Raptor Eggs
There in the bag were two oval-shaped eggs.
Grant recognized them at once.
"Billy," he said, turning to him, "did you steal raptor eggs?"
Billy was too frightened to reply.
"Now this is all starting to make sense," said Grant and looked to Simone, "did you have anything to do with us?"
"Yes, Alan. To be honest, it was my idea to steal the raptor eggs. We thought that if we bought them back to the mainland, they'd pay us a better price to fund the dig site for another few decades."
"Mr. Roby already made that offer," said Grant, "I can't believe you would..."
"Alan, trust me," said Billy, "we knew from the start that this was a stupid decision but we did it with best intentions."
"Best intentions," said Grant, quietly.
There was a long pause before Grant spoke again, giving Billy and Simone a glare.
"Well guess what, guys. The worst things ever imaginable happened with the best intention. Billy, Simone, as far as I'm concerned, neither of you are better then the people who built this place."
He then turned Paul and said "there's a boat downriver."
"Exactly," said Paul, "so that means that we can take it over to the coast."
"We were thinking the same thing, dad," said Miles.
They saw Grant hold Billy's lucky bag out the window.
"What are you doing?" said Paul, "those things are after us because of those."
Grant looked back to him and said "those things know we have the eggs."
"What if they catch us with them?"
"What if they catch us without them?"
Paul had nothing to say about this response so decided to react in agreement to Grant's actions.
"We shall head down those steps," said Paul, "the boat will not be too far down."
"Good plan," said Paul, "let's go."
So Grant walked down first.
Paul followed behind.
Amanda took both Miles and Eric but the shoulders and they walked down together.
Billy and Simone walked down shortly after the group.
Pteranodons
The group walked down a ramp.
It was very misty when they got down.
A catwalk branched off.
A set of stairs continued down the along the canyon wall.
Grant started down the stairs.
He only took a few steps down the rusty staircase suddenly it broke beneath his feet.
Paul grabbed him in the nick of time.
The staircase vanished into the fog.
After a few more seconds of silence, they hear the crash far below.
"You okay?" Amanda asked.
Grant nodded and looked in the other direction.
"How about if we try this way? The catwalk is the only option."
The catwalk was very misty.
"Do you think it goes all the way across?" Amanda asked
"One way to find out," said Grant.
The only way to get his-near-fall was to push ahead.
But his stomach turned at being so high.
Amanda followed him quietly.
The catwalk creaked and groaned.
Amanda freezed mid-stride.
Grant glanced back at said "we'd better do this one at a time."
Amanda stepped.
Grant carefully pushed forward and disappeared into the thick fog.
The others listened to the creaking of the catwalk until it stopped.
There was a long silence.
Then out of the fog, a distant voice called from Grant.
"Okay, come on over. One at a time."
Amanda stepped tentatively forwards.
Miles and Eric were clinging to her.
"Boys, its okay. You'll both be right behind me."
"But mom," said Eric, "I've been alone with Miles in watertruck. I think I can spend the next two minutes without you."
"Okay," said Amanda, "we're all together now, guys."
Miles and Eric reluctantly released her.
Amanda started to cross.
Grant haD stopped at a lateral support across the catwalk, trying to get the sense of where they are and what purpose this place may have served.
Amanda emerges from the mist and turns back to the catwalk.
"Okay, boys. Come on over," she called through the mist.
Miles was next to go across with Eric trailing right behind him.
Paul, Billy and Simone watched as Miles and Eric walked off into the mist.
Miles and Eric slowly groped their way forward.
They felt a gust of wind and a heavy thud ahead on the catwalk which now swayed beneath them.
Regaining their balance, they peered forward,but the fog prevented them from seeing more than fifteen feet ahead.
There was an eerie silence.
"Mom?" said Eric.
Grant moved across the canyon.
With his hand on the railing, he saw a white, hardened substance dropping into the mist.
Looking up, he noticed a large strut, covered with the same substance.
He suddenly realized what it could be.
"Oh my God," said he said.
"What is it?" said Amanda.
