Chapter 11: Within the mouth of a Fastbiter
Petrie heard somebody giggle. "How can one be happy in such sad times?" he wondered. Depressed, he followed the voice...
Ducky was still jumping after the butterfly when suddenly a shadow appeared. She looked up at the sky to see the ugly face of a Fastbiter who was slavering and letting out a loud roar. She uttered a shrilling cry which could be heard over the whole region and ran away, barely escaping the sharp teeth of the Fastbiter. He uttered an enraged roar and followed his dessert...
Petrie's Mother and Pterano just had arrived at the tree in which the Flyer kids hid when they heard a shrilled cry.
'That must be one of the kids!' Petrie's Mother thought before shouting. "I'll check this, you stay with the little ones Pterano!"
"Sure! Be careful sis!" he replied. Petrie's Mother flew off in the direction of the cry and soon heard a terrible roar... 'Not again,' she thought and began to hurry even more.
Petrie heard the cry and the roar as well. He looked out in the direction which the noises came from. He saw a Fastbiter not far away from his position who looked like it was chasing something - likely the kid that had laughed a few moments ago. Then he heard the cry again, this time remarkably closer. Now, he could see who the Fastbiter was chasing. A little Swimmer girl desperately flew from the beast, and it ran right at him...
Petrie saw the Fastbiters planning to jump...
"LOOK OUT!" he tried to warn the little Swimmer...
Ducky heard somebody calling turning back. What she saw made her blood freeze. The Fastbiter was just about to plung onto her. Desperately, she tried to change her path...
Petrie couldn't watch it but he couldn't run away either. Quick as lightning, the girl turned around and started running in the opposite direction. The Fastbiter crashed to the ground heavily, sliding quite a distance further. Now Petrie also began to run, following the Swimmer...
Together they ran for their lives, the Fastbiter coming closer and closer.
"FAAAASTEEEER!" the little Swimmer girl weeped in fear.
Petrie's Mother had found a heavy stone as she saw her son and a Swimmer child being chased by a Fastbiter. She tried with all her might to approach the beast...
The Fastbiter had caught up with Ducky and Petrie. He stooped and opened his mouth, snapping at the two little children. He caught them and closed his mouth. Yet, just at that moment, something hit him on the head. Petrie's Mother had hit the target though she was too late, he caught both of them. The Fastbiter tripped, fell and collapsed, blood oozing out of a gaping wound at the back of his head.
Disappointed, the Flyer landed next to the beast, tears rolling down her cheeks for the lost children. Suddenly, she heard a weak croak come out of the mouth of the Fastbiter. Snapping off a branch from a tree, she levered up the mouth of the beast. The two children instantly jumped out of it both seemingly unhurt.
Petrie immediately jumped to his mother, hugging her. He weeped bitterly, still shaken.
Ducky faired no difference, her little heart beating hectically and her breathing heavy and panicked.
"Me thought me done for," Petrie sobbed.
"It's alright my little one," his mother comforted him.
"Are you okay?" she asked the little Swimmer. Ducky started to cry.
Petrie walked to her.
"Hey, we did it! Everything be alright!" He helped the Swimmer get on her feet. She stopped crying but said nothing.
"You kids need to be brought to safety out of reach of the Sharpteeth until the grown-ups have recovered and are able to travel again," Petrie's Mother explained.
"Safety? Where?" Petrie questioned.
"There is a cave nearby, the one we slept in recently, and there is some food and water. You'll be completely safe in there. I'll fly you to the cave and I will bring your siblings there as well. You first though." She laid down so that the two could climb on her back. Ducky was still unsteady on her feet. Then she rose into the sky.