Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 25: Lester's New Team

A/N: In this chapter, be expecting intense action, because a major turning point is about to effect one of the teams on Nublar. I'm not going to reveal which one because I don't want to give away the element of surprise. Also, get ready for an all-new dinosaur, which has never appeared in a Jurassic Park-related movie or book before. In fact, it wasn't discovered that long ago (and it was discovered by accident)! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews you all have been giving about the story, that you all have been posting. Enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.

Ian Malcolm walked Sarah "Harding" and himself briskly walked into Lexico Headquarters. The truth was, he really didn't want to be here, but Lester wasn't the kind of guy who'd take "no" for an answer. It was do what he said, or face . . . something. Malcolm never had the opportunity to find out if his threats of imprisonment were real or if he was joking.

The couple entered the building's front door and walked up to the main desk and were greeted by the receptionist. "Hello, Dr. Malcolm! I read your books! I found it so fascinating!"

Malcolm nodded. "Thank you."

"Although, the first one is a bit inaccurate, don't you think?"

Sarah grinned as her husband sighed; this must have been the billionth time he'd heard that comment. "Well, I wasn't intending to write a nonfiction book, rather a story based on a true story."

The lady at the desk shrugged. "Fair enough. By the way, Lester's waiting for you upstairs."

Hammond and Lester looked up from the long table in the conference room when they heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Lester ordered.

Malcolm opened the door and they both walked in. "Oh, hello, Dr. Malcolm!" Hammond said with a smile. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, not since the night when we made that inconvenient visit to your house. Anyways, what are we doing here now, Lester?"

Lester said, "I know it's inconvenient timing, but this meeting can't wait. It's of utmost urgency, I'm afraid. Sit down, would you?" Malcolm and Sarah obeyed by taking a seat at the conference table.

"Ready to start?" Hammond asked Lester.

"No, we're waiting for three more people." Just then, another knock was heard on the door. "Come in."

The door was opened, this time by Lester's "third-in-command" as he called her, Rebecca Brown (Lex was second-in-command). Rebecca Brown was a young woman in her late twenties to early thirties. She had relatively straight brownish-red hair that went a little beyond shoulder length and wore a typical business suit.

"Sir," Rebecca said, "Ms. Malcolm and Mr. Kirby are here to see you."

Malcolm winced. Sarah's already here! Who could Mrs. Malcolm . . .? No . . . it better not be who I think it is!

Malcolm's nightmares came true as Rebecca lead a familiar African-American young lady into the room – yes, this was his own daughter Kelly! Behind her was a young man who looked vaguely familiar to Malcolm, but he couldn't put his finger on who it was for a few seconds . . . and then it occurred to him: this was Eric Kirby.

As you might recall, in 2001, Eric Kirby was para-sailing with his mother's friend, Ben Hildebrand off the coast of Isla Sorna when their boat's crew was eaten by a mysterious aquatic creature (as Grant found out in earlier chapters of this story, probably a mosasaur). Eric and Ben became stranded on the island and only Eric survived. For eight weeks, Eric successfully managed to stay alive and avoid becoming food for the native dinosaurs. Ever since he turned into an adult, he has been working part-time at Lexico Headquarters in the shipment department. His other occupation was hosting paleontology-related shows on the Discovery Channel (his busy schedule was why Lester didn't recruit him to go with the first team to Isla Nublar). As Malcolm would find out, Eric was one of the most ideal people Lester could contact for this mission.

Rebecca handed Lester a stack of paper-filled binders and sat down. With everyone in their seats, Lester stood up and after flipping through some of the papers, he said, "Now, I already am well aware that most of you know next to nothing about what's happened so far from Expedition Nublar." The others shook their heads and Lester continued. "Well, it's been a bit of a disaster to say the least. First, we almost loose some members of our team on Sorna, then we learn that they accidentally took a little girl to the island with them–"

"Wait! You mean like a stowaway?" Eric asked.

