Chapter 1: Escape!

Sienna braced her feet firmly against the ground and pushed. "It's too heavy!"

Ethan backed out of the tunnel squinting in the light and threw his weight onto the hatch too. "We don't have time for this. It's right behind me!" He shone his flashlight into the tunnel, its glow pale against the daylight. "Let's go!"

Sienna gave one last, futile heave and followed after.

"Someone will find it open soon," she croaked more to convince herself than to tell him. As much as she was worried about what was about to come out, she was concerned about what could get in.

He mumbled his response as he took off at a run, neither noticing the door control hand panel tucked behind the door, partially hidden by overgrown ferns. They were in too much of a rush.

"How far behind is it, do you think?" Sienna asked, keeping up with him easily. They had no particular direction right now, they just needed distance between them and the compound.

"Not far!" Ethan had no breath to say more. He just kept running. Sienna took the lead. She took them through bushes and deep puddles. Anything to make tracking their footprints harder. As they burst through one bush, a theropod landed a foot from them. It had leapt the bush, cutting them off. It wasn't particularly tall, almost as tall as Ethan, but its teeth and claws showed just how lethal it could be. Sienna didn't wait, she grabbed the canister at her hip and sprayed it in the dinosaur's face. It squealed and squirmed backwards. Taking the moment, they bolted past it. Ethan forgetting his breathlessness kicked up his speed, his feet eating up distance between him and the dinosaur.

"Wait!" He skidded to a stop.

Sienna pulled up and jogged back to him. "There's something that way." He pointed to their right. "I think it's a herd." Sienna swallowed consciously. This was part of the plan, but not one she was comfortable with. They needed a way to confuse anything or anyone following them and a herd was one of their options. She had been hoping for a river, but they didn't have time to be picky. Now she just hoped they would be a friendly herd.

"Let's go find out." Slowly, stealthily, they crept in the direction Ethan had indicated. They ran between tree trunks and bushes, using them for cover, watching their feet carefully now, not wanting to alert the herd to their presence. Until there, in a clearing ahead of them was a pack of hadrosaurs grazing casually. Sienna heard Ethan gasp next to her. She totally understood. They had seen hadrosaurs before - in fact they had even seen maiasaurs, the dinosaurs in front of them now - but always in a lab, behind a glass panel. Here, they were in the wild. Here, they were calm and somehow more alive.

"So beautiful," Ethan murmured. Slowly, they crawled into the pack. Keeping small and non-threatening and distributing their weight so their marks would be lost amongst the herds seemed the logical move. Even knowing these dinosaurs were gentle didn't make it completely safe. They were still giants whose bodies or feet could crush them if they moved in just the wrong way. They worked their way to the edge of the clearing, where two maiasuars were close to the treeline. "How are we going to get there?" Ethan whispered. But they were too late. The hadrosaurs started groaning and stomping nervously at the ground. They were drawing in towards each other at the back of the clearing from where they had entered - away from the theropod that was striding forward. It paused, raised its head, then sneezed. The maiasaurs started running - in whichever way they were facing - into each other, their nerves turning to panic. Ethan and Sienna didn't wait. They bolted for a tree with low branches and leapt into it. Scurrying as high as they could, they turned to look below. The theropod was being tossed and turned by those huge bodies and feet, until one knocked him against a tree and he fell limply to the ground.

Sienna let out a long, slow breath. They were safe. For now. Until the humans caught up with them. Or another dinosaur found them. But for now, the danger was over and they were where they wanted to be - in the treetops. Slowly, now they didn't have to race, they climbed through the trees. Carefully choosing limbs that reached to the branches of other trees, they made their way slowly, but hopefully untraceably through the forest.

Finally, the trees met a rocky hill. They climbed down, and stepping only on bare, white igneous rock they were able to move more swiftly.

"We're going to need to stop soon," Ethan cautioned, nodding towards the sun. There would still be an hour of light left - hopefully enough time to find somewhere to settle in.

"Can you see anywhere suitable?" Sienna had been looking out for any kind of suitable shelter herself, without luck.

"Down there." Ethan pointed. Sienna could see something white between the trees, but couldn't make out what it was. Any destination was better than none, though.

Breaking some branches from a scrubby bush to drag behind themselves, they stepped off the rocks and headed downhill.

Once they were back amongst the trees, Sienna felt relief. The hillside had felt too exposed. She knew it was ridiculous though. They were as likely to be spotted here as there were out there.

"Do you think there will be people here?" she asked, knowing full well Ethan would not know the answer either.

"I hope so," was all he replied. For weeks it had been all they spoke about when they were alone. One of the doctors had mentioned their sister living "outside". Never before had they considered the possibility. For their whole lives, they had been taught that "outside" was overrun by dinosaurs. Never once had humans been mentioned.

"Do you think they'll be like Dr. Santos? Or Dr. Manish? I hope Dr. Manish - I think - "

"Shh." Ethan cut her off. He'd heard it all before anyway. "I'm listening."

Sienna snapped her mouth shut and tried to listen too. She could hear their breathing and footsteps. Ahead of them, they could hear a bird trill. She couldn't hear anything to be concerned about - but maybe he was just being cautious as they approached the possible shelter. Ethan stalked forward. Sienna followed.

They continued in this manner - taking silent, careful steps - until a white square building stood in front of them. The jungle had grown right up to it and vines spread their broad leaves across the walls. Clearly, no people had lived here - unless they were underground.

"There's a door." Ethan stepped over and started stripping leaves from it.

"Or we could just climb in the window." The glass had long gone.

Sienna didn't wait for him. She jumped up and scrambled through, landing heavily on the floor.

"Wait!" Ethan called. "Are you crazy?!" He leaped to the windowsill and Sienna hauled on his shoulders to help him through. "We have no idea what is in here," he grumbled at her as he patted down his loose black slacks. "Let's be a little more careful." He scanned the room they were in. He recognised some items - chairs rotten through, a TV smashed, face-down on the floor. "Let's see if there's a safer room."

He inched down the hall, opening doors slowly. Sienna followed quietly, her can of capsicum spray at the ready in case something jumped out.

Nothing did.

They found a large bathroom with a small window and two entrances. It was perfect. They dragged some rotted bedding in to cover the cold floor. They found and piled some bits of broken furniture in front of each. It wouldn't hold long, but the delay it would take something to get in one door would give them time to get out the other. The last detail before settling in was to light a compi stick. That would cover the smell of any food they planned to eat from any nearby compsognathus.

Finally, they placed their weatherproof jackets over the blankets and opened a packet of susto-bars. They weren't very tasty, but they were designed for longer expeditions to keep the scientists fed and healthy when far from the compound. Looking around their nest, Sienna could help but feel proud.

"We made it," she sighed. "Our first night in the real world."

Ethan held his canteen of water up in salutation. "To our first night."

It took Sienna a moment to recognise the sound that woke her. It was the yap of a raptor. Maybe a deinonychus, maybe veloci. A second yap told her it was close. "Ethan," she hissed. As she sat up, she realised he was already awake and alert. He was tucking the canteen into his pack.

"I hear it," he whispered back, his words barely audible. "It's at the front, where we climbed in. So far I have only heard the one. We need to sneak out the back

Sienna got up, and rolled up the weatherproof jacket she had been lying on. She tucked it into her pack as she moved towards the window. She couldn't see anything moving out there.

Ethan was listening at the door that headed towards the front of the building, then came up over to her at the window. "I don't think they've entered the building yet," he whispered directly into her ear. He scanned the view from the window. "It looks okay out that way, too." Finally, he listened at the opposite door. "Ready?" He mouthed this rather than speaking it.

Sienna nodded. As quietly as they could, they shifted the rotting furniture that barricaded the door. Each held their breath as they swung the door open. There was nothing in the corridor. Swiftly but silently, cans of pepper spray in hand, they crept down the hall and pushed open the door at the back of the building. As the forest grew right up to the building, they wouldn't need to go far to be lost from sight. Still, it took all of Sienna's self control not to bolt into the trees - she knew that any sudden movement would draw the attention of a predator - and running madly through the bush would make it extra hard to keep track of Ethan. They couldn't afford to get separated. So, consciously, she placed one foot at a time.

Several metres from the house, with no sign of the theropod that woke her, Sienna began to relax.

"Freeze!" Ethan threw an arm out in front of her just as a long, lithe, black body rose from the ground, fangs bared.

"What is it?" she couldn't help but wonder aloud, looking at its puny hind legs resting on the ground with the tail as the rest of the body rose on one long snake-like neck.

"I don't know," Ethan hissed, "But it looks angry."

Even though it was far less terrifying than a gigantic dinosaur, those fangs looked pretty lethal. Sienna slowly raised her can, ready to spray. Perhaps her movement was too fast. Perhaps she wasn't the trigger at all, but the next moment was a blur of motion as the legged snake struck, was stopped suddenly by a theropod lunging between it and the children, catching it by the long neck and whipping it backwards and forwards.

Neither Ethan nor Sienna stayed to watch the fight. Sienna grabbed Ethan's hand and took off at a run. Now was not the time to be cautious. Again they were running for their lives.

Sienna felt Ethan dragging on her. They'd been running flat out for probably three full minutes and he was struggling to keep pace.

"Here," she dragged him to their left and up the slope of a how branch. "Let's get higher." she leapt from one branch to the next, then slowed to help Ethan as he needed it.

Soon they were high enough that she felt safe. "This is what our lives are going to be like now, isn't it?" She stared down through the trees. "Running from one danger to the next."

Ethan was panting heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"I know," she answered for him. "We just need to reach civilisation, and we can seek their protection. It's just… I didn't think it would be so bad so soon."

"I think," Ethan puffed. "It's just the one guy."

"The theropod? It's tracking us?" Sienna felt a splash of fear across her back as her spine twinged. "We're being hunted?" And sure enough, the theropod came running along under their tree.

Sienna's hope grew as it bounded past, but then was shattered as it returned, stalking back and forth at the base of the tree, before giving a single bark, then settling down on its haunches.

"It knows we're here," Sienna sighed. "What are we going to do?"

She studied the creature below them. It appeared to be a mid-sized true velociraptor - though featherless - with a hint of blue in its face. The lack of feathers indicated its recent lineage had been grown in a lab. She also noticed that it didn't watch them like they were prey. It would turn its head periodically, almost as if checking they were still there, but mostly its attention appeared to be away from them.

"Ethan," Sienna whispered. Even that small sound caused the dinosaur below to twitch. "Is it keeping watch for us?"

"You mean is it waiting for us to come down from the tree?"

"No. I mean like a sentry."

Ethan didn't answer straight away. "You think it woke us this morning to warn us about the snake thing?"

"Maybe."

"Are you sure this isn't just because you've always wanted a dino-mo-gen?"

She had to think about that. She'd seen the ads on their clips - and even though they were probably twenty years old, dino-mo-gens seemed awesome. Dinosaurs modified genetically to be the perfect pets was an amazing idea. The loyalty of a dog, the cleverness of a cat and a lack of moulting. Maybe she was hoping the monster below was actually domesticated.

"Has it tried to attack us? Bite us? Claw us?" She asked instead as she was unable to answer with certainty.

"Maybe not. But do you want to test out your theory?"

He had a point. She didn't really want to go down there with it. Even if she could probably get back into the tree faster than it could attack.

"No. You're right. It can't be a dino-mo-gen. I don't think they're still making them right?"

"Right."

They sat quietly waiting for the theropod to get bored and hunt for prey elsewhere. Unfortunately, he seemed to have endless patience. He sat there happily.

Finally, Sienna had had enough. "We can't sit here forever." She huffed. "I'm going to check."

"And if it wants to eat you?"

"Then I'll jump up to that branch there and haul myself out of reach."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Well, unless we want to sleep here the night, we don't have any other option."

Before she could overthink it, Sienna jumped to the ground, bending her knees to soften her landing. It still jarred her and the second of surprise she had over the theropod at her sudden appearance was vaporised as it took at least as long for her to recover. As she straightened, shaking her head trying to clear it, the dinosaur raised its head and gave the all too familiar yap.

Suddenly, Sienna realised just how ridiculous her plan was - she made a leap for the branch above her head, but her trembling legs gave out beneath her and she sprawled instead.

