Chapter 7:
Out of Control
Comis' breaths came in quick gasps as she forced her legs to keep moving. Her skin rippled as the leg muscles contracted and relaxed, putting her legs through their running motion. The Utahraptor saw a large boulder up ahead a prepared to jump over it. She took a short skip and planted her feet into the ground, storing the combined energy of the skip and her speed in her bent knees. Her legs then extended, launching her several feet in the air over the boulder. Her right leg shot out and kicked of the top of the rock, giving the sharptooth extra speed when she finally landed and could continue her run.
The Utahraptor looked at the terrain in front of her. A loose, light, sandy soil dominated a landscape filled with short bushy trees and smaller vegetation. She knew she was somewhere in the fringe, and running the in the exact opposite direction she needed to.
Comis looked back at her pursuers. She saw seven of the velociraptors from the previous day close on her tail. For a reason she was unable to explain they had been chasing her all through the night. On four separate occasions Comis thought she had finally lost them, she had even gotten a few minutes of sleep in, but they always seemed to find her again.
So the Utahraptor continued to run as the bright circle rose in the sky, turning it blood red. She knew fighting that many raptors would be futile so she really had no choice. Lost in thought she failed to notice until it was too late that she was suddenly surrounded on three sides by stone. After a quick examination of her surroundings she realized she was in a large depression in the ground, one with three steep, cliff-like sides and one gradual side.
She turned and saw the raptors slowly moving in on her. The sharptooth thought that she could probably climb the steep inclines but it would be such a struggle that the velociraptors would surly catch her. She prepared for the fight of her life by taking a couple steps back to get into a better stance. Suddenly she felt her foot press down on something soft and then instinctively put her hands to her ears to protect them from an ear shattering scream coming from behind her.
* * *
Tricia was having the most wonderful dream. She was floating through a world filled with a warm pink fluff. Sweet bubbles were everywhere and she quickly darted her head, grabbing as many as she could and rejoicing with each squirt of their sugary juice. That was until she felt something heavy crush her tail.
The young three horn let out a shrill screech as she reacted to the pain from her tail. She turned to see the source of her discomfort and saw a large three toed foot pressing down on her tail. The foot quickly rose up into the air, reacting to the three horn's scream. She looked up to see the appendage's owner and saw the fierce face of the largest fast biter she had ever laid eyes on.
"What are you doing here?", the fast biter snapped. Tricia knew all about Chomper and how he could speak the green eater language but it was still struck the three horn as incredibly odd that this sharptooth was in fact speaking to her. She stood there dumbfounded, looking up in fear. "Ugh, never mind, we have bigger worries", the fast biter said as he turned his head around. Tricia traced her line of sight and saw seven smaller fast biters closing in on them and let out another scream.
* * *
Ducky heard the first scream but in her still mostly asleep state she ignored it, choosing to turn over and bury her head under her brother. But when the second scream came her mind suddenly snapped awake and she shot her head into the air. Several feet away she saw Tricia shaking in fear as a huge fast biter stood over her. Oddly enough though neither of the two were actually looking at the other, instead they were looking in the direction of the pit's only feasible exit. Ducky traced their vision and saw the smaller fast biters.
"Wake up you two, we're in trouble!" she said as she shook her brother and in turn Petrie as he was lying on the spike tail. They both woke with as start, heads darting, taking in the situation. The large fast biter quickly looked in their direction and saw them. "Listen you four, either we work together or we're dead", she barked at them. Every fiber in Ducky's body told her not to listen to the sharptooth but still she found herself talking almost without realizing it. "Listen to her" she said almost automatically to Spike, Petrie and Tricia. The three stared back at her with quizzical looks on their faces, unsure what to make of the order she just gave.
Without hesitation the large fast biter began barking orders, trying to prevent the leaf eaters from fully analyzing the fact that they were taking orders from a sharptooth. "Ok, I want the three horn up with me and the spike tail in between us with his tail facing out. Your spikes aren't very large yet but they will have to do. Big Mouth, I want you on you on top the spike tail giving him orders since he won't be able to see. Finally I want the flyer in the sky, keep a look out for more of these things!" The dinosaurs instantly sprung into action, getting into place.
The seven small fast biters slowly approached, eying the wall of flashing spikes and claws. Finally one jumped and tried to attack the left side of the wall, where the smaller and less developed spikes on Spike and Tricia provided less resistance than the fully grown claws of the large fast biter. Ducky saw the fast biter coming and gasped, "Spike! To your right!". Spike swung his tail blindly to the right, just clipping the fast biter. Although the blow was only strong enough to leave thin red lines on the sharp tooth's leg it broke its concentration and caused it to start flailing through the air. It began falling towards Tricia who closed her eyes and braced for the impact. Ducky watched as the fast biter showed itself to be the most unlucky creature on the face of the earth. Out of pure chance it landed on Tricia with its right eye being pierced by the three horn's singular horn, killing it instantly.
Ducky was horrified to see a splash of crimson blood splatter over the young three horn's face. Tricia didn't move, keeping her eyes firmly shut until she finally opened them. It took her brain a moment to analyze what she was seeing, after which she immediately passed out.
The remaining small fast biters were too distracted by their fallen comrade's horrible luck to notice that the large sharp tooth had just taken a huge leap towards them. One looked up just in time to see a flash of white claws. The large fast biter landed on the small one and tried to take a bite at its face. All she accomplished though was to tear off a large patch of skin. She took a small hop back and slashed at the fallen dinosaur's belly. Ducky quickly turned away, only catching the tiniest glimpse of the grisly blood soaked mass that slipped out. She jumped down off spike and silently vomited, not letting anyone else see.
