Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 30: Approaching Dusk
A/N: Grant and the others can't seem to escape the raptors for good can they? Here's another enjoyable chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
The alpha female made a loud call and the hunt was back on! The Velociraptors suddenly charged at Grant's group, but Ryan and his men were prepared – soldier #2 raised his rifle and aimed it at one of the dinosaur's chests.
"Give me some time!" soldier #2 said. "I've only got one dart left!"
Grant nodded and, seeing the oncoming raptors, he kicked a stack of nearby crates and they started falling toward the raptors.
The dinosaurs screeched and leaped back in surprise to avoid the boxes falling on them, and this is when soldier #2 fired his gun, smacking a tranquilizer dart into one of the subordinate raptor's hides. The dinosaur yelped before falling to the ground and into sleep.
Grant, Ryan and the two other soldiers used this opportunity to make their way for the steps. The alpha raptor saw them running and snarled. She called to her mate and the two of them leaped over the pile of fallen crates and presumed the chase (the other raptor stayed by the fallen pack-mate).
"They're gaining!" Ryan told the other three men. He whirled around and decided to fire his last dart. He pulled the trigger and missed. "Drat!" he exclaimed. "Now we're all pretty much defenseless!" The raptors' snarling and growling was heard behind the men as they neared the staircase that would lead them to safety.
All I have to do, Grant reminded himself, is get up the stairs, go outside and then shut the door. Then we should be safe.
Unfortunately as Ryan and the other soldiers started up the stairs, Grant tripped on a heavy brick lying on the ground. Grant looked back and saw the raptors no more than six or seven strides away!
"Take this!" Ryan yelled as he lunged his now useless gun into the air in the dinosaur's direction. The male raptor roared when it saw the gun but it was too late to dodge and the gun hit the creature in the face. As its tail swerved to its left, it caused its mate to fumble. She fell to the floor while her mate shook his head rapidly to regain his equilibrium.
Ryan turned and helped Grant to his feet. "Come on, Grant," Ryan encouraged. The two of them raced up the steps just as the alpha female got to her feet. She snapped viciously at her mate for causing her to fall and the two of them continued after the humans.
Grant hurriedly made it to the halfway point on the stairs and looked down – the dinosaurs began to approach and snarled. Without further ado, they started to climb the steps – the female in the lead (there was only room to move single-file on the staircase).
Soldier #1 pushed the door open and he and the others dashed out into the jungle with the raptors close behind. But just as Grant was about to get through, the female raptor lunged forward, grabbed hold of his shoe and started to pull him back. Ryan and soldier #2 each grabbed one of Grant's arms and pulled in their direction.
"Come on guys! Pull harder!" Grant exclaimed.
"We're not letting go, Grant!" Ryan told him.
The female Velociraptor emitted a loud cawing sound as she used all of her strength to attempt claiming her meal. This is when soldier #1 held up his gun and whacked the animal's gnarly head with the gun's butt. The raptor opened its mouth to growl in surprise and let go, freeing Grant so Ryan and the other soldier could pull him out of the door.
The female raptor shook her head and roared. She rushed toward the door and was just about to forge her head and body through the gap when Ryan and soldier #2 slammed it in her face. Retrieving a rope from his pocket, Ryan quickly tied it around the door knob to keep it sealed long enough for them to leave the area.
Knowing her defeat, the alpha raptor roared angrily as she banged her head against the door – the door held and Grant's group – at least for the moment – was safe.
Grant realized he had been holding his breath and released. "Oh man," he started. "Too . . . close."
"Everything OK guys?" Dr. Sorkin asked as she and Taylor came out of hiding and approached the men.
Ryan nodded. "Yeah, other than the fact that we've used up all of our ammo for the guns, we're OK. We're still alive."
"That's good," Dr. Sorkin agreed.
A moment of silence fell upon the group as they used the next minute or two to catch their breaths. The only other sounds that could be heard were the sweet tweeting sounds of tropical birds and the loud yet relaxing moaning-like calls of dinosaurs – Brachiosaurus by the sound of it. Dr. Sorkin broke the silence.
"Well, I guess we should get a move on in case the raptors find a way out of the network tunnels," she suggested.
"Good idea," Grant said. "But where to go . . . I have no idea."
