Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 576: The Allosaurus

Continuing to walk through the jungle, Psycho eventually crouched down near a print half sunk into mud, his fingertips hovering just above it as if he could taste the shape.

"That’s a big one," he announced, pleased.

Aerenyx tilted his head. "Four tons. Herbivore."

"Still big," Psycho insisted. "Still fun to take down."

But Sera didn’t slow down.

She wasn’t hunting the biggest thing because she could. She was hunting what made sense, and she liked that she could choose practicality without it feeling like compromise.

After all, she way dying to see how hard it was to take down a T-Rex, but a lot of that meat would go to waste, and that seemed like... well... a waste.

The air thickened as they reached a river cut.

The water moved slowly, brown-green and steaming, and insects hovered above it in swarms that looked like living smoke. Huge dragonfly-like things skimmed the surface, wings flashing iridescent.

Psycho watched one pass and made a thoughtful noise. "If that lands on me, I’m freezing the entire river."

Aerenyx glanced at him. "That will waste the ecosystem."

Psycho blinked. "You just said ecosystem like you’re the narrator in a nature documentary. Come on... say the word ’penguin’ so we can all have a laugh."

Caerwyn murmured, "He’s trying to be domesticated."

Aerenyx didn’t react. "I am being pragmatic."

Sera stepped closer to the water and watched something ripple beneath the surface.

A long shape moved, slow and deliberate, and then vanished again like it didn’t care about her attention. She could have gone in after it if she wanted.

But she didn’t.

She liked knowing she could choose restraint without anyone mistaking it for weakness.

Ashkar’s hand slid down to her fingers, lacing them together without ceremony.

When she looked at him, his gaze held steady.

"You’re enjoying yourself," he said.

"I’m deciding what kind of world I want," she replied.

Psycho made a dramatic gagging sound. "That was almost sentimental."

Sera smiled sweetly at him. "Try not to cry. I know you need a few more centuries to be big enough to talk about your emotions."

He put a hand over his heart. "Hey! I object! I’m the most emotional one here."

Caerwyn snorted. "That’s because you mistake obsession for emotion."

Psycho’s eyes flashed for a second as his smile dropped. "Careful, Storm Boy."

Sera stepped between them without even trying, not stopping the argument but redirecting it with her presence.

The men settled immediately, the tension turning playful instead of sharp. It was another thing the jungle had learned about them.

They didn’t fracture.

They flexed.

By early afternoon, they found what she wanted.

It was a mid-sized predator, built like a nightmare, armored and fast enough to make things interesting without being wasteful. It was stalking something smaller through a patch of dense ferns, body low, head swinging.

An allosaurus. It was a distant cousin of the T-Rex, built more for speed than the whole apex predator, but they had the teeth to play with the big boys. Sera wasn’t going to bully any of the poor herbivores if she could get away with it.

It just seemed mean... like bringing a tank to a knife fight.

She watched it for a moment, evaluating its movements.

Psycho leaned in close beside her, voice low. "Permission to be annoying?"

Sera didn’t look at him. "Always."

He grinned.

Then he stepped out into the open and clapped once, loud enough to startle birds from the canopy. The predator snapped its head toward him, its eyes narrowing on the much shorter human.

"Hi," Psycho waved, a bright smile on his face. "Find anything good to eat?"

The dinosaur lunged toward him.

Psycho laughed and dodged, moving with exaggerated ease, making a game of it while the creature tore through the plants like a battering ram. Ice flashed briefly beneath its feet—not enough to freeze it, just enough to make it slip a bit.

Ashkar moved next, not rushed.

Heat rolled out in a controlled wave that cut off the predator’s escape route without scorching the foliage. The animal hesitated, caught between threats it didn’t understand and its instincts screaming to run away.

Caerwyn’s wind struck like a hand, slamming into the predator’s side and forcing it to turn.

Aerenyx ended it cleanly.

He didn’t revel. He didn’t posture.

He simply stepped in, severed what mattered, and stepped back again as the animal collapsed. The jungle stilled for a heartbeat.

Then the world continued.

Sera exhaled slowly, satisfied.

Psycho crouched beside the carcass and patted it like it had been a good sport. "You tried. I give you an ’A’ for effort."

Sera snorted. "Don’t encourage it."

Ashkar’s hand returned to her waist as if it had never left, fingers settling with quiet certainty.

"This will feed us for days," he said.

Sera nodded. "Good."

Processing was efficient.

They worked like a unit without needing to talk about it, the rhythm already established through weeks of living in this new world. Blood went into the soil, into the river, into life that would keep cycling whether they were here or not.

Sera didn’t get her hands dirty.

Not because she couldn’t but because she liked watching them do it, liked the unspoken language of competence and devotion that wrapped around her like a cloak.

Not to mention she had enough of ripping people’s throats out. It was much more civilized to eath the raw meat with a knife and fork at the dining room table.

Psycho finished first, of course, because he treated labor like a competition.

He wiped his hands and sauntered back to her with a grin that promised trouble. "So," he said, "since I did all the hard work, you owe me a kiss."

Caerwyn scoffed. "You did none of the hard work."

Psycho shrugged. "I emotionally supported the murder."

Sera stepped closer, caught Psycho’s collar, and pulled him down just enough to press a quick kiss to his mouth.

Psycho froze for half a second, then he smiled like the sun had just risen for him personally. "See?" he said smugly. "She appreciates me."

Sera released him and turned her attention back to the jungle.

The light was starting to disappear into the jungle, but Sera wasn’t quite ready to be done.

She wanted to go to the ruined city to see if she could find more books, or some scented candles. Something along those lines.

"We’re going to the ruins," she decided.

Ashkar’s eyebrows lifted. "For what."

Sera smiled. "For fun."

Caerwyn sighed. "Of course we are."