Liam hadn’t even reached the front of the crowd when the alarms began to scream.
His heart dropped instantly.
This was it.
The moment everything fell apart.
He forced his way forward through the dense crowd, scanning the scene.
Tourists were everywhere — confused, curious, and completely unaware of the nightmare that was about to unfold.
Warning them would be useless.
No one would believe a random stranger shouting about a monster they couldn’t see.
Then he saw him.
Owen.
Standing near the center of the observation platform.
Focused.
Alert.
Liam pushed toward him with urgency rising in his chest.
He had to try.
“The Indominus is still inside!” Liam shouted.
“Don’t send anyone in.
It can hide.
It can regulate its body heat.
You won’t see it on thermal scans!” Owen turned sharply, caught off guard by the intensity of the warning.
But the reaction around Liam was very different.
People laughed.
“You serious right now?” “It can turn invisible too?” someone joked loudly.
Even the armed security personnel didn’t take him seriously.
“Relax,” one of them said with a dismissive chuckle.
“We’ve got enough firepower to handle anything in there.” Below, the enclosure gates opened with a heavy metallic groan.
Thirty armed personnel moved in, splitting into teams and sweeping the area with tranquilizer rifles, moving with practiced confidence.
Liam clenched his jaw.
Too late.
This was already beyond saving.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the railing and vaulted over the platform.
He landed hard, absorbing the impact in a crouch, then immediately broke into a sprint.
He had done what he could.
Now survival came first.
This wasn’t a fight he could win head-on.
If he wanted that tooth… it would take strategy.
His eyes scanned the terrain quickly.
There — a massive tree in the distance.
Towering.
Dense canopy.
Perfect cover.
He ran.
…
Up on the platform, Owen stared after the stranger.
The warning.
The movement.
The way he had reacted.
It didn’t match blind panic.
It looked like certainty.
Owen turned back toward the enclosure, tension rising in his gut.
Radio chatter filled the air.
“East sector clear.” “West sector clear.” “Central zone clear.” Owen’s grip tightened on the railing.
Then it clicked.
Body temperature regulation.
Camouflage.
“Get out!” Owen shouted into the radio.
“All units pull back now!” But the command came too late.
One of the team leaders froze in place.
Something moved.
Right next to him.
What had looked like part of the enclosure wall… shifted.
A massive shape peeled away from the concrete.
The illusion broke.
Gasps spread through the crowd like a wave.
It had been there the entire time.
Watching.
Waiting.
The Indominus rex stepped forward.
Fully revealed.
Before the nearest soldier could even react— The jaws came down.
A sickening crunch echoed through the enclosure.
The man was torn in half instantly.
Blood sprayed across the ground in a horrifying arc.
Panic exploded.
People screamed.
Some tried to run, others pushed blindly through the crowd.
A few lost their footing and fell from the platform into the enclosure below.
Inside the control center, Claire Dearing watched the chaos unfold on the monitors, her face pale.
“Seal the enclosure!” she ordered.
“Ma’am, there are still thirty men inside!” “Do it!” she snapped.
“If that thing gets out, thousands will die.
You don’t understand what it is!” The command was relayed immediately.
The massive gates began to close with a deep, grinding sound.
But it was already too late.
The Indominus turned.
Saw the opening.
And charged.
Fifty tons of muscle and bone slammed forward at full speed.
The gates were seconds from sealing— When the beast hit them head-on.