Chapter Thirteen

Claudia

….

The roar of the wind goes past her as the jeep she is riding zooms past the trees and foliage as it follows the service road heading north. She looks at her companions; it seems that Lars and Rebecca finally have managed to recover their composure after that encounter with the Indominus. She has to admit that she admires their sense of recovery. Too long has humanity stand at the very top of the food chain as the biggest, baddest fish in the lake, now with the Indominus, basically it is an experience credited where humans are prey of a bigger and more vicious monster. Even she has to admit that the encounter left her shaken. She can still vividly recall the giant dinosaur chasing after them, the rancid smell, the terrifying roar and the feeling of imminent death approaching. Speaking of which, it is no wonder Lex is so traumatized by her experience as a kid. That age of hers and being exposed by giant beasts of prehistoric danger, it is actually a miracle that she's able to function normally at all.

Speaking of which, Claudia turns to their uninvited victim currently at her side holding a blanket over her shoulder covering her track suit. She is shivering and seems to be muttering under her breathe. Claudia just sighs as she places a comforting hand on her shoulder. The girl, Yasmina has seen too much and now that the adrenaline rush is over, the terror of what she's just been through is getting to her.

"We are just going to finish this mission of ours and we'll go back okay?" Claudia says to her, hoping that her words would bring comfort. While her heart goes out to her, and nothing more would make her happier than bring her back to civilization, they still have a mission of importance and they need to finish it.

"I want to go home," she sniffs through her unshed tears.

"I know sweetie, after this we will head back directly to the docks where hopefully we can get you some communication and to the earliest ferry manageable. But first we have to do this. This, I promise,"

"Are there dinosaurs where we are going?"

Claudia turns to stare at Lars who is driving who shakes his head before nodding to her. He has been listening to their conversation discretely.

"No Yasmina, there are none," Claudia says. "It is the destroyed paddock of the monster that attacked your camp. We are going there to investigate how it got out. It would be far away from it,"

"Okay, I guess I can wait," sniffs the young teen making Claudia sigh as she gives her arms a comforting squeeze.

Their impromptu talk however is broken as Rebecca who has been listening to comms on the radio put it down with a tired sigh. "I've received word from command and control. The ACU unit sent to apprehend the Indomitus Rex has failed. Commander Hamada is dead alongside almost the entire team and also Sam,"

Cold fear gripped Claudia's heart at the words uttered by Rebeccanas she grabs her by the hem of her shirt tightly. "What about Pauline? Did she also fell? Is Pauline dead?" she asks in worry of her bubbly and cheerful friend. Last time she has seen her is at the ACU headquarters and she can still recall her happy face staring back at her.

"Pauline survived, alongside Athena according to the information sent by Command and Control," says Rebecca pushing Claudia's grasping hand away. "With the help of Eagle One they manage to drive away the Indominus to the North-East part of the park. Eagle One is currently trying to find and triangulate it's position.

"North-East? Isn't that where the Allosaurus paddocks are?" asks Lars still driving.

"Yes,"

"Good, Allosaurs are nasty, I hope they manage to bring that hybrid down," he says with a sniff.

"That is far from us right? I mean it is not near where we are going?" asks Yasmina who has been listening to the conversation between the three of them.

"Don't worry sweetie. The Allosaur paddock is at the North-East of the island while we are at the North-West. We are at the exact opposite point of where it is. And unless it can travel faster than a speeding train through the jungle, it would not be where we are going," explains Rebecca.

"Okay," Yasmina sniffs looking nervously at the window as if expecting the Indominus to come bursting out.

"I am sorry for Hamada and Sam though," says Claudia looking at the two ACU members. "They would be missed,"

"Yes, they would," answers Lars with a tired nod. "But let us focus on what we are supposed to do at the moment. We can toast them later once this fiasco is well and done. We are almost there,"

Claudia just "hmm's" as she readies her grip on the M4 she is holding before looking outside. Indeed, it seems that the trees are lessening as the road slowly goes wider. It does not take long for the scenery to change to what seems to be a large clearing. There are construction materials everywhere, cars and a large paddock with a tall wall at the middle. It does not take a genius to see that this is the Indominus paddock that they have been sent to investigate. The large giant open gate between the giant walls screams it out after all.

"Stop here and we go on foot," says Rebecca to Lars as he pulls the jeep to a full halt.

"Well this looks like Dr. Seuss' worst nightmare," whispers the Filipino as he steps out of the vehicle holding his rifle also at the ready.

In a way, Claudia agrees with him as her eyes scan the area. It is clear to anyone observing that the Indominus has passed through here. There are broken crates everywhere, destroyed equipment, cars at their backs with broken windshields and doors. That of course does not count the giant three toed footprints on the ground also marking the area.

