Chapter 10: Escape
"Come on, let's get the fuck out of here," said Anderson, running across the genetics lab towards the door. Just as he was about to grab the handle it burst open, and Haynes spilled into the room. He was wild eyed, and he sported a slashing tear along his right cheek.
"Sir how did you—?" began Anderson.
"Shut the door!" shouted Haynes, and lunged, slamming the door shut.
A moment later there was a loud thud on the other side of the door. A hooting cry filtered in through the wood to them, and then a low, reverberating growl. The thudding sound came again, louder this time.
"No way out," Anderson said, looking at the door. "Can we get out through the other door on the other side of the airlock?"
Wu shook his head. "It leads back out into the corridor leading to the dining room. They'd get us within seconds."
Anderson cursed. "Okay, how many of these things are there?"
"Six, at most," said Wu. "We had eight adults in the park setting, you've killed two. Assuming none of them have been killed by something else, there are six left."
Anderson added his weight to the door as a precaution; the door didn't look strong enough to hold them back for long. The area around the lock was already beginning to groan under the strain.
"We don't have enough firepower to open the door and take six of them down before they get us," said Haynes, grunting.
Wu grabbed the silver case as he leapt to his feet, and walked along the exterior wall of the building, looking out. Through the small window, he could see the rounded roof of the entrance hall rising above them. Upon it, just below the level of the window was a small ledge, which encircled the entire cone shaped ceiling.
"Anderson," he called, pointing out through the window.
Anderson ran from the door to the window, and nodded immediately. The bars on the window made it impossible from them to escape through it, but Wu pointed to an area just to the left of it where the wall hadn't been tiled, and was simply made of painted plasterboard. Wu grabbed the desk in front of the wall, and wrenched it away, dragging it back across the room.
Anderson cocked his rifle, and with an immense burst of sound he pulled the trigger, unleashing a spray of bullets at the wall. Bits of plaster exploded from the wall, flying around the room. Wu ducked down behind the desk to protect himself. Haynes swore loudly as he continued to push against the door.
Anderson drew a line with the rifle, carving a man-sized hole in the wall, blasting it away with bullets. Then he ceased fire, and rushed forward, and kicked away the piece of plasterboard which remained in the middle of the hole. It fell away, tumbling out of sight, and daylight streamed into the room, followed by a gust of wind.
Wu came forward, and looked out. The ledge was just below him, barely a five foot jump from his crouched position. Normally he would have been hesitant about doing anything like this; he was well over thirty feet up. But now was no time for vertigo.
The of the genetics lab collapsed with a clatter, and Haynes was thrown backwards across the slick floor. Wood flew across the floor towards them, some jagged pieces embedding themselves into the wall. Standing in the doorway, snarling, were three Dilophosaurs.
"Anderson, get him out of here!" shouted Haynes, scrabbling to his feet.
The Dilophosaurs stooped down as they entered the room, their ten foot tall frames barely able to squeeze though the doorframe. They hooted, and cocked their heads as they saw the humans within the room.
Anderson grabbed Wu by the collar, and forced him down, towards the hole in the wall.
At the sight of him trying to escape, the Dilophosaurs roared, baring their razor sharp fangs, saliva dripping from their mouths into pools on the ground.
Haynes and Anderson immediately opened fire, the room filling with the sound rapid explosions, reverberating off the walls. The first of the Dilophosaurs was riddled with bullets, and it screamed as it went crashing to the floor, blood billowing from its wounds.
But it was too late.
The other two Dilophosaurs lunged forwards, and grabbed Haynes in their jaws. He tried to shoot the both of them, but one of the dinosaurs slashed his shoulder with its claws, and his gun fell from his hand as he gave a howl of pain. They slammed him to the ground, and descended on him immediately. The sound of his screaming filled Wu's ears, and he had the urge to be sick and turned away and leaps from the room through the hole.
His feet hit the brick ledge, and he grabbed the sloping cone ceiling of the building as small pieces of mortar crumbled away beneath him. He slowly began edging his way along, towards the front of the building. Parked in front of the double doors on the side of the road was the Jeep Wrangler, the driver door hanging open.
Behind him there was another burst of gunfire, and a scream of rage from one of the Dilophosaurs. A moment later, Anderson leapt from the genetics lab room and soared through the air towards him. He landed perfectly, like a cat, and pushed Wu forwards roughly.
"Haynes?" said Wu, moving as fast as he could towards the front of the building. Only another ten feet until they were above the double doors.
