Disclaimer: Jurassic World and the Jurassic Park franchise are the property of Universal Studios, Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow. I own nothing from this story aside from the plot.
Author's note: Hello again readers! Apologies for the lateness of this chapter but I've been bogged down with work lately and couldn't find the time to read through it so I sent it to a couple of friends for beta reading, but now its done and I hope its worth the wait. I'm already halfway through the next chapter, so if all goes well, it'll be out by Halloween. And thank you so much again for all the reviews, the faves and the follows, you guys are awesome!
Comments, criticism and suggestions are always welcome, I always love reading them. Feel free to point out any mistakes, grammatical or otherwise.
After a few minutes into his trek through the jungle, Royce began to see the telltale signs of an attack. Nothing completely obvious, but noticeable nonetheless.
It was his jungle training as a Ranger that made him notice it, Rangers were supposed to keep their senses sharp and alert in case of traps or ambushes. Once he started examining the surroundings, the signs became a lot clearer.
A trampled section of undergrowth here, broken branches on a tree there and a faint coppery scent permeated the air. These were small things that would escape the notice of a normal person but to him, it was enough to put the hairs on the back of his neck on end.
Something didn't feel right about this place.
Back in the car, Zara was happily discussing with the two boys about what activities they were going to do the next day, completely unaware of the danger that lurked outside.
As the trooper ventured deeper in, more obvious signs of the attack began to show. The leaves on some of the bushes were speckled with blood, fresh blood from the looks of it, and footprints, human and dinosaur were strewn about the forest floor.
So they came in and came out the same way, pursued by whatever creature that attacked the Sprinter. The coppery scent was a lot stronger here as well and that made him tighten his grip on the gun. He was getting close alright.
A few feet ahead, he saw a discarded taser rifle, a weapon that fired supercharged electric darts to stun the dinosaurs. The weapon was still active, humming with a low whine when he picked it up, the person who left it behind must have been in a real hurry. Further examination of the rifle revealed that the grip was slick with blood, dripping steadily onto the forest floor.
They went after this thing with non lethals…
The thought of it made him shiver in fear, ACU troopers were the best of the best, having a ninety nine percent success rate at capturing the animals non-lethally. But this predator had some of them running scared.
"Whatever it was did a real number on these guys," He muttered grimly.
That tranquilizer rifle suddenly felt like dead weight.
Claire frantically ran down the steps of the innovation center, once she arrived at the bottom, she swiveled her head left and right to find any trace of where Owen went but she couldn't find him among the people that now crowded the building.
"Claire!"
She turned around at the familiar voice and breathed a sigh relief at the sight of the raptor handler coming towards her.
"Owen, I need your help," She said as he came close to her.
"Ok, what happened?"
"ZaraandmynephewsareoutinthevalleyandIfanythinghappenstothem, I-I-I," She babbled, stammering near the end.
"Whoa, calm down and back up for a second, what happened?" He said, voice firm as he put a hand on Claire's shoulder to try and calm her down.
She took several breaths to recompose herself and explained the situation to him again, "Zara's taking my nephews for a tour of the park, right now they're stuck in the valley and I can't contact them. The phones and radios aren't working, I don't know what to do and if anything happened to them…" She trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes.
He immediately nodded, "Ok, Let's go."
Farther into the jungle, near a small stream of water, a horrifying scene of blood and carnage stood before him, the bodies of the ACU team sent in here lay broken and battered. Some lay perfectly still on their backs, mouths and eyes open in silent horror at what they had faced while one was floating face down in the water, turning the clear pool into a murky red.
Another one was too mangled to identify, just a collection of flesh and shredded clothing, as if some animal had chewed it up and spat it out.
He heard a groaning noise coming from his right, turning his attention to it and found Lee, another trooper. He was sitting back against a tree, blood oozed from three large holes on the right side of his uniform, turning it a dark shade of red.
The former Ranger ran up to him and began inspecting his wounds, the other trooper was relieved and surprised to see him.
"Royce, what the hell are you doing here?" He wheezed out.
"I'm escorting some VIPs through this area, got blocked by that sprinter," Royce began applying pressure to the wound, hoping to stop the blood flow, "How bad is it?"
"Internal bleeding, a punctured lung and I think I broke a couple of ribs."
"I need to get you out of here."
"But back up for a sec, you have civvies with you? You need to get the hell out of here man…" Lee sputtered, gripping tightly onto Royce's sleeve and coughing out spats of blood.
"Come on, stay with me, "The other trooper pulled out his radio and contacted the control room, "Control, this is Predator 2-1. I have one survivor, critically injured and requiring immediate medivac, over."
The only answer he received was static.
Lee chuckled weakly, coughing up more blood, "If it was that easy, I'd be outta here by now, you know?" He said, voice shaking from the pain.
"What happened here?"
