Hello, this is my first time writing a fanfiction, so expect a lot of errors. Please review my first fanfiction, so I can improve on it.
There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we can bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever? We're going back in time on a safari with a difference, as wild life adventurer Nigel Marven plunges into pre-history to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance. Welcome to the ultimate wild life Sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park!
A small, bird like creature perched its self on a branch, outside of Nigel's office. The creature had black feathers on its body, with white feathers around its neck and wings. Suddenly, the animal jumped off the branch. It glided across the canopy of trees and snatched a dragonfly mid-air. Then, it landed on another tree. This creature is the Microraptor and Nigel never got tired looking at the majestic Dinosaur. Nigel continued marveling at the raptor until it glided off into a different part of the forest.
"Uh, Nigel? Can I come in?" Nigel turned around to see Alex, his assistant and fellow rescuer of prehistoric wildlife. After the breakout of the park's lone female Tyrannosaurus, Matilda, Nigel decided to hire more staff. Nigel needed someone to watch his back while out on expeditions or if there was another breakout.
"Yes, sorry, I was observing one of our Microraptors."
Alex nodded, "Yea, well, we have a meeting today at four, which is in about ten minutes," Nigel had completely forgotten about that meeting, they were going to discuss Nigel's next rescue operation and the park's financial stability.
"Ahh, right, we should probably get a move on that and I can't wait to see bob's reaction to the next Dinosaur we're bringing back." Nigel chuckled, which also gave Alex a small grin.
"Alex, you go ahead, I need to grab some things before I go to the meeting," Nigel said this while digging through piles of photos and documents. "Alright, you got it," And with that, Alex left Nigel's disorganized office.
20 Minutes later, the main complex of Prehistoric Park.
Nigel walked into Prehistoric Park's temporary headquarters, they planned on building a much larger building in the near future. He saw four of the park's most important people. Suzanne McNabb, the head Veterinarian of Prehistoric Park and a close friend. Next, was Bob Arthur, the Head Keeper, who seemed to be dozing off. Nigel's assistant, Alex, had also made it. He was having some difficulty, as half his face was beet red due to sunburn. The person, sitting at the end of the long table was Head of Security, Aaron Botha, he was a tough as nails guy. Nigel recruited him several months after the breakout, in order to buff up the security in the park. He was an expert tracker and was a veteran of the South African Army, his rank was Colonel.
"Attention everyone!" With that, Bob, jumped in his seat, looking dazed and exhausted. "Finally, it took you a bloody long time Nigel, this meeting better be important because I have other things to do right now."
"Oh yes, this is one of our most important meetings. I'll be going over our next rescue expedition, our financial details and the opening of the park, which is in about a year," This grabbed everyone's attention and now they were all listening to Nigel intently. Aaron, who had his feet on the table, dropped them to the floor and Bob rose up from his slouched position, sitting up straight.
"So, Nigel, what prehistoric beastie are ya bringing for me this time? You had me set up two large enclosures, both having a very swamp-like habitat, with lakes in the middle of each, I can only guess that these will gigantic creatures," Although Bob was Head Keeper of Prehistoric Park, he was always a bit cautious around the large carnivorous animals.
"I'm glad you asked Bob, the creature I will be bringing back was one of the largest therapod Dinosaurs to ever walk the Earth, the Spinosaurus. It is several meters longer than Tyrannosaurus Rex and it is a piscivorous Dinosaur. The reason I had Bob build the swampy looking enclosures is because Spinosaurus and the other Dinosaurs I'm bringing back lived in that type of environment," Everyone went silent for a few seconds, then Aaron spoke up, "How dangerous is this creature? Because I don't want another breakout to occur. Nobody got hurt last time, but that could easily change," Ever since Aaron Botha was hired, he became wary of a few of the Dinosaurs, especially since he had heard of the breakout that occurred before he was hired. He put in extra security measures, such as cameras all around the park and he bought a couple dozen rifles, just in case things got too wild.
