Of Raptor and Man Chapter 6
Story by JasonVUK on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
I hope this doesn't take me as long as it has been to update chapter. I hope everyone enjoys this one!
This wasn't one of Owen's raptors.
Owen slowly raised himself up to one knee, while he heard Tom make a break for it.
Owen's eyes barely left the predator before him. It was … shorter than he'd expected. About as tall as his girls when they were what classed for “teenage" for raptors. Owen's mind was still reeling from the fact there was a raptor he didn't know about in front of him, a raptor they didn't tell him about. Did Claire know about this thing?
His pistol had skidded away from him when Tom landed on him, and his rifle was dangling from its sling, it's take too long to grab and bring it up to the raptor and Owen's history with the raptors made him an expert on their body language upon instinct Owen needed to move NOW!
Owen dived to the side and rolled narrowly missing as the raptor leapt at him, he needed to get out of there but making a bee-line for the door was suicide, this thing could run faster than him.
With barely a second passing Owen was already running towards the nearest flight of stairs, zig-zagging around the generators as he heard the thumping of the raptor's feet against the steel floor as it chased after him.
“AARRGGHH!" Owen cried out in shock as the raptor out manoeuvred him, having anticipated his next movement, the raptor quickly moved around Owen's position and snapped its jaws at Owen, the raptor handler narrowly avoiding having his right arm bitten into by the unknown beast had he not pulled himself away from it at the last second.
The raptor continued it's assault snapping its jaws towards Owen once more as Owen back pedalled. The raptor crouched, Owen reached down for his rifle, the raptor leapt at him as Owen continued to move back. The raptor collided with Owen knocking him onto his back immediately Owen brought the rifle up, shoving the receiver straight into the raptor's jaws as they snapped closed.
With barely a moment to retaliate Owen brought his head up slamming his forehead into the tip of the raptor's snout. The raptor fell back with a shriek, tearing the weapon from Owen's body. Owen jumped back to his feet, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he dashed towards the nearby stairs and rapidly ascended them.
The raptor shrieked out angrily, Owen could imagine it quickly regaining its bearings and finding his scent. Shit. Owen needed to reorientate himself, which way was the damn exit? All he was doing was running, and he could already hear the raptor below him giving chase.
Suddenly the raptor appeared to his right, having leapt up from the lower floor, Owen stumbled back, his back pressing against the guard rail. The raptor shrieked having just misjudged it's leap having jumped too short its body hit the opposite rail, the metal bending inwards but held, if only just, the raptor fell to the lower floor once again.
Owen dashed away once again while trying to find the exit door.
The crunching of reinforced glass was barely heard over the pumping of blood through his ears and the echoing of his own breath.
The shriek of metal as sharp strong claws pierced through it went unnoticed to the raptor trainer.
What he did noticed however was the feeling of claws catching the back of his jacket near his waist, slicing through the denim, his t-shirt and his skin, he heard the angered shrieking of a raptor as he went by him despite slicing into his back, he heard it hit the floor below him and cry out in rage.
Owen cried out as he fell to the floor, blood erupting from his back. He grit his teeth, scrunched his eyes shut as their filled with tears, the pain was terrible, worse than the time the raptors in their youth had slashed at him or nipped him with their teeth.
Owen cursed quietly through his teeth and forced an eye open. Through his tears he made out the illuminated exit sign above the door, he wasn't too far from it. Turning his head he rolled onto his other side, crying out once more as his wound pressed against the grated steel flooring.
Owen put his right arm under his body ensuring his wound was left untouched.
Beside him was another pair of stairs, stairs that the predator had found, it looked up at him from the ground floor, hissing and snarling, lips pulled back revealing its teeth and an angry look in its eye. He almost thought he could see the yellow stripes along its flank pulsating, glowing brighter before fading, back and forth, back and forth.
Owen knew he only had once shot to get out of this alive.
The raptor snarled once more and started to ascend the stairs. The ringing of its' heavy footsteps against the metal stairs echoed across the room. Owen kept one eye on the raptor. It was hissing, snarling, stalking towards him. A sign of overconfidence or just believing him helpless prey? Or was it being cautious?
