My heart thundered in my chest as I listened to the sound of the alarms blaring overhead, cutting through the zampy snarls.
Wicked Rex was quiet, staring with cold eyes. He alone had not moved or made a sound after I had entered into their hold.
There was just something about Wicked Rex that was hard to identify. We’d given him the same intelligence tests we had administered to all the other zampys. He had not appeared to be any smarter than the others.
I was convinced he had dumbed down his responses, however irrational that seemed.
Did they figure out what I’m up to? I wondered, opening the door and looking back at the security camera. I had unplugged it from the wall using an extendable walking stick I had jury-rigged for the task. I had no more than five minutes before they discovered the camera was down. Yet still, I stand here in the entryway, unmoving as alarms sound all around me.
I had enough time to put all of these creatures out of their misery. The problem was this was only half the job. My plan was to take care of the larger animals first and then dispose of the hatchlings and the eggs. There was no way I could do that if the alarms were already going.
Get moving, I thought, what was all that time at the range for?
I had spent the last two weeks going to the firing range every night, practicing my aim and my ability to fire thirty rounds in rapid succession, twice as many bullets as I needed. I had timed myself the last two nights and determined I only needed a minute to dispatch all of these creatures.
And I stand here frozen to the floor.
I shook my head to clear my mind of the alarms and pointed my pistol at Wicked Rex. If I did nothing else here today, killing him would do the world a huge favor.
My phone rang, nearly giving me a heart attack.