Chapter 3 The Portal of Exit

The Portal of Exitfrom the reservoir. This describes the way the microorganism leaves the reservoir. For example, in the case of a person with flu, this would include coughing and sneezing. In the case of someone with gastroenteritis microorganisms would be transmitted in the feces or vomit.

The Navy group had taken over the entire top deck of the lounge. There were about 40 of them at the bar hanging out. They were still waiting on others to arrive the next day, so it was about half of them tonight. Owen had also invited Barry and the paddock staff to come join the gathering. Word had obviously spread, because he recognized a number of other staff people coming in and out of the group.

"So there he was, naked and hauling ass back to port before the ship left!"

The whole group start laughing loudly, with Owen throwing a piece of food at Sam and Barry cackling next to him. "I'm so glad we did this, lemme tell ya!" he chuckled.

It was about 10pm and they were already going strong. They had the lounge booked until closing and most weren't driving anywhere. Owen had been nursing a couple beers and constantly scanning the room. He was still in his outfit from dinner, minus the jacket. Claire had gone home to change and get Karen. That was a couple hours ago.

"Relax, man. She'll be here." Barry leaned in and told him.

"No idea what you are talking about." Owen answered, sipping his beer. He wasn't about to let Barry know he was in fact watching the door every thirty seconds.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, entering the conversation after returning from the bar.

"Absolutely nothing." Owen chuckling.

"Owen here is anxiously waiting on his favorite girl to walk in." Barry finally answered.

"Only girl." he grinned.

"The redhead from earlier?" Sam inquired.

"That's the one." Barry replied.

"Can't say I blame him."

"Thank you, Sam." Owen smiled triumphantly.

"Course, I'd keep an eye on her in this crowd. There's dozens of guys that will be waiting for you to screw up!" he started laughing and Barry quickly joined in. Owen just sat there shaking his head.

"Assholes." he chuckled, shoving Sam playfully.

"I gotta say, dude. I've never seen you like this with a woman. And I've known you almost half your life." Sam noted.

"Been like this since day one." Barry added. He'd watched Owen lose his shit over Claire for years. He was grateful for the day they finally took the plunge. He didn't have to listen to Owen bitching and moaning about it anymore. Now he was just stupidly happy.

Owen shrugged, not bothered in the least. "What can I say? She just gets me."

"I just never thought I'd see the end of bachelor Owen. You were sewing oats in every port, man. You swore one woman could never do it for you." Sam pointed out.

"First of all, you saw her. Second, she's fucking brilliant. She's funny as all hell and capable of taking care of herself. No one night stand is gonna top any of that for me." he said honestly. "I am wholeheartedly in love with that woman. I've been wanting to tell her for weeks and I keep freezing up."

"Oh, man, now you're gonna make me cry." Sam replied. Barry just burst out laughing. "In all seriousness, you are a lucky son of a bitch."

"Don't I know it." Owen grinned, taking a sip from his beer.

"Don't think it's all sunshine and rainbows. They're still capable of fighting over stupid shit." Barry noted.

"Foreplay, dude." Owen said proudly. "Sometimes I piss her off on purpose. I know she does it to me too." he chuckled.

"I hear she has a sister." Sam asked.

Owen just laughed and shook his head. He looked down and pulled out his phone to check for any messages from Claire. He was starting to get worried, but he knew she was spending time with her sister and they may have just lost track of time.

"Holy shit." he heard Sam say, "I hate you, Grady. I really, really hate you."

Owen was laughing until he turned to see what Sam was looking at and he gulped.

Claire had just entered with Karen. She had changed into a short, fitted, strapless black dress with a slit up one milky white thigh. God he loved her thighs. And she was again in her ridiculously high heels from dinner earlier. She let her hair go to it's more natural wavy state.

Dear god.

"Excuse me gentlemen. I need to get over there before she gets noticed."

As Owen got up, he could see a group had already started to gather around Claire and Karen. As he made his way through to her, he noticed she seemed to be scanning the room, not really paying attention to what's being said to her. He smiled, knowing who she was really looking for.

