Open Plains

Peregrine eased himself into a trot from his run. The velociraptor lowered his head to the ground and sniffed to make sure he was still on Grant's. After confirming that he still was, the raptor continued to follow the human's scent out of the Bird Cage's second entrance which was on the opposite side of the giant glass dome. When Peregrine reached the second entrance he was surprised to see that the door had been ripped from its hinges. The raptor thought nothing much about it and continued through the door. Peregrine now stood on the Open Plains of the island. There were hardly any trees, and the ones that did exist were few and far between.

XXXXXX

Grant stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground. He was dead tired after running for so long. The paleontologist pushed himself off the ground and sat down on a nearby rock. He wiped his forhead of sweat and took a swig of water from a water bottle he took off the dead pilot before he left the nest. Grant took the oppurtunity to scan his surroundings since he hadn't took the time to whilst running. He was on what looked like the African Savanah. Instead of a herd of zebra come galloping by, though, a herd of gallimimus came stampeding past Grant. He ducked as the animals jumped and bounded over his head. When it was all over, the gallimimus had stopped at a near by watering hole not far from where Grant was sitting.

While watching the oversized ostriches fill up on water Grant got an idea. He slowly made his way to the dinosaurs in a crouched position, being sure not to startle them, though they seemed as if they could care less about his presence. Grant made his way to the edge of the herd where he knew the younger adults would be. He scanned the crowd and picked out a gallimimus only slighty taller than him.

"Okay. On three." Grant whispered to himself. "One..." He crouched low. "Two...three." The paleontologist ran as fast as he could toward the unsuspecting dinosaur. When he was only a few feet away he leaped onto the gallimimus's back and wrapped his arms around its neck. Startled, the gallimimus cried out in fear alerting the other herd members to its status. Instantly the herd went into a frenzy of yells and cries and began to stampede in the opposite direction Grant wanted to go. Before the paleontologist was caught up in the stampede with his gallimimus he steered it away from the herd by leaning its neck to the left. The dinosaur cried out in protest but kept on running in the man's desired direction. "Gallimimus...It's the only way to travel!" Grant laughed, waving his hat in the air.

XXXXXX

"I need a Sitrep sergent." A man in a decorated military suit demanded. His rank indicated he was a lieutenant colonel. He was looking out a window over looking the ocean on the only cargoship yet to leave Isla Nublar. A grunt dressed in full combat gear stood at attention in front of him. He was battered, bruised, and had blood stains on his uniform which were probably his and someone elses too. "What's going on in that hull?"

"Sir," The sergeant began. "Both squads that were sent into the hull were slaughtered. My squad tried to attempt a rescue to retrieve any survivors, but our efforts were cut short by that monster."

"So you didn't kill it?" The lieutenant seemed more upset at the fact that the target wasn't dead, and not about losing nearly 20 good men.

"No, sir. We tried everything. Bullets, grenades, gas. Nothing worked." The sergeant reported. "I think it best if we just blow the whole ship to hell and leave this god forsaken island."

"I didn't ask you what you thought we should do!" The colonel snapped at the soldier. "This ship contains all the lysine containers that weren't lost on the island, which is a very valuable investment to InGen. Our orders are to retrieve all of those containers at no matter the cost. And just because some god damned prehistoric lizard is blocking our way doesn't mean we give up! YOU GOT THAT SERGEANT!"

"YES, SIR!" The sergeant replied and tightened his stance of attention.

"How many more sqauds are left?" The colonel asked.

"Just 2, sir." The sergeant replied.

"Alright. I'll call for some heavy reinforcements. I want patrols all over this damn cargo ship. No one else enters that hull without my permission. Got it!" The colonel barked.

"Yes, sir!"The soldier shouted.

"Dismissed, sergeant." The sergeant saluted and jogged out of the cargo ship control room to relay the orders he was just given. The colonel gazed out at the ocean agian. "If that dinosaur in the cargo hold got into the lysine somehow, then were in for one hell of a fight."

XXXXXX

The velociraptor in full on Rampage sliced his talon across the last screaming soldiers neck, silencing the human permanantly. He gazed around the hull trying to see if anyone else had come to challenge him. No one else appeared. The velociraptor laughed maniacally.

