The procompsagnathus bounded through the jungle in a panic. Over roots and fallen branches it jumped, swerved and dodged, chirping madly in alarm as it did. Behind it, the thundering footsteps of the most dangerous creature to have ever walked the planet quickly followed...

Hamada and his team drew to a halt. Hamada saw a little green procompsagnathus dart away into the bushes. He quickly turned his attention to the behemoth to the right of him. A female triceratops. Sub adult. 'Bianca,' they'd been calling her. The great beast was browsing but quickly reacted to the humans' presence by shifting her great head towards them, dark, beady eyes staring.

Hamada pointed. They raised their guns.

The triceratops suddenly became agitated. She opened her beak, dropping the ferns she'd been grazing on, and turned to face these strange creatures, honking angrily.

The humans fired.

Several darts pricked into the animal's skin. One of them, hit the hard, pebbled skin and fell off. The trike did not notice. She threw back her head and bellowed, and then broke into a run, head low, horns pointed right at them.

"Scatter!" Hamada barked. He and his team sprinted for cover. Hamada jumped and threw his arms up, clamping his fingers around a tree branch. Straining, he hoisted himself up. He looked down and saw most of his team had reached safety as well. One or two of them were still on the ground. Luckily, at that moment, the injection did its trick. The trike reeled, as if suddenly fatigued, and dropped her massive head. Then she toppled over onto her side. Her great stomach moved up and down in great breaths.

Hamada let out a sigh of relief and dropped down from the tree. He walked over to the trike and plaintively stroked her. Then he raised his arm to his mouth and said, "Hoskins, we have her. Send them in."

A few minutes later the chopper was there to transport the animal away. Hamada watched them load her into the crate, then watched as the chopper lifted her into the sky and took her away over the mountains. Turning, he said, "Come on, men. There's more to get."

Back at headquarters, Hoskins observed the containment process on the giant plasma screen. He was a paunchy man, firm, took everything with grave seriousness. Especially this.

He raised his arm to his mouth and said into the little device he had strapped around his wrist, "Hamada. Watch out, you have three lifeforms zoning in on your location."

Hamada raised his arm, signaling for his men to stop. The jungle around them had fallen silent, still. Nothing stirred, not even the birds. Hamada made a quick gesture with his hand. His team arranged themselves in into a defensive position. Hamada dropped his tranquilizer, reached into his belt and pulled out a submachine gun.

The seconds ticked by tensely. Hamada scanned the treeline, alert for the slightest hint of movement.

The attack came suddenly from all sides. Three horse-sized dinosaurs with orange-and-black tiger stripes jumped out of the bushes and charged the humans, moving so fast they appeared as orange blurs. Hamada trained his machine gun on the closest animal and fired. The gun bucked in his hands. A terrifying scream ripped through the air, and the target Hamada had been aiming for suddenly dropped to the ground, blood oozing out of many holes in its pebbled skin. Hamada turned, and saw the other two creatures were also dead. "Well done, team," he said.

Myers, a dark-haired woman, looked frazzled. "That was way too close," she gasped.

"Aye," Hamada said. "But that's not the worst of it. Wait till we get to the raptors."

"Give me a shot of the trike pen." Hoskins was in the control room. Lowery, one of the techies, typed some buttons and an image flashed up on the screen. It showed the helicopter carefully lowering the trike into her new home.

"Zoom in," Hoskins ordered. Lowery typed more buttons, and the screen enhanced. Hoskins watched tensely as the crate touched solid ground. Then the cupping detached, and the helicopter flew away.

"She'll be awake in a couple hours," Lowery said.

Hoskins nodded. "Now I have to see to the Pachy's. Get me a feed."

Hamada and his team moved silently and swiftly through the jungle.

"Grady," Hamada said, calling the young, ginger-haired member. Owen Grady ran up. "Yes, sir?"

"Run on ahead and see what you can see," Hamada instructed him.

"But Craig's the best sprinter," Owen said.

Hamada wasn't amused.

"Sorry," Owen said. "Just kidding."

He ran on ahead, charging up a small hill. By the end of it was he was panting, breathless, but the view was well worth it. He had a scenic shot of the whole landscape. Unable to resist, he pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.

"Grady!" Hamada called from bellow. "Now's not the time!"

"Sorry, sir!" Owen called down. He shoved his phone back into his pocket. "I can see the whole valley! Looks like there's some stegos down there!" he reported.

He took a step forward, and the ground came loose under his foot. He tried to catch himself, but his fingers slipped. He pitched forward and landed hard on his right hand, sending an explosion of pain up his arm. He tumbled loosely head over heel, unable to stop his descent.

Then he was falling through darkness. He landed heavily on his right shoulder, sending more pain through his body. Grunting, moaning, he rolled onto his back. He could see the blue sky through tangled roots. He was underground! He got to his feet; "Guys, I'm down here! Help!" he called, hoping his team had seen the accident.

A sound to his right. He wheeled toward it, pulling his gun out. His heart began to pound; what was it? A raptor? Oh, please don't let it be a raptor...

It was a raptor. But not an adult one; a little baby. It was tiny, less than a foot tall. It pounced forward on shaky legs, bobbing its head like a chicken. It squealed at Owen. Owen smiled, and lowered his gun. Cute.

Then he had a thought. If the baby was here, mom couldn't be far behind. It's too dark to see. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He swiped up and tapped the flashlight icon. Light filled the cavernous space. He shined the light around, and settled on a lump in the far corner. The lump was an adult raptor, but it wasn't moving. Three little baby raptors hoped around and on the adult, chirping shrilly. The adult did not move. Owen noticed that the creature's flank was scarlet red.

"Awe," he said. He felt bad for the infants.

"Grady?" Hamada! Owen ran back to the hole. "There you are!" he exclaimed. "What took so long?"

"You're well hidden," Hamada said. "What've you found? What's that chirping?"

"Little baby raptors," Owen said. "Three of them. Looks like mom's dead."

"Hmm," Hamada said. "I'd better report this to Hoskins."

"Uh, could you get me outta here?" Owen asked.

"We need a rope," Austin, one of the troopers, said.

"I've got one," Craig said.

"Hold on a minute." Hamada came back. "Hoskins says he wants the babies."

"Oh great," Owen said.

"Think you can get them?" Hamada asked.

Owen glanced at the babies. "They're pretty determined to stay with mom," he said.

"Determined or not, we have orders," Hamada said.

Owen sighed and went over to the babies. All three hissed at him simultaneously.

"Alright then," he said, "if that's the way it's gonna be, you leave me no choice." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of beef jerky. He opened the packet and pulled a piece of jerky out. He held it out to the babies.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked.

One of the baby's hobbled toward him. It sniffed the piece of jerky, inspecting it, before snapping it up. Owen smiled. "I got more," he said, and pulled out the rest of his jerky, and fed it to the babies. He laughed.

"What are you doing down there?" Myers called.

"Making friends," Owen replied.

"What?"

"Grady, come off it!" Hamada said. "We have lots more dinosaurs to track."

"How am I supposed to catch them?" Owen asked.

"I'm not sure," the brutish man replied. "Can you maybe just grab them?"

"Not without losing a finger. Or three."

At that moment there was a long snarling coming from somewhere in the darkness. Owen scrambled to his feet. "There's something in here!" he called. "Throw the rope down!"

The rope landed next to him. Owen grabbed it and started climbing up. He gasped with relief when he reached the top. "I half expected something to take my legs," he said.

"There must be more raptors down there," Hamada said. "I'll report this to Hoskins."