Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 19: Attack of the Raptors pt. 1
A/N: Howdy, my readers! I hope everyone had a splendid New Year's! Now it's time for another famous dinosaur to make an appearance in my story: Velociraptor! I've been a total fan of Velociraptor since I first saw Jurassic Park III (I incidentally saw them backwards: Jurassic Park III, then The Lost World, then finally Jurassic Park!). You know what's interesting? Velociraptor wasn't a famous dinosaur until it made its appearance in Jurassic Park. Before then, raptors were virtually unknown to the general public. Anyway, you're not here to learn about Velociraptor's history in popular culture (that's what Wikipedia is for), you're here to read about the chapter 19 of my story! So without further ado, let's see if the team can escape from the jaws of the raptors!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
As soon as Grant flicked the dim lights to the hatchery on, the high-pitched screeches of a pair of Velociraptors were heard. The carnivorous dinosaurs stood about six feet tall and 11 feet in length from head-to-toe. Their jaws were lined with needle-sharp teeth and they had forward-facing eyes, clawed grasping hands, long tails that were held rigid for balance and an enlarged sickle-shaped, retractable claw on each foot. They also had a row of quills extending from the backs of their heads and their arms (the quills were like the ones found on the raptors in Jurassic Park III).
Though the raptors were similar in appearance, they varied in coloration – one individual, the male, had orange-colored skin with vertical black, tiger-like stripes (like the males from The Lost World). The one next to it, a female, was similar in color to the ones from the previous chapter: brown with vertical, dull black stripes (like the ones from seen during the Jurassic Park Incident). They both had black bands extending vertically down the middle of the sides their faces, crossing over their eyes.
"Velociraptors!" Levine exclaimed as Ryan gathered Taylor, Kailey, Tim, Levine and Lex behind him and the other four soldiers. Grant, who was still holding the map in his hand, and Dr. Sorkin exited the embryo storage and ran for the exit door.
Ryan quickly raised his gun and BOOM! A tranquilizer dart flew passed the male raptor, who by charging the group, incidentally dodged the dart. It was too close to re-aim, so Ryan ordered, "Run for it!" Everyone was quick to obey as they ducked out of the hatchery as both raptors came racing for them.
Once everyone had made it out of the hatchery, Ryan slammed the door behind him. No more than a few seconds later did the raptor male hit its body against the door. It made several loud calls as it tried to push it open. "Don't wait for us!" Ryan told the others. "Get out of the building quickly! We'll catch up."
"Are you guys going to be OK?" Lex asked.
"Don't worry about us! Just go!"
Dr. Sorkin, Grant, Lex, Tim, Kailey, Levine and Taylor fled down the hall to escape the carnivorous dinosaurs. I knew this was going to happen! Grant thought as he led the group. Raptors always seem to find us wherever we go on these escapades!
Ryan pushed against the door with all of his might with the help of two other soldiers. The male raptor on the other side was completely overpowered. It snapped its jaws and roared loudly, as if this would help give it strength. Ryan was quite surprised as to how strong the dinosaur was.
Standing a short distance away from the male, the female stared out the hatchery windows, watching as Grant and the others ran down the hall. She then opened her mouth and began to emit a series of gulping-like calls.
"Where's the other raptor?" soldier #1, who was also pushing on the door, asked.
"I don't know!" Ryan answered briskly. "We just have to keep this raptor from busting through the door." He said to the other two soldiers standing nearby with their guns poised, "Keep an eye out for the other raptor!"
"Yes, Captain Ryan!" one of them answered.
All of a sudden, one of the hatchery's windows splattered into zillions of tiny pieces as the female raptor made her appearance several yards down the hall, ushering a ferocious roar. Without warning she charged the soldiers with great speed.
"Shoot her! Shoot her!" Ryan ordered (he also felt the male raptor quit pushing against the door). The two soldiers wielded their guns around to tranquilize the raptor when unexpectedly the male raptor pushed the door open with tremendous force, knocking Ryan and the two soldiers who were against the door onto the floor. The male raptor roared in triumph, but just before it could react however, Ryan kicked the door with his foot and slammed the dinosaur right in the face! He and the two other soldiers leaped to their feet and threw their bodies against the door.
