Chapter Twenty-Nine
June 9th, 1993
An amusing day. The Park is still in a state of uncertainty and flux, but also peace. Or so it seems to me. It's a peace I am making the most of, using my time to enjoy the animals, to observe and document and revel in their existence. I am also feeling a good deal less apprehensive about the velociraptors today. Perhaps it has been the few days away from them, or perhaps it has been Hammonds absence. His ever-watchful eyes and questionable decisions have possibly been the true problem that has made me uncomfortable about the animals. Coupled with their innate thirst for violence, the combination of John Hammond and the velociraptors was a difficult aspect to work with. But there in lies the amusement of this situation.
Hammonds absence has left this island quieter and, if the rumours are true, has turned Sorna into a frenzy of activity. Or certainly, the Burroughs. His personal residence has been transformed into a hastily put together film set by all accounts. An equally rushed through script and editing process has seen the welcome video, the very one I was shown, tweaked and adjusted to suit Hammond's need to regain the control he most likely feels is slipping from his grasp. Most likely at monstrous expense. I have heard mutterings of the video being changed to involve Hammond, giving him a part to play. As if that has ever not been the case. Whilst I am sure he views it as damage control, I can see it for the food to feed his ego.
I am not one for rumours, most of the time. Rumours breed problems, and my patience for the twittering and imagined problems of agitated employees is short. My patience for most people is short. But these rumours have struck a note with me, one that has left me smiling.
Whilst he was never quite able to pull the wool over my eyes, Hammond did manage to get it half-way. Or his island, and his animals, did. Of course, I was captivated. Who wouldn't be? What makes me smile is how certain I am that he will pull it off again. Even with the lawyers getting involved. The final part of the rumours is the possibility of some sort of inspection conducted by the representatives of the investors, but also a panel of experts. Experts in what, I do not yet know, but Hammond is seeking out some of the best for his cause. My smile only widens to think of the dance he will orchestrate for them all. What tricks, what falsehoods, what outright lies will he tell them?
And he will lie. He will smile, and he will perform, and he will dazzle. And he will deceive. He must. There can be little option left to him but deception. He needs this park, as do I.
In two day's I travel to Sorna, to begin my new life and my new studies. To dive into the main course after this appetizer. If the Park is deemed unsafe, if the main source of financial income is ripped away, the company will fold, and this dream will end.
And I do not want anything to end just yet.
Dr. Jane Marsden
Jane fumbled in the dark, her breath coming swift and ragged, and her hands grasping at the edge of the walls as she felt her way through the medical room. The light above, whilst occasionally flickering, was little to no help. Instruments and other unidentifiable objects clattered to the floor as she hastily made for the door. The last of the compsognathus were scurrying away, darting through the dark slit in the doorway like fleeing rodents. Their squeaks and chirps of alarm followed them down the stairwell as they fled. Jane doubted it was her that was causing their alarm. Maybe they knew exactly what was coming.
She reached the door and pulled it open, poking her head out into the stairwell. The air smelt clearer out here, not like the sterile tang of the medical room. The door handle rattled in her grip, her mind working quickly as she tried to control her panic. Make a run for it, either up or down the stairs? She sank her teeth into her lower lip, deciding. She put her foot forward, ready to spring when the first raptors head appeared at the bottom of the stairs between the central gap of each flight, twisting and panning in slow yet twitchy arcs. The lightening flashed and Jane could see the cautious and coiled energy it was carrying. It was stalking. Hunting. Its behaviour familiar. Too late to go down then.
She looked upwards, judging the distance to the next floor. Too far. Even with the pummelling rain and thunder, she would attract the raptors attention. She was running out of time. Again.
She ducked back inside the room and gently closed the door, feeling for the thumb lock. There wasn't one. Her guts clamped at the realisation. Once she would have believed a closed door was enough to deter an animal. Now she knew there was no security in that, not with the animals that were closing on her. She wrung her hands together, hearing the approaching purrs and solid footsteps of the dinosaur. It would smell her out eventually. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark now, and cast about the room for something, anything. Anything to keep her alive. A tall cabinet stood against the wall, with a full-length door on it. Hiding was perhaps the least likely thing to keep her alive, but it was fast becoming her only option.
She crept to the cabinet, opening the door and feeling inside. One shelf, up high, and then what felt like clothes or fabric of some sort hanging from a rail beneath. She ripped them out, throwing them to the floor quickly. She pulled off her own coat and threw it across the far side of the room. It sailed across and landed by the window with a wet thud of fabric.
