Neoaima: Isle of the Reborn

Chapter 5-Myth to Reality

    The jungle began growing dark, the headlights of the wagon was all that illuminated the trees, bushes and any animals passing by. Lucas could feel how rough the terrain was; the vehicle kept bouncing as if they were constantly hitting speed bumps. On at least two instances, Lucas winced in pain as his head collided with the walls of the Jeep; Amelia firmly placed her hand on his shoulder to help keep him still.

"You doing alright, mate?" Smith asked Lucas in an entertained tone. "Fine, I guess!" Lucas responded back, rubbing his head, still in pain from the hit.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." White responded back, everybody broke into instant laughter at Brown's detriment.

"By the way, I never got any of your names." Lucas said, trying to distract himself from the uncomfortable ride.

"Sergeant Cooper White, pleasure to meet ya, Dr. Brown!" Said White, keeping his eyes on the path to the Base.

"The poor bastard on the turret is Oliver." Said White.

"Is he okay out there?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah...I think." White responded back.

"When we get back to base, we'll see if the wind blew his head off or not." Said Smith, the two soldiers erupting in laughter.

"Lieutenant Smith, this is Sergeant Jackson. Come in." A voice called out on the radio.

"Report!" Smith responded back.

"Our trail cams have detected movement by the Southern Base. Something small." Smith looked over at Amelia.

"Well that's awfully vague." Amelia exclaimed.

"Can you identify the specimen?" Smith asked over the radio.

"Dr. Wilson is analyzing it, over." The radio went silent for a bit; while they waited for a response back, they began to notice the wind growing stronger.

"Looks like the storm will be hitting us soon." Smith said.

"Sir, it's one of the smaller Dinosaurs." Jackson said on the radio.

"Is it a Skinner or a Singer?" Smith asked, Lucas looked at Amelia confused. "I'll explain when we get back to base." Amelia said.

"Dr. Wilson says it's a Singer!" Jackson responded back, and Smith sighed in relief.

"Okay, good. Last thing we need is a pack of Skinners near the base during the night." Smith said.

"Keep an eye out for any Hook-Hands, we're almost there and we don't need to be attacked!"

"Copy that, over!" Jackson said before the radio feed cut off.

"It's one of the less hostile specimens, fortunately. Can't guarantee we aren't going to get some unwanted visitors in the middle of the night." Smith said. When they finally arrived at the base, two of Lee's colleagues, Isaac Turner, and Luke Anderson stood outside waiting for the Jeep to finally pull up. They covered their heads with a large sheet to keep themselves dry from the rain that was slowly pouring down on them. Lucas and Amelia got out of the Jeep and ran towards the two with their heads lowered.

"Get them inside, quickly!" Smith cried out. Jackson rushed over to help him take the supplies back inside. They made it inside one of the tents, with several other military personnel inside, along with two other scientists.

"Dr. Brown." One of the scientists approached Lucas, he then extended his hand towards him. "I'm Dr. Conor Wilson, evolutionary biologist. It's a pleasure to meet you." Conor said as Lucas shook his hand. He was a bearded man in his forties, with a muscular build, which was enough to intimidate Lucas. However, he desperately tried to maintain his composure.

"It is great to meet you, Dr. Wilson." Lucas said. Conor turned away from him and signaled the other scientist to walk forward. He was a bit more slender, wore glasses and lacked any facial hair. "This is Mason McCoy, he's a zoologist from California, he specializes in insular wildlife."

"It is great to meet you, Dr. Brown." Mason extended his hand to Lucas, "Lemme guess, the U.S. sent you to analyze the Chelimimus sightings?" Lucas asked.

"The U.S. government did it for the safety of our citizens. I only volunteered because I wanted to examine the behavioral differences between the island and the oceanic populations." Mason explained.

"I began to notice their activity when I saw great white sharks fighting off several Chelis in the Farallon Islands, nevermind finding a mutilated carcass right next to a colony of elephant seals."

"Hold on a second! You work at that radioactive waste dump?" Lucas alarmingly asked.

"Yes."

"Christ."

"I've also been to Snake Island, among other places." Mason said.

"Snake Island? With the bloody Lanceheads?" Lucas asked.

"That's the one."

"That takes guts, mate. Pretty fuckin' impressive." Lucas said.

"Thanks. So you're....a cryptozoologist?" Mason asked.

"Yes." Mason stared at him with a baffled look in his eyes.

"I also caught a juvenile Cheli in Papua New Guinea."

"Ah yes, we all heard about the Abaia." Conor joined in on the conversation.

"Not entirely surprised by the name that the locals gave it. These birds did take on a very eel-like appearance."

"Well I guess that's the mystery of the mystical eel...partially solved." Lucas sarcastically remarked.

"Since you're big on New Guinea cryptids, mate." Luke said, walking over to a metal table. "I think you're going to like this." Several fossils rested on it, a good portion of them were mere fragments, but there was one complete specimen. Lucas could tell by the incredibly thin arms and the location of its fingers that it was an animal capable of flight. His eyes began to widen the more he examined it and from the moment he looked at its snout; it was a pterosaur.

"This can't be—Is this the Ropen?" Lucas asked.

"For all we know, aside from the lack of evidence to suggest bioluminescence. Its overall reconstruction seems to match the descriptions of the Ropen." Luke said.

"No way." Lucas placed his hands on his head, a smile stretched across his cheeks as his heart began to race; this was a game-changer for him.

"What's the rest of the fossils?" Lucas asked.

"Ah well, lots of creatures from the Eocene and Pliocene. We got some Megalodon teeth and a lower jaw of a Dorudon. The rest is still indeterminate." Luke said.

"If you think those fossils are cool. Once the storm passes, we're going over to the Northeast base....we found fossils even more exciting then the Ropen." Luke said. Suddenly, Lieutenant Smith walked into the tent, some of the heavy rain poured inside for a brief second.

"Had to take in the supplies to one of the other tents." Smith said, heavily breathing from exhaustion. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah....just catching up." Conor said.

"That's good." Smith responded back.

"Jackson! I'm going to need you outside, White and Oliver are making sure none of our headlights go out, they could use the extra help."

"Yes Lieutenant." Sergeant Jackson grabbed his gun and walked out of the tent.

"I hope they'll be alright." Amelia said with a concerned tone.

"Yeah....I hope so too." Liam said, taking a seat on one of the chairs to relax himself.

"They're tough guys, I have faith in them." Liam said as a sudden thunder roared into the sky, briefly flashing before the interior of the tent grew just a little darker once more.