Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 7: Journey to the Center of the Isle
A/N: That newly released Jurassic World trailer was AWESOME! Can't wait to see the movie. Not a whole lot of the "adventure" from the trailer is going to happen in this chapter, but I guarantee that there will be plenty of thrills and exciting content in upcoming chapters. Calmer chapters such as these are important for things like character development and getting the story across to you readers so that when it's time for the action scenes, everything makes plenty of sense. By the way, be sure to let me know if you like the flow of the story, or if I'm pacing the story too fast or slow. Or if the writing style is confusing. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
Sarah Harding, Ian and Kelly Malcolm, Billy Brennan and Cheryl Logan walked off the deck of the ferry and onto the South Dock of Isla Nublar – Jurassic World. They forged their way through a crowd of people, and past the school group and toward the monorail station that would take them to the Innovation Center.
"It's so crowded in this park," Malcolm stated. "I'm not accustomed to bumping elbows with so many people."
"Relax, hon," Sarah told him, "it's not that bad."
"Yeah," Kelly agreed. "Remember your book signing last year when that guy was so busy texting that he bumped into you, spilling all of his hot coffee?"
Malcolm shivered when he remembered the pain of the hot drink as it drenched his black-colored clothes that day. People are man's worst enemies, he thought.
"Ah! Dr. Malcolm!" cried an elderly man with an amber walking cane as he made his way through the crowd, followed by a taller Indian man and another man with a briefcase. "Dr. Malcolm! Sarah Harding! So glad you could make it." The man shook Malcolm's hand as if he knew him already.
"Um, and who are you?" Malcolm asked.
"I'm John Hammond, and I must say I'm delighted to finally meet you in person, Dr. Malcolm." Then he turned to Sarah. "And this must be your wife."
"Uh yeah, this is Sarah Harding and our daughter Kelly."
Then Sarah introduced Mr. Hammond to Billy Brennan and Cheryl Logan as friends of theirs, telling him that they were part of Dr. Grant's dig team. "...I hope it's not a problem if they join us."
"Certainly not. Bring them along. It's nice to see that Dr. Grant's shoes have been filled by a fine young fellow such as yourself, Mr. Brennan."
Brennan cast a fake grin, knowing the truth about his finances. Then it was Hammond's turn to introduce Simon Masrani – the tall Indian man – and the man with the brief case – Donald Gennaro – to the guests. They found Masrani to be friendly and approachable, but Gennaro nonetheless seemed anxious about something on his mind; his head wasn't into the current situation.
"Well, I'm sure you're tired from all your traveling," Hammond said. "Come. Let's ride the monorail to get to the Innovation Center and then to your hotel room at the Hilton Inn. Then we'll tour you around the park!"
Malcolm felt something bump into his leg. He looked down and saw a miniature elephant with its head against his leg.
"Oh my gosh!" Kelly exclaimed. "Is that an elephant? What kind of an elephant is that?"
"It's so...small," Cheryl said.
Hammond and Masrani laughed. Masrani said, "This is Dianthus, our genetically-modified miniature elephant, one of the many surprises you'll see in the park."
Malcolm watched as Dianthus rubbed against his leg for affection. Malcolm shook his head. "A miniature elephant? Seriously? What other crazy creations do they have at this park."
"So this is it?" Alaina asked, gazing up into the blue sky before casting her sights on the main part of the island. Isla Nublar's mountains were all covered in trees and other plants, giving a very "prehistoric" look to the land. "It's really beautiful here."
"Yeah, it kind of reminds me of Hawaii," Tom said. "Or maybe a theme park in Louisiana."
Brianna took out her brochure and grinned. "I can't wait to go to the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo."
Mary Anning, the principle's secretary, was joined by another woman; based on her outfit, she appeared to be a Jurassic World employee and she had long black hair. The two of them walked in front of the noisy school group and Anning addressed the crowd.
"Alright everyone!" Mary Anning announced. "I know you're all excited about exploring Jurassic World, but first, we need to make sure everyone understands a couple rules before we head out." Then she gestured to the woman standing next to her. "This is Zara; she's one of the announcers at this park and she's going to explain the park rules to us. Take it away, Zara."
