Jurassic Park III and ½: The Lost Hat

Part III: Chapter VI

Trevor and Alan spent a few moments staring at the door in overexaggerated shock before rushing to get everyone up onto the file cabinets. Trevor scrambled up in a way similar to Billy, who handed his post over to Trevor in order to help Alan up. A few precious seconds were wasted trying to remove the grill on the air vent, when suddenly the last screw had popped out and the three were through the vent.

They had made one mistake, however. Just one, little, itsy-bitsy thing… They didn't leave the hat behind.

Predictably, the raptors chose that moment to burst in, snarling and making other animalistic noises. Predictably, they were too late. And predictably, after a few minutes of searching, they discovered the air vent open. After numerous attempts at getting in (during which the humans got further and further away), they gave up, and alerted the others. (There were two raptors still in the kitchen/store room-thing who had decided the food Alan and Billy had dropped was a lot more interesting than some doomed hat-rescuing attempt. It was really too bad Alan was unable to take their advice.) The raptors began to fan out, searching for weak spots in the ventilation system, while Alan, Billy and Trevor prayed there weren't any.

Said three human beings had decided to stop crawling for a while to think up another plan. They had about eighteen and three quarter plans in the making by now, but this was The Plan. The Plan to get the hat back; The Plan to detail how to get the hat back. (The Plan, let it be noted, that was designed to give Trevor a purpose in this story other than making me look important because I actually own something.)

And Alan thought he knew how. Turning to Trevor, he gave him a very scary grin akin to that of a mouse advancing on cheese.

"Kid, how fast can you run?"

A few minutes later, The Plan was set. Billy and Trevor knew their parts. The only problem was… would the raptors take the bait?

.·•·.

Thank God for air vents… and back doors.

Trevor slowly eased himself out of the vent, into the now abandoned kitchen. Making sure to unlock the back door, he nervously said in a thin, quavering voice, "Oh, Velociraptors…"

A hiss from above… hissed… "Louder!"

But it was enough. The raptors were onto him. Scaly heads from outside slowly turned and orange eyes focused on the boy standing there. There were a few, long seconds of silence. Then – they charged.

Trevor ran.

Billy jumped out of the vent and landed on top of a Velociraptor. Alan heaved himself out as well onto another one – and all eyes were on him… or rather, the hat he wore.

Everyone else was forgotten. Alan was that target now. The other six (there were seven raptors in total) raptors lunged at him, accompanied by Billy trying to stop them. They probably wouldn't have survived if the raptors weren't more concerned about the safety of the hat. Once they had it, they began to fight with each other for it – and Alan and Billy took the opportunity to escape. Accompanied by Trevor, they took the back door out – hoping there weren't more raptors waiting for them.

Only one raptor saw them escape, and, luckily for them, it was one of the two sensible, non-Alan type ones. It would be a while before the others noticed their escape, and even then, they didn't care. They had the hat, and, for the time being, that was all that mattered. Humans were easy prey… it wouldn't be too hard catching them later.

The previously mentioned humans, however, had learnt something very important. They weren't after them after all – it was the hat they wanted. And now, they were going back… back to the nest. All other plans were down the drain. For, in the immortal words of Alan Grant, (opposed to the immortal words of both Billy Brennan and Trevor Woods) their new plan was simply, "Let's follow them."

.·•·.

The raptors were done ransacking the kitchen. It was back home to the alpha male – and good luck for the pack.

The leader of the maybe-not-doomed hat-rescuing attempt signaled at his troops. It was time to move out.

Unfortunately, they weren't quite alone. Not yet.

Hiding in the undergrowth, the three humans were slowly and silently tailing the dinosaurs, hoping they wouldn't be found out.

For a change, despite the long walk/trek/safari type thing, nothing much happened. The humans had a chance to observe the raptors in their element. It would have been a pleasant sight, watching the Velociraptors sniff around, if they hadn't been trying to avoid being the ones to get sniffed.

Finally, what seemed like hours later, they stopped. Trevor was glad for the break. It was hard work, tracking the Velociraptors. It required absolute silence, patience, and the ability to smell like your surroundings… kind of like being around Alan on a work day. No, actually, I'm exaggerating. You don't have to smell if you're around Alan.

The leader of the little troop barked a couple of orders, and the rest went into a V-shaped formation behind him, with him at the tip. Then, bobbing their heads, the raptors slid through a cover of leaves, leaving the humans all alone.

Billy turned to Alan, looking worried. "What do you think's behind there?"

Alan shook his head, not bothering to look at Billy, eyes still focused on the spot the raptors had disappeared. "Only one way to find out. Let's go."

Alan crept forward, followed by a reluctant Billy and a terrified Trevor. Pushing aside a few big, fan-like leaves, the three humans were just in time to see the leader of the troop respectfully place the fake hat on top of the real leader's head – the alpha male… and, next to the alpha male, apparently forgotten for the time being, Alan's hat.

Alan turned back to the other two. "Guys," he said, a grin slowly forming on his face, "I think our mission's just about over."

And before they could reply, he had already turned away, back to the Velociraptors and that piece of headwear that had started it all.

End of Part III: Chapter VI

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. At all. Except Trevor. Shh.
A/N: Well, that wasn't that much of a short wait, was it? :0 I think I've got around one or two more chapters left then it'll be over... and I mean it this time. Anyway, I'll be away for around a month starting this weekend so no updates from me - see my bio-thing for more information. It's been fun, guys - keep those reviews comin'! :3