Genre (s): Short Story/Science Fiction
Written When? Senior Year of College
321Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7iRtxKFzy
"Messummer, what are you doing?" Mom's harsh voice passed through the tallest rock towers of the Valley of Green. It was so powerful that I almost fell off the disjointed ledge toward the watering hole. It ran through the heart of the valley. The constant rays from the sun and blue sky made that river the clearest one yet.
I peered over my furry, brownish-gray shoulder at my mother but almost poked her with my sharp beak. "What does it look like, Mom? I'm practicing for the Great Flying Race. These wings are ready for action." I opened my long, membrane-covered wings and showed off my muscles and the three claws at my elbow joints.
"And how many times do I have to tell you?" Mom bumped my red crest with her delicate chin. "You're not old enough to fly in it."
"I'm two years old! Give me a break! Watch this." Without permission, I let myself drop off the ledge's side.
"Messummer! Messummer! Oh, you are in so much trouble!" Mom dug her claws into the dirt surrounding our nest—where I once had my four brothers and sisters, but then a sharp-toothed monster with scrawny arms ate them. Not to mention, the Volcanic Lowlands incinerated my dad when he tried to confront the beast. Now, it was just Mom and me.
I flipped onto my front and held my wings out to my sides. The warm air currents gushed through them, giving me lift. I flew under the vast blueness through archways that jutted out from other rock towers and white clouds that temporarily blinded me. Yet, I relied on my instincts to find the invisible path. They took me to the green forest below.
I landed gently and skewered the moist sand with my claws. Speckles of sunlight washed over every inch of my large body: my skinny legs, fur, and small, hole-like ears. "How's that, Mom?" I called into the atmosphere.
No answer. She did not follow me down. I wondered why. Perhaps she was finally giving me some leeway? I hoped so because... Wait, what was that? My nostrils picked up something... something fresh... something tasty. Eggs, my favorite. Where was that smell coming from? Over there by the tall grass? Over there by the Yellow Meadow? Over—oh, there they were.
The nest was wholly exposed and bundled up in a cluster of leaves beside the small river that fed into the watering hole. Three large eggs waited for me. It wasn't their whiteness that grabbed my attention; it was the black spots that dotted each egg. My beak would soon puncture those little eyes. Blind your prey first, and then make your move. That's what Dad taught me before he died.
I kept my claws in the dirt—to help with my balance—and tiptoed to the nest, hiding behind an overgrown bush. Now, all I had to do was wait. Luckily, it wasn't for long.
Cracks appeared in one of the eggs. A tiny, three-toed foot appeared, and then another one, then a tail, and finally, a head. The sharp-toothed baby flipped onto his backside. A squeaky growl left his lips. Too bad, dude, but no parents meant no protection. If I was going to get him, right there was my chance. Or not.
"PPMC, what have you done?" The sky shook with the shrill. It scared my prey back into his egg. He had a hard time covering himself with the egg pieces; his arms were so short.
What in the world was that strange sound? I turned my head to the left. It sounded like it came from over there, beyond the Clumped Woodlands.
I pushed myself through the branches. Thorns caught my membrane, but I shook them off. It was so dark and cramped. I tripped over a log and fell into an open meadow—Glowbeak Meadow. We called it that because of the different-colored plants in it. They shimmered at night under the full moon. Except, that wasn't the case that day. There were two very different creatures—some I had never seen before—instead. One was small, and the other was quite large.
The tiny creature, who stood on two legs, lifted a part of his body with five small appendages at the end. It was attached to—what I assumed—was his arm. He banged the silver body of the large creature. I noticed he held one of the different-colored plants in his appendages... claws... whatever they were. "Flowers, PPMC!" he said. "Flowers appeared in the Cretaceous Period, not the Jurassic!"
"No, no," the larger figure, who had no visible mouth, argued. "Maybe scientists just got the history of flowers wrong."
"Ah, shut up!"
Something in my throat bounced up and down. Was I laughing? The small creature intrigued me. He looked so different—like an entirely different species. His friend was the same, but I asked myself if she was truly alive. Her voice did not bounce up and down with tone—it stayed steady. The small figure was the complete opposite.
"PPMC," he groaned, "I think your time machine dropped us off in the wrong time period."