The raptor was about halfway up the stairs when Owen decided to make his move. Pushing past the pain as best as he could he rolled several times away from the raptor, suddenly he felt the metal floor disappear from under him and he was falling.
'Tuck and roll. Tuck and roll.' Went through Owen's mind like a mantra. Owen slammed into the floor below, he'd braced for impact but the sudden stop aggravated his wound. He cried out, but used the adrenaline coursing through him to push past the pain, forced his eyes open and rolled himself back onto his feet. He heard the raptor shriek out behind him. Quickly Owen pushed off sprinting towards the door. He dared not look back even as he heard the raptor shriek louder and slam into the floor behind him.
Owen turned the corner towards the door. He could hear the banging of the raptor's feet behind him. So close. So close! Owen's left hand reached out, turning his body for extra reach. The raptor was quickly gaining.
'Come on, come on!' His thoughts screamed.
Hand grasped the door handle, he turned it, pulled it open and pulled himself through it, his body almost spinning as exited the room, he reached out to grab the door handle and slam the door shut when the raptor was on him. Teeth narrowly grazed his hand before he barely pulled it away losing his footing at the same moment and fell back.
With a heavy thud Owen landed on his back on the cold unforgiving concrete floor. He cried out as the edges of his wound broke his fall.
The raptor stepped out from the door. Rearing itself back as it shrieked. The beast leapt towards him. Owen tried to shuffle back as teeth and claws descended upon him. His final moments.
Then it was gone.
With a blur it was gone.
A blur followed by or was it preceded by, an enraged raptor's cry.
Regaining his composure Owen turned to his left, his eyes opening wide with shock.
“Blue!" he cried out in relief and surprise.
The enraged raptor clawed and bit at her smaller foe, teeth ripped at its neck, claws raked along its flank.
Hearing footsteps behind him Owen turned on his side, pushing himself up to his elbow.
“Delta!" he gasped seeing her. Delta looked from the battle going on ahead to looking to her Alpha, chirping softly in greeting before looking back up as the other raptor cried out in pain before successfully shaking off the larger angry raptor, if only barely.
With but a weakened shriek the smaller, yellow-striped black raptor rushed back into the generator room.
Blue reared herself back and bellowed a terrible anger filled shriek at her foe. Likely a warning to it. The beta raptor then turned her attention back to Owen and rushed towards him, chirping sadly in panic, she pressed her head against him, a little rougher than Owen would've preferred, knocking him onto his back. Owen cried out once more in pain.
Alarmed Blue stepped back, chittering and whimpering rapidly but didn't move again. Delta tilted her head from side to side wondering what was going on.
Despite the tears reforming in his eyes Owen rolled onto his front relieving the pressure on his wound.
Immediately he felt Blue and Delta dart towards the wound, snouts lightly touching him causing him to grimace, they sniffed rapidly, inhaling deeply his scent and the smell of his blood.
Blue started to stamp her feet at a rapid pace, her frustration growing, she turned back to the generator room's door and shrieked loudly at it again and again and again each time growing louder and louder.
Delta nudged Owen's head and whimpered softly in his ear. Saddened at his injury.
Blue huffed and sniffed at his wound carefully nudging at his torn jacket and t-shirt. Owen hissed through grit teeth when something heavy and wet started sliding over his clothes and wound, glancing back he saw Blue licking at his wound in a timid manner.
“B-Blue." Owen grimaced. “I'll be okay." He didn't believe his own tone of voice but they couldn't wait here. 'I'll clean it out later. Put some alcohol on it … then maybe drink the rest.' He thought before carefully getting to his feet.
“Hold on a sec'," he muttered to himself then looked back to his two raptors. Two raptors. “Where are Charlie and Echo?"
As if the answer the question he heard gunfire erupted from elsewhere in the facility, looking over his shoulder his first thought was the Australian; Tom! The others must've gone after him or followed his scent.
