Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 2: The Dream is Real

A/N: Here we are with another exciting chapter of Jurassic World: Apocalypse. I know the last chapter was rather confusing. So here, I will bridge the gap between the events of the prequel, JurassiQuest, and what's happening now. Also, we'll see several species of dinosaurs in this chapter. Please enjoy!

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

John Hammond walked out of his bungalow and onto the balcony. He looked out over the island of Isla Nublar, sighing. After decades of dreaming, and then planning and carrying out, his dream had finally become a reality – he and the Masrani Global Corporation had successfully created a park full of living dinosaurs. Hammond remembered all the blood, sweat and tears that had been shed in making his dream come alive.

After InGen had joined forces with Masrani Global Corporation, the two companies had perfected the scientific art of bringing life to long-extinct creatures, specifically dinosaurs, but also pterosaurs, a few marine reptiles and even a few Carboniferous insects. It was Hammond's dream since InGen was founded to create a theme park with living biological attractions – dinosaurs – and it came true. So the two companies got to work. InGen offered their technology and cloning techniques and Masrani Global gave their money, the people and the construction division of the company, which was arguably one of the best of its kind anywhere in the world, to get the job done. A year and a half passed until finally, InGen and Masrani Global were able to open their doors to an overexcited and amazed public.

Hammond remembered the day of their first opening as if it had happened yesterday. Tears of reminisce flowed from his eyes. He grasped his walking cane tightly against him.

It was 9:53 in the morning on June 1, 2015. Hammond, Simon Masrani, Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow, Dr. Claire Dearing and several members of the Board of Directors were standing at the back of a large stage located in the southern portion of the island on the dock. Before them, literally hundreds of tourists, reporters and scientists had gathered, waiting for the new theme park to open its gates. Hammond could hardly contain himself. He was beside himself with excitement.

"I can't believe the moment's here," Hammond said. "Finally, all those months of planning and construction and it's time to open the park!"

"Yes, I know," Ludlow agreed. "I'm just shocked we were able to construct this park and the other four parks simultaneously in about a year and a half."

"When you have enough builders, and spare no expense," Masrani said, "we can accomplish the impossible. Are you ready for the speech, Ludlow? I don't know if we can hold these crowds waiting any longer. They want to see the theme park."

"I'm ready. In fact, I'll go out now."

After wiping his glasses clean with a handkerchief, Mr. Ludlow strode toward the podium. The audience erupted in applause. This important event was broadcast to large television screens in the other theme parks opening, creating an even larger viewing audience. Once they were finally quiet, Ludlow began his speech.

"I am Peter Ludlow, the head of InGen's Board of Directors," he started. "But of course, you didn't travel here to the island of Isla Nublar because of me. You came here to hear about and see the dream of a man by the name of John Parker Hammond. 13 years ago, John Hammond had a dream – a dream to bring living dinosaurs, the greatest animals ever to walk the earth, to the world. Like John himself, the dream was outsized, it was bold and impractical...it was what some would classify as impossible. At the time the dream was conceived, it was in fact impossible. Technology wouldn't allow it. To this day, this sort of project is impossible for most bioengineering companies to accomplish. But – thanks to the partnership by Masrani Global Corporation – John Hammond's dream will come true in less than five minutes, not only here on Isla Nublar, but also in Universal Studios' theme park in Orlando, and in Japan, Europe and San Diego. Now, without further ado, may I present to you...John Parker Hammond!"

Again, the audience whooped and cheered as Hammond walked up to the podium. Hammond glanced back to see Masrani giving him a thumbs up. Hammond acknowledged with a nod and began to speak through the microphone on the podium.

"Well..." Hammond started, "my heart is certainly too full to speak. It's simply astounding how we've been able to accomplish the creation of this incredible park. We dreamed it, we planned it and we built it. Ha! Spared no expense. But I couldn't do this without the help of my business partner and friend, Simon Masrani and his own company." Applause was heard through the audience. Away from the microphone, he asked Ludlow: "What time is it?"

