Jurassic Park 3-The Spinosaurus

by lowercaseenderman

Alan Grant and two other survivors of the Isla Nublar incident are invited by a wealthy couple to an Isla Sorna flyover, but a web of lies leads to them finding themselves crashed in the jungles of the island, alongside two parents on a desperate rescue mission. A mission which leads to the discovery of multiple shocking secrets hidden on the island by InGen…

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You're not really a mercenary, are you?" Mr. Kirby asked, hurrying up alongside the still stoic faced Mr. Udesky.

"I never said I was," the older man stiffly replied. Paul frowned, "That's true. What are you?"

"Oh," Mr. Udesky replied. "I'm like a booking agent. One of the guys got sick and couldn't come." He noticed out of the corner of his eye Paul was struggling to put his water canteen into his backpack and he stopped, "Here," he said, taking it and clipping it to the backside of the pack himself. "So you run a hardware store?"
"Paint and tile, yeah," Mr. Kirby replied. Mr. Udesky chuckled, "Huh. You never can tell about people, can you?"

"Ain't that the truth?" Paul chuckled as they sped up to follow the others.

The group was hiking through the jungle at a quick pace, Nick steering them in the direction he was almost certain would lead to the worker village. He still had a vague idea of what Isla Sorna looked like from the satellite images and maps he had seen back in 1997 and knew the worker village was nestled in a lowland in the center of the island. One map he recalled did show what he guessed was the landing strip they had landed at and it was almost directly west of the worker village. Occasionally using the sun to double check they were still going the direction he wanted, he led the group fast without pausing much, knowing they needed to reach the village before nightfall since being exposed in raptor territory at night was a bad idea to put it lightly. So he kept everyone moving, though Amanda didn't exactly help with keeping fast and quiet.

"Eric!" she called out into the jungle loudly.

"Quiet!" Alan snapped urgently.

"Would you stop that?" Paul added, now walking alongside her. "Dr. Grant says this is very dangerous territory."

"Look, maybe we should split up or something? You know? We could cover twice as much ground and-" she replied but Paul cut her off in a deadpan reciting voice, "Dr. Grant says that's a bad idea."

"Dr. Grant. Dr. Grant says this-" Amanda snipped but Paul felt this frustration boil over.

"Well, what's the good in hiring an expert if we don't use his advice?" he snapped.

"Yeah, except Dr. Grant isn't looking for Eric. He's following Nick to that worker village place so they can call for help, as if they'll have better luck on that than we did," she muttered. "If they wouldn't come for a lost kid, I doubt they would come for us." Paul sighed, "Okay fine. Go ahead and scream. And when that…Tricycloplots attacks you, don't come crying to me!"

"Don't worry about that," Amanda harshly muttered under her breath. Paul whipped around without slowing his stride, "What What did you say?"

"Nothing," Amanda replied dismissively.

"What did you say?!" Paul demanded, his voice now the one rising.

"Never mind! God, Paul just drop it…"

"Okay fine!" They both began loudly arguing, becoming totally oblivious to the people and area surrounding them the longer it went on. Following behind them was a very over-it looking Steve, Billy and Udesky.

""Tricycloplots?"" Steve said. He shook his head with a sigh, "These two.."
"Yeah…if we split up, I'm going with you guys," Udesky said, looking tired but not of the hike. His facial expression was the same as when they had left the crash site for the last time.

…..

Their trek was interrupted when Nick suddenly stopped and held a hand up. He looked back over his shoulder, "You said they were parasailing?" he asked. The Kirby's nodded. Nick sighed and pointed ahead of the group and everyone saw it. A tattered parasail was hanging from where it had gotten tangled in a tree. Its sail was caught in the upper branches and draped all the way down to the ground. It was a faded, dirty red and white parasail with the words "Dino-Soar" largely printed across the sail. Paul and Amanda froze at the sight for just a moment then they both took off at a sprint towards it, looking as if they expected to find the worst at the base of the tree.

The others followed and watched the Kirby's. They reached the tree, looked around but there was no shout of grief that would indicate they had found some bodies. Just as the others were reaching them they both began looking around wildly and calling out, "Eric! Eric! Eric!" Amanda was the louder of the two, her voice getting so shrill with her screams that it cracked halfway through calling her son's name.

"Mrs. Kirby!" Alan loudly said over them both. Then in a quieter, and gentler, tone he added, "Mrs. Kirby the chances are remote they're still in the vicinity." Meanwhile, something on the ground had caught Paul's eyes, and as Alan was saying this he stepped away from the tree a few paces towards something orange he saw lying on the ground, almost hidden under the thick plant growth. Amanda hurried over as he lifted up the lifejacket he'd spotted.

"Young adult," Paul simply said, letting her take it. Amanda lifted it to her face and held it there, inhaling the, faded but still there, at least in her mind it was, smell of her son. Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes and she was barely holding them back by that point. Paul was feeling much the same, and he awkwardly patted Amanda on the shoulder to try and comfort her.

The scene did not look promising at all.

"Hey guys," Mr. Udesky suddenly called from nearby. He was a little bit further away from the tree, having been searching around for any additional clues, and he was standing by a thick patch of plants. Everyone looked over at him and saw he was lifting a video camera out of a thick bundle of vines at his feet. Paul and Amanda ran to him.

"That's my camera!" Amanda gasped. "Hey!" She reached out and took it, brushing some dirt and plants off it and pressing the power button on the side. Nothing happened. She shook her head and sighed, "The battery's dead." Udesky was already reaching into his pocket and pulling out a flashlight. He unscrewed it and pulled a battery out.

"I've got an idea. Let me have the camera," he said. She passed it to him and he began to perform what almost looked like surgery on it. Working some apparent magic, he opened the side, carefully snipped and pulled two wires from the camera and touched their exposed ends to the battery. The camera beeped to life.

Immediately Amanda fumbled with the buttons and began replaying all the footage from the last date any had been recorded. She hoped Eric and Ben and filmed something on the day they went missing, maybe even a message for anyone who found the camera about where they might be going.

Alan, Billy, Steve and Nick were all huddled near the tree, Nick explaining the layout of the village, how far he thought it was to the compound, and landmarks to look out for he remembered on the other side of the place in case they went too far and missed it.

"The area was crawling with raptors too, we need-" he was cut off when another voice started excitedly talking and laughing. The group looked around and saw Udesky, Paul and Amanda huddled over the camera, which had started playing back its most recent footage. Two yellow wires ran out of it and into a battery Udesky had in one hand, the camera he held in the other. Paul and Amanda were gazing at the playing video intently, it was the first piece of evidence they had.

Slowly, the four walked over and joined the Kirby's and Mr. Udesky in watching the footage.

Nick saw a young boy he recognized as Eric from the picture he had seen before standing on a beach with white sand, nearly blindingly bright from the glare of the sun. The ocean was behind him and he was wearing a red shirt with long sleeves.

"Not what I'd wear at the beach," he mused to himself as he watched Eric catch a Frisbee that flew in from somewhere off camera. He then looked at the camera.

"Come on, mom!" he called, suddenly tossing it to her. It flew right at the camera and went off screen just below the frame. The camera shook and Amanda's voice came through the speakers.

"Eric!" she playfully scolded, hardly succeeding at keeping a laugh from escaping her lips. Eric giggled.

