Upbeat music playing.
On a sidewalk bordering the street, a fit Caucasian male in athletic wear was jogging to his own rhythm, wearing headphones and listening to a fast-paced rap track.
Wailing sirens.
Several police cars sped past him with sirens blaring, but he didn't pay them the slightest bit of attention.
Come on, this was America, since when were high-speed street chases a rare sight?
Every now and then, he would throw out a couple of hand gestures, mouth the lyrics, and nod his head enthusiastically, looking completely lost in the groove of the music.
Panicked human screams.
Eventually, even his heavily sound-isolated headphones could no longer drown out the rising commotion of the crowd. This, combined with the growing number of terrified people sprinting past him in the opposite direction, finally made the man hesitate.
Is it the apocalypse or something?
He pulled his headphones down around his neck, slowly turned around, and cast his gaze backward.
"Oh, shit!"
CRASH!
A police car, flattened into something resembling a metal pancake, came flipping through the air right over his head!
The next instant, the airborne cruiser smashed a massive hole straight through the glass facade of a nearby corporate high-rise, sending a torrential rain of razor-sharp glass shards cascading down onto the street!
Heavy, thudding footsteps.
Through it all, Carlo never once decelerated. His objective was crystal clear: cut straight through the city.
He tilted his head up slightly toward the sky, inhaling deeply to catch a scent, but failed to extract any useful information.
The odors of the human city were likely too chaotic and dense, completely masking the residual scent of Giga Dad and the pack. But it didn't matter. Carlo had already locked onto their trajectory on the far side of the city before entering. As long as he cleared the urban perimeter, picking up the trail again would be child's play.
But he had to be fast.
"There he is!"
The roar of engines and the wail of sirens erupted from behind him once more. An officer leaned halfway out of a cruiser's passenger window, raising his service pistol to open fire on Carlo.
Carlo's high-raised head hadn't even fully swung back forward. Glancing back at the nuisance behind him, he casually whipped his massive tail, smashing it directly into a roadside utility pole.
"Look out!"
Screeching brakes.
CRASH!
The thick wooden pole snapped, dragging live electrical wires down into the middle of the road. Amidst the tearing cables and exploding sparks, severed, high-voltage lines danced through the air like agitated serpents.
The police car managed to slam on its brakes just in the nick of time, though its hood was still showered in white-hot sparks.
"We lost him..."
"Don't worry, backup is already waiting ahead."
…
100 meters from the city exit toll plaza.
The wide, outbound highway had been completely evacuated, and the surrounding blocks were entirely locked down. Several military Humvees were parked flush across the center of the asphalt, each mounted with a heavy machine gun.
"A dinosaur? Are you out of your mind? What kind of dinosaur requires a mass civilian evacuation? Let's get one thing straight, this isn't some code name for a terrorist organization, right?"
"No. You'll understand once you see it."
The wind howled through the urban canyon. Bright sunlight bathed the grand avenue, while deep shadows clung to the damp, forgotten corners. The American soldiers stood firm, staring down the highway, waiting for the order to fire.
"Target distance: fifty meters. Ready..."
Faint, screeching sound of tearing sheet metal.
A rectangular, metallic subway car suddenly came soaring through the blue sky. Spinning erratically, its massive frame slammed heavily onto the asphalt, rolling at a violent velocity straight toward the soldiers' defensive line!
"Take cover!"
The subway train, fractured down to just three connected cars, slid along the pavement, driven by sheer momentum. The grinding metal sent a massive wall of friction-sparks flying into the air as it plowed right through the Humvee blockade.
"What in the motherfucking kind of dinosaur is that?! Is that Godzilla?!"
Carlo emerged from the urban corridor roughly fifty meters away from the city gates, turning his head slightly to glance at the subway car he had just hurled.
It's not like I don't have a map. What's wrong with taking a shortcut...
Crumbling masonry.
Behind him, a brick structure deformed and buckled as Carlo forced his massive bulk through the tight space, sending loose red bricks cascading down the edge of the building.
Uh... actually, it was already like that when I got here.
Seeing that the foolish humans hadn't noticed his stealthy entrance, Carlo pivoted, continued his forward charge, and successfully cleared the city limits.
…
"I want his GPS coordinates right now!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. On it."
The headquarters of the Primeval Organization was in absolute chaos once again. Everyone was frantically packing up their personal belongings and operational files.
The Primeval Official appeared to be on the phone with a high-ranking government superior, though he seemed completely checked out of the conversation.
"Sir, unfortunately, this particular dinosaur hasn't been fitted with a tracker since the D.P.W. days. Nor during the Jurassic World era... we honestly can't locate him either."
Finishing his script, he didn't even wait for the furious response from the other end. He quickly cupped his hand over the receiver and turned to a staff member still seated at a computer terminal.
"Can we simulate his intended destination?"
"Uh, all of our predictive algorithms are pointing toward... the Atlantic Ocean?"
"The Atlantic? Is he finally going out to pick a fight with the Mosasaurus?"
Timing it perfectly, the Primeval Official smoothly uncovered the phone to resume his conversation with the American authority.
"Hello? What was that, sir? Oh, the ownership rights to the Mojave Sanctuary... right, right, understood. I'll have to hang up now to go look for your target."
He clicked the line dead, then spun around to face another staff member.
"What's the status on the dinosaurs?"
"All packed up and ready for transport!"
"Brilliant!"
If they could extract dinosaurs from a collapsing Isla Nublar, they could certainly pull them out of an overlooked sanctuary.
When you think about it... is this organization just a bunch of rogue operators?
Well, the Primeval Organization was, in a way, an animal rights group. It's just that their philosophy was: I'm not going to beg you to give these dinosaurs a proper home. I'll just take them and find one myself.
American laws were far too lenient, meaning any random idiot could come stir up trouble for the prehistoric wildlife. In the few years since the Primeval Organization had taken over management of the sanctuary, there had been no fewer than fifty incidents of humans breaching the perimeters to harass or attack the dinosaurs.
That was precisely why Carlo often went a month without closing his eyes, investigating the perimeter the second he sensed the slightest disturbance.
This time, Carlo's breakout had actually handed the Primeval Organization the perfect window to execute their own evacuation.
"I found the location of the Giganotosaurus pack! They're in Italy... at Biosyn Genetics?!"
Tiger Lady's excited voice suddenly turned to one of sheer disbelief. Why does it feel like our competitors are always the bad guys?!
The Primeval Official didn't seem to care about the mention of Biosyn. Instead, his focus locked onto the geographical coordinates of Italy, and he began muttering to himself.
"Italy... Atlantic Ocean..."
"Italy... Atlantic Ocean..."
Slapping his desk, his eyes lit up. "Is that dinosaur a natural-born genius?!"
…
Katyusha led the Giga pack, forging a path through an unfamiliar, dense jungle.
Giga Dad held the second position in the line. With dinosaurs, age generally equated to prime physical power; as long as they remained free of disease, the older they grew, the more formidable they became.
Kafka and Karl flanked the sides of the column, scanning left and right, occasionally tilting their massive heads to ensure no ambushers were creeping up on them.
Rushing water.
The sound of a rushing current echoed from not too far away. Judging by the acoustics, it sounded like a small river or stream.
Regardless, finding a source of clean, drinkable water in an unfamiliar environment was a massive win.
Katyusha, leading the vanguard, quickened her pace...
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