Eric waited until the ground no longer shook under the weight of the dinosaur that had been chasing them, until the footsteps faded well into the distance, before guiding both boys out of the water. He left them to clean up the muck and dry off while he checked the surrounding area for wild animals. With the break in the fence, who knew what else they could run into.

And it would give the boys some time to talk without some weird-ass random stranger around.

As he searched the surrounding area for signs of wildlife - broken branches, scat…blood - he tried to get his bearings in his head. From what he saw of the maps back in the Innovation Center, he remembered there being a road close to the river. The only issue was he didn't remember the waterfall on the map.

He shrugged off his plaid shirt and winced at the tattered back.

His favourite shirt.

The…whatever it was had managed to snag his shirt as he jumped off the cliff, but his body weight had allowed him to tear free from its grasp.

Sighing, he wrapped the remains of the shirt around his waist to dispose of later. Or use for survival. You never knew when a piece of cotton would come in handy for any number of reasons.

Ahead, the jungle still offered no answers on where to go.

Did he lead the boys straight on, following where the river would've flowed?

Did they go east?

West?

Closing his eyes, he tried to picture the map.

He was pretty sure the valley was to his left, which should be west. That meant if he took the boys to the right, in theory that would be east of the river where the road was. In theory.

After a minute just listening to the sounds of the jungle and hearing nothing ominous, he walked back to where the boys were waiting. Zach had his arm around Gray and had given the kid his hoodie.

"What now?" Zach asked.

Eric shook his head. "Doesn't look like there's anything else around we need to worry about for now, so we go that way," he said, pointing east.

Zach's arm tightened around Gray. "You're sure?"

"There's a road there," Gray said. When Eric arched an amused eyebrow at the kid, he added, "Saw it on the map."

Grinning, Eric muttered, "Should've just asked you instead of trying to remember." He took a few steps in the direction of the road, peering into the jungle again just to be safe. When he saw nothing, he turned back to the boys. "Well?"

Gray started walking, but was held back by Zach. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Eric crossed his arms and looked at the boys. It was a fair question - he was a total stranger after all, just some weird guy who offered them candy during the tour. He took a minute and assessed Zach - the kid was just trying to protect his younger brother. And he remembered being, what, 16? 17? Blunt was probably the way to go. "You can either come with me or risk running into that thing again alone. Up to you."

While Zach was obviously trying to stare him down, Eric wasn't about to have a staring contest in the middle of the jungle while being chased by a massive carnivore. Instead, he shrugged before turning back to the trees and heading off toward the road. Hopefully.

He wasn't a giant asshole, though, so he kept an eye over his shoulder on the kids and didn't walk too quickly. At least, he supposed, Zach was paying more attention to his brother than his phone finally.

The boys argued a bit before Gray sighed and asked what Zach's plan was. Eric bit back a grin when Zach straightened his back, then proclaimed they should head for the road. He was a little stubborn, but it seemed the kid had some sense.

Eric pressed ahead through the jungle, making sure to keep at an easy pace for the boys to follow.

Nic chewed her lip nervously as they got closer and closer to the wreck. The Indominus was hunting for sport and she couldn't help but think of her parents, who died at the hands of poachers, in the name of hunting for sport. She tried not to remember what it had been like to come back to the campsite with Eric to find them….

Shaking her head, she forced herself to look out the window for any sign of her cousin. There wasn't any time to remember when he could be out there, running for his life. Eric was all she had left, the only person who was there for her in spite of everything. And she couldn't lose him.

In the rearview, she saw Claire still trying to call her nephews. Part of her wondered if it was the wisest idea. Then again, if they weren't answering, they probably had the phone off. And if it kept Claire from freaking out, who was she to judge?

As they neared the van, she saw bits of metal scattered in the field along with blood and gore. The bodies of a group of Ankylosauruses lay close to the van and Nic fought the urge to throw up. Unlike the others, they'd been torn apart by the Indominus in a clear fight.

Had they been defending the van?

Owen slowed the car to a stop and hopped out, gun at the ready as he approached the wreck. When Claire got out behind her, it snapped Nic out of it and she followed.

Claire walked along the closest side of the van while Nic followed Owen around the side further away from the car. The van was absolutely mangled, if anyone had been inside it when the Indominus crushed it, there was absolutely no chance they were alive.

Owen peered into the twisted frame while Nic did her best not to look. She wasn't sure she could stomach it, especially if Eric was in there.

"Nobody in there," Owen murmured after a minute.

Nic sagged in relief, then looked into the wreck for any sign of Eric - his phone, his shoes, anything to point her to where he could be. Next to her, Owen pried something out of the frame and held it up.

"Is that…is that its tooth?"

Owen grimaced. "Looks like."

On the other side of the van, Claire gasped. "No, no, no, no, no…." By the time Nic rounded the van, Claire was practically in tears on her knees, a broken cellphone in her hands.

