THE LOST WORLD
7 - Survival in Numbers
Pet tore through the jungle and to where she remembered the trailer to be. Only problem was, it wasn't there. Why wasn't it there? Skid marks led from where the trailer had been to the cliff's ledge. She barked out in panic and ran to the land shelf to peer over it. There, hanging by a rope tied to a tree trunk was Ian, Sarah, and Nick. Wait, there were only three people when there should've been four? Where was Eddie? She looked around thinking she had maybe missed his car parked somewhere off to the side, but it wasn't. That's when she saw it; the overhead spotlights that had been mounted to the top of the vehicle's roof.
"Oh no," she choked out and frowned to herself.
Pet returned to the cliff's ledge and called down. "Is everyone all right?"
Ian answered back. "Do we look all right to you?" Wait, why was she there? She should be in the High Hide with Kelly. "Where's Kelly!?" But the hybrid was gone when he looked up.
One at a time the trio climbed, Sarah appalled when she saw the hybrid wasn't alone. A mud-covered man wearing a tan hat and holding a rifle held a hand out for her to take. Sarah accepted the helpful gesture and crawled back onto solid ground. The remaining two stranded people were assisted to safety as Kelly nearly knocked Ian over when she collided with him in a hug of relief.
Roland looked to Pet, her nodding an appreciative thank you. He approached her and lowered his gaze on her. "After everything you've been through and yet, here you are ever insistent on helping them. Why?"
Pet answered. "Guess that's what distinguishes the animal from the human. If I were to leave them there to die, I'd be no better than that piece of shit over there." She gestured to an oblivious Ludlow with a tilt of her head and an aim of her eyes.
"Hmm," Roland thought out loud. "Guess Robert was right about you." Pet lowered her brow in question. "You are more human than given credit for." He patted her on the head and walked away. A devilish smile upturned his stressed features in knowing how much she hated that. Her snorting a growl let him know this was still the case.
The group trudged back through the jungle wilds and to where InGen's camp had been. "Salvage what you can," Roland ordered out to the men. He approached the ruined satellite and frowned at it. Ian and his team joined as they circled the trampled piece of equipment. "Our communication equipment has been destroyed, and if your radio and satellite phone were in those trailers that went off the cliff-"
"They were," Ian interrupted.
"Then we're stuck here, ladies and gentlemen and stuck together thanks to you people!" Roland waved a hand at Ian's group, Dieter pushing past Ian and giving him an acidic glare.
Nick spoke up next. "We came here to watch. You came here to strip-mine the place." He didn't like how Dieter was challenging him and bowed up. "Back off," he spat.
Ludlow chided in next. "At least we came prepared." The snide tone of his voice set Pet off, and she shrieked a bark which startled him.
Ian grabbed her by the arm to force her calm. "Five years of work and electrified fence couldn't prepare the other island, and you think your Marlboro men were going to make a difference here?"
Nick nodded in agreement. "It's a looter mentality. You came to take. You have no rights..."
Ludlow was rather offended at the comment and snapped his attention away from the satellite dish and to the other man. "An extinct animal brought back to life has no rights. It exists because we made it. We patented it. We own it. Just like other experiments that shall not be named..." His blue eyes cut down on Pet pacing behind Ian and Nick.
"No man owns me," Pet spat back.
Dieter closed in on Nick again, which further irritated Nick. "You looking for a problem?"
"And I found you, didn't I?" His breath was rank with the residual traces of whiskey.
A spark of anger ignited a fire of rage in Nick, and he grabbed the man, shoving him away. He was prepared to swing at him, next, but Ian held him back just as Dieter's companions did him.
Roland cut in between the two men and forced them further apart. He planted a finger in Nick's chest and smirked. "I know you! You're that Earth First bastard!"
Ludlow was confused. "Earth First? What's that?"
"Professional saboteurs," Roland answered in disdain.
"Environmentalists!" Nick raged back.
"Criminals!" Corrected Roland. He looked to Pet. "And you're dealing with these people? I thought Robert taught you better than that."
