The Plan p2

“There they are! Quickly, this way!”, yelled Yellow as he met Grey’s detachment in the forest.

Yellow and Green Runner tore open the forest floor as they turned around from a full speed run. They began darting through the trees with Grey and the others as the giant beast slithered towards them, carving a path through the forest. It was like outrunning a fire as it’s flicking tongue expelled hot air at their feet.

“Who has one?”, asked Yellow.

“We’ve all got one, worked like a charm. I thought you two were keeping watch, why did you come?”, asked Grey while panting.

“We were, half of them left the mountain.”, snarled Green Runner.

“So, we’ve changed plans a little. We’re taking this beast to the river. That’s where the shiny prey went.”, explained Yellow.

“We’ll never make it. Why don’t we just leave it there for them to come back to?”, asked Grey.

“They would win that fight. Once we get to the river we’ll turn around in the chaos and kill the cave dwellers.”, said Yellow.

“Are you listening? We’ll never make it there. We’re all out of stamina.”, said Grey.

“You listen, you all joined this tribe to survive, but I can offer you more. We can all thrive together. You all want mates I’m sure, once we get back, I’ll make sure you guys get first choice.”, said Yellow.

“Seriously? Boys you here that? We just have to make it to the river and we can mate!”, Grey yelled to the others.

“First one there gets first choice.”, hissed Yellow.

“Out of my way!”, yelled Grey as he and the others pushed past Yellow and Green Runner.

“Wow they’re even outrunning me, you really did manage to motivate them. Can you really keep that promise thought?”, asked Green Runner.

“If we kill this thing, I’m sure Red will go for it.”, said Yellow with a toothy grin.

“And if we don’t?”, asked Green Runner.

. . .

“Alright guys are ya’ll ready to go?”, asked Justin.

“Yep, I’m finally dry again.”, said Morcant.

“Are the jars secure?”, asked Yujark.

“Far as I know. I wrapped them in rope and their pretty heavy to begin with.”, said Justin.

“Alright let’s get on with it. I’m really not looking forward to dragging this all the way back to camp.”, whined Morcant.

“Wait. Somethings coming.”, said Tacktay from the ground.

“You sure this time?”, asked Justin.

“Yes, the sound I’ve been hearing all day. It’s heading right for us.”, said Yacktay.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”, asked Morcant.

“You told me not to worry about it while you were bathing. You and Yujark said it wouldn’t enter the Spino’s territory.”, said Tacktay.

“It really shouldn’t. Something must be wrong.”, mumbled Yujark.

“Everyone, gear up, weapons hot. Tacktay, how close is it?”, asked Justin while he grabbed his rifle.

“It’s here.”, she said.

The rumbling finally became audible to Justin as the flock of birds took flight and the trees shook and crashed. It felt like a train was hurtling towards them and slamming into parked cars along the way. A group of raptors emerged from the tree line and threw large objects towards them which splat on the ground halfway between them. They clawed their way up the trees in a flash as an enormous head burst from the opening Justin had chopped down.

A Titanoboa slithered out of the forest like an avalanche as trees and dirt were torn from the ground and fell to the wayside. It lifted its massive head and stared down at the broken objects the raptors had carried. It made eye contact with Justin and hissed at them like a plane taking off a runway. Like thunder the Spino had exited the water near them and was hissing back to the snake, its children wobbling behind it.

“Emotion, do you want me to take control?”, Justin asked himself.

“No logic. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.”, Justin told himself.

“Tacktay take flight, avoid the trees. You two follow me were running left, and everyone fire on the snake.”, yelled Justin before he began shooting.

As Tacktay leapt into the air gunfire erupted behind Justin, but he heard the shells flying close behind him, instead of to the side. He turned to the Spino babies attacking Yujark and Morcant. Yujark had been forced to fire on one as they tried to surround them. They hissed at them as the enormous snake slithered to their exit on the left and the Spino lumbered towards them.

“Fuck, we’re dead. Dead, dead, dead.”, whined Emotion.

“Well you’ll live but yea the others are toast.”, thought Logic.

“No. I can save them!”, Emotion screamed out.

“Fire at will! Run past the Spino!”, yelled Justin as he opened fire on the Spino babies.

“Run past that thing? Are you nuts?”, asked Morcant as he fired.

