Jurassic World: The Animated Series
JW007
"Extinction Now"
San Huelva, California
Two men clambered down a ladder into the sewers. When they reached the bottom, they both pulled out flashlights, and began looking around.
"That's weird," one of them said.
"What's weird, Steve?" the other asked.
"Ain't there usually rats down here, Collin?" Steve asked.
"Now that you mention it," Collin scratched his beard.
"Does this place seem creepier than usual?" Steve muttered.
"Let's just fix those wires and go," Collin replied.
The two men began walking down the corridor, shining their flashlights ahead of them. Collin suddenly stopped, as his flashlight beam shone over a dead rat. Or rather...half a dead rat. And a small yellow and green chicken-sized dinosaur that was making a meal out of it.
The compsognathus squeaked in protest when the high-beam shone upon it, and darted off into the shadows.
"What the heck was that?" Steve demanded.
"It was a dinosaur," Collin said fearfully.
"A little one?" Steve asked incredulously.
"Don't you know anything?" Collin said. "Most dinosaurs were the size of sheep. But the little ones were way more dangerous than the big ones. We gotta go. I ain't dealing with no dinosaurs!"
"Look!" Steve said, aiming his flashlight up. "There's the wires...Oh jeeze...What happened? It looks like something has been...gnawing..."
"We have got to get out of here!" Collin practically screamed.
"Yeah, yeah, that's probably a good..." Steve fell silent. The flashlight was now illuminating four compsognathus. All standing on the pipes, and squeaking at the two humans.
"Back away slowly," Collin said, slowly backing away from the exposed wire. He heard another squeak as he stepped on a compy on the ground behind him.
Collin spun around and pointed his flashlight down at the 12 compys that were now congregating on the ground behind him. There was another squeak and Steve pointed his flashlight back at the pipes.
The two men looked at each other in horror, and both made a dash towards the ladder back up to the street.
Collin let out a scream as suddenly he found more than a dozen of the small dinosaurs on his back, stumbling to the ground in shock. Steve spun around and looked in horror at his friend.
This was a mistake. Another dozen or more compys leapt off of the pipes onto his back as well. He let out a yelp of pain and surprise, as his flashlight tumbled out of his grip and onto the sewer tunnel flood, shattering apart and veiling the corridor in darkness.
THREE SLASH MARKS RIP ACROSS SCREEN
John Williams's Classic Jurassic Park theme begins to play, accompanied by the following images.
Jurassic World: The Animated Series Theme song.
Owen Grady riding a motorcycle alongside Blue.
The Mosasaur surging out of the water, its jaws clamping down on a net full of fish for a commercial fishing vessel.
Claire Dearing punching a Dilophosaurus in the face.
Maisie petting Styggy the Stygimoloch.
Alan Grant sketching Blue.
Franklin Webb operating a drone from his laptop.
Zia Rodriguez standing in the middle of a savannah as a Tyrannosaurus rex and the Spinosaurus rex roar at each other defiantly.
Jess Harding running from Troodons
Roland Tembo firing shots at a Carnotaurus
Rexy stomping out of her Paddock and letting out a Triumphant ROAR!
The Jurassic World Logo. 'The Animated Series' Subtitle beneath it.
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San Huelva Zoo, California
A transport truck marked with 'Official San Huelva Zoo Vehicle' and a horse trailer attached to it pulled into the loading bay at the back of the zoo.
The San Huelva Zoo was not a large zoo, it was actually a small part of the larger William Johnson Park, which covered about 1,200 acres of land in the city of San Huelva. 93 acres of that land, tucked away in the southwest corner of the park, was the San Huelva Zoo.
The Zoo itself was currently undergoing massive renovations, designed to better accommodate its new guests. Rexy the Tyrannosaurus rex, former star of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World's key exhibits. Three Triceratops, Four Sinoceratops, Four Chasmosaurs, all sharing space with the rhinoceros, none of whom seemed particularly bothered by the presence of the others.
