Chapter 112: Deceive the humans

As soon as Sobek's roar rang throughout the zoo, the other dinosaurs began their part. Sobek obviously didn't want humans to understand that they could communicate. If that had happened it would have been a big problem for him. In doing so, he would not only have demonstrated great intelligence, but also a completely abnormal behavior. If someone had noticed this, humans would hardly have left Sobek and the other dinosaurs alone in the future. Surely they would have explored the planet inch by inch just to find them and subject them to an infinite number of stupid tests. Sobek didn't expect to be able to leave the zoo in peace, but he wanted at least to be able to remain calm once they escaped. He still didn't possess enough power to hold his own against large numbers of humans and therefore it was necessary for him to keep a low profile for a while longer. For that, he needed to deceive the humans. If the dinosaurs had simply fled, someone might have become suspicious and noticed that there was a pattern behind such actions. So he had ordered all the other dinosaurs to pretend they were terrified, just as they would if a giant predator had actually appeared. In this way, their escape would have seemed normal. All they had to do was fidget in the cages and then run away once the power plant was destroyed. Once they would be out of the zoo it would have been enough for them to reach a hidden place and activate [Ambush] to become invisible, and after that they would have to do nothing but head to the indicated point. All the dinosaurs had only this simple task. All except Carnopo. Sobek couldn't just go to the power plant, or the humans would know he knew about electricity, or at least suspect it. But if he got there by chasing another dinosaur fleeing for its life, then the music would change. Between predators, competition was normal. Attacking Carnopo, whose fence was directly in front of him, would have been not an unusual behavior in the eyes of humans. Obviously, Carnopo was ready. He had spent the whole day lying in his favorite spot, trying to keep his energy as best he could. When he heard the signal, his body was filled with chills. 'So we're really going to run away... I was right to trust him!' he think. Until he had heard the roar, in fact, he had not fully believed that Sobek had kept his word. He got up and stretched his legs: he was ready for an apparent mad rush. A thud announced that Sobek had just launched from twenty meters high, landing right outside the Carnopo enclosure. Such a fall would have been enough to break any creature's legs, but with [Reinforced skin] Sobek didn't feel the pressure of the impact in the slightest. Instead, he smelled a strange smell of blood. He looked at one of its paws and noticed that it had crushed several visitors. A dinosaur weighing fourteen and a half tons, 9.3 meters tall and 29 meters long, certainly couldn't land light as a feather. And it certainly didn't go unnoticed: the visitors and guardians around him were running away, except for those who had fallen to the ground and could no longer get up. Almost no one tried to help them: the survival instinct, in such situations, had the better of morals. Carnopo roared from his enclosure. "I'm ready!" Sobek grunted with satisfaction. "Let's do it then!" He roared and threw himself against the fence. Carnopo pretended to flee towards the center of the enclosure. The fence split as if it were made of sugar and electric sparks flew everywhere. Sobek wasn't afraid of electricity: his skin canceled out any electric shock. He just felt an itch when he hit the fence and the electric shock hit him. The hole that was created was at least five meters wide, more than enough for the carnotaur to pass through. Sobek rushed on Carnopo, who obviously fled: in that situation, no carnotaur would have stood still to face him. For any dinosaur, the difference in strength would have been clear. Carnopo then ran in circles and then slipped away between his legs, exiting the fence and running north, where the power plant that powered the entire park was located. Sobek was soon after him. A carnotaur could run up to 56 km/h. Sobek reached a maximum of 30 km/h. No human would have become suspicious seeing Carnopo have the advantage. The two ran around the zoo, trampling several people in the process. The guardians didn't even try to intervene: they were certainly not suicides. Even though they were trained to catch dinosaurs, Sobek was literally a living locomotive. Trying to stop him was like trying to stop a train with a rifle. People fled everywhere in terror. Those who had abandoned the viewing galleries were regretting their earlier choice. The passage of the two dinosaurs made the ground tremble slightly with each step. From the cages, the other dinosaurs had begun to cheer them on. They had stuck to their side of the plan, posing as terrified creatures as much as the humans were: they ran in circles, made noises, were wide-eyed, and some even jumped. Their verses, however, weren't without meaning. Even though the humans couldn't understand them, and to their ears they just sounded like the screams of frightened animals, they were actually screaming 'Come on!' or 'Let's go!' or 'You can do it!'