Owen remained frozen behind Blue, not wanting to make the same mistake twice. He kept his rifle raised, the barrel nervously jumping between the two raptors that Blue was currently challenging.
When they hesitantly stepped back, Owen released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Blue however, lowered herself further and took several steps toward Echo and Delta, predatory eyes fixated on her two sisters. When she had closed the gap between them, a rumbling growl began to echo through her throat. With her head lowered and her stance spread, Blue looked more like a fierce predator than anytime prior.
The surrounding area had grown quiet, save for each animal's raspy was Blue who finally broke the silence with a series of low toned barks that shifted into a deep rumble that Owen felt more than heard.
Delta and Echo had lowered their stances further at their sister's continued aggression. Standing together, they matched the blue streaked raptor's growl with their own.
The standoff lasted for another full minute before Echo turned away with a snort, lowering her body to the ground and turning her head from the blue raptor.
Delta however, continued to mirror Blue's movements, but made no attempts toward the streaked raptor. Time seemed to crawl for Owen and Blue issued her challenge again. Delta remained still, refusing to challenge or back down.
Owen's rifle swung to his right when a sharp growl startled him. Charlie stepped up to Delta with a heavy snort. Eyeing the streaked raptor carefully, she positioned herself beside Delta, lowering her head towards Blue and issuing her own growl.
Her challenge accepted, Blue turned to face Charlie, stepping neatly between Owen and the eldest raptor. Owen took this as his cue to step back from the predators as well. Delta mirrored his movements and took a place next to Echo.
Blue moved first.
It was a bold rush as she lowered her head, powering her snout into Charlie's chest. The Green Raptor reared back, instinctively pulling her head up and pushing Blue's head to the side and away from her neck.
Their chests impacted with a thundering crack. Both raptors pushed at the other, trying to get the upper hand. Their momentum gone, they separated, Blue backing away and beginning to slowly circle the larger green raptor.
Charlie matched her movements, pivoting carefully as Blue moved, trying to keep her injured leg protected and hissing a challenge to the younger raptor.
Blue made another lunge, this time tucking her head in low and attempting to snap at Charlie's leg. Charlie lept back, landing on her bad leg with a painful yelp and stumbling to the ground.
The blue-grey raptor didn't push her advantage though, choosing instead to tilt her head at her sister's strained cry.
Charlie's good leg shot out underneath Blue, the razor sharp talons raking along her underbelly before retreating as Charlie attempted to stand.
Blue let out her own shriek of pain, jumping back from Charlie her curiosity gone as the green raptor rolled and carefully stood favoring her injured leg even more.
Owen watched the aggressive display before him, his rifle dropping to his side as he watched both raptors begin to take turns lunging at each other, hoping to find weaknesses in the others defense. When Blue was pushed to the ground in front of him, he carefully took a few more steps back.
Hopefully things would work themselves out. He carefully circled the two dinosaurs as they snapped and bit at each other, working to keep the squabbling pair between himself and the other two observing raptors.
The match dragged on, each raptor rarely drawing blood, but fiercely trying to assert dominance. The tall grass around them had been minced into a muddy clearing and when the two dinosaurs connected once more in the center, both slipped and landed on the soggy ground.
Neither raptor moved from their spot on the ground; both were breathing heavily. Exhausted. Finally, Blue and Charlie stood once more, but Charlie's leg spasmed before giving out and spilling the green raptor back into the muddy clearing.
Blue was on her in an instant, using her weight to pin the tired girl to the ground. Charlie struggled and pushed, tiredly trying to worm her way out from under Blue's weight. With a heavy grunt and another fierce growl, Blue stood and pushed the injured raptor onto her side. She leaned her head down until her open maw was positioned over Charlie's throat.
Charlie gave another weak attempt to snake her way to freedom, earning a dangerous hiss from the blue streaked raptor above her. With a defeated snort, the green raptor let her head drop to the dirt breathing heavily, her body trembling from the exertion.
Pleased with the outcome, Blue pulled her snout down and touched the laying raptor with her nose. She let out a loud hiss, her nostrils flaring as her teeth grazed her sister's neck causing the larger raptor to struggle once more before laying still on the ground.
Snapping her head up from her defeated quarry, she fixed a glare at Delta and Echo, another hiss escaping her mouth and a confident bark daring them to challenge her. Both raptors immediately dropped lower, their stomachs touching the ground and their heads turned away from the victorious raptor.
Blue snorted once and spun her head around to face Owen fixing him with the same glare she had given her sisters. The trainer stiffened, his face paling a bit when she hissed at him, challenging him to best her. He raised his hands holding the rifle by the strap his foot instinctively stepping back.
