“Just keep going straight, you should smell the water in like an hour–”

Claire growled so loudly that David’s fur stood on end, mane rising with his hackles to make him look more intimidating. It failed miserably as the enormous armored reptile glared at him while she maintained her death march toward the river in the distance. Several hours had passed since they left the meadow, and the sun in the sky indicated it was a few hours past noon at the most. The dense pine forest had begun to thin as they left the foothills, giving Claire some room to run, meaning they’d made good time. David had experienced another of those hindbrain alarm-bell moments the first time he’d watched her build up some speed when she had the room, everything in his subconscious screaming at him that things that big shouldn’t be able to go that fast.

“No. It’s your fault you forgot to eat a fruit before you left. What were you gonna do anyway, carry them in your back feet? Gross. We’re almost there anyway, you can eat with me whenever we hunt something. You wanted to be a predator, cowboy up, and eat what you hunt.” Claire grumped at him as she stomped through the underbrush without the slightest attempt at stealth. She simply brushed the forest's obstacles aside without the slightest care in the world, thick branches cracking loudly and bushes smashed firmly under her feet unnoticed.

David glided mournfully alongside her as closely as he could to avoid shouting, “Easy for you to say, you can just swallow stuff without having to taste it. Those things were like…all the best parts of every fruit with none of the downsides.”

“Boohoo, you know how hard it is to swallow something as fuzzy as that last thing was? Imagine trying to eat an entire orange wrapped in cotton balls, except it has legs.” Claire huffed as she shot David a sideways glance.

David shook his head, “Yeah, yeah. We’re almost there anyway.”

He gained a bit of altitude, weaving through the spaces between trees until he could finally spread his wings freely and flap hard. Claire rumbled a bit but kept going, already accustomed to his little reconnaissance flights to maintain their bearings. The Pack feature made it impossible to lose each other, and David simply knew somehow which direction she was in. It was mildly disconcerting but extremely useful, so he just tried not to think about it too hard, choosing instead to enjoy the updraft. He allowed the gust to carry him into the sky, his leathery wings filling like sails as he maneuvered himself along comfortably.

–Health: 90/90–

–Stamina 197/215–

David grinned as he minimized the readout, quite happy with his new evolution. Both his Stamina and his Health regenerated fairly quickly now, thanks to the increase from the Twilight Seeker’s phenomenal Regeneration rating. That translated into being able to Glide for free, sometimes even being able to regenerate a small amount of Stamina while flying if he caught the wind like he was doing now. David flapped hard, soaring high above the trees and into the cooling evening sky as he gazed down below into the distance, confirming their heading. Light twinkled prettily off the river only a few miles away, the glitter of light stinging his eyes with every passing moment. He caught the faint scent of cold, fresh water carried with the wind towards him and realized that Claire could probably smell it all along, and simply wanted to hurry.

David folded his wings and dropped, heart fluttering in his chest as he let gravity pull him down into a rapid dive, feeling the wind tug at the mane of fur around his head and neck. He unfurled his wings before he drew even with the tops of the trees, feeling the muscles burn in his chest and back as he converted momentum into speed and darted across the forest, straining to keep his wings level as he rocketed forward. The wind flattened his ears to the back of his head and he banked hard to the right, flapping into the turn as he wheeled back towards Claire and dived again, dropping through the branches and gliding onto the ground. She emerged from the trees moments later, preceded by the crunching and stomping that echoed out around her.

“You know,” She rumbled as she came into view, “Now that I can tell where you are, I can tell how fast you’re going. You’re such a lucky little shit. That seems so fun.”

“Yeah, it’s probably my favorite thing. River’s like a mile or two up ahead, max. We’ll probably be there in just a bit. We’ll get some water, see if there’s anything to eat, and then start heading upstream before we find somewhere to sleep?” David asked hopefully, “I was up all night and then we just kinda got excited and took off, I’m exhausted.”

Claire stopped momentarily and then nodded, “I didn’t think about that, sorry David. In my defense, you were the one that took off and I followed you.”

“Okay, so maybe I got excited and flew off. We still only have so much time before other people start evolving, and some people managed it already too, not just us.” He replied with a bit of a yawn.

“Okay, let's get going then. I really want some water now that I can smell it. We’ll get there, take a little look around, and you get a nap somewhere safe while I take a look around for once.”

David nodded happily, his long batlike ears bouncing along with his enthusiasm as he hopped back into the air and resumed gliding lazily. They chatted for a bit about the various smells and sounds echoing from the forest around them as they continued onwards. Claire remarked multiple times that something smelled bad upwind of them, but couldn’t quite identify what it was. David couldn’t smell it no matter how hard he tried, even going so far as to make a short flight upwind to find it before returning as Claire neared the river. He soared down from above the treeline to find her crouched on the shore, scooping up gallons of water with every mouthful.

“Is that a happy noise, or are you trying to give me nightmares?” David quipped as he bounced to a landing on the smooth gravel of the riverbank.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She paused briefly to breathe, shaking her head and sending water flying everywhere with the motion. Claire turned to look at him for a moment as she remained crouched and David’s hackles puffed up again involuntarily. She snorted in amusement and motioned for him to join her, waving him over with her head.

