Clever Girl
It's a new day. Darius had found a plastic food try on the boat and decided to use it to patch the hole. "It ain't pretty but should be watertight." Brooklynn says as she and Yaz hold the tray steady as Darius uses the sealant around the edges. We are smile, the tray is stuck. "Dope. Let's leave already." Kenji says excitedly. "Oh my god, I can't believe this is really happening." Sammy replies as she shakes Kenji. "Goodbye Isla Nublar." Brooklynn says smugly as she does a wave towards the island. "We are outta here!" Yaz screams as she throws her hands in the air. "Hold up guys." I say as I take the sealant from Darius. "It says that we have to wait 48 hours for it to set." I say as I hold up where it says. They all groan. "They have to say that for insurance and junk." Kenji says, waving off their concerns. "As your captain, I pronounce this vessel sea worth-." He says as he bangs his fist on the hull. The tray drops down on the dock. We all look at him with 'I can't deal with this' looks. I glare at Kenji with absolute annoyance. "Haha, I've got captaining stuff to do over there." He says as gives Darius the tray while pointing to the island end of the dock. "Let's do it one more time." Darius says. "Let's try putting the sealant around the edges and on the flip side, to give it more grip." I say as Darius nods. Myself and Brooklynn hold the tray but Sammy wants to talk about something personal with Brooklynn for which she agrees, dropping the tray slightly which I catch. Me and Darius see them walk away, we scoff. Have to do everything ourselves.
"Let's fix this." I say as I hold the tray, Darius spreads some good lines along the back and I slam it to the boat, covering the hole. Darius traces the outline of the tray again. We back away and the tray is in place. "Now to let it set." I say as I look to see Kenji and Yaz talking. "Let's go see what those two are doing." I say for which Darius nods. We walk over to see Kenji throw some quarters at some Compys. "It's like my dad always says, 'if you got a problem, throw cash at it'. Kenji says which Darius questions. "I don think that's such a good idea." I agree with him. "Do you know what happens when you give a pigeon too much food?" I ask which he shrugs. "A fat pigeon?" He says, Yaz punches Kenji in the arm. "More pigeons. You get more pigeons!" Yaz shouts as she points to four more Compys that have showed up. "It's a good thing that I'm rich. Here you go!" He says as he throws more quarters. I slap my face with my hand. Didn't we just explain to him what would happen. "You idiot, now you've made it worse!" Yaz shouts out. I notice out of the corner of my eye that a Compy has picked up the compass. "She's got the compass." I say to the others as the compy hops down. "This is not good." Yaz says. "Hey, little compy give it back, I'll give you two quarters for it." Kenji tries to reason but the compy doesn't care.
"Approach it slowly." I say as Darius takes one teeny tiny step and...it fucking bolts. We speed after the little rats into the jungle just as Ben was returning with Bumpy. "We'll be back, you're in charge." I say as I pass him. We run after the little buggers deeper into the jungle. These little things are fast, too fast for their size. Me and Yaz run past the other two, Yaz just being ahead of me. "Go get it Yaz." I call out to her. "Don't play with me, Compy. You'll not outrun me!" She says as she gets closer nearly wrapping her hand around the tiny dinosaurs' neck. The compy looks back at Yaz and drops the compass. On purpose. Yaz slides to a halt just as another Compy picks up the compass. "Hey, thats cheating!" Yaz says as I dive and catch the compy who throws it in the direction of Darius and Kenji. Another Compy picks up the compass just as Darius and ke hi run into each other. I throw the compy in my hand away, chasing after the compass again.
We chase after the Compy. Jumping over logs, rocks and bashing large leaves out of the way. We come to a stop between two thick trees. We have lost sight of it. We walk out of the jungle onto a road. A Jurassic World jeep is lodged onto a rock. "Anyone see where it went?" Yaz asks as we spread out looking for the Compy. Darius checks out the jeep as myself and Yaz spot the large shadow overhead. We look and see an old ruined structure. "Hey, Darius, you should come look at this." I call out as Darius races over to where me, Yaz and Kenji are standing, looking at giant ruined monolithic building. "Whoa...do you guys know where we are?" Darius asks with wonder. "Welcome to Jurassic Park." I say with fond nostalgia. I remember the rumours and the stories that came from the myth of Jurassic Park. I sometimes wish I could have seen it in its prime.
