Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.
"Speaking"
Thoughts

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Chapter 6: Dead End

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Recap:

"Buck?" I hesitantly asked while looking over my shoulder. The path was empty. Pull yourself together Sky. It's just the wind messing with you. I turned back around only to fall on my butt due to the rock shaking. "What the? What's happening?! An earthquake?" I said trying to get to my feet. I finally found purchase on the rock as it started to go vertical. I pulled myself up and jumped to the next rock, just in time, as the rock I had been on fell crashing to the bottom of the canyon. Even though my wrist was killing me after that stunt I didn't have any time to rest as the canyon suddenly came alive with the sounds of hisses and rattles. I got to my feet and looked back to see a blue colored dinosaur pop it's head over the edge of the rock, closely followed by two others.

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Crap! Looks like my luck's running out. I scrambled to my feet just as the rock began to sway. The trio of blue dinosaurs had hopped onto the rock causing it to shift. They were much smaller than Rudy and the copper beast, blue, and had strange spikes on the back of their heads that rattled when they shook. I turned and ran, hopping from one rock to the next until I found my path was blocked by another blue dinosaur. They were swarming in trying to surround me. The others had caught up and were on the other end, now I had four of these things after me. Not counting the numberless others that I could hear in the canyon. Having nowhere to go, I took a step back towards the edge, and the rock edge crumbled taking me with it.

"AHHH, Ompf!" I fell a few feet, spinning in mid air to try and land on my feet if I could, only to have a bare branch catch my mid section. Well, that hurt. At least my back's not broken. I heard a rattle and hiss that wasn't too far away, so I opened my eyes not realizing that I had closed them. "AHH!" I pulled my dangling feet onto the small branch just as a blue dinosaur had jumped up and tried to grab me with his jaws of death.

Another hiss brought my attention above me. Looking up I saw all four dinosaurs plus three more, making a total of seven, trying to reach their necks down to get me but I was just out of their reach by a couple of inches.

If I don't find a way out of here quick I'm going to die. I thought frantically. Ok, ok, think. What would Buck do in this type of situation?... Besides trying to ride one of these things. Snap! One was climbing up from the bottom and he almost got my tail. Thinking time is over! And with that thought I jumped across the small gap to the other tree holding the next rock. I tried to scurry up but my right wrist suddenly gave out causing me to fall to the rocky ledge below.

Opening my eyes I saw that if I had been able to keep climbing I would be dead right now. One of the blue dinosaurs had followed me, probably the one that was climbing up on the other tree, and now it has the tree in its mouth right where I just was.

Thanks, you stupid wrist. Soft thuds and scraping noises let me know that others were jumping down from wherever they were, and are now coming straight at me. I rolled to my left and pushed myself up seeing as my right wrist can't hold my weight. I ran, jumped and dodged as I tried to find a way back up to the top. The top of the rocks would be safer; down here I kept getting ambushed by the creatures popping out of hidden crevices and holes in the rocks. I also kept slipping, not all of the rocks were attached or stable causing me to lose my footing and fall to the ground a couple of times.

This didn't look to be the bottom of the canyon, seeing as I was running parallel to a large crevice in the ground. It looked like the canyon went a whole lot deeper than I had first thought. The crevice turned and opened up in front of me leaving me out of safe running surface. The rock that I was on went connected to the canyon wall to the right and was attached to a small ledge spanning the distance to the other side, but was only about a foot wide. It also looked like it could fall apart at any minute. I was coming upon the crevice fast and needed to make a decision. I looked around just in case there was something else I could do to get across and there was. A few of those trees that were holding rocks at the surface were coming out of the canyon wall, and they had what appeared to be old vines dangling from them. It was better than nothing so I went for it.

I made a bee line for the vines. With the blue dinosaurs right on my tail, literally; the one behind me is so close my back is practically drenched with his saliva, I had to be exact the first time. There would be no second chances. Upon nearing the edge I took a deep breath and lunged for the vine. I made it, and the first few dinosaurs that were following to close ended up jumping to their deaths. The canyon was so deep here that it was just a black void underneath me. I held onto the vine looking down trying to see the bottom but there was nothing but a black empty sea. After about twenty maybe thirty seconds faint thuds were heard rising from the dark depths, so soft I almost thought that I had imagined them. The vine was gently swaying now as I looked back the rock ledge to see the pack looking over the edge. Even more were showing up now, it was as if the rock had gone from a lifeless dull grey, to a moving blue mass of angry, hissing, rattling, teeth and claws. Almost in unison they all looked up at me where I was hanging.