"Apparently, and–"

"What's the progress they've made on the island so far concerning their study?" Sarah questioned.

"They were able to successfully figure out what creature was responsible for the jet-skiers deaths almost a month ago. It was a . . ." he looked at his papers to search for the name of the creature, "Lex said it was some kind of mosasaur."

"What's a mosasaur?" asked Kelly.

"That's a family of vicious marine lizard that used to swim in the ocean when the dinosaurs roamed the land," Sarah explained. "Many species of mosasaurs were small, around a meter in length, while others such as Mosasaurus, Tylosaurus and Hainosaurus grew from 40 to well over 50 feet in length. Think of a cross between T. rex, a Komodo dragon and a great white shark that's the size of a whale to get some idea of what it is."

Kelly frowned and slowly nodded at what her mother-in-law said. Yikes! How'd InGen manage to recreate those? Kelly thought. A mosquito can't just dive underwater and suck the blood of a marine reptile.

"Now back to the point," Lester announced. "It was confirmed that dinosaurs have indeed survived on the island, just as they did on Sorna. But the problem is that something went wrong with the expedition. Lex wasn't able to give me the basics about the extent of the wildlife on the island, so I can't tell you anything concerning that. All we know now is that the team seems to have disappeared."

Malcolm gasped. "Oh no . . . don't tell me. We're not going . . . back . . . to Isla Nublar . . . are we?"

"As inconvenient as it seems, yes, yes we are. The reason why I called you here today is because instead of simply sending a rescue team, I need people who know what they're doing. You all have been to one of the two islands before and have already survived attacks from carnivorous dinosaurs. That's why you are my best option."

Malcolm groaned. He never thought he'd ever be involved in going back to a dinosaur-filled island after the last escapade in 1997. "This is starting to sound like one the worst ideas in the long sad history of bad ideas," he told Lester.

"Look, we know it's dangerous, but have a little courage," Hammond said. "Remember, the lives of our loved ones are at stake!"

"Easy for you to say. You just get to stay on the mainland and get updates on this . . . 'rescue mission'."

"Actually, he's going too," Lester said plainly.

Hammond shot a glance at Lester. "What?"

"As the creator of the park itself, you're obliged to attend this expedition. You know as much as anybody about Nublar."

The older man nodded sheepishly as he fiddled with his walking cane. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Sarah leaned over to her husband and said, "This is nice, we're finally going to have the opportunity to encounter dinosaurs again."

Malcolm made a fake grin. "Yeah . . . just perfect . . ." Then he turned to Kelly. "So when since did you get authorized to join this expedition?"

"Rebecca gave me a call right after you guys left," Kelly told her dad. "Like Mom said, 'Lester won't ever take "no" for an answer'."

"Tell me that the kids aren't alone at the house."

"Nope. They're with the babysitter."

Malcolm breathed a sigh of relief. That's probably the best thing that's happened to me today.

Dodgson crouched beneath the foliage of the dense jungle to avoid colliding with a large branch. The dinosaur that made these tracks must have been tall enough to step over the branch, he thought. He was following Baselton as they trailed the dinosaur trackway he'd discovered and was being followed by Halley, who in turn was in front of Howard.

Howard slapped his cheek to kill an insect that had landed there. "Man, InGen should have paved the whole island!" he complained.

"Then there's no essence of journeying to a world where dinosaurs still live," Baselton told him. "If InGen had paved the whole island, it wouldn't seem like a dinosaur safari, would it? Besides, even if they did, I doubt it would be in good condition after some 20 years."

Halley said, "Hey, Dodgson! When we get back to the mainland, you need to split the money into fours, not threes." She already had some idea which members of his group would get the most money unless she pushed for a four-way split.

"We're not dealing with money until we get those eggs first!" Dodgson snapped. "Without eggs, we won't be getting any money. The money is going to what parts of the company need it the most, and that's all there is to it."