Meanwhile, the female made a quick U-turn and headed down the hall, following Grant's group!
These dinosaurs really are intelligent! Ryan thought. He gestured toward the direction of the raptor and yelled to two of the soldiers, "Quickly! Follow that raptor!"
"Yes, Captain Ryan!" they answered and followed their orders.
After the two soldiers were out of sight, Ryan noticed that the male raptor had again given up trying to get through the door and he peered through the window that the female raptor had broken while letting out a whistle. "Follow me," he told the other two. "We've got to make sure the other raptor isn't a danger to the others or take us by surprise."
The other soldiers nodded and, slowly, Ryan opened the door of the hatchery . . . no raptor was in sight. He cautiously glanced around the room to make sure it wasn't hiding, waiting to strike at them. Then he started leading soldier #1 and soldier #2 back into the hatchery through the door.
With a raptor not far behind, Grant led the others down the hall, past the Control Room, and toward the main rotunda.
"What exactly is our plan to get past these two?" Tim asked Grant.
"Not sure yet. I'm still thinking of a plan here. Let's just get to the main rotunda and . . ." his voice trailed off when he reached the edge of the Visitor Center's top floor, where the staircase once was.
"Why'd we stop?" Levine asked. He looked down and he and the others gasped – below on the floor of the main rotunda were five more Velociraptors hungrily snarling and cawing at the humans above. Two of them were females and the other three were male. One raptor near the center of the pack was a bit larger than the others, suggesting that she was the alpha.
"Holy cow!" Dr. Sorkin said. "They've set a trap!"
"That figures! We're dead meat if we go down there!" Taylor commented. " At least they can't get us."
"Don't be too sure," Dr. Sorkin explained, shaking her head. "Velociraptors are some of the smartest dinosaurs we've recreated for the park. They're vicious killers that hunt in packs to outsmart their victims, like they've done to us. They've probably got a plan all figured out. Doesn't it seem strange they're just standing down there and not trying to attack us? You'd think they'd be trying to attack us up here. Something's up."
Grant nodded as he folded up his Isla Nublar map and placed it in his pocket. He knew very well how intelligent these animals were.
A loud reptilian snarl came from behind. Everyone whisked around to see a female raptor running down the hall, bearing her teeth. She made a brief pause to create a loud shriek.
"I can't handle this!" Kailey exclaimed. "I'm not ready for this kind of stuff!"
Tim wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. "Don't worry, we'll figure some way to escape. We've got to!"
Just then, Levine got a brilliant idea. Briskly, he ran along the edge of the second floor away from the group. The female raptor fluffed out her neck quills and hissed. Were humans really this dumb?
"What are you doing?" Dr. Sorkin called out to Levine. "Are you crazy? Get back here! We only stand a chance as a group!"
The female raptor was faced with a choice: attack the group, or attack a defenseless, unarmed human who merely has to leap from the second floor to become their next meal. Roaring, she strode out toward Levine with a great burst of speed. Lex, Kailey and Dr. Sorkin shut their eyes, not ready to see the death of Levine. The tenacious raptor leaped into the air, opening its jaws and pulling all four of its clawed limbs forward to attack her prey . . . but Levine suddenly leaped off edge of the second floor and grabbed hold of one of the ropes that was hanging from the ceiling, letting the raptor not only miss her prey, but fall down toward her other pack members (these were the same ropes that once held up the decorative dinosaur skeletons before they were destroyed).
The fallen raptor received growls and snarls from her pack-mates when she knocked into them as she fell, but she was otherwise unharmed.
"Way to go, Levine!" Taylor yelled. Dr. Sorkin smiled. That was slick, she thought.
In a similar fashion to Tarzan, Levine swung effortlessly toward the opposite side of the Center. This is a breeze! he thought. But he had thought too soon. As soon as he released his grip, he fell to the floor with a loud thud. "Oof!" he cried. Too bad he couldn't land like Tarzan too!
