https://youtu.be/laUNlsz1CeY

It is silent.

I can feel that I'm lying on the ground, a stone is poking me in the back.

I softly groan, I'm in pain.

I slowly open my eyes. Grass. Roots. I must be in a forest.

Something in my face feels crusty. As I touch it, I see dark red flakes on my hand, bruises and scratches. Was I... bleeding?

I sit up.

I only now notice how warm it is, humid, hot. I'm in a jungle.

The calls of tropical birds fill the air, but they are farther away than they probably should be.

I look down on myself, my clothes are a bit torn, and surrounding me are branches of various sizes.

I try to stand up, walk for a bit to see if everything works like it's supposed to, but just after standing I can feel nausea rise within me and I shakingly sit down again.

Where am I?

I can remember... little. An island I was sent to investigate, along with a few others. An only partially legal helicopter-ride. Something, smaller than the helicopter, bigger than a seagull... I try to dig through my memories. Big for something that's able to fly... maybe an albatross? No, it was weirdly discoloured for it being that.

I wonder why it came this close to us.

And then Kareem lost control, maybe a combination of an air hole and the animal incident, but we were swirling and the trees and the cliffs and the trees... when we hit the treetops things came crashing down, everything that wasn't tied down flew through the air, hit us like bricks.

I think we came to a halt in a very thick and sturdy tree, most of us what felt like barely conscious.

I must have managed to climb out, or more fall out of the trees. I don't know why I did so, but I'm glad I'm still alive.

I am alive.

Where are the others? Are they alive and well too? My mind is spinning and spinning, not just with thoughts but with light-headedness as well. I need to concentrate, to at least try and ignore the nausea for now.

I don't have a walkie-talkie with me, so I'll have to search for them without one. I look up, the trees silently watching over me. If I'm here, the helicopter must be somewhere above me. I see damaged branches; we definitely came through here. As I follow the line of destruction, I see dragonflies, but way bigger than any I have ever seen. Maybe three quarters of a meter in wingspan, they are gigantic; silently flying from A to B, always observing their surroundings with possibly far more than 30.000 eyes.

Then I see the rudder and tail rotor of the helicopter peeking out of the thicket above me. Nothing seems to be burning, but there also is no sign of life.

I freeze.

The giant dragonflies. They are Meganeura.

I remember where we crashed. Isla Nublar, an island in the Pacific Ocean, almost 200 kilometres west of Costa Rica. Here live the reminders of an old age, one long gone by, who have been reawaken by scientists. And a failed amusement park, built on their backs, with a foundation of amber and DNA.

I listen for noises in the bush, they could be hiding anywhere.

As it stays silent, I try to scoot over to the tree I most likely fell out of, watching, listening, staying alert.

I look up, I need to reach the lowest branches. The feeling in the back of my mind reminds me that I most likely wouldn't even manage to stand up without my insides violently trying to escape my body.

I have to, I need to search for my team.

It doesn't have any branches that are low enough, but it seems to have a gnarled growth along its base, high enough to get to where I need to be. I sigh and try to get up, leaning on the tree.

Everything hurts. My legs are on fire, my arms are beat up, my back sore. The world is swirling around me, and I will. Not. Throw. Up.

Not yet at least.

I try to reach for a good spot to grip, and with a solid stepping stone I make my way up.

My head feels like it's going to explode any second now, and my hands are shaking.

Just a few more.

I'm maybe a metre off the ground, but the way is long.

Another step, another dead branch to grab.

I'm thankful for all the hours I spent bouldering.

I pull myself up, up, up.

Another step – I slip on moss and am hanging on bark almost three metres above the earth. I gnash my teeth, the scrapes in my hands hurt terribly. I place my foot on another lump of wood, and push through, push myself up.

The first big branch that looks like it could support my full weight is another two metres above me.

I'm almost there I remind myself, desperately trying to ignore the cold sweats running along my back.

I feel sick.

The nubs and creaks in the tree become rarer, and the strength in my arms is faltering. A bit above me are the remains of a branch, just out of reach. I muster everything I can to get there and take the jump.

