Ethan sat in the middle of the room facing the one-way mirror while fidgeting nervously in his chair. On the other side of the glass, Claire waited patiently for Dr. Malcolm to start the test.
Today's test is simple really. Just show Ethan a quick video and then everyone's done today. Easy money.
"Now Ethan…." Dr. Malcolm spoke through the room's speakers. "I already know by experience that you're not a big fan of violence, but do me a favor try not to vomit out your lunch. Just sit tight and watch."
Ethan simply nodded.
Darkness enveloped the room as the light dimmed into a faint candle. And the one-way window started no longer reflected Ethan's dark room, but flashed into something more like a movie screen.
The dinosaur did his best to keep his quivering eyelids apart as events unfolded on the screen. The film seemed to take place in some sort of ancient coliseum in Rome except that it didn't look quite so ancient on screen. The background had crowds of people screaming off their seats for the two gladiators fighting in the arena. Both warriors were bloodied and panting madly, but their yells of fury soon resparked their intense battle. Their swords and shields clashed against each other and left sparks along with blood arcing across the air.
The battle was long and hard fought, but it soon came to the victor standing victorious over his fallen opponent, staring at the crowd for their decision.
They all held a thumbs down.
An insane smile crept onto the gladiator's smile as he knelt and raised his gleaming sword into the air. The fallen gladiator whimpered, but that only seemed to increase the insanity in the winner's smile. Then, without wasting another second, the winner plunged the sword straight through his foe's neck, splattering blood on both their faces. He didn't even stop there. He kept driving his sword back inside the dying flesh, the look of glee intensifying with each revel of blood.
Much to Ethan's relief, the film ended there and the light returned.
"So, what did you think?" Dr. Malcolm spoke once again through the speakers.
Ethan struggled to keep his lunch contained. "Like I want to exert my insides."
Dr. Malcolm typed the dino's answer on his computer before continuing. "All right, now I want you to know that the next question is being asked by the system; not by me since I already have the answer, but they wanna hear it from you. Got it?"
Ethan gulped.
"Ethan, we feed you bloody corpses of animals nearly every single day, so why does seeing another corpse, like the gladiator for example, getting mutilated freak you out? Isn't it the same as you tearing apart your own meal?"
Sighing and fixing his modified glasses in place, the dinosaur responded hesitantly, "I... can't really explain it thoroughly, but I guess it's because the gladiator was still alive…."
"Go on…." the scientist encouraged.
Deep breathes, Ethan, the dino told himself. "I felt sorry for the gladiator because I saw it in his eyes that he desperately wanted to live… even when his murderer kept stabbing away any chances of life he had left…. his eyes continued to struggle for survival. And the gladiator smiling madly for that just makes me sick. There's no pleasure in killing another life."
Silence was all there was left, and for moment, Ethan worried that he had been abandoned.
"Thank you for your time, Ethan."
Suddenly, the door was almost broken open as Layla rushed out. Ethan had no time to react as she ran straight for him and attacked him with one hell of a tight murder hug that squeezed the breath out of him. Then she looked up at him with worried eyes, "Mommy told me you were taking a hard test. Did you get an A on it?"
He couldn't help but chuckle at her obliviousness as he gently stroked her hair. This human can be so darn cute sometimes.
This time, Claire wasn't staring at her tablet, but at Dr. Malcolm with a question swarming around her brain.
"What?" was all the scientist could say.
"Oh nothing," Claire said, tapping a finger against her arm. "Just wondering what you meant when you said I know by experience."
Sometimes, it's best to do what a woman tells you to do. Especially if that woman is Claire. So he pulled down the clothing off his right shoulder, revealing horribly scarred skin like it was mauled by some vicious animal.
"Oh god…." Claire said, vainly trying to cover up her gasp with her hands. "Did… did Ethan do that?"
Ethan had trouble in even taking a single step. Everywhere around him, swarms of flying reptiles of different sizes, whether small or as big as a freakin car, relentlessly swooped down and plucked the mass of screaming humans who ran in vain, flying to god knows where. Some were accidentally dropped and had their heads completely crushed like watermelons. Others, who haven't been caught yet, simply gave up and stayed on the spot, crying as they awaited their fate.
"C'mon Ethan, we gotta go!" Dr. Malcolm shouted as he dragged the young experiment towards the jeep. Somehow, nobody noticed the two. Maybe because Ethan looked just too nerdy to be scary. That, or death from above.
