Owen had remembered the sound of thunder as the earth shook that day. It had sounded like thunder, but far louder than any he had ever heard. He knew that a stampede of epic proportions was taking place. And yet, he had somehow stayed as far away from it as he could. He had followed the trail of those who destroyed his home and had found himself in a state he never saw himself in. Somewhere he was never even in when he was in the army.

He was lost.

He lost Barry. He lost the kids. He had hoped that they had made it as far away from this fiasco as possible. The last thing he had ever wanted was for them to have followed him out here. He still felt the ground shake as the sounding trumpets and cow-like bellows filled the air.. The great footsteps pounding the ground like jackhammers.

He knew that the herds were far away, however. He knew that he was safe from where he was. There was no sign of any of the infected Dinosaurs near his location. He hid behind a tree trunk when he saw what he had seen.

When he saw he was wrong.

The mossy-green shape of the Dilophosaurus had emerged from the underbrush. He snorted and growled in irritation as he rubbed his snot with his claws. Owen could see that there was some leather hanging from its jaws. There was nothing that gave him any doubt that this Dinosaur had killed someone.

The dinosaur chirped and hooted like an exotic bird as it blinked profusely. It looked up at the sky, strangely peaceful for something that was so violent. So deranged. It had shown any of the aggression that it had shown alongside the other infected creatures. It looked almost content. A sort of break from its insanity-driven state.

Something was obviously wrong with them. Being a man who had worked in various places of the world, Owen had seen creatures driven to extremes by hunger and loss of habitat. It made him feel sorry for the animal. And the others at that.

His feelings of compassion was interrupted by the sound that he had been hoping to hear. It had made him almost fall out from his hiding place. He climbed back to his feet to see what it was that snapped the Dilophosaurus back into its primal state.

The Velociraptor.

Owen had never seen a male Velociraptor before. Not until that fateful day at the InGen docks. He looked at this quills as they reminded him of a haircut he once had.

The Dilophosaurus turned to the Raptor as the fellow predator snarled at him. The device implanted in its head beeped before buzzing loudly. The Raptor growled loudly as he shook his head like a dog. He then barked loudly. The Dilo bowed its head to him, snarling as it did before.

Watching all of this as a witness, the way Owen explained this to the stranger escorting him away did not seem to leave anything out. The man walked through the woods as he led him away from the destroyed neighborhood.

"And, yeah, these guys got a Raptor." Owen said. "I'm sorry, yeah, tell me your name again?"

"Zane Maxin," Maxin grunted. "I recognized you from how Claire described you, Owen Grady. She spoke rather fondly of you on the way to Sorna."

Owen blinked. "Uh, sorry. Sorna? Isla Sorna? You mean InGen's site B?"

"Surprised you even knew about that place," Maxin commented. "hearing as how you hardly ever spent that much time with InGen."

"You pick up a thing or two when a Military jerk is coming at your door every day asking to use your Raptors for war." Owen sighed. "Only Claire… did she say anything else about me?"

"Aye," Maxin nodded. "When she told me that you wore board shorts to your only date, I thought she was just exaggerating. But now I look at you and…"

"Second thoughts?"

Maxin gave no straight forward response. He merely shook his head and gave a deep chuckle. This made Owen tilt his head in confusion.

"So, you claim that it was a Velociraptor that you saw?" Maxin asked.

"Yeah, it looked like it had some kind of thing in its head." Owen explained. "Like a sort of tracking device implanted in its skull."

"You are not wrong." Maxin sighed. "I have seen it on hunting trail cameras. It appears that the Biosyn operatives are in league with it."

Maxin then arrived at the side of the road. It, too, had seen the destructive outcome of the stampede. He and Owen then sat down, apparently waiting for something.

"Now this Velociraptor," he said again. "It appears to be reluctant to follow Biosyn's orders. I've studied it, Mr. Grady. I've studied animal behavior. It does not accept the kinds of things they make him do. And the leader of Biosyn, one Dodgson by name, uses a small remote to send electricity into its cranial nerves. It shocks its entire skull, and can automate its vocal cords. And the pack seems to respond to these new roars. In short, their forcing it to control them."

Owen blinked at this new knowledge. A device that can change your voice? All this time, he had believed that the pack was plagued by some disease or was driven by hunger. But no, he now knew that there were bigger forces at play here. This Dodgson man, he was behind all of this. Owen stared at the destroyed road, soaking in everything he had been told.

After a moment., he spoke. "So, um, Maxin, right? We waiting for someone? Why don't we just wait for the bus or something?"

"Not a bus, Mr. Grady." Maxin shook his head. "We cannot trust anything from the public. Not now."

"Why not?"

Maxin sighed. "It is a new world, now. New people in charge. Things are changing now. Our friends at Mantah Corp have located our coordinates. They needed to make a stop first. I can only hope that they get here before anyone from Biosyn finds us."

"I'm sorry, did you say Mantah Corp?" Owen seemed genuinely surprised by this. "As in, the biggest rivals with Simon Masrani? I thought they gave up when the second park went down."

"They did. But they reorganized it into their own independent bio-engineering company." Maxin scoffed. "Before, they were becoming just like Biosyn. Trying to use ideas from other people. And then, it would all lead to what's going on now."

