The dinosaur remained motionless, his heavy body pressed against the cracked earth beneath the dead tree. He closed his eyes again, focusing every ounce of his attention on the sounds around him. The wind rustled the brittle branches above, but beneath that, he strained to hear more—something, anything, that might signal another living creature.

At first, there was only silence. Then, faint but unmistakable, a distant skittering. Tiny feet over stone. A creature moving, perhaps more than one. His nostrils flared slightly as he took in the air—dry, dusty, but carrying the faintest hint of something alive. Not the lizard from before. Something else.

He dared not move, even as his muscles tensed with anticipation. The sounds came in waves, sometimes closer, sometimes fading. Then, a new noise—a soft chittering, like small creatures communicating. His pulse quickened. He'd heard nothing like it in years. The last remnants of a world that had forgotten him.

A sudden, sharp crack split the air—a rock shifting, or perhaps something larger moving nearby. His eyes snapped open, his head lifting slightly. There, between the jagged rocks at the edge of the withered tree's shadow, a small, furred creature peered out at him. Its beady eyes glinted with cautious curiosity before it darted back into hiding. The dinosaur exhaled slowly. Not alone. Not entirely.