June 2nd, 2014
Kate's hands gripped the railing of the ferry as it trudged along the clear ocean water. She drew in a deep breath and relished in the hot sun beating down on her. She had debated on putting on the sunscreen her mother had bought for her but, she deemed it as useless. She thought she was impenetrable by the suns harsh rays.
Kate couldn't help but feel a twang of sadness as she thought of her mother and her boyfriend George. If they were going to be bound to miss each other. Diane was almost ballistic when Kate told her that she had accepted a job from Jurassic World.
Her mother claimed to have known someone who was injured in the first park but, never told her who. Always brushing it off like it wasn't important. She wanted to believe that it was her father in the first park but, the years don't quite add up seeing that the incident occurred three years prior to her birth.
Kate recalled the tearful goodbye her mother had given to her at the airport. "If anything goes wrong, just, call me." She recalled Diane saying before she boarded.
Though she was going to miss her life back in Fort Collins, especially her friend Alexis who had told her to call her everyday, this was a nice change of pace in her life. From boring Colorado to bright and sunny Isla Nublar.
Plus she couldn't lie, she was pretty psyched to work along side of dinosaurs. Who wouldn't? Prehistoric animals that were supposed to be extinct sixty five million years ago, some of them being extremely dangerous. It was thrilling.
She stared as the island came into view, its vibrant greens of the tropical trees and the white sand surrounding the beaches made her relaxed.
She peered around from side to side. Of course there were people there but, as long as no one was watching she could do this without having the conscious of a self absorbed person.
When she thought she was in the clear, she pulled out her phone and attempted to take a picture of herself approaching the island. Attempted because she got caught by one of the Jurassic World ferry attendants on board who casually smiled as she put her phone down by her side.
It must've been a normal sight for them to see but, she was embarrassed to all hell.
Kate's mouth opened as she boarded off the boat with her suitcase and carry on. The island was more impressive up close than it was far away. She could already hear the native tropical birds chirping away, or maybe that was just a continuous loop played overhead from the speakers along the dock.
"Are you here for work?" A man wearing white shorts and a white and blue Jurassic World branded polo on asked. She questioned him for a moment and then nodded her head as she raised up her lanyard from around her neck that read "Jurassic World VIP".
He motioned for her to come over and place her luggage with him. She noticed that there were already several bags placed on the luggage trolley. "The group is over there. I think she's still waiting on a couple more people and then she'll take you back to the innovation center." The man pointed towards a woman.
She had dark hair pulled back into an elegant bun wearing a black skirt with matching pumps, a brown blazer covered the white blouse she had underneath. Everything about her screamed professional.
Kate nodded her head towards the man. "Thank you," She stated before sticking out her hand. "The name's Kate." The man gave a small smile as he shook her hand. "Ben." Was all he said in response.
She left Ben's side to push her way through the crowd of tourists towards the woman Ben told her to go to. There was a small crowd gathered around her, they were of all ages really. From people her age to people who looked to be in their upper fourties.
As she joined she stood in the back of the group next to a boy the appeared to be around her age. He had curly light brown hair that matched his eyes. "Hey." Kate greeted him. The boy looked over, having to do a double take for a moment. He pointed to himself in question.
Kate held a questioning brow up as she looked at him. She placed a hand on her hip. "Yeah, you." She clarified with a confused smile perched on her lips. The boy nervously greeted her with a hello, she noticed a thick British accent coming from him.
"Do you know if we have to sign in with her? Or do we just wait?" Kate asked pointing towards the woman in front. The boy gave off a surprised look as she asked him the question. Kate found this weird. "Oh is this a certain line? I thought it was just to get to the park." He stressed in a panicky tone.
Kate's eyes lit up even more in confusion, she side stepped out of the way for him. "Yeah, yeah, this is where the orientation line is. You could follow the other tourists, I'm sure they'd-"
The boy interrupted her by sheepishly laughing. He scratched the back of his head anxiously. "That was a joke. It was supposed to be a joke. I'm very bad at jokes. My sense of humor sucks." He stammered out an apology. Kate narrowed her eyes at him. "Dude, how many times can you say joke?" She blurted out.
The boy nervously chuckled. "I don't know. I guess I just suck at talking." He admitted, biting his bottom lip. He stuck out his hand towards Kate. "My name's Sam. I work here. Just don't know for what." Kate smiled and took his hand. "Kate. Same."
She focused back on the woman in front of her. She watched as the woman stared at the recruits unenthusiastically, like this had all become a burden upon her. Kate shrugged off the feeling.
