"Something's wrong. The door is locked."
"This one is too!"
Darius and his friends had barely had time to exchange greetings after meeting up before they noticed the sudden change around them.
The pitch-black warehouse had transformed into a cage. Kenji quickly scaled the wall to check the second-story window they had slipped through earlier, only to find it secured as well.
"The window's locked too!" he shouted down to the others.
His loud voice rippled through the warehouse, triggering a sudden, uneasy commotion among the dinosaurs packed inside the shipping containers.
Wait... maybe it wasn't because of him?
Tap... tap... tap...
The crisp, sharp clicking of expensive leather shoes striking the hard concrete floor echoed through the dark space. The sound cut through the air, beating a tense rhythm against everyone's nerves.
Bzzzt...
A blue light flickered erratically in the shadows. The continuous, buzzing hiss of a high-voltage stun baton made the already stressed dinosaurs thrall violently against their metal prisons.
It was Dudley Cabrera.
From his vantage point on the upper level, Kenji spotted him first. The man strolled out with unhurried steps, walking right up to Darius, Yasmina, and Sammy.
"Cabrera? You're the mastermind behind this?"
Darius was the only one present who recognized him; after all, Cabrera was the one who had personally recruited him into the Department of Prehistoric Wildlife (DPW).
"You're trafficking dinosaurs?!"
Cabrera remained silent, slowly raising the crackling stun baton and aiming it at them. Darius's confusion rapidly spiraled into heated indignation.
"Darius..." Sammy murmured, stepping forward to hint that he should keep his cool.
"The DPW is supposed to protect people from dinosaurs. But clearly, the one people really need protection from... is you."
Darius kept pressing, his voice echoing off the walls. This time, his words actually worked, prompting Cabrera to deactivate the weapon, extinguishing the blue sparks at its tip.
"I never wanted anyone to get hurt."
"Then why are you pointing a weapon at us?"
"Do what I say, and you'll be fine."
"Is that what you told Brooklynn?"
Two hands are a poor match for four, and Cabrera was currently facing three relentless, interrogating voices. Predictably, his patience ran out fast.
Bzzzt...
"That Allosaurus was just supposed to scare her! It was a warning to make her back off, nothing more!"
The blue electrical discharge reflected in Darius's eyes. He took a half-step back but didn't stop pushing.
"So you sent the Atrociraptors to hunt us down for the same reason? Just to give us a warning?!"
The current died down. A look of genuine, utter confusion washed over Cabrera's face.
"Atrociraptors? What are you talking about?"
Thud!
"Aunnng—"
Darius slammed his fist hard against the side of a nearby shipping container. The sharp, metallic clang reverberated through the warehouse, startling everyone present, including the dinosaur locked inside that very crate.
"Stop lying to us!"
Perhaps from spending too much time around prehistoric giants, Darius had instinctively adopted the habit of asserting dominance and throwing his weight around during a standoff. Except this time, his opponent was an armed adult human.
Bzzzt...
"If you really didn't want to hurt anyone, you wouldn't have used dinosaurs to 'warn' us!"
"I tried sending real messages, but none of you listened!"
Wait... real messages? The threatening emails on Dark Jurassic?!
"You were the one sending those threats?!"
"Like I said, I didn't want anyone getting hurt... but if I have to choose between my business and the legendary tales of the Nublar Six saving civilization..." Cabrera adjusted his collar, trying to maintain his sophisticated, corporate facade. Lowering his voice, he added, "You know exactly which one I'm going to choose."
Bzzzt...
"Look out above!"
Utilizing his high-level climbing skills, Kenji had navigated across the metal rafters. Taking a deep breath to steel his resolve, he dropped straight down in a full superhero-style landing, crashing right into Cabrera!
BAM! Crack...
"Argh... movies lie! He was supposed to cushion my fall, why does it still hurt so bad?!" Kenji groaned as the other three quickly helped him to his feet.
"Because this warehouse ceiling is over thirty feet high!" Darius shot back.
