A colossal shadow draped across the earth. A CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter slowly materialized in the sky, dangling a cargo container large enough to house a fully grown Tyrannosaur.
From the ground, Carlo looked up at this familiar human creation, his mind clouded with confusion. Did these humans seriously expect him to just walk into a container? And besides... wasn't that box a little on the small side?
Inhale—
Uncertain of what trickery the humans were up to, Carlo focused on gathering information from the air. The humans had indeed retreated... aside from those in the helicopter, the nearest humans had already started descending the mountain. Had they used some kind of scent masker?
Carlo's olfactory range was on par with the titans of Isla Nublar. To put it bluntly, if you shot at Carlo from several kilometers away without masking your scent, he would still lock onto you and hunt you down.
Wait... why are you guys still here?!
Carlo snapped his head toward the nearby treeline. Giga Dad and the three little ones were sitting in a neat row in the brush. They had obediently chosen to hide in the thickest part of the pine forest, but they were all staring intently at Carlo.
Carlo wanted to roar a warning that it wasn't safe, but he feared that doing so would give away their position. In the end, he could only look back up, maintaining a high-alert stance against the metal beast in the sky. His original plan was to draw the human attention to himself so his family could find a gap to escape. Where had it gone wrong?
Whirr… whirr…
The CH-47 seemed to notice that Carlo wasn't moving. It hovered slowly above the clearing ahead of him, banking its fuselage to show its side to the Giganotosaurus. The side of the black container came into view.
A white Triceratops skull... logo? It looked like graffiti sprayed onto the side of the container, though it was clearly professional work, as the bony ridges were sharply defined, and the most striking feature was a single broken horn.
Why does that icon look like my very first trophy?
Carlo grew even more puzzled.
"Commence feeding."
The Primeval Official wasn't in the pilot's seat as he knew nothing about flying.
"Copy that. Opening container."
The muscular guy responded, his fingers dancing across a dizzying array of buttons and toggles on the control panel.
Whirrr—
Accompanied by a mechanical hum, a seam appeared at the bottom of the container. It split into two halves, slowly swinging open.
Splat...
Before the container was even fully open, a small chunk of meat fell out and hit the ground with a sound that was music to a predator's ears. Carlo's gaze followed the meat from the sky to the dirt, his face contorting into an expression of very human-like bewilderment. Simultaneously, the pungent, iron-rich scent of fresh blood flooded his nostrils, nearly short-circuiting his brain.
Splat... thud... splat...
Carlo shook his head, just recovering from the shock, as more meat began to rain down from the container like a hailstorm. Fresh chunks and steaks flew through the air, their trailing blood painting patterns against the blue sky like blooming flowers. Every piece was perfectly sized for Carlo to swallow in a single gulp, but the sheer quantity meant it would take quite a while to finish.
However, Carlo didn't lose his sanity to this "gift from the heavens." He maintained his guard, slowly approaching the pile of raw meat. He leaned down slightly, giving the heap a cautious sniff.
The scent of fresh blood hit him again, pure and untainted. Thanks to a few suicidal fools who had once broken into his paddock, Carlo had memorized the smell of sedatives since he was a hatchling. While he wasn't sure if different brands smelled different, the meat in front of him smelled like one thing: meat.
So... what is this? For me?
He looked up at the hovering helicopter, memorizing the broken-horned Triceratops logo printed on its side. To be safe, he snatched a small piece and swallowed it. He felt no ill effects; no special status effects or debuffs appeared on his status panel. He moved to the other side of the pile and tried another piece.
He repeated this four or five times, checking the meat on the outside and the pieces buried in the middle. Everything was clean.
"ROAR!"
Even so, he didn't lower his guard completely. He let out a loud roar toward the helicopter. The pilot seemed to understand; the machine turned and began to pull away from his position.
Only after the helicopter had vanished into the distance did Carlo finally relax his posture. He gave the air one last sniff to ensure no humans remained nearby before letting out another roar toward the pines to call his family.
"Roar—"
Giga Dad rumbled in response and slowly emerged from the forest. The three little Gigas, seemingly unable to wait a second longer, sprinted past their father toward Carlo. The four dinosaurs stopped in front of him, waiting for his next move.
"Roar—"
I'm not hungry. You guys eat first.
When the four hesitated, Carlo told a small white lie to get them to fill their bellies. Fortunately, the human "delivery" was generous enough that there would be plenty left for him to eat his fill later.
The four dinosaurs looked at one another, their primitive understanding of the world seemingly shaken. Finally, Kafka, who knew more of Carlo's "embarrassing history" than anyone, took the first step and lowered her head to eat. With her leading the way, the others joined in. Carlo remained standing, acting as a sentry to watch over them.
…
"No matter how many times I see it... it still shocks me."
The Official sat in the returning helicopter, holding a tablet displaying a live feed of the feeding site.
Compared to animals, humans really are a step behind, aren't they?
"He really doesn't act like an animal," he mused.
In nature, most social predators operate on a hierarchy: the leader eats first, followed by the rest of the pack in descending order of status. But Carlo consistently let the... weak? Or rather, his family eat first. This had been the case back in the Primeval Ecological Zone, but back then food was so abundant they all ate together. It wasn't as glaringly selfless as it was now.
"By the way, Boss, why didn't you just move him to Lockwood's island?" Tiger Lady asked between bites of her own lunch.
The Official kept his eyes on the screen as he replied, "That would just be a natural cage for him. Without the Endangered Species Act protecting them, anyone could sneak onto the island. America hasn't clarified its stance on dinosaurs yet; we can't take that risk."
He paused, lowering his voice as he looked at Tiger Lady. "You've seen the footage. An animal that can survive literal lava... we have to keep that a secret. Or at the very least, delay the world finding out for as long as possible."
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