As soon as she curled up next to Aladar, Noah had fallen straight to sleep. Thankfully, no nightmares dared to penetrate her mind. Between the warmth of the sleeping bodies around her, the dryness of the cave, and the pitter-patter of the rain outside, it was the best sleep she had since escaping the island.

But it was interrupted with periodic rumbles. Her eyes shot open with a start. The cave was still dark, and the rain was still falling. But something didn't seem right. The rumbles were too close together to be thunder, and there were no flashes of lightning to initiate them. When she looked back at Aladar, his head was just rising up. They both looked towards the mouth of the cave, and both gasped softly.

"Shhh."

They flinched at the sudden voice. Bruton was standing next to Aladar, staring at the entrance as well. "Carnotaurs," he whispered.

There were two unfamiliar creatures outside. One was far larger than its companion. They were red, stood on their hind legs, and had big heads with wide mouths. When lightning flashed, it reflected off of sharp teeth and thick horns. They were both walking towards the cave, growling deeply. She could hear them, even through the rumbling thunder. They sounded worse than any fossa or raptor she ever heard.

These were the creatures that injured Bruton and killed the scout.

"What do we do?" Aladar whispered to Bruton.

Without a beat, he answered, "Wake the others."

Noah's head snapped in his direction. Her jaw slacked, and she gazed at him as he limped towards the back of the cave. Never, in her wildest thoughts or dreams, would she imagine that would be his response to such a situation. It caused a strange flutter in her chest and belly. But it felt different from fear.

She was pulled from her thoughts as Aladar stood up, quickly yet carefully. She followed him as they crept to the others, who were still sleeping. "Paka," she whispered, nudging his side with her head. "Paka, wake up."

He snorted, causing her to flinch and whip her head towards the cave mouth. "Wha' is it?"

"Shh! Carnotaurs. Help me wake the others."

His eyes widened in shock, but he nodded and stood up. As he helped Aladar wake up Baylene, Noah moved to Eema. "Eema, wake up."

She yawned, and was about to say something, but froze. She was staring at the entrance. "Move to the back," Noah said. "Bruton's already back there."

Eema furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but stood up and began walking to the back of the cave. The lemurs bounded up onto her back and behind her crest.

Baylene was on her feet by now, and following Paka. Aladar was nudging Url awake, who grunted in irritation. He nearly squealed in terror when he saw what was outside, but Noah quickly pushed her front foot onto his head, silencing him. She and Aladar stared at the entrance with bated breath.

The Carnotaurs perked their heads up, but began to sniff along the ground. "They know!" Noah whimpered. She barely felt Url pull his head out from under her foot.

"Shh."

"They know!" Her voice was barely a squeak.

"I know. C'mon."

Luckily, Url was on his feet now and following the rest of the group. Aladar and Noah kept to the back, making sure everyone was moving quickly, yet quietly. She paused to stand up, trying to look ahead to find Bruton. She saw his shadowy outline in the back of the cave on a higher level. She could only hope it was big enough that everyone could fit through.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at a crack. A small rock fell from where Baylene had accidently brushed against the ceiling. It nearly bounced off of Eema's face, rolled between Paka's legs, and rolled back to the beginning of the cave. Noah twisted around, and Aladar dove for it.

But it was too late. It rolled out into the pouring rain. A blunt snout sniffed at the rock, and then snarled. The smaller Carnotaur lifted its head and peered through the small waterfall.

Noah dropped onto all fours and crouched as the predator slowly walked inside. Aladar carefully backed up until he was standing over her. They stood as still as mountains. Please go away. Please go away.

As if fate was sneering down at them, lightning flashed brightly. The light bounced off of herself and Aladar. The Carnotaur briefly went dark, like a shadow. But once the light was gone, it let out a loud hiss as it stomped inside.

Aladar turned and pushed Noah to her feet with a shout. "Go! Go!"

She ran as fast as she could up the platforms. "Hurry!" she cried. She could feel the footsteps thundering behind her. This urged her to bound faster, even as her bad foreleg complained with pangs of pain.

She leaped past Eema, who was struggling to climb up a tricky ledge. She heard Aladar yell at her to move, and saw her get pushed along out of the corner of her eye.

"Aladar!" Plio screamed.

Noah looked back in time to see Aladar being dragged away by his tail.

She immediately spun around and charged back. Though fear took over her body, it was quickly overshadowed by fury. She ignored Plio's desperate cries for her.

The Carnotaurs stood over Aladar, who was laying on his side. The base of his tail, where he had been grabbed, was bleeding. They were briefly squabbling among themselves before both looking down at him.

"Go away!" She bellowed as loud as she could. "Leave us alone!" She stood up and bellowed again, moving so her body was over Aladar's.

The Carnotaurs actually drew back in surprise, but began to snarl. For a brief moment, Noah saw her fate. She would die tonight, before completing her dreams. But she would die knowing her friends were safe, and that she was providing a brief distraction so Aladar could get away.

A savage bellow echoed through the chamber. Something huge threw itself past the twins and into the larger Carnotaur. It crashed against its smaller companion, and they slid towards the entrance.

Noah pushed Aladar to his feet. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard Bruton shout, "I'll hold them off! You help the others!"

Glancing back, Aladar ran back up the ledges. Noah nearly followed him, but looked back. Bruton had backed himself up so he was blocking the beginning of the path up. Both Carnotaurs stood in front of him, roaring at him.

But he bellowed back, standing firm and strong. Even as he held his injured leg high above the ground.

She looked ahead. Once she saw Aladar reach the others, she turned around and ran back to Bruton. She reached him in time to see him knock the smaller of the Carnotarus away with his tail. It crashed into a nearby column.

He did a double-take when she joined his side. "What are you doing? Run!"

"You can't hold them both off by yourself!"

As the smaller Carnotaur struggled to its feet, the larger one roared at her. Summoning up as much courage as she could, she bellowed back at it. It paused briefly, but didn't move away. She nearly swallowed her tongue when Bruton pushed her back. A large rock fell where she once stood.

He dove down and shoved his body against the larger Carnotaur. It stumbled back, crashing into the smaller one, and into the same column. It broke against the combined weight.

The whole cave began to rumble. Dirt and rocks began to rain from the ceiling. Noah briefly froze. This was worse than any nightmare she had yet. At least with the sunrock, she would have been outside.

But then, she saw Bruton turning around and stumbling towards her. His body was getting battered by the rocks, yet he kept staggering forward.

Something in her snapped, and she charged ahead and around him. She shoved her whole weight against his backside as hard and fast as she could. Even as she felt the rocks falling heavily on her back and hindquarters, she didn't stop.

Suddenly, everything went black.

A/N The beginning of this chapter is definitely one of my favorite Bruton moments in the movie. It really shows how Aladar and the group changed him. He didn't even hesitate to tell Aladar to wake everyone so they could all get away. And another one of my favorites was when he heard/saw Aladar get grabbed by the Carno. You can see the flashback to the scout in his eyes, and how he was struggling between getting away or saving Aladar. And I think it was the fact that he couldn't save the scout that made him decide to try again, even as he was still basically three-legged.

It was always in the plan for Noah to go back and help Bruton. Her telling him he couldn't hold them off by himself was inspired by a similar line in Jurassic Park, when Ellie was helping Alan hold the door shut against the raptors (except this scene makes a bit more sense than that does, where Tim couldn't be bothered to go back and hand them the gun XD)

Luckily, since I've decided to add Tuesday to the upload schedule, you won't have to wait long for the cliffhanger to be absolved XD