THIRTY NINE

 

 

Alan had no idea how long he had been asleep when he was awakened by the unexpected sensation of something tugging on the hem of his jeans, much the way a playful puppy might take its master’s trousers in its mouth for an impromptu game of tug-of-war.

 

There was no play-growling, no sound at all to identify what it was, and for a moment, his sleep-fogged mind had difficulty distinguishing reality from dream.  He had been living on the island so long that there was no illusion of being anywhere else, but as his mind moved slowly toward wakefulness, he wondered how a puppy could have gotten on the island.

           

The curious yanking on the hem became more persistent, and he jerked his head up abruptly, driving away the lingering effects of sleep.  Instantly, he realized that this was neither a harmless puppy nor a game.  This was a struggle for survival.  On reflex, he struck out at the creature with one foot to dislodge it, and felt it connect with a small leathery object.  It squeaked and jumped back, blundering against Ellie’s hip as it dodged out of the way, bringing the woman awake with a startled gasp.

 

“What the . . . ?” she said, raising her head in surprise.

 

“Compies!” Alan told her as he rolled over to reach for the shock prod, which, as always, was kept beside the pistol, both within easy reach, but as his hand came to rest on the prod, he froze, observing the mob of compies that stood only a few yards away.  They were tiny dark shadows in the moonlight, well within the campsite perimeter, a place they should not have been able to reach without his knowledge. 

 

For a moment, he assumed that the sensors had failed, for nothing should have been able to get into the camp without triggering the alarm.  But as he observed the diminutive creatures, the realization sank in regarding the island’s tiniest dinosaurs, something he knew he should have considered, and he felt his heart sink with comprehension.

 

The fire had died down to a few glowing embers, indicating that it was well into the night, probably only a few hours until daylight, but he didn‘t dare take his eyes off them long enough to check his watch.  His eyes did shift fleetingly to the woodpile, a short distance away, then darted back to the tiny predators.  To help discourage them and keep them at bay, they would need to build up the fire again.

 

Turning his attention back to the compies, he felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle in reaction to the intensity with which their attention was focused on him.  One of them, probably the one that had been tugging on his trousers, was standing slightly in front of the pack, identifying it as the dominant male.  They were very still and quiet, as if waiting for  a signal from the pack leader to attack.

 

Ellie had not witnessed the compy attacks Alan had seen during his residency on the island.  Her only real experience with their predatory capabilities had been the day before, when they had been harassing the sloth.  Prior to that, she had only seen scavenging tendencies.  She knew they were dangerous, but it was difficult for her to place these tiny creatures in the same category as the larger predators.  However, as she observed the large pack in the moonlight, their small eyes glittering, they were an ominous entity.  There was strength in numbers, and this was a mob capable of killing both of them.

 

“What are they doing?” she asked quietly. Like him, she was as motionless as possible to avoid provoking them.

 

“I’m not sure,” he replied.  “They seem to be waiting for something, a signal maybe from the pack leader, or perhaps a movement from us.”

 

“Or intimidation tactics.”

 

“Yeah, maybe.”

 

“Well, it’s working,” she whispered.

 

He understood exactly what she meant.  Somehow, the motionless flock of tiny dinosaurs was equally as intimidating as many of the larger animals he had encountered.  They were totally immobile, like tiny statues, their glittering eyes riveted upon the two humans.

 

“Don’t panic,” he cautioned.

 

She nodded in response, understanding that animals can sense fear, and if anything would set them off, it would be that.  “They followed us,” she said, keeping her voice low. 

 

At the sound of her voice, the compy that maintained a forward position from the rest flinched slightly, as if it had prepared for and then aborted a decision to attack.

 

“Yeah,” Alan agreed.  “They’ve probably been out there just outside the range of the campfire watching us all evening.”

 

Ellie shuddered at the thought that danger had been lurking so near without their knowledge.  “Well, if you have a plan, I’d sure like to hear it,” she said, hopefully.

 

He wished he could tell her he had a plan, but he knew only that a sudden movement from either of them would bring about one of two possible reactions from the little dinosaurs, and it was impossible to predict which one would occur.  They would have to do something, though, before the creatures worked up the courage to attack.

 

“When I rise up with the shock prod, they will probably either attack or back off.  The ones that were shocked yesterday probably remember it, but if they attack in force, the prod won’t do much good.  We’ll need to find something to beat them back.  And we‘ll need to get that fire built back up.”

 

His calm words, so professional and matter-of-fact, had a soothing effect on her and helped to stem the tide of panic that had been rising inside her.  She looked over at the woodpile.  Mostly, the firewood they had gathered was small limbs and twigs taken from dead shrubs and brush, but there were a few larger ones that might serve as effective clubs.  “We can use some of the larger pieces of firewood for clubs.”

 

Alan was more troubled than his reassuring voice revealed, and the stack of wood didn‘t offer much in the way of a suitable club.  “I guess that will have to do.  When I get up with the prod, you get to the woodpile as fast as you can.”  He glanced at her.  “Ready?”

 

She tensed, preparing to lunge for the woodpile.  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

 

His fingers closed around the handle of the prod and he quickly sat up, which galvanized the compies into action.  Instead of fleeing, as he had hoped, they flooded into the interior of the camp en masse, squawking and chittering in excitement.  Within seconds, they were on them, tugging and pulling at their clothing, trying to bite into the flesh and apparently frustrated by the fabric of their shirts and trousers.

 

Even though he had activated the prod when he picked it up, shocking them one at a time would be a futile effort against so many, so he swung it like a bat.  It was light weight and thin, but fairly effective.  The first swing connected with several of them at once, sending them rolling and colliding with others, inciting several small fights among themselves.  The entire band was very agitated and aggressive, and Alan knew that his and Ellie’s positions on the ground made them more attractive as prey, but it was difficult to maneuver while fighting off so many of them.

 

“Alan!” Ellie’s frantic cry reached his ears amid the excited chirps and squawks of the compies. Turning quickly, alarmed by the desperation in her voice, he saw that she, like him, had been unable to get to her feet.  A dozen or more of the tiny carnivores were on her, pinning her down with their combined weight.  She was frantically trying to throw them off, but each one she managed to dislodge was quickly replaced by another.

 

“Get up!” he told her as he struggled amid the swarming mass of tiny bodies to get his feet under him while at the same time still swinging the prod to keep them at bay.  “We’re more vulnerable on the ground!”

 

“I can’t!” she protested, trying to shake them off, but they were clinging with tenacity to her blouse.  “There are too many!”

 

Fear for Ellie’s safety provided Alan with the determination he needed to finally struggle to get his feet, and kicked away several that had latched onto his trousers.  One that had bitten into the pocket of his jeans was lifted clear off the ground, and he seized it by the tail and yanked it off, then tossed it aside.

 

Turning to help Ellie, he used the prod to shock several that were jumping up, trying to get hold of his arms.  They yipped in fright and bolted out of the camp, but their panic was ignored by the others who were caught up in a frenzy.  He did not want to shock the ones that were on Ellie’s back for fear of the current traveling through them to her, so he snatched one of them by the tail and tried to pull it off.  Its clawed feet were tangled in her veil of long blonde hair, and she cried out in pain as her hands went to her head in an attempt to minimize the pulling on her scalp.

 

“Let go, you little son of a bitch!” Alan told it through clenched teeth, then felt a sharp pain in his ankle where another one had bitten through the fabric and into flesh.  “Shit!” he exclaimed, kicking it away with the other foot.  Tucking the prod under his arm, he maintained his hold on the tail of the one tangled in Ellie’s hair and grasped it by the foot with his other hand in an attempt to disentangle it. 

