The Virals

Chapter 1

This idea was originally a prequel to 'The One Who Hunted the Merciless' and 'The One Who Preyed on the Survivor'. But I decided to change it and have it be a stand-alone short story because I changed a lot of the characters originally planned. Oh well. 

I should mention I wrote this around March 2017, and completed it in the summer of the same year. Even though I wrote it back then, I am going to publish the chapters one by one because why not?

This story was inspired by 28 Days Later, though you may find certain references to other pieces of media.

66 Million Years ago

Dusk. The sun crept behind the mountain, its warm rays dwindling in an orange sky. The Acheroraptors watched vigilantly, their brown-feathered leader standing on his rock. Lower ranking members of the pack stood sprinkled across the ground, some in the open meadow surrounding the rock, others hiding in the surrounding forest, their narrow toothy snouts poking from the greenery.

They were waiting- waiting for the hunting party to return with flesh from the prey they had caught. A dark-feathered raptor at the edge of the forest snorted impatiently. He chewed on his sickle claw, lowering his tailed rear into a seated position in the process.

Then, finally, six raptors appeared, each with scraps of flesh in their jaws. The leader jumped down from his rock, head held high. The six dropped the bloodied pieces of muscle to the ground instantly.

'That took time,' He growled.

'Apologies, Quick Blade,' a light brown Acheroraptor chirped to her leader. 'It took time to find adequate prey. There was a carcass, but it smelled very strange so we decided against scavenging,' she quickly explained, ruffling her pelt.

'Well, thank you for bringing us this, Fleet Claw. Even if it took quite some time,' the leader muttered, then lowered his head to take a bite. That was how it was- the alpha always had to eat first.

'The rest of you may join if you wish.'

Twenty-five raptors or so swarmed forwards hungrily, salivating. The dark-feathered raptor did not move, though. He just watched from the forest, his soft brown eyes glinting. The dying rays of the sun highlighted his grotesque, scarred body.

Three of the six hunting raptors noticed him- Fleet Claw, a reddish raptor named Thorn Tooth, and a silver one named Razor Feather. Quickly, they ran to him, running past the starved crowd to join him by the forest.

'Hello, Black Talon!' Fleet Claw greeted energetically, nudging him. He ruffled his feathers, somewhat unsure in the presence of affection.

'Nice to see you're all back,' Black Talon replied.

'Don't you want to eat? Aren't you hungry?' Fleet Claw asked.

Black Talon clicked a 'no'. 'You all took so long. I managed to catch a lizard and ate it when no one was looking,' He said.

There was an unnerving silence between the four. Suddenly, it was broken by none other than Razor Feather.

'You can't do that!' Razor Feather gasped, surprised. 'What if someone caught you eating before Quick Blade had his fill!?' Her pupils constricted in fear.

Black Talon snorted, amused. What would happen if he had been caught? He didn't really remember- he hadn't taken the time to learn the consequences of breaking certain rules- but it probably wasn't something nice.

'You shouldn't brush this off,' Fleet Claw growled seriously. 'You need to be careful!'

'Agreed,' Thorn Tooth spoke up. 'You've been around for a year... surely you'd know the rules by now?' He pondered.