Jurassic Park Broken Lives
Chapter 29: Hard Times
Disclaimer: I do not own Jurassic Park
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Author Note: For those of you who would like to know, this story was only to be about twelve chapters in length. Amanda was never going to fall in love with Silver Claw, but instead go home with her father and that would be the end. It is amazing how things change because of reviews.
As usual, any ways to improve my writing and story are welcome. As for next chapter or one after, it will see the introduction of a new character I think you may like. Please review.
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Amanda stared at the starry sky above her. The dense canopy opened up in only a few places but where it did, she could see the night sky clearly. The ground under foot was not soil but was in fact asphalt. Just before dusk, Silver Claw, Sophia and she stumbled upon the road leading from the southern complex to the northern, yet unknown to them, territory.
The jungle around them was thick with undergrowth and consumed in darkness. Several shrubs broke the surface of the road where it appeared something crack the asphalt. A distant shriek sounded from a large creature.
"How far do you think it is until the building?" Amanda asked as she strode along side Silver Claw.
Silver Claw looked to Amanda, "I hope no more than a day."
A deep rumble sounded from the distance behind the group. Amanda was unsettled enough when walking at night let alone on a road somewhere she knew not of.
"It's not a carnivore I don't think." Silver Claw reassured.
"I know, it's just, I don't like being out in the open any more, especially at night." Amanda sighed.
"I like the night," Silver Claw said. "It makes me feel more alive and aware."
Amanda smiled and leaned against him. She used her right hand to play with his feathers. Silver Claw purred in response.
Sophia sighed and looked around. As they rounded a curve in the road, the area suddenly became silent.
Silver Claw stopped and looked around. He could not smell anything nor hear if anything were approaching.
"What is it?" Amanda asked. She looked around but could not see beyond about ten feet into the jungle, of that, most of which was too dark for her to distinguish shapes easily.
"I don't…know," Silver Claw replied wearily.
A snap forced them to turn around. A large creature burst from the jungle down the road a short ways. It looked like the spinosaurus but with out the sail. It roared as it rushed towards the group.
Amanda was the first to start running. Silver Claw and Sophia quickly followed her after a moments pause. They continued to follow the road and soon another roar sounded.
Amanda glanced back to see a second carnivore break the tree line. It had a short blunt snout, crested at the top, with small crests over the eyes. Long slender but muscular legs kept at a quick pace and with arms tucked against its sides. It was a metriacanthosaurus.
The metriacanthosaurus let out an unearthly roar and leapt into the air. It landed on the side of the baryonyx and sank its teeth into the neck. The baryonyx roared and with a snap of its body sent the metriacanthosaurus to the ground. The baryonyx turned and disappeared into the jungle.
The metriacanthosaurus roared and struggled to its feet. It looked around but saw nothing. It quickly disappeared into the jungle in pursuit of the baryonyx.
Amanda took a moment to catch her breath and then said, "That was close."
"I actually thought that that baryonyx was after us," Sophia sighed.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Amanda asked. When she received a strange look from both Silver Claw and Sophia, Amanda shrugged, "I was just wondering."
"Baryonyx only eat fish and sometimes the carcasses they stumble upon," Silver Claw explained. "Only the very ill, will attack anything besides fish and often die in the process. Anyways, baryonyx stay near water so we are not far from that channel yet."
Amanda sighed. "Is it safe to move out of here?"
"Yes," Sophia replied and stepped out of the large cluster of trees. She sniffed the air and nodded to reassure that it was safe.
Amanda and Silver Claw emerged from the trees and looked around as well.
"Let's get out of here before something comes around," Silver Claw said and turned northward with the road.
Amanda quickly moved next to him and made her pace to match his. Sophia moved past both of them and only slowed once she was a few meters ahead. She kept a keen eye on the surrounding jungle.
Silver Claw perked his head up as he walked, listening to the sounds in the distance. There were not much to be heard but a few insects and dinosaurs that were active in the area. From the plain some ways away, the soft call of a brachiosaur drifted gently in the wind.