 

It twisted its head around, trying to bite him, but its attention was diverted enough that it finally let go.  Alan flung it away.  It hit the ground on its side, but sprang back up with remarkable agility and was quickly absorbed into the mass of small bodies that continued to attack them.

 

Distracted, one of the other compies relaxed its hold enough for Ellie to brush it off.  Alan beat a third with the prod, and it and the remaining creatures jumped clear of it.  Grasping her by the hand, Alan yanked her roughly to her feet.

 

While he swung the prod again at the nearest compies, Ellie lunged for the woodpile, kicking aside the diminutive creatures in her path.  They leaped and bounded, trying to get on her back to bring her down to the ground again.  When she reached the woodpile, she grasped the biggest one she could find and swung it as a club, grimacing at the sound it made when it connected with their bodies.  They backed away enough that she could throw more sticks and kindling into the pit to bring up the flames again. 

 

Finally, startled by the blazing fire, the swarm of compies slowly backed off.  Undaunted, they did not leave the area, but gathered in a group about fifteen yards away and stood watching them, their sides moving rapidly in and out with their accelerated breathing.

 

Grateful for the respite, Alan helped her feed the fire, stoking it into a roaring blaze.  Then they paused to rest, gasping for breath. 

 

“How did they get past the sensors?” Ellie panted.

 

“The laser is high enough that they simply walked under it!” he replied.  “We should have considered their size when we placed the sensors on the rods.”

 

Ellie felt her heart constrict with the realization that they had been careless in their assumption that the sensors would alert them to all the dinosaurs.

 

The compies were still there, their tiny eyes glittering eerily in the light from the fires.  They maintained a respectful distance from the flames, something they had probably never seen before, and it occurred to Alan that they were trying to determine how dangerous it was.  Occasionally, one or two of them would move close enough to feel the heat on their skin, then retreat again.

 

“They don’t look like they’re going away anytime soon,” Ellie observed.  “I guess you were right when you drove them away from the sloth.”

 

“What did I say?” he asked.

 

“That they’d go after something else.  I just didn’t think it would be us!”

 

He gave a shrug.  “Yeah, I didn’t consider that either, but I should have.  I’ve seen them bring down prey before, watched the way they work together as a pack.  They did exactly what they’re doing to us; mobbing and jumping up on the victim until it’s brought to the ground where they can finish it off.”

 

Ellie felt another chill shudder through her body at the thought that the compies viewed them as they would any other prey, and her hand tightened on the club.

 

After several minutes, the compies spread out, forming a complete offensive circle around them, watching and waiting, and Alan‘s scientific mind wondered what type of communication they used to signal this maneuver.  There was nothing obvious, no vocalizations he could discern, but he had witnessed it before.

 

“Like a pack of wolves, surrounding their intended victim,” he mused.

 

They were hauntingly quiet, totally focused on their prey.  Alan knew it was only a matter of time before the lure of a fresh kill won out over their fear of fire.

 

“This is just about as bad as the two Dilophosauruses last night,” Ellie said quietly.

 

“It’s worse,” Alan replied, watching them warily, concerned that they were working up the courage to mount another attack.  “In the worse case scenario, two shots from the pistol would have solved the problem last night.  There aren’t enough bullets in the pistol to do the same to the compies.”  He paused briefly, then added, “A double barrel shotgun loaded with buckshot would help.”

 

“At least they seem to have a healthy respect for the fire,” Ellie said.

 

“For the moment.”  He glanced over his shoulder at the small shadowy figures that still stood at the edge of the fire light’s reach behind them, uneasy that they were so vulnerable.  “I sure wish we had something solid at our backs.”

 

“That makes two of us,” Ellie agreed.  She wondered how long they could stay like that.  Eventually, the fires would die down and they would run out of fuel.  “Maybe we should take a proactive approach to this,” she said.

 

“What do you have in mind?”

 

“What if we both charged at them, like you did yesterday when you scared them away from the sloth.”

 

“They didn’t go very far,” he reminded her.

 

“I know, but with both of us rushing at them, maybe we would seem like we’re a larger attacking predator or something.  And it‘s better than just sitting here waiting for them to do something.”

 

He shrugged.  It couldn‘t do any harm, and if nothing else it might give them something to think about, making them more cautious about attacking.  “At this point, it’s worth a try.”

 

As one, they both rushed at the compies, brandishing their clubs and yelling as frighteningly as they could.

 

The compies scurried a little farther away before, grouping together for protection, but did not retreat from the campsite.  Instead, they shifted restlessly, chirping and squawking among themselves.  They were nervous and agitated, but apparently not frightened enough to give up.

 

Alan quickly realized the problem with false attacks.  “They’re learning that we’re not going to follow through with any real threat,” he said as they backed into the light of the campfire.  “Chasing them down the mountainside, making as much noise as we could, probably would have helped, but I don’t want to risk breaking something in the dark.  That would finish us off for sure.”

 

Ellie knew that sick or injured animals were almost always finished off in the wild by predators.  It was nature’s way.  “So what do we do now?”

 

Before Alan could respond, the attack came from behind, by the ones they had turned their backs on while charging those in front.  The swarm of compies rushed into the camp, taking them both completely by surprise.

 

Alan whirled around and swung the club hard at the nearest of the attackers, knocking them aside and sending three of them sprawling into the campfire.  All three shrieked in pain and fear as they scrambled out of the fire, tumbling over one another in their haste.  They fled, still shrieking, into the darkness.

 

Their obvious panic and the scent of their burned skin seemed to have a greater effect on the remaining compies than any defensive tactic Alan and Ellie had used.  A small group broke off from the main body and followed the injured ones.  The remaining compies became very agitated and backed off with uncertainty, still reluctant to give up.

 

Inspired by their reaction, Alan seized a long thin branch from the woodpile, one that had been too flexible to use as a club.  It still had dry leaves and twigs attached, and he held it into the fire until it was ignited.  Then he thrust it aggressively toward the nearest compies.  Shrieking in alarm, the diminutive creatures leaped backward as the heat from the flames warmed their leathery skin.  Alan advanced toward them, waving the flaming stick back and forth in front of them.

 

Following his lead, Ellie took one of the burning sticks of firewood from the fire pit and moved toward the group on the other side of them.  They, too, jumped back from the flames, some of them scattering, other’s merely falling back until finally, in a panic, the main body of compies decided they’d had enough, and retreated.  Only a few lingered briefly, as if reluctant to give up their meal.  They glanced over their shoulders at their fleeing comrades, and finally gave up, following the rest of their pack into the darkness.  To keep them going, Alan continued his attack, chasing them well away from the camp before stopping.

 

Ellie tossed her burning stick back into the fire pit and reached into her backpack for the flashlight.  Aiming it into the darkness, the long beam of light found the compies scurrying back up the slope, apparently returning to their own territory to continue their search for food elsewhere.  Weak with relief, she sank down on the ground with a long sigh.  It was over.

 

 

-()-

 

Too tense and edgy to sleep, Alan and Ellie sat down near the campfire where they would remain for the remainder of the night.   Alan had offered to stand guard the rest of the night while Ellie slept, but like him she was too on-edge to relax, so they sat and pondered this new obstacle that faced them.

 

Both of them had sustained minor injuries, and by the light of the campfires in the hours before dawn, they carefully cleaned and disinfected the bites and scratches with water and the tube of antiseptic cream that Ellie had had the foresight to include in Miguel’s last supply drop.  They assisted each other with the ones they could not reach.  One of the hip pockets on Alan’s jeans was torn by the compy that had been clinging to it when he stood up, but considering the number of attacking compies, they had survived in relatively good condition.

