Roaring Summer
Chapter One:
The morning sun was peeking through the sheer curtains of the glass balcony doors. Hazel rolled on to her back, to ease away from the brightness of the stunning soft orange glow of the Costa Rican sunrise. As she let out a satisfying yawn and stretched her arms upwards, a smile crossed her lips. She dropped her arms down to her sides, with a thud, landing amongst the soft, plush white linen comforter. Another day in paradise, she happily thought to herself. It was always a nice start to the day to wake up before the blaring buzz of her alarm clock. She reached for her smart watch and glanced at the time, six-ten, five more minutes before she had to start her day.
Hazel was excited to head back to Behavioural Sciences today, especially since it meant she was returning to the Raptor paddock. The Masrani Global Corporation offered the highest rated internships around, and she had felt like she had won the lottery when she not only secured a placement but an exclusive one. She suspected due to her master's degree in business science majoring in zoology and conservation from Yale, she had landed one of the six coveted spots at Jurassic World. Allowing her to step into a range of roles around the park, from operations to internal sciences to paddock patrol, and more, all at the most foundational level an intern could be introduced to, of course. A six-month working holiday, with credit towards her studies, and even though it was a minimum paid internship, the majority of her expenses were covered, including accommodation and three meals a day.
The interns housing was located among the park staff's temporary accommodations, at the rear of the Isla Nublar Resort property, away from all of the guest rooms. Resort guests couldn't access these buildings, but the staff had access to the resort's amenities during their free time, off duty. Hazel particularly enjoyed these perks, having access to the gym for regular exercise, and the many pools to cool off during those scorching South American afternoons. Although, the resort man-made beach was her favourite, as it was located front and centre of the resort, looking out on to the Lagoon pen, which housed the beautiful Mosasaurus. While she wouldn't put on much of a show for the visitors, you would be lucky to catch her tail whip the water surface, before disappearing to the depths once again.
Hazel remembered the first day she arrived on the island, and received an all-access pass along with her fellow interns, as a 'group ice breaker' for everyone to get to know each other and the park. Their Team Leaders, as they had been known to call them, Lizzie and Adrian, were heads of the Intern Program, and had in fact been two of the inaugural interns' way back when the program began. The lucky six candidates were all fellow university students, three men and three women. Matteo was a business ethics major from Stanford, Henry was a design M.F.A. from Northwestern, Miles was getting his masters in archaeology from Cambridge, Adele was anthropology major from University of Toronto and Matilda was another zoology conservation major from University of Melbourne. Hazel found that everyone got along well; even though Adele was quiet and reserved and Matteo was bubbly and loud. Henry was tall and strong, Matilda was fit and told everyone how she loved to run and her family nicknamed her Collie, after Border Collie dogs. She could run forever. Miles was confident and proud; it was the classic Brit' in him.
Throughout the day, the group were told story after story, and cautionary tales of past interns' and what would lead to a successful and fulfilling internship. There were four activities that had to be completed on the first day by the group; a viewing of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, fondly known as Roberta's feeding time, to get saliva on them from hand feeding one of the hatchlings at the Gentle Giants petting zoo, take a buddy tour in to The Valley, in a Gyrosphere – a giant Hamster ball shaped machine that rolled you amongst the dinosaurs – with a list of dinosaurs to tick off once you had seen all of them; from Parasaurolophus, to Stegosaurus and Brachiosaurus, and a dozen more, and lastly, complete a full round trip from above, on the Park monorail. It was an overwhelming, exciting and magical first day, and the first step in to her new found career path. Hazel wanted to be involved in the life of these magical prehistoric animals, brought back to modern day by the genius scientists behind them. An unbelievable, unreachable goal until that day she stepped off the ferry and saw the grand overhead sign, welcoming her to Jurassic World.
*beep-beep beep-beep* the 6:15am alarm buzzed. Hazel kicked off her quilt, and her feet hit the ground. She was up, in and out of her shower, dressed in her intern uniform of black pants and a dark grey JW polo shirt, and fixing her hair into a high ponytail in less than fifteen minutes. She knew the knock on her door was imminent. It was as Hazel was picking up her black hiking boots, she heard the incomparable morning songs of the Brachiosaurus. The biggest smile crossed her face, and she carried her boots to her balcony and pulled the glass sliding door open. The sound was beautiful, almost every morning, the chorus of the happy Brachie's. Hazel sat on her small deck chair and slipped her feet into her shoes, smiling, sun shining, Brachie's singing, looking out at the lush forests that surrounded the outskirts of the park; it's gonna' be a good day.