"How are you feeling," Silver Claw asked.
Amanda sighed, "Better since we were swimming. I'm clean and I do not smell like you that much anymore."
"That's good," Silver Claw smiled. It was good to know that she was feeling better that she did earlier. "What do you think the building will be if it's still standing?"
"I have no idea," Amanda admitted. "We've seen the labs and observation facility, the one that you saw in the south that I do not know what it is, but that's it. Who knows what could be up here."
"I hope there is good hunting," Sophia said to be included. "It seems that most of the herbivores are more towards the southern areas than at the ocean. I was no as easy to find a large enough prey at our old home as it was in that other packs territory."
"I there are not as much carnivores up here," Amanda stretched her back. "I don't want to be force to eat lizards and rodents as meals again; they're too small, bony and taste terrible anyway."
"Yeah I know." Silver Claw grinned, remembering the fuss she put up once when he brought her a fat rat because he could not get a piece of the kill for her. She did eat it finally, but it was hard to convince her to do so.
A sharp screech sounded of in the distance from the area where the baryonyx was heading. It suddenly cut short, silence followed for a moment and then, a triumphant roar filled the air.
Amanda quickened her pace until she was in a light jog. Silver Claw caught up to her and looked at her with a puzzled expression. Sophia was now behind them.
Amanda sighed. "I'd rather not be in the area; something might be attracted to all that noise."
"Alright," Silver Claw gestured for her to get on his back but Amanda shook her head.
"I think I'll jog for a bit. It'll help my legs get back into shape so I don't get a cramp again."
Silver Claw nodded and looked back to Sophia. She was only keeping to a pace that would allow her not to fall behind.
Several minutes passed and the ground sloped downward as they came to a small hill. After a while, the ground flattened and they followed the road as it curved. The road became straighter and opened up to the sky. The moon cast long shadows on the things it illuminated and made for an eerie appeal to the place.
Amanda slowed her pace to a walk. Her breathing was slightly heavier. She yawned after a few moments.
"Would you like to rest?" Silver Claw questioned.
"No," Amanda yawned again, "No, let's continue for a while."
Silver Claw shook his head and slowed his pace. Once he was behind her, Silver Claw dipped his head and in almost a leap, moved forward with his body low. He lifted his body up with Amanda on his back. She gave a slight shriek as she grasped at his neck to keep her balance.
Silver Claw snickered, as she got comfortable. "I like that you see things my way."
"Shut up," Amanda said in a laugh. She rested her head against his neck with her arms held tightly in front of his.
Silver Claw smiled. In the distance, he could hear a waterfall but it was some ways away from the road and he did not want to loose it. Some kind of small animal scurried into a burrow at the base of a tree lining the road.
Sophia moved next to Silver Claw and looked at him. "When are we going to rest," Sophia questioned. "I know we saw that spinosaur but still, I think it's safe to assume that it didn't see us back at the channel."
"I know, it may have only gone to the water to catch fish or drink but still," Silver Claw sighed. "If it didn't see us, I don't want it catching us if it did decide to cross the channel and look for food. You know it will try to kill us if it finds any trace of us."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sophia replied. "Amanda?"
Amanda turned her head so that she could see Sophia clearly. "Yes?"
"I was wondering…if…uh," Sophia trailed off.
"Wondering what," Amanda questioned with great interest, because not only Sophia had a question for her but also she was unsure of whether or not to ask.
"I was wondered how…human's find their mates?" Sophia asked and looked away with some embarrassment.
Amanda was dumbstruck. She barely knew how to find the right person to as Sophia had said be her 'mate' but never had to find out because Silver Claw came along. Amanda swallowed a gulp of air before she answered. "Well I never really found out for myself because Silver Claw came along, but I would say that people find their 'mates' by finding someone who makes them laugh, someone who they feel depressed without them around because you care for them so much, and someone who you love unconditionally. Why do you ask?"
