Greetings you wonderful bastards and welcome to the next chapter of the story. Normally I would get in a long drawn out introduction but let's forget that and just get into the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ark is owned by Studio Wildcard and all I own is my OCs.

Ch.9 A New Path

The next morning,

after the burning…..

One of the kidnappers managed to survive the onslaught the night before. Although he survived, his life was ending. Getting slammed by a giant tail tends to break the human body quite easily.

But before he could die, one of the enemy wanted to know answers. He recognised this one, it was the first girl they caught. She put a knife to his throat and tried to get the information of her other friends and their locations.

He told her. He was going to die anyways. To be honest, he thought it would be the one good thing he ever done.

A few minutes later after she got her answers, he was dead

A few hours later…..

Alex's P.O.V.

They sat around the campfire, thinking about a plan of action. All four of them were tired beyond belief and all they wanted to do was rest. Everyone however were also on alert and there mind was on the task ahead.

Marcus and Taylor were the happiest of the group as they have now reunited after the whole ordeal. Despite being together, there were moments of sibling rivalry that brought a smile to my face. Sam on the other hand was getting to know Marcus and also taking care of Diego's wound. Although it will most likely not affect his movement permanently, the injury would leave him unhappy since he can't go out to hunt. Binda on the other hand was thrilled that Sam was alright. I laughed out loud at Taylor's face when Binda came storming out of the trees to greet Sam.

Me on the other hand, I was trying to keep an eye out on a rampaging baby dinosaur.

The infant Yutyrannus was quite a curious little creature to say the very least. It inspected everything insight, from a tree stump that was knocked over by its mother to a borderlined annoyed gorgonopsid. I wondered if it thinks this area was its nest.

But despite its curiosity, it stayed within sight distance of the group. When I mean group however, I most likely meant me and Sam. The little dino must have imprinted on us the second it hatched. Sam fell in loved with it immediately, holding when it finally got tired of looking at everything. As Sam was stroking the downy feathers along its back, we continued our discussion about the next course of action.

"We know where they are so what's the big deal?", Taylor asked her brother, who were in deep discussion about the information from the now dead raider.

"The problem is not that we know where they are, it is that we don't know what to do if we actually. And let me emphasize on if. Seriously, We are going through uncharted territory, filled with all manner of things that could get us killed, and find a camp full of murders and thieves with no plan of rescuing the others".

A cough got everyone's attention as they all turned towards me. "If I may, we've only know each other for a short amount of time, but if there's anything me or us can do, ask".

"You guys don't have to do anything", answered Taylor. "You guys already have your problems solved with these people. But we still have "issues" with them".

I shook my head. "I get that but we don't want to have the same thing happen to others as well. Besides, with more people we could come up with a better way of taking them down". I looked over towards Sam for help. We talked between ourselves when we were alone to figure out our plan of action. Since we were far away from our original location, we were lost on what to do. So we came to the decision to help these other survivors to save their friends.

"Taylor, we want to help you, seriously both so you could reunite you guys with your friends and also to make sure these raiders are taken care of".

The other woman thought for a second on the response. Before she could say anything, she felt a hand from her brother on her shoulder. She looked towards him before he spoke, "I have a good feeling that these guys could help us. If they want to join so be it".

I let out a slight chuckle. "Really, after putting a knife to your throat you want to trust me?", I said to him. He smiled, "I trusted you the moment I found out you were trying to get back at the raiders. It's you who didn't trust me".

A cough brought us back from our banter and we turned back towards Taylor. "Alright, if you guys want to help us, so be it. I just want to get moving soon thats all". We all agreed and got ready to head out.

We left within the next couple of hours. Thankfully Diego was healthy enough by the time we were moving that he could walk. Thank you accelerated healing.

We looted the bodies to find anything usefull. To our luck, there were a number of useful items, including a map that led to the raider's camp. There were also some food and medical supplies that would obviously be useful.

We headed north towards a pair of peaks in the far distance. According to the dead raider and a confirmation from the map, the camp was somewhere around the base of the mountains.

Traveling wasn't to bad though, the only problem was the baby Yutyrannus. As soon as we got moving, it wanted to look at anything it could reach. This was a fun and games until it disturbed a pair of small reptiles. These little guys looked more like small, scaly dogs with a pair of teeth coming out of the front of the mouth. I couldn't tell the species, but the reptiles wanted nothing to with the baby predator and waddled off into the brush. The little dinosaur was going to run after them before Sam scooped it up in her arms. No more running from them.

