CHAPTER 3

Seth meandered down the center of the dirt road, his head plugged into a set of foam earphones. A compact disc-man lay perfectly flat in the palm of his left hand, its AA battery powered spindle softly humming away.

It was his first week on the Island of Isla Sorna, or Site B as most of the personnel referred to it. Seth had actually encountered a few superstitious Hispanic workers who explained that Isla Sorna was part of a cursed island chain they called The Five Deaths. Seth was not big on superstition.

On either side of the street there were small wood cabins that served as living quarters for the staff. During the day the village was mostly deserted except for a few other kids that he'd seen around. At the end of the street there were a handful of commodities: A commissary, a gas station, a recreational center, and a swimming pool.

Seth veered towards the commissary. He tripped over a stone in the road and his disc-man went tumbling from his palm. Although he caught it quickly the player had already lost its place. In that moment Seth strangely found himself missing cassette tapes. With a sigh he pulled the headphones down around his neck and shut off the CD player.

He walked up to a row of vending machines at the front of the commissary and bought a soda. As soon as he cracked it open he chugged half the can. Wiping his lips he purchased a bag of chips and peeled open the bag. He set his disc-man and soda on a near by picnic table and dove his hand into the crunchy grease coated snack.

As he put his full fingers to his mouth a chip fell to the ground. A moment later a small dark figure darted out from behind a garbage can and snatched it away. With a chattering screech the critter was gone.

Seth's heart jumped a little. He hadn't gotten used to that yet. Comps were everywhere. The village was crawling with them. Seth had noted that they particularly enjoyed rummaging through trash like rats or seagulls. His mom had called them compsognathus or some technical name like that. She told him they were harmless unless you were severely injured or all together dead.

In the short amount of time Seth had lived at Site B he'd overheard conversations that he was certain he shouldn't have. He was awoken late one night to his mother having a loud argument over the phone. From what he could gather there was a problem with the dinosaurs that INGEN had been cloning. They were all supposed to be female, but they weren't, and no one could figure out why. It was apparently the reason the comps had overrun the island. Their babies were so small they slipped right through the cages.

It seemed the issue had only been observed among the smaller dinosaurs thus far. Seth clearly recalled the moment his mother shouted, "Heaven forbid, Dr. Wu made the same mistake with the velociraptors!"

Seth shook off the thought and dug into his bag of chips. As he munched quietly the sound of three ATVs screamed up the street. In a cloud of dust they swerved to a halt in front of the commissary.

Dallas eyed Seth up and down for a moment and then nodded. "Hey, new kid. You got a name?"

Seth finished chewing and swallowed his mouthful of chips. He wasn't sure about this guy in the cowboy hat who was sizing him up.

"Seth." He finally mumbled and immediately went for a gulp of his soda.

"Well, Seth how'd you like to go for a little ride?"

Seth looked at the ATVs quietly but didn't answer. Dallas could see that he was dealing with a shy individual.

"This here is Shelly and Kyra. My friends call me Dallas." He stuck a thumb at his chest.

"His name is Earl Jr!" Kyra blurted with a laugh.

"Like I said, my friends call me Dallas." He gave Kyra a foul eye and then turned back to Seth with a smile. "So what do ya say partner?"

"I don't know how to ride a four-wheeler." Seth stated quietly.

"You can ride with me." Kyra said quickly. She patted the back of her seat with a friendly grin.

"Well…" Seth paused. "Shouldn't I be wearing a helmet or something?"

Kyra rolled her eyes, hopped off her four-wheeler, and snatched the helmet off of Shelly's head.

"There you go." She shoved the helmet into Seth's arms.

Seth felt a crunch against his stomach, and he knew that his bag of chips had been crushed.

"Looks like you're out of excuses buddy." Dallas chuckled.

"Ok." Seth was reluctant. He guzzled the last of his soda, dumped his chips on the ground, and threw his trash away.

Seth watched as a swarm of comps sprang from the bushes to gorge themselves on the crumbs. To him they looked like a lizard and a bird had a baby. For the most part their bodies were shaped like a skinny chicken, but they had a long tail and bright green scales. Between the scales they had wiry brown feathers protruding all over. It reminded Seth of boars' hair.

Suddenly Dallas was off his four-wheeler and slapping Seth on the back. "Its alright bud. I'll spot ya another bag of chips. Now come on."

Dallas and Kyra had Seth by the arms now. When they led him to the ATV Kyra got on first.

"Go on." Dallas gave Seth a little nudge.

Seth looked down at the helmet and passed it back to Dallas. "You can give this back to Shelly. I think I'll be ok without it."

"That's the spirit Seth! Live free or die baby!" Dallas slapped his shoulder and got on his ATV.

"Hey, cowboy. Isn't that New Hampshire's motto?" Shelly poked fun at Dallas as she twisted her helmet back on her head.

"It applies don't it?" Dallas shrugged.

Seth looked down at the seat behind Kyra. With a deep breath he swung his leg over.