Regrets

It is a cool, wet, winter day in the heart of Bushdog Pack territory. At the height of the Winter Solstice the sun has set several hours ago, yet some of the pack members remain outside basking in a warm glow. The Anteos have spent days, weeks, maybe months leading up until this night, collecting up driftwood, dry brush, and other flammable objects from their territory. Cleaning up the beaches. Building a large sort of pile. Now that pile burned as a bonfire, bathing it's surroundings in light and warmth. All of the “dogs” were laying around the bonfire, except for Karkar their leader and the one who started it. He was patrolling the territory, making sure his packmates were safe while they celebrated the darkest night of the year. 

Around the fire was Gemini, an ashen colored merle, with light blue eyes and pink spotting on his nose. He was resting alone and waiting for the return of his mate, their leader. He was solemn, remembering his twin brother but in good spirits. Near to him is the sort of second in command of the Pack, Rembrandt. He is a sort of simple man in his own way, brown with piebald. The way his markings work makes it seem he is wearing a helmet, with a dragon on his flank. Next to Rembrandt is Ushara, a lightly colored female with grey markings. Her body is filled out with tapir, with limited spotting of merle and a thin underblaze from one end to the other. To her side is Jarona, another grey female with complex banding that runs from dark to white from the hood of her front to the back of her tail. She has almost a hidden haze in her fur, with merle and brindle near her hips. With Jarona is Duncan, a very brown Anteo. He kind of looks like an old gingerbread cookie, with a light brown base, darker eroding and even darker midline. His unders is made of crossing bars with an almost hidden countershade and Siamese, with brow markings and caiman spotting. On his neck and hip are dark streaks. Next to Duncan is Aphra, the newest member of the pack. This is his first year with any of them. Aphra is a brownish grey with pinstriping, framing and obvious patches. He has a saddle going along his back with light colored unders on his stomach and tail. Unlike the rest of the Bushdogs he is mutated, sporting a red and blue fleshy beard. 

As they lounge around the bonfire they tell stories, good stories, bad stories, old truths that they want to leave in the fire. It is Aphra’s turn to tell a tale, something he regrets. A mistake he wants to burn away. 

“When I was younger… “ he would start his story. “I lived underground in a great cave made by the Humans. It was a terrible place, with no way to leave. A very violent place, cramped and uncomfortable. Sickness could wipe out many at a time with the smell of death filling the air no matter where you went. The air was terrible down in that cave, but it was not bad enough to kill us on its own. The cave had different levels, each dominated by different species like territories. The highest of highs was the Albertosaurus, the lowest of lows was the Acrocanthosaurs, separating them…massive herbivores called Dacentrurus. I lived in the territory of the Dacentrurus, an odd world to be found underground… one of massive, rampant plants.. and shelves and shelves of boxes. I wasn't alone living among these beasts. There was another Anteo that hatched from an egg similar to mine, a slightly younger Male named Tufa. He was a grey in color, with lighter stripes on his hind legs and a light midline broken up by a dark tabby. With a dark Siamese and even darker banding from nose to tip. Like me and others hatched from our strange eggs, he was a mutant and outcast. His tail was made of armored scales and it was far easier to tell he was different compared to me. We were friends, however, we thought we were anyway. We were what we perceived to be as friends. We did everything together, we hunted and foraged for food together, we slept together and we grew together. That was the only way we knew how to live and survive down in those caves. I can still remember the day we decided we would go up the stairs, try to explore the land that belonged to the Albertosaurs. “;

“Do you see anything, Aphra?” Tufa asked cautiously as the two Anteosaurus crawled their way up the busted old staircase that barely had room for them between its walls. 

“I have the same set of eyes you do, I don't see anything if you don't see anything. “ Aphra remarked back a bit smartly. He was nervous and just trying to lighten any tension a little. 

