Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 3: Another Day at the Park

A/N: Sorry for not publishing last week. I was in a theatrical drama last Friday and was busy all day. But it was a great turnout. Now that it's over, I'm back and since I didn't publish last week, I'll publish TWO chapters today! Now as the title of this chapter suggests, we will be getting a glimpse of what everyday life is like at Jurassic World. Exciting, huh? That's not all either. Also expect to meet some all new characters (not all of them human), as well as some characters who appeared in the prequel. Please enjoy!

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

16-years old, with a freckled face and reddish-brown hair, Tom McMurphy got off the bus and walked into Snakewater High School, his backpack was slung over his shoulder. He hurried into the building and down the hallway to his locker. He opened it and began getting some school books out.

"Well, well, well," said a male voice behind him, "if it isn't the loneliest person in the entire school."

Tom growled as he looked back at Logan Mullings – the school bully. Just like the last time we saw him, he had his bunch of troublemakers with him – John Suckling and Matt Peterson – but as of the beginning of this past school year, it had also become a common occurrence to see him with a swarm of six or seven girls by his side. He had no actual girlfriend; he seemed to be more of a flirt than interested in getting into a serious relationship.

"Hi Logan," Tom said. "What do you want?"

"Why would I want anything from you? Hm...oh wait, I can't get anything from you because ever since Luke disappeared, you've got nothing!"

"Ow! Burn!" Matt exclaimed. He high-fived Logan as the girls giggled.

"Don't you ever get tired of coming up with sarcastic phrases?" Tom asked.

"Why would I?" Logan replied. "I never run out of them when it comes to losers like you."

"I'm not a loser."

"Oh really? You're 16 and you don't have a best friend anymore..."

"Burn!" Matt shouted.

"...you don't have any fun hobbies..."

"Burn!"

"...you don't like sports..."

"Burn!"

"...and you don't have a girlfriend..."

"Burn!"

Logan glared at Matt. "Cut it with the 'burns', Matt."

"Bur...oh, uh, sure."

Tom rolled his eyes, shoving Logan's insults aside, even though they were true. He didn't have a girlfriend, he wasn't interested in sports, and ever since Luke disappeared, he never got another friend. "Well, I've got a class to get to. See you later, Logan."

Tom shut his locker and hurried down the hall. As he walked to his class, he noticed a girl off to his right. She was about his height, but had short blond hair and relatively average in size. Tom thought she looked familiar, but he couldn't put a finger on who she was. Curious he walked over to her.

"Hi," Tom said.

The girl glanced in his direction. She had eyes as blue as the ocean. She smiled and said "hi" back.

"Um," Tom began, "you look familiar. Have we met?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't think so."

Tom nodded. "Well, in any case, I'm Tom McMurphy."

The girl gasped. "Wait a minute...you're Tom McMurphy?"

"Yes."

"I'm...Alaina Manning."

Now it was Tom's turn to be surprised. No wonder she looked familiar! Alaina, Tom and Luke had been best friends back in first through third grade. They did almost everything together until the kids entered fourth grade. Alaina's family was forced to move away at that point and Tom and Luke had lost contact with her. Now, all these years later, Alaina was clearly not a little girl any more.

"Wow! I haven't seen you since fourth grade!" Tom exclaimed with glee. "What are you doing here?"

"My family moved back into the area."

"How long have you been here?"

"This is only my first day at this school. I'm really glad to see you again."

"Yeah, me too."

Alaina looked at her surroundings. "Um...where's Luke? You two were almost inseparable back in the day."

Tom frowned and bit his lip. "Well, I don't know how to tell you but...Luke sort of vanished."

"He vanished?"

"Yeah. It's a long story. I've got a class to get to know, so how about I'll tell you later at lunch."

Owen Grady leaped from the platform and into the dinosaur's enclosure. He was alert; he had to be. Any other state of mind would have been life-threatening. He looked at his surroundings. So far, he saw no movement in the foliage of the paddock to give away the presence of animal life. Then, the bushes rustled...

Owen nodded. Here they come.

A six-foot tall, 13-foot long Velociraptor rushed from the foliage with a loud growl! It was a light tan-color with dark markings along the sides of its body. The raptor paused for a moment before it continued racing towards Owen. Three more Velociraptors also charged from the bushes. Two of the raptors were olive green-colored with black markings and the other one was a much darker color – almost dark blue – also with dark markings along its sides. Surprisingly, Owen wasn't afraid as the raptors began to circle the human.

"Hold!" Owen exclaimed, holding his hands out. Then all of a sudden, the circling raptors came to a halt. "Eyes on me!"

