Chapter 1: No Matter What
I followed Chomper in the direction of his parent's nest. As we ran towards it, I got more and more worried. Yes, I saved his life, but I also nearly killed him. If he told his parents, they would no doubt rip me to shreds. Hopefully he didn't.
Finally, we rounded a corner, and two large Tyrannosaurs were lying on the ground, sleeping.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Chomper called, trying to wake them.
I watched, until my instincts took over. "Chomper! Get back!" I cried.
Chomper looked at me, then a Raptor leapt on top of him. Wasting no time, I fired my AK-47. The bullets killed the raptor instantly. I ran over, and helped Chomper. He had a deep gash on his chest.
It would probably leave a scar.
Then our worst fears came true. A massive grey Tyrannosaurus stepped out of the foliage, and stalked towards us. Blood was on his mouth and claws. Only then, did I realize what happened. It was a trap all along. This monster killed them in their sleep, while he sent his best hunter to kill Chomper. It was a systematic attempt to wipe out a family.
He smiled evilly, and roared. "Run." I told Chomper. The little sharptooth looked at me nervously. "I said run!" I roared. The T-Rex charged. Chomper ran, and I just barely dodged out of the way.
I slashed through his eye, and ran. The Rex roared in pain, and I hoped it would buy us enough time to escape. Finally, I caught up with Chomper near a land bridge. "We have to cross." I realized.
"We only used this once, three cold times ago." Chomper muttered. I nodded. It was risky, and it would take a long time, but it was the only way out. "Come on." I said.
In the end, we made it. After an hour of walking, we made it. We kept moving afterwards, trying to get as far away from Crusher and his minions as possible.
Finally, as night fell, we began to set up camp for the night. I built a fire, and set up a tent.
Chomper didn't really know what that meant, but he was to subdued to care.
As he looked at the setting sun, I could see tears falling down his face. I walked over, and sat next to him.
"I know what you're going through." I said. Chomper looked at me. "Yes, my mom and dad died when I was very young."
Chomper looked down. "Will it always hurt like this?" He asked. "Yes. No one can ever truly replace your parents. Gradually, you will heal, but you will always miss them." I sighed.
"I can't say I'm much better then who took your parents." I growled. "What?! How could you say that?! You saved me twice! You didn't kill me when I attacked you!" Chomper protested.
I chuckled. "The reason I'm here is because..." I paused. "Because I was the henchman of a monster."
"This guy, Valens. He was my parent's cousin. He experimented on me. It's why I am so strong and fast. He used me as a living weapon. He threw me into the wilderness to teach me to survive. I killed so many people for him. I was no better then Crusher."
Chomper looked at me in shock. Then his eyes narrowed.
"That may be the past, but I know that you saved me. You are a good person at heart." He declared. I laughed. "I wish. How can I atone for all of the death I've caused? You're probably no safer with me, then with Crusher."
Chomper sighed. "I have friends. They're leaf eaters. Yet they trusted me."
"They're the only ones we can go to now."
I looked at Chomper. He was wise beyond his years. He reminded me so much of a kid I babysat when I was twelve. So kind, so nice, so trusting. I refused to break that trust.
"Chomper, I know I can't substitute for your parents. Heck, I don't want to try. But I promise, I will always be there for you. No matter what." I declared.
"No matter what?" Chomper asked. I nodded. He smiled, and hugged me. I was surprised by this.
But I returned the hug. "No matter what."
After that, Chomper slowly fell asleep. But I couldn't. I needed to keep watch. I knew there were many animals that would prey on a young Tyrannosaur, and I needed to make sure that none attacked us in the middle of the night.
So I took the opportunity to play a little on my computer. I got it for my seventeenth birthday, the only present Valens ever gave me. And it was because, he insisted, I pursue knowledge. He demanded that no games be installed, and that I only use under his supervision. But now I could actually use it.
Of course, there was no internet, but Microsoft Word still existed, and I did have some of my favorite games that I smuggled past Valens available. I began playing one of my favorites, Jurassic Park Operation Genesis. Based on the hit book by Michael Crichton, the game was awesome. I swear they should have made a movie out of the book, but with no director interested in doing so, it never got off the ground.
I had a lot of mods on there, and began to build a park. Then, when a T-Rex attacked a goat, Chomper woke up.
"What's that?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. Then he saw the game. It took thirty minutes to explain to him the concept of video gaming. But he seemed intrigued by it. Especially one about dinosaurs.
He asked if I could show more of it to him tommorow. With a smile, I said yes. After Chomper went back to sleep, I slowly tried to fight back sleep myself. Finally, after a long battle, I gave in, and sleep took me.