While not in sudden peril his thoughts went back to his short fight with Tom, he was sure he heard Alice say something about a “sample". The only thing that came to mind was some sort of DNA sample, but of what and for what Owen didn't know, he didn't overly care either. All he knew was that these guys were bad news and they wanted him dead.
He knew by all rights he should just leave them be, let them do their thing and leave the island, he had what he wanted, at least he could get it, take the jeep from the outside, go back to the ACU building restock on weapons and ammo then go back home with his girls. That's what he should've done.
'God damn it Owen.' He chastised himself with a shake of the head. He had to stop them, whatever they were doing, whatever they were after it wasn't going to be good. 'I need to find first aid first.'
Owen unslung his Marlin rifle, grimacing as the weapon brushed up against his wound then pulled the rifle into his hands. “Let's go girls!"
Tom couldn't stop running. Nor would he slow down. He had to regroup with the others. If only the god-damn fucking mag would load into the fucking piece of shit gun. With a click, the magazine loaded correctly, sealed in place as it should. Tom dared a look over his shoulder, but there was nothing there, that couldn't be right. They were hot on his trail, they were close. Now where were they?
After leaving Owen to the raptor, he knew he was outnumbered. It was one of Owen's raptors, had to be. Right? Owen had been fucking with them, he had control of the raptors, they listened to him, he said so himself! Or had he been fucking with him that time? Just to throw him off. Tom didn't know, he didn't care.
Anyway, Tom had left Owen, outnumbered, right. He'd run out of the room and back down the hallway towards the “Crossroads" section. Slamming through the door he'd come face to face with more fucking raptors. The ones that must've killed Dennis. The first one sniffed briefly before shrieking like a banshee and stormed towards him followed by the rest of the overgrown monsters. Rifle raised he'd taken aim, the raptors immediately moved out of the way. They knew what his weapon was, they understood guns. But he'd pulled the trigger, and nothing had happened. Their leader seemed to realise this, and it had gone straight for him.
Tom barely managed to escape, grabbing the last magazine from his vest he'd run up the stairs, not realising he wasn't initially being chased when he got down to the lower floor, he heard a door smash open then he heard feet pounding against the floor behind him.
He'd ran straight towards the door that led to the enhanced research facility, where Alice and Craig were going to grab the sample. The plan had been simple. The plan had merit to work. There had been plenty of them to pull it off, there had been enough firepower between them to pull it off. Then everything went to shit. The Indominus incident, then the park falling to shit getting overrun with dinosaurs. Their numbers slowly dwindling. And now they were so damn close and yet there were still so many things in their way! Grady being amongst their biggest problems, the fucking raptors however took the cake. If he could reach the others, they'd have a chance to get out of this alive.
But now the raptors were gone.
There was nothing there.
Had they given up?
Tom drew his pistol, scanning the hallway he'd just run down.
“Alice, its Tom. Grady's still alive. Raptors are here, where are you?" Tom asked urgently in a hushed voice.
“We're approaching the samples area. Hurry up, call the tram back to your location and meet us then we'll deal with Grady and any dinosaur we see." Alice ordered in return.
Tom didn't need to be told twice. He didn't know where the raptors went, or why, but he could still hear them, their barks the strange sounds they made. He turned promptly holstering his pistol in a single fluid motion, grabbed his rifle and charged down the hallway just through the doors he saw the controls from the tram, only problem was it wasn't there, likely at the other facility where Alice and Craig were. Rushing up to the controls he pressed the button to recall it.
Tom turned around, taking check of his surroundings, a large area with a long dark tunnel, anything could be there, the emergency lights were still flashing, problem with the power or whatever he didn't know, maybe they could've fixed it before but not now.
The raptors had to be somewhere, something was lurking somewhere, he could hear them! He swore he could hear them! Tom ran his hand over his face clearing the sweat away from his brow and his eyes. Moving to the wall he took a crouched position, adjusted his rifles sling so it would aid in his aiming and reduce recoil when fired. He aimed down the corridor he'd just come from, towards the doors, weapon at the ready as he aimed down the sight.
