"Uh, h-hi there," Ryan stammered nervously. The raptor's gaze seemed to pierce right through him, sharper than any claw or tooth.
"What do we do?" Brooklynn whispered to Chris. Nervous, she squeezed Darius' hand tightly.
"Nothing. We need to have faith in Ryan. We try to do anything, and he's her next meal."
Slowly, Ryan extended his hand out towards the raptor. She bared her teeth, wary of his advance.
"You're Blue, aren't you?" Ryan's tone was soft and gentle, letting her know he wasn't a threat.
"Here. You must be hungry." Ryan opened his backpack and unzipped a bag of beef jerky. Ripping a piece, he made sure that she could see and smell the jerky before throwing it. She caught it in her mouth perfectly.
Now realizing Ryan and the campers posed no danger, Blue relaxed a little and got closer. Ryan gently and carefully touched her, first on the top of her head and down her back, down to her tail. She felt leathery like a snake and rough like a shark.
Taken aback by the experience, he smiled as he fed her another piece of jerky.
Suddenly, Blue looked upwards. She then took off and ran out of the building without warning.
"Where's she going?" Kenji asked.
"Stay here," Ryan replied. He got up and exited the main entrance.
Hearing a low rumbling, he looked up to see a formation of three large Chinook helicopters flying overhead. On the sides of each helicopter were the words, "Mantah Corp."
Running back inside, he explained the situation to the campers.
"You think they're here for us?" Sammy asked, a shred of hope in her tone.
Ryan shook his head. "They could be here for you, but I doubt they would take the rest of us. We're liabilities in their eyes, not survivors looking for rescue."
Everyone groaned in disappointment.
"Now what?" Yaz asked.
"We continue as planned. We get the backup power on," Darius said.
"You realize they'll know we'll be here once everything comes back on," Chris advised.
Ryan nodded. "But the restored power is our only chance of contacting rescue. Plus, perhaps we can come to a deal with these men."
"You know where the generator is, right?" Ben asked, Bumpy at his side.
Ryan gave a thumbs-up. "Break time's over. Follow me."
As he walked towards the back door, Ryan felt himself lose balance and fell to the ground. Chris, who was right behind him, ran over to help.
"You okay, bro?" he asked. The campers looked on with concern.
Dusting himself off, Ryan nodded. Looking down at what he tripped on, he noticed a skull. Then a vertebra. Then ribs. Then arms, legs and a tail.
It was a velociraptor skeleton.
Chris and Ryan looked at each other, as if they knew something the campers didn't. They gathered around the remains.
"This velociraptor was meant to be an attraction for the old park," Ryan explained. "According to my dad, the staff called her 'The Big One.' She killed all but two of the other raptors. A demon if ever there was one."
There was a moment of silence as all eyes were on the bones.
"Anyway, let's move on."
The group continued, exiting the building.
"The backup generators are located at the power generators of the old park," Ryan said, cutting through a thick bush.
On their way, the group came across a wired fence. It was tall, at least three to four stories. A black, white and red warning sign that said, "DANGER! 10,000 VOLTS" hung from the middle wire.
Finally, they arrived at an insignificant-looking shed. Ryan swatted a fly as he checked his watch.
He gave a thumbs-up, indicating they were in the right place.
"Stay here," Chris ordered. "We'll take care of the power. Scream if something comes."
Nervously, the campers nodded. Ryan and Chris entered through the doorway, which was open due to the power outage. This meant between the outage and now, anything could've gotten in.
Turning on their flashlights, the two descended down the stairs and into the dark.
"Remember when Sarge told us the story of how he and his squad went into that cave? Back in '03, near Kabul?" Chris asked, attempting to make small-talk.
"What about it?" Ryan responded, scanning the darkness.
"This must've been what it was like for him."
"Yeah, sure. But instead of terrorists, we're dealing with prehistoric animals that could eat us." Ryan smiled.
Eventually, the two reached a hallway. At the end of it was the switch.
Walking towards it, Ryan saw another skeleton on the floor. But it wasn't that of a dinosaur, but a human. It wore a striped dress shirt and pants. But one arm wasn't attached. Instead, it lay severed, next to him.
Searching for some sign of identification, Ryan searched the pockets, but all he found was a cigarette lighter. "Hold on to your butts" was inscribed in small letters on the side.
"Who's this?" Chris asked.
"I don't know. Probably some poor sucker that didn't make it out of the old park," Ryan answered.
When he reached the switch, Ryan tried to flip it, but it was heavy. He needed help.
"Chris, over here," Ryan called, straining his muscles. Chris quickly came over and assisted. The two were making progress, but nowhere near enough to activate the power.
"Who the hell made this damn switch?!" Chris shouted as he struggled with Ryan.
Then the two heard what sounded like metal clanging and chirping. The two looked at each other with concern.
"We need to hurry!" Chris said, a bit of panic resonating in his voice.
"One, two, three! Go!" Ryan said. They again tried, and again, no success. By now, the two were out of breath, panting and sweating.
As he turned to look down the hallway, the floor was littered with a pack of compsognathus. There were at least two to three dozen, all eyes on the two ACU troopers.
Almost simultaneously, Ryan and Chris unholstered and loaded their weapons.
"One move, and you open fire. Got it?" Ryan said softly. Chris slowly nodded.
The lead compy roared, and the others charged. Ryan and Chris began shooting, but were on the verge of being overwhelmed.
"For God's sakes, Chris, left side!" Ryan shouted.
A compy jumped onto Chris' back, clawing and biting at his vest.
"Get it off! Get it off me!" he cried.
Outside, the campers could hear the yelling and shooting. They argued and debated as to what to do.
Without saying a word, Darius took off inside.
"Darius! Wait, come back!" Brooklynn called out. She then followed him inside.
The remaining four looked at each other.
"No way! We are NOT going down there!" Kenji argued. Ben stood nervously next to him, shaking his head firmly.
"C'mon, you big babies! Move it!" Yaz shouted. Together, her and Sammy dragged the boys inside by force, Bumpy trailing behind.
"I got a bad feeling about this," Ben said.