Adam was looking down at some equipment in his hands, and yelling as he opened the door and entered the room. "Evelyn, Evelyn, wake up! Mary Lou's gone, escaped! I went back to her cage to retrieve your badge, and I couldn't see her in the enclosure. At first I thought she was just hiding, but I searched the whole pen and couldn't find her. I don't know how....." Adam stopped midsentence when he looked up and saw them for the first time. He saw the two massive 9 foot reptilian creatures, wrapped around each other. At first he thought he had found Mary Lou, but there were two of them, and they were standing in a digitigrade stance. It looked like the creatures were fighting, grappling with each other. He quickly turned and tried to run back out the door, dropping the bag as he ran.
"Adam stop!" yelled Evelyn. Adam slowed a little; the voice surprised him. He had no idea the creatures could talk, much less knew his name. The voice sounded a little familiar, almost like Evelyn's, but deeper. He wondered if maybe he had missed seeing her when entered the room, and that maybe she was trapped in the room, too. Adam's slight hesitation was all Mary Lou needed to reach him, and throw him forcefully away from the door across the room. Adam slammed into the wall across from the door, hard. His head hurt, and his vision swam. Mary Lou leapt across the room towards him, claws raised, snapping her jaw menacingly. Evelyn leapt to the ground in front of Adam, shielding him from Mary Lou's charge.
"Stop! Don't hurt him! I love him, " she screamed, as she cradled him in her large arms. Mary Lou complied, almost instantly. She walked over to the door, and firmly shut it, rattling the door in its hinges. She was breathing rapidly, still feeling the adrenaline rush from her attack attempt.
"Humpf, " she said loudly with a grunt. "Humans, and their ridiculous attractions to their mate. You better get rid of that kind of thinking. It's going to get us killed. It almost got us caught already." She stood before the door, with her arms crossed, glaring at Evelyn and Adam.
Evelyn ignored her, and gently brushed Adam's hair out of his eyes. "Oh, Adam. Are you okay? She didn't mean to hurt you. She's just scared. We both are, given the strange situation we're in. Please be okay. I love you, and I don't know what I would do if you got hurt."
Mary Lou grunted, and mumbled, "Yeah, right. Like I would be scared of that little runty human." She continued to glare at the couple, her tail whipping back and forth angrily.
"What.. What happened? "said Adam groggily, as he slowly regained consciousness. Evelyn was ecstatic, and started to kiss his face with her large snout. Adam bushed her face away, and recoiled in horror, sliding away with his back pressed firmly against the wall. Evelyn saw the fear and disgust in his face; she placed her hands over her face, and began to cry softly.
Mary Lou was outraged. She walked up to Evelyn, and hugged her again, wrapping her in a warm embrace and patting her gently on the pack. She looked over Evelyn's shoulder at Adam with undisguised hate. "Filthy primate! How dare you! Show some respect! This is your mate! And she just risked her life to save your sorry ass! I should kill you!"
Adam was even more terrified, and Evelyn realized that she could sense his fear, almost smell and taste it. She stopped crying, and said, "No, Mary Lou, it's okay. Just leave him alone, he can't help how he feels. He's right anyway. I am a hideous monster now." Evelyn renewed her crying with increased fervor. Mary Lou glared at Adam, but said nothing.
Adam just stared, frozen in shock. The creatures could not just speak, they could reason, and it appeared they also had emotions. What are these things, he wondered. And where did they come from? Wait, what did that thing call the other?
"Mary Lou? " Adam asked. "Is that you? "
The angry creature just glared at him, but now that he was beginning to relax - as he realized that they might not kill him - he could see that the face of the creature looked exactly like the famous alligator, just smaller and on the body of this large monster.
"What the hell happened to you? And if you're Mary Lou, then who is that? " he said, pointing at the crying lizard.
"You fool!" said Mary Lou angrily. "Can't you tell? Can't you even recognize your own mate .....the bearer of your young .....your 'love'. " She practically spat the last word.
Adam was still confused, then suddenly he understood. "Evelyn?" he asked softly, looking at the sobbing reptile. "Is that you?"
Evelyn stopped crying, turned to look at him, and just nodded her head yes.