The Life of Quint

This is my second story, and my first (pretty hard) crack at a herbivore story.

Part 1

Quint is a young Pentaceratops who lives in a big herd in the late Cretaceous. His only real family member is his mother, his father died when he was struck by disease after being separated from the herd. Quint doesn't know this because he was born after the incident. Quint is browsing on some low bushes, unaware that he is being watched, when he hears a twig snap. He runs away from the sound, but he was too late, an Albertosaurus comes bursting out of the woods, but before it can hurt Quint, his mother comes to the rescue and slams her head into the chest of the Albertosaurus, her long horns going right threw the Tyrannosaur like it was made of soft butter. She shakes the dead Albertosaurus of her horns, only to find the rest of its pack on all sides of her. They roar at her, but don't see Quint as he hides under his mother. One Albertosaurus lunges at the Pentaceratops's back leg and bite down hard. The mother Pentaceratops rips her leg out of the Albertosaurus's jaws and kicks back, hitting them, and breaking them. The Albertosaurus are confused about why the Pentaceratops isn't running,and are slightly scared because of the blood on one horn, a bright red shield from blood pumped into it, and her aggressive manner. Then they see Quint, and they know that this is an angry mother and that she means business. They start to back off, and they eventually leave. The Albertosaurus don't go far before one breaks off and tries to reach Quint by squatting down. All he gets though, is his skull crushed when the mother Pentaceratops shifts her weight onto her opposite legs and lies down on the other side. Quint sees his mother get back on her four legs and follows her as she walks away from the carcass, not giving it a second thought. Long after Quint and his mother had left, a pack of Troodon eat the carcass, and the leader sniffs the air, smelling a faint leftover of mother Pentaceratops.

Part 2

Quint and his mother, who has a wounded leg with deep gashes in it, but the wound is healing and dried black blood is surrounding the gashes. It is a very hot, muggy day and Quint is very thirsty. They are in a thick forest with lots of small rocks, and occasionally a big rock. Quint is lagging behind his mother, who call to him to keep up. As he is running forwards, he steps on a protruding rock and gets it lodged in his foot. He cries out to his mother, who comes, flips him on his side, and uses her beak to pull the rock out of Quint's foot. Now that the rock is out, the foot starts to bleed, Quint, still young, doesn't know what this red liquid that is coming out of his foot and dripping onto the ground is. After investigating his blood on a nearby rock, he starts limping towrds his mother again. His foot is still in pain when he and his mother start to enter an area with less trees, and they hear a rushing sound. The sun is starting to sink as they reach the river, they wander onto some soft, wet sand as they near the river. That sand turns to a shallow layer of mud that Quint struggles through. They reach the rivers edge, and after quint takes a drink, he starts going into the water. His area is fairly calm because the river suddenly widens, and he is at the small area where the water just sits there, but the rest of the river is rushing very quickly. Quint is starting to head back to shore after a quick swim, when a sudden current catches his and sends him moving down stream very quickly. Quint cries for help, and his mother hears him. Seeing what's going on, she runs at top speed near the river, looking for a shallower part for her to go in and rescue her son. She soon sees why the water is moving so fast, a water fall is nearby, and is creating the current that is carrying Quint. She overtakes her son and sees a part where she can stand in, but it is right next to the drop of for the waterfall that plunges nearly 100 feet below. She dares to save her son and goes into the water. It almost knocks her over, but she gets to the center of the river and squares up with the oncoming Quint. She takes a deep breath and plunges her head underwater, creating a gentle slope for Quint to wash up on. It was just in time to, Quint slams into his mother's huge frill and slides up it, then he crawls onto her back as she lifts her head up to breath. Quint is then carried to the shore, where he climbs down from his mother, then yelps when he puts his still bleeding foot down. Quint reclimbs onto the back of his mother and is carried of to find more food.

Part 3

Several fairly uneventful years have gone by, Quint has grown large horns with his rapidly growing frill, and he is now 12 feet long. Still living only with his mother. It's an overcast evening and everything is fairly dark. Quint is browsing on some bushes, as usual, when his mother comes running over to his side in a defensive manner. Quint is too big to fit under his mother, so he huddles up very close, and he knows that something is wrong. It starts to rain, making visibility very low. Suddenly, the attack comes. 9 Troodon burst out of the foliage around Quint and his mother, and all jump onto her back. Quinn's mother moves away, knowing that the Troodon only want her, and that she is too close to Quint and might get him hurt. More Troodon keep coming in and are just as quickly shaken off. One darts out of the way to avoid being crushed by the mother Pentaceratops's foot. Two of the Troodon now notice Quint as he starts to run away. They leave Quint's mother and follow Quint. They catch up with ease, and one jumps on Quint's back. Quint stops running and thrashes around, trying to throw the Troodon off. When he does, the other Troodon comes and slashes at his side with its long hand claws. Quint shifts his weight and slams into the Troodon sending it stumbling back a few feet. Quint then charges it and shish kabobs it with his horns. He tosses the dead Troodon away as the other Troodon bites down on Quints front leg. Quint manages to rip his leg from the Troodon's jaws and backs up to face it. Quint charges forwards and thrusts his horns up, at the same time that the Troodon jumps. Quint then lowers his head, bringing his frill up, and hitting the Troodon who jumped too low with it. This sends the Troodon flying backwards and breaking many bones, but it is not enough of a blow to kill the little dinosaur. A flash of lightning lights up this rainy evening and lets Quint see the Troodon pile up onto his mother and watches her fall. Then he hears her death cry, and after that, she doesn't move. Quint is stuck by grief and sorrow, but he knows that he has to escape the Troodon, so he keeps on moving. The next day, a very melancholy Quint arrives at a field to see a large herd of Triceratops moving through it. Quint goes to investigate because they look similar to what he has seen of Pentaceratops. As he gets close, the alpha Triceratops notices Quint and turns to see the new arrival. Quint is relatively small and very similar to the young Triceratops, so after deciding that Quint is not an enemy or threat, the alpha Triceratops lets Quint into the herd, accepting him as family.

