Dinosaurs Fanfic: Scavenging Pangaea (PG-13)

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 4: The Underground

The Sinclair siblings, as well as the Scavengers and the Howlin’ J band, slept huddled inside the large chest of the swamp monster, a creature which in life had been well over sixty-feet high. Days and nights were difficult to differentiate, thanks to cloud cover that was miles thick. The only real difference seemed to be one could at least discern objects in the “daytime”. The winds had died down as well, another sign day had arrived. Last night had been the first night the Scavengers and the Howlin’ J band had felt somewhat comfortable, as they had been traveling some time after the Tavern fell into the swamp from the weight of the ash and snow. Although most of the swamp monster had been consumed by various carnivores and scavengers, the chest and abdominal cavities were still thick enough to provide decent shelter from the freezing gales of night.

Screaming and cursing awoke everyone from their slumber. Spike was just outside the opening, kicking away the snow, hurling insults at a rate of ten or so per minute. As he cleared a ten-foot area, he started digging around in the dirt frantically with both hands.

Robbie stuck his head out of the carcass, rubbing his eyes. “What happened?” Spike didn’t answer. Now, everyone was peering out, staring intently as Spike swore with increasing fervor and tenacity.

Baby Sinclair watched with wide eyes. He chirped, “Can I help?” The saurian child left the protection of the cave and began to dig as well.

Spike used his tail to fling Baby out of his way. “Leave me alone, squirt,” he hissed.

Spike felt two hands grab the back of his jacket. “Hey!” Robbie yelled from behind. “You don’t touch my baby brother!”

Spike whipped around and grabbed Robbie by the neck, his arm trembling slightly. “What did I tell you about touchin’ my jacket, Scooter?”

Robbie tried to gulp. Not even when Robbie had been under the influence of thornoids did Spike threaten him so vividly. Still, he could feel something … off … about Spike. His friend was … nervous. Maybe, Spike was even afraid. Robbie glared at his friend, trying to sound more in control than he felt. “We can’t help you find it if you kill us all,” he growled.

Spike loosened his grip, but maintained his hold. He was the Scourge of the Swamp. Even though this was his best friend, he still had a reputation to keep. If he just let go, it could destroy years of fear and respect built into his image. He was impressed, though. He could feel Rob’s increased pulse through the skin of the over-achiever’s neck. Yet, Scooter stared him down … er … up (though Rob was only about two inches shorter). Scooter had seen the way Spike had defeated the Scavengers to become leader of the pack and he also knew Spike could take him even when pumped up on muscle-building thornoids. Rob knew for a fact that Spike deserved his position on the food chain. Yet, here he was … standing up to someone he could never take down, even if his life depended on it. Spike continued to stare at his friend, avoiding looking at the rest of the gang. Their opinions didn’t matter much, anyway. It took Spike several minutes to reply. His voice was low and even. “They took it, Scooter,” he growled, letting go of Robbie’s throat, sighing. He whispered with a barely perceptible tinge of begging, “My muddah’s weddin’ ring. Thievin’ little appetizers stole it.”

Robbie cleared his throat, backing away a step. He glanced at Spike in confusion and surprise, the flexible spines on his head spreading out a bit along the midline of his scaly scalp. “That’s what you keep in your pocket?” He could feel the others staring at them from behind. He coughed, trying to sound tougher than he felt. “Look, Spike … just tell us what they look like … and we’ll mash ‘em into the dirt.” He paused, a triumphant and knowing grin flashing across his face. “No one steals from the Scavengers and gets away with it!” The Scavengers cheered behind him.

Spike flashed a brief smirk. “All right, everyone … listen!” he shouted. “We’re lookin’ for some little brown t’ings wit’ big eyes and fat bellies. Can’t be more than a hand high. I want ‘em caught and searched. You see anyt’ing they weren’t born with … you take it, capiche?” He paused, grinning. “An’ if you think you need a snack before we move out,” he noted, continuing with a sudden dark tone, “eat ‘em.”

The whole group started to search high and low for the tiny mammalian thieves. However, aside from from some tiny footprints here and there, they could find little evidence.

Crazy Lou spoke up, visibly frustrated, his hands grabbing his hips roughly. “I think they’re tunneling underneath the snow to avoid detection,” he announced to no one in particular.

Scabby’s face brightened. “Hey, guys! I got a great idea!” He quickly motioned for everyone to come near. When they all formed a tightly packed group around him, he continued excitedly, “If they’re under the snow, we could jump up and down and stomp ‘em ‘til they’re flat! That way, all we gotta do is pick up little flat pieces of meat!” Everyone cheered and began to jump up and down vigorously … for about five jumps, until the ground caved underneath them. They all screamed as they fell deep into the earth below among dead branches and glass and ash and snow.

