Main entrance, Facility 1F, Ibis Island.

11:10pm

The door unlocked after a sonorous beep, making Kyungwon grin as she took both discs before handling them to Nayoung, who quickly put them away in her backpack, though she doubted they’d be useful anymore.

“So, the first disc is the code disc and the second one is the input disc”- Kyungwon chatted animatedly as they entered the elevator room, causing Nayoung to sigh. - “Once you have them both is child’s play, you just remove the letters present in the code disc from the input and…”

“Eyes ahead soldier”- Nayoung’s eyes scanned the small room, nothing out of the ordinary was there, besides a holographic display of the first two floors in the middle of the room, produced by a display panel between two small columns. - “Seems like this room is clear…”

“Well, not really…”- Kyungwon’s cheerful voice faltered a bit, obviously scared as she pointed at a dead researcher in the middle of the room - “That…”

“Grow a pair, it’s not like the corpse is going to eat you”- Nayoung got closer to the body, examining it while Kyungwon instinctively took a step back. The man, whose eyes were almost rolled to the back of his head and had his mouth wide open, was wearing a white robe and had an arm missing. There was a trail of blood coming from a nearby door and stopping at his feet, probably the last length he got to walk before he bled out.

“Hey! I’m not scared, just… a little repulsed… You never get accustomed to those things”- Kyungwon looked away as Nayoung extended her fingers to touch the blood. Just as she did that, her eyes focused on a nearby computer, which served to lighten up her mood a little - “I’ll check the console panel over here if you don’t mind”

“Go ahead…”- Meanwhile, Nayoung examined the researcher’s blood. It was dry enough to infer that the guy had to be dead for at least a couple of hours. Content with her findings, she stood up, directing her attention to the rest of the area.

The room wasn’t even a fraction of the main hall size. There was barely enough space for the display panel and some sort of computer at the end of it, the one Kyungwon was messing around with. There were two elevators right in front of the display panel which boasted a set of picturesque green doors with rows of small black dots for added decoration. However, the one to the right seemed completely ruined with no apparent hope of repair, indicated mostly by semi-open doors and the sparks that came from the cables on top of it, the ones that were barely holding it in place.

Thankfully, the one to the left seemed functional. A small keycard reader was directly to the side of it.

“Here it says we need a researcher keycard to gain access to the labs”- Kyungwon read something from the computer - “Does the guy over there have one on him?”

Nayoung glanced back, looking at the corpse, there didn’t seem to be anything of use on him at first sight.

“He should have one if he is a researcher… but he doesn’t”- The idea of forcing the elevator door open came to mind but was quickly discarded, she neither had the tools nor the strength to do it - “Do you think Minkyung could have gone down?”

“Certainly not without a keycard, boss”- Kyungwon answered without raising her eyes, concentrated on the keyboard - “Unless the person she was after had one… or she took it from our friend over there”

“Can’t you open the elevator from that computer?”- Nayoung asked, quickly thinking of some sort of plan B.

“I don’t think so, this one is used to check the personnel that use the elevator…”- Kyungwon’s answer was the one she expected - “I can try though…”

“Well, get on it”- Finally moving away from the elevators, Nayoung moved to the door the researcher had come through before he died. If she wasn’t wrong, then that one should lead towards the hallway that headed to the conference room. - “I’ll check the rest of the area, wait for me here, if you can’t open it by the time I return then we’ll have to search elsewhere for a card”

She pressed the red button besides it and the sliding door opened, letting her through.

Nayoung: Enters Conference room hallway, Facility 1F, Ibis Island.

11:13pm

The moment the sliding doors closed shut behind her, an alarm started blaring. There was an audible click, one that she recognized as the door locking itself. She turned back, looking through the see-through class at the elevator hall. Kyungwon, frightened by the noise, quickly ran towards the same door, frantically pushing the same red button Nayoung had pressed just a few seconds ago.

The door didn’t budge at all.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

“Guys, what happened there? I’m receiving notifications of a security lockdown in the elevator area!”- Siyeon’s curious voice came in through the radio.

“No time to talk, open it, Kyungwon is trapped inside the elevator hall”- Nayoung commanded while trying to force the door open to no avail. Kyungwon had stopped trying to, rushing back to the control box instead.