"Uh, it's 10:00 am."

"OK." Then he addressed his audience. "Friends, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Now, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to declare the newest wonder of the modern world: Jurassic World. Now open!"

Everyone cheered as the large wooden gates of the archway bearing the words: Jurassic World, opened for the first time. Within two minutes, people were pouring into the monorail cars that would escort them to the Innovation Center, where they would begin their adventure in the new theme park. Already, Hammond could hear the echoing call of an Apatosaurus – one of the many creatures that would be greeting the guests.

Hammond sighed as the fresh memory of opening day flooded through his mind. The park had since been open for 10 days and mustered an astounding 20,000 visitors a day! And it was no wonder as to how the park could be so successful, considering the star attractions were dinosaurs. But the park had a lot more to offer than just dinosaurs: two feeding shows, a gyrosphere ride, a safari ride, a water park, a hotel, several restaurants, a petting zoo, a Carboniferous Bug House and even an aviary where park's flying reptiles could be viewed.

"Something wrong, Hammond?" came a male voice from behind.

Hammond saw Simon Masrani walking onto his balcony. "Oh, hello Simon. I'm fine. Just reminiscing what's been happening over the past week."

"Week and a half," Masrani corrected. "The time had flown. But I think things are going well."

"All the parks are going well," Hammond said. "The park in San Diego just celebrated the entrance of their 100,000th visitor."

"Wow! I didn't hear about that."

Hammond chuckled. Just then, a miniature elephant, about a foot tall appeared from underneath a nearby table and walked over to Hammond, trumpeting.

"Morning, Dianthus!" Hammond said, patting the animal on the head. Over the past year and a half, Dianthus hadn't grown very much. However, as he had been beginning to mature, he'd started sprouting little tusks from the sides of his mouth. Hammond sighed. "This is the animal that started all."

Masrani nodded. "Yeah. It really helped Henry learn the capabilities of bioengineering and–"

"Masrani. Hammond," said Dr. Henry Wu as he entered the bungalow. "Oh, there you are."

"What's up, Henry?" Hammond asked.

"Yesterday, you said you wanted to see the new eggs before they hatch, right? You might want to come and check them out. And Claire and I have something else of interest as well."

Hammond raised his eyebrows. "Is this about the 'dinosaur' we were talking about the other day."

Henry nodded. "You mean the new att–"

"Shh! Simon doesn't know about it yet."

"Know about what?" Masrani asked. "What are you two talking about."

Hammond only smirked. "You'll see soon enough. For now, let's go check out those dinosaur eggs Henry wants to show us."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Brennan, but I was unable to keep the interest of that investor," said Paula, Billy Brennan's publicist. She was a heavyset middle-aged woman with dirty blond hair and large-rimmed glasses. She had come to Billy's dig site today to give him an update on the investors – people who supported his digging project. Ever since his mentor – Dr. Alan Grant – and his girlfriend disappeared, Billy had been in charge of the fossil-hunting team operations. The facts that they were already struggling when they had Dr. Grant and that they were never given their money InGen had promised them didn't help either.

Billy sighed and looked around the trailer they were sitting in, trying to find a solution. Then he looked at Cheryl Logan, his girlfriend, before turning back to face Paula. "What's the problem with them? Is it that they're just not interested in supporting us anymore?"

Paula shrugged. "I'm not sure, but you have to remember, even when we had Dr. Grant with us, this dig team was having a hard time finding money–"

"I know, I know," Billy interrupted as if he'd heard this speech before. "Look, you're the publicist, can't you just...I don't know, try harder."

"I'm trying my best, Dr. Brennan. I really am. But it's not that simple. Investors just don't believe it's worth supporting these types of projects anymore."

Billy sighed again. "I've tried to fill Dr. Grant's shoes after he vanished, but I'm failing miserably."

Cheryl put her hand on his arm. "You're not failing," Cheryl encouraged. "We're not out of the game yet. We have to keep trying."

"But what are we supposed to do? I've barely been able to keep this operation running for the past 22 months or so."

