I knew I wasn't becoming schizophrenic; I spotted the shadow again. And it looked like there was more than one outside. I started to fidget as I racked my brain for a plan. I'd long ago dropped my taser and a small pocket knife is no match for one, let alone multiple, raptors.
I could exit out from behind the building by climbing out a window using the smoke canisters for cover. I moved as quietly as I could toward the back of the building. It was going to be quite a jump, judging from the number of stairs I had walked up earlier.
Finding a suitable window was easy, since all the glass had long ago been broken away. Getting out was the hard part. Removing two of the canisters from my bag, I stuffed one into each pocket on my shorts, hoping they won't fall out.
Stepping out onto the window sill I caught sight of a pipe. In the movies everyone escaped by climbing down the pipe. But in real life is that really possible? A crash coming from somewhere in the building decided for me. I grabbed onto the pipe, trying not to think about it breaking and ending up with a broken back.
With a deep breath I began to lower myself downwards, slowly but with a sense of urgency. Just lower one foot, then an arm and get a grip on the metal. And repeat with the other foot. Thinking it like it was a process made it easier. Once I was close enough to the ground I jumped off and landed a little wobbly on my feet.
I turned and ran for cover among the trees. Throwing a quick glance over my shoulder, I caught sight of a raptor emerging from the window. It let out a ferocious roar as it leaped out from the window effortlessly, followed by another two raptors.
Fresh fear propelled me forward. Once I hit the trees I kept going knowing the raptors were gaining on me. One of them leaped, jaws wide open, nipping me in sole of my sneakers. Though it wasn't hard enough to hurt me, the momentum and fear of it being so close, hurled me toward the ground, promptly knocking the wind out of me.
I rose to my feet quickly to find all three raptors slowing circling me, occasionally growling and snapping their jaws at me. And when they didn't break formation to dismember me, I knew that they were well aware I had nowhere to run. Slowly reaching my hands into my pocket, I fingered one of the gas canisters, establishing a good grip on it before pulling it out quickly and yanking out the tab to release the gas. As the same moment, two of the raptors lunged for me as I threw myself to the side, as they knocked heads. Gas was pouring out from the first canister as I pulled the second one out.
The gas made everything hard to see as the raptors moaned and tried to get away. My eyes were stinging and a racking cough filled me. It was getting hard to breath as the smoke filled my lungs. Stumbling away from the smoke I used my sleeve to act as a filter. Once out of sight of the smoke and I could breath again, I broke out into a half run, half jog, wanting to put as much distance in between the raptors and me as possible.
XXX
An hour or so later, when I had slowed to a walk, I tripped out of exhaustion and clumsiness. Sprawling head over heels down a slanted surface I came to an abrupt stop, with a sharp pain in my side. I could feel that I fell on something sharp. Pushing myself up on my elbow, I picked up what I landed on, holding it up to the sunlight. It was a claw, not unlike the ones found on a velociraptor.
Glancing away from the raised claw and sunlight, I laid eyes on a nightmare come alive.
"No, it can't be!"
I stared in disbelief. I rummaged through my backpack, tossing objects out until I found what I was looking for. The map.
Fingering it to avoid error and using my compass, I groaned in irritation and let myself fall backward and stared at the leaves of the trees above me.
The workers village was all but gone. All that remained were destroyed and half rotting ruins. Damaged buildings littered the area, falling apart in the bright sunlight. There was no way anything over here was working. It looked like a T-Rex used it for a playground, and invited all it's friends to come and join in on the fun.
I ran my left hand through my hair and slowly got up, and dumped everything back into my backpack. I pocketed the raptor claw and started to make my way back to the truck.
XXX
When I woke up, back in cool metal of the supply truck, I sighed. I didn't know what I was expecting. That when I woke up, I'd find that everything that happened to me in the past few days was all a very realistic dream.
I'd rather have nightmares for the rest of my life, than spend another hour on this island alone, with only the stupid overgrown roots and compys to keep me company.
