Zia approached the body of the dreadnoughtus, who was now passed out from the pain. Although she felt the eyes of the dinosaurs around her staring angry and scared, her attention was all for her patient. And when she was able to see him clearly she was immediately clear on the diagnosis.

The dreadnoughtus was a female and her blood was oozing out of her vagina. Zia knew what was going on: the dreadnoughtus' cloaca had given way, probably due to her being forced to produce too many eggs. The capillaries must have burst due to the stress and the cloaca had collapsed on itself. If the dreadnoughtus hadn't received treatment immediately, he would have died for sure.

First she had to stop the blood flow, but that was easier said than done. "I need your help!" she exclaimed pointing at the therizinosaurus.

The dinosaurs didn't seem to like it. "That wasn't the deal" Snock growled.

"Well, we have to change them then! I need someone to press on the uterus!" Zia said. "I'll have to take care of the cloaca, I can't do it alone! I don't have the gift of obliquity!"

"Then I'll do it" the giganotosaurus said, but Zia quickly declined: "Your front legs aren't wide enough to do the job! I need someone with very large paws that can cover a large surface area!"

The dinosaurs were silent for a moment, then Snock snorted. "All right. Do as she says" he ordered the therizinosaurus, who with evident reluctance approached Zia.

"Raise your paws well and point your claws upwards, so you won't risk hurting her! And spread your fingers wide so you can cover as much surface area as possible!" Zia explained, then she touched his forearm to guide him to the right point: "You have to press..."

It was a moment: the instant in which her skin touched that of the dinosaur, the therizinosaurus emitted a high-pitched screech and his feathers bristled, and he almost jumped back. His breathing increased vigorously and Zia could hear his heart pounding. "I… I'm sorry!" she hastened to say. "It doesn't matter, just follow my instructions…"

"No, no, it's fine". The therizinosaur hastily pulled himself together. "Lead me. I don't want to hurt my companion"

Zia wasn't convinced, but she obeyed and grabbed his forearm again. She could clearly feel that the dinosaur had goosebumps and shortness of breath. She wondered what tortures he'd undergone to get to the point where he trembled in fear at just human touch, and she began to think that burning his eyes was just one of the many abuses the criminals had subjected him to. She felt bad: how could a person treat another living being like that? Didn't the criminals have an ounce of mercy? Didn't they feel like monsters as the animal agonized in pain because of them?

Although with a little effort she managed to correctly position the legs of the therizinosaurus. "Here... now press!" she said, and the animal obeyed. The skin of the dreadnoughtus buckled slightly under the pressure.

This would have pushed the uterus back, which would have caused the organ to relax. Less tension meant less blood flow. And in fact the blood loss immediately began to decrease, even if it didn't stop. Now it was Zia's turn: she had to take care of her cloaca.

The woman opened her purse and took a good dose of blood thinners; she placed them in a syringe and with it introduced them into the body of the dreadnoughtus. After that she approached the vagina and opened it, exposing the internal cloaca. Luckily sauropods, being huge, also had very large reproductive systems, so Zia could easily stick an entire arm inside her. Her cloaca was visibly tense, and if she wanted the anticoagulants to take effect she had to relax it; she so she pressed her fingers into the places she knew were most sensitive and massaged it.

It took a full fifteen minutes, but finally the bleeding stopped. Zia continued massaging for another five minutes to make sure she was all right, after which she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's done. You can stop pressing" she said to the therizinosaurus, who was finally able to detach himself from the belly of the dreadnoughtus.

The dinosaurs looked amazed. Many didn't believe what they had just seen, but they couldn't deny that the bleeding had stopped.

"Healer… is she really a healer?"

"Do humans really know how to heal?"

"Did everything really go well?"

Zia didn't notice. She walked over to Snock, who was eyeing the still unconscious dreadnoughtus. It seemed that at least this time he had made the right choice. "Human, you have my deep gratitude" he admitted; he found he resented thanking a human being, but he couldn't accuse her of breaking her word.

"Thanks, but your companion isn't out of danger yet" Zia replied. "For the moment she is stable, but an excessive effort is enough for the cloaca to tear open again. Even just standing up could reopen the wounds. I have to operate her, and besides, she has lost a lot of blood, so I also have to give her a transfusion"

"What?"

Looking at the dumbfounded expression of the giganotosaurus, Zia realized that he hadn't understood half a word of what she had said. She tried to explain herself better: "Your partner has a damaged body part, and there is no way it will heal on its own. I have to… open her belly and sew it up manually. There is no other solution but the death of her"

Snock became aggressive again: "Do you open her belly?" he growled. "So you will kill her!"

