Isla Sorna Stories: Rebirth

[C S]

"Running!" Aircrest growled then turned out the door, bolting out into the open. He was running across another walkway, dark gray with several struts reaching up from the ground that was several yards below. A mess of giant metal pipes wound their way around on the wall of the facility, leading into various small structures spaced out on the ground. They were on either side of the concrete channel which ran into the complex, a thin grassy cover adding a shade of green to the reddened soil and hinting at the bustling ecosystem hidden from view.

In the distance there was monolithic semicircle of concrete from which the water to the canal flowed. The walkway extended all the way to its top. There was evidence of flights of stairs branching off from the main passage but they had fallen or had become too weak to sustain weight over time. It was a straight dash...

[Hopeflower]

"Somehow I doubt that'll be the case," Cirrus muttered. He turned his head as much as he could to look at his sister, who had been unusually silent through the whole thing, to find she wasn't watching them anymore. Alira's blue gaze was fixed on their parents, her head cocked.

"Xanthe...knowing it's coming and actually splitting up and leaving our home are different things," Savarna growled, still giving her mate a half-shocked look. Xanthe sighed and nodded. "I know. But if we stay, we'll starve, slowly but surely." "Where would we go?" the white and red alpha asked. "Where would any of us go?" Xanthe took a deep breath and growled, "We've been meaning to visit Devaki for a while now...I think some of us could stay with him without much trouble." he'd had eight years to think about this. Beyond just the fact that their territory was less and less able to support them, he felt that Cirrus and Alira should know their older brother. "And...the rest of the pack?" Savarna growled. Xanthe shook his head. "We can't all move to Devaki's territory," he reminded his mate. "The rest of the pack...will have to understand that." He looked at their packmates, most curiously studying their alphas, and felt a twinge of regret that they'd have to go their separate ways soon. it was that or starve. Irrational fury at his inability to protect his pack flared to life in his chest, and he snarled softly, "If I could fight this threat off, I would. But it's the weather that's driving these changes..." He shook his head, feeling defeated for the first time since he became alpha.

[The Kingpin]

"Always so negative, huh Grumpy?" snorted Blade as he looked down at Cirrus, smirking. "Lighten up, Grumpy. Maybe then, I'll stop calling you Grumpy, hm Grumpy?" he growled, snickering. Following the other male's gaze to the surprisingly silent Alira, following her gaze up to the Alphas, who were busy discussing something he couldn't quite overhear...


Aurora meanwhile, was also listening in, though likewise, wasn't close enough to make out exactly what they were saying. Xanthe's movements and body language told her everything she needed to know, however. Something bad was happening, and physical strength and numbers wasn't going to cut it...


Hellfire was wasting no time. Running as fast as his taloned feet would take him, he sprinted across the walkways at a pace almost baffling for his size. His feet barely even touched the ground, already launched into the next stride by the time even half a step had been planted on the metallic ground, dirt being kicked up in his wake with a faint clank from the metal walkways that were once there, before dirt and debris buried it...

[C S]

"Oh what the hell..." Aircrest muttered when he had cleared the catwalk and started to run across the concrete. Looking over the edge of the curved wall, he saw...water. A huge reservoir of water just sitting there, the waterline bobbing idly just over ten feet below the edge of the dam. The water continued on for a huge distance, perhaps all the way back to the island's shoreline.

How could there be so much water here, a place so completely parched and denied of it? Once again there was no time to think about it. The mutants with dazzling scale colors and patterns were barreling across the catwalk, the platform shaking with each rapid footfall...

[Hopeflower]

Cirrus gave a faint, irritable growl in response to Blade's persistent use of the nickname, but any response he might have given was lost when Xanthe raised his voice just enough for the pack to hear him clearly. "I've never lied to any of you, and I won't start now," the alpha male began. "The borders are no longer secure. As a result, other predators are driving what prey is left out of our territory, slowly but surely." Anxious murmurs broke out as Xanthe continued, "We are faced with the fact that what we have isn't enough to support us any longer. We'll starve if we try to stay - maybe not tomorrow, but eventually."

[The Kingpin]

Aurora watched on quietly, listening to what was said. It seems they would be moving once more...the second time in a decade for her...but at least this time she wouldn't be losing the companions she had grown to know and care for...at least Blade wouldn't have to deal with it...


Hellfire didn't bother to look at the water. It was a surprise, but he had bigger things to worry about now than hidden lakes in the desert. The path seemed to be leading them to the massive stone barrier that held the water back...perhaps he could use it to his advantage...

[Hopeflower]

Xanthe looked around, his gaze landing briefly on Aurora before moving to Blade, Cirrus, and Alira. "We're unlikely to find another place that can support so large a pack," he went on. "So...we have little choice but to split the pack." He raised his voice further to be heard above the protests. "I've been proud to lead such a strong pack. You all have nothing less than my utmost confidence in your abilities to survive. Tomorrow, we leave."

Alira gave her brother a stricken look. Split...the pack? Go somewhere else? Where would they go? For once Cirrus didn't seem to have a smart remark to make. He stared back blankly, his jaw working for a few seconds as if he were trying to find something to say.

