Dinosaur Armageddon Vol. 1: Vengeful Promise

Chapter 23

After crying for so long, Luke sat on the front porch of the house, holding his legs together and his head in his knees. He had nearly been driven mad with grief; her Kit’s death had left an empty hole in his being. He may as well have been more dead than alive. He left Kit just once to save her life, and instead a hungry dinosaur took her away. He will never hear that sweet voice ever again. He will never wake up to her jumping on his bed, demanding for him to play with her. And it’s all his fault.

   Clink… Clink… Clink...

   It must've been almost sunrise when Luke heard someone approach him. It was the sound of clinking metal, getting more distinct with each step. He looked up and saw the figure of a man with a long javelin strapped to his back. His skin was the color of black coffee and was a patchwork of maims and scars, like as if he had been a veteran of numerous knife fights and violent battles. And it seemed he paid one of these fights with the price of his right eye, which was covered with an eyepatch. His dark red hair and the two bear-like ears sticking from his head was wild and greasy. His remaining eye was a fierce golden brown, like a wild beast’s. Everything he wore was made of black leather and his jacket was studded with shiny spikes.

   Clink… Clink… Clink...

   He approached Luke as if he knew him, his scarred face expressed what looked like boredom. He never broke eye contact with Luke. If anything, it was nothing short of a stare off. And still, the sound of clinking continued.

   Clink… Clink…

   The sound stopped when the man stood in front of Luke, just three feet away. He stared down at him, his eyes locked on him. Luke could see the stranger’s gaze with hidden malice and calculation. It was as if he was… assessing Luke.

   They just stared at each other until the stranger spoke. “May I sit down?”

   Luke couldn't speak. He would normally be afraid of someone with this guy's looks, but the death of his sister made his grief block out his fear. He had become an empty shell. Lacking his voice, he simply nodded and lowered his head, looking away.

   The stranger came closer, slide his pack and his javelin off onto the ground by his feet, and sat down right next to Luke. From the corner of his eye, Luke watched as he pulled out a sharp knife with a twenty-five inch sawback blade. The polished, wooden hilt was worn with age. The scarred stranger eyes the knife, inspecting the unsettlingly sharp blade. He then reached into his pocket, pulls out what appeared to be a stone, which he used to sharpen the knife, even though it already looked like it could split a hair.

   Luke and the stranger sat in silence, the only sound around them being the chirping of crickets and the scraping of stone on metal. They spoke no word for what felt like an eternity. A long, agonizing eternity.

   “So,” the stranger said, finally breaking the silence, “you have my condolences for your loss.”

   Luke swiftly turned his head and looked at the man, feeling surprised. Shockingly, this somehow gave him his ability to vocalize. “How did you know?”

   The man smirked, but he didn't take his gaze off of his knife. “I know the look of a grieving individual if I saw it from a mile off. Believe me, I recognize that look from anywhere. There's simply no way to conceal it. Especially if it's as bad as yours. And besides, I can smell blood. The blood of a dinosaur, which is pretty easy to make out. And also the blood of a girl. I could sense that she was very ill, but I think a dinosaur killed her before the disease could. The worst of the two, it's hard to say.” He looked up from his knife and then at Luke. “So, who was it? A friend? A lover? A cousin?”