She was just about to get in, to take her chances with an old metal cabinet, when she smelt the strong scent of iodine. That familiar medicinal scent stung her nose, and she moved towards the odour, her hands floundering in the dark. She found another cabinet, a smaller one, on the wall. Its glass door was open, a key jingling in its lock as she pulled it out of the way. Glass clinked and pots toppled over as she gathered up and smelt each item. There was a bottle, open, that stank of the iodine. It must have been in storage a while, oxygenising slowly and developing that stink. Probably not much good anymore as an antiseptic.
She dragged up a lab coat from the floor and used it to rub all over herself, trying to soak up as much of the dampness on her own body and hopefully her own odour. She used a sleeve to stuff into her armpit, wiping away quickly, desperately. Seemed silly, thinking this would work. She didn't care though. Anything was worth it in the hope it didn't all end here in a bloody mess, screaming.
There was a thud at the door, followed by a scraping, and then a bark. It was so loud and so sudden that Jane fumbled the bottle in her hand. Its slipped through her fingers, plummeting quickly. She gasped, her reflexes taking over as she ducked down and stuck her hand out, using her judgement.
The bottle fell into her waiting palm and her fingers closed around it firmly, her breath whooshing out of her in her fright. She wasted no time in emptying the bottle over her head, dousing and covering herself with what remained inside it.
The liquid washed over her, feeling cold and running down her back, down her arms and under her shirt. She could feel it soaking into her shirt around her shoulders, the damp fabric getting damper. The smell was thick in her nose. The door handle turned slowly, and she felt colder still. She moved without thinking, stuffing herself into the tall cabinet and pulling the narrow door closed with her as quietly as she could, knowing quiet was a long way from the noise she was making. Her fingers got pinched as she clicked the door shut, feeling horribly aware of just how flimsy the door was and the even worse realisation that a simple magnet was holding it closed at the top and bottom. Hardly enough to keep a compy out. Hopeless against a velociraptor. Outside, the door creaked open, the hinges slowly and quietly groaning for an unbearable eternity.
Jane clamped her hand over her mouth, shutting her eyes in the blackness of the cabinet and feeling every muscle in her body tense. Any thought of defiantly opposing Adam, of taking back what he stole from her or getting off the island vanished into nothing in that moment. The world narrowed to the box she was crammed in and the predator outside. The predator and the prey.
She could hear it, padding into the room, its throaty purrs and heavy breathing sounding muffled through the cabinet door, and yet agonisingly close. She could hear the click of its sickle claw on the floor. It seemed to tap in quick succession, sounding like some warped version of morse code. She knew they communicated, but was this another way of doing it? A more subtle way. She heard a snarl and knew that another had entered the room.
She could hear sniffing, and growling. Strange sounds. The snarls were giving way to chirps now. A deep trilling. So birdlike, yet like no bird could ever sound. They were the noises of monsters.
The animals were communicating again, a language of complete mystery, but completely spine chilling. Every noise was sinister. Every sound terrifying. Jane ignored it all. Observations were no longer relevant. Only staying alive. Staying quiet. The noise built to an irritable conclusion and she heard one of the raptors leave, its heavy steps thudding out of the door, making it bang against the door frame.
Jane felt her hopes hold on that one thread more. Just hold on. Just hold on.
Something bumped against the door and, in utter horror, Jane saw the edge of the door press inwards towards her, the magnets pushing into the mechanism and then press away, releasing from their catches. The door swung gently and silently open, and Jane's felt her mouth quivering as she saw the raptor in front of her in the dark.
It had its back to her. A large male. Its tail was swinging back and forth as it sniffed and scrabbled at the clothes and items on the floor, its whip like end bumping and brushing against the edge of the cabinet frame. Its three fingered hands dragged and scraped at each thing, investigating.
Jane felt the lump in her throat get stuck, unable to swallow. Unable to breathe. The sore and bruised tendons in her neck flexed, but she couldn't move anything. She was just waiting. Waiting for it to turn, to realise what it had done. And then it would end. She looked at the floor, wondering if that's where her guts would soon end up.
The raptor continued snuffling on the floor. She could see it was at her coat, snorting and sniffing at the wet fabric, licking at the brown flecks of blood on it. Seconds, excruciatingly long, dragged by, and still, it didn't turn. Silently, Jane found the feeling in her knees and sank down, inch by inch, her eyes never straying from the dinosaur.
