"The girl just went out. We move now."
"Copy that. Don't spook any bystanders."
"Don't spook them? You're kidding, right? We're bagging a Velociraptor infant here."
"Then you better keep your head down."
"Maisie? Where do you think you're going?"
Claire leaned against the wooden doorframe of the cabin, casting a definitive 'caught you red-handed' look at Maisie, who was just outside.
Pushing a bicycle and wearing her hood pulled up, Maisie looked back at Claire and retorted, "You're not my mom. You can't keep me locked up in here."
Fourteen is an inherently rebellious age. Maisie pushed her bike forward, heading down the path toward the nearby town. Claire felt the biting winter wind pierce her chest, tightening her jacket slightly.
She didn't press the issue. While letting Maisie go out carried an undeniable risk, perhaps... perhaps they really couldn't keep her cooped up in the house forever.
"Aok!"
Deep in the forest, Beta let out a light, chirping cry. She kept close to her mother, her eyes locked onto the red fox dangling from Blue's jaws.
Even though they had successfully hunted a small black wolf the day before, that meager amount of meat was far from enough to sustain three adult raptors and one growing juvenile.
Thud!
Blue dropped her head, and the red fox fell heavily into the snow. Beta eagerly lunged forward to tear into it. However, lacking sufficient strength and coordination, she merely dragged the carcass through the snow for a considerable distance without successfully piercing the hide.
BANG!
The next instant, a gunshot shattered the silence of the woods! A massive netting apparatus shot forward through the air, draping itself perfectly over Beta's small, fragile frame!
The roar of an engine.
"Aunnng-roar!"
"Aok!"
Beta shrieked in sheer terror as Blue let out a defensive, cautionary snarl, scrambling forward to free her daughter from the net.
BAM!
A beige pickup truck came barreling through the brush, smashing violently into Blue and sending her tumbling down the snowy slope!
"Aok?"
Delta emerged from the abandoned school bus at the commotion, only to spot two poachers jumping out of the truck to secure Beta into the cargo bed. The poacher leader leaned half his body out of the passenger window, raising a double-barreled shotgun and aiming it straight at Delta!
BANG!
Delta's pupils dilated instantly. She knew exactly what that weapon was; Charlie had been killed by humans using that very same tool.
Clang!
The slug dented the iron hull of the school bus. Delta yanked her head back just in time, narrowly evading the lethal shot.
Farther out in their territory, Echo, who had been actively tracking prey, and Owen, who was still tuning his motorcycle by the cabin, raised their heads simultaneously. Both looked toward the exact same patch of forest.
An instant later, man and dinosaur began sprinting in the same direction!
Maisie pedaled her bicycle toward the bridge leading into town. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman stepped into the road, blocking her path. The woman's rigid, formal demeanor instantly reminded Maisie of Mrs. Iris, the former housekeeper of Lockwood Estate.
Sensing trouble out of pure instinct, Maisie braked hard.
The roar of an engine.
The beige pickup truck that had captured Beta rumbled to a halt right behind her, cutting off her only line of retreat.
Guided by the fading rumble of the engine, Owen arrived at the bridge, only to find Maisie's bicycle abandoned and smashed on the ground.
"Damn it!"
Swearing under his breath, he spun around and sprinted back toward the cabin.
"Aoook!!!"
The muffled, distant cry of a Velociraptor echoed from the direction the beige pickup had fled. The sound made Owen pause in his tracks. He cast another glance toward the road, suddenly realizing the full scope of what had happened.
Through the dense trees nearby, a blurred figure bolted past, brushing right past Owen.
"Claire! They found her!"
Owen burst into the cabin, completely out of breath. He gave Claire a truncated summary of the situation before furiously tossing things aside to unearth his sniper rifle.
"What... who took her?!"
Claire stood completely frozen for a second before the reality sank in: Maisie had been taken.
"Poachers... I ran into them earlier. The leader is a total scumbag. He must have recognized me and tracked me back here."
The sharp clack of a round chambering.