"No," said Anderson. He stopped for a second, and Wu flinched instinctively, almost losing his grip as Anderson turned and fired another volley of bullets at the lab. A fierce roar tore through the air, full of anger and pain. A second later there was a loud thud from below him, and glancing down he saw that one of the animals had fallen from the lab to the ground below, its head full of punctures.
They were now directly above the entrance to the rotunda, the series of waterfall on either side of the steps running down peacefully.
Anderson shoved him hard in the back, and Wu gave a yell of surprise and he fell through the air. He curled into a ball, keeping the silver case tight to his chest as he plummeted towards the ground.
With a stinging slap he impacted the surface of the water, and was enveloped with water, freezing in comparison to the tropical temperature of the air. His ribs struck the bottom with the momentum of his fall, and he released a stream of bubbles from his mouth as he cried out in pain. A second later Anderson landed beside him.
They both broke the surface, and Wu struggled up and hauled himself out of the water. He staggered to his feet and ran down the steps, the sound of the Dilophosaurs in the visitor centre emanating from behind him.
He looked left and saw Anderson roll down the miniature waterfall, and rise up again a moment later, dragging his legs through the thickness of the water. He leapt up from water, and ran onto the road and around to the driver's door of the Jeep. Wu was close on his heels, and wrenched open the passenger door, and jumped in.
Just as the engine roared to life a Dilophosaur emerged from the jungle directly ahead, and roared. Anderson revved the engine, the motor roaring back. The Dilophosaur snapped its head down, and Wu jumped in his seat as a glob of saliva impacted the windshield.
Anderson stamped on the accelerator, and sped towards the dinosaur.
The Dilophosaur roared again, and charged down the road towards them.
A plume of dirt was kicked up behind the wheels as the Jeep rocketed down the road, and Wu watched the speedometer crawl upwards, until it read an excess of fifty miles an hour. The sound of the engine grew to a high whine, and with a glance Wu saw that Anderson's face was screwed up into a snarl, his eyes wild.
With an almighty crash the Dilophosaur impacted the front of the car. The front bumper crumpled, the squeal of metal filling his ears, the dashboard shaking from the force. The windshield splintered as the animal hit the bumper, and then smashed as the Dilophosaur was forced over the bonnet by momentum. Glass slashed against Wu's face, stinging his skin like needles. The interior of the Jeep was suddenly full of the smell of vomit and dried blood, and faintly he heard the animal give a whimper of pain.
The dark body of the Dilophosaur soared up over the roof of the Jeep, and Wu heard its claws scraping along the roof for an instant, and then the thud against the ground as it rolled off the back. Anderson didn't flinch, and kept his foot on the accelerator, driving the car down the road as fast as he dared; and much faster than Wu would have dared to.
The Jeep exploded from the cover of the jungle, and raced out into the open field towards the helipad. Wu looked at the front bumper of the vehicle, and saw smoke rising from the engine into the air from around the metallic hood cover, glistening in the sun.
The herd of orange dinosaurs they had seen when approaching the island screamed in fright at the sight of them and sped away, running parallel to the Jeep. Their large, clawed feet ripped the grass up in great chunks and sent it hurtling behind them. Anderson accelerated into the herd, driving past the eight feet tall, ostrich like animals. Their screeches reverberated in the small cab of the Jeep, coming in through the broken windshield. Wu covered his ears with his hands as a sharp pain ran through his head with each shriek the animals made.
One of the hind limbs of the dinosaurs struck the passenger side door, leaving a large dent in the metal, the animal wheeling away from the vehicle, howling in pain. Slowly the car pulled ahead of the herd, and roared out into the open field, heading south.
In the distance, on the other side of the field, Wu could see the immense necks of the Brachiosaurs protruding from the edge of the trees, crying mournfully. Down by the lagoon a herd of Parasaurolophus stood knee-deep in the water, chewing on vegetation, their jaws working away, the battery-like teeth grinding up the vegetation.
In front of them a lone Triceratops lumbered from the cover of the trees, and followed the tree line. Its massive form appeared like ghostly spectre slinking its way through the island, haunting the jungles.
Which Wu realised, wasn't that far from the truth, in more ways than one. They were terrifying animals, yes, and they really did seem to haunt you. He had taken the tour once in the Land Cruisers when they were still testing the system, and he dared anybody to do the same without becoming a little afraid.
But the animals were also haunting in another way. They were ghosts. Animals from the past, which had expired millions of years ago now, walked the land again. They were lost in time. A vision of how life once was.
Wu looked out towards the mountains in the north-east, the bare rock at the sharp, jagged peaks shining dully in the sunlight. He squinted through the windshield and he saw a black shape appear in the uniform blue sky. The chopper was coming.
They were saved.