Young Writers Society

My corner: So, this is the book I'm working on and hope to have the entire thing written, at the very least, by November 1st. This is really a huge experiment for me, I've been doing research so I can try to make it as accurate as possible and I don't typically have anything to do with Sci-Fi. So we'll see how this goes. Grammar isn't my strongest point, I try to do my best, so suggestions would be great, or a beta would work too. Anyway, here's the first chapter, it's more of an introduction really, when I go to edit the story I'll probably end up rewriting it. Chapters two and three are much better than this one.

Prince of Peace

Chapter 1

At the end of another boring day of school the hallways resounded with noise that only high school students could generate. The kids were leaving school for their various activities. A majority of them were heading to the bus, others to work, some to sports practice, or heading in whatever direction they had planned to hang out with friends. And various means of transportation was available, bus, car, bike, or walking were utilized be zealous kids who couldn't’t be happier about school being over for the day.

"I can’t believe you got a job,” said a girl in disbelief as she and her friends were leaving the school and walking to their respective buses. Her friends laughed and she flushed scarlet realizing how that had sounded.

Her friend rolled her eyes and said, “Gee, thanks Amy.”

Amy whined, “Nikki you know what I meant.” She latched onto her friend’s arm, “I just can’t get over the fact that everyone’s working.”

Nikki supplied, “You could always get a job too.” Amy blinked, thinking about that possibility for the first time. Everyone laughed again.

The brunette, Nikki, took pity on her friend and changed the conversation, “So who wants to see a movie this weekend?”

As her face began to return to its normal color, Amy said, “Sounds fun, which one?”

“I was thinking of the new movie that came out last Tuesday.” Nikki answered as best as able, the name and what it was about slipped her mind.

One of the girls to the left of Nikki groaned, “Damn, I can’t. I have to work all weekend.” The others, except Amy who did not know how painfully boring and annoying that was, cringed.

And one girl a few steps behind the others said, “I’ll have to ask my parents.” She did not sound very hopeful though.

Amy slowed her pace and asked, “Are your parents still mad at you for hitting your mailbox and denting it?” The girl nodded and sighed.

Nikki said, “That sucks. You've been grounded for backing into it for a week already, you were just learning how to drive they can't expect you to be perfect.”

Unfortunately their conversation was interrupted by a male voice from behind Nikki. “As much joy as I get out of hearing the nonsense that comes out of your mouth would you keep it shut now?” The voice was sarcastic and Nikki had to take a few deep breaths to mentally prepare herself for the annoyance awaiting her.

Her tone was drastically different from what she had been using moments before, it was cold and unforgiving. “Do you ever mind your own business, Devin?”

The boy was like her, he had brown hair and brown eyes. He was considered average, neither overly attractive nor hideous, another similarity the two shared. Devin retorted, “Do you ever stop talking?”

Showing that she didn't care nor her desire to pretend to care, Nikki turned and gave him a sickly sweet smile. “What can I say Devin, you bring out the best in me.” Her voice was sarcastic as she waited for the banter to continue. They glared at each other and before either could really react first to what she said Nikki turned to her friends, ignoring him. “I’ll see you guys this weekend.” And with that Nikki got on the bus, not looking back, while he did not say anything she knew he was still staring at her.

First of all, the story sounds good. It's an interesting enough beginning and I get a good sense of whats happening. You've got a few errors around - I won't point them all out, just one thing in particular though. You've got "'t't" on a lot of your didn'ts, wouldn'ts etc. just cut out that extra "'t"

The kids were leaving school for their various activities and plans

Here it would read better if it was "kids were leaving to go to their various activities" Plans doesn't really fit in there. Maybe "to go to their various activities or meet with friends"?

Amy slowed her pace and asked, “Are your parents still mad at you for hitting your mailbox and denting it?” The girl nodded and sighed.

I think you could make more of this. At the moment it seems a bit random and doesn't come across as a natural dialogue.

“Excellent vocabulary, now would you keep your mouth shut now?”

