Chapter 37

Perimeter

Tim and Wu had fought their way through the dense jungle for well over an hour since they had left the airstrip behind. They were both fast becoming exhausted; neither of them had eaten anything decent for a day, and due to the amount of sweat that they were producing they were fast becoming dehydrated too. Coupled with the lack of a good night's sleep, they were finding it increasingly more difficult to keep their progression from slowing. But Tim was determined to make it to the eastern garage on time; he had to get to the visitor centre with the others as soon as possible. He could tell the others over the radio how the system worked, but the truth was that he and Wu were the only ones who knew how to operate the park systems, and at the present time they were walking in the wrong direction into an area that he remembered all too well was swarming with dinosaurs. Anderson, Guiterrez and Edgar could probably secure the area and make sure that everything was still operational by themselves, but if he and Wu couldn't get over there then they had come all of this way for nothing. Thousands, perhaps millions of lives depended on their success here, and he wasn't going to give up. He didn't actually know if they did have enough time to complete their mission; he was sure that the Costa Ricans were doing everything within their power to cover up what was happening on the mainland, and despite the fact that he had kept the status of Isla Nublar a secret from them, he was sure that they would be able to figure it out in due time. And an entire fleet of vessels was stationed only 80 miles to the south-west, guarding the Las Cinco Muertes island chain, and it would take no time at all for them to move up to Nublar, and discover the truth.

The truth was that he had promised his Grandfather that he would protect his creations, but now that he was here once again he didn't feel as compassionate towards them as he once did. They were monsters, no matter what his grandfather would have had everybody believe. Once they had retrieved 

the DX virus data from the system, he didn't much care for what happened to the animals. In fact he felt quite sure that he would have to alert the mainland as quickly as possible. At the very least the island must be quarantined to limit further infection.

When they had left the Control tower of the airstrip, they had found the tarmac deserted, and silent. The mist that had cloaked the ground before had almost evaporated, and the jungle was now clearly visible. But it was oddly quiet. The chorus of insects and frogs that before had only been muffled had been completely absent. It was completely silent on the airstrip. And despite his best efforts to shake it off, he had gained the distinct feeling that they hadn't been alone in the vast expanse of the clearing in which they stood. Like they were being watched.

Whether Henry had felt it or not he didn't know, but he didn't show any signs of sensing anything. From then they had headed north into the jungle once more. By the time Anderson had contacted them to inform them that they had reached the Jungle River, they had entered a large forest of tangled vines. It had slowed them considerably, and as Anderson had the machete, they had no easy way of clearing their path. Several times they had both become hopelessly entangled; at one point it had taken them over ten minutes to free themselves. Luckily nothing seemed to inhabit that particular area, for reasons that Tim could appreciate. All of the animals seemed to have learned long ago that the vines were a hopeless area to live in.

Except, of course, to his extreme displeasure, the Microceratops. They had appeared in the treetops a little over five minutes after they had entered the vine forest. The animals seemed to be ever present on the island; there was either a very large population of them, or they simply were bemused by the humans and were able to move far quicker and easier through the trees than they could. He suspected the latter as the more likely possibility, but they were a constant source of annoyance and distraction. They chattered to each other constantly, and the crashing sounds that they caused by moving across the canopy could have attracted 

unwanted attention, or worse, blocked out the noise of approaching danger.

After around forty minutes they had left the vines behind, and had entered an area of sparse forest. It was different from the jungle on most of the island, the trees were wider apart, and the underbrush was almost completely absent, with only a few ferns dotting the ground. It was a pleasant change from the closed in confines that they had become accustomed to. The air was clearer and cooler, and they were able to enjoy a slight breeze that licked its way through the spaces in between the trees, listening to the chorus of the jungle around them.

Now, the thin jungle looked as if it was thinning even more, as if they were coming to its edge. The sunlight was becoming stronger, poking through the canopy in great golden shafts. It must have been almost half ten in the morning, and the sun was now high in the sky. The fog that had cloaked the ground earlier in the morning was now completely gone, and the air was beginning to heat up around them. Tim could feel his sweat glands coming back to life, and he felt the now familiar unpleasant sensation of being damp all of the time.

That was the problem with tropical heat, he thought. Sweat never dried, and therefore never cooled you. It just sat on your skin.

They were now both beginning to breath heavier and heavier as the humidity began to go up as the sun evaporated the water from the storm the previous night, and Tim could see the jungle steaming around him, rising up into the canopy and into the sky. It looked cool, yet eerie. Just like everything else on this island.

Off to their left a honking sound blasted through the trees, mournful and resonant, accompanied by the distant sounds of cracking twigs and branches.

