So, I just want to say thank you for being patient, this came out a whole lot sooner than I was originally planning. But I just found out that they had all three movies on Netflix so, here we are. :D
Our footsteps echoed on the metal landing as we finally reached the bottom of the winding stairs, both Billy and I still took the rear of the group, though it was all still to raw for us to talk to one another. I wasn't angry at him anymore, yeah after the initial shock of it all I was, but now? Now I understood where he had been coming from. Billy loved his job, he loved discovering bones and figuring out what they used to be. And his job, our job was in jeopardy because of lack of funding. It wasn't the right call for sure, but it was an understandable one. But regardless, I was still hurt by his actions, by the fact that he didn't even attempt to tell me about it before hand.
As I looked around our surroundings, I saw that we were enclosed in a chain linked fence that was torn into in some areas. There was a dense fog surrounding us, making it impossible to see through. Dad lead us further down some more stairs, each one ending in another landing. At the second set, he took a step on the stairs and narrowly avoid falling to his death as it fell out from under him. Paul quickly grabbed him, helping him back to his feet as the two of the peered down at the ground below.
Paul let out a whistle. "You okay?"
"Yeah," dad said as he turned around and looked at the bridge that was to our left. He walked over, giving Billy a look as he did. He took a step onto the bridge, jumping when the Kirby's tried to follow him causing the bridge to squeak and jolt. "Let's do this one at a time, shall we?" I watched as he walked further onto the bridge, the fog soon swallowing him up.
As the Kirby's watched, I looked around us again. The way this was set up almost reminded me of a aviary, with the fences and the stair wells. It was if something big lived here, something that could fly. I walked over the edge, taking note of something dried on the railing. As Amanda went over, I picked it up, keeping a small handful of the crumbling substance in my hand as I went to sniff. Reeling back, I dropped the droppings just as Eric began his walk.
"What is it?" Paul asked as soon as I turned towards him and Billy.
"We're in a birdcage," I said just as Eric began to scream.
We all sprinted onto the bridge, calling out for Eric as he screamed for help. I could see a large form swoop towards the boy, snatching him up just as we reached him and carried him off of the bridge. We doubled back, racing alongside the pteranodon flew away with Eric. We all called out for him as we raced back up the stairs, the fog shielding us from seeing Eric.
"I can't see him! I can't see him!" Amanda screamed as she raced ahead of us.
"This way!" I head Paul call as I listened to the sounds of Eric screaming. I had no idea how we would save him from the giant reptiles, who knew how many were in this enclosure. Who knew how long they'd been without food, aside from the possible dead dinosaur washing into their cage from the river.
Ahead of me, I saw Billy stop and face me and dad as we raced up after the frantic Kirby's. I paused in my steps, unsure as to what Billy was planning, that is, until he clipped the parachute's buckle across his chest. My eyes went wide, fear for him coursed through me as dad came to the same realization beside me. We ran after Billy as he tore up the stairs towards the initial deck of the aviary.
"Billy? Billy?" I called out to him as I ran up the stairs after my best friend.
"Billy Stop!" Dad called out to him as we saw Billy reach the deck. "Billy Stop!"
"Don't Billy!" I cried as he jumped onto the railing, giving us one last look behind him before jumping. "Billy!" I screamed, diving after him only to be held back by dad. "Let me go!"
"We have to meet up with him," Dad said in my ear as he dragged me towards the Kirby's. As we grew closer, we saw the fog lift slightly to reveal Billy flying to where Eric laid, a swarm of baby pteranodon's all over him. We caught up with the Kirby's, stopping as Paul gazed out at the missing chunk of bridge.
A shrill roar filled the air just as a pteranodon filled the empty space, when it realized it couldn't get to us through the opening, it flew up and circled around us as we tried to double back. It landed on the top of the cage surrounding the bridge and broke through it due to it's weight. We all backed up as it stalked towards us, dad kicking it in the beak a couple times in an attempt to deter it. We ended back at the last portion of the bridge with no where else to go. We turned as the flying dinosaur took a step onto the bridge with us, gasping when the supports began to give out. With a scream, we all fell into the water.
