While bandaging my wounds, I pull another tooth out of my arm—one I hadn’t noticed before but am now very aware of as the adrenaline fades. Luckily, the cuts on my back aren’t a big concern since they’ve already stopped bleeding, but my arms need to be properly wrapped.

  After finishing, I decide to eat one of the MREs I brought. To avoid attracting unwanted attention, I eat it cold. While chewing on a bland bag of cold ravioli, I hear something in the vents. Carefully opening the grate, expecting to find another one of those small lizardmen, I instead find a tiny, white, iguana-like creature.

  “Well, hello there,” I say, petting the small lizard.

  It’s not one I’ve ever seen before—its tail is positioned oddly, and it doesn’t seem able to properly support its own weight, crawling around on its belly instead.

  I take a beef ravioli out of the package, split it open, and place the exposed meat in front of the small lizard. It starts nibbling at it, and I chuckle while petting it. It doesn’t even resist when I pick it up and place it in a box with a few more open raviolis.

  “You’re coming home with me. But first, I have to clear this place out.”

  It looks up at me and licks its eye. I chuckle again before finishing the rest of my MRE.

  After eating, I wait for the sounds below to die down while reloading my guns. Once I can’t hear anything, I open the hatch and peek into the storage room, spotting only one lizardman sleeping behind some boxes.

  As I quietly climb down the ladder, the lizardman stirs.

  I freeze.

  It squints at me, groggy and confused. I don’t move.

  After a tense moment, it lays back down, rolling onto its side.

  Carefully, I climb down, gripping my crowbar as I sneak toward it. Looming over it, I notice a bronze dagger lying next to it. Smashing its head open might be too loud, so I take the dagger and drive it into its throat instead.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Shouldn’t be sleeping on the job.”

  Now, I have a choice: head back into the exhibition halls for full-on combat or slink through the maintenance hallways and pick them off one by one.

  I choose the latter.

  Moving as quietly as possible, I navigate the hallways, striking from the shadows and eliminating however many I can. After committing a few hit-and-run attacks, I come across the prehistoric wing. In the center of the room stands the skeleton of a T. rex—surrounded by hooded lizardmen, chanting something.

  I’m about to attack when I hear an angry voice yelling.

  “You did what?! Not only did you let an intruder escape, but you lost my daughter!?”

  I turn to the source of the voice. A lizard… woman? She looks similar to the others, but her tone is distinctly female, and she speaks clearly. Could she be the boss of this place? She doesn’t look that special—the only real difference is her color. While the others are blue and gray, she is pure white.

  To be sure, I use Identify on her.

  “Just how do you fuck up watching a kid that can hardly crawl yet!?”

  She taps a clawed foot impatiently as the large lizardman in front of her stammers out a response in broken English.

  “She very small. After escape from nest, she crawl behind closet. When I move it—she gone. Couldn’t find.”

  The queen grabs him by the gold necklace around his neck, looking as if she might rip out his throat.

  “Then you better start searching, or you will be offered to the ancestors!”

  The large lizard bolts, tail tucked between its legs. The queen then turns to one of the hooded lizardmen.

  “Is it done yet? We can’t let the intruder get away.”

  One of the hooded figures responds in a language I can’t understand—just a bunch of hissing. The queen nods, accepting a book one of them hands her and begins reading aloud.

  “O great ancestor, heed our call in our hour of need. Grace us with your presence and help us defend against the intruder.”

  I listen to her ramble about their so-called ancestor, waiting for something to happen—until I hear something running behind me.

  I whip around just in time to see another of those small, feral lizardmen launching itself at me. I draw my pistol and fire mid-air, hitting it, but its momentum doesn’t disappear. The body collides with me, knocking me off my feet—straight into the hall.

  As I crash to the floor, all eyes turn to me.

  The five hooded lizardmen.

  The Lizard Queen.

  And, worst of all…

  The T. rex skeleton.