Primordial and Beyond #1: The Divided Ones

Chapter 2

Trex set down a handful of fruit next to a pile of vegetation and fruits. The gray T. Rex had gathered his final handful for the sunset picnic.

Trex smiled at the pile. Bronto was definitely going to love those red, spherical fruits—he had made an extra effort to find the freshest, cleanest-looking ones for him. And he made sure he had collected Quinn's favorite sour leaves.

Yes, this was going to be a great sunset picnic.

Trex noticed a beetle flying over his head. He decided it wouldn't hurt to have a quick snack before the picnic.

The gray Flesheater turned to watch the beetle land on the rocky ledge beside him. Narrowing his eyes with hunger, Trex slowly made his way up to the giant beetle. The thing was just slightly bigger than his fist. The biggest beetle he had seen in a while.

Trex stepped closer until his snout was just several inches from the ledge where the beetle had landed. The beetle itself was just a few inches in front of his eyes, settled on the ledge with its rear facing him.

Then the beetle was smashed by a clawed foot—someone else's foot, not Trex's.

A few droplets from the beetle's smashed body were splashed into Trex's eyes, He grunted, blinking several times, before facing the smashed beetle again. The foot that landed on it had the arched toe-claw of a Velociraptor's foot. The foot began to move side to side, smearing the gooey, smashed mess across the ledge.

Trex winced, shifting his eyes up the foot so that he was gazing at the slender figure of a dark-green Velociraptor.

Velina! Trex recognized the elder Velociraptor instantly.

Velina wore a malicious grin as she stared down at the smashed, smeared beetle beneath her foot. She lifted her foot up, bringing it to the front of her face. The elder raptor gave a slow, drawling laugh as she stared at the icky mess.

"Oh my...." she rasped, her devious grin intensifying. "...if only this thing had blood like Leafeaters. That would be delectable."

"Hey Velina..." Trex mumbled, staring at the raptor with a mild frown. "Thanks for stealing my snack and ruining my appetite for it."

Velina shifted her eyes to Trex and put her foot down. "Trex, darling!" She then turned to the smashed mess on the ground, and poked her toe-claw at it. "Well, you are still welcome to have it. I only wanted to torture the thing....or at least, fantasize about it..." she gave a raspy sigh. "But it's just not the same, ya know. Bugs don't suffer the same way as Leafeaters do..."

Trex winced. "Velina, if you're still having Leafeater cravings as strongly as you are, that's a poor sign. Zara will banish you from Saurotopia if your flesh-eating impulses haven't diminished by the end of your Trial Period."

All Flesheaters who wanted to live in Saurotopia were given a one-month Trial Period to prove that they could behave well with Leafeaters and not experience any flesh-eating impulses around them. If they showed that they could fully control their flesh-eating impulses by the end of the period, they were allowed permanent residence in Saurotopia.

Velina gave a wild laugh. "Ahaha! Oh, dearie, I'll be just fine. If any flesh-eating impulses build up in me, I simply just fantasize about tearing precious Leafeaters to shreds. Such vivid fantasizing does help the cravings calm down," she gazed across the horizon, grinning with her lower eyelids raised. The raptor's head tilted slightly. "Yes....precious, bloody entrails of Sauropods, Triceratops, and Stegosauruses, spilling before my claws....isn't it such a wonderful thought? Don't you just love the smell of Leafeater blood...mixed with their rancid fear as they suffer slowly at your feet?"