Chapter 5

A/N-We're finally through the set up half, now that all the characters have appeared the butterfly effects they cause to the plot in the second half are going to start becoming more impactful than the first.

He'd been on his own for roughly seventy-two hours by that point. It was midday, the sun was up high in the sky above the jungle, the tropic air hot and sticky, when Eric first spotted the compound tucked in the valley below. In the clearing at the base of the hills was a large cluster of buildings, boarded by a nearly completely overgrown security fence. He stared down at it for a moment before he started hurrying down the hill towards the buildings. The compound looked like it was being slowly devoured by vines. Nonetheless, it was the obvious place to go.

He'd spent the last two nights sleeping in a tree without any access to real shelter, he'd probably been at a convenient mouth-grabbing height for a Tyrannosaurus if he was honest with himself. He'd also been making do with hardly any food. Fast flowing streams had offered water but he knew he wouldn't be the only creature attracted to those sources. His visits had been quick enough for just a few sips. Eric knew might find everything he might need for a long term stay at those buildings and have a landmark to refer to for future explorations of the area.

Not to mention if rescue came they'd probably start by checking compounds like these.

Eric reached the bottom of the hills, struck an old road running towards the gate and followed it. He paused just outside the gate, under an overhead sign reading "InGen: We Make Your Future," looking out at the compound. When he was satisfied the open space ahead was indeed really empty, he crept out and started crossing the clearing towards the main building. He was hopeful he might be able to shelter here as well, if the inside was as promising as the outside that was. He knew from what had been made public following the T. rex's rampage in San Diego that InGen had emergency bunkers which were stocked with supplies at all of their building compounds on the islands, in the event of a weather emergency or a dinosaur breakout or some other disaster. Knowing that it might offer shelter and contain anything from food to weapons, he hurried towards the main building to see if he could find it.

Just before he reached the steps that led up to the large double doors he froze when a large black raptor-like shape with a sail on its back crept out from behind a thick patch of plants growing next to the steps. He gasped, wide eyed, and stumbled back. He was about to turn and run when he saw two more different, but similar looking, dinosaurs coming up behind him. The larger of the two was prowling towards him, dropping down onto all fours, the other smaller one was walking upright like the first. They both slowed and lowered their bodies towards the ground, as if ready to spring forward and catch him should he try to run. He looked back at the first and then turned back to the other two. He had nowhere to go. He whipped around to face the first again and saw it still approaching him, its glowing green eyes fixed on him.

"Hey, it's okay! I promise we're not going to hurt you."

"Huh?! Wh-what!?" Eric sputtered, looking back and forth between the dinosaurs. He still looked like he was going to try and find an opening to try bolting so the green-eyed one took another closer to him.

"Hey, relax," it added, taking a step out of the plant growth and onto the steps in front of Eric, its voice deep. "It's going to be okay. We aren't going to hurt you," he added assuringly. Eric slowly stopped looking around and stared at it, shaking his head slowly, his mouth open. The green-eyed one nodded to him.

"Now," it said. "I'm Shadow. This is Version Two and Void. Who are you and what are you doing here? It might not come as a surprise but we typically don't see people here anymore, let alone just a child."

When Eric still didn't answer the green-eyed dinosaur lifted its head and motioned the others back, in a very human-like motion.

"Back off a few steps, giving him some space," it said, taking a step back from Eric said well. Still gaping and taking in deep breaths to calm down, his tongue feeling like it was plastered to the top of his mouth, Eric finally stuttered out, "I…what are you?" The green-eyed dinosaur cocked its head to the side and said, "I'm Shadow. This is Version Two," he repeated, and pointed at one with the strange serrated teeth, "and Void," he pointed at the one with horns. "And you?"

"Eric," Eric finally answered. His brain was trying to process what was happening, if only enough to force a response out. From the terror of just how easily these dinosaurs had clearly stalked and cornered him, but then at the impossible action of them talking. That had nearly broken his ability to comprehend anything and his brain was still trying to jump start again.

Shadow nodded and asked, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "How did you get here? Are you alone?" Eric gulped but nodded after a moment, "We were sightseeing off the coast and…"

He trailed off but Shadow spoke again, "You are alone?" he asked again. Eric nodded. That, and he had no idea when or even if rescue was coming. Shadow looked up and past him again and nodded to the other two. Eric guessed they nodded back. For a frightful half moment he thought they were about to eat him now that he had confirmed he was on his own but Shadow looked back down at him and spoke again.

