Yay! They're on Sorna now. Which means the action starts to pick up. :)

Chapter 9

Owen had argued (successfully) against using the docks as he didn't want to broadcast their arrival. Also, they had no idea if people would be stationed on the docks. Arriving to a hail of bullets (or tranq darts) wasn't his idea of fun. Instead, they chose to drop anchor a couple hundred yards off shore, north of the docks. The yacht was big enough that Owen knew if people were paying close attention, they'd be spotted. But, Sorna was also a huge island, easily four times the size of Nublar, and he was hoping that they'd be spread too thin to actually have good security coverage.

While he hoped they might be able to make it back to the Jurasship later, Owen had them all prepare as if they wouldn't. They repacked their backpacks, focusing on necessities, and then took the small dinghy to shore. Once on shore, they had pulled the dinghy up high on the beach, and covered it loosely with large fronds from nearby ferns so it wouldn't be easily visible, tying it off on a tree. It would suck if they came back only to find that high tide had dragged it out to sea.

On the boat, they had used their combined knowledge (including some maps Lowery and Claire had managed to pull from the Nublar computers) to plan their approach. They had located the docks as well as where the older structures were. There had been an aviary on the island, as well as large paddocks, multiple lab buildings and barracks. Claire tried to remember what buildings she knew had been destroyed to update their map. But, either way, they knew they were mostly going in blind. Owen figured (and hoped) that if they were trying to keep the operation lowkey, they wouldn't want to be doing a whole lot of construction. And that meant they'd likely be using the same docks as before, as well as roadways and clearings for buildings.

Their plan was to cut through the jungle heading southeast, so that they would come across the main road. Once they'd found it, they would then follow it, and hope it would lead them to the main compound. What they would do next, would depend on what they found.

Owen hated that they were basing so much of their plans on "hopes." Nothing about what they were doing or about to do felt good. But, it was too late now to turn back (not that he'd ever be able to convince the other two to do so).

After making sure the dinghy was secure, they pulled on their backpacks and headed out into the jungle. Owen took the lead, holding a compass in one hand, with the tranq rifle - their only gun - slung over his shoulder.

Claire tried to convince Owen that they didn't need to worry about dinosaurs. "There were no dinosaurs kept here after Jurassic World opened. We moved them all over to Nublar. I promise," she kept repeating.

"Yeah well, I'm not so trusting," Owen disagreed, continuing to maintain his position in front.

"Why? You think I'm lying?" Claire sounded more exasperated than hurt.

"No," Owen shook his head. "I'm sure you believe exactly what you're saying. However," he paused, turning to face her and raising a hand to stop her before she could respond. "However, the dinosaurs on Sorna were breeding. That means that many of them never had trackers. This is a large island. Forgive me for thinking that some may have escaped your notice." He turned away from her without another word, continuing on his way. There was a pause, before he heard both Lowery and Claire rushing to catch up with him. He smirked, keeping his back to them as he continued forward.

x x x

Zia wasn't sure what to what to think about her current situation. They'd arrived on another island around dusk last night and had been met at the docks by another truck and trailer. Blue had started to wake up as they were nearing the island and Zia had been barely able to stop Wheatley from shooting her again. She'd finally convinced him that it could send Blue into respiratory failure as they couldn't properly dose her from the tranq darts.

Along with the truck and trailer at the dock, there had been a man that Zia had only seen pictures of before: Dr. Henry Wu. He had come down to meet them as Wheatley had radioed ahead about needing a sedative for Blue. Zia had just watched in awe (there had been many rumours floating around after the Jurassic World incident as to what happened to him, but there had been no confirmed sightings) as he measured out a dose and gave it to Blue.

She'd had a lot of questions to ask him, but, given the serious look on his face and the angrily exchanged words he had with Wheatley, she decided it probably wasn't the best time to ask. Instead, she had stuck close to Blue's side as she was lifted off the boat and placed on the trailer.

