Author's note: WOW. This took me forever to get done. I had to force myself to get it started, then the rest just came the more I thought about it. Finally, I got into the groove of it, and it only took me two hours to finish the other half. By the way, outlines: a basis I can use to help guide me, but otherwise useless to me. This is barely close to what I had wrote out. BARELY.
Well, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. And sorry for any grammar errors you may find. At the moment, it's 4 in the morn, and I need sleep!
Edit: Argh! It won't save the changes where I fixed the E. stuff back to E.V.O! WHY?
The next day, Doc Holiday was in the tower, and had planned to examine the newest addition to the Petting Zoo; the E.V.O dog that Rex had captured. There was one problem with that plan though. She was swamped with work. She had barely found the time just to do her usual examination on Rex today. While the good doctor was all for getting in the field, she was going to have to ask for someone else to do it—like Cesar.
Holiday didn't mean to be so pessimistic. She was happy that Rex finally found someone from his family, but, Cesar was…not right. Just not right. He was a little off. He was brilliant, but off. That was as nice as she could be bothered to think of him. Still, she needed some help to catch up. She couldn't ask Rex. He wouldn't know the specifics of observing a specimen without being given step-by-step directions. That would add to the work instead of taking it. Six wasn't exactly the type to do this either. He just wouldn't, for one reason or another. If he didn't have a reason, he would surely find one. Her only other option was the crazy scientist known as Rex's older brother.
"Of course I'll do it!" Cesar said over excitedly. "I haven't had a chance to study any of the E. since I got here. It'll be exciting to actually observe an E.V.O instead of reading it from the files."
"I'm sure it will be, but you have to make a choice between having some agents or Rex to come with you. You're new to the Petting Zoo, and you wouldn't be able to properly defend yourself should you be attacked."
"I understand," he said unphased.
"Well if you—wait. You said you 'understand'?"
"Yes?"
Doc Holiday had expected Cesar to say something along the lines of "I can take care of myself," "I don't think I need to be worried about them," or any other crazy sentence that went against what she told him to do. Maybe she was thinking that, being related, they both shared some similar personality traits. They shared some, but not many, and this was apparently one trait that only Rex had between the two—thank God.
She cleared her throat. "Never mind. Just pick your poison and wait in the tower until one of them comes. If you need anything from me, I'll be down in the briefing room." With that, she walked out the door, leaving Cesar by himself.
Cesar had picked Rex to come with him down to the Petting Zoo. However, his little brother was taking his time, because when Cesar had asked him, he was eating lunch in the cafeteria. That was forty-five minutes ago. How long does it take one person to eat a cheese burger anyway?
Having gotten impatient, he went ahead inside the Petting Zoo, despite what Holiday had said.
He trekked through the dense foliage of the Zoo, his thick clothing beginning to make him sweat underneath. It was very humid, and difficult to breath. The only thing he brought with him was a pen, a clipboard with a blank report on it, and his device that put people in a daze (and sometimes into unconsciousness). He hadn't ever tried it on E.V.O, but this would be a good place to try it out.
Cesar wasn't used to this, not at all. He kept having to take breaks every few minutes or so. He was fairly fit, but being a field scientist just wasn't him. Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all. Though, the doubt only lasted a second before he shoved it to the side and kept going. It had already been twenty minutes since he went in here, and he wished the E.V.O dog would just show up already. Then, he spotted it just beyond some bushes. He ducked behind them and began his observation at last.
The E.V.O was exploring its new environment, sniffing the ground and the air, listening to the sounds coming near and far. It stood at full height, tall and proud. Except for the spines on its back, the dog's main color was black, with brown on the underbelly and some on the paws. The jaws were massive enough to devour an entire human whole. Its legs were long and skinny, but still muscular enough to be proportionate to the E.V.O's great size. He couldn't see the gender it was, and there was no way to tell the age, but it at least was young enough to be healthy and active as it was.
The dog started walking to somewhere else as Cesar was scribbling his notes as quickly as he could, but trying to keep them legible so at least he would be able to read it and type it into the computer later, assuming he would remember to do it, that is. Little did he know that he had placed himself behind an E.V.O the entire time, which was now waking up.
Rex ran down the hallway, finishing off his fries and about to stuff his mouth fuller than he'd be able to handle. He skidded to a halt at the door and punched in the code, running inside, trying to catch his breath.
"Sorry bro, I got caught up with Bobo. We were just talking about…" Then, he took a moment to glance around, and noticed that no one was there. Not even his brother.
"Bro? Where are you?" Rex scanned the room, still not finding one living thing in there; just the medical equipment.
"Cesar?"
He looked out the viewing area that let everyone see over the entire zoo, and wondered, "He didn't." Knowing how incredibly stupid his older brother could be for such a smart guy, he slightly panicked that his brother did what he was thinking he did. Rex headed straight for the hallway again, and straight for the entrance to the Petting Zoo, all the while thinking that he was going to make Cesar pay—big time—and of course hoping that he didn't get eaten.