"But that's not fair, you always get the most income! I–"

"Shh!" Baselton hushed the group. He slowly stood up and peered out of the foliage, grinning. Before him was a relatively small forest clearing; despite its relatively small size, it was still large enough for a larger theropod or two to move about, but this wasn't what excited Baselton. No, at the far side of the clearing was a large mound constructed of sand, sticks and leaves – the large salad-bowl-like shape harbored what they'd hoped: eggs!

Baselton glanced back at the others and told them to follow him into the clearing.

"Any carnivorous parents around?" Howard asked the scientist nervously.

"Nope," Baselton answered. "It's an unguarded nest . . . perfect for us!"

"Terrific!" Dodgson exclaimed as he dashed ahead of Baselton to reach the nest first. Looking into the nest, he saw 24, 53-centimeter long objects lying in an enormous ring with a diameter of nine to ten feet! Wow! These are perfect! I can't wait until we actually get money for these things!

He turned back to Baselton and the others who were standing in awe nearby. "What do you say, Baselton?" Dodgson asked. "Tyrannosaur nest?"

Baselton shrugged. "Could be, but I don't know. It's definitely a large dinosaur – some species of theropod."

"Well, don't just stand there, guys! Start getting eggs! The parents won't be gone for long!" The rest of the group approached the nest and began trying to gather the eggs. Based on their size, the eggs were quite a handful; only two could be carried at once. Dodgson picked up one of the warm eggs and held it up to the sun. He smiled as the sun's warm rays beamed into the egg, allowing the developing embryo to be seen inside. You're going to make us a load of money!

"Gosh! These eggs are heavy!" Halley complained. "What species did you say, Baselton?"

"I said I didn't know. But they're definitely from a kind of theropod."

"What types did you have in mind?"

"Well, some prime examples of carnivores large enough to lay these eggs are Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus, Giganotosaurus–"

A loud piercing bird-like screech sounded from the edge of the forest. The four humans quickly saw the source of the noise and gasped – a large dinosaur stood at the edge of the clearing, and much like the Nothronychus they stole from earlier, this was no normal theropod! The creature stood 16 feet from head to toe, was around 26 feet long, and didn't look much different than an ostrich from the neck down: it had a large head with a beaked, toothless mouth, big golden eyes, a long neck that was held in an S-shape, long tail and arms and the legs were strong and muscular – this animal was obviously a fast runner. Everything but the dinosaur's blue-colored head – which boasted a blue, fleshy, horn and rooster-like growth above each eye – and tan-colored legs was covered in soft-looking fluff that resembled downy feathers or the fur-like structures seen on pterosaurs that was blackish-gray in coloration. The animal's neck possessed red colored fluff with black patches and its arms possessed long quills. The animal flapped its arms wildly while emitting that loud sound.

"Geepers!" Howard exclaimed in fright as he stood up with his two eggs in hand. "What is that thing?"

"Gigantoraptor," Baselton answered, "a giant oviraptorid from Asia . . . and I bet that's the parent!"

Dodgson placed the eggs down and grasped for the sonic device on his belt . . . only to find that it wasn't there! Drat! I had told Halley to get it when we got out of the jeep! He looked over at Halley. "Where's the sonic device I told you to get?"

Halley gasped. "Oh, oops! Sorry!"

Dodgson didn't like the looks of this situation – his goofy sister had forgotten the device, and now they had an angry parent dinosaur to deal with!

The Gigantoraptor then issued a high-pitched gurgling-like call before it sprinted toward the Dodgson's group and its nest.

Kailey and Lex joined Tim, Levine, Rob and Ben in the plains. Levine had just finished washing his face off when he saw them. "Oh, hey guys! You ready to get a move on?"

"Yeah, we're ready," Lex answered. "Kailey and I were just discussing a potential Plan B for escaping the island and finding the others."

Tim nodded. "OK, shoot."

"Well, we were thinking that since the others are probably going to try and reach the North Dock, we should attempt to get there as well by–"

"We'd already decided that," Levine interrupted.