"Spinosaurus shouldn't be too dangerous, since its main diet was fish, but it definitely has the capability to be dangerous," This calmed the nerves of both Bob and Aaron, "But I'll still keep my eye on that bastard," Aaron said this while laying his rifle on the table.
"I have a few pictures of the Dinosaur, just so you guys know what we're dealing with," Nigel handed out half a dozen photos of some illustrations and fossils of the gigantic creature.
Suzanne observed ne of the photos, which showed the fossilized jaws of the Spinosaurus, then she suddenly stood up, "Nigel, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things," Nigel looked up from the documents he was holding in his hand, which had charts and information about the park's finances. Nigel nodded and said, "Yes, Suzanne?" Suzanne cleared her throat, "What specifically did you want to talk about, in terms of the park's finances? We're receiving a lot of sponsors and donations. Plus, people have bought tickets in advance for when our park opens."
"Right, well, I wanted to come up with another way of making money and I wanted all of you to advise me on this. Suzanne is right, the park is financially stable, but if we have another source of income that would be great, we could build more things in the park, like the café we wanted to build next to the main complex and other enclosures," Nigel was right, an extra source of income would be beneficial to the well-being of the park. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Suddenly, Alex, perked his head up, "Maybe, we could sell Dinosaur manure. Farmers need their fertilizer after all, haha," Alex said this with a small grin, which quickly faded away after an awkward silence from the rest of the staff.
"That actually isn't a bad idea," Bob was the first one to respond Alex's response. Since Bob is the Head Keeper, he has had a lot of experience picking up after the prehistoric animals.
Nigel responded to this, "I agree, we could sell the manure to farmers and the money we get can be used to fund more projects in the park. Good thinking Alex. Bob, I want you to start working on that."
Aaron spoke up from the end of the table, "Let's talk about the opening of the park, what other prehistoric wildlife do you plan on bringing back from extinction?" Aaron's role in security would greatly increase after the park open, he would have to deal with not only prehistoric beasts, but with people. He was known to dislike most people he met and thousands of people coming to the park was his nightmare.
"I already have Bob working on several additional enclosures, for our future rescues, but I will unveil these creatures when it comes time to rescue them. Also, Bob, can you meet at the new enclosures in about two hours? I just need to do some last-minute inspections. Any other questions?" There was a long silence, it seemed like the meeting was over. "Good, alright, Alex and I have to prepare for our little adventure, I'll see you guys soon!"
And with that, everyone stood up, stretching their legs. It was going to be a very busy day.
Ornithomimus Pond, 30 minutes later.
A large flock of Ornithomimus were drinking at their pond. Some of them were running around their enclosure and others were laying their eggs. With no predators, the Ornithomimus population has expanded greatly. Many of the females are busy building nests, so they can lay their eggs. While these Dinosaurs were laying their eggs, Bob was picking up the feces that they had left behind.
"Jeremy! Could ya help me with this, I'm getting too old for this," Jeremy was one of the new employees at the park. However, some of the Ornithomimus had taken a liking to him. Several of them surrounded Jeremy and were sniffing him. They had never seen him before, so naturally they were curious.
"Sorry boss! They just won't let me through, these things are like magnets to me," As he said that, one of them pecked him on the head, "Owww, stop that!"
"It's alright, they'll get used to ya," Jeremy finally managed to break free from his captors, but several of them decided to follow him around.
As Bob was picking up a big pile of Dinosaur feces with his shovel, two juvenile Ornithomimus sprinted up to him. They still had some brown fluff from when they were just chicks. One was a male while the other one was a female, they were siblings. Bob knew these two, Ollie and Olivia.
Over a year ago, one of the Ornithomimus mothers abandoned two of her eggs, this was out of instinct though. The mothers would abandon two eggs outside of the nest, sort of like a sacrifice to the predators to keep the other eggs safe. Bob had taken both eggs and began to incubate them. The other eggs hatched on time, but it seemed as if these eggs wouldn't make it. Suzanne believed the eggs wouldn't hatch, but Bob didn't give up on them. However, after a long wait, both eggs hatched. Bob named them Ollie and Olivia, both immediately imprinted on Bob, they saw him as their mother. Ever since then, they've had an inseparable bond.
