Chapter 20: Betrayal

"To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal." - Malcolm X

One week later:

Specter's eyes were firmly planted on the female albino Utahraptor closing in on him, her claws extended and ready to draw blood at any moment. But so was he, towering above her with his forelimbs spread and powerful legs prepared. To win this, he would have to give it his all, show everyone what he has learned so far. And he planned on doing that. After all, it was a matter of survival for him, and taking down the now second biggest fastbiter and by far the fastest sharptooth in this pack would also grant him a nice, succulent meal.

Just hope I can keep up with her... Well then... Let's dance.

Then Alba attacked. Specter swiftly evaded the flurry of claws, jumped back and forth while blocking whatever strike he could manage to and waiting for the right moment to strike back. When that moment came, he lashed out with his forelimbs, unable to hit her yet easily able to keep her away from him with precise strikes. At least until she ducked away under his claws, dashed forwards to his side and jumped.

Specter had no time to fend off this move.

Thud.

But he also didn't need to. Alba had tried to copy the strange attack he used on that injured spiketail once, jumping straight upwards and kicking at the target with both feet to throw it off balance. However, Specter weighed a hefty 1,000 kilograms while Alba 'only' a bit over half of that. She simply lacked the force and momentum to throw such a massive fastbiter over, having had attacked without a run-up as well. So she hadn't done much but stagger him a bit while she herself basically bounced off his flank and landed on her back. But she was quick to roll over and jump up again, and the whole process repeated itself, though Specter did not allow her to get too close to him anymore.

This went on for second after second, and he was beginning to feel the mental and physical exhaustion alike as he evaded and returned every swing or kick of claws. But then an idea started forming in his mind, talons flying past his face making his thoughts clipped.

She... copied... one of... my own attacks... So maybe... I can...

He concentrated even harder, trying to make out any change of pattern in Alba's attacks. The two fastbiters circled around each other now, observing, analyzing their opponent's moves while using the time to relax their important muscles a little. And that was when Specter finally completed his idea.

She really has observed me all the time... even now... But she can only counter what she's seen so far... Yes... So maybe I can use a move she hasn't...

But he had little time to think about another one of those moves as she charged at him again. Still, he remembered one, rather effective for taking down an opponent equal to his size. And since he was exactly 70 centimeters taller than her, he figured that this would just about do the trick.

He smirked and lowered his head, keeping his arms close to his body now.

Thud!

Until the very last moment, until Alba had been right in front of him and tried to go for his right side. Then he had extended one of them again, locked his right forelimb in under her neck, raised his head and jumped forwards with all his power, lifting her off her feet, spinning her around in mid-air and smacking her onto the ground to his flank. To finish this fight, he simply turned towards her and placed his dangerous foot claws on Alba's exposed throat. Ever so gently, as it was only the display itself that mattered.

"Well, well. Looks like our fuzzball won this one." Came a booming voice from a bit farther away.

"Nice job." Another impressed male made himself known from right next to the first.

Only now, Specter exhaled in exhaustion and changed up his stance, offering his hand to the prone female. Alba, however, as it was usual for her, kept a neutral expression, refused that offer and rolled over on her feet by herself, taking a few steps away from him. He could only give her an apologetic look, as he was quite certain that he had damaged her pride severely by beating her in a fight in such a fashion. For the very first time, too. Though he had long since made peace with her, she still was a character of great confusion to him and, despite the fact that he trusted her, he still mostly tried to stay out of her way, just be completely sure. But he was fine with that. He would never be forced to live together with her for the rest of his life, probably not even for much longer than another few weeks, so he just tried to make the best of it and keep his big mouth shut whenever he was around her. Admittedly, however, in the event this whole pack parted ways after their combined mission, he would miss her just as much as Shade and Chaser.

That she offered him a respectful nod in the end was more than enough for him to smile, and this gesture in combination with the little words, or rather growls, they had exchanged so far led him to believe that somewhere deep down inside of her, below layers and layers of emotional coldness, there was a personality he really would've liked to get to know. Maybe when all of this was over, he thought to himself, remembering his last conversation with her.

"And what was that now?" Shade asked, now standing next to him, quite in awe once again at another one of Specter's highly unusual yet very interesting attacks.

"Clothesline." Specter answered, still wearing a satisfied grin. "Doesn't kill you, but takes you down effectively. Works only on ankle-biters, though."

"More like works only if you're a fatso."

