Chapter 6: A Favor

: Raptor Paddock, Handler's Office :

Owen and Vargo had been struggling to hold the raptor back for the last ten or so minutes with varying success. The raptor they were struggling against was using its body weight as a doorstop, preventing them from closing the door due to its sheer weight while it gathered its energy for a burst of strength to force the door open. During its efforts, and, despite Owen and Vargo's best efforts, the door was now eight inches open and the two human's endurance was waning fast.

Suddenly the two felt the weight behind the window cease, resulting in the door slamming shut. Vargo grunted in pain as the sudden jolt made the pain in his shoulder flare-up while Owen slammed the heavy-duty latch that served as the doors lock in place with a relieved sigh. Turning to his compatriot, Owen saw the pained grimace on Vargo's face as he clutched his shoulder. "You okay?"

Vargo gave a hesitant nod. "I'll live for now, but I have to get this thing medical attention. That is, once this thing fucks off." Vargo stated before the two heard a screech outside that Owen identified as the unknown raptor.

"What the hell is it doing..." Owen began to say before the two heard the glass from the trailer's only window shatter. Turning in horror, the two saw the raptor was squeezing in through the window.

"Shit!" Both Owen and Vargo screamed as they unlatched the door and bolted out the door, not seeing that the raptor was no longer in the window.

XXXX

"Vargo respond!" Tyler ordered again into his radio for the fifth time, only to be met with static. He and Jill were bombing back to the raptor paddock as fast as they could in the muddy road and low visibility. The had quickly noticed that after Tyler had made his announcement and warning on the radio that everyone but Vargo had acknowledged them. Tyler had tried to raise him repeatedly but never received a response. Next to him, Jill cursed at the lack of response while Tyler readied his shotgun as the raptor paddock came into view through the torrential rain.

As soon as they pulled up, Tyler and Jill got out of the vehicle with their weapons up and scanned the area. The light from the jeep's headlights providing them enough light that their NVG's could partially see through the rain. "Vargo, Owen, where are you!" Tyler shouted as he and Jill began to make their way around the paddock toward the office.

Suddenly the two saw something hurtle around the corner of the paddock. The pair quickly readied their guns only to be met with the forms of Owen and Vargo running full pelt toward them. "Run!" Owen shouted, to their confusion, until Tyler noticed a third form shoot around the corner no more than eight feet behind the pair. Before either he or Jill could respond the third form leaped up and came crashing down atop Vargo, forcing the man down into the muck with a scream as the raptor's killing claw sank into his back.

Tyler knew that he only had half a second before the raptor sank its jaws into the back of his ally's head or neck and so he fired off a shot from his shotgun that clipped the side of the raptor. The raptor gave a pained yelp before withdrawing his killing claw from Vargo's back and charging at Tyler with an outraged screech.

"Jill, get Owen in the jeep!" Tyler shouted as he fired another shot while aiming at the raptor's chest. However, the raptor was maneuvering in a zigzag which made Tyler's shot instead peg the raptor's arm, blowing the appendage to bits of blood, muscle, and fragmented bone. While not a kill shot, it did momentarily stun the raptor enough that it didn't immediately kill him as its momentum carried it the rest of the distance and into him.

Tyler lost his grip on the shotgun as the two went down in a tangle of limbs. Despite the danger to himself, Tyler shouted for Vargo to make for the raptor paddock ladder as he quickly drew his knife from its sheath with one hand while the other arm locked around the raptor's neck as he maneuvered himself out from under the raptor and onto its back while it oriented itself.

The raptor hissed as soon as it got its bearings and began writhing and bucking in an attempt to get up, only for Tyler to wrap his left leg around the raptor's upper left thigh and pull it out from under it, forcing it back to the ground.

Tyler and the raptor struggled like this for ten to fifteen seconds, Tyler using the raptor's limited leg mobility to prevent it from getting up while his arm prevented the raptor's head from turning to bite him. Eventually, Tyler saw an opportunity and plunged the knife into the side of the raptor, all the way to the hilt, making the beast scream in pain before it gathered its strength and managed to roll the pair over, burying Tyler into the muck with nearly five hundred pounds of dino atop him.

Tyler groaned in pain as the weight fell on him and momentarily lost his hold on the raptor, allowing it to roll off him and out of his reach. Knowing he had seconds, Tyler rolled to his feet just as the raptor did mere three feet from him with his knife still in its side. Knowing he was out of options, Tyler reached down into the muddy earth before lobbing a glob of mud at the raptor's face and scoring a bullseye, clocking up the raptor's nose and blinding it temporarily. Tyler quickly used the distraction and bolted toward the ladder, climbing it with the five seconds he bought himself. Once at the top, Tyler saw Vargo nearby on the walkway leaning against the railing while, below and in the paddock itself, he could not see any of Owen's pack, having likely stayed in the paddock's foliage.

