Hello again!

You will all be happy to know that I am not, in fact, dead (just completely destroyed by work and college). This Chapter ended up bigger than originally intended, which contributed to the delay, but I think there were some improvements over the original version. Plus, I think the chapter flows... okayish?

Honestly, I'm personally not 100% sold with it, so if you all could leave some comments and reviews, I would be very happy.

Speaking of that, I would like to give a special thanks to the continued support and interest some of you have demonstrated towards the story, like MysteryWriter175, Terrordon and FluffyPrime. Your comments give me the energy to keep going and provide me with new ideas to improve the story.

Next chapter will be more quiet, but might also turn... spicy.

Finally, once again, please leave a comment/review. I love reading them.

-x-

Chapter 13: Feathers

Samantha had once visited a cave. It wasn't a normal cave, it was special. Not because of a specific geological formation or hidden ecosystem, but because of the imprints left by people thousands of years ago.

She remembers staring in awe at the many hands that covered the walls. Looking at the animals, hunting scenes and vague human figures had been one of the most amazing experiences she had. For a brief moment, she felt as if she had been transported to another world.

Thinking about the encounter with Chaser's clan (as she had decided to classify them, since they didn't seem to be exclusively a family group), Sam couldn't help but to wonder what ways the raptors used to express themselves. Did they know how to draw images like those people from the caves? Did they create toys and charms from local materials, or even complete works of art like tiny sculptures from bone? The encounter had convinced her they were perfectly capable of doing so, and she was eager to learn more. Still, that would have to wait.

"They have a culture! An actual living alien culture!" Her mind screamed.

However, she wouldn't be able to witness this raptor society or record her findings if she died from an infection, malaria or some other random tropical disease; ended up being a dinosaur snack, or just tripped on a rock and broke her neck.

No, before she could even consider playing a raptor anthropologist (something she had little academic background), Samantha needed to ensure her own well-being. Furthermore, she needed proper equipment to record her findings, like a good camera and lots of memory cards. Finally, maybe get in touch with someone who actually knows how to do this and isn't just stumbling from one finding to the next.

Simply put, she needed to get in contact with her friends. There was no way around it. To do so, her best hope was to get to the nearest dock, as it was both the most likely place for them to seek refuge, and also the only places that would occasionally get human visitors at all (mostly from the joint US and Costa Rican patrols around the archipelago). Thus, it was possible there were working radios and supplies laying around. Either way, those docks were her next objective, and she had to get there before something nasty happened.

Of course, as Samantha wondered about her future plans, Chaser could only focus on the present. More specifically, on the tasty Gallimimus his clanmates had kindly hunted before they left. It had been long since he had a full meal at his disposal, and the comps Sam had hunted were a kind, but insufficient gift to actually satiate his hunger, especially after all the effort the both of them had went through lately.

Chaser was happy, really happy. Everything had gone smoothly, even better than he had anticipated. Elder Swift had said she couldn't make any promises, but she would try to explain the situation to the rest of the clan, and hopefully get the rest of the elders to give Samantha a chance to actually go into Fallen Rock. The others were, for the most part, also willing to help, with some of them even wishing to meet Sam again in the future. This was great, his incredibly dangerous and risky plan had actually worked!

There was, of course, the other side of the metaphorical river to consider. That is, the soft skins themselves. He didn't know if Sam had anything similar planned, but it appeared so. She had already made clear her intention to go near the great waters to meet others of her kind, so it wouldn't be that crazy to assume she wanted to introduce him to her own clan, as he had just done it himself. With this, he concluded the worst was behind them.

If the meeting with his clan had gone this well, then there was little to worry about meeting Sam's kind. Given all her tools and the sheer creative capacity of the soft skins, he was confident they would be even more reasonable to approach than his own kin.

After Chaser was done with his meal and Sam had finished cutting some pieces for herself, the duo set out down the road. This path brought them to a lower section of the island, where the rivers began to form marshes before connecting with the sea. The vegetation in this area was denser, and the ground was extra muddy. This was made worse by the previous rains. As a result, most of the original road had already disintegrated into a barely visible line of slightly more sturdy soil.

Samantha found herself occasionally stumbling on the uneven ground, while also having to struggle with her boots getting swallowed by the mud. More than once, Chaser had helped her by allowing her to grab on to him or by pulling her by her belt. It was a bit unnerving to have him using his teeth so close to her, but she trusted him fully.

Soon, she began to worry about the time this was taking. Progress was already slow as it was, and they had spent most of the morning hours talking with his clan. While it had been productive, it now posed a problem with her limited time schedule. The last thing she wanted was to get caught wondering this place at night, even if it was with a raptor protecting her. The denser tree canopies meant this area would be even darker at night, and she really didn't want to know how difficult it would be to keep moving on such conditions. Lastly, there was the constant danger of bigger predators, many of whom came out at night.

