Chapter 14: Lost In Time
When Ramirez's vision cleared, he realized that the Blackhawk, Foley, Dunn, the Russians, and the other Rangers were gone. The scenery of a wartorn Washington D.C. was replaced by a huge amount of trees surrounding him as far as he could see, all of whom were bare and devoid of any leaves, the ground was dry and hard rather than lush and green back at D.C, and he could noticed cracks on the ground. He raised his hands in front of his face, he was still human, and the gloves he was wearing were as torn and ragged as they were back at the crash site. He looked around, and noticed an M4 with what looked like red dot and forward grip attachments on the weapon, there was a magazine in it. He checked the gun and inspected the mag, it was full so he popped it back in and reloaded the carbine.
He got up, clutching the M4, asking himself "Where the hell am I?"
He checked his ammo supply, it was full. He decided to check this area out, he looked up at the sky, it was nighttime, though the sun was beginning to rise. He walked off, he could tell that the area he was in now was enduring some kind of drought, though where he was exactly he did not know. Wherever he was, he was definitely nowhere near Washington.
Finally, after some time of walking, he came across a large rock formation and he could faintly hear children's voices coming from the formation. He headed straight for the formation, intent upon finding the children and ask them where he was. Finally, he got close to the source of the voices, he peeped his head over a rock so he can see these kids real close so he could get a better idea of where he was. However, what he saw shocked him, as there were two individuals, obviously very young, but they weren't Human. They were both quadruped creatures, both with different looks and skin colors, one was a Purplish-Tannish hue with a long neck and eyes that appeared to be a distinctive red color, and the other was of an Orange-Cremish color, had a frill on the back of her head, a large horn on her nose, and appeared to have Emerald eyes.
Ramirez's jaw dropped, he couldn't believe it, these two were Dinosaurs, the Purplish-Tannish one an Apatosaurus, the other a Triceratops. He really couldn't believe this, first he was in D.C., then in the Age of the Dinosaurs, then D.C., and now back in the Mesozoic. He stared at the two; there was something oddly familiar about them, though what he did not know. Finally, the two jumped after a frog and slid down a gentle slope into a muddy pond below. The Ranger ran after them, though at the same time was trying to keep a low profile to prevent them from seeing him.
Finally, he got down the slope, and hid behind a rock, from which he could see the two playing in the mud, chasing after frogs and laughing excitedly. It warmed his heart to see these creatures at play, not worrying about the troubles of the world around them. He thought back to his Saurian friends back in the Valley.
However, Ramirez was so busy staring at the playing youngsters that he failed to spot an ominous shadow enveloping the two young Dinos. Until that is, he felt loud rumbling, and then noticed the shadow had by now covered the two, he looked up to see what it was that was causing the shadow and to his ultimate horror saw a massive olive-brown colored Tyrannosaurus charging straight for the youngsters!
The two ran for some nearby bushes, and the Tyrannosaurus pursued, searching and sniffing for them. Ramirez ran for the bushes, intent upon helping the youngsters out. That's when he heard the Male scream "No! You're going the wrong way!"
He bolted out of the bushes to see the massive carnivore diving after the two into another thicket; he could barely make out the Sauropod caught in some vines, until he managed to break loose, causing the vines snap right at the monster's face, causing him to rear up. Ramirez ran around the bush to see the two getting attacked by the T-Rex, then suddenly a massive tail knocked the beast into a nearby rock formation. He whipped his head around to see an immense adult Apatosaurus apparently helping the two; he then noticed the predator getting up. While this was happening, he could distinctly hear the young Sauropod call out to the adult "Mother?"
The massive plant eater cried out "Littlefoot, run! Run!"
Something clicked inside Ramirez's head; he realized that THIS young Apatosaurus was none other than his friend Littlefoot, when he was younger at least. He then remembered the story Cera told him about when she, Littlefoot, and their friends journeyed to the Great Valley.
He twisted his head around to see the Tyrannosaurus charging towards the two Sauropods. He looked back at them and screamed "Shit! Behind you!" pointing towards the charging carnivore.
The two youngsters ran away as fast as they could, while Littlefoot's mother engaged the monster in battle. Noting that the giant carnivore had its back pointing towards him, Ramirez crept up to the right leg of the monster, and he whipped out his knife and snarled "Take this you scaly son of a bitch!" and he plunged the blade right in the back of the Tyrannosarus's leg. He then pulled it out, the monster was shrieking in sheer pain.
This caused the predatory Dinosaur to turn around and slam Ramirez with his giant head, sending the Ranger flying. The beast stood over the Ranger on the ground, ready to gobble him up when BAM, he was sent flying by another blow from Littlefoot's mother. Ramirez took cover behind some rocks and witnessed the two of them fight. Littlefoot's mother knocked the massive beast down a third time with her tail, though he quickly recovered and performed one of the most amazing stunts Ramirez had ever seen. The scaly titan leaped with great force onto Littlefoot's mother's back and began ripping huge chunks of flesh off of her. This amazed the young Private, he never knew Tyrannosauruses were capable of performing such incredible feats, he had read about Allosauruses leaping onto Sauropods, but never a T-Rex, he always thought they were just too massive to do this. He wondered if this beast was somehow superhuman, or in this case, superdino.
Finally, Littlefoot's mother knocked the carnivore off of her and sent him flying to the ground. He cheered, thinking the immense carnivore was defeated; however, he suddenly felt the ground shake intensely. "Oh shit, earthquake!" he said to himself.
The Dinosaurs panicked at this, the two youngsters ran for their lives, with Ramriez close behind. Littlefoot looked up to see in horror his mother standing on a cliff that was falling apart, then Ramirez noticed the carnivore getting up and heading right for them "Crap! Run!" he shouted. The three did so, as the vicious predator began catching up to them, Ramirez managed to fire a burst with his M4 carbine, though it had little effect.
The three continued running, though now Cera and Littlefoot were standing on top of the carnivore's two feet, while Ramirez was trying to pick up his pace. Suddenly, the ground they were on shifted and tilted, and the three Dinosaurs (and one panicked Human) found themselves hanging from the cliff, Cera, Littlefoot, and Ramirez clung on to the monster's tail, until finally Littlefoot's mother swatted the beast one last time, while she grabbed the youngsters by the tail, and Ramirez by the back end of his shirt, much to his annoyance. The three witnessed the giant fall to his seeming doom in the dark canyon below. Ramirez thought "That's the last we'll be seeing of that SOB."
When the giant Sauropod set them down, Littlefoot, Cera, and Ramirez ran away in different direction, panicked by the immense earthquake. Ramirez climbed onto a big rock to look around, he was amazed by the amount of devastation this one earthquake was causing, and he saw the land being split, literally, in two. The earthquake caused Ramirez to fall off the rock and had him literally clinging for dear life, though remembering the training he had to go through to get into the Rangers; he quickly managed to get up. Finally, the cataclysm subsided and he heard a distant Male voice cry out "Cera!"
He then heard a now familiar Female voice respond "Momma! Daddy!" he could make out a tiny shape near the edge of a cliff that was dwarfed by a towering cliff, he figured this tiny shape was Cera, and what she had told him before about her getting separated from her parents now made sense to him. He watched as the large black shapes on the edge of the other cliff, undoubtedly the young Triceratops's parents walked away and the young herbivore walked stood there, seemingly crying before walking away, unsure of what to do.
Ramirez then looked around, he decided it was time to move on; it wasn't safe here now with the herds divided. And so, he walked away, though he took one last look at the cliffs that seemed to tower over him before walking away.