Tyrant vs Untameable
Heat started to creep along the back of his neck. The morning sun had finally risen high enough into the sky to actually warm up the volcanic land. Until only a few minutes ago the fiery orb had been hidden behind the thick trees that grew on the south side of Isla Matanceros. A nearby horse snorted. The sound of cantering hooves on the pavement echoed around rest area. He put the jeep into gear once more and drove after the horse. Like modern day horses Hipparion travel in bands of up to thirty five led by one male, all the rest either being female or young males. Something had spooked the largest band of the park's three bands, consisting of thirty individuals, and they had scattered all around. Nineteen had been recaptured.
"That one's breaking off," Chiyo said absentmindedly. They had swapped seats when they had got onto Isla Matanceros. She had been daydreaming ever since she had heard about the Utahraptor attack on Ajay and Muldoon. Not many people liked Ajay and Muldoon; Muldoon for being an alcoholic and misogynist and Ajay for enjoying big game hunting. No one however would want them mauled the way they were though… He shook his head in disgust. Like all dromaeosaurs Utahraptors had a nasty hunting habit; they repeatedly stab their prey in vital organs or the throat until they succumb to their injuries. Muldoon being in a bad state might indicate that they had skipped the stabbing but Ajay…
"He's breaking off again." He snapped back to reality. A young male had started to break off from the rest of the herd and was looking curiously into a pond. Impatiently he pressed the car horn sending a loud honk ricocheting off of the trees. The young Hipparion raised his head, whickered and ran towards his mother. With the windows down he could feel the atmospheric generators at work. Around them humidity was losing a battle to dryness in the air. Tropical trees became less thick and started to be replaced by pines, cypresses and even eucalyptus trees found in Mediterranean climates. A perfect environment for this species of Hipparion. This particular species was Hipparion mediterraneium, Prehistoric Park also exhibited Hipparion dietrichi from Greece who were rescued on a 'secret mission' for Phase II.
The paved road in front of him branched off into two paths: one a continuous paved road towards the center of the island and a second dirt road which veered off into some waist high golden grass. He gave a sigh of relief. The horses followed the dirt path. It would have been a nightmare capturing them all if some chose to head in the opposite direction. Bar the occasional horse stopping to graze from the long grass (who quickly moved with a blare of the horn) sending them to the Hipparion Grassland gate was no challenge. One elderly horse who the others were following galloped through the gate. Quickly all the others followed suit. He placed his finger against the side of his headset to connect it to Control. After a brief few seconds of static the line cleared indicating someone had answered his call.
"Hello this is Jordan Matthews, staff number 0495. Me and Chiyo Ishado have recaptured the last of the Hipparion. Ready to close and lock the gate."
"Roger that Jordan." It was the voice of Vivian from Control. "We've picked up something in the exhibit that is not a Hipparion. We can't tell what it is. Seems to be about one and a half meters long. Could you give it a look?"
He looked towards Chiyo who gave a small smile. "Might as well. We can kill two birds with one stone."
He confirmed Vivian's request and drove into the exhibit. Behind them he heard the gates closing. God damn them if this turns out to be an Albertosaurus. At just one and a half meters he doubted that it would actually be T Rex's smaller cousin but these thoughts are sometimes always at the back of your mind. Hipparion Grassland was a green sea sporting the occasional iceberg of a tree. The multitude of horses galloped or grazed all day long among the fronds of their sea. Whatever the intruder was it sure had a lot of land to hide in. Chiyo was talking to someone over her headset.
"It should be near the west trees." He nodded and drove the car west. A few Hipparion noticed the jeep drive towards them and they trotted out of the way. At the west side of the exhibit there was a small forest that the horses liked to use for shelter. It proved to be a very good spot to see them from the River Tour. Grass was soon replaced by pine trees. The gentle rush of the river accompanied the chirrup of crickets. Deciding to be brave he even got out and sat on the hood of the jeep to get a better look (or even hear) the mystery animal.
"What the hell are you doing?" Chiyo asked frantically, torn between staying inside the jeep for safety or getting out to chastise his recklessness. She ended up getting out, her face as red as her hair. "It could be a carnivore."
"Chiyo the dangerous carnivores have been rounded up. I don't think the Herrerasaurus got out but anyway all of them are longer than one and a half meters. It's probably an Scutellosaurus or maybe even a Mesohippus."