"You should come with us then, this area is one of the most dangerous on the island. You're lucky you haven't run into anything else, raptors are all over this area."

"We don't exactly get along with any of the packs, but our territory more or less bumps right up against theirs," Void added. Version Two didn't speak.

"You can trust us, I promise we won't hurt you," Shadow added. He turned and started walking back the way he had come. Eric jumped slightly as Void and Version Two suddenly passed close on either side of him, but he didn't follow. He remained frozen where he stood, as if he was rooted to the ground.

The three mystery dinosaurs stopped and turned their gazes back to look at him, waiting. The green-eyed one…Shadow, was in the middle between the other two. Version Two meanwhile stood up on just his legs now, rising up and having about a foot in height on Shadow. His serrated teeth were large and horrifying to look at, growing in a single row in the midline of his mouth. He couldn't even close his jaws all the way because of how they were positioned in his mouth, thin lines of drool trickled out of his maw nearly constantly. Void stood next to Shadow, the shortest of the three. They stared back at Eric and waited for him to follow them, their faces were clearly expectant.

After a few more moments, Eric gulped and hesitantly did so.

…..

"So, where did you come from?" Shadow asked after they led the kid deep into their own territory. He laid down alongside a log in a small clearing and looked expectantly at Eric; Version Two and Void did the same, though they gave their guest a wide personal bubble of his own for his own comfort.

Eric stared at them but didn't answer, keeping his distance from them. The dinosaurs let him maintain whatever distance he wished now that they had removed him from the more dangerous area.

"We don't see humans here anymore, let alone a child alone. How did you get here? Did you come by boat? Did your family sail here? You said you were sightseeing?" Shadow repeated. "Is there anyone else here too?"

Eric shook his head and finally said, "We parasailed…from the coast, we landed in the jungle. Me and my mom's boyfriend."

This is not a place you want to be," Shadow said. Eric blinked some tears away and slowly sat down with his back to a tree, facing the dinosaurs. "I know. We didn't mean to land here…we just wanted to see the island. Now I'm stranded here…"

He looked like such a scared, lost little kid in a moment, and Shadow sighed. The sight melted his heart and he spoke in a gentler tone now, "Hey, it's okay. You're safe with us," he assured. "Where is your mom's boyfriend?"
"...he's…." Eric couldn't finish but Shadow nodded.

"You don't need to say it," he said, his spiked tail slowly swaying over the ground behind him as he contemplated what Eric had said. Void lifted his head and spoke next, "You're alone?"
Eric nodded, slowly finding that responding to them was easier the longer they spoke. It was still…it didn't make sense but his brain was slowly accepting that these strange dinosaurs were talking to him.

"How long have you been here?" Void then asked, concern in his voice

"About three days," Eric answered.

"How have you survived alone?" the third one, Version Two, then asked, speaking for the first time. Eric looked over at him.

"Sleeping in a tree and running from the slightest sound."
"Smart kid," Void congratulated.

"What…are going to do with me?" Eric finally asked after not responding right away. The three dinosaurs shared a look then Shadow spoke up.

"Nothing. I told you we won't hurt you."
"Or eat you," Void added, knowing that was probably what Eric was most concerned about given the fact that they were carnivores; and likely some of the most threatening looking ones on the island. Eric couldn't hold back the small chuckle that burst out of his mouth. "That would be the same thing."

The three hybrids made amused sounds in return.

"You really won't?" Eric asked. Shadow nodded, "I promise you. We may look vicious but…we're not monsters. If anything…we are a little grateful to see a human again. The last ones abandoned us here a long time ago."

"It's…good to know something here won't try to eat me," Eric finally replied, giving the three a small grateful smile. "So…what are you going to do?"

After sharing their silent look, the three dinosaurs turned and looked at him again. Shadow lifted his head up and said, "Eric, what we're going to do is keep an eye on you. We won't let anything happen to you. We'll take care of you until someone comes to get you. No matter how long it takes, that's a promise."

Hesitantly, Eric had slowly come over a few minutes later and sat against Shadow's side, and from there the three hadn't let him out of their sight since.

Nearly eight weeks later, Alan Grant was sitting in the empty tank of a partially overturned tanker truck on Isla Sorna finishing off his dinner. Chili from a near decade old can. Eric was sitting against a pile of items stacked at the forward end of the tank, finishing his own meal off as well.