Shade's snarky response was followed by Specter's angry snarl and a mock bite, which he masterfully evaded in his usual fashion while laughing at the same time.

But Specter couldn't care less about those little insults anymore. He had the reward for his efforts to claim now. So he turned around to Chaser, who had watched these few rounds of fighting from the beginning and seemed to have enjoyed them, and walked over to him. Right in front of the sitting two-footer lay a longneck corpse, around two meters in height from its feet to its back and eight meters long. How Chaser always managed to snatch those juveniles away without an adult leaf-eater at least injuring him a bit was beyond him, but Specter was quite indifferent about that as well. All that mattered to him was that he was getting stronger and deadlier with every fight. And those little 'prizes' after every success certainly made him push himself to his limits each time anew, even though he had only suggested this novel 'reward system' around a week ago.

He stopped in front of the carcass, gave his leader an asking look to which Chaser nodded, and hungrily dug into the fresh meat.

As effective as this way of training was, it was just as fatiguing. Given that it was early evening by now, Specter hadn't eaten anything but the occasional Obamadon or Meganeura, small lizards and dragonflies respectively, he managed to catch in his free time in way over 24 hours. Although maybe exactly this circumstance was the reason why he really had given it his all in the training fight, and ultimately won it. And he really felt like he could potentially take on anyone after this victory, even the most fearsome of fighters, even long since defeated ones. Chaser, Shade, Littlefoot, Cera, Topps, Doc, Red Claw, Calin. Anyone.

But he knew just as well that firstly, he had only beaten Alba because he used an attack she didn't know about, and secondly, he would soon be up against what he presumed to be a few very big Ceratosaurs, dinosaurs rivaling him in size, surpassing him in weight, without lethal sickle claws like his own but with a way more fearsome bite, and also against some strange kind of raptors, apparently similar to himself in appearance but roughly with Alba's body proportions. Fighting those two species would be anything but easy, especially considering that he still didn't know for sure what exactly they were.

But for now, he enjoyed the delicious, long overdue meal and finally sated his hunger.

When he eventually raised his head and bloodstained snout again, only one-fourth of the longneck was left. He could've eaten the rest, too, but decided to let the others have a bit as well, as it was their training, their lessons and their devotion to this cause which had made it possible for him to become this strong. So he looked at Chaser, who was still sitting in front of the longneck, and tried to raise his voice, only for the two-footer to do it first.

"Eat up. You deserve it. I've already prepared a meal for us three, and there are a few things I would like to discuss with them on the way. I'll tell you tomorrow. Get yourself some rest now."

"Won't say no to that." Specter responded, flashing his bloody teeth. "Alright, I definitely will. Good luck, and happy hunting to you three."

Chaser nodded in return, stood up and moved into the sunset, Shade and Alba following after him. Specter watched the three sharpteeth until they disappeared between some trees and bushes somewhere in the landscape, still smiling at this sight. It was in these moments that it felt like as if he was still dreaming, living among those magnificent creatures, fighting against the hardships of nature and earning his presence on this planet. And in moments like these, he knew that his dream had finally become reality, if at the cost of billions of lives. Though, he always made sure to tell himself it had never been his fault that his wish turned out like this.

So he turned his attention back to his meal and resumed ripping it apart. Soon after, when pretty much only the bones of the longneck were left, he had his fill and instantly, massive weariness overcame him. Something he embraced. Something he definitely refused to fight against. Instead, he wiped his snout halfway clean with his hands and trotted towards the sleeping spaces.

Upon arriving there, Specter curled up under the sheltering rock, closed his eyes and immediately fell into a deep slumber.

When he opened his eyes again, it was deep in the night, heavy rain coming down from the skies which were almost completely covered in thick clouds. Though he wondered why he had woken up again when there was so much of this soothing rainfall, he definitely wanted to go back to sleep after this exhausting day. So he pressed his eyelids shut for a while as he tried to force himself to drop off again.

However, he didn't manage to do so. He was completely awake and full of energy, and his body refused to let that go to waste now. Peeking up at the sky, waiting for one of the huge clouds to move aside, he found an additional cause for his insomnia as well.

Full moon... Should've known... Always the same crap with you... Oh well, maybe I can find something to keep myself busy for a bit. But what would a Utahraptor enjoy other than hunting and... the usual stuff?

Specter raised his head, let out a yawn, rolled over on his side to stretch his limbs and then rolled back on his haunches. He looked around himself, noticing that he was alone.