At one point, she was forced to cross a particularly deep puddle of mud, reaching close to her knees. It was only by using nearby tree trunks that she managed to keep moving. As she used the butt of her shotgun to stand up again, she noticed Chaser was still on the other side, seemingly undecided about crossing or not.

Wiping some sweat from her forehead, she waved at him. "Come on, big bird! It's not that difficult, I'm sure you can do it!" she tried to keep her mocking tone to a minimum, even though she knew he likely wouldn't catch it.

Chaser acknowledged her words, staring at her a bit before looking left and right, searching for a better alternative. There were none. The mud only got wider and more liquified on both directions.

It wasn't that he couldn't do it, he just really didn't want to get his feathers covered in mud. It was bad enough to clean them when he had help, he didn't want to imagine what it would be like to do this by himself. "Though I guess Sam might be willing to help…" He thought to himself. It was weird to imagine her cleaning him like one of his clanmates. Would she use her soft and dexterous hands?

His thoughts were interrupted by another call from her. "We can't stay here the whole day, Chaser!" This time, she called him by his real name in English. It was a bit strange, but it was a fitting name, she supposed.

Would he even be able to cross?

Now that she thought about, it could be bit more difficult for him, given his lack of fat (when compared to her) and his bigger weight (although it was better distributed across his larger body). Maybe she could use a rope to help him?

Her eyes looked around, examining the trees for the ones that looked healthier and sturdier. Yeah, maybe she could tie a rope around them and use it to pull him if he got stuck?

Of course, her line of thought was rudely interrupted when a large shape suddenly landed right beside her.

With a frighted welp, Sam jumped back while fumbling with her shotgun. The sudden panic combined with the uneven surface made her lose footing and fall back on her butt. Her weapon remained on her person only due to the strap she was wearing. For a second, the woman was sure she was about to fight for her life, again.

That is, until she realized the big shape was Chaser.

He stared at her blankly, meeting her confused gaze. "Wh-what? How did you-" She noticed his outstretched arms and bent legs.

"He jumped across…" She figured. The embarrassment of her reaction made her want to crawl into a hole and hide. "Of course you just jumped across, you little…"

Conscious of the unintended spook he had given her, Chaser asked her if she was okay. "Samm good?"

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Sam good."

While picking herself up from the muddy ground, she noted how the big feathers on Chaser's arms were almost like small wings. Perhaps they helped him jump across? She didn't know. They seemed too small to provide even some minimal gliding.

"They do look beautiful, though…" Her mind wondered. They were darker on top, with the lower feathers becoming white. It made for a nice combination. Glancing at the rest of his body, she concluded he was indeed quite pretty for a raptor.

Her examination ended when she met his eyes. Shame quickly arose and she avoided his gaze. There was no desire on her look, but it still felt wrong to just be ogling him like that. Luckily for her, Chaser didn't know what her reddening cheeks implied, though he still found her gaze amusing.

"Ha! Even the soft skin gets impressed!" Being a young adult, he took his looks very seriously, always making sure his feathers were as good as possible. Chaser's self-care had already rewarded him a few times, with some females from his clan very much interested on him. While, he still hadn't found someone to take as a partner, male or female, he was proud his sexual adventures.

His mind briefly wondered if Sam was looking at the same things the females on his clan looked. It seemed like it, for her eyes were quite drawn to his feathers. The raptor also took note of how she avoided her gaze when she noticed he saw what she was doing. Almost as if she was a hatchling caught stealing toys from another nest. This was confusing to him. Why would she feel bad? He sure enjoyed the attention.

"Probably some other weird soft skin stuff," His mind concluded.

The duo continued in their track across the swamps. As the hours passed, mosquitoes and other insects became a constant annoyance for Sam. Her sweating, of course, didn't help the matters, as it both contributed to her sorry state and attracted even more insects towards her skin. If Chaser was annoyed by the bugs, he didn't show it, though she supposed he was indeed much better protected than her.

She was half inclined to just cover herself in mud for protection, but for some reason there was a bubbling hesitation whenever she thought about it.

With a frown, she began to examine those feelings closer. She didn't have any qualms about doing it previously, so why now?

"Not like I was given much time to ponder about it…" Her mind argued. Although it still didn't make much sense why she was feeling like this now. Her current situation hadn't really changed, she was still stuck on a dinosaur island and fighting for her life. The only obvious difference was her company.

Thinking about him made things worse. Samantha began to see a clear connection between her hesitation and Chaser's presence. More specifically, that she didn't want him to see her covered in mud.