The raptors snarled back in response, keeping their eyes glued to Owen's. The tan-colored individual tapped her vicious-looking toe claw on the ground; her mouth hung agape as she inhaled and exhaled.

"Good. Hold it steady, girls."

As strange as it might seem, these four creatures belonged to the same species as the creatures that had caused the deaths of several people just a year before. The difference was that these raptors were under the special care and supervision of Owen himself. Behold the Raptor Research Project.

You see, ever since the numerous raptor breakouts and resulting human fatalities last year, InGen tried to cover the deaths up as best they could. However, they knew they would be unable to continue covering up the truth forever unless they actually dealt with the problem, so the Board of Directors decided it was best to split the raptors up between Jurassic Park: Orlando, Jurassic Park: Japan and Jurassic World. Together, they believed, the 13 raptors InGen had in possession were far too dangerous. Six (one of which being the Utahraptor) of those original 13 were still kept at Jurassic World for research purposes and because the Board didn't want any dinosaurs to be killed. Masrani and Hammond believed that raptors needed to be more closely studied – they wanted to know the boundaries of the relationship between Velociraptors and mankind. So they decided to have dinosaur specialist, Owen, embark on an unprecedented behavioral study on these dangerous animals. There are men and women to this day that have forged tenuous connections with dangerous predators, and Owen was one of those people, perfect for the job. Ever since the day the four creatures – Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo – had hatched, Owen had cared for and worked with them to study their behavior like no human being has ever dared to do before.

Echo – the tan-colored Velociraptor – slowly walked around Owen, growling. An ordinary person would view this type of behavior as predatory, but Owen knew this was how raptors typically behaved around members of their own kind. Owen cast his glare upon her and she dipped her head in submission. Then he glanced at one of the green-colored raptors. "I'm watching you, Charlie." Then he referenced the other green raptor and the darker colored individual: "Blue! Delta, eyes on me!" The raptors obeyed.

From the catwalk platform above the paddock, Claire and Harding watched Owen work with the raptors. Harding shook his head in amazement.

"I can't get over how he's able to tame these guys," Harding commented.

Overhearing, Owen said, "They're not tame, Harding. These animals are merciless killing machines. They'll bite your head off in a second if you make the wrong move. If you were to step in here, you probably wouldn't last five seconds."

"Yes, I know, Owen." He looked over at Claire and added, "At least we haven't had any raptor breakouts after we separated them."

Owen waved his hands at the raptors. "Release!" he cried. The raptors snarled and returned to their previous activities. Then Owen climbed out of the paddock via the ladder and made his way onto the catwalk where Claire and Harding were. "Alright, I'm finished with my work here for the day. Should we get to the Creation Lab now? Dr. Wu said he wanted to show us something."

"Sure, but if you don't mind, I need to stop by the Bug House first. I need to check on the pond to make sure the water is at the right temperature."

Alaina and Tom unwrapped their lunches after they'd taken a seat at a table.

"Where was I?" Tom asked.

"You were telling me about how Luke left on that trip with Dr. Grant to...what was that place called again?"

"InGen. So he left and contacted me once he got there, but that was the last time I ever heard from him. I never saw him again."

Alaina winced. "That's horrible."

"I know. It was so weird of him not to call or text me, so I decided to call the company and see what happened."

"And?"

"Nothing. They said they didn't know and that there was noway they could find out. I was even so desperate that I checked with Billy at Dr. Grant's dig site – Billy's head of the fossil hunting project now, by the way – and he said he didn't know. It was at that point that I decided to do my research. I looked up information on InGen and found out that they were teaming up with Masrani Global Corporation."

"What do those companies do, anyhow?"

"Well, they're both pretty large companies. InGen's full name – International Genetic Technologies – pretty much sums up what that company does. They're the one of the largest bioengineering companies in the world; not too long ago, they created sweet-smelling E. coli. Masrani Global is a much larger company and they have a lot of different divisions, including ones for construction, global communications, oil industries and a bunch of other stuff. So then I wondered: why would Dr. Grant – a paleontologist – be called to this business?"

"Isn't InGen the same company that opened the new dinosaur theme parks?"

"Exactly! See at the time though, I didn't know that that's what they were doing. I'm positive that whatever they wanted him for, it was something to do with the park. After all, why else would they hire a paleontologist? In my research, I found out that several other people went to InGen and disappeared on the same day Dr. Grant and Luke did: Robert Muldoon, a game warden from Kenya, Alisha Roland, a survivalist from Mexico, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Grant's paleobotonist girlfriend, Bob Gerald, a geographer and three military soldiers."