Where the hell are those two? Still out hunting...? More than five or six hours must've passed by now...

He was beginning worry that something might've happened to his companions on their hunt, but then he took a few sniffs of moist air and found their faint scents on the empty spots to his flanks. He exhaled in relief and resumed his thoughts.

Hmm... They returned and slept here for a while, too... Huh... Never even noticed them. I sure was tired...

So he figured that Chaser must've sent the siblings out on guard duty or something. With that settled, he stood up and walked into the rain, letting it wash some of the dried blood from his latest meal off his feathers and snout. But he still wondered what he could possibly do now. He started going around in circles, chasing his own tail for a while, but got bored of that within half a minute and lacked another idea.

As nice and peaceful as it is without it... some technology would really help here... At least something similar to it... An actual football instead of some severed head or skull would be nice to kill some time with... Then again, I would probably slash it with my claws...

He sighed sadly, turned around and walked over to an odd, medium-sized rock, around a meter away from the sleeping spaces. An 'odd' rock because it obviously didn't belong on this spot. The reason for that became obvious when Specter lowered himself to the ground, picked it up with both hands and put it down a few centimeters away, revealing a hole in the ground with many black berries in it.

Maybe one of these will give me an idea...

He grabbed one with his claws, threw it into his mouth and was just about to put the rock back on the hole when he noticed something.

Hey... I stashed at least 20 of them in there... I count 14 now...

Shade and Alba both found it disgusting that he sometimes ate those things, so he quite safely ruled out that they had stolen his berries. This only left Chaser as a suspect, but Specter figured that he would grow a second tail before a two-footer like him would eat such things. Besides, Chaser never made an effort to come to the fastbiter sleeping spots anyway. If there was something he wanted from his smaller packmates, he would either send one of them to get the others or roar for all three of them to come over.

I guess then some rodents somehow dug under the rock and ate them, and the rain closed the holes... If I ever get my claws on you, you little shits... I hope some of you died on the juice, damn mammals...

Going over his thoughts again, his slight anger immediately dissolved and he had to chuckle heartily at his rather new way of thinking. After that, he sat back down under the sheltering rock and continued his search for something to kill time with. Watching the raindrops dripping off the many leaves in this forest finally gave him an interesting idea.

Would a raptor or Tyrannosaurus, any dinosaur, to be honest, understand how to play this? Well, since we can talk, I think I could just try to explain...

Specter stood up once more, walked over to the nearest tree and looked up at the lowest branches on it. They were around five meters above the ground, so he figured that it wouldn't be too hard getting to them. He jumped, used his big sickle claws to hold on to the massive trunk, repeated that and finally ripped a branch out, sliding back down afterwards. Then he picked leaf after leaf from that branch until he was holding 16 of them in his claws. For this game to work out properly, he would've needed twice the amount, 32 leaves, but he deduced that 16 were good enough to explain the basics and play a few rounds, as he didn't want to unnecessarily overcomplicate things.

He laid out all 16 leaves in front of himself under the sheltering rock and carefully used the claws on his forelimbs to scratch numbers and letters into them. The numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10, and the letters J, Q, K and A into the first eight, and then he repeated that with the second eight. He couldn't pronounce the letters anymore, but he still knew what they meant and how to translate them. Jack, Queen, King and Ace.

Shade's gonna love this, especially the rules! This game is not called 'Asshole' without reason, after all. Huh... Guess I will also teach Taunt how to play it so I can beat him in that, too! Should... I ever... see him again...

The smile that had started to form after beginning this line of thinking disappeared as soon as he finished it. But he didn't want that to ruin his happy mood, so he stacked the 'cards', grabbed all of them with his hands and stood up to search for someone willing to play this game with him. Since it was raining so heavily, however, he wasn't able to pick up any of his friends' scents. With this in mind, he would ask Chaser first, as it was clear to him where the two-footer must've been right now.

And so he went off towards his usual place.

Upon arriving there after a few minutes, he laid eyes on Chaser's sleeping form. Just as Specter did so, he dismissed his thoughts about waking the two-footer up to ask him if he would want to play with him. The dark green Tyrannosaurus was growling angrily under his slight snoring, which led Specter to believe that he really disliked the rain and thus surely wouldn't be in a good mood if a playful fuzzball interrupted his sleep for a game.