"Well," Sophia's scales turned red around her snout. "It seems that there are not many males to choose from on this island, only…was it one in the other pack." When Silver Claw nodded, she continued. "He didn't sound too interesting when we were talking about that pack…and since you have Silver Claw's heart." Sophia closed her eyes, "And seeing as you two love each other even as different species, I might give humans… or… something like that a… shot…"
Amanda's eyes widened at the end of Sophia's statement. She noticed that Sophia was trembling, she was so nervous at saying what she thought.
"I mean, there must be at least one human that I might like and respect that does not seem to be an idiot like those in the cave. I know I could never have hatchlings if I chose a mate that was not like me…but I guess if it worked for you two; it might work for me… How many humans are there anyway?"
"I…I…I don't know," Amanda admitted, she was still stunned at Sophia's answer. "Several billion I think."
"Billion," Sophia questioned. "How many is that?"
"The population of this island is… is an ant compared to… a… brachiosaur, maybe something even bigger than that." Amanda said, unsure of how to explain it in any more detail.
"That's far too many," Sophia stated in utter disbelief.
"Well, there are some problems with a population like that," Amanda sighed.
Silver Claw turned a corner in the road and stopped. Sophia was about to say something but stopped dead in her tracks. Amanda, puzzled at both stopping, looked up and gasped.
Before them lay the rest of the road, it lay in the center of a massive canyon about eighty meters wide and an inestimable height. Massive boulders provided the perfect cover for anything looking to ambush an unsuspecting animal. Even a spinosaurus could hide behind some of them. Not one tree besides the rotting logs that had fallen from the cliffs above was visible from where they stood. The far side of the canyon was indistinguishable because of numerous rises and dips in the surface terrain.
"The road leads in there," Amanda said under her breath.
"I don't know how much I want to go to that building anymore," Silver Claw said, knowing Amanda was thinking around the same idea. "I may be too dangerous to go this way."
"I know what you mean," Sophia said. "Anything could be lurking in there just waiting for something like us to pass by."
"I wonder how long it would take to go around these cliffs for another way to the building." Amanda said.
"I don't think there is," Silver Claw said. "I was once told that the greens controlled this area because of its security against invading packs. The cliffs go all the way around. Unless you can climb, you have to go this way."
"What if the velociraptors here are not dead," Amanda said. "That won't take kindly to our intrusion."
"I don't think…" Silver Claw started but could not finish.
A sudden and terrifyingly familiar roar thundered from the jungle behind them. The heavy footsteps of the charging super predator echoed through the air and soon, the ground began to shake.
"It found us," Sophia cried. She raced into the canyon at full speed.
Silver Claw quickly sprinted to catch her, nearly loosing Amanda in the process. They swerved to dodge large and small rocks. The ground under foot was treacherous to run on because of the risk of stepping on a sharp stone that could cut the toughest hide with ease.
Amanda looked back to see that the boulders were slowing down the spinosaurus but not to the degree she hoped it would. A roar from the beast sent a chill down Amanda's spine and cause rocks to fall from the walls.
Silver Claw followed Sophia over a small ridge and into what seemed to be a cave-in where the road once was. The cave was such that it leads under the road a ways before another cave-in provided an exit back to the surface. The part between the two holes looked fragile.
Sophia continued onward and into the hole where the collapsed section of the road provided a ramp. She was unhindered by the rough terrain that was the crumbled section of the road. Silver Claw was next; he jumped into the cave where smoother floor would not hurt him with the added weight of Amanda on his back. He caught up to Sophia and took the lead as they headed out the other side and back onto the asphalt of the road.
A thunderous roar boomed from the spinosaur as it jumped to continue pursuit but the section of remaining road gave way under the immense weight of the animal and the spinosaur disappeared in a cloud of dust. Sophia and Silver Claw did not slow their pace, they could not risk a chance that the spinosaur was alive and by now, if uninjured enough to continue, very angry.
