Slowly, Tristan's eyes flickered open.

The first thing he noticed was that he appeared to be in a hospital room. Attached to his right index finger was a heartbeat monitor, something Tristan was careful not to remove just yet. In nearby beds were his friends and the security team, all slowly beginning to awaken.

"...Ah, I see you're awake."

Turning toward the voice, Tristan found himself staring at two people - one a man of South American decent, wearing a mixture of ceremonial attire and plain clothes, the other a lady doctor, clade in an outfit appropriate for her field.

As Tristan opened his mouth to speak, the man held up a finger. "Wait until your friends have fully awakened. Then we may discuss things with you."

XXXXX

When all of others had awakened, the doctor got up from her chair, as did the strangely dressed man. Making her way to the nearest door, she gestured for the others to follow.

Only once they were all walking down the hallway did she begin to speak.

"I suppose you all are wondering where we are?"

"Well, I do believe that is the obvious first question, followed by 'who are you?' and 'why are you here?'," replied Cassandra.

The doctor chuckled at this, clearly amused by the future girl's statement. "True enough. So, to answer your questions, this is Prehistoric Park's Northern Research Center, I am Dr. Anne Green, and I work here."

Elise turned to look at her brothers. "Northern Research Center?"

Tristan was the first to answer. "According to the notes dad gave us, which you never really got around to reading, this place is mostly for studying the montane fauna of the island."

"It's also meant to be a cultural outreach center for the natives," added Sean. "Apparently, the natives mostly stick to living on parts of the island north of the mountains."

Cassandra turned her attention back toward Anne. "I suppose that you must be close to one of their major settlements, then, correct?"

Anne smiled softly. "Yes, we are. In fact, this portion of the facility is located at the base of the mountains, and actually is within the nearest large settlement of the native people, the Mankua."

"So if we walk out the doors in front of us, we'll be inside a large village?"

"In a manner of speaking," replied the man. Before anyone could question him or his companion, the doors in front of the group opened.

As one, the group came to a halt, eyes wide and mouths agape.

They'd expected to see a tribal village, maybe a small stony city like those the Maya, Inca, and Aztecs had built. Instead, they found themselves within a modern city, with cars and buildings one would expect to see in first world nations. Traditional settlements were visible in the distance, but they were outnumbered by buildings from...well, actually many different time periods. It was as if someone had decided to pluck buildings from different times in history and then make a city out of them. Going by the outfits worn by the citizens, the things plucked from history also included people...

Oh, and the animals. While some people had pet dogs and cats, with the occasional crocodile, others had dinosaurs wearing leashes and walking through the streets, hissing at each other and marking their territory like the most common of pets. One person even had a sail-backed amphibian of some sort riding on his shoulder.

With some difficulty, the gathered park staff managed to close their gaping maws. Yet when they turned to look at their two 'guides', any attempt to speak only resulted in choked gasping coming from the group. Anne couldn't help but laugh at this.

"I assume that you have questions regarding this place?"

Unable to speak, the group merely nodded.

"Unsurprising."

Before she went on, Anne turned her attention to the group's guide, Mancho. Only when he gave her a subtle nod did she deign to continue.

"As you are aware, the park uses a time portal to go back into the past so that you may rescue extinct creatures to give them a second chance."

The team nodded.

"Well, did you ever consider how your father figured out this was possible?"

No voices were raised to answer this question.

"I see. Well, as it turns out, there are naturally existing time portals all over the world. Your father found several in locations all over the globe, which inspired him to design the park's portal. In fact, I believe that some of them opened on this island while you have been working here. Did anyone happen to see weird, glowing masses of what appeared to be glass shards that spit out animals?"

After a moment, Tristan and Michelle raised their hands, gaining them shocked and hurt looks from their friends and siblings.

