Chapter Thirty-Five

Pandora's Folly

Disasters teach us humility. – Saint Anselm

Connor took a deep breath. "So basically, we're in a park full of vicious predators from the Earth's past and future, all hungry, and we're… out of fuel?"

McCoy nodded.

The jeep was parked neatly along the edge of the muddy road. Brian, the receptionist, and Maria, the surviving guest, were both stood outside the vehicle, waiting to be told what to do. Keeper Scott was stuffing his rucksack with all he could fit. Connor and Keeper McCoy were stood in the middle of the road. The wound on Connor's head had been patched up, but the pain was still there.

The keepers had updated Connor on the situation. They were the survivors of a creature attack on the visitor centre, and were making their way to a bunker at the far end of the park. This bunker was designed as a safe place in emergencies. They were going around the edge of the park, so as to avoid the crowded interior, where most of the enclosures – and potential escapees – were located. They'd contacted the emergency services, who had already received many calls about the breakout, presumably from guests at the lodge. However, they didn't seem entirely certain on what was going to happen next.

The rain had ceased, and the sky was clearing. It was morning, and the sun was peeking through the remaining clouds. They had stopped the jeep alongside the Maiasaura enclosure, on their left, and although there was a massive gap in the fence, the dinosaurs could still be seen browsing inside. Trees overhung the road on the other side.

Scott finished packing, and walked out to Connor and McCoy. "The complex is down that road, maybe twenty minutes' walk. The bunker's there, it's the safest place in the park." Scott turned to Connor. "Then we'll find your girl."

Connor nodded. He'd tried to tell them to look for Abby first, but he knew they were right when they said it was too dangerous. All he could do for her now was to get help.

The group of five got organised to go.

They heard rustling among the trees on the side opposite the enclosure. Scott raised his rifle, despite not having any ammo. The sound continued. Soon, Connor realised it was footsteps. Someone was running towards them. Scott scanned the foliage, unable to get a focus on anything.

A man in plain clothes jumped out of the vegetation. Connor recognised him as Murdoch, one of Hemple's squad.

"Murdoch!" Connor exclaimed, and hugged the soldier. "What happened?"

Murdoch pushed Connor away. "It's coming. You have to run." He looked over at the keepers. "Now!"

An almighty roar erupted from the trees. It wasn't all that far away. Scott and McCoy looked up in panic. Brian and Maria started to run down the road, towards the complex. The two keepers chased them down and grabbed them.

"It'll catch you!" said McCoy. "In here!" The keepers pulled the civilians into the enclosure through the gap. Murdoch followed them, his pistol held up, and Connor followed him in turn.

"This way!" shouted Scott from the front of the column. He dived into a stand of gingkoes. The group ran deep into the undergrowth after him. They eventually came to the enclosure's border fence. Together, they crouched close to the ground, around one thick trunk. And, with thunder coming down from the sky, they watched.

Connor saw the ripples first. Every few seconds, ripples were cast across the surface of a nearby puddle. They were caused by regular waves of vibration in the ground. Connor felt them now. They were getting steadily stronger. And then he realised that those sounds weren't thunder.

From their hiding place, the group could still see out into the clearing, and the Maiasaura herd. They were browsing ferns rather peacefully, but a few of them did seem nervous.

Five or six Gallimimus jumped through the gap in the fence. Their arrival caused panic amongst the herd. The large herbivores started calling in distress, and scattered, while their small invaders dispersed in amongst the Maiasaura. With a crash of metal, the thunderous footsteps landed inside the enclosure. The Tyrannosaur was at least four metres tall at the hip, and twelve metres long. She was massive.

The Tyrannosaur paused at the unexpected presence of new hunting opportunities. She switched targets, and made for one of the Maiasaura. She chose the slowest one, which was lagging behind the rest of the herd. She charged towards the Maiasaura, soon closing the gap. She ran alongside it for a time, before lobbing her skull straight into the herbivore's flank. It was thrown off its feet. It flailed, its limbs in the air, before shifting back upright, and lifting up again. The tyrannosaur opened its massive jaws and bit down on the prey's backbone, pushing it to the ground. There followed a tussle between the two dinosaurs, with both pushing against the strength of the other. The Maiasaura was losing blood fast. It didn't hold out for long, and eventually collapsed. The tyrannosaur released her grip, and sniffed at her kill. She opened her jaws again, and took a lump out of the dinosaur's flank.

