Malcolm and Dreyfus rushed to where people were gathering. The wisest ones had stayed behind, knowing that if they approached they might attract unwanted attention, but most people wanted to see what was happening.

When the two men arrived they witnessed an almost pitiful scene. What everyone had pointed out as a 'crazy' was a woman who must have been at least forty years old, who was trying to get out through one of the streets leading to the enclousure, obviously being stopped by the dinosaurs present there. The animals weren't hurting her, they were just bringing her back, but the woman didn't stop and kept running towards her exit every time.

The dinosaurs looked rather bewildered. They seemed unable to understand the situation and from their looks it was clear that they were wondering if it wasn't the case to stun or immobilize the woman. For how many times they brought the woman back from the enclousure, in fact, she returned to the attack.

"Lady, please calm down!" a huge argentinosaurus, who kept pushing the woman back with his tail, was trying to soothe her. "We already told you, you can't go out! You have to relax and..."

"FUCK YOU! I'M GOING OUT OF HERE!" she roared trying in vain to climb over the sauropod's tail.

"Madam, this is impossible! Calm down, please" the argentinosaurus tried again in vain, but the woman did not stop in the least. In the end the sauropod lay down in the middle of the road blocking the passage, hoping that this would make her give up, but the woman continued to try to climb on him to overcome him despite this was impossible.

"Damn! Do you never get tired?" an acrocanthosaurus grumbled about her, dragging her back with his mouth. They had been there for ten minutes and yet the woman wasn't even out of breath! And besides, she seemed to have completely lost her common sense since she punched the dinosaur in his face, ignoring the fact that it would take just a little more pressure from him for his jaws to close on her slicing her in two.

Malcolm decided it was time to take the initiative before the woman got hurt, or worse before anyone thought of imitating her. Despite knowing it was dangerous, he rushed to the woman and grabbed her by her waist, dragging her back. The dinosaurs took an aggressive attitude for a moment, but they calmed down when they realized he just wanted to help them.

But the woman was certainly not an easy prey, and she in fact she started kicking furiously and elbowing him in his belly. Malcolm nearly lost his grip, but luckily Dreyfus came to his aid and blocked her. "Drop me! Leave me, I said!"

"Lady, what is your name?" Malcolm asked with heavy breathing.

The woman glared at him: "Is it important?"

"Just tell me what your name is"

"Okay, my name is Karen"

"Karen, good. I am Malcolm. The other one here is a dear friend of mine" he said, pointing to Dreyfus. "Karen, now I have to ask you to calm down. If you continue like this it won't end well for you and others may get hurt. If you don't do it for yourself, at least do it for the others..."

"I DON'T CARE! I HAVE CHILDREN!" the woman cried in tears. "I haven't seen them since it all started! Wanda is only eight and Victor is six! I have to go to them!"

Malcolm felt his heart skip a beat. He now understood what was happening. He desperately tried to find the right words: "I have a son too, Karen. Everyone here has children. Putting your life in danger will not help them!"

"YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT! I GO BACK TO MY FAMILY!"

"Karen, please..."

"What is happening here?"

Malcolm's blood froze when he heard that question. Numerous other dinosaurs were arriving in the street, probably attracted by the shouts or warned by the guards. The one who had asked the question was an allosaurus.

"An evasion attempt, Al" the acrocanthosaurus who had previously tried to bring her back to the enclousure explained. "That woman has gone mad and she is trying to escape. We tried to calm her down in every way but we can't. These two gentlemen tried to help us, but there is no way"

The allosaurus came up and stared intently at the humans. From the tattoos on his head, Malcolm knew he must be of high rank: while the other dinosaurs only had one or two lines on their cheeks, he had four. Maybe he wasn't one of the bosses, but he certainly was a big one. "Madam, go back to the square immediately. Please"

"NEVER! I SAID THAT I WILL GO AND I WILL GO!"

"Madam, this is the last warning. If you don't return to your seat immediately we will be obliged to use force"

Malcolm shivered, preferring to not know what the allosaurus meant. "Let's all stay calm!" he exclaimed. "Karen, please come away now! It's not worth it!"

"NEVER!"

The woman freed herself from his and Dreyfus's grip and hurled herself down the street, oblivious to the dinosaurs that were right in front of her. Malcolm tried to grab her, but Al was faster than him: with a blow he knocked her to the ground and then put a paw on her.

