When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
Inside the bunker, John Hammond sat on the table, cradling his walkie talkie in his hand despite not hearing static, while Dr. Malcolm had worked up the strength to lean up again.
Phipps and Fobbs awaited by the stairs, while inaudible chatter was heard amongst McGonagall, Bones, Lupin, and Tonks by the weapons cabinet. Snape, however, was busy skulking out of sight on the other edge of the table.
There was otherwise complete silence, broken by a sound neither Hammond, Malcolm, Phipps, or Fobbs had heard in at least twenty-four hours;
A telephone on the wall was ringing, startling the witches and wizards in the room. Hammond and the others stared at each other in disbelief, shooting cautious glances at the witches and wizards before he lunged for the phone.
"Grant?" He requested into the receiver.
"Mr. Hammond…" Grant began from the other end. "The phones are working."
"Are the children alright?" Hammond asked as a look of concern washed over his face.
He knew it wouldn't take long to hear an answer, yet was unprepared for who was about to answer it.
"We're all fine, sir," Harry replied on the other end. "Actually, the four of us are all more than fine."
"Call the mainland," Grant ordered. "Tell them to send the damn helicopters!"
But Hammond's relief was interrupted by the familiar screech from the holding pens, followed by some glass breaking.
"They're gonna cut through the glass!" Sattler cried.
All Hammond heard next was a shotgun fired at a minimum three or four times. While Malcolm and the others were trying to listen from behind, Hammond's expression turned to a look of horror, as if Grant had lost his mind.
"GRANT!" Hammond shouted at the top of his lungs.
All anyone heard afterward was a dial tone, as Hammond nearly dropped the phone before hanging it up and dialing another number. While the other witches and wizards watched expectantly, Phipps grabbed Malcolm by the armpits, and Fobbes squeezed his arms underneath Malcolm's legs.
They gently laid him upon the stretcher, Phipps awaiting at the front, while Fobbs took the back, carefully tilting it as they reached the stairs.
"I have a few other calls to make," Hammond began. "After that, I suggest you all come with us, grab a few transport vehicles, and pick up the others!"
Back in the Control Room, the rifle lay on the floor, smoking as three bullet holes had been produced in the viewing window, along with three impact shatter patterns in the glass surrounding them.
Little by little, the front and back windows were cracking as Hagrid backed away from the back door.
Harry watched as the others in the room backed closer and closer to the center, where all the computers rested. Lex was grasping his wrist again as Tim pulled him in the direction of a ladder at the corner of the room.
"Gimme a hand with this!" Tim strained.
Harry closed the ladder and turned it over as he and Tim brought it to the middle of the room, opening it back up before staring at him pointedly.
"Exactly what is the purpose of this ladder?" Harry requested.
He needn't say more as Tim climbed to the top, pushed out a panel in the ceiling, and climbed into the crawl space above.
Harry shrugged as Lex took him by the hand again, starting up the ladder, while Hermione began up the other side, until both of them noticed Harry wasn't moving. In fact, Harry was staring back at Dumbledore, Sirius, Miss Figg, and Hagrid as if he'd remembered something he'd forgotten.
"Harry, come on!" Hermione ordered.
"Yeah, we've gotta get out of here!" Lex added.
"I'll meet you up there!" Harry promised. "Just go! You too!"
He waved at Grant, Sattler, Paul, and Jane, who either shrugged or shook their heads before starting up the ladder. Paul and Jane followed their daughter, while Grant and Sattler followed Lex respectively.
Once they were all the way up, Harry waved Dumbledore and his people into a small huddle.
"Professor Dumbledore," he whispered. "You, Hagrid, and the two of them can get out of here without the others noticing, can't you?"
"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore replied.
"Good!" Harry exclaimed. "Just up the road from here, the one outside the front doors, you'll see a sign that says 'Visitor's Lodge'. Look for a hut with the number seven and you'll find a red bag in there. It's got my wand in it!"
Just as Harry finished that last sentence, the raptors had completely shattered all the glass in the room and had squeezed their way through.
"Remember all that!" Harry shouted as he started up the ladder. "And there's a helipad you should meet us at!"
Harry was at the top of the ladder, climbing into the crawl space once he finished saying that. He hadn't noticed Dumbledore and his people taking each other by the hand, but had heard a loud crack, like another firing from Dr. Grant's gun.
Of course, he stuck his head out for another look, but only the raptors were left, apprehending the ladder, which Harry hastily kicked over before he felt someone pull him back in.
The raptors skittered out of the way to avoid getting caught, but both jumped upon the computer tables, tilting their heads curiously as they noticed each individual ceiling panel slightly swaying.
