"We need to get to that Cera, guys," Shane said as soon as the large dinosaur disappeared, even though he was currently wondering just how. A large predator like that was just plain dangerous. It was behaving very abnormally. The stagger, the strange expression in its eyes… all very bad signs. And the fact that Eve couldn't hear it was worst of all.

Owen asked the logical question, "Eve, has there ever been some animals you couldn't hear? What if this is one of them?"

Eve shook her head, "I can understand every dinosaur here. Same goes for mammals and reptiles and birds. Fish are...hard. And they don't seem to say a whole lot anyway. Point is, dinosaurs are understood by me just as well as I understand you talking. Even if you switch to Spanish, I will still understand you. Does that make sense?"

He nodded then sighed. "Shane, what does this look like to you? I've never seen this behaviour before." He thought back carefully on his experience at Jurassic World, but was coming up empty. Sometimes the animals would do stupid things, but this was definitely something odd.

The veterinarian looked at Owen then shook his own head, "I think it's something neurological. Just the way he staggers and tilts his head. I just hope it's just a one off." Now he turned to Eve again and asked her, "Have you seen him in the last while? As in not sick?"

She frowned at the question, but replied, "Um, not really. They're actually on the shy side. Like to feed on the other side of the island. They don't like bumping into the Rexes. So I guess this… neurological? Is that what you said? Anyways, this issue likely caused this blatant ignorance of territory boundaries. Usually the predators stick to them pretty hard."

Broke Fang purred softly and Eve turned to her. She rubbed the raptor's head in a way that made everyone stare at how comfortable she was with such a dangerous creature. But Eve turned back to them and translated, "She's going to go with the pack and territory mark, just to make sure. We might go along and see if we can find this dinosaur. And just hope it's just him."

That was agreeable to the team, and they soon got their stuff organized after a quick breakfast. Broke Fang left with the rest of the pack, leaving the humans behind. The pack would start on one end and work their way around their border. The team, not having the speed and swiftness of raptors, would see if they could make their way to where the Ceratosaurus had gone. Eve led the way in that direction after checking with the raptors and head bumping them all to be careful. To be safe, Snapp stayed behind with the young ones and the eggs.

Eve watched Silver Face disappear before sighing and leading off her own group. They trekked for some time, watching for any signs of the sick Cera. There were a few broken trees that were made by a large dinosaur, and the Stones were quick to point those out. Owen frowned and agreed with Eve, "Ceras are shy, and they like to be as unobtrusive as possible. This one is clearly… not right in the head."

Eve had to smile briefly at that before turning her attention back to her task. They explored a little bit, and crossed the Brach Meadow. She stopped long enough to ask Momma, Hey, did you see a weird Spike Face pass this way? He's sick and we're trying to find him.

The kindly Brachiosaur took a good look around but shook her head, No, little one, though I did hear a strange roaring. It came from that way. She pointed her head in the direction she had heard it.

Thanks, Momma. We'll definitely check that out right away, Eve replied with a smile. Then she passed along Shane's warning, Be careful. If you see anyone acting odd, let us know. We hope it's just him that's sick.

Momma grunted in agreement, and promised she would watch. That wouldn't be too difficult at her height. She would keep a good look out. She liked Eve, very much, and was happy to see humans on the island again, as long as they were nice, of course. She did remember that time when the dinosaurs were hunted, and some put in cages. Momma herself wasn't bothered with, for she was far too large. But she hadn't liked seeing the activities going on. She liked this team, however, and again purred happily at them.

Eve grinned up at her, glad to have the gentle dinosaur on their side. Then she led the way past the meadow and to the other side of the valley. She looked at the water and cocked her head. Was it a lake or a pond? It seemed to small for one and too large for the other. Shaking her head at herself for getting distracted over such a small mundane detail that meant nothing in the long run, Eve glanced back at the team. Seeing that they were all fine, she now went straight to the large ginkgo tree that marked one of the borders of the territories.

Owen watched as Eve looked around carefully and a bit nervously. It wasn't often she was on this side. The Rex and raptors, Eve got along with just fine. The Ceras were loners, and never bothered her. It was the Spinosaurus that was incredibly cranky. Luckily, he liked water best and tended to stay close to the ocean and hunted along there with the tides. It was still a risk, but a sick dinosaur with an unknown disease was worth said risk.

The team finally found tracks that were large enough and erratic enough to be the Cera's. They started following that, wondering what they'd find at the end of it. They saw evidence that he had crashed into a few trees… Shane wondered if it was going blind, perhaps… and also noticed the tracks tended to curve off the left. This was common with a head tilt; often the animal would tend to turn one way or the other, seeming unable to go the other. The sooner they found him, the better for all involved.

A scream came from Emma as she tripped on something. Everyone froze and stared at her, baffled as she started to laugh. "Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to scare you all. Look what I found though!" She pointed at the offended small animal that hurried off. Owen smiled and shook his head. He'd forgotten the small Microceratops they had introduced. They were like very, very small Triceratops, but with stubs instead of horns. Very cute, actually. And very harmless. Emma flushed with embarrassment, "Sorry again! It was lying down and I thought it was just a rock. It moved when I bumped into it. And I offended it, the poor thing!"

They shared a chuckled at her expense… it had been funny after all, then moved on. There were a few roars ahead, but nothing too close or threatening enough to worry. But they did not hear the strange roar of the sick Cera. Could he be down already? That made them hurry. At last, Eve found a clearing and looked around carefully. It was empty, but looks could always be deceiving.

