The tent Screweyes led them to was full of green and black coloring. Some crows flittered in the dark rafters in what could be considered the ceiling of the tent. There was a large yellow machine illuminating the inside of the tent with green light. There was a table in front of the machine which had several black items on it, which appeared to be pails of multiple sizes. There were also crates around the edges of the tent, and four large stump-like obstacles in the center of the set up, between the table and a line of large cages. There were four wooden-roofed, black-barred cages grouped into a small stage-like drop, with tarp forming a roof over the cages, with drops on each of the side ends of the line of cages and behind them. Within this "stage", there was a green glow of light behind the cages. The tarp seemed to be framed by poles and rafters, and along the top there seemed to be an electrical system connected to each cage, even to a cage separate from the rest. This cage was off from the left end of the line of cages (right, if one were looking at the cages from the front).
It was in this cage that Cleo was confined to. In the cage farthest from her in the line of cages was Dweeb, his arms shackled with chain-linked shackles, and his legs had shackles on them with chains that ended on the bottom of the cage. In the cage next to Dweeb was Elsa, who was perched on a perch stand, possibly forced in that position. In the next cage was Woog, whose legs were all chained to the bottom of the cage. Unlike the other four cages, which seemed to be the type that is hinged at a corner, and closes with horizontal movement, his cage door was hinged along the top edge, and seemed to close vertically in an arch down to the bottom edge of the cage. In the cage closest to Cleo was Rex. His arms and legs were shackled and chained just like Dweeb's were. Cleo was shackled and chained similarly, only her leg shackles had shorter chains, which allowed her absolutely no movement in her cage, and the chain that linked her arm shackles had a chain linked off the middle of it that chained down to the bottom of the cage, and it was particularly short. In other words, the chain forced Cleo's arms from moving as well, particularly to where she couldn't reach up to her face, even if she lowered her head down. She figured Screweyes took this extra precaution to restrict her movements to prevent her from lashing out on him again, whether in her present state, or in the primitive state they would all become.
Screweyes entered the tent, walking across a platform, with another, shorter figure behind him, but the shadows were limiting the details.
"Knowing my brother, the nice fellow most likely did not let fall how I lost my eye," Screweyes began as he walked up to the edge of the platform, where a small flight of stairs led down to the ground, "but I will tell you."
He began to walk down the stairs into the light. The figure behind him was revealed also: a short clown in yellow plaid overalls and wearing a striped hat. He had orange hair sticking from his ears, and was wearing white face makeup with a red circular object on the end of his nose. In the clown's right arm, he was cradling what appeared to be an old-fashioned black pot. "I was a boy. I was lying in the shadow of a berry bush taking a snooze."
Screweyes stopped at a table, and the clown set the pot down on it while Screweyes continued talking: "One of the berries, just one, fell upon my eye," he continued. He turned to face the dinosaurs while raising his right index finger and bringing it around up to his screw eye pointedly.
'Just there," he said while tapping twice the middle of his screw eye with his nail.
'A hungry bird spied the berry. It was a crow, I believe. He pecked for the berry, but got my eye as well. Senseless? Ye-es!" he shouted with a hint of a "duh" tone and a tone of perhaps being lost in his own memory, like he was talking to himself. His hair got suddenly wild as he shouted, a type of hairdo that reminded Cleo of a mad scientist. He patted his hair back down while turning back to the table.
'I have done nothing to earn such a fate," he began again, while the clown opened the lid to the pot, then tossing the lid aside. Cleo barely made out a green glowing inside the pot. The clown poured the green glowing pills from the pot into a pail on the table as Screweyes continued in an angry, bitter tone: "so ever since, I've known that the world made no sense, and have acted accordingly."
With that, Screweyes grasped the handle of the pail, taking it off the table, and began walking around one end of the stump-like obstacles in the middle of the set up.
'I have a peculiar fear of crows, so I keep them by me," he started. He paused his steps, turning his body so he had his back to the cages. He set the pail down on the obstacle close to him, and he stretched his good arm out, and crows start perching on his arm. "I watch them with a real eye and a steel eye. I am afraid of them, but I am their master. I am the master of my fear!" he proclaimed, turning his head back around towards the cages, but Cleo could tell that he wasn't focusing his vision on anything particular.
So this explains some things, Cleo thought, glaring in a thoughtful expression, he copes with his fears by becoming the commanding master of the physical forms of his fears.
"This guy's nuts!" came Rex's voice, almost in a whisper. Cleo glanced over at him. He was giving an expression showing how strangely insane he thought Screweyes was. Next to him, Woog was coming out of a flinch, presumably one of sudden fright.
