Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 37: Taylor's Story
A/N: This is another rather busy chapter, but I'm pretty sure you all will like it. I figured the coastal caverns mentioned in the story would be a nice touch, as its different from all the other settings the group has faced – the jungle, the river and the network tunnels. The caverns are filled with many dangers, but hey, if it gets them to the coast, they'll face danger head on! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
Halley kicked past jungle foliage of Isla Nublar. After several tens of minutes, she began to realize she had no idea which direction the coast was.
"I guess I should know what direction I'd like to head in to reach the coast," she concluded. She came to stop and looked around her. "Let's see, I think in order to find the coast . . . I'll head east!" Recalling some information she'd learned some time ago, she found a stick and stuck it vertically in the ground. She knew that she could use the stick and the sun's light to determine the directions of north, south, east and west.
Now what? she asked herself. She wasn't quite sure what she should do next. Just then she heard the sound of snapping branches nearby, and they seemed to be heading in her direction! She ducked into some shrubs just in time as medium-sized theropod strode into view.
The theropod looked like a tyrannosaur, but it was only nine feet tall and 20 feet in length. Its head wasn't quite as stocky as that of an adult T. rex, but not as elongated as the juvenile T. rex. Then it hit her – it was an older juvenile or sub-adult Tyrannosaurus rex. Like the adult female she, Dodgson, Howard and Baselton had seen, this individual was a cinnamon color with dark brown stripes, darker in color than those of the adult female.
Scanning the immediate area, the sub-adult Tyrannosaurus sniffed the air and walked slowly forward. Lacking the size advantage of the adults, this dinosaur had to be a more cautious animal. At this age, raptors, spitters and Troodon weren't a problem; older tyrannosaurs were dangerous to her though. Having yet to establish a territory, the young animal was in danger of older tyrannosaurs who could easily seriously injure or kill her.
Halley breathed as quietly as she could. Please don't find me, please don't find me! Halley thought. Fortunately for her, the tyrannosaur growled lowly and continued on its way across the island. Finally, Halley could breath normally again.
"I was that close to being eaten!" she told herself. "Now which way do I go from here?"
Not having a better idea, she walked in the opposite direction of the Tyrannosaurus, hoping to find the coast soon.
Grant's feet splashed through the shallow water as he led the others further into the cave. The scent of sea salt was getting stronger by the minute. Finally, we're on our way home, Grant thought.
"You know," Ryan began, "while we're walking we should really consider how we're going to get off the island."
"Lester will send someone," soldier #1 said. "At least, I hope he will."
"He's got to," Grant told him. "He's going to find out we're missing and they'll be here in a flash."
"Yeah, but who's to say they'll know where we are?" Ryan asked. "We get to the North Dock and let's just say they decide to search the island elsewhere. Or what if they've already searched the North Dock."
Dr. Sorkin objected, "This island's not that big. I mean, it's obviously big enough to sustain a healthy ecosystem of dinosaurs, but it's not too large for Lexico teams to thoroughly search."
Taylor looked up at the cave ceiling, some 50 feet above her head. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "This cave's huge. ECHO!" Her voice echoed loudly through the cave for several seconds.
Soldier #2 whistled in amazement. "How on earth do these caves form?"
"A lot of inland caves are formed by water eroding the limestone," Dr. Sorkin explained, "but not this cave. This cave's known as a tidal cave. Over thousands of years, flooding and crashing waves rolled into these caves, wearing the rock down and creating vast tunnels such as this. The north-eastern portion of the island is honey-combed with caves like this."
Grant and the others began to approach a bend in the cave. Ryan laughed. "We'll be to the coast in no time. I like traveling in the caves better than over land – tyrannosaurs can't through the cave entrances, the water's way too shallow for a mosasaur and there aren't many hiding places for raptors and Troodon."
A faint but still all too familiar whooping sound – similar to the sound of a whooping crane – sounded up ahead and everyone froze in their tracks.
"Dilophosaurus," Dr. Sorkin whispered. The sound was then repeated, and repeated, and repeated. Then a myriad of different shrills, caws, high-pitched guttural gurgles and other calls were heard. After each sound was emitted, the same sound was repeated.
"Can't we ever get a break?" Ryan asked. "What in the world are Dilophosaurus doing in this cave?"
"Stay here," Grant ordered, "I'll be right back."
"I'm coming too," Dr. Sorkin said.
"Hey, you do remember that we're supposed to be protecting you guys, right?" Ryan reminded them.
"Yeah, but that was when you guys had rifles."
Without another word, Dr. Sorkin and Grant snuck toward the sound and went around the corner.
Grant peaked around the corner of the cave to see a pair of Dilophosaurus standing some 100 feet away. (The cave widened to about 100 feet in this area before thinning to about half that width) They were the same size and color as the ones that attacked Howard the night before.