"Mom, you were supposed to catch it!" he said with a big grin on his face. Nick sighed softly as he saw it, really feeling for the Kirby's in that moment. This was the kind of thing he hoped to get to do with his own daughter, the thought of her suddenly being gone was unbearable. As was the thought of him not getting back to her again.

It was tough to see and know this smiling kid was lost, and likely, if he was realist, dead here somewhere.

"I shot this the morning they disappeared," Amanda said, hugging the life jacket tighter, looking like she wished more than anything she could go back in time and not let Eric and Ben go on that trip. Her voice nearly broke, and she was having trouble keeping her tears back more than ever.

The footage then cut to show Eric walking in front of Amanda with his back to the camera. He had the same long sleeved red shirt one, though the sleeves were rolled up. Next to him a man was hurrying towards the camera. Nick guessed this was Ben Hildebrand. He was wearing a tropical themed shirt, bright blue, with a pattern of palm trees overlooking the ocean printed on it.

"Hey, no, no, no, I want that. Hey let me take that. Let me take that. Come on, give me that. Come on, baby-" he was excitedly saying to the camera, a big grin on his face that screamed he was thinking, "I've got a great idea," when the footage abruptly cut to what was obviously an aerial shot of Isla Sorna. Nick instantly recognized the same ridges and valleys he had seen from the plane window. It was even the same section of coastline they had first flown over in the plane just hours before.

It already felt like much longer.

"See anything yet?" Eric's excited voice came through the speaker. The image zoomed in and they heard Ben slowly reply, "No, not yet," in a way that sounded as if he was focusing on searching for any sign of a dinosaur. After maybe a minute of this, the camera suddenly jerked abruptly. Nick saw Paul and Amanda stiffen.

"This must be the moment that whatever happened happened," he thought. Eric and Ben's voices changed to alarmed ones. Ben was shouting, Eric was screaming, though the group couldn't see much about why because the image was jerking around so much. Though for a moment they got a good look down at the boat the two were tethered to and saw that its canvas top had been ripped to shreds and blood was running down the hull. A long streak of it trailed and dripped off the side, like something had slid, or been dragged, or both, off the boat and into the water.

The footage after that must've been corrupted because the image cut suddenly to the two hanging from a tree, the same tree the parasail was still dangling from just behind them, looking down at the ground. It looked to be a good five or six feet below Eric's shoes. Everyone now was staring intently at the image, even Alan, Billy and Steve were all captivated by what they were seeing.

"I'm gonna unhook you, alright?" Ben was saying. "One, two, three!" Eric dropped to the ground and rolled in the weeds upon impact but he was unhurt. He stood on shaking legs as Ben added, "Are you okay, buddy? Okay, I'm gonna drop myself down now."

Eric was now gazing up at Ben, a grimace on his face, having to squint a little as a beam of sun shone directly into his eyes. He had a small scratch or similar wound across the bridge of his nose but he looked fine otherwise. In the footage he was wearing the same orange life jacket Amanda now clutched close in her arms. They couldn't see Ben, the camera must've been hanging from his belt or harness. Eric's eyes then drifted to the camera lens and looked right into it.

"The camera's still on," he said. The footage cut a moment later and there was nothing more.

"He's alive," Paul said after a moment. He nodded confidently, absolutely sure. "I know he's alive," he added. He stood up first, "We're gonna find him." Alan and Billy stood up as well and pulled back a few steps, Alan giving Billy a "there's no hope," look for a moment before he turned his gaze back to the parasail.

"Can you fly one of those?" he asked. Billy looked up at it without much confidence.

"Maybe," he finally said. "As long as the sail's not torn." Alan nodded, "Well, let's take it. If we spot a plane it might be a good way to get attention." He and Billy approached the tree, grabbed onto the parasail and began tugging on it. It was hung up good, and Steve quickly joined in trying to tug it free. Pulling down with their entire combined body weight, it actually began to come free from the tree. As did something else that was still tangled in it as well.

Half of a skeleton still in a harness tumbled out of the tree. The legs were gone below the knees. The eyes were empty sockets. The bones were stained and reeked. The flesh was all long pecked from the bones, and what little muscle and tendon that were still holding the remaining portion of the body together were rotting. The body, what was left of it, was wearing the same tropical themed shirt Ben had been wearing in the video.

The skeleton swung down after getting dislodged and tumbled right into Amanda's face. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the empty sockets in the skull and she screamed in utter horror. She tried to flee but she got her flailing arms tangled in with the cords wrapped around the body.

"Get it off! Get it off!" she screamed. "Oh my God, it's Ben!" She broke into screams again as the others rushed to her. Nick and Paul began trying to pull the corpse away from her, as Udesky pulled her away from it.

"Mrs. Kirby, relax!" Nick shouted, "Stop moving and we'll get you free faster!" Trying to untangle her from it with her flailing and kicking and making it bounce around was almost impossible.

"Mrs. Kirby!" Udesky added as one of her flailing arms nearly struck him in the face, but she was too panicked to listen. Alan and Billy joined Nick and Paul in trying to heave the body away from Amanda and untangle it, Steve hurried over and joined Udesky in pulling her away from Ben's remains and trying to unwrap the cords around her arms. Her flailing, kicking and screaming didn't help; it only got her more entangled. However after only a few seconds, though they felt like years to her, they pulled her free of the cords and harness.

"Okay, okay, you're free!" Paul said. Amanda shivered, before she turned and bolted into the jungle, still screaming, shudders of utter terror passing through her. Both revulsion and the mental image of Eric alone out there…maybe looking just like Ben did…passed through her like the icy chill of a cold.
"Get her back, Mr. Kirby!" Alan ordered as Amanda ran off, vanishing into the trees. Paul nodded and sped after her fading screams.

"Amanda, wait!" he called. "Amanda!" Then they were both out of sight of the others. Everyone left by the tree took a deep breath to calm down after the sudden excitement and Alan reached up and unhooked the corpse from the parasail. The stained, reeking bones dropped to the ground with a heavy, still somewhat wet, thud.

Everyone present had to force the bile that rose in their throats back down.

…..

Amanda kept running, deeper into the jungle without thought or consideration of where she was going. Sprinting between trees and through patches of tall ferns, she kept going as Paul's voice kept drawing nearer and nearer behind her.

"Amanda! Amanda! Amanda!" He was closing the distance and finally he caught up to her next to a stream. He reached out, grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, "Amanda stop! Stop. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about Ben," he consoled gently, hugging her tightly. She burst into tears and the voice of a very scared mother eked out of her mouth, "It's not Ben, Paul. It's Eric. He's out there all by himself. Our baby's out here all by himself…" her voice broke and she could not continue. After everything they had seen, and what they had just found, all the fear she had building inside her had broken out like a dam bursting. This was real, it finally hit her just how real it was. How much danger Eric was in…somewhere on the island all by himself. Paul nodded and held her tightly, being the strong one for her, "I know, I know. Listen to me. We'll find him," he firmly said. His voice was gentle, understanding, caring and confident. He said it not as just a mere promise, but as a fact. Something that would be, without any shadow of a doubt.

"I promise," he finally added, tightening the hug one more time and holding her until she calmed down. As she did, she finally looked around and took notice of their surroundings. Her eyes slowly widened and her breathing began to pick up from fear. Less than five feet away from where they were standing was a nest with a clutch of eggs in it.