"Odd. I thought more people would have seen them by now. No matter. Anyway, Tiberius Saurus (or, in other settings, Wyatt Arthur Thompson) found this island years ago while investigating these portals in the Caribbean. When he met with the natives, it turned out they had known about these for years, and had learned a few things that Wyatt hadn't. For example, Wyatt had discovered that these temporal anomalies generated radio interference at 87.6 FM and are magnetic in nature, but these people determined that the anomalies can be contained in a cage created from sufficiently magentic materials, such as magentite."

Realization dawn on several of the teens.

"Yes, those magnetite pillars are a sort of anomaly cage."

"Um, excuse me?" interrupted Cassandra.

"Yes?"

"How long, exactly, have these...anomalies been opening?"

Anne thought for a moment. "Honestly, I have no clue, but given their nature, likely since the dawn of time. On this island, they have been opening since the rise of the Mankua people, which was three thousand years ago. Portals to the past, both distant and recent, have opened here, though none to the future, as far as I can tell."

"And how many creatures have come through them?"

"Enough for my people to raise and breed them," answered the native man. "Among others, we have had success in breeding the great long necked flying reptiles as mounts."

"...You ride pterosaurs?"

"I believe you call them...azdharchids."

"...Do you call them Skybacks?" questioned Sean.

"Some do. I don't."

Anne cleared her throat. "Before we discuss more about the Mankua, may I ask you all a question?"

"Shoot," answered Elise.

"Why were you here? Nigel sent out a staff notice that there was a missing wooly rhino, but your group seems too heavily armed for trying to recapture that one creature."

The group shared a glance, before all shrugging, and nonverbally nominating Tristan to answer for them. "...We're hunting a dangerous predator that arrived in the park after our last adventure."

"And why is it so dangerous that you would want to bring shotguns to capture it?"

"...It came from the future."

Anne had just pulled out a bottle of water to drink when she heard those words, and promptly did a spit-take when she heard that answer. "What?! It came from a time that has yet to be?"

"Yes. And it seems to like killing people. As for the description you're going to want, it's bald, eyeless-"

"Does it have a hole in the center of its face?"

"Wha-y-yes, it does."

"I see. One moment, please."

Pulling out a tablet, Anne fidgeted with the device until a nearby billboard lit up, displaying a very familiar and terrifying picture.

"This it?"

"...Yes. Has it shown up here?"

"It has," affirmed the native man. "It has been attacking livestock for the last five days, resulting in a number of hospitalizations. "More worrisome, though, is that its presence has agitated other invasive creatures into attacking more frequently."

"Define invasive species?"

"Observe the billboard for clarification."

Soon, a new image appeared on the billboard. Instantly, the group felt an intense moment of revulsion. Something Irene felt the need to vocalize.

"Is that a corpse?"

"Not quite," spoke the native man. "Though it resembles one, and is indeed called a walking corpse, its actually a living creature. Carrion, however, seems to be a primary component of its diet, and it often scavenges the remains of other creatures kills."

"Then why is it a danger?"

"Because if no corpses are available, then it will kill a living creature and let the corpse rot. It seems they prefer to eat decaying flesh."

Elise turned toward Sean. "Doesn't that sound like a necrophage from the Witcher?"

Sean just shrugged.

Once again, Anne cleared her throat. "While I am aware that you would like to investigate these strange occurrences, I must request that you please wait one day - I would like to be sure that you all have recovered from your current injuries before you try to acquire new ones."

The team was ready to object, but a stern glare from the doctor told them their would be no room for arguments. Thus, reluctantly, they conceded to her demands.

Anne smiled. "Thank you. Now, if you would please follow Hucua, we will lead you to your animal compatriots."

XXXXXXXXX

AN: Good grief, this took forever to write!

Anyway, sorry about the infodump being so wordy, but I really wanted to clarify a bunch of things here and now, mostly because were two chapters away from a really, REALLY important event for this story.

Also, while it might look like it, the city shown in this chapter isn't a utopia - I don't like just making utopias out of whole cloth. If a place is a utopia, we'll see what made it into a utopia.

Now enough whining from me.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!