 

The attack had left both of them subdued and thoughtful, but Ellie was the most depressed and discouraged about their prospects of making it safely back to the compound.  Quietly reserved, she picked up a small stick and traced meaningless squiggles in the dirt, her mind drifting to the satellite phone in Alan‘s backpack, their one link to civilization.  One phone call and transportation would be sent to pick them up and carry them back to civilization.  But was that what she really wanted?  Alan, she suspected, would willingly make the call, but she also knew that he would stay behind on his own, refusing to leave until his job was done.  And she knew she would not go without him.

 

The first few days out had been interesting.  It was wonderful spending this time with Alan, just the two of them, sharing the research as they had done before her marriage.  She had known when she made the decision to come to the island that there would be dangers, but Hammond’s sensor device has supposed to have alerted them to anything approaching the camp.  He had given them confidence, perhaps even making them overconfident.  That was how it had been at Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar.  The electric fencing had been designed to keep the animals contained, and it had worked as planned until the power was off, when it had failed with tragic results.  And tonight, the sensors had failed and could have resulted in equally tragic results.

 

Looking up from her impromptu artwork, she observed Alan, who was also deep in thought, a slight crease in his brow as he pondered their latest problem.  He remained quiet, keeping his thoughts to himself, and when it became apparent that he was not going to say anything, she decided to open the discussion to see what he wanted to do.

 

Breaking the silence, she said, “I was so happy to finally have something to warn us about the approach of possible predators that I never even gave a thought to the possibility that compies could get under the lasers without setting them off.  How are we going to handle that?”

 

Alan shook his head and lifted his shoulders in a shrug, as tired and bewildered as she was.  “I have no idea.  I never gave them a thought either, but I should have.  I know how dangerous they are in a pack, but like you, I was thinking only about the larger animals, a serious mistake on my part.”

 

“Obviously Hammond’s people forgot about them too.”

 

“Yes.”  He fell silent for a moment, remembering the early days of his time on the island, when he had sat on the rooftop patio completely alone, gazing wistfully at the mountains, wondering what new species might be there waiting for him to find.  It had seemed impossible then.  “Ever since I’ve been on this island, I’ve been drawn to these mountains, wondering if there were new discoveries to be made.  Back at the compound, when we made the decision to come to the mountains, we had had talked about taking turns standing guard.  I was so enthusiastic to finally get here that it seemed a perfect solution.”  He sighed, heavily.  “But now, I honestly don’t think that will work if we want to stay alert.  We’ve just passed two nights on half-rations of sleep, and I don’t know about you, but I’m wore out.  And that worries me.“

 

“And when we’re tired, we risk the possibility of falling asleep while on guard duty,“ she agreed.

 

“Right.  If we set the lasers lower on the rods we risk the possibility of a larger animal simply stepping over them without setting them off.”  He paused again and scratched his bristly cheek, thinking.  “On the other hand, I’ve noticed that none of the species are what you could consider high steppers.  They don’t drag their feet, but they don’t step much above the ground when they’re walking.  We would almost certainly feel the impact tremors of the very large dinosaurs before they got very close to us.  They‘re the only ones who would step high enough to step over the beam without breaking it, so it would be smaller predators that we need to worry about.”

 

“The raptors, Dilophosaurus,” Ellie said.

 

“We’ve been setting the lasers at the top of the rods, some two feet off the ground.  Let’s move them down to 10 or 12 inches.  That should be low enough to alert us to the compies, but high enough to sound if one of the other predators approaches.”

 

Ellie looked at him for a moment, but did not reveal the mild sinking feeling in her heart in her expression.  Alan obviously was not ready to abandon the research, and inside she had had known that would be the case.  She quickly set aside those feelings.  She had come here for the purpose of helping him with his research, and she was determined to see it through to the end.

 

-()-

 

It was growing noticeably lighter as the sun’s rays peeked over the summit of the eastern mountain range.  The light spread out across the meadow below, illuminating the valley with a radiant glow on the glistening dew.  It was calm and peaceful, far removed from the horrors of the night before that had it not been for the minor wounds they had received, it could have all been nothing more than a nightmare.

 

When the sun was finally up, Alan stirred the ashes in the fire pit and covered them with dirt to smother the remaining live embers.  Ellie moved about the campsite, picking up the pieces of litter they had generated and stuffed them into the plastic sack they had brought along for that purpose.

 

“You know, we’re getting quite a few water bottles and wrappers in here,” Ellie said, breaking the silence that had settled over them.  “It isn’t very heavy, but it’s getting kind of bulky to carry with us all the way back to the compound.”

 

Alan looked at the lumpy sack which, in the interest of eating and hydrating themselves, had grown large enough to become cumbersome.  Anything that was bio-degradable was buried, but plastics were a particular problem that could not be left behind to mar the landscape and put the animals at risk.  “Well, we could find a secure spot where the animals can’t get to it, and leave it behind.  The problem is, when Miguel comes to pick us up, he’ll be in a plane, which won’t be able to land in these wilderness areas.  I don’t want to leave any litter behind permanently.”

 

Ellie stuffed the last of the empty water bottles into the bag and set it aside.  “So, if we can‘t work out that little detail, I suppose that means we‘ll have to continue carrying it.”  She was silent for a moment, trying to help work out this new problem.  “I don’t suppose his cousin knows how to fly a helicopter,” she mused trying to remember if she had seen one sitting at the hanger with the plane that day they had brought her to the island.  It was easy to picture one sitting there, but she couldn’t be certain if it was real or imagined.  Realistically, she could remember seeing two small airplanes.

 

“That’s a good idea, but unfortunately they don’t own a helicopter,” Alan replied.  “And even if they did, I don’t think they could afford one with enough range to reach this island and back without refueling.”  He paused a moment as he stood up and lifted his backpack.  “Tell you what; I’ll phone Hammond when we get back to the compound and have him send someone out to pick us up.  I hate to take the business away from Miguel, but to be honest, I don’t think he particularly likes coming to this island anyway.”

 

“I got that impression when he brought me here,” Ellie remembered.  “He mentioned that he has a family to support.  I’ll give him a nice bonus for everything he‘s done for us, picking out such good products for our supply drops.  That should cushion the blow of losing this final run.”

 

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,” Alan agreed.  “That solves our problem, then.  When we find a good place to leave this bag, I’ll make a notation on the map so we can find it later.”  He slipped his arms through the straps on the backpack, then stooped to pick up the sensor case.

 

Ellie did the same, and with all their gear and the lumpy black bag, they started the hike down the mountainside.

 

Following a smooth path that appeared to be natural watershed, the hike down the sloping ground was fairly easy.  It was not a consistent downhill grade, but they had pleasant stretches of level ground and even a few areas where it was necessary to go up small rises in the ground before continuing downward again.  Their path led them through open ground as well as forested areas, offering them much diversity in the island’s mountainous terrain.

 

They reached the valley several hours later, still inside the cover of trees, and in the cool of the shade, Ellie slipped off her backpack and lowered it to the ground at her feet.  Placing her hands on her hips, she leaned backward, stretching a cramp out of her back.

 

Alan lowered his gear to the ground as well and observed her for a few moments.  He knew she was tired, and the weight of the gear they had brought with them was difficult to carry over long distances.  She had never complained, and he knew she wouldn’t, but it was obvious that she could use a few days of rest.

 

“Back problems?” he asked.

 

“Off and on.  I never really had any back pain until I was pregnant with Halley.  My back ached constantly the last two months of the pregnancy.  Now it sometimes aches when I’m carrying a load over uneven ground.  Downhill is the worst.”

