Symbiosis

Chapter 1: Escape

A lonely figure rushed through the jungle. All around her there were shades of green and brown, a confusing mess of trees and bushes that all looked the same. She was trapped in a natural maze with only a vague notion of direction. The roaring thunders above her announced an incoming storm. The dense tree canopy blocked her view of the sky, she couldn't spot the clouds, forcing her to rely on the sounds alone to guess how much time she had left.

Of course, getting wet was the least of her concerns. Samantha knew how handle herself in a jungle, a desert, a tundra and a number of other biomes. After all, any decent biologist with an adventuring spirit like herself must be willing to get their hands dirty, especially when working on field research. No, her real fear didn't come from natural threats, but from an artificial monstrosity, a resurrected life form brought back to existence by humanity's ingenuity and arrogance. The beings that she was running from had once ruled the earth for millions of years, long before the first hominids set out from Africa. They had been extinct, reduced to fossils and forgotten for ages, until a small group of arrogant men, whom Samantha cursed every day while surviving on this dammed island, decided to play god and bring dinosaurs back to life. Worse than that, they attempted to create a Jurassic Park, they wanted to profit from their creations, like an entrepreneur doctor Frankenstein. It felt almost ironic for Sam to know how quickly their plans had failed, it had only taken a single tropical storm to make them lose control of their dinosaurs and force them to abandon their facilities. She would've laughed at that, if it didn't mean she was all alone on this place.

She was all alone on an island abandoned for almost 20 years, surrounded by monsters.

There were many predators on the island. Some of them were too small to be a problem while others, like the tyrannosaurus rex, were too big to care about a small human. Big predators would only try to get her if they were very hungry or if she got close enough to make it easy for them. The real danger were the ones between those two categories. Creatures like the velociraptor, with a strong bite, powerful legs and deadly claws. They were about as tall as a human but much heavier, enough to overpower her easily. Sam, by comparison, was big enough to make her a worthy prey. Not only that, but they were smart. They worked in groups and could form basic hunting strategies. From what she had read before coming to this island, some scientists claimed they could be smarter than dolphins. Now, after days of firsthand experience, she could definitely agree.

How long had she been running? A few minutes or maybe an hour? She couldn't tell. Her memories were just a blur of fear and adrenaline. Her eyes darted around, hoping to find a familiar stream. "Where the fuck is it?" She whispered. It was the nearest reference point she could use to go back to her shelter. Sam could barely hear the forest over her quick breaths and heartbeats. Her increasing fatigue forced her to stop by a large tree and rest for a few seconds. One hand scrubbed the sweat dripping down her face, while the other gripped her SPAS-12 shotgun tighter. The weapon was the only useful tool in case the velociraptors chasing her cached up, but she had limited ammo, only eight shells loaded and three more on her pockets. It was enough to defend herself at the moment, but not enough for the future.

Samantha had done all she could to get rid of her pursuers, but they were stubborn and eager for a good meal. She had used her smaller frame to put as many obstacles between her and them, as well as zigzagging around the trees to slow them down. Nevertheless, she was certain they were still on her trail; they never gave up that easily.

Her only hope was to get back to her temporary shelter, a small bunker on a worker village, before the velociraptors got to her. If she found the stream, she could follow it to a nearby road that led directly to the village. As Sam scanned the area around her, hoping to recognize something, she realized with a growing sense of dread that the jungle had become terribly quiet. She could barely hear a few birds far away. That was bad, really bad. A quiet jungle usually meant there were predators nearby.

Her resting time was over. There was a dry click as she turned the safety of her weapon off. Once more, she picked the direction she felt was the right one and began marching forward. Instead of running like before, her footsteps were careful and deliberate, with her eyes and ears searching for any signs of an imminent attack. Samantha continued for what felt like an eternity, until she reached a small depression. Her movement came to a halt as the sound of rushing water reached her ears. Her eyes shifted downwards, and she spotted the flowing waters of the familiar stream.

The sight boosted her morale, and Sam wasted no time getting next to the water and beginning her next journey upstream. She figured it would only take a few minutes to reach the road. Her body shook with every noise the jungle made. She cursed under her breath and tried to keep her hands steady. If a raptor attacked, she would only have a second to react.

After a few minutes, she found the old road, already being taken over by grass, bushes and a few small trees, as decades of neglect set in.

