The pair get off of the ATV and walk to the front of the cracking, old structure. In the years that it has been left behind, vines started to overgrow the building. Trees were sprouting from the roof, just high enough to get sunlight. The former pristine white paint on the concrete walls had faded to a gray, highlighted by moss and weeds growing from tiny cracks. The rusty, dented garage was slightly opened, with the bottom pulled up to show how the jungle leaked inside.

“Are you sure that we’ll find something useful in there?” questioned Adam.

“I’m positive, the only problem is the door. Both the one in the garage and that front one are locked by a card,” answered Grace, pointing to the old metal door, “Any ideas to get in?”

“Cut out the middleman and break the door down,” responded Adam.

He ran up to the door and rammed his body into it, however the door remained shut firmly.

“Agh, shit!” he yelled, holding his shoulder.

“Well, you’re mostly right,” said Grace, “But that’s the wrong middleman.”

Grace took one of the large tranq guns out of her duffel bag and walked up to one of the floor-to-ceiling window panels, moving away the vines covering it. She jammed the butt into the glass and backed away as it shattered, the tiny little shards fell to the jungle ground.

“See? That’s the right middle man.”

They step inside the station, pushing away the overgrowth, and walk inside the building. Inside it was musty and humid, despite the surprisingly clean interior. The formerly bright potted plants were wilted and dead from receiving no water in two years. The tiles had faded to a near-white, almost losing their dull blue color.

Grace went around the room, checking the desk drawers and cabinets for batteries she knew were there.

“Come on, come on,” muttered Grace silently as she looked for them.

After a minute of searching and double checking, they weren’t there.

“You sure they were here?” asked Adam, “You might've seen them somewhere else.”

“No, no I’m sure they’re here. Maybe they’re in the garage?”

She jogged to the oxidized door and opened it, seeing the interior. The jeep was still in the same place, and the ATVs were still against the wall. She attempted to open the jeep, and the old door flung open easily after being weakened by the vines growing inside and rain. She checked the glove box and saw a bunch of random items covered by moss, but in the back was a half-full pack of double-A batteries among tissues and moss.

“Yes! They’re in here,” exclaimed Grace as she gathered the batteries.

Adam came inside with one of the duffle bags as Grace put them inside. Keeping out four, they put them into two flashlights to check them. They both turned on instantly, and the pair turned them off.

“Is there anything else in there?” asked Adam, gesturing to the glove box.

“I’ll check,” responded Grace as she moved more of the trash and overgrowth, to see an abandoned keycard in the back of the glovebox.

“Holy crap!” said Grace, on the verge of yelling once more.

She took out the card and showed it to Adam.

“What is it?”

“What does it look like, Einstein?”

“Grace, I know it’s a keycard, I meant what does it open or what does it do.”

“Oh, uh, it’s one of the cards that the government gave to us when we came here. Well, those and some trackers. They said the trackers were ‘to make sure you don’t go anywhere you're not permitted.’ Hopefully the card will work on the other stations as well.”

“Well, how many other ones are there?”

“Two. I had this one, the two guys shared a station, and Darla had her own up North by a riv-”

They’re interrupted by a roar from the swamp, freezing Grace in a fearful trance. The garage floor started to shake, and muffled growls came from outside.

“Grace? Grace! Grace!” yelled Adam, trying to bring Grace to run.

He snaps Grace back and they run into the main part of the research station. Outside, the swamp’s trees were trembling and falling as a horde of something dark ran nearer. The pair get on the ATV and drive off, as a herd of large dinosaurs burst from the trees, speeding away from something chasing the herd.

As they drove, Grace quickly studied the herd. They were a bit bigger than baryonyx, the size of a draft horse. They had long necks and three-fingered hands with claws. They didn’t look carnivorous, though, with eyes like goats and jaws not built for biting meat.

The herd overtakes the ATV, and Adam tries to weave through the trees. Ahead, through small cracks and bushes, light could be seen through the dark trees.

“Go to the light!” cried Grace from behind, and Adam aimed for it.

