Screaming and wailing as he felt his body spin and somersault through the empty space, Littlefoot tried hard to control himself as he flew at supersonic speed through the flashing, blue tunnel of light. The force from the air rushing the opposite way felt like it was going to tear him in half as he ploughed headlong into the future. After a few seconds, Littlefoot was launched out of the tunnel as he tumbled onto a hard, rocky surface that he had never felt before. Groaning and coming to his senses again, he found himself upside down with a number of eyes looking down on him.
"Littlefoot? Are you alright?" an inverted Ducky asked.
"Err…yeah. I'm fine," he replied as he flipped himself the right way up.
"Glad to see you made it Littlefoot," Jill said smiling as he staggered towards her a little bruised but none worse for the wear.
"Where are we?" Littlefoot asked as he looked up to find himself in the strangest of worlds. The sky was dark and laced with growing, black clouds that rumbled and threatened to thunder.
"This is the future; long after the reign of the dinosaurs. This is the year 2113, the time where we exist," Sergeant Stone said looking at his watch and checking his rifle.
"Whoa! Look at that! Those tall rocky things almost touching the sky!" Petrie cawed with a dropped jaw.
"Those are building, humans can live inside them as homes but these ones are purely for working and business. They are all broken and crumbling thanks to the military strikes that torched the land. If it hadn't been for Westwood and his virus, this city would have thrived and prospered. Just goes to show you how one man's greedy ambition can lead to the downfall of a once mighty civilisation," Jill sighed.
"It's awful…so much damage and destruction…I thought our Land of Mists was bad but this is much worse…" Ali said sombrely as she scanned the streets that were littered with rubble from fallen buildings.
"So where to now? Where did Westwood go?" Cera asked.
"My guess is the Red Phoenix Headquarters on the other side of London. It's a bit of a trek but we've got on other choice," Stone said pointing down the street.
"Well, let's go. We have to stop Westwood and the Red Phoenix before they reactivate the Chronos Doorway and unravel our history," Jill said reloading her pistol, "We'd better stock up on ammo too; only got a few clips left." Following Jill and Stone, Littlefoot and the rest of the gang huddled close together and marched behind them towards what remained of the Red Phoenix headquarters.
After a short walk, they found themselves approaching the River Thames. The bridge over it was punched full of holes and sections of it were crumbling into the almost dried river that flowed through the city. Still feeling slightly faint and dazed by their trip through the time door, the gang requested a short rest which Jill granted. As they all sat down to relax for a second, Littlefoot followed Spike and Cera down to the riverbank for a drink but they were quickly stopped by Jill who jumped down in front of them.
"No, no! You can't drink out of the Thames! It's flooded with chemicals and sewage from burst water mains and sewer pipes!" Jill exclaimed pulling them away.
"But I'm thirsty," Cera whinged but then backed away after getting a closer look at the water.
"Uck! That's disgusting! The water's all black and grimy! Bleah!" Ali said wincing from the awful sight of the river.
"Yeah…the water's contaminated. Probably more of the Red Phoenix's doing I'd imagine," Jill said shamefully.
"How can you humans survive without water if you can't drink this?" Ducky asked inquisitively.
"We have to collect rainwater now. Either that or get it purified by…" Stone started but was interrupted by a shriek from Cera.
"What is it?!" Jill wailed as Cera turned tail and ran back up the bank. Everyone looked at the edge of the river to see another zombie crawling from out of the water. Its grey, waterlogged skin was almost falling off its bones as it stood up and trudged towards them. Raising her gun, Jill took a shot which ploughed through the creature's head, severing its brainstem. The zombie fell to the floor and disintegrated as the others had before.
"W-What was that?! Are those monsters here too?" Cera exclaimed panting hard.
"Looks like it. Westwood must have used the stones to reanimated those who had been killed by the viral outbreak," Jill said lowering her handgun.
