Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Raising Storm

Although Synca wants nothing more than to protect Storm, he knows he must take his time. First, he gives Storm some time to get over what just happened and pull himself together. But Synca won’t leave. He’ll stay close enough to aid Storm if he has to.

After a few days, Synca decides it’s time to find Storm. He shouldn’t be far. It won’t be long until Synca finds him. Only after a few hours, Synca hears something that peaks his interest. It was a loud screech. But it wasn’t Storm. It was a raptor. Synca becomes incredibly fearful of what might be happening. He bolts for the source of the sound. When he reaches the creek it came from, he finds a raptor bearing down on a slightly injured Storm. Synca acts without thinking. He charges forward and grabs the raptor in his jaws. The predator shrieks and struggles, but Synca holds fast. Storm watches in awe as Synca picks the raptor up off his feet and throws him into a tree. The impact alone kills it. For a moment, Synca just stands there, panting. Then, he looks to Storm. The young tyrannosaur looks at him with grateful eyes. Synca turns to leave. At first, his goal was to watch Storm from afar. But after turning to find the young dinosaur following him, Synca changes his mind. He’s lost so much in his life. He doesn’t want to lose someone else. Synca nods to Storm and tells him to follow him.

The days come and go. Storm grows steadily under Synca’s guidance. Synca tries to get Storm to be more independent, but Storm often scavenges off of Synca. Synca doesn’t mind, but he wants Storm to hunt for himself more. One day, he leaves so that he can try and hunt on his own. Synca goes and rests in some bushes near a hot spring. After the malaria incident, Synca has made it a point to have at least one hot spring nearby. While resting, he notices something enter the clearing surrounding the spring. It’s Storm. Curious as to what the young tyrannosaur is doing, Synca watches expectantly. Then, Storm tries to drink the boiling water. He reels back in shock and bites the water in frustration. Once again, he jumps back in pain. If he could smile, Synca would be grinning from ear to ear.

Days turn into weeks. Storm has recently killed his first dinosaur. He had managed to ambush a Parksosaurus. Storm even shared his meal with Synca. After Storm’s first kill, Synca decided to bring him hunting with him. Together, they’re able to bring down rather large prey. Once Storm is as big as Synca, they become an even more efficient team.

One day, while feeding on a hadrosaur they had just killed, Synca looks up to see uninvited guests. Raptors. Storm instantly recognizes some of them. Synca does not know why or how, but he can tell Storm is extremely agitated. Storm clearly wants to fight. Synca’s fine with that. He has no problem knocking down the local raptor population a bit. Two raptors move toward Synca while the other two go for Storm. Synca quickly engages. One raptor leaps toward him, claws extended. Synca turns and swats the smaller predator away with his tail. As the raptor hits the ground, the other charges. Synca stabilizes himself to meet that charge. The raptor is too small to knock him over. Synca slams the raptor to the ground. Before he can get up, he steps on the skull, crushing it. This accomplished, he turns to the other one. The raptor is getting up and preparing to leap at him. Synca tries to back up, but trips on the body of the raptor he just killed. He falls on his back and the raptor jumps for him. But Synca knows exactly what he’s doing. He catches the raptor in his feet and uses his powerful legs to throw it into a tree where the raptor breaks his back. Synca gets up to check on Storm. The fight over, the two dinosaurs roar in victory.

A couple of weeks after the fight with the raptors, Synca and Storm find themselves bored. They had just finished a meal of Ornithomimus and are just lying around in the sun. That’s when they notice something. A Bambiraptor has arrived to feed on the remains of the Ornithomimus. Synca looks to Storm and has an idea. They get up and decide to have a little fun. They begin to chase and ambush the Bambiraptor as a game. The game is very enjoyable for them, but the same can’t be said for the Bambiraptor. After a while, they let their new toy leave unscathed, although a little shaken.

Sadly though, the good times do not last. One thing Synca has never had to deal with was a drought and, unfortunately for him, a very severe one has arrived. Few dinosaurs that are relatively easy to catch remain. Only the toughest remain. The two have not eaten in days. Synca knows they need to find some food, fast. He catches the scent of something and immediately takes to the trail with Storm closely following. When they reach the top of a hill, they see their target. A large Triceratops. Normally, the two of them would never take on something so large and deadly. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Synca and Storm attempt to outflank the Triceratops in order to get behind it’s horns. But this animal can turn on a dime and keeps it’s horns pointed at his attackers the whole time. After a short while, a huge cloud of dust has formed and visibility is low. At this point, both predator and prey are striking blindly. Synca realizes it’s hopeless. He calls for Storm and heads back down the hill. When he reaches the bottom, he stops. Storm is not there. The dust cloud begins to dissipate. Synca can see the Triceratops walking away from the battle site. Synca quickly becomes worried. He rushes up the hill to find Storm. There’s no sign of him anywhere. Storm is gone.

Synca becomes dizzy and nearly passes out at the thought of losing Storm. He blames himself. He swore to himself that he’d never let anything happen to Storm and now he’s missing. Missing, but not dead. Synca can only hope Storm is ready to be on his own. If not, he’s already as good as dead.