Editor's Note: Don't hate me for this chapter. Granted it might not be as bad as I think it will be, but then again I haven't written it yet… Warning, potential Jake/Lex relationship, probably not much but it'll in all likelihood be there. This is not something I'm tacking on, it had to happen sometime. Oh yeah, if you want to know what DX is, read The Lost World novelization. I'd tell you, but how would that help Crichton pay the bills? These are his characters after all…
Park: Jake sighed in a slight drizzle as he hefted his rifle while looking at the Spinosaurus Pit sign and the massive hole in the fence behind it.
"Great, just great," he said. "Way to go Jimbo."
"You already knew it was loose though," Lex reminded him.
"Yeah but I'd hoped I was only dreaming," said Jake. "Maybe things will pan out where I still am."
"I hope not. First of all I'd hate to be in someone's dream and second of all you'd have to have one warped psyche to imagine this," said Lex holding out her hands at the various damaged trees and footprints all around them.
"I don't know, I wouldn't put it past myself," said Jake sighing before trudging on down the mud soaked road.
"I wish the weather was better," said Lex as the rain soaked all of their clothes and stuck them to their straight to their bodies. "It's going to take me weeks to dry off."
"I'm sure you'll manage," said Jake with a grin, turning to look at her for the first time since it had started raining. It was only then that he noticed how the clothes had stuck to them, especially Lex. Jake was suddenly grateful he'd put his sunglasses on as hopefully Lex wouldn't have noticed his eyes suddenly dart around trying to avoid directly looking at her.
"Maybe," she said shrugging apparently not noticing.
"Well let's go," said Jake quickly and hopefully not too nervously. He then walked off down the road along with Lex and the kids.
"So what're you going to do after we survive this island?" asked Lex. Jake shrugged.
"I'm not entirely sure. I suppose I'll go back home and see my sister and her husband and kids. I haven't seen them since…since my sister first found out she had cancer. I've sent letters and talked to them over the phone, but I've never been there in person," said Jake with more than a hint of regret. "As much it pains me to say this, I've been avoiding her. It's not like I want to forget her problems, I've been working hard to ensure that her family doesn't go into deep debt, it's just that I don't want to ruin my last image of her when she was full of life and vitality. Sure we fought like brothers and sisters usually do and we all wanted to see each other in a bad situation, but not for real and not like this. I don't know, I just…"
Lex nodded perfectly understanding. "It was almost the same when my grandmother developed Alzheimer's. Sure she wasn't dying and I was really too young to know her, but I felt bad seeing her slowly loose her memory over time until she eventually passed away. Grandpa took it harder than ever, but he vowed not to be put down by it, but to honor her memory."
Jake nodded but said nothing, it was only then that he'd realized that he had been staring at her the whole time. Jake shook his head.
"Forget it Jake-o, she's 19 and you're 27, it's too much of an age difference. Plus she's the granddaughter of your boss who you're currently at odds with," Jake thought.
"You okay?" asked Lex confused by his head shaking.
"My vision is just a little groggy from lack of sleep and I think I'm getting a headache," said Jake. He then spun around and walked off. Lex watched him go and sighed.
"Forget it Lexy, he's 27 and you're 19. If there was anything between you it would be infatuation at the most. Still though, he is dreamy...," she thought before running off to catch up with him.
"Jake hold up," she said before she tripped directly into the mud. Jake immediately rushed back to her and helped her up.
"You okay kid?" he asked. He helped her up only for her to be covered completely in mud.
"I'm fine," said Lex laughing. She gave a lighthearted smile through the mud and Jake couldn't help but smile too. "I'd been wanting a mud-bath for awhile, never thought I'd get it here…or under these circumstances."
"Life's a bitch," said Jake finally. He then tried to let go of her hand, but she didn't release it.
"I just want to make sure I don't trip again, I'm feeling a little light headed," Lex quickly explained. "Good one kid."
Jake shrugged and the two walked down the road with the kids.
"Just what I needed," thought Jake nervously while hoping Lex didn't feel his heart rate starting to increase. "Sure, I can understand that."
The two walked down the road in silence as the group slowly progressed down the road.
Isla Sorna: The boat rumbled to a halt at the dock and immediately died. Instantly a group of scientists and guards rushed down to the dock.
"Mr. Hammond," said Henry Wu, who had just arrived to take over the work that Jake had left behind. "What happened?"
"Jurassic Park has been overrun by the dinosaurs," said Ray chiming in while John tried to make sure that the kids were being well tended to.
"How?" asked Henry.
"We don't know, but I isolated the virus that did it into this laptop and hope to be able to crack it," said Ray. "I've physically destroyed all the external jacks so it can't affect anything here, we don't want what happened on Nublar to happen here so we have until the battery dies to find out what it is and how to combat it."
"Why not wait for Lysine to just kick in?" asked Henry as the group walked towards a group of vehicles ready to take them back to the workers village.
