Primordial and Beyond #1: The Divided Ones

Chapter 10

Later that day, Trex ventured to another end of the Confinement Territory. He noticed Bronto was in the distance. The Sauropod was in the middle of an argument with Agnes.

"I don't care how loyal Trex was to us when we were children," Agnes snapped. "What matters is how he's functioning now, and right now, my Triceratops herd is missing two of our hatchlings!"

Trex flinched. Oh no....more missing hatchlings.

Agnes went on in her furious tone. "There's no denying the possibility that Trex could've gotten hungry overnight and found a way to kill them without leaving evidence of their bloodshed—he could've lured them into the Land of Firepits and eaten a cooked meal for all we know..."

Bronto stomped his foot. "That's preposterous! If Trex got locked into his flesh-hungry state, he'd be too unstable to use such a strategic way to kill Leafeaters! If he truly lost control and ate your herd's hatchlings, he would've attacked them recklessly and messily!"

"Well maybe he did. But perhaps after returning to his normal state of mind, he could've just hid the evidence! By throwing their dead bodies into the firepits, for example!"

Trex winced, feeling his stomach wrench at such a suggestion. He couldn't tell if he was more disgusted or hurt.

Bronto's tail shifted, looking ready to whack something with anger. "Sheesh, and I thought I was the one with the crazy imagination! Trex would never do such a thing, regardless of whether he is in his uncontrollable flesh-hungry state or in his normal state of mind!"

Agnes scoffed. "Oh please. He's shown what he's capable of. He nearly killed one of my herd members in his sleep! I'm sure he did the same for the missing hatchlings!"

"Zara performed an examination of all Flesheaters in the valley!" Said Bronto. "She said that she detected nothing in Trex that showed he had bitten any Leafeater over the past few days! The only Flesheaters who smell like they've bitten anyone are just the hatchlings who listened to Velina and bit adult Leafeaters....Zara also said Velina and her pack smelled like they've bitten some Leafeaters too. But not Trex!"

"Well, I suspect Velina because her behavior makes her the most obvious suspect," spat Agnes. "Plenty of Leafeaters accuse Velina and her raptors because of their history of connivingly hunting down Leafeaters when they least expect it, so I suspect them too! But there's no way I'm excluding Trex as a suspect, especially since I've actually seen Trex nearly attack me and another member of my herd. That makes him just as bad as Velina."

Trex cringed. He felt like kicking another tree and slaughtering the Triceratops. He walked away before his impulses made him lose control again.