Morning Hunt

The story of a prehistoric morning, and the struggle to survive.

North America.  65 M.Y.A

 

                The air was still on that ancient morning.  The sun had just started on its path across the sky, lifting the night’s chill, and turning the dew into a mist that clung to the ground and hovered around the tops of the conifers.  The ground began to tremble as the herd appeared on the horizon.  Nearly a thousand duck-billed edmontosaurus marched in from the west in time to catch the rains in the eastern forest; just as they have for thousands of years.

                The herd had traveled over lands filled with some of the most ferocious creatures in history: tyrannosaurus, deinonychus, daspletosaurus among others.  They crossed dark seas filled overflowing with monsters like megalodon, tylosaurus, and mosasaurus.  They faced a thousand terrors and just as many hungry mouths filled with gnashing teeth, but they had yet to face the most terrifying predators on their journey.

                As the thunderous herd approached the edge of the forest, they lead animals let out a trumpeting call, signaling the rest to stop.  The edmontosauruses stood quietly, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. 

                 The younger dinosaurs, hatchlings from recent years, stayed in the center of the group.  Although they weighed upwards of a ton and could defend themselves, they were terribly inexperienced. .  .  and being inexperienced could be fatal.

                One of the juveniles, a two year old, squeezed between the massive adults to the edge of the herd.  Once there, it peered into the primeval forest with big, cow-like eyes.  Something caught its attention and it swung its big head over to get a better look.  The thing, whatever it was, was wonderfully camouflaged.  It was covered in short, brown and green feathers and it blended seamlessly with the vegetation around it.  The only things betraying its camouflage were its eyes, big and yellow with brown irises.  The big yellow eyes, the eyes of a predator, stared right back at the young dinosaur. 

                The juvenile yelped in surprise as it realized what it was seeing, what was seeing it: a troodon.  The hunters mobilized.  Three nimble shapes darted from the forest and into the herd, scattering the massive dinosaurs.  The troodons were many times smaller than the edmontosauruses, but what they lacked in size they made up for in cunning.  The tro’s separated a smaller group from the herd,, keeping them pressed against the wall of trees.

                Three tro’s against a dozen edmontosauruses.  The intimidation worked, and one edmontosaurus bolted from the group and went crashing into the forest.  The rest of the edmontosauruses charged back towards the herd.  The troodons remained where they were.  Their job was done.   The trap card had been pulled.

                The edmontosaurus rushed loudly through the forest, all four feet pounding on the dark earth.  A tro’ darted from the foliage to the dinosaur’s right and slashed at its legs, splashing blood onto the ferns that grew on the forest floor.  The edmontosaurus bellowed in response and veered to the left.

                The edmontosaurus burst through the vegetation into a clearing, wounded, and breathing in ragged gasps.  The troodon that attacked it was nowhere to be seen.  The enormous dinosaur stopped to rest.  It could still hear the herd in the distance.  With a little luck it could return and rejoin them.

                Before it could begin moving, something landed on its back.  Claws ripped into the giant animal.  It looked up in time to see four more tro’s leap from the branches above it to join the one on its back.  The five troodons tore at the thrashing beast with serrated teeth and razor-like claws.  One of the hunters climbed across the dinosaur’s flank to its throat and ripped into the soft flesh, instantly drenching it in hot, crimson blood.

                The edmontosaurus collapsed to the ground in a bloody mound of flesh, its chest trembling with each labored breath.  As it lost consciousness it watched the other four tro’s enter the clearing and join the rest of the pack in the grisly feast.

               

                Hours later, the nine troodons were resting with bellies full of meat.  One of the females returned to the corpse and tore a large chunk of flesh from it.  She carried it in her jaws out of the clearing and into the forest.  She trekked across the dappled forest floor and came to a stop at a hollow log, placing the meat on the ground in front of it.  She looked inside and a dozen yellow and brown eyes looked back.  Six baby troodons, each covered in downy, gray fluff, waddled sleepily out of the log and began chewing on the meat.  The mother troodon nuzzled each of them, ruffling their downy feathers.

                The sky, which was clear and blue as the pristine ocean that morning, was now gray.  A warm rain began to fall, causing the ferns to quiver.  The mother troodon tossed the meat into the log and pushed her offspring inside too.  Once inside, they ate and watched the small, primitive mammals scurry around as they tried to escape the rain.  None of them though about change, about those mammals ruling the planet.  The ancient sun would rise the next morning, the mist would cling to the ground, and they would continue living.  Just as all dinosaurs had done for millions of years before.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think. Don't hold back!

Reviews

[Wall of Words]

What do I think? I think that this is pretty close to Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Lost World. Why? First of all, you're using super-fancy names. Haha. Have you looked the names up? Or created them?
Also.. you give such an amazing, realistic environmental picture that I felt like I was literally sitting watching these dinosaurs. Very nice. :)
Sylvia.

[Lukie LeDoux]

These were the actual names. And to say that this story reminded you of Crichton is the highest possible compliment! Thank!

[Wall of Words]

My pleasure. :)
Sylvia.

[Mason Zadorozniak]

Wow...so awesome! Keep it up!