Bob stroked ollie and then Olivia. Both of them loved getting attention from Bob. Sometimes they would become jealous if he gave too much attention to one sibling. Bob reached down into his pocket, he dug around in there until he grabbed what he was looking for. Crackers, sometimes he'd give these to Ollie and Olivia. Officially, he wasn't allowed to, but he couldn't resist. Both of them snatched their treats and ran off. Bob had a soft spot for those two.
"Bob, I finished picking up all of this dung," Jeremy still had several Ornithomimus right behind him, occasionally they would poke him with their beaks. "Alright, load all of that into the truck."
Now, Bob had to meet Nigel had the newly built enclosures.
Prehistoric Park's Animal Infirmary.
Suzanne readied her needle, she was about to inject a bunch of medicine into the tranquillized Troodon that was laying on her table. Rascal, that was the name of this sick Dinosaur. He was quite the trouble maker. Last year, after Nigel rescued the Deinosuchus, a giant 40-foot-long crocodile, Rascal managed to sneak into Nigel's jeep. The stowaway then frightened the park's resident Borealosaurus herd. This caused a domino effect of breakouts, including Matilda, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Most people didn't take a liking to the small one-meter long carnivore. He is often aggressive to the keepers. One time he bit a keeper on the arm, although it wasn't severe. The keepers are now wary of Rascal. The small carnivore definitely earned his name.
Recently, Rascal has come down with a bad sickness. Some of Rascal's keepers noticed his odd behavior, he was more docile than normal, but more importantly he had been bleeding from his nose. They tranquillized him and brought him to the infirmary.
Suzanne injected the animal with the medicine. Rascal kicked a little bit after feeling some pain for a few seconds, then his legs became still again. After this, Rascal's condition should start improving.
"Michelle, can you hand me that white bandage?" A timid lady in a white lab coat handed the bandage to Suzanne. Michelle was Suzanne's new assistant, she had a lot of experience working with animals. She was actually hired a few days ago, making her the newest employee of Prehistoric Park. Currently, she was shadowing Suzanne.
Suzanne rapped the bandage around the leg of the Troodon. "Alright, can one you guys help carry him to the holding pen?" One of the keepers stepped up, he put his hands underneath the Troodon. Rascal only weighed around 50 pounds, so he wasn't too hard to carry.
Suzanne was going to keep Rascal under observation for a couple of days, to see if his condition improved. However, for now, Suzanne was going to take a much needed break in her quarters.
Helipad, main complex
"This is Park Ranger Lee to command center, the terror bird escaped again, we're tracking it right now, but we've lost sight of it, we need some air support."
"Copy that, I've got my team ready to go," This was Aaron's job, catching escaped animals. This was the third time this year that the terror bird had escaped. Honestly, he found the Terror Bird to be the most irritating animal in the park. The ten-foot-tall flightless bird was constantly digging up holes underneath his fence. He had told Nigel to replace the wooden fence with a metal fence that dug a meter into the ground, that way that overgrown Emu can't escape anymore.
"All right boys, lets take to the sky," The Helicopter pilot entered the cockpit and started the engines. The Helicopters blades started to spin, at first very slowly, then it started to speed up. Another park ranger got into the helicopter, on the other side.
Aaron had his rifle, he didn't have live ammunition, instead he had tranquillizer darts. He took a seat on the helicopter as it began to rise up from the ground. The Helicopter slowly turned around, facing the direction of Titanosaur Treetops, the last known location of the Terror Bird. The Helicopter jolted forward and they began their search for the Terror Bird.
