The Tyrant's Roar: Chapter 5

Chapter 5:  Prey

The old Edmontosaurus snorted and shook her head in disgust.  The plants she had been eating all of a sudden tasted awful, as if they were completely foreign.  And yet, she knows that she had eaten them for years, and she saw that everyone else in her herd was eating the same vegetation.  All hadrosaurs had hundreds of specialized teeth designed for grinding up vegetation.  The duck-bills had almost cleared the pasture of any fresh plants, thanks to these teeth and the fact that they had cheeks, an evolutionary adaptation that had not appeared in any carnivores but did so in numerous herbivores, including the ceratopsians, sauropods, and especially the hadrosaurs.

Confused, she headed over to the lake for some water just as two youngsters dashed in front of her path, chasing each other.  She snorted in surprise, as the young juveniles looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember how.  They certainly weren’t hers; she was too old, and all of her offspring were old enough to be parents themselves.

A loud honk came from behind her.  She turned around and saw a massive bull Edmontosaurus well over forty feet long.  The two juveniles scampered over to the huge bull for a quick nuzzling, and then trotted off to another female for a good nap.

Now the old female remembered who the juveniles were.  They were her grandchildren, and the bull standing in front of her was her son, her grandchildren’s father, and the leader of the herd.  He walked over to his ailing mother, and the two shared an intimate moment of head-stroking.

Soon, the male moved away and his widowed mother brayed in longing.  He wanted to stay with her and his own family, but he had a duty to his herd.  He had to ensure the collective safety of the group.  He was on patrol, looking out for predators.  Like everyone in the valley, he had heard the mating calls of the T.rexes a few days ago.  If one T.rex was bad enough, two would wreak even more havoc on his herd, especially when they have chicks in the nest.

Unfortunately, the older female did not remember hearing the T.rexes’ vibrant mating calls.  The malignant tumour in her brain has been growing, and thus impaired her short-term memory and nasal particle receptors.  This explained why she suddenly disliked her preferred vegetation and didn’t recognize her grandchildren until her son showed up.

Suddenly, her son bellowed an alarm, and then the whole herd started running.  She looked around to see what had set her herd off, and saw a large brown Tyrannosaurus rex running towards her.  She bounded after her herd in terror, but she was soon behind a wall of panicked Edmontosaurus, and couldn’t see her son at all.  And at that moment, the tumour sent a chilling message to her brain...

“This isn’t your herd!”

Edmontosaurus stayed in their birth herds for their entire lives, save for a few occasions.  This herd mentality was due to safety in numbers and strong family bonds.  If there was no family in the herd, the Edmontosaurus would have been extremely uncomfortable.  And thanks to her tumour, she did not feel that she should remain in the herd unless she saw where her son was at all times.

The old female ran away from the herd, and found herself alone while being chased by a hungry Poppaea.  All of a sudden, another T.rex came out of nowhere.  She froze at Tytus’ sheer size and power as the green predator rushed towards her.

She felt herself being pulled back by something very strong; Poppaea had grabbed her tail in her massive jaws and started to crush the tail vertebrae.  But the only thing she saw was Tytus’ great jaws hurtling towards her neck.  He grabbed hold, and using the combined thirteen-and-a-half tons of himself and Poppaea, the Tyrannosaurus’ pinned her to the ground.

The old herbivore screamed as Tytus shook his head back and forth, driving his twelve-inch armour-piercing teeth ever deeper.  His teeth went through everything:  skin, fat, muscle, and tendon.  Blood spewed everywhere as massive blood vessels exploded from Tytus’ four-ton bite force.  Then, a sickening CRUNCH erupted in the Edmontosaurus’ ears, and her life ended.  Tytus had managed to drive some of his teeth deep enough to go right through the spinal cord, and the force generated was enough to crush multiple cervical vertebrae, which would have crushed the spinal cord anyway.

Tytus and Poppaea both released their grip on their prey, breathing heavily.  They used a lot of energy bringing down this large hadrosaur, especially Poppaea.  But they were very happy that their first hunt as a pair was such a success.  The combination of Poppaea’s speedy build and Tytus’ strength has made them the ultimate tag-team in the valley.

The two T.rexes dug in for a delicious feast.  They ate everything, including the bones, which contained important nutrients that weren’t found in the flesh.  Their faces were covered in blood, and scraps of meat that littered the ground were snatched up immediately.  As mates, they had to eat as much as possible, because the time spent on raising their future offspring would demand a lot of energy.  Tytus and Poppaea had to be as fit and well-fed as possible.

As Tytus moved in for another bite of the Edmontosaurus’ underbelly, a fractured rib scraped against the side of his long snout.  The bone ripped open a large scar that was sustained several years ago when a Triceratops slashed his head.  Its horns cut deep, and although the wound healed, the scar remained.

Tytus jerked his head back and grunted, more in surprise than pain.  Poppaea looked up to see what had happened, and saw blood leaking out of Tytus’ re-opened wound.  Her heart went out to him, and it pained her to see her consort in discomfort.  She moved very close to Tytus and very gently licked his wound to stem the bleeding.  They looked deep into each other’s eyes, feeding off of their profound attraction and admiration.  Tytus, grateful for Poppaea’s affection, returned the favour by rubbing his snout against hers.  It was at that moment that they both realized that they truly loved each other.  They didn’t want to be with anyone else, and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, caring for each other in sickness and in health.

To solidify their intentions, both Tytus and Poppaea moved away from their kill for another, more elaborate courtship dance.  But just as they started colour flushing, a horrid bellow rolled across the plain.

Tytus and Poppaea turned towards where the sound came from, and what they saw made their mouths drop.  Walking towards them was a huge monster…