Everyone gasped after a few minutes as they tried to recover from getting the wind knocked out of them. Spike was on top of the squirming heap of dinosaurs and blue mammals. He got up, groaning and rubbing his backside. He stepped back to allow the others to get up.

“Unh … again?” Baby muttered weakly, his arms bruised from being close to the bottom of the heap. Charlene, grunting, picked him up and asked him if he was okay. He could barely nod. He rubbed the back of his head with his chubby little arms.

Robbie snapped his fingers and checked his tote bag. He dug out his video camera that his parents had given him last Refrigerator Day. It had some dents in its casing and a chip in the lens. Otherwise, it appeared to be okay. He placed it back inside and zipped the bag shut.

They glanced all around. The cave was plastered in pale, tan stucco, with a few geometric frescos along the walls near the floor. A couple of strange potted plants stood near a small arch about four feet high. Still, they were all able to stand comfortably. They glanced up to see a shattered skylight.

“Hey! What does it take to get some peace and quiet around here, huh?” barked a gruff elderly male voice. The group turned toward the small arch, in which stood a hunched over reptilian with brown scales, droopy pointed ears, a gnarled tail, bumpy large jowls that hung a couple of inches beneath his small lower jaw, and the top of his head filled with a multitude of squared off peg-like bony structures. Charlene thought they looked like a massage brush.

Baby gasped. “Hey! You’re the monster under the bed!” He paused, switching to a more casual voice. “How ya doin’?”

The “monster” adjusted his dark magenta robe, shaking his head. “You dinosaurs are somethin’ else, you know that? I finally get my new sun room remodeled … and you go and destroy it!” He sighed, pointing at the broken skylight. “It’s bad enough you freaks brought about eternal winter! Now you’re gonna let all that snow in? You think it’s easy to vacuum in here?”

Charlene, carrying Baby with one arm, pointed at the monster with the other. “What are you doing here? Don’t you live near our house?”

The monster shook his head and shrugged. “I had to leave a couple of months ago. The whole area was getting infested with some type of weird worm. You think I’m grumpy … this thing was huge … with red and gold scales, pale spines around its head, and a sharp poisonous barb on its tail. All the subterranean creatures are talking about it. It’s a massive swarm, burrowing until they come to a natural cave and setting up housekeeping … eating anyone who comes within sight of their nest!”

Lingo glanced at Spike. “So, Brother Spike … we G Down just to book for some crawlies?”

Everyone gawked at Lingo in silence.

Crazy Lou cleared his throat, nodding. “What my esteemed colleague is asking is if we got all dressed up only to be sent running away like screaming little girls by nothing but worms.”

“Oh,” everyone said at once, nodding.

“Well,” offered the monster, “it seems to prefer the east side of the Great Swamp. You guys are just to the west of it, on the side taken by the four-leggers.”

Spike closed in on the monster and, picking him up, started to shake him. “You see a bunch of little brown t’ings come t’rough here with shiny items dat don’t belong to ‘em?” he hissed angrily.

Robbie panicked. “Uh, Spike? Don’t go roughing up that guy … he’s stronger than he looks!”

Spike scoffed. “I ain’t afraid of a movin’ footstool, Scooter.” He pinned the creature to the wall. “I want my things back!”

The monster nodded. “Those little brown mammals with the big eyes and the obsession with theft? Yeah, I’ve seen ‘em. Little monsters took my adult magazines for nest material a while back.” He grunted as Spike dropped him. He patted down his robe and stared at his intruders. “I’ll be happy to point you in their direction. However, not all the tunnels that lead to them can fit you hulking pieces of scaly meat.” He nodded toward the Howlin’ J band. “Your mammal companions might have to do the majority of the leg work.” He jabbed at Spike’s knee with a sharp-clawed finger. “You see ‘em … you get me back my magazines, deal?” He grumbled. “The cable out here is spotty at best. I don’t even think the four-leggers have even heard of premium channels!” He pointed to a large arch on the other side of the sun room. “You can go through there. Go straight ahead, turning to the right at every three intersections, beginning with the second one you come to. You should catch up to them in about a day or so. It’s a lot warmer in these tunnels, so you won’t need all those silly clothes.” He grinned. “Feel free to remove the extra layers here, if ya want.”

Charlene glared at him, baring her teeth. “No thanks.”

Howlin’ J put up one finger as they all prepared to leave. “Just one question,” he asked calmly. “If you know where they are, why don’t you get your magazines yourself?”