"I will use medicines to keep her from bleeding and precision tools to cut just the right places. I can assure you that I won't kill her" Zia replied.

Snock snorted deeply. The other dinosaurs seemed quite divided in opinion.

"Open her belly? She will kill her!"

"But she has shown that she really is a healer…"

"Perhaps, but what creature can survive with its belly ripped open?"

"But she said she won't kill her…"

"And you trust her?"

"I don't want our companion to die!"

Zia looked intently into her eyes at Snock, who looked rather conflicted. "Please. I want to save her as much as you do" she begged.

Snock growled deeply, then closed his eyes and shook his head violently. "Proceed" he said in a choked tone. "But let's be clear: if she dies, I'll kill you"

Zia ignored the threat: it was enough for her to have permission. Luckily she had brought all the necessary tools with her. "First I have to give her a transfusion to compensate for her blood loss. I need some of you to be willing to donate your blood to her"

The dinosaurs looked scared. "What does it mean? Should we kill any of us for her?" Snock asked.

"Not at all!" Zia hurried to explain. "I'll take a small amount of blood. The donor will feel just a little weak, like when he doesn't eat for a few days."

Snock snorted, growing restless. Even though Zia assured him there would be no death, he didn't think weakening one of his companions was a good idea. "All right. Take my blood"

"I cannot. You are a theropod, your blood is too different. I need theirs" Zia said, pointing to the few sauropods present.

The giant herbivores looked at each other in fright; no one was eager to donate her blood. Finally, a female brachiosaurus came forward; judging by the color of her body, she must have certainly been over thirty. "I'll do it" she stated.

Zia nodded and took one of her tools, a tube with two syringes on the end, to perform the transfusion. She injected one syringe into the dreadnoughtus' thigh and another into the brachiosaurus' leg. Very quickly her blood began to flow through the tube that connected them. By the time he finished, the dreadnoughtus's breathing had become more regular. "I suggest you eat something" Zia advised the brachiosaurus. "You'll regain your strength with that"

The brachiosaurus didn't look particularly tired, but she knew that after taking so much blood, her body shouldn't be very strong. It was best for her to eat something in case she needed another transfusion later.

Now came the hardest part.

To make sure the dreadnoughtus didn't wake up, Zia gave her a shot of morphine, after which she took a small knife and started cutting the skin around her ovaries. She very carefully exposed her cloaca.

She almost felt like vomiting when she saw it; she was used to seeing disgusting things, but she couldn't help but feel immense pain for the animal. Her cloaca was literally tortured. The skin tissue had been almost completely torn away exposing the sensitive muscles underneath, which were red from infection. There were even several scabs formed following the rupture of the capillaries which certainly made spawning very painful. The cloaca was also covered with pus and stinking liquid. The forced continuous production of eggs had reduced the reproductive apparatus of the dreadnoughtus to a sieve.

That wasn't going to be an easy operation. First Zia would have to remove all the scabs and blockages, then she would have to inject a good amount of medicine to relax the muscles and decrease the infections, and in the end she would have to stitch up the torn skin tissue.

It was a long and exhausting job that required her the beauty of eight hours.

*******

"How is the situation?"

Following the orders of Owen and Franklin, the agents hadn't moved from where they were, but had kept an eye on the situation at all times.

"Looks like she's sewing up the belly of the dreadnoughtus" Barry replied, passing the binoculars to Owen. He grabbed it and looked at Zia who, covered in sweat, blood and who knows what else, was putting the flaps of skin she had cut back together.

Owen, Barry, Franklin and everyone else in attendance was literally on a tightrope. Standing still and waiting was much worse than facing the situation directly, and knowing that everything could go downhill at any moment didn't help at all. By now it was already two in the afternoon; fortunately the sky was cloudy, otherwise the sun would have made the situation even more unbearable.

"That bitch. She had talked about antibiotics, not surgery" Owen grumbled.

"I guess she was forced to improvise" Franklin said. "She is right, if that animal dies the dinosaurs will be even more pissed off. And then she's like this: if she sees a creature in trouble, she can't help but help it"

"Looks like she's done" Barry pointed out. The other two immediately put the binoculars on their eyes and watched the scene. Zia had actually put away her tools and sat on the floor, clearly exhausted. The dinosaurs hadn't moved, just stared at her.

"What are they waiting for?" Franklin asked.

"They probably want to make sure the dreadnoughtus is okay" Owen said. "Basically, they wait for it to wake up"

They had to wait another half hour before the sauropod finally started moving again. Very slowly the animal's long neck began to lift and the legs moved slightly.