The canyon narrowed as they reached the half waypoint. The smell of smoke hung in the air and a light plumb materialized from behind a boulder that could hid a tyrannosaurus-sized creature. Silver Claw and Sophia slowed to a crawl almost. They were cautious of what could be on the other side of the boulder and the spinosaur was not in pursuit.
A light groan made Amanda's eyes widen. She quickly hopped off Silver Claw and moved so that she could see what made the sound. She gasped.
Behind the rock was a downed helicopter with the Ingen label on the side. A familiar black dome like device lay shattered on the ground with sparking wires and a blinking light. Most of the helicopter was bent out of shape and nearly indistinguishable as pieces of it. As Amanda cautiously moved around to the other side, she found the cockpit window shattered and a limp form hanging out of it with blood pooled on the ground beneath.
The groan sounded again and Amanda moved to the body of the man hanging out of the window. With trembling hands, Amanda reached out and touched the man's exposed neck. She quickly recalled her hand. He was ice cold, defiantly dead.
"I wonder what happened," Sophia questioned as she looked around.
Silver Claw touched Amanda's shoulder, "Is he…"
"Yes," Amanda said before Silver Claw could finish. "He's dead but I heard something, someone might still be alive."
Silver Claw perked his head up and moved further around the helicopter. "Amanda," He said. "I found him…"
Amanda moved to Silver Claw's side. She felt a sudden hatred fill inside her. It was the man that ordered Amanda to give up and move into the open so that they could take Silver Claw to the mainland. Over him, the limp body of a pteranodon laid, its wings buckled and broken with blood pooled around its head. A bare wire sparked near the body.
Amanda saw that the man under the pteranodon moved slightly and she approached. A heavy aroma of the man's own filth hung in the air but she ignored it. Amanda pushed aside the wing that covered the man's chest and replaced it with her foot.
The man wheezed as he already had trouble breathing. He tried to lift his arm to beg of help but he was too weak to do much more that groan.
The fear she felt when the man this one sent, tried to rape her filled her but it morphed into something else, anger and the thirst for revenge. Amanda bent over. Something fell out of her pocket and landed on the wire, it went unnoticed by anyone.
Silver Claw stepped to the far side of the pteranodon, "Who is this human?"
In heavy breaths, Amanda said, "He's the one whose voice you heard, he's the one who sent the men to capture us, he's the man who sent the one who tried to rape me!"
Silver Claw's expression turned to puzzlement. His mate had said it all in English and not raptor, and it seemed see was ready to kill this human. Nothing he had ever seen her do showed that she might even have considered something like this. Unless it was for food but she would never even think of this man a prey.
"Amanda, we should get moving." Silver Claw said softly. "We don't want to be caught by the spinosaurus here if it is on the move."
Amanda was silent. She stared into the man's terror filled eyes, terror she was causing him. "On moment my love," Amanda said in a dreamy tone. She grabbed the man's arms and started to pull him to the center of the canyon. "It will stall the spinosaur for a bit."
"Amanda, you're acting strange," Silver Claw said.
"No," Amanda snapped, "You are. You are a killing machine, not some soft cuddly creature. You're supposed to kill something that could be prey and food!"
"Amanda, what's wrong with you?" Silver Claw asked and grabbed hold of the back of her shirt in his mouth.
Amanda screamed and swung around, releasing Silver Claw's hold on her when her fist hit him just behind the snout, a sensitive spot to a velociraptor. She turned and started down the canyon towards the direction away from the direction the spinosaurus was. Silver Claw looked to Sophia and quickly raced to catch up to Amanda.
As they raced away, a bright green flame flickered brightly next to the body of the man where a leaf had fallen onto a bare wire and caught fire.
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Ellie sat patently with her hands folded in her lap. She was in a long empty hallway of an Ingen complex, not the one hit in the bombing. John had invited her, why, she knew not though. He was currently in a board meeting with the investors of the company. After the recent incident in San Diego, Jurassic Park and Site B would all be public knowledge, it would only be a matter of time before people flocked to see the dinosaur, and that would only end in disaster that is if Ingen could not find a solution to save the islands.