"Is that it?" asked Wu, pointing ahead of them, through the sparse vegetation.

Tim looked up, and saw the patches of grey that were showing through the carpet of greenery. Squinting, he saw that at ground level the grey was made up of a thick concrete slab which rose five feet into the air. Higher up, there were 

thick steel spires, topped with two lights, one blue, and one red. Filling the space in between the spires were wires which ran horizontally across, spaced around a foot apart vertically. The structure was impressive, and towered over thirty feet into the air.

It was the perimeter fence.

"Yeah," he panted, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

They walked forwards, casting aside ferns with their hands in order to get a better look at the fence. Tim could see that it was in serious disrepair; the concrete base was cracked and crumbling, coming away in large pieces in some places. The wires were rusted, and drooping, some of them were hanging loose. But it still looked stable.

"How are we going to get to the other side?" said Wu, cupping his hands over his eyes so that he could see it better in the harsh light.

"I'm not sure yet," said Tim. They were now only sixty feet from the fence, and Tim could see that the jungle ended less than forty feet away. There was an area of open grass for twenty feet until the fence began.

"Do you think we could squeeze between the wires?" said Wu.

As they came closer Tim saw that it wasn't possible. Although the wires were spaced a foot apart from each other, he could now see that there was also a latticework of smaller wires which prevented the passage of smaller animals between them.

As Wu's shoulders dropped Tim saw that he had realized this too. They passed the tree line, and onto the open grass. It was trimmed short, as if it was regularly mowed. It was probably fed on by herbivores, but he didn't really want to wait around to find out what kind. Looking left, and then right, he saw that the grassland extended all the way down the length of the fence.

"Maybe we could climb it," said Wu, looking upwards at the tops of the fence.

Tim looked at him, and thought that he heard a distant electronic sizzle from the depths of his memory, and absent 

mindedly looked at the palms of his hands, which had odd twin scars running horizontally across their middles.

"Tim?" said Wu.

Tim looked at him, and saw that Wu was frowning at him.

"We shouldn't climb it," said Tim, clearing his throat and moving forwards. "Maybe there's a gap somewhere we can use. I'm sure some of the dinosaurs have broken through at some point."

They stepped forwards, standing now only three feet from the concrete base. Tim run forwards, and jumped up onto the base, the concrete crumbling as his boots made contact with it. He bent down, and carefully inspected the intricate wiring, running his hands along the rusted surface. It was frayed and broken everywhere, but as a whole the structure remained solid and impenetrable.

"Sure could use Anderson's machete right around now," said Wu from behind him, pacing up and down the length of the fence.

"Well, yeah, that'd be helpful," said Tim, "but we don't, so we need to find another way of getting past."

Tim could see some small holes bitten into the wiring, arranged in circular patterns, where some small animals had bitten through the wires to get through the fence, but most of them were no wider than the palm of his hand.

He straightened up, and stared through the fence, looking at the other side. It was a small field, which stretched away for a few hundred meters before the jungle began once more, ominous and foreboding as ever. He stepped back to the edge of the concrete base, and looked left and right, trying to see if there were any holes in the fence they could use on some of the other segments.

They needed to get past this obstacle quickly; they couldn't afford to have this slow them down. If they didn't get to the visitor centre in time then their entire trip had been wasted.

"Hey, what's this?" said Wu suddenly from behind him.

Tim turned around curiously, and raised his eyebrows. Wu was crouched down a foot before the concrete base began, his back to Tim, staring at the ground in front of him.



"What is it?" said Tim, jumping down from the concrete and onto the grass, his feet making a dull thud on the soft ground.

Wu moved to the left slightly, sitting down on the grass, which was still slick and wet from the rain the previous night. In front of him, where Wu had been, Tim now saw that there was some form of burrow formed in the ground. The earth all around it was churned up, and reminded him of a rodent's den, except that the hole looked like it might be big enough for a person to squeeze through.

He looked at Wu, who was staring back at him with a quizzical look on his face. "What the hell is this?" he said in a hollow voice.

Tim looked at it for over a minute. It was impossible. They had all died out on this island years ago, he had checked dozens of times, he had been sure of it. They were all dead. Yet, now this new clue was staring him in the face, clear as day. And then there was what had happened at the airstrip. He had felt a knot in his stomach as soon as he had saw the powerful hind limbs and large tail crash into the jungle through the mist. And he was sure that Henry now had some inkling of what was out there. "Well," he said finally, "that's one big rabbit."

Wu gave him a look, and then bent over the hole, peering down into the darkness. "Grab my belt," Wu said, and then put his head down into the hole.

