Notes
Soundtrack suggestions:
In the Jungle — John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark (Up to 02:23).
-o-
"We should have euthanized that beast. Which zoo would want a burned carnotaur? A hopeless case. Ah, why was management dragging their feet with his case?" Austin fumed.
Wearing like his companions a pair of night vision goggles, he saw the world in shades of green.
They'd gotten as far as they could with the vehicles, even parking them on a rutted dirt track deep in the jungle somewhere east of the Cloudy Head. Part of the guards who had left Site D had stayed with those while the other patrolled the roads and tracks at the edge of the jungle, making sure that no civilians came near the area where Toro was.
"This mission is madness…" muttered Lee, a thin man with dark hair and a pointed nose.
"I'm aware of that, but the stakes are too high to postpone it," the commander replied. "A civilian already died because of Grady's raptor, I won't let another be devoured by Toro."
"If we fail, we risk being thrown outside," Meyers added.
According to Austin's smartwatch, the carnotaur was west of their position and to corner him, he had split the tracking team into two groups, with one led by the bald Miller, his right-hand man. With Austin, were Lee, Meyers, Steve and Craig, but also Maribel, Brice's assistant. As for Miller, he had four men under his command: Cooper, Spears, Tee and Jaffa.
The ACU commander picked up his radio.
"Miller, what is your situation?" he asked.
"We're on the move. We should be on him at the same time as you."
Further south, Miller's group was advancing in the darkness, also following the signal of Toro's tracking implant. Apart from the few communications between Miller and the commander, silence reigned within the troop for several minutes and the tension was palpable. Cooper, the youngest of the unit as he was only twenty-two years old, had never tracked at night a predator as dangerous as an adult carnotaur and his companions began to hear him humming in an attempt to relax.
"Little pony…little pony…little…"
Tee, a forty-something man of Asian descent, interrupted him.
"What are you mumbling about, Cooper?"
"When I was little, I used to sing Little pony… Little pony whenever I was scared. This ditty helps comfort me," Cooper answered.
"I'd rather pet soft little ponies than chase carnotaurs," his comrade admitted.
"I understand you're scared, but if you could stop, that would be great," Spears, an African-American, said suddenly. "I can't bear to hear the word pony."
"Why?" Cooper asked.
"Because my mother was killed by ponies."
Thinking he had to be joking, or at least they hoped so, Tee and Cooper shrugged.
"Is anyone watching My Little Pony among you?" Asked Jaffa, a forty-something with the onset of baldness.
"Let's not talk about it," Spears cut him off. "I hate everything about that show. Its fans… These people are a nasty breed. They should all be terminated!"
"You're lucky nobody here is a fan of it," Tee said.
"Yeah, that cuts the discussion short," Miller added. "Save your breath."
The troupe fell silent again, but in a low voice Cooper continued to hum:
"Little pony…Little pony…"
Suddenly, a hoarse growl froze them on the spot.
"L..L… Little pony?" Cooper stuttered in fear.
On the alert, his comrades turned to the origin of the growl, aiming their weapons at the dense vegetation. Cooper saw them relax but just a little. What had made that growl was nowhere near as dangerous as the carnotaur but could still pose a risk.
"Not a little pony, but a big cat," Tee whispered to Cooper.
Following his colleague's gaze, Cooper saw that, between two bushes, a certain spotted quadrupedal mammal was crouched and watching them suspiciously.
"Bloody hell, a jaguar…" Miller said in a frightened voice.
"Good Mr. Cat…" Spears whispered softly.
"Did you just assume that jaguar's sex?" Cooper asked him. "It could be Mrs. Cat instead?"
"We have to know its sex to answer that question," Tee said.
"Shut up!" Miller told them. "I think it's going to pounce on us."
"It's more afraid of us than we are of him," Jaffa said suddenly. "And jaguars don't attack a grown man."
"What do you know, Jaffa?"
"I listened to the presentation on the local wildlife," their colleague replied humbly. "Avoid sudden movements, raise your arms slowly to look bigger and step back slowly. Above all, do not turn your back on it or run away."
"Yeah, it's like with cougars," Spears concluded.
"Which ones? Those you walk back home on Saturday evening?" Jaffa asked.
The jaguar hissed.
"Gentlemen!" Miller hissed.
While following these instructions, they moved away from the jaguar and it remained crouched near the bushes, doing nothing but looking at them.
"Still, it must have had a funny reaction if it met Toro…" Tee said.
"Compared to dinosaurs, big cats look like kittens," Jaffa pointed out.
Once they had backed up far enough, they moved on.
"Miller, what is your situation?" Austin asked over the radio.
"We're still moving forward. We just encountered a jaguar. No one was hurt."
"Okay, we'll be in position soon."
A few minutes later, the two groups arrived near a stream in a dell. At the edge of the stream, under a broad-crowned tree, Toro was sitting. His head was leaning downward and his torso swelled gently along his breath. He was snoring quite loudly.
Stealthily, the groups came to position themselves behind rocks or fallen logs, waiting for Austin's signal. The ACU commander looked at the sleeping carnotaur with relief and satisfaction.
If they had been in the Five Deaths, the team would have been much more on their guard, as carnotaurs could be active both at day and night, but here Toro had not stopped moving since his escape from the Site D and he had travelled about twelve kilometres in about twelve hours.
The poor beast must be tired, Austin observed. Neutralizing him will be easy.
In his mind, the ACU commander reviewed the arsenal they had with them. They had taser rifles, tranquilizer guns, a net gun, electric cattle prods… all non-lethal weapons. The only lethal ones they had brought were a few pistols and a shotgun, which was more of a deterrent than anything, with little offensive role in the track of an animal the size of a carnotaur.
That should be enough.
On the other side of the dell, Miller's group was hidden behind rocks. They could see the silhouettes of Austin's group in their goggles and vice versa. While their commander pondered a course of action, Tee relaxed with a deep sigh of relief. Suddenly he froze and put his hand to his mouth. The trooper shuddered while making muffled sounds: he was holding back a cough.
"Tee!" Miller whispered, begging him to be silent.
He shook his head in an apologetic manner and pointed to his neck. Miller realized he had a tickle in his throat and needed to drink water. He then grabbed his flask and passed it to his colleague.
The coughing fit was violent. Miller had the impression that the noise echoed in the dell like a gunshot.
The carnotaur yawned indolently and scratched his snout with his hind leg. Then he yawned a second time. Still tired from the trials of the previous day, he woke up slowly.
Behind the rocks, Tee continued to make hoarse sounds.
"Shut up, Tee!" Miller ordered.
"It's not my fault," the trooper protested in a strangled voice.
The new fit of coughing was as loud as the previous one. By the stream, the carnotaur sat up, with some difficulty, sniffed swiftly, and looking in the direction of Miller's group, he spotted them.
"Quick! Take aim at him!" Austin ordered Craig, who was carrying one of the tranquilizer guns.
But as Craig moved into position, the carnotaur growled and charged Miller's group before anyone had time to let out a curse.