Anguirus111 Note: I think Jake has more of a hidden past than even I'm aware of. Somehow I just keep getting this vibe that he's done dark things that perhaps only John Brown knows about. I wrote in his bio that he joined Ingen immediately after college, but I'm beginning to think that the way I wrote him, that he may have done some undercover work for Pacific Pharmaceuticals that resulted in his gun having to be modified for whatever work that was and that he may have received some combat training. At any rate Jake probably has way more internal demons then he lets on.
Sorna: "Bye Jake, good luck," said Sandy as she sat in the passenger's seat of one of the vehicles with Jake on the other side of the open door.
"Thanks," responded the scientist amicably. "We'll need it. Watch over Carly, see that she doesn't snap completely."
"Will do," said Sandy as she swung her legs into the vehicle. Jake nodded and shut the door and the convoy moved off down the road away from the building. Jake picked up his rifle and swung it over his shoulder before heading off back into the building. Outside the remaining workers were busy setting up whatever armaments and traps they could in an attempt to stave off any unexpected early arrivals. Jake entered into the building and watched as a pair of workers mounted a Cobra Assault Canon on Stephanie's desk with the barrel facing outwards through the doors. Jake shook his head, wondering what Stephanie would've thought about it, before walking over to the vending machine and putting some change into it. Jake closed his eyes and punched in the number for his candy, hoping that something would no longer be changed and that it wouldn't give it to him, only to open his eyes and see the candy bar deposited at the bottom of the machine. Jake glumly bent down and took his candy and bit into it before sighing and walking off. A couple steps away, Jake growled and swung around and fired his rifle at the machine, causing the others to jump in shock. The bullet ricocheted off the plexiglass and smacked into the ground as Jake lowered his gun even more depressed and walked off. The workers watched him go in shock before returning to their duties. As Jake walked back to his office, he flopped down in his chair and rested his rifle on his desk as he aimlessly spun around. After a few turns, Jake stopped spinning and looked at his paperwork which he growled at and pushed off of his desk where it fell in a heap on the floor.
"You okay boss?" asked a worker sticking his head into Jake's office.
"Fine," said Jake with a grin. "I'm just a little on edge is all; this waiting has got me extremely anxious."
"Yeah I hear that," said the worker. "Maybe you should go for a walk or something to let off some steam."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Jake agreed as he grabbed his jacket off his coat rack. The scientist stooped down and picked up his paperwork before depositing it back on his desk before grabbing a packet on the DX Virus and walked off. He exited the building and headed off towards a path he used to take to Rupert's Deli back when it had still been open.
"Watch yourself out there," said a couple workers who were burying a cluster of landmines as he passed them.
"I think I've got enough protection," said Jake with a brief grin as he pulled back his coat revealing his Long Colt while hefting his rifle in his hands. He then turned his back on them and silently entered into the jungle. Jake walked along for a few minutes in complete and total silence listening for any sound of twigs or other branches being crunched before he emerged from the jungle fifteen minutes later to see Rupert's store in one piece. Jake went to the side of the building to verify the portable generator for the building was still running before switching on the propane tanks and walking inside. The scientist leaped over the counter and flipped on one of the burners on the gas powered stove.
"Now for a much needed lesson in chemistry," said Jake to himself as he approached the nearby refrigerator and opened it. "Patty plus heat equals burger."
Jake grabbed a frying pan off of the wall, sprayed some Pam into it, and then slapped a pair of burgers onto it before sitting in Rupert's chair and resting his packet on the counter and flipping though it. The DX Virus had popped up just recently and completely unnoticed by everyone on the island until they'd conducted ELE research and discovered it. Yet oddly enough only the herbivores had been affected by it and none of the carnivores had, but why? Jake was still completely bewildered as he grabbed some coffee grinds and put them into the coffee maker. The scientist continued rifling through reports complete unaware that outside, several shadows crept closer and closer to the building.
"Well if it wasn't the water then-," began Jake before he tensed and yanked out his Long Colt and trained it on the door. Jake sat there dead silent for a few moments before a pair of workers appeared and Jake set his gun on the counter.
"Sorry about the surprise J," said one of them as the walked in with their rifles lowered.
"No problem. What's up?" asked Jake concerned as he closed his packet.
"We've just lost the first checkpoint," said one of the workers grimly. Jake slumped his head down onto the counter in defeat.
"And it was overrun by an armada of dinosaurs," said the other worker. "Overrun by all species and dietary needs imaginable."
"Oh hell," said Jake with a wicked grin on his face. "Boy are we in for it now."
"Yeah well, we've evacuated the remaining fallback positions and have activated all remain mines and remote sentry units to shoot at anything that moves," said the first worker. "But we've been ordered to escort you back to Embryonics Administration immediately."
"What now?" asked Jake. "Surely they're not that close."