The dinosaurs ran to the aid of the dreadnoughtus; judging by its movements, the sauropod was still quite groggy from the anesthesia. With the support of the others it was able to get back to all fours and then, staggering slightly, it was all the way to its feet.

The dinosaurs erupted in a cacophony of gleeful screams; the little ones started running from side to side under the dreadnoughtus' paws and the other sauropods rubbed their necks on the patient's. Since it still couldn't walk very well some apatosaurs positioned themselves along its sides to support it and prevent it from falling.

"It appears that everything went well" Franklin breathed a sigh of relief. Through the binoculars he could see Zia having a conversation with Snock; the giganotosaurus didn't seem to be bubbling with joy, but neither did he have a hostile attitude. Finally the tension in the air seemed to have eased. "Should we go get her back?"

"It's no use. Look, they're coming to us" Owen said. In fact, Zia was returning accompanied by the giganotosaurus and the therizinosaurus. "Let's go at least to meet him"

Franklin and Owen stepped forward, while Barry again stayed behind to coordinate the other agents. Halfway the two groups met. There was silence for a moment, then it was Snock who spoke: "It seems we owe you some thanks. Your healer saved our comrade"

"We're happy for you" Owen said. "Do you trust us now?"

Snock let out a growl. "No, but we are willing to listen to you"

Owen nodded; the answer satisfied him. It was impossible for the dinosaurs to change their minds so quickly, not after all the abuse they had suffered, but the simple fact that they were open to dialogue was enough. "What do you want to do now? In short, where do you intend to go?"

Of course Snock knew full well what his destination was, but he had to pretend he wasn't related to Sobek, so he played dumb: "We don't know yet. We will go wherever the wind takes us, we just need to stay away from humans" he simply replied; that was the classic answer a dinosaur who knew nothing about Sobek would give.

Owen knew that now was the time. "We can help you"

"How?"

"There is a place… on another continent. A place full of your kind and where humans can't go. A short time ago peace was signed between our two peoples. There are forests, lakes, rivers and everything you need there, and it's full of dinosaurs"

"Do you expect us to believe such a story?"

Both Owen and Franklin looked at each other. It seemed that the assumptions that the authorities had matured in the previous weeks were true: these dinosaurs knew nothing about Sobek or what had happened in the rest of the world. They had rebelled completely on their own, without any outside prompting. This could have been a big problem: this time the situation had been resolved without too serious incidents, but what would have happened if that farm had been found near a town and the fire had reached it? Or worse, what if the dinosaurs had unleashed their hatred and attacked civilians? Now, more than ever, it was imperative that any illegal possession of dinosaurs be stopped, or disaster could be unleashed.

Obviously it was all an act: Snock knew very well that what the humans said was true. But dinosaurs' facial expressions were different from humans', so even if he wasn't a good actor humans would hardly have noticed the difference.

"We're not lying" Franklin said quickly. "I know it sounds absurd, but some time ago a large dinosaur, Lord Sobek, gathered all the dinosaurs still free and occupied an entire city. There were a lot of tensions, but fortunately we eventually came to an agreement. And this agreement stipulates that all captive dinosaurs must be released "

"What nonsense" the therizinosaurus growled, who leapt to lend a hand to Snock. "If indeed that is the case, then why were we still locked up?"

"The one where you were locked up was an illegal farm. The bastards who imprisoned you were what we call criminals, individuals who act outside the law. They've already been caught and you can be sure they'll be held accountable" Owen said. "I know it's hard for you to believe, but it's the truth: we're not all like them"

Snock let out a deep snort. "We want proves" he growled simply.

Franklin took out his cell phone and showed some of the satellite photos showing Sobek's great herd, after which he scrolled through some images showing the dinosaurs being put on ships to be brought back to Maakanar. Snock watched them closely and didn't say a word the whole time. "It would appear that you are speaking the truth" he said in the end; Franklin thanked that the giganotosaurus didn't know the photos could be faked, or it would have been much more difficult to convince him. "Then that's where we'll go. We will join this great pack"

"Yes… and that brings us back to the main point: we can help you" Owen said. "To reach the herd you will have to cross the entire ocean. In addition, you have no food or water and many of you are weak. We can solve this problem: we will take you to a ship and with it you will be transported overseas"

Snock considered the proposition. Indeed, without [Teleportation], he had no idea how to get back. Surely humans wouldn't have lost sight of them, so they had played that card; he had to find another way. But crossing the ocean without transportation was an impossible feat. At the same time, however, he could not afford to let his guard down. "Who guarantees me that you won't take us to a different place than the one you promise?" he asked carefully.

