The Son of Rockwell

Chapter 16: Going Back

Bruce was just coming around when he saw a little black raptor in his face. “Ugh, what? Oh hey Thrasher.” He said groggily. Thrasher was a baby raptor they found after the Broodmother fight. It lost its mother and Bruce insisted that they take it with them. “Hello?”, Bruce recognized Vykers voice and started to sit up. He looked around and saw he was in a beaten tent, covered with what little blankets they had. Thrasher purred and blotted out the flap of the tent. Bruce got up and walked outside and he saw Amanda with a bruise on her right arm, purple and angry looking. Vyker had a messy stitch on his forehead and small cuts down his arms and legs. Bruce looked in confusion. Vyker looked at him, “There you are.” He said coldly, “I was wondering if we would have to haul you back home.” Amanda just looked dumbfounded as she got up. Bruce knew why they were concerned but he still found it unsettling having Amanda with her hands close to her holsters. How did he do that, absorb the element and launch carnotaurses a couple feet away. He needed answers. But right now he needed to gain their trust again. “Get ready.” Vyker said without looking at Bruce’s eyes, “We need to leave in fifteen minutes.” Bruce nodded and turned back to his tent to grab supplies.

• • • • •

Five hours later)

Bruce held his shotgun tighter. The humidity was making his clothes stick and his hands sweaty. “So how large is this swamp?” He asked Vyker. “Nearly twenty miles, give or take. We’ve walked twelve already.” “Another eight miles left.” Amanda said, clearly tired. “We should rest.” Bruce said. Vyker didn’t turn around back Bruce was pretty sure he was glaring at inwardly. “If we stop the titanaboas will have us in minutes.” Vyker said. He fired his gun unexpectedly and a large crocodile with long legs went limp. ‘Great.’ Bruce thought, ‘I being eaten by bugs, the humidity is getting to me, I’m tired, I’m hot, and we can’t stop because of some dumb snakes.’ Thrasher bounced on Amanda’s shoulder as another titanaboa nearly got bit her. Amanda shot it down. Bruce still hadn’t asked Vyker and Amanda were their from. He jumped as a huge black crocodile lunged at Vyker, biting at his armor. It cracked under the pressure and Vyker screamed in agony. Bruce fired his shotgun, but the bullets just bounced off its skin. The croc turned at Bruce and lunged at him. He yelped and ducked. Amanda was fired at some titanaboas that were coming over because of the commotion. The crocodile tried to bite Bruce, but he jumped out of the way and onto its back. The croc flailed as it tried to bit him, but couldn’t. Bruce heard a hiss of a rifle and the crocodile suddenly ran off. Bruce was clinging on for dear life as the crocodile’s mad dash was heading ahead his group. After a while the croc slowed and finally stopped. Bruce almost fell off it. He looked around and saw he seemed to be a couple of miles ahead of his group. “Well this is just great!” He said out loud. He looked at the croc and saw it was asleep. Then Bruce got the an odd idea. He took off his backpack and drew out some meat. He started to feed the crocodile and wait. An hour later Vyker and Amanda caught up, Thrasher following. “Well well…” Vyker said grinning, “look what we got here.” he pointed to the croc. Amanda smiled at Bruce. Bruce grinned back at them. Suddenly a high note rang out the sounded like music. Vyker eyes grow wide “Finally!” He drew a small, metal device and put his ear up to it. “Hello?” He listened for a moment and put the device put it back in his pocket, his face grim. Amanda looked concerned, “Is something wrong?” Vyker nodded “That was the city. It seems that they have a threat.” “What type?” Amanda asked. Vyker looked at Amanda. “Class: Alpha.” He finally said.