*knock-knock-knock* on her room door.
Hazel jumped up, and closed her balcony door and headed towards her room door. She opened it wide to see the smiling faces of Henry, Matilda and Miles.
"Morning girl!" Matilda sung, "Let's get going".
"I just got to grab my belt and backpack, and we'll go".
"Hurry! I don't want to miss the waffles again", Mateo declared.
Each intern was issued a utility belt, of sorts, for day to day goings about. It contained a pocket knife, pen and notepad, a basic first kit of bandage and antiseptic, and a holster for a park radio. As the interns worked in pairs, only three radios were issued to the intern group and one person out of each pair took turns carrying it.
"Where are Adele and Miles?" Hazel called back at the door, as she ran to her desk.
"Neither of them answered their doors down the hall, so we kept going. You know, Mateo needs his waffles" Henry teased.
"Hey!" Mateo retorted.
"Well, it's true" Matilda laughed.
Hazel closed her door with a thud, and all four of them headed towards the elevator. The staff breakfast cafeteria was in the next building over, connected by a skybridge off the third floor. The interns were all located on the fifth floor of building one, along with the temporary accommodations of the Ferry-in, Ferry-Out, or FIFO workers, for short. The JW employees who didn't need permanent housing, as they could return to their families on the mainland for their days off. The second building was the permanent staff accommodations, for workers who remained on the island, and the third building were the luxury condos of the senior staff members, whether they stayed on the island full-time or not, these were the nicest housing of all. Ms Claire Dearing had one of the top floor apartments. She was such an inspiration to Hazel; as Senior Operations Manager of the whole of Jurassic World at the age of thirty-seven. Such an achievement, and she even was one of the first interns of the program, a year before Adrian's intake he had said. Basically, Mr Masrani's right-hand gal.
Of course, the top floor of building three was the penthouse accommodation for company founder and leader, Mr Simon Masrani himself. Hazel and the other interns had briefly seen him when they were lucky enough to attend the quarterly staff assembly, in the auditorium. A regular meeting for the company to get a firsthand update of the upcoming park attractions, exhibits, special guests or exceptions. Safety, Health and Well-being were the first and foremost priority of the Jurassic World Employees, Mr Masrani had stated in his opening address. 'We have spared no expense to make Isla Nublar safe for human and dinosaur alike', a classic John Hammond quote, the founder of the original Jurassic Park. Keeping employees informed, trained and capable, meant less incidents and injuries among the workers. It was a coveted position to secure employment on the island, as Jurassic World demanded the highest level of competency.
*Bing* the elevator doors opened, and the four of them stepped out. Adrian was on the bridge, talking with another employee as they approached.
"Morning team! Are we all ready to learn today?" He beamed his bright white, perfect teeth grin.
Adrian was friendly, classically handsome; mid-thirties, with black hair and green eyes; all the women returned his smile when they saw him.
Hazel and Matilda smiled, and shared a knowing glance at each other.
"Morning Mate" Henry greeted.
"Hey Adrian" Mateo returned.
"I will meet you all in the foyer in twenty-five minutes. Go get your fuel" Adrian pointed to the cafeteria, and resumed his previous conversation.
As they entered the bustling cafeteria, the smell of fresh bread, coffee and eggs filled their noses. Staff members were jostling around, preparing themselves to start their days. Televisions quietly reported the morning news items in the corners of the rooms, and tables full of people chatting and eating. They all headed to their usual table, and slung their backpacks over the back of their chairs, and headed towards the buffets. Henry and Mateo grabbed their trays and headed for the line for hot food, Mateo determined to get his waffles and Henry, for his eggs. Always eggs. Couldn't start your day with any better protein, he always told Hazel.
The four of them had been in a breakfast routine for eight weeks now, and knew how to get the most efficient and full breakfast. As they all headed to their designated stations to collect their breakfast goods for the group.
"Coffee? Coffee? Tea?" Matilda confirmed with the other three, their usual orders.
"Yes please. Green tea today, please?" Hazel replied.
"Usual black coffee" Henry nodded.
"None for me today. I think I'll just grab some juice", Mateo pondered.