Ooh, what's a time machine? I had never heard that term before. Those creatures were definitely not from around here, were they?
To get a closer look, I plopped down on my front and dragged myself through the colored plants. Dust from them settled on my fur, so now there were yellow dots mixed in with the brown. My dark eyes did not leave the mysterious strangers. I soon noticed that the larger figure also had a body part with five appendages. Hers was white, but the smaller creature's were tan with some black behind them. He carried an unusual box on his left arm.
"All right, Dan, if you're so smart, why don't you check your gauntlet?" PPMC asked.
"All right, I will." Dan lifted his left wrist. He pressed something on the box. When he did, a smaller, thinner box left the main one.
"Welcome, Dan," said a voice similar to PPMC's. "Currently, you are in the Mesozoic Era, Cretaceous Period: sixty-five million years ago."
"Sixty-five?" Dan stamped his foot. "Oh, great, PPMC. We weren't supposed to go back to any mass extinctions."
PPMC took hold of his shoulders. She turned him toward me, so I quickly ducked before they saw me. "Now, Dan, does that look like the K-T Mass Extinction to you?"
What's the K-T Mass Extinction? These creatures were speaking all sorts of gibberish. Perhaps that was why I liked them so much?
Screeches in the sky distracted me. I tilted my head and nodded to my kind, who flew parallel with the clouds. I should have not done that.
"Dan, duck! Monster!" PPMC pulled Dan to the ground. She covered him with her silver claws. That was what I was going to call them. His face disappeared behind a few of the taller plants.
"Danger, danger!" I heard his box announce. "Quetzalcoatlus! Quetzalcoatlus!" I decided to stop my "what" questions. I would figure things out myself.
"Will you get off me, you son of a—!" Dan shoved PPMC's claws off him.
That was when I noticed something. The youth had a giant tear in his white-skinned leg. Caked blood surrounded the tan under it. He was injured! Well, that wasn't a problem. Mom would fix him up. Yeah, yeah, I would take him to Mom.
With a flap of my wings, I leaped out of the cluster where I had been hiding. I zoomed to Dan, grabbed his shoulders in my claws, and lifted him into the sky.
"Ahh!" he yelled, suddenly traumatized by my presence.
"Fly, Quetzalcoatlus! Fly!" PPMC shouted from below. "Oh, wait. She's got Dan." To my surprise, she tucked her arms and claws into her body. Her round feet rolled across the meadow, and her clear eyes glowed bright yellow. She lifted a few feet off the ground but fell back onto it. "Dang it," I heard her say.
"PPMC, you owe me!" Dan shouted from my claws. "Help! Help!"
Oh, shut up, would you?
***
"Mom, Mom, you'll never believe what I found." I amazed myself by how fast I reached Mom and I's tower. I dropped Dan into our nest and landed behind it. He was way too small for it.
Mom stood in the corner of the rock cave, with her forehead pressed against the cold wall. "Messummer? You're back?"
"Of course, I am," I excitedly said, "and I discovered an entirely new species."
"What are you talking about?" Mom twisted her body so she could face me. Up close, she was much bigger than I.
I held my wings before me. My eyes caught Dan trying to climb out of the nest. He got no more than halfway out before he slid back into it.
"Look, Quetzalcoatlus," he snapped, glaring at me with his big, brown eyes, "I have had a rough day. I was chased by tetrapods in the Carboniferous Period, crawled on top of by an Arthropleura, and then my stupid starship dropped me off in the wrong time period. The least you could do is not kidnap me!"
"What's all that squeaking?" Mom said. "It sounds like a small creature's gotten in here."
"I mean, he is rather small," I joked, peering down on Dan.
He glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest. He wore a strange, red covering over his upper body, outlined by yellow, and a smaller, navy blue one under it. Two rounded objects were also embedded in the unusual brown fur on his head. The fur was spiky, and two strands crossed before his eyes. He was a sight for sore eyes, for sure.
At the sight of him, Mom screeched. She leaped back like a frightened chick and pointed one of her legs at Dan. "What is that thing?"
"It's my new pet," I giggled.
"It's hideous! Where did you find it?"
I did not think Dan understood us. He looked beyond bewildered. However, I did think he knew Mom did not like him.
