Chapter 113: The prize is coming

"To all units! This is a top priority order. We have an massive animal escape from Mega Beast Park. All agents currently not engaged must render aid!" Like the cities of Earth, Flagard City also had its own law enforcement agencies, such as police and firefighters. And being a very large city there were several departments of each of them, all coordinated by the so-called 'central department'. Consequently, the number of law enforcement officers was more than enough to handle the fleeing animals. As in all big cities, the police didn't just have cars and guns: they were equipped with helicopters, riot suits and pretty dangerous weapons. They were perfectly equipped to catch dinosaurs escaped from the park. "Patrols 3, 7, 12 and 18, converge towards the Crimson Building! There are two kentrosaurs wreaking havoc in the traffic!" Thanks to the helicopters, tracking down the dinosaurs was extremely easy. Even though it was now night, the artificial lights and their size did not allow them to hide. Human technology was their great advantage: thanks to the power of telecommunications, teams could coordinate to surround animals on all sides. The kentrosaurs were animals of the stegosaurid family. They were usually placid and peaceful, but if threatened they could be very dangerous: they had rows of thorns from the middle of the back to the tip of the tail. Two of them were now in the middle of the road and had caused an accident; they were trying to get out of the cluster of automobiles that had arisen. They bellowed continuously as they continued to push the cars, as if they were scared of something. "Tranquilizers!" Police squads arrived promptly and surrounded the kentrosaurs, ready to stuff them with sleep darts. In that world where dinosaurs and humans coexisted, policemen were equipped to capture them in case one of them was found for some reason in the middle of the city. Generally, carnivores were shot, but in the case of herbivores, they just sedate them. "Damn, what's the matter with them? They seem to be in a great hurry to get out of here" murmured one of the policemen as he took aim. Even if the target was a dinosaur weighing over three tons, he could not afford to hit it at random: in order for the narcotic to have an immediate effect it was necessary to hit precise points, such as the neck or the withers. Otherwise it could have caused the kentrosaurus to go wild, causing more damage before falling asleep. The policeman next to him shook his head. "I don't know and personally I don't care to know. Let's put them to sleep and take them back to the zoo. The guardians will think about understanding what these dinosaurs have" he answered. "Now pull that trigger and..." He couldn't finish the sentence; a roar of bent metal and shattered glass came from their shoulders. All the patrols turned to the source of the noise and in an instant they lost all their courage: a giant dinosaur as tall as a three-story house was charging towards them, shattering everything in its path. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" "FUCK! I'M LEAVING!" "GO! GO!" "RUN!" The cops quickly dispersed. Some madman tried to shoot the creature, but to his surprise and horror the bullets bounced off him as if they were hitting a steel plate. The only result they achieved was to attract the dinosaur's attention, which promptly made them all disappear in its mouth. The kentrosaurs bellowed like madmen and raged even more against the cars, having an obvious hurry to get out of there. With great difficulty they managed to get out of the traffic and ran towards an alley, just in time for the giant predator to catch up with them. The animal could not pass through the narrow street and gave up the pursuit. When the dinosaur finally got away, the terrified cops came out of their hiding places. "What the hell was that?" someone asked. "I don't know! No one told me that there were dinosaurs so big!" another answered. "I hope they called the National Guard! That monster won't go down unless they hit it with a missile!" "What do we do now?" "What are we doing? What do you think? Let's take those two kentrosaurs and leave immediately! I don't know about you, but I don't intend to chase that beast!" "I agree. Didn't you see the bullets bouncing off it? We are not equipped to deal with it" "Contact the other patrols immediately. Tell them what we saw. If they meet it, they don't have to waste time dealing with it: let them leave their jobs to the army" While the policemen were deciding what to do, they entered the alley where the kentrosaurs had taken refuge. Since they knew the streets of the city very well, they knew that this was a one-way street. However, when they came to an end, the kentrosaurs weren't there! "What...? Where are they?" "How did they disappear? For... magic?" "Don't be ridiculous! There must be a hidden passage somewhere..." While the cops were puzzling trying to figure out what had happened, the two kentrosaurs hidden thanks to [Ambush] left the alley and hurried to the point indicated to them. When he planned the escape, Sobek had already predicted that there would be setbacks. Since you had to be out of sight to activate [Ambush], many medium-sized dinosaurs weren't able to hide right away. For the small ones there had been no problems: even the back of a car was a good enough hiding place to disappear. But for stegosaurids, ceratopsids, hadrosaurs and theropods the situation was different. They had to find a dark, empty alley, or a completely displaced street, before they could go into [Ambush] mode and then safely get out of the city. This wasn't easy at all, especially for those dinosaurs who had cubs with them and therefore couldn't run too fast. In addition, humans had the advantage of communications and speed: thanks to their machines, the forces of order could know what was happening well in advance and intervene immediately. In his plan, Sobek had decided that he would devastate the city a bit before disappearing, for two reasons: the first was that he wanted the army to intervene, so as to be able to unlock all the boxes in the [Weapon system]. The second was precisely that he would have to intervene in case some dinosaurs got into trouble. Sobek couldn't give the other dinosaurs [Reinforced skin], or the humans would know something was wrong. So he had instructed the dinosaurs to scream his name if something went wrong. To