The Adventure Of Miniator -- Chapter 23 -- In Full Pursuit

23) In Full Pursuit

Miniator ran into the forest. He was panting and a little cut, bruised, and shaken. But he was free! His adrenalin was pumping through his body.
Two days earlier during his search of his enclosure, he had spotted a long thick tree trunk lying under some undergrowth. He waited for nightfall to avoided the cameras recording what he was going to do. A Tyrannosaurus Rex has perfect night vision.
He broke into the undergrowth, and dragged out the long trunk. It was very thick and strong. He tested it to make sure it would take his weight. He dragged it over to the fence. He lifted it on its end and let it fall onto the electrical cable along the top of the fence. He repeated this several times until the top of the fence began to dip. He then began putting all his weight onto the trunk as it leaned on the fence. The dip became lower and lower. He worked on this for about an hour, until the dip was quite low. Miniator then shuffled his way up the trunk to the top of the fence. He received one electric shock as he dragged himself over the fence, and dropped to the other side.
He had not thought about what he would do once he was free... he was very hungry. He wondered what he could eat. He had no skill for hunting. But he could eat anything. He wasn't, as those people thought, just a meat eater... He knew he should first get deeper in to the forest. It was only a matter of time before they would come looking for him.
Preston Fox and Julius Bettermore-Mountblank and his crew of men arrived at the enclosure. They stood looking at the creature's escape route... They were baffled.
'I can't believe how it did that,' said Fox, it must be far more intelligent than we thought. He never once touched that fence while we observed him. He somehow instinctively knew it was electrified. And look how he has avoided it to get out... I saw it the other day. He came right up against the fence without touching it. We thought he was going to try tearing it down, but he just stopped and stared me right in the eye, then he raised his arm and actually pointed at me. I tell you, my blood went cold.'
'Well, we better get after him,' said Julius 'We don't know how long a start he has on us. Do we have enough tranquilliser weapons with us?'
'Four 'in the truck.' said Fox. 'But we must not underestimate how dangerous he could be, one swipe of his tail would be enough to finish a man. If we come across him unexpectedly we should fire live shots over his head to scare him. But we don't know how he will react, We should only shoot to kill if we have no other option.'
'Well, at least a large animal like him will leave a lot of tracks.. and I rang a good friend who lives nearby, he'll be along soon with his dogs. But he doesn't know yet what he's hunting... So, I'll leave a man here to show him where to let the dogs get the scent...'
They all went off into the forest but for the one man who sat in one of the cars waiting for the dogs to arrive.
Watching from a distance were Swing, Narea, and Nimi. They got the drift, even from a distance, what had happened. It was a pity Miniator had chosen to make his escape just before they had arrived. They would have had him out of there in no time. They decided they should follow Fox and his men into the forest. Keep a safe distance behind them and see how well they do at finding Miniator
They left the cars and took light backpacks with them. Narea contacted the Dino and told the computer to monitor their position from their hand sets. They would call for assistance when needed.
They picked up the trail of Miniator's perusers. Narea could distinguish the men's tracks from those of Miniator's. She suggested she should try to go around them and get in front of them. Maybe she could find Miniator before them, and she may be able to set them a false trail.
It didn't take long for Narea with her genius for avoidance to actually get in among the pursuers without being detected. The black men were doing most of the carrying. They had brought enough supplies for a few days. At one moment Narea was right under their noses, listening to every word they were saying.
'Well, this is just like old times, hey, Foxy!' Julius whispered while crunching under a bush. 'me and you in the jungle again.'
'Yes, said Fox. 'But pursuing a very different objective. No one has ever hunted such a creature. I hope he doesn't surprise us. We don't want a dead Rex on our hands, He is worth so much more alive... the nearer we get to him the more careful we must be.'
'How far do you think he is ahead of us?' Asked Julius.
'An hour or two, looking at the tracks... but we must be careful he doesn't double back on us, we shouldn't under estimate the intelligence we know he has.'
'The dogs can't be far behind us, We should start hearing them soon.' Said Julius
Narea's hand strayed from her hiding place and went through Fox's backpack while he was saying this. She took his electronic compass. And she planted a small electronic chip in his pack so they would be able to monitor his position on their hand sets. She crept away and went in front of them and created a false trail which they followed for about half an hour, before they realized they had taken a false turn, and went back to Miniator's trail. Narea phoned Swing and Nimi, and told them what she had found out. That the pursuers know Miniator is not just a savage wild animal. Narea told them they should get between Miniator and his pursuers before they find him. Nimi with her very sensitive mechanical ears told them she could hear the sound of dogs behind them in the distance. Narea told them it was time to make a plan and put it into action.
Miniator, was beginning to tire, he hadn't eaten anything since being taken. He began to look around for food, maybe he could find some fruit. He came to a river which he followed. He found a tree which had a fruit that looked like a plum, which he tried. It was sweet, so he stopped and ate them until he felt quite full. He drank deeply of the fresh water from the river. Then he crossed the water and lay to rest under a tree for a while to regain his strength. He listened for his pursuers, but heard only the call of the birds and the buzz of insects.
He wondered how long he could keep going... would they give up on him...? he thought not. They had gone to all the trouble to capture him, they wouldn't simply give up now. Even if he could lose them, what kind of life would he have to live here in the forest. He thought about his friends. How he missed them. He got to his feet and plodded on. Following the river. The sun was going down, but the forest was still very hot. He should try to keep moving in the dark, because he has the advantage of night vision. But it wasn't long before he was exhausted. His body ached... he lay down meaning to rest only for an hour, at most, but he fell into a deep sleep.
The sun went down, Miniators pursuers were making camp when the dogs arrived. There were three of them, blood hounds yapping and straining at the ends of their tethers, held by two black men under the orders of Hans Holts, the white friend of Julius Bettermore-Mountblank. They had decided to make camp for the night. They sat around a fire on which they had grilled beef steaks. Two of the black men stood on guard at both sides of the camp, guns at the ready. They could hear many sounds of wild animals in the darkness surrounding the camp. The roar of hunting lions, and the yapping of hyenas made the dogs uneasy. They tried to explain to Hans Holts what the creature was they were pursuing, but he didn't really get it... or believe it. But he was sure his dogs could find anything. And Fox and Julius Bettermore-Mountblank felt confident that tomorrow they would find and recapture their prey.