CHAPTER SEVEN: Watched

Lex sobbed into Dr. Grant's shoulder some more. The image of a person being eaten up by a dinosaur again, even though it was a robot eating another robot, still did hurt her. How could her grandpa put something in the park that would hurt her? Not physically, but emotionally. It was as if it wasn't even him who had built the attractions. It was like someone else built them. Lex knew that her grandfather wouldn't make a ride that would scare her too much.
"It's okay, Lex," Dr. Grant said with a smile. "I don't think that it was meant to scare you in particular. People today want to be scared sometimes when they go to a theme park. That's all."
"It's still wrong!" Lex said angrily. "How could grandpa do this to the park? I thought he was through with dinosaurs eating people!"
"He wasn't for them eating people in the first place, Lex," Dr. Grant tried to reassure her.
But, just as he was about to continue, something leaped out of the bushes beside the bench they were sitting on.
Lex screamed, and Dr. Grant was a little startled, but then he laughed.
James' pet monkey had leaped out of the bushes and began scurrying around before the two of them.
Lex cheered up a little and then bent over to see the tiny monkey. The monkey, no larger than a stuffed animal, jumped up onto the bench and sat beside Lex while she stroked a finger along it's furry head.
"Hey, I recognize you." She said as it purred a little and then opened its mouth revealing a few pointy teeth. "You belong to James, don't you?"
Dr. Grant had been smiling, but then his face turned serious.
"Yeah, he does. But, the question is, where's James? I don't think he would let his pet run around without him?"
Lex shook her head, pulling her blonde curls out of her face.
"I hope he didn't lose the monkey, and that's why he's not with it. I hope he's not worried about it. But, then again - what can happen to it when there's no actual predators on the island? Besides cars?"
Dr. Grant grunted as he lifted the monkey up into his hand and patted it slowly.
"Where's your master?" Dr, Grant said slowly as he looked out into the woods behind the bench.

Tim sat in the seat of the roller coaster and groaned. How stupid was this? His first day in the park and the ride broke down! What a fun day.
He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, trying to block out the headache that was forming in his brain. So much was happening. First there was the fact that his grandfather hadn't shown up for lunch like he had promised he would. Then there was the creepy claw that came out of the cage being dragged along in the woods. That had sent chills down Tim's spine. He shivered as he thought of it. Was it real? He shook his head. Of course it was real. But, what animal did it belong to? That was what he wanted to know.
He had seen a Velociraptor talon before. It was curved and about six inches long. It was creepy. It was an almost uncanny fit to the talon he had seen in the fake woods in the visitor center. He didn't want to think about it, and tried to shake the thoughts about it from his head.
This trip was turning out to be creepier than it was cool. How long had he been sitting in the stalled train on the coolest coaster in the park? An hour? No, he thought. It felt to be at least two hours. He sighed. Where the heck was a park manager or someone to let him out of the ride when he needed one? He had had enough of sitting up in a very hot seat with his shirt sticking to the back of it. The sun was now blaring down on his section of the train. The sun had shifted since the ride had first stalled.
Then, it came to him. He took his hands and wrapped his fingers around the safety harness holding him into the ride. Holding it tightly, (so that his knuckles turned white) he began to push it up. Maybe it would go up. Maybe he could get out of the ride and find his way back to Dr. Grant and his sister. In his heart he wanted to tell her that he was sorry for not understanding how much the simulation had hurt her. The two hours, (it seemed like two hours to Tim) of sitting in the ride gave him a chance to think.
He gritted his teeth as he pushed upward. Slowly the harness began to lift upwards. He smiled as the harness slowly went higher and higher until he could slowly squeeze his body out of the seat and onto the front of the car.
He didn't give the warnings of stay in the car a second thought as he slowly looked downwards to the ground. It was ten feet away. That was pretty high up, and he'd hate to fall from the track. So, he began to climb over the cars one by one until he was sitting in the first car of the train.
He needed to get down from the tracks. He looked ahead and saw that the track dipped downwards towards the ground until it touched the grass below. If he could get onto the track and climb down, he could get off the tracks and find his way back to the station. No problem.
He began to climb down the track, and found it easy to do because the metal design was shaped like a ladder with rungs to hold onto. He was about halfway there.
He was doing great he thought to himself. He was going to get down and get back to the station. Then, he would apologize to his sister and then he'd have a good rest-of-the-day.
But, he was startled out of his thoughts when the track he was climbing down shook menacingly. The metal vibrated, shooting a tickling sensation up his fingers into the palms of his hands.
His body slipped forward and he landed against the track as he lost his grip on the track. Before doing anything else, he grabbed the edge of the track to support him and began climbing down again. He had to get off the track.
But before he got an inch closer to the ground he heard the voice of the ride operator coming from the speakers inside the train of cars.
"We have solved the problem. Please remain seated while the cars resume motion.""
And with that the track shook one last time, making Tim cry out. Then, the vibrating was replaced with a rumble.
Tim looked up to spot the train slowly inching its way down the track. It was on the straight tails, so he still had time to get off the track before it sped up after the hill.
But just moments after this thought popped into his head, the cars lunged forward, speeding down the tracks towards him. They must have been equipped with boosting mechanisms. Tim felt fear freeze him in place as he watched the cars race towards him.
Without a second thought, he rolled over the side of the track and plummeted to the grassy ground below.
He felt his breath leave his lungs as he fell to the earth with the cars rumbling over the track above. It seemed like forever until he finally hit the soft ground with a thud.

"You know, I feel bad for not going on the ride with Tim." Lex said as she held the tiny monkey in her hands while she stared down at it, she didn't notice how Dr. Grant was looking out into the woods behind the bench. "After all, I did say I would. I mean, how would I feel if I were him?"
Dr. Grant remained silent. He was positive there was something out in the woods watching them. It was as if he could feel its eyes on him.
He put a hand up to silence Lex, keeping his eyes on the woods.
"Ssh, Lex," he started. "I think we're being watched."
Lex let the tiny monkey leap to the ground and turned around to see the dark woods behind her.
"Do you see something?" she asked quietly.
"No, but I can sense it. I've felt it before. Like when I was on the island with Eric."
Lex looked over at him.
"Isn't that the boy you rescued?"
"Yes, he was," Dr. Grant said in a soft tone. After looking at the woods a bit longer, he turned around in his seat. "I think we should go find Tim."
They both got up, Lex staring at the ground.
"Oh no!" she said glumly. "The monkey ran off!"
Dr. Grant took her by the arm and began leading her towards the roller coaster's entrance.
"I'm sure it will be fine, Lex." he said as they walked through the empty line to the ride's station.
"I hope it's all right," Lex said as they stood, waiting for the roller coaster to return to the station.

The tiny monkey darted through the trees, occasionally leaping over a fallen log or stump. It had to be quick. Its master was, after all, waiting.
Finally it found the man it was looking for. Standing in the shadows stood James. He wore dark clothing to camouflage himself into the trees.
He knelt to the ground and let the monkey crawl up his arm to his shoulder where it perched. He looked up at it with a grin on his face.
"That's a good boy," he said as he stroked the monkey's furry head. "Did you get some valuable information for Daddy?"
And with that, James set off towards the Visitor Center.