I'm back! With another chapter. Enjoy!
"Shit!"
The Baryonyx roared, emerging fully from the tunnel.
Emily shot her arms out, pushing Franklin and Claire back as it surged forward, snapping at them. Its jaws closed less than five feet from her face, but the lava streaming from the ceiling landed on its snout, forcing it back. It cowered back toward the tunnel, screeching in pain, and clawing at its snout.
"Claire, what do we do!?" Franklin was absolutely panicking at this point. "What do we do?!"
Emily took her eyes off the Baryonyx for a split second, glancing around the control room. On the far side, there was an emergency exit, with a ladder that could be pulled down. Perfect.
"Claire!" Emily called. "Get that ladder down! Franklin, go up first!"
Claire raced to the ladder and pulled on it. "It's stuck! Get me that chair!"
Emily glanced over her shoulder, spotting the chair. Only for the Baryonyx to lunge for her, jaws closing only a foot from her face this time. Emily gasped, stumbling back, her chest heaving. They had to get out.
Franklin made an attempt to grab the chair, but Emily pushed him toward Claire, "I'll get it!"
She ran for the chair, grabbing it with no issues. But as she tried to roll it across to Claire, the Baryonyx made another move, grabbing the chair back in its jaws in an attempt to get Emily. Emily tightened her grip; they needed the chair. After a tense moment where the chair began to slip from her grasp, the back of the chair broke off, and the Baryonyx retreated a step, tossing the back aside.
It gave Emily just enough time to fling the chair to Claire. The former park operations manager set the chair under the ladder and began to climb. Emily backed toward the ladder, "Franklin, follow her!"
Emily reached the chair as Franklin began to climb. The Baryonyx was still on the opposite side of the lava, snarling and trying to figure out how to get through. God, she hoped it stayed on that side of the lava.
As soon as she could, Emily began climbing the ladder. The three of them barely fit inside the tube that led to the surface. Claire strained to open the hatch at the top as Franklin exclaimed, "We made it! Yeah!"
But the weight of all three of them was too much for the rusty old ladder. And it gave way, sliding down, so Emily's feet were only a foot or so above the floor. Behind her, the Baryonyx snarled lowly. A glance over her shoulder revealed that it had stepped through the lava stream and fixed its eyes on her.
It roared at the same time as she shouted, "Climb Franklin! Climb!" panic leeched into her voice as the Baryonyx surged forward. Franklin scrambled up the ladder, Emily so close behind him that he nearly kicked her hat off twice.
No sooner had she made it back up into the tube than the Baryonyx slammed into the ladder.
"Claire, get it open!" Franklin shouted.
The Baryonyx shoved its up the tube after them, and Emily yelped as it snapped at her heels, snagging a bootlace between its teeth for a split second. It was just enough to nearly pull her off the ladder.
"Claire!" she shouted.
"Got it!"
The tube was illuminated by sunlight as Claire finally got the hatch open. Claire and Franklin scrambled out, Emily right behind them.
Just as she got out, the Baryonyx finally succeeded in shoving itself into the tube, and the end of its snapping jaws came out the end of the tube. Emily stumbled back, breathing hard.
It took all three of them leaning on the hatch to force the Baryonyx's jaws back inside. Claire spun the handle, effectively locking the door. Emily sat back on her heels, "That was too close for comfort."
Claire nodded breathlessly.
"Uh, guys…" Franklin spoke.
Emily looked up, glancing over her shoulder as she followed Franklin's gaze.
"Oh fu—"
The trees far above them exploded, volcanic smoke billowing into the air. Lava was flowing down the hillsides. The explosion only grew, shooting out lava and falling debris. A volcanic rock flew far above their heads and landed further downhill.
Distantly, behind them, someone shouted.
"Run!"
Emily turned, as Owen yelled again, "Run!"
Briana ran from the smoke behind him, gun still slung over her shoulder, and shouted, "Get moving!"
Not two seconds later, a Galimimus, followed by a Stegosaurus and some sort of Pteranodon, burst from the volcanic smoke. Compys raced through the long grass, and an Apatosaur plowed through a tree.