"I think they finally get the picture." A Rampage Zeal laughed. "Pathetic humans and their idiotic attempts to control everything. How foolish they are." Zeal grolwed. The raptor paused as he heard a low noise coming from somewhere deeper within the ship's hull. It was almost inaudible, but it sounded human. Zeal used his Rampage improved binocular vision to look down the entire length of the ship. His crimson red eyes narrowed, searching every corner of the hull without even having to take a step further into the it. Even though it was nearly pitch black further into the ship, his primal ability made it so it seemed as if the sun was at high noon. Zeal focused on where he believed the noise to originate. That's when he saw two soldiers huddled together behind a shipping container. They both were wearing a wierd head set that covered their eyes. They appeared to be having a conversation. "Just great. I miss counted." Zeal growled in aggravation, but then a sick and twisted smile crossed his face. "But at least I get to kill a few more humans before I take a break." The Rampaged raptor slowly strode to where the humans sat; all the while, thinking of the different ways to painfully disembowel the men.

"Shhh...did you hear that?" The first soldier asked the second. "It sounded like that thing is on the move." The first soldier was about to peek around the crate he and the second soldier were hididng behind and look for the creature using his night vison goggles, but the second soldier grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.

"That thing is a velociraptor, and from what I've seen it's smart as hell. Probably smarter than me and you put together." The second soldier whispered in a harsh tone. "You could've blown our hiding spot."

"I doubt that thing can see in pitch black darkness." The first man said.

"We don't know that. We should just wait until reinforcements come down here before we do anything." The second man whispered. "And lower your voice, It might hear you." At that moment, both men heard a growl to their left. "Oh, #&%."

"Mind if I join in on the conversation you bafoons?" Zeal hissed. He lowered his body and raised his tail in the air. He raised his clawed hands and killing claws on his toes, and opened his mouth to show the rows of his dagger like teeth. A low growl emmited from his throat as he approached the men who were now backing away from the raptor. The men pulled out high powered scope rifles and aimed at the velociraptor. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Zeal smirked, vanishing from the men's view in the blink of an eye.

XXXXXX

"Oh, Open Plains of Jurassic Park, how I love the." Peregrine happily sang while running at 72 miles per hour. The lone raptor had picked up Grant's scent and sped off in the direction with a singular focus of fiding him. "I love this flat grassy land beneath my feet, and the wind that washes past my face, and the-HERD OF GALLILIMIMUS RUSHING STRAIGHT TOWARDS ME!" Peregrine yelled as he tried to skid to a stop before he ran into the stampede. He slid through the front of the herd. He was able to dodge most of the herd until he was over come by the larger adults that ran in the middle. Peregrine was kicked in his side and sent hurling into the ground. He rolled dodged the stomping feet all around his body until finally the herd of gallimimus passed by.

Peregrine jumped to his feet and glared at the other dinosaurs in anger as they ran off. Fueled by his anger, the lone raptor charged after the herd with a battle cry. Peregrine ran to the side of the herd and picked out a young adult. The fierce bird of prey launched his self off the ground with his powerful leg muscles and clawed into the side of a gallimimus. The recoil of the blow knocked both the raptor and gallimuimus to the ground. The herd continued on without their lost member. The gallimimus hurridly tried to get on its feet, but was stomped back into the ground. Peregrine growled down at the dinosaur and pushed his foot onto its throat even harder.

"What's the big idea running me over like that? I can't even smell another predator for miles around, so why is your herd even stampedeing?" Peregrine barred his teeth. The gallimimus only squeled for help and struggled to get up. "I would like an answer, please!" Peregrine growled in a harseh low resonating sound. He lifted his large toe claw to show how serious he was. The gallimimus's eyes widened and it became quiet and still. "So am I going to get an answer or not?" Peregrine asked as he prepared to bring down his claw.

"Wait! Wait!" The gallimimus squeled in distress. "I'll explain. Just don't cut me with that claw. Who knows where it's been."

"I don't think insulting a fawltreheol's killing claw is the best thing for you to do at the moment, lesornith." Peregrine addressed the gallimimus by its name in the Ancient Saurilied language.

"I don't mean to be rude..." The gallimimus wheezed. "But your foot is..." It pointed to the raptor's foot which was, unknowingly to its owner, crushing the gallimimus's windpipe.

"If I lift my foot, do you promise not to run?" Peregrine asked. The gallimimus nodded. The raptor removed his foot, trusting the gallimimus to hold to its word. The taller dinosaur stood up and shook itself clean of dust, but in the process, shook some dust on Peregrine.

