Chapter 11: Enemies Meet
Aurora and her pack were in the sanctuary of the south jungle, drinking from the river. Ulyssa and her pack were also recovering from the battle earlier that day.
"I'm in the mood for something sweet, chocolate maybe," Aurora said and out of nowhere, a chocolate bar appeared in her hand.
Ulyssa came into Aurora's view as she began to eat the chocolate. 'You want to know why how that appeared?' the big raptor asks.
"It's the river's magic, isn't it?" she asked.
Ulyssa snorts and she appear to be thinking. Then, an enormous piece of leg, perhaps from a big dinosaur appeared. 'Eat up,' Ulyssa chirps to her pack.
Blue and the other raptors look jealous of the piece of meat. "One of you, think of something," Aurora said to her pack. Blue and her pack mates thought hard and in an instant, a living bull appeared.
The four of them jump on it and kill it and began to eat. 'Don't you want to try this?' Charlie asks Ulyssa and her pack.
'Please, cows and bulls are way past us. You need to eat dinosaur meat,' Silva answers, taking a chuck of leg into her mouth.
'Well, we never actually tried any dinosaur when we were alive,' Blue replies, biting off a piece of the bull's neck.
'Seriously? You never had any dinosaur meat? What kind of Velociraptors are you?' Shadow chirps in disgust and picked her talon clean.
'It was how we were raised, we never developed a taste for dinosaur meat, just bulls, cows, and even chickens,' Delta answers and seemed to be having second thoughts about the bull.
Ulyssa chirps at her pack, 'Let them have the rest of this, we'll eat the bull.' Ulyssa and her pack move away from what was left of the leg and allow Blue and her pack to eat it.
'This is good,' Echo chirps and eats some more of the leg.
'A little more tender than the bull,' Delta adds and picks off a chunk.
Ulyssa and her pack ate the rest of the bull, while Blue and her pack finish the leg. 'What kind of dinosaur was it?' Blue asks Ulyssa.
'Stegosaurus,' the big raptor answers.
'What about Aurora? She didn't get any of it,' Charlie points out.
"No thank you, after watching you eat, I'm thinking of a salad," Aurora said and out of the blue, a bowl filled with salad, condiments, and some dressing appeared in her hands.
Blue comes to her side and sniffs at the salad, but snorts. "Easy, don't sneeze on it," Aurora orders the beta.
'Sorry,' Blue answers, 'Just smells strange, what does it contain?'
"Romaine with sugar-less Asian dressing, wonton strips, almonds, chicken, and sesame seeds. Owen brought it for me one time when we were alive," Aurora explains and begins to eat it.
'I don't understand humans, are they carnivores or herbivores?' Moriko chirps.
"They can be both, we eat to live and to get protein," Aurora answers, eating a big piece of romaine lettuce.
'So do we,' Shadow replies, licking off whatever was left on the bull's bones.
Aurora finishes with her meal and the bowl vanishes in front of her. She drinks some water and stretches her limbs. "That was good," she said. The raptors clean off the blood and some of them even yawn.
'This has been quite a day. The hybrid and everything. What did it mean that things will get worse?' Charlie chirps.
'Perhaps the humans have doubled in numbers than last time,' Echo answers.
'Or maybe they are planning something far worse,' Ulyssa chirps. Aurora became worried about the well-being of her pack and even Ulyssa's. Blue seems to notice and comes to her alpha's side.
'I will not let them take you away, again,' Blue chirps to Aurora.
"I can handle them, it's just that I am afraid of what will happen to all of you," Aurora replies and gently pats Blue's neck. The beta began to purr and nudges her head against Aurora's body.
Then, Aurora heard something, a twig snap, and turns around. "Someone's here," she said and the raptors began to growl. They sniff the air, Aurora was right, someone new was in there midst.
Aurora arms herself with the sharp stick and began to slowly walk towards the place where she heard the noise. Blue walks close behind her, snarling and showing her teeth.
Aurora saw something in the brush and gestures to Blue to keep quiet. The human woman removes her shoes and socks. She tip-toes towards the brush, raising the stick high above her head.
"STOP!" a male voice shouts and Aurora stops in her tracks.
"Who are you?! Come on out!" she orders and the man obeys. Aurora saw that he was slightly older than Dr. Lewis and was wearing a safari vest and cargo pants.
Ulyssa screams and charges at the man. "Stop! Ulyssa!" Aurora shouts and stands in front of the man. Ulyssa stops short and growls at Aurora.
'What are you doing?! I need to kill this man!' she snarls, but Blue screeches at her.
"Why? Do you know him?" Aurora asks.
'Know him?! He tried to kill me and my pack when we were alive!' Ulyssa growls and faces the familiar man.
Aurora turns to face the intruder and asks, "Who are you?"
"My name is Robert Muldoon," he answers and he spoke in an unusual accent, almost British. "You must be Li...I mean Aurora," he adds and the woman eyes him suspiciously.
"Tell me, do you know these raptors?" Aurora asks and gestures Ulyssa and her pack to come forward. Ulyssa displays her teeth at Muldoon.