It was enough for the raptor to let out another snort and finally step off her packmate. Feeling the pressure lift from her belly, Charlie rolled onto her stomach but didn't rise. She watched her packmates warily offering more submissive purrls to her other two sisters who eyed her inquisitively.
Blue however, ignored the other raptors, trotting to the small carcass that had lay forgotten since she arrived. It was the limp remains of a rabbit or some other larger rodent, the hide was far too mangled for Owen to be sure. Grabbing it gently in her mouth she returned to her prone sister. With a soft warble, she dropped the meat gently in front of Charlie's snout. The green raptor stared at it briefly, taking the scent of the meat in with labored breaths.
Blue stared at the other raptor, tilting her head and giving a soft whine when Charlie didn't immediately eat. The green raptor glanced up at Blue once more before turning her head sideways and grabbing the carcass with the side of her mouth. With short, jerky effort, she pulled the meat off the ground and into her mouth, swallowing the small carcass whole.
Satisfied, Blue turned away, allowing Echo and delta approach to sniff the injured raptor. As Blue turned, she made eye contact with the silent trainer and brushed past him as she stepped back into the taller brush. Owen didn't move, staring blankly at the other three raptors, processing what had just happened.
A mild bark from behind wakened him from his thoughts and he turned to the raptor who had passed him. Blue was a few meters further into the grass her head perked just above the tall leaves as she fixed an expectant look on him with her fierce amber eyes. After a moment, she let out a warble before turning and ducking into the tall grass.
Gripping his rifle loosely, Owen glanced back at the other raptors cautiously. When he was confident that they weren't paying him any mind, he ducked into the grass after his girl.
The trip itself was a perimeter check with Blue leading him to the nearest edges of the valley. He followed the predator quietly as she moved easily through the terrain. She stopped frequently to smell unfamiliar scents, mark territory or wait for her slower companion.
Owen watched her as they moved. He was on edge, feeling out of his comfort zone from everything he had just witnessed, out of his depth. Everything up until now had been manageable, he'd trained animals before, been bitten, scratched, attacked. He'd hiked through jungles, trained in deserts, but now he was dealing with something he had never imagined. The raptors were one thing, he had studied and watched them enough to learn their behaviors, how to lead them.
But here and now, he knew that something had shifted. Out here, he was at their mercy, following the guidance of an untested leader.
He watched his girl as she stopped to sniff a downed log before ripping into it with her taloned forearms. When the log was opened sufficiently, she shoved her snout into it and began rooting for whatever might be inside. When she decided there was nothing left, she pulled her head out shaking the rotting wood off with a snort.
She only glanced at the human briefly to make sure that he was still there before she darted away, back on her mission to secure the area.
The entire circuit took about an hour to traverse and when they arrived back at their little clearing, it was early afternoon. As he walked back into camp, Owen took a more critical look at the four raptors before him. It had been bugging him since watching Blue tear apart that log on the way over. Blue was now settling next to Charlie, issuing soft purling whines and nuzzling the green raptor, their feud only a memory.
All four raptors were cut and bruised in places. The dried blood was more difficult to see on Echo's rust colored skin, but it stuck out against the greens, greys, and blues of the other raptors. Each animal had scrapes and bruising across their back and sides. None of them looked deep, but a few of them still oozed blood each time the raptors moved.
It was possible, likely even that all four raptors had been caught in the mudslide. But the cuts and scrapes weren't what concerned Owen, it was their behavior and attitude. Each animal trembled and shook occasionally. They were exhausted, nearly dead on their feet. It surprised Owen that Blue and Charlie even had the energy to fight the way they did.
He had a feeling they hadn't eaten in days. Whatever the small morsel Blue had fed to Charlie was likely the only thing they had managed to catch.
Three of the raptors were asleep, curled tightly against each other as they slept in the afternoon sun. Blue watched over them, laying on her side nearby, keeping pressure off the new scratches she had received from her morning skirmish. Still, even her head drooped every now and then has her exhaustion seemed to finally be catching up with her.
Making up his mind, Owen quietly picked up his things and moved out of their camp. He caught Blue's eye as he began to leave, but she did nothing to stop him, only offering a soft warble as he stepped by her toward the road he had crossed earlier.
The walk back to the road took him far less time than it had taken him and Charlie to travel. A pang of worry rushed through him as he realized just how slow they had been moving that morning. With the raptors as weak as they were, even food based tranquilizers had a good chance of killing them. He would need to help all of them recover before A.C.U. came to recover them.
When he reached the cracked and worn road, he stepped onto the warm pavement and began retracing his steps toward the side of the ridge line he had come in on. After a few more minutes of easy walking, he found what he had been looking for.
