He breathed slowly, cautiously. Though he was many layers of insulation, metal and fiberglass away from her, he knew that the moment she was aware they watched—she would leave. He couldn't have her leave. He wanted to research her till the sun stopped shining.
She was there by the apples. Crouched over like a Hollywood barbarian, cautiously and carefully inspecting the paper plates. When the top paper plate flew off the bottom, skittering across the grass she immediately withdrew. She jumped back, vocalizing something unintelligible and crouched even closer to the grass. Billy felt a pang in the base of his skull, near the back of his throat. He was attracted to her, and seeing her curiosity for the everyday things that she'd once been familiar with only made him more interested in knowing everything about her.
Scooting closer to the plate of apples, she looked around, paused to look back into the jungle, and then sat on one buttock. With her leg tucked under her body, the other bent so that her knee touched her chest, she reached out to touch a wedge of apple. Biting into a wedge she stopped moving, absolutely froze for a few moments.
Billy rippled with satisfaction. All this time he'd been banking on the fact that she had to remember what eating an apple was like. As she chewed slower, she began to smile. He watched and grinned wide—she shivered and popped the rest of the wedge into her mouth. Devouring the apple, she chewed with an open mouth, chunks of apple flying from her mouth. She grabbed the plate and lifted it, looking beneath it for… more. He was sure that she wanted more.
James came up behind Billy, gazing into the surveillance screen where the woman—Lily—inspected the granola bar. He laughed quietly, "She liked the apples?"
Billy smacked James' arm, making the motion of zipping his lips.
It was too late though; she'd heard something or seen the trailer rock on its supports. She ran into the jungle at a full sprint, carrying the granola bar in her left hand.
"She's got a great ass," James commented.
Billy glared at him, turning to walk back to a stack to the dining table where his iPad waited for him.
The following morning Billy and James headed out to get their last possible encounter with Lily Rhodes, the jungle girl. The men suited up for a big hike in the jungle: their socks high, boots laced tight, backpacks strapped to their bodies, hanging on their shoulders. James had his sample kit with him, deciding that the day was as good as any to collect as many samples as possible.
In total, they'd been on the island for two weeks—two short weeks. Billy had over ten-thousand images saved on flash drives to go through entirely when they return to the mainland while James had over two-hundred sketches of the fauna and flora of Isla Sorna along with hundreds of samples of rock, soil and water to test back in his lab. James, though he had a wonderful time on the island and was glad to have taken the opportunity, wanted nothing more than to be completely out of danger and off the island. Billy, if possible, would've stayed two weeks more for the sake of research—of course. He was, admittedly, sick of being in danger and having to watch his back, carry a gun and be ready to lob smoke grenades at any moment to get out of danger with the raptors (it was the least invasive way of dealing with the raptors in that situation).
From Magdelina Tip where their camp was, they hiked three miles south to the center of the island—the meadow where the hadrosaurs grazed. Billy, again, filled a memory card and a half before the two of them continued on the outskirts of the meadow near the tree line. Once they'd rounded the inlet of the Sea of Brasso and were headed towards the old Rex Nest site, they stopped.
"Do you hear that, James?" Billy asked, his hand lifting to shoulder level to stop his team member while he tilted his head and listened.
The men stood as still as possible while the sounds of the jungle seeped into them. Far off the sound of groaning echoed, not the sound of an animal groaning in agony, but a human in agony. The sound hushed the jungle. Suddenly, the sounds of the dinosaurs weren't quite as loud or prominent or even as bone chilling as they'd been before.
"Its Lily," Billy whispered and bounded off in the direction of the groaning.
James struggled to keep up with Billy as he ran through the jungle. Only twice did Billy stop to listen and change course. The groaning was coming from somewhere in the San Fernando Mountain Range, much farther from the North raptor troop's home than he'd have expected. The groaning was louder and drawn out now.
After a few hundred yards Billy stopped to set his pack down, carefully and quietly, before looking back at James. He mouthed 'stay here' as he walked to a bunch of undergrowth that was moving. He could see the outline of her body faintly.
Lily lay curled in a ball, the stench of vomit permeating the otherwise sweet smell of the blooming jungle flowers. She wailed, rolling onto her back, holding her stomach. He knelt beside her and held some of the leaves away from her. She was drenched with sweat, forehead felt like hot coals, her cheeks and chest was flushed and she shivered almost violently. She was in such pain that she didn't even know he was there.
He looked back at James and then down at Lily. Billy leaned down, his hands sliding under her legs and then her shoulders. He grunted, sat up and then stood with her in his arms. James came running, looking down at her.
"I'm stronger than you, let me carry her," he nodded to Billy and took the woman, only he positioned most of her weight on his shoulder. It was a little more than four miles to camp and carrying her princess style would wear out his arms far sooner than he'd like to admit.
Billy collected their packs and led the way, retracing their steps back to camp. On the way, Lily vomited all over James' back three times, heaving for many minutes at a time though nothing but foamy stomach fluid came up. She groaned, sobbing in agony as she convulsed and wailed louder, utterly unaware of what was going on around her.
James carried her into the trailer, setting her onto a medical trailer that dropped down from the side of the trailer. She cried out, screeching as she doubled over on the metal table, immediately vomiting green stomach fluid onto the table and the trailer floor.
"The sedative!" Billy said, grabbing her shoulders to steady her shaking.
James grabbed the unlabeled bottle from a medicine cabinet above the table, removing a syringe as well. He tipped the small bottle upside down, plunged the uncapped needle through the plastic stopper and into the bottle. He drew out the sedative until a red Sharpied line that was labeled with a white tag that read 'No more, no less than this line.'
"Did they think we're stupid? Couldn't they just tell us what the fuck was in this and a number of how much to give her?" James said in frustration, taking over holding Lily down while Billy plunged the needle into her hip and pushed down the plunger.
Lily screamed, pushing at the men and kicking, the pressure of the injection making her shake. She struggled, kicking and shaking, her eyes rolling to the back of her head before in one final breath she arched. Her back arched high, eyes wide and unfocused, more glazed over than anything either of the men had ever seen. She breathed shallowly, one drawn out exhale that resulted in her body falling flat and motionless on the table.