Chapter 4: Perspective

Hello, dear readers

This chapter, like the last one, was a bit harder to write, but I'm happy with the results. However, I must inform you that next week I'll be too busy with work to write a new chapter, so you will have to wait an extra week for an update. Nevertheless, I hope this chapter, which is a bit longer than the previous two, will keep you entertained.

If possible, make sure to leave a review. I love reading them.

-x-

The first thing she felt was the warmth of the sun over her body. Samantha couldn't understand what was happening, her mind was puzzled, as if there was something fogging her thoughts. It was like a hangover; her body was weak, and she didn't remember where she was. The material under her felt like cheap carpet, making her assume this was her hotel room. She was in… Costa Rica. No, that didn't feel right.

There was something else. Something was missing. She tried to move, but there was something heavy strapped to her back. Was there someone else on the bed? Had she hooked up with some guy?

She tried to open her eyes and push whatever was gripping her away, only to realize it didn't feel like hand. These were straps. She was wearing a backpack. Why was she wearing that on her bed?

Wait, no, she wasn't on her bed. This was the carpet; she was sleeping on the floor. How did that happen?

Suddenly, she remembered something. She couldn't be on the hotel. She had left on a boat. She had a job to do. They were going to an island… site b or something. Yes, they were going to the ruins of Jurassic Park to search for data and shit…

Then, as if a switch was flipped, everything came back to her. Memories from the last few days cascaded down her mind. The landing, the disaster, the escape… Now she was stuck, Sam had been trying to reach the docks in hopes of leaving the goddammed island.

Finally, Samantha managed to open her eyes and looked around. After adjusting to the incoming sunlight, she found herself inside a tiny old room. There was a broken window behind her, an old couch to her right and a broken office desk to her left. In front of her was the way out, with the original door missing.

There was something on the doorway.

Her eyes looked down and frowned at what she spotted. It was her shotgun. Had she left it there? Why?

Samantha began to retrace her steps. She remembered leaving the bunker and the worker village. There was a fight, a pair of raptors had attacked her… no, it was only one adult and a baby raptor. She had wasted ammo on a Carnotaurus and then moved on.

"Wait, this must be the lab, right?" She thought to herself. That's where she was going. It had been around sunset when she reached it… there were some human bones, some files and…

Her eyes widened. "The fucking dilos!" There were two of them, she killed one inside the lab and ran away from the other. There was poison all over her, that black goo had covered her arms and shirt.

It was a bit harder to remember what had happened next. The poison had crippled her mind. She remembered stumbling towards the stairs at the main hall, she wasted more ammo trying to keep the dilo away and…

She had killed it. The memory was clear. A single shot had blown the dilo's chest open. It had fallen on top of her, and she couldn't move and then… nothing, she had closed her eyes and presumably passed out.

If that was her last memory, how the hell had Sam gotten herself to this tiny room?

She wanted to do more, to stand up and look for clues, but the aching and weakness on her limbs prevented her from moving. The poison in her blood, while diluted and filtered, was probably still significant. Instead, she carefully slid her backpack off and opened it. It would be best to start the day with a decent breakfast and some water to recover her energy.

There was still some Compsognathus from before. Coffee was a just a memory now, she only had water, but it was better than nothing. So, without much ceremony, she began to eat and drink her meager meal. That is, until she heard something outside. More specifically, the distinct sound of claws hitting the concrete with each step.

Her body froze mid bite. "Stupid, fucking stupid!" Sam should've scouted the area first. Just because there was no immediate danger, didn't mean she was safe.

She looked down on the shotgun at the doorway. Whatever was out there was close, she needed to act fast. There was probably still one shell inside the gun, but it would be better to load another to make sure. Her eyes briefly flickered between her backpack (where she kept the extra ammo) and the shotgun. First, she needed her gun.

Raising to her feet took more effort than she originally expected. Her legs still felt like jelly, as if she had run a marathon. Her sense of balance was also not 100%, and she stumbled a bit at first. Once Sam had finally gotten on her feet, however, it was too late.

There something blocking the doorway now. A familiar shape that brough a shiver down her spine.