The dinosaur hastened towards her, its head, filled with glistening ivory teeth, getting closer.

"Hey!" She heard Ethan yell followed by a dull thud as she assumed he dropped to the ground out of sight from her. Hope swelled and dashed as thoughts of a moments distraction clashed with her fear for Ethan. And then both evaporated as the dinosaur continued forward, teeth inching closer, as the head lowered. The top of the muzzel pushing up under her chin.

Sienna's eyes sprung open - she'd closed them reflexively not wanting to see her last moments - but since she was still alive, she had to see why. The dinosaur nudged her again, then backed away.

Sienna sat up, regretting it instantly as the theropod moved towards her again. But again, it just got close enough to nussle her.

"Sweet dino loving craziness!" Ethan exclaimed. "You were right!?"

Sienna looked towards him over the dinosaur's head. "It looks like!" She wiped a tear from her eye. "Our own dino-mo-gen!" The tears kept coming and she kept wiping.

"You wanted one that much?" Ethan asked, handing her a cloth.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "I thought I was going to die." She wiped her eyes with the cloth, then tried to stand. Her legs still trembled erratically and she couldn't get up.

"Maybe we should stay here a minute. I think our friend here will warn us if we're in danger."

Sienna just nodded and accepted the canteen he handed her, as well as the food which followed.

Through uncontrollable shivers, she washed the acid from her mouth and nibbled a protein bar.

It took a while, but the tears stopped and the trembling subsided.

Sienna opened her eyes and lifted her head from the tree behind her. "Okay," she exhaled. "I think I'm okay to get moving."

"Good." Ethan climbed to his feet and helped her up. "Let's get going."

"Come on, Blue," Sienna called as the duo headed off.

"Blue?" Ethan queried. "You and your stories!" He shook his head.

"Not stories. HIstories. They really happened. Anyway, she's got blue on her snout. '

"You know the velociraptors back then were genetically modified to be bigger."

"Of course I know that. And they were fiercer too - I hope. That doesn't change that Blue was awesome and our dino-mo-gen will be awesome too. I mean, look how loyal she already is."

Ethan did look at the dinosaur creeping along with them - speeding ahead, dropping behind, scouting each side, but always close by.

"Doesn't that seem kind of weird to you? Why would it be loyal to us?"

"Maybe the doctors finally listened and got her as a pet for us and they trained her to be loyal to us - we just left before they gave her to us."

Ethan was sceptical. The scientists had never done anything that kind before. Why would they start now? There was something they were missing.

"You know, I think it's time we found the river." They'd been so busy running they hadn't really planned where they were going. He'd meant to check the map this morning before they headed out, but that hadn't worked out. Instead, he now pulled it from his pack and tried to look at it while he walked.

He found the compound pretty easily. And the river that ran behind it. The tricky bit would be finding where they were now.

He located the sun - it was late morning now, so that would be east… He tried finding the building they had slept in last night without luck. The map was useless - or more accurately, he was useless at reading it.

After a moment of trying to follow the creases, he gave up, folding it quickly and shoved it roughly into his bag. This whole idea was useless. When they were planning it, it all seemed so fun and exciting, but now they were out in the world, lost and surrounded by dinosaurs, he was beginning to realise how naive they'd been.

They had some survival training, and some dino-tactics, but that wasn't enough to help them reach some unknown civilization. That was really the biggest flaw in their plan - they didn't even know where they were going - they just wanted to find people who weren't scientists - people who lived outside of a compound and who got to see the sky from more than just an exercise yard. Really, they just wanted to find a home. Like the ones in Sienna's books. But now that he was living the adventure, he was realising those books weren't anywhere close to being scary enough to be real. And if they were wrong about that, then maybe they were wrong about homes too. Maybe they'd just run away from the only real home there was.

Chapter 2: Down Stream

There was no skill involved with finding the river, They'd been heading vaguely downhill and towards the sun - more to make sure they didn't backtrack than as any actual guide. But in the end, they did find it.

"Not bad, Ethan," Sienna gave him a high five. He returned it. He may not have deserved it, but he was just as happy as she was to see the river in front of them.

She bent down and refilled her water, engaging the built in UV light to sterilize it. Ethan downed his last mouthful before copying her. A moment later, he stood up and looked down the river.

For a kid who'd lived in a facility all his life, it was really beautiful. They had left the treeline to reach it, feeling maybe a little too invincible now they had a dinosaur guardian, and were on a rocky shore. The water was wide, a deep, dark green and ran quite swiftly.

"Are you thinking we should try the raft?" He asked Sienna who was watching the river too.

"I probably should have been," she laughed. "But I was just thinking how lucky I am to see this beautiful view." She raised her arms over her head - hands joined, then releasing them, she pushed outwards to each side like she was inviting the view to hug her. "But the raft will be perfect. It will mean no-one can track us and we're more likely to find people near the river, right?"

Ethan felt his emotions strangely dim as she said this. Taking the raft meant the doctors would be able to find them. They'd really be alone out here.

"What about Blue?" He asked latching onto the one flaw that might make her rethink the plan.

She turned and looked at their pet. "We're going to have to leave her behind." Her eyes were sorrowful. "I just don't think she would know to be careful with those claws in the boat."

She did have a very prominent non-retractable claw on each hindlimb, not to mention a fist of savage splinters on each forelimb.

"I'm impressed." He tried to keep his conflicted emotions from his voice. "I would have thought you'd want to keep her around."

"I do," she sighted. "But there's having a pet or there's returning to our prison." She paused as she nudged a stone with her foot. "I think we did a bit of damage when we escaped. We can't ever go back."

A bit of damage was an understatement. They'd launched the 'intruder protocol' that locked most people away, but it also opened a bunch of high security doors. It was only using the memorised 16 digit passcode of Dr. Langdon along with his stolen key car4d that they had been able to open the doors they had needed to get out. Who knew what sterile equipment had been in those high security rooms that were now contaminated. And then there were the screams. No. Not screams. Everyone was fine. It was just machinery being damaged. Metal on metal making the piercing screeches - yes - too much damage to go back.

"Right." The raft it is then. He plonked himself on a larger rock and started digging though his pack.

The downside of having such a small, lightweight raft was that it took time to inflate. While they waited, they each had a protein bar and stalked the river back. Neither felt comfortable sitting but neither wanted to move too far from the other or the boat.

Ethan watched as Sienna approached Blue. It seemed perfectly happy for her to touch it: scratch its head, run her hand down its neck. But it never stopped being on guard.

Ethan found himself a little sad that they wouldn't be able to keep it. Knowing there was something else keeping watch made him feel calmer.

Blue barked warning at the same moment the ground shook. Something big was coming. Ethan looked at the raft. It still had a good ten minutes to go to be fully inflated. Please be a sauropod!

The next thump sounded. Sienna backed up to Ethan. He saw her grimace as she looked at the raft.

"Anyway to fill that thing any faster?" she asked. Ethan shook his head but knelt beside the pump anyway to check. Just as he'd remembered, it was already on the highest setting.

He shook his head, no.

Another thump. And another. Blue ran over to them, paused, then ran downriver a little way. She paused again, looking back at them.

Probably not a sauropod with that reaction - only a carnivore would scare Blue enough to run away, right?" Ethan swallowed, trying to suppress his fear. "Boat or no boat?" he hissed at Sienna.

"It will slow us down," she hissed back. "But it may be our only escape route… I say, boat."

She ran into the water to grab the far side, leaving Ethan to grab the side closest to him. He almost flipped it. It was lighter than he'd thought it would be. But he got control of it and started running along the slones, after Blue. He angled slightly away from the river to allow Sienna space to run free of the water that she'd been splashing through.

Several more thumps rumbled the ground behind them, so they ran forward, awkwardly. The raft kept slipping. Ethan tried maneuvering it: above his head, in both hands, by the rope. None of these options were any good.

"Can you pick a grip?!" Sienna yelled at him. "This is hard enough without you jerking it every five seconds."

"Sorry," he huffed out. He couldn't manage more than that.

The next step thundered closer. This one was accompanied by a loud trumpeting. Ethan looked over his shoulder and almost laughed. It was a sauropod! It wasn't going to eat them.

The laugh cut off too soon as he realised his mistake. The giant beast may not want to eat them, but it was charging at them all the same.

Each pounding step was slow, but each pounding step covered several metres each time. The monstrosity was gaining on them.

Ethan stumbled on the rocks, but before he had even realised, he was already up and running again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sauropod didn't notice the loose stones beneath its feet. It crushed them.

Too soon, it reached them. Trumpeting first, it swung its head like a wrecking ball.

Ethan dropped the raft and skidded to the ground, its head swooping over the spot his own had been a second earlier.

"Ethan!" Sienna's voice was a screech. Suddenly, the whole weight of the raft was on her and it had proven too much. She too dropped her side. She looked up in horror as the beast raised up onto its hindlegs, then dropped - the raft lying directly below it's forelimbs.

In an impressive move, Sienna grabbed the front of the raft, and using herself as a pivot, swund the boat into the water. The dinosaur landed heavily, missing its target completely. But now the raft was in the river, floating away from them.

Ethan scrabbled across the rocks and threw himself into the water after it. He wasn't a great swimmer, but the water was still fairly shallow here. Sienna landed in the water in front of the raft, with a huge splash. She was able to hold it still long enough for Ethan to jump in, before pulling herself in as well.

They looked up expectantly towards the sauropod - they were only a few metres from the shore. But it now had another target.

Blue had disappeared downriver into the treeline and the giant dinosaur followed. "Blue's really fast you know," Ethan whispered in encouragement.

"And now we're not slowing her down." Sienna slipped down onto the floor of the raft and pulled her knees into herself. "She'll be fine."

As the river swept them away, Ethan was pretty sure he wasn't the one she was trying to convince.

Chapter 3: Trapped

This was not how it was supposed to happen. Dr. Santos thought. Lights flashed in strobe, sirens whooped, objects crashed, footsteps echoed. Dr. Santos only wished their security clearance would allow them to leave this room to see what was happening. A bigger part of their thoughts however, were much happier in the safety behind that locked door. Dr, Santos climbed under the desk. A little more security couldn't hurt, and there was nothing they could do but wait.

But the waiting was endless and Dr. Santos' thought kept creeping back to how this was probably their fault. They had deliberately dropped hints to the kids about the outside world. They had hoped it would make the children more amenable when they finally broke them out. It never occurred to Dr. Santos for a second that the kids would try to free themselves or that they would try to leave so soon.

After an age, the sirens stopped. But that left the echoes of screams and crashes to be heard periodically. Dr. Santos found their thoughts to focus less on self blame and more on self preservation.

They didn't' have the clearance to "know" what the secret project was, but Dr. Santos knew anyway. That was part of their mission. This knowledge only increased their fear though. He did not want to encounter them. Equally, they could not get out of this facility. This train of thought led only to shame. They knew enough spy stories to know that spies were supposed to be resourceful and agile, and yet Dr. Santos sat curled under a desk. Knowing they were more a desk spy rather than a field agent offered little condolence.

Maybe there was something they could do though. They slid their phone from their pocket and dialled Audrey. She wasn't a spy at all, but maybe she could help them. She was after all a trained guide.

The phone rang out. Dr. Santos guessed that Audrey probably kept it on silent and non-lighting and non-vibrating. She wouldn't want dinosaurs to be alerted to where she was.

Dr. Santos sent her a text. If nothing else, she must check her phone intermittently. Maybe, hopefully, Audrey could do something to help.

That task done, Dr. Santos now felt less like hiding. Thinking more clearly, they realised that if things went badly, that door may never open. Dr. Santos needed to get out of this room and, being really careful, out of the compound entirely. They climbed onto the chair and swung over to the display panel and pulled up the emergency map. Moments later, they'd pinpointed their location. Next task, a path out of here.

Having swept the map onto their personal phone, Dr. Santos was able to take it with them. The emergency map was substantially different to the other maps that were posted on the walls. Sections had become available because it was an emergency situation. Ordinarily they were hidden like so many of the secrets here - but at least someone had the common sense to ensure that saving people's lives were a high priority.