One individual had a slightly brighter colored crest than the other. Facing the other individual, he opened his brilliantly colored neck frill and hooted to the other Dilophosaurus. The other spitter did the same, she opened her neck frill and hooted a reply. One dinosaur would make a call while the other one would repeat the action.
"Oh my gosh," Grant breathed, "it's gotta be a courtship ritual."
"Look at those brilliant colors," Dr. Sorkin commented. "I suspected Dilophosaurus might use its neck frill in courtship displays if we had male individuals, and I was right! Look at the pair. The one with the brighter coloration is undoubtedly the male, while the other one is the female."
"Why are these guys in the cave though?"
"Who knows, but this is incredible. I wish we could stay here and study them longer; unfortunately, we've got to escape this cave."
"Yes. They look occupied, so maybe we can sneak past them without them seeing us as prey."
Dr. Sorkin nodded and they snuck back to the others.
Stanley followed the human tracks through the jungle away from the Visitor Center; trailing behind him were five gun-bearing soldiers, Kelly, Eric and five more gun-bearing soldiers. The plan was for this portion of the rescue team to follow the trail left by the research team while a helicopter at the Visitor Center would be ready to fly at a moment's notice to avoid fatalities. This part of the jungle wasn't as dense as in other parts (almost like the open woodland area the research team met the Microraptors in, only more tropical).
Step by step, Stanley retraced this half of the research team's steps via footprints. He'd already worked out that the little girl was not among this group – this half of the research team consisted only of adults.
So there were six of you, Stanley thought, and you ran into the jungle to escape the predatory dinosaurs.
Finally, he came to a tree and concluded that the group must have slept in it for the night and/or escaped from the dinosaurs in it.
"Wow, you are good," Kelly commented. "Where did they go after that?"
"Well," Stanley began to explain, ". . . let's see, the footprints seem to suggest they left their tree and walked this way. Other signs in this location include snapped twigs and squashed foliage on the ground. They're not in a hurry as they walked this way."
Suddenly a large dragonfly zoomed toward Kelly's head. "Yikes!" she exclaimed as she ducked to avoid the insects. It darted in between the trees before hovering in place nearby. "Wow! A dragonfly!"
"Yes," Stanley responded. "It's a beautiful specimen; rather large too."
"Ah that's nothing," said Eric. "Did you know that in the Carboniferous there used to be giant dragonflies with a wingspan of two to three feet! The largest was called Meganeura, and its remains have been found in Pennsylvania and Scotland."
The group stopped to admire the hovering dragonfly. The sun cast a shimmer upon its transparent wings.
"Meganeura?" Kelly asked. She frowned. "I think I've heard that name before."
"Well, I did an episode about ancient insects on my television show, Creatures of the Past! I didn't have to do a whole lot of research for that episode because I do so much researching in my spare time."
"Did InGen clone any giant dragonflies?" asked Stanley.
Eric shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. First of all, I never saw them when I was on Sorna. Second of all, I don't think anyone's figured out how to genetically engineer invertebrates yet. It was hard enough to recreate dinosaurs before they mastered the technique; insects would be even harder because, to my knowledge, mosquitoes don't suck the blood of other insects and the giant insect fossils we've found so far haven't preserved any DNA . . . as far as we know. But the Carboniferous was full of bizarre creatures other than insects: a giant millipede called Arthropleura, which was the length of a car, Mesothelae, a giant sea scorpion (it was once thought to have been a giant spider), a giant scorpion reaching three feet in length and even a fish with strong flippers to move through its environment called Tiktaalik. We talked about them a bit in another episode of Creatures of the Past!
Suddenly, a loud shrill drew the group's attention to a nearby tree where a relatively large, black bird was perched. But the bird wasn't an ordinary bird – it had sharp teeth, clawed hands and an enlarged toe claw, just like a Velociraptor.
"Look at that guy!" one of the soldiers exclaimed. "Should we shoot?" The soldiers cocked their guns and aimed it at the bird – though it was small, they knew that some small creatures InGen had recreated could be quite dangerous (e.g. Compsognathus).
"No, no, no," Eric told them. "That looks like a Microraptor."
The bird leaped off the tree branch and opened its four feathery wings. It zoomed toward the dragonfly with great speed. The dragonfly saw the danger it was in and tried to dart away when SNAP! The Microraptor's jaws snapped closed on the little insects and the Microraptor glided over to another tree branch to feed on its catch.
"Wow," Kelly breathed. "I wish I had my camera. I didn't know that some birds had four wings. Eric, did you see any of those guys on Sorna?"
Eric shook his head. "Not even a chick. Not to say that it's not there, because when I was on the island, I stayed pretty close to the compound and didn't travel too far away. I figured if anyone came looking for me, that's where they'd start. I couldn't stay there though, the raptors liked to call it part of their hunting territory."
