The Dark Side of The Moon: King of The Dinosaurs

The Carnotaurus caught up to Lindsey, and she only managed to side swerve the giant's snapping jaws.

The Carnotaurus could bite with a force greater than any modern day predator. Just one little nip would be all it would need to take Lindsey's arm or head clean off!

Fortunately whilst the giant was fast, its large bulky body wasn't very manuverable and so the more Lindsey kept swerving to the side, the more the Dinosaur struggled to keep up with her. Eventually in a desperate attempt to catch it's prey, the Carnotaurus leapt forward, but once again Lindsey was too fast and the giant went tumbling off it's feet.

As it was the monster very nearly fell on Lindsey, but again she managed to swerve to the side of the cave. When she ran past the giant it still reached out and tried to bite her.

Still Lindsey was able to get a good head start on the Dinosaur as it's tiny arms meant that it couldn't get up easily, and she quickly made her way back to Kirsteen and the girl.

The giant's roar soon followed Lindsey through the tunnels, and Kirsteen instantly jumped to her feet. Lindsey and Kirsteen then helped the young woman up and ran back down the way they came with her.

When they reached the cavern with the Raptors, most of the feathered Dinosaurs had gone, having followed the Professor instead.

"Come on we need to get down this tunnel." Lindsey said.

"Are you insane? That's where the Raptors went?" Kirsteen replied.

"Yes I know. We can get them to fight the Carnotaurus. Plus the Professor went that way come on." Lindsey explained.

As the Carnotaurus came crashing round the corner, Kirsteen couldn't afford to argue any longer, though she still thought Lindsey's idea was insane.

Not long into the tunnel they came upon the horde of Raptors all gathered below a small hole in the cave roof, which the Professor had escaped through.

Even Lindsey froze at the sight of that many Raptors for a few seconds, before the Carnotaurus forced her and the others forward.

The Carnotaurus just as Lindsey hoped soon turned it's attention to the Raptors, who in turn began to flee.

A few bold Raptors however stood their ground. Whilst obviously outmatched physically, the Raptors were considerably faster than the larger theropod. Lindsey, Kirsteen and the girl meanwhile tried to get to safety at the other end of the tunnel, but they were forced to hide behind a nearby rock as the Carnotaurus started to thrash around in rage at the Raptors, killing several of them at once.

The Professor meanwhile had been drawn back to the hole by the sound of the larger therapod. Peering through he managed to catch a sight of Kirsteen, Lindsey and the girl. He slowly crawled along the roof towards them and then dropped down behind.

"Professor" Kirsteen said with relief.

"Sorry I almost thought I'd got you killed." Kirsteen continued.

"You did, but to be fair I've almost got you killed several times over too. Come on we'll be safe up there." The Professor responded.

The Professor carried the wounded young girl and then jumped up with his vampiric strength through the hole he had made in the ceiling. He then instantly returned for Kirsteen and Lindsey.

As he prepared to jump up to the ceiling with both however, the trio were suddenly swarmed by four of the Raptors who had taken notice of them.

The Professor tried to jump up, but one of the Raptors managed to jump on his back this time, causing him to drop Lindsey and Kirsteen and crash to the cave floor.

Two more of the Raptors swarmed the Professor at the same time as the monster on his back, whilst the fourth and final Raptor went for the two women.

Lindsey and Kirsteen both stood their ground against the Dinosaur, but it clearly wasn't intimidated and moved slowly towards them, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Fortunately the young woman who they had rescued dropped a large rock from above on the Raptor facing Lindsey and Kirsteen's back. The Raptor was knocked out cold instantly, and Lindsey picked up the rock from the Raptors back and hurled it at one of the monsters attacking the Professor. This distracted the other two Raptors long enough for the Professor to throw them both across the cave with his strength. He then grabbed his two companions and jumped through the hole before any more of the Raptors could attack.

From above the Professor, Lindsey, Kirsteen and the girl all watched with a grim fascination as the Carnotaurus and the Raptors fought with one another.

The Carnotaurus killed 10 more Raptors, crushing them in its jaws, whacking them with its tail. Again if this were normal Raptors they wouldn't even attempt to attack a creature like a Carnotaurus, but a combination of the depleting food and resources in the valley and the fact that these were no normal Raptors meant that they refused to back down. The smaller Dinosaurs were able to jump around the Carnotaurus no problem. Much like Lindsey, it didn't take the Raptors long to realise what the giant's weakness was, its more stiff and less flexible body. It was a dangerous predator, with a devastatingly powerful bite force, and could run at tremendous speeds, but not only were the Raptors much faster; they were highly agile too. They could jump onto the Carnotaurus' back and tear chunks out of the animal before it could even react.

Finally the Carnotaurus was also weak from several days without food and very little water too.

It was even more clumsy than usual, and in an attempt to catch the Alpha Raptor, that had landed more strikes against the larger theropod than any other, the Dinosaur ended up tripping over a large rock and was sent crashing head first to the ground.

Not only did it break several ribs in the fall, but the Carnotaurus' little arms meant that it would have a hard time getting up.

All of the Raptors soon descended from the tunnel and pilled on top of the fallen Dinosaur like a herd of locusts. Keeping away from it's massive head, the Raptors slashed at it's body and tail with the claws on their feet and hands, and tore massive chunks of flesh out with their jaws.

