Frozen Rain p2

Justin practiced using his enhanced sight and hearing while attempting to silently follow a group of raptors he had found on his way to the spawn hill. He was checking for dead leaves before leaping between points on the ground and carefully landing in silence. It wasn’t too hard for him, as the raptors didn’t seem to be in a hurry. They seemed to just be meandering around the forest, occasionally smelling the ground and increasing speed before stopping at mounds of dirt and waiting.

“Moles, or ferrets, or something hm? I guess not everything migrates during the seasons here, that’s actually good news. Then again, these predators haven’t caught anything all day, so perhaps we won’t either. Of course, if I keep hunting them maybe I’ll find success.”, he thought as he stalked his prey.

After about two hours of this passed the raptors seemed to slow down and head in a strait direction for a time. Justin wasn’t worried about getting lost, he had found that if he focused his enhanced hearing, he could hear the river, and he could also see the mountain occasionally through the canopy. He assumed the raptors were returning to their nest, although he wondered why they were returning empty handed.

“Perhaps they ran out of places to check for food, or the other places they know of are patrolled by another group. Maybe they’re just taking a nap?”, he thought.

“What’s it really matter though? Let’s just follow them home, kill two without being seen and take the bodies back to base.”, he told himself.

As Justin leapt through the maze of dead leaves and twigs a gust of wind suddenly swept them up. Justin couldn’t stop himself as his foot landed on a tumbling patch of leaves. He froze and looked up. The raptors had stopped and were all staring at him. Justin clenched his teeth and flared his nostrils.

“Kill them, kill them, kill them.”, he yelled to himself.

“I’m on it.”, he thought.

Justin squatted and launched himself towards them like a missile. The raptors stood their ground, flaring their teeth and claws at him as he landed in a puff of dust in front of them. The strong wind quickly blew it away, revealing the four raptors standing in a half circle to Justin. Justin put his fists up and jumped in place like a boxer, awaiting the first move.

“Why wait? Just kill them”, thought Logic.

“They’re intelligent, so it’s hard for me. I’ve been thinking, what if they’re like us? I wouldn’t put that past Tute.”, thought Emotion.

“It’s possible, but both unlikely and irrelevant. If we don’t kill them the others will starve, and don’t forget they won’t hesitate to kill us. Don’t forget what they did to Yujark. Their intellect is a weapon aimed at us, not a moral conundrum. I’m not asking you to like it or do this out of my hate. This has to be done, you know that.”, thought Logic.

“Mm, your right, sorry. There’s no other way, despite how I feel.”, thought Emotion.

“You need me to take over?”, asked Logic.

“No, I’m at peace with this, or at least, I can worry about it later.”, thought Justin.

One of the raptors shook its backside like a cat before leaping onto him. It and the other raptors were about Justin’s height, making it seem strange to Justin that it jumped at him. He realized why however when the beast slammed into him with its claws and slowly slid down onto the ground, tearing his shirt like paper. Justin squinted into its eyes as it shook, breathless, on the ground.

“It must be completely bewildered. They usually latch onto prey and bring them down, but its claws can’t connect with me.”, he thought.

The raptor turned around, throwing dirt at Justin as it tried to leap away.

“Let’s end this fast.”, he thought with a sigh as his arm flew forward, grabbing the raptors neck.

He didn’t give it time to claw at his arm or react at all. In one swift motion he clenched his fist and tore his fingers into the raptors neck. Blood spat out like a water balloon bursting in his fist as he heard its spine crack. The raptor immediately grew still, and Justin simply dropped it to the ground. He looked at the three remaining raptors, who were all motionless. He growled at them as the hate grew inside him. The anger from Yujark’s death, the hate he held for himself for having to kill them, his hate of Tute. His rage boiled over as another raptor leapt towards him.

“Are you blind? Think your better than the last one? Just die already you stupid animals!”, he shouted inside his head.

He reared back his right foot and launched it into the raptor’s chest. He felt its ribcage collapse as his foot sunk into its chest before the force sent the raptor flying into a nearby tree. It fell to the ground like a rag doll, motionless, it was dead from one kick. Justin’s feet moved on their own as he slowly crept toward the remaining two raptors. He glared at one as it pissed itself. His body shook with rage as he felt his blood trying to boil out of his skin.