As the Microraptor tore apart its catch using its mouth and clawed hands, Stanley turned to the others and said, "It's not the dinosaur that chased half of the research team out of the Visitor Center. It's got the same feet, but it's too small. Our mystery dinosaur appears to be a wee bit smaller than the size of Velociraptor . . . how big is Velociraptor anyway, Eric?"
"Nublarensis is about five to six feet tall and nine to 11 feet long."
"I thought so. But our mystery dinosaur is still dangerous nonetheless! Let's keep moving. Something tells me we're getting really close to the team. I can just feel it!"
"How much you want to bet we'll get off this island alive?" Taylor asked Ryan.
Ryan sighed. "I'd probably bet you." To stop Taylor from saying something negative, he instantly switched the subject and said, "Wow, look at all those skylights on the ceiling."
"Yeah, we wouldn't be able to see without them." Taylor paused. "Do you think dinosaurs could leap into the skylights and down here to attack us?"
"They'd never survive the fall. They've got to be fifty feet above us. I'm pretty sure the dinosaurs aren't that dumb. They fall down here, it's a long drop to oblivion." He looked at his watch and saw that it was 9:59 a.m. I hope we'll be out of these caves by noon. Grant and Dr. Sorkin came from around the corner. "What's the verdict?"
"Dilophosaurus," Dr. Sorkin answered. "But we might be able to sneak around them if we're quiet."
Grant glared at Taylor. "And that means no sassy, sarcastic or negative remarks from you."
"I'm not sassy, negative or sarcastic," Taylor argued.
Sighing, Grant decided not to continue an unnecessary argument.
"So what do we do though?" soldier #1 asked. "They spit venom at us and we're done. We've got no medical care or anything. They can shoot from up to 20 feet away right?"
Dr. Sorkin nodded.
"But, they're preoccupied," Grant added. "There's a pair of them in there, and they're performing a courtship ritual. Just several yards past this corner is another bend in the cave; get past that and we should be fine."
Ryan and the other soldiers nodded. "Alright then."
Grant peaked around the corner again – the Dilophosaurus pair was still engaged in their courtship ritual. By now, the male had his frill extended and was creating a bird-like mating dance by bobbing head head and shaking his arms to the sides while emitting hooting and whooping noises.
"Go now!" Graig whispered.
The clan started walking past the carnivorous theropods. The water was obviously making a splashing sound, no matter how slow they walked, but the dinosaurs didn't notice at this time. Finally, the group was within another meter or two of the next cave-room.
Looking back at his group, Grant was impressed that Taylor had managed to stay quiet so far. He then glanced over at the Dilophosaurus. The male was still in his neck-bobbing routine, and the female began to join him in his dance. She hooted and trilled; apparently, she was liking his display. Then, the male turned around and retrieved a dead fish previously floating in the water next to him in his jaws. He whirled back towards the female and she accepted the gift and presumed to gulp it down her throat.
Dr. Sorkin also was looking back at the action and gasped. "Unbelievable!" she whispered. "To my recollection only avians have been known to give their potential mates gifts in order to woo them into mating!"
"Not now, Doc," Ryan hissed. "Your precious dinosaurs are going to be feasting on you for their honeymoon dinner if you don't keep moving."
"Wait," she said. "I just want to see–"
"Come on, Laura," Grant told her. He grabbed her arm and she reluctantly kept moving. Once the group continued and were finally able to walk around the corner, leaving the courting Dilophosaurus to themselves. Grant took a final look at the dinosaurs, who bore their beautiful frills and hooted to each other and said, "Have a nice date, you two."
"Ow!" Dodgson exclaimed as he tripped over a small log. "Why InGen didn't pave the whole island I'll never know." Since he abandoned Halley in their tree, he'd crossed over a fence and was still looking for the jeep. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find it, so he figured the best thing was to continue walking east (and hope to maybe run into it while he was walking, trying to get to the coast). By looking at his watch he'd learned that it was 10:05 a.m. His rescue helicopter should have been here hours ago!
"Where are those Biosyn choppers?" Dodgson scowled. "They had one thing to do – come over here and get me out of here – and they can't even do that! I'm going to have a long talk with them once I get my hands on them! AND I'm paying them too much!"
He stopped walking and got out his walkie-talkie. He quickly found the frequency and heard:
"Hello, this is Biosyn headquarters, over." It was Phil again.
"Where in on earth are you guys?!" Dodgson boomed.
Phil asked, "What do you mean? They didn't pick you up?"
"It's around ten o' clock in the morning and I'm still on this island. What do you think?"
"Let me check their coordinates, they should be there and back by now." After about a minute or two, Phil said, "They were on their way to the island and about an hour ago their last recorded coordinate is . . . just off the coast of Nublar. Then they vanish."