“Come on." He growled angrily through his grit teeth, daring something or some_one_ to poke their head into his line of sight. “Come o-o-on!" he growled louder.
Owen opened the door to the crossroads with rifle in hand, flanked on either side by Blue and Delta, the two raptors ensuring they did not harm their alpha while they sniffed at the air rapidly as they entered the room.
'Alright which way did you go?' he wondered as his eyes scanned the room.
As the trio approached the stairs Owen looked down seeing two familiar raptors looking towards him from the lower level.
“Charlie, Echo!" Owen called to them.
Both raptors barked upon seeing their alpha, Charlie rushed over excitedly, nearly tripping for a second, as he and the other raptors descended the stairs.
Before Charlie and Echo could reach him both Blue and Delta barked at their sisters which gained their attention, the latter two raptors slowed to a stop then sniffed at Owen, then walked around him, their snouts coming close to his wound. They could smell the blood.
Both Charlie and Echo hissed darkly, Blue chittered to her sisters, Echo looked to her while Charlie continued to look over Owen's wound then examined him from head to toe then back again.
_'Control room.' _ He thought, if anywhere would have a first aid kit it would be there.
“Girls, girls come on. Eyes on me!" He spoke in a strong commanding tone, his left hand, clenched into a fist, raised to head height. The command was immediately recognised, the whole pack turned to face him. A calming sense of routine and familiarity washed over him in that moment, taking him back, if only briefly, to simpler times. “We're moving."
The raptors barked and swerved around him, each checking the corners and hiding spots for any potential threat. Owen grimaced as he pulled on his wound unintentionally, he could still feel the blood trickling through the cuts. Get his wound bandaged up then go find Tom and the others.
Before they got too far Charlie and Echoe rushed ahead and turned to face him, barking and chittering at him. He paused confused over their behaviour.
“What?" he muttered to himself. Charlie stepped closer to Owen chittered softly while tilting her head then rushed off to the side “Charlie?!" Owen called after her, she ignored him and continued to run before stopping at a pair of double doors. She nosed the doors, looked to Owen then barked.
Why would she be nosing the doors? He wondered before realisation hit him. “Tom." He sneered. That must be where Tom went.
“Okay Charlie. Good girl. You too Echo! Good girls. But later. Come on, eyes on me Charlie, we're moving." He instructed, going through the motions again. Charlie seemed to hesitate, glancing to the door before running back to join the pack. She chittered softly to which the others replied. In te back of Owen's mind it still astounded him to see how social raptors were, how smart they were. He'd give just about anything to understand them.
The pack followed and guarded their alpha as he lead them back to the command room, the elevator still without power, he walked to the emergency stairwell and descended down the steps, a single thought struck his mind, Dennis' remains were down here. A man who not too long ago was trapped with him in a solid concrete outpost the pair trying to survive against an Allosaurus. It was rather surreal.
Owen opened the door, he noticed the bullet holes through it, likely when he heard Dennis shooting at his raptors. Owen entered first, weapon sweeping across the room as instincts kicked in. He lowered his rifle and stepped further into the room, the whole place as quiet as a grave silence only broken by the faint tapping of claws against the ground.
The first aid kit wasn't far from here. Owen marched right up to where the kit was located using the butt of his rifle to smash through the security glass to retrieve it, marching back towards the computers he placed his rifle down on top of the nearest one and opened the kit. The girls meanwhile sniffed around silently watching the room for any threats. Owen worried they could smell something, like that smaller raptor.
Owen removed his vest jacket hissing through his teeth as the wet patch of material pulled away from his wound, Blue was immediately by his side, whimpering softly and sniffing at his wound.
“I'm okay Blue." He spoke through a grimace, his words twinged with pain. “I'm okay."