 

He stretched his own back, feeling the tightness in his lower back.  “Yeah, I know.  We’ll be on level or near level ground for a while.”

 

Stooping, he withdrew the map and opened it to study their location on it.  “We should reach the box canyon tonight, so we’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep, plus we can do some exploring without carrying everything with us.”

 

Ellie felt the weight of her exhaustion begin to lift a bit with the anticipation of finally getting a good night‘s sleep without the fear of being awakened by dangerous animals.  But dampening her optimism was the remembrance of Alan occasionally stating that the map had inaccuracies.  “It’s been wrong before,” she pointed out.  “What if it’s wrong about the canyon?”

 

He gave a shrug.  “Well, it‘s true that it‘s been wrong before, but the details of this canyon on the map are so precise, so perfectly detailed, that it makes me think they had something specific in mind for it in regard to their plans to move the park here.  It should be a perfect natural enclosure.”  He placed his forefinger under her chin and lifted it.  “Chin up and a positive attitude, my dear.  I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.”

 

She could not help but smile at this tiny gesture of affection and the light-hearted way he spoke. 

 

He returned his attention to the map, plotting the best route, and while he did that, she studied his features for several moments.  In spite of his constant alertness of his surroundings, he appeared so relaxed, so handsome, that had she not already been in love with him, she would have fallen head over heels right then and there.  Shaggy hair and scruffy, grizzled beard did not alter her attraction to him, and she wondered, not for the first time, how she could have left him.

 

She gave a quiet sigh; she had left him because he had been unable to commit, and because his obsession with his work had widened the gulf between them.  She was uncertain what the future held for them as a couple, but he had at least confessed his feelings for her, and that changed everything.

 

Unaware of her thoughts, he folded the map and returned it to the backpack.  “In the meantime, however, we still have a good day’s walk ahead of us, so we’d best get a move-on.”

 

She would have enjoyed resting a little longer, but of course she did not say so.  Without comment, she climbed to her feet again and hefted the backpack.

 

They began walking again, and with renewed optimism at the prospect of a few good night’s sleep and safe days to work and relax, Ellie was better able to appreciate the wilderness beauty of the lush valley.  As always, there were butterflies, tree frogs, and a myriad of birds in the tree tops, but there were no land mammals, a glaring reminder of the island’s dangerous inhabitants.

 

Soon, they were out from beneath the canopy again, walking in a green meadow that was dotted here and there by small groves of trees.  It was narrow at this point, covering less than a mile across before sloping upward into the next mountain range, but the length of it seemed to go on forever in both directions.  She was not looking forward to trying to climb the slopes and go over the peaks.

 

Alan seemed to know what she was thinking, for he said, “I don’t think we’ll need to climb all the way over that next mountain range.  We already know that the dinosaurs are not in the higher elevations, so we’ll stick to the foothills and see if anything of interest turns up there.”

 

“What about the native species that may have retreated up there?”

 

“That is a consideration, but I’m afraid the tree mammals are the only ones who have survived, and I honestly don’t expect to make any additional discoveries along those lines.  Sloth and monkeys; tree climbing mammals.  That’s about all we’ll see.  I’m not even sure there was much more on this island to begin with.  Land mammals, like deer, would be sitting ducks for the kinds of predators here.  Even if they were here before, they’re long gone by now.  If the larger predators couldn’t get to the higher elevations, the compies could.  And we know they can be just as dangerous as the larger ones.  We’ll follow the foothills where we stand a better chance of seeing what dinosaur species might have settled here.”

 

The path Alan chose led them to the right, following the natural curves and twists of the ranges.  Here in the valley, nestled between the mountains, they knew they should see some of the larger inhabitants of the island.  Ellie knew there would probably be more dangerous encounters, but she tried not to think about that. Instead, she looked forward to the next few days, when they would be living in relative safety in the canyon Alan had told her about.

 

 

 

 

 

FORTY

 

 

“This is the last of the peanut butter,” Ellie said as she spread the peanut butter onto bread that was starting to feel a little soggy from the high humidity that had plagued them throughout the journey.  “And there’s only a slice or two of bread left as well,” she added, examining the slices carefully that she had removed from the bag.  “I’ve been closing the bag tightly, but I’m still a little surprised there isn’t any mold on it yet with all this humidity.  We’ve been lucky, I guess.”

They had stopped for lunch in the shelter of a narrow pass with high bluffs on either side, and because they were protected on two sides by the high rocky walls, they only had two open sides to remain alert to. There had been nothing of interest behind them, so the only area of mystery was what lay ahead.  Their noon campsite was well shaded by the densely growing trees and underbrush, but even the deep shade offered little in the way of relief from the oppressive heat.

She placed the top slice of lightly moist bread on the sandwich and passed it to Alan, then scooped out the remnants for herself. “I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be craving bologna! I used to love peanut butter,” she lamented the fact that during the course of this trip she had grown very tired of it. “Whenever I made one for Charlie, I’d make one for myself too, and we’d eat them together.” She dropped the empty jar in the rubbish sack and settled down to eat.

Alan smiled as he lifted the lid on his own sandwich to view the peanut butter that was spread on the bottom slice.  He did not say so, but he had eaten more than his fair share of the gooey food after Ellie had left Montana following their split.  “Well, you won’t have to eat any more of it until we leave the canyon, since we’ll be safe enough there to cook our food over a fire.”

“You have no idea how good that sounds!”

Alan replaced the top on his sandwich again. “Oh, yes I do,” he contradicted, indicating the sandwich as evidence. “Too bad there are no mammals left on this island. We might have been able to snare a rabbit or something. It’s been a while since we’ve had anything that wasn’t packaged.”

She eyed him skeptically with a teasing smile. “Do you really think you’re able to kill and skin a rabbit?”

“Probably not,” he admitted, then cocked his ear toward the faint rustling sound in the brush outside their noon-time camping area, but he made no other acknowledgement of it and continued to eat as if undisturbed by it.  But while he ate, his eyes scanned the area as casually as possible, his mind analyzing the sounds.  It was in front of them, the area they had yet to investigate, and was perhaps twenty feet back in the brush.  The sounds reminded him of a squirrel or some other small animal rummaging among the leaves for nuts and berries, but it seemed larger, more typical of a compy, yet he had never really heard a compy in the brush.  They moved lightly and almost silently.  Whatever this was, he felt reasonably confident that it was young, for it had not yet learned to move quietly through the undergrowth.

Ellie heard the sounds as well and turned a nervous eye toward it briefly, then forwarded her attention to Alan, watching him carefully for his reaction. She knew from the slight turn of his head and the shift of his eyes that he had heard it, but did not acknowledge it.  He was alert, but that was not unusual, since he was always alert in the jungle.

 

Not again! she thought to herself. “How far did you say it was to that canyon?” she asked.

“Not much farther. We’ll be there by evening.”  His eyes lingered on a particular clump of tall ferns that seemed to flutter slightly, as if something had passed beneath the bushy fronds.

They fell silent again, listening. The sounds had stopped, but Ellie knew that did not mean it had moved on. It could be out there at that very moment, watching them.  She felt her pulse and respiration increase.

Alan was not alarmed. There were always sounds all around them, and most of the time the sounds of the jungle were totally innocuous; birds of one kind or another foraging for food, or perhaps merely a gentle breeze causing the fronds to sway against one another. But sounds of any kind attracted his attention, and while he ate his lunch he continued to listen carefully in an attempt to identify the source so that it could be either investigated further or disregarded.

Still holding her uneaten sandwich, Ellie looked over her shoulder, first one direction and then the other, but she saw only the sturdy tree trunks and the drooping undergrowth.  Unlike Alan, she was very alarmed.