Besides, you probably wouldn't even be able to properly pick up and hold the leaves with your small arms and two fingers... As much as I like your species, I'm sure glad I've not been changed into something as big and heavy as you. At least I can use most shelters... and have two properly functioning arms with an additional finger...

He suppressed another chuckle and instead resumed his search for the two fastbiters, silently sneaking away from Chaser and leaving the forest.

But the farther he moved away from his home, the more he realized that this would prove to be a borderline impossible task. The heavy rain and overall darkness all around reduced his visibility to less than a few hundred meters, distorting what he could've managed to hear with his sensitive ears and he still couldn't pick up a familiar scent. By now, he was fearing that he might lose track of the way back since he was already moving into a direction in which he had never struck out before.

Then suddenly, he picked up one of these familiar scents he had been looking for, and Specter froze in his tracks to analyze it. Just in time, because he had almost stepped into the source of that scent. He quickly bowed down his head to analyze the place where a fastbiter from his pack had relieved itself, and he was surprised to find not only the scent of that sharptooth alone but also what it had in its stomach until recently.

So it was you who stole my berries! I've told you they would have an effect on your stomach if you eat too many of them... and you ate at least five at once, it seems. Serves you right for being so obstinate about this topic.

This time he couldn't hold back his amused chuckle anymore, and Specter swiftly raised his head again and engaged into a slow sprint. The minutes went by, and he was questioning if all this trouble would actually be worth it. Until he stopped again, let out an exhausted sigh and turned around towards where he had come from.

No use... I can't properly track under these conditions... I'm sure they are alright, and they're probably together as well... I guess they're guarding the other side of our forest... Anyway, time to head back home... Maybe I can go back to sleep now that I've ran a few kilometers...

He was just about to sprint off when some roars and growls reached his ears. Some sharpteeth were having a conversation, it seemed, and they were having it somewhere not too far away. Though he couldn't pick up any meaning in the distorted sounds, he was interested by now, turned towards them and closed the distance.

At some point, the growls started making sense and he was able to understand some of the words they carried.

"Really? That's some ... news. This ... everything. It seems ... you're ... useful ... us. Skull? Report ... boss. I ... him know ... right now. He will want ... keep ... old ... alive then. And ... can ... ignore ... fool."

"Yes, sir!"

Specter didn't know who or what the dinosaurs were, having heard those voices for the very first time, but he was quite certain that the first one belonged to a rather big, male carnivore, and the second to another male raptor. In any event, he didn't stop his movement just now.

"Now... about that 'Specter'..."

The moment the first voice spoke out his name, Specter wanted to gasp in shock, but instead kept his mouth firmly shut. Soft footsteps of a sprinting fastbiter were rapidly closing in on him. Without any further thinking, he aborted his movement, noisily jumped to the ground and made himself as small as he could manage to in the cover of some bushes. The footsteps grew louder, until they suddenly stopped merely 20 meters away from him.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Specter had his mind on overdrive as the closest sharptooth started sniffing the air and seemingly listened into the rainy night, searching for a sudden intruder. The footsteps came closer again, another five meters, then another two. His heart was beating violently right now as he tried to control his own breathing rhythm. Maybe he could take on this fastbiter, but he wouldn't stand a chance if he alarmed his bigger companions.

"Nothing... Pathetic..." The fastbiter spoke and resumed his sprint past him.

Only now, Specter exhaled and quickly raised his head out of his cover. But it was already too late. The last things he saw from that fastbiter before he disappeared out of his sight were the gray and white true feathers on his tail and arms with protofeathers on his main body, lacking the prominent crest feathers Specter himself had, and the fact that he was around two meters tall and maybe six meters long.

This was sadly not enough for him to identify the exact species, but it was by far enough for him to realize that this sharptooth definitely wasn't on his side.

That... must've been one of the raptors Shade's told me about! He really does look a lot like me... But... what... is he? Not a Utahraptor, that's for...

He forced himself to interrupt his thoughts, as he was far more interested in what the nearby conversation was about and why on earth one of the sharpteeth had uttered his name. Where would anyone even know his name from? Nobody out here should know about that. In fact, nobody on this whole planet but his two packs, Ruby's family and a few Great Valley residents should. To avoid situations like these was exactly one of the more important reasons why he had told the Velociraptors in the swamp area that his name was Chaser.

He picked up his movement again, very slowly and carefully this time.

"Is that so? Nice job then. And you're sure he trusts you?"