"That means those scary creatures could be walking around anywhere!" Petrie said perching on Littlefoot's head trembling slightly. Before Jill or Stone could reply, there was another sound of the water's surface breaking followed by another and another. The gang looked on horrified to see numerous zombies crawling out of the polluted river.
"Whoa! There's loads of them!" Stone cried raising his rifle but Jill batted it down.
"Save your ammo! Let's just get out of here!" she shouted as she ushered the others up the bank. Back on the road, Jill, Stone and the gang tore down the bridge over the Thames as the zombies crawled up the bank after them.
"Watch your step!" Jill yelled as she dodged the large holes that were bored into bridge.
Those things are right behind us!" Cera squealed turning to see how far back the zombies were.
"Cera! Look out!" Petrie warned. Responding to his call, Cera whipped her head around to find a gaping hole in her path. With no time to react, Cera stumbled and fell through the hole. In her panic, Cera managed to throw her top half onto the edge of the pit with her hind legs dangling over the murky water.
"Help me!" Cera wailed as the crumbling edge began to give way. Charging to her rescue, Jill threw her gun to one side and grabbed Cera by her front legs. Struggling to pull her up, Jill turned to see Littlefoot double-backing to help her. With the additional assistance, Jill and Littlefoot hauled Cera up onto the bridge as the zombies continued to advance on them.
With Cera safely back on solid ground, everyone continued to run along the aging bridge trying to escape the zombies.
"Oh no! Look!" Ali cried skidding to a halt. Stopping next to her, they all gasped to see that a large section of the bridge had collapsed leaving a massive gap to cross. Stone turned to see the zombies closing in on them from behind.
"We gotta jump it!" he ordered.
"What! We can't jump that far!" Cera argued.
"Jump! It's either that or become lunch meat for those sick freaks!" Stone said raising his rifle to fire.
"But it's too far! We'll fall!" Ali whined but Petrie took off, flew over the gap and landed on the other side.
"It not that far! C'mon guys! You can do it!" he said waving them on. Everyone looked at each other still a little unsure.
"C'mon! Hurry up!" Stone yelled opening fire on the zombies. Littlefoot then stepped to look down into the murky water. There he could see more zombies frantically trying to snatch at him from in the water like piranhas jumping for meat. Gulping, he backed away and took a run up. Upon reaching the edge, he leapt as far as he could. To his relief, he landed safely on the other side.
"He's right guys! All you have to do is jump! Quickly!" Littlefoot announced encouragingly. One by one, the gang charged at the hole and cleared the gap. The zombies were almost upon them as Jill jumped the gap after Spike.
"Ducky! Daniel! Come on! Just you two now!" Jill shouted across to them.
"Go Ducky! I'll follow you," the sergeant said.
"O-okay…" Ducky said nervously as she turned to take her run up. Bravely, she leapt the gap but collided with the edge on the opposite side having not quite made it.
"Ducky!" Littlefoot cried as Spike dashed forward to help her up.
"Phew…thank you Spike. Thank you for saving me," she wheezed but smiled as Spike licked his sister's face affectionately.
"Okay, they're all over Daniel! Your turn!" Jill shouted to him. Stone broke off his fire and turned to jump the gap. As he approached the jump, the very edge of the bridge crumbled from under his feet. Wailing, Sergeant Stone missed his jump and fell down towards the sickly water. Diving forward, Jill thrust her hand to him as he reached up and clasped her wrist. The force of his fall dragged Jill closer to the edge as she tried to lift him back up. Stone was relieved to have caught her but he could see the zombies in the water snapping at his heels like wild dogs.
"Grrr…I'm slipping…I…can't hold on…" Jill called through gritted teeth as she felt her body slowly being pulled over the edge. Just then, Jill felt a number of vice-like grips clamp around her ankles. Turning, Jill saw the dinosaurs digging their heels into the ground and were trying to pull the two of them back up. Slowly, Jill could feel herself being inched back up onto the side. After one last, hefty tug, Sergeant Stone was hauled up onto the bridge and everyone flopped down exhausted.