the ears of humans, they were only the sounds of frightened creatures; to him, they were a distress call. With his superb hearing he could hear them from miles away and rush to their rescue. Of course, in doing so he would pretend to be a silly predator attacking prey. The chaos it generated was more than enough for the dinosaurs to hide and activate [Ambush]. With this method, Sobek had already rescued four sinoceratops, a stegosaurus, an allosaurus and, lastly, those two kentrosaurs. Even though he was pleased with himself, he hoped there weren't many left out in the open: he preferred that they all disappear before the army arrived. He would have fought more confidently had he not had to worry about the other dinosaurs. The reason he had chosen to face humans in a city was very simple: the military couldn't fire missiles at anything there. With his strength, agility and speed, Sobek had the advantage of the territory. However, if dinosaurs were left exposed when the army arrived, they too would be limited in the battle, risking to reverse the situation. A new roar came from the west. Sobek immediately set off, ready to bring terror once again. *********** "Mr. Mayor, I can explain..." "There is nothing to explain! Do you realize what is happening?". A grim man was barking at the poor Ludlow, who seemed unable to defend himself. "The dinosaurs are running around the city free! Just twenty minutes have passed, but there are already damages that will cost an enormous sum of money to have them repaired!" Ludlow lowered his head. He knew that mayor Ebert was right in being so angry. Ludlow had contacted the town chief right away. The mayor hadn't been long in showing up: within a few minutes he had arrived at Mega Beast Park and had started screaming like a madman at the tycoon. It almost seemed as if he was convinced that screaming would make things work out. But unfortunately the dinosaurs didn't care about a politician's screams. In the room there was not only the mayor, of course. The chief of police, a man called Gene, had also come. "Calm down, Mr. Mayor" he calmed him. "We need to focus on the emergency now. We will reflect later on whose fault it is" Ebert took a deep breath, and when he spoke his pitch had dropped a few octaves. "How many have you caught so far?" he churches. "Still no one, sir" Gene replied, expecting the storm that was not long in coming: "WHAT!? Haven't you taken any yet? But who trained you, can I know!?" the mayor roared again. Gene was used to Ebert's outbursts and kept his composure. "The operation is more complicated than expected. Hunting dinosaurs is normally a simple task, but with the spinosaurus roaming free in the city it is impossible for our men to catch even one. When they manage to corner one, the spinosaurus is immediately upon them" "Ah, so the spinosaurus is some sort of dinosaur hero?" Ebert snapped sarcastically. "Don't fool me. This is impossible!" "It's possible, instead, because there is no heroism in its actions. It is defining its territory" Ludlow, Gene, and Ebert turned to the door. A shaven man in a cowboy hat had appeared in the doorway. It was easy for Ludlow to identify him. "Mr. Tembo! Luckily..." The hunter ignored him and addressed the police chief directly: "I'm Roland Tembo. I captured the animal" "Then you also knows how to shoot it down!" exclaimed the mayor. "Speak, quickly!" "We can't. Not with the weapons at our disposal" Roland replied. "To catch it, we put sedatives into a pile of meat which we then fed it. Conventional bullets are useless against that dinosaur" "Are you perhaps telling me that until the army arrives there is no way to stop the spinosaurus!?" Ebert yelled. "I'm afraid that's how it is" "Shit! And you define yourself as a hunter!?" "Calm down, Mr. Mayor!" Gene interrupted. "Mr. Tembo, you said the spinosaurus is defining its territory. What does it mean?" "Exactly what I said. When predators settle in a new territory, they cleanse it of any threats or adversaries. The spinosaurus then follows the verses of the other dinosaurs to eliminate them, and follows the sound of gunfire because it has learned to associate them with a threat" Roland explained. "Whenever your men cornered one of the fleeing dinosaurs, it gets even more frightened and starts roaring or bellowing to summon its companions. That's an alarm bell for the spinosaurus, which rushes towards them" "And you claim that there is no way to stop the spinosaurus?" "Unless you want to send men to die, no" "So what do you suggest?" "I suggest clearing this part of the city completely. Most of these dinosaurs, having lived in captivity, aren't very aggressive. They are just scared. They won't attack people unless provoked" Roland explained. "Order the people to lock themselves up in their homes, then set up a perimeter that surrounds this part of the city and do containment. This will limit the damage and prevent the dinosaurs from spreading too much, and will allow you to hold out until the army arrives. By the way, when will they be here?" "Soon. The military base is not too far and I warned them right away" Ludlow said. "Well, at least you did one thing right" Gene grumbled, then he grabbed the communicator: "Abandon the hunt for the dinosaurs and get people off the streets! Set up a perimeter starting from Swatson Street!" ********** Sobek walked quietly through the city. Finally the cops seemed to have given up. The humans had quickly abandoned the streets and retreated. Maybe they were intent on containment. This was flattering for the dinosaurs: in fact, this had given to all of them the chance to activate [Ambush]. Sobek knew this because he constantly kept an eye on the situation thanks to his nose. If he could no longer smell a dinosaur, it meant that it had activated [Ambush], since the ability not only made it invisible but also made the smell disappear. So Sobek was now alone. The dinosaurs had done their part: now they just had to follow his instructions and get to the sewers. As far as he was concerned, he had other plans in mind. Thanks to the cops, he had already unlocked several slots for the [Weapon System]. But he was aiming for much more. And his prize was coming. With his superfine hearing, Sobek could hear the unmistakable sound of tracks, a sign of the rapid approach of the tanks. Moreover, for a few minutes already he could see military planes flying over the city. The real game was ready to begin.