The next part wouldn't be any fun. He grabbed at the rim of his t-shirt. 'Pulling off a band-aid' he thought and prepared himself, eyes scrunched tightly shut, teeth pressed harder together, muscles tensed. Then he yanked the shirt up, the wet blood-soaked material peeled away from his wound like velcro. Owen barked out a cry of pain before quickly shutting it down. His breathing grew heavier. He had to work. Opening his tear-filled eyes he looked at his jacket and shirt, the area around the wound were soaked in blood. That raptor had got him good, worse than he'd originally thought. Releasing a tight breath he picked up the medicinal alcohol from the medical kit then liberally poured it over his wound.
Owen couldn't suppress a cry as the sting of the alcohol poured over his wound, cleaning the wound and disinfecting it. The girls rushed to him, barking at him in panic, looking for an attacker that wasn't there. Blue pressed herself against his chest whimpering and chittering softly against him, hoping to ease his pain, hoping her presence eased him. Her tongue slipped from her mighty jaws and lapped lovingly, caringly, across his neck.
'Thanks Blue. Love you too.' He thought. He looked to the kit and grabbed the roll of gauze, there'd be enough here for him. He carefully placed the gauze against his wound, groaning in pain as material touched the sensitive wound. He started wrapping the material around his waist, ensuring it was tight enough to keep pressure on his wound. One lap around his body quickly became two which turned to three before Owen secured the end in place then cut off the excess. He experimentally reached back and placed his hand on the wound, thankfully feeling only the touch of the gauze than the sensitive wound. He knew he'd need to clean the wound later and redress it, but for now it would do.
After softly and gently pushing away the worried Blue, taking some painkillers from the pack then quickly redressing Owen looked to the cameras where he saw them. Alice, Craig and Tom. Tom was held up near a tram system, likely past the doors Charlie had shown him. Alice and Craig were in an unknown location, looked way above his paygrade, which unnerved him even more as to who they were and what they were doing here. Whatever it was wasn't likely good and he had to stop them.
Owen picked up his rifle, then paused. Dennis was still here. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder he walked further into the room, down the steps, past the destroyed computers, then around the corner where he found the man's torn apart remains. This was done by his girls with ruthless efficiency. If things were different they could easily do this to him and he'd never be able to stop them, even if he wanted to. But by some miracle or freak accident the girls cared for him as much as he did for them, and through some insanity Blue even loved him, loved him like a woman loves a man.
With that thought it mind he turned to look at the grey, blue-stripped raptor who stayed close to his side.
“I don't know if you can understand me Blue," he spoke in a soft tone of voice, the raptor tilted her head curiously, chittering softly at him, “but I love you too." He reached out with his left hand, lightly pressing it against her snout then slipped it lower to her jaw and stroked along her jaw line, back and forth in a slow soothing manner. “I love you too." He repeated.
Blue blinked rapidly before her eyes fluttered shut with pleasure, her breathing grew hotter, her rear started to sway from left to right slowly at first before gaining speed rapidly.
Owen watched on in amusement, before pulling his hand away receiving an immediate effect from Blue. Her breath stilled, her rear froze in place her eyes snapped open wide, she stared at him with a shocked expression. Owen laughed despite himself as he imagined her saying, “What'd you stop for, I was enjoying that, do it again!"
He reached forward once more and patted the top of her snout before returning his focus to Dennis. He needed to get his mind back into focus. A problem needed to be dealt with. He looked over Dennis' remains and wondered … he stepped over to the corpse and carefully knelt beside it. He looked to the right leg, his eyes locked on to the holster on the man's right thigh. The strap securing it to his thigh had been torn apart and the holster itself had been cut open, but hopefully the pistol was in working order. Pulling the pistol free Owen gave it a quick once over, checking the frame, grip and barrel for any signs of damage, thankfully he found none.
Owen holstered the pistol then flipped Dennis' corpse over, the mess left behind wasn't as extreme as the back Dennis' face was left untouched except for a few teeth marks near his ears. Owen wondered if he should say a silent prayer for the man but opted against it,. Owen took hold of the spare magazines for the pistol and secured them on his person. Sadly it looked like his rifle was empty and Dennis had run dry on ammunition, but the pistol was useful.