Rising to the surface, I coughed up the water that had filled my mouth upon impact. The pteranodon had fallen in with us and was now attempting to fly back up into the air, only for the bridge section to fall onto it. I didn't waste any time in swimming to safety, reaching the bank on the side of the river, I looked to the skies hoping to find Billy. Dad dragged me with the Kirby's who had spotted Eric, as we reached the top of the rise that lead to him, he suddenly pointed up to the cliffs.
"There he is!" Eric shouted. "He's across the river!"
Amanda and I ran to Eric's side, my gaze searching and finding Billy as the pteranodon's circled around him. I felt my heart plummet as I realized that the likelihood of him escaping was low.
"Eric, let's go," Amanda said softly to her son as I watch at the scene above us in horror.
"No, No!" Eric said shaking from her grasp. "What about Billy?" He demanded, running off with Amanda and I chasing after him. I let out a gasp as I spotted Billy undo his hooks, causing him to drop to the water below him. Maybe he could get out of this, I thought with a foolish hope. I saw him begin to run towards Dad and Paul, only to be swooped up by a pteranodon and dropped from several feet in the air. I let out a scream as more of the creatures began flying towards him.
Amanda circled back from herding Eric to the gates of the aviary to grab me, her hands circling around my shoulders as she tried to steer me away. "We have to go," she pleaded to me.
"No, no," I sobbed as I shook in her grasp. "Billy! Billy please!" I called out to him as he got swarmed, Amanda pulling me further and further away from him.
"Get away! Get away!" I heard Billy call out as we reached gates, a sob breaking though me again as we raced through the gate and shut it behind us as Dad and Paul took to the water. A pteranodon hit the gate, shaking and pecking at it as it tried to continue after us. Shaking, I looked ahead and saw the boat, the damned boat that lead us into the stupid cage in the first place, floating just a few feet ahead of us. We clambered onto the boat, dad and Amanda working away at pushing it along the river as Paul looked in the captains pit. I sat down at the front of the boat, sniffling as I looked back at the aviary where Billy died.
Dad soon joined me at the front, the two of us sitting in silence as we watched the scenery. He had his hand on my shoulder in comfort, but otherwise my dad kept to himself like he almost always did in times of grief. My crying had come to an end, the occasional sniffle leaking out. I just couldn't cry any longer, and I doubted that Billy would want me to mourn for him like this.
"Dr. Grant? B-Becky?" Eric's timid voice came from behind us.
"Hey, Eric, how you doing?" Dad asked as he turned to face the kid as I kept my gaze on the water ahead.
Eric took the seat besides me as Dad took the one in front of us, his gaze on the floor. "I'm sorry about Billy," he said finally.
"You know what the last thing I said to him was?" Dad asked after a long moment of silence. "I said, "you're no better than the people who built this place'." He shook his head, as if disgusted with himself. "Which wasn't true. Billy was just... young. That's all." He sighed. "I have a theory that there are two kinds of boys. There are those that want to be astronomers and there are those astronauts. The astronomer, or the paleontologist, gets to- gets to study these amazing things from a place of complete safety."
"But then you never get to go into space," Eric said as he finished out dad theory.
"Exactly," dad said. "That's the difference between imagining and seeing: to be able to touch them. And that's... that's all that Billy wanted."
I took a shaky breath, swallowing heavily before speaking my first words in over two hours. "He loved his job, with everything he had," I croaked. "He just wanted it to last a little bit longer."
The two nodded as we lapsed into another silence, the thick trees breaking on the left side of the boat to reveal sunlight for the first time. "Dr. Grant," Eric pointed out as he looked to the side. Looking over to see what he saw, I realized we had hit a valley where a herd of brachiosaurus and stegosaurus grazed. The one brachiosaur that was close to the rivers edge turned to look at us, she made a low call to signal the others in her herd to come to her.