"Why would Dr. Grant leave you at a time like this?" Paula asked.

"I don't know that he left. I don't know what happened to him. All I know was that he arrived in California at the International Genetic Technologies headquarters. That was the last I ever heard from him." After he realized something had happened to Dr. Grant in 2013, Billy was frantic. He tried to find out everything he could about Grant's disappearance. First, he contacted InGen, but they couldn't (or perhaps wouldn't) tell him anything. Then he tried the police, the government, anyone he could think of who could possibly help him. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any information based on what happened to his mentor. Billy didn't believe that he could run the dig team by himself, and it was beginning to show. He grinned slightly as he said, "George Baselton believes Grant disappeared because he's embarrassed by the lack of evidence for intelligent, vocal, pack-hunting raptors."

Paula chuckled a little. "Well, regardless of why he disappeared, you are in charge of this operation now, Billy. I'll see what I can do, but if I can't get funding..."

"Yes, I know: the Black Hills Institute's going to drop us and we'll all be out of jobs."

"Yes...and no. I'm sure the institute will be able find other museums and institute where members of your dig team can continue to–"

"But there's so much more to learn about this place," Billy argued. He placed his head in his hands. "I just don't know what to do."

Paula nodded. "Well, it's not only you that's having trouble."

Billy looked up, confused. "It's not?"

"No. For the past month or two, other dig teams around the world have had trouble getting enough financial support, even dig sites as far away as China! Public interest in such fossil hunting teams has been in decline. You seriously didn't hear about that? It was on the news yesterday."

"Wait a minute...that's about how long we've all known about those new dinosaur-centered theme parks, like Jurassic World."

"Do you think that's it?" Cheryl asked. "Maybe the public has simply grown more interested in living dinosaurs, rather than the fossil ones?"

"Of course! That's why we're all struggling!" Billy and Cheryl had not been to the park at this point because they had been busy trying to manage the fossil hunting operation. "The public would show more interest in living dinosaurs." He paused. "How can we compete with that?"

Paula shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure how much longer your dig is going to be able to operate, but I'll do my best to ensure it continues as long as possible."

After Paula left, Billy and Cheryl were still sitting in the trailer in silence.

"We should go outside," Cheryl suggested. "Some fresh air will do you good."

Billy didn't have any better ideas, so the two of them walked outside into the Montanan summer heat of their Snakewater dig site. Ahead of them, at the base of a small cliff, Billy's team of fossil hunters was digging up the fossils from the Snakewater Formation's ancient dirt, sand and sediment. Amid the common fossils of sea shells, ammonites and even a few shark teeth, Billy and the team were excavating the skeleton of an Acrocanthosaurus, a large theropod almost as large as T. rex, but with taller-than-average spinal vertebrae, and another partial skeleton of Velociraptor antirrhopus. As Billy watched the diggers brush away the dirt and rock from the bones of both specimens, he couldn't help but feel depressed. How much longer would they be able to continue?

"What are we going to do?" Billy asked Cheryl. "We can't keep running this team as we are."

"Dr. Grant said something similar to that before he vanished," Cheryl reminded him. "That's why he accepted that business offer from InGen in the first place. Before he left, we were struggling to support the fossil digging, and look at us now, 22 months later. We're still here. I'm sure things will work out for the best. We just have to wait and see." Billy frowned. Cheryl could tell that he wasn't really convinced. "You know what you need? You need a break from work."

Billy winced. "You mean a vacation?"

"Yeah, something along those lines. I know you want to get as much digging as possible before we could have to pack up, but you're clearly stressed. You can't even work to the best of your abilities under all the pressure."

"Where would you suggest we go?"

Cheryl looked thoughtful. "The only logical place to go at a time like this. Why don't we go to Jurassic World?"

"Sure, let's visit the place that's causing us to loose money," he responded sarcastically.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'm serious. We should at least check it out."

"I don't know..."

"Who knows? Maybe while we're there we'll get some major revelation that could help us here in Montana."