Part 4

Quint is a full adult now, but he has been kicked out of the Triceratops herd. It is now mating season. Quint is wandering through a forest, giving loud calls for other Pentaceratops. He hears a crashing in the forest in front of him. He then sees an Edmontosaurus with an injured leg running by him. Following that is a Daspletosaurus. He stops and looks at Quint, but decides to move on with the chase. Several hours later, Quint hears something in the distance, he moves towards the sound, and it turns out to be a herd of Pentaceratops just out of this forest. As he makes it to the herd, he recognizes the Pentaceratops, they were from his old herd. As he enters the herd, other Pentaceratops come to greet Quint, having known him in their childhood. It is the start of mating season for the herd now, and Quint starts of by flushing his shield bright red and roaring to take on any challenger. Most back away, but the alpha male Pentaceratops is not going to go without a fight. Quint and the alpha charge each other and create a loud crash when they meet. Quint is pushed back several feet just by the impact, but he pushes back. The alpha Pentaceratops is bigger than Quint, but Quint has had a lot more time to strengthen his muscles by fighting, rather than depending on others. Quint and the alpha have their horns interlocked, then the alpha pushes hard and throws Quint back. Quint is not about to lose, and he runs back and hits the alpha male hard.mso hard that it breaks one of the alpha's horns, and cracks one of Quint's. the alpha male is scared, but he makes a mock charging stance, but Quint makes a quick lunge forward, not hitting the other Pentaceratops, but making the message quite clear. Quint is now the alpha male and will lead the herd for many years. After several years of being the dominant male, and having many children and a still cracked horn, he leads his herd into a forest in order to find food. They come to an area where there are lots of bushes and very little trees. The herd stops there, but Quint wanders deeper into the forest, following a faint sound. After a short while, he comes to a clearing. As he looks around he sees two very curious young Tyrannosaurus. Quint gets into a protective stance, and when one of the Tyrannosaurs get to close, Quint skewers it with his horns. The quickly dying baby gives a cry for help, and then slumps dead. The other juvenile gives a loud cry for its mother. Quint is about to kill it too, when he feels the ground shake. He doesn't know it, but the mother T. rex is coming home to protect her baby. She enters the clearing where her dead child is, and sees the blood on Quint's horn. She know he killed her young. Quint turns tail and runs, but mother T. rex is in hot pursuit. Quint just manages to keep ahead of the angry mother, when he turns, and the mother catches Quint's tail in her mouth. She drags Quint closes to her, momentarily lets go of him, and Quint turns around and sends in good horn right through her lower jaw. The mother T. rex pulls away from Quint, then goes forwards and bites the top right corner of Quints frill. She steps back and yanks some flesh and bone off the frill, causing Quint great pain. Quint backs up, but the mother T. rex bites down on Quint's good horn and snaps it like a twig with her powerful jaw muscles. Quint backs up once again, he is in agony, but he charges forwards and impales the side of the T. rex with his bad horn. The horn is driven into the mother's side, but it snaps before any real harm could be done. Quint then slams his remaining nose horn and head into the lower leg of T. rex, breaking the Tibia, and cracking the Fibula. The mother T. rex is in great pain, but she slams the side of her body into Quint, sending him stumbling a few feet. Quint can barely stand when the pressure on his feet get much lighter, but there is a searing pain in his back. Then his feet are off the ground, and he realizes that the mother T. rex is picking him up with her powerful neck and leg muscles. He starts thrashing, but it is no use. The mother T. rex swings her body to one side, then the opposite way at speed and lets go of Quint, throwing him a large distance. Quint is going in and out of unconsciousness and everything is all blurry, when he sees the jaws of the angry mother T. rex clamp onto his neck and crush it.

Even though Quint is dead, his herd will flourish for many generations to come. A strong young male has taken the title of alpha, but one day, his oldest son will become alpha, and it stays that way for many generations to come.