“Tacktay distract the Spino, I’ll take the snake.”, Justin yelled up to Tacktay.

She flew over to it and began circling and firing at its head. Justin and the others ran through the Spino bodies towards their parent while the snake slithered towards them, its tongue licking their footsteps. Justin fired at it but couldn’t keep up with its slithering head and his bullets didn’t seem to bother it. The snake caught up to them and loomed over them before striking down.

“Jump!”, yelled Justin as they leapt out of the snake’s bite.

Justin rolled around as the Spino caught them as well, crashing its feet down on Morcant. The snake swept in, plunging its teeth in to Yujark and hurling him into the air. Before he could fall into its throat the Spino collapsed its mouth around the snake and struggled to keep its bite as the snake began to bite it repeatedly. Yujark’s flailing body rolled down the snake and went limp on the ground.

“Morcant. Yujark. No, no, no, no, no, no! Dammit!”, Emotion cried out.

“Sorry, there was nothing we could do.”, Logic assured him.

Morcant yelled something from under the Spino, shooting his full clip into its neck.

“It missed him?”, Justin thought.

Morcant’s entire clip shot out in a flash, piercing through the creature’s neck. A fountain of blood and guts erupted from the Spino’s neck as it let out one last thunderous roar before collapsing to the ground.

“Did he get crushed this time?”, thought Justin.

Justin ran towards the snake as it snapped at Tacktay who had begun circling its head and firing on it. Morcant’s rifle began firing again and the snake slithered away from them towards Justin.

“You like biting people huh? I’ll show you, you dammed reptile. Full power!”, thought Justin as he ran towards the snaked eager mouth.

It continued hissing loud as a plane engine as Justin lifted both feet into the air and dove them into the ground, leaping at freeway speeds into the beats mouth. He threw his fist into the back of its head from the inside and crashed through its brain, coating himself in blood. He caught its scaly skin while flying out of the beast and turned with it in midair while throwing it to the ground. The snake’s corpse crashed into the ground like a meteorite and began wildly convulsing as Justin did a super hero landing beside it in a fountain of blood.

“Wow, I’m impressed with you.”, said Logic.

“I’ve got to find the others.”, thought Emotion.

“We haven’t been this separated in a long time. You should try to stay calm, at least one of them is probably dead. Don’t freak out!”, explained Logic.

“Can it, Logic! I have to save them.”, thought Emotion.

Tacktay flew down to him and latched onto his back.

“I don’t know about Morcant but Yujark hasn’t moved since he was thrown.”, she said.

Justin splashed through of the sea of blood flowing into the river and ran around the dead Spino’s open mouth to find Morcant leaning over Yujark. Justin slowly stumbled over to Yujark, who was laying on his side, and kneeled behind him. Morcant appeared unharmed and Justin followed his gaze to the two gaping holes in Yujark’s belly. His insides were leaking out, joining the wretched smelling sea of blood flowing past them. Yujark pressed his walkie-talkie and hoarsely spoke as blood gushed from his mouth.

“Kids, I am so sorry, to do this to you.”, he said whilst coughing and wheezing.

“No, Yujark, it’s ok. I can, we can fix this. We just… need to put all this back inside. Yea, that’s all.”, said Justin as tears ran down his cheeks and he tried to push Yujark’s intestines back inside.

“Justin…”, Morcant said, shaking as he watched this.

“Help me. Please, somebody help me.”, Justin rambled on.

“You’re both such good kids.”, said Yujark as he squealed out in pain.

“Tacktay, please...”, he asked.

“Understood.”, she said.

Tacktay landed on his neck and gently stroked his fur as she took out her pistol and promptly shot him in the head. Justin froze, an artic chill swept over his body as time seemed to stop, his mind cracked.

“Fuck! God dammit! Tacktay, why? Why, why, why, why, why?”, Emotion shouted inside his head.

“Emotion calm down, you need to lead the others to safety.”, thought Logic.

“It should have been me. He pushed me out of the way. He had a family.”, whispered Morcant as he cried.

“You two need to wash off so we can head back. There’s nothing more we can do here.”, instructed Tacktay.

“Eh, Justin, I dropped my walkie-talkie earlier and the Spino stepped on it. It didn’t take any damage though. I, I don’t know if that’s important or not.”, said Morcant, still shaking.