They had driven down a bumpy winding road through the jungle. While the road appeared well used, the plants already well squashed beneath the tires, it appeared that they weren't eager to make that very obvious, as they had left all the plants hanging down from above mostly intact. She had to keep ducking to avoid a faceful of vines.

It was a longer drive than she expected, but eventually the road emptied into a large clearing with a cluster of buildings ahead. There was a very large fence around the whole area, and the truck had to stop while the gate was manually opened by the guard in the small hut on the other side, to let them through.

She had expected them to stop once they were on the other side, but they had driven around the buildings to the back where there were a series of paddocks ranging from small to medium sized. Most of them contained a dinosaur, but she didn't get a long enough look to be able to figure out what was in each one. They had stopped by one of the larger paddocks where there was still evidence of construction going on. She couldn't tell for what exactly, as it appeared complete. The truck had parked with the trailer positioned near the double gated entrance.

Zia had stood off to the side as Blue was unloaded from the truck and carried into the paddock. When she had gone to follow, Wheatley stopped her at the first gate.

"Unless you have a death wish, I wouldn't be going in there if I were you," he had informed her. "She won't be restrained in there."

"But she's still injured," Zia had insisted. "She's going to need medical assistance."

"There's an area for that," Dr. Wu had stated, coming up beside them. "For now, we're going to let her wake up and see what sort of shape she's in. I guess we'll find out how good of a vet you really are." He had given her a sneer and then had left before she could say anything in response. If Wheatley wasn't standing beside her with his gun (and all the other armed men around) she would've picked up a rock and chucked it at Wu. Instead, all she had been able to do was throw a glare after him.

"Well, what am I supposed to do then?" Zia had asked, voice full of frustration. She had been almost wishing she'd been left behind. Except… except she was still pretty confident they would never have just left her without shooting her first.

Wheatley had called over another man and directed him to sort out where she'd stay tonight. He had added in a reminder that she was not a guest.

She tuned out most of the conversation, instead focusing on watching Blue, tracking the rise and fall of her chest. Eventually, she had been escorted to a tiny room with a cot and told to "stay there." There was a guard at the door and a window that she would be surprised if her head fit through and so she had been stuck.

She had paced around the room for a while, before giving up and sitting on the cot. And then, eventually, as it was getting late, lying down and falling asleep. She had been woken in the middle of the night to not quite roars, but what she would instead classify as an angry version of the chittering and trilling Blue had done at her and Owen the previous day. She'd knocked on her door and asked if she could go see Blue, but the guard had told her that it was all under control.

The following morning, she'd been let out and taken back over to Blue's paddock. Blue had been roaming around inside, chittering at any and all things. She hadn't looked impressed to see Zia. She'd been told to "evaluate" Blue, as they needed her healthy. When Zia asked how she was suppose to do that, considering she couldn't get near her, they'd simply replied, "watch her." And with that, they had left her trapped in between the two sets of cage doors.

She'd stood close to Blue's side for a while, observing the raptor as she moved, watching as Blue tried to hide her limp. After a while, she'd settled down on the dirt, back against a sidewall. Her position allowed her to still mostly observe Blue, but she could also keep an eye on what was going on outside the paddock. She was trying to figure out what everyone was doing there, besides abducting Blue and apparently other dinosaurs.

x x x

Owen was pretty sure they should be almost at the road when he heard it. He stopped, and almost immediately Claire walked into him, as she and Lowery had been busy talking and not really paying attention to where they were going.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Claire said, once she regained her balance, her hand still resting on his arm she'd grabbed a hold of.

"Shhh!" Owen hushed them both, his other hand coming up to his ear, indicating he was listening. They both fell silent immediately, Lowery's eyes darting around the area in panic.

The jungle wasn't quiet. There were always sounds of various animals scurrying here and there, as well as the rustling of leaves, and the trickling of water. But, listening intently, Owen heard it again. The sound of careful footsteps, someone or something was tracking them. Slowly, he pulled his rifle off his shoulder, clicking off the safety and raising it.

