Chapter Eight

MIA SLOWLY CREAKED the door open after she was sure the raptor was gone. She crept into the hallway, scanning around herself, and tried to decide what to do. She could use the phone line in the Control Room to call the mainland – a rescue might arrive as soon as an hour. However, that was only if they took her call seriously. If she called some sort of authority and said 'Hey, I'm stuck on an island with a bunch of dinosaurs, send help,' they may very well write her off as a hoax.

On the other hand, she could use the computers to find the contact information for the helicopter Hammond chartered, or the cargo ships, or even the InGen facility on Isla Sorna – which was eighty or so miles away – they would certainly take her seriously and send help. That meant spending time to look up information on the computer, and with a shattered window in the Control Room, time was not an expendable resource.

Mia wanted to physically leave the island as quickly as possible. There were a lot of dinosaurs on Isla Nublar – and many of them were carnivores. They had fast metabolisms: she wasn't sure if this was a byproduct of the cloning process or if they actually ate that much. Either way, with no staff to feed them – they would begin looking for their own food quickly.

The low trumpeting of the Parasaurolophus herd broke her from her thoughts. They shared an enclosure with the Brachiosaurus, which was near the Visitor Center. She recognized the calls – they were warning calls, alerting the herd of something dangerous. The raptor probably ran close by them. Without its pack-mates, there was no way it would be able to take one of the giant herbivores down; it probably wouldn't even try.

Mia tiptoed further down the hallway, her curiosity peaking. Then she heard people. There were screams – they sounded masculine. There are still people here!

She quickly sprinted to the right, down a set of stairs, and unlocked the door to the Garage. She quickly scanned the large room as she ran to the other side and hit a green button on the wall. The big garage door began to lift, and she hopped into the closest Ranger Jeep. It was standard practice for the park to keep all the keys to the cars in the ignitions, and she swiftly turned the engine over and sped out of the Visitor Center.

She was worried about the noise – and making herself a target for dinosaurs – but she set those thoughts aside as she nestled the tranquilizer gun on her lap and shifted gears. She drove southeast, vaguely following the dirt access road. As she approached the enclosure gate, she could see the tall perimeter fence had been damaged. The fence posts had been trampled, leaving an enormous gap. Any of Jurassic Park's animals could go in and out.

Mia sped up as she approached it, the Jeep's tires gripping the cement base – and with a heavy thud, the whole vehicle vaulted over the broken fence and into the enclosure. She slowed a bit, looking for movement. Further out in the field, at the bottom of a hill, she saw the Parasaurolophus running. They were stampeding up the hill, frightened of something. Mia hit the gas and sped down, careful to swing right and avoid the huge, scared animals.

Briggs had gone down in the blink of an eye, tearing the attention of all the men away from the crouching animal. Kelly was annoyed for a split second, thinking Briggs had slipped. "What the f-"

There was another creature standing over Briggs and blood pouring out of his neck, staining the leaves and grass. Davies raised his rifle and shouted, "Contact!"

He began to fire 9mm rounds into the jungle as the creature pulled Briggs' body further. Kelly took a quick mental note. It was the same kind as the other animal, but this one was almost orange with black stripes. It reminded him slightly of a tiger. The other one. Kelly spun to face the brown creature that had been crouching – now it was sprinting full speed at Davies. The two animals were screeching at each other amidst the suppressed gunshots.

"On your six!" He yelled, but he was a moment too late. The brown creature bit down on Davies' arm, yanking and pulling it.

"Fuck!" Davies yelled as he dropped his firearm, trying to beat the head of the animal. It let go after a moment, tearing a piece of his flesh off – and then ran into the jungle with the orange one. The entire encounter had lasted less than six seconds.

The men ran toward Briggs, surveying the damage. He was already unconscious and would be dead in under a minute. The animal had torn his throat open, severing his carotid artery. The bite had nearly decapitated him.

Kelly spun at the sound of a car horn. Barreling down the hill was a Jeep Wrangler, painted with red stripes and outfitted with extra lights and a winch. Oh, shit. The vehicle barreled toward them, and the woman driving it jerked the wheel and slid the Jeep to a stop a few feet from the group. There was an odd logo on the door. Does that say, 'Jurassic Park?'

The woman raised a weapon of some sort, and the men quickly aimed their weapons at her.

"Who the fuck are you?" She asked firmly.

Kelly tried to think as his men shouted with the woman. He quickly lowered his rifle, "Stop!" His men followed his command. "We have two injured men here; can you help us?"

The woman looked at the men, trying to make a decision. "I can try. Get in."

Mia was shaking. She didn't recognize these men. They were not park staff, and they were definitely not part of the endorsement team. They looked like military personnel, complete with heavily modified machine guns. She wasn't sure what to make of them – but she didn't want them to die. Her mind was racing as she watched the men carry their dead friend. She had wondered if there were other survivors and had resolved to save any – but she never really thought about what she would do if any of them were wounded. Her heart sank as she considered the reality of the situation.

Most of the carnivores had amazing olfactory senses, the Tyrannosaurus in particular. Any amount of blood posed a real problem – the animals would track their every move and be whipped into a frenzy by the scent of it – especially the raptor, which behaved like a shark in that aspect. On the scent of blood, the Velociraptors became intoxicated, acting more aggressively toward everything.

That thought overtook her mind. "We can't take him." She pointed to the grotesquely mutilated body.

"Bullshit." Mathews shot her a look.

"Look, there's a lot more predators on this island that just that one," Mia started, increasingly frustrated, "and they're all going to be tracking us already because of him." She motioned to Davies. She heard the screeches of the raptor in the jungle. Wait, that sounds like more than one… "We're all going to die if you don't get in this fucking Jeep right now."

Kelly looked back at the jungle; he could hear the rustling of the running animals. He looked at Briggs' body, then started toward the Jeep. "We're leaving." His men followed him as he hopped in the back of the vehicle.

Mia hit the gas and sped up the hill, away from the enclosure. "We can dress his wounds in the emergency bunker."

The bumpy ride was silent. She sped past the Visitor Center, into the Worker's Village and skidded to a halt at the Emergency Bunker.

She kept her tranquilizer gun trained on the men as they got out of the vehicle. "In there." She gestured toward the door.

Kelly wanted to take control of the situation – he didn't like the idea of an untrained InGen staff member holding them at gunpoint – but Davies needed some medical attention. After he patched Davies up, he would take back control. For now, he thought, she can call the shots. He followed her instruction, and his two teammates followed him into the bunker.

Mia locked the door behind them and spun around. She motioned to the bottom of the stairs, and the men shuffled down – trying to adjust their eyes to the darkness.

Once they reached the bottom, Davies sat on the ground with his back against the wall. Kelly and Mathews kneeled next to him – Mathews reached into a pouch on his belt and took out a field bandage while Kelly kept his attention to Mia.

She noticed he still had his hands on his rifle. She still had her hands on hers. "Tell me who you are, and I'll help him."

Kelly shook his head. "I think we've got it. What is this place?"

Mia raised her tranquilizer gun. "I'm not playing this game. I'm leaving this island. I'm happy to take you with me." She paused. "But you need to answer some questions."

Kelly sighed. He wanted answers more than he wanted control.