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JURASSIC PARK
CHAOS

Working Draft 5.5

By Joshua Ballze

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Based on Stories and Films Written and Directed by:

Michael Crichton

Steven Spielberg

For M.D. and M

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 PROLOGUE

The room was dimly lit as a spark of light shed its eerie glow on a giant machine.
The mechanism whirled and heaved as if alive. Servos hissing manipulating cold metallic
limbs from behind a plastic film covering. The amber light gave only slight glimpses of
what was happening inside, something eerie, something unnatural.
“Are we close to genetic stability this time?”
The voice grumbled from out of the darkness, behind stained plastic walls and
quarantine panels. The machine continued without flinching at the orders; encapsulated
within a giant plastic cage of plexi glass with steel beams encompassing it like artificial
ribs, a clean room. The bizarre shape of the clean room was further encapsulated within
the bowls of a sort of lecture hall, it’s architecture altered to a more medical design. The
lecture halls would be warm colors dulled to medical hues of pale blue and grey. Within
its bowls the dull glow of computer monitors hummed as they gave glimpses to what was
being operated on.
“This…is promising Lewis. I think we might crack it this time, the RNA
sequencing patterns.” The voice sounded from over a pair of rounded glasses as a balding
man with a beard stared wide eyed into the monitors. On his face the look of science
gone mad haunting every stare he exchanged, as he started to leer.
“That’s good Jim. Now what are we looking at this time?”

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 Jim looked over to the man addressing him, Lewis. A man reeking of inter office
politics, as if he mastered hostile company integration and restructuring since leaving the
womb. Even the picture on his nametag reflected his nature as a predatory entrepreneur.
Even the type face used to make his name tag reflected it;

Lewis Dodgson

“It’s embryonic encoding, Mister Dodgson. From what we were able to salvage
from both the incidents, I’m still surprised we recovered anything at all. Especially from
the cryocan considering it’s…age.”
Dodgson scoffed as he crossed his arms, his fingers tapping the outer lining of his
suit as his demeanor remained cold, unflinching.
“We acquired them in time, to salvage….enough.” He replied, “You should have
been briefed once you signed our NDA assigned to this project? Now, this….how is this
different from what Hammond’s team had done, from what Wu did.”
Jim looked back to the screen as glimpses of an embryo in the middle of mitosis
glowed over the video feed. Surrounding it, a host of dead organisms, all wet with the
film of decaying genetic material, all mutated, all birds.
“The difference is we aren’t starting from scratch,” Jim answered, “nor do we care
about genetic purity, just controlling the RNA recoding. Something that lives longer then
a few hours, this shows more promise. If it lives, you may even be able to tag it like you
did the original samples from twenty years ago.”
Just as Jim was about to spew forth any more self serving praise, a loud ping
sounded off. An alarm. Jim whirled around in response as the machine gestured
frantically.
“No! I was sure! I did the calculations! This should be stable!”
Dodgson looks on, showing no real emotion as Jim lumbered in between monitors,
his slump posture clanging into equipment. The cold sounds from before replaced with
chaotic whirls and buzzes of servos and alarms. The sounds of failure. The sounds of
something dying.

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 CHAPTER 1
SAN DIEGO

Blue hues shimmered over metallic artisan surfaces, the only real sense of color or
life in a room otherwise devoid of any warmth. The space was bold and lumbering,
painfully mechanical in its nature. Large bullet proof rooms covered in various
containment cylinders and housing towers were one of few distinguishing structures
giving the area any type of character. Each of these containment cylinders home to a
unique assigned treasure.
Dodgson stood unflinching as he peered through from the other side, he was more
then familiar with the things housed here. Everything from outdated computers, floppy
disks, even organic material floating lifeless in specimen tanks. Most were
undistinguishable, clumps of flesh. Others, more then recognizable and horrifying,
human remain floating suspended in preservation tanks and fluid. Hands, limbs, partial
ribs, all of them labeled:

SAN DIEGO

A house of horrors as Dodson stood, unflinching, as a younger man stepped into

view. Stopping by a security station as he ran his key card, security staff nodding while

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he walked over. The sleazy demeanor of a car salesman haunting his every step he
grinned behind a greasy self groomed goatee addressing the room,
“An entire house of oddities and I always find you staring at that same old can.
How do I find it more unnerving then if I found you staring at the hand over here, or this
leg?”
Dodgson turned his gaze, “Ah, President Bay. I trust you read the report on Jim’s
recent RNA trials?”
“President Bay, I’ve been addressed as such since I took over and you know what?
It never gets old. But seriously, why the can? We already have what was inside in cold
storage, I don’t even know why we even kept the can.”
“It’s a reminder sir.” Dodgson replied, “Of mistakes made, mostly my own.”
Bay looked into the containment room as the dirty remains of a Barbasol Shaving
Cream Can appeared in his view. Its remains caked in mud and blackened slime, all dried
but long since leaving their mark.
“Right, the first time you tried your hand at cooperate espionage.” Bay recollected,
“To be fair though, I read the report on this thing, if you didn’t also include the tracker, it
would still be buried in the mud I imagine. Next to your moles’ body.
And yeah, Jim, you know I heard he left his wife of 15 years for a grad student?
Creepy stuff man, and I’ve been to Club Sinister with all that BDSM kink. And by Kink,
I don’t just mean the BDSM, but that nonsense? At least give the young ones some time
to learn something before you pull that medieval dark farm nonsense right?”
Dodgson remained unflinching, “His personal life is pointless. It’s the job, he’s
good at it. That’s all I need.”
Bay leered, “Really, cause if he’s so good at it why hasn’t he cracked this already
huh Lewis? You told me we were going to have genetic stability by the end of the
quarter once you found your golden boy, and here we are. Again.”
“It’s the samples sir, they have a shelf life, and though this sample is the most pure
the simple truth of it is we got to it too late, just under an hour after the decay process
began. Mix with that the venom, and we’ve been in an uphill battle since ninety three.
We need to go back. And we need pre-coded samples.”
Bay’s smile disappeared as he leaned against the glass, “Pre coded, you mean
living? That’s…hilarious that you think that’s even possible. You know how much man
power I’ll have to expend before we acquire what we would need? And what, you plan

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on dragging Jim down there? Haul his fat ass around? Cause being out of shape is not a
plus on that island. The guy you gave that can to kinda proved that I imagine.”
Dodgson pulled a file from his coat handing it to Bay as he replied in a cold
calculating manner, “Expendable man power is what we used to acquire this asset. Two
dead in the hurricane, four on the island during recovery while InGen was distracted from
the chaos of the main incident, and this here is a report of this companies stock since our
breakthroughs in genetics thanks to that recovery. Mind you this is with decaying
materials. If we obtained a pre coded sample, well the application goes well beyond a
petting zoo.”
Bay took a moment to thumb through things, fingering each page in the sleaziest
manner before putting the file aside and setting his gaze back up to Dodgson.
“Alright, from what I’m told you’ve been planning this return trip since long
before I came on board. And the numbers don’t lie. I’ll give you the green light. But I
need assurance.”
Dodgson finally flinched, tilting his head in a quizzical manner, “What kind of
assurance?”
The answer didn’t come right away, as Bay walked over to one of the other rooms,
this one containing a human hand. “You’ve read my background I presume. A good
number crunching bloke like you, so you know what my applications are. I’ve always
had viable success. Things didn’t always go as planned but I could still make a diamond
out of any coal hill that came around. You only get that with a special kind of
assurance…life. You stick someone else’s neck out, the drive to succeed gets watered
down. But you stick your own neck out, your in the moment, you find the drive. You’re
going to succeed because you know there’s no tomorrow if you don’t. That’s what I need
from you Dodgson. I’ll give you the green light, but this time you are going on the field
trip.”
Dodgson stared back blankly, the first sign of emotion as the blood drained from
his features. Bay reveled in it as he smiled and began to ramble away, “You be sure to let
me know your answer soon though. This offer, like your samples here, also has a shelf
life. I’m planning some restructuring soon. And your current failures with Jim don’t
bode well with your new place in this food chain. You will let me know your answer by
tomorrow yes?”
Bay walked out of the room, leaving Dodgson in his shadow as Dodgson crossed
his arms…his fingers tapping nervously against his shoulder.

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 CHAPTER 2
LIFE

“Life, finds a way…”

The voice boomed through a lecture hall as a slide show appeared overhead, the
room filled with well dressed individuals, varying ages from graduates to veteran
professionals. They all sat intently as a new slide popped up, an almost alien micro
organism glaring back in a most unnerving manner with various arms, a circular mouth
and bulbous eyes as sharpened teeth erupt from the orifice.
“This, the world of the microorganism, clings to life more savagely then we
supposed more advanced mammals.” The voice continued, “These creatures were pulled
from the crushing depths of the abyss, the Mariana trench. While these other cuddly
nightmares here, the tardigrade, were used to see how resilient earths organisms are to the
vacuum of space. They survived, they wanted to live, and they found a way. This
resilience in the world of the small is what we are, strangely, trying to defeat in the host
organisms which make up the countless strains of bacteria and viral infections. One of the
most resilient is TB, as a strain of tuberculosis found in the lungs of a mummified corpse
from Egypt was found during a medical scan, and is currently being used to study current
strains of TB and how to treat them. Other pathologies and diseases have also been found
in additional mummies and even fossil ice age fauna.
Reports of Mammoths found in Siberia for example have even been found so
fresh, those carrying an ice age strain of anthrax has been reported, with the strain itself

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alive and well and more then capable or spreading in an unchecked outbreak. But as
always, be it space or from the dust of ancient times, life finds a way…”
The lecture continued as a man in military attire sat quietly in the audience. He
thumbed though a pamphlet shared by everyone in the crowd as he opened the cover file
with large letters marking the front.

C D C

Underneath this was the speakers name,

Syllabus: Dr Malcolm

The lights in the lecture room flashed to life as the crowd started to rise, each
either heading for the exit or making a bee line for the stage. Behind a podium stood the
mystery voice, as the military man sat up and made his way towards the middle aged
speaker, Malcolm.
In his mid thirties Malcolm was a personification of his age. His hair jet black but
had slight signs of starting to grey, his eyes sharp but showing the experience of age
behind a pair of reading glasses. His clothes were also appropriate for his age, more
business casual as he sported a medical coat with his name embroidered across it.
Malcolm was shaking hands and addressing those making their way over to introduce
themselves. It was a casual formality, and right now one he enjoyed being, as of two
seconds ago, no one popped the question about the ‘D’ word, Dinosaurs.
Surprising for him, considering he allowed his final draft of the syllabus to include
a prehistoric beast like a mammoth. This would have been more then enough to weed out
any, Dino groupies as they were. One by one they eventually walked away,
“Doctor Ian Malcolm?”
Ian looked over to what looked to be Military personnel walking closer to address
him. Spying the uniform he sighed, “I know what that means. A uniform in the CDC is
never good. Let me guess debrief?”
The man eyed the crowd who were making their exodus as he turned back to Ian
and nodded, “More of a…consultation if you will.”
Ian nodded as he gathered his papers, “So, which secure room this time? And what
other teams will be with us? I think last time it was Winston and Tippet, I think Richard
is on site somewhere else…”

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 The man waved his hand as the room emptied in a matter of minutes. Two
additional men Ian didn’t notice from before were escorting the last audience attendees
out of the room as they closed the doors behind them and locked them secure.
“Just you this time sir, and this place will do. We’ve already secured the area for
the debrief.”
Ian looked around bewildered, clearly lost in the breach of protocol as the man
handed him a file, “I uh…this isn’t usually how things are done. What sector are you
from again? And what is this pertaining too?” Ian asked.
The other men started setting up a digital projector as they lifted up hard cases
chained to their wrists. Each man handed the other a key as they unlocked the cases and
removed hard drives. The man in front of Ian nodded to them as he gestured for Ian to
have a seat.
“This is about the situation in San Diego in ninety seven, and the incident in ninety
three.”
Ian stopped dead in his tracks as he began to laugh, “Ah…yeah you want Ian
senior. I’m his son, Ian junior. I was ten when everything happened in ninety three and
in high school in ninety seven. And, I know nothing about dinosaurs I’m afraid.”
The man continued to gesture, “We know who you are sir. If you would please
have a seat we can begin.”
Ian took a moment, not familiar with his father not being the center of attention
concerning the subject he knew they were about to jump into. Hesitant, he followed the
man’s lead as they both had a seat while the digital projectors whirled to life. Video clips
started to play as stock footage from dated security cameras of a lab flashed on the
screen. A familiar logo appeared through all of imagery flashing before Ian’s eyes.
“In Gen?” The word left Ian’s mouth in a hushed whisper as the soldier next to
him started to speak.
“Yes, this is from the beginning of their genetics program prior to ninety three. As
you are aware, all five islands in Costa Rica have been quarantined, but the two we are
focused on are Sector eighty three and eighty four. Known as Site A and Site B on
InGen’s list of known active genetic facilities. It’s no secret among the CDC that early
on in InGen’s genetic program talks of military application was approached. But at the
time it was still seen as unviable. And because of the private enterprise of its nature the
CDC was never red flagged about this research till after the first incident in Costa Rica
with the young girl.”
“So…what am I consulting on again?” Ian questioned, “I mean I know the history;
I’m a Malcolm so I’m un-intentionally apart of the history. But, this is the CDC, and
their genetics program had been dead and isolated to rot away. Unless there’s an issue of

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something, something walking away? Cause with the UN’s no fly zone and the Navy
security zone…well, I don’t know what else there is to do. I mean the book is closed
no?”
“I’m afraid not sir.” The Solider replied, “We have intelligence on something that
has made its way here from the island since San Diego. As you can see from this security
file here, one of InGen’s earliest geneticists was initially selling secrets to various
competing companies in the fields of genetics. Most in the field of GMO’s and
agriculture application. However most of these leaks within the civilian company were
removed promptly before any real genetic material changed hands, the secrets before
being more so software and tech application. No biological samples. There was only one
competing civilian company who was successful in breaching their security though a
mole in Site A’s employees, a Dennis Nedry. He was successful in acquiring sixty
percent of InGen’s on site embryos from their cold storage. He died in transit to deliver
the package. But it was acquired shortly after by this man, Lewis Dodgson who
originally hired him. We were in the process of closing in on this loose asset when San
Diego happened. As you know our focus, shifted.”
“Yeah, a thirty foot predator tends to shift anyone’s focus.” Ian replied, “Still, how
did they get this material intact into the US? And even so, this genetic material is already
pre coded for making an organism, its useless to do anything else.”
“This company is not based in the United States,” the Solider answered, “we
believe the samples are in a mobile facility en route to sectors eighty three and eighty
four.”
“Okay…so why not intercept and get back to us here when you have the samples.
I can run all the tests and jazz then.” Ian countered.
“The situation is more, complicated then that sir.” The solider replied, “I’ve been
authorized to recruit you into our team involving the CDC, the CIA’s Cyber Crime
Division, NSA and our best Black Opt field units to infiltrate sectors eighty three and
eighty four for containment.”
“Containment? Contain what? Them?!” Ian exclaimed, “The big, giant…with the
teeth? Are they trying to go pick up more of those things to bring here? Or better yet, is
someone trying to open another park? Wait, don’t answer the last question, I’ve learned
no to underestimate human stupidity.”
The soldier gestured to the men controlling the projector, as he turned back to Ian,
“No sir, to contain this.”
A single slide was then revealed, as it stopped Ian’s heart cold while the military
private continued, “We had you flagged originally because of your fathers history with
InGen’s former CEO. And the incidents, but you’ve been groomed unknowingly for this

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after your first dissertation on Micro-organisms and pathogen assessment. We’ve
analyzed all your materials and field reports concerning this subject. As you can see, the
creatures InGen created are no longer the problem concerning containment.”
Ian remained speechless, mesmerized at the image before him. All he could do
was sit back in disbelief, processing the terrible truth of what was in front of him

The drive to his home was a blur. Though Ian did have his own apartment, it
served as more of a storage space for personal trinkets then his real home. He in all
honestly lived here, at the CDC and there live in housing. It was just how he was wired,
to work. He was comfortable here in a routine he knew. Out there the patterns of life
where always at random. Things like social encounters with strangers, grabbing a meal at
some dine with less then a grade A rating, even the traffic, all of it was a chance. A kind
of dice roll to throw off the routine he was comfortable with. Strangers normally led to
altercations, food likely lead to poisoning, which for a guy who studied pathogens and
disease all day, was a huge issue for him. And traffic…well, nothing was more
unpredictable when a sentient mammal behind a two ton machine in motion with nothing
but a slight understanding that they both obey a light that changes color. It was pointless
of him to control the unpredictability of his life; Ian knew this. But in all honesty his life
was a big chunk of unpredictability since ninety three, so he took control of what little
things he could.
The military escort led him to his live on premises housing. Ian walked to the door
as the men stood outside awaiting him. Turning the key he walked inside and began
sorting through his paperwork and lab notes.
“Ah your home!” a voice sounded from inside the apartment.
Ian jumped to see one of his co-workers inside rummaging through the kitchen. A
younger man, balding as he turned to answer a microwave behind him as it rang.
“Oh dear sweet Moses…Patrick? My God man you cant keep doing that to
people!” Ian exclaimed.
“Oh sorry Ian,” Patrick casually replied, “just figured I’d drop by being the last
social encounter you’ve had beyond your lecture and your infectious diseases was four
months ago. This Doc is prescribing you a healthy dose of bad microwave food and…”
Ian held up his hand, as Patrick paused knowing full well what it meant. “Patrick,
thanks and all but you caught me in the middle of a debrief. I’m just here to pack and
review, then I’m out on the field.”
“Wait a debrief?” Patrick asked, “But, no one has been through debrief protocol
today. None of the on site labs or anything has been worked. What did they do? Give you
the run down in the middle of your lecture?”

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 Ian didn’t respond but just gazed at him. Patrick blinked astonished before setting
down the food and walking over.
“Oh wow, I was just kidding but, ok man. When do we leave, who else in on the
team?” Patrick asked.
Before Ian could answer another military person walked in through the door and
stood, looking at Patrick as he called for another of the armed soldiers to appear. Ian held
up his hands as if to note the escort wasn’t necessary.
“Its alright,” Ian stated, “Patrick is on my field team. He was just leaving though.
Pat, I’ll check in later after I’m back. Keep me updated on the Chinese situation with the
Chiropteran viral strains.”
Pat stood there motionless for a moment, before finally snapping to and heading
out for the door, “Uh yeah sure Ian. For what its worth, say safe out there alright. I’ll let
the rest of the team know we’re flying solo. No doubt CDC project assignment protocol
has already been sorted?”
Ian nodded, “More then sorted, see you guys in a few days.”
Patrick left out the front door as the Military men entered. One began sweeping
the rest of the house as the other left a package for him to open. Ian gestured to the work
table as he fired up his small portable microscope. While he did one of the soldiers re
entered the room and signaled to the other, “All clear.”
The other man nodded as he turned to Ian, “Is there anyone else you expect to
drop by?”
“Uh no,” Ian replied, “the rest of my research team is busy on the other project for
Homeland Security. Patrick was just here to make sure I don’t become anymore
antisocial. Though, I’m sure any more military escorts will throw me past the point of no
return.”
Ian chuckled a little at his own joke, but seeing no response from the others he
shrugged and turned his attention back to the microscope. “Right, anyways this isn’t my
first debrief, you guys can ask me the usual nonsense while I do this. This is the specimen
right? Cleanroom protocol not applicable?”
“No, specimen has been bleached and archived solely for preliminary diagnosis.
Are you currently in contact or involved in any relationships with third party persons?”
“Nope, not for lack of trying with my colleagues occasional blind date mind you.
Poor Nancy, she never stood a chance. How long since the specimen was last active after
collection?”
“Seventy two hours. Are you in contact with any of your family and siblings?”
“Well, contrary to popular belief Dad doesn’t call too much. Again, not for lack of
trying. And I’m not too close to any of the dozens of children my father has sired. Lets

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see now, trace elements of viral DNA coding, though irregular protein elements are
present. Proteins are inactive but still retain traits of being mid transitional. As if breaking
down the surrounding cellular material even within itself? This is strange. Is it safe to
assume this sample was taken from an organic origin? Biological host?”
“Sample was secured post host origin. When was the last time you were out in the
field in a class yellow protocol?”
“Last training exercise was two weeks ago. Last active mission was a month ago.
Classified of course. But hey you guys look like you crossed all your T’s and all that.
Protein is indeed degenerative in nature, possibly from a host organism. There’s
something more to this though, just can’t put my finger on it.”
The solider simply nodded, “Noted, are we looking at a viable pandemic at this
time via environmental opportunities for mutation from stationary to-”
“Is it airborne?” Ian interrupted, “No, no its not, but it’s definitely something
that’s been mutated. I need a moment to review some of my notes. Cross reference
something basal that matches what you have here so we can establish a quarantine
protocol for this field mission and the teams on site. How much time do I have till we are
en route?”
“You have 2 hours sir, then we need to be en route.” The soldier blandly stated.
Ian scratched his chin, noting a five o’clock shadow, “Right, right, ok I have my
luggage if you have some spare hands to load up while I continue my cross referral?”
The man nodded as he gestured to one of the other soldiers. Ian pointed to a small
pile of clean hard cases marked: LAB005 CDC
“Those are good to go. You can open and check them then tape them for transport.
Lab equipment, everything inside a sealed plastic bag is sterile so please, do not break the
quarantine seals and be careful when you place the items back.”
The man did as he was told as he started to go through things with surgical
precision. The cases Ian was having the man go through were his on call kits. At any time
within the CDC he or any lab personnel could be called out to the field. So they were
trained to have with them a basal lab kit that covered the basics of quarantine protocol
and establish a portable lab for whatever mission or outbreaks they were trained to
encounter. As a workaholic Ian always had his ready to go, as well as every bit of the
equipment and technical gear sorted and sealed.
Happy that the men knew what they were doing with his equipment Ian set back to
the job at hand. He began flipping through notes and a personal tablet that he powered up
with his voice and facial recognition software. Typing in a third password he flipped
through a number of diagrams from various microorganisms. A mini library of infectious

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diseases and cellular microbes flashed before his eyes as he scanned each of them, trying
to find a match with what he was given.
As he flipped through the files, his peripheral vision fell on something else on his
desk. He had few personal items, most of those were at his apartment. But he did have a
few here and there. One of them was a neatly typed and binded proof of what appeared to
be a book. In front of it was a handwritten note:

To my first sentient creation on planet earth. I hope you enjoy my calculative ramblings.
Love,
Dad

Below it was a hand drawn diagram of what Ian later deciphered was a Dragon
Fractal. A basal mathematical graphic synonymous to chaos theory. Below that was a
typed out title,

God Creates Dinosaurs

Ian eyed it a moment, then looked over to the military man overseeing his work.
“Do you mind, I need to make a personal call. You can monitor it here, last rites
kind of thing.”
The man didn’t say anything for a moment, then finally nodded. “You’re aware of
protocol. This normally isn’t the way things are done sir but I assume I know who you
are contacting.”
Ian nodded, “Yes, purely social. I can continue my work while I talk on the phone.
Thank you.” Ian then picked up a hardline phone next to his desk and dialed a number
while he put the phone call on speaker. The man next to him nodded in approval as Ian
heard the dial tone and then the other line ring. He turned his attention to slides and the
sample he was working on as his ears remained attentive to the ringing phone.
He mentally noted each of the slides he flipped through as the phone continued to
ring. Influenza, negative. Anthrax, negative. TB, negative. Phone ringing.
Malaria, negative. Ebola, negative. Cholera, negative. Phone ringing.
Botulism, negative. Anaplasmosis, negative. Salmonellosis, negative. Phone
ringing, a woman’s voice then sounded.
“H,Hello?”
Ian’s eyes shifted slightly as he answered, “Hello? Sarah?”
“This is Sarah.”

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 “Oh hey, I was looking for Ian senior, this is his…”
“Your probably looking for Ian Malcolm aren’t you? Well I’ve kidnapped him on
another adventure to either the jungles of South America, the exotic deserts of Morocco
or the grocery store. Please leave your message at the beep!”
Ian’s eyes dropped, the soldier caught his gesture as Ian re-gathered himself and
shifted focus back to the slides as the beep sounded.
“Hey, this is Ian, junior. I uh, just wanted to say I’m going to be going away for a
bit. But I got your book, I flipped through most of it.” Ian’s eyes continued to scan the
slides as he made mental notes. Negative, negative, negative. “So I’ll be finishing it
soon,” he continued, “and just, yeah. Thanks for sending it. And I…I…”
His eyes fell on a slide, as he drew his attention over to the sample. He had to be
sure. He then glanced back at the other slide and verified visually he found a match. All
he could do was whisper into the phone…
“I got it.”

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 CHAPTER 3
TRESSPASS

A tropical breeze blew though the palm trees as Dodgson has a seat. It was over
twenty years since he last saw this place, at this very dine on the beach. Nothing seemed
to have changed between then and now, in fact he would almost chalk it up to cosmic fate
if not for the simple fact of isolation. The journey between here and Site A was an
isolated one, with few places to socialize in between twenty years ago. Let alone now
with a full UN quarantine and a Naval blockade in effect. Needless to say, the tourist
crowd had long since thinned and migrated to less dangerous vacation spots.
Dodgson’s eyes darted here and there, taking in the local scene, the same weather
beaten chairs sinking into the beach sand. The same faded third world cloth umbrellas
doing little to offer shade from the sun overhead. The same palm roofed bar behind him,
a fading mermaid effigy or wood caring of some type doing what it can to offer some
illusion of local flair. It was a strange feeling to be here yet again, on what would be the
same bit of business.
In the distance he spotted his appointment, a woman, dressed in tropical attire as
she glided over the sand. She was Caucasian, but her skin long since showing off an
otherwise even olive tan. Her hair was dark but sun bleached to lighter tones of brown.
Her features were soft, but also defined as her hazel eyes scanned her surroundings. Her
features are what Dodgson noted, likely betraying her true nature if his background check
did indeed check out.

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 The woman’s eyes locked unto his as she began to walk over. Having a seat, she
looked off into the ocean horizon as she broke the silence between them, her words
coated in a subtle British accent,
“So, a job offer I presume? Let me guess, you need a guide? Someone who knows
the layout and all?”
Dodgson nodded, “As we know you’re the only one qualified who knows the
layout. The only one who is willing to go back considering the, circumstances? And,
you’ve seen them, the ones we’re looking for.”
The woman didn’t break her glance from the sea as she replied, her recollection on
par with describing a dream, “It’s been years, but I still see them. You can’t have a
normal life after that you know? Was damn lucky to get out with my head attached.
Didn’t even know what they were till I compared the stories from the others.”
An eyebrow raised to a peek on Dodgson’s brow, “The, others?”
“The survivors. Not everyone who goes to the islands, dies there.” She stated,
“Even if they are the five deaths or whatnot. But something in you does die, be it your
perspective, your innocence, or your outlook on where you fit.”
“Where you fit?” Dodgson scoffed, “You mean in the universe?”
A smile flashes over the woman’s face as she finally turned to him, “On the food
chain. But, that doesn’t mean I’m a charity case. I know the layout, and I’ve been there
and back again, know the places to stay away from, and the places to stick too. I know
about the big groups, the small ones, the sky drills and the big one in the water. But the
ones you’re looking for, that’s another type of danger. That will cost you, and it’s not for
tourist. I know tourist. You’re something else. And with that comes, the assumption
of….security?”
Dodgson fell back into his seat, recollecting the first meeting he had here. How
different it all was, a recollection he couldn’t help but vocalize.
“You’re intuitive Miss Wray.”
“You can call me Anne.”
“You aren’t the first meeting I had here, years ago I started a similar deal here,
with very different people, all of it ending very….unexpected. Now, I find myself in a
similar situation, but you aren’t that other person. You’re prepared. And I, though
different, am not. That said, I’ll be joining you.”
A soft giggle escaped Anne as she held up her hands, “I, don’t suggest that.”
Dodgson took a drink of a random beverage in front of him as he replied, “And I
agree. I’m not versed in any survival skills needed to justify taking one step on that
island. That said, I value my life very much, and I will be taking that step. So as you can
imagine, I’ve taken great steps to securing that I will be safe. Me, a person not at all

19
qualified to be there. You’re very correct in thinking my security detail will be, notable.
So you, someone who is qualified, can rest easy in your assured survival in my
company.”
Dodgson took a moment to study Anne as she processed his statement. Anne
returned her own calculating gaze in kind. She eyed him up and down, taking in each
detail. The haircut, that of a man typical of his age, she would guess later forties, maybe
early fifties. The same comb over of hair she saw many others do when the misfortune of
male baldness would strike them. She almost expected him to be wearing a hat, so
strange not to see one on him. His hands were the next thing to strike her, well
manicured. If she fancied a guess, perhaps a stock broker type. She had dealing with
those types of, business sharks. Just looking for a quick rush, something to flaunt to the
other one percenter’s out in the world. Something they were able to buy with their
millions that the others could not with their own amassed fortunes. Speaking of amassed
fortune.
Anne brushed away some hair from here eyes as she prepared the next exchange,
negotiations. Slowly she reached back into her dress as she pulled out a deck knife, and
picking a random fruit from the adjacent table next to them began to peel it as she started
the rapport,
“The security force you’re hinting at, there will be problems with the blockade.
Large groups are impossible as is equipment and…”
Dodgson pulled out a file and set it next to her as he replied, “My client and I have
the necessary resources to get what we need on the island. Here are the details of the
security force we will be implementing.”
Anne’s eyes widened as she thumbed through the file, “I dare not ask how you got
ahold of some of these….toys. But the roads leading to what you want end after…”
Dodson’s hand gestured to a page in the file as he cut her off, “Page eleven. We
have a survey of the outline transportation system.”
“I see. This….might be possible. But there is one, the big one, that roams the
water ways and….”
“I know, page sixteen. That one is the one we will be going after, along with
others in that particular area.”
“You, are purposely going to hunt him? Even with this equipment, I don’t think
that is wise. All these toys, but that mountain is his, theirs. Hunting anything there is…”
“Page four, we are looking for samples. Not trophies. My client is not looking for
something for the fire place, nor am I.”

20
 Anne continued to gaze intensely through the file as she replied, “I don’t do
hunting parties. However even if you’re not hunting, that much foot traffic in that area
will…”
“Page seven, we have a set plan once we reach the mountain. Minimal foot
traffic.”
Anne gave out a small chuckle, “Well, that is colorful. You know by showing me
this you kind of shown your hand in terms of your financing.”
Dodgson took another sip of his drink as he shot forth his reply. “Page nineteen.
Presuming you have the security passes still in your possession from your initial
encounter.”
A large smile formed over Anne’s face as she peered down at the page. She gave
a coy nod, not taking her eyes from off the paper as Dodgson sat up, “I’ll take it this
number is satisfactory. We will be embarking in forty eight hours. Puertos Crabbery,
pier one. I’ll then go over more details en route to the islands. Till then.”
Anne’s eyes jolted up, “Islands?”
Dodgson nodded as he paused briefly, “Yes, we will be visiting both islands. Till
then.”

21
 CHAPTER 4
LAZARUS

The image flashed over and over again. The footage itself was grainy, under
developed, sourced from the local security cameras monitoring the pedestrian streets that
night. A large bus smashed over its wheels as bodies flew everywhere. Just before the bus
starts to settle a flash of teeth comes crashing down onto the chassis as the image freezes,
and replays. The glow from the monitor lights up Ian’s face as he stared on, mesmerized.
The thought of meeting such an awesome force in person playing over and over again in
his head.
“You truly were the King,” he whispered as he paused the video file…only to
glare down at the file in his hand, “…and this is what did it. This is the answer to the
riddle.”
A door swung open as another man in military uniform approached. He gestured
for Ian to follow, “It’s time sir, debrief in two minutes.”
Ian nodded as he took a minute to glare back at the monitor.

The meeting room was dimly lit and ominous, resting in the belly of a naval
destroyer, a literal floating city as staff and personnel stood all around. They were at
attention, ready for orders as Ian slowly took a seat among them. Staring around he
found a few others in their civies, or civilian clothing. ‘Civies’ was the term he picked up
from other missions, what soldiers called people out of uniform. Or who were just simply

22
‘not soldiers’. One of them took notice of Ian’s lost gaze as the soldier leaned over and
tipped his head,
“Let me guess, first field run huh? CDC right? You can always tell the first time
guys, they always carry that same look. I’m O’Brien. Will T. On sight security I guess
is what I am for this field run.”
An awkward smile fell over Ian’s face as he nodded in response to the man’s
attempt of chatter, “Ah, right security. That’s….reassuring. I’m Malcolm, Ian
Malcolm.”
A flash of teeth fell over O’Brien’s face as he laughed, “Right, right, you’re the
guy these boys trained. Your dad was apart of the San Diego thing right?”
Ian nodded, the gesture highlighting the awkwardness the conversation brought
him as he turned his attention to the file resting in his hands, “Yeah, well what can I say.
My father is…a character.”
Before O’Brien had a chance to reply someone else walked into the crowd,
everyone turns their attention to him as he took his place among the middle of the group.
The demeanor of war filling his face as a large screen behind him flickered on.
“Good morning crew.” He started, “For those of you new here, my name is
Corporal Locke. I’m the commanding officer of this campaign. Most of you have been
briefed, for those of you who haven’t put two and two together we are onboard the
Venture. One of ten destroyers which make up the blockade for sectors eighty three and
eighty four, also known as Islands Sorna and Nublar.”
Ian spied the statement hitting home on the face of his would be new friend, Will,
as the Corporal continued, “A few of you were with me during the evacuation of one
Alan Grant during the Kirby incident. This trip will be, more involved. We are taking
steps to minimize risk and time spent in the quarantine area, however new factors have
arisen as I would like to present our leading man from the CDC to explain what we will
be doing. Dr Ian Malcolm, if you will.”
Hesitant, Ian walked forward as he stood beside Locke. Opening the file, he
thumbed through a display station set up for him as he qued the images up on the screen
for everyone to see, “Thank you Corporal. The matter we are addressing is a biological
pathogen that we are in task to keep contained on the island. However, being all
pathogens eventually tend to find their way into the general population, we need to take
steps to build a vaccine. This here is what we are trying to stop. RAB-V, an ancient
strain of lyssaviral agents which, from what we know, were awakened and unknowingly
coded during the genetic trials from InGen that has led to the current…fauna running
loose on Isla Nublar and Sorna.

23
 From what we can gather, this strain is a form of virus of the family
Rhabdorviridae, but much older, if not prehistoric in origin being we have no trace of this
agent in our files in the CDC. It’s what can be technically categorized as a Lazarus strain,
a term a few of us use in the CDC regarding older diseases that currently pop up on our
radar that went extinct or inactive decades ago due to our vaccination technology in the
case of small pox and so on, or just naturally though the course of time. We’ve seen a
boost of dormant or older pathogens and outbreaks happening thanks common cultural
trends and overpopulation in general for densely populated areas. But, nothing like this.”
“So, wait…the dinosaurs have what? A kind of bird flu?”
The question shot from the dark of the crowd. Ian was quick to reply, “No, not a
flu. To give it a more familiar name, Rabies. That is simplifying it drastically though,
this is probably even the ancestor of rabies. Hence assigning it as a ‘Lazarus Strain’. In
fact what you are seeing here, is quite possibly the true culprit that originally killed off
the Dinosaurs. The real ones, that is. You see this viral agent has proteins and RNA
negative stranded genomes that are similar to the viral family of Rhabdorviridae, but as I
mentioned there are things that show simplicity when I compare this against the CDC
database for all know strains of rabies. But it’s also more complex being there are extra
proteins here that, well, aren’t apart of our current day RAB-V viral makeup. This is
something completely new, but also, well…very old.”
Another man stepped forward from out of the darkness, “Apologies, I’m agent
Challenger, Marshal from the NSA. We are tasked with overseeing the operation and
intelligence. Dr Malcolm, if what your saying is true of this situation, the question of
why the animals on that island are still alive does raise a question. And if this strain is a
primitive form of rabies, or Lazarus strain, as you put it; it begs to ask why we should be
alarmed considering our more advanced vaccine precautions.”
Ian nodded as he switched the slide, more images of microbodies flooding the
room, “Yes, yes I understand. But we have no living strains of this virus to even test any
of our vaccination methods for one. And second, this isn’t really, rabies if you will. Like
I just stated it’s something like it, if not it’s….ancestor. What we have now, isn’t
designed for this. Nor can it be, being the only evidence of this strain and the only
samples we can use of this new strain can only be found on that island in InGen’s
genetics facilities. We have precautions for today’s rabies, what we are currently fighting.
But the process doesn’t work backwards in this case being one, we have nothing to
sample to build up a vaccine from a host organism 50 million years ago. And two, the
animals that are alive, are not the same as they were from the Cretaceous. They were
spliced with modern DNA from a host of organisms for genetic stability; they are mutants
for a lack of better words. And, so is this. It’s a mutated virus, bringing with it all the

24
destruction it wielded to cause a global extinction, but altered to be immune to our
modern vaccines. And that advantage is shared into its host organisms but because of
their genetic bond and coding, the organisms do not suffer from the affects of the virus. I
believe this is due to the very nature of RAB-V itself, it recodes RNA. And those
animals on that island, are all recoded with who knows how many DNA, RNA mutations.
It might even be a simple answer of the RNA itself being precoded, leaving the virus
unable to recode the RNA but some how find a state of balance. It’s dormant in other
words, if not possibly in a state of symbiosis. However we need to gather samples from
these host organisms to first make sure that is indeed what happened with this virus and
second, get the right pre-coded strain to use for a vaccine. In other words, to stop the
next global extinction event.”
One of the soldiers besides Will broke into the conversation, “By host organisms
you mean, the dinosaurs right? We’re here to hunt dinosaurs?”
Ian shook his head, “No, we just need samples. Minimal genetic samples, blood
or saliva which can come from the facilities on site genetics data. Which is spread in
between the labs on Isla Sorna, and Nublar. What we can’t find, well, then yeah we’ll
need to take from the field. But minimal contact with these organisms’ fluids and so on
are the best precaution we can take right now. Hence why I stress visiting the islands
genetics centers be the first priority to minimize any unnecessary risk.”
“So, if I can push past everything, we’re worried about this pandemic being,
weaponized right?” A woman in a suit appeared from among the crowd as she flashed her
credentials, “Maria T Smith. CIA, preventive weapons division. We’re talking about
Biosyn, and Lewis Dodgson. Their bio weapons program they’ve been developing since
ninety three, which coincides with the H1N1 outbreak among others.”
Ian nodded, “Yes, it seems this whole time people were worried about dinosaurs
being used as weapons, though I find it hilarious anyone could think something like a T-
Rex could be tamed, let alone strapping a gun to it and covering it in body armor. But
I’ve long since learned not to underestimate human stupidity.
This however is the real weapon right here, biological. This killed the dinosaurs,
and now we, humans, have engineered it to be possibly immune to all of our current
vaccines. Not only that, but we put it in the most dangerous host organisms this world
has ever seen. And with all due respect ma’am, weaponizing this isn’t the issue. It’s
already weaponized. The Pandemic is the issue, it’s a time bomb as we speak.”
“Which brings us to security detail.” Locke interjected, “Most of you have set foot
on these islands. For the rest of you, the simple fact of this mission is people are going to
die. But thanks to some creative resourcing, it’s not going to be us. Isn’t that right Agent
Mariah?”

25
 Mariah nodded as she took center stage, “Correct, we’ve kept tight tabs on Biosyn
and their stolen assets since the ninety seven incident from San Diego. The company has
since merged with a international private weapons contractor based out of Persia. It’s
because of this merger that Biosyn went on our radar. From here we know they collected
biological samples of T-Rex saliva off of the dead corpses and remains from San Diego,
as well as collected a host of genetic material from ninety three. Since then genetic trials
and viral strains have since been developed, with tests and phantom outbreaks reaching
from here to Japan, and even Chile. This includes the reintroduction of long thought
cured viral strains including ‘swine flu’. It should be noted Doctor Malcolm that the
variables you saw in the H1N1 out break in the early two thousands weren’t due to
natural mutations, but Biosyn tampering. They however seem to have reached the height
of their bio weapons development with their current materials. They are, as we speak,
going on a hail Mary expedition to the islands to secure more genetic materials. From
our intercepted exchanges we know they’re going for something called an Alpha
Organism based in one of the islands, maybe both. This no doubt is a sort of key to both
developing their weapons program, and for us to develop a antidote.”
One of the soldiers started to shift as he blurted, “So, how do we plan to stop
them? Intercept their transport, engage with extreme prejudice?”
Locke turned back to the images being displayed, “We don’t. We let them do our
job for us, and in turn take on full risk. Once they have accomplished our goals, we will
then seize all assets and samples. But there is more, if you would continue Agent
Smith?”
“Yes,” Mariah replied, “there is certain data that we need to recover to know the
full extent of InGen’s genetic templates, and in turn the source code or, stain of origin, if
I’m addressing it correctly Doctor Malcolm?”
Ian nodded as Mariah continued, “To do this, we have implemented an on site
team, to both deal with the genetic materials per CDC fail safes comprising of Doctor
Malcolm. As well as an on site computer analysis to hack into their computer systems or,
if not possible, recover the hard drives for analysis back in Washington composing of
Agent Alexis Murphy.”
Ian’s eyes widened, that name, he knew that name. A blonde woman timidly
stepped forward from the crowd, dressed sharply as she directed her stare onto the images
being portrayed. The first one a slide show of herself when she was a child being cared
for in a Costa Rican hospital. Her grandfather next to her and her brother.
“Agent Murphy, as some of you may know, is one of a handful of survivors from
the first initial incident on Island Nublar. During the incident, she successfully hacked
into InGen’s security protocols at the age of ten and is the only agent we have who has

26
been on site and knows that islands system.” Mariah stated as Lex continued to stand at
attention.
That was it, the surprise overcoming Ian’s face as he recollected two kids his
father would visit, one of them was this one. The name escaped him in a hushed whisper,
“Lex.”
Lex’s eyes shifted if only for a moment, as if she could sense her name being
murmured. Her cold blue eyes stopped as she spied Ian, Malcolm’s son. She read the
debrief files on the team, she knew who he was, and if only briefly, felt a bit of comfort.
He was a familiar face to relate the gravity of this whole situation, if only by proxy.
Locke nodded as he flipped through more digital slides, “As you all know the
issue of security is still present. Because of the possible biological nature and danger of
these animals on this island, things are not as simple as fire flashing the whole place and
risk unleashing something worse, or gunning down anything with teeth and risk exposing
anyone to infection. Not till we understand what exactly this thing is. That said, we are
upgrading everyone’s security detail concerning ordinance for our inbound security team.
We already have a mole inserted into Dodgson’s extraction attempt. They are outfitted
with the same equipment you will all be wearing, depending on each person’s
certifications. The latest in body armor and thermal tracking equipment as well as support
drones and UAV’s based from both the Venture and our surrounding ships. I understand
we have a bearing on Dodgson’s first course of action?”
Marshal nods as another man runs over and hands him a file, “Yes, as of now our
intelligence places him en route to the second island, Sorna. That said it is suggested we
place our team on island Nublar to extract the data from the genetics lab while our mole
oversees the mission with Dodgson on the second island. Considering the nature of the
threats being addressed, we had long since recruited a paleontologist. This is Doctor
Robert T. Buckland. He will be on site for your initial team on Nublar while another
Paleontologist from Dodgson’s team will be guiding them on Sorna.”
Mariah crossed her arms at the news, “Is he one of ours.”
Marshal shook his head, “No, but from our resources we know he’s a former
employee of InGen. As far as the animals on site, he’s reliable.”
Locke nodded as he signaled for things to wrap up, “It will have to do. Alright,
everyone has their marching orders. Report to your designated departments for individual
debrief while transportation to the islands are prepped. Dismissed.”
Everyone leaves, as O’Brien nods at Ian, his smirk all but gone as he finally
realized the gravity of the mission. Ian watched him and everyone leave, as his eyes fell
on to her, Lex. She shifted her hands, looking towards the slides and the images still
being projected, deep in thought.

27
 “I, uh, normally am very good at talking to people.” Ian started, “But, this is one
of the few times I’m without words.”
Lex broke her gaze as she spied Ian approach her, a sheepish smirk on his face as
he nervously scratched the back of his head.
“Yes, well it’s not every day we are sent to go hunting for dinosaurs are we Ian.”
she replied.
“Oh, you know my name.” Ian replied, “Well, of course you do, I mean your CIA
and I guess it was just announced to everyone a few seconds ago. I swear I’m smarter
then this.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are.” Lex offered, “But I know who you are, your dad used to
talk about you when I was younger. He talked about all of his kids honestly, but you
more so. First born and the oldest. Something we share.”
Ian smiled, “Well, that and dinosaurs. Seems like we are destined to live in the
shadows of our family huh.”
Lex took a moment, as she looked around. The area all but emptied save for a few
crew members. Even so, Lex grew self-conscious as she gestured to leave, “You mind,
taking this elsewhere? Maybe on the deck.”
“Uh, sure.” Ian answered, “I mean, I figured you would have things to prep for the
mission, I’m almost envious being I cant do anything till I get on the island, and I could
really use the distraction.”
“Yes, there’s certain protocol and all that. But, to be honest I need the distraction
too. And you’re the closest thing I have to family on this boat. Besides, family ties to
prehistoric monsters trump protocol. Shall we?”
Lex made her way out towards the surface as Ian followed, still unsure of how to
act. Not even sure if such a correct way to act even existed, maybe that was the place to
start? “So, Lex, I’m sorry, do you prefer Alexis?”
Lex didn’t miss a beat as she continued to walk, all the while they began to pass
by large rooms housing various military supplies, UVA’s, off road carriers and armored
vehicles as people worked around the clock to fine tune them,
“It’s technically Agent Murphy. Socially, I go by Alexis.”
Ian nodded as he looked around at all the equipment, “Right, right sorry. So,
Alexis, or wait…agent Alexis-Murphy?”
Lex laughed, the sound of it carrying a hint of relief, “It’s ok. You can call me
Lex, it takes the edge off. I have a feeling we will need to take advantage of as many
creature comforts as possible by the time this mission is done.”
“Ah, ok. Lex, sorry again. I honestly am not this flustered normally. I just, don’t
know how to wrap my head around all of this. I mean, I thought I was leaving all this

28
behind me. It was hard enough trying to live a normal life and just when I thought I
achieved something close to it. Bam, soldiers march in and are like, Hey you! Come
with us to bag and tag Megasaurs and whatnot because you know, your dad led the march
against InGen and saved a baby T-Rex so, its gotta be a family thing right? Just, still
haven’t processed…any of it.”
Lex’s eyes widened as she saw the sun shine through one of the doors, “Here we
are. I always enjoyed the sky. Didn’t used to, but now, living in the cyber crime division
and stating at a computer screen locked away in a dark room, you appreciate the sky
more. The sea air, the outdoors in general.”
Ian’s eyes squinted as he stepped out onto the deck with Lex, looking out into the
ocean. It was a great view, no doubt, but it had nothing to do with the conversation at
hand. Or maybe she was just ignoring him?
Lex continued with her thoughts. “I think it was because of the accident. With
Hammond, my grandfather, it kind of ruined camping trips for us, me and Timothy. Only
solace I could find was in the artificial world, where the animals had no place being. But,
after a while, you just begin to miss the sun. And then the sky, the smell of the earth and
the forest. Now, I’m looking at the sky and where do I find myself? Heading back to the
island again. The irony.”
Sea spray filled the air as Ian took in the sight. This CIA agent, no doubt trained
and hardened was turning into that little girl his dad used to mention all those years ago.
As if the closer they got to the island, the more she reverted to who she was when she
first escaped it all.
“I, can’t even begin to understand what it was like for you.” Ian offered, “Your
family in danger, seeing people die, seeing ‘them’ up close. But, it doesn’t seem to have
stopped you. And it hasn’t taken the sky from you, you know?”
“No, it hasn’t.” Lex answered back, “I survived this whole thing once, when I was
ten. I’ll survive it now, now that I can defend myself. I know your anxious Ian, I do. I
can tell a lab person from a field agent pretty easily.”
Ian laughed, “Right, its that obvious huh? They train you for a lot of things, ebola,
outbreaks, trekking through the jungle. Running from a giant man eating lizard from a
million years ago, not so much.”
A smile flashed over Lex as she broke her gaze from the ocean and finally looked
over to him, “I know. But hey, I beat that island and I was ten at the time. Just a little
girl. Now here we both are, highly trained adults in our fields, the best at what we do, I
beat it and so will you. You just focus on the job, and let the small army we are traveling
with focus on the fighting. Okay? We’ll look out for each other, deal?”

29
 It was a nice gesture, and for a moment, it did the job. It raised the fear and
overbearing pressure of everything from off of his mind, if only for a moment. Ian then
took his turn to look out into the sea as he tried a second chance at a better first
impression,
“So, you knew dad huh? What was he like?”
“Don’t you know for yourself?” Lex asked.
Ian chuckled, “Me? No, I didn’t get much in the way of quality time till after San
Diego. Then it was, ‘Oh hey son, lets hang out. Talk about life. I foiled another attempt
by man to create something unholy.”
“Ha, well you look like him.” Lex replied smiling, “Or, like he did back then,
when he was younger. You’re more well mannered then him too, you haven’t made one
attempt to hit on me. Even after seeing a living breathing dinosaur, you dad was hitting
on the women nursing him back at the mainland in a matter of minutes.”
“Ah, yeah. Nothing like your dad fathering half of NoHo to make one gun shy of
the dating scene. I still don’t know half of my brothers and sisters out there. Then,
because of all the publicity, there’s the people claiming to be his kids just for internet
fame or some nonsense. Still, a Malcolm can’t seem to shake that social stigma set down
from our more famous father. Me and my estranged siblings.”
Lex looked down, perhaps it was bad choice to bring up his father’s
social…tendencies as it were. Maybe a change of topic, as she tried to diffuse the
awkward tension between them, “Well you are better for it. With all the black though,
you have his fashion sense.”
Ian looked himself over, “Right, it’s the covert uniform survival thingy they threw
me in. I guess I’m destined to be my father in one way or another. Huh, there’s a storm
coming.”
Lex drew her attention back out to the water, as black clouds formed on the
horizon. “We’ll get through it, we just need to look out for each other.”
Ian rested his eyes back on Lex, all but lost in the sky as he took in the moment.
Perhaps the last calm moment before they headed into the storm, headed to the island, to
them.

30
 CHAPTER 5
Return To Paradise

LOCATON: Stealth Cruiser 20 Nautical miles from Isla Sorna.

Anne reviewed a table of supplies as she took what she could carry and equipped
herself. Mobile torch, fuel refill, two fourteen inch combat knives with serrated edges and
a tanto tip. A utility belt to which she secured a thermal scope complete with night vision
capacity. Her knives fell to each side of her hip as she continued; paracord rope, tear gas,
climbing gloves, flares…flare gun. A man walked out of the shadows of the vessels
overhead canopy amid Anne’s routine as he leaned against the doorway and looked her
up and down.
“Well, I do love a girl who is prepared.”
Anne smirked, not yet turning to the man addressing her as she continued buckling
up a harness. She then secured a few rounds of buckshot to the slots on either side of her
shoulders and a few ammo magazines. The man in the doorway gawked as he lifted a
reddish brown felt fedora above his brow with a whistle.
“My my, didn’t know you weren’t done.”
Anne kept smiling as she reached under the table and brought out a silver
hardcase. “Still not done.”
She popped the locks as she opened it to reveal a custom Smith and Wesson 480
XVR Revolver. She secured it snugly to a holster on the back of her utility belt as she

31
finished securing the additional attachments. The man whistled once more as she finally
turned to see who her unintended audience member was.
Her eyes fell upon a Venezuelan man dressed in full blackened survival gear with
body armor covered in a weathered greying levis jacket. His right hand brandished an
accessorized but very old AK47 complete with a scope and a bayonets attachment, the
traditional knife long since replaced with a elongated machete. Anne raised an eyebrow.
“So, an AK huh? I imagine with all the money being thrown around you would
have opted for something more…up to date senor?”
“Ah, it’s DeLaVega. Or just Vega, if you prefer. And newer doesn’t always mean
better. I always go for reliable, take this doll here. Three jungle tours, one private security
opt out in the dessert, holds up through rain, wind storms, even water. Pluck her out of a
mud puddle, doesn’t skip a beat.”
Anne gawked at her new would be friend’s logic as she walked over to him, “So,
is it just DeLaVega or do you have a first name?”
Vega smiled, “Don’t really get to know people all that long for first names on
these kind of jobs. But hey, maybe we can share a glass and a name afterwards huh?”
Vega winked as he got up out of the doorway and walked away into a group of
people, all of them reeking of ‘private security’ or ‘mercenary’. All of them hustling as
they loaded supplies and drove vehicles into two amphibious shore loaders as thunder
crackled overhead. Anne then spotted a bracelet of some kind on Vega’s wrist, an amber
pendant, the glimmer of something possibly inside as Dodgson approached.
“I see you met one of our special security assets for this charter. Former guerilla
opts. If your wondering about the guns, I know I said this isn’t a hunting party but as I
established, my own personal safety, and by association everyone, takes precedence.”
Anne turned to Dodgson and simply flashed a smile, “I’m not worried.”
Dodgson looked at her quizzically, “Really, to be honest I was expecting more of a
rebuttal from you. You being so adamant about not being a hunting party, but also I see
you have your own, high caliber security on hand. In case you have to take the one we’re
looking for down? The Alpha organisms?”
Anne looked over to her Smith and Wesson and them back at Dodgson and
giggled, “This? Oh this wont take him down, slow him down maybe, but not stop him.
Just as all of this, all it will do is slow them down. But like you told me, your not
interested in trophies right? Shall we?”
Anne walked towards the amphibious vehicles as Dodgson followed behind. Anne
noticed as she spoke out loud to address him, “I believe it was smart to go in before the
storm hit us fully. It’s always better to ride out a storm on land then out on sea. As well as

32
make the shore, it will give us good cover. Most of the animals seek shelter when a big
storm hits. Few enjoy being wet.”
Dodgson grabbed a manifest from one of the other men as he flipped through it, “I
believe that’s the ideal. Even so, I wont be going with you on this boat so to speak.”
Anne stopped, “What? But you said you were coming?”
“Yes, but we need to hit both islands. In and out, as fast as possible and the fastest
way to do that is to hit them both at the same time. You and DeLaVega will visit Isla
Sorna in which you will act as their primary guide to get them where they need to go and
collect what we need. I will be going on the less dangerous island, Isla Nublar.”
Anne again laughed out loud, “Less dangerous?”
“Of course,” Dodgson replied, “from the reports we gathered the three raptors
there were killed by the one Rex on that island. And with only one giant alpha predator
there I don’t see why it would be any more dangerous then Sorna, which houses a
majority of the alpha organisms and the hybrids.”
Anne waved her hand, “Ah, right you’re only counting the teeth. Not the horns, or
the spines as big as spears, or the shadows in the sky. Well, I wish you luck on your less
dangerous island then Mister Dodgson. Don’t think me rude, but I already deposited your
check, not that I don’t expect you to come back. Just an occupational hazard. Till we see
each other again then.”
Anne walked off as she entered her Amphibious transport, Vega waiting there for
her among a dozen other men as the doors closed. Dodgson looked on, un amused at her
words as sprinkles of rain fall from the sky. Looking upwards, Dodgson signaled for the
rest of the men to fall in line as he too made his way over to a notably larger amphibious
transport. He then walked towards it and put in motion his plans to make landfall.
Anne sat amid the other men, Vega sitting across from her who smiled as he lit up
a cigar and leaned back, one last creature comfort before they got to the island. The doors
hummed as they clicked signaling they were secure. Soon after the entire cabin rocked
and whined, hydraulics seizing, followed by a rhythmic rocking. Anne grabbed a radio as
she made her way to the driving cabin where one of the pilots signaled for her to sit next
to him. Nodding she cued up a digital map on his navigational monitor and pointed to an
alcove, where they planned to land. The pilot nodded as she sat back in her chair and
watched the rain begin to pour. A subtle calmness falling over her, as the boats closed in
on their destination.