"No," said the workers. "But according to the workers who were manning the first defensive position, there were raptors at the front of the armada."
Jake looked at the two workers coldly.
"If you're lying to me," Jake began darkly.
"We swear it's the truth," said one of the workers. "This isn't something you joke about."
Jake looked behind him, grabbed his burgers off the pan before slapping them in some bread, quickly washing the pan only to hang it back up, before grabbing his coffee and his gun with the same hand before exiting the store with the two workers. The scientist then quickly walked over and kicked the propane off before heading out.
"Are all defenses set up?" asked Jake as he began eating one of his burgers.
"We've set up everything we have left out here," said the first worker. "Mortars on the roof, mines on the ground, assault cannons inside the building, snipers on the roof, this is gonna be a hell of a fight."
"Do we have our evacuation corridor set up?" asked Jake as he quickly downed his coffee and tossed the cup aside as he got a better grip on his gun.
"Yeah but I don't know exactly what we're going to fallback to," said the second worker. "We'll barely have any weapons left after this is done."
"We'll fight with stick and stones if we have to," said Jake strongly. "I've spent too many long hours on this island to just see it fall to the dinos without a fight."
The other workers nodded when suddenly a branch was heard snapping. Jake crouched down stuffed his second burger in his mouth as he swung his gun left and right in a sweeping motion as the other two workers aimed their weapons out into the jungle. Jake nudged one of them who shook startled before nodding.
"If you're a worker, you have ten seconds to announce your presence or we start firing," said the worker.
There was no response so Jake scowled and removed the second burger from his mouth and tossed it down the path. Instantly the jungle came to life as both a raptor and a deinonychosaur appeared and attacked the burger. They ate for a few moments before noticing the team with their barrels aimed at them.
"Left right spread now," said Jake. The two workers nodded and swung their guns to the sides of the path and opened fire as Jake capped off a couple rounds taking out the two carnivorous hunters.
"Let's move," said Jake as the team rushed down the path while behind them a pair of velociraptors appeared from the trees, bloodied, and collapsed from bullet hole wounds. As they raced down the path, occasionally firing a few rounds into the trees, Jake grabbed his radio and flipped it on.
"This is Jake Whitacre heading down Path 88-32, we've fallen under attack by velociraptors among other creatures," Jake yelled into it as he snapped up his gun and fired a shot into the jungle.
"Yeah it's a full on blitz," came the response as in the background explosions could be heard. "Just do what you can to get back here in one piece."
Jake scowled at the prospect of not being there for the fight but shrugged it off to remind himself of the moment at hand.
"Anybody got some flares?" Jake asked.
"Yeah I've got a pair, why?" asked one of the workers producing his flare gun upon which Jake promptly took it and loaded the gun before firing a flare off left and right into the jungle causing the whole place to erupt into flames. Anguished dinosaur roars were head as the three workers ran down the path.
"Oh I just though I'd discover if General Sherman's Total Warfare was all it was cracked up to be," Jake mused as burning branches fell all around them. Behind them burning dinosaurs appeared, burning flesh dripping from their bodies before they collapsed dead onto the path. The team continued running for the next several tense moments as the jungle collapsed all around them before finally pushing their way back into the clearing where Embryonics Administration was located. But if they were expecting a breather the trio wasn't about to get it as the area was filled with the loud noise of mortars going off as well as the firing of automatic weaponry. As the ran around to the front of the building, all they had to do was look up at the tops of the surrounding mountains to see dinosaurs of all types pouring over them and heading for the building below. Rockets tore themselves off the roof and over their heads before causing huge explosions in the countryside as trees and dinos went flying but still the armada pressed onwards. In front of the building, workers loaded into the remaining hummers and headed out into the jungle to bring the fight to the dinos personally. Jake wished he could go with him, but at such a critical time his place was here back at the base.
"You two should get to your posts," said Jake to his escort. They nodded and were about to go in different ways before Jake stopped them.
"Thanks for the assistance," said the scientist gratefully before remembering a line he'd heard from a movie once. "But stay frosty out there, we can't afford to let one of those bastards in here."
The workers nodded and left as Jake headed into the building. The few remaining workers were busy trying to get an accurate idea of what was going on in the valley by using radios and constantly jotting down notes on a big paper map unfurled on a nearby table.
"What're we looking at?" asked Jake to the group.
"As I told you," said one of the workers, Thomas as Jake recalled. "We're in the middle of a full on blitz."
"Did Sandy manage to escape being hemmed in?" asked Jake concerned. Thomas nodded.
"Yeah they got out of here in time," came the affirmative response. "They should be reaching the village in another hour or so. But we have bigger things to worry about at the moment."
Jake nodded as the ground shook from a nearby explosion flinging dirt and debris before shattering a few windows.
"Sorry, misfire," came a response over one of the radios from a worker on the roof.
