Isle of Teeth - Chapter 4 – Victor’s Vision

The group sat around the campfire once more, though this time no one touched the food. The scent of roasted fish and fruit only reminded them of blood and jungle rot. Claire replayed the footage on her camera, her face pale in the glow of the screen. Each roar, each snap of bone, replayed like a wound reopening.

Victor Kade, however, looked positively radiant. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, pacing before the fire like a lecturer before an eager class.

“You’ve seen it with your own eyes,” he declared. “Creatures lost to time, resurrected here in my sanctuary. An ecosystem balanced as it was in the Mesozoic. This island is proof that extinction can be undone!”

“Undone?” Eliza’s voice cracked with fury. “Those raptors weren’t part of a ‘balanced’ ecosystem. They nearly tore us apart!”

“They behaved exactly as nature intended,” Victor replied smoothly. “Predators hunt. Prey flees. Life continues. And we… we have the privilege of observing it.”

“Observing?” Marcus barked a laugh, bitter and sharp. “From what I saw, we weren’t observers—we were next on the menu.”

Daniel leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “How did you do it, Kade? Cloning? Genetic splicing?”

Victor’s grin widened. “A mixture of methods. DNA preserved in amber, repaired with modern science. The details hardly matter now. What matters is what I’ve achieved.”

Eliza clenched her fists. “You’ve broken every law of ethics and biology. You’ve unleashed monsters—”

“They are not monsters,” Victor cut her off. His voice grew cold, his eyes glinting with fanaticism. “They are the purest expression of life. Humans have spent centuries caging the world, taming it, smothering it beneath steel and concrete. Here, I’ve set it free again.”

Ortega finally spoke, his voice trembling. “Free? You’ve resurrected killers! Do you have any idea what happens if they reach another island? If they spread?”

Victor waved the concern aside. “The island is secure. Contained. No creature leaves without my approval.”

Claire lowered her camera, her expression hardening. “And what about us? Are we contained too?”

Victor gave a thin smile. “You are my witnesses. When the time is right, your testimonies and recordings will announce to the world what I’ve created here. Imagine the possibilities: tourism, research, entertainment. An empire built on the resurrection of the ancient world.”

The group exchanged uneasy glances. None of them shared his vision. To them, this wasn’t wonder—it was madness.

A crash from the treeline snapped every head around. Something massive moved just beyond the firelight, branches snapping like matchsticks.

Daniel was already on his feet, gripping his knife. “We’re not safe here.”

From the jungle came a deep, rumbling growl—not the shriek of raptors, but something heavier, deeper, like thunder rolling in a cavern.

The ground shivered beneath their feet.

Victor’s eyes gleamed in the firelight. He whispered a single word, almost reverent.

“Tyrant.”

The shadow that emerged from the trees blotted out the stars.

Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model