That seemed to calm Chiyo up slightly. She stopped hunching up her shoulders and even started to lie back on the jeep. He could understand her unease though. She had personally rescued, alongside Nigel, about every animal in the park. She understood them. After seeing them in the wild she respected what they could do. Sometimes he even had to remind himself that almost every one of the park's animals had once been wild. He had personally seen that multiple times and everyone had stories about how Prehistoric Park's animals were still truly wild. Winston liked to brag about being chased by the Entelodon and Hyaenodon gigas on the same day when Nigel had them moved to Isla Matanceros so they could have larger exhibits (although everyone said that the 'chase' was an exaggeration).
"What was that?" Chiyo asked suddenly sitting up alert. He heard it too. It sounded like a chirruping of a bird. Where had he heard that sound before? There was another sound of scattering foliage coming from behind the jeep. When he went round to look at the back the chirruping sound came again from the right side of the jeep. He went round to the front to hopefully catch the owner of the voice off guard. Like Control said it was one and a half metres long. From head to toe it was covered in dark blue feathers with black spots except unlike birds and raptors the feathers looked needle like. This was a very old dinosaur in regards to evolutionary history. A V-shaped bright orange crest with dapples of crimson in it stretched from the nose to the crown of the skull. Whenever it made the chirruping noise a yellow throat pouch similar to that of a crocodile inflated slightly.
"I would pet him if he wouldn't bite off my fingers otherwise!" Jordan laughed. It was a young male Dilophosaurus, probably only two years old by its size. You could easily tell it was a male by the brightly coloured crest; female Dilophosaurus normally had a duller crest. The dinosaur made another chirruping sound which turned into something like a choking noise. It started to wave its head left and right while puffing out the yellow pouch and arching its back up and down. A typical Dilophosaur territory display. On an adult it would seem threatening but on this juvenile it seemed comical.
"You really do give Nigel a run for his money sometimes." Chiyo said quietly. Possibly trying not to disturb the dinosaur before them. "Control this is Chiyo again. The animal in Hipparion Grassland is a young male dilo. We'll find a way to get him back."
The Hipparion probably smelt the little dinosaur and ran off scared. Alien smells always scare horses, especially that of predators. An adult dilo may be able to kill a Hipparion but not one as young as this one. His jaws were even weaker than an adult and his forearms were nowhere near as muscular as an adult. Instead of fish and adult dinosaurs his diet would consist of fish, lizards, eggs and hatchlings. How on earth were they going to get this little guy back to his exhibit? All the time as he and Chiyo thought of a plan the young dilo kept on cocking its head quizzically at them. Although, by its age, born at the park it probably was not used to humans. He picked up a nearby stick and started to shake it in the direction of the dinosaur. Other than an initial startled jump back it did nothing.
"Wait I have an idea!" It was a similar concept to how they recaptured the hadrosaurs. Dilos as young as this one were terrified of any adults that weren't their parents. If the jeep had the territorial call of an adult dilo hopefully they could scare it away and towards its exhibit. Considering that it didn't have any noise for a Hadrosaurus, Edmontosaurus or a Maiasaura it would be a long shot. He quickly told Chiyo his plan.
"It doesn't have a territorial roar." He felt disappointment build up throughout his entire body. Getting this guy home would be much harder. "It does have a greeting call though. The dilos were meant to be our big Phase II animal originally so we recorded some of their greeting calls for the River Tour to play in case they couldn't see any."
A smile crept up on his face. Out of all the Phase II animals (those from the Permian Plains, Scutellosaurus, Sarahsaurus, Prosalirus, the second Hipparion species and the dilos) he was thankful that Prehistoric Park had decided to make the Dilophosaurus the star animal. A part of him thanked god too that the I Rex was discovered after Phase II had started; if not they would have otherwise been the star and he would have no easy plan to recapture the little dilo. Careful not to disturb him they both climbed into the jeep. Still the dinosaur continuously cocked his head back and forth. He started typing the LED screen on the dashboard. From Animal Noises it was only a simple task of finding Dilophosaurus. Instantly he pressed the Dilophosaurus-Greeting button. Through the radio a loud crackling call like a whooper swan but deeper in pitch echoed around them. The dilo started bobbing his head up and down making similar noises. Suddenly he jumped onto the jeep's hood and started shaking his head. He climbed onto the roof, still making the same noises, leaving one muddy three toed footprint behind. He could hear the little dinosaur moving on the metal of the roof.
"He should be safe if you don't drive too quickly," Chiyo said trying to lean out to see the dinosaur now standing on the roof. He started to drive at about 10mph. He could hear the dilo wobble on the jeeps' roof but it seemed to regain his posture. A few Hipparion in their way made startled whinnying noises and galloped off in the opposite direction. In response the Dilophosaurus made a sinister snarl. The transporting of the dinosaur soon became easier when they exited the Hipparion exhibit and got onto the paved road. Without the bumps he could afford to go a bit faster without the danger of knocking the dilo off of the roof.