"It's a wonder we don't blow ourselves up before they even get here," Jake grumbled.
"Well you essentially gave military-grade weaponry to a bunch of first graders who have no idea what to do besides aim and pull a trigger," said Thomas annoyed. "What did you expect, a team of hardened commandos?"
Jake blinked a couple times. "No."
"Then no offense Jake, but quit complaining," said Thomas firmly. "We need your leadership now, not your sarcasm."
"Fine," Jake agreed. "I'll be on the roof."
"Channel 7," said Thomas holding up his radio. Jake tapped his radio's antenna against his head and then out in a form of a salute before leaving the workers behind. He quickly made his way up to the roof where workers were facing off in different directions each firing their weapons at the hillsides.
"Alright, alright, alright!" Jake shouted. "Stop randomly shooting at things!"
The workers looked at him startled before stopping their assault.
"Shouldn't we be firing?" asked one of the workers.
"Yes but we don't have anywhere near enough ammo to kill them all," said Jake incredulously. "Instead have one worker focus on the dinos while the other aims in front of their advance. That way at least there's a chance they'll turn away or at least slow their advance. So the workers who are firing at the dinosaurs keep doing what you're doing but the workers aiming in front of the dinosaurs should only shoot every so often. We need to hold out for as long as possible and running out of ammo during the halfway point of their journey is not going to help us."
The workers nodded and resumed their assault on the dinosaurs. More and more explosions tore up the area around them in an ever decreasing circle around the building as the dinos continued advancing despite the heavy artillery being thrown against them.
"There's no way in hell we bred this many dinosaurs!" shouted Thomas over the radio as the dinos began to become visible from the front doors.
"I think we've blown up quite a few second-gen's is what's up," said Jake back into the radio as several of the teams ran out of ammo and picked up their assault cannons and went to the ground floor.
"Cannon fodder, great," snorted Thomas. "That's just what we need."
"At any rate, I think we've done all the good we can up here," said Jake as the hummers that had been sent out earlier returned with worn out and frazzled workers.
"Yeah I think so. The mines have been activated and the dinosaur army is approaching them now," said Thomas. Explosions were suddenly heard as the ground shook briefly as various mines went off outside. Jake finally got up and went downstairs as the workers who had originally vacated the roof returned with automatic weaponry that they trained on the jungle. As Jake arrived at the ground floor, he took out his Long Colt and proceeded out onto the front steps where Thomas was standing with his gun trained on the jungle.
"Looks like just us," said Jake humbly as more mines went off.
"Plus the guys on the roof," Thomas pointed out as he jerked his head back at the building.
"True dat, true dat," responded the scientist as he began twirling his gun around on his finger and practicing his quick draw.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" asked Thomas annoyed.
"Not yet I don't," responded Jake simply as he continued practicing. Suddenly a pachycephalosaurus appeared from the jungle and brayed at them.
"Okay now I do,"
Jake and Thomas opened fire. The dinosaur fell but soon more came pouring out of the woodworks, from triceratops to protoceratops to ankylosaurus and even a tyrannosaurus rex appeared roaring angrily at the building. Gunfire also rang down from above along with a few RPG shots that blasted dirt and dinosaurs, covering Jake, Thomas, and the front of the building in blood and guts. Thomas instantly went into convulsions but Jake just stood their firmly capping off round after round from his gun before stopping and reloading.
"You gonna be okay?" Jake asked Thomas before speaking into his headset. "CAC fire three degrees port."
"But-," came the response.
"Do it now!" Jake shouted. The glass from the door behind him exploded as a projectile erupted from inside the building and slammed into the tyrannosaurus rex causing it to collapse onto a bunch of smaller compys, squishing them flat. The explosion brought Thomas back to his senses and he swung up his rifle to blast away a pouncing gallimimus that was coming right at him.
"How can you be so calm about this?" asked Thomas.
"Well it wouldn't-," began Jake before the dinosaurs suddenly halted their advance.
"What the?" began Thomas went suddenly a chorus of hooting erupted from the jungle.
"Get inside!" shouted Jake with sudden realization as he grabbed Thomas and shoved him towards the building.
"What's going on?" Thomas demanded.
"Their cavalry just arrived," said Jake as they pushed into the lobby. "Everybody down!"
The workers crouched behind Stephanie's desk as globs of venom came flying in taking out windows, weapons, furniture, and anything else that wasn't secured to the ground. Then after a couple moments the venom globs stopped, apparently even dilophosaurs had to reload as well. The welcoming committee stood back up and returned fire but it was too little too late as a massive ankylosaur entered into the doorway and took the brunt of the fire as dinosaurs began emerging from around it.
"Fall back," said Jake bitterly even as some of the workers from the roof came down and began firing as well at the gallimimuses, dilophosaurs, compys, pachycephalosauruses, and whatever else flooded through the door.