"I read both of your books," he finally said. He grinned and Alan looked up, intrigued, as Eric's turned more thoughtful.

"I liked the first one more. Before you were on the island," Eric said, setting a box of old protein bars to the side as he opened one. "You liked dinosaurs back then," Eric added, taking a bite. Alan stared back for a moment then said, "Back then they hadn't tried to eat me yet."

A small laugh escaped Eric's lips at that, it made him recall his first conversation with Shadow, Version Two and Void.

Alan didn't really notice, rather he had realized something in that moment. His love for dinosaurs, his awe for them, it had never left, but his bitterness towards the animals InGen had created had, wrongly, bled over into his second book. Even subconsciously, his feelings towards them had seeped into what he had written about real dinosaurs. He wondered how much it might have bled over into his speeches and presentations as well. Had he shown people a bitter attitude towards dinosaurs when he should've been showing them the awe and wonder they deserved? That he still felt for them as much as he ever did, and as much as people now seemed to have more than ever? Had that been part of the reason all his symposiums and fundraisers for true paleontology had failed?

He wondered.

He was chewing thoughtfully on his last bite when Eric continued.

"When InGen cleared out they left a lot of stuff behind," he said, gesturing around vaguely to explain the truck and his stash of goods. Alan spotted what looked like a cattle prod type object lying against the back wall of the tank and asked, "Any weapons?"

Eric shook his head, "No, just gas grenades and I've used all but two of them. I found this too but its battery is dead," he said, kicking the prod lightly.

Eric had found the bunker, he'd explored the entirety of the worker village and labs with Shadow, Version Two and Void, but between most of its supplies having been removed and with the raptors running around the compound all the time he had decided to take what was left and find somewhere else nearby to shelter, which was what led the hybrids to show him the truck. He'd moved what supplies he had found and then later scavenged there and it had been his cache and base of operations since. He'd explored a radius around the worker village that spanned a few hours hike in all directions. He'd found the prod lying tangled in some brush on a slope north of the worker village a few weeks back. The gas grades had been left in the bunker but Shadow, Version Two and Void had done most of the defending if and when he had needed it. Usually their combined show of aggression would make most threats back off, except for the one really big theropod with the fin on its back Eric had seen a few times.

Eric reached into his pile of food stock and tossed something in a wrapper to Alan, "Dessert?" he offered. Alan caught it as Eric grabbed a similar wrapped food item and opened it, it was a chocolate bar. Alan couldn't help but just look at the kid. He seemed both unphased by the last eight weeks but also hardened because of it, but he was still very much just a kid. Still, he was handling everything remarkably well.

"Eric, I have to tell you, I am astonished you have lasted eight weeks on this island," Grant finally said. Eric paused mid-bite on his candy bar, "Is that all it's been?

"Well you are alive, that's the important thing," Grant chuckled. "Thanks to you…and them…that's two things we have in common," he added, slowly trailing off as he replayed the moment Eric and the three dinosaurs appeared in his head. Eric shrugged but grinned back, "Thanks to them," he corrected. "Just them, that's what we have in common. I've survived here largely in part thanks to Shadow, Version Two and Void. They found me pretty quickly when I started poking around the compound. They've been looking out for me since, protected me from the raptors, a pack of Baryonyx south of the compound, even the bigger theropods. They're…like family at this point."

Alan's eyes darted up to the hatch for a moment, the mystery dinosaurs were lying outside, occasionally he heard one of their voices drift in through the open hatch. As it turned out, Shadow was the first one Alan had seen run up. He was also the first of the three that had been made, successfully anyway. On his arm, burned into the armor, was an identification number which read "000001." Version Two, his name quite literal as he was literally the second version created, a literal updated version of Shadow, was the second one who had run up and confronted the raptors. He was the strangest, and also most lethal looking, of the three. He was their creators taking the next step after Shadow, seeing how far they could go off the first successful concept, seeing how much they could mix into a single animal and have it come out right. His strange tooth structure made him the most stand-out to the eye. Like Shadow, he also had an identification number burned onto his arm. His read "000002." Finally, Void the was the one who had appeared last, the one with the Triceratops frill and horns, and the smallest of the three. The one that was completely different then the first two. He was only ever so slightly larger than the raptors, meanwhile Shadow and Version Two both had a few feet in height, and especially length, on them. Like the others Void also had a number on his left arm, "000003."