"No, no, no…" The three clawed feet with the distinctive curved claw in the middle was all she needed to see. It was a dammed raptor. Looking up from its legs, the mix of brown and white feathers gave her an even bigger realization. It wasn't just any raptor; it was the same bastard she had spared. It was here to finish the job.

Samantha began to hyperventilate. Her heart accelerated. She stumbled back towards the broken desk behind her. What the fuck was she supposed to do now? Sweat dripped down her body and she began to shake with fear. This couldn't be it; she couldn't just die cornered like an animal after everything she had overcame. Her eyes briefly wondered to the broken window. She could jump. It wouldn't be pretty, and the broken glass could still hurt, but it was better than nothing. But that meant leaving her weapon behind…

"The bag…" It was still on the carpet floor, she realized. In her haste to put some distance between herself and the velociraptor, she had forgotten to grab her backpack, which now laid right between the two of them. Sam couldn't just leave it behind. It had all her maps, flashlight, food, water, and tools. To go on without it would be a death sentence. It would place her back on the same precarious position of her first day of survival.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized there was nothing she could do. Even if she tried to run, either to grab her things or jump out of the window, she wouldn't be fast enough. The raptor was less than ten feet from her, it could cross that distance with a single effortless stride before she had the time to blink.

Mustering some courage, she looked up to its face. It looked like a monster. That long scaly neck adorned with feathers, ending in a strong muzzle with blood dripping out of its mouth and… a pair of dead Comps?

The raptor was carrying a pair of dead Compsognathus in its mouth.

For a moment, she stared at it in confusion. Had the raptor found her by pure coincidence?

That moment was broken when the raptor moved forward, timidly giving a small step forward.

Sam couldn't hold her emotions at bay anymore. Fear and desperation flooded her mind, and she pressed herself against the wall behind her. Another timid movement from the raptor made her curl down and hug her legs. She closed her eyes and just waited. There was nothing she could do; the raptor was going to kill her painfully and devour her. The girl remained there refusing to look up, just waiting the inevitable. All she wanted was to wake up somewhere else, to somehow get away from this nightmare and be safe again. To forget about this as just a crazy long dream she had once.

The raptor, for his part, was both confused and embarrassed. Chaser knew she was scared; he could smell it. He found it strange how she and the other soft skin prey acted when they were scared, it was almost as if they lost control of themselves. Most creatures, when confronted with a predator, would either fight or flee, that's it. They might try to make themselves loud and big as a deterrence to stop the attack, but there wasn't much else to it. The female in front of him, however, seemed paralyzed by her fear. Was it just a normal reaction of her kind, or was he just that ugly?

Sure, he didn't think he had the best feathers of all the males, but he was still proud of them. He even made sure to clean and keep them organized whenever possible…

Sam let out something akin of whimper.

As alien as it sounded to him, the raptor understood it as a sound of distress. "Fear…" He thought "How to stop it?".

Chaser's original plan was to drop the two comps as a little "gift" of sorts. It was what his people did to settle personal disputes and ask for parley with other clans. To hunt for someone was considered a very meaningful gesture. It could be used to ask for an apology, a truce, a mate or even as a pure gesture of affection.

Of course, none of that mattered since Samantha had woken up before he could get there. He had hoped to leave the two comps next to her and wait outside in clear view until she came out of the room. He expected that waiting in clear view wouldn't scare her as much and she could understand he was the one who gave her the two Compsognathus.

Because now she was awake and had caught him off guard, that whole plan had gone downriver. Now what? He could see some of her strange gadgets on the furry floor. Maybe if he brought those to her?

He stared at her shivering curled up form. No, that wouldn't work. Any step closer would make her even more scared.

Instead, he decided to carefully place the two comps on the floor and sit down. He had to wait until she calmed down a little.

Sam, for her part, felt that each second of waiting was like a torture. Every moment that went by she grew more and more afraid, just waiting for the inevitable pain. She knew the raptor was still in the room, she could hear its breathing.

However, as seconds became minutes, she began to doubt. Ever since she had hugged herself and closed her eyes, the raptor had not given a single step. In fact, she was pretty sure it was currently sitting next to her bag. It was a strange behavior, but then again, raptors were unlike most animals she knew, so it wouldn't be surprising if their behavior was unique. Maybe it was just toying with her? Waiting for her to try running so it could chase her a bit? A lot of predatorial species were known to play with their prey before eating them, especially felines, so this also wouldn't surprise her.

