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The night was calm and the quiet snores of a raptor pack lay under the trees. A slight scuffling is heard in the bushes ahead of them and Red opens her eyes, staring. She hasn't felt very tired tonight, and her sister was snoring pretty loudly. One of her brothers kicked her with his hindclaw, and she got too annoyed to sleep. She got up to walk near the edge of the nest and plopped down next to her mother and parallel to her father.

It has been five weeks since hatching, and Red remembers it well. She struggled and pushed through her egg plated prison and forced her snout out to take her first breath. All the new and exciting scents flooded her olfactory chambers, which determined her to escape the egg and explore the Cretaceous world. She still couldn't see though, incapable of going anywhere But she knew she will soon, and waited for two days. During the time of waiting, the scents of countless more objects around her made it more exciting to see. She discovered mother and father and meat, and after the two days were done, she popped open her bright yellow eyes to absorbed the sensation of sight.

Plop! A huge slab of meat, twice her size, is dropped from the sky, or at least, mother. She sniffs the red hunk of flesh and alarms go off in her brain. Food!Food!Eat!. She grabs at it with her jaws and tears off a throat tube. She swallows and eats more, tearing and ripping until satisfaction is in her belly. She looks along her muzzle and sees a streak of bright red. Her parents too have this streak, but they differ a little. She downloads this data in the giant computer brain she has, and the color of blood.

A day later, another egg was moving and started to crack. When the chick came out, a female half-of-me stepped up, blind like she used to be. She imprinted her as sister, and sniffed her once.This new chick sniffed her too, and bit her muzzle, causing slight pain. When she broke away, she could see that her teeth were a bit large for regular size. Even compared to her's which are still growing. She blinks once and decides to think of her sister as, Fang.

Later in the week, two more siblings hatched, and smelt slightly similar to father. She recognized them as brothers and tried to see if they had any physical differences. The first brother to come had presumably large killing claws. She named him Sickle. The other one didn't have that much strikingly strange or noticeable, but when he stood up he was already taller than the rest of them. This was courtesy of his long legs and shins, which indicate great running power, so she named him Speed.

She wondered to herself is she had anything different than normal Utahraptor chicks. After her brothers and sister opened their eyes, she could see they showed her a bit of respect. She then began to learn this was not because she is the oldest, but her streak of red is brighter, wider, and more powerful than the rest. "My red...bigger...more color...I...am...Raptor Red".

That was the first week of four hatching chicks. The next four went on the same. Group fights on who eats more, one chick bothering another and then the other two, or just fighting for fun. But now, it's night. And everyone is asleep. The next morning, father gets up by himself and begins his morning hunt. Having the advantage of waking up early allows him to kill off unsuspecting prey and bring it back before the pack stirs. He flexes his ankles and walks east of the nest. Unfortunately, Red inherited this trait, and follows him, not knowing she's there. He comes across a clearing where a herd of Iguanodon are sleeping, some beginning to wake and graze. He knows he can't take on and sleeping Iguanodon right now. Especially if the sentry catches him and it wakes up to trample his bones. But if he can get one of the awake ones straying from the group, it'll never see the sunrise again.

An hour later, when most of the herd is up and running, he spots an ideal target, near the trees of the forest growth he's in. He stealthily runs around a few 50 meters, and stopswhen the bull is practically in front of him. Now Red fell asleep during the first half hour of waiting, and now wakes up, but walks to the clearing and is spotted by the sentry. It gives out a loud bellow and most of the adults start to run in panic. Towards the father.

He doesn't know what's going on, and is rammed by a cow and her calves. The rest of them steam roll over his body, crushing and smashing his bones and insides. The mother arrives to see what's happened, and sees her mate is dead on the ground, squished into the mud. The other chicks see their killed father, and whimper loudly. The mother stares for a while, and turns to the nest, with Red standing alone. Not believing what has been done.

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Another month has gone by and the chicks are now juveniles. Their kills are almost always successful, making them feel proud and worthy of future challenges. Sadly, no kill or hunt will ever prepare them for the death of today. The pack is heading westward to a newer land with different environments. They stop for a drink, when Red starts to feel itchy. Her siblings do also, and they scratch at themselves. The mother knows it is ticks they are scratching at and leads them to a lake of bubbly mud. She herself has the parasites and knows this will help.

They wade into the bursting lake one by one, and wait for the bugs to fall off. The juveniles have been in there so long they are covered in brown muck. They stay in there lazily, but the mother gets out to lay in the sun.

Whoosh!

A giant set of jaws picks her up and snaps her backbone and the Acrocanthosaurus carries her away. The chicks see this, but were too scared to move. That night, they make a temporary nest and lie down, in a big huddle. Each one is awake even till midnight knowing. Their parents are dead. They are alone in the world. But they must never...ever...separate.

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More to come! I hope you all like it!