"What, have you never seen a seventeen-year-old human before?" he wondered. "How surprising." I assumed he enjoyed being sarcastic. Did he say "seventeen"? Was that considered "young" where he came from? Without warning, he stretched his arms over his head and yawned. Poor thing. He looked rather tired. He settled down in Mom and I's nest, pulled some branches and leaves close to him, and closed his eyes.
"Oh, Mom, can we keep him, at least for tonight?" I asked. "I'll walk him in the morning, feed him, and heck, I'll even let him fly in the Great Flying Race with me. Besides, I think he's injured his leg."
"How do you know he's not one of those sharp-toothed beasts in disguise?" Mom snapped. She tapped her toes.
"He's not. Oh, please, Mom. Please." I fell to my claws and knees before her and tugged at her leg. "Let me keep him."
"Okay, fine!" Mom pushed me off. "He can stay, but only for tonight."
"Whoopee!" Those were the best words Mom ever told me. I danced back and forth, but then I noticed Dan shuffling in his sleep, so I stopped. "Oh, right. Shh." I brought my claw to my beak.
Mom shook her head. "What am I going to do with you, Messummer?"
"Well, you can decide after the Great Flying Race," I exclaimed. I tell you, Moms and daughters did not mix well. I'd rather stay in the nest with my new pet and teach him the wonders of my world. That was when it crossed my mind. Why shouldn't I do that? A pit in my tummy told me Dan enjoyed my kind. It was settled, then! We would get up early in the morning, and I would give him the grand tour... with the race.
I hopped into the nest and walked in a few circles. I had to be careful not to kick dirt in Dan's peaceful face accidentally. The sun's orange rays tickled my fur. I puffed the light out of it, growing two times my size. With a short yawn, I plopped down beside Dan and set my chin on the edge of the nest.
Mom grumbled to herself. She marched to the corner of the cave and lay down there instead. "Why do I always let my daughter bring weird pets into the house?"
The tickle in my throat returned. I did not know if the sunshine or humor caused it. Perhaps it was a combination of both? The sun lulled me to sleep—the wonderful, dusty glow that tasted like the blood of a fresh, sharp-toothed baby. At that point, I let my meal slide. Meeting Dan was so much more interesting.
***
"Stupid, stupid starship." Dan sounded much angrier than the day before.
At first, I let his anger slide. I opened my beak and sucked in a fresh wave of the morning sun's rays. Unfortunately, it was not enough to satisfy the rumble in my tummy. I tried to go back to sleep but heard something smack the cave's wall. That snapped me back to full consciousness.
Dan was outside the nest, chucking rocks and stones at the wall.
Irritated by the clamor, Mom buried her head in a pile of dirt we sometimes used to trap heat.
Dan put almost no weight on his left leg, but he stamped his right. I believed he was having a tantrum. "We go to the Precambrian Time, and I almost get incinerated," he told himself, the little chump.
Something blinked in the center of the box he wore. "Hey, that was your fault. I told you not to travel far on Rodinia, but no, no, no. You didn't listen to me." It was like magic. Was PPMC, Dan's strange-looking friend, somewhere in the cave, too? It sure didn't look like it. Unless she somehow fit in that tiny box?
Dan banged his wrist a few times. He didn't even flinch with the pain. "Can you at least send me my hoverscooter so I can get the heck of here?"
"I'm trying, Dan the Man, but I must fix a few things. I don't know why we ended up in the Cretaceous Period, not the Jurassic."
"Well, fix faster! The Quetzalcoatlus are going to eat me."
"You don't know that."
"I Sam heck do! Those tetrapods and Arthropleura were eager to turn me into the blue-plate special."
"Blue-plate special," PPMC chortled. "All right, Dan, just hold tight. Hoverscooter 23 is coming."
"It's about time. I'm getting out of here." Dan pressed his box's blinking object. No longer did I hear PPMC.
Knees bent, I climbed out of the nest and clutched the cave's floor. My long neck stretched like a growing tree trunk. I stopped Dan in his tracks and sniffed him up and down. The fur on his head stuck up for a few seconds when I inhaled.
"Oh, go away, you ridonculous pterosaur," he groaned, pushing my neck aside.
