“When you said we were going to kill somebody, I didn’t think you meant baby dinosaurs” Sarah whispered from where she crouched next to him, peering out through a row of bushes. On the far side, was another team of three they had managed to locate. Mostly it had come down to dumb luck. After being certain they had evaded the Kaprosuchus, they had made their way downhill until they found some water. Thirst and hunger were tracked in the user interface, and though none of their thirst indicators had dropped very far, they all elected to keep it topped off as much as they could.
After a quick drink, Erik had them retreat back from the waters edge, wary of meeting any of the Karpo’s relatives. From there, locating another team to test his theory on had been more blind luck than anything. He had no sense of where people might spawn. He knew that anyone reasonably familiar with survival games would focus on securing resources, but water was too abundant to rely on finding people near it. As it turned out, no fancy motivation guessing strategy was required. While the three of them were traveling in a single file line with him at the front, they stumbled across a trio of players having a loud discussion in a small clearing. At least, Erik assumed that’s what was happening. He was not privy to their game chat, and so from his perspective, it was three baby dinosaurs, chirping, growling and grunting at one another, and if he had to guess, they had been at it for some time. With no Kaprosuchus or anything else to come along and harass them.
“It’s a Battle Royale.” Erik whispered back to her, “Of course we’re going to kill baby dinosaurs. We are baby dinosaurs.”
Somewhere to his left, Marcus was slipping through the undergrowth, wrapping his way around to the other side of the clearing, and while they waited Erik took in their prey. The Triceratops hatchling, like him, looked like a potato with legs. Though this one was a pale yellow, the same shade as sand, with a collection of light brown tiger stripes running down their sides. He had looked himself over as well as his crested head would allow, and while they were the same shape, he was happy to see he was a mix of black with dark green on his back, belly and legs. Much more camouflaged in the jungle they’d been dropped into.
T-rexs seemed to have as much variation in them as did triceratops. The one in the clearing, currently barking something in an irritated tone at whoever was controlling the raptor, was a deep blue, with pale blue striping down its back, as opposed to the dusky brick red that was Marcus’s pelt. Sarah was the most like her raptor counterpart, a calico-like mix of browns and greens splotched all across their bodies, though the one in the clearing had blue and yellow markings around its head where Sarah had none.
“I’m ready.” Marcus whispered into the voice chat, and Erik’s stomach dropped, which in a trike body felt more like flowing backwards rather than down, and he figured if he could’ve broken out in a cold sweat he would have. Luckily it seemed as if his Triceratops body didn’t have sweat glands.
“Sarah?” He whispered. Her only reply was to crouch lower, like an athletic sprinter settling into the starting blocks, her small, but powerful legs shaking with tension.
“Alright Marcus, spook them. Sarah, as soon as they turn away you go. Just like we planned.” Her raptors head dipped down, her only acknowledgement as she committed her full focus to the task ahead. From the jungle clearings far side, came the throaty gurgle of a hatchling T-rex, doing its best to sound menacing. It was not, but that didn’t stop it from serving its purpose. The three players in the clearing turned away from where he and Sarah hid, trying to search out the source of the noise, and Sarah bolted forward, moving low and fast, front claws stretched out ahead of her as her tiny feet took rapid, delicate steps.
When she was still two meters away she did something Erik hadn’t expected. She jumped, leaping into the air in a high arc, her small clawed hands and thick tail orienting her as she began to fall toward her target, the other raptor. Her legs raised, with two wicked sickle claws ready. It was the perfect ambush. Focused on the noises Marcus was making, they never saw her coming. Sarah crashed down on the raptor, positioned to the right and slightly away from the other two. Erik thought perhaps she had erred in using both her claws to attack. She hadn’t saved herself a leg to land on, but it turned out not to matter.
The other raptor cried out in pain and surprise as she shredded its side as they both tumbled across the ground. It would’ve been the perfect position for Sarah to savagely maul her unsuspecting victim, but that was not the plan. His friend was back on her feet in a flash, her speed stat on full display as she looped around the fallen raptor and cut around the edge of the clearing, headed back toward where Erik hid.
The other two players, Rex and Trike, were just as stunned as their now wounded friend, but quick enough to recover. They reacted like Erik hoped they would, both of them charging after Sarah, enraged that she had dared to attack their teammate. Sarah fled, as if routed. She sped past his hiding spot, moving further down the clearing, and from its other side, unnoticed came Marcus at a speedy trot, bearing down on the wounded Raptor, a miniature imitation of the terror he would one day be if he reached his full growth.
