Jurassic Park IV: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 7: Attack of the Mysterious Killer(s)
A/N: Alright dinosaur-lovers! This chapter is going to combine action with mystery-like storytelling, suspense and . . . well, if I tell you any more I'll be giving the chapter away. So please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
A small boat zipped across the water about 90 miles from the coast of Costa Rica. At the wheel was a man in his mid-30's by the name of Cortez Philip (pronounced Fill-eep), his friend Jean Scott, a slightly younger man, sat next to him and two of their other friends named Paul Miguel and Baljeet Johnson sat in the back. Jean continued to stare out at the ocean to his right as the boat continued on its straight path out into open ocean.
Cortez looked over at him and shook his head. "Come on, Jean," he began. "You're still not worried are you?"
"Not exactly . . ." he muttered.
"Yes you are. I can tell because you're almost never just sitting around quietly."
"OK, maybe I am a little worried, but don't you think this is a little risky? You know what the rumors are and–"
"Come on, Jean!" Cortez stepped on the accelerator before continuing. "Talk is cheap. I doubt the incident was as bad as everyone says. Those jet-skiers probably did something really dimwitted like spilled their food into the water and that attracted whatever ate them. Look, I know what I'm doing. We're going through the water so fast that I don't think anything will have the chance to take a chomp out of this boat! We'll be to the island soon enough."
"Besides," Baljeet yelled from the back, "don't you know how much the tabloid publisher is paying us to accomplish this? Even you know that this is a risk worth taking." Jean reluctantly nodded his head as he went over the plan in his head: back in San Jose, a tabloid publisher, Newsy Daily, had offered Jean and his friends (who worked for that publisher, by the way) a large sum of money to bring back film footage or photographic evidence from the famous Isla Nublar everyone had been talking about ever since the jet-skier incident three weeks earlier. The publisher was anxious to get a good story for their tabloid and find out information that Lexico didn't want them to know.
"We're also more prepared than those jet-skiers," Paul announced as he retrieved a large rifle from its case.
"Good, so if anything attacks us, we can shoot 'em to death!" Jean exclaimed sarcastically.
Cortez shook his head again. "You worry to much, Jean. And we can't kill any animals we find. Lexico would be on our heads! If this Isla Nublar exists, we're going to sedate any animal that comes to attack us with a fast-working tranquilizer. Don't sweat it man! All we have to do is reach the island, unload, hike for a bit and by then we will have found something. If not, we're prepared to stay overnight."
"I'm still not comfortable about something . . ." Jean concluded. Cortez shrugged and pressed the accelerator again to move even faster toward Isla Nublar's most likely location. (Isla Nublar's official coordinates weren't revealed to the public).
It was another half an hour before Cortez broke the silence. He noticed that they were rapidly coming up on a large fog bank ahead. What in the world is that from? He thought. Cortez didn't put much more thought into it as he pressed on.
"Got some pretty thick fog today," Jean concluded. "What if something tries to attack us in the fog? Remember in 2001 when the Kirby's drove through a fog bank and–"
"That was Isla Sorna," Baljeet corrected, "Site B."
"You mean there are two islands with dinosaurs on them?"
"Exactly. Despite the fact that the park was on Isla Nublar, they cloned most of the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna, their factory floor."
Paul winced. "When since did you become an InGen expert?"
"I study."
Much to Jean's surprise, they passed through the fog rather quickly and a few seconds later, the fog parted. The Cortez grinned slyly as his friends let out audible gasps when they saw what lied ahead; in the direction they were heading was a large mountainous island covered in dense jungles – this was Isla Nublar, the island of forgotten dreams.
Cortez looked back at the others. "See? What I tell ya? That crazy old InGen was pulling our legs all along! It's still here!"
Eventually, Baljeet found his voice as he stared at the island in the warm afternoon sun. " . . . yes, it's still here. It's breathtaking! You think dinosaurs survived?"
"We're about to find out," Paul said as he twirled his gun in his hands.
Within 15 minutes of seeing the island, Cortez drove the boat around a section of the coast until he found what looked like a dock in front of the dense jungle. The dock wasn't very large, but there was a small, shed-like office building that looked like it used to be the place the "dock guard" once stayed in on daily shifts. Cortez pulled up to it and turned the boat off. He got off and exhaled a deep breath. Finally, we've made it to Isla Nublar, Cortez told himself through his thoughts. He wasn't sure if they'd find dinosaurs on the island or not, but something told him that this was the day they'd all be rich!
He turned back to the others who were grabbing their backpacks and hopping out of the boat. Baljeet tied the boat to the dock and Jean looked as if he were about to faint.
