Chapter 1

Well, here it is. The beginning of The Fight To Survive The Fight to Survive Prologue The Great Story All life starts out small. Even life that will grow to be bigger than all. This is the story of one such life. From birth to death and from joy to sorrow. Life is never easy. Nor is it always fun. However, life is an adventure. And this great story is sure to be an adventure! Chapter 1 New Life A single egg stirs in a great nest. A small crack begins to form along the surface. The tiny life inside trying to break free. The little dinosaur’s snout breaks through. He breathes his first breath. Slowly, but surely, he leaves the egg that was his home for the beginning of his life. He shakes his body to rid himself of the fluid caught in his feathers from the egg. At only three feet long and a few pounds, he is less than fifteen times the size he will be when fully grown. He has trouble seeing. The sun is too bright for his little eyes. He curls up in the nest. There will be plenty of time for exploration later. Now, he must sleep. A day later, the young dinosaur wakes up. He looks around, his eyes now used to the sunlight. He looks at the other eggs. They will not hatch. The little dinosaur, whose name is Storm, is about to leave the nest when the ground begins to shake. Something big is coming. Storm hides behind the remnants of his egg. A great shadow is cast over him. He looks up to see a towering shape. At first, he is fearful. Then the great shape lowers it’s head. It’s Storms’s mother, Longtooth. A large tyrannosaur, she is over forty-three feet long and weighs well over fifteen thousand pounds. Longtooth touches her son’s nose with her own, the universal sign of bond for all Tyrannosaurus’. Longtooth looks up and Storm follows her gaze. It’s his father, Kano. Like Longtooth, Kano is also very large, forty-six feet long and sixteen thousand pounds. Kano approaches the nest and touches noses with Longtooth. He proceeds to do the same with Storm. Acknowledgments aside taken care of, Kano puts a chunk of flesh in front of Storm. Despite being a carnivore, young Storm has never eaten meat in his life and is unsure of what to do. He sees Kano drag the body of a partially eaten hadrosaur into the nesting site and watches as his parents feed. He realizes what he’s supposed to do and eats his meat. It’s been a big day for little Storm. He’s met his parents, eaten meat for the first time, and decided the nest is too small. Tomorrow, he will explore his world. But that can wait. For now, it’s back to sleep. When Storm wakes up, his parents are gone. They are on a hunting trip. This is the opportunity Storm has been waiting for. He leaves the nest to go and explore his home. The Tyrannosaurus’ territory is 20 square miles of perfect hunting grounds with plenty of water. As Storm wanders west, he picks up the scent of something. However, he is so young he does not realize that Dromaeosaurs is a deadly predator. Storm spots a dragonfly and gives chase. He leaps to grab it. Miss. That’s when the raptors find him. He hears their snarling and runs for cover. Storm finds a log and hunkers down inside. The pack of raptors easily find his hiding place. They start to try to get through the bark of the log. Storm cries out for his parents as loudly as possible. The raptors begin to break through the log and now can see Storm. Suddenly, a thunderous roar splits the air. Storm watches as his Kano arrives and lays waste to the raptor pack. After the last one is lying dead on the ground, Kano comes over to the log. Storm climbs on top of his head and his father brings him back to the nest. Storm has just experienced his first brush with death. It will not be his last. As Storm sleeps, Kano looks to Longtooth who has just arrived. The look in his eyes tells the story. She looks down at her son. “This one will be a troublemaker,” she thinks to herself. Then, they too fall asleep.