“Emotion calm down. We don’t want to split in two again. You don’t want them to see you like that.”, Logic futilely tried to reason with Emotion.

“Fuck! Why am I so useless? God dammit!”, Justin cried out whilst pulling out wads of his hair.

He grabbed a rock from the ground and hurled it into the forest, striking a tree, before slamming his head into the ground repeatedly while pulling his hair out.

“Useless, useless, useless!”, he chanted.

Justin stopped, feeling Morcant’s hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re secretly really messed up, aren’t you?”, he asked.

Justin just stared at him, a river of tears flowing from his eyes.

“We’re all trying our best here. You can’t blame yourself for everything. Without you we’d all be dead already. Maybe it’s because I’m fresh out of friends, but I for one, think you’re super awesome.”, said Morcant.

“I nearly got everyone killed, if I had come here alone, he’d be alive.”, cried Justin.

“It’s not your fault. We’re all in this together. We’ve still got a planet to conquer, remember?”, said Morcant as the tree Justin struck collapsed.

“They lead it hear with its eggs. They must have been watching us. Now they’re gone. Where do you think they went?”, thought Logic.

Justin’s eyes narrowed, and his face fell into a twisted grin. Morcant froze, all his hair standing strait up as he made eye contact with Logic’s kill face. Justin’s head fell over to see the tree they heard fall.

“The cave. They’re attacking it. We have to move.”, stated Justin.

“Justin are you okay?”, asked Morcant.

Justin turned to see Morcant still paralyzed with fear, and Emotion took back control of his face. He smiled to him and laughed.

“Don’t worry buddy, you’re right, we’ll work together, and everything will be okay.”, said Justin.

“You’re seriously scary, you know that?”, asked Morcant as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you sure they went back to the cave?”, asked Tacktay.

“Without a doubt.”, said Justin.

“Understood, I will fly over the forest and see if I can help them.”, said Tacktay.

“Are you sure you have the stamina for that Tacktay?”, asked Justin.

“Yes, our hive is in danger.”, she said.

“Alright good luck, we’ll bring the water and Yujark back. I doubt they can break through Churbet’s defenses, so they should be fine.”, said Justin.

Tacktay flew away and Justin picked up Yujarks body and took it to the sleds. Morcant followed him.

“Are you sure they’ll be okay?”, he asked.

“Yea, I’ve got inside its head now.”, said Justin.

“Eh, what?”, Morcant asked.

“They planned to lead the snake to the cave where it could have actually killed everyone, but they must have seen us leave and changed plans, since I’m their main target. Just their claws won’t be enough to break that stone door, and we’ll be back in time before they can lead another carnivore there. Hopefully Tacktay will ambush and kill them.”, said Justin as he stacked the water jugs onto one sled and placed Yujark on the other.

“You’re talking like they’re people.”, said Morcant.

“They lead it here with its eggs. That’s what they threw earlier. They might have even known our weapons wouldn’t do much damage against its thick skin and large body. Either way they must be very intelligent. Once we get back you clean up with some of the water and I’ll get some more sometime. Also, we should go and bury Yujark.”, said Justin.

“Eh, alright.”, said Morcant as they began to drag the sleds.

“Hey, do you think if we kill them all, we’ll be safe?”, asked Justin as his squinted eyes and twisted smile pierced into the forest.

. . .

Yellow leaned on a tree at the forest edge as he and the others made it to the mountain clearing. Grey and his friends were panting and had collapsed onto the ground, whereas Green Runner was patiently eyeing their target. The two that the shiny prey left behind were sitting outside of the cave, working with their tools on some wood they had carved.

“Alright, let’s finish the job and go back to the nest.”, said Yellow.

“I wanted to finish the job back there.”, snarled Green Runner.

“This female is crazy. She lost her arm and still wants to fight them, and those other things?”, thought Yellow.

“You should put her in her place before she gets killed. It’s the natural way of things, you’re in charge now and she is a female.”, he told himself.

“I won’t have my mate losing all her limbs over some petty grudge.”, said Yellow.

Green Runner turned her killer gaze to him in a flash and stormed over to him, looking down on him, her breath entering his mouth.

“What did you say?”, she asked.