"Well my friends," Cortez said, "we've successfully arrived on Isla Nublar. Now as you know we need to be prepared for anything on this island so we need to be extremely careful. Dead men don't make money." He turned back to face the office-building. Now that he was on the dock, he could get a good look at the place: next to the building, he saw a telephone stand. He doubted it worked, but just out of curiosity, he picked it up and placed it to his ear – nothing. He put it back.
"Anything?" Jean asked nervously.
Cortez shook his head. "Nah. It's been offline for nearly 20 years." He continued to scan the area when he saw a rusty sign posted on the front of the office near a window that read: East Dock. Cortez started toward the door of the office and gestured for Baljeet to follow him. Baljeet obeyed and Cortez opened the door.
They slowly entered inside and saw a small desk with stacks of water-damaged papers on it and a few rusted file cabinets. The building obviously had a leaking problem and the window that enabled anyone to see outside was cracked. "Wow!" Baljeet exclaimed. "I've never actually been to a place that's been abandoned after so many years."
"Me neither," Cortez agreed. He turned and walked back out the door, followed by Baljeet. Then, Cortez looked at the other two men and said, "Alright, enough looking around here. We're here for dinosaurs, not old docks."
"We're not going in . . . in . . . th-th-the jungle . . . are we?" Jean asked, followed by a nervous chuckle.
Cortez chortled. "No, we're going to stay here and call the dinosaurs to come to us. Yes we're going in the jungle, goofy! Where do you think the dinosaurs hang out?"
"Um . . . I thought I recalled something about some less-forested areas of the island."
"Sorry, Jean," Baljeet announced. "Much of Isla Nublar is forested."
"OK! Break it up!" Paul interrupted. "Let's get started before nightfall!"
Cortez and the others trekked into the jungle of Isla Nublar in the afternoon sunlight. Despite it being late afternoon, the jungle was still bright enough to see through . . . for the moment at least. Jean constantly glanced at the sun as it continued to sink toward the horizon. Within about half an hour, it would be much darker. Cortez didn't think this mission would take long, so he didn't think spending the night here would be an issue. As they continued through the forest, the sounds of various jungle creatures echoed around them. The loud ones made Jean flinch in fright.
Just then, Paul thought he saw a small, two-legged animal run through the foliage to the left of them. He lifted his gun and aimed it in that direction.
"Whoa! Paul! Ask questions first, shoot later," Cortez cautioned. "We don't know what is is. It could have been a bird or something."
Baljeet winced. "The saying is, 'shoot first, ask questions later'."
"I know, but that wouldn't have applied."
Paul shrugged. "I'm just getting ready to shoot, just in case." Then, a bird-like shrill was heard in the bushes to the left of the group and they stood silent for a moment. The bush shook violently as the sound of the animal inside grew evident.
"Bird?" Jean asked.
"Possibly," Baljeet answered. Suddenly, a bird-like squeaking sound came from behind them. The four men whirled around to see a small lizard or bird-like emerging from the roots of a mangrove tree a few yards behind them. It stood on its back legs, was almost a foot tall and had a slender tail sticking out behind it. The animal was dark green in color and had front legs that ended in little, sharply-clawed fingers. It chirped again and slowly approached the men, bobbing its head like a chicken as it walked – it looked for all the world like some sort of plucked chicken trying hard to be a lizard, but a lot cuter and more natural-looking without feathers than a chicken. It blinked its large eyes and stared at the group cautiously.
"Oh my gosh!" Cortez whispered. "I think we have our first dinosaur!" He retrieved his camera and aimed it at the little reptile.
"What is is?" Paul questioned, holding his gun toward the curious animal.
Baljeet looked thoughtful. "I think it's a Compsognathus Triasscus, discovered in 1913."
"Is it dangerous?" Jean asked nervously.
"Nah, I wouldn't think so," Baljeet answered. "Compies have been presumed to be scavengers like jackals."
Paul asked, "Want me to shoot it?"
"Why?" Cortez was curious as to why he'd shoot a harmless dinosaur.
"To take it back with us of course."
"No, no, no." Cortez shook his head. "Bring a dinosaur back and Lexico finds out . . . I won't even open that can of worms!" He leaned closer to the Compsognathus and clicked the button on the camera that snapped a picture. The dinosaur leaped and squawked in surprise but was still undeterred. "What a cute little guy." Cortez slowly reached out his hand toward the Compsognathus, but a loud bird-like call suddenly ran through the jungle around then. The compy sniffed the air and after letting out a high-pitched shriek, she turned and ducked into the nearest bush and ran away.
"Oh well," Cortez said with a laugh. "But we've got our photograph!"
"Good," Jean congratulated. "We can go home now!" He started back towards the dock, but Cortez grabbed the back of his shirt and stated, "Not yet. It's not enough! Next we need film footage of dinosaurs, and to get that, based on the fading light, we're going to have to spend the night. We have the equipment to spend the night in our backpacks."