Connor felt a nudge. "We should get going," whispered Scott. The group quietly moved away from the kill site. If the Tyrannosaur did hear them, she wasn't interested.

…

With the tyrannosaur blocking the hole in the fence, the survivors circled around her and decided to use another route to the complex, through a number of enclosures. It was dangerous, but wouldn't take too much longer than the original plan.

As they walked to the other end of the enclosure, Murdoch told them about how his group had been attacked, and that he didn't know whether the others had survived. His pistol was nearly out of ammo after a few close-calls with the predators in the park.

Scott led them to a gate on the other side of the Maiasaura enclosure, and pulled out a bunch of keys to open it. Then, they were at the next enclosure.

It was a large lake, with a central island. Several bridges connected the island to the shore. But these bridges were flanked by two sets of usually-electric railing on either side, signified by the yellow-bolt-signs along their length, plus an inner railing of un-electrified steel. This was the Mosasaur lake.

The group stopped to take in this sight.

Connor turned to Keeper Scott. "The power doesn't matter for this one, does it? They're stuck in the lake."

Scott shook his head. "They can jump high enough to snatch people off the walkway. The electricity normally deters them." Then he pointed to the nearest bridge, just in front of them. "See the smaller walkway, just beside it?" There was a narrow walkway running parallel to the larger bridge, several yards to its right, blocked from regular use by a locked gate. "That's the feeding walkway. When we go out onto it, the cables that connect it to the lake-bed vibrate. The mosasaurs know by now that when they do, it's feeding-time. If we even walk out onto any of the paths, they'll be interested. So, we go around."

That second, the trees started to shake, and burst open to reveal the form of a leaping Hyaenodont. The rhino-sized creature landed amongst the group, with Scott, McCoy, Murdoch, Brian and Maria on one side, and Connor isolated at the end of the formation. The Hyaenodont looked towards Connor.

Murdoch raised his gun and fired two shots. At such close range, both hit home, and pierced the creature's side, spurting blood. The predator turned to the soldier. Murdoch tried to fire again.

Click.

He was out of bullets.

The Hyaenodont returned its attention to Connor, and paced towards him. Connor backed away. He hit the bridge. He stepped onto it.

"Connor, don't even think about it!" Scott called. But it was too late. The Hyaenodont followed after Connor, until he was forced fully onto the bridge.

Connor closed his eyes, and breathed. He'd have to make a run for it.

Just as the Hyaenodont stepped onto the walkway, Connor turned tail and sprinted towards the central island. He could hear the Hyaenodont chasing after him by the loud footfalls behind him. It was gaining.

The walkway was now swaying back and forth to the extreme, seeing as it probably wasn't built for rhino-sized users.

…

Scott could only look on as the Hyaenodont chased Connor along the narrow walkway. It would only be a matter of time before the mosasaurs noticed them.

Together with Murdoch, he ran to the land-end of the walkway, and hollered at the beast. They were trying to distract it and buy Connor some time. But their shouts didn't even break its stride. It had its prey in its sight.

Scott saw what he was dreading. Triangular ripples formed on the lake-surface just underneath where Connor was running.

"Connor, GET OUT OF THERE!" Scott shouted.

The ripples disappeared for a moment. The creature was diving. Getting ready for a leap. Scott gulped, and waited.

After a few seconds, a pointed snout shot out of the water. It was scaly, greyish-brown, and reptilian. The mosasaur opened its jaws and grabbed onto the once-electric railing. The wiring couldn't stand up to the pressure, and snapped as the mosasaur started to fall again. As the wire was pulled down, it pulled against the wire all along the bridge, and the whole railing started to collapse. Connor was at least ten yards from the island when the line of collapse reached him. He stumbled, and fell. The Hyaenodont was right behind him. It opened its jaws.