She stared around a very long time, immobile, using her eyes and ears, both the inner and outer ones to decide whether it was safe to move. She heard nothing except the squeaks of small animals. Relaxing slightly, Eve stepped into view, but stopped again to look around again. One more step, then another, then she decided that there really was no one here. The team followed her carefully, trusting her to know if there was danger or not. They had hiked down to the other side when suddenly there was a great roar. Eve spun around with a sharp breath, "Dammit, I didn't think he would be here!"

Owen was quick to snap, "Everyone freeze!" His warning was unneeded, as the freeze reflex took over everyone. Only Eve moved forward in curiosity and wariness. Was it...she peered through the leafy fronds and cursed. Yes, it was Redsail. The male Spinosaurus. She could just see the reddish waving sail. Actually, didn't it look redder than usual? Yeah, it did. Quickly, Eve backed up until she accidentally backed into Kyle, who happened to be behind her. In a low murmur, she said, "It's the Spinosaurus. He's...in rut."

Kyle snapped up his head. If he was like a predator version of an elk… this could be bad. An stag or buffalo, or anything like that would attack anything at a moment's provocation. Or even without. In a whisper, he asked, "Can he be… reasoned with?"

Shrugging, Eve replied, "I've never tried to reason with a large predatorial dinosaur full of raging testosterone. Always figured that was a bad idea."

Emma couldn't help the snort, but had to agree. That would indeed be a bad idea. Her question was, "Can we get around him? In one piece?"

Flipping her black hair over one shoulder, wincing as she caught a snag, Eve considered their position in relation to Redsail. She checked the wind and decided he was walking off to the west, into the wind. That made sense… he was looking for females. The trouble was, Eve wasn't sure if there actually were other females. She had rarely been on this side of the island. She could be wrong. But if there weren't...he'd stay mad. The fact remained that they had to get around him. Eve could try to tiptoe them to the right, but a glance there told her there were an awful lot of bushes. It would just take one snap to get Redsail's attention.

This was verified immediately when Shane moved one step over to balance his weight better. He stepped on a small dry stick. The resulting snap echoed louder than he thought even possible. The large Spinosaurus swung his head over in their direction, a deep growl emanating from his throat.

"Fuck it, just run! That way!" Eve shoved at the offending Shane. The team didn't need a second order and booked it. But she didn't follow them. Instead, she acted as a lame dinosaur and broke away from the group, trying to get Redsail's notice. It worked, as he looked more in her direction than the retreating humans. Now he roared loudly and stomped in her direction. Eve stood still for one moment, seeing if her gift would work at all, Redsail? It's me, Eve. I'm a friend. Not something to eat.

YOU NOT MATE. YOU ENEMY. I EAT! I WANT MATE.

Well, that answered a whole lot of questions. Redsail was not going to listen to reason at this time. Therefore...run. Eve wheeled and ran in a different direction than the team, for she knew she could catch up to them later. The trouble was, where would she run? Some place small. She needed a small place. He had a long snout though, so that gave him an advantage over… a rex, for example. Crap, crap, crap! Her feet pounded in the dirt, a roar at her heels spurring her on faster. A quick glance at the pond...should she try that? No, he hunted in water. Where? There! A clearing! She wondered if that was just a bad idea but hey, she was running out of ideas at this point.

She broke out into the clearing, glancing back at the large shape emerging from the forest. There he was, his red sail clear in the sunshine, and so were his gaping jaws and teeth. Eve ran without looking ahead, only trying to look back and see just how fast his sprint was. Then she ran into something, and fell back with a startled grunt. Looking ahead now, Eve saw dinosaur scales in front of her face and then sudden movement as the creature squealed and spooked away from the dinosaur. Confused, Eve suddenly found herself in the middle of an Edmontosaurus herd. Which were now stampeding from the Spinosaurus. She had to roll over to her feet and dodge a bunch of panicky large dinosaurs and hope to hell she didn't get squished. Or eaten. That too.

Finally, Eve saw a space and dashed for that. There was a loud roar to her left and she glanced that way. Redsail had found his meal at last and had captured an unfortunate Edmontosaurus. Well, that meant he'd be busy for a while. Gasping for breath, she went in search of the team, who was who knew where. Hopefully they were alright. Her breath was ragged and her heart was still pounding from the run and adrenaline, when she staggered into someone's chest. Arms wrapped around her and Owen said, "Hey, you okay? What the hell happened?"

"Redsail...chased. I ran...to clearing. Bumped...into Edmontosaurus. Fell. Stampeded the herd. Got out. Redsail...caught one. Fine now," she panted out in gasps.

Owen stared, and rolled his eyes, "That was...incredibly stupid! You could have gotten hurt! Or killed! What made you think to do that?"

Eve gave a weak laugh and said, "Uh, just reacted? I wanted to keep you safe. Think I did that. A bit too well, apparently." She shrugged off Owen's arms, not wanting the human contact right now and huffed at Shane, "Really? You just had to move, didn't you?"

Raising his arms up, he was quick to apologize, "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean it! But I'm glad you're okay, Eve. I'll make it up to you sometime. Somehow, alright?" He waited for the nod, knowing by now Eve likely would snub him for a good while. He felt bad, he really did, for doing such a stupid thing. She could have lost her life. Hell, the entire team could have been in danger. It was only because of her very quick thinking...and some luck… that the situation wasn't worse. He'd be much more careful from here on in. He followed her and Owen quietly, but a squeeze on his shoulder made him look up. Emma smiled softly at him and gave a friendly nod. They were okay. No one had gotten hurt or died. And with Eve helping them… they were one hell of a team. He smiled back, feeling a bit better. Now they just had to find this Cera.