Rex woke first, startled as he suddenly had complete control of their body. His body, he blinked. He was himself again! The excitement was and relief was overwhelming.
He felt a distinct crestfallen disappointment as Brendon woke and assumed primary control again, pushing Rex behind the main consciousness and ripping control away from him.
The human mind felt the dinosaur’s anguish and was hit by a rush of guilt and sadness.
(( I-I’m sorry, )) Rex apologized, (( for a moment... I... I thought we had separated somehow during the night. ))
“I’m so sorry,” Brendon whispered out loud, trying to fight back the tears from the rush of emotion the dinosaur had projected on him.
(( It’s all right. I’m all right. We’ll carry on. We have to get back to Rick. I must know if I can be... saved. ))
( I understand. ) Brendon agreed. ( We’ll get Megan and she’ll be able to help us. )
(( Your girlfriend? )) Rex inquired, trying to distract himself. (( Her name is Megan? ))
Brendon subconsciously nodded in response and Rex seemed satisfied.
They peered out from under the upside down boat. The rain had stopped and it was still a couple hours before morning. Regardless, the exhausted dinosaur had slept hard, and the body was refreshed and strong again. He got to his haunches and shook his feathers of the moisture that had accumulated.
( W-We’re not going to get hungry, are we? )
(( Mmmm. )) Rex projected contentment. (( No, our rabbit feast was quite enough to sate us for now. ))
( All right. I need your help. We have to climb that tree going up to the window. )
(( I’m ready. )) Rex whispered gently.
They crawled out from under the boat and rose to their legs. Or rather, Rex did. Though he was more of a back seat driver he knew his own body better than Brendon knew it. His control of movement was precise and absolute.
They stood before the tree resting in the back yard and Rex sunk his sickle claws into the trunk. His long powerful claws dug in, and he easily brought them upward with sure careful grip. On the second story of the house were two windows. The farthest away was out of reach, but Rex could easily reach the one in front of them from the thick branches.
(( Now what? )) The dinosaur inquired.
Brendon assumed control, leaning onto the largest branch and tapping on the window gently with their knuckles. One tap. One more tap. Then two.
They heard something stirring within. Rex cringed at the vibration coming from beyond the glass window. He fought his urges to flee.
The window slowly opened and the screen was pulled out by two trembling young female hands.
There stood Megan, staring in awe. Her eyes were wide, her long blonde hair was tangled, and her night gown fluttered slightly.
“My God.” She gasped, covering her mouth. She stared at the Deinonychus in disbelief and then sadness. “It’s true. It’s all true.”
Rex felt Brendon’s confusion and decided to comment on the matter. (( She must know what’s happened to you, friend. This is great news! I sense no fear from her. ))
Indeed, Megan gently reached her hand out and took Brendon by the claws, urging him to slide forward from the branch into her room.
The dinosaur complied, relieved as he entered the familiar girl’s bedroom, pouncing onto the floor with a thud as she hastily replaced the screen in the window and quietly shut it.
She turned sharply, catching the dinosaur’s attention, and held her finger up for silence.
Brendon complied, blinking his night vision lit eyes in the dark and nodding his understanding.
“Rick is out looking for you,” she whispered. “Your mom came by, told me what he did. I... I didn’t believe it at first, but... the pictures. You were on the news! The internet! You’re all over the place!”
Rex carefully listened but let Brendon maintain full control.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.” Megan almost sobbed, throwing her arms around the dinosaur’s neck and hugging him tight. She brushed his sensitive neck and Rex felt their sheath stir.
(( No, no, no. Please. Calm down. Remember what happens to me if you lose control. ))
( I’m trying. She smells so good. )
(( Brendon, please, my friend. We’re so close to the machine. And Rick. You have to communicate with her somehow! ))
The teen turned dinosaur staggered back and nodded, breaking the embrace away and seeing Megan’s startled expression. He gestured quickly, which his girlfriend didn’t understand.
“I-I don’t... what are you trying to say?”
In annoyance, Brendon held up a claw sharply and grimaced. He held the claw across his neck and struck it several times back and forth, opening and closing his mouth.
“Oh!” Megan suddenly gasped. “Oh, you can’t talk! Is that it?”
The deinonychus nodded quickly. Rex felt relief at their progress.
“Here!” Megan suddenly turned, grabbing her jPad from beside the bed. “Can... can you type?”
(( She’s brilliant! )) Rex projected in joy. (( Please, Brendon, tell her everything! Let her know I’m here with you too! ))
( Okay. ) The human agreed.
Brendon touched the screen with his claw tip. Apparently, that wasn’t a finger. It took them a while to figure out he had to use the pad beneath his clawed fingertip to activate the touch screen, and it took even longer to learn how to tap out a message on the screen’s notepad function. Soon enough, though, the human was able to type in complete sentences, although with little speed.
“It’s okay,” Megan reassured him, touching his back. Again, the stir. Rex put an end to that quickly.
Brendon took a deep breath and began to write a slow explanation.
He started with the transformation. He explained the mist, the machine, the fossil. He described the escape, the park...
Megan seemed especially startled as he wrote about Rex. His splintered mind. Their growth. Their friendship.
It took the human girl a while to process this.
“There’s... there’s like an actual dinosaur living inside you?”
Brendon nodded excitedly. He felt Rex’s hesitation and fear.
“Jesus.” The teen girl plunked onto the end of her bed and stared at the floor. “So he made you a dinosaur... and he... he like... raised a dinosaur from the dead?”
Brendon nodded gently. It was as weird as it sounded.
“So... there’s two of you in there? You and... this Rex?”
The true dinosaur within bristled at hearing somebody else say his name.
Brendon nodded gently again. Megan looked down at the floor again for a while and pieced it together.
“Okay. I get it.” She stared into Brendon’s dinosaurian eyes and blinked several times. He blinked back as the room darkened while the jPad went into power saving mode.
All that could be heard was their steady breathing.
“If you change back... the dinosaur vanishes.”
Brendon nodded.
“He’s intelligent?”
Brendon nodded again, fiercely.
“He’ll die.” She concluded, startled. “Won’t he? If you turn human again he’ll die.”
(( Yes! Yes! )) Rex desperately gasped. (( We have to find a way to release me from this body! Or... or... separate us. Or make me a new body. Or... something! Anything! ))
The gorgeous young blonde stared deep into Brendon’s eyes and seemed to be searching. “C-Can he hear me now?”
Brendon nodded. He felt Rex listening intently.
“I’ll get you both to the machine. I don’t know what to do from there, though.”
Rex felt utter relief and urged Brendon to nod. They both felt a sense of sick excitement in their stomach. Half hopeful. Half nervous.
“Stay here,” Megan whispered. “Whatever you do, stay here. I’m going to get my mom’s car keys.”
She left the room and Brendon/Rex slumped into the corner and put their snout into their arms.
( What if we can’t... fix this? Which one of us has to go away? )
(( Ideally, my love, neither of us. I have hope. Let’s hold onto that for now. ))
They sat in the darkness of the room and contemplated their fate together.
After a while, Megan slipped through the door again. She was dressed in jeans and a shirt and held her mom’s car keys tightly in her hand.
“Let’s go. Back out the window.”