Chapter 14: Stand Together

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The following morning in the canyon did not bring a lot of hope to the herd at all.

"We have to keep trying! Our survival, our future, is over these rocks. Now let's go home!" Kron exclaimed as he stood atop the rocks, staring down at the herd before him.

From where he was standing, Mitch could see that none of the dinosaurs moved foreword. The herd, tired from the long walk and doubtful about climbing the wall, didn't move.

To Kron' disbelief, none of the herd members followed him up the wall.

He looked around for whom to use an example on how to get past the wall. His eyes fell upon the two orphans underneath Neera.

"You'll make it, won't you boys?" Kron said, lowering his head and then giving them a nudge to move forward.

Neera immediately objected to this, concerned over the little ones' safety. "No!" She objected.

"Watch them! They're tough. If they can do it, then so can you!" Kron boomed to the herd, continuing to nudge the twins forward again with more force.

Neera and Mitch looked back, becoming surprised when the herd actually began to climb, earning a satisfied smile from Kron. Mitch had to admit that this dinosaur got what he wanted through force all right.

But just as it seemed the herd was going to try climbing the wall, everyone heard a loud voice call out. "KRON!"

Neera turned back around and gasped in surprise. It was Aladar, with Shelly riding upon his back. Mitch couldn't believe what he was seeing either. His older cousin was riding a dinosaur, just like he had. Only she made it look cool.

"Kron, get the herd out of here! A Carnotaur is coming!" Aladar exclaimed, kneeling down a bit so that Shelly could climb down off his back.

The herd started getting nervous upon hearing about the approaching predator. Even Mitch felt a little nervous as well. He looked back and fourth to Kron and his cousin, confused on who to follow.

But Kron was not going to let this happen. "Keep moving!" He ordered, turning to climb a rock. But Aladar shouted out again.

"Stop!" Aladar yelled, moving forward among the herd. "Me and Shelly have been to the valley! There's a safer way."

"He's telling the truth, Kron!" Shelly yelled in support. "There is a safer way. You don't have to climb that wall!"

The herd was scared of the Carnotaur, but was unsure of they should listen to Aladar, since Kron's way of reaching the valley seemed impossible.

"Go on, show them!" Kron ordered the two twins as he nudged them both again, earning squeals from them.

"Kron, listen to them!" Neera shouted at her brother.

"Listen, we have to go now!" Aladar exclaimed.

"Go where? Straight to the Carnotaurs?" Kron accused incredulously.

"If we hurry, we can get around them! You can't get over those rocks! There's a sheer drop on the other side!" Aladar argued back.

When Aladar saw Kron roughly nudge the two twins forward again, knocking them both over, he got mad.

Shelly let out a small gasp and screamed, "Stop it!"

"YOU'RE GONNA KILL THE HERD!" Yelled Aladar. "We know a way to the valley and everybody can make it! Now follow us!"

Shelly saw Kron growl and then storm down from the wall, pushing through his sister who was trying to stop him. The enraged leader leaped down and landed on the gravelled ground, causing the earth to shake a little.

"They're staying with me!" Kron yelled.

Aladar then flicked his tail at him and started to walk away. "Alright let's go!"

Shelly barely had time to get out of the way as Kron charged forward and tackled Aladar to the ground, biting the side of his face. Everyone made a large circle, watching the fight in shock. Aladar managed to kick Kron off of him and get to his feet. The herd backed away from the two fighting dinosaurs as Neera and Mitch approached the fight. Kron growled and charged at Aladar, only to be knocked away by Aladar's body when he had sidestepped away.

Kron then threw some sand and dirt into Aladar's eyes, blinding him. Aladar roared as he tried to blink the dirt out of his eyes, but Kron then slashed Aladar with his thumb spike, giving him a awful scratch on his chest. Kron then walloped Aladar with his tail, sending him flying into the rock wall. A few Microceratops scurried away as Aladar landed, bruised and stunned.

Shelly instinctively ran to Aladar's side, got in front of him, and spread her arms out protectively, facing Kron.

"NO!" Shelly screamed at enraged Kron. "I won't let you!"