 

Aware of the sudden tension in Ellie’s demeanor, Alan mopped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, noticing as he did that there was no breeze to cool the moisture on his brow, confirming that whatever was out there was a living thing.  All around them, the flora hung still and limp in the moist air, and even the orchids and ferns seemed slightly wilted in the sultry atmosphere, reminding him that there had not been rain for several days.  Perspiration dampened his shirt and trickled down his skin, and it dripped from the ends of his lank hair, tickling his face and scalp in an irritating manner.

“We’re almost to the drop-off point,” Alan said, and Ellie knew he was making idle conversation in an attempt to calm her. “Remember, I stashed some supplies before the helicopter let us off in the mountains.”

“Okay,” she replied in a distracted fashion.

The rustling sounds began again as something moved through the underbrush, this time a little closer, and Alan felt his skin prickle in reaction to it. There was definitely something out there and his mind went immediately to the Dilophosaurus that had followed them to their camp only a few nights ago, and the fact that they had been passing through a similar stretch of dense foliage at the time.  His eyes darted toward the sounds again, searching for the creature that he was certain was foraging in the undergrowth.  Whatever this animal was, it had not made those distinctive birdlike calls they had heard before.  This encouraged the belief that it was a different species.

Facing him, Ellie watched him carefully, trying to pick up signals from his posture and demeanor, indicating that she had heard the sounds as well and was once again looking to him to determine whether or not it was dangerous. Her face was tense and anxious, and she did not need to speak the words to convey her thoughts; her expression said it all.

“I hear it,” he said quietly in response to the silent question in her wide blue eyes.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He shook his head, indicating that he did not know.  “Whatever it is, it seems fairly small.  It’s managing to stay under the brush.”

“Compies?” Ellie asked, suppressing a shudder of revulsion at the thought that the lethal little creatures might still be following them.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s small, but compies travel in packs, and this sounds like just one.  I think it’s young, either an infant or a juvenile that still hasn‘t learned that silence is a necessity to surviving out here.”

There was small comfort in Alan’s words, considering the fact that any of these animals with claws and fangs could be lethal regardless of whether they were one or twenty. “Any thoughts on what it might be?”

“Well, I must admit my first thought was that it might be a young Dilophosaurus, because that’s what followed us before, but I haven’t heard any of those strange calls they were making. I think this is something else, but I have no idea what it could be. There are many small dinosaurs, Ellie,” he added in an attempt to ease her concern. “Herbivores as well as carnivores.”

That was true. Just because something was out there didn’t mean it was carnivorous. She took another bite of the sandwich that she no longer wanted and barely tasted it as she chewed and swallowed. Of course, just because there were herbivores out there didn’t mean that this one was one of them. There was a 50/50 chance that this one was stalking them as its next meal.

Alan continued to eat his sandwich, but for all his casual appearance, Ellie knew his attention was totally focused on the jungle that surrounded them. Finally, after several more minutes had passed, he popped the last bite into his mouth and stood up, then to her surprise, he picked up the shock prod and waded thigh-deep into the cluster of huge ferns in the direction from which the sounds had been coming.

He must have almost stepped on the creature, for it uttered a shriek of fright, a totally different vocalization than anything they had yet heard on the island, and fled through the densest part of the undergrowth. Alan heard the rapid pattering of its footsteps on the ground beneath the large ferns and saw the swaying of the fronds as the animal streaked through it. Just before it vanished completely, he thought he caught a glimpse of a tawny colored tail with unexpected markings.

His first impulse, after recovering from the initial shock of the animal’s flight, was to go after it, but in the dense undergrowth he knew it would be impossible to determine what its ultimate direction would be, since it was unlikely that it would run in a straight line. It might even lead him into the midst of a larger pack.

He waited in silence a few more minutes, listening and watching the fronds, which had become still again. Whatever it was, it was gone now. He drew a deep breath and released it in a disappointed sigh as his eyes scanned the jungle, wishing he had gotten a better look at it to confirm or deny what he thought he had seen.

The brief glimpse of the tawny tail flashed over and over in his mind, but he could only speculate on the odd color pattern he thought he had seen, a pattern which could have merely been color variations on the skin or even caused by light patterns filtering through the canopy, but which to him had looked curiously like the diagonal stripes of varying shades in the chevron pattern sometimes seen in the configuration of bird feathers.

Something touched his shoulder, and he was so deep in thought that the unexpectedness of it caused him to jump. It was Ellie, who jerked her hand back when she felt him flinch. “Sorry,” she apologized. “Did you see anything?”

“Just barely caught a glimpse of its tail,” he replied.  “I couldn’t see enough of it to determine what it was.”  His forehead was deeply furrowed in thought.

“You seem troubled,” she observed. “Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just . . . I’m not sure. I think it was a biped, but the tail had a strange pattern on it.”

“What kind of pattern?”

“Well, it kind of reminded me of . . . “ He hesitated. It seemed like something out of a dream, something too fanatical to even repeat. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but it kind of looked like feathers.”

Her eyebrows lifted with the same expression he had seen when he had first signed on to the notion that dinosaurs were more closely related to birds than reptiles. “Well, there are all kinds of birds out here,” she reminded him. “Could it have maybe been some kind of large bird foraging on the ground?  Many species of birds leave the trees to search for fruit, nuts, and berries on the ground.”

He was silent for a few moments considering the likelihood of her suggestion.  She was right; there were a lot of birds on the island, perhaps species in the higher elevations that he had not seen on the plains and in the valleys near the compound.  “Maybe,” he admitted in a non-committed fashion.

“But you don’t think so,” she concluded.

“I‘m not sure.”

“So what are you saying? That there may be a dinosaur out there with feathers on it?”

Hearing her say it sounded even worse than it had in his own mind and he felt his face grow warmer with embarrassment. “See? It sounds crazy.” Already, he was starting to doubt what he had seen. “It was probably just the pattern of colors on the skin that made it look like that, but . . . “ He shook his head, slowly. “I only caught a glimpse of it.”

They both stood there for several more moments, gazing in the direction that the animal had taken.

Alan sighed again in frustration. “Damn, I wish I’d gotten a better look at it,“ he said, then changed the subject.  “Well, we’d better get going if we’re going to get to the canyon before dark.”

He returned to the noon camp and began gathering up their belongings. Ellie lingered for a moment, watching him. She had known him for a long time, and was well aware of his level head.  There were other paleontologists who shared his theory that certain dinosaurs might have evolved along a genetic line that eventually became the birds of today, but up until then, no concrete evidence had been found to support the theory.  There were only the similarities in their bone structures including possible quill nobs on some species, and even the shape of their footprints. Had Alan been right all along? If his theories proved correct, it would revolutionize the entire world of paleontology.

-()-

Several hours later, the trees and undergrowth began to thin, revealing patches of blue sky above the towering canopy, but even with the more open spaces the air remained sultry and still, with no breeze at all.

Alan glanced up, noting the position of the sun, and then lifted his wrist to check his watch. The timepiece continued to tick, the hands moving resolutely around the face as if oblivious to the high moisture. It was a little after 3:00 in the afternoon.

They had spoken little more about the small creature they had heard in the ferns during lunch, and Ellie knew Alan, who was usually very confident and assertive about the things he saw and heard, was uncharacteristically indecisive about what he had glimpsed. It was probably, he had concluded, that it was just the skin pattern or lighting anomalies. It might even have been, as Ellie had suggested, a bird.