The light ebbed closer and closer, and soon the ATV rushed out of the forest and onto an empty, massive plain of grass. The herd of dinosaurs still stuck together after emerging from the forest, and Grace looked back to see what was chasing. Behind was two carkylonyx, one bleeding from its thigh.

“Oh god,” muttered Grace, as Adam looked back as well to see them before she said much louder over the stamping feet, “Ok! If there’s two, then the third must be nearby!”

She started to frantically move her gaze throughout the herd for the last predator. The dark gray scales of the herbivores blocked anything from outside the group, so anything outside the wall that is the herd is unseen. A trumpetting call was heard from the front of the herd, as it divided in two, heading in separate directions.

“Which way!” shouted Adam.

“I don’t know, pick one!” responded Grace, still watching the two carnivores as they tried to follow the separated groups.

He makes a sharp left, towards the slightly smaller group, and is followed by the one with a wounded thigh. It snapped at them, looking Grace in the eyes as Adam sped back into the center of the herd.The carkylonyx followed suit, biting one of the dinosaur’s tails and pulled it back. It roared out in pain, and fled closer to the center. The predator is not shaken, however, and goes around to the side. It bit at another dinosaur’s leg, grabbing it by the thigh but was kicked off. It fumbled slightly, still running, and it swung its tail into the dinosaur’s ankle, audibly snapping it and causing the dinosaur to collapse onto the ground. The carkylonyx dove to its neck, biting it by the throat. The dinosaur kicked and shook for a minute, before it went limp.

The creature let go of its neck and rumbled, like an elephant. Grace looked back to see the rough outline of the other carkylonyx coming to the fresh carcass, and the third coming from the trees. Adam continued driving with the herd, retreating back into the trees, as the outlines of the predators slowly got covered by the ferns and brush. The herd slowed down to a trot, and the duo remained silent for what felt like hours.

“I think these are plateosaurus,” said Adam, breaking the silence, “They eat plants, so we should be safe.”

“Mhm,” quietly acknowledged Grace as she studied the plateosaurs. They were dark charcoal in color, with white patterns on its head that strangely resemble horns. It had a small set of spines on the base of its neck, and a complex striping pattern around its body. Their hands, seemingly three-digited, had two almost vestigial fingers, unclawed. Under its downward lower jaw, they had a throat sac. She pulled out the little black sketch book and started adding a sketch of it, labeling the drawing as “plateosaurus.”

“What’s that for?” asked Adam quietly.

“I bought it at a small pharmacy on the other island before getting on the boat. I got it to document the carky-something, but it should serve us well as a guide for the species here.”

“Huh. You should try and make a page on the baryonyx. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.”

Before she could respond, light leaked through the thick bushes ahead. The herd traveled through, followed by the pair, and were onto an even more expansive grassland. It looked infinite, and was littered with dark spots in the distance. The plateosaurs traveled to a small hill and started grazing on bunches of ferns, while the head got on top next to a tree adorned with green fruits and bellowed.

A similar one was heard in the distance, as the sound of stomping feet increased and the other half of the herd trotted into the plain. They joined the congregation of animals and also started eating the grass. Adam and Grace got off the ATV and walked up to the large scaled animals.

“They aren’t running?” whispered Adam.

“If an animal hasn’t been conditioned to people, then they will flee at the sight of them. If they’re used to them, they’re calm like this,” answered Grace, “Or they’re just dumb.”

“Probably a mix of both.”

They walked among the herd, as the herbivores ripped up portions of ferns and fallen fruits, swallowing each whole. Adam climbed to the top of the hill next to the head of the herd, as Grace took notes on the page with the plateosaur sketch.

“Grace,” called Adam, “There’s something in the distance.”

Grace looked up and joined Adam.

“Over there,” he said, pointing to a spot that appeared to be a building far off in the distance.

“What the,” muttered Grace before speaking up, “Did you get any binoculars from camp?”

“We didn’t bring any. But, we should go. It could be another research station.”

“No, it isn’t one a station. The second is deep in the forest and we aren’t that far north. This is something different.”

“So, is that a yes?”