The monster shuddered, rubbing his ears. “I can’t stand the noise … all that incessant ringing,” he griped sourly, his eyes shut as if to avoid picturing something bad in his mind.

Crazy Lou clasped his hands together excitedly, his voice absolutely giddy. “This is fantastic! It’s like an RPG quest … and we’re the heroes!”

Spike sighed, coming over to his small companion and slapping him upside his head. “Grow up, Lou.”

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 5: The Worm at the End of the Tunnel

Sonny, the youngest member of Howlin’ J’s mammal band, walked alongside Baby, who had decided to crawl along the tunnel floor because Charlene kept sighing, irritatingly moving him from one hip to the other almost every five minutes. Baby had not had much experience with walking: his mother, Fran Sinclair, had almost always carried him or rolled him around in a stroller. It had been for his own protection, she had said. Now, though there were other dinosaurs smaller than him who could walk, he could not.

He was only able to keep up because the tunnels were getting smaller, forcing the group to slow down and gradually travel in single file. Soon, only Baby and the band would be able to fit comfortably.

About ten hours after they had left the monster’s abode, walking in near-darkness and getting scuffed up from the jutting rocks, it was finally time to split up. They could hear the faint pitter-patter of hundreds of feet, as well as unintelligible chittering.

Robbie knelt down and handed Mudbelly his video camera.

Mudbelly looked at the camera, then back at Robbie. “Uh … you want me to tape this?” he asked in a deep, quizzical voice.

Robbie nodded. “I want to have a record of our trip … for posterity.”

Mudbelly shook his head. “Uh, Rob, you do know you don’t have schoolwork anymore, right? I mean, ain’t no Lizard ever gonna see this.”

Robbie stared at him with a blank expression. “Humor me?” he asked flatly.

Baby sat down and waved his arms in front of the camera, even though it wasn’t turned on. He announced cheerfully, “Keep it rollin’! Give me my close up! This pan’s pretty good! I’m a star!”

Mudbelly shrugged and sighed. He shook his head as he turned toward the tunnel leading to the sounds. “Lotta good this is gonna do in the dark. Ain’t even got night vision,” he muttered to himself.

Baby followed the band in, ignoring Charlene’s repeated pleas and attempts to catch him by the tail. Some yards down the tunnel, Baby groaned and started to sing an improvised blues tune, accompanied by Sonny’s harmonica:

Charlene cannot stop griping!
She just won’t go away,
I guess I’ll keep on swiping
Her secret stash of fish fillets.
I just can’t win with,
With Charlene, and Robbie too –
I’m just the baby,
The baby, who gets to sing some blues….

Sonny nodded and continued with a verse of his own:

My Momma always told me,
“Hey, Sonny, hit the dirt!
Lizard’s got you cornered,
You need to stay on the alert!”
But then our band got famous,
Got famous, in all the land –
Oh yeah!
Now we sing this song –

Howlin’ J reached around and clamped his son’s snout shut and finished the verse curtly:

Hey, shut up! This song got out of hand!

Sonny pushed his father’s hand away as Baby and Mudbelly snickered in amusement. “Aw, Pops … we ain’t been singing for a couple weeks now! Don’t you just … get in the mood?”

“Not down here, I don’t!” Howlin’ J snapped angrily. “This is not the time nor the place to lay down some tunes! We gotta keep quiet and sneak up on Spike’s thieves! Now close that trap before I close it for ya!”

“Aw, smoo,” Sonny grumbled. His head jerked back from the force of his father’s mighty slap. Sonny rubbed his cheek bitterly.

“I didn’t raise you to spout off that language, boy,” his father barked. “Now, hush up!”

Baby and the band silently continued down the winding tunnel, realizing they were hearing a strange ringing noise, growing louder every few feet. They slowed down, noting that the tunnel was filled with a peculiar white glow that throbbed with each ring. Just ahead, several tiny brown mammals with bare fat bellies, large yellow eyes, and a shaggy coat of brown fur on their backs, dashed in and out of a four-foot-tall hole. Only after watching intently for several moments did they realize that the creatures were appearing in between rings. As soon as the unseen object rang, the tiny creatures would dash back into the hole.

“Cookie creatures!” Baby squealed, pointing at the small mammals.

The tiny brown creatures gasped, snapping their heads toward the intruders. They squeaked in alarm and ran into small crevices on the other side of the tunnel. Baby and the band soon heard another toll, followed by a scattering sound of tiny hard feet. About twenty foot-long red and gold centipede-like creatures with bulbous barbs on their tails skittered out of the hole, flicking their tails up and down, making a wheezing sound followed by a clang against the rocky ground.

