The next morning we set out in two teams to look for my body. It's strange to be part of a manhunt that is looking for you. We set out in two teams consisting of Marguerite, Challenger, and myself, as well as Malone paired with Veronica. We had set a point in between the treehouse and the area where I lost my body as the center for a search "that would extend a radius of 3 miles." That's exactly what Challenger said. Our hope was that we wouldn't have to venture out father than that to find my body.
My team was walking down the path, when I saw a wild boar. With my Raptor instincts, I couldn't resist it. I ran up to it, killed it, and started eating the meat off of it. Very fresh, and as I remember, very tasty at the time.
"Roxton!" said Marguerite when she had noticed me go off, "oh, that's disgusting."
"Easy Marguerite," said Challenger, "it's just a natural instinct for the Raptor to eat wild meat."
"Well," said Marguerite, "you go ahead and watch all you want, George, I'll just continue searching."
"Just wait a minute," Challenger pleaded.
It didn't take long for me to pick all the meat off its bones. Then I ran to join my friends on the path.
We walked in silence for a while. We searched for hours. At one point, we found a stream where I could get some water, which was nice because it was hard to drink from a canteen and have my thirst be quenched. Still walking down the path, we weren't having much luck. I let Marguerite get ahead of me. I walked behind her and nudged her back with my head, pushing her forward on the path.
"John," she said, taking the joke as it was, "stop that." I saw Challenger smile, amused at the situation for whatever reason.
A minute or so later I nudged her forward again. "Roxton," she said, as a warning, telling me that she was getting annoyed.
About 30 seconds later, I playfully nudged her forward again. "Roxton," she yelled at me, "would you cut it out!"
I roared at her. She jumped back, naturally fearing my Raptor exterior.
Challenger laughed, "Marguerite, I think Roxton is having a little fun."
"Fun," said Marguerite flustered, "well, who am I to disrupt Lord Roxton's fun."
Marguerite, I thought, always reacting in ways I'm never ready for. I was just playing around, and I think Marguerite would have been more entertained if I were my normal self. The Raptor side of me confused her. She didn't know how to treat me because I was a beast with a human on the inside. She couldn't decide whether to treat me like a pet Raptor, or like John Roxton, the man she knew was on the inside somewhere. However, by the next day, she would become more comfortable with the idea of me being in the inside the Raptor's skin.
By the end of the day, we hadn't made any progress, and they were no smoke signals from Malone and Veronica. As the sun went down we had no choice; we had to set up a camp for the night.
We woke up early the next morning. Challenger made sure that the fire was out and decided that it was time for breakfast. Marguerite and Challenger ate some fruit that they had brought with them in their packs. I myself went hunting for some live meat. It was far more appetizing, and better for my Raptor's body, which was after all, strictly a carnivore.
After breakfast, we set out searching again. Within five minutes, Marguerite stopped and picked up a stick.
"Roxton," she said lightly, "wanna play fetch?"
I looked at her, and she must have known that I was not a simple little animal, and that I wouldn't have any interest in running after sticks, chasing my tail, or scratching behind my ears.
"You do?" she said, taking full advantage of my inability to speak, "well," she smiled, "then, here you go." She threw the stick down the path.
I tried hard to contain my frustration. This is exactly the kind of thing I had come to expect from good old Marguerite. I suppose I could have taken it as a sign that she was getting more comfortable, but there was very little I could do about it now. No witty words to get her upset. All I could have done was to attack her physically, but that would leave her seriously injured. When I was genuinely upset, I wouldn't have dared to roar because it was not always easy to resist the Raptor desire burning in that body's heart of eating live flesh. I saw Challenger look at me, containing a laugh, but I don't think he wanted to upset me further.
Feeling like she had won some sort of victory, Marguerite strutted along, and we began searching once more.
At mid-day, we detected a smoke signal, and figured it must be from Malone and Veronica. We had assumed that they had found my body. We set out to follow the smoke, hoping to get the first step involved in making me back to normal behind us. I remember thinking how far away the smoke was, and how it would probably take us all day to get there.