"Whew! That was way too close!" Jill sighed picking herself up.
"Yeah…Thanks for that kids. You saved me," Stone said smiling at them.
"It's nothing," Littlefoot said smiling back warmly.
"C'mon, let's keep going. Westwood will be getting ready to start up his plans. We have to stop him," Jill said urgently. After a brief moment to catch their breath, everyone dusted themselves off and headed deeper into the city.
Chapter 55: A Spirited Saviour"Whoa! Look…at…that!" Ali gasped as they passed down the narrow roads that were constantly overshadowed by sky-scraping high building caked in black dirt and grime as if infected with a spreading fungus.
"This were humans live? It amazing!" Petrie said with his jaw hanging open.
"Believe it or not, this was once a prosperous city full of life and street bustling with people. Probably one of the most hospitable places to making a living," Jill announced sternly, "but once the supervirus hit the streets of this magnificent place, everything crumbled to dust. Very few were spared and this is all that remains of that once beloved city…"
"That is so awful!" Ducky said sorrowfully.
"Humph! Sound stupid to me!" Cera snorted, "Why would humans make something that would end up wiping them all out?"
"What's that mean?" Stone snapped in defence staring Cera in the eye.
"Uh oh. Cera at it again…" Petrie warned rolling his eyes.
"Oh boy! You don't wanna get the Serge started on weapons…Killing machines or life-savers, biological or fire-arms, he'll never back down," Jill smirked, "missiles, pistols, rifles, launchers…he knows them all. He knows every model number, its origin, its development throughout history…the works."
"That means we will probably be hearing them for a long time. Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky said regretfully holding her ears as Stone and Cera continued to bicker at the back of the group.
Smiling and shaking her head at Cera and Stone, Ali faced forward to see Littlefoot trudging along blindly, by himself, ahead of everyone else. Seeing the rest of the group distracted by the argument, she quickened her pace to catch up to him. As she pulled up to his side, Littlefoot failed to notice her as he marched on clearly in another world.
"Littlefoot?" she then said rather sheepishly.
"Huh? Oh…hi Ali…" Littlefoot sighed as he was brought back to reality.
"You've been very quiet. Ever since we escaped those monsters by the river you haven't said a word," she said calmly.
"What's there to talk about? I guess I just wanted a little time to myself," Littlefoot replied lowly.
"You thinking about Jason?" Ali asked boldly but flinched when Littlefoot locked his eyes with hers suddenly. Realising he had shocked Ali with his harsh gaze, Littlefoot blinked to break the deadlock between them and lowered his head. He nodded slowly.
"Jason died because of me…if I didn't shout at him for thinking he was a sharptooth…maybe none of this would have happened."
"No Littlefoot. It's not your fault," Ali said trying to comfort him.
"It is my fault. I let Westwood trick me into giving him those magic stones. He made me think that Jason was my enemy and I believed him without giving it a second thought. I forgot all the things he did for us back in the Great Valley…and…what he did for me…" Ali fell silent unable to say a word.
"I should never have listened to him. Because of him, Jason is no longer here, we are possibly trapped here in the human world without a way home and he could be doing anything right now. If only I had listened to Jason instead…maybe everything would have been alright…maybe…he'd still be here with us…"
Littlefoot slowly came to a standstill and looked at the cracked, concrete pavement as his mind tortured him with Jason's last moments of life before falling limply at the hands of his own mother. As the bright flash that ended Jason's life erupted before his eyes again, he slammed his eyes shut and felt a cold wave shudder down his spine. Seeing Littlefoot very emotionally unstable, Ali stepped closer to him and spoke directly into his ear.
"But if it wasn't for you, we would have never found Jason in the first place," she whispered. Littlefoot's eyes then opened and he turned and looked at her a little shocked by her words.
