Chapter 9 Minor Setback
Tim came onto the main road now, further up he could see the other land cruiser on its side, while using the goggles. He ran over to the other land cruiser, and looked inside; there was no sign of either Grant or Malcolm. Where were they both? Were they still alive even?, the questions raced through his mind. Am I the only one who survived the T-Rex attack? He started to panic. But then he saw something to the side of the road that caught his eye. It was a ball; Lex's baseball. He dashed over to the baseball, and wiped of some mud that had gotten onto it. He now remembered that Lex had been in the car with him, but she wasn't in there now or he would've seen her.
"Lex!" He shouted as hard and as loud as he could. He listened to see if anyone would reply. But all he could hear was the sound of the wind. He couldn't even hear any dinosaurs nearby. Odd, the T-Rex can't be too far from here, the thought had crossed his mind.
"Lex!" He repeated. But to no avail. He stood there in the road, all alone. He felt very alone now. He sat down in a cold puddle. He started whimpering for a while. "What am I going to do?" He muttered under his breath. When he finally stopped, he could still the sound of whimpering, from somewhere further up the road. He decided to go and investigate.
"How long has it been now?" Muldoon asked Arnold as he came back into the control room. He was carrying a black metal case.
"About thirty or so minutes," Arnold answered.
"Harding should be back by now," Muldoon shook his head as he opened the metal case. Inside the case were six portable radios that came with chargers.
Arnold lit another cigarette, moments after finishing one. "They'll be fine. They'll be back soon."
"I'm going around giving out these emergency portable radios," Muldoon said, as he handed Arnold one as well as a charger. "As you can imagine no one thought to charge them. Just charge them up for about twenty minutes then we can try and contact the land cruises. See if they're all right."
"Right," Arnold said, as he plugged it into a spare socket down by the floor.
"What about Nedry?" Muldoon asked.
"What about him?" Arnold said. "He's clearly not coming back any time soon."
Sara woke up, still lying in a heap at the bottom of the hill. She had heard somebody's voice shouting nearby. She slowly got to her feet, feeling rather disorientated about where she was. She looked around at her position, on nearly all sides she was surrounded by the woods. She couldn't see Regis anymore. She decided to head back up to the road. She slowly made her way back up the hill, every step felt like a real effort on her part.
Soon enough she came back onto the road. It was dark, and it was hard seeing anything here.
"Lex!" She called out to them, but not too loudly. "Tim!"
"Sara!" Came the reply, further up the road.
She found Tim off to one side of the road, looking down at something. But she didn't know what.
"What you doing?" Sara asked Tim, as she walked over to him.
"My sister is in the drainage pipe," Tim answered, pointing to the drainage pipe that ran under the road.
"I can't really see her very well," Sara replied.
Fortunately, with the goggles, Tim could see her. She was curled up inside the drainage pipe that was about a meter or so in diameter. She had her baseball glove in her mouth, and she was rocking back and forth; banging her head repeatedly against the pipe. Thankfully, she seemed unhurt, though it won't do her much good being cramped up in there for very long, not to mention the banging of the head.
"Where are Grant and Malcolm?" Sara asked.
Tim shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He turned his attention back to Lex. "You can come out Lex, it's just us."
Lex didn't reply, and the banging continued.
"Please come out, Lex," Tim pleaded with her. "If you come out, I'll let you wear my goggles."
She shook her head, signalling no.
"Look what I found," He held up her baseball. "I found your ball."
"So what," Lex finally spoke. "It's not going to mean anything if we get eaten." She said.
"It must be uncomfortable in there," Sara said, trying a different approach to Tim. "Why don't you come out of there?"
"There are animals out there," Lex said, with fear in her tone of voice.
"There aren't any animals here," Sara said. She glanced around and saw no dinosaurs in the immediate area.
"What about that big one? The T-Rex?" Lex said.
Tim could see that her whole body shivered at the mere mention of it.
"He's gone now Lex," Tim answered.
"Where did he go?" Lex asked.
"I don't know," Tim said. "I'm going to sit down." He sat down on the grass. The grass where he sat was wet.
"Are there any grownups out there?" Lex asked.
"No, not at the moment, I'm sure they'll be here soon though." Tim told her. After a few seconds he heard her moving about inside the pipe. She came out of the pipe, she was shivering and she had dried blood on her forehead, but she looked all right—she could work which was enough for now.
