Bang.

A young dinosaur goes on a short adventure with a huge twist at the end!

I honestly don’t know where to begin. Well, let’s start out like this. I’m Headbanger, but most dinosaurs call me Bang. I’m think I'm a Pachycephalosaurus - the only one in my herd. I was born in an isolated jungle and I was found by a herd of Stygimolochs, who then took me in as one of their own. I have to say that my favorite dino out of the herd had to be Sadzi. Her name means “happy.” She was the nicest to me and treated me like her child. Stygis are named differently than Pachys. Every type of dinosaur has a different way of naming each other. I don’t know anything about my original herd, but Sadzi thought I wasn’t of her kind and named me differently. I guess she knew more about Pachys than I did. All I know about Pachys is that they all have a set number of horns on their heads and a special birthmark. I still haven't found my birthmark, but I'm pretty sure I have exactly 27 horns. Even though Sadzi was my unofficial mother, I never called her “Mother”. I always called her Sadzi. Even her husband, who I was very fond of as well, wasn’t called “Father”. He was called Cadal. His name means “warrior”. I counted on him to protect me. Sadzi was just for love and care. My story is as much of an adventure as it was in real life. Are you ready?

It was a beautiful, sunny, clear-sky type of day. The entire herd was happier than usual, and of course Sadzi was ecstatic thinking about the day ahead. It was early in the morning, early enough where even I, the jumpy and hyper dino, was tired. The herd had a special day planned ahead. This was the day where all the younger dinos were allowed to roam free from the herd as long as they knew how to get back. The little ones stayed behind, but the dinos my age were thrilled to be let loose. The adults weren’t so excited about this day. Whenever this day comes around, they usually stay quiet. They act excited for their kids, but on the inside they’re worried like heck. Every single year a child gets lost or eaten, and every parent hopes as much as they can that theirs won’t be the unlucky one. The ones that usually get lost or eaten are the stronger and bigger kids. To be honest, I thought I was the strongest and biggest that year. The others were scrawny and weak. I was the tallest and also had the most spikes. The number of spikes always determined where you are in the herd’s “royalty chart”, as I liked to call it. It goes from biggest or strongest all the way down to shortest or most fragile. I considered myself in the middle, not only keeping in mind that Cadal was the biggest and strongest of the herd, but also that he was the herd leader.

That day went pretty good. I was investigating a nearby jungle with a few friends. The rest of the kids went down to the lake. It had been a very peaceful day; Not much action, yet uplifting. I had found a berry bush - my favorite meal. Usually it's the mother's job to find the food and the fathers stayed behind to protect us. Not one mother had been killed finding food yet. I was lucky; Sadzi was a very strong dinosaur. Emotionally and physically. Sadzi, Cadal, and the rest of the adults stayed back at the herd's area. The kids were left alone. Since I was the strongest, I felt the need to protect the others, so I stayed close to them. Also being an only child, I treated the others like my brothers and sisters. The few that I was with in the small jungle were busy pecking berries off of my bush. I loved sharing. I was just about to eat a berry when I heard it. I had already leaned forward to take the bite. I quickly stood up tall, listening intently. I heard it again. The others seemed to have not noticed. It sounded like a rustling in the bushes, then a twig snapping. I knew we were the only ones in the area, so I knew something was up. I looked around slowly, making sure to check out every detail. If there was any danger, we had to run. Everything seemed fine, so I continued eating. I didn't hear anything after that, until I finally saw it.

It was crouched down behind a bush, but I could tell that it was tall. Taller than me, but shorter than a Parasaurolophus. It looked like it had very short spikes on its face, and had bulky things covering its body. The coverings had a green pattern on them, almost like paint blotches, but less "messy" looking. It had some type of machine in its hands. It was pointed at the ground, but it looked very threatening. I had no idea who this was.

I stared back at him, watching his every move very carefully. He was watching me as well. I slowly leaned over towards the younger dinos, making sure to keep a close eye on it. I poked them both in the arm, which was a signal for “turn around”. Once they turned around, they yipped as loud as they could and ran away towards the herd. The creature then pointed the machine towards me, but I was too afraid to move. I lifted my hands up in the air on instinct, thinking he would leave me alone if it looked like I surrendered. It was very quiet for a minute. The most I could hear were birds chirping and the creature’s heavy breathing. I stood still until the creature moved the slightest bit, then I took off running. I ran as fast as I could, but I could still hear the creature running behind me. I zig-zagged through that jungle, trying to lose the creature. I eventually realized I was lost when I reached the end of the jungle and ahead of me was a desert. No herd. No dinosaurs. Just swirling sand. I whipped my head around and I could see the creature running towards me. I decided quickly that I had to keep running. I ran back into the jungle, dodging tree trunks and bushes. I was running much faster than before; So fast that I tripped over a root that was sticking out of the ground far enough to the point where I wasn’t able to jump over. I fell onto the ground hard and twisted my foot. I tried my hardest not to scream and yelp in pain, knowing that the creature was probably close by. I had lost him in the crazy chase, but I knew he was near. I thought I didn’t have enough strength to get up - until I heard Sadzi roar. Sadzi. I had to get up and find her. I pushed myself off the ground as hard as I could, to the point where I could stand up but didn’t have enough balance to stay up. I fell back down, but then stood back up, shaky but good enough to walk. I limped around to the backside of the tree, where I thought I was hidden from the creature. I still hadn’t heard a sound from it. I peeked around the side of the tree and didn’t see anything. I turned back around and there was the machine, pointed right at my face. I looked past the machine and into the creature’s eyes. Hatred. Death. Hostility. Disgust. That’s all I saw. I slowly reached out to touch the creature, still not knowing what it was. Then I remembered. Sadzi told me: “Always be careful when that day comes. There’s humans out there with dangerous weapons called guns.” It was a human. I then remembered Sadzi mimicking the sound of a gun. It sounded like a big boom. I heard a familiar sound as I fell to the ground and everything went black. Bang.