POV SHIFT — SAMANTHA AARON Just round this corner and… ah! Volcano High. As I struggle to find a space to park, I notice the sheer number of parents crowding around the school’s entrance. How peculiar. Once I did find a parking spot, the closer I got to the entrance of the school the louder the commotion got, to the point I had to cover my ears as l watch the closely-packed crowd shift around, pushing and pulling each other in a frenzy to get closer to the doors. Although, the longer I watch them the more I’m reminded of those ‘mosh pits’ from those concerts Naser drives Lucy to. Naser and Lucy… they haven’t picked up any of my calls, which wouldn’t surprise me if it were just Lucy but Naser as well? Even when I tried calling the school, I got no response. “All the doors and windows are shuttered off with steel… just what exactly is Principal Spears thinking?!” I hear one of the parents beside me, a Dilophosaurus, exclaim with anger as her frills spread out and shake. Shuttered off with steel?! What is happening?! Just as I was about to dial Rip’s number, a piercing clang interrupted me. Then another, as the crowd starts shifting away from the noise. From what I can see, up front, a tyrannosaurus like Moe was banging against the metal door, seemingly having run out of patience. “HEY SPEARS, OPEN UP DAMN IT!” The rex roared, knocking on the metal or hitting it with his tail, making constant clanging noises, irritating everyone near the entrance as they began backing up, leaving him alone while he continued battering the door. Eventually he seems to have run out of energy, panting. “What the fuck are you doing in there?! I JUST WANT TO SEE MY BOY!” He roared, slamming his tail on the door as he stepped back. There was no response and the rex seemed like he was about to give up, until the sound of ground-shaking footsteps echoed from within the school. Every one of us turned towards the entrance as the footsteps got closer to the door… then silence. The tyrannosaurus got closer to the door, looking at it hopefully. “Tommy? He asked quietly, waiting for a response. There was silence again, until an earth-shattering roar almost as loud as his blasted everyone’s eardrums. I covered mine, looking back at the door, where the rex was frozen in shock as the roar stopped. Then ‘Tommy’ began bashing on the metal door from the other side. We were all frozen, unable to look away as the bashing continued, a dent suspiciously similar to a suspiciously similar to a tyrannosaurus’ head imprinted onto it. The bashing eventually ceased as the thundering footsteps started moving away. ‘Tommy’ seemed to have lost interest as he moved away. The rex scrambled away from the damaged door, clearly afraid of what used to be his son after the terrifying display as we stood there in shock. Only one question was on our minds: What was that? POV SHIFT — RIPLEY AARON What a fuckin’ headache. Calls left and right about this crisis at Volcano High, while we can do nothing about it but try and quarantine the area off, after we saw the damage this ‘Tommy’ did to the door. As absurd as it sounds, we’re dealing with some monsters here and we have no fucking leads as to who or what caused this. It’s been taking a toll on all of us and I can see the exhaustion on their faces. As Police Commissioner of the Volcaldera Bluffs Police Department (VBPD), they expect me to lead them to finding a solution however, even I was stumped. The situation was dire. We stopped taking the calls altogether from the sheer number of calls reporting the same issue and all we could do was sugarcoat it, saying that we’ll find a way. The actual answer being, we can’t find a way without any leads. We’ve checked almost everything we could but there might be something we missed… “Commissioner, you might want to see this.” A recording from the camera overlooking Volcano High, of course! That camera was barely monitored, but here it was being our savior in a time of need. The recording showed a cloaked figure running away from the side of the school through a fence that looked like they bashed through it earlier. “From the manner they’re moving, their build and the manner of the damage to the fence, it’s safe to assume it’s a Pachycephalus, male, around 6 feet.” I deduce, turning to the rest of the police force in the station. “VBPD, we have a lead.” At the word ‘lead’, the entire station was roused, the exhaustion steadily vanishing. I take out my radio and turn it on, thinking about my next words before I speak. “All officers, we have an important suspect. Male Pachycephalus, around 6 feet, last seen wearing a hooded cloak around Volcano High. We have to start searching for him immediately.” I start assigning officers to each district, noticing my Lieutenant looking at me with a spot of concern. “Sir… if you don’t mind me asking… what about Skin Row?” I knew that question would come up eventually, so I turned to her. “I’ll be searching Skin Row myself.” The rest of the station looked uneasy at that, but they believed in me and that was enough. I smirk and turn the radio off. