SURVIVAL

2 - Pet Tracks

Pet shouldered her backpack containing various supplies and left the control room. She had gone through the compound to salvage what she could of medical supplies, packaged food rations, bottles of clean water and various odds and ends hand tools. She had even found a few emergency flares in the vehicle repair shop. She debated on taking a pair of night vision goggles but decided against it. They were heavy and bulky and would only be more of a burden to carry than what it was worth. Besides, she had her heightened senses to help her.

She was on her way down the hall and heading to the stairs when she heard it. Voices. Her eyes got large and in a rush of excitement, ran to the stairs.

Terrence could tell something terrible happened in the lobby of the visitor center. Two medium-sized bodies of barely recognizable creatures were sprawled on the floor. He noticed their feet looked much like the hybrid's he came to hunt down. These must be the famed Velociraptors he had heard Pet talk so much about. All around the bodies were remnants of what he assumed had been a skeletal display. A banner was also crumpled on the floor amongst the bones and corpses.

One of the men in the group picked up a corner of it to read what he could. "When dinosaurs roamed," he further stretched it out, "the earth."

Terrence gave a quick glance around the rest of the room. "Shoot to kill any more of those things you see. If you see the girl, tranq her. Only!"

That voice sounded vaguely familiar to Pet. She peered around a hallway corner and down at the familiar face of Terrence Mitchell. Her brow furrowed in bewilderment and shock. Tranq her? Was this InGen's idea? Or even Hammond's? Did the wealthy tycoon have this planned all along when he told her he'd come back for her? To set her up to be an easy target for a kill squad?

Whatever the scenario, she was sure the game warden was all too excited to be the one to hunt her down. The feeling of betrayal burned in her chest, and she closed her eyes in both anger and sadness. She wasn't one to trust anyone, especially Hammond, and yet she had gradually allowed herself to open up to him. She had even come to have a small respect for Terrence as well, even though she couldn't stand working with him for the time she did.

Everything she had done for Hammond over the years, or at least she thought, had now come down to this. He had hired a team to come and find her and possibly kill her, led by the one man he knew would happily get the job done. Not wanting to stick around anymore, Pet hunkered to the floor and fled the area.

"Split up," Terrence ordered. "Search every room. Miguel and Alex, check the maintenance shed." The two men, both Hispanic, nodded their heads and proceeded through the building to the employee only exit. A movement of shadows along a wall on the upper floor caught the game warden's attention. He looked upwards to it. "The rest of you, split up and search the rest of the compound. I'll get the upstairs. Radio if any of you see anything." He flexed his grip around his rifle and strode towards the stairs, curious to know what or who he saw.

Pet stopped in her tracks when she remembered her backpack she sat down on the floor. She was about to go back for it when she heard Terrence coming up the stairs. She knew she would be seen should she go back for it and figured it best to leave it. She scurried around the corner of the hall and waited there, holding her breath.

Terrence topped the stairs and paused. He saw the backpack against the wall and went over to it. Curious, he unzipped it and started going through the contents to find medical supplies, granola bars, a flashlight and... emergency flares? Okay. Whatever. When he undid one of the front pockets, he saw the picture Pet had put there.

The man pursed his lips and sighed. He slid the picture back into the pocket and zipped it closed. He whispered to himself. "I know you're here, Pet, but where?" Terrence put the backpack on and readied his weapon, scanning the shadows for any other movement.

He dared not call after her, seeing how it would draw the attention of the other men, and continued down the hallway to a nearby office. He paused shy of the door and read the sign stating 'Park Animal Warden' on the door. Cautiously, the man approached the partially opened door and paused. He kept his rifle up in case he should fall victim to a surprise attack and nudged the door further open with the muzzle. Seeing the room dark, he flicked on the light switch to find the warden office surprisingly in order. He visually searched every feature of the office before his attention settled on a calendar hanging on the wall by a desk.

Pet slowly glanced around the hallway corner and watched the man disappear into the room. Quietly, she crawled over to the door and peered through the hinged crack between the door and frame to see what he was doing. To her desk he tiptoed and to the calendar, he stopped. He ran a finger over the crossed-out dates and furrowed his brow in question.

He checked his watch to see the current day left un-crossed and nodded to himself. "Just as I thought. Someone's been marking off the days."

In the hallway, Pet grimaced. After working with the game warden as long as she had, she knew he was a decent tracker and knew it was only a matter of time before she was found. Usually, the hybrid was really good about covering her tracks when being hunted, but this time, the hunting party was sudden notice, which gave her no time to prepare.

Terrence took the calendar off the wall and stashed it in the backpack. "Should the wrong people see this, they'll know you're alive somewhere out there."

Pet saw the man turn back towards the door and darted out of sight before she was spotted. She wasn't sure how much longer she could continue eluding the hunters before getting caught.

The hybrid could hear his footsteps come closer to where she knelt and took cover within a nearby administrations office. She kept the door cracked just enough to watch the man come into view and hoped he would walk on past. But, much her to dismay, he didn't. Terrence paused, feeling as though he wasn't alone, and analyzed each of the four office doors. Two were closed and presumably locked, a third wide open and the fourth, which was closest to him, partially cracked.

Keeping a tight grip on his rifle, he neared the door and pushed it open with his boot. Though he didn't see anyone, he had a pretty good feeling Pet was there and he was right. Huddled underneath the office's desk, facing away from the door, was the terrified hybrid.

Terrence sighed and spoke in a faint whisper. "I know you're there and despite what you're thinking right now, I'm not here to hurt you." He lowered the rifle to emphasize his point and anxiously searched the hallways to make sure he was still alone. "There are others, though, that are here to hurt you. In-Gen will do whatever it takes to make sure you're no longer a company threat. They hired me specifically to lure you out of hiding in case you were alive. Whatever you do you must stay hidden and no matter what, do not attack anyone." He hung his head in regret. "In the meantime, I'll do what I can to keep them off your trail while I think of some way to get evidence supporting your being 'dead.'" He slid off the backpack and set it down inside the office. "Good luck," he concluded and gently closed the door behind him.