There was a low rumble behind him. He didn't immediately notice it, but it was there, and had suddenly gotten this odd feeling that there was something watching him. He turned directly behind him, and found the reason for the feeling. A giant E.V.O tree with dozens of eyes was staring dead at him. Cesar stared back at it, interested in this peculiar E.V.O, but cautious as to its thoughts about him. That tree didn't look like it had eyes when he first saw it. It must have just woken up. That sounded reasonable. What wasn't reasonable was when it decided to lift him off the ground with its branch!
Cesar yelled as it shook him around in the air by the leg and slammed him to the ground. He reached for his device, but the next time the tree slammed him down, it fell out of his hand! The E.V.O did it repeatedly, slamming him more to the ground than just shaking him around now. Slam, after slam, after slam, after slam! It wouldn't stop long enough for him to think of a plan! The tree lifted him to eyelevel, seeing its victim weakening, losing consciousness. One slam left a gash on Cesar's head from hitting a root, freshly bleeding and going sideways on his forehead. At this point, he may have suffered a concussion. His vision was fading fast; he wouldn't be awake for much longer. If only he could reach his device, but it was out of reach. Cesar groaned weakly. The tree raised him up, ready to finish him off.
Vicious, agitated barking was heard extremely close by. Out of nowhere, the E.V.O tree got pounced by the monster dog! Sinking its teeth into the hardy bark, the tree let out some strange, horrible noise, and dropped it prey onto the ground out of sheer pain. The tree wrapped its branch around the attacker and pulled, but it had its teeth sunk in deep. Then it whipped at the E.V.O dog, making the dog leap away. Cesar, either fascinated with watching the fight, or too incapacitated to get up at the moment, was just sitting there on the ground while attempting to stop the bleeding with his hand. The dog placed itself in front of the wounded man, growling fiercely at the tree. The tree growled back with a low rumble, waving its branches around. Cesar had a bad feeling as to why the dog was behaving this way. Perhaps it was fighting for its right to eat him! He had to get out of there, and fast!
He slowly raised himself up with one hand, the other still holding onto his forehead. He was too wobbly to stay steady, let alone start running. Though, despite everything that had happened, despite the grim outlook, luck was on his side today.
The giant dog's ears suddenly perked. Something was coming, and fast. Really fast.
"Cesar!"
Hearing his name called, he looked in the direction of the source. It was his little brother!
Rex on his Rex Ride finally found his brother—in huge trouble! He's stuck in the middle of a fight? Great, I gotta save him. Then, I'm gonna kill him. Save him, then, kill him. Save him, kill him.
"Grab on!" he yelled over his engines, putting his hand out as far as he could. Cesar put out his own, and was about to grab his brother's when the E.V.O dog turned on Rex!
Rex yelled and veered away from them. He was making a U-turn and about to fight the dog, but said dog was pulled away by the tree and thrown into the part of the forest away from Rex and Cesar. Rex halted beside his brother, and helped him on behind him. They quickly sped away back to the tower, Rex chanting in his head again that he was going to kill his brother for going into the zoo without someone to watch his back. He wanted to tell his brother off of how incredibly stupid he was for doing what he did, but he was more concerned with getting that head wound checked out and making sure he didn't have any broken bones, or any other potentially serious stuff.
"Cesar, you are an incredible idiot. This is something I'd expect from Rex. What were you thinking?"
Holiday stood in front of Cesar, who was sitting on the MRI table, holding a gauze with a cotton pad* to his wound. Rex leaned against the table, looking annoyed about his brother also. Though, he had kept his mouth shut. Holiday was doing the job of getting on to him for Rex.
"I was just doing what you asked me to do."
"I also told you to go with backup, did I not?"
"I got impatient, so I went ahead thinking Rex would catch up later."
"What do you mean?" Holiday shot a look at Rex. He froze right there. He was in trouble now too. She arched an eyebrow, an automatic sign to anyone it was directed at that they better answer her.
"Uh," he started nervously, "I may have taken a while eat, and I may also have chatted too long with Bobo."
"So it's partially your fault that Cesar went in there alone."
"Wha—well, maybe."
"Ultimately, it's Cesar's fault for going in there alone when I told him he had to take someone with him."
"But," Cesar started.
"No. It's also your fault too, Rex."
"But," Rex tried.
"No. End of discussion." With that, Holiday shooed them out the door of her lab, and went back to her work, reminding herself never to ask Cesar to go into the Zoo for anything ever again—ever. And if she had no other choice, not to leave him by himself until someone else went with him. She couldn't believe she would have to treat Cesar like a child. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
Quick note: Cotton pads are also the things that nurses stick on top of the needles that are placed in your hand.
I still suck at fight scenes! Forgive me!