Gazing around at the beautiful scenery the island had to offer. The dock was littered with tropical bright flowers and burning torches, she half expected to see a woman in a grass skirt and tube top to be swaying her hips from side to side. Maybe this wasn't the right place for a hula dancer. Now a hula dancer with a triceratops hat...
Kate's train of thought was disrupted by Sam speaking up. She looked over at him, he was throwing her a charming smile. "I'm sorry. I wasn't really paying attention. What did you say?" Kate apologized with a meek smile, placing her hands in the back pockets of her shorts. Sam chuckled uneasily as he looked towards the ground.
"So where are you from?" Sam repeated himself. He had hoped that this was a good way to make friends with someone. "Fort Collins." Kate replied with a beam. Sam made an oh sound then returned his gaze to the ground. "Where's that at?" He asked again, his cheeks becoming pink. Kate nervously laughed again. This was probably the worst forced conversation she's ever had. "Uh, Colorado?" She quipped.
"And where's Colorado?"
"America?"
"Ohhhh gotcha, so you're American." Sam stated with a smirk. He knew it all along but, why not try to play dumb for the pretty girl? Kate hummed a bit, directing her attention somewhere else. Sam didn't want that. He wanted to get to know her more but, he was always labeled as socially awkward. Which was true. He couldn't stop the word vomit coming out.
"I thought you all lived in New York." He blurted out. That's not what he wanted to say! He wanted to say that he had been to New York. As the words escaped his mouth he knew there was no coming back.
Kate shot him a defensive look. It was pretty obvious she was creeped out. "Uh, no where did you think I was from originally?" She noted as she crossed her arms. Honestly Kate found him tripping over his words a tiny bit cute. Microscopically cute. A vast amount of her just wanted him to spit out his sentence.
Sam cleared his throat to try to calm his nerves. He was struggling. He played it off like it was no big deal, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. "Canada. Same accent." He stated.
He could feel his heart thump in his chest. He was surprised she hadn't given up on trying to talk to him yet. He needed to calm down. "Are you okay?" Kate asked him. Sam took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, calming himself down quite a bit. "Yeah, I'm good, I'm good. I just get super anxious when I'm excited. Some times shows." Sam replied to her trying his best to be calm.
Kate chuckled under her breath. "Excited to see some dinosaurs?" She exclaimed looking forward again. Sam watched her as she smiled, looking at the scenery and at the guide in front.
He had honestly forgotten all about the fact that they were on a dinosaur infested island. "You could say that." He sighed out, turning in the same direction as Kate as the woman in from cleared her throat.
"Okay it is eleven oh five which means the ferry should be off soon, which also means I must have everyone here who's supposed to be here for orientation. We're going to go through role call so I can see who's a no show. But, first let me introduce myself. My name is Mila Fox. I work with Miss Dearing and Mister Masrani. After today if we have not scheduled a visit to see you or if we are not passing by in the cafeteria, I hope we do not meet again because that means you've messed up somehow and it's my duty to come in and correct the problem-"
A woman shot up her hand in question which Mila acknowledged with a hand gesture. "Correct the problem as in?" The woman questioned. Mila plastered a white toothy grin on her face. "Automatic termination." Kate frowned as she seemed taken back by the strictness of Jurassic World. She guessed after the first park they had to enforce tighter regulations.
"Will we ever see Miss Dearing and Mister Masrani?" Another voice spoke up. Kate swore she heard Mila say, "God, I hope not" but she instead answered the question with a maybe. "Now when I call out your name tell you're present." Mila instructed, clicking her pen and looking down at her clipboard.
During this time Kate leaned over to Sam who looked like he was building up courage just to tell Mila he was present at the time. "Did you also hear her say "God, I hope not" about the Claire and Masrani thing?" She whispered not breaking eye contact from Mila. "Oh is that what she said? I thought she said "freaking hope not"...except she didn't say freaking." Sam replied with a smirk.
He looked over to Kate who was throwing him a concerned look. "Well, you know, because I heard it's impolite to cuss around ladies." He tried to justify himself as a gentleman. Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Sam, shut the fuck up. You can cuss around me." Kate replied. Her lips tingled as she swore. Sam's eyes widened as he listened to her curse, immediately placing his hands in his back pockets. "Wow. Right then." He sighed out, making Kate smirk in satisfaction.
After role call Mila looked towards her watch. "Let's get this show on the road shall we?" She gestured for everyone to follow her up the steep steps from the dock. They all boarded in to what looked like a long jeep used for safaris, it was pristinely white with a black and blue Jurassic World logo on the hood of it.
Kate sat in between Sam and another gentleman who appeared to be a couple years older than her and fully invested in his headphones. She remembered his name to be Callum from the role call. Kate couldn't help but, stare at the man. His stubble and bright blue eyes had her drawn to him.