"Maybe I could grab you a drink? Maybe a dance downstairs?" One of the Navy guys, Bobby was trying to pick up Claire.

"Thank you, really, but I'm actually here..." Claire started to respond.

"Down boys! This lady is spoken for!" Owen announced, walking up and wrapping his arm around her waist. "Her sister, however, is a recently free women who deserves all your attention! And a drink!" he grinned at Karen.

"Right over here, boys!" Karen shouted.

He led Claire away as Karen was surrounded. Both were laughing as they returned to where he was sitting. He had kept a seat next to him open anticipating her arrival.

"So hi." he started, now that they were in a quieter spot.

"Hi." she smiled at him. "It's crazy here tonight!"

"Yeah, it's a lot of my guys and the paddock staff. But I think word got out because there's a lot of other staff up here too." he chuckled.

"That would have been Zara. Karen told her the plans tonight." she smirked.

"The bigger the party, the better for these guys anyway." he grinned. "So, I see you are without a drink. We can wait an hour for the extremely busy waitress, or I can run to the bar." he offered.

"Beer, please."

"Got it." he smiled. "Hey Barry! Going to the bar, want anything?"

"Another." Barry lifted his bottle.

"Keep them away from her." he said, giving the guys around him a look as he got up. Claire just laughed and shook her head.

"Hi Barry."

"Hi Claire." he smiled.

"Hi, I'm Sam," he said, sliding into Owen's seat once he was out of sight. "I've known Grady since we were wee recruits."

"Hi Sam," she laughed. He was a cute one.

"Rumor has it you run this place. Does that mean, like, the whole park?"

She grinned, "I run pretty much the whole island."

"Damn. That's pretty fucking impressive." he said, still shocked that a woman her age was running this whole operation. "I imagine that was a tough club to break into."

"I've been here since I was twenty. I paid attention." she smirked. "I earned my spot."

"No doubt. Owen said you were brilliant." he offered. Claire couldn't help but blush at the thought of Owen bragging about her intelligence. "No offense to my best friend there, but it makes me wonder why you're not with a billionaire or something." He was curious. She seemed so high class, and Owen handled animals.

"I have dated a billionaire. It wasn't really anything to write home about. He bought me lots of crap I didn't need. Owen? Owen makes me laugh. He calls me on my shit. We back each other up all the time. Sometimes without thinking about it. We still fight, but it's because we both care and we know it. He's my equal and I'm his. I received far less respect for my position from those rich assholes. I was a trophy for them." she said, shrugging it off.

"I get it." Sam nodded. He was somewhat being protective of his friend. He knew Owen was a big boy, but he wanted to know for sure. He decided to change the tone of the conversation. "Any secret experiments?" he smirked.

She leaned in as if telling him a secret, "This is Jurassic World. There's always secret experiments."

"Outta my seat, asshole." Owen came back laughing. "I was gone three minutes." Sam hopped back over to his seat laughing himself.

"Any longer and she would have been over you and ready to move on." he joked.

"Nah, he's too cute." Claire added.

"See?" Owen leaned over and loudly kissed Claire on the side of the head. She couldn't help but shake her head and giggle. "Karen's fine by the way. She'll come over here soon. She swears." he said, making quotation marks.

"Yeah, I probably won't see her until we leave. I might have to remind her that the boys are here too." Claire chuckled.

"Where are the boys?" He realized he hadn't met them yet and they were obviously somewhere.

"Zara brought them a couple game systems. They're currently glued to the TV. I have the hotel manager checking on them every hour or so, just to make sure they're not killing each other." she smirked, taking a swig off her beer.

"I may have to join them tomorrow." he chuckled. He actually couldn't wait to spend some time with Claire's nephews. He always wanted a couple of sidekicks to run around with.

"That's if I don't wear you out too much tonight." she said, giving him a sultry smile.

"Have I told you tonight how fucking hot you are?" Owen said into her ear, leaning in and kissing her neck as she giggled in response.

"Hey now! This is a public place!" Barry shouted, grinning at them. A few heads turned to look at them as they laughed.