The two were so close, like in hand on the door handle close, but a winged beast suddenly dropped and perched itself on top of the jeep. It released a bone-chilling screech and snapped at them, prompting the two to backed away to a safe distance from the creature. However, soon a handful of them dropped from the sky and surrounded the two; all snapping their sharp beaks with each step they took towards their helpless prey.
But they all froze when they noticed Ethan.
One Pteranodon, the biggest one of them all, took a step towards Ethan and lowered its head. "What are you?" it spoke.
Struggling, and at the same time confused, Ethan responded, "Wha… what am I?"
Without warning, the beast reared its ugly head towards the chaos filled sky and screamed, " I should've known: you are one of them! You speak our oppressor's language, wear their disgusting clothing, and follow them around like a pathetic pet! Die like the rest of them!" The beast then aimed its sharp beak at Ethan at unavoidable speeds, but one good punch to the head from Dr. Malcolm stopped it in its tracks. The rest became stunned(because who wouldn't be when a human punches a huge reptile in the face) and Dr. Malcolm took that time to push Ethan out of the circle.
"Run Ethan! Run!" he said as the beasts shook off their shock and crowded around the defenseless scientist.
Ethan, too scared to even move off his butt, just sat their and watched in absolute terror as each and every one of them mauled Dr. Malcolm on the spot. The human fought bravely, punching, kicking, and pushing away their beaks, but his strength slowly dwindled until one lucky beak caught his right shoulder and pushed him back against the ground.
"Stop it! Stop!" Ethan cried and jumped to his feet. He couldn't heard. The screeching "die die die!"and the painful screams from Dr. Malcolm combined were just too much. And when he saw dripping flesh in the Pteranodon's beak, something deep inside him snapped. His once fearful eyes dilated into feral red orbs and his vision transformed into a hazy blood mist. "Stop it..." he whispered with growing maliciousness. Then, with a tremendous roar, "I SAID STOP!"
…
…
"Ethan, snap out of it!"
The experiment felt like he had awoken from a nightmare. The hazy blood mist that clouded his reverting eyes dispersed and revealed Dr. Malcolm shaking him awake with his one good arm. His clothes were left ripped and drenched in his own blood. Speaking of blood, a whole lot of it dripped down his right arm like a faucet coming from his mutilated shoulder.
"Dr. Malcolm, what happened to the-" he began, but froze mid sentence. Around them were lifeless corpses of the Pteranodons who all had their long necks viciously torn apart and leaked pools of blood. And when Ethan took a whiff of the air with his snout, he found not only was there blood on the dead Pteranodons, but everywhere on himself too. Shirt; claws; head; glasses; nothing was left unpainted.
Dr. Malcolm grabbed his bloodied hand and rushed him inside the jeep, locking all the doors. But before the scientist drove off, he looked back to find Ethan quivering uncontrollably in his seat as he gripped his tail nervously. The dinosaur peered through the window where humans were still being swept up by the never ending waves of the flying reptiles. Then he looked at him, nearly tearing up. "Dr. Malcolm, I'm scared…." he whimpered.
Sighing, the scientist rubbed his snout trying to ease his worries. "I know you are, Ethan, but we'll get out of here alive. I promise…."
It was that time, Ethan finally awoke from his dream.
The combination of darkness and his absent glasses made it a bit hard to see, but he was glad to find that he's still safely in his room and nowhere near that nightmare.
"Ethan, go to sleep…" Layla yawned in his scaly arms.
"I-I can't" he said. "I'm scared."
Layla, half asleep, shoved Mr. T Rex all over his face. "Then here. Mr. T Rex will protect you like he does every night for me."
"But what if-" Ethan began, but Layla interjected with a pretty loud snore as she snuggled deeper into his chest. Well, Layla's out, and he could somehow see his death if he tried waking her up again. He tore Mr. T Rex off his face. Without his glasses, he's basically blind as a bat, but if he could squint hard enough, and add that to his ability to somewhat see in the dark, he could make out the doll's googly eyes staring right at him.
It's just a stupid doll his unimpressed brain said.
Protect me Mr. T Rex sama sensei senpai san sama chan! his scared heart pleaded.
"Daddy…" Layla mumbled. "Don't make me punch you in the face…"
Ethan smiled and carefully tucked Mr. T Rex under the human's arm. Then he lowered his head to gently nuzzle her baby soft face, purring pleasantly at the same time.
I don't need to be afraid he thought as he gave her one loving lick against her cheek. I have humans here to protect me…
What about me! Mr. T Rex complained in his head.
Uh…. yeah… you too