"We'll have to make a detour," Chiyo said through as she rested her hand on her headset. "A few Scutosaurus are blocking the path out of Permian Plains. I think the quickest way to get to Kayenta Formation is to take the service road on this next left."
Service roads were always dirt roads so that meant slowing down again. Their passenger on the roof started to snap at the birds which darted from the bush as they drove past. Even though he was driving slowly he constantly fretted that the dilo would jump off and get lost somewhere where the park staff could not get him. He could feel the air becoming more humid and richer in oxygen. Mediterranean plants were substituted for ferns, horsetails and ginkgos. A sign soon appeared at a fork in the road. Written in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian one of the prongs said: Kayenta Formation. He gently turned to go in that direction. Quickly the dirt road became tarmacked and the grey obelisk showing a skeletal skull of a Dilophosaurus came into view. They descended down another dirt path to get to the gate. Three keepers were there: two had opened the gate while a third was waving a fish around. The dilo became instantly smitten with the fish wielder and jumped off of the jeep, leaving another three toed muddy footprint on the windshield as he left. The keeper threw the fish into the exhibit with the dinosaur following.
"Control this is Jordan Matthews. We have returned the Dilophosaurus back home."
It took half a minute for Vivian to reply. "Good that's the last of them. The situation is now more stable on Isla Matanceros. We need you back on Isla Nublar…Wait there's something in the dilo paddock. It's not moving. Could you give it a look?"
Chiyo rolled her eyes and leant out of the window to ask the keepers to open the gates for them. The feeling of déjà vu was uncanny. Probably a sleeping Hipparion was in there. He put the jeep into gear and drove into the paddock. Knee high ferns scattered the entirety of the ground as the wheels rolled over them. Peering out from one of the trees was a black crest with orange flecks. Each Dilophosaur had a unique pattern on their crest; no two dilos had the same pattern. With the height of the crest in relation to the ground that was probably an adult. At two meters tall it was definitely a dinosaur you didn't want to stumble across at night. They drove on a bit further to see what Control had picked up.
"What the hell is a jeep doing in here?" he asked. One of the pickup jeeps was parked on top of a small muddy hill. Crashed probably was the better word. A tree normally grew on the hill but now the jeep had smashed into it uprooting it. Mud now entombed most of the tree. The front of the jeep had been completely destroyed, the hood had imploded on itself and he could see black oil smeared among the mud from where the engine had ruptured.
"That's the jeep that the mercenary Gabriel used when he kidnapped Dennis," Chiyo commented. "He must have taken it from Nublar, used the tunnels to get to Matanceros and got lost. The River Tour starts and ends nearby so they probably took a wrong turn."
"A wrong turn into a dinosaur enclosure." How did that Gabriel survive years in Nicaragua if he got lost in a park designed for people no to get lost in?
"I don't think he got lost now that I think about it," Chiyo said. "His plan was to get a boat from the River Tour. With the power back on he probably knew that people would be out looking for him. He might have gone this way to stick to the river and stay out of sight. The low visibility had this result…"
She waved her hand towards the upturned tree and destroyed jeep. He got back to Control to tell them that they had found Gabriel's jeep. The plan had changed now. Security was going to come and they would escort the newcomers through the exhibit while they looked for the mercenary's whereabouts. After half an hour had passed a team of three arrived in a jeep bearing the signature Prehistoric Park logo. He only knew one of the three team members: Nima Cruz. She stepped out of the jeep and walked towards them as if they were in a car park and not the exhibit of the early Jurassic's top predator.
"Hi Chiyo," she said. "You got a way to scare off the dilos when we search for clues?"
"Yeah," Chiyo replied lifting up a klaxon. "Animals hate loud noises."
He got out of the jeep with his own klaxon in hand. He felt much safer with a klaxon in hand than he would with a tranquiliser rifle. Tranquilising an animal is not instantaneous, unless if you wanted to permanently put it to sleep, but any medium sized animal would run scared of the unrelenting noise of a klaxon. A juvenile dilo stood on a nearby rock cocking its head at them. The striped yellow crest indicated that it was a different one from before.
"Footprints. To different sets, one clearly a set of hiking boots, the other by the deepness of the heel was for office wear." Nima was crouched by the side of the jeep. Her nose was virtually touching the glutinous mud. He had a feeling that Nedry wasn't expecting hiking through a forest that morning. She stood up and went to the hill. "They went down here."