By now, he was effortlessly understanding every single word, and Specter grew increasingly uneasy and more nervous with each blink of his eyes. The big sharptooth's voice certainly sounded like he would mean some serious business. And the topic he was discussing didn't exactly seem like a peaceful one.

"Yes, unquestionably. We had a rough start... I... almost killed him... but he was very quick to tell me a lot about himself, regardless. He won't suspect a thing, I'm sure of that."

Specter's eyes grew wide at this new voice. Because it was only a new voice in this conversation. It was a Utahraptor's voice and he knew it, whom it belonged to, but there was just no way this could be true. It just couldn't be. He must've been wrong. His beloved ears must've played a trick on him. Surely, this was just a side effect from that black berry.

"Good. Good... Then I might just take in all three of you. You're lucky you don't take after your brother, else you would've already ended like him."

He stopped right in front of some more foliage, shielding both sides from noticing each other. He wanted to finally see everyone behind that cover, but he couldn't do it. He was shaking with fear and horror, unable to move a muscle. But he knew that he just had to do it. He had to see who the sharpteeth really were and if they really were hostile, if they really were the ones he has been trained to kill.

So, after a few shuddering breaths, he moved forwards again.

With shaking legs, arms and tail, still clenching the stack of leaves tightly in his claws, he edged through the bushes and laid down on his haunches. And when he finally laid eyes on those five sharpteeth standing together, only around 50 meters away, his heart stopped beating for a moment and it felt like as if the whole world came crashing down on him.

Oh no... Oh please not those... Fuck...

He couldn't care less about the lone Utahraptor among those sharpteeth right now, as his sight on that raptor was blocked off by them anyway. He was solely interested, and utterly horrified, by the big carnivores. Because those were not Ceratosaurs. It was only now that he realized he should've really asked for some more details on those sharpteeth's appearances and maybe taken the severed arm he had found among the dead longnecks to his pack instead of relying on his knowledge about dinosaurs and understanding of the basic language of this time.

Narrow head, two horns above the eyes, unusable, stiff arms which are pointing backwards with four fingers and basically no claws... Those are... Carnotaurs!

Three of the four 'horned sharpteeth' were fully grown adults, standing three meters tall, nine meters long and Specter estimated them to be weighing a healthy two and a half tons, which was not much when one considered their sizes but they were sprinters, after all. All of those three adults looked roughly the same, dark grey and red protofeathers covering the upper parts of their necks, backs and tails, and dark grey true feathers with red outlines on their tiny arms. All the other parts of their bodies were unfeathered, the colors there being mainly red and dark grey with a light grey tone running along from their throats to the undersides of their tails. However, there was also a fourth sharptooth, a noticeably younger and slightly smaller one, the outlines of his true feathers were blue with the same coloration on his protofeathers and unfeathered body parts. And his two horns were almost white.

Is that... the one whose arm I...?! No... No way! Why would they do that and still leave him alive? They look like brothers... except him... but still... Just why?

And it was quite obvious to Specter who the alpha there was and whom this cold, deep voice belonged to. His two horns were blood red instead of black like those of his similar looking companions, his eyes orange and he surpassed everyone else in size. He couldn't have been anything else but the leader.

That must be this 'Bloodhorn'...

But Specter had little time to assess that sharptooth as he suddenly turned right towards him and looked over at the cover behind which he cowered.

"I thought you have not been followed?" Bloodhorn remarked, sniffing the air a few times.

Specter's heart started beating even harder. However, it wasn't necessarily because of that Carnotaurus seemingly smelling him out but rather because by turning towards him, he had revealed the Utahraptor among them. Maybe Specter had been fooled by his ears, but his eyes didn't do the same now. And so he stared in disbelief and incomprehensible horror at the raptor which he thought belonged to his pack and was his friend. As he did so, his hands started shaking and one leaf after another slipped out of his grasp. If it had felt like as if the whole world crashed down on him before, it now felt like as if the entire universe collapsed on him.

No... No, that's impossible! You?!

This was just too much to process for his mind. He felt the desire to scream out that fastbiter's name. He couldn't control himself anymore, there was just too much anger and confusion building up inside of him. He already took a deep breath.

But he never got the chance to utter a word.

"Shade?!"

Because another sharptooth made itself known, its voice originating only around a dozen meters to Specter's left flank. And that sharptooth, this fastbiter, couldn't hold back either and moved out of cover.

Alba...? Did she... follow me here?! Oh no...