Still, if this was what the raptor was doing, then it had an enormous attention span and self-control. Most animals wouldn't wait this long to satiate their hunger just to get a bit of entertainment.

Maybe she could take a peek? Just to figure out what was happening?

What she saw was… unexpected, to say the least. Instead of a raptor calmly waiting to pounce on her and tear her flesh to pieces, she saw the creature looking almost bored. It sat in a lazy posture, with its head nested between its hands (paws? She wasn't sure when it came to dinosaurs). It wasn't even looking at her.

"What the fuck?" The raptor's actions were puzzling to Samantha. It had just placed the two dead comps next to her bag and was like… waiting for something? What could it be? Was it playing with her emotions, maybe? Waiting for her to calm down before killing her?

No, that didn't make sense. Wild animals didn't play with emotions, they followed basic instincts with a few intelligent decisions to spice things. The fact that raptors were artificial recreations of prehistoric beasts wouldn't change that.

The raptor was now looking at her. Sam froze. Was it going to kill her now? It began to raise itself, and Samantha quickly pressed herself further away from it.

Chaser didn't know how to proceed. He had finally gotten her attention, but she wasn't as calm as he wanted. Her reaction to him standing up was enough to show that any attempt to get closer would only make things worse.

What else could he do to make her feel safe? He doubted she was capable of understanding the way his people communicated (based on the sounds she and others of her kind made) and any kind of body expression seemed useless. It was a great chasm between them, where they could see each other and nothing else.

He tried to focus more on why she was so helpless. He was bigger and stronger, so she obviously didn't want him closer. Same with his claws and teeth. "Helpless…" He realized; she was completely helpless in her current position. He could do anything he wanted with her and that fact was terrifying.

It made sense. As far as she knew, his only possible actions were to hunt and attack. Those were the only things she had ever saw him doing.

But then, how could he break that? Sitting down and looking as non-threating as possible wasn't enough. No matter how he acted, he was still bigger than her, and it made her afraid of him.

What could he do, really? Rip his claws off and give them to her? His curiosity wasn't enough to make him do that.

That's when it hit him. He didn't have to rip his claws off, he had to… give her own claws, so that they could be on even ground! Yes! He had to figure out a way to make her stronger, so that she wouldn't feel as threatened as she was. But how?

Chaser looked behind him, towards the entrance to the chamber. There, right beneath the unnatural looking entrance, was the soft skin's thunderer thing, her weapon. That was what her kind used as killing claws. He had to give it back to her…

"No!" His mind screamed. The moment she wrapped her strange limbs on that thing she would spew fire and kill him! He had seen with his own eyes how powerful that thing was!

But then again… wasn't that fear the exact thing she was going through? The soft skin was just as afraid of his claws as he was of her weapon. Chaser realized that if he wanted her to trust him despite his intimidating claws and teeth, he would have to do the same for her. He would have to trust her despite his fear of her weapon.

He glanced at her once more. Her eyes were open and staring at him. They looked so different from his, with a white background around the iris instead of the yellowish tones of his kind. What had she seen when the situation was inverted? When he was the one helpless on the ground? He had tried to kill her, but she spared him, even when she had the perfect opportunity to kill him. Would she do it again?

There was only one way to find out.

He slowly rose himself to his full height, careful to look as non-threating as possible while also avoiding eye contact with her. He turned himself around and took a step towards the weapon. He bent down with his long neck and carefully picked up the weapon by its middle section. Part of him was terrified it would go off while he held it in his mouth. The taste of metal was unpleasant.

He turned around and fully faced the soft skin. Her eyes no longer held the same fear, and her hands were lowered. Instead, she stared at the weapon in his mouth with confusion. Being unfamiliar with her expressions, Chaser couldn't tell. Once more, he tried to approach Sam. It went better at first; she didn't move and didn't make any sounds of distress. Once he passed comps, as if he had crossed an invisible threshold, she once again began to act uncomfortable, although not as badly as before.

"Too close, don't push your luck" He told himself. Stopping in his tracks, he carefully lowered his head and opened his jaws, laying the weapon some three feet ahead of Sam. He then took a slow and careful step back and sat down.

