"You five are gonna have a spot of company out in the park," Hammond said as he lead us back down to the Center's main floor. "Spend a little time with the other two people of our target audience."
"Grandpa!" Two kids yelled out. The eldest seemed to be around my age, she had a baseball hat on and a purple tank along with jeans. The youngest seemed around eight, with a blue button up shirt that was open to reveal a stripped shirt and an red ascot.
"Kids!" Hammond greeted with arms wide open. Bounding up the stairs, he was tackled by his grandkids. "Wait! Careful with the old man."
"We miss you," the girl said.
"Thank you for the presents," the boy said softly.
"We loved the presents. They were great."
Ellie looked back at Dad with a grin on her face. Dad, for his part, didn't make it too obvious that he'd rather it just be me in the kids department rather than three. Personally, my only issue was that I was hoping that they don't play the brat card on me.
"Right, lets get introductions out of the way. Everybody, this is Lex and Tim. Uh, Becky, darling, how old are you, again?"
"Thirteen."
"Ah, so you're the oldest. Lex here is twelve and Tim is nine," he turned and looked at them sternly. "You stay right by Becky, whom I'm sure will stay right by Dr. Grant, at all times."
"Yes, grandpa," the two chorused.
"Right! Lets get the tour started, now, shall we?" Hammond lead us outside just as two new looking jeeps rolled up. "Now, kids, come away. Not too close to the cars," Hammond said to Lex and Tim. "Aren't they lovely? Aren't they glorious?" He asked us once the jeeps stopped. "These will be your transports this afternoon."
"No drivers?" Donald asked.
"No, no, no, no. No drivers. They're electric. They run on this track in the middle of the roadway. Totally non-polluting. Top of the line. Spared no expense."
I felt my eye twitch. I could go my whole life without hearing that phrase ever again.
"Lex, honey, you're alright in there. Dr. Sattler, come with me. Dr. Grant. come in the second car," Hammond directed.
"I'm, uh, gonna ride with Dr. Sattler," Ian mumbled as he followed them.
"I'll be in the first car," I said in a monotone from behind Dad. "But I get shotgun."
Dad gave me a smile and ruffled my hair. "It'll be fine."
Returning the smile, I gave a mock salute as I sank into the passengers seat. Leaning my head back against the seat, I closed my eyes. That is, until Tim's voice entered my silent coven from the back seat.
"... and it made a bunch of diamond dust. That changed the weather, and they died because of the weather. Then my teacher tells me about this book by a guy named Bakker. He says-" Dad shut the door on him.
Donald opened the passengers door and stared at me expectantly. "Nope. Take the drivers seat," I drawled and jerked my thumb to the left. With a sigh, he shut the door and went around the cars front. Behind me I heard Lex enter.
~line break~
"What kind of dinosaurs are we gonna see now?" Lex was asking as the jeeps started to roll.
"Hey, lookit! A ghost, a ghost! Aah!" Tim yelled.
"Oh no, it's driving!" Lex played along.
Donald chuckled. "Turn in your fear at the door and join the future right?"
"I don't know," I mused. "A healthy amount of fear is what makes it fun, no?"
"During your tour, the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you," the tour guide said.
"Hey, look!" Tim pointed at two, huge wooden doors in front of us. Above them were the words "Jurassic Park".
"Are we gonna hit that?" Lex asked.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park," the guide said as the doors opened.
"The voice you're now hearing is Richard Kiley," Hammond's voice sounded. "We spared no expense."
I groaned.
"If you look to the right, you'll see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosaurus."
Immediately I looked outside with a grin on my face.
"One of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous, spitting it's venom at it's prey, causing blindness and eventually paralysis, allowing the carnivore to eat at it's leisure."
I searched throughout the trees for the dinosaur, but saw nothing. "Where?"
"This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."
"Some addition, you cant even see her," I sighed as I leaned back into my seat.
~line break~
The jeeps went around the curve of the next attraction. We all climbed over to the left side of the jeep to get a closer look.
"We'll try to tempt the Rex now. Keep watching the fence."