The woman rolled her eyes at that ridiculous revelation. "Jezz, for fucks sake, what do I care about how he sees me, not like he's my goddammed boy-"

Her silent rant was interrupted by the sudden realization that her raptor was not besides her. Sam halted mid step and turned around, finding Chaser a few feet behind her, facing away.

"What the fuck?"

There were a few seconds of confusion before she noticed a few things. First, the swamp was eerily quiet. Two, it was quiet, with the exception of a single sound.

None of them were moving, yet there was a characteristic crunching sound almost every second, though a bit… faintier? It almost sounded like-.

Chaser was looking at her, straight to her eyes. Although his kind didn't have the same capacity of facial expression, she understood him right away. "Don't fucking move" those eyes said.

Her breath was hitched on her throat. She carefully examined her surroundings, searching for the source of those crunching sounds. With growing dread, she identified a single larger shape between the ugly swamp trees. What she had first assumed to be a small hill, was actually moving.

It was huge, simply enormous. How neither of them had noticed the large predator was a mystery. Whatever it was, it easily towered over the both of them. Hell, it might even be bigger than the Carnotaurus who unintentionally brought them together.

From the current distance, she assumed the creature was probably a Spinosaurus or similarly sized therapod, and it was eating something.

That's what the crunching sound was. It was the noise of bones and flesh being crushed by massive jaws.

With an unspoken agreement, the two travelers began to fall back. There was a good distance between them and the larger foe, but it was wise to act with caution. This was a fight neither of them was capable of handling. At first, they took careful steps, keeping their eyes locked on the beast who was blissfully unaware of them.

It was unlikely a predator this big would be interested on them regardless, especially when it was already enjoying a full meal, but one can never be too sure.

As more and more distance was placed between them and the predator, Sam and Chaser began to quicken their steps, until they were practically running. Mostly on Sam's side, as Chaser could obviously run faster if he wished, but he wasn't about to leave her side. Plus, there was also the occasional mud puddle the two had to traverse, go around or jump over.

After what felt like an absolute eternity, Samantha once again looked in the direction the (assumed to be) Spinosaurus was seen, no longer able to see him amongst the dense trees. This was good, and she let an automatic sigh of relief. If she couldn't see it, despite the enormous size, it meant they were really far away from it.

The problem, though, she realized, is that they were now a tiny bit lost.

"Fuck, fuck fuck…" Curses and more curses came out of her mouth as she unshouldered her backpack and began to open it to grab her maps.

The road was nowhere in sight, and there weren't many hours of sunlight left.

A small nudge to her shoulder brought her frustration over the edge.

"What?!" Chaser's muzzle immediately snaped back, as if physically hit.

She hadn't intended to raise her voice like that. "Shit, Chaser uh… sorry"

Just as frustrating as the current situation, was her lack of raptor vocabulary to properly apologize to him. Thankfully, this wasn't something he was unfamiliar with.

Occasional outbursts of anger, when faced with a difficult situation, where fairly common amongst his kind, and he had learned over the seasons not to take it personally. Sometimes emotions got the better of us, he knew that.

It had actually been quite interesting to see her acting in such a familiar fashion. It seemed some behaviors were universal.

"I good" he said, in an attempt to answer her obvious apology. He was proud at how easy it was becoming to understand her tone and facial expressions, how they implied certain feelings and context to her words.

Chaser's answer flooded her with relief, allowing her to focus on getting her bearings. From the sun's position in the sky, she guessed they had fled to the east. With that in mind, she figured they could head north for an hour or two, to get away from whatever monstrosity they just spotted, and then west to get back on the road.

It would've been a simple matter of beginning to move once again, were it not for the massive problem that made itself known.

He spotted it before she did, though for a moment she could swear she saw his golden eyes widening slightly.

In a flash, Chaser threw himself at Samantha. The woman barely had time to register what happened as the mass of feathers and fury tackled her away from the path of incoming danger.

She fell on the rough ground with an oof, losing her breath as Chaser's big chest and belly pinned her. Thankfully, just as quickly as this happened, the raptor scrambled away from her.

There was no time to ask questions, as her eyes settled on another dinosaur a few feet away from them.

It wasn't as big as the thing they had seen previously, and the shape made it easy to identify. It was a tyrannosaurus rex. Not an adult, of course (they would've have noticed it, if it was), but a juvenile, possibly not even a young adult.

Fear instantly seized her as she realized just what Chaser had saved her from. A single bite from that thing, even in its youth, would have snapped her in half like twig.

The t-rex wasn't that taller than Chaser, but it was much heavier and possessed that massive jaw. Plus, it was clearly hungry, and more than happy to attack the two of them to satiate it.