The scratches in my palm only hurt worse, but I catch myself, pull myself up to get to another possible hand placement and manage to get my feet into a lower creek in the tree.

If I get just a little higher, I am safe.

My brain is pulsating, and my ears are burning.

But I'm almost there.

I can hear leaves move on the ground; a movement too big to be caused by just wind.

And then a small noise, but unearthly, old, as I never could have imagined it. Somewhere between a muffled trombone and a snarl, but at the same time it reminded me of something else, something probably less dangerous.

I dared not to move.

My hands were shaking, sweating; I didn't know how much longer I would be able to hold on. Without moving my head, I tried to see where I should move next, and spotted a few good spots to go to, but the noises still were there. I catched a glimpse of what looked like a big bird with a relatively long tail, not too unfamiliar to a modern cassowary. I would've been amazed if I wasn't so terrified.

There also was some sort of squeaking, and it dawned on me that there also were younglings. I knew they were protective of their young, but hearing them, in a thick forest on a lone island truly was something else. My fingers were going numb. I just had to hope they weren't able to jump or flutter as high as I was at the moment, though it is unlikely since they were so big. The adults at least.

I concentrated, looked to where I had to go, listened for the noises. Fougt down the urge to vomit. About three more steps, and I could swing onto the big branch.

One more deep breath, and I began to move. My hands shakingly found the next spot, I push through, up, up. Foot placement, bend, stretch again, reach up. One more time I reached up, broke the branch. The noises looked in my direction, seemed to ask who or even what I was. Ignore them, stop thinking, you're almost there. I held on to the knob, put my foot in a knothole, pushed up. Made sure my right hand and right foot were secure, then reached over the branch with my left leg. The tiny noises already were scattering further away, but the big noise still wasn't so far gone. My left hand reached for one last knot on the other side of the branch, then I slowly lowered my bodyweight onto the branch. It held.

I hold onto the branch with my legs like an inexperienced rider might hold onto the belly of a pony, just that my pony was five metres off the ground and that something from the Cretaceous period was staring at me, while its younglings were already further in the underbrush.

I'm hot and cold at the same time, and my every limb is shaking. I'm in pain. My head feels like a grenade went off inside it, my mouth is watering, my hands cut. I keep my eyes closed; everything is too bright.

Now it is relatively easy to stay still, hugging the tree like there is no tomorrow. I can hear the noises slowly make their way further into the jungle. I open one eye to look at what stared me down as I climbed. I wasn't able to tell exactly, but some type of Oviraptorid seemed fitting. The adult was of a dark, greyish colour, covered with long feathers. The crest on top of its heads was prominent, and truly reminded me of a cassowary. Not too far off, I thought.

One of the dragonflies flew by, not even two metres from where I sat. I closed my eyes again; the world was swirling around me. In my mind I was climbing the tree, to the helicopter. The others still should be there, unless they climbed down. Unlikely, I heard no one else. Who would need my help first? Kareem probably not, he can take on quite something before being knocked out; but on the other hand, he was the pilot and if the windshield gave in to the tree he might be seriously injured. Andressa was on the right side relatively in the back, she might be fine; only being this high up might be something of a problem. I don't really know about Finn, he is more of a fragile nature; but as long as he isn't hurt he should be easy to deal with. Lastly, we have Isaac. I think she was sitting next to me, so relatively near the door, but she also sat in front of our baggage that partially came loose. If some of the heavier equipment hit her, she might be injured as well.

I opened my eyes again, my headache was still pulsing through my brain, but it wasn't as bad anymore. I looked up, and tried to see how well I could get to the top. There were relatively many branches now, and pretty close together so I could climb up.

I was wondering why there were this many branches on a tree in the middle of the jungle, but maybe there once was a clearing here and this was one of the trees that stood just at the rim of it.

I continued to hug the tree, to get my fingers into every creek and on every stub I could, falling now would be fatal. I was standing now, the next branch just at eye level. Climbing for a bit, swinging onto the next branch, standing up, climb, branch, stand.