"Where's Dr. Grant?" Lex asked, glancing from Tim to Sara.
"I don't know," Tim said.
"I haven't seen Malcolm or Grant for ages," Sara admitted.
"Hmm," Lex said. "Well he was here before."
"He was?" Tim asked.
"Yeah it was before," Lex said, trying to explain. "When I was in the pipe, before you came."
"Oh," Tim said.
"Where did he go then?" Sara asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" Lex said. "Hellooo! Hellooo! Dr. Grant where are you?" She shouted at the top of her voice.
"Shush, you might make an animal come," Sara warned her but they heard a reply, coming in the direction from the other land cruiser—where Tim had been a few minutes ago. He saw Dr. Grant walking towards them. Grant had a tear in his shirt, but he looked fine—he was working all right.
"Thank God, I've found you all," He said, the relief was evident in his tone of voice.
Ed Regis got to his feet; he was feeling rather cold, and tired. He wiped the cold mud off his face as he had spent the last half hour or so wedged between these two boulders deep in the woods. He remembered which way he had come. He had left the car out of fear; scared of the dinosaur—the T-Rex that had touched the perimeter fence, and would've been able to get to them all. Once he had escaped, and found this hiding place as it were, he felt ashamed that he had left the kids alone; he just hoped they were still alive, but he doubted it. There was no way they could've survived an attack from such a creature.
Even if Regis had stayed, he wouldn't have been able to do anything to save them anyway. He would've probably just been eaten by the T-Rex as a snack. He felt the cold wind air on him, on his neck. It wasn't a very good place to be at the moment.
What had made him move was when he felt a tingling sensation on his arm, and he started get nausea. So he looked down and saw that a leech had gotten on his arm. He tore it off and threw it further down the forest, landing on the forest floor. He suddenly stopped.
"Hellooo! Hellooo! Dr Grant where are you?" He heard the voice of one of the girls that had been carried by the wind.
Regis listened to her tone of voice, it didn't sound like she was frightened or in too much pain to be honest. She sounded okay. He could tell just by the tone of her voice. Wait a minute, if she's alive, and well, that means the Tyrannosaur may have gone now, and perhaps everybody else was still alive, Regis thought to himself. This made him feel better. He started walking back the way he had come, back to the road and to the land cruisers. Where hopefully help from the control room would soon be on its way.
He also realised how quiet it was, as he eventually reached the bottom of the hill in just a few minutes. He then realised that the girl had stopped shouting. He didn't know what to do—it might be too dangerous to head back to the road, because he didn't know what had happened; she may have found Grant or the T-Rex may have found her. He stopped walking, thinking of his next plan.
Alan Grant had checked over Sara first who was more or less fine and able to walk—and she wasn't in the car when the T-Rex attacked it so he'd expect that. Then Tim, who was rather less fortunate his nose was swollen, and Grant suspected it was broken, his shoulder was bruised and swollen, but his legs were okay. Finally Lex, who only had a cut on her forehead, but she didn't have any severe injuries. All three of them could work, which was at this time the most important thing.
Grant himself was okay, apart from the claw abrasion on the right hand side of his chest where the Tyrannosaur had kicked him and the land cruiser, it was rather painful but it didn't serious limit his overall movement. At first it had been bleeding from the initial impact so he had stuck leaves on the wound and after a while it had clotted. But that wasn't really on his mind, he had wondered if he had been unconscious because most of the events that had happened were a blur, and he had found himself in the woods about ten yards away from the land cruiser, groaning with pain. It was after all that when he had started looking for Malcolm and the kids. He found the kids, but he had no idea where Malcolm was at this time. In all fairness the T-Rex should've killed them all easily, but it hadn't. He didn't understand why that was.
"I'm still hungry," Lex said.
"Me too," Grant said. "We have to get back to the visitor centre, and then we can eat. We also have to warn them about the raptors on the ship."
"Are we the only ones who know about that?" Tim asked.
"Yeah us, Malcolm and Regis," Grant nodded.
"So we have to go back and tell them," Sara surmised.
"Right," Grant nodded.
"So why don't we walk down the road to the hotel," Sara said, pointing down the hill. "And wait till someone comes for us."
