The Lost Dinosaur |2| Nublar Seven Series

Wolf in Disguise

I apologize for my chaotic self from the last chapter, so here is an even more chaotic chapter

Hayden

It was my first time riding a helicopter. The thing was loud. The helicopter was all black with two rotors, one on the front and the other on the back. It was one of those helicopters you only see in war movies and it definitely fit a whole battalion inside it. The ride to the east dock took five minutes and it was bumpy. Between having a Raptor dangling in the air and the pilot mentioning the volcano was messing up the rotor, there was some turbulence to be expected.

The east dock was made for moving cargo. There was a tall fence much similar to that of dinosaur's paddocks, containers were spread everywhere and there were two piers going far into the ocean. Different from the other dock I had been to on this island, this one had the longest piers, enough to hold a medium size cargo ship. Said ship, SS Arcadia, stood on the end of one pier, the back of it opened up in such a way vehicles could enter with ease in the cargo hold.

There were several cages inside the cargo hold, the top deck and the pier. All different sizes with different dinosaurs. From the sky, I could see a Triceratops in a cage with its baby, three Sinoceratops and three Gallimimus... I recognized all of the herbivores, but there were no carnivores in sight. Cranes moved the cages, a particular one the size of a container had an Apatosaurus struggling against the ropes.

It took a while to land, as they had to get Blue first. The T. rex must be right behind us on another helicopter. We landed on the empty pier rather smoothly. Zia was the first one to jump out, without even waiting for the rotor to slow down. I went last, waiting for Wheatley and his men to go first. Owen had returned to check on Dearing and Franklin, and they were set to walk to the dock once they were done guiding the men to the rest of the dinosaurs.

"Take the Raptor to my truck on the cargo hold. She needs medical assistance." Wheatley ordered the men transporting Blue on the pier.

Zia followed in a hurry, complaining that the men were being too rough with Blue. I stood on the pier, uncertain where to go. The dock was chaotic, but there were some order to it. Men running around with more ropes to tie the Apatosaurus, others trying to calm down two newly arrived Stegosaurus, someone yelling they spotted the Pteranodons near the eastern mountains.

"Round up the boys, we'll have some carnivores arriving shortly." Wheatley said to the remaining three men. He finally glanced at me. "The more the merrier."

'More teeth, he means.' I shook my head. "I'm helping Zia." I walked away.

Down the pier, I passed the Stegosauruses, both of them were on top of trucks with a tarp covering the kite shaped pates and spiked tail. The dinosaurs were unmoving, but they had their eyes open, they were probably taken down with the tranquilizer. The closest dinosaur followed me with its eye, the pupils were dilated to the limit and I swear I saw a tear.

A lump formed on my throat. 'It's for the best.' I told myself. 'It has to be. Otherwise, what are we doing here?'

I picked up the pace and entered the ship's cargo hold. Mercenaries stared at me as I passed through, some looks made me feel more uncomfortable than others, but I kept my posture straight. There were more dinosaurs down here, three Stygimolochs and four Parasaurolophuses. Honestly, from the many dinosaurs on the island, they had to get a whole family of the annoying glow in the dark Elvis wannabes? Not to mention the several little crates of Compies, I lost count of how many there were.

The ship was bigger than I anticipated, but it made sense to harbor this many heavy dinosaurs. It was a maze of trucks and cages, there were more empty ones than full. Lucky for me, I could hear Zia's voice barking orders over the ship's noises. Following that, I came to a military truck with the back covered in a camouflaged tarp. Peeking inside, there was a table to which Blue was strapped to, and old, yellow overhead lamps illuminated the place. Zia had blue surgical gloves on and looked like she was monitoring the dinosaurs' heartbeat, and next to her a man held pressure to the bullet wound.