The rain had already started, and with her view no longer blocked by the trees, she could see the rain would only get worse. There was a mass of dark clouds approaching, a storm most definitely. Worst of all, the rain made it impossible to hear the jungle, Samantha was effectively deaf.

Not wasting any time, the woman picked her pace towards the village. She gripped her shotgun closer to her chest, ready to fire at any sight of movement. Sam didn't know for sure if the raptors were still pursuing her. Yes, they were smart and very determined, but the long chase coupled with the rain might be enough to make them give up. It all depended on how hungry they were.

The rain was making some of her red hair stick to her face, forcing her to constantly pass a hand on her face to keep it from blocking her eyes. Sam had considered cutting her hair shorter, but a few days ago, when she wasn't all alone on some cursed island, it wasn't a problem. The truth is, she always liked to keep her hair long, it felt nice, and it seemed to make her a bit more attractive to the opposite sex. Ironic, considering the nearest hot guy was probably hundreds of kilometers away. Maybe the raptors would take a moment to appreciate it before eating her.

As she continued to advance, a new sound cut through the rain. A series of alien howls and crones. Sam froze immediately, her knuckles turned white from her strong grip on her weapon. The only creature that could make a sound like that was a raptor. However, at the same time, she realized it had sounded very distant from her, all the way down the jungle she had emerged from.

Her grip eased ever so slightly, and she continued to walk.

It was a bit difficult to tell because of the rain, but she was sure whatever had made that sound was too far away to be a problem. Maybe luck was on her side for once.

The first sign of her objective came in the form of a rusted SUV next to the road. As she made a left turn, the sight of a long metal fence became visible. It was an old perimeter fence that surrounded the worker village. The very one she had been trying to reach.

She let out a long breath of relief as she approached the open gates. Against all odds, she had made it back in one piece.

As Sam crossed into the village, she turned around and watched the road and the surrounding jungle. Her eyes scanned the foliage for any suspicious movements. It was a long shot, the raptors were excellent at hiding, but it was always good to make sure.

As if to reassure her, another distant howl came from the jungle, this time even fainter than before. It helped ease her paranoia.

The bunker she had been using as a temporary shelter was a small thing. It had been made to house a dozen or so people for one or two days. It was a necessary safety measure, considering the rather frequent storms that passed through the island chain during summer (although the dinosaurs were probably also taken into consideration).

It consisted of a main hall with a large table and some kitchen appliances, a bedroom with half a dozen bunk beds, a bathroom and a small storage room. Most of the furniture was in a sad state, and whatever useful items the bunker once held were long gone, probably taken by the Ingen employees when the island was evacuated. Still, the concrete walls and the large metal door made it the safest place to stay on this side of the island.

After closing the door behind her, Samantha left her weapon and satchel on the old table and sat down. Now that her fears were over, her attention could be focused on more immediate concerns…

Like the fact she was soaked to the bone. "Fuck…" she cursed under her breath. A few minutes under the rain was enough leave all her clothes, her boots, socks and hair completely wet.

"Dammed raptors…" she went to the bathroom to pick a towel, one of the few things that remained there.

"Dammed rain…" she cursed as she tried to dry her hair. The towel had many holes in it, and it was easily braking apart due to time and neglect. Still, it served its purpose.

"Dammed island…" Next were her boots and socks. She would have to figure out a way to dry them quickly. Leaving them outside on the sun might take too long, assuming the rain even stopped before the sun went down.

As she continued to dry her hair, Sam thought about her little trip outside. It had been difficult to find the garage, her map made it seem like a fairly close location, but the overgrown jungle had slowed her down considerably and made it harder to find.

The garage itself was nothing special, just a small place used to maintain and repair some of the vehicles used by the staff. To Sam, however, it was a gold mine of possibilities. There were still many tools laying around, as well as some car oil and a few batteries. She even found a heavy wire cutter, which would be excellent for dealing with the many fences that crossed the island. The batteries were the same type as her flashlight (not that she used it often, since it was suicide to go out at night) and the car oil was flammable, not ideal, but still useful if she needed to start a fire.