"Any where's better than those tunnels," soldier #2 told him.
Ryan looked up at Dr. Sorkin. "Do you know where we are, Dr. Sorkin?"
"Not exactly, but I have a rough idea. Look at the sun!" Everyone looked at the slightly setting sun before Dr. Sorkin continued. "The sun's starting to set. Since it sets in the west, we should be able to indicate which direction north is."
"That's probably the best idea I've heard all day," Grant acknowledged. "But once we reach the north shore of the island and find the North Dock, where do we go from there?"
"Better question: how are we going to get off the island from there?" soldier #1 added.
Dr. Sorkin shrugged. "I really don't know guys, I wish I did. The best thing to do now is just get to the North Dock. After that, we can start trying to figure out a way to get off the island."
"Alright then, let's move on," Ryan ordered.
Levine continued leading his group further and further into the jungle, but with the sun setting, it was obvious that they'd have to find a place to remain for the night.
"Does someone have a flashlight?" Kailey asked. "We might need one if we can't find a good sleeping place."
"We have to find a sleeping place!" Levine exclaimed. "I mean, we all know this island's far too dangerous to spend it roaming around, let alone doing so at night!"
Just then, a loud rumbling sound was heard – yet, it was unlike the rumbling sounds typically heard by dinosaurs.
"What was that?" Rob asked.
"Oh, that was my stomach," Tim announced. Tim and the others hadn't had much to eat all day, in fact, the only time they had to actually eat something was a few hours earlier and all they had were granola bars. "Did anyone bring anything other than a granola bar? Because those things just don't hold me."
Lex shook her head. "Sorry, Timmy. We had some more food, but it's all in the trailers."
Levine sighed and looked at the darkening jungle around him. Then he glanced a look at his watch: 6:30 p.m. Pretty soon, it would be completely dark out here.
"Where are the other remnants of the park?" Rob questioned. "You know, other buildings. They're probably rundown and loaded with dinosaurs, but I'd rather run into dinosaurs in the buildings rather than in the jungle. Not to mention, don't Troodon come out in the jungle at night."
Levine nodded and answered, "Yes they do, and even though the Jurassic Park was built on this island, most of the island was kept forested. That's why we haven't run into any man-made structures since we left the Visitor Center."
Kailey shivered at the thought of the Troodon. She vividly remembered the creatures' eerie clicking sounds, their nightmarish eyes and ghastly teeth. "I really don't want to run into those dinosaurs again. Can't we just find a tree to sleep in?"
"That's the problem," Levine told her. "Take a look around you. See any trees that are suitable for us?"
Kailey looked at the trees and frowned – even though this part of the jungle was dense, all the tree trunks she could see were pretty smooth and had no branches low enough for them to use to climb upward. "There's got to be something we can do."
All of a sudden, a loud dinosaurian shrill was heard and the group froze. They weren't sure what species of dinosaur made the noise.
"Please tell me that's an herbivore . . ." Tim whispered. "We really don't need a carnivore right now!"
For one of the few times since they'd been on Nublar, Tim's wish actually came true as a small dinosaur poked its head out of a clump of tall grass nearby. Its eyes glowed like a Troodon, but this was no Troodon, as it had a horny beak instead of a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Hypsilophodon!" Levine exclaimed. The little dinosaur – no taller than a sheep – chirped and completely exited the foliage, and it wasn't alone. Following it were around a dozen other Hypsilophodon. These guys must have pretty good night vision if their eyes glow in the dark, Levine thought.
"Finally, some cute little dinosaurs," Lex said. "I could get used to this."
"What do you suppose their doing at night?" Rob asked. "Aren't they wary of twilight predators?"
"Hypsilophodon have some of the most acute senses of any dinosaur," Levine explained. "They have excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing – not so sure about touch and taste though. Because they can see, smell and hear better than we can, they have a higher chance of surviving out here at night than we do."
The dinosaurs paid the humans little attention and continued walking. This gave Kailey an idea.
"Hey, why don't we follow them?" Kailey suggested. "They've got great senses right? They can act as our watchdogs – they'll know when predators are around long before we do!"
Tim grinned. "Good idea, Kailey."
"Yeah, let's follow them," Levine agreed.