The Waves crashed against the amphibious crafts as they swayed against the
water, each wave growing in size as the intensity of the storm increased by the second. In
the distance a small damaged and heavily overgrown docking bay stood out against the

33
tropical islands coast. The vessels bypassed the dock as they maneuvered around the
structure, making landfall along the sandy beaches adjacent to it. The doors slowly
opened as the hydraulics whined and whirled revealing Lex and Ian as well as the others.
Each looks onward as the structure in front of them came into view.
A large stone monolith with rotted bamboo peaked over vines and overgrowth, a
familiar reddish logo with a skeleton peering back at them through the vines. Above the
logo was a sign.

WELCOME TO JURASSIC PARK

Ian looked upwards a bit taken aback, as he walked towards the logo. The small
team of men swarmed ahead of him as they swept the area with weapons drawn. Lex
followed Ian, studying his reaction to the sight as if he were a conduit for her own
feelings in this moment. Ian studied the large archway structure, completely hewn of
stone and concrete it stood amid a loading area and adjacent buildings, greeting centers
and bag check areas all overgrown with foliage. The parts of the structure not reinforced
with rock or stone long since rotted away.
Ian stared, trying to take it all in. “What, what was this place? I remember dad
talking about a helipad, chopper rides and all that.”
Lex walked up besides him, “It’s the greeting area. How me and Tim, my brother,
arrived on the island. Chopper ride was for the VIPs and investors, bit of flare before
arriving at the park. But the guests, that was always planned to be a charter boat ride.
Grandpa was working on a partnership with the local tourism spots back on the mainland,
also partnerships with some of the other cruise lines in the states. This is one of 5 guest
loading docks to enter the island. Guests would arrive, go through bag check, and catch a
ride on the jeeps to the main visitor’s center. Was something to look at when it was at its
best.”
Ian and Lex started to walk cautiously under the large archway as palm trees
swayed in the wind while the storm continued to bear down on them. Among the soldiers
present were O’Brien and the Paleontologist, Robert Buckland, who himself was sporting
an up curled hat as he walked around cautiously. Every sway in the brush or the trees
caused him to jump as if to expect a dinosaur to rush out on him. O’Brien observed the
skinny man, for being former In Gen he was still surprisingly young in appearance.
Frazzled hair peaked out from under his hat, a slight unshaven five o’clock shadow
around his face in what O’Brien guessed was a vague attempt to look his appropriate age.

34
Robert balked again at the sound of the rain hitting the surrounding plants. O’Brien shook
his head, “Babysitting duty, here I come.”
O’Brien shook off the thought as he turned and led the charge while he regrouped
with his team. Together they scouted out the buildings one by one, finally settling on the
building furthest inland from the shore as they rallied four vehicles to off load from the
amphibious vessels.
Ian and Lex made their way to the building O’Brien signaled was clear as Ian
spotted shades of red along the structure. Walking around the side of the building itself
he’s was surprised to spy a small army of jeeps. They were all beige with red stripes
peaking through years of over growth as their shapes rested in a almost chaotic pattern. It
was as if the owners hazardly parked them here and there, doors left open amid a mass
panic.
“There was a hurricane,” Lex explained, seeing the question in Ian’s eyes, “While
I was in the Park with Tim and Grant, call was made for those who could to evac the
park. Plan was for a minimum staff test run of the Park, sort of extra private tour. Storm
came sooner then expected though, everyone just grabbed a jeep and made a bee line here
to evac. Like that whole weekend was just destined to be cursed.”
Lex then turned and made her way into the building. The military vehicles they
brought parked adjacent to the outer walls, using the structure and even the remains of the
jeeps as cover from the storm winds as palm fronds flew overhead. Ian and Robert took a
cue and made their way into the building themselves.
Inside the greeting areas red hues danced along the walls as field lights were used
to illuminate the interior. Soldiers placed additional lighting in select areas to light up as
much of the inside as possible. It was a lobby type of structure, receded round seating
areas as ‘Welcome’ signs could be spied on the above ceilings. Along the walls were
guest check-in stations as desks with computers sat amid dozens of racks that were either
fully decayed or nearly petrified with visitor brochures. Ian tried to soak it all up as a
mural caught his eye. It filled one whole section of the buildings interior, a giant scene of
long necked dinosaurs foraging high above the tree line while flying animals soared
overhead and a type of large gate rested against the sky. On it the now familiar logo,
‘Jurassic Park’.
“Brachiosaurus I believe. Herbivore, one of the tallest of the Sauropod dinosaurs
found here on this island.” A voice sounded off next to him.
Ian looked towards the direction of the voice to see the Paleontologist had joined
him, a slight nervous hitch to him as he snapped photos with a digital camera and jotted
down notes. “I’m Robert Buckland, people call me Bucky or Rob. Don’t think we

35
formally have been introduced. Paleontologists, here to, I guess point out the dangerous
dinosaurs from the non dangerous dinosaurs.”
Ian smiled, “Do those exists? Non dangerous Dinosaurs?”
Robert paused, “Well, from the In Gen dossier of their catalogued species, I’d like
to say maybe a few animals might be…safe? The Brachiosaurus here, for instance, was
given free range to roam which might indicate a sense of being more docile, at least to us,
humans, which it might not perceive as a threat. While I was consulting for InGen’s
veterinary department they at least showed no signs of aggression towards their handlers.
Other herd animals followed the same patterns, might still follow the same patterns.
Hadrosaurs like Parasaurolophus and such. Then there’s these guys, not so docile.”
Robert pointed to the flying animals as Ian studied it, “The ones in the air?
Pterodactyls right?”
“Pteranodons, Longiceps to be more precise. Though possibly mutated with trace
genes from other animals like Ludodactylus or Caulkicephalus to explain the variations
of teeth within the rostrum. These ones are far larger then the classical Pterodactyl. Close
to a forty foot wingspan, possibly carry away a small child. I read a field report from
Doctor Alan Grant when he was last on the other Island. I never heard reports of
predation among people, no signs of the animal associating people with prey. But he, he
noted very, predatory behavior.”
A whirl in the power caused them to jump as the overhead lights sparked before
coming alive. Some of the lights popped and exploded while others simply fizzled.
Ian nodded matter of factly, “Ah, right, of course. So, how did you get sucked into
all this…Buck, Buckland was it?”
“How does most Academia get into this, government funded projects of course.”
Robert replied, “Promised a sizable grant and funding for a few of my museums ongoing
digs. Not to mention my earlier work with InGen. But ultimately, it’s a chance to see a
real dinosaur! I mean, I know they aren’t real, in the sense of the genetics and all. But,
it’s a real dinosaur. Closest we’ll ever get shy of the closest models we’ve ever been able
to replicate through fossil evidence of phylogenic bracketing or three dimensional
reconstructions and so on. Just, so many answers to be found.”
“See a real dinosaur? You never saw any while you were working for InGen?” Ian
asked.
“Oh no, I was a consultant.” Robert answered, “Back on the mainland, in the US.
Mostly Midwest doing research on different dinosaurs. They would have a team of us
cross reference animals when they thought a viable sample of DNA was discovered and
ready for cloning. We would give them our thoughts, species, environment, diet, threat
level to guests.”

36
 “Threat level…right,” Ian returned his eyes to the Pterosaurs in the mural, “and
the danger factor or how did you put it, predatory behavior, not enough to deter you
huh?”
“Well, I mean yeah sure.” Robert answered a tad flustered, “Grant, Sattler,
Harding, all the Paleontologists really who ever ended up here never returned back to the
islands. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it.”
“Like, people dying?” Ian offered.
“Well yeah, that.” Robert answered, still flustered, “But, I don’t know, just
knowing there’s a place that could hold all the answers we’ve been fumbling around the
dark for in the last 100 years. I mean, I don’t know, just seems like it’s worth the risk to
explore it. Besides, from what I heard we are also possibly saving the world right? This
super bug I keep hearing about? You really think it’s what did it, it’s the Dinosaur
killer?”
Before Ian had a chance to answer Lex came and called them over as they all
circled around O’Brien. He was giving a sit rep on the situation at hand as they huddled
around a table where maps and laptops were laid out.
“So according to SAT One back on the Venture we are estimated to be here over
night to wait out the storm.” O’Brien started, “Once its past us we begin our trek into the
main compound five miles inland to begin salvaging what we can from the genetics labs
and computer terminals. Correct agent Murphy?”
Lex nodded as she gestured towards the maps, “Correct private, All the facilities
were built mostly for show, but they did house real genetic samples and a layout of this
islands fauna at the main compound. What’s considered to be the ‘Visitors Center’ here
on these maps. That’s the largest facility here on the Island, and houses everything we
will need. We hit the Visitors Center, we hit their genetics facility, agent Malcolm can
take the samples and I can infiltrate their islands mainframe to get what files we need on
their genetics program. Doctor Buckland, what can we expect from here to the facility in
terms of…encounters?”
Robert approached hesitantly, almost flustered to be addressing such a large group
of opposing characters, “Well the original layout for the island placed most of the
animals between here and the compound to be herbivores, herd like animals. Even though
its been over twenty years a majority of them are no doubt trained to be used to
interaction by people, so none of them should give us a second thought. However, the
fences have long since come down. So the predators on this island have had more then a
long enough time to…explore. Even so, I don’t see any predator on the InGen catalogue
to be enough of a threat to force a whole heard of Brachiosaurs to move along, even the
resident T-Rex.”

37
 O’Brien raised an eyebrow, “Br, Brachy-o-saur?”
“Yes, the dinosaur with the long neck on the mural back there. It’s probably the
largest animal on this island, if not on both islands. Like a…giant, uh…”
Lex interjected, “Like a big cow. Eats plants. Moral of the story is we don’t bug it,
it shouldn’t bug us. I’ll trust Doctor Buckland to debrief the rest of you on what else is on
this island while we wait out the storm. Remember, minimal lethal force as possible,
being we still don’t know what pathogen these animals are carrying, right Doctor
Malcolm?”
Ian nodded, “Uh, right. It might be carried though saliva, blood, minimal contact
with the animals is best. I’ll see what we can get from the labs, then we figure out what
we need to track down in the wild.”
Lex nodded, “Agreed, Private O’Brien I’ll trust you to debrief the men on the
intercept protocol once we have a beat on our second target. I’ll be debriefing my
superiors. Doctor Malcolm, if you would follow me.”
Lex took her leave as Ian followed, leaving Robert with O’Brien and the rest of
the men as they continued to meet and talk. Lex took a seat by a picture of a nice family
arriving at the island, a part of the parks greeting package brochure as she casually
strolled over to the other side of a greeting desk and picked at the computer stations. Ian
followed her as he remained on the other side of the desk. Lex looked up at him, as if in a
flashback.
“This is where I was greeted. Right here, was a nice man in a polo shirt, such was
the craze in the nineties. He smiled, gave me and Tim a fun greeting bag, nice purple hat
and other gifts. I remember Timothy would be bugging him with a dozen questions, what
kind of dinosaurs, where were all the dinosaurs, how many dinosaurs. I just rolled my
eyes, embarrassed.”
Ian leaned against the desk, “We, didn’t choose this particular dock by accident,
did we? You advised it?”
Lex nodded, “One of the perks of going off your childhood memory. It was the
most complete at the time. Most people forget, Grandpa was still doing a lot of
construction for the grand opening. This dock, the road leading to the mainland, its all the
best shot we have. And our best shot at getting to them.”
“Them, the animals?”
Lex shook her head, “No, the other part of our mission, Biosyn.”
Ian processed that statement. “Oh, right. I was so preoccupied with the giant
organisms that might eat us, I forgot the most dangerous one of them all…us. You think
we’ll likely intercept them?”

38
 Lex nodded, “It’s the plan. Believe me I wish I only had the animals to think
about, but no. All likelihood we’ll have a real conflict on our hands. Ian, I need to ask
you something, and I need to know the real truth about it.”
Lex turned to him with a slight coldness in her eyes, not malice but something
else. It was calculative in nature, the first hint of her being a true CIA operative since he
first saw her. It was a bit unsettling and it put him a little on edge as he answered, “What
is it?”
“I’ve read enough CDC reports on situations like this, but I need to know. Have
you ever been in a combat situation?”
Ian fidgeted a bit, “I’ve been in warzones, normally uprisings in Africa while
we’re dropped down to take samples of whatever new bug or outbreak there is. So if that
qualif…”
“Have you had to shoot someone Ian.” Lex cut off his words in such a sharp
manner it threw him off a bit. All he could do was answer bluntly, almost in a boyish
fashion.
“N, no.”
Lex eyed him, a softness returning to her as she looked back at the mural of the
family. She then nodded to herself. “Hopefully you won’t have to. It’s why we brought
the soldiers after all. Even so.”
Ian didn’t even realize they were also next to the munitions set up as she grabbed a
handgun off the gun rack. It was a Heckler & Kock .45, suppression capabilities, low
recoil, not too loud. She checked the barrel with precision, and clipped a magazine inside
of it as she flipped on the safety and handed it to him with a holster. Ian stared at it for a
moment. He held guns, he shot guns, it was apart of his training. It was a regular thing for
him with every training drill they had and he was always issued a side arm while out in
the field. Even so, something about this moment here, it tugged at him. Slowly he
reached out and accepted it, as Lex watched him.
“Just take your time, your training will kick in Ian. Focus on your job ok? Stick
with me, we’re here to gather the data, O’Brien and his team are here to do the fighting.”
Ian nodded, feeling almost a bit like a child in the moment. He tried in vain to
salvage some image of being a functional dominant male, though he didn’t know where
the urge itself was coming from. “Oh yeah, sure sure. I mean, it’s not my first rodeo
either…you know.”
Lex cracked a small smile, “I know. Now tell me something else, it’s been
bugging me since we left the debrief on the Venture. Why am I not contagious?”
Ian looked back up to Lex quizzically, “What?”

39
 “This pathogen, why am I or Tim or Alan or anyone really, all the survivors from
these islands. Why aren’t we contagious? If these animals are the carriers, when any of us
were bitten or scratched or…sneezed on, why didn’t we contract the pathogen?”
Ian thought about it, as he secured the gun to his leg he worked through the
problem out loud. “I was given a sample of what we are looking for while I was on
debrief at the CDC. It was an older sample, but I did notice anomalies. I made an initial
match with Rabies, but even so there was still something off. It was coated with proteins
and enzymes I couldn’t place, still cant. It could have been a number of things though.
Maybe there’s an agent we don’t know that activates it? Maybe its long since mutated
since when all of you were first here, or when my father visited Site B. Or even when
Doctor Grant visited Site B back in two thousand and one.”
Lex nodded, “So it needs a catalyst? Another agent to activate?”
Ian scratched his chin, “Maybe? It might also be a simple fact that’s its constantly
mutating? I read some of the debrief files on the genetic modifications InGen did on these
organisms. Inadvertently making them asexual via amphibian DNA might be one factor. I
also know there was a contingency to keep them on the island as well, some kind of
deficiency?”
Lex nodded, “Yes, my Grandfather mentioned it, the lysine contingency.
Tampering with the amino acids as a sort of genetic failsafe.”
“Yes that, I mean any number of these things could be affecting the pathogen. The
mutations are so radical just within the host organism, the pathogen itself might still be
mutating as well just to keep its state of symbiosis.”
Lex sat on that a moment, then right before Ian’s eyes she reverted a bit back to
that softer version of herself, “Would, would I have it inside me? Some, dormant version
of the virus?”
Ian tried to diffuse her worries, but it was a valid question as he chose his words
carefully. “I think if you had anything to worry about inside you, the CIA’s mandatory
physical would have caught it. Rabies isn’t a super exotic virus that goes undiagnosed.
Yes, cases now are rare, but trust me Lex, if any of you had rabies or any trace RAB-V
viral strains you would have known by now.”
Lex pushed a bit more. “But you said yourself it’s a dormant strain in constant
flux, would they catch it?”
Ian knew what he had to do, it’s something he ran into many times while working
with the CDC with people who feared they caught Ebola or TB or any number of diseases
just being in the same room with controlled sterile specimens. “I’ll tell you what Lex, we
can do a blood test, and now that I know what to specifically look for, I can give you a
straight answer.”

40
 “Could you do that, here?” Lex asked.
“Yeah, when we get to the Visitor Centers Genetics lab”, Ian offered, “maybe
even sooner then that. I have a portable lab that runs dozens of high tech tests. I’m sure I
can swing a regular blood test Lex.”
Lex’s steel blue eyes softened further as she smiled and nodded. “I would like that.
Like I said, we need to look out for each other.”

41
 CHAPTER 6
FIRST CONTACT

The amphibious vehicles roared to life in the rain as Anne yelled out directions.
“Yes, parallel! I’m trying to make a wall to block off this pathway! De LaVega, where
are we with the camp?!”
Vega yelled into a radio as another armored vehicle unfolded out its canopy from
the side of the chassis and embedded stakes deep into the ground anchoring itself against
the hurricane force winds.
“We’re nearly up and running. Two minutes tops!”
Anne signaled a thumbs up as she also signaled the drivers they were done
positioning the vehicles. Pleased at the makeshift wall she ran over to one Amphibious
Tank with a hard top canopy. It was acting as a temporary shelter while she dried herself
off and looked over a map. Del La Vega soon joined her dumping the water off of his hat
as he yelled at the men to come join them inside.
“So, may I ask the lady why we just made a wall?”
Anne didn’t take her eyes off the map as she answered, “Like I told Dodgson,
there’s the big one in the water. This path we landed on goes up a sheer wall, we camp up
top. make a wall to keep everything out till the hurricane blows over.”
“What are we talking about exactly?” Vega pressed, “A Rex? Can it climb?”
“No, not a Rex.” Anne answered, “And all of them can climb to some capacity but
not up a sheer rock face. Not in a hurricane at least. That path is the only way up and now

42
its secure. The storm hid our arrival and our scent, chances are good nothing saw us make
landfall. Even so, I don’t play off chance. We got here in one piece, now we work on
keeping it that way.”
Another mercenary ran inside wiping rain water off his face as he gestured out
towards the storm, “We have the big canopy up and running. We just have the thermal
detectors and motion sensors to put up and we should be good.”
Anne held up her hand, “Forget the motion sensors, in this rain they won’t do any
good. Fasten them up against the vehicles making up our temporary wall. We don’t
secure them they’ll just fly away in this wind. Everyone should remain inside, hunker
down. If we don’t need something keep it tied up and secure till the storm passes over!”
The man nodded as he ran back outside to bark out the new orders. Vega watched
as he drew his attention back to Anne. She was taking things into her own, he and the
others were specifically under orders to mind her authority until it became a burden to
their mission, sample collections. Especially when it came to the super secret-o-saurus.
He was often under the orders of civilian ‘consultants’ but when things went belly up and
it was fight or flight, he was often the one who had to put down the hired help just so
everything didn’t go south. Even so, observing her, he knew there was something
different. Her mannerisms, her demeanor, it was something he knew himself that just
changed after seeing the things they saw. People dying on ops, dying out in the streets,
dying in their arms on more extreme occasions; there was a hardness that would start to
develop. An emotional switch so to speak, that ability to push through the shock of
trauma and focus on the task at hand. Even so, when the time came, he was very curious
how everything would go down. Perhaps it was time to pry a bit, now that they were
reasonably settled down on the island. Past the point of no return as it would be. He
gestured to her,
“So, you think Dodgson made it to the other isle?”
“Direct deposit.” Anne blurted out, not taking her eyes off her work in front of her.
“Excuse me?”
“Direct deposit.” Anne repeated, “I told him I already cashed his checks, but that
still takes a few days to clear the entire amount you know? I always do a direct deposit
holding fee, just in case the bankroll doesn’t make it off the island or in his case, he did
make it to the other island.” She then looked up and winked, “Occupational hazards and
all. Done my fair share of safari hunts but yeah, you just learn quickly the magic that is
direct deposit.”
Vega laughed, “My my, if I didn’t know better I’d say your blood ran as cold as
the lizards on this island.”

43
 Anne turned her head back to her work and the maps as she carried on the
conversation, “Not lizards. I’ve seen lizards, big lizards. I don’t know much about
dinosaurs in terms of being a dino vet or something, but I know this much. What lives
here, it isn’t some giant lizard.”
As if on cue a distant cry traveled through the rain and wind. Most didn’t notice it,
Vega thought his ears heard something but it wasn’t till he studied Anne that he knew
something was up. She was upright, looking out towards the direction of the faint noise.
Others soon caught her demeanor as they rose up and slowly moved their hands towards
their guns. The noise came again, as the same mercenary from before ran back in livid.
“There’s, there’s something coming up the road! I can’t get the drones up because
of the storm but we got a hit on seismic!”
Anne, Vega, and a few others followed as they ran out and cocked their guns. The
rain was in full force, everyone struggled to stay on their feet as the winds steadily grew
stronger and stronger. Vega followed behind Anne as he un-shouldered his gun and
cocked the barrel. The noise sounded again, louder, as if only a few feet from them as the
ground began to rumble. Everything shook with a steady beat, as Vega looked over to
Anne.
“What is that? The storm, causing the ground to shake?”
Ann shook her head, “Footsteps.”
There was then a loud whine and a groan of something pushing against metal. One
of the amphibious vehicles making up the barricade tilted towards them, as if being
pushed from the other side. Vega responded instinctively as he signaled the men around
him, “Everyone on me, safety off! Use tracer rounds so you can see where you’re aiming
at! Lead off ahead of your barrel, the winds will curve your shots!”
The others formed up around him as they clipped fresh rounds into their guns, the
rain made it nearly impossible to aim straight or even see any more then a few feet ahead
of them. The grind of metal screeched through the storm as another vehicle from the
blockade began to shake violently. Vega kept his vision locked on his gun sight as he
called out to Anne.
“Whatever it is, it’s testing the perimeter. I hope this car wall ideal of yours
works!”
Anne shook her head, “It won’t.” She then turned and jogged away back to the
encampment tent. Vega caught her running as he cursed out loud, “Where are you
going?! Dammit, keep your guns on target everyone!”
“Target sighted!” one of the soldiers yelled out. Everyone turned to see a large
clawed hand gripping the top of one of the vehicles. Three large claws dug into the metal
as the men began to pop off rounds. The tracer bullets lit up in streams of yellow as they

44
flew towards their target. Sure enough they curved with the winds as they hit the armored
skin of the vehicles. The hand retracted in response as the vehicle rocked back and forth.
Another roar sounded from the storm as everyone tried to get a beat on their unseen
enemy.
“There!” One of the men pointed as a gap between two of the vehicles where they
met bumper to fender began to grow. The tires slid along the floor, the surface turning to
mud as the rains continued. Slowly they continued to slide as the vehicles began to look
more like gates, screeching and groaning as the unseen force from the other side of them
began to force its way through.
“Lights, dammit get me some light on that area. Everyone concentrate fire!” Vega
shouted as he let loose a few rounds.
The bullets again left a stream of light as they curved in the winds. Vega
compensated for it, even so for every five rounds he fired only one made it to the general
area he was aiming for. Vega cursed as the others fired with him, their aiming having the
same effect. Another roar as the vehicles continued to part. Vega continued to fire with
the others when he caught something from the corner of his eyes. It was Anne.
She was dragging something big, as she pulled it with one hand and used the other
to signal him and the others to stop firing. Vega wiped some of the water from his face as
he squinted to see what it was she was carrying. Flat case, metallic, red painted coat.
Diesel fuel?
Anne knew Vega had seen her but also seeing her signals were having no effect
began to walk into the line of fire. She saw Vegas eye widen in dread as he ran along the
back of each of the men and physically forced their gun barrels down into the ground as
she continued to cut in front of them. One by one each of the men stopped firing as she
soon found herself standing in front of them and the gap that was forming in the
barricade. She used a hand pump on the diesel can as she aimed the liquid low and at an
angle to keep it from being carried away in the winds and rain.
Another roar as Anne felt the hot breath of the animal fall over her. Its sour and
heated stench assaulting her senses as she fought the urge to gag and continued to pump
the liquid. Lights then erupted from behind her, lighting a few feet ahead of her as she
turned quickly to see Vega and another man manually man handling the flood lights they
had winched off one of the other vehicles.
Anne turned back to her task at hand as she saw something, the reflection of a
large green yellow eye, a long cat like slit for an iris peering at her as the large clawed
hand reached out of the darkness and rested on one of the vehicles. Anne stood fast as she
continued to pump at a fever pitch, the liquid squirting forward and snaking its way
towards the gap. Another huge hand reached out, reaching the adjacent vehicle as the

45
claws flexed and pushed, the gap growing ever wider as the eyes locked on to her from
the darkness. Anne finally stopped pumping as she locked the seal to the fuel can and
tossed it to her side. Steadily she reached behind her back as she pulled out her signal
flair gun. A flash of lightening snaked across the sky above as it back lit the silhouette of
the animal from the darkness. It’s form towering high above them all as it roared one
more time. Anne aimed the flair gun low, seeing the glisten of the oil from the fuel
shimmer in the ground.
“Don’t fail me now.” She muttered to herself as she squeezed the trigger.
The flair gun erupted to life. The red flame shot forward and flashed, hitting the
liquid as a trail of fire roared outwards. It snaked its way defiantly against the rain and
wind as it hit the area where the liquid decided to pool. A wall of fire then flashed
upwards as the light from the fire brought their attacker out of the darkness for them to
see. The flash of teeth snapping from a huge crocodilian like snout caught all of their
eyes as the animal retreated backwards and roared defiantly. Everyone watched in awe as
it snapped at the flames which licked their way upwards.
The animal turned and screeched into the winds as it retreated into the rain. Anne
and the others watched the beast depart as they caught the shape of a sail drift along the
roofline of the vehicles, like some kind of prehistoric shark. It roared once more, the
noise carrying with it a haunting validation that the days ahead of all of them were going
to be long and hard, and full of menace.

46
 CHAPTER 7
AGGRESSION

Dodgson grimaced as he sipped out of a gourmet mug and watched the hired hand
struggle to get a communications line up and running. He continued to sip meticulously
as he ran numbers through his head. They didn’t plan for the tropical storm, but en route
they factored in the chances of how it would work in their favor. The military blockade
was still up and running, their original plan was to use the capabilities of their stealth
cruiser and abuse a small window they had when the blockade changed their position and
guard posts along the islands beaches. It was a small window, it was how small tourist
ships and fishermen would sneak onto the islands hoping to salvage something valuable
in terms of abandoned InGen equipment or host ill fated illegal tourist attractions.
Even so, after an incident involving a child parasailing and an ill fated rescue
attempt the windows grew smaller and smaller. Still, they had connections within the
Costa Rican military that gave them the right entry points to slip by their radar detection.
Even so, the only thing better then trying to thread a needle with a stealth cruiser was
blowing through it with a storm. They trailed the outer rim of the storms pressure system
and charted a course for the far side of the island to make landfall. This gave them
enough time to make their drop off at Site B and return to Site A with enough time to
hunker down before the storm hit.
“I think I got it sir, we just needed to realign the antenna to make up for the
damage from the winds.” One of the workers reported.

47
 Dodgson didn’t respond as he took another sip from his mug. He came well
prepared, and was even able to use the storm to their advantage, but even so the storm
itself brought with it new variables. His crew were in the middle of doing a sit rep of
what equipment was lost during the unexpected weather. There wasn’t too much damage,
and what was lost was smaller items that simply weren’t tied down to withstand hurricane
force winds. Even so, they were new variables. New problems. New ways for things to
go wrong. He was already approximately 15 minutes late for his first meeting with the
team they dropped off onto Site B. On an island full of dangerous assets, most of them
weaponized, a lot could happen in that time. He had already calculated the damage and
loss of resources for this crew, he needed information from the other crew to course
correct their current plans.
“Here we are, I think we got the signal sir. You can call out at any time.” The
worker shouted out again.
Dodgson nodded as he set his mug aside and walked over to a communications
device hooked up to an industrial fitted communications satellite. The communication
software was already queued up as he removed a small notepad from his breast pocket
and flipped through the pages. Finding what he needed he punched in a code into the
device as the satellite moved accordingly. Within a few moments a hazed digital image
appeared, the face greeting him was Vega.
“Hello boss, I see you all had a rough night as well?”
Dodgson showed little emotion as he responded, “Smoother then expected
considering the tropical storm. Still, I’m weighing the costs of utilizing the storm for
cover as we speak. I’ve calculated the supplies lost on our end, I’m awaiting your
updated lists of supplies.”
Vega clicked on a file as a message popped up on the screen in front of Dodgson’s
eyes. “There you go, we saw a bit of action as well. Vehicles took some damage but they
can still run.”
Dodgson’s eye brow pricked up at that, “Oh, are we looking at a viable investment
of sample collections?”
Vega shrugged, “You tell me, we didn’t get any good video data with the rain but
we were able to capture one image off of thermal. You should have it now.”
Dodgson nodded as he clicked on the file and the thermal image popped up, the
outline of a large creature showed through clearly. Dodgson knew most of the InGen files
on what creatures they manufactured fairly well from memory, he placed some of the
features. One animal coming to mind but there was another feature that threw him off, a
sail.

48
 “I got the file. It might be one of InGen’s Baryonyx specimens. They are listed on
the laboratories manifest for the animals raised on Site B. But this one is different, also
looks larger then it should be. We might be looking at a hybrid.”
“A hybrid?” Vega asked.
“Yes, it might be plausible InGen was looking into weaponizing their genetic
assets while fabricating the park. It would be a key specimen to acquire samples from.”
Vega laughed, “Well I have a feeling we’ll have plenty of chances. The thing was
tracking us while the storm made landfall. Now that we have no storm, well you get the
ideal.”
“Indeed, how is the civilian consultant?” Dodgson asked.
“Anne? Surprisingly well, she led the charge against the, what did you call it,
Bary-o-nix?”
“Baryonyx,” Dodgson corrected, “that’s good to hear. As for this specimen it’s the
first purposely engineered hybrid we know of. Be sure to gather a sample, even if it
means lethal force.”
“Oh? I don’t think your consultant will approve of that very much boss.” Vega
replied.
Dodgson remained stern as he coldly answered, “As I said, lethal force. Call me
when you make your way into the islands interior, this should be within 7 hours.”
Dodgson clicked off the communication as he sat back and sipped from his mug.
The plan they had was a simple one, tranquilize or shoot down what they needed, collect
the samples, hit the genetics facility in the main compound here on this island while he
left DeLaVega and the consultant to hunt the more dangerous animals on site B. Easy
enough, granted they didn’t run into any further obstacles.
_______________________________________________________________________

Ian casually walked out of the main building where they spent the night. Their
temporary base camp being the Paleontologist they brought along suggested they keep
their main camp mobile. The soldiers were already packing up their belongings as they
ate their rationed meals for the morning. O’Brian and Lex reviewed the plan while they
ate. Hit the main road, collect what samples they could while maintaining minimal
contact, and hit the main compound by the end of the day to reset base camp. Samples
collections were one priority, but their main priority was the compound. If they could get
to the compound they could recover the genetics research, and with any luck they
wouldn’t even have to collect that many samples.
“Hey Ian, you ready to go out?”

49
 Ian looked over to find Robert ready to go as he checked his binoculars, digital
recording devices, go pros, and samples kits. Ian could understand the young scientists’
enthusiasm, even so, Ian didn’t share it and Robert picked up on this.
“Still weary about things huh? I mean, I know there’s danger and all, even so we
do have small army with us.”
Ian looked back at their military might as it were. “Yeah right, an army. I guess
I’m just cautious by nature, though I do feel I’m kinda justified here. Because of the
presence of the small army and all.”
“Yeah, that is a good point.” Robert replied, “But still, seeing a real life dinosaur, I
mean, I can’t begin to know how that will feel like! Everything we can learn, behavior,
metabolism, bacterial digestion, feeding habits.”
Ian gave off a nervous laugh, “Ah right, feeding habits. Yeah that’s the one I’m
good learning the least about honestly.”
Robert looked at him quizzically for a moment only to have a spark of realization
fall over him, “Oh yes! Right, because we’re not the top predator here, I gotcha.”
Ian gave another nervous laugh as he gestured to his collections bag, “By the way,
it’s probably best to leave collections to us. Even though this pathogen might be dormant
we still have a quarantine protocol to maintain. Though if I’m lucky everything we need
will be at the main compound.”
“Oh, the quarantine.” Robert replied as he held up the samples collection package,
“Well what I plan on collecting wont put me in any immediate danger. It might even be
helpful to collect samples being this pathogen might be present in the fecal matter of
these animals right?”
Ian looked back up at Robert, “Uh, excuse me? Fecal matter?”
“Yes,” Robert stated enthusiastically, “it’s one of the main key pieces of sample
evidence I need to work on my thesis for archosaurian dietary habits. Oh, I couldn’t find
one of those level 4 sample collection kits you mentioned. Do you…”
Ian was the one to stand there disbelieving for a moment, before he snapped to and
grabbed a spare kit out of his pack, “Uh sure, here ya go.”
Robert eagerly accepted it as he stuffed it among all of his gear, “Thank you!” He
then ran off to join the others who were in the middle of packing.
Ian waved him off as he muttered, “Happy hunting.”
“Are you sure that’s wise for you to encourage him?” Lex called out from deeper
in the building. Ian turned to her and shrugged, “Maybe, maybe not. But if there’s one
crap job I don’t mind handing off, it’s the literal crap job in this case. How are we
looking?”

50
 Lex nodded, “We have a good start. Our intel is good, my superiors just got me a
satellite reading on the competition.”
“Biosyn?” Ian asked.
“Yes, as well as the second team. It looks like we got hit the least from the storm.”
Ian nodded, “Well hopefully Murphy keeps his distance for the rest of this trip.”
“Murphy?” Lex asked.
Ian nodded, realizing his usual wit would all but be lost here, outside of his normal
element and his normal circle of colleagues, “Right, sorry. It’s a field thing I usually say
to my team. Refers to Murphy’s law, anything that can go wrong…”
“Will go wrong.” Lex finished. She smiled, “Yeah, it’s a law we’re very familiar
with at the CIA. Plus, my namesake.”
Ian smiled, “Ah, of course. I keep forgetting, even though our specialties are
worlds apart, we still share that fun corner of the world that is warfare and government
abuse. So, Biosyn…what kind of damage are they looking at?”
“Not enough to slow them down too much.” Lex replied, “We are ahead of them,
but not by much. This main road should lead us to where we need to go and we either do
two things, get the drop on them on the road, or get the drop on them at the main
compound. In fact we should be mobile in five if you…”
Lex was cut off suddenly as O’Brien rushed over to both of them, “We have a
situation!”
Lex dropped what she was doing and un-holstered her side arm and she ran over
with O’Brien. Ian followed cautiously, then darted off to one of his equipment cases as he
scrambled to get ahold of something. Lex didn’t wait for him as she kept in stride with
O’Brien. Running towards the path ahead they exchanged words,
“What are we looking at O’Brien?”
“You got me,” O’Brien snapped back, “one moment we were prepping the
vehicles to move out and they just popped out of nowhere.”
“What did? Wait where is Buckland? Where’s Robert!”
A deep bellow slowed both of them as they hugged the side of the building. The
road was in clear view, the vehicles positioned just ahead of them as all the soldiers hid
behind them. Robert was there as well, and upon seeing Lex and O’Brien held up his
hand for them not to make any noise. Lex stood motionless, as if instinctive. Like some
buried piece of her memory, of her childhood trauma, was cracked open and mixed with
years of CIA training. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she began to breath
quickly but rhythmically.
O’Brien took notice, but before he could say anything the low bellow sounded
again. The ground started to shake, pools of water all around them rippled in rhythm.

51
Lex’s eyes widened as she caught sight of rhythmic rings dancing in a nearby water
puddle. Before she could react though the forest around them came alive as a tree came
crashing down. From the brush a long slender form appeared, a slender head with a wide
mouth and wide eyes connected to a long but robust neck peered out of the forest. From
the corner of his eye O’Brien noticed a bit of the edge leave Lex, but the adrenaline was
still there, in all of them. The creature bellowed into the air as more of it emerged from
the forest. A deep golden brown hue reflecting the sun of the morning as a giant hulking
mass defiantly crashed through the forest trampling fallen tree logs with deafening snaps.
O’Brien spied another one of his men, Jacoby, huddled by one of the closer cars towards
the creature as he saw Jacoby fidget with his trigger safety. O’Brien burned daggers
towards him as he hissed under his breath.
“Jacoby, safety on!”
Jacoby seemed to shake out of his trance as he made eye contact with O’Brien and
seeing his finger closer to the trigger, regained composure as he nodded. The animal
continued to bellow as it stomped the ground, shaking the earth. Its skin heavy and thick
like that of an elephant, covered in dust as the fine wrinkled textures of its skin gave way
to thicker, more rounded scales towards its back. Subtly along a portion of the neck and
the back right above the shoulder were sharper, almost iguana like spines. The massive
neck and hulking body then gave way to a surprisingly slender but very elongated tail as
it whipped around with a strange grace. The ground continued to shake, but O’Brien
noticed it wasn’t in rhythm with the steps the animal in front of them was walking.
Looking to Lex he signaled with his hands his intention to move towards Robert, she
nodded barely taking her eyes off the sight before her.
O’Brien slinked over to Robert who himself was oblivious to all around him.
Before he could do anything he saw the answer to his first question, as another similar
animal emerged from the forest. Soon it was joined by another and another, as Robert
whispered to himself in a hushed awe, “It’s a herd. A…small family unit, possibly an
alpha male. Two sub adults, three females.”
O’Brien took this break in the man’s trance as opportunity, “Hey, Dino Doc!
What are they? Meat eaters?”
“Wha..oh no, no. Sauropods, herbivores.” Robert could see his words were
offering little comfort. “Plants, they eat plants.”
O’Brien seemed to ease off a bit as he nodded, “Ok, ok so a salad saurus right? So
why is the big one so pissed?”
Robert turned his eye to what he established was the alpha male, It’s mannerisms
continued to show a kind of agitation as he continued to speak his thoughts out loud,
“Looks to be, defensive behavior. I think, I think there’s something else out there.”

52
 O’Brien was about to pry further when he noticed the entire earth was rumbling.
The vibrations continued to grow and grow when across the access road the forest
seemed to burst to life. A flash of horns and frills erupting from the tree line as they
formed a kind of defensive line.
“Triceratops!” Robert exclaimed.
Back against the building Lex took in the sight. Giant heads ornamented with three
horns, two big ones on the brow and a smaller one on the nose. A giant frill of bone and
solid scales enveloping all of the head with more armor like scales forming all along the
body. The biggest of them barking defiantly as they all held their ground. The dust was
kicked up with their feet and hot steamy air blasted from their nostrils as they mock
charged, but never broke the defensive line they formed.
Lex watched with mixed emotions, both these long necked animals and the
triceratops where one of the few pleasant memories she had visiting this place decades
ago. And now the animals she saw as symbols of that were here showing a much more
primal and dangerous side to them. A twig snapped behind her as Lex turned with her
hand on her gun and held it prone ready to shoot whatever it was coming up behind her.
Her eyes adjusted for a moment, she took a few breaths to come down from a type of
tunnel vision that formed whenever one was to engage in some form of combat. Her eyes
relaxed as she saw the form of a man, hands up and motionless with a cold sweat forming
over his brow. It was Ian. Lex slipped her finger off the trigger and into its safety position
as she lowered her weapon, but didn’t return it to its holster. She looked down for a
moment, as if ashamed, as she turned her attention back towards the spectacle ahead.
“I think we’re safe, from what I remember these are both herbivores.” She
whispered.
Ian carefully crouched besides her, looking ahead as the Alpha Sauropod roared,
stomping its feet and kicking the rocks around it. “Right, things don’t feel too safe.”
As if on cue the lead Triceratops did a charge towards the giant animal and bucked
its head, as if trying to stab the slender target of the Sauropods neck. The intended target
was too high and too far out of reach. The Sauropod reacted in kind as it reared up on its
hind legs, a feat of acrobatic prowess no one expected as it kicked its front legs towards
the Triceratops. Ian noticed a type of spur on its foot as both animals came only inches
from making any kind of contact. The triceratops backed away a bit as the Sauropods
front legs came crashing down to the ground shaking the whole island.
“Should we, back out of here?” Ian pressed. Lex didn’t respond as she kept her
hand on her gun, the look on her face almost like a calculating predator herself. Ian could
see a torrent of thoughts racing across her face and eyes as he crouched with her,
remaining motionless.

53
 Another exchange of bellows and roars as the Triceratops continued to challenge
the giant animal before it. The Sauropod then appeared to turn its back, as if retreating.
The Triceratops took notice as it barked again in defiance and charged forward looking to
knick the rear feet of its challenger. As it did the long tail whipped across the air and
snapped as it knocked the Triceratops back. Stunned, the animal shook its head as the
Sauropod reared back on its hind legs again, and in a final show of dominance braced its
feet on the nearest tree and sent to crashing towards the entire line of Triceratops.
The falling log was enough to break up their defensive line as both herds began to
move. Each one roaring warnings to the other but not engaging as they cautiously passed
by each other. Both of the dominant males from each herd remained to oversee the
uneasy truce and the safe passing of their groups.
Back at the caravan of cars and vehicles the soldiers began to ease up. O’Brian
turned to Robert, “Are we in the clear?”
“I, I think so?” Robert stammered, “It was a territorial dispute, each alpha male
looking for safe passage for their herds, their families. Still, I would wait till they are long
gone before we…”
The roar was the only warning they had, as a nearby scouting car was sent flying
into the air. The Sauropod kicking it away just before turning back to its family and
ushering them into the forest. All the soldiers scrambled back towards Lex and Ian or into
the remaining vehicles. O’Brien cursed out loud as he grabbed Robert and tossed him
into the car. He himself was dangling off the roll cage of the vehicle as he slapped the
chassis with his free hand.
“Move this thing solider, full reverse back to the compound!”
“No! It might trigger…” Before Robert could finish his sentence the big
Triceratops had turned his attention to them as it roared and charged. The rest of its herd
followed suit as all the soldiers in or near a vehicle jumped into the driver seats and threw
them in reverse. The cars roared to life as horns and flesh began to bang into them.
Everyone struggled to maintain some kind of control as Ian and Lex watched the
avalanche of horns and metal thunder towards them. Ian grabbed Lex and swung her over
himself as they ducked behind the solid concrete structure of the compound. Seconds
later the edge of the wall exploded as a jagged horn erupted into it. Both Ian and Lex
covered their heads as they saw the herd and the vehicles fly by them filling the air
around them with dust and debris.
O’Brien wrapped both arms around the roll cage of the car he was in after almost
being bucked off twice. For every time the solider regained some control another head
full of horns speared the vehicle from the other side. At one point they thought they were

54
going to tumble head over feet until they hit the adjacent car next to them. Roars filled
the sky at the Triceratops continued to spear car after car and drive them backwards.
Slowly, the cars began to make some distance from the herd as O’Brien looked
behind them seeing the shore line and the pier. If they continued to do this these things
were going to drive them off and into the ocean. His eyes widened as he saw a sharp turn
ahead of them in between the buildings, where the jeeps were all abandoned.
Signaling who he could he motioned the maneuver. Confirming visually with nods
from the drivers around him, they signaled the others as they all braced themselves for
the car maneuver ahead of them. Whistling the commanded O’Brien signaled the driver
to turn as those around him followed and the others around them followed as well. It was
a kind of synchronized car maneuver Robert had never witnessed as he saw all the cars
turn as one in between the buildings and past the rotting jeeps.
The Triceratops herd made the turn with ease as they pursued, slowing only a little
as they squeezed in between the buildings. Seeing this O’Brien signaled them to go
weapons hot. The soldiers riding in the cars and not driving flipped off their safety’s and
began to take aim.
“Wait what are you doing!” Robert protested but O’Brien raised his rifle and took
aim himself. “You can’t do this! These animals are irreplaceable!”
O’Brien continued to take aim as the vehicles began to slow and steady
themselves, trying to give each soldier a good line of sight to open fire.
Robert pleaded one last time, “O’Brien please! We just scared them, it’s a family,
not monsters a family!”
Robert was helpless to do anything as he saw O’Brien prime his hand to squeeze
the trigger. There was a slight muscle twitch in his arm, the tick just before firing a high
velocity rifle, when Robert saw O’Brien look away from his scope. Robert looked ahead
to see what was going on when he spotted the lead Triceratops from the herds roaring and
pacing side to side, but not giving chase. The whole herd was doing this, as if agitated but
blocked by some unseen barrier.
“Woah, woah park this thing Jacoby! Hold fire! Everyone hold fire!” O’Brien
shouted.
Jacoby pulled the vehicle to the side and hit the brakes, everyone did the same as
Robert continued to watch, as if puzzled. O’Brien kept his eyes on the lead male as the
other animals began to turn away and walk in the opposite direction. “What’s going on
Rob? Why did they stop, why are they turning away?”
Robert continued to watch the male closely, it would look at the car he and the
others were in, snort, shake its head then look over to the side, to the jeeps and slowly

55
retreat. “I don’t know, it might be something to do with the building? Maybe the
equipment or even the…”
“The what?” O’Brien pressed, “Talk to me man are they coming back or are we
safe here?”
“I think we’re safe, if they wanted to run us down they would have done so. No
something here stopped them, and it wasn’t us.”
Robert continued to study the animal as it barked defiantly. Soon the last of the
herd was walking away. The triceratops then turned one last time towards them, then
back towards the jeeps. It did one last mock charge as everyone brought their guns up in
lightning speed. Then, just as abruptly, the male turned and jogged over to the rest of its
herd.
“They’re, they’re going now.” Robert gasped in relief, “We’re good O’Brien. I’m
glad you didn’t shoot.”
O’Brien clicked the safety back on his rifle as he jumped down to the vehicle,
“Right, because your one of those green peace types right. Save the animals, even if we
get skewered in the process?”
“What, no.” Robert answered, “I mean yes we don’t need to shoot them, but you
wouldn’t have killed him with that. Just made him angrier.”
O’Brien raised an eyebrow, “Um, what? This is a standard issue HK416. What do
you think that lizard is made of, Kevlar?”
“Not a lizard”, Robert corrected, “and I don’t question you know more about guns
then I do, but I’ve seen bulls take twenty two caliber bullets from high powered rifles
straight to the skull and shake it off. The bone density on that animal right there, is nearly
four times as thick. You would have just made it angry. Or, well, angrier.”
“Huh, you don’t say. Alright then, so why did it stop?”
“I’m not sure, I think I have an ideal though.” Without explaining himself more
Robert walked over to the abandoned park jeeps as O’Brien threw his hands up,
“Oh yeah sure, you just go for a nice stroll then. I swear these civilian consultants
are gonna get me killed one day. Jacoby, how are we looking, you good?”
Jacoby gave a thumbs up as he caught his breath, “Yeah we’re good. We got
banged to hell though. I think I snapped an axel, I know vehicle four there has a hole
goring through the chassis straight into the engine, and I’m pretty sure I saw one of our
cars go air born back at the main road.”
“Yeah well, as long as everyone is here and accounted for. Damn, wait, where is
the CDC rep and the Company Woman? Where’s Malcolm and Agent Murphy?”

56
 CHAPTER 8
SAMPLE 1

The dust was settling as the last of the roars died away into the distance. Lex
coughed as she got to her feet, peering around but not seeing anyone. O’Brien, Robert,
any of the soldiers…Ian. Lex brought her hands up to call out, but stopped. The creatures
that just attacked were out of sight, but out of sight didn’t mean gone.
Bringing her hands to her sides she fumbled for her side arm only to find it wasn’t
in the holster. She looked around, not finding it among the mountains of smashed car
parts and concrete rubble. Agitated, she reached around her waist and pulled another side
arm from another holstered fitted around her back. She checked the barrel, making sure it
was loaded as she flipped on the safety and began to venture out on the road.
The scene looked like a bomb went off. The forest was freshly littered with felled
trees and trampled tropical plants. The ground where they had their convoy was stamped
as if hit with a steam roller, leaving everything in its way flattened. To her right she saw
one of their operation vehicles had been flipped and was lying on its back. Lex paused,
the image of another upside down car releasing a burst of childhood memories, as the
flash of another nightmarish beast raced across her thoughts.
A branch from above the canopy of the tree line came crashing down snapping her
out of her memories as she shook off the feelings and approached the car. She looked
around, there was liquid dripping from the vehicle. It was a mix of two tones, one an

57
almost neon green fluid, anti freeze. The other was darker, a crimson hue to it as Lex
eyed it intensely, she knew what it was as it mixed with the antifreeze and turned redder
and thinned out. It was blood.
Lex took a deep breath as she circled the vehicle, bracing herself to find what she
was sure would be a body. She had seen bodies in the field, been on rather dangerous
situations herself. It wasn’t so much the sight of the body she was dreading, but whose
body she was fearful of.
“Please don’t be him, please don’t be him…” The words left her mouth in a
nervous whisper as she rounded the fender of the flipped car and stared. Across one side
of the car was a huge indent lashed across the entire length of the chassis. Where the
metal turned jagged, bits of flesh clung to the ends in pink hues as the last remnants of
blood dripped from them. Lex sighed in relief to not find anyone dead in front of her, as
she slowly made her way closer to the wreck and the flesh embedded into it. Timidly she
began to reach out her hand to examine one of the strands of tissue when another voice
caught her off guard.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Lex whipped around to see Ian walking up to her, his upper torso and head
engulfed inside of a type of hazmat suit. The suit was flat grey with a heavy duty visor
flipped upwards, looking more like a welders visor. His hands were covered mid arm
with heavy industrial rubber sheathed in another layer of articulated rubber plating
designed to flex with his hands and fingers. Besides him he carried a heavy duty
insulation bag with a bright orange hazmat sign along the side. Ian then stopped within a
few feet from her as he pointed.
“You know that’s twice you’ve pointed a gun at me. We might need to rethink our
inter department relations agent Murphy.”
Lex looked over to her hand, it was partially aiming towards Ian’s direction.
Flustered, she holstered it and showed her palms as she replied sheepishly, “Sorry, I’m a
bit more jumpy then usual.”
Ian approached the wreck and her, “Oh, I’d say you’re more then justified.
Considering we just survived a stampede. Not out of the water yet though, you might
want to back away from that.”
Lex saw Ian motion towards the flesh on the car as she backed away. Ian set the
hazmat case besides him as he reached in and took out a latex pair of gloves. Slipping
those over his already protected hands he reached up and flipped down the visor, his face
still visible though the plexi. He then took his hand and reached in his case retrieving a
sample kit as he continued to speak,

58
 “We’re at a low level of quarantine, even so, I still don’t know what makes this
bug tick.”
Lex watched intensely as Ian moved with almost mechanical precision. Gathering
the samples with a type of tweezer like apparatus, he grabbed the freshest samples of the
tissue he could and secured them into a hard case covered specimen tube. He then took
out another tube and used a cotton swab to take samples of the blood as he secured both
of the vials back into the hard case. Lex seemed fascinated at his movements, it was like
he was more a bomb technician handling a volatile explosive then he was a lab tech for
the CDC.
It partially dawned on her in a moment of clarity that what he was collecting at
this moment was likely more dangerous then any bomb, or any dinosaur here. It was
potentially a global killer, and Ian was showing it the respect it deserved.
Ian took out a red biohazard bag as he slipped off the latex gloves with calculative
movements and slipped them into the bag. Securing that inside he pulled out a spray
bottle and began hosing himself down with the liquid.
“What is that?” Lex asked.
Ian continued the task at hand as he answered, “It’s a type of disinfectant spray.
Most self care companies use a similar spray to hose down rented medical equipment.
That version kills AIDS on contact. Our batch here is much more potent, like a energy
drink being compared to a Pepsi. Sorry I slipped away earlier. I figured we would need to
take samples in the event we made any, uh…contact.”
Lex nodded, “Yeah no you did good. Also sorry about, you know.”
“Almost shooting me…twice.” Ian replied.
Lex nodded, not saying a word. Ian flipped over the visor as the entire helmet unit
flipped backwards, allowing his head freedom to breath. He turned back to her,
“Well, you didn’t. And that’s a good first step towards better inter department
communication no?”
Lex smiled as O’Brien jogged over to them, “There you two are! I thought those
giant lizards killed you two!”
Lex waved him off as she muttered, “Its not a lizard.”
She then walked past him and back towards the buildings with the others. O’Brien
turned quizzically back to Ian. “Hey, where is she…what nerve did I touch?”
Ian continued to watch her walk as he answered, “Oh I think this whole island is a
nerve O’Brien. Oh by the way, I need to check your men to see if they had any contact
scratches or blood contamination. And we need to get this back to the mobile lab.
Potential world killing virus and all that.”

59
 Ian then walked off after Lex as O’Brien stood there for a moment, “Man, its
gonna be a long op. Killer flu, giant iguanas. Don’t tell me it’s not a lizard I know a lizard
when I see one!” He then grabbed his radio as he called for support from the other men,
following after Ian.

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 CHAPTER 9
THE HUNT

Anne was double checking the jagged claw marks on one of the three blockade
vehicles as the other soldiers prepped to move out. They drove off the beach with three
types of vehicles; operations, pursuit and hunting cars. Each type of the pursuit and
hunting vehicles a retrofitted military grade Humvee fitted with two types of gun mounts.
One was a tranquilizer and the other a high caliber assault rifle.
The operations type of vehicle was a larger armored off road almost SUV class of
car housing an array of supplies. Communication devices, small munitions racks for on
foot excursions, tow hitches for any disabled or damaged vehicles, and large roof
compartments where they housed the ‘special items’ Dodgson assured her they would be
bringing to deal with the aviary.
And finally, three diesel class armored military grade land mine proof Amphibious
LARC 5 vehicles that currently made up the blockade that saved them over night. Each of
them with foam filled triple axel tires to prevent a flat when one was likely to be
punctured. Along with this was bomb proof armor retrofitted from Mine Sweepers issued
in Afghanistan. This was a tricky alteration to keep the amphibious capable of buoyancy
while not becoming too heavy from the additional armor plating. Bomb proof armor, this
was what she was inspecting, as three large gouges raked their way across the hood of
one car and the rear of another. The two main cars their visitor almost forced it way
through last night.

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 “So, we need to do any patching or can we start the day?” Vega teased as he made
his way towards her. “The men are ready, everything is packed I just need to know if
these two party wagons are worth taking or leaving here.”
Anne continued her inspection, “They should be fine. Armor held up well enough.
Even the fire I set off didn’t char too much of the undercarriage. I expected no less from
these iron beasts.”
Vega tilted his head over to the gash she was looking over, seeing the gouge
nearly reach the welded frame itself. “So, that’s what you would call holding up huh?”
Anne smiled, “In this place, yes. So what did the boss say? Did he ride out the
storm in his cozy boat. Or did he even make the beach, was my instinct to pre deposit his
paychecks spot on?”
Vega smirked, “Cute, you’ll be happy to know he’s alive I’m sure. So, what was
that thing last night? Was it what we’re looking for?”
“The Alpha organism? No, it’s neither of them. It’s my first time running into it
myself personally. But no, that was something else. Still, if we don’t want to see it again I
would stress we begin our work. We should make it to the other side of the beach by the
end of the day, concentrate on the herd animals.”
Vega looked over to a huge three toed footprint imbedded deep into the ground as
he whistled towards it, “Are you sure that wasn’t one of them? It seemed pretty, ‘alpha’
to me.”
Anne laughed as she got into the rear of one of the Humvees, “Oh trust me when
you meet them, you’ll know what they are. That’s why we’re saving the compound for
last. That’s their territory, the predators. Like to keep you all alive thank you very much.”
Vega hopped up into the gunner position of the adjacent vehicle as he laughed,
“Well, I didn’t know you cared so much.”
“Oh I care, about my own skin.” Anne teased in response, “I need you all alive for
when we go visit them. But as many bodies as I can between you and them.”
She then winked his way as she signaled the driver to rev the engine as they began
to move out. Vega watcher her take the lead for a beat, his expression changing from
playful to stern in a heartbeat as he contemplated the task ahead, how he was to deal with
Anne. He subtly eyed the scorpion amber on his wrist, then grabbed his AK 47 custom
and slung it over his shoulder as he checked the chamber and made sure the machete
mount was sharpened, “Well, time to earn a living darling.”

