Author's Note: PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE! This is a sequel to my story "Return to Jurassic", and if you don't read that first, you might be somewhat confused by this story! If you go to my profile page, there's a link at the bottom, which might get you there faster. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but it is highly recommended. (As a side note, RtJ was one of the first Jurassic Park stories posted in this section and up until at LEAST November 13, 2003, it had the most reviews in the Jurassic Park section. Let's see if we can beat that with this story!)

With that said, WELCOME, EVERYONE! And in some cases, WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE! I must say that anyone who read my last story put up with all 41,211 words extremely well. Heh – I'm having fun. I'm still sad about the end of RtJ (this one will be abbreviated A23) … very sad. Yes indeed.

Thanks to my new beta, Captain Oblivious.

Summary Five years later, Eric is still getting over Lane's death when someone calls him, offering him a job concerning Isla Sorna. They offer him a great sum of money and his need of it pushes him to accept. But he didn't know what kind of job he was getting himself into, and what kind of people he would be working with…

This book is dedicated to my sister, Captain Oblivious.

Return to Jurassic: Annihilate 23

By: Autumn Darkness

Chapter One- The Past Still Hurts

The wound in her stomach poured blood freely. Her already filthy clothes became more and more red. Her blood dripped onto my skin. I looked into her face and saw tears running swiftly down it. "Eric," she whispered.

I jerked awake. My body was dripping with a cold sweat and my sheets were plastered to me. I peeled the blankets back and sat up, bringing my legs over the side of the bed and resting them on the floor. I ran the back of my hand over my forehead and a convulsive shiver ran down my spine. It would be six years this coming month. Six years since that one horrible day when …

I sighed and stood up. Thinking about that only made me more depressed (than I already was). Besides, if I kept thinking about … her … I would continue having the horrible dreams that I had been having for the past years. Had it only been six years? Time seemed to be going extremely slow.

I walked into my bathroom, turned on the cold water, and put my head under the stream of liquid. Perfect. No more constant headache, even though I knew it would still be there when I pulled my head out of the water. Ah, the irony of life. Take away someone's love and leave them mortally wounded for the rest of eternity. Sure, sixteen was a rather young age to find "the one." Up to that day, I still thought that Lane Marie Jessica Martin would still be "the one" for me … if only she was alive.

In a flash, the Tyrannosaurus was on her. He picked her up in his jaws and shook her around. She screamed out in pain as the dinosaur's teeth went through her middle.

I pulled my head out from under the water and shook it, spraying dampness throughout my outdated bathroom. I looked at the mirror - water dripping down and down - water dripping like tears.

A couple tears rolled off my chin and onto her cheeks. She was so pale.

I shook my head again, then hit it against the mirror. "Pull yourself out of it, man," I muttered under my breath. I, Eric James Kirby, was stronger than this. She was just a girl. She was a dead girl; one who had been dead for six whole years; one whom I had teased and tortured for five years. I could get over this. "Besides," I added in an undertone, "You have another job interview today." 'Another' was the key word.

I slammed my head against my steering wheel several times before I even thought about putting the keys into the ignition. 'Eric Kirby, dinosaur freak and world wide geek.'

I should just wear that on my nametag, I thought. No one was ever going to hire me. Practically everyone knew me as 'that kid who was on that island… twice,' or 'that kid who killed his friend on that island that's supposed to have dinosaurs on it,' or 'that whack-job.' Those who didn't know who I was were probably deaf, blind, and without feeling so that they couldn't read brail. "You're the most famous person alive!" my friend Tina once said. But I couldn't see why they knew who I was, but they didn't know who she and her husband were. "You two have been on the island too!" I had yelled back at her.

"Yeah," she had said, wrapping her arm around Brad Kim's waist, "But we were only there once."

She and Brad had been married three years now, and Tina had just had her first kid. We were really good friends, but we still fought all the time. One of the things I regretted after every argument was when I would say; "You seemed to get over Lane awfully quick. Especially since she was your best friend!"

I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and parked in my usual spot. "Gotta get over this," I muttered as I climbed the steps to the second floor. I unlocked my door and pushed it open. A musty smell flowed out to greet me. Home. Yeah, it wasn't much, and it sure wasn't pretty, but it was home.

"Who would have thought that McDonalds would be that picky," I said under my breath.

I sat down on my couch and switched the television on.

"—Here with Doctor Alan Grant, a paleontologist." The reporter said. I sat up straighter as the camera zoomed out to show a man (wearing his signature "Indiana Jones" hat) who looked much older than the last time I had seen him.

"He is here in India, trying to capture all of these wild birds you see behind us."

For the fist time I noticed the sky was filled with … not birds, but Pteranadons. Very big Pteranadons.

"Doctor Grant, what brought you here?"

"I've been working with dinosaurs…"

"Birds, Doctor Grant."