"I wasn't finished. What I was going to say was that we can reach it by following the coast. If we travel along the coast long enough, eventually we'll reach the North Dock."

"The sun sets in the west and rises in the east, right?" Ben started. "So why not use it to determine which direction we should go."

Everyone looked up at the shining light above them, then Tim looked at his watch: 1:35 p.m. This was not a good time to use the sun as a guide because it was almost directly above them. Tim shook his head. "Using the sun's never a good idea this time of day, and besides, it might be a good idea to find the coast anyway, so that we run a lesser chance of getting lost. Stay on the coast and we'll always somewhat know where we are."

The others nodded in agreement. Levine said, "So we're going to try finding the coast. Let's–"

Just then, a loud noise was heard coming from the jungle to the group's right. The sound of large animals crashing through the forest didn't appeal to Levine. Levine shuddered at the sound. Great, that better not be a carnivore or something.

The trees 50 feet away from Levine's group began to part as a large four-legged animal entered the grassy plains. It was very familiar to the group – at 25-30 feet long, around ten feet tall, it was the size of an elephant and covered in brownish-gray skin with faint black stripes along the back and tail. The characteristic trio of horns on its head – a meter-long one above each eye and a small one on the snout – and the fan-shaped frill on the back of the head made the identification of this creature clear – Levine and the others were looking at Triceratops.

"Grab as many eggs as you can carry and run!" Baselton exclaimed. Everyone obeyed (though Halle dropped the eggs in her arms back into the nest) and, with Howard in the lead, started running as fast as they could toward the edge of the clearing, leaving 18 eggs in the nest.

The angry Gigantoraptor raced after the egg-thieves with great ferocity. Its long legs and slender build gave it the upper hand in this chase. Dodgson could hear the sounds of the dinosaur's footfalls, but if they could make it to the dense forest, perhaps they would be able to escape.

Howard came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the clearing. Once the group reached him, they understood why – out of the foliage, another Gigantoraptor was approaching. Unlike the first one that appeared, this one was duller in color – grayish coloration endowed her body – but she was still quite similar to the other individual. The female Gigantoraptor, was carrying the body of a small dinosaur in her beak. Upon seeing the humans in her nesting area, she dropped the dinosaur and shrieked loudly before thundering towards them.

"Yikes!" Dodgson screamed as he eyed the Gigantoraptors, who were coming at them from both behind and in front. "We need to distract them with something!" They all knew they wouldn't have much time to distract, as the furious parent dinosaurs were coming up fast!

"What can we distract them with?" Howard asked.

Then Dodgson looked to his left and saw that the edge of the forest wasn't too far away. Maybe if we can reach it in time . . . he thought. He wasn't sure they'd made it, but they didn't have any other options. Do Dodgson gestured to the others to follow his lead and they dashed off toward the forest to their left. The Gigantoraptors merely turned on a dime and continued the pursuit, screaming at the top of their lungs.

As they reached the forest's edge, Howard suddenly tripped on the rock barely visible in the grass and was sent falling to the ground, dropping the eggs in the process. (Fortunately, the eggs were tough and suffered no more than a light fall when they collided with the grass). This worked out better than planned, Dodgson thought as he, Halley and Baselton merely continued into the jungle, leaving Howard lying on the ground.

"Wait!" Baselton exclaimed. "What about Howard?"

"What about him?" Dodgson snapped. "If you value the money we'll make from these eggs you'll follow me! Come on!"

Reluctantly, Baselton obeyed.

"What just happened?" Howard thought. His fall had left him little dizzy. As his vision came into focus, he looked up in time to see the giant 2.5 ton female Gigantoraptor come stampeding in his direction (the male continued to follow Dodgson and the others). "AHH!" Howard screamed.

