Jurassic Park IV: Raptors Unite
Jason and the others try to escape the T-Rex's clutches before they become his dinner. Meanwhile, Downy and the mercs finally find their boss Rezy.
XIV
Big Teeth, Bad Breath
Jason and Nickie stood there without moving a muscle, staring at the massive reptile as it stared back at them. Jason remembered what Grant said about the dinosaur staring right back at you, when two ones you didn't even know were there come into play. But then he sighed inside, as the tip was regarding velociraptors and not T-Rexes. Besides, if there was another T-Rex nearby, they surely would've heard loud thuds on the ground again. So it was only one T-Rex they had to worry about. For some obvious reason, this did not fill them with any sense of relief.
"Jason? Jason!" shouted Nickie.
Nickie was talking with his mouth closed and his teeth gritted, so his words were very silent and gruff.
"What?" responded Jason, in the same fashion.
"This ain't good mate. What the 'ell are we supposed to do?!"
"Shut up! Don't think he can't hear you!"
"We can't just stand 'ere and wait for this guy to use our bones as toothpicks!"
"I'll say it again: There is a T-Rex roughly seven—maybe five—feet in front of you! He can hear you Nickie."
"I'm sorry; it's just somethin' about a gigantic dino starin' me dead in the eye that makes me wanna piss my pants!"
"Shut the fuck up Nickie! You're not helping!"
The T-Rex blinked and growled again, looming his head over the humans before taking it back and looking left and right.
"Sooner or later, it's going to see us." said Nickie.
"Let's just wait until it goes away, then we'll move."
"What if he walks in our direction or steps on us by mistake?"
"We just have to take that risk. If we move now, he's gonna attack us and we'll die regardless. If we stay still, at least we have a chance."
"I hope you're right mate."
The T-Rex moved closer to the humans and examined them more closely, blinking every couple of seconds. He moved his head over to Jason and started snorting in his hair, which fluttered every couple of seconds. Jason ignored it and stood still, like a mannequin. It was really the only thing he could do. Pulling out his rifle, no matter how carefully he did it, wouldn't even faze the reptile's rough skin. He could throw a grenade in his mouth, but chances are that'd only give him minor damage. Besides, he had to consider what would happen to the others if he tried killing the creature. The T-Rex nudged Jason on the head, forcing him to take a step backwards.
"Shit." mumbled Jason.
He shouldn't have done that. The initial reaction would've been to fall backwards like a rock. The T-Rex growled again and pushed Jason with his scalp. Instead of walking backwards, Jason immediately fell backwards like a falling tower. He didn't blink and the sweat on his forehead wasn't odorous or visible, so unless the T-Rex licked him, he was okay. The T-Rex diverted his attention towards Nickie now, performing the same kind of methods. He growled at Nickie, blinked a few times and snorted loudly, blowing a strong gust into his hair. Still, Nickie did nothing except stood still. Like Jason, the dinosaur lightly nudged Nickie with his head to see what would happen and Nickie's subconscious mind told him to move back.
"Fall down." whispered Jason.
"What?"
"Fall—"
The dinosaur snarled and looked at Jason, who returned to his lifeless position. Realizing nothing was out of order, he returned to Nickie and nudged him again…making Nickie take another step backwards. The T-Rex growled and smiled slightly when he figured out that Nickie might have some sentient life inside of him. He approached Nickie and opened his maw. Nickie had to keep himself from gasping when he saw all the slimy white teeth coated with saliva and a long red tongue resting at the bottom of the jaw. Let alone, the smell of it almost made him gag. It was obvious that the dinosaur hadn't been too keen on dental hygiene just by the smell of his breath. But then again, when a dinosaur eats nothing but meat—decayed and alive—it tends to leave a foul odor on ones breath. It didn't stop there either; the dinosaur got closer to Nickie and extended his tongue, which slowly caressed Nickie on his face. Nickie inhaled sharply to keep himself from whimpering as the tongue ran directly up his face, lathering slobber right into his nose and on his eyes. There was just something about having a gigantic tongue on his face that made him feel uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable; he almost started crying. He thought it was because he was near death, but in reality, he was crying because his face was being violated. Jason, who suddenly turned his head over, couldn't help but put a disgusted look on his face. The T-Rex started licking Nickie's hair, when he stopped abruptly and brought his tongue back in. The dinosaur growled questionably and sniffed Nickie's hair a few times before he growled in disgust. The T-Rex, somehow feeling unattractive to Nickie's flesh, turned around and slowly began to walk away, creating several more thuds with each step. When Jason and Nickie were confident the dinosaur was gone, they began to move.
