Meanwhile, back in the chasm, Josiah and Shelly struggled with last few boulders. Flood stayed by Rudy's side and fed him some of the meat she had stowed away. As soon as they were done, Josiah and Shelly settled down on the opposite side of the chasm and broke out some candy bars. After eating three bars, Josiah went back to work.
“Hey, Shelly,” Josiah said. “when this is over, lets not do any more prehistoric field adventures. I think I've had enough of being chased by dinosaur to last me a lifetime.”
Shelly looked up and nodded in agreement. “Now theres something we can agree on,” then, just as Shelly was about walk over to Josiah and start working, a ceratosaur leaped down, jaws snapping at the air.
“Watch it!” Josiah screamed.
Shelly instantly moved away from the rock she was just sitting on. The dinosaur landed on the ground and hissed at the two of them, its yellow eyes leering.
Josiah looked upward and saw several more ceratosaurs on top of the ledge, five on each side of a large bull ceratosaur with a blood red horn.
At first Josiah couldn't believe that the dinosaurs could find a way around the chasm without them knowing, but he guessed that the beasts must of found a rock slide to climb up and out of the chasm. The red horned one in the middle meant it was the leader.
Josiah and Shelly drew out their pistols. A sudden growl made Josiah turn around. Flood had gotten up and curled her lips back showing her teeth. The he ceratosaur on the ground growled back at her and started to advance.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Red-horn growled nastily at Flood. “The granddaughter the elder, huh?” the other ceratosaurs around him growled and let out low hisses. Flood kept her eyes on Red-horn and the ceratosaur in front of her.
“Get out of here Red-horn!” Flood growled. “And take your pack with you.”
Red-horn smiled evilly and snorted. “You can't tell me what to do in my own territory, Siva, you and your little two-legged friends and Rudy are trespassing. Of course if you hand them over to me, I might be Merciful and let you go.”
Flood fixed him with a cold glare. “You never keep your promises, Red-horn. And you know it.”
She moved between Josiah Shelly. “And these two two-legs are my pack mates. And that also goes for Rudy, who is my mate.”
Red-horn and his pack all looked stunned by this statement from Flood. Red-horn narrowed his eyes at Flood and growled, “You can't be serous?! Are you out of your mind?!”
“I am serous!” Flood growled back at him. “Rudy and I are now mates.”
There was silence for a few seconds and then Red-horn said, “But he's an albino! A white ghost who steals others food.”
“You should talk, Red-horn,” Flood scuffed. “You and your pathetic band of scavengers repeatedly steal our fish from our river!”
Red horn puffed up his cheeks and snarled back, “We have as much right to that river as you do! Now give us those three or you will be dealt with!”
Flood stood tall. “No,” she said definitely. “I'm not going anywhere, and you will not harm any of my pack mates!”
Red-horn growled deeply and said, in a darkened tone, “So be it.” he nodded to the ceratosaur on the ground and it attacked.
Flood was ready for him. She jumped at him, and he jumped back. Then Flood stood up, standing as tall as she could, being about 4 feet higher. The ceratosaur took that chance to attack her middle. But Flood got on all fours and slashed at the ceratosaur with her front claws. The ceratosaur yelped in pain and Flood took that chance to finish it off. She lunged forward and bit into the neck of the dinosaur. It howled with pain and tried to get out of Flood's grip, but Flood's long crocodile jaws were too strong. Then with a final jerk, Flood snapped the neck the ceratosaur. Shelly turned away, but Josiah didn't. He was use to seeing gory stuff like this all the time. He only merely winced at the snapping of the neck.
Flood dropped the now lifeless ceratosaur to the ground, her jaws dripping with blood.
Red-horn growled and told two other ceratosaurs to attack Flood. At first, they were hesitant, but when Red-horn told them what would happen if they didn't attack, they both dropped down into the chasm to face Flood.
First they started to spread out to take her by surprise, but Flood was never surprised. The first ceratosaur lunged and clamped down Flood's neck. But Flood wrenched her neck away and clawed at her attacker. She snarled and snapped and slashed at the ceratosaur viciously. The second one moved in and tried to attack Josiah and Shelly. The humans raised their pistols and fired. The blue bolts struck the dinosaur in the face and the chest. The ceratosaur yelped and backed off.
Flood swung her tail and it struck the ceratosaur across the face.
The fight continued, during which Shelly had been pinned down by another ceratosaur, the carnivore standing above her with its jaws wide open.
"NO!" Josiah cried out.
The ceratosaur lowered its head, but before it could do anything to Shelly, a tail came from out of nowhere and struck it hard across the jaws. Josiah saw teeth fly and he looked to see where the tail had come from.
He was astounded see that the tail didn't come from Flood, but from Rudy.
The albino baryonyx was now completely free from the boulders, and was now standing to his true hight.
Flood ran over and stood by his side, ready to fight alongside her mate. Josiah and Shelly also ran over and stood beside Flood. As soon as the other ceratosaurs saw this, they ran off into the chasm, whimpering in fear.
Rudy turned to Red-horn. “You might want to give up, Red-horn. You know you can't win against me and Siva.” Red-horn snorted and let out a sudden roar that made Josiah and Shelly back away slightly. Rudy and Siva didn't even flinch.
As Josiah backed away, he heard a rustling sound from behind them. He turned and saw another ceratosaur sneaking up from Flood, its jaws ready to kill her.
“FLOOD! LOOK OUT!” Josiah cried as the ceratosaur moved in for the killing blow. Flood spun 'round, but was unable to defend herself.
Just as the ceratosaur lunged for her neck, Rudy blocked the attack with a swift bite to its neck, stopping it inches from Flood. The surprised ceratosaur's jaws opened and closed, as if trying to still get a hold on Flood. Rudy snarled and tossed the stuned ceratosaur to the ground.
“You have a lot of nerve, Red-horn,” Rudy growled. “having one of your pack sneaking up from behind to attack Siva! You're going to pay for that!”
Red-Horn growled deeply and then jumped down into the the chasm himself, along with the rest of his pack. The ceratosaurs lined up on each side of their leader, growling and snarling.
“The only one who is going to pay, Rudy, is you! You and your little pack of fools are all going to die down here!”
“You piece of trash! Why do you want to do this?” demanded Flood.
Red-horn's anger matched hers. "Because of him!” he pointed at Rudy with his snout. “He took away my only daughter, my... my precious little hatchling!” There were a few tears in Red-horn's eyes, but he quickly brushed them away.
Flood was stunned, not to mention confused by Red-horns statement.
“What are you talking about, Red-horn?”
Red-horn began to charge her, but Rudy blocked his path.
He turned to Red-horn. “Enough talking.”
Red-horn snarled. “Try it, Rudy. It's the only way you're gonna stop me.” The two predators started to circle each other, claws and teeth ready to tear each other apart.
Josiah and Shelly both gulped. This was probably going to be the final showdown between Rudy and Red-horn. The only problem was who was going to win?
Meanwhile, back near the jungle of misery, Ken was not having a good day, ether. He was still stuck to Momma's butt and was, at that moment, being pulled by the baby dinos who were straining to get him off of her. The sticky plant goo had become semi-hardened and Ken and Momma dino were not enjoying their newfound closeness to each other. Ken's legs and arms were free, but his face and upper body were still stuck to Momma. And if that wasn't bad enough, Ken heard a rumbling sound coming from Momma's stomach. He knew for an instant that that wasn't a hungry rumble ether. Something told him that he was in for a unpleasant surprise if he didn't get unstuck now.