"Nope. No way. We shouldn't be here." I hear Kenji whimper in fear. We all look at him with confusion. "What's wrong with you?" I ask which Kenji turns towards me. "Everyone knows this place is haunted." Kenji says. Really dude. We're on a dinosaur infested island and you're worried about ghosts? "Haunted?" Darius asks with doubt. "Yeah, bad stuff happened here." Kenji whimpers. "As oppose to the rest of the island, hey?" I ask him sarcastically. "Exactly." He replies. I slap myself in the head. "We need that compass. Can you talk sense into him. Me and Ryan already tried." Darius asks Yaz. "They're right Kenji. Jurassic Park isn't haunted. It's cursed." I look towards her. Ominous music starts randomly playing in my head. Darius and Kenji look at Yaz terrified. "Legend has it that the original owner of the park broke his ankle here and was eaten alive by Compies." Yaz says dramatically. Kenji looks fucking terrified. "That's not true. John Hammond died of natural causes. Where'd you hear that?" Darius asks confused. "Read it somewhere. I'm pretty obsessed with theme park deaths." I raise my eyebrow at that. Does that honestly get you off. "You sure came to the right place. Kenji whispers quietly. We jump as a Compy shrieks beneath us. It runs off into the ruined building. "The others could have gone in there." Darius says as he and Yaz run off to the main doors. "Hope no one ends up reading about me after this." I hear Kenji say. "Don't worry buddy, we say you died horribly but heroically." I jokingly say as I run off towards to the doors.
Yaz and Darius open the doors as we enter the the ruins. The doors slam behind us. That's not terrifying. I think sarcastically. We gaze at the ruins around us. Vegetation has grown through the ruined concrete. The upper level has nearly completely destroyed. The raptor mural has faded but you can still see the graceful depiction of the predator. Seeing the mural makes me think of Blue, Echo, Charlie and Delta. In all this time, we haven't seen any of them. Either we are really lucky or they are situated on the other side of the island. "I don't like this. I don't like this." Kenji whimpers again. We hear clattering and a screw falls from above. We look up and see Compies everywhere. Our eyes follow one particular one with a shiny screw in its mouth. It leads us back to its nest when we spot the compass right on the edge. "We got to get to it." Darius says but I snort. "Yeah, only problem being 30 feet up in the rafters." I say sarcastically. "Should be easy." Yaz sarcastically puts on the end.
We find an old vending machine that we push towards the scaffolding. I help push the old machine. Yaz an Darius are really struggling. I laugh on the inside. Poor bastards. "Just a sec, guys. I'm useless unless I'm carb-loaded." Kenji says as he puts a quarter in. "Come on J4, come on J4." He says as he follows the machine. "Hey genius, it's not plugged in." Yaz says. "And also those chips will be 20 years old, I wouldn't be eating them." I say as we push the machine under the scaffolding. "Come on guys. Like this." Yaz says as she begins climbing to the top of the scaffolding with almost half assed ease. That's really hot, she's amazing. No doubt about it. "Come on Kenji, like that." Darius says teasely to Kenji. I hop up onto the vending machine before jumping up and grabbing the metal bar. I pull myself up to grab the next one. I slide through the gap and hop to the bar that Yaz I holding onto. I move myself to the side so I'm standing on the second top bar from the top. Everyone is looking at me, amazed. "What? I did rock climbing when I was younger." I say. Kenji gets up and he climbs not as smoothly a me and Yaz but still hangs on.
