Dr. Alan Grant had only a split second to evaluate the sheer, unadulterated nightmare unfolding before his eyes.To their front stood the hyper-intelligent, striped alpha raptor and her pack, clicking their sickle claws on the exposed roots. To their rear was Isaiah—Asset 87—a forty-foot-tall genetic titan dripping with the fresh, crimson blood of his kills.The humans were caught directly in the kill zone."Run," Alan commanded, his voice a low, gravelly whisper that barely carried above the heavy, mutual breathing of the prehistoric beasts."W-What?" Paul Kirby stammered, his eyes darting frantically between the red-pupiled raptors and the glowing blue stripes of the giant."I said RUN!" Alan yelled at the top of his lungs.The command broke the paralysis. Dr. Grant grabbed Amanda Kirby's hand and bolted into the tall, thick field of elephant grass. Billy Brennan and the remaining two mercenaries, Nash and Udesky, followed a fraction of a second later, their heavy boots trampling the pale green stalks as they ran for their lives.Behind them, the standoff exploded into pure chaos.The alpha raptor let out a high-pitched, screeching bark of command to her pack. They were too small to fight the colossal sail-backed beast head-on, but they were fast enough to execute a flanking maneuver. The pack split, vanishing into the long grass with an effortless, ghostly silence.Isaiah, his predatory mind fueled by his recent kills, lowered his massive snout. He was not about to let his territory or his prey be challenged by a pack of thieves. He pushed through the grass, his massive size flattening the vegetation like a runaway freight train.Up ahead, the humans were screaming, running blindly through the thick sea of green. They couldn't see more than a few feet in front of them. The elephant grass was a maze of sharp, whipping blades that slashed at their skin.Nash, the pilot, was running right behind Billy. He felt a sudden, violent rustle in the grass to his left."Billy, watch out!" Nash screamed, shoving the younger man forward just as a dark, striped shape launched itself from the brush.It was a male raptor. It did not go for Billy. Its powerful, muscular legs collided with Nash's chest, knocking the mercenary flat onto his back. Nash let out a grunt of pain as the air was knocked out of him. He looked up just in time to see a rows of needle-sharp teeth descending on his throat.A sickening, wet crunch echoed through the tall grass. Nash's screams were cut short as the raptor tore into his jugular, warm blood spraying across the surrounding green blades."Nash!" Udesky yelled, drawing his sidearm. The meek booking agent turned mercenary fired a frantic shot blindly into the grass.BANG.The muzzle flash illuminated the shadows for a split second, but it didn't hit anything.Before Udesky could adjust his aim, a second raptor leaped from the grass on his right. Its sickle claw slashed horizontally across Udesky's torso, ripping through his tactical vest and shredding his abdomen. Udesky let out a gurgling cry, collapsing to his knees, clutching his stomach as his life spilled out into the rich mud of Isla Sorna. The raptors did not finish him immediately; they dragged his twitching body back into the deep shadows of the grass, using his pained whimpers as bait for the others.Alan Grant did not look back. He kept a tight grip on Amanda Kirby's hand, practically dragging her through the vegetation. Paul was right behind them, panting heavily, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated panic.They burst out of the far side of the tall grass, their lungs burning, covered in mud and shallow scratches.Directly ahead of them stood a massive, imposing structure: the perimeter fence of the abandoned InGen Worker Village. The towering chain-link fence was heavily reinforced, topped with sharp, jagged spikes, and featured a massive, heavy iron sliding gate.But the gate was closed."It's locked!" Paul screamed, rattling the massive iron chains on the gate in a fit of desperate panic. "We're trapped! They're right behind us!"Suddenly, a small, mud-caked face appeared on the opposite side of the chain-link fence.It was a young boy, roughly twelve years old. His clothes were shredded, his face was smeared with dirt and camouflage paint, and he was wearing a makeshift necklace made of dinosaur claws."Eric!" Amanda screamed, dropping to her knees by the fence, tears streaming down her face. "Oh my God, Eric!""Mom? Dad?" Eric's eyes widened in absolute shock and disbelief. He hadn't seen another human in eight weeks."Open the gate, kid! Open it now!" Alan Grant shouted, hearing the thunderous, heavy thuds of a massive creature approaching the edge of the tall grass behind them.Eric didn't waste a second. He grabbed a heavy metal bar and wedged it into the massive iron latch, putting all of his weight into it. With a loud, groaning metallic screech, the gate clicked open, sliding back just enough for a person to squeeze through.Dr. Grant shoved Amanda through the gap first, then Paul, and finally scrambled through himself just as the grass behind them exploded outward.Isaiah burst from the field of elephant grass, his massive, scarred snout bursting into the clearing. His amber eyes were locked onto the humans standing on the other side of the fence.Isaiah didn't stop. He lowered his center of gravity, his massive three-toed feet tearing up chunks of the earth as he launched his multi-ton frame into a terrifying, full-speed sprint directly toward the gate.He didn't care about the iron bars. He didn't care about the fence. He wanted the prey that had shot him, and his monstrous momentum was about to collide directly with the thin line of their salvation.