Kron roared loudly, moving in to make the final blow. Shelly closed her eyes, bracing for the final attack.

But the attack never came.

Opening an eye, Shelly saw Neera at the last second had pushed her brother away, causing everyone to gasp in surprise.

Kron picked himself off the ground and stared at Neera. But Shelly could see that the female Iguanodon was not backing down like before. She was sick of her brother's illogical beliefs and the way he had been pushing the herd. Neera stared at Kron for another minute before moving to help Aladar up. Shelly moved aside but then went over to help Aladar as well. The tomboy's strength wasn't much, but she did assist in helping his head up. The three of them walked off, ascertained to leave the canyon. Mitch didn't follow them, but stayed where he was. He was still in shock about what had happened.

"Neera!" Kron shouted, his voice echoing through the canyon.

Mitch saw Neera ignore her brother, kept her head held high, and continued to walk with Aladar and Shelly. Eventually, the entire herd began to move after them.

Mitch remained where he was on the rock ledge as he saw the herd starting to move out.

Shelly, although not wanting to look back at Kron, heard the herd's footsteps and turned around. She saw the herd following them. Her fear and anger turned into relief and happiness. She was happy knowing the herd was following them to a much easier path to the Nesting Grounds. Neera stayed by Aladar's side as they walked, nuzzling him gently on the side of his face.

What Shelly didn't see was Mitch among the herd. She turned back to look but could only see the bodies of the dinosaurs as they walked. She then spotted him on the rock ledge, just standing there and not joining them. When they made eye contact, Shelly waved to him to follow. But then Mitch turned his head away from her, his eyes closed and arms crossed. Shelly couldn't believe this. She waved her hand again, but Mitch kept his eyes closed and his head turned. She was about to march right through the dinosaurs to get to him, when a loud roar echoed throughout the canyon.

The herd stopped dead in their tracks and looked around in confusion. The sound of distant and loud footsteps were coming closer and closer. At that moment, something appeared in the distance around the canyon. It was the Carnotaur.

Shelly couldn't believe it. Last night she and Aladar had only just given the dinosaur the slip, right when it was feasting on a fallen herd member.

The herd started getting nervous upon seeing the Carnotaur. The predator stared at them leeringly and had the desire of hunger in its eyes.

"They've led that monster right to us!" Kron accused, beginning to climb the rock wall. "This way!"

Shelly's eyes widened when she saw the herd actually begin to move back to Kron. She even saw Mitch beginning to follow him.

Aladar yelled to the herd. "No! Don't move! If we scatter, he'll pick us off!" He then turned to face the Carnotaur. "Stand together!"

But Kron was stubbornly refusing to listen again and continued climbing the wall. Mitch was climbing up after him, scrambling up the rocks.

The Carnotaur roared at the herd, but Aladar and stood his ground. It then scraped at the ground with it's hind-foot before breaking off into a charge, heading straight toward the herd. The herd began to panic as the predator proceeded towards them. They tried backing away, but there was nowhere to go, or hide. They were trapped in between the rocky wall and the approaching carnivore.

But Aladar, not giving up on the herd, stepped forth and started roaring at the approaching Carnotaur. The herd was confused at what he was doing. So was Shelly for that matter. The Carnotaur stopped running and roared back at Aladar.

Aladar was soon joined by Neera, and then the rest of the herd, everyone roaring up at the Carnotaur. Shelly had watch where she was standing because the herd of dinosaurs were all around her. But she could see that the Carnotaur was moving back, driven away by the roars of the herd. The combined bellows of the herd were driving it back and Shelly could see that it was becoming confused.

Once the herd got to the end, they started to swerve off around the corner. While they did, each member let out a last series of bellows at the Carnotaur before leaving from the vicinity. The Carnotaur moved off to the side, the last herd member continuing to roar at it as they passed by it safely.

Shelly kept near Neera and Aladar as they made sure that the Carnotaur didn't pass or follow after them.

But then Shelly notice the Carnotaur glance back at the end of the canyon. It then charged into the ravine.