"Excellent vocabulary" doesn't really make sense. "Excellent conversation" maybe. But even that doesn't sound quite right - you've also get one to many nows in there.

He also wasn't’t the most handsome boy in the school, or the ugliest just like she wasn't’t on the girl spectrum.

I sort of get the general gist, it needs to be cleared up a bit though.

Nikki turned and gave him a sickly sweet smile, obviously showing she didn't’t care to pretend she cared.

Obviously isn't in the right place. I think you should move it - "showing, obviously, she didn't care to pretend she cared". Or "Showing that she obviously didn't care, or pretend to care."

Overall it's a nice start. The conversation works well, it flows and isn't stunted or robotic. It's good. You create a good setting which is easy to visualise.

My Corner: Thanks Mad, I went through my file on Word and the 't't' didn't show up. Something must've happened when I copied and pasted so I'll know to keep an eye out for it now. Thanks for the advice, I went and edited it to try to improve it. Anywho, here's the second chapter I hope you like it. It was rather hard for me since I'm not used to writing action scenes, so tips would be greatly appreciated as always.

Chapter 2

She groaned and rubbed her head, “Ow.” The brunette sat up and opened her eyes. Her sight swam and she felt dizzy, she squeezed them tight trying to rid herself of the feeling. As her equilibrium was restored a shaky breath escaped her lips. She opened her eyes again, the sun was bright and it hurt her eyes until they adjusted.

Once her eyes had adjusted she saw that she was in a grassy field, with scattered trees within it and a forest around it. “What the,” she said as she looked around. Fear welled up in her as she realized she did not recognize anything. “Alright, take it easy Nikki.” She had never seen any of the foliage around her, “There are tons of different kinds of plants it’s no big deal that I don’t recognize any.”

Nikki stood on shaky feet. She looked down at herself, ‘at least I’m still in my clothes.’ The obscure thought made her feel better for some reason no matter how idiotic it was. She turned around and the sight of other people greeted her gaze. Relief began to fill her as she stared towards them, at a fast jog. While it did not matter much to her at the time, she noticed they were all wearing brown knee length tunics. Their clothing was the last thing on her mind; she just wanted an explanation of some sorts.

As she neared someone screamed and they all began to run in different directions. If some were not running towards her she would have thought they were scared of her. There was more screaming and a ghastly roar like noise was released into the air. She pleaded with wide eyes that she was hallucinating.

Rushing at all the people, snatching, killing, and devouring them were large feathered creatures. The red creatures were not flying, in fact they were running and they were fast. She could not begin to count them in the chaos. The brunette began to panic as some headed towards her. She tried to tell herself to move, but her body betrayed her. Nikki wondered if it would even be wise to run, maybe if she ran it would make things worse, like a dog. But as they neared she was not willing to take that chance, ‘Forget that,’ she thought as she screamed at herself. Finally her body obeyed her and she began running as fast as she could away from the creatures.

They reminded her a bit of Velociraptors, and if they were as fast as them then they would have no issue catching her. She had to try to outsmart them. She darted to the right, hoping to create some distance between them. And that is when she saw another coming straight at her. Her heart skipped a beat, ‘I’m going to die,’ she thought. There were thunderous roars that shook her to her core coming from the forests. The trees gave way to what appeared to be Tyrannosauruses, there had to be at least twenty of them.

Things were getting worse she feared as they were running towards them, the red creatures and people alike. The one to her right was almost upon her; she quickly glanced behind her and saw it running away as a T-Rex chased after it. It was then she saw the feathered creature to her right about to lunge at her. She lunged to the ground, praying that she was fast enough. Nikki was, but just barely as its head shot forward for where she had just been. She collided with the ground and quickly rolled so she could see the thing. Its head was coming towards her, mouth open to deliver a killing bite. She automatically raised her arm in a futile attempt to protect herself, its powerful jaw bit into her arm and she let loose a shrill scream, eyes squeezed shut. Nikki’s leg shot out and kicked it in the throat before it completely crushed her arm. It released her arm with a roar and threw its head back. Her arm bled profusely and she had just cracked her eyes open in time to see a T-Rex bear down on the thing that had deemed it fit to make her its next meal. With both carnivores distracted she scrambled to her feet and began running away from them. Her arm throbbed with pain, should she look down she would see the bite wounds from the feathered thing.