"As much as I like that idea," Grant considered. "But remember that dark shape that crossed the road before the big T-Rex attacked us? It must've been the little Tyrannosaur. If one of them is further down the road we'll be trapped in between the two, as it has high fences on either side."
"So let's just wait here till somebody comes then," Sara said, sighing.
"I don't want to stay here," Lex said. "I want to keep moving."
Before Grant said anything, they heard the sound of a man coughing. It sounded nearby. They ran forwards to the other side of the road, to look down the hill. Grant and the kids kneeled down to the ground to see what was going on, and also to try and hide their own location.
Grant saw Ed Regis standing about three feet away from the bottom of the hill. He was stood totally still, and the forest in front of them had become deadly silent; the usual steady monotonous tone of the cicadas and frogs had ceased abruptly. They could hear the faint sound of rustling from leaves and the whistling of the wind. They could see that Regis was pressed up against the trunk of the tree. Regis glanced over, looking towards Grant and the kids. He saw them, but he didn't say anything or wave; he remained still.
None of the kids understood what was going on; why didn't Regis just come up the hill and rejoin them. But Grant had an idea what was going on, and it was soon confirmed. Grant head a soft exhalation that was louder than the wind, but it was clear enough for the kids to hear it as well. It was the sound coming from an animal that was nearby.
Grant looked at Regis, and he saw the moving shadows cast by the moonlight on the trunk of the tree. And then Grant realised there was another shadow off to the left, that was superimposed on the others but not moving; a strong curved neck and a square head. The soft exhalation came again. They heard the sudden sound of a branch braking, and then the Tyrannosaur appeared in view. It was the little T-Rex, about eight feet tall. Grant watched as the little T-Rex started walking down the path, coming from the left and then heading further down the road, heading past Regis, disappearing from view. Grant watched as Regis relaxed slightly. He moved away from the trunk of the tree. He then looked down the path to where the T-Rex had gone.
Grant heard Regis sighed loudly. Too loud perhaps. The attack came from the right. The T-Rex reappeared, roaring loudly. It charged right into Regis, knocking him down with his huge body. Regis fell flat on his back on the soft ground. Grant also saw the juvenile T-Rex place one hind leg down on Regis stomach; he couldn't move properly but he was still alive. Regis started swearing at the animal, and trying to scare it off. The juvenile T-Rex bent its head down, and started sniffing at Regis.
"Go away!" Regis shouted. "You stupid animal!"
The young T-Rex backed away a few steps, letting Regis get back to his feet.
"Yeah, that's right, leave me alone!" Regis shouted in disgust. He started backing away from the T-Rex. The young Tyrannosaur looked at Regis, and then charged at him again, knocking him over again. The juvenile Tyrannosaur placed a hind limb on his stomach, and it ducked its head down towards Regis.
"Cut that—" Whatever he was going to say, was cut out by his screams. The Tyrannosaur started tearing at him. The T-Rex tore at Regis and soon the screams stopped.
"Oh no," Lex whispered.
"My god," Sara muttered.
Time to run, Grant thought, pulling the kids away from the hill, just as the juvenile T-Rex glanced up at them at the top of the hill. The four of them ran as fast as they could.
In the night the compys scurried along the side of the road, Harding in his jeep was following them from a close distance behind. Dow pointed further up the road, "Is that a light of some sort?"
"Could be," Harding said. "Almost looks like headlights."
The radio suddenly came to life with a crackling sound, causing Harding to stop. They heard John Arnold's voice. "—you there?"
"Ah finally," Harding said. He pressed the button. "Yes we're here John. We're near the river John, following the compys. It's rather fascinating."
More crackling. The radios usually worked better than this. "—eed your car," Arnold said.
"What's that now John?" Harding said.
"Something about a car," Ellie said from the back. Back in Montana she'd had often worked the radiophone picking up messages before they had gotten a regular phone. "I think he needs your car."
Harding pressed the button. "Are you there John?" There was a flash of lightning and a long sizzle of static.
Arnold's voice from what Ellie could hear sounded tense. "—where—ar—you"
"We're one mile from the Hypsy paddock, near the river following some compys." Harding said clearly.
"damn it—get back—ere—ow" Arnold's voice replied.
"Sounds like he has a problem," Ellie said.
