Beep... Beep... Beep...
The wrist-mounted scanners of the lead Asset Containment Unit (ACU) members emitted a faint, rhythmic pulse.
"Found blood. She's hit."
The evidence wasn't just on the ground; traces of the Indominus's blood clung to branches and leaves.
Drip...
A warm droplet landed on the lead trooper's hand. He looked up, noticing a leaf smeared with a particularly thick patch of gore. He checked his tracker again; the signal was right on top of them, yet the jungle was eerily silent.
Beep— Beep—
The same alarm frequency as the watches chirped from a nearby bush. He looked toward the source and found a discarded hunk of biological tissue. He raised his left hand in a clenched fist.
The squad halted instantly.
The remaining members exchanged looks, hearts hammering against their ribs. They slowly shifted formation, scanning the perimeter with white-knuckled grips on their non-lethal weapons.
"She has active camouflage. Stay sharp," a voice from the Control Room crackled through their earpieces. The reminder sent a jolt of adrenaline through the team, their bodies tensing like coiled springs.
The lead trooper stepped forward alone, picking up the tissue. He flipped the bloody flesh over.
Beep— Beep—
It was the tracker.
"How did she do that?!" someone in the Control Room exclaimed. However, Claire Dearing was no longer there to answer.
Ding—
The elevator doors hissed open, and Claire sprinted out, nearly colliding with Owen Grady, who was on his way to confront Masrani. While most of the Primeval Ecological Zone monitors had been diverted to the Indominus, an automated alert had flagged a gyrosphere entering the restricted valley. That was how she found her nephews.
After failing to reach them by phone, she had watched the feed of the Indominus clashing with the Ankylosaurus. She had begged the ACU to divert a team for a rescue, but they had refused to split their strength during a containment breach. She had to do it herself.
"Claire?"
Owen stood his ground while Claire stumbled back from the impact.
"Owen?" She recognized him and immediately grabbed his arm. "I need you. I really need your help right now."
"What's going on?" Seeing her normally composed demeanor in shambles, Owen skipped the banter and got straight to the point.
"My nephews. They're in the valley. The Primeval Ecological Zone. Please, if anything happens to them..."
Owen didn't know how two kids ended up in the most dangerous part of the park. He glanced at the surrounding crowds and pulled Claire aside to prevent a panic. Finding a relatively quiet corner, he lowered his voice.
"How old are they?"
Claire took a breath, trying to regain her rationality. "Uh... the older one is high school age. The younger one is... a few years younger."
She gestured their heights with her hands, a vague motion that left Owen staring at her in disbelief. He hit her with a devastating question:
"You don't even know how old your own nephews are?!"
Claire went silent. When you only see family once every seven years, "knowing" is a relative term.
…
Heavy footsteps echoed through the brush. Branches groaned and snapped. The ACU members turned toward the noise. The trooper closest to the sound signaled the team to fall back and find cover.
Snap... crack-crack.
Carlo found the dense undergrowth irritating. Branches scraped against his hide before snapping under his massive bulk. He followed the scent of the Indominus's blood out of the thicket, emerging by a small creek where the ACU squad was stationed.
The lead scout, who was furthest from Carlo, whispered into his comms: "We have Giganotosaurus 003 in sight. Requesting instructions."
Masrani stepped forward in the Control Room, overriding the comms operator. "Do not fire! I repeat, do not fire! He won't attack you!"
Are you kidding me?! That was the collective thought of every man on the ground.
Carlo ignored the weapons leveled at him as if they were toothpicks. He approached the lead scout with slow, deliberate steps. Some troopers tried to duck behind cover to avoid his gaze, but Carlo's eyes tracked every single one of them.
He stopped directly in front of the scout, lowered his massive head, and took a deep, audible sniff of the Indominus tissue in the man's hand. The scout could feel the creature's hot, humid breath rolling over him, a sensation that made his skin crawl.
He recognized those yellow pupils. He had been under that gaze once before, years ago. That time, two men with tranquilizer rifles had been left crippled, one lost a leg, the other suffered a crushed chest. And back then, the creature had still been a juvenile.
Fortunately, Carlo's yellow eyes weren't fixed on the man, but on the scrap of meat. When Carlo finally straightened up, the scout exhaled as if he'd been granted a divine reprieve. It looked like he wouldn't be stepped on today.
…
"That's incredible, isn't it? We have a bigger predator helping us hunt the monster. Maybe we can just disband the squad," Lowery said, letting out a breath of pure relief. He looked more stressed than the men in the field.
"No!" Masrani snapped. "We have to find the Indominus before he does. That asset is worth 26 million dollars. We can't just let it go up in smoke."
Masrani's confidence was unshaken. He still believed he was in control, especially after seeing how easily Carlo had handled the hybrid earlier. If a dinosaur could do it, surely his elite team could do the same.
"Control, we've lost the Indominus's trail. The blood trail has stopped," the field team reported.
"Why don't we just follow the Giganotosaurus? He's tracking her too, isn't he?" someone suggested.
"No," Masrani vetoed immediately. Following Carlo meant giving up the initiative. Even though they had already lost it, Masrani was determined to contain the asset himself to minimize further corporate loss.
…
Zach and Gray wrung out their shirts on the grass, ignoring their soaked hair.
"Whew..." Zach exhaled, scanning the horizon.
"Where do we go now?" Gray asked. He was covered in mud and grime, but he hadn't complained once.
"Roar—"
A distant bellow echoed through the valley, making both brothers jump. After a moment, Zach took the lead. "It's not safe here. We need to move. Do you know where the nearest exit is?"
Zach shielded his brother, eyes darting toward the surrounding treeline. Gray nodded, indicating he could lead the way. He tried to step in front, but Zach pulled him back.
"Stay close," Zach warned, walking side-by-side with his brother. He looked at his blue VIP wristband, ripped it off, and tossed it into the mud.
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