I couldn't tell you how long it took me to get to the top, many breaks to calm my shaking hands, to fight my body's reaction to the situation I found myself in. Eventually the ground was out of sight, obscured by branches and leaves, I was escorted by the same dragonflies I had seen. They were gigantic, and now I didn't have to fear to get mauled by dinosaurs. They drifted through the winds, hunting. I wondered how big the insects were that the Meganeura would be able to eat them, but quickly discarded that thought. I had to go further.

Finally, I was at the top, and found myself just a few metres below the crashed helicopter. I was just about to shout for my companions, when I noticed that there were no more dragonflies. There were other insects, smaller, possibly fit for prey for the best insectoid hunters in the world. I listened, for my team, for other noises. Then I saw something in the corner of my eye, something flying. I searched the sky for other silhouettes, and I found others of its kind. Not birds, but dinosaurs. And I heard a creaking, a noise an ancestor of a young bird might make when its parents come to it with food. Sometimes it was here, sometimes there; this must be an entire colony of them.

Carefully I climbed, I saw the open door of the helicopter. Also saw something that looked human, maybe Finn, still strapped into his seat, but seemingly unconscious.

Then the squeaking of multiple small voices was right above me, there was a nest in this tree as well. If we crashed into this nest and our windshield was broken... I felt the light-headedness return. If the parents were even as big as a seagull we might be in serious trouble, and if I was the only one to make it out in time... I didn't even want to think any further. As quietly as I was able to, I climbed, tried to stay out of view of the adults flying above.

Maybe Dimorphodon. We speculated they might not be very often in the air, but these seemed to be on guard for their colony. They probably would "change shifts" every now and then, a sign of a strong social bond. But their diet consisted of mostly insects if our assumptions were correct, so my companions might be fine as long as the dinosaurs didn't defend their nest. Then it might get nasty.

I was almost there; I could climb into the helicopter. It was Finn who I saw earlier, he seemed to be out cold. A deep scratch on his cheek seemed to be the only wound he had. Andressa seemed to be fine, but I couldn't tell whether she was conscious. Isaacs clothes were a bit torn, and I saw something that looked like a bite mark on her lower arm. I couldn't see Kareem, but I guessed that he didn't look much better. One last time I scanned the sky and my surroundings for the Dimorphodons, but they didn't seem to have spotted me yet.

I pulled myself up into the small cabin, it was shaking slightly. I carefully shook Finn's shoulder. Nothing.

I could hear my blood pulsing through my ears.

He was still breathing, just not responding to me. I'll try again after checking on the others. I moved over to Andressa, and I saw that her eyes were fluttering. "Hey, Res, are you okay?", I whispered. When I touched her shoulder, she flinched, but she was looking at me. "It's okay, I'm here. It's just me. Are you hurt?" She seemed to process what I just said, understandable, it took a while for me to adjust too.

I was breathing actively at the moment, in, out. Sharply, fast, but controlled.

When she shook her head, I nodded and went over to Isaac. I first examined the bite mark, but it didn't seem to go very deep. I remembered that, while Dimorphodon had teeth, they weren't that big. We still should bandage it, but I just was glad it wasn't too big of an injury. She groaned when I tried to wake her up, so she seemed to be relatively fine as well.

My hands were trembling slightly as they searched for spots to hold on to.

At least alive. I decided that I'd look for the medi-pack in a minute and climbed into the cockpit. The windshield was badly damaged, cracks running through almost every square decimetre, even a few holes were there. I could see the nest, their tiny heads sometimes peeking out of the sticks and moss. Kareem had quite some bruises, what looked like claw marks on his lower arms and one or two bitemarks.

I felt my heart beating in my chest. I hoped that his did as well.

"Hey, are you okay?" I whispered, always looking back and forth between him and the nest. No adults yet. He didn't really react to me shaking him gently, only made a soft and very quiet sound as if breathing in more harshly.

A sigh of relief escaped my lungs, I didn't even notice I held my breath.