"Toast, Tilly?" Hazel returned to Matilda.
"Yeah, with the blueberry jam, thanks" She waved back over her head, as she made her way to the beverage station.
"Henry can you grab me a boiled egg from the Bain Marie?" Hazel called back.
"Gotcha' Haze" Henry replied.
Five minutes later, they returned to their table near the windows, with their collective trays and began handing out each other's orders, before they sat down to eat. Henry with his omelette, Mateo with his chocolate drenched waffles, Matilda with her jam toast and banana, and Hazel with her buttered toast, yoghurt and egg. They chatted away, happily as they ate.
Mateo piped up, "Guys! Guys! They are having a breakfast date again. Over near the cereal station".
Matilda threw a non-subtle glance over her shoulder to the other side of the room to see Adele and Miles, quietly eating their breakfast and talking, both grinning away.
"It must be love' she quipped.
"I think it's sweet" Hazel protested, "It can be very isolating out here. And if it works out, they have a great story to tell. Oh, you know, just met my husband, working at JW! I mean, c'mon?"
"I agree", Henry smiled at her, a twinkle in his eye.
Hazel blushed back. Henry was definitely attractive, and there could be something there but she wasn't prepared to lose her focus just yet. At least, not with him. Mateo and Matilda were immersed in their gossip session about Adele and Miles, and Henry was focused on his omelette.
Hazel took a moment to scan the cafeteria, as she sipped on her green tea. She couldn't see him, maybe he had been to breakfast already? Some mornings, she didn't see him at all. He was quite elusive in his movements, but he was known around the park. Well known. The infamous 'Raptor Wrangler' they called him. Ex-marine, one of InGen's most admired and respected security officers, intelligent with a fun side, rugged, handsome... her mind trailed off, as she spotted him, Owen Grady, walk in, along with his raptor co-trainer, Barry. They were deep in conversation, heading towards the coffee station. Hazel saw Owen fix himself a cup, and stand aside as Barry did. He laughed at something Barry said, and glanced around the room. Hazel had frozen, holding her cup to her lips, but not taking in any tea. Their eyes met for a moment, as his gaze surveyed the room, he was still smiling when he raised his cup up to his lips and took a sip. He winked, and lowered his mug, to reveal a smile. A smile in her direction? Surely not. Did he just wink? I think so? Hazel blushed and looked down at her breakfast plate, still holding her tea cup up in front of her face.
"Oof, the Raptor Hottie is here", Matilda whispered leaning over towards her.
"I can see, I can see" she confirmed.
Henry rolled his eyes, and Mateo laughed, "you two can act like such teens sometimes. You are twenty-three-year-old women!".
"Oh, please!" Hazel exclaimed, "I remember a certain someone dramatically diving to the ground when Ms Dearing dropped her pen, when we had that Operations tour with her a few weeks ago".
"Yeah, and handing it back to her like it was precious metal!", Matilda teased.
"Well at least she acknowledged me for doing it" Mateo smugly replied.
"But she said, Thank-you Henry!" Henry laughed, "she doesn't know who you are or remember you, or any of us!". All four of them laughed, remembering the incident, none of them had noticed the men approaching the table.
"Morning Hatchlings" Owen greeted the interns. Barry shook his head at his friend.
"Hey Mr Grady" Henry acknowledged, still laughing, and held out his hand to shake, and Owen took it firmly.
"Owen. Please, Henry" He smiled his cheeky grin, "I saw on my manifesto that you and Hazel are coming up to the Velociraptor's today?" Owen looked at Hazel still smiling, rubbing is hands together suspiciously. "Fresh meat for my girls to play with?"
Hazel felt the warmth spread from her cheeks, across her face; she knew he was teasing them. Was she going to blush all day long? How embarrassing.
All the interns had been up to the Velociraptor observation deck their second week there. It was a giant concrete walled, electric steel fenced compound, that housed four young raptors. It was exciting to see some of the most threatening and intelligent animals on the island in close but secure proximity. Hazel had been most excited to return for her rotation, and couldn't wait to begin. Matilda had just finished her rotation there, and had told her all about it, only heightening her excitement for the session. And she was lucky to have Henry as her partner for the experience. She and Henry got along well and fell into an easy friendship from their arrival on the first day, fresh off the ferry, awaiting their shuttle to the meeting point. Both beyond thrilled to start this once in a lifetime experience.