…

Connor turned around to see the predator's jaws opened wide, and heading straight for him. He braced.

A few feet from his face, the giant wolf yelped, and stopped. It dug it claws into the steel walkway, but helplessly slid away from Connor. Something was pulling it.

Connor stood up to see that a medium-sized mosasaur had grabbed onto it. Half-on the walkway, half-hanging in mid-air. The mosasaur was pulling its food into the water, using its sheer weight. The sea-serpent was twice the size of the mammal, easily. The Hyaenodont couldn't hold on. As the mosasaur slid off the walkway, the Hyaenodont went with it. Connor saw the two predators tussling in the water, but soon other ripples arrived, and blood erupted as the feeding frenzy began.

The bridge was still swaying dangerously, and as the mosasaur was sliding off, Connor had heard a snap. He now looked up to see the suspending cables breaking and snapping one by one with the swaying motion. At the spot where the mosasaur had rested, right in the middle of the walkway, the last cable snapped, and the steel bridge-section sloped downwards, pulling on its neighbours, which pulled on their own cables, which snapped. Connor watched as the whole walkway started to collapse, one section at a time.

"Connor, MOVE!" came the shouts from the beach.

Connor shifted onto his feet, and started running again. He could hear the cables snapping behind him, and the steel sections splashing into the water.

The island was a few yards away. Connor could make it. The cables to his side started to snap. The steel beneath his feet vibrated even more strongly. Connor stumbled slightly, but kept going.

Four feet from the island, Connor felt the steel beneath him fall. He was out of time. He leapt into the air, and reached out.

He landed on the ground with a thud. He looked back to see the rest of the walkway completely disappear into the water. That was a close one.

…

The central island was a viewing platform for the visitors. The edges were all cliff-sides, several feet above the water-level, and the cliffs were edged with electric railing. A non-electrified, steel railing lay inside that, to protect the guests.

The island was largely empty, except for the viewing equipment, and a gazebo. There were several trees, but there were no creatures here.

As the others went around the lake, Connor had to use one of the other bridges to get off the island. Most of the mosasaurs were preoccupied with feeding, so now was the safest time. He couldn't use the feeding bridge, which lay back the way he'd come – that was too close to the feeding mosasaurs. He used another bridge, on the other side of the island.

He sprinted across without incident, and rejoined the group.

As everyone rested a short distance from the beach, Connor spoke up to the keepers. "So, what's next?" he asked, trying to smile.

"Don't worry," McCoy said, "it's just the aquarium."

Land of Time's aquarium was a huge, circular tank, similar to a dolphin pool, but much larger. It aimed to replicate the sea of late Cretaceous North America, according to the information signs outside.

Raised platforms above the water allowed people to see down into the deep tank, and underneath the tank ran a concrete viewing area; the actual aquarium. The group decided to go down here for a final rest before the push to the bunker. In addition, the low ceiling afforded some protection from the park's larger escapees. Murdoch and Scott stood guard.

The glass windows in the tank revealed an astonishing variety of prehistoric sea-life. There were colourful fish, ammonites, and even a small species of mosasaur.

Connor sat down in front of one of the windows, to marvel at the spectacle in front of him. This park had really had the potential to be beautiful at one point. But that chance had come and gone.

His mind returned to a sore point. What if this was his fault? He'd been at the computer. There was no way he could prove it wasn't his fault, not here, not now. He felt like Pandora. The mythological woman who'd opened the box of evils and unleashed them on the world.

"Hey," came a voice to Connor's side. Connor looked up. It was Keeper McCoy. She sat down to Connor's right. After a moment of looking into the tank, she spoke again. "So, your people came to investigate this place?"

Connor nodded, and turned back to the tank. "We had to make sure it was safe."

"I can't blame you for that."

"Did they tell you how they got these creatures?" Connor asked. "Rossiter and Helen?"

McCoy looked at Connor, confused. "Yeah… they told everyone else, why wouldn't they tell us?"