"Don't care. She's my girl and I don't have to hide it anymore!" Owen announced. Claire laughed, turning beet red.

"How drunk are you?" she asked.

"Not even a little bit yet." he grinned.

It was late and the lab was fairly quiet. Many of the techs had gone to sleep waiting for the results. Mark was taking some reading while Kelly was observing. They were waiting on the final results which should be within the next hour. He exited out to the outer chamber to go through his sanitation before exiting.

"Okay, I'm not seeing improvement on the living cells. I'm still seeing the best reproduction results in the dead cells. It's really starting to look like we'll have to run it again." he sighed, taking off the protective gear. This last experiment had taken a month between prep and running it. He was dreading going through that again.

"Well, Dr. Wu wasn't entirely disappointed with the results. Not all bad, right?" Kelly replied, trying to see a positive anywhere she could.

"No, you're right. I'm just exhausted. I'd don't think I've slept in the last two and a half weeks."

"Why don't you go take a power nap and I'll wake you for the final check." she offered.

"Thanks, Kelly. I'll take you up on that. Come get me in an hour." Mark said, already heading toward his office.

"You got it." she said as he closed the door. She smiled and shook her head. They were all due a vacation soon.

Claire made her way over to check on her sister a while later, who still had yet to leave her spot.

"Claire!" Karen shouted as she pulled her sister into her side. "Guys, this is my baby sister. She actually runs the park and she's head over heels for that guy." she finished pointing at Owen, who was leaning on the railing and talking to Sam and a couple other guys.

"I'm here to see if you're eventually going to make your way over and meet him." Claire chuckled.

"Wait? I haven't grilled him yet?" Karen asked, confused.

"No, you haven't left this spot since we got here." Claire smirked. Karen was definitely drunk. At least she was relaxing, she needed it, she thought.

"Shit, sorry boys! Gotta go embarrass my future brother in law." Karen started making a beeline for where Owen was standing.

Owen's friends looked at her shocked, "Jesus Christ, Karen. She's kidding! She's kidding! Nope, we're just dating!" Claire announced loudly. She could only deal with so much gossip at once. She followed in the direction Karen went. Karen had stopped and Claire bumped into her back.

"What?" Claire asked.

"You better keep a close eye on your man, little sister." Karen said, pointing where he was talking to the guys. She looked and saw a woman walking up behind Owen, who couldn't see her, and wrapping her arms around him. Claire immediately started marching over. Karen was cackling behind her, knowing she'd get a show.

"Yeah, man. They've been responding to all kinds of commands. I'm actually shocked I've gotten as far as I have with them." Owen was describing the raptors to Sam and a couple of the guys. He felt arms wrap around his waist and he assumed it was Claire. "Hey baby, what are you up...Whoa! You are not Claire!" He stepped away quickly like he had been burned, leaving the woman stumbling.

The woman regained her composure and walked up to him, putting her hand on his chest. "I don't know who Claire is, but I'm sure I could show you a better time."

"Yeah, I doubt that." Claire said, walking up and pulling Owen down into a searing kiss. He enthusiastically returned it and both forgot anyone was around them.

Sam turned to the woman, who was still standing there, not really taking the blunt hint. "There are dozens of guys here you have a shot with. He ain't one of them. Better luck over there." he said, shooing her away before she could try any shit.

Pulling out of the kiss, Owen looked at Claire, "That's the second time you've had to rescue me from someone's hands today." he chuckled and she dropped her head on his chest, laughing. He turned to Sam, "Should have taken a shot of your own there."

"She literally tried to hit you up first like thirty seconds ago. I have my pride." he argued.

"Well, that was fun!" Karen said, making her way over. "Owen Grady!"

"Karen Mitchell!" he replied.

"Karen...be good.." Claire warned.

Owen was enjoying just watching the dynamic between the sisters.

"I am! It was one time that I chased one guy away! He was an asshole! Sue me!" she drunkenly hollered. Claire just covered her face with her hand.