“You heard me. The shiny’s pack alone would kill us, let alone that snake and fanned river monster. I know they killed someone you care about, but we can’t expect them to not defend themselves, such is the way of things. The dead don’t want us to join them, we need to move on and be safe.”, said Yellow, desperately trying not to flinch.

Green Runner continued eyeing him for a moment before stepping back and bursting into laughter. Yellow froze, visibly confused.

“I’m starting to understand what he sees in you.”, she laughed.

“Um, thanks, I guess.”, Yellow stuttered.

“Let’s get this over with and hurry home. You’ve really put me in the mood.”, she said with a wink.

“Ah, Yellow, sorry to bother you, but we’re exhausted, can’t we take a short break?”, asked Grey.

“We need to hurry, if that thing lived it will be coming here.”, said Green Runner while shaking her head.

“You can’t really believe it lived?”, asked Yellow.

“I don’t want to find out. We need to move on though remember?”, she said with a head tilt.

Yellow sighed and said, “Alright, Grey and you three listen up. We’re going to finish this and then we’ll have the rest of the day off. If you’re lucky the others might have even collected some extra females by now. Now all I need from you all is to back us up and keep them from fleeing, understand? It’ll be hatchling play.”, explained Yellow.

Grey and the others stood up, despite continuing to pant.

“You heard him boys, we just back them up and get our reward.”, said Grey in a raspy voice.

“Don’t forget to grab some dirt in one hand to help distract them and their loud tools.”, said Yellow as he grabbed dirt of the forest floor.

“I’ll leave that to you guys.”, said Green Runner as she lifted her one arm into the air.

“Oh no, I forgot.”, thought Yellow.

“Alright we’re down wind of them so we’ll have to hurry if we want to catch them. Yellow, sweetie, follow my lead.”, said Green Runner as she rushed out of the forest.

“Sweetie? She certainly took a full circle.”, thought Yellow as he and Grey’s group tried to keep up with her.

The blue-green’s head turned and saw before letting out a shriek and running into the cave with the brown one. Green Runner arrived just behind them and pierced her claws into the leafy seal covering the entrance with her one hand. Yellow grasped the other side and they started pushing it. It easily rolled over and Green Runner burst inside. Yellow followed her and they scanned the area for their prey while Grey and the others guarded the door.

“Where’d they go?”, asked Yellow.

“I don’t know, this just looks like an empty cave.”, said Green Runner.

“Really, I’ve never been in one.”, said Yellow, looking at the walls.

“Hush. Listen.”, said Green Runner.

Yellow slowed his breathing and closed his eyes, waiting for sound to find him. After a moment he could hear faint, choppy breathing coming from part of the cave, as well as something scraping against the rock wall. Green Runner snarled and leapt towards the sound. Yellow turned to see part of the wall was intended and full of small holes, with Green Runner biting at it.

An enormous sound erupted from the spot and Green Runner jumped for cover as they heard a loud clang on the other side of the cave as well. Yellow jumped to the wall, out of sight of the holes, knowing what must be on the other side, as something shiny landed on the ground by his feet. The prey began continuously yelling from behind the rock wall and they waited with their backs against the wall for a moment expecting for them to attack.

“They must be behind that rock with their loud tools.”, said Yellow.

“Well smarty claws what should we do?”, asked Green Runner.

Yellow picked up the shiny thing he found and examined it.

“Haven’t we seen these before.”, he asked.

“Sure, we find those weird rocks in corpses at The Feast.”, she said.

Yellow thought about the sounds they had heard, knowing one of their tools was used, and suddenly it clicked in his mind.

“No, these are what kills us when the prey uses their loud tools. That sound must be them spitting these at us at high speed.”, he explained.

“Does that help us?”, she asked, visibly confused.

“I guess not right now, and I don’t think we can break through that rock, even if we had their tools.”, he said.

Green Runner pounced onto Yellow and held him down as he squirmed.

“Green Runner, what is the meaning of this?”, he asked.

“If we’re going to have to wait on them to come out then we can mate right here. I told you I’m in the mood, and I’m not going to wait all day.”, she said as she started to nibble on his neck.

“Uh, but Green Runner, what if the prey suddenly come out? What about Grey and the others?”, Yellow stammered.

“Good point. Hey Grey! You and the others come in here and watch this entrance.”, she yelled.

“That’s not what I meant!”, he thought.

