Chapter 7
He had to find Sean. Soon. There was no telling what could happen to him out there, unarmed on his own.
He knew that Sean wasn't the bravest soul, he wouldn't be able to keep a clear head in this situation. He wouldn't do well against the T-Rex, and if that one had gotten out, who knew what else had?
He had to talk to Anderson first though; tell him where he was going.
Anderson was already deep in conversation with Molly when he aproached them.
"What about the Lycine contingency?" Asked Molly.
"What's that?" They ignored him.
"No. Just shut down the system." Anderson didn't seem to want a discussion, and Molly was too timid to argue.
"Fine." She walked over to a panel of heavy switches on the wall and pushed them up, turning their world almost pitch black. Then switching them back up, returning power to the room. "It's done, but for everything outside this building someone needs to go do the main breakers. They're on the other side of the compound. Unless someone does that the fences and gates won't come back online."
She looked around as if daring someone to be stupid enough to volunteer.
John sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.
"Fine. I'll do it. I was about to go out to look for Sean anyway."
Molly's face softened a little, though whether from sympathy or expectation of his impending death he wasn't sure.
Anderson on the other hand looked pretty relieved. "Fine. Molly, fetch him a map."
By this point, Sean had nearly made it back to the main compound, and he nearly cried from relief, until he heard a sound in the trees behind him.
Turning round he froze as he saw something move in the bushes.
'Oh God.' He was being hunted.
'Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God.' He couldn't think. 'What do I do? Fuck it.' He thought. 'Run.'
He could see a door not far in front of him. It looked like some kind of bunker in the undergrowth. He heard something fly out of the bushes after him, but he could make it. He could.
His lungs burned and his blood was trying to escape from his veins as his heart pounded in his chest.
He slammed into the metal door and managed to drag it open. It wasn't locked. If it had of been... he couldn't even think about it right now.
He threw the door shut behind him. He felt it collide with something, but he wasn't sure that it actually closed properly. 'Keep running.'
He doesn't even have a clue what he's doing when he runs down a series of corridors before hiding behind a bunch of thick wires that hung against the wall.
He heard a clacking of claws on metal and he saw a raptor at the end of the corridor, pearing down in his direction. He held his breath, his chest felt like it was exploding but he didn't dare make any sign of where he was.
Even his blood seemed deafeningly loud.
As the creature passed by, apparently not noticing him he thought that if he never even saw another fossil again he would be fine with that.
Too scared to move, he stayed where he was.
John had to walk to the other end of the compound. It wasn't accessible by car, but it also wasn't very far away.
Molly had shown him to a store room where she had found him a radio and a gun. He had to admit it made him feel a LOT better to have the familiar weight in his hands. He hadn't used one for over a year, but it was a skill that you never really lost, like riding a bike... and he had always been a crack shot.
Making his way, he passed the raptor compound. It would have been difficult not to notice the way the thick metal bars had been ripped open. He made a mental note to avoid anything that was capable of doing that, and proceeds even more carefully than before.
He finds the bunker fairly easily using the instructions he was given, but was surprised to find that the door was hanging open slightly. Well that wasn't good. There could be anything in there.
Raising his gun to his eyeline and turning on the attached torch he pushed the heavy door open with one hand and stepped carefully down the steps.
He found the breakers easily enough as well and quickly reset them all. He didn't want to spend any longer in here than he had to.
He sighed and relaxed slightly as the lights flickered back on, but it didn't last.
There was an inhuman screech from behind him and he whirled around to see a huge raptor head snarling at him through one of the many bunches of cables that littered the walls.
Without thinking he butted it in the face with the end of his gun and started to run, running back through a mesh gate and pushing it shut. It wouldn't keep that raptor in there he knew, not after what he had seen at their enclosure, but it should slow it down enough for him to escape.
He was just locking it when the raptor slammed into it with such force that it inflamed his shoulder wound with pain, and he was sent sprwaling to the floor with the force of the impact, the gun sliding away and down the side of the narrow walkway before he could grab it.
Staggering back up he backed up against the wall and almost screamed when he felt something clap down on his good shoulder.