"You were the one who found Jason and introduced him to all of us. If it weren't for you, we would never have made such a great friend. Remember when you introduced him to me for the first time? And when he took us to the weird forest on the edge of the Valley? We would have never found out about the humans being in that forest if Jason hadn't suggested we check it out. Funny that, how he managed to create an adventure in your own homeland huh? A real friend who is great to have stand by you,"
"B-but Ali? I thought you didn't trust Jason? You always thought that Jason could have been a sharptooth from the very beginning and you were almost right…"
"No. I was wrong. I was just concerned that maybe Jason was going to do something bad to you. I had this idea that he was going to hurt everyone in the Great Valley which would take my friends away from him. It was only when I saw Jason dying in his mother's arm that I realised that it was not Jason I was afraid of…it was Westwood. But I had never met Westwood until he came into the field and attacked us so I always thought it was Jason. My only regret is that I was too late to see that Jason was as innocent as you and me. Just another kid caught up in all that was happening but none of us could see."
"…Ali…" Littlefoot gasped in amazement.
"I know that now but I also know that if we want to make sure Jason did not die in vain, we must stop Westwood's plan. If we work together on this, I know we can defeat Westwood." Ali turned to Littlefoot again and smiled. Littlefoot still couldn't believe what he had heard from her but he quickly returned the gesture with a smile of his own.
As they stood smiling at each other, they looked back at the rest of the group and didn't realise the massive gap they had made between them and the others. Even from the distance they were ahead, they both could tell that Cera and Stone were still arguing. As they turned to face each other again, there was a long, groaning creak from somewhere in their vicinity.
"What was that?" Ali asked.
"I dunno…" Littlefoot said looking around. Suddenly, the groan grew louder and they cringed at the sound.
"Could it be another monster?" Ali suggested trembling.
"I hope not…let's wait for the others," Littlefoot said slowly standing upright. As the groaning continued, Littlefoot then felt something hit him on the head.
"Oww! Huh?" he complained.
"What was that?" Ali asked,
"A rock dropped on me. From up there," Littlefoot said looking up at the darkened sky but he gasped in horror at what he saw. Following his gaze, Ali looked up to see two floating figures towering above them.
"Enjoying your tour of London kids? Sadly this is your final stop!" the figure said.
"Westwood!" Littlefoot cried as he stood on an invisible platform next to Jason's mother.
"What's wrong Littlefoot? Thinking about the poor, boy I killed? Shame that but don't you worry. You'll be joining Jason soon enough! He's just dying to meet you!" Westwood cackled as he signalled to Jason's mother. Acknowledging, she focused her strength on the building over the two of them and tore a large chuck of the wall off the building. Littlefoot and Ali gasped as she held the massive structure over her head and smiled down on them malevolently.
From further back, the rest of the group were just coming into view.
"Look! Up there!" Petrie cried.
"It's Westwood and the Red Phoenix!" Jill gasped urgently pulling her pistol out. Suddenly, Spike became very erratic and began dancing around madly.
"Spike?! What is wrong with you?" Ducky complained as she tried to stay on Spike's back as he jumped around like a bucking bronco squealing.
"Oh my God! Littlefoot! Ali!" Stone then yelled having realised what Spike was trying to point out.
"She's going to crush them!" Cera cried as she sprinted towards them. Having heard their cries, Westwood turned and looked at the group heading their way.
"Time to end it Red Phoenix!" Westwood announced nodding his head. Responding to the command, Jason's mother launched the chuck of wall directly down onto Littlefoot and Ali and they quickly disappeared over the rooftops. Unable to move from fear, Littlefoot and Ali clung to each other screaming at the concrete slab tore straight at them.
"Littlefoot! Ali! No!" Cera screeched as the wall almost flattened them. From under the approaching slab, Littlefoot clamped his eyes shut unable to watch still screaming. Suddenly, from nowhere, Littlefoot heard a voice.
"NO! Littlefoot!!!" it shouted. Snapping his eyes open, Littlefoot heard a tremendous crash as the piece of building deflected off them and crashed to the pavement on the other side of the road.