Her hand snaked out. Out of the imagined safety of the cabinet, out into the open, fingers stretching towards the doors edge. She hooked a finger around the lower corner and pulled, as quietly as she could and as fast as she dared. She could feel her eyes aching from being so wide for what felt like so long.
The door swung towards her, blocking out the raptor from view. The door had that one final inch to go when the hinge made a high whining squeal. The raptor snarled and she saw the tail swing away from the cabinet as it turned. The purrs were suddenly in her ears again, thrumming and vibrating through her body. She let go the door, and it mercifully stayed put. A black shape appeared in the gap, and Jane almost let go a cry as the animals nostrils flared, sucking in the air and seeking her out. It made a horrible hiss, and Jane saw a long claw nudge into the gap. It sniffed again and then the snout jerked back, that hiss turning to a short screech.
The dark shape of the raptor passed by the cabinet and Jane saw the tail slip from view as the animal padded out of the room, its hissing and snorting fading down the stairway. Jane let the whimper she was holding go, but it was just a stifled squeak, the relief flooding into before she could stop it. She dared not believe it.
She pulled the door closed again, hearing the reassuring click and finding the knots in her body easing just that little bit. Her thighs ached, and she felt a pounding in her head. Even in the dark, her vision was swimming, stopping her from focusing.
She took in a breath, ignoring the stinging smell of the iodine and allowing the air to fill her lungs. It felt so cool, so needed. She exhaled, dragging that calm she needed from the depths of her terror, using it once more, depending on it. With the calm always came the determination. And her determination was to survive now. To hell with Adam and his murderous company. To hell with Barker even, and his spineless ability to go with whichever way the wind blew. He'd not harmed her in any way, she knew, but he was guilty by association now. He'd chosen a side.
She let the minutes tick by. She lost track of how long she hid in the dark, no longer cowering, but not wishing to rush straight back out into the jaws of the velociraptors. They could be anywhere.
She glanced at her watch, trying to see the glow-in-the-dark hands beneath the coating of mud. Could have been an hour had gone by. Could have been three. She really didn't know. Slowly, she pushed the door open and peeked outside.
The rain still fell, battering the window and drumming on the roof. The wind still blew. In a way, its consistency was refreshing. And at the moment, it hadn't tried to kill her.
The light on the ceiling flickered sadly, not giving off anywhere near enough light. She crept out, pulling her hammer and Adam's knife from her belt, clenching them tight and believing that her life depended on them. Which it did.
She made her way to the exit door, peering out and glancing up and down the stairwell. Away from the flashes of lightening through the window, her eyes grew accustomed to the dark quickly. Everything looked clear for now. She snorted quietly to herself. Looks were deceiving. Something she was finding out the hard way recently.
She descended two or three steps, considering making a dash for one of the ATV's outside. The need to get away from here was strong. But go where? And by herself? Solitude was once preferable. Now it was almost suicidal. She needed to find Williams and the others. She had already promised them to come back. She would not break that.
She turned on her heel and climbed the stairs, moving swiftly, quietly, now that she had it clear in her mind. She took long, deep breaths, keeping her focus, ignoring the fact that they could be anywhere in the lab. They could even be dead. But she'd find them. Somehow. The bloody footprints she's seen earlier had descended the stairs, which probably meant the raptors had as well. She ignored the obvious and climbed up a floor instead, pushing through a door and into a long corridor. A plaque on the wall read Library.
There was a door on her right, with a long window beside it. It was difficult to see through, but she could make out desks with computer monitors and several shelves with what looked like books and other documents. It was impossible to tell the size of the room.
She moved on, darting from deep shadow to deep shadow, moving quick, her hammer and knife ready in case anything came around the corner ahead. More than once she thought she heard the echo of a bark, or the otherworldly trilling of the velociraptors. And occasionally she could hear what sounded like gunfire, distant and sporadic. She nibbled her lip, wondering if it was Adam and those men. A grim smile crept across her face at the thought of them all being torn apart by the raptors.
Or was it Gail, and that other woman? She'd not had time to consider them since they fled in that hail of bullets. How were they involved in this? Were they involved? Or, just like her, were they just caught in the crossfire of whatever was happening here? Too many questions, as ever.
The minutes wore on as she pushed further into the lab, back into its depths. Constantly alert, her ears pricking for any noise of predators or for anything remotely human. The stillness of the place was beginning to get in her head, the doubt gnawing at her that she was alone with the raptors. That there was no one left alive. No one that she could help or that could help her.