Her eyes widened as more dinosaurs emerged from the forest. There seemed to be no hope for her. She cradled her arm a little as she slowed to a stop. Her heart was racing and her lungs burned. Nikki evaluated everything around her. The new dinosaurs were brown and white, and their pattern reminded her of zebras. She did not even bother trying to figure out how many there were. Some went for the partially eaten carcasses of humans and others went straight for the live humans. The entire field had lost its tranquility, there was blood everywhere, screams and roars permeated the air and yet she felt oddly calm. Nikki realized she was in shock, and began to wonder how long it would be until she snapped out of it. The zebra like dinosaurs had small spikes along their spines and were a bit smaller than the T-Rexes. She barely noticed one was behind her until she felt a gust of hot air from behind her. The teen whirled around and the site of one’s head near her made her jump in the air and scramble backwards. It stepped towards her, as if it were trying to block her escape.

“This is a dream,” she insisted. “This is just one very bad, very realistic dream.” It had to be, this sort of thing only happened in stories, books, movies, comics, TV, or dreams. It could not possibly be real. Nikki stared at the creature, numb. Hell she was not even shaking or trembling. In fact, her arm was numb, she had forgotten about it. She prayed it didn’t eat live things, that they were only scavengers.

The dinosaur took half a step towards her and she backed up, trying to keep distance between them. She looked around and saw others were doing the same thing to some of the people. Her eyes widened, “They’re herding us,” Nikki’s gaze snapped to the lizard in front of her, “That’s what you’re doing. You’re herding me.” She awaited an answer, but soon realized that she was an idiot and that it wasn’t going to give a response.

She turned around, not fearing for her life as much, and began walking straight. Nikki figured it would keep her on track, whatever that was. The injured girl tried not to think about her fate and where the zebra lizard, as she had deemed it, was taking her. She busied herself by paying attention to the foliage and the animals she saw. There were a lot of insects and carnivores, many carnivores were eating. And if she weren’t mistaken some were eating more of their own kind. She began to feel sick to the stomach. None came near the procession of humans and zebra lizards. She felt slightly relieved, but what on earth was keeping them at bay? She frowned but did not stop walking.

Nikki could hear the other people crying, she could not blame them. To be honest, she felt like vomiting, crying, sleeping, and passing out.

As she continued to lose blood, and sweat as they went through the forest she began to think this was not a nightmare. The walk itself was not hard, but it was humid. For as tired as she was she did not want to pass out, she feared what would happen if she did. Her bleeding probably did not help her situation either should she pass out. They walked for about an hour before there was a break in the trees. By now Nikki had lost enough blood that she was barely conscious. It was a miracle the feathered thing hadn’t bitten into her artery; she’d be dead by now if it had. During the walk she had taken off the over shirt she had been wearing and wrapped it around her arm as tightly as possible to try to stop the bleeding a little. Now she was in a short sleeved shirt and her jeans, not exactly best walking wear in a jungle. Yeah, that was the best way to describe this place; it was way too humid to be a forest.

Once the convoy broke through the trees the sight of an eerily familiar structure greeted them. Nikki studied it, there were metal beams sticking out in the air, and rubble all over the place. It was some sort of ruins. The structure looked to be made of two different parts, one was much older and much more beat up, while the newer part looked as though it was there to try to fix up the older part. There were various carnivores here, and some were even perched on the metal beams.

She had a feeling her fate was inside that structure, why else would the zebra lizards take the time to herd them all here? And to be honest, she was terrified. The crying of the other people increased, but she focused more on walking and trying to see into the darkness that made up the newer part of the structure. The zebra lizards had led them through the large gap in the structure, on the older side, and were now herding them into the newer part.