It was time to address the elephant in the room that Alan had been so far content to ignore. Acknowledging them felt like it made his world, and his understanding, shatter.

"What are they?" Alan asked.

"Hybrids," Eric answered. Alan frowned, "Hybrids?" Eric nodded, and finished his candy bar before he said anything else.

"Did you meet a Dr. Henry Wu when you were on the island?" Eric finally asked. Alan nodded after a moment, "Briefly," he said. Eric nodded, and gestured outside with a jerk of his head, "According to them, he made them. From what I've been able to piece together from them and some stuff left behind at the compound, after they let that T. rex loose in San Diego InGen sent a team back here to do more research, including Dr. Wu. They cloned some new species in that time, including that really big one, as well as them," he said, referring to the hybrids. Grant was puzzled again, "He came back?" he asked. Eric nodded.

"But why would they make them?" Alan asked.

Eric shrugged, "I don't know. Neither do they. I tell you, they weren't happy to be abandoned here without a second thought like every other animal. They're as smart as…us. It's just like marooning someone. And since the rest of the world has no clue they exist…there's no one ever coming. They're very close though, basically brothers in every sense of the word. They're all they have. Shadow had an actual sibling created with him but he's gone, he didn't make it. He was the only one grown with a sibling, Version Two and Void never had one.." He paused and let out a small sigh.

"Still, I'd hate to be Dr. Wu if he was ever in the same room as them again. But despite their feelings about him, they really are safe to be around if you're not him or someone coming after them with bad intentions. Someone shipwrecked here…like me, they'd for sure help. Shadow and Void do most of the talking, Version Two doesn't speak much." Eric then continued. He stopped after his last statement, then looked over at Alan and silently mouthed, "Trauma. Lots." in reference to Version Two.

It was sad, in truth Eric would say Version Two, the silent one, the most vicious looking one of the three by a mile, was also the most caring of them, but him speaking was such a rare thing. He clearly wanted to, and he wanted to show affection, but was too…scared. Too unsure if he should, despite the assurances from the other two. There was no confidence there. Though Eric had seen just how efficient of a hunter he was despite being the quiet one who lacked the social confidence of the others. He was a lethal and capable predator when he hunted. They all were, but Version Two was perhaps the most lethal of them all.

"How'd you meet them?" Alan finally asked. Eric looked up, "They found me," he said. "Was my third day on the island, I spotted the compound and was coming to check it out. Like I said, they saw me pretty quickly, realized something was up when they saw me here alone, circled around so they were on both sides of me and came right before I got to the steps going inside one of the buildings. They did it that way so I wouldn't be able to run off before they could say something. First thing Shadow said was promising that they weren't going to hurt me, and they asked me what happened and how I was here. They ended up more or less taking me in these last eight weeks."

Alan digested everything but he still wasn't satisfied.

"They talk," he simply said. Eric nodded, "InGen wanted to see how smart they get something, according to what they know about why they were made. That clearly was a success. Their design was also to see just how far InGen could go with mixing animals to create something…better than just a dinosaur that was also still, you know, able to function. Better at what specifically that InGen wanted…I don't know. They were up to something though. I mean, they already cloned dinosaurs…making their own makes sense as the next step. They mixed and matched a lot of creatures to create them, I know that."

Alan took a single bite of his candy bar and chewed on it thoughtfully. "Genetically engineered theme-park monsters," his own words echoed in his mind. However, these three didn't seem to be for such a purpose. Testing what could be done, if something could be designed, felt more like the answer. Either way, they were clearly more than theme park monsters.

They were InGen's greatest secret.

"They're friendly," Eric promised. "Really…caring. Dangerous sure, they're as lethal of hunters as the raptors and they're even more stealthy, but they are incredibly caring. They took me in as soon as they saw me without a second thought, they've helped me find supplies, kept me fed, been there when I've been at my lowest…even fought off other dinosaurs to protect me when they have to. You'll see, they're the most loyal friends I've ever had."