No sooner had he landed did the alpha raptor suddenly take notice. Realizing that they now had easy prey, she began making several bird-like calls to get her pack's attention. With their new orders, the angry pack raced toward Levine.
Levine's eyes slowly looked over at the dinosaurs coming over to his direction. "OK," he said, "time to get out of here!" He rushed to his feet and fled down one of the corridors of the Visitor Center with the raptors on his tail.
"Come on, let's get down from here!" Grant ordered the others. Not wasting anytime, he helped Lex, Tim and Kailey down the bungee cord rope to the first floor. Just as Grant was helping Taylor down, he noticed a familiar face come stalking back into this part of the building – the alpha raptor! And she wasn't alone either – two males and another female were by her side. They expected that Grant and the others would come to their level once they'd left the area. Grant broke a sweat. We aren't finished with this yet!
The alpha gave out a signal and they bounded forward, ready to sink their teeth into their victims.
Tim looked around the Center – they could either run outside or into the kitchen area. He chose the latter and Lex and Kailey followed behind him. A female and male raptor split off from the alpha and the other male and chased them, leaving the alpha and her mate to Grant's group. Grant hustled Taylor off of the bungee cord and back onto the second floor as the dinosaurs approached them.
"Can they get up here?" Taylor asked.
Before an answer was given, the alpha female snarled and made a great bound with her legs. She soared through the air and clutched onto the side of the second floor! These animals were amazing jumpers and both would be able to reach Grant and the others in seconds.
"Let's go back down the hall!" Dr. Sorkin suggested. Obediently, Grant and Taylor followed as the alpha raptor and her mate made their way up. The male cawed at the female. She turned to him and roared, urging him to follow her lead, and they continued the pursuit after their prey.
Quietly, Ryan, soldier #1 and soldier #2 followed the sounds of the male Velociraptor. Their guns were ready to shoot in case the animal decided to attack them. Ryan and the other soldiers were now just exiting the hatchery via the broken window that led to the turn-around ride Grant, Ellie and Malcolm had ridden just before entering the hatchery 20 years earlier.
Alright, wise guy, Ryan rhetorically asked the raptor, where are you. I'm determined to make you the first target for my gun!
The three military men walked slowly in front of the row of chairs belonging to the turn-around ride. Once past it, they saw another large window that looked into the Control Room. Ryan, however, took no time to look; he was focused on finding this dinosaur!
"I think we're still following it, Captain Ryan," said soldier #1, gesturing straight ahead.
Ryan nodded his head in acknowledgment. The sounds the raptor made were indeed just down the path they were heading. The raptor's noises weren't loud, only a few sniffing and low snarling sounds were heard. Perhaps the animal was merely nosing around the area to get familiar with it.
As they were about to round a corner, Ryan stopped the other soldiers in their tracks – he saw the raptor hunched over a small plant next to a pair of swinging doors; it was sniffing it. I think we've got it cornered!
Then the raptor looked up at the doors in front of it. Lifting its right hand up to the door, the intelligent carnivore pushed the doors open and walked through them. The doors swung shut behind him. Ryan sighed. "Tracking this raptor's going to be harder than we originally thought," he told himself.
Levine continued running down the hall as quickly as he could. I've got to find a way to get this raptor off my tail! He thought. There's no way I can outrun. It'll be on me soon!
He quickly glanced behind him to see only one Velociraptor pursuing. Because it was dark outside from the storm clouds and no light was pouring into the windows, the halls were equally dark. The raptors eyes slightly glowed in the darkness. Levine looked to his left and saw another hallway. Thinking this might be a good time to throw the raptor off, he veered to the left. Unfortunately for him, the raptor was quick to make up its mind and turned on a dime, using its long tail for balance.
"Rats!" Levine exclaimed. With the raptor quickly closing the gap between it and its prey, Levine knew it wouldn't be long before he'd be dino-food. That was when he saw a door ahead of him that led to outside! Perfect! Quickly, he ran banged against the door and it immediately opened . . . but vertically instead of horizontally (in other words, he knocked the door down). The rain had let up greatly so that a beautiful moon was shining above, but Levine didn't have time to admire it if he wanted to survive! Without giving it much thought, he picked up the door and watched as the raptor drew closer to the doorway. Timing it just right, he slammed the door upward and into the raptor's face.