It was already getting dark out, and she began to worry about being able to see, there weren’t any fires or alternative light sources anywhere. Once the sun went down, would she and the other people be enveloped in darkness, with nothing but the carnivores as company?

Nikki refused to go into the darkness of the new structure, and she noticed many of the others did as well. It made sense, they could not see and if attacked they could not even begin to defend themselves.

From the darkness was a serious of hisses, and other noises she could not begin to describe. The zebra lizards responded in some more strange noises that must be their language and the one behind Nikki left with the others, herding the other people away. She realized she was alone, they were leaving her behind; Nikki panicked and began to run after them. She was grabbed from the darkness and pulled into the newer portion of the structure. The brunette could not see anything as she stared into the darkness. A hand grabbed her injured arm and she cried out in pain and tried to get away, she was held still by the invisible thing. A hand, she realized, “You’re human,” it was a breathless whisper. She was able to make out a faint outline then, knowing what kind of shape to look for. It was larger than her, probably male.

The teen began to relax, feeling safer. The person before her began to lead her by her good arm through the darkness and opened a door. There was a hallway and a few torches further down it. She followed him through the door that he closed behind them. Though she had yet to see his face, Nikki could begin to see things about him. For one thing, it was definitely a guy. And he it looked like he had blue hair, and green, and yellow? Her eyebrows scrunched together at this, she stared at his shoulder blade length hair and could not believe her eyes. His hair faded from blue to green to yellow. She had never dreamed of seeing something like that. Nikki wanted to touch it, to see if it was a silky as it looked and ask if the coloring was real. If so, how was it possible?

“Oh my god,” she exclaimed stopping in her tracks. A tail, he had a tail! He stopped abruptly and whirled around to look at her. She was staring wide eyed at it, like his hair it faded from color to color. It was a long reptilian tail looked and moved very realistically. His clothing even had a hole for it. That is when she noticed his clawed hands. Her gaze shot up to his face. He looked like any other human except those eyes. They had pupils that were slits, not the circle normal people had. His gaze and expression were unreadable but she had a feeling he was awaiting her next reaction with a great amount of trepidation.

Her knees buckled and she fell to a kneeling position. He still held her hand, as she stared up at him. Her vision swam and she brought a hand to her face as if it would make it stop. She cried out and her hand twitched. And then it snapped, the shock was gone and Nikki started to sob. She lurched forward and began to dry heave; it felt like she had not eaten in years. In an instant the guy was kneeling as well, gathering her a bit in his arms, holding her long hair back. When she stopped dry heaving a little she remained as she was, bracing herself on her good arm and panting heavily while sobbing.

“You’ve lost too much blood,” he began, she barely noticed him. The strange man gathered her in his arms and helped her stand, she did not resist. “Let’s get your arm cleaned up and you to bed. I would’ve let you eat but with you feeling sick as it is it may be best to wait till morning.”

She did not process anything he said. The sound of his voice was soothing, he was warm, and she was so tired that she faded away to the world of slumber land right then and there.

It sounds pretty good, but there was a few things I saw like here

Unfortunately their conversation was interrupted by a mail voice from behind Nikki

you do mean male right? and you should add in more between what the characters are saying, it gets to be a bit to much if all you read is talk, you need to describe how they're feeling, what they're noticing, all just little things, but I love the way you introduced Devin into the story, I hope to read more!

My Corner: Thank you Lulu, I can't believe I missed that. Gah, bad Crimson. Anywho, this chapter is rather predictable in my opinion; oh well, win some, lose some. Comments, as always, are adored.

Chapter 3

Her head throbbed and she had no desire to open her eyes. She groaned in distaste as images from the grassy field flashed through her head, going from tranquil to a massacre. Why on earth did she have to remember such depressing and gruesome things right after she woke up? When the memory of her being bitten flashed through her mind Nikki felt sick and the injured appendage throbbed maliciously reminding her it had been no dream. The teen was so confused and in desperation for answers, closure, she tried to remember anything that ended up with her in that field. Memories must have a mind of their own, because they not only pop up at the worst times but they don’t answer her summons. The last thing she could remember was walking onto the bus after her argument with Devin.