She started walking down the hill with the two other members of her team. Chiyo nimbly jumped down the hill as easily as a mountain goat would go down a mountain trail. When he tried he got his foot trapped in some mud, tumbled and would have got a face full of it if Chiyo didn't catch him. There was a low groan and a hiss to their left. A fully grown Dilophosaurs started to come from the bush, looking extremely threatening with its dark red crests. He quickly fired his klaxon causing the dilo to give a shriek and run off in the opposite direction.
"They continued closer to the river," Nima continued bending down to look at the footprints. He could hear the river running softly just ahead of them behind some trees. "Something was following them. Three toed footprints. An adult by the size of the tracks. It started to get up close to the one wearing hiking boots. They human footprints stop and turn around. They've noticed the dilo. Here some mud is smeared. It looks like Nedry pushed the other man who fell in the mud. A few of these footprints here are quite deep. It looks like Nedry started jumping…"
"He was getting the dinosaur's attention," Chiyo said suddenly. "Damn…He was trying to save Gabriel." He could feel only pity for Dennis. Twice blackmailed and then tried to offer himself as bait to save the man who had threatened to open up his throat. Regardless of it being either a desperate attempt at redemption or genuinely trying to help Gabriel he felt nothing but pity for Dennis. He hoped that he was okay.
"There's some blood. With the mud I can't tell how much. He stumbled towards this clearing and…mierda."
Through some ferns he could see the pasty white body with smears of dark red. He couldn't bear to look at it. Chiyo's face was the same eerie white but gave away nothing what she was thinking. Ever the stoic. He felt as if part of him had died. Nedry had gone from villain to martyr in his eyes. In disgust Nima stood up and started to follow the other footprints.
"The mercenary started to run in this other direction. Another set of three toed footprints came from over here. The mercenary stopped then continued running to those trees over here." She pointed to some trees with long tangled roots close to the river. "He ran and caught his foot on the root. Mierda."
He couldn't look this time. Nima was muttering something in Spanish to someone over her headset. Chiyo was looking blankly at the dead mercenary. Was she angry at him or was she upset about his death? Nima, looking quite pale, humbly walked up to them.
"Someone's going to come to take the bodies," Nima explained. "Control said that if you want to call it a day you can do."
"No." Everyone was surprised about Chiyo's harsh tone. "We were wanted on Isla Nublar?"
"Cronus is asleep near Tyrannosaurus Territory. They wanted you to help move when we he wakes up."
Chiyo nodded and started back towards the jeep. With some form of wrathful elegance she climbed back up the hill. Rather more clumsily he followed her. She drove them out of the enclosure with Nima's team following behind them. An icy coldness had filled the jeep. No one spoke. Chiyo's face had hardened, her true thoughts hidden by a cold veneer. It was only when they were half way to Nublar in the tunnels did he pluck up the courage to talk to her.
"Chiyo are you okay?" He knew she would give an answer of 'I'm okay' like she normally did when asked this question. He didn't expect her to suddenly stop the jeep sending him rocking forward into his seatbelt. Her eyes turned red and she started to cry. He was shocked. Chiyo was never one for crying.
"It's all my fault!" she spluttered through her tears. "If I had been a better friend to Dennis and actually saw that he was okay he would never have gone to BioSyn. He would never have died. Those two guests would never have died, Ajay would never have died, that waitress would never have died, those mercenaries would never have died, Dr Malcolm would never have got injured and Muldoon would never have gotten mauled by those fucking raptors!"
She slammed her head onto the steering wheel. He hugged her despite her flinching when he did so. Maria had told him that with Chiyo having so low self-esteem whenever something bad happened she would blame herself. With so much shit going through her head it was her natural response to anything bad that happened.
"Chiyo there is only one person to blame for all this. Lewis Dodgson is to blame for this. Remember Dennis tried to back out? Because of Dodgson Dennis could not tell anyone." He could feel her shaking under his arms. Eventually the shaking became less violent and she managed to sit up. Judging by her eyes he knew that she didn't believe him; changing the way you think is much harder than healing from a cut or a bruise.
"We best be going to get Cronus," she replied solemnly. She gave a small smile which reassured him. Sending half a dozen rats scattering she drove the jeep forward. Soon they had emerged into the tropical humidity of Hell's Creek. He could hear the rumble of a Triceratops nearby from their exhibit. It did not take long however to find Cronus. Incidentally he was now sleeping where Dr Malcolm had been found injured. Pieces of straw from the destroyed toilet roof swept back and forth with every breath Cronus took. Faintly he could see the giant's head twitching as he slept. Nigel was standing nearby and winced as he walked up to them.
"Had a few broken ribs thanks to an Iguanodon," he said with a smile despite his physical pain. "When Cronus wakes we'll just have to find Indy."