________________________________________________________________________

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 The jungle whizzed by the windows of the armored cars as Dodgson looked ahead
sipping a drink from his mug. He was observing the hunt from the comfort of a larger
retrofitted armored camper. A huge display window outfitted with a roll cage and steel
bars made for a comfortable vantage point. Fitted along the sides were automated gun
mounts and above on the roof where hellfire stinger missiles he had custom fitted from
one of dozens of military arms contracts Biosyn oversaw. He admitted it was a tad much,
and if used would render a majority of the sample tissue they needed usless on the
subjects they needed. But what use would any samples be if he wasn’t alive to deliver
them? And he had made sure that the only way his inferior boss and the company were
going to get their hands on anything was through him personally.
Dodgson sipped again as he watched the video feed being transmitted from both
teams. The team he was overseeing here on this island and the additional team on site B.
His vehicle was slower then the others, and because of this he couldn’t keep up with
them, but that wasn’t the plan. More armor, more firepower, and complete safety. That
was his goal here. The others were being paid to do the hunting, and he wasn’t being paid
to babysit. He was here to micromanage, pay off the families of whoever didn’t make it
back, and hand deliver the samples to the company. A radio buzzed as a man’s voice
sounded,
“This is Marcus, we have contact, ten yards out traveling fast. Should we
engage?”
Dodgson signaled one of the drivers to click on the radio as he addressed the man,
“What is it you have a beat on? Is it one of the specimens marked of interest?”
“Yeah, three horns, big, there’s a herd of them up ahead in the clearing along with
a few others.”
Dodgson looked over to one of the men overseeing the video feed, “Patch in the
InGen specimen roster. Visual library.”
The screen flickered as images of dinosaurs flashed across the screen. Some were
highlighted with a bright yellow, indicating Biosyns interest. Only one flashed by that
was red, indicating it was Biosyns main objective here on this island. Dodgson’s eyes
then saw the creature they were talking about, a Triceratops. It was highlighted on their
roster for samples. Below it was a threat level indicator, the readings were high, nearly
matching those of a Rex?
“We have a confirmation of the specimen, your clear to engage. Readings are
telling me it’s a high risk. Lethal force is authorized.” Dodgson answered back. He then
coldly stirred the drink in his mug, “If necessary. I’ll leave it to your discretion, but
remember, people before assets. Take the samples needed, leave some alive.”
“And the others?” Marcus asked.

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 Dodgson looked at the main vehicles video feed as he saw the other organisms.
Large two legged animals with duck bills and crests. Others were skinnier almost ostrich
looking animals. “If you can take a sample with minimal risk fine. If not drop one of each
species and we’ll sort through them one by one for sampling. I don’t want to make a day
out of it though. We need to reach the main compound by dusk. Set up a proper safety
perimeter.”
“Copy that.”
The voice clicked off the radio channel and Dodgson continued to stir his drink.
“Sir is that necessary, shooting them all. I thought the company needed these
things alive, at least some of them?” One of the operators, a woman named Mallory,
asked.
Dodgson held up his hand, not even turning to address her, “Nah ah, see that threat
level. That’s in the red. That means these things are just as dangerous as a T-Rex, the
same T-Rex that attacked San Diego. I’m not in the habit of taking unnecessary risk.
Remember, people before assets. Reduce our speed to twenty-five miles per hour. Let’s
not follow them too close while they gather the samples.”

The road bucked and kicked up mud as one of the hunting vehicles circled around
one side of the mass herd. Of the three types of animals roaring in fear only the
Triceratops roared defiantly. One of them a large male, as it tried to swipe one of the cars.
The driver reacted braking hard as the animal ran past it. The car then hitched up with
another as the two kept the large male Triceratops occupied.
The other cars continued to lead the herd in a semi circle as the men got up into
their gunner positions. One of the men shouted into an earpiece,
“Use tranqs first! See which ones slow down. Don’t play hero something charges
you light it up! Be careful with the ones with the horns, they’re lethal. If you need to take
it down, don’t go nuts we don’t get paid for too many corpses.”
The men responded as they fired tranq rounds into the herds. Most of the smaller
animals yelped and jumped at the needles hitting them. The bigger animals with the duck
bills honked into the sky as they swerved towards the tree line. The cars circled the other
way to cut them off.

Overhead a large neck came into view, another giant sauropod as Anne pointed
making sure the other drivers saw it, “Watch out for that. It’s a Mamenchisaurus, non
lethal unless you get a foot on your hood.”

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 Vega signaled the others to swerve against the other side of the herd. “Is it on the
list?”
Anne shook her head, “No but those are. Stegosaurs, signal two of the larger class
SUV’s to follow me, they’re slower then the others, I’ll break off and over see the
roundup. Stick with the main team here and gather the rest of the samples. And Vega,”
“Yeah?” He answered.
“Try not to kill everything. I was told this wasn’t a trophy hunt, tranq, collect and
get the hell out.” Anne commanded as she took her team after their quarry.

_______________________________________________________________________

The large male triceratops charged towards one vehicle only to have it swerve. A
loud noise erupting from it as it was hit with stinging objects along it flanks. It roared at
the pain as it swerved towards another car, it repeating the same maneuver as the stinging
objects bounced off the armor on its head. It did nothing but fuel its anger.
“Dammit aim for the haunches! Armor is too thick on the skull!” The man shouted
just as the Triceratops landed a horn ripping off the front bumper from the car. It bucked
trying to untangle the piece of metal from its head. From the corner of the animal’s big
eyes it saw the rest of its herd. They roared as the foreign objects swarmed on them. Loud
noises coming from them as the same stinging objects attacked them. The roars of the
other animals reached its ears.
One of the cars roared over to the side of the big trike as it fired its rifle, some of
the bullets bounced off the large armored scales, enough made it in as the animal began
to slow down. “Damn I think we’re finally getting somewhere, this bastard’s a tough
one.”
The driver looked over to the gunner for a moment, “I’m gonna try to cut in front
of it, aim for the front legs. Armor looks thin there, we drop him we are done for the…”
The gunner pointed, “Wait, it’s turning!”
The male roared defiantly as it turned rearing up completely on its hind legs. It
swiveled its head in a sharp turn, falling downwards as it drove its head and its horns
deep into its attacker. A spray of stinging erupted into its belly. The pain ripped into its
ribcage but it continued to roar defiantly as it fell, spearing its horns forward…roaring.

Robert’s head shot up as he heard a loud roar echo through the forest. It was faint,
but audible. He looked around to see who else might have heard it, the soldiers were busy
transferring their equipment to the vehicles that did work as they salvaged what they

65
could from the ones that were damaged. He then spotted Lex, she was standing
overseeing everything but she seemed to notice the noise too if only for a moment. Her
eyes then fell on him. Robert felt the intensity of her gaze and looked away, struggling to
get back to the task at hand.
He was digging through the front seat of one of the rotting jeeps looking for
something. He had a hunch, while he was observing the big male Trike and the whole
herd suddenly stopping amid the stampede. It was just before they reached the first jeep.
There had to be something more to it.
“So, Robert, did you find whatever it is your looking for?”
Robert looked up to see Lex hovering over him.
“Uh, I might have. I found this in one of the jeeps.” He handed Lex a stained and
eroded pamphlet of paper. On the cover was a series of letters:

OPER RS
M UEL

The other pages also had writing but were overrun by green moss or blackened
spots. Most were missing and others seemingly chewed, Lex flipped through it, some of
it falling apart in her hands.
“If I’m reading this correctly, an Operators Manuel?”
Robert nodded as he fished through the glove compartment of the jeep, “Yeah! It
was a manual for the park rangers. Back while I was apart of the InGen science brain
trust a few of us were approached about plausible behavior models for the staff that
would be at the islands here. I’ve been going through a few of them, bits and pieces, its
mainly mechanical but there’s a chapter on field ranger operations. Interacting with the
animals. I think there’s an answer in there.”
O’Brien walked over, “An answer to why they stopped shy of running us over?”
Robert continued to dig through the glove compartment as he answered, “I think
so yes. These cars and the park rangers had to interact with those animals on a daily
basis, and hardly any of the jeeps here have holes in them. I remember overhearing
certain wild life parks, which Hammond had in Kenya, were using vehicle data as a test
model for the animals here. So, they were doing something we aren’t. If I can figure out,
ah here we go!”
Robert emerged from the passenger seat covered in vines but flashing in his hands
a more pristine copy of the manual. Eagerly he flipped through it, “Alright, ranger guide.

66
Here we go, operations. On sight bunkers, equipment sites, that might be useful. Ah!
Animal behavior! Rex Paddock, plains fauna…here! Triceratops! High aggression,
seasonal rut, red?”
Lex pressed him further, “Red? What about it?”
“Well, something about their eyesight. Certain coloration and how it’s processed.
Turns out, the reason most of the jeeps were painted with a red stripe is because, it kept
the Trikes at bay?”
O’Brien laughed, “Wait, so Red kept them from charging? Like a bull but,
backwards?”
“I, I think so yes.” Robert answered as he continued to read, “I guess in order to
get through the main road safely we need to use the same paint scheme, or at least a bit of
color.”
“Oh, a simple paint job.” O’Brien blurted, “One issue there, I don’t see any paint
lying around. And if this works with one of those things, what about the others? And
while we are on the subject, why are they all on the road? I thought we came here
because it would be safe? You said big cow remember!”
Robert pondered on that, “Yes I know, it’s very strange, their behavior. The
aggression, it was a surprise to us. To me.”
Lex interjected, “Could it be the virus? The prehistoric rabies, can it be causing the
increased aggression?”
Robert thought it over, “Possibly, I mean I can’t say. Dinosaur behavior, even
from an engineered organism, is still uncharted. I, don’t think it is though. What we saw
was territorial, I have no doubt. And even for a dinosaur, I would imagine the presence of
rabies is very easy to see. Drool, excessive salivation. I don’t know if they can foam at
the mouth but I guess it’s possible? Other symptoms are loss of coordination, and well,
both animal herds seemed very, coordinated.”
O’Brien looked over to their own damaged vehicles, “Yeah that’s one word,
coordinated. What about the roads? What about the roads have them sticking around?”
“I don’t know, maybe just convenience? In the wild many animals use roads for
just, traveling. Especially a large animal like what we saw.” Robert replied.
“The Brachiosaurus?” O’Brien asked.
Robert shook his head, “No, that wasn’t a Brachy. It was smaller then a Brachy.”
O’Brien grabbed his rifle a little tighter, “Wait, there’s something bigger then that
thing, the thing that flipped our car?”
“Oh yeah, a Brachiosaurus is probably the largest of the animals created here,
possibly on both islands. As far as what we saw though. I’ve seen three Sauropods listed
in the debrief of InGen’s roster. Brachiosaurus, Mamenchisaurus, and Apatosaurus.

67
Apatosaurus Ajax I think, but this animal was bigger, I want to say, maybe
Brontosaurus?”
Lex turned her eyes over to the mobile lab, “How can we be sure it’s not the virus
causing the aggression we saw?”
“I don’t think it is in all honestly Agent Murphy.” Robert answered, “But I guess
if we had blood or tissue to get samples of maybe…”
“We can be sure.” Lex pressed.
Robert shrugged, “Well yes, I believe so.”
Lex nodded as she began to head towards the mobile lab. “Lieutenant O’Brien,
order your field mechanics to begin welding the hoods and doors from the jeeps onto our
scout vehicles. Clean what you can, make sure we get as much red showing as possible.
Buckland, see if you can find any more of those ranger manuals and issue them to the
men. The more we know how to act around these animals, the better off we will be. I’ll
be a moment, we leave in twenty minutes.”
Lex walked away as Robert tuned to O’Brien, “So uh, do you want this manual or
should I…”
O’Brien shook his head as he walked away barking orders. Robert remained in the
jeep as he flipped through more of the pages.

The air to the pressurized door hissed as it opened. Lex stepped inside as she
reached her arms upwards and stood in two yellow circles. Pressurized air atomized a wet
disinfectant as it blew all over her from every angle. The process finishing, she grabbed
some sterilized boot covers and some latex gloves as she fitted them on and walked over
to a secondary door with a plexi glass window. She peered inside to see Ian focused on a
microscope as she clicked on a button adjacent to the door.
Ian was looking intensely into the lens of the device, looking away only to jot
down notes into a medical CDC issue journal when his eyes saw a flashing light. He
turned to see Lex peering through the plexi glass as he checked the status of the samples.
Two were still in their containment tubes. One was in front of him, but already
sterilized. No breach in quarantine. He then checked a video monitor to see Lex
brandishing the boot covers and latex gloves. She went through basal cleaning. Satisfied
things were as they should be he got up and walked over to the door. Another hiss as he
opened up the door and let her in.
“Welcome to the lab. Gotta say, I’m glad you guys opted for the deluxe CDC
suite.”

68
 Lex waved her hand casually, “Well you know, dinosaurs demand only the best.
Triple coated Kevlar exterior with shock absorption. Class seven air purification vents
and a code red biohazard material dispensary. Cable TV, bottled water.”
“Ah, yes the Radison of the CDC.” Ian joked, “Wish I had this when I was in
Bolivia for the Sars scare. We had to worry about bullet holes ripping through our
quarantine every morning. Now I’m in a tank, it’s a nice change of pace.”
Lex lingered in the moment of levity for a beat. Ian could sense it as he led her
over to the microscope area and the monitor screen above showing what he was working
on. Lex looked at the monitor screen, “This feels strangely at home.”
“Oh, do tell.” Ian asked.
“The artificial nature of it I guess”, Lex explained, “more of my element.
Monitors, computer readouts. Computer viruses and well…”
“Real viruses?” Ian finished. He then spotted her eyeing the monitor, as he filled
in the blanks. “The answer is no by the way.”
“No?” Lex replied.
“No, no active contagion.” Ian elaborated, “There is a dormant RAB V strain in
here, from the big animal, the…Brachiosaurs?”
“Robert ID’ it as a Brontosaurus.” Lex corrected.
“Oh, I haven’t heard that name since I was a kid.” Ian replied, “Well, the
Brontosaurus strain is inactive and there’s no contagion. But the strain is present. I would
suspect it’s in all the animals. Though we can’t be sure till we have a more baseline
sample comparison from more of the fauna. More samples, I dare say we need to make a
better means of, uh, gathering.”
“Yes, Robert is working on that too.” Lex answered, “These animals are more
aggressive then I remember though, are you sure it’s not the virus?”
Ian could see in Lex’s eyes the same hidden fear he saw when she was talking to
him about being contagious herself.
“Well the way I look at it, I’m the bug expert. Robert is the dino expert. And both
of us are saying we are good. Besides, at this rate I’m more likely to be trampled then
catch this super bug. Uh, not to question my faith in our resident dinosaur consultant, but
what was his bright ideal?”
“Something about the jeeps and the paint scheme.” Lex answered, “The red
warned off the other animals, Triceratops. Evidently the vets and park rangers had a
protocol when it came to interacting with the creatures here while the park was
operational. Still, I can’t shake off the increased aggression.”
Ian processed the info for a bit, “Well the tests are telling me it isn’t from this
virus strain, the Lazarus strain. And, though I was running for my life, prior to those

69
moments of near death nothing I observed in those animals resembled anything relating
to rabies. Even prehistoric rabies.”
Lex raised an eyebrow, “Oh? How would you know that though Ian? I mean..”
“No I get you,” Ian replied, “what does a CDC guy know about animal behavior,
let alone dinosaur behavior. But even the CDC knows a thing or two about rabies, I’ve
observed it in plenty of animals. There are clear signs. And I didn’t see any of them from
the Triceratops and Brontosaurus animals out there. Uh, just hearing myself, I sound like
a animal planet program.”
Lex smiled a bit, “I guess that makes sense. But why the aggression, I mean I was
young when I was here but most of these animals moved in herds. They were able to co-
exist without much violence between them. What changed them if it wasn’t the virus.”
Ian held up his hands, “Sorry Lex, this is about as Animal Planet as I get. If you
have questions about the measles though, I got you covered. So, what’s the plan now?”
Lex smiled for a bit, before a more calculative look returned to her face, “The
same, a mad rush to the compound. Field samples will have to wait, we can get them after
from whatever we can’t get from the embryo’s if they survived the cold storage. Maybe
nothing survived cold storage. But the genetics data is also sitting there in those
machines, either way I can’t risk Biosyn getting to it first before us. They managed to
engineer the H1N1 resurrection strain from just fractions of genetic samples. I can only
imagine what they can do if they get a complete organism housing this dormant strain,
the Dinosaur Killer.”
Ian nodded in agreement. Seeing this, Lex motioned to leave when a thought hit
Ian as he turned back to her, “Lex wait, something on my mind. Being yes we have
potentially a global killer on our hands but, I only see us here, on one island. What about
the other island? Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, addressing both of them? I know the
commanders back on the boat said Dodgson intended to hit both islands.”
Lex turned to him nodding, “Don’t worry about it Ian. I have an ace in the hole.
Nothing is leaving these islands unless I want it to.”

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 CHAPTER 10
SAMPLE 2

The trees brushed by as Anne tracked the herd of Stegosaurus into the forest. She
was in one of two cars following a dust trail from the animals moving as fast as they
could. In her mind she was also trailing the terrain. This was the southern face of the
plain, they had a good 3 miles before they were cut off by the forest. Anne turned to the
driver,
“After two miles we turn back if we don’t catch up to them. Regroup with the rest
of the party and move ahead towards the northern mountain face. I want to be camped
next to the river, but not on it.”
The driver looked at her confused. “But this is a big ticket item. Boss wants a
sample from this one.”
Anne rolled her eyes in response, “There’s more then one herd on this island. And
whatever we don’t get here the other team will likely get in the other island. Either way,
I’m getting paid. Aren’t you?”
The driver shrugged, “Well yeah but, still I want to be hired for the next gig lady.”
Anne raised an eyebrow, “Right well, to be hired for the next gig, you gotta be
breathing right? The thing that came for us last night, more of them hunt along the
forest.” She then tapped the meter counter, “Two miles hun.”
The driver looked down at the meter counter, then looking back at Anne he
signaled the other driver in the adjacent car, “Circle back! Time to rendezvous!”

71
 Anne laughed as they circled around and began to head back. “Very good luv.”
As they drove back another herd of animals ran across the plains. Anne recognized
them as Gallimimus. These ones were different from the ones she was used to seeing on
the island. Both versions she remembered looked very much like their name entailed,
Ostrich mimics. The ones she remembered were more bare skinned, leathery hides over a
muscular body. Long necks, two long legs, skinny arms tucked beneath the torso and a
long tail. These ones however were different, they were more colorful in pigment, but
also sported a coat of sparse hairs along their backs that ran down their shoulders.
“Huh, those are new.” She blurted.
The Driver looked over as he signaled their gunner, “We can drop it really quick.”
Anne held up her hand, “No, leave them be.”
“What, why?”
Anne huffed aggravated, “Because I need to see what you boys have already done
back with the other herd before you get all trigger happy. We are here to take samples,
not shoot anything that moves.”
The driver reluctantly signaled the gunner to stand down as Anne nodded, “Good
boy. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities for you gents to play cowboy.
Now lets see what we have.”
The cars continued their way back over the plains hills. Anne could see the rest of
the men scattered around large shapes embedded into the ground, the animals they took
down. She furrowed her brow, she knew working with these mercs something was bound
to get shot. She figured she could at least keep the damage to a minimum, especially
since they still haven’t even begun to address the real task at hand.
The cars stopped in front of the closest parked Humvee as Vega turned to see them
arrive. He himself was eating a meal ration as he walked over to them. Anne was the first
to jump out as Vega gestured to welcome her back.
“Ah, so how did your hunt go? Do we need to send more men over for you to
gather the samples or…”
Anne blew right past him as she walked over to the scene ahead of her. “What is
all this? We needed a minimum of one animal for each species. We only were tracking
three! Are any of them still alive?”
Vega walked over, knowing full well the scene was bound to upset her, “Yes,
most of them are tranqed. The more hostile ones we had to put down, including one of
the big crowned ones. A few charged the vehicles, and the boss stressed not putting the
creatures over the men. I would say most of the men agreed on this.”
Anne crossed her arms, clearly not amused, “This was not the deal, we should
have at most five animals down. Five! And of those only one or two needed to be put

72
down! I warned Dodgson not to make this a trophy hunt! Damn him, you all have no
ideal what you’ve done.”
Vega gestured strongly for Anne to follow him away from the earshot of the men,
“Hey listen, I get it. I’m on your side but you need to lay off. Most of the men here are
already on edge since last night. I had to do what I could just to keep them from shooting
the little ones. We only took down big adults or the older ones.”
Anne shook her head, “You have no idea what you’ve done. We need to get out of
here, get to the river basin. Damn, get what we need quickly. I’ll be plotting the next
route. And call your boss, tell him I need to know what they killed over on the other
island before we move forward. I don’t need to lead any more shooting galleries closer to
where we are going to end up. Armatures.”
Anne marched off as Vega turned to the men. They looked on as he simply
shrugged, “Women eh? Get me a link to Dodgson, collect what we came for. No big
souvenirs though!”
_______________________________________________________________________

Dodgson sat in the comfort of his mobile fort as Vegas face filled screen. He was
in the middle of reading off the samples they collected in the other island, “One of the
larger duckbills. Round crest roughly the size of a small elephant.”
Dodgson passively nodded, “Ah yes, my analyst here tell me that’s a
Corythosaurus. How many sample animals were taken?”
“Of those, roughly five.” Vega reported.
“Excellent. A wider gene base sample means much better results. Did you collect
all three, blood, tissue, bone?”
“Yes, all three.” Vega answered, “Not personally of course, I’m not one for the
messy work.”
Dodgson nodded in approval, “Ah yes, I always found it strange you were good
for dispatching personal assets, but not for something like a game hunt. I imagine you
must have went fishing, no messier then gutting a fish. Even so, was that the last of the
specimens?”
“For today yes, your hired hand though, Anne, she wasn’t happy with todays
work. Says we’re taking down too many of them. She wants a list of the animals
collected over there so she doesn’t hunt what she thinks isn’t necessary.”
Dodgson raised an eyebrow. “I see, I did make certain assurances. Even so, the
wider our samples collection is the better our future genetics program will be. More
options are always better then fewer. We still need her though, I’ll have a list sent to you.
Are you due to be out by the river?”

73
 “That’s the plan,” Vega answered, “though she says we won’t be stopping by the
main compound, too risky. She wants to hit the aviary.”
“That’s fine, it’s best we hit the compound here before you do anyways. Gather
what surviving embryonic material there is so I can cross reference if the risk is necessary
for your team.” Dodgson turned to one of the people working the communication
controls, Mallory, “Give him a list of today’s acquisitions. We will speak again at the end
of the day.”
Mallory nodded as she began to sound off the animals they had gathered samples
from. Dodgson walked away as he stepped over to the driver, “Get us to the River. We’ll
leisurely float our way to the main compound, and take what samples we can from
whatever meets us off the rivers edge.”
The driver did as instructed as Dodgson turned and headed back towards the rear
of the vehicle and the interior storage area. This area is where he designated they house
the samples that had been collected. Rows of vials of blood and tissue lined interior cold
storages all along the vehicles walls. Further back were larger containers housing
preservation fluid that housed even larger samples of tissue and skin. And further back
from there were even larger samples, as a row of sawed off horns in a neat row clanked
against each other as the vehicle continued to move forward.

Ian was busy working on the enzyme readouts of the pathogens they collected
with trained concentration. The Brontosaurus Strain as he labeled it had its data plugged
in and relayed back to the aircraft carriers circling both islands in real time.
The drill was a full transparency protocol. Whenever any data or samples were
taken showing any traces of the rabies strain, no matter what it was, he would be the first
to process it and communicate the first findings. He would then put the samples through
a rigorous mapping sequence of enzyme breakdowns and relay that information. With
that mapped the final step was to relay everything back to his team at the CDC
headquarters to cross reference the known lyssaviral sub strains currently catalogued,
known vaccines, and test them accordingly using their real time simulation software. That
progress would then be reported back and Ian would move on to the next strain, and the
next. The main objective was of course a cure. But therein lay the problem, they were
trying to find a cure for a extinct RAB-V viral strain, and they didn’t even have a cure for
todays common strain of RAB-V, rabies. With more time to reflect on the matter, Ian was
sure there couldn’t be a more perfect pathogen for a global killer to develop from, one
which has been around for over 4,000 years only verifiable by their recorded history. Ian
had no doubt it had been around longer then this, in fact he was analyzing the proof in his

74
hands. This tiny microorganism, who the earliest of doctors tried to treat, and to this day
there was no cure.
On top of this was countless other dangers, and more reasons why a transparency
protocol with the CDC was a must for him. As their initial encounter with the Triceratops
herd proved, this mission was at high risk and as much as he hated thinking about it, if
things failed on their end the data would still be saved to get to his team back at the CDC
headquarters to continue work on a cure. Not that this was his ‘plan A’ so to speak.
The vehicle began to slow as Ian felt the brakes engage. He looked up quizzically,
he knew where they were headed but he didn’t expect them to be there already. The
visitors center was deep inland and though they were in a mad dash to beat Biosyn there,
they had only been back on the road for a few moments.
Ian secured the specimens, putting everything into hard containers or explosive
grade casings, another protocol he had implemented. No matter the situation, all samples
were to be handled as if the vehicle itself was about to be attacked. In the case the
research could be salvaged, he didn’t want to have to deal with a mini breakout of
hazardous pathogens.
Positive everything was secure and put aside, Ian walked through the pressurized
cleaning door and put on his field gear. He then paused, eyeing the field hazmat gear. On
a whim Ian grabbed it, the pattern he could see for this mission was fairly evident. Any
unexplained stops or break from protocol usually meant there was a very large, very
dangerous breathing reason in the form of the local fauna. Strapping it on Ian also took
the time to insert the Kevlar plating. Normally he didn’t bother, but as he just reminded
himself, this mission was everything besides normal. The suit secure, he flipped the head
visor back as he opened the door to the outside world. His eyes squinted, adjusting to the
sunlight.
The forest had given way to a large plain, next to it a larger lake as the tree line
encircled it. Sparse trees sprouted up here and there but something about the scene took
away from what would have normally been a very serene moment. Its natural beauty
somewhat disturbed as Ian felt his foot sink deeper into the earth, as if into a pit.
Startled, he struggled to pick himself up and out of the random pit in the ground
only to find himself sink into another and another. He paused to look around as the holes
in the earth encircled him from all around. Some were shaped in one type of way, others
were shaped in other patterns, all seemed to be showing what looked to be chevron type
patterns at the tips. Toes?
Ian gasped, he knew what he was looking at. One of the print patterns struck his
memory from when they were attacked by the triceratops herd, these were all footprints.
Footprints littered the ground in all directions, a tell tale sign of some unseen violent

75
event taking place. Mindful of the ground Ian side stepped where he could as he began to
pass the rest of the convoy.
The lighter class vehicles were now sporting retrofitted armor, salvaged pieces of
the jeeps that were welded to the hood or doors of the cars. They were all sporting the red
stripe they knew was key to prevent another herd of Triceratops from attacking them. The
soldiers stood all around, either in their vehicles or outside of them, everyone looking in
one direction. Ian looked around trying to figure out what everyone was looking at as he
bumped into Lex. She herself looking outwards, her eyes frozen with a look of what he
discerned was…dread?
“Lex? O’Brien? What, what is it? What’s everyone…”
Ian’s words stopped cold as he eyes fell upon the scene. All around them, scattered
in heaps on the ground were dinosaurs, dozens of different species and types lying
motionless in the earth. Some were still alive and crying out, their heads drooping and
drool dangling from their mouths as if they had been drugged. Most of them however laid
deathly still. No breathing, no spasms from being drugged, just stillness. Ian could barely
process the scene himself as the faint words left him,
“My God, what…what…”
O’Brien interjected, his voice reflecting the heartbreak that they all seemed to be
feeling, “Biosyn. They took down the whole herd. Just, shot everything.”
Lex took a few timid steps forward as the others followed, they all spread out
surveying the mass carnage from all around. Robert seemed to take it the hardest, his
eyes watering up as he just wandered around as if a child lost in the darkness, just unable
to process the scene around him as he muttered out words of despair,
“How could they, just why? Why would they do this? Agent Murphy, O’Brien…”
O’Brien paused as he looked back at Robert, he could see he was on the verge of
collapsing as Robert just carried his hands in the air, “Why? Why would they do this?”
O’Brien walked over to him, taking the gear Robert had in his hand and
shouldering it, “Come on man, there’s a few that are injured, let’s see what we can do for
them.”
Ian finally snapped out of his own trance as he rushed over to O’Brien and Robert,
“Here, here…take these. Sterilization gloves, don’t make direct contact with any fluids if
you can help it, I’ll grab some of the medical equipment from the lab. O’Brien, you might
want to tell the other men, the pathogen.”
O’Brien nodded as he helped Robert along. They both came to the nearest animal
they saw struggling to breath. O’Brien carried the conversation for a beat,
“Alright, this one seems like it was just drugged. Come on, what are we looking
at here?”

76
 Robert took a moment to gather himself with shaking hands he pulled on the
gloves. Slowly he tried to loose himself in the task at hand, “It’s um, it’s a herbivore.
Plant eater, Hadrosaur type animal. I believe a Parasaurolophus.”
O’Brien nodded, coaching Robert along, “Alright, what do we do?”
“Um, appears to be suffering from dehydration,” Robert continued, “also some
random wounds along the haunches from where, they…cut into it? We need to, get some
liquids into the animal via IV and patch up the open wounds before they begin to fester
and become infected.”
O’Brian signaled some men over to help as he replied, “Ok, that’s a good start, do
we have a way to do that? Walk me through it man.”
Robert nodded, “Yes, yes I had a vet kit equipped with us in one of the other large
mobile units. Just incase we ran into complications when we tranqed any other the
animals initially. Um I can get it…”
O’Brien waved his hand, “I got it man. Stay here with this one. You tell my men
what to do and we’ll get it done.”
O’Brien then clicked on his walkie while Ian showed up and handed them packs of
sterilization gloves and mouth covers.
“O’Brien to Jacoby, Mc Creery, Delgado, get the vet kit out of the secondary
mobile unit. Also grab some IV units and some saline and hydration packs. Buckland has
the lead, we follow him to patch up what we can copy.”
The soldiers confirmed their orders over the radio as O’Brien turned back to
Robert and led him to the next animal they spied that was alive. Two additional soldiers
joined them as they all continued to the next drugged animal. Ian dispersed gloves and
sterilization kits to the rest of the men who started to spread out and check up on the rest
of the herd.
There were cries and roars scattered around the plains among the animals. There
didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, just senseless violence. Ian then spied Lex
wandering over a hill, towards another more distinct call from some unseen animal. Ian
walked over to her as he studied her movements. They were slow, almost sluggish, as if
she was walking though some kind of dream or memory. It was almost as if she was
being called by the unseen creature as her eyes searched the horizon frantically. Ian
finally caught up to her when he saw the scene that seemed to freeze her movements
upon spying it himself.
Ahead of them was a huge Triceratops, the big male they had seen before, the one
that was leading the herd. He was laying in his side, helplessly calling out as his head and
one of his horns where embedded into a smashed Humvee. The animal limply tried to
raise one of its legs as it fell back to the earth. Both Ian and Lex approached the big

77
animal as it spied them. The Trike kicked its leg for a moment, but soon fell back down
limp as its breathing became steadily more and more labored. Lex walked over to it,
reaching out with her hand. Ian reached out to stop her but she shot him a look, it wasn’t
cold or calculative as he had seen already on this trip, it was pleading. Ian withdrew his
hand. He knew the risks but he already did a breakdown of the strain living in this
animal. The strain status, inactive. At the least he would give her an immune booster just
as a precaution.
Lex looked back to the animal as she ran her hand against the large Trikes face. It
groaned, crying out at first as if expecting pain. Feeling none, it began to settle down as it
tried to breath. Lex looked over the animal, scratches lined it face all over as indented pits
spotted its forehead and frill. The same pits formed holes as they ran along the animal’s
sides. Lex knew what they were, bullet holes. She felt her eyes water as well as the
animal groaned and huffed, each breath becoming more difficult to draw. The thing that
struck Lex the most though, was its horns. The larger horn not tangled in the car wreck
was cut off, ragged edges where it had once been. It was if Dodgson’s team sawed it off,
its core red from exposed bone marrow. It was a horrible sight, as Lex pulled up her radio
and spoke into it, her voice cracking.
“R,Robert, I need you over here. I found a trike, its hurt pretty bad.”
The radio hissed as Robert’s voice sounded, “I’m on my way!”
Lex let the radio drop to the side as she just sat there, stroking the animals head as
gently as she could. Ian watched, taking it all in, when in the corner of his eye he spied
something from the nearby brush. Movement?
“This was my first dinosaur.”
Lex’s voice reached his ears as Ian turned his attention back to her. He couldn’t
find any words himself as Lex just continued speaking,
“When I was here at the park with Tim. We were on the tour with your father and
the others. I mean, we saw some of them from afar, on the jeep ride inland, but on the
tour there weren’t too many animals to see. I remember it was Alan who was the first to
see it. A huge Triceratops that had been tranqed because it was sick. He just jumped out
of the tour vehicle. And for some reason all of us followed, and there she was, this huge
breathing dinosaur, the first one I ever saw up close. She was so beautiful, even sick, she
had this power and presence to her. A nobility, my first dinosaur.”
Lex’s voice trailed off as the huge male closed its eyes. It’s breathing was
becoming shallower with every huff. Ian knew it was dying. It would be only a matter of
seconds before it passed.
He heard Robert and another soldier rush up on them only to stop at the sight of
scene before them. Robert rushed over with a syringe as he administered what medical

78
care he could. Ian knew it was too late though, as did Lex as she looked into the big
animals eyes. She hushed with her voice as soothing as she could as the animal blinked
one last time, and was finally still.
Robert tried to administer the medical aid faster but they all knew it was too late.
Lex picked herself back up to her feet as she walked over to the nearest soldier, a hint of
fire in her eyes,
“I want one team back at the vehicles. Swap out the tranqs and load the fifty cals. I
want everyone prepped for an assault raid once we are done here.”
The soldier looked at her quizzically, “Ma’am?”
“You heard me, full assault gear. We’re gonna take Biosyn’s mobile lab.” Lex
snapped.
A rustle from the bushes caught everyone off guard as Lex turned in a blink and
aimed her firearm towards the unseen presence. More rustles, as the Soldier next to her
also raised his fire arm and walked besides her as they closed in on the noise. Ian
followed behind them, he knew he had seen something as he found his hand
subconsciously reaching for the side arm Lex had given him. Together they approached
slowly, Lex taking the lead when she suddenly held up her hand. The soldier next to her
lowered his firearm as Lex slowly and carefully knelt down. There was a faint noise from
inside the brush. A faint honk and a smaller but deep roar. More rustling as something
small and sluggish rustled around the brush. Suddenly the leaves parted as a small beak
and two big eyes peeked through, it was a baby dinosaur.
The animal approached Lex cautiously, sniffing her hand. It seemed to show a hint
of recollection in its eyes, the sent of the big male Trike still on her as it softly butted her
palm. Robert slowly approached from the side as he gasped.
“Oh my God, it’s a baby trike!”
Lex motioned for him to be still as she ran a hand over the animal’s skin and
scales. It butted her hand again as it honked.
Off in the distance, another roar is heard as Robert and Ian turned their attention to
the direction of the noise. On the other side of the lake was what Robert presumed was
the remainder of the herd. Various animals circling and honking. As if answering the
calls of the other animals as the tranquilizers began to slowly wear off. In the foreground
though, Robert saw another sight, more triceratops dead on the ground, their horns also
taken.
Ian saw Robert’s reaction as his hands balled into a fist. Robert turned back
towards Lex, “We, we can’t leave that baby here. Nearly its whole herd is dead and, and
with so many dead animals already here. We just can’t leave it here.”

79
 Lex nodded as she turned to Ian, “Ian, I need you to take the samples you need
from the dead animals and prep your lab to move. Rob, I’ll assist you in bringing this one
back to the veterinary trailer for observation and treatment. Private, radio O’Brien and
tell him I need a scouting party to trail ahead of us to track where Biosyn’s caravan is
heading. We know they are heading to the visitors center but I need to know if they took
the road or the river.”
The soldier nodded as he walked off talking into his walkie. Robert followed him
as he ran to his own trailer to prep it for the baby trike. Lex followed along slowly as the
baby trike followed her, following the male trikes scent.
Ian called to her, “Lex, I need to get you and the others into quarantine for a scrub
down. The pathogen is dormant, but I don’t know what other natural pathogens these
animals might also have.”
Lex nodded as she kept her eyes on the baby trike, “I know. I can’t wash the bull’s
scent off me yet, it’s the only thing helping me lead this baby back to Robert’s vet unit.
After we get the baby secure, I’ll report to you and quarantine. You should also think
about taking labs from this one, it might be the break we need to find a cure.”
Lex then continued to walk away with the baby trike. Ian looked to the fallen bull
Triceratops one last time, its hulking body still and lifeless. He then turned to Lex and the
baby trike as he followed after them.

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 CHAPTER 11
THE RIVER

Dodgson was in the middle of a satellite call with his superiors. All of them were
sitting in a conference room along with President Bay who was the person currently
addressing him via the video chat,
“So this looks promising. I’m glad to hear you haven’t turned this into a full
nosedive Dodgson.”
Dodgson raised his eyebrow, a hint of distain in his voice, “Indeed, no sir. Quite
the opposite. Just from today both of my teams have collected enough specimen samples
to forward our genetics program ahead of the companies competitors three decades just
on genetics engineering alone.”
Bay leered, “Ah yes, this does bode well for my company. I’m reading the report
you emailed over as we speak, blood, tissue, bone marrow samples, even horn material? I
tell you once we get what we need we can even turn a profit selling the horns to the
Chinese.”
A puzzled look fell over Dodgson, “Sir?”
“Oh you know, those crazy bastards grind up and eat or snort any number of
endangered species if it means it’s a bedroom enhancer. Rhino horn, Elephant Ivory, can
you imagine what a sole supplier of dinosaur horn would fetch? I mean if they pony up
the cash who am I to tell them what is and isn’t nose candy if they believe it’s a
prehistoric white pill. That said, how much horn do you have?”

81
 Dodgson turned his head as two rows of horns clanged against each other behind
him. “We have enough sir. A couple of kilos to be exact.”
Bay nodded with approval, “That’s a good start, if you spy the chance to get any
more do yourself a favor Dodgson. Call it a company initiative.”
Bay winked at the video feed as Dodgson nodded with approval, “Noted sir.”
Bay then banged the table, “Very nice, all that’s left to address now is the issue of
getting that piñata on wheels from over there, to over here. So, what’s the plan
Dodgson?”
“Sir, we have two helipad evac plans for extraction on both islands. What material
isn’t evac’d out with the helicopters will be recovered out in sea with one of the
Columbian Destroyers we have paid off making up the NATO military blockade. From
there we get back to the mainland and it will be easy enough getting past customs and to
our research facilities.” Dodgson reported.
“Very nice, well you seem to have things worked out, I’m glad I decided to keep
you when Biosyn went through its, re-structuring. All of us here look forward to seeing
our stocks skyrocket when you return.”
Dodgson nodded, “Thank you sir, I look forward to it as well. I’ll call in once we
reach the compound and recover the rest of InGen’s files and samples.”
Bay grimaced, “Right, and you think it’s really worth going there? That there’s
anything worth salvaging after 20 years?”
“Yes sir, I’ve calculated the risks. The compound here was built on geothermal
power. And unlike the other island when Hammond built the park here he built it with the
intent of moving all of Site B’s genetics and embryonic facilities here permanently. This
means facilities that could run with minimal manpower, self automated, long term cold
storages that would keep specimens fridgerated and in deep cold for an un foretold
amount of years, possibly even decades. This was because of the islands, unpredictable
weather of course. We will have everything.”
Bay pursed his mouth nodding, “Ok. You sold me, and everyone here. We’ll see
you in a few days. And Dodgson…don’t screw this up.”
Bay was smiling at him in the most sleaziest of manners as the video feed ended.
Dodgson walked away clearly agitated, one of the few moments he showed any real
emotion as he threw his mug into the rinse sink, “Pompous ass!”
Recollecting himself, he turned to see the control person, Mallory, staring, clearly
not used to seeing him breaking his normal cold and calculating persona. Still livid he
simply threw up his hands,
“Well, what are you staring at!”
The woman turned back to her control station as he huffed over to the main driver,

82
 “How far are we from the river?”
“We’re here sir.” He replied, “The pursuit vehicles have already finished loading
themselves into the other amphibious vehicles. They did find a few additional animals
along the waters edge, they are collecting samples as we speak. Do you wish to take the
lead sir? Us being the most armored and armed.”
Dodgson looked through the huge observation window as he spied the men
working on collecting the samples from another drugged animal, a smaller hadrosaur.
From the bushes though he thought he spied something else, a shadow of something dart
across as he turned back to the driver,
“No, same formation. One amphibious vehicle taking the lead, one in the rear, us
in the middle. We have to protect our assets.”
Dodgson then turned to Mallory at the control panel, “Call the others, on site B.”

______________________________________________________________________

Anne was eyeing the forest as she rested herself on a gunner position, she was
sitting in one of three of the amphibious vehicles, all of them coasting down the river to
their next location. From the corner of her eye she could see DeLaVega checking a
satellite phone with a touch screen, only to have his eyes look over towards her. She
darted her own eyes away as she watched the coast and one of the rearview windows
from the Humvee’s they were shipping.
“Stay focused girl, don’t lose your head.” She coached herself as she continued to
watch the water. Her eyes then fell on something strange reflected into the rearview
window, the river behind them starting to slosh. “Already have enough stupid to make up
for don’t we.”
She could feel Vega’s eyes fall back onto her as she shifted her peripheral vision
slightly, she noticed one of the other mercs walking over to him as he tucked away the
satellite device. The two of them spoke as he nodded and walked away. She turned over
to them, and then eyed the back of their caravan. They weren’t the last vehicle, they were
actually the first per her own instructions. Continuing to watch them she stepped off the
car for a moment as she walked over to another merc.
Vega entered their communications area as he saw Dodgson on the other line.
“Hello boss, didn’t expect you to call so soon.”
Dodgson was looking slightly off from where the communications screen was as
he talked, observing as he and the others made their way into the river.
“Where are you exactly?”

83
 Vega looked over to the side, a digital map pinging their location. “On the river,
give or take three hours away from the aviary.”
Dodgson nodded, “Do remember that compound has the only working helipad on
the island. If you want an early ticket off that island you would be good to get there soon.
Our window to get out will be fast approaching after tomorrow.”
Vega eyed Dodgson’s image over the video monitor, “Oh? Well exactly how
much time do we have after tomorrow?”
“You have 48 hours starting now. Maybe less. If your wise you’ll wrap up things
by tomorrow.”
Vega looked over to the other men, clearly ease dropping on the call. They all
shared worried looks.
“Sir, that’s cutting it a bit close. Especially since you’re asking us to tackle not
one, but two of the most dangerous organisms on this island.”

The water slightly rocked the vehicle as Dodgson continued to wait for the others
to finish up on the shore. The men were making their way to their assigned transports
when Dodgson saw the same shadow dart around in the darkness. He snapped his fingers
to Mallory at the controls,
“Are our security measures, um, loaded?”
The woman brought up a diagnostic readout on the mounted guns as she nodded.
Dodgson turned his attention back to the video feed, “I’ve calculated everything, you two
should be fine. The consultant I left you with knows that place better then most former
InGen employees. Plus she has the security codes needed to gain access through more of
the secure areas of that island. Now, what about the cargo, is it secured?”
Vega nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s secured. The smaller vials and more portable samples
are with us. The consultant Anne, that you have so much faith in, she had a more creative
solution for the bigger tissue samples. They’re being towed behind us in one of the
Amphibious LARC Fives. About 20 feet out on a tow line.”
Dodgson gave Vega his full attention, as his eyes grew livid. “What! What do you
mean it’s being towed! That’s not acceptable!”
Vega shrugged, “You gave her full authority. We all just listen over here. Besides,
she said it’s dangerous.”
Dodgson only grew angrier. “No! That’s unacceptable you need to get everything
on that boat with you…”
Dodgson then paused as he noticed the men taking aim at something else. It was a
smaller creature, at least compared to everything they had seen so far. It was the size of a
hippo roughly, long neck, slender tail, four legs.

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 “Dammit, I need to go. You do what I say Vega! Get those samples back in the
middle of the caravan and protect them at all costs. That’s our future floating out there!”
Dodgson then jogged over to the main driver, “What’s going on?”
“The men up ahead have contact on another specimen.”
“Do we know what it is?” Dodgson pressed.
“They’re verifying the species, Apatosaurus according to InGen’s files. This one
looks a bit different though.”
Dodgson snapped back at Mallory, “What’s the color coder indicate?”
Mallory queued up the InGen files on the dinosaurs as she eyed through them, she
then found the color marker. “Its yellow sir! Priority specimen!”
Dodgson looked around, there were more animals but they were a few yards away.
“Tell them to take it. Samples only, it’s easier to sample this one then try to bring
down a bigger one anyways.”
Mallory nodded as she radioed in the order.

_______________________________________________________________________

Vega looked over to the man at the controls as he scratched his chin, clearly
thinking things over. One of the other men finally approached him,
“Sir, should we reel in the other samples.”
Vega shook his head, “No, leave them out there. Even though she’s only a
consultant I trust her more then a business suit right now. Dominic!”
One of the other men came over, “Yes hefe?”
“See if you can hail one of the other contacts Dom, I need to know who Dodgson
was set to rendezvous with. I just learned we only have 48 hours till we’re abandoned.
And I don’t feel like having us missing our ride just because Dodgson gets cold feet
suddenly. Get me the name and the hailing frequency.”
Dom nodded as he had a seat next to the other man and began hailing channels.
Right outside of the vehicle, Anne was eating fruit as she skinned off slices with her
knife, clearly eavesdropping herself. She smiled a bit as she chewed on the fruit slice, she
then turned to see the water continuing to churn towards the back of their convoy. Anne
took her knife and ran it into a soft wooden buffer on the hull of the amphibious vehicle
as she walked towards the end of the vessel. The water continued to churn, as she
watched it intently.

_______________________________________________________________________

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 The men received Dodgson’s orders as they switched the live rounds over to the
tranqs. The lead vehicle would be the one to take down the baby animal as it roared
closer to the water’s edge. The baby Brontosaur reacted as it backed away from the river
and cried out. One of the men fired, but the rocking of the water threw off his aim as the
dart landed off to the left. The shot still was enough to startle the animal as it began to run
away.
On the other vehicle Dodgson was watching, still infuriated from how the day’s
events were unfolding. Seeing the animal beginning to make a run for it Dodgson
grabbed the radio, “Dammit, go to live rounds. If we can’t tranq it we take it down and
scoop it up. It can’t reach the herd do you hear me!”
The gunner looked over to the other man, almost unsure of the order. The other
man spoke into his radio,
“Uh yeah, copy that sir. Going to live rounds.”
The other man protested half heartedly, “Common man, thing is a baby. This is
messed up.”
The gunner switched over rounds as he began to take aim, “Orders are orders.
Messed up or not.”
He began to fire as the rocking water continued to throw his shots. They bounced
all around the little baby’s direction as it continued to run. The man tried to stabilize his
shots but the boat was increasing its rocking motions.
“What is going on, keep the boat steady!”
The waves only continued to become more violent when suddenly a sharp bump
stopped the vehicle completely. The whole vessel then groaned as it was tilted upwards.
All the men on board grabbed the sides of the hull fearing they were going to capsize
when a long neck overshadowed them ascending from the waves.
Back at the main convoy vehicle Dodgson and the others looked on with dread as
they saw a huge form erupt from the water and slam into the main boat flipping it. The
men bobbed in the water thrashing wildly for the shore or for something to grab onto as
the animal showed itself fully, an adult Brontosaurus.
It roared defiantly as it reared up and slammed its front legs into the flipped lead
convoy vehicle crushing it deep into the rivers bottom. The animal roared again as it
turned to see its baby make its way far from the river and back towards the herd deeper
inland. As it did another fully grown animal broke away from the main herd as it rushed
towards them.
Dodgson looked on from the observation window as he panicked. What was once
a small armored floating tank in front of them was now a tangled wreck with nothing
between them and this gigantic monster.

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 The Brontosaurus kept its head towards the baby watching it, but Dodgson didn’t
see that. All he saw was a monster in front of him and the others. He panicked as he
turned to Mallory who herself was on edge.
“What is that?” She screamed.
Dodgson pointed to her, “We’re being attacked, fire the guns!”
The driver called out to protest but it was too late as the guns erupted and sprayed
the flanks of the animal with bullets. It reacted in pain as it reared up, turning its focus
back to the boat. The flashes of the guns and the sting of the bullets irritated it as it roared
menacingly. It then turned its back towards them as its huge tail whipped around. In an
instant it collided with the vehicle as Dodgson and Mallory were rocked off their feet and
onto the floor. Dodgson screamed as he looked up only to see the observation bubble was
gone, as if sliced in half as the driver was also completely missing, taken with the rest of
the wreckage. Dodgson scrambled to his feet as he stumbled over to the drivers position
and looked over finding Mallory also scrambling towards the drivers seat.
“Keep firing dammit!”
She ignored him as she regained control of the vehicle, “Guns are gone! We need
to get out of here!”
Over the radio a panicked voice crackled as another man’s yelled over the other
line, “Rear contact! I repeat we have rear contact!”
Both Dodgson and Mallory looked at each other as they turned towards the rear of
the vehicle. Behind them the rear convoy vehicle struggled to turn to aim its bigger guns
at what was approaching them from behind as the soldiers fired their smaller firearms.
The bullets hardly had any effect as another huge animal came crashing through the
forest and into the river after them. Its body and overall mass was much larger then the
other, as its head reached high above with a slight bump on its forehead. It was a
Brachiosaurus, as it turned to the rear vehicle.
It bellowed threateningly as it simply kicked its huge legs forwards. The clawed
spur on the front foot making contact and ripping a hole into the metal chassis as the
vehicle was sent flipping into the air top over bottom. Men were sent flying as the vehicle
collided with Dodgson’s smashing apart the rear. Dodgson and the woman felt the impact
as the whole rear of the vehicle crumpled inwards. The impact bucked the vehicle as it
rolled to the side in response.
Behind them the Brachiosaur made eye contact with the Brontosaurus. The
Brontosaurus roared again as it reared up and smashed its body into the river, sending a
tidal wave that rocked the last remaining vehicle, with Dodgson inside, out of the river
and onto land. The Brachiosaur roared back as it reared up itself, and crashed back into
the river smashing the vehicle it had flipped just moments ago. Another young animal

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called from the other side of the river, a baby Brachiosaur as its herd reached the river’s
edge just as the Brontosaur’s herd did. Taking their attention back to their young the two
behemoths left the river as they ushered their herds away to safety.
Dodgson was hiding underneath the console of their vehicle as he screamed at
Mallory, “Get us out of here!”
The woman pressed the gas but the vehicle wouldn’t budge. The sound of gears
grinding against each other erupted as she then noticed the noise reaching one of the
straying Brontosaurs ears. It began to turn. Mallory’s foot left the gas as the car fell
silent. Dodgson looked up and saw the animal, eyeing them, looking for any signs of life.
They stood absolutely still as the animal turned its attention back to the herd and
thundered away.

Vega was looking everywhere for Anne, only to find her on the roof of the vehicle
looking towards the rear of the convoy through binoculars. He looked over to the
direction she was spying as he called out, “What do you see?”
Anne put her binoculars down as she looked over to Vega, “Trouble! Get the rear
vehicle on radio now!”
Vega saw the panic in her face as he radioed the rear convoy driver, “This is lead
convoy one to convoy three, do you copy convoy three?”
In the drivers’ seat one of the mercs from the rear convoy heard the static as he
picked up the radio, “This is convoy three we read you over.”
Vega’s voice erupted over the radio, “Do you have any contact over?”
The men looked at each other confused, just as he was about to answer though a
groan of metal straining echoed through the vehicle canopy as a sharp tug drove them to a
dead stop. The men’s bodies jerked forward from the impact as they slammed onto the
console. On the deck of the vessel two other men picked themselves up as they looked
behind them, the additional vehicle they were towing was gone.
Back in the drivers cabin the men stared back, seeing the vehicle and its cargo had
all but disappeared. The tow line however was still hitched to something as it ran deep
into the water. The driver cursed as he radioed in.
“Dammit, sir I think we lost the rear tow vessel with the cargo. It much have hit a
rock or something but she’s sunk, we’ve stopped dead.”
Vega heard the words as he turned to Anne, she continued to stare out towards
their direction, “Tell them to cut the line.”
Vega looked out, seeing a gap between them and the last vessel was growing,
“Dammit, Slow her down! We’re losing the rear vessel and the cargo!”

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 Anne turned sharply, “No! Don’t stop, tell the men back there to cut the line but
we don’t stop.”
Vega was quick to reply, “Anne that sunk cargo is the whole reason we’re here. If
it’s sunk we need to try and recov…“
“It’s already gone,” Anne bluntly stated, “that vessel didn’t sink it was dragged
under, and if your men don’t cut that line their next!”
Vega eyed her, gauging his options when the men’s voices erupted over the radio,
“We’re being pulled back!”
Vegas eyes shot back towards them, “What? Your being pulled?!”
He looked over to Anne, who just stared at him coldly, “Cut the line, do you hear
me? Cut the line to the cargo hold!”
The Driver was revving the engine trying to gain some leverage but the entire
vessel was being pulled back, slowly but in jerky intervals. The men on the deck just
stared, bracing themselves on what they could as the line grew taught. It strained with
metallic groans when a splash from further back of the line caught their attention. The tip
of a object broke the waters’ surface as it splashed back down and out of sight. The tow
line then started thrashing back and forth violently as their vessel drew closer and closer
to whatever it was pulling them. The driver had the accelerator floored but it did nothing
as the engine whined under the strain. He then screamed from the drivers’ wheel,
“Cut the line! It’s dragging us under, cut the line!”
One of the other men on deck grabbed a machete and chopped at the tow line, all it
did was bounce off the cable as the man swung again and again, nothing.
“Move out of the way I got this.” Another mercenary barked as he climbed onto
one of the gunner mounts on the Humvee’s they were transporting. Swinging the gun
around he nervously loaded the chamber. All the men on the deck scattered as the gun
came alive. The thrashing of the tow line threw the man’s aim off as the gun swayed back
and forth. Bullets lobbed into the water as one to two struck the cable. A pang and
snapping of wires sounded as the cable finally began to fray. The Driver saw what as
happening as he panicked,
“Wait, let me ease off the gas it’s gonna…”
A final pang erupted as the wire snapped. Before falling into the river however it
recoiled and snapped around like an attacking serpent as it hit one of the men on deck and
launched him into the air. The man yelled in pain as he fell into the river.
“Man overboard!”
The driver put the vehicle back to a full stop as he ran out, “Get him back in here!
Throw out a buoy!”

