Live Or Die

Chapter 13: The King Of The Earth

It was pitch-black, a swallowing night but I still stalked my prey through the dark abyss that engulfed the place. For a predator as large and heavy as he was, Retribution was surprisingly quiet unless he wanted to be loud. I followed him right to his lair, where he checked his nest before laying down. He was out stone-cold, sleeping like a rock. I put away my tranq arrows and took out the narcotic itself, slowly edging up to Retribution’s open mouth where I poured it in. He began to stir, so I poured more in, and more and more and more before he woke up with a start. I grabbed the rest of the narcotic and ran. He roared, and set out after me and Dagger but he was disorientated from all I had fed him. He stumbled about, knocking down trees accidentally and with heavy footsteps slowly chased us. He looked drunk, so I turned round and fired more and more arrows into his front before he realised he needed a different tactic- run. He turned tail, and the hunted became the hunters. We pressed the offensive until finally, with an Earth-shattering thud, he fell unconcious. I slowly fed him all throughout the night, and by morning he was sat like there like a well-trained labrador. My eyes were as heavy as boulders but we made the joirney home safely.

“Oh my god.” Were the first words to come out of Ruby’s mouth. Harvey was stunned silent. I walked past them all, climbed up the ladder into our community dorm and fell asleep in my bed. The next day, Dasha (who was covered in bandages) stood over me with a surprised look on her face.

“Is this what you woke me up for?” She said, gesturing at Retribution’s nose sniffing the window. I barely got up but saw his black nose and red chin breathing all over the glass. I laughed, but fell back into bed. I was exhausted.

It felt like a Monday morning when I woke up, but Ruby was dragging my arm into her… What do you call it? Sewing place? Leathercraft? I’ll call it that. She dragged me into her leathercraft to show me an enormous saddle. I smiled, knowing darn well that I was about to learn how to ride Retribution. We took the saddle and walked it over to my Rex- when I hopped on the saddle, it was like having the power of God in my reins. I steered him one way, then the other, told him to bite an unsuspecting parasaur that he swallowed whole in one swift bite. It was magnificent, how he loomed over the rest of the world with such power and dominion. The king of the Earth.

Harvey had completed his armour designs, so now we had proper metal armour. It was durable, and Ruby added some insulation to protect us from the elements but it could get a bit warm or chilly depending on the weather. Then we realised that we didn’t have the numbers to defend our home, so we had to recruit. That’s when Dasha had the brilliant plan of making a bar and some shops to lure in travellers, tribesmen and others who could become allies or spill the beans on wherever Raphiel had his main fortress. Then we realised that if Jude snitched on our base and everything about us, Miranda could do the same about them. We just had to get her back.

-Hopefully you enjoyed that one! Next will be in Direbear.

-Nightfall