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What surprised Erik was that the raptor was not the first to notice Marcus. As the other Rex and Trike pursued Sarah, the injured raptor lay on the ground, watching the pursuit. It was the other team's Rex who figured out first that something was wrong. Erik watched his steps slow, his head cocked. He could almost see the gears turning as the player inside the little Rex's body started putting things together. He whipped around, spotting Marcus, who was less than a meter from his injured teammate. He roared, or tried to. The noises Rexs made in the game were peculiar. Nothing like that rusted gate swinging shut over a bullhorn sound people expected, though perhaps that would come with growth. The hatchling Rex gurgled a warning. Far too late, as the raptors head swung around Marcus attacked, grabbing the small injured dinosaur in his jaws, lifting it off the ground and shaking it like a rat.
More sounds of outrage, as the Rex rushed toward Marcus, fully willing to avenge his fallen comrade. The Trike, who had run further along in pursuit of Sarah was already following, coming around to head back up the clearing, having already forgotten about the raptor he’d been chasing. A mistake, as it turned out. Before he’d even come even with Erik’s line of sight Sarah had pounced on him from behind, latching on to his back. Erik threw a glance towards Marcus, who was rushing to meet the oncoming Rex, ready for a 1v1.
“Ima whoop yer ass!” Erik heard him yell into the party chat, his accent thick in his excitement, his avatar giving out a war gurgle as they clashed, snapping at each other. Erik put Marcus out of his mind, more than confident that he could hold his own for a while. He turned his attention back to Sarah and the Trike, who had quickly rolled onto his back to dislodge her and was now feinting charges toward her, his head lowered. The horn nubs were basically useless until they grew in a bit more, but Erik knew if he managed to knock Sarah down he could crush her. Sarah for her part had been sure to keep his back to Erik’s hiding spot, and so when Erik made his charge, he too was nearly upon the enemy before they realized was coming.
He used his charge ability once he was close enough for it to activate, and slammed into the trike's flank, sending him stumbling to the side. Erik didn’t let up, galloping his small potato body forward to headbutt him again. This time he stumbled, rolling sideways. Sarah didn’t miss her chance, a flash of green and brown she lunged forward, ripping at the trike's exposed belly with her sickle claws.
It was all kind of gruesome Erik thought. The nature of the game was that all wounds looked shallow to the point of being superficial. Certainly there was no gore, for which he was grateful. Still, there was something about bashing and scratching the little trike that felt not quite right.
When he’d taken enough damage to ‘die’ the trike avatar froze for a moment, and then became a ragdoll. Laying limp on the ground, as if boneless. Erik and Sarah didn’t hesitate, turning to charge toward the fight between Marcus and last remaining member of the enemy team.
Erik could tell it wasn’t going well for the blue rex, as Marcus had proven to be the more skilled fighter.
Together, they finished off the rex in short order and then it was over. Three baby dinosaur corpses turned almost comically floppy. As Erik inspected the raptor more closely, he saw that it had lost its more realistic quality. It looked more like a rubber toy.
“Did either of you get any points?”
“Nope.” Marcus said, shaking his Rex’s head.
“No,” Sarah said, as she moved to stand over the Rex’s body. “It’s giving me an eating prompt. Should I?”
“Might as well.” Erik said. No such prompt had appeared for him, but he was an herbivore. Though that did raise the question about what he was supposed to eat. Many different varieties of vegetation had passed under his nose since they’d started, and he hadn’t received a prompt.
Sarah’s raptor took automated bites from its rubbery doppelganger, and when questioned about the taste she said. “Tastes like steak I guess. Really rare steak. It’s kind of weird.” Better sensory quality for taste was one the Dyson Pod's new features, excelling where a previous generation of VR had fallen short. Erik was intrigued to find out how much the sense had improved, unfortunately, before he could interrogate her further a familiar and awful noise came washed over them from the nearby jungle.
Chuff-chuff-chuff
The rhythmic inhalations of the Kaprosuchus announced its approach.
“Oh hell.” Erik muttered under his breath.
Without a word exchanged between them, they turned and fled to the far side of the clearing, vanishing from sight just as the tree’s began to rustle, heralding the Karpo’s arrival.