Quickly, the two dinosaurs were at each other. The rex tried to go for quick snap bites, while Chaser used his speed to dodge them and search for an opening to counterattack. Meanwhile, Samantha found herself in a very familiar situation, watching Chaser fighting a much bigger enemy to defend something.

Except this time, that something was her. Chaser was once again fighting to protect her. She thought back to that faithful first encounter. God, it felt like an eternity ago.

One thing was different, though. This time Chaser wasn't without help, because she wasn't going to wait until he was almost killed to do something. The mere thought of him getting hurt turned her fear into pure anger.

As the duel between the two predators continued, Samantha scrambled to get her shotgun. To her dismay, the weapon had lumps of mud glued to it, enough to force her to try cleaning it before attempting to fire.

"Shit, shit, come on!" Her shaky hands scrubbed the mud away as best as they could, though it didn't help they weren't exactly clean either. With some effort, the ejection and loading ports became mostly clear of mud. It was far from ideal, and she would need to try disassembling the damn thing to get a better look, but right now it was the best she could get.

Samantha quickly got on her feet and moved into the fray. She could see not much had changed. Although Chaser was an experienced raptor, there was only so much he could do against a living tank like a tyrannosaurus.

It was clear, however, that his opponent was beginning to pick up on his moves. More than once, the massive beast was able to knock Chaser to the ground, with the raptor only barely avoiding a killing blow by jumping away in the last second.

At the same time, as Sam reached less than ten feet from the fighting duo, she shouldered her SPAS-12 and took aim. There was no time for fancy shots or figuring out the best spot to hit. Instead, she simply aimed somewhere on the center of that big head and got ready to fire. The first round was a slug, she remembered, one of the few she had left.

As her fingers squeezed the trigger, the massive bang of the shotgun momentarily overtook the sounds of battle between the two dinosaurs.

Together with the familiar muzzle flash came the recoil against her shoulder and a burst of red from her target's mouth.

Within seconds, the young dinosaurs went from fighting to screaming in pain as something, possibly his tongue or a piece of his jaw, was punched clean through by Samantha's slug round.

It wasn't enough for Sam to stop. The woman quickly took aim once more and fired another round. She wasn't sure which type of ammunition this was, but it mattered little now. She just wanted that thing to regret attacking her raptor.

There was no red this time, either from her missing or the round (probably buckshot) not having enough power to penetrate wherever it hit. Either way, this all proved too much for the young rex, who hastily made his retreat back into the swamp, before Sam could fire again. Still, she refused to lower her weapon, in case it came back, or some other monster decided to show up.

It was only after Chaser came back to her and whined softly that she calmed down enough to stop. Her eyes took notice of the two spent casings near her boots, before she faced the raptor. A quick look over showed he was fine, at least on the surface. His feathers were a bit ruffled and there was mud clinging to his legs and belly, but otherwise he was untouched.

Sam couldn't help but to chuckle at the sight "Guess neither of us managed to escape the mud, right boy?"

He knew from her tone she was asking some sort of question, but there was also a unique twist to it, something she would often do when talking to herself, or saying things he didn't understand still. A small part of him wondered if she was asking a rhetorical question or being ironic.

"Ssam fine?" His concern for her wellbeing, even though he was the one fighting, made Samantha feel very touched. "Yeah, Sam is fine."

It was her turn to ask. "Uh, Chaser good?"

"Yes" he replied simply. Though she noted a familiar purr accompanied his answer.

Truth to be told, he was originally concerned because of the very noticeable blood that had gotten to her clothes and hair… until he realized it belonged to the great tyrant that had attacked them. Such was the force of the thundered, that some of the blood sprayed by the wound had gotten on his soft skin. Were he a human, Chaser would've frowned at the implications.

More and more, he was beginning to realize his killing claws were increasingly inadequate against the sheer power the soft skins carried on their delicate hands.

This simple realization made him see her in a new light. He concluded that even though she wasn't as physically formidable as his kind, Samantha and the soft skins were just as strong on their own ways.

Hell, she actually looked rather fearsome with the blood dripping and thunderer at the ready. The red fur cascading down her head, in particular, complemented her figure very well too. "I suppose she is quite pretty in her own weird way…" He thought.

Although the duo was still weary of the encounter, they both knew it was unwise to remain there. The only choice was to keep moving and hope they could get to a safer area before the sun set, and so they set out again.

While the swamp stretched for a fair bit, it wasn't infinite, and soon enough the strange couple began to step on drier ground. The less muddy it was, the quicker the human and the raptor could move, and so their journey advanced at a more efficient rate. There were still challenges ahead, but the two realized that by working together and playing on their combined strengths, they could make it through almost anything.