Blue bounded through the brush. Fast as Wind, she and her nestmates made for where the scents of Stupid Alpha were strongest. She was glad that Dark One had seen reason. She was more than glad. But she would be gladder when she saw Stupid Alpha again. He was sick… deathly sick. He needed to be around Pack, surely!

She had hated being woken up by the soft prey. They were very noisy today. Today was very noisy… something had happened outside of pack territory. There was something on Wind that she'd heard earlier that day. A call for death. It all made her antsy to find Stupid Alpha. When he was around, things like this didn't happen! There was a certain way things happened around them!

Steadily, the pack began to slow; Delta had cried out to stop. She had caught something on the air. Pack settled close to each other now. Blue didn't know what to do… this place was unfamiliar. She could hear the soft prey behind them jumping out from their strange thing that followed them. Blue chuffed a question. Why had they stopped? Delta replied with a hiss. The scent was weakening; it only smelled of sick and unfamiliar things.

That was unacceptable to Blue. So she snapped at Delta. They would follow the smell of sick! Surely it would lead them to him! It was a damn good idea! She could hear the soft prey chittering behind her. Blue was nervous, strained as she eyed the forestry beyond them; she felt like they were being watched. Echo hissed her disdain for them. She snapped at her nest mate. 'Don't give me that!' Blue's snap and chittered hiss hopefully conveyed what Stupid Alpha would tell them when they were doing something he didn't like. Delta barked at them to be silent then as she sniffed at the air.

She was damn good! She would find out if it was Stupid Alpha. She snapped quietly to her nestmates, already moving to get the attention of whatever was moving in the brush as they hid to the sides just in case. Blue took a few sniffs. It wasn't Stupid Alpha's sick stench. It was something else… whatever had been accompanying him. His scent was weak, but this one was strong. It had to be the closest thing to Stupid Alpha.

Blue barked then, and the pack followed! The roar of Dark One's speedy thing was quick to catch up, the light of it shining upon her pack in the dark. For no-pack, Dark One was smart. He knew when to follow… perhaps she would not see him as soft prey… for now. They both liked Stupid Alpha. Therefore, they would work together to find Stupid Alpha.

The further they went, however, the more that Blue thought something was wrong. Stupid Alpha's scent vanished, replaced entirely by sick and death. She began to slow, sharply barking to the pack to slow as well; it was only Dark One and the pack. Echo was already circling around him, hissing to him to go away. Blue could only smell death on the air. She couldn't smell anything of Stupid Alpha; it made Blue nervous. She chirruped, getting the attention of her nestmates. They looked around nervously. They needed to go back. They needed to find Stupid Alpha's scent upon the ground again; all this sick and death made her nervous; they were in another's territory.

She turned, seeing the brightness of the soft prey's big thing and hissed. A crackle and one of the soft things' voices chittered away to each other. Dark One's voice.

"They're slowing down!" Dark One's tone was harsh as Blue stopped now, looking toward a thick brush. There was another rustle around them, a bigger one. Charlie warbled. She didn't like it. It was the one time that Blue was thankful that Dark One was here.

"Weapons over there!" She heard a soft prey hiss; they were loud and obnoxious! Why did the soft prey not stay quiet?! Blue hissed to Dark One, snapping her jaws at him. First warning. He, thankfully, stayed quiet, simply looking around with them. Did he know that they were lost? Could he get them back on the path? That was when something rustled from the brush again, making the trees shudder as they saw it gracefully walk out from the brush.

Blue heard a whispered hiss from Dark One, barely audible over the raucous sounds of night creatures that chittered away. But Dark One's tone didn't register in Blue's head. She was looking now at the large predator; Blue snuffled a few times; this was the scent of Death that accompanied Stupid Alpha. Its white hide made Blue uneasy. Did this thing kill Stupid Alpha?! Death stared at her, and she stared right back. Delta moaned a scared warble to her nestmates. Immediately, Blue began chuffing toward her nestmates, as though attempting to calm them. White Death only looked to them in shock and surprise before rumbling a deep hiss.