Picking up his Marlin, Owen called to the girls gathering them around himself. Suddenly from the cameras came a loud gunshot, spinning around Owen looked around the camera feed, Alice and Craig were sneaking their way through a complex, what was happening he didn't know, but then he looked to Tom the man was standing, scanning wildly around the area.
“Eyes on me girls!" Owen called out gaining their attention, his eyes never leaving the camera footage. “We're moving!"
The pack followed their alpha as he rushed out of the room, ever mindful of his wound. Out of the Command room and towards the crossroads Owen heard more gunfire in the distance, rapid and sporadic. Coming to the doors that Charlie had indicated Owen carefully pushed them open his good eye looking down the scope of his rifle. He crept through the door, noting that Delta stepped through the door and held it open with her body as her sisters followed behind him, they like him were quiet, deathly quiet, for animals of their size he couldn't even hear them breathing. Somehow they understood this was a hunt, they were hunting Thomas and the others. Owen came to the corner that would lead him down to Tom's location and pressed himself carefully against it.
“Where are you!?" Tom yelled. “You fuckin' bastard!" he cried out in anger.
Anger swelled up within him and the raptors, but he pushed it down for the time being. Carefully he nudged his head around the corner, ensuring he didn't stick out too far as to get his head blown off. He saw Tom looking around wildly, looking for something. This was his chance. Owen moved further positioning his rifle around the corner. As if sensing the movement Tom turned in Owen's direction, in that split second Owen pulled back just as a shot pounded in the wall behind him.
“You think you can fuckin' take me Owen!? Think you and your fuckin' pets can take me?!" Tom yelled in anger. “I'll fuckin' kill you! Then I'll boil your raptors down and make a fuckin' roast!"
'He's fucking lost it.' Owen thought with a snarl. Suddenly he could hear the sound of the tram getting closer, it was now or never or else Tom could escape.
Beside him the raptors waited. Waiting for a sign from their Alpha, they knew this was his hunt, but still Owen could see their bodies almost shaking to be unleashed, he saw Echo's lips twitching as she snarled, Blue's sickle shaped claw tap rapidly against the floor in anticipation, Owen put his rifle over his shoulder, careful not to disturb his wound, and pulled out his pistol. Tom fired off a few more rounds from his rifle that were aimed elsewhere.
Owen dashed around the corner getting Tom's attention, the Australian spun towards Owen rifle coming up, but Owen opened fire with his pistol, the first shot whizzed past Tom's head his instincts causing him to move out of the way, another shot found purchase on his shoulder, the bullet showed by the ACU vest but tore into it and into the bone. Tom cried out as he hit the floor. Behind him the tram came into the area, slowing to a stop.
The raptors rushed out from and charged towards Tom.
Only to be beaten to the down man by a familiar sight. A dark skinned raptor came seemingly out from nowhere and charged the man, hissing loudly. The pack paused upon seeing this new threat. Tom cried out as the dark raptor tore at him with tooth and claw.
Owen was sure this was it for him as it was the others, when a thunderous boom erupted across the room and a thick piece of meat exploded out of the back of the raptor. The Aussie, with slashes across his face and chest held his shotgun in one hand before tossing the corpse away.
Enraged and running off pure adrenaline Tom aimed his shotgun at the pack and Owen then fired wildly.
Owen dropped to the floor, crying out as his disturbed his wound. The pack scattered to avoid the attack. Tom pushed himself up to his feet, firing off a few more rounds in their direction and fell back into the tram.
“Fuck you! Fucking, fuck you!" He cried as blood poured down his face. “Fuck." He cursed once more and activated the tram, the doors closed behind him and the tram was on its way.
Owen pushed himself back up to his feet, shaking his head in disbelief. “This guy won't die." He muttered quietly to himself.
The girls stepped out into the open, Blue hissing and screeching at the escaping tram as the others moved to inspect the dark raptor.