Right next to the Penguin and Puffin building was a large air-conditioned enclosure that contained a polar bear, and one Mammoth. The Polar Bear was annoyed by the presence of the mammoth, but wasn't exactly in a position to do anything about it. The mammoth, for her part, barely noticed the polar bear, and instead focused on trying to communicate with the Indian Elephants in the enclosure across from the Polar Bear/Mammoth paddock. Sadly, due to their vastly different temperature requirements, Jess was forced to keep the pachyderms separate, as she would have been more than happy to house them together.
The Children's zoo housed two thylacines in the enclosure next to the Tasmanian Devils, and the petting zoo—now devoid of goats, as a safety precaution should Rexy break out and seek out her favorite food—had replaced the goat enclosure with a chicken coop that contained 16 dodos.
A lone Parasaurolophus nibbled on high-calorie bio-engineered plants on a tiny island in the middle of the lake at the center of the zoo. The Lakeview Café outdoor patio overlooked the lake and subsequently the Parasaurolophus.
Jess Harding and Christine Meyers approached the zoo vehicle.
"What have we got?" Christine asked.
"Herrerasaurus," Grant said, climbing out of the truck cab. Jess instinctively took a step back. "Early Triassic Period. Primarily fed on small mammals and reptiles."
"And people riding on roller coasters," Jess said blankly.
"That's not a Jurassic World Dinosaur," Christine said.
"No, it isn't," Zia said climbing out of the back of the truck alongside Roland Tembo and Franklin Webb.
"Though there were some at Jurassic Park," Franklin acknowledged, nodding at Jess. "They were all found dead during the 1994 cleanup of the island. In-Gen never bred anymore, though they always had the DNA on hand."
"It looks like Mosby Pharmaceuticals cloned a whole batch of dinosaurs," Grant said quietly. "And were running medical experiments on all of them. I'm guessing that they won the DNA from Eli Mills stupid auction. None of the animals we found were even a year old. This female was the only one that was still alive, however."
"Barely alive," Zia corrected. "If I hadn't saved her…"
"Agreed," Grant said.
Christine Meyers chewed on her pen for a moment. "I'm thinking that the Grizzly Bear exhibit would be ideal to hold this beastie."
"I don't think that the Grizzly Bear would agree," Jess commented.
"Didn't you say that he was going to St. Louis later this summer to help with the breeding program there?" Christine asked.
"Yeah," Jess said seeing where this was going.
"I checked," Christine said. "They're ready for him already. We just need to move up the transportation time table."
Jess wrinkled her nose. "It's a temporary loan, Grizzlykoff is supposed to be returned by next year."
"By which point, the renovations will be finished, and the Herrerasaurus will have its own tank," Christine said.
Jess sighed. "I think we're about at capacity when it comes to dinosaurs. They're taking up so much space. And I'm not trying to rebuild Jurassic Park…or World."
"You're definitely going to need some more Parasaurolophus," Christine commented. "They're social. She's not gonna be happy by herself in that lake. She needs friends."
"And the Gallimimus and other Ornithomimids would probably do well in the petting zoo," Grant commented. "If we can round them up."
Jess rubbed her temples, trying to suppress her headache.
"If you're not willing to take on any more," Roland Tembo said. "You know that I can cover the slack. Plenty of room on my lodge."
"I'd rather that the Herrerasaurus remain here," Zia said. "Where I can keep an eye on it. I'm still not sure what all those jerks at Mosby did to it."
"Fine," Jess said, sighing deeply again. "Christine, if you would be so kind as to tranquilize Grizz and get him prepped for his trip to St. Louis…"
She nodded and turned down into the zoo tunnels. Zia watched the former ACU woman leave appreciatively.
"She's definitely on top of things here," Zia commented.
"Owen and Claire still aren't back from Sacramento I see," Franklin commented.
"I don't envy them," Jess said. "They're probably doing the one job on the planet more difficult than mine. Dealing with Politicians."
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Sacramento, California
Claire Dearing stormed out of the California State Senate meeting hall in a huff. She was dressed in the white business suit that she had worn often at Jurassic World, though her hair was tied back in the ponytail she favored now.