It would've been a perfect journey, had it not been for the raptors. They heard her before she did them, for when she came outside, they were staring at her from the parking yard. After a single moment of shock, everything became a blur. She barely remembered dashing inside to escape the raptors. The crammed interior, stashed with old vehicles, piles of tires and metal shelves gave her an advantage, as her larger pursuers had to slow down and make their way around the obstacles.

She had jumped out of a window and ran into the jungle, as fast as her legs could carry her. As luck would have it, not far from there she had stumbled upon a herd of triceratops. The large beasts cared little about a small human like her (as long as she kept a certain distance from the young or the more aggressive members), but quickly moved into formation when the raptors approached. To keep chasing her, the raptors had been forced to make their way around the entire herd, buying precious minutes to increase her distance and change directions.

As her current living state showed, that herd had probably saved her life.

Now she could prepare for the next step on her journey to escape the island. Her best chance was to reach a small harbor a few miles away and see if there was either a working radio to call for help, or a boat to try reaching Costa Rica. She was familiar with navigation from her younger years sailing with her father, so she was fairly confident she could do it on her own. To reach the harbor, first she would need to head even deeper into the island and find the main laboratory of site B. From there, the map showed a single road that cut a straight path to the harbor. It was the easiest route there, but it could still take a couple of days if she wanted to do it safely.

Samantha briefly wondered how the rest of the team would react to her coming back. "Those fuckers better pay me an extra for all the shit I'm going through…" she muttered to herself. It wasn't their fault she had been left behind. She had told them that if she didn't make it back to them in one hour they should just leave, and they did just that.

The only ones she could blame were dead. Eaten by a tyrannosaurus and a pack of hungry raptors (probably the same pack hunting her now). Two young and overconfident idiots who panicked at the first sight of trouble and had paid with their lives. How they had convinced her boss to let them come as a security detail was something she could only guess. "Former marines my ass, they couldn't even operate their guns well, or keep their cool when things went to shit".

Sam could still remember when the first was killed, the idiot had opened fire without permission at a raptor he had spotted, revealing their position to every predator on the island and angering the entire pack of raptors. When the raptors gathered around them, the boy (who was probably around the same age as her, but still acted like a teenager) got separated from the group while firing blindly into the jungle in panic, only to (she assumed) get jumped by a raptor hiding in a bush and get eaten. Remembering his screams almost made her feel pity for him.

The second got eaten by a tyrannosaurus when they arrived back at the shore, forcing the group to separate and hide until the T-rex went away. When she finally managed to go back to the shore, the boat they had used to come here was gone, with no trace of the rest of the team. Obviously, at least some of them had gotten away. She didn't know how many, but at least whomever was left could get some help. Not from the local government though, because coming to this island was strictly forbidden.

Not that it mattered now. She could worry about the legal implications after she survived the island. Right now, her only objective was to gather her things, eat a decent meal, and move on to her next goal.

Compsognathus, or comp for short, wasn't big or particularly nutritious, but it was the easiest thing to catch, since there were plenty of them around the village. Not like she had other options anyway. Her only food was the tiny dinosaur, half a dozen bananas she had gathered from the jungle and some chocolate she had brought with her to the island. The last one she was saving for when she got to the docks "If I get there" a dark part of her mind reminded her.

At least Sam was pretty sure she wouldn't face the same pack of raptors again. They couldn't possibly be that stubborn. She had an entire new day ahead of her and she intended to make the best of it. The more progress she made, the further away she would get from them and the closer she would be from her goal.

Now that her clothes were dry and the sky had cleared from the morning rain, it was time to push forward. As a preparation, Sam had used the last hours of the morning to gather her things and organize them inside her small backpack and satchel. She kept only the bare minimum to avoid slowing her down.

After finishing her small meal, the girl took her first steps outside the shelter. The bright sun stood clear above her, radiating warmth and reflecting on her red hair. Taking a moment of pause, Sam picked the road leading to the central lab and marched forward. According to her map, she would need to backtrack a few hundred meters on the same road she had come from earlier and turn east. It should be simple enough.

The first few minutes were peaceful, but that wouldn't last for long.

As Samantha reached a fair distance, she begun to feel a knot on her throat. A strange shiver ran down her spine. There was something wrong.

There was something out there, something watching her. She turned around and scanned the jungle. Could the raptors still be there? No, they wouldn't be that stubborn.