"Because Jake, Lex, and a small group of children are still stranded on the island and we can't afford to wait that long," said Ray. A vehicle roared to a halt and nearby and its passenger hopped out and ran to the group.
"What's this I hear about Jurassic Park not working right?" demanded Donald Gennaro. "If something went wrong it's your fault and you WILL be held responsible!"
Ray looked at Robert who nodded. He put his left hand on Donald's shoulder as if to calm him down when he slugged him with the right. Donald hit the ground hard as the two entered into one of the vehicles as they roared off. Donald picked himself up off the ground and ran after them as they took off.
"This isn't over!" he shouted. "You'll pay for this! You'll pay!"
Nublar: "Now this could pose a problem," said Jake. He and the group had finally reached the hotel, but there was a massive perimeter fence surrounding the hotel. Unfortunately the entrance had been locked by the workers who had been stranded there and had left to regroup with the others at the boat. Unfortunately they had probably done it by accident due to it being standard procedure when everyone left under the assumption that key cards could be used to access the building again. Unfortunately, with the power out, that was now impossible.
"I suppose ultimately that was my fault," said Jake shaking his head. "I told John to especially beef up the security when the hotel was made and then he did it. Boy am I both thankful and regretful about that decision."
Lex laughed. "So what now?"
"I don't know," said Jake looking up at the fence. "I suppose I'll have to climb it."
"Is that absolutely necessary?" asked Lex. A roar was heard emanating from the jungle and the ground began rumbling at repeated intervals.
"It is now," he said, tossing Lex the rifle and climbing up the fence.
Sorna: Ray was hammering away on the laptop at Jake's desk when Robert walked in after getting a clean shave, some coffee, and a brief shower.
"It feels good to be back in civilization, I never knew how much I'd missed it," said Robert shaking his hair with his hand. Ray nodded with bleary eyes and very noticeable stubble.
"I'm sure it is," said Ray. "I'm sure it is."
"Didn't you get anything to eat or drink since we got back?" asked Robert incredulously.
"Sorry, but I've got to find out what went wrong with Jurassic Park," said Ray.
"But they've already contacted the lockdown facility and Nedry is already being transported on his way here," said Robert.
"And I don't trust that butterfingers eater at all," said Ray turning to face him. "If I don't know what he did to make all this happen, so what's to stop him from corrupting Site B's mainframe as well? No, I have to find out what he did to prevent him from doing it again," said Ray.
"Fine, fine, but at least get something to eat you can't concentrate like this," said Robert.
"We'll see," said Ray still hammering away at the laptop, a couple minutes later he sighed, closed the thing, and took it with him as he left for the commissary. Robert looked around at Jake's desk to see the various pens and pieces of paper on his desk. Robert hadn't seen Jake in a long time and this gave him a look at his inner psyche. There was only one photo on his desk of him and some woman, whom Robert assumed was his sister, but he already knew about the sister's predicament so that didn't offer any insight so he continued looking. A small Godzilla figurine lay on his desk next to the computer along with a Mad Max car paperweight, but those did not provide much insight either besides showing his likes and dislikes. It was only when he opened Jake's main cabinet drawer did he notice anything of note. Inside the main cabinet were two things, a stuffed dinosaur with a pen through it with the head nearly ripped off along with a stapled report. The title page read: DX Virus and there was a handwritten note on the page from Jake simply stating: 'Why did you have to solve this? Why couldn't you just let them die?' As he rifled through the report, he saw the effects of DX on the dinosaurs with notes like 'Nature has found a way Ian' and 'History repeats itself'. However, a few pages later were notes indicating how the root of the problem had been discovered with other notes like 'The sheep is mightier than the dinosaur' and 'To hell with irony'. On the last page it revealed that Jake had found the root of the problem and it had subsequently been corrected thus halting the effects of DX with once more the notes from the title page 'Why did you have to solve this?' 'Why couldn't you just let them die?' Robert sighed as he held up the plush dinosaur with the pen through it.
"Tragic isn't it?" asked Henry from just outside Jake's office with a cup of coffee. "Here he hated the dinosaurs for so long and he wound up finding the cure to save them for many more years to come."
"I never realize that it was him who found the answer to DX, if I had I…don't know what I would've thought," said Robert perplexed.
"Neither did we," admitted Henry. "Jake was the only scientist who really didn't seem to care at all about DX while the rest of us were hurriedly trying to cure it. Things got so bad that the dinos were beginning to die by the dozens and thing were looking very bleak. Then Jake takes the information we had accumulated on DX over the past several months, does some calculations, makes a couple calls, and the next thing we knew he revealed to us the source of the DX problem and we instantly cured it. Six months of researching and he gets it done in one day. Not only that, but he despises dinosaurs and yet here he has saved them. It was a paradox is what it was."