Her boyfriend Owen Grady and adopted daughter Maisie Lockwood sensed Claire's mood approaching before they saw her.
"That bad, huh?" Maisie asked.
"Those morons!" Claire said. "They refused to give us any help or support. Claimed it was a federal matter."
"Didn't you explain how the EPA doesn't have the kind of budget necessary to handle every single dinosaur emergency?" Owen asked frowning.
"No, I thought I'd leave that part out," Claire said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"And they still said no?" Maisie asked, genuinely surprised.
"I'm not really surprised," Owen said. "These people managed to go bankrupt in a tourist state, and banned straws. If you Googled 'Out-of-touch-with-reality', you'd find their picture on the Wikipedia page."
Claire snorted, and then broke out laughing.
"Thanks Owen," she said, shaking her head. "I definitely needed some levity."
"I take it you're not going to make another attempt?" Owen asked.
"No," Claire said. "It would take a dinosaur getting loose in the capital building for them to act."
"Can we?" Maisie asked grinning. "I'm pretty sure that Styggy or Blue could cause a lot of trouble around here, if they wanted to."
"No," Claire said shaking her head. "I do need to swing by the Parks and Rec department and pick up some forms though. About a mountain of bureaucracy is involved with putting dinosaurs in a public zoo."
Owen paused for a moment.
"I'll take Maisie outside and call an Uber. Parks and Recreation departments creep me out," Owen said.
Claire cocked an eyebrow, but then shrugged turning back down the corridor.
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Jess watched the red and black bear-sized therapod pacing back and forth in the bear enclosure, pausing by the feeder station and eyeing the raw meat piled up there suspiciously. It didn't touch the food, instead continuing pacing.
"She's still not eating?" Zia asked, causing Jess to jump slightly. "No," Jess replied. "She's looking at the food suspiciously."
"I have no idea what those people at Mosby Health did to her," Zia said shaking her head. "She was the only dinosaur alive in their lab. There were two other Herrerasaurs and one Dilophosaurus, all dead. The Dilophosaurus's insides appeared to have…liquified. I'm guessing the dinosaurs were being used for experimental drug tests, possibly in their food. No wonder she's suspicious of free meat."
"She has to eat eventually," Jess said. "Hunger will win out, and she'll realize that the food is fine."
"I hope so," Zia said. "But I'm worried still."
"There were only four dinosaurs in the lab?" Jess wondered.
"I think that there may have been more," Zia admitted. "A lot more. It was a big lab. But I'm pretty sure that they caught wind of our raid and scampered off with all of their live specimens before we got there."
"How many dinosaurs do you think are out there?" Jess wondered. "BioSyn had Eight new species, not counting the human-era animals they revived."
"I don't know," Zia said. "There were never any Herrerasaurus at Jurassic World. They were bred for Jurassic Park only, although the DNA was always available to them. Now Mosby has bred who knows how many Herrerasaurs and Dilophosaurus."
"And possibly others," Jess said.
"And somehow Bio-Syn had a Suchomimus, which were completely ignored by Mills team on Nublar," Zia continued. "Not to mention that Wu hasn't particularly stopped cloning new stuff on his own."
Jess shuddered. She'd met Henry Wu briefly as a kid, when she visited the park with her dad. He'd creeped her out even then.
"In other words," Jess said quietly. "There's literally no way to tell."
Zia fell silent.
"Zia!" Roland Tembo's voice called out. The two women turned towards the hunter.
"Pack up," Roland said. "We've got another live one."
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Claire, Owen, and Maisie stepped out of the state capital building. A rotten tomato suddenly splattered all over Claire's white dress-suit.
Instinctively Owen placed himself between Claire and the large crowd of people gathered at the base of the stairs. Protestors carrying poster-board signs and chanting were gathered in front of the steps.
The signs read with messages like The Dinosaurs Must Die, K-T Tomorrow, Death to the Tyrant Lizard Queen, and the like.