“How dare you experience fear despite what you do at the spawn point? What your kind did to Yujark. How dare you feel anything at all. Become nothing!”, he thought as he threw his fist at the raptors head.

It just stood there, shaking in a pool of its own urine, as the other raptor jumped in front of Justin’s fist. He felt his fist dive through its skull, into its neck, crushing its vertebra one by one, before the force caught up with it and threw the beast into the other. They were hurled a dozen feet backwards as the one he hit shot out blood like a shaken soda. The last raptor scrambled to get out of under the other before limping away in the same direction they were heading earlier.

Justin looked at his shaking hands, at the blood that had covered him, and trembled. A chill rushed from his feet, up his spine, and permeated his body.

“We only needed two. I completely lost it. Why did you let me do that?”, thought Logic.

“Your rage consumed me, I didn’t know what to say. You were right, I truly hate them. I’m so disgusted with myself.”, thought Emotion.

“Alright let’s calm down. We still have a job to do. Let’s carry the bodies and scout their nest to see what we’re dealing with.”, thought Logic.

“Logic that’s detestable, what if they see us? But I guess…”, thought Emotion.

“It must be done.”, thought Justin.

. . .

Justin followed the smell and footprints of the injured raptor for about half an hour, two of the raptor bodies on his shoulders and one in his hands. Grinding his teeth, still shaking with rage, and used to the twilight, he didn’t notice the darkening of the sky. Finally, he came to a circular clearing of toppled over trees filled with piles of brush. He assumed these were their nesting grounds, but only saw two large raptors there. One red and the other brown.

“I remember now, I saw these two last time at the hilltop.”, he thought.

He stepped into the nesting grounds and set down the bodies before walking toward the two raptors.

“I guess the injured one warned them I was coming, and these two are the strongest, left here to distract me.”, he thought.

The raptors took battle stances as he approached them, ready to jump on him again he assumed. He sighed.

“Maybe if I let them attack me until they wear themselves out, they’ll leave me alone after that?”, he thought.

A loud hissing quack erupted out of the forest. Justin turned left to see a large yellow raptor running with a smaller grey one, carrying large eggs in front of a huge, fully feathered dinosaur. It looked like a mix between a lizard and a duck, running on its hind legs with its enormous claws spread out from its hands. It had a billed face, resembling a duck, and sounded kind of like a crocodile as it quacked and hissed at the raptors it was chasing.

“Therizinosaur? How ridiculous, and does everything hear lay eggs in the fall? I guess they hatch in spring? Whatever, the others aren’t here this time, so I won’t have trouble killing this thing.”, he thought.

The two raptors in front of him ran around him as the other two threw the eggs at him. This time he caught them both and gently laid them down as the Therizinosaur marched towards him, shaking the ground. He could see the raptors watching him from behind the log circle forming the nest. He sighed and walked to the bodies he left.

“I’ve got what I need. I know where they live, and I’ve got food. The Therizinosaur’s got its eggs. We’re all good.”, he thought.

As the stomping continued, he turned around, jaw agape. The Therizinosaur had ran past its eggs and was right on top of him. Its left arm slashed at him with claws twice his size. He braced with his hands but didn’t get good enough footing as the beast sent him flying with its blow. He tumbled and rolled across the grassy field and slammed into a nest of twigs and feathers.

He stood up, spat out the dirt from his mouth, and brushed the debris off himself. The Therizinosaur marched towards him, leaving its eggs behind, and let out a mighty quack. Justin squinted with a twisted half smile before bursting into laughter.

“Is everything here fucking retarded? The Spino, the snake, and now you? You’d all kill them without a second thought. You’re all dangerous. Yes, its so clear to me now. If I want to keep them safe, I’ll have to exterminate you all! I’ll hunt you all down!”, Justin rambled as the beast approached.

He put his fists forward and got his feet into a lunge position. He erupted from the ground like a volcano, leaving a blast of dirt and dust in his wake, planning on diving right through the beast. The oversized duck continued its advance, seemingly unaware of the threat it was facing. Justin’s twisted smile widened as he thought about turning the beast’s skin and feathers into blankets and clothes for the group.

As the monster finally arrived, he put his fists together and dove past the beast’s swinging claws, piercing its chest. He then immediately tore his arms apart, spreading out the beast’s stomach. In less than two seconds, as the creature’s organs were beginning to fall out, he used his legs to shoot through the beast with his fists together again. He exploded through its spine and managed to pierce open its backside. Catching the opening with his hands he tore it open further and pulled himself out of the beast as it fell to the ground in a cloud of dust and spraying blood.