"I'd apologize for her, but really? What's the point?" Claire chuckled. Owen, Barry and Sam burst out laughing.

"Anyway!" Karen spoke while turning to Owen, "So, since you're plowing my baby sister nightly..."

"Oh my god..." Claire was red as a tomato at the moment. Owen was just laughing. He loved Karen's bluntness. He could handle this any day. He could hear Sam and Barry laughing behind him.

"And I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to do so." Owen replied, equally blunt. Karen grinned at his response. Sam and Barry were falling over themselves.

"I should never have let the two of you be in the same room." Claire added.

"Too late." Karen cut her off,

"You guys have fun with this. I'm gonna go get a shot." Claire said as she turned and walked away. Owen went to follow her and Sam stopped him.

"I'll keep an eye on her. You take your grilling." Sam smirked at him and followed after Claire.

"Would you?" Owen asked looking at Barry. If Sam was going to keep an eye on Claire, Barry was going to keep an eye on Sam.

"You owe me." Barry laughed as he at last went to find Sam and Claire at the bar.

Owen then turned to Karen, who looked to be studying him intently. "Okay, hit me." he grinned.

Karen just lightly laughed, "Honestly Owen, I was ready to dress you down like I have with all the others, warn you about hurting her and whatnot. And I'm definitely drunk enough to do it. I'm far away and can't look out for her anymore. And she's gotten hurt. Men after just her looks or her position of power. But I've watched you and heard about things you've done. I don't have anything to worry about, do I?" she asked.

"Not in the least." he replied confidently. "She's it for me, Karen. Plain and simple. Just her. Not her job or her connections or her looks, though I admit, I'm a big sucker for redheads." he chuckled.

"You're in love with her." Karen stated. It wasn't a question. She didn't need any confirmation. She could see it on his face whenever he looked at Claire.

"One hundred percent." he replied without hesitation.

She studied him for what felt like forever. "Before I give my full support, I will offer the typical sibling disclaimer that if you hurt her, I will be forced to kill you." she smirked.

"Heard and understood." he said, saluting her.

"Smartass." she chuckled. She could see Claire and the guys coming back, so she wrapped it up. "You have my blessing!" she said, spreading her arms out as if she was presenting a large gift to him. "And with that, you also get my sisterly advice." She leaned in closer to him, "I've never seen her this way with any other boyfriend. You're it for her too." she smiled.

Owen's own smile stretched a mile wide at that. He looked at Claire as she came up to him and handed him another beer. He pulled her to him and kissed side of her head lovingly. She just leaned into him.

"Did she spill all my dirty secrets?" she asked.

"Most of them. Didn't change my mind." he grinned.

"Good." Claire smiled.

It was midnight and Kelly was the only one left still awake in the lab. They were all beyond spent and now they were going to have to do it all over again. She knew it was time to wake Mark up to take the final results.

She walked over to the closed door of his office and went in. He was stretched out on the couch, snoring heavily. He obviously needed the sleep. She paused, numerous thoughts crossing her mind.

If she woke him in this state, he wouldn't be in his top mind to read the results. She knew how to run the data and check everything. She was wide awake due to a few pots of coffee. She could be the hero of the lab if she let everyone rest.

She made her final decision. It was the scheduled completion for the experiment and they needed the results. She was just going in to get the final readings. Mark could still be the one to do all the final correlations.

She grabbed his protective suit that was hanging up. It was a little big, but there wasn't a smaller one available. She grabbed the tablet and entered the sanitation chamber. Once she ran the sequence, she entered the main chamber.

It was cold with steam blowing around her. She approached the table containing all the elements of the experiment. She began looking in each microscope and marking her observations of the activity. She noticed what Mark was saying about the agents reaction to the different cells. It was clear it had preference for the dead ones.

One thing she noticed, though, was the condition of the new cell growth in the dead cells. They didn't look like healthy new cells. This wasn't full regeneration. The new cells looked only slightly better than the dead cells. She took down the notes and described coloring and general activity.