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 In the water the injured merc yelled and thrashed as a gash from his shoulder bled
out all around him. The men on the deck threw out multiple life lines as the man reached
out trying to grab one of them. Behind him a ripple of water began to churn as it slowly,
eerily closed in on him.
Anne watched as the gap between their two vessels and the last one widened and
widened. She shook her head as walked back to the head of the vessel. Vega followed
after her,
“What are you doing, we need to help them get that man in!”
“No, we keep going forward”, Anne snapped back, “I told you this would happen
though. You can’t lay that many corpses out and not expect something to take notice. It’s
probably been tracking us since your men went and shot up half the damn island.”
Vega just threw up his hands, “What! What is tracking us!?”
“Our friend from the shore Vega!” Anne hissed, “The one that did this to the
amphibious!” Anne then gestured towards the scars on the front of the vehicle, “You left
a trail of blood. Now it’s stalking us!”
Anne turned back to the driver, “Keep moving forward. We need to inch ahead as
much as we can and we need to get out of the water!”
Vega spun around, “Wait, we still can’t leave them!”
Anne turned to him, “They have a chance, we can meet them at a rendezvous point
but we all need to get as far away as we can and get on land!”
Back in the water the man continued to thrash as one of the life lines came close to
his hand. Struggling he reached out for it, his fingers stretching as far as he could. Blood
continued to pool out as the man splashed closer and closer to the life line. One more
inch, that’s all he needed was one more inch. The tips of his fingers made contact as he
smiled, gingerly fingering the rope as he finally got a hand on it.
The men on deck watched in horror as the water all around the man exploded.
Two crocodile like jaws shooting upwards as they slammed down on their prey, the
mercenary’s wounded comrade. His body went limp instantly as the huge head receded
back into the water, but not before a green eye glanced their way. A low growl echoed
from the beast as it disappeared back into the river.

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 CHAPTER 12
Predator Equation

Robert tended to the baby triceratops as it rested on the floor, a bed of sterilized
hay and a blanket acting as a mobile holding pen. The trike was in a type of corral,
chewing on some of the hay as Lex sat close to it. Ian was inside as well as he
administered a immunity booster to her. He had given Robert one and himself as well just
for good measure, Lex winced a bit as he rubbed the tender spot with disinfectant.
“Sorry by the way.” She uttered.
Ian disposed of the syringe in a bio hazard bin as he turned to her, “What are we
apologizing for this time?”
“The quarantine”, She replied, “I know we have protocol, I kind of steam rolled
over it and breaking it no doubt was a dangerous choice, a stupid choice.”
Ian looked over to one of the microscopes as he plugged in the data and continued
to run tests.
“Well dad didn’t teach me much, but one thing he did teach me about women,
don’t argue with one holding a gun.”
Ian saw a hint of a smile cross Lex’s face, he was growing accustomed to it.
“Besides”, he continued, “I’ve run the tests. Even before we found the baby, back
at the docks. And I’ve run a whole new set of tests and I’ve inoculated everyone here
including myself with immune boosters, if there was a real threat Lex, I would have

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pressed it. Like I said, not my first rodeo. Just the first one where the bulls are the size of
elephants.”
“Yeah”, Lex sighed, “I just, I swear I’m better at my job then this. Just being here,
I can’t pretend it’s not messing with me. I mean, I know what my Grandfather did was
unspeakable, even if he wanted to share his miracle with the world. I saw you when you
took the first samples from the dock when we dealt with the stampede, and it all just
dawned in that moment. This miracle, being our own…”
“Extinction?” Ian interjected.
Lex nodded, “Yeah, even so, just seeing it molested in such a way, seeing them all
dead or dying, it was my Grandfathers mistake but it was also his dream. I just…”
Lex then turned to Robert, realizing they weren’t alone this time. Ian noticed it and
tried to salvage the situation,
“Well, we saved as many as we could. And your right, this one is giving me key
data on the development of this pathogen. It seems like it’s in an early phase of bonding
with the host organism, the baby there. It’s a good step forward.”
Lex turned to the baby trike, as it nestled down to rest.
“Is it a cure?”
Ian shook his head, “No. I mean it’s a more underdeveloped strain, but its still,
well, it is what it is. It still has a trigger, something we haven’t run into yet. This goes for
everything we have tested so far.”
“Predators.” Robert interjected.
Both Ian and Lex turned to him as he broke his gaze away from the baby Trike,
“Oh sorry, I mean I was thinking of another answer to a question you asked me
earlier. But, it might be the same answer. We’ve yet to test any predators.”
Ian tilted his head, “Well I’m game if you are Lex.”
Lex nodded, “What about the predators Robert?”
Robert stood as he began his recital. “Predators normally have a host of enzymes
and bacteria that share a symbiotic relationship with them, some varanids and monitor
lizards have bacteria that are used to break down normally harmful pathogens found in
rotting meat they tend to feed on. In terms of theropods, it would make sense to find
similar types of host bacteria in their saliva or blood, a way to break down microscopic
organisms. It could be the thing that triggers this virus, maybe, possibly.”
Ian rocked in his chair, processing the data, “That’s good Robert. That’s actually
very good, but now we run into a whole other issue.”
“What’s that?” Robert asked.
“Running into predators.” Lex interjected.

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 Robert didn’t seem to share their caution as he continued, “Oh well that won’t be a
problem. In fact it ties into your earlier question agent Murphy. Why are the herbivorous
animals here showing higher levels of aggression? It’s the predators. Or, reverse
domestication…rewilding? Something along those lines.”
Lex leaned in fully attentive, “Do tell. What about the predators.”
“Well, these animals, at least the first generation of animals were trained,
domesticated. They were fed, trained through a routine; the worst thing they had to deal
with was a visit from the vet. When the fences came down, all that changed. These
animals no longer had to fear just the vet, but the predators that were released as well.
And not just them, other animals competing for the same food. Unpredictable tropical
weather, and hurricanes.”
“They went feral in other words.” Lex finished.
Robert nodded, “Uh yeah, or rather, they just went back to being regular wildlife.
What we saw on the shore is actually no different then what’s seen day to day on the
African plains. Elephants fighting off rhinos. Rhinos in disputes with hippos. We’re just
seeing it on a much more gigantic scale.”
Ian hummed in approval, “This makes sense Lex, like I said there’s dormant
strains of the pathogen but nothing to indicate any of the animals we have seen so far
have gone rabid. We might just be seeing their normal behavior in the wild.
Still…Robert, what about the other part you mentioned.”
Robert looked at Ian confused, “I’m sorry, the other part?”
“The Predators Rob, you said we shouldn’t have any trouble running into them?”
Lex pressed.
A flash of recognition fell over Robert’s face, “Oh yes! Well the way this other
group has been, well there’s no other word that fits shy of poaching. But their poaching
methods are leaving behind what’s potentially food. A trail of food that will continue to
lead the predators on this island to them until they finally catch up with them. And if they
took the river, not only are they a floating free for all but they’re also next to a water
source and well, that’s all most animals are really looking for most of the time.”
Lex nodded, “So we just need to monitor Dodgson’s team and the others will
show up when they smell the blood on the ground?”
Robert passively waved his hand, “To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if
something hasn’t already found them.”
Lex got up from her seat as she walked to the back of the trailer and grabbed her
radio, “This is Murphy to O’Brien, come in.”
The radio hissed as O’Brien’s voice came on, “This is O’Brien over.”

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 “I need you to pull the team trailing Dodgson, have them rendezvous back with us
up ahead on the regular trail and confirm with me that they took the river.”
Lex continued talking as Ian went back to his work, “Gotta say, its good having a
Dino expert savvy with behavioral science. And you did good with the animals back
there, you got a lot of them back up.”
Robert turned to the baby trike, “Yeah I just, I mean its common practice now for
most grad students to have some knowledge of animal behavior. Trying to fill in the gaps
of behavior patterns in long extinct animals.”
Ian nodded, “Oh I know. Trust me I know, my father he, well, settled down with a
Paleontologist. Her specialty was behavioral science with dinosaurs. Figures, a
behavioral scientist finding a way to get my dad to settle down. There’s a terrible irony in
there.”
Robert seemed to brighten up a little, “Yes, Sarah Harding! Next to Alan Grant
she’s one of the most recognizable authorities in Paleontology! Her work on Tyrannosaur
parental behavior alone was ground breaking. I attended a seminar she gave when I was a
grad student! You know her! Like, you’ve spoken to her? That’s amazing!”
Ian smiled at his apparent Rockstar status, if even by proxy. He then felt his eyes
wander towards Lex,
“Yeah well, she’s one of a kind.” Ian then shook his head as if his own words
caught him off guard, “But anyways you held your own out there. I mean, I saw how you
reacted when you saw the herd, the needless death. You held yourself together very well
all things considered.”
Robert felt his own gaze fall back on the baby Trike, “Yeah I, the sight just
triggered something. Not too many people know I do some conservation work on the
side. Helping endangered species and donating what little I can to conservation groups. I,
well I guess it hit me hardest when I saw the Trikes. The whole herd, just shot down and
their horns sawed off. It just reminded me of the animals that are alive today, going
extinct because of poaching. The same kind of poaching no less, people taking rhino
horns, or elephant ivory, or shark fins. An animal brought back from extinction and it
took less then two decades to treat it as bad as we do todays animals. Can I…ask you a
personal question, Doctor Malcolm?”
Ian looked up from his work, “Well, we are trying to save the world together so,
sure.”
“Well, I mean even the soldiers were shaken a bit back there, I know we all went
through an initial moment of shock, but you seemed to be the most, level headed. Did it
not, bother you I guess, to see what we saw? Sorry that’s rude of me.”

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 Ian waved his hand, “No no, its fine. It is, in your shoes I’d have the same
question myself. I guess the technical answer is just, training. When you work where I
work, your trained to keep a laser focus, one slip up, one miscalculation, and well it can
cost the lives of million of people.”
“Yeah, that’s true. What’s the…non technical answer, if you don’t mind?”
Ian sat back in his chair, he looked up, as if recollecting, “I guess I had that nerve
pinched a long time ago. I’ve seen a lot of things at the CDC. Even scenes like we saw
today, I’ve seen that exact same scene accept instead of animals its people, or children.
There was one op in, well I guess that’s classified. But regardless our goal was to stem
the spreading of this potential pandemic. And we did, but not before it killed off all the
children. There were fields of bodies, just motionless children, grieving mothers and
siblings and just…it was nothing short of biblical. To be honest you don’t ever get used
to it, you just find ways to channel it. To do the job, you do the job, you save lives. And
that’s the job here, I do my job, and we save lives.”
Robert nodded, processing the depth of Ian’s words. Behind them Lex was off her
walkie, looking at him from the side of her eyes as she hung on his words as well. Ian
gathered himself as he went back to the microscope.
“Thankfully we saved that little guy, or rather you and Lex. The blood readouts
are proving very useful. I dare say I’m feeling optimistic about our odds. The closest I get
to warm and fuzzy on mission.”
Robert laughed a bit as he watched the sleeping trike. “It kind of astounds me
really.”
“Living dinosaurs? The feeling is mutual.” Ian replied.
“Well yes that too but, that something as ancient as these animals could also
survive. I would just never have thought a pathogen could be resurrected along with these
animals.” Robert finished.
Ian gazed back at the animal himself, “I can. It’s not the first time to be honest. In
fact I’m kinda shocked you didn’t know about it yourself. I believe there’s a whole field
dedicated to such phenomena.”
“Oh? Oh yes, your right, some kind of pathology? Paleopathology I believe!”
Robert beamed.
“There it is.” Ian affirmed, “Paleopathology. I’ve worked with many of them in
our field. Attend the lectures, you wouldn’t believe the ancient strains we’ve run across.
Most interesting are from the mummies, a lot of them showing perfectly preserved
pathologies dating thousands of years, some with viable tissue and strains of the
pathogens intact for study.”

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 “Your right”, Robert replied, “and even within Paleontology, we’ve had soft
tissue discoveries just recently with a Rex whose bones were cracked in transit. Along the
split, they found soft tissues! And then they started doing probing with other larger
bones, one hadorsaur femur turned up impressions of microorganisms in silica.”
Ian scratched the five o clock shadow on his chin, clearly intrigued, “That’s very
fascinating. I have to ask a few of my colleagues about that journal when I get back,
knock on wood. All this noted though, consider the host organism InGen used to build
nearly nintey percent of its genetic library. Mosquitos, they carry more pathogens today
then nearly any other host organism. They are even responsible for spreading disease
through entire continents such as West Nile and Zika. These little bugs kick off entire
plagues all over the world. I don’t see why it would be so different millions of years
ago.”
Robert hung on those words for a moment, as he looked back at the baby
triceratops. “Doctor Malcolm…”
Ian waved his hand, “Please, call me Ian. I think we’re all well past formality.”
Robert gave a light hearted laugh, “Ok, um, Ian. I don’t think we got to expand on
the issue back at the dock, but this virus, do you think it really killed them all? The
Dinosaurs, the original dinosaurs?”
Ian simply shrugged, “It’s a very good candidate. To compare, it clearly has the
potential to do the job on us, and we have medical advances no creature on earth can
really compare to in our recorded history or even in pre history. But, at the same time,
I’m not the Dinosaur expert. What are your thoughts, do you think it did it? I’m rusty on
my extinction theories…do people still think it was a disease or a big ball of rock from
the sky?”
Robert kept his eyes on the triceratops as he processed his answer, “Well, the
asteroid theory still holds very true among many in the Paleo field. The best candidate we
have for an impact crater is still the Chicxulub crater site in the Yucatan. Even so, other
theories have also been shared. Climate Change, initially set off by the asteroid which
would have vaporized the existing climate patters at that time. Others also note disease,
not a disease in particular but disease, coupled with a meteor strike, coupled with a
climate change event that was triggered, for me it makes sense. Not so much one event
more then a perfect storm of events, leading to the death of nearly eighty to ninety
percent of the fauna on planet earth. But yes, a disease, this disease, I can see it as being
the final coffin nail. Just, so strange to find it within the creatures it wiped out. Thriving
in them in fact.”
Ian nodded, agreeing with Robert. As much as he liked the distraction of
intellectual banter however, there was still some series business to attend,

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 “Alright, my turn” Ian began, “Not so much a personal question, but going back to
your hypothesis. So do you really think these predators will be making their way towards
Biosyn?”
Buckland nodded, “To be honest, I would imagine they already caught up to
them.”

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 CHAPTER 13
FOOD CHAIN

Dodgson was hunkered inside the tattered wreck of the last surviving amphibious
vehicle as the men who survived the river attack worked endlessly to salvage what they
could. Both the herds had long since left, leaving them to try to get their transportation
working again. None of them entertained the thought of looking to their fearless leader.
Dodgson had been reduced to a sniveling bag of nerves as he remained hiding in his little
fox hole of wreckage. One of the men, Marcus, was falling into the leader role now, not
to his liking but if the common goal was getting out of here, he didn’t mind the working
title of team leader. He rallied the others to assess their transportation options verses
trying to baby Dodgson.
One Humvee was in some kind of working order, a flat tire being changed while
the chassis was warped but stable. Its roll cage taking the main amount of damage as
doors were removed solely because they were practically hanging off of one bolt. Two of
the men worked on the engine as Mallory, who also survived, came over to the
amphibious vehicle to look over what equipment and samples were to be taken with them
once the cars were repaired.
Making her selections one of the other men nodded as he began loading the
remaining vehicles. Mallory then walked over to the drivers seat as she knocked on the
hood,
“Alright I’m going to try the engine again!”

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 From under the hood another man appeared covered in axel grease as he gave a
thumbs up. She turned the car engine, nothing. She turned it again, a click, but soon to be
followed by yet more silence.
Out in the open one mercenary walked over to one of the Humvee’s, seeing it was
close to being ready as it was packed with supplies. The guns were removed and outfitted
with one of the high caliber assault cannons they salvaged from the ‘Dodgson tank’, what
they nicknamed their bosses over armed yacht. Not that it did anyone much good in the
end.
Making some mental notes of the supplies packed he made his way to another
Humvee parked near it, in relatively the same condition. One of the doors were crumpled
into the chassis, making removal impossible as it was practically welded into the frame
from the impact of the attacks. The above roof was also gone, but it was in better
condition and the engine was still intact. Cautious, the man approached it as he gave it a
once over. Circling around he suddenly noticed something, a shape of some kind dart
across from the jungle. Pausing the man looked up pointing his gun, nothing. Still unsure,
he kept his hand on the trigger while he slowly made his way into the car.
Inside the driver’s seat he saw his predicament, the car was facing its back towards
the area he knew he saw something. Not feeling good about the situation, he sat sideways
in the seat as he swiveled his head towards the jungle, and then back towards the car
dash. He checked the dash, the speedometer was cracked and nearly falling out. The
shifter was good though, and the front half of the chassis was also in good condition.
Behind him the same shadow appeared, lining itself up next to the vehicle. The
light from the sun reflected from its eyes as the peered out of the shade of the tree line
and with very careful, calculating movements, silently approached.
The man turned, as if on instinct, back towards the jungle. Nothing, just leaves and
vines. He kept his eyes steady, looking for any hint of movement or the sound of
anything alive…nothing. Shaking off the feeling he turned himself back to the car.
Reaching under the wheel he pried apart the console and dug out a series of wires.
Behind him, the shadow appeared, approaching closer and closer.
The man dug out his K-Bar knife from his boot when he looked over to the jungle
again, holding the knife up as if he was about to need it. Nothing, just leaves and silence.
His demeanor growing more serious he shouted out to the men a few feet from him,
“Hey! Marcus! You seeing anything around here? You know, with teeth?”
Marcus was standing a few feet away seeing to what was left of their tracking
equipment. “No, we don’t have any readings, just got this thing up. We don’t have
thermal but it can read seismic. None of the big ones, they’re long gone.”

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 Pleased with the reply the man looked back down to his work, as he selected two
wires and peeled the insulation plastic away revealing the copper wiring. Both of the
wires exposed he then started to hit the two wires together as the engine began to spark to
life.
“Come on baby, papa needs a new ride to get out of this hell hole.”
He hit the wires again, another engine rev as the car slowly started to come alive.
From behind, the shadow appeared from its hiding spot directly behind the vehicle as the
two binocular eyes focused in on their intended prey. A large green stripped mouth then
came into view as it started to open wide, rows of teeth exposed and ready to strike. The
man hit the wires one final time when the engine finally roared to life.
“Yeah baby, you and me are getting out of here…”
A drip of saliva fell on the man’s hands as he looked up, a flash of teeth greeting
him leaving the man no time to react or even scream.
Marcus looked over to the Hummer behind them, hearing the engine he signaled
over to the car to give a thumbs up, only to find it sitting alone, its engines still running.
The chassis was shaking though, by something unseen as Marcus signaled the mercenary
besides him,
“Hey! Start the engines, signal the tank we need to get out of here now!” he
exclaimed.
The man looked over to him and did as he said, seeing the chassis shaking. Marcus
chambered a round into his assault rifle as he slowly and quietly made his way to the
vehicle.
Inside the amphibious vehicle the radio came alive as Dodgson shot up from out of
his hiding place underneath the consol.
“I say again we have contact, I think it got another one of us, Marcus is retrieving
another vehicle but we need to evac now!”
The words screamed out of the radio as he peered outside, Mallory and the other
man were inspecting the engine. He calculated the risks, it could be a number of things
that made contact. What about the workers outside, warn them? They were pretty much
dead already, even if they didn’t know it yet. Wiping the sweat from his brow he
nervously began making his way out towards the back, where the amphibious vehicle was
ripped open and exposed. He looked around, grabbing one of many sample kits that were
stored on board, along with one of the smaller shaved off horn cores as he jumped out
and onto the ground.
Marcus continued to make his way stealthily towards the cabin of the hummer as
he peered around. Whatever it was, it was big, nearly as tall as the car itself as it
struggled with something on the ground, ripping into it.

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 Marcus reached the side with the exposed car door as he climbed up and over,
ducking under the passenger seat as quickly as he could as a head shot up just as he
hunkered down inside. Marcus remained motionless, the head swinging around, sniffing
the air. A muffled noise from the ground grabbed its attention as it went back to its
unseen work.
Marcus turned on his back with his gun facing upwards, he began to breath,
knowing this next step was going to take everything he had. A shadow then started to
creep over him, a head with a mouth partially open bearing rows of teeth. Marcus
screamed as he pulled the trigger, the gun erupting as the beast jerked back in surprise.
Marcus sat up and pointed the gun out towards the last thing he saw. It was fast as it
grabbed its meal and darted back into the jungle with surprising speed.
Marcus didn’t take time to ask why as he jumped into the drivers seat and put the
vehicle into gear hitting the gas. The vehicle roared forward as he drove over to the
amphibious vehicle. Dodgson was running towards him,
“Here, take these. Wait for me!”
Dodgson threw the case and the horn core into the back of the vehicle as he
struggled to climb over the smashed door. Marcus threw his hands over and grabbed him
by the shirt, practically flipping him into the car as he looked around,
“Where are the others?”
Dodgson tried to right himself, “They’re gone. It got them, go! Go!”
Marcus looked around for the others when he saw something from his review
mirror, the shape of the creature emerging from the jungle. Marcus hit the gas pedal as
the case and the bleeding horn core rattled in the backseat. From the jungle, the creature
sniffed the air as it keeps it large eyes looking towards the Humvee.

_______________________________________________________________________

Anne was in the bigger Transport vehicle, resting herself in the larger gunner
tower as she kept her eyes on the various screens. Satellite imagery of the island, two
bleeps catching her eye as she watched them.
The decision was made to keep the remaining heavy class transport vehicle inside
of the LARC 5 Amphibious for added support and protection. The remaining Humvee’s
we lighter and faster, as they would scout ahead and give them a heads up to anything
that might cause trouble. Anne was sure the men thought they would still be hunting as a
way to compensate for what was lost. It was another reason she demanded they keep the
Heavy Class vehicles within the remaining 2 LARC Amphibious vessels, it would deter
anymore big game hunts and attract their unwanted visitor, or a family of T-Rexes, or any

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number of things that could kill them on this island. As far as she was concerned, hunting
was over. With less then 48 hours to reach the remaining helipad at the summit of the
Aviary, Anne was no longer concerned with collecting Dodgson’s precious samples, she
was intent on leaving. Anne then let her eyes scan the surrounding visual displays
housed inside the heavy class armored camper sandwiched inside of the Amphibious.
Along with exterior camera readouts were additional readouts from the other
surviving vehicles and a thermal scanner. Due to the heat of the jungle it was nearly
impossible to differentiate between the wildlife and the jungle, but not completely
impossible. She then saw Vega climb up to her and join her on the roof of the vehicle,
“We lost five men from what I can tell, the crew from the missing amphibious
vehicle. Presumed dead, I radioed coordinates for a rendezvous, no reply. Along with it,
one pursuit hummer and the heavy class support vehicle the Amphibious was housing.
Along with that nearly all of the samples from the cargo tow.”
Anne kept her eyes on the monitors, “We were lucky.”
Vega shot her a look, “Excuse me? We nearly lost everything we came here for
and five lives!”
Anne never broke her gaze, “I told Dodgson what would happen if he didn’t listen
to me. And I told all of you, minimal samples, two to three animals max. And you didn’t
listen, and now five people are dead.”
Vega crossed his arms, thinking back on her words. “I was under orders, Dodgson
needed more samples and like it or not, he’s holding the keys to get us all out of here.”
Anne shook her head, “Blame whoever you need to then, but this isn’t on my
hands. But now that you know you need to listen to me, are we on track to where I
ordered?”
Vega glanced at the navigation readouts on the monitors, “The maintenance roads?
Yes, we are on track. I don’t think we are going to recover what we lost in compounds or
genetics labs, everything in there has rotted or has tuned to dirt by now.”
“We aren’t going to the compound.” Anne coldly replied.
Vega raised an eyebrow, “What? Why? Are we still in route to the aviary then? Or
are we going to track another herd to…”
“We aren’t doing any of those things.” Anne interrupted, “The big one, from the
water, it’s on our tail now. We showed it that if it follows us it gets a meal and now its
going to track us till its fed again or…”
Anne’s words trailed off as Vega snapped her back into their current conversation,
“Or what? Anne what were you going to say? We leave?”
Anne sat up eyeing one of the screens, the thermal, as she saw one of the hummers
veer off towards another large heat reading.

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 “Who is that? What are they doing?”
Vega turned to the monitor, “It’s one of the pursuit parties, they probably saw a
fallen or injured animal, to take samples from.”
Anne shot up from her seat as she turned frantically to him,
“Tell them to break off now! Do you hear me, break off now! Dammit, where are
we, don’t be the long grass fields, don’t be the long grass fields…”

The Humvee mowed down trails of long grass with its bumper as two men on
board readied their guns. They kept their eyes on the target ahead, it was big but wasn’t
moving, an easy target for collections if it was injured or better yet already dead. The car
began to slow as they came up onto the beast, a Parasaurolophus. It was in fact already
dead as the men checked their guns.
One of them grabbed a samples kit as he climbed off the car and walked towards
the dead carcass. Pulling out a syringe he began to draw blood as he radioed back to one
of the other vehicles.
“Copy convoy two, this is Pursuit four. We have contact, subject is dead but still
fresh. We are extracting samples as we speak, we’ll be back in three minutes.”
Static over the radio buzzed as another man’s voice sounded, “Copy that, hey man
we are getting orders now for you guys to rejoin group. So, I guess you should drop what
you’re doing? Copy?”
The man was focused on his work in front of him as he pressed around the big
animals flesh trying to find a vein. He then finally found one as he began drawing blood,
trying to speak into his radio at the same time.
“Copy that, I’m already taking blood when I’m done though we’ll double back and
rejoin.”
Behind him a large figure goes air born as it jumps towards the vehicle and grabs
one of the men right out of the car. The other men react as they shout and call him to get
back.
The blood vial still imbedded into the animals flesh, the man saw a larger shadow
fall over him. He looked up and saw a huge creature with claws and teeth hovering. The
creature jumped down roaring, blood splattering over the vial still stuck into the dead
animals carcass.

Anne could only watch the monitor from afar as dozens of heat signatures
swarmed the vehicle. There were a few muzzle flashes, but it did nothing to stop them.
Anne threw her communications headset down as she angrily got out of the cockpit and

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stood up, turning the big mounted gun towards the vehicle. Vega joined her as he shouted
on the radio,
“Men down, I repeat men down! Watch the monitors for any hits on hostiles. I
repeat these are predatory, lethal rounds!”
The driver’s voice roared back, “Do we stop? Do we assist?”
Anne shot Vega a look as he read her thoughts, he looked down, the decision
weighing on him as he shouted back into the radio, “Negative, don’t stop. This whole
area has hostiles, don’t stop.”
Anne turned back to her gun as she lined up the sights with the Hummer in the
distance. It was about 70 feet out, she could make out a glisten of metal against the sea of
greens and browns that made up the long grass fields when she looked up from the scope,
there was something wrong. All the animals were gone, and only one man was left on the
roof shooting randomly into the grass. Anne’s eyes widened as she jumped off the gunner
position. Running to Vega she grabbed him,
“We need to get off the roof!”

The man continued to fire wildly into the long grass from the roof of the hummer.
Everyone else was taken, leaving him as the last man standing. Seeing the rest of the
convoy in the distance he waved, trying to flag them over as he kept the gun sights close.
He then spotted eyes in the grass as he shot towards them. The figures ran as he spotted
more eyes, and more eyes. He fired again and again but soon stopped, noticing they
weren’t attacking, they were simply watching.
A huge shadow overhead then caught his attention as he slowly looked up. Giant
wings enveloped the entire canopy as a huge animal swooped down, in an instant it
grabbed the man and carried him away. The eyes from the canopy continued to look on
from the shelter of the long grass as the shadow disappeared into the sky.
Anne and Vega were inside the control area of the large armored vehicle as she
walked over to the monitor feed. She looked at the video, seeing the man was no longer
on the roof of the hummer. She turned over to the man watching the feed, Dom, as she
nudged him, “What happened?”
Dom stared at the monitor, his eyes blinking in unbelief, “It just, flew down. Just
came in and, took him.”
Anne had a seat as she grabbed a radio and talked into it,
“This is Anne, the only person trying to keep you all from being food. To
everyone in the convoy, close the canopies, lock down everything and if you have a roof
stay under it. A pack of Raptors just took down a Hummer because they went out alone.

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And now we have wings in the sky to worry about. Keep the convoy close, we are on our
way to find cover. Over and out.”
She then threw the radio down in frustration as she rubbed the temples on her
head, turning to Vega.
“So, some good news bad news. Good news is, we found the first alpha predator,
bad news is, this pack of raptors we just ran into, it’s his pack of raptors. And now, they
are also tracking us because once again, you people just can’t seem to listen!”
Vega looked sheepish, like a boy being scolded as he eyed the thermal feed, a
larger signal moving among the others in the dense long grass fields, the larger thermal
readout no doubt being their fabled quarry…the Alpha.
“How many packs of those things are on this island?” Vega asked.
Anne couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, is one pack not enough? We’ll you’ll be
unhappy to know there’s over five packs of raptors, each containing in between five to
fifteen animals. But lucky us, we got the big pack with the first alpha organism. So
thanks to amateur stupidity, a trail of blood, and people willing to take the company
initiative, we have nearly every type of predator on this island trailing us.”
Dom shook his head, “Wait but, what was that thing in the sky? I mean, I thought
we were still miles away from the aviary compound right?”
Anne turned to him, “Yes, we are. But it was only a matter of time before those
things in there got out. And once again, luck isn’t on our side because we just found out
how far their range is.”
Vega continued to watch the video feed, “Are there any more of them?”
Anne nodded, “Oh yes, they’ve had two decades to breed, all the animals here
have. But that’s not the real question here, the real question is, are you ready to start
listening yet?”
Vega could feel Anne’s eyes burning into his as he nodded, “Yes, what’s the
plan?”
Anne pointed to the digital map of the island, “We stay the course, we get to the
maintenance road where I’ll use my clearance keys to get us into the underground
tunnels. Then we make our way over to the mountain. The tunnels will get us away from
the ones in the sky, at least off their trail. We still have the raptors and the big one to
worry about. If we are lucky, we will loose them too. Or they each kill each other. But
incase neither of those things happen and lady luck continues to evade us…”
“What is the next plan? If those things don’t happen.” Vega pressed.
“Well for one I think it’s time for you to be useful and arrange our transport out of
here no? Initiate whatever Dodgson’s aerial plan was, being we sure as hell aren’t going

105
to make the coast. As for my backup plan, the mountain is the key. He lives there, he
might be able to take care of at least one of our problems.”
Dom eyed the map, “Who is ‘He’?”
Anne eyed the video closely, “The other Alpha.”

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 CHAPTER 14
CATCH AND RELEASE

Lex was on the radio still inside of the veterinary unit as she exchanged
communications with O’Brien, “And what about Dodgson?”
The radio crackled, “No sign ma’am. But they did find two assets, tagged and
bagged. Do we do a deal or the usual incident report.”
Lex paced around, she gazed briefly at Ian, still hard at work. “No, try the deal. I
have enough incident reports to file at this point. How many casualties did you say
again?”
“They couldn’t get an exact estimate. A few of them were found by the river
though. Others were found next to the damaged amphibious. Partial remains.”
Ian’s attention shot over to Lex, “Wait, did he say partial, partial remains?”
Lex turned to him, “What is it?”
Ian got up and waked over to her, “Partial remains means predation. Predation
means possible saliva, I hate to sound morbid but, I need those remains.”
Lex eyed him, then turned back to the radio. “O’Brien tell your men to bag the
remains, as much as they can without putting themselves at risk.”
Ian came in close to Lex as he also began to speak, “O’Brien, this is Ian. Agent
Malcolm, tell your men to use the quarantine kits in their vehicles. No direct contact, we
don’t know if the saliva from those remains is the trigger for the pathogen! Also be sure
to keep your men from any direct contact with the, the assets.”

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 “Copy that, O’Brien out.”
Lex put the radio down, her face still very close to Ian’s as he slowly turned away,
clearly lost in thought. Lex lingered a bit, finally following him to his workstation.
“So, human remains huh? How does this change quarantine?”
“For now it doesn’t.” Ian replied, “Those men know the quarantine drills, when
they arrive everything goes into the hazmat lab. If Rob’s theory holds any merit though,
I’ll know once I get my hands on the saliva samples. Still, we don’t take any risks after
this point. Especially you.”
Lex faced Ian straight on, “Why? Was it my tests? What did you find?”
Ian took in the intensity in her eyes, “Test? Oh no, sorry, your blood tests are fine.
Whatever version of the pathogen you were exposed to as children was long since passed
from your bloodstream. If you had any trace of the pathogen to begin with. I still don’t
think any of you did. No its becoming evident this strain didn’t become active per say till
all the animals on both islands began to, co exist, interact? Even mutate? Robert noted
some of the animals are showing signs of physical change and mutation from generation
one cloning back in the nineties.”
Lex continued to directly address him, “But you said me, especially, to keep away
from these new materials if they held the viral strain. Why?”
Ian shifted almost uncomfortably, “Sorry that was stupid of me. It’s just, well like
you said, we need to look out for each other right?”
Lex took a step back as Ian retreated back to his seat. He sat there for a moment,
as if embarrassed. Lex squeezed his arm, as if to reassure him they were fine as she
walked past him to the holding pen.
The baby trike honked as she knelt down, petting the animal. Robert was off to the
side jotting down notes and writing up readouts.
“Its pretty amazing,” He started, “that this animal imprinted so closely too you. I
mean no doubt the scent of the male trike was on you but this is huge in terms of
establishing a form of social hierarchy for this species.”
Lex continued to pet it, reaching down and grabbing some food as she brought it
up to its mouth. The animal responded as it ate out of her hand.
“Have we found what’s left of the trike herd yet?”
Robert nodded, “Oh um, yes I think so. Your decision to stick close to the
maintenance and tourist roads proved ideal for establishing contact with the remainder of
the herbivore herds around this area. It also solves the riddle of why the initial plan to
keep encounters with most of the animals at a minimum failed initially.”
Lex kept her attention on the trike, its big eyes reflecting her own face as she
continued to pet and feed it,

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 “Why is that?” She asked.
Robert walked over to one of the monitors as he brought up a map of the entire
island.
“Turns out just like in national forest parks like, oh say Yellowstone and so on,
when factors like roads and hiking trails are introduced its not unusual for the local fauna
to also use them to move around. Example, seeing herds of buffalo in the middle of a
road in Colorado, most large herd based animals also find using our artificial roads well,
convenient to migrate. For this island, it’s convenient for the Sauropods and the
Ceratopsian species, while the Hadrosaurs and other fauna stick to the plains and the
wetlands, rarely using the roads.”
Lex nodded, she then turned away from the trike and turned her attention to the
map as she studied it. “What about the predators? What is their ideal hunting territory?”
“It’s wherever their prey are naturally.” Robert answered, “I mean, normally, until
Biosyns hunting party started to change things. Most of the herd animals retreated back
into the wetlands and the plains while Biosyn took the river further inland. There seems
to be a predator signature following them, we know there’s at least one big apex predator,
the Rex. I don’t know what else it could be other then the Rex.”
Lex eyed the map, a flood of childhood memories filling her mind’s eye as she
saw a tree with eggs, footprints.
“Raptors Robert, we got raptors on this island too.” She stated.
Robert shook his head, “But I read the report incident from when you were last
here, from what you told me two of the three raptors were killed by the Rex, and the third
was trapped. Locked in a refrigeration unit? I mean even if it managed to get out, one
raptor trailing the Biosyn convoy wont…”
“There are more raptors.” Lex interjected. The words reached Malcolm’s ears as
he looked up and turned to her,
“How can you be sure?” He asked.
Lex leaned up against a work table as she recounted her memories, “When we, my
brother and Dr Grant, were trekking through the jungle we ran into a nest. I’m sure it’s
not the only one, but they had hatched and when Grant saw them, he told us what they
were. Baby raptors, I guess while we were out here on our tour, Biosyns spy, Nedry, had
sabotaged the systems security. In a last ditch effort to restore the systems and the
security measured they reset all the parks systems. This meant all the fences went down,
including the raptor pen. It never went back online. The raptors escaped, laid eggs, and
then continued to hunt the rest of us down.”
Robert nervously scratched his head, just huffing a word,
“Amazing.”

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 Both Lex and Ian shot him a look, feeling their gaze Robert nervously laughed,
“I mean, yeah its bad news, I guess, but it’s also pretty remarkable. The resilience
of such animals, I don’t know I just can’t help but marvel at it.”
Lex turned her attention to the map as she continued, “Not only this but while the
park was operational the incubation area at the Visitors Center was also up and running,
hatching new animals. Along with them were a clutch of Raptor eggs. In fact Alan told
me and Tim he personally held a baby raptor just before we went out on the tour. I don’t
know if they could survive on their own, but when I left this island, there were more then
just the three adult raptors.”
Ian looked over to the chart of known animals on this island that was mounted
against one of the vehicles walls,
“Other then the Rex and the Raptors, are there any other predatory organisms on
this island?”
Robert thought it over, “The two primary apex predators I believe are the Rex and
the Velociraptors, other animals are mid sized theropods, like Metriacanthosaurs. A
species of pterosaur, smaller then the species reported on the other island. I think I
mentioned it earlier, but a lot has happened between now and then I guess.
The ones on the other island, are Pteranodons. Pteranodon longiceps to be more
specific. The ones here, I believe are a species of Ludodactylus, something only recently
know but that’s the issue with farming DNA and coding hybrids at InGen, we would
always run into cases of cross contamination. Hence why the Pteranodons have teeth, and
these animals here on this island are smaller. Not that they are confined to this island,
being they, well, fly.
Ian raised an eyebrow, “Flight, well, ok. That should be fun to deal with. What
else is there?”
Robert continued to observe the satellite readouts as he combed through the
species roster. “On, nearly forgot, Dilophosaurus, I believe those are all the known
predators on this island.”
Ian nodded, as Lex walked over to him, “What are you thinking”
“Well, I’m trying to run the odds. I mean, in an environmental situation like this,
with an ecosystem in quarantine by isolation, factoring Roberts predatory theory for
activating the pathogen…if its one of the main predators I should have run into an active
version of the strain by now. Even with the animals sharing a symbiotic relationship with
the pathogen, it would still be active and thriving in the animals. And so far I’ve pulled
samples from nearly seventy percent of the main fauna here that would be prey items.
Some of the animals we ran into back in the fields even showed scarring from previous
attacks by predators. This means, well…”

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 “It’s not one of the main predators, the Rex or the Raptors.” Lex finished.
Ian nodded in agreement, “It’s gotta be something else. One of these other
creatures you mentioned Robert. When I get the, well, the deceased samples back from
O’Brien’s team I’ll know more. There’s a DNA database at the visitors center and the
genetics lab they have on site, I can run the tests through there to narrow down a
species.”
“You might get more then that to be honest agent Malcolm.” Robert cautiously
hinted.
He switched imagery on the map as a satellite image of the visitors center
appeared, thermal readouts glowing in response.
“According to this that seems to be prime territory for something living there.
There’s multiple readouts of various heat signatures.” Robert explained.
“Are we talking about raptors?” Lex asked.
Robert could only shrug, “I don’t know. I mean I thought the raptors here were
killed off, but with your new intel, it could be? It’s a pack of something, raptors hunt in
packs, its possible. Even the baby raptors you mentioned that were hatched there. Most
small predatory animals are born hunters, some may go through social training per say to
finesse their hunting. But, take crocs. Baby crocs are efficient hunters for prey relative to
their size from when they are little to when they are bigger. There is a period of parenting
that happens, to keep the offspring from being eaten. But the animals are well equipped
to hunt from birth. The Rexes look to have a more advance social pattern here for rearing
their young. The Raptors though, they might be just as efficient at hunting when they are
small as they are when fully grown.”
“What about the Rex?” Lex pressed.
Robert brought up more images of the map, “It looks to be content stalking the
other herds, on the opposite side of the Visitor compound.”
“And where is that exactly?” Ian asked.
Robert tapped the map, “Off the rivers’ edge, I guess it was a good thing we stuck
to the tour roads after all.”
Lex nodded as Ian hung on those words. Their thoughts were soon interrupted by
another radio call as O’Brien’s voice sounded,
“O’Brien to Vet Convoy, come in.”
Lex answered, “This is vet convoy, come in.”
“We have contact up ahead, potential drop site for the package on board.”
Robert fumbled with his radio as he spoke into it excitingly, “Hey! How many
animals? Are we sure it’s the right ones? Oh this is Robert by the way, uh, Buckland.
Over!”

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 A hint of O’Brien laughing was heard over the radio as he answered, “Yeah I hear
you Rob, and after being run over by them I’m positive these are the right ones. Should
we keep our distance? Over.”
Robert eagerly nodded, “Yes, yes we don’t want to incite another stampede. Pull
off to the side, I’ll prep the baby, or the package, over.”
Robert turned to Lex and the baby, “I, I kind of wish we had more time. I’ve
already learned so much from her.”
Lex looked over to him, “It’s a her?”
Robert nodded, “Yeah, at least I believe so. I mean earlier I took a stool sample
and got a chance to observe the genitalia.”
Ian looked over to the baby trike, as it ate more of the surrounding hay and leaves.
“Well, at least you bought her dinner first.”
Lex flashed a smile his way, Ian returned her smile with one of his own. The
vehicle itself then began to slow down as it came to a stop.

The air was warm and humid, as birds of all different types began to sing. Lex was
guiding the infant with Robert as they set down a small trough of leaves and hay. The
baby trike took to feeding as Lex continued to pet her. She then signaled for Robert to
retreat to a nearby vegetation spot as she ran her hands over the cool scaled body of the
animal for one last time. She then snuck off to the cover of a tree with Robert as O’Brien
and a two other soldiers were there to greet them, guns loaded. Lex then turned to Robert,
who looked back at her and O’Brien,
“Thanks by the way. Both of you.”
O’Brien turned to him, “What for?”
“Helping me save her, and the others.” Robert replied.
O’Brien nodded as Lex smiled, “Go ahead Rob, start the recording.”
Robert nodded as he pressed a button, from the trough an audio device began to
play emitting a low call from a recording of the triceratops. The baby reacted as she
roared in response. Ahead two of the Trikes from its herd reacted as they hastily jogged
over. Lex, Robert, and O’Brien watched in awe as they saw the huge animals move with
almost a grace to their gait. They reached the smaller trike and butted their heads,
showing affection. Rearing their heads up to look around for predators, then also began
feeding on the leaves in the trough. Lex turned to Robert,
“So, what did you name her?”
Robert turned, “I, never thought about that. Naming her.”
O’Brien chimed in, almost teasing him, “Come on now Rob, you know you named
her.”

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 Robert scratched his head, “Well, yeah I mean I did pick an informal name, while
we were in the convoy. I called her Mary. After Mary Anning, she was a prominent
paleontologist from England, was kind of a role model growing up.”
Lex nodded, “It’s a good name.”
They then all stood there, taking in the scene as the baby trike was led away by the
two other larger animals. It joined the rest of the herd, honking and galloping, clearly
happy to be among them. The rest of the Triceratops called out into the sky, as if grateful
to be rejoined with their lost family member. Robert seemed to take it in the most, as he
whispered,
“Good luck Mary.”
Lex smiled, knowing the feeling he was experiencing. She turned to head back to
the convoy, as O’Brien ordered the two men to stick with Robert as he followed Lex.
“What’s the plan now agent Murphy?”
“Same plan,” Lex answered, her demeanor changing almost instantly, “a mad dash
to the compound and the visitors center. Tell your recon team to meet up ahead where the
two roads join up just before the visitor’s center. We then take the building and Biosyn.
Have your men report all assets, samples, and materials to Malcolm’s Hazmat convoy for
analysis and quarantine. Time to wrap this whole mission up, then we hit the second
team.”

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 CHAPTER 15
Stalking

Dodgson was nervously looking around every which direction as Marcus drove
their vehicle side by side with the other. Dust kicked up every which way as Marcus
turned to Dodgson, still a nervous wreck of a man,
“Boss! Boss! What’s the plan! Are we heading back to the coast for pickup or am I
heading to the helipad for evac?”
Dodgson didn’t respond to his questions, all he did was look nervously around as
Marcus signaled the others to slow down. The car joined him as they pulled over by a
thicket of jungle, close to 30 feet away from the river bank. Dodgson finally reacted as he
turned to Marcus bewildered,
“What! No, we got to keep moving! Why did you stop!”
Marcus pulled Dodgson over to him by his collar, “Calm, down, Dodgson!”
Dodgson calmed himself a bit as Marcus pointed out towards the direction they
were heading, “What’s the plan! How do we get off this island?”
Dodgson could barely keep himself together as he began to speak, his words
carrying an edge to them,
“We, we, we need to call the ship. Yes, we need to call the ship and get the
helicopter here. It will pick me up and get me back to the boat.”
“Get all of us back to the boat right?” Marcus snapped back.

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 Dodgson blinked as he nodded, “Yes, yes all of us. We need to call the ship, the
ship!”
Marcus let Dodgson go as he retreated back to his seat. He heard one of the men
call to him from the other vehicle,
“What are we doing man?”
Marcus turned, “We need to get a call out to the ship. Where are we with
communications Johnny, did we salvage anything out of the main convoy vehicle?”
One of the men, Johnny, rummaged through the supplied in the rear of their
vehicles as he gave a thumbs up, “We got a communications unit, short wave though. We
need to boost the signal.”
Marcus nodded as he reached down and pulled a map out of the hummer’s dash.
Opening it he looked it over as he traced the river,
“I got a maintenance tower three miles north, possible relay tower. We can try to
plug in the communications unit and boost the signal.”
The men nodded when Marcus spied something in the distance. A large figure of
some kind, it was speeding towards them as Marcus swore out loud and put the engine
back into gear.
“Behind you!” He shouted.
The men turned just in time to see a huge animal jump onto the rear of the car and
bite into the roll cage. The car bucked as the men shouted and put the car into gear, the
rear tires spinning out dirt as they struggled to escape the snapping jaws of their attacker.
Johnny didn’t hesitate as he grabbed his side arm and fired blindly at the animal.
Bullets ricocheted off the chassis as a few hit the animal bluntly against its muzzle. It
reacted letting go and shaking its head, scratching at its face with two clawed fingers.
Shaking off the sensation it honed in on Marcus and Dodgson’s car as it ran after them.
Marcus was struggling to get the car into 4th gear as they closed in on 20 mph and
gaining speed. Behind them they saw the animal run after them on two huge legs. It
snapped at them with rows of serrated teeth but Marcus recognized it as the creature that
attacked them earlier.
He turned to Dodgson only to see him a panicked wreck hiding under the dash.
Marcus was going to have to do this solo and he couldn’t drive this beast and fight the
one chasing him without risking a crash. He tried to find the other car to help but it was
far ahead of him, and they had no radios.
Cursing again he looked around to see something red catch his eye from behind. It
was the horn core, it was bleeding. They left a trail a blood right back to them. Swearing
he turned to Dodgson,

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 “The horn core, it’s bleeding! We need to get rid of it! Dodgson, man the hell up
and get the horn core!”
He remained useless as Marcus eyed the review mirror. The animal was almost on
them, it was so close he could see the mouth salivating in hunger. Marcus grinded the
gears as the car finally hit fourth, there was a slight boost in speed but it wasn’t fast
enough, they had only seconds before this thing was on top of them.
Marcus eyed what was ahead of them, it was a clearing, about 60 feet before they
had to navigate through the jungle again. Taking a breath Marcus placed one foot on the
steering wheel as he tried to keep it steady, he then stretch his body out as he reached
backwards for the horn rattling in the back of the hummer. His hands struggled to snatch
it as it bounced back and forth, the hummer itself began to sway as his foot painfully tried
to keep it steady. The car veered to the right as the jaws of their attacker snapped getting
nothing but empty air. Roaring in frustration it turned its head and snapped again as the
car veered to the left, nothing but air. It roared as its binocular eyes began to target the
tiny man splayed out on the car, Marcus.
Marcus yelled as he reached out with all his might. His hand caught the horn as he
turned to see the jaws of the animal nearly on him. With a fraction of a thought he threw
the horn into the mouth of the animal as it caught it and fell back. It roared in victory as it
gnawed on the core, chewing on it and lapping up the marrow from inside as if it was a
chew toy.
Marcus screamed in victory himself as he struggled to right himself back into the
drivers’ seat. He reached for the steering wheel as they gained more and more distance on
the animal in their review.
Marcus smiled as he spotted the trees up ahead, the Hummer ahead of them was
already slowing down as they started to trek their way through. Marcus threw his foot on
the brake to slow their own car, no reaction.
The smile on Marcus disappeared as he hit the brakes again, nothing. Marcus
began to sway the vehicle as he kept his foot off the gas, they were slowing down but at
40 mph he knew they we going to have a rough stop. Dodgson emerged from under the
dash as he looked out ahead of them,
“Whats going on!”
Marcus pulled his seatbelt over as he turned to him, “You might want to buckle
up!”
Dodgson struggled with the seatbelt as Marcus downshifted and hit the emergency
brake, the car bucked as they passed by the first few trees. Vines then began to catch
them as they snapped from the car’s acceleration. The vehicle swayed with each vine that
caught them as Marcus tried to keep the car from slamming into nearby trees. They were

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down to 30mph but still going through everything way too fast. The front tire then
bucked as it slammed into a fallen log, sending the front of the car veering upwards.
Marcus and Dodgson yelled in shock as the car came back down hard, nearly bucking
them out of their seats as it turned sideways. Marcus covered his head with his hands as
the car slammed into a huge tree trunk stopping them dead in their tracks as they both
blacked out.

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 CHAPTER 16
Sky Drill

Anne was attentively watching the digital map from the inside of their convoy as
she spied Vega a few feet from her talking into the satellite phone she saw earlier. She
eyed the phone, suspect of something as pings continued to sound from outside.
“What is that? I’ve been hearing it for a good 10 minutes now.” Dom asked.
Anne turned to him, “It’s the Pteranodons, the flying ones. They’ve been pecking
at us since we left the long grass fields.”
Dom looked over to the video feed from the pursuit vehicles, “That’s crazy, what
about the others out there?”

From inside the Hummers the men ducked as large beaks ripped into the interior
of the car. Screaming at being attacked, they tried to avoid being skewered to death from
the keratin hardened rostrum of the huge animals beak. It was shaped like a dulled knife,
as it ripped into the canopy roofs of the Hummers who were unfortunate to have them.
Occasionally one would snap and open roaring in aggravation as rows of needle sharp
teeth revealed themselves trying to peck at whatever they could get ahold of. All the
soldiers could do was swerve away as best they could as they bucked the car to try to
evade any further attacks. The maneuvers did little to stop the huge flying beasts
however. What animals simply didn’t take to the air with their gigantic wings, just to

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descended upon them again, were fast attached to the canopy roll bar with folded wings
and clawed curling hands.
Together they continued to swarm the vehicles, showing no signs of letting up any
time soon. All the men could do was try to stay with the convoy in a cloud of claws and
teeth and wings.

Back inside the amphibious Anne looked on, “They’re doing what they can.
Where are we on the maintenance roads? How far?”
Dom looked at the map readouts, tracking their position, “We’re almost there!
Give or take five minutes!”
Anne nodded as she looked over to two of the men inside with them, “Report to
the other vehicles. Remote operations on the gunner towers, lay down cover fire for the
pursuit vehicles and give us some space for when we get ready to make a run for those
tunnels.”
The men nodded as they seated themselves into chairs and began to remotely
operate the gunner cannons.
Overhead on top of the vehicles the guns came alive as large shadows began to
scatter in response. The swarm of Pteranodons took to the sky above as they tried to
avoid the little stinging objects flying after them.
The men in the hummers noticed the attacks stop as the things attacking them
ascended to the air. There was a moment of relief as they kept their focus on driving, and
staying under the cover fire the Amphibious was supplying. A few men, finally able to
breathe, took to caring for wounds and lacerations along their arms and shoulders just
now being noticed, their minds coming down from the initial adrenaline.
Back inside Anne turned to Dom, “I want the drones up and ready for
deployment.”
Dom took a moment, “We’re, gonna attack them?”
Anne shook her head, “Don’t be silly, just get them prepped. Make sure their guns
are armed and ready to go. We’re only going to have one shot.”
Dom did as he was told as Anne turned over to see Vega set aside his satellite
phone. He then turned to one of the other men on communications,
“Did you make contact with Dodgson or the other team?” he asked.
The man shook his head, “No, we’re not getting any radio signal from over there.
But I did reach our rendezvous vessel. It’s a Puerto Rican Naval ship, one of the ones
making up the blockade. The contact’s name is Juarez, one of the main captains of the
vessel. Here’s the codes for the extraction plans.”