He tried to look calm, but in reality, he was afraid. The image of the dilophosaurus getting destroyed by that same weapon burned in his mind. He was quick, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to react if the soft skin decided to kill him.

Samantha, for her part, could not believe what she had witnessed. Her eyes looked down at the weapon and at the raptor in front of her. Its actions were alien to her, they didn't fit into any experience she had ever lived through or witnessed. Not only had the raptor that had so stubbornly hunted her for days refused to attack her, but had also, quite deliberately, picked her shotgun and delivered to her.

How much did this dinosaur know about guns? She had assumed it was able to associate it with danger, based on what she had witnessed, but this final action was showing a much more deeper understanding. It didn't seem to look at the shotgun as a living threat like a snake, or a natural hazard like fire. The raptor understood it was an innated object and that it had a unique function. It had brought it to her specifically, instead of a random object of similar shape and size.

Why had it done that? Was it some sort of gesture?

The implication of these actions was jarring. "No, I'm seeing too much into it!" She reassured herself, "I need to be careful not to anthropomorphize this". It was the most common mistake of a wannabe scientist. As much as some animals could learn and sometimes appear to understand humans, they were still animals. It was easy to attribute humanity based on appearances and individual actions, but that didn't prove anything.

Still, the raptor's behavior was unlike anything she had ever seen. Years of study in biology and all her experience with zoology (which, admittedly, wasn't much) came empty handed.

Thinking back to how it was acting, she discovered another odd thing. Raptors were quick and agile by nature; their bodies were strong and muscular. Yet ever since this raptor had stepped into this room, it had moved extremely slow. There were no harsh movements or jumps. Why was it acting like that? None of her previous encounters were like that. Even when the raptors were waiting to attack, they didn't act so slow.

Was it because of her? No, that was too much. Even if the raptor wanted to look non-threatening to her, she didn't think it was because of her own fear. If it was true, that meant the raptor was capable, on some level, to imagine or at least try to understand her position. That would require a level of intelligence and emotional complexity far beyond what most scientists agreed.

Still, none of the testimonies from previous raptor attacks ever mentioned something like this. People who survived encounters with raptors described them acting like most animals, on very basic principles, they attacked to defend territory, to hunt or because they felt threatened. They never took calculated actions on the same level humans could.

This raptor, however, seemed to act on a much more rational manner despite no human ever setting foot on this island for over 20 years. As far as she knew, there was no training or previous experience involved here, this raptor was acting this way because it wanted to.

If true, this would go against all knowledge about this species. Even when considering the most optimist theories about their level of intelligence and social cohesion.

The combination of all these actions would require a level of abstract thought beyond any known animal, as far as Samantha knew. Of course, this could still be just an illusion. Maybe she was indeed projecting humanity and human behavior where there was none. Nevertheless, the mere possibility of something different lit a huge fire of curiosity inside of her. It could be nothing, but it could also be something amazing, and the mere possibility of it was intriguing.

She carefully extended her arm towards the shotgun, half expecting the raptor to rip her arm off. The large dinosaur remained quiet as she slowly grabbed the weapon by its handle and brought it closer to her chest. She felt better with it, safer. "Is this why it brought it to me?" She wondered. No, that's impossible.

Once again, her eyes looked at the raptor. Samantha noticed something different about its posture, it looked a bit more rigid, paying more attention. Chaser's eyes flicked downwards for a fraction of a second, just enough for her to notice.

It was looking at her shotgun, waiting for something. It was… afraid.

Now that she had the weapon on her hands, the raptor was afraid she was going to hurt him.

Samantha once again tried to avoid that line of thought. "Am I really considering that?" She was thinking too much into it, seeing too much humanity. No, she had to calm down and try to assess the situation on a serious manner.

Thinking about everything she had seen so far; Sam could only get a very basic explanation. It was obvious the raptor was smarter than she had anticipated, but she didn't know how much. It was capable of complex planning and logic to some extent. It had demonstrated (or at least appeared to demonstrate) empathy. For some reason, it wasn't acting aggressive. In fact, it seemed to be trying to look friendly and non-threatening. All in all, it was a lot to take in.