A goat rose up from the food shaft shortly after. I leaned forward, this was gonna be a feeding.
"What's gonna happen to the goat?" Lex asked. "He's gonna eat the goat?"
"Excellent," Tim said.
"What's the matter kid? You've never had lamb chops before?" Donald asked.
"I happen to be a vegetarian."
"Yeah, well, she's not," I said.
Eventually, even the goat got tired of waiting to the Rex to show as it laid down and lazily grazed. We waited another moment before the tour restarted.
~line break~
The jeeps rolled through a clearing, and for once, the jeep was silent. Until, that is, Tim noticed both Dad and Ellie jumping out of their jeep and decided to do the same.
"Timmy!" Lex yelled as the jeeps came to a halt. We climbed out and joined the others in the grass.
"Why are we outside?" I asked Ellie as Dad lead us down the slope and into the fields.
"I don't know, he just jumped out without saying a word," Ellie said.
In front of us, Tim was still trying to tell Dad about his books.
"Alan, where are we going?" Ellie asked. "You see something?"
"Is there anybody else who thinks we shouldn't be out here?" Donald called from the back.
A dull roar sounded from in front of us. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Dad stopped us. "Everybody stay back," he ordered.
It took Tim about ten seconds to disobey, which caused us to disobey.
"Oh my God," I said as the triceratops came into view.
"Don't be scared," the vet called to us. "It's ok. Muldoon tranquilized her for me. She's sick."
The triceratops moaned as we all approached her. With an unsteady smile, I ran a hand over her frill softly, laughing at how wonderful it felt to actually touch a dinosaur.
"She was my favorite when I was a kid," Dad said to me. "Now I see her, she's the most beautiful thing I ever saw."
I gave him a watery smile, this was the most he'd ever willingly shared with me about himself. "She's my favorite herbivore," I told him. "The carnivore would have to be the T-rex."
Dad smiled and gave me an one armed hug, then moved over to lay himself against her side. His face held a child-like smile as her breathing took him up and down.
"...I'll have to see the droppings," I heard Ellie say.
I frowned and sat on the ground by her stomach. I refuse to go anywhere near a dinosaur's droppings.
Shortly after they returned, thunder struck loudly above us.
"Doctors, if you please, I have to insist that we get moving," Donald called nervously.
"You know, if it's all right, I'd like to stay with Dr. Harding and finish up with the trike," Ellie said.
"Sure. I'm in a gas powered jeep. I can drop her off at the Visitors Center before I make the boat," Dr. Harding said.
"Great. Then I'll catch up with you," she said to Dad and I.
"You sure?' Dad asked.
"Yeah, I wanna stay with her a little longer."
"Okay then..."
~line break~
It was dark by the time the jeeps halted. I blinked and looked outside, we were back at the T-Rex paddock.
"Why aren't we at the center?" I asked.
"I don't know, we just stopped," Donald said, sounding just as confused as me.
Outside the goat still stood, now soaking wet.
A knock sounded at the drivers side window. Donald opened it to reveal Dad. "Is your guys' radio out too?" Dad asked.
"Yeah," Donald said after checking it. "We should just stay put. Eventually we'll be moving again."
Dad nodded and shut the door.
"Well, I hope it doesn't take too long," I mumbled.
"Boo!" Tim yelled as he popped up wearing strange looking goggles. Both Lex and I jumped and glared at him.
"Hey, where did you find those?" Donald asked.
"Under my seat."
"Are they heavy?"
"Yeah!"
"Then they're expensive. Put them back."
Tim ignored him and made his way further back. "oh, cool. Night Vision."
Before I could relax again, Tim spoke up. "Do you feel that?"
There was a soft booming, that was slowly getting closer. I frowned and sat up, my eyes fixed on the water cups rippling.
"Maybe it's the power tryin' to turn back on," Donald whispered.
We all turned to look outside at a now hanging goat chain.
"Where's the goat?' Lex asked.
There was a thud as the goats bloody leg hit the roofs' window.
Dun-dun-dun! Ending just before shit goes down! Let me know how you liked this chapter