She tried to steer her thoughts away from that feeling, walking at a slower pace, and considering turning the safety of her weapon off. However, no matter how much she tried to remain calm, a growing feeling of dread was rushing through her veins, up her back making her sweat.

Her fears were proven correct when a deep purr came from her left.

By instinct, Sam threw her body on the ground while keeping her shotgun close to her chest. A fraction of a second later, a large shape covered in feathers shot above her, landing a few meters to her right.

She scrambled to a kneeling position, lifting her shotgun and looking down the iron sights. Ahead of her was a raptor, its long body covered in brown feathers with two white lines along the back and covering its chest. A pair of amber eyes were locked on her, right above an open muzzle bearing rows of sharp teeth.

"Holy fuck!" Before she could pull the trigger, the raptor jumped behind a large bush, out of sight. Sam hesitated for a moment; she knew even a warning shot to keep the raptor away would give her position to every predator in the area.

If she was to open fire, it had to be a killing shot.

"Okay, I need to keep moving" she thought. Raptors never hunt alone, if there was one in front of her, there were probably several more around her. Breaking twigs and moving foliage accompanied the dull thud of her boots hitting the earth. Obviously, the raptor in question was following her steps. Her hands were shaking as she moved her aim, searching for any signs of her stalker.

At the edge of her vision, she could see the road turning east. If Sam was to keep going, she had to get rid of the raptor. There was no way she could make it to the lab while hunted by it.

Before she could figure out how deal with the situation, she heard a high-pitched growl behind her. While cursing herself for not checking her surroundings, she jumped around and pointed her shotgun to the jungle behind her, ready to take down the second raptor.

Instead of a mass of feathers and sharp talons, trees and bushes devoid of any threats greeted her. "Wha- what the hell?"

There was a small bump against her left leg, drawing her eyes downward. What she saw was a miniature raptor, with red feathers barely visible growing along its head and back. It was… a baby raptor. Why the fuck was there a baby raptor here?

Realizing the danger, Samantha dashed away from the young dinosaur. Just as she expected, the adult raptor that had initially attacked jumped out of cover and revealed himself in an attempt to protect the younger one.

She scrambled back as the raptor placed himself in front of his (she assumed it was he, given his rich feathers) youngling. Now the raptor had a second reason to kill Sam: She was at the same time a prey and a threat to the young. Her day was just getting better and better.

The adult raptor growled menacingly at her. A beautiful crest of feathers rose on top of his head, making him look even more imposing.

Before she had a chance to take aim, he jumped at her. However, to her surprise, instead of targeting her body with his killing talons, the raptor was aiming at her shotgun. He gave the weapon a strong kick, throwing her aim off, while the rest of his large body crashed into her, making Sam stumble and lose her footing, falling backwards. The strap on her shoulder was the only thing keeping her from losing her weapon; and in her panic, she pulled the trigger.

Her ears went ringing as the loud blast of her shotgun broke the relative silence of the island. As she landed on her butt, Samantha desperately drew her machete, a last resort weapon against the raptor who was now practically on top of her. Instead, the predator in question seemed even more stunned by the blast going right next to his head. He wobbled left and right, clearly a bit dizzy and confused.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Sam quickly seized the opportunity and delivered the strongest kick she could muster to the side of his head. It didn't hurt him in any meaningful way, but it was enough that, in his confused and dizzy state, made him lose balance and fall to his side.

This was her only chance to escape. She jumped on her feet and ran towards the forest, as fast as her legs could carry her. She knew raptors couldn't climb trees very well, so her eyes searched desperately for one she could seek shelter easily.

"Come on!" Her hands and boots gripped the wood as hard as she could. A quick glance behind her revealed the adult raptor entering the jungle after her. Sam knew she only had a few seconds, her muscles burning under the strain of lifting her body higher up the tree. Just as the raptor launched himself in the air in an effort to grab her legs, she managed to climb on top of the first branches, placing herself beyond his reach.

The raptor growled at her, obviously frustrated. "Fuck off!" She couldn't help but to smile mockingly at him. "Not today featherhead!" She thought to herself. However, now that she was out of danger, Samantha needed to figure out a way to get rid of him. Only them she could continue her journey safely.