Ben was quiet for a few moments as he pondered the idea over in his head. "Alright," Ben nodded. "I'm in."

"Great. You stay out here and enjoy the fresh air. I'll go inside, look at the calendar and schedule a trip."

Far on the western side of the island, in the lightly forested plains where park tourists would take part in the gyrosphere ride, Dr. Claire Dearing sat in the passenger seat of a jeep. Last time we saw her, Claire was the assistant to Dr. Henry Wu in the geneticist lab. However, during the park's construction, Claire was promoted to public relations manager of Jurassic World after Ludlow found out she was capable of doing this job as well. Next to Claire in the driver's seat was Dr. Gerry Harding, the park's chief veterinarian. Easily recognized by his green-colored Jurassic World uniform, Dr. Harding was in his late fifties and had short, dark graying hair. Before being hired by InGen, Harding worked at the San Diego Zoo. At the time, he'd never looked after dinosaurs before, but he found that the job interested him and accepted it.

"So what's the park's public relations manager doing out here with a vet again?" Harding asked.

"I'm just familiarizing myself with everything at the park," Claire answered.

Harding shrugged. "Fair enough."

"So what are we doing out here?"

"Well, one of the tourists reported that one of our Triceratops was designating herself from the rest of the herd," Harding explained. "I knew she'd be sick around this time."

Harding drove the jeep right into the plains, passing a tourist-filled gyrosphere or two. Finally, they came across an Ankylosaurus grazing on their right. Harding slowed the vehicle so they could observe it. The creature was squat and covered in spiky armor on its head, neck, back and tail. The entire animal was 30 feet long and six feet tall at the hips. At the end of its tail was a large bony club, typically used to defend itself from predators. But here in Jurassic World, the animal had no need to defend itself.

"Ankylosaurus," Claire whispered. "Just look at it. It's almost tank-like in design. It's ready to take on anything."

Harding nodded. "Yes, quite. No T. rex is going to attack this heavily-armed beast."

The Ankylosaurus looked up as the vehicle moved onward. Then the jeep drove into the more open plains where the real giants of the Jurassic were roaming. Near a large crystal blue lake, twinkling from the midday sun's reflection, was the park's herd of Parasaurolophus. These large hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs, had long hollow crests protruding from the backs of their heads. And out on the plains was a mixed herd of Parasaurolophus and the long-necked Apatosaurus. A couple of gyrospheres rolled across the plains among these amazing animals.

Claire chuckled. "It's nice to see that the tourists are having fun."

Harding grinned. "They're not the only ones who know how to have fun."

Harding pressed the gas and drove straight for the herd of Apatosaurus. Some of the sauropods looked up at the vehicle, but as they were used to having vehicles driving around them all the time, they didn't really pay much attention. Harding headed for one of the largest sauropods in the herd and carefully maneuvered beneath the enormous creature's girth between its front and back legs. The legs, Claire noticed, looked like pillars next to her. In fact, they were so large that Claire barely reached the knees of this individual. The behemoth bellowed loudly as it walked toward a patch of ferns it desired to consume.

"Incredible," Claire breathed. No matter how many times she'd seen these animals, she couldn't ever help but be amazed by them. To her right, she saw one of the herds of Edmontosaurus – another species of hadrosaur, slightly larger than Parasaurolophus and crestless.

"Aha!" Harding declared when he spotted the Triceratops herd up ahead. "There are the trikes. The sickish one shouldn't be too far away. They're herd animals, so they naturally like to hang around their own kind."

As Dr. Harding drove up to the herd, he found that his suspicion had been correct: he spotted one of the sub-adult Triceratops that seemed to be moving rather sluggish; this is strange for an animal that is usually light on its feet, despite its awesome size. The Triceratops lied down to rest a little ways off from its herd. It was definitely feeling sick. Harding shook his head and got out of the jeep.

"You sure it's safe?" Claire asked.

"Yeah it should be fine. Even though they're the size of elephants, they lack the aggression. So long as you don't startle them, they don't charge. Come on."