"It was a trap, and we fell right into it. It can camouflage…." He began hyperventilating, his body couldn't hold out much longer.
Royce's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "You're not making any sense, what attacked you?"
"Please god, let me live, I don't want to die here."
"Keep it together man, what happened?"
Just before succumbing, Lee muttered two words that made his blood run cold.
"C-code nine…"
"NINETEEN! We have a code nineteen, you have to get out of there now!" The radio crackled, Claire's voice screaming through it.
That made her blood run cold, nineteen was the code number used for the Indominus escaping its paddock.
Before Zara could respond, the ground trembled with the footfalls of a mighty animal, making the car wobble on its suspension.
She scanned the side of the jungle, trying to see what it was. The trees ahead of them rustled with movement then a part of the jungle seemed to change color, from a dark green to a startling bone white. She swept her head upwards—
And there, peeking over the edge of the trees was the massive head of the Indominus Rex.
The animal stood stock still beyond the foliage, it was just standing there, looking at the vehicle. Its eyes were narrowed, focused like a sniper eyeing a target.
It was standing not more than sixteen feet away from the car, watching, and waiting.
"Aunt Zara, we're safe in here right?" Gray asked, fearful of the large animal that was observing the vehicle.
"Of course we are, the invisible fence system will—"
The dinosaur took a step forward, fifteen feet. That was the kill zone for the shock implants to kick in but nothing happened, it should be writhing in pain right now but it pressed forward, keeping a steady pace to the car.
She racked her brain to find an answer for why the system wasn't working then she saw the wound in the animal's shoulder and she realized the answer, the tracker implant! It ripped it out.
The Indominus stepped closer to the vehicle and lowered its head, the carnivore's breath fogging up the glass as its massive head swept back and forth across the vehicle, the passengers frozen in fear at the sight, fearing that the slightest movement would provoke it.
Zara's mind couldn't help but replay the encounter she had before, it felt so similar.
She looked at Zach and Gray, their faces were tense as they stared through the window.
The huge head rolled to the side, jaws open to reveal sharp dagger-like teeth dripping with blood and stooped by the side of the window. In the bright light of day, they could see the beady, reptilian eye focus into a silt in the socket.
It was looking into the car.
The animal let out an ear-piercing roar. It was terrifying, like a scream from another world, the car shook from the force of the sound and the occupants of the vehicle covered their ears.
Zara knew she had to do something, then she remembered the trackers clipped to their belts and frantically pressed the button at the center. Activating her distress beacon.
"Hello! Mercedes G18, if you can hear me please respond, we have a code nineteen situation on our hands, please leave the area immediately." Claire said into the radio, when no response came, she tried again, "Hello, Zara, Royce, Zach, Gray, anyone, please pick up." Hearing no response, she dejectedly hung it back onto the radio hook and leaned back into the passenger seat.
She and Owen were currently on their way to the valley, using a G class that was stored in the Innovation Center. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly to comfort her.
"Relax, we'll find them."
Suddenly a thought crossed his mind, "Hey Claire?"
"Yeah?"
"Tour groups usually have trackers on them right?"
"Yeah, we give it to all of them."
"Why aren't theirs working? They're not showing up on the map." He said, pointing to the digital map mounted onto the dashboard, there was no sign of their trackers when they should've been flashing their location.
"Is the tracker program on?"
"Doesn't look like it, can you turn it on?"
"Hang on a second, activating now." Claire pressed a button on the map to activate it then she gasped at what came up on the screen, "Oh dear god! oh no, no, no, no."
The tracker lights were flashing a bright red from the restricted area.
Seeing the fearful look in her eyes, Owen slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and sped off further, hoping to god that they weren't too late save them.
The metal of the cars roof shrieked as the Indominus sunk its claws and teeth into it and the world tilted crazily as the SUV landed roughly on its side, the right side splashing into the mud.
Zara saw the two boys crash into each other against the right window as she fell back into the passenger side, banging her head against the headrest on the way down. She got up and steadied herself with her hands, feeling dizzy and tasting warm blood in her mouth.
She looked to the rear, hearing Zach ask her what they should do but before she could answer, the head of the Indominus crashed through the rear passenger door, knocking the door off of its frame and pinning the two boys against the window, the broken door shielding them from its jaws.
The carnivore pulled back and lunged down into the car, snapping at them as they screamed in fear but the door held on. They pushed back against the door using their feet and hands, only a thin sheet of metal standing between them and the dinosaur's jaws. It kept pushing down and the metal groaned, bending from the force.
The boys turned to her, they didn't say anything but the look in their eyes spoke it loud and clear, they were pleading for help. She frantically looked around the car for a solution, her attention snapped to the underside of the passenger seat, remembering that a Taser was kept there for emergencies.