Of course, Marguerite said it best, "How far is that?" she asked Challenger.
"Oh," he told her, "let's just say it's probably a day's walk if we keep a good pace."
"A day!" she exclaimed. Then she turned to me, "Roxton why did you have to lose your stupid body?"
When we finally reached Malone and Veronica, we were met by a sight we hadn't expected to see. They didn't have my body. We found Malone and Veronica sitting under a tree in an area that was pretty open with just some grass. Malone was kneeling over Veronica, when he saw us; he came to greet us.
"Bad news," he said, "Veronica broke her leg. We ran into some Pterodactyls and we split up. It followed her, and she killed it with her knife while jumping out of this tree – it was incredible! Except when she hit the ground, that's how she broke the leg."
It was unlike Veronica to be so careless. Actually, from what I had gathered, it's amazing she was able to kill the dinosaur without being attacked by it, but of all people she's the one that we all would expect to be skillful enough to avoid this kind of accident.
"We've got to get her back to the treehouse," Malone continued, "I would have done it myself, but there are a lot of predators in this area. I didn't want to be caught in the open with her injured and…"
"Completely understandable," Challenger said, "it'll be dark soon. Tomorrow we'll have to regroup and get Veronica back to the treehouse."
I brushed up lightly against Marguerite so that she would start thinking of me. "What about finding Roxton's body?" she asked.
"Yes," Challenger agreed, "still a concern. Maybe we could split up. Marguerite and I could take Veronica back to the treehouse, and Malone, you and Roxton could continue the search."
"I'd like to stay with Veronica," said Malone, "make sure she's okay."
"Ned," said Veronica, "I'm fine. It's barely even broken."
"Let me take a look at that," Challenger offered. He went over to examine the injury.
"How bad is it?" Malone asked, his concern was clear, but we all knew he cared for before this happened.
"It looks like Veronica's self diagnosis is fairly accurate," Challenger replied after several minutes, "I'd say it's only a hairline fracture."
"See," said Veronica, "I'm just fine."
"You still need to stay off your feet for a while, give it time to heal," Challenger told her.
We had too many problems all of the sudden. My body was still missing, in one piece we hoped. Veronica was unable to walk or defend herself very well with the broken leg. I began to wonder if time was running out. A Raptor's mind controlling a human body, I had thought to myself, realistically, how long could it survive? Of course, I wouldn't give up hope, not unless I actually saw my body dead.
We set out at sunrise the next day. The speaking members of our team agreed that we would all get Veronica back into the jungle before splitting up. Marguerite and I were to go and continue the search for my missing body, as Malone and Challenger would get the ailing Veronica back to the treehouse. She had convinced everyone, even Malone somehow, that once there she would be okay there alone, so Challenger and Malone were to search for the body more once Veronica had been safely delivered to the treehouse.
At this point, I was really missing being human. The different and fun things about the Raptor were not so exciting anymore, and I really wanted to talk again. My dangerous attributes that came with the body were making me uncomfortable, having to keep pushing urges and temptations aside. I shudder to think what Marguerite would have done in this situation. I was more afraid than I had ever been on this expedition. My mind had begun filling with doubts that I would never find my body alive and well. Irony would play a role in the events that happened next. As soon as my hopes started to dwindle, I would find a little something I had been missing.
I remember it well. We had just reached the jungle and would be splitting up soon. That's when the smell was detected.
"Do you smell that?" asked Marguerite.
"Smells like a dead animal," said Malone.
I was starving. I used my enhanced Raptor senses to find this animal, with every intention of eating anything that was left to produce an odor. When I got to it and nearly dug in to my prize, I found that it was human. Not just any human, it was me. The sight of seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, a Raptor's eyes no less, is one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me. And being stranded on the plateau for two years, I have seen some very peculiar sights. I just looked down at it, again, my vision seemed distorted from what I was used to, but my body looked like it was pretty beat-up. I roared as loud as I could to attract the attention of the others.
