The juvenile rex, a young green male with a dash of yellow, plodded through the woodland. The heavy scent of marsh water flooded his nostrils, and the cries of suchos rang in his eardrums.

The soft call of an herbivore, a juvenile trike, the rex realized, whispered through the breeze. The little rex's course changed swiftly. His stomach had been aching for food for quite some time, and being such a fine size, the meal could not be ignored. He crept onwards through the undergrowth, having dropped to a silent crouch, and tested the breeze. The scent of the little triceratops bathed his tongue and he inhaled deeper. The juvenile was completely and utterly alone, and just up ahead. The green rex peered through the thick foliage of the brush ahead, and spotted the little creature scuttling along with another gentle call. She must be looking for a herd. The little green rex thought to himself, deepening his crouch in preparation to ambush. He crept closer to the clearing, the the leaves of the low-hanging branches brushing against his spine.

His camouflaged hide concealed him from the little herbivore's sight, but if he moved too fast in his attempts for stealth, his cover would be blown. With a last tentative step, he finally met the right position. He pushed with all his might and exploded from the underbrush, his mouth drawn back in a snarl. He snapped his jaws and tore through the little triceratops' flesh, and it cried out with pain and fury. It whirled around with its stubby horns bucked in the air and it lashed towards him as he darted backwards, just barely grazing his snout and only lightly bruising it.

The little ceratopsian whinnied with fury, blood seeping from a fresh gash in its flank. The taste of fresh blood bathed the green rex's tongue and he stood there for a moment, watching the panicking herbivore as he savored the flavor of its flesh. He crouched yet again, and the juvenile trike lowered its horns in a silent challenge, not daring to utter another sound in the dangerous plains.

With a soundless attack, the little rex dashed forward, before feigning and darting to the side to nip at the trike's side. He aimed for the throat, but from a lash to the face he recoiled, growling furiously. He tucked his head down and rubbed his talons across his face with a faint whimper of pain, before focusing once again at his quarry. More carefully this time, he began stalking in a circle around his prey. The young ceratopsian struggled to keep him facing her horns, and let out a few muffled cries as she desperately tried to keep him away.

Her feet stumbled over each other and she staggered, and the rex took the moment to dart in. The little herbivore squealed with terror and tried to lash her head as the green rex's jaws closed around her neck, and her struggles began to weaken. The juvenile rex held firmly as blood flowed between his teeth, dripping onto the grass with a strong metallic stink. He sank his teeth deeper until the trike's struggles subsided, and he released his grip to stare at his prey.

Kneeling down, the green rex began tearing at the body. He ate for a good while until he was satisfyingly full, and he sat down with half the trike's body remaining beside him. Blood stained his muzzle but he bore it with pride, as this hunt was one of his most successful hunts of challenge.

Suddenly, he was alerted to the crackle of leaves beneath untrained feet, and without a moment to waste the young carnivore bolted to upwards and narrowed his eyes at the trees. A smaller black and white rex emerged from the underbrush, her limbs lankier than his and her head cocked to the side.

She let out a gentle rumble, requesting to eat. The male juvenile remained silent with cold and calculating yellow eyes as she proceeded to plead, her voice getting higher and higher until it was nearly a snarling roar. The male juvenile snarled back, hushing her quickly with a glance to their dangerous surroundings. If eating would shut her up, he'd give her the remains of his kill. She was nearly his size and would cause severe injury, and cannibalism left a sour taste in his mouth.

Gently, he rumbled to her, backing away from the remains of the juvenile triceratops. The black and white rex darted forward with a gleeful cry, and the green one recoiled with dismay at her noisy display of gratitude. His head whipped back and forth with anxiety, fearful as to what would've heard all the noise. Nothing appeared, and he slowly relaxed. But that did not last long as his ears picked out the faintest noise of leaves gently crushing beneath expert feet, and fear swallowed his heart like icy water.

The black and white rex sensed his distress and looked up at him with wide eyes, her snout similarly bloodied to his. He rose to his feet in a panic and whirled his head around, just in time to see a suchomimus charge from the trees with a furious roar.

The green rex dashed away as fast as his legs could carry him, crying out in distress as the suchomimus chased after him in a hot pursuit. He wailed into the air as the pounding feet progressively grew louder and louder until he could feel the sucho's hot breath on his back. It snapped its jaws but only grazed his skin with the tip of its teeth, drawing the tiniest spatter of scarlet droplets. The juvenile rex's panic took over his mind and body, and without a second thought he dove into thick foliage. Instead of running, as the larger carnivore could easily chase after him, he swerved into the thick coverage of a tree and crouched low. His heart was pounding furiously against his chest as the suchomimus trampled past him, snarling as it had lost its prey.

The juvenile rex remained in dead silence as the sun crept across the sky. There was no telling of how much time had passed, but it was sunset by the time he no longer could sense the sucho's presence. Exhausted from the long and insanely eventful day, the little rex relaxed from his crouch and collapsed to the ground, letting his eyes slide shut as he accepted the darkness of sleep.

~*~
Written on February 11th, 2019.