The ground rocked to a rhythm until it disrupted the pattern with a large jolting bump. Her eyes snapped open as reflexively she reached for something to brace herself with. However, her actions stilled when she realized that she wasn’t on the ground, she was in a cage-like carriage. All of the sides were wooden bars save the solid floor. The sound of crying attracted her attention. Nikki realized she wasn’t alone, about fifteen other people were with her and they were huddled together hear the door on the opposite end of the cart. They wore their brown tunics and she lowered her gaze to examine her own apparel. She almost had a panic attack at realizing she was wearing one just like theirs. Silently she pleaded to whatever deities there may or may not be that the lizard man had not been the one to change her clothes.

She nearly screamed when another bird like creature emerged from the forest. This one was not like the red birds she had encountered in the field she noted subconsciously cradling her injured arm at the memory. It was a light brown with a blue and yellow head. Its beak was a light gray and its less extravagant tail was more like that of a reptile than a bird. Regardless it reminded her more of a bird than the things she’d seen earlier. It was sleeker; its plumage was smooth unlike the vicious red ones.

Futilely, she tried to create more distance between herself and the creature, by pressing herself against the cage bars. It seemed to care less about her as it walked along the cage, not that she minded. The other people were whimpering in fear but Nikki didn’t know if it was because of the dinosaurs or just the entire ordeal. She jumped when the bird like dinosaur began making hissing noises in various pitches, frequencies, and lengths between bird-like chirps. Once again Nikki was struck speechless by these creatures. She knew they could, logically, but seeing and hearing it for real was a totally different story. Similar noises responded to it from her right, she saw now that Mr. Lizard-Man was talking to it. Before long the bird ran off into the forest again, doing who knows what. She stared up at the man with wide eyes, hoping for some answers. Nikki shook her head, they weren’t just going to jump out of the back of his head at her, finding her voice probably would help after she sorted through her chaotic mind and figured out what to ask. The brunette felt horribly helpless, not something she aspired to feel like often. She had many questions with no leads or answers.

As she thought, her gaze traveled past Mr. Lizard-Man. The cart was being pulled by two black and orange creatures that were covered in spikes. It had a wickedly dangerous tail littered with spikes and she could not see more than two inches not covered by sharp spikes on its entire body. From her position she couldn’t see its head as they steadily lumbered along the trail. Her gaze traveled further to the next cart, it too held people and she saw another ahead of that, Nikki felt safe to assume that it too carried people.

Nikki rested her head on one of the bars and looked to the sky through jungle canopies. She didn’t know what to think or even where to start thinking. Abruptly, her stomach growled loudly and she flushed. To her joy no one heard it between all the sounds around them, from the wind to the dinosaurs and people. Of course they could’ve just ignored her if they did hear, in which case she was still grateful.

She looked at her bare feet dejectedly and decided none of this was fair. Yes, she knew life wasn’t fair but this was just ridiculous. It was so ridiculous that it was just a long and vivid dream it had to be. Nikki didn’t know what she’d do if it were real. Dinosaurs had become extinct millions of years ago, reasonably this wasn’t possible. Even in vividly real dreams one could sometimes still perceive pain. She glanced down at her bandaged and splintered arm. You could right? Her gaze fell to the cart dragging beasts. The rhythmic sway of their bodies soon had her lulling off to sleep.


The caravan continued for what felt like many more hours after she woke again, so long she was willing to call it forever. Bored out of her mind, Nikki was forced to think about things that wouldn’t heighten her already high need to go to the bathroom. The jerk the cart made when it stopped shook her out of her thoughts. She looked ahead and saw that the other cages had stopped as well. Nikki wondered why, and her confusion began to increase when Mr. Lizard-Man jumped off her cart. As the four birds ran towards him they communicated about something in the hissing and chirping language she’d heard used before. Once again the birds ran off into the woods, leaving everyone at Mr. Lizard-Man’s mercy.

