Welcome to the Jungle

Chapter 11: Ace of Spades

Knelt down, Mike tried to control his breathing and kept eye contact with Ace. It was a dominance fight between them and he knew he shouldn't blink. The Raptor approached him slowly, his eyes fixed and unblinking just like his master's. Mike gradually stretched his hand up in a familiar sign that calmed the Raptors.

"That's it, buddy. Easy..." Mike whispered as the Raptor came closer. His hand was only inches away from Ace's head when someone's voice broke their bonding.

"Mike?" Winn called loudly.

He must have been gone for too long and had gotten Winn worried.

"Winn don't come any closer!" Mike shouted when Ace broke their eye contact and hissed at Winn standing six meters away. The poor tech genius froze dreadfully at the sight. "Oh my God!"

Mike used the animal's momentary distraction to get back to his feet and changed his position from being so vulnerable.

"Ace, hey, look at me." He commanded in a firm yet calm voice. "I'm right here." Mike snapped his finger and the Raptor finally took his eyes off of Winn to look at Mike.

"That's right. Just look at me." He reached for the snout once again in slow motion. "It's me, remember?" He held his palm nonthreateningly for Ace to sniff. Smelling was the Raptor's sharpest sense and Mike imagined under this pouring rain he might not look or smell as he usually appeared to them, but his smell hadn't changed and the Raptor needed to be assured that it was him.

In what felt like ages, Ace finally relented and blinked. A sign of trust. Mike touched his head and let go of the breath he had been holding. Only then he glanced over to Winn who had been standing like a statue with a pale face and open mouth.

"Hey, it's safe now. You should go back inside. I'll come in a moment."

Winn didn't need to be told twice and scurried away as soon as the words were out of Mike's mouth. He obviously had had enough of this.

To Mike's dismay, Ace didn't stand around much longer. He distanced himself from Mike and gave him one last look before running off and disappearing beyond the dark mist. The night had fallen now.

Mike stepped inside and saw the lights were back on. He found Winn working in the computers in the lab. The screen in front of him was filled with lines upon lines of undecipherable letters and numbers in small font. He was into the system.

"Mike!" Winn finally spotted his best friend. "Are you okay? What happened out there?"

Mike briefly told him about the guy and Ace, but left out the gruesome details. He then decided to rest a bit in a corner. His body begged him to end this day already. Mike saw the small dinosaurs they had company were peeking through his backpack and sniffing it. They could sense the eggs in it and Mike knew it was very possible that they would want to eat it, so he shooed them away and held his bag pressed to his chest.

They got something to eat from their backpacks, sharing it with the little hungry animals before they tried to eat their fingers and Winn went back to what he had been doing, mumbling while working tirelessly and continuously.

Exploring around, Mike found a special device in the lab he had seen before. It was designed to help to keep the embryo eggs in an appropriate temperature. He got it running and put the eggs inside it before closing the glass lid. They should now be safe in there, away from claws or teeth.

Very soon Mike had difficulty keeping his eyes open and staying vigilant. His thoughts drifted to some other place when the tension of fear finally faded away. Two bluest eyes he had ever seen, shining like comets, a bright smile and rosy cheeks. He fell asleep hoping Kara was alright.