Rebirth {Book One}

Chapter 10

For the first time in my entire life, I vividly remembered my dreams.

Mumei's friends had called me up on the dream network and told me that some kind of help would be coming along the line, and requested I take care of her. The help would be much appreciated, and I'd already decided to do it weeks before, so, check that off the list.

On the other hand, they'd practically also confirmed one of my worst suspicions.

"No way is it possible." I whispered to myself. "Even if he survived the crash, he can't have lived a hundred and seven years."

Then I remembered the glowing purple veins and the rock-solid arm. Genetic mutations so unlikely that I doubt they'd been genes passed down from his parents that somehow malfunctioned. No, this was caused by something else, something that's completely under known sciences' radar.

"No..."

Someone beside me yawned. "Whose confessions are you denying?"

I looked behind me and found Mumei's face a few centimeters away from mine, our noses practically touching.

"Oh, hey-" I scooted backward a few inches.

She yawned again, causing me to yawn. "G'morni-"

Mumei froze, then perked up.

"What is i-" She cut me off by placing one of her hands over my mouth, tapping her ear with the other.

I strained my ears and realized that directly under us, there were heavy footfalls landing on the squishy ground. Mumei grabbed my rifle, loaded it with a tranq dart, and handed it to me. Peeking down, I didn't see any Baryonyx. Instead, we got the occasional Spinosaurus family that the woman mentioned.

There were two adults and one that looked young and was pure white. One was standing on its hind legs, sniffing the air. I readied my rifle and glanced at Mumei, asking a silent question. She shook her head. I withdrew the rifle.

I silently thanked Fauna for making the trees so big that even the Spinosaurus, who were at least 20 feet tall standing up couldn't reach the lower branches we were camping on. Apparently, the one standing didn't find what it was looking for, cause it plopped back onto all fours and rejoined its brethren.

Even more squishy footfalls came from somewhere behind us. Both the adult Spinosaurus stood up and snarled. Suddenly, at least five Baryonyx charged them, aiming for the baby. They looked like crocodiles if they had longer legs and were bipedal and stood at about seven feet tall.

An especially reckless one ran straight into both Spinosaurus. Needless to say, he got snapped up and died instantly. The others were smarter and kept their distance and it slowly turned into a standstill, old Western movie style.

"Behold, nature at work." I muttered.

"No, Fauna at work." Mumei corrected.

"Speaking of Fauna..." I told her about my dream vision. The Baryonyx in the background started becoming braver, inching closer and closer towards the Spinosaurus.

"Oh." She said once I finished.

"My old friend-turned-enemy who sabotaged a nuclear weapon wants to kidnap you, stuff you into a juicer and turn you into Mumei Milkshake that he'll drink, and all you say is Oh?"

"If I ever become Mumei Milkshake, I only have you to blame. One heck of a protector you are if that happens." She laughed, but her voice betrayed a tiny amount of fear.

Below us, both Spinosaurus charged the Baryonyx. For a second, it was nothing but snarls, grunts, and flashes of teeth and claw, until the two Spinosaurus parents ran away, wounded, pursued by three Baryonyx. The last one snapped at the baby Spinosaurus' legs, causing it to let loose a guttural yell.