Gasping, the rest of the group hurried over to Ali and Littlefoot as they slowly uncurled from each other and stood up slowly.
"Littlefoot! Ali! Are you alright?!" Ducky exclaimed as they approached them.
"Y-yeah! I think so," Ali said cautiously.
"What happened? That chunk of building was heading straight for you," Stone asked bewildered.
"I-I don't know…" Littlefoot stammered slowly, "I…I thought I heard someone shout out to me. A voice from out of nowhere."
"A voice? A sniper close by maybe?" Stone suggested turning to Jill.
"No sniper could have made such a miraculous shot, deflected the slab and land it on the other side of the street in one piece," Jill said looking at the large section of concrete lying through a shop's display window.
"It look like it bounced off you," Petrie said perching on Littlefoot's head.
"Yes it did. But what could have caused that big rock-like thing to do that?" Ducky asked looking to the others in confusion.
"Don't look at me," Cera blurted.
"What did the voice sound like Littlefoot?" Jill asked.
"I dunno…it happened so fast I just couldn't tell," Littlefoot sighed as he tried to recollect the tone of the voice.
"Whatever creepy stuff just happened there, I'm glad you're both safe. It look likes Westwood has completely overrun the city. We better get to Red Phoenix Headquarters fast before he can spring anymore nasty surprises on us," Stone stated as he checked his rifle and walked on ahead; one by one, the gang followed. Littlefoot was the last one to set off but before he did, he took one more look at the sky and saw the black clouds swarming overhead.
"Who was that who saved me? Where have I heard your voice before?…Why am I getting the feeling we've met before?" he whispered to the atmosphere as he turned and ran to catch up to the others.
Chapter 56: A Twisted City of Ruin"Go! Go! Go! Keep running!" Stone shouted as he quickly turned and fired more rounds on the creatures stalking them.
"They're everywhere! Arrrrggghhhh!" Cera screamed as she tore around a corner and nearly careered into one of the zombie stood next to an overturned car. The group had been surprised by a counterattack by the mutant creatures as they continued their march onwards towards the headquarters of the Red Phoenix Labs.
"Geez! They're really swarming in this area," Jill puffed as she flicked another magazine into her gun whilst running alongside the dinosaur children. Suddenly, Ali stumbled and fell to the ground having tripped on the kerb as they ran across the road to avoid the vast quantity of decaying humans and infected animals that gave chase.
"Ali! Look out!" Ducky cried looking back from atop Spike. Ali turned to see zombified dogs charging straight for her. Panic-stricken, she tried to get to her feet as the closest dog leapt in the air to pounce on her. Without warning, a gunshot cracked dangerously close to Ali's ears as the dog buckled in mid-flight and landed heavily into a row of dustbins on the side of the road. A few shots later, the others lay dazed on the cracked concrete sprawled everywhere. Looking up, Ali saw Jill racing towards her and knelt down beside her.
"C'mon!" Jill called to her helping Ali to her feet. Nodding and smiling gratefully, Ali jumped up and they took off to catch up with the others.
Tearing headlong through the barrage of zombies, the group looked around for some means on refuge from the madness surrounding them.
"Which way now?!" Cera shouted as they came to a junction with a number of different routes.
"That way! We can cut down Bond Street to reach headquarters," Stone announced. As the gang turned to run down the road indicated, they skidded to a halt having seen their path was blocked by a new fleet of monsters.
"No way am I running passed those creeps!" Cera barked double backing.
"Oh great! The most direct route's littered with these things!" Stone cursed reloading, "Jill, I'm almost dry! We've gotta get to that building!"
"We can cut through Trafalgar Square if we can get there," Jill shouted back.
"Which way is that?" Ali called looking down each of the roads, all of which were crawling with zombified humans and dogs all advancing on them.
"Take that road there!" Jill pointed as she dropped another empty clip to the ground and loaded her last one. Suddenly, Petrie gave a frightened cry from overhead.