The remaining small fast biters turned and ran; obviously fearful of what this odd collection of adversaries had demonstrated itself capable. Ducky rushed over to Tricia and with Spike's help she managed to pull the dead fast biter off the young three horn. She looked over that the remaining sharp tooth, who returned the glance. The sharp tooth looked at the unconscious three horn and sniffed the air, obviously detected the sweet scent of the vomit. "Pathetic," it muttered.
"What happened to the baby sharptooth from yesterday?" Petrie asked as he softly landed next to the big mouth. Ducky looked around and noticed that the young sharptooth was, in fact, gone. They had taken it with them and it was there when they had fallen asleep the night before, but the baby sharptooth was quite clearly gone now. "It doesn't matter, we have bigger problems. Fan Tricia please".
The flyer obliged and beat his wings furiously over the still unmoving three horn form. Eventually Tricia groaned and opened her eyes, quickly focusing her attention at Ducky who was leaning in front of her. "I want to go home, I don't like this place," she mumbled. Ducky was starting to get the same feelings; the world outside the valley didn't suit them at all. Still, Ducky knew they had to go find Littlefoot. "Just rest sweety, it'll be ok".
"The name's Comis, or at least that's what you can call me," came a rough but feminine voice from behind Ducky. Ducky looked up at Comis, unsure of what to say. "You all are obviously not from around here, so what is it your looking for?" Ducky was slow to respond but finally managed to mutter, "We come from the Great Valley". The sharptooth's expression suddenly changed as she started examining the big mouth closely. "And are you looking for a long neck with a scar just like this?" Comis said, showing the flat tooth her crescent scar. "Why, yes actually," Ducky stammered in surprise. "Perfect," the sharptooth said as a wide smile grew on her face. Ducky wasn't laughing.
* * *
"So you and Littlefoot are mates?" Chomper asked, dumbfounded. The young sharptooth was sitting next to the large form of Cera. Cera was lying on the ground, head on her legs, staring off into the horizon. She had watched the moon slowly rise, and saw it silhouette a tree shaped like a long neck. The three horn stared at it until the moon started to move too high in the sky. She found it funny, that the moon can move so far while she stared right at it, yet it seemed to be perfectly still. Cera had always wondered about the moon and the stars, they were so beautiful yet so mysterious. She had always ignored the stories and myths about them that others bought so easily for the simple reason that they all said the stars and the moon were close. But something inside her told her they were far, far away. A part of something so much bigger then her, something she could never comprehend.
Cera normally hated feeling that way. That something was bigger, grander, and more important than her. Yet for some reason she enjoyed her feeling of inferiority to something so beautiful. It just felt right. Sometimes, it's good to have no control she always said to herself, though she would never admit feeling this way.
The three horn turned away from the moon and looked across the desolate landscape she had grown to know as the Mysterious Beyond. She glanced at the Healer, who was quietly slumbering a short distance away, before looking back at Chomper sitting next to her.
"It's not that serious, we're just…. Together," she finally managed to say after a long pause.
"Why did he leave you then?" Chomper responded.
"I don't know, he just did"
"Do you think it's really a good idea?"
"Of course not! Leaving me like that was stupid," Cera barked back. Why would he ever think it could be justified? She quietly thought to herself. "No, I meant being together" Chomper responded, a little hurt. "Why would it not be a good idea?" Cera asked, pretending to be annoyed but deep down she was actually curious.
"Well, it's not very long term thing. You can't have kids or anything. So wouldn't you feel like something was missing? I guess you could pull a Spike but it's not really the same thing. Besides, I watched you two grow up, and I saw a lot of love between you. But not like this" Chomper finished. "Like how then?" Cera asked, throwing away her disguise of annoyance. "Well there was this one time when I was telling this other sharp tooth kid I met, back on the island, about you guys. I was very excited and so I was talking really fast and without thinking I said 'Littlefoot and his sister Cera'. I didn't even realize it till later," said Chomper as he started to find a comfy position to fall asleep in.
Cera was silent for a while, thinking to herself. "But what if that's not what I want," she finally said. "Well some things just aren't in our control," he replied as he curled up and closed his eyes, "And sometimes, it's good to have no control".
* * *
Ali's mind was operating at a mile per minute, absorbing everything that had happened the night before. Littlefoot had told her about everything that had happened in the past several days. She focused on the news about him and Cera first. He confessed that he had his doubts about the relationship with the three horn and Ali had heard him out. In truth Ali knew he was right, she had always seen them having a very different kind of relationship. Still Ali knew it wasn't her place; it was something Littlefoot and Cera had to work out on their own.
"We should be there tonight," Luca suddenly called from up ahead. Ali looked forward at the group. After much pleading Littlefoot had convinced Luca to let her and Rhett join them on their journey. Boy was that three horn mad when Littlefoot asked she thought to herself, I should be careful where I sleep, he might try to push me off a cliff so he doesn't have to be bothered by me anymore! She silently chuckled at what she felt was such a ridiculous notion.
She looked at the landscape around her. They were on a steep mountain, various patches of dirt, leaves, and rock giving the ground a patched appearance. The forest was much thinner, as was the air, Ali noted as she stopped to catch her breath. She looked at Littlefoot and found herself staring at the crimson patch on his back. For nearly a minute her eyes remained locked on the colored skin, until Rhett broke her out of her trance.
"What are you staring at?" Rhett asked.
"Oh nothing," Ali quickly replied, blushing slightly. "What did you two do last night?" Rhett then question, his voice filled with unsaid accusations. "Nothing, we talked" Ali replied sternly as she followed Littlefoot again after her rest. Rhett stared after her, a look of anger plastered on his face.