Chapter 8

Chapter 8 A New Home Storm has been exploring this new area for a few hours now. The only carnivores he has seen so far are a few raptors. Once he is sure that he is the only large predator here, Storm claims this territory as his own. If it weren’t for the drought, the area would make a good starter territory for Storm. During a good year, it’s eight square miles of forest with a few clearings, two creeks, and a large lake. The usual abundance of food and water attracts many herbivores. Now, only the strongest survive. The pachycephalosaurs are among those few. Others include the fleet footed ornithomimids and a few horned dinosaurs. But now, the creeks are barely trickling, the lake is a pond, and food is scarce. After claiming the area, Storm begins to patrol it and check one more time for any other large carnivores. There are none. He decides to head back to the pond and get a drink. The heat can quickly cause dehydration and Storm needs to keep as much water in him as possible. He passes a lone raptor on the way, but leaves it alone. He is not looking for a fight. He reaches the pond and quenches his thirst. Storm sees some trees nearby and heads over. He finds a comfortable spot and dozes. His leg is sore and he could use a little rest. Storm is in the middle of a wonderful dream where he is feasting on a hadrosaur carcass when he hears something very big approach. His eyes quickly open and he sees a large dinosaur crashing through the trees. As it emerges, Storm is awestruck by the sheer size of the animal. Like the pachycephalosaurs, he has never seen an Alamosaurus. The towering vegetarian is over eighty feet long and weighs in at one hundred thousand pounds. Sauropods are rare in North America now and Alamosaurus is the last of it’s kind here. Storm knows that it would be foolish to attack such a beast. But the raptors that soon show up do not think so. It’s a rather large pack, about eleven members in all. Storm watches from his position as the raptors begin to surround the giant. The battle is brief and furious. The sauropod succeeds in crushing numerous raptors and smashing others. After only a few minutes, the dust settles and three raptors lay dead due to getting crushed, two from the alamosaurs large toe claws, and four from being struck by his massive tail. The Alamosaurus stands strong with only minor cuts. The last two raptors turn tail and run. Storm decides that, from this moment on, unless it’s a life or death situation, he will never mess with an Alamosaurus. The giant takes one more drink and moves on. After a few minutes, Storm heads off as well.