"Paul," she urgently whispered in a shaking voice. He turned to look and saw it too. His eyes widened.

"Dr. Grant! Nick! You guys should come look at this!" The rest of the group heard Paul's distant voice call out. Alan and Nick both looked over their shoulders in the direction Paul's voice had come from. They shared a glance, then turned and hurried in that direction. Behind them Billy and Udesky had folded and were now rolling up the parasail. Steve looked after Alan and Nick for an additional moment, then slowly followed them. Udesky gave Billy a "You good?" look and when Billy nodded he stood and hurriedly followed Alan, Nick and Steve as well. Billy hurriedly began to finish rolling up the parasail so he could follow.

Meanwhile, Alan and Nick reached the small sheltered clearing by the creek where Paul and Amanda were standing. Paul wordlessly pointed down at the ground and the two paleontologists turned to look where he was pointing. Nick felt his breath hitch and his eyes widened. Alan crouched and looked closely at the nest without actually touching it, and then he looked around. Dotted around the whole area on both sides of the stream were more nests, with ten to twelve eggs in each on average. Two...three...four...five nests…and those were just the ones he could see.

"Raptor," Grant gasped standing, his eyes widening in alarm as well. Nick urgently tapped him on the chest, "We need to move. The worker village can't be far." Then he looked at Paul and added, "No more shouting. We'll be lucky if they weren't in earshot as it is, come on!" He urgently ordered, quickly hurrying from the clearing, the others following. They turned Udesky and Steve around as they were reaching the clearing. Billy however arrived right as the others were rushing out, he was just finishing stuffing the parasail in his big bag. He watched them go, having come in a slightly different way, and then looked down and saw the nests too.

For a moment he just stared. Then he went for his lucky pack and unzipped it.

…..

As the group hurriedly cleared the area, following Nick as he all but jogged away from the nesting area, Paul was still offering a few more encouraging words for a still shaken Amanda, "We're gonna find him. Are you listening to him? We're gonna find him. Kid's got resources. Remember what it was like to try to ground him?" and so on. Alan let the others steadily file past, doing a head count as everyone hurried after Nick. After the Kirby's came Udesky, and then Steve followed in the rear at a pace behind the others with a grim look on his face. They were one short.

"Where's Billy?" Alan said, then he began hurrying back towards the nest. He hadn't heard anything, no movement and definitely no screams, but he knew that didn't mean anything. If the raptors had snuck up on him….

He felt his breath hitch at the thought and quickened his pace, but stopped a moment later as Billy appeared from around a tree, hurrying after the others. He was zipping his lucky pack closed and looked up right as he reached Alan.

"What are you doing?" Alan demanded. Billy chuckled, out of breath, "I was photographing the nest." Alan shook his head in disbelief at the reckless action, "Don't do that again," he ordered. Billy grinned, "Sorry."

"We lose you, we lose our majority rule over the damn tourists," Alan scolded as they turned and followed the others. Billy took one last look back and then sped to catch up with the group. They had to hurry to keep up with Nick's quick pace. However, Alan spotted that Steve was lagging behind a few steps. His gaze was at the ground and not at what was ahead. He looked like he was having a lot of internal turmoil.

Seeing this, Alan fell back and started walking in pace alongside Steve.

"You okay?" Alan asked. "You've been quiet for the last few hours."

Steve shook his head, his teeth tightly clenched together, "I'm furious. This isn't how this was supposed to go." After a moment he sighed and added, "I'm not unsympathetic. No, I get it. Heck, if it was Kate lost on this island, I know I'd do the exact same thing they did. But eight weeks, they're only thinking in weeks...I'm afraid that Kate is going to have to go forever without her dad because of this." Steve shook his head again and continued.

"After Jurassic Park, I wasn't there for them. I started drinking, it got so bad I even broke into our local bowling alley for a bottle one night after all the bars had closed. The alley had a bar in it. Real small town type place, so my buddy who is a cop was the responding officer and he found me there. He didn't arrest me, just pretended he found nobody and took me home. The drinking was why my wife and I divorced, but I got sober, haven't touched a bottle since, threw out all the stashes I had hidden in the house, and ever since I've always been there for them both again. Now that could be ripped away from them again at any moment...permanently," he finished, trailing off with another long exhale and pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. Alan patted his friend reassuringly on the shoulder, "It's okay. We're gonna get out of here. We'll get to the operations center and use the radio to call for help."

Up ahead at the very front of the group, Nick suddenly stopped at the edge of a slope and looked back over his shoulder, "Damn right we will," he said, waving everyone over and pointing down into the valley below.

Below them, nestled in a clearing below the surrounding hills, was a compound of several buildings.

"That's it," Nick said, nodding towards the structures that made up the worker village. He spied the same exact roof that he, Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding, Kelly Curtis, and Nick Van Owen had been flown off of via helicopter four years ago. "The communication center is just inside the main building down there," he added. They were looking down at the village from the west, and the place was the most beautiful sight he'd seen since landing on the island; and until a few hours ago it was a place he'd never wanted to see again. How times change, he mused to himself.

"I bet you Eric's in there somewhere too. Don't you think? I'd bet my bottom dollar!" Paul eagerly said, lightly shoving past Nick and all but running down the hill towards the compound. Everyone else followed at an eager pace as well.

The group circled around the perimeter once they reached the bottom of the hill and kept going until they came upon the path to the village Nick recognized from his last visit. They entered through the same gate he had last time and crossed the opening. Everything was overgrown in a layer of foliage. The vines looked like they were trying to eat the buildings. Old abandoned vehicles dotted the parking area outside. Grant eyed one that looked like its front passenger window had been smashed in by something shoving its way inside but he only took a passing glance at it without slowing. Everything looked significantly more weathered and damaged than it had four years ago and Nick suddenly wondered if the power systems would even still work. Eight years clearly had done a lot more wear on the place then just four had.

They crossed the courtyard, passed a weathered sign with a faded InGen logo on it, and headed up the same steps Nick remembered and right through the open doors and into the very familiar, if only more damaged looking, lobby. The last four years had not been any kinder to the interior than they had been to the exterior. There were multiple holes in the roof which weren't present last time Nick was there. The floor was covered in layers of dead and dried leaves, broken sticks, and other plants. Vines snaked their way in from the ceiling and windows. The glass that remained in the windows was coated in a film of dust and grime. The lobby smelled damp and musty with rot. Compared to how it had looked four years ago, it looked like a bomb had gone off in the place.

They entered the lobby, Nick leading the way. He stood in front of the lobby's front desk and pointed towards another still open door at the side of the room. Its glass was coated over in dirt and dust coated spiderwebs, but it was open just enough that he could just get a glimpse of the radio inside, sitting on a desk pushed against the opposite wall. The microphone piece was just sticking out of a tangled bundle of vines.

"It's all in there," Nick said, walking towards it. Alan started following him. They jumped when Paul suddenly cupped his hands over his mouth and loudly shouted, "Eric!" Everyone jumped, a tropical bird of some kind was even startled out of the rafters and flew out of one of the holes in the roof. Nick swore his heart had skipped a few beats, Paul's voice had been amplified and it echoed deep into the empty hallways of the facility.