"A what?" I screeched. Was I supposed to be offended?
"Can you stop screeching in my ear?"
Dan definitely did not understand me, but for some reason, I understood him. I did not let his naïve behavior steal my curiosity.
"Do you want to do this the hard way?" he added. "Fine." He lowered the circular objects on his head. They hid his eyes behind the grayness. He balled his claws and threatened me with them. "Put up your dukes."
"For the love of—!" Mom's head shot out of the pile of dirt. "Get rid of him, Messummer!"
"Is she your mom?" Dan asked me. It was good to know that I wasn't the only one who thought Mom was insane.
I gave my new friend a quick nod. It was strange. The confession changed his whole emotional state.
"Oh," he said, suddenly saddened. The round objects over his eyes fell to his neck. He lowered his claws to his sides and clutched his leg.
Dan limped past me. He headed out to the ledge I had been standing on before and plopped down on his backside, pulling his knees close to his chest. For a good while, he admired the pink and orange sunrise.
My eyes rolled over to Mom. She was just as confused as I was. "Was it something I said?" she asked.
I inhaled deeply. All right, Messummer, you've got this. I knew what would lift Dan's spirits. What I felt was an instinct. I had never met this creature before. Yet, there was something familiar about him. I rose to my full height and stumbled out to him. That was what happened when you weren't used to walking.
He and I shared glances. Roars of my kind overtook the incredible, cloudless sky. Everybody was out on their morning hunt.
"Look, I'm sorry," Dan finally told me. "I'm just stressed. The truth is, I love the Quetzalcoatlus. It was my mom's favorite prehistoric creature."
Oh, I saw what he was getting at. It looked like we had something in common.
"I told her I would find one and name her 'Becca' after her," Dan said with a small smile.
Dude, my name was Messummer. I did not think you could change that. Lowering my head, I sniffed the caked blood on his leg.
"Oh, this." Dan gently patted his leg. "I got it in the Paleozoic Era when PPMC and I crash-landed in a coal swamp." The second he said that, he slapped himself in the face. "Oh, what am I saying? It's a pterosaur, Dan. It doesn't understand you. It doesn't know what the Paleozoic Era is."
While it was true I did not know the meaning behind all those strange terms he used, he was lying to himself when he said I didn't understand him. He and I sat in silence for a few minutes, and then I perked up. I grabbed the back of the covering over his upper body and scooped him up from the ground.
"Hey! Hey!" he shouted, throwing his arms. "What are you doing?"
"Yes, Messummer, what are you doing?" Mom, who had come out to see what was happening, gave me a funny look.
"I'm doing what I told you last night," I argued. "I'm taking him for a walk." And just like that, I dropped Dan off the ledge. He fell toward the valley's meandering stream. It blended in well with the valley's greenness.
I dropped down after Dan, but I waited until he almost hit the stream before I announced, "Time for us to have some fun!" I caught him and tossed him onto my head. We zoomed past herds of long-necked creatures, three-horned ones, and then ones with hard, spiky shells—all who wanted a drink from the watering hole. A few long-necked beasts ate leaves off the tallest branches of the highest trees. Spit covered their lips while they chewed.
I flapped my wings as hard as I could. Wind gushed off them.
Screaming, Dan grabbed my crest. I did not want to scare him; I wanted him to see the wonders of my world.
I flew in a straight pattern, climbing higher and higher into the sky. I then made a sharp turn and headed toward the edge of the valley where the large body of water—the bright, blue ocean—was. Waves crashed into one another and threw foam, like when a sharp-toothed monster threw away the bones of its prey. Avoiding them, I joined a few more creatures of my kind. I made sure to jump into the center of the herd. We synchronized our flight patterns. We beat our wings simultaneously and dove down to the ocean's surface. Water spewed up behind us like lava from an erupting volcano. We avoided herds of long-necked water beasts by flying under their chins. My eyes rolled up to Dan.
A huge smile covered his weary face. I knew he enjoyed creatures like me. "Whoo-hoo!" he cheered. "Look at this Quetzalcoatlus go, go, go!"
The other flyers were confused by his presence. "He's a friend," I told them. I broke off from the herd so Dan and I could have time alone. My wings beat slower, so we merely glided across the ocean instead of soaring. The sun's warmth massaged our backs, telling us how blessed we were to be alive.