Realizing the raptor was now an easy target, she pumped her shotgun once, ejecting the spent round and loading a new one. All it would take was a single shot against his center of mass and he would no longer be a problem, even if it didn't kill him instantly. She aimed down on him and placed her finger on the trigger.

To her surprise, however, as soon as she had begun lowering her weapon towards him, the adult raptor seemed to realize what she was about to do and jumped behind the tree, outside her view. Cursing herself, she turned around and tried to find him, but he kept moving around the tree, only allowing her a few glimpses of his big tail. Samantha was stunned by his intelligence. She couldn't believe the raptor actually understood her shotgun was a threat and that he needed to stay outside her view to protect himself. Raptors were supposed to be smart, but this was completely outside anything theorized yet.

While busy trying to find the adult raptor, the sound of something massive made her look towards the road. she noticed the baby raptor running full speed into the jungle, and he wasn't alone.

The small ball of feathers and fury was running away from something. That something revealing itself as a Carnotaurus. A much larger and deadlier beast, almost twice Sam's height. Her day was just getting better and better.

"Fuck. My. Life" She thought. Nothing like having three predators around her to make her journey a bit more interesting. Granted, one of them was a baby and another was currently hunting the two raptors as well.

Speaking of the raptors. As soon as the Carnotaurus came close to her tree, the adult raptor jumped at it, obviously trying to defend the young. It was almost touching to see his dedication, attacking a much larger predator just to protect the little guy. If only he wasn't trying to kill her. She could almost feel sympathy.

The girl considered her options. She could use the distraction to run away, or she could wait until the fight was over and pick off whomever was left standing. If the Carnotaurus won (which was very likely) he might stay a while to eat the raptors. She didn't have any slugs loaded on her shotgun, so killing him wasn't an option. She could try aiming to his eyes and other sensitive places, but that might just make him angry and more determined to kill her.

Yes, the reasonable choice was to use the distraction to run away. However, a part of her wanted to watch. That part of her was the curious teenager that still existed inside her mind; it was the young biologist amazed at seeing two ancient beasts fighting. Samantha couldn't help herself; this was the kind of thing one could only imagine, and here she was witnessing it as if she had a time machine.

It was a combination of all these feelings, of her amazement and curiosity, that made her stay put, even when there was plenty of opportunity to get away.

The fight itself wasn't the David vs Goliath scenario she was expecting. The raptor was a ball of muscle; he was agile and strong, using his speed and flexibility to compensate his smaller size. The Carnotaurus, for his part, was simply too big to go down easily. Not nearly as big as a tyrannosaurus, but enough to withstand most blows from the raptor.

The adult raptor used the forest to his advantage. Whenever the Carnotaurus attempted to charge him, the raptor would zigzag around trees, forcing the larger predator to turn his entire body to face the raptor and attempt another bite. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, the raptor would strike at the legs and tummy, using both his claws and his teeth, whichever was closer.

Now as a willing bystander, Samantha watched the duo with great fascination. The adult raptor, in particular, was the main focus of her attention. There was an intelligence behind his eyes, she noticed, his behavior had changed completely from earlier, when she had been the target. This meant he could differentiate between a human and a large dinosaur like the Carnotaurus and change strategies to better suit his opponent.

The way he moved around his enemy, how he would strike with great precision and twist his body around to dodge his opponent made her realized just how dangerous he was. This wasn't a simple beast, he was an apex predator, and Sam was lucky to have survived this far.

The raptor continued to dance around his opponent, striking at the legs and upper thighs whenever possible. The Carnotaurus, by comparison, was more and more frustrated by each new slash and bite on his body. Further away from the action, Samantha saw the younger raptor watching the duel with the same fascination as herself. The little creature almost reminded her of a child looking at a superhero.

However, the fight wasn't completely one-sided. The raptor had to be in constant movement to stay safe, while the larger dinosaur only had to turn himself around to keep track of his prey. Occasionally, the Carnotaurus would get a lucky hit on the raptor, with either his legs or his large head. While he could never get a killing blow with his jaws, these occasional strikes were obviously painful to the raptor, who would quickly pick himself up and continue his attack. Sam knew the raptor couldn't keep this up forever, his kind were made for quick hunts, not for prolonged fights.

She found herself gripping her shotgun tightly. As the minutes passed, the raptor got tired and slower, allowing the Carnotaurus to land more blows, throwing him multiple times on the ground. Probably deciding that enough was enough, the raptor growled loudly and ran straight at the Carnotaurus.

