Finish the Fiction Story Contest - WEEK #11
Original shot of dino print by @carneasadafilms
NEXUS@TubaCity
He drained the last of his waterskin and sank to his knees. What a crap place to die. Tuba City. Dirt and rocks and nothing but a cracked and empty highway half buried in sand. Maybe if he caught his breath he could make it to the mesa. But then what? Who was he kidding? He was done.
There was a distant whoop and he could just make them out. Perhaps five hundred yards. Maybe less. The Eggman and Tree, pace steady, drawn towards him like rats to steaming garbage.
His head drooped down. He had no juice left to fight. And then he saw it. He had to crawl until the dark form took shape. It was a footprint. A footprint sunk into solid rock. Bigger than his head. Three toes, huge claws, every detail visible, as if chiseled by a master. His whirling brain finally caught a gear and delivered. “Huh,” he said, “Raptor print”.
They were only a few hundred yards away now, skullblades catching the last of the sunlight. Time was going, going, gone.
Why here? A two hundred million year old echo pressed into stone, a sliver of time out of sequence, a crossing over point. This was the place. It was meant to be here. Him, Eggman and Tree, and the silent intruder from across a gulf of eons. Good Lord. Who organizes this shit? So many variables for them all to wind up here. Had to mean something, he just couldn’t figure what.
"This wouldn’t be so hard,” he mumbled to himself, “If you weren’t tripping balls”.
The ending
He looked up again and the Eggman and Tree were gone. What the fuck was going on! Where in the hell did they go?, he thought to himself.
He stared at the raptor print and placed both hands inside it's deep crevices, there was still room for two more sets of hands. He was in the same spot that this monster was in, millions of years ago today, about to become extinct.
He looked up from the print and he saw Tree and Eggman riding past him, about fifty feet away. How could those dumbasses miss me, I stick out like a sore thumb in Tuba City.
He found his good luck spot, and he wasn't going to leave it. Night had fallen, he wasn't tripping anymore, and he was still breathing. The cool night air felt good on his skin, but he needed to find water.
He tried to take a step, but fell to his knees. This was it, Tuba City had claimed another victim. Death by dehydration was no way to go out. The Eggman and Tree would have been a better solution, quick and easy death.
He awoke three days later, in a campsite of children, they found him by the raptor print and brought both to the mesa.
He wasn't sure what happened to the Eggman and Tree, but he wasn't going to wait around to find out. He filled his waterskin and headed north....
Ending by Bruni ~ Beginning by @f3nix
https://steemit.com/contest/@f3nix/finish-the-fiction-story-contest-week-11
@fireawaymarmot artist
Well, I have to say that I like it... it's true that it's simple but sometimes you don't have to create an intricate plot to engage the reader. You never miss one Bruni, keep it up!
You put in your story some typical thing of the post-apocalyptic movies, like the campsite of children (as in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome). I like those references! Bravo!
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Week #12 is between us! Check it here and good luck, brave storyteller!