He walked out of sight towards the first cart. The people in the cart before her vaulted away from the side of the cart where he was, crushing each other temporarily and adding to the barely controlled pandemonium. The bearers of the carts spoke in moans to him and he responded summarily. Idly she wondered how many languages he knew.

She didn’t know how long things continued that way, and had begun to merely stare at her bare feet out of boredom. Her trance was suddenly broken by a mob of people, slamming into her. She yelped at the impact and fought back when someone clawed her face in panic. For no other reason than self preservation Nikki curled into a ball, feeling her broken arm take more abuse and her body form bruise after bruise. There was screaming and crying, kicking and biting, everyone was in a panic for some reason and there she was already injured and crammed into a corner. Over time they calmed but Nikki hadn’t the courage to look up. Considering everything she’d been through, Nikki figured they’d start a riot again as soon as she looked up. That was not something she wished to experience anymore than she had to.

Nikki spent the time convincing herself that she would wake up from this insane dream and that everything would be back to normal. Once again she was broken from her thoughts when strong hands grabbed her and dragged her out of the cage.

The brunette crumbled to the ground, her legs weak from loss of blood and fatigue. For a moment she was left there, confused, but only for the briefest of moments. She quickly was hoisted to her feet and braced against a chest till she was able to stand on her own. Nikki found herself staring at a green shirt before she tore her eyes to meet his. Surprise, surprise, it was Mr. Lizard-Man. Their brown eyes stared into each other for a while, searching the others. He tore his gaze away first, and turned in the direction of the forest.

Considerately he led her by her good arm and it took a while for her mind to catch up. But when it did her temper flared, “Hey, let me go!” She fought his grip, not happy about being treated like a rag doll.

Mockingly he answered, “And let you run off to be eaten, forget it.”

She blinked at his words, “I promise I won’t run since you haven’t tried to eat me or hurt me.” Nikki followed her words with a sharp and painful tug on her arm. “So,” her agitation showing through her elevated voice, “stop treating me like a rag doll!”

He spun around to face her so abruptly that she fell into him. The teen quickly recovered and backed up to glare at him. Her anger was quickly replaced by fear at the sight of his flashing dangerously. This man suddenly made her want to break her promise.

He roughly grabbed her shoulders and began in a low and dangerous voice, “There are two things you should know. One, you’ll dislocate your shoulder if you keep that up. And two…” He paused and his grip on her tightened. “And two, I am not, nor have I ever been a cannibal.”

She stared up at him with wide fearful eyes. Mr. Lizard-Man lost his nerve and turned his gaze to the ground. He had said ‘cannibal,’ that meant something eating another of their species. If what he said was true…then he was a human.

Dazed, Nikki asked, “You’re human…then...what…” She trailed off, unable to find the words.

Mr. Lizard-Man sounded forlorn and spiteful, “I wasn’t born this way if that’s what you were asking.” He released her shoulders in favor of her good wrist. “Come on.”

Dutifully she let him lead her without complaint, reflecting on what he had said. This was too surreal, cliché even. The only theory she could think of was that he’d gone through genetic engineering. But…even that didn’t make sense. For the changes to be in every cell, which looked to be apparent in Mr. Lizard-Man, then the alterations to his DNA would’ve been done when he was a zygote, still a single celled organism. That would’ve meant he had been born this way, and since he said he hadn’t been born looking like a hybrid creature meant that genetic engineering was out of the question. Nikki frowned, what had been done to him?

They suddenly stopped and Nikki found herself nearly walking into him, merely a few inches away from him. She found herself wondering if he were warm blooded or cold blooded. His hand was warm, so logically he would be warm blooded. When he let her go she realized that very little was logical in this place.

He ignored her for a minute before turning and staring at her. She returned the stare until she couldn’t take the silence between them. “What?” she snapped.

Mr. Lizard-Man seemed to think for a minute before saying dryly, “You probably have to answer nature’s call.”

She bristled, that’s what this was about? A flush spread across her cheeks; that wasn’t something you just said about someone else, even if it was true. “That isn’t something you just blurt out,” Nikki said flustered.