"Wh–" Claire barely got the first sound out before Owen clamped a hand across her mouth, causing her to freeze. Letting go, he raised a finger to his lips again, and the other two nodded their understanding. He pointed in the direction he was sure the sound was coming from, and then gestured them to get behind him.

There's a few moments where he can't hear any movement. He's almost starting to think he had imagined it, and that they were good to keep going, when a Baryonyx burst out from behind a tree. Owen didn't even hesitate, quickly firing two tranq darts into the dinosaur, causing it to wobble on its feet. However, the effect of the tranqs weren't immediate, and the dinosaur continued to charge at them with a roar, more angry than before.

"Move!" Owen shouted, shoving Claire and Lowery one way, sending them sprawling as he dove the other way, tucking himself into a ball and rolling as he landed. He popped back up onto his feet almost immediately, just in time to watch the dinosaur swing around, getting ready to charge again. Except, finally, the tranqs started to have their effect, and the Baryonyx was swaying on her feet, taking a few wobbly steps back in their direction, before falling over, out cold.

Owen carefully walked closer to the fallen dinosaur, prodding it gently with the muzzle of the rifle, before he was convinced she was really out. Sighing in relief, he turned back to where Claire and Lowery were scrambling to their feet, both looking a little shaken.

"So," he gave them a weak grin, "still think there are no loose dinosaurs on here?"

Claire glared at him, before giving a shaky breath and straightening her backpack. Lowery was overtly jumpy, unable to stay still as his gaze darted around and his body twisted this way and that, each sound capturing his attention.

"What do we do now?" Lowery asked.

"What we were doing before," Owen brushed off his pants where some leaves were sticking. "Find the road so we can hopefully find Zia." He looked at his compass again, getting his bearings, before heading off. It took him about 20 feet to realize that the other two weren't following him. Sighing, he turned around hands on his hips. "What now?" he growled at them.

"Just wondering what other animals might be out here," Lowery responded. "And if what we're doing is even smart."

"Oh, now you guys are going to rethink this?" Owen shook his head. "I gave you guys so many outs. I told you to get on the damn plane. But no, you both insisted you had to come."

Lowery and Claire exchanged looks before looking back the way they had come.

"No," Owen immediately disagreed. "I'm not taking you back to the boat now. It's too late. And, seriously guys?" He looked past them to where the Baryonyx is still lying out cold on the ground. "I have no idea how long she'll stay asleep. We need to get moving."

He turned away again, and continued back into the jungle. In his head, he counted slowly to 10, waiting to see if they would follow him. He was on '9' when he finally heard them moving, their steps hurrying to catch up to him. He didn't say anything, just continued to walk, slowing his pace ever so slightly until they were behind him.

About 10 minutes later, they finally came across the road they've been looking for. The fact that they could easily identify it as a road was more than enough of a sign to Owen that whatever was going on on this island was not a tiny operation and had been going on for a while. He had to stop Lowery and Claire from bursting out of the jungle and onto the road as they eagerly moved to do so.

"What? Why can't we walk out there?" Lowery complained.

"Because A, the road looks well used and we don't want to be caught on it and B, the road gives us no cover, so any other dinosaurs who may be loose would be able to easily spot us. We're going to follow the road, but we'll do so from the safety of the cover of the jungle," Owen explained, pulling them back further from the road. The other two grumbled, but continued to trail after him. He gave a sigh of relief that at least they hadn't argued with him that time.

Owen had no idea how long they were going to have to walk. He'd chosen his bearings in hopes that the diagonal path they had taken would at least cut their time down a bit once they found the road. And, although he didn't show it, he was relieved that the road looked well travelled. It meant that their assumptions that whoever was on this island had chosen to re-use the previously occupied area was correct and that they were heading in the right direction. Of course, he would've preferred it to look a little less well travelled.

A continuous humming sound was the first thing that alerted Owen that they must be getting close. He stopped and waited for the other two to follow suite.