Everyone held their breath, Malcolm too thinking the dinosaur wanted to crush her, instead Al just kept the woman pinned to the ground. "Now you stay here until you calm down" he declared.

The woman tried in every way to get rid of her, but there was no way she could move a more than two tons' dinosaur from her body. She tried to kick, wriggle, bite and even hit him, but the allosaurus didn't move an inch, patiently waiting for her to let off steam.

It took at least a quarter of an hour before the woman got tired. In the end she was no longer even able to lift her head, but despite this she kept trying to hit her tormentor, even though her fists were now devoid of any energy.

"For how long do you want to keep her like this?" Malcolm asked, feeling pity for the woman.

"Until I am sure that she will no longer be a danger to herself or the others" Al replied. Suddenly, however, the woman burst into tears.

"Let me go!" she screamed despite her throat now dry. "My daughter... my son... I have to see them again... they are just children... they need their mother... please..."

A strange glint appeared in Al's eyes for a moment and his expression changed. Now it almost seemed… a look of pity? "Do you have children, lady?"

The woman nodded desperately. "We were separated when it all started... they were home and I had just gotten out of work... my Wanda, she only had to look after her little brother for a few hours... S-She's only eight!"

Al snorted. "Madam, your children are fine, I can assure you. We haven't touched any human beings and there have been no accidents in the other squares. I can also send someone to check if you don't believe it. There is no reason to be scared..."

"INSTEAD THERE IS! THEY NEED THEIR MOM!" the woman screamed with all the breath she had in her body. "My Wanda can't be alone! My Victor can't be alone! They would be scared, terrified! They could get hurt, they could slip and get injured, they could fall and break a bone, they could… they could…" the woman no longer seemed to have the strength to speak.

Al seemed rather uncomfortable to her. It was clear that he hadn't expected such a turn of events. The people watching were starting to murmur, feeling pity for the poor mother who kept trying desperately to get up. Eventually the allosaurus closed his eyes, as if he were making a difficult decision, and then he sighed: "Okay" he said removing her paw. "Get up, let's go find your children"

The woman's eyes widened, not believing what she had just heard. She struggled to her feet, staggering from lack of strength. Even other people could not believe it, Malcolm in the first place: the allosaurus had finally succumbed to pleas.

The other dinosaurs, on the contrary, immediately became aggressive; Malcolm could sense the hostility in the air. "Al, what are you doing?" the acrocanthosaurus growled. "Never letting humans out of confinement is a direct order from the pack leader! Do you want to challenge his authority?"

For the dinosaurs, obeying the pack leader was like breathing. Even though Sobek had left them a lot of leeway, his direct orders still remained absolute. Disobeying was tantamount to challenging his authority. From the point of view of the dinosaurs, Al's action was no different than a betrayal.

Al himself seemed to be aware of this, because he said: "I know I am doing the wrong thing and I will accept the punishment the pack leader will give me. But this woman will not stop fidgeting until she gets what she wants, so we please her or we prepare to repeat this little theater every day, because you can be sure that she will return to do this as soon as she regains her strength"

"Bah! For me you are crazy, Al. Let me be clear, I don't know anything about it" the acrocanthosaurus growled, and the other dinosaurs seemed to agree with him.

"Only I will deal with the pack leader. You can rest assured" Al confirmed.

"It will be better. And you! Go back to your place, the show is over! I've seen enough bullshits for tonight, so if anyone else tries his luck, I'll use him to clean my backside!" the acrocanthosaurus roared to the other humans, who promptly walked away. Malcolm and Dreyfus stood for a moment watching the scene, then they left too.

With great patience, Al took the woman away despite the accusing stares of the other dinosaurs. Al felt guilty in disobeying an order, his instinct wouldn't allow him otherwise, but he still had a conscience to deal with.

It took them twenty minutes to find the woman's children; they were in a square not far from there and even if a little frightened they were unharmed. There was celebration and weeping when the family reunited, but Al couldn't stay to enjoy them, because a dimorphodon landed on his shoulder shortly after: "The pack leader wants to see you"

Al sighed. He knew what he would face if he disobeyed orders, but at least now a family was reunited. Sobek wouldn't have blamed him so much, after all he had not done any damage... right?