"Hey, watch it!" Peregrine said jumping out of the way.

"My apologies, but I absolutely hate any sort of filfth." The gallimimus explained. "Plus you were the one that knocked me into the dirt by the way."

"I knocked you down so I could get some answers as to why I was almost trampled to death in the first place." Peregrine snorted stubbornly. "Now, would you so kindly explain what has an entire herd running for their lives without a single super predator in sight?" Peregrine asked sarcastically.

"Well, there is you." The gallimimus pointed out. Peregrine gave the dinosaur a look that said 'don't push your luck'. "Stay calm, I was only joking. We were running from some kind of foreign predator. Really sneaky it was." The gallimimus started.

"Foreign predator?" Peregrine questioned.

"Yes. Never seen an animal like it before. It's upper body was covered in blue feathers, and it had red feathers around its neck." The taller dinosaur described. Peregrine instantly knew he was talking about Grant. The raptor remembered seeing such colors on the man when he dove past him on the bridge in the Bird Cage.

"That was the human I'm after." Peregrine stated.

"What's a hu-man?" The gallimimus asked.

"You know...the creatures that raised some of the much older Saurilieds on the island. They walk on two legs and stand upright all the time." The gallimimus shook its head.

"I was born amongst the herd. Never have seen one before. Until now I guess." The gallimimus said.

"Assuming it was a human you saw, what did he do to cause such an uproar?" Peregrine further inquired.

"He attacked the lesornith next to me!" The gallimimus shouted and waved its weak arms in a frenzy. "He pounced right onto his back."

"You've got to be kidding me? A human did that?" Peregrine asked awestruck. "This Grant must be a nut. I better be careful when I do meet him." Peregrine thought to himself.

"Yes, and when we began running he used the other lesornith's neck to steer him away from the rest of the herd and in the opposite direction we were running!" The gallimimus screeched.

"So why were you guys still running if the threat traveled in the opposite direction away from you." Peregrine pointed out the flaw in the herd's logic.

There was a short pause before the gallimimus spoke again. "I don't know. I was just following everyon else."

Peregrine slapped his hand to his face and shook his head. "Only a herd mentality aniaml would say something so stupid." The lone raptor grumbled.

"What? I didn't catch that last thing you said." The gallimimus tilted its head in ignorant curiousity.

"Don't worry about it. It was nothing important." Peregrine sighed. "Thanks for the help, though. Now I can change my tracking course accordingly. Will you be able to find your herd okay?"

"Oh, yes. They will have stopped by a watering hole near here." The gallimimus reasured.

"Alright...and sorry about the whole tackling you into the ground thing. Won't happen again." Peregrine started to jog off in the direction the gallimimuses had ran from.

"It's quite alright. But I should warn you, be careful of the treheol that roam these plains." The gallimimus said. "They are significantly larger than you." At that starement the gallimimus took off in the opposite heading of Peregrine's.

"Larger treheol?"Peregrine wondered. "How much larger?"

XXXXXX

"I hope you choke on it too!" Grant yelled as he rubbed his soar butt. The gallimimus had flung him off and onto the ground. The force of the landing knocked his last peice of food out of his pocket, which happened to be his favorite candybar. Before the paleontologist could grab it, the gallimimus snatched it off the ground and began running away. Grant huffed in frustration and stood up. He turned away from the retreating animal and his jaw dropped. He was standing at the edge of a river, and across the river was a lush jungle. Grant looked over his shoulder back into the Open Plains and then back at the river and lush jungle to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "I have to be seeing things."

A colorful sign caught Grant's attenttion. In large lettering with Jurassic Park's trademark font, the sign read 'Welcome To Raptor Rapids'. "What a reasuring name." Grant mumbled. Just below the large letters were a smaller set the read 'The ride begins here'. There was an arrow directly below the words pointing down. To the paleontologist's surprise there was a small motor boat tied to the shore underneath the sign. Grant checked it and found that it had a med-kit, extra fuel containers, a paddle incase the fuel ran out, and a flare gun. "Bingo." Grant said as he jumped in the boat and untied it from the shore. He fired up the engine and started downstream. He figured if he followed the river it would eventually take him out to sea where he could signal for help.