The crawl space seemed surprisingly spacious as Harry found it was Grant who had pulled him in. He'd ended between two lines at both ends; Hermione and her parents on the left, Grant, Sattler, and the Murphy children on the right.
Grant gestured to an open air duct before waving Harry and the others on.
"Over there!" he commanded.
They crawled across the ceiling panels, army-style, as quick as their arms allowed them, as to not place any weight on the panels.
Grant gestured to the cross hatch patterns in them, which formed hollow spaces, allowing the group to almost see through them.
Harry was able to just barely make out the raptors as he caught up to Lex, who seemed to push down a little to hard on the panel she was crawling over.
Suddenly, her panel popped upward as one raptor's head bursts through, pinning her to the ceiling above her. Lex couldn't help but scream as she floated around, trapped atop the raptor's head until Harry quickly slid by and drew out his right foot.
He kicked the raptor's head a couple of times, the second of which was rather hard, possibly harder than he could have ever kicked a football. It elicited a squeal from the raptor, though for some reason, it sounded more like a cry of pain.
The raptor fell back to the floor, causing the panel to give way with it, but Lex fell through the gap, clinging to the edge for dear life, still screaming.
The raptor landed on its side, but it still had to strength to get up, causing Lex to summon up the same strength she must have had in the car as Harry helped pull her back into the crawl space just when the beast began snapping again.
But the raptor springs was too late, as Grant escorted Harry and Lex towards the air duct, where Sattler and Tim had already entered. After helping Lex into the duct, Harry hesitated, as he noticed something red dripping near the heel of his right trainer.
"Harry, move!" Grant ordered.
But Harry felt around to find a smooth, hook shaped item wedged into the rubber sole of the shoe, with another one directly next to it. Harry quickly pulled them out, curling them in his fingers before continuing into the duct, with Grant and the Grangers following.
Inside the air duct, Grant crawled to the front of the line, with Harry behind him, followed by the Murphy children, Sattler, and the Grangers.
The sound of their crawl left much booming and creasing, echoing around them, blocking out all other sounds from outside.
They kept crawling until they reached a ventilation gate below, with daylight pouring from beneath. Grant pulled the gate out to find the lobby of the Visitor's Center waiting below them. In fact, directly below was a level of scaffolding from construction, leading to another, then into a circle surrounding the skeletons of the T-Rex and the Allosaurus.
Grant climbed down out of the duct and ushered for Harry to follow, who placed the talismans he'd removed from his trainer heel into his shirt pocket. Once Harry was out, he helped Lex slide out, then Tim, then Hermione. Sattler and the Grangers parents climbed out after, onto the first platform as Harry, Grant, and the other children continued to the second, then the third.
But they found no fourth platform and were caught off guard by the screeching of one of the raptors, waiting hungrily atop the second floor railing.
Harry took a quick look down to the floor, but he noticed the dinosaur skeletons were supported by strings. Jumping off the scaffolding, he skillfully climbed atop the back of the Allosaurus skeleton, drawing more than a few gasps.
"Come on!" Harry demanded, waving them on.
With no time to waste, Grant followed, helping the other children aboard the skeleton, followed by Sattler and the Granger parents. Hermione and her parents had already started down, but the others had gone off in their own directions;
Sattler slid down the tail, Lex climbed to the front, Grant and Tim grasping to the rib cage. Harry noticed they were taking up quite a bit of room there, so he backed up, nearly falling off he edge until he spotted the open jaws of the T-Rex skeleton.
But the raptor had followed them and was timing its attack before jumping directly at the rib cage as the skeleton's anchor bolts started groaning in the ceiling plaster.
The impact of the jump caused the pieces of the skeleton to snap apart free, sending the each section spinning and freewheeling in all different directions as everyone held on.
Hermione and her parents fell to the floor, each landing on their rears, but Grant and Tim twirl on the rib cage, ducking as it hit the head of the T-Rex skeleton.
The head disconcerted from the rest of the body, but Harry heard and saw the anchor bolts from where Lex was hanging on beginning to rip free from the ceiling. She gasped as she held on tighter by her legs, but Harry was able to pick up on the speed at which the bolts were ripping.
Swinging himself in the right position, he jumped from the T-Rex head, grabbing onto the section of Allosaurus neck before taking Lex by the hand.
"Lex, jump!" Harry ordered.
Seeing it was him, they let go and fell to the floor as the section of neck was about to drop on them. While Lex was on the verge of screaming, Harry rolled out of the way, taking her with him.
