The predator charged, but in its bloodlust, it aimed to high, and collided with the ceiling. Taking his chance, Tristan lined up a shot with the creature, only for it to dart out of the way at the last moment. Hissing, it leapt again, but this time, Tristan managed to evade the attack, rolling back into the hall. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Tristan ran deeper into the hall, predator in pursuit. Briefly, he stopped to topple a shelf, which landed on the predator, momentarily halting its advance. The carnivore was far faster than the human, though, and soon it was on his heels again.

Knowing he would be caught otherwise, Tristan detoured into one of the side rooms, just barely avoiding the predator's claws. Hastily turning over a filing cabinet to barricade the door, the boy continued on his retreat, unwilling to stand and fight against an opponent he stood no chance in defeating fairly. He had just reached the next exit door when his pursuer finally smashed through the first, snarling like a deranged monster.

The chase soon resumed in the hallway, with Tristan throwing anything he could find, desperate to try and dissuade the predator from eating him. He even rammed a gurney into the beast, though it failed to delay his pursuer as much as he had hoped. Soon the beast was catching up to him again. In desperation, he detoured into another room, but this time, the creature got its arm through the door before he could seal it. Driven by desperation, Tristan put all of his weight into trying to seal the doorway, while the predator tried to force its way in. Despite his best efforts, though, the carnivore managed to get its head through, snarling all the while. Turing to face Tristan, the boy felt that the monster was grinning at his discomfort, despite lacking the muscles to do so. The eyeless, virtually featureless face, with three holes right in the center of it, were driving him mad. How was he supposed to beat that thing?

Something fell out of Tristan's pocket and hit the ground, briefly turing both man and beat's attention downward. There, between Tristan's legs, was a knife.

Tristan glanced down at the knife, then back at the predator, which was still snarling at him. THen, wihtout hesitation, he grabbed the knifte, only for the predator to finally break down the door, pinning Tristan to the ground. As it moved in for the kill, though, Tristan freed his left hand and rammed the knife it held straight through the frontal hole in the predator's skull. The body went still, and then collapsed, twitching.

The predator was slain.

Letting out a groan, Tristan tilted the door, causing the carcass to slide off of him. Once the corpse was on the ground, he cast the door aside, stood up, and retrieved the knife from his kill.

"...Well, that could have gone better."

"Indeed. I am sending drones into the hallway now to try and save you from suffering further incidents like this."

"...You had drones that could have scouted the hallway?"

"Yes. I had...forgotten about them."

"...THE HELL YOU FORGOT ABOUT THEM! YOU COULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM ALMOST GETTING EATEN THAT WAY!"

"I am...sorry."

Sighing, Tristan forced himself to regain his composure. "Is there anything else you could share with me that might make things easier?"

"Well, there is one thing: in the event of an accident or other extreme situation that requires swift evacuation, there are a set of escape trams located underneath the main facility. They are only intended for escape, though, so I felt it unnecessary to inform you about them until you reached the stasis room."

"I'm guess that you want to use the trams to escape?"

"Yes."

'I really feel like I'm the star of a survival horror game right now.'

"Can you resume guiding me to destination?"

"Yes. Also, your feathered companion is nearing the facility."

"Terence is here?"

"Almost. I am directing him to our escape destination. Hopefully he'll stay there - he is becoming difficult to control."

"Let me guess: he's trying to eat the drones you use to direct him."

"Yes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the duckbill began to chew up the branches, Vera watched on like a hawk, looking for any signs of discomfort.

The male Maiasaura standing before her had been named Buck by the staff, and had been the most recent patient of the veterinary staff. Having had his leg bitten by a female Daspletosaurus. it was unlikely he would've survived in the wild. In fact, he'd collapsed shortly after arriving in the present, and had to be driven straight to the park's hospital for treatment. His wounds had undergone some infection, but were treated before things had gotten too serious. That did not mean he was out of the woods yet - as is, he was still having trouble standing, though his gate had begun to improve. Additionally, he had yet to fully return to his herd - he would likely be left trailing when they moved to a different part of their exhibit.

That had Vera wondering about something else: how big was the island they were on? The exhibits they had built were absolutely colossal in the case of the largest ones, yet they never seemed to run out of room. Also, looking over the map of the island she'd been given, it noticeably never showed the isle, only the part the park occupied. While Nigel had confirmed that the natives had wanted their sacred sites and places of habitation left off the map, that still didn't explain why so much of the map was missing. Oh, and why was there a tundra on a tropical island?