"So what happened to Grant then? Surely he wouldn't be hiding after the park opened? Why would he miss an opportunity to be famous? Why would they just disappear?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out. I believe that if I can figure out why InGen recruited the people who disappeared, I'll be a little closer to figuring out what happened to Luke and Grant."

"Let's see..." Alaina looked thoughtful. "That is confusing. Why would InGen need a paleontologist, a paleonbotonist, a survivalist, a geographer, a game warden and a trio of military soldiers? The only reason that comes to mind is that it has something to do with the park. Maybe they helped in the construction of the park."

"But that doesn't explain why they vanished. I mean, if I helped construct one of these theme parks, I certainly wouldn't be hiding. I'd be anywhere but in hiding."

"Maybe they're–"

"Hey, Alaina!" said a brunette girl approaching their table with a bag lunch. She had hazel-colored eyes and long dark brown hair pulled into pigtails. "Mind if I sit down?"

Alaina shook her head. The girl sat down and Alaina introduced her to Tom.

"This is Brianna Hogan," Alaina said. "I met her for the first time this morning at our first class. Brianna, this is Tom. He and I were friends back before I went into fifth grade."

"Hi, Brianna," Tom said. Then to Alaina he mouthed, We'll talk later.

"It's rather exciting," Dr. Wu told his audience, which consisted of Hammond, Masrani, Claire, Harding and Owen. Henry had called all of them into the Innovation Center's Creation Lab to share with them the news of their latest batch of dinosaur eggs. He led them to an incubator where several eggs sat in an artificial nest. Henry announced, "Here they are, our latest clutch of dinosaur eggs."

"Wow," Harding said.

Owen asked, "What species?"

"They're Velociraptors," Henry told him.

"Wait, you're cloning more raptors? I've just barely mastered Blue, Echo, Charlie and Delta. Do we really want to clone more of the same dinosaurs that caused so many deaths in the past?"

"Shh!" Claire snapped. "We have tourists watching on the other side of the glass."

Owen glanced at the glass separating the Creation Lab from the area where tourists could watch the geneticists at work through a large glass window after coming off the ride that told them all about how dinosaurs were brought back to life. The tourists were oohing, awing and snapping pictures. Owen shook his head. I can't believe they're cloning more Velociraptors.

"Why are you cloning more raptors, Henry?"

"Well, like the previous batch, you're going to be training these animals once they hatch. You did so well with the previous four that we wanted you to repeat your success."

"Be sure to let me know when they hatch," Hammond told Henry.

Claire started toward the exit door. "Now, if you all will follow me, I've got something to show you."

Ray Arnold sipped his coffee as he stared at the monitor mounted on the wall of the Control Room. This Control Room was much larger and more sophisticated, high-tech, than anything someone could expect to imagine. There were large monitors along the walls of one side of the room that displayed CCTV images from around the park. At present, Arnold was flipping through the feed from the park's various CCTV feeds. On the screen now was the view from the security camera in the Bug House. The Bug House was similar to the aviary, but instead of pterosaurs, it contained large arthropods from the Carboniferous, including dozens of giant dragonflies called Meganeura, a few Arthropleura – a species of 10-foot long millipede – and a few large Carboniferous Arachnids similar to modern camel spiders. The next security camera was in the aviary. Arnold watched as a small pterosaur called Dimorphodon zoomed above the treeline. It shrieked as it landed on a tree branch, clinging on with the sharp claws on its wings and feet.

"Bizarre-looking thing," said Anthony, one of the other computer technicians working in the Control Room. Anthony Jones was no older than 30 and had black-colored hair and a shaved beard. "How's everything looking on your end, Arnold."

"Fine," Arnold responded. "I was just looking at the views of our security cameras. Everything's going fine. Our shift will be over in about seven minutes."

"Oh, that reminds me," said an obese man sitting at a desk in the far corner. "I've got to step out early today."

Arnold sighed and turned to face Dennis Nedry. As usual, Nedry's desk was covered in clutter – anything from empty soda cans, a quarter empty box of pizza, candy wrappers, bits of aluminum foil and balled-up pieces of paper were considered normal for Nedry.

"You can't stay for seven more minutes?" Arnold asked.

"Nope." Nedry slugged down his soda. "I've got to be out of here in two minutes."

"Where could you possibly need to go?" Anthony asked. "You're always clocking out early."

"No I'm not. I didn't clock out early yesterday, or the day before that. I haven't clocked out early all week."

"The last time you clocked out early was the third of June, just a week ago and at the same time."

"I've got stuff to do," Nedry said quickly.

Arnold said, "Well, if you need to go, I guess you can go now."

"Alright, thanks."

Without further ado, Nedry got up from his desk, clocked out and left in a hurry.

Anthony winced. "Has he always been like that?"

