Chapter 13 - THUMP!

I lifted my head wearily and looked around the water truck. Hannah was sleeping next to me, curled up in a small ball, and Eric was on the bed, snoring. I smiled. I had never imagined Eric to be the snoring type.

I groaned and sat up. My back was killing me! Guess I wasn't used to sleeping on a rock solid floor.

Eric stirred in his sleep, then sat up wearily to look around. When he saw that I was awake too, he asked; "What was that sound?"

I grinned. "Just me," I said. "I'm not used to sleeping on the floor is all."

"Yeah, it can't be easy with those cuts either," he said, looking at my numerous bandages.

"Oh, I'm all right. Really," I insisted, climbing to my feet. "I really do feel much better," I lied. Eric nodded and looked away. "So … what are we doing today?" I asked, sitting down on the bed next to him.

He turned to me and just stared into my eyes for a few seconds. It kind of gave me the creeps and I got the strange sensation that I liked him. So I looked away.

He sighed. "With three of us staying here now, we'll probably need some more food. Maybe we can scrounge up some bedding for those who have to sleep on the floor. It's Hannah's turn for the bed tonight."

I nodded.

"So … should we get started?" I questioned.

"Let's let Han sleep," Eric said. "We can have a bit to eat if you're hungry, though."

As if it had ears and wanted to answer, my stomach gave a growl. Eric smiled and grabbed a can of beans. "Dig in," he said, handing it to me.

Looking at the cold beans in the can made me want to throw-up, but my hunger overpowered me. I held my breath, closed my eyes, and took a bite. YUCK!

Eric waved for us to come out of the water truck. He was hiding in the protection of the trees and looking in every direction, keeping an eye out for dinosaurs. I carefully but quickly climbed out of the hatch and hopped from the desk to the embedded metal thing in the swamp … it might have been a car … but I wasn't really sure. I ran up next to Eric in the cover of the vines. Hannah joined us soon after and we began to carefully dodge from tree to tree.

It only took us about ten minutes to get around to the compound, which is what Eric called the place with all the buildings that were once nice looking and where to stupid idiots made the dinosaurs and … I'll shut-up now.

We walked through the open doors and looked around. A reception desk faced us and on the counter was a phone, the receiver lying next to it. "My mom thought it might work last time we were here," Eric snickered.

Walking over the nature-strewn floor, we made our way farther into the building, all the while keeping a look out for any creatures. Dinosaurs, if you couldn't tell.

We came upon a vending machine, which had been broken open. There wasn't very much left and we were able to fill our pockets with the candy before we went off. It was mostly candy bars. There were a couple gummy bear packets, which Eric said we could use to fill up holes in the water truck or chuck at the dinosaurs we were attacked by.

We kept walking until we reached a large room. We walked down some uncomfortably loud stairs and I began looking around. I could tell Eric and Hannah had been there before and wanted to get on, but they didn't protest.

"We just don't want to be here that long, ok?" Eric whispered.

I nodded and looked around. What I later found out to be incubators were lined up in a neat row. Some of them were open, others closed, but all of them had the glass broken. Eggshells were scattered around the floor in an unceremonious manner. When I came upon some glass tube looking things that held preserved dinosaurs in various stages of their development, Eric cleared his throat and I looked over at him.

"We should be moving on," He said. I nodded again and followed them out of the room.

We walked along a series of halls until Eric forced a door open and Hannah and I entered after him. It was a rather large room with shelves everywhere. The first few cases were empty but there seemed to be hundreds more. Upon them stood different kinds of boxes.

"Get as much as you can carry, Han, and you too, Lane," Eric said. "Just not too much because you want to be able to move quickly and silently."

"What are you going to carry?" Hannah asked.

Eric smiled at her. "We're going to get more blankets. Now that Lane is here, we need it!"

Hannah and I nodded.

"Eric," I asked. "What is in the boxes?"

Eric smiled. "Food, and lots of it. I know the beans are gross but … you'll just have to live with it. We don't really have a choice."

I nodded and went over to one of the shelves. I picked up two boxes and found that my arms were full.

Hannah was waiting for me over by Eric. "Where are we going to get the bedding stuff?" I questioned.

Eric shushed me and slowly pulled the door open a crack. He peeked through and just stood there for a couple of seconds. He then slowly opened the door a bit more and stuck his head out, looked around, then motioned to us to follow him. We quietly crept out of the room and down the hall. We took a left turn, then a right, then a right again, and Eric opened a door, shooing us in.

It was dark and a bit damp in the room. There wasn't really that much light and the light that was there was eerie. I didn't like being in this place.

There didn't seem to be anything of great significance in the room. It might have been a bathroom once. There were the remnants of a toilet in the corner and places that looked like sinks had once hung there, but not much else. There wasn't really any tile on the walls or on the floor.

"What the heck happened in here?" Hannah whispered.

"Eric!" I whispered, but not very lightly (which earned me a "Hush!" from Hannah). "Why did you bring us in here!" I said, quieter this time.

"There was something moving around the corner," he said. "I didn't want to risk finding out what it was."

My heart seemed to skip a beat. There had been a dinosaur … right around the corner? This was bad, real bad. I didn't like being in this room. It seemed too confined, like we were in a trap. The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up and I began to get the feeling we were being watched. "Eric," I said in a barely audible voice. "I don't like being in this room. This isn't a very good hiding place. If that thing –"

Eric quickly held out his hand and I stopped talking.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Something was walking in the hall. And after every thump there was a soft CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

"Raptor," Eric breathed.

Ok, now I know my heart skipped a beat there. A Velociraptor. This wasn't good; this wasn't good at all. Eric had told me as much as was humanly possible the other day about all the dinosaurs on this island and the only one that had kept me awake that night was the Raptor. It was a miracle I had only gotten away with a gash on by back during that attack the other day. And suddenly, as if on cue, the gash began to sting and any move I made caused it to hurt worse.

The 'thumps' stopped outside our door (or at least it sounded that way) and the Raptor sniffed the air. The breath caught in my throat. Oh my gosh, we're going to die! We are SO going to die! I kept thinking to myself. WE'RE GOING TO DIE!

Then, (this made me really sick) it sniffed the crack at the bottom of our door …

TO BE CONTINUED!

Kelly – Thanks for the cookies! They were good!

Beautyqueen321 – About the romance … there might be a bit … but it won't be that strong. Remember, they're on a dinosaur infested island and they don't really have time to think about that stuff … but yes … there's always the possibility of a touch …