He stepped off the beast’s corpse and began walking towards the eggs, while staring down the four raptors which hid behind the logs. He smiled, knowing it was now them witnessing a nightmare instead of him and his friends.

“Isn’t this enough?”, asked Emotion.

“I’m just going to put the eggs in its throat before dragging it back to base. We can eat them for breakfast.”, thought Logic as his twisted smile lurked on Justin’s face.

“And the raptors we killed?”, thought Emotion.

“We can leave them as a peace offering, maybe they’ll leave us alone. If not, we know where they live now.”, thought Logic.

“I was hoping to be done by lunchtime, but we’ve still got plenty of water so everyone should be fine.”, thought Emotion.

“Huh? Your wrong, it hasn’t been that long, but why is it so dark?”, thought Logic.

Before he could look up, he felt something cold and small hit his shoulder, then his head, and his hands. As he looked up to see the dark rainclouds covering the sky the rain fell like a water fall. He didn’t have time to react before it was completely pouring rain. Thunder shook the sky and lightening struck in the distance.

“No, no, no, no, no! It can’t be raining, the archway isn’t finished yet.”, he thought as he looked for the mountain.

“I can’t see twenty feet in front of me. Nanites, enhanced vision! Deactivate other enhanced senses.”, he thought.

His view suddenly stretched out past the rain and he saw the faint outline of the mountain. He turned and bolted towards the body of the Therizinosaur, grabbing it by the neck and dragging it as he ran towards the mountain.

. . .

“I’m glad I convinced you all to wait with me, that was truly something.”, said Red.

“I’ve never seen rain this bad before, is that what stopped it?”, asked Grey.

“Who cares, we need to relocate immediately. That thing is unstoppable!”, Brown yelled over the rain.

“Stick close to me Grey, its hard to smell through this.”, said Yellow.

“Calm down Brown.”, said Red sternly before stroking Browns head.

“Yellow, what do you make of this?”, asked Red.

Yellows mind raced, “What unbelievable power, but what made it leave? It noticed the rain first, then quickly dashed away towards the mountain. Its pack shouldn’t be affected by the rain in their cave. Wait. The mountain has mudslides. It must have known and ran back to protect the others. Surely it could sense the rain coming though? It also left the other bodies and the eggs here, but I suppose that long claw is plenty of food.”

“Yellow?”, asked Red.

“What? Oh, sorry. Um, I think its going to protect its pack and that the long claw is more than enough food for them.”, said Yellow.

“Protect them from what?”, asked Red.

“Hm? Oh, the rain of course. Their cave could be covered in a mudslide.”, said Yellow.

“You don’t say…”, Red let his voice trail off.

“Alright then, lets take these eggs and bodies back to the nest. Yellow, I want you to have a plan ready for if that thing attacks our nest, and one for if it shows at the next feast.”, said Red as he walked to the eggs.

“What plan could stop that thing? Does he really expect that much from me now?”, Yellow thought as he and the group followed Red.

Red picked up an egg and paused for a moment as the rain battered down on everyone.

“Why did it save these if it wasn’t going to eat them.”, Red mumbled.

“Why would it show at the feast?”, asked Yellow.

Red turned to Yellow and looked him dead in the eye.

“You tell me.”, he said.

. . .

Justin raced though the forest with the Therizinosaur body, barreling through bushes and ferns, chopping down entire trees that stood in his way. He’d never run this fast before, the rain seemed to fall in slow motion and felt like dense, heavy walls of water as he plowed through it. After a few minutes he finally exited the trees into the mountain’s valley. He could make out the group struggling with Churbet to work on the archway. The rain was slamming into the mountain like waves and mud was sinking down the mountainside as small rocks were tumbling past them. He dropped the body near the cave as everyone but Churburret got off the mountain.

“Churbet’s not giving up but I think the cave is a loss. The rains not letting up and the mud is really starting to come down.”, said Morcant while holding Tacktay and two rifles.

“We’ve been trying to stop him but he wont listen.”, said Taysass.

“I can’t fly in this rain.”, said Tacktay.

“Everyone calm down and hide under that things body. Morcant, keep her warm.”, said Justin, referring to Taysass.

