Chapter 15: Nightmares
None of the kids were able to sleep much and the adults were the same...
Throughout the night everyone was stirring restlessly. At least one of the Swimmer kids, occasionally joined by one of the Flyer kids, was weeping so they woke up each other again and again. Cera tossed around in her sleeping spot repeatedly, being unable to fall asleep. Littlefoot, Petrie and Ducky didn't sleep too well either. Ducky, in particular, had bad sleepstories all the time; dreams of the Sharptooth that almost had Petrie and her for dinner. They kept replaying over and over again.
Each time one of the kids twitched and jerked out of a bad sleepstory, it woke up several kids too.
Ducky always woke up Petrie and Littlefoot and then began to weep bitterly, occasionally screaming and crying out for her parents. Fortunately, she was so tired that she fell asleep quite quickly again.
Yet, when the night was close to its end, she had a different sleepstory. She dreamed of her mother being feasted on right before her eyes. This time her rolling and her whining woke them all up.
Littlefoot and Petrie exchanged clueless glances. The little Flyer tried to stroke the little girl but failed since Ducky was way too restless. Her whining increased in volume and she started to kick around.
Cera heard Ducky. Being fed up listening to the never-ending blaring, she stood up and walked to the source of the noice to make them shut up...
All of a sudden, Ducky uttered a disturbed screech continuing as she woke up.
Finally, after a few terrible seconds, she realised that she was safe in the cave so her cries faded away. Still in shock, she remained lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Seeing just how terrified the little Swimmer was, Petrie wrapped his arm around her shoulders delicately. Ducky latched onto the embrace like a frightened newborn and quivered in his grasp. Petrie was alarmed as he felt Ducky heart thumping hard and fast against his own chest as she held onto him.
Petrie and Littlefoot needed some time to recover from the fright themselves. Littlefoot glanced at little Ducky, worried. She almost seemed unconscious.
"Ducky? You alright?" Petrie asked timidly, shaking on her shoulder softly.
"Ducky!" Littlefoot shouted remarkably louder and pushed her a bit harder but the Swimmer remained motionless.
"Me worried!" the Flyer told Littlefoot, he seemed to like Ducky.
"Me too!" Littlefoot confirmed. "Do you see how thin she is, Petrie?"
"Yeah! Petrie see it very good!" he answered despite being thin himself. "Petrie think she not ate for long time."
"Just like us," Littlefoot sighed. Even he had never experienced hunger this strong before in his life. "She needs something to eat and fast."
"Me Mommy had brought many treestars and other yummy stuff," Petrie announced quickly.
"That's gr... " Littlefoot broke off as an extremely loud bellow shook the cave.
"SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Cera shouted with all her might. The shout was so loud, it even made the weeping Swimmer and Flyer kids fall silent. It didn't last long however since now everyone was wide awake and began crying even harder with fear. Cera's bellowing even woke up Ducky though she was still in a fantasy world of her own so she hadn't realised anything that had happened around her. Even Littlefoot and Petrie hadn't realised she had woken up...
"...great..." Littlefoot eventually finished his sentence.
"What that?" Petrie questioned shakily.
"That was Cera..." the Longneck replied. Petrie was just about to comment when an unexpected event took its course...