"It's a bird cage."
"What for?"
Miles and Eric watched as a looming shape emerged from the fog.
A vision stalked forward.
Miles and Eric gasped in horror to see a full grown Pteranodon standing over seven feet high and walking upright on clawed feet.
Its thirty foot wings folded bat-like at its side.
The creature saw them and fixed them with a demonic glare.
Miles and Eric cried out and dashed back down the teetering catwalk.
The Pteranodon rushed to its feet, spread its thirty-foot wings and flew directly at him.
Paul heard their screams and charged onto the catwalk, searching in the fog.
"Miles! Eric!"
"It won't hold!" shouted Billy.
"Of course not!" shouted Simone.
Then Miles and Eric emerged from the fog and raced toward Paul.
The Pteranodon swooped out of the fog, opened its giant rear claws and snatched Miles and Eric from the catwalk.
Paul Kirby watches in stunned abject horror as the Pteranodon carried Miles and Eric directly overhead.
"Miles! Eric!" he shouted.
The flying reptile struggled with their weight.
Paul watched helplessly as Miles and Eric were carried high across the canyon.
Paul ran back alone the catwalk in a desperate attempt to keep Miles and Eric in sight.
Billy and Simone stayed behind, moving back up the platform to try to keep the Pteranodon in view.
With a new idea, they both raced back up the stairs to the observation room.
They had a way to save Miles and Eric.
When they reached the canyon wall, Paul turned a corner and ran along another enclosed catwalk leading deeper into the canyon.
Grant and Amanda now came pounding down the catwalk trying to catch up with Paul.
"Paul!" shouted Amanda, "where are they? Can you see them?"
"I'm trying!" shouted Paul, "that thing took them down this way!"
"Split up!" shouted Grant.
The Pteranodon carried Eric deeper into the canyon.
The creature's wings beat steadily overhead, and the wind was fierce.
Miles and Eric looked down and saw the river far below.
The Pteranodon swooped over an isolated outcropping of rocks at the end of the canyon and drops Miles and Eric into its nest.
The boys landed right on top of a pile of dinosaur bones picked clean. Mixed among was a human skull.
Before they had time to cry out, they looked up to find six Pteranodon hatchlings closing in on him with sharp-edged beaks.
Miles and Eric picked up the human skull and whipped it at the hatchlings.
The hatchlings easily ducked it and kept coming.
Grant looked up to see Billy leaning out over the edge of the observation platform with a parasail. He suddenly realizes what Billy is about to do.
"Billy, no," he gasped, "Billy, wait! WAIT! BILLY!"
He ran after him but it was too late.
Billy jumped off and headed for Miles and Eric's direction.
Simone looked at Grant and said "I'm going with him."
"Simone, no. Simone, wait! WAIT! SIMONE!"
He chased her up to the observation platform.
She jumped off with her parasail and flew after Billy.
Their parachutes bloomed over the sky.
Not only did it slow their descent but they even managed to catch an updraft and began to rise.
Billy and Simone struggled to control the parasail, swooping dangerously close to the canyon wall, barely avoiding it.
Up ahead they catches sight of Miles and Eric and steered towards him.
"Boys!" shouted Billy.
"Billy! Simone!" shouted Miles.
"Hang on, guys!" shouted Simone.
"Help!" shouted Eric.
They struggled to keep away from the hatchlings.
But there was no way out of this nest.
Billy and Simone swooped overhead but they were too high to reach Miles and Eric.
They circled around and flew towards the nest.
Paul rounded the corner and finally caught sight of Miles and Eric in the nest, some fifty feet below, fighting off the hatchlings.
"Hang on, guys!" he shouted.
He saw an outcropping he could jump onto from there.
It was a big leap, though, he might not make it.
He steered himself up for the jump, then chickened out.
Grant and Amanda came up behind him. Suddenly, a second adult Pteranodon appeared.
It crash-landed on the catwalk right next to a gaping hole in the mesh.
The catwalk groaned with the extra weight.
