Chapter 53: The family is reunited

Jocelyne was surprised by a sudden roar that the spinosaurus launched before it started to scrape the ground. It was a behavior she had never seen. This worried her quite a bit: even though she was not an expert, she knew that if an animal suddenly assumed an unexpected and confusing behavior it was a bad sign. Yet for some reason the dinosaur seemed... happy? After a few seconds, however, she saw the dinosaur's muzzle approach her. As it had already done many times, it grabbed her, being careful to not hurt her; however, unlike the other times, it didn't put her on the ground, but began to run at great speed in an unknown direction. Jocelyne's blood froze instantly. In her pespective, the spinosaurus was clearly trying to run away. This could only mean that they were in danger. Had it found them? Was the mysterious predator coming? Was the spinosaurus trying to escape with her? Even though she was relieved that her protector didn't want to leave her, she was still anxious: what if the predator would have caught up with them? What if the spinosaurus got scared of something like that, unwittingly closing its jaws on her? Even a little distraction or a jolt would have been enough for the animal's teeth to tear her to pieces. And even if they were saved, where would it have taken her? Until then she was sure that someone would have found her because she always was in the same spot where the kidnappers had arrived, so anyone looking for her would have followed their trail to find her; but if she went too far, would have anyone ever found her? The spinosaurus didn't seem willing to stop anytime soon. Often she had heard it sniff the air and abruptly change direction, as if it were looking for something. However, Jocelyne knew it was more likely that it was smelling the stalking predator and was trying to avoid it. Jocelyne was panicking again. She was thankful she didn't suffer from asthma or she would have died before the carnivore even reached them. Fortunately, at one point the spinosaurus seemed to slow down. Eventually it stopped completely and lowered. She was finally free again. When she got to her feet, she found that the spinosaurus had put her back on the ground. She was surprised: shouldn't it have put her on some other tree? The oddities didn't end there: the spinosaurus began to give her little pushes with its muzzle, as if it wanted to direct her towards that point. No, actually, it was just pushing her somewhere. What was going on? Jocelyne looked over to where the spinosaurus was pushing her. In front of her were bushes taller than her and trees as big as redwoods. Beyond them she could see that there was a clearing. She still didn't understand, but suddenly she realized that there were noises coming from beyond the branches. She pricked her ears slightly. Her heart stopped in her chest. She understood almost nothing, but she knew that this could only be a human voice! A feeling of absolute joy pervaded her, she had never felt so happy in her life. Completely ignoring the spinosaurus behind her and forgetting any prudence, she ran towards the bushes and quickly pushed aside the branches. Tears came to her eyes. Beyond the bushes was a small hollow, inside which was filled with tents, vehicles, weapons and, most importantly, humans! "HEY!" she shouted starting to run towards them. "I AM HERE! I AM HERE!" She didn't care if they were friends or enemies, she just knew she could finally see another human face in front of her! She couldn't stop crying with contentment. Dozens of soldiers surrounded her almost instantly, and she finally felt the wonderful feeling of protection their weapons gave her again. And then she saw familiar faces. Her father was running towards her followed by her mother. Behind them came militia leader Jackson and several other soldiers. Her joy touched unprecedented peaks and with a force she didn't know she had accelerated her run. When she felt the familiar sensation of the arms wrapping around her, warming and holding her, much softer than the hardwood of the tree, she couldn't help but wonder if she was dreaming or if it was all reality. "My girl... you're okay" her mother sobbed when she was finally able to articulate two words in a row. Her face too was streaked with tears. Jocelyne looked at her father. The man in front of her was trying in every way to restrain himself to avoid making a scene in front of his men, but she could read his expression. "I'm glad you're okay" he could only say. Jocelyne returned those words, hugging him even more. Jersey was over the moon. She was alive! Her baby was alive! Even though he said nothing verbally, he mentally thanked any deity in heaven and on earth. He swore that once he got home he would have guaranteed Jocelyne whatever he wanted, no matter how much it cost him. Bethany beside him looked even happier. Mother and daughter looked alike even while their faces were streaked with tears. She was holding Jocelyne so tightly that she seemed to be about to make her spit organs out of her mouth. The soldiers were also relieved: they all loved little Jocelyne and were happy to see her safe and sound, especially Jackson. "We thought you ended up in the belly of some