This needed further examination. Now, how to broach this topic to the others?

XXXXXXXXX

Easing himself into the hallway, Tristan took a moment to sigh as the sounds of battle faded. His trek through the facility had become significantly easier after the drones had joined him, as they had carved a path through the predator hordes to reach the stasis room. Now, the majority of the predators were chasing the robots in different parts of the facility, leaving the human free for the most part to rescue the survivors. With most of the predators gone, all that stood before him were the gates to the room...or so it seemed.

As he tiptoed into the room, he found that one future predator was still inside. However, this one was asleep, and furthermore, had made the stupid decision to rest under a ledge supporting a large piece of rubble. While reaching the rubble was a nerve-wracking experience, it only took one push to reduce the predator into a fleshy pancake.

Opening the doors, though, proved to be a bigger problem. For a rather simple reason, actually.

"Pythagoras, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"..I don't think the doors have any power."

"..Do you mean to say that the fuses have been destroyed?"

"No, but it looks like the cables were...disconnected...and that someone tried to blow the doors open."

"...I have no idea how the former came about, and I do not want to consider what it would mean if the predators were the ones who did it, but there were multiple grenades used to defend this accessway, so I assume that is why it appears someone blasted them open."

"Well, can you help me get this back online?"

"...The power conduit to your left is under some boxes and rubble. It should not be too hard to access it."

Tristan had to agree with him there, seeing how he was easily able to connect the cable to its socket.

"Excellent. Now, the one on your right is a bit trickier - it appears to be in an adjacent room, but I am picking up organic signatures in there. Be careful."

Confused as to what that could mean, Tristan approached the door with caution...only to leap back in shock when a giant grub, of all things, fell out the minute the door opened. Said grub immediately went about trying to eat him.

For a moment, Tristan considered squishing it, but as more of them began to crawl out of the doorway, he realized that might not be a good idea. Plus, the grubs weren't that fast. But how to avoid their hunger?...Oh.

Returning to the pancaked predator, Tristan did what he could to remove the carcass, then offered it up to the grubs, who readily began to devour it. When the last one was enjoying the fresh meat, Tristan made his way to the second cable and connected it to the door. Rather ominously, he heard something loud hiss when he did so.

"Both doors have power, what now?"

"Control room is above, activating lights to show you the quickest way up."

Observing the path for a moment, Tristan hastily made his way up to open the door...only to freeze at what inside the room.

Within was a huge insect of the same variety as the ones that had killed the predator earlier. This one, however, was not only larger, but also had a far more bloated abdomen, which was only found in eusocial insects - specifically, their queens. Which meant that this creature was probably a queen.

And she was glaring right at him.

Tristan prepared to run, only to watch in silence as the creature tried and failed to crawl toward him. After a moment of futility, she turned her head and tried to snap at something behind her, only to fail at that as well. Confused, Tristan slowly walked around until he found the source of her ire - a loose piece of debris had her abdomen pinned in a hole on the ceiling - one that appeared to go all the way to the roof, if the open sky was any indication.

The insect queen, realizing she was indeed helpless, hissed at Tristan in anger, before going back to glaring at him.

Tristan, however, felt a sense of pity for the giant creature, and continued up the stair way, until he found himself looking at the rubble pinning her. Nearby, rather humorously, was a still active refrigerator, and after a moment of observation, Tristan found a gelatin, of all things. After staring at all of these for a moment, an idea fomented. Taking the gelatin out of the fridge, Tristan set it nearby the hole, then braced himself and started pulling on the debris. Oh it was heavy, and he huffed, and he puffed, but eventually, he pulled it free, releasing the giant insect from her imprisonment. Briefly, she glared at him once more, only to be shocked when he offered her the jiggling sweet. After a moment of distrust, she devoured it, then made an odd chittering sound. Tristan had no idea what it meant, until he saw the grubs climbing up sides. After giving Tristan one last glare, she climbed up through the hole above her and vanished.

Tristan stood frozen for a few moments, before making his way back down to the activation room. As he prepared to log in using some information Pythagoras had given him, though, an oddity became apparent.

"Pythagoras?"

"Yes?"

"There's something odd with the terminal here - it says something about multiple failed attempts to log in."

"Who does it say tried to log in?"

"One Kaira Allers."

"Allers kept forgetting to check her morning notifications for the proper credentials needed to access these parts of the research station - she once got locked out of the stasis room for incorrectly entering in her credentials fifteen times. There is nothing out of the ordinary here besides the corpse of the carnivore you crushed, please continue with your mission."