The ritual was upon us. It was time for the Great Flying Race. The starting line was on the beach, just a few feet from the valley's edge. I could already see specks of my kind lining up on the near horizon. They all balanced themselves on the soft sand and waited for their cue.
"Where are we going, Becca?" Dan asked from my head.
Wait, did he call me "Becca"?
"It's okay if I call you that, right?" he added. "Oh, please. Becca was my mother's name. I'd do anything to see her again."
It's fine, Dan. I never minded you giving me your mom's name. To show him it was okay, I nodded.
"Oh, thank you," Dan said, on the verge of tears. He wrapped his arms around my neck. By then, the creatures on the beach drew closer. We could see them better. "Oh, wow, look!" Dan cheered. He pointed at the long-necked beasts. "Alamosaurus!" Then he gestured at the three-horned ones. "Triceratops!" And finally, the ones with the spiky shields on their backs. "Ankylosaurus! I'm living my 3023, people."
3023? Was that the name of the valley he came from?
We landed beside a herd of... Alamosaurus, he called them? The long-necked creatures. "Stay close to me, Dan," I said, but he did not listen. He was too excited.
He limped under the long necks' legs and admired them from their flat undersides. I noticed he pressed the same button on his box.
"Alamosaurus," it said, "said to be one of the largest sauropods of the Mesozoic Era. They lived between seventy million years ago and went extinct during the K-T Mass Extinction sixty-five million years ago."
"Dan!" I called. I pushed through the crowd, past my kind preparing for the race, and the spiky-shield creatures who batted their tails together.
"Attention, inhabitants of the Valley of Green!" announced the largest flier on the beach. He kicked up the sand to grab everyone's attention. "It's time for the annual Great Flying Race! Flyers will start here, go through the Clumped Woods, across the Glowbeak Meadow, and then fly the valley's length."
"Oh, Dan, come on," I begged. "The race is about to start."
"Hey, Becca!" he called, pointing at the ocean. "Are there any Mosasaurus in the water?"
How was I supposed to know? I didn't know what that was. Oh, jeez. He was turning into quite the project. I wondered if he was that troublesome in his Valley of 3023.
His box flashed again. It was the same powerful flash when it warned him about me. "Extreme danger! Extreme danger!" it said. "An asteroid, ten kilometers across, is headed straight for Earth! Get out of there, Dan!"
"What?" Instantly, Dan's smile vanished. Sweat trickled down his temples. He punched his box a few times. "Oh, please, PPMC, stop with the jokes."
"I'm not joking, Daniel. You need to get out of there! Your father gave me strict orders to return you safely to 3023."
"PPMC, just shut up!" Dan made haste to turn off the box. "Wise starship."
A sickening feeling invaded my insides. I wondered why I shared the same fear as PPMC. My eyes rolled up to the clear, blue sky.
"Flyers, take your positions!" announced the large flier.
At the same time, my kind opened their enormous wings and bent their knees. They, too, examined the sky.
"Extreme danger! Extreme danger!" yelled Dan's box. "An asteroid, ten kilometers across, is headed straight for Earth!"
That was when Dan grew nervous. I could see it on his face. His big, brown eyes no longer showed curiosity and excitement but fear that something big was about to happen. "PPMC, what have you done?" he mumbled. He scurried out from under the long-necked creatures and headed toward the race. "Stop! Stop!" he shouted. "It's too dangerous!"
I was sure his voice remained squeaky because he was so small. Either that or the flyers did not hear him at all.
I took the same path as him with my claws in the sand. "Stop! We can't do the race!"
It was too late. "And... fly!" cawed the large flier.
All the flyers screeched. Sand overtook the beach as they leaped into the sky, unaware of the lurking danger.
"Becca, we've got to stop them," Dan said. He shivered from head to toe.
Nodding, I dipped my wing to him. His claws were not sharp, like those of the sharp-toothed beast. They were smooth, and they gave me a sense of peace when they touched my membrane. Were "claws" even the correct term? I wondered if it was me, but the sky suddenly felt warmer. It was as if the sun had split in two. Something appeared in the atmosphere. It looked like... What was it? Whatever it was, it was much bigger than anything I had seen fall from the clouds. It looked like a flaming rock. Smaller rocks broke off it as it plummeted.
