Going for the neck

In the heart of a lush forest, covered with dense brush and fern, only a light breeze brushing through needles and leaves fills the otherwise quiet scene. Late dusk left the underbrush shaded, with the mere slivers of light left waning with each second. As the sun dipped below the treetops and finally hid behind the horizon, taking the last beams of light with it, night time finally came.

With the sun saying it’s nightly goodbye, a Cryolophosaurus prowled through the dense forest with a determined stride. Mute was sleek and strong, her dark and subtle coat blending her seamlessly with the underbrush especially with the nightly atmosphere aiding her task. Her stomach craves for a feast and, while most favoured to snooze through these darker hours, she isn’t one to push her own wants aside. It’s time to hunt.

Her dull red-tinted eyes scanned her surroundings, alert and determined, as she weaved between the trees. Her nose twitching as she took in the air, filtering smells of damp soil, flora and animals far too small for her liking. She wanted something bigger, something other than another deer she would rip any other day.

Mute paused and turned her head, catching a glimpse of movement past the trees. Something reaching far above her head, rhythmic like branches moving along, but striding on farther than any tree could bend. This might be a foolish attempt, but in her eyes this was the jackpot of the night. Her eyes on the prize she started to follow her prey. A lone Shunosaurus.

The cryo knew the sauropods as rather nervous and wimpy creatures despite their size. Twitchy and always on alert, even if they were one of the larger creatures on the isles. Huddling together in herds, keeping their incredibly long necks ever so high to survey. Easy to scare, easy to unnerve. Foolish, really.

Prowling after her target, she was sure not to be foolish herself. While her opinions on herbivores were never too high, she knew of their weapons, their strength, their unpredictability. A shunosaurus wasn’t easy to take down and not every predator her size would be so daring. Not to mention, while her prey was on its lonesome, so was she.

Mute liked to surround herself with allies and more desperate dinos looking for a job. Most consider her to have a bold and abrasive personality, but the weak like to huddle under the wing of the strong. And she uses that reputation to her advantage, recruiting henchmen and mercenaries to do her job.

But this. This is her hunt. It’s between her and her prey now.

She moved slowly, carefully placing her clawed feet with precision between sticks and stones. Licking her sharp teeth usually hidden behind her smug lips, she knew she needed to be careful. But this territory was hers, and the night was on her side. While she had no issues navigating at such dim light level, she had a hunch the shuno couldn’t claim the same. It was more likely dependent on sound and smell. Would it bolt at the slightest alarm? Stand and fight the shadows in the dark she hid between? She wasn’t too sure yet, but by the way it near nonchalantly and unhurried walked through the night, it might be a little too confident for its size alone to discourage attackers.

Peering through fern and bushes, Mute musters the tall herbivore. It didn’t seem too remarkable. Not particularly huge or muscular, but not too short compared to others she’s seen loiter around, although it appeared younger. It really wasn’t in a rush considering it’s a sauntering meat plate waiting to be served any moment.

The cryo suffocates the growl in her throat before it escapes as she watches the sauropod crane its neck low to investigate some sort of bush. Hush, she needed to strike now. Any accidental noise, any creature other than herself alerting the shuno could ruin the surprise she was preparing. No way she’d let her advantage slip between her claws.

The Cryolophosaurus drew her legs under her body, coiling her muscles in preparation for a powerful leap. All she needed to do was get close and grasp that huge neck. Get her teeth around that neck, crush the windpipe, rip a hole, grasp that thick spine and twist and snap it. She couldn’t hold back a wicked grin.

Then, like a spring released, she lunged forward, her jaws wide open and clawed arms apart. Soil and rocks were thrown into the air with the sudden force of her attack. The startled Shunosaurus jerked its head up, but it was too late. The Cryolophosaurus had already closed the gap, her claws raking the air as she took a hold of that wide neck and clasped her jaw right behind its skull.

Mute was lifted from the ground with the shuno’s desperate attempt to shake the cryo off. Although she had her claws dug into its skin and her jaws closed over its neck in a crushing grip, cutting off any attempt of a shout or cry, the thick leathery hide made it difficult to cut any deeper or wider than her teeth could reach. This won’t do.

This first strike was entirely unacceptable by her standards. She growled and chewed at the wound with vicious vigor, opening gashes, puncturing the wounds again and again, before her arms gave in to the shuno’s jerks and swings. She wasn’t one of those clingy raptors after all. With her grasp slipping, she’s thrown back and left to watch as her prey charged right ahead in a panic, breaking branches and trees in its blind stampede.

The cryo hissed and shook strain from her muscles. The hunt isn’t over yet, but she knows well the shuno won’t escape her now that she tasted its blood. It stained her teeth and filled the air. She didn’t need to follow the scent of injury as the destroyed path- trampled shrubber, broken branches, tree trunks pushed aside- were as clear as daylight to her, even in the midnight shade.

Mute had no issue catching up to the sauropod, although it was now way too dangerous to charge in for another attack. She couldn’t even get close enough to snap at its heels to herd it in any certain directions.

Her prey ran in a crazed state, coughing, grunting wheezing with its injured neck as if to try and call for help. Its tail swung in wild circles behind it, its spiked club demanding distance and respect. If the cryo can’t get hold of it again, it’ll escape shaken and scratched up - but alive.

Considering to call her little raptor henchmen to leap and weigh the shuno down, fate took it in its own hand. Backup was entirely unnecessary as the shuno, near blind from fright and the night conditions, didn’t account for the sharp dip in terrain. The huge sauropod tripped with its front limbs catching nothing but a muddy slope downward, and its sent falling down the forested and rocky hill.

Any smaller creature would recover and dust off after such a fall, but the immense mass of the shuno snapped its heavy bones as it tumbled and rolled downhill. Cut up from catching rocks and wood, broken and paralyzed it came to a halt nestled between tall trees. Gasping for air and hissing, it could only watch in terror as a sleek shape descended from the hill, approaching till they locked eyes.

Without a sign of pity or empathy, the feathery but cold cryo bit down on its face and jerked at it in a circular motion, rotating it in its socket, till she heard a very decisive -Snap- and -Pop-.

The shuno’s head left at an unnatural angle, the lively glint gone from its eyes, Mute mustered her impressive kill. Releasing a deep sigh left in her lungs from the chase, she lifted her head, considering calling her ‘friends’ to partake in the feast. It was entirely too much for her alone after all, and being her ally does come with occasional rewards all the same. She believes herself benevolent enough to give out a treat once in a while.

As the moon raced across the sky, casting a sickly cold light over the forest, she let out a resonant call that echoed through the trees. It was a sound both triumphant and defiant, a reminder to all who shared her world that this Cryolophosaurus is the matriarch of this forest.

(1420 words according to google docs)