“It’s true though,” He responded blandly, “The most recent that you would’ve gone was yesterday.”

Her lips pursed, “Stop it!” She exclaimed, embarrassed. This was always something that made her embarrassed.

He glanced at her arm, “I’ll change your bandage and give you some food if you cooperate.” Her eyes widened.

“I am not going to do that with you standing right here.” She said sternly.

With a scoff he retorted, “I’m glad, I was going to walk that way and hopefully you’d go hide behind something. Just don’t go too far while this area is fairly safe things can change in an instant here.” Without waiting for a response he started walking the way they had come. She watched him walk away until he stopped, twenty feet away, before sulking and going to go take care of nature’s call behind a large tree and bush.

Shortly afterwards, her feeling horribly embarrassed by the whole affair, Nikki made her way toward him with a bright scarlet blush across her cheeks. She glared at him, trying to look menacing but failed miserably.

Seemingly unperturbed, Mr. Lizard-Man pointed to a fallen log and commanded, “Sit.” Nikki watched the log cautiously, almost expecting there to be some cruel joke hidden on it. But with no proof, and an impatient dino-man she decided to finally do as he said.

He sat on her injured side, and grabbed fresh bandages and splints out of a bag tied about his waist she’d failed to notice earlier. Nikki looked away when he took her arm, not happy that she needed help in the first place. Mr. Lizard-Man unwound the bandages and removed the splints to get a better look at her wounds. His touch was tender and considerate as he held the injured appendage, studying it.

“Well it doesn’t look infected.” He muttered to himself before leaning down and sniffing the deep bite marks. With wide eyes she quickly snatched her arm away and leaned away from him. The sudden jerk she had made had hurt her arm, reminding her that it was broken as air hissed through her teeth.

The male’s own eyes widened and he reacted quickly. He grabbed her far shoulder and injured arm’s bicep firmly and pulled her back to where he wanted her. “What are you doing?” He asked agitated.

“Sorry for freaking out when someone’s sniffing your arm!” Nikki exclaimed sarcastically.

He grit his teeth, exposing their white razor sharp points to the already frightened girl. “I was sniffing for infection!”

She tried not to falter, despite how close he was to her, despite his creepy teeth. “How on Earth would you be able to smell something like that?”

“I have a much keener sense of smell than other people, that’s how!” Mr. Lizard-Man snapped.

Nikki couldn’t think of anything to say to that, she knew he didn’t like to talk about his…abnormalities thanks to the short amount of time she had spent with him. So she settled for glaring indignantly at him as he ignored her and returned to inspecting her arm.

When he began putting the new splints on her shattered arm and bandaging them to her, she asked, “How did you know that I was injured?”

“You mean besides the scent of blood when you got near the State Building?” He asked, feigning ignorance.

She specified with pursed lips, “Yes.”

“I had scouts follow the herders. And they ran ahead and said that there was a human not of the herd injured.” Mr. Lizard-Man explained, finishing up his work.

“Scouts? You mean like the birds from earlier with the lizard tails? And the zebra lizards are the herders?” Nikki asked, finally feeling like she was finally beginning to what was going on.

Mr. Lizard-Man smirked and nodded. He took out a roll of bread and explained, “The lizard birds are the scouts. They’re known as Troodon. And the herders, whom I’m assuming you’re calling zebra lizards, are called Rugops.”

He passed her the roll and began to go more in depth, knowing she was going to ask. “The dinosaurs that attacked you are called Saurornitholestes.” Nikki’s eyes widened and he smirked. “I know what a name; I refer to them as the thieves. They’re wickedly cunning, they were the reason there were people here in the first place after the Separation.”

“What?” Nikki asked, feeling more confused than ever. Mr. Lizard-Man remained quiet and didn’t go into detail.

The male began, “I had some of the women we had herded change your clothes. Also, for your sake…you need to pretend you have amnesia when we get to Paleont.” He wasn’t looking at anything in particular, rather stating it as an off hand comment.

She frowned. “What’s Paleont?”