Owen panted heavily as he approached the scene. He looked over to the dead raptor seeing the blood already starting to pool around it, the entry wound wasn't terrible to look at but the exit wound was vicious looking, mangled meat and bone blow out of its back. Despite that the raptor looked clean and that was what gained Owen's attention. It had no other wounds, no bite or claw marks. This wasn't the raptor from earlier.
“My god there's more of them." Owen muttered to himself and looked around cautiously.
Inside the tram Tom all but collapsed onto the nearest seat, panting heavily as blood and sweat mingled on his brow. The adrenaline was wearing off, the pain of his wounds was becoming more noticeable. He cursed painfully through gritted teeth and looked down to his body. Long terrible cuts down his chest, horrible punctures in his arms, it was shoulder, it was a wonder he'd not been gutted.
With a groan of pain Tom lifted his arm to his face, his communicator was still untouched, though the screen was smeared with his blood.
“Alice, Craig, this is Tom. I …. I'm on the tram, fuckin' wounded. I … argh … I need medical assistance." Tom spoke between grunts of pain.
Tom waited but there was no reply. Grunting with exertion he lifted his right arm, having placed his weapon beside him, and tapped at the screen. They were radio silent.
'God fucking damn it.' He thought to himself then tapped out a quick message.
{On tram. Hurt. Grady + Raptors.} With a cry his arms fell to his side and his head leaned back against the seat, his eyes closed as he tried to mentally in vain to block out the pain.
Shortly his device beeped with a reply though Tom did not move, not at first. Building the mental fortitude to deal with his wounds again Tom pushed his head up and raised his arm, the message on reply was clear.
{Something here. Be careful.} came the reply from Craig.
“Fuck me." Tom groaned. The whole mission was FUBAR. When they got back he was going to demand double pay if not fucking triple! The company could kiss his ass goodbye otherwise. “Cunts." He grunted out while turning his head to his discarded shotgun, the short barrelled semi-automatic weapon lay beside him empty. Firing the weapon practically one handed had been agony for Tom, his wrist and elbow and shoulder throbbed in pain as he tried to keep the weapon steady when firing at Owen and the raptors. Tom pulled the weapon onto his lap and lay it upside down so the barrel rest against his leg, pulled shells from their compartment and started to load the weapon.
Thinking back to the raptors, he hadn't seen the dark one until it was too late, but it came from beside him, he was positive there had been nothing there before when he'd looked that way. How the fuck could he have missed all four foot something of man-eating lizard? How could he have missed it?
The shell in his hand didn't go further into the gun. Looking down he saw the weapon's tube was already fully loaded, turning the weapon onto its side he grabbed the cocking handle, pulled it to the rear slowly as his muscle ached from the strain then released it, a shell loading into the weapon's chamber, with that Tom loaded the other shell.
Still, he partially wondered, how did he miss the raptor?
She stepped close to the dark-skinned-one giving it a curious sniff. It was dead, very dead. Alpha-kind's loud noise makers made things very dead very fast. She; Green Bump as Grey-Stripe “Echo" called her rudely, or Delta as Alpha called her, huffed with disgust as she stepped back. It smelt strange, it smelt wrong. Not like them and her sisters. Similar, but again wrong.
Suddenly the smells came from all around. They weren't there before, now they were as if they suddenly just appeared, and they had surrounded the pack.
Danger! She barked in alarm towards Alpha and her sisters.
We know! Grey-Stripe-Echo growled as she started to hiss at the threat.
Pack quickly surrounded Alpha to protect him as the Dark-Kind stepped out from the shadows.
Death!
Hunger!
Death!
Hunger!
Females!
Mate!
The dark ones squawked and chittered out.
They were mad! Just like great-white-death. They were mad. They weren't right. They were male? All of them. All of them were male.
There was more of them than pack but they were shorter, smaller. Why? Were their kind males just smaller?
No mate! Beta/Alpha-Blue barked in anger. Have mate! Alpha is mate!
Other-Kind mad!
Weak!
Eat it!
The Dark-kind hissed in order as they stepped closer. The closest one, slightly larger than the others, twitched and shook as if something were wrong with him, more wrong.