Tyler turned back toward where the raptor had been, only to see nothing but the muddy marks of their struggle and his retreating footsteps. He attempted to see further away in the hopes of seeing his opponent's tracks, but the rain obscured anything else from his search. Tyler kept his head on a swivel as he made his way over to Vargo and checked over the wound.

The wound looked grizzly with a deep puncture wound in his lower back from the killing claw. Thankfully, after Tyler looked at the wound location, he knew it missed the spine but worried that the kidney may have been nicked. Leaning Vargo against the railing, Tyler saw the man grimace in pain. "Vargo, can you move?" Vargo gave a hesitant nod before Tyler helped him up onto his feet, though Tyler knew that running was not an option for Vargo at this point, judging by his slow and shaky movements.

"W-where did it go?" Vargo asked with a pained grimace as he leaned against one of the railings for support.

Tyler shook his head. "No idea, maybe it ran off into the jungle, or maybe it's after Owen and Jill in the jeep but-" Tyler replied before he was caught off by a large metallic bang from the other side of the paddock. The two humans turned toward the sound to be met with the sight of the raptor hauling itself over the edge of the paddock wall and onto the metal walkway. Tyler was stunned. "That thing can jump as high as the paddock wall?!"

The raptor sucked in a breath or two of air from the exertion before focusing her eyes on the two humans no more than thirty yards away. Crouching down, she gave a pleased hiss, knowing she had them cornered. The hunt for these humans had been particularly exhausting and tedious, but also the most thrilling she had ever had in her memory. The paler human with brown hair had been particularly surprising, being able to put up a decent fight before escaping with its packmate, but now she had them dead to rights. They couldn't stay on the walkway or she'd close and eat them, they couldn't try and jump down back to the other side because she'd jump after and overtake and eat them, and finally, they couldn't fight her with the narrow walkway because she'd overpower and eat them. She could see in their eyes that they knew this too, and she spared a moment to mentally applaud the brown-haired one for not abandoning its wounded packmate and escape but, alas, loyalty only went so far in the game of hunter and prey.

Tyler saw the raptor take another step toward them and knew that he and Vargo didn't have many options left to them… well, except one. Tyler glanced down below at the paddock interior, though he couldn't see them, he knew that Blue and her sisters were down there somewhere, watching them. He knew that if the two of them went down there they would be at their mercy, but, honestly, he felt decent about their chances with the girls than trying to take on the raptor themselves with no weapons, the only problem was he knew after this Vargo was going to have some questions. Deciding that he'd cross that bridge when he got to it, Tyler reached into his pocket and pulled out his translator earpiece before alerting his teammate about his plan.

"Vargo, I'm going to ask you to trust me on this." Tyler saw Vargo turn his head slightly to him and give him a small, hesitant nod to show he was listening. "When I tell you, jump over the side of the railing." Vargo turned almost fully to him while shooting him an incredulous look. "I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, it's our only real option left at this point," Tyler said as he affixed the earpiece to his ear. Ahead of him, the raptor looked like she had heard his plan too and, judging by the slight tilting of her head, she also thought he was crazy. Vargo, for his part, gave a reluctant nod after a couple of seconds before readying himself for the twenty-foot fall.

Tyler readied himself as well before mustering up his courage and shouting. "Go!"

XXXXX

Blue could say that today was by far her most stressful day so far in her life. For most of the day, the sky roared and darkened while the wind howled and the sky let loose constant water into her pack's home, making the ground wet and sloppy and cling to her and her sister's hides while the wind and rain made them cold. She and her sisters had retreated into the underbrush of the nest while curling up near each other to weather the storm. However, before they could try and get any sleep, they had picked up the scent.

The scent of another raptor.

This had immediately confused them, It was not one they had smelled before, even on the grey human named Tyler. What's more, the scent was growing stronger, to the point that they could pick up something about their mysterious trespasser. Female, older than even Blue, recent kill, still hunting. They had stayed quiet and on high alert, as the smell got stronger, to the point that they knew the raptor was in the near vicinity, then they saw her.

Grey hide, larger than any of them, yellow eyes dilated in concentration, large muscular frame for a female, scars along her body, an alpha female. With a start, they realized this intruder was locked in on the grey one the humans had called Vargo who was patrolling the perimeter of their home. The pack watched as the raptor readied itself to pounce on the human as he came around the bend of the perimeter, holding his radio in on hand listening to a voice on the other end shout something. Blue didn't know why she moved at that point, maybe she liked this new group of grey ones enough to not want them killed, or maybe she just wanted to spoil the other ones hunt for being in her pack's territory, either way, she sprinted toward Vargo and appeared at his side in moments, hissing through the fence at him in a warning. Vargo looked up at her, startled, before noticing her eyes looking behind him and quickly turning around. It had saved his life as the raptor was in mid-jump when he saw it, allowing him enough time to raise his weapon and leap to the side.