The dinosaur cawed in pain and was momentarily distracted, so Levine turned and saw that this area was fenced in; to his right was the patio for the Cretaceous Cafe, and in front of him was a large swimming pool. Levine headed toward the pool. No sooner had Levine start running did the raptor break the door down. Letting out a loud roar, the creature quickly glanced around the patio before it started coming after Levine again. Levine leaped off the edge of the pool and plunged into the water beneath him.
Tim, Kailey and Lex ran into the Cretaceous Cafe, with a male and female pair of Velociraptors chasing them. Seconds after they'd entered, the animals burst through the doors and snarled aggressively.
"What do we do now?" Kailey asked in fright.
Tim quickly glanced around the room when he spotted a long buffet table. While most of the food that was originally on the table had been eaten (presumably by dinosaurs), there was some in large containers sitting on top and behind the table – the food in the containers would have been used to refill the buffet when the food ran out. None of the foods were edible of course, but eating was not what Tim had in mind.
"It's lunchtime dinosaurs!" Tim exclaimed as he led the girls to the table.
"Tim, we're not eating this!" Lex told her brother. The two raptors slowly began to approach the three humans; they were only a few table-rows away from our group. The approach was slow and cautious, as the raptors were obviously assessing the situation instead of running in and simply attacking like any dumber predator would do.
"Eating this was not what I had in mind," Tim said as opened a container of fruit from behind the table and he grabbed a dead-looking pineapple. "But they might!" He lunged the pineapple at the dinosaurs and they hissed. The fruit splattered the second it hit the floor because of its age; this momentarily distracted the raptors.
Kailey and Lex grabbed some various fruits and joined Tim in lunging it at the dinosaurs. The Velociraptors didn't know what to make of this – what kind of prey threw fruit at the predator instead of running away? The female raptor was hit in the head with a large mango and shrieked in surprise. She began backing up a few steps when the male called back to her as he dodged another piece of fruit thrown by Lex.
"This feels so good!" Lex exclaimed as she lunged an apple at the male's head. I love paying back these raptors!
Then the male raptor suddenly made a loud bird-like cry and ran into a table in front of him with his head, causing it to stumble forward. Then, like dominoes, the tables fell forward until they eventually hit the buffet, causing it to fall toward Lex, Tim and Kailey.
"Yikes!" Lex exclaimed as she and the other two leaped back in surprise. The Velociraptors used this opportunity to come forward for the attack. With ease they leaped over the tables – both the ones still standing and on their sides – and snarled.
"What's plan B?" Kailey asked. She was beginning to wonder if they'd survive or not. Drat! Why didn't I stay in California studying the Pteranodons? At least they didn't attack humans anymore. Truly, Kailey wanted to go with Dr. Sorkin on this expedition for three reasons: firstly, she wanted to conduct this study on Nublar's dinosaurs with the person who'd taught her everything she knew about the pterosaurs they studied. Secondly, she wanted to see the dinosaurs of course, as, like most people, she'd never seen them before. Lastly, she wanted to see the park that she'd read about and imagine what it must have been like to be working here before it shut down. Now she wasn't so sure she wanted to be here anymore.
Tim looked thoughtful as the raptors swiftly approached. "The only place left to go is the kitchen," he said at last. He grabbed his sister's arm in his right hand and Kailey's arm in his left hand and pulled them toward the kitchen.
"The kitchen? Not again!" Lex complained, though she wasn't hesitant to avoid the raptors. "Seems like we just did this!"
The alpha raptor and her mate charged after Grant, Taylor and Dr. Sorkin as they raced down the hall on the second floor. No more than a few dozen feet down the hall, they ran into a fork in their path, each of the two directions led down another hall.
"Oh no . . . which way, Laura?" Grant asked as he held Taylor firmly in his grip.
"We're going to get eaten aren't we?" Taylor asked.
