SURVIVAL

7 - Evidence Had

For the rest of the night, no one could sleep. Any and every sound they heard from someone adjusting where they sat to tree trunks creaking in the wind as they swayed kept everyone alert. Terrence intently listened to the crickets to know if and or when they stopped chirping. He knew after spending as much time in the wilderness as he did that anytime the crickets got silent, something was out there that generally wasn't.

The extra weapons and ammo that DeAndre and Miguel carried were recovered. DeAndre's rifle was no longer salvageable after getting stepped on by the T-Rex, but at least the rounds in the ammunition magazine could still be used. Meanwhile, Miguel's body was picked over like vultures to a feast. His pocket knife, wallet, rifle and extra magazine rounds were stripped from his person. Terrence felt crappy inside for not at least burying Miguel. Doing so would hold back the hunters' progress in their searching the island for any more possible traces of their hybrid target. And right now, time was of the essence. The quicker they concluded their search, the faster they could get off that damned rock.

Come sunrise, Terrence hadn't received any more signs of Pet's presence within the vicinity. He knew better than to believe she had fallen victim to the T-Rex at one point in the night. After all, he was pretty confident everything that transpired the night before, shy of Miguel getting shot and killed by friendly fire, was according to her plan. Unable to sit there and drown in the haunting silence anymore, Terrence got to his feet.

In doing so, he startled Simon and Alex. The game warden nervously cleared his throat. "I'm just going to go take a walk for a minute. I won't be far."

He trudged to a set of rocks located near a gorge's ledge and plopped down to watch the sunrise over the stretch of mountains directly in front of him. It was a beautiful sight. Brilliant shades of lavenders and pinks painted the clouds dotting the pastel blue of the morning sky. The view was enough to make him forget the fact his shirt was now soaked in sweat due to the humidity or the horrors that transpired only hours before. It was no matter. Terrence sat, at peace with himself and slowly inhaled the fresh, tropical morning air.

The soft voice of a young woman filled his ears. "Terrence?"

His watching the sunrise and enjoying the serenading chirping of birds was broken. Pet was there? But where? There was no place for her to hide. He glanced around to make sure he was as alone as he could be from the other men. "Pet?"

"Mhm."

It sounded as though the voice was coming from under him and in between the crack of two rocks. "Where are you?"

"Underneath you. There's a little cubby hole under the rocks."

That made sense. Terrence still felt torn about the hybrid not having her choker. "How're you feeling?"

Pet huffed a laugh and shrugged to herself. "Could be better, could be worse. You?"

"Ready to get out of this hell hole." The two were silent for a moment, the sun's rays now starting to break over the mountain tops.

"Terrence?" There was something in her voice much different than he had ever heard.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

The man could only wonder what it was she possibly wanted. She never asked for favors from anyone. "Sure."

"Don't tell anyone I'm alive. Not a single person. Make them believe I'm dead. InGen will most likely have, if not already, eyes in place to watch anyone who had past associations with me. They'll be looking for anything to give them a reason to come back and hunt me down should this trip not prove enough evidence."

Terrence nodded. "Alright."

"And something else..." Pet unzipped the front pocket of her backpack to withdraw the picture she had tucked within it since leaving the visitor center. She took one last look at it, her teary eyes never leaving the bright ones of Muldoon's in the picture. "Give this to Robert." She folded it back up and slid it in the crack between the two rocks. "Make sure he gets it...and the collar! No one else can have it, understood? He's the one who gave it to me, and he's the one who should have it back."

Terrence wedged a couple of fingers into the crack to get the picture. For a brief moment, his fingertips brushed against hers. The contact might have been subtle, but it was overpowering with emotion. "I promise."

He took a quick glance at the picture and folded it back up to slide it into his shirt's front pocket. Behind him, he could hear Jose frantically calling. "Hey, boss!" In his hand was the satellite phone. Jose closed in on Terrence and handed him the phone. "It started ringing so I answered it. It's Mr. Ludlow."

Terrence accepted it with shaking hands and held it to his ear. "Yes?"

An all too cheery voice of Ludlow answered. "Good news, Mr. Mitchell and good morning. A helicopter from mainland is being sent to you via the coordinates you gave me last night."

"Excellent. I take it this little hunting trip is finished?"

Ludlow deviously smiled to himself on his end of the phone. "Just bring me the evidence so my technicians can test it for authenticity. I'll let you know more, afterward, but there shouldn't be a problem. Just tell your team to be ready for departure. The helicopter should be at your location somewhere around two hours, give or take."

Terrence sighed in relief and had to swap phone hands due to his first shaking so much in anticipation. "Will do, Mr. Ludlow, and thank you."

"No, no...Thank you!" The phone was quickly hung up.

Jose studied the team leader anxiously. "Well? What did he say?"

Terrence stood up wearing a smile stretching from ear to ear. "Tell the others to pack their shit. We're getting off this damn rock."


Further and further the helicopter flew till it was but spec against the now bright blue, morning sky. Even then, after a few more minutes, nothing remained of it. No sounds. No visual. It was as though it were never there and just as Pet preferred it. She slid down the trunk of a tree and to the ground along the north coast and sighed. She was alone, again. Habitually, she brought her hands to her neck where the collar usually was but remembered it was gone. Gone like the good old days in Kenya and before the Dennis Nedry induced disaster stripped her of her happiness. She had to accept it whether the wanted to or not. This was to be her fate until some willing force out there took her from the world.