The raptor's jaws clamped down on the weapon and ripped it from his hands as the human's momentum carried him away from the raptor far enough for him to scramble to his feet and attempt to flee. Blue barked a challenge to the female raptor who threw the weapon away and gave her a dismissive huff before chasing after the human.

As the raptor left, Blue gave an enraged snarl at being so casually dismissed by the other raptor, as if she was nothing but a hatchling. Her anger gave way to panic as she suddenly heard her alpha's panicked voice coming from the structure near their home. She and her sisters could only listen to the unfolding struggle, hoping their alpha would prevail. Their hopes heightened when the strange metal object the humans called a jeep arrived and Tyler and another of his grey ones arrived. They had watched as Tyler drew the raptors ire from their alpha, allowing him to escape as the wounded Vargo climbed the wall of their home to getaway. They saw Tyler's fight with the stronger female and saw him deal her wounds before disengaging to join Vargo atop their home. At first, they were relieved that they all appeared safe before their relief turned to dread when the alpha raptor flanked around their home and, with a mighty leap, managed to get to the top of the enclosure, if only barely.

Then, just as all hope for Tyler and Vargo seemed lost, they heard Tyler shout, go, and the two leaped over the side of the railing, narrowly avoiding the raptor's jaws and falling into their home before landing with pained grunts. Blue knew that most of the humans believed that she and her sisters would kill them if they entered their home and, for almost all of them, they would be correct, so she knew that Tyler and Vargo's decision to jump into their home was both equal part desperation as it was a monumental show of trust by the two of them, now, the only question was how would she respond. As she debated her next course of action, she saw the raptor jump down after them and remembered her rage at the trespasser's dismissal of her pack's territory.

"Well, that makes things easy." she hissed as her sisters readied themselves and, together, the four bolted forwards.

XXXXX

Tyler, for his part, groaned as he rose onto his feet, the fall had not been pleasant but thankfully, he hadn't managed to injure himself more. Next to him, Vargo remained on the ground but managed to prop himself onto his side. As Tyler got to his feet, he heard a mighty thump and was met with the unknown raptor who had followed them down into the enclosure. The raptor was no more than eight feet away and, although she was panting a bit from all her efforts and bleeding from the wounds they had dealt her, she was far from debilitating. Now, she was savoring the moment before the kill as she crouched down in preparation to leap while her gaze locked onto Tyler's own.

"You know, you're pretty damn stubborn, most raptors wouldn't have gone to the lengths you have just for a meal, especially since you've already eaten earlier today," Tyler announced, trying to stall. It seemed to work as the raptor cocked its head before giving a barking laugh.

"You humans are an abomination and a threat to all my kind. There are no lengths I won't go in my mission to wipe out your kind." The raptor hissed back in a tone dripping with sadistic glee, and a not too small amount of insanity.

Tyler narrowed his gaze. "Big talk for a raptor that killed one unsuspecting man at night in the freezing rain but failed to kill anyone else with a bit of awareness. Where the hell did you come from, anyway?"

The raptor seemed surprised for a little bit, along with a questioning and shocked look from Vargo that Tyler managed to catch in the corner of his vision. The raptor seemed to pause for a moment before a slow laugh escaped it. "Interesting that you can understand me, but not important enough to stop me from killing you. As for your question, know that I've been here for many seasons, waiting to pick off one of your pathetic kind now and then when I could. You could never track me down and kill me like you did all the others of my kind, except for the large one."

Tyler growled internally at the raptor's words, if what she said was true, then many of the disappearances that happened off and on that Masrani Global overlooked was not due to drunken employees taking shore leave but individuals picked off by this raptor that had survived the island's purge of its first dino population. He would have to petition Masrani to have his team do another sweep of the island to see what else may have been missed. Seeing a group of shadow approaching the raptor from behind Tyler smirked. "Well, then I guess your luck's run out then since you won't be leaving here alive."

The raptor chuckled. "Oh, you're an amusing human, but enough of your games." The raptor crouched. "I grow hungry." and leaped. Tyler attempted to roll to the side, but the short distance prevented him from fully getting out of the way and he felt the raptor slam into his side. forcing him to the ground.

"Augh!" Tyler exclaimed. feeling the raptor's killing claw dig into his waist. Pinned to the ground by the raptors bulk, Tyler stared up as the raptor's jaws approached his head before a blue blur slammed into its side, knocking the raptor off and away. Tyler looked over and saw the raptor scramble to its feet in confusion before stopping as she came face to face with a snarling Blue, while behind her, Charlie and Echo boxed her in. Tyler wondered where Delta was, only to hear a sniff behind him. Turning, he saw Delta hovering over him, sniffing his wounded side before locking eyes with him and giving the wound a slow lick.

