Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 16: Surveying the Damage
A/N: Exciting things are happening in this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know in the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
"Parasaurolophus. Meaning: 'Near-crested Lizard', Parasaurolophus is native to western North America and grows averages nine feet tall and 30 feet. However, if you're fortunate, you might find some of our larger specimens, which can grow 40 feet long and weigh two tons! This dinosaur is a member of the hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur family, meaning its a close relative of Edmontosaurus, another dinosaur you'll see on the Gyrosphere ride. Parasaurolophus is a herd animal, feeding on the park's rich vegetation. It is notable for its elongated tube-like crest on its head. Scientists were unsure of its function until today. Some believed it was a snorkel for when the animal was in water; others felt that it was used in combat. We now know it uses the crest for display and communication, allowing the animal to emit its haunting, beautiful cries."
The Parasaurolophus pair strolled right in front of the gyrosphere ball Malcolm and Sarah were in. The two dinosaurs made honking sounds that closely resembled a tuba.
"They're so beautiful, aren't they?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, they actually are," Malcolm admitted. "But these are herbivores, so I'm fine about this bunch. It's the carnivores I'm more concerned about."
Kelly and Gennaro's ball rolled ahead of Malcolm's, moving further into the plain. Ian decided to follow them, so he continued moving forward, toward the great herds of Apatosaurus and Parasaurolophus.
"It's an amazing park," Malcolm concluded, "it's just so sad that it applies so well to the Chaos Theory."
Sarah grinned and shook her head. "What is it with you and your Chaos Theory?"
"Hey, I'm a chaoticianist, what can you expect? The Chaos Theory is the perfect way to examine situations and help us understand why things happen the way they do. It's all part of how..."
As Ian continued to talk, Sarah noticed a jeep parked not too far away next to a Triceratops lying on its side in the grass. It didn't look too well. There was a man and a younger girl – perhaps teenaged – standing by the Triceratops talking. Oh my gosh! That's Dad and Jess!
"...and that's why I often use the water droplet example," Ian continued. "Because the imperfections in the skin and the movement of the blood vessels and–"
"You see that, Hon?" Sarah asked, pointing to the Triceratops. "That's my dad over there."
Malcolm nodded. "Yes, I see him. Why'd you bring it up?"
"Something's wrong. I'm going to go check it out. How do you get out of this vehicle?"
"I don't think we can. It's kind of a ride. Now as I was saying, the imperfections in the skin and other causes allow the water droplet to roll off your hand in different ways every time. They never repeat the same path. That's unpredictability–"
Sarah – who'd heard Malcolm's Chaos Theory speech time and time again – found the button that allowed the gyrosphere to open. The hatch popped up and Sarah unbuckled herself and got out.
"See I'm right again!" Malcolm exclaimed. "Nobody could have predicted that you would just hop out of a moving vehicle." Then to Malcolm's surprise, Kelly too opened the hatch to her gyrosphere and she and Gennaro – who seemed rather reluctant – got out to join her Sarah. "And there's another example." Malcolm looked around the vehicle, and realizing no one was listening to him talk, he said, "And now I'm sitting here by myself, talking to myself. That's Chaos Theory. Sarah! Wait for me!"
Sarah led the way as she, Kelly, Gennaro and Malcolm walked toward the downed Triceratops. "Dad!" she called out.
Gerry and Jess looked back in surprise, but they faces soon showed great delight upon seeing a familiar face.
"Sarah!" Gerry exclaimed. "It's been ages since I've seen you last. How've you been?"
"Is there anyone else who thinks that we shouldn't be out here?" Gennaro questioned.
Sarah ignored him. "I'm doing great. It's great to see you, Dad." She hugged her father and then Jess.
"How did you guys get out of the gyrosphere?" Jess asked after greeting Kelly, Ian and Gennaro.
"I just pressed the appropriate button," Sarah answered.
Gerry chortled. "I told them we needed locking mechanisms on the doors. But perhaps you can help me, Sarah, you're good with this kind of thing."
"What's wrong?" Malcolm asked.
"It's our Triceratops, see? I had this female tranquilized earlier. She's sick."