Zara nodded and said, "OK. First of all, welcome to Jurassic World, the greatest theme park in the world. We're very glad that you're here with us today. And while we want you to have fun, there are also some rules that you will need to remember before you start exploring the island. Now, Jurassic World is one of the safest theme parks in the world. As our founder, John Hammond, likes to say, 'We have spared no expense to make Isla Nublar safe for human and dinosaur alike'. To keep both visitors and dinosaurs safe, we have developed over 150 protocols and safeguards for every dinosaur in the park. However, safety is a two-way street. Please do your part: Firstly, we're going to split all of you up into groups of three. You must stay with your group at all times. Don't wander off. Also, we don't want you to tap on the glass, cross barriers, throw anything into the exhibits, make excessive noise, tease or otherwise incite the dinosaurs. You'll also notice that throughout the park we have set up electrified fences. The fences have a power of about 10,000 volts, so please don't touch fences marked as electrified. Other than that, be sure to have fun and enjoy your stay at Jurassic World!"
The teens, several of the teachers and the principle got onto the monorail. Meanwhile, Mary Anning left the group to make sure hotel rooms had been reserved for everyone.
Kelly looked at the lush plant life as the monorail vehicle she rode zoomed past, taking them toward the center of the island itself.
"It's almost like Epcot in Disney World, Dad!" Kelly declared. "These things are incredible."
"We've tried to outfit this park with only the most up-to-date technology on the planet," Masrani explained to the Malcolm's party.
"I can definitely see that," Sarah said. "I think Epcot is the only other theme park in the world I've seen monorails in usage."
"We decided to use monorails because we wanted a quick, easy way to access any portion of the island without cluttering up the landscape with roads and pathways and vehicles."
"We spared no expense," Hammond summed up.
Malcolm asked, "How do you run these things? What do they use for fuel?"
"We have a geothermal power plant in the northern region of the island that brings power to not only the monorail system, but also to about a quarter of the rest of the park! We have plans to gradually expand the use of geothermal power to the entire park."
"That's interesting," Billy commented as he looked out of the window at the front of the monorail. "I think we're approaching something up ahead."
As they rode through the jungle, the monorail approached two enormous, primitive wooden gates and a metal archway, with flaming torch holders on each side of the gate. The top of the archway bore the name of the park: Jurassic World. Billy and the others looked upon the gates with a sense of awe. Just then, a kid – about 12 years old – with dirty-blond, short, curly hair pushed his way through the crowd of people and stood right next to Billy, watching the same sight. With a loud creak, the gates began to open.
"Wow," was all the kid managed to say.
"What have they got in there?" Malcolm asked. "King Kong?"
Sarah elbowed her husband. "Shh! You're ruining the moment, Ian."
As the gates opened, a view of what was ahead could be seen – lots of buildings and sidewalks surrounded a large lake that was in the center of the island. This was Jurassic World itself. Even from a distance, the place looked like an exciting place to explore.
Tom, Brianna and Alaina watched the main gates to the park disappear behind the monorail as they moved forward, Main Street and the Innovation Center getting closer and closer by the second. Tom was so amazed by this place. He couldn't believe that he actually had the opportunity to be here.
"I wish you could see this, Luke," he whispered.
After another five minutes, the monorail arrived at the monorail station in the Innovation Center, where their adventure and exploration of Isla Nublar would begin. The three teens could hardly wait for the vehicle to stop. The moment it did, they rushed out, eager to begin the adventure. They found the Innovation Center to be quite crowded. However, they were still able to see that the Innovation Center was filled with many groundbreaking educational exhibits, larger-than-life interactive films and even hands-on activities.
Over the speakers, a voice announced, "Well, howdy little paleontologists! My name is Mr. DNA, and I want to welcome you all to Jurassic World! Are you ready to see some dinosaurs?"
Tom chuckled. "Well, they spared no expense on technology in this place, that's for sure."
"Where do we go first?" Brianna asked.
Alaina suggested they check out the statue of an older man situated just before entering the Creation Lab. Brianna and Tom agreed, so they walked over and saw that the older man stood proudly, holding onto the top of an amber-topped walking cane.
"So that's the founder?" Alaina asked.
Tom nodded. "Yeah. John Parker Hammond. He looks like a pretty cool guy. Maybe we'll meet him while we're in the park."
