by David Pratt
As Rumble tried to charge, Thunder Blade side stepped out of the way. Angling her body to one side, she circled Rumble and sank her teeth into his back. Rumble’s body burned in agony, but even in his pain throws, he swung his head and stabbed Thunder Blade in the leg. Thunder Blade howled, throwing her head back and backing off from Rumble. Rumble tried to charge again. He knew one well placed brow horn would finish his opponent, but Thunder Blade was quick thinking on her feet and nearly anticipated his every move. Thunder Blade turned to one side and used her tail as a whip. Rumble was caught by her tail and became blinded. However the skull of a Triceratops was heavily armoured and he was quick to get his sight back, just in time to watch Thunder Blade ram him to the ground with her massive head. The fight looked all over and Thunder Blade prepared to sink her teeth into Rumble’s vulnerable neck. But she forgot that the Triceratops had a powerful bite of his own and paid for that mistake when Rumble used his beak on her foot. Rumble was down but he certainly wasn’t out! Thunder Blade felt like she was being slowly cut down. And to think she had killed many of Rumble’s species in her time. Rumble staggered back on his feet and gave out a defying bellow. ‘THIS FIGHT IS TO THE DEATH!’ Thunder Blade appeared to turn her back on him. Seizing his moment of opportunity, Rumble began to charge. But what Thunder Blade was actually doing was using her huge feet to kick up soil into Rumble’s face! The dirt went into Rumble’s eyes and he lost vision, forcing him to break off the attack.
Rumble squinted and by the time he’d blinked all the dirt out, the male Triceratops had lost sight of the predator. ‘NO WAY IS IT THAT EASY.’ He thought to himself. He knew the T.Rex wasn’t going to run when she had chicks to feed. And his suspicions were proved right when she ambushed him from the side again. Thunder Blade used her immense bite pressure to go for one of his brow horns, the idea being to disable Rumble and take him down a piece at a time, like he was trying to do to her. She concluded that the fight had to end soon, even if Thunder Blade felt immense pain and she could barely walk anymore. But she would not let her offspring down. This wasn’t about avenging Stan. This was about ensuring the survival of her chicks.
But Rumble had another key adaptation. His neck joint at the back of his skull was like a ball and socket, giving him extra flexibility. With a twist of his neck, he stabbed his opponent in the eye. Thunder Blade cried out in agony! She panicked: a loss of vision would impede her hunting skills, but her hunting days were over. With her good eye, she saw Rumble thrust his brow horn into her chest cavity. She staggered backwards, feeling her life slip away. Blood spilled onto the forest floor. Thunder Blade had lived by the claw and now she had died by it. Such was being a predator in the Late Cretaceous. Coughing up blood, she crashed to the ground. Was this poetic justice for ruling the land by fear? She couldn’t be sure. As her heart began to slow to a steady stop, she just had enough time to see the T.Rex chicks turn and run. Her last thought was that their future would be very bleak with both their parents gone……..
Rumble stood tall and proud in the crimson sunset. He’d vanquished not one, but two Tyrannosaurus Rexes. This is how it felt to be Rumble right now; he was now the King of this land! The Tyrant Lizard Queen and her cohort had been overthrown. Their reign of terror was over and now the rule of Rumble the Triceratops could begin. Any T.Rex would think again before claiming this territory.
‘I AM RUMBLE, MIGHTY T.REX SLAYER AND RULER OF THIS KINGDOM!’ He roared. He’d stood up for not just his herd and his species, but for every other dinosaur that lived here. This was a declaration that the herbivores didn’t have to be scared of hunters. Blood dripped from his horns of the T.Rexes. Rumble could take on anything the land threw at him and come back for more. He didn’t concern himself with those two T.Rex chicks because he knew they wouldn’t survive long. Maybe he could kill them if he ever found them to remove a future threat to his reign. Now the Triceratops was the dominant species, not the T.Rex.
Bleeding, wounded, he staggered back to his herd. Most of the wounds he’d received would leave permanent scars, each one with a tale to tell. One of Rumble’s horns had the tip bitten off, but as long as he had the other horn he was a force to be reckoned with.