Suddenly Cronus opened his eye. He pulled Nigel and Chiyo back under some low tree branches, safely out the reach of Cronus if he wanted a wake-up snack. The tyrannosaur started to sniff the air and rumbled. His giant crocodile like throat pouch quivered and inflated in a hiss just as crocodiles do. He gave another low hiss. That was a territorial hiss. Who was he hissing at? What he forgot was the incredible sense of smell that tyrannosaurs had. He knew something was there…invisible.
"Indy!" Nigel cried. A green background changed to a white one. Indy arched her back and hissed like some sort of biblical serpent. They were challenging each other for territory. Quickly the hisses turned to roars. Cronus's earthshattering bellow and Indy's warbled snarl. Tyrant vs Untameable. Indy made the first strike. She went to bite Cronus's abdomen and only managed to claw it with her right hand. Cronus went to bite the left but missed. At that moment Indy managed to grab Cronus by the scruff of his neck with her other hand. Cronus gave a feeble hiss and tried to body slam into Indy. This failed and she bit him on his lower flank sending a cascade of red fluid pouring out of a sizeable hole now in his body. Grey feathers greedily drank the red. She bit him again on his upper back sending more blood to soak his feathers. Possibly gallons of red blood dripped onto the mud. It was murder. Indy took a third bite out of Cronus, this time near his throat, and then headbutted him. Cronus went down shaking the earth like an earthquake. His breathing became ragged. He could hear the other tyrannosaurs roaring from their exhibit.
"We need more teeth!" Nigel said in dismay.
That's it. Indy had intelligence and manoeuvrability on her side but if there were multiple tyrannosaurs… "Control this is Jordan Matthews. No time to explain but you must urgently open the gate to Tyrannosaurus Territory! Quickly!"
The gate behind them slid open. The earth shook underneath them. As Indy was going to sink her teeth into Cronus's neck a large grey shape slammed into her. Speckles of red dropped down from Indy's side from where the shape had bitten her. The shape was Terrance. He gave a roar as Indy turned round and sunk her teeth into the base of his neck. It would have been the end of him if Jane hadn't arrived and tore a chunk out of Indy's flank. There was a sickening crunch as Matilda joined the fray by grasping one of Indy's arms in her maw of a mouth. Indy swiped at Matilda with her free arm sending droplets of blood pouring from her face. Matilda let go at that moment.
"Oh my god!" he heard Chiyo yell over the roar of the dinosaurs. Indy went to round on Matilda in retaliation until Cronus re-joined the clash of the titans by ramming into Indy's stomach. The larger white dinosaur turned around giving a huge hiss like a crocodile. All four tyrannosaurs surrounded her; one on each side. Each tyrannosaur gave a hiss of their own in response. Indy went and slammed into Terrance, a crack followed and Terrance started to limp off. It all happened at once. Cronus grabbed one arm, Matilda Indy's neck and Jane Indy's leg. A fountain of blood issued from each bite mark. Indy gave a feeble cry. The tyrannosaurs let go and limping Indy started to retreat; hunched shouldered and leaving a trail of blood behind her. Despite his limp Cronus managed to stand up tall and gave a bellow of victory. All four tyrannosaurs returned to their rightful territory with the gate closing behind them.
"Well that was unexpected," Nigel laughed. He found himself laughing as well.
A week later
He sat at one of the desks with Maria's hand in his own. It had been a stressful week. The vets were working overtime to ensure that the four T Rex and Indy could be healed as quickly as possible. A part of the vets were still in tatters after a hungry cave bear had smashed through some glass to eat an unfortunate clutch of Caudipteryx chicks. A dodo suffering from bumblefoot unfortunately met its end also thanks to the escapee injured Dromaeosaurus. Quite a few animals were still not accounted for. Over fifty passenger pigeons had escaped their aviary thanks to a Megalosaurus, a Leedsichthys was still circling Isla Pena, three Gallimimus were now roaming free on Sorna and there was an angry woolly rhino on Nublar that no one wanted to go near. InGen at least had been spared lawsuits thanks to the WikiLeaks article. Lewis Dodgson had been forced to resign and there were talks of him being extradited to Costa Rica for second degree murder, corporate espionage and the hiring of mercenaries to be used in Costa Rican territory. With ten dead and twelve injured it could have been much worse.
"Morning all!" Bob said as he shuffled into the room nursing an arm in a sling. Despite calls from Dr Paulson to rest he decided to continue working. "Okay guys Winston you're on feeding duty, Mary and Saeed you're helping with the vets, Conor and Zhun you have the task of picking up the last of the aquatic creatures. Finally Jordan and Maria, there's an angry rhino who's begging to meet you." He said this with a smile.
Jordan smiled too. Just another day at Prehistoric Park.