Dinosaur Armageddon Vol. 1: Vengeful Promise

Chapter 6

Joshua led Jessica and Natasha through the forest. Nothing seemed out the unusual. Well, except for the sounds of large animals in the distance. Which he guessed was kind of normal now with dinosaurs and their "worldwide conquest." He just didn't quite know anymore. Maybe nothing was normal after all, even before the dinosaurs returned.

"Uuuuurgh," Jessica whined. "How much longer are we gonna keep walking, babe? We've been doing this for hours. Maybe we should rest."

Josh looked back at her with a firm face. He loved Jessie, no doubt there. But he had to show her that they had to show determination if they were to survive in a kill-or-be-killed world. Still, he didn't want to seem mean. "I know you're tired. But we should keep going for another mile. After that, we can stop."

Jessie sighed, and not gratefully.

"I'm kinda tired, too, Josh," Natasha said. "Maybe we should take a little break. I feel like I've just walked around the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium three times in a row."

So we're goin' to go by the majority rule, now? Josh thought. He sighed. Fine.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, a smell slithered into his nostrils. A nasty, putrid smell. It reeked of rotting flesh and death. Josh nearly gagged; the scent was to powerful. The girls must have smelled it, too, seeing that they covered their noses and made sickening sounds. Natasha actually convulsed and retched and powerful stream of vomit. She took a ragged breath and shivered.

"What is that smell?" she said shakily.

"I don't know," Josh said. He looked around, trying to find the source of the smell. Whatever it was, it was close by. How else could the smell be so strong.

"Look!" Jessica cried. "Over there!"

Josh turned to Jessica, who was pointing at something. He followed his gaze and saw the cause for the stench.

A huge dinosaur carcass.

It was almost fifty feet long alone, and it appeared to have a long neck, a single row of tiny spines along the length of it's back, a snake-like tail, and four pillar-like legs. The head was savagely torn off, leaving a puddle of blood on the stump. It's side had been gouged out, exposing large, curved, bloody ribs that seemed to have been fingers that had been frozen as they tried to claw the air.

"That's just sick," Josh said, shaking.

"If this scent is this strong, then it'll be like a flashing neon sign for scavengers; impossible to ignore," Jessica said.

"Then let's get outta here," Jessica said.

She was almost completely turned around when Josh heard a loud, harsh shriek that sounded like a screaming caribou.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Josh turned around watched as a small dinosaur less than eight feet long jump out of the bushes, barking. It wasn't very tall, but it looked pretty scary. It was covered almost entirely in deep violet feathers that had a faint blue hue and light brown stripes, but the longer feathers on the arms that looked like the ones on birds had jagged green stripes. It's long, narrow snout full of sharp teeth and head where attached to a long, slender neck. It had a light build, probably making it a fast runner. It had three, long, grasping, clawed fingers in each hand, and a wicked looking toe claw on the middle toe claw that was lifted off the ground.

A raptor! Josh thought. He'd only heard about them, but he hadn't see any in person.

A second dinosaur jumped out of the bushes beside the first one. It looked exactly like the first one, but it had long , sulfur yellow feathers behind it's head.