XXXXXX

It seemed as if hours had passed, though it had only been minutes, and Peregrine had yet to reach Grant's location. He was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to run the entire plains to find him. "Hopefully he isn't dead either." Peregrine vocalized his thoughts. He slowed to stop near a watering hole for a drink. While drinking, something flashed through his peripheral vision to his left. Peregrine didn't look up, but continued drinking water. He didn't want whatever was stalking him to know that he was aware of its presence. Another flash of movement to his right alerted Peregrine to a second stalker. He was being hunted.

Like the birds of prey they were, swift and silent hunters, two very large raptors pounced at Peregrine from the sides. Peregrine simple hopped backwards a step and watched the the larger raptors collide in midair. They hit the ground, hard, at his feet in an undignified heap. Peregrine looked over his attackers as they lay twitching and writhing in pain. Both were nearly twice his size. Upon their heads were a set of ruffled bright blue feathers which was in contrast to their tan golden hides. Their stiff tails at the tip had the same bright blue feathers as their heads. Along their arms were very short white feathers that trailed from their wrist to their elbows. And finally Peregrine noted their huge killing toe claws. The claw was nearly a foot long.

"You know, for the deadliest of all treheols, you Utahraptors seem to be pretty poor hunters." Peregrine mocked.

"That's because their still learning." A voice said behind Peregrine. He spun around and came face to chest with an adult male Utahraptor. He was even bigger than the two that attacked Peregrine beforehand. The taller raptor stared down on a terrified Peregrine. He had the same colors as the other two, only much darker in shade. His blue feathers were pretty much navy blue. "Excuse me. I have to chastise my students." The Utahraptor stepped around the smaller velociraptor, and growled at the two Utahraptors on the ground. "Stand up, girls!" He barked. "On your feet, NOW!" The two females jumped to their feet despite the extreme pain. "What did you do wrong?" The male asked as if he already expected what their response would be.

"We didn't avoid the peripheral vision." Both females mumbled at once.

"AND?" The male Utahraptor hissed.

"And we both attacked simultaneously, without signaling the other of our intentions...again" They spoke together once more.

"Exactly. Now apologize to the fawltreheol for your lack of hunting efficiency." The male Utahraptor ordered.

"We apologize for not having the skill to kill you." The female raptors said in tune as if it was a rehearsed thing.

"Uhhh...It's fine." A confused Peregrine tilted his head in his 'that's interesting' look. The male Utahraptor noticed this motion.

"Girls, I want you to go back to the pack and report to your eldanrae that I mark you with as pass with two mistakes." The male raptor said. The female Utahraptors looked at each other with excitement and instantly ran off at an amazing speed. The male Utahraptor watched his students leave, and then turned his gaze back to Peregrine.

"You Utahraptors have some questionable teaching methods." Peregrine said.

"You still have that smart mouth of yours, huh? Is your brother just as cocky, or is he still a goody-two-claws?" The Utahraptor asked. "It's been awhile since I've last seen you."

"How did you know I have a brother?" Peregrine asked astounded. "And why do you speak as if we've met before."

"That is because we have met before, young master Peregrine." The Utahraptor grinned.

Me: Hello, hello, hello. I'm back from the infirmay after being shot full of bullets and plasma rounds. (Note to self: Nuke Apocalype Survivor...and if that doesn't work, then fire off all seven Halo rings) ...Hope you all liked the chapter!

Peregrine: I did.

Me: That's because your in it.

Peregrine: I know. *cheesey grin*

Me: Don't make me do the same thing to you that I did to Zeal. (with some help from Apocalyspe Survivor of course)

Zeal: *hops in wrapped in first aid bandages like a mummy.* Mmfph mmm mfhph

Me: That's right Zeal. The exact same thing.

Peregrine: *cowers in corner* I'll be good.

Me: I thought so. Oh, and before I forget...I'm glad the humor aspect of the story was pointed out. I thought I'd try to make some of the fights and parts with Peregrine in them a little humorous, though there still will be serious moments as well for Peregrine...well that's pretty much all I had to say for now. Peregrine will you do the rest please.

Peregrine: Sure. I humbley thank all of you for reading this story, and for the favs, reviews, and alerts. To show my appreciation I will now do a dance.

Me: *pulls out spartan laser* Dance and DIE!

Peregrine: Nevermind then...

Zeal: Mpmmh mmfph mmmf

Peregrine: Zeal says leave a review, message, or something of the sort. It helps inspire this lazy author to write and post his chapters more often.

Me: *charges spartan laser* You're pushing your luck, Peregrine. (man, i'm violent today.)