As the Helicopter flew over the park, there was a good view on the whole park. On Aaron's side he could see a creek flowing through an enclosure, this was known as Triceratops Creek. A Triceratops, named Theo was munching on some shrubs. Theo was the park's only Triceratops, sometimes he became very aggressive, due to surges in testosterone. Bob had come with a plan to satisfy the Triceratops. Bob made a tractor designed to look similar to the Triceratops. When Theo became aggressive, Bob would get the tractor and joust with the young male.
Next to Triceratops Creek, was T. Rex Hill. The enclosure was separated by a fence, to prevent fights between the Rex siblings, Terrence and Matilda. Terrence seemed to be napping on his side of the fence. However, he quickly rose up once he heard the loud noise of the helicopter. Matilda, on the other hand was more active. She was viciously tearing up a slab of meat, probably what was left of a cow. Matilda tilted her head up and swallowed the remaining bits of the carcass. The Tyrannosaurs were easily the largest carnivores in the park, but that title would soon belong to the Spinosaurus.
"Lee to Botha, we've spotted the Terror Bird heading to Mammoth Mount, he is currently running through Titanosaur Treetops to get there," Aaron pulled out his radio, "Alright, stay behind him, I need him out in the open so I can tranquillize him."
The helicopter was flying right over Titanosaur Treetops, then Aaron saw it. The ten-foot-tall bird was making its way through the Borealosaurus herd. These giant Sauropods barely took notice to the bird, but about 100 meters behind the bird, there was a jeep, desperately trying to keep up. Aaron aimed his rifle at the bird. Through his scopes he could see the Terror Bird up close. He took aim at the neck of the creature. He readied his finger on the trigger, then, he fired!
Aaron saw the dart exit the gun, but it hit a tree. There were too many trees and bushes in the way, he couldn't get a clean shot in these conditions. "Sir, Mammoth Mount is coming up, you'll be able to get a good shot there," The pilot was pointing towards a large open plains area. There was a herd of Elephants, as well as Martha, the park's Wooly Mammoth.
"Lower the Helicopter, I'm gonna take a shot as soon as he sprints out of the forest,"
The Terror Bird was jumping over fallen logs and dodging the visibility of the jeep that was close behind it. Aaron readied his gun again; the bird was about to exit the forest.
It burst out of the forest, which took the Elephants and Martha by surprise. The whole herd began trumpeting with their trunks. Squawks escaped the mouth of the Terror Bird as he made a bee line towards the herd. Aaron had his scope right on the bird, his fingers on the trigger. He fired his rifle and the dart made a direct hit on the bird's body. It took a second for the bird to realize what had happened, he slowed down. He turned his head around to look at the dart that hit his body.
The ranger team that was behind the bird finally caught up to the now very drowsy animal. Aaron's helicopter began a rapid descent to the ground, until it landed on the grass. By the time he exited the helicopter, the Terror Bird was fast asleep.
"Load him up on the jeep, I'll get his head and I need the rest of you to help carry him onto the jeep," All the rangers grabbed different parts of the body, they all lifted the bird up into the air. Many of the rangers were struggling to lift the massive bird. They took tiny steps to the jeep, eventually, one of the rangers moved the jeep close to the bird. Finally, they set the bird on the back of the jeep and put some white tarp over the Terror Bird.
"Ahh, hopefully that won't happen again," Aaron spun around to see Joseph Lee, one of the rangers and his friend. They had developed a close friendship, usually Aaron didn't see his colleagues as friends, but this was an exception.
"Yea, the bastard got out again, he keeps digging underneath the fence. I keep on telling Nigel to replace the wooden fence, but he hasn't gotten to it yet. I respect and admire Nigel, but he can be naïve when it comes to the park's security, heck, he was reluctant to establish a security division. Last time nobody got hurt when Matilda got loose, but if it happens again, someone could die," In Aaron's mind, Nigel was a brave and adventurous man, but he had flaws. Aaron has seen Nigel's office, it's a disaster. He can see Nigel's disorganization in the way he runs the park; late to meetings, not telling his employees what Dinosaurs he will be rescuing until last minute and there are tons of other examples. At the same time, he respected the hell outta Nigel for going back in time and facing the Earth's most dangerous animals.
