Saga Untold

Chapter 1: Dilo

Part 1

The compy bit down hard on my shoulder, drawing a hiss of pain from me. Instinctively I whipped my backpack off my shoulders to reveal that the clever little rat had chewed a whole right through the tough fiber. I chuckled as I gave it a little boop on the nose, narrowly missing losing my finger in the process. My raptor below me gave a concerned coo.

“Calm down Pounce,” I reassured the beast, “you bit me too when we first met.” Actually he did a lot more than that. Pounce was the first raptor I ever encountered and let's just say, he's the one that introduced me to a handy little concept known as infinite respawn. I grinned to myself, fun times. The compy gave another indignant screech as it tried and failed to stare me down. “Oh shut up,” I said playfully, “I'm not going to hurt you.” I don't think he believed me, typical.

Pounce gave another coo to get my attention and I looked up to see the spiked, makeshift defence wall Sarco kept forcing me to help build. What a waste of time. He chose the most boring place to build our camp, on the river’s edge not far from the coast where nothing bigger than a raptor ever wandered. I shook my head at it before nudging Pounce forward and over the bridge with my knees. I quickly poked the compy’s head back down into my backpack and bunch up the fabric to close the hole.

Pounce trotted through the opening in the spiked wall, already trying to veer off towards the stables. Our base was small, only holding the necessities. A bunk house, store room, work station, and dino pens and stables, the last was our newest edition, but most of the buildings had popped up fairly recently. It had been just Thatch, Sarco and me in the beginning, when we all lived out of the single tiny now store house. Those were the good fun times, but I think Sarco aged about 10 years in a few months, what with every new encounter and ways to brutally and painfully die.

Now we mostly know what we're doing if we don't venture too far inland, and there's a lot more of us too. Let's see, there's Pearl, who's all cozy with Sarco, ew. There's Archy, he's fun, and Dawn, she's boring but nice. Trike, who sucks and I regret rescuing out of a river full of piranhas, and finally the newest and youngest members of our group, the twins Snow and Swamp.

Speaking of the twins, they immediately spotted me as I entered the base, Snow giving an enthusiastic wave. It looked like they had been roped into reinforcing the wall again, poor things. I gave them a sympathetic wave but didn't stop, I was on a mission. Before anyone else could spot me, I made my way across the yard and to the store room. I hopped off of Pounce and gave him a gentle pat, he cooed a final time before wandering off, probably to find some food with the other tamed animals. Balancing my heavy backpack, I made my way up a small ramp and around to the side of the store room where another small shack was built against the side.

As I neared the shack, my pace slowed to a creep as I did my best to listen for any signs of movement inside. Finally I gave the door a quick knock, and when no one answered, I was satisfied that the coast was clear.

With a loud squeak, I pushed the door open and crept inside. This was Thatch's workroom, where he liked to write and store his journals and whatnot. He seemed to think it was important to document the dinosaurs we came across, I don't know he's weird. As I scanned the room I suddenly froze. Well it turned out it actually was occupied, Thatch sat slumped over at his desk, snoring loudly as his glasses slowly slipped from his nose. I smirked to myself as I quietly set down my backpack and untied the top, tipping it on its side. The compy instantly shot out and under Thatch’s desk with a final indignant screech. Satisfied with my work, I crept back outside and found a shady place to relax and wait for the show.

It took about 10 minutes before chaos erupted. Thatch came running out of the shack, screaming his head off. In the panic, he conveniently forgot his glasses, which resulted in him tripping over a small rock and face planting into the dirt. Trike was the first one to come running over and when he opened the door to the shack, he immediately had to slam it shut again, as the tiny compy immediately lunged at the door, “Christ! It's rabid!” He cried.

Then Pearl showed up, and finally Sarco. Together they slipped inside, both holding makeshift nets. I could hear everything that went on inside. The crashing of books and something heavier, probably a bookshelf. Sarco cursing and Pearl letting out a scream, I hope it bit her.

Finally, Sarco comes bursting out of the shack, his hair tousled and clothes slightly ripped. Even though he tried slamming the door behind him, he wasn't nearly fast enough.