Yaz climbs up to grab ahold of a secure vine that is hanging from the roof. I see a Compy go to snap at her. I pull on the animals tail, dragging it back to me as I grab it around the neck. "Watch your fingers, they're snap if they get a chance." I say as Yaz nods in thanks and the other two nod in agreement. I drop the compy to the ground but it pops back up in alert. I look to see that all the Compies are alert. They scatter in different directions. That's their fear response, something is coming. I look down and see a few Compies jumping over the ruin Tyrannosaur skull. Just as one compy jumps, a head appears out of the bushes and snaps at it, it misses before standing up on the skull. The sickle claw. The blue coloration. It's Blue the Velociraptor. We all look down in terror. If she looks up, we're done for.
Blue is pacing around the scaffolding. She is sniffing something out. Most likely us. Darius hovers a finger over his mouth. No shit, of course we're not going to make a sound. I hear small screeching and hear two Compies fighting over the compass. If that drops, we're dead. Yaz decides to climb up to get the compass. We watch with baited breath as I keep my eye on Blue. I look up and see Yaz reaching for it, just getting fingertips. She reaches and sends the compass down to the ground. She covers her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Darius catches the compass before it can hit blue in the head. The raptor perks as she senses something. She bolts around the vending machine before screeching. The crack of bone is heard as blue rears her head up. A dead compy is in her mouth, blood dripping from her ivory teeth. Blue then runs out of the building through the he in the wall. Probably off to enjoy her meal. We are hop down from the scaffolding. "That's one of the raptors that we saw our first night of Camp." Darius says as he checks around the vending machine. "I don't think I'll ever forget that face." Kenji says fearfully. "She must be nesting near here. This is wild territory out here. But what I'm worried about is where is the rest of the pack?" I say which for then Yaz drips down onto the vending machine. "Well I'm not waiting around to find. Let's get out of here before she comes back." She says as she hops down and we all turn towards the door. A low growl stops us in our tracks. We turn around and see amber orange eyes staring at us out of the shadows. Blue screeches as she comes into the light. "Clever guy." Kenji says with terror in his voice. "Girl... she's a girl." Darius replies with the same level of terror.
Blue is in no mood. Her eyes and narrow, her lips pull back to show her blood soaked teeth, and her sickle claws are twitching. "Darius, remind me how we got away from the raptors the first time." Kenji whimpers as we move back slowly. "Ryan, Dave and Roxy saved us." I nod my head 'yep'. I move to stand in front of the other three, if she lunges, she has to get through me first. "Oh ok, so what do we do now?" Kenji whispers to me. I stare down the raptor whose eyes just stare back. "Run...RUN!" I yell as we turn and bolt for the door. Blue screeches and jumps forward. I pick up a large stick and wack her in the face, sending her to the ground.
We run outside. "Get to the jeep!" I yell Voit to the others. I look back and Blue trying to get through the large doors. "Star the engine! Start the engine!" Darius screams out as we enter the jeep. He and Kenji enter the back while myself and Yaz get in the front. I go to turn the key and it's gone. "Hey check out this tranquilizer rifle maybe we can use it to-." Darius doesn't finish as Blue charges into the jeep full speed. She rocks the jeep around. We cover ourselves as the raptor keeps banging on the jeep. Suddenly there is silence, we slowly open our eyes and look around. She's gone. "Where'd she go?" Yaz asks. "Maybe she went to go get her pack friends." Kenji says quietly. "No...if the pack was with her, they would've been here by now...she's alone." I whisper quietly. Charlie... Echo... Delta. Blue's the last one left.
Leaves are rustling outside. The four of us are scared out of our minds. We look around trying to see if she's coming back. Suddenly a bang on the hood shows Blue as she bashes her head against the glass. He walks over the top of Jeep and drops down before banging against the back. Yaz pushes the handbrake forward as we roll down into the jungle. We turn the wheel to avoid trees and rocks. I see Blue in the rearview. She is gaining onto us. A this is heard as blue jumps up onto the jeep. She moves to the front and snarls at us. The other three scream when a crack appears on the glass. I see a large boulder in front and move sharply to the left but I still hit the boulder. The impact sends the jeep tumbling over. We hold on for dear life. The car stops tumbling and we all get our bearing together. "Where is she? Do you see her?" Yaz asks as she looks around. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Kenji says sarcastically from the back. "Shut up Kenji." I say, in no mood for games. A snark is heard and we look for he front and see Blue trapped underneath the hood of the jeep.