Alpha muttered something in his alpha-speak. Words they didn't know. Hopefully not words of a plan, a plan could be good at that moment.
BACK! Alpha suddenly yelled, a word they understood. BACK! He shouted again. Delta glanced quickly to Alpha, he wasn't looking at pack, not ordering pack, ordering Dark-Ones, trying to assert his dominance like a good alpha.
Leave or die! Youngest-Sister-Charlie screeched. Alpha kill! She quickly added.
WEAK! One Dark-One shrieked, the one she'd seen earlier, she knew it was him as he had claw marks across his body, slashed by Alpha/Beta-Blue. He rushed ahead from the others towards the pack, Delta crouched low ready to pounce and take a chunk out of him herself.
BOOM!
The room was loud with the sudden roar of Alpha's loud noise maker. The charging Dark-One's head jolted back, it ran ahead two more steps before it realised it was dead. His body hit the ground and tumbled before stopping just short of pack, staring towards them with a wide vacant stare, one eye missing and the top of its head blown open.
BACK! Alpha commanded louder, a deep violent growl vibrating in his throat. A tone he'd never used quite so hard on them, even when they were bad.
Delta would tell no one, but it was rather arousing. Delta kept her pheromones in check.
The lead Dark-One stepped closer, its large claw tapping on the ground.
They heard the strange click-click of Alpha's noise maker.
The leader paused, hissing.
OURS SOON! He hissed threateningly before he and the others rushed away, their scents while lingering started to fade quickly.
Pack waited with raised hackles until safety was ensured. Delta looked towards pack seeing Youngest-Sister-Charlie nuzzle up against Alpha and chitter softly. Alpha/Beta-Blue was already releasing her pheromones.
Stop it! Grey-Stripe-Echo barked in anger. Choking us, you breeder! She hissed.
Do not care! Alpha/Beta-Blue dismissed and nuzzled against Alpha.
Delta exhaled sharply through her nose. A strong display of dominance from Alpha and Alpha/Beta-Blue was about ready to raise her tail. Secretly, Delta didn't blame her.
Very strong, very Alpha like! Charlie chittered happily.
Alpha simply barked in that way he does when he is happy. Pack had survived. Pack was together. Pack was strong. That was all that mattered.
STOP IT! Grey-Stripe-Echo barked again in frustration exhaling sharply and rapidly through her snout while trying to nuzzle against Alpha. CHOKING PACK WITH SCENT!
Alpha/Beta-Blue only huffed with self-assured confidence and nuzzled all around Alpha, spreading her scent over him. Youngest-Sister-Charlie keeping out of it. She was smart.
Delta blinked and watched. Pack would survive together, if Blue and Echo didn't kill one another.
A lot was going through Owen's mind at that moment, the first was trying to extricate himself from between Blue and Echo as they pair seemingly argued. The second was what he witnessed earlier as those dark-skinned raptors appeared then left. Their hides had changed melded in with their surroundings, not using their dark colour to hide in the shadows but adapted to the colours around them.
'They can camouflage' he realised. Just like the Indominus could, though it wasn't perfect. Not quite as good as hers. Owen wasn't a genius by any stretch, but he could put dots together. The Indominus was never the final goal. It was just a steppingstones for research purposes. These things were the next step, but they weren't right. Owen could see it as what he guessed was their Alpha stepped closer, its head twitching, body shaking uncontrollably. They weren't wired right. Like a possibly failed experiment. They were also short for a raptor. He realised these were male from the physical differences, their chests were broader, hips narrower. Some even had tuffs of feathers on the back of their heads.
Freeing himself from his two raptors Owen walked towards the tram system, it was still on the move so the controls were locked. He couldn't recall it until it reached its destination, he'd have to wait.
“What the fuck is actually going on in this place?" he couldn't help but ask aloud. Mercenaries, unstable experimental raptors? What else was in this park that the higher-ups didn't want anyone, even other members of staff, to see? “I swear to god, if they got Godzilla here, I'm leaving." He shook his head at the audacity.