Jean grinned nervously from ear to ear, thinking of all the money they'd get from this job to try and ease himself, when looking behind him, just managed to catch sight of a small two-legged reptile run through the foliage and out of sight. He didn't see much, but he knew it was too big to be a compy . . .
"I think I saw something over there," he said. The others looked and saw nothing but jungle plants.
"You worry too much, Jean," Baljeet told him.
Traveling deeper into the jungle, Jean got more and more nervous as it began to get darker. "What if we get lost?" he asked in a nervous tone.
Cortez looked back at him and sighed. "We're absolutely fine, Jean. Honestly, quit worrying and you'll forget about being on a dinosaur-island." He looked up. "Let's set up camp for the night. Paul and I can climb that hill and see what we can see from up there. You guys stay here." With that, Paul and Cortez started to leave the other two when Cortez suddenly stumbled on a branch and tripped forward. To brace his fall, he grasped for a tree trunk, but he didn't look at the trunk before placing his hand on it: it was covered in rows of sharp spines.
"YEE-OUCH!" Cortez cried as he propped himself upright and sucked his bleeding hand. He leaped around and shook his hand rapidly to ease the pain. Unbeknownst to him though, a few droplets of blood flew from his hand as he shook his hand and they splatted on a nearby tree.
"Are you OK, Cortez," Baljeet questioned with concern as he grabbed his hand to look closer at the wounds – they didn't go deep into his hand, only just enough to cause bleeding. "You're going to want to cover this up."
"Alright, I'll do it when we come back. I'll be fine. Come on, Paul." The two of them finally left the area.
When Baljeet noticed Jean's nervous state, he said, "Sit down and take a load off. After you get used to this place, you'll learn it's not so scary at all!"
Paul held his gun ready to fire as he and Cortez made their way to a clearing in the forest. Cortez frowned and shook his head. "We need a hill or something so we can see farther away," Cortez pointed out. "But I can't see any hills to climb in this dark forest."
A light breeze floated through the clearing as Paul said, "We could climb a tree."
"Nah, we'll just wait for morning." But as they were about to turn to walk back into the forest, Cortez heard the sound of flapping. He looked back and saw dozens of dark shapes in the branches of a large tree looming above them. Paul and Cortez froze. As their eyes quickly adjusted to the light, they were able to make out small, bat-sized animals sitting in the trees like a flock of black crows or ravens. They were also bat-like in proportion and had relatively large heads, no visible ears and clawed wings similar to those of Pteranodon that were folded to the sides. In fact, other than their head-shape, they looked much like miniature versions of Pteranodon.
"I'm not so sure I like those guys just sitting there," Paul said. "They're making me kind of nervous."
Cortez agreed. "Yeah, I was going to suggest a warning shot, but tranquilizers don't make good warning shots." But as Cortez gestured toward the small animals, one of the larger ones in the flock spread its wings to reveal its one-foot wingspan and opened its mouth to reveal rows of sharp teeth.
Cortez gasped. "Oh no . . ."
The animal squawked and leaped into the air, using its wings to create lift. This resulted in the rest of the little fliers leaping into the air and creating much bird-like racket. Then, almost simultaneously, the creatures zoomed from the tree and began to descend upon Cortez and Paul. The two men screamed and turned to start running for the forest.
Jean and Baljeet stood up straight at the sound of Cortez and Paul screaming. It was getting too dark to see deep in the forest, even with a flashlight, but they knew there was trouble.
"See? See? I told you we shouldn't be here!" Jean exclaimed. Baljeet started towards them when Jean headed in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Baljeet asked. "Cortez and Paul are in trouble!"
"I'm getting out of this crazy place! Catch you by the dock!" Before Baljeet could stop him, Jean was out of sight. Baljeet sighed. Fine, if Jean is inconsiderate enough to leave the others behind, I'll rescue them myself! He left his backpack and headed off to rescue his friends.
He continued to run until to his left, he heard a strange sound that resembled that of an elk and he came to a stop. That's funny, Baljeet thought. There aren't any elk on Isla Nublar, or anywhere else in or near Costa Rica! Looking back in the direction he was heading before and heard the plant life rustle to his right. He froze again. "Uh, Jean . . . w-w-was that you?" He laughed nervously. Great, now I'm starting to act like Jean.
After assuring himself it was just a compy, he turned to face the original direction he was facing when a pair of glowing eyes appeared in the bushes ahead of him. Baljeet gasped. He slapped his left hand on his pocket to retrieve his flashlight: but it wasn't there! Rats! Must have left it in my backpack! The frightened man turned to his left and saw another pair of eyes. To his right was another. He quickly started backing away when a glowing-eyed creature from out of nowhere and by the time he looked in the direction the creature was approaching from, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Baljeet screamed as he leaped in surprise and fell backward. The creature released its toothy grip and darted away before Baljeet could correctly identify it.
