Isle of Teeth - Chapter 6 – Escape Plans

The jungle cloaked them in damp shadow, the air thick with the musk of wet earth and rot. The rex’s roars still reverberated through the gorge, but each was fainter, receding as the beast lost their trail. Even so, no one dared to relax.

Marcus broke the silence first, his voice low and ragged. “We can’t stay here. That thing will circle back. They hunt—not just stumble around like dumb animals.”

Eliza hugged her knees, forcing air into her lungs. “We need to get off this island. Whatever Victor has here, it’s not worth our lives.”

Victor straightened, brushing dirt from his khakis as if their near-death had been a minor inconvenience. “You’re overreacting. The rex is the apex predator, yes—but it’s predictable. Territorial. It won’t follow us forever.”

Daniel’s gaze was ice-cold. “Predictable? That thing nearly crushed us. I’ve seen predators in warzones with more mercy than what we just escaped. We need an exit plan.”

Claire, still shaking, hugged her camera close. “The seaplane,” she whispered. “If Marcus can get it airborne, we can leave.”

Marcus snorted. “Assuming it hasn’t been torn to shreds already. Planes aren’t built to withstand a curious T. rex.”

Ortega, usually so animated, sat pale and silent, his satchel clutched in his lap. Finally, he said, “We don’t even know if the plane’s still intact. But… there’s another problem. This island isn’t just big—it’s crawling with… them. Even if we reach the lagoon, what’s to stop more raptors, or worse, from getting in the way?”

Eliza’s mind churned. “Maps. Victor must have maps, schematics—some way of knowing the layout. Where’s your control centre?”

Victor’s eyes gleamed. “Ah, yes. There is a central facility, deeper inland. Laboratories, monitoring equipment, communications array. From there, I can call in my supply vessel to retrieve us.”

Daniel stepped closer, voice hard. “And you conveniently forgot to mention this before?”

Victor’s grin was maddeningly calm. “You were not ready to appreciate the scale of my achievement.”

Marcus cursed. “Your achievement’s going to get us killed, Victor.”

Eliza pushed herself upright. “We find that facility. We call for help. And we get out. Agreed?”

Nods circled the group—hesitant, but resolute. Even Claire, though she clutched her camera as if it were the last anchor to her sanity.

Daniel adjusted the straps on his pack. “Then we move at first light. I’ll take point. Stay quiet, stay low, and if you hear anything that doesn’t belong, you don’t look—you run.”

As the others settled uneasily against the mossy stone, Eliza found herself staring into the darkness above the ravine. The canopy shifted with night breezes, but every rustle felt like a watching presence. She thought of the raptors’ intelligence, their coordination. She thought of the rex’s relentless pursuit.

And she realised Victor’s greatest sin wasn’t reviving dinosaurs. It was unleashing them into a world utterly unprepared for their hunger.

Sleep came fitfully, plagued by dreams of thundering footsteps and jaws snapping shut.

At dawn, their march into the heart of the island began.

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