The door next to her clicked and soon dozens of executives poured out of the room and headed towards the exit of the building. After the crowd was gone, John Hammond appeared in the doorway. He leaned heavily on his cane, as his illness was not dissipating and he had a sickly appearance. He looked at Ellie and smile.
"Thank you for coming Ellie," He said in a rough voice.
"No problem Mr. Hammond," Ellie said and stood up. She followed him into the conference room and closed the door behind herself. "What did you like?"
"Ellie," he started, "You know that Sorna and Nublar should be protected against the outside world, correct?"
"Yes," Ellie replied.
"You know that I am very ill and may only have a short time before I am bed ridden until my death, yes?"
Ellie nodded. Over the last month, she grew to admire John for the reasons why he created Ingen and Jurassic Park and the reasons he wanted his creations to stay in one piece, separate from the world.
John started to hack loudly and moved to the table to keep his balance. He took in a deep breath and leaned against the table. "I'm not as young as I used to be," he sighed. "Ellie, I would like to offer you a position in Ingen."
"What?" Ellie said, shocked.
"It's not of the Ingen you know that is failing and soon, we will be bankrupt from the lawsuits." He rubbed his neck. "Everything I am now telling you must be kept in the utmost secrecy."
"Of course," Ellie responded. Her mind became a flurry of thoughts.
"Ok," John sighed. "After the incident at Jurassic Park as I am sure I told you about." Ellie nodded. "I knew if we could not reclaim the island, Ingen would be bankrupt in a short matter of time. The efforts of Peter were a desperate attempt to stop this. The bombing that you were an unfortunate witness to, I suspect an attack from our rival, Biosyn."
"Can't you have the people responsible arrested?" Ellie questioned.
"The problem is that the people that did it are a secret organization apart of Biosyn but yet paid by it," John answered. "There is not paper trail, no exchange of money, nothing."
"What kind of job are you offering me?" Ellie asked suspiciously.
"I found out after the Jurassic Park incident that Denis Nedry was paid a great deal of money only days before the incident. Denis was in charge of our computer system and he caused the systems to shut down." John took in a deep breath. "Now Ellie, I know that you are only sixteen and do not have much experience in the issue as an adult."
Ellie crossed her arms. "What are you offering me?"
"I have a position open in a kind of secondary company to Ingen. It works in secret and helps keep several things under control."
"Thing like what," Ellie asked.
"Things like the bodies of deceased dinosaurs washing up on the mainland," John said. "It appears that several people in Costa Rica have been in contact with these animals and as a result, are infected with DX. I know, I know, this is not a good thing but we have been able to contain it but that will only last so long. There are other more serious problems than DX."
"I didn't say anything," Ellie said, "But what could be worse that an outbreak of DX?"
"You didn't…" John paused briefly. "I can't tell you unless you accept the position."
"What exactly will I be doing?" Ellie stressed.
"You will be part of a small team that will spread the cure over the islands and tag each of the existing animals." John replied. "Once the DX cure is complete you will be working in Costa Rica for some time."
"Spread the cure how," Ellie questioned, "And what about tagging?"
"Our scientist will try once it is done to create an aerial dispersal system," John said, "Until then, you would anesthetize the animals and to tag them, the helicopter would land and someone would inject a tiny tracking system into the animal along with the medicine to wake up the creature. I can't remember what it was called at the moment." He took in a deep breath. "As well as the superb yearly salary, you would have all the health benefits you needed to keep healthy."
"Why would you need me, I've never done anything like it in my life." Ellie started. "Why would I want to go back to those islands anyway?"
"You could help us with locating certain species of dinosaur because of your time on the island," John said.
"All I ever saw was Amanda and Silver Claw making loving looks to each other." Ellie said. "I would be no help."
"There is another reason," John said. "It has to do with Amanda."
"What about her?" Ellie asked with some concern in her voice.
"Well, she was injured no too long ago and was in hospital on the mainland." John started.