According to the map, there was an access tunnel behind this room. The compound was riddled with them for just such a reason. The possibility of a dinosaur breaching the perimeter was a very constant threat - and tunnels such as these were designed to help humans escape. They grabbed an emergency pack - released from its cavity as soon as the alarms started, and started rummaging through it. It didn't take them long to find a bolt key. Using it, Dr. Santos was able to open the access hatch into the tunnel. They poked their head inside. It was dark and silent inside. Dark or silent in there, or possibly locked out here forever? There was no real question, they just had to work up the courage. Tucking the key back into the pack, and grabbing out a capsicum spray, he climbed in.

Although the access points were small, the tunnel itself was high enough that Dr. Santos could stand comfortably. It was only just wide enough though that two mid sized adults could just squeeze past each other. Definitely not enough space to swing a heavy object - or slash out with a sharp claw - its true function. Everything here was designed to make life hard for dinosaurs and Dr. Santos had never been so grateful for such protocols. Bringing up the map, he decided to head right, the luminescent face of the phone giving just enough light to see by.

Dr. Santos stepped carefully trying to make as little noise as possible. They didn't know a lot about the 'special project' but they'd put money on whatever creature they had designed having heightened senses.

The emergency map was awesome though. It showed the safe areas that were clear of unknowns and how to reach them. In fact, the map showed that there was a room just behind this panel where Dr. Julien Jones was waiting, alone.

Deciding it would be better to escape with company, Dr. Santos got out the bolt key and started working on the bolts. A moment later, they stepped into an empty office. "Dr. Jones?" Dr. Santos called. "Julien, are you in here?"

There was a slight scrape from the far side of the desk. Dr. Santos moved towards it. Tucked tightly underneath, in a ball, was Dr. Jones. The poor kid was barely old enough for his first job. No wonder he was terrified. Dr. Santos had already forgotten they had been in that exact position not fifteen minutes earlier.

"D-Dr. Santos?" Julien looked up. "What's going on?"

"There's been a security breach. We need to get out of here."

"It's not a drill?"

"Let's assume it is, but treat it like it's real." They didn't want to unsettle the boy more than he already was.

"I can't remember what we have to do," Julien confessed.

"It's okay. I'm going to help you." They grabbed an emergency pack and passed it to Julien. "You'll probably want the spray." While Julien was busy looking for it, Dr. Santos returned their attention to the map. So they had found one other survivor, now they both needed to get out. It looked like the tunnel they was just in would lead to an atrium. They'd have to cross that and access a new tunnel system. Fortunately, the atrium, was clear - for now. There were no signs of humans. Julien had only showed up once Dr. Santos was almost at his access hatch. It was impractical to impossible to hunt for survivors - this system was designed to get them out. Simply by accessing it had sent a distress signal out. They would have a different system to help them get to any survivors remaining. It could take days before they decided they could enter the compound. Dr. Santos intended on meeting the first rescue vehicle when it arrived and get as far from here as they could.

"Ready?" Dr. Santos asked as they noticed Julien had the spray firmly in hand.

"Can I say no?"

"Sure you can. But I'm leaving now. So you can stay here alone, or you can come with me."

They ducked back into the tunnel. A moment later, they heard Julien's footsteps close behind.

Stopping short of the atrium panel, Dr. Santos pulled out the map. "Good news," they whispered to the boy behind. "There's 8,9 people there. We can join them."

Grabbing the key, they stepped forward just as a volley of gun shots sounded. The people in the atrium were shooting. Dr. Santos looked at the map again. It clearly said the room was clear. But now screams were added to the shots and one by one, the dots showing human lives vanished from the display.

Dr. Santos gagged and slumped against the wall, sliding until their bottom reached the floor.

"What happened?"

There were no more sounds from the atrium. Dr. Santos didn't answer. They just raised their index finger to their lips indicating quiet.

Inside though, Dr. Santos' thoughts were racing. They could only think of two reasons for what just happened. Either the scientists had turned on each other, killing every last one of them, or the 'special project' had pulled an indomitus - somehow, they had removed their tracking chips. Suddenly, a terrifying thought occurred to them. Were they able to use the map? Is that how they knew they were being tracked? Could they, right now, see that Dr. Santos and Dr. Jones were right here. The thought froze him bone to skin.

Julien opened his mouth, but Dr. Santos shook their head slightly. The younger doctor took the hint and closed it again. Seconds passed. Then a minute. Finally, Dr. Santos decided that if the 'special project' knew they were there, they would have attacked.

Slowly, silently, Dr. Santos rose to their feet. They pointed down the corridor in the direction they had come. Julien understood and started walking down the tunnel.

A crashing sound met them long before they reached the access panel into Dr. Jones' office. It explained the muffled thumping they had heard when they had passed by the one office that separated it from the atrium. Something was trying to get into the offices here. Dr. Santos could only think of one reason why. That something knew they were close.

"Julien, did you close the hatch?" Julien who had frozen at the sounds shook his head slowly. Dr. Santos had guessed already. There was a reason the crashing was so much louder here. "Neither did I." He confessed. "We have to get the hatches closed." Even though they were designed for humans, he was certain that wouldn't stop these creatures. Knowing their own project, he strongly suspected the "special' one was similar, but worse. Which meant those creatures were probably human sized. The older doctor slipped their pack from their shoulder and pulled out the bolt key. "I've got this one. You go do mine. The key should be in the front pocket." They moved to squeeze past the boy but he was already on his way. Dr. Santos noticed a sudden burst of speed as he bolted past the open hatchway, not giving it a glance.

Moments later, Dr. Santos arrived. Unlike Julien, they couldn't avoid looking out into the office. Their stomach tightened and Dr. Santos emptied its contents on the floor. Desperately trying to ignore the hideous creature that was ramming its head into the bulletproof glass window, its long raptor claws scratching at the chucks caused by the impacts. They had to take a step into the office to reach the door and it took every ounce of self control to force themself to do so. Concentrating on not stepping in the vomit helped distract them just enough to get that foot down just as a large chunk of glass hit the floor. Fear drove them as they grabbed the handle of the hatch and swung it closed. It locked as it shut, requiring a human hand to unlock it, but Dr. Santos wasn't willing to bet their life on the creature not finding a way around that.

Fumbling with the key, they bolted each connection closed. With each bolt they heard dreadful crunches and crashes behind the panel. But for now, there was nothing more they could do. Pausing half a second to catch their breath, Dr. Santos ran down the tunnel to meet Julien, terrified that the boy had not been in time. Echoes of bone against metal rang behind him. Scary, yes, but they was certain even a special project wasn't going to get through solid metal - at least not for a long time

A light flickered ahead of them - the display from a phone. Dr. Santos followed it. "All good Dr. S." the younger doctor mumbled, then his legs crumpled beneath him.

Dr. Santos pulled out the map one more time. They had given the boy some water and even a hug to calm him, and now that the crashing sounds had stopped, his shaking was now intermittent. It was time to work out what to do next.

The creatures could sense them, but they didn't know where the creatures were. They were blind mice being hunted by the scariest cat on the planet. As far as they could see there was only one piece of good news. The creatures had claws - that meant they would be unable to access many of the doors. That news was only a partial relief though, as apparently locked rooms only slowed them down. They tried to forget the image of the creature at the window. Memory of its too human eyes made them shiver.

Having had the time to think about the situation, Dr. Santos had realised something even more terrifying. The sound of gunshots meant that the group that was slaughtered (his imagination making that a reality as strongly as seeing it would have done) was the first response team. A group that was trained in taking down any projects that escaped. And they were destroyed in seconds. Even if they were safe in this tunnel for the moment, any rescue team would suffer the same fate. They knew how to deal with real dinosaurs, not whatever hybrids were cooked up here.

They looked at the map again and switched to settings. Certain settings were selected as the emergency was the release of projects… There. Dr. Santos switched the settings across. Now it showed movement and heat. There was no guarantee the creatures couldn't regulate their heat, but they would have to move. Back to the map, they could see that there was in fact movement and heat signatures in the offices behind their walls, but no trackers. They had eyes again. "Hey, Julien," they couldn't help but whisper, but added some bite to break through the boy's focus. It worked. Julien looked up. "How are you with the systems in this place? This device is only showing me things in the local area. I want to see where all the creatures are." They didn't add that they were worried someone else may have opened a hatch into this tunnel and even now a special project could be heading their way.

"I could maybe do that." He swept the map to his own device and started flipping through the settings.

"Is it possible to find which hatches are open as well?" They hoped Julien didn't notice the tone of their voice or connect why they were asking for that.

"That one I can do." A few seconds later, "Mother mercy! There is one open. It's a long way from here, but it's open."

"So do we head towards it and possibly another exit used by whoever opened it… or do we move as far from it as we can, drawing our stalkers away from it too?"

Instantly, Dr. Santos regretted their words as they saw Julien freeze in the light of his display. But instead of returning to his shivering lump, he swallowed. "I would suggest the latter option." His voice was husky. "But if they are stalking us…" he blinked a little too long. "I don't know how we will get out without them close behind."

"Let's just see what we can see first. Then we can make a plan, okay?"

Julien nodded and returned to the device.

Sooner than expected, Julien looked up. "Done." He swept his changes across to Dr. Santo's device so they could see themself. The amount of information on the screen was overwhelming. They had no idea where to start. "Here," Julien showed him his display. "These are the … whatever those creatures are that don't have trackers." Four. There were four locations at least - there was no way to know how many were in each location though - he was guessing at least three more creatures judging by how the heat signatures moved.

"Seven of them?"

"That was my count. But who knows." He shrugged. "There's three rooms with movement and no heat signatures. Could be plants blowing from the AC or they could regulate their heat." He shrugged. "I suggest we assume they can and avoid those areas too." Dr. Santos was impressed. This was far from the boy shivering in fear. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Here are the other projects. Many are unaccounted for. I assume dead." His eyes dropped at this. "And here," he took a deep breath and stared his elder in the eye, "are the humans."

"How many?" Dr. Santos hissed. There should have been over a hundred.

"About thirty."

"Did any get out?"

"I hope so. There is an outer door that is open."

"That's something, then." Knowing where the humans were… suddenly Dr. Santos realised why they were usually hidden on the map. Knowing meant they were now responsible for them. But first, they needed to be safe themselves. Wait… Dr. Santos zoomed in on a familiar office. Dr. Das'. And there was movement down the corridor outside. "Is there any way we can send a message to everyone? They need to know that these things aren't being tracked."

"Yeah. I saw that… wait." His fingers danced over the display and a moment later a message appeared on Dr. Santos' screen: "Special Project escaped. Use motion detectors to track. Very dangerous. Avoid at all costs. Close hatches behind you." It was maybe not the message Dr. Santos would have sent, but it would do.

"Can I have a screen that shows the creatures and all the other projects?"

"Here." Dr. Jones leaned over and showed them how to switch between the various options. Once able to do it independently, they switched back to the humans.

"Look!" It was the first happy sound either had made since the sirens began. "They got your message!" At least two of the humans were moving through the tunnel system away from the movement. "Shred it!" Dr. Santos's hope dived as they switched back to the creature view. "It's following her!" Switching between the two screens, it was clear that something moved in the same direction that Dr. Das moved.

Dr. Jones caught their eye. "We're going to need a plan."

Chapter 4

"Freeze!" Audrey yelled. On the ground below, she saw her two employers freeze. "Light and loud, okay? When I say run, get to the car." She didn't watch to see if they remembered to put in their earplugs and slide down their goggles. She didn't have time. From her pack she pulled out three canisters. In quick succession, she pulled the pin and lobbed each into three corners of the clearing. The world filled with loud noises and bright lights. Audrey ignored them as she leapt to the ground and ran for the car herself. Her companions were already in there, Sam having started the engine.

Audrey slammed the door behind her. "Good job," she told them. As often as not, whenever she brought people out here, they panicked, unable to follow any instructions. These two managed just fine.

Sam maneuvered the car back the way they had come - back towards the compound. "Are they going to follow us?" she asked.

Audrey considered the question. They had only been out in the field less than five minutes when the dinosaurs showed up. They were expecting the humans to come close, which meant the hunters probably knew where their prey was headed.

"We're not going back to the compound."