"Paul!" Amanda harshly scolded in a whisper. She sighed and turned her gaze to Nick, who had stopped a few paces from the door to the communications room.

"Alright, go ahead and call them," she said, looking down. She was no longer able to hold back the tears she'd been struggling to keep in for eight weeks.

Seeing her say it with such a dejected look, almost like she was starting to think Eric really was gone, Nick sighed. As a father as well, he got it.

"Look…the communication stuff isn't going anywhere. Why don't we take a look around before we power the place up?" he offered. "Just on the off chance he is here at the compound somewhere?" Paul and Amanda eagerly nodded, hope suddenly blooming in Amanda's eyes again. Nick nodded back and looked over at Dr. Grant, Alan also gave a relenting nod of agreement after a moment. They slowly set off across the lobby, heading towards a set of doors at the back of the room that Nick Edwards and Nick Van Owen hadn't explored the last time, though, Nick vaguely recalled, the creaking door-being-opened-like sound that they had heard had come from somewhere through these doors. He gritted his teeth, telling himself that whatever was back there that night was long gone now.

The mural on the wall that he had seen back in 1997 caught Nick's eye again, now able to see the whole thing since it was daylight this time. He shook his head a bit at the artist's depiction of what Jurassic Park had been envisioned as. "Oh man," he remembered Van Owen saying under his breath as he had shined his light on it. Nick recalled he had chuckled and said, "Oh yeah. This is exactly what it was like," in response. He wondered where Nick Van Owen was nowadays; they had fallen out of contact pretty quickly after escaping Isla Sorna the last time.

As they left the lobby and went deeper into the facility, no one saw the nimble shape outside running past the windows.

…..

The deeper hallways of the facility were dark and dim, the only light coming in as bright beams from holes in the roof or the occasional window. The floor was damp and coated in occasional slippery puddles of water. Water trickled down from the ceiling and it honestly sounded like the inside of a cave the further they went. Though it may have sounded like one, the interiors didn't feel like the inside of a cave. The air was still damp, warm and humid. Despite being out of the hot sun, everyone was still sweating and felt sticky. The damp air was stuffy and stifling. There were also no signs that any of the objects scattered about had been moved or otherwise disturbed anytime recently.

"No one has been here in a long time," Steve thought the further they went. Paul suddenly stepped forward towards two tall boxy shapes lined against one wall, and Nick quickly realized they were old vending machines. The glass in both was fogged and dirty, but the outlines of wrappers could be seen behind the film coating the glass.

"Who's got some change?" Paul was asking, reaching into his pockets and pulling out some bills. "It only takes quarters. I've got like…I've got a buck…uh, I've got a buck-ten-"

He was cut off when Billy took the more obvious solution. Kicking out the glass. Amanda jumped back and shouted at the sudden loud noise from right behind her. Ignoring the stares from the Kirby's, Billy plundered and pillaged the vending machine for all that was left and tossed whatever had he just taken to anyone who indicated they wanted something. Nick, Alan, Amanda and Udesky all took the offer. He tossed a bag of nuts to Alan, and a protein bar to everyone else who wanted something. Billy took a protein bar as well, the rest of the nuts, trail mix, and protein bars Billy shoved into his large bag to save for later.

"Who's gonna come check them anyway?" Steve said, patting Paul on the shoulder and following the others down a side hall.

Paul watched them go, feeling more than a little bit like the fool. Embarrassed, he stuffed his change back into his pants pocket, eyed the machine up like it had personally wronged him and kicked the glass. The glass stayed intact, and Paul felt pain shoot up his leg. The machine won that one, he conceded, rubbing his leg and limping after the others. He'd just take something from Billy when he caught up to him.

The group came out of the hallway and entered a large room. It was massive, and they stopped at the top of a set of metal stairs leading down into it. A catwalk lined the entire wall around the room. The floor was an entire level below them. The room was lined with windows meaning it was the first well-lit room they had come across since leaving the lobby. The room was the size of a small school gymnasium at least. The room was probably three stories tall from floor to ceiling, and lining the floor below them in two parallel long rows lining the length of the room were incubators. Old robotic arms dangled down towards the incubators from the high ceiling, sagging and rusting. Even from this far up, Alan could still see some hatched eggs sitting in some of the open incubators. Nick did too and frowned, "After eight years?" he said to himself as they began to descend the stairs.

They wandered up and down the rows of open or partially open incubators in silence for a while. Each one had a glass dome that covered the eggs which could be raised and lowered by a hydraulic. The glass of each dome was fogged by a thick layer of dust. Amanda eventually approached one and picked up a hatched egg.

"This is how you make dinosaurs?" she asked as Nick came over and took the egg, examining the shell.

"No, this is how you play God," Alan answered, staring at the incubator in front of him. The room was designed for mass production for sure, it looked like a factory floor for the mass growth and hatching of dinosaurs.

"This is where they made them. The InGen workers lived and did their work here all at this one compound," Nick thought, thinking about how little of the worker village he had seen last time. He really wished he had seen this room last time, because something about it wasn't sitting right with him. He then looked over at Alan as Amanda slowly walked away, still turning the egg shell thoughtfully between his fingers.

"Ahem." Alan looked over and Nick waved him over with a jerk of his head. He looked around as though someone else might've been there listening in and said, "Something is up here Alan. Dinosaurs not on InGen's list and now this," he said and held the egg shell out to Dr. Grant. Nick bit his bottom lip for probably the twentieth time that day.

"This egg shell is not almost eight years old," he said. "There's no way."

"What do you think it means?" Alan asked. Nick shook his head and took the shell back, "I don't know."

"You think InGen came back?" Alan asked. Nick sighed, "Someone came back," he eventually said. "Someone came back in the last few years and grew more dinosaurs." Alan grimaced, "Keep this to ourselves for now," he said. Nick nodded but added in a whisper, "Expect the unexpected. There's no telling what else they might have made….whoever they were. Or what else they left here."

The long rows of incubators ran along the length of the room down its center, along the walls behind them were tall, wide embryonic tubes. Likely used for observing the clones as they grew and progressed, and to monitor for any unexpected defects; they now sat still filled but now a clouded green. Some were busted open but not all. The liquid inside the remaining filled ones must have been a preserving agent, because the embryos that were inside the ones still filled were still there, hanging in the fluid from a set of wires fixed to them. Billy was taking a picture of one, inside the tube was a failed clone. The animal inside was a deformed mutant, it hardly resembled a dinosaur. The species it was supposed to be Alan could only guess, maybe a Parasaurolophus or a Corythosaurus. He turned around and went back to his discussion with Nick about what people having come back might mean.

They both looked over at the sound of a sudden loud crunch but it was just Paul accidentally stepping on an egg shell that had spilled onto the floor at some point. They both exhaled, jumpy despite themselves, as Steve joined them.

"What's going on?" he asked. Alan nodded towards the shell in Nick's hand and said, "Nick seems to think that someone came back and cloned more dinosaurs since this place was abandoned."

Steve frowned, "Okay…well, what does that mean?"

"That means…we really have no idea what all might be roaming this island. The Spinosaurus made that obvious since it wasn't on the list of dinosaurs cloned before 1993, but now it's even more apparent. Someone came back here and has been up to something. I can't even guess what might be out there now. My last visit to this island is going to be useless for predicting what might be in what area. We need to get back to the lobby and fire up the communication center," Nick said urgently. "Now."