"Know something, Dr. Grant?" Eric asked as we stood to look at the approaching herd. "Billy was right."
~line break~
As dusk grew near, Paul suddenly turned off the boat causing us to go silent. The sound of the satellite phone filled the air as we floated near a clearing. Amanda, Eric and I all huddled down under the steel carriage on the boat, tensed and ready to run for our lives. The trees broke apart, revealing several large piles of dung in the clearing, steam rising off the tops.
"Oh, that's nasty," I groaned as I looked away.
"Find it before it stops ringing!" Dad ordered as he jumped off the boat, Amanda and Paul following after him. I, however, stayed on the boat to keep an eye on Eric.
The two of us watched as the three dug through the piles of droppings, all of them letting out sounds of disgust. I covered my mouth and nose to try to block out the smell that permeated the air, I felt like I was going to throw up. I watched as they all pulled out various objects, each one seeming more bizarre. A human-like femur? A watch, sunglasses?
"I got it," Amanda suddenly declared, the two men dropping their droppings and rushing to her side as she wiped off the phone the best she could.
Dad took the phone. "Hello? Hello!" He took the phone away from his ear, it had to have been a telemarketer.
I looked up and felt my breath catch in my throat as a ceratosaurus approached them. "Look out!" Both Eric and I called out. We watched with a baited breath as it approached them, coming to a halt a few feet away and leaned down to sniff at them. He stood back up, his mouth closing as he turned back around with a groan. Eric and I let out giggles as the three of them stared after the retreating carnivore in both relief and offense.
~line break~
The rain fell hard as the night drew on, the five of us doing the best we could to see and stay as dry as possible. Eric and I sat near the front of the boat, talking about how he had survived this long and what he thought about the island now. I liked Eric, he was a good kid. As we crouched near the edge, I looked down as flashes of silver in the water caught my gaze.
"Dad!" I called out. "You should come look at this!"
"Bonitos," dad said as he crouched down next to me, his face scrunched up due to the rain.
"Something must have spooked them," Eric said.
"Get the engine going, Mr. Kirby," dad ordered as he looked back at the water.
We all got up and went to the other side of the boat as Paul tried to start the engine as Amanda took the wheel. Beside me, Dad took out the satellite phone and dialed, a small prayer for someone to pick up escaping him as he waited. Both Eric and I looked at each other and then to the water nervously. I didn't like one bit of this. "Ellie?" Dad suddenly asked. "Charlie! Charlie!" I whipped my head to look at him. What was Charlie doing on the phone? "Charlie, take the phone to mommy now. Take the phone to mommy. Its, it's the dinosaur man." He closed his eyes right after, it seemed like his dreaded nickname was a lifesaver after all. "Listen to me, Charlie. Charlie, are you taking the phone to mom? Charlie!"
The boat suddenly lurched as a great force rammed into it. The giant head of the spinosaurus rearing up from the water, a waterfall cascading from her open mouth as she let out a fearsome roar. We all ran to the front of the boat and climbed into the cage as she tried to locate us through the darkness. She began tearing through the boat, taking apart the floor before coming around to the cage that was slipping and sliding through her tirade. She lowered her head to the side, her strong arms rising up as her clawed hands took hold of the sides of the cage. She began to pull us to the water.
"The boxes!" Dad suddenly screamed. "Look in the boxes! Try to find a weapon!"
The satellite phone began to ring.
"Where's the phone?"
"Get the phone!"
We all reached out as the phone slid out of our reach. The cage was brought back another foot off of the boat, causing it to rise a little out of the water, which caused the phone to slide right back to us. I reached out and grabbed it, hitting the green button to answer the call just as the cage came into the water.
"Ellie?" I called as I clung to the top of the cage. "Ellie listen to me!"
"Becky, are you on a cell phone? I can't hear you!" Ellie was saying.
"The river!" I screamed. "Site B, the river!" The water went over my head, causing me to drop the phone as I sucked in one last gulp of air.