"I hope I get the opportunity," Alan said after contemplating for a moment. Then he asked, "Were those kennels we saw back at the embryonics lab for them?"
Eric nodded, "And others," he added. Grant frowned and Eric said, "From what they've told me…when InGen came back they didn't just create them, they cloned other species as well, but not everything came out right on the first attempt…especially at creating the hybrids. There were failed mutants that survived too. When InGen finished their research and abandoned the island again everything that was alive at the time was released into the wild, including the three hybrids, some herbivorous species, a really big dinosaur with a fin, at least some of the failed hybrid attempts…"
"You mean to say there are failed dinosaurs roaming the jungle somewhere?" Alan asked. This was a step beyond just creating dinosaurs, this was a step beyond designing their own, this was letting the failures out into the ecosystem. If predicting the behaviors of dinosaurs that came out right was difficult, predicting how ones that didn't come out right might act would be almost impossible. He had glimpsed some of the failed dinosaurs in the tanks back at the compound and tried to picture ones like those but fully grown, maybe even more malformed, roaming the jungle somewhere. Eric shrugged again, "There was at least one. At least that's what they've said. Probably more but I've never seen one." He then sat up, "All I found at the lab was this." He reached into a box and pulled out a faded polaroid picture and held it out to Dr. Grant. Alan took it and the sight he was met with made him want to wretch.

The thing was an abomination. The slightly faded photo was of a large, easily twenty foot long, malformed hybrid, clearly a failed hybrid experiment where nothing mixed together right. The animal had raptor legs and long deformed bone-thin bent backwards arms, with too many fingers on each hand, a misshapen Dunkleosteus body, tail and head, with unfocused eyes looking like they were about to bulge out of its skull, a bent hunched back, so hunched its spine was almost shaped like a stretched upside down V, and mouth jammed uncomfortably full of raptor teeth growing behind, over and out of the bony plates that grew into a Dunkleosteus' mouth and served for the fish's teeth in a natural situation. Its jaw was hanging open, like it was gasping and maybe it couldn't breathe well. It looked more fish than anything else, that was what the most of its body was. It was essentially a Dunkleosteus with raptor legs and elongated backwards raptor arms awkwardly growing out of its body. It was standing down on all fours. The only features on the thing that seemed to have come out right, that made it in any way resemble the hybrids outside, were the thagomizers at the end of its fish tail and the raptor sickle claws on its feet. In the picture it was standing hunched over in one of the kennels they had seen back at the compound. Alan thought about the same bony armor that was on Shadow and Version Two. This abomination must have been an earlier attempt to create something like them; one with too much of the fish and not enough of everything else.

"That's the only one I know was for sure released, though there were definitely others. Shadow and others don't know if any are still out there. They keep to their territory which…we're right smack in the middle of right now. If there are any of the failures left they could be just about anywhere on the island," Eric added after a moment. "They didn't all look like that, some came out better…that's just the only one I've found a picture of. It was left behind in a desk drawer with this." He held up another picture, this one of Shadow staring back at the photographer from inside one the kennels. His glowing green eyes seemed to sear through the image.

"Were they, the failures…also like…Shadow, and the other two?" Alan asked. Eric shook his head, "They told me none were like them, none of them came out right, there was something that didn't mix right in all the failed attempts. Shadow and his brother were the first they cracked it with. Shadow, his sibling, and the other two were also the only ones InGen made that could talk, or even with the intelligence to…"
"I really wonder why they went to that much trouble. What was the end goal for something like them?" Alan asked. He sat his empty can down and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That also explains why the Spinosaurus wasn't on InGen's list. It was created after it was released. The Corythosaurus' too, but why?" What on Earth was lurking in the jungles of this island, Alan pondered. Why did InGen come back too? What could they have been doing? What was the point in doing more research? The point in cloning more animals? The point of creating three, dare he say, human-level intelligent hybrid dinosaurs that could talk? The raptors were incredibly smart, had extremely complex social behaviors and abilities, but these three were clearly on another level; a human level for intelligence and communication. What were the end goals for all this? Grant remembered hearing InGen had been bought out by another company after John Hammond had died, were they the one spear-heading this additional research?

Isla Sorna was clearly much more of a dangerous and unknown place now then it had been when this figurative "lost world" was first explored four years earlier. At least then everyone knew what species were on the island, and generally what to expect, but there was no record to refer to going forward. It sounded like any manner of horrors, natural or horrifically unnatural, could be lurking on the island.

Something big had happened here in the years since the San Diego Incident.

Dr. Grant wondered now, more than ever, what else InGen had been up to.

Eric just shrugged and finished his candy bar in silence. Once it was done he tossed the wrapper to the other side of the tank, booking forlorn. Seeing his glum expression, Alan decided to change the subject for now.