Claire got out and followed Harding to the ill animal. The sick Triceratops glanced up at Dr. Harding and moaned.

"It's OK, girl," he cooed. "You'll be fine."

Harding reached out and lightly scratched her behind the shield-like frill. "Scratch her behind her frill," Harding said. "They like that."

Claire acknowledged and did as he suggested. The Triceratops bellowed contently.

"They like being scratched behind their frill," Harding explained, "because they can't really reach it otherwise."

"Have you figured out what's making them sick?"

"I'm not sure yet. But one or more members of the herd seems to get sick ever six weeks or so. I can't figure out what's wrong with these animals. Their foods fine, their water's clean...I don't know. They always to suffer disorientation and labored breathing. I thought that it was something in their food that was poisonous to their system, but I couldn't find any trace of anything."

Claire frowned. "That is pretty peculiar," she admitted. "Are the Triceratops in the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo getting sick too?"

"No. They're not. I don't understand."

The poor animal began to wheeze, slight foaming occurred at the nostrils. The trike's eyes watered as Dr. Harding rubbed his hand over the creature's snout. Then, the vet peered into the Triceratops' eyes.

"Yeah. This is the same illness that's been affected the other trikes. Maybe they've been eating something that wouldn't be preserved in their droppings. That's the only thing I can think of."

"Do all the herbivores consume the same food?"

"They all have their favorites, Triceratops being particularly picky, but occasionally they will eat other types of plants. So to answer your question in a nutshell: yes, they do."

"But wouldn't the other animals be sick as well if they're consuming the same food?"

Harding glanced over at the sauropods nearby. They were still feeding, oblivious to the fact that a gyrosphere was riding right past the creatures. The pair of tourists inside the glass ball gawked and gasped at the Apatosaurus. The apatosaur's long neck craned over to a small bush from which it began to feed, stripping the branches bare with its pencil-like teeth. Its tail swished and lashed the air like a whip. Claire and Harding knew this was one method the sauropods used to communicate to each other. Shaking his head, Harding responded, "I think you might be right, Claire. Maybe it's not the food. Then again, maybe the food doesn't agree with the trikes' system."

Another gyrosphere, this time containing two teenage boys, drove over to a group of five Stegosaurus – three adults and two juveniles – next to the lake. The driver stopped the vehicle in order to prevent it from getting too close. Claire chuckled to herself as she watched the delight the teens expressed as they observed the plate-backed creatures. One of the Stegosaurus adults gave off a trilling sound and it began marching back toward the plains. The other stegosaurs noticed and followed their leader.

"My nephews are going to love this place when they visit this Friday."

Harding said, "I didn't know you had nephews. What are their names? How old are they?"

"Gray's 13, and Zach is 17. They're great boys. My sister tells me they're excited to spend the weekend here at the park."

"I can testify to that," Harding agreed with a short laugh. "Funny you should mention that though, because my daughter's going to be visiting the park this weekend too."

"Sarah or Jess?"

"Jess. She can't wait to come and see the dinosaurs. She's always been–"

Without warning, the sick Triceratops rose to its feet and snorted. It moaned and began walking away, toward a larger adult female. Harding shook his head.

"OK, I guess that's as far as this check up is going to go."

"You don't give them any medicine?"

"No. They get over the illness pretty quick. If it didn't happen every six weeks, I wouldn't be so concerned." With that, Harding started walking back toward the jeep. "Next stop, the Creation Lab. Dr. Wu wants to show us something."

A/N: Are any of you readers still confused? Please let me know so I can do a better job of explaining things in the next chapter! If you're not confused, how did you enjoy the chapter? How did you like the addition of the dinosaur species I added here? If you've read my other stories, you will know that I generally like to describe the dinosaurs I feature in great detail. In this story, I have hesitated to do that because I give several descriptions in the prequel to this story. Do you guys think I'm being too vague? Anyway, be sure to favorite, review and follow this story, because next week, I'll introduce you to even more characters (some of which familiar from the previous story) and dinosaurs. Bye for now!