Harding shrugged. "He's always got problems up there in the control room. You know how engineers are, they want everything done by the book. What's going on John?"
There was more cackling, continuous for several seconds.
"—en Muldoon—eeds your car—ow—" Arnold said.
Gennaro frowned. "Sounded like Muldoon needs the car now."
"That's what I got," Ellie agreed with him.
"—other cars—in the storm—Muldoon wants car" Arnold said.
"I get it now, the other cars, possibly the land cruiser are stuck in the storm and Muldoon wants to go out and get them." Ellie said.
Harding shrugged his shoulders. He pressed the button. "Why don't you just take the other gas jeep?"
"—Nedry—has—it—missing," Arnold said.
"Not getting anywhere here," Harding said. "Let's go back then. Looks like our night tour is over." Harding put the jeep in gear and went back the way they had come, and they rumbled down the road with jungle on either side of them. It was another ten minutes until they saw the familiar lights of the safari lodge. They came to a stop outside to visitor centre. Harding saw Muldoon running toward them, waving his hands.
"Damn it Arnold, get this park back on track," Hammond shouted, pacing around the control room, with a red face. "Get my grandkids back here. We had everything under control, but you've got to get this fixed. A little storm shouldn't bring down the entire park and put everybody's life on the ropes."
"Well Muldoon is on his way to get your grandkids," Arnold said. To be honest shouting didn't help him at all, in fact it made the situation worse, because he couldn't concentrate as well as he could. The network didn't care if a human shouted at it, the power systems didn't care; and especially now that the dinos were effectively free—though he doubt anything would have happened, didn't care if they got shouted at. It all had to be done manually. "Why don't you go down to the cafeteria and have a hot chocolate?" He said.
"Damn you Arnold," Hammond said, shaking his head in rage.
"I'll call you in a while, once we've received news from Muldoon," Arnold said.
Hammond stormed out of the room in outrage leaving just Henry Wu and Arnold in the control room. Henry walked over to Arnold's desk, as Arnold began punching buttons on the keyboard. Arnold was now looking behind the scenes at the code—the line by line instructions that told the computer how to behave, and how to act in every circumstance that the computer would come across. Arnold was very aware that the complete Jurassic Park program more than half a million lines of code, and most of it undocumented and very sadly without explanation.
"What are you doing John," Wu asked him.
"Checking the code," Arnold answered.
"By inspection? That'll take forever." Wu said.
"Tell me about it," Arnold said.
Harding, Ellie Sattler and Sean Dow were back at the visitor centre, sat in the cafeteria, at a single table. As soon as Muldoon arrived, he was in such a rush, he didn't have much time to explain fully what was going on. And Gennaro had decided to go with him, since it was night time, and of course as life goes in these types of situations are never easy.
"Well, I would've liked to have seen where those compys were going," Harding said as he sipped his hot chocolate.
"Yeah, they seem like rather lively animals," Ellie said.
"I would like to know what's going on," Harding said, shaking his head.
"I'll go and have a look what's happening in the control room," Dow said.
Muldoon took the curve very fast, causing the jeep to slide across the mud. Beside him in the front passenger seat, Gennaro was rather tense, his fists clenched. They were driving along the cliff road, high above the river that was now hidden below them in darkness. Muldoon accelerated fast. He was tense as well.
"How much farther is the Tyrannosaur paddock?" Gennaro asked.
"Two, maybe three miles," Muldoon answered. "It's been an hour without any word from the land cruisers." The car swerved as he went round another corner.
"But they have radios," Gennaro said.
"We haven't been able to raise them at all," Muldoon said sharply.
Gennaro frowned, as it was rather odd. "Well if I had been stuck in a car for an hour in the rain, I would try to contact somebody."
"So would I," Muldoon said.
"You don't think something's happened, do you?" Gennaro said.
"The chances are they'll be fine, but we'll soon know," Muldoon said.
The road curved and they went up a hill, and at the base of the hill as they were driving, they saw something pale and white lying amongst the ferns to one side. "Stop!" Gennaro shouted, and Muldoon braked. "There's something there," He pointed. Gennaro climbed out of the car, and through the headlights to see what it was. It looked like it was a piece of clothing, but there was...
Gennaro stopped about six feet away, realising what it was. He walked more slowly towards it.