For a moment, she was dumbstruck by his attack. Had he gone insane? He was putting himself right in front of those massive jaws, just begging to die.

Instead of a quick death, the adult raptor surprised her once more with his incredible strength and agility. Just as the Carnotaurus moved to bite down on him, the raptor jumped to the right, avoiding those powerful jaws, and quickly used the lowered neck in front of him to climb on top of his enemy.

Before the Carnotaurus could even realize what was happening, the raptor bit down on the larger dinosaur's neck, while simultaneously cutting with his claws and talons, obviously trying to hit something vital and end the fight as quickly as possible. It was now or never.

The Carnotaurus shook his body violently, desperately trying to dislodge the raptor. The smaller dinosaur, for his part, held himself in place. As blood began to pour from the multiple wounds inflicted on his neck, the Carnotaurus grew more agitated, throwing himself against the tree trunks around him.

In his trashing, however, the larger beast smashed the raptor against a lower tree branch, making him lose his grip on the Carnotaurus. With one strong shake, the adult raptor was flung across the small arena, right at tree Samantha was hiding. The woman felt the tree shake as he crashed against the wood, landing right below her, and remaining unmoving.

For a small moment, she felt time slow to a crawl. Her eyes were locked on the raptor below, waiting for any sight of movement. This couldn't be it; he couldn't be dead after all the skill and determination he had unknowingly shown her.

A single step broke her concentration. Her eyes looked up, and she saw the lumbering Carnotaurus approaching the downed raptor. His neck and legs were now covered in blood from the wounds inflicted by the smaller raptor, and he was obviously angry. With each step, she could see his jaw flexing and shaking with anticipation, ready to crush the smaller creature that had dared to stand up to it.

Despite not being the target of his hatred, Sam felt oddly afraid. A part of her wanted to stop him, telling her to shoot him dead with her shotgun. Sam tried her best to ignore those thoughts, why waste ammo when one problem was taking care of another? She could do it after the raptor was dead.

Just as the Carnotaurus was a few steps from the adult raptor, a different high-pitched growl came from below. She looked down once again, letting out a gasp at what she saw. Her eyes stared at the infant raptor, who was standing tall in front of the downed adult, trying to look intimidating. Even the Carnotaurus paused at the sight of the tiny raptor, probably out of confusion, before resuming his advance.

At that very moment, something snapped inside Samantha. She saw the scene for what it was: a show of affection. It was a clear display of an emotional bond between those two dinosaurs. It was impossible not to feel a measure of sympathy, this was relatable even to her.

He could easily run away but choose not to. Even though the infant was clearly afraid, it still stood its ground against the larger predator to protect the other raptor, much as he had done for him just moments ago. However, unlike before, there was no hope to win this time.

What Samantha saw created a storm of conflicting emotions inside her. Her cold reason and survivor instincts were overwhelmed by the sudden tsunami of anger and empathy. Those emotions made her act without thinking, taking control of her arms and hands as they pulled her shotgun up and pointed at the incoming Carnotaurus. A small voice screamed at her as she looked down the iron sights, told her it was an insane waste of ammo, but the voice was a mere background noise against her beating heart.

As soon as her aim found the dinosaur's large head, she pulled the trigger. For the second time that day, the loud bang of her firearm echoed through the jungle.

Normally, a shotgun blast had limited effect against such a large animal. It could still cause damage, especially at close range and aiming somewhere vital, but it was much less reliable than slug rounds, of which Samantha had so few of she had neglected to load them, hoping to keep them for when absolutely necessary. Of course, none of that mattered when aiming at the eyes, which are so sensitive that even a bird shot would probably still work.

That was exactly where she was aiming. Her shot had devastating results; the left eye of the Carnotaurus was reduced to a red pulp.

The dinosaur, for his part, was overwhelmed with pain and confusion. It screamed in rage while shaking its head from side to side. The combination of the wounds inflicted on him were enough to convince the Carnotaurus that this fight was no longer worth the effort.

With a final roar of pure rage, the large dinosaur turned around and stomped away into the jungle, leaving the two raptors and their human spectator alone once more.

