Yay! Chapter 4! It's been a while hasn't it? Well I'm sorry because I haven't had time to work on my most favorite story with school and then getting preoccupied with a few other stories. Sorry, but please enjoy this small chapter!
"Jeez, McGee what happened to you?" Tony questioned as the three agents came in through the door.
Tim gave his partner a slight glare of annoyance as he unwrapped the makeshift bandage around his arm. Ducky had brought medical supplies aboard for the living, just in case an accident happened. The young agent just hoped that this was no more serious than just a few scratches and didn't turn into some deadly infection.
"Timothy, what happened?" Ducky's eyes went wide as Tim sat on his bunk and cradled his wounded arm.
"That creature tried to attack me and McGee stepped in its path," Ziva answered for her partner. She looked down as she shoved a magazine into her SIG and said, "He took a bullet for me, so to speak."
"I'll see what I can do for you, my boy," Ducky pulled his medical case closer to the bunk as he kneeled down and gently took Tim's arm in his hands. He examined the wounds as carefully as possible, cringing slightly as pained gasps escaped the young agent from time to time. "Well, my initial findings tell me that no major arteries were nicked nor any tendons severed. You just have some severe scratches. I'll put some ointment on it to keep infection out then wrap it up. I'd suggest taking some aspirin for the pain and swelling."
"Thanks, Ducky," Tim sighed in relief as the elderly M.E. informed him he didn't do any serious damage. He'd have some pretty scars after this, though.
"What was that thing?" Tony looked from the M.E. and his partner to his boss. "We heard it from here."
"I have no idea but even Ziva and I putting two bullets in it didn't kill it," Gibbs answered as he ran his fingers through his silver hair. My whole team's going to get killed if we don't find out what's going on, he grumbled in his head bitterly.
"Let's call Abby and see what she's found out from the data," Ducky suggested as he stood up from the floor. "Perhaps she'll have some answers as to what's going on."
Tim pulled out his laptop with his good arm and set it on his lap. He could work effectively with one arm which was good since this happened. Soon a pixilated box of Abby's lab appeared on the screen and the other agents along with Ducky crowded around the small computer.
"Hey, guys!" Abby smiled broadly as she waved at the camera mounted in her lab. Her cheer came to an abrupt halt as she spied Tim's bandaged arm. "Timmy, what happened?"
"There's some type of creature on the ship," Tim grumbled as he tilted the screen on his computer back. "We found out the hard way."
"Jeez, have any idea what it was?" the Goth asked as she turned her back to them to type on the computers before her.
"It was big, nearly six feet tall and looked like a…oh what do you call it?" Ziva looked at Tony when she couldn't peg the name of the creature she was thinking of.
"I didn't see it," Tony said, raising his hands up in a defense posture.
"It's on that movie, where they're stuck on the island with all the giant lizards," Ziva said, trying to trigger some kind of recognition in her partner. When her first attempt didn't work she tried again. "It had the old man with the bug in the sap on his cane. They used toad DNA to complete the DNA structure from the blood in bugs stuck in the sap."
"Oh, you mean 'Jurassic Park'," Tony said and smiled as he got a positive look from Ziva. "What dinosaur are you thinking of?"
"Those really smart ones," Ziva replied as she cupped her forehead in her hand and thought. "The ones with the giant claws on their feet."
"Are you talking about a Velociraptor?" Abby turned back to the camera, bewilderment written all over her face.
"Yeah, those ones," Ziva pointed at the screen as Abby finally said the creature's name that she had been thinking of all along.
"But Velociraptors were in reality only about two to three feet tall," Abby pointed out as she crossed her arms across her chest and started to pace.
"I think that an Utahraptor would be a more likely description," Tim added in. He jumped a little when the Goth snapped her fingers and turned on her heel back to her computers.
"Tell me if this resembles it," Abby typed furiously, her fingers flying over her keyboard. She waited for a few seconds for her partners to receive the image she had just sent.
Tim clicked on the box that appeared on the screen and enlarged the picture. The similarities to the creature on the computer screen and the one they had run into was frightening. They matched almost perfectly.
"Yeah, Abs, that's it," Gibbs replied as the young agent clicked out of the image and returned to the box with the Goth's lab in it.
"I think you have a major problem on your hands, guys," Abby frowned and pulled up some information on her computers. "But it makes since to me now that I know that there's a mass murdering creature on the ship. The DNA you sent to me that was collected from the bodies was human mostly but there was some saliva that kept giving me something crossed between a bird of prey and a lizard."
"Well it sure looked like a bird with all those feathers on it," Tim shrugged his shoulders.
"You guys have to promise me you'll get a picture of it before you kill it or get off that ship," Abby nodded fiercely as she ordered her partners to make her dream come true by taking a picture of a supposedly extinct creature.
"Let's hope it doesn't kill us first, Abs," Gibbs said as the box disappeared and Tim shut down his laptop.
Everyone was tired that night. They had secured the door shut and the agents had their guns ready to fire and very close. Tony slept with his SIG under his pillow. Even though the thought of a creature running wild kept them awake at first, one by one they fell into a restless sleep.
Tim was careful of his arm, even in his light sleep. The creature that his mind kept projecting behind his eyelids was frightening. His mind had no need to exaggerate it, the beast was terrifying enough.
Rolling onto his left side, the young agent buried his head into his pillow as his mind started to replay the snorts and rough breathing of the creature in his ears. Images of the beast when it attacked him danced in his skull, adding to his restlessness. These images and sounds seemed as if they would never go away.
The breathing and snorting of the creature brought Tim out of his light sleep. He propped himself up on his left elbow and rubbed his eyes wearily. He feared those sounds and images would haunt him until the day he died, which might be approaching very soon if they didn't get off of this ship.
A sudden unwelcome noise outside the sealed door sent a shudder through Tim's body down to his core. He looked over at where Gibbs was sleeping. The older man was wide awake and looked ready to spring at any moment if the need should arise. So he had heard it too.
Rough snorts and grunts seeped through the hopefully impenetrable door. They were quiet enough that the others didn't wake but they still reminded the two that were awake that the creature was still there, and waiting to strike.
After a final snort the sounds died away and there were just the quiet sounds of the ship and the gentle rocking of the waves. Tim gave his boss a glance before lying back down and letting his eyes flutter closed. This was going to be a long night.
Thanks for reading! Remember to R&R! Come back again when I have an update, which is hopefully soon. :)