Bladefoot and his family started their evening by coming across the body of Stan. He approached first nervously and then realised that the giant predator was dead.
During his life, Stan had been a fierce hunter and strong rival to Bladefoot. Now his dead carcass provided food for a lucky group of scavengers.
The stench of death in the night air made Bladefoot lick his lips and Serena was already drinking a pool of Stan’s blood. Olla began to tug at the flesh where Rumble’s horns went in. Then Bladefoot began to feed himself. No mammal chasing for him tonight! Stan’s body would continue to provide food for the Troodons, until something bigger chased them off.
Bladefoot couldn’t help but notice what seemed like a giant star in the sky tonight. It just sat there, burning brightly. Bladefoot had noticed that same star before. Every night it appeared to be getting closer and closer to the Earth. Then Bladefoot realised that it must be his imagination. Stars didn’t do that! That would be just crazy! Still, as he looked at it, he couldn’t help but feel that it was coming towards him in some way. Then his belly rumbled and food beckoned to him. Bladefoot felt happy to be dining on dead T.Rex flesh tonight. He’d never tasted it before and it was quite gratifying.
Chapter 14
In the early hours of the following morning, Bladefoot and his family were conducting another territory patrol. Bladefoot hated doing those. They were tedious and took up too much time which could be spent doing other things. But they had to be done. ‘What a chore.’ He thought. But this was the only way he could defend his home range.
He’d already heard tales amongst the herbivorous dinosaur’s morning calls of Rumble’s victory over the T.Rexes. It seemed that hope was filling the land. But Bladefoot knew that hope would be short lived. With the two T.Rexes gone, other predators would be coming here, whether it being another T.Rex, a pack of Nanotyrannus’, and there was also Bladefoot and Olla as well. One day, another hunter would rule, either by strength or cunning. The sun was rising on another day. Bladefoot’s belly, and that of Olla and Serena, was stuffed full of T.Rex meat. Olla too had also felt it quite gratifying to eat Stan. It’s not everyday you get to scavenge someone who was once a top predator! Stan’s body would provide food for weeks and Bladefoot’s clan would go back to it tonight. He yawned, wanting sleep.
The Troodon family approached the edge of the forest which overlooked the fern prairies. Bladefoot could see more mountains in the background where the south was on the other side. As the Troodons began to settle, they heard a loud screech back where the forest was. It was the screech of a male Troodon! ‘What is that?’ Bladefoot got up. ‘Typical!’ Olla thought. Of course now something had to happen as she was about to hunker down with her mate and her daughter. The loud scream echoed again and the Troodons ran to investigate.
The Troodon family pushed through the undergrowth towards the source of that sound. Brushing away the cycads Bladefoot came across something extraordinary. He knew where he was. This was where his territory met Cutter’s territory and before his family, Cutter had tried to do something very foolish!
Cutter had attempted to snatch a baby Stygimoloch from this nesting site and was now feeling the wrath of the adults. Cutter leapt onto one of their backs, clawing away with his talons and biting the neck. But one of the adult Stygimoloch rammed Cutter off, who went flying into the forest floor with a hard thud. Bladefoot did not have any pity or thoughts of kindness for his rival. Bladefoot had no respect for Cutter. Cutter had always treated Bladefoot like a fool, but now Bladefoot could see for himself that Cutter was really the stupid one. If Cutter truly had intelligence he wouldn’t have tried to attack a herd of boneheads. ‘You get what you deserve Cutter!’ Bladefoot roared at him. Cutter looked up, seeing Bladefoot’s family before being head-butted again. Cutter’s sk
eleton was being pulverised with every hit. He tried to get to his feet and limp away, but some of the adult Stygimoloch blocked off his escape and the rest of the herd began to close him around him.
Without a second glance, Bladefoot and Olla turned and walked away, abandoning Cutter to his fate. Only Serena stayed and watched Cutter being battered to death. ‘With my father’s rival gone, another male Troodon will want this land, and when that male comes, if he’s suitable, I will mate with him and this land will be mine!’ Serena plotted. Now that she’d grown up and was ready to leave her parents, she knew that they would drive her away, seeing her as future competition just like Kane had done to Bladefoot. Then Serena could start her own family. Maybe she would fight with her own mother one day for land and hunting rights. Serena wondered how she would do against her parents. Would the student be the teacher?