When they got up, they spotted Tim trying to slide down the ribcage, still clinging to Dr. Grant's arm.
"Tim!" He strained. "Let go!"
Tim loosened his grip and slid to the floor, landing on his back, directly underneath the inside of the ribcage. Finally, the cable snapped, causing the ribcage to fall the moment Grant finally let go. He landed next to Tim as the ribcage came careening down straight for them, with no opportunity to move from where they'd landed.
Harry and Lex came running as they both took cover, while rib cage came in for a crash landing, sending pieces of bone flying all across the room.
As Harry and Lex helped them up they noticed the bolts in the tail rip free the fastest, as it may have been the thinnest and lightest portion of the body. It ended up spinning around the fastest, elicting louder screams from Sattler than Lex could have ever hoped for.
She swung around to the underside of the tail before slipping off and taking the farthest fall to the ground, trying to cover her head as she was pelted with a shower of falling bones. She'd landed on her arm, which may or may not have explained the gash she had, but was able to still use it.
After pushing herself back off the floor, she motioned to a sheet of visqueen nearby, where the silhouette of another raptor was cast. She stopped dead in her tracks and started backing up towards the others. But that was all for naught, as Harry and Lex realized they'd failed to notice who else came down with them.
Sure enough, Lex screamed when she saw the first raptor regain its footing on the other side of the skeletons' support rock. Harry ran to help Hermione up, while Grant and Sattler helped each of her parents, but the first raptor jumped out after them, causing the group to huddle together.
They tried stepping away from it, until they spotted the second raptor climb out from under the plastic, surveying the scene. The group shifted their heads back and forth between both raptors, who seemed to have their heads narrowed at a fairly specific angle.
The others stepped backwards, but Harry remained where he was standing as he also noticed they'd shifted their eye contact to about the same level as his. The raptor crouched into a pre-attack stance, inching closer and closer to Harry, the one on the left slightly closer.
"I'm starting to reckon I've got some sort of animal magnetism," he murmured through clenched teeth.
Harry took a few steps back until he was sure he and the others were about to meet their end. But as the first raptor started to lunge, a massive set of jaws, not unlike the ones Harry had clung to, caught the raptor between them, carrying it about twenty feet off the floor.
It was the T-Rex, chewing the life out of the raptor, not unlike how it went for the Gallimimus kill earlier. Once the first raptor had completely stopped squirming, the Rex dropped it to the floor and began to chow down.
Harry, Grant and the others were too stunned to speak, as they crowded behind the rock where the Rex skeleton still stood. They watched as the other raptor let out a screech that must have been vengeful, as Muldoon had mentioned that they were pack hunters.
It leapt about twelve feet into the air, sinking its claws into the flesh on the Rex's back, slashing it open, causing blood to drip down its neck. While the Rex was busy trying to shake it off, crashing into the Visqueen sheets and railing, the group skirted past the carnage, out the Visitor's Center door.
Yet they'd missed a great deal of action that even Harry and Tim couldn't resist trying to get one last peek of;
The raptor had climbed to the other side of the Rex's neck, but ended up being caught by the tail, between its jaws before its whole body ended up being collected within. The Rex finished the raptor off by throwing it into the remains of the Rex skeleton, taking the whole thing down.
The group finally closed the doors to the Visitor's Center for the last time as the When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth banner fell from grace to the floor, at which point, the T-Rex inside let out the mightiest roar anyone had ever heard from it.
Outside the Visitor's Center, the sun was low in the sky as Hammond slammed the breaks on a mud spattered park Jeep to a squeaking halt in front of the steps. The windshield was out and Malcolm lay in the back with his feet stretched onto the seats in front of him.
Phipps was at the driver's seat in another Jeep behind them, while Fobbs was at the wheel of the following Jeep, in the back which rode McGonagall, Bones, Snape, Lupin, and Tonks.
Harry, Grant, and others jumped into both empty Jeeps, one by one; Harry with Grant, Sattler, and the Murphy children in the first, the Grangers in the second.
"Mr. Hammond," Grant began. "After careful consideration, both I and Mr. Potter have decided not to endorse your Park."
"So have I," Hammond silently agreed.
"After all," Harry concluded. "A mum and dad may have never given their blessing either."
Hammond hit the gas and the Jeep took off as Lex squeezed in on Harry's lap next to Malcolm, while Sattler held Tim in hers.
The other two Jeeps followed until they finally arrived at the landing pad, also untouched from the previous day, where the exact same Sikorsky S-61 chopper awaited them on the landing cross, its rotors spinning. Harry lead Lex off the car by the hand, but stopped as he noticed a wrinkled hand cloaked by a long, purple sleeve sticking out of some nearby ferns.