dinosaur, little one" the man said, finding no other way to talk than to make an irony about the matter. Jocelyne looked at him and smiled: "I met a dinosaur, but if I told you what happened you would never believe me!" "Test me" Jackson joked, then his gaze lifted slightly and his face turned to stone. "Take the weapons!" The soldiers immediately obeyed their chief's command and realized they had recklessly to let their guard down. Jersey looked up where she was looking at Jackson and stopped breathing: suspended in the trees nearly seven meters high was a huge crocodile head. "At my three, shoot! One, two..." "NO!" Jocelyne's scream stopped Jackson. The militia leader looked at the girl in surprise. "Don't do it! It... It saved my life!" Jackson found himself blown away. Had the little girl hit her head in the forest? A sound of broken trees shook him. The dinosaur was completely out of the forest. Jackson was flabbergasted. The beast was unlike any creature he knew, he couldn't connect it to any dinosaur in his knowledge. However, the thing that worried him the most was its size: even without measuring it, he could tell that the animal was almost twice as long as a tyrannosaurus! It was a giant amongs giants! He was sure he was the owner of the tooth they found. He had been right: that creature was at least twenty meters long! And then it had a strange sail on its back... "Spinosaurus?" Jackson murmured confused, unable to connect it to anything else. "Jocelyne, no!" Bethany's scream brought him back to reality: Jocelyne had broken free from her parents' arms and was running towards the dinosaur. "Stop her, quickly!" But Jocelyne nimbly avoided the guards. "Let me do it! Don't shoot!" she shouted. "Jocelyne, come back here now!" Jersey yelled with his heart pounding. His daughter was now in front of the dinosaur and looked extremely small next to it. A bite would have been enough to devour it. "Sir, shall we shoot?" one of the soldiers asked Jackson. He bit his lip: "She's too close. We risk killing her too!" The heavy weapons were enough to kill an adult dinosaur, but the blast wave and the shock wave could have injured the girl as well. Moreover, if they killed it, that colossal creature would fall on her and crush her as she was made of paper. There would be nothing left of Jocelyne but a heap of flesh, blood and broken bones. Under his helpless gaze, the dinosaur lowered its muzzle. No one dared to breathe for a moment, expecting to see the girl in that monster's mouth at any moment. Incredibly, however, events took a completely unexpected turn. The dinosaur didn't eat Jocelyne: it just gave her little pats with its muzzle, as if to caress her. She seemed to not know what to do for a moment, then she took courage and hugged it, or at least wrapped her arms as much as she could around its muzzle. The jaws of all present seemed to displace in front of that scene. Suddenly no one thought about shooting any more: their brains seemed completely dead. Even if someone had said something to them, they would not have heard it: their attention was completely captured by the scene in front of them. Seeing a twelve-year-old girl just little more than one meter tall hugging a carnivorous dinosaur tall almost as a two-story house was something that defied the imagination. The dinosaur itself looked quite confused. After a time that seemed interminable Jocelyne finally broke away and looked the dinosaur straight in the eye. Incredibly, the animal returned that look. "Thank you" the girl whispered. "Thank you for bringing me home. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for the food. Thank you for hiding me, protecting me and teaching me all those things. Thank you for all. I owe you my life" The dinosaur blew a gentle breath from its nostrils. Jocelyne wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a flicker of pride in the animal's eyes. "You can go now" she said again. "I'm safe, you don't have to be worry anymore. I know you really wish to get out of here. I'm not your problem anymore. You are free now" The dinosaur made what sounded like an amused sound, then it gave her another pat on the muzzle. The two of them stared at each other for a few more seconds, then the animal rose again and slowly began to turn around. If there was a correct way to define the shock, surely the mental state in which the minds of those present were after the scene they had just witnessed would have found a perfect match. Suddenly, however, the dinosaur completely abandoned its calm disposition. With a sudden movement that startled even Jocelyne herself it turned completely towards the forest and let out a roar. Jocelyne was right under it and for a moment she was afraid of being crushed by its giant paws. Fortunatly, the spinosaurus seemed to have been careful to avoid her. Then a second roar sounded in the air. The trees split apart and two huge torvosaurs emerged with their mouths open, running wildly towards Jocelyne and the spinosaurus. It, however, returned by roaring in turn and rasping the ground with its claws: they seemed to literally cut the earth. Such display of strength was enough to made the torvosaurs stop, who realized that the prey wasn't easy at all. They were now in a stalemate.