CHAPTER 18

All heads turned towards the fence. Seth had forgotten all about the smell of the rotten meat. He peered among the redwoods tentatively searching for any sign of the "tyrant lizard." The compsognathus were alert and sensing the presence of the tyrannosaur as well. Their bodies stiffened. Their chattering ceased. A moment later they fled into the underbrush.

The forest was silent and still, except for the breeze and the rocking of the trees. Seth retraced his sight through the gaps in the redwoods, pondering if he had missed something or the rex was simply not yet visible.

Then he saw a shape spying out at him from one side of a tree. It was standing at least fifteen or sixteen feet tall and from what he could tell was massively bulking with muscle. The other thing Seth noticed was that the creature was stark white, like the white on a porcelain sink.

He began to speak. "Is that-?"

Kyra nodded before he finished his sentence. "That's her." She whispered.

"I didn't expect her to be that color." Seth said quietly.

"Technically she's not." Kyra answered. "Rebirtha is the first tyrannosaurus rex that INGEN ever cloned. She turned out to be an albino. INGEN didn't want to release her into the park. They considered her a flawed specimen. So they just keep her here."

Seth stared at Rebirtha watching her chest heave as she breathed. She had the same air of wisdom and dignity that a large owl carried. He gained an immediate sense of respect for the beast by the mere sight of her.

"She's magnificent…" Seth murmured.

Kyra side glanced at him warmly. It was the first time she'd seen him crack a smile.

Rebirtha leaned away from the tree a little more, observing the four kids as intently as they were watching her. After a time she shifted behind the tree again. There was something terribly precocious about this action. At no angle could the narrow redwood fully obscure her or even come close. Somehow it did seem to comfort her like a child with a security blanket.

Seth was beginning to wonder if this was all they were going to get out of Rebirtha when the tyrant powerfully sidestepped into full exposure. The huge carnivore drove herself forward on two muscle bound legs at twelve feet a stride. Although they were shaped like chicken legs they had the girth of a titan. Her rotund torso lurched with every step, like the buoyant hull of a sailing ship but with more shudder. The beast heaved her way to the fence, weaving betwixt the redwoods that stood in her path. Her thick tail was like a flexing rudder in her wake.

For a moment Seth thought she was going to plow right through the fence, but then she ceased abruptly just before it. The cables of the fence still rocked and creaked moments after the dinosaur stopped. Seth had not realized how much the ground had begun to tremor until it was over.

Rebirtha's chin loomed above them, giving off the vibe of an impending destructive force. Then she lowered her mighty jaws to their level. Seth's vision was overtaken by a militia of thick serrated teeth. A pair of wide flaring nostrils rushed a breeze of balmy air into his face. Up close Rebirtha's scaly white skin looked like it was made of pearls and seashells. Her two forward facing eyes were pink and expressive with curiosity. There was a particular fixation on Seth and the container of rancid meat he still held. Rebirtha's five-foot long face tightened up. She inhaled through her mouth and then bellowed ferociously. Seth cringed. It took a minute for the roaring sensation in his ears to subside.

Rebirtha did not calm down. She stomped her heavy triple talon feet and swished her tail. Then she raised her moaning gullet to the sky and growled.

Seth looked at the container and pondered. He held it up for the tyrannosaur to see while consciously keeping it at bay from his own nose. He had her attention. Rebirtha stared at the box with expectation. Seth moved the container from left to right and back again. The tyrannosaur followed it with subtle shifts of her snout and body.

Next Seth walked with the container, having the rex follow him along the length of the fence. When he stopped she stopped. When he went she went. Seth grinned. He wished he could put her on a leash and walk her all over the island, but he knew the fence was the only thing keeping Rebirtha from devouring him.

The tyrannosaur eventually barked at Seth, resuming signs of impatience.

"It looks like the honeymoon is over bud." Dallas said. "You oughtta just let her have it."

Seth used the plastic container like a catapult and flung the piece of meat through the fence. As it landed with a squish Rebirtha put her snout down to it. She poked at it, grunted, and licked her chops with a loud wet smack. Then she turned to Seth with a dull lazy stare and just stood there.

"Hey, do you think T-rex is red meat or white meat?" Dallas said after a while.

"That's a ridiculous question, Dallas." Shelly soured her face at him.

"No it ain't." Dallas insisted. "All I'm sayin is what does it taste like? If it is red meat is it more like beef or venison? If it's white is it closer to pork or chicken? And if it's like a chicken is it light and dark like a chicken or all dark like a duck? These are legitimate quandaries, people."

"Uhg, Dallas. Are you still talking?" Shelly groaned.

"You know what, Shelly? You can eat my shorts." Dallas folded his arms and looked through the fence.

"What do you think, Seth?" Kyra asked with a smile.

Seth thought for a moment. "I think Rebirtha is wondering the same thing about Dallas."

Kyra and Shelly laughed heartily.

Dallas sank his face, but he grinned. "Well played, Seth."

They all looked through the fence watching Rebirtha. The tyrannosaur was no longer captivated by the presence of the kids. She bent her neck around to groom the stiff, white, quill-like feathers on her back, thighs, and tail. Underneath the thin coat of bristles Seth could clearly make out the dinosaur's stronghold of scaly armor. He imagined what it would feel like to comb his fingers through the animal's coarse coat and touch the living shingles beneath. At the moment there was nowhere else in the world that Seth cared to be.

For a moment Rebirtha glanced back at Seth, scratched her chest with the two tiny fingers on her vestigial forearms, and then went back to grooming.