Neera saw it run and knew that it was heading for Kron. She immediately turned and gave chase, bounding after it. Aladar saw this and groaned. He followed after her. Shelly ran after him, but only because she was concerned for Mitch's safety.

"Damn it, Mitch," She growled as she ran. "Why didn't you follow me?"

"Kron!" Cried Neera as she ran.

Kron turned around and saw the Carnotaur chasing after him. Mitch saw it as well and he quickened his climb, his eyes wide with fear. Kron quickly started moving faster up the mountain, in a desperate attempt to escape. As he kept going, with the Carnotaur close behind, he suddenly stopped upon coming across a deep ravine, his foot slipping a bit from the misstep. Mitch, panting from the climb up, saw Kron stop and saw that there was no where to go. He then understood that he had made a very grave mistake.

"No…no.." Kron whispered at the harsh understanding of his mistake.

The Carnotaur lunged forward to attack him, so Kron made one last ditch effort to save himself. He leaned down and pushed Mitch, right into the path of the charging Carnotaur. Mitch stumbled forward from the sudden push and landed on his hands and knees. Looking up, he saw the Carnotaur duck it's massive toward him. Mitch expected to feel it's teeth bite into him and devour him alive, but it didn't. Instead, the Carnotaur swung it's head and tossed Mitch aside, and he was sent flying through the air like a small doll. Mitch screamed as he felt searing pain and the surprising sensation of his own body moving through the air. It seemed to be happening very slowly, and he had plenty of time to watch the rocky ground rush up to strike him...

By then the carnivore was continuing it's attack, roaring at Kron's feeble attempt to distract it with such pathetic prey. Although cornered, Kron stood brave. Inside he wasn't glad about what he had just done, but he felt as it he had no other choice.

Before the Carnotaur could attack him, Kron hit it with his tail as hard as he could. The hit didn't seem to do anything to the larger predator except to make it stumble. As the two dinosaurs fought, Neera and Aladar continued up the wall. Shelly was trying to follow, but the dinosaurs had better footing then she did. When she had heard Mitch scream, her heart filled with a sudden rush of dread.

"No," She whispered, quickening her climb. "Please don't be dead, Mitch. Don't you dare be dead!"

By the time both Aladar and Neera had reached the top of the rocky ledge, the fight between the Carnotaur and Kron was over.

Shelly, when she had made to the ledge, saw Kron's pron form against a rock, not moving. Before the carnivore could finish the job, Neera attack it, shoving the Carnotaur's side with all her might. But the predator was very strong and knocked Neera away with ease with it's horned head. Before it could attack her, Aladar appeared and whacked the Carnotaur with his tail. But the predator countered him with it's own tail, knocking Aladar to the ground. But Shelly could see that Aladar was still strong and willing to fight back. He let out a roar and rammed into the Carnotaur and pushed him as hard as he could towards the edge of the ledge. The Carnotaur was getting pretty sick and tired of this and got ready to fight back. But before anything could happen, the ground underneath the dinosaur started to collapse under it's weight. Aladar turned away to run for safty but was then grabbed by a set of teeth when the Carnotaur bit him on his lower back. But the hold was not that good. The Carnotaur let go and fell down into the ravine, it's roar echoing throughout the canyon as it fell to it's death.

Aladar got himself back up and looked down the ravine. Down below, he saw the now dead Carnotaur as the smoke and dust cleared away. Shelly and Neera joined him, Neera making sure that Aladar was okay. Shelly looked down and then moved back a bit, uncomfortable with heights and the dead body of the Carnotaur.

The calm was broken by the sound of Neera's voice when she had moved off from the others.

"Kron…" She whispered, lowering head down to her brother's. She nudged Kron's head, but he wasn't responding, nor was he waking up. Kron was dead. Neera was devastated at what had happened to her only brother, even though he was hard and cruel throughout the journey. Aladar approached the saddened Neera. Although he didn't like Kron either, he still expressed sadness upon looking over his dead body. Aladar comforted Neera as Shelly looked around for Mitch.

She found him, half buried in a small pile of rocks to her left. She removed the rocks and checked to see if he was injured. Mitch groaned and opened his eyes.

"Shelly..." He groaned, wincing as he looked up at her. "What happened? Oh, my leg..."