Claire noticed several unflattering caricatures of herself, often blended with some sort of dinosaur or lizard.
"Kill all Clones!" one person yelled. Maisie shrank back behind her parents.
"Back inside," Owen instructed, gently ushering the two most important women in his life back within the capital building.
Maisie, who tried very hard to remain strong in the face of adversity, broke down crying. She couldn't help herself.
Owen glanced outside at the protesters, still chanting "Kill all Clones," at the top of their lungs.
He hugged his girlfriend and daughter, and gently guided them away from the doors.
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"We've got 15 minutes until we roll out," Roland said. Franklin gathered up his tablet and one of the drones, getting prepped to head out with the group. As he picked up his laptop from the work desk in the employee lounge, he tripped, tumbling forward onto the pile of shredded couch cushions and beanbag chair that Blue had mounded up in the corner.
Instantly Blue screeched at Franklin, charging out of the zoo tunnel and swiping at the techie with her arm-claw. Franklin panicked and dropped his table and drone, running out of the Lounge as fast as his legs could carry him.
Blue urgently darted over to her nest and began carefully inspecting it. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, the raptor carefully trotted over to where Franklin had dropped his gear. Carefully she gathered the objects up in her arm-claws, and placed them on his work station. She then trotted back over to her nest and hunkered down protectively.
Franklin ran through the zoo tunnels as quickly as he could before finally emerging by the loading bay. Roland, Grant, and Zia were packing up the truck.
"Where's your stuff?" Roland demanded.
"I tripped in the lounge," Franklin said. "I fell on Blue's cushion pile. AND SHE TRIED TO EAT ME!"
"I doubt that," Zia said.
"She's just miffed that you disturbed her nest," Roland said shaking his head. "Stay away from it, and you'll be fine."
"She thinks I'm the weak link in the pack," Franklin said shaking. "She's going to eliminate me!"
Roland and Zia exchanged a glance. Zia sighed heavily. "Franklin, we've got to go. Either get your gear or get left behind."
"I'm not going into the lounge without Roland," Franklin said firmly.
"Then we're leaving without you," Roland said, climbing into the truck cab.
"Good luck being in the Zoo Tunnels by yourself," Zia called out cheerfully. "Well…You and Blue."
The Zoo truck started and rolled away before Franklin could react. Franklin went pale.
"I think I'll…Go through the zoo itself and get Christine."
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Owen and Maisie looked at a news report of the protest outside the capitol building on Owen's phone, frowning. The protesters had doubled in number since they had holed up inside. Claire paced back and forth, talking animatedly on her own phone.
"My uncle was eaten by the T. rex in 1997 during the San Diego incident!" one woman said.
"My fiancée was eaten by the Mosasaur during the 2015 Nublar Incident!" another man with an Irish accent yelled.
"My daughter was killed by an Allosaurus when she was hiking in the redwood forest!" An older man said. "These monsters are a menace, they're killing our families, and we're just letting them live? Locking them up in a zoo is not enough! They need to be put down! Our families are not safe!"
"Claire Dearing is a murderer," the Irish man said. "She ordered the creation of the Indominus rex, she let the dinosaurs loose from the Lockwood Manor, she needs to be held accountable!"
"Yes, okay? Thank you," Claire said, hanging up the phone. "Crichton Mitchell says that they police are on their way to escort us out, but they can't do anything about the protesters."
"They threw a tomato at you," Owen said frowning.
"They have a right to protest," Claire said. "And we don't know which one did that."
"They're here because of me," Maisie said.
Owen sideways hugged her. But all three of them were quiet. There wasn't anything that they could say. It was true. Maisie had released the dinosaurs in California. The protestors wouldn't be here if not for that. And no matter what they said or did, Maisie was always going to have to live with that weighing upon her shoulders.
"Miss Dearing," a friendly voice said. "What are you still doing here."
"Mister Summerlee," Claire said.
"Rick Summerlee," the man said, offering his hand to Owen, who shook it. "I work in the Parks department."
