I zoomed in on the red, feathered dinosaur and a notification activated in my HUD.

You have discovered a unique monster:

Tyrannosaurus Bex

Part of the T-Rex species, Bex was born different from the rest. Your average T-Rex has green feathers, but Bex has red feathers.

You’re probably expecting me to tell a tale of sadness, bullying and being an outcast. Well, I’m not. Dinosaurs like the colour red, it reminds them of blood, and being permanently red means only one thing to them: that Bex is a strong-ass warrior.

Many T-Rexs worship her as a god.

She probably has a complex about that, but regardless, she’s still a dinosaur, and she will happily much on your corpse.

“What, no jokes or insults?” I asked the sky in a whisper. “You really dropped the ball on this one.”

“Is it really a good idea to tease the system?” Panda moaned from my back.

It probably wasn’t and honestly, I preferred the notifications being like this. There was actually some information in there instead of bad setups to worse jokes. I still couldn’t help but tease the system about it though. It must have struggled to come up with a good dinosaur joke.

I slowly moved away from the tree and headed back to the group to report my findings. They were still huddled around chatting. Sally and Tilly were stood a little way away with folded arms, leaning against a tree. They looked like a right pair.

As I approached the group, Reggie looked up and smiled at me.

“I’m glad you made it back safely.” He began as the others turned towards me as well. “We’ve been talking and we think you should be the group leader.”

I stopped mid-step.

Group leader? I’ve never led anything in my life. I just want to level up, that’s all. I thought as the shock of their request bounced around my brain.

“I think he’s having a system malfunction,” Bell observed. “I had a computer that did that once, damn internet explorer, always so slow.” She lamented quietly.

I looked up at them and they looked back expectantly.

“Fine.” I sighed. I didn’t really want the role, but I guessed it was better if I did it than someone else. “Though you might regret your choice when I tell you what we’re facing.”

“Is it clowns?” Bell asked suddenly. “I hate clowns.”

“No, it’s a T-Rex,” I replied bluntly - to their shock.

Reggie’s eyes widened and Jamie literally took a step back. Bell, on the other hand, sighed in relief and muttered something about being glad it wasn’t clowns.

We spoke for a short while and hashed out a plan before moving into position. I arrived back at my spying tree and looked out into the clearing. Bex was still there, drinking from the stream as loconut blood leaked from her teeth and contaminated the water.

Kaleb: Is everyone in position?

Reggie: Affirmative.

Jamie: Yes.

Bell: I’m so in position it’d make the Karma Sutra blush.

We had all shook hands back in the clearing, adding each other to our contacts. As Sally had shown me before, you can chat with people in your contacts like a text message.

I figured it would be a useful feature for fights where we might not be able to talk freely, or at all. It seemed like a tactically sound choice to me.

I’d left Panda with Sally and Tilly; I didn’t want the little guy getting hurt. We had no idea how strong Bex was. Though I was about to find out.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I raised my bow, nocked an arrow, and began charging my Soul Shot power. Usually, I aimed for centre mass, but the dinosaur’s head was so large that I just couldn’t help myself. If I hit her cranium, I might have been able to end the fight with a single shot.

I fired the arrow with a crack as it shot from the bow like a rocket taking off, blowing me backwards slightly. As I watched, Bex disappeared and the arrow broke through a tree on the other side of the clearing.

Kaleb: Did anyone see where it went?

Jamie: Does it have invisibility?

Bell: Maybe it leapt into an alternate dimension, hoping this leap would be the leap home.

Kaleb: This is not the time to make old TV references.

Reggie: Kaleb look out!

Trusting Reggie’s message, I dived forward and rolled. I’d learnt to do a combat role as a kid, though I never really used it as an adult. It was a skill I was glad I had though as a seismic crash shook the earth at my feet.

I tumbled further than I’d originally intended and ended up near the stream. I turned around, raising my bow with a nocked arrow and was face to face with Bex.

The red-feathered beast had appeared right where I had just been standing, crushing the tree I was hugging. If it wasn’t for Jamie, I’d have been dead.

Bex and I locked eyes for a moment and as I opened fire, she charged towards me.

My arrow pierced her chest, but she barely seemed to notice, even as her skin bubbled. She ran towards me, shaking the ground with every step.

I had nowhere to run, she was so much faster than me. I may have had the Apex Predator class, but that title truly belonged to her as she pounded towards me.

