I never wanted to be a father again. Not after Nevine. But when I found Koa—alive, trembling, eyes wide with terror in the wreckage of the Zoic—I couldn’t leave her. The others were gone. My mission, my wife, my daughter… all lost. The distress beacon is sent, but rescue is months away, if it comes at all.

Now we’re climbing the mountain. I told her her parents might be alive up there. It was a lie. I saw the escape pod’s impact site—it was fatal. But she follows me, trusting me, while dinosaurs stalk us in the shadows.

We just survived a cave attack. A rockfall split us apart. I killed an Oviraptor with my last charge rod. She killed a dromaeosaur with the bomb I gave her. She’s stronger than I thought.

I’m sinking in quicksand now, mud up to my chest. She’s running toward me, screaming in her language. I don’t understand the words, but I hear the fear. The jungle is silent. Too silent.

She reaches out her hand. Do I take it and trust her completely? Do I push her away to save myself? Or do I tell her the truth about her parents now, before it’s too late?