“Whee-bang! Whee-bang!” went the little arthropods.

Mudbelly cocked an eyebrow as he aimed Robbie’s camera at the creatures. “That’s it?” he wondered aloud, unimpressed. “I’ve eaten beetles bigger than that.”

Howlin’ J shrugged. “Well, I’m game. Let’s wrap this up … I ain’t eaten in five days.”

As the centipede-like creatures rushed towards them, the band members each took about five and chomped on them noisily, spraying yellow juice everywhere, making Baby cringe and gag. After they had finished eating, they walked over to the hole, hoping to find Spike’s ring. Baby followed the band into the hole, which led to a large cave, in the middle of which was a large bowl-like object. A golf ball-sized object dropped from the cave ceiling, ringing the rim of the bowl, cracking it and hatching a foot-long centipede-like creature. It squirmed on the cave floor … before being greedily consumed by Sonny, who smacked his lips audibly in deep satisfaction, rubbing his stomach dreamily.

Mudbelly arched his back, staring at the cave ceiling, his jaw agape. The others followed his gaze and spotted a large tail with a scorpion-like barb at the end sticking out of a crack in a large rock held in place with a tangled web of vines. Another round object appeared just below the barb, dropping what was now obviously an egg. Baby caught it before it hit the bowl and swallowed it whole.

“Yum!” he noted happily. “Eggs better than yucky worms with feet!”

Mudbelly was still spell-bound. “Uh … considering the size of that tail ….”

“I bet that ‘whee-bang’ thing is like fifty-feet long!” Sonny squealed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. “That’s the most amazing bug I’ve ever seen!”

Howlin’ J grunted. “Yeah … and take a look at those vines.” He pointed the others in the right direction, a few feet from the barb. A glint of gold could be seen among the vines. “I’m willin’ to bet the fleas on my back that that’s the ring Spike wanted us to find!”

“I’ll get it!” Baby shouted eagerly, crawling up onto the rim of the bowl, twitching his tail for balance.

“No!” shouted a tiny voice from behind.

They looked around and noticed a small brown creature standing in front of a small crack in the wall of the cave, waving its arms wildly. “Ring stay!” it continued. “Cave crash!”

“That would be inconvenient,” Mudbelly deadpanned.

“Make tunnels,” the creature noted. “Make light.” It pointed at the vines. “Tie break. Bring ring. Vines stay.”

Howlin’ J stepped up to the creature and spoke condescendingly. “Ring stolen. Lizard ticked. Sucks to be worm.”

“Got it!” Baby cheerfully announced, hopping down from the metallic bowl. Small stones started to fall into the bowl, making it ring incessantly, causing some unseen force to make a strobe-light effect with each clang.

The humongous centipede-like creature roared now that it was able to move, thrashing its body, causing ever-increasing boulders to crash from the cave ceiling.

“Rock and roll!” Baby laughed, tugging on the band members as he started to crawl quickly out of the hole back into the tunnel.

The group scrambled out into the tunnels as fast as they could, tiny squeals and shrieks punctuating the sounds of large boulders crashing and the tremendous ringing of the metallic bowl. They started to pant as the cave-in began, moving as fast as their little limbs would take them. No matter how fast they ran, the roar of falling boulders closed in on them from behind. Baby’s knees were starting to bleed from the frantic crawling. Out of desperation, Baby reared up, bracing one hand against the tunnel walls, and quickly mastered running. Now that Baby was no longer the slowest part of the group, they could all dash away much faster, finally reaching the cave with the Scavengers and the Sinclair siblings, just as a rush of smoke plumed out of the tunnel behind them.

Author’s Note: The song is a re-write of Lisa Simpson’s “Moanin’ Lisa Blues” from “The Simpsons Sing the Blues” CD.

 

[The Count]

Ug... That last bit I didn't need to know. Other than that, the chapter was clever and tied up some loose ens. Cookie creatures? *Laughs. Dinner time! Though I'd prefer to have some eggs instead of crawfish worms too. Then again, crawfish/crawdad omelette sounds good about now. Yum! Oh, did they get Spike's ring back after causing the cave-in? Please post more soonish.

 

[RedPiggy]

Baby called them cookie creatures because one stole his cookies in Nuts to War ... though it turned out it was doing so to feed its nestlings.

Baby said he had the ring just before the cave in. Sorry this chapter seemed a little "ew" ... but it only got that way as I was writing it. The arthropods were going to be reptilian at first ... but when I realized I had sent a bunch of insectivorous mammals to retrieve the ring ... well ... re-write!

