If there was one thing that Sobek didn't lack, it was inventiveness. One of the few things he had inherited from the human part of him was the art in which human beings best excelled above all other creatures: malice.Humans knew how to exploit the feelings of the masses in their favor, especially the powerful. The people were an important weapon, perhaps the most important, and with the right words it was easy to incite. Or with the right actions.Sobek knew that in an open fight he and his army would lose miserably. They were by no means ready to face a coalition made up of all human armies. If they just revealed themselves, it would all be over in no time. But if the people had sided with them... then things changed.Sobek was aiming for this. He had devised a cunning trap not to get a victory, but to force ordinary people to take sides with him, even if unwittingly. Unbeknownst to them, they would have kept the politicians from making their moves… and

As they returned Sobek was approached by Buck. "I don't understand. Why did we release the prisoners?""To prove that we aren't barbarians" Sobek explained."And is it important?""Not at the moment. But in the future it will be. When we take the city we will have to maintain order and discipline. Also we will soon have to go down to negotiations. It'll be easier if humans don't see us as killer monsters"Sobek knew he was playing a dangerous and extremely delicate game. He couldn't afford any mistakes. He needed humans to fear him, but he also need that they see him as a creature they could reason with. Only then would he be able to buy enough time to complete the formation of his army.And for this to happen, for this delicate balance between fear and respect to be achieved, several steps were needed. Sobek had built a big stage and had only finished the first scene for now. There was so much more to do. Even so, though, the payoffs were showing

The modest army of Cartago left towards the late evening. The sun was already setting over the mountains, but this wasn't a problem for humans: they had night vision goggles that allowed them to see at night. In reality, the darkness worked in their favor: the traps would have been less visible. The army they had managed to put together did not even number five thousand men and had very few vehicles. They didn't even have a tank. Even though they were outnumbered, the dinosaurs outweighed them in terms of strength. As militia chief Kemp understood, the only hope for humans was to lead the dinosaurs into unfavorable terrain and bomb them from above and below. As soon as they reached the quarry, they began placing explosives. They had brought several blocks of C4. If they had managed to lure the dinosaurs into the quarry, they would have buried them under several meters of rock. By the time they finished setting the trap, it was dark at night: the full moon was already high in the sk

Nothing was able to stop the dinosaurs.Dreyfus had assembled the few remaining soldiers and several civilians to form a resistance, but it had been useless. The dinosaurs were too many and too powerful. The useless defense collapsed in a few minutes. Dreyfus was barely able to retreat, but he did not go far: the dinosaurs captured him shortly after.The inhabitants of Cartago had no escape. Unlike dinosaurs, humans weren't designed to fight. Without weapons and proper training, they were helpless. They also made a lot of noise, their scent could be heard miles away, and panicked with astonishing speed, which prevented them from running away or hiding. For the dinosaurs, capturing them was as easy as drinking a glass of water.In just an hour, a city of more than one million inhabitants was completely conquered. Humans were far superior in numbers, but they weren't warriors: from a civilian point of view, they had no choice but to bow their heads and surrender t

Let's jump back a few days. After that eventful night, Malcolm had been dragged into Victory Square, a square a few hundred meters from the city center. The dinosaurs had removed fountains, trees, monuments and any other objects, leaving only the asphalt and the sidewalk. They didn't seem to have much regard for historical places: Malcolm wondered if they even knew what they were and what they meant. After having 'cleaned up' the entire area, they had left the humans there and barricaded all the streets that gave onto the square. They had given him nothing but a blanket. Nobody complained: people were too scared to ask for mattresses. Many, however, struggled to sleep on the hard ground, and there had been a sort of race to grab the less gravelly parts of the square. Malcolm initially thought that the dinosaurs had left them like this out of revenge, but then he realized that they had no intention of harming them: from their looks it was evident that they were quite confused by human