Blue was shocked! This thing spoke to her. It greeted them. With a bark, White Death attempted to give a friendly sound to them; it spoke deep, and with some difficulty, but Blue could understand White Death. She didn't like the way that White Death looked at her. But Blue stood firm. She was damn good. The stench of sick clung strongly to her, and Blue trilled in question about it. White Death rumbled that she had a sick small thing. Small thing? Charlie and Delta then began to bombard White Death with questioning tones of their own.

Echo hissed quietly, still unsure of what it was they were looking at. She didn't like White Death. White Death only chuffed amusedly in response. It didn't care for Echo either. But it was her next warbles and rumbles that told Blue something. It gestured with a claw to the soft prey. Blue asked if the small thing she possessed was one of them. White Death responded with a firm shiver of its jaws to affirm, and a chuffed name she gave to it: Small Hunter.

"Something's wrong…" Blue could hear. The sound of Dark One's voice seemed to grate upon White Death, whose gaze turned towards the soft prey. She seemed… bitter about something with them. She then hissed low and dangerously. White Death knew that Small Hunter belonged to pack, said that the soft prey smelled strongly of them. It was Stupid Alpha! Blue could barely see Charlie's feet stamping up and down in joy! They found Stupid Alpha, yes! But… White Death didn't like these ones. White Death would lead pack to Stupid Alpha in exchange for the soft prey.

It was like having two treats! Blue's eyes lit up at that; it was an offer that she couldn't refuse, that the pack couldn't refuse! She turned with the rest of the pack; Delta now hissed a sharp, high tone, readying into a pouncing stance. Blue could see Dark One, and she could smell the growing fear scent. For now, White Death wanted them to hunt the soft prey.

"Engage!" Everything happened so quickly! Echo snarled as soon as the bangs started and flashes lit around them. White Death turned and immediately began to try and run back toward the jungle, and they followed.

"God damn it, no!" she heard a call from Dark One over the bangs. And then fire. A great ball of fire erupted next to White Death, the force of it sending her tumbling to the ground. Blue knew what to do immediately, and cried out to her nest mates. 'Hunt as many.'

Barry was absolutely flummoxed… everything had gone wrong so fast. The raptors were communicating with this thing that had come out of the brush. When Hoskins gave the order, he knew that it was too late to stop it as the gunshots rang through the air. The raptors followed quickly, and this monster had begun to flee. Realizing that a rocket launcher was being leveled toward it, Barry acted impulsively.

"God damn it, no!"

He managed to throw off Vic's aim enough that the rocket fell too far to the side. The raptors were already scattering, but he heard surprised screes of pain from them, and saw the thing collapse to the ground with a pitiful yell. They had gotten the thing down already, watching as the Indominus thrashed upon the ground and called out, likely in a desire for help.

"Target down!" he heard one of the mercenaries confirm. He could see the lasers dotting out now, harshly illuminating the junglescape around them as they began to start fanning out.

"Watch your six!" Barry warned, keeping his gun raised as he heard the raptors communicating through the brush. This was no longer a scent drill for them. It was a hunt. Already, Barry watched as the men began to fan out in groups of 3 or 4, trying to quietly comb through the jungle that was now coming to life.

Barry put a hand on Hoskins' shoulder, shaking his head and quietly trying to get the man to stop following.

"Get your hands off me!" he demanded. Barry only snapped and shook his head.

"Tu es un imbécile! We need to leave, now!" Vic only seemed to snarl and push Barry off of him, grabbing the shotgun from his hands as he did. Hoskins leered over the Frenchman, his eyes wild and furious.

"All this blood?! That's going to be on you!" he threatened, already as Barry began to hear the screams of the men. He couldn't let Hoskins go any further with this! He wouldn't let him! Standing himself back up, Barry tackled into his back from behind, pushing him to the ground as gunshots began to ring out.

"You son of a —" Hoskins was almost immediately made to eat his words as the Frenchman broke his nose. However, Hoskins was big, and quickly pushed Barry off, getting up and attempting to grab the shotgun. Barry kicked it away and pulled out his pistol. As did Vic.

"Well… lookit that… we got ourselves a standoff," Vic chuckled through the blood dribbling from his face.