Hm, I also forgot to mention if anyone still has Robbie's camera. Bummer. However, Sir Tushingham discovers it in Montana, and the way Pangaea is portrayed on the show, the Sinclairs and other bipedal dinosaurs live on the eastern side of the Great Swamp, which should put them in Eurasia or Africa. Sinclair City will end up being probably in NW Canada or Alaska (well, it would, if the continents existed yet).

Again, sorry for grossing you out ... but I wanted to explain what REALLY happened "when the Rock was small". Note that a long-bodied red and gold creature guards a large bell ("singing bowl", if you click on the link), which sounds increase the light in that particular tunnel. The creature's babies give off a "whee-bang" sound when they attack ... so they become "weeba" beasts, millions of years later in Fraggle mythology.

EDIT: I also apparently forgot about the adult magazines ... could you imagine if Gobo starts digging around in that cave millions of years later? LOL ... surprise! Hahahaha!

 

[The Count]

Ha... No apologies needed, it didn't rully gross me out that much. I find it interesting when you explain how the mythologies of the Muppet realms intersect. Had a dream along those lines last night, a bit weird because it started with Mario Bros. land-level scrolling, then segwayed to the Muppet worlds leading from one to the other.

At any rate, this is a great story and I await whatever's next with great eagerness.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 6: A Very Special Dinosaurs Episode

Sir David Tushingham sulked, hunched over on the ground out of sight of the campsite. The sun had started to go down, the warm red glow giving the forest a surreal quality. Specks of dust caught the glints of light, swirling haphazardly in the air. A light tap on the shoulder jarred him out of his moroseness.

“David?" asked a low-key elderly male voice.

Sir Tushingham sighed. “Jerome, I don’t know if you know this – but I haven’t succeeded as well in paleontology as I would have liked. I didn’t even get to consult for those dinosaur movies everyone saw awhile back.” He paused. A cool breeze rippled through his shirt. “I mean, how scholarly is it to say, ‘Hey, Mr. Director, slap some scales on its tail and make it eat something’?"

“David –.”

The younger man shook his head. “I’m fast approaching seventy-four years of age. What have I done with my life?" His voice started to waiver. “I left my homeland to live in the States, to satisfy my natural curiosity about global history, to become rich and famous, to retire gracefully with a pleasant woman answering my every beck and call --.”

Jerome sat down, grunting as he did so, by his co-worker’s side. He silently placed an arm around his friend’s shoulder. He smiled, as though he were going to make a joke, but he thought better of it and stared off into space. He sighed. “I didn’t want to be tied down. When I was a boy, I left my family and struck out on my own: shining shoes, selling papers, selling re-furbished junk … my dream was to be the first in my family to have a college education.”

David nodded. “Archeology and paleontology are basically metaphors for our lives: our dreams of discovering something almost magical were nearly crushed under the weight of dusting off gravel with toothbrushes for days on end with little pay. It seemed that no matter how hard we tried, no matter how many hours we toiled, we just barely scraped by.”

<><><><><><>

Charlene, with her emerald skin with blue stripes on her head frill, sat on the large sofa in the Monster-Under-the-Bed’s underground sunroom, a shaft of pale light illuminating her from the broken skylight as she wore a thin pink and blue blouse. She stared at her brother’s video camera and sighed. She spoke to the lens, her voice young but sullen. “Mom gave me her favorite sweater. She told me I’d be able to fit into it in a few years, as I got taller. She said it was our job to protect our baby brother.” She sighed with disgust, shaking her head. “I don’t know what Rob wants me to say. ‘It’s a format concept’, he said. I don’t know why he’s got this sudden obsession with filmmaking. Boys.” She stood up, turned off the camera as it stood on a small tripod, and left for the monster’s kitchen.

A few minutes later, Lingo clicked on the camera and plopped down on the sofa, one leg hanging on the back, his tail slowly twitching at the end. He took off his small sunglasses and sighed. “Finding an identity was always rather difficult for me," he noted dreamily with a tinge of sadness. “Until Andre found me, I was just a random student in school, getting average grades, lusting after females while getting ignored by them. He told me I had been learning the wrong things in school. He said, ‘Luke, you gotta pay attention to the important things in life, like the food chain. Scavengers are always treated like the back end of a brontosaurus, but they have the freedom to eat whenever and whatever they want. If all the world went down in flames, the scavengers of the world would have the last laugh.’ I didn’t realize until quite recently how astute my former leader really was, in his own monosyllabic way. He inspired me in a fashion I had never considered before. I made it my dream to study up on how to be the best banger in the world. I learned all the sacred vocabulary. I discovered the harmony of leather and metal.” He sat up, staring at the floor. “I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is, whoever finds this last hurrah of the dinosaurs should realize that, no matter how popular you are or how rich you are … it’s the lowest of the low who’ll have your flesh in their teeth the next morning.”

