Chapter 3

Coming of Age

Part 2

Two Years Later...

Today was a rainy day in the skies above Isla Sorna, with flocks of birds seeking refuge in the trees. Down on the ground, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians all stayed within their hiding places during the rainfall.

On the other hand, some plant eating dinosaur species have awakened from their late night slumber to graze on the plants that grew in numerous areas.

One such species like the early iguanodont, Camptosaurus (meaning 'Flexible Lizard'), a 26 foot long Late Jurassic herbivore, were commonly seen gathering in herds on the grasslands near forests to feed and socialize among one another. Like the hadrosaurs, Camptosaurs were capable of walking on four legs and running on two. At their size, these light weight plant eaters could easily outrun most large predators that tried to hunt them.

Speaking of predators, one such individual was currently hidden in a shaded area of the forest, ready to launch an ambush. Since Camptosaurs were fast and agile runners, getting close enough to bring one down requires patience and proper skill.

The unseen carnivore moved in closer, staying completely silent to avoid giving away it's presence.

Then, the time to strike had come.

Emerging out of hiding was Bruiser, now a 20 foot long juvenile. He charged towards the herd of Camptosaurs, sending them into a panic as they went running away from him. As of today, Bruiser was now on his first official hunt for dinosaur meat.

He kept a close eye on the fleeing herd during his pursuit, hoping to pick one of them off. For an Allosaur, Bruiser was quite unique for displaying a personality which was uncommon among his species.

Suddenly, his supposed target presented itself as a panicked female Camptosaurus went straying off away from the herd. Bruiser took advantage by changing direction and going after the straggler. When pursuing prey, Allosaurs could run at 34 miles per hour, which allowed them to travel at long distances during hunts. In Bruiser's case, his young age and lighter weight made him faster, enabling him to keep the Camptosaur in his sights.

The odds were tipping in his favor as he began to catch up, running alongside the fleeing herbivore. While the Camptosaurus was slightly bigger, Bruiser had a plan on how to bring it down. Once he got close enough, he initiated his attack by clamping his jaws onto the Camptosaur's back left leg and then letting go, badly injuring the herbivore as it now had a bleeding wound on it's leg.

The Camptosaurus tried with all it's might to keep running, but the combination of shock from the attack and the loss of blood began weakening it to the point where it could no longer keep up it's pace, thus allowing Bruiser to move in for his next attack. Lunging forth, the Allosaurus bit into the Camptosaur's neck, wounding his prey even further. Being too weak to struggle free, the Camptosaurus could only tumble to the ground as Bruiser maintained his grip. Once he was sure that it was dead, he finally let go.

Satisfied with his hunt, he began to feast on his hard earned meal as he tore off chunks of flesh with his razor sharp teeth, swallowing them whole. Based on scientific studies, while Allosaurus was a deadly hunter, it's bite was by no means as powerful as most would assume. Compared to predators like T-Rex, as well as modern day predators such as big cats, hyenas, bears, sharks and crocodiles, Allosaurus had a very weak bite force, meaning that it's jaws were not designed for piercing through solid bone. Instead, Allosaurus would primary use it's mouth like an axe, slamming down it's top jaw onto the prey while applying extra pressure.

However, while Bruiser was instinctively capable of such a tactic, the method he used to kill the Camptosaurus was entirely different. How he displays enough intelligence to devise a tactic such as this is rather odd, and the fact that he relied more on strategy than instinct in hunting would surely bring astonishment to any scientist willing to observe and study him. But still, it helped him quite well in making his first kill.

Even though he was now big enough to hunt other dinosaurs, he still had a long way to go before he was ready to tackle more challenging prey such as the gigantic sauropods like Diplodocus or Apatosaurus. But now that he was bigger, his old enemy, the Ornitholestes, was no longer a problem to him.

Said carnivore himself watched him from afar, his snout now bearing the scars from where a newly hatched Bruiser had bitten him years ago. He then went scurrying off back into the forest.

Despite being 20 feet long, Bruiser's size didn't necessarily mean that he was untouchable to the more deadlier carnivores that thrived around the island.

Bruiser raised up his head upon hearing a menacing noise in the area. Coming from the left of the grasslands was the giant Carcharodontosaurus, Axel. The huge carnosaur approached the Allosaurus slowly, bearing his massive jaws in front of him. Bruiser was all the more shocked at seeing him, having never encountered such a giant predator until now. He just stood there, practically frozen with fear at the sight of the bloodthirsty carnosaur.

Axel moved in closer, preparing to kill the stunned Allosaurus. But right as he was about to attack him, Bruiser soon regained his composure and just barely managed to dodge his incoming bite before running away, prompting Axel to pursue him. Bruiser ran for his life as the murderous carnosaur chased him across the grasslands.

