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
Three days. It had only been three days since Abe had left to investigate, and the world around Jocelyne seemed to be collapsing every second more.First, that strange feeling that there was a storm coming had haunted her, preventing her from sleeping. And now she, in spite of herself, knew that feeling was more than justified. She didn't know how she had sensed the incoming disaster, perhaps the time spent alone in the forest had awakened in her some sort of primal instinct that allowed her to perceive the dangers, but still she would have much preferred to discover that she was wrong.After that fateful night, Abe had called her. Actually, he had called Jackson, but of course he had later informed her as well. And so she had received proof of her theories. Dinosaurs were getting intelligent.Not only they were getting intelligent, they were building a civilization. Dozens of different species collaborated, and by the time they painted their faces it was likely
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
"No explosion" Malcolm muttered. “And not even communications from Kemp. Something must have happened"Dreyfus just nodded as he continued to massage his hands. The old mayor knew something must have gone wrong.According to the plan, the soldiers were to blow up the quarry with the dinosaurs inside and bury them under thirty-five meters of rock. A simple, quick and clean work. However, no explosion had yet occurred despite the troops had been gone for a few hours. The quarry wasn't too far away, so the bang should have been heard in the city. But no sound had violated the peace of the night, and Kemp's radio silence didn't help to decrease Dreyfus’s anxiety.“I will issue an evacuation order. We'll take refuge in the sewers” the mayor said, raising his head. "They are underground and many of the vents are narrow. They are made of reinforced concrete and protected by several meters of earth and rock, so they won't be able to break through
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
As Sobek had predicted, his 'stunt' didn't go unnoticed. The internet was a powerful means of communication and allowed people to talk to each other even while they were on opposite sides of the planet. Before the sun had even risen, hundreds and hundreds of videos had appeared throughout Odaria showing a mass assault of talking dinosaurs. And not only in Odaria: in fact, in Cartago there were also people from other parts of the world. Numerous foreign businessmen and investors were in the area at the time of the attack, and their Internet was not bound by Odaria's restrictions. Of course, very few people believed the images they saw. The vast majority were convinced that they were fake videos. The Odaria government did not hesitate to use that excuse to deflect suspicion. The nation's leading heads of state feared in the enormous economic consequences that would follow the discovery of intelligent dinosaurs. So, to avoid the scandal, they passed off the videos as a misunderstanding
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
Abe hadn't slept for even a second that night. He was used to sleeping in the worst places and on the hardest surfaces, but he couldn't relax with all the anxiety he had. His survival instinct, hardened to the max by his soldier training, kept his senses alert to detect even the slightest threat. Despite having spent a sleepless night, however, he didn't feel the slightest tiredness; probably all the adrenaline he had in his body was charging him as if it were a battery. He wondered how Jackson would react knowing what had happened. He hoped he didn't go crazy and do something extremely stupid. In his mind, his friend and brother bravely (and very foolishly) rushed to Cartago to save him, challenging hundreds of dinosaurs alone. Abe tried to convince himself that this would never happen, but in his heart he knew that was something Jackson would do. Abe unfortunately had no way to contact him and tell him to not do anything that could kill him. He couldn't even let him know that he wa
Sobek had made the central square his headquarters. He hadn't moved from there since the city was taken. Even after two days, he had not returned to the forest.He wasn't the only one, of course. Many dinosaurs had built a bed inside the city. Although they disliked the hard, asphalted terrain, very different from the soft, comfortable forest ground, they understood that they would not go away anytime soon. Most of the dinosaurs had chosen to settle near Sobek, remaining in the central square.Sobek was placidly sunbathing when a throaty sound called him back. The spinosaurus opened its eyes to see Apache land in front of him. "What news do you bring me from the front?" he asked him.After taking control of the colony, Sobek had ordered all small pterosaurs to head into the mountains on the border and report any movement from humans. Some large pterosaurs such as Apache acted as spokespersons, using [Ambush] to avoid being noticed by humans. In fact, Sobek did n