“Just Kyungwon?”- Siyeon asked - “What about you? Did you manage to get out?”

“The room locked down just as I stepped out of it”- There was a brief moment of silence in which Siyeon didn’t answer - “Can you ing unlock it or not?”

“I... I don’t know how to exactly; I can try…”- Siyeon answered after a few more seconds before her voice unexpectedly raised in volume. - “Here! It says the lock will be automatically reset in ten minutes!”

The alarm progressively died down, allowing Nayoung to think with a bit more clarity.

“I can try to unlock it from here boss”- Kyungwon chimed in the conversation from her own radio.

“Well, good, you do that, I’ll search the rest of this area then…”- Now much more relaxed as the alarm finally stopped, Nayoung allowed herself to breathe. - “God damnit, what a scare.”

Nothing seemingly bad came out of the situation, only a minor setback in having Kyungwon stuck inside a room for ten minutes. Nayoung directed one last look to the room and saw Kyungwon giving her a thumbs up. Now assured, she turned around, giving the hallway a look of scrutiny.

She realized then that she had made a fatal mistake, giving her back to an area that could potentially have been filled with hungry dinosaurs. Luckily for her, there was a set of electronic lasers, much like those back in the office hallway, between her and the nearest door, which coincidentally was the one that led to the office.

The elevator room could have been accessed much earlier if only the door to the office had been unlocked when she entered the facility along with Minkyung. But now there was no point in gnawing at those thoughts.

Nayoung perked up her ears, hoping to catch some kind of sound that’d alert her of the presence of any dinosaurs, there were none. Once certain that she was alone, she turned off the lasers, taking long, quick steps towards it.

The doorknob offered no resistance to her, turning quickly and letting the small door open.

And, as it did, something moved inside the room, catching Nayoung’s attention just barely.

Raising her rifle, Nayoung entered the room, and closed the door behind her.

*****************************

Office, Facility 1F, Ibis Island.

11:14pm

It was a typical looking office, papers were scattered everywhere along with memos, posts, a few paper shredders and a couple of telephones that, ironically in contrast to all the advance tech pieces, were corded.

There were also a few lockers and multiple boxes stacked above them, probably holding the personal files and effects of the people that worked, or more specifically, used to work there. All in all, the place seemed to be akin to the office area inside the second floor, bar the cubicles since there were only eight desks in totals, gathered by groups of four, everyone with its respective office chair, some of which were tumbled on the floor.

Though a certain piece of technology stood out above everything else. Besides an old looking computer was a fingerprint detector that looked quite sophisticated, which led Nayoung to wonder the purpose of such device.

But none of that mattered to Nayoung, what mattered now was that she had company inside the room, and it didn’t seem to be a raptor from the looks of it.

Whoever was there had consciously hid from her.

Nayoung advanced, keeping close watch on the desks. The room was big and plain, there were literally no spaces to hide in other than behind the desks, unless you were fit or small enough to fit in one of the lockers.

She took a step closer and she heard something coming from between the desks. Bingo.

She took another step, one of the nearby chairs moved a little bit.

She took a third step and she heard it clearly, somebody was trying hard not to breathe.

She took a fourth step and, predictably, someone shoot through the room, running as fast as their legs would carry them to the locked door that led to the office hallway. Nayoung raised her weapon’s sights, aiming it at one of the far away desks that belonged to the second group before pulling the trigger.

The bullet pierced through the air, reaching the metal desk and ricocheting towards a wall, but causing the stranger to freeze in the spot.

“Take one more step and one of those is going through your skull”- Nayoung growled menacingly, making the girl shiver - “Name and profession, now.”

“Please don’t kill me, I work here”- Though her voice sounded composed enough, Nayoung’s years of experience in the field told her that the woman in front of her was nothing short of scared less - “I’m one of the lead researchers”

The clothes were a clear indication of that, the woman in front of her had clearly been wounded, a blood-soaked makeshift bandage on her shoulder a testament of her decent survival skills. She had apparently torn her own lab coat to dress the wound, an admirable effort coming from a scientist, people that had the reputation of valuing their attire more than their own lives.

“I’m the general of the echo division of the KCTU, we are here to rescue civilians and workers alike after a distress call sent from this island”- Nayoung recited a brief introduction, now sure that the girl meant no harm she allowed herself to lower her gun, using it as a sign of cooperation too. - “My name is…”

“Nayoung…?”- The mention of her name caught her by surprise and, instinctively, she raised her gun back up again.