The Pteranodon jammed its head through the hole, snapping at them.
Billy and Simone circled around, making their approach to the nest.
In the nest, Miles and Eric kicked at the hatchlings, but they're were undeterred.
As Billy swooped past, Miles jumped and grabbed onto his boot.
He was yanked up and out of the nest.
Eric jumped up on Simone's boot as she swooped by.
He was yanked up and out of the nest as well.
But then the mother Pteranodon shot past, tearing out a piece of the parasail in its beak.
The other Pteranodon continued to snap through the hole in the enclosure.
Finally the reptile's massive weight proved to much and the entire section of the catwalk broke free of the canyon walk and flipped over laterally.
Grant, Paul and Amanda were able to hang on, but so was the Pteranodon, who now climbed their way.
Billy and Simone's parasail were badly damaged.
They tried to keep aloft.
Heading as low as he dared, he yells to Miles "Let go!"
Terrified, Miles let go and fell safely into the river.
"Let go!" shouted Simone to Eric.
Eric let go and fell into the river safely
He caught with Miles and they surfaced immediately, swimming to shore.
Trying to gain altitude, Billy and Simone bended hard to the right.
But the rigging was too badly damaged.
They flew right into the canyon wall, hitting hard.
Instead of tumbling down to the river, they found themselves swinging from his harness of their parasails which snagged onto a rock
It spired above him.
Grant, Paul and Amanda struggled to stay away from the Pteranodon as it moved towards them.
Suddenly, the far end of this inverted section of catwalk detached from the canyon wall and swung downward.
The force of the action sent the them tumbling directly towards the Pteranodon.
They managed to avoid its open beak. But they were all sent plummeting toward the river below.
They hit the water hard, resurfacing moments later. The current is carrying them downstream.
The broken part of the cage fell down on the Pteranodon.
It rose up and met with the other two Pteranodons who were pursuing Billy and Simone
Billy and Simone frantically tried to unhook their harnesses, but the tension was so tight from their own weight that they couldn't loosen the buckles.
Paul and Amanda emerged from the water by the canyon wall and find their kids hiding behind a rock, searching the skies for Billy and Simone.
Amanda took Miles and Eric tightly in her arms, and Paul urged them to keep moving.
Up ahead, the mesh of the aviary met the river.
Wading the shore, Grant now scanned the canyon, searching for Billy and Simone.
It doesn't take long to spot him.
Billy and Simone continued to struggle with the harness but to no avail.
They stood high up on the canyon when an entire flock of Pteranodons gathered around them, preparing to peck them away.
One of the Pteranodons landed beside Billy and Simone and looked them straight in the eye.
The gigantic creature lunged at them.
They dodged away as best as they could.
The pteranodon's frustrated bite severed a crucial juncture on their harnesses and they were both able to wriggle free.
Grant, Paul, Amanda, Miles and Eric watched in amazement as Billy and Simone were the last to plunge down into the river.
"He made it!" said Grant.
Billy and Simone bobbed to the surface and spotted the group downstream.
They waved and began to swim towards them.
Soon they neared the shore and got to their feet, wading as they came.
Grant, Paul, Amanda, Miles and Eric hurried to meet him.
Grant was overjoyed to see them alive.
But his smile quickly faded as he saw the entire flock of Pteranodons diving down from above in angry pursuit of their lost prey.
"Billy, Simone, look out!" he shouted.
Billy and Simone glanced behind them.
They raced forward, motioning from Grant to turn around.
"Get back!" shouted Billy.
"Alan, get back!" shouted Paul
Just then Billy and Simone were knocked down by the lead pteranodon.
It struck from behind with a brutal, calculated beak to the head.
Billy and Simone stumbled and fell to the ground.
Grant rushed forward with Paul right after him.
"Amanda, get them out of here," Paul shouted from behind.
Amanda took Miles and Eric to safety down river.
"Come on, kids. Come on," she said.
"Wait," said Miles, "what about Billy?"
"What about Simone?" said Eric.
They were both anxious over the safety of their rescuers.