"Summerlee helped me with the forms for the zoo," Claire said.
"Jessica Harding and I have been friends since she took over that zoo," Summerlee said. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why are you here?"
"Have you looked outside?" Owen asked curiously.
Summerlee's face crinkled and he walked to a nearby window, looking out onto the capitol building steps.
"I see," he said after a moment.
"Well you're welcome to wait in my office while someone comes to get you," Rick Summerlee said. "I've got some sodas in the minifridge in the breakroom."
"I like soda," Maisie said quietly.
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The San Heulva Zoo truck rumbled through the California countryside, rolling past wineries and rows of cornfields.
"Farmer claims that dinosaurs are eating his crops," Roland said. "He describes them as large, with three horns on its head and a frill."
"A ceratopsian then," Grant said.
"And a row of spines or plates down its back with spikes on the end," Roland continued.
Grant blinked. "There must be two dinosaurs then. A ceratopsian or a stegosaurid.
"There are two dinosaurs," Roland confirmed. "But the farmers says that they both look like that."
"That's impossible," Grant said. "No dinosaur has the features of both Ceratopsians and Stegosaurids."
"No real dinosaur," Zia commented. "But…The iRex and the Indoraptor were…Not exactly real dinosaurs."
"You think we're dealing with a hybrid?" Roland asked as they turned a corner. Roland slammed on his breaks.
"Yes," Zia said.
"It's an abomination against God and Nature," Grant said frowning.
Standing in front of them gobbling up soybeans, was a stegosaurus with the head of a Triceratops.
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Jess Harding and Christine Meyers stood next to the Herrerasaurus pen. The lone dinosaur circled the meat, still uncertain as to whether or not she should eat it. She bent down and sniffed at the raw meat, and licked her lips. She clearly wanted to eat, but just wasn't sure.
There was a metallic clunking sound behind the two women.
Jess and Christine spun around to see a bleeding, terrified looking man clambering out of a manhole cover in the middle of the zoo street.
"Help…me?" He whispered, before collapsing.
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Rick Summerlee handed Owen and Claire beers from the mini-fridge and an orange soda to Maisie, smiling at the young girl.
"My dad used to take me hunting with him," Claire said looking wistfully at a photograph of Summerlee standing next to a deer. "Taught me everything about how to hunt responsibly and maintain a weapon. I was a lousy hunter though. I couldn't bring myself to actually shoot anything."
"Nothing wrong with respecting your own ideals, kid," Summerlee commented.
"My dad and I still bonded over that, though," Claire said. "Karen and I loved those hunting trips because it made us closer as a family."
"I loved camping as a kid too," Owen said. "Best time I had was up with my family by the lake. Grandpa would take me fishing, but we never caught anything."
"You should go camping again," Summerlee said. "Hang on. I got some camping permits for the state park around here somewhere. I'll fast-track them, and you can take your daughter fishing and not catch any fish just like you did with your grandfather."
Owen glanced over at Maisie, who was watching Summerlee closely. "Is that something you'd like Maisie?"
She looked over at Owen and squeaked. But then nodded.
"Smart kid," Summerlee said approvingly.
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"Compys did this," Christine said, looking Steve's unconscious body as the paramedics loaded him into the Ambulance.
She walked over and placed a vial into the hands of one of the paramedics.
"Compy Anti-venom.," Christine said to Jess and Franklin as she returned to them. "Compy bites were the number one cause of Incidents at Jurassic World. They're mildly venomous. Not lethal, even in large doses, but you will get lethargic. But they're also septic, so it's always a good idea to clean out a compy bite right away. It was standard practice to carry Compy Anti-venom on hand for incidents back in the days of the park. I started doing it again when you hired me."
"Good thinking," Jess said. "Though…Where did you get it exactly?"
"Owen gave it to me after I got hired," Christine shrugged.
"Where'd he get it?" Jess wondered.
"I think we're missing the bigger picture here," Franklin said. "That dude was bit a lot. Like…By a lot of Compys."
"And he had a partner," Christine said. "He and his partner disappeared two days ago. It was all over the newspapers."