She descended stairs and crossed yet more open rooms and hallways, skirting along walls and crouching behind desks and other furniture. She pushed open a door and slid through into a wide room with two staircases either side, leading to a gallery landing. Not unlike the room where Adam had tried to murder her. She grit her teeth. In the middle of the room was a statue of some sort, a twisting shape of metal and stone. Probably an attempt at artistic representation of the work that was conducted here. She moved passed it and heard a scrape. It was subtle, but definite. She froze for a moment, spinning round but there was only the empty room and the dark shadows clinging to the walls and under the landing. She scanned the room and moved on. She was almost by the bottom step of one of the flights of stairs when she heard the scrape again. It was barely audible again, above the noise of the storm, but Jane could feel her skin prickling, her guts beginning to cramp again. She wasn't alone.
The room exploded in light, the high ceiling lights suddenly switching on and bathing the room in blinding white light. Jane cried out as her eyes stung from the intensity of it, the black spots in her vision swimming madly. The shapes of potted plants lined the sides of the walls, and the twisting centre piece of the room now looked like a bad attempt at creating the double helix with an unhealthy dose of artistic licence. She shook her head and, pushing her glasses up, rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, clearing the glaring pain.
She looked up the stairs and saw the female velociraptor with one foot on the banister on the landing, coiling itself with claws out. It was shaking its head from side to side, clearing the same fuzz from its vision as Jane had. It refocused, and those yellow eyes looked directly at Jane. Ever so slowly, it brought its other foot up and perched on the railing, its whole body tensing and its tail rising as it balanced itself out. Jane knew what was coming.
With a scream she dived to the side as the female pounced, flying through the air towards her in a blur of orange and black. Jane slid painfully across the floor, the blade of her knife nicking her chin. The female crashed to the floor, its feet landing awkwardly on the bottom two steps and sending it off-balance.
It gave Jane just enough time to scramble behind the statue as the female came at her, pouncing once again, crossing the distance with murderous speed. Claws raked at her from around the bottom curve of the statue, missing her arm by an inch. The snarling screech filled Janes ears. She looked up, terrified, and stared at the female as it pressed itself against the statue, desperate for her. Its mouth hung open, and Jane could see the gap where she'd knocked its teeth out. She screamed again and swung her hammer, the iron head glancing across the bottom jaw of the raptor. It snorted as she connected, stumbling to the side of the statue and getting its arm tangled in the twisting metal.
Jane leapt away, back towards the stairs. She didn't know what she was doing. There was no time to think. She couldn't win the fight, but she could run. She dashed up the stairs, two or three at a time, her breath panting out of her body faster than she could drag it in. The female leapt at her from the side, latching onto the side of the stairs and the rail, swiping at her. A claw raked down her arm, and Jane cried out as she stumbled against the wall. She swung her knife, felt it sail through the air harmlessly. The raptor had twitched backwards, its eyes wild but wary, watchful. It was learning Jane had claws of her own. She swung again and it twitched back, claws digging into the rail to hold on.
Jane screamed and lashed it again with the hammer, its jaws coming forward this time and snapping at her. She ducked aside before she could land a blow, and the animal placed a foot on the rail, pulling itself up.
She swung again, dodging the jaws and then jabbing with the knife. She felt it prick into the animals throat, not deep, but enough to earn a scream of pain from the female. It thrashed its neck and the blade slipped out, Jane just barely holding on. It rocked backwards, snorting, and Jane let go a howl of rage as she swung with the hammer again, connecting with the top side of the female's head. It snarled again and its foot slipped. Jane pressed in at it, daring the claws and the teeth.
She slashed at its long fingers and it jerked back, letting go from the rail and falling to the floor, landing on its feet and hissing at her. She felt the giddy rush of adrenaline, and almost charged down the stairs at it, intent on swinging again, in drawing blood from it.
She hissed back at it and turned, sprinting up the steps and turned left away from the gallery landing, running hard down the corridor, now completely illuminated with the lights. Whoever had turned the power on had just saved her life. But it was difficult to be appreciative just then, not with the female's mewling howls and enraged snarls echoing after her.
She could hear it coming now, its feet pounding the stairs and floor, powerful strides moving it at furious speed. Jane skidded around corners and darted through archways and lobbies, trying to put as many turns as possible between her and her pursuer. She could feel warm blood running down her arm, slick between her fingers, and itchy.