"I wonder where we're going." Sam mused out as he held on to the side of the jeep. Kate shrugged her shoulders as a response. The jeep was full of chatter from the other employees. None of who seemed to be interested in talking to her or Sam. "You know I was thinking about what you said earlier." Kate spoke up breaking the silence between the two. "About how at first you thought I was Canadian. Then you thought all Americans lived in New York-"
"That, uh, that was a mistake. I meant to say I've been to New York."
"Don't try to brush it off like you know what other cities exist it America. But it's like the same as me saying you sound Australian and then finishing out you're from London."
"I am." Sam looked at her with an off putting expression. Kate almost choked on her own spit. "Are you?" She clarified, her voice cracked. Sam made a scrunched up face, with a raised brow. "Uh, yeah?" Kate mentally slapped herself. Way to be a dick on the first day. "My point isn't valid here then." She mumbled to herself, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.
She heard Sam laugh alongside a low chuckle from her other side. She peered over to see the boy named Callum trying not to be seen laughing by them but, as he connected with her eyes he knew he had been discovered. "At least you tried." Callum spoke up for the first time.
Kate raised back up, rolling her eyes at him. "Well, look who decided to join in on the conversation." She jeered as a crooked smile grew on her face. Callum took out both earbuds and waved to them.
"I couldn't help it. The whole conversation was problematic so I came here to save it." Callum stated in a suave voice, forcing Kate to roll her eyes yet, simultaneously blush.
Sam cleared his throat to interrupt the little staring contest the two were having. "So Callum, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, leaning on his arm which was propped against the back of the seat. Callum fiddled with his bag for a second, before smiling up at them.
"Oh I'm going to be a vet tech." He announced his voice barely containing the excitement. He had been wanting to do this for years. "What are you doing?" He asked Kate but, pointed his finger between both of them.
Sam and Kate looked at each other while slightly chuckling and shrugging their shoulders. Callum sighed shaking his head with a smile on his face. "Rookie mistake." He said, leaning back against the door of the jeep. Kate and Sam both held confused faces. "What's that supposed to mean?" Kate asked defensively.
Callum snorted a little as he took out a small package of twizzlers from his bag, he motioned his hands in a stopping motion. "Slow down. There's no need to get defensive." Callum replied, unwrapping the package and shoving a twizzler in his mouth. He extended the package to the two new hires who denied him. "Suit yourself." He whispered under his breath. He shoved another in his mouth while receiving a glare from Kate.
"I've been coming here for a couple of years. My first job here was to take pictures of tourists with a big pteranodon statue. It wasn't that bad yet, I wasn't told what I was going to do. My next job was an assistant manager at the Jungle Cruise. That was a lot of fun. Now I'm here. In my seniority. Doing what I've been paid to go to college for."
Kate was intrigued by his last sentence. He was going to college to be a vet tech? And the first job that hired him was Jurassic World? That was going to be impressive on his resume. "Jurassic World will pay for your college?" Sam spoke up in question.
Callum simply nodded his head. "Any big company will. As long as you study in the field of profession that the company specializes in. Lucky enough Jurassic World has it all basically." Kate hummed a bit. Having college paid for her would be nice, especially since she wanted to do something with social media and designs. She could reinvent the whole Jurassic World website.
"So since you have a job with Jurassic World because you've been here for years, have you met Claire and Masrani?" Kate piped up. Callum quickly finished chewing his mouthful of twizzler before speaking. "I've never met Simon but I've met Claire. A few times actually-"
"Good or bad?" Kate questioned. Her questions kept catching him off guard. He nodded nonchalantly before he responded. "Good. Claire can be a bit abrasive but, I think her heart is in the right place." Callum justified their boss.
He recalled to the last time he had spoken with her. It was about his position as a vet tech. She stated how excited she was to have him aboard the veterinary team but, something in her voice didn't match what she had said.
"It's rare to meet her outside of the orientations and park meetings. Unless you're her assistants like Mila and Zara. Or an intern for her. Or if you work in Control. If you meet her it's probably because Simon wants to check up on how the park members are doing." Callum explained as he watched Kate soak up every word he said.
Just as he finished explaining the group passed by the monumentally sized gateway to Jurassic World. Torches lit up the sides of the entrance. Kate watched as a train jetted across the monorail, the large doors of the gate opening up for the guests to awe at the first view of the park. It wasn't as amazing down on the side road as it was in the monorail presumably but it was still breathtaking.
Callum seemed to enjoy observing Kate as she glowed as they entered the main stretch of their journey, the main park in view.
Mila turned to the new employees with a brilliant smiled on her face. "Welcome to Jurassic World. You're new home."