"What is it?" Muldoon said, leaning forwards in the car, to try and see what it was, but Gennaro was blocking his view.
"It's a leg from someone," Gennaro said.
"Christ," Muldoon said.
The flesh of the leg was pale blue white, terminating in a ragged bloody stump where the knee had been. Below the calf he saw a brown slip off-shoe the kind that Ed Regis had been wearing.
By now Muldoon was out of the car, running past Gennaro to crouch over the leg. "Holy shit." He lifted the leg out of the foliage, raising it into the light of the headlights. Gennaro was still three feet away from the leg, he was breathing deeply trying not to be sick.
"Gennaro," Muldoon said sharply.
"What is it?" Gennaro asked, bracing himself for something sickening or bad news.
"You're blocking the light," Muldoon said.
Gennaro took a deep breath, and moved out of the way. He saw Muldoon staring rather critically at the stump of the leg; which was probably all what was left of Ed Regis. "Torn at the joint, didn't just bite it. She twisted it and ripped it right off. No question about what happened here; the T-Rex got him." He glanced up the hill, and then back at Gennaro. "Are you all right? Can you go on?"
"Yes, I'm okay," Gennaro said. He lied, but he was here now, and he wanted to go through it. He chose to come with Muldoon. "So the T-Rex did get out of its enclosure."
"It would appear so," Muldoon said, his face looked rather grim. Muldoon started walking back to the jeep while still carrying the leg. "Doesn't feel right just leaving it here. It's going to make a mess of the car, can you see if there's a tarp or newspaper in the back?" He asked Gennaro. Gennaro walked to the back of the jeep, and opened the back door; he found a tool kit in a bag, a wheel rim, a cardboard box and two tarps that were neatly folded in plastic.
"I've found two," Gennaro said.
"Hand me one," Muldoon said, still standing outside of the jeep.
Gennaro passed him one tarp. He watched Muldoon wrap it up, and then he passed it over to Gennaro.
"Put it in the back, if you could wedge it somehow, so it doesn't roll around..." Muldoon said.
"Okay," Gennaro said. He put it in the back and then he climbed into the front as Muldoon got behind the wheel.
"Let's get this over with," Muldoon said, as he accelerated forwards. They rushed up the hill, and for a moment the headlights were pointing up into the air and then they came down.
Gennaro could see the whole road ahead of him. At first he could only see one of the land cruisers further up the road, lying on its side. But he couldn't see the second land cruiser anywhere on the road.
"Where's the other land cruiser?" Gennaro asked.
Muldoon looked around briefly and pointed over to the left. "There." He pointed, showing Gennaro. The second land cruiser was about twenty feet away from them, crumpled at a bottom of a tree.
"How on earth did it get there?" Gennaro asked.
"The T-Rex threw it," Muldoon said, his face was rather grim.
"Threw it?" Gennaro said, in surprise. "You can't be serious?"
"I am, Mr. Gennaro," Muldoon said. "The quicker we get out of here the better."
They hurried over to the second land cruiser by the tree. Gennaro, let Muldoon take a look first, holding his flashlight peering in. Gennaro could see how battered the land cruiser was.
"There's nobody here," Muldoon said. "It's very unlikely we won't find anyone."
"How come?" Gennaro asked.
"In my years in Africa, I had visited scenes of animal attacks on humans, and every time there was little evidence or remains of humans. Particularly if the victim was a small child or infant. A predator can kill a child just by shaking it, snapping its neck." But as Muldoon looked into the car properly, he found a surprise inside.
Muldoon quickly put the scene in front of him together. The front of the windshield was shattered but there weren't any shards of glass here, but he had noticed them by the side of the road. So as you would've expected it the windshield must've broken on the road, where Muldoon expected the initial attack would have happened.
"Empty?" Gennaro said, his voice was full of anxiety.
"Not quite," Muldoon said.
Gennaro prepared himself, just in case.
Muldoon shone the flashlight around the car, he could see a broken radio handset, and on the floor he also saw something curved and black. Muldoon reached into the car with his free hand and picked it up.
"It's a watch," Muldoon said, examining it with his flashlight. He saw that it was a cheap digital watch with a rubber strap. He had noted that the rubber band strap was intact, but the LCD face was shattered. He didn't know whether or not the boy had been wearing it.
"So what it's a watch," Gennaro said.
