Chapter Thirteen

THE JUNGLE BEGAN TO ENCROACH upon the Safari Tour, forcing Mia to slow the Jeep. The narrow path began to feel claustrophobic as they pushed further across the island.

They reached a large concrete marker that proudly displayed 'Gallimimus' underneath an outline of the animal's skull, superimposed onto an outline of the island. The electric fences were smaller, the cables thinner than the other fences. The enclosure beyond was large and open – rolling hills with sparse trees. She didn't see any of the ostrich-like dinosaurs in their enclosure.

As her gaze returned the road, Kelly yelled, "Shit!" Mia slammed on the brakes – and saw a 15-foot-long dinosaur disappear into the jungle opposite the Herbivore habitat. It must have wandered into the road like a deer and fled as the Jeep came to a halt. Mia's confusion fogged her thinking. It was much bigger than a raptor, and although it was a similar size to the Gallimimus, it seemed the wrong body shape.

Kelly sighed heavily. "So, you gonna drive, or should I?"

Mia shushed him. She wanted to hear the animal she'd just seen. Kelly sighed again, but otherwise kept quiet. She strained her ears to listen beyond the idling of the Jeep's engine. She heard a hooting sound and knew immediately what it was. "Dilophosaurus."

Davies leaned forward and whispered, "We, uh, gonna be okay?"

"They spit a sort of venom at prey," Mia explained, "it causes skin irritation. They tend to aim for the head – or eyes – so we think it might cause temporary blindness. Not sure."

"Not exactly words of confidence."

"They're shy animals. We'll be fine in the Jeep." There were five Dilophosaurs in total in the park – three juveniles and two adults. The juveniles stood around three or four feet tall, and the adults were much bigger at around seven feet tall. She must have seen an adult in the road.

The animals were unique: they were venomous and had large frills that compressed against their necks – which would extend when frightened, the jagged tips rattling to create noise.

There was no evidence for this in the fossil record, and Mia wondered if it had come from gene-splicing. She had once heard Dr. Wu talking with Dr. Harding about it: the DNA fragments recovered required more modification than other species. Since Dilophosaurus was alive in the Jurassic Period, the preferred method of DNA acquisition wouldn't work: to the scientists' knowledge, mosquitoes didn't exist yet, and so the extraction of DNA via a mosquito trapped in fossilized amber was out of the question. This meant the dinosaur had been cloned by grinding various fossils to retrieve a small yield of DNA, and then patching the rest with reptile or amphibian genes. Jurassic Park's Dilophosaurs were far removed from their once alive counterparts. Of course, Hammond did not want the public to know that – even the recording that announced the Dilophosaurus to the Safari Tour stated: 'We now know that the dinosaur was venomous.'

The huge Brachiosaurs were cloned the same way. It implied that Hammond or Dr. Wu had sought out to clone those specific dinosaurs – probably for their striking appearances. The Brachiosaurs were huge plant-eating sauropods – gentle giants – but giants, nonetheless. Impressive specimens. There was less of a need for DNA splicing in them because the much larger bones yielded bigger and more varied DNA samples. The Dilophosaurus were interesting and unique with their crests – and now, their frills and venom.

They're a long way from home. Their enclosure was at least three or four miles to the north, through dense jungles and separated by multiple paddock fences. It seemed like they had wandered quite a bit during the night – probably escaping soon after the power had been shut off.

As Mia's attention returned, the Jeep began to sputter.

"Not good." Kelly sighed.

Mia looked over the dash for any indication of why – and found the gas gauge was at 'empty.'

"Dammit!" She hit the steering wheel with her hands as the Jeep choked and turned off. She hadn't thought to check the fuel level when she took the vehicle to save Kelly and his men – she had just hopped into the nearest car.

"Ain't that some shit." Kelly was already getting out of the Jeep and slinging the tranquilizer gun over his head. The other men followed his lead and began to climb out, and Mia did too. She slung the heavy CAR-15 over her, mimicking Kelly's posture – he probably knew what he was doing.