"What's up? Another dinosaur?" Lowery was back to gazing around nervously. As they had continued to walk without encountering anything he had regained his confidence, but this latest stop was threatening to shatter it.

"No, do you hear that?" Owen had them listen.

"The humming sound?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I think we must be getting close. Do you recognize that sound from Jurassic World? It reminds me of the electrified fences." The other two listened closely for another moment before agreeing with him. "So while that's probably a good sign we're close, an electric fence is not a hurdle I was expecting. We might have to wander around it for a while until we can find a way in."

Again, the three continued to move forward, although slower now. Owen didn't expect the fence to just pop up out of nowhere and that they would accidentally run it, but that didn't mean there wasn't going to be anything else, including security cameras, that could catch them unaware.

Thirty meters later, they could finally see the fence. The area in front of them, and also off to the right, was indeed electrified. However, to their left was a gate for the road, and that part did not appear to be electrified. In fact, it actually looked like it needed to be manually opened and closed. On one of the posts beside the gate was a security camera as he had feared. On the other side of the fence was a small guard hut. The could just make out one person sitting inside it and from the way the light was bouncing around, it appeared that the guard had view of the security feeds. Beside the guard hut, they could see a mostly open area with a few buildings and a number of vehicles scattered about. But, except for the one guard in the hut, they couldn't see any other people.

"So, what do we do now?" Claire asked, after they had stood staring at the fence for a few minutes. "I mean, how are we going to get inside?"

"I'm trying to figure that out," Owen replied. "Wait here." He jogged off to the left, trying to get an idea of what the fence looked like as it continued. He didn't go far, just until he was almost out of their sight, before backtracking. "This place looks really big. There might be another entrance, I think we should take a look."

The three of them headed out, following the line of the fence. As they walked, they noticed security cameras mounted on each fence post, so they made sure that they were staying far enough back in the tree line to remain out of sight. It was Lowery who stopped them first, placing a hand on each of Owen and Claire to bring them to a halt.

"Do you hear that?" Lowery asked, tiling his head. He'd been hyper observant since the Baryonyx and now was sure he was hearing multiple dinosaurs.

"Is that… Blue?" Claire asked, hearing angry chittering followed by an angry snarl. "No, wait, that sounds more like a Stygimoloch."

"It sounds like Jurassic World," Lowery commented. "The ever present mix of sounds from multiple species of dinosaurs. Like going by the petting zoo after hours."

"That doesn't make sense," Owen replied. "Most of these dinosaurs don't like to be around each other. I'd expect them to have essentially carved up the territory." He paused, and they all listened again. "Although, that does sound like Blue," Owen agreed.

"If that's her, she's probably not out here loose," Claire stated. "Who's to say the other dinosaurs we're hearing are loose? They might be caged up with her."

"Maybe we'll be able to see her from out here," Owen suggested, gesturing for the others to start moving again.

Another hundred meters or so, and they finally passed the buildings and started to go around to the back of the compound. As they did so, they could see that there were a series of paddock or holding pen type areas lining the fence. They seem to have been designed such that the fence was one of the walls, cutting down on the necessary construction. As they passed the first one, they could see an Apatosaurus inside. The next one contained a couple of Gallimimus. After an empty paddock, they ultimately came across Blue.

Claire and Lowery stopped walking to see what Owen was going to do. He was looking intently at Blue, who was roaming and chittering angrily around her cage, although she had an obvious (to Owen, at least) limp. He moved closer to the fence, although making sure to still stay well covered. As he watched Blue, he noticed that she'd throw a particular look in one direction, every time she walked by an area of the cage. He looked carefully and finally made out the top of Zia's head. She appeared to be sitting, keeping most of her out of view.

Turning back to the others, he waved them to come closer to him. "I can see Zia," Owen told them, as they approached. "Look." He pointed her out to the other two, who both looked relieved to know she was still alive and that they'd found her.