As silence began to take hold, Samantha realized what she had done. "Fucking stupid!" she thought to herself. Why would she waste precious ammunition to save those two? Ever since she landed on this god-forsaken island, raptors had been a constant pain in the ass. Now that she finally had the opportunity to get rid of two of them, she blew it. Why? Because she felt bad for them? They sure as hell wouldn't do the same for her.

She held no doubt in her mind that any velociraptor wouldn't hesitate to tear her guts open, yet here she was going out of her way to help them. Fucking pathetic.

Figuring she might as well go all the way with her mistake, Samantha climbed down to see if the adult raptor was still alive. Being conscious of the possible danger, she pumped her shotgun once to load a new shell. If the raptor decided to repay her kindness with violence, she would gladly blast his face off.

As her boots hit the jungle floor, there was a small and unsure growl from the smaller raptor, who remained besides the adult.

"Fuck off!" the tiny dinosaur quickly hid behind the adult. Sam wasn't in the mood to fight more dinosaurs, even if it was just an infant.

She approached the large raptor with caution. His eyes were closed, and he remained unmoving. From a few steps away, his feathers looked even more impressive. The white lines along his back contrasted brightly against the light brown around them. The feathers covered his neck, his chest and most of his back, becoming smaller and less dense along his big, meaty tail. Sam could see a few scratches on his back legs, still bleeding, but nothing serious. As for his size, he was smaller than those that were supposed to be displayed on Jurassic Park (before it was destroyed, that is), so he was probably part of an earlier breed, closer to the original species. Still, he was larger than she was, definitely heavier, and could overpower her with ease.

While keeping her shotgun close, the woman kneeled down and extended a hand towards the raptor. Her heartrate was going up, not just with fear, but also with the anticipation of actually touching a raptor for the first time. Her inner biologist had always dreamed of doing something like this. Before coming to this island, she had only seen pictures and the occasional video from Ingen and park employees, now she had one right in front of her.

The first thing she noticed was how soft his feathers were. They felt cool to her touch, similar to a bird. The rise and fall of his breathing came next as she pressed her palm deeper. It wasn't strong, but it meant he was alive.

A few feet away, the infant raptor stood petrified, staring at her with obvious fear.

Samantha brought her hand up his neck and began to feel for his spine. It was a long shot, but she might tell if something was broken. As her hand moved down along his neck, feeling each vertebra, she noticed many scars from previous fights. He was obviously an experienced raptor. Much like a veterinary, she took a few seconds on each bone to make sure there was nothing wrong. There were also plenty of bruises and small cuts from the Carnotaurus fight, but still nothing deadly. As she neared the tail, it became obvious he was more or less fine, just unconscious. He might have a concussion, but that was beyond her abilities.

Instead of leaving immediately, now that her task was done, she couldn't help but to explore a bit more, pressing her hands along his side and shoulders. It was stupid and risky, but she was mesmerized by the opportunity of doing something like this.

She could feel the muscles underneath his rough skin, and briefly wondered what they were like when he moved. Even his heartbeat was steady and strong.

Sadly, her musings were halted when she felt his body move ever so slightly. Her eyes immediately turned towards his head, meeting a pair of cold golden eyes staring back. Despite the fear quickly climbing up her spine, she couldn't help but to think how beautiful they were. It reminded her of a bird of prey, like an eagle.

In a panicked reaction, Samantha tried to jump on her feet while simultaneously moving away from the raptor. The only thing she managed to accomplish was to fall back on her butt while fumbling with her shotgun.

Once her grip was correct, she quickly leveled the weapon against the raptor, ready to fire at the smallest sign of movement.

The human and the raptor remained still, both staring at each other.

As more seconds ticked by, the adult raptor began to lower his head back down. To which Samantha frowned in confusion.

Was he accepting his fate or something?

She could never know, and right now her best choice would be to pull the trigger. Yet… something inside her couldn't bring her to do it. Even after all she had endured, all the danger the raptors had put her through, she could not kill such a beautiful creature, a perfect predator. "He's tired and bruised from the fight… maybe it will be okay to let him be" She tried to reason with herself.

Although deep down Sam was aware of the deadly mistake she could be making, she took a more irrational choice and slowly stood up, deciding to leave the raptor alive. While keeping her aim at the raptor, she walked back towards the road, leaving the two dinosaurs alone and continuing her own journey.