She reached down into the seat and retrieved the hard plastic case containing the weapon, popping it open to grab the Taser and snap a cartridge on. Then, she steadied herself against the dashboard and screamed to get the animals attention.
"HEY!"
A large reptilian eye turned towards her.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM YOU BITCH!"
She squeezed the trigger and it fired two wire guided metal probes into the animal's skin, sending fifty thousand volts of electricity coursing through its nervous system.
The Indominus shrieked at the high voltage coursing through it, the sound was deafening in the small space of the SUV and it hastily pulled its head out of the car, giving Zara a scant few seconds to press the cartridge eject button before it could pull the weapon out along with it.
There was a brief moment of silence, broken by Zach exclaiming, "Holy shit, did you just do that?!"
She could only grin, "Yeah, I think I did." Warding off a super predator using a Taser wasn't something you did every day.
Then there was a sudden jolt and her world tumbled again as the Indominus pushed the car onto its roof, sending her sprawling onto her stomach.
Looks like all she did was piss it off.
The Indominus towered over the vehicle and slammed one foot onto the chassis, tearing at the undercarriage with its jaws to get to the passengers. Spider webs of cracks began forming on the windows, the frame and the roll cage began to groan under the strain of the dinosaur pressing onto it but the reinforced steel does its job, refusing to buckle under the force.
It dug its claws into the underside and dragged a straight line through it, missing Zara and the boys by mere inches.
"What do we do now?" Zach asked as he checked on Gray, who fell unconscious during the tumble.
"Is he ok?" She asks.
"He'll be fine, I think he hit his head on something."
Zara looked at her surroundings for solutions. The Taser was a good option, if she could find the extra cartridges. But the jolt knocked them out of the container and now she wasn't able to find them. She was struggling to come up with a solution.
"What should we do?" Zach kept asking, growing more impatient.
The metal bent, the spider web of cracks on the windows grew.
"Come on think, damn it, think. There has to be a way out of this." She muttered to herself.
The metal buckled and gave way, the glass shattered from the weight as the car was compressed further down. Muddy water began to fill the cabin, she was running out of time.
Then a road flare rolled her way.
That was it! The Indominus could only see heat and road flares burnt at seven hundred sixty degrees, it would show up on its vision like a bloody Christmas tree. Hopefully, it could distract the dinosaur away from the car, but it was a long shot.
Quickly, she grabbed one and looked towards Zach, who was trying to wake his little brother up.
She called out to him, "Zach."
"Yeah?"
"I have a plan."
"What is it?"
"I don't think you'd want to know the details."
Seeing the flare in her hands, his eyes widened, "You're not going to do what I think you're gonna do right?"
She could only nod, grimly confirming his fears.
"Once I have its attention, I'm going to run into the jungle. You take your brother, get him somewhere safe. Got it?"
"But you'll die, there's no way you'll outrun it!"
"I know, but there's no other way, I'm sorry." She said, voice firm then it softened, "Take care of your brother for me, alright? And I love you, both of you," a tear slipped from her eye, this was it, her final goodbye to them.
And with those final words, she kicked the passenger side open and rolled out of the car, lighting the flare up.
"HEY!" she frantically waved the flare from side to side, hoping that it would notice.
The animal turned and roared at her. It began following the motion of her arm, eyes locked onto the burning object.
"Yeah that's it, focus on me."
She inched backwards slowly, keeping the animals attention solely on her. Then she burst into a run, running past the wreck of the Sprinter, the dinosaur taking off closely after her.
Zara kept on running, how far she didn't know but she could still feel the ground trembling with each of the Indominus' steps as it snapped its jaws at her. The flare she held aloft in her hand was like a dinner bell, the plan was working a little too well.
She turned right, into the jungle, throwing the flare away in the hopes that it would follow the burning object but it just kept running after her. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached, she was mostly running on adrenaline by now but she didn't care. She had to get far enough away from the car to let the boys escape.
Seeing a fallen tree ahead, she vaulted over it in the hopes that the top heavy dinosaur would trip or cease in its pursuit but to her dismay it simply charged through, snapping it in two. Then her leg snagged on something and she fell, landing face first to the ground. The British woman groaned and hastily pushed herself back up, turning around to see that her right leg was tangled in some vines.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
She tugged at the vines, desperately trying to loosen them but the vegetation refused to give. Then a dark shadow loomed over her, she looked up and her eyes widened, gasping at the sight of the Indominus towering over her. Those ruby red eyes stared down at her intensely.
The dinosaur stepped closer to her, lowering its head to examine the trapped woman.
It sniffed her, slowly, methodically, almost smiling in recognition as it savored every ounce of fear radiating from her. Its hot breath smelled like rotten meat.
As the dinosaur reeled back to strike, her life began flashing before her eyes and Zara felt oddly at peace, knowing her time was almost up and resigned herself to imminent death, doing the only thing she could do.
She closed her eyes and thought of Claire.