The group walked over to the sick trike. The poor animal, quite large in size, was wheezing heavily and hardly moved, save for slight movements of its front leg, mouth, eyes and the rise and fall of her chest. She definitely looked sick.
"Can we touch her?" Kelly asked excitedly.
"Sure," Jess answered. "My dad says that we can touch her on the back of the frill. They like that."
Kelly reached out and scratched behind the mighty Triceratops' frill. The animal groaned, indicating she liked the special treatment she was receiving.
Malcolm and Gennaro looked on as Sarah and Harding started to scrutinize the animal. She looked back at Ian and gently grabbed his wrist. "Come on, Ian, pet her."
"I'd rather not. I read Triceratops can bite branches as thick as my arm in half."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "She's friendly, don't worry Ian. Besides, she's sick AND tranquilized. She won't be moving around much. Just pet her." Ignoring Malcolm's resistance, she pulled her husband over to the elephantine-sized animal and placed his hand on her back. Once Sarah let go, Malcolm began rubbing the dinosaur's back on his own, feeling the pebbly texture of the scales. "See, you're fine," Sarah said.
Then, pulling on her knowledge of modern animals, Sarah turned to her professional state of mind as she walked back toward the Triceratops enormous head. She knelt down.
"What are her symptoms?" Sarah asked, looking in the dinosaur's eyes.
"Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing, dilated pupils, stuff like that," Harding explained. "It seems to happen to at least one of our Triceratops about every six weeks. Take this." He handed her his penlight.
Sarah frowned. "Thanks." Up close, this Triceratops horridus was simply gorgeous; this was definitely one of the most beautiful animals she had ever seen. Her brow furrowed when she noticed something peculiar about the animal's eye when she used the penlight to give it a good look. Even under the harsh light of the pen, the Triceratops' pupils didn't change shape – they remained dilated. The Triceratops made a quiet bellowing sound.
Sarah rubbed the dinosaur on her snout. "Yeah, baby girl, it's ok," she cooed. "You're going to be OK, girl." She looked at her father, who was now kneeling beside her. "The symptoms you mentioned suggest the animals are getting sick from eating something toxic..."
"I'm not sure what they could be eating."
The dinosaur's tongue, sprinkled with blisters, dropped limply from its mouth. Sarah lightly scratched the tongue with her fingernail, popping a blister or two, allowing a clear liquid to form.
Sarah thought, Microvesicles. That's interesting. Hm, the pupils are pharmacological, from local plant life. The Triceratops must be sick from something in their diet.She got to her feet and began to scan the surroundings. Around her, other herbivorous dinosaurs roamed about feeding peacefully, watching as gyrospheres rolled by. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them. Why the Triceratops? And why every six weeks? She turned to her dad.
"Dad, everything I've seen suggests the Triceratops are suffering from something in their diet."
"That's what I thought too. But since they're constant grazers, they should be sick constantly."
"Right, not every six weeks."
Just then, something caught Sarah's attention – it was a small shrub. At no more than three feet high, it would have looked no different from all the other plants on these plains, but Sarah knew better. With multiple trunks, a green stem, and white flowers, she identified it as Tetrazygia bicolor, otherwise known as West Indian Lilac.
"Hey, Dad," Sarah announced. "You've got some West Indian Lilac over here."
"Yes," Harding said. "We know they're toxic, but the animal's don't eat 'em."
Sarah winced. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Well," Sarah said in a determined tone. "There's only one way to be positive. I have to see the dinosaur's droppings."
Malcolm's eyebrows shot up. "Wait...dino...droppings?"
"Yeah, that's what I said."
"Hey, Dr. Harding," Kelly said.
"Yeah, Kelly?"
"What are they doing over there?"
Everyone looked in the distance to see several jeeps moving toward the northern part of the island. They clearly were not carrying tourists. Harding could only shrug.
"I have no idea," he answered. "I'd assume they're probably out here do to maintenance or something."
Suddenly, a voice boomed from Harding's walkie-talkie: "Dr. Harding, this is Owen Grady, do you copy? Over."