The dinosaurs moved through the jungle with a brisk walk, but they were still slow enough for their human tag-a-longs to keep up. After about 15 to 20 or so minutes, the sun was almost completely out of view and the sky had turned beautiful hues of bright pink and dark blue; the first stars appeared in the sky. It was barely light enough to see.
Finally, the dinosaurs led the group to a grove of trees growing in a small clearing in the jungle. The trees in the clearing were relatively short (but they still towered over a human being) and looked very much like palms.
"I wonder why the Hypsilophodon are stopping here," Tim observed. The dinosaurs made quiet clicking sounds amongst themselves as they started to disperse within the clearing. It was only another moment before Tim figured out what the animals were doing – they were feeding. Getting down on all fours, the creatures combed through the leaf litter, looking for what looked like yellow and brown fruits.
"Hey, these fruits look familiar," Lex said as she and Kailey tried to get a closer look at the feeding dinosaurs. Two Hypsilophodon were feeding on one of the 6-12 inch fruits and looked up at the two women.
"They're so cute," Kailey commented. "Look at their big eyes!"
Lex nodded as she bent down to get a closer look at the fruit as Tim joined her from behind. This fruit looks really familiar, Tim thought. It was a little hard to see it well in the dark, but it appeared that the fruit was not only long, but curvy as well, and it was covered in a fleshy outer coat with yellowish-white flesh mottled with brown inside. A grin appeared on his face when he figured it out.
"Hey Levine," he said, "correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've found the fruit of Musa sapientum."
Levine gasped and joined him. He nodded and smiled. "Tim! You're absolutely right!"
Kailey winced. "Now that I think of it, looks a little like a banana to me."
"That's because Musa sapientum is the scientific name of the banana!"
"Bananas grow on this island?!" Rob asked in surprise.
"Yes, I think I recall Dr. Sorkin telling me something about bananas . . ." his voice trailed off as he tried to remember what it was. "Oh! I remember now: she said Triceratops love eating banana leaf. Before InGen came to the island, I think it was the Portuguese that had a short-lived banana plantation here. Once InGen figured out that Triceratops loved banana leaves so much, they brought more banana plants to the island. That must be what these palm-like trees are – banana plants!"
Kailey said, "Great, now we can eat something other than granola bars! Do you suppose the ones on the tree aren't as mottled brown as the ones the Hypsilophodon are eating are?"
"Sure, they're brown only because their bruised. I betcha the dinosaurs come to this spot every so often to eat the bananas that fall to the ground."
"Anyone any good at climbing banana trees?" Tim asked.
"Nope," Levine answered, "but there's another way to get bananas down." He quickly rolled up his sleeves and added, "It's tree shakin' time!"
Within a few minutes, Levine's group was sitting near the Hypsilophodon herd eating their fill of bananas. As Kailey continued to eat, one of the Hypsilophodon looked curiously at her banana and started moving his open mouth toward the fruit.
"Hey!" Kailey exclaimed as she shooed the creature away. "You've got all those bananas on the ground over there. Go eat with your friends."
Tim and the others laughed and the dinosaur reluctantly obeyed. It soon found a fat banana just underneath a pile of fallen leaves. It dove its beak into the banana and its sharp beak was able to pierce the fruit's skin and expose the fleshy innards.
"So if we stock up on bananas, we should be fine," Lex said. "I think everyone has room in their backpacks for extra bananas, right?" The others nodded. "Good, now all we need to do is find a place to sleep for the night."
"What about that tree over there?" Kailey asked.
Levine nodded – the tree Kailey pointed out was one of the few in their immediate vicinity that was actually a tree they could climb up. "Yeah, let's go on and climb up so we can get some sleep. We've got to make good time tomorrow if we're going to reach the North Dock."
The others agreed and after finishing their "dinner" (if you can even call it that) and climbed up the tree that would be theirs for the night. Levine was the last to climb up, and before making the assent, he took one last look at the Hypsilophodon. The peaceful herbivores were still feeding on the bananas. If all of Nublar's dinosaurs were like this, the others and I would be in terrific shape until we manage to get off this island, he thought.
"Hey, Levine?" Kailey asked. "You coming up?"
Levine looked up and said, "Yes, I'm coming." With that, he climbed up the tree, ready for a good night's sleep.