Her only conclusion is that the raptor wanted to do something with her. Something that didn't involve killing her, otherwise it would have done so already.

"I have to know more," She thought. "This could be a unique opportunity".

Besides, as far as she was aware her life was already over. At any point the raptor could decide to stop whatever this little act was and just kill her. She wasn't fast enough to react to that. If she was going to die anyway, she might as well try something insane.

A small movement from the raptor stopped her thoughts.

In front of her, Chaser had slowly lowered his head, now less than a foot from her legs. From this distance, she could hear each breath he took. One thing that got her attention was the crest of feathers on top of his head. They looked as beautiful and imposing as they had when she saw them for the first time. Could she…

Slowly, without thinking, Sam extended her right hand, leaving the shotgun on her belly. Reaching out slowly she carefully placed her hand on the bundle of feathers, letting out a sigh as she did so.

Chaser watched her intently. How she timidly reached out to his feathers. Her small limb was unique in its gentle touch. For a moment, he could almost close his eyes and go back to the moment after the Carnotaurus fight.

"Thank you…" Her voice interrupted his thoughts. "For not killing me, I mean".

He lifted his head slowly and met her eyes. She was saying something to him. He didn't know what it was, and it all sounded completely alien to him, but he knew she was saying something. Soft skins always sounded so… strange to him. It was so different from the combination of barks and quick vocalizations his kind used to communicate.

In response, Chaser let out a short croon. "Greetings…" He figured it was appropriate.

Samantha could barely hold her smile at the sound. "That's… cute, I guess" she avoided showing her teeth, as it could be understood the wrong way.

Slowly, the tension in the room dissipated, and Sam's mind turned to other concerns, as by now it was clear the raptor wasn't a threat… at the moment. Her main concern was finishing her breakfast.

As if reading her mind, Chaser took the moment to turn around and push the two dead comps towards Sam. Even if his original plan didn't work, he wasn't about to waste a good hunt. Those little fuckers had been difficult to catch.

Sam regarded the two little dinosaurs with curious eyes. She knew it was a gift. Cats and some types of birds were known to leave gifts to people they liked or had been helped by. Still, this was another indicator of the intelligent potential of the raptor in front of her. However, as much as it would be better to just take the gift and move on, it was too much for her. A single comp was more than enough for an entire day, and she didn't want to risk attracting predators or having the meat spoil inside her bag.

Carefully, she stepped around the raptor and grabbed her bag. She kneeled down next to the two comps and analyzed them for a moment. As she still had some food with her, she decided to pick the smaller Compsognathus.

The bigger one she pushed towards the raptor, hoping it understood the gesture.

It didn't, at least not fully. For a moment, Chaser was almost insulted by her action, before reminding himself she was soft skin, she didn't know the meaning behind the gift. Refusing a gift, especially a hunt, was a common way of insulting someone, it was the worst way of rejecting something. Normally, if you wanted to reject an unwanted romantic advance or a parley, you could simply accept the gift and make your opinion clear, that was the polite way. Naturally, this meant Chaser was slightly shocked when she pushed one of the comps towards him.

However, he knew for a fact she wasn't acting aggressive towards him. Nothing on her body or her voice indicated so. "Maybe this is how her kind shows gratitude?" He wondered. "Perhaps sharing a meal is more important to them".

After letting out a small bark of annoyance, he picked the Compsognathus and walked outside. The tiny chamber wasn't very comfortable for his size, he preferred to have plenty of space to move around. Sam followed soon afterwards.

Out on the main hall, the same where she had almost died, Samantha took a moment to look around at the damage. The bullet holes on the walls and furniture were easy to spot. Staring at them made her remember those moments vividly, and even the fear and anxiety slowly crept up her spine as those memories burned in her mind. "No, it's over," She reassured herself. Her eyes glanced at the raptor behind her, who was now on the process of devouring the tiny comp. "At least for now…"

At the staircase, there was still some blood visible, despite most of it being washed away by yesterday's rain. Sam couldn't believe how lucky she had been. Another wrong shot and the dilo would have killed her. As she thought about that horrible moment, her eyes frowned at the dried blood. Where had the dilophosaurus gone?