Tufa sucked  in a breath. “Yeah, stupid question. “ The banded Anteo would move forward, his claws clicking lightly against the cool floor. It was at least a nice thing that it was warmer than it would be going to the bottom of the caves, but it still wasn't much compared to the humid and warm jungle that they were used to in the middle territory. It was actually kind of.. Plain? Up here. There were no plants growing rampant, no giant mushrooms or endless rows of boxes and shelves. It was a tiled hallway that had clearly seen some use. First Tufa would find himself cautious like his friend Aphra, but the further the two of them got away from the stairwell without encountering another dinosaur the more relaxed and bold they became.

“Do you think anyone actually lives up here? I thought we would have seen someone guarding that stairwell. “ Tufa would ask, pausing to squint at a sign on the wall and trying to figure out what the sign meant. There were rows of words with arrows going one way or another next to the rows.

“We know they’re up here, where else would they come from when they hunt the Dacens?” Aphra would reason, pausing as well to look at the sign on the wall. “This doesn’t look like the same words on our walls, I don’t know where we’ll be going in the slightest. “

“I guess that makes two of us, come on. “ Tufa would head in the direction of the arrow that looked the most appealing.

Turns out the arrow that looked the most appealing lead to the Alpha Labs’ vehicle bays, which included everything from things like cars and trucks, to watercraft and even various aircraft stored in the hangar areas. When Tufa and Aphra came through those doors into the initial bay areas they were taken aback, wide eyed like wondrous children. They’d never seen this sort of place before, nor the things contained inside of it. It was like an entirely new world to the two Anteosaurus. It was not long before the both of them were lost in their wondrous curiosity. They explored, and played and they lost track of the time. Everything was new and exciting with every step. They lost track of where they were, easily forgetting just how deep into the territory of the Albertosaurs they were getting. In their wonderment the nervousness melted away and the boldness brought ease.

They both became very complacent.

“Well, well, well.. What do we have here?”

The husky voice caused Tufa to yelp in surprise, accidently bumping his head on the underside of the twin engine aircraft he had been exploring. Startled and anxious by the sudden appearance of whatever it was, he felt his fur fluff up from one end to the other and he pressed himself back into the aircraft, eyes darting around.  He could see Aphra nearby, hiding between a helicopter and the wall.

Aphra was crouched, staying low as he tried to see where the voice came from. From where he was he could see at least  two Albertosaurus approaching them slowly, weaving through the vehicles in the bay.  The voice didn’t seem to be coming from either of them, and he couldn’t get a good look at them.  “Who are you?” He’d ask cautiously.

“Little odd, to answer a question with a question. “ The voice responded, not giving an answer. Aphra couldn’t tell for sure if the owner was looking at him, but he figured he was.

“We’re just exploring, we’re sorry if we trespassed. I’m Tufa and my friend is Aphra.” Tufa would nervously reply, giving an answer to the voice that he still couldn’t see. He knew the voice was close though, most likely on the other side of the airplane. Aphra made a hissing noise, trying to shush Tufa but Tufa continued. “We’re Anteos, even if we’re a little weird. We’re from the middle cave, the one with the Dacens.”

“The one with the Dacens… “The voice repeated. “Isn’t that nice. “  The voice sounded closer now but Aphra still couldn’t see him. “Why don’t you come out? This little airplane isn’t hiding you well. “

Tufa and Aphra felt themselves swallow at the same time, the two friends looking at each other. Aphra tried to signal in some way that they needed to run but he couldn’t exactly figure out how he could get the expression across so he ended up just looking more concerned. Tufa didn’t listen to him, hoping instead to possibly befriend whatever the voice was. He sucked in a breath and cautiously stepped out from the back of the aircraft and away from its tail. Turning around he would act placatingly. “You’re right, it’s not. “

Now Aphra could see a bit of the new character as the Albertosaurus took a step around the airplane, one step closer to Tufa who now swallowed

The Albertosaurus has a brown base, with an orange hood and alternating shades of yellow pinstriping and midline. On the Albertosaurus’ flank is a broken dimorphic marking, bright yellow like a rising sun broken up by water. Like in those posters on the walls. The Albertosaurus was large, much bigger than they were, and his yellow eyes showed through the dim room looking at Tufa. Aphra squinted, feeling like he has heard of this Albertosaurus before. There was an Albertosaurus that fit this description, he just couldn’t place his name or why. Why?