Billy and Simone screamed as the entire flock of Pteranodons swarmed around him, picking them apart with their beaks and claws.
"Billy! Simone!" shouted Grant, "hang on!"
He was about to run up to them when Paul restrained
"I'm sorry, Dr. Grant. It's no use."
Grant couldn't take his eyes off Billy and Simone, whose blood stained the water rushing by.
Two of the Pteranodons pulled them away in the water while the other Pteranodon looked back at them.
It headed their way.
Difficult as it was to leave Billy and Simone behind, Grant and Paul made a run for it.
Just as the Pteranodon was about to swoop in for it's kill, Grant and Paul dived back into the river and swam up to surface on the far side of the mesh aviary wall.
As they resurfaced for air, the Pteranodon crashed into the mesh.
It teared at the steel, actually ripping it in one place.
At the dock up ahead, Amanda, Miles and Eric have found a rusty waterlogged barge that's somehow still floating.
Carrying a tarp-covered cage, the boat was meant for transporting dinosaurs up and down the river.
Amanda pushes them away from the dock as Grant and Paul climbed on board.
The Coast
The current took the craft downstream.
It was a vast, domed mesh structure that spans the entire canyon.
In all, a feat of remarkable engineering and unmistakable hubris.
Catching their breath, the five survivors look at the cage they were caught in.
Grant frowned as he looked at the cage and heard the call of the Pteranodon.
Yanking the starter rope one final time, Paul finally got the engine to turn over, puttering along.
Amanda was beside him, bailing water.
"You look troubled, Paul. What's the matter?"
"My own kid and my soon-to-be stepson were right in front of me and I didn't do a damn thing."
"You couldn't have made that jump."
"I should have tried. It should have been me on that beach back there, not Billy nor Simone."
"How would you have helped Miles and Eric? They need you, Paul. They need us."
"They could've died."
"But they didn't. And neither did you. And I'm glad about that."
Grant stood at the back of the boat, watching the tide.
Miles and Eric came over.
"Dr. Grant?" said Miles.
Grant looked back.
"Hey, Miles, Eric. How you guys doing?"
Miles and Eric sat down.
"We're really sorry about Billy," said Miles.
"And Simone," said Eric.
Grant sighed.
"Do you know what my last words to them were? I told them both that they were as bad as the people who built this place. Which wasn't true. They were just young that's all.
There was a long silence before Grant spoke again.
"I have a theory that there's two kinds of boys. Those who want to be astronomers and those who want to be astronauts.
"I want to be an astronaut," said Miles.
"See, I was the opposite," said Grant, "I never understood why anyone would want to go into space. It's so dangerous. You do one thing wrong and you're dead. The astronomer or the paleontologist get to study these amazing things from a place of complete safety. And truthfully, everything you really need to learn, you can learn it from the ground."
"But then you never get to go in space," said Eric.
"Exactly," said Grant, "the difference between imagining how things might be and seeing how they really are. To be able to touch them. That's what Billy and Simone wanted to do."
The barge started to round a bend.
On the bow, Grant, Miles and Eric are the fist to see something remarkable.
The boys gasped.
At the rear of the barge, Paul saw what was ahead of them.
Awe-struck, he slowed the motor down and motioned for Amanda to take a look.
Up ahead, the setting sun illuminates an incredible valley filled with dinosaurs.
There were armored Ankylosaurs with clubbed tails.
There were duck-billed Corythosaurs.
The group saw a float under the gigantic, arching necks of eighty-foot Brachiosaurs.
"You know something, Dr. Grant?" said Miles.
"What's that, Miles?" said Grant.
"Billy was right."
"And so was Simone," said Miles.
Grant gave a slight smile of agreement.
Spinosaurus
Nightfall came
The full moon rose over the island.
As the barge turned a bend, there was a familiar jingling sound.
"You hear that?" said Paul.
"What?" said Amanda.
The sound got louder. It was muffled but recognizable.
"My satellite phone," said Paul.
He stopped the engine and ran off the barge with Grant and Amanda.