Specter could only watch in anxiety how the female albino Utahraptor closed the distance on the huge predators and her dark blue brother between them. Shade seemed to return this overwhelmed stare of horror to his sister, but didn't dare to say a single word.

And then Alba, without any thinking, charged right at the biggest sharptooth. She never got the chance to make contact with her target.

Slam!

The horned sharptooth with blue feathers had swiftly moved into position and rammed into her flank with his head, not injuring her too severely but easily knocking her over. Came the next moment, the other two Carnotaurs walked up to her and each pinned her to the ground, the first by placing one foot on her neck and the second by placing one on her back.

"Why...?!" Alba tried to shriek out, but the big predator to her front increased the pressure on her throat and choked her to silence.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Bloodhorn said, now stalking around the prone female and sniffing at her. "A White One. Interesting... So she's your sister?"

Shade only answered with a hesitant nod, unmoving.

"What do we do with her?" One of the sharpteeth who restrained the female from behind asked. "Should we kill her?"

Bloodhorn looked over at Shade, who was still wearing a shockingly neutral face.

"No. In contrary to Skull and Shade here, I honor my agreements. However..." He now walked over to the blue fastbiter and bowed down his head very close to him. "You lied to me. Again. So I think it's time for a test of loyalty."

Having said that, already wearing a dirty smile on his face as an idea started forming in his mind, he walked over to his youngest brother, Aries.

"I want you to do something for me. Her kind is very special, you see. I have never seen one myself, but the legends say that White Ones are different from any normal sharptooth. Wouldn't you like to have your arm back, brother? Well, Aries, all you have to do is..."

His next words were unintelligible to Specter, as Bloodhorn almost whispered them into his brother's ear, but he just knew that nothing good would come of them. When Bloodhorn pulled back his head, he could see the younger Carnotaurus, Aries, nodding firmly before he turned towards Alba and moved in on her. And it was now that he also saw the injured flank of that sharptooth. He was missing his right forelimb.

That's him! So their alpha... He ripped his own brother's arm out?! What kind of...?!

Specter, once again, didn't have time to finish his thoughts. Because he could see the blue-feathered Carnotaurus now standing right behind Alba, slowly lowering himself to the ground, while one of his brothers pulled Alba's tail to the side. It didn't even take him a split second to realize what that sharptooth planned on doing with the female raptor now. Or rather what he planned on doing to her.

His anger was rising, doubling with each hasty breath. He wanted to charge in there and rip apart every single one of those creatures. He really wanted to. However, there was still one feeling besting his anger. And that was his fear. By attacking now, he would lose his life. Most definitely. Thus fear and anger mixed, until there was only cowardice left. He actively refused to help his female friend. All the training in the world could never have prepared him for this situation. More so, no training could've taught him courage.

And so he just watched, killing the sharpteeth only in his thoughts and taking his own life after that for his disgusting hesitation and fear.

"Stop it!" Shade suddenly screeched out, Aries aborting his order and standing up again. Upon seeing this, Shade turned to Bloodhorn. "Do what you must, I won't stop you. You know where my loyalties are. But I refuse to watch this."

Bloodhorn tilted his head in surprise, still that dirty grin on his face.

"Huh... And here I thought you cared about your dear sister... but I can see now why you wouldn't. She's one ugly thing, even for your fastbiter standards. No wonder Skull wanted to rid her from this world. Very well. That's your choice." Then he looked over at his three brothers. "Finish this and take her with you. How you do it, I don't care. Just make sure not to kill her. No traces."

"Shade!" Alba finally screamed, even under the massive pressure on her neck. "You... You monster! I trusted you! After everything you've told me! Everything we've been through! Why are you doing this?! What would mother or father say?! What would Gleam or Nex say if they saw you like this?!"

Shade frowned heavily, but before he could give his response, Bloodhorn let out a shattering laugh.

"Yes, Shade, what would they say? Shall we go and ask them? I'm sure you still remember the place quite well you picked for them to die in."

Alba ripped her eyes open even wider to that response, especially to her brother's calm and accepting reaction.

"Why couldn't you just listen to me and rid us of that damn fuzzball?" Shade answered himself now, determinedly but with deep calmness in his voice. "Everything was fine until he showed up! Everything went according to plan! And everything would've stayed alright, had he left again... I'm so sorry, sis... I'm sorry this had to happen... But it's for the good of all. It will be over soon."