As she made her way down the table, she reached the vial containing the agent. She couldn't help herself, her young curious mind wanting a closer look. She picked the vial up off it's holder to look inside it. Unfortunately, the gloves of the protective suit were a little to big for her and she fumbled the vial, dropping it.

Panicked, she reached down to try and sweep the agent back into the glass tube, which had broken in half on the floor. Not thinking, she caught her finger on the glass, which cut through the suit into her finger.

She quickly cleaned what she could, trying to also stop her finger from bleeding too much. She dumped the pile on the table and exited with the tablet into the sanitation chamber. Once she was cleared in the chamber, she exited, immediately tearing out of the suit to go clean up her cut.

"I'm so fucked." she said to herself as she ran her finger under the faucet in the sink. She found a bandage and wrapped her finger, trying not to think about how much trouble she was in right now.

"I shouldn't have done it." she said, continuing to beat herself up. With nothing else to do, she went in the lounge where a few others were sleeping on the couches there. She was feeling really tired and decided she might as well get some sleep and face the music in the morning. She found an open couch and before long was dead asleep.

"I'm not drunk enough to do that." Owen begged.

"Yes you are." Sam laughed.

"No way he'll do it." Barry added.

"It's a dare. Grady never turns down a decent dare. How do you think he wound up naked running back to port?" Sam said to Barry.

"I work with just about everyone here. I will never hear the end of it." Owen was still trying to get out of Sam's little dare. It was a game they'd played for years. Always in a bar and always something stupid or crazy. Or both. Owen wasn't having it today. Not when he could be reminded of it regularly.

"This would guarantee you get laid tonight. And give you legend status, dude." Sam was determined.

"My appearance at dinner earlier already guaranteed the first one. And I'm the first person to ever train raptors. Legend status achieved." Owen grinned. Nothing could convince him. Not one thing.

"Owen, it's gonna make her melt. You know it and I know it. It will be something she always remembers. Always..." Barry piped in.

Owen paused for a moment, eyebrows knitting together as he thought it through. He pictured her reaction. "Fuck me! I hate you both." With that he made a beeline to the other side of the roof, with Barry and Sam following. Sam just looked at Barry, shocked.

"You gotta know what buttons to push, man." Barry laughed. They wanted front row seats to the show.

Claire was by the bar talking to Karen and Zara when they heard noise coming from the stage. They all turned, but couldn't see through the crowd.

There was a tap on the mic and then a voice came over the speakers.

"Good evening!" Owen announced to the crowd, who immediately cheered at his appearance on stage. "Thank you! That makes what I'm about to do so much easier!" he grinned.

"Oh no..." Claire groaned, "This can't be good.."

"Let's get closer!" Karen shouted.

Karen and Zara dragged a reluctant Claire closer so they could see what Owen was up to.

"For those of you who know, Sam and I have been occasional acquaintances for over twenty years." he smirked at Sam who booed him. "Over those years, we've dared each other to do many things and apparently tonight is no different. I've never backed down before."

Sam hopped up on stage and took the mic from him, "So tonight, Owen wouldn't shut up about his girlfriend. Yes fellas, the legend is no more. Shocked me too. So I dared him to publicly announce himself off the market." That got a lot of loud hoots and hollers from the crowd.

Claire was standing close enough for Owen to see her and she was covering her face, trying to hide her laughter. He saw her and shook his head at her. Sam wasn't done yet.

"What many of you don't know about my friend Owen, is that he has a secret talent. So I upped the ante with this particular knowledge. I dared him to do it...Top Gun Style!" The crowd went nuts and Claire's face was deep red as usual. So much for no public embarrassment, she thought. Then she realized Simon was part of the crowd cheering. At least my job will be intact, she laughed to herself.

Karen and Zara were screaming with the rest of the crowd. She looked up and made eye contact with Owen who grinned and shrugged his shoulders as he sat down on the stool with the guitar that was there. She finally rolled her eyes and smiled. That was all he needed.

"Honey, this is why I should never be left alone with my friends." He winked at her. He began tuning the guitar. "Also, I should preface this by saying, I've never done this anywhere other than in my bunk back on the ship. Hence why Sam used it against me. So Claire? This is just for you." he smiled.