"We're too late! Get down!" Dan shouted. By then, I knew he had seen the rock, too.
We both tumbled onto our fronts in the sand and covered our heads with our claws. For a few seconds, there was silence, and then a seismic roar burned our eardrums.
Flaming rocks smashed into the racers' wings, tearing the membrane to the bone. The sky shook, and so did the world. The sky turned red, and a giant wave, a hundred feet tall, lifted out of the ocean.
The animals scattered. They bumped into each other as they tried to escape the fray. A three-horned beast, too scared to move, roared silently to himself. He remained at the edge of the water. The sky grew hotter and hotter, and the waves grew larger.
Dan uncovered his head. "What is he doing?" he said. "Becca, we need to get him."
"There's no time, Dan." I tossed him back onto my head and hurried out of the tsunami's path.
The three-horned beast still did not move. He took his last breath, and then the tsunami swamped not just him but also all the other non-flyers who failed to escape the danger. In just a few seconds, the whole beach was gone. The tsunami pulled the creatures into the ocean and chucked a few others into the valley. What was supposed to be a race day was now a fight for survival.
***
It felt like the meteor shower would never end. I pushed through it, narrowly avoiding the rocks from hitting my wings, and said to Dan, "We need to get you back to PPMC."
"Becca, we've got to help those dinosaurs." Dan still did not understand my lingo. He pointed at a herd of long-necked creatures below. They shook unevenly on their four legs, which led me to believe the earth was shaking. "Becca, please," Dan begged.
"Daniel!" yelled his wrist box. "Hoverscooter 23 is coming up on you from behind."
"It is?" he asked.
Something swooshed over my head. My flight and fight response told me to duck under it. It was a red, oval-shaped, floating figure with white stripes at its front and back.
Before I could move out of the way, one of the flaming rocks smashed into my left wing. I did not dare look at the severity of the wound. The smell of my sizzling membrane was enough for me.
"Becca!" Dan said. The rock's impact chucked him over my crest. He dropped down toward the group of long necks. The strange, oval-shaped object chased him. I barely caught a glimpse of "Hoverscooter 23" on its side. Then I, too, started to plummet.
My membrane sizzled and sizzled; there was no telling when it would stop. The Valley of Green looked closer than it was supposed to be.
The oval-shaped object caught Dan and lowered him onto the field's dirt. I used my remaining strength in my right wing to help me land.
The group of long necks Dan saw rushed to shelter in a cave at the end of the field. Smaller creatures running on two legs followed close behind.
I moved away when a dead flier crashed beside my bad wing. He was nothing more than bones. I assumed the flaming rocks incinerated him, just like my poor daddy.
"Becca!" I heard Dan call. He slid off his object and came toward me.
The heating ground under us shook. It was so powerful and unusual—like no earthquake I had ever felt. A fissure appeared between Dan and me. The ground broke apart. New rocks burst out of the surface. They pierced the red heavens. I noticed a giant cloud coming toward the valley. Different-colored lightning flashed in it. The closer it approached, the hotter it became.
Dan noticed it, too. "The ejecta cloud!" he said. He was drenched in sweat. His eyes rolled over to the creatures piling in the cave, but he saw another enormous, flaming rock in the sky. It headed straight for the shelter. "No!" he cried.
What was he doing? Was he insane? He hopped onto his oval-shaped object and zoomed forward.
I leaped over to a piece of land still intact to the ground when another rock rose out of it. The smell of smoke filled my nostrils. "Dan, stop!" I screeched.
Dan brought his floating object to a halt before the cave. He gestured the creatures out. "Guys, please, listen to me. You need to get out of there. It's too dangerous." Both he and I gasped at the sight of the rock drawing closer. The singed smell grew stronger, and then the woods surrounding the area burst into flames. The Clumped Woods. Gone. Just like that.
"Get out!" Dan screamed.
One of the long neck's jaws dropped. He took one step forward, but the asteroid smashed into the cave. Dust and smoke from the impact zone blocked out the sun.
