"Imagine if we'd had these things in Tora Bora."
In the Control Room, Hoskins was transfixed by the main screen, watching the spectacle of human soldiers and Velociraptors advancing side-by-side. He reached over and swiped Lowery's seven-dollar soda.
"Are you getting all this recorded?" he asked the two technicians beside him, convinced he had already secured his victory.
His goal was simple: promote dinosaur weaponry. If the Raptors won, he'd market the Raptors; if the Indominus won, he'd market the Indominus. He couldn't see a single scenario where he lost.
Never has there been such a glorious opening! Cheer for me! Celebrate me!
"They're slowing down," Barry noted, seeing the icons for the four dinosaurs on the tracker closing the distance with the human squad. He radioed Owen.
"They've found something."
Owen used his chest-mounted radio to alert the men behind him, signaling them to prepare. As the Raptors came to a halt, the heavily armed soldiers dismounted their vehicles, seeking cover and leveling their rifles.
"Aunnng-roar—"
A low, guttural snarl echoed from the depths of the forest. There was no mistaking it: the Indominus was issuing a warning.
"Hrr-ssst..."
Delta instinctively let out a low hiss. But in that moment, both the Indominus and the four Raptors realized something was strange.
They understood each other.
The Indominus froze for a split second. Then, no longer bothering to hide, she pushed through the vines and stepped into the clearing, revealing herself to the humans. Her body was a roadmap of healing wounds and scars, with dried blood still matted around her neck.
Ignoring the humans in the distance and the red laser dots dancing across her hide, she looked down at the four Raptors.
"Aunnng-rrr—"
"Aok!"
She tested a vocalization toward the nearest Raptor to confirm her suspicion. The Indominus's voice was deeper and more resonant, while Blue's was higher-pitched, but the communication was clear. They were speaking the same language.
Looking at the four Raptors, the Indominus had an idea. She began to invite them to join her hunt.
The Raptors, intensely curious about this massive creature, agreed without a moment's hesitation. The Indominus was pleased, but first, they had to deal with the humans.
"Something's wrong, Owen. They're communicating," Barry said. Having studied Raptor behavior for years, he knew Blue wasn't issuing a pre-battle threat. These were vocalizations they only used among their own kind. It was... a greeting?
"I know why they wouldn't tell us what she's made of," Owen said, his brow furrowing as cold sweat broke across his forehead. He could already see the catastrophe unfolding.
"Why?" Barry asked, still clinging to the hope that the bond between them and the Raptors wasn't so fragile.
"That thing is part Raptor."
As Owen spoke, the Raptors turned in unison with the Indominus to face the humans. In the Control Room, the head-mounted cameras reflected Owen's face; the rapid, hitching breaths of the Raptors betrayed their final moments of hesitation.
"Fire!"
Hoskins didn't care about bonds. To him, the Raptors had defected. And for traitors, he had only one solution: extermination. He abandoned his promotional recording; he'd find a way to spin the losses later.
"Fire!"
The ACU mercenaries were Hoskins's men. They answered to his payroll, not Owen's pleas. They opened fire, and the Raptors were no longer off-limits.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
"Aunnng-roar—!"
A torrent of lead slammed into the Indominus. The bullets failed to penetrate her primary hide, glancing off in a shower of sparks—textbook ricochets. A few rounds found the existing wounds on her neck, tearing the skin, but no blood flowed.
Whiz—BOOM!
A flash of light erupted as a rocket-propelled grenade streaked toward the Indominus. It detonated on the ground between her legs, the massive shockwave knocking her off her feet.
The four Raptors had vanished into the brush the moment the shooting started. Owen, realizing the situation had gone south, stood up and emptied his magazine into the fallen Indominus.
But the Indominus, with her genetically reinforced hide, wasn't deterred by standard-issue rifle fire. She scrambled back to her feet and vanished into the thick jungle.
"Watch your six! The Raptors have a new Alpha!"
Owen rose and led the men into the woods, splitting them into three-to-four-man fireteams to search for the Raptors.
Snap.
The sound of a breaking branch drew a soldier's attention. A Raptor?
"Ahhhh—!"
Suddenly, a scream erupted behind him. The man at the point of their formation was gone. All that remained was the blur of a tail disappearing into the tall grass.
"Contact!"
He fired wildly into the brush, only to feel a searing pain clamp down on both sides of his neck.
Lesson One: When a teammate vanishes, don't look for the killer. Check your own immediate surroundings first.
"We lost two signals!" another soldier shouted. He was hyper-focused on the movement ahead, feeling a false sense of security with teammates covering his flanks.
"Hrr-ssst..."
"Ahhhh—!"
The man to his left shrieked as a Raptor tackled him into the weeds. The man in front was the first to react; he saw the predator exposed right before him. He moved his finger to the trigger, but before he could squeeze, a second Raptor "spawned" on his right, grabbing him by the shoulder and dragging him into the dark.
Lesson Two: Raptors never hunt alone. If you see one, you should be wondering where the second and third ones are.
"Ten o'clock! Open fire!"
This group had three men. In the narrow jungle path, they had formed a single-file line. Only one side had high brush, so they cautiously hugged the opposite edge.
A split second later, a Raptor lunged from the unforested side—the "safe" flank. It snatched the middle man and hauled him into the grass. The rear soldier tried to turn and spray the area, but felt a crushing pain in his shoulder as he, too, was yanked into the shadows.
Lesson Three: Ensure the nearest tall grass is at least ten meters away. It's not just where Raptors hide; it's the "Black Room" where they take you to disappear.
In the Control Room, Hoskins watched the carnage through the helmet cams. Realizing the tide had turned, he didn't hesitate. He stood up and headed for the exit, preparing to take his research and run.
Owen moved alone through the high grass, rifle raised. His behavior was essentially a death wish—the act of a student who clearly hadn't listened to his own lecture.
The grass beside him rustled continuously. Owen spun around and spotted a tall, stiff Raptor tail.
Charlie stopped. Having finished off her previous "lucky winner," she looked up and locked eyes with Owen.
Owen didn't fire. He slowly lowered his rifle and met Charlie's gaze.
Charlie tilted her head, staring back at the man who had raised her.