"I doubt it," Brianna scoffed. "Let's see what it says about John Hammond." Brianna looked at a little plaque beneath the statue. "It says: 'John Parker Hammond. Country of Origin: Scotland. Favorite Attraction: Creation Lab. Favorite Dinosaur: T. rex. As CEO of InGen, Hammond pioneered the idea of bringing dinosaurs to life. He was dedicated to giving people an experience that was exciting and new, urging the world to surpass their dreams and unearth an amazing adventure. Ever looking towards the future, his statue stands before the Hammond Creation Lab in remembrance of his heart, passion and imagination that is still impacting the world today.' He sounds pretty cool."
Alaina then noticed the statue of a little animal – it looked a little like a baby Asiatic elephant with tusks – standing next to Hammond. Alaina read the caption beneath the elephant's statue: "'This is Dianthus, an elephant miniaturized through the process of genetic bioengineering. Cloned in 2012, he was the very first creature genetically engineered by InGen's scientists. Dianthus is a member of the species Elephas maximus, or Asian elephant, but he's a lot smaller than his normal cousins! Dianthus is still growing, but is not expected to grow much larger than he is now. If you're fortunate, you might see him walking alongside his owner, John Hammond.'"
"He's kind of cute," Brianna commented.
"Anyway, let's keep moving," Tom encouraged. "We've got an entire park to explore and only two days to do so. Where did we agree we'd start?"
"The Gentle Giants Petting Zoo," Alaina reminded him. "We can check out the Creation Lab later. I want to see a dinosaur!"
Gerry Harding and Claire Dearing arrived at the South Dock. They were looking for three people: Claire's nephews, Gray and Zach, and Harding's daughter, Jess. He was also aware that Sarah Harding would be staying at the park for a while with her husband and their daughter, Kelly, so he wanted to meet up with them in a little bit too. But first, he had to find Jess – who had just gotten off the ferry – in this crowd.
"Jess!" Harding called. "How long have your kids been out here, Claire?"
"They came on the same ferry that brought Hammond's special guests – your other daughter and her husband. So they should be here already."
"Dad!" came a feminine cry from among the noisy crowd. Harding turned to see a 14-year old girl with short brown hair, pulled into pigtails. She had a brown-colored vest over her red-and-black-striped shirt; her pants were brownish-green. She had a backpack slung over her shoulders. "Dad!" she exclaimed again. She and her father embraced for a couple of moments.
"Glad you could make it, honey," Harding told Jess. "Welcome to the park."
"Dad, this place looks awesome."
Jess looked over at Claire and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Dr. Claire Dearing," Claire said. "I'm the public relations manager for the park."
"Sweet."
"She's here to greet her nephews," Harding explained.
Jess looked over at several people about to ride the monorail. "Are we going on that thing?"
"No. We're going to ride my jeep to our next destination." Seeing Jess frown, Harding continued, "Don't worry. You'll like where we're heading next."
Claire smiled as two boys began to approach them. "There are my nephews. I knew they'd be here somewhere."
Just as Harding had done with Jess, Claire introduced her nephews to them.
"How was the trip over here?" Claire asked them.
Zach shrugged. "It was fine, I guess."
"Good. You're going to be so awestruck when you two see the rest of the park, your mother was telling me how–"
"Can we just go to the hotel and sit this stuff down? I'm getting tired of holding it?"
"Sure. I...guess I'll catch up with you two later then."
"Yeah, sounds good."
Then, Zach and Gray headed to the monorail station to ride to the hotel as Gerry, Jess and Claire walked in the opposite direction, toward Gerry's jeep.
"Ready to see some dinosaurs, Jess?" Harding asked her.
"You know it, Dad, you know it."
A/N: Now all of the main characters have reached Jurassic World. I know this chapter was a little shorter than I typically publish, but this was the best breaking point before we hit some really cool scenes. As you might have guessed, this story is very much like a cross between the events of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, but I plan to throw a twist in here and there...especially since the time portal is almost online...which we'll probably see again real soon. In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying the story. Please be sure to favorite, follow and review so that I can write more about how people get eaten...oops, actually I meant to say how people have fun at Jurassic World, and NOT getting eating while doing it! Of course, with well over 150 protocols for every dinosaur in the park, this is the safest place on earth. What could possibly go wrong? ;=)