"But the others?!"

"If they stay inside like they are supposed to they will be fine." Audrey had to trust that they would for now at least. She couldn't endanger these two unnecessarily.

"Where am I going then?"

"Head south east for about 5k. I'll tell you when we're close." She turned in the back seat to see out the window. The deinonychus had recovered from the flash bangs and were chasing the car. As the car veered from the path back to the compound, she noticed two of the three disappeared in that direction. Out of sight or heading for the compound? Audrey pried open the emergency supplies and pulled out the heat seeking goggles. These dinosaurs were on the move, so they would be hard to locate, but it also meant they would be throwing more heat than those at rest.

The deinonychus, still loping behind the car, slowed to a stop and barked loudly before pursuing them again, picking up speed to catch them. To the side, she noticed one of their two stalkers change direction and head their way again. It took some searching, but she found the third. It too was following on a parallel course.

"Can't we go any faster?" Talat asked, finally finding his voice.

"Not in this terrain." Sam was already driving as fast as she was able, dodging trees and rocks.

"How long can it run at this speed?"

"We'll reach the terminal before they do." Audrey answered this time.

"What are we going to do then?"

"I guess we head to the next terminal and hope they exhaust themselves before we reach it."

"That's 30k from here."

"Yup. It's not ideal, but there's a reason we never leave the compound without a full charge."

Talat's eyes dropped.

"You did fill the tank right?"

"It's fine." Sam piped up. "We've got three quarters of a tank. Plenty to get us there."

"We're still going to go past the terminal Sam. Via left a bit here. Then you can follow the tube to the next station."

Audrey was praying for a miracle: several people standing at the open garage door with weapons ready to stop the dinosaurs entering, maybe?

Instead, Sam slammed on the breaks, the car skidding; Audrey's window ending up next to a tree that had fallen across their path. The dinosaurs outside barked their delight. Audrey didn't wait. They were in sight of the terminal here. She just needed to slow the creatures down enough to get Sam and Talat safely inside.

"Get out and get behind the tree," Audrey commanded as she grabbed a bottle from the supplies. She followed suit, except opening the bottle, she tipped it all over the trunk as she clambered over it. An acrid scent filled their air. Audrey flicked the wheel on her lighter and threw it still burning onto the tree. Prepared for ignition, the three of them dove away from the tree - towards the terminal. A wave of sound and heat swept over them.

Audrey had barely landed when she hauled first Sam, and the Talat to their feet. "Run!" Audrey reached it first and palmed the door pad. A small door swung open and the three of them dived in. Talat slammed his hand down on the emergency shut and a gate dropped sharply from above missing a deinonychus who had almost caught up by a hair. The door swung closed.

They were safe.

Chapter 5: In the Mud

Sam and Talat sat on the couches, waiting for the next transport. Audrey however was raiding the emergency supplies.

"You're not going to go back out there are you?" Sam asked, voice filled with awe. She had just had more excitement than she had seen in her whole life.

"Did you see the tree? They were prepared for us to come here. They have been watching us, planning their attack." Sam's face paled. "The others will be safe as long as they stay inside, but…" Audrey shook her head. She knew the emotional toll it took being hunted. It made it very easy to do stupid things. "I need to keep them alive."

"I'll go with you." Sam stood to her feet.

"That's really sweet, and I'll tell them you offered." Her tone clearly implied that was all it was. An offer.

"No. I'm serious. I want to help!"

"Great. Then wait for the transport and ride it back to civilization. It's going to be hard enough keeping me alive out there. I can't be worrying about you too."

Sam opened her mouth to argue.

"Can you fire a rifle? How fast can you climb a tree? What is the best way to get past a dinosaur that has thermal sensing pits?" Sam closed her mouth. "As I said, the offer was sweet, but you are helping me best by staying safe."

Sam nodded and dropped back into her seat. Talat whispered something to her, but Audrey was too busy loading up to notice. She had already called for reinforcements, but they would take hours to arrive. She needed to go now. She swung her refilled pack over her shoulder and headed to the stairs. "Lock the garage behind me and don't open it unless I tell you too, okay?" Sam nodded and followed behind. Audrey flipped on the lights and went down the stairs. Sam rolled the security door across the top of the stairs blocking her from view. Audrey heard the lock as it engaged. Good. Life was so much easier when people followed instructions. At the bottom of the stairs, Audrey passed through another palm operated door, locking it securely behind her. She was a strong believer in better safe than sorry - for other people, anyway.

In the garage, Audrey climbed into one of the emergency jeeps. Positioning herself right in front of the garage door, she pressed the button to raise it, then floored the accelerator. She burst out so fast and hit the drop door button to close the gate behind her. Knowing exactly where the tree was, she was able to avoid it, the flames crackling along it still. A deinonychus swung its head following her escape from the building. It barked, but Audrey barely noticed as she tried putting distance between herself and it.

Now that she was driving, Audrey didn't have the luxury of using heat sensing goggles to locate her adversaries. She was just going to have to use her regular senses. As she bounced down the track - this one an actual track since several vehicles had moved between the terminal and the compound - she tried to watch for deinonychus following, but they were too well camouflaged and she couldn't determine movement while moving herself. She sighed. She would just have to get close, then find a good place to scope the environment out. These jeeps could take a serious beating, so she would be relatively safe while she remained inside. It was her only real option, so there was no point complaining to herself about it.

The road passed through a particularly muddy, almost swamp-like area. The people who built the compound had gone to the effort of throwing gravel down so it was actually almost a real, dirt road. Audrey picked up speed, hoping to have some lead on the deinonychus.

Suddenly in front of her, a shadow darted in front of her and stopped, startled. Audrey jumped on the brake pedal, yanking on the steering wheel. The car swung round, clipping the animal. The front tire hit the soft edge of the marsh causing that side of the car to drop. The momentum pushed the car so that it flipped and dropped, landing roof down in the mud.

"Gashes and gouges!" she grumbled. She pushed her weight against the door as she opened it and she splashed down into the mud. She was about a kilometre still from the camp, with deinonychus on her tail and who knew how many in front of her. Just to make it really clear she was still being hunted, she heard a bark back down the road. It was not far enough away. She had to get away from the car before they arrived or she would have no hope of hiding from them. On the back panel of the car, there was a shotgun. She grabbed it and shoved the weather proof pouch full of bullets that were with it into her pocket. Then she dropped down into the mud and army-crawled away from the car.

Seeking deeper patches of water, she was able to almost swim in some sections, but she made sure she stayed covered in mud. She moved as slowly as possible using the natural mounds and troughs as camouflage. Periodically, she would pause and turn towards the car. The deinonychus appeared too soon after. The creature that had been hit in the accident joined them, though was injured. Its hindleg dragged a little. Next time the pack needed to run, it would be left behind, assuming they didn't kill her first.

Audrey watched as the predators searched for her. Both her scent and her heat would be masked by the mud. She now just had to remain still long enough for the dinosaurs to give up. Watching them carefully, Audrey was able to inch closer and closer to the tree line. The deinonychus had long moved away from the car and were stepping through the swamp still looking for her. She was very aware that she could only see the two of them at this moment. There was a third not far away. But she could not stay in the swamp forever, so every time the deinonychus were looking away, she would slowly, carefully creep back.

It was an age before the mud hardened into lumpy grass patches. But Audrey was not excited to reach it. The grass was just a sign that the relative safety of the mud was about to disappear. Somehow, she needed to get from the mud into the trees. She was sure she could avoid D1 & D2, but D3? She had no idea where she was. D1, the limping monster was on this side of the car, but D2 was over on the far side. Even if D1 saw her, Audrey could outrun her, even without the distance now between them. D2 would realised momentarily, but Audrey was sure she could make the tree line and hunker down before they reached her. She slathered one last thick layer of mud across herself and scanned the treeline. Still no sign of D3. She would have to risk it.

Audrey leapt to her feet and bolted for trees. Behind her she heard a bark. She assumed it would be D1 giving the alert. There was no way she was going to take the time to look. Once in amongst the trees she found a fig, and dove between its roots and its host tree. She again would be hard to see, smell and feel.

Steadying her breathing, she focussed on her senses. Her ears strained, listening for sounds of crashing through the trees. Deinonychus may be agile hunters, but even they would crash through a forest. And there it was. Over to her left, where she'd entered the trees. She couldn't see it at all, she just had to rely on her hearing for now. It sounded like a single creature. At times it moved closer. But mostly, it moved away until Audrey could no longer hear it. She waited another ten minutes until she heard the chirrup of an insect, then the slither of a lizard in a bush.

Slowly, silently like no deinonychus could move, Audrey made her way closer to the compound. Her ears were key. The trees close to the compound were familiar to her. She had stalked through them many times, so she knew her approach.

While waiting in the arms of the fig, she had plenty of time to think. These deinonychus knew where the humans went frequently. That meant they knew about the lookout towers, so she couldn't go there. They probably even knew about her favourite trees, the ones she would climb to get a good view of the compound from outside of it. That meant she couldn't use any of them. Instead, she would use a tree that's lowest branch was just a little too high to be used easily.

She had pulled out the cords in her jacket and pants and knotted them together and tied them to the rifle. Setting the rifle on the ground, she slung the three metres of rope in the air. It caught easily on the branches. It didn't need to lift anything, just stay there right now. Then, taking a few paces back, she ran at the tree and leapt as high as she could. She caught hold of the lowest branch and using the same momentum, swung her legs up and around the branch. Painfully, she inched down the branch to the trunk where there was another branch that she could hook her legs over before wedging herself upwards until she was on top of the branch. Grabbing the end of the rope which was still attached, she pulled the gun up. She still had to lie on her belly to get it around the branches, but she was in a tree with her weapon. Time to find out what was happening in the compound.

Chapter 6: Watch out below

Laid out below Audrey was a concerning scene. She could see the fires burning in two of the three entrances, but in front of the third was an overturned truck. She could see three creatures inside the compound itself. She absent mindedly wiped the mud from her hands on her pants so she could slide out her scope. It was a pointless act. She was still covered head to toe with now cracking mud.

She should have been able to leave the scientists locked safe in the compound for a week if she had to. But apparently a few hours was too long. Was it the second she left that they'd replaced the entry fire with a had argued from the beginning that they wanted an easier way in and out of the compound. They hated the pulley system that raised and lowered them outside the wall. And they hated even more how quickly and explosively the fire was lit if they had to bring a vehicle in or out. They had done the math on it, but even so they didn't trust that the vehicles wouldn't explode with them in it. So they'd put out the fire and blocked the entrance with a truck. Audrey couldn't convince them that many dinosaur species could have leapt over or crawled under a vehicle. But this one had been flipped. It was a show of the deinonychus' strength that they bothered to flip it. Or maybe that was the scientists. Maybe they listened - partially - maybe they set a charge under the truck and it was triggered when the first beast tried to enter. But a flipped truck would do nothing to stop the rest of the pride.

She watched the scene below feeling helpless. She was already dialling them, hoping she wouldn't reach them too late. She could see the plan being enacted below her. All the scientists would need to do to survive would be to keep the door closed. The building was built from two foot thick reinforced concrete, sub-steel doors and polnancom glass. Even the biggest spinosaurus couldn't break through that. Maybe an indominus rex might, but most people believed they didn't really exist. As two of the deinonychus attacked the glass and doors that faced the now open entrance, Audrey could tell they were going for effect. She watched as the third maneuvered herself into a position, lowering her body behind the upside down jeep, her eyes watching the side door keenly.

Answer the phone. Audrey dared not even whisper to herself. If the dinosaurs realised she was here, she would not survive the night.

"Audrey? Help us! Please!" a woman's voice answered. Maybe Karlina, the geologist.

"Do not open the door," Audrey hissed. "It's a trap." As if on cue, a face appeared at the circular window of the side door and looked out. The barrage at the front of the building increased. He got the message. Audrey thought to herself. He won't open the

The door opened a crack. The deinonychus watching stayed motionless. The 'attack' elsewhere continued. The door widened and a man inched out. He paused in the doorway, looking behind him. She heard a woman's voice yelling, "Shut the door now!" but he was too slow. The watching monster leapt from her shelter covering the distance in a stunning burst of speed. Using her front claws, she ripped at the door, buckling its hinges, the door akilter. The man had no time to run inside. Not that it would matter. Her jaws opened to grab him by the head before she threw him backwards into the yard. Her two companions jumped on him. There was no way he'd be attacking them from behind. Sickened, Audrey couldn't take her eyes away as they ripped his arm off, its fingers still tangled in the rifle he carried but hadn't thought to use.

