Ch. 29 Oh no

Ch. 29 Oh no...

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= THE NIGHT WAS SILENT. Legs were tangled over one another as Malcolm and Madison sits on a high tree in silent, Tony retreated for sleep in his suit in a higher point of the tree. In his suit in any case that would involve fleeing, rescuing or attacking.

"Do you remember the time when you tripped up on video call, ending up with you banging your forehead on your coffee table." Madison blurts out, making the taller male to stare at her deadpanned.

"That was like three years ago-"

"Three months and 12 days actually." Madison smiles as she see's him drop his head with a short laugh.

"You really counted the days?"

"No I just remembered." Malcolm watches the girl continue to sketch something and so he carefully treks over.

"Can I sit here?" He asks in a quiet whisper. Not thinking much of it, Madison nods and Ian moves to make himself comfortably. Knees propped up as he watches her sketch a nearby tree, a suit of armour sleeping near the top.

"I remember when you had a cold and was throwing up but still called so me and Alan nearly called the ambulance when you didn't return for an hour." Malcolm asks the girl.

"Wasn't that a year ago?"

"One year, four months and twenty six days." Ian responds, staring down at the purple and pink headed female with a smirk. Seeing her dull expression staring up at him.

"And you stare at me confused when I counted the days."

"I just never thought you'd remember that, it's not bad." Malcolm chuckles and awkwardly scratches the side of his neck.

A moment of silence passes between the two as Madison continues to draw and Malcolm studies what he was staring at it.

It wasn't the book...

It was Madison, he watches the many twitches in her face when she focuses on the drawing. The small pinkish red muscle ripping out from the left side of her mouth, the scrunches of her eyes, the furrowing of her eyebrows and the occasional twitches of her ears.

There was a burn mark on the left cheek bone followed by an evident scratch mark on her forehead. That was from the first incident when they met.

"Ian- hellooo?" He jolts back his head when he realised he had unconsciously leaned closer to the girl in an attempt to study more of her face. And unfortunately Madison noticed.

"Sorry- I didn't mean to lean in like that." Malcolm apologises, looking away with Madison chuckling in amusement.

"No need to say sorry Ian, if you're tired then you can sleep right here." She tells him and the man awkwardly turns back to her.

Nodding, the man shuffles around so that he sits right beside the girl. His knees propped and watched the girl draw what looks to be the forest and they were currently in.

"After this, we should do something." Ian avows, humming loudly while looking away with Madison turning to him.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Madison asks making the man turn back to face her. Her white eyes were narrowed, watching the man cautiously.

"Have a party, get drunk, what do you think?" Ian wiggles his eyebrows, softly elbowing the girls side before he rests his head on top of hers when he felt her rest her head on his shoulder.

His hands clasps around one of Madison's and the man warmly draw circles on the back of her hand, sometimes tapping the silver bracelet Tony Stark made for the girl. "Haven't had alcohol for ages." Madison laughs.

"You did get drunk a few times on call you know." Ian's voice was more quieter, humming more as he closes his eyes. Pulling the girl closer. He smiles when hearing her chuckles.

"That was when Fury got on my nerves." Madison responds.

"Fury this, fury that, what about Ian, Alan this, Ian, Alan that?" Ian laughs aloud when his friend slaps him on the arm. Flipping him off to which he wraps an arm around her neck and ruffled her pink and purple hair.

"You're messing my hair!" Madison laughs, shoving him back, nearly off the tree if it weren't for the man to grab a nearby branch and push himself back up.

"That's my speciality." Ian remarks, rolling his eyes while the girl punches his arm yet again comfortably.

"We should go camping." Madison tells the man.

"With who?" Ian asks, looking towards her confusedly.

"Me, you, Ellie and Alan." Madison smiles and the man nods. Staring down at the girls face. "It would be the original squad once again."

Ian was about to speak before they both noticed smoke start to arise from near the edge of the camp.

"What do they think their doing?" Malcolm utters before the pair jumps out the tree, Madison pulling the rucksack over her head.

The thin plume of smoke leads down to a tiny cooking fire that's been lit by Dr Burke. He's set a small frying pan on top of it.

There was the empty shell of a dinosaur egg he must've picked up earlier is to the side, cracked in half, and the yoke in the pan, almost cooked, sunny side up.

This makes Madison check her bag to see if her own egg was there, sighing a breath of relief when it was safe and secured inside her shirt.

Roland runs up behind the Doctor with a hissed shout. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Burke leaps out of the way as Roland kicks dirt on the fire.

Malcolm comes racing around the corner too after Madison who joins Roland, desperately trying to find the source. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK-?!"

After he joins Roland and Madison, kicking dirt on the fire. They get it out and stand there, chests heaving, listening to the jungle for a moment, to see if its stirred any activity. It's silent. Madison wipes forehead, looking around as an uneasy feeling begins bubbling in her stomach.

"We're okay." Burke announces with a strained chuckle just before a loud stomp is heard. Causing everyone awake to freeze as Madison snaps her head to the set of trees nearest to the tents.

The parents were back.

The previous recent rain has left puddles scattered around the camp, and impact tremors now create ripples in the puddles, concentric circles spreading to the outer edges.

Malcolm, not thankful for this situation whispers. Worriedly going to look at his friend, Madison, she has a face of recognition. "No, we're not."

Back in the tent with both Sarah Harding and Kelly Malcolm, plus the three cubs all hurry to close zip lock bags with any remnants of food stored inside and quickly, they all leap into Sarah's sleeping bag, to seal themselves, and draw the zipper up, all the way around. Both Ezra and Renee growls which made Sarah and Kelly quickly silent them.