"Yasmina, stay in the car and wait for us here alright?" says Claudia to the extremely terrified girl who is wearing what seems to be her most terrified expression as her eyes scan the area and probably also coming into the same conclusion as the rest of them.

"So anyone wanna guess where the rest of the construction crew is?" asks Lars nervously. "I've read from the reports that there are at least fifty people here,"

"All over the place," Rebecca simply says kicking a discarded cracked helmet with blood stains on it.

"I think I'm going to be sick," says Lars looking at a mutilated arm that looks badly chewed.

"Focus, we are here to find out what opened the gates of the Indominus paddock. Look at how it is," points out Claudia at the open door.

"It is open,"

"Good observation numb nuts but you must see what I see. It is not forced open. The Indominus hadn't escaped on its own, no. Someone had opened the gate and set it loose," says Claudia wryly.

"Wait one goddamn second. Are you saying that the Indominus escaping is because of sabotage?" asks Rebecca askance.

"As far as I can tell," sniffs Claudia staring at the open gate. "I'm no expert at investigations but this point out so far to that direction. We can know more if we check the monitoring station that keeps the gate open and closed,"

"It's right this way, follow me," says Rebecca leading forward with Claudia behind and Lars last as they navigate the open area to what seems to be a door at the side of an observation post. They pause as they station at the door with Rebecca nodding at Lars for breaching before with a nod, opens it with the Scout Ranger entering first, weapon hefts forward with Claudia coming in last.

The inner office of the observation post certainly has seen better days. The consoles are destroyed and there is a blast mark at the middle of it. The two guards wearing ACU uniforms are also dead alongside another obese fat guard who is slumped to the side, unmoving. Claudia immediately puts her weapon down as she grimaces before crouching down to one of the dead guard's body.

"It is as I feared," she simply says putting a palm over the bloody wound.

"I beg your pardon?" Rebecca blinks at her.

"These men here, they have not been killed by the Indominus but by men. Lex has given me her suspicions before we came down here. She told me that there might be a possibility that the escape of the Indominus is not credited to one of natural occurrence but rather sabotage. What we are seeing here is only proof of that. These men are not killed by fangs or claws, but by bullets. See their bodies, bullet holes everywhere. They've been shot, all of them. The blast mark at the middle also gives credence to it. They breached through the door and threw in a concussion grenade before advancing while the occupants are disoriented. They shot them and released the Indominus. The bodies also present are proof of it. Outside, the bodies of the construction crew are all gone, fed upon by the dinosaur, but the bodies here remain. The Indominus hasn't been able to get in here that's why the only credence was that humans did this. Someone released the Indominus, which means sabotage,"

An eerie silence follows as everyone starts to internalize her words. In a way she has to admit that this is a more chilling worry than dinosaurs lose. At least with the dinosaur, you know what your opponent is. Sabotage on the other hand is harder with you not being able to put a face of your opponent that could be anybody.

"It is a great possibility," acquiesces Rebecca with a grimacec. "Jurrasic World is a world class entertainment park after all generating millions daily. Plus the creation of the dinosaurs is something that the Massrani company has a monopoly on. It is not that far-fetched to think that some rival company would be sending their own mercenaries to bring us down a notch or ruin,"

"Especially when they make sure to hide their own tracks," says Lars looking at the consoles which looks half melted. "They sure did make sure that they would leave no evidence behind. These are the work of termites, they burn through the entire circuitry and computers leaving nothing behind as proof. That means the recordings of the cameras would be useless,"

"We are dealing with professionals then and not your usual run of the mill mercs," says Claudia looking at the ruined console. "It's kind of weird that they only released this single dinosaur though. If they truly wish to take down the park, why release only one dino? They could have aimed at the mainframe and released all, but instead they only let go this one. There is something here that we are not getting,"

"Maybe they plan on capturing the Indominus Rex, it is after all the first of its kind," points out Rebecca.

"It is possible, but if they plan on capturing it, they would have made sure that they did it while it is still here at the paddock and not traipsing all over the island causing massive damage. No, capturing it is not their intent. There is another game at play here that we are not seeing," replies Claudia rubbing her chin.

"Either way we need to report this to command," says Lars with a sigh. "We confirmed that the release of the Indominus Rex is no accident but pre-planned. They need to know and we need to get out of here. We still have a refugee after all at the car waiting for us,"

"I agree, do it Lars. Call for evacuation for Yasmina back to the park and report what we discovered here," orders Rebecca to the Filipino Ranger who immediately radios to the Command Center the things that they discovered here.

"Should we leave their bodies? It seems wrong to leave them here," says Claudia looking at the forms of the dead guards on the floor.

"Frankly it's better that they're here than outside. The Indominus after all might be back here and putting them outside would let them be eaten. We don't have the resources to bury them either. I say let us leave them at the moment and get back to them while Command settle on how to back into place the dinosaur escapee,"

"Fair enough," nods Claudia just in time for Lars to return.