Harding picked up the radio and put it to his mouth. "Yeah, I'm here, Owen. What's up?"
"We have a bit of a situation here and we need you now."
"I'm treating a Triceratops at the moment. I want to finish before she recovers from the tranquilizers–"
"This is urgent. We need you."
"Um...OK...what do you want me to–"
"Claire and I are pretty close to you know. You start walking over to us and we'll pick you up."
"OK, then. I'll see you in a minute." Harding put the radio in his pocket and turned to the others. "I'm needed over here. Jess, can you stay with these guys while I go see what's up?"
"Sure, Dad."
Owen stopped the jeep and allowed Harding to climb into the back seat, behind Claire, who was in the passenger seat.
"So what's the news?" Harding asked. "You said it was urgent."
"Oh it is," Claire responded. "It's even more urgent than our Triceratops dilemma."
Harding was surprised. "Are you serious?"
Owen nodded. "Yeah, you'll see what I mean once I get over this hill."
Owen broke away from the jeeps carrying ACU soldiers and drove toward a large hill. Once he reached the top, the three of them were in for a massive surprise. They gasped when they saw that the valley below was filled with the bodies of seven Apatosaurus, all of them brought down by the same predator. Harding, who knew nothing about the I. rex escape, couldn't believe his eyes.
"Oh my gosh!" Harding exclaimed. "What happened?"
"The Indominus rex broke out earlier today," Claire explained. "She found her way here and...oh my, it's even worse than I thought."
"You're telling me one theropod killed all these dinosaurs?"
"Wait!" Owen almost yelled. "She didn't kill all of them!" He pointed to the sauropod lying closest to the jeep – the end of the dinosaur's tail twitched slightly, meaning it was still alive.
The three of them got out of the jeep and walked over to the poor Apatosaurus. She laid on the ground in what must have been immense pain. Deep wounds had been made in her side. Thankfully, her neck seemed to have largely been spared.
"We knew she was hunting the apatosaurs," Claire admitted, "but I didn't know she actually brought so many of them down."
"And she didn't even eat any of them," Harding said in surprise. He and Claire knelt down by the injured sauropod. The poor creature looked as if she was suffering tremendously.
A tear began to form underneath Claire's eye as she lightly rubbed the bottom of the apatosaur's head. "No animal should have to suffer like this." She turned to Owen. "But why would she wipe out so many of them? Even when you consider how much she has to eat to stay alive, the I. rex would take months to eat this much!"
"She's killing for sport," Owen said quietly.
The sauropod beneath them moaned, slightly opening her mouth and allowing her tongue to flop out. Harding patted her snout.
"I think she'll be OK," Harding said. "So long as that monster doesn't return to finish her off, and if I can have a little time to patch her up, she should be fine. The rest of the sauropod herd doesn't seem to be in the area, so maybe they escaped the carnage."
"I hope the Indominus hasn't killed anything else," Owen said.
Storm clouds began to form in the sky above and thunder clapped as Hoskins' team of soldiers drove toward the fence breach. He and the others got out of their vehicles, holding their EMD's ready to defend themselves if need be.
"How'd she break through that?" Billy asked, observing the fence. "That fence is flowing with 20,000 volts of electricity."
"I don't think she did," Hoskins said. "Look at the appearance of the breach. I think she used an object to bust through."
Arnold spoke through Hoskins radio: "Talk to me, Vic. What's the damage so far?"
"Perimeter fence, breached; according to Owen, six Apatosaurus, dead; one Apatosaurus injured; no human casualties."
"What about the kids? There were three of them in that gyrosphere and there's no inclination that they returned to the station."
Hoskins said, "They must be around here somewhere. Even if we don't find bodies, we should find the gyrosphere. I doubt I. rex wants to eat a glass and metal vehicle."
"OK. At least we know she's in the Restricted Zone and not elsewhere. Her tracker reveals she's not too far away from you guys. She seems stationary for the time being. Now would be a good time to track her down and get those kids back. This park doesn't need any casualties–"
"I know. We're working on it." Vic replaced the radio and turned to his troop. "Alright, everyone except Billy, Oscar and D-Caf needs to go through the fence. We're going to track down the dinosaur."