“What about Churbet?”, asked Taysass, grabbing Justin’s arm.

“I’ll get him.”, said Justin.

Justin approached the cave as the rain pounded against him. Churburret was above him, still trying to pat down the dirt and rock making the archway. The water and mud were simply rolling over it however and leaking into the cave. Churburret was shaking and stumbling as he tried to maintain his balance on the sliding mud.

“Churbet get down from there, the cave’s toast. We can dig it out after this storm.”, shouted Justin.

“No, I can do this.”, yelled Churburret, trying to keep his walkie-talkie above the mud while standing with it.

“Churbet I’m not asking! We’ll be screwed if you get hurt. Jump down I’ll catch you.”, shouted Justin.

“I’ve got to save the cave and be useful to the group. Yesterday I sat in here cowering when I could have been helping Yujark or building this archway. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. I’m ready to be an adult now. Justin please, let me help!”, yelled Churburret.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for what happened to Yujark. Now, if you want to help you can start by getting down. We can recover the cave tomorrow.”, shouted Justin.

“I can’t”, yelled Churburret.

“Churbet don’t make me come up there.”, growled Justin.

“No, I really can’t! Some of my feet are stuck in the hard rock I dried this morning. I can’t move.”, yelled Churburret as he struggled to break his feet free.

Justin put away his walkie-talkie and leapt onto the archway, however, the rock under his right foot collapsed and he lost his balance. Churburret grabbed his left hand and fell as he lost his support. Justin pulled himself up against the tide of water and mud and dove his fingers into the mountain. He began inching towards Churburret seeing he was struggling to keep his mouth above the flowing mud. He changed his hand placement to get closer and began digging out the rock where Churburret’s feet were stuck. The mud wasn’t helping though, and it took several seconds to get a foot free.

Justin then began moving around and above Churburret to get to his other feet, shooting his fingers through the mud and into the cliff face. He felt as though he were climbing up a water fall. As he finally made it around, he knelt down and began working on another foot. A man-sized rock suddenly slid past him and crashed into the ground, causing Churburret to squeal.

“Please hurry Justin, I’m so scared. It feels like I’m drowning.”, yelled Churburret while panting.

“I’ve got you Churbet, just one more foot, right? Don’t hyperventilate on me.”, said Justin, pressing the walkie-talkie in his pocket.

As Justin moved his hand to the final trapped foot an enormous sound erupted from the heavens and the mountain shook. Justin knew his ears should be ringing and that Churburret wouldn’t hear him if he spoke as he looked up to see the afterimage of lightening hitting the mountain. The spot erupted like a volcano with mud and rocks as a wall of mud suddenly lost its grip and began sliding towards them. Time automatically slowed down for him as adrenaline flooded his veins and he felt his insides boil against the frozen rain. He knew he only had precious seconds to save his friend.

He kicked out the archway supporting them and pulled Churburret’s foot out of the rock in one swift motion. They fell and sunk into a pile of mud waiting for them at the cave entrance. Justin desperately tore himself out of the mud by shooting his feet through it and into the ground. He grabbed Churburret and began pulling him out too, trying not to hurt him, however his large body kept sinking back into the mud which had reached Justin’s chest.

Justin knew he couldn’t grab and throw him while the mud held him down, certainly not without hurting him. The only option was to dive under him and leap them both out. Justin turned back to the mudslide as he prepared to dive into the mud and realized he was out of time. The tide was just above them, filled with heavy rocks, ready to crash down upon them. Justin gave into despair as a cold shock ran up his body.

“Not yet! Shield him.”, thought Logic.

Justin stood up and franticly threw his arms out above Churburret as the mud washed over them. Justin was thrown down by the weight as rocks crashed into him. He could feel Churburret struggling under him as the weight grew. A squeal was heard through the mud as it seeped into his ears, his nose, and his mouth, before cracking, dozens of cracks rang out and Churburret grew still. The sound of rain and flowing mud grew distant as Justin began to hear his heartbeat. He could feel it, echoing through him. He could feel the tears swelling in his eyes despite having no where to go.

As time passed, he could hear his blood flowing, weaving its way throughout his body. He couldn’t hear Churburret’s blood, he couldn’t hear the outside. His senses dulled and his fractured, embattled mind drifted inwards as he settled in his tomb.