“It’s a ‘not right now.’ Right now,” she gestures to the dinosaurs, “I say we stick with these things.”

Grace walked down the hill to the ATV, getting the duffel bag off of it, before realizing.

“Wait, we don’t have tents,” she thought, as she quickly put the duffel bag back and ran to the hill again.

“Nevermind. We’ll need to make a shelter and I’m assuming the carky’s territory doesn’t go that far.”

“That’s the other reason why I suggested it, but you didn’t-” Adam was cut off by the ATV revving up, as he sighed and walked down the hill to it.

“Shouldn’t I drive?” he said to Grace, now in the driver’s seat.

“Well why shouldn’t I?” she retorted.

Adam didn’t respond, and simply got on the back and watched the plateosaurs graze as Grace drove towards the building.

* * *

“Jesus, it’s been like an hour and we’re barely in view of it,” thought Grace as she continued to speed towards the building.

She was right, it only looked slightly closer. Nothing happened on the drive over, they didn’t see anything, luckily. The air got humid on the drive, getting thicker and unbearable as dark clouds started to form above.

“We better make shelter soon, I just felt a drop,” said Adam from behind.

“We can make it,” responded Grace with certainty.

“It’s literally raining right in front of us, and it’s coming this way,” Adam pointed out, and he was right. Ahead they could see the clouds slowly drifting toward them as they rained. Grace stopped the ATV before turning around to Adam.

“You’re right, but we’re still in the carky’s territory. It’s not a risk to take.”

“We’ll make it, we just need to get a fire while the wood is still mostly dry.”

Grace nodded and turned to the trees, taking off to beat the incoming storm. They make it to the forest and get off, both going in different directions to get materials. Grace gathers twigs and fallen logs for the fire while Adam gathers vines and leaves to make a canopy. The rain seemed only a mile off, and Grace built a cross and lit it with a lighter from camp. The ember grasped the wood and burned at it as it made its way to the middle where it burst into a flame. She looks over to Adam, who was tying the last knot in the canopy. The rain was just feet away, and Adam put the canopy over the blaze as the drops started sprinkling on the site before it suddenly poured, covering the island like the flame just lit covered the wood. The leaf canopy wasn’t that wide, barely covering the crackling flame and leaving the duo drenched, but just tall enough to prevent being caught ablaze by an ember. Grace stared into the bright blaze, unmoving and unblinking.

She thought about the night before. About the pack of baryonyx, slaying countless humans and not eating the bodies. It wasn’t normal.

“Animals don’t slay for sport, only humans do that. Is it because they were spooked? They were threatened? They were hungry? They’re teeth are like gharials, and they had webbed feet, which means they eat fish. So why attack on land instead of staying in water. Were they driven out by the carkylonyx? Maybe. Maybe there weren't any more fish and they resorted to hunting on land. That could make sense. Maybe they were just territorial and had to assert dominance.”

She went back and forth in her mind, trying to figure out the mystery. It could have been anything, but she wasn’t sure of anything. Something always didn’t add up with her hypotheses; Adam shot a gun, but spooked animals would only run, not attack. They could’ve needed to drive the team out, but why kill them all. The carkylonyx were smaller in numbers and size, so that’s out too. Anytime she thought she had it, she doubted it and pushed it aside, like dozens of red herrings.

SNAP

Grace darted her head up to see Adam had left to fetch more leaves and wood.

“God, you scared the shit out of me,” she said, sighing.

“Yeesh, already paranoid? I just went to get more stuff for tents.”

“Why get more? Once the rain’s gone we’ll just head toward the building,” she stated.

“It’s the Bahamas, it probably won’t stop raining until the next day,” he responded, starting to build makeshift shelters.

She turned back to the fire and continued the cycle of possible solutions and denying it, while Adam built the small organic tents.

Adam was right. The rain poured onto the island for hours. Once Adam finished the tents, they got into their respective ones and watched the fire until it died before observing the vast plain. Grace checked her phone, surprisingly not cracked, and saw the time was around late afternoon. It had no signal, not surprisingly, so that’s an out for getting off the island. She looked over to Adam, who was still staring at the plains. Apart from the rain it was quiet, save for a few calls from the distance. None that seemed close, and definitely not carnivorous.

