Chương 6: Indominus Rex (6)

What did human flesh taste like to a beast? Asset did not want to think about the question, but her instincts had already supplied the answer. Tender. Salty. Rich in nutrients. The ideal main course. Yes. From a predator's perspective, humans were perfectly suitable staple prey. They had no sharp claws or fangs, no tough hides, no quick reflexes, and no great strength. They could not even run particularly fast. They were absurdly easy to catch. Without their tools and weapons, they would be worse off than lambs.

Lambs, after all, were neither as fatty and salty as humans nor nearly as numerous. A predator that caught one lamb gained only one lamb. Catching one human, however, meant attracting an entire procession of other humans coming to the rescue. Surely even an animal could work out which prey would fill its belly more easily. That was exactly what had happened the previous night. She had injured one human and drawn a whole crowd.

Had she been nothing more than a beast, she would have engraved that hunting strategy into her bones and used it exclusively against humans. But she was not. She was not merely a beast. Human blood had run down her throat and warmed her stomach. Shreds of flesh had lodged between her teeth, while fragments of bone rolled across her tongue. Her instincts had clamored for more, urging her to pounce upon the next human— But the moment the alloy doors opened, the beast inside her shattered along with her reflection.

She despised herself for losing her mind over a mouthful of food. Even more revolting was the sight of herself surrendering to appetite and willingly sinking into depravity. Her will should not be enslaved by this body. She would control it. It would not control her. The moment she woke, she began retching violently, even though there was almost nothing for her to bring up. She discovered that no matter how tender and delicious humans might be, they were somehow forbidden on the menu of her soul.

She did not know where that sense of prohibition came from. She only knew that humans were food she must never consume unless there was absolutely no alternative. A single bite made her want to tear out her stomach and scrub it clean—then turn it inside out and scrub it again.

"Urgh!" She vomited miserably inside the habitat and showed little interest in any of the food brought to her. The researchers outside could not understand what was wrong. Cautiously, they dragged her out for another examination and produced several different diagnoses. The problem was that every one of them sounded reasonable.

"The tranquilizer dose last night was too high. Her body still hasn't recovered. Humans aren't supposed to eat for six hours after waking from anesthesia. Perhaps the same applies to dinosaurs."

"No. Her digestive system is weak. She ate something unsuitable for her first human meal and upset her stomach."

"Listen to yourself. Her stomach can digest bone. There is no such thing as 'unsuitable food' on her menu. She's vomiting because yesterday's idiot had just removed his body hair and covered himself in lotion. She ate a piece of meat marinated in chemicals. Of course she's sick." A chorus of disgust rose from the room. Then everyone hurried to ask which brand of body lotion the man had used. If the hatchling found the smell so repulsive, perhaps she would never bite another human wearing the same scent.

After all, they worked on Isla Nublar and were raising an "ultimate organism" like the Indominus rex. There was no room for affection among colleagues. Staying alive came first. Both hatchlings had now injured humans. Both had learned the taste of human blood. Yet the company would never put them down. Instead, it would continue feeding them well and providing them with the best possible care. Human lives were cheap. The Assets came first.

For the next ten years, the researchers would simply have to pray for their own survival.

"God, please let me live to see the day Jurassic Park reopens," one researcher prayed. The mercenary beside him laughed.

"This is the only time you mad scientists ever believe in God." Having spent years living under constant threat of death, the mercenary could not understand them. If these frail academics feared dying so much, why insist on raising the most vicious creatures in the world? Why not leave while they still could? They knew the work might kill them, yet they continued studying dinosaurs with fanatical devotion. Every last one of them was completely insane. And were the creatures they studied truly dinosaurs?

The mercenary looked toward the hatchling and involuntarily remembered the events of the previous night. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He had been the first person to face her when the alloy doors opened. Before he could even raise his rifle, the hatchling had already abandoned all resistance. It had been strange. Deeply strange. A wild animal did not understand firearms. In that situation, it should have guarded its food and fought back.

Surrender should have been impossible. Yet she had surrendered. At the time, his senses had seemed to distort. He had felt as though he were confronting a person rather than an animal. The memory still made his skin crawl. Even now, he remained unconvinced by the conclusion that "it was a dinosaur." He raised the cross hanging from his neck and kissed it. With his rifle in hand, he murmured, "God protect us. Please let it truly be nothing more than a dinosaur."

* Asset was returned to her habitat, while gloom settled over the humans. A decision had already been reached regarding the previous night's disaster. The fool responsible was still alive, but he had lost a hand. The terror had also driven him into a mental breakdown, and he had been committed to a hospital. From his incoherent rambling, the researchers managed to piece together what had happened. The man had envied Dr. Wu's creations for years.

He had entered the laboratory that night to steal genetic material from the hatchling. Apparently, he had connections to another genetics company and hoped to sell whatever he obtained from the Asset for a substantial price. To prevent another incident, Dr. Wu revoked the researchers' unrestricted access to the laboratory. From then on, most of them were sent back to their quarters at sunset. Only four remained inside overnight, while company mercenaries guarded the laboratory from outside.

The researchers initially protested the night shifts with considerable force. Dr. Wu, however, knew exactly how to manage ambitious academics. He promised opportunities to publish papers, emphasized the prestige of being senior members of the project, offered a twenty-percent raise, and dangled the highest honors in biological science before them. Their protests died almost instantly. At first, no one thought anything was wrong.