We traveled for several hours with Taylor leading the way before Marcus commented on a strange smell. We stopped for a second to sniff the air before my nose recognized it. Rotten flesh. Sure enough, a couple yards ahead of us, was a corpse of a dead animal. I moved forward to inspect the creature to see what it was.

It was a type of raptor, much smaller than the other ones me and Sam encountered on the plains. It was covered all over in feathers and had twm massive blue eyes that were staring up at him even in death. Despite its size, I cursed to myself, now realizing the species.

"Troodon….", I say out loud. Taylor asked what that was. "A small dinosaur, nocturnal. Smart as hell and travel in packs. They are also venomous". I had seen what they do to animals. It slows the creatures down, even fast animals like Parasaur and Gallimimus easily fall prey to these little devils if they get a bite. I'm scared to think at what that venom could do to a human.

But what got me curious was how this one died. Troodons were normally reclusive animals during the day, avoiding conflict altogether until nightfall. This individual couldn't have been dead for another couple of hours or so. Upon further inspection I could see that there was a cut in its head and to my confusion, only one thing was missing. It appears that whatever killed it only wanted the venom sacs.

I was confused by this until I heard Sam call my name. I turned towards her and saw that the others were looking at me weirdly. I put my confusion behind me and assured the others I was fine. " Don't worry, the things dead. But we have to have a fire tonight and someone on watch. They don't like light sources and their damn smart".

With the body behind them we continued onward until the sun started its descent. We decided to make camp and get a fire going in case we are visited by some unwelcome guests. Most of the time was sitting around resting and coming up with a plan. Before long, it got dark and most of us decided to get some sleep.

Several hours later during the night I was sleeping when I felt someone nudge me awake. I sat up groggily to find Marcus staring at me with concern in his eyes. He was the next one on watch after I woke him up a couple hours back. I was going to ask him what's up when I heard rustling coming from the bushes nearby. The forest nearby was pitch black except for two orange orbs in the middle of the darkness. Although from a distance they appeared to be still on closer inspection they moved slightly, almost in timing with breathing.

Marcus was freaking out at the sight of the orbs. "Are those-", he started.

"Yes", I said. "Those are Troodon eyes". The orbs stayed there for a couple of seconds before suddenly blinking out of existence. Marcus started to relax but saw the look I gave him and when high alert all of a sudden. "What-"

"Their trying to trick us", I warned him. "I told you, these things are smart. They make it look like they're gone and as soon as you let your guard down thats when they strike". Sure enough, a little further to the left another pair of lights blinked into existence. Soon, other pairs started appearing in the darkness.

Marcus was starting to freak out more and more as he saw more lights something might happen if he loses it, I tried to calm him down. "Hey hey man it's alright. They won't come any closer because they are afraid of the fire.".

He seems only slightly reassured but still was shifting his eyes at the lights blinking out in the distance. I decided to try to ease his nerves a bit with some talking. "Let's get your attention away from the creepy lights. Tell me about yourself. What were your friends name.".

He looked on for a moment before answering. "There were five of us that grouped together after we woke up. You already know me and Taylor. Taylor was a hunter while I was more of the builder of our group. There was Naomi, a girl who was sort of a farmer and knew the plant life of the area. Brandon was the guy who didn't really have a specialty but contributed with everything. And Damien-", he stopped talking at the thought of the fifth member of their group.

"Let me guess, he was the one who was killed?".

He nodded. "He was the leader of the group. Always encouraging everyone and helping out the best he could. When the raiders came he tried to reason with them. He wanted to find some sort of peace agreement. His reward was getting a spear shoved through him.". His voice trailed off. "You know, this whole thing was fucked up from the beginning. First we get put on an island filled with things that belong in either the ground or a museum. Then you find friends that could help you survive here. That almost makes it better. And now this.", tears began to form around his eyes.

I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I agree with you that this whole thing is messed up. I do. Although this place seems like a scientist's dream, it's still real to us and were far away from home. But look on the bright side. You have friends that helped you get this far. ANd I promise you, i'll help you get them back. Besides, these assholes owe me for hurting my friend as well.". I look over to Sam's sleeping form with the baby Yutyrannus cuddled up next to her. A smile came to my face at the site of it.

My train of thought was broken as a crash from the forest and one of the Troodons let out a screech before hearing a sickening crunch. The sudden noise caused everyone to wake up and look around at what caused it.

All was quiet until heavy footfalls could be heard coming our way. We grabbed whatever weapons were nearby and prepared ourselves for what was coming.