Meanwhile, in a little bit of awe, Amanda wandered past Billy as he continued snapping photos of the failed clones, looking into the different tanks. Some of the remaining specimens inside had more deformities than others and some were clearly further along development wise than others. Then she came to one that was much further along than any of the others. She stopped and stared. Staring back at her through the cloudy green liquid inside the tank was the preserved head of a fully grown Velociraptor.

Awed, not having seen one in person before, nor expecting it to be so big, she leaned in closer to take in the details of it while she had a safe opportunity. It was an incredible creature. It had a long snout, as well as quills on the back of its head. She continued to stare at it, captivated, and it just stared right back, but that was when its red eyes twitched and its pupils focused right on her. She frowned as she saw the pupil constrict, it seemed to lock right onto her, and then the raptor lunged.

With a shriek it jumped out from behind the tank and snapped at Amanda, but it couldn't squeeze its body between the tightly lined rows. She threw herself back into a support pillar and shrieked as well. It had been a trick, a trick of the perspective through the rounded glass of the tank. The raptor had been standing silently just on the other side of the glass and had waited for her to get close.

Everyone looked over at the sound of the commotion, and everyone saw the raptor trying to squeeze between the glass tanks. When it couldn't, it retreated and began sprinting along behind the line of tanks, looking for a way through. Everyone took off, Paul shoving Amanda past him as the group ran. Behind them, the raptor jumped through the narrow space between one filled tank and one that was busted open and sprinted after the group.

Seeing that they didn't have time to rush back up the stairs, Alan led everyone through a door down on the factory floor. They made a few blind turns and suddenly came into a hall with a series of large kennels lining the walls on either side, one right after the other. Ahead was a dead end. The raptor shrieked behind them.

"This way, this way!" Paul shouted, directing everyone down a lone hallway to their right. At the far end was a metal security door. They sprinted for it, passing more rows of kennels on either side of them, and reached the door. Paul grabbed the handle and tried to pull it. It didn't budge. He tried again, hoping it was just rusty, but it still wouldn't move. He shook his head, "It's locked!" he urgently reported. They were in a dead end.

And right as they turned around the raptor sprinted into view and slid to a stop at the end of the row they were in. It seemed baffled by coming to the sudden dead end, but then it turned its gaze down the hall towards them. It stared at them and both parties froze for a moment.

The humans reacted first, "This way! This way!" multiple individuals shouted.

The raptor charged with another shriek. The group scattered into three of the pens. Paul, Alan and Mr. Udesky in one, Billy and Amanda in the other and finally Nick and Steve scrambled into one and swung the door closed. The raptor was closest to them and it sprang for their door. Unlike the rabid intently the tiger-stripe raptors had attacked with, this one seemed to think and chose its targets not at random but with deliberate thought.
It crashed into the cage door of their pin and began to push it open with ease. Nick and Steve pushed back but they were sliding over the wet concrete floor. The raptor snarled and seemed to grin at them. It would be inside with them in a second.

Seeing this, Billy made a sudden decision without thinking. Without telling Amanda, he shoved their kennel door open and stepped into the hall again, "Hey!" The raptor stopped pushing and whipped its head around, seeing him standing there exposed and open. It let go of Nick and Steve's kennel door and charged at Billy. Amanda screamed as Billy suddenly jumped back into the kennel, swinging the door and putting it between him and the raptor. The raptor leapt and crashed into it, clinging onto the door with its hands and feet, nearly throwing Billy from his feet but he stayed balanced. With a yell he charged into the door, throwing his weight into it and swinging it around, slamming it shut and trapping the raptor in the little corner space it made between the kennel and the wall. He slammed the kennel lock through the bars to keep it shut and turned to run, "Come one!"

Without even a moment to congratulate him for his quick thinking, the others hurried out of their kennels and ran back the way they had come. Alan, who was in the rear, shoved everyone else ahead of him but stopped as the raptor began letting out a series of chittering squawks, the same one, in the same pattern, over and over again.

"My God," Alan gasped, looking back at the raptor, feeling a pit of dread filling his stomach. They had to get away now. "He's calling for help." Paul, who saw he had stopped, raced back and grabbed Alan under the arm, "Come on!" he urged and the two both turned and ran together back the way they had come.

Still squawking, the raptor saw that there was a large gap between the top of the door it was clinging to and the ceiling, and it began to climb up and out of the constrictive space.

They could still hear it calling as they raced up the steps, hurried through the lobby and out of the same doors they had entered through. Nick had paused in the lobby, looking at the door to the communications room but with a grimace he shook his head and ran out of the building, swearing under his breath. He'd have to hope for another opportunity to come back if nothing else presented itself first.

The group raced back into the jungle, Nick, Alan and Steve all feeling more dread about going back in then they had had before, and away from the compound only a moment before the raptor followed them outside.

In a matter of seconds the raptor had climbed up and over the door, then it was free and running after the group again. Back through the kennels, out into the production floor, up the catwalk stairs, through the halls and in then out of the lobby. The raptor stopped at the base of the steps outside and looked around, but saw the intruders it had been tracking from the nesting grounds were gone back into the jungle. With the quills on the back of its head raised aggressively, it threw its head back and began calling out in a series of multiple quick, alarm raising squawks, chirps and barks. The loud cries echoed far out into the jungle and reached the rest of the pack's ears.

The male individuals were the red-eyed raptors with quills on the backs of their heads like the individual the group had encountered inside the building. They had purplish-gray colored scales on most of their upper body, save a pale blue stripe that ran from behind their eyes all the way down the length of their body to the tips of their tails. Their bellies and undersides were a lighter gray color, like the main color of the female raptors. The females were almost entirely a solid light gray color, save for black spotted patterns and golden speckles scattered across their bodies. The females had no quills and their eyes were a very keen yellow color. One could see them working a problem out, thinking it through, assessing it carefully, if one could or dared get close enough to observe them.

The raptors each had a killing curved sickle claw on the inner toe of each foot. A claw they could put to use with deadly efficiently. The claws at the ends of their fingers were like blades as well. Their bite was also a thing to be feared. Inside their long snouts were rows of sharp deadly teeth, each like a pointed spear-tip.

Each raptor in the pack raised their head and chirped at the sounds of their fellow calling out. Several of the males cocked their heads to the sides and listened. The large alpha female, the largest raptor in the pack, however remained still and silent as she listened to the calls from her packmate. Only after she had heard the whole alert call from her fellow, she growled deep in her throat, her keen eyes bright with intelligence and thinking, planning, as she turned and led the others off after the intruders.

Dr. Grant may have dismissed them as genetically engineered monsters and nothing more, but in truth they were as much raptor as the ones he studied in the rocks were; and they had all the same features and traits he had been awed by.

Hearing their pack mate's cries, and understanding what they met, the others took off. Just like Dr. Grant had said, their prey would not know what was going on.

And in truth, there was indeed a true genetically engineered monster loose on the island somewhere, an abomination indeed stalked Isla Sorna, but it wasn't the raptors.

…..