“Who…?”- Though she didn’t hesitate to lower it once she realized who she was talking too. - “Jieqiong?

*****************************

Resting hall, Facility 3F, Ibis Island.

11:15pm

“Damnit! We need to hurry! We don’t have much time and I didn’t manage to get Miss rock inside the room with Kyungwon!”- Siyeon grumbled, annoyed, as both her and Kyla finished going up the stairs that led to the third floor. - “For ’s sake!”

“Your plan wasn’t really foolproof after all, who would have thought?”- Kyla half-giggled, half-panted, as she fought to recover the air her lungs had lost after such a mad dash to reach the floor they were now in.

“Are you really mocking me?”- Siyeon, whose breathing was ragged too, snapped back - “Be glad I’m nice enough not to leave you alone in this place full of hungry dinoes.”

“At this point I’m starting to think I’ll have more chances of making it alive by myself.”- And Kyla, unfazed, replied - “Not to mention I ended up saving your life when I opened the door for you in the second floor, so you owe me.”

“You…! Shut up! Just let me think, I can’t even hear my own thoughts over the sound of your assholiness”

“So now I’m the , sure…”- Kyla muttered. Siyeon did not care enough to talk back, more distracted in searching her surroundings.

The room they were now in was a reduced version of the offices downstairs, though there were absolutely no desks, there were a few couches and chairs around plus a few ornaments and houseplants that made the otherwise grey room feel a little bit livelier.

Though that liveliness paled when most of the walls were coated of crimson-red blood. However, there was no corpse in sigh other than a dead raptor.

And coming from it were small, sporadic sounds akin to munches.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”- Kyla, now appearing recovered, gave Siyeon an odd look. - “Are you trying to scare me”

Siyeon, now much more alert, grabbed the handgun that rested on her belt, unholstering it and pointing it straight at the deceased dinosaur.

“It’s dead, Siyeon, I don’t…”

“Shhh…”

She took a few steps forward and the munching became more clear, to the point that even Kyla had started to perceive it. And it seemed to come straight from the creature’s belly. Siyeon got just a tiny bit closer, keeping her gun trained on the corpse.

And, just as her feet landed, a small snout emerged from the carcass, emitting a short and cute *rawr* as it arose, its face and slim neck covered in raptor’s blood.

“Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”- Siyeon took a step back and stumbled on her own feet, falling down rather brusquely on her . “Surprised” would have done no justice to the emotion she felt. She was terrified.

On the other hand, Kyla was also on the floor.

Laughing her off.

Now past the initial shock Siyeon started getting up, observing as multiple more heads protruded from the dead dinosaur before all the small creatures scattered around, running frantically probably due to the shrill scream Siyeon let out. After a brief moment, all the small beasts gathered and ran towards an open door nearby, one that led to the balcony and into the antenna room or the communication room, the places they were looking to go.

“What the was that?”- Kyla hollered before turning towards Kyla, who was making an effort to stand up too - “Come on! Stop laughing! You would have been scared too!”

“Sorry, sorry”- Kyla apologized, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes as she struggled to keep her laugh suppressed - “It was just too funny, I’m sorry, really, I won’t laugh anymore”

“What the hell were those things?”- Siyeon asked, rubbing her , which was stinging painfully.

“Compsognathus, they are small carnivores that hunt in pack”- Surprisingly, Kyla blurted out all that information from one moment to another - “Probably the reason that velociraptor is dead too”

“And you know that… because?”- Siyeon couldn’t say she wasn’t astonished.

“Oh, I was a dino-nerd when I was little”- Kyla replied nonchalantly, waving her hand as if it was nothing - “Some of that knowledge never left”

“As if dealing with raptors wasn’t enough now I have to deal with the tyrannosaurus nerd”- Siyeon’s pun elicited a laugh –one that wasn’t directed straight at her at least – out of the otherwise commonly serious Kyla.

“Okay, I’ll admit it, that one was funny”- Siyeon would have laughed along, if not for one little thing.

“Shh…”

There was a soft, short hiss coming from a shadowy area inside the very room they were in. Siyeon wasted no time raising her gun