"Huh," Jess said.
"I don't really read newspapers," Frankin said. "They're kind of a dying medium."
"Internet news sources are great for the Macrocosm," Christine replied. "But Local news, especially in a small town like San Huelva, newspapers are always your best bet."
"I've kinda stopped reading newspapers too," Jess admitted. "Maybe I ought to start up again."
"Better get your drone ready, Webb," Christine said smirking at Franklin, who blinked in surprise. "It's about to go sewer diving."
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"It's fascinating, actually," Zia said.
"We should kill it," Grant replied. "Put it out of its misery."
"What? No! It's a living thing!" Zia said.
"It's suffering," Grant replied. "More time separated the Stegosaurus and Triceratops than separates us from the Tyrannosaurus. Their digestive systems were designed for two completely different ecosystems, for two completely different kinds of plants. Like the Spinosaurus rex, it's slowly starving to death because it can't properly digest its food."
"It doesn't seem to be having any trouble with the soybeans," Zia said.
"It's eating them nonstop," Grant countered.
"I've seen Lady Margaret do exactly the same thing at the zoo," Zia said. "Roland? You're awfully quiet."
"As a trophy, it's worthless," Roland said. "It's chimeric parts make it useless for bragging rights. It would have no place in my preserve. As a zoo exhibit…It's also useless. Look at it. Jess can't put that on display. It's an animal without a home. Without anywhere it can belong."
"So you agree with me," Grant said.
Roland shook his head. "I don't believe in killing without a purpose. In a hunt, definitely. But I refuse to outright slaughter an animal. Even a…Whatever that is."
"It's an abomination," Grant said.
"So basically," Zia finished. "You….Agree with both of us?"
Roland considered for a moment. "I suppose that I do."
"Let's at least tranq them," Zia said. "And get them out of the farmer's field. We can decide their final fate later."
Roland nodded.
Grant glanced over at a nearby sign next to the field. "Did anyone notice that?" he asked.
These genetically modified Soybeans are brought to you by Frontier Genetics. Frontier Genetics, Bio-Engineering a better Future!
Zia and Roland exchanged a glance.
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"For the record," Franklin said as he stood next to the manhole cover and lowered his drone in. "I hate this idea."
"Would you rather go down personally?" Christine asked.
Franklin went pale.
"I'm good," he said.
Franklin flipped over his tablet and fired the drone up. It began slowly hovering through the sewer tunnels.
"San Huelva was originally a Spanish Mission," Jess said. "There used to be a lot of underground tunnels out of the mission, which got turned into the sewer system. Then the tunnels were expanded during Prohibition and were heavily used for smuggling alcohol."
Franklin's tablet suddenly beeped.
"Movement," Franklin said.
"Could be rats," Jess said.
He tapped the screen and a light clicked on. A dozen Compys hissed at the bright light.
"Nope!" Christine smirked. "They must have a nest somewhere. Maybe more than one. They breed like freaking rabbits."
"Wouldn't rats eat their eggs?" Franklin asked. One of the Compys snapped at the drone. He adjusted it so that it was out of range of the chicken-sized dinosaurs.
"Not if they ate the rats," Christine replied. "The little guys are voracious."
"Uhhhh…" Franklin found. The number of Compys on his screen had more than tripled since his last pass.
"Oh that's not good," Christine muttered. "Compys are way more dangerous in large numbers."
"More are coming," Franklin said, suddenly looking very concerned. "Good Guh-How many are there?"
The feed from the drone suddenly went blank.
"What just happened?" Christine demanded.
"I'm not-," Franklin never finished his thought. A lone Compy had jumped out of the manhole and squeaked at them. Franklin shot away from the small dinosaur like it was on fire.
"Hey there little fella," Christine said, taking out a pillowcase that had been tucked into her belt.. "Why don't you just climb right into this sack, huh?"
Without turning the device on, she nudged at the Compy. Two more leapt out of the hole.
"Sh-," She started to swear.