[C S]

Now they were on the dam as well, tearing full pelt precariously on the rim of it after the two raptors. This wasn't all of the pack, a bunch of five normal mutant raptors that tore after the intruders, who must have been the first to go through their lair and survive. They were to ensure that their accomplishment was one short lived.

"Hey, one path with a giant *** fall on one side and a lake on the other...you thinking what I'm thinking?" Aircrest asked the Deinonychus, the gears in his head turning.

[The Kingpin]

"I'm thinking pick them off and toss them over the edge. What're you thinking?" hissed the Deinonychus, keeping as fast a pace as he could without putting too much space between himself and his companion...

[C S]

"That lake has giant dino-eating fish swimming in it if that river down there is anything to go by. Not to mention the gators and who knows what else." Aircrest growled in response. "So how are we gonna go about this?"

[The Kingpin]

Aurora watched on quietly, her eyes shifting to the juveniles whose games had suddenly ceased. Blade watched on in shock, his gaze shifting between the alphas and their young. They wouldn't really have to split up. Surely they wouldn't. Cirrus, Alira and he would always be together. They were like siblings. They COULDN'T part. A worried glance was turned towards his mother, who turned her gaze to the alphas. She decided not to speak just yet, not wanting to open the door for others to do so. It was obviously difficult enough for Xanthe already, without bringing on a wave of retorts against his decision. Once the pack had dispersed or left to rest or hunt, she would speak to Savarna. Her son wasn't old enough to be on his own. Not yet, at least. Losing the two Allosaurs he had grown to see as his own siblings would be too harsh a blow...


"Dunno. I'm thinking run ahead, turn around, then charge them. I'm certain I've got the size to ram through them. You might want to hold back and finish off whoever makes it through the charge though" barked Hellfire as his eyes narrowed. they were about halfway across the dam at this point...

[C S]

"What's better to run head first at a bunch of mutant raptors than a mutant Deinonychus, huh?" Aircrest replied. "Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe we could survive this, or is that stretching it?" he added with a chuckle.

[The Kingpin]

"Probably stretching it. But hey, only live once, right?" he barked, before suddenly breaking pace, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust as he halted and turned on the charging mutants, eerie yellow eyes glaring dangerously as his fangs and claws glinted, before bolting back right at the mutants, a piercing screech tearing through the air as he picked up speed, soon reaching a full speed sprint right at the predators...

[C S]

The mutants were surprised to say the least, but quick to adapt to the abrupt change. The two at the lead of the small party broke off to either side of the orange and black Deinonychus and pounced at him, ignoring the smaller raptor which was coming up fast from behind him. It would be a grave mistake for one of them, as Aircrest bolted forward with a burst of speed, momentarily matching the Deinonychus and then overtaking him, meeting one of the two mutants in mid-air, reared up. He kicked hard into the raptor, throwing them off the edge of the dam and into the lake that was beyond its curved brim.

Where one of them was disposed of, another took their place. The mutant, a dark red color with blinding white and yellow streaks smashed into Aircrest, knocking him to the ground with a a foot pushing down on his side, sickle claw poised to sink into a lung...

[The Kingpin]

The Deinonychus slammed sideways into the first Raptor, knocking it clean off the dam and down hundreds of feet below, smashing off the side of the slanted stone surface as it fell, the Deinonychus snarling as his tail swung into the dark red one, the strike throwing it off and giving Aircrest the opening he needed, Hellfire intercepting an incoming Raptor with a sickle claw to the throat, the sharp kick halting it in it's tracks as it tore through flesh and muscle and crushed the windpipe...

[C S]

Aircrest rolled onto his back and struck out with swift alternating kicks into the mutant's underbelly, each one stabbing the mutant viciously while it was vulnerable. One especially powerful kick with both legs knocked it clear off its feet. It fell into the water in an arc, splashing loudly. That left one last mutant, which only stared at the two in stunned disbelief.

"What...what are you two!?" it hissed.

[The Kingpin]

"Pissed off" snarled Hellfire dangerously as he eyed the remaining mutant, before smirking. "...And hungry" he added as he began to pace towards the Raptor, fangs bared, claws glistening with it's kin's blood...

[C S]

The mutant faked a lunge then pulled back, teeth bared. Four of its comrades had been dispatched in rapid succession right before it. Even with the grips of mutation affecting its judgement, it would not continue the fight. But it would remember the faces of the two raptors...perhaps one day revenge would find them. It turned away and started darting back the way it came.

Aircrest got back to his feet and stood, taking a short time to survey the area on the other side of the human facility. "Huh, go figure. We're still alive. And we made a mutant run for its life." he commented

[The Kingpin]

"Seeing your entire hunting group get massacred right in front of you can do that sometimes" growled the Deinonychus with a smirk. "Let's get out of here before it decides to come back with friends" he hissed as he turned away from the direction the Raptor had run, beginning to continue his path along the dam...

[C S]

"Right." Aircrest growled. He turned to follow the Deinonychus, casting one last lingering glance toward the door he had opened. The silhouette of that monstrous dinosaur flashed in his mind. He had a bad feeling it would not be the only one of the sort he would see. Doing his best to push the feeling aside, he shot off after the orange and black Deinonychus, realizing he hadn't asked him for his name. Did it matter? Were they ever going to see each other again after they parted ways?