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 Anne watched intently as she spied the numbers on the paper as they were slipped
to Vega. He took them when he noticed he was being watched. Looking up Anne looked
away and drew her attention to one of the monitors, seeing the assaults from the
Pterosaurs had stopped for now. She then felt Vega walk up next to her as he leaned in,
“How are we doing?”
Anne looked up, “We’re doing good, all things considered. Laying down cover
fire for when we reach the tunnels. I will admit I’m missing the additional support from
our missing Amphibious. How about our extraction, have you got it all settled?”
Vega smiled, “Yes, have all the intel we need right here.”
Vega patted a breast pocket on his shirt that was zipped up. He then reached up
and grabbed his AK 47 as he checked the chamber, “So, shall we get to it then?”
Anne smiled as she nodded. The two of them then began stuffing supplies and
setting up packs as they scavenged what they could from the inside of the vehicle. Anne
packed food rations, spare ammunition, and a communications relay with a portable
satellite. Vega handed her another container as she glanced over it, it was marked:

BIO CLASS SAMPLES

Anne laughed as she hefted it back to Vega, “Sorry love, I’m paid to keep us alive.
You guys are paid for this nonsense. You want to make your boss proud, be my guest.”
She then walked past Vega who just shook his head as he hefted the packs to the
other men.
Anne walked over to Dom who was monitoring the maps intently, “What’s the
word?”
“It’s straight ahead. Do we stop here or drive straight through?” Dom asked.
“No we stop here, launch the drones, remote operation for five minutes then set
them to hover. Park this beast parallel against the tunnel, we’re making another
blockade!”
Dom nodded as he radioed the orders to the other vehicles. They all began to slow
down as one of the amphibious vehicles parked parallel to the entrance of a tunnel. It
wasn’t big enough to block the tunnel completely, but it was enough to mostly block the
entrance as the roofs to all the amphibious vehicles opened up and drones buzzed to life,
flying upwards.
A total of 6 drones then began to fly overhead as each of the pilots in the
amphibious vehicle tried in vain to lock onto the flying animals overhead as they buzzed

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the drones at breakneck speed. On the video feed Anne watched as the animals flew by.
Their larger leathery wings flapped as they took on a slight amber tone as the sun shone
through the thick skin membrane for each of the wings. The heads were long and covered
on a bone/keratin sheath along the beak as dozens of teeth flashed as they snapped. Along
the back of the skull was a slender bone crest as it displayed slightly brighter colors from
the rest of the animal.
One of them reacted to a buzz of gun fire as it flapped the powerful wings and
dove towards the machine with a surprising grace for something so large. The drones
themselves were roughly three feet across and against these flying behemoths they looked
insect like. Ann continued to observe the video feed as one of them snapped its jaws
dangerously close to the little machine. Dom turned the drone to try to avoid the attack
only for the machine to spin around and see too late a giant mouth descend upon it. As it
was snatched up and taken out Anne barked at Dom.
“Tell all the men to go to auto pilot and everyone begin evac. Head to the entrance
of the tunnel, I want one team outfitting the gunner barricades at the entrance of the
tunnel while I work on the security codes and the main gate!”
Dom gave a thumbs up as he shouted the orders over the radio, and then marched
in front of the other soldiers as they all stood there fitted with packs. Vega was at the lead
of them as Anne walked past them and unhinged the door. She then kicked it open as she
winked, “Shall we?”
Jumping outside Anne led the men against the chassis of the amphibious vehicle
as she grabbed her gun out of her side holster and sprinted full speed. Bits of drone fell
out of the sky threatening to crash on top of their heads as they began to see the
Pterosaurs draw closer to them, roaring as they buzzed them overhead.
Anne shot upwards as did the others as they rounded the front of the vehicle and
started to squeeze through, one by one, in between the vehicles and the walls of the
tunnel. Anne and Vega stood behind as they shot upwards towards the sky while the
soldiers from the other vehicles began to make their way towards them. The Pterosaurs,
having destroyed the last of the drones, began to dive bomb the remaining soldiers as
they attacked from all sides swarming them. Their huge bodies grabbing their packs from
behind and lifting them up into the sky, only to drop them sending them sprawling into
the ground. Anne tried as hard as she could to stay focused as dull thuds sounded around
her, the bodies of the men as they collided with the paved road.
More men from the adjacent Amphibious reached Anne and Vega as they hurried
them into the tunnels. The Pterosaurs began to land on the ground as they started to
advance and attack the mercenaries they plucked off the ground into the sky, and then
dropped to their doom. Those who died on impact they simply fed on. Those who lived

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cried out and tried to crawl away, as the creatures stalked after them methodically on all
fours.
Dom and the others observed what they could amid all the chaos, the sight of the
Pteranodons looking like some strange alien being. The wings were folded up, as claws
from their arms scraped at the ground as they walked on both their hands and legs in a
strange kind of hobbling gallop. The giant head that was capable of spearing through
flesh bobbed forward and back as the creatures turned their heads to the side to see if a
body was dead before feasting. The people that survived, they did quick work of as they
were assaulted both from the ground and the sky as others swarmed in to feast as well.
Anne fired where she could but she knew it was futile. Vega gestured to run out to
assist the men but Anne grabbed his arm, shaking her head. Before Vega could protest
Anne turned and grabbed Vega, sending them sprawling inside of the tunnel just as the
front of one of the hummers crashed into the gap. Its mangled body sealed the tunnel at
ground level but still left space from above and around the sides where the tunnel curved.
Anne and Vega looked up to see a huge Pteranodon fly down and land on the
vehicle, perching on the roof on all fours. Anne backed away slowly, as did Vega as the
Pteranodon eyed them, carefully. A rustle from inside the vehicle grabbed its attention as
it turned and found the man who was behind the wheel. It roared as it drove its beak into
the canvas roof of the vehicle, tearing holes into it as it finally snapped up the man and
dragged him out by his shoulder. The man screamed as the creature threw him to the
ground out in the open, away from the shelter of the tunnel itself.
Anne looked on as the man tried to crawl away, his shoulder slashed open and his
legs clearly broken from the impact of the car crash as the huge creature jumped down,
and stalked after him. The man continued to crawl in a panic as Anne tried to take aim,
both of them then spied another large shadow descend on him, another Pterosaur from
above. The two creatures then finished their work as they tore into the lifeless body of the
soldier. Anne ducked away just as another large beak snapped towards her. Gathering
herself she jogged to the side of the amphibious vehicle facing the inside of the tunnel,
helping the others offload three huge Gatling sentries.
“We need these set up ASAP! All three facing the gaps in between the tunnel and
the amphibious. Motion sensors and heat signature readouts on, buy ourselves as much
time as we can!”
Anne then walked over to the main entry gate to the tunnel as she reached into her
rear pocked and dug out a hard case. Cracking the hard case open she revealed three to
four security cars as she went through each of them, looking to see which one was closest
to fitting.

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 “So, how are we doing huh?” Vega pressed as he shot at the many shadows
peering into the gaps between the amphibious and the tunnel. “I don’t think the barricade
is working as well as it did back on the shore eh?”
Anne shook her head, “It’s not for them, the guns are for them. Tell your men to
hurry with them won’t you? I need to concentrate on this for a bit.”
Vega snarked as he shouted at the men. They hurried as fast as they could as they
mounted each of the guns to huge tripods, bolting them into the concrete road with
ramsets. Fixing them to the ground the soldiers then brought the guns up live as they set
up the readouts and set them to autonomous. The guns whirled to life, tracking the
slightest motion as they spit out gun fire in loud bursts.
The animals behind the vehicle reacted as they ducked behind the armor of the
amphibious. For a few moments they tested the machines, peering through the crashed
vehicles only to be met with gun fire. They tested their range, peering out in another area
as they smashed through vehicle windows, again to be met with gunfire. Soon they grew
weary of the noisy stinging objects as they set their attention back to the fallen
mercenaries on the other side of the amphibious. Vega watched as the guns settled down,
moving side to side for more signs of motion but finding none. Vega nodded pleased as
he turned to Anne,
“Well, your turn.”
A groan of metal resounded in the tunnel as the huge metallic doors of the tunnel
whined and opened up, sending a wave of stale air blasting through as Anne looked on.
Together her and the other soldiers shined their lights deep into the tunnel, seeing only a
few yards ahead of them as they began to make their way deep into the labyrinth ahead.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Dodgson felt a throbbing in his head as he reached up to see blood. He was

bleeding from his forehead. He smacked it against the dash on impact, as he looked over
to see the man with him slowly coming too. Dodgson looked to his right, then his left,
they were surrounded by forest. He tried to move, his whole back ached at the attempt as
he struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt.
Dodgson’s eyes fell towards the back of the Humvee, in all the chaos of being
attacked he didn’t notice what Marcus did to get the thing attacking them to back off.
Now he was seeing what happened with clarity, and it cost him. The horn core was gone,
all that was left was only one of what used to be a whole holding container of sample
boxes. His team here on this island nearly lost everything.

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 Frustrated, Dodgson winced as he struggled to free himself from the passenger
seat. Around the car he spotted a portion of the Humvee that had been bent and broken to
a jagged edge. Whining out loud Dodgson gritted his teeth as he moved towards the
jagged piece of metal and started rubbing the belt against it, trying to cut it loose. The
metal did its work as strands of the belt began to fray and separate. He was close to
cutting through when a snap caught his attention. He whipped his head around to see it,
the thing that had attacked him.
The bone still in its jaws the creature salivated all over the horn core, lapping up
marrow. It walked around, almost silently as it studied the jungle a few feet away from
where he was. Dodgson panicked as he rubbed the belt faster against the metal trying to
separate it. It frayed more and more but the noise was also louder as he turned to see the
animal swing its head towards them. Dodgson ducked as much as he could, hoping it
didn’t see him. Snaps in the forest began to sound, as the creature began to make its way
over to them. It growled and huffed at the air, taking in huge breaths as its nostrils flared,
trying to catch a sent. The dingy smell of gasoline and car oil masked everything around
the large car however, and smoke began to rise from the car, as its eyes began to water.
Content with the morsel in its mouth if huffed as it turned and ran back towards the
opposite direction.
Dodgson didn’t dare look up, even after he heard the thing move away from him.
It was a while before he even dared to breathe as a moaning caught his attention.
Marcus felt pain all over as he jarred himself awake. Lucky for him the car
crashed on the passenger side, not lucky for Dodgson as he turned and saw the man
huddled down, but awake, trying to work his seatbelt loose against a piece of jagged
metal. Marcus roused up but Dodgson held a shaking finger over his mouth, signaling
him to be quiet.
Marcus paused, looking around, hearing everything. The call of birds filled the air,
as did the steam of the jungle as it rose from the ground in almost a faint hiss. But what
caught him was the sound of footsteps. Somewhere off in the distance as the sound drew
closer to them. Marcus didn’t waste any time as he reached down and pulled his K-BAR
from his boot, rapidly cutting into his own belt as it easily slipped away in two pieces. He
then picked himself up out of the seat, everything ached but adrenaline was doing most of
the work as he reached over and sliced Dodgson’s belt. He then looked behind them, the
supplies was spread everywhere from the impact of the crash and the attack by the
animal.
He looked around, trying to find anything for a weapon, nothing. Swearing he got
up and out of the vehicle through the driver’s door, the only free door not pinned by the

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tree as he reached out and grabbed Dodgson by the arm, nearly pulling him out by his
own strength of will.
Dodgson sprawled onto the ground landing on his belly. His head shot up in a
panic as he looked around, eyes wide as Marcus grabbed him by the shirt and picked him
up to his feet,
“Come on now boss, we still need you alive.”
He then began to trek with Dodgson away from the car when Dodgson spotted the
last remaining case still nestled inside of the back of the Hummer.
“No!” he shouted as he broke away from Marcus and staggered towards the rear of
the car. Marcus looked over to him,
“Are you out of your mind?!”
Dodgson didn’t listen as dropped to his knees, exhaustion starting to grab ahold of
him. He then crawled towards the Humvee as he gripped the side of the car and pulled
himself upwards. Marcus heard the jungle begin to snap as he turned, something was
indeed coming for them. He looked to his hands, only his knife, no other weapons.
Dodgson finally got up over the side of the chassis of the car as he reached for the
case carrying the precious samples. He stretched as far as he could, his fingers finally
gripping the edges of the case as he pulled the box towards him.
Marcus was going off pure instinct as he reached out and grabbed a fallen bare
branch. Holding it up like a bat Marcus poised his other hand wielding the knife as he
braced for whatever was about to break through the jungle to meet them. The last few
brushes fell when Marcus roared ready to attack, he then paused as Dodgson spun around
grasping the samples case screaming. He saw Marcus laughing as he was greeted by two
other soldiers, the last of his team who were in the other car.
“Never thought we would have found you.” Johnny proclaimed, “You’re lucky
you had him with you. If it wasn’t for his pick up codes in that head of his we would have
been long gone.”
Marcus laughed, “Why do you think he was my choice for carpool buddy huh?
Help him out, where’s the other car?”
One of the other men walked towards Dodgson as the Johnny answered, “It’s up
ahead but it won’t get much further in this over growth. It’s all dense forest but I think
we’re near, towards the main compound. Saw what looked like the remains of the main
structure peeking up over the tree line, about 10 yards that way.”
Marcus looked over to where Johnny pointed as the other mercenary finally
reached Dodgson. Dodgson’s face was still filed with terror as the man gestured with his
hands,
“Hey, you’re ok man Calvary is…here…”

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 He paused, something wet and slimy hit his hands as he looked at them, a bit of
red oozing within it as he looked up to see the creature that was stalking both of them
looming over, sniffing them. Both of them yelled as the animal dropped the horn core and
snapped at the other man, picking him up off his feet and then thrashing his body around
in its jaws as everyone yelled in reaction.
Dodgson ran to the others, Marcus shouted as he and Johnny ran into the jungle
after Dodgson. The animal saw their movement as it dropped the limp body in its jaws
and ran after them. The men struggled to gain some footing as leaves and plants and
vines grabbed at them and slapped them in the face. They were running blind, as Johnny
fired back towards the jungle.
Marcus screamed at him, “No! Save your bullets, wait till you get a clear shot!”
The animal was moving much faster through the jungle then they were, as it
bobbed and weaved in between huge trunks of trees and over growth. It was nearly upon
them as Dodgson, Marcus, and Johnny reached the side of a huge rock structure. They
stopped, contemplating which side of the rock face to run when the animal burst out of
the jungle after them.
Turning to face it, the animal roared, pleased to have tracked them down. Marcus
signaled, “When it charges, open fire.”
Johnny readied his rifle, as they all waited.
The creature didn’t take a step towards them, instead it sniffed at the air, almost in
a worried huff as it moved its head side to side, opening its mouth as if tasting the mist
itself. Then, to everyone’s surprise, it took a step back. Dodgson watched as the large
yellow eyes looked around quickly, not at any of them but something they didn’t yet see
themselves. As if blocked by some invisible barrier. Marcus caught it too as he signaled
the mercenary to lower his weapon. The animal then turned its eyes to them, it hissed at
them, a low grumble as it turned on its heels and made its way back into the jungle. All of
them just watched as the creature slunk its way back into the trees, quietly.
Positive it was gone Dodgson felt himself gasping for air. He didn’t even know he
was holding his breath as he began to felt queasy. Using one hand to steady himself,
Dodgson vomited into the brush as he collapsed onto his knees. Marcus looked over,
barely showing any concern as he looked back to the other man, “How much ammo do
you have left in that thing?”
“I, I don’t know.” Johnny replied, “I can’t believe that thing got Hawkins man! I
just…” Johnny paused, as he calmed himself down. It took him a moment as he finally
looked down at his gun and popped out the gun magazine,
“I got maybe, half a clip. Fifteen rounds if that.”

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 Marcus nodded as he reached down and pulled Johnny’s sidearm out of its holster,
“I’m gonna need to borrow this.”
Johnny nodded as Marcus checked the magazine, it was full. It was a desert eagle,
an ammo eater, if he needed to use it, it would have to be for very very special occasions.
Marcus secured it to his side as he signaled Johnny, “Alright, show me where this
building is. I’m ready to get off this damn island.”

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 CHAPTER 17
Roberta

They were ten feet into the tunnel, small trace amounts of sunlight peered into the
chasm of concrete in select spots every 20 or so feet from overhead. Ventilation holes,
most of them overgrown with vines and vegetation as Anne made her way to a security
checkpoint booth. It was weathered, but surprisingly in good condition as she rummaged
through the objects in front of her. Vega made his way over as he leaned in, what seemed
to be just habit by now between the two of them. Anne didn’t even wait for him to ask a
question as she began talking,
“If we are lucky, the controls here are running live from off the geothermal power.
I just need to restart the circuits, hopefully the batteries for this whole area aren’t eaten
alive or crusted over with acid.”
“Why would it be different here then anywhere else on this island?” Vega asked,
“Do the tunnels offer some kind of preservation?”
Anne nodded, “Very good, this place is mostly sheltered by the elements out there.
These are mostly emergency bunkers, made to last. Meaning minimal maintenance. Even
after two decades there should still be a good chance that…”
A small light buzzed overhead only to shatter from the sudden surge of electricity.
The control lights also lit up, as they turned to see a traffic stopper raise up in response.

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 Anne smiled, “About time something went right. Now let’s see if the gate controls
are still responsive, we were lucky they opened at all. Most of those mechanisms corrode
and jam.”
Anne hit the controls as the huge gate started to descend slowly. Anne and Vega
then noticed a huge shadow begin to form on the other side of the entrance, something
was assaulting the blockade. The vehicle rocked to life as the guns whirled, sending out
bursts of gun fire.
“It followed us.” she whispered.
Vega looked over to her, “The one from the water?”
Anne nodded, together they watched nervously as the gate dropped lower and
lower. Ten feet from the ground, nine feet from the ground, seven feet from the ground,
one side then jammed as it grinded against the frame. Anne swore as she halted the drop
of the gate. She clicked on the control to raise the gate, the side that didn’t catch
responded but the other side was wedged in, it didn’t budge.
Towards the entrance the huge green eye that was haunting them peered over the
Humvee that was jammed in between the concrete walls of the tunnel and the
amphibious. One of the automated guns whirled in response as it spit out gunfire towards
the opening where the animal was peering in. It jerked back, wincing as the bullets
bounced or embedded against its crocodile like jaws at it snapped at them.
Lightning cracked overhead, the announcement of another rain storm as the giant
animal reached out with one of its giant three clawed hands and dug its claws into the
chassis of the Hummer. The metal groaned as the car was slowly ripped out towards it,
opening a larger gap, not big enough for it however. The gun rattled again to life as it
sprayed the car and it’s hand with gun fire. The animal roared as it retracted its hand,
pulling the hummer along with it as it threw the hummer out and into the jungle. From
the shade of the trees, dozens of eyes watched on, intently interested.
Anne and Vega watched, their breath frozen in their lungs as they witnessed the
Hummer being pulled away and tossed like a child’s toy. A head then came into view,
green eyes, crocodile like mouth, as the gun whirled to life trying to keep the monstrous
animal at bay. Anne hit the controls as the gate began to close down again. It whined as
the gears grinded, one side of the gate still very much open as the rest of it closed, only
one foot shy of touching the ground. Ann jumped out of the security booth as Vega
followed after her,
“The gate!” He exclaimed.
“It will have to do”, Anne replied, “we just gotta pick up our pace. It won’t be
long before we have company.”
“The big one?” Vega asked.

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 Anne shook her head as she signaled the others to begin their way deeper into the
tunnels, “No, the alpha pack. Raptors.”
From the cover of the jungle the raptors watched silently as the giant beast
continued to roar. The Humvee was cleared but it was still battling something inside the
tunnel. It roared again and again as it pushed the amphibious and rocked it violently.
The giant vehicle strained as it was pushed deeper into the tunnel. The Gatling gun
fired again and again at the movement, its bullets bouncing off the metal armor of the
amphibious. The other guns joined but their rotations were soon all blocked by the
amphibious as its metal body turned towards them, as if forming a wall. The vehicle
finally made contact with the first gun as it ripped it out of the ground, sending it
sprawling to the floor with a metallic thud as it sparked and malfunctioned.
The giant dinosaur roared looking at the huge opening it had made. It began to
crouch, but its sail rubbed against the roof of the tunnel entrance, it was still too big.
Roaring in frustration the animal looked up to see the shadow of a flock of Pterosaurs
hovering like vultures, waiting to see if it was going to drag anything edible out. It
growled at them too as it shook its head, defiant. It then lumbered away, its roar echoing,
sending birds panicking to the sky.
The machine hissed and sizzled as the Gatling gun bounced off the ground trying
to rotate and respond, it was all in vain as the other guns remained motionless. Their
readout and thermal sensors blocked by the giant wall of steel in front of them, the
amphibious. Next to the fallen Gatling gun fell a huge clawed foot, two toes, one larger
brandishing a huge talon as the shadow from the heads of three creatures crept into the
tunnel.
Their eyes seemed to glow as they approached the opening from the side of the
gate that failed to close. A few then darted ahead, running after their intended prey. From
the darkness of the opening one larger head emerged, its eye big and round, different
from the rest as it looked on, its pack members now on the hunt.

______________________________________________________________________

Dodgson made sure to place himself between the two hired mercenaries. Marcus
was in the lead with Johnny overseeing the rear. They had found their way around one
side of the rock face as they then began to cut through the brush.
“We need to hurry and get to the compound, I need to call for the evac.” Dodgson
muttered.

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 Marcus rolled his eyes, Dodgson had been on repeat since they escaped. He waved
his hand passively, “Told you already, we’re on our way. Just need to get around this
damn rock. How long is this thing gonna go for anyways…”
Marcus nearly tripped, he looked down to see a brown log of some type as he
caught himself. He signaled the others to look down after the log when he paused. The
log was moving.
Marcus watched it, it twitched slightly as it shifted around the grass it was laying
in. Marcus followed the object, as it snaked on and on, reaching up into the slump side of
the rock, then connecting to a much larger body as two long and muscular legs stretch
outwards, three giant claws at the end of them curled. The legs were connected still to a
large torso, sinew and muscle glistening from the hazy cover of dew and moisture in the
air. The large chest heaved as long, labored breaths caused the chest to pulse up and
down, over and over. The shoulders were long, connecting to two surprisingly small arms
also with two claws. Finally the neck, which craned upwards and out, rested against the
flattest part of the rock structure on a partial growth of leaves and brush. The head was
huge, possibly the size of a VW bug as rows of teeth from the upper jaw jutted
downwards at a curve. The nostrils flared as the animal drew in breath, everyone watched
closely as the creature’s eye lids remained close.
Marcus felt his muscles freeze as his brain dug out the word we was looking for
from the back of his mind. With a hushed tone he whispered,
“T-Rex.”
His head then snapped over to Dodgson, who upon seeing the sight nearly dropped
the coveted case of samples and just blurted out,
“Oh Jesus!”
Marcus signaled Johnny who grabbed Dodgson by the mouth and held him close,
keeping the man from screaming out. Marcus signaled them to walk over, slowly, as he
drew his face close to Dodgson and brought up his other hand holding his K-BAR, as he
brought the knife to his lips and hushed. Dodgson seemed to get the message, nodding.
Marcus nodded to Johnny as he slowly took his hand from Dodgson’s face. He let out a
small pitiful whimper as he placed his own hand over his mouth. The other merc signaled
Marcus as he whispered no louder then he dared,
“What do we do? Go back?”
Marcus looked back at the section of jungle they just left, the trees swaying as if
taunting him, their stalker was still out there, waiting. Marcus shook his head,
“No, it might still be there. We move forward, to the building.”
Dodgson didn’t like what he heard as he grabbed at Marcus, his voice a nervous
whisper,

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 “Wait, what do you mean! Do you not see this thing, those teeth!”
Marcus lost his nerve finally, he wasn’t about to be killed by this morons
incompetence, it already cost them the lives of many other people, he wasn’t about to be
one of them. Marcus drew the knife he had against Dodgson’s throat, effectively
silencing the man, as he calmly and quietly talked,
“This one isn’t hunting us, the one out there is. Not be, quiet, or I’ll gut you
myself. You got enough people killed already.”
Dodgson nervously nodded as all three of them began to slowly, and methodically
make their way past the sleeping giant. Marcus took the lead as he was ever mindful of
where he put his feet. The ground around them was lush with vegetation, but trampled.
Where a tropical plant wasn’t growing strange sharp objects erupted out in their place. It
took a minute for Marcus to figure out what they were looking at, bones. The objects
erupting from the ground were bones, littered here and there from past kills. Limb bones,
ribs, it was a feeding ground. They were in the Rex’s lair.
Flies buzzed around everywhere as Marcus and the others tried in vain to wave
away the hordes of flies assaulting them. The smell hit them next, a mixture of rotting
meat and powerful ammonia. Their eyes began to water as they continued to slowly trek
past the lumbering beast.
A sudden kick of the animal’s leg split the group in an instant as the Rex stretched
out, the toes uncurling as the long claws reached out nearly grabbing Dodgson as he
toppled backwards. Marcus had to keep himself from falling forward into a pile of bones
and mush as he caught himself on one leg and took a moment, balancing, before he
delicately placed the other leg down.
He looked behind him, the animal’s monstrous leg resting in between him and the
others. Dodgson and Johnny took a moment, before they began to trek around the foot
and the talon like claws of the Rex. Dodgson moved along the side of the foot, eyeing the
weathered blackened claws. They were sharp, worn, but worn to an edge as they
glistened in the fading sunlight. In fact, it wasn’t even till he looked up for a moment that
he himself noticed the sky was growing grey. He was over the foot, as Marcus waited
there, grabbing him and pulling him over.
Johnny then began to make his way around as Marcus guided Dodgson past the
last hurdle of bones, a row of ribs that lay parallel to the Tyrannosaur’s head. It was the
last obstacle between them and one last clearing. In fact as Marcus looked ahead, he
could see the grey outline of the building as vines and overgrowth fought to climb their
way up along the walls. They were too close to the animal’s head to risk speaking, as
Marcus used his hands to gesture towards the building to the others. They nodded, seeing

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the building in the distance. It was still a good hundred feet away, but it was a welcomed
sight, the promise of haven.
The rattle of bones caused them all to freeze as Marcus looked over, Johnny had
caught one of the ribs with the sling from his gun, sending it rattling down. The man
looked up to them, frozen, terror in his eyes. Marcus signaled him to stay calm, when the
glisten of something caught his eye. He turned to his right, dread fell over him as he was
greeted by the open eye of the Rex. They both shared a moment, as if looking into each
other’s being, as Dodgson broke out into a full sprint screaming,
“Run!!!”
The Rex reacted as it opened its mouth and roared, the legs kicking to life as they
clasped at the ground, gripping the earth with its powerful toes and claws as it began to
shift its weight back, rearing itself upwards.
Marcus grabbed the other man as they both ran ahead. They had a little bit of a
head start but not much. Behind them the huge figure of the Rex started to right itself, the
mass shifting and straining as its large head turned and locked onto them. Marcus and the
merc were gaining ground on Dodgson, who had a ten foot lead ahead of them. Marcus
didn’t dare look back though, even though they were only fifty feet from the building he
knew that was about the length of the creature chasing them. It would make up that
ground within two to three steps. Sure enough a huge shadow loomed overhead.
Against his better judgment Marcus looked behind him, seeing the Rex was in fact
gaining on them, not running so much as walking. The gait of the legs alone however was
enough to cover four times the ground they were covering at full sprint.
Marcus turned his eyes forward seeing Dodgson, who was struggling with a side
door of some kind. They had come upon the rear loading door of the main visitor’s
center. Large concrete structures housing abandoned vehicles that were parked in the
main loading door to rot, the loading door itself very much closed and possibly rusted
shut over time. Marcus waved at Dodgson, trying to get this attention,
“Move out of the way!”
Dodgson barely heard them, lost in his own panic as Marcus fired the gun a few
feet to his left. The bullets sparked against the door as Dodgson flew the opposite way.
Marcus looked over Johnny, he was running with him neck and neck as Marcus signaled
him,
“Shoot out the lock!”
Johnny reacted to the order as he aimed his rifle and fired. The door lit up sending
sparks everywhere as the bullets ripped into the aged and weathered metal. He kept firing
as he and Marcus both continued to run for the door at full sprint. Dodgson knew they
planned to ram the door as he looked behind them. The Rex was very nearly on them. Its

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jaws open and the teeth flashing white as it roared, the wave from its hot breath almost
hitting him like an industrial fan. Dodgson wasn’t going to wait for them as he took a
lead of his own, and ran as fast as he could ramming himself into the door. It bucked
inwards, but it wasn’t enough, as Dodgson looked back in horror. All he saw was the
faces of Marcus, Johnny, and flashes of teeth as both men rammed themselves into
Dodgson and the door, sending all them of them sprawling inside.
Hitting the ground they looked up to see the entire concrete wall shake as the front
muzzle of the Rex snapped after them, lodging itself into the door. Its head clearly too big
the Rex shook its head free as it roared in frustration. Marcus and everyone else took
cover as the Rex rammed its head into the concrete walls, the structure shaking under the
stress. Marcus watched the pillars all around them, the concrete wall itself, it was
holding. A blast of hot air streamed out of the Rex’s nostrils as it pulled its head back out
of the tiny doorway and began to turn, retreating. Marcus and the others watched as the
huge animals shook the dust and pebbles of broken concrete from its face as it lifted its
giant head and roared. The roar echoed through the walls of the building as the tremors of
it leaving shook the ground. The men got to their feet, their hands shaking as adrenaline
coursed through their bodies. Dodgson was on the ground still, beads of cold sweat
dripping on his forehead as he hugged the case of samples.
“Why am I here, dammit why the hell am I here. For this, these things that are
going to make the damn company rich?” Dodgson yelled in frustration.
Marcus and Johnny simply looked at each other, watching Dodgson break down
on the ground as the man righted himself and walked over to a maintenance table next to
a tempered glass window. Dodgson then suddenly hurled the case into the table again and
again, screaming.
He then paused, feeling something sharp, as he looked at his knuckles. They were
bleeding. He continued to look at them, only to begin laughing.
“Well, something was bound to get me right?” Dodgson whined, “Why not the
damn furniture in this hell hole.”
He then looked at the samples in the case, they were surprisingly untouched thanks
to the protection of the hard case that housed them. He limply let them fall unto the table
as he looked up, eyeing himself, his reflection off the window’s surface. He was a wreck,
smeared mud across his face, his clothes in tatters, a running gash across one of his
shoulders as well as his forehead. Dodgson shook his head, the mere sight of himself
sickening him.
“Yeah, well I’ll tell you what, after all of this I’m marching right up to that Jackass
Bay’s office and spoon feeding him these damn samples. Then I’m calling the board, and
demand being given my goddam due after all this.”

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 Marcus watched as Dodgson lectured himself. Something however caught his eye,
some kind of movement behind the glass, as he held up his gun, slowly.
Dodgson was well into his lecture when he also noticed something, a flash of
color. Caught in the moment, Dodgson leaned in to make out what it was he was seeing.
Reds, yellows, greens.
In an instant rows of teeth flashed across his view as a head collided with the plexi
glass. Dodgson fell backwards as the huge head snapped sideways, its yellow eye
watching him and the others on the other side of the glass. Marcus took aim as he fired
into the glass, the animal retreated back into the darkness hissing. Dodgson scrambled to
the floor,
“What the hell is that!”
Marcus signaled to them, “We need to get out of here!”
He and Johnny started to move towards the halls and towards an exit across the
room they were in. Dodgson began to get up as he sprawled to his feet. His eyes then
glanced over to the specimen case resting on the table, where he left it. Without a thought
Dodgson ran over to the case, reaching for it. Marcus yelled after him,
“You insane bastard!”
Dodgson grabbed the case with one hand just as the same creature burst through
the glass, a mouth full of teeth and two giant crests on its head. It hissed and roared as it
sunk its teeth deep into Dodgson’s arm, Dodgson screamed as the other merc ran over
and opened fire. The creature reacted with lightning speed as it let go of Dodgson’s arm
and reared its head up, it then spit out a stream of black saliva as it hit Johnny in the face.
He fell down, screaming in pain as he tried to wipe away the spit from his eyes. Marcus
ran over, grabbed the assault rifle and fired back at the creature. Two bullets hit the
animal in the torso as it lunged back and roared in anger.
Marcus grabbed Johnny under the armpit and let him lean against him as he held
the gun up, dragging the injured man through the doors. Dodgson, still dragging the case,
yelped after them as all three of them ran deeper into the structure.
Marcus hit the door first, the other man yelling in agony as he heard the sound of
hissing and sizzling, not so much burning but more so the hissing of soda or one of those
carbonated dinks as the black ooze fizzled around the man’s face. Marcus looked around,
there was little to block the door way with as Dodgson ran through it and past them.
Marcus swore at him to slow down as he strained to catch up.
Dodgson was already a few feet ahead of them running down the corridor when a
shadow of something stopped him in his tracks. Up ahead, the small figure of a slender
animal walked into his sight. Slightly smaller then the one they just saw, it had the same
features. Black and green colors with white stripes, two crests on its head side by side.

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The slender creature had two arms curled close to its chest as three clawed fingers nestled
in little balled fists. It stood on two larger back legs, as they flexed with muscle as the
creature shifted its weight towards them, its long tail snaking around from behind. It
looked at Dodgson in an almost curious fashion, as it tilted its head to the side, hooting.
Dodgson slowly began to back up when he saw a much larger shadow appear
over the creature. Another head came into view, a much larger animal. It looked almost
the same as the smaller one, but its mouth was longer, its teeth larger as black saliva
oozed from them. Dodgson was mesmerized with fear at the giant animal standing before
him, he didn’t even notice the smaller one splay out a brightly colored frill as it sprayed
him with the same ooze.
Holding the case in front of him like some kind of shield, the ooze hit him on his
hands as he screamed, a burning sensation hitting his hands as the venom crept into his
open wounds. Dodgson yelled as he ran backwards past Marcus and the other man,
running in the opposite direction. Marcus saw the animals in front of them, then saw
something move to the side of him, through the door they just came through, as he
dragged the other man down the same way Dodgson ran.
Dodgson ran as fast as he could, the venom on his hands working its way further
into his body as his forearms soon began to burn as well. He found himself
subconsciously scratching at his arms as he ran, his mind on fire. He was looking for a
door, any door, any sign of shelter as his eyes locked on a steel reinforced door up ahead.
It looked like a fort in Dodgson’s mind as he made a bee line to it hitting the door and
clawing at it in a panic.
Marcus was using all that was left of his strength to get through the corridor as he
felt something wet hit his back. He knew what it was, those things were trying to get him
with the same black death that hit Johnny. Up ahead he saw Dodgson clawing at a big
steel door, it wasn’t budging. Looking to his left and his right, he saw not other means of
escape, it was a dead end as he grabbed his sidearm and fired blindly behind him.
Dodgson didn’t turn when he heard the gun shots. He banged on the door, calling
out for help, knowing they were the only ones on this island he still called out to some
phantom spirit that would open this door and offer them haven. He screamed, hearing the
hiss of the monsters behind them so close he could swear he felt their breath.
Suddenly the metal wall in front of him gave way, as the door opened and he fell
forward landing on his face. Behind him Marcus saw the door had buckled open as he felt
a rush of adrenaline hit him. He continued to fire wildly behind him as he hobbled faster
and faster, wet ooze hitting his feet as the things chased after him. Hitting the frame of
the door Marcus hefted the other man and himself into a diving lunge. Marcus then

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instinctively turned to kick the door close, only to see two soldiers shut it behind them
and secure the lock.
Marcus looked all around, he was flat on his back as he found himself surrounded
by soldiers, all weapons on him as he dropped his gun. He looked over to Dodgson to see
him cowering in a corner as a woman agent of some kind gestured with her gun for him,
all of them, to be led over to a make shift quarantine tent. Marcus then looked back up as
he saw a soldier, the commanding officer, ‘O’Brien’ marked on his uniform as O’Brien
leaned over and smiled,
“You boys have a nice stroll through the park?”

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 CHAPTER 18
Raptors

Anne watched with intensity as she saw the last of the men passed through a
tunnel checkpoint. Most were hoping at each checkpoint there would be a gate, but Anne
knew that wasn’t the case. The gates were only located at the openings. And they
continued to hear the big dinosaur roar overhead through the vent areas of the tunnel.
“Why is it still stalking us?” Dom asked out loud.
Anne kept her eyes on the darkness of the tunnels as she replied back,
“We gave it a reason to. We hauled a boat full of meat down that river, after it
found us when we first got here. Probably would have lost him to, but nope. Dodgson
needed trophies.”
Vega was checking his guns, replying dryly, “They’re samples.”
Anne just laughed, no heart in it, just a casual huff as she replied, “Does it matter
now? Meat is meat, call it whatever you will. We left a trail of meat, it got fed. We hit the
tunnels, get attacked by Pterosaurs and also raptors because, why the hell not? You boys
needed more meat. And what the Flying ones didn’t eat it definitely ate. It has no reason
to stop chasing us, we keep feeding the damn thing.”
Vega had no argument, she was right. Dom looked to him for a rebuttal, some
assurance that this wasn’t all on them, but he had none. All he could do was be
productive, and productive right now meant information.
“What is it, exactly?” he asked Anne.

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 “A Spinosaurus. Rather, a hybrid Spinosaurus.”
“Hybrid, what do you mean?” Vega pressed.
Anne took out some gas grenades as she watched the last of the men brisk past
her. She then set them along the floor, along with a directional mine as she fitted a trip
wire, addressing the questions as she worked.
“Years ago, there was a rescue attempt, though a rescue attempt where more lives
are lost in the process seems a moot point. One of the people who did make it, was a
survivor from the first incident, from the other island. Alan Grant, a paleontologist,
someone Hammond invited during the first public incident. Wrote a report, an account of
his kidnapping as he called it, and the things he ran into. He noted a big predator with a
fin, Spinosaurus. However, years later, when more bones were found, he noted it was a
genetic mutation, a hybrid animal.”
“What else is in that thing?” Vega pressed.
Anne laughed again, as was now the custom when she was about to bring up bad
news, “Nothing good. Some of it was a close ancestor, Baryonyx, but that animal was too
small. And Hammond was a stickler for appearances. So to make their deadlines, they
used the next biggest thing they had, T-Rex. Its part T-Rex, and now it’s after us.”
Anne finished her work as she briskly rushed past them, “We should move now.
I’ve set up three of these traps, it’s only going to slow them down.”
Vega kept pace with her as everyone began to jog as one, not running, but not
walking either. Vega continued his questions though, he needed as much information as
he could get, all of their survival depended on it.
“It’s the raptors? The Alpha pack? Why not use more of the directional mines?
Why did you just use the one?”
Ann used her light to shine ahead of them. The storm was slowly blocking out the
sun, and the tunnels grew ever darker,
“Cause their smart bastards, that’s why.” She finally answered, “One lethal mine,
no more, not till we are out of the tunnels. I don’t need to cave in this whole thing on top
of us.”

In the darkness, the big raptors head crept into the dwindling light from the
ventilation shafts overhead. Rows of sharp quills and filament like hairs grew along the
back of its neck like a crown. It’s eyes were large, larger then the others as its round pupil
reflected back the slightest light, a ghost like luminescence like that seen on animals from
the abyss of the ocean depths. And its teeth, large and dagger like as they hung over its
mouth in a overbite, giving it an almost Tyrannosaur like appearance. The rest of its
hulking body also bore filament like hairs along its back and on its haunches. The

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filaments looking like smaller feathers as found on other large birds, Emus or
Cassowaries.
It hissed as it sniffed the air, the sent of its prey was near. It honed in on a specific
spot, a familiar scent, as he barked into the sky. The smaller raptors appeared in response,
all from different pack clans. Some bright orange with tiger stripes and yellow cat like
eyes. Others were spotted with green eyes, others still were dark purple, a color scheme
similar to its own with smaller quills over their own necks. The Alpha gestured with its
head towards the object, as one of the smaller raptors ran forward.
It paused, sensing no heat, no movement. The scent was there but so was the scent
of something fresh and mechanical. It kicked at it, knocking something metallic as a trip
wire was set off.
Going off reflexes the animal jumped backwards, a small blast going off as the
animal was hurdled back towards the rest of the pack. It groaned as it lay on its back,
hissing as it tried to move, one of its legs broken in the blast as it shrieked in pain.
The rest of the raptors circled it, barking in the air as the big Alpha bent over the
animal. It looked to soothe the smaller raptor, running its rostrum against the chin of the
smaller creature. It knew it was in pain, knew it wasn’t going to survive. The smaller
animal closed its eyes. The Alpha’s movements were swift, as he caught the dying
animals head and snapped its neck, ending its suffering.
The animal slumped there on the floor, motionless. The Alpha studied it, then
looked back up, towards the tunnels, towards its prey. A slight hint of malice in its eyes,
as it roared defiantly into the darkness.

Anne turned, as did everyone in response to the rumble. They waited, no words,
just waited as dust shook from the concrete structure over their heads.
“Will the tunnel hold…”
Dom began to ask but Anne held up her hand, motioning for him to keep silent.
Everyone’s eyes were directed above, locked onto the tunnel, waiting to see if the
structure would hold. Only Anne’s eyes were forward, looking towards the direction they
came, listening intently. The sound carried to her ears sending ice in her veins. It was the
roar from the Alpha, as all the other men turned their gaze back to the depths of the
tunnels. Anne didn’t laugh this time, she only muttered her words under a whisper,
turning and jogging at pace faster,
“Clever luv. Very damn clever.”

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 CHAPTER 19
Venom

Dodgson was handcuffed to a makeshift Triage cot as he looked around, his body
seemed to ache as he saw a man in military quarantine gear approach him, Ian. Ian’s face
had a look of concern, his focus sharp as he took out a syringe and injected Dodgson with
some unknown chemical. He was in too much pain to protest as he barely even felt the
prick of the needle. A warm sensation then spread, glossing over his body as his vision
blurred, the pain was subsiding, not fully gone but not as intense as he began to lay back
and relax. Dodgson’s breathing slowed as Ian took out another syringe and took a sample
of his blood.
Behind the quarantine door, Lex and O’Brien watched with intensity at the
focused and almost mechanical movements Ian was performing. Ian began to sample the
black tar around Dodgson’s hands as well as samples from the mercenary that was
blinded, and the clothes off the other mercenary Marcus. O’Brien was the first to break
the unwitting tension that came with watching Ian work,
“Damn, I feel like I’m back at Benghazi, watching the sweepers clear out guerilla
bomb traps.”
Lex barely blinked her eyes, nor did she break her gaze off Ian as she replied,
“This is a bomb. If not thee bomb. The thing that kills the planet, the next
extinction event.”

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 O’Brien studied her, noting his thoughts out loud, if anything to break the tension
he still felt in the air, of them being so close to a killer plague.
“Gotta say, when we first met, I didn’t think you had it in you, to get us this far. I
mean, I’ve worked with company men before, of all types. All kinds of shady intelligence
ops and they just all struck me as cold, just calculating, like ice was in their veins. When
we first got down here, back at the harbor, you just didn’t strike me as the type. You had
your moments, don’t get me wrong, but I know sentiment also. Every soldier knows
sentiment, being away from any number of things back home while on tour.”
Lex didn’t react as O’Brien spoke. She only kept her eyes on Ian, an icy gaze that
refused to be broken. O’Brien wasn’t really looking for a response though, as he
continued to speak out load, his thoughts more for his distraction then anything else,
“But you know, as we got through things, I started to see it. Those flashes of that
ice that just tells you whose a company man, or woman. You know your weapons, I’ve
seen you in action, Ian in there probably most out of all of us.”
Lex’s eyes broke for an instant, recalling the incidents where she drew her weapon
on Ian, only to find their target once again. She watched Ian take his samples and fix
them into bomb proof quality cases as he brought them to a workstation and began to
break down the various samples to their basal proteins and building blocks. O’Brien still
talking,
“But the coldest I saw you, the moment I knew you were company material, and
funny enough the moment I really felt like we were gonna make it out of here, was when
you first saw the poaching. I mean Rob, he’s a good guy, loves his animals and I get that,
I have a pair of dogs myself, hell I even know a few former guys running anti poaching
opts out in Uganda, saving rhinos and all that. He was near tears but you, there was that
thing you see. That thing only other soldiers see, in a person’s eyes. That ice that you
know company people need to see a messy opt to its end. That’s when I knew you’d get
us to the finish line. I guess I’m just saying thanks, though we’re still on this dino
massacre island, guess I’m just grateful being in a company opt where we all have the
same mutual goals, for once.”
Lex walked away from the door as it hissed, Ian emerging from the
decontamination process as he took a deep breath of non filtered air. He looked to Lex,
her eyes returning to the door, to Dodgson, as she spoke,
“So what is the situation?”
Ian had a seat, the strain of being so precise, holding his nerves, taking their toll.
“I think we found the smoking gun. I broke down the proteins of the substance on
his hands, it’s what I couldn’t place earlier, the foreign proteins. It’s venom, some kind of
venom but it’s the thing that acts like a catalyst to activate the pathogen.”

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 Lex broke her gaze and closed her eyes, as if resetting her emotions, as she opened
them, a softer but still stern gaze as she looked to Ian,
“Are the rest of his team contaminated from the pathogen?”
Ian shook his head, “No, no I don’t think so, definitely not the hitch hikers we
picked up, they haven’t had contact with the things we found here. The man who got a
face full of venom, he’ll likely lose his eyesight, but it seems like it’s a combination of
things, I don’t think venom alone does it. Dodgson has bites on him, and that drove the
pathogen into his body. Then he got hit with the venom, that’s what activated it. But I
still have to run tests on the venom to fool proof that theory.”
O’Brien chimed in this time, “Are any of us at risk too? We got pretty banged up
during the stampede incident.”
Ian shook his head, “No, no you guys are clear. I did a once over on everyone, we
all have bruises but no bites, no lacerations. Still, I wouldn’t take any chances.”
“What about me and Robert?” Lex asked.
Ian turned to her as she continued, her eyes seeming to bore into his soul, looking
for tell tale signs of answers,
“It was me and Robert in there with the baby tike. Hand fed it, God we hand fed
it.” Lex caught herself, as if finally recognizing the weight of their past actions, “Are we
at risk? Are you at risk? Being in proximity to us in the veterinary unit?”
Ian wanted to answer with a reassuring no, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew any
misleading now, the killer virus and its primer only two doors away from them, would
only endanger everyone further.
“It would be best to stay away from them for now. I’m running more tests on the
Triceratops and Brontosaur and Hadrosaur samples we have, triple checking everything,
but I just got the venom protein. I’ll need a hour at most to see how it reacts to each of the
species genes and saliva, blood, so on to see what animals activate the strain and which
ones don’t.”
He saw Lex, saw her pace, he knew she didn’t like the answer. She stopped and
turned to him again,
“Have we taken stock of the embryo storage here? Anything we can use to keep us
from needing to go out there anymore?”
Ian got up, nodding, “Yeah, yeah I was about to go do that right now in fact. If you
want to lead me through it? I’m still kind of touch and go with the layout of this place.”
Lex took a moment to look back to Dodgson, his body in a cold sweat as the veins
around his hands ran black and his breathing, though calmer, came in shallow breaths.

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 “Yes, every second counts and I need to crack the InGen mainframe and begin
upload of all the genetics data they have on file here anyways. O’Brien, keep your men
on guard, I don’t think they’ll need to get in there for anything medical?”
She turned to Ian. Ian shook his head,
“No, they’re both sedated, on heavy pain killers and muscle relaxers. We have
more then enough time, well over an hours worth which is when I should know the initial
test results we need.”
Lex nodded, as she turned to O’Brien, “Then get back to the other merc we got,
Marcus Bucannon, mention his girlfriend in Florida if you need leverage and push him
for intel, offer a deal at your own discretion.”
O’Brien looked up at her surprised, “Girlfriend in Florida? How do you know
about a girlfriend in Florida?”
Lex walked with Ian out towards the exit as she turned to him,
“As you said, I’m a company woman.” She then turned with Ian and walked out
the air compressed door.
Exiting the medical quarantine tent Ian turned to Lex, “Company woman?”
Lex brushed it off, “Pet names for CIA operatives.”
Ian couldn’t help but laugh, “Well that beats what the CDC uses.”
Lex couldn’t help but look around, continuing their talk as she observed where
they were, the eating lounge and gift shop area. It was a shock to Ian and everyone else
that one of the most secure areas they found was the gift shop and cafeteria. It had very
few openings leading to it, and fewer windows, located in the heart of the main visitors
center and surrounded by concrete. It was a practical fort if only by chance design from
the architect.
“Oh? What pet names do you guys use for us CIA folk?” Lex answered.
Ian suddenly felt flush, realizing Lex might not care for their choice pet names,
“Well, now that I think of it it’s in bad taste. I’m fine using Company woman.”
Ian then noticed they stopped walking, as Lex paused, gazing at a mural that
spanned one of the walls of the cafeteria area. An adult Triceratops charging towards
them, not too accurate from the animals they saw but still, lifelike in its own way.
Ian paused to wait for her, looking around, the toys that had occupied the shelves
of the makeshift gift store covered in grit though still showing their retro designs. Most of
the plush animals had been ripped open, no doubt attracting attention from the creatures
that now called this place home due to their neon colors. As the colors faded though, and
the realization of cotton in place of flesh registered, most of the plush toys were then left
alone only to be taken hostage by the overgrowth of vegetation that broke through from
air vents or broken windows.

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 Everywhere else in the room, their team was stationed, keeping a tight perimeter
overlooking any open areas or exits. Flash bang charges were set along openings of
broken widows as they set up their own motion sensor automated turrets which whirled
side to side, looking for invaders. Every opening they could manage was secured, doors
and one or two window openings barricaded with the dinning tables that once occupied
the space they now claimed. And in the middle of that space they freed up, three large
interior tents.
One was for Quarantine, one for Robert and the other materials needed to identify
and sort through, files, labels, whatever they could recover on what other animals were
on this island. And finally the third tent, a containment tent, for their most dangerous of
visitors, the mercenary’s from Dodgson’s team.
Ian continued to stare at Lex, who was eyeing the mural, as if going through
another unsorted memory. He touched her, gently, on her shoulder,
“Hey, you still with me?”
Lex nodded, “Just sorting through the memories. Last time I was here, in this
room, me and my brother were almost killed. They don’t really train you for that kind of,
memory suppression I guess. Especially when the killers are still out there.”
Ian tried his best to break the trance she was in, not really knowing what else to
say, “I don’t talk to my father much.”
Lex turned to him, as if registering there was someone here who could relate to
her. At the least in some distant fashion as he continued,
“I was the oldest of his kids, sure. But even so, I was still in highschool when
everything went down. Duel custody with my mother, Mrs. Malcolm number one I guess,
basic math. I saw him change when he came home, most of the time with his kids, me
included, was passive. He was a good dad, don’t get me wrong, but it was passive, like
something to check off a list of to do. Some kind of adult responsibility or sorts.
But when he came back, from the island, it was different. He was invested this
time, truly invested. But that’s also when the night terrors came. I would wake up, when
it was dads time to take custody of the kids, and he would be screaming, thrashing. It
was, too much for me. I would beg mom to let me stay with her, I guess thinking back on
it I felt guilty about that. I guess I made a mistake I don’t want to make with you.”
Lex leaned against the wall, her full attention to him as she asked,
“What mistake is that?”
Ian gave a gentle smile, “Not talking about it. All things considered, us being back
at this place, you in person and me, through the proxy of my father, I guess I’m just glad
you can talk about it with me.”

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 Lex smiled, as if to return the sentiment, “Thanks for being a good ear. Maybe
when we get back, you can do the same for your old man. He did save us back there.
Long ago, from a T-Rex of all things.”
Ian nodded, “Yeah it’s one of his favorite stories, which is strange being you
wouldn’t think it would be, being the source of his night terrors. Complicated man, my
old man is.”
Ian looked at Lex, expecting the spell to be lifted from her, but instead seeing her
drift again, her eyes on a mural next to the other one, the one he was leaning on. Ian
pushed once more,
“So, about that pet name the CDC has for you CIA folk.”
Lex felt herself being lost in memories again, as her ears tuned into Ian’s words.
She focused on them, using them to drag her back to the present, out of the past. Finally
she forced herself to break her gaze from the image haunting her, as she kept her eyes on
Ian.
“Oh, what name is that?” She replied.
Ian jumped on the opening, “Spook. So I guess, Company Spook is the official
term now? Its dumb I know, too many spy movies. My team back at the CDC are
obsessed with them, pass the time while they stare into microscopes. Hum, kind of
regretting admitting to all of this in hindsight.”
Lex watched as Ian forced a smile, she allowed herself to be lost in that moment as
she smiled in return. She then gestured for them to continue on their way,
“Come on, we have a lot of work to do.”
They then walked off towards the genetics labs, as Ian moved away from the
mural. The image of a Velociraptor revealed in his absence.

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 CHAPTER 20
Predation

The scythe like claw of the Alpha clicked down into the ground as it scraped the
concrete floor. The big mouth full of teeth coming into view as it knelt downwards,
sniffing. It sensed the scent of his prey, but it knew it wasn’t there. Behind him another
raptor growled as it lurched forward, gesturing to attack. The Alpha screeched at it,
forcing it to retreat behind it as it walked over, its steps hard and thudding.
It then knelt down and picked up a piece of rubble, a random piece of bent and
discarded equipment from when the residents had long since evacuated. Gripping the
object in its mouth it stepped back, gesturing the others to follow behind it. It then turned,
and as precisely as it could, tossed the object towards the area it sensed was the intended
target.
The object rolled forward, hitting the trip wire as a flash went off, giving off the
hiss of a gas grenade as the whole pack barked in response. The gas filled the tunnel as
the other animals started to panic, the big Alpha led them to retreat past one of the
ventilation openings as they turned, intently watching the gas move in the tunnel. Their
eyes fixed on the gas as it reached the ventilation shaft, seeing if it would reach them and
signaling the whole pack to turn and run. The gas stopped, and drifted upwards escaping
through the vents. The Alpha watched, as did the rest of the pack as they all purred, eager
to meet the formidable foes they were stalking.

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 Anne heard the smaller explosion go off in the distance as she cursed, “Those
things are making fast progress. I was hoping the landmine would have discouraged
them. It must have recognized me.”
Vega was next to her, as was always to custom now. “Hold on, are you telling me
that thing remembers you? They remember that kind of nonsense?”
Anne nodded, no humor or ironic wit in her voice this time, “Yes they remember,
damn well too. When I last ran into that thing, we didn’t part on the best terms. But yeah,
they remember, they do all kinds of things you don’t think animals are suppose to do.
Problem solve, remember, socialize, you know an octopus of all things can unscrew a
glass jar to get to the fish inside, unscrew a damn jar? And there are birds in Africa that
use tools to get into insect mines? Tools! Something us apes are only suppose to be able
to do. And you know those things are more bird then anything. Hell I even read a study a
crow of all things shows more problem solving skills and critical thinking then a dog. A
dog! So yeah, they can remember at the very least.”
Anne studied Vega’s reaction, to her surprise he didn’t show much surprise of his
own. There was more of a recollection in his eyes, as if she was validating things for him
more then teaching. She didn’t have time for her mind to wander though,
“Moral is we need to get out of these tunnels. Sooner then later, I only had enough
time to rig three traps to slow them down. We don’t have much time.”
Dom overheard them, “How much time would you gather?”
Anne ran the numbers in her head out loud, “Gas grenades will form a thick wall,
keep them at bay. But these tunnels are vented, I give each grenade at least five minutes
before the gas becomes tolerable and they come barreling towards us mad as hell. This
gives us another ten, before they hit the-“
Another faint explosion cut her off. They had set off the second trap, all Anne
could say at that moment was, “Damn.”
“They set off the second trap?” Dom exclaimed clearly on edge, as was everyone.
“It’s the storm”, Anne cursed, “damn winds are being blown through here,
clearing out the gas faster then I thought. Rain is helping too, washing out the air.”
“Come on lady! What do we do about that? Where are you leading us?”
More protests broke out. Anne forced them out of her head as she thought. Vega
could see her trying to formulate as he pressed her,
“What’s the plan Anne? Funnel them in and stay our ground in the tunnels?”
Anne shook her head, “No, they would just stay out of sight. And everyone here
has a twitchy trigger finger, they would wait us out till we just ran out of bullets. Besides,
these tunnels are too wide, they would easily outflank us or just jump the line of fire and
land on top of us. It’s still a few yards till we get to where we need to go.”

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 Vega looked back into the darkness, could hear the barking of the animals as they
waited out the gas.
“Well, we need a plan, now!”
Anne looked up, then over at the men. “How many gas grenades does everyone
have? Now, give me a count!”
Everyone rummaged through their things as they gave shouted out numbers,
“I have one!”
“Two over here!”
“One on my pack!”
Anne ran the numbers. She then grabbed one of the grenades, hit the primer, rolled
it down the darkness of the tunnel and signaled them all to run. The gas went off in the
tunnel with a hiss as they ran. Anne explained the plan as they moved,
“We set off one grenade five feet after we pass under a vent shaft. That’s three
passes starting now. Get to the side maintenance door, the first one we run into and pray
it leads to a compound. I’ll take lead, try my security cards. Card works, we lock it. No
dice, shoot the lock, and I’ll set up the last mine to blow it close when they come down
on us.”
Vega huffed as he ran with her, “Why do I hear a ‘but’ coming along in this plan?”
Anne eyed him, “There’s more then one maintenance exit in this tunnel. They lead
to more tunnels, a whole system that leads to dozens of compounds. Even if I blow one
door, there are others for them to gain access. Why we were aiming for the main exit,
shut the gate, end of story. At least for the raptors.”
A roar caught all their attention, followed by the last explosive trap.
“They’re already on our heels!” Exclaimed one of the men. Anne made note of
the vent they passed, as she dropped back behind everyone, timing the yards on the fly.
Satisfied they were ten feet past the vent shaft she set off the next one. The gas hissed as
a portion of it reached her nose. She coughed as she sprinted, trying to stay ahead of the
pack. One more burn, and they would have at the least ten minutes in total to find the first
exit.
“I found a door!”
The shout came from one of the men who broke out front. All the men gathered as
Anne ran over to inspect it. It was a maintenance door, but it wasn’t reinforced.
“Damn, they’re gonna plow through this door, no use using the security cards.
Blow it.”
“What! Why? We can reinforce it, or set the mine!”
The protest came from a wide eyed mercenary among the group. Anne didn’t have
time to argue, she knew time was burning as she reached up with her gun and aimed at

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the hinges of the door, careful not to bounce gun fire off the concrete. She fired, the
bullets did their job, in the midst of it however one of the soldiers screamed from behind
them.
“I can see them! They’re getting through the smoke! We need more smoke!”
Before Anne could say anything one of the other soldiers pulled the pin on his gas
grenade, dowsing them all in tear gas. Anne’s eyes flooded with tears as she coughed, her
breathing labored as she grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her face, trying to vain to
filter out some clean air.
She felt for the door, and rammed her shoulder into it. It gave a bit, but still was
firmly secured in its spot. Anne was coughing, she needed air. Looking up, she saw they
were right above a vent shaft as she climbed up onto a concrete divider and tried to raise
her head above the gas cloud. Sucking in some air, her eyes were still full of tears as she
gulped what air she could and held her breath diving back into the cloud.
Anne found her target, and rammed into it again. It gave a bit more, but still not
enough. Anne tried not to panic as she lifted her head up towards the vent shaft and
gulped more air. Movement to her right caught her attentions as she glared, her vision
blurred. What she saw nearly made her jump out of her skin.
The scaled noses of at least 8 raptors were high above the cloud, breathing in the
air from the same pocket of oxygen. The raptors were getting through the gas layer by
keeping their noses above the damn gas. Their eyes were closed, as they listened intently
for sound. One of men coughing and yelling sounded close to one of the animals as she
saw it take a deep breath and dive into the cloud.
Moments later, a yell and a scream from the animal as it attacked. Anne gasped at
her air as she ducked back down. Finding the door she rammed it again and again, the
door slowly giving.
A huge mass of muscle then joined her as she looked up, dreading to see one of
the raptors. Instead she saw Vega, his shemagh covering his own mouth and nose as they
both hit the door in one synchronized attempt. The door buckled inwards as they both fell
into a network of tunnels. They gasped for air as they turned and tried to grab at as many
men as they could. The gas slowly then began to seep into the newly exposed tunnels as
Anne saw her window fading. Frantically they reached out and grabbed the men, Anne
grunting and using as much arm muscle as she had to hoist them into the area with her
and Vega. The gas continued to creep its way towards them, each man dragged inside
lead in a trail of gas. Anne felt her eyes watering, she waited as long as she dared for the
last man to run though. It was now or never for her as her eyes watered to a point where
she knew she wouldn’t be able to see clear if she didn’t get to work now.