We held our breath as the creature emerged from the shadows. It was a theropod dinosaur, bigger than an Baryonyx but smaller than a Yutyrannus. It was purplish in color and had a line of feathers running down its back. In its big jaws, the corpse of a dead Troodon was hanging within them. It's eyes were shining bright in the firelight, giving of a sinister glow.

It gave a low growl towards us and we raised our weapons at the bigger predator. However, the dinosaur never got anywhere closer towards us. The light from the campfire was irritating it and it had a meal already in its jaws.

It stared at the humans in front of it for a few seconds before turning around and heading back into the forest. We could hear its footfalls as it moved further and further away from us. Nobody got much sleep after that.

The next morning…..

We were all grumpy as we got up from the rough night and ready for the rest of the journey. As we got ready, we took a few glances towards the trail of footprints leading off into the forest before going in the opposite direction.

We traveled for a few hours before coming across a shallow river. Since it was to shallow for any piranhas could get through, it should be a safe cross. What we didn't count on were the Kentrosaurus.

Sam was the first to spot the medium sized herbivore emerging from the woods and was about to get a drink. That was until it spotted us and let out a bellow in warning. We tried to move away from it but it soon chargers at us with only a few seconds to get out of the way of its spikes. Instead of engaging the creature, we climbed a nearby tree to get away from it. The only one who wasn't in the tree was Binda. The reason was the two dinosaurs were ignoring each other. Must have been an adaptation between the two species.

Basically we were stuck up there for an hour while an angry spiked dinosaur was barking at us. It didn't help that the baby Yuty wouldn't stop egging it on by also barking at it. Eventually the Kentro got bored and moved further down river.

After that whole fiasco progress was relatively good as we are now only a few miles away from the twin peaks.

As we got closer we started to see signs of human activity. There were an large amount of stumps from cut down trees and also the smell of fire was heavy in the air. On the ground, several footprints were leading in both directions, with a mix of animal footprints as well. I hour later, we finally came across the camp. We got to a high enough advantage point to scope out the area.

The camp was massive, sitting at the base of one of the peaks. A couple hundred yards away to the east was, to our surprise, a coastline with waves crashing on the shore. The entire area was cleared of trees, with only buildings inside of it. The camp was surrounded by a fifty foot tall wooden wall that nearly encircled the entire base. But the most interesting thing was what was going on inside the wall.

There were several buildings of various sizes from small shacks to a massive one that looked like it fit a couple of Diplodocus inside it. There were watchtowers situated around the camp with men manning them. The smell of burning wood and other substances was heavy in the air. We could see people moving around inside the complex but the most surprising thing was that some people were riding on dinosaurs. I was slightly amazed at seeing people with actual saddles riding around on various creatures. Most were riding on raptors while one or two were on top of a Carno. But that amazement quickly disappeared when I realized who those people were.

The men on the dinosaurs were barking orders at the people walking, I could see one person whipping them. The people walking were what looked like being forced to move supplies towards another one of the bigger building were what sounded like construction was coming from inside.

The complex was one of the most disgusting things I had ever seen. Just seeing people being treated like slaves was already pissing me off. And also, what were they building in there?

I was brought back to reality by Marcus speaking up. "Christ man, there has to be over a hundred people in there. I never that there were that many people on the island.".

"Do you see your friends?", Sam asked. Taylor was scanning the area trying to find them but with no luck.

"Damn It, I can't tell anyone apart in there. I'm worried that the only way to find them was to go down there ourselves.".

I shook my head. "No thats too dangerous right now, we don't know what else is in there". I thought for a moment before coming up with answer. "I think we should scope out the area first before we go in and rescue them. Try to find an advantage point.". Although Taylor tried to protest at first, saying we don't have time, she eventually agreed that it might be best to gather intel first.

So we waited. We continued observing the camp for several days to find anything useful. Since we were dangerously close to the enemy, we didn't dare start a fire. This was especially dangerous due to not knowing the full extent of the wildlife in the area. Two of us would go observe every couple of hours while the rest of us would stay back with the animals and supplies.

Finally, after several days, we got the intel we needed. We knew the locations, guard rotations and everything. Now all we had to wait was the perfect time to strike. Luckily, that time was right around the corner.

And thats the end of that chapter. Sorry for the lateness of it. I was busy all last week and I was slightly under the weather. But enough of that, hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Leave a review if you have any questions and i'm still looking for a name for the baby Yutyrannus. See you guys on the next one.

-Kaiju