"You set us up for failure!" Barry hissed. "You knew!"

"Knew what?! That you lied about your raptors' training?!"

"Owen told you already, they were never trained or tame! You ignored him, and me!" There was a shriek on the wind, gunshots growing less and less numerous as the pair looked around. They could see the remainder of men from InGen running right back towards them. They had lost what looked to be at least 6 or 7 people.

"As soon as this is over… I'm going to bury you for the men you put in danger!" Vic hissed. Barry was utterly bewildered by the lack of responsibility Hoskins had. But before Vic could run over with his men, one of the raptors had jumped out from the brush. She didn't attack immediately, but did startle both Vic and Barry enough that they dropped their guns. It was certainly a mistake on both their parts, but Barry moved slowly away from the inquisitive, bird-like creature. Vic shook and floundered like he was a leaf, being easily backed in against a tree.

"Oh shit!" he yelled out, quickly backing himself up against a tree while Barry only backed away, keeping his movements slow and steady. He knew what was going to happen. The sniveling man from InGen, when faced with adversity, wasn't thinking rationally.

"Easy boy, easy!" he tried to ease. The raptor only hissed and let out purring breaths as she looked at him. It was Delta; he could recognize the darker tones of her palette.

"Hey, hey! We're on the same side, right?" Vic panicked, trying to keep his tone calm. The raptor only tilted her head in curiosity, likely determining where best to strike first. Vic reached out, mimicking a motion that Owen had tried before, as though a last chance for salvation from what was about to happen. Barry was already prepared to run as soon as the attack came.

"I'm on your side," he tried to say quietly, seeming to gain more bravery as the dinosaur slowed her advance. Delta moved slower, more calculated. Then it happened. In the moments between breaths and blinks, the raptor struck with such ferocity as she clamped down onto Vic's hand that Barry knew the appendage would be pop off easily. The man screamed in utter pain and terror as Delta went from cautiously inquisitive and birdlike to vicious and savage within the blink of an eye.

And Barry ran at that point, trying his best to run back to his ATV. He only stopped when he saw another of the raptors next to it. It looked like Charlie, but from that distance, he couldn't tell if it was the younger velociraptor or Echo. But in that moment, Barry changed direction toward a nearby log, ducking into it just as he heard the scree of the raptor and heard the chasing steps behind him.

He could see holes opening on top of the log, letting in moonlight as they rapidly closed in on him. Barry sputtered and spat as the dying wood fell on top of him. The Frenchman began to scream, loud and proud, as he saw a snout bust through the rotten log down toward him.

"No! No! Charlie!" The digging claws and biting snout stopped, pulling out as one amber eye looked in. He could see that inquisitiveness, but could also see something that spoke to familiarity. Charlie now sat still, looking down at Barry through the hole in the log.

He had nothing. No gun, no knife, nothing to defend himself with if Charlie's curiosity lasted only so long. It was only Charlie's attention being brought away from the hole in the log and away from him by the wretched cry of whatever monster had turned Owen's girls against them. Charlie looked back in, hissing before she ran off. The quiet around him told that Vic had likely been killed by Delta, and that the other men that were fleeing back to the trucks were already gone. Barry began to relax, sighing quietly as he realized that everyone was dead around him, and he had been left alone.

But he wasn't about to give up and head back. Much as he wanted to, he still had a promise to keep. He was going to find Owen, and he going to get him off the island.

This One stirred in agony; the darkened sky was hidden away from her, the twinkling lights above blinded by the roaring fire from whatever the small things had crafted. The loud sticks silenced after that explosion, and she only managed to call out to Small Hunter's pack. 'Help me!' This One attempted to stand herself up, only to collapse again with a loud and ponderous thud. She could only then listen as the small things began to close in toward her.

She called again. 'Help me!' Utterly terrified by her inability to get up, This One could only hope that Small Hunter's pack was capable. She only found herself less terrified as she heard the sounds of the loud sticks, cracking through the night at things that weren't her. It would give her time. The pack was good, it seemed. Good at killing small things. It allowed her to recollect, to push herself off of the ground. As the loud sticks became less overwhelming in their sounds, followed by the cries of joy from Small Hunter's pack, it only endeared her more.

