The group made their way through the terrain with Alan leading everyone through the abandoned parts of the jungle while everyone else lagged behind.
"Eric!" Amanda yelled again, her voice just slightly quieter due to her loss of the megaphone.
"Quiet!" She was reminded as she was approached by her ex-husband.
"Stop that. Dr. Grant says this is dangerous territory."
" Well we should split up or something. We can cover twice the area."
"No, Dr. Grant says..."
"Dr. Grant says this, Dr. Grant says that..."
"Well what's the use of hiring an expert if your not going to listen to him?"
At this point Charlotte stopped listening to the bickering pair. The exhaustion of almost dying multiple times was getting to her and she knew that if the Kirby's fought for much longer she would break them up.
"If they split up, I'm going with you."
Charlotte nodded at Udesky. "That's definitely a good plan. Though if we split up we'll be responsible for those two's death."
As they continued through the path Billy sped up as he saw something in the trees ahead. Charlotte ran up to see what it was. There in the branches was a torn up parachute with a life vest hanging off
"Young adult." Paul's voice cracked as he said that and a chill ran down Charlotte's spine.
"Eric..."
Charlotte laid a comforting hand on Amanda's shoulder. "He must've gotten loose and escaped." Amanda smiled at the reassurance, though both knew that Charlotte was just being kind.
"Hey. Got something here." Udesky's voice sounded a little further up the path and the group turned to see him holding up a video recorder.
"That's Ben's!" She sounded party relieved and partly panicked as she tries to turn on the camcorder
She grabs it from Udesky and pops open the screen. She tried turning the power switch on but the battery's dead.
Udesky pulled out a flashlight from his pack and looks to Amanda.
"Here, give that to me." As Udesky takes the battery out of the flashlight Alan and Billy observe the parasail.
"It looks intact."
"What would we use it for?" Charlotte questioned.
"We should take it with us to signal any planes."
"We could try, but no one is looking for us."
Billy looked at her. "You were the one who was willing to go off in the middle of the island to help find their kid."
"Exactly. So they'd be reunited." She didn't have to finish the thought. They both knew what would happen. "I can't imagine what they're going through right now."
Udesky was able to get the camcorder turned on from using the flashlight's battery so the group crowed around as the screen lit up eager to see what had happened to the young boy.
"It works!"
"I don't know for how long." Udesky tried to tell the excited mother.
On the screen there is a young boy playing frisbee on the beach with an older man, it could only be Eric and Ben.
"That's him. That's Eric!"
"I filmed this the morning they left."
Ben caught the frisbee and motioned to Eric, who ran over, suddenly the started running towards the camera. Charlotte saw Paul close his mouth but his expression of jealousy was replaced with a reaction to the new feed that took its place. The pair was tethered to the back of the boat, only they were going to fast towards the island. Eric was screaming for Ben, who had unlocked the parasail. The group witnessed Ben and Eric's crash into the canopy and their final resting place. Eric was able to jump off and the group head Ben's weak voice before the video camera lost its power and the screen turned black.
"See? He's okay. He's alive! Everything's going to be all right now."
Amanda brought a hand to her mouth, silently nodding her head as Charlotte looked over at the pair.
Alan and Billy exchange a dubious look, then begin pulling the parasail out of the tree. Unfortunately the fabric got caught on some branches and just as they pulled it loose a decaying body came swinging out at the pair, diving directly into Amanda. She screamed in terror, clawing at her body as she began running away.
"Amanda!" Paul yelled at his ex-wife as he chased after her.
"Dr. Grant!" with two of their members missing the remaining three moved over to Udesky when he called on the older paleontologist.
As they walk over they are met with nests, about twelve of them. Each are filled with oval shaped eggs. Charlotte is too overwhelmed for words. This is the first dinosaur that hadn't tried to kill her. Granted they were technically eggs but she liked the idea of being this close to a prehistoric animal and in no danger. Part of her wanted to take these animals away and raise them to live in no danger but she couldn't deny them of their animal instincts.
"Raptors." Her uncle confirmed her suspicions as she visibly saw him pale. From all the stories that Ellie had told her about Jurassic Park, she could tell that neither of them enjoyed velociraptors as much has they previously did.
They suddenly heard the distant roar of a dinosaur and the group, including Amanda and Paul who had made their way back, started running away from the danger.
"What's a raptor?" Amanda asked Paul, who gave her a confused face, clearly not knowing the famous dinosaur.
"They don't look that big. I mean, comparatively." Udesky responded to the pair.
"They're about this tall." Charlotte measured a space below her shoulders as reference.
"If we came across one, we might live."
"Well that's good." Charlotte laughed.
"But you never came across just one." Grant chimed in, explaining his hatred for the animal while Charlotte nodded in confirmation.
""They're amazing creatures, really. Super intelligent, and they travel in groups."
Amanda looked around, noticing that the group had one less person. "Wait! Where's Billy?"
Charlotte stopped, looking at her uncle in a terrifying realization.
"Billy! Billy!" They yelled together.
"I thought we weren't suppose to yell." Amanda told the pair.
"When one of our dinosaur experts is missing, then we yell." Charlotte explained to the light haired woman, who just gave her an annoyed expression.
"Here!" Billy emerged from the forest, wearing a happy smile. "I got some great pictures of the nest. You know this proves raptors raised their young in colonies."
Charlotte rolled her eyes and Alan gave his student a glare, both walking away from Billy as he continued to talk about his findings.
"This speaks to a larger social structure, the possibility of Darwinian altruism. It changes everything." He paused for a second, ready to reveal his plan. "We could co-write a paper."
"Ah yes, the first rule of academics. Publish or perish." Billy looked confused as his mentor's harsh words for a moment before deciding that there was still a chance to publish his findings.
"He was just worried. You could have died." Charlotte explained to the boy.
"I was ten feet away."
She pulled on his camera bag strap as he walked in front of her, making him face her as he turned around.
"We need to stick together. My uncle lost people the last time he did this. If we lose you he'll hold onto this for the rest of his life."