Passageway towards the backup generator of the first floor, Ibis Island

10:13pm

“Nayoung?”- Minkyung asked once more, stepping outside into the cold night. No one answered.

The panorama outside was the spitting image of the word eerie. There were bullet caps on the ground, multiple of them, and Nayoung was nowhere to be seen. Minkyung took a few steps forward, raising her rifle as she did, she suspected that, whoever was that attacked Nayoung out there, was still near the place.

“Maybe they ran off”- Minkyung thought, unsure of what to make out of the situation. – “Maybe whoever it was ran away and Nayoung pursued…”

But Nayoung wasn’t reckless enough to do that and Minkyung knew it. She was levelheaded, preferring to wait, regroup and hunt rather than just following out of impulse. Every single one of her moves was calculated beforehand. The captain liked to stalk its prey before administering the killing blow.

Minkyung continued walking, her eyes scanning every single detail from the environment as she did.

“Bingo…”- She spotted something nearing the corner of the pathway. The fence, just like the one from the back entrance, was torn to shreds, blood coating the tips of the wires. It definitely had to be ripped apart with great force, a normal tool wouldn’t cause the mess she was seeing.

No man possessed such a brutal strength.

Moreover, the lower half of the body Nayoung and her had found prior to entering the generator room was gone… instead, a trail of blood was present, one that disappeared around the corner.

Someone had taken its time to drag the body, and the whole situation was bringing chills to Minkyung’s spine.

“Nayoung…?”- She tried once more, to the same effect as before.

The place was completely silent… except for something.

*thump*

Minkyung quickly aimed towards her left, where the fence was still intact and the container crates in between the fences blocked the sight of the back entrance of the facility. There was a weird sound coming from those, like something was banging against them.

*thump*

There was it again.

A sense of dread filled Minkyung, she wanted nothing else but to get inside, indoors. Without her team she felt unprotected, like something was about to strike at her from behind all the time.

*thump*

“Nayoung?!”- The growing desperation made Minkyung commit a fatal mistake, and that was calling her partner out loudly.

To her relief, the thumping stopped…

*thump* *thump* *thump*

Only to resume moments later, this time with more intensity.

*thump* *thump* *thump*

It kept growing, getting closer

*thump* *thump* *thump*

She could feel it right beside her.

There was a gnarl, a guttural sound of hostility, just before something jumped from on top the crates, threatening to fall right on her head. Her reflexes, though dulled by the dread, were still well trained and sharp enough to give her the edge.

She rolled out of the way, accidentally smashing against a black metal barrel, sending the thing off balance and making it land on the floor with a sonorous *clank*. It took her a few seconds to get up again.

*hiss*

Once she did, she found herself face to face with what looked to be an oversized lizard, baring its teeth at her. One could think the beast was excited from the way it drew closer to Minkyung, having found its next meal.

Blood stained the creatures face and teeth, blood that could easily be Nayoung’s.

“What is this...?”- Minkyung mused in disbelief, taking a few steps back as the creature neared.

*Thump* *Clack*

Now on the floor, the sound the creature’s paws emitted was different and Minkyung couldn’t help but to look at the huge sickle-shaped claws that protruded from the ankles of the beast. Something like that could rip her apart in seconds.

With one last snarl, the creature lunged at her and Minkyung was left with no option but to retaliate. She dodged the first assault, rolling away from danger once more, before she removed the safety from her weapon.

Three shots resounded through the night, the barrage hitting the beast along its corpse which, from head to tail, must have been at least 3 meters long. The bullets managed to perforate the brownish skin, making the animal cry in pain.

Minkyung lowered her guard for a moment, thinking herself safe, before the creature’s tail lashed out at her like a whip, hitting her arm so fast it made gash on it. Minkyung backstepped, taking a look at her wound, it didn’t seem neither deep nor serious enough. A growl then brought her attention back to the fight in front of her.

The creature was limping towards her, unrelenting, as its claws clicked against the cement floor. Wasting no more time, Minkyung raised her rifle again and unloaded another barrage on the carnivore, this time making sure the three bullets hit the beast right in the head.

With one last cry, the animal fell and stood still for a few seconds before it vomited blood violently in front of Minkyung along with its last breath. Only then did Minkyung allow herself to fall back on the fence to her right.

She breathed in and out a few times, trying to control her beating heart and level it. She took another look at her attacker, its snout was now a bloody mess, blood pouring from four different holes plus two more on the creature’s body and leg.

There was no way it was true.

She simply refused to believe that she was just attacked by a dinosaur.

Picking herself together, she decided to exit the passageway, the best thing she could do now was get in contact with Kyungwon or try to get Nayoung via radio. She started walking towards the door at once.

