It was deadly quiet in the old village. They approached the only two-story building, which was coated in white paint that had long since faded. Treading carefully over the grey dusty dirt, which occasionally got blown up into David's face by a faint breeze. Sarah stood beside him, her presence eerily silent.

"There should be a method of emergency contact in there somewhere", she said, peering up at the building as if she some how knew that this is where the desired equipment would be found.

"We'll all be out of here soon", she told them all, with one of her smiles that everyone would now expect. She's awfully cheery, even when she's in the middle of Hell on Earth, thought Karen, what's her game? Karen herself felt completely the opposite, which is fair enough when untimely death could come at any moment.

Approaching the entrance, Sarah looked inside. The door lay hanging on its broken hinges. She moved it to one side and entered. Mike of course, followed her in immediately.

The interior was a complete mess. The building, in the days of its use, would have been used a bit like a ranger station. All the defensive equipment that could possibly help against a dinosaur attack would have been kept here, from firearms to electric tazers. Boris, who had just come in, couldn't see any of that.

The air inside was warm and stunk of neglect, there were also old papers scattered across the floor, some soaked by a mucky coloured liquid. The paint on the walls was peeling off very messily after years of exposure to weathering, and various bugs were crawling over the place. Foetid and decomposing was one way of describing it.

Sarah climbed the stairwell, which was looking a little worse for wear. This time Mike didn't follow her. He was busy rummaging through the various documents littering the place, apparently having found something of interest. Obviously the smell didn't bother him, or the mysterious substance oozing between the waterlogged sheets of paper.

"I've found it", came Sarah's voice from upstairs, "I'm sending the distress signal right now".

Boris meanwhile left to go and explore the other buildings to see if they held anything of interest, and more importantly, use. The others just waited outside. This is too easy, thought Jo.

She then noticed David occasionally glancing down an ally between two bungalows. He looked a little nervous, gripping his rifle fairly tightly. She put an encouraging hand on his shoulder, but he slid away, and muttered a few words.

"I'll be right back", he said.

Before she could stop him from doing anything he had strode off towards the source of concern, to confront whatever it may be.

Walking slowly, and cautiously, he made his way towards the particular area of interest. What he was anxious about was a noise he thought he could hear, which sounded like someone, or something, stalking him from the bushes. He also thought he saw a flicker of movement, which indicated a possibility that there was danger. His mind drew up images of his first encounter with a Velociraptor, which sent a shiver down his spine. Unwilling to let an ambush of any kind occur after having come so far, he made his way down through the ally with his rifle raised. Then suddenly, jumping out as if to surprise whatever might have been waiting there, he emerged out onto the other side. There was nothing there. Just an upturned barrel, badly weathered and covered in rust. He was shaking now, adrenaline pumping through his body. He felt a little silly, but not for long.

A hissing sound suddenly caused him to turn once more. He found he was face to face with a Velociraptor, which eyed him with an evil look, its retractable claws raised, and a jaw lined with razor sharp teeth threateningly parted before him. Further sound from behind him indicated that the creature was not alone. A second Raptor blocked any chance of escape.

David didn't have a clue how he was going to get out of this one. A lump formed in his throat and an icy grip formed around his soul. He didn't have time to shout for help, as if it would do any good anyhow. He knew he would be ripped to shreds in seconds. The other option, which was even unlikelier; dispatching both creatures with his rifle, was sadly out of the question. All he could do now was pray, and feel his knees buckle slightly in fear.

I've been lucky and now I'm dead, he thought simply, I couldn't always have escaped these situations. He swore at himself for having come down the ally, angry that he would die in a situation just out of sight from his friends. And angry that he would be leaving the woman he loved, and who loved him.

The snarling predators however, had different ideas. The two raptors took a few steps backwards, and disappeared into the forest. This left David rather puzzled, and more notably, relieved. A wave of both confusion and emotion flooded him at that moment; his heart pounding in his chest, unbelieving that he had been once again spared a horrible death. With the beast's departure, he took his chance to escape, and started to run as fast as he could, back to the others.

A Land Rover had entered the area, and was idly sitting in the space between the two stories building, and another smaller structure. Atop the vehicle was the unmistakable shape of the Oerliken Cannon, which was at present, controlled by a ruthless looking fellow, who had a face full of stubble and a mean look in his eye.

It became evident that the murderous people who had made themselves known had stolen the vehicle for their own use. Everyone had grouped closely together behind a concrete wall, to stay out of sight. Making sure that the new arrival wouldn't spot him. David noticed the new danger, and joined the rest, keeping his body crouched as he approached the relative safety of the wall.

This must be why the raptors fled, he thought. It was merely exchanging hunters, from raptors to humans, which in a sense, was much worse. To be hunted by your own species had something deeply disturbing about it, especially since the motives were unknown. David had remembered how Mark Harley had looked the moment a bullet had blow his brains out.

As he crouched low down against the wall, he felt the warmth of an arm touch his shoulder.

"Thank God, your okay", said a relieved voice. It was Jo, pleased to see that he was all right.

His mind buzzing, David managed a reassuring smile, before peering cautiously around the corner, to survey the situation. Fortunately they hadn't been spotted. The three men seemed to have simply stopped, and were casually talking between them.

"...See the way I nailed that sucker", David overheard one of the men's conversations. He must have been the sniper who took out Mark. He was filled with rage by the man's remark.

"We can take them", he hissed violently between his teeth, struggling to keep his voice down, as he surveyed the assortment of weapons in the hands of the group. However, he also struggled to consider that the 20 mm cannon could be the end of them all in a frighteningly quick amount of time if they were seen first. It was Boris who brought him to his senses.

"It would be best for us not do", replied Boris, realising that an ambush could possibly draw more enemies into the area as well, "We don't know how many there are of them".

Looking round again, he noticed that they were armed with assault rifles, causing him to ponder what their purpose on the island was. They seemed a little too well armed to be just thieves, but he doubted that they were any proper militia group. Terrorists he thought, but what are they doing here?

A sudden shriek from the bushes not far from the vehicle caused the three men to turn abruptly, a look of surprise on their faces. The raptors were back. One leapt out into the open, hissing menacingly. The man on the cannon started to swing the weapon towards the creature. One shot from that thing will open it like a can opener on a tin of beans, thought David, already picturing the creatures' viscera oozing out of its lifeless form. It was however, too late for them. The raptor was upon one of the men in seconds, his assault rifle knocked from his grasp, and out of reach. Three more raptors appeared, and took care of the two others. Two of the creatures fought over a corpse like two dogs with a rag doll, which was particularly nauseating to watch for the majority of the group. David looked on in a mixture of fear and hope. He was almost wishing the raptors luck in their attack. The Oerliken gunner had no chance anyway, he had been much too slow to react. The captured weapon was instantly splattered with red liquid and lumps, and the screams from Mark and Herman's killers seemed to punctuate the justice felt by David at that moment.

"We better pull back, away from here immediately", suggested Sarah, "I'll lead us to the drop zone, my uncle will be waiting for us in the helicopter". For now the raptors were occupied. No animal kills for fun, thought David, in a bid to make him feel a little safer. The confrontation with the two creatures was still fresh in his mind. The group followed Sarah as quietly as possible, so the creatures could feast without interruption or the knowledge of even more meat nearby, if they took exception to this usual rule of nature that had just gone through David's mind.

Through binocular vision the hunter stalked its prey, a man walking alongside an attractive blonde.