The screams of the female were getting closer, the thumping of her feet gaining, the panting purrs and hisses getting louder.
Jane reached a door, something written on it, not enough time to even read it as she burst through it and nearly toppled down the steps between what looked like seats of a small auditorium. She let out a whimpering squeak as she balanced on the edge of the top step, arms waving in circles, and then the female came bounding through the door and collided with her, tackling into her body and sending them both tumbling down the stairs. She felt its solid body beneath her as they bounced down the steps, Jane closing her eyes shut in terror and ducking and twisting on instinct to avoid the claws and teeth. Something dug into her forearm and she screamed, seeing the sickle claw just sticking into the muscle. She jabbed with her knife before the female could rake her foot down, and she felt the blade bite into hard flesh.
They crashed to the floor and Jane heard a metallic clang as she went sprawling away. Her glasses were askew on her face, and she fumbled them back on, noticing a long crack across the right lens. The female lay by the bottom row of seats, its head just in front of one of the metal folding chairs. It looked dazed, and Jane could see her knife stuck in its belly, blood leaking from the wound. Its arms floundered slowly, and it tried to right itself but flopped down. There was a large dent in the chair.
Jane felt the anger, mixed with the terror, surging through her. She hissed as she crawled towards it and dragged the blade free, plunging it in again and dragging to rake it sideways, just how it had done to Bertram. Jane whelped as the tail lashed at her, knocking her aside. She left the blade in the raptors stomach and scrambled away, climbing back up the steps towards the door at the top. She glanced back and saw it climbing to its feet, hissing and snarling at the blade in its body, and then up at her. It barked, that hideous call booming off the walls around Jane as she reached the door and fled, slamming it behind her and limping away down the hall.
The rain lashed at the windows as she hobbled down the halls, panting and whimpering and not daring to look behind her. Just keep going. Keep going. Find somewhere to hide. The bright lights of the corridors now seemed horribly exposing, revealing her every move. She saw her shadow on the wall beside her, hunched and vulnerable. She wasn't going to be able to keep running forever. Maybe she should have taken her chances with the ATV after all. Everyone was probably dead anyway. She was just going to be the final body in the hunt.
Far behind her, a door banged open. There was another strangled bark. That hunt was still on.
Jane fumbled her way along now, feeling her energy sapping and her panic rising. She was going to die soon. She couldn't fight them off forever. If you could call it fighting. She slumped against a door, her arm burning and her chest heaving. The door clicked open and she saw the three narrow stalls of a restroom. Not exactly a refuge with much going for it. An irritable growl echoed down the hall behind her and she turned to see the female, flanked by a male now, padding down towards her, gaining in speed.
She gasped in fright and fell through the door, pushing it shut with her shoulders and gasping again when she saw the thumb lock. Slippery with blood, her hand flapped at it, twisting it and making it squeak as her tacky hand slid on the steel knob. She felt the bolt slide home as the door banged against its frame, a force outside crashing into it. She fell back onto her ass, the damp fabric of her pants sticking to her clammy skin. She kicked away from it, sliding back on the tiled floor, waiting to see the door split open and the claws and teeth came tearing in.
The wooden door was flexing, the screeching outside almost unbearable. She could almost hear them calling her, promising the murder. As sure as Adam's hands around her throat. She looked around the room, seeing only the three stalls and a small sanitary bin in the corner. Hopeless. Nowhere left to go. No amount of iodine on her skin and clothes would ward them off now. No hammers or knives would be enough.
She tilted her head back, dragging in the air, then seeing the vent. A square of metal in the plaster ceiling, slats at an angle. She stared at it for a moment, listening to the screams and bangs outside, not quite daring to think it would work.
The sound of wood splitting jerked her up, slotting her hammer through her belt and banging the stall door open. She stood up on the edge of the toilet, grasping the top of the stall divide and fumbling with the vent edge. The doorframe cracked again, and the door flexed alarmingly. Time was running out.
Jane growled as her fingers worked their way into the gap between the vents edge and the ceiling, searching, prizing and pulling. She cried out as metal dug into her fingertips, stinging and sore. With a grunt she pulled the vent down, unhooking it from its catches and letting it swing down on its thin hinges.
The door cracked, and the snarls became louder. The door buckled inwards as Jane stepped on top of the porcelain cistern of the toilet and reached into the vent as far as she could go. Whilst it was just about wide enough for her, there was no handholds, no crevice or crack to grip. Just smooth metal. She dug her elbows in, trying to lever her weight onto them.
