Sorry for not updating much. Really lazy.
The pack has succeeded another kill. It's only an Astrodon calf, but it's progress. The past few weeks weren't easy. Ten days ago, a Deinoch came too close to the pack and Sickle jumped him. But picking it up alive and kicking resulted in a deep scar along his muzzle and another under his jaw. Nothing serious. But it hurts to open wide. He'll manage. Speed's leg is recovering, but is still bad. He can walk with little pain, but can't run. The sister's haven't been severely hurt or damaged, except for when they see their brothers in pain.
They feast on the the carcass as each one takes a limb from the dead Astro.
An hour later, the pack rests in the shade, Red staying up for lookout. She sees a few Deinoch's at the edge of the forest and she charges, flailing and screaming.
They retreat and she turns back to the pack. But before she lies down, she looks over the horizon. Dark clouds gathering over the valley miles away. Still too far to cause trouble now, but still, Red feels uncomfortable.
She doesn't like rain.
Sure drizzles and casual water droplets are fine, but she doesn't like storms. She has feared storms as a chick when she saw even huge Iguanodons blinded by hard rain and trip over to be trampled or stumble into another predator's territory.
The pack itself has done that a few times. But Red stays behind a bit and waits till the water subsides before coming out to join them.
She sighs and continues lower her body to the ground. She nestles herself right next to Fang and thinks to herself. Big dark clouds. Bad. But those... Bigger... Darker... Louder... Scarier...
Night has fallen.
Fang wakes up for a bit, and it feels strange. She usually sleeps through the whole night almost impossible to wake until day. But she felt the loss of heat near her side and a rustling louder than her snoring by the pond.
She sees Red fumbling with something. It's sort of an oval shape and she drops it. After another drop, she bites it and a tooth falls out. Fang watches her sister playing with the strange object and gets curious. She gets up, careful not to wake the other two, and walks silently to her confused sibling. She sees what she has.
It's a turtle.
Not a dead one like she usually finds. But a real live turtle. She still seen a few live though, but apparently her sister never has.
She sees her sister has no experience with the hard outer bodies and sits in front of her.
She bobs her head twice sideways as if to say You're doing it wrong. Let me see. She understands and blinks, curious of the 'right' way to do it and plops the turtle in front of her feet and watches her sister.
Fang reaches down and gently places her jaws around the hard reptile. Then she gracefully holds it with both hands, placing the claws inside the holes. If she were human, it'd look like she'd be having a sandwich. Then she slowly wedges the small animal to be closer to the back of her mouth.
But still, Red is amazed. Her sister is usually the short tempered type. She's never seen her act so patient. That thought is now gone as Fang bites down hard on the turtle and loud crack is heard. A few teeth fall out and she drops it.
The only difference is a that the teeth made marks but now fell. Red is just about to think her sister is about to go crazy on the little turtle as Fang stands up.
But instead, she takes her sharp claws and slices away at the edges that connect the upper and lower pieces. They were already cracked from her bite, and now they have no hope. She succeeds and snaps off the top shell. She nudges it to Red and bobs her head. That's how you do it.
If she could, Red would smile. She gulps down the fleshy meat and waits for taste. It's kind of salty, but not too much. It's different from dead decaying ones. She discards the shells and the two return to the nest.
As Red lies down, she looks at her siblings. A family as wonderful as this. She wish it would be like this forever.
Till the next night.
Speed's tail is cold. No, wet. In fact, both. He opens one eye and turns his head to look at it. It's just out of the tree's leaves and is drenched from the rain and laying in the water. It rained hard all day so the pack had no choice but to choose another site with more refuge and height to calm Red's nerves.
Nothing. Back to sleep. He closes the eye when a jolt of thought rushes through his mind. Wait, Pond is over there. And we're on a hill. So...
His body jerks up and sees that the hill is surrounded by water and is now seeping up his toes.
SKRAWWK!
He alerts the sleeping members and they slowly awake. Fang and Sickle squel in shock and Red can only tremble.
The whole area is flooded. The deep long ditch that has been dry for years is now an active river. In one day, the eroded crack in the earth has become a monsoon. Red sees the water left, right, and above. She loses her nerve and spins around, knocking Speed into the water.
The other two are pumped with worry and dive in to help the injured sibling. But swimming like this is hard and they can't reach back to the nest. Now the water has risen to her ankles and she's splashing around helplessly.
She finally jumps to her siblings and they try to hold up Speed. She holds onto him and The other two try evading the group from crashing into tall rocks and fallen trees.
They reach the edge of a big branch that leads to a higher point in the land. The whole pack tries it's best to reach it. They wade out to the low branches and try to climb. But not Red. She never tried climbing. She looks to her left and sees Sickle can't climb either.
The two just stay near the bottom, as Speed and Fang advance upwards. Speed's leg is fine because he steps his injured foot on the same places where the other one previously dug into.
Now the currents get faster and they can't hold on. Sickle finally tries, and Red sees the other two made it to the edge of the clifftop. She decides to try.
She is about to grab the trunk, but a log comes tumbling towards her and collides. She loses grip and is sent down the current.
Away from the tree. Away from land. Away from her family. Into the darkness of the night, where many other dinosaur screams are heard.
But frozen in fear and shock, the rest of the pack can only watch her drift into that darkness. The sight, smell, and sounds of all the creatures swept at bay are overwhelming each other's out. But out of all the ear splitting screams combined in the night...
They can only hear one.