Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 17: Bloodbath in the Jungle
A/N: Firstly, I want to thank all of you readers who told me I should work on both this story and "Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World". I agree that doing both would be fun so that 1) as a writer, I won't have trouble getting my head back into this story, so to speak, when I finish the other one and 2), as my readers, you guys won't have to wait months before I finally update this story. We start out passive in this chapter, but we'll see a lot – and I do mean A LOT – of action later on, as our title suggests. Let me know if you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
While Kelly continued to pet the sick Triceratops nearby, Malcolm grimaced as Sarah plunged her hands into a pile of Triceratops dung.
"That is one big pile of doo-doo," Malcolm commented.
Several piles of dinosaur dung sat in an area of the valley. The largest were more than six feet high.
"Did Dad tell you how did a Triceratops defecate this much?" Sarah asked her sister. "A Triceratops' posterior can't be more than a few feet above the ground."
"Dad said a few days ago he and some of the other dinosaur caretakers gathered some of the droppings together into these piles so they could see what the Triceratops were eating. I'm so glad I wasn't there for that. It would have been so smelly!"
"And so disgusting," Gennaro added, shivering in revolt. "It's disgusting enough just watching Dr. Harding dig through that stuff."
"I'm wearing gloves," Sarah told him. She frowned. "No trace of lilac berries...that is so odd. But lilac berries have to be the cause of the illness."
"But then they wouldn't get sick every six weeks, but rather every week."
"Exactly."
Sarah removed her gloves, deep in thought.
"You will remember to wash your hands before you eat anything," Malcolm reminded her.
Sarah rolled her eyes and walked over to where her sister was standing. Jess was standing above a small pile of smooth, rounded stones. "What are you looking at, Jess?"
"I've been seeing these stones all over the place in the Gyrosphere Valley," Jess said. "I'm just not sure what they're from."
They bent down to better observe the rock pile. Picking up one of the stones, paleontologist Sarah recognized it instantly. "It's a gastrolith."
"What's a gastrolith?"
"Some animals that can't chew their food well or at all employ the use of small stones. They swallow these rocks and in the gut, the rocks grind up the plant matter the animal is eating."
"Wait, so they eat rocks?"
"Yeah. It's not as weird as it sounds. Birds and crocodiles are known to do it as well. These rocks are then regurgitated once they are too rounded to be of use anymore and the Triceratops will eat a new batch of rocks."
Malcolm asked, "Are those little round things amid the rocks what I think they are?"
Sarah, looking back at the rock pile, noticed several small flattened berries among the gastroliths. She suddenly had an epiphany!
"Oh my gosh!" Jess uttered. "Are these berries what I think they are?"
"You bet," Sarah said. "They're lilac berries! I get it now! The Triceratops eat rocks when their previous batch gets too dull for use..."
"...and that happens every six weeks!"
"Now it all makes sense. Wait till I tell, Dad."
"He'll be glad, he's been trying to figure out that mystery for months."
At that moment, a loud thunderclap boomed through the darkening sky. Large, billowing clouds rolled over the island, blocking out the sun and indicating a storm was brewing. Gennaro frowned at this sight.
"Doctors, I have to insist that we get moving," he said.
"If it's alright," said Sarah, "I'd actually like to stay out here and help my Dad finish up with the trike. He can drop me off back in the main part of the park when we're done."
"You sure?" Malcolm asked.
"Yeah. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Go and enjoy the rest of the park."
"What about the other gyrosphere?" Gennaro asked. "Kelly, Ian and I can easily fit in one. Won't the other one be just left sitting out here?"
Jess went over to one of the gyrospheres and pressed a button. The gyrosphere promptly closed its hatch and automatically began rolling back to the station.
Malcolm snickered. "Hammond and his no expense sparing...it's obvious." He turned to Sarah. "Well...see ya."
"See ya," Sarah answered back. The two of them kissed briefly and after saying goodbye, Malcolm, Gennaro and Kelly got back in the remaining gyrosphere.
"Where do you want to go next?" Kelly asked.
But as if to answer her question, the gyrosphere's speaker said, "Your attention please. Due to weather, we ask that all gyrospheres be returned to the station. Thank you for choosing to spend your day at Jurassic World!"
"I guess that's where we're headed," Malcolm said.
"Good, because I don't want to ride out here in this rain," Gennaro uttered. "I get enough rain back home."
It was 1:30 p.m. and Nedry was acting out his plan. Instead of heading to the vending machine like he said, he made his way to the Creation Lab. He knew the lab was closed today from 1:00-2:00 so the geneticists could break for lunch. Dr. Henry Wu was normally in there at that time, but with him in the Control Room, Nedry had the perfect opportunity to steal the embryos. He had everything all planned out in his head: he would get into the lab, steal the embryos and be out and on his way to the East Dock by 1:40. Then, it would take him 18-20 minuets to reach the dock. Then he'd scoot back to the Control Room by 2:20 or so to restore power to the park. He didn't want to be gone too long not only because his absence would be noticed, but he didn't want the power outages to let any dinosaurs escape. As much as he disliked Hammond and Masrani, he didn't need to loose his other job from Dodgson.
Nedry waited by the entrance to the Creation Lab. He'd set the security camera to turn off any second now...OFF! The doors unlocked and Nedry entered the lab.
