A sudden thought struck the five foot tall and powerfully muscled deinonychus. He glanced at the wicked grasping claws on his feet, flexed the killing machinery of his hands, and ran his long flexible tongue over the cutting edges of his new teeth. His eyes turned cold. His posture straightened.
Rick saw the change in body language and flared menacingly. “Don’t even think about it. You were a weak and stupid human. You’re now a weak and stupid dinosaur.”
Brendon lowered his head in defeat… for show. He remembered all of Rick’s cruelty. His hatred for Brendon not being his own. How he pushed him away bears ago and ignored him for his experiments.
The raptor couldn’t bring himself to harm Rick, but neither would he be reduced to some obedient pet. A test subject. The only way out was up the stairs. Could he make it? Did Rick have any other devices that could change him further? It seemed unlikely that such a big device could be portable. He turned his head and eyed the tube.
He motioned at it with his snout even as he realized to his great delight that suddenly, improbably, this new body had granted him the cunning strategic mind of a master predator. With his human intelligence intact… he had wound up better off than he had been before. He might not be able to speak anymore… but he could finally outsmart his step dad.
Rick glanced at the tube and took the bait. “This?”
Brendon glanced over with a quizzical expression on his snout. He nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes…” Rick began. “So even you realize the extent of my genius…”
The raptor bolted. He wheeled on powerfully strong legs and bursted forth at a run. Rick barely had time to feebly grab at his step son’s tail as he snapped by, leaping onto the bottom step and propelling himself upward on his meaty thighs.
Enthused by the speed and agility of his new body, Brendon let out a triumphant screech of pure joy as he reached the top step and the basement door. Rick had forgot to lock it in his hurry to get Brendon downstairs. The raptor slammed his heavy claws down on the handle and spun it as Rick thundered up the steps behind him cursing up a storm.
The raptor slammed open the door with the force of his snout and blasted off across the kitchen, breaking into a desperate run as he made for the front door. He could hear Rick steps behind him, and urged his svelte muscular legs to drive him forward with everything they had.
He felt Rick’s weight on his back suddenly. The human had thrown himself at the raptor to tackle him, but Rick has greatly underestimated the strength that Brendon now possessed. The dinosaur snapped to the side and let out a terrifying deep throated snarl as he tossed Rick off his back and sent him tumbling across the floor. The front door was locked. Brendon reached up with a heavy claw and tried to nudge the lock. Shit! Fingers were too heavy, they didn’t bend the right way anymore! He couldn’t quite grip it!
The full weight of Rick slammed into the dinosaur’s side and knocked him off his feet. The two wrestled each other as Brendon desperately kicked out his legs and flailed his claws in an attempt to push Rick away.
The dinosaur hidden deep down decided to instinctually snap at Rick’s face. Brendon extended his powerful neck and opened his salivating hungry jaws, letting out a full gut wrenching roar. Rick screamed and drew back as the jaws violently snapped closed inches from his nose. Now in full anger, Brendon screeched a war cry and scrambled to his feet, balancing his tail behind him and growling with rage as he lowered his head level to his back and prepared to strike.
Rick backed against the living room wall and grabbed a fireplace poker from its stand. He raised the iron bar in his hand just as the raptor lunged forward at a run, roaring ferociously. Rick let out a scream of terror and tossed the poker’s spear tip directly at the raptor’s chest. The enraged deinonychus slapped it out of the way with his left arm and charged on without missing a step.
Rick hugged himself and let out a full closed eye scream of panic as he expected to be torn apart, wetting his pants.
The realization of the sheer raw power and strength of his new body set in and Brendon felt another new rush of excitement. He stopped, remembered his original plan of escape, and pushed the angry predator back down. With Rick reduced to a piss covered mess, Brendon turned back to the door, grabbed the lock in between his teeth, threw it with a deft click, and clicked claws against the smooth handle with both hands before managing to turn it and pull it open.
He literally smashed out the flimsy storm door, ripping through the worn mesh screen with his weight, and tumbled down the front steps and into the yard.
The sudden rush of sounds, smells, and noises hit his dinosaurian senses in full and he paused in shock, realizing he could hear kids giggling down the street and could smell and track scents blocks away if he focused on them. The momentary pause gave soggy Rick a moment to come to his senses, and he threw open the screen door for one last attempt to catch Brendon before he escaped.
The raptor turned his head, grinned devilishly, and broke into a full tilt run across the front yard, clearing the tall bushes around the property line with an easy jump and landing in the middle of the sidewalk. He could hear Rick screaming to stop, but he couldn’t care less.
The deinonychus snapped into an exhilarating full run, dashing by horrified and confused people, and let out a triumphant snarl of joy, head back, smile on his saurian lips, as he suddenly changed directions, crossed the street, and rushed into a public park. Rick’s voice was so distant as to be almost inaudible.
Brendon paused among some trees, catching the amazed glances of people on the walking trail, and began to realize this may not have been the best idea after all.