For the first time, Bruiser was truly afraid. He had no idea what he was up against, nor did he expect it either.

Axel pursued him with killer intent, snapping his vicious jaws in an attempt to catch his target. He even went so far as to try and grab his tail to slow him down, but the more agile Bruiser easily eluded his grasp.

Bruiser knew he couldn't run like this forever, he had to find a way to lose Axel.

Timing his next move carefully, the Allosaur performed a quick turn as Axel tried to attack with another bite. Unable to stop and turn fast enough, Axel stumbled and fell over. This gave Bruiser just enough time to escape.

Axel could only watch as the Allosaur ran off. Getting to his feet, the carnosaur let out a frustrated growl before walking away from the area.


Later...

Bruiser was now on the lookout for more prey. But due to his dangerous encounter with Axel, his search for food had led him into a large savannah area with widespread trees. The rain had come to a stop after at least three hours, and the sun was shining brightly, which provided Bruiser with enough shade among the trees to stage an ambush.

As he wandered through the land, he suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby. Believing it to be a potential meal, he began to head in the direction of the sound.

The minute he arrived, he stopped in his tracks to see what appeared to be a rather odd looking, bipedal dinosaur with a long neck, browsing from a tree. It was 40 feet in length and stood at about 15 feet tall. But it's most shocking feature was it's large 8 foot long arms which sported three deadly looking sickle claws.

This was Therizinosaurus, a Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Mongolia. It's name meaning "Scythe Lizard", this giant was one of the world's most astonishing dinosaurs ever found. Though classified as a theropod, Therizinosaurus and it's clade, Therizinosauria, were greatly distinguished from other theropods due to one major difference. Therizinosaurus was a vegetarian, feeding on plants rather than meat like traditional theropods.

Upon noticing him, the Therizinosaurus turned towards Bruiser and bared it's massive claws at him, roaring with aggression. A single slash from those claws could surely cause serious injury to any carnivore that dared to attack it.

Intimidated by the Therizinosaur's threatening display and imposing size, the young Allosaur backs down. Even Bruiser knew better than to mess with such a large and dangerous creature.

Once he was gone, the Therizinosaurus went back to it's browsing, pulling down a tree branch with one of it's arms.

Bruiser resumed his hunt for prey, hoping to find a prime target.

An opportunity soon revealed itself as Bruiser spotted a small herd of Massospondylus, a prosauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic period. This early herbivore commonly thrived here in the savannah, staying in groups to keep an eye out for danger. While it's appearance made it look vulnerable, Massospondylus did have a means of defending itself. It main weapons of choice were the large thumb claws that were present on it's front limbs that could deliver a nasty blow when fending off predators.

Bruiser prepared for his attack by hiding within the shade under a tree. The herbivores remained unaware of his presence as they continued grazing, with the allosaur inching more closer per step. He bided his time wisely, waiting for the moment to make his move. He sets his sights on the individual Massospondylus that was standing just outside the herd, close enough for to him to take it by surprise.

One of the members in the herd raised it's head to look around, keeping watch for predators. Bruiser stayed cautious, not wanting to risk getting spotted too soon. If he failed at this hunt, he would have to start over from scratch.

The time to act...was now.

Bruiser lunged towards his chosen target. But when he tries going for the neck, he is repelled by a hit to the face from the herbivore's tail. Unlike the Camptosaurus Bruiser had hunted earlier, this Massospondylus would not go down without a fight. The rest of the herd members began distancing themselves away from the scene, knowing that a fight was imminent.

The Massospondylus showed off it's thumb claws, indicating that it wasn't to be taken lightly. Bruiser bared his sharp toothed jaws at the herbivore, refusing to back down.

He had come too far to give up now. Driven by hunger and determination, Bruiser will fight to earn his next meal.

To Be Continued...


Well, here's the third chapter.

You won't believe the trouble I went through trying to put this chapter together. I spent days watching prehistoric documentaries on Youtube and looking up various dinosaurs on Jurassic Park wiki, Dinopedia and Walking With Wikis just so I could describe the dinosaurs featured in the story. Plus I won't limit myself to just including dinosaurs, there are plenty of other prehistoric creatures I can choose from.

Anyway, Bruiser's now grown into a young juvenile Allosaurus. He made his first kill, had his first major encounter with Axel, got driven off by a Therizinosaurus, and now he's about to fight for the first time, against a Massospondylus. I chose to give him a personality to make him more unique compared to other Allosaurs.

Be sure to keep a lookout for Chapter 4.

I really struggled on this chapter, so I apologize if it's not that well done. But I'll keep trying, I swear.

Later everybody.