The next morning, I woke up to see Chomper trying to play the game. He had some trouble with pretty much everything, so I had to show him what to do. But when he figured it out, he got really good.
He wasn't that interested in opening the park, and more interested in the dinosaurs. We built a size able Site B of wild dinosaurs. But Chomper was of course sad that the dinosaurs couldn't get along. Nevertheless, he found the behavior extremely accurate to how dinosaurs actually behaved.
Soon after that, we began to continue our trek. Chomper continued to talk about a great valley, where all herbivores could live free of carnivores. I asked why they would let him in then.
"We'll cross that river when we come to it." He replied.
I shook my head. I really saw no way they would let us in, unless we did something courageous.
And unless Crusher invaded the valley, then I had my doubts.
As we moved, I saw that a large amount of the area was desert. There were some patches of forest and grassland, but the vast majority were desert canyons.
We continued to move over the next few days, until we reached the walls of the valley. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
"Earthshake!" Chomper cried. "We need to find cover!" I realized. However, just as suddenly as it began, the earthquake ended. It was only fifteen seconds. However, something even worse soon
became apparent.
Crusher, and a huge pack of raptors and dilophosaurus walked out of the mountains.
"Finally." He growled. "What do we do Crusher?" A green raptor asked. "We march in, and we drive the herbivores to the other side, and then we kill them all." Crusher growled.
"And it's not Crusher anymore. It's Redclaw."
With an evil grin, the mighty predator led his pack. "Spread out and take the valley systematically. Drive the sap suckers to the other side, and we'll stick them off one by one."
Redclaw let out a great roar, and the pack charged.
Me and Chomper looked at each other in horror. The valley would be no match. "What do we do?" Chomper asked nervously. "We have to fight. I have some weapons we could use. Just make sure you don't miss." I handed Chomper my desert eagle, and belt with a holster, and an electro dagger.
"Attack from the right, I'll go on the left." I decided. Chomper nodded. Then he gave me a salute. I chuckled. "Alright little soldier, let's move out." I declared.
We charged after them.
They were a good half mile in front of us, so we had to pursue. After half an hour of chase, we reached the northern part of the valley. The whole valley was trapped in a small canyon.
Redclaw ordered a stop. "Alright boys, take your pick." He smirked. I fired a gunshot into the air. "Hey, missing something you colossal fossil?" I asked. Redclaw's eyes narrowed to slits. "You." He snarled
I pulled out my AK, and opened fire. Two raptors fell. I through the rifle away, and activated my electro-sword. The pack surged forward. I met them. Any other human would be dead, but I had a brilliant reaction time, and was able to slowly whittle the pack's numbers away.
Redclaw watched the battle with interest. Then a gunshot rang out. We turned, and Chomper charged in. He bit a raptor's tail, and drove the dagger into its neck. We continued to slash and cut through our foes. Until they began to run in a headlong rout.
Finally, only Redclaw was left. The three of us circled each other. Redclaw lunged forward, and I charged at him. I dodged is initial bite, and swung my sword, grazing his jaw.
Chomper meanwhile grabbed his pistol and began to launch cover fire into Redclaw's side. The continual slashing and hail of bullets finally drove Redclaw to the brink. Finally, he ran. Ran from the valley, deep into the mountains. We were victorious.
I grabbed my rifle, and began to fire, hoping to get a lucky shot. But no such luck. He escaped.
After he was out of sight, me and Chomper looked at each other. We had done it. We had won the battle. We then turned back to the valley. They looked at us in shock. We had just killed or chased off over a dozen sharpteeth.
Finally, a large, blue-gray apatosaurus stepped forward. "Thank you for saving us. Who are you?" He asked. I already began to feel safer. This dinosaur had an air you instantly could trust.
"My name is Jack, this is Chomper." I introduced. Chomper waved sheepishly. I saw some dinosaurs narrow their eyes at this. Instinctively, I prepared to defend him. Just incase some leaf eaters tried to harm him.
"Well, Jack, the Great Valley would like to thank you for defending us. Is there anything we can do for you?" The Apatosaurus asked.
"Well, me and my companion are looking for a safe place to stay..." I began. "No, no sharpteeth are going to be aloud here." A hadrosaur declared.
I narrowed my eyes. "Even one that saved your pathetic life?" I spat. "I could crush you with my
eyes closed." The same dinosaur snarled. "Prove it." I snarled, pulling out my sword.
"Enough both of you! It's clear that we are in their debt. We should at least honor that by voting on whether or not to allow them in." An old female Apatosaurus declared. Nods of approval by a number of dinosaurs occurred. "Very well, we'll vote on it." A Triceratops grumbled.
In the end, the result was...