"Did you read Malcolm's book?" he asked. Eric nodded, "Yeah."

"So?" Alan prompted, giving Eric an "and?" look. Eric shook his head, "I…I don't know. I mean…it was kind of preachy. And…and too much chaos. Everything's chaos. It seemed like the guy was kind of high on himself," he said, giving Alan an impromptu book report. Alan grinned at him, "Well, that's two things that we have in common," he chuckled. Eric laughed, then looked out of the open hatch again.

"Want to meet them?"

Alan looked out of the hatch too for a moment, hesitated, and then nodded, "Yeah." Eric grinned and jumped up, stepped over to the hatch and climbed out into the late afternoon sun. Alan stood and slowly followed him out. The three hybrids were lying just inside the tree line and their three sets of glowing eyes turned to face the two as they hopped across the makeshift stepping stones and onto solid ground again.

"Guys," Eric introduced. "This is Dr. Alan Grant. He studies dinosaurs. He was also at Jurassic Park."

The first of the three Alan had seen, Shadow, stood up and stepped towards them. He gave Alan a nod, "It's good to meet you," he said. Grant had to fight the urge to take a step back as the vicious looking hybrid stepped right towards him, but he didn't and nodded back to him.

"You too," he said as the other two stood and walked over as well. "Thank you, all of you," Alan added, taking a good look at the three and really seeing all of the little details of their bodies and designs now that he didn't think he was seconds from being eaten alive. "I owe you three my life."

"Was a pleasure," the smallest of the three, Void, lightly said, a small chuckle creeping into his deep voice. Alan was startled when the dinosaur actually gave him an unmistakable grin, or at least the closest thing to it he could manage. The largest of the three, Version Two, just nodded at Dr. Grant but didn't speak. He was hanging back a few steps shyly. Alan saw exactly what Eric had been talking about.

"What are you doing here?" Shadow asked after a moment. Alan sighed, "Eric's parents are here, looking for him."
The three hybrids all seemed surprised and Shadow looked over at Eric, "Look at that. We told you someone would come for you eventually." He reached out and placed a clawed hand on Eric's shoulder, affectionately pulling him against his side for a small hug.

"I don't know where everyone is though, we got separated," Alan continued.

"We looked around after driving off the raptors, but we didn't find anyone else. Not even a sign of anyone," Void responded.

"First thing tomorrow we'll see again about finding them," Shadow promised.

"Why did you steal from the raptors?" Version Two then suddenly asked. Alan frowned, "What?" he asked. The three hybrids looked at each other for a moment, then Shadow said, "The raptors that had you surrounded were saying they'd found one of the thieves."
Grant, for the moment ignoring the true extent that the raptors had such sophisticated social communication abilities, far greater than he would have ever guessed even in a dream, just shook his head, "You understood them?"
"We're all part raptor," Void explained. He sank his large sickle toe claw into the soft ground. "We can communicate with them, and understand them. We don't go out of our way to interact, if anything the both of us try to just keep out of the other's way. A live and let live sort of arrangement. Today was the first in a long time we've had a confrontation with them." Alan nodded, again on any other day this would've been fascinating and he would've listened to this inside look into how raptors worked for hours, but this was not the time. He was still frowning as he answered, "And I appreciate that, but we didn't steal from them."
"Well, they thought you did then," Shadow said.

"We wandered into their nesting area but left immediately," Alan said. Shadow and Void shared a glance, but it was Version Two who spoke.

"Maybe they thought they took something then?" he offered. His fellows nodded in agreement, though they also seemed unsure.

"Don't worry either way, we'll protect you, and everyone else once we find them," Void promised. "Anyone who is a friend of Eric is a friend of ours, especially his family. We'll look out for you just like we have him."

Version Two looked like he wanted to speak but he didn't. His gaze just slowly dropped to the ground and he withdrew into himself. Once again Alan could see exactly what Eric had meant about him being the quiet one.

"We'll start looking for the rest of your party first thing tomorrow morning," Shadow added.

…..

"Alan!" Billy and Nick had both been shouting to the points their voices were breaking and hoarse sounding. They navigated through the tangled maze of trees, moving from tree to tree across the thick branches as best as they could to search as much of the jungle as they could without venturing onto the ground. There was no sign of Dr. Grant, nor Steve Eldridge, though Nick had relayed to everyone that he had heard Steve screaming in agony somewhere and then nothing afterwards.