"I've passed the report along miss. A chopper is being rerouted to our position to pick us up and Yasmina. They would be here in twenty minutes,"

"That's good," says Rebeccca with a sigh before gesturing to them as she heads outside. "Come let us tell the little girl that we are going to-,"

There is the sound of something whizzing in the air and Claudia only has a second to process the telltale sound of a bullet before Rebecca's head snap backward, her forehead bloody and spraying blood as she fell to the ground in a heap unmoving.

"Contact! Contact!" roars out Lars immediately as he pulls her back inside the door just in time as bullets ping where Claudia has been standing a few seconds ago. Her common sense immediately kicks in and she clicks the safety off of her rifle as she gets into cover behind the door.

"Command! This is the Investigation Team. We are taking heavy fire and casualties. Request, immediate support! I count at least five tangos approaching our position, Indominus paddock," he barks out to the radio at his chest before aiming his rifle and firing back.

"Enemy at the cotainers, thirty-five meters!" he barks out while letting loose. Claudia wastes no time also doing the same as she breaks cover and starts shooting with her M4. She can see them, black figures in mercenary gear camo of green and grey.

"Reloading! Cover!" shouts Lars as he returns to cover making Claudia the only one to keep on firing keeping the enemy honest. The sound of bullets pinging her cover however forces her to cover again as the enemy fire what seems to be a full fledged machine gun at their position.

"We are being pinned down!" she shouts as bits of metal and stone fly everywhere thanks to the high velocity slugs.

"No shit! Pick your targets," commands Lars as he breaks cover once again firing with his rifle before being forced back by the machine gunner.

"Draw off fire," says Claudia. "When this asshole pauses to reload, cover me!" her companion just nodded firing again with his rifle even as the machine gunner continue to recklessly fire his weapon.

"Again!" orders Claudia as the enemy continues his onslaught. Lars does so ejecting a couple of rounds before falling back to cover as the aim turns at him. Then just then, there is a lull in the shooting.

"He's reloading, go for it," Claudia needs no more push as she breaks cover and immediately unleashes with her grenade launcher…and misses. The explosion hits the side where the machine gunner is reloading while his other companions are at the back taking cover while Lars rain M4 fire at them. It becomes a race for time as the machine gunner loads the chain of bullets at his weapon while Claudia reloads her grenade launcher. It becomes a race as the two try to outdo each other and Claudia wins by a few scant seconds.

She barely manages to pull back the launcher back just in time for her foe to finish closing the lid of his weapon. She aims and in a split second, fires. The grenade flies in a trail of smoke right at the ground below the machine gunner that explodes in red mist making the man scream as he is thrown airborne with bits and pieces of him flying all over the area.

Claudia is just ready to shout her expression of victory when the sound of Lars can be heard as he shouts out loud:

"RPG!" she barely has time to stare at the rocket going at her way before she falls flat on her face. She hears it whistling above her before impacting at the entrance of the Observation Post which Lars is using for cover. The explosion is deafening and powerful enough that even lying down, it throws her a few meters forward making her airborne for a few seconds before she lands hard on her back knocking the air off of her. Everything is ringing and she is seeing triple as she lies there groaning, her entire body hurting and sore. She barely manages to register the two figures looking down on her from above and she groans as her brain seems to unable to focus. Everything seems blurry and her hearing is vague. She can hear gunshots up ahead and the sound of another person shouting. One of the figures loom down at her in a crouch, grabbing her face. All she can see is the mask he is wearing atop a cap. Her limbs still feel like lead and she can do nothing but slowly regain her focus as slowly her hearing repairs itself.

"-finished off the other one at the door Conrad. This one is still alive along with that girl at the car. What should we do with her?" the one crouching down at her asks.

"You heard our orders, we leave no evidence of our presence here. Put a bullet in her head and that also of the girl," another voice answers.

"That's such a shame boss. This one's hot as hot goes especially in this outfit of hers. We have boring hours ahead of us documenting that hybrid. Let us bring them with us for some fun while the observers continue their documentation,"

"Wait-what?" despite her groggy brain, Claudia fully understands his words and she's starting to realize the horror of what awaits her.

"Fine, bring the girl and that one also. You boys can have your fun with them. But once we are done, I want you to dispose of them properly alright?"

"Aye, aye sir," the cheerful response from his men can be heard and Claudia can feel herself being hauled up to someone's shoulder who immediately starts groping her ass through her shorts. From behind she can hear Yasmina's screams as she is also taken.

"Nononono," this is not supposed to happen, thought Claudia in a panic as she gives off weak groans as she is carried to the unknown. The fate that awaits her and the teen she rescued would be worse than death.

…

Author's Note:

Another Chapter done. Happy New year everyone.