Tim frowned, and made to answer him back, but instead thought twice and simply leaned forward, and took a hold of Wu's waist band, and made sure that he didn't fall. Wu squirmed around for a few seconds, turning his body and arching his neck so that he could see better into the hole and to let more light in. Then he withdrew his head, and pulled his pack off of his back.

"It's not just a hole," he said, unzipping his pack, "I think it's a tunnel. It bends horizontally a few feet down. Let me get a better look."

He took a small pen light from his pack, and leaned back into the dark hole. Tim nodded, and increased his grip on Wu's belt once again.

Wu coughed, and a cloud of dust drifted out and into the air. "Yeah," said Wu in a choked voice, "it goes that way." His 

hand came up over his head, and pointed off towards the other side of the fence.

"You don't suppose it comes up on the other side, do you?" said Tim, craning his neck to try and see onto the other side of the fence over the concrete.

"Go take a look," Wu managed to say through a coughing fit.

Once Tim was sure that Wu wasn't going to topple into the hole when he let go on his waistband, he stood up and leapt back up onto the base, and grabbed the fence, staring intently at the grass on the other side.

At first all he could see was a carpet of green, interrupted occasionally by a flower or two, but nothing else. But slowly, his vision adjusted, and he saw that there wasn't just one hole on the other side of the fence, but several. Dozens, in fact.

He frowned, raising his eyebrows. It seemed that many animals had burrowed underneath the fence in order to get around the island. Large animals. And they had done so quite recently, by the look of the fresh mounds of dirt that lay stationed beside each hole.

He jumped back down onto the ground, and dropped to his knees in front of Wu just as he pulled his head from the hole, spluttering and sporting a dirt spattered face.

"What do you think made this?" asked Wu, looking at the hole curiously.

Tim ignored him, pretending that he hadn't heard.

"Well? Is there a hole on the other side?" Wu said.

"Yeah," said Tim, "a couple. Do you think they join up? A tunnel?"

"Only one way to find out," said Wu briskly, and promptly grabbed his pack. Holding it out in front of him, he stuck his head into the hole, and before Tim had time to argue he had dived down, and wiggled his way out of sight.

"Henry!" shouted Tim, throwing himself down and sticking his head down into the hole. "Get back out here! You don't know if that even comes up again!"

He was mad. Wu was insane; if the tunnel was unstable collapsed then he's be crushed or he'd suffocate. And Tim didn't want to go in after him. He didn't like small spaces, at all. But as he heard Wu's grunts get quieter, he realized that it 

may very well be the only way to get over the fence. And that if Wu made it, he'd have to go in after him.

He shivered.

Slowly, he got to his feet, and stumbled over to the base, and climbed up, looking at the field on the other side, waiting to see if Wu emerged from one of the holes.

He had a tight knot forming in the pit of his stomach. He knew that Wu wouldn't come up again. He'd be killed, and Tim would be left alone.

He caught himself, realizing that he was breathing fast. The fence was bringing back memories that he thought he had rid himself a long time ago. But this place was starting to get to him. It was hell, it always had been.

A single cough.

Tim looked to the left, and saw an arc of dirt shoot up three feet into the air. A moment later Wu pack shot out of the ragged hole in the ground, and landed with a dull thud a few feet away. Tim breathed a sigh of relief, and watched as Wu's hand swung out nowhere, and gripped the grass, pulling it up in great chunks as he hauled himself out of the hole.

Wu rolled over onto his back, and Tim could see that he was covered in mud and dirt. Wu's chest was rising and falling quickly; he looked as if he had been running.

"Henry," said Tim, "are you alright?"

Wu raised hand, and gave him a thumbs up, looking as if he was concentrating on breathing.

After a minute Wu was on his feet. Retrieving his pack he approached the fence, coughing.

"How was it?" asked Tim.

"It was…okay," said Wu. "Looked stable. It was a little hard to breathe in there, it was pretty tight. But it was bearable. You can do it Tim."

Tim didn't much like the idea of going in there. He had the horrible idea that he'd get stuck, or he wouldn't be able to breathe at all. But they had to get going now, or it was too late.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he marched over to the hole, and took his pack off, and held it out in front of him 

just like Wu had. He stood over the tunnel entrance, and took a glance back at Wu, who gave him an encouraging nod.

He bent down, and crouched like a swimmer just about to dive into a pool. And then he dipped his head, and went down into the dark space, his pack held out in front of him. He was immediately plunged into perpetual blackness, and he felt dust hit his eyeballs. He closed them instinctively, and felt it scratch against his corneas. He decided to keep them closed, and felt his way through. He suddenly remembered that Wu was a lot thinner than he was, and had narrower shoulders. He became painfully aware of just how much a few seconds later, once his torso entered the hole, and he had to arch his neck as he rounded the bend that began five feet down. He kicked his legs to try and get in further, but found only thin air. Instead, he took one of his hands off his pack and used it to pulled himself inwards. He found that he could only breathe shallowly, and the air was so full of dust that he had to constantly fight the urge to lapse into a fit of coughing.