"How do we get her attention?" Lowery asked. "I mean, I'm guessing we can't just yell out."

"No yelling," Owen agreed. "Let me try something." He paused, reaching into one of his vest pockets and pulling out a handful of beef jerky pieces. Lowery's eyes lit up and he reached for one, which Owen pulled away. "These aren't for you," Owen hissed.

Turning back to the fence, Owen whistled sharply. The effect was almost immediate, as Blue came to a halt, stopping her chittering as she tilted her head in confusion. Owen whistled again, and this time Blue beelined for the fence. Owen could tell the moment she spotted him, as she started chittering again, but this time in recognition.

"Hey Blue," Owen said softly, trying to keep his voice down. "Look what I brought you." He raised a piece of jerky in the air, before tossing it at her. This time, unlike back on Nublar, she snapped her jaws quickly, gobbling it down before looking at him hopefully for more. "Have they not been feeding you?" Owen asked, tossing in another piece.

"Not that I'm not happy to see Blue," Claire said from beside him, "But how is this helping us."

"Give me a minute, you'll see," Owen replied. He sweet talked Blue a little more, offering her up a couple more treats. Soon he enough, he realized he'd got Zia's attention, seeing her standing now and looking at Blue. He gave Blue a command to tell her she could go, wanting to try to clear the sightline between himself and Zia. Blue just looked at him, not wanting to move, and not eager to go back to roaming her small area. "Lowery, move a few steps to your right," he instructed. After the other man did, Owen continued, "Can you still see Zia? Wave your arms and see if you can get her attention."

"Got it!" Lowery said excitedly after a few waves of his arms, lowering them back down. "Am I supposed to yell at her now?"

"No," Owen groaned. "Okay, I need her to be able to see me. I need Blue to move over." He tried the command again to get Blue to back away, but she didn't move. "Claire, can you help me out here?" Owen handed her a few pieces of jerky. "Can you hold it up for Blue and walk a few steps to my left. I need her to just shift over a bit." Thankfully, Blue appeared hungry, and took a couple of steps over with Claire, who then tossed her the treat. Owen wasn't sure if Blue would be willing to acknowledge Claire, but maybe the raptor remembered her from that fateful night three years ago.

Owen quickly raised his hands to get Zia's attention. He wasn't sure how long Claire would be able to keep Blue occupied. He gave himself half a moment to internally smile as he listened to Claire sweet talking the dinosaur, before tossing her occasional treats. He always knew that Blue was special. Back at Jurassic World, before their disaster of a date, he had always hoped that one day he would be introducing the two. The night of the incident was not how he'd ever imagined it going down. But even in his dreams, he'd never predicted it going as well as this – corporate Claire being overly skittish around the dinosaurs and seeing them as dollar signs first. This, Claire feeding and talking to Blue, was better than he could've dreamed.

Turning back to the task at hand, he got Zia's attention and tried to ask through hand signals how many guards and people were around. Unfortunately, the information was definitely getting lost in translation, and eventually Zia just shrugged back at him, looking helpless.

"Can we get her a radio?" Lowery asked, pulling the two he had been carrying for them out of his bag.

Owen looked at it, and then at the distance to Zia. He took one from Lowery and tossed it lightly in his hand, feeling the weight. "Let's hope so," he nodded. He held the radio up so Zia could see it, and then mimed throwing it, so she'd get the picture. Owen watched as she briefly went out of sight before she reappeared. She waved at him to throw it now.

"Are you sure you can get it to her?" Claire asked from behind him, just as he was pulling his arm back to throw.

"I played football in high school," Owen reassured her. "I've got good aim. I can do it." He looked again at Zia, who was waving at him frantically to do so now. He knew he only had one shot at this, and gripping the radio tightly he pulled his arm back again, before swinging it forward, and letting the radio fly.

As always, thanks for those of you who take the time to leave me a review. I appreciate every single one, and make notes from your speculation and questions to make sure I wrap everything up. :)