The first dinosaur waited a moment, then entered, calling her companions to join her.

"Audrey! Are you there?" Karlina.

"Lock yourselves into a room. Any room. NOW!"

There was a trill below her, to the left. Audrey froze. The Ds had come to join the party. Carefully, she lowered her phone volume to mute and controlled her breathing, soft, shallow breaths. She was still covered in the mud which would offer some protection against their heat detecting pits. If she stayed quiet and motionless, they should move on - especially with live prey so close by. She tried really hard not to name the live prey and prayed instead that the remaining scientists had managed to lock themselves in a room.

Below her, one deinonychus stepped into view. Her mind ran through what she carried on her person. Her pack had been left in the car, so it was only those items that were tucked into her clothes. Protein bar, multitool, hunting knife, caps spray, bullets and rifle … nothing to scare them off. Even with D1 limping, she couldn't shoot them both dead before they killed her. Not without eyes on both of them anyway. And that didn't take into account that D3 was still around somewhere… As D1 moved forward, D2 stepped into view. They were cautious. They knew she was close by. She still couldn't take them both - she'd have to shift the barrel of the gun from one side of the branch to the other - way too slow! She heard a scream from deep within the building. It didn't end suddenly. That person was still alive at least.

The two beasts below moved forward. They were now both on the same side of the branch, but D2 was obscured by the leaves. Audrey's mind calculated. If she shot D1, D2 may run clear and she could shoot it too. The gun fire would probably draw the deinonychus out of the building. Then they would search for her and wait until she showed herself. She would be stuck up the tree indefinitely. If she did not shoot, they would join their companions in the building. There they would attack whatever room the scientists had locked themselves in. She was confident the door would hold. Either the deinonychus would get hungry and leave or with some luck backup might arrive. All rooms had an emergency kit and a lockable door. They should be able to out wait the dinosaurs, though it would be brutal for them listening to the barrage just on the other side of the door…

Audrey lowered her rifle and watched as the two dinosaurs entered the building. She was about to relax when she heard running footsteps as D3 ran beneath her tree and into the compound. She shuddered. If she'd shot D1 and even D2, then D3 would have gotten her. She waited a full minute before raising the volume of her phone and held it close to her ear.

"Karlina," she whispered. "Are you still there?"

"We're here," the woman sobbed.

"Does that mean you locked yourself into a room okay?"

"Yeah. We're in a supply room. But they know we're here."

"Listen, Karlina. You're going to be fine. They can't get through the door and I already called for backup. They're going to be a couple of hours still, but that door will hold. Who else is with you?"

"Tess and Diego."

"Great. You're going to be fine. You just have to wait it out."

"They got Jeffry."

"But you're safe. Just get comfortable. You're going to be there for a while."

Now that the trap was fully sprung and no-one was in immediate danger, Audrey relaxed into the branch to think. If Audrey herself was in that storeroom, she was certain she could convince them to stay put, but she had worked with enough city folk to know that scared people did stupid things. The overturned jeep was proof of that. She didn't think she could wait for the backup to arrive.

She had designed many of the safety features on this compound herself, she just had to put them to use. D3 remained outside the building. That meant Audrey would be limited to what she could since she had the compound wall between her and the buildings. She could try to sneak in through one of the human access doors, but she wasn't certain there wasn't at least one more deinonychus out here. It also wouldn't help her reach the buildings - the compound was deliberately left clear so that they would have good visibility before stepping out.

Three more of the deinonychus reappeared in the compound. Audrey had been expecting that. They wouldn't need all six of them inside trying to scare the door open. They would only get in each other's way. Two made for the open entry to the compound. "Gashes!" she hissed to herself. She was too slow. She should have expected that and been able to ignite the barrier fire as they passed. She opened the compound command centre on her phone and pulled up the ignition. She set that onto a tab so she could access it quickly should another dinosaur try to get in or out.

Now, to spring her own trap. She flicked to the sound system, located the speaker at the pit closest to her tree and accessed the deinonychus program. She found the cry of a baby in distress. Instantly, the sound of a young deinonychus resounded. All the adults reacted immediately. Those inside ran towards the wall nearest Audrey. Those outside split up. One ran one direction around the compound, the other went the longer way. Moments later, a deinonychus ran beneath Audrey's tree towards the recording. Its head swung back and forth trying to locate the infant. Then it yelped as the ground dropped from beneath it. Someone might eventually try to find a way to release it from the pit. But for now it was trapped. Audrey let the recording play on. The other deinonychus would be coming around the corner soon and would hopefully suffer the same fate. In the back of her mind, she thought the next time she designed a pit trap, she would find a way to reset the roof remotely so a second dinosaur could also be caught.

As she suspected, the next dinosaur came running around the corner, but slowed. The trapped creature was yapping warnings, and as the one on the surface approached, she could see the hole and avoided it. Raising her head, she made several barks pitched high to almost screeches. Audrey has never heard that call before. She could only guess that she had made them mad.

Inside the compound, one of the deinonychus, D3 she guessed, ran towards the entrance. Audrey swiped up the ignition screen, but just before D3 reached the entrance, it pulled up short. D1, easily identifiable by her limp, had barked. Apparently she gave the command to stop. Audrey lit it up anyway. Flames roared causing D3 to tumble backwards, but not injuring it badly. Now, there was just one deinonychus out here with Audrey and it was in her sites. It paced the edge of the pit. Laying carefully along a thick branch, she locked her arms still and lined up the shot. Even in constant movement, the backwards and forwards motion made Audrey confident she would hit her target even at 100 metres. The shot cracked loudly, followed by her next three. The first hit the dinosaur in the chest as did the next three. It toppled forward, its foot mistepping into the air of the hole and it dropped out of sight. Audrey bit her lip gently. She hated killing such a magnificent creature. But now she could focus on saving the people inside.

Shuffling back so she was supported by the trunk again, Audrey pulled up the display on her phone again. She found the heat sensors. She was pretty sure the big blob or heat must be the people, still with the door closed. That meant the bigger cooler signatures were the two deinonychus still inside. She called Karlina to be certain.

The geologist picked up on the first ring.

"How are you going?" Audrey was trying to be comforting, but instead Karlina just laughed hysterically.

"They're going to get in!" she sobbed through the laughs.

Audrey smothered her sigh. They were not going to last much longer. "You're doing great," she said instead. "There's only two inside now and they not even trying to get in. They're just trying to scare you."

"It's bloody well working!" A screech followed. Maybe claws against steel. Through the phone it gave Audrey goosebumps. It couldn't be pleasant right behind the door.

"You're doing fine," Audrey soothed. "Look, I'm coming up with a plan okay?" Karlina didn't respond, so she pushed on. "Look around the store room. Can you see any gas masks in there?" Mentally, Audrey was trying to remember if they put any in there. There were definitely some in the labs, the offices, the sleeping quarters and the rec spaces. She couldn't remember putting any in the storage rooms, unless they were still in storage.

She heard Karlina give muffled directions to her two companions then the low thuds as they moved things around them.

"Would they be in a special box?" Karlina sniffled.

"Maybe. If they are it would be marked. Otherwise they should be in an emergency kit."

More muffled sounds.

"We can't find them."

That's okay. That's okay. Let me keep thinking." She didn't hang up this time. Having them search the store room will have bought them a few extra minutes sanity while they were distracted from the monster behind the door, but they were too close to breaking for Audrey to hang up. She just murmured the occasional platitude while she flicked through the commands options for the compound. "What about earplugs? Do you all have them?" Between flash bangs and rifle fire, Audrey always had ear plugs on her person. And everyone who toured with her was told to do the same. People rarely did all they were told.

"I have mine," Karlina said. Then after a pause, "Diego found a box of them."

"Perfect." Audrey did sigh this time. This could work. "Put them in. You may want to cover your ears, as well. Okay. It's going to get really unpleasant in there."

Audrey turned on the sound. This time it was an irritating squeal. She watched the heat signatures of the dinosaurs carefully for a response. They had stopped moving back and forth towards the door a moment, then resumed their action. Audrey changed the frequency. She watched and changed it several times before she hit one that made the heat blurs stop their back and forth motion and start a more spasmodic one. That was close. She swiped up the sound as loud as it could go, and watched the display as the blur moved away from the corridor and then she watched them in real life as they burst back through the small opening of the doorway. They climbed over each other in their desperation to get out. The second the door was clear, Audrey sent the command to slam the emergency door shut. The four deinonychus were locked out of the building.

"Karlina?" she called. There was no response. She hung up the call and called again. This time, Karlina answered.

"Is it over?" she asked. "Are they gone?"

"They're out of the building."

Audrey had to listen to a minute of sobbing before Karlina was able to talk again. "Thank you, Audrey," she said when she could finally speak again. "You don't know what it was like in here." Audrey didn't correct her. Karlina wasn't to know that this was a fairly normal day for her… well, month anyway. "What do we do now?"

"You have two choices. You can wait for the rescue team, or you can take the escape tunnel out to an emergency bunker. That's probably where at least some of the rescue team will be coming from."

"There's an escape tunnel?"

"Of course." Everyone had been told where to find it and how to open it when they first arrived. "But there were several dinosaurs between you and it. You're going to have to open the door to get to it." The sigh that followed did not take Audrey by surprise. Now that the psychological effects of the dinosaurs pounding on the door were gone, they probably wouldn't open the door until there were people on the other side. Audrey could relate. She was going to check and see how far off the rescue team were and stay right in her tree until they came.

She left the call open while she checked her messages. She had ignored several that had come through while she had been dealing with everything else.

"The response team will be here in a couple of hours," she read aloud so that Karlina could hear too. She sent a message back to say that the danger was passed but would need help securing the facility. She looked down at the four dinosaurs below. They were the cleverest dinosaurs she had ever encountered. Pre-planning level clever. They may even put them down, but that wasn't Audrey's decision to make. She was, however, in charge of this location. It would have to be left fallow for a few years as it was clear that the animals had learnt the patterns of the humans here. It was almost due anyway. It was never wise to spend too long in a single location out here. Fixing or replacing the vehicles would be pretty expensive though - but at least she could charge the jeep to the scientists. Her thoughts scrolled idly as she flicked through her other messages. Until she read: "Babes lost in the woods." She sat up sharply. It was from Dr. Santos, which meant only one thing. Her day was just beginning.

Chapter 7: Down the Creek

They floated downstream sometime before they no longer heard the noise of the sauropod in the trees. They had lost sight almost instantly - other than the movement of the trees, they covered her haulking mass well. Not knowing what to say, Ethan silently unclipped the oars from the side of the raft. He unfanned the blades and locked them in their splayed form, then telescoped the light metal of the handle, lengthening it to oar length. Putting it together took less concentration than he gave it. He appreciated having something to focus on at that moment. Once they were both water ready, he took them and started paddling. The boat was only just big enough for Sienna to sit in the back and him in the front and just over a metre across.

Even so, unless he was willing to slide from side to side, each oar barely touched the surface of the water. With the current moving them, he wasn't too concerned though. Again, he was just occupying himself.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Sienna finally looked at him. She'd been in a daze since they lost sight of the sauropod. He didn't know if it was from fear, loss of their home, loss of Blue or a combination of all.

"Do you?" he snapped back. At least he had put the oars together.

"No," she sighed. "Give me one. We should practice so we know what to do in case we need it."

Ethan didn't want to think about trying to paddle away from a plesiosaur that might chase them, but practising would keep his mind busy. They found it surprisingly tricky. Even Sienna who usually picked up any physical activity quickly had them spinning in circles at times. And it was exhausting. Ethan's arms started sometime between working out how to move in a straight line but before making a sharp turn - he was pretty proud of himself for that one though, working out that one of them could paddle backwards. He was delighted when Sienna called a break. Maybe knowing that she was sportier than him always made him stubborn about giving up before her - even if he came in twenty minutes after her. This time he regretted his stubbornness though. He could barely lift his arms to eat his protein bar.