After that explanation, Shade and Bloodhorn exchanged nods, turned around and sprinted off, the huge, horned sharptooth easily keeping up with the fastbiter's speed.

Specter was still shuddering at this whole situation, shuddering with emotional pain and emptiness. He was nowhere near able to comprehend this. In merely a few minutes, everything he had thought to know about the siblings, about himself and about the world had been shattered to pieces. And thus cowardice finally mixed with boiling rage and this painful emptiness, until there was only hatred left.

The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Aries lowering himself down on Alba again, the last things he heard were her screams of fear and pain, and the last thing he felt was the burning desire to kill.

And then he jumped up and charged ahead.

Shluck!

His movement sounds covered up by the rain and not letting out a screech this time, Specter had jumped at the big Carnotaurus to Alba's front, both his sickle claws drilling through his flank and neck, his momentum and weight throwing the massive predator over to his side. The horned sharptooth didn't even have the opportunity to scream, as Specter continued his series of attacks by slashing his throat twice, just to make sure.

Roar!

The other sharptooth to Alba's back reacted immediately, jumped back from her and attacked the intruder who had just murdered his brother with an angry roar.

Slice!

And that was all that Alba needed. Aries didn't react in time to this sudden change of events, so she had spun around to her back and kicked upwards, slicing his whole underside open all the way to the base of his tail, making it rain mostly red bodily fluids on her white skin. The predator emitted horrible, high-pitched sounds of pain and lost his balance. Following that, Alba rolled on her feet and jumped at her target, knocking him completely over and on his back, and lashed out with her forelimbs.

Meanwhile, Specter had the remaining Carnotaurus charging at him. Just like months ago, just like with that threehorn from his first hunt, he was swathed in deep calmness at this highly dangerous, horned dinosaur attacking him with murderous intents. Maybe his training had worked out in the end, after all, because the only thing on his mind right now was to kill that predator without dying himself.

Chomp!

He swiftly evaded that reckless bite, dashed forwards and sliced the sharptooth's leg wide open, ramming him in his side afterwards, throwing him over, too. Came the next moment, the Carnotaurus had both of Specter's sickle claws ripping through his exposed throat in turn. And then again. And again. And again. Until the gurgling sounds stopped.

Then he was dead. Then there was silence.

Although not quite, because Specter could still pick up the sounds of ripping flesh and slashing claws. He was still breathing heavily, still shaking and still filled with adrenaline. He started counting from one to five in an effort to sort out his mind. He had to do that twice until the effect kicked in and he could think clearly again.

Then he turned around to Alba, and contorted his face at the sight that greeted him.

Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!

She was the reason why there was no silence, as she was still sitting on top of her almost-violator and slashing into the dead Carnotaurus' throat, blood splattering all around and on her.

"Alba..." Specter finally spoke up, now standing behind her. "He's dead... Hey... Alba...?"

But no reaction came.

So he moved forwards again, grabbed her with both arms and pulled her away by force. He had to dodge one last swing of her claws by jerking his head out of the way, but then he quickly pressed her blood-stained body against his soft plumage, and her violent, rage-filled strikes finally stopped. Instead, she started crying heavily, tears of pain, anger and confusion running down his just as bloody, black feathers.

"Shhh... Shhh... I'm here... It's alright... It's over..." Specter tried to comfort her as best as he could, gently stroking her head and neck.

They just stayed how they were for a few minutes, until he felt her slowly calming down again, judging by her heartbeat and breathing rhythm.

"Come on now... Let's go home... We shouldn't stay here..."

Specter still supported her as the two fastbiters left the clearing, trying to prevent her from looking back at this horrible scene behind them. And he had to force himself to not look back, too. It wasn't all the blood and some innards on the ground that was horrible about it. It weren't the Carnotaurs, all three of them ripped wide open, which gave the place its brutal touch.

No, none of those things made the sight so painful, horrible and brutal. What really made it disgusting to look at was the fact that a dear friend and brother died here, without leaving a corpse. A friend and brother who would never return as such again.

A friend and brother who was now an enemy.

It took the two companions almost an hour to reach their home. It was still raining heavily, the sight was still bad and Specter hadn't quite remembered the whole way back. Even if he had, his mind was such a mess after the latest events that he would've forgotten anyway. And now that they arrived, both of them laid eyes on Chaser. The two-footer had his left eye wide open in shock and surprise, but before he could speak up, Alba detached herself from Specter's support and sprinted into the forest.