"Harry!" Lex cried.
"Go on!" Harry requested. "I'll join you in a minute!"
He watched Lex go on her way as Sattler carried Tim out of the car and Grant assisting a limping Malcolm.
Checking to see that no one was watching him, Harry pushed some ferns out of the way to discover Dumbledore awaiting him, clutching his red duffel in both hands, which looked surprisingly cleaner than he was, no thanks to all the mud.
"Professor, you got it!" Harry exclaimed. "Where are the others?"
"They had received my message after I'd retrieved your duffel, Harry," Dumbledore replied. "So naturally, they have taken back to the skies. I've also taken the liberty of gathering some other personal belongings as well…"
He twirled his finger around the Grangers' jeep, which, to the surprise of both them and Phipps, was filled with the same three faux brown leather suitcases they'd taken with them.
They watched as Phipps shruggingly loaded them into a hatch near the chopper's base, but Fobbs stopped to scratch his head when he noticed the rest of his group was missing from their Jeep.
"…May I also add that we have included these," Dumbledore finished.
He reached into his robe and pulled out a tiny maroon book, which Harry noticed had a golden lion and unicorn etched onto the cover. Once it was handed to him, he opened it to realize it was his passport, complete with Vernon's crude photograph.
"They're never bluffing about you, you know sir?" He laughed. "Follow us once we're in the air. I'll see you back on the mainland."
Harry ran from the ferns as Dumbledore seemed to disappear with another crack from the foliage. As he was about to board the helicopter, he noticed a paler Lex awaiting for him by the door with her hands on her hips, as well as the Granger parents, holding back their daughter, whose arms were crossed.
"And what has been keeping you?" Hermione requested.
"Never mind that," Lex dismissed. "Let's just get out of here."
They waited for the Grangers to climb into the chopper, as the air had become dead silent. But Harry remained in his ground as he gestured ahead of them.
Hammond had stopped with his back against the cascading waterfall, remaining in his position for about a minute. Grant grabbed him by the arm and led him into to the helicopter, as Harry the look of discontent on his face.
"Come on," Grant ordered.
"Hammond's hair was blowing in the breeze, which Harry assumed was carrying the bellow of the brachiosaur he could hear off in the distance.
Harry and Lex climbed into the chopper, to the back row, where Dr. Grant had carried Tim. Sattler was in the seat across from them, while the Grangers sat in the row ahead, then Malcolm stretched across the row of seats, carefully strapping himself in, while Hammond sat across from him, twirling his walking stick, sadly gazing at the mosquito trapped inside the amber top.
As Phipps and Fobbs climbed aboard, the rotors began to spin faster as the helicopter slowly lifted off the ground. As they rose, Harry took a peek out the windows, looking down as the green mountains gradually shrank into the same green speck as the one from Dr. Grant's map.
When they were high up enough, Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a muffled roar that he'd heard a minimum four or five times on his trip. Turning his head towards the other window, he saw the T-Rex standing on the landing pad as if to claim her territory, feeding on something else she had picked up.
He kept his eye on the scene as the Rex looked up, obviously sensing something that moved, waving her tiny forelimbs to try and catch the chopper. When that failed, she let out another roar, but stopped to stare at the helicopter as it ascended out of sight.
"I almost feel sorry for it," Harry murmured, noticing the slightly softening look in her eye.
He exhaled, sinking back into his seat next to Lex, who squeezed next to Dr. Grant, holding Tim on his other leg. Harry was starting to get quite comfortable, with Lex's head leaning on his shoulder, as the other three next to him were asleep.
Two rows ahead, Harry watched Hammond switch his view from the window to the back row. Sattler also shifted her gaze to them as Harry noticed Grant had placed his arms around him and the Murphy children.
Sattler smiled at the four of them huddling comfortably together as Harry noticed Grant cracking his eyes open, throwing a smile back to her, before offering one to him.
Out Sattler's window, Grant noticed they were now soaring back over the ocean, where a flock of pelicans were feeding on a school of fish, sailing above the waves in perfect formation.
"How do look at birds now?" Harry teased when he noticed the wide grin on Grant's face.
Grant ruffled his hair again before falling back asleep, while Harry saw something out his window he definitely wasn't expecting;
Dumbledore was soaring above the waves on a broomstick with Sirius Black directly behind him. They veered towards the edge of the window so only Harry could see them waving to him.
Harry grinned, shaking his head as he waved back, stretching back in his seat as the chopper flew into the sunset, back to the mainland.