AFRAID, ALONE, AND LOST
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The earth began to shake at first. Slowly, but rapidly building into a reverberating rumble. A small crack opened and then grew; then changed into a large fissure, ripping the earth open. Rocks and plants fell into the expanding pit. Dinosaurs on the ground weren't so lucky as the flyers up above. They fell into the pit to their demise.
Hiding among the rocks, Gus and his new friends thought that things were bad before, but this was worse. The earth was shaking all around them, The air was full of noise and panicked cries of other dinosaurs.
Sharptooth, on the other hand, had recovered from his fall and was getting back up.
Littlefoot and the others began to run and find a place to hide. Mama Apatosaur was nowhere to be seen. Nor where Littlefoot's grandparents.
For some reason the Tyrannosaur wasn't after them. The earthquake was a threat now and that meant that it was every dinosaur for its self.
Gus suddenly screamed as a jet of hot steam burst from the ground, tilting wildly and spraying black smoke. The ground tilted again and the three children slid back, right into Sharptooth's foot.
The spewing steam and cracking land sent the four sliding backward down the newly formed embankment. They were all slipping and skidding, in grave danger of being dropped into a deep, dark canyon. Sharptooth was going tail first, so Gus scrambled up his body to his head. Littlefoot and Cera were right behind him. Boulders and rocks tumbled and bounced all around them. It was only by luck that kept them from being crushed.
The only problem now was Sharptooth!
The dinosaur, seeing his chance, snapped his jaws at them. If he was going down, he'd have himself a snack before he fell. But as his jaws opened wide for the kill, the snap of a familiar tail sent Sharptooth tumbling backward into the air. But the blow had also sent the children sailing!
But Mama Apatosaur snatched them up before they plummeted down into the fissure. Sharptooth fell, screeching into the dark canyon.
Gus, Littlefoot and Cera were placed safely on the ground. As Mama urged Littlefoot and Gus to move, Cera ran off in search of her own herd. She let out a shrill bleating call that pierced the air. As if in response, there was an answering call back from a group of fleeing Triceratops.
Gus splashed through a puddle with Littlefoot and his mother. They were headed back in the direction of the glen where the grandparents were. But along the way other dinosaurs were running in all directions. It was utter chaos.
Littlefoot had Gus on his back again. It was much safer that way. Gus didn't mind. It was better then running and falling behind, though he imagined himself riding a dinosaur to be more fun. This, the earthquake, was anything but fun.
Suddenly, a jet of steam burst in front of Littlefoot and Gus. He stopped, skidding to a halt before he ran into it. But Gus lost his grip, screamed, and fell off, tumbling down a hill.
"Gus!" cried Littlefoot. But there was nothing he could do. The crack began to get bigger as more steam burst out, creating a wall of hot vapor and choking smoke. He lost sight of the human boy and even his mother.
The earthquake lasted for another three minutes. But that was enough to do a lot of damage to the land. Herds were cut in two and families were divided. Some dinosaurs didn't even make it to safety. The devastation and destruction was cataclysmic to say the least.
Gus was running now to find shelter. He had completely forgotten about Littlefoot, his mother, the Tree star, the grandparents and even his own wagon. He just wanted this to end. He just wanted to go home.
He stumbled upon a hollow log, climbed into it, and curled into a tight ball and covered his ears. He closed his eyes tightly and waited. Waited for it to end.
A few minutes later the earthquake had stopped. The land became still and quite. Darkness fell across the prehistoric landscape.
Gus awoke inside the log, shook his head, and climbed out. But when he did that he was immediately pelted with rain. There was a rainstorm already?
"Great," Gus grumbled. "I'm lost and now I'm wet."
He searched around for Littlefoot and Mama Apatosaur. The thunder above rumbled and the rain kept coming down. But it wasn't too dark that he couldn't see anything.
"Littlefoot! Where are you?" he cried out. But nobody answered him. Only the sound was his own echo calling back to him.
Suddenly, he heard a voice call out. He listened again and heard it clearly as Littlefoot's voice. He was nearby somewhere. Gus began to run now, but carefully because of the devastation and fallen debris. Not to mention the gaping canyon and fissures. He ran around a enormous boulder and stopped right in his tracks, horrified.
Through the veil of falling rain, he could see Mama Apatosaur stretched out on her side, breathing with deep wheezing gasps.
"Oh no," said Gus softly. He cautiously moved toward her, his eyes wide with fear.
As he got close he spotted Littlefoot. The young Apatosaur was urging his mother to stand, to rise and get to her feet. But it wasn't working.
Littlefoot looked up and saw Gus approaching. And there was glint of hope that maybe he could help. Help get his mother to stand up.
In a frightened whisper, Littlefoot said, "Gus, can you help? Mother won't get up. I tried already but she..."
Gus got on his knees beside Littlefoot and placed his hand on his friend's back. "I'm sorry, Littlefoot," he said sadly. "but I can't... I don't know what I can do."
Littlefoot turned back to his mother. "Mother, please... get up." he pleaded.
Mama tried to stand. She struggled in an attempt to get up, but collapsed due to her injury and lack of strength. There was another endless frenzy of lightning. The rain came down even harder then before. Both Gus and Littlefoot barely noticed.
Mama lifted her head weakly so that she could look at her son one last time. She knew that she was at the end of her life. She hoped with all her heart that he would have the courage to go on without her.