"And there's a broken radio," Muldoon said.
"Is that significant?" Gennaro asked, curiously.
"Yes of course it is," Muldoon said. "And there's something else..." He sniffed the air of the car. There was an odour of something. He peered in further, and saw a puddle of what looked and smelt like vomit. He briefly touched it with one finger. It was still fresh. "At least one of the kids maybe still alive. Perhaps all three of them."
"What makes you say that?" Gennaro said, sounding rather curious.
"The watch proves it," Muldoon said, as he showed it to Gennaro.
"Face is cracked," Gennaro remarked.
"Yes but the strap is still intact," Muldoon said. "Which means the kid took off after the attack."
"How could you know that? Maybe it was torn it off." Gennaro said.
"No, you couldn't tear it off without tearing off the arm," Muldoon said. "The T-Rex would have ripped it off, like Regis's leg. The kid realised it was broken so he left it behind and he left the radio behind as well."
"You'd have thought if he was so bright, why didn't he stay here until somebody came and rescued him," Gennaro said.
"Maybe he had to leave, for whatever reason," Muldoon said. They both stepped away from the land cruiser. Muldoon flashed his light on the ground; he could see footprints in the mud. He saw a mess of prints moving away from the car that was being approached by a bigger set of prints. "For some reason he or she even was approached by a large animal, and I think the kid went to meet it head on."
"Why...why would anyone do that in the right mind?" Gennaro said.
"Obviously he didn't feel threatened by it so it was most likely an herbivore," Muldoon surmised. "But let's head back to the road and see if we can find out where they went."
"Sure," Gennaro said.
The two of them went back up onto the main road. Gennaro watched as Muldoon kneeled down to the ground and started shining his flashlight about. Muldoon thinks he's really onto something, Gennaro thought to himself, let's just see how it plays out. It took him several moments.
"There's one set of prints coming from the woods over there," Muldoon said. "These are child size prints. These prints meet up with two other child size footprints and they meet together, with some adult sized prints with a distinctive rubber sole pattern coming from the direction of the land cruiser." He glanced off in the direction of the flattened fence. "They've gone into the park."
"You can see whatever you like in the mud," Gennaro said shaking his head.
"Say what you like," Muldoon said, standing up. "If they're not in the park, then where they are? You saw the land cruiser, no bodies. Not much blood either. "
"True," Gennaro finally admitted, as they started walking farther down to the side road, they suddenly started hearing the sound of wheezing. Like an animal. Gennaro watched as Muldoon kneeled down overlooking something in the foliage.
"What is it?" Gennaro asked, keeping his distance.
"It's Malcolm," Muldoon answered as he pushed away a few fronds.
Gennaro rushed over to his side.
Malcolm was lying on his back, his skin gray-white; his breath came in wheezing gasps. Muldoon handed the flashlight to Gennaro, and then bent down to examine Malcolm. "I can't find the injury...Head okay...chest, arms," He said. Then Gennaro flashed the light over his legs. "He put a tourniquet on." Malcolm's belt was twisted tight around his right thigh. Gennaro moved the light down the leg, and he saw that the right ankle was bent outward in an awkward angle from the leg. His trousers were flattened and soaked in blood. Muldoon touched the ankle softly, and Malcolm groaned. It took Muldoon a few moments to decide what to do next, as he might have other injuries that they can't see like his back or neck.
"Let's move him to the jeep," Muldoon decided.
Gennaro helped move him , and placed him in the back seat of the Jeep. Just as they were getting into the car. They heard something moving, it was coming from the woods. Muldoon turned on the engine.
"Move it Muldoon!" Gennaro shouted, as he glanced over his shoulder, as the little Tyrannosaur appeared into view, and started charging down the road after the jeep. It had started chasing the jeep. Gennaro glanced over his shoulder the little Tyrannosaur roared and then after a few minutes of running it gave up.
"That was close," Gennaro said, sighing in relief. "Hang on your going to leave the kids in the park, with that roaming around?"
"The park is twenty two square miles, it would take ages to find them," Muldoon said. "I have no idea where they are. The only way we're going to find them is with the motion sensors and we'll pick them up."
"Right," Gennaro said. "Are you going to tell Hammond that his kids are missing?"
"No," Muldoon shook his head. "You are."