<><><><><><>

The two elderly men sat staring at the trees as the sun lowered in the sky behind them. Jerome heard a wolf call to its pack. His lip started to tremble. He lowered his gaze. “Have … have you ever had a dog, David?" he asked wistfully.

David shrugged. “To be rather honest, I was more of the lizard fanatic in my youth. They could always be found in the strangest of places.”

Jerome chuckled briefly, a small grin flashing across his face as he remembered something in the deep past. “Well, so can dogs, you know.” He glanced up at the sky. “Mine discovered much more than I ever did about this world. It was so strange, to have a dog that was more in tune with the true nature of the universe than someone who had been studying it for decades.”

<><><><><><>

Sonny teetered on Baby’s shoulders as he tried to ensure the camera had power. “Steady," Sonny cautioned the two-foot-tall pink saurian toddler.

Baby spat out some light blue fur from Sonny’s foot, matted from walking in the dirt. “Get a move on!" he barked sharply in his high-pitched voice as he held onto the tripod to steady himself in a standing position.

“All right, all right!" Sonny shouted, frustrated. They ran over to the sofa and hopped on, sitting side by side, with Sonny only slightly smaller than Baby when they were both sitting down. Sonny adjusted his ragged white T-shirt, while Baby stared at him in his yellow short-sleeved shirt and large white pull-up diaper. Sonny spoke up first. “Okay, uh, my name’s Sonny, and I’m in a swamp band, known all over Pangaea for being the hottest mammal singer around.”

“Stop shilling!" Baby barked. “We’re making a documentary … not a commercial!"

Sonny tossed his head back and rolled his eyes. “Well, excuuuuse me for tryin’ to spread the word! What was gonna be your fascinating and profound message for the future generations?"

Baby stared at the lens. “I’m the baby … gotta love me!" he announced cheerfully.

Sonny sighed and turned away from his friend. “Yeah … that brought tears to my eyes.”

Baby grunted his disapproval. “‘The hottest mammal singer around?'”

Sonny crossed his arms, refusing to look back. “I am," he retorted confidently, almost smugly.

Baby shook his head briefly and held his small snout. “You stink!"

Sonny whipped his head around and snarled. “You’re bald!"

“Your fur is matted!"

“Your diaper needs changing!"

“Ain’t got no Momma," Baby shouted, then paused, his head drooping, his voice quieting, “no more.” He sniffled, rubbing his eyes.

Sonny sighed and patted Baby on the back. His voice was more subdued. “I know, kid. I know.”

“Not even Not the Momma," Baby continued sadly, blowing his nose on his yellow shirt.

“I’m sure you’ll see them again some day," Sonny offered after a few moments.

Baby glared at his mammalian friend. “Don’t patronize me!"

<><><><><><>

Jerome glanced over at his friend warmly as the sun finally started to disappear. “I’ll help you, David. A man needs to feel he accomplished something, something that can’t be taken away like our friends and our families. It’s in our DNA. We need to leave our footprint in the sand just to feel solid.”

David nodded and half-smiled. “Thank you, Jerome," he replied, his voice cheering up slowly. “Let’s promise not to let our ambitions and our preconceptions color our discovery. Let’s just focus on finding out the truth.”

<><><><><><>

“Trust me … you’ll feel better," Robbie told Spike, who stood to the side of the sofa. Spike didn’t like sitting down on soft cushions, since his back spikes got snarled in them so easily.

Spike shook his head. “I told ya ‘no’, Scooter.” He turned and left the room.

Robbie came out from behind the camera and sat down, shaking his head and shrugging. He clasped his hands together as he wore his typical black and white T-shirt with the red Rampaging Trilobite varsity jacket. He stared at the floor, his head spines drooping. “Dad and I never seemed to get along. He was so bent on stifling everything I could come up with. It didn’t matter what my dreams were. I mean, I can see chastising me for wanting to be a Teen Ninja Caveman when I was ten, but saving the environment?" He paused for several minutes, gulping visibly. “But then when Aunt Pearl showed up, I realized what got my old man’s plaid shirt in a wad. She had left her family to pursue dreams of glory, leaving Dad behind to take care of his mother. She ended up becoming a breakthrough artist, inventing a genre called ‘country’. She single-handedly transformed the music industry. He couldn’t stand the idea of his children following in her footsteps. For him, making children ensured they’d owe you the rest of their lives.”