Unhappy as he was with that answer, Tristan complied, but as he activated the doors, his foot brushed against one of the drone husks on the ground. A glance at it instantly captured his attention due to how...well, modern the drone looked. IT did not resemble the other futuristic drones he had seen, but instead looked like one that would be used by modern militaries. So what was it doing here?

...Tristan decided to cast that aside - he had lives to save.

Making his way back down to the doors, Tristan stepped through, and entered the stasis facility.

XXXXXXXXX

A hissing sound filled the girl's ears as the amniotic fluid vacated her cryogenics tank. Slowly, her eyes flicked open, slowly adjusting to the change in light. Dimly, she looked around, before noticing the drone floating before her, carrying a towel. After a moment of staring, her cheeks flustered, and the girl hastily grabbed the towel an used it to cover her bare body - wearing clothes in a cryogenics could lead to freezer burn.

As she looked for her pre-stored set of clothes, though, the girl's memories returned...as did all the horrors that came with them.

"Pythagoras?"

"Yes, Ms. Callahan?"

"Please inform me where our rescue party would like to meet us. I would like to know that before I rejoin my parents and fellow researchers."

"...I cannot do so, ma'am."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because a rescue party never showed up."

With those words, Cassandra Callahan felt as though the floor had been pulled out from under her. Help hadn't come? Did that mean that help wasn't coming at all?! And that those...creatures were still out there?!"

"To answer some of the questions I presume you have, I do not believe that a rescue party is going to come and find us, and the creatures that attacked this facility are still here. However, I have managed to determine some method of escape that will allow us to survive. Please report to the emergency evacuation chamber so that I may discuss this with everyone."

That final request carried a sense of urgency and finality that Pythagoras rarely used, and instantly told Cassandra that this conversation was over. Reluctantly, Cassandra complied, though she did manage to dress herself before leaving the room.

Cassandra found herself among the last to arrive, with only her parents and a few technicians arriving after her. Rather peculiarly, the gathered survivors were not talking with each other, instead looking at the front of the room, where Pythagoras' drones were situated...alongside a boy. One she was certain had not been part of the people sent on this mission. The look's given by Pythagoras' drones, however, made it clear arguing was not possible.

Once everyone was inside, Pythagoras finally deigned to speak.

"It has been three months since the creatures attacked this facility, yet despite our communications array being destroyed, help has not come, and it is now very probable that help will never arrive. Thus, I am forced to try and seek a new method of saving you. The teen standing before you is a part of this plan - he was discovered by drones outside of the facility and informed me that he has a method to escape the predators that have been assaulting this facility. I will postpone explaining how until we have exited the facility. For now, I merely ask you all to comply with my instructions. Is that clear?"

Pythagoras' tone left no room for dissension, so with some reluctance, the gathered personnel answered in the affirmative.

"Excellent. Activating emergency evacuation procedures now."

The whole room shook as the entire stasis facility began to descend, though most of the group paid no mind to that - the boy up front was a more interesting subject.

"...Who are you?" asked one of the technicians - Kaira Allers, if Cassandra remembered correcty.

"...Tristan Saurus."

Oh, he was going to be snide, was he?

Fat chance. "Funny name. What's your real one?"

The boy just glared at her. "That really is my name."

Hmm, either he was being honest or he just didn't want to talk about it. No matter. Onto the next topic. "How did you get here?"

"Honestly, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. But I'm not a stow away."

'That was a very specific denial.'

Any further questions were cut off by the room finally reaching the underground tunnels, meaning all that remained was to reach the rail-lines and move to the designated exit. Yet something about the darkness made Cassandra uneasy, and it appeared that the boy shared her concerns. His eyes darted around, searching the black for signs of movement. Cassandra joined him in scanning the tunnels, studying them for unexpected shapes.

"Pythagoras, activate the tunnel lights," she commanded.

"Obliging."

The lights soon came on, but what they revealed nearly brought Tristan and Cassandra's hearts to a halt.

Several creatures inhabited these tunnels, belonging to a variety of species. That had been known long before the disaster had occurred. But now, all were outnumbered by one breed: the predators that had caused this tragedy. When the lights had come on, they had revealed dozens of these beasts.

And all of them were making a beeline for the stasis room.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Planning about three more chapters after this one before calling this 'episode' done.

Read, Review, and check my discord if you want to chat. This is Flameal15k, signing off!