"I agree, hopefully he decides to expand this division, especially since we've got that new Dino coming in, what's it called? A Spina- Spinosaurus? Anyway, all I'm saying is we need more security in this park," Most of the rangers, such as Joseph held the same mentality.
"I'll talk to Nigel about it, anyways, we should head to the portal, we need to be ready to corral the animals in the holding pens and then transport them to their respective enclosures," And with that, all the rangers left to go to the portal.
The two new enclosures
Nigel and Alex were walking to the new enclosures. They had spent a few hours packing up essential supplies for the trip and gathering the rest of the team. As usual, Nigel will bring a camera crew to observe the Dinosaurs. Nigel liked having their rescue operations recorded. Maybe someday people would look back on these recordings and see what life was like before humans came along.
"Hey, Nigel, this is my first trip back into prehistory, I'm kind of nervous. What if we get chased by a Dinosaur, what if a Sarcosuchus drags me into the water, what if-," Nigel put his arm in front of his younger colleague, "Don't worry, these animals will be more curious about us, than dangerous and I've brought a couple of rifles with live ammunition, yes, it is a dangerous time period, but all will be fine. I've gone back into prehistory more than a dozen times and I haven't suffered any injuries. This will be my first time seeing a live Spinosaurus, so that's something new for me. Just stick by me and you'll be fine," Nigel gave his young colleague a warm smile. He then patted him on the back.
"Okay, I got it, just, uhh, stay calm. Alright, I think I'm good," Alex's muscles became less tense than before. "Good, you started to sound like Bob for a second," This put a smile on both of their faces.
As they were walking, they saw Bob in the distance. He and a team of keepers were putting the final touches on the Spinosaurus enclosure. They were putting dozens of fresh water fish into the lake. These fish will be the main source of food for the Spinosaurus. In addition to that, the other keepers were planting a few more trees. Eventually, these trees will grow large enough to provide shade for the Spinosaurus. A few turtles and lizards were also put into the enclosure to make it feel more natural.
"Aye, Nigel, we're just finishing up here," Bob was standing in an observation tower, which overlooked the entire Spinosaurus enclosure. The tower was mostly made of wood and had a thatched roof, additionally, there were telescopes you could look into to see Dinosaurs that are too far away.
"I can see that, good job Bob, you've really outdone yourself this time," That compliment gave a small smile and chuckle.
"Thank you, Nigel. So, exactly how large is this Dinosaur? You said it was one of the largest Therapods."
"Spinosaurus is about 15 meters longs, head to tail. Also, it has a gigantic sail, I can't wait to see one!" Nigel always looked forward to his rescue missions, he got see things no other man can say they've seen.
"I thought you were bringing back a Dinosaur, not a bloody monster! Nigel, you're gonna give me a heart attack someday," All of them burst out in laughter. All of them looked out into the enclosure. It was truly a beautiful habitat to live in. Nigel wasn't kidding when he said Bob had outdone himself.
"Well Bob, I better get going, the portal is opening soon and Aaron's security team have already set themselves up next to the holding pens," With that, Nigel and Alex exited the observation tower and started their walk to the portal.
"Good luck Nigel, don't get eaten!" Bob called out to them jokingly.
Portal, 20 minutes later
Nigel had prepared everything and now was the time to go. Two jeeps and six other people were going back in time with Nigel and Alex. An assortment of keepers and rangers would be waiting by the portal for the Dinosaurs, they would corral the Dinosaurs in the holding pens and then they would transport them to their paddocks.
"Alright, turn the portal on!" Nigel signaled for the operator to turn the portal on. All of sudden, a blur of blue and white appeared in a circular shape. The portal had been turned on.
Nigel and Alex got into their jeeps. "Are you ready Alex?" Nigel asked.
"Um, yes, I'm ready for this, my first trip into prehistory," Alex said while he was fiddling with his hands, a nervous habit of his.
"Alright, here we go," Nigel revved up the jeep and they entered the portal.