Isle of Teeth - Chapter 9 – The Gauntlet

The raptors moved like a tide of teeth and sinew, their claws clicking against the concrete as they fanned across the ruined hallway. Shadows danced in the broken light, their sinuous forms weaving closer.

“Back!” Daniel barked, raising his pistol. He squeezed off three shots. One raptor shrieked, stumbling, but the others barely slowed.

Marcus grabbed a length of broken pipe from the floor. “Great, pea-shooters against lizards from hell. Just what I always wanted.”

Claire’s camera whirred, her instincts torn between survival and the desperate need to document what no other human had seen. Ortega yanked her arm, pulling her toward the stairwell. “Not now! Move!”

The group bolted through the corridor as the raptors pounced. One slammed into the wall beside Daniel, snapping at his throat. He shoved it back with his shoulder and fired point-blank, the blast echoing like thunder. Blood splattered the tiles, but another raptor leapt over its fallen kin.

Eliza felt claws swipe her arm as she ducked into the stairwell. Pain seared her flesh, hot and wet, but adrenaline kept her legs moving. Marcus slammed the door shut behind them, bracing it with the pipe. The wood shuddered violently as raptors slammed against it, snarling.

“Up!” Daniel ordered. They climbed the stairs two at a time, their boots hammering against steel steps. The shrieks below grew louder, claws scraping closer.

At the top, they burst into a wide laboratory. Broken glass crunched underfoot. Cylindrical tanks lined the walls, their glass fractured. Inside floated half-formed creatures—abortions of science, spines too long, limbs twisted.

Claire gagged. “What the hell…”

Eliza’s stomach turned. “Failed experiments. Victor—what did you do?”

Victor only smiled, eyes wild with pride. “Prototypes. Proof of concept. Evolution is trial and error, Doctor. And progress demands sacrifice.”

Daniel raised his weapon at him. “You call this progress?”

Before Victor could answer, a crash split the air. Raptors hurled themselves through the lab’s shattered windows, glass raining like daggers. The group scattered as talons sliced at the floor.

Marcus swung his pipe, connecting with a skull. The raptor shrieked, staggered, then lunged again. Ortega hurled a chair, buying seconds.

Daniel grabbed Eliza, dragging her toward a service ladder leading to the roof. “Go! Now!”

One raptor lunged at Claire, jaws snapping shut around her camera. She screamed, letting it go as Daniel’s bullet tore through the predator’s eye. The camera clattered to the floor, lens shattered.

They scrambled up the ladder, the metal rattling beneath their weight. Marcus pulled Ortega up behind him, while Daniel covered their retreat, firing down into the frenzy.

On the roof, the wind howled, carrying the stink of blood and smoke. The compound stretched below, overrun with shadows slinking through every corridor. In the distance, the jungle shifted, trees swaying as something even larger approached.

Victor emerged last, breathing hard, his smile gone but his eyes still alight. “This is only the beginning,” he rasped.

Eliza rounded on him, fury cutting through her fear. “If we live through this, Victor, I’ll make sure the world knows exactly what you’ve unleashed.”

Below, the raptors shrieked, clawing at the ladder.

And from the treeline, another roar answered—the rex, drawn to the chaos.

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