The heavy rain fell upon the canopy of leaves that covered the dense forest. The small village settled in for a night as the storm raged above them while lightning streaked across the sky and thunder cracked in answer.
A light shone through the darkness, highlighting a doorframe of a bar and flickered as the shadows showed the passage of its patrons walk by. Inside the sound of music and laughter could be heard as people gathered to wait out the storm.
The doors opened and a man entered.
He wore a faded brown fedora and a similarly faded brown greatcoat which were darkened by the rain and splattered with mud. He calmly removed his coat and folded it in his arms then walked up to the bar and placed the coat upon it.
The barman approached him.
"Scotch. Neat"
The man said as he removed his hat and delicately placed it upon the coat. He ran a hand over his bald head as a glass was placed in front of him. He watched the barman pour and fill the glass halfway then raised his hand.
"That's enough."
The barman nodded and began to move away.
"Leave the bottle."
The barman felt like he should object but the piercing gaze of the newcomer made him feel like he was staring into the eyes of a predator, and he had been in the business long enough to know not to argue with a man with a look like that in his eye. He put the bottle beside the glass then moved away.
The man turned his gaze from the barman to the glass and stared at it as if he were lost in thought for a good three minutes. At last he reached out and took the glass in his hand.
"To old friends."
He said then downed the drink in one.
He scratched at the full beard upon his face and returned the empty glass to the bar top then began to fill it anew from the bottle.
The sounds of the bar washed over him. A roar of sound without purpose, conversations lost in the din of dozens of people lost in their own conversations. Then he picked up a word that caught his interest.
"Dinosaurs! No seriously! I was there! Well, not there, there, but on an island with them. Dinosaurs! Real as real! Just like out of a book!"
"I don't believe it Nick. Everyone knows they're extinct. I bet they were just robots or something. You know? Like Disney does."
"No, I'm telling you they were living breathing Dinosaurs. I saw them, touched them even! I even had this T-Rex in my arms."
"Ha! Now I know you're having me on! You'd have to have been fifty feet tall to do that."
"Not if it was a baby, and it was! It was this baby T-rex, some hunters had broken its leg to lure out the mother or something, but I couldn't let that happen. I mean, it was just a helpless animal, so I got it out of there and back to camp so it could be treated. I saved its life!"
The man looked across the bar towards the group.
A couple of five or six men sat around a table playing cards – he didn't care to count them all – but one stood out, a face he knew, a man he had been looking for. He listened to them argue a bit longer, the words themselves lost in the ether as he focused on the man comparing him against his memory to be sure.
He downed a second shot of scotch then arose from his seat and approached the men.
"I believe you."
The group looked up at this newcomer.
"What'd he say?"
"You believe what?"
"Who is this guy anyway?"
The bald-headed bearded man kept his gaze locked upon Nick and ignored his friend.
"Dinosaurs. I believe you. I know they're alive."
Nick turned to his friends with a shout of triumph
"You see! He'll back me up! He knows I'm telling the truth!"
Turning away from the group he addressed the newcomer.
"So what's your story friend?"
He asked.
The penetrating gazed bored full force upon the sitting man as the silence stretched for what seemed like forever.
"You really don't remember?"
"…I can't say I do."
"It's taken a long time and a lot of effort to find you, but there is a debt to be paid and I intend to see it through."
"Sorry man, I think you've got the wrong guy. I don't know you."
"Oh but you do. I never forget a face Mr Van Owen, and I have particular reason to remember yours. You killed a good friend of mine and left me to die on Isla Sorna."
Nick froze. A cold feeling fell upon him. He looked at the man closer but still struggled to place him.
"…I don't know what you're talking about."
"You destroyed our camp and all of our equipment, stranding us on that island. You changed the predators hunting pattern by moving its young destroying your own camp and getting your own people killed. You stole my bullets and left me all but defenceless while were we being hunted, and your actions and their consequences caused the death of my friend Ajay, as well as a lot of other people who did not deserve to die that way."
The bar fell silent around them.
"I was on that island with you and I saved your life, and I've regretted it ever since. I swore that I would not stop until I had hunted you down. There is a debt to be paid, and it is overdue, but its time has come."
"…wait, now I remember you. You were that hunter who wanted the T-rex as a trophy!"
Nick Van Owen looked up at the man, Roland Tembo, and smirked.
"How that'd go for you?"
The punch came so fast that Van Owen couldn't react. He flew back off his chair and sprawled on the floor.
"About as well as this will go for you."
Tembo rolled his shoulders and gave a slight twitch of his head as Van Owen stood up.
"That's a cheap shot right there."
"If anyone would recognize one it would be you."
"You've got to work on your banter man, it's weak as hell."
"Actions speak louder than words Mr Van Owen, and I am a man of action."
"Yeah…well…so am I!"
Van Owen launched himself at Tembo seeking to take him by surprise but Tembo half-turned and guided Van Owen head first into the bar.
Van Owen clutched his head as he huddled over in pain.
"Predictable."
Tembo said.
"All too predictable."
"You talk too much."
Van Owen groaned as he got to his feet.
"I thought you were a man of action."
He said as he threw a punch blind, sweeping round into his blind spot only to hit air.
A fist buried itself into Van Owen's sternum, forcing him to double over and bringing his forehead to rest on Tembo's shoulder.
"You'll have to forgive me if I take the time to enjoy this. I have waited a long time after all."
Tembo drew his fist back then buried it once more in Van Owen's mid-section before using that arm to stand the man upright. He looked into the eco-warriors eyes.
"This is for Ajay."
The left hand of Tembo crunched into Van Owen's nose, breaking it instantly. Van Owen fell back against the bar clutching at his face and crying out in pain.
"This is for Stark, bastard though he was."
Tembo's right elbow crashed into Van Owen's cheek, guided by Tembo's left hand dragging Van Owen down to meet, fracturing the cheekbone upon impact.
"This is for everyone else who died because of you."
Tembo's knee rose up to smash into Van Owen's jaw as his hand guide the man into the knee, shattering the jawbone at the point of contact
The hunter picked the man up before he could sprawl in agony on the floor and looked directly into his eyes again.
"And this, this is for me."
Tembo right hand drew back then let it fly, striking Van Owen above his eye and sending him sprawling to the floor.
The bar had watched all this unfold in silence, too stunned, perhaps to act, but all at once it came alive again as Van Owen's companions rushed to check on him. None thought to challenge Tembo.
The hunter returned to the bar, drank the last of his scotch then collected his hat and coat and placed a bag of coins upon the bar.
"To cover the damage, and the scotch."
He told the barman who simply nodded and took the bag without question
"Wait."
A slightly garbled voice halted him.
"Thish, thish ishn't over. I, I'm nof done"
Van Owen had struggled to his feet and was supported but one of his companions. Tembo regarded him for a moment before he turned away unimpressed.
"We are done, Mr Van Owen. I have no desire to take this any further. There might be some who would say you got off lightly but I have spent enough time in the company of death, and at least one of us values human life."
Tembo donned his hat and coat and walked out into the rain.