"Dear sweet Littlefoot," she whispered. "Do you remember... the way to the Great Valley?"
Littlefoot replied tearfully, his voice breaking, "I guess so. But why do I have to know? You're going to be with me."
"Yes, Littlefoot, that's right," said his mother. "I will be with you. All the way to the Great Valley. Even if you can't see me."
Gus lowered his head, his own tears mixing with the rain. He sniffled but kept himself from crying. "But that's silly," he said. "he can see you right now."
"Gus is right," Littlefoot cried. "I can always see you."
Mama smiled lightly at her son. Her eyes could barely stay open as her voice became weaker. "I'll be in your heart Littlefoot. Let your heart guide you, it whispers, so listen carefully."
But she didn't say anything else to her son. She raised her long neck only high enough to look into the distance. Then she lowered her head to the ground and was very still.
"Mother?" whispered Littlefoot, his voice shaking. "Mother?"
Gus drew closer and saw that her eyes were closed. He looked to her tail as it stopped moving. And then he realized that she was gone.
Littlefoot lowered his head and let his tears flow.
Gus turned away, tears flowing as he cried softly.
He didn't know why he was crying. Littlefoot's mother was not his mother. But the dinosaur had saved him. Helped him and even let him, a human, join her herd to the Great valley. The least he could do was comfort her son in his hour of need.
Littlefoot got up and walked away into the driving rain. Gus got to his feet and followed after him. They had to find someplace with a bit more shelter from the rain. As Littlefoot kept walking, his head low and tail drooping, Gus turned back to glance once more at Mama Apatosaur. But she had completely disappeared in the rain. He stopped by the footprints of the dinosaur, but the downpour had washed them away.
The next morning didn't bring a lot of sunshine or good mood to the two kids. Gus, after retrieving his wagon and backpack from the glen, had had an unpleasant night listening to Littlefoot sob. The rain had stopped and that was a welcome relief, but the young Apatosaur had continued to let his tears flow well into the night. And to make it worse his Tree star was gone.
Gus hardly slept a wink. His clothes and shoes were still wet from the rain. And to make it worse the remaining sandwich in his backpack was all soggy and mushy. The only food he had now were the two apples.
He tried to start a fire but he didn't know how. He tried rocks, sticks and none of those worked. And Littlefoot's crying was not helping.
But the worst of it was that Littlefoot, who knew the way to the Great Valley, had become so disoriented with his grief that he and Gus got completely turned around. They weren't following the setting sun at all. They had been going away from it or not following it at all. They were getting lost by the day.
It was only when they arrived at a steep sand hill that Gus had had enough. When Littlefoot had lost his footing and fell, tumbling down the hill, he had grabbed Gus by the back of his green shirt and pulled him down as well. Both boys fell down the hill and landed on a large, strange, spiked rock.
"Why did you do that?" Gus shouted as his wagon rolled past them. "Stupid dinosaur!" he wasn't hurt that much but the fact was that Littlefoot had practically dragged him down a hill with him.
"Don't call me stupid!" cried Littlefoot, angry tears now flowing harder. He stamped his foot down on the rock in anger.
"Hey!" Shouted a voice from underneath them. Suddenly the rock lifted up out of the ground.
Littlefoot and Gus quickly jumped off and saw that it wasn't a rock at all. It was a very old spiked, turtle-like dinosaur. He was dark green in color with wrinkles and folds of skin on his armored body.
Gus backed up because this guy was way bigger then they were. Even Littlefoot, who began to cry again, was a bit afraid. The old dinosaur sniffed at the two boys, much like a hog would do when it sniffed for truffles.
"What's going here?" he demanded in a gravely voice. When he saw Littlefoot whimpering pathetically, he shook his head. "What's your problem. You're not hurt."
Littlefoot, now on his belly, wailed. "It's not fair! She should have known better. That was Sharptooth. It's all her fault."
"All who's fault, hey?" The old dinosaur wanted to know.
"Mother's," Littlefoot sobbed as more tears flowed.
Gus shook his head with a frown and crossed his arms.
But the old dinosaur's face softened as he nodded his head, understanding now. "Oh, I see... I see."
Littlefoot sniffled. "Why did I wander so far from home? From my family? And all for some stupid hopper."
"It was not your fault," The old dinosaur said. "It wasn't your mother's fault. Now, you pay attention to old Rooter."
"Yeah," Gus started to say. "But..."
Rooter gave him a look and the human boy closed his mouth. Rooter continued to speak.
"It is nobody's fault. The great circle of life has a beginning. But you see, not all of us arrive together at the end."
Littlefoot wiped away a tear. "What will I do? I miss her so much."
"And you will always miss her," Rooter answered. "But she will always be with you too, as long as you remember the things she taught you. In a way you will never be apart, for you are still part of each other."
"My tummy hurts," Littlefoot said with despair in his voice.
That made sense to Gus since his own stomach hurt from a lack of food. But maybe it wasn't that sort of hurt.
Rooter snorted. "That too will go in time, little one." he murmured. "Only in time."
He turned to lumber away down a trail but not before turning to address Gus.
"The two of you can not spend your time fighting or bickering with each other," he said sternly. "Not at a time like this. You youngsters need to rely on one another to survive out here."
Gus nodded. "I guess so." he sighed.
Rooter snorted again and went on his way.
Littlefoot got to his feet and Gus got the wagon. They continued onward, not really knowing where they were going.
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