"We got really lucky you know," Sienna said, stretching her arms out. Ethan knew he should probably do the same, but they were just so heavy. He held back a scoff at her idea of lucky though. They had been chased non-stop for two days! "Nothing really bad has come after us yet, and this stretch of river was smooth enough for us to practise on. If we'd hit rapids already, who knows what would have happened.

"Rapids?" Ethan frowned. He tried to remember everything he knew about rivers. It was not a lot. "What are they?"

"It's where there are lots of rocks in the river. It makes the water really choppy." Her tone indicated that she knew a lot about them, but she offered nothing more. Their basic survival training definitely didn't include rapids. It didn't even include paddling. He shouldn't be too upset though, since they did include inflating the raft and assembling the paddles, both skills he had used.

"Do you think there will be rapids in this river?" He looked over the side, before quickly pulling back. He wasn't as scared of rocks as what else might be down there.

"Probably not." Her confidence was less certain now. "I wish we could have brought out phones with us. We could have looked it up… I know, I know." She interrupted before he had the chance to remind her. "They would be able to use them to track us."

After they ate, Sienna seemed happy sitting on the bottom of the boat watching the riverbanks pass by. Ethan was pleased. He slowly rubbed his arms, trying to massage their sore muscles. He even managed to get some stretches in.

"Hey! Look!" Sienna nodded towards a large rock on the bank of the river. There was a two metre long dimetrodon sunning himself, his sail pointing high in the sky.

"Can we get closer?" Ethan asked, then regretted it. His arms were too tired for more paddling.

Sienna's eyes dropped briefly before she responded. "I think we are safer in the middle of the river."

Ethan was relieved. Safe was an excellent reason to not have to do more work.

"Ow!" His eyes snapped back to Sienna. "Something hit me from underneath!"

Images of a mouth full of mosasaurus teeth filled his mind. He stepped on it quickly - this river was way too small for a mosasaurus!

Sienna, braver than he was, looked behind the boat. "Oh. I think it was just a rock." Ethan noticed she climbed back up so she was sitting on the side of the raft though. "Let's keep an eye out for more." She actually sounded excited by the idea of rapids.

She wasn't disappointed. Soon there was the noise of rushing water. They saw more rocks along the edge of the river - and even one more dimetrodon - and soon they could see the water rolling over the tops of rocks in the water. The were at the top of a series of foot high drops.

"We're getting faster," Sienna laughed, her paddle held high, ready to work.

"Great," Ethan murmured. Surely the boat could survive those drops. Just like that stick over there was managing. It would float right on top. He focussed on the stick ahead of them, and gripped tight to the rope that ran around the top of the boat.

Sienna paddled. Fortunately, it didn't spin them in a circle like it did earlier when only one person paddled. It barely seemed to do anything at all.

They rushed towards the first ridge. A splash of water smacked both the kids. Ethan shook his head to clear his eyes, his now damp hair spraying water. His grip on the rope tightened even further. Too soon they were heading for the next, then the next and the next. They flew from one to another, each making them bounce around on the raft, each splashing them to the point of saturation. Above it all, he could hear the sounds of Sienna's high pitched laughter. Sometimes he thought it was a scream of fear, but it always switched into loud laughs.

And then it was over. The water smoothed out back to what they were used to.

"Oh my luck! Can you believe that?!" Sienna cried. "That was amazing!" He looked up at her, watching her face split in half by the grin she couldn't remove.

Ethan looked back at the rapids behind them, and smiled too. "Yeah." He admitted. "Yeah, that was kind of fun." He gave her a grin. He wasn't hoping for too many more, but maybe one more when he wasn't so scared could be cool.

The next set came up pretty fast. It wasn't quite as smooth as the last - there was a corner in the river and they wound up stuck next against the bank until they could push off and back into the current. But it was still kind of fun.

The third set was bigger again. This time there were rocks sticking up in the middle of the river.

"That just makes them easier to see and avoid." Sienna was now a rafting professional apparently. "We're going to have to paddle this time though, okay?"

Ethan readied himself, oar in hand. He may not have thought Sienna knew exactly what she was doing, but she seemed to know more than him. He was happy to listen to her instructions.

"Go!" she yelled. He paddled as quickly as he could on his side. "Stop!" He stopped. He watched her paddle furiously. They went on, tossed and bounced as they had been earlier. Ethan wasn't convinced their paddling was doing anything, but it helped him feel like he had some control over the boat. "Gashes!"

Ethan paled. He had never heard Sienna use such language before and the rock looming towards them didn't make him feel any better. The front corner of the boat hit it causing them to spin, slipping backwards between it and another.

"It's okay, it's okay," Sienna repeated this lots of times. "We'll just turn around."

Ethan looked over his shoulder now downriver. There was a drop of a foot ahead of them, but worse than that, there were two rocks that they were headed towards and not enough space to go between them.

They took the drop before he had a chance to warn Sienna. "Paddle!" she screamed. It seemed she already knew. As soon as they hit the water, he paddled as fast as he could and he noticed the boat turning almost on the spot - except for the current that was dragging them to the rocks. "We're not going to make it!" Sienna cried just as the raft hit a wave bouncing off the rock in front of them. The raft tipped up sharply. Ethan plunged into the water below, the raft slapping down on the water above him. Bubbles of white water surrounded him. He wasn't a great swimmer and being churned made it impossible to see what direction was up. He kicked out with his legs causing him to clobber his knee against a sharp rock. The pain racked through him as he tried to move away - this time smashing his elbow against a rock. Water pounded against him, his chest strained, desperate for air. His knee hit a rock again. And again. His arms flailing as his panic increased by the second.

Something grabbed him. A new level of panic swept him as he knew it was a plesiosaur. He had to get away! He thrashed, punching, kicking, no longer aware of the scrapes. Helpless though, the creature held on dragging him away. His head broke the surface, his mouth opening in a desperate gasp for air. But he still had to get away. He trashed even hard his arms splashing water everywhere.

"Quit it, Ethan!" Sienna's voice cut through his panic. He paused. "I'm trying to help you!" The long, sinuous neck of the plesiosaur felt more like an arm. It's teeth, fingernails holding him in place. Feeling like a plush toy, he felt himself being dragged upwards. This time when his legs kicked out, it was to push himself off the rocks, upwards and into the boat. Curled up on the floor of the boat, he heaved in breath after breath of glorious air. He was not aware of the Sienna murmuring to him or stroking his hair. He wasn't aware yet of the pain of the gashes from the rocks. That would come.

They were stationary, trapped between the two rocks. It took time, but Sienna was eventually able to look at his cuts. Fortunately, his head was clear. But his elbows and knees were a mess. "What a bloody mess," Sienna said calmly as she wiped at his wound with an antiseptic wipe. Ethan's head shot up. Sienna was swearing again. "Gashes all over." His mouth dropped open, before she winked at him. "You're lucky your guts weren't gouged."

He laughed at the inappropriate language that was actually very appropriate right now. "I thought you were going to claw me to death." Sienna froze, then laughed. His attempt at funny definitely fell flat, but he needed her to laugh at it, so she did.

After a few more attempts at cursing humour, they settled into heavier conversation. It was unpleasant, but strangely felt good to explain to Sienna his fears underwater. Especially since she was terrified herself.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked, looking at the closest river bank. It was still a good twenty metres of white water from them.

"I think we should start thinking about setting up camp for the night." She sighed. "We could stay here, I guess. There's not enough room to lie down though. Or we could get to the shore. I can use the rocks to push against to unjam the boat and get it past them. Then we can make it to the shore." The shore didn't look very welcoming. "Once there, we would need to tie up the boat and then try to find somewhere suitable to camp the night. We still have about three, four hours of light left."

Sit in the boat for hours, or go hunting for shelter that might not exist. He thought about it. He didn't like either option.

"I guess, I'm a little concerned what will happen to the boat if we slept here. Could a big branch knock it free, or even the constant water?" That decided him. If he'd known that was a possibility he would have wanted to move sooner.

"Let's get to shore."

Sienna was already bracing her feet against the rocks and pushing the boat.

Chapter 8: Lakeview

To convince Ethan to get back into the boat the following morning, Sienna had to promise that they would get out and walk along the riverbank anytime he felt worried. Sienna knew that it might not be possible to walk past the scary bits, but hoped that he would understand when the time came. Fortunately, so far everything had been pretty calm. There were a few rapids where she noticed Ethan gripped, white knuckled, to the rope, but they weren't bad ones.

He hadn't been thrilled yesterday afternoon when the current whipped the boat away once it was free from its nesting place. But they had got through to the ends of those rapids without either falling out of the boat again and once the water calmed, they had paddled easily to the bank.

The night had been particularly unpleasant. There were definitely no buildings to shelter in, so they had had to use the tent, but it was tiny. They could also hear every cracking twig and rustling bush outside them. They had tried taking turns staying awake, but Sienna found that when she was lookout, she kept dozing off and when she was sleeping, she never really slept. She'd leapt awake at every sound. It was probably the fear of being off the water that really had convinced Ethan to get back in the boat. She knew she felt much safer on the water. Now though, she had to fight sleep. The gentle rocking of the boat was so calming.

Periodically, Ethan would poke her and she would jump awake. He didn't seem to be as sleepy. He sat in the front of the boat, watching the river as if he expected it to grow teeth and bite him. "Hey. Si." Her eyes sprung open. This time he called her rather than nudging her.

"I'm awake." She blinked and squinted in the later morning sun. They had been on the river a while already. "What is it?"

"I think it's a lake."

Looking around herself, Sienna could see that the angle of the river banks had changed sharply and they were heading into more open water.

"What do we do?"

"Do? Nothing. The boat is still moving. We're safe out on the water. I say for now we let the current do the work for us."

"Do you think there's … anything in the water?"

"There would be fish. I doubt there's anything too scary though. It's not that big a lake."

Sitting with her bottom on the floor and nestling up against the side, Sienna drifted back into a doze.

"Sienna, look!" She had no idea how long she had been resting when she felt Ethan's fingers at her ankle.

"Have you rested at all?" she groaned, looking up. "Teeth and claws!" She clambered to her knees and then onto the side so she could see better. "It's Nessie!" She always enjoyed reading stories and myths were some of her favourites.

"I think it's an elasmosaurus. Look at that neck!" The neck was what had made it look like the Loch Ness monster. It arched gracefully from the water, its dark, curved body breaking the surface behind it.

"It's beautiful!" Moments later, the snake-like head dipped down into the water, the body rising and disappearing after and she was gone. "The world's a pretty cool place. Thanks for waking me to see that." She ruffled Ethan's hair. "Serious though, you need some sleep." His eyes were red ringed and puffy. "I've been resting all morning. It's your turn now, okay?" He scanned the lake around them, taking in the still water. Finally he nodded.

"Okay." He dropped down to the floor of the boat, and resting his head against the side, closed his eyes.

Whether he slept or not, Sienna wasn't sure, but even resting would do him good. She tried to keep herself busy at first by looking for more plesiosauri, but when none surfaced, she started looking through their packs for useful supplies. Some things she pocketed so she could get to them fast. She had to stop herself from eating another bar. They only had ten left and no sign of civilization. She couldn't eat just because she was bored. She looked back out over the lake. She didn't often have time alone to think. Usually she would be in lessons with the scientists or reading a book or playing with Ethan. She wasn't sure she liked it. The more she thought about their plan the less she was confident that they would succeed. Once away from the compound, she had assumed there would be humans everywhere. All the books she read and AVs she watched had big cities packed with humans. But now she was out here, there was no-one. Had the dinosaurs killed all the people? Or were they just really far from them all? Maybe they were on some sort of uninhabited island.

She continued in her thoughts as she pulled out a telescope she had found in her bag. There was something curious towards the bank. It was an iguana like creature sunning itself on a mound of mud. Through the telescope, she could make out a really interesting shape to its head… maybe an atopodentatus. They had a hammer head.