“Yeah, real scary poofball. Better come drink something and we’ll find you somewhere to take a nap.” Claire called out sassily.

David loped over to where she sat crouched by the river and looked out across the fast-moving water. It was deep and wide, and he knew the current was fairly strong since it was still used to ship goods downstream to the sea on occasion. The water smelled clean and crisp, and he could easily see nothing was lurking beneath its surface so he bent his head and had a moment of confusion.

Uh…I’ve been eating fruit this entire time, I don’t know how to drink with a bat face. Alright, just play it cool.

David shoved his entire snout into the river before quickly changing tracks with an explosive sneeze, the force of the outburst rocking him back onto his hind feet. He eyed the water suspiciously, silently grateful that Claire was too busy doing her best to drink the river dry to notice his foolishness. He slowly bent his head again, before solving his conundrum as he began to lap water from the river. It was refreshing now that it wasn’t going up his nose, and he drank happily alongside his enormous companion. David’s gaze wandered a bit, flicking out over the water to the opposite shore and he became lost in his thoughts.

“DAVID MOVE!” Claire bellowed suddenly in alarm.

David jumped at the noise, but not far or fast enough. A streak of silver flashed beneath the surface as a long narrow mouth full of needlelike teeth exploded from the water like a torpedo, snatching him firmly by the wing and wrenching him into the water. The pain of the bite made David suck in a surprised breath, and it saved his life as cold water closed over his head and the huge fish bit him again. He snatched reflexively with the talons on his wings, half blind and disoriented as his blood filled the water around him. He felt his talons pierce the creature's tough scales and hauled his jaws forward while pulling and snatching at the fish with his other wing. David sunk his fangs into the cold body of the creature as it arched its body and attempted to bite his neck, the long thin jaws failing to find purchase through his dense mane.

Claire bellowed at an impossible volume and David felt the water surge and roll in a huge wave as she crashed into the river, three huge steps putting her between their ongoing battle and the deep water of the river behind her. She plunged her jaws into the water, thick nictating membrane protecting her eyes as she darted her head about in search of their exact location in the growing cloud of blood that stained the water. David repeatedly tore and clawed at the fish while it bit him, feeling his health drop and regenerating simultaneously as his Draining Attacks were put to the test as he fought his way back to the surface.

–Health: 69/90–

–Health: 74/90–

–Health: 65/90–

–Soporific Mutagen has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Soporific Mutagen has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

David ignored the notifications and sucked in a huge lungful of air before cramming his face back into the water and slamming half of it out in a Screech, a huge bubble erupting from his jaws as a visible shockwave rocked the huge fish. Claire grunted with pain and snatched her head from the water, shaking her head painfully, having caught the edge of the attack.

–Screech has leveled up!–

–Gained 3xp!–

–Inflicted |Stunned| on River Tyrant–

David took the opportunity to shred the helpless predator, tearing huge rents with his claws and biting savagely several times before he released it. It floated to the surface and was rapidly carried away by the current as David began to swim back toward shallower water, his wings working oddly well for swimming despite the blood pouring from the myriad of tiny puncture wounds left by the ambush. He coughed violently as he exited the river, Claire following close behind as he loped up onto the shore far from the water, shaking himself violently. He sat, panting and glaring at the dead fish floating downstream before he inspected his wounds.

–Health: 83/90–

–Stamina: 171/215–

“HOLY SHIT! YOU OKAY?!” Claire roared again, making David’s ears ring with the volume.

David winced a bit from the many tiny puncture wounds as he nodded in reply, “Yeah! I’m good, I think. I healed a lot of the damage back because it couldn’t get away once I grabbed it. I think I peed a little bit though.”

“Holy shit!” She repeated at a more reasonable volume, “I saw it for like a second and then it just shot at you. You fucked that thing up! I thought all that blood was you for a second, but then you popped back up and went down on your own again.”

David wasn’t listening, his gaze now fixed firmly in the distance, at what was perched on one of the large boulders scattered about the river nearby. His ears snapped around following his eyes and he chittered out a quick Echolocation that confirmed he wasn’t having a near-death hallucination. Claire stopped talking and followed his gaze, chuffing hugely in shock as she finally saw what he’d gone still and silent to stare at.

A huge golden bird perched on a boulder about 50 feet away, wings folded neatly at its sides. It was larger and heavier than David, easily in the Medium size category, large as a full-grown man. A large crest of feathers crowned its head, raised curiously as it watched them over the top of its heavy eagle-like beak with piercing blue eyes. It noticed them see it and hopped down from the boulder, wings held slightly from its body as it bounced to the ground. It walked slowly towards them, ducking and turning its head with interest as the crest of feathers on its head rose and fell with the motions while it approached. Claire rumbled at it warningly when it came within the last 20 feet and it halted, slicking down its feathers and pulling in its wings.

Just as David was about to say something, the bird opened its beak and spoke, their voice surprisingly deep and soothing.

“Damn, I thought I was one of the only ones that made it out this far already. Is that a god-damned dinosaur?”

Oh…it’s a people.