There it was. If they didn't know before, they definitely knew now. She could hear some scattered reactions. But she tuned them out when she heard him start to play some familiar opening notes. Her insides melted when he started to sing, staring right at her.

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside
I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way

My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
My girl

Claire couldn't help but step closer, watching him intently and swaying. His smile widened as he hit a high note. She was laughing and tearing up at the same time, hiding her face with her hands.

I've got so much honey
The bees envy me
I've got a sweeter song
Than the birds in the trees
Well, I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way

Karen approached Claire and wrapped her arm around her sister and swayed with her, leaning her head on her shoulder. Claire leaned her head on Karen's head in return. "You're a lucky little shit, sister." Karen smirked.

"Remind me of that later when I get mad at him for something. Right now I couldn't imagine being mad about anything." she laughed.

My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
My girl
Ohh ohh
Hey hey hey

Hey hey hey
Oh yeah

Owen was only watching Claire. She was in a room full of her employees and he didn't think she even noticed. She was watching him. They were the only ones in the room. And the smile she was giving him just melted his heart. He'd do this again, just for her next time.

I don't need no money, fortune, or fame
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim
Well I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way

Claire was almost hypnotized when a thought crossed her mind, "Hey Karen?"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"If you don't want to come with me, you might need to find a ride, but I'm gonna be leaving in a minute either way." Claire responded, while still keeping her eyes on Owen. He could clearly see the look she was giving him now. It was a look he definitely felt down to his groin.

"Does Owen know that?" Karen asked, smirking.

"Oh trust me, he knows." Claire smiled, knowingly. Karen just burst out laughing.

My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl, my girl, talkin' 'bout my girl
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day with my girl
I've even got the month of May with my girl
Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout

Owen finished playing with a big smile to his girlfriend. He knew she was signaling that it was time to go and he was going to obey willingly. He quickly stood up, shouting into the mic, "Thank you and good night!" He put the guitar down and hopped off the stage right in front of Claire as everyone was loudly applauding. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. Catching him by surprise, Claire leaned up, grabbed his face and kissed him hard and the crowd went nuts. He did not hesitate responding. He released her and took her hand, leading her over to the stairs. As they practically ran out he could hear Sam yelling at him.

"You can thank me later asshole!"

Owen flipped him off without looking back and Claire just laughed hysterically as they disappeared through the door.

The lab was quiet when Mark finally woke up. He left his office realizing he had slept for far too long. He rushed out to find it was five in the morning and everyone was asleep or gone. He went over to the chamber, knowing he missed his deadline readings. As he approached, a look of horror crossed his face when he realized someone had been in the chamber. The vial with the agent was in pieces on the table inside.

"Oh my god!" He knew Henry and the day shift would be arriving in a few hours. He needed to find out who went in the chamber and if they took readings. He ran to the lounge door, where he knew a lot of the staff and interns would be sleeping. He could hear strange noises coming from inside. Almost like growling and moaning. They must have turned on a movie, he thought.

He reached for the handle and turned it, hoping to go in and find anyone that could let him know what happened in the chamber.

"GRAAWRRR! RAWRR!"

Before Mark could even step in the room, he was overrun by the eight people who had once been sleeping in the lounge.

"AAHHHH! HELP ME!" he screamed as the infected techs dug their teeth in and ripped him apart, feasting on anything they could get their mouth on. They opened his stomach and tore his insides out and shoving them in their mouths. The floor of the lab was a lake of blood on clean white. When it was over, there wasn't much left of Mark. What was left started moving about a minute later.

Had he woken up just a few hours earlier, he would have found that Kelly Turner died from her cut in the chamber, with the agent very quickly taking hold just like they'd previously observed. Within minutes of the agent killing her, she was on her feet and attacking everyone in the room. Every bite spread the agent to new hosts. It had evolved and was now able to spread itself.

It became silent except for growls and moans. The outer lab doors were currently locked. Waiting for the day shift to come in and take over.