We all let out gasping breaths as the cage settled with a small part above the water. The spino's claws came into the water, tearing at us as she tried to pull us out. A claw scraped across my flesh leg, blood seeping around us as both Amanda and I screamed in pain. I could see another claw get Amanda over her stomach, her shirt tearing. Suddenly, the spino withdrew giving us time to climb out and jump into the water.
Amanda, Eric and I stood by the bank and looked up to see Paul hanging from what looked like a crane. The spino was under him, trying to knock him off. Two flares went off, the first bouncing harmlessly against the dinosaur, the second hitting the water and erupting into flame. The spinosaurus let out a roar as she stepped away from the flames, her tail whipping the crane dangerously as Eric called out to his dad. We all called for him as the crane fell into the water, the spino running away into the forest.
"Paul, you jerk!" Amanda cried as we watched the lake where the crane fell. "You can't leave me like this!"
"I'm not going anywhere," Paul said from our right. We all looked over, and there he was, safe and sound. Amanda let out a laugh as she ran and wrapped him in a hug, Eric right behind. The three of them stood there, holding one and other as they cried out in relief.
I looked over at dad, and wrapped an arm around him. "Ellie will send someone... right?"
"I hope so, kiddo," dad said. "I hope so."
~line break~
The sun rose slowly as the five of us all sat in a clearing. We had fallen asleep in one of the trees, and came down at dawn. Dad wanted to get a head start to the coast, and I wanted to get off of this cursed island.
"Mr. Kirby," dad beckoned the Kirby's to follow us as we began to make our march.
Eric took his place next to dad, eager to ask him questions. Which was fine to me, I wanted to walk more leisurely due to my leg injury. Why one earth couldn't she have scratched my automail? I glanced over as Amanda took her place beside me, her pace matching mine.
"How are you holding up?" She asked softly.
"I could be better," I admitted. 'Sometimes I look up to say something to Billy, and, and he's not there."
She nodded and rubbed a hand against my shoulder. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I should have said that yesterday but-"
"You almost lost your son for a second time," I finished for her. "I get it, I understand. If I was in your shoes, I would be running off of that adrenaline too." I took a deep breath and let it out. "I never did thank you for pulling me away from the river bank."
"It was nothing, I couldn't leave a kid like that."
"You do know I'm almost twenty, right?"
She gave me a smile. "Yeah, but when you're a mother... well anyone younger than you is a kid."
I thought it over, I suppose that was true. "Alright, fair enough."
We lapsed into a silence as we walked, occasionally letting out hisses of pain when our injuries were scraped against or moved the wrong way. Dad suddenly stopped ahead of us, prompting us to do the same. "You hear that?" He asked us. At first there was nothing, and then the familiar sound of water lapping from a distance came.
"The ocean!" Eric exclaimed, leading the way as we all jogged to keep up.
A clearing came up, the floor sandy compared to the previous dense grass. Eric's feet kicked up dirt as he ran, and skidded to a halt as a velociraptor jumped out in front of him. We all stopped, huddled together as more of the pack emerged from the bushes. "They want the eggs," I said to them as we stood back to back, circling around to see all the raptors. "Otherwise we'd be dead already."
The alpha female came out suddenly, circling around us as she cawed lowly. "Everyone get down," dad said. "She's challenging us." We all kneeled down, Eric in the back pressed between Paul and Amanda while I was pressed between Amanda and Dad. Dad slowly took Billy's bag off of his shoulder.
The alpha female came up to us, stopping in front of me and sniffed at my face. "She thinks you stole the eggs," dad said softly.
I bit back the panic attack that was threatening to rear up, and took a deep, shuddering breath. The alpha rubbed her snout across my face as she sniffed at me heavily, following my head every time I tried to move away from her mouth. Finally, she withdrew and cawed at me. "Give me the eggs," I breathed out determined. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dad unzip the pouch to reveal the eggs which caused all of the raptors to caw. He slowly took them out and gently slid them over to me. I took hold of them and placed them on the ground a few feet in front of us.