In a few minutes the Carnotaurus' body was just a heaping mass of mangled flesh. Some of the Raptors were even bold enough to attack it's face, as the Dinosaur let out it's final, agonized roars.

"Disgusting creatures." The young women they had rescued said as she looked away in horror.

"Come on let's get out of here before they fancy seconds." The Professor said as he carried the young woman down the dark tunnel ahead.

The three of them walked slowly, not saying anything at first so as not to alert any Raptors or any other unpleasant creatures that might be near. After a few minutes the girl however briefly spoke.

"I don't know who any of you are. You are clearly not of this valley. We are the only tribe left now, but whoever you are thank you."

"Well you have Kirsteen to thank. As much as I hate to admit it, I was going to leave you down there. I didn't want to alert those Raptors." The Professor said.

"I understand." She said. "I would have done the same thing. What is your name."

"You can call me the Professor, that's Lindsey, and that's Kirsteen."

"My name is Hisera" She said.

"Do you have any idea where we are going" Lindsey asked.

"In truth? No, but all that matters for now is getting somewhere safe where we can at least get an idea of our bearings." The Professor replied.

"Not so eager to jump ahead now." Kirsteen said smugly.

"No, I am not. I underestimated those Raptors back there. We need time to figure out where it is we need to go next." The Professor said in a more serious tone, that showed Kirsteen he wasn't in the mood for their usual jokes.

"I'm afraid I can't help you" Hisera said.

"You punched a hole into a level I've never been too before. The good thing is that there probably aren't any Raptors here either as they're not strong enough to break through the walls of the cave. You're not entirely human are you?"

"Not one bit. I was, but well that's in the past. My two friends are human though as you can see."

Kirsteen was rather flattered at being called one of his friends. It was probably just for practicality sake, but it still meant a lot to her, simply because it had been a long while since she had a friend of any kind.

The foursome must have wandered for roughly half an hour or so before they came across a tiny flicker of light from above.

"Up ahead, there's a way out." Hisera said.

"I'm afraid not. We need to find the magical core of this valley, or else the Raptors will be the least of our problems. Chances are it's in here." The Professor replied.

"We know where it is. It's atop the highest mountain in the valley. " She said.

"For god's sake" The Professor shouted, only to be instantly shooshed by Lindsey and Kirsteen.

"Sorry, but a core like that needs to be underground. That way you can channel it to one location easier. Up above and the energy is in more danger of being spread out too far. The way it is now, I'm not surprised the energy is fading.

"You could reach it through these caves." Hisera said, "but not only would it take considerably longer, and there are hundreds of Raptors here."

"Yes well that's probably why I sensed it earlier. If you know of a quicker way by all means."

"I do, but the mountain is even more dangerous. We know full well of what is happening to this valley stranger. We're not primitives by choice. The magic's that once held this place together are crumbling. We have been preparing for this disaster for centuries, but the magic's of the mountain, now that they're acting up, well they have had unintended side effects on some of the creatures nearby."

"How do you mean?" Lindsey asked.

"Some of the great reptiles nearest to the mountain have been, twisted into unnatural beasts. Many of our tribe have tried to reach the mountain, but none of them have got by those monsters. Even with your great strength and tricks I doubt you'd last long."

"Probably not but the valley won't last much longer if we don't." The Professor replied.

"I'll show you the way, but first we need to get back to my tribe. They'll have the man power and the magics you need. We have to get out of these caves first."

The Professor jumped up to the roof and saw that the hole was relatively small. With his vampire strength he widened it, and then just as before he jumped up with one of the women after another, taking them with him.

On the other side of the hole was a slope that led into a small jungle area.

"The village is just ahead of that jungle. If you hadn't punched your way through the cave, it would have taken hours to reach." Hisera said.

"I don't like the look of that jungle." Kirsteen said. "Looks like the kind of place Raptors could live."

"It is but we have no options for now." The Professor replied as he marched ahead, carrying Hisera with him.

The foursome tread carefully through the jungle below. Surprisingly there were hardly any Dinosaurs in the area. Along the way they came across the mangled corpse of a Triceratops, as well as a few tiny Raptors running in the opposite direction from the village. Several trees had also been trampled too, clearly by a stampede of large plant eating Dinosaurs.

Up above they could also see several Pterosaurus flying in the opposite direction too.

When they reached the end of the jungle they could see the entrance to the village, two gigantic doors, bridging a gap between two small mountains that formed into a large circle behind. It was seemingly the perfect place to hide, but the two doors had been smashed open by something.

The Professor, Hisera, Lindsey and Kirsteen slowly walked inside. There was almost a mini valley in between the two mountains, with a large river, and a small village beside that now lay in ruins. There were half eaten and trampled bodies spread everywhere.

Hisera was almost on the brink of tears at what had become of her people, whilst Lindsey examined a nearby footprint.

It was a three toed footprint, but belonging to an animal far larger than either an Allosaurus, or a Carnotaurus. Lindsey knew exactly what had made it.

"We have to get out of here now" she said.

Suddenly a massive roar came bellowing through the lair, so loud it felt like the mountain itself was shaking. The earth then began to rumble and out of the darkest corner at the end emerged the most ferocious of all meat eating Dinosaurs. The Tyrannosaurus Rex!

To Be Continued