Shelly removed a rock from his right leg and saw that it did not look good. A small trace of blood was on his pant-leg, mixed with the dirt. It didn't look that bad, probably just scrapped by the sharpness of the rocks. Shelly could only guess that Mitch's leg was bruised, not broken. The other leg was fine, so that meant that he could walk on it. But a splint was needed.

"It doesn't look too bad, Mitch," Shelly said, leaning over his leg. "But I need a better look at it."

"Don't!" Mitch pushed himself up and gave Shelly a shove.

"Mitch, I've got to see it. I'll need to make sure that no bones are broken. And if you do, then I'll have to use a splint."

Shelly was surprised to see tears behind Mitch's eyelashes. Her cousin lay down again.

Shelly carefully pushed up the leg of Mitch's khakis and tried not to register a small laugh. It wasn't as bad as she first thought. The ankle was darkened red and bruised, but there was hardly any blood. There were only traces of it along his leg where the rocks had scraped him. With a bruised and twisted ankle to deal with, they wouldn't be able move very fast.

"How bad is it?" Asked Mitch.

"Not that bad, but you won't be able to walk on it for a while." Shelly told him. "What happened?"

"Kron. He pushed me toward the dinosaur to save himself. Then it tossed me aside and I went flying into the rocks. Injured it on the landing."

"Can you stand up, Mitch? We have to leave and get back to the others at the Nesting Grounds."

"I think so," Mitch breathed. He pointed to Aladar and Neera. "Are those two gonna' carry us out of here?"

Shelly shook her head. "No, Mitch. I'm going to ask Aladar to carry you down to the ground, but we are walking the rest of the way."

Mitch pushed himself up again. "Are you crazy? With a busted leg like this? We gotta get a ride from those two."

"Not happening," Shelly told him sternly. "Neera and Aladar have enough to worry about right now with the loss of Kron and the herd waiting. They don't need to worry about us on their backs."

"So you want to walk back?" Mitch said, propping himself up as best he could. "But I won't be able to make it down the rocky slope."

"You won't," Shelly told him. "I'll have Aladar carry you down to the ground, but that's it. You and me are walking the rest of the way."

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After Neera and Aladar were done mourning for the fallen ex-leader, Shelly had gone to them and had asked the both of them if one of them could carry Mitch down to the ground. Aladar volunteered and went over to Mitch, leaned down, and took the eleven year old by the scruff of his shirt. Mitch was a bit nervous by this and protested as he was being lifted in the air, but Shelly told him flatly that he was not getting a ride. He was being carried down.

Once they all had made to the gravelled ground, and Aladar had put Mitch down, Neera and him walked on ahead to catch up with the herd. Shelly supported Mitch by slinging his arm over her shoulder, though she had to lean a bit because Mitch was shorter then her. He could still stand on his good leg, however, it would be slow-going for the both of them.

The final stretch of the journey was spent in silence, for dinosaurs and humans alike. Once or twice, however, Mitch wanted water from Shelly's bottle. But Shelly only let him have a few measly swallows.

It was getting dark, the sun had now set behind the hills. The herd had finally made it to the cave and the halfway point to the Nesting Grounds. Neera and Aladar lagged a little behind the herd. They wanted to make sure that everyone made inside.

Shelly and Mitch took up the rear of the large crowd and it was some time before the two made inside the cave. Mitch hadn't been much help. He had complained that his ankle was hurting and that he was thirsty, and Shelly was at the end of her rope with him.

When the herd was halfway through the cave-tunnel, some of them still tired from the long walk, Aladar and Neera announced to them that they would rest for a while before pushing on.

Shelly was more then happy to rest. She stopped near two large rocks and Mitch once again sat down on a place that looked comfortable, leaving Shelly to pick a spot which was not.

The two hadn't spoken for a long while, so it was Mitch who broke the silence.

"You're really pissed off, aren't you?" Mitch asked.

"What are you talking about?" Shelly let out a breath.

"Just the way that you're walking. Half dragging me and stomping down so hard. Every time you take a step, my ankle feels like it breaking all over again."