They were a good pack. Only a good alpha would have made for a pack this good. She could hear the small things scream… no. Their descriptor was better. Soft prey. She found them to be too soft, too chewy to make an enjoyable meal. And they crumbled at the first sign of a bigger, better predator. These were soft things, unaware of how small they really were.

As soon as she stood on her feet, This One couldn't help but find herself amused. How had Small Hunter managed to make a pack like this? He was not one of them. He was soft prey. It confused her, but at the same time it entertained her. Perhaps she would ask the pack's beta. She was smart, intelligent and clever, just like her.

This One chuffed amusedly at the thought. No one besides Small Hunter could be as clever as her. She doubted even his pack would be as clever. But they were loyal enough to their alpha that she was willing to bet that they had been made clever by him.

This One called out after silence fell; she saw the soft prey leaving in their metal boxes. 'Good', she thought. With them gone, This One called out to the pack, barking to gain their attention. She could speak well enough to them, but it was clear that they were more energetic, less careful about their selection of calls. Quickly, she saw the pack padding up to her, giving her the opportunity to look to them.

The beta padded forward first, demanding that she take them to their "Stupid Alpha" in a sharp snarl. It only amused her more that they had given Small Hunter such a fitting name. He was rather stupid; he ventured into dangerous territories when he was many times smaller, fought against something like her. It defied reason to This One. But it was also brave.

This One gestured with a claw in the direction they would go. Her leg throbbed with every ponderous step, even more it seemed than when she was attacked by Thing. So she took the time to listen to the chittering and hissing of Small Hunter's pack. They talked energetically, speaking of the soft prey and how fun it was to finally hunt them, how fun it was to be away from their nest.

This One warbled. She too knew how great it was to leave her nest. But she wondered. Was their nest open and free?

One of them snarled a resounding no. She seemed particularly enthused that she was no longer caged by tall walls. Walls so high that they couldn't jump out… just like hers. This One felt a surge of frustration at that and warbled in questioning again. Were their tall walls too close together?

The youngest of them responded. No. It wasn't too small for them. But it was clearly a small territory that they were allowed to roam. This had been the most territory that they had been roaming since they were very little. They had a routine. They would play games with Stupid Alpha and someone they called "Dark One". But it had been a long time since they had played close together.

The hissy, snarly one only responded with aggression. She didn't like Stupid Alpha. He wasn't worthy to be an alpha if he got sick so much… why should they listen to him when he looked like soft prey, smelled like them? Wasn't willing to come down into their nest with them anymore?!

This One was taken aback by that. She could hear the seething anger in the small one's tones, only quieted by how Brave Beta snarled at her to be quiet. This One had never heard of such disputes being resolved so quickly. She and Small One didn't… really get along like that. It made her only all the happier to give their Stupid Alpha back to them. This One thought she'd enjoy being alone more.

The smell of sick was strong around where she'd left Small Hunter. It was putrid, rotting. One of the small ones hissed. The smell of sick made her think that their Stupid Alpha was dead. This One reiterated that he wasn't. At least, she hoped not. She padded over to where she had left the shaking, groaning soft prey, and found… nothing. Nothing but the false skins that had been tearing off of him. This One picked up a piece, offering it a sniff. It was covered in sickscent that just made her want to throw up!

Brave Beta snarled to This One. 'Where is Stupid Alpha?' This One only snapped toward her. She didn't know. She had left the soft prey here. Had scavengers found him? No. There was no bones, no blood. It was just this awful sickness that tinged the air.

This One anything beyond sick and dying; had Small Hunter crawled away to die? So, instead, she resorted to her special sight. Hues of dark shades filled her vision in a mere moment. She could see the pack, she could see the fading warmth of Small Hunter's false skins on the ground. Why would he leave those? Did he shed or something? And… interestingly, what looked like steps. Sloppy, tripped ones, but steps nonetheless that held a tinge of warmth which made them stand out.