"Thank God I don't wash my hair..." said Nickie.
"Yeah, lucky you."
"Why do I feel like I've been raped?"
Jason chuckled. "It couldn't have been that bad."
"It was like looking into a dark tunnel leadin' straight to Hell. It had teeth sharp enough to pierce metal. The slobber and spit—the breath! Jesus Christ—I thought I smelt cow manure! And I'm not even gonna get started on the tongue!"
"You act like staring death in the face is really that bad. Back at the warehouse we could've all died in the shootout; you were fine then. What's so bad about looking into a dinosaur's mouth?"
"You don't understand: IT LICKED MY FACE!! I GOT FACE RAPED BY A DINOSAUR'S TONGUE!!"
"And I've gotten humped on the leg by several different dogs; you don't see me bitchin' about it."
Jason and Nickie returned to the mercenaries and got them together so they were ready to move.
"Guys we have to go now." said Jason, frantically.
"Why?"
"We just saw this massive T-Rex and it might come back 'ere! So unless you wanna be dino food, get your arses up an' let's go!" said Nickie.
"…Oi, Nickie, how come you seem so…edgy?"
"I don't wanna talk about it…"
"He's just upset that his face was violated with a tongue." added Jason.
"…What?"
"Let's just go." Nickie sputtered.
All the mercs got into a group and began to walk in the opposite direction that the T-Rex went. It was still very dark out so it would be hard to spot any raptors hiding within the trees or ditches, but that was a risk they were gonna have to take.
"Downy how long have we been walking?" asked Garry.
"I'm guessing roughly three or four miles."
"That's it? Well, how much longer until we reach the other side of the island?"
"Another couple of hours. This would go a lot more sufficiently if we had jeeps or some type of automobile, but unless we can take on Michael and his crew, we're pretty much stranded."
"Damn. And I'm assuming you have no idea where we are right now?"
"Nope."
Garry sighed. "So we're basically walking blind."
"Garry, if you've got another idea you'd like to share with us, we'd be happy to listen to it." suggested Ren.
"It's not that Downy's idea is bad, but what if we wind up walking in a circle and get surrounded by Michael's forces? Or even worse, those velociraptors…"
"Don't jinx it Garry. The last thing I need is to be surrounded by—"
One of the mercs grunted and stopped walking when he ran into something that was long and rough. It felt bumpy and hard, like a tree.
"Where's the flashlight?" he asked.
The mercenary took out a flashlight from one of his friend's packs and clicked it on, looking at the object in front of him. His eyes suddenly grew wide and he felt as though he should drop the flashlight and run like hell, but his legs wouldn't let him.
"Hey Stevie what—"
Before the mercenary's friend could finish, he too grew wide-eyed and stared at the object Stevie bumped into. The object wasn't even classified as an object; it was an animal…a very, very big one at that. To clarify even more, Stevie bumped into the T-Rex that was harassing Nickie and Jason earlier. He was sleeping and dreaming of what prehistoric animals dream about, secluded in his imaginary world.
"Uh…guys?" said Stevie meekly.
"What?"
All the mercenaries reacted the same way Stevie and his friend did…standing there speechless with wide-eyes. Garry was right about Downy's directions. They had been walking in a complete circle. It was their sorry luck that they ran into the T-Rex again. But at least it was in a slumber, so there was so hope to the situation.
"Okay…I want everybody to—"
The dinosaur opened his eyes, moving them around and noticing Stevie and his partner. Stevie never turned off the flashlight and as a result, it irritated the T-Rex and interrupted his dream.
"Shut it off! Turn off the goddamn flashlight!"
But it was too late. The T-Rex growled and opened his maw, revealing its saliva coated teeth and dark red rough tongue. He closed his mouth and stood up, turning around with two loud thuds and examining the clan of humans.
"Nobody…move…" whispered Jason.