Shelly frowned. "Just be lucky I'm helping you at all, Mitch," She massaged her shoulder and stretched herself. "You had a lot of nerve running off by yourself back at the lake. And for what? For a stupid camera-phone?"

"And for slapping me in the face!" Mitch shot back.

Shelly snorted derisively. "Serves you right for sneaking aboard the time rover in the first place. And for being a pain in the ass during all the times you were at our house."

Mitch turned away, his arms crossed. But Shelly wasn't fazed by his childish version of the silent treatment.

"If you're gonna be like that, then you are wasting your time." Shelly sneered. "I can just as easily leave you here, and then you'd be crying for help. And who'd be around to help you, huh? No one, that's what."

Mitch didn't say anything. Shelly was glaring at him. How was it that she and her brother got stuck with this little bag of air? She'd take any other cousin instead of this little jerk.

But deep down there weren't any other cousins. Mitch was it. Shelly knew that. For better or worse, Mitch was all she and her brother had. And Sophie's words about putting things aside reminded her of that.

"Look," Shelly said finally. "Are we going to go the rest of our lives quarrelling over dumb stuff like this?"

"Who says it's dumb?" Mitch shot at her, sneering. "I'd rather crawl the rest of the way to this Nesting Ground than listen to you make like Mr. Big."

"What makes you think I'm Mr. Big?" Shelly spat. "Tell me right now!"

Mitch, having no other choice, decided to let it all out.

"The way you and Ken both act towards me every time I came over to your house. You ignore me and don't even acknowledge me as family. It's bad enough that my mom and dad are having financial problems, but it's even worse when they send me off to military summer camp, just to ditch me."

Shelly could not believe what she was hearing. "I didn't know that your parents were having financial problems, Mitch."

"You didn't?"

Shelly shook her head. "No, of course not. Is this the reason you act like you do? Tattling and everything?"

Mitch nodded and turned away. "Back at the lake I was wrong to take those pictures, you were right about that."

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?"

"Yes, you told me. I was acting stupid." Mitch told her. "I just wanted things to be fair, that's all. I just wanted to be a part of something great. But you and Ken shut me out."

"Like we had a choice," Shelly said. "We couldn't trust you. You have a blabber mouth, Mitch. What if you told people about the T.W.C and my family's involvement in it, or worse? Do you know what would happen?"

Mitch shook his head, not understanding.

"Fine," Said Shelly. "I'll explain. FBI agents and government people would come and invade our house. Our parents would be questioned and we would be tailed to school everywhere we go by guys in black suits in cars. The T.W.C would be found out, our trust with it broken. If the government agents ever got their greedy hands on time travel technology, it wouldn't take long for them to travel to the age of the dinosaurs. They would probably go to the Nesting Grounds and take the dinosaurs away to be experimented on like lab rats under a test tube."

"Would it be so bad?" Mitch asked.

"Yes, it would," Shelly told him. "It's just not the dinosaurs world in ours, Mitch. It will be like we've become an enemy to anything new and wondrous. Even the scientific community's gonna poke and prod at the dinosaurs until they start hating every human that they see, including you and me."

"But that's not true." Mitch said, adjusting himself on the rock. "How would you know that would even happen?"

"It would, Mitch." Shelly said. "Trust me it would. Your actions would bring about the fall of the dinosaurs. Maybe even forever. And our family along with it."

Mitch let out a long breath, rubbed the back of his head, and looked up at his cousin. "I suppose you're right."

They were quite for a moment.

"I just..." Shelly stopped, wanting to remember what her mother and Sophie had talked to her about, then continued: "I just don't want us to end up like your dad and my mom."

"I know," Mitch said at last. He took a breath and let it out. "Sometimes I can't help myself. I know it's bad to tattle and to blackmail, but how else am I suppose to get attention?"

A trace of a smile stretched the corners of Shelly's mouth. "If you let me, Ken and I can show you how without being obnoxious."

"Really?"

Shelly grinned. "Sure thing, cus'," She told her cousin. "Now come on. Let's get some sleep."

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Geez and crone, that was long! I need to take a small break before the final chapter, everyone.