"Owen, you're going to scare them away" Barry chimed in. His accent was velvety and intriguing, she knew it had French undertones, as she had heard Adele and Barry engage in conversation fluently.
"Nah" Owen exclaimed, "nothing has scared them away yet. Besides…" he wrapped his hands around Henry's shoulders, "this one's meat is too tough".
They all giggled at his jokes.
"Alright team, see you downstairs, oh-seven-hundred. Sharp!" He declared with flair, as they turned to leave. "Henry" he nodded, "Hazel" he grinned.
Owen and Barry were away, and heading off towards the exit.
"Those guys are great" Mateo swallowed his waffle, "that Barry is super smart".
"I've heard great things. I can't wait to get down there" Henry sipped his coffee.
"I'm so intrigued by the velociraptors; I couldn't get to sleep last night I was so eager for today" Hazel happily jigged in her seat.
Matilda raised her eyebrows at her, "eager, aye?"
"You know what I mean, Tilly", Hazel jokingly swotted Matilda's arm.
Henry cleared his throat and keen to change the subject, "so where are you guys off to today?"
"I'm off to Event Management down Main Street in the visitors park, with Adele, were helping with the school tours and celebrity guest visit that is supposed to be happening tomorrow and Friday"
"Do we know who it is yet?" Henry questioned.
"Nope. But I'll report back at dinner, if I find out today" Mateo smirked.
"I'm heading to the Hammond Creation Lab with Miles, supposed to be helping out with the data analysis from the paddock night patrols in The Valley. They are studying the nocturnal behaviours of some of the Herbivores. It will probably just be more data entry", Matilda rolled her eyes. "Knowing Control-Freak Miles, he will just take over and do everything, because I'll just do it wrong".
Mateo chewed his last bite of waffle, "Dr Wu's team are so exclusive, they give you minimal jobs and keep you at arm's reach. Hazel and I were watching some Egg incubators on thermal cameras for three days straight, two weeks ago. It was riveting", he joked.
Hazel's watch did a quick double beep, to alert them it was six fifty-five.
"Time to go, guys", Henry was already on his feet, with his tray in one hand and backpack in the other.
They gathered up their trays, dropped them at the conveyer belt that bussed them to the kitchen, and headed off back to the elevator. Adele and Miles were waiting at the end of the hall.
Adele smiled on their approach, and Miles greeted everyone, with a very short "Morning".
After a short elevator trip down, all six stepped into the foyer to meet Lizzie and Adrian.
"Perfect timing, as always" Lizzie welcomed them, "Okay, I don't have any updates for you this morning, so straight in to it. Mateo and Adele, with me and I will escort you to Events to meet Hoshi; Matilda and Miles with Adrian and he will drive you over to Dr. Wu's Lab to meet with Quentin, and Hazel and Henry heading off with Barry and Owen. Grab your lunch pack and Stay safe, learn a lot. See you tonight"
Everyone took a brown paper bag for lunchtime and joined up with their partner; Hazel saw Adele and Miles share a small, tight hand grip before separating towards their designated cars, to start their days. The sun was already shining, strong and bright in the car park.
Henry and Hazel followed Barry to his SUV, "one of you can jump in the front, Owen has his bike and is meeting us at the compound".
"Shotgun!" Henry cried out, before Hazel could politely decline.
She rolled her eyes, and giggled. "you're such a teen" she joked.
"A teen with the best view" He winked and shut his front passenger door.
Hazel hopped up into the backseat, and buckled in. Pulling her cap out of her bag, and tucking her lunch pack in its place, Barry set off along the roads. She waved at Matilda's car, as they passed it on their exit.
It was roughly a twenty-five-minute drive to the Raptor paddock. For safety purposes, the compound was situated at one of the furthest positions away from Main Street and the park guests. While the Raptors were still quite young, only two years old; they were considered lethal from eight months old. Every caution was taken with these animals in particular, and only a select group of individuals were trained to work close encounters with them. The rest of the team were strictly observational, which was whom Hazel and Henry would be working alongside. Only three people in the entire park had ever been face-to-face with the baby velociraptors; Owen, Barry and a woman named Ruby who now worked with the Brachie's.