"Petrie!" Littlefoot cried as he saw him trying to out-manoeuvre a flock of ravenous crows who were giving chase.
"Get away from me! Help! Me need help!" Petrie squealed as he dove down towards the ground.
"Look out!" Cera yelled as the birds then started to turn on the gang, pecking and clawing at their heads. As they frantically tried to bat them off, Stone turned and fired a few shots into the attacking flock killing a few of them.
"Whew…thanks Mr. Stone," Ali sighed relieved as the surviving crows took off.
"No problem, let's get going," the sergeant smiled.
"Stone! Look out!" Littlefoot then warned. Stone turned to look but before he could focus on what Littlefoot had seen, one of the dogs had charged up from behind and pounced directly on him knocking him over. The gang gasped in horror as the malicious animal tried to seize the sergeant by the neck with its teeth as Stone fought to throw it off.
"Jill!" Ducky shouted to her to attract her attention as she stood keeping the monsters ahead of them at bay. She looked around to see her comrade tussling under the disgusting creature but before she could take aim, Cera ran, full-speed, towards the dog and rammed it heavily in the side knocking it clean off Stone and sent it rolling down the road it had come from.
"Whoa! Thanks Cera! You…saved me," Stone puffed, rolling over to face her. Cera snorted and smiled as the sergeant got to his feet.
"Daniel, this way!" Jill called to him as she lowered her gun and started down the street she had cleared as much as possible. With a quick glance at each other, Stone and the gang promptly followed Jill down the street towards Trafalgar Square keeping their distance from the attacking monsters around them.
The group of eight pressed on down the twisted streets riddled with corpses which reeked with the musky smell of rotting flesh and decaying matter.
"How…much…further…?" Cera wheezed as she knocked another zombie out of her path.
"Just a bit further, we're almost there," Jill said breathlessly as they turned down another road. Tearing around the last corner, the group approached a large concrete opening with a destroyed fountain at its centre. Lying, sprawled across the magnificent square in many pieces was the massive pillar of Nelson's Column and its four mighty lions toppled from their pedestals.
"Is that it?" Littlefoot called between breaths.
"Yeah, that's the square. We can cut across it and get to headquarters a few streets ahead," Jill announced as she ran over the road and into the square. As the gang followed suit, they all came to a sudden stop gasping in terror.
"C'mon! What's the hold up?" Stone ordered as he joined the others. No one answered him but before he could say another word, Stone looked up to see an entire army of zombies lined up on the stairs above them, blocking their route.
"They're cutting us off," Ali said fretfully as they all glared down on them menacingly.
"Let's go back," Littlefoot suggested backing away from the steps.
"Uh oh! They coming from behind too!" Petrie warned as they tried to double back.
"C'mon! Up the other stairs!" Stone called but he was quickly stopped by more zombies congregating there.
"We are surrounded! There is no way out!" Ducky wailed as they stood in the centre of the square boxed in from all sides.
"What are you waiting for Stone? Get them!" Cera ordered. Stone raised his rifle and pulled the trigger but it clicked helplessly.
"What's the matter?" Littlefoot asked nervously.
"Dammit! Out of ammo!" Stone cursed flinging the massive gun around on his back.
"Jill?" Ali called sheepishly but she too gave her a helpless look. Flicking out her clip, Jill found only a few bullets left in it.
"I've got about four shots left and there are plenty more zombies than that," Jill said blandly.
"So we're trapped here with those creepy things all around us?!" Cera exclaimed. Everyone stood back to back as the monsters closed in on them from every direction.
"What are we going to do?" Ducky cried fearfully but no one could answer her.
"We have to do something!" Littlefoot called out, "We have to get to Westwood and the Red Phoenix!"
"But how?!" Petrie cawed as he dropped onto Cera's back making her jump. Just then, Jill noticed something behind the fleet of zombies heading their way. It was an overturned, double-decker London bus. She quickly got an idea. Raised her gun, she took aim and fired her remaining few shots at the base of the vehicle. The bullets cracked and pierced the bus allowing the remaining fuel to leak out and spread everywhere. Instantly, the petrol caught fire.