She didn't remember dragging the body away, and she doubted any scavenger animals, like the plentiful comps that inhabited the island, would be capable of carrying the full grown dilo away. Why even bother anyway? Scavengers usually ate on the spot.

Maybe the raptor ate it? It would help to explain why it was so peaceful around her. Maybe the only reason why it didn't kill her yet was because it had a full stomach. Meanwhile, the raptor in question was looking at her as it ate, almost as if to make sure she didn't run away. Samantha met his eyes back. "Hope you're not keeping me around as a dessert!" there was an edge on her voice, as her statement was both a joke and a genuine worry.

However, looking back at the dried blood, she realized it couldn't be him.

Him… that was a funny way to refer to the raptor. It was the correct way, she supposed, but it was still strange to think of the raptor as he. It made him slightly less monstruous to her mind, and that could be dangerous. "As if I'm not in danger already, ha!"

As for the missing dilo, she could see the dried blood extended all the way outside, meaning that whatever had dragged the dilo away had done so hours ago, probably not long after she had killed it.

Had Sam done it, somehow? She didn't remember anything after passing out. But maybe her memory was just fuzzy because of the poison…

But if the poison was so effective, then how the fuck had she got up, dragged a dinosaur almost as big as herself (and likely heavier) and then went into a safe room with all her things? Something like that would take at least half an hour, and that's not even considering the time necessary to clean the excess poison on her clothes!

Her boots were still wet, and her clothes weren't much better. She could feel some of the humidity still in them. Now that she thought about it, her boots were really wet, as if she had stood in the rain for a long time. How long would that take?

Looking down her body, Sam could clearly see the mix of blood and dark poison that stained her attire, making a mental note to change as soon as possible. Somehow, she had woken up, dragged herself from beneath the dilophosaurus, taken the body outside, washed most of the blood and poison away, gotten back inside and found a secure room to sleep. No, she knew this wasn't possible. There was no way she was conscious enough to perform all those actions and yet not have a single memory of any of it.

But if she didn't do those things, then the only possibility is that something else did it…

She looked at the raptor once more. Maybe him? "No!" She thought, "Stop humanizing him, this doesn't make any sense!". Besides, why would a raptor do that? His kind were not known to show mercy. It was quite the opposite, they seemed to go out of their way to kill people. Did she somehow stumble upon the only raptor on the island with a sense of mercy?

Speaking of him, as Sam tried to figure out what had happened, Chaser suddenly showed up besides her. The moment his long mouth appeared on her peripheral vision, Sam gripped her shotgun tightly, having to force herself not to aim it at him. If he truly was capable of understanding what her shotgun was, she imagined he wouldn't take kindly to her pointing it towards him.

"Jesus…" and to think a day ago he was trying to kill her. She still didn't understand why she hadn't shot him when…

Wait, could it be that… no, that was impossible. There was no way he could comprehend what she did back then.

But the more Sam thought about it, the more it made sense. If it wasn't for her shooting the Carnotaurus, Chaser wouldn't be alive. She had saved him, and he had watched her as she caressed his feathers. Could he somehow understand she didn't want to kill him? That she wasn't a threat?

Okay, even if she assumed that was possible, it didn't explain why he would bother to help her when she passed out, or the complexity of his actions. He would need to be much more intelligent than most scientists agreed on both an emotional and intellectual level. This level of empathy was, as far as Samantha knew, exclusive to humans and maybe to a few other mammals. The actions he took (if indeed it was him) would require advanced planning and logic, neither of which should be possible for his kind.

The implications were starting to make her dizzy. "Fuck this, I'll think about it after I finish my breakfast,". She looked away from the stairs and faced the raptor. "You're starting to look like knight in shining armor, you know that?" The raptor didn't answer.

Not wanting to think about issue at hand, Samantha went on to slice the comp open and gut it (a process she didn't particularly enjoy), leaving the edible parts suspended by some wiring she had found. It would take some minutes for all the blood to come out. Meanwhile, she sat down and ate the rest of her original food. She would need to cook the small comp when she had the time. "Wonder how he will react to fire," She thought while looking at the raptor. Chaser, for his part, was content to just sit down and watch her eat.

Sam had barely woken up and this was already proving itself to be the weirdest day of her life. "It's going to be a long day, isn't it?".