His feet finally found solid ground, and he wedged them against the lip of the hold, and pushed off with them as hard as he could, sliding his entire body into a horizontal position.

Still holding his pack with one hand, he made slow progress, using his other hand and his feet together to push himself along through the dark narrow space. He could feel the earth move around him as he scrabbled along, feel the loose stones and pebbles slide down the walls. It was unnerving, and he felt his pace of breath quicken against his will. His heart was beating hard against the walls of his chest, and besides the scattering of stones all he could hear was the rush of the blood in his ears.

He lost track of time as he climbed along; it felt as if he was making agonizingly slow progress, but inch by inch, he struggled along.

After two minutes he chanced opening his eyes for a moment, and saw sunlight filtering around the large obstructing shape of his pack.

Almost there, he thought to himself, and smiled. He was almost out, free. His pack came to a stop as it hit the second bend which led up to the surface. He backed his body up 

behind it, and with a heave he threw it upwards, out of the tunnel. Tim heard the amplified thud of it landing on the grass outside, and felt the ground push down on his back slightly.

He took a deep breath, and bent his neck upwards, and saw the bright blue sky outside. His head came around the bend, and then his neck. His shoulders were next, slowly, and he reached up with one hand and took a hold of the lip of the exit, and made to pull himself up when he came to a sudden halt.

He frowned, and pulled again.

Nothing. He realized that this bend was far sharper than the one which he had entered through, and that he couldn't bend him back far enough to get around it. No matter how hard he pulled, his body wouldn't budge. It was narrower here too, and he felt the tunnel squeezing his body, preventing him from taking air into his lungs.

He breathed out as much as he could, and slid ever so slightly upwards, but once again came to a jarring halt. And now he was in even more trouble, as he couldn't take the air back into his lungs; the earth was crushing his chest.

In a fit of panic he wriggled his body frantically, and to his horror cascades of mud and stones fell away from the walls of the tunnel, falling on his face. He coughed, and wriggled again; he had to get out, he had to get free. With an almighty whump the entire tunnel collapsed on top of him, and he was plunged into silence. The vertical tunnel fell in on him as well, and the sunlight was cut off abruptly.

He tried to scream, but there was no air in his lungs. The force of the ground pushing down on him was unlike anything he had ever felt. He could feel his ribs dig into his flesh as his entire body was squashed together. He was pinned with one arm reaching towards the surface and the other by his side, unable to move either.

That was it; his fate was sealed. He was doomed to die down here, he was going to suffocate. He felt a single fear escape his eyes, and dampen the ground around his head. As his oxygen starved brain slowly began to slow down, time seemed to slow down. And the pain began to lessen, and fade away. It was like slipping into a peaceful sleep. Suddenly 

images filled his head. He was back in the car with Lex; the Rex was staring in through the window, the massive eyeball swiveling in the socket, the black pupil constricting in the bright light of the torch. He was so scared.

Now he was in a dim kitchen, surrounded by metal cabinets and work surfaces. He was scrabbling along the cold floor, trying to make as little noise as possible. A harsh snarl rose and fell, and he shuddered uncontrollably. Distantly, he was surprised that after all of these years the sound was so fresh in his mind. And even now it terrified him beyond all else.

Suddenly he felt the ground above him shift, the massive weight on top of his lessened ever so slightly, and something grabbed the wrist of the arm which had been holding onto the lip of the exit tunnel. It gave an almighty wrench, and he felt his body slide forward an inch. It happened again, and he slid a little more. His back felt like it was about to snap in two, but he marshaled the last of his strength, and wind milled his free arm, and made a restricted bicycle like movement with his legs. Another great pull and his body soared like a rocket from the dirt, into open daylight. He felt a wonderful moment of weightlessness, of being free, flying through the air. He landed on in a pile on top of a soft shape, with stones and mud showering down all over him. He took in huge, deep breaths, taking in as much air as he could at a time. Within seconds he began to feel better, and he recovered surprisingly quickly, the haze which had descended over his brain dissipating.

He opened his left eye fractionally, and peered around. Harsh sunlight met his gaze, and he was shocked by the vibrancy of color which struck him. He looked down, and saw that what he had landed on was Henry Wu, who was laughing at him, his eyes dancing. Despite the fact that he was being laughed at after having nearly died, again, he was immensely glad to see him.

"See," said Wu, "piece of cake."