Jurassic Park: The Broken Lives Saga by Dinohunter55
Chapter 2: Disaster at the Nest
Silver Claw and Sophia rushed recklessly through the undergrowth. The nearing barks were replaced by shrill screams. The roar of a large predator thundered. Silver Claw thought instinctively of a tyrannosaurus rex but quickly decided that it sounded bigger.
The jungle changed subtly from denser to more open with large boulders as they neared the nest. The air grew silent save the burbling of the steam that ran through the nest. Silver Claw listened intensely for the footfalls of a large predator but heard none.
Sophia was ahead of him. Terror filled her wide eyes and she nearly ran into several trees in her blind rush to reach the nest as quickly as possible.
"It's going to be ok," Silver Claw said, trying to reassure himself just as much as her.
Sophia did not answer.
The smell of freshly spilled blood filled the air just before they reached the nest. They passed through the bordering undergrowth and halted. Silver Claw trembled and he saw Sophia was the same.
The nest was a disaster. The lifeless bodies of several velociraptors lay about, few were whole. Broken eggs spilled from nests where careless steps by a large predator crushed them. The gruesome sight of intestines hanging from a tree like fleshy vines broke Silver Claw and he dropped to the ground.
"They're… they're dead," Sophia whispered. "They're all gone."
Silver Claw's eyes shifted from one body to another until he returned to the first. The painful death throes etched firmly into his memory. Visions of his mother's death flashed in his mind. He felt just as helpless now as then.
A wheeze brought Silver Claw back to the present. Movement!
Sophia froze, eyes transfixed on the velociraptor at the far end of the nests. Silver Claw stood and felt dizzy. The earth trembled. The velociraptor lay against a tree. Her back was obviously broken. Blood flowed from a wound in her chest. Blood, her blood, frothed pink on white lips.
"Mom," Sophia cried but seemed held in place by some unseen force.
The wild pain filled eyes of the Sophia's mother focused suddenly on her daughter. "It was the spinosaurus," she managed between hacks of blood. The wound in her chest bubbled. "It's still…."
The head of the spinosaurus broke from the trees and snapped jaws around the stricken velociraptor. The force broke her neck and nearly decapitated her. Sophia screamed. The massive predator stepped into the nest. Its sides wept blood from a dozen long wounds. The beast shook its head rending the body between its jaws to a bloody pulp. Then the bright green eyes fell upon them and it dropped the mass as a roar of challenge issued from deep with its bulky chest.
Sophia froze. The spinosaurus charged. Silver Claw leapt. The jaws snapped shut on air but a massive clawed hand grazed flesh. Silver Claw and Sophia tumbled to the dirt as the spinosaurus passed them, momentum too much for the massive creature to quickly turn and catch them as they fell. The beast rounded but the velociraptors were gone. It roared its fury and gave chase.
Silver Claw and Sophia raced for their lives. Sophia moved notably slower than before. Silver Claw caught sight of a weeping slash across her leg. He too was exhausted. The chase and then the rush home left him with little remaining as a sickly ache crept into his limbs.
Trees cracked as the spinosaurus chased them. Frightened birds took to the sky from the canopy. They followed the stream but the density of trees did little to slow the spinosaurus. For a moment, Silver Claw dared to look back. It was a mistake.
A root caught Silver Claw's foot and he hurtled to the ground with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs. He tumbled down the embankment, wheezing gasps of air. He landed hard beside a boulder and rolled beneath it where water had cut a deep but narrow channel.
He heard Sophia scream as darkness took him.