They were faded, but they were leaving; she knew that soft prey didn't make prints like that. This One called to the pack, barking as she realized that wherever Small Hunter was, it was where the footprints were leading off to. Brave Beta took to immediately sniffing where the footprints were, away from the sick as This One pointed to them; she didn't dare want to track the scent. But Brave Beta made it clear that she was good at looking for things; all of them were. It was what their Dark One had tried to get them to do before they found her.

Immediately, she saw something light up in her eyes; there was a determination in Brave Beta as she chittered and hissed to her packmates. Small Hunter wasn't taken… he was going somewhere. And they quickly followed. This One considered following… but her leg throbbed, and she felt… tired… everything hurt. But she would at least stand to follow them all. Reuniting these ones with their "Stupid Alpha" would at least be intriguing. She would be able to see what made him such a special small thing compared to the others.

Fear. The first thing that rushed into his mind when he awoke was fear. He had a feeling that something was wrong. His head hurt. His body hurt. And he felt off kilter, strange. But a voice told him that it was fine… he needed to find his way back. Back to the park.

Park? What was a park. He didn't know. His head hurt… it hurt bad. It felt like he was splitting open. Maybe a hunt would soothe his aches and pains. No! No… someone was in danger… who was in danger? Was it him?! That's when he heard it… something was chittering nearby. He could hear the intonations, understand them. He almost thought that they were talking about an alpha. Was… he an alpha?

Something in him said 'Yeah, dumbass!' Dumb… ass? Was that his name? No… no it wasn't. The voice responded swiftly, telling him things that hurt his head. As the steps came closer, his focus shifted again. Great… he was letting a voice in his head guide him… what should he do?!

'Run,' the voice simply said. He almost dared question it until he smelled it. The smell of death. He knew instantly to move, getting up and finding a place to duck into cover as he tripped over his limbs; had that tail always been there?! He didn't know why, but these chitters and rumbles that he could understand. They were dangerous. They needed to be avoided.

Looking through the thicket, he saw as 5 predators stepped into the brush. They looked familiar. His mind, the voice, whatever it was, thought much the same. Why couldn't he remember this? Why were they so familiar?

'Don't stay, dumbass! Run!' the voice reminded. He shook his head, realizing that the voice was right. He was still in danger. Their calls were attention calls. Surely they were looking for someone else. So he left, twisting and tripping over himself as he did. He walked like a hatchling, so clumsy and noisy that anyone could hear him if he wasn't careful.

But he pushed through, trying his best to keep silent as he hobbled his way forward. He felt clumsy and unbalanced. Why should he though? Surely he hadn't forgotten how to walk. Right?

'Don't stop! Keep moving! Have to get back to the park!' He still didn't know what a park was. All he knew was that he woke up. He felt hungry, off-kilter and wrong. Why did he feel wrong?

'Something's happened to you.' Something? What kind of something? The voice didn't answer. It didn't know. Voice was soothing though… It was soothing only after it spoke and quieted the chaos in his head. His body shifted, taking a stance on his fores.

'Fores?' Voice asked. It didn't sound right. This was the part he didn't like. The hurting. Voice made him hurt.

'You need to think dumbass!' Why did it keep calling him that?! Why was Voice's tone so angry with him?! He tried to tell Voice to leave him alone. But the sounds that came out… he couldn't recognize them. Voice couldn't recognize it either. The sounds that came from him were warbles and chuffs. They were…

'Alien,' Voice said. The splitting pain in his head! It was… unbearable! He couldn't tell which was up or down! He heard a bark in the distance, and Voice was drowned out by one realization. He had to run. The pain splitting his skull and his body… they weren't as terrible as the realization that he was being hunted by the things that he could hear and understand. He pushed himself forward, using his fores to keep his pace stable while his hinds dared to keep him moving.

The rush of tropical night air only made him… excited. Perhaps he would find this park doing this all night. Just running, and running, and running! And then he stopped. There was a new sound. A sound that made Voice's constant demand to "run" silence.