Her breath was slowly composing itself and her hands had stopped shaking by the time she reached it. She was about to open it when a hand crept up her, clamping shut, she was about fight back when Nayoung’s voice.

“Shhh…”- Nayoung waited a few seconds before letting go of Minkyung, now certain that the girl wasn’t going to scream - “The usually hunt in packs, let’s not make any more noise than we need to…”

“Nayoung, where the hell were you?”- Speaking in hushed tones, Minkyung questioned rather angrily, though it was mostly because she was concerned about the many large cuts and bite marks on Nayoung’s left shoulder that teared through the girl’s black suit - “What happened to your arm?”

“Same thing that happened to yours…”- Nayoung, with a movement from her chin, pointe towards the small cut on Minkyung’s right arm, product of the raptor’s tail - “That thing, the dinosaur, it fell right on top of me… I thought I was done for. I started shooting at it but most of my shots missed, it got my arm before it kicked it back and ran away, hiding behind the wooden crates here near the door.”

Nayoung was always calm, always collected, something Minkyung was not, yet there seemed to be a flash of uncertainty and fear on the girl’s voice, one that she managed to hide very well.

“Let me see, I’m going to treat it”- Minkyung went to grab Nayoung’s arm to take a look, but the later refused, stopping Minkyung with a hand on her chest - “It doesn’t look good at all”

“Not now, we need to get out of here”- Nayoung reassured her - “I can endure the pain a little bit more.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There wasn’t only one… I saw more from here, near the path that goes to the giant elevator…”- Nayoung explained, looking a little bit distraught at having failed to notify her partner of the danger - “I tried to stay silent and hoped you’d take longer in there. By now those outside should have heard us, we need to move inside.”

“Let’s go then, we need to get to the other two girls.”- Suddenly remembering about Kyungwon and Siyeon – who were all alone inside the building - Minkyung turned around completely, hand reaching for the door’s knob.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Office hallway, Facility F1, Ibis Island.

10:18pm

The door opened with a resounding creak, letting the duo enter the place. There was barely any light in that L-shaped hallway, the only source of it being the multiple rectangular glass panels that filled the place. Minkyung counted almost eight on their part of the corridor and she was sure it continued just around the corner.

They advanced, gun trained in front of them in case another dinosaur presented itself, but the hallway was dead silent. They had just reached the turn when Nayoung motioned for them to stop.

“Did you hear that?”- She asked, voice hushed.

Minkyung shook her head and Nayoung nodded in response as she started to march again.

There were two doors in that place – minus the door that led outside – and one of them was to their left, the other one was right at the end of the hallway, blocked by a set of red lasers that looked everything but harmless. Minkyung wondered how did Kyungwon manage to get past them.

Nayoung moved towards the first door, checking the handle. The door shook softly but it didn’t budge.

“Locked…”

They continued advancing towards the end, before the security lasers was a rack vent panel. Minkyung looked up and eased her stance, there was a ventilation shaft above them and that was probably the way Kyungwon had used to get inside, since there was apparently no other way to access the control room other than to get up there.

*Beep* *Beep*

The radios turned green and signaled the incoming transmission. Nayoung didn’t bother to answer it nonetheless, keeping herself busy with the panel beside the security lasers that prevented them from proceeding into the main hall. The “error” message beeped from time to time in the panel’s screen, despite how much Nayoung messed with it.

“Good news boss! We’ve got the control system back online”- A chirpy Kyungwon spoke once she brought the device closer to her ear, moving away from Nayoung to give her a little space. - “How is it going over there?”

“We are going your way right now, we got attacked and Nayoung is wounded…”- Minkyung answered, still searching her surroundings. Something wasn’t quite right with that hall, she didn’t exactly trust those fragile windows to keep them safe.

“Ha! So what’s the bad news? Did you guys run into some guards?”- Kyungwon cackled, joking around, and Minkyung could hear Siyeon groaning in the background.

“You are not going to believe this…”- Minkyung doubted for a second, her mind split between wanting to cover them from the truth or to warn them from the possible dangers. The latter side won in the end after a tiny mental struggle with herself - “We were attacked by some kind of… dinosaur.”

“Hooo boy! Now that’s a good one, girl!”- Kyungwon was now laughing heartily, so much that the sound started to distort - “Who was it then? Barney?”

“This isn’t a joke, you moron!”- Minkyung snapped back, muttering under her breath but still managing to silence Kyungwon - “We were just attacked by a big lizard!”

“For real? Just what…”- Now a little more composed, Kyungwon tried to talk seriously.

“Just stay where you are and don’t move a single ing muscle, we are on your way.”- Minkyung was