“Sure thing.”, Grey said as he and the others walked inside.

After looking around Grey noticed what Green Runner was doing to Yellow and immediately looked away.

“Um, where is the other entrance?”, he said while clearing his throat.

“Where their shouting from, careful they can kill you if you stay in front of it.”, said Green Runner, referencing the holed wall with her arm.

“Dammit, help me you little Grey idiot.”, thought Yellow as he noticed one of the prey’s tools on the ground.

“Hey, I wonder what this does.”, he said while picking it up and trying to avoid Green Runner’s advance.

“Yellow either help me or stay still, we can look at that later.”, she said while holding his arm down with her one good arm.

Yellow futilely tried to resist when suddenly a voice erupted from the box he was holding.

“Help, they’re inside the cave!”, yelled a female voice.

Everyone froze as their feathers rose and they slowly turned their gazes to the box. The prey stopped shouting and the cave grew completely silent as everyone held their breath.

“Impossible, does this box let other creatures communicate with each other?”, thought Yellow.

“I’m coming!”, another voice shouted through the box as a flying prey flew into the cave.

It stayed high and fast as it circled the cave and began using one of its loud tools on them. Flying rocks bounced throughout the cave as Green Runner jumped up and pulled Yellow out of the entrance while he stumbled. He instinctively began following Green Runner as she ran away, but he turned around to see Grey and the others not far behind them. The flying prey was chasing them, its loud tool sounding like lightning strikes as Grey’s pack was impaled by its flying rocks.

Green Runner, Yellow, and Grey made it to the forest and stopped when they noticed the prey wasn’t following them anymore. It took out a pointed piece of wood and began killing the members of Grey’s pack that were still alive on the ground, before flying back to the cave.

“Blue, Black…”, whimpered Grey as he teared up.

“Grey, I’m so sorry.”, said Yellow, placing his hand on Grey’s shoulder.

“We can’t stay here. I highly doubt the shiny prey is dead and it’s probably coming this way.”, said Green Runner, taking Yellow’s hand and pulling him into a run.

Yellow turned to see Grey following them at a slower pace before looking to his hands and realizing he dropped the box inside the cave.

. . .

Justin and Morcant let go of the sleds as they reached the cave. Tacktay was waiting above the door for them. There were several raptor bodies piled up and blood surrounding the doorway. Justin just stood with Morcant for a moment, motionless, too afraid of the answer to ask the question in his mind.

“They’re both fine.”, said Tacktay.

Justin and Morcant both breathed a sigh of relief and Morcant sat down to rest, exhausted from their trip.

“Thank you Tacktay.”, said Justin.

“Could I have done anything else?”, she asked.

“Mm, you could have given up, or broken down like I did.”, he said.

“Never again, you’re the one who taught me we could always rebuild and find a new purpose in life.”, she said.

“Sorry about earlier, I’m a little unstable. If only someone like Morcant had been given the nanites instead of me.”, he said with his head low.

“Eh, you think I want to be a super powerful silver freak like you?”, asked Morcant while standing up and still panting.

Morcant put his hand on Justin’s shoulder and said, “You saved us, and you keep saving us, so if I have to save you too, I think that’s okay.”

Justin titled his head and made the same teary half smile Ema made when he last saw her.

“Okay.”, he said.

“Are they back? Is it safe?”, asked Churburret from inside the cave.

“Yes, and I told you it’s been safe for some time now.”, said Tacktay.

Churburret and Taysass exited the cave and Justin tried to stand in front of Yujark’s body but was too late. Taysass quietly walked past Justin and fell to her knees, down to Yujark, wrapped her arms around his putrid smelling corpse, and began sobbing.

“I did warn her this had happened.”, said Tacktay.

Justin walked over and embraced her. She threw her arms around him and wept.

“He was so kind. Why, why are they doing this to us?”, she asked.

“I’m so sorry Taysass.”, said Justin as he tried to hold back his tears.

“Morcant, please wash up so we can go and bury him.”, instructed Tacktay.

“Um, sure. Just let me roll the door over and strip behind it.”, he said.

“He’s all red, is he hurt too?”, asked Taysass.

“No Taysass, everyone else is fine. Listen to me, I swear, no matter what, I will protect you. I won’t let those animals touch a single scale on your body.”, said Justin.