"There's the beach."

The announcement was drowned out in a loud, ear-splitting roar. The massive spinosaur burst through the trees, screeching, snarling in complete rage as it closed on the prey it had failed to catch three times now.

"MOVE!" Alan screamed needlessly, leaping aside as one foot slammed down where he had been. The monster roared again, lunging for Kirby, missing by inches…its red, leathery head turned to face Alan Grant.

Alan stared into the eyes of the beast. He had eluded tyrannosaurs and raptors…and now he was going to die to this one.

Somewhere deep within him, he felt something rather like shame.

He had always thought that the raptors would get him. He had studied raptors his entire career…painful as he knew it would be, somehow, he felt, it would be almost honorable to be killed by one of them…fitting. He had studied their dead bodies for his career; they would feast on his dead body for their lives. It was fitting.

Then there was the tyrannosaur. Ian had told him about them…he had the same relation to the tyrannosaur that Alan had to raptors. But Alan did not fear the tyrannosaurs as much anymore…he actually felt as if that dinosaur, ruler of them all, was something close to…a friend. Strange, yes, but the female had saved his life on the first island…he had felt great sadness when the tyrannosaur had been murdered—strange, that that was the first word to come into his head—by the spinosaur…indignation, pity, almost as if a very dear friend had been lost…

And now the murderer was rearing above him, ready to strike. Ready to kill him.

It lunged once, and he dodged; a clawed arm swung down, slashing at him, and he leaped again…this time, though, the claws ripped into the backpack, yanked him back. He turned, staring up in horror as it raised its head, roaring once more…

There was a sudden shriek, and something blurred past him, leaping into the air, clinging to the spinosaur's side. Grant watched in stunned surprise as a second velociraptor seized the arm of the behemoth. The spinosaur snarled and shook its arm, sending the raptor tumbling to the ground.

All of a sudden, at least eight raptors attacked from all sides, leaping, slashing, biting, clawing at the giant predator. The spinosaur roared in response, seizing one in its mouth, biting, throwing its limp body to the ground. But the rest of the pack was upon it, still fighting, opening wound after wound.

Alan watched, open-mouthed—but suddenly, a large leathery body moved in front of him, blocking the battle from view.

A fully-grown velociraptor, larger than the rest, with brilliant colors and deep, yellow eyes, glared down at him. It hissed and raised one foot, its claw flicking upwards.

Alan winced and waited for the strike.

The foot struck, ripping the bag from his back. The container fell open…

And one velociraptor egg rolled out.

The raptor growled softly and rolled it away, nudging its snout inside the bag.

It pulled back suddenly with an excruciating screech, causing Alan to flinch at the horrible noise; it was like nothing he had heard before, a howl of rage and agony.

And he saw what had caused it.

A pale, yellowish substance was dripping from around its nostrils. It gave a low, painful whine and reached a claw into the bag, pulling forth the second egg.

The embryo of the velociraptor inside spilled further across the ground.

The dinosaur nudged the lost infant, its eyes full of a pain and loss that Alan had seen only too often—every time he had looked into a mirror.

The raptor's head snapped up suddenly, looking straight into his eyes. Its own were burning, fiery yellow slits, glaring in fury and wrath at Alan. It seemed to be looking within him, stabbing down into his very heart. Alan froze, terror filling him. The raptor began to hiss, a low, rasping gurgle, and extended its claws to their full length.

It moved in a blur too fast to follow.

The raptor had whirled, charged the massive spinosaur. Disregarding the three dead bodies, ignoring the massive size, heedless of anything, it sprinted at the left leg. One foot raised, its claw extending to its full length.

The sickle came down, raking a deep slash in the beast's leg, just above the ankle.

The spinosaur howled and crashed over onto its left side, its tendon severed, finding itself unable to balance. One of the raptors shrieked as it was crushed underneath its flank; the big one, though, had moved around to the other flank. The spinosaur snarled and began to rise, supporting itself on the right leg…but then it bellowed in pain once more as that leg was ripped open as well. It staggered forward, propping itself up on its forearms, snarling and struggling to reach Alan.

Grant rose shakily and backed off, watching as the monster crawled toward him, roaring in fury and wrath. But he reached the edge of the clearing, stopping to watch as it drew closer…

But the big raptor leaped onto its hip. Racing along the back, it ran right up to the shoulder. The twin sickle claws lifted, one foot upon each shoulder. Then the claws dug right in between the scapula and the massive spine.

The spinosaur roared, moving to rise once more. But the raptor's forearms stabbed into the back of the beast, one on either side of the spine. It shrieked its fury into the ear of the spinosaur.

Then it yanked its forearms upward.

There was a sickening crack, and the spinosaur's ridge pulled free of the skin at that one point, the vertebrae bloody and visible.

The spinosaurus roared one last time, then collapsed forward, its eyes lifeless.

The velociraptor arched its head back and roared in triumph.