Only when they found themselves locked inside the laboratory after midnight, staring directly at the Asset while neither side could sleep, did they realize they had been deceived.

"Oh God. We're expected to stay locked in here and watch her all night? The doors won't open until morning?"

"What happens if she escapes the habitat? This place will turn into a locked-room death match!" Good God. The humans chattered incessantly. The Asset in the neighboring enclosure roared in fury. No one could sleep through the noise. Asset buried her head in a pile of grass and desperately wished for the chaos to end. After about a week, both sides finally adjusted to the arrangement, and her daily routine returned to normal. Only one thing had changed.

Susan no longer appeared, and the food the humans sent her had once again become strange. This time, it was a crocodile. They apparently wanted her to understand the danger posed by "fish." They increased the amount of water in the habitat and reduced the amount of dry ground available to her. Once the crude marshland was complete, the crocodile entered with the current. It silently concealed itself beneath the shadows of the broad leaves, lying perfectly still like a lifeless log. It watched her in silence.

She watched it with caution. The movement and refraction of the water distorted her vision, forcing her to use her "second pair of eyes" to lock onto its heat. She knew exactly where it was. Catching it was another matter. The moment one of her hind feet entered the water, the mud beneath it collapsed under her weight. Her leg sank, leaving her trapped between advancing and retreating. Water rose around her. The "log" began drifting closer.

She tried to retreat, only to discover that mud and water had slowed her movements dramatically. In nature, however, the difference between life and death was often decided in an instant. She failed to retreat. The crocodile made certain she would never get another chance. That was how marsh-dwelling crocodiles hunted. During the dry season, they took possession of entire pools, rolling through the mud until they became indistinguishable from the earth. Then they waited for food to approach.

Their unfortunate prey had no choice but to come to the water, driven by thirst. The moment all four legs sank into the mire, the crocodiles attacked. They gave their victims no opportunity to escape. They dragged them beneath the water. The instant the crocodile opened its jaws, Asset slammed her tail into the water. Using the force of the impact, she launched herself upward and narrowly avoided the attack. The crocodile did not retreat after missing its first strike.

It surged forward and opened its jaws a second time. Asset had never imagined that a "fish" could charge onto land. Caught off guard, she was bitten around the neck and dragged into the water before she could react. The spectators cried out as the situation changed without warning. Before the humans could intervene, her ferocity erupted. Ignoring the fact that the crocodile held her by the neck, she drove her claws into its eyes even as she began to suffocate beneath the water.

The crocodile did not release her despite the pain. Instead, it twisted its entire body into a death roll. Asset refused to let go as well. Clenching her jaws, she savagely tore out one of its eyes while her toe claws raked wildly through its flesh. The water turned red. Mud churned through the pool. No one could distinguish the crocodile from the hatchling. They knew only that the battle had reached its most violent stage. No one could interfere now. One of the two animals would die.

Before long, the disturbance beneath the water began to subside. Everyone watched with their hearts in their throats. Then a crocodile floated to the surface, its skull shattered and its brain exposed. The hatchling's claws appeared over its black-scaled back. She used the last of her strength to haul herself onto the carcass and draw breath. Blood poured from her neck.

"She won…"

"Should we tranquilize her and begin emergency treatment? She looks like she's dying." An injury to an animal's neck was almost synonymous with death. Without human intervention, an animal would either bleed to death or succumb to infection. In either case, its final destination would be the stomach of a vulture or hyena. But the humans had drastically underestimated the vitality of their genetic creation. Nor did they know which organism's genes Dr. Wu had added to her design.

The hatchling had not only endured the crocodile's death roll; she was still capable of forcing herself to eat despite her severe injuries. She dragged the crocodile onto dry land and began devouring it in great mouthfuls. The bleeding from her neck gradually slowed. She moved her head from side to side, seemingly checking whether any bones had been damaged.

"The crocodile didn't break her neck?"

"If it had, the Asset would be the one being dragged onto the bank right now—and Dr. Wu would throw us in there to feed the crocodile."

"Her bones can withstand a crocodile's bite force? Incredible. This is entirely new data!" Asset ate almost the entire crocodile. When she finished, she did not lie down to rest. Instead, covered in wounds, she stared at the surface of the water with a new idea taking shape in her mind. She could not swim. That was unquestionably a fatal weakness. * The humans did not interfere unnecessarily. Over the following days, her regenerative abilities carried her through the period of infection.

Her body grew stronger and more resilient. Most nights, she forced herself to act against her nature. She left the shadows where she usually hid and made herself enter the water she hated. She forced herself to "swim." She also forced herself to learn how to hold her breath and dive beneath the surface. Her appearance might have been terrifying, but not one part of her body was superfluous. Whenever she needed something, some feature of her anatomy always proved useful in a way she had never anticipated.

Her tail was one example. The moment it entered the water, it became a free-moving serpent. It seemed to know instinctively how to undulate for speed and adjust its angle to change direction, saving her a great deal of effort. In this way, she taught herself to swim over the course of half a month. The humans sleeping soundly through the night knew nothing about it. They did not even review the laboratory recordings. Every report they submitted contained the same simple phrase: Everything normal.

Asset returned to the bank. Now, only the humans still lived within the water's reflection. The humans remained blind to everything beneath the surface.