Just as she leant back to wake Ethan, there was a great splash of water. She gasped as something had the atopodentatus in its jaws and dragged it, tumbling into the water. She couldn't take her eye from the scope as the splashes continued. She could see the pale underside followed instantly by the rough, dull green lumpy side. A crocodile maybe. If it was, it was huge! Soon the view became too much for her. She retched over the side of the boat. Sitting back up, she looked over at Ethan. Amazing, he was still sleeping. She was thankful for that. He didn't need to know what was all the way over there on the shore of the lake.

As much as she couldn't stand to look at it, Sienna's gaze found its way back to that shore. From this distance she could see movement, but thankfully no details. Frustrated with her mind constantly returning to what she had just seen, she unclipped one of the oars. If she wasn't going to sleep, she may as well paddle. And the other shore of the lake seemed like a great destination.

She managed to get herself into a great rhythm. Several strokes this side, slide, several strokes the other. The hardest part was not knocking Ethan. He clearly needed the rest he was getting. Before too long though, Ethan stirred naturally on his own. After stretching, he grabbed the other paddle and started helping her.

"Did you see any interesting dinosaurs while I was sleeping," Ethan asked with a yawn.

"Maybe an atopodentatus," she replied without thinking. "But it was really far away." She added quickly. The sky darkened momentarily and she took the distraction to look up. Before thinking, she swung her oar over her head. It cracked against the head of a pterosaur. The flying creature was knocked to the side, but recovered quickly and rose back into the air.

"Bloody teeth!" Ethan hissed. "Good shot!"

Sienna scanned the sky for any more of them. They were clear blue and empty. For the first time while being in the raft, she felt like a goat on a chain in a T-rex paddock. "How do you feel about getting off this lake?" she asked, returning the paddle to the water.

He dipped his in and kept up with her faster stroke. They were not fast enough.

Shadows dappled above them as many bodies darted between the sun and the children. They tried to defend themselves using the paddles, but the tapejaras started using their large crests at the top of their heads to ward the blows off. After receiving a couple of savage gouges from the onslaught of beaks, there was only one escape. Both kids dove into the water. The pterosaurs dove in after them but the water slowed their descent and the scrapes glanced off the kids. Rising only enough to catch their breath and dive again, the kids tried to stay under water as long as they could. There were fewer attacks, but they still came. "Sienna!" Ethan's voice became much clearer once her head cleared the surface.

"Ethan!" she called back.

"Come over this si-" A shadow above sent her diving under again. This time though she swam under the raft and resurfaced next to Ethan.

"We can't see their shadows over here," she frowned wiping water from her eyes that she raised to the sky, hunting.

"I know. But I don't think they see so well through the shadow either. None have attacked in ages."

"Really?" she frowned searching the sky above them. She could see the tapejaras circling, but Ethan was right. None seemed to be diving. "This is good. We can swim in the shadow of the boat." Until they go away at least. She knew what things were in this water. Pushing the boat gently with one hand, Sienna started kicking. If they stayed in the shadow they would be safe from the flying predators and it would mean they were going in a straight line. Right? She knew the shore with the crocodile lay behind them. Unlike Ethan, Sienna was a strong swimmer. He just needed to hang on to the boat and she did all the work. Even so, she was tiring by the time the dark shapes in the sky were no longer circling them.

Sienna swam a few metres away from the boat to check the more of the sky. It seemed clear.

"Let's get back in," she huffed as she swam back again.

"Are you sure? They could come back."

"I'm getting tired." It was true. She was tiring. But she didn't tell him that she was certain she would be able to make it to the shore. The thing she was most tired of was the fear of what might be swimming up behind her or under her. She shivered and hauled herself into the boat. It was surprisingly very difficult and she nearly tipped it several times. But she made it and hauled Ethan in after her. "We'll keep a careful watch on the sky okay. If we have to we'll jump back in the water." Ethan nodded, his hair falling across his right eye. "Okay then. And look, we're nearly at the shore."

Chapter 9: Best Laid Plans

Their biggest problem - or maybe just their first problem - was that the creatures knew where they were. If they moved, the heat signature in the corridor followed them. It might be sound, vibrations or heat that was the problem, which meant they had to eliminate all the options. Removing their shoes and sliding along the relatively smooth surface of the floor, the two doctors were able to make their way to a hatch on the other side of the tunnel to the botanics lab. There was one main entrance, and five tunnel entrances into the room. All but the main entrance was closed. Although Julien tried to shut it remotely, it stayed open. The hatch they slipped through was as far from that entrance as possible - as were the creatures - as far as they could tell anyway.

As slowly as they worked, they couldn't avoid making sound and vibration trying to open the hatch. Julien who was watching the movements of the creatures on his display stared intently, silent. Dr. Santos took that as a good sign and continued working at the bolts.

Panel free, Dr. Santos swung the door slowly open, ready to pull it back quickly. The lab appeared empty. No movement. No blood. Dr. Santos had been half terrified of finding the lab had been attacked. No blood meant the staff here had probably managed to evacuate. They hoped. Slowly, quietly, Dr. Santos stepped one foot out and then the next. Still no movement. They looked at Julien, still in the dark tunnel, face lit up like a camper telling ghost stories. Julien nodded and followed behind.

Carefully gliding across the room, Dr. Santos started on opening the hatch to the tunnel on the other side of the lab. This one led to the tunnel on the outer wall of the building. Once it was open, they pulled out their device to see where the creatures were. They had not moved far - possibly meaning they didn't have heat sensors - but not certain enough for them to risk believing it so. Julien had started gliding across the floor, keeping well clear of any equipment. The last thing they wanted was to make a lot of noise in here.

Dr. Santos glanced down at the display, "evisceration!" he hissed. Coming down the tunnel was a new problem. It was tagged so he could tap to see what it was… a stenonychosaurus. Small enough to fit in the tunnel, and with saw-like teeth that would cut easily through their flesh. Dr. Santos flapped their hand back and forth like a fan trying to get Dr. Jones to hurry. Noticing the movement, Dr. Jones increased his speed. By the time he reached the hatch and closed it, Dr. Santos had gone. They were in a race. No longer concerned about noise, in fact yelling loudly as they ran, Dr. Santos bolted. Ahead of them, they saw what they were looking for. And not far behind that was the shadow of the stenonychosaurus. The dinosaur was slowing down, uncertain of the noise and pace of the creature coming towards it. It even paused and started backing away. That gave Dr. Santos the time they needed to slam their palm on the button by the wall, causing a gate to drop between them. The crash caused the already wary stenonychosaurus to turn and run, blue flashing in the darkness as it retreated.

Dashing back to Dr. Jones, Dr. Santos held their caps spray at the ready, but the hatch was already closed and Julien was locking the last bolts in place. "Just in time," Dr. Jones sighed. "They got into the lab." Dr. Santos noticed that there was no blame in the words, though knowing full well the special projects had been alerted to their position by their yelling.

"Just in time on my end too." Dr. Santos scrubbed at their forehead. "We can't use the tunnel on this level."

Dr. Jones pulled up their map. The level above them seemed clear. There were stairs and elevators leading between the levels. The special projects may be able to use the stairs… in fact when Dr. Santos thought about it, they realised the creatures must be able to move between levels since they must have come up from their enclosure below. They shuddered. They would just have to be quiet up there too.

Both doctors slid quietly down the tunnel, away from the gate Dr. Santos had dropped, towards the exit. When they arrived, Dr. Santos stared Dr. Jones in the eye, then shrugged towards the door. Dr. Jones shook his head in reply, then grabbed the ladder built into the wall beside them. They had had this argument during their planning. Dr. Santos had wanted Julien to get out as soon as they reached the outer tunnel. Dr. Julien however didn't want to be outside without a way to track any creatures that escaped. Nor did he want to leave the people they could help behind. If Dr. Santos was going after Dr. Das, then so was Julien.

Dr. Santos shook their head, but really, understood. They could leave just as easily and chose not to. With one longing look at the exit, Dr. Santos followed Julien up the ladder.

The tunnel on the upper floor looked exactly like the one below. They considered exiting into the outer rooms, just to have some breathing space and light, but realised it was smarter to keep taking the tunnel systems. They continued sliding in their almost silent motion. Keeping an eye on the map for surprises they were able to travel swiftly, stopping only once to engage a switching crossroad - another security measure where the corridor met the tunnel. It was a simple mechanism. Stop at the rounded wall, then palm a button to make it rotate 90 degrees. What was once a corridor leading to a bridge to another building became the tunnel they could now cross. Once on the other side, it was a smooth path to the corridor above the school room.

It was possible there were thermo sheaves in other places in the building, even up on this floor, but neither doctor knew where. Dr. Santos however had used them in many scenarios with the children, so was certain there were several sets waiting there. They just had to get back down to the lower level and into the school room without another attack.

Pausing in the tunnel above the school room, they scanned the map. Dr. Santos was flipping back and forth between the motion sensors, heat sensors and tracking devices. Julien however was clearly flicking to the staff trackers as well. "If I flip this crossroad here," Julien muttered. "Then the monster can't reach Drs. Das or Elliot."

"No! What did you do?" Dr. Santos used a louder voice than they had meant to, but the switching crossroad that he just flipped now opened the corridor to the school room. A corridor with … now two creatures in it. "Oh." Dr. Santos saw why. One of the creatures had finally found the open hatch and had been heading towards the other doctors. "Good work. But now we can't get to the thermo sheaves."

"We don't need to." Julien typed on his device and a new message appeared on Dr. Santos' display: "Get to the upper level. Make no sound. No vibrations."

"That's risky," Dr. Santos grumbled, but realised it really was the safest option. It was possible a creature would follow someone up here and find them all. But better than them getting cornered in a tunnel.

It was torturous watching the blips on a screen moving along their tunnels, not being able to do anything for them. "Look, that one's moving."

Julien was right. One of the blips in the back conference room was moving. Dr. Santos hadn't wanted to think about those three marks. The back conference room was open to the corridors. There was no reason the creatures hadn't taken them out yet. Unless they were as good as gone.

"Shut the south door." Julien followed the instruction, shutting the door between the two creatures in that corridor.

"What about the north door?"

"I see it," Dr. Santos muttered. The creature that had been tracking Dr. Das was on that side. And one of the creatures to the south had been drawn towards the room, taking a side corridor. "Shut them all!"

Julien gave the command and all the doors shut around the conference space. The creatures were trapped out, but… he zoomed in on the blip… Dr. Locklear was safe for now. "Message him to say what we did. Ask if he is injured."

Impatient for an answer, Dr. Santos flicked through all the settings. There were a few rooms with immobile people. Some were already locked. They may just be the people waiting for rescue. But there was one person in the outdoor classroom. Now that the school room was open, it wouldn't take much for a creature to get through the door to the outdoor space - it wasn't a security door. With no alternate access there wasn't a need for one. Somehow they had to keep the creatures away.

"He says he thinks his arm is broken and his head really hurts," Julien whispered to Dr. Santos returning their attention back to Dr. Locklear.

"I have a plan, if he's up for it." Dr. Santos rubbed their brow roughly. They didn't love it and it relied on different people coordinating in perfect timing. "Wait, we can call him right? Get his contact."

Dr. Santos tried not to think about the outdoor classroom. They deliberately hadn't checked to see who it was. The fact they were in the school area meant they were a close colleague. Dr. Santos just didn't want to know who. A nameless blip was easier to consider. And helping Dr. Locklear would help them anyway.

"Hello," Dr. Locklear answered the call.

"Great to see you alive!" Dr. Santos hadn't interacted with Dr. Locklear at all. They weren't even sure what department he worked for, but they were still happy to see anyone alive.

"Slash it, an actual person. Blood and guts it's good to talk to you."

"Up for a challenge?" Dr. Santos asked. The answer was filled with expletives but was resoundingly affirmative.

Dr. Julien had shown Dr. Santos the door controls they would need, so that Julien could worry about Das and Elliot who had reached this floor. Through the device, they heard banging, crashing - lots of noise. "Four, three, two, one." Dr. Santos counted aloud so that Locklear could hear. Opening both east and west doors simultaneously, Locklear ran out one, across the corridor and into the next conference room. Dr. Santos slammed the door closed behind him, then turned their attention to the creatures. The first had entered the room. The second was close. The first approached the eastern doorway. They couldn't wait any longer. Dr. Santos slammed that door closed. Both creatures backed away - the second away from the room entirely. Well, one was better than none. They shut the western door. Now there were two creatures they didn't need to worry about.

