the Tyrant of Alberta: Ch.1

A new Beginning

The incessant pecking woke the emaciated tyrant. She opened one bleary eye, revealing the harsh sunlight and the silhouette of a pterosaur. It squealed at her, resuming its attempt to eat her. She stood up, the small animal was determined, though. It pecked at her long skinny legs. The strong beak beating against her scaly flesh made a dull thudding sound with each determined peck.

the thing was becoming a nuisance, and looking more like a meal with each passing second. She had not eaten in at least two weeks. 

She eyed the tiny flying menace, and with a quick lunge, grabbed it by the head. She shook her snout violently from side to side, ending its life. The Albertosaurus swallowed it in one impressive movement, and eyed the terrain around her. 

The lava had cooled, leaving behind a layer of coal grey earth. The carcass of the Lythronax  she had killed lay half buried under the solidified mass.  

The lava glowed an angry red just below the surface, steam ushering itself up from small fissures. 

Gingerly, the Albertosaurus got off the boulder. She put one foot on the scoria, and seeing it did not collapse, put her full weight on it. She took careful steps over to her dead rival, and nibbled at his flesh.  

It had become rancid and decomposed over the two week period, but it was a meal. She swallowed it down as fast as she could. 

For miles, all she could see was barren gray. The lava had taken out her valley home. 

A warm, sticky liquid was oozing its way down her neck, the bite wounds of the Lythronax had reopened. She shook her head, the blood flinging onto the cold grey earth. The rhythmic dripping danced in her ears.

She knew she needed to find a water source, or she would not last much longer. She remembered the small stretch of river by her nesting area and gingerly, she walked back the way she came. Before this nightmare unfolded..