Ellie did not press him, but knew that it was still on his mind. He would speak of it further when he had worked it out in his mind. So she concentrated on the area around them and the heat. Usually, the temperatures on the island were not unbearably hot, but just before a storm it seemed that the heat changed, becoming more oppressive.

Ellie withdrew her water bottle from her backpack, but was reluctant to open it. “This is the last one,” she announced with worry.

“Go ahead and drink as much as you want. We’re almost to the supply drop,” he told her. “Since we’re so close to the canyon and I knew we’d be spending a few days there, I included some extra water and food in this drop, so we wouldn’t have to ration too harshly. That was before I knew Hammond would be providing us with some extras.”

Gratefully, she took a long drink, then passed it to him so that he could do the same.

While he drank, she said, “I‘m not complaining, but wouldn‘t it have been simpler to just drop the supplies inside the canyon?  That way they would be waiting for us when we got there.”

 

He lowered the water to reply.  “It would have been a lot simpler,” he agreed, “but at the time, I wasn’t‘ sure how difficult it might be to get into the canyon.  I would have hated to drop off needed supplies and then not be able to get to them.”

 

Ellie looked stricken.  “You mean after building my hopes up like this, we might not even be able to get to it?”

 

He took several more swallows of water, then said, “I know now that we can get to it, but I wasn’t sure then because I hadn’t had time to study the map at length.  We were a bit busy with the pteranodon tagging and the spinosaurus.  That’s why I waited so long to tell you about it.  I wanted to be absolutely sure it was accessible first.”

 

“But it is accessible?” she asked, seeking reassurance.

 

“Yes.”

 

She exhaled with relief, then brushed the sweat from her forehead.  “Is it going to rain?”

“Feels like it,” Alan replied, recapping the bottle. “Hopefully it’ll cool things down a little bit. We should see it before nightfall, but with any luck we’ll be safely tucked into the canyon by then.”

She nodded, satisfied that she was learning the weather patterns on the island. “So there’s shelter there?”

“I hope so. Should be, I think.”

“The map doesn’t say?”

“Well, as we know, the map is rich in detail close to the compound, but it gets a little sketchy in areas like this. We’ll find shelter of some kind, if we have to make it ourselves.”

She lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “You know how to make a weatherproof shelter using only what nature provides?”

“Hey, I was a boy scout.”

“Yeah, but how long ago was that?” she teased, nudging him with her elbow.

“All right, all right. You’re being a wise guy,” he accused jokingly.

He stopped briefly and withdrew the map again to study the notations he had made on it. Reading a topographical map was not the same as reading a road map. There were no street signs and mileage indicators to help determine direction and progress. Often the landmarks were vague, and he had to rely on his own experience in the wilderness to chart their advancement.

He looked up, his eyes carefully scanning the rocky ridge just ahead of them, and finally spotted the bit of black plastic peeking out between two rocks well above the ground. With renewed confidence, he strode directly to the bluff and thrust his hand upward to one of the outcroppings.  He felt around for a moment on the rocky ledge until his groping fingers found the piece of soft, flexible plastic, and he pulled it toward him.

 

Unexpectedly, the plastic bag came away in his hands with almost no resistance at all, while the contents it had held clattered onto the ground at his feet.

 

Ellie knew instantly that it was one of the plastic bags in which they had concealed food and water, and she could not help but laugh at the surprised expression on Alan’s face as he stood there with the shredded bag in his hand.  “Did you snag it on something?” she asked.

 

“No, he replied, examining the plastic.  “Something tore it open.”

 

They knelt down facing each other to examine the pile of supplies between them.  The canned goods were basically untouched except for some partially shredded labels, but the box of crackers had been chewed open.  Alan pulled out one of the tubes, and soggy crackers spilled out from the gaping hole, along with plenty of tell-tale droppings to identify the culprit.

 

“Mice!” he said with an expression of disgust.  He dropped the tube of crackers onto the ground.

 

Ellie held up a mangled plastic jar of peanut butter.  “They got into this too.  Chewed right through the plastic.  Too bad they don’t use glass jars any more.  That would have kept them out.”  She examined the tiny tooth marks.  “The plastic is great around kids; I didn’t have to worry about Charlie dropping it or hurting himself, but it never occurred to me that rodents could chew right through it.”

 

“Damn it.“  Alan muttered.  “Okay, let’s separate what’s salvageable from what isn’t,” he suggested.

 

Sorting the good from the bad was easy, since the only items that were unopened were sealed inside cans, while everything in cardboard, paper, or plastic had been chewed open and were tainted with droppings, not to mention plenty of ants scavenging on the leftovers.

 

Working together, they placed the cans of pork ‘n beans, soup, ravioli, spam, and other solidly packaged goods into one pile, and the crackers, jars of peanut butter, even a package of Oreo cookies in another pile. Most of the water bottles, still encased in shrink wrap inside their original case, had survived, but a couple of them had been chewed open too, until the rodents had realized they were water instead of food.

Ellie’s eyes lingered wistfully on the package of cookies. She had packed it herself as a special treat to be enjoyed during the long trip.  There was another package of chocolate chip cookies in the next drop, but it remained to be seen if they survived the island’s tiniest scavengers.

“This is a lot of trash to carry with us,” Ellie mused, looking at the pile of rubbish. The trash sack had been growing steadily bigger and more bulky with refuse they had been accumulating during their journey.

“I think our best option is to leave it here,” Alan said. “Empty out the remaining cookies and crackers for the mice, but we’ll put everything else in the sack, and I’ll find a place to stash it. This site is already marked on the map, so it’ll be easy to find again when we leave the island. We’ll pick it up then.”

The canned goods and water bottles were stored in their backpacks with the remaining supplies they had brought with them, but the tainted packages were dropped into the rubbish sack.

“Damn it,” Alan muttered again, his eyes sweeping over the food that had been intended to sustain them until they reached the next supply drop. “I should have considered that this might happen. I knew that some of the mice had managed to survive, and these rocky areas are the perfect places for them to avoid the compies. This means we’ll have to ration what we have left.”

“Well, we still have Hammond’s surprise rations,” Ellie reminded him. “If that canyon is really safe, then we should be able to cook without having to worry about unwelcome guests showing up for dinner.”

Alan glanced at her quickly. Neither of them commented that if something showed up for dinner, they themselves would have been on the menu. “Yeah, that’s true,” he agreed. “I’m going to have to map out our routes very carefully for maximum protection, though, because without the peanut butter sandwiches, it means we’ll have to cook our food, which may attract some of the predators.”

“Except for the beans,” Ellie said, holding up a can of pork ‘n beans that she was about to push into her pack. “These can be eaten cold. We’ll save these for nights when we’re out in the open and don’t want to risk cooking.”

“Sounds good,” Alan said, approvingly. “Now, let’s see if we can find a place to stash this rubbish sack.”

Standing up again, they looked up into the trees, searching for a suitable location to hang the trash sack, one that could be achieved without too much effort. Alan finally settled on a large craggy tree with plenty of low branches, making it easier for him to climb. When he was on the lowest branch, Ellie passed up the sack, and he climbed a few limbs higher and tied the sack with a short length of sturdy nylon rope.

Then he carefully climbed back down to the ground. They picked up their gear once again, and resumed their walk toward the canyon.

As they walked away, neither of them noticed the pair of curious eyes that watched them from the shadows, but after they had vanished into the forest, the creature stepped out of the shadows and moved cautiously toward the crackers and cookies that had been left on the ground. At her feet scampered a smaller version of itself, her only surviving young. The infant, only slightly more than a foot tall, ruffled the tawny feathers that enabled it to blend against the forest floor, and followed her as she approached the discarded items to scavenge for food.