"We should run!" Franklin yelled. Four more Compys leapt out of the manhole. He spun around to do just that when Blue leapt down behind the trio, and hissed loudly.
"Oh God, she's come to finish me off," Franklin yelped.
Blue screeched and barreled past Christine, Jess, and Franklin and snapped at the Compys, snatching one up in her muzzle, she snapped twice and swallowed the Compy whole. She then slashed at two more.
"Or she's defending her packmate," Jess said, nudging Franklin. More Compys were surging out of the manhole cover, and appeared to assaulting Blue.
Franklin hesitated for a moment, and the bolted over to where the manhole cover had been laid aside. As soon as he approached, the Compys began attacking him as well.
He grabbed the cover and began rolling it to the manhole, kicking and knocking it into place, sealing the remaining Compys inside. About a dozen were still on the surface. Realizing that their point of egress had been cut off, the small dinosaurs began panicking and running away from the humans and the Velociraptor. Two of them shot towards a storm drain, but Christine was too fast, and grabbed both by the necks, quickly shoving them into the pillowcase.
Jess grabbed another one, which bit her, but she ignored the pain and stormed over, shoving it into Christine's pillowcase.
Blue observed this action, and quickly darted over, dropping three Compys into Christine's pillowcase (One from her mouth and two in each claw, Christine wasn't sure if any of the three were even still alive, but she wasn't about to argue with a Velociraptor)
Franklin staggered over as well, managing to hold a single wriggling Compsognathus and threw it into the sack too. Blue took a drunken wobbly step over and nudged Franklin with her snout. Clearly all was forgiven regarding him tripping on her nest earlier, and both of them were covered in Compy bites and slightly dehydrated and delirious from the venom.
"Come on you two," Christine said. "Let's get you cleaned up and get some anti-venom in you."
"I'll take these to the medi-lab," Jess said, taking the pillowcase from Christine.
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"Weird," Zia said, frowing as a team of government agents helped load the Triceratops-Stegosaurus hybrids into the truck trailer.
She walked over and tapped a hard grayish-white spot on the hybrid's leg.
"Is that bone?" Grant asked, frowning.
"I think it is," Zia said. "I think that this animal may have Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva."
"And what is that in English?" Roland asked.
"It's a genetic disorder where your muscles calcify and are replaced with bone as you heal. You literally turn to stone as you age. It's very rare…And…Really shouldn't be in a genetically engineered organism. It's something that whoever made it should have caught right away."
"Unless they put in the animal on purpose," Roland commented. Both Grant and Zia made a very troubled face.
"Why would anyone do that?" Grant asked. "It goes beyond just cruel, it's downright despicable."
Roland shrugged as he closed the latch on the trailer and made his way towards the cab.
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"I hear that you guys had a bit of an exciting trip," Franklin said as Owen and Claire entered, the former carrying a half-asleep Maisie.
"Just some protesters with…Valid points," Claire said. "Zia informs me that you guys had some more fun with Compys."
"Yeah," Franklin said. "They're gonna be a problem. The sewers of San Huelva are infested with them. And I mean just wall-to-wall. I don't even know what we're going to do, or how we're going to deal with it. But it's a serious problem."
"San Huelva is more than a few towns away from the Lockwood Manor," Owen said. "If the Compys have infested our sewers…"
"Then you can bet that they've infested the sewers of every town between there and here," Franklin finished his thought. "And probably have already spread as far as San Diego as well. This is a full-fledged epidemic, and I legit don't have a solution."
Maisie stirred in Owen's arms.
"Team meeting in the morning," Claire said. "After we're all refreshed. We'll discuss it then."
"Yeah," Franklin glanced at his tablet. "I should get some sleep too. See you then."
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Henry Wu examined a series of vials in his lab, checking them against the charts on his tablet. His cell phone rang.
"Wu?" a woman's voice said on the other end. "I found Blue's nest. You were right. There's seven eggs."
"Excellent," Wu said smiling. "We'll put our plan into motion soon."
"Soon," The voice on the other end confirmed.