The hybrid snorted a bark and flared her teeth at the other. "Coming from you? My godfather, who just so happens to be working for the man that tried to have me killed? That's rich, Roland."
Sarah had had about enough. "Knock it off!" She took a stance between the two rivalry groups. "Listen to me!"
Pet would rather not. She rolled her eyes and trudged away. She sat down on a half-broken crate and rested her chin in the palms of her hands. From the corner of her eye, she could see two men stare at her and hear them whisper under their breath. She shrieked and sent the two men scurrying to get away from her. She scoffed and looked back at the conversing group of people.
Pet could hear her least favorite person explain. "There's a communications center here," Ludlow exclaimed as he pointed to a spot on a map, "near the old operations buildings." Pet's interest peeked when she heard the mention of the central operations building. She knew that area all too well. It was raptor territory, and they weren't very welcoming to those outside their pack. She tilted her head and slowly stood up to rejoin the group. The executive's plan was a terrible idea in the making. "Everything is ran on geothermal power. It was never meant to need replenishing. If we can get here, we can send a radio call to the airlift."
Pet spoke up. "And I'm to guess you're to be leading the charge for this little quest?"
Ludlow's expression became irate. How dare she speak to him in such a manner! Ian interrupted. "Do you know the frequency?"
Ludlow looked back at Ian. "It's right here in this book." He withdrew a small notebook from his pocket, but it was just as quickly taken from his hand by Roland.
"How far is the village?" Nick questioned.
"A days walk, maybe more." The CEO's attention was quickly stolen by a flask laying abandoned in the mud. "That's not the problem." He took a deep swig from the flask.
Roland was worried. "What is? What is the problem?"
Pet snorted out, "Velociraptors."
Ludlow pointed a finger at her and continued to swig from the flask. "Velociraptors," he repeated and resealed the flask. "Our infrared scans show that their nesting sites are concentrated in the island's interior, which is why we plan to keep to the outer rim."
Dieter cut in, his own flask in hand. "Wait, wait, wait. What's a Veloci...?"
Burke took it upon himself to answer. "Velociraptor. Carnivore, a pack hunter. About two meters tall, long snout, binocular vision, strong, dexterous forearms, killing claws on both feet..." In his explaining, he had made his way to where Pet stood. "Something like her-" he motioned to the hybrid, "but more dinosaur and less... uh, woman." They two people met stares, Pet arching a brow. "What are you exactly? Did InGen make you, too?" Pet hissed a screech.
Sarah spoke up. "The Rexes may track us, too, if they feel we're a threat to them."
Burke shook his head. "No, you're wrong there Dr. Harding, we'll lose them once we leave their territory."
"No, don't bet on it." She rolled her eyes. "Tyrannosaur has the largest proportional olfactory cavity of any creature in the fossil record, except one."
Pet was glad she had watched all those paleontology specials of Dr. Grant's from years past. Otherwise she would have been absolutely confused on what was being said.
Ludlow opened the flask again and finished off the rest of the liquor within in it. The group of people proceeded to bicker with one another. Pet sighed. Why did it always have to come down to bickering? Her idea of solving an issue was using dominant force. Just fight it out and whoever was the last one standing was the winner of the argument. But that was the raptor in her thinking.
"Then we head for the village," Roland stated. "We might find shelter, and we can call for help. Rex just fed, so he won't stalk us for food."
Ian was offended. "Just fed? You mean Eddie? You might show a little respect; the man saved our lives by giving his!"
"Then his troubles are over," Roland solemnly stated. "My point is, predators don't' hunt when they're not hungry."
Nick called out, "No, only humans do."
"Oh, you're breaking our hearts," the hunter replied back over his shoulder. Pet gave one look to Ian before she turned on a foot to follow the hunter. "Saddle up! Let's get this moveable feast underway!"
She met the man's pace, curious. "Do you honestly think those men stand a chance against a nest of raptors?"
"Better survivability in numbers. That is," he tossed a backward glance over his shoulder to the men lingering behind, "if they can all keep up and stay together."
