A/N: Howdy! I don't own Jurassic Park or InGen *sniff*. Just the OCs (e.g. Anna, Fitzroy, Sharifa and Maggie)

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! I went to Devon for a bit while I've been gone and the wi-fi connection was pretty grim so I've been able to get a decent amount of writing done, including some stuff based on what I've been doing. Also, this chapter has a small reference to the book. I'm making this chapter nice and long-ish to make up for the crummy wait.

Azura Soul Reaver: I completely agree with you

Blackangel150: That's a good idea, I like it… I think I'll use that, thanks!

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Guest: I'm just using the stuff from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. At least two of them were found to be the same but the name had already caught on, according to the book

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Chapter Six: Back to the Island

Sharifa's POV

It's been about a week since Anna McNeil left and the pack seriously misses her – especially Maggie. They didn't have much bonding time but Maggie really latched onto Anna, much as a daughter would latch on to her mother. I've been looking after her but I'm not convinced she wants to know… she keeps asking me where Anna is; when she's gonna be back.

Roy isn't too amused, either. He keeps sulking. Everyone else thinks he's missing Anna too but I talked to him about it. The last thing he said to his father was a promise to keep her safe. And like he said, it's hard to do that when she's not here.

Anna's POV

"You're fine," the doctor had said. "You just need a good shower, some food, water and rest. Don't worry about it. Take a holiday. Costa Rica's a good place for that. You can go to a beach and spend all day there with no-one in sight, if you know where to go."

I sighed but agreed and Muldoon said, "No problem." Then when we got outside he added, "You're not to return to work until you're all better. You're staying with the family of a worker so we'll know if you try sneaking off."

Who does that jerk think he is, my dad or sommat? Geez. What a Denis Nedry.

"I'll get your bags sent over when they bring the chopper to pick me up," Mull told me. I gave him a hand sign behind his back which I doubt even Beta Sharifa would have approved of. If she knew what it meant, anyway.

He showed me to a small house where one of the workers lived. They didn't have much, but I've never been to a Costa Rican house before so I have no idea whether Mull was being cheap or not. I didn't know the worker's name but his mother, father and little siblings all lived there with him and there wasn't much room.

My bed was made up on the sofa but I didn't mind. It was nice. I could turn the blankets into something like a nest and play forts with his eight-year-old sister and two-year-old brother. They were really sweet to me.

Still, I couldn't help missing Alpha Roy and Beta Sharifa. They were so cool. I know I said and thought all those bad things at first but they've changed by mind about raptors.

Then, about a week after they took me away from the raptors and sent me on "holiday", I decided to go down to one of the beaches. I told the worker's mother I was going out and got a local from town to drop me off on a beach. Looking up and down, it curved round beautifully, a field of white-gold sand and glistening waves on the water. The beach was completely empty and the waves crashed like they had done that time my family had visited Devon and Cornwall. Large but not tidal; just right for surfing.

I walked down the beach in my sandals and thin knee- and elbow- length summer dress and even through the thick soles my feet felt the heat of the sand. Shade would have been good, but I wanted to go in the sea.

The water was cooler than the air and cold compared to the sand, but still it was wonderfully warm. I stood ankle-deep in the water for a moment as it washed sand around my feet and I felt the sand building up against my heels. I ventured in a little deeper, jumping over the waves for fun as they washed in, shallow from the shelf of sand and the low tide.

When the water was about knee-deep I stumbled and fell on my butt as a wave washed towards me, pushing me backwards slightly. I hadn't noticed that there was a bit of a drop-off and I struggled to my feet, soaked. No problem, though. A short walk and the sun would dry me –

I could see the island from here, I suddenly realised. Far off in the distance, a beautiful, inviting blue mountain, and I was hit by another wave, one formed of complete madness; a wave that washed over my mind with a sudden urge to swim over there and meet the Pack again.

Fully clothed, I stepped carefully down the drop-off and started walking into the waves.

About waist-deep a wave pushed me backwards. When I was chest-deep a wave came at me. I turned my body sideways and it hit me in the breast. Not the most pleasant feeling.

I was shoulder-deep when it started getting tough. The first really big wave began to peak and I found myself being dragged towards it. As it started to peak it was taller than Alpha Roy. Obviously I can't breathe underwater so I threw my head back. I was swept backwards and got a stream of salty water straight up my nose. I nearly choked and I had been pushed closer to the beach, like it didn't want me to leave, but every time I failed it made me feel more frantic.

I guess you're wondering at what point I realised this was all crazy? That I shouldn't be doing this, because it was so painfully stupid? Well, here's the thing…

I didn't. I actually made it into open sea, not just beach, and I kept going. And going, and going, and going. Like I said: stupid, right? It was a long swim and me really just being a little kid, I was starting to ache, and I was getting hungry. And there were probably sharks out there too, but I vaguely remembered something about punching sharks on the nose if they attacked you. I guess sometimes those late-night documentaries come in useful.

It was that single-minded stupidity, the kind where you get an idea and you can't not go for it, which pushed me all the way out to the island. It was dark and I was tired and hungry when I arrived. When my feet hit the sandy ground of one of the island's beaches, I stumbled. I'd been swimming all day and I wasn't used to this; as soon as I had a solid footing again I fell on my face in the water with the hugest splash you'd ever seen or heard. Another mouth and nose full of saltwater. Lovely.

I dragged myself up the beach and found a huge, warm, flat rock, which I stretched out on. I fell asleep pretty quickly.

If anybody came to look for me while I was out cold, I didn't notice. I was too asleep to notice much of anything until I woke up the next morning, and that was only because a huge storm was hitting and one of the waves nearly drowned me and tried to drag me off the rock.

I managed to get myself off the beach while still choking on salt water, somehow, and stumbled into the underbrush edging a forest.

Stumbled literally, I mean. I tripped over what looked like a tunnel entrance.