The cries also attracted the attention of something else. Another dinosaur, an unnatural creature of obvious genetic tampering, bearing the features of multiple different animals mixed together into one, lifted its head up at the sound of the faint squawking. The creature, another not included on any of InGen's publicly available lists, cocked its head to the side, its yellow eyes focusing, the thick quills on the back of its head raising, understood the meaning of the calls just as well as the other raptors had.

Egg thieves.

This would be nothing of note on its own. However, the creature, smarter than even the raptors, picked up something else from the fading echoes of the calls and rose to its feet.

It wasn't just a rallying cry to alert its pack of simple intruders.

Humans were on the island.

…..

"Into the herd!" Grant shouted as they sprinted out of the jungle and into an open meadow. Standing around in thickly packed groups were perhaps a hundred herbivorous dinosaurs of varying species. Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus were the two most prevalent species in the mixed herd. They'd been grazing but as the humans burst from the trees and sprinted into their midst, the dinosaurs suddenly got spooked and began turning this way and that before they started stampeding in the same direction the group was running.

Trying not to get trampled, everyone had to dodge and weave between the fleeing, panicked dinosaurs, who were shoving into each other and weaving around one another. Meanwhile, at the same tree line the group had just sprinted out from, two raptors sped out of the trees and followed them at full speed.

Trumpeting and bellowing, the herbivores took no notice of the humans running at their feet. Nick had to duck out of the way of a stampeding Corythosaurus and nearly danced right into the path of a Parasaurolophus. He threw himself out of the way of that dinosaur and nearly tripped into the path of another Corythosaurus but he managed to keep on his feet. Billy meanwhile stumbled but likewise kept his footing. As he reoriented himself though, he realized his lucky pack was gone. It had slipped over his shoulder somewhere when he stumbled and he lost it in the high grass somewhere. He took a moment to look for it before he was forced to reluctantly run again and leave it as the stampede continued.

He didn't see Alan, who was behind him, and little off to his side, spot the bag and scoop it up and sling it over his own shoulder. A fleeing dinosaur passed right between them as he did and Billy completely missed him. Udesky was the only one who really did trip, he tumbled over his own feet and onto the ground, rolling a few times. One dinosaur even leapt over him, its foot knocking into him and making him roll some more. By the time he got his feet under himself and was back on his feet he'd fallen way behind the group. He couldn't see anyone anymore, just the moving mass of bodies of the dinosaurs jostling together in front of and around him. He threw his big heavy pack off to the side and kept running.

By the time the herd settled again, the group had all become completely scattered from one another. They rushed into the trees on the opposite side of the meadow and began looking for any form of cover.

Paul and Amanda had managed to keep together and at the first big tree they came to that they felt they could scamper up they immediately did so. Billy meanwhile found himself alone in the thick jungle, ducking and weaving through brush, ferns and shrubs. Nick had lost everyone else too and he paused for a moment. Seeing no raptors, he slowed his pace and crept stealthily along into the thicket. He knew everyone had to be close, the jungle was just so thick they were impossible to see. And he didn't dare risk calling out.

The sound of something chattering in the thicket ahead promoted him to stop and hurry up the nearest climbable tree he could see. No where on the ground was safe. The raptors were all over the area, he knew; it seemed like they had kicked up an ant nest of them.

Alan and Steve both likewise were alone. Grant reached the trees last, and he just kept going when he saw no one else. The raptor had called for help, they were very likely still being chased he knew. And his own words to Ellie the other night were replaying in his mind more than ever right now. Despite his own words at the symposium, he knew these were still just as smart as their kin fossilized in the rocks were. Safely off the island he could dismiss it, but here, and having seen it first hand yet again, he could not.

Mr. Udesky was still disoriented and he stumbled through the jungle and into the first clearing he came too. Looking over his shoulder he saw nothing behind him, no dinosaurs of any kind. He then faced forward again and stopped as a guttural snarling hiss emitted from right in front of him.

All the remaining color drained from his sweat drenched face and his eyes went wide. That was all he had time to register before there was a set of open jaws with sharp teeth rushing towards him from either side.

…..

His scream tore through the jungle. In the branches of his and Amanda's tree, Mr. Kirby looked up. His eyes were wide and he paled, "Udesky?" he whispered.

Mr. Udesky was crawling on the ground, the attack having been a series of sudden quick slashes. He'd picked up a large stick, he'd tried to fight, but he had lost. The raptors were now on all sides of him, watching him. The fight itself was a blur of claws and teeth, he thought had swung his stick but he had lost the fight, and he was now crawling on his belly just trying to get away. Trying to get anywhere that wasn't his current location. This wasn't how it was supposed to have gone. It was supposed to be an easy job…a walk in the park.

The heavy footsteps were coming up behind him though and the man kept crawling. Then he felt the foot step down on his back and pin him to the ground. He felt the two small claws on the raptor's foot prick him through his shirt, but then he felt that long, curved, sickle claw stab him in the back.

Right in his spine.

The agony was worse than any pain he could have described in words. His entire spine felt like it was on fire as every nerve shot off a pain signal. It was a paralyzing pain. Udesky could only scream.

As he did, the keen eyed female approached him. She looked down at him and snorted deeply. There were deep, complex thoughts passing through her mind. Her eyes showed it, her body language was that of a creature in debate with itself on its next action. Having something else in mind for this captured intruder, she squawked out a complex command. But one that her fellows understood with ease.

The raptors descended on him again and began to viciously drag him away. Biting hard, clawing, scratching, they dragged him away into the jungle; being just gentle enough to keep him alive. But for Udesky it had almost faded away already into a dazed fog of nothing but agony.

There was nothing the poor man could do but let it happen. He was in too much pain to care about the fear anymore though, or about what they were going to do with him.

…..

Steve heard the scream and had stopped cold. It was close…very close. For a moment he stayed frozen where he stood, not daring to take a step. That's when he saw the tall grass and undergrowth to his right shaking. Going wide eyed, he turned and sprinted for a tree with a large, low branch he could hoist himself into. His sudden movement made one of the male raptors dragging Udesky away rise up and poke its head out of the tall grass. Seeing him, it shrieked and chased after him. The call was a more frightening version of the one he had heard Billy produce from the printed off resonating chamber, by a thousand percent. Steve reached the tree, threw his pack, jumped and started to scramble into the low branch so he could climb up higher.

The raptor got to him first. It leapt and with a well aimed slash it cut open the leg he was pushing himself up with. With a scream he fell to the ground as his leg gave out. He landed roughly and got knocked into a daze. Looking up as his head cleared, he saw the raptor looking down at him, quills raised like hackles. Then one of the light gray, yellow-and-black-speckled, females walked up to him. The alpha female stared down at him, and for a moment neither of them moved. His eyes met hers and she looked back and contemplated him.

Then she opened her jaws and lunged down for his neck.

…..

The Kirby's heard the second scream, so did Nick Edwards. Perched up in a split in the trunk of the tree he had climbed into, he looked around in the direction it had come from.

"Steve," he said in horror. He heard his friend screaming and then it suddenly stopped. He swore he heard a final, guttural, choking gasp then nothing. The silence was so much worse. Nick felt his stomach drop out of body and all the way to the ground.

They'd gotten him, he knew. Steve was gone.

Before he could do or think anything else, two things happened. First, a raptor, one of the quilled males, popped out of the grass near the base of the tree and began looking around.