"Everyone get down!!!" Jill yelled as the flames burned more and more viciously over the bus. Diving to the ground, the gang looked on in shock as the bus suddenly exploded throwing great chunks of metal and shrapnel everywhere. With the eruption, every zombie within the blast radius was thrown from its position and launched into the square, landing in mangled heaps with a few of them becoming decapitated by the metal projectiles and crumbled to black dust.
"C'mon! Quickly!" Jill shouted standing up and running up the now cleared steps. Without wasting another moment, everyone jumped up and chased Jill up the stairs and out of the chaotic square as the torched creatures stood up and began trudging around again as if nothing had happened.
Flying up the stairs, Jill, Stone and the gang ran down the dark streets of London and slowed to a stop unable to sprint anymore.
"I…think…we lost 'em," Littlefoot panted collapsing on the cold pavement.
"That…was a…close call," Ali said on her knees wheezing.
"Phew! Me no believe we escape those monsters…" Petrie gasped flopping down on Spike's face exhausted.
"That was some pretty quick thinking there Lieutenant," Stone smiled and clapped Jill on the back.
"All in a day's work," Jill said spinning her pistol in her hand and replacing it in its holder, "cost us the last of our ammunition though. We've gotta be a bit more careful when confronting these things since we are now pretty much defenceless."
"What about those glowing stick things you used when we were back in the Great Valley to fight the monsters?" Ali said poking the black handle of Jill's Laser Blade on her hip.
"Battery power's drained. It needs a bit of time to recharge," Stone said flicking his own Laser Blade out and trying to activate it but it flashed and fizzed meagrely before going out again. After slapping the useless black handle, Stone put it back in its holster on his waist.
"Hey? Aren't we missing someone?" he asked looking around with a puzzled expression.
"Erm…oh! Where is Littlefoot?" Ducky said quickly realising who the absentee was.
"He's over there," Cera said nodding to him stood on the side of the road. As soon as she saw him, Cera bounded over to Littlefoot's static position as he stared up with deadlocked eyes on something.
"Hey Littlefoot! What are you doing…way…over………here……" she said but trailed off as she took a glimpse at what Littlefoot was looking at.
"What are you two staring at?" Ali asked as she, Petrie, Spike and Ducky strolled over to them. They all then looked up.
"…Whhhoooaaaa…" Petrie breathed.
"What is it?" Ducky asked gasping.
"I don't know but something is telling me this is where we have to go," Littlefoot said slowly.
"You'd do good to follow that instinct Littlefoot," Jill said proudly as she and Stone walked over to them.
"What is that place?" Cera said sneeringly.
"That is the Red Phoenix Headquarters. This is where Westwood must be hiding out," Stone said cautiously crossing the road.
"We have to go in there?!" Cera exclaimed.
"Yup! I don't know how I knew but I could just sense something about it," Littlefoot said airily as he walked up the steps to the many double doors that sat buckled and twisted with their glass panels shattered.
"Maybe it's a response to the stones because even though I knew about this place, I could sense something strange about this crumbling old building," Jill explained.
"Do you believe in all of this magical stuff Jill?" Ali asked intrigued.
"I don't really know for sure. I guess I do in a sense but it's difficult to say. I've been on many a stranger mission but I never would have imagined I'd be fighting again my own employer and I've never come across anything supernatural like this," Jill said with a smile.
"Either way we have a mission to complete and we've gotta keep our guard up. This ruin could be swarming with more of these sick creatures if not more. Besides, I'm sure Westwood knows we're here," Stone said knocking the rest of the broken glass out of its frame, "watch your step and stay sharp. We've come this far but there is still plenty of room for things to go pear-shaped."
Everyone nodded and followed the sergeant as he clambered into the building being careful not cut themselves on the shards of glass littering the floor.