Turning their attention back to Dr. Locklear. "Okay, we trapped one. How are you doing?" Dr. Santos held the phone away from their ear. The response was exuberant. Possibly adrenalin, or maybe just personality. Santos didn't care. They were too busy checking the locations of the creatures. "Okay. This looks good. You've got three outside the south entrance to the room, but you're going out through the north. If you can get something to keep making noise to the south, that might buy you some time. You've gotta get out the door, to your office, which being at the end of the corridor, they could see you if they're not distracted, then unlock your office door and close it behind you. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Hell yeah!" Dr. Santos watched the display carefully as Dr. Locklear moved around the conference room. Suddenly loud noises filled the speaker. He had turned on a TV or a speaker. Perfect. The creatures bunched together at that door. Dr. Santos could remember the scratching and crashing that they had made coming through their office window earlier that day. Fortunately, Dr. Santos couldn't hear them through the device. The sounds became muffled and Dr. Locklear's blip arrived at the northern door. Dr. Santos opened it. The blip moved quickly across and down the corridor. A new idea occurred to Santos. Since they trapped the other one so easily, maybe they could do it again. They slid the northern door closed and opened the opposite door. Two of the heat signatures appeared in the room. Not the third though. It moved away from the doorway. And towards the corridor Dr. Locklear was still at the end of. "Quickly!" Santos shouted into the phone. There was nothing more they could do for him. They slammed the southern door closed - two more trapped - then watched the blip and the heat signature that approached it on the screen. A flicker appeared that said the door was open, the blip moved and the door was closed again.

"Get through the hatch!" Dr. Santos yelled, startling Julien. They wished the offices had CCTV so they could see what was happening. The creature would get through the window soon. Hopefully Locklear had time to get the hatch open in time. Dr. Santos' memory replayed their own race to get through the hatch, creature getting closer, closer…

And then Dr. Locklear's blip appeared in the tunnel. The creature was still outside the office. Dr. Santos breathed a huge sigh and looked across at Julien. "I think he's safe." Noticing Julien's face, they added, "What?"

"Drs. Elliot and Das are fine. They're in this tunnel and headed our way." More relief. It was almost intoxicating. "But they said they heard something on the floor. They thought it was a special projects kind of something." Dr. Santos groaned. They had got Locklear into the tunnel and now he had to climb a ladder with a broken arm, and do it without making a noise. Then he would have to cross rooms to get to them here in the outer tunnel without one of the creatures knowing it. They inhaled sharply. "We can do this."

Chapter 10: Around the Outside

With the rescue team still a couple of hours away, Audrey couldn't wait. Some people could spend days in the wild and not see a single dinosaur. Others, only minutes. They had to find those kids as soon as possible. Which meant getting out of that tree and finding a vehicle. She looked longingly at those in the compound, surrounded by very angry deinonychus. They were definitely not an option. There was her jeep in the mud, if she could get it out of the mud. That was pretty unlikely on her own. Or she could get to the bunker at the other end of the tunnel she had just told Karlina and the other scientists to get to. The tunnel was about a good couple of kilometres long. A distance she could cover quickly at a run - not so quickly when making sure she wasn't detected. Adroitly, she shimmied down the tree and then stalked her way towards the bunker. She moved swiftly, but stayed aware of her surroundings. There were very few sounds. No bird noises, but some insects. The sounds of a young carnivore in distress would have sent most creatures into hiding for a while. But she was extra alert just in case it was something else that scared them.

She reached the bunker without incident. Closing the solid door behind her, Audrey felt safe for the first time in hours. With safety came awareness of all those things that she had been ignoring. Her skin itched under the mud, she was bruised and battered. She continued to ignore it all though. She had to keep going.

She found the garage and a new jeep easily. Before she left, she sent a quick message to Karlina and the rescue team to say she'd taken the jeep and to not worry about her. The rescue team wouldn't be thrilled having one less jeep to work with, but they would be fine. Audrey had done most of the work for them anyway. She grabbed a couple of extra jerry cans, plenty of water and checked all the supplies. She was fully stocked up. Ready for a rescue. She opened the garage door, closing it behind her vehicle and was on her way.

After the day she had had, she had expected the worst from her drive between the compounds. But most dinosaurs left speeding vehicles alone. They couldn't keep up for long distances and they were unpleasant to follow, especially when they were running on diesel. Even so, it was a far distance between them, taking more than a couple of hours. She pulled into the carpark of the dINo-gen facility. From the outside, it looked like a pair of standard office buildings, though maybe a little wider and less tall, at three stories above ground. A bridge enclosed in glass connected the two identical buildings between the second floors. From her view, nothing looked out of place. She drove a little closer. First the building to the south. The first weird thing she noticed was people pressing themselves up against the glass, trying to see her. It didn't help her ego any to see their faces drop when they realised it was a lone jeep out here. She didn't take it personally. Instead, she drove across to the north building.

She couldn't really see far into the building through the mirrored glass. She flicked on the headlights. They didn't help a lot. She could now see a plant, its leaves strangely two toned. She reversed and tried to get a better angle. Still not much. And then everything! A creature appeared at the glass, looking directly at her. It was no dinosaur! It stood on its powerful hind legs, tilted slightly forward. It's torso was narrow. Under a dark sheen, Audrey was able to see its pecs and abs, all looking startlingly human. That wasn't the worst of it though. At the end of its muscled arms, its hands were tipped with large, fearsome claws that looked as powerful as those of an australovenator. But worst of all was the rounded head. It was capped with a lumpy, boney skull, but beneath that was a horrifyingly human shaped face. The jaw extended out slightly in a muzzle, sharp teeth visible as it hung open slightly. The eyes were bigger than a human's and set back a little. Audrey could see it focus on her. Opening the car door, she vomited on the ground. Realising her folly, she sat up and slammed the door shut quickly, wiping her mouth. "What are these eviscerating fools experimenting with?" She hissed. Before she was able to throw the gear stick into reverse, the creature inside had lowered its head and rammed it at the glass. The window shook, but held. The creature backed up again. Audrey didn't wait a second longer. Her tires screeched as she pulled away. She never wanted the attention of a creature like that ever again!

"Are you alive?" She sent a quick message to Faren. How could anyone survive trapped in a building with a thing like that? Dr. Santos didn't respond immediately. She didn't want to think of the reasons why they couldn't so instead, she drove around the outside of the building. There wasn't much to see. On the far north side she heard some horrendous sounds of dinosaur battles. There was a solid cement wall between her and the sounds which made her think that maybe this section was open to the air. Being a corporation, even Santos didn't know about all the rooms and projects in the building. She continued her path around. So far, it didn't look like any… dinosaurs (she couldn't think of a better word) had gotten out. In fact, once she could no longer hear the dinosaurs, it was eerily peaceful out here. She continued rolling slowly along the stark cement walls. She didn't pass between the buildings. Instead, at the south west corner of the northern building, she continued forward along the back side of the second building. Still nothing. She glanced at her phone for the fifteenth time.

"Yes."

Nothing more. She needed more details! "Are you inside with that THING?" She sent and continued rolling slowly, scanning to her right across the grass looking for any sign of dinosaurs, children, doctors, something.

No response. She reached the end of the second building and turned down the side. The ground echoed for a moment before returning to the soft whirr of grass. She backed up, pulling her door up to where she had heard the sound. Giving a check around her, she opened her door to examine it.

It was exactly what she thought. A ventilation shaft. There was a tunnel under here. She had worked with enough tunnel engineers to know one when she saw it. There was a way for her to get in; to get to Faren. She just had to find it. If she had designed the safety protocols on this place, she would want at least one escape tunnel that could be accessed by people in both buildings - especially since the only way to get from one building to the next was that bridge. Using that thought, she left the compound and drove around looking for a place where she would place a tunnel exit. Nothing that could easily be found, but clear enough to get vehicles in and out. Ideally, she wanted to park the jeep some distance away and cover the ground by foot. But after seeing those… creatures, she was as wary as a botanist on their first time out in the world. So, going slow, she searched the area, finally finding what she had been looking for. A doorway in a mound. And it was wide open.

Audrey couldn't stay in the jeep forever. There were things she needed to see. In front of the doorway was mud. She needed to know what had been past here recently. She pulled up as close as she dared, her headlights surprisingly bright in the falling shone into the tunnel, lighting up the nearest ten metres She prayed the light wouldn't lure anything towards her. Leaving the engine running and the door open, she crouched down by the mud. Footprints showed that several dinosaurs had definitely come out this way. A small theropod running, several larger ones milling, and another small one very strangely balanced. That one was the closest to the small print of a child's shoe. The kids -or at least one of them - had come out this way!

She looked out to the sky with frustration. She wouldn't be able to follow the kids until the morning. But that did mean she could focus her attention on rescuing Faren. She glanced at her phone to see if they had responded yet. Nothing. Climbing back into the jeep, she rifled through the emergency supplies. She would need the night vision goggles if she was going to head down that tunnel. She pocketed a few useful items and slung a pack on her back with more.

Having seen nothing appear in the lit up entrance of the tunnel, Audrey decided there was no better time to head in. She moved quietly and smoothly. Animals hunting in this low light would be relying on movement so she glided like a slow moving dancer. She hugged the shadows of the car headlights, and once past them she was able to turn on the night vision goggles.

The tunnel was long and monotonous. Simple arched walls, just wide enough for two people to walk abreast. The floor was smooth enabling Audrey to continue walking her slow graceful moves. Periodically, she turned off her goggles to check her phone. Three times it came up blank. The fourth time though, a message flashed on the screen. "We're safe for a minute. Can you meet us at the front of the building. Have the car running and message us when you arrive."

The front of the building. Gashes! All this distance in the tunnel for nothing! Audrey turned around to a flash of blue. At first she thought it was the after image from looking at her phone, but then it appeared again. This time it was less a flash, and more like two iridescent blue eyes staring at her. Bioluminescence. Once upon a time, they put bioluminescence into hadrosaur genes to make them beautiful in the dark. But it turned out at least one predator had natural bioluminescence. Assuming dINo-gen hadn't created some other hybrid, this would have to be a stenonychosaurus. Not much in the way of slashing claws, but savage teeth and hypnotic distraction.

Audrey blinked. She knew exactly what it was doing. One in front to hypnotise, two to the sides to attack. There wasn't a lot of room to attack in here, maybe there was already one behind her. Slowly, she raised her hand to each ear. The blue eyes in front danced. A flash to one side, then another, but the dancing eyes inched closer. She flipped the switch on her goggles, and suddenly even the bioluminescence dimmed. Screeches echoed in the small space as she triggered the flash bang. The tunnel lit up like daylight, though through her dulled goggles it was just bright enough for her to make out the bodies of three stenonychosauri arching and flailing.

She didn't wait to see if they would recover. She bolted back down the tunnel. She flipped back to night vision so she wouldn't trip and popped the ear plugs from her ears as she ran. It had taken her almost ten minutes with her slow, graceful pace to reach that distance in the tunnel. No longer caring about detection, she made the distance back in around three, the light from her jeep pulling her forward to greater speeds. She didn't look behind her. Her only chance now was reaching the jeep. She burst out of the tunnel and didn't pause until she was opening the door and diving in. Door shut, breath heaving, Audrey peered back down the tunnel. Nothing appeared.

Still panting, she turned on the car, and reversed away from the tunnel entrance. Slowly, as her breathing slowed, so too did her racing heart. As the distance between them increased, she realised it wasn't that surprising they hadn't chased her. A flash bang was powerful in the daylight, but in that tunnel would have been seriously debilitating. It would be a while before they went after humans again.

Audrey pulled out her phone. No new messages. She almost sent that she was on her way, but scanning the ever darkening world around her, she thought it would be asking for trouble. This was the hunting hour. A time when even with her skills and equipment, she knew it was best to be locked safely inside somewhere. But she was not. Instead she was driving a noisy jeep. Knowing what a beacon light could be, she had long since turned off the headlights and was using the night vision goggles to see with.