Down in the valley, the Triceratops herd was grazing peacefully in the knee-high grass. From the cliff far above, the animals looked tiny, but Susan knew that they were very large indeed. The heads alone of the largest males could grow to ten feet. The three sharp horns could cause substantial damage to anything that got in the way of one of the hulking herbivores, but for now they were being quite quiet. A little too quiet for Susan. She was an animal researcher for National Geographic, and had met Nick van Owen before on two expeditions, one in India and one in the Bahamas, where Nick had spent much more time sunbathing then taking pictures of the tropical fish. Susan was worried. She had seen herd behavior in animals countless times, and she knew from what she saw that something was wrong.
Behind her, Tom Frost was unmoved by the silence. In fact, it was him making all the noise Susan could hear. He was speaking very quickly, spewing facts about the Triceratops they were watching. The group had planned to move quickly to the designated camping site as soon as the boat dropped them off, but the dinosaurs were far to interesting to be passed by. The group had stopped to watch, even for only a few minutes, every group of dinosaurs they passed. These Triceratops were by far the most spectacular. Each one had a significantly different skin pattern, which struck Susan as odd. Zebras, she knew, all had unique stripe patterns, but it took an expert to tell them apart, the differences were so subtle. The Triceratops were extrodinarily different. Some were gray with black markings and orange frills, some were red with blue frills. She assumed that the different colors allowed the animals to tell one another apart, but you could never tell with extinct animals. That was why this island was so fascinating.
Suddently, one of the largest Triceratops, a redish brown animal with orange stripes and a dark back, threw back its head and let out a loud trumpeting sound. Susan was surprised. She didn’t expect these animals to have such high pitched vocalizations. She didn’t have much time to think about that, because the herd was changing its position. The larger animals began to form a line facing the trees, with the smaller Triceratops behind them. Then Susan saw it. Standing at the edge of the forest, its striped pattern blending in with the shadows, was a gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex. Susan’s jaw dropped. Dr. Frost stopped talking. The Tyrannosaur cocked its head to one side, a very bird-like motion. Then it stepped forward, out from the cover of the trees. The Triceratops began to bellow and trumpet, waving their heads back and forth in an attempt to scare off the predetor. The Tyrannosaur was unmoved. It opened its mouth, showing rows of rotting teeth, and roared as it charged toward the herd.
The largest Triceratops, apparently the leader of the herd, trumpeted again. The head began to quickly change positions again. Now all the adults had formed a circle, heads facing outwards with the younger animals in the center. “Well I’ll be,” Dr. Frost said suddently, “They do circle around their young! To think that I had argued against it…” He fell silent when the Tyrannosaur roared again, an ear splitting and terrifying sound. The Tyrannosaur stomped its foot as it came to a halt several yards from the edge of the ring of Triceratops, which were all bellowing and swinging their great heads. The Tyrannosaur snarled and snapped its jaws, trying to scare the herbivores, but its efforts were fruitless. With a final roar, the Tyrannosaur turned around and slunk back into the jungle.
Susan heard Nick exhale behind her. It occurred to her that he had been holding his breath during the whole ordeal. “So…you want to push on?” Nick said, smiling weakly. She could tell that he was truly terrified. Still, she had heard his accounts of what had happened to him on his previous visit to Isla Sorna. Behind trapped in a waterfall by a Tyrannosaur would have upset her as well. The group turned and headed back toward the trail they had been following when they heard another roar from the Tyrannosaur. Susan swung around just in time to see the forty foot predetor lunge out of the jungle once more, after the Triceratops herd had lost their formation. The Tyrannosaur lunged toward one of the now unprotected youngers. In a single bite, it was all over. The young herbivore cried out once, and then was silent. The Tyrannosaur picked up its prize in its jaws and lumbered back toward the forest. The Triceratops did nothing to prevent the Tyrannosaur’s departure. They knew there was nothing they could do. Susan turned, and followed Nick, Jeremy and Tom down the trail.
“We’re almost there,” Jeremy called, looking over the satalite map he had aquired two days before. With the exception of a glimpse of a small pterosaur which Dr. Frost identified as a Dimorphodon, the group had not had any more animal encounters since the Tyrannosaur attack on the Triceratops herd over an hour ago. It occurred to Susan that they had come a proportionally substantial distance across the island in a short time, which concerned her. “Hmmm,” she said aloud. “What is it?” Nick asked, swatting away some large insects. “I was just thinking,” she said, “That this island is not very large. You could cross it in less then a day. And yet the number of animals living here is quite high, far higher then the logical amount of animals for a land mass of this size.” Nick stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I think I might know the answer,” he said. Susan was about to respond when a sharp voice erupted from the trees, “Nobody Move!” Suddently, three armed men erupted from the bushes. The man in front, wearing a grey camoflauge suit and sunglasses so dark that you couldn’t tell where he was looking, grinned. “Alright,” he said, “Put your hands up. Your in direct violation of strict laws laid down by the United Nations. You’re going to be in for at least ten years, people”. He turned to one of the other men, who was wearing a flight uniform and was obviously a pilot. “Go get the teargas,” the lead man barked. “Wait just one minute,” Jeremy said, stepping forward. The lead man pulled a gun out on him. “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you” he said slyly. “Hold on a minute,” the third man said, who was wearing a dark green outfit, “This is not proper procedure!” The lead man just glared at him, and he fell silent.
Nick knew somthing wasn't right. He had been arrested for protesting before, and this was nothing like it should be at all. These people probobly wern't millitary officers after all! Aparently Jeremy had just reached the same conclusion, because the man suddently dove forward, tackling the man in green. However, the man was stronger then Jeremy, and pinned him to the ground. Aiming a gun at the head of his would be attacker, he rose to his feet.
The man in grey walked up to the man in green. "Cooper," he said, "Go get the handcuffs. We're getting out of here before things get messy." Cooper nodded and scrambled into the bushes. The man in grey removed his sunglasses and glared at Jeremy, daring him to get to his feet. The others glanced back and forth uneasily, unsure of what to do. They had certainly not expected to be caught this quickly. Now the whole thing would be covered up and there would be no media attention, no publicity. All their efforts wasted. Suddently, a gun shot rang out from the trees. Then anouther. Everyone turned in the direction Cooper had just gone to see him racing backwards out of the jungle, firing wildly. Nick gasped as the trees parted and the massive form of an adult female Tyrannosaurus rex emerged, roaring fiercly.