Emily whipped around and started running, jumping off the top of control room and into the grass. Claire and Franklin followed, Owen and Briana easily catching up with them.
The dinosaurs quickly overtook them, a Galimimus streaking past Emily with a screech. A Compy brushed against her leg as they raced into the jungle. Emily ducked under a leafy palm-like branch and jumped over a rock.
They raced past already flaming trees, embers and soot falling all around them. Tree after tree fell over behind them as dinosaurs plowed through the jungle like it was nothing. Emily could hear explosions and eruptions behind them, and large volcanic debris began to rain down.
Emily was breathing hard by the time she spotted a large log in front of them. She scrambled over the top and helped Franklin, shoving him behind an old, overturned gyrosphere that was behind the log. Owen, Claire, and Briana joined them behind it seconds later.
Dinosaur after dinosaur plowed through the log, heedless that it was in their path. In ten seconds, the only cover they had was the gyrosphere.
Then, something bumped it, pushing them all forward. But when Emily turned around, the gyrosphere was upright.
"Go, get in it!" Owen urged Franklin and Claire forward.
Emily knew the rest of them wouldn't fit.
And there was no point in trying as the ground shook. Emily slowly turned around and found a Carnotaurus staring them down.
Emily slowly stepped back, trying to keep the gyrosphere between herself and the Carnotaurus. She knew it was fast, but not on turns. So, if she could just keep the gyrosphere between them…
It growled lowly as Emily muttered to Owen and Briana, "Keep the gyrosphere between us…"
They kept moving, till they were behind the gyrosphere. The Carnotaurus paused alongside it and shifted its focus.
It roared, and charged toward a Sinoceratops, grabbing its frill, and yanking it off its feet.
Emily let out a breath, watching as the Sinoceratops fought back, and slammed the Carnotaurus to the ground. But the Carnotaurus was up in an instant, headbutting the Sinoceratops, who tumbled out of control right for them.
Briana grabbed Emily by the arm and yanked her out of the way as the Sinoceratops slammed into the gyrosphere.
There was a moment of sheer chaos, as Owen rolled the other way, the Sinoceratops slammed the Carnotaurus to the ground, and made its escape.
And the gyrosphere rolled forward, its circular doors shutting.
Emily swore as the Carnotaurus clambered to its feet and roared at them.
"Where should I aim Grant?" Briana had raised her gun.
"Eyes, or mou—"
The Tyrannosaurus came out of nowhere, and bit down on the Carnotaurus' neck.
"Shit!" Emily clapped her hands over her mouth, then hissed through them, "Don't move."
The Rex bit down, killing the Carnotaurus. And in a moment of triumph, she lifted her head, foot still poised on its neck, and roared.
Behind the Rex, the entire hillside exploded, shooting volcanic ash high into the air. Rexy shook her head and lumbered off downhill.
Dinosaur after dinosaur thundered toward them, all trying to escape the exploding volcano.
The gyrosphere began to roll, and Emily started walking backward, "We gotta go, now!"
The took off running, dinosaurs streaming past them, and the cloud of ash growing closer and closer. Ahead of them, Emily could see dinosaurs throwing themselves off a cliff. Because they had nowhere else to go. And neither did they.
Emily jumped over a rock as the volcanic ash finally overtook them. She coughed, barely able to see Briana and Owen right ahead of her.
Thankfully, she was able to spot the edge of the cliff before she ran over it. Briana just grabbed her, and Owen, and shouted over the roaring of dinosaurs and explosions in the distance, "Take a deep breath!"
And they jumped.
Emily coughed, pulling herself further onto the beach before she flopped back. They'd barely managed to get Claire and Franklin out of gyrosphere in time before swimming all the way to this beach. Making Emily immensely grateful for the swimming lessons her father had given her when she was little. She dropped her sopping wet hat on the sand beside her and closed her eyes.
And then sat bolt upright.
"Where's Sam?"
Claire sat up as well, "Zia and Lizzy?"
Briana dropped her gun in the sand, sounding pained, "Wheatley double crossed us, the son of a bitch."