I lost Dan in the cloud. "No, no, no!" I said. "Dan!" My claws hit the ground with so much force that I lost one of them. That did not stop me. I leaped into the dust and searched for my friend, stepping over rocks and dead long necks. The fire quickly spread into the field. "Daniel!" I called. There he was.
He lay on top of the bloodied head on the long neck who tried to escape, knocked out cold, with his floating object beside him.
I hurried toward him, desperate, but then I heard a loud sound behind me. Powerful feet. A brown-skinned, sharp-toothed beast leaped into the dust cloud. Rows of sharp teeth filled his powerful jaw. His beady eyes bore into mine. He scooped up one of the smaller creatures, who had been hiding in the cave, and swallowed it whole. Its blood stained his lips like tree sap. Roaring, he swung his powerful tail back and forth.
Dan stirred behind me. He coughed and lifted his head off the long neck. "Oh, man, what happened?" he asked, rubbing it. "For a second, I thought I heard a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ah!" At the sight of the monster, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "I did!" Clearing his throat, he said sarcastically, "Kids, don't trust your spaceship to take you on a trip through a wormhole. Somebody always gets hurt."
That was not the time to be cracking jokes. Dan tried to crawl away, but the monster leaped over my head. He shook the ground in front of Dan when he landed. The poor boy screamed again.
"Leave him alone!" I said. I was a large, powerful creature myself. The beast had no right to pick on somebody smaller than him. Like him, I jumped, and my head smashed into his light underbody. I knocked him onto his own piece of land the fissure created. I reached for Dan, but he slapped me away.
"It's okay, Becca. I've got this." He pressed something at the end of his floating object. At his command, black, rounded feet appeared under it. Two red things that looked like branches left the object's front. Dan lowered the rounded objects on his head over his eyes again. He pulled up the object's feet and grabbed the branch-like structures. Once he was ready, he started forward.
I painfully flapped my wings and followed him. We left the field and entered the heart of the disaster.
***
What happened to Glowbeak Meadow? It no longer carried an abundance of color but of flames and petrified creatures.
Hold on, that dead flier over there beside the burning woods looked familiar. No, it couldn't have been. "Mom!" I screeched. I shoved Dan, knocking him right off his floating object. He fell face-first into the grass. "Mom!" I called again. I opened my wings, but a searing pain shot up my left one, all the way to the shoulder, and I toppled over. I crawled the rest of the way to her. "Mom, no," I cried. She lay on her front, her wings in tatters, and her beak turned to the left. The fire rapidly closed in on us, but I refused to leave my mother's side.
I heard Dan stop behind me. "Becca. Oh, no," he whimpered. He fell to his knees and rested his claws on my good wing.
I buried my face in my mother's tummy. "Mommy, please." I nudged her. "Get up." She did not move. I tugged her wing, her leg, and even her crest. Still nothing. "Please," I begged again. It was no use. "I'm sorry," I cried. "I should have never left you for that stupid race. If only I had known."
"Becca, it's not your fault." Dan finally understood me. He gripped either side of my furry cheeks. "The dinosaurs did not know this would happen. I don't want you to worry, though." He cuddled close to me. "I'll stay with you until all of this is over."
"Dan, you can't," I grumbled. "You don't belong here."
"But I love you."
"I know. And I love you, my son."
"Wait... son?" Dan let me go. He fell onto his backside and crawled away from me. Squinting his eyes, he hugged his floating object close to him.
I gave him a quick nod. "Yes." Half of my spirit left my body. It changed from a Quetzalcoatlus to a creature that looked just like Dan. She had his short brown hair and large chestnut eyes.
Dan inched closer to me. "You followed me, just like you promised in 3023."
"I said I would be with you—in forms both 'big and small'," I explained. We hooked our claws together and playfully moved our arms back and forth.
With his free hand, Dan rubbed his eye. "Mom," he sniffed.
"I'm here, son." We embraced. Dan hugged my spirit—not the body I resided in. We let go, and I titled up his chin. "You've grown so much in five years, son. But I want you to know something. You do not belong here. You belong front in your time. It's too dangerous for you to stay."
"But, Mom." Dan held my wrist close to his cheek. "I don't want to lose you again."
"You won't," I explained, patting his cheek. "I will always be with you. I need you to be strong for Messummer and her mom."