Little pebbles started to hit my head and the vine dropped a few inches. I looked up to see that the vine was a lot older than I had originally thought and was losing purchase on the tree and rock above. The feeling of pure dread sank in, my bones turned cold, my only chance was to try and swing from vine to vine to get to the other side. But, would the vines be strong enough to keep me from experiencing the same fate as the dinosaurs' just moments before?

Steeling myself for what I was about to do, I closed my eyes and started to swing. The dinosaurs must have been very smart to figure out what I was trying to do, because just as I started to swing they all rushed towards the ledge to the right in a fit of rage. I let go of the vine just as it snapped, and barely caught the next vine as my right wrist wasn't in the mood to cooperate.

This is no time to give out on me wrist, just hold on until I get out of here. I mentally chided my wrist. I kept up the vine's swinging momentum and made it to the next vine just as the vine's momentum caused the rock and tree above to come crashing down. The dinosaurs were trying to outrun each other as the ledge crumbled beneath their feet. But it was a futile attempt because the rock came crashing down taking a portion of the ledge and a good number of them with it to the bottom of the canyon, while trapping the rest on the other side.

I swung to the next vine to avoid being brought down as well and noticed that I only had one more vine to go. As I let go of the last vine I was filled with excitement as I had the feeling that I'd actually make it out of this nightmare alive, or at least in one piece. I landed and looked ahead to see a tree only a few feet away and it was clear. No dinosaurs on top of the rock, and none in front of me. Taking off I looked over my shoulder as I heard hissing and rattling. The first three dinosaurs had made it across the ledge and now looked like they wanted revenge for their fallen friends. I tripped. Always look where you're going moron! The second I felt rock beneath me I rolled over, feeling the breeze left behind the clawed foot as it hit the rock where my head was just a split second before. I jumped to my feet, to find myself being circled by the three dinosaurs. I tried to keep an eye on all three of them, but it was hard to, and quite frankly, I was getting dizzy.

Crap! I was so close! I needed a way out, the tree wasn't that far I'd be able to make it if I ran, but I needed to distract them long enough to give me a head start. What to do? What to do? That looks promising. I thought grabbing a sharp pointy rock from the ground and hurtling it towards the one standing in my way of the tree. The rock caught him just below the eye, causing him to shriek in pain. While he was shrieking and shaking his head, I dashed past him and up the tree. I made it up in record time and was about to jump to the next rock when I had to slide to a stop. The next rock had suddenly collapsed. What the? What just happened? A scrapping sound came from behind me. I turned around to see one of the blue dinosaurs climb over the edge and stalk towards me. I then glanced over the edge to see the other one running away from the rubble, which had sharp pieces sticking up like teeth, and towards my tree, rock, thing. Crap. The third one could still be heard shrieking in pain below. One down two to go.

I was being advanced upon by one dinosaur while another was climbing up to join him. I was trapped between them and about a twenty, twenty five foot drop into certain death. Looking between the drop and the dinosaur, who was now joined by his friend, I made a hasty decision. Better than being eaten alive I guess. I hope it's fast and painless. "Geronimo!" I yelled as I hurtled myself off of the rock, and back into the depths of the canyon.

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Note:

Sorry for the long wait everyone, it has been a bit hectic at home lately. I might be moving soon so in getting ready for that I can't guarantee when the next chapter will come out. I apologize for this. I do have part of the next chapter written so hopefully I'll have it up soon. Thank you for all of the reviews, and critiques. I'll make sure to go back and fix Rudy's data. I was stumped on if he was a Suchomimus or a Baryonyx, and in the end I chose Suchomimus because by my observation it seemed like the more probable of the two. Thank you to everyone who brought my error to light.

Note (2):

The blue dinosaurs are Guanlong. The Guanlong was a genus of tyrannosaurus, one of the earliest known examples of the lineage. About 3.0 metres (9.8 ft) long.

Information taken from Wikipedia. Again, please tell me if I'm wrong.

.org/wiki/Guanlong

Note (3):

This has nothing to do with Ice Age. To any One Piece fans out there. Does anyone know if or when the Unlimited Cruise games will be coming out stateside?