WARNING: VIOLENCE!
Chapter 20:
Shorty loved how his aggression was transmuted into an almost ecstatic feeling that grew with every punch he landed at the girl and every pained cry she uttered. Shorty had never beaten one of the hatchlings that hard. Even the attack back in the wasteland had been kind of unusually violent by his standards but Shorty began to love it.
All of a sudden, the girl landed a hit against Shorty...
"You... you are the leader... of a whole herd?!" Littlefoot questioned awe-struck.
"Yeah," Bron said shyly. "Maybe they had chosen me as their leader because I have fought off two violent Sharptooth attacks within a short time..."
"Are you.. are you good at fighting them?" Littlefoot asked.
"I don't think I'm showing off by claiming that I am, am I?" Bron chuckled.
"I don't... think so?" Littlefoot replied.
"Sharpteeth are actually cowards, y'know?" Bron stated. "I bet you haven't met any on your journey to this place, have you?"
"Nope, only a bellydragger," Littlefoot responded.
"Many Sharpteeth hunt in groups, or packs as they're commonly called. They only take on single individuals. In most cases... there are always some who try nonetheless, specially if they're starving," Bron explained. "They'd never dare attacking such a big number of Longnecks except somebody gets separated."
"There is safety in numbers..." Littlefoot mused.
"Exactly!" Bron exclaimed. "Oh I can't wait to introduce you to my herd. I've told them about you..."
"Well, I'm not sure if I want that at the moment," Littlefoot said, slightly depressed. "I... I guess I... y'know..." Littlefoot was searching for the right words but his overburdened head wouldn't form a proper sentence.
"I know what you mean," Bron then spoke up. "I completely understand that you might be... disappointed of me and that you need some time to think about everything and to get used to the new situation."
Littlefoot nodded, lacking something to say.
"I think it's best if I leave you for the time being. Maybe we can arrange a meeting tomorrow to get to know each other better? You still haven't told much about yourself..."
"Yeah, sounds good," Littlefoot replied.
"How about same time, same place?" Bron suggested.
"Okay, see you tomorrow, I guess," Littlefoot said.
"Yes, speak to you tomorrow," Bron said kindly with a weak smile which Littlefoot didn't quite return. The little one turned tail to walk to Ali...
"Oww, HOW DARE YOU!" Shorty roared as he got hit by one of the girl's legs that she had thrashed about to struggle free somehow. For a short moment, it had worked in a different way than she had originally intended. Though Shorty wasn't up to attacking her right again, the girl had trouble to get up for her whole body was aching terribly.
Shorty watched the girl's attempts to get to her feet. He was seeking for a preferably painful revenge and he soon came up with one. Only a little distance away, he saw a big rock that had rather sharp edges. That was the perfect object to use...
"Oww, he is crazed!"Cho thought while she struggled to make an escape. However, her left foreleg hurt terribly because she had used it to shield her face from the worst attacks. Her right one hadn't suffered so much damage but it still hurt. Therefore, she slowly limped directly into the direction Shorty wanted her to go anyway...
Shorty was grinning viciously at the sight of his target moving towards the rock he planned to use. He slowly followed her...
Ali had prepared a tiny surprise for Littlefoot. She had plucked a good amount of berries from the bush, building a pile of them in the grass. Then she had plucked any kind of flower she could find and placed them around the pile of berries.
When Littlefoot had arrived, he didn't look too depressed, Ali noticed. His head hung low a little but other than the first time she had met him earlier he didn't look like he would start to cry anytime soon.
"Surprise!" Ali called, chuckling at the face Littlefoot made.
"Ali that is w..." Littlefoot said when both of them heard a disturbing scream in the distance, sounding as if being uttered by a kid in distress...
Cho noticed Shorty gaining on her again but she didn't react to that in any way for she couldn't possibly stop whatever the crazy boy was up to anyway. Sobbing, she limped forward.
Shorty didn't follow her straightly. He rather positioned himself for the attack that would have grave consequences for both parties...
With a mighty roar, he surprisingly stormed towards the girl, catching her off-guard. Not that she could have dodged the impact anyway. He crashed into her flank and shoved her against the rock with the many sharp edges with disastrous force. At the ram, Cho yelped in pain as her air was forcefully pushed out of her lungs. At the impact with the rock that happened only an eyeblink later, a wicked pain shot through her body as the sharp edges of the rock teared into her flesh. Cho screamed like she had never screamed in her life. The pain was excruciating and Shorty was still pushing her against the rocky surface, grinning madly...
Not only Ali and Littlefoot had heard Cho's scream. The whole oasis was suddenly a lot more silent as everybody tried to figure out where it had come from.
Bron, however, was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the scream at all although his ears had received it.
"What was THAT?" Ali cried in fear.
"Whatever it was, it needs our help!" Littlefoot shouted, totally forgetting about Ali's surprise.
"It came from where Bron's herd is residing," Ali replied, having forgotten about the surprise as well.
"Then let's hurry!" Littlefoot proposed.
"Yeah," Ali called, leading Littlefoot since she knew the way.
Even as Shorty finally released the pressure on the unfortunate girl, she continued to scream in pain. Her whole right flank was bleeding. Shorty didn't give her much time to recover however. The boy pushed her to her legs and, almost softly, pushed her against the rock with her unhurt flank.
Cho looked Shorty straight into the eyes, seeing the malicious expression in them.
"That's just what you deserve, you hideous thing!" Shorty snarled before walking a few steps back to ram into the girl again with blistering force.
Cho whimpered upon knowing what crucial pain was expecting her once again. Being unable to move, she had to endure the smug grin on Shorty's face before he forced her still unhurt flank against the edgy rock, tearing deep cuts into Cho's black skin. The girl howled in pain...
When Littlefoot and Ali arrived at the forest where the cries came from, their blood almost froze upon helplessly watching Shorty ramming into a young, black Longneck that was covered in a lot of blood already. The cry the young one uttered while she was being tortured, psyched both of them out, freezing them on spot.
Loud and thundering, a muscular grown-up came running around a bend, hurrying.
"What's happening here!?" Willie barked, hearing the grief-stricken wails of Cho.
Littlefoot and Ali being too shocked to utter a single loud anyway didn't need to answer as Willie peeked through the spaces between the thick treetrunks. Without uttering another word, he stormed into the forest, uprooting trees that were taller than he was...
In his ecstase, Shorty didn't notice that he was being spotted. He eventually released the torturing pressure on the jetblack girl who collapsed to the ground, shedding a lot of blood out of numorous cuts that quickly coloured the surrounding ground red.
Shorty posed above her and looked down at the beaten Longneck. Her eyes were, much to his surprise, not showing the pain she was suffering of but a completely different emotion. Did she really look... apologetic?
Just at that moment, Shorty realised the trees being uprooted behind him; thundering footsteps approached him. Looking at the girl who seemed to black out and at the sight of the alarmingly fast growing puddle of blood on the ground, he suddenly realised the harm he had caused. Before he could have spent any further thought on this, he was hit by a mighty swing of Willie's tail that catapulted the boy high into the air where he heftily collided with a tree. Unable to breath because of the mighty impact, Shorty remained lying on the ground, seeing stars...