"Where the hell are they?" Jake grumbled as he put in another six bullets into his gun.
"They're right there!" Thomas shouted at the dinos as they slowly approached the stairwell.
"I don't care about them! Where the hell are the velociraptors and deinonychosaurs?" demanded Jake. "They're not here so where?"
"They probably went up in that fire that's currently burning behind us, the one that is where our escape path is located," Thomas grumbled.
"Raptors aren't stupid so they wouldn't all be grouped in one area! They don't just attack from the front but from the sides!" said Jake. "So where are they?"
"Good question," said Thomas beginning to see his point. "I don't know."
Jake began looking around suspiciously until he noticed that the amount of workers around them had increased, thereby at least slowing the dinos assault even more.
"Wait! Who's on the roof?" demanded Jake. "Anybody?"
Thomas looked around. "Doesn't look like anybody, why?"
Several thuds were heard from the rafters.
"Well that answers that," said Jake. "They're on the roof."
"What now?" Thomas asked.
"Now we run before they hem us in," said Jake as he took off. As they raced past the steps leading to the roof, raptors appeared from above and slammed into the ground before chasing after the group. The team ran down the steps to the bottom floor where the egg incubators were kept as the workers down below continued shooting at the dinosaurs that leapt over the threshold and onto the floor. They smashed various pieces of Ingen equipment as the workers continued to fall back as smoke began pouring into the building from the fire behind them.
"C'mon we've got to get out of here before they flank us!" shouted Thomas coughing as he escaped through the Embryo Storage Chamber. Jake groaned angrily at the loss of yet another building to the dinosaurs before firing his rifle at a tank holding a dead fetus causing it to explode and take out the raptor behind it before he too ducked into the room. An instant the door was shut and locked from the inside as the dinosaurs outside continually pounded against it. The remaining workers who had managed to survive the assault made their way through the various embryo storage freezers as they went to the door on the far end that had been built as a result of Project HSWS.
"Funny how in less than a minute we've gone from the end result of the project to the beginnings of it," said Thomas grinning as he breathed out a mist of vapors from the coldness of the storage room.
"Just makes you want to lash out at the innocent doesn't it?" asked Jake as he swung his Long Colt around and aimed at one of the cylinders before pulling on the trigger and hearing the gun click empty.
"Hmmm," he said with a grin as he briefly laughed before walking out the other door which was promptly closed and locked.
"How long do you think they'll keep pounding on that door before they give up?" asked Thomas.
"It doesn't really matter, I'm sure their buddies are probably circling the building anyway," said Jake as the duo emerged into a garage where the other workers were boarding various hummers and other vehicles. Jake walked past all of them only to get into a tanker truck and turn on the ignition.
"You seriously expect to outrun the dinos in this?" asked Thomas incredulously.
"No," said Jake as he took out a tire jack from the passenger's seat and clamped it onto the steering wheel. "But I do intend to distract them. When are you planning on opening the door?"
"Now," said Thomas simply as the garage door began rising.
"Then stand clear," said Jake as he dropped the brick and leapt out of the truck. The vehicle rumbled down the road where it was immediately descended upon by raptors from the roof and a pair of ankylosaurs who instantly began bashing the vehicle with their tails. At that moment the convoy of vehicles also came rushing out of the building only to make a hard right and went straight off into the burning jungle. A couple of the dinos realized they'd been duped and raced after the convoy but they were too late as it vanished into the rising flames.
"So where're we falling back to?" asked Jake looking at the map.
"The Workers Village," responded Thomas bluntly. Jake opened his mouth to protest, but Thomas quickly explained himself.
"We either lost or used up most of our ammunition during the past three weeks. We also lost a good chunk of whatever weapons we had left trying to put up that last stand, that's not so good either. We need to get back to the Workers Village, reequip ourselves, and then rush back out there to confront the advancing dinos. We can also replace some of the more fatigued workers with the more rested workers in the village. At any rate we'll loose less ground this way than if we tried to mount a vain defense with what we have," said the worker. "Plus we might get a better idea on the affairs of the rest of the island and the world in general."
"Yeah I guess you're right," Jake relented as the vehicles began heading uphill and Embryonics Administration became visible surrounded by flames and the silhouettes of dinosaurs each burning brightly in the nighttime sky.
"I'm gonna miss that place," said Jake mournful. "I spent the best and worst years of my life there."
"Yeah I know what you mean," Thomas agreed. "I used to supervise and maintain the automated food processing facilities on the southern tip of the island, sure it was monotonous but I still enjoyed the silence. Now I'm sure that was probably one of the first places to fall if those dinos were lysine mad. Some silence sure sounds awfully good right about now."
"I hear that," said Jake nodding before a dinosaur roar pierced the nighttime sky causing Jake to roll his eyes.
"And that."
Thomas chuckled as the convoy moved onwards down the path back towards the Workers Village.