Isla Sorna, Costa Rica

(Mark)

The trek back to the radio station was uneventful. I was on edge the whole time, of course, but once we were back in our shelter, I all but collapsed with relief. Isaac and I watched as Diego jerry-rigged the stove burners into a cooking station. I helped Isaac move a table close to the cooking station so we would have a place to prep our food before cooking it.

We took some cooking utensils from the cafeteria before returning home. We opened a can of pork and beans. Isaac and I kept it simple. Cooking was a hobby of mine and Isaac always assisted me on the rare occasion I didn't have a chef on hand.

I did a fine job if I say so myself. The other two didn't complain. But then again, it wasn't like they had much choice. It was either eat my food or starve, at least till we did some more hunting. But I was pretty sure none of us wanted to draw attention to ourselves right now.

For now, we were content to eat our meager dinner. We stacked our dirty bowls. In the morning, we’d have to look for a water source. Clean drinking water, water for cleaning dishes, and bathing were a necessity. But that was for tomorrow. Tired from our expedition, and a full belly snuggled into my sleeping bag and dreamed of going home.

The next couple of days were a blur as we searched and found clean water. Isaac got it into his head to fashion hammocks, and Diego helped him. I focused my energies on digging a latrine for us. Little did I know we should all have been focusing on hiding in our shelter. Conveniences should have been at the bottom of our priority.

They attacked the evening of our sixth day on this accursed island. I had finished making our latrine and was about to go in and tell the others when I heard a snuffling sound coming from beyond the wall. None of us went far from our rifles. Mine was slung across my back. With a practiced speed, I unslung it and aimed. I slowly made my way towards the entrance to our shelter when something launched over the barrier and landed inside the perimeter with a thud.

It was a dinosaur, that much I knew. It was roughly my height with a long gator snout. It had the same coloring as a bangle tiger and even had the same stripes along its back. Its eyes were vibrant green with slitted pupils like a crocodile. It cocked its head like a chicken watching me. Whatever its name was, I didn’t care. I recognized a predator when I saw one. I didn’t hesitate. I squeezed the trigger blowing a hole in its head.

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The sound of my rifle alerted Isaac and Diego. They came out rifles ready. Isaac looked at the dead dinosaur and cursed.

“It’s a Velociraptor.” The air was suddenly filled with loud honking, terrible shrieking, and ferocious snarling. More Velociraptors effortlessly cleared the barrier to land safely on the other side. The battle began. The dinosaurs attacked the moment they landed, and we opened fire. Between the three of us, the Velociraptors didn’t stand a chance.

Isaac hadn’t hired Diego just to be a guide. He had confided in me that Diego was an excellent shot with a rifle, and he figured three marksmen would have a better chance than just two. He was right. Already, three corpses lay before us. Isaac and I advanced, listening intently for any sound of life on the other side.

Diego was just behind us. If the poor man had just stayed at the door, he might have lived. His cry of pain had us pivoting. A raptor had snuck up on us and tackled Diego. It had sunk all its claws into the man and had already torn out his throat, cutting off his cries of pain.

We filled the damn lizard full of holes. Diego was a decent man and didn’t deserve to die in this fashion. I viciously kicked at the corpse of the retched reptile. Isaac stopped me. A silent conversation passed between us. We threw the bodies over the side of the Plateau. We didn’t have the energy or time to dig deep enough to hide the smell of their corpses. That included Diego’s body as well.

I took little comfort in that he had no family and therefore would be missed by no one, except perhaps me.

We didn’t eat that night. We did nothing but sit in the dark, both of us occupied with our own thoughts. The raptors returned the next day, and we repelled them again. I even shot one out of the air mid-leap. Its corpse landed on one of the sharpened stakes of our barrier. It was a pain in the ass to get it off, but it was oddly satisfying when I tossed it over the edge and watched its body plummet to the jungle below.

We kept one body to gutting and butchering it. I made a stew with the meat of some canned vegetables. The meat, when cooked, looked like beef, but it had the consistency of chicken. If I closed my eyes, I would have sworn I was eating chicken.

I suppose the nicest thing I could say about the raptors was that they tasted good. There only redeeming quality. In all honesty, if I never had to see another one in my whole life, I wouldn’t make a fuss. After dinner, I did dishes wanting something to do. Isaac stored the meat in an empty pot, covering it with a lid to keep the bugs out.

Diego and Isaac had finished their hammocks before he died. I climbed into the one he made for me and closed my eyes, mourning the passing of such a decent individual.