This was the same rifle Owen had used against the Indominus rex. Until today, its barrel had never been pointed at a human being.
"Where is she?"
Claire asked, clinging to a final thread of hope. Owen didn't give a verbal answer; his actions spoke for themselves.
"Go get the truck started."
"Oh my god..."
Clad only in her thin indoor clothes, Claire dashed out the door without even grabbing her winter coat. But as she cleared the threshold, she ran straight into their neighbor.
"A choked gasp... Owen!"
Blue had come looking for Owen... to demand answers? Claire knew better than to project absolute terror when staring down a Velociraptor, forcing her scream back down her throat as quickly as it had escaped.
"Hey! Don't do anything reckless..."
Owen stepped out of the cabin, lowering his rifle. He raised his left hand firmly in front of him, trying to force Blue into a state of calm.
"Aunnng-roar!"
"Aok?"
Blue was visibly agitated and aggressive. Echo materialized a moment later, entirely unaware of the specifics but falls in line directly behind Blue.
The situation was spiraling out of control.
"They took her baby too," Owen explained to Claire in a low, tense whisper before refocusing his gaze on Blue.
"I'll bring her back... I promise."
A low growl.
"Aok!"
Blue's volatile posture suddenly subdued as a distant, echoing call reached her ears.
It was Delta! She was already tracking the poachers!
The crunch of snow.
The two Velociraptors turned in unison, vaulting into the tree line one after the other.
"Come on... I know exactly who to call," Owen said, tracking Blue's departure. Amidst the panic, a realization seemed to strike Claire.
"Roar—"
The thunderous call of a Yutyrannus echoed through the valley. The greedy poachers had no intention of leaving empty-handed. By tracking Owen, they had accidentally stumbled upon the nesting grounds of the Yutyrannus pack as well.
This was a high-profile celebrity dinosaur, after all. Whether dead or alive, a single specimen would fetch a fortune on the black market.
The roar of engines.
While one team secured Beta and Maisie, a separate detachment of poachers on horseback was charging across the open snowfields, executing a coordinated capture circle around the Yutyrannus.
"Roar—"
BANG!
The alpha Yutyrannus let out a menacing growl, but a heavy-duty capture net instantly clamped over its jaws, restricting its ability to bite or snap.
Three Yutyrannus stood back-to-back, facing the ring of poachers. These apex predators, who spent their lives hunting herbivorous dinosaurs, had suddenly found themselves the target of a hunt. But it didn't matter, their distress signal had already been sent.
Heavy, earth-shaking thuds.
Atop the ridge, an absolute titan of a Yutyrannus revealed itself. Its entire body was blanketed in deep, crimson feathers, with the plumage around its underbelly dusted in white snow. It had clearly just been awoken from a deep slumber.
And it was time to unleash its morning wrath.
"ROAR——!!!"
A grander, far more terrifying sonic scream tore through the sky, carrying a localized gale-force wind!
The poachers' horses immediately fractured into a wild panic. Their eyes rolled back in terror as they overrode their riders' commands, scattering blindly in every direction.
At that exact moment, the poachers' minds were suddenly clouded. Visceral, long-buried psychological nightmares flashed through their minds: swarms of spiders, uncanny mimics, and cosmic, unnamable horrors. The absolute deepest, darkest fears tucked away in their psyches bubbled to the surface without warning, causing several men to lose their grip and tumble off their mounts without even realizing it.
The three cornered Yutyrannus weren't completely immune to the psychic shockwave either; their massive bodies trembled slightly under the feedback, but they managed to maintain clear consciousness.
"Roar—"
As the poachers curled on the frozen ground, desperately trying to reassemble their shattered sanity, the alpha Yutyrannus tore free from its muzzle netting. It let out a rallying cry, delivering a much-needed morale boost to the other two pack members.
If you choose to hunt, you must be prepared to be hunted in return.
Breaking their defensive formation, the Yutyrannus zeroed in on the humans. Deprived of their horses' mobility, the poachers were nothing more than lambs lined up for slaughter.
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