"In a nutshell, yes, yes he has." Arnold glanced at his clock and nodded. "Since he clocked out early, and nothing's really going on right now, I think we'll leave too and let the next shift take over."

Anthony grinned. "Time for the...other project?"

"You bet."

Nedry was quick to board the next ferry leaving for the coast of Texas. As soon as he arrived on the mainland, he entered a little cafe near the dock. He looked around hastily. Where is that man? he thought to himself.

"Hey, Nedry!"

Nedry turned to see a man waving to him from a nearby table. Smiling, he went over and took a seat.

"Hello, Dodgson," Nedry said.

For the past six months, after the failure to recreate InGen's time portal, Dodgson had been paying Nedry to steal unfertilized dinosaur embryos from InGen's Creation Lab for research. Dodgson's company, Biosyn, had long craved InGen's technology, and now he was almost caught up to them. But in addition to cloning technology, Biosyn was also rather close to completing another scientific project...

"So where are the embryos?" Dodgson asked.

"Oh, yeah." Nedry retrieved a large water bottle and gave it to Dodgson. This "water bottle" was actually a cleverly disguised embryo transportation unit. The top could be screwed off in order to access the coolant-filled storage compartment.

Dodgson grinned as he held the bottle in his hands. "Awesome. Now, I have some updates to share."

"Like what?"

"Well, you know that four weeks ago, we had successfully brought to life our new species of dinosaur..." Dodgson recapped on how his team of geneticists had used embryos Nedry had stolen and fertilized them using genetically-tampered DNA. Then, he spoke of how over the past four weeks, the dinosaurs had been grown under close, utmost security surveillance and in an isolated part of the laboratory. The geneticists at Biosyn were so keen on keeping the dinosaurs isolated that even Dodgson had not yet seen the creatures. "...however," he continued, "I'm told they're smart. They're a very intelligent brood of creatures."

"Wow."

"I expect I'll be able to finally see them in a day or two. Now, in other news, you remember the prototype we're working on?"

"Uh huh."

"I think we're extremely close to finishing it."

Nedry's eyebrows went up. "You mean...you've figured out all of InGen's technical problems, but you've also constructed the prototype itself?"

"Yes and no. We haven't figured out all of the viruses you put in that system...but we've constructed the prototype and I strongly think...that in a few days...we'll be able to conduct our first travel through time."

"That's incredible. That is absolutely incredible. I can't wait till that's completed." Then Nedry switched the subject. "When do you want me to get you some more embryos?"

"The 12th of this month," Dodgson told him. "And remember, we need viable embryos. They're no use to use if they don't survive."

"OK. How do want me to transport them this time?"

Dodgson dove into his bag and retrieved a canister of Barbosol shaving cream. "The bottom screws open; it's cooled and compartmentalized inside. See?" He demonstrated by promptly unscrewing the canister's bottom, revealing the hidden compartment.

Nedry laughed. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

"And what makes this even safer to use to transport the embryos in that the water bottle is that people can even check it if they want to. Press the top."

"Let me see."

Dodgson handed him the canister. Nedry eagerly pressed the button on top and white, puffy shaving cream was squirted out onto his other open hand. Nedry snickered with glee. "Oh yeah, this is awesome." He then wipes the cream off his hand, dumping it on someone's cake on a dessert tray next to him.

"Now there's only enough coolant inside for 36 hours and the embryos have to be back in the mainland by then. Where do you want to deliver them to?"

"The East Dock is always open," Nedry explained. Unlike Isla Nublar's south dock, which was used to transport tourists to and from the island, the East Dock was where the park received supplies. It would be less crowded than the South Dock and Nedry figured it was easier to slip the canister and its embryonic content out of the park without detection.

"How are you planning to beat security?" Dodgson inquired.

"I've got an 18-minute window. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"OK. In order to help you accomplish your task, I'll have two of my people waiting at the East Dock for you. That way you don't have to leave the island and no one will get suspicious."

Then the waitress arrives and places their check on the table, between the two men. Seeing the check, Nedry looks up at Dodgson, expectantly. He says, "Don't get cheap on me, Dodgson. That was Hammond's and Masrani's mistake."

Dodgson rolls his eyes and picks up the check.

A/N: A lot has been happening in this chapter! I've introduced you guys to some new characters, including Alaina, Brianna and Anthony, and reintroduced you to some characters from the prequel, such as Tom, Dodgson and Logan and his friends. Am I moving too fast? In other words, how is the pacing of this story? Do you guys feel like it's moving too fast? Please let me know so that I can improve as I continue to write. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far, but don't go away just yet, because I'm published an extra chapter today since I didn't publish last week. Keep on reading!