This is by far the cheesiest song I've ever heard, I think to myself as a grand orchestra plays a crescendo of the 'ground-breaking' music that was composed just for this place.
I pull my headphones out and glance up to the cockpit door where a woman in a red getup leans through the entry, her rear-end already attracting the gaze of the broad man and his female companion who sit beside me. Smirking to myself, I divert my gaze out the window at my elbow, my eyes watching the transition of water to land, the stark colours of lush greenery piquing my interest.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be approaching our destination momentarily. If you could please return your seats to the upright position and stow and secure any handheld electronics, we would be much obliged," the woman in red drawls into the end of the phone connected to the sound system causing me to break from my reverie. I seem to catch her eye just in time to get a slick wink and a smile before she moves to sit in her own jump-seat near the lavatory and begins to buckle her belt.
The moment she's secure, I feel the air get heavy around me as the plane noticeably starts it descent. My hands, ever the canary in the coal mine, grip to the armrests at my side.
"Relax, man. This is where it gets exciting," the man beside me crows, knocking his elbow into my shoulder with more force than necessary.
I keep my mouth shut because his white-blonde hair and tan complexion is bound to be bought and paid for by whatever TV station he's with and I don't want to mess with old media today. The fight just isn't in me. I'm here by the luck of invitation only – my oldest friend Delly Cartwright was inspired by my latest blog post on genetic research and decided I needed to come to where she works to get a little hands-on experience.
I'm still not sure what she meant by that but it's too late now to do anything but close my eyes and kiss my ass goodbye as the plane lands hard on the runway, undoubtedly headed for a crash. Unbelievably rolling to a stop a few minutes later.
The door to the outside world is swung open and I'm the first to step foot on the waiting staircase. I'm caught off guard by the bright sun and the wall of moist heat that engulfs me, the sound of the blades winding down slowly giving way to the creeping quiet of the jungle that surrounds the airstrip on all sides.
"Well, it's about time!" Delly shouts from the base of the staircase, bouncing on her heels as she throws up her arms to greet me. I'm pulled into her tight embrace as soon as I hit solid ground and I breathe a sigh of relief that's more audible than intended. "I'm sorry, I know you hate flying, but this was far better than coming in on a helicopter, I promise you!"
"No, it's fine. It was a long flight," I tip my head towards the blonde and his equally good-looking-in-a-plastic-kind-of-way woman before rolling my eyes dramatically. The flight had been equal parts raucous and loud as they'd entertained themselves throughout with the plane's dwindling mini-bar selection.
"Oh, stop. It couldn't have been that bad. Cashmere and Gloss are perfectly nice people," Delly insists, smacking me fondly upside the head before moving on to greet the TV crew with her usual over-bubbling energy.
I take the welcomed abandonment to really focus on my surroundings, turning in a three-sixty to see the mountains that roll upward to the west and the dense forest that seems to stand like an impenetrable wall on each side of us. Except, of course, for the luxury building that breaches the green with its stark white walls and accompanying balconies.
"Is that where we're staying?" The woman I now understand to be Cashmere calls, her high-pitched voiced excitable.
"Indeed, that is our flagship four-star hotel property that is connected to the Discovery Centre. We do have three other accommodation properties on the island for a variety of individual preferences but they're currently still under construction. We'll be staying here for the duration of your visit so that you can experience our world-class chef's cooking while also taking in the park's main attractions with our on-site expert and Park Coordinator, Katniss Everdeen. Before you know it, I can guarantee you, you'll never want to leave. Shall we head in?" Delly finishes, looking around to the ten of us before nodding and ushering us into the short bus emblazoned with the park logo.
Grabbing a seat at the front, I pull Delly down to the seat beside me and turn her chin so that she can't avoid my measuring gaze. It was an old trick I learned back when I wanted to get the truth out of her without her natural sugar-coating ways.
"You and I both took the same biology stream in university so I know you know what I know. Tell me this isn't a terrible idea that's just beginning to take root?" I beg, knowing full well that many of my nights leading up to this trip were spent turning over the science that I knew and the logic that screamed how horrible this all could really be.
"Peeta, you're being ridiculous. This park will be the safest adventure park offering in the world. Just wait until you meet Katniss, she'll convince you."
"I don't need convincing, Delly. I just want to be sure that you've thought through every possibility here. I remember our module on chaos theory and nature, you know," I insist, a burst of laughter from behind us causing us both to look towards the back of the bus where the TV crew is popping a cap marble against the metal bars and causing tiny bursts of gunpowder to be ignited. The action makes me sigh with annoyance before Delly clears her throat to get my attention back.
"We have. You're here to see for yourself and write an amazing first-look at this once-in-a-lifetime place," Delly reassures me, placing her hand over my knee and giving a little squeeze before getting to her feet. Behind her, through the windshield, that's when I get my first glance at what I'm really here for.
Off in the distance, beyond the trees that have given way to rolling grass fields, is the hotel we're heading to. And mutts.
Big mutts.
Dinosaur sized mutts.
"We're coming up on the first open-concept attraction, everyone. If you want to take your seats, I'm sure each of you will be interested to see the first dinosaurs to walk the earth since the pre-Dark Days Cretaceous period."
Despite the raging beat of my heart in my chest I force myself to look out my window and zero in on an Alamosaurus, not a few hundred feet away, feeding at the treeline, its length of tail far beyond what I've ever seen before in a living, breathing, creature.
The Capitol has done the impossible. They've brought back the dinosaurs.
The roaring sound of the orchestra piece bursts into my mind, its great building tempo filling me until I'm dizzy with a mixture of childish excitement and skeptical fear. I look up from my place at the window and meet Delly's blinding smile.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park, Peeta."