Specter sighed in exhaustion and walked up to his leader, who closed the distance on the black fastbiter just as quickly and eyed him for a while.

"What happened?" Chaser immediately asked ahead, having seen how despite all this Sky Water, both fastbiter were still covered in blood. "Where is Shade?"

Specter's head dropped and he stared at the ground for a while, shaking his head. This was apparently already enough of an answer to Chaser as he heard the Tyrannosaurus take a step back and gasp faintly. But he definitely wanted to let him know the details, so he spoke up. With a shuddering and shaky voice, remembering the events from earlier.

"Horned sharpteeth... Bloodhorn... Shade... he... he betrayed us... He's with them... They wanted to... test his... loyalty so they... They... Alba... she almost got... I almost let them... I..."

Chaser moved forwards and placed a comforting paw on Specter's back.

"I understand... No need to tell me about this again. Let me handle the rest, alright? You just look after her. She needs it now more than ever."

"Understood." Specter responded a little bit more firmly and slowly went off towards the sleeping spaces, where he suspected Alba to be now.

He arrived there rather quickly and saw her curled up beneath the sheltering rock, shaking and twitching under her suppressed weeping. This sight almost brought tears to his own eyes, but he had already shed enough of those in this time. So he laid down on his haunches on the little overhang once again to sort out his own mind first, gazing up at the crying skies, letting it shed the tears in his place.

How could you do this to us...? Of all the fastbiters... of everyone who had a reason to take them down... why did it have to be you to join them...? I just... don't understand... Why didn't you tell anyone...? Why did you pretend to be my friend...? Why did you pretend to be her brother...? Just...

His cogitations got interrupted by soft, irregular footsteps closing in on him from behind. Soon after, he felt Alba burying her head in the soft feathers on his left flank.

I can't be your brother... I can never replace someone like this... But maybe... all you need is a friend...

With that thought in mind, he put his left forelimb around her, sharing her grief and suffering. He wanted to let her know that he understood how she felt, at least in some way, but figured that this would be one of the most insulting statements to ever utter. He knew many things about dinosaurs, about this world and about that which was once supposed to follow after this one, but when it came to such relationships, he didn't know anything, especially not how betrayal from one's own sibling felt like.

What he knew for certain was that there were unpleasant things to follow from now on. He knew that this whole mission was pretty much doomed. Yes, he and Alba had killed three of those horned sharpteeth, but there was at least one more of them alive, probably by far the strongest and most frightening, and with him stood likely many more of those 'new' raptors. With Shade working for them, they would also have a fastbiter who was aware of everyone's fighting styles, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, their enemies knew pretty much anything they needed to know.

In the end, however, Specter had no choice but to accept this fact and see what Chaser would come up with. Anyhow, tomorrow would be a new day. If it would be the last day of his life, everyone's lives, he didn't dare to think about. If it was, and if he would never return to his old friends, he wanted to be close to his new friends at least.

So he flexed his neck around, lowered his head and finally offered Alba a comforting nuzzle, a gesture which she hesitantly accepted and returned. After that, she rested her head on his back and the two fastbiters stayed how they were again.

Some time later:

Bloodhorn stared at the bodies of his three dead brothers, a blazing fire of anger and hatred burning in his orange eyes. How this could've possibly happened was beyond him, but he was certain that he would not let this go unpunished. Never. And he could guess perfectly well who the fastbiter responsible for this was.

"Sir? How will we proceed now?" A voice from behind him spoke up.

He began to shake, moments away from letting out a shattering roar of rage. But then it suddenly stopped, and he calmly turned around to the dark blue and grey fastbiters.

"You've trained him well indeed. Maybe he will prove to be a challenge before I rip him to pieces." He spoke to Shade, after that addressing Skull. "I want everyone to prepare. Tomorrow, we will end this."

The two fastbiters nodded, turned around and sprinted off again, leaving him standing there alone. He was quick to follow after his subordinates this time, however. He wanted to get the maximum amount of rest out of this night.

For tomorrow, there would be blood.

And thus I would like to conclude this installment. I hope it lived up to its name and that I've made it accordingly enjoyable (as enjoyable as those topics are) to read.

I also hope you like it and if you do, be sure to let me know!

The next chapter will probably conclude Act II, but it will take me some time to write it as I have important things on my schedule now.

So, until then, as always:

Take care, and until next time!