He studied her for a while, “What do you remember?”

Nikki blinked and her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. “I remember waking up in that field…and then the thieves.” She glanced at him to make sure she used the right nick name. “But before that I only remember getting on my bus after an argument.”

He nodded, as if he knew what she was talking about. And they sat in silence for a bit, he was staring ahead of them while Nikki ate her roll and studied his features searching for something. He was so…familiar. Mr. Lizard-Man must’ve finally noticed her staring and glared at her out of the corner of his eye. “What?” He snapped.

She averted her gaze, “Nothing you just remind me of someone, actually the person I had been arguing with that day with a jerk…” She trailed off, Nikki didn’t want to be panicking about wherever she was and apparently Mr. Lizard-Man was going to help her…a little.

She started suddenly and grabbed his arm, “What did you just say?” He had muttered something…something that made her heart swell with hope and dread at the same time.

Mr. Lizard-Man leaned away from the wide eyed brunette. “Nothing of importance,” he said trying to drop the topic.

“No, you said ‘I regret ever saying you had an annoying voice.’” Nikki was excited she knew exactly how many people had thought that about her.

He sneered, “I never met you before why would I say that.” Mr. Lizard-Man pried his arm free of her grasp and stood up, ready to leave and put her back in that cage.

“You’re lying,” she insisted standing up as well. She stared at him in wonder for a minute, before taking her good arm and wailing him upside the head. He let out an in-human hiss, paying the price for not looking at a livid girl.

“What is wrong with you?” He snarled at her, grabbing her uninjured wrist firmly. Now he too was angry, and was ready to blurt out a string of insults until he noticed her expression.

She was glaring at him, the hurt and anger clearly showed in her teary eyes. “You jerk,” she began so upset her thoughts were scrambled, “You….you….how…how could you not tell me? You knew and you didn’t tell me?”

He tried to keep his resolve; he tried to stay angry at her. He thought about her hitting him, her blatant disrespect; but, his fury crumbled at the sight of her at the moment. She looked so lost and alone, but she wasn’t alone not physically at least. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Now we have to get back.”

He started dragging her back to the caravan, being later with her than any of the other humans…normal humans. She resisted just like she had when they were first coming out here.

“Yes I do!” Nikki exclaimed crying, everything finally catching up to her. She kicked at him clumsily, being dragged while kicking wasn’t exactly easy. “Devin, you jerk, let me go!”

And for once he listened and grunted when he was kicked. His pride wounded that he had let an injured crying girl assault him twice in the last five minutes. With a scowl firmly on his face he turned to look at Nikki.

When he had let her go, she fell to the ground unceremoniously on her injured side. She yelped and immediately pushed herself off the ground, already glaring up at him indignantly. Her already tangled hair was even worse, with twigs and leaves in it. Despite her best efforts, the frazzled looking girl couldn’t look intimidating but underneath his hardened exterior he quaked. This girl, the one wishing death upon him had been the first person not to scorn him for being…unique after being assured he wasn’t going to eat her. He had wanted that, he had wanted to be able to speak with her and know she wasn’t secretly plotting to kill him.

“Well,” Nikki said insistently. “Have anything to explain your cowardice?” Her last word came out as a snarl. Viciously reminding him that if he could repent for the trick, no matter how good the intentions of it were, it would not be easy.

“Nothing that would satisfy you,” Devin said blandly.
She stood up ungracefully, being in a dress-like tunic and with only one arm. “Of course not, why on Earth would you?” Nikki said indignantly, chastising herself for even thinking the ‘mighty’ Devin Borrow would have any explanation.

The multi-colored hair male grabbed her arms, to keep her from walking away, “I’m sorry.” His voice was pleading and his eyes searching her teary ones. “You don’t understand what’s going on. I’m sorry for trying to start over; it was just nice to see a familiar face.”

The brunette had never seen him like this, emotionally. And by appearance alone it looked like he’d been to hell and back. She pursed her lips and said, “Tell me what’s going on and maybe I’ll consider forgiving you.”