"Huff… Huff…"
On the verge of total collapse, Mitch stumbled out of the forest with unsteady steps and collapsed onto the grass. He still gripped his long-necked rifle with its telescopic sight, his chest heaving with violent, ragged breaths.
Carlo emerged from the tree line behind him. Seeing the man fall, he gave him a couple of experimental nudges with his foot.
"Don't... not again..."
Mitch groaned, his face pressed into the turf. "Fuck!"
He scrambled to spin around, lying on his back as he aimed the rifle at Carlo.
Bang!
The bullet struck Carlo square in the face. If Mitch wasn't hallucinating... it looked like it sparked?
Just like before.
The last flicker of light died in Mitch's eyes. The rifle slipped from his numb fingers.
"No... this isn't real... it can't be real..."
Clatter!
In a final, desperate act, he flung the rifle at Carlo's head. It bounced off with a sharp metallic thud. Mitch then struggled to his feet, swaying precariously as he began to limp toward the Main Street. Right now, only human structures could offer him even the faintest illusion of safety.
Carlo wasn't angered by the projectile. He simply followed at a leisurely pace, occasionally letting out a heavy, deliberate footfall to remind the man he was still right behind him.
Keep running. Just don't stop.
"Huff… Huff…"
Mitch's vision blurred; his head felt heavy and swimming. It felt as though his heart might give out at any second.
Drip... drip...
Tap... tap...
Sweat poured from his cheeks, his clothes sopping wet as if he'd just been hauled out of the lagoon. Every time Carlo's footsteps echoed, then vanished, Mitch's heart skipped a painful beat.
Thud.
Mitch fell face-first onto the pavement. His cheek and nose split open, the spray of blood and the sharp sting of pain dragging his drifting consciousness back to reality for a fleeting moment.
Hard ground? Hard ground!
I've made it to Main Street! If I can just get inside a building... if I can just hide...
Carlo looked down at the man, dissatisfied. The human couldn't even stand anymore; he was reduced to crawling.
"Roar—"
You might be out of strength, but you've still got plenty of life in you!
Thump...
Another heavy footstep rang out, but this one didn't belong to Carlo.
Mitch looked up toward the sound and saw the very thing he had been obsessed with: Rexy, the Tyrannosaurus rex.
"Aunnng-roar!"
She let out a deafening challenge at Carlo. In her eyes, this newcomer had trespassed into her territory.
Carlo glanced at Mitch on the ground, then back at Rexy. He hesitated for a moment, then raised a foot and precisely snapped both of Mitch's dragging legs.
"ARGHHHHHHH—!"
Carlo gave a low, vibrating growl at Rexy, then turned and walked away. Consider Mitch a gift. He still had two more to kill.
Rexy, facing a predator significantly larger than herself for the first time, didn't rush to attack. She watched him leave with a sense of wary relief.
What was he doing with this thing?
She lowered her head, only to find a long, smeared trail of blood leading away!
"You animals! You'll never take me alive!"
Mitch used every ounce of his remaining strength to crawl to the broken fence of the Lagoon. Without a second thought, he rolled over the edge.
Before he even hit the water, a gargantuan maw erupted from the depths. Having heard Carlo's earlier roar, the Mosasaurus had been waiting patiently.
Crunch.
The Mosasaurus didn't even bother to chew. It swallowed him whole in a single gulp.
Rexy: ...Weirdo.
…
"Hey! Hey! Kids! Get me out of here! I can get you off this island!"
With both legs broken and reduced to crawling, Tiff realized escape was impossible on her own. She could only plead with the teenagers.
At this moment, her plea sounded like a sick joke.
"Are you serious? We trusted you!" Darius said, his voice trembling. He had been the one most deceived by the poachers, nearly leading them straight to the Great Lake.
"Hey! Didn't your parents ever teach you not to trust strangers? Why don't you look at your own mistakes?"
Tiff finally dropped the mask. Her "caring mentor" persona was gone, replaced by bitter venom.
"Our boat is hidden at a secret dock. Only I know where it is. If you take me with you, I can show you the way."
Yasmina "rocket-started" to her feet, standing abruptly. "Wait, you said the boat wouldn't be back for two or three days?"
Tiff was genuinely speechless at their naivety. She snapped at the three of them:
"That was obviously a lie! Who would want to stay in this hellhole? If it wasn't for Mitch and his dinosaur obsession, I'd have been gone ages ago!"
Seeing the shock in their eyes, she inwardly lamented how stupid kids were these days. She pressed on, "Think about it! Once that beast kills me, you're next! You really think it's just going to let you go?"
The three remained silent. Yasmina simply sat back down, her stance clear.
"I'm not believing another word you say."
Darius turned his back on her and found a spot to sit. Sammy looked hesitant; having seen the footage of Carlo's massacre, she found it hard to make a definitive choice.
"No, no, no! You—"
A heavy footfall cut Tiff off mid-struggle.
Carlo decided he shouldn't be too graphic in front of the children. He leaned down, scooped Tiff up in his jaws, and carried her over to the carcass of the Triceratops they had killed.
Tiff was dropped unceremoniously, the fall snapping her arm. Carlo scanned the surrounding scents for a moment, then turned and vanished into the brush.
"Cough... ptui!"
Tiff spat out a mouthful of grass. She tried to sit up to survey her surroundings, but her body refused to obey.
"Chirp?"
The Compsognathus (Compies) that had scattered when Carlo arrived began to slink back. Initially, they were looking to scavenge the carcass, but the flailing Tiff immediately drew their attention. Live prey was always more interesting.
"Get back! Get away!"
"Chirp."
"Chirp-chirp."
More and more Compies swarmed from the shadows, eventually submerging Tiff in a sea of tiny, snapping jaws.
…
"Aunnng—"
Bumpy seemed to sense the approaching danger. She let out a series of low rumbles, trying to nudge Ben to leave.
"What is it, Bumpy?"
Ben asked, confused, but Hap, who was still tied up, already knew what was coming.
"The big guy is here."
As Carlo slowly came into view, the Ankylosaurus became even more agitated, slamming her clubbed tail against the ground. She lunged forward, shielding Ben and the others.
Ben was everything to her. He was the first creature she had seen since hatching. She would never allow...
BAM!
Carlo whipped his tail, striking a nearby tree. A split second later, the trunk groaned and collapsed, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Bumpy's eyes followed the fallen tree to the ground. Her tail, which had been poised for another strike, froze mid-air.
On second thought... maybe moving aside isn't such a bad idea.
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