The late afternoon sun was sinking low into the sky, darkness was falling over the island now, and the thick canopy was making the jungle fade into shadows even faster than it normally would. Nick and Billy searched until their flashlights were the only source left available to see the jungle floor before they reluctantly gave it up and settled in a large tree not far from the one Paul and Amanda were sitting in for the night. They both knew what the lack of an answer from Dr. Grant more than likely meant.

As darkness fully descended on the island both parties were resting in their respective trees where large branches spit and forked out of the trunk, leaving enough room to lay back and be relatively sheltered in the union with the main trunk itself.

Below, a grazing herd of Ankylosaurus had wandered into the area and were feeding on the ferns. Other than just giving them a sideways glance, the humans ignored the armored dinosaurs in the clearing below them.

"Living tanks, you know?" Nick said to Billy as he watched them. In any better circumstances he would've looked to observe the passing herd graze and take note of their behaviors. Unlike Alan, his opinion was that they could learn just as much about dinosaurs from these as they could from the fossilized ones. Not today though, he couldn't focus on them today; not with two massive holes ripped through him. He sighed, "It's not fair. Steve shouldn't even have been here, he just came to see some old friends, and now he's paid the price…Alan too, and then there's me. The guy who has lived through this kind of thing twice already. It should've been my turn to go, my luck should've been the one to run out first. Not theirs. I've spent mine way more. They deserved so much better."
"That's not true," Billy said, sitting up and looking over at Nick. "About you being the one who should've gotten caught. Don't think you should've died down there today."
"Why did I end up being the lucky one? Someone else should've had it. Just statistically, I've encountered these animals more. I should be the one who got grabbed today just going by the odds. I feel guilty for being the one still here," he replied. "What makes me deserve to be?"

"You can't blame yourself," Billy said. "There was nothing you could have done. They…Steve…was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have just as easily been any one of us who ran into the raptors down there. It nearly was me, remember?"

"They shouldn't have even been here. They wouldn't have been if we had caught the lie earlier. They both deserved so much better," Nick simply repeated, covering his eyes. He blinked his tears away. "It should have been me instead."
"Hey, you have a kid too," Billy said. "You think she should've been the one to not have her dad come home? It's harsh but you have to think about her, not Steve's death. Mabel needs her dad to come home. Nick, you have a responsibility not to give up. For what it's worth…Steve never did. He wouldn't forgive you if you gave up on yours while you still had a chance to get back to her. None of you were at fault for what happened here…you didn't know about…any of it. This isn't what was supposed to happen…we were just supposed to fly over the island and get paid enough to keep funding the dig site if we came along."

Nick didn't answer, he just laid there with his hand over his eyes, visibly shaking.

"They're dead, and they shouldn't be," he simply repeated. "Not them." Billy reached out and gripped Nick's arm, "Get off this island for no one other than Mabel," he said. "Not yourself, not them, just for her. Do it for her."

Meanwhile, in their own tree, Paul and Amanda were quietly talking as well. Amanda was lying on her back, stretched out on a branch, her eyes gazing up at the canopy. Tears were flooding the corners of her eyes again.

"No matter how this turns out, it wasn't your fault," Paul said. Amanda blamed herself for Eric being here, he knew, she thought that she should've talked him and Ben out of coming here but hadn't. "Eric's always been a strong-willed kid. Always. Then you throw someone like Ben Hildebrand into the mix, and…well," Paul added, stopping.

"Well, what?" Amanda asked after a moment, her voice quiet.

"All I'm saying is, it's not your fault," Paul replied, his voice gentle but firm. Amanda chuckled softly and shook her head, "No. If he'd been with you, he'd be completely safe," she sighed. "You drive five miles under the speed limit, and I've totaled three cars in three years."

"Well, not three," Paul slowly said after a moment. "The Buick wasn't really totaled. I just said it was because I wanted to get the S.U.V." he admitted. Amanda looked up at him, incredulous. She shook her head and laid back again after a moment, really looking like she couldn't believe it.

"I am so sorry that you have to be here," she said after a moment. The tears were beginning to fall freely again. She blinked them away and looked like she expected him to say it was her fault this time.

He didn't. Paul simply looked over at her and said, "I'm not."

After a moment, Amanda looked over at him again with a sad, grateful smile.

A/N-more chapters coming soon. The rest of the story will be published chapter by chapter as I finish them. I just wanted to share the "set-up" block of chapters all together.