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 Letting Vega continue to tend to the men, Anne wiped her eyes as she set the mine
down and ran the trip wire. It was tedious work, as she tried to run the wire in a frantic
pace, all while trying to avoid setting off the explosive from the men still being dragged
inside.
The Alpha raptor had sensed a rush of air from somewhere near them. They had
located at least one prey item, wounded it, but with the gas still lingering they couldn’t
get a visual fix on the rest of them, or their wounded prize. The intended prey whimpered
though, crawling, giving them the tell tale vibrations needed to let them know they
weren’t going to loose their prize as they waited out the gas. In fact, the chaos of the gas
worked in their favor, as more then one creature was wounded, wondering around in the
haze of the gas and likely blinded.
Their patience and hunting technique had paid off. The air stream from the storm
had given them a clean layer to breathe when they passed the second trap. They learned
to keep their nose high, helping them close the ground between them and their targets
ever faster. Now, the last of the gas had begun to thin out, the air from the vents aiding
them.
Slowly, each raptor began to open its eyes, testing the potency of the gas. It was
tolerable, as they honed in on the wounded creatures crawling around blindly on the
floor. Even so, there was one scent the Alpha couldn’t sense among their prey. She
wasn’t here, the one he was after, the one he knew was the leader of its own pack, these
creatures they hunted. Hearing the others bark and roar after their prey, the Alpha opened
his large eyes and saw the escape route their prey had taken.
Anne finally caught a break, as no other men were flailing through the doorway,
threatening to blow them all up. Her eyes were getting better, and that’s what scared her,
because she knew what that meant. The gas was thinning out. Spending no more thought
onto the problem at hand Anne quickly and precisely ran the wire as fast as she dared. A
soft click registered as she gently lifter her hands, and looking out towards the tunnel, she
spied the outline of the one she knew was after them, after her, the Alpha, as she slowly
backed away on her hands and knees.
The Alpha shook its head, there was still enough gas to cause their eyes to water, a
slight sting, but it was more then tolerable. He then looked around, one of the wounded
men catching his eyes as one raptor motioned in for the kill. The Alpha roared though,
causing it to back off. It walked besides the man, who cried and called out to the others. It
then cast its large eyes towards the door, seeing a familiar metal object. It hissed,
recognizing the object, as it barked to the other raptors.
The man whimpered as he crawled towards the door. The huge claws of the Alpha
scratching the ground all around him, almost impaling him at the skull as it landed down

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with enough force to send his teeth rattling. He expected death to arrive as he shut his
eyes, nothing happened. Surprised the man looked around, no claws or teeth in front of
him. Confused, he spun his head around at all angles, at least two more of his
companions were dead on the ground, expressions of horror frozen on their faces as their
bodies oozed out blood through deep jagged cuts all along their backs, their torso, even
their faces. But the raptors seemed to have disappeared. The man looks around again and
sure enough, not one of them was within his sight. His mind raced, where were they?
Where were the killers?
Wincing in pain, the injured mercenary took a deep breath as he arched his back,
his legs impaled and useless, and looked behind him. He saw them, all of them, just
standing there, watching him. Behind them, he saw a glimpse of the big one that walked
right over him, it seemed to be leering at him. But none of them attacked!
Daring not to question his luck the man crawled his way towards the door the
others had busted open, leaving a trail of blood,
“Just a little more, come on!”
He felt nothing when he reached the ledge of the door, felt nothing when he
triggered the mine. His mind simply registered the click, as the mine went off and killed
him instantly.
The raptors ran back a bit as the explosion went off, sending dust into the air and
rattling the walls of the tunnel. They barked and hissed, protesting the explosion.
However it didn’t take long for the dust to settle, as they emerged from the darkness.
Overhead rain drops began to fall through the vent shafts. The water helped clear the
tunnels of any lingering gas, and forced the dust to the ground as they barked and
advanced.
The male took the lead as he approached the area the bomb went off, the door and
the surrounding wall had collapsed, closing off the entrance. The Alpha hissed, then
marched deeper into the tunnel.
Anne had seen everything, as she emerged from her spot of cover from around the
corner of their escape route. She saw the man who limped onto the mine, setting it off,
and the wall collapse, all before she could do anything. As she stood there, Vega came up
behind her as she just blankly stated what she saw,
“They, they used him to set off the trap.”
Vega grabbed her, gently, by the hand, “Come on, we need to find a way out of
here.”
Anne didn’t fight as she was led by Vega, turning only once back to the collapsed
door, as if processing the real danger they were in for the first time.

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 CHAPTER 21
CRYONIC

Lex was in the lead, her weapon out and prone to her side as Ian followed behind.
Behind both of them were two additional soldiers they picked up to assist them along the
way. One of them was Jackoby as they all looked around, trying to take in their
surroundings. The entire compound or ‘center’ seemed to have its own alien
environment. What windows and walls came down within the past two decades left an
opening for vegetation to find its way inside. The jungle covered the walls, most littered
with faded murals of Dinosaurs as vines snaked up and down their surface. It was almost
like being in a lost Mayan temple.
Leaving that alien world behind them, they soon found themselves in a lab.
Shockingly, no doubt because it along the outer rim but nestled within a series of
maintenance structures, the lab was more intact and untouched. Broken here and there
along the ground, large cylindrical machines with their Plexiglas covers shattered and
popped. Ian took a closer look at one, egg shells crumpled inside as he spoke out loud his
analysis.
“Incubators, this is the nursery?”
Lex continued to scan the area with her eyes as she replied back to him,
“Yes, but it’s also the working genetics lab. My grandfather hadn’t fully opened
all the genetics facilities here on this island when the incident happened. Plans were to
open up more compounds, off site on site B, while this site was undergoing construction

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to oversee all their genetics programs in the future. But it never happened, the genetic
embryos they were culturing were either transported here from the other island or created
on sight.”
Lex found a terminal, as she knelt down and checked the computer tower below.
The machine seemed to be in one piece. Jackoby walked over to her,
“What do you reckon, start up the fuses, think this place still has juice?”
Lex processed the answer, “Maybe, this part of the compound had its own separate
generator, in the event of a power outage. But, we don’t have time to tinker either.”
Holstering her gun she grabbed the tower, flipped it, and pulled out a knife from
her holster as she pried the tower open.
”Get me the portable. Hard disk plug n play.” She ordered Jackoby.
He responded on command as he brought up a portable labtop, outfitted with a
hard case shell that was beefy enough to withstand a few rounds of point blank small
arms gun fire. Opening it he powered the machine up as he pulled out another device,
using a USB cord to run the wire from the work machine to Lex.
Lex grabbed it and ran it close to where she was tinkering. She was reaching in to
pry out the hard drive, her goal was to plug it into their working labtop and access the
files stored in there. She glanced down as the USB, shaking her head as she handed it
back to Jackoby,
“Little too state of the art solider. Need a pin plug. It should be packed with the
kit, this is all nineties tech remember. Predates USB and even ZIP disks.”
Jackoby grabbed the USB from Lex as he fitted a pin adapter into the USB and
handed it back to her. Lex nodded with approval as she went back to her task.
Ian continued to look around, studying the architecture. The layout was strange,
but also familiar. Though now outdated by decades, the basics of a working lab and its
layout were still evident. He spied the incubators, clear as day laid out on the ground
floor. Besides them, cracked and broken care stations, no doubt for the animals as they
hatched. Next to them computer work stations, which Lex and Jackoby where working
on. Ground level was usually for workstations on genetics material and organisms. The
space occupied by a nursery, only option was up as his eyes fell upon a sort of catwalk, at
the least a metal staircase structure leading to another plexi glass room above and against
one of the walls.
Lex installed the hard drive into the plug and play unit as she ran the c prompt
command and began to access the data stored on file. She looked to her side, saw Ian
make his way up to the upper level of the room as the other soldier shadowed him. He
reached a pair of glass doors, supposed frost lining the doors around the edges. She

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turned her eyes back to her work as she gained the files she needed, running another cord
from the laptop she ran that into a port on the aged terminal as she turned to Jackoby.
“Ok, the command files are un corrupted, one thing about the hardware from the
nineties, factories made their machines to last I’ll give them that. The wires and corrosion
on the other hand, run replacement cables from this terminal to the breaker behind us. See
if this station holds a charge.”
Jackoby ran the cables as he delicately cut and re wired the old operation cables.
Running them back to the fuse box, he pulled off the cover as he checked the generator
and the charging station. The generator looked in good shape, but as he further inspected
it, he noticed the fuel used to run it had long since corroded out the rear section. He
continued to observe the generator when he saw the cables that led to the battery ports
were also crusted over with dried battery acid. Jackoby shook his head at Lex, as she
turned back to the station, sifting through code.
Ian reached the upper level and the large glass holding station, a sign above
marked.

GENETICS

“I think this is what I’m looking for.” He noted, “The obvious signs not
withstanding.”
Ian then turned to the soldier, “Grab the portable lab unit out of the main medical
tent, large silver hard case, big black letters saying LBHZ, can’t miss it. I’m gonna use
this labs equipment to run the tests. Keep the hazard away form us.”
The soldier nodded as he grabbed his radio, barking commands to the others at
base camp. He began to make his way down and out of the nursery as Ian turned his
attention back to the room. On the outside, it looked self-contained, as Ian rambled his
analysis out loud.
“What do we got here, a giant fridge maybe? Fridges need power, and with our
luck can’t hope for a permafrost type of situation can I. Still, need the hood open to look
inside.”
As the words escaped him he heard a hiss, then a groan of metal as a locking
mechanism from one of the doors jarred open. He turned to Lex, who had the terminal up
and running thanks to a small portable battery.
“Do we have power?” Ian called down.
Lex shook her head, “Our portable power can only get one of the stations up,
enough power to access the security codes and unlock the doors, not enough to restore

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power throughout the center. That’s the mother load though, if any of the embryos or
genetic material survived, it would be in there.”
Ian nodded as he fitted his suit, reaching back and pulling over the hooded visor as
he checked his respirator. He gulped in air as he turned to the others,
“If you see me flash a red light on my suit, you run like hell out of here. No
questions, I can de contaminate, but you both run, back to the base.”
Lex nodded, intensity on all of their faces as Ian turned and gently, tensely, pushed
the glass door sideways to open. A hiss of air escaped as he checked a readout on his
forearm, a digital readout of the air checking for signs of a contaminant.
Lex and Jackoby kept their eyes on him as he disappeared, a low mist escaping
from the room above as it fell downwards towards them. Lex watched it like a hawk as it
moved, the mist thick and almost soupy as it crept outwards like some living thing. She
hit her radio as she called to Ian,
“Ian are you there, there’s something leaking from the genetics room, do we evac?
Again, do we evac?”
The radio was silent as the mist began to creep towards them. It inched closer and
closer to them, like a living fog as it spin and took shape with the air around it, reaching
for them inch by inch. The hiss of the radio caused Jackoby to jump as Ian’s voice came
over,
“Negative, we’re safe. It’s coolant, probably liquid N two. The oxygen caused a
gas reaction, no pathogens. Again, no pathogens.”
Jackoby relaxed a bit however Lex remained on edge as she kept her eyes towards
the mist filled area Ian was in. She spoke into her radio,
“Talk to me Ian, what are we looking at? Are things safe?”
Ian searched, the ice marks from the plexi glass revealing themselves to be scars.
“Can’t say yet, looks like the containers, at least one of them, using liquid nitrogen
ruptured from the pressure when the power went dead and the temps rose. Two look like
their contained, still, if there’s any residual pressure, well it could potentially be a bomb.”
Lex was about to motion for Jackoby to assist him when Ian replied, almost on
que,
“Don’t send anyone up here. It’s not just a pressure keg, depending on the
condition of the embryos, it could be one hell of a dirty bomb. Bio contaminants
everywhere. You two should wait towards the exit, till I see if I can vent any pressure that
might still be in the other cryo units.”
Lex motioned Jackoby to head back towards the way they came as she lingered,
clearly not happy with the whole situation,
“Why didn’t you tell me about the possibility of an explosion Ian?”

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 Ian heard the words through his mask though a radio receiver. Lex’s words
weren’t blameful, not at all, more so pleading as he replied,
“Hey I’m not happy about it either, I was hoping these rigs had automated
pressure release fail safes, keep them from going boom. I mean the last thing I want is to
end up like Bruce.”
“Bruce?” Lex questioned.
Ian smiled nervously as he located a series of pressurized cranks and levers.
“The shark from Jaws.”
Lex gave a nervous laugh as she made her way, slowly, towards the exit where
Jacoby was waiting. The other soldier returned with the silver case as she kept both the
soldiers at bay.
Ian observed the cranks, “Located the pressure valves. Looks like these were
meant for manual venting. Kind of in a game of red wire, blue wire. Anything in the
computers files about the manuals for these things?”
Lex shot her attention to the portable labtop unit, it was still connected to the main
terminal station. She had run the length of the wire, forced to choose between getting to
safety or helping Ian diffuse a potential bomb.
Jackoby motioned towards her but she held up her hand, turning an icy blue eyed
stare at him as she shook her head. She then talked back into her radio,
“Scanning the files now Ian. Give me a second.”
Ian observed the layout of the machine. Noting the way the valves were laid out,
where each valve led to.
“Well, good news is there’s no big bomb countdown. Bad news is, there’s no big
bomb countdown. I’m going on good faith these machines are keeping the nitro pressure
inside of them.”
Lex didn’t respond to the joke, her focus was razor sharp as she cued up
schematics and manuals for the Parks embryonic storage.
“Accessing the files now, what am I looking for?”
Ian gently wiped some residue from the closest container next to him as he glared
at it, straining to make out the numbers,
“Looks like a form of dewar, heavy duty model. AG One Zero Zero Dash
Two…last two digits are missing.”
Lex scanned the files, coming up to two manuals for two separate units, both filed
as AG100.
“I got two models, one is Two Zero Five, the other Two Zero Seven. Both are
saying, ‘Automated, Manual vent precaution’. Counter pressure system for the Two Zero
Five. Central pressure for the Two Zero Seven.”

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 Ian looked up, “Ok, I’m trying to identify the models. Checking the second
remaining cryo dewar, hopefully it has the model numbers.”
Ian walked over to the other one, gently reaching out to rub away, ice crystals?
Then, for the first time he noticed he was indeed feeling cold. Putting the thought in the
back of his mind Ian scrapped at it,
“Damn.”
Lex looked up to him, “What is it?”
“Only half the model code is here. Back to red wire blue wire. I’m going to have
to guess which vent to purge.”
Lex fixed her eyes on Ian, trying to see him, his face, though the metal stairway
and the plexi cold storage room,
“What does that mean?”
Ian stood up, thinking, “Best I can hope is all these machines have breached,
hence why the gas and nitrogen. I didn’t read any biological agents, so the embryos
inside of these haven’t leaked out. So, even if I hit the wrong valve, with no pressure in
there there’s no risk.”
“Whats the other…scenario?”
“Well, option B is the dewar maintained its pressure, wrong valve, a pipe bursts
and there’s a slow leak. But now I risk the embryos inside have broken down, and now
harmless nitrogen gas becomes weaponized bio gas. You guys run, do an emergency
pruge of the vent system with your hacking rigs, and we just don’t come in here while the
gas vents out into the air, dissipating.”
Lex looked at the cable, fully extended, and her distance from the exit, still a good
20 feet. If she had to activate the vent systems, she wouldn’t have time to run. Lex chose
not to tell Ian, as she reluctantly asked,
“And option C?”
Ian turned back towards the dewar that ruptured. A notable rip in the metal, seeing
for the first time a piece of the metal frame imbedded into the concrete wall towards the
back of the room, opposite the machine. “Well like I said, I’d hate to be Bruce.”
Lex frowned as she drove her attention back to her laptop, bringing up more files,
layouts of the entire facility.
Ian began to feel the cold bite through the suit, a slight shiver up his back as he
walked over to the vent levers. Cold, he shouldn’t be feeling cold, there had to be an
answer in there.
Ian double checked his bio readouts, no contaminants. His face nearly turned to
stone, he had a hard decision to make. Risk contamination, track which vent was still
working, and narrow down his options. Or just taking a wild guess.

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 Lex found the layout, sorting through more files, searching for anything titled
‘Vent Systems’, or ‘Cryo Storage’, anything that would give her an answer.
Ian looked at his hand free of its tactical glove as he studied the latex glove over it.
The cool of the room was intensifying. He reached up into the air, a breeze. He followed
the breeze as he was led over to three vents, only two rigged to blow vented air inside.
His eyes followed the pipe leading from them, tracking them back to the dewar units. He
was nervous, and he knew only one way to calm himself, he was gonna need all of his
resolve.
“Farewell and adeu…”
The voice of Ian humming a tune reached Lex’s ears as she frantically searched
the files. Cryo facilities. Genetics storage. Samples handling. Samples storage, she knew
she was close.
“…To you fair Spanish, ladies.” Ian continued to hum as he tracked the pipes, two
vents. He narrowed it down to two vent levers. He reached out towards one of the vents,
it was a fifty fifty shot. Ian continued to sing,
“Farewell and Adeu…”
Lex’s eyes were frantic, files flashing up at her command. Cryo Storage. Cryo
Maintenance. LN2 replacement. LN2 pressure purge. Pipe vent 27.
“Pipe Vent Two Seven!”
Lex’s words erupted into Ian’s ears just as his hand jarred away from the lever he
was going for, and towards the lever marked 27. He pulled it, a moment of silence. Then,
quietly…a low hiss, successful pressure ventilation. Ian quickly grabbed his bio meters as
he eyed them, zero contaminants. He smiled,
“Fair ladies of Spain.”

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 CHAPTER 22
PURSUIT

Vega and Anne were navigating the tunnels, their group scattered in the chaos of
the gas grenades and the land mine. The dust was still in the air from blast, as both Anne
and Vega found themselves coughing every few feet to free their lungs from the particles.
The tunnels were mostly pitch black, almost completely subterranean as close to no light
seemed to penetrate a few feet ahead of them. As Vega’s eyes adjusted he was caught by
a light up ahead flickering erratically, someone’s flashlight. He proceeded with caution,
calling out ahead of turning into the corner.
“Hey, it’s Vega!”
Shots erupted, embedding themselves into the concrete walls. Vega yelled over the
gunfire,
“Will you knock it off dammit! It’s me! Vega!”
The panicked form of Dom revealed himself as she spun his light around,
“S,sorry man. I though it was those things.”
Vega’s stare scowled a hole into the man, “Right, cause raptors can talk like
people huh? You can take the lead, I don’t need you in back of us itching to fire at every
bug on the wall.”
Dom turned to protest, but seeing the imposing forms of both Vega and Anne
standing in tandem was enough to force him to back off. He instead turned to Anne,

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 “So, did any of them get through?”
Anne shook her head, “No, the mine did its job, sealed the doorway. But one of
you lost their cool, and now all of our supplies is running around scattered in these
tunnels, and there are other ways into these tunnels. We need to hurry, but we also need
to keep our nerves. Can you do that now Dominic?”
Dom nodded as Anne grabbed her gun, reached into her pack, and secured a light
fitting on it. She then searched the surrounding walls around them.
“So where do we go?” Vega asked, taking the small breather to check and triple
check his own ammo.
“That’s what I’m trying to sort out. Should be a map layout somewhere around
here. These tunnels go for miles, to supply rooms. Maintenance rooms. Underground
sheds.”
“Should we be exploring those, for supplies and something useful down the road?”
Anne spotted a fallen frame of some kind. The glass was cracked, a paper of
something inside of it as she knelt down and began to retrieve the thing from inside.
“No, most of these lead to dead ends.” She noted as she went about her work,
“And we don’t have the time to spare, the next access door is probably 50 yards, a quick
sprint for those things. They might slow down navigating the tunnels, but they can see
and smell us better in the dark, much better then we can hope to track them.”
She held up the paper, revealing it to be a map of the tunnel system, a guide for
others to get their bearings while the facility was still functioning. Vega held up his light,
as did Dom as the three of them studied the map. Anne followed the patterns of the
tunnels with her fingers.
“This is the main tunnel, rough guess, we were halfway in when we were attacked.
That leaves us here, with a divisional split. Most of the men should be ahead, hopefully
not too many of them took the side routes. This is the one, this is the exit back to the
compound, and we can still get to where we need.”
Dom heard a noise, as he aimed his gun up, waiting. Nothing came, as he
scratched the back of his head nervously,
“W,what about the others man? We need the others, strength in numbers, and
more guns!”
Anne folded up the map as she tucked it in the back pocket of her pants. She then
got up as she gestured Dom to take the lead,
“We’ll find as many as we can along the way. But we need to get out of here,
now.”

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 The flashlight cut through the darkness, highlighting color coded stripes along the
walls as the InGen logo remained painted into the concrete surface. Along with the
flashlight was a gun, both peeking around a corner as the mercenary wielding them
continued to hug the wall as he advanced. Noises sounded all around as he looked in
every direction, sweat beading down his forehead as he coughed. He was right next to the
moron who set off the gas, got a proper dose of it as he wiped his red bloodshot eyes.
A rattle sent the man turning fast, aiming his gun with his light fixed as he looked.
A small piece of equipment lying lifeless on the floor. He cursed as he tried to control his
breathing. The tunnels were reasonably wide, but with the lights out they were very much
claustrophobic. Close to nothing was fitted on the walls, only sparse filing racks of
equipment and emptied out pelican cases. But there was close to nothing to give him
cover, the space was open and his light only penetrated so far down the tunnels.
The mercenary continued to walk, very slowly, minding each step and keeping his
ears sharp. As he turned a corner and walked out of sight, a large clawed foot delicately
followed after him from the shadows, stalking him.
The man continued to take each step with careful patience. Shining his light where
he could, he heard noise, the other men? He paused, gesturing to call out to them, only to
decide against it. Behind him a menacing shadow started to form, as it crouched low,
nearly out of the man’s line of sight. The animals powerfully muscular legs flexed as it
set its muscles. The large green eyes gauging the distance as it opened its mouth, making
nearly no noise. The raptor then dug its kill claws into the concrete with a ‘click’ as it
pounced.
The click of something hard tapping the concrete floor caught the man’s attention
as he swung his light over to the area behind him. The light flashed as the image of the
raptor landing on him hung in the air for a split second just before the raptor fell onto its
prey.
The man’s head fell back onto the floor, a huge clawed hand gripped around the
man’s mouth, the claws digging into the cheeks as the animals death grip suppressed the
mans attempts to scream. The sound of a low crunch then echoed as the man’s face, and
his body, fell limp.

Anne gestured to Dom, “That case there, keep your light on it.”
She ran over to a hard pelican case marked ‘Emergency’ as she popped the lid and
dug inside. Dom kept the light on, but he was feeling jumpy.
“Shouldn’t we, you know, keep going?”

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 Anne found what she was looking for, placing a stack of flares on a pile to the side
she dug out a few smaller black hard cases marked ‘NHT VIS’ as she popped one of
them open.
“The raptors, they see great in the dark. And with us flashing our lights, they
might see us well before we even know they’re there. This thing, night vision. Makes it
so we don’t have to use our lights. One of dozens of emergency measures and supply
caches I ran into when I was first stranded on this island.”
She dug out one, a charging pack and a pack of fresh batteries lying next to it. The
night vision goggles themselves were a custom made contraption; not tactical, they had a
big round telescoping lenses that looked to encompass both eyes that reached back to the
ears. A loose band along the top so they could be worn like a hard hat as the mechanism
itself looked bulky, almost cartoonish.
Vega picked one up, studying it, “Would these even still work in here, don’t they
need power? We don’t have any charging stations. Batteries?”
Anne checked them, “They new, but long since expired. Still doesn’t look like any
of the acid has broken down yet. They might not last long, but I don’t plan on being here
long.”
Anne then cracked open the batteries and fit them into the goggles. She bit her lip,
not knowing what to expect as she flipped the on switch. A sharp whine of something
powering up sounded.

The mercenary huffed, breathing in loudly as he ran around a corner and looked
behind him. Darkness. He had lost his light in the attack in the main tunnel, now he was
straining to see where he was going, bumping into things and not knowing which way
was up or down. Where was everyone?
“Hey, guys! De La Vega? Anyone?!”
He continued to stumble around the darkness, his foot catching something wet as
he slipped. Falling to the ground the Merc felt his head fall on something hard, metallic,
and cylindrical as he barked out in pain. Leaning to the side, his eyes strained to see what
it was he fell into, as he reached out and grabbed for the object in the darkness. He felt a
hint of relief as he brought the thing up and realized it was a flashlight. Flickering it on he
searched the area, only to have the smile on his face disappear as he realized what it was
he slipped on, blood.
He followed the trail of blood with his light, drag marks headed back into the
darkness of the tunnel. He felt his feet step back, as he gripped his gun and headed the
opposite direction. The clatter of metal from behind caused him to turn around and shine
the light, revealing only a metallic shelving unit. A low growl then caught his ear as he

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shone the light towards the roof. He shouted as the light illuminated a smaller raptor
crouched on the top self as it roared and pounced on the man.

Anne swung her head, the night vision goggles resting upwards as she scanned the
darkness. Her ears twitched at the sound of the raptors distant purr echoed in the tunnels.
“Get our lights off, double time down the tunnels. They’re here.”
Vega and Dom clicked off their lights as they all brought down their visors,
bathing their world in hues of green as they held their guns prone and briskly began
jogging down the tunnels.

Another mercenary was running in a panic as he fired blindly behind him. The
roar of the unseen animal bearing down on him echoing in the tunnels as the sounds
alerted other soldiers sparsely separated and scattered everywhere. All the men showed
panic in their eyes as they began to run wildly in all directions through the tunnel system.
The mercenary continued to run, the gun clicking, out of ammo, as he pulled on
the trigger anyways. He puffed out air in labored noises as he heard the roars get closer
and closer. All he could do was scream as he was caught up and dragged backwards
violently.
The tunnels were alive with men yelling and firing their guns, as raptors from all
sides began their full on assault. The lights from guns flashing, images of open mouths
and outstretched claws as the Velociraptors attacked and were attacked in kind.
One man gunned down a raptor in full charge, only to turn and find another
already on him thrashing wildly. Another pair of men found their way through a few of
the tunnels only to meet the dead end of one of them, the tunnel ending in an old supply
closet.
One of the mercenaries clawed at the door trying to pry it open as the other fired
wildly into the tunnels, trying to hit anything that moved. A flash of movement catching
his eye, he fired his weapon, only to see it was another soldier at the end of his barrel.
Horrified the man called out, as the other man’s body dropped. In its place stood the form
of a large raptor, the Alpha, as it leered at them. The men hardly had time to react as the
creature pounced on both of them.
Further in the tunnels another mercenary turned a corner, only to see one of the
men from the previous attack crawl out into the light, injured and pleading. The man
reached out towards him just as his body was pulled back violently. He stopped, shocked
by the violent movement as the unseen creature picked the man up, his hands clawing at
the corner of the walls, trying to keep himself from being pulled back towards his unseen
assailant.

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 The other man began to reach out, only to see the poor soul jerked back into the
dark tunnel he failed to escape. His gun light danced in the tunnels where he was pulled
into as it illuminated the shadows of more raptors appearing from around additional blind
corners. The man backed away, trying to find any way out. Backing into another blind
corner himself he watched as the shadows were replaced with the physical forms or more
raptors. The blood of the other man catching their noses, they sniffed at the air as they
approached the area where the other mercenary was just attacked.
The frightened man peered around the corner, watching the creatures roar and
bark, the sound carrying on in the tunnels. They reached the area he saw his companion
disappear into as they roared after something, likely the man’s remains.
Another shadow appeared as it signaled another presence with the mercenary,
inching closer and closer. The man barely saw it for a second until it was upon him, his
scream muffled.
Anne held the man tightly, pulling him away from the corner of the tunnel and
back towards the others, Vega and Dom. Vega replaced Anne’s hands with his own as he
signaled their newest recruit to be quiet. The man nervously nodded as the four of them
slowly began to make their way away from the animals ahead, jogging as quietly as they
could down the tunnels.
Around the area they had left, raptors hissed after the scraps of the dead men,
when a large clawed foot stomped down in front of them. The animals all looked,
standing, as if being called to attention. The huge eyes of the Alpha looked at his pack,
then at the dead men, as it turned its head. Sniffing the air, the Alpha drew its attention
towards the direction Anne and the others had retreated to. It gave a low hiss, as it
gestured towards its intended prey.

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 CHAPTER 23
VIRUS HOST

Ian was inside of the cryo containment chamber observing operations as the
portable lab below was well into being set up and running. Two additional soldiers also
dressed in military haz mat gear set up machines, carrying down samples from above as
assigned by Ian. Ian had opened the remaining cryo chambers, all of the embryonic
samples had long since rotted away to a useless goop, but they still needed to be
dispatched of properly as he assigned samples to be destroyed, incinerated in a portable
acid solution. He marked more samples as he waved over to Jackoby, who was working
the labtop and the automated door system.
Jackoby clicked a link as the doors above hissed closed. Ian watched as they
sealed themselves off, he then turned back to the rear of the room, located almost directly
below the cooling vents blasting in cold air. There was significant more frost here as well
as he spoke into his radio,
“Lex, any rhyme or reason yet why this place is staying refrigerated?”
Jackoby’s voice sounded in his ear, “Sorry agent Malcolm agent Murphy has been
called back to basecamp.”
Ian looked down towards the terminal area, seeing it was indeed only Jackoby
there.
“You know why?” He asked.

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 Jackoby shrugged, “You know company women Doc. All shadows and spy games.
I haven’t got any calls of a breach in our perimeter though.”
Ian wanted to press further, but decided against it, they were wasting precious
time. He needed answers here and fast if they had any chance of containing this virus.
“Right, ok give me the short version, why do we still have power coming in
through here?”
Jackoby put his nose back into the computers files,
“Says here they set up a hydro electric power source, running off the waterfalls
and river systems all around the island. Same template as the geothermal systems, but
notably studier to withstand the stress of water pressures and insulation needed.”
Ian nodded, “That makes sense, the smaller cryo systems must have been for
temporary storage, embryo’s ready for in vitro fertilization into eggs. What does it say
about long term storage, what am I looking at here, more nitrogen waiting to blow or
something else all together?”
“Files say there were secondary hydro cooled refrigeration systems installed, large
black insulated units. Should be up there with you, for…I don’t not if I’m saying this
right, vitro-nized samples?”
“Vitrinized”, Ian corrected.
“Is it an explosive? Unstable like the Nitrogen?”
Ian shook his head, “No, it’s a process to keep ice crystals from forming in organic
samples during long term freezing. Liquid hydro cooling, I’ll be damned we might just
have something to work with up here. How much power do you have left to run the
doors?”
Jackoby checked his readouts, “Portable batteries are at 20 percent. Maybe another
fifteen minutes of work in terms of continual door operation and terminal commands.”
Ian did the math in his head, “Alright I need to get back to institute more medical
aide, coming down, seal it off behind me and see what you can do to make sure the power
keeps running in here. It’s a miracle this system lasted this long.”
The doors hissed as Ian stepped out, making his way down. Seeing the samples
destroyed he took the liberty of removing his haz mat helmet as he breathed in some fresh
air. He walked over to Jackoby,
“What else works in here, any areas that can be easily sealed off?”
Jackoby checked the computer files, “Yeah, nursery, was built to stay sterilized.”
Ian nodded, “Order one of the men to move at least two of the microbe stations
into there, soak everything with the assigned disinfectant, then move the specimen
disposal unit in there and seal it off. That’s where I’ll test the mutated RAB-V strain.”

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 Ian signaled one of the men to follow him as he checked and triple checked his
equipment looking for tears, in either the suit or the rubber gloves inside his bigger
tactical gloves.
A few steps and he was back at basecamp, a green hue lighting the entire area. Ian
looked around, he felt like he was in a night club in LA. Green lasers were marked all
around them, a perimeter to match up with the automated gunner stations. They whirled,
moving side to side, searching for anything to break the laser sights of their motion
sensors. Ian saw at least three soldiers monitoring computer tablets linked up to a thermal
video feed from the POV of the automated guns. One of the guns whirled around, a red
shape dancing across the screen. Ian spied Robert flipping through hard files and books
nervously.
Ian ran over to him, “What’s going on, Jackoby told me we weren’t in any
attack?”
Robert shook his head nervously, “We aren’t technically, whatever these things
are, they’re staying out of here for the time being. I’m trying to figure out what it is
myself, its not raptors.”
“How can you be sure?” Ian asked.
“They don’t spit venom”, Robert answered, “and that’s what at least two of the
guys we saved were covered in right? Venom? Other options in the InGen data base are,
Metriacanthosaurus, large theropod. I thought that’s what attacked these guys and the
other survivors, but the description doesn’t match either.”
“It didn’t?” Ian asked, “W,What did it sound like?”
Robert saw another image dance across the screen, the gun whirling to chase it
with its laser sight only to have the image dart away.
“Not what I think these are, but if it is what I think it is, it isn’t good news, at least
not for the animals we thought were exclusive to each island.”
Ian looked over to him, “This could, complicate our touch and go quarantine Rob.
What is it, what did those survivors talk about.”
Robert keeps looking through text books as he recollected, “They mentioned
another big theropod, with two clawed hands, I think it was a juvenile T-Rex. InGen
reported another Rex on this island that was a juvie with the other big female back in the
Nineties. But over twenty years ago that animal would be fully grown by now.”
“Wait, there’s two Rexes here?” Ian asked, a slight edge in his voice.
“Well, technically three if what they saw is what they saw.” Robert answered.
Ian shook his head in confusion, “So, the Rexes are what, breeding?”
“Well, we know the Rexes in the other island are breeding, but on this island, I
don’t know. I hope it’s breeding, because the other answer would be more, well,

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complicated. That, the animals are island hoping. Either by flight or by just swimming,
they’re getting to the other islands.” Robert replied.
Ian was clearly growing more alarmed with each revelation Robert threw on him.
“Wait…swimming? They can swim that far?”
Robert nodded, “Its not actually that far, each island is only a few miles from each
other, five islands in total, its not unusual for animals to swim those distances in search of
food or territory. Komodo Dragons do it in between the Komodo islands daily. Even
Asian elephants are known to swim great distances and have even been found miles out
in sea.”
Ian made sure to get Roberts full attention, making eye contact as he asked his
next question, “Can they reach the mainland?”
“No, no I don’t think so.” Robert answered, “Not many of the animals Hammond
and InGen made were aquatic by nature. In fact hardly any of them. Even animals that
tend to fancy more wetland territory, they’re not built for swimming an ocean.”
Ian gave a small sigh of relief, when a faint hooting began to sound. It filled the
area giving off a spooky vibe as Ian looked up, towards the laser barriers and the gun
turrets as they whined back and forth.
“So, what exactly is out there?”
Robert turned his gaze back to the video feed from the gun turrets, trying to find
some distinguishable feature,
“That’s what O’Brien and Murphy are trying to find out, they’re interrogating the
prisoners, trying to see what it was they saw.”
The intensity returned to Ian’s eyes at the news. Just as he was about to press
Robert for more answers, one of the gun turrets finally spit out gunfire.
O’Brien heard it from inside the holding area of the camp. “Oh that can’t be good.
O’Brien to tactical one, do we have a breach in perimeter?”
O’Brien looked down at the man handcuffed to a holding area. It was Marcus, as
his ears picked up the hooting, the same noise from the area they just escaped. A hiss
from the radio came in,
“Negative, perimeter holding.”
O’Brien watched as Marcus left out a sigh of relief. He laughed, “Man, I gotta tell
you, longer we stay here, closer it’s going to get you know? Now, run it by me again,
what is it that did that nasty vomit nonsense to your boss and friend back there huh?”
Marcus shook his head, “I already told you everything! We got chased by those
things, after being chased by the Rex, after being chased by some other thing with teeth
on this forsaken island!”

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 O’Brien shook his head, “Not good enough, expert we have says this is something
different, and being our expert likely outlived whatever expert you had, gonna trust my
boy over yours. So, you gotta help us all out, because I don’t know how much your boss
told you, but things are going to get much, much worse if you don’t dig deep into that
hired gun brain of yours and tell us more. Now, what is it?”
Marcus shook his head, “I don’t know! We’re private security, all of us, I’m not
some hire gun out of Iraq or Rwanda, maybe some of the others were but we all got
contracted into Biosyn. I’m just…”
O’Brien waved his hand, “I know I know, just a security guy. Others sung this
song too and you know what, cause they talked first we gave them a deal.”
Marcus raised an eyebrow, “Others? I thought you said Dodgson and the Johnny
were hospitalized or something.”
O’Brien and Marcus heard a pound against a Plexiglas double sided mirror to their
right, as O’Brien nodded to someone unseen on the other side as he turned back to
Marcus,
“Oh you didn’t know? You three aren’t the only people we picked up in the park.”
Light in an adjacent room flickered on revealing one of the other mercenaries
Dodgson had left behind, Mallory.
“She tells me her name is Mallory, Mallory Martinez or something,” O’Brien
blandly stated as he observed Marcus’ reaction, “told us all kinds of information.
Including how you and your boys all left her and the other survivors to die. And right
now, she doesn’t look too happy to see you. In fact she already blew half of the ID’s on
most of your parties here and on the other island.”
Marcus looked up at O’Brien, clearly surprised as O’Brien continued,
“Yeah that’s right. We know all about the other team. We know about Biosyn, we
know about your plans to breed bio weapons. Hell I even know about that piece of tail
you have in Florida. Real question is, how much do you know, about your own boss.
About the real weapon.”
O’Brien then closed in to Marcus, as he dug out a syringe. Marcus stared at it, as
O’Brien waved it dangerously close to the man’s eyes.
“You think Dodgson and your other boy are in a hospital? You got it all wrong,
they’re in Haz Mat. That’s right, class one quarantine.”
Marcus then watched as O’Brien injected himself with the syringe, keeping his
eyes on Marcus.
“The thing you ran into, it’s carrying some kind of contaminant, a virus Marcus.
Some serious SARS looking super bug that makes Ebola look like the measles. And you
know what, I don’t even think this cure I’m pumping in is even going to work.”

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 O’Brien took the needle out, again, gesturing it around Marcus’ eyes, his blood
now on the other end of it,
“That’s what Biosyn was after, and now they’re both infected, and we don’t know
enough about this thing to think you aren’t either. I got my booster shot, just to talk with
you in the same room. So, if you don’t want your insides liquefied, or your skin to melt
off, I suggest you tell me everything you saw, every detail about whatever that thing
was.”
Marcus hardly kept any details to himself as he babbled, O’Brien’s bluff clearly
working. Moments later he walked outside of the holding door of Marcus’ portable prison
as Ian and Robert both stood, waiting for him. O’Brien turned to Robert,
“Guy doesn’t know his Dinosaurs, but he says the one that got him had a frill.
With two bone looking things on top of their heads. Long necks, says the bigger ones
have croc like mouths.”
Robert nodded as he clicked on the radio,
“Dilophosaurus! It’s a Dilophosaurus, InGen called them Spitters! They spit
venom, smaller ones have frills and a threat display, larger ones have well, bigger mouths
and more teeth.”
“How big are we talking?” Ian asked.
“At least over seven feet high, its big. I imagine they can spit a good four to five
feet. I’d order all of our troops to keep that distance away from the perimeter.”
Ian shook his head, “More then that those things are capable of soaking this whole
area with the thing that can very well activate this virus. And we have a fresh batch of
samples that can work as a primer. We’re a sitting duck. I need to get those samples,
everything, possibly even Dodgson and the other man out of here, and into our new
quarantine in the lab….wait.”
Ian looked around into the holding area where Marcus was, the adjacent rooms, as
he turned to O’Brien.
“Where is Lex?!”

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 CHAPTER 24
Dodgson

Lex looked down at Dodgson through cold blue eyes as she wore a hazmat suit,
the only different thing about it, was her gun. Dodgson was breathing, hard. His vision
was returning, but with it the pain returned as well. Dodgson nervously looked around,
his hands on fire, spasming, like they were losing muscle control.
“I would guess you’re dying Dodgson.”
Lex offered. Dodgson’s eyes rose to her, a hint of confusion and fear as she
continued, “I imagine it’s one of dozens of questions going on in your mind. Our
specialist tells me that you’ve been infected with a kind of dormant virus strain. It’s
coursing through your body as we speak.”
Dodgson looked down at his hands, giving off a pitiful whimper as Lex continued,
“Our specialist, in case you’re wondering, is from the CDC. I imagine you know
how serious this thing is, if the CDC is involved.”
Lex brought up her gun, as she set next to Dodgson casually keeping it hanging
from her dominant hand as she crossed her legs casually,
“To be honest, I’m kind of in a moral dilemma. I’m a field agent, from the CIA, to
add more weight to the gravity of your situation. And I’m torn between my professional
duty, and keeping this from being personal. You see, I really want to rid ourselves of a
liability, and an overall horrendous excuse for a human being. We have enough of your
men, we have enough deals going on. As we speak the US government is here striking

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deals and getting all the testimonies we need from your hired guns. We know about
Biosyns biological weapons program, your underground arms deals, overseas coverup
companies and so on and so on. So, I honestly don’t need you around anymore. And that
kind of makes things easier for me, professionally, to consider my more personal urges
right now. You see, I’m also Hammonds granddaughter, one of the two that survived this
island, the first time you sabotaged it.”
Lex saw Dodgson’s eyes go wide, she knew he fully understood his situation as he
tried to speak,
“Oh, oh God, I didn’t mean, I didn’t tell our guys to, ah! I burns, everything is
burning…please…”
Lex didn’t break her gaze as she continued, “Do you know, because of your spy,
when you infiltrated the park, how many people were killed? The men at the docks who
greeted two kids, just wanting to spend some time with their grandfather, likely dead. The
woman at the visitor’s center, whose bright smile greeted my little brother, likely dead.
My Grandfather, who spent his dying days seeing his dream stripped away. All those
people, dead. And I had to watch as me and my brother were nearly eaten alive by the
things your spy tried to get off this island.”
Ian and O’Brien ran into the quarantine chamber, as they looked into the
containment areas holding Dodgson and the other infected man. Ian looked into one of
the rooms seeing the other man, Johnny, still sedated. He then ran over to the room
Dodgson was in, and in terror found Lex inside, sitting next to him brandishing a gun.
“No! She’s going to shoot him! Lex! Alexis, don’t do it! You might spread the
virus!”
He hit the keys on the hatch to open it only to find she had disabled the door.
“Move Doc I’ll get us in!”
O’Brien gestured to fire out the lock, but Ian stopped him.
“No! We need to keep that room sealed! It could release the virus!”
Ian and O’Brien then looked on through the door, helpless to do anything.
Lex saw motion from her peripheral vision, she knew Ian was there. She kept her
attention on Dodgson, who was now almost fully awake, clawing at himself as he
struggled to breath,
“P, please it burns. It all burns!”
Lex hardly reacted to anything, as she continued,
“Hence my moral dilemma Dodgson. Part of me really wants to pull this trigger,
just kind of help me get a bit of personal therapy. Because ever since I got on this island,
on this opt, everywhere I turn in this place, I just see those people, dead. Just see the
nightmares. All I see is the ghost of my grandfather hooked up to medical machines, a

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man you helped ruin and fade away. His last wish, leave the animals be, and then you
came here. And you killed everything you saw, pretty much raped this island and God
help me if pulling this trigger wouldn’t save me a whole bit more trouble then hiring a
shrink.”
Dodgson could barely process her threats, his whole body on fire. Lex set the gun
aside, as she reached up to his IV and pulled out a syringe,
“But, your good at what you do Dodgson, and I think you still have a few secrets
locked up in that wretched mind of yours.”
Lex then partially injected the contents of the syringe into the fluid, as Dodgson
felt a bit of the pain fade away.
He pleaded with her, “More, please. It still hurts.”
Lex tapped the syringe, as if teasing him, “So here’s the deal, your going to
tell…me…everything. And if I like what your telling me I’ll give you more drugs, and
you can rot here on this island but you’ll rot without trying to claw your eyes out and feel
your skin melt away. Maybe choke on your own tongue as you spasm so bad you snap
your own spine. It’s more mercy then you deserve Dodgson, so you ready to talk to me,
heart to heart?”
Ian and O’Brien watched as Lex leaned in closer to Dodgson, both of their eyes on
the gun she set aside. Ian also kept an eye on the syringe, it was a heavy tranquilizer,
meant for long term sedation.
“H, how did she know what drugs to use?” He asked.
O’Brien shook his head, “That woman has ice in her veins Doc, Company material
if I ever saw it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew more about this virus at this point by
just hanging around you then you would know about it by now.”
Both men tensed up as Lex approached the door. The hiss of the decontamination
room went off as Lex calmly went through her paces. She discharged the magazine out of
the gun, no bullets in the chamber or the magazine, as she wrapped both in a quarantine
bag and left it on the counter. She then took off her suit, went through one more
sterilization process, and re-enabled the door as it hissed open and she walked out.
O’Brien was quick to address her, “Jesus Murphy, what was that all about?! You
nearly jeopardized our mission and released a killer virus and who knows what else…”
Lex faced O’Brien, only inches from his face, her look intense and sharp as she
talked in a calm but cold and calculating manner,
“I need your side arm soldier.”
O’Brien, caught off by the gesture and the intensity in Lex’s eyes, could only
stutter,
“W, what?”

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 Lex continued to talk, “This is a class four black book opt, with the CIA running
command with the joint chiefs of staff signing an executive order for me to do whatever
is necessary to keep this virus from leaving this island. So, I need your side arm, soldier,
and I am not going to ask you again.”
O’Brien searched her, her demeanor, eerily calm demeanor, she meant business.
He kept his gaze, as he reached down and surrendered his side arm to her.
Lex took it, as she checked the mag, clicked it back, and holstered it to her side
while holding her ground.
“I want your men to prep an evac from here with everyone on standby. Radio our
envoy and tell them to have the gunships and the Areal transport ready for evac.”
She then walked past him, towards Ian as she stopped and looked back,
“Don’t worry O’Brien. What was it you said? That the more ice you saw in me the
more comforted you were? Consider all your worries at ease, you no longer have to
interrogate a highly infectious fugitive harboring the worlds most dangerous viral strain
of rabies. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to call my superiors to tell them something
classified.”
Lex then walked out, calling orders into her radio leaving both Ian and O’Brien
speechless.

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 CHAPTER 25
Bravo Athena Protocol

Anne, Vega, Dom and their newest companion continued to jog through the
tunnels. The mercenary they had brought with them, a man named Carlos, was between
Anne and Vega who were looking through the world in green hues as Dom kept the lead.
Carlos was blind, being ordered to keep his light off as he kept his hand on Vega’s
shoulder and kept pace.
They had made it through the smaller maze of tunnels and were well on their way
towards the main compound structure this tunnel led to. But what Dom and the new guy
saw as relief only caused more tension in Anne. Vega noticed it as they slowed around a
dead stop ahead. Two side tunnels approached them as they carefully walked their way
forward while a larger door met them dead ahead.
Dom and Vega both looked into each tunnel, gun barrels first as they swept it, no
sign of the raptors. Signaling Anne she led Carlos ahead of her as the four of them came
to the larger door. Dom gestured to shoot out the lock but Anne stopped him, signaling
them all to stay quiet. She then reached around and grabbed the security cards out of her
pocked, as she knelt down and tinkered with the lock.
Above her the rest of the men looked on, keeping their ears sharp when a familiar
clicking was heard. Like something sharp tapping into the ground. Before Vega could do
anything Dom turned on instinct and fired, this in turn sent Carlos in a panic as he turned
and fired as well. Shots erupted into the tunnel as Carlos flipped on his lights, the light

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itself nearly blinding Vega and Dom as they pulled off their night vision goggles. Vega
cursed as the two of them rubbed their eyes.
“Damn it, you just announced to those things where we are!” Vega cursed.
“It was there, I saw something move, it was coming up at us!” Dom muttered.
The rasp of something large then broke their words, as a form in the shadows
angrily limped around in the darkness, as if wounded. All three men flicked on their
lights, searching the darkness, trying to peer down the larger tunnel further. Anne looked
over her shoulder, then back to the door. They weren’t going to have a lot of time.
The noise came again, as Carlos began to talk towards it, his weapon aimed.
“Wait what are you doing?” Dom asked.
Carlos continued to walk, as if stalking the wounded animal, “I think we got the
big one! Its wounded, we kill the pack leader the rest should back off right?”
“Who told you that! Get back her you moron! Anne! Just shoot the lock out!”
Vega pressed.
“We won’t be able to secure the door behind us! I need to be able to lock it again!”
Anne cursed back as she dug out a portable power pack from her sack and continued to
fiddle. She was attempting to get the magnetic card key reader powered back up,
plugging the device in as a small green dot began to shine above.
Carlos stopped, as if knowing he was pushing his own luck, but he saw something,
a tail? It was on the ground, twitching, the noise of the wounded animal still huffing in
the darkness. Carlos pointed his gun, ready to finish off whatever they shot when he felt a
blast of hot breath. The Mercenary turned, finally realizing he had ventured back to
where the two side tunnels where.
In both tunnels were raptors facing him on either side. They hissed and leered, as
the man shook in fear, not knowing what to shoot first. His light then illuminated
something big in front of him. Carlos continued to aim his light forward at the huge form
of the Alpha Raptor finally revealed himself in all his glory. His skin a bizarre mix of
scaly skin and specialized textures resembling the exposed hide of a cassowary or emu.
Along the back of its neck, running down the shoulders and along the back to the tail was
a layer of filament like hairs and long, spiny quills. Finally, along the forearms there was
a row of uniform like quills, long and thick as if designed to be weapons themselves.
Within these quills were a smaller layer of hair like quills and feathers, forming blade like
wings as the hands jutted out cradling claws nearly as big as the kill claws on its foot.
The Alpha shared the stripped design pattern of the other quilled raptors, but more
reddish in color, with more advance patterns of stripes and shadows adorning its body.
The coloration a mix of deep blues, purples, and warm crimson blood hues.

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 The Alpha leered at Carlos, as the man raised his weapon as fast as he could to
pull off at least one shot. He never got the chance as the other two raptors attacked
suspending him in mid air as they tugged back and forth trying to pull their prey into each
of the tunnels.
Vega and Dom fired their guns as the animals dropped the man and retreated back
into the side tunnels. The Alpha ducked into one of the tunnels as well as it roared,
infuriated.
“We need to get out of here now Anne!”
Vega shouted over his shoulder as he and Dom kept up their suppression fire.
Anne heard a beep as she threw the cards into her pocket and opened the door. It had
some weight to it, as she strained to swing it open.
“Lets go!”
She shouted as Vega and Dom kept firing, the Raptors ducking their heads in and
out, trying to find their chance to pounce. Dom ducked in first, then Vega, as Anne took
out her magnum and with both hands fired two rounds towards each of the tunnels, the
bullets ripping into the concrete sending stone bits every which direction.
Anne spun around trying to use the momentum of her weight and movement to
swing the door closed again. It moved with her, groaning as the metal and years of rust
grinded away. Vega turned to see the door, it was closing, but not fast enough as he saw
the big Alpha emerge from the tunnels and roar towards the door.
Vega ran over to the door, lifting his AK in one hand and firing while reaching for
the door with the other hand. The Alpha ducked behind the door in response to the bullets
bouncing off the metal as Vega grabbed the door and with Anne pulled with all their
strength. The large steel door clanged close as Anne knelt down to the card reader on the
other side and began fiddling with it.
“Give me time to lock the door!” she screamed as Vega put his boot up to the wall.
His muscles strained as he tried to keep the door shut. His body then jerked as the door
began to jar open.
On the other side, the Alpha hooked the door with its massive clawed hands. Each
claw ripping into the aged metal as it used its own massive weight to strong arm the door
back open. The other raptors emerged, awaiting their opening as the Alpha inched the
door open more and more.
Vega saw what the raptors were trying to do as he called over to Dom, “Get your
ass over here!”
Dom hesitated, Vega and Anne screaming at him when he finally, but reluctantly,
ran over to the door and pulled with Vega to keep it shut. The additional muscle did the

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job as the door began to swing back towards them. They had the advantage of leverage,
but it was by the tiniest of margins, as the door fought them.
The Alpha tried to get more footing, but his claws were too sharp, cutting into the
metal too effectively as the rips in the metal began to give. He was loosing his hold on
the door.
The door finally shut flush against the wall as Anne saw the green light go on the
card reader and the locking mechanism. In an instant Anne held up the card she used as
she swiped it and saw the light go from green back to red. She then fell back, hearing the
locks on the doors engage as Vega and Dom also fell back, their arms about to give.
All of them watched the door as it rattled and banged from the raptors on the other
side with rage and frustration. The door held, as the three of them began to breath in
relief.
“How, how long will that hold them?” Vega huffed.
Anne cautiously walked over to the key pad, “The lock is running off of temporary
power. It will stay locked as long as the power is engaged. I, I don’t know if the bolt
holding it before engaged, hopefully it did. But if it didn’t, it’s a small battery pack, I‘d
say we have twenty minutes. I’d suggest we make the most of it.”
Vega nodded as he and Dom forced themselves back to their feet, exhausted. The
three of them then took a moment to look around where they were at. It was a large room,
filled with various cages and feeding troughs. It was an abandoned holding area for the
dinosaurs. Vega then spied something far off in a corner, a communications terminal as
he pointed,
“Time to radio our ride out of here.”