At the same time, Billy ran out from the ferns on the opposite side of the tree from it. Nick watched him spot the raptor and duck behind the trunk. His movements made enough noise that the dinosaur's head alertly swung around to face where he had been a moment before. After a moment of staring, it lifted its head and barked, then it ran off into the jungle in the direction Udesky's screams had come from.

Once it was gone, Nick leaned out and called down to him, "Billy, up here! Quick!"

Billy Brennan looked up at Nick and scampered up the trunk, using the vines growing down the trunk to cling on as Nick had done.

"You're a lucky son of a bitch that that thing didn't see you," Nick said, hauling his friend up into the fork in the trunk with him once he reached it. There was enough space for both of them to perch there. They caught their breath for a moment before Billy snapped his gaze around to face Nick, "Have you seen Alan?"
Nick slowly shook his head. Fearing the worst but hoping otherwise, Billy began scanning the trees. For Alan or any of the others.

Mr. Kirby!" he called out.
"Billy!" came an answer. Just a few trunks away the Kirby's popped into view, having been hidden in a tangle of large branches jutting out of a nearby tree trunk in all directions. Carefully, Nick and Billy climbed over, the trees all growing close enough that their branches formed almost perfect bridges between one another if one went slow enough.

As soon as they arrived Nick's eyes went wide, "Look," he pointed. Everyone turned and looked down.

"Oh my God," Mr. Kirby gasped in horror. Mr. Udesky lay at the base of their tree, sprawled on his belly, his arms lying awkwardly at his side. He had not been there when the Kirby's had looked down last. He must have made his way there and collapsed while they were watching Nick and Billy climb over, Paul figured. Maybe he had heard their calls and tried to get to them as well.

He'd obviously gotten attacked; on his back was a massive slash wound.

"Mr. Udesky! Mr. Udesky!" Amanda called down but there was no answer.

"He's dead," Billy said grimly.

That's when Mr. Udesky shakily began to lift his arms ever so slightly.

"Oh my God, no he's not!" Amanda gasped, starting to stand so she could climb down and make a dash for him. Nick suddenly felt a jolt strike him and frantically grabbed at Amanda to keep her from climbing down, "Wait! Wait Wait!"

"We gotta help him," Paul insisted. Nick grabbed Amanda by her shoulders, nearly falling off the branch himself, and forced her to sit down.

"Stop!" he hissed, turning his gaze down to the jungle floor below. After a moment his eyes found what he knew would be there and he nodded, "Right there," he said softly, pointing. The others gazed to the spot he was pointing and Nick heard the Kirby's both suck in a breath. In the bushes less than twenty feet from Udesky were two raptors staring back up at those in the tree. After a moment of eye contact the raptors seemed to register and accept they'd been spotted because they both sauntered out of the bush and up to the body.

"They set a trap," Billy gasped under his breath. "They actually set a trap."

A series of single short calls began coming from much deeper in the jungle. More raptors. The calls continued coming for several seconds. Eventually, the ones at the base of the tree responded. One of the two, the female, took off back into the jungle. The other, the male, stayed and looked down at Udesky and then up at the four people in the tree.

Still meeting their eyes, the male raptor bent down, grabbed Udesky by the neck and, in a clear deliberate act, snapped his neck in front of them, looking back up at them with a final chomp of its jaws before it too ran off.

It was a clear warning if Nick had ever seen one. They had wandered into their territory and had more than paid the price for it.

…..

Dr. Grant had gotten so far away from everyone that he hadn't heard any of the screaming. He stumbled through the undergrowth of the jungle, using the tall grass and ferns for cover. He saw no one and heard no one else. There was also no sign of the raptors.

But he was now alone somewhere in the jungles of Isla Sorna.

Dr. Grant continued on. Eventually he took cover in some tall thin grass growing at the base of a tree at the edge of another small clearing. He'd ducked because he had spotted two raptors standing ahead in the thicket. They were gazing upward. One of the two, the one with quills on its head, began letting out a series of single short barks that echoed off into the trees. It then quietly chittered with the female standing next to it, and she responded, before it let out more of the loud single barks again. This time Grant heard answers called back from the distance.

He frowned contemplatively, "What are you saying? What are you looking for?" he whispered. He wished he could just go up and ask them. Instead, he made the smart move and ducked down out of sight again until the sounds of the raptors finally stopped.

He waited a little longer before sitting up next to the tree, still contemplating what he had seen, before peeking over to where the raptors had been standing through a fork in the tree trunk where the trunk split into two.

They were gone.

Alan sighed and lowered himself back to the ground and sat there a moment. His theory was more or less being proven true with those observations but just how far did their intelligence and social complexity go? He couldn't get the interaction the two had had out of his mind and he kept replaying it over and over. Those raptors had been, unless he was crazy, having an actual conversation with each other. In any other situation, studying that interaction would have been fascinating. He almost wished he could study them now, his earlier preconceived notions or not.

He couldn't stay and think about it now however. He had to take this opportunity to find the others while he had a chance. He stood and took another glance through the fork in the trunk.

One of the raptors was snarling back at him from right there, its head nestled between the split in the trunk. Its jaws were wide open and every sharp tooth it had was being shown off aggressively. Alan jumped and stumbled back from the tree. The raptor stood and leapt into the fork before hopping onto the ground in front of him, more or less eye to eye with him. It cocked its head to the side as it stared at him. Its teeth were still bared, and the quills on its head rose each time it snarled at him. Before Alan could make a move or try to run, more raptors were suddenly running into the clearing from all sides. He spun around but everywhere he looked was another chittering raptor. They barked and squawked back and forth to each other as they encircled him. There were several of the quilled males staring at him, almost looking gleeful, and two of the lighter grey females. They didn't close in yet, they continued talking back and forth with one another, but there was no way out. Nowhere to go, to climb, to escape to. Nowhere at all.

He was surrounded. The awe of the animals he felt when studying their fossils was replaced by fear, a deep dread that grew in his gut, and then a somber acceptance that they had him. His words to Ellie the other night came back to him, the words he had said with excitement and awe seeping into them, as he explained to her just how smart these animals really were. Though, despite them having him, his respect for them was still there even as he looked at them in wide eyed, helpless fear. He had called them nothing more than monsters but in truth these were raptors through and through. Circling, closing the distance, the largest female was now looking directly into his eyes with her very keen own.

"Smarter than primates," he had said. Grant stared back at her, and words spoken long ago, words he had spoken to a kid who thought raptors nothing more than oversized turkeys, also came back into mind like an echo, "You stare at him…and he just stares right back." In moments, he knew, the attack would come not from the front but from the side. There was no way out.

Then something larger than the raptors, but not by much, sprinted out of the jungle from behind them. It was a large black dinosaur. Grant took a startled step back at the sight, nearly right into the arms of the raptors behind him, as he tried to process what on Earth he was even looking like. The dinosaur was very raptor-like in shape, but it was larger, bulkier, and heavily armored. There was a thick layer of armor coating its head, upper body, and arms. It looked like the armor Grant had seen on Dunkleosteus fossils. On its head were a set of crests that were clearly from Dilophosaurus…but this animal was clearly not a Dilophosaurus. It had long arms, long enough it looked like it could walk down on all fours easily. It had an unmistakable set of Stegosaurus thagomizers on its tail, very raptor-like sickle claws on the same toes as the raptors surrounding him had…no not raptor-like, they were unmistakable raptor claws, along with a very familiar looking sail on its back. A Spinosaurus sail. Its eyes were also glowing a bright bioluminescent green.