. Eventually the two reached the right place. The power plant, as in many zoos, was located out of the way of visitors. It was a transformer connected to the city electricity grid, with attached emergency generators in case there was a general blackout. Carnopo pretended to want to hide among the structures. Sobek ran to meet him and pretended to bump into one by mistake. The generator emitted a strong jolt and a blinding glow shone in the now dark sky. To top it all off, Sobek let out a furious roar. If an electrical explosion had occurred in front of any animal, it would have immediately perceived the danger and would have acted only in two ways: escape or attack. In the case of Sobek, the apex superpredator of the whole planet, the choice could only be the attack. No one would have found it strange: he could therefore devastate the entire plant without posing any problems. With shoulders, bites, claws and shoves he quickly smashed all the generators to pieces. Electric sparks flew all over the place and the fire began to spread rapidly. At that point Sobek stepped aside: the flames would take care of destroying everything else. Also, he didn't want to show everyone again that he wasn't afraid of fire, so he just walked in a random direction. Carnopo, meanwhile, had pretended to take advantage of his distraction to escape, and had traveled backwards. In doing so, he had roared continuously. To the dinosaurs' ears, that was the go-ahead signal! The dinosaurs massed against the fences and began to push. With no more electricity, they were nothing more than fragile cables. Within minutes, all the fences in the park were torn down and the animals poured out like a river. The few who didn't have the strength to destroy the enclosures, such as the velociraptors, simply climbed them. Like a giant tide, all the dinosaurs ran to the main exit, trampling everything in the process. Once outside they poured into the streets of the city. The people who had followed the story thanks to television and YouTube had hurried back home, but the streets were still full of men and women who knew nothing of what was happening. Panic took over all of them as they came upon the gigantic herd of dinosaurs. That was the beginning of a night of terror for all of Flagard City. ********* Ludlow ran out of breath into the park control room. He was sweating and dark patches were visible all over his fine suit. He was pretty sure he even got it underneath. Even so, he felt no shame in presenting himself like that in front of his employees: first it was an emergency situation, second he had literally looked death in the face minutes ago. When the spinosaurus jumped onto the stage he had been convinced that he had reached the end of the line: he had run away and had not stopped until he had put at least two flights of stairs away between him and the animal. The control room was in total darkness. The electricity had just gone out and the controllers were relying on cell phone flashlights to see something. "What's the situation?" Ludlow asked, expecting nothing good from the faces of his employees. "Sir, according to what the guardians on the field tell us, all the fences in the park have been torn down" said a man who was contacting all the guardian teams at their disposal via his mobile phone. "The animals are dispersing in the city!" Ludlow felt the earth fail beneath his feet. He couldn't think anymore. The dream night he had hoped for had turned into a nightmare. "How was this possible?" "The spinosaurus attacked the carnotaur, and to escape it ran to the powerhouse. The spinosaurus destroyed the generators and the fire did the rest" the clerk explained. "Once the electricity went out, the animals didn't think twice about breaking through the fences and running away. They are terrified as ever in their life" Ludlow let out long sighs to calm down. "And the spinosaurus?" "It broke through the west wall and exited the park. It is currently wandering around the city too" the clerk answered. Ludlow knew that if this situation was ever resolved, the blame would have been placed on him, and only on him. The damages and the families that he would have had to compensate would have dried him up, not to mention the effects of the damage to his image. In all likelihood he would have ended up on the street. He had to limit the damage, or at least try. "Call the police immediately. Tell them what's going on. And even the army, we will need heavy artillery to shoot down the spinosaurus" he ordered. "And get me in contact with the mayor, right now!"