Her legs suddenly kicked free from the top of the toilet and her heart stopped in her chest, her body swinging free in the air, her only purchase the strength of her elbows holding her weight. She cried out in agonised pain and desperation as she wiggled forward, kicking and swinging her legs and hips to climb further into the vent.
The door burst inwards, splinters of wood and metal clattering to the floor. The raptors screeched as they filed in, claws swiping at the stalls and heads biting at the swinging doors. Janes legs hovered above the female for a moment before she dragged them inside the vent. The female leapt after her, jaws snapping and head poking up into the vent opening as Jane crawled away. She looked behind her and saw the female's head for a moment before it slipped away.
She crawled onwards, hearing their angry screams below, distorted by the shape of the vent. She heard them leap again, heard the crash as they failed to get into the vent. The barking erupted, and the snapping and irritated snarls of a failed hunt filled Janes ears as she crawled away, arm over arm, wiggling and wiggling her way forward, getting dirtier and dirtier.
It was dark again, a black tunnel of echoes and the sound of shuffling fabric. The repetitive whumps of a fan somewhere floated around her, and every now and then she passed by slats in the side, giving her a small view out into hallways or other rooms.
The vent went on forever, with occasional turns and slopes going up and down. Going down was far worse, her arms unable to stop her sliding forward. More than once she thumped her chin into the solid bottom of the vent, sending lances of pain from the knife cut she's given herself.
She passed by one slatted window to see she was at floor level, looking out into a corridor. The taloned feet of a raptor flitted by in a swift thudding patter as it ran, and then it was gone. She carried on, slowing her breathing and trusting that they didn't know where she was. Seemed unlikely with the booming thuds she made as she shuffled along. Every living thing in the whole complex probably knew she was there.
She crawled along further, finding another vent opening in the floor before her. She peered down through the slats, seeing the carpeted floor of a hallway. She lay there for several minutes, waiting and watching. Almost wishing to see signs of the raptors, at least then she would know it wasn't safe.
It was quiet. She made up her mind and grimaced as she pushed the vent hatch down, letting it swing open. She poked her head through the square, the world turning upside down. Her glasses threatened to fall off her face, but she had enough time to see the hallways was deserted. She shuffled back in and wiggled her body forwards over the opening, letting her legs fall free. She let gravity take her, sliding down until just her sore fingertips held on. She swung for a moment before letting go and thudding down to the floor. A short drop, but she still crumpled in an ungainly heap.
Scrambling up, she looked around, ready to run. The hallways was still deserted. She padded forward, completely unsure of which direction was the best to go. All direction had ceased to make any sense.
She trudged on, peering around corners and hugging her back to the walls again. She could feel her legs trembling now, the adrenaline wearing off, her fatigue catching up with her. She wished she could find another faucet to drink from. She was desperately thirsty again. She turned a corner and almost laughed.
A water cooler was sat against the wall, its full tank on top looking like the most inviting thing she'd ever seen. She moved towards it, hands itching to flick the valve. She leant forward and tipped her mouth to the spout, aching finger pressing at the button on the valve.
She drank deeply, the water cold and refreshing. She splashed some on her face, wiping the grime from the vent away. It dripped onto her chest in dark streaks. She sighed, feeling a wave of calm and relief. She looked up and saw the raptor at the end of the hallway, looking at her. She froze, disbelieving that it was there. A male, tall and proud. And intent.
It began to move towards her, its head dipping down as it broke into a run. A hand closed around her wrist and she screamed.
Someone pulled her backwards and through an adjacent door, slamming it shut and locking it. A tall figure pushed a big bookshelf across the doorway, blocking the door completely. Jane watched as the figure flicked her hair away from her face and turned, a heavy looking assault rifle in her hands.
"Gail?" Jane croaked, her chest heaving. The tall woman smiled, her eyes twinkling.
"Dr. Marsden. Come, we don't have much time."
Without another word Gail stalked past her and off into the room, disappearing through another doorway leaving Jane alone, with just the thumping pulse in her throat and the annoyed scratching and bumps of the raptor at the door. Jane wasn't quite sure what had just happened. Gail's head appeared at the door frame, her face smiling.
"Are you coming then?"
The attempts of the raptor outside subsided and faded, as did the strength in Janes legs. She drew in a long breath; calm, determined. And then blew it back out.