 

 

-()-

 

Ellie wanted to ask how much farther, but it seemed too childish at her age, and brought with it memories of a car trip to visit Mark‘s parents the previous autumn at their winter home in South Carolina.  She could still hear Charlie‘s sweet voice asking, “How much longer, Mommy?”

 

A feeling of melancholy settled over her, due in part to the weariness wrought from too many nights with too little sleep, and she could not suppress the yawn followed by a deeply wistful sigh.  The extra canned goods and bottles of drinking water were heavy to carry, and both of them were sagging a bit under the weight.

“We’re almost there,” Alan said, answering the unspoken question.

He was walking with the map open in his hand now, carefully observing the bluff they had been following ever since retrieving the supplies from it ten minutes earlier.

“I thought I had placed the supplies closer to it than this,” he said, more to himself than to her.  His eyes scanned the rocky bluff, puzzled by the absence of the expected landmark.

“Could we have passed it?” Ellie asked, concerned.

“I don’t think so,” he replied, but the uncertainty in his voice suggested otherwise, and a moment later he admitted, “I’m not sure.”

“What, specifically, are we looking for?” She had already deduced that they were looking for the canyon, but had no idea what kind of landmark might signal that they were near.

“The entrance to the canyon, but I’m not sure how big the opening will be. “ He frowned at the map. “This is pretty vague.”

“So it’ll be a cave or a gap in the bluff?”

“Yeah, probably. Trouble is, I have no idea how big the opening will be.”

They walked for several more minutes, but Alan was clearly dissatisfied with their progress.

“I think we’ve gone too far.”

Abruptly, he turned around and started back the way they had come. With a sigh that they had to retrace their steps, Ellie followed. They had only walked a few minutes longer, however, when they saw it; a narrow black opening set into a recess that had been previously concealed from view by an outcropping of rocks. It was visible only from their current angle.

“That must be it,” Alan said.

 

Ellie gazed at that narrow black opening with a strong feeling of unease, remembering another time when she had been inside a dank, dark enclosed area, not on this island, but on the other. “So it IS a cave.”

“More of a tunnel, actually,” he corrected. “The map indicates that it opens on the other side of the bluff.” He observed her expression for a moment, recognizing but not understanding the apprehension she felt. “Are you claustrophobic?” he asked.

“No, it isn’t that. I was just having sort of a flashback to the utility shed on Jurassic Park. One of the raptors was in there. It had killed Mr. Arnold.” She shuddered in spite of the high heat, remembering that Arnold’s dismembered arm had fallen on her shoulder. She did not know if the raptor had eaten him, or if it had merely killed and mutilated him before she had attracted its attention. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so frightened in my life. I barely remember getting away from it.”

He lowered his gear to the ground and helped her out of her backpack, then free of the burden of their belongings, he drew her into his arms for a comforting embrace. She welcomed it, her arms wrapping around his waist.

“That isn’t going to happen this time,” he assured her.

“How can you know that?” she asked, drawing back to look into his face. “Something might be using this as a den. There could be a nest of them in there waiting to ambush us!”

Alan had to admit that similar thoughts had crossed his mind. The sheltered area would be a perfect location for a female of any small species to raise her young. “I’m going to check it out before we enter it.”

She looked even more distressed than ever at the horrifying image of a raptor or Dilophosaurus grabbing Alan as he leaned into the tunnel to investigate its safety.

“I’ll be careful,” he promised, correctly interpreting the sudden fear in her eyes. “If there is anything in there, the flashlight should temporarily blind it. And I’ll have the shock prod in the other hand that will give it something to think about.”

She nodded silently, unsatisfied but understanding that it was necessary. They needed the tunnel to reach the canyon.

He kissed the end of her nose, then knelt down and opened the backpack. It took him several moments to locate the flashlight, which had settled to the bottom beneath the extra canned food he had placed there. When his fingers finally found it, he withdrew it and stood up. He flipped it on to check the illumination, then unfastened the prod from his belt.

As she watched him prepare to investigate the tunnel, Ellie knew he was not as concerned as she was about the prospect of a dangerous animal nesting inside their access tunnel. To the contrary, she found herself wondering if he was actually a bit hopeful.

So far, the much anticipated journey to the mountains had proven quite dismal in the way of studying the animals on the island. With the exception of the Dilophosaurus juveniles and the pack of compies, they had seen no indication that other species of dinosaurs had migrated to the higher elevations. She did not include the unidentified creature that Alan had seen earlier. In all likelihood, it was nothing more than a bird foraging in the underbrush. An injured wing would explain its lack of flight.

With the prod in his right hand and the flashlight in his left, Alan stepped into the recess, bent at the waist and leaned through the narrow opening.

The thin but powerful beam of light cut through the darkness inside the long tunnel, revealing no living thing, but displaying walls and a ceiling that were dry, indicating that there was no seepage to weaken the structure. He lowered the beam to the floor, looking for tracks, bones, or scat, all signs that the tunnel had been used as shelter for wildlife, and found the floor was a very narrow juncture at the bottom of the two walls; so narrow, in fact, that it was unsuitable as a den for anything but mice or rats. In addition, there were many tripping hazards in the form of rocks littering the narrow aisle and rocky protrusions at the base of the walls. About 15 feet inside, the walls made a right hand curve, making it impossible to see beyond that point.

Satisfied that the tunnel was empty, Alan withdrew again and flipped off the flashlight.  Facing Ellie again, he said, “The floor is so narrow that it almost forms a ‘V’.  It’s totally unsuitable as a den because nothing larger than a rat would be able to walk comfortably.

 

Ellie felt her heart sink with disappointment, assuming it could not be safely walked upon.  “So we can’t . . . “

 

“It won’t be as easy as I had hoped,” Alan admitted, “but I think we can do it without too much trouble if we place one foot in front of the other as we walk.”

 

Skeptically, Ellie leaned forward to peer inside, even though she could see nothing at all through the intense blackness. 

 

“Is this a natural tunnel?” she asked.

 

“Probably.”  He ran his hand along the rough surface of the ancient rocks, detecting no evidence of recent scarring.  “It doesn’t look like it was carved out by digging or blasting, and if InGen had created the tunnel, I think they would have made it easier to access.  Most likely, it was formed by running water at some point in its distant history, much like a cave.”

 

“How far does it go?  Are we sure it goes all the way through?”

 

“Well, the map doesn‘t seem to be to scale and it doesn‘t even show the bend, so there‘s no way to be sure of the length, but it does show an opening on the other end.”

 

While a safe canyon was very appealing, the small opening did not inspire confidence and suggested very tight quarters in getting there.  “It looks pretty narrow.  Are you sure we can get through with all the equipment and provisions?”

 

“No, but we won’t know until we try.”

 

“It seems almost too good to be true,” she said.  “After Hammond’s sensors failed to warn us about the compies, I can’t help but think that if I believe in this completely, I’ll be let down again.”

 

He reached out and took her hand.  “You’ve had more than your fair share of disappointments lately, haven’t you?”

 

He wasn’t speaking only of the sensors, and she appreciated the fact that he was paying attention to her moods.  “I’m just feeling a little down today.  Maybe it’s just because I’m so tired.  We haven’t seen any animals since we came down into the valley and we’ve walked a long way in this ravine.  How far do you think we’ll have to travel each day to find them?”

 

“I’m wondering the same thing,” he admitted.  “As far as safety goes, it’s a perfect spot, but it may not be as strategically located as I had hoped.”

 

“Life is just full of disappointments, isn’t it?”

 

He smiled, and she felt her heart melt a little more.  “Isn’t it the truth?” he quipped, then became more serious.  “Well, we’ll have to scout around a bit.  If we come up empty-handed, then we’ll take a few days of R & R and then move on.”