‘Come Serena!’ Her father demanded. ‘As you wish Father….’ Serena grinned, rejoining her parents. ‘Yes Dad, I will play obedient daughter for now. But I may not always be this loyal to you because I know you won’t always care about me. But unlike you who ran from your father, I will not show such fear.’ She schemed.
Three hours later, the Troodon family were snoozing again at the edge of their forest home. In the far distance a flock of Ornithomimus foraged. Serena remembered how dangerous these dinosaurs were to nesting Troodons, but they posed no threat to an adult. Bladefoot wasn’t bothered about them either. But something seemed strange today. The air seemed different and it made Bladefoot feel uncomfortable. But everything appeared normal.
Bladefoot could still hear the sounds of the insects and birds, just as everyday. But then Bladefoot looked to the sky. There was something irregular. An object that appeared to be a burning giant fireball was falling through the sky. The Troodon family looked at it and tried to guess their conclusions to what that fireball actually was. Bladefoot calculated that the fireball was huge, at ten kilometres across and was falling through the sky at thirty kilometres a second. The sun illuminated the fireball brightly for all to see. ‘What do we do Bladefoot?’ Olla asked.
But Bladefoot didn’t know. He couldn’t answer because he’d never been in such a situation. Something that he did know was that the midday temperatures had reached ninety degrees Fahrenheit. The Ornithomimus flock had also seen the bright light in the sky and they couldn’t decide what to make of it either. In fact every creature in Alberta didn’t know what to do right now!
Thirty minutes later, the fireball appeared much larger. The Troodon family couldn’t think clearly. Bladefoot didn’t know whether to run or stay put. All around him he could hear the panicked cries of dinosaurs.
‘Bladefoot we have to go now!’ Olla tried to talk sense into her mate. ‘Go where?’ Bladefoot retorted. He knew Olla wasn’t sure what to do and neither of them were going to ask Serena for any ideas either. Bladefoot looked up into the sky for any more clues.
Only now the skies bellowed with intense electrical storms as the fireball closed in on Earth. Bladefoot saw Sky Rider caught in the storm. The giant pterosaur twisted and turned to avoid the turbulent conditions. He swerved the best he could to avoid the lightning strikes but found nowhere he could land. Sky Rider was clearly worried and the glider had not felt fear in years, but this was new to him and like the Troodons down below, he did not know how to handle this crisis. The sky burned a fiery orange and the temperatures were rising rapidly.
Then Bladefoot smelt the familiar scent of wood smoke. The Troodons turned around and saw that forest fires had started behind them. ‘Let’s move into the open.’ Bladefoot decided to get his family out of the burning forest.
As they moved quickly into the open, they noticed steam rising from a nearby pond. All the water in Alberta was boiling right now and Bladefoot saw the turtles, frogs and crocodilians clambering out. The unlucky fish floated dead at the surface.
Bladefoot kept moving into the open, hoping he could outrun the forest fires that were growing in what was once his territory. Then as he looked back to the mountains, the big burning fireball crashed into the Earth! Unknown to Bladefoot, a meteor had impacted into the Yucatan Peninsular in a land called Mexico. The distant glow that the Troodon family saw was the result of 100 million megatons which opened a hole 200 kilometres wide and fifteen kilometres deep into the Earth’s crust. The sound echoed in the land again and again. The shockwaves shook Alberta. Then the bright light decreased and for a moment Bladefoot celebrated that the danger had passed.
Then the blast front came from over the mountains. The Ornithomimus flock stampeded but were swept away and the Troodons registered the blast wall as a threat. They bolted through the fern prairies as the blast wall raced at the speed of sound towards them. No matter how fast Bladefoot ran the blast wall kept gaining on him and his family. He didn’t dare glance back at the females who were running for their lives. Bladefoot didn’t even remember when he’d moved this fast! In his last split seconds, he didn’t notice Olla and Serena being swept off their feet in the blast wall furnace and then Bladefoot felt like he was himself on fire for his few remaining micro seconds. He screamed his last, and then everything went black. Bladefoot the Troodon was now at peace…..