"Let's do it like this: we will transport you in vehicles without a roof. That way you can always see where we're headed" Franklin suggested. "And you can keep one of us with you, so you'll have a hostage if we lie to you"

The terms didn't sound bad. Snock still didn't trust her, but he couldn't think of any other options. He decided it was the best choice: if things had gone wrong, he could have noticed it in time. He still had Rambo's support even if the humans didn't know it: if they tried any dirty tricks, Snock would have been warned and would have taken the right countermeasures. "All right. We accept" he said, pointing to Zia. "The healer is tired, so now she can rest; but when we leave, she will be our hostage. So during the journey she will help to treat the other wounded of our pack"

Owen and Franklin looked at Zia; this wasn't exactly what they had hoped for. They wanted to offer one of them as a hostage. It had to be told, however, that Zia would actually have insisted on treating the other animals, so she would have been close to the dinosaurs just the same…

Seeing their uncertainty, Zia just shrugged. "There are no problems. It is fine for me"

"Then it's settled" Snock proclaimed. "When will we leave?"

"We have already contacted a transport company. They'll send trucks that we can transport you in a few hours" Franklin replied.

"Then let's rest while we wait" Snock said as he started to turn around, but then stopped: "Anyway, thanks. You're doing us a big favor"

"It's our duty" Owen replied.

The humans began to move away, but suddenly the therizinosaurus' voice stopped them: "Healer!" he yelled at Zia. "You healed our companion. Could you heal my eyes too?"

Zia bit her lip. "I'm sorry, but I can't perform miracles. There are wounds that not even modern science can heal"

"Oh… I see" the therizinosaurus grumbled, then he turned and followed Snock. Zia felt a little bad for him, but she could do nothing: there was no medicine or surgery that could fix burnt eyes.

*******

Being able to transport the dinosaurs away was by no means an easy task, not so much for the latter, who had proved to be quite cooperative (however cooperative animals abused and mistreated from an early age could be), but more so for the rest of the population Human. After loading the dinosaurs on trucks to be able to transport them to the nearest port, the police had to clear an entire highway. To complicate things there were the media, which, although kept at a distance, never missed the opportunity to get as close as possible and document the event. The policemen couldn't risk the animals getting nervous, so they did their best to keep them away from humans, but there were so many curious people that it was difficult to handle them all.

Fortunately, even the dinosaurs were patient. Every time they saw a new vehicle or a group of people approaching the convoy they became tense and grim, but that was all.

To be able to cure everyone, Zia had to constantly switch from one truck to another; there were so many patients that she didn't even know where to start. She had to clean up wounds, help with healing, treat burns and provide medicine. She used so many antibiotics that three times the convoy had to stop for more to be delivered. Luckily none of the dinosaurs were as critically ill as the female dreadnoughtus, but still their bodies were absolutely not healthy. Many of the wounds had degenerated into septicemia, some were seriously ill and feverish (especially the puppies), and others had very serious infections that were starting to affect internal organs as well. Herbivores had hairless skin that was torn in many places, with many scales that had fallen off exposing the underlying epidermis, and theropods had mangy, dirty plumage. Many dinosaurs were also bothered by ticks, mites, and other parasites that had made their way onto their bodies through carelessness.

To make matters worse, there was the trust issue. The dinosaurs were now convinced that Zia really could heal them, but it was hard for them to stay calm in her presence. Even though she was helping them, in their minds she remained one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. Although they let themselves be touched and examined, Zia could feel their extremely tight skin and hardened muscles, which certainly did not facilitate the injection of medicines.

Consequently, although the stretch they had to travel was quite short, they didn't reach the port before midnight. A huge merchant ship was already waiting for them, ready to set sail. Snock wanted to examine the ship before allowing the others to board, but after ascertaining that there was no deception he allowed the other dinosaurs to board. However, the dinosaurs refused to go down to the hold and wanted to remain on the deck of the ship, so as to always monitor the situation. This certainly did not make the job easy for the poor sailors, who did not feel at all safe with a group of dinosaurs, including many predators, positioned in the center of the ship. To avoid any accidents, the captain made sure that the dinosaurs always had food available and forbade any interaction, advising the sailors to avoid the bridge unless it was really necessary, and in case to keep at least five meters away from the gigantic animals.

The ship sailed the next day followed by several others, also carrying dinosaurs from other (this time legal) farms. Thus began a two-week sea voyage. At dawn on the fifteenth day, the coast finally became visible on the horizon, and some shadows undoubtedly belonging to dinosaurs could be seen on it.