"Shh!" Dr. Sorkin said. "I think we should go right." With that, the three took the hall to their right. Once the raptors reached the fork, they came to a stop. Being a smart creature, the alpha female lifted her nose to the air and sniffed.
As they ran down the halls, they passed by several other doors, but Dr. Sorkin insisted they keep running. (It was still very dark outside, but a little light from the moon was able to shine through the thunderclouds, just enough for them to barely see)
"You sure you remember where we're going?" Taylor questioned Dr. Sorkin, but no one answered. The raptor pair continued their stealthy approach, their appearance made extra frightening thanks to their light-sensitive eyes that glowed in the dark.
With only seconds to spare, the humans reached a door at the end of the hall that said: 'STAFF ONLY'.
"This was the room I was trying to reach," Dr. Sorkin explained.
"This better not be some maintenance closet," Taylor almost snapped.
Looking back, Grant saw the glowing eyes of the Velociraptors as they rounded the corner. They snarled lowly and began their approach.
Grant grabbed the doorknob, opened the door and went through it, shutting the door behind them. They found themselves in a large spacious room with a banner overhead that read: Living Fossils. In the center of the room was a large dry aquarium with a small, bare fake tree in it and gravel on the ground. Along the walls were several other dry aquariums, similar to the ones you'd put a pet lizard or turtle in, but large enough for a human to step inside. Also scattered around the area were five large desks with information about each of the "living fossils" on them. Above on the very high ceiling were rows of large skylights (many of which were broken)
"What's this?" Grant asked. "Some sort of exhibit."
"Yeah," Dr. Sorkin answered. "This part of the Center was going to include various living fossils and–"
"What's a living fossil?" Taylor inquired.
"Those are animals we find in the fossil record but are still around today. This exhibit was going to feature creatures like tuataras (a lizard-like reptile), tortoises and scorpions. But they didn't get the animals for this exhibit yet."
Just then, the sound of snarling and growls could be heard from the other side of the door: the raptors were just on the other side!
Grant, Dr. Sorkin and Taylor absentmindedly hid behind one of the desks that was in turn behind the large aquarium in the room's center.
"Did you lock the door?" Dr. Sorkin inquired.
Grant slapped his forehead. How could I forget that?
But it was too late. Not a moment later, the doorknob turned downward and the door was slowly opened. The alpha female's head pushed the door completely open; she took a glance around the room and hissed loudly. She knew her prey was in here . . . somewhere; she could smell them. Her mate appeared by her side, anxious to make a kill.
Splash! Levine landed in the swimming pool and began trying to swim toward the other side. The Velociraptor that was chasing him roared in fury and leaped into the water after his prey. Levine gasped. Yikes! These dinosaurs can swim!
It wasn't the best swimmer in the world, but the dinosaur was in fact, doggie-paddling toward Levine. Its feet and hands kicked the water fiercely. Levine quickly splashed water back at the dinosaur's face, causing it to cough and sneeze (even dinosaurs don't like getting water in their nose!). Fortunately, while the raptor could swim, Levine was by far better at doing so and reached the other side before the raptor could. He got out of the water and ran back toward the building. Being in the middle of the pool, the raptor turned in its prey's direction and started paddling towards him, but by that time Levine was already to the building.
"Catch you later, raptor!" Levine exclaimed and he ran around the corner toward the restaurant patio, leaving the dinosaur in the water. But this reptile wasn't finished with this hunt yet . . .
Tim, Lex and Kailey burst through the kitchen door and ran past the various counters toward the other side of the kitchen. The raptors followed.
"Get to the freezer over there," Tim ordered. Obediently, the girls did just that. This was a walk-in freezer, with many tall, silver-colored racks for the non-existent food with wheels on the bottom. As the raptors approached Tim, snarling menacingly, he grabbed a pair steak knife from one of the counters and wielded it at the dinosaurs.
The raptors stepped back and snarled. They didn't know the effects of a knife, but they saw that the knife was quite sharp, so they were cautious. The male raptor ran to the right and the female ran to the left so that a raptor was on each side of Tim. But Tim was unmoved. The dinosaurs simultaneously charged for their prey between them.
