The Prehistoric Herd: An Ice Age Tale

Chapter Nine

"Your hanging with us now, buddy. Dignity has nothin to do with it."~ Sid

20 010 Years Ago

The Ice Age

A talkative atmosphere engulfed the group of diverse species as they made their way north. The once baby blue color belonging to the sky began to fade behind them in the distance, replacing it with a dimmer shade.

The group proceeded to trudge their way up a small hill surrounded with flora and fauna, the smell of sap and earth entering their nostrils. Muffled footsteps were heard as they walked through the towering trees, tall dry grass slithered up their legs and itched the skin underneath. 

Eventually, green trees changed into rustic rocks as the group travelled through a much drier area. Snow layered the earth, the few sun rays glistening off the the powdered substance and creating little spectacles of light that enveloped the ground below.

The howling of the wind began pounding against everyone's eardrums, as they ascend further up the mountain, the cold air causing the animals to shiver and for (Y/N) to bury her head in her knitted scarf, holding the baby closer to her fabric-covered chest.

Unfortunately, colder the air got, the more restless the baby became.

It started with a few whimpers escaping the child while he slept, but then he began to sob, bawling his eyes out and flaring his tiny arms in the air.

(Y/N) had tried attending to the child, whispering sweet nothings in his ear and gently rocking him back and forth while snuggling the baby close and wrapping him in her chocolate coat. But it was all in vain as the baby's cry increased in volume, struggling against (Y/N)'s grip as he continued to flung his limbs around. 

Sid crept closer to the girls side, looking for her permission before carefully taking the whining child in his arms, hushing him to sleep.

Manny glanced at the crying infant, throwing his head back in a groan as the child let out another shrill cry, "Oh, you got to make it stop, I can't take it anymore!"

Diego, who had fallen in step beside Sid along the cold journey, snapped his head to the left, his eyes glaring daggers at the small human, "I've eaten things that didn't complained as much!"

The baby squirmed in Sid's hold, ending up in an upside down position in sloth's arms, "He won't stop squirming."

"Your holding it wrong!"

"Watch it's head!"

"Sid, be careful."

"Just put it down!"

The group came to a stop in the middle of the gravel trail, stopping right in front of a large rock with a flat surface. (Y/N) took the child from Sid's arms, gently laying it on the smooth surface while Sid muttered vigorously, "Jeez, pick him up, put him down."

The baby let more shrieks escape his lips, his voice starting to agitate the animals to no end. Diego stepped forward, his green eyes glowering down at the baby, "His nose is dry."

Sid nodded his head, stroking his chin in thought, "That means somethings wrong with it."

(Y/N) faced palmed, her (E/C) eyes closing at the intelligence of these animals.

"Someone should lick it, just in case."

"I'll do it."

Manny rolled his eyes at the two, his brown fur swaying to and fore as the mammoth angled his body toward the smaller species, "Hey, he's wearing one of those baby thingies."