Page 9 of Monstrous Rampage
My teeth started to chatter. I gripped my hands together in my lap. This was probably one of the alien abduction victims we’d noted, a young woman stolen from Guatemala or Mexico.
She’s here because of us. Because Natalie found her squad.
“Transporting test subject A99B47 to the controlled interaction chamber,” the male voice continued.
The woman disappeared from the small room. A second later, the video displayed a large dark space. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust, where I could make out trees, shrubs, and even grass. The woman suddenly appeared from nowhere, startling me.
Snyder paused the video. “See the silver bracelet on her arm? It’s a mini jumping device, calibrated to her specific body.”
I wasn’t sure why he pointed it out, but I was grateful for a slight breather before the video continued.
“Introducing squad O114R to the interaction chamber,” the narrator continued. “Orders: explore. No other restraints or programming specified to allow instinctual responses.”
My stomach quivered with dread. I had a terrible feeling I knew what “instinctual” meant.
A chime sounded and the far wall of the chamber began to rise. In the low lighting, it appeared to look like the darker metal doors surrounding this laboratory, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Point, survey,” a male voice said.
A raptor sprinted into sight, smaller than Kroktl’s beast with yellow stripes down its spine. His yellow eyes burned like tiny suns. He made a quick loop around the chamber. “One life form identified. No threats detected.”
“Acknowledged. Squad, deploy.”
One by one, the rest of the dyni moved into view. A Tyrannosaurus rex with blue markings like Axxol, making him the alpha, the one giving the orders. One of the long-necked four-legged sauropods. A horned, armored stegosaurus. Lastly, a furry massive bat creature with wings, who slowly circled the chamber, illustrating exactly how large the room was.
The poor woman still lay on the grass, apparently unconscious. While five ginormous monsters surrounded her.
The raptor bumped her with his snout, nudging her body on the grass. “I’m not sure what it is, but it smells good.”
“Test subject remains sedated,” the narrator said. “Our hypothesis is that humans’ flight responses triggered the associated predator responses in previous trials. By keeping test subject immobile, we’ll determine how the squad interacts with a potential female.”
My teeth ached, my jaws clenched shut. Trying not to cry out. Warn her. It was too late. This was a recording. I couldn’t help the poor woman. But I trembled with helpless rage. She was a living, breathing human being.
But to DSC, she was nothing more than an interesting animal used in an experiment.
Me too. I was just another test subject. Snyder might be trying to remind me of my past interactions with him as my professor, but he wasn’t human. He didn’t care about me, Natalie, or any other woman on this planet.
The T-Rex came nearer. He cracked his jaws open, inhaling deeply as he lowered his huge head closer to the prone woman. “Smells like meat to me.”
He opened his jaws wider, and I jerked my head to the side, closing my eyes. Unable to watch. The sounds were horrible enough. At least she slept through it. But there’s nothing like the sound of a human body being torn apart and eaten.
“Test subject A99B47 deceased. Lack of flight response had no impact on the squad’s natural inclinations to feed.”
“There are over a hundred versions,” Snyder said quietly. “They tried ordering the squad not to eat the subject, but it made no difference in their instincts. They sent squads shifted into their humanoid forms. Only one member of the squad. Every variation they could think of. But mating instincts were never triggered in any of the tests.”
His hand settled on my shoulder, making me jump. He didn’t hurt me, but my own flight or fight response perked up, ready to flee. Or at least kick him in the nuts again. Unfortunately, Iaccidentally looked at the screen again, paused on a dark, wet, bloody spot where the woman had been lying. The only thing left was the silver bracelet lying in the trampled grass.
“Why, Miss Price? Why was Natalie successful when over a hundred women just like her weren’t? There’s nothing especially interesting in her appearance. In fact, the professor would argue she was plain, slightly overweight, and nowhere near as attractive as you, for instance. Yet if you had been in the jungle that night, the raptor would very likely have torn you apart rather than decide you were his mate. Don’t you want to know why? Prove one way or the other if we’re right?”
Intellectually, I knew what he was doing. Demonstrating compassion—which I knew was fake. Trying to pique my curiosity. Even probing at my inherent jealousy that Natalie had been the one to find her squad and not me. Sure, I was envious, but I didn’t begrudge her in the slightest. I’d only seen a tiny sliver of what she had to go through to mate the squad and deliver Akylla. Yes, she was happy, but she’d been injured, scared, and nearly killed, even by her own alpha.
Dyni didn’t understand humans. If Axxol had been the one to find her that night rather than Kroktl, would she still be alive? Or would she have suffered the same fate as the poor woman on the recording?
“You have an advantage over every other human woman, including Natalie herself. You already have completed mrions in your body. They’re making you more compatible for the dyni. What she did accidentally, you can do purposefully.”
“If you’re wrong…” I started to say, my voice hoarse.
“As you saw, we have the ability to teleport you in and out of the squad’s vicinity. We can do it—or you can press the control yourself and immediately remove yourself from danger.”