The T-Rex roared viciously at the humans for a short amount of time. The sound wasn't ear-piercing like usual, but if you heard it up close, it would definitely fill your heart with fear. So the mercs did what came natural: they shot the dinosaur and ran. Jason and Nickie turned around and realized all the mercenaries were running away. When they turned back around, they saw the T-Rex snarling and lifting his leg, ready to begin a marathon. Jason and Nickie followed their mercenaries as the T-Rex followed, emitting a loud boom when it took each step. Most people would think that everyone was acting like cowards at the moment as they fled from the scaly predator, but they were actually being smart. There's a difference between being brave and being a boastful jackass. A brave person would stand up to a bully; a boastful jackass would stand up to a bully with an M60 machine gun in his hands. A brave person would save an infant from a burning building; a boastful jackass would save all the cars from a burning five-story parking garage. And in this case, a brave person would attempt to kill one velociraptor, whereas a boastful jackass would try to kill a dinosaur whose foot alone was the size of a 5" person. At least the mercenaries had some common sense…
None of the mercenaries looked back or bothered shooting back at the T-Rex. They just ran like hell until the dinosaur hopefully got tired or uninterested in them. It was a little hard to run with a crowd of people running next to you, but somehow they managed to do it. Ren tripped during the sprinting spree, but one of the mercenaries quickly snatched her up before she got left behind. Stevie and Nickie on the other hand, weren't so lucky. While they were running, both of them kicked each other in the foot and wound up tripping all over themselves, sliding along the ground and scabbing their skin. Jason screeched to a halt and turned around to notice Nickie and Stevie mere seconds away from death. Stevie turned around and screamed as the T-Rex roared and scooped his head down to the ground, ready to devour Nickie and Stevie. At the last second, Jason tackled Stevie and Nickie and the three of them fell into a ditch low enough to avoid getting picked up by the T-Rex's maw. The T-Rex ran right over their bodies, continuing his chase after the others while Stevie, Nickie, and Jason were safe. All three mercenaries got back up and looked ahead, panting heavily and marveling the fact that they were still alive.
"What are supposed to do now?" asked Stevie.
"Let's follow them on this hill and see where the T-Rex ends up chasing them off to. Maybe—"
Stevie shirked when a raptor jumped off the hill and slammed right into him, tumbling both of their bodies down the hill the trail was on. Nickie and Jason were about to help them, but when they looked right at the hill next to the trail, two huge raptors snarled and pounced on them as well. Pretty soon, all three mercenaries were rolling downhill with nothing to stop them…
Meanwhile, everyone else was busy running from the T-Rex when they arrived to the wall of a cliff. Everyone thought that they were trapped, but one of the mercenaries identified a large crevice that lead to a cave inside the cliff. With no other option, the mercs ran inside and stood at the edge of the wall.
"I don't think he saw us." said Downy.
The T-Rex stuck his head through the crevice and started roaring at all of the mercs. Lucky for them, his body was too big to fit through completely, but if one of the mercs got too close to his head, the dinosaur would suck them in with his tongue. So all they could do was stare at the snarling beast as he continued to thrash around and edge his way into the cave.
"What were you saying Downy?" asked Garry.
The T-Rex snarled again and a whole glob of saliva shot out of his mouth, coating many of the mercs with spit. Most of them weren't even scared anymore…they were disgusted.
"…Downy the dinosaur just spat on us…" said Ren.
"I realize that…"
Before the dinosaur could continue his snarling, he heard faint booms in the distance as well as a few gunshots. The dinosaur grunted questionably and turned his head sideways before looking at the group and growling one more time. Then he took his head out the crevice and ran in a different direction. The mercenaries assumed that he ran away to another gunfight (presumably started by Michael's forces) and warily walked out the crevice, entering the forest once again.
"Hey! Over 'ere!" shouted a mysterious voice.
Everyone looked up at the cliff and saw another cave not too far off the ground with two green eyes staring at them.
"Been a rough day, hasss it mates?"
"Who the 'ell are you?"
The being chuckled. "It's Rezy! Don't tell me you buggerssss forgot about me already!"
"Why are you talking like that?" asked Alice.
Rezy chuckled. "Like what?"
"I can't quite place it, but you sound different…"
"That's what you think. I'm guessing all you blokesss are trying to get off the island, right?"
"Yeah." said Downy.
"Then follow me through this cave. You'll save a lot of time and won't risk running into more raptorsss…"
"Rezy, how did you find—"
"Time's wastin'. I suggest you guys hurry."
Rezy's eyes disappeared and the mercs warily followed him into the cave, completely surrounded by darkness, excluding Rezy's bright eyes.
"Something's wrong here…" whispered Downy.