Buck didn't return that evening, and neither did the following ones. On the contrary, he continued his journey to north, following the traces left by his old pack.
When Sobek had let himself be captured by humans, the tyrannosaurs weren't too far from their refuge: it would take half a day to reach them. But the pack had moved over the months, making the road much longer.
Buck, however, had on his side the nose and the instinct of a hunter; with these two weapons that nature had provided him he could track down an ant from many kilometers away. Even if it was a journey lasting several days he could still reach the pack.
It went on for two days and two nights without ever stopping. Only on the third day did he allow himself a few hours of rest before sunrise. He did not even hunt: he ate a few bites from an old carcass and then continued on his way.
For a wild animal, order from a pack leader was everything. And if you were talking about a respected pack l
In the following days the size of the herd increased enormously.As Sobek had predicted during the early days none of the dinosaurs had brought great results: most of them did not know how to move. But they quickly learned to cooperate and more and more packs submitted to them, consequently increasing the strength of Sobek's army more and more.In nature, a herd could not become too large a force because it needed food supplies. But since Sobek had eliminated these problems and had turned to multi-ethnicity, then the herd could only grow. And with ever stronger dinosaurs joining it, the enemy packs that numbered fewer individuals could only yield to their advance.During the first two days, his underlings had barely been able to recruit about fifty other dinosaurs. But since they learned quickly in a single week, the number of individuals in the pack had exceeded a thousand. Sobek had had to fill in [Contracts] all the time and probably the work would only get w
Sobek bit his tongue. "Let's go to a more secluded place" he whispered. The carnotaur didn't object.The two walked for a while in the forest, away from the rest of the pack. Neither of them said a word all the way. Without Carnopo being able to know, Sobek opened his [Contract] and always kept it under control: at the first hint of betrayal, he would have been able to react in advance.Eventually they came to an area not far from the lake, completely surrounded by trees that obscured the view from the outside. Sobek stopped and turned to look at Carnopo.To a human eye the carnotaur would have seemed calm, but Sobek's senses were much sharper. He could feel the fear in the air and the tension on the body of his interlocutor. "Do you want to kill me?" Carnopo asked seriously.Indeed, the area had all the appearence of a crime scene: secluded, inconspicuous, where no one could see or hear them. If Sobek had wanted to 'silence' Carnopo he could have easily
Sarah was in her office working on the latest data Alan had sent her when suddenly her cell phone rang. She looked at the name on the screen and was surprised to read 'Dr. Sidney Burke'."Who is at the phone, honey?" asked Ian, who was obviously there with her, who looking at her face was a little concerned. "Trouble?""No, no. She's just the person I sent the spinosaurus' scale to," Sarah replied. "I just didn't expect a call so soon..."After the emergency in Flagard City ended, Sarah followed Alan's advice and sent the spinosaurus skin samples to a chemistry expert, Dr. Burke. She was an old acquaintance of Alan and Ian and was considered quite good at both chemistry and biology, so perfect for her role. Sarah hoped she could help her solve the mystery of the spinosaurus' tough skin, but Dr. Burke still asked her for some time to run some tests.'Some time' in scientists' parlance meant between six months and three years, since they had to make measure
When the two dinosaurs returned to the lake, evening was already falling, but there was still time. Sobek led Carnopo along the mountainside where the Neanderthal village was located. Even though he had never followed them and had never seen their city, Sobek had memorized the smell of that girl who had knelt before him begging him to spare her and her companions' lives. From what she understood, she saw him as a deity. Following her scent he quickly tracked down the city surrounded by the wooden palisade. At 10.5 meters high, Sobek could easily look across the wall, but the same could not be said of Carnopo. So the two looked for an elevated place. Anyway, with [Ambush], no one could see them. Eventually they climbed a slightly higher hill. They both had good eyesight, so it was enough. Sobek discovered that the Neanderthal city was exactly as he had imagined it: simple, ancient, very similar to the Sumerian or pre-Columbian civilizations. He didn't mind the style at all. "Do you
"Pack leader!" Buck exclaimed as soon as he saw him. "I have completed the task entrusted to me""Well done, my friend. I am pleased" Sobek answered observing the tyrannosaurs. He was satisfied: of all dinosaurs, tyrannosaurs were some of the most dangerous ones, so having a group on his side was important.The newcomers looked intimidated. How to blame them: Sobek was almost three times their length and almost twice their height. A single paw from him would have been enough to kill one of them. Before their arrival mny of them had doubts about Sobek's legitimacy as pack leader, even if Buck say so. After all, it was hard for them to believe that there could be an animal stronger than a T-Rex. In their view, Sobek must have been a dinosaur only slightly more powerful than Buck: strong, but not so strong as to be considered invincible. But now they realized how wrong their thinking was. Sobek towered over them like a house, and every single inch of his body, from his ra
For a dinosaur, the basic rule was survival. So if a danger came knocking on its door there were only two options: fight or escape. Surrender wasn't even contemplated, because it would have meant being eaten.That is why Buck had no doubt that he needed to go to war. Sobek had shown him what was happening and assured him that the humans would never stop. Escaping was therefore not an option, which left only fighting.Buck trusted Sobek. If he had said to go to war, he would have done it. However, he was also afraid. Sobek had repeatedly warned him about humans and now he found that concern was well founded. Was it really possible to fight against such creatures? The instinct of self-preservation clashed strongly with the reason that instead reaffirmed the need to face them.Suddenly Sobek spoke. "You know, despite my powers and my strength, I will never have the greatest of treasures"Carnopo and Buck were quite confused by those words. They remained sile
After that conversation, Sobek ordered his five companions to not say anything to the other dinosaurs, partly because he didn't want to create panic, partly because it was important that the image of the strong leader wasn't affected. None of the others had any objections: they all saw the importance of keeping silence until the preparations were completed.Now the relationship between the five was very different. Sobek hadn't just made them trust him; he had created a much stronger bond. It wasn't friendship: such a thing wasn't admissible in the hierarchy of the pack. But it was undoubtedly something strong, which united them in the common cause.From that day on, things changed a lot.Carnopo had taken control of the recruiting dinosaurs backed by Al. The two together had begun to coordinate the search for new members of the pack making it faster and more efficient. Now that they understood the challenge awaited them in the future, they both knew it was imper
The quetzalcoatlus, whom Sobek had chosen to name Apache in honor of the famous American military helicopter, maintained his word. From the first day of his departure countless pterosaurs began to arrive at the lake.Sobek had sent Apache to recruit mostly giant-sized flying reptiles, but the quetzalcoatlus hadn't disdained recruiting all the other pterosaurs it encountered as well. So every day Sobek saw pteranodon, dimorphodon, tropeognathus, ornitocheirus, tapejara, aerotitan, batrachognathus, anurognathus and countless other species arriving. And with so many pterosaurs came even more dinosaurs: by now Sobek could count more than thirty thousand creatures under him. The rate at which the herd increased in size accelerated every day, and Sobek couldn't help but be pleased with that.As for the giant flying reptiles, Sobek had to wait a while for that. However, some of them soon made their appearance. The first to arrive was an Arambourgiania, about three days after