Dodgson sat in the jeep next to Halley as they sat in the darkness of the forest. While Dodgson was in deep thought, Halley was wrapping a bandana around her arm where the baby T. rex bit her earlier.
"Can't believe that dinosaur bit me!" Halley exclaimed. "It's only a baby!"
"What did you expect it to do?" Dodgson asked. "Just lie there still so we could inject the tranquilizer?"
Dodgson looked up the sky and determined that it was time to find a good place to set up camp until morning. He didn't have nearly as many eggs as he'd hoped to have had by now, he didn't have Howard King and he didn't have Dr. Baselton to help him anymore, but at least he had several Nothronychus eggs. What matters is that I have those eggs, Dodgson thought. Then we have all we need to save the company from ruin and Biosyn will be the most sophisticated bioengineering corporation in the world!
He turned to his sister and said, "We should probably get moving."
Halley nodded and Dodgson started up the ignition and began driving down the road.
"So . . ." Halley began, "with Baselton and Howard gone . . . does that mean I get half of the money we earn from this expedition?"
"Nobody gets any money if we don't get these eggs off the island and back to Biosyn first!" Dodgson snapped.
"Where are we going now?"
"We're just going to keep driving until we find a good place to set up camp for the night. Then, in the morning, we're going to contact the company to have the Biosyn chopper come and get us. Then, we'll get to the mainland and see what we can do with the dinosaur eggs."
Dodgson continued driving down the road for several minutes when he made a turn and saw five large animals sitting in the middle of the road!
"Stop, Dodgson!" Halley exclaimed.
Dodgson pushed on the brake pedal and the jeep skidded to a sudden stop. "What on earth are those dinosaurs?" Dodgson asked as he and Halley stared at the creatures in front of them.
Just about every dinosaur Dodgson had seen so far was bizarre – these creatures bore the basic ornithopod body shape, but their heads were very different. The backs of their quite flat heads were studded with bumps and spikes. The dinosaurs were sitting in a large puddle created by the rain last night, much like a herd of African buffalo might do on the African plains. These were the dinosaurs Levine, Grant and the others saw yesterday identified as Dracorex. They looked up passively at Dodgson's jeep; one of the dinosaurs stood up and shook itself off, but they didn't leave.
"What on earth are they doing in the middle of the road?" Dodgson asked.
"Who knows," Halley responded. "I think they're called Pachycephalosaurus. (Halley didn't know about Dracorex) I guess we'll have to find a way around them."
Dodgson shook his head. "I don't think so."
"What are you going to do? Running them over would really total this car!"
But that's not what Dodgson had in mind. He pressed the gas and slowly drove toward the closest Dracorex. The jeep lightly bumped the animal's flank and it rose onto its feet and made a loud bellowing sound of surprise before merely sitting in another section of the mud puddle. This is when Halley reached in front of Dodgson and pressed the horn. The horn flared and the animals started to become aroused – the other dinosaurs rose to their feet and began emitting bellowing sounds. This isn't good, he thought.
Dodgson started slowly reversing the car, but suddenly one of the Dracorex turned toward the jeep, lowed its head and snorted before putting forth a great charge toward the vehicle!
Halley exclaimed, "Look out!"
The dinosaur hit the front of the jeep with a loud bang, causing it to jerk backward.
"Whoa!" Dodgson exclaimed. Just then another Dracorex did the same thing and hit the front of the car. "The car won't survive much of this!"
The other four Dracorex started running towards the jeep and a powerful impact was felt again from the front! Then another impact came from the right side, and another one from the left! There was no way the jeep would survive this constant banging. One of the Dracorex took a few steps back before running forward with its head level to the ground. Its head slammed into the jeep so hard in the front that the engine shut off. On the side a Dracorex made a huge dent into Dodgson's door.
"Abandon jeep!" Dodgson exclaimed. He and Halley quickly unbuckled their seat-belts and leaped from the back of the jeep and ran toward the jungle. One Dracorex saw them fleeing and emitted a loud yelp before charging at them with full speed. The others caught on and they also joined the chase.
He came back into consciousness and felt pain all over his body; he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder; large lacerations were made along his back where the mother dinosaur had used her sharp hand claws. Devastating and bloody wounds covered his back. In short, Howard was hurting all over.