Then the low, hollow sound of what could have been air being blown from a pipe came from my right. Glancing over, I saw dad holding the 3-d model of the raptors resonating chamber in his hands. I looked back up and saw all the raptors react, each one getting angry. "No, no, no," I whispered to him. "Call for help."
Dad changed the tune, one raptor started to lunge at us only for the alpha to set him back. She looked up at the sky as a whirring sounded, and looked to her mate. She gave a call to her pack, sending them away, before bending down and grabbing the egg to the left. She stood back up and looked at me before leaving, the second raptor doing the same, this time giving a small nod, before running off after the alpha.
We all sat there panting as the whirring sound grew closer. "That's a helicopter," Paul said rising to his feet. We all ran after him as he broke through the tree line, the ocean a good hundred feet in front of us. A lone man in a suit and tie stood there on the shore facing us.
"Dr. Grant? Dr. Alan Grant?" He called from a bullhorn.
"No!"
"Stop!"
"That's a very bad idea!" We all yelled as we ran towards him. We all stopped as water tanks came from the ocean and parked on the shore, squads of navy men coming from inside to secure the location.
"Wow, you have to thank her now," Eric said to dad as I stared wide eyed at the soldiers. "She sent the navy and the marines!"
"God bless you, Ellie," both dad and I said as we walked towards them, immediately being surrounded and steered towards the helicopter that was landing.
The soldiers escorted us over and helped us on board, ensuring Amanda and I that our injuries would be attended to at the ship. As Dad and I entered, the man leaned over and asked, "Dr. Grant, this man with you?" and pointed over a stretcher near the back of the copter. I looked over, and immediately pushed dad to the side as I quickly made my way to the side of the stretcher. I held my breath, unable to believe what I was seeing.
"Hey, you made it," Billy said with a smile even though he was covered in bandages.
"You are like a damn parasite," I said with a shaky smile as my vision began to blur. "You know that? Not even a dinosaur can detach you from me."
"I told you, I'm hard to get rid of," he said with a wheezing laugh.
"I rescued your hat," Billy said now to dad as he hovered over us.
Dad took it, a fond smile on his face as he looked down at Billy. "Well, that's the important thing."
"Dr. Grant, Ms. Grant, we need to go now," the man in the suit called out to us.
"We need you guys to buckle up," one of the petty officers by us said.
I nodded and took the seat closest to Billy, buckling in with the help of the officer. "Thank you," I said to him as we began to take off.
"What did I miss?" Billy asked me.
"Oh, well, I squared off with the alpha raptor," I said nonchalantly. "Gave her back the eggs while dad used your doohickey."
"You did what?" His brows furrowed. "And you lived?"
"Yeah! I think we were wrong about raptors, really," I said, my brain going a hundred miles per minute. "I mean, the ones at the first park were just bloodthirsty little gremlins. But they were also in a small ass cage..." I patted my pockets as I searched for something to write with. "Shit, I need a, a pen and paper... Anyone? Please, I'm on the verge of something here!"
"Here, I have a notepad and a pen," the officer who had strapped me in said as he handed it over to me.
"Thank you, officer Grady," I said with a smile before opening the notepad.
"No problem, miss. You can call me Owen." My hand stilled, the pen tip just barely touching the paper. Besides me, I heard dad let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that Ellie did this one purpose. Somehow, someway, she had a hand in this.
"Why are you stopping, I thought this was a great discovery," Billy chided as he snapped me out of my funk.
I threw him a look and began writing furiously. The parks were flawed in the beginning, but with this new discovery... well who knew what was going to happen?
AAAhhh I wasn't sure if I was going to finish the movie with this chapter or not. This is the very last chapter for the endgame pairing, and so far Owen is in the lead. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I wrote it during a buzz...
Also, the intermission chapters between now and Jurassic World will be uploaded on this story. I have a loose plan on those and now that I don't have to follow a movie script you can be on the lookout for those arriving in the next few weeks. Thank you for reading, and being patient with my unsteady uploading schedule, but hey, I put Owen in at the end so you can't get mad at that!