Why?

“Mister-””Sundance!”

Aphra and Tufa said his name at the same time, Tufa’s voice one full of dawning fearing as the reality of the situation fell upon him. Aphra’s voice had been more questioning but upon Tufa’s fearful mentioning the bearded Anteo startled. By the time a sharp-toothed smile spread across Sundance’s face, Aphra was shrieking and quickly trying to double back over himself and run back against the wall away from Sundance and Tufa. “Tufa, run this way!”

Sundance came around the airplane and lunged at Tufa, snapping at the Anteo as he dodged the beast and scrambled to run the direction that Aphra said to run.  This run luckily gave him a head start to get away from Sundance himself, however now the other two Albertosaurs had a straight line to run towards the two retreating Anteosaurs. Their legs longer and size larger the two beasts weren’t going to be left in the dust for long.

“Through these things, through these things!” Aphra would instruct as him and Tufa started to make a wide arc, running away from the aviation section and into rows and rows of parked vehicles. They started to weave between the vehicles, trying to throw off the Albertosaurus who weren’t as fast in a zig zag it seemed. They tried their best to try to get the predators to stumble up, slow down and lose them. Aphra could remember the creeping feeling at the back of his neck as things started to feel worse and worse for them, and then started to feel better and better as he saw the doorway.

“Come on Tufa, let’s get out of here!” He called, glancing over his shoulder to see Tufa right next to him now and starting to overtake him.

“I’m right here, keep up!” Tufa responded, trying to jest lighty and try to ease some of the ice cold terror of being hunted.

It didn’t work.

Aphra could hardly recall what happened next but what was clear to him was Sundance reappearing from their side, coming from another direction and cutting through their arc towards the door. He cut them off, overtaking the two of them. Aphra saw him before Tufa and he hit the brakes so to speak, whipping himself to the side hard as he moved to dodge the Albertosaurus’ attack. He was lucky. He was the one Sundance had been aiming for and Sundance’s jaws sailed right by him. Sundance corrected, taking a swing towards Tufa but the armored Anteo was able to glance the blow thanks to his plated tail. He continued on while Aphra was left desperate to catch up.

Now Sundance was giving chase and Aphra began to feel the fear and adrenaline eat at him. They were so close to escaping through the doorway but what then? That wasn’t escape, there was nothing stopping Sundance and his gang from coming through the door after them and chasing them to the stairs. And Catching them. He was gaining on him, he was going to catch him.

Aphra grit his teeth, eyes darting around as he tried to find something to stop this pursuit, something to save them.

For some reason he found himself focusing on Tufa. Hyperfocusing. The world seemed to slow down around him, everything going quiet as he watched the banded Anteo running ahead of him.

That was it, wasn’t it?

The only way for him to survive this?

“I’m sorry. “

Aphra snapped at Tufa’s back leg, grabbing him around the back of the knee and tripping up his own friend. Aphra brought Tufa to the ground before Tufa could even realize what was happening and by the time he did, Sundance’s jaws were around his neck.

“Aphra!”

The cry wasn’t on deaf ears, but even with his friend’s blood on his tongue Aphra continued running. He ran and he ran and right down those stairs he went and he never came up again until those doors were open and those Albertosaurs were gone. He didn’t even look for the bones of his once friend, he never looked back;

“I was never the same after that day. “ Aphra would recount, grimly staring at the fire as he came out of his thoughts and away from the memory of the time he committed a terrible act of betrayal. “I think I’m better now. I am trying to be better, for Tufa’s sake. I owe him that much for his...murder. I hope one day I can trust myself to not betray those around me, those who I think are dear to me. I’ve done well enough since I left that dreaded place, I think. I think.. This is a good start to prove to myself that I can be trusted. This pack here.” His words were uncertain but he wanted there to be truth to it, and if there was truth to it, he wanted himself to be convinced of it. “ And there we have it, a regret of mine. The worst of all the worst. I burn it away in the fire, and hope the fire takes it and cleanses it from me..and maybe.. Tufa will be at peace."