"So, her name is Messummer." Dan let me go. He peered down at my pterosaur form. She lay down beside her mom and set her beak on her wing.
"Travel back through that wormhole," I said. "Tell your dad I love him."
"Mom? Mom?"
"I love you, Dan." I gave his cheek a quick kiss, and then I dove back into my prehistoric body. The second I did, a bright light flashed behind Dan. In the hot, red atmosphere, PPMC appeared.
She offered him her metallic claws. "Come on, Dan."
"No." Dan grabbed my tattered wing. He moved away when another flier tumbled out of the sky. He coughed through the smoke of the approaching fire. It was a perfect ring, enough to engulf even the largest sharp-toothed beast. "I'm not going to leave her, PPMC. I'll die with her." Dan cried up a storm. However, it was so hot that his tears instantly vaporized. He crawled on top of me and wrapped his arms around my neck. "She's my mom."
"I think this is why we got sent back to the Cretaceous Period instead," PPMC said. "You need to move on, Dan. That's what Becca is trying to tell you."
I nudged Dan, telling him everything was going to be okay. It was time for our kind to die, but not his. He had his whole life ahead of him. As for us, we had our share on the earth. Spending my last few minutes with Dan and my mom was all I wanted.
Dan rolled off me, sniffing. He grasped either side of my beak. "I love you, Becca," he cried, closing his eyes. "Thank you for showing me your world."
"It's my pleasure, Dan." I sniffed his fur like before, and it again stuck up on his head.
PPMC again gave him her claws. He kissed me one last time and hopped into them with his floating object. His friend pulled him toward her black underbody.
"Bye, Mom! Bye!" Dan called. "I'll never forget you!"
"Stay safe," I said back.
"Bye!" With that word, my son vanished into his starship, safe and sound.
PPMC stalled a bit, and then she flew forward. After only a minute, she disappeared, and I was left alone with my mom.
I examined the chaos: the scattering creatures, the earthquake, which shook harder and faster, and the flaming rocks that continued to fall. The enormous, electric storm hit the valley. The heat it gave off burned my other wing. It sizzled like my left, and holes appeared as the membrane tore. Yet, I held both wings to my mom and studied the impending doom. The flames cooked a herd of long necks alive. Their painful cries hurt my ears, and I looked away. The ground split, and more herds fell into the holes.
Memories of Dan calmed my nerves—not just those of my time as a Quetzalcoatlus but also those of when I was human. He was such an adorable baby.
I saw the first time Dan found a fossil. He was only three years old. The valley outside Greenville, South Carolina, reminded me of my Valley of Green. Dan and I spread our picnic blanket on the grass directly before the enormous lake that originated from a meteor. The sun's rays sparkled on the surface of the water.
"Mommy, Mommy, look!" Dan called. He dug into the dirt like a dog and pulled out a strange-looking rock with a creature's imprint on it. "I found something."
I pulled my hair back into a barrette and hurried to him. "Oh, my goodness, Danny," I said, picking him up. Flower petals floated past us and circled the lake's surface. I took the rock out of Dan's hand and examined it. It was about the size of my own hand. "This is a fossil."
"Fos-sil?" Dan asked, tripping on the word.
"It's a trilobite," I said. "It's an ancient ancestor to the horseshoe crab."
"Fossil," Dan tried again. He stole it from me and smiled. "I want one."
"Well, you can have this one," I said. He and I bumped foreheads. I kissed him and pulled him close to my breast. "Your father will be so proud of you."
The memory was all I needed to endure the ancient pain. My body burned with Glowbeak's flames, but I did not scream. How could I? I just spent the day with the most important person in my life. I already missed him.
That got me thinking about my appearance when he traveled to the Pleistocene Epoch. I couldn't do much in the Precambrian Time, but I tried a Hylonomous in the Paleozoic Era, a Quetzalcoatlus in the Mesozoic Era, and now for the Cenozoic Era... Oh, I've got it.
PPMC and Daniel, keep your space pants on. That last thought burned through my brain the entire time the fire incinerated me. I left my mom, friends, and the disaster, but never Daniel Matton.
I am Messummer, his mom, and I am proud to call him my son.
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