The Gallimimus herd was milling around the edge of the grasslands. The ostrich like animals walked comfortably through the tall grass picking at whatever bugs or seeds pleased them. He approached the larger dinosaurs cautiously, hoping not to startle them.
The trainer pulled his rifle to his shoulder and looked down his sights. Kneeling, he watched the creatures through the scope, trying to figure out where he needed to shoot in order to bring one down. With his concentration on the Gallimimus, he didn't even notice Blue until she brushed against his side. The contact startled him, disrupting his aim.
"Hey girl. Gimme just a minute, I need to line up the shot."
An inquisitive mewl was the only response she gave.
When he had chosen his animal, he checked his chamber to make sure a round was sitting in it before he slid the bolt forward with a soft metallic click.
Blue's shifted beside him at the noise. He imagined that she was probably looking at him, waiting for the reward that the click signaled.
He steadied his breath, forcing himself to ignore the predatory dinosaur seated at his side.
With a light exhale he squeezed the trigger.
CRACK!
The gunshot echoed through the valley. The herd of Gallimimus was on the move and nearby birds abandoned their roost with irritated calls.
The Raptor beside him had jumped straight into the air at the sound, landing with a heavy thud a second later. She scrambled away from Owen before turning to stare at the man with nervous eyes. She stood defensively at the edge of the road, keeping her head down and her neck coiled back.
The trainer immediately put a hand out towards blue his palm down loosely.
"Easy girl, eyes on me."
Her eyes never left him.
Pulling his hand back, he pulled the bolt and ejected the spent cartridge. He flipped his rifle over and shouldered it with the strap.
When he made to stand back up, Blue hissed a warning at him and he immediately stopped.
"It's okay Blue."
"Eyes on me." She was already staring him down.
"Good girl. Follow me."
It was a command he had introduced a few weeks ago, but it had been met with very limited success in the paddock, Still she seemed to understand his request. Carefully, he backed away from the nervous raptor. With short steps he began to ease his way toward the animal he had just shot.
When he was about twenty feet away Blue finally relaxed, following him at a distance, pausing to sniff the air where he had taken the shot. The herd had scattered into the nearby trees and down the length of the tree line. He approached the kill site cautiously and pulled his knife from his belt, watching his surroundings carefully. He knew that the Gallimimus weren't considered dangerous animals, but Owen didn't feel like taking any chances.
When he reached the animal, it was still alive, if only just. The blood spilling from its chest wound had given the grass around the animal a crimson sheen and it began to struggle weakly with short gasping breaths as he approached.
Dropping to his knees beside the animal, he took the creature's head in his lap. Looking up to check for danger, he spotted his raptor watching him from a few feet away. Glancing back down at the dying creature, he took a moment, considering the animal's life, a life he knew nothing about. A life he was taking to ensure that his raptors survived.
He slid the knife deeply into the back of its small head.
Once the animal grew still he began to work.
The moment he began to open the animal, his hands shot up toward the blue-streaked raptor. He warned her off with stern words and a raised knife. This was still his kill, she could approach when he let her.
Once the carcass was opened, he stepped back, letting her eat her fill. The Gallimimus were big, bigger than the young raptors. There would be enough for the whole pack.
When Blue had had her fill, Owen went back to work, dressing the animal as best as he could for an animal that he knew so little about. Blue had taken care of most of the chest cavity, so he focused on pulling the other usable meat from the carcass.
The sun was low in the sky when he wiped his knife in the grass for the final time. Giving it one final wipe on his pant leg for good measure, he sheathed the blade and heaved a much heavier backpack onto his shoulders. Giving the straps a nice tug, Owen settled the heavy bag and began to hike back towards the raptor camp.
Blue ambled slowly beside him, content to let him lead while she digested the rich meal. The poor girl was trying to stay awake, but between her exhaustion and the food in her belly, he knew that it would be a losing battle.
They walked back into camp as the sunset was turning the sky a deep orange. The other raptors were awake and watching the duo intensely from their comfortable positions on the ground. No doubt they could smell the blood. Owen quickly pulled the pack off his back and grabbed what he knew they wanted.
Soft growls emanated from the lounging raptors, but they were quickly silenced by a snap from Blue.
Cautiously he tossed each raptor a large cut of meat.
They ate ravenously.
But they ate well.
Owen's own stomach grumbled as he watched them eat. He had offered everything he had to the pack before him, but he had one more energy bar. Grabbing that and the small bottle of water from the bottom of his bag, he began to chow down. Finishing the bar quickly, he tossed the package back in his bag and wiped the blood off of the bottle, grimacing a bit at the smell of it.
The backpack was probably ruined now, but it had done its job. Unscrewing the cap, he chugged the bottle in a few seconds. They would need to find water tomorrow, but for tonight, the pack was settled, full and whole once more.