They didn't even tell their own keepers about the anomalies. Connor was about to explain it all, but then decided that it could wait. "So, you want to talk about the note?"

McCoy looked back at the tank. "No one else saw any evidence of the megamyotids breeding…"

"How often did you check?"

"Not often… they were too dangerous. You know, after six months, you get used to the creatures. Their habits, their behaviour patterns. All of them – even the raptors – are actually pretty predictable. They're animals, and they're just trying to survive. They're not monsters. Predators don't hunt when they're not hungry."

"Yeah, only humans do that…" Connor said, half-jokingly.

McCoy looked at Connor. "That's what I would have said. But, those… those megamyotids… They're different. They're smart. They're a different kind of smart to us. See, our intelligence, human intelligence, is based around social bonds and interaction. But the megamyotids have a sort of cold, predatory intelligence. They're unpredictable. It creeps me out. I just… I wouldn't put anything past them."

"Time to move," Scott called.

Connor and McCoy stood up again. They grabbed their stuff and set off after him.

"So," Connor said to McCoy as they were walking along. Then, in a slightly lower voice, "how are the civilians doing?"

"Brian and Maria?" McCoy asked.

Connor nodded.

"They're shell-shocked," McCoy answered. "They haven't said anything since we left the lodge. Personally, I can't blame them. Me and Scott, we have to put on a brave face, but… it was terrible back there. Like a war-zone. A massacre."

The group walked on in silence. The silhouettes of the aquarium inhabitants danced across the walls in a mesmerising display. It was almost spooky.

"Guys," Brian called from the front of the column.

Scott rushed up to him. "What?"

"Listen!" Brian told him.

All Connor could hear was a set of footfalls. But everyone was standing still.

Murdoch motioned for everyone to stay still, and walked on ahead, cautiously, checking around himself.

The footfalls continued, but weren't coming straight for them. The footfalls seemed to going around them. This aquarium was like a maze of tunnels, and the mystery thing could have been circling around them. It could have been a person, lost in the park.

It could have been Abby.

Soon the footfalls came around behind them. Behind Connor, at the back of the group. Scott quietly walked over to Connor, and stood out in front of him. He held out his empty rifle in a hollow display of aggression.

A reptilian snout came around the corner, followed by the rest of the raptor's body. Then it noticed the people. It seemed surprised to see them. It mustn't have been stalking them. It poked out its nose towards them, and sniffed. It wasn't aggressive, just inquisitive.

Murdoch walked up to reinforce Scott, but the keeper put up his hand at the soldier, motioning him to stop.

The raptor seemed uninterested in the group. After a few more seconds, it walked away, out of the aquarium.

Connor breathed a sigh of relief.

McCoy was right. They weren't monsters.

…

The group walked out of the aquarium, into the morning sun. There was a cooling breeze. They were nearly safe.

"The bunker is down this path, just a few minutes' walk", announced Scott.

Around them, the trees shook.

The group looked around in panic. Connor heard a familiar rattle-cackle sound.

The future predators had found them.

A figure leaped out of the trees and landed on Murdoch. Three other predators jumped out onto his struggling figure, pinning him down. They dug into him. There was nothing the others could do.

The predators lifted their bloody mouths and looked towards the rest of the humans.

"RUN!" Scott shouted. On cue, the civilians bolted, and McCoy kept with them. Scott grabbed Connor, and ran, but kept an eye on the predators.

Up ahead, a predator launched out of the trees, and knocked the blonde woman to the ground. Scott let go of Connor, and charged at the predator. He managed to knock it off balance, but nothing more. It swiped its long, thin arms at him with surprising force, and knocked him to the ground. Scott backed off, with no blood injuries.

McCoy pulled Scott away. "It's too late! We need to get to the bunker!"

Connor followed behind as they all ran into the trees. Before long, they emerged onto a plaza in front of a large building, with glass doors. Brian, McCoy, Scott and Connor ran inside and Scott locked the door behind them.

Connor looked out at the plaza. There were no future predators in sight. But they were there.