"So what did he do once he realized what he'd done?" asked Robert.
"He suddenly stopped talking and took off in a jeep into the island. We didn't see him for three weeks until he just suddenly shows up again, working like nothing had happened," said Henry.
"Did you say anything to him?"
"We wanted to, but John said to lay off him, he'd been under a lot of stress lately because his sister was practically on the edge of death at the time and that plus saving the dinosaurs must've caused him to temporarily snap. Thankfully his sister got better and so too did Jake's psyche. It was at this point that Doctor Kelver started having sessions with him again and brought Jake back slowly from the brink as well," said Henry.
"And I thought things were tough trying to ensure Jurassic Park was safe," said Robert shaking his head. "I knew things were bad for Jake but not that bad."
Henry just shrugged as well, looking at the plush dinosaur.
"I can only help he's surviving Jurassic Park," said Henry. "Both physically and mentally."
Park: A massive carnivore tore through the trees and stepped into the open area surrounding the hotel and the perimeter fence around it. Jake was halfway down the other side of the fence when the dinosaur roared.
"My God it sounds exactly the same, unbelievable," said Jake shaking his head mesmerized at the Gojirasaurus.
"Jake keep moving!" shouted Lex as the dinosaur slowly began advancing on the group. Jake looked at the distance he still had to and then looked at the distance between the dino and the group, he knew he'd never get down and open the door in time.
"Lex forgive me for the decision I am about to make," he thought. Jake nodded and immediately dropped from the fence and slammed into the ground.
"Ouch," Jake groaned in pain as he struggled over to the doors. Lex screamed as the Gojirasaurus stormed up practically right in front of them before Jake flung the door open and dragged her inside as the children also rushed in, barely avoiding the dinos' teeth. The dino was about to advance when it noticed the fence surrounding the hotel. It stared at it for a few moments as if deciding what to do. Then a second dinosaur emerged from the trees and roared at the Gojirasaurus. It was an ankylosaurus. The two dinosaurs circled each other before they went at it ripping and tearing at the other one.
"Jake what do we do?" Lex demanded. Jake looked at her blankly and then fell to the ground, the result of his fall finally catching up with him.
"Jake? Jake?" Lex demanded nervously. Jake blearily looked at her.
"There…should be a…circuit breaker…the fence," he said before slumping to the ground. Lex looked at him confused before looking at the fence. It was only then that she noticed that the two lights were blinking on top. As much as she was overjoyed that the fences appeared to be working here, the fact that Jake had just scaled the fence proved that they weren't working. At least she hoped so because she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Jake had scaled the fence with electricity pouring into him the whole time. She then looked down at the ground and noticed a mess of cables pouring out from the fence headed towards a nearby shed.
"Stay here with Jake kids, Tommy you're in charge. Try and make sure he doesn't fall asleep, I think he has a concussion," said Lex. Tommy nodded as Lex took off for the nearby shed as the Gojirasaurus picked up the ankylosaurus by the tail and flung it off into the trees where it hit the ground with a crash that took out a pair of trees. The ankylosaurus roared with a bloody mouth and blood flowing from a dozen small wounds while the Gojirasaurus roared back, also with a bloody mouth and several missing teeth. It too had injuries, but mainly to its two legs that minimized its mobility. The two dinosaurs then charged at each other once more as Lex flung the door open and proceeded inside. Inside the massive cables led right below an ordinary looking fuse box. Lex flung it open to reveal a circuit breaker along with a handwritten note attached to the inside of the door. Lex tore it off and read it.
"To whoever finds this note, I can only assume that the power has finally failed on the island and the dinosaurs are now loose. Don't worry; I took precautions to ensure that the residents inside this hotel will still be safe. This is a secondary power source for the fence surrounding the hotel compound so just throw the green switch a couple times and flip all the breakers and it should work. Keep in mind that it won't provide the same amount of juice as if the regular generator was working, but it should make any dino think twice before trying to claw its way through. Sincerely, Jake Whitacre," said Lex reading the note. "Thanks Jake, once again you've saved us all."
Lex immediately threw the green switch and hurriedly connected the circuits as the Gojirasaurus flung the bloodied corpse of the ankylosaurus into the nearby river where it was washed away. The massive dinosaur let loose with a ground shaking roar before spinning around to look at the fence and the people behind it only to rear back and charge it. However, the instant it hit the fence, the electricity surged through it, knocking it back. Lex returned to the group to watch as electricity surged through the dinosaur as it looked at the fence angrily before storming off. She then remembered the condition that Jake was in and she peered over him.
"Jake are you okay?" Lex demanded worriedly. Jake looked at her through glazed eyes.
"I'm sorry…old friend," was all he said before falling asleep.
"No, you can't fall asleep you can't!" shouted Lex at him. But Jake wouldn't be stirred from his rest. "It can't end this way, we were so close."