"Where could they have gone?"
"I don't know. But I can't raise them either, so something dramatic must have happened to them."
"Well, send someone else, ASAP."
"Tiny problem Dodgson, today's maintenance day for the choppers. We only have – had – one chopper ready for action."
Dodgson sighed. "Who's dumb idea was that?"
"Um, yours sir."
Dodgson scowled silently before uttering, "Well, you should have known to make sure another chopper was ready when we left for this expedition. Look, I'll just try and make my way off the island and you send another chopper as soon as they're finished in the shop."
"Roger that, Dodgson."
Dodgson turned the radio off and looked at his surroundings, but it wasn't his surroundings he was thinking about. Wait a minute . . . he thought, who says I have to find the jeep to get dinosaur eggs? All I have to do is find another nest and take at least one egg! Then I'll be in business!
With haste, he continued moving eastward.
"You know you guys can't keep this island a secret, right?" Taylor asked as she and the rest of the group continued walking through the coastal cavern, the scent of sea salt growing ever stronger. Now that they had passed the Dilophosaurus, Taylor was back to her old self. "Oh yeah, once we get off this island, I'll be famous! Just wait till the kids at school hear about this! They'll call me 'Taylor the Dinosaur Survivor'. Think they'll erect a statue of me in town? They probably will. I'll be on celebrity talk shows, I'll be in books, and they might even make a movie about me! That's why I'll . . ."
As she droned on, Grant leaned over to Ryan and asked, "Why is it that when we're on long walks, Taylor's making a lecture?"
"Cause no one else is saying anything," Ryan replied.
"You're probably right."
". . . I can't wait to see who might play my part in a film. There's so many good kid actresses who could be in the movie–"
"Taylor," Grant began, "you'll be fortunate just to have your name written in a story, or even a fanfiction."
"Don't you have a life away from here?" Ryan questioned.
Taylor responded, "Well, yeah. Of course I do. What do you think I've done for the past 11 years? I was actually on my way to Hawaii for my parents rewedding before–"
Dr. Sorkin looked back at her and the group stopped walking; this must have been the first time she was actually interested in what Taylor was talking about. "Rewedding?"
"Yeah." Taylor paused and looked down at her feet before continuing. "See, my parents divorced a few years back . . . it was kind of sad, because my Dad's, like, the best guy in the world. They'd been fighting a lot before the divorce; I'd often hear them quarreling about something from my room. I always had a feeling something would happen to us, but I wasn't exactly sure what . . . and that's when Dad was forced to leave. For a few years it was just my Mom and my siblings. They're cool, but they never could fill Dad's place. My Mom started dating some guys, but they were kind of . . . just really weird. One guy had rings all in his ears – I think six for each ear, and they were really big too – and all in his nose, his lip, his eyebrows, and even his tongue! Their first and at the same time last date only lasted sixty seconds. About six months ago, my Mom started dating Dad again and I guess they got re-hooked."
Grant frowned as Taylor concluded her story. Wow, for an 11-year old, she's been through a lot.
"That's good that your parents are getting remarried," Ryan admitted. "When is the wedding."
Taylor looked thoughtful. "Oh it was supposed to be like . . . how many days have we been on the island?"
"This is our third day," Dr. Sorkin told her.
"Yeah, it's today. I was hoping I'd be there, especially to hang out with my Dad. But I'm stuck here."
"I'd think they'd notice your missing."
Taylor shrugged. "Who knows. They've probably already had it by now."
Grant looked down the cave pathway ahead of them and stared at another turn they'd have to make that veered to the left. Then he looked back at Taylor. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here. Let's keep moving."
The group started walking.
Ryan smiled. "We'll be out of here before we all know it. This is so much quicker than traveling over land. I can practically smell the ocean from here. What could possibly go wrong between here and . . ." The group started walking around the turn and stopped, surprised by what they saw. ". . . there," Ryan finished his sentence.
Before them were seven Dilophosaurus walking through this part of the coastal cave, which must have been about a hundred feet wide. They hadn't noticed the group, but this time, getting around them alive would be a whole lot harder.
"Great," Dr. Sorkin groaned. "This just keeps getting better."
A/N: Finally, Taylor showed her other side in this chapter. How did you all like the return of the Dilophosaurus? Since they're a really cool dinosaur, I figured they deserved a large portion of the story devoted to them. In case anyone's wondering if raptors and T. rex will reappear in the story, they will. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but you will get to read about them again before the story is over, and I'm not exactly sure when it's going to end, but hey, I really look forward to writing this story! I know I didn't feature Levine's group in this chapter (or the last for that matter), but they'll be back in Chapter 38, and when they return, a large portion of the chapter is going to be focusing on them. Don't worry Kailey+Tim fans, expect more of that too! R&r!