[Gift] Seasonal | Burned Out | Fiery Flight

It was suffocating for sure. The air was heavy despite the fact that the three dinosaurs had already run so far. The fire behind them didn’t stop. It felt as if it was hunting them. Anytime they felt safe there was another burst of wind that made the fire travel faster towards them. The two three raptors, two utahraptors and one oviraptor ran as fast as they could. So far no embers had managed to catch them yet but they could not afford to stop. 

“The children!” Öreis, a bright yellow utahraptor yelled at the green utahraptor. It wasn’t the first time he had yelled this. The first time he yelled out both Chrail and Anchovy had to wrestle down the yellow raptor so that he wouldn’t blindly run into the fire and burn every single feather he had on it.

“They will manage.” Chrail had yelled back at him over the roar of the fire that quickly had spread between the two fathers and their three remaining children. There had been no anger in his voice, only terror. He too wanted to run through the fire and embrace their children on the other side. Keep them safe. But he was more logical than his partner. He knew they would never make it through the fire. What support could they shower their children in if they did something so stupid.

“We need to get over there- They are afraid- we need-” His attempt at finding a logical reason was interrupted not by his partner who was also looking at the flames that rose like a wall between their family. They had already lost one son. They were not ready to lose three more. Perhaps it was his instincts taking over the logical reason he had held. It was interrupted instead by the oviraptor knocking his mint-green, feathered head onto the yellow, crested head of Öreis. 

“You can’t do anything if we stay here!” Anchovy yelled at him but also at Chrail. “We have to run. We will meet them.” For a moment, as the fire slowly crawled towards them they stood there, watching the smaller oviraptor looking sternly at them before they had collectively, in silence, decided on running. This never stopped the instinct that Öreis had to yell out at the other two. Perhaps hoping that they would have another answer this time. That running five hundred meters would somehow cause Chrail or Anchovy to come up with a form of brilliant plan on how to put out the entire forest fire. 

Now they had been running for what felt like eternity. The fire chasing them. Hunting them down. Occasionally Chrail could swear he could hear someone on the other side of the fire yell out his name. He ignored it. For now he was sure that any sound he heard had to be from the three of them or just the never-ending roar of the fire. But he wanted to turn around. He had to fight that feeling.  

“Water!” Anchovy’s voice was loud. Enthusiastic. Chrail and Öreis looked down. There was a big lake. Even if the fire spread all the way down to the lake they would be safe in the water.

“Water! Water!” Öreis and Chrail repeated again. In their minds, if they could just get down to the water they would be able to somehow get back up on the other side of the wall of fire and get to their children. As if this fuelled them they sprinted faster. Their eyes fixated on the water. 

Still, the sound of something hitting the ground echoed around them. The gasp that followed was even clearer. As if it was louder than the fire itself. Chrail dug his claws into the ground as he stopped to turn around. Öreis stopped when he saw his partner do the same.

“Anchovy!” Öreis yelled as Chrail took action to run back. Öreis followed quickly. Anchovy had fallen as they ran. Something had tripped him over. The crackling of the fire, as if it had realised this was its chance, moved fast towards them. Öreis joined up with Chrail as he tried to prop up Anchovy. Together they got the oviraptor fairly steady.

“My foot.” All of them looked down. It didn’t look bad. There was nothing sticking out in an angle it was not supposed to. But as they quickly looked back into the fire and then at the water far ahead of them. If there was a gust of wind strong enough it could catch up with them. 

“Öreis. On your back. And then Anchovy, use me to keep yourself stable.” They didn’t waste much time with agreement. Öreis knelt down so that the somewhat smaller raptor could climb up on him, and with the help of Chrail they got going. Chrail kept close, and despite the threat that roared behind them in the form of a fire they managed to sync their running easily to make it easier for Anchovy using them both to keep himself on top of Öreis back. They could even gain some speed as they ran down the hill. They didn’t stop when they got to the body of water and instead, without slowing down, jumped right into the water. 

All three of them turned around as they slowly made their way a few meters out. The fire was bigger than they expected. It had taken over so much of the forest that covered that side of the lake. But it had blown towards them not towards their children. As long as their children had run the same direction as they, they would have been safe.

Öreis sighed in relief.

“Let's swim over there. Can you swim Anchovy?” 

“Yes, yes. I can. The cold water helps the foot.” He tried nodding in the water but stopped after nearly swallowing most of it. And instead the three raptors swam towards the right side of the forest fire. Where hopefully their children would be waiting for them. 

1001 words