I had just enough time to fire another shot before she reached me. She screamed as acid bubbles melted the skin around her nose. Her chest had bubbled too, but she didn’t seem to care about that.

The nose must have been a weak spot.

“Bad dog,” I said as I took a step back and nocked another arrow.

Speaking was a mistake. She stopped thrashing around and glared at me, opening her mouth, and revealing a row of large, isosceles-shaped teeth. She roared at me so forcefully that my lips parted and my teeth wobbled.

It reminded me of that g-force feeling you get on a fast roller coaster – but without the fun.

“I’m gonna tyrannosaurus wreck this overgrown chicken!” Bell shouted, just as a large, rotating fireball flashed across the mini-clearing and slammed into Bex.

The dinosaur disappeared and all that was left was the smell of ozone and burning feathers. A few of them fluttered around in the air, charred and smouldering.

“Did you get it?” I asked, nocking another arrow, and looking around the clearing suspiciously.

“I don’t have a notification, so probably not,” Bell shouted back from behind a tree, a tinge of disappointment in her tone.

“It’s in the air!” Reggie shouted from his position nearby and I looked up, blinking as I saw her.

Bex seemed to have jumped skyward. Her powerful legs forced her high into the air. I could see the large red blob above us and she was getting bigger by the second.

“Holy shit.” I breathed as the dinosaur got even bigger.

“Run you idiot!” Jamie shouted from his position across the stream.

I didn’t need telling twice as I sprinted for the treeline. What goes up must come down and that big ass dinosaur was definitely coming down.

CRASH!

I was thrown from my feet as Bex impacted the ground, causing a mini earthquake. She roared again and the trees around us shook.

Kaleb: Now!

My head was spinning from the impact of being thrown across the clearing. My HP had dropped slightly as I bashed my head on a thick palm tree.

I had just enough mental faculties to send the message but I also needed to be in the fight myself.

I turned around groggily, picking myself up into a sitting position and began channelling a Soul Shot. I fired it, taking my stamina down to halfway, it punched straight into the dinosaur’s chest.

She howled as a red, gooey hole appeared. Blood spilt out, further contaminating the stream as her flesh and insides burned from the acid. The putrid stench could have given a loconut’s innards a run for their money.

Less than a second after my arrow impacted her, a concentrated stream of water sliced into the flesh on Bex’s left leg. She hollered and stumbled before regaining her balance, leaning heavily on her undamaged leg.

We’d originally planned for him to take out her legs to stop her from charging at us, but now it served a second purpose. No more jumping… hopefully.

A large fireball exploded on the back of her head and I swear, in my battle haze, I saw yellow cartoon ducks circle her skull.

She still wasn’t dead though.

She opened her mouth and looked right at me; the roaring had stopped. In the opening of her mouth, a small, rotating ball of blue energy began to form.

Is she charging up a hyperbeam?

Kaleb: Keep firing!

I panicked and added to the chat. Whatever the thing in her mouth was, I didn’t want it hitting me. I liked life, I wanted to keep it, and that thing looked dangerous.

I raised my bow and nocked a second arrow as the spinning ball began glowing brighter and bigger. She seemed to be charging it like I did with my Soul Shot.

If my skill was anything to go by then this dinosaur hyperbeam thing would spell the end of me. I fired my arrow into the blue ball and it disappeared.

My eyes widened with horror as the meaning of that sank in. This attack had disintegrated my arrow and now it was going to do the same to me.

I thought briefly of my wife Layla and our child who had most definitely been born now, but who I’d never met. I couldn’t die here.

Reggie: Kaleb get out of there!

Jamie: I don’t think he has enough time.

Bell: If you die I’ll do weird things to your corpse.

Well, that’s uncalled for. I thought as I looked the rotating blue ball in its metaphorical eye. They say never look a gift horse in the mouth and I was looking an enraged dinosaur in the mouth… and regretting it.

I fired another arrow, this time at the wounded leg. It hit and Bex stumbled but didn’t fall. She must have been the Weeble Wobble of prehistoric creatures. I mean seriously, that leg had been sliced and shot and she still refused to fall over.

Another fireball bounced off the back of her head at the same time as Jamie used his water powers to slice at her stomach. Blood trickled down her sternum and she was definitely looking the worse for wear. However, it was too late.

I looked towards her predatory eyes in abject horror as she released the blue ball. It was heading right for me, and there was nothing I could do about it.