________________________________________________________________________

Ian was in the process of moving their equipment, the medical samples, everything
was being fitted into the newly designated quarantine area as he sealed everything into
large metallic hard cases wrapped in yet more insulated plastics. What free hands were
available not monitoring the guns or checking supplies were also assisting him.
Ian had other things on his mind as well however, Lex among them. But he was
forcing the thoughts out of his head, he didn’t have time to focus on anything else. The
Virus was killing two people within walking distance and the host of the primer that
triggered it was starting to attack them all from all fronts, he knew they were running out
of time. He looked over the their secondary victim, his body was motionless but he was
still breathing. Ian looked at his heart monitor, the beats erratic but strong.
“Sir do we move the infected as well?” one of the soldiers asked.

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 Ian shook his head, “No, we can’t risk contamination outside of this area. Those
things are spitting venom out there. It only takes one small mistake, one touch with either
of these men and we have a breach in quarantine. I’ll treat them here, get those samples
back to the lab and begin tests.”

Lex was with Jackoby in the main computer terminal, it was next store to the
nursery and genetics area, a fortunate stroke of luck. Lex even found herself back at the
same terminal she hacked into over twenty year ago as she sat down next to the same
computer console and began gutting the hard drives. Her working laptop and the interface
rig were also set up as she clicked on rapidly with her fingers.
“Prepare to transmit signal, I’m bypassing the worm Nedrey used to crash the
system to regain access to all of the computers original files prior to the system crash.”
Jackoby nodded as he plugged in various electronic wires into various bits of the
mainframe and hooked them up to a large portable satellite.
“We have signal, go for main communications and uplink.”
Lex nodded, “Get me a signal to Locke.”

On board the naval destroyer the communications offer intercepted their signal as
he shouted, “I have contact, I repeat contact with Intercept team Alpha from Site A.”
Locke was on deck as he snapped his fingers at the man “Patch it through to the
main screens. Go live feed, wait for their confirmation code!”

Lex rapidly let her fingers fly on her laptop as the command prompt whirled to life
with lines of code. Lex smiled, seeing the crude graphic of Nedry dressed as Elvis, as she
typed in a simple code and the graphic closed, the viral code eliminated. She gave her
thumbs up to Jackoby,
“I have good contact. Send confirmation codes, vocal confirmation Agent Alexis
Murphy Agent ID One Zero Zero Two One Five operative confirmation Bravo Athena.”

On Deck the communications officer shouted back Lex’s confirmation, “We have
good contact, confirmation Bravo Athena!”
Locke nodded as he turned to another communications officer, “Go live with
video feed. Send confirmation links for upload.”
A large digital image came up on the screens in front of Locke as Lex’s face
appeared. Locke gave a slight grin, “Good to see you Agent Murphy. What’s our sit rep?”
“Sir, I’m accessing InGen data bases on know genetics projects on site alpha and
uploading now. Please confirm package in is route.”

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 Locke turned to the communications men, who after a few tense moments shouted,
“We have good uplink. I repeat, good uplink package is in route.”
Locke nodded as he turned back to Lex, “We have good package uplink. What’s
the sit rep on the contaminant?”

Lex had a seat, her fingers still working as her eyes scanned the computer screen,
her training kicking in as she continued to talk and multitask on the laptop,
“We have confirmation of collections of nearly 70 percent of the local engineered
fauna from site alpha. Agent Malcolm has identified the main strain of the virus, he is
currently working on prospects to see how much of the fauna is potentially
contaminated.”

Locke nodded, “So we have the main viral strain, does the CDC think they can
reverse engineer a cure now?” Locke saw Lex’s face as she processed the answer,
“Agent Malcolm is in the middle of running tests as we speak.” She replied over
the video feed.

Inside the quarantine area Ian worked with the remaining samples housed with
Dodgson, his military hazmat suit under his normal hazmat suit, he wasn’t taking any
chances. He was looking at the virus strains, the venom and breaking down the proteins.
He knew he was under the gun, he needed to let the people back on the destroyer know if
there was a chance for a cure. He knew that would keep them from napalming this entire
island, all the islands, and possibly them on it.
He then turned to Dodgson who was breathing in shallow breaths, his eyes
throwing fits of rage of unseen things attacking him, he was dying. Ian knew he had to
work faster, Dodgson was currently their only guinea pig, the only way to test out if there
was a way to halt the virus from reaching the brain, from inducing brain death and
involuntary spasm-ing, or coughing up the virus into the air and he didn’t even know if
the strain was airborn yet.
In the other room, Johnny’s breaths had started to become shallower, and
shallower, as his heartbeat dropped.

Locke processed the information his agent just reported, “You know what agent
Malcolm’s report will mean concerning our actions from this point onward. Flash frying
everything. Without confirmation of safety to transport, we have to risk making a
antidote from a synthetic using this data verses risking that virus breaching quarantine.”

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 Lex nodded, “I copy that sir. We also have Dodgson, the rest of his team save for
three survivors are dead, KIA. He and one of the men were exposed to the venom that
activated the viral strain. As of Agent Malcolm’s report only Dodgson and the other man
are infected, currently being used to field trail medications for a cure.”
Locke took note of this, “If he survives or not, are we talking transportation to
further test a cure?”
“I believe so yes,” Lex replied over the video, “it’s an ideal controlled subject to
run test trials. I believe the CDC will want Dodgson’s tissue to further these trails.”

Ian continued his work, cataloguing everything, making notes of the proteins
reactions. Then his eyes fell on something, a single specimen slide marked :

Tiss Cltr 001

Ian grabbed it, as he mixed the deluded venom onto the tissue sample and slid it under his
microscope.
“Need to be sure.” He whispered.

Out in the main basecamp, O’Brien watched the thermal readouts from the
automated guns as they whined, water from above had started to drip in from holes in the
roof. A rain storm had fallen on them, but it wouldn’t affect the equipment. Thats not
what worried him, what worried him was a large red mass approaching one of the turrets,
as O’Brien shouted,
“Contact main entry point!”
The gun whirled to life as a huge Dilophosaurus charged. Flares shot out lighting
up the darkened areas illuminating the massive creature as it roared. It was massive,
much larger then the smaller ones they had all seen until now. Even with crude lighting
they could make out the sheer size of the creature, possibly fifteen feet long if not more.
The gun turret whirled to life as it sprayed the animal with cover fire. The creature
writhed and snapped at the air, ducking away as another animal leapt up behind it.
The gun continued to fire as this animal too was sprayed with cover fire. It did
what it could do in response as it opened its mouth and spit out venom.
O’Brien shouted, “Cover masks on keep clear of the barricade!”

Locke heard the gun fire on his side of the video feed. “Report agent Murphy,
what was that?” Lex turned to Jackoby who radioed in, “Report I have shots fired, what’s
the sit rep at base?”

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 O’Brien shouted into his radio, “We have contact by hostiles, main entry point.
Barricade is holding. No breach, I repeat no breach!”
“They’re coming around the other way!” Robert shouted as O’Brien turned his
attention to the video feed from the other side of their barrier. Smaller Dilophosaurs
hopped and hooted as the guns whirled around to hit them.
“We have rear contact, I repeat rear contact!” O’Brien looked at the readout of the
gun turrets, they were eating through a lot of ammo. They needed to be proactive and
fast.

Lex looked back at Locke through her computer. “We have contact with the main
virus host. Subject file Dilophosaurus. We possibly have access to embryonic materials to
synthesize a antivirus via a host organism if Dodgson cannot be moved. Please advise.”
Locke thought it over, “Where is Agent Malcolm? I need a sit rep from the CDC
on this. I don’t want to flash fire that whole island if the cure goes up with it.”

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 CHAPTER 26
Mutant Strain

Malcolm looked up from his microscope, a look of dread in his eyes, they were in
trouble. The venom had infected the healthy tissue, free of any additional organic
proteins or cultures, a bite or scratch.
“It only takes the venom!”
The words escaped his mouth in a tone of dread as Ian got up to run outside the
room. He was trying to get through the cleaning process as fast as he could, their lives
depended on it. Right now the men, everyone was stationed well within a contamination
zone and the venom the animals were carrying could infect them all.
Ian shut out the thoughts to hazardly run through quarantine, he knew how much
this process could save lives as well as him getting out there as fast as possible. He
needed to spare himself the terrible irony of warning the men not to get infected, only to
be infected by the messenger because he didn’t make sure every drop of venom was off
his clothes.
Ian was almost though the contamination process when movement caught his eye.
He looked up, beyond the contamination door to an adjacent clean room, where the other
infected soldier was. Ian then saw the door begin to shake, violently. Ian watched as the
door shook again and again. He heard the hiss of the decontamination hoses run through
their paces as he tried to strip off the suit as carefully and as fast as he could.

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 The door continued to rattle as Ian’s eyes fell to the communications relay on the
dash inside the main holding area of the quarantine tent. The decontamination door
finally hissed open as Ian swung it open. He made a dash for the radio when the other
contamination door shook again violently next to him, stopping him in his tracks.
Cautiously he looked inside, the room’s lights had been torn out. A flicker from
the halogens only offering up little to no visibility when a human face suddenly came into
view.
Ian watched as the disfigured image of Johnny looked back at him, eyes wide and
blackened. His mouth and ears and nose all running red and black with ooze. A hint of
foam forming around the man’s mouth. Ian saw the door shake open as the man violently
hit the door. Ian didn’t have time to think as he grabbed the door and swung it towards
him, using it as a shield as it lodged itself into the desk and stopped dead.
Ian watched from the doors window as the man violently banged against it again
and again, trying to get to him. Ian kept a foot secured to the door, bracing himself
against the other door as the infected Mercenary tried in vain to get to him. Ian’s mind
raced, trying to make sense of what was happening before him. The soldier twitched, his
motor functions compromised as every movement made was triggered by some horrible
spasm. The muscled on the mans neck pulsed and strained, tightening and tensing
themselves as the eyes looked around feverishly. Ian then watched in horror at the man
began to turn, lumbering out of the contamination tent and out towards the others.

Lex continued to rattle away at the computer systems, bringing up files and
making technical notes with Jackoby as she resumed her debrief with Locke.
“Sir, doctor Malcolm is running tests as we speak, including tests on the host
organisms genetic tissues. Once we know what we have, I’ll report back in but we have
another pressing matter sir.”
“Oh, what’s more pressing then a cure to a global pandemic agent Murphy?”
Locke asked.
Lex brought up files as she cued them up on Locke’s screen, “Before he lost
consciousness I interrogated Dodgson, he informed me that the second team in Site Beta
are due to extract in twelve hours from now, smuggled onto one of the Costa Rican
military vessels making up the blockade, paid off by Biosyn. I ordered our evac team on
standby, but sir if I don’t intercept that team this thing might break quarantine and not
only that, whatever organisms on that site that also might hold a cure could also be lost.”
Locke shook his head, “Alright, what’s your inside agents report on the status of
that team. Last known location and the name of the ship?”

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 “Sir I’m awaiting confirmation of the inside vessel, they are due to report within
the hour. Last known transition was on the river heading towards grid Twenty Seven, the
mountain ranges and towards the final two organisms we need to sample from.”

O’Brien didn’t notice the infected man stumble out of the quarantine tent, no one
did. The explosions of the flare launchers, the whirl of the automated guns, the roar of the
animals drowned out everything else as O’Brien screamed into his coms.
“Make sure you have your masks on, stay behind the riot shields. Load up
automated turrets while maintaining suppressive fire. Front contact first!”
A group of soldiers approached one of the first turrets as they formed a wall of
clear riot shields. Two of the men made a hole in their defense, as they catered to the
automated guns and refilled the ammo chambers. The others kept their shields up as they
laid down cover fire, also sending out gas grenades as all the men kept their masks on.
Black spit splattered against the clear plastic shields as one of the herds of the larger
Dilophosaurus emerged from the haze of the gas and snapped at them. The animal’s neck
was long and almost serpentine as two large crests adorned the top of its head. From giant
yellow eyes it tried to hone in on the men as it snapped at them with its long almost
crocodilian like mouth. The animal and the other creatures following it were met by
cover fire as they shrieked and ducked back into the haze.
Ian pressed against the door, it was lodged well into the desk jamming it. He
strained to reach out with his hands, trying to get to the radio. He was so close as he
braced his legs against the floor and pushed. The door slowly began to give, his hands
traveling ever closer to the radio.

Marcus was inside of the holding cel, his hand cuffed to a chair as he looked
around everywhere. The sound of gun fire and the roars of the animals they escaped rung
out from all around. He searched what was around him, looking desperately for a way out
of his restrains. The soldiers guarding him and his other team mate in the other room had
left to fight off the things out there. He needed to find a way free. Frantically he searched,
they had stripped him of all his gear, including his gloves, belt, and his hands were zip
tied behind him. There had to be something here to cut at least those.
Just then something caught his eye, the image of a man? He thought he recognized
the figure, Johnny? The image was gone before he could get a good look as he turned to
see Mallory, the main operator staring daggers into him. She was free of bonds, no doubt
from the deal she struck. Damn Dodgson for not telling him she and the others were
alive.

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 Jut then he spied Johnny standing behind her, but something was off. His features,
his demeanor, all of it was off. His eyes were blackened with an oil like film, his
movements erratic, like someone possessed as the man screamed and charged Mallory.
She screamed, as the infected man spasmed and rammed into her. Both of their bodies
fell out of sight as the make shift wall separating them rattled violently.

Lex watched as the upload link of all of InGens mainframe files finished their
uplink, “Package is delivered. Verify complete capacity upload.”
Locke grunted the orders, his mind still processing the details Lex had just
reported, “We got it Murphy. Our time table is now three hours till I’m ordered to flash
fry. Cure or not, you got that agent?”
Lex nodded “Copy that sir. I’ll transmit the details of the convoy once my field
agent radios in for intercept. Verify air lift for my intercept team here at eighteen thirty
hours.”
Lex killed the transmition, and gestured to power down the laptop when the sound
of gun fire continued to erupt. She reached for her radio instead,
“O’Brien give me a sit rep. Are we still zero breach.”
A hiss on the radio crackled as O’Brien’s voice erupted, “Yes we have zero
breach! Barrier is holding strong, base camp is…”
O’Brien’s transmition was interrupted by a loud hiss of radio interference.
Someone was trying to use their channel at the same time. Lex clicked the channel off
and on again as she reset her radio, before she could speak however she heard Ian’s voice
scream over the radio.
“Quarantine is broken! I repeat, Quarantine is broken!”
Lex shot up out of her seat, “Say again, Ian? Quarantine is broken?!”

Ian was still struggling to loosen the door with one hand as he talked into the radio
with the other, soaking it in a disinfectant fluid while shouting from out of his visor and
helmet,
“It’s out Lex! I got one infected mercenary, he’s running around basecamp as we
speak!” As he screamed the words he grabbed the tub of disinfectant and kicked it over
onto the floor, watching the liquid crackle and fizz as it killed whatever it touched while
dripping out towards the direction the soldier ran towards.

Lex fell into her seat, “God, is it Dodgson?! Did he get out!”
O’Brien kept his hear on the radio as Ian’s voice called out, “It’s not Dodgson, it’s
the other merc! It’s the venom, the venom alone is enough to infect people!”

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 O’Brien swore as he switched the channels on his radio and shouted, “All men,
clear barrier, no contact with targets! I repeat, no contact with targets, targets are bio class
hostiles, don’t let any of the black crap get on you copy!”
Just then he saw a man still strapped to a chair running towards him, it was one of
the prisoners, Marcus! O’Brien held up his gun,
“Stop, STOP!”
Marcus collapsed in front of him, “Something infected them man! Both of them!
They’re both running around back there!”
Before O’Brien could speak his radio went off in his ear,
“Zero Barrier is broken I repeat, zero barrier is broken, I have contact, it’s a man?!
He, he’s trying to attack our men!”
Another man’s voice screeched into the radio, “I’m down, I repeat, I’m down. The
woman she’s ramming into the automated guns. Barrier is down, I repeat, rear contact
is…”
The man’s voice was cut off as a roar erupted through. O’Brien grabbed Marcus
by the shoulder and dragged him as he also grabbed Robert,
“Full retreat! I repeat, full retreat back into the lab!”
The men began to follow in suit as they set down cover fire and began to retreat.
From the quarantine tent Ian emerged. He was checking and triple checking that his suit
was intact. It was a high impact polyurethane shell but he did just have a door bashed into
him. His attention was broken as the image of something running at him caught his eye. It
was the infected mercenary. He was screaming and making a bee line right towards him.
In that moment Ian felt his field training take over as he knelt and took his side arm.
Aiming it he squeezed off the trigger flinching as the muzzle flashed. The bullets ripped
into the man’s thighs as he collapsed. Ian took a breath, shock starting to take over his
body.
The moment was short lived as the man writhed on the floor, foaming as he
twitched uncontrollably. Ian got up and made his way over to the others towards the lab.
The Base camp was chaos as the smoke from the gas grenades filled the sky. Ian was un
affected, his visor securely on and filtering in clean air. Even so he felt claustrophobic.
Shadows darted in and out of every direction, the hue of the laser barrier and the flash of
the gun muzzles casting an eerie light as images of larger unseen things moved around.
He needed to get out of here, he needed to run.
Ian started into a full sprint, pausing to raise his gun as a large head came snapping
towards him. He fired, causing the thing to retreat as he turned and saw another infected
person, the woman they saved form the jungle.

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 Mallory twitched and screamed as she made her way towards him, Ian took aim to
fire, but something was off. The woman, she wasn’t crazed, she was pleading. The
infection hadn’t reached her brain stem yet, driven her mad. Even so, Ian could see she
was covered in blackened venom. Mallory reached out towards him, signaling towards
his gun. She wanted him to shoot her. Ian paused, as he slowly raised his gun. He looked,
breathing steadily, trying to take aim, a head shot, quick and painless. Slowly he pulled
the trigger, when the gun jammed. Ian shifted his eyes towards the gun, shock on his face.
In a panic he struggled to clear the gun of the jammed bullet, but his gloves didn’t
make the job an easy one. Ian fumbled with the chamber, finally setting it back into place
as he looked up and took aim again. The woman didn’t see the moment a larger
Dilophosaurus emerged from the smoke, and with its huge head snapped her up,
thrashing her around and dragging her lifeless body back into the mist.
Ian stood a moment, unsure how to process what he just saw when the hooting
began to sound from the smoke. Snapping out of his trance he ran full sprint back into the
lab. Making his way through the building and maze of foliage he finally saw the other
soldiers, they were already forming a barricade of gun fire. Ian turned back, the smoke
was keeping most of the animals at bay but he knew it wouldn’t last long. Looking up he
saw the glimmer of something metallic as he jumped up and grabbed on to a chain bar
barricade.
He shouted, “Give me a hand!’ as other soldiers ran over and together they pulled
the fencing down. The metal hit the bottom of the room with a clang as Ian fit the radio
into his hands free set and clicked on it,
“Lex are you there! Over!”

Lex was working with Jackoby as they worked wildly, checking and triple
checking their work. They ran wires back and forth through various stations as Jackoby
worked on a generator. Lex paused as Ian’s voice came on the radio.
“Ian! Where are you, where is everyone!”

Ian watched as the gas started to thin out, more shadows erupting from the
darkness. “Here in medical. I need you to close the plexi glass doors! We have the chain
barricade down but these things can spit the venom through it! I need to secure this whole
area!”

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 Lex ran over to her terminal station as she looked to Jackoby, “Hit the primer
ignition!”
Jackoby hit a switch as the lights above them flickered and then exploded from the
electrical charge. She then flipped through the files as she began activating the systems
protocols.
“Activating the Lab doors now initiating seal.”
Ian saw the lights flicker overhead as the doors beeped. O’Brien then ran over to
him, “Wait, I still have men out there! Murphy, abort! We still have men out there abort!”
Lex hit the pause button as she radioed in, “Confirm abort, Ian?”
Ian watched as images of wounded men began to emerge, they were covered in
blackened venom as they crawled towards them. Each step leaving a black footprint. Ian
continued to watch them, a hint of wetness in his eyes as he clicked on the radio.
“Seal it!”
O’Brien protested as the men on the other side of the fence crawled towards them.
The plexi glass doors then shut as O’Brien broke free and grabbed Ian by the shoulders.
He slammed him into the plexi glass,
“Damn you, order it open! Those are my men!”
Before Ian could react a black glob hit the plexi glass from the other side of the
doors as both Ian and O’Brien fell backwards. Ian stood up, as he watched in horror as
the men clung to the chain fencing. They were then soon fell upon by the Dilophosaur
animals, the larger ones dragging them back into the darkness of the cafeteria room as the
smaller ones pounced on them. Ian didn’t move, he just stood there frozen, watching.

Dodgson stirred, his body on fire. The infection from his hands had long since
spread, adding confusion to the pain as his muscles would spasm but also were not his to
control. The venom that was meant to paralyze was now also inflaming his nervous
system. The pain killers and tranquilizers they gave him were less and less effective as
the virus began to take over. Dodgson cringed, his jaw locking into place as he tried in
vain to bear the fire inside his skin. The sensation of something wet running down his
cheek caught his attention, as he wiped at it with his one free hand. His hand shaking,
filled with black veins, Dodgson wiped away the substance in jerky movements, bringing
his hand back to the light when he saw what it was, blood.
Dodgson moaned out loud, he wanted to call out for anyone to help him but his
tongue failed him, it long since swelled up in his throat. The overhead lights then
flickered as Dodgson looked up at it with blood filled eyes. He moaned again, trying to
get someone, anyone, to come and help him. The lights flickered overhead one more time
until they finally went off.

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 The sound of heavy footsteps sounded off in the quarantine tent. Dodgson looked
over, eager to see if his pleas for help had been answered. His eyes widened, the lights
outside were out, but he could make out the silhouette of something big, large head, two
crests, long neck. It was them, the things that attacked him.
Dodgson tried to move, his muscles not responding. All they did was twitch and
spasm, the handcuff on his other hand rattling against the metal. It might have well been
a dinner bell. The animal set its sights on him, shrieking. It raised its clawed arms, and
snapped at the door. It was solid, but the adult Dilophosaurus was still much bigger. The
door creaked and cracked, when the animals hand suddenly went through the much softer
clear plastic vinyl surrounding the area around the cleaning room. The animal found a
better point of entry as it ripped at the vinyl walls around it, and began to make its
approach.
All Dodgson could do was look on in horror as the massive carnivore entered. It
hissed at him, it’s mouth open wide showing rows of wickedly curved fangs. The pain in
Dodgson’s body seemed to take a back seat as his brain registered that his end was finally
here. The large Dilophosaur reared up when smaller ones, their threat frills out and
shaking, entered. The last thing Dodgson saw was the bright yellow and red frills, not
realizing the red was his own blood. As together, all the animals fell upon him in a
feeding frenzy.

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 CHAPTER 27
Agent Athena

Lightning crackled overhead close enough that Anne thought she was about to be
struck as the three of them tried to loosely secure the area they were in. They found rope
and chains and fitted them around all the cage doors opening them to make walls that
blocked the rear access area they escaped from. Water dripped down from holes in the
above roof, the storm was well into its motions, night long since fallen. It wasn’t a
hurricane, but it was enough to make Anne and the rest feel about as miserable as they
knew their situation was. They had sent out their emergency commands to evac off this
island. But there was no response. They hailed the signal again and again, and now they
were just waiting. And waiting was something they couldn’t afford right now, they were
too deep into the Alpha’s territory.
“How long should we wait?” Dom said, his nerves at their end.
“We can’t wait long, that lock has less then ten minutes worth of power left to
keep the electronic locks engaged.” Anne replied.
Vega looked back towards the door, “Would they still be there? Would they even
still be stalking us? With so many dead why would they…”
Anne shook her head, “They’re still after us. The big one, the Alpha. He, well, like
I said…its personal.”

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 Anne expected Vega to push her for more info, again to her surprise he didn’t. He
simply looked around the cages, his eyes keeping focus on the cages.
The hiss of the radio surprised them all, Dom nearly leapt onto the radio receiver,
“Are you there! This is Bravo team on site B! Isla Sorna! This is for Admiral
Rafael Guevara, Destroyer Zero Zero Five Six One again this is confirmation or evac!”
The radio hissed, when a man’s voice came on overhead, Costa Rican accent,
“Yes, this is rendezvous, window for pick up is open. Verify evac code and
authorization.”
Vega snatched the radio from Dom, “This is De La Vega, lead on bravo team,
authorize extraction.”

Inside a large naval ship a Costa Rican soldier looked over to his superior, the
Captain. He watched him intently, as the Captain overheard the radio transmission. He
nodded back to the man, who turned and addressed Vega.
“Code authenticated, verify extraction point, grid twelve helipad one.”

Vega gestured for Anne to hand him something as he continued to speak,

“Negative new coordinates for extraction point.”
Anne handed him the larger topographical map as she pointed to a spot on the map
with a large circle. Vega looked at it, “New extraction point is grid twenty seven, sat com
readout shows one helipad, only one chopper needed for extraction. Copy? Over.”

The solider turned to the Captain, as he turned to someone else on board, it was
Locke. The man stepped out of the shadows as an American Seal team revealed they had
taken over the control quarters. Locke nodded to the Captain, who in turn signaled the
solider as he talked.
“Copy that, extraction in grid twenty seven. Team will be there at nineteen thirty
hours.”
Locke nodded, a pleased smile on his face as he gestured to escort the Captain out
of the communications deck. Two of the Seals escorted him out. The Costa Rican soldier
watched as he turned to the radio and sent out a series of beeps as clandestine as he could.

Vega nodded, pleased, as he then turned to Anne and began to walk towards her.
While he did Dom turned to the radio, a series of beeps catching his ear as his eyes
widened. He called over,
“Hey Vega!”
Vega looked back, “What is it?”

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 Dom tried to articulate his words as best as he could, “Uh, I think there’s more he
tried to transmit, give me a hand real quick, just to double check.”
Vega raised an eyebrow, as he turned to Anne, “I’ll be right back, see what you
can find to beef up the cage doors, the barrier, for when the main door runs out of
power.”
Anne stared at Vega as he made his way back. She reached out at the doors and
checked them, they seemed secure enough. She looked around the floor for something to
tie it off, but she kept her eyes towards Vega and Dom. What escaped her sight, was the
light on the locking pad, as it began to flicker and slowly fade.
Vega walked over to Dom, “Ok what was it, do we need to hook up another
battery?”
Dom wrote something down on his palm, as he showed it to Vega, gesturing at
something else, “No I think I got the whole message now, just, needed to verify it.”
Vega looked down at Dom’s hand as he read one word.

SPY

Vega looked up at Dom, who exchanged his gaze. Vega gave a slight nod, “Right,
ok yeah that’s the whole message.”
Anne knew something was up, her attention driven back towards the men as the
light on the locking pad faded. A soft beep sounded as a hiss from the locking device
signaled that the lock was now disengaged. The door creaked open as the rusted remains
of the bolt showed, stuck back inside the mechanism. The bolt did indeed fail to engage,
as the door continued to open wider.
Anne didn’t see the large clawed hand reach around, nor did she see a large yellow
eye peek out as she fumbled with her hands around a chain on the floor. She loosely
wrapped it around one of the bars, just as she caught the sight of a large shape smash into
it. Anne screamed as she held on reflexively to the cage door, the raptor jumping at it,
threatening to knock it off its hinges.
Vega ran over as he fired his gun at the animal, half the bullets hitting the steel
bars but enough getting through to at least send it retreating. Vega then handed Anne
some industrial strength zip ties,
“Tie them around the door hinges!”
Anne did as she was told at Vega walked over to a rusted shelving unit filled with
rotting hard cases. He ran over, put his body weight on the wall and kicked it with his
feet. Anne saw the shelving gesture to fall towards her. She retreated just as the shelving

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unit crashed down in front of her, reinforcing the blockade they created. Vega ran over
and gestured to Anne,
“Ladies first!”
Anne threw him a glare as she un-holstered her gun, and signaled them to follow
her. Dom grabbed the map as he turned to Vega, who only smirked and shrugged as the
three of them made their way out.
As they did more Raptors poured into the area, as they ran along either side of
them while they navigated their way out of the cages. Their bodies twisted and turned as
they struggled to navigate the maze of steel bars and chain link walls. Anne and Vega
started to engage as they fired at them as best they could. Some of the Raptors fell back,
flinching at the bullets. Others simple ran out of free space as they ran into dead ends.
Anne looked up to see one of them was climbing after them on the chain link roof
overhead. It moved with eerily serpentine movements as it reached out with its hands,
hooked the chain, and kicked forward with its feet as it squeezed in between the roof of
the physical structure and the chain link roof itself. More raptors climbed along with it as
they shuffled closer and closer towards their targets.
“Jezuz what are these things!” Dom exclaimed at the sight of them climbing
overhead. Anne looked ahead, the end of the structure was coming into view as they ran
past the communications relay. They didn’t take any time to stop when a crash caught all
of their attention. Vega and Anne whipped their head back towards the gate they
fastened, the Alpha was there clawing at it.
“Christ you’re a persistent bloke!” Anne swore as she gestured to a large barn like
steel door. “We need to close that, close this whole building off!”
The Alpha roared defiantly as his pack continued to pour into the building from
the opening behind him. His legs flexed as he dug his huge talons into the ground. Then
with outreached semi winged arms he hooked his large hands into the fence in front of
him and pulled with all his might. The other raptors watched as the Alpha’s arms flexed
and the muscles spasm under the strain. A notable ping then went off, as the chain links
became dislodged and were ripped from their bead welded points as the whole thing
started to bend inwards.
Anne, Vega and Dom ran over to the barn door as Anne set to clearing the track
the barn door was designed to use to close. Vega and Dom began pushing it as it started
to make its way down the track with a groan. The wet mud all around them made it
difficult to keep their footing as they inched the large door closer and closer to shutting
off their intended escape. The door then bucked suddenly, as Vega and Dom looked
ahead in a panic. A part of the track was bent, seizing the steel wheels as they bumped
into the indent in vain.

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 Anne saw the area where the track was damaged, then turned her head back
towards the place where the Alpha was breaking through. He already had half the chain
link door bent inwards and almost completely ripped away as smaller raptors began to
pour in, making a bee line towards them. Anne didn’t waist any time as she un-holstered
her Magnum again and took aim with both hands. The gun bucked as the bullets ripped
through the air. The first raptor barreling towards them was hit square in the chest as it
stopped dead and fell to the ground with a thud. The second raptor also caught a bullet to
the neck as it was partially thrown back, also falling to the ground dead.
Anne could feel the impact form the gun ripple through her arms as she strained
her muscles to keep firing. Three more shots echoed into the air as the bullets lobbed
their way forward. Sure enough, the raptors they hit fell backwards dead upon impact.
The Alpha roared angrily as he tried to finish his work on the fencing. The door itself was
nearly gone as he ripped it away with brute strength. The fencing next to it exploded as
Anne started driving more shots deeper down the building towards them. The Alpha
roared as he and the others took cover.
Anne checked her shots, she needed to reload as she opened up the gun while
shouting back to Vega and Dom, “Get on with it will you! You have to push the door
over the break in the track! Make it jump the track!”
Dom and Vega continued to push, their legs sliding in the mud as Anne reloaded,
she was throwing magnum rounds into the chamber. She got three in before something
from above caught her attention. Instinctively she ducked just as a clawed hand reached
out towards her, the raptors on the ceiling were clawing their way through the chain link
as well. Holes from above started to form as Anne closed the chamber and shot three
rounds up into the ceiling. She got two of the animals nearly through the fencing only to
see them replaced with more of them, looking to finish their work and opening up the
holes larger for them to pour through.
Back towards the tunnel opening the Alpha peeked out, seeing Anne distracted.
His eyes narrowed as he roared defiantly.
Anne abandoned the task as she grabbed some chain from the floor around her and
ran over to the barn door. She went to the end of it as she dropped to her knees and threw
her hands under the door. Screaming she rocked her body back using all of her weight to
nudge the wheel over the bend in the track as it gained forward momentum again. Dom
and Vega nearly fell as the door rocked forward. The three of them then ran towards the
end as they squeezed through the opening.
The Alpha raptor roared as it ran down as fast as it could. All around it the
remaining raptors of its pack fell down from above as they too chewed their way through
the chain link roof. They soon all joined the Alpha as they flocked forward as one. As the

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Alpha drew closer he reached out with his massive claw hooked hands, his palms out and
claws claws up as he ran closer and closer to them, nearly upon his prey.
Anne was the last one out of the door as the three of them swung around and
pushed with everything they had. Anne caught a flash of teeth and claws as the Alpha
descended upon the door just as it shut closed. Anne wasted no time as she threw a chain
around the door handled and wrapped it looping the chain three times. The door rattled
and shook as she gestured to Vega,
“Zip ties!” She yelled as Vega dug them anxiously out of his pack. They were the
last zip ties he had as Anne snatched them and zipped them onto the chains securing
them.
The road of the Alpha raptors and its pack echoed into the night as the door shook.
Anne and the others looked intensely, making sure the giant metal barn door would hold
as the rain poured down all around them.
“How long can that hold them back?” Dom cried out.
Anne shook her head, “Not long, we need to get ourselves up the rest of this
mountain.” She then looked out to where they were at, they were in the middle of a
mobile home colony. Mobile homes, sea containers and abandoned hangars littered the
ground all around them out in the open.
Just then a louder roar erupted from the night. A familiar roar, as Anne made out
the shape of a large fin from the tree line.

_______________________________________________________________________

Lex sat at the computer terminal, staring at three bullet holes shot into the plexi
glass, an artifact from long ago from when she was last back on this island. She looked
down towards her laptop, a confirmation code popping up.
Locke had intercepted the vessel Dodgson had intended to smuggle out their
specimens. They also got confirmation that her spy was leading them to grid 27 for evac.
The report came in as she let her eyes process the information; she then hesitated as she
reached out for her radio, clicking it on.
“Ian? Are, are you there?”
There was a moment of quiet, when Ian’s voice came on. He sounded like a shell
of his former self,
“Yes, I’m here.”
Lex wanted to comfort him, she hacked into the video feed from the last remaining
turret guns, most of them toppled and on their side. She saw how everything happened,
saw the infected mercenaries, saw the Dilophosaurs attack, saw the wounded, and saw

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Ian give the command. She knew it was eating at him, but they didn’t have time. As
much as she wanted to go to him, he needed to pull himself together, he needed to find a
way to save them all.
“Ian, I need to know, are we still capable of making a viable cure?”
Ian looked over from the new lab station that had been set up, he was looking at
the tissue samples they had transferred before the incident, his eyes blood shot, the
burden of his order to kill four soldiers still very much weighing on him, as he turned
back towards the plexi glass door. It was stained almost completely black with venom.
“I, I don’t know.”
Lex knew Ian was losing it, “Ian, I…you made the right call. I saw everything,
you made the right call.”
Ian shook his head, “It sure as hell doesn’t feel like the right call. Maybe I could
have saved them? Maybe, maybe it’s not just the venom. Maybe I missed something on
the other victim and…” Ian caught himself, he was going down the list of maybes, and
they didn’t have time for this. “Sorry, I just, every time I’ve had to make a decision like
this, it’s what I do.”
Lex caught that slip of his tongue, ‘Every time’. There was more then one time, of
course there was. He was apart of the CDC, she could only imagine what he had to do out
in the field. At the beginning of everything, she underestimated him, all of them did.
They labeled him a lab tech, a pencil pusher, someone to be protected. As the mission ran
its course though, she picked up every sign, every story he shared, lives he no doubt had
to end himself. It was stupid of her to presume what he was capable of, was stupid of all
of them.
Lex stared down at the monitor, wishing she had eyes in the lab, wishing she could
see his face. The computer terminal they were at was in fact next store to the lab, and the
nursery. Even so, a series of catwalks and plexi windows blocked any clear line of sight
for her into the lab itself.
Lex huffed, “What can I do for you Ian.”
Ian closed his eyes, a vain attempt to refocus and clear his head, “I, I need to focus
on the embryos, the ones that survived in cryo. If we get this, viable sample, I can get it
back to base and synthesize a cure. But if I don’t, the samples here need to be destroyed.
Either way, we need an evac plan.”
Lex bit her lip, “Ian, my commander wants to burn it all, not just the embryos, the
whole island. Both of the islands, he’s hoping to contain this and…”
Ian shook his head, “This virus might already be off these islands.”
Lex thought her heart froze, “What do you mean?”

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 “Before the attack, Robert verified that some of the animals might have been
swimming in between both islands. Species specific to each island may not be exclusive
anymore. These animals, the hosts, they could have been on any of the five islands, could
have infected any number of people who snuck their way into the islands. We burn these
islands, we burn our only hope to beat this thing. You saw it right, what it does to
people.”
Lex kept her eyes low, “W, What can I do to help you?”
Ian let his eyes wander up to the Cryogenics area. “I, I’m going to start looking for
Dilophosaur embryo material, but I can’t make the cure here. We already have had two
breaches in quarantine. I have the containment canisters ready for extraction if I find host
material I can use to engineer a cure. But either way, we need to get out of here. Every
minute we remain we risk further infection, and spreading it.”
Lex gestured to Jackoby, who began work on another terminal, one of the main
computers they were able to get up and running.
“I copy you Ian, I have a plan, let me know when you find what you’re looking
for.”
Ian didn’t break his gaze from the Cryo chamber, as if trying to summon his
strength for one last hurdle, “I will. Be careful.”
Ian then passed through a crude decontamination area as he grabbed another pair
of latex gloves, burned the pair he just used in the acid bath, and went to work.
The door hissed as he entered, he passed through the chamber, still unable to
believe the refrigeration units were still active after so long. He had abandoned testing the
tissue of the animals they had collected. He didn’t have time, none of them did. From
what he saw with the infected soldier, he knew they could potentially be sitting on yet
another mutated strain of the pathogen.
The soldier suffered no bite wounds, no initial infection of the main host
organism, the RAB-V virus. All it took was the venom, that alone seemed to house
everything needed to not only infect but also trigger what Ian could only describe as an
unprecedented neural synaptic convulsion. Normally, a RAB-V virus, being contracted
by a bite, would take at least 10 days to reach the spinal cord and brain, and even then it
was fatal and likely to induce paralysis, not a neurological overload. Ian knew this was a
mutation, with different variables, but an infection to take place this fast, mere hours, to
cause paralysis initially but then a neurological overload was unheard of. As was the
symptoms of this nerve overload.
From what he could recall, the brain stem was no doubt on fire when the infected
soldier broke through the door, perhaps the virus had triggered uncontrollable amounts of

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adrenaline to be distributed causing the man to react violently, perhaps brain death was
close behind? Ian strained his brain to remember as many details as he could.
He then paused as the faces of the men he locked out to die flashed before him, he
tried to force the images out. He was the only one left he trusted to get this work done.
He knew his only chance now was to get the Dilophosaur samples, pack them with the
other samples they were able to salvage, and get back on the naval destroyer to begin his
work there.
Ian lifted the lid of the first refrigerated unit, the cloud of frozen air rising up to
greet him, the pale blue glow of the internal lights shining on his visor. He clicked on his
radio,
“I need a volunteer with me on Virus duty. It’s the last chance I have to find a
cure.”
O’Brien was besides himself, trying to loose himself in work, securing guns, any
openings in the lab that were vulnerable, anything to keep his mind off the men he just
lost. Ian’s words hit him and he paused, looking around at everyone else. They were all
shaken, they didn’t want anything to do with the virus they had just seen, he couldn’t
blame them. O’Brien then cursed himself as a fool as he clicked on his radio,
“I’ll do it.”
Ian didn’t know how to reply to O’Brien’s voice. He was the last person he was
expecting to hear, “A, Are you…sure?”
O’Brien turned back to his men, “Yeah, without this cure. All of these men died
for nothing. You lead, I follow doc.”
Ian didn’t have time to argue, “Throw on a disposable haz mat suit over your gear
and meet me up here.”
He then pulled out a tray of tiny specimen beakers, each an amber yellow as they
were marked by tabs on their respective spaces,
“We need to get as much of this as we can for transport.”
Ian then reached out and plucked up one of the specimen beakers, its label clearly
marked:

DILOPHOSAURUS

________________________________________________________________________

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 Anne watched as the shadow appeared and disappeared in the forest. Her, Vega,
and Dom had taken shelter inside the closest abandoned hangar. Dom whispered to Anne
as loud as he dared.
“It’s the, Spino-saur right? Why is it here, how did it know we would be here!”
Anne turned to him, “It didn’t. It’s following the tree line, but it likely heard all
the noise we made when we were escaping the raptors.”
They were observing from the upper deck of the hangar, the rotting building
offering very little in the way of shelter. There was two large openings, designed for
aircraft, the windows all but shattered as the metal shingles were crumpled, in some
sections missing entirely. It was their only option though, as they took shelter on the
upper deck to keep out of the sight of the Spinosaurus. From the way the animal was
moving, she wasn’t sure it was working.
“We need cover, quick!”
Anne scolded as she led the others to a small pile of supplies and abandoned
aviation equipment. They kept low walking along the upper railing as the animals huge
fin and head passed them from the outside, its eyes ever watchful as the rain bounced off
its scaly skin. The three of them passed the last window as they ducked into the
equipment and make shift machine shop. Anne took cover behind an old engine and
propeller prop.
The Spinosaurus looked around, its eyes coming in alarmingly close to its prey,
the hot air from its breath hissing through the equipment as it blasted Anne and the others
on the other side. Anne’s nerves were on end, as she looked over to Vega, his own
demeanor surprisingly calm considering the situation they were in, but it was the look on
Dominic’s face that forced her to swear in her head. He was a wreck, she knew he was
going to fold in terror. She began to look around, as much as she hated being that person
at a time like this, she needed to figure out her own escape route, her independent
survival skills were kicking in.
A small whimper left Dom’s mouth as the Spinosaurus lofted its heavy head
towards the sound. It smelled the air, the rain filling its nostrils. Water and old machines,
it filled this entire area. The animal began to growl in agitation, mere seconds from just
lashing out and seeing what would run, what tiny animals it could draw out.
Anne found her way out, it was dicey, but it was better then sitting here when the
Spinosaurus decided it had enough of cat and mouse. Her muscles tensed, as her eye
caught the muscles along the animals back begin to tense as well, it was getting ready to
strike. Vega caught Anne’s motions, she didn’t dare stare back at him as he also saw the
looming shadow of the Spinosaurus over his own head. It was going to be ugly, what was
going to happen next. He didn’t even waste time to signal Dom as he eyed Anne and tried

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to figure out what he knew she already did, an escape. The giant maw of the Spinosaurus
began to open, its giant clawed arms rearing up, as it gestured forward to flush out its
next kill.
The sound grabbed everyone’s attention, a loud bellowing roar. It rattled what was
left of the glass on the windows as it traveled into the night as if a sound of thunder. It
caused Anne and Vega, and even Dom to freeze, their breath trapped in their lungs. The
Spinosaurus too was taken back, it knew that roar. It knew what it meant. The animal
roared back, Vega thought it was kind of half hearted however, being to everyone’s
surprise the giant creature began to back away. Everyone accept Anne, she was still as a
mouse as Vega and Dom dared to peer out past the equipment they were cowering behind
just moments ago. They only caught to tail end of the Spinosaurus as it disappeared back
into the trees. It roared again, out into the rain and the storm, as it faded back into the
darkness.
Vega allowed himself to ease back as he looked over at Dom,
“I swear your gonna get us all killed.”
Dom didn’t say anything, he was eyeing the jungle intensely, a nervous wreck of a
man. Vega knew he was wasting his breath when he turned back to Anne, and for the first
time on this entire venture, he saw genuine fear on her face. She was still, eerily still, as
he reached out as if to touch her. She nearly jumped, as she turned to him and said in a
quiet but intense tone,
“We need to get out of here, now.”

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 CHAPTER 28
NUBLAR EXTRACTION

Ian was working with surgical precision as fast as he dared, he assigned O’Brien
to securing the hard cases being prepped for evac with the remainder of the team as
O’Brien worked as effectively as he dared. There was little talk between them, he knew
that wasn’t going to last long though. They both did. Ian was the first to break the silence.
“Have you ever done bomb duty, O’Brien?”
It was a strange question, but O’Brien welcomed the break, if only to get to the
heart of the matter that was really on his mind.
“Zero casualties.”
Ian didn’t take his eyes of his work, he was personally overseeing the security of
what was possibly the most valuable subject on this whole island, the Dilophosaur
embryo. He did respond, his voice alarmingly casual in light of everything they went
through, were still currently going through.
“Zero casualties? On bomb duty?”
O’Brien gave a half hearted laugh, “On mostly every opt. Most of the time I was
on tour in Iraq, like I was a walking rabbits foot or something. And yes, I know how to
handle bomb diffuse if that’s what your getting at. Handle this shit like it’s a live bomb?
Did I get that right.”
Ian didn’t flinch, “You did.”

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 “Right, so as I was saying, close to zero casualties most of my tour. Don’t get me
wrong, my unit would get some young dumbass thinking he was invincible. Get himself
shot trying to take on the world. But for the most part, my core unit, I brought my boys
home alive. It was because I made good decisions, I made smart decisions, I kept people
alive. And all it took was one opt, one opt with you and lady ice up there…and now I got
dead men to deal with.”
Ian’s eyes fell slightly, as he secured the embryo into the container. “This is the
first opt you’ve lost men to?”
O’Brien didn’t answer immediately, he took his time, “I just hope it was worth it,
all of this. I have to answer to people, families, widows, just wanna know it was worth
it.”
Ian had finished his work with securing the embryo, as he kept his eye forward on
the job, “Never gets easy.”
O’Brien looked up, Ian’s back towards him, “What doesn’t? The death?”
“No, well yes but, the families, how the dead survive in this world, the families
and the widows, it never gets easy. You think after doing it the first time, or the second
time, or the tenth time and so on and so forth, you would grow dull to it. I’ve learned to
hide it, but it never gets easy. I see all their faces, strangers, fathers, mothers,
children….friends….they haunt you.” Ian’s voice was at a steady tone, as he continued
working.
O’Brien stood quiet, as if taking Ian’s confessional. Ian never stopping from his
work, cataloguing slides and sealing everything in Biohazard class shrink wrap and large
blackened sacks as he continued his talk,
“One opt, I had this young kid. Rookie, straight out of grad school, the opt was,
well I guess that’s classified, but the kid was eager, headstrong, wanted to learn. Too
headstrong, took risks, too many risks.
I made the mistake of getting too close, meeting his family, the mother, she was so
proud of him. His young girlfriend, planning their future knowing any day he was going
to pop the question. And then one opt, the bug got him.
The thing about the bug though, the thing most people don’t get, is it doesn’t kill
fast. No, it takes its time. It forces you to watch. Working in a medical field I’ve dealt
with all kinds of bugs, seen a lot of friends get taken by the bug. Alzheimer’s for my
Grandfather. Cancer for my other grandfather, my close friends, first girl I ever got close
to in fact. She was probably the one who inspired me to take on diseases as a highschool
kid. Like I could beat whatever it was that took her, her cancer.
And this young rookie, Lorenzo, I cant remember the last time I even said his
name out loud. But I still see him, I see all of them. I made the call to leave him in

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quarantine in a hot zone, to watch him die, to save total strangers who weren’t people I
knew, whose parents I didn’t meet, girlfriends and boyfriends I never ate with and
laughed with…”
Ian secured the last crate, resting his hands on it, the burden of the mission itself
finally showing its weight on his shoulders,
“And its all for the bug. To kill this little bastard, so we can save the world. I can’t
tell you it gets easier O’Brien, cant tell you it wont rip at you when you have to talk to
those families, those widows, but I can assure you…” Ian finally turned to him, a steely
resolve on his face, in his eyes, “It wont be for nothing. We have the bug, we have a
chance at a cure for the end of the world, they didn’t die for nothing.”
O’Brien hung on those words, as Ian looked over his work, more then sufficient.
Ian then gestured to him,
“Now, the hard part.”
O’Brien raised an eyebrow, “Hard part?”
Ian nodded as he looked out beyond the cold storage to see Lex approaching.
“Yeah, getting off this island.” Ian finished.
Lex was carrying a small portable tablet, she gestured to Jackoby as he nodded
and ran off, barking orders to the other soldiers. O’Brien took notice,
“I take it we have a plan?”
Lex nodded, “We do. I’ve already set it into motion, we have a small window to
get everything out of here. Our people, the bio class materials, and even our prisoner.”
She casually threw a glare at Marcus, who was still chained to a broken piece of
chair, but was content sitting in a corner on the floor with his head in his lap. O’Brien
read her intentions as he gestured to one of the nearby men as they both took to securing
him. Marcus barely put up any fight, he was more then ready to leave. Ian turned to Lex,
“So, what is the plan?”
Lex didn’t answer right away, she instead stood there, looking at Ian, studying
him. Not with the cold eyes he had seen on other occasions, they were the same eyes he
saw on the bridge of the destroyer that brought them here. Prying, but with a softness, he
knew what was on her mind as he replied,
“I’m good.”
Lex continued to stare, Ian repeated himself, “I’m good Lex, I am. And even if
I’m not, we don’t have the luxury right now. Everything packed is on a timer, cold
storage only lasts so long in these portables before things begin to spoil.”
Lex softened her eyes a bit more, as she clung at his arm, squeezing it, some sense
of assurance. She then walked past him as she stared at the canisters, their precious cargo.
She finally spoke out,

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 “Walk me through it Ian, how durable are those canisters, what’s our timeframe?”
Ian walked up beside her as he began to recite the facts, “Class seven hard case
containment with portable refrigeration and HazMat seal not to be broken till we reach
the lab back on the Venture. They’re heavy, but tuff as nails. Even so, any drops beyond
three feet high and we risk damage to the cargo inside. The embryos are frozen, but
technically they still contain living tissue, very brittle living tissue.”
Lex nodded, “Which one is the football?”
Ian almost laughed, he found it fitting Lex use the code word normally designated
for the nuclear “football”, the portable case to launch the nations atomic payload of
weapons. This was more then likely just as dangerous.
He pointed to a single hard case sealed with a yellow hazmat indicator, whereas
the other two cases were sealed with red.
“That’s the one, yellow. Figure since its night, would be the easiest color to
distinguish just incase things get, interesting. More interesting. Screw it I’m saying it,
suicidal.”
Lex nodded as she turned to him, “Not yet, I still have some tricks.”
Ian pressed, “Oh? What exactly is the final trick? Because, we look pretty trapped.
I mean that was the point when I got us all in here, but now I cant help but feel like I shot
us all in the foot. No way in, but no way…”
“There’s a way out.” Lex interrupted. “From this point on, you stick next to me
okay?”
Lex turned to Ian straight on, her eyes on his own as she reached out and grabbed
him by the arms.
“You got us here, you got us this far, you kept your end of the deal, looking out
for all of us, for me. Now I’m going to look after you, just like I promised. Stay next to
me okay?”
Ian simply nodded. Lex asked him a final question, softly, as if knowing the
weight of everything was about to hit him,
“How much time Ian? How much time till the cases run out of coolant?”
Ian took a moment to collect his thoughts; “Transport coolant is good for…I think
four? No wait, five, definitely five hours. Then we risk genetic breakdown of the
embryos.”
Lex nodded as she guided him, “Follow me.”
He wanted to press further, ask more, see what was ahead for them, all of them.
But the weight from the mission, the near death experiences, the people who died, the
woman he almost shot out of mercy, to then fail her, it all fell on him at once and left him
speechless. His demeanor as if he were someone lost in the woods for days. He let Lex

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lead him, his eyes heavy, he followed her as they both began taking steps towards the
staircase to the upper levels. O’Brien appeared with two other soldiers and Robert as Lex
gave them their orders.
“O’Brien, you grab someone and handle the yellow marked case, that’s our
football. You stick with me and Ian while Jackoby works with me on the portable
terminals. Robert, you stick close to us. The rest of the men will carry the final two cases
and those with hands free will look after the animals still loose and cover our six. Lay
down cover fire if we should need it. Plan is to rendezvous with the aerial unit for
transport off. There’s a helipad at the top of the visitors center. Partially completed.”
Robert was the first to catch it, “Partially completed? Wait, what does that mean,
partially?”
Lex continued to guide all of them along the catwalk as Jackoby ran ahead and
ducked into the control room next store,
“The cosmetic structures were never completed.” Lex started, “ But the main
support structure is sound, more then weight bearing. Pilot will do a partial touchdown as
we all load in, most of you have done this drill in training or on the field.”
Lex then looked to Robert, “Those of you who haven’t, we’ll guide you through
it.”
O’Brien re-appeared with another soldier next to him, both of them towing the
yellow hard case as he caught the tail end of the plan.
“Sounds good agent”, O’Brien replied, “But on to the next question, how do we
get to the helipad?”
Lex finally led them to a large rounded plexiglass window, inside of it was an
empty space, a large metallic track on the floor as what seemed to be a tunnel extended
onto either side further into the darkness at a curve.
Lex tapped it with her handgun, “This is our way out.”
Robert nervously peered in, “What is it? A maintenance road of some kind?”
Jackoby reappeared with a hard line reaching back into the main control room.
The door that connected the control room to the nursery was propped open by the hard
line he towed. Lex nodded as Jackoby hit a few key strokes, the lights above them
flickering before going dead.
A low hum then sounded around them, as the vibrations of something heavy
approaching rumbled all around. In the walls the sounds of metal gears and other
machinery reverberated as the lights in the tunnel behind the plexi glass flickered on. A
few sparks shot out as some of the halogen bulbs from above burst and crackled. Lex
explained to everyone what was coming, if only to calm their nerves,

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 “This is our ride. Hammond built a type of track way for the tourists on the island
to see a sort of behind the scenes glimpse at the parks day to day functions. A type of
people mover, it runs circular through each section of the visitors center including the
main balcony where the helipad is.”
As if on cue a large moving room came into view as Lex signaled Jackoby. He
typed in another command as it stopped, grinding to a halt as everyone took a look. The
people mover was now supplying the only source of light for them from the inside, rows
of lighting from above flickering as long dated bulbs held their charge or blew from the
power surge. Rows of theme park type seating could be seen set up theater style all facing
towards them. Lex took the lead as she guided Ian and everyone else towards the control
center with Jackoby. They waited in front of a type of access door that was situated to
their left, up the catwalk stairs on the control room side of the lab access door. Lex
nodded in approval as she barked out instructions,
“Everyone with spare cases take the lead in first. Rear seating, there are lap bars
that are automated but with a little arm strength they can be overridden, I need everyone
loose incase we all need to improvise our extraction. Backup with arms, front row.”
Lex turned to Ian, Robert, and O’Brien, “We’re VIP, middle row, last in, first out.
Once we hit the helipad we make a bee line for the extraction chopper. Jackoby, what’s
out ETA?”
Jackoby checked his portable tablet as he relayed what he saw, “ETA is ten
minutes ma’am. They’re in route now, two sea stallions, enough room for cargo and
personnel to wiggle our toes.”
A sudden crash grabbed all of their attention as they turned back out towards the
floor. Large shapes were hissing and roaring as they rammed into one of the adjacent
Plexiglas windows. Robert looked on awestruck,
“They found a way in?”
Ian’s attention snapped him to as adrenaline began to rush into his body, “How
would they have found a way in?”
Lex ran over to Jackoby as Robert whispered his thoughts out load,
“Must be the larger adults. So many windows and gardens built into this buildings
layout, would only be a matter of time before they smashed their way through all this
plexi. I mean, this has been their nesting ground and lair for who knows how many
years.”
Another crash as the Plexiglas below them on the floor level began to give only
for Ian and Robert to jump as the access door next to them beeped open. Lex ran back to
them,

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 “Time to improvise then, everyone in now! We’ll sort out the seating once
inside!” Lex grabbed Ian and shoved him in before her. Ian had no time to protest as
Robert was led into the room next by O’Brien. The rest of the soldiers came pouring in
from behind. Jackoby ran a hard wire from the computer terminal he was operating and
handed the control tablet to Lex.
The final crash of plexi glass rattled the very framework of the building as
Jackoby ducked inside the door with the rest of them. Lex ducked down behind the
control room desk in front of her. Quickly she hit key commands as the lights inside the
people mover went dead. In total darkness, she quietly crawled out of the control room
and into the theatre room with the rest.
Inside the lab, the larger dilophosaur looked around, hooting as black venom
salivated from its mouth. It was soon joined by others as they hooting in a eerie chorus,
all of them pouring into the ground level looking around, catching the sent of everyone
but struggling to find the source of their prey.
Lex situated herself inside the people mover with the others as she gently shut the
access door behind her, but it couldn’t close all the way. Perplexed Lex looked around
and saw the problem, the hard wire, the door couldn’t close because of the hard wire. She
cursed knowing she still needed it to initiate the tour command. Her eyes caught a brief
flash, one of the soldiers was trying to flicker his gun light to night mode as she shook
her head,
“No, they can see inside of here! Kill the light!” She hissed in a low whisper.
The soldier swung the muzzle of his gun to the floor to conceal the light while
switching it off.
Below an adult dilophosaurus caught the brief flash of light from the corner of its
eye as it barked. It then took the lead as it lumbered towards the curved plexi of the
people mover. A few of the smaller animals followed as the adult looked up, trying to
peer inside of the window in front of it. Its pupils frantically searching for any signs of
life.
Inside the room everyone was on pins and needles, trying to stay as still as
possible. The shadow of the larger animal shot up in front of them, backlit from the
remaining lights flickering behind it. Its dual crest cast an eerie silhouette as it opened its
mouth, trying to taste the air as blackened drool dangled from rows of large curved teeth.
Robert took in all the details he could, the danger still there but his scientific mind
working on overdrive as he noted every feature to memory.
The neck frills that were so prominent on the smaller younger animals had nearly
completely developed into smaller less prominent skin structures lining either side of the
neck along the skin folds. It was like comparing the large skin flaps of the Australian

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frilled lizard to the subtle hooded cape of a cobra, but much smaller. Perhaps more akin
to the flaring neck of a African green mamba. The red and yellow patterns very faded, but
still present, working themselves into a more intricate neck pattern. Indeed, a sight to
behold if not for the imminent danger.
Ian looked over to Lex, who exchanged his look of concern and anxiety as she
reached up and held the door close. Shadows in the adjacent room dancing along the
cracks of what little light shone though from the other side. The smaller creatures were
inside the control room they had just previously occupied. Their cries deceptively
betraying the threat they presented as they sniffed and hooted. Their heads turning to the
door as Lex kept her hand tight on it. Lex then looked to her tablet, she had an ideal, as
she placed the tablet ever so slowly on the floor keeping her eyes on the larger animal as
it tried in vain to peer through the glass in front of them.
It didn’t seem to catch her movements as she used her free hand to gingerly access
the control rooms’ command prompt. Ian watched, as did O’Brien as they both noticed
she was being hindered by not being able to use both hands. Ian looked to O’Brien, who
shared the same ideal as Ian began to move, very slowly, towards Lex. Lex looked up,
her eyes screaming for him to stop. But Ian checked with O’Brien, who monitored the
larger Dilophosaurus outside, it wasn’t catching their movements. Ian stayed low, trying
to hide between the seating as he made his way over to her. Finally reaching her he slunk
down and reached out.
Lex’s eyes shot over to the huge creature that continued to stalk them, it was
sniffing and trying to nip at the glass, but it remained unaware of their presence. That
didn’t give her much comfort as another large head reared up, another of the adults. It
was clearly interested at its companion’s infatuation with the Plexiglas in front of them.
Ian secured his hands on the door as he held it, nodding to Lex. Hesitantly she let
it go. Confident Ian did indeed have a hold on it she turned all her attention to the tablet,
typing as fast as she dared. The control panel inside of the control room flickered on
grabbing the attention of the smaller dilophosaurs next to it. One of them flared out its
frill on instinct, rattling and hissing catching everyone’s attention as it roared towards the
flickering computer consol. Lex continued to type as she brought up the commands she
needed. She took a moment to look, trying to find the automated commands for the
equipment.
O’Brien and Robert gasped, seeing three large heads of the adult Dilophosaurs
pack now reared up with their attention solely on the glass barrier between the predators
and them. The animals roared as they began to tense. Robert whispered in a hushed tone,
“They’re….gonna charge.”
Ian turned to Lex, “The, window of action is quickly closing here.”