I decided to get the medi-pack, for him as well as for the others. As I climbed back, I already saw that Andressa was tending to Isaac.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

"Relatively speaking at least. Are those little pests venomous?"

"Don't think so. They got Kareem pretty badly; did they attack us – or you at least?"

"Yeah. Somehow made their way in here and started attacking, but I don't know much else. Must've blacked out from the exhaustion. Did you go somewhere or why are you asking?"

"Somehow made my way out and off the tree. The windshield is broken, they got in there. Just in front of us is a nest, so of course they need to defend it. I need the medi-pack, could you give me some of the bandages and salve? We'll talk later."

She gave some of it to me, and after going to Finn again and shaking him a little more violently than before I made my way back to Kareem. I was about halfway through patching him up when his eyes started fluttering.

I froze for a second but was just glad to get a response from him.

He was startled as well when I touched him again but understood quickly when I signalled for him to be quiet and pointed out to the window. The younglings were yelling for a parent, it will soon be back. I pointed to his bruises and to the Dimorphodons, he nodded. I finished my job and slowly climbed back, always keeping an eye on the nest.

When I was back in the cabin Finn was just coming to his senses and was carefully touching a fresh band aid on his cheek. As everyone was more or less awake now (Isaac still had the paper-thingies from the band aid in hand), I felt my own head protest again, the adrenaline of having to save my friends slowly washed off. I felt my knees get weak; my hands were starting to shake again. The lightheadedness suffocated my brain, I needed to sit down.

"You're pale. How are you? Are you okay?"

I couldn't tell who was talking to me, my vision was blurry, went clear, blurred again. Big black spots started to appear in the corners of my eyes.

"I – uh, I don't feel so..."

Everything went out.

When I awoke again, I found myself lying on one of the seat-benches of the helicopter. My head still hurt, but I didn't have the urge to vomit as strongly anymore. As I opened my eyes, I found that someone had put a band aid on my forehead, above my right eyebrow. I remembered; I had been bleeding there. It seemed so long ago when I was sitting at the bottom of this tree.

"Don't worry, you weren't out for long. Are you better now?"

A face was hovering above me, Andressa was inspecting me with a kind, but concerned look.

I tried to nod.

"I've seen them take on more than just that, they most likely are fine." Finn was besides her, looking me up and down as well with his soft, concerned gaze. The others were up too, gathered in the small cabin. Isaac was doing something on my leg, "Just checking you aren't hurt anywhere else", when she saw I was looking at her.

"So, you're fine?"

"Yeah, I think so."

We were still whispering, and quickly shut up when we collectively noticed that the nest was especially loud at the moment. Don't alert the adults, don't make a noise.

I looked outside, the sun cast warm golden light as if it was just about sink below the horizon. I sat up, quietly went to the helicopter door. As I approached the edge, I decided to climb to a point where I had a better view of the scenery.

The nest was quieter now, but I didn't even notice.

When I lowered myself into the foliage Andressa was right behind me. "I'll come with you."

The others were at the door as well, Kareem was sitting there with his feet dangling not too far away from our heads.

After finding a good spot a little higher, I sat in a fork and just watched the surrounding lands.

Golden light kissed the treetops, the calls of tropical birds and their cousins from a different age above and below us. Adult Dimorphodons in the sky, south there seemed to be a few Pteranodons, and in the distance we saw the long necks of Brachiosaurs above the green. I was in awe, to be alive to witness something as it might have been millions of years ago.

"Well, I'll be damned..."

Kareems voice was a bit raspy. The warm light on our faces made us forget how we arrived at this place, for now we were guests in a world long gone by, now, at dawn. The calls carried my thoughts far beyond the clouds high above. The cries of the younglings rang in my ears from time to time, but that didn't matter. I was lost in the moment, in a time before my own.

I felt the others behind me, looking over the valley that lied untouched by humans for years now.

I took a deep breath of the clean, fresh air. It smelled like green and unseen things, like a new adventure.

"Welcome", I said, "to Jurassic Park."