What happened . . . he thought. At first, he didn't really remember what happened. All he knew was that he was in a lot of pain. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw that he was lying on his back looking up at the stars and moon above him. Slowly looking to his right, he saw the large bodies of the Gigantoraptor parents nearby – one (the female) was sitting on top of her nest of eggs, the other (the male) was sitting next to the nest. Both were fast asleep.
Now Dodgson remembered everything that happened – when Dodgson and his group had tried gathering Gigantoraptor eggs, the parents came back to the nest and when Howard tripped, the mother made use of her sharp hand and foot claws. She'd scraped at his back, pecked at his shoulder region with her beak and after she was finished toying with him, she kicked him into the air and after he landed on his back, she returned to her nest. Howard considered himself fortunate to be alive . . . and even more fortunate that he could move his body!
I hope those dinosaurs don't wake up, Howard thought. I need to get out of here, fast!
Howard rolled onto his stomach, feeling even more pain, and somehow managed to get himself onto his feet. Having just regained consciousness, he was a bit woozy at first and ended up placing his left foot on a stick which soon snapped. Howard realized his mistake and glanced at the Gigantoraptor pair: the mother twitched and slightly opened her eyes . . . fortunately for Howard, she re-closed them and went back to sleep. Alright, let's get out of here, Howard told himself.
Slowly but surely, he made his way out of the clearing and into the jungle. It was now that he realized he was on his own in one of the most dangerous places on the planet. "I can't believe Dodgson just left me there!" he said. "When I get back home, he's going to be hearing from my lawyers. I wish I had a flashlight, it's almost too dark out here to see."
The sound of an animal nearby made him flinch. He looked around him to see what the creature was . . . a small black animal with pterosaur-like wings suddenly swooped from the trees towards Howard!
"Ahh!" Howard exclaimed. He ducked down and the animal merely flew over him: it was a bat. "Phew! Bats, I'm fine with."
Howard wasn't an expert on animals, but he did know a thing or two about bats: it eased him when he recalled that only vampire bats were responsible for sucking blood (and there was none of them on Nublar) and that bats weren't common carriers of rabies.
After the bat flew away, Howard continued to walk briskly through the jungle; even though his body was aching, the thought of finding a good place to spend the night was probably what kept him going.
Grant continued leading Ryan, the other soldiers, Dr. Sorkin and Taylor onward into the jungle. The sounds of large herbivores could be heard – their exact location and species unknown, but they suggested that the group was nearing the edge of the jungle. It was getting increasingly dark and Grant had to hold one of the flashlights so they could see.
"We really need to find somewhere to stay for the night," Dr. Sorkin told the others. Everyone stopped and looked in her direction.
"The trees in this part of the island don't look good for climbing," Grant told her. "If we can find a tree we can climb, then we can spend the night there."
"Didn't you say Troodon come out at night?" Taylor asked. "They're probably watching us now."
"No, we'd hear them," Dr. Sorkin corrected her. "They'll often use their eerie calls to strike fear into their prey and get them on the run and then from an unexpected direction, they come out and strike. Unless we start hearing them, we should be OK."
"But what about tyrannosaurs?" Ryan reminded them.
"Tyrannosaurus is normally a diurnal hunter, meaning it hunts in the daytime. What we'd have to worry about now is raptors and Troodon mainly. They might see the light from the flashlight though, so you might want to turn that off, Grant."
Grant said, "Think the moon's going to give off enough light enough to see?"
"Only one way to find out."
Grant nodded and turned the flashlight off. As expected, it was pitch-black at first, but as their eyes became used to the lack of light, they were able to see just enough to know where they were going.
"What's the plan?" Ryan asked. "We can't just keep wondering in the jungle at night. If those Troodon catch us out here . . . I don't want to loose anyone else."
"Just find a good climbing tree," Grant ordered.
The others nodded and Grant gestured for them to continue walking when they suddenly heard a whooping call – it was like the call of a whooping crane, but slightly different. The group froze in place and Grant knew deep down inside that whatever made that noise wasn't a friendly animal!
A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter. I bet it was surprising to find that Howard wasn't in fact killed by the mother Gigantoraptor; I thought that would be a nice twist to the story. What do you guys think? Also, what dinosaur do you think is responsible for emitting the whooping call heard by Grant's group? Be sure to read the next chapter once its published to find out what the new creature is!