"Didn't think to check the gas?" Davies was fuming. "Island full of dinosaurs and you didn't think to check the gas?"

Kelly shot him a look. "Might be dead if she took the time to do that. Glad she didn't."

Mia sighed. She understood Davies' irritation but welcomed Kelly's attitude toward her. "We can go back and get another one."

"Another car?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, there's more at the Visitor Center."

"Well…" He thought. "How far away are we from the docks?"

"That staff road follows a river that heads southeast." She pointed – a little white wooden fence lined a dirt road that split off from the main Safari Tour.

Kelly tapped his foot. "So, like… half-way there? Less? More?"

She nodded. "Yeah, about halfway there."

"And that Diloph…saur?"

"They're pretty shy. We should be fine." She waited, exchanging glances with them before Kelly outstretched his arm.

"Lead the way."

She sighed and stepped in front. She was hoping one of the men would have gone first.

The late afternoon light failed to penetrate past the canopy of the jungle. Even though the group was still following the dirt road, the ever-present tropical leaves and plant life kept creeping into their way. They had left the now useless Jeep at the intersection between the access road and the Safari path and had only been walking for ten minutes or so. Even then, they felt far removed from the vehicle and from any structure on the island. The jungle made Mia feel completely isolated.

She heard the hooting sound, like an owl. It came from deep in the jungle. She stopped walking, and the men behind her raised their weapons and stopped as well. She listened for a moment as she heard rustling in the brush, followed by another hoot. The sounds were high in pitch – and sounded curious. Perhaps even playful.

She looked back at the team. "Group together." Mathews and Davies were reluctant and waited for Kelly to make the first move. Moving in a single large group went against their years of military training. It was far easier for an enemy to throw a grenade or sweep machine-gun fire at a large group and take out multiple targets. Of course, there was no enemy that would be shooting back here – but it was still hard to suppress decades of training.

"If we make ourselves look bigger, they might leave us alone," she explained.

"You heard her." Kelly said as he closed the gap between them. The other men followed suit, each one aiming their weapons outward into the jungle.

They began to slowly make their way forward, inching along the path – straining their eyes to see movement.

The hooting calls continued. Now there were several, seemingly talking to each other from either side of the path. Mia was getting nervous. She was hoping that the trek to the dock would remain uneventful. The island was beginning to feel claustrophobic. They escape and have the whole island at their disposal, and they stay in the goddamn park.

Kelly began to see flashes of dark green as the dinosaurs ran through the dense jungle beside them. He couldn't make out their size, but there were several. They were hopping over branches and leaf litter, apparently not paying much attention to remaining stealthy. "What are they doing?"

"They're trying to check us out." Mia said. She was hoping the animals were just curious – although, curiosity might lead to an interest bite. Sometimes the animals would behave like a shark, biting something that they were unfamiliar with – usually to find out if that something was food or not. Hopefully, Mia and the men were a big enough group to deter that much interest.

To Mia's dismay, one of the Dilophosaurs hopped in the middle of the path. It was ten or fifteen feet in front of her. The whole group stopped, and she heard Mathews whisper "Shit."

The dinosaur was a juvenile, standing only waist high or so. Its long, slender neck held its head low as it analyzed Mia. She could see it breathing – see it blinking. It seemed intensely curious. The dinosaur reared back, making a small hooting sound, and then tilted its head at her.

Kelly could hear the others rustling in the jungles around them. "Setting up for an ambush…"

"Not likely," Mia said – refusing to take her eyes off the animal. "They're not really ambush predators."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

Mia's mind was racing. The animals were probably hungry and hunting for food. The juvenile in front of her didn't seem to be in a hunting state of mind, however. She slowly moved her head to investigate the bushes and trees, trying to pick out the adults. She couldn't see anything specific but could find some movement and rustling accompanied by hoots and calls.