Baljeet winced in pain. His right arm now bore a terrible wound thanks to rows of sharp teeth. What the creature was, he couldn't say, but he knew that he wished he had listened to Jean and never come to this island in the first place. He warily looked ahead of him and saw now at least half a dozen pairs of brightly glowing eyes, and they were all gazing at him! OK, time to get out of here!
Placing one hand over his wound, he began making his way back to the dock and toward safety. But as he ran, he noticed the trees and other plants around multiply into twos and the jungle turned from shades of dark browns and greens to a myriad of yellows, reds, oranges, blues and purples. He was hallucinating, big time!
What's going on with me? he asked himself. As he continued running out of the forest, his arm began to feel the pain more and more excruciatingly, his head began to throb vigorously and his hallucinations got more and more extreme. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and he fell to the ground. Looking back, he saw dozens and dozens (more hallucinations, as there were only about half a dozen) of creatures with glowing eyes slowly approaching him, creating strange bird-like cackling and growling sounds. Eventually this was all getting to extreme as the animals closed in . . .
Must keep moving, must keep moving, Jean told himself over and over again as he ran toward the dock. Creatures from the forest with glowing eyes were following his trail closely and he didn't want to end up like his so-called friends, so he kept running. The forest was very dark by now and the sky was cloudy tonight, so visibility was very limited.
Finally, he reached the dock. But no sooner had he reached it did three monsters with glowing eyes burst from the forest behind him. The creatures walked on their hind legs and were compy-like in shape, just larger! He couldn't see any more of their features (except their glowing eyes of course) because of the fading light. The animals stopped only a minute before they continued to pursue Jean onto the dock. Jean glanced at the boat to his left and reckoned that it would take too long to start it up before the creatures behind him closed in so he continued to run past the boat. He also didn't run into the office building because he knew the animals would easily break through the window and he'd be trapped. As one of the approaching and snarling creatures raced up behind him as he reached the edge of the dock, he could tell it would be seconds before it reached him. Only one shot, he thought. He bended his legs and leaped off the dock. Though just as he did, sharp teeth clenched around his right arm and tried to pull him back up on the dock. "Get off me!" Jean cried. The animal snarled ferociously as it pulled back. Its comrades were quickly running up the dock. If they reached the animal that was pulling on Jean's arm, they'd be strong enough to lift him onto the dock and kill him. Jean didn't want that, so with all his might, he knocked the terrible creature in the face and he yanked his arm out of its mouth, leaving behind deep and gushing wounds and (due to him yanking his arm out) some loose teeth embedded in his flesh and Jean plunged into the water. As the other animals gathered at the edge of the dock, all they could do was cackle, snarl and snap their jaws at their prey that got away.
In the darkness of night, Jean floated out to sea, struggling to stay afloat. Soon, the island got farther and farther from view. Within a few minutes, he was a good distance out to sea thanks to the strong current. Somehow, he managed to stay afloat due to his tiredness. It was almost pitch black out on the water, and all Jean could do was float. I wonder how long I'll be out here, he wondered. Increasingly, he was getting more and more disoriented as he floated. His hallucinations would have been worse had he been able to actually see – something he couldn't do in the dark.
One problem Jean had, was that, even though he was holding his wounded arm with his other hand, the scent of blood was seeping into the water . . .
Far below, a great white shark lurks beneath Jean, who is floating on the surface. Contrary to popular belief, sharks are not man eaters and mainly attack humans because from the seafloor (where sharks lurk on the hunt for prey) a human silhouette greatly resembles their favorite prey, such as seals and sea lions. The shark senses the smell of food and starts toward the surface. Smaller black-tip reef sharks approach as well, being very careful to stay far enough away from the great white.
Suddenly, something in the dark gloom scatters the sharks and they make a get away. A large monster lurks in the deep and is watching its wounded prey above. Ever so stealthily, it swims near the ocean floor, waiting for the perfect moment to strike its prey. With great movements of its body, it rushes towards the surface . . .
"I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to get out of here quickly," Jean told his weakening self. He couldn't keep this up for much longer due to his tiring state.
All of a sudden a pair of monstrous jaws explode out of the water around Jean. The frightened human screams in terror as the predator of the deep snaps down with tremendous force and pulls its prey underwater.
A/N: Astute readers (and non-astute ones too) will remember the dock Cortez and the others arrived at is the same dock from the first Jurassic Park movie that Dennis Nedry had attempted to reach to smuggle dinosaur embryos off the island before he became dino-food in the jungle. This is also the same dock Nima Cruz and Miles Chadwick arrive on the island at in Jurassic Park: The Game. What did you think of the chapter? Was it too gruesome? Let me know! Please check back soon to read the next chapter when we will learn some very revealing information . . .