He quickly picked himself up and started off toward the forest until he felt a sharp pain jab his shoulder region. "OUCH!" he cried as he buckled to the ground – the mother Gigantoraptor had just knocked Howard down with her strong, bird-like beak. Now on the ground lying flat on his face, Howard still didn't get a break from the torture as the dinosaur brought the ferocious claws of her right hand down on him. A sharp, piercing pain was felt in Howard shoulder region as she dug her claws into him.

And as if that wasn't enough, she took her foot claws and raked them along his back, making devastating wounds.

Dodgson and the others quickly threw the eggs into the back of the jeep – he'd have to put them in the egg-holder after they'd escaped the angry father Gigantoraptor that could still be heard in the forest behind him.

"Come on!" Halley cried as the dinosaur erupted from the trees nearby. "GO! GO! GO!"

Dodgson hurriedly turned the ignition on, pressed the gas pedal and the truck took off . . . with an angry Gigantoraptor not too far behind. Emitting a strange clucking sound, the dinosaur charged after the jeep with great speed.

"Must go faster . . ." Baselton told Dodgson.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Dodgson snapped.

He watched the speed of the jeep slowly climb . . . 10 mph . . . 12 mph . . . 14 mph . . . unfortunately, it wasn't going very fast due to the road condition (after all, would you expect a jungle road to be in good condition after more than 20 years of non-use?).

"AHH!" Dodgson heard Halley scream. He looked into his mirror and saw the bird-like head of Gigantoraptor glaring into the glass as it rapidly caught up to the car. The creature let out a scary-sounding cackle as Dodgson read the tiny words underneath the mirror: "Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear."

. . . 22 mph . . . 27 mph . . . 33 mph . . . Suddenly, the Gigantoraptor put forth a great burst of speed and ran right alongside the jeep. Halley screamed again.

"Let's give the eggs back now!" Halley suggested.

"I don't think so!" snapped Dodgson. "We went through all that trouble to get them, and we're not giving them back! That's your money too."

The dinosaur rammed its beaked head into the side of the jeep with surprisingly strong force. The jeep started to swerve after the impact and Baselton and Halley held onto the sides of the jeep to avoid getting thrashed around as Dodgson did his best to steady it. But the father Gigantoraptor wasn't finished with this yet and had another trick up his sleeve (or wherever); getting enough momentum, he rammed his chest into the jeep once . . . and then again . . . then again . . . and yet again. Dodgson tried best he could to stay on the road. But around a bend in the path came something unexpected . . . a fallen tree! The three humans screamed loudly as the jeep violently collided with the tree and a large branch was forged straight through the windshield. The last thing Dodgson remembered was his head hitting the dashboard, knocking him out cold.

"Wow! Triceratops!" Lex exclaimed. She and the others watched as an entire herd of them ambled out into the open; the herd appeared to consist of over 20-30 individuals, including the young which followed their mothers. Despite their appearance, the Triceratops appeared to be peaceful creatures. They made loud bellowing, snorting and trilling sounds to each other. Then the dinosaurs began feasting on the various shrubs and small trees that they considering appetizing.

"This is unreal," Levine said quietly as he watched the dinosaurs. "Each of these adult animals must weigh anywhere from between six to twelve tons in weight. Fortunately, they're mostly peaceful herbivores unless provoked."

"Did you know Triceratops was once thought to be an extinct species of bison?" Tim asked.

"No, I didn't actually," Kailey said. She glanced over at Tim and saw the excitement in his eyes as he watched the Triceratops feeding. This island experience really isn't as bad as it could be, she thought, we're still alive, we have a plan to get out of here . . . and I might even have started to develop a love interest.

A/N: Gigantoraptor was only discovered in 2005 . . . so for those of you who are wondering why on earth there would be one on Isla Nublar when the dinosaurs for the island were cloned in the late 20th century, don't worry. The reason for this will be revealed in an upcoming chapter. Anyway, what did you all think of Gigantoraptor? I personally love this dinosaur, which is why I thought it would be a great addition to the story. Until next time . . . r&r!