The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 46: Identity

Part 2/2

“Yeah. They were.”

“That’s definitely weird. From what I’ve seen, they’re solitary. Not pack hunters.”

As they reached the pavilion, they sat down at a table and Maddox began to rub his hands together quickly.

“Listen, Loki. This place doesn’t exactly follow the rules of nature,” Maddox stated, “So maybe you’ve seen Carnotaurus alone, but it won’t always go that way, right? Besides, I think there was something off about them. They had glowing orange eyes.”

“Woah…”

Snow crunched behind them, and Loki turned around to see Mr. Mo walking up to them. Maddox looked over at a few big looking dudes, and nudged Loki.

“Hey. I gotta bounce. You have fun with Mr. Mo, alright?”

Maddox got up from his seat and began to walk over to the big guys and sat next to them. Talking to them about something. They nodded in affirmation, and didn’t bother engaging with Loki.

“Sup Mr. Mo,” Loki said as Mr. Mo took a seat. He was carrying two pieces of cooked meat, the smell drifting to Loki’s nose and making his mouth water. The meat was still right on the bones. Mr. Mo gave him a meat stick, and Mr. Mo took a gargantuan bite out of his meat.

“Morning. How was your sleep?” Mr. Mo asked Loki, “I hope the… situation that happened yesterday didn’t ruin it.”

“It actually went alright,” Loki said, “it wasn’t that bad. I mean, it reeked but I got used to it.”

“Heh, nice,” Mr. Mo replied softly. He rubbed the scar across his left eye. Then, he grumbled in annoyance and took another bite out of his meal.

“So, uh, I heard what you did back there. Pretty impressive being able to do it all on your own!” Loki chuckled. Loki continued to stare at the scar. It looked much more gruesome up close. And a lot bigger too.

“Ya know it’s rude to stare,” Mr. Mo grumbled as his eyes darted to Loki. Loki looked away, a bead of sweat dripping down his face.

“Sorry Mr. Mo.”

Mr. Mo sighed.

“That’s not my real name,” he eerily answered, “It’s Danny Guy. My father named me after himself… the stubborn coward.”

“So, uh, should I call you just Mr. Guy then?”

“Absolutely not,” he sternly replied, “Call me Mr. Ma. After my mother’s maiden name. At least she cared about me enough to try to, to try to-”

Mr. Ma stopped and prevented himself from speaking any further. He let out a deep breath and continued to speak.

“My father ain’t a good guy, Loki. He put me through something similar like this. Out in the wilderness with no one to help me except myself. And all in the name for his freak project. His stupid book that can burn,” Mr. Ma exclaimed with hatred in his voice, “He’s the reason my wife-”

Mr. Ma stopped and shook his head.

“He put me through that test three times. Once in middle school, the second time in high school, and the third time as a teacher. I tried everything I could to escape the cycle. Fighting back, running, but here we are.”

Mr. Ma continued.

“It’s how I got my scar. The first time, I was being chased by a Raptor with a red glow. It was stronger than usual. It pounced on me and- I cried out for help. For someone to stop the pain, to stop the beast. But nobody came. Not even my father. And I’ll always hate him for that.”

Loki couldn’t help but frown at Mr. Ma’s story. He had been through so much… and still Mr. Ma took the time to support some hooligans who couldn’t even bother helping him out.

“I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through, Mr. Ma.”

“No. You shouldn’t be,” Mr. Ma replied earnestly. He looked up at the sky, “My father should be putting me through this.”

Just then, Dr. Aston approached. The bags under his eyes were beginning to fade away, but he still had that daze on his face that made him look drowsy.

“Mr. Mo, the Parasaur turrets have detected a massive target approaching our settlement. I think we should investigate it right now.”

Loki’s face turned white.

“What if- What if it’s those Knowers that hail from the river near the Redwoods?”

Mr. Ma got up from his seat.

“Let’s go check it out.”

Mr. Ma and Loki headed to the border of the settlement and saw the target Dr. Aston was talking about. A Tyrannosaurus frolicking through the snow, its dark white skin blended in with the rest of the environment.

“A Tyrannosaurus…” Mr. Ma said with a smirk, “This is a good opportunity for a new, powerful tame.”

Mr. Ma turned to Loki.

“What do you say? Let’s tame this bad boy up!”