Tyler knew that doing this was usually the raptor equivalent of both cleaning the wound and showing concern so, giving a slight smile and nod, Tyler addressed the raptor. "Hey, Delta, sorry for dropping in like this, but we had a stalker that simply couldn't leave us alone and figured you girls could use a little entertainment."

The raptor gave an amused huff before stepping over Tyler and standing protectively between him and the ensuing battle between Blue and the unknown raptor. Speaking of which, to call the confrontation playing out between the unknown raptor and Blue a fight would be to kind of a word. Blue was massacring the raptor, her healthy and rested body allowing her to outmaneuver and overpower the older and tired raptor, biting into the raptor's hide with a viciousness that Tyler hadn't seen from her before.

For her part, Blue was taking out all her feeling into fighting her opponent, her anger, her insecurity, her fear, her annoyance all fueled her as she ripped into the enemy. She felt through the pack bond that Echo and Charlie had joined her and, between the three of them, they made short work of the intruding raptor, with Blue delivering the final blow by tearing out the jugular and causing the raptor to finally collapse in a heap on the ground. Blue and her sisters panted there for a bit before the euphoria of winning the fight hit Blue like a train and caused her to give a victorious bark that was quickly taken up by her sisters. After a minute, Blue calmed herself and remembered the two humans that had fallen into their enclosure. Turning toward them, Blue saw that Delta was still standing near them protectively but had relaxed after the intruding raptor was dealt with. Blue made her way over and saw Tyler lift himself to a standing position while clutching his side at his wound.

Tyler turned to Vargo, who was still looking at all of this, bewildered, before drawing his attention. "Vargo, I know you have a lot of questions right now and I will answer them later, but for right now, please trust me and don't say anything. Once we're out of here, don't tell anyone about this whole thing until I can explain myself, okay?" Vargo slowly looked to the approaching Blue and then back to Tyler before giving a slow nod in acceptance before sitting back and watching the encounter unfold.

"Hello, Blue, sorry for barging in as we did, but for me and Vargo here kind of ran out of options." The human said in an apologetic tone with a slight downward tilt of his head. Blue was again impressed with the human for knowing that tilting the head down as he did was seen as a sign of acceptance to her position as an authority within the territory and as a sign that he recognized her pack's claim over this area and thus his position as a guest.

Blue inclined her head up marginally in acknowledgment of his gesture and her authority but not demanding obedience from them since even though it was their territory, she saw Tyler as an alpha to a friendly, if not allied pack to her own. "It is of no consequence, Alpha Tyler, we heard you help our alpha and I would be remiss to not aid our only allies from an enemy in my pack's territory. I must say though, that your decision to jump into our home was rather brave on your part, after all, I have you at me and my sister's mercy."

Tyler, for his part, nodded his head in acknowledgment of her claim but gave a reassuring shrug. "Yes, but I felt that we had a good enough of a rapport with yourself and your pack to hope on your aid. Plus, I figured that you might use helping me and Vargo as a favor I now owe you, which is more valuable than just killing us both here." Tyler offered, much to Blue's intrigue.

Blue pondered the offer in her head with excitement at what she could potentially gain by having the grey ones owe her and her pack a favor. Truth be told, she wasn't contemplating killing them as she and her sisters preferred Tyler's grey ones to the other humans, minus her alpha, not to mention that Blue could tell that Delta was very interested in this particular human and didn't want to earn her sisters ire by threatening him. The only question was what she would ask him for in return for her pack's aid. She briefly contemplated demanding her pack's release from their enclosure but figured this INGEN pack that she had heard about would still see them either killed or imprisoned again with severe consequences for Tyler and her Alpha. It was in thinking of her alpha that Blue was suddenly struck with inspiration on what she could ask for.

"You are of course correct, Alpha Tyler, and I've already decided on how you can repay us," Blue stated as she stepped closer to Tyler so that she was snout to nose with him. Her eyes locked with his as she made her demand that would change her pack's future, hopefully for the better. "I know you are familiar with our kind's mannerisms and pack hierarchy. I want you to teach our Alpha everything you know and remind him of his duties to myself and my sisters as our Alpha. In that regard, I also want you to give him the means of communicating with us as you do."

Tyler thought about this request for a bit before locking eyes with her and replying. "Done."

Aaaaaannnnnnndddddd Chapter!

I'd like to thank The Chimeran Hybrid for being my Beta Reader for this series and looking over not only this chapter but the older chapters as well, that I have since replaced but no new content in them sorry.

Anyway until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!