"What are we doing?" Oscar inquired.
"You're going to find those kids and get them back to the park using the helicopter."
"No disrespect, but wouldn't it be better to use the helicopter to track the dinosaur?"
"No. It's a jungle out there and she'll be hard to track by air. Besides, that's what we've got Arnold for. Using the helicopter will make bringing the kids back safer."
"Alright then. We're heading back to base."
"Good." He placed a hand on Hamada. "Hamada, lead the way."
"I've closed the Gyrosphere attraction," Arnold said. "The cover story is that we need to close due to the approaching storm."
Masrani nodded in approval. "Good."
Hammond, who sat in a chair with Dianthus resting on his lap said, "Well, this has been a lousy day. An escaped Indominus rex, six sauropods dead and three kids missing."
"It could have been worse, John," Arnold said, trying to console with his boss. "A lot worse."
From his desk, Anthony watched a view of one of the Isla Nublar beaches via a live video feed. The water was choppy and the clouds approaching the island were almost black; a really bad tropical storm.
"This storm looks like it's going to be pretty bad," Anthony said. "It hasn't dissipated or changed course."
Henry said, "All that rain's going to be tough on the ACU soldiers as they try to find the dinosaur and the kids. I hope it won't hinder them too badly."
Hammond frowned. "I was going to have my grandchildren come to the park this weekend...kind of glad I told them this week wouldn't be a good week to visit."
From the other side of the room, Nedry looked at his watch and got out of his chair, seeming a bit more anxious than usual. He said to the others, "Anyone in the mood for a soda or something? The potato chips I ate were too salty, so I need something sweet. Oh, and that reminds me: I finished debugging the phones, but the system's going to be compiling for about 18 or 20 minutes."
"What does that mean for us?" Masrani asked.
"Not much. Some of the minor systems might go on or off. But I wouldn't worry about it. It's just a simple thing."
Masrani nodded. "Alright. You can go."
Nedry hurried out of the room without another word.
"Strange man," Henry said.
Instead of going to the vending machine, however, Nedry walked past it and into the men's bathroom. He found it empty. Perfect. Entering a stall, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" It was Miles Chadwick.
"Hey, man," Nedry said. "Where are you?"
"I'm at the East Dock."
Sometime earlier, Nedry had informed Dodgson to have him send Chadwick earlier than originally planned. The storm, in addition to the escape of Indominus rex, would keep everyone else occupied while Nedry stole the embryos he needed.
"Do you have the embryos yet?" Chadwick asked.
"Not yet. I'm going for them now. Just wanted to make sure you were there."
"OK, but just don't take too long. If we do this like we do every other time, there won't be any mishaps."
Nedry concluded his call with Chadwick and left the bathroom. He was making his way to the Hatchery.
A/N: Awesome chapter, huh? Where do you think Indominus rex is now? How will Hoskins and the others find her? How did you guys like the sick Triceratops scene featuring Sarah Harding working with her father rather than Ellie Sattler (who, as you'll recall from JurassiQuest, is still trapped in a different time period). Before the Jurassic World hype dies off, I have decided to start a brand new story: "Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World"! It's obviously a crossover between Phineas and Ferb and Jurassic World, and, unlike this story, will pretty much follow the Jurassic World plot with a Phineas and Ferb twist (in other words, it will be more like the movie, but I'll add several Phineas and Ferb characters and make the story less like Jurassic World: Apocalypse, so it won't seem like you guys are reading Jurassic World: Apocalypse all over again.). Hope I'm not confusing you guys! In any case, since I'm starting the new story, I was going to put Jurassic World: Apocalypse on temporary hiatus for a while, but I want to know what you guys think? Should I alternate each week (publish a chapter for one of the two stories one week and a chapter for the other story the next week), or should I just finish "Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World" up so I can get back to JW:A. If I end up doing only "Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World", don't worry, because it should be much shorter than JW:A, so it won't be too long before I work on it again. Next week, I am going to publish a chapter for "Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World" so be sure to check it out and let me know how I should go about publishing these chapters! See you then!