"What?" Ellie nearly shouted. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"She ran away," John replied. He coughed and then cleared his throat. "She managed to get back to Sorna with some help of a team that I sent recently."
"Why was she in the hospital?"
"She nearly died of blood loss," John said. "She had a long cut along the side of her body from a triceratops attack. She's only alive because a man was doing a flyby of the island."
"Oh, why would you need my help with Amanda though?" Ellie questioned.
"I'm not sure whether you should hear it," John said and pulled a recorder out of his pocket. "It was…recovered from the body of one of Peter's employees that was sent to bring Amanda and Silver Claw back to the mainland as an attraction at the Jurassic Park San Diego complex."
"Body," Ellie repeated. "Amanda would never kill someone."
"There are four dead men, or at least they could have been men. It was hard to tell from the remains what they were," John sighed. He placed the recorder on the table. "It makes me sick to listen to it. However, if you want to know what happened, play it. Maybe you could help us find out what she was saying?"
Ellie reached down, picked it up, and looked at it. "What happened to her?"
"It's sick to think that an employee would be capable of doing… or at least trying something as bad as what happened." John replied. "I don't even want to speak of it. If you want to find out though, you will have to listen to the tape but be warned that it is nothing anyone should go through."
John moved to a door leading out of the room. "Bring it to me after you're done with it, I don't want her father to find out."
Ellie watched as John walked out of the room and closed the door. She was alone. What could be so terrible that it would make him ill to hear it? Ellie tried to think of anything that would cause Amanda or at least Silver Claw to kill four humans.
Ellie slowly sat down and placed the recorder on the table. She pressed play.
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The sound of heavy steps and breathing sounded from the speaker. It stopped.
"Which way do we go sir?" a voice asked.
"Split up," a heavily masculine voice said. "Tom, you're with me. McAlister, Sam, you two go that way."
"Sir," the others said and the heavy steps of the men sounded as the presumably moved away.
The footsteps sounded as the man moved. Their heavy breathing distorted the other sounds of the tape, as they seemed to be running. The steps stopped.
"What is it?" The man, not the leader, said.
"I heard a growl, careful."
Ellie could hear the faint noise of Silver Claw's growls. She then heard a growl she recognized, Amanda saying 'go.'
The shifting of heavy clothing was the next noise. After a few moments it stopped.
"Where is it?" The commander said.
"Where's what?" Amanda's voice asked.
"You know what I'm talking about girl. Now tell me!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Amanda replied over the tape, her voice was firm and it was unquestionable that Amanda had Silver Claw hide.
Ellie gasped as she heard a loud thwack and Amanda cry out in pain. Tears started to from in her eyes as she continued to listen to the tape.
"I'm not kidding around here," the man's voice said firmly. "Tell me or else."
"Or else what," Amanda's voice said again.
Ellie's breath became heavy when she heard Amanda cry out in pain again. Suddenly, Ellie could hear choking. "Oh my god," Ellie said.
"Mr. Ludlow wants her alive," Tom said.
The sound of someone hitting the ground followed and through the tape, Amanda's crying soon followed it.
"You don't happen to recall in what condition we were to bring her to Mr. Ludlow, do you?" The commander's voice said in a tone that unnerved Ellie.
"No sir," Tom replied. "I only remember him saying to bring her to him."
"Good," the commander said. "I'm going to enjoy this."
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Ellie stopped the tape. Tears streamed down her face. He raped Amanda, she thought. Her breathing was so heavy and her heartbeat so strong that she felt like her chest would not hold. She felt ill at the though of what would follow on the tape.
Behind her, John entered the room. "I thought you couldn't listen to it all."
"How could someone do that to her," Ellie cried.
"He didn't rape her," John said to ease Ellie's pain. "I believe it was Silver Claw that stopped that."
"I have to see her," Ellie cried.
"In time," John said. "We would have to find her. Will you take the position?"
"Yes," Ellie sobbed.
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Author Note: There is a Favorite Character Poll on my Profile Page. Choose your favorite three characters that have appeared in this story so far, mostly velociraptors.