 

“So we’re staying here for a few days, regardless?”

 

“I think we need some down-time, and this is the perfect spot for it.”

 

Relief swelled inside her.  The constant alertness they were required to maintain for their own safety left a certain amount of mental fatigue, and she knew now that Alan was feeling it too.  At the compound, once they returned to the building and locked the doors, they were able to relax completely, something they were unable to achieve out in the open.  The prospect that in the canyon they could find the physical and mental rest they needed to prepare for the journey back toward the compound, through areas they knew harbored many dangerous species, fueled a fresh burst of energy.

“Then let’s get going,” she said, feeling a burst of energy fueled by anticipation.

They spent the next few minutes redistributing the equipment so that it would not be damaged by bumping on the sides of the tunnel. Ellie unzipped her backpack and removed her flashlight from it to help push back the darkness inside the tunnel, then eyed the entrance again.

“The opening is less than four feet high,” she commented as they prepared to enter. “It’s certain that the larger predators can’t get through it, but do think there’s a chance that one of the smaller predators could follow us in there? A pack of compies, for instance, could easily get through.”

When he had first spotted the canyon on the map and began analyzing its perimeters, he had been thinking only of the safety it represented from the larger and medium sized predators.  That had been prior to the brutal reminder the night before of just how dangerous a pack of compies could be.  He was now forced to concede that the tunnel was not quite as impenetrable as he had thought.

 

“It’s possible,“ he admitted.  “I do think it’s unlikely, though.  The tunnel is long and dark, and even though animals can see better than we can, they can’t see in total darkness. I think they’ll be reluctant to enter it for fear of a larger predator waiting to ambush them in the darkness.  Just to be safe, though, I’ll see if I can build some sort of gate or door to prop here at the entrance and maybe another one at the other end as well to give us some additional protection.”

Her expression relaxed, ample reward for the work he would have to do to assure their safety. “Sounds like a good idea,” she said, her voice expressing her relief.

Alan turned on his flashlight again. “Ready?”

Ellie flipped hers on as well. “Ready,” she replied, then added, “After you.”

He grinned at her. “Are you saying that ‘ladies first’ doesn’t apply here?”

“You’re the dinosaur expert,” she replied, teasingly.  “If you’re wrong and there is something in there, you have both the gun and the prod.  In this case, I don’t mind the lady going last.”

Still smiling, the prospect of safety and relaxation lightening their moods, he crouched down and stepped through the opening, the glowing beam of his flashlight guiding the way.

Ellie waited until he was completely through the opening, then drew a deep breath, thinking she must resemble a swimmer preparing for the plunge into unknown waters. Stooping, she followed him into the tunnel, keeping her flashlight aimed at the thin juncture between the jagged, sloping walls, but even bent over as she was, she felt the backpack brush roughly against the low ceiling. She tried to bend her long legs a little more, made difficult by the heavy backpack she carried and the necessity of placing one foot directly in front of the other, heel to toe, as she walked.

 

The floor was not a straight line, adding to the difficulty in navigating. It snaked to and fro, taking an uneven path, widening in some places, and narrowing in others, zigzagging close to the walls and then veering away from it, while rocks and outcroppings were a constant tripping hazard. It was over one of these rocks that Ellie tripped when her flashlight lingered a moment on a particularly interesting rock that protruded from the wall.

With a gasp and a stab of momentary panic, she reached for the walls to steady herself and avoid a sprained ankle on the uneven footing, nearly dropping the flashlight and the small ice chest in the process.

Balanced again, she saw Alan looking over his shoulder at her through the narrow space between his backpack and the wall, alerted to her distress by the clattering of the objects she carried against the rock wall as she struggled to remain upright.  “Okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she responded shortly, embarrassed.

Assured that she was unhurt, Alan resisted the urge to remind her to be careful, and started forward again.  Ellie fell in step behind, moving deeper into the tunnel.

The temperature was a few degrees lower, a welcomed relief from the intense heat they had felt outside in the open. “It’s a little cooler in here,” Ellie said, breaking the intense silence, her voice echoing very slightly against the solid walls. “Too bad the floor is so narrow, or we could camp out in here. It would be a perfect shelter.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” he replied.  “It still may be a good place to leave the equipment.  It’s cool and dry, and we don’t have to worry about someone stealing them, since we’re the only humans on this island.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” she agreed.

Well ahead of her now due to her near fall, Alan went around a curve, disappearing from view for a few seconds. In spite of his light flickering on the walls to remind her that he was still nearby, it gave her a momentary sensation of extreme aloneness. She was reminded of the months he had spent alone on the island while she was recovering from the accident, neither of them aware of what the other was going through, and once again she marveled that he was able to tolerate the total solitude.

“Careful coming around the curve,” he advised. “There’s a really narrow place here.”

“Okay,” she responded.

A few moments later, she moved slowly around the curve, squeezed carefully through the narrow spot he had warned of, and saw his stooped figure ahead of her, waiting for her to catch up. His flashlight cast eerie shadows on the wall while he waited, observing the rocks that protruded from the walls and floors, his paleontologist’s mind searching for evidence of fossil remains within the tunnel.  Finding none, and with her directly behind him, he started forward again.

Ellie’s back ached from the weight of her pack and the stooped position, but as she adjusted her posture in an attempt to relieve the stress on the muscles in her lower back, it occurred to her that she was able to straighten up a bit more.

“Is it me, or is the ceiling getting higher?”

“Not only that, but I can see the exit,” he replied.

A thrill surged through her, eager to reach the canyon, where they would not need to set up the sensors for protection, and where they could rest and relax for a few days. She realized also that she was able to walk a little more normally.

“The floor is getting a little wider, too,” she commented. “Not much, but every few inches makes it easier to walk.”

 

“Fewer tripping hazards,” he teased.

She could see the daylight now, a narrow slit of brightness that was the exit, and when Alan stepped slightly to one side, she could see the green of foliage on the outside.

“Almost there,” he said, cheerfully.

Moments later, he pushed his way through the dense growth of ferns that had made their home in the shady area, their long fronds draping across the opening, and stepped into the daylight. Ellie emerged behind him, and they stopped to observe their surroundings.

They were in a narrow ravine, not the canyon he had promised, but before Ellie could question him, he said, “The map shows it expanding beyond this ravine.” He lowered his equipment to the ground. “Let’s decide which items we’re going to leave here. There’s no point in carrying everything back and forth. Obviously this will stay,” he said, placing the sensor case on the ground. Of all the equipment they carried with them, this was the most important, and she knew he wanted to protect it from the rain they knew was coming. “There is no need for it here, and it’ll be good to save the batteries for when we really need them.  I’m going to leave the camera equipment here as well,” he added, lowering his backpack to the ground.  “We’ll pick it up on our way out when we explore the area.”

Kneeling down, they unzipped their backpacks and retrieved the 35mm cameras, lenses, and the video equipment from their packs. Ellie’s backpack was completely emptied, and the cameras placed inside it. Then, while she arranged the food and supplies in Alan’s pack, he carried the sensors and the cameras back inside the tunnel and found a suitable place for them, far enough from the opening that they would be protected from driving rains.

When he reemerged, he picked up the backpack containing the canned goods.  It was lumpy and bulky and excessively heavy, but thankfully he would not have far to carry it now.  He lifted it into position while Ellie picked up the ice chest containing the food John Hammond had provided.

Together, they made their way between the rocky precipices, shaded by the tall trees that grew both in the ravine and high above on the steep rocky slopes, and a few minutes later they entered the canyon.