"They must be with Blue." Owen was the first to get to his feet. "Can you still track them?"
Franklin pulled out his little tablet. "Not anymore." He tossed it down into the sand.
Emily began to ring water out of her hair. If they so much as touched Sam…
"Bastards," Claire muttered. "It was a lie."
"Shhh." Emily said, getting to her feet. She could hear helicopter blades whirring from somewhere behind them.
Sure enough, a helicopter came around the point, with the Rex strapped into a carrying cage that hung from the bottom. She roared as they flew past.
"Not all of it."
Another helicopter flew overhead as they laid down atop a rocky outcrop. Emily peered down at the docks, watching as Wheatley's men loaded dinosaur after dinosaur onto the boat. And the dinosaurs were definitely not cooperating. Good, Wheatley deserved a little chaos.
Owen had produced binoculars from somewhere and was also surveying the docks. For what Emily suspected would not be the last time, she wished she had her satchel, which had her own set of binoculars.
After a minute of silence, he spoke.
"They have Zia, they're loading out."
"If they already have the dinosaurs, why did they need us?" Franklin asked.
Emily sighed, tilting her still damp hat up. "They needed the tracking system."
"And more specifically," Claire added, "they needed the tracking system to capture Blue."
"And Sam to make sure the dinosaurs survived. Do you see him Owen?"
"No. No sign of him or Lizzy. But I see Blue, and she don't look good."
Behind them, more explosions rang out. Briana started to get up.
"We need to get on that boat."
"The rock's good." Franklin said, as the rest of them got up. "We're safe on the rock."
Claire jumped off the rock behind Emily, "It's the boat or the lava Franklin!"
"Alright, boat's good. I'm all about the boat."
They raced down the hillside, and by the time they got to the concrete docks, all of Wheatley's men were pretty much on the boat. Volcanic debris rained down all around them, landing on the concrete, in the jungle, in the water.
They raced across the concrete, with Owen shouting, "Get in that truck!" They ran for it, Emily coughing a bit as she did. But she had no issues keeping up with the others.
A piece of volcanic debris slammed into a huge area of fuel barrels, and they went up in a fiery explosion. Emily could feel the heat searing the side of her face. She kept running, Franklin right ahead of her.
And then another set of barrels exploded, right next to Emily and Franklin.
She was thrown to the ground, tumbling several feet. It took her a second to recover, but when she did lift her head, Owen and Claire were running toward them.
"Keep going!" Emily shouted, "I've got this!"
Owen gave her a nod, and he, Claire and Briana raced for the truck. Emily clambered to her feet, hurry to Franklin and hauling him up by his arm.
"You okay?"
"Am I dead?"
"Not yet kid!"
They ran for the truck, as it began to move. Emily reached it first, Owen and Briana grabbing her arms and hauling her in. Owen then pulled Franklin in behind her, and the truck began to pick up speed.
"Hold on!" Claire shouted.
The truck accelerated quickly, shooting off the end of the pier and just barely making it onto the back ramp of the boat. Claire slammed on the brake, and they lurched to a halt.
It fell silent, the only noise being their heavy breathing and Briana's hiss of pain.
"You good?" Owen murmured.
"Bruised ribs, I think. I'll be fine."
Elsewhere in the boat, a dinosaur bellowed, and a soft alarm rang.
Emily looked out the back of the truck, and her breath caught in her throat. She moved as far back as she could get, her hands tightly gripping the back of the truck.
"Guys…"
A lone Brachiosaurus was walking down the dock. It bellowed mournfully, illuminated from behind by the fires and lava.
Emily's grip tightened, tears pricking her eyes.
It called again, almost as if it were asking for help. Smoke began to engulf it, and the Brachiosaur pushed up onto her hind legs, crying out for help one last time.
Emily was reminded vividly of another Brachiosaur, 25 years earlier, standing on it's hind legs to feed off a branch. Only, this wasn't feeding. It was the Brachiosaur's final cry, her final breath. It was the island's final words.
The ramp clanged shut.
Isla Nublar was gone.
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