"Yes I do, the Big One killed me. I have to give her credit for being so clever," he said.
"Just what are you doing here? Are you here to take me back to the camp?!" Aurora shouts at him. "Well, I refuse! Tell that couple that I am not their daughter and I will never join you humans in your conquest!" she adds.
"Easy girl," Muldoon said, "I'm here to talk."
"Just so you know, the pack and I rather have you leave," Aurora replies, angrily.
"And I will, once I hear my questions get answered," Muldoon said, but Aurora crosses her arms.
"And what exactly do you want to ask?" she asks and grabs his arm to pull him up. All of the raptors snarl at the intruder. "Just to let you know, these raptors do not like newcomers," she adds.
"I can tell, I was the game-warden at Jurassic Park many years ago," Muldoon said and Aurora lets go of his arm.
"Ah, that would explain why Ulyssa killed you," she replies, but Muldoon looks confused.
"Who is Ulyssa?" he asks and Aurora points to the big raptor. "How extraordinary, we never gave names to our raptors," he adds. Aurora introduces him to Ulyssa's pack mates, Shadow, Silva, and Moriko.
"And who are they?" Muldoon asks, pointing to Blue and the others.
"They are my pack mates," Aurora answers and Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo step forward. Blue comes to Aurora's side and she gently pats the beta raptor.
"I heard that you are the alpha, just how did you do that?" Muldoon asks.
"Didn't Dr. Lewis tell you?" Aurora replies, bitterly, but explains, "I was part of his experiment. He wanted to create a serum that would make bonding between humans and Velociraptors much easier. I was injected with Blue's blood and I became part of the pack.
"However, the serum expired after 60 hours, but I was still the alpha of the pack. Really I didn't just gain their trust through blood, I earned it by letting them trust me. I protect them and they protect me. Blue and I have a strong relationship and we love each other, very much in fact. I'm grateful to have a family with them, instead of those people," Aurora finishes.
"Incredible," Muldoon replies and looks at Blue. "I have never seen a raptor be that protective of a human," he adds.
"Well, when they were born, their first alpha, a man named Owen Grady imprinted them, and he raised them. When I came around, it only took a few minutes for Blue to trust me, but it took time with the others. Mostly because I had Blue's blood in me and they smelled it," Aurora explains.
"Just how can you understand them?" Muldoon asks, again.
"I don't know, I can just simply understand them," Aurora answers, but she was curious as to how she could understand the raptors' communication.
"And now I want to ask you, why are you here?" Aurora said and Blue snorts at him.
"I just wanted to talk to you, see if what Dr. Lewis said is true. You are the girl who tamed the wild beasts," Muldoon replies, but Aurora hated that word.
"They are not beasts, they're animals. Humans are the beasts," she said, angrily and the raptors snort in agreement.
"So you completely deny the fact that you are human," Muldoon said, bluntly. Aurora felt like spitting in his face.
"I don't care if I am human, I am far different from those murdering, greedy bastards," she replies, bitterly. Blue nudges at her and Aurora pats her muzzle. "Now, I think you have overstayed your welcome," she adds and gestures Muldoon to leave.
"Sorry to barge in on you," he replies, "I do want to inform you to watch yourself, the Morenos want to cause you grief."
"What do you mean?" Aurora asks.
"If their claim of being your parents is true, I would stay away from them. Esteban and Joana admitted that they sold their daughters to brothels, but when they met Dr. Lewis and they sold you out to him," Muldoon explains and Aurora felt fury and shock course through her.
"Those...those...monsters!" Aurora shouts up to the sky.
"They are not the ideal mother and father. They got what they deserve, but since it's possible, I kill them again," he said and turns to leave.
Ulyssa snarls at him and chirps at Aurora. "Ulyssa says that if you come back, she'll kill you," she said to Muldoon.
"I will keep that in mind," he replies and walks away and disappears.
'I don't trust him, not one bit,' Charlie chirps to her pack mates.
'Neither of us do, but Ulyssa looked ready to pounce on him,' Delta replies and Ulyssa snarls.
'Aurora, why didn't you tell us that your parents were here?' Blue asks her alpha.
"I don't know if they really are my parents. You're my real family," Aurora answers and Blue gently nudges her head against her alpha's body. "I am grateful that I have amnesia, I really don't want to remember all the horrible memories," she adds and kisses Blue's muzzle.
'Me too,' the beta replies, 'If I see them, I'll bite their heads off.'
Delta turns to face Ulyssa and chirps, 'Mind if we stay? It might be dangerous to go back to our patch.'
'Fine, but it's your turn for the night watch,' the big raptor answers in a spiteful tone.
Ulyssa and her pack went away, leaving Aurora and her pack to stay by the creek. It was getting dark and the birds usually do their evening ritual, but there were no birds now.
'When we will fight the humans?' Echo asks.
'In time, maybe soon,' Blue replies and begins to do her first round of the watch.
From the author: What do you think? Is it getting intense? I think so. Let me know! Please leave reviews!