As they exited the vehicle and followed Barry over to the heavy steel entrance, Hazel couldn't help but notice the guards patrolling on the metal walkway atop of the building. Barry waved his Identification Tag over the sensor and subtly put in his five-digit code. The door, which displayed a large yellow sign proclaiming "Authorised Personnel Only", buzzed loudly and the clunking sound of locking mechanism moving alerted them to the doors release as Barry pulled it open with a creak. It was an eerie door that forewarned whomever was entering that it was indeed designed to keep things within.
The raptor compound was constructed of the heaviest and most durable infrastructure available and was constantly being reinforced and improved upon. There were no windows except for the viewing ones on the inner circle of the building that looked out on the raptor paddock.
As Barry, Henry and herself moved through the narrow concrete corridor, illuminated only by the halogen globes on the ceiling, Hazel found herself anticipatorily nervous. These were some of the most dangerous predators on the entire island, even the planet, she considered. Although, she was also anxious about interacting with another intimidating presence, Mr Grady himself.
When they arrived at another door, Barry tapped him ID tag once again, and stepped inside, holding the door open for Henry and Hazel to enter.
She gazed around the dimly lit room, illuminated mostly by the many monitor screens in the tiered seating in front of the largest viewing window. Five team members sat at their screens working meticulous on their projects, didn't even look up at their entrance.
"Hey guys, this is Hazel and Henry, our interns for the next two weeks" Barry introduced them; "this is Paul, James, Mera, Sarah and Emilia" he pointed around the room. The all responded with warm welcomes and waves, and then continued back on their screens.
"It's a busy time around here at the moment. The raptors are in a developmental leap, which means their experiencing neurological and mental growth spurts", Barry was beyond excited.
"Wow. Just like human children?" Henry commented.
"Exactly. They develop rapidly, both physically and mentally, but continue to do so over an extended period of time, compared to children who you see do so within the first twenty months of their lives".
Barry began to move to the opposite side if the room, leading them to where they would get to work for the next fortnight. "All this information, we have learned right here, first hand. We hope it can be an enlightening and exciting rotation for you both".
He stopped at a dual desk, with two laptop computers set up, looking out from the left side of the paddock. Directly below the window, was a wide and open clearing for the team to get the best view on the dinosaurs.
Hazel stepped closer to the glass, peering down, not expecting to see anything at all; was pleasantly surprised when a yellowish-brown velociraptor wandered into the clearing, looking around. She gasped at the site of the adorable little girl, and instantly reminded herself of the danger present. She wasn't sure how Barry or Owen could be so calm and collected when face to face with threatening animals, even when she was standing behind 60cm thick acrylic glass.
The young raptor paused, and looked around, and crouched down while peering at a particular group of shrubs. A small striped, teal colour blur pounced out of the shrubbery, knocking the other over. They scuffled along the ground before getting to their feet and running off, disappearing into the trees around them paddock. Henry had come over at the sound of Hazel's gasp, and looked at her bright-eyed and smiling. Hazel giggled at what she had just witnessed.
"Charlie and Echo, they love to mess around with each other like that. Classic sibling rivalry", Barry shook his head, chuckling.
"It's Delta and Blue, that you really have to keep an eye on. Now they really like to push each other's buttons", Owen had entered the room. He approached them smiling that damn smile.
Cheeky, sexy, Lord, was he handsome.
"So, who is who out there?" Henry pointed towards, the paddock.
"Charlie has the dark stripes on her back, Delta is green, Echo has the yellow-y tinge and Blue, well she's got the blue strip", Owen shrugged and smiled again like a proud father, "All my best girls".
"So, what are we going to be working on while we are here?" Hazel, finally gaining the courage to speak up.
Owen looked her straight in the eye, holding her gaze to reply, "Well, Hazel, we are going to be monitoring how they interact with each other. Both as a group, and switching them up one on one. Today we will be moving Blue and Echo into Sector Two of the compound arena, and giving them feeding queues and commands alike, to observe their communication".
"Wow, I can't wait to get started. It's going to be so interesting!", she was genuinely excited.
Her reply seemed to please Owen, as she smiled even wider with a glint in his eyes. He didn't look away from her, and stared at her intently. It wasn't until she blushed and looked back to the paddock, that he engaged Barry in conversation. The heat in her cheeks spread across her face. Standing with her back to the other men, she placed a hand on the glass, looking out across the morning sun-kissed trees. Hazel bit her bottom lip and let out a small, silent giggle to herself.
A Jurassic World of possibilities.