'Familiar… that's familiar!' Voice said. He warbled again, trying his best to ask Voice what he meant. That's when he saw it. He saw something bright; 'Lights,' Voice told him, 'heading up the road.' The word sat in his mouth uncomfortably. He tried to say it. It was only as he heard the brush beginning to part away that he chose to run again. This time, he would follow the light along this road. It might lead him to the park. It had to lead him.

He panted, trying his best to stay stable in his pace; but he hurt! Why did he hurt so bad?! Why did his joints ache, why did his head hurt? Why did everything hurt?! He could see the light getting away. He couldn't let it. He wouldn't let it! He pushed himself further, yelping out as he eventually tripped over himself.

The pain he felt was excruciating as he collapsed along the side of the road. He hurt, Voice was loud, and his one lead to helping him find the park was gone! He stood himself up on his hinds, leaning up to snarl and give a warbled, growled call out to the air. He didn't know what it meant. It was just something that felt right, even if it left his throat feeling torn.

He heard attention calls, barks from the familiars that followed him. He heard Voice screaming at him to run again. So he did. If he didn't stop… well… what if he didn't listen to Voice? Voice had been ordering him around for a long time now. Maybe this once, he'd stop listening to Voice demand things of him. He didn't even understand what was going on, who he even was?! Steadily, he waited, watching the woods as four of the familiars burst from the brush.

Immediately, a name came to mind as he eyed the pack before him. Voice told him in no uncertain terms that he knew them by name. 'Delta, Charlie, Echo, Blue.' It was the creature that followed behind them that made Voice panic.

'Indominus Rex!'

Blue was immediately on guard as soon as she burst through the brush. She knew she was looking at something in the dark, illuminated by the moonlight around them. But she didn't like the looks of it. It was where the scent of sick had led them. It was where Stupid Alpha should be… but instead there was this thing that stood on the trail.

Her packmates hissed and crouched low, ready to pounce. Blue couldn't help but join her packmates in that low stance. But she saw something that bewildered her. The creature stood tall and firm, warbling a growl to them as it extended its forepaws out. The others didn't seem to notice. All except Echo. Her hissing did not stop though.

Blue saw the familiar motion, only marginally curious as she steadily approached the other creature. It was of similar height to her, being able to look at her in the eyes; the eyes themselves were striking, a deep green color that reflected fear as much as she smelt the familiar bitter taste of it. Its hide was dark, but she could see many quills upon its back and atop its head. She initially thought it looked similar enough to her and her packmates to mistake… but like White Death, this one was anything but like her. This creature held itself in a stance that was defensive, holding out its forepaws with a rattling, gurgling hiss.

'Stand down.' She heard that call before… but never in this way. Why did it talk to her like Stupid Alpha? This one wasn't Stupid Alpha. This was… a false alpha. Surely that was it. False Alpha gurgled again as Echo snapped at it.

'Echo!' it called. That stopped her in her tracks, a curious expression forming on her crooked snout. She chittered to Blue. She didn't know who this one was. Blue looked again, stepping forward as slowly and cautiously as she could. She gave a few sniffs. The scent of sick was strong… but there was something familiar under it.

She could feel how tense the pack was. She had hoped that this was the right thing. If so, it'd prove that she was most deserving of being beta. False Alpha hobbled its way backwards, keeping its forepaws extended outwards in the same gesture and snapping sharply at the air in front of her. Blue jumped back, hissing low.

She didn't like False Alpha. False Alpha was stupid. Why would he… be… stupid. Blue looked him over again. The posture, the way he gurgle-growled. It all started to click, slowly… it acted like Stupid Alpha, it had a smell like Stupid Alpha under all the sick… even its eyes, green like the jungles around them, were like Stupid Alpha's; they were the first things that she could remember seeing… those warm greens from being a hatchling, always happy to see her. False Alpha wasn't false. Echo didn't seem to buy it as she chittered Stupid Alpha's name to it.

The creature tilted its head to the side, forepaws lowering briefly as it tried to ask something. The sound was unclear, merely a warbled squeal. There was something there in that squeal though that reminded Blue of something else. Stupid Alpha's tone… This was Stupid Alpha, in spite of Echo's clear inclinations that it ate him. Stupid Echo. Blue was damn good! She found him!