Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Time Runs Out

I think I'm dying here.

    There's nowhere left to go. Nothing left to do. The walls are closing in fast, and I wasn't sure how long I could avoid death's claws. For as it seems today, nobody had.

    I cradle next to my sister -- Nine, breathing slow and cowering beneath a concrete block. Our eyes don't move as we stare across the clearing of the fallen -- indoraptor bodies (and limbs) lying everywhere around us. They weren't moving anymore. Above, the ceiling blared like car sirens, blooming bright ruby lights across the walls and ground. But no human came for us. I doubt anybody would -- they never cared to begin with.

"Aghh! No!"

Our eyes turn, watching that malevolent black shape tear into the underbelly of yet another albino indoraptor, Two, who's screams of pain rocked our bodies to the core. He tried to fight it off, to push himself free, but the figure kept tearing into him, lavishing at the dying carnivore's blood. And, when annoyance got the best of it, the black shape bit into Two's throat, and ripped backward. Crimson sprayed the walls; Two's tail jerked upward in agony. He spluttered once, limbs slumping to the concrete. A tear rolled down his face.

Then he, too, went still.

Nine and I crawled deeper into the leveled corner. Our hearts were thumping so fast we were afraid they'd burst. Stepping off of Two's corpse, the black shadow started making its way to us, a hungry growl seeping past its crimson lips. Even through the haze of blood it knew us by scent, and longed for yet another kill in its arsenal. It could reach us down here. It could kill us.

And it will.

Nine started crying to herself, already knowing what was about to happen. I felt my tears break, too -- we weren't going to survive for long if we fought it. The others had already tried everything -- death damned their luck to the grave. But fear drew my eyes to promise; beyond the trembling raptor, I noticed a broken glass door that one of the indoraptors tried to escape from.

It just needed one last push.

Turning back to Nine, I whimpered my urgency for us to run -- motioning my head to a broken wall.

She nodded shakily, giving me a lick of gratitude on the snout and started drawing forward, breath hitching at the sight of the black monster. Growling at the dark shadow, I flickered my tail to a rock on the ground, and heard it sound just a few meters away.

Loud enough to catch the curiosity of the black shape, and draw him toward it.

Nine took off in a sprint; I followed close behind, skidding over limbs and blood puddles and straight into the man-made forest. She reached the glass gate first, smashing through it and stumbling to the ground. But when she turned to look at me, Nine gasped, and roared.

I spun around, only to watch a massive black shape lunge right into me, knocking me off both claws--

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--And right back into the swamp. The world shook after I fell, a shallow tremor rippling up my spine and to the nibs of my talons. I gasped, helplessly staring into the void of my dear friend, Blink. His claws had pinned me down, and his reddened eyes were empty and dead. He snarled and grinned with devilish intention, fresh drool dribbling down his trembling maw.

I've never seen him look like this before.

Before he could bite my throat, I kicked upward, throwing the hybrid off me, and tail-whipped him back into the thickets. But I only had two seconds to move before Ripper joined the fight -- crashing onto my back and burying my snout into the mud. I started to wriggle free; Ripper sank his claws into my fragile hind scales and violently ripped backward.