At first, they weren't getting the message. "Save your victory cheers Roxton," Marguerite mused.
I kept roaring. Challenger looked at me, "I think he's found something."
He walked over to me and saw it. "Malone!" Challenger called, "I need some help moving this."
They dragged my body out onto the path. "Roxton's body!" exclaimed Marguerite.
"Yes," confirmed Challenger, beginning to thoroughly examine it, "but it seems to be in bad shape. Assuming the Raptor is still in control of it, he's unconscious. If he ever did control Roxton that it is. We never proved that the switch occurred in both of them. The body has several lacerations, and appears to have been attacked by something. How it was able to escape is anybody's guess, but it's not going to be easy keeping it alive."
"What do we do now, Professor?" Malone asked Challenger.
"There's not much I can do for him here," said Challenger, referring to my body and its condition, "if we could get him back to the treehouse, I could do more to help him there. Using herbs and medicines we have found to help him heal."
"How can the three of us carry Veronica and Roxton's body?" Marguerite asked.
"I can walk," Veronica insisted, "all I need is to put this leg in a splint. Get me a branch or something to use as a brace, and with the splint set, I'll be able to manage."
"Veronica," said Ned, probably worried that Veronica shouldn't be up at all.
"What else are we going to do, Ned?" Veronica said, making a very good point, "this is the only way."
"She's right," said Challenger, "let's begin gathering some branches and sticks. We need thick and straight pieces of wood to make the splint. Look for a sturdy piece about the height of Veronica's waist, she can use that for support. Marguerite, stay here and keep an eye on the injured."
I went out and did what I could to help find wood for Veronica. Finding straight pieces would be difficult, and I was only able to search and gather from the ground. After an hour or so, I spotted a very thick branch that was barely hanging from a tree. It looked the right height, and I could see that it would probably support a great deal of weight. It was low enough to the ground that was able I grab onto it with my teeth and pull it off the tree. I then took it back to the trail.
With the branch in my mouth, I approached Marguerite, "Good boy," she said to me, patting me on the head, "I'll have to give you a treat when we get back to the treehouse. Of course, there isn't anything there you'd like anyway, so maybe I'll just forget it."
I again felt insulted by her treatment of me like a mindless animal. I roared at her. This caused her to jump back, "Or maybe," she said, "I'll make you a nice romantic dinner for two when you come back to normal. Now give me that branch." Instead of dropping Veronica's cane in her hand, I took a step back, and dropped it at her feet. I ran off, looking for more wood to help set up Veronica's splint.
Challenger and Malone were able to get the rest of the wood, and by mid-day Veronica's leg was in a splint, and she was able to hobble around, using the branch I found as a cane for support.
"We should get moving as soon as possible," Challenger said, "we'll be forced to keep a slow pace, but I'd like to get back to the treehouse quickly. Roxton's body isn't going to hold up forever in its present condition."
So, we pushed on, Malone and Challenger carried my body, the presence inside of it still unconscious. Marguerite helped Veronica keep her balance, and assisted her in stepping over logs and other obstacles. Being in the Raptor's body, I couldn't do anything myself. Normally, I'd be the first to volunteer in helping the others, but I was limited. It bothered me, but I did my best to remain calm. The rage in the Raptor's blood made it hard to stay calm, hard to resist the lust for ripping meat off a live animal, hard to subdue the energy I had for hunting. Slowly walking around like this, eating scarcely, it was killing me. This was not the way a Raptor was meant to live.
How long will I be able to contain my primal instinct? I thought.
When I had awoke earlier that day I had an urge, an urge to run off wildly into the jungle. Run around, and be free. Killing animals frequently, and living a wild, savage existence – forgetting everything in my mind that made me a civilized person. I resisted, but as we slowly made our way back to the treehouse, I feared that I would be unable to stop myself from answering the call of the wild. It felt like the Raptor was taking control – shutting out my mind, and if it did, I knew that I might have even attacked my friends. All I thought was that Challenger had better get my body healed up and get my mind back in it fast, before I lost control… of everything.
To Be Continued…