Nic bent to comfort her. "We don't know if -."

"Zach's a teenaged boy, he wouldn't just leave his phone," she sniffled.

"Hey!" Owen called. He was standing by the hole in the gate when Nic got to her feet again. "I think they made it out." He pointed at the ground and Nic ran over to where he stood, Claire hot on her heels.

Three sets of footprints dug into the muck, one of them much smaller.

"Oh, thank god," Claire breathed.

Could it be that Claire's nephews and her cousin escaped together? God, Nic hoped so. Eric was always good with the kids visiting the Ranger station he worked at in the Sierra Nevadas. And he was a survivor. The big idiot had taught her so much whenever she visited; how to build a fire, how to orient yourself, how to find safe food. If anyone could've survived, it would be him.

Nic took a deep breath and tried to keep that positive line of thought going.

"Why don't you two head back in the car," Owen suggested, pulling her from her thoughts. "I'll find them and get them to safety."

Claire beat her to it. "No goddamn way!"

Owen looked from Claire to Nic, irritation plain as day on his face, and arched an eyebrow at her.

"Don't look at me," Nic said. "I'm with her. I already told you I didn't come all this way to turn back."

Claire stuck out her chin, then undid her shirt and tied it in the middle and rolled up her sleeves.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Owen asked, irritation fading into confusion.

"It means I'm ready to go!"

"Right. Okay." A small smile tugged at Nic's lips as Owen let out a frustrated groan before turning back to her. "Well?"

Nic gestured through the gap in the fence. "Oh, no, after you, Raptor Boy."

Snapped trees, massive dinosaur tracks, relatively tiny human tracks, and bits of blood Owen didn't bother to point out all led them to the river. A river that seemed to end in a waterfall. The tracks didn't resume on the other side of the water, so Owen had to assume whoever it was had jumped.

"Oh god," Claire breathed behind him.

"We need to find a way down there," Owen said.

"Eric!" It wasn't quite calling out for him, but it was a little too loud, all things considered.

Owen spun quickly and put a hand over Nic's mouth as she stood up. "Shh!"

"I'm not one of the raptors," she hissed, slapping his hand away. "The clicker comment was sarcasm!"

The more time he spent with her, the more he thought his impression she was mousy was spectacularly incorrect. Shaking off his surprise, he hissed back, "Do you not remember what happened at the paddock earlier?"

Nic held up a piece of plaid cloth he hadn't noticed she'd been holding, and it took him a minute to recognize it as having been ripped from a shirt. "This is Eric's! He was here!"

Somewhat sobered by her words, he gently took the fabric from her and turned it over in his hands. "No blood."

"Is that good?"

He grimaced. Lying to her was the last thing he wanted to do and while the lack of blood could be a good sign, it could just as well be meaningless; her cousin could still be dead. "I don't know. We have to get down there and look for more tracks."

She nodded and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking down. Probably looking for signs of her cousin. That whole car ride from the Apatosaurus to the remains of the van she'd been white-knuckling the door while her leg shook and she stared out the window. A part of him had desperately wanted to comfort her - still did - but the truth was he had no right to just hold her hand unsolicited. Pulling her into his arms when the Apatosaurus died was instinct and if he had been thinking clearly, he probably wouldn't have done it. Hell, if she had been thinking clearly, she probably would've slapped him.

That didn't change how it felt, though. Right. Holding her in his arms had felt right.

But he couldn't push his luck.

And he really had no idea if her cousin was safe.

"So you can track them, right?"

Owen tore his gaze away from Nic and saw Claire practically hyperventilating with worry.

"Like pick up their scent or something?"

"Pick up their scent?" What the hell did that mean? "This isn't some shitty 80s movie!"

She huffed and put her hands firmly on her hips. "Then how do we find them?"

Tempting as it was to try to get her to go back to the car with Nic again, he knew it was a losing battle. Somehow he was going to have to navigate the jungle with two people who had all the survival skills of an indoor house cat. "By being quiet and finding a way down that cliff that doesn't involve you trying to climb in some damn expensive, flimsy skirt!"

Claire huffed again and crossed her arms, but Owen ignored her and turned to talk to Nic. Only she wasn't there. And when he looked back to Claire, she was tying her skirt up between her legs.

Owen arched an eyebrow at her and she inclined her head toward the cliff. He followed the direction and just barely caught Nic's head going down over the edge. Rushing over, he saw her climbing down the cliff face, slowly and confidently, as she sought out foot and hand holds expertly.

Somehow she just kept surprising him.

Movement shook him from his thoughts. Claire gave him a smirk as she followed Nic down the cliff before Owen could stop her too.

One of these damn women was going to get the three of them eaten and he honestly wasn't sure which one it would be.

Muttering irritably under his breath, he shouldered his gun and followed.