"Take this!" Tim cried as he swished the knives in his hands toward his attackers. The dinosaurs made some mock lunges at their feisty target with their jaws, narrowly avoiding getting a bloody nose.
"Look at him go!" Kailey exclaimed in awe as she watched Tim trying to fight off the dinosaurs. The male raptor cawed quietly and turned his head toward the freezer! Perhaps he could attack the women while the female fought off Tim. Taking this opportunity, he started toward them.
"He's coming this way!" Lex nearly screamed. Quickly she grabbed a large container in her hands and prepared to lung it at the raptor. The dinosaur quickly stopped to consider its next move; it wasn't interested in the things humans could throw. He turned back to Tim and noticed that he was concentrated on the female . . .
The female raptor leaped forward with another mock lunge at Tim, still aiming the knife in his right hand. Don't these animals ever get tired of this? he wondered. Just then, the male raptor lunged at him from behind . . . and was hit with the receiving end of Tim's left-handed knife – it was square on the tip of the snout. The injury wasn't serious, but it definitely would end up leaving a mark. The dinosaur shrieked in pain as it stepped back to recover from its injury.
Then as Tim began to feel a sense of victory, he felt a surprise of his own when the female raptor grabbed hold of his arm while he was watching the raptor whom he mildly wounded and pulled him backward to the ground.
"NO-O-O-O!" Lex and Kailey screamed simultaneously. Tim screamed in terror as the female opened its jaws and clawed hands to begin making a meal of him when . . . WHACK! One of the tall racks was pushed from the freezer and smacked the animal in the side (the male saw it in time and leaped out of the way). The Velociraptor made a terrified yelp as the cart continued to push the animal into the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen with a loud bang. The male dinosaur took notice and ran over to the incident.
Ouch! Tim thought. He looked back over at the freezer to see the person responsible for saving his life: Lex.
"Thanks," he said.
Lex shrugged. "Anything for my little brother."
Lex and Kailey helped Tim to his feet as they heard the male raptor's familiar gulping-call from the other side of the kitchen.
"He's calling for help," Tim said. Knowing that by running to the kitchen's exit, the male would overcome them, the three of them ran into the freezer. Across the room, the female got to her feet and returned to full consciousness. Then they both turned toward the freezer – their cold stare aimed at their prey. They roared and ran toward the freezer.
"Shut the door!" Tim exclaimed. The three of them pulled the freezer door tightly shut. No more than a few seconds later, the sounds of the two predatory dinosaurs banging their bodies against the freezer door multiple times. Little did the raptors know that they weren't actually opening the door, and the knob on the freezer was different than the ones they were used to. So, at least for the moment, Tim, Lex and Kailey were safe.
The three of them warmly embraced.
"You were awesome out there, Tim!" Kailey told him.
Tim nodded in acknowledgment. "Thanks. And thanks for saving me out there, Lex."
"Hey, like I said, 'Anything for my little brother.'"
A raptor ferociously knocked its body against the door and snarled. Kailey frowned.
"You sure they can't get in?" Kailey questioned.
"Nah, they shouldn't be able to," Lex confirmed. She giggled. "If anything, they're banging the door closed."
Lex's words were proved correct when a Velociraptor head-butted the door – the dinosaurs were hoping that by knocking inward, they could force the door down. But this freezer was built of strong doors, so all the pushing wouldn't break it.
The freezer was pretty dark, but just enough light from the moon (the storm was clearing up) for them to see shined through a long and slim crack in the wall that led to outside. It wasn't anywhere near large enough for them to make their escape of course, but at least they could see.
Looking around them, Tim sighed. With the raptors outside and no other way out, one thing was clear. "We might be in here for a while," Tim said.
A/N: Well, there you have it, the first part of this raptor attack. I was originally intending to have the whole scene in this chapter, but it turned out to be much longer than I thought it would! Please be sure to come back after I've updated to read Chapter 20 and find out how our heroes escape the Velociraptors (and that's not the only species we'll see in the next chapter either). R&r!
PS. What do YOU think will happen next? Please feel free to express your opinions on what might happen next or what dinosaurs you hope will appear in the next few chapters via comments!