"So, let's get started, shall we?" Screweyes asked, back in an eerie tone of voice while picking the pail back up. Cleo saw him walk toward Dweeb's cage first. In the corner of her eye, she spotted movement. Turning her head, she saw the clown rummaging through an area of crates, and bringing out a coil of rope. She began to wonder what the rope was for, but her thoughts were interrupted by a choking sound. She looked back around, and saw Dweeb holding his throat. Screweyes had his good hand holding the door to Dweeb's cage, and then he thrust the door shut before starting to walk toward Elsa's cage. It slammed with a metal clang, and an electrical system seemed to activate upon the door's closing. Cleo could see bolts of electricity rush down every bar of the cage.
Cleo noticed the faces of horror on the other three as Dweeb began to change in appearance. His shades of green darkened into dark shades of olive green while his buck teeth retreated back into his mouth while his mouth itself seemed to swell some, especially his lips. He let out a cry that sounded almost like a sorrowful moan, but it had no such tone; it was his primitive dinosaur cry. Cleo herself was astounded at the effects. She began wondering how she would turn out, and she was reminded of the clown and the rope. She looked around for the clown, and noticed he was now standing right beside her cage. She had a growing suspicion, but it worried her to think about it.
One by one she watched the others transform right before her eyes. Elsa's colors dulled and darkened as well, while her beak became more pointed and narrow, and her eyes became less focused, as if oblivious to her surroundings while retaining a consistent sense of caution. She gave out a loud screech for her cry. Woog's colors of blue dulled and darkened into shades of bluish gray while all of his horns grew some in both length and point. His head crest grew as well, and became less rounded with ridges around the outline, and large flat teeth grew inside his mouth. Rex's colors of orange darkened into a shade of brown, while the dark stripes on his back faded and were replaced by spots. His eyes sunk a little lower onto each side of his head, just barely above the top of his skull, and his claws and teeth became sharper. His bellowing roar and increased aggressive behavior was a devastating site to Cleo. She then sensed presence in front of her cage. She looked down to see Screweyes looking back up at her.
"Oh, don't worry, you're next," he hissed, almost in a sarcastic tone. "I just wanted you to watch your friends turn into monsters, so you'll know what you'll become." Cleo knew from his tone that he meant for it to be a bit of torture on her. She glared down at him.
"I hope when I'm primitive again, I'll finish what I started with your arm," she snapped back at him.
"I doubt there's a chance of that. For now, be a good crocodile and open up for us," he replied, keeping his cocky tone. Knowing it was her turn to follow through with the deal, she sighed, then leaned her head down, and cracked her mouth open enough so they could put the pills in it.
Just then, she noticed Screweyes give her a small look of suspicion and hesitation. He turned to the clown.
"Stubbs, why don't you take this one? I don't trust her," he hissed, his question more of a command. The clown dropped the coil of rope in surprise, and he briefly glanced at Screweyes's injured arm.
"Are you sure, Professor? What if-?" the clown started, while fidgeting his fingers together.
"She doesn't have any reason to bite you, so she'll trust you more than me. Just do it," Screweyes interrupted commandingly. The clown took the pail of glowing green pills from Screweyes, then cautiously approached Cleo's open mouth. He dug his hand into the pills and scooped out a handful. He tossed the handful of pills into her mouth. All the while, Cleo noticed Screweyes step to the coil of rope and pick it up.
Right after the clown tossed the handful of pills into her mouth, he turned back to Screweyes, who swapped the rope for the pail. Even though the pills seemed to be burning on her tongue, Cleo kept her eyes on the two humans, trying to analyze what they were doing. The clown then approached her with the rope. It was revealed that it all ready had a noose ready in it. Before Cleo could react, the clown thrust the noose over her snout, instantly tightening it.
Cleo struggled, picking her head back up, then flailing her head from side to side, but the rope stayed put. Realizing right away that the efforts she would be physically able to do would be to no avail, she stopped flailing her head. She noticed that the clown had let go of the other end of the rope; he had probably predicted she would struggle, and he probably would have only gotten hurt if he tried to resist her superior strength. Screweyes hastily stepped to her cage door, and slammed it shut; electricity surged through the bars. Cleo also noticed that inside her mouth, the pills had slipped to the edge of her throat. She had no choice but to swallow out of involuntary action.
The pills left a repulsive aftertaste in her throat, but that wasn't the worst part. Cleo felt a headache so massive it felt as if her skull was going to tear apart. The pain was so great, she started struggling again, despite knowing there was nothing she could do to make it stop. She barely noticed under the pain of her splitting headache the small pains in her teeth and claws. Just then, she felt another kind of feeling in her head, one of shrinking of the mind as thoughts faded into senses of primitive knowing, of instinct alone. She also felt a sting in one of her legs. She whipped her head around to see a short figure holding a large object with a long, narrow point attached to a tube of some kind. She began to feel light-headed on top of the other feelings in her head.
"How you'll be terrified, my grateful audience! Awww, how you-" sounded a dark voice, which was the last thing the Spinosaurus heard before giving in to sleep, her body losing all its strength as she buckled, collapsing to the cage floor.