Hi it's Anonymous! This is chapter 3 of Today We Rise. Hope you like it!

-Anonymos-

Chapter 3

When the sun rose the next morning I was surprised to see Chicken staring at me. We made DIRECT eye contact, I was scared. Was she gonna kill me? Was she planning on killing me? I sat up, “Hi Chicken?” I patted her head and picked her up. After carefully climbing down the tree I had noticed my fire still glowing brightly still. It should have gone out a while ago…

“Freeze! Who are you?” Someone shouted from behind me. I jumped and almost threw Chicken who was squawking loudly.

“Shut that bird up now!” They snapped.

“Shh, quiet Chicken!” I whispered. She fell silent, eyes darting around.

“Who are you?” They asked again

“L-lexi,” I answered

“Lexi?” I heard footsteps approaching and soon after a tall man appeared in front of me.

“Y-yes,” I said, eyeing the bow in his hands.

“I'm Pathro,” He said, lowering the bow.

“Who's the bird?” Pathro asked

“Her name is Chicken, makes me think of home,” I blushed, now realizing how foolish her name is.

“Do you know what she is?” Pathro stepped closer, watching me closely.

“I call them dodos…”

“Dodos?” He reached out to pet Chicken who tensed and then leaned forward.

“Not very bright,” Pathro chuckled

“I figured it would be nice to have company… I didn’t think anyone else had lived on this Island,” I set Chicken on the ground.

“Isla Periculum,” Pathro said

“What?”

“Isla Periculum. I named this island Isla Periculum because of all the dangerous creatures here. Periculum is the Latin word for dangerous,” He explained

“Oh…”

We talked for a while. He told me about the other creatures here and what he had named them. The duck-billed dinosaurs were called Parasuars and the large four legged creatures were called Triceratops. There were many others he had named as well.

“Very interesting,” I mused

“Yes very,” Pathro smiled

“So… Do you have any of these creatures as pets yet?” I held Chicken in my arms.

“Yes I do, they are the only reason I have made it this far,” He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. We sat in silence, waiting for whatever he had tamed to come. Soon a tall Parasaur peeked out from behind the rocks.

“Come here Duck,” Pathro held out his hand. The Parasaur known as Duck stepped forward and lowered it's head against Pathro’s palm.

“Wow, it's so pretty,” I smiled, amazed. Duck looks like a male mallard duck, perfectly named.

“He is my travel mount,” Pathro pulled himself onto the leather saddle that sat on Duck’s back. He held his hand out to help me up. I took it, and pulled myself onto the saddle, Chicken still in hand.

“Here, Chicken can sit here,” Pathro opened a large leather sack that hung from the side of the saddle where I gladly, and gently, slid the Dodo in.

“Hold on tight!” Pathro exclaimed as Duck launched into a dead sprint.

“Woah!” I laughed, practically squeezing the life out of Pathro. As we tore across the beach sand I took in my surroundings, amazed both by the beauty of it all and how lonely this place really was. I hadn’t expected to come across Pathro, and I doubt he had expected me. Still being lonely had actually begun to feel… Lonely. I'm glad to now have a companion, who, hopefully, will allow me to stay with him. I smiled at the thought of having a friend around, I was finally gonna make it, at least I hope I'll make it…