Kenji ignored the lecture, muttering to himself as he checked his body. "Did I break something? I swear I heard a bone crack just now. Is it my leg?" Kenji was still planning to make a living off his climbing club; a broken bone would ruin everything.
"The bone that broke... belongs to me... you idiot..."
Clutching a nearby container, Cabrera shakily pulled himself up. This time, he bypassed the stun baton and pulled the ultimate equalizer straight out of his coat pocket: a firearm.
"Eep!"
The moment Kenji saw the gun, his body miraculously stopped hurting, and his legs recovered instantly. He grabbed the other three and bolted for cover.
Being the archetypal protagonists, Darius and his group simply weren't ruthless enough. Even though they had a golden opportunity to permanently disable Cabrera, they chose to flee instead.
Then again...
"I got the stun baton!"
"I got the keys!"
"I got Kenji!"
None of their hands were particularly clean, it seemed... though, Darius, was grabbing Kenji really an item acquisition?
"Wait..."
The group abruptly halted their sprint toward the warehouse exit. Darius noticed the main door's control indicator flip from red to green. He immediately pulled everyone back into the shadows between the shipping containers.
Hummmmm—
The heavy door ground upward. Standing dead center in the opening was the Handler, exuding an uncanny, robotic aura with a posture that looked entirely unnatural.
As the door rose higher, her silhouette stretched into the warehouse.
"What are you doing here? I told you not to interfere. I'm tired of cleaning up your messes," Cabrera snapped at her. His left hand remained tightly clamped over his fractured right arm, trying to numb the throbbing pain.
The Handler didn't offer a word. She simply leveled a cold, vacant stare at him that instantly silenced Cabrera, sending a collective shiver down everyone's spine.
"Fine. This ends now. You're fired," Cabrera blustered, though his tone had noticeably weakened.
The Handler merely tilted her head in a bizarre, mechanical gesture, a sight far more unnerving than Carlo tilting his head to size up a piece of meat.
"Jason? You're just in time. Escort this friend of ours out..."
A man wearing a DPW uniform stepped into view right on cue. However, he completely ignored Cabrera's directive, cutting him off entirely.
"You really think you're the one calling the shots here?"
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Handler. The woman raised a small whistle to her lips and blew softly.
A melodious, haunting whistle echoes...
"Aok?"
Three Atrociraptors sprinted into frame in a flash, and the realization hit Cabrera like a physical blow.
"The Atrociraptors... you used them to kill that girl?!"
"We prefer the targeted precision of the Atrociraptors over leaving things to the unpredictability of an Allosaurus," Jason replied smoothly. He stepped backward out of the warehouse and hit the control switch.
The heavy iron door began its descent, sealing Darius, his three friends, the three Atrociraptors, Cabrera, and the Handler inside together.
Thud!
The moment the door slammed completely shut, the three Atrociraptors lunged. They struck Cabrera in unison, tackling him violently to the ground.
"Aaaargh—"
Already crippled by his broken arm, Cabrera stood absolutely no chance. He was instantly torn to shreds by the raptors.
I have been betrayed twice... As for why there wasn't a third time? Because I died on the second.
As a villain, Cabrera had simply lacked the necessary ruthlessness. He wanted to maintain his glamorous public image while raking in wealth and fame; it was only natural that his indecisiveness would lead to such a gruesome end.
"Huff..."
Having witnessed the entire slaughter, Darius pressed his back hard against the wall, covering his mouth as he drew in ragged breaths. The faces of the other three were equally pale.
"Aok?"
One of the Atrociraptors lifted its head, tilting it curiously as it peered deeper into the warehouse.
It still remembered the scent of its prey.
Noticing the raptor's sudden focus, the Handler raised her whistle again, intending to command them to search…
Thump...
A massive, ground-shaking tremor reverberated from outside the warehouse. Shouts of panic, frantic shouting, and a chaotic burst of gunfire erupted all at once, only to fall deathly silent a moment later.
What was happening out there?
In the very next instant, the entire roof of the warehouse was violently ripped open! Blinding sunlight poured into the space, stinging everyone's eyes.
Then, a colossal shadow loomed over them, blotting out the sun.
———————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]