As Maxin shook his head, Owen just stood there. He could hear many voices clamoring in the distance. He knew it must've been coming from the city. He knew that what Maxin was saying was true. The cheering told him now that the deed had been signed.

Biosyn ruled everything.

His fears arose even more when he heard the rolling of wheels. Wheels on the destroyed pavement. He and Maxin looked to see a large truck coming their way. He was prepared to make a run for it, thinking that they were in league with Biosyn. But when it stopped in front of them, he got his answer.

The Mantah Corp symbol was even on the two men's uniforms. One of them greeted Maxin gruff. "So this is him, huh Zane?"

"Aye," Maxin nodded. "He's all caught up now, Al. Best get us out of here."

"Oh, by the way, Zane." The other said as he helped Owen into the back of the truck. "We found someone in the woods. Got a little banged up."

"Get him to headquarters."

"Negative." Al said. "Headquarters isn't safe anymore. We'll have to get to the ship and get to Antartica."

Owen climbed inti the back and saw the man the mercenaries were talking about. He knew the face of Barry Sembène anywhere. He was clearly bleeding under his bandages and slings. He had a cut on the side of his head that was bandaged up. And he was slowly coming conscious.

"Barry?" He then began to shift.

"Owen?"

"You know, this reminds me about how I found you in Puerto Rico." Owen half-smirked.

Barry, having been shot with morphine, and awakening from a coma, showed a weak smile. "Yeah, I remember that. She had a lot of energy, she did."

Owen then decided to get to the point. "Hey, the kids. Where are the kids, Barry? Were they with you?"

Barry slowly turned his head. "Mm… the dinosaur through the jeep… if they're alright… their away from… the city… everything was black until now…I should've… held… onto them…"

They could tell that Barry was struggling to stay awake. They could hear the regret in his voice. Owen sat down as the truck bumped along, rolling through the destroyed road. It had been a long, jumpy ride for everyone as they drove through the destroyed freeway. Owen didn't even want to look out the window.

And that, in itself, was a good idea. Neither one of the Mantah Corp men desired to look outside. The bodies around their traversing vehicle were more than a dozen. Far beyond the count of grief. The driver could not help but see them, however. He had to blink a few times to keep the small tears of horror away as he hunched over the steering wheel.

The actions of only a few men in a lab had caused so much damage to many innocent lives in one day. So much damage was caused by this stampede. No one would ever look at the Dinosaurs the same way again after thus horrible turn of events. All the destroyed bridges. All the ruined homes. Nothing would be the same now.

The truck then arrived at the beach, where a giant ship was waiting. Dozens of Mantah Corp mercy were seen loading crates and vehicles into the hull. The truck carrying Maxin, Owen and Barry arrived at one of the loading stalls. A man who looked to be the general came to greet them.

"You got them?"

"Yes sir." The driver said.

"Get them to the conference room," the general said. "Ms. Dearing is waiting for them." He then turned to give more commands to the other mercenaries as they loaded their equipment.

The truck then pulled inside of the ship, where multiple trucks were seen parked everywhere. After parking, the mercenaries began to carry Barry to the medical center on a stretcher.

"Conference room is to the right." Al said. "Don't worry, we'll take care of him."

Owen and Maxin walked down the halls after leaving them to it. Owen then turned to Maxin. "So, you guys went to Sorna, huh? How'd that all go?"

Maxin looked rather grim as he refused to face him. "One casualty. Franklin Webb."

Now this was something that had struck Owen rather hard. He knew Franklin pretty well. He was one of their companions during the events of 2018 that had led to this moment. So hearing that he was now dead was rather an unwelcome bit of news. He was not the kind of person who showed much emotion when faced with people who had died, as he had seen a lot of it back in the army.

"Oh…"

"I know you knew him, Grady." Maxin sighed. "Never should a man be ashamed of having respect for the dead. Human or otherwise. It is a lesson that has become my main philosophy. Let me ask you something, Owen. When you were raising your Velociraptors, did you ever consider letting them out beyond their cage?"

Owen began to think for a moment before giving an answer. "Well, no."

"We all have our own views on life, Owen," Maxin continued. "I believe that, if a man can learn from another man, then it is in their best interest to work towards their future. Personally, it can be something that sticks to us to the grave."

"Still kinda working on believing that all this is happening." Owen said. "Where's this ship going, anyway?"

"To the DPG base in Antarctica," Maxin answered. "Before we leave the beach, however, there's a meeting that the general wishes to hold."

Eventually, the two men arrived at the door to the conference room. As Owen swung the doors open, he saw the face of the woman he thought he would never see again. The face that he had seen on only one date.

"Hey, Owen…"

Well, after a good long wait, I have returned. Forgive me for taking a while, I had to get a layout of my plans for the next chapter. So it looks like Owen and Maxin have become, like, buddies now. The famous hunter shares some of his insight with the Raptor trainer. And now, they're on their way to Antarctica to hideout.

Don't worry about Zia. She's still alive. Next chapter, we'll be seeing her and the kids again as they try to survive in a dinosaur-infested wilderness. So stay tuned, and Spare no Expense.