Miles and Eric stayed back on the barge.
The ringing was occurring in one of the three piles of dinosaur dung laid around.
Grant, Paul and Amanda looked back in disgust.
"We should search them," said Grant.
The three of them dug through each pile.
The ringing sounded inside the pile Paul was digging.
He reached in and pulled it out.
"Got it," he said and pressed the button to answer.
"This is one of our daily offers," said a recording voice over the phone, "come stay at one of our four-star hotels. Queen-sized beds, free meals, so come join us anytime.
Grant, Paul and Amanda gave a look of curiosity when Miles and Eric shouted "look out!"
They looked up to a huge red dinosaur with a horn on its top stop in its tracks and look at them.
It sniffed Amanda's hands.
She shivered.
The dinosaur turned away in disgust and walked into the jungle.
"You okay?" said Paul.
"Yeah," said Amanda, "but what was that thing?"
"Ceratosaurus Nasicornis," said Grant.
The three of them got back up on the barge and started up the engine.
Paul checked the battery for his satellite phone.
"It has memory for one more call," he said, "whatever you do, do not call the US Embassy. They won't do a damn thing."
Then Grant had an idea.
"Ellie," he whispered to himself.
He dialed a number on the phone and waited for it to pick up.
"Hello," said a voice over the phone.
"Charlie."
"Hello."
"Charlie, listen to me. Give the phone to mommy. Give the phone to mommy now. It's the...it's the dinosaur man."
"Okay."
There was a long pause over the phone.
"Who was that?" said Paul.
"A friend of mine," said Grant, "she's most likely to help us out of here."
"Hello," said a woman's voice over the phone.
"Ellie. Ellie, is that you?"
"Alan?"
"Ellie."
"Alan, where are you?"
"Isla Sorna."
"What?"
"Site B. The river."
The battery ran out.
"Hello," said Ellie in a muffled voice over the phone.
"Ellie! Ellie!"
But the battery was dead.
"Shit," he grunted.
"What's the matter? said Paul.
"Battery's dead."
"Aw, man."
Then something shook beneath the barge.
"What was that?" said Eric.
"I don't know," said Grant.
Behind them, there was a huge sail in the water.
It came over to the barge and the Spinosaurus rose from the water.
The kids screamed.
The Spinosaurus roared.
"Into the cage!" shouted Grant, "into the cage!"
Paul and Amanda scrambled to the cage and pulled Miles and Eric inside.
Grant jumped in after them.
The Spinosaurus knocked the cage off the barge with it's tail and the cage splashed into the river and sank to the bottom.
Grant slammed open the cage.
The Spinosaurus swam down to find the group. Grant swam up.
Paul swam up after him.
Amanda grabbed Miles and Eric by the shoulders and pulled them up with her to surface.
The Spinosaurus rose out again.
Paul suddenly had an idea.
He ran over to a nearby crane and climbed up.
"Hey!" he shouted, "over here!"
The Spinosaurus looked back at Paul on the crane started to surround him.
"Dad!" shouted Miles.
"Take this!" Grant shouted and threw a flare at the Spinosaurus but it was thrown into the water and fire surrounded the crane.
Paul tried his best to avoid the Spinosaurus by climbing down from the top using his hands.
However, one of his hands became loose and he hung dangerously above the water.
His other hand suddenly slipped and fell off the crane.
"Dad!" shouted Eric and Miles and were going to run when Amanda restrained.
"Paul!" she cried.
Fire roared near the Spinosaurus and it exited the river and stomped off into the jungle.
"DAAAAAD!" cried Miles.
"NOOOOO!" cried Eric.
"Paul, you jerk!" sobbed Amanda, "don't leave me like this!"
Grant watched the fire sadly and Amanda held Miles and Eric tightly by her side.
"I'm not going anywhere," said a voice.
They all looked to see Paul who had survived falling off the crane.
"Dad!" gasped Miles and Eric and jumped into his arms.
Amanda joined in as well.
And they engaged in a family hug.
Grant couldn't help but watch with a slight smile.