Chapter 2: The Real Adventure Begins
The light sky was quickly fading away over the Caribbean Sea. Casey was only minutes away from his landing site, and was perusing through the files of everyone who was on the island that day. Casey really didn't care about it.
He didn't care that Nash was a former army sergeant. He didn't care that Udesky was married. He didn't care that Cooper had previously been arrested for a felony and was not legally allowed to carry a gun. None of that mattered. The only folder that mattered to him was that of Eric Kirby's.
Lizzie had made sure that she piled so much information regarding Eric Kirby that it would take Casey the entire two months to read it all. Casey knew much of it already, but decided to read it again, just to get a feel of the real Eric Kirby.
Casey read: "Eric Roger Kirby was born to Paul and Amanda Kirby on June 23, 1988 at St. Virgil's hospital at 3:42 P.M. Eric was enrolled in David Koepp Elementary School in Enid, Oklahoma and attended Gerald R. Molen Middle School afterwards. Eric Kirby is currently in the ninth grade attending John Williams High School." Casey stopped reading. None if that information was going to help him in his investigation.
His earphone suddenly sounded with static before clearing up. Lizzie was on the other end. "Have you landed yet? Of course you haven't landed yet. You only just left. I think. I not really keen on the whole time zone thing."
"I haven't landed yet," Casey explained. "I should be landing within the hour, though."
"Great," Lizzie replied. Her voice projected as if she didn't listen to a word Casey had said, which was very probable. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know who sang Achy Breaky Heat, would you? It's thirteen letters."
"Are you doing a crossword puzzle Lizzie?" Casey asked, annoyed. Casey gave out a low growl before replying, "Billy Ray Cyrus. I thought you were going to Enid."
"I am," Lizzie said, followed by a short pause, "tomorrow." Casey groaned again. "Oh, come on. You don't expect me to go today, do you? It's almost eight o'clock over here. It's an hour drive to Enid, so I won't be able to do anything today. I'll head out first thing in the morning. One more thing. Who wrote Catcher in the Rye?"
Casey shut the headphone off as Isla Sorna came into view. Casey unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over next to the pilot. "Make sure to drop me off exactly were Eric Kirby and Benjamin Hildebrand landed." The pilot nodded. Casey was only minutes away from touching down.
Lizzie was, meanwhile, sitting all alone in her one-bedroom apartment. With no one to help her on her crossword puzzle, she was soon back to channel surfing. Her husband worked the night shift at the 7-11, so she was going to be alone all night.
There was nothing good to watch on TV. Lizzie thought springing for satellite would be an improvement, but was very much mistaken. Lizzie decided to turn in early, but chose to check her e-mail before going to sleep. Lizzie was painfully behind her time, as she still had to wait for dial-up. Finally, Lizzie was on-line.
Lizzie logged in. She still had two unread e-mails. "Since when do I get any mail?" Lizzie asked herself. Lizzie read the titles. The first one was from Larry Rogow, the Kirby family's lawyer. Lizzie knew it was just restraining order information and chose not to read it.
Lizzie checked the second one, but it didn't have a title. It only said it was sent from Lizzie enthusiastically opened it.
Dear Mrs. Bonner-Davis:
As I understand it, you and Casey Innes have been actively investigating the disappearance, survival, and discovery of Eric Kirby on one of the InGen islands known as Isla Sorna. At first, I took it as a simple hobby. Unfortunately for both you and I, you friend Casey has ventured to the island himself to find out the truth. Now, unlike the Kirby's lawyer, I won't threaten you with a lawsuit. I'll threaten you with fear. Unless this investigation is brought to a screeching halt as soon as possible, I will make sure that it stops myself.
The helicopter closed in on the landing site. Casey kept a close eye on where the helicopter was landing, just to make sure anything he could use for both video and audio evidence was damaged in the landing.
The helicopter was just about to touch down as Casey grabbed the info folders and hopped out of the helicopter. Regardless, the helicopter touched down and slowly whirred off. Casey ignored it and took a video camera out from his backpack.
Casey slipped the backpack back on and attacked the audio recorder to the side of the camera. Casey switched the camera on and pointed it towards the helicopter. "For court reasons, I will explain my situation. My name is Casey Innes. Except for this helicopter pilot who will be leaving now, I am all alone on the island, just as Eric Kirby was supposedly."
The pilot missed his cue to go ahead and leave so Casey continued his investigation. "According to Eric Kirby's accounts, this was approximately where he and Benjamin Hildebrand landed following their crash landing on the island. Both Alan Grant and William Brennan support that claim by saying they retrieved a parasail-"
"Hey!" the pilot called. "Can I go now?"
"You shouldn't yell," Casey explained. "Documents prove that Alan Grant was very adamant in that point." Casey decided not to answer his question and continued his investigation. "Of course, I'll be taking everything that Eric Kirby and the search party said with a grain of salt and will be checking for proof myself."
Casey's investigation was interrupted. The pilot had finally decided to take off. Casey waited patiently for the wind to stop blow and for the helicopter to leave the view so he could resume his investigation.
Casey watched as the helicopter disappeared behind the trees and into the oncoming darkness. "Night is setting in," Casey explained. "As I'm sure Eric Kirby did as soon as he landed, he began a search for shelter. Statements say that he was found in a truck about two miles north of here. Chances are Eric didn't walk two miles for that shelter, and so he must have had another shelter in the meanwhile."
Casey panned the camera around his surroundings, but found nothing important enough to videotape. He began to walk forward and try and find somewhere to bunk for the night. Five minute passed. The scenery was almost exactly as it was five minutes prior. Casey was getting nowhere.
Casey put the camera away and grabbed onto a nearby branch. He wasn't Spiderman by any stretch, so he was defiantly going to have trouble trying to climb such a flimsy tree. "It would appear InGen didn't cut any corners when it came to authenticity. These trees are worthless."
Still, Casey tried to climb it. Casey jumped and grabbed onto another ledge. At the same instance, something dashed right over where his leg was dangling. Casey immediately let go of the branch. He struggled to pull out his flashlight, but by the time he did, whatever was under him was long gone.
Casey slowly put the flashlight away as another sound came from behind him. Again, it was gone before Casey could react. Casey put the camera away and gave up on climbing the tree. He returned to trying to find a path. He was soon approached with slight fear combine with oncoming hunger and nighttime.
He took a deep breath as he stepped through the trees. Finally, he was overlooking the night sky as it blanketed a field of resting stegosaurs and triceratops. "Yeah," Casey complained. "It's okay for them, but it's freezing out here!" Casey got some footing at the edge of the cliff and slowly slid down to the open field.
Casey immediately began to film his surroundings. "Now, I'm not Steve Irwin. I'm not here to bore you with information about these dinosaurs. What I am here to tell you is that Eric Kirby was fairly proficient in dinosaur knowledge, so he would know that stegosaurs and triceratops were herbivorous and common prey of large carnivores. He would have figured that if they felt it safe here, so would he. I'll be setting up camp here and continue my investigation in the morning."
Casey shut the camera off and ran over to the group of stegosaurs. They weren't all asleep. "Scratch that," Casey said as he turned the camera back on. "I suppose nowhere is safe from large carnivores on a five-mile island. Someone has to sleep with one eye open and I, for one, am glad it doesn't have to be me. As long as they don't perceive me as a threat, I should have a good night sleep." Casey shut the camera off and laid down in between the group of stegosaurs and slowly nodded off to sleep.