"Come on." Darius says as he kicks the door open. Me and Yaz drop from our hanging positions and make our way out. Kenji soon follows. We are outside and everyone is on edge. Blue moves and the others jump. I look at her with pity. I take out my axe and pass it to Yaz. "Ryan...what are you doing?" She whispers but I ignore her. I sit myself behind Blue's head, her eye is trained on me and her lips curled. Click. Click.
Her pupil widens as her lips close. I gently hold her neck and softly caress the top of her head. "Easy, Blue, easy." I say as I continue to caress her head. "Are you crazy?" I hear Kenji say, but I take no heed of it. "You're alone out here are you?" I ask Blue for which she quietly chitters. "Charlie...Delta...Echo...Uncle Owen." When I said Owen's name, her eyes light up in recognition. "You don't have anyone do you?" I say and Blue flops her head back down. She's miserable, sad and angry. I back away as Compies are coming in. Blue is snarling and snapping and the little rats are nipping at her. "Let's get out of here." I hear Kenji say as the others run but I don't move. "Ryan what are you doing, dude?" Kenji asks. "They tear her apart. Eat her piece by piece." I say as Compies continue nipping. "Not our problem. Enemy of my enemy and all that." He tries to reason but I ignore him. "But she's not an enemy. We were trespassing in her home." I hear Yaz reason back to Kenji as I walk over to Blue and boot a Compy away. "Fuck off you little shits!" I say as I kick another. I see one jumping at my face and I catch it. I throw it to one of its buddies, sending them both into a rock. The Compies scramble and flee.
I look back at Blue and at the others. "Help me." I say as I try and lift the jeep. It's really heavy. I feel it get lighter. I look to my left and see Yaz helping me lift it. Then Darius and finally Kenji. "On three. One, two...three!" I yell as we all lift the jeep. Blue gets some room that she pulls herself free from. She scrambles to her feet as we drop the jeep. We gather some distance from the carnivore. Blue looks at us with curiousity. "We're even now?" I say to her for which she chitters. I see a quarter bounce off her snout. We all look back to Kenji for shrugs embarrassing. We turn back to Blue and she screeches at us. "Run!" I say as we bolt into the jungle.
We get some distance from the irate raptor. "Out of all the dumb things you could have done, you throw a fucking quarter at a Velociraptor?" I ask Kenji as we break through a clearing. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do." He tries to play off. I shake my head at him. Typical. Doesn't know what to do so does the dumbest thing. Yaz passes me back my axe which I thank her for. "How did you know how to calm her?" Darius asks me. "My uncle... Owen Grady...he raised those raptors since they were hatchlings. He was studying the behavioural and social dynamics of Velociraptors within their social groups. Blue, Charlie, Echo and Delta were basically his kids. Lethal and deadly but he cared for them. He told once that you are comforting a raptor, you have to be calm, collected and patient. Velociraptors have very short tempers. So I took what he told me and applied it to Blue. I felt sorry for her because she's like us. Alone on an island. We have each other. Blue has no one. So I decided to help her because it's want my uncle would have wanted." I say emotionally. Blue isn't a monster. She's an animal that deserves respect and she was helpless against those Compies. I would be damned of I left her there. Yaz pulls me into a hug. "You did the right thing, she might attack again in the future but we made the right choice." She says as I wrap my arms around her. "Thank you Yaz, I appreciate that." Is at as the other two come in on the hug. "Ok, now that we're had our hero moment of the day, let's get back to the boat and see what Sammy and Brooklynn have gotten up to." Darius says as we break the hug and walk in the direction of the boat. We did good today, we did good. As we are walking, I see Blue just in the treeline looking at us. She sees me and I see her. I nod my head in respect. I'm amazed as she nods back and heads off into the jungle. Well how about that.