Outside, the silhouette of the rex's head passes by the tent. Sarah works faster, her fingers struggling to close the last few inches, but the rex head pokes through the flap of the tent. It sniffs, snorting the air in and out as it looks around the tent.

It sniffs Sarah's hanging shirt, the one that is stained with the blood of the baby tyrannosaur. The adult tyrannosaur gurgles again, cooing and cocking its head curiously.

In the sleeping bag, Sarah and Kelly's eyes are barely visible, wide in panic, the cubs couldn't help but slowly growl once more, Bumble joining into the mixture. The rex sniffs and nudges the bag, trying to figure out what this thing is. It rolls the bag over once, decides it's uninteresting, and then rises, straight up taking the whole tent with it! The stakes pop out of the ground as the tent rises high up into the air and flutters away, leaving the sleeping bag fully exposed on the ground beneath it.

Quickly as possible, Madison, Roland and Malcolm are back in the clearing, standing out in the open as Roland tries to draw a bead on the moving rex.

And unfortunately for them,the sleeping hunters wake up and start to flee in all direction. Malcolm has to scream at them.

"FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, DON'T RUN!"

The rex turns, to face the fleeing Hunters, and its head is now exposed. Roland, gun to his shoulder, has it right on the bead at the end of his gun sight.

He goes and squeezes the trigger and when the gun clicks, Roland lets out a strained gasp breaks the gun open and both him and Madison looks at the barrels in astonishment. They're empty.

"You didn't load it?!" Malcolm yells out in disbelief.

"Of course I did!" Roland yells back.

"I was there when he did, he isn't lying." Madison informs the chaotician who nods and looks over. There they both sees the sleeping bag across the camp, with Sarah and Kelly, the cubs in their arms, trying to claw their way out of it.

Without thought, Ian takes off, running straight toward them, but the wave of flushed prey slams into him, knocking him off his feet.

"Ian!" Madison shouts, being pushed about by herself and would've been swept up if Roland didn't pull her down to his height.

"KELLY!" Malcolm cries out loud but is pounded to the ground and trampled under the feet of the fleeing Hunters. He rolls, crunching into the base of a rock face.

"-I can transform!" Madison tells Roland who swiftly shakes his head.

"You've already exhausted yourself out enough Madison." Roland firmly responds just then, the pair finds the billionaire Iron Man swooping in and grabbing various hunters. Tossing them successfully to the side.

Nick bursts out of the crowed, sees Kelly, Sarah and the cubs struggling to get out of the sleeping bag, and grabs each by an arm. He rips them to their feet and sweeps them off ahead of him, into the jungle. Sarah scoops up her lucky backpack as they run away.

Now the second tyrannosaur steps out of the jungle. The fleeing Hunters, as one, make a uniform direction change to evade it. The second rex pursues them down a narrow ravine. Tony flies above and sends an explosion from his palm into the dinosaurs head.

The first rex, meanwhile, stands its ground. Glaring and bellowing at both Madison Roland, the pair scrambles across the ground and Roland clangs open a metal box, revealing three tranquilizer rifles. A yellow tag screams to them.

"WARNING! VETERINARY TRANQUILIZERS CONTAIN CONCENTRATED NEVER AGENTS! USE EXTREME CAUTION!"

Malcolm claws his way up the steep rock face, pulls himself over the top, and leaps to his feet. Sparing no glances to the trouble his friend was in.

Roland is on his knees, frantically loading one of the tranquilizer guns. He breaks it open, revealing the cartridge bay. But the first rex has him on its mind. Madison watches as it charges and loops her arms under the man's own arms and began dragging him near to a tree, urgently trying to get to shelter.

Roland works frantically, snapping two tranquilizer dart cartridges into the bay as the rex closes in.

"Anytime now Roland!" Madison shouts, preparing to use her power with the smoke continuously leaking from her body.

Still fumbling with the cartridges, Roland rolls over into his back with Madison slipping beside him. Gripping his free arm as the rex draws closer still.

Roland smacks the gun shut and raises it to his shoulder. The rex closes to twenty yards, then ten, then it pulls up short and roars menacingly, right in Roland's and Madison's faces. Roland closes one eye and draws a bead on it.

"Please God work fast." He prays just as his finger tightens on the trigger.

Kelly, in the middle of the fleeing crowd with Sarah and Nick, hears her father screaming her name and looks up. Malcolm is on the rock ridge above them, running alongside.

"KELLY, GET OUT OF THERE!" But unfortunately for the man Kelly continues to flee, as the second tyrannosaur is in the ravine, and drawing closer to the group.

Some Hunters try to leap up and scale the rocks, but the ravine is deepening, there's no way out. The rex picks up the hunters designated veterinarian, who's trailing behind the others. The rex snaps its massive head left and right quickly, to break its victim's neck.

The Veterinarian goes flying forward and crashes into another Hunter they learnt to be named Carter who was Dieter's driver, the man stumbles and falls. The rest of the fleeing humans run around or over him, but when the rex catches up it stomps right down on him. When the rex lifts its foot, it is revealed that the unfortunate man was actually stuck to the bottom of its foot and when the animal takes its next step it splats him into the dirty and soaked groans.

Malcolm is frantic. Forsaking better judgment, he leaps out into space, right off the rock face. He drops, fifteen feet, landing hard in the ravine.

Oblivious to the rumble approaching the group. A white skinned foot planting into the footprint left over by the tyrannosaur.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE