Apart from the soft sounds of the jungle, the only other noise Eric had heard since leaving the original Visitor's Center was the jeep. Well, that and a few distant roars that he decided against mentioning to the brothers in the back seat of the jeep. Hopefully, that was a sign they were a safe distance from whatever it was.

"What's that?"

Eric followed the direction Zach was pointing and saw a large metal fence coming up. It looked old and rusted, but the sign said 'DANGER 10,000 VOLTS' so he wasn't about to take any chances driving into it.

But how the hell was he supposed to test the electricity was off?

Slowly, he pulled the jeep to a stop just shy of the fence and asked the boys to wait as he hopped out. After a quick scan of the area, he found the control panel to open the gate and tried flipping the handle.

But the gate didn't move.

At least the control panel didn't have power. Did that mean the gate didn't too?

The fence looked old and rusted out, and the plants growing close by weren't singed. And there was nothing else around to test the fence with, only the control panel.

10,000 volts would be a hell of a way to go.

If he survived that shock, Nic would murder him. Then spend the rest of her life calling him Crispy Sasquatch or something. That made his lips twitch in a brief smile.

It wasn't exactly as though they had the time or resources to pop some kind of insulator on the front of the jeep and just blast through, with that thing on the loose. But rubber was an insulator, he realised as he looked down at his shoes.

Time to find out if his expensive hiking boots could take a charge. Or if the fence wasn't electrified. If something did go wrong, he had every faith that Zach would be able to get Gray out of there. Maybe him too.

Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the gate. No electrical hum was a good sign.

Eric kicked out hard.

The gate swung open with a loud creak that he hoped like hell that thing didn't hear. He glanced back at the boys who were scanning the trees, and followed their eyes.

No shaking leaves, no movement. And all the usual jungle sounds surrounded them. He had to think that if it was nearby, at least some of the animals would go silent.

Time to get the hell out of there quickly and not press their luck.

Nic hated running. Long walks? All day or multiple day hikes? No problem at all. But running was the worst. When she was in college, Eric had bought her a shirt that said 'I Don't Run. If You See Me Running, Something Is Chasing Me' and part of her wished she was wearing that shirt. Not that the Pterosaurs were still chasing them; after they'd wrecked the jeep and forced her, Owen, and Claire to take shelter, they'd given up pretty fast.

And with no jeep, that meant running to the nearest ACU station to find a way back to the Innovation Center.

Despite her slow pace, Owen had kept by her side the whole run. Even Claire in her expensive skirt suit had to slow to match Nic's run. Then again, the woman had a treadmill in her office, so it shouldn't have surprised Nic at all that she was a good runner.

Knowing she was holding them both back made her cheeks burn. Maybe Owen was right and they weren't well-suited after all, soulmarks or no.

When they finally reached ACU, Owen turned to her with an arm out and asked, "You okay?" His hand moved to rest on her hip over her soulmark, making her skin tingle.

Nic nodded, trying to catch her breath. "Yeah," she panted. "Great. Love running."

Owen's concern melted into a soft chuckle. "I can tell. Wait here, I'm going to go get us a car," he said, nodding at Claire before jogging off.

Her soulmark burned for his touch the second he let go, making Nic frown. Was it the adrenaline making it burn? It hadn't ached like this when he let go the other times. Then again, he hadn't let go, only to run off immediately.

Soulmarks, she was starting to think, weren't worth the trouble they caused.

"Not much of a runner, huh?"

"No," she gasped as she turned to look at Claire. "Run all the time. Love it."

Rather than judge her like she'd expected, Claire helped her to find a place to sit while they waited for Owen and got her a bottle of water from a nearby ACU officer. By the time Owen drove up in a jeep, she was breathing normally. Maybe after all this was said and done, she'd start going to the gym. If it hadn't been demolished by the Pterosaurs.

With Claire in the back seat, Nic bit back a grimace and hopped in next to Owen.

"You okay?" he asked softly, glancing at her as they drove. His right hand twitched on the steering wheel.

She had to tamp down on the urge to reach for him. After everything, all the weirdness, Owen being rude, her being angry, both of them being stubborn as hell, she still wanted to seek comfort with him. Was that why his hand twitched? Did he want the same?

In the rearview, she saw Claire already on her phone again, completely oblivious to the tension in the front seat. Nic looked from the rearview back to Owen, chewing on her lip. "Yeah," was all she could say.

Owen couldn't relax the tension in his body as he drove. Between the Indominus, the safety of every animal and person on that island, and whatever the hell was going on with Nic, he was on edge. Not even the sight of the West Gate coming into view was enough to relax him.

Granted, though, part of that was because he could see the Pterosaurs swarming Main Street. Whatever they were about to drive into, it wouldn't be pleasant.

He glanced over to Nic quickly. While she was no longer winded, she was radiating anxiety - thumbnail between her teeth, leg jogging, crinkled eyes scanning the horizon. Part of him wondered if she would remain safely in the garage or if she'd just go running headfirst into the Pterosaurs to look for her cousin.

A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth as he signalled to the guards to open the gate. The woman was so damn infuriating! Steady and sure-footed as she scaled the cliffside, petrified over a snake, winded from a run, anxious, mousy, confident, stubborn. How the hell could the damn soulmarks be right if he couldn't even figure her out?

Though he hadn't put more than a handful of hours, most of which were spent running for their lives, into trying.

Scrubbing a hand across his jaw, he pulled the car into the garage and found a parking space.

Almost the instant he stopped, before the engine was off, Claire hopped out and ran with Nic hot at her heels.

Owen bit back a growl. Headfirst into danger it was, then.

He jumped out of the car and ran after them, grabbing Nic's wrist to stop her and spin her around to face him. "Stay here, I'll find him!"

"Like hell," she hissed. "You don't even know what he looks like!"

"I do, saw you with him earlier!" he snapped back. "Tall guy, brown hair, two kids with him, Claire running after the kids. I think I can work it out!"

Nic glared at him before pulling her wrist away and storming off toward the exit. And Main Street. And a hoard of angry Pterosaurs.

"Oh for…," Owen muttered as he chased after her. As soon as he went through the door he was engulfed in chaos - screaming tourists, guards trying to shoot the Pterosaurs, the actual Pterosaurs diving and chomping and grabbing people.

And one of the smaller Dimorphodons was making a beeline for Nic.

Owen grabbed her and pulled her against a nearby wall, shielding her with his body, just in time for the Dimorphodon to fly past and right into someone else. One of the guards shot it down and it dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Nic's hand grasped his shoulder right over his soulmark, lighting every nerve under her fingers on fire. Her ragged breathing slowed as she stared at the body of the Dimorphodon, clearly trying to process what had just happened.

"Thank you," she breathed, leaning her head back against the wall. Before he could reply, her head snapped back up and she looked around frantically. "Where's Claire?"

Everyone on Main Street was screaming and running and crying, and Claire couldn't do a damn thing about it. ACU guards were helping who they could. And, what, she was going to grab a souvenir and throw it at one of the Pteranodons?

No, she had to find her nephews, get them to safety, then get back to the control room and organize this chaos. That she could do.

She pushed her way through the crowd, frantically searching for her nephews. All around her people were being pecked at, skewered, killed. If anything happened to Zach and Gray, she'd never forgive herself.

Up ahead, she saw them. And a Pteranodon heading straight for them.

One of the guards shot it down, but it continued on its trajectory as Zach and Gray ran. The lifeless Pteranodon slid to a stop literal inches from her nephews.

"Zach!" she called out as she ran for them.

"Aunt Claire!" Gray exclaimed. His eyes were alight with excitement briefly before turning to fear.

Claire felt herself being knocked to the ground and looked up in time to see one of the Dimorphodons over her, its jaws stretched wide. Then a folded umbrella swung into view, knocking the Dimorphodon down hard. It squeaked, shook its head, and flew off.

A hand appeared in the corner of her vision and she looked up to see a tall man with short brown hair smiling at her as he helped her off the ground.

"You don't even know me," she said, smiling. "Why risk your life?"

The man grinned widely. "I'm not that big an asshole."

Those same words tingled on her shoulder blade.

"Eric Forester," he introduced himself.

"Claire Dearing." Then the last name clicked. "You're Nic's cousin!"

Eric ushered her back toward her nephews, shielding her from the Pterosaurs. "And you're the infamous Aunt Claire I keep hearing about."

Claire opened her mouth to reply, but Gray flung himself into her arms, silencing her. "You're okay!" she breathed, reaching for Zach to pull him in. "I was so worried!"

The screams and screeches faded into the distance as she bent to check Gray over, then Zach. No broken bones, a few scrapes she could bandage up in the control room; nothing serious.

"We gotta go." Eric's voice snapped her out of it and the sounds of chaos and death flooded her again.

"Yeah," she breathed, standing up. "Control room. Follow me."

It was hard not to notice just how comfortably her own hand fit into Owen's as they ran down the street, looking for Claire and Eric. If they hadn't been running for their lives, she was pretty damn sure she would've been blushing.

As it was, there wasn't exactly time for it.

The moment they turned onto Main Street, he let go of her hand and put his arm out to keep her back as a massive Pteranodon dove into the crowd ahead of them. A few of the other Pterosaurs noticed them and flew toward them. Owen swung his gun around front and took aim, yelling at her to get into one of the nearby shops.

Nic ignored him and scanned the street and shops for any sign of Eric. Or Claire.

Only when she saw them run up the stairs toward the Innovation Center and duck inside an employee entrance, did she finally breathe. "They're safe!" she shouted at Owen.

"Then get you safe!" he shouted back, ducking out of the way of a smaller Dimorphodon just in time.

But another Dimorphdon knocked him down to the ground, sending his gun skittering across the pavement. It slid to a stop right in front of Nic as Owen struggled to keep the massive jaws from closing around his arms or face.

She bent down, picked his gun up, checked the chamber, and took aim.

The Dimorphodon flew off Owen and collapsed on the ground next to him, lifeless.

Owen blinked in surprise, then looked at her, jaw open.

Nic grinned and stood up, offering him her hand. "You okay, Raptor Boy?"

His confusion melted into fear as he pulled her with him, running at a speed she couldn't realistically keep up with.

"Owen," she panted, legs burning as she tried to keep up with him. "I can't -."

"Just a little further!" he called back over his shoulder. Owen led them to the passage next to Rexy's enclosure, then down the winding cement-lined street until they reached a small alcove, where he abruptly changed direction and flung her toward the car.

Nic opened the door quickly and scooted over to the passenger side with Owen right behind her, closing the door with a loud bang. And a dull thud as one of the Pterosaurs slammed into the side of the car.

"You okay?"

"Long as I don't have to run again right away," she gasped. "Shit."

Owen's laughter relaxed her and she chuckled lightly as she fought to regain control of her breathing, leaning back against the seat.

"What now?" she asked as their hysterical giggling died down.

Her phone rang before Owen could answer and she pulled it out of her pocket, glancing at the caller ID.

SASQUATCH

"Eric?" she asked as she answered the phone on speaker.

Owen glanced at her phone screen and arched an eyebrow. 'Sasquatch?' he mouthed, smiling when she shrugged in reply.

"Where are you? Are you okay?" The panic in his voice made her smile.

"We're fine," she said. "In one piece."

"Indoors?"

Nic hesitated. Eric was not going to be happy with her answer, either way. "Not exactly?" All around the car, Pterosaurs were screeching and attacking, though the sounds were muffled by the safety glass on the car.

"What does that mean? What's that sound?"

"She's safe," Owen cut in, eyeing her with a look she couldn't quite figure out.

"Who's that? Is that him? Are you the dumbass who -." A short series of scrapes against the speaker and some hissed words came through.

"Dumbass?" Owen whispered, giving her a hard look that made her bite back on a smile.

"Nic?" Claire's panicked voice asked.

The scuffling and the hissed words and the panic set Nic on edge. "Claire? Is everything okay?" she asked, exchanging a worried look with Owen.

"It's Hoskins," Claire replied. "You need to get out to the Raptor Paddock."

Owen grimaced and started searching for the keys. "That sonofa…."

"He wants to use the raptors," Claire finished.