He shuffled his feet on the floor, running one hand absent-mindedly across his scalp. “When Mom and Dad told us we had to leave forever, Dad took me to the garage. He," he choked, “told me … that he realized our troubles were just beginning. He said he had worked hard to make ends meet, and naturally assumed that we had been spoiled by civilization, having no cares in the world and no sense of duty and responsibility.” He sighed. “Then, he told me that maybe the way we were would help us make a new society. Maybe, we’d make one better than the one that ended so badly. He told me he was proud of my grades and my sense of responsibility. He told me … he … told me," he continued, his eyes watering, “that I was going to be everything he could have been had things been different.” He glanced up at the camera, unblinking. “Dad, if you and Mom survive this at all and find this camera … I just want you to know ….”

The red light went off. The battery was dead.

 

[The Count]

*Applauds wildly... Too bad the battery died, this was probably one of the best chapters of all. Presenting the characters, what drives them, what and who they are... All with the interspersed returns to the present between Doc and Sir Tushingham. Bravo... More please!

 

[RedPiggy]

Thanks. I was going to continue Robbie's home movie thing ... but felt this was a bittersweet moment to kill the battery.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 7: You Sure Know How to Show a Girl a Good Time

The refugees had spent nearly a week in the underground lair of the Monster-Under-the-Bed, welcoming the relief from the frigid air. The Scavengers and the Sinclair siblings had been busy helping themselves to various subterranean mammals who might supply them for a good week or so in terms of food and protection from the bitter gales at night, while the Howlin’ J band helped themselves to the large insect population. According to the Monster, they were just northwest of the Great Swamp, while Charlene told the group that the western coast of Pangaea was about two weeks from that position, a fact she knew from her march in search of a distant flower that would have helped change her pheromone scent.

However, Spike had wanted to get a move on. He didn’t like the rock and dirt walls closing in on him. In fact, it had made him irritable the whole stay. Then, of course, Scooter had come up with this “confessional” thing he wanted to do on his video camera, where everyone sat in front of a lens and poured out their innermost thoughts.

One day, Spike told himself, he’d let Scooter in on everything. One day. For now, though, he wanted to scout out the surface terrain, made much more relaxing due to the fact that it was just a flat wasteland covered in snow and ash. He headed opposite of the tiny pale sun barely visible in the clouds, chewing on a meatless bone he had yanked out of the leg of some poor amphibian who couldn’t hop nearly as well as he could scream.

After walking a few hours that morning, he spotted a set of tire tracks. Following them, he came across a large vehicle, its tires half visible over the snowdrift. He could hear a screeching scream from a female voice. Several large and small dinosaurs were pouring out of the back of the vehicle, running toward the front where he could only hear the sounds of a scuffle.

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“Get your stinking hands off me!” a female dinosaur shrieked angrily, shoving away her attackers. She was brown-scaled, about five-five, had a rounded turtle-like snout with a scalp that looked as though it had been cut into inch squares, and swung a thick tail with small rounded bony protrusions on it, bashing a small stegosaurid against the grill of the vehicle.

Many dinosaurs in Pangaea were only about two or three feet tall. Right now the female was surrounded by a horde of them, from stegosaurids to parasaurolophi to velociraptors. Okay, maybe “horde” is a strong word … let’s say, “ten”. Two velociraptors leapt up and landed on the girl’s torso, which was clothed in a thick wool blue sweater and fur parka. She grabbed them and slammed them together in front of her chest, knocking them senseless.

Several larger dinosaurs, ranging from five to seven feet tall, stood in a large circle surrounding the group, cheering on the little dinosaurs, taunting them for having trouble against a female. Many of them were variants of the species represented by Lou, Scabby, and Lingo. They all wore light blue work shirts with “Wesayso” emblazoned in a red and white oval on their backs.

The larger dinosaurs’ tails started to twitch and their jaws salivated as she winnowed down her smaller attackers to about three individuals, who were faster on their feet than the rest. The others who weren’t dead groaned in discomfort, trying to move but finding they couldn’t. Their eyes were tightly shut.

Finally, the young female grabbed at the tail and the neck of the last of her small opponents and pulled hard, popping its spine. She tossed it to the ground and snorted in victory. Glaring at the larger ones as they closed in ominously, she smirked. “If you want more where that came from, come and get me.”

On the other hand, she was completely surrounded by five similarly-sized Wesayso grunts, who realized she was up against the grill of the vehicle without a good exit strategy. No matter what direction she fled … she’d be caught within seconds.