Before Grant could process the sight and try to piece together what on Earth this animal even was, definitely something not on InGen's list again, it didn't even resemble any real dinosaur Grant knew, a second one ran out from behind the first. Smoothly emerging from the thick growth of ferns, it bolted up next to its fellow.

This one was different though. The overall body structure was the same, but it was larger, and likely would be one or two feet taller than the first if it stood upright, but this one had run in down on all fours, running on its long arms like Alan had guessed the first could. It stood up after stopping next to its fellow, rising up to a height of about ten feet; the first stood at about nine.

The second dinosaur was bulker then the first, with stronger looking muscles, but just as armored. Its body was covered in the same exact Dunkleosteus looking armor as the first. The head shape was different though, this one also had no crest and instead had thick spike-like quills on the back of its head and a slightly longer snout. It had the same long arms, the same raptor claws on its feet, webbing between its toes, an extra row of thagomizers on the end of its tail, and no sail on its back. This one had a row of spikes growing along its spine, right out of the plated armor that covered its back. But its mouth was what really caught Grant's eyes. Its teeth were…not what he ever would've expected to see on a dinosaur. They grew in a single row along the midline of the upper and lower jaw. The teeth themselves were serrated and protruded out of the front of the animal's mouth ever so slightly. They looked just like the teeth and tooth structure Grant had seen on the fossilized remains of the shark-like fish Edestus. The single row of teeth growing along the center of the dinosaur's mouth meant it couldn't fully close its mouth, and it also had no tongue because of their placement. As it snarled at the raptors alongside its fellow, it turned its head slightly and Grant saw gills on its neck. It had nostrils as well, meaning it could breathe both open air and while under the water. This one also had glowing eyes, bright yellow glowing eyes. Grant also now noticed that both dinosaurs had three fingers on each hand, as well as thumbs.

As the raptors in front of Grant wheeled around to face the intruders, the ones behind him began barking at them as well and a third shape ran up from behind them. Grant wheeled around to face it but this one was completely different. Like the first two it was all black in color, though this one had pale blue glowing eyes, but it was smaller, clearly more nimble and agile, but still raptor-like. It had the claws on its feet, a body shape more like the raptors still surrounding him had, was a closer size too, and no armor like the first two had. Instead its raptor body was topped with a Tyrannosaurus shaped head, along with a Triceratops frill and horns. It snarled like the first two and the raptor closest to it likewise wheeled around to face the new threat. And in the middle of it all Grant felt….lost.

The raptors barked and squawked at the strange dinosaurs, who repeated the action in turn. Each snarl and bark was challenging and aggressive. The quills on the backs of the male raptors heads rose in agitation, perhaps in a threat display as well. The spike-like quills on the back of the second strange dinosaur's head did the same as it snarled and growled.

The three strange raptor-like dinosaurs continued to snarl, threaten and hiss at the raptor pack, which outnumbered them two to one but were clearly outmatched by the three new arrivals. The raptors were smart enough to realize that. After a few moments of standoff the raptors fled, leaving Grant now surrounded by the three mystery dinosaurs which all turned their eyes to look at him. He felt that confusion turn into a pit in his stomach as three sets of pupilless glowing eyes locked onto him.

Then something else…no someone…bolted out of the ferns, wearing a self made camouflaged outfit, sprinting right between the first two that had appeared. They grabbed Grant's hand without stopping and continued sprinting, going right past the third dinosaur and out of the clearing, around a tree into the undergrowth of high grass, brush and thick ferns. Grant didn't even think to resist, he just let himself get pulled along and even when the person slipped out of his hand he kept following, still stunned and confused.

"Wait!" he called after the figure. Half stumbling, and glancing back over his shoulder at the strange looking dinosaurs, but he couldn't see them anymore through the thickly packed together brush, ferns and trees. He turned and followed the still running figure, who had pulled ahead but now slowed and looked back to allow him to catch up, as fast as he could. Now that he had a moment to take in the details of the person, he realized they were…small.

Grant suddenly had a feeling he knew who the person in the camouflaged outfit was.

…..

In a marshy clearing an old tanker truck with the InGen logo on its tank lay partially toppled on its side, half sunk into the water and marshy muck at the edge of a bog. It was to this truck the figure hurried, stepping over makeshift stepping stones built out of various items. The person reached the tank on the back of the wrecked truck and opened a hatch in its roof. Without a word they scampered down inside and Alan followed.

As he did, he found the interior was stuffed half-full with all sorts of survival gear and other supplies such as lights, food, and more.

The figure turned on a battery powered lantern hanging from the roof and then pulled their outfit and mask off as Alan half sat and half tumbled into a spot on the floor. The person then looked outside of the hatch. Alan hadn't seen his face, but he saw the person was wearing a faded brown jacket that was too big for them with the InGen logo on the front, stitched right over the heart. But it was unbuttoned and Alan also saw a familiar red shirt underneath it.

"Thanks," he said, gazing up at the young man. "Thanks a lot, Eric." Besides, who else would it possibly be?
Twelve-year-old Eric Kirby dropped down into view and faced Alan with a confused look.

"You know who I am?" he asked, sitting down. Alan nodded, "Yeah. Your parents are here. They're looking for you."
Eric frowned disbelievingly, "Together?" he asked. Alan nodded, "Together," he affirmed, sliding his pack, and Billy's lucky pack, off and placing them to the side.

Eric shook his head, "That's not good. They don't do so well together." Alan shook his head, "You'd be surprised what people can do when they have to."

As he was speaking, Eric noticed that the lantern was slowly burning out. The battery was dying. He grabbed a fresh one, turned it on and replaced the other, hanging the replacement in its spot. In the brighter light it provided, he studied his guest's face and recognition dawned there after a moment.

"You're Alan Grant," Eric said with slight wonder. "What are you doing here?"
Alan chuckled, "Your parents….invited me along," he said.

Eric actually grinned a little.

"Eric?" a deep voice suddenly called from outside before he could speak. Eric looked up before standing and gazing back out of the hatch. Grant however was puzzled. Who was talking, he wondered. Ben was dead, it definitely wasn't him. Was someone else on the island? Maybe a security detail InGen, or the Costa Ricans, had stationed there? No, that didn't make any sense. If that was the case Eric and Ben would've been saved eight weeks ago. Plus the bigger hole in that idea was the fact that there were no humans here.

"They're gone," the voice continued, "the area is safe." Eric nodded and sighed, "Okay, thanks Shadow," he said. "Where are Version Two and Void?" he then asked.

"Double checking just to be sure, and to see if they find any other people," the same deep voice said. Confused more than ever, Alan stood and looked out of the hatch as well, Eric bending down and scooting back into the tank to give him room.

Alan froze when he saw what was outside. It was the first of the three mystery dinosaurs he had seen. For a moment his eyes looked around but saw nothing, and no one, else. The animal was the only thing there. It cocked its head to the side a bit as its glowing green pupilless eyes gazed at him. Then it suddenly hit him, with force perhaps equal to the force the asteroid that had wiped out the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago had hit with. And this time it wasn't just a bad dream.

The dinosaur was talking.