Live Or Die

Chapter 6: Retribution

We all watched in anticipation as Ruby saddled Violette. With shakey hands, she sat on her trusty steed’s back and took the reins. Before long, she was teaching us how to ride our raptors. Lesson after lesson, night after night, we practised and practised until finally we had mastered the art of riding our 65-million years worth of killing instinct. It had even gotten to the point that I could fire my bow from Dagger’s back! The others could do other tricks from their mounts’ backs. That’s when we decided- we would have to look for a more permanent spot to live. No more running, no more hiding or sleeping on sodden clumps of grass in flimsy cloth clothing- we were gonna set up a camp somewhere. Somewhere perfect. Somewhere where that… ‘Empire’ couldn’t reach us. Somewhere safe.

“Hey, you coming?” Dasha yelled at me as she fastened her bags and pouches to Sovereignty’s saddle. Dagger clicked his throat and shook his neck. I lept onto the saddle and rushed up to Dasha.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I responded. She smiled, hopped onto Sovereignty and we trotted up to the others. We disappeared into the jungle, leaving the clearing that had kept us safe for so long.

It wasn’t long before we were well and truly lost deep into the forest, killing any raptors or compys that went after us. And, just like last time we were in the thick of the bush, chaos struck. Or, Raphiel struck. He and his goons, now wearing some kind of… scaly armour, even if some were without shirts or gauntlets, with a few on parasaurs. they pointed their spears and bows at us, and Raphiel drew a sword. It was poorly crafted, but it was a sword.

“So we meet again! How nice of you to wander into our territories.” He pointed the sword at me and exclaimed “As you can see, we have mounts as well.” I retaliated with a steely glare and a shout of:

“Sure, but we have 7 sets of 65 million years of killing machines at our reins.” He took a step back at my exclamation, but regained his footing and responded:

“I have slain many a beast as that one. It is no different from the rest.”

“Care to find out?” Dasha took my side. Harvey and Master took my other side, while the other 6 (Jude, Blabs, Ruby, Violette, Madré and the unnamed raptor) hung behind a little. Our opposition snarled a bit and threw their spears at us with a giant cry. One peirced Madré’s side, and Blabs caught one in his mouth, where he crushed it and we charged in. Raphiel swung his sword at me, and I blocked with my bow. I was knocked off Dagger as he rushed after someone else, but I snagged an arrow from the quiver on his saddle and slashed it at Raphiel. He clearly wasn’t good with short ranged combat, but he held his own for a short while. I stabbed his shoulder with the arrow and I grabbed the sword as he stumbled back and cried out in pain. He spun round with a spear, and it slashed across my face, widening the small scar that was already there. Blood gushed over one of my eyes. I blindly swung my weapon at Raphiel, and I heard him cry out again but before I could see the damage I had done Dagger swept me up and put me back on the saddle. Then, during the heat of the conflict, there was a loud thud. The trees shook, pteranodon flew away and the ground rumbled. *THUD*. *THUD*. *THUD*. The gargantuan beast emerged through the treeline, saw the scene and took a deep breath in. I was on the verge of collapsing, and I smiled.

“Ha… Retribution.” The Rex, Black as night except for A streak of crimson red along its back and belly, and a stream of crimson that cut vertically over its right eye, let out an ear-decimating roar and swallowed a parasaur and its rider in one bite. It began to tear through us. I could hear Harvey scream.

“RUUUUUUUNN!!” and as the world seemed to slow, I made eye-contact with this apex predator. It stopped long enough for a spear to deflect off its side, and Dagger took off with the others as the screams of our enemies died with the soul-peircing crunch of the Rex. I blacked out, only remembering the scent of water… slowly lapping, as the world seemed to fade away into the scarlet mess that was my eye.

Next in attack drone! Hope you enjoyed =D and we’ll see what happens with the new Rex, Retribution, in 2023- Yup! Writing this on new year’s eve, so happy new year all!

-Nightfall