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If you asked her 5 years ago, Tayli would have said ourneying the outlands is not for the faint of heart. These days, the faint of heart are few and far between. Still, Tayli persists. She’s not alone, of course, she rides atop a utahraptor, Cherry, while the other utahraptor, Bomber, carries their supplies. Even the bravest of people would never be in the outlands without a dinosaur companion, if only to ensure a successful hunt.
Lying in wait in the shrubbery of a canyon, Tayli and her utahraptors watch a migrating herd of brontomeruses. One in particular catches her eye, a youngling who is falling behind, limping on its back right leg. If they spook the herd, It might get left behind while others run. Unless the herd realizes they can easily take on two utahraptors and choose to defend the youngling instead of running. Given about two weeks, the herd will give up on trying to keep the youngling with them, letting Tayli and her utahraptors kill it without the herd around.
Tayli does not have two weeks.
Luckily, Tayli never has time to follow any herd. Instead, she pulls out her blast launcher. It would damage the brontomerus beyond usefulness, but it was never intended to be shot at prey. Instead, she fires it at the top of the canyon, causing it to explode into a landslide. Immediately, Cherry and Bomber know to run and follow the brontomerus herd, who know they cannot fight the falling earth, while Tayli secures the blast launcher to Cherry’s harness. The youngling with the broken leg is doing its best to follow its family, but its efforts were destined to be futile.
Tayli pulls off the loose end of the catching net from Bomber’s pack and secures it to Cherry’s harness as she whistles to Bomber to go to the far side of the nearest prey, the young brontomerus. With Cherry and Tayli to its left, Bomber to its right, the herd too far in front of it, and a catching net and landslide behind it, the young brontomerus wails out in fear. It is a sound that never gets easier to listen to. Tayli grabs her rifle and aims it at the brontomerus’ head. Bomber is behind the brontomerus, Tayli can see her as the Brontomerus’ head flails wildly. She cannot shoot now.
Even as the landslide slows and falls silent behind them, and the brontomerus herd disappears down an unkown corridor of the canyon’s labyrinth, the young brontomeus runs as fast as it can for as long as it can, calling out for a herd that abandoned it. Tayli whistles sharply, telling Cherry and Bomber to speed up. As much as this brontomerus runs, it cannot outrun a utahraptor. Cherry and Bomber jerk to a slower speed as the brontomerus is caught in the net.
Now, Tayli can safely take the shot. She still takes her time to aim the best she can, even without Bomber in range, it is never good to waste a bullet. As the young brontomerus takes a break from flailing and wailing to catch its breath, Tayli shoots it square in the eye. It does not die instantly. They never do.
Tayli whistles again, and Cherry and Bomber run as fast as they can. With the weight of a brontomerus nearly the size of one of them, it’s not very fast. It does not need to be fast, it just needs to exhaust and damage the brontomerus.
Bomber howls. Tayli looks forward and sees a rock directly in the path of the brontomerus. This is why Bomber does not need a rider. Tayli secures her rifle, and retrieves her machete, readying the cut free the catching net and hoping that it does not get caught on the brontomerus or the rock. As they approach the rock, she watches until the rock is almost at Cherry and Bomber’s feet to swing at the rope attaching Cherry to the catching net, giving several short whistles as she does, signaling Cherry and Bomber to stop. The brontomerus slams into the rocks, letting out one final pathetic wail. Bomber is fine, she always is, even with the net caught under the brontomerus.
Cherry turns to face the brontomerus and whines. No matter the size, a pet will always tell you it has been a million years since it last ate. Well, some of them will. Bomber is always patient. Tayli pats Cherry’s neck. She’ll get her food soon enough.
Tayli hops off Cherry’s back, still holding her machete and winces as she lands on her bad foot. The brontomerus will help, it always helps. She wraps the dead brontomerus in the catching net, tying the loose end to the one still connected to Bomber. She grabs a jug from Bomber’s pack, knowing that it will likely be able to be completely filled by this brontomerus. She slits the brontomerus’ throat, breaking its jugular. Tayli whistles to Bomber to run up the side of the canyon while trying to catch as much of the blood into the jug. Bomber can’t make it up very high, but she just needs to get high enough that the brontomerus isn’t just laying flat.
When the jug is nearly completely full of blood, Tayli whistles again to Bomber, this time telling her to return.
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