickly pinned her arms to the ground next to her head. Abby thrashed her arms back and forth, trying to shake them loose, but it was hopeless, she couldn't move. Jason lowered his head down to hers and sighed.
"Abby." He said aggressively. "I'm not a bad person; I'm just doing my job. This is your last chance."
"Piss off!" Abby yelled and spat in his face.
Mistake. Jason glared at her, and with full force, head butted her. Everything went black.