“You realize how strange this is, right?” muttered Adam, kind of quiet but still audible through the drops.

“Which part,” commented Grace.

“All of it. Why was the team formed? Why did no one need to know about the carkylonyx? And, most of all, why are there dinosaurs here?”

“You mentioned on the plane that you were looking for a specific person, a scientist. I haven’t seen Jurassic Park, but I know enough about it from my brother that usually the subjects of ‘science’ and ‘dinosaurs’ link in some way.”

“Mhm. I loved that when I was a kid. I’m not very avid about it today, but it was a miracle when I was young. To see those giant and majestic creatures, not like anything that lives today, was astounding. I’m sure you’ve felt that sometime, right?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve never really expressed interest in anything too fantastic or sci-fi to give me that feeling.”

Adam silently regarded it, before once again turning to her.

“I hope you can have it here,” Adam said, before he once again turned to the plains and observed. Only this time there was something new.

In the near-distance, a mass of animals walked by, definitely dinosaurs. They were traveling to the south, towards Marabou. They weren’t very visible, but Grace could see they had a generally coffee color, interlaced with smoky black. A larger one ran out on its hind legs, trumpeting a sound that cleared through the air. A small blur came out from the side of the herd, and started sprinting towards the camp. Grace pulled out a pistol and aimed, but Adam ran over to put the gun down.

“Wait, I think it’s harmless,” whispered Adam.

“On an island like this!” responded Grace in a loud whisper.

The creature got closer, and it was a juvenile. It had a similar pattern to the adults, but without the smoky black. Their head was a bit big compared to its body and definitely to its thinner neck. It had a bump on its head, like a tiny crest. Its eyes were bright, similar to the plateosaurs, but brighter.

“It’s been a while, but I think this is an ornithopod, or a duck-bill herbivore,” commented Adam.

It was making baby versions of the adult’s trumpet, a high pitched chirp. An adult from the herd turned its head, and called to the others. The herd turned and started towards camp.

“Great, now the herd is probably going to trample us because of it,” said Grace.

They approached peacefully, and the closer they got the better Grace could see them. A huge crest curved out from their head, right where the baby’s bump was. Their patterns were much clearer, and their faces had a white and black mask like a gemsbok. They were huge, towering over the duo.

The largest, probably the male, snorted something to the juvenile, and it returned to the herd bouncing on its hind legs joyfully. It turned its attention to Adam, and it snorted again in his direction before it trumpets again. The herd turned away, and they left. A moment of silence followed, the rain still coming down.

“Well, that was cool,” said Adam.

“Yeah, but also possibly life threatening,” countered Grace, “Usually any animal with sense will protect its young, since the fundamental meaning of life is to spread genes. We could’ve been killed.”

“Yes, but these animals have had human interaction. They all have. They aren’t some movie-monster that will attack unprovoked unless it's hunting.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about. The baryonyx. You shot once and a pack of them decided to slay dozens of prey, in this case the team, without eating them or stopping. A predator will take what it needs or what it can get, eat it, and leave. They just killed everyone and looked for more.”

“I’m no biologist-”

“Zoologist”

“I’m no zoologist, but why do foxes kill more chickens in chicken coops if they only need one or two?”

“It’s something called ‘hen-house syndrome.’ Sometimes when a predator, usually a fox, has access to an excess amount of prey, like chickens, they kill an excess amount of food and don’t eat it. They usually stash it though, so it is still unusual.”

“Well, what if they view humans as prey? What if they’ve seen humans before, in a crowded or constricted space like a henhouse, and killed in excess. That might explain the baryonyx and even the carkylonyx behavior. Since sometimes an animal will crave human blood if they taste it, and once they do, they’ll do anything to get it.”

“But, why would something like a baryonyx eat humans when they’re adapted to fish?”

“I don’t know, but we should avoid any and all carnivores. No matter what.”