Welcome to the Jungle

Chapter 17: Fight Fire with T-Rex

Kara refused to watch as soon as Purity had appeared in that horrible half dying state. She couldn't bring herself to witness the savagery or else she would have puked or worse, lost consciousness. Hanging tightly to Mike's arm and looking the other direction strictly, however, Kara couldn't stop hearing the sounds which were equally explicit. She knew the exact moment one of the Raptors died. Felt Mike tensing and shaking under her hands and her heart broke for him and the poor kind animal. She felt even worse thinking that more of them were about to lose their lives. It wasn't fair. They weren't strong enough to fight those Hybrids. Kara was filled with horror, imagining what could go down if Reign joined Pestilence. A blood bath no doubt.

"More teeth..." She mumbled her thoughts out loud absentmindedly.

Just then, a movement among the trees, some thirty meters away, caught her eyes and Kara gulped down, letting go of Mike's arm and leaned forward with a racing heart to see what it was. In the dying twilight, she was convinced that it was Reign, coming to end all the fights, but then the giant head and lack of red eyes proved her wrong. It was Rexy. Kara didn't know if that was a better alternative, but considering the mighty T.Rex had just finished a decent meal, it was probably safe to assume she wasn't looking for any more food. Unless she had saved some room for dessert.

"More teeth!" Kara muttered again, glancing back at the ongoing blurs of claws and tails. Then her fingers grazed at something round and long in her jacket pocket and instantly remembered the object she had picked up while running. It was a flare. She didn't know why she had picked it exactly. Maybe she thought it could be used as a weapon and now, it was as though fate had something to do with it.

A plan showed itself to Kara like a bulb turning on in her head. An epiphany. It was the craziest, most reckless thing she would be doing in her life. Yet, it could work and it could save them all and end all this. Shoving the flare back into her pocket, Kara's mind was set.

Without bothering discussing it, knowing already that there was no chance others would agree to it, Kara started climbing down the tree in the opposite side she had climbed up. This she had to do on her own.

The two men were so absorbed in the dinosaur fight that neither noticed her leaving. Her injured shoulder made it really hard for her to not cry every time she moved it. All the events of the day surely had ripped her barely a day old stitches. Kara jumped the last meter to the ground with a thud and only then John saw her. The older man's dark eyes were scared and surprised. He repeatedly shook his head and gestured for Kara to climb back up, but Kara shook her head firmly and turned back to follow up her plan.

Kara adjusted her damaged glasses – which were relatively and luckily still in good shape after all that she had gone through – on her nose and regarded the path ahead. From down there, the rainy jungle looked very different. She couldn't see Rexy, but by conjuring the view she had seen earlier in her mind, Kara knew she just had to walk ahead. There was no way she would miss Rexy, not even if she wanted to.

She heard Reign roaring back at the field she had just left and shivered despite herself. That only helped making her more determined and added to her pace. She had to do this faster. It was now or never.

Stumbling and wobbling over the uneven ground in darkness, Kara kept going forward. She was out of breath and beyond tired. Every muscle in her body had had enough and screamed for her to stop. There was no adrenalin anymore to cover the multiple sources of pain across her body. All that was left, was motivation born from survival instinct with a tinge of insanity.

As Kara crept deeper towards the salvation that could as well turn out to be her doom, Kara thought of Mike and his confession. There hadn't been any time to dwell on it between worrying sick about her sister and running for their lives, but she knew where she stood in this. Almost. She had feelings for him too and she would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about kissing him again, and just as he felt devastated at the thought of losing her, Kara too couldn't even stand the thought of him being hurt.