"Yes, right, birds, for a long time now. Really, this job is only for the professionals. These birds are extremely dangerous and can kill…"

"That's all the time we have for today. Again, I'm Alex Snow, live with CMN news; back to you, Chelsea."

I turned the television off and shook my head. The only reason Alan had taken the job was because of the money. Judging by what he was working with, a very large sum of money. Why the news station wanted to call the extremely dangerous dinosaurs 'birds' was not completely beyond me, but seemed rather stupid.

My telephone suddenly rang, causing me to jump. Sighing, I picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, Eric. You sound tired!" A voice said.

"Oh hi, Tina. I just got turned down again," I said, running my hand through my short brown hair.

"Oh, Eric, I'm sorry!" she said. She sounded really happy …

"Did you get your book published?" I asked, grinning.

"YES!" she screeched. "Oh my gosh, Eric, it's so nice to finally get it out there. And you know what's weird?"

"What?" I asked, even though I already knew what she was going to tell me.

"I can still remember every word that Lane told me. You know that day when … my birthday … when she found me?"

"Yep," I said calmly.

"Yeah, when we exchanged stories. I still remember every word she told me. I started writing it down right away because I thought it would help me get over her. And it really did. It was hard writing the last chapter, but … thanks for your story at the end, guy. It really helped."

I sighed inwardly. "No problem."

"So you're going to come to the signing, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Great. So … do you need some more money for your rent?"

I sighed. Tina always called me around this time of month to see if I had any luck with finding a job. If not, she would fork over some money (because Brad was a big time lawyer and she was a semi-famous author) that I would add to my tab. So far, I owed them 24,000 dollars. Not a good thing.

"Uh … give me a couple days. I might have a job by then … and if not, you can wire it to me. Okay?" I didn't try to fight her any more. She would always beat me down … or send the money to me anyways.

"Eric, you're going to get the bill tomorrow. You don't want to send it in late … again. I'll just drive it down tomorrow, okay?"

I sighed. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Eric, come on. Things aren't always going to be this way. Maybe you should move up here! You could live with us, and start with a fresh plate. There are a lot of job opportunities and…"

"Less drug deals?" I asked.

Now it was Tina's turn to sigh. "You know I didn't mean that…"

"Naw, it's okay. I know what you meant. I know what goes on in this building, and I can't say I'm all that happy about it. But … listen. I would love to come up and see you some time. But it'll only be for a couple weeks, and after I try a few other places down here."

"What places haven't you tried?"

"That new post-it store opened a couple blocks away…"

"Eric, you are not working there. That's not how you're going to spend your life."

"Then what do you…?"

"I already said! Come up here and try our options. It would do you good."

I sighed … again. "What would I do with my apartment?"

"Sell it. Goodness knows you wouldn't want to go back to that place … would you?"

"I don't know. It's kind of cozy."

"Eric, be serious. Please come up. You can stay with us as long as you like. Little Jennifer would love to see you."

I rubbed my temples. "I'll think about it."

"Okay. Just so long as you actually do think. I better go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," I said wearily.

"Bye!" came her cheerful voice, soon followed by a click, signaling the end of our conversation.

"I hate being dependent on people," I muttered, putting the phone down. Taking her money was bad enough. Now she wanted me to live with them. I couldn't stand kids! Jennifer was so clingy to me … and she called me her uncle. I wasn't even closely related to the diapered little smelly thing!

"Think about it; right," I said. Like I was going to baby-sit her for the rest of my life. Wonderful chewed up cheerios and drool on me 24/7 wasn't a very appetizing thought. More like a horrible thought. A deadly thought that would kill me whenever it had the chance … or whenever mealtime came around. Aw, what a pleasant thought. 'Thought' was a very important word in my limited vocabulary. I seemed to think it a lot.

"I didn't think –" I tried to say, but Lane cut me off, like she had done several times before.

"That's right," she said. "You didn't think. I hate you, Eric."

RING!

Stupid phone, I thought. I picked the receiver up. "Hello?" I asked wearily. This day has been way too long. I thought.

"Hello, is this Mr. Kirby?"

"Yeah."

"Hi, Eric … is it alright if I call you 'Eric'?"

"Fine."

"Well, Eric, I have a proposition for you."

"I'm not selling any drugs." I said, quickly hanging up. Too many people had called me and thought I would sell illegal drugs for them, just because I lived in this apartment complex. 'Dump-villa' most people called it. Every single one of them said, "I have a proposition for you." Well … most of them. Some of them just came right out and said, "You want to sell some dope?"

"Okay, Tina," I said. "I'll think about it."

Author's Note: I hate starting new stories. They just seem to go so slow in the beginning. Writing a sequel is hard, too, because you have to make it as good as the first … without going overboard.

Sorry about 'all the phone calls'. But, you needed to hear from Tina! And … I'm still setting up the story.

Please review!