Dinosaur Armageddon Vol. 1: Vengeful Promise

Prologue

The fire burned countless trees. Smoke filled the air, so did fear. I clutched Claire's hand tightly as we ran through the raging inferno, coughing and huffing.

But it wasn't the fire we were truly running from.

Our pursuer thundered behind us, his breathing coming out in loud snorts. I could faintly smell the beast's foul breath over the scent of burning trees. We thought running on uneven ground would stop him, but it only slowed him down.

Soon, he would catch up and kill the both of us.

"I can't keep running much longer, Toby," Claire sobbed, tears rolling down her soot-covered face. To be honest, I felt the same way. My legs burned, my lungs and eyes stung, and my head ached. If we didn't escape soon, we'd collapse from exhaustion and suffocate from the smoke.

Or be eaten, which had a very high chance.

But we had to keep going. We had to. We'd come to far to give up now. We have been through too much to just end our lives there and then. I couldn't allow that; I wouldn't allow it.

I looked at her with the bravest face I could muster. "I know," I said over the roaring flames. "Just a little further."

Claire looked at me, her yellow eyes reddened with tears. Her soot-covered face was masked undoubtedly with fear. Despite that, she nodded, looked forward, and kept running.

I scanned the area. The huge fire burned with a hot orange-yellow light. Trees and bushes turned black or were covered in tongues of flame, revealing their skeletons. Ash covered the ground. The heat was intense. It was like being inside a huge oven.

I couldn't find any routes that our hunter couldn't follow. All the foliage was ablaze around us. I thought that we were doomed.

But then...

Creak.

I heard it; over the crackling roar of the fire, the heavy footfalls, and the blood-chilling roar of our attacker.

The sound of a nearby tree about to fall.

I quickly looked around, listening to the creaking of the falling tree.

Creak.

Creak.

Then, finally, there it was. Up ahead, a huge, inflamed tree was starting to tip over. That was it. Our escape. If we could run fast enough, we could lose our enemy. If not, we'd be trapped and killed.

It was now or never.

I let go of Claire's hand and pointed to the tree. "Over there!" I cried.

Claire saw the tree, her face puzzled. Then she realized what I meant, gritted her teeth, and pumped her legs harder. My legs squealed with absolute agony already, but I made them work overtime anyway.

The tree leaned further, creaking loudly.

Creak.

Creeak.

Creeeak.

The hunter snorted, sniffed and grunted. It was obvious that he wasn't about to give up the chase. He was determined to catch up with us and finish the job. I didn't have to look back to know that he was getting closer and closer. I could almost feel his hot breath on the back of my neck and smell his horrid breath surge through my nostrils.

We had to make it. I wasn't going to give up yet. I still had at least a little fight left.

We were almost there... Just a little more...

"DUCK!" I shouted. We bent down our heads and passed the burning tree, which crashed between us and our hunter, shaking the ground and sending up embers. We stopped running and looked back.

Our predator came to a sudden stop, roaring in fury.

"Yes!" Claire cheered, pumping her fist. "We made it."

I looked at her, smiling. She caught me staring at her, so she stuck her tongue out. I playfully rolled my eyes.

"We're not quite out of the woods yet," I said. "No pun intended."

Claire laughed anyways. I loved her laugh. It filled me up with glee when she did. It rang like a bell, only sweeter. But then she got into a brief fit of coughing. "You're right," she said, her smile faint, but not faded. "Let's get out of here."

We turned away from our hunter, who continued to furiously roar and bellow, and raced away. I grinned. We had managed to escape from the killer. It thrilled me to know he couldn't have his satisfactory.

We made our way through the blazing forest. I could still hear our hunter roaring and bellowing in sheer anger. We were almost out of the inferno when suddenly, another big tree crashed in front of us. Branches and sticks snapped and flew as the massive plant slammed onto the ground, shaking the forest floor.

"No!" Claire cried. I took a glance at her. She looked like she was on the edge of tears again.

I wasn't going let a fallen tree get in our way of escaping. I looked at the massive tree and realized quickly that much of it had yet to burn.

We could climb over it.

"Get up there," I said. "Get to the other side."

Claire looked at me with a worried expression.

"What about you?" she asked.

I pecked her lips briefly. "I'll be right behind you."

She threw her arms around my neck, holding me close. I held her by her back and kissed her golden hair. I heard her sigh and I could feel a tear from her face fall onto my chest.

"I love you Tobias," she whispered.

"I love you, too, Claire," I said.

We let go of each other. I could see Claire looked reluctant to leave me behind, but she tried to mask it with a bold face and ran to the tree and began to climb over it. I watched as she quickly used her hands and feet grip into the bark and disappear over the side.

Good. She made it.

"Okay," I muttered. "My turn."

But before I took one step forward, I realized something was wrong. Aside from the roaring flames, there was no sound. No roars or angry bellows or growls. A cold stab shivered my spine.

Our attacker was gone. Under good conditions, you would think that that was a good thing. At least until you have that feeling that something was horribly wrong.

I then heard a loud roar. It was a terrible sound, like something straight out of a nightmare. Then I heard a scream. Claire's scream. Fear clutched my heart with cold fingers.

Shit! I thought.

Suddenly, a round object fell in front of me. I nearly puked. My breathing quickened and every time it felt like less air was getting in and more was coming out.

It was Claire's head. Her gaze was blank, like she didn't know what hit her. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"CLAAAIRE!" I cried. I got down on my knees, my head down. Hot tears dropped freely from my eyes and onto her cheeks. She was dead and it was all my fault. I led her straight to her death. She was gone and she'll never come back.

My grieving was cut short by a low growl. I looked up and locked eyes with the Tyrannosaurus. His yellow eyes blazed with murder and pleasure. His jaws and teeth were painted with blood. He threw his head back and bellowed. He snorted, growled, then walked away, the tonnage of his footsteps shaking the ground.

A new feeling surged through me. Anger and hatred. It burned in my blood and surged into my heart. The dinosaur had taken the only person left who I loved. The only person I had left.

I lifted my head up and screamed a cry of sheer rage.

"You son of a bitch!" I roared. "You killed Claire! I'll kill you! I'll hunt you down and I'll kill you! I won't stop until you're dead!

"Even if it kills me!"

And that's when the story began.