Chapter Ten
MIA'S MIND BEGAN TO RACE with all the implications from her revelation. Dr. Wu was like any scientist – once a method was found to work, there was little deviation from the method. This meant that in his efforts to create a robust, living, cloned dinosaur – he must have tried to patch the DNA with genes of various reptiles or amphibians before he came across something that worked. Once that was proven to work with relatively few side effects, he probably applied that process until some other issue came up. Really? Mia was fuming, yet terrified. If he had been careless enough to create Velociraptors with a gene that allowed them to change gender, there was no telling how many dinosaurs of InGen's creation were also made with it. How many species of dinosaur can freely breed?
Now she wanted to travel to Isla Sorna even more. Not for rescue, but to warn them. There could be entire populations, breeding and thriving on Sorna underneath the noses of the staff. Evidently it had happened here – or at least, was going to happen here.
The roar of the Tyrannosaurus broke everyone's concentration. The men quickly gripped their rifles, and Mia ran up the stairs to look out the window. Of course! Mia felt a quick wave of hatred for her oversight: the back of the Jeep had a pool of Davies' blood. The raptors were likely feeding on Briggs' body, but the Tyrannosaurus was now on the scent of blood.
"We need to move." She said, without taking her eyes away from the window. "Now."
"Shouldn't we stay here?" Mathews asked.
Mia shook her head. "The Rex smells the blood. It's on the Jeep. It will come here, and it may be able to smell the blood inside the bunker if it gets close enough."
"Rex?" Kelly asked, "what is that? Is it bad?"
"It's the largest land-based predator on earth right now." Mia said coldly.
"Well, shit." Kelly sighed.
"We need to go." Mia reaffirmed.
"What's your plan?"
"There's a north dock and an east dock. The Ranger Team – my team – has small boats that we used to travel the coast and rivers. There should be some at either dock."
"How many?"
"Total? Four."
"What are the chances we get to one of these docks and there aren't any boats?"
Mia shrugged. The Tyrannosaurus roared again, a little closer. Kelly sighed. "Either one faster to get to?"
"There's actually a river and a Ranger outpost near the Reserve Paddock that might have a boat, too."
"Might?" Kelly asked.
She shrugged again. "I can't say for sure."
"What about the dinosaurs?"
"To the north would be the Triceratops. Maybe the Dilophosaurs, if they got out."
Mathews shifted his weight. Those names sounded familiar but meant nothing to him now. "Are those, uh, killer dinos?"
Mia felt a pang of annoyance. All the dinosaurs could be killers, of course. A pissed off Triceratops could maul or trample a person. Herbivore did not equate to safe. Just safer. "The Dilophosaurs are carnivores."
Mathews grimaced. "Don't like that."
"The road to the east dock borders just the main herbivore enclosures."
"Sounds good…"
"But," she interrupted, "we were just in there, and there are two raptors running around."
"Really don't like that."
Kelly sighed heavily. "So, it's a coin toss."
"Pretty much." Mia agreed. "At this point, who knows what other dinosaurs have escaped from their paddocks. It's a free-for-all."
They all heard the Tyrannosaurus again, ever closer. Mia felt sick. "We'd better decide fast."
Kelly was frustrated. "Is there any path that doesn't involve a goddamn dinosaur?"
Mia thought hard for a moment. She tried to picture the island and all the roads and paths. "There's a river more directly south of us. Outside of the perimeter fence, away from the enclosures."
"Sounding better." Kelly encouraged.
"There's a very slim chance any of the boats are docked there. But it's the furthest from dinosaurs."
Davies spoke up. "I say we cut the bullshit and go east. We can outpace the rappers in a Jeep. Or shoot 'em."
Mia frowned. "Raptors. And they can run up to sixty miles per hour. How good a shot are you?"
Davies flipped her off but winced at the pain in his arm.
"I agree." Mathews said, standing and stretching his legs. "I mean, we've already been through part of it. We know the raptor things are there, and the para-things. There's less variables. Less unknowns."
"Yeah, but this Rex thing," Kelly countered, "sounds like it will chase us down there, right?"
Mia nodded.
"Wait," Kelly said, "can't you tranq it?"
Mia thought for a moment. Realistically, she knew these ex-military guys would have much better aim than her. She had only gone shooting a handful of times with her father after they moved to Southern California. "I'll trade you weapons."
Kelly looked at her inquisitively. "You want me to tranq it?"
Mia nodded. "The second we get in the Jeep it's going to chase us. You sit in the back with my tranquilizer gun and give it some darts when it does."
Kelly tilted his head and thought about it. She was right, and she also did not want to give up her protection – either from the dinosaurs or from him and his men. "Dammit," he said, "I really love this gun."
He unslung his rifle and exchanged it with Mia for her tranquilizer. She rummaged through the pouch on her belt, took out the case of tranquilizers, and handed it to him. "Remember, animals don't go down easy. It's going to get a little… testy once the first dart starts to take effect."
"How many darts will it need?"
Mia felt sheepish. She had never actually tranquilized one of the dinosaurs – that task was usually left for Harding or Muldoon. There is a fine line between 'appropriate dose' and 'fatal dose,' and the two men had much more experience with tranquilizers than her. She wasn't sure how much it would take. She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I would think two."
Kelly sighed as he looked over the slim frame of the tranquilizer gun. It had a pistol grip, a thin fixed stock, and a long thin barrel. At the front of the trigger guard was a small silver cylinder that was parallel to the barrel.
"That's the CO2 canister." Mia pointed out. "It's good for about six shots. I have an extra."
Kelly nodded, then looked at her. He pointed to a small thumb-switch near the grip of the rifle. "Safety. Empties come out here-" he pointed to the dust cover and ejection bolt on the side of the gun, "and thirty rounds a mag." He patted his vest, trying to imitate her tone. "I have extras."