The safest thing to do would be to back away slowly, until the animals were no longer interested. Somehow, she figured the animals wouldn't lose interest. They were exploring – they had left the only home they have ever known – and were finding out what else might be living among them now. Any sudden movements might trigger a fight or flight response in the juvenile – and she wasn't sure if the adults were protective of the juvenile as their own kin. Of course, it wasn't their own kin. The juveniles were just younger clones, created on Isla Sorna and shipped over. The adults might see them and rear them, or they might be indifferent and treat them as other adults.

This meant that there was equal chance whether the others would react violently if they thought the little one was threatened.

"Mia." Kelly whispered coarsely. "What do we do?"

She tried desperately to think, but the dinosaur took a step forward. It was not an aggressive step, but Mia had a feeling the others were inching closer as well. She glanced back at the group. Why are they so focused on us? She saw Davies and remembered his wound. "Dammit." She turned her head to face the Dilophosaurus, which was standing a little taller now, craning its long neck to see the group, sniffing the air. It was trying to pinpoint the source of the smell. She had the fleeting thought of crippling Davies, of leaving him to die and escaping while the dinosaurs were distracted. She was holding Kelly's rifle, after all. I can't do that. I can't decide who dies.

Davies saw Mia look back at him, and he instantly felt fear. He knew what she was thinking. She wanted to leave him behind. She had left Briggs' body behind. He was a liability – his wound was a liability. It's not my fault I got bitten. It happened so fast, there was nothing I could do. His fear began to turn into rage. Why are we trusting this woman anyway? He saw the dinosaur raise its head, and he decided to do something. "Forget this."

"Wait!" Mia shouted, but it was too late. Davies was screamed at the dinosaur – making a loud noise and raising his arm.

Kelly and Mathews both raised their rifles, aiming not at the little dinosaur in front of them but at the bigger dinosaurs in the jungle.

The small Dilophosaurus took a surprised step back – lowering its head and straightening its posture. For a moment, the entire island seemed silent and even the tropical birds waited to see how this would play out. The other Dilophosaurs in the brush ceased to move.

The juvenile dinosaur then raised its body, blinked, and began to hiss. Its lips curled slightly, revealing jaws full of sharp teeth as it began to make a terrible, coarse sound. A colorful frill along its neck extended on either side of its head like an umbrella, the tips shaking like a rattlesnake's tail. Mia quickly covered her face.

Kelly fired a tranquilizer dart into the dinosaur, but not before it had spat at them. Thankfully, the dark glob of spit had missed Kelly – but he heard a splat behind him. The dinosaur flinched as the dart struck it in the chest with a dull thud. This only seemed to enrage it, as it began to roar much louder – though it was taking a step backward.

Mathews raised his hand toward his face instinctively as he saw a dark projectile moving at him. The black venom hit his hand, splashed onto his neck, and he tried to wipe it away. It was sticky – almost like a slime – he tried to flick it off his hand when he heard the Dilophosaurus getting louder. "Let's go!" He said as he began to push, urging Mia and Kelly forward.

Mia could hear the other dinosaurs around them – they changed from inquisitive hoots to deeper, more aggressive sounds. She lowered her hands from her face as she looked out into the leaves – and could see one of the adults stalking the group. Its posture was down low, the head level with its neck as it slowly made its way into the path. It seemed huge in comparison to the juvenile – it must have been six or seven feet tall. She heard Mathews say something and she felt someone pushing her.

The juvenile spat again, hitting Mia in the chest – but the group was inching toward it. Kelly was trying to load another dart into the rifle. The dinosaur began to shake its head and its frill flattened against its neck again. It made a pathetic, high pitched sound as it leapt off the path and into the brush. Mia didn't say anything before she began to run. She could hear the other dinosaurs – frills rattling, hissing – and she knew she had to get out of there. Running might make her look like prey – hell, what won't? – but she had to try to get away.