Project Orpheus: A Tale of Blood and Feathers

Chapter 32: The Tooth

Another dart from the gun, loaded and fired, but Sister didn't seem to be bothered. Orenda didn't want to use the electrosuppressor, she was worried about the interaction with the pacemaker thing in their hearts.

"It doesn't seem to be working!" Anise said. "She's got like four in here, and she's not slowing down!"

Orenda had noticed that too, but she didn't want to admit it to herself. Although now she had to. She pinched her nose.

"Of course. Her skin's too thick."

"What?!" Anise shouted.

"Those needles are made to tranquilize elephants, but her skin must be thicker than that. We have to do something else."

Orenda nodded. She'd have to use the Electrosuppressor. She pointed it at Sister, and after taking a deep breath, pulled the trigger. The bolt of blue lightning erupted from the tip of the gun and slammed into the chest of the Giganotosaurus. The creature let out a roar, convulsing a bit, and crashed down onto the ground.

"Stop the car."

Maddox looked at her like she was crazy for a second, but did as he was asked. Once the car stopped, she undid her seat belt, tilted the Electrosuppressor turret down, and got out of the seat, making her way over to the Giganotosaur. She kept clear of her mouth, and made her way to its belly, pressing her head against her chest.

She could hear her heart beating. She could hear the wheezing of her lungs. Good, she was still alive. Fortune smiled upon them both. Or so she thought. She could hear her feet moving as she got back up.

"Oh man, she's a tough one!" Anise said.

Orenda immediately ran over to the car.

"Maddox, go! Go go go!"

Maddox started up the engine again, but waited for her to get into the car before starting it. Orenda made it to her seat, but by the time she was there Sister was up. She lashed out her tail, smashing the ELectrosuppressor's tip away before Maddox could escape.

"Crap, crap crap crap!" Maddox said. "What do we do now?!"

"How did she survive that?!"

"I'm not sure, but it's not exactly like we can do it again. What's our next option."

Orenda closed her eyes and began to pace through what she knew about Sister.

"Orenda, what do we do?"

"Just keep her attention! I'm thinking!"

Why was Sister chasing them? Well, at this point the answer was obvious - defense. They had attacked her, and had kept on it a lot, so she was probably not all that interested in doing anything but defending herself. Which made sense. But why had she started? She had just been fed, so she wasn't hunting. Maybe she was upset at them being in her territory? That would also make sense, yeah. But she hadn't shown interest in territory outside her paddock. Maybe she just saw the vehicle as a threat?

She tried to think of things that annoyed Sister. She had noticed that she didn't like bright lights, to the point where they almost thought she might be nocturnal - but really she just like shaded locals. She also had really good ears. The loud sound of the engine was probably bothering her.

That was it! Light, sound! They could use that to discourage her, and lead her back into her paddock!

"MAX! You need to turn the car around, and flash the brights in her eyes."

"I need to what?!"

"She doesn't like light! We can direct her back towards her paddock if we keep flashing the brights at her! " She said.

Maddox nodded and reached his hand to the stickshift. "Alright then, ladies. Hold on tight."

He pulled the stick back, hard, and cranked the wheel hard. The car spun around with a loud screech as they were now suddenly driving in reverse away from the dinosaur, starring it in the face.

"Anise, keep eyes on the road for me!" He called.

"Rodger!" She said.

He flipped the blinker stick, turning on the brights, and as soon as the light hit her eyes Sister roared in anger, shaking her head. She turned away from the light, shaking her head. Maddox slowed the car down.

"The horn! Use the horn!"

Maddox did as requested, honking the horn, which caused Sister to yell out again. She turned to face the car, making a louder noise with her roar, but she got flicked by the brights again and began to run.

"Follow that dinosaur!" Anise giggled.

They chased her, using both the horn and the lights as necessary to drive Sister back to her paddock, where they promptly locked her back in.