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 Lex typed in lightning fast motions as the cold storage unit began to quickly leak
more mist. One of the larger dilophosaurs on the ground felt the cool mist as it poured
down from above. The small creature squawked, clearly confused. A moment later, one
of the intact Co2 containers ruptured as a small explosion of frost and equipment rained
down from above. Debris flew out from the cryo chamber as small metallic bits landed on
the floor in dull thuds. The creatures screeched as they hopped out of the way from the
explosion, all of them on alarm. The distraction more then did the job as every creature in
the room drew their attention over to the explosion, all of them roaring out of surprise
and confusion.
Lex smiled, “That should distract them.”
Before she had more time to celebrate the interior lights to the theatre room
flickered in spasms. Both the soldiers and the dilophosaurs found themselves looking at
each other through the glass barrier in a moment of confusion.
Lex reactions were lighting fast as she hit the button on her tablet to initiate the
tour command and pushed her body opening up the door. A lone juvenile dilophosaur
remained in the control room as it screeched in surprise at the figure of Lex entering the
room. Lex didn’t react to the animal as she ripped the hard wire cord from the main
terminal and snaked it back into the room with her. She then turned and slammed the
door shut just as a glob of black venom hit it from behind. The entire room then jerked
and hummed as it began to move into the tunnels.
The larger dilophosaurs shook away their confusion as they roared and began
smashing themselves into the Plexiglas. A few of the soldiers reared up their weapons
ready to fire when Robert shouted,
“No! It will weaken the glass!”
The soldiers stopped shy of pulling the trigger as the huge creatures rammed into
the glass over and over. The people mover was ushering them out of the room at what felt
like a snails pace as Ian turned his attention back to Lex,
“Does this people mover…uh…move any faster?!”
Lex looked on at the adult dilophosaurs, their roaring rattling all their ears as their
neck flared right before one hit the glass. Then another flared its neck and hit the glass,
then another. She checked her gun as she simply shook her head,
“No.”
She exchanged her ice blue eyes with Ian’s eyes as he took them in. Ian could hear
the roaring, the cracking of glass, the hissing of one of the most dangerous host
organisms carrying one of the most dangerous pathogens alive just seconds away from
bursting through. But he kept his eyes on hers, as if taking in one last moment of peace.
Then, to all of their relief, the plexi window began to disappear, as the people mover ran

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its course, taking them to the next room. Lex was the first to break her gaze as she looked
Ian over,
“Not out of the woods. Still got your side arm?”
Ian shook his head, “Lost it back when the virus got loose. You know, the first
wave of those overgrown cobras out there.”
“Uh, they’re not reptiles, well not cladistically they still fall into Archosauria and
Dinosauria.”
The sheepish voice of Robert took them both out of the moment as they both shot
a glare back at him. Robert retreated, as O’Brien laughed and shook his head,
“We need to work on your bedside manner Rob.”
Lex turned back to Ian as she began to reach around for her spare sidearm. Ian
shook his head, as he gestured to O’Brien,
“I think its best we leave the shooting to men better trained to shoot? I’ll handle
the football with O’Brien. Free up one more gun, better the odds.”
O’Brien nodded in approval as he ordered the man next to him to go weapons hot.
He then dragged the case over to Ian. Ian grabbed it, feeling out the heft as he looked up
to O’Brien.
“Make sure it wasn’t all for nothing, right?”
O’Brien didn’t say anything. He just looked back at his men, all their eyes on
them. He then turned back to Ian and nodded, determination on both their faces.
Ian and Lex then rested their backs against the wall, as if they were each catching
their breath for the last time. Around them the people mover rotated into the next room,
as they found themselves going on one last tour of the visitors center. Each room was
decayed, lights long since gone, most of them too dark to see. Still, small glimpses of the
structures caught their eyes. The larger area of the main entrance, as Lex pictured the
mounts of two large skeletons that were formally there. The darkened haziness of the
mechanical center, lights flashing on and off as the generator Lex and Jackoby set up
strained to feed power through the system. One last glimpse of the cafeteria, the whole
place a warzone as they saw a few of the neon tracking lights continue to scan the
darkness. All the automated guns either toppled over or their ammo spent. The whole
structure then began to whine as it shook. Lex checked her tablet,
“Nearly the end of the tour.”
Ian sped up his breath as he prepped his body, “Yeah, one last sprint to the finish
line then?”
Lex brought up her gun as she passed the tablet to Jackoby. She then held it up
prone as she felt the whole room shake and suddenly stop. They were at their destination.
Then, unexpectedly, she turned to Ian and Winked,

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 “Here’s to saving the world Doctor Malcolm.”

The rain poured all around as two helicopters hovered just above the unfinished
helipad, CH-53E Sea Stallions. Their pilots were facing the immense air ships outwards
as the rear loading doors faced the helipad. The tail rotors of the vessels were lifted to
clear the pathway to the rear loading hatch as the open hatch itself rested on the floor of
the building. Inside the cockpit the pilots kept a watchful eye to keep their rotors clear of
each other while keeping the helicopters in the air, the massive weight more then enough
to collapse the unfinished helipad. A door from the building structure burst open as Lex
came out first, gun prone as she scanned the entire helipad.
She raced out, minding her footing as she reached into her supply pocket and
pulled out flares, marking each section of missing floor as she made her way to the
Helicopter. A clear path marked by red light, she signaled for the others.
Ian was the first out with O’Brien, as they towed the yellow container. O’Brien
took the lead, huffing as he sprinted carefully along the path Lex marked, Ian trying to
catch up as he focused on the end goal, the helicopter doors, Lex. His legs burned, his
eyes stung as the rain water assaulted them, he was at the end of his physical rope as they
both crossed the final few feet of the helipad. The case then fell as gently as Ian dared it
to as he and O’Bien nested themselves into the helicopter floor. Ian then collapsed, as he
hugged the case, trying to secure it with limp hands. O’Brien picked him up as he slunk
him into a seat and secured a transport buckle around him.
“Not too shabby Doc, no too shabby.”
O’Brien let a smile escape him, as he turned his attention back towards the
exposed doors of the helicopter and brought his weapon up, ready to lay down cover fire.
Everyone else then came pouring out, The other two cases with their military
escort loaded in next, quickly followed by Robert. The remaining soldiers and their
prisoner, Marcus, loaded themselves into the second helicopter as the pilots got
confirmation everyone was seated. The giant machines then took to the air as Lex made
her way towards the rear of the hatch, looking downwards.
She just caught the sight of one adult dilophosaur break its way out unto the
helipad, bathed in the red glow of the flares. Lex watched as they flew further and further
away. The huge creature became a blackened spot. The visitors center fading into a sea of
trees. And finally, the dock they came upon passed over them as well as they disappeared
over the ocean.
Lex then turned her laser focus towards the pilots, as she made her way up towards
them grabbing a head set.
“Where are we with the second team?”

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 CHAPTER 29
APEX

Anne, Vega, and Dominic all slowly trekked their way through the rain as Anne
kept them close to the yard of abandoned mobile labs and trailers. Site B’s former on
sight working mobile home community.
“Is it stalking us? Why did it retreat?” Vega was trying to prod Anne for answers
but she was having none of it. Her face showed genuine fear for the first time on this trip,
and it was getting to him, it was getting to both of them. Dom was already rattled beyond
his comprehension as he tugged at Vega, pulling him a few steps back.
“Hefe, why don’t we just end this here eh? We know who she’s working for, just
me and you get to the pick up route and get the hell out of here?”
Vega glared at him, a warning to keep his voice down as he shot his eyes back up
towards Anne, studying her. She was in another world it seemed, her thoughts far beyond
either of them. It would have been a relief she didn’t hear Dom and his big mouth, but it
did nothing to calm his fears. This woman, this seemingly unstoppable machine of
survival, was running scared for the first time here, and he knew what that meant.
Vega shook his head, “Patience, and shut your damn mouth. There’s still
something out there, and only she knows what it is.”
Anne stopped, her body almost completely frozen as she jerked her head in all
directions, as if trying to sense something. Vega and Dom slowed their pace as they
walked up besides her.

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 Vega tried again to get her to speak, “What is it, do you see something out there?”
Anne gestured for him to be quiet, as she began to squat, bringing her body low to
the ground. Vega and Dom could only mimic her movements, as if unsure about what
was going on, when the shouting of another person caught their ears. Vega quickly rose
up as he looked out into their surroundings, unsure if he heard anything at all. The sound
bellowed again,
“Is anyone out there?”
Dom heard it this time too as he popped up next to Vega, “Sur, survivors?”
Vega nodded as he brought up his hand to give a whistle, Anne shot her hand up
stopping him. Vega looked back at her bewildered, “What is going on?!”
The man in the distance saw them as he waved, “Hey, Vega! Guys, I found them!”
The man was then joined by a low rumble as the missing amphibious from the river
clambered up over the horizon. Dom waved to them as he gestured to walk towards them.
“I can’t believe they made it there!”
Vega nodded, “Those bastards must have took the roads when we got separated,
went around the tunnels. Thought for sure that thing would have got them.”
Dom began to walk towards them, he would have gone himself but Anne had an
iron grip on his arm as he wrenched himself free.
“You gotta start talking to me here, what is your deal?” Vega asked.
She didn’t answer, all she did was return to the ground as she watched them all,
her muscle tense. Dom was less then half of the distance to the group as he called out,
“Juarez! How did you find us? How many of you made it?”
Juarez signaled to the amphibious to stop as other jumped out of the vehicle and
casually walked towards them, “More guns I guess? Wasn’t easy, we lost Antonio on the
river. The big one got him. We were able to outrun it on the plains in the Amphibious
when it just walked off. Must have caught your guys sent eh? How many with you? Just
you three?”
Vega rolled his eyes, this was getting him nowhere as he walked forward to join
the others. Anne didn’t attempt to stop him this time as she began to back up slowly
towards a group of trailers, most of them interlocked to form a sort of hub.
Vega began walking but something was eating at him, something was in fact off.
He just couldn’t place it. He watched as Dom got closer to the others. Watched as the
group casually exchanged words. Watched as a group of birds took to the air from the
tree line. He wiped his brow of water as lightning flashed and thunder hit, the tremor
rumbling the ground around him. That gave him pause, the lighting flash was a bit far off
for thunder to hit so close. He then stopped as thunder hit again, this time in the distance.

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 Dom was close to 20 feet from the group when he felt the thunder hit the ground.
The flash of lightning illuminating something from the trees, he nearly didn’t stop as one
tree casually fell to the ground. None of them stopped in fact, the rain was so heavy,
when another tree fell. Slowly however, all of their heads turned, as they finally saw
something just suddenly standing there, watching them. Something big.
Vega dropped to the ground in an instant, he knew this moment was coming and
figured he’d be ready for it. That time was now, and they couldn’t be in worst shape, their
first encounter with a T-Rex. He knew the training though, no movement. Unlike the
other one with the sail, this one only saw movement. It was the one bit of training he
prepped his men for.
Dom froze, as did Juarez and the others, as they stared back at the hulking animal
in front of them. They all recognized it, Dodgson had them memorize a few animals on
his hit list, but this one he made sure everyone knew about. The T-Rex, even without
Dodgson’s sit rep they would have recognized it, everyone in the world seemed to know
this animal. Big head, two tiny arms, two fingers, big teeth. Something was off about this
one though, it seemed bigger. Everyone saw the footage of the one that attacked San
Diego, but this one just seemed, different.
It’s body overall was massive, but the head looked longer, around the muzzle. The
normal angry brows like those you see on an eagle were more refined, an additional
bump or ‘horn’ protruding right where the brow ended and the muzzle of the animal
began. Tinier spurs or scales then seemed to ordain a few areas of the muzzle as it
rounded to a sharper point where the nose ended. Along the mouth, and the lower jaw,
larger more robust scales ordained it all around. Similar to a croc but also different, very
much their own thing as the top row of huge saber like teeth hung from those jaws. The
arms were also different, hulkier. Instead of the wrists bending forward like a dog or
rabbit, they rested facing towards each other, like some sort of primal meat hook as they
flexed while the huge animal took every breath. The thing that struck them all though,
was the eyes. They were bright yellow with hues of red against the general reddish brown
tone of the animal. Ornate stipe patterns adorning it all around breaking up its shape as it
blended surprisingly well against the tree line. The eyes weren’t dead animal eyes
though; there was a sharpness to them, almost an intelligence.
The Rex let out a blast of air as it took a large lumbering step forward. Everyone
stood their ground, as Dom tried to gesture to them. He quietly attempted a hand signal
keeping his hands hidden from the Rex with his gun. His sign language wasn’t the best,
none of theirs were. But they did go over the training, and a few key words or phrases
they committed to memory just for this moment. Sure enough, his hands formed the
letters or words he needed to spell out his intention.

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 F-L-A-R-E
One of the three men seemed to register the signal as he reached around his back
to bring up a flare gun.
Vega watched the whole scene play out as he whispered to himself, “Very good.
Use the flares, just like we were told to. Use them and get the hell out of there…”
He didn’t dare raise his voice, even though it was raining, he didn’t know how
good this creatures hearing was, bad eyesight or not. His peripheral vision caught sight of
Anne underneath one of the trailers, she was gesturing for him to join her. He signaled to
her with his hands, small micro movements, ‘Flare’. Anne didn’t ease up, as she
continued to gesture wildly for him to join her. Vega was confused, surely she knew the
protocol for dealing with a Rex, no movement. And they could distract it with the flares,
was she just overcome with shock at this point?
The Red explosion caught everyone off guard as the flare arched up and out, the
man aiming far away from their group. The plan was simple, wait for the Rex to give
chase, and simply drive away in the Amphibious. Although the hulking vehicle was no
speed demon, its top speed was an average of forty miles per hour with the custom
improvements Biosyn engineered into it after they got her moving. The Rex couldn’t run
that fast, they were all pretty sure of that.
The Rex’s eyes followed the flare, as its huge head arched towards the direction of
the red bulb of light. Everyone slowly began to breath, waiting for the Rex to give chase.
Dom began to smile as he saw the Rex turn away from them.
He then paused, as the big beasts eyes shifted back towards the group. The giant
jaws gaping, as if stretching, as the head too swung back towards them. The muscles in
the legs rippling, Dom knew what was happening. Everyone did, as the Rex roared.
Vega let the words slip out of his mouth as he looked on astonished, “It, it can see
them!”
He then felt the whole earth shake as the Rex burst out of the tree line with
frightening speed and began to give chase. The soldiers scattered, all of then running
towards the trailers as the giant hulking mass of the Rex pursued them.
One of the men closest to the Amphibious ran back inside of it as he jumped to the
gunner station. In a panic he flipped on the control turret as the mounted rifles burst to
life. The bullets lit up in the darkness as they reached the Rexes haunches. It roared
infuriated as it turned its whole body with surprising agility and slammed its head into the
hulking vehicle. The whole chassis bucked as it rolled over itself again and again. It was
tossed away for a few feet as the crumpled vessel slid to a halt in the mud.
The man inside of the vehicle was dazed as he felt blood drip down his forehead.
Coming to, he struggled to get himself out as the ground around him shook. The Rex was

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approaching him, eager to finish of its annoying foe. The soldier winced in pain as he
struggled to free his legs and escape. The earth shook more and more as puddles of water
all around him rippled. The man then finally got his legs free just as the Rex raised one of
its gigantic legs and dug the talons of its foot into the side of the Amphibious. The whole
structure crumpled under the behemoths weight as it opened its massive jaws and bit into
the crumple metal hide of its fallen foe.
The man got out just in time to see the whole vehicle collapse and crumple. His
relief was short lived as he looked up and saw the Rex turn its attention directly to him,
roaring.
Dominic and the other three soldiers watched in terror as they themselves ran for
the cover of the mobile trailer park. They spotted their comrade try to flee on foot as the
Rex gave chase. It was as if watching a bear trap fall upon a mouse, as the huge jaws
gaped open only to slam shut, everything inside of the mouth disappearing in one gulp.
Everything not caught up in the jaws, a hand, a arm, one leg, all were instantly severed
and left twitching in mid air. It was as if the action was so fast the nerves themselves
couldn’t even register their own demise.
Juarez and the other two men left ducked behind the first trailer they came upon,
only to look up and in terror see the huge head rear itself up towards the sky. The giant
maw stretching open as the remains of the dead man were gulped back into its throat and
instantly consumed. Juarez jumped back and took cover as one of the men next to him
opened fire with his machine gun. The Rex turned its heard towards the irritating noise as
its eyes locked onto the source. Juarez felt a chill down his spine at the sight of its
binocular vision, like that of a man, a man with intent to feast.
The bullets danced around the Rex’s muzzle as some just stopped, others seemed
to even bounce off, none doing anything to stop the beast. It shook its head in anger and
roared again as it gave chase. The man who opened fire panicked and tried to sprint in the
opposite direction, screaming.
Dom watched the man, he forgot his name, but he knew he was fast. Guy lived for
running, as he quickly broke out into a break neck pace. This wasn’t a race track through,
the ground was uneven, the rain was wet and slippery, debris littered itself every few feet,
and even if it was a race track, Dom was sure it wouldn’t even matter. All he could do
was watch as the Rex took five to six large strides, it was like watching an ant race across
the floor only to see some larger colossus casually walk up upon it. It was over fast, as
the gun flashed one last bit of gun fire, only to see the huge shape of the Rex fall upon
him. Again it reared up its head, and again whatever was left of the man in the Rex’s
jaws, quickly disappeared down its throat.

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 Dom yelped as he was dragged backwards, Vega’s hands not reaching his mouth
fast enough to keep the noise from escaping. Further away Juarez and the last remaining
mercenary, Hopper, looked on in horror as the Rex turned its attention back towards their
direction. As if Dom’s pathetic outburst reminded the animal that there was still more
food to be had.
Juarez and Hopper tried to remain covered by the trailers as the form of the Rex
lumbering towards all of them shook the ground all around it. Juarez looked ahead to see
Vega drag Dom down underneath one of the trailers. Juarez liked their plan, take cover,
as he gestured to duck under the trailer they were hiding behind. His eyes looked down
as he cursed to himself, there was a lattice barrier keeping anyone from ducking
underneath the trailer they was shadowing. Juarez stopped, noting something, the
pounding of the Rexes footsteps. He paused expecting to feel their shaking, he felt
nothing.
The both of them then saw a shadow from overhead as they slowly looked up,
their blood running cold. The Rex was stalking them, peeking up over the trailers, as it
seemed to move in a haunting silence against the cover of the storm. Juarez was directly
beneath its head, in a blind spot. The other man watched in horror as he remained still,
trying to keep out of sight. Both of them felt their bodies instinctively go flat against the
walls of the trailer as the Rex began to turn its head, its eyes searching. Juarez moved
little by little with the head, trying to stay within the animals’ blind spot as the large head
ducked back towards the other side of the trailer.
Juarez dropped to his knees as he peeked through the lattice barrier keeping him
from shelter. He saw the way the Rex walked, the toes gently touching the ground first,
then spreading out as if fingers on a hand, as the rest of the foot pad quietly fell into the
ground. The earth all around the foot shifted outwards as the weight of the animal was
distributed down. It would have been awe inspiring to behold, if not for the fact this beast
was trying to eat him.
Five trailers down Vega had dragged Dom underneath two trailers before finally
meeting up with Anne. Caked in mud Anne motioned them to stay quiet. The large
shadow of the animal approaching them was made all the more ominous by the fact the
Rex seemed to barely make any noise as it moved. Anne signaled Vega to keep his hand
around Dom’s mouth, even Dom placed his hands over Vegas to keep their hands in
place over his face as the trailer above them slight rocked. The head of the Rex nudged it,
searching, trying to draw them out. Another roar escaped its jaws as its foot fell agitated,
shaking the earth. The footsteps shook the ground around them but signaled that the
animal was in fact walking away from them. It was no doubt inspecting other parts of the
trailer park as Anne signaled the others to follow her. She scoured the floor, feeling for

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tell tale signs of an impression. She then felt her fingers hit the ridge of something, a
large square. It was an access panel as she pulled her knife from her pocket and jammed
it into the ridges, prying the panel open.
Together the three of them slipped inside the trailer, some of the windows intact
while others had long since been smashed out. Vega finally lifted his hand away from
Dom’s mouth as the three of them quietly traversed their new surroundings.
Juarez felt the shaking of the Rex’s footsteps as it made its way back towards him.
As the Rex left them he had turned to signal his partner to follow him to safety, only to
see Hopper had already abandoned him. He did catch the sight of him leave though, as
he followed the fleeing man and circled around back towards another area of trailers.
From here he saw an opening in between one of the tube like connectors, a tear or rip as
he tried as best as he could to quickly reach it while feeling the earth around him shake.
The Rex was nearly upon him when Juarez ducked into the connector tube. He
felt the blast of hot air as he caught a full view of rows of teeth, some of them still
smeared with the flesh of his fallen comrades. The Rex roared defiantly, as it began to
slowly turn its attention elsewhere. Juarez didn’t know he was holding his breath till he
let it escape him, gulping in air. Beads of sweat running down his already soaked face.
He felt his nerves finally start to calm as he looked down on his palms and saw them
shaking.
Just then another noise sounded, an almost mechanical purr? It wasn’t the Rex,
and in that moment he felt his body tense only to relax again upon the revelation it wasn’t
the Rex. He heard the animal roar out in the distance, it was close, but it wasn’t what he
heard. But the sound grew louder, and shifted from mechanical to almost rhythmic, as if
the noise itself was breathing? Juarez then had a dreadful thought, as he blandly blurted
that thought out of his mouth,
“Raptor?”
He didn’t feel the claws pounce on him, he didn’t feel the teeth in his spine, he
didn’t feel anything, as the Alpha Raptor had embraced his head in its jaws and snapped
his neck almost too fast for his own recollection.
Anne led the way as Vega kept Dom close, all of them trying to peer out the
windows every chance they got. The footsteps of the Rex made tracking the animal in the
maze of trailers a tedious task, as it sounded like it would be in one direction, only to hear
it roar and find out it was either closer or father away. Dom was the first one to break the
unsettling silence.
“Are we going to talk about what happened out there? The flares, why didn’t the
flares work!” Anne shot a glare over to Vega as Vega rolled his eyes and grabbed Dom
by the collar.

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 “Don’t make me regret saving you Dominic, now keep you voice down eh?” Dom
nervously nodded as the roar of the Rex sounded off again. Vega smacked him on the
cheeks like a irritated parent assuring his troubled child. Vega then turned to Anne and
pursued the question, “So, why didn’t the flares work? What’s different about this Alpha
from the others?”
Anne never broke her focus as she hesitantly navigated the trailers, “Three
questions, you get three before we keep it quiet.”
She glanced back at them, both Vega and Dom nodded in agreement. She then
paused, inspecting the new trailer they were about to enter. “This isn’t like the others,”
she started, “it’s a last generation breed. The first Rexes, all the animals, were bred with
imperfections. They used all kinds of frog DNA and whatnot to create the first Rexes and
Raptors. The last two, the Alpha Raptor you all already met and this one, they’re the final
breed. Most pure DNA farmed from the mines and past breeds of animals to get these
two. Also the youngest, at least youngest created, not bred in the wild. That’s why it can
see you, because as it turns out, a natural Rex always had good vision. Amazing vision,
better then us I’m sure.”
Vega processed her words, “That’s why Dodgson wanted it top priority, with
nearly clean DNA they could reverse engineer for decades. What about all of this, where
are we?”
Anne seemed content with the status of the trailer, as she led them in, stopping to
get a beat on the location of the Rex before answering, “Trailer community. For the
workers, mostly tech and infrastructure. How I originally got my key cards, there’s at
least ten to fifteen of these trailers linked together that lead back to another facility, our
pick up point. I’m sure you figured out what the original plan was by now?”
Dom grew agitated as he began to blurt out words, “Yeah the plan, loose us in the
tunnels as you…” Vega had a knife to Dom’s throat faster then Dom could process the
movement as he swallowed his words. Vega then shook his head.
“Dominic, the grown ups are talking right now yes?” He then turned back to Anne,
“If he does that again, feel free to shoot him yourself. But yeah I got the initial plan.
Loose the Raptors in the tunnels, get through the Alphas territory via the trailers, get to
our pickup point. I don’t get it though Anne if you knew about the Rex why didn’t you
inform Dodgson before hand?”
Anne finally gave out her trademark laugh in reply to such an obvious question, “I
did Vega. But as we’ve seen, nobody on this trip seems to want to listen to the person
who actually has been here before eh luv?”
As if on queue Anne saw something from her peripheral vision as she gestured for
them all to duck. As they did the large head of the Alpha Rex came into view, its eyes

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searching for them through broken windows as it sniffed the air. Anne knew the rain and
the mud has caked their sent. The Rex having fed, its senses were still overloaded with
the blood of its recent kills. But Anne was determined, she wasn’t going to foul this up,
there were so close to escaping.
Labored breathing echoed around the trailer walls as Hopper gasped to catch his
breath. He was looking everywhere, into each trailer, trying to navigate the maze as best
he could as he tried to locate the others. With no lights and his own gun light dead he was
feeling around in the dark. The only light that did aid him was from the windows, which
wasn’t much. The clouds covered any light from the moon and the rain covered that up
even more.
From deeper in the trailer, the Alpha looked on as his eyes seemed to glow,
reflecting even the slightest light that shined in the darkness. Another of the raptors from
its pack walked up next to it, and another. The trailers were narrow, and they could only
fit no more then three of their pack in at a time. The rest of the pack was spread out
among the trailer park hub as they kept out of sight from the Alpha Rex. This was his
Territory, and their truce was an uneasy one. The Alpha Raptor knew better then to get
between a fight with the Rex and the other one still out there in the jungle. His intended
prey, he nearly had her within his reach.
The other raptors clicked and purred, as if begging the Alpha to allow them to hunt
the man in front of them. The alpha then turned his head, there was a low noise…voices.
Very faint, but it knew them, knew her. The Alpha had a beat on his prey, on the woman,
as it turned to the other two beta’s with him and gestured to the man stumbling in the
darkness. It then watched as the raptors went to their work, it watched as the man let out
little more then a gasp as the raptors fell upon him. Flashes of lightning illuminating the
carnage within the trailer as the two raptors clawed and grabbed at the now lifeless body.
Each of the animals trying to pull apart a piece of the mans flesh and limbs for
themselves. The Alpha watched, as it finally turned and made its way deeper into the
trailer maze, alone. He didn’t call to the others, he didn’t want to, he wanted his prize all
to himself.
Anne watched as the Rex moved along from window to window, huffing in air, a
low growl escaping from its throat as the head disappeared. Anne turned back to the
others as she gestured them to continue, mouthing quietly the word ‘stalking’. Vega
nodded as the three of them kept low, making their way into the next trailer.
Dom’s feet just barely entered the next trailer when their surroundings began to tilt
and shake. Dom nearly swallowed his tongue in an attempt to not make any noise as Ann
and Vega reached out with their arms, trying to brace themselves. The trailer rocked,
jarring to one side and the other as the sound of teeth scrapping against metal was heard.

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The Rex has grown agitated of stalking, it now was trying a new more direct tactic. Anne
knew it had the intention of trying to shake them out of the trailers now. How passive or
persistent this would be was what they all were about to find out. The trailer jerked back
to its neutral position as it rocked slightly, Anne gestured for them to hurry as they made
their way into the next trailer.
Just seconds after they made their way into the next trailer the connecting tunnel
behind them erupted as a flash of teeth tore the tunnel apart, the Alpha Rex’s leg
smashing the earth in front of them as the animal’s massive frame blocked their view.
Anne knew they only had moments before the Rex would try the trailer they were
currently in as they raced faster and deeper into heart of the trailer maze. Anne feared
they were going too fast but the sound of trailers exploding behind them kept them from
slowing down their pace.
“We can’t keep this up Anne!” Vega mouthed the words in the loudest volume he
dared, hoping they were being drowned out by the carnage behind them. Carnage that
would soon be on top of them. “Are we heading in the right direction?”
Anne honestly didn’t know. She was trying to reach back into her memory as fast
as she could to track their progress. Anne began to slow her pace as they entered a new
trailer. It was fortified, faded words reading:

Animal Control

She inspected it, the frame was reinforced and the windows were barred, built into
the walls were holding racks with eroded Taser sticks. They had to take the chance.
Taking a break she braced herself against one of the more fortified areas of the
trailer as Vega and Dom stopped, clearly confused. Anne simple hissed out the words,
“Brace yourself.”
Dom wasn’t so amused as he gestured to keep running, the violent thrashing of
trailers nearly on their heels, “Yeah screw you lady!”
Vega paused, making eye contact with Anne, he knew their best chance to survive
this was with her as he turned to call out to Dom.
Dom was frozen, his eyes, his face, he looked as if he saw a ghost as Vega looked
over his shoulder. Anne noticed it as well as she turned, her breath froze. In the adjacent
trailer was the Alpha Raptor.
The animal looked at them, hissing. The eyes began to narrow, as the Alpha posed
itself, hinting at charging. The animal paused, taking a step back, and just watched them.

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 Anne tried to process the Alpha Raptors behavior when the recollection hit her as
she grabbed Vega and threw him against the wall, “Hold on…”
Vega was thrown off by both Anne’s actions and the quiet in her voice, when all
three of them felt the first jolt. The Trailer rocked back and forth in a violent manner as
Dom was thrown back with the rest of them. Anne struggled to keep herself steady as the
trailer began to spin, the Rex was flipping it to its side. All of them fumbled as the world
around them went sideways, the Rex clearly rolling the trailer trying to find a weak spot
to enter. The reinforced framing kept the trailer from simply being crumpled but Anne
knew it wouldn’t hold for too much longer. In the chaos Anne snuck a look out towards
their only escape, the adjacent trailer to see the Alpha Raptor standing there, watching
them.
They couldn’t escape; they had to wait out the attack in the trailer as the walls
around them began to crumple. Anne looked up to see three huge talons pierce their way
into the walls of the trailer as the framing around her buckled. The Rex was trying to use
its legs to shake apart the trailer, she didn’t know how much longer they would be able to
take this.
The talons of the Rex then disappeared as its huge teeth came smashing into
another part of the trailer. Dom nearly missed being punctured through the head as the
jaws wrapped around a small corner of their shelter like a steel trap. Vega grabbed Dom
and tried to jerked him away from the collapsing corner of the trailer as they both
watched on in horror. The teeth punctured deeper and deeper, the walls around it giving,
bending into the shape of the Rexes mouth. The Teeth then disappeared as Dom and
Vega looked around.
Dom simply whimpered, “Is it gone?”
Anne instinctively took cover as the teeth punctured the walls all around her next.
She was thrown to the floor, the teeth scrapping at her arms as she twisted and turned,
trying to keep from being stabbed by the countless sharpened tips of the Rex’s maw. The
area being already weakened by the Rex’s foot, the walls gave in easier as Anne soon
found herself entrapped. The teeth came closer and closer, nearly encircling her.
Vega jumped on the ground and reached for her, but he found himself forced to
retract his hand as the teeth would flex outwards and inwards violently. The Rex was
trying to chew its way into the trailer. Portions of the jaw bounced off the interior steel
structure of the trailer that all but kept its jaws from crushing Anne completely. Anne had
cuts all along her legs and arms, the teeth stabbing into them every time the Rex flexed its
jaws closed. In all the chaos Anne looked outwards to see if they had a chance to escape
out of this trailer. Her eyes were met by the Alpha Raptors, as he kept a cold calculating
stare on her.

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 Anne knew she wasn’t going to last much longer. It was either die in this trailer or
take her chances with the Alpha Raptor, and die with the Raptor. She could feel the walls
begin to pinch around her more and more as she yelled reaching back towards her hip and
grabbed her tanto knife. She looked around, the metal of the walls were exposed enough
to see the gums of the Rex here and there. She saw the giant teeth, some of them almost
impossibly long, as if hyper extended. She then saw one tooth, one of the longer teeth as
she screamed driving her knife into the gums. The jaws stopped as the Rex reacted,
opening the mouth relieving some of the pressure as Anne continued to drive her tanto
knife deeper into the animal. She felt a blast of hot air as the growl of the beast erupted
all around her. Anne used what strength she had to yank and twist, as she tore the tooth
loose from the Rex’s mouth. It fell to the ground next to her in a dull thud.
The Rex shook the trailer, trying to free the metal from its jaws as Anne and the
others were thrashed about. Anne caught a glimpse of where she tore away the Rex’s
tooth, only to look on astonished to see a new, sharper tooth already partially budding out
to replace it. Anne looked down at the tooth, sure enough a groove was there showing
clearly where the other tooth had nested inside of it. Anne grabbed it as she crawled out
of the trailer, “Damn land shark…”
The heavy rain was beginning to lighten up, as lightning continued to flash all
around her. Anne had both the tooth and the knife in both hands as she found herself
staring into the cold calculating gaze of the Alpha Raptor, itself still sheltered in the cover
of the other trailer. Anne held a tight grip on her weapons as she looked back, the Raptor
didn’t move.
Inside the trailer Vega saw Anne fully exposed and out in the open. Cursing he
crawled over to one of the windows of the Trailer and stopped, the Rex was looking right
at him, at both him and Dom. Vega braced himself for an attack, but instead saw as the
Rex turned its attention forward, away from them.
Anne continued to stare down the Raptor, she mentally tried to check off what she
had, gun? No, it was shaken off her in the trailer. Tear gas? No, used in the tunnels. Flare
gun? Anne spit into the ground, all she had other then what was in her hands was the flare
gun, useless. But maybe it could be used as a distraction?
A blast of hot air ripped her out of her racing thoughts as Anne hesitantly looked
over her shoulder. The Rex was looking at her, as if sizing up its next meal. It was
standing there, a mountain of teeth and muscle and death as she looked down at her
hands. A knife and a tooth, and a flare gun. Anne gave a half hearted laugh as she pointed
her weapons defiantly. It would be over soon, she knew it, but if she was going to go, it
would be on her feet, fighting.

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 Anne screamed as she saw the Rex rear up, it was going to make the first move, it
was going for the kill. The Alpha Raptor roared back not happy, but he didn’t advance,
he knew it wasn’t any match for the hulking animal.
Anne knew it this as well upon seeing the Alpha Raptors reaction as she dropped
the knife and with her free hand reached back for the flare gun. She didn’t even have a
chance to aim when she looked up to see the gaping mouth approach her, hot air blasting
forward hitting her like a wall. She was so distracted with making her peace, she didn’t
see the shadow appear behind the Rex.
The Spinosaurus charged from the tree line, seeing its opening as it descended on
top of the Rex. Anne barely had a second to leap out of the way as the two behemoths
collided with each other while the ground around them exploded in their wake. Anne
looked up, still holding the flare gun as she instinctively aimed it towards the trailer, the
Raptor. He was there, agitated but still there. He would have pounced too, but the Alpha
Raptor also barely had a second of time just as the front end of the trailer he was hiding
in exploded. The Rex and the Spinosaurus both crashed into the trailer park, leaving
destruction in their wake.
Anne covered her head as debris rained down all around her, she had to get to her
feet. She looked up to where the Alpha Raptor was, the area destroyed, the entire front
end of the trailer was gone, jagged pieces of metal. Anne kept her aim, too easy, as idiotic
as the thought was she couldn’t help the thought, too easy. There was no way it was over
with him, she nearly stabbed Vega with the Rex tooth still in her other hand when he
grabbed her and dragged her to her feet, “Move it!”
All three of them limped and dragged themselves to a running pace as they
watched the destruction all around them. The Rex and the Spinosaurus were in a bear hug
of sorts, their heads against the others flanks, trying to snap at each other, trying to gain
purchase to attack. The Spinosaurus was taller, longer, but the Rex was broader, more
heavily built. Their masses seemed to cancel each other out as they continued to collide
with each other. The hulking arms of the Spinosaurus outmatched the Rex’s, but the
Rex’s giant alligator like head and its rows of saber teeth seemed more then capable to
even the playing grounds. The two beasts parted for a beat, as they both sized each other
up. Both of them roared defiantly, as they began to circle each other.
Anne tried not to be distracted by the sight as she tried to lead all three of them
back to shelter, to the pick up area they ordered the chopper to touch down at. As the
storm let up, and the rain turned into a slight drizzle, they all heard another alien noise.
Anne’s eyes widened, as did Vega’s, it was the helicopter, their air lift!
Anne didn’t hesitate, she knew where the helicopter was heading, they weren’t
going to make it. The meet up area was still a good mile out. With a fluid motion she

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raised the flare into the air and pulled the trigger as the red light erupted from the
chamber and flew into the sky. Everyone stopped as they watched the flare fly up into the
clouds, exploding and bathing them all in red light. Anne held her breath, as the
helicopter began to alter its course. It saw them.
The Rex and the Spinosaurus barely registered the explosion in the sky as
they were bathed in Red, each kept their eyed on the other, both looking equally
menacing as the red light boomed. It was as if someone had rung the fighting bell as both
animals roared one last time and charged.
Their mouths gaping as they collided into each other, the Spinosaurus had a longer
mouth, but it was skinnier as it used its arms to its advantage, clawing at the head. The
Rex snapped at the arms, each snap threatening to rip off the massive clawed hands as
they raked against the solid keratin skin and bone mass of the Rex’s muzzle. The
Spinosaurus did a wide swipe with its hand as it smacked the head of the Rex to the side.
Seeing an opening the Spinsoaurus grasped the massive head in both its arms, as the
animal bit down on its foes haunches and braced itself, it was trying to snap the massive
animals neck. It was a tried and true hunting technique, every time it fought a Rex. If it
could paralyze the Rex it knew the fight would be over.
The Rex bucked as its massive neck muscles flexed. The Spinosaurus could feel
the muscles pulse, the animal was far bigger then any it fought before. Before it could
react the Rex bucked again as it used its tail to gain momentum and swing its head,
shaking off the Spinosaurus and sending it sprawling back. The Spinosaurus would have
fell to its side if its massive body didn’t collide with the tree line, the giant tree trunks
groaning and snapping as it caught the creatures body.
The helicopter touched down in the open of the clearing a good couple of yards
from where the two animals were fighting. Anne was running but she continued to scan
the area around them, looking in panicked motions. Dom was the fastest out of all of
them, as he caught up with Anne, even began to run past her. Vega too caught up with
Anne, he noticed she was scanning the tree line, the whole area. He knew what she was
looking for, but he also knew salvation was right ahead of them as the helicopter kept its
rotors spinning, the blinking red lights signaling them there were so close to getting out
of here. Both Dom and Vega reached the helicopter as they studied Anne close the
distance from the clearing to them. Dom, satisfied he had made it, looked over to Vega.
“This is it man. Now or never.” Vega glanced at him, then back at Anne, as a
soldier emerged from the helicopter and handed him a headset. Vega accepted as he
grabbed it and brought it to his ear.
The Spinosaurus shook off the jolt it just received as it got to its feet and roared
again, infuriated. The Rex roared back as well, neither was going to back down. They

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collided again, their mouths snapping at the other as they fought to gain purchase. The
Spinosaurus kept the Rex’s head just out of reach by using its clawed arms, as it swiped
them at the Rex over and over again. The Rex took the brunt of the assault, but hardly
any of the clawed attacks seemed to phase it as the claws grazed the hardened bone like
skin that wrapped over its giant skull.
Slowly they clashed along the tree line, as the animals led each other closer and
closer to the plateau’s edge. One hand did finally find a soft spot right below the brow of
the Rex as the Spinosaurus used what little advantage it could and slashed its hand
further, leaving a clear claw mark across the brow and eye of the Rex. The Rex backed
off as the Spinosaurus took the chance to catch its breath.
Vega was yelling, trying to hear the words coming from the head set as he nodded,
“Are you sure, someone survived the other trip to the other isle? Dodgson? Oh, yes that
makes sense. Ok.”
He handed the ear piece back to the soldier as Dom looked back at him, “Well,
what’s the deal?”
Anne finally reached them, her eyes wild but a clearness coming to them as she
walked up to find Dom and Vega both standing there, facing her. Something was off, she
didn’t know what but something was indeed off. Before she could speak Dom brought up
a gun and pointed it to her,
“Well if your not going to do it I will. All the crap she put us through! We don’t
leave lose ends Vega!”
Anne shook her head, again giving an empty laugh, “Dodgson right?”
Vega nodded, as he held up his hands, “Radio came in, whistle blew the whole
thing. We had a spy since the beginning, well…we have a spy that is. And Dom is right, I
never leave loose ends I’m afraid.”
Anne just stared back, an almost empty stare as she spoke, her final words she was
sure of it, “It’s funny, I always thought this island would kill me one day. I just didn’t
know which of the predators would get me.”
Dom gave a laugh back as well, almost relishing the moment. The gunshot echoed
all around them, as Dom stood grinning, only to fall onto the floor. Anne watched as his
body slump down, looking up to see Vega holding a side arm, the barrel still smoking.
Vega secured the fire arm as Lex appeared from the shadows of the Sea Stallion
Helicopter, “That’s more paper work on your desk agent De la Vega.”
Vega just shrugged, “Like you said, we have another survivor, and this one, I
imagine will be much more useful.”
Vega gestured to Anne as Lex sized her up. She was a sight to behold, battered,
bruised, bloody, what caught her eye was the Rex tooth still in her hand however, as she

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nodded in approval. A roar sounded as Vega looked past Anne and reached out grabbing
her, “Time to go I think!”
Anne was nearly thrown into the helicopter as Lex signaled for them to take off.
Anne just remained on the floor, breathing, taking in hard gulps. She looked up to see the
rest of the passengers inside, soldiers. O’Brien among them and someone with a hazmat
suit? The man got up and introduced himself as she saw a familiar weary look on his
face, it was a look shared by everyone. The man knelt down,
“I’m Doctor Malcolm, I’m afraid I need to borrow this from you, for your safety.”
Anne looked down to see she was indeed still clasping the Rex tooth with a death
grip. Sighing, she released it from her hand, the serrated edge of the tooth leaving cuts in
her palms as Ian put on a medical glove and secured it in a Bio Specimens bag. Lex
observed when she heard the pilot speak overhead into the radio system.
“My God they’re killing each other. Do we engage?” Lex ran over to the pilot as
she glanced ahead, the Spinosaurus and the Rex still locked in battle. Lex shook her head.
“No we’re not high enough, let them have at it. Keep their attention away from
us. Get us off this island now! Go for the cliffs edge!”
The helicopter buzzed past them as the Rex and the Spinosaurus continued their
fight. Both were running out of energy fast, and both knew they couldn’t keep this up
much longer. The Rex backed off feeling blood running down into its eye from the new
wound it just obtained. The Spinosaurus was keeping it from dealing a death bite. The
constant swiping of its clawed arms were enough to keep its maw at bay. The
Spinosaurus also had the advantage of reach as well. The hulking animal knew this, as it
studied its foe. The wound wasn’t bad, but it was enough to tire its enemy. Perhaps it
would end up prey. It roared defiantly as it spied the Rex begin to turn. Was it retreating?
The Spinosaurus saw an opening on its haunches as it instinctively pounced forward.
The Rex caught the motion as it remained still, the Spinosaurus almost upon it as it
suddenly jerked its muscles and its tail whipped around landing a solid blow along the
side of the animal. The Spinosaurus stumbled as it heard something crack, a pain in its
side as it felt its ribs fracturing and breaking. The animal soon found itself struggling to
breath as it dropped to one knee and used its arms to brace itself on the ground. The
creature reared its head as it sensed the Rex approaching. It was looking to blindly snap
at whatever came into reach.
The Rex was still mid turn from its tail whip as it circled back around one more
time, building momentum. As its head came into view, something metallic glistened wet
against the dark as thunder crackled, the Rex had one of the destroyed trailers in its
mouth as it swung hits head wide and smashed the trailer squarely across the head of its
foe. This was enough to take it down as the Spinosaurus was sent sprawling backwards.

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In the heat of their fight neither animal was aware of how close to the cliffs edge they
were. The Rex began to lumber forward, as it saw the body of the Spinosaurus begin to
slouch back. The defining blow knocking the animal to the edge of the cliff side as its
own weight began to pull it over. The Rex continued to approach as it saw the
Spinosaurus briefly regain consciousness. Its body slumping backwards, the creature
hardly had any strength as it felt itself topple over. All it could to was give a weak roar as
it fell into the shore and the ocean below.
The Rex walked over to the ridge, as it looked down, trying to sense if its foe was
indeed gone. It caught no sent, and using its piercing eyes saw no trace of the
Spinosaurus as the waves crashed into the rocks below. It was gone. Another sound then
caught its ears, a mechanical sound, unnatural, like something moving through the air.
The Rex instinctively snapped its head upwards as a helicopter buzzed it from overhead,
both out of reach of the other. The Rex roared after it as the large alien object dove out
over the cliffs edge and into the sky. Lightning cracked once more, the last remains of the
tropical storm as the Rex braced itself onto the boulders of the cliffs edge. It roared
defiantly, as if announcing itself unto the whole island, it roared long into the night sky,
triumphant.
Lex, Ian, Anne, everyone in the helicopter felt a chill along their arms as the sound
of the great beast reverberated into the air, reaching even into the helicopter cargo hold as
the rear bay loading doors finally closed. Robert strained to keep the Rex it just saw in his
sights, peeking out the window like an excited child. Robert even pleaded if they could
circle back so he could get a better look at the Alpha Rex. Lex and Ian turned to him,
looking at him as if he was a mad man.
Anne was helped by Vega as he seated her and gave her a canteen of fluids. Anne
limply reached out as she gulped down the liquid. Her body feeling as if it was going to
go into shock, the weight of the trip and her cost for survival finally hitting her. Anne
forced herself to stop even as her body hungered for more, trying to replenish everything
lost over the last few hours. She caught something in her eyes, the amber bracelet on
Vega’s wrist as she smiled.
“Should have known you were the spy. Let me guess, Columbian amber? Former
InGen? They turn you?”
Vega smiled slyly, “A bit more complicated, let’s just say it runs in the family.
Can’t say the trade up isn’t better this op though. Even if I wasn’t the spy, if I had to
choose between you and Dom I’d probably shoot him anyways.”
Anne laughed, “Right, a trade. Guess I’m being given a, ultimatum rather then
jail?”

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 Vega shrugged, “Well you were employed by a man who broke several
international terrorist laws and by leading us to the islands, broke three more international
maritime naval treaties…I’d look at it as more of a opportunity. This mission proving to
be an adequate field test your worth the trouble of keeping. That your not just playing
adventurer, you’re the real deal.” Anne smirked as Vega handed her a meal ration,
“Here’s to new beginnings eh? Indiana Anne.” Vega laughed at his own wit as he turned
back towards the rest of the group.

Anne didn’t respond, she took in the moment, no doubt a pivotal moment this new
future thrust upon her. She allowed her head to rest finally, as she concentrated on the
hum of the engine as it vibrated the helicopter chassis. She felt her eyes begin to drift off,
as the rocking of the helicopter swayed her in rhythmic motions. The helicopter flying
low, taking them all to safety, to tomorrow.

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 EPILOGUE

Ian kept is eyes sharp as he looked into the telescope. The organism viciously
attacking newly introduced healthy tissue as he looked away, jotting down notes. Ian was
dressed as casually as he could, as he got up and grabbed a cup with a “Jurassic Park”
logo on the side. He sipped the warm liquid as he felt it warm his bones. A hissing caught
his attention as he looked up towards the sound.
On the other side of his lab, a large mechanical door opened as Lex appeared
dressed in what Ian referred to as ‘spy casual’. Form fitting slacks and a black turtleneck
as her badge swung casually at her waist along with a smaller more manageable gun
holster. Lex stood at the doorway as Ian waved, walking over with his cup of coffee.
Together they walked out as they looked around the familiar surroundings of the
Naval Destroyer Venture. They then began walking up the catwalk to the surface deck as
soldiers continued to work in the background. Vehicles being outfitted, red stripes
painted on a few here and there. Hard cases marked:

Specimens

Countless cases and resources being carried away to their pre allocated destinations. A
floating city that seemed never to sleep.

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 “Nice mug” Lex blurted. Ian looked down at the cup, “Oh right, yeah someone
from one of the ops found a merchandize cache I guess. Un opened boxes of, I think the
term is swag? I stole two?” Ian hinted at Lex.
She simply smiled, “Oh trust me I’m very well supplied with, Swag per say.
Grandpa would send us dozens of gift baskets.”
Ian nodded as they continued to walk, “I gotta say I’m enjoying our mid day ritual.
I keep staring into telescopes anymore and I’ll begin to go blind. The breaks are much
welcomed.”
Lex nodded casually, “How did your debrief go with the General?”
Ian took another sip before answering, “I imagine you already know the answer to
that, inter department relations being as they are.”
Lex laughed, “Normally yes, but us hackers also have our hands tied trying to
track the remainder of Biosyns network. Quick and dirty version?”
Ian raised an eyebrow, “Quick and dirty. Ah, dad would be so proud. Well we’re
making progress. The viral strain is currently being broken down into its basal proteins, I
imagine medical trials on a working serum is probably, three months out? Its good news
but the General wasn’t exactly, thrilled. I blame television, people think the cure for
everything is found as soon as you find that magic bullet. Now it’s just…”
“Quarantine.” Lex finished Ian’s statement as they reached the top deck of the
Venture. Together they walked over to the railing as the sun shone down on them. They
were lucky, it would be three days before the next tropical storm would hit them.
“They’re saying we have another week before hurricane season hits, shore leave,
terra firma.” Lex hummed.
Ian nodded in response, “If we take a bit more time to soak up the sun I won’t
complain, the only other company I have right now is in a test tube.”
Ian then looked off into the horizon. They just passed the first island, Isla Nublar,
as they headed on a new course, a small land mass with low hanging mist. “Last I heard
from O’Brien we should reach the third island in a few hours, start getting our answers
concerning, well, quarantine.”
Lex nodded as she continued to look out into the ocean water, the tropical green
bluish hues dancing in the sun. “How viable do you think our intel is concerning
their…migration.”
Ian took another sip of coffee, “I’m not a geneticist per say, deal with the flu and
all that at the CDC. What InGen did is, far beyond my scope of understanding. But, I
imagine it’s more then viable. Even without the genetic tampering, Robert is positive its
possible. All animals seem to have a baseline comprehension of swimming, insects,

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mammals, reptiles, birds. I don’t see why dinosaurs would be so different. Especially
mutations.”
A crack of thunder sounded in the distance, Ian frowned, “So much for three days
rain free in the tropics. Looks like another storm is coming.”
Lex broke her gaze as she looked over to Ian, his own thoughts out into the ocean
and their destination. Lex smiled softly as she returned her gaze outwards, “We’ll get
though it. Just keep looking out for each other.”
Ian smiled as they both watched the blue of the water dance in the sun.

Birds flew overhead as the tropical foliage danced in the wind, a gentle breeze
before the winds from the coming storm grew any stronger. The jungle was thick, a mist
hanging just above the tree line as the tropical birds contemplated resting. A distant roar
urged them not to as they continued their flight out towards one of the adjacent islands.
The winds continued to blow as wreckage from the trailer park swayed, the ground
churned to mud as large footsteps littered every direction. Another roar as water in one of
the footsteps started to ripple. The pounding of the earth announcing something big was
approaching.
A slender shadow then appeared over the footstep, the reflection of the animal
dancing with the water as the footsteps continued. Another roar from the distance, the
familiar roar of a Rex as more roars sounded, other Rexes as they started to bellow into
the sky in a monstrous choir.
The reflection in the water filled footprint started to clear up as the slender shape
of the Alpha Raptor reflected on the waters surface. The Alpha roared out in defiance as
he was joined by the others, his tribe. The raptors then grouped around him, they all
joined in, roaring into the sky.

234
FIN

235