She wasn't quite ready to accept it, though. She refused to. All of her life, she had grown up being provided for. When she was hungry, food was in the kitchen. Clothes, shelter and even medications were at her dispense. Medicine. It had been three months since her illness's little flare up and knew it was only a matter of time before it made an ugly appearance. What then? Just crawl off and die like a wounded animal? Her heart sunk in her chest the more she thought about her greatest fear coming to life; dying alone. Pet didn't bother restraining her cries this time. There was no need. She was alone. But did she have to be? Isla Sorna. It was right there. Well, not literally, but the closest option she had versus the nothing of Isla Nublar.

The boat docks. It had been her original plan to go to the docks and see if there was a transport boat. The boats were large enough to cross bodies of water such as the one dividing the two islands. They had even been modified to carry medium sized dinosaurs on the deck and smaller ones in kennels below. Momentarily forgetting her self-pity, Pet got to her feet and took off running the fastest she could.


Terrence couldn't believe it had already been a week since his return from the felled Jurassic adventure park hunt. Since returning, he traded in his jungle excursion clothing for a nice suit and tie. He hated ties. He hated suits. He even hated sitting there in the InGen headquarters, waiting to meet with Ludlow. Everything was clean and immaculate in arrangement on an OCD level. Ludlow's secretary's desk barely offered any decoration, except for a small glass dolphin statue. The other desks and offices he passed mirrored much of the same appearance as far as lack of decor went. There were no pictures to break up the monotony of the stretches of ecru walls except for the occasional blue letters of InGen's logo.

Terrence sighed. He checked his watch for the time to see it had been twenty minutes since his scheduled appointed meeting's time, and yet here he was, still waiting. How much longer was this going to go on? Lying next to him on an end table were a couple of magazines and decided to read one.

He got half way through mindlessly flipping through boring articles when Ludlow's office door opened. The man himself filled the doorway as a scheming smile contorted his features. "Ah, Mr. Mitchell. My apologies for the long wait. I was on the phone discussing some things with another executive."

Terrence stood up, adjusted his suit jacket and accepted the outstretched hand offered to him. That's perfectly all right, Mr. Ludlow. I understand completely."

The two men disappeared behind the polished oak door as they went to a mahogany desk located in front of a sizeable segmented window. Visible between the cracks of the blinds was the city of Palo Alto, California. Ludlow took it upon himself to sit in his dark red cushioned chair while Terrence sat in a more simplistic beige, cushioned chair.

Terrence's eyes instantly fell on the collar pushed to the side of Ludlow's desk and out of his immediate way. Ludlow noticed this and spoke, eyes never leaving the man. "Yes, about that. I read your complete report on your findings while on the island, and I must say, I'm impressed. Tell me, though, how did you come about locating the item?" He had already read everything about its finding in the report but wanted to hear it verbally explained. While halfway listening, Ludlow shifted through a manila folder kept safe in a desk drawer and nodded. "I sent the collar to a team of scientists and they ran several tests on it to make sure it's evidence wasn't faked. Traces of Tyrannosaur feces as well as the girl's DNA was detected in the leather. But what I don't understand is how 'fresh' the evidence appeared."

Terrence scowled. The dung pile was anything but fresh. "Define...'fresh.'"

"The evidence particles didn't look to be more than a day or two old." Ludlow sat the folder down and folded his hands before him. His gaze bore into the other man's, eager to hear a reasonable explanation.

Terrence could feel his heart rapidly beating in his chest and wondered if Ludlow could see this. "Does anyone know how long it takes for bodily waste to process through a Tyrannosaur?"

Ludlow pressed his mouth outwards in thought. "I see. As far as the girl goes...did you see any evidence supporting the possibility she had survived the Rex's attack?"

Did this man even read the report? Terrence had made sure to write everything out in just the right way to support the notion there was no way anyone could've lived the Rex's attack. Not to mention, his bringing up several times that he never came across the girl at all. "I did not see the girl the entire time I was on the island."

"That's not what I was asking. Did you see any evidence support the possibility she had-"

"No," Terrence snapped out. "I saw nothing." He was beginning to lose his professional composure, which he did not intend. He sounded more irritated and defensive in tone versus the calm and collected he told himself to remain. The executive cocked a brow in surprise at the outburst. "Sir, with all due respect, did you even read the report? I explained everything in thorough detail. I saw nothing of her or anything to suggest her surviving the Rex attack." Lies and the exact reason why he was so defensive. He hated lying. "All I found of the girl was a picture she had kept in a backpack and that!" He pointed to the collar.

"A picture? How is it you came across this picture?" The man sat up and leaned against his arms crossed over the desktop.

"In my searching the visitor center's offices, I came across a backpack. I searched it and found a picture." Thinking about it, he had carried it with him and had it stashed in an inside suit coat pocket. He removed it and held it up for Ludlow to see. "I kept it with the intent of giving it to Robert Muldoon. Whether or not you dislike the girl, he had raised her, and I felt it right he have it." The executive's face contorted into disapproval the moment he saw the offensive hybrid in the picture. "And I think it right he is given that back, too." Terrence pointed to the collar, again.

"Oh?" Ludlow shot the object of topic a sideways sneer and returned his attention on the man. "What makes you think I'd give it back to you?"


Twenty minutes later, Terrence was walking about of InGen's headquarters and across the parking to his Chevy Impala rental car. In his hand was the collar, its tag rattling on its metal ring securing it to the leather band. He unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat. Before starting the vehicle, he withdrew an envelope from the inside of his suit coat and opened it up. Inside was a check for one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars written and signed by Peter Ludlow. The game warden smiled in triumph to himself and started the car, driving off.