So, the female did the only sensible thing: she jumped up onto the hood and dashed over the vehicle’s roof. As she jumped off the back end, she spotted Spike, who had just recently shown up, looking a bit surprised if amused.

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Howard Handupme: Ahem. This is DNN senior correspondent Howard Handupme. As you might recall, several warnings were put in place before this weekly drama started, warning you that children under the age of thirteen may find some references ill-suited to proper members of society. Tonight, we will not stray far from that at all. In fact, an epic battle filled with breaking bones and jets of blood will ensue all for a shameless grab for ratings.

Should you find yourself the least bit disturbed at the awful carnage you are about to witness, please give us a call at 555-463-5000. Operators are standing by. Of course, we would not give you the REAL DNN phone number, but we will give you the phone number for Earl Sinclair … who probably needs a few prank calls anyway, considering he participated in global genocide.

This just in: Should you find it necessary to call and complain … remember that only dinosaurs with no actual lives to speak of would do so. Everyone else is busy trying to afford fuel and food and clothes. Also, if you actually call a number starting with “555” … you are probably Earl Sinclair.

We return you to your regularly-scheduled program, which may or not be already in progress.

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“I don’t believe it!” Robbie shrieked. His jaw was agape, his eyes bulging, and his arms dead at his sides. He stared at the upturned vehicle, which sandwiched the lower half of a very large dinosaur with gray thick scales, dark gray pants held with suspenders, and a beaten up thick tail. Robbie was wearing his ski jacket, accentuated with some brown and gray fur pelts for extra warmth.

“Is that … who I think it is?” Charlene quivered, clutching Baby tightly in her arms. Both wore fur parkas and brightly colored mittens.

The female from before nodded, stunned. She could barely move the rest of her body, but, somehow, her jaw managed to open to speak. “It’s Daddy.” She gasped. “Spike killed him.”

Everyone, including the dumb-struck members of the Scavengers and the Howlin’ J band, stared at Spike, who sat in the snow clutching at his right upper arm, wincing. His bandana was nearly torn off completely, his Scavengers jacket in shreds marked with long blood stains, large red handprints overlying the pattern on his tank top, and two of his tail spikes completely sheared off with another one cracked. His breathing was slow and deep through his nose. No one … no one … had ever seen Spike that messed up after a fight.

The female suddenly twirled around and roared at Spike, tears streaming from her eyes, “You killed him! You honest-to-Potato killed him!” She shook her head. “I didn’t need your help, Spike!” she continued. “I can take care of myself!” When he didn’t respond, she moved forward like she was going to bite him. The other Scavengers lunged forward to protect their leader.

Robbie grabbed her by one arm forcefully. “Wendy,” he commanded, “lay off! Spike risked his tail to save you.”

She turned and pushed her former classmate into the snow with enough force for him to “thud” against the ground underneath. By now she was crying without hesitation, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. “You two are just alike!” She pointed at her father’s corpse. “You whine about how mean and nasty my father was … but you both are as uncivilized as they come! No one rescues me!”

Robbie growled and shot back up. “You honestly think Mr. Richfield wouldn’t eat you too? He’s not exactly Herbivore of the Year, you know!”

Wendy growled through her sobs. “And you two are so known for your chivalrous reputations, right?”

“I coulda left ya,” Spike grunted as the others helped him stand up. He waited a few moments until the pain became bearable and continued, “to get eaten by that psycho maniac.”

“Don’t you dare call him that!” Wendy screamed.

“Wendy, your dad ate all your boyfriends except Robbie!” Charlene retorted, trying to get her to see reason. “This wasn’t some macho male challenge thing! Your father was going to eat you!”

“You don’t know that!”

Spike cleared his throat. “And what do you call what he said to me? ‘After I gut you I’m goin’ after that rebellious little tramp of mine! This is the last time she walks out on me!’ Huh? What do you call that … Child Appreciation Day?” he hissed. He didn’t wait for an answer. He glanced over at Scabby. “Get that SUV right side up, boys. I think we just found a way to get to the West Coast a heckuva lot faster.”

 

[The Count]

Hmmm... So, Wendy Richfiel is sort of like an ankylosaur? Intresting. Liked the line about Spike munching on an amphibian who couldn't hop as fast as he could scream. Intense stuff... Rully liked how you portrayed the fight circle at first... And I kinda knew it was BP when the young girl cried "Daddy!" before you told us that girl was Wendy Richfield. I'm gaining a bit of liking for the cast you've presented here... Hope for more to be posted soon.