16-year-old Steven Muldoon finished washing the Triceratops goo from his hair and stepped out of the shower. He towelled himself dry and donned a fresh pair of park ranger's overalls, embroidered with the Jurassic Park logo.

Steve made his way into his bedroom and rummaged through the wardrobe, eventually pulling out an exotic looking leather belt, equipped with all kinds of loops and pockets. Most of these were empty but, fitting snugly in pride of place, was a bone-handled hunting knife. This was a souvenir from his time at the Malliway Game Reserve in Kenya, where he had spent most of his life helping his father, Head Warden Bob Muldoon, run the reserve.

Steve slipped the belt around his waist, lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. His mother had died when he was just 9 months old, leaving his dad with the unenviable task of running a safari park and bringing up a young child simultaneously. The ever-resourceful Bob's solution to this was to take baby Steve with him on his patrols around the reserve, leading to Steve wanting to become a warden from an early age.

Bob began teaching his son the principles of being a warden as soon as Steve was old enough to stand. They had spent many a night out in the savannah together, with Bob teaching him how to survive, track and maintain the reserve. On Steve's 10th birthday he was bought his first gun, a small calibre shotgun. The youngster had inherited his father's talent as a marksman and this weapon became his closest companion for the following years.

Steve also picked up Bob's driving skills and was soon able to drive the patrol jeep around the reserve unaided, although he had to pull the seat right up and press the pedals on tiptoe. Steve was gradually allowed him to take on activities of increasing importance until he was able to fulfil the tasks of a fully-fledged game warden, his father often joking that Steve would do him out of a job.

Steve's years of training payed off when, at the tender age of 13, he tracked and killed a rogue lion that had been terrorising a local village, carrying off several children and animals. Steve even managed to save a young girl before the big cat could devour her and returned the shaken but unharmed kid home, much to the raptures of the villagers. They christened Steve "Simba Wawindaji" in hounour of his deeds, which simply translates as "The Lion Hunter". Steve was flattered, although this unfortunately did not get him out of a week's late night feeding duty as punishment for chasing the animal on his own.

A few years after this escapade, Bob received a personal letter from a certain Mr. John Hammond, who was well known as being an extraordinarily wealthy man and the CEO of the multinational genetics corporation InGen. The message offered Bob the job of Head Game Warden and young Steve the job of apprentice warden at an unspecified project on an island, just off the coast of Costa Rica. A large amount of correspondence followed, eventually resulting in the Muldoons bidding farewell to the other wardens at Malliway, packing their bags and flying to Costa Rica. They were picked up by an InGen private helicopter and flown out to a small island, the Isla Nublar. The terrain was some of the most beautiful Steve had ever seen, but it was nothing like as exciting as what they had found out upon landing. This information had been kept secret until their arrival, having only been previously described as "an exciting new safari park project, one that promises to revolutionise the content of zoological collections forever". A year on, Steve still couldn't quite believe what was happening. He and his father were working with dinosaurs.

He was jerked out of his daydream by a clap of thunder and the lights flickering simultaneously. He remembered that a storm had been forecast for the evening and crossed to the window. It was getting dark outside, and his dad was still not back. Perhaps he was still talking to the visitors touring the island, or helping the park vet with the sick Triceratops. Steve shuddered at the thought of the large dinosaur – earlier that day it had vomited all over him and the fact that Tricey was a herbivore didn't make it any less disgusting. Because Steve was just an apprentice, he was only allowed to work with the vegetarian residents of the park. Bob wouldn't let his son anywhere near the carnivores anyway, in particular the Velociraptors. Steve knew his dad's view opinion on the Raptors only too well – their attempts to escape from the electrified cage that enclosed them fascinated him, but in this case fascination was far from affection and among the staff it was very common knowledge that Muldoon senior would happily shoot every last one dead, especially after a porter had lost his life in an incident with a transfer cage.

The lights flickered again, accompanied by more thunder. Steve headed downstairs, turning right and entering the wardens' off-duty room. The place was scattered with chairs and tables and was deserted, the other wardens having left a while ago to catch the ferry to the mainland. The Muldoons were the only ones who would remain on the island during a storm – that was why they lived in the staff HQ building, carved out of a rock face.

Steve continued through the off-duty room and into a smaller room, lined with complex control panels and computer screens. From here the wardens could monitor all non-technical aspects of the park and view the positions of all dinosaurs and members of staff. He moved to a red lever and pushed it downwards, causing a whirring sound to echo around the room. Steve knew this was the steel shutters closing, protecting those within the building from any external threat.

The lights flickered once more, but this time they didn't come back on. Steve frowned, waiting for the building's private backup generator to kick in. When it did, the lights came back slightly dimmer.

Where the hell is he?

Steve wondered.

He knows he has to be back here when there's a storm alert on.

Three cups of tea later, there was still no sign of Bob and Steve was starting to get worried. He had tried calling him several times but none of the communication equipment was working, which Steve assumed was because of the electrical storm roaring outside. During his fourth cup, Steve made up his mind.

He's probably talking to those visitors and lost track of time.

This was an easy thing to do when one worked at Jurassic Park. Steve had seen the visitor party arrive earlier – his father had demonstrated great displeasure at their presence, mainly because he didn't believe the park was visitor safe just yet, especially as the group of visitors included two kids. In fact, he was so concerned that he had personally gone to supervise their viewing of Raptor feeding time. Apparently, Bob still had not got over the unfortunate death of a porter at the claws of one of the first specimens.

Well, may as well go and find him, no point just sitting here.

He made for the garage, clambered into one of the gas-powered jeeps and started the engine. Steve pressed a button on the dashboard and the garage door slowly swung open, revealing a raging, swirling tempest outside.

I think I can safely say the weather is mildly inclement. Maybe dad's stuck out there somewhere…

Steve pulled out of the garage and checked the doors were closed properly behind him. Being just an apprentice, he wasn't supposed to drive the gas jeeps, but as there was nobody about he couldn't see any reason why not.

Muldoon junior sped down the wet roads in the direction of the Visitor Centre. On the way, he noted that the bulbs on top of the electrified fences were unlit – Steve made a mental note to let the technical department know when they returned. Whistling to himself, he took a right at the next fork in the road. The Tyrannosaur enclosure would be coming up next, followed by the Dilophosaurauses on the right and then finally the main gate. Not far now.

Steve rounded a bend in the road and his whistling stopped abruptly. There were two tour cars parked in the viewing area beside the Rex enclosure. He frowned deeply, knowing that all visitors should be in cover during a storm. Steve began to slow down as he approached the vehicles and noted that they were the automated kind.

Strange, the gaffer wouldn't just leave them there. Maybe there's a problem with…

He was interrupted by a muffled thud shaking the ground. Then another. Then another. Then, there was an ear-shattering roar and the sight that met Steve's eyes would stay with him for the rest of his life. There, silhouetted against the tempestuous sky, was the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Standing astride the fence.

Oh, bother.