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get moving.” POV SHIFT — ??? “Alright, let’s do this one last time. My name is Florian Monet. I am a former genetic engineer from France, who was ousted from the scientific community and arrested for inhumane practices. But that is just half the story. What I was trying to accomplish was the betterment of dinokind and the abolishment of mankind. With what I was working on we would be able to achieve the power we need to eradicate man completely… until I was shunned by William Spears and arrested by Ripley Aaron.” I spit the names out with venom, those two bastards that ruined my career. “It took a long time, but I was released from prison. Ever since, I have been working to perfect my formula, keeping several—“ A growl cut off my monologue as I snarled, pressing a remote as the noise of something being electrocuted with a roar of pain echoed through the recorder. “Damn mongrel. Where was I? Ah yes, I have been keeping several test subjects and performed a mass clinical trial using the students of Volcano High as in-volunteers. The results seem to be astounding. As of now I will leave this city, never to be seen again and I will leave this recording to taunt everyone who has wronged me. Florian Monet, signing out.” I turn the recording off and whirl on the beast that interrupted me midway, a feral Dilophosaurus, I believe his name was… Damien? Not that it matters. “I didn’t give you permission to speak, did I?” ‘Damien’ recoils, his frills spreading out and shaking while he hisses, the shock from before causing him to twitch occasionally as the collar around his neck blips with a blue light. I hold up a plate just as he spits out a glob of acid, covering my nose with my other hand as the acrid smell wafts over, putting the plate down which sports yet another acid burn mark. “Crafty, aren’t you? You’ll be a nice surprise when all of this is discovered, along with your… friends.” I flip the lights on, revealing several containers like the one ‘Damien’ is in, including an alligator and a parasaurolophus. The alligator’s tank in question had a decapitated corpse, already half eaten, with the tattered remains of what once was a blue jacket clinging to its frame. “Would have got your other friend too if her neck wasn’t so fuckin’ long.” I muttered as I got my things. I just have to get out of this city and I’ll be as free as can be to work on the formula. As soon as I eliminate the factor of lesser brain function, it will be perfect. And then the extinction of mankind can begin. I pick up a skull with a broken pair of sunglasses on that adorns my desk, putting it back down. One at a time. I open a trapdoor and climb out, emerging from inside a dilapidated, damp abandoned building, reeking with the smell of mold. A homeless velociraptor eyes me, but I don’t bother to look back at him. If he knows what I’m doing here, it wouldn’t matter since no one would believe him until it’s too late. Just as I step outside, a massive frame on the other side of the road catches my attention. That build… those wings… that crest with a hole through it… Merde! Why is he here of all places?! I thought I wouldn’t have to ever see him again! Calm down Florian, as long as you don’t arouse his suspicion he won’t suspect a thing. I wipe the sweat off my face and begin walking away from his general area when… “Hey!” A booming voice stops me in my tracks. I turn around as the object of my hatred approaches, gritting my teeth as my eyes dart around for an escape route or a possible solution. If I get caught, it’s over for me. There has to be some way out of this… my eyes fall on the homeless velociraptor from earlier through the window of the abandoned building as an idea forms in the back of my head. I reach one hand into my pocket, digging for something… “Cease what you’re doing!” I briefly pause, then continue my furious digging, pulling out a vial with a whitish-blue substance sloshing around within. The game plan set, I threw it at the velociraptor, who barely registered it coming before it hit him square in the side of the head as it broke, releasing fumes that went directly into his nostrils, while I whirled on my heel and started running, watching the fight as I ran. The velociraptor began writhing, his speech slurring into screeches that became more animalistic as the regression progressed, his teeth growing sharper, growing more feathers along his body while his pupils slowly thinned until they were slits, focusing on the first thing he saw, which happened to be Ripley giving chase. Ripley only had time to register the screeches and turn his head before the raptor was upon him, sinking its large talon into his back as it leapt upon him from behind, snapping away at him while he tried to fight it off. The raptor managed to grab a hold on his arm, crunching down on it slowly, until Ripley grabbed it’s head with his other hand and ripped it off forcefully, tearing skin off of his own arm in the process as he threw the raptor away. He unholstered his gun, taking aim as the raptor began to leap again, only to take a shot directly to the lungs as it collapsed, one of its lungs blown out. Ripley looked at the raptor with pity as it lay dying before turning again to resume giving chase. I was hoping it’d hold him back more, but at this rate he shouldn’t be able to– dis moi que c'est une blague! He’s using his wings to propel himself forward to match my pace?! At this rate he’ll manage to catch up! Think Florian, think! I look around in desperation as I continue running, my eyes slowly trailing to a side alley where a prostitute stegosaurus and an ankylosaurus are doing some… unsavoury activities. Combien répugnant. “Sorry to crash your little party folks, I got someone to get away from.” I run into the alley, apologising to the bewildered duo half-heartedly as I leap onto a dumpster, using it to reach a ladder to climb onto the rooftops. “What a beautiful starry night sky… shame I’m spending it like this” I can’t help but think as I leap from rooftop to rooftop, Ripley not too far behind. Thus the chase continues...