All across the world, a plume of ash and dust spread. Every volcano erupted. Earthquakes ripped the land and oceans apart. Forest fires literally set the whole world ablaze. Tsunamis triggered by the impact shock waves flooded coastal habitats.
Rumble the Triceratops was swept away in one such giant wave, along with his herd and dozens of other creatures. In Alberta, the creatures not killed by the blast front faced death by forest fires!
A Didelphodon scurried down back into its burrow, the underground shelter seemingly providing protection from the blaze.
The T.Rex chicks raced through the burning forest, not even knowing where they were going. Everywhere they went they just seemed to come across more fire and wood smoke. Through the smoke, the male T.Rex chick looked up to see fireballs of rock reigning down. He ran, but was soon caught underneath such a burning blob of molten rock! The female turned to see her brother being both crushed and burned alive. And then she herself felt her insides roast. The female T.Rex chick literally cooked from the inside out!
Life suffered in the oceans as well. The time of the giant marine reptiles was over, along with the flying pterosaurs, shelled ammonites and toothed seabirds. As the land was affected, the oceans were affected also. The only marine reptiles that would pull through were the sea turtles.
A cloud of dust from the impact crater spread across the planet, blocking out the Sun and changing the climate. Now the world had gone from extreme heat to extreme cold. The plants could no longer carry out photosynthesis. As the plants died off, any remaining large herbivores deceased with them, followed by any surviving predators. Ecosystems began to collapse as the world was plunged into a prolonged nuclear winter. Any scavengers that did survive were treated to a bounty of carrion. But this was a false economy. When this food source ran out they too would starve to death if they hadn’t already succumbed to the cold.
Nothing stirred in what was Alberta. The forest was gone. Smashed trees and plants were the only sign of it being there at all. The ground was covered with dead dinosaurs. It also snowed as temperatures plummeted. Snow hadn’t been seen in Canada for millions of years.
A male Didelphodon emerged from his underground lair. He’d taken cover during the blast but was now hungry. He looked around. The only dinosaurs he’d seen since the forest fires were the odd flock of birds. Then the scent of carrion filled his nostrils and he followed his nose. His fur coat gave him an edge in the cold. Although he shivered, he was happy to discover the dead body of Sky Rider, who’d been brought down in the initial blast front. The lightly built glider had stood no chance. His wings were burnt, his neck had snapped and his eyes were clouded over. The male Didelphodon gorged himself on his remains, not having a clue what was coming in the future………
New York City,
Present Day
Epilogue
Sixty-five millions years after Bladefoot’s story ended swiftly, the Earth showed little sign of the mass extinction. In had taken the Earth time to recover and when it did, the planet was now available to Bladefoot’s favourite prey, the mammals. Ironically, the prey survived, not the hunter.
Eventually, mammals won out against their dinosaur oppressors and in the absence of the great reptiles began to evolve and diversify in species that included cats, dogs, bats, whales, elephants, apes and eventually human beings.
In the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms, human beings went on to conquer the planet, develop technology and build vast cities such as this one named New York City in the United States of America. But little do most people know, that one group of dinosaurs did survive the mass extinction and can been seen all around us today. They are the great dynasty of birds, which evolved from small meat eating dinosaurs related to Bladefoot. So, dinosaurs never did really die out.
From the top of the Empire State Building, a peregrine falcon looked down on the modern world. Beneath him, millions of human beings lived out their lives amongst their urban jungle. The peregrine falcon and his mate had moved here because of the high numbers of feral pigeons, his prey of choice. The peregrine falcon then took flight, looking down on the various landmarks of New York City. One of which was the American Museum of Natural History, where ancient fossils of his dinosaur relatives were displayed, viewed and marvelled.
As the falcon soared, he saw the great columns of vehicles, a jumbo jet flying high above him and the human citizens walking the streets. In some parts of this city, the citizens were fearful of a street gang, but when the sirens of a cop car were heard the street gang scattered.