CHAPTER 37

The ATVs rolled out of the jungle and onto a dirt road. Running parallel to the road on the other side was an electric fence. As the four-wheelers came to a stop, Shelly, Dallas, and Kyra cut off their engines. The whole group listened in silence, waiting to hear the sound again.

"There." Shelly pointed to the right. "I hear it right over there."

Shelly hopped off her ATV and started walking a little way down the road. The rest of the group proceeded to climb off their four-wheelers and follow her. As Seth trailed near Kyra he bent his ear toward the noise. It seemed to be an electrical tone, like the kind you'd hear if you left your keys in the ignition. Seth had a stroke of anxiety hit him. His heart began to race.

"Does anyone else think maybe we shouldn't be doing this?" He quickened his pace to get closer to the group. He wanted to make sure he was heard. "I mean, what if its a car or something. We don't wanna get caught out here. Do we?"

"Seth does have a point." Kyra chimed in. As she said it, something on the ground caught her eye and she stopped.

Seth stumbled and bumped into her from behind. "What is it?"

Kyra bent down and poked at the piece of shredded fabric she had seen. It looked like the upper portion of a pair of pants. Yes, there was a pocket, and it still had something inside it. She stuffed her hand in and pulled out a wallet. It was black, leather, and crammed thick with credit cards, like a hamburger. Kyra flopped it open and found the driver's license. "Geoffrey Maddox... I think he works with Dallas' dad." Next to the license was a key card, the kind that all Site-B personnel used to access restricted areas. She snapped the wallet shut. And tried to stuff it in the pocket of her small jean shorts, but there was no way. "Here, Seth. You hold onto it."

Seth took the wallet and stuck it in his pocket, but he really wasn't paying her attention. He had the shred of fabric held up to his face. "Do those look like blood stains to you?"

"Oh my God." Dallas blurted.

Shelly had stopped short, and he had almost walked her over. Now they stood and stared into the trees to their right. Less than a moment later, Kyra and Seth were right beside them.

Seth peered into the jungle and could scarcely believe what he saw. Beneath the shade of the canopy there was an overturned jeep wedged against the side of a tree trunk. The vehicle's windshield was shattered, its canvas top shredded. One dim headlamp beamed into the woods. It had clearly been shining for hours without the motor running. The electric tone they heard was growing weaker. It was intermittent and scratchy.

Seth swallowed hard. "What do we do?"

"We aren't even supposed to be out here." Dallas folded his hands over the top of his head and squeezed. The tone in his voice implied that they should leave.

"I know you're not thinking about being that coldhearted, Dallas." Shelly looked at him with judgement. "We're not just gunna walk away. Someone could obviously be hurt."

"I know you're right." Dallas snapped. "It's just... Just come on." He dropped his hands and started off toward the jeep wreck.

Everyone else followed into the jungle without a word. When Dallas reached the jeep he crouched down near the driver's side door and craned his head in the window.

"There's nobody here." He sounded surprised and relieved. "There sure is a lot of blood though." Stretching his arm around the steering wheel, he pulled the keys from the ignition and dropped them on the overturned roof with a metal jingle.

Dallas leaned away and Shelly and Kyra poked their heads in.

Kyra glanced around at the blood stains and stood up after not long. "Where could they have gone?"

"They could be anywhere." Dallas scanned the immediate area. "Might have gotten thrown from the vehicle."

"Hey guys. What is this?" Seth was on the opposite side of the jeep, examining something on the ground.

As the others came around they saw what he was looking at. Sticking out from under the jeep was the crushed body of a dinosaur. The creature looked to be a bit larger than a man. Its head was twisted back in a painful arch, capturing the animal's sharp teeth in an ugly grimace. Its arms and legs appeared to be snapped like twigs at the joints, the talons of which were splayed at all angles. The bulk of the dinosaur's torso remained pinned under the vehicle's roll bar.

"Dallas, did we end up on the wrong side of a fence?" Kyra stared at the beast with a welling fear in her eye.

"Not a chance." Dallas was quick to shake his head. "We've been through this spot plenty of times. We're not even that far from the village."

Shelly inched closer to the dead animal. "It looks a whole lot like a-"

"We all know what it looks like, Shelly." Dallas cut in. "It's not supposed to be here."

"I've never seen one with so many feathers before." Shelly reached out to feel the dinosaur's mane.

"Never mind the feathers." Dallas pulled at her shoulder. We ought to get out of here."

"Kyra, what is that thing?" Seth asked.

"Your mom hasn't taken you to see the velociraptors yet?" She turned to him with a curious eye.

"I haven't seen half the stuff out here." Seth answered.

"Hey, you two. Come on." Dallas thrust a thumb in the air over his shoulder. "If there's more of them out here, we're already in trouble."

"Come on, Seth." Kyra took his wrist.

"What's a vel-oci-raptor?" Seth was thinking back. He couldn't recall being shown anything like that before.

"Let's put it this way." Kyra was consciously keeping her voice lower. She leaned closer to Seth's ear so he could hear her. "I'd rather be caught on the same side of the fence with Rebirtha."

Seth didn't quite know what to make of that. He was still trying to process the notion that they might be in real danger. As they hiked back to the road, every little sound made his blood jump. Was it just a skittering comp, or was it something else?

As the group walked out onto the dirt road they turned toward the ATVs and froze in their tracks. Their four-wheelers were surrounded.