Owen and Claire hurried into the Control Room from investigating the Apatosaurus bloodbath. After calling some park vets over to the injured Apatosaurus, they had dropped off Gerry Harding so he could finish up with the Triceratops and were now drenched because of the rain.
"Where is that monster?" Owen asked.
"She's still in the Restricted Area," Anthony answered.
Owen frowned. "OK...let's hope she stays there."
"How close are the ACU to the I. rex?" Masrani asked.
Arnold typed in something on the computer. "They're getting clos...er...wait a minute...something's wrong."
"What is it?" Hammond asked with concern.
"The door security systems are shutting down."
Hammond shrugged. "Well, Nedry did say a few systems might go off in the storm, didn't he?"
Claire looked around the room. "Where is Nedry, anyway?"
Like he'd done a million times before, Nedry walked past the decontamination airlock and reached the Cold Storage Room where the embryos for every dinosaur species in the park (excluding Indominus rex) were stored, in addition to some species that weren't in the park. Unlike the last time he visited though, in the corner he saw a row of embryonic tanks, each containing the developing embryo of a dinosaur. Nedry grimaced.
Crazy science experiment, he thought.
Getting back on task, he found the storage tanks that held the embryos. He unscrewed the top off of his Barbasol canister and plucked two of each species from the tank: Acrocanthosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Apatosaurus, Arthropleura, Dilophosaurus, Dimorphodon, Edmontosaurus, Gallimimus, Koolasuchus, Laquintasaura, Meganeura, Microceratus, Mosasaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Pteranodon, Spinosaurus, Stegasaurus, Solifugae, Suchomimus, Triceratops, Tyrannasaurus and Velociraptor. All 23 species collected, Nedry closed the canister up and left the Creation Lab, shutting the doors behind him.
On schedule, he was in his jeep and driving down the road into the jungle toward the East Dock. By now, rain was pouring down. "I hope this storm lets up," he said.
Rain was soaking Hoskins as he watched his men walk through the gap in the fence where the Indominus rex had somehow managed to break through. He would remain out here and allow the real soldiers to track and bring down the hybrid. Hamada was in the lead, looking around him for any sign of movement in the jungle. So far...the jungle was silent, save for the pitter-patter of rain upon tree leaves and claps of thunder. Footprints left in the soil and squashed foliage indicated exactly which direction the dinosaur had gone.
"You're getting close to the I. rex," Arnold told Hamada via his radio. "Watch your six."
Hamada winced and glanced at his surroundings again. Where was the dinosaur?
"Are you sure?" Hamada asked.
"Positive. You're nearly on top of it."
There was no dinosaur to be seen. But then...Hamada heard a quiet beeping sound coming from nearby. Signaling the others to hold back, Hamada approached the sound until he found what looked like a lump of flesh with blinking oval-shaped piece of plastic embedded in it.
Watching from the large monitor on the wall showing live footage from the POV camera implanted in Hamada's hat, Masrani grimaced when he saw what Hamada was now holding in his hand.
"What is that?" he asked.
Having worked with wild animals earlier in his life (before joining the Navy), Owen knew exactly what it was. "Her tracking implant," he said quietly. "She clawed it out."
Claire seemed surprised. "How would it know to do that?"
"She remembered where they put it in and must have figured out that that was what allows us to know where she is at all times."
"Owen, I think you're being a bit unrealistic–"
"I beg to differ. Not only did she claw the wall of her paddock to make us think she'd escaped, but she also hid from us as we searched her enclosure. Even though she could have attacked us at any time, she waited until she knew the time was right to escape. Because she was raised alone in captivity, I expect she's going to be pulling a lot more tricks on us until she finds her place in the ecosystem."
"Mr. Grady, are you implying that she's discovering herself?" Hammond asked.
"That's exactly what I'm saying! She doesn't know what she is! And I guarantee you that she will kill anything that moves until she finds out."
"May I remind you that we're talking about an animal here?" Claire said.
"A highly intelligent animal." Owen shook his head. Turning to Dr. Wu, he added, "Whatever you guys cooked up in that lab...that thing out there...that is no dinosaur."
He drew Hamada's attention to a gyrosphere that had hit the base of a large tree. It was badly broken, and much of the glass had been shattered, laying in a heap of millions of smithereens on the jungle floor. This must have been the one belonging to the teens spotted in the Gyrosphere Valley. He placed his hand on the gyrosphere, and removed a sharp tooth found have submerged into the gyrosphere's metal skeleton. The dinosaur must have had a strong bite force.
"Hamada," Hoskins asked from the walkie-talkie. "What do you see? Did you find the dinosaur?"
"No, Hoskins," Hamada answered. "But we did find the gyrosphere those teens were in not too long ago."
"Survivors?"
"Yes and no. They survived, but they're not here."
"OK, at least they're not dead. Any other signs of the dinosaur nearby?"
Amid the raindrops falling on his hand, that was still on the gyrosphere, fell a small drop of red-colored liquid. Was that blood? Another drop fell. Hamada slowly looked up to see the tree branches above him slowly moving. Something big was right beside him...but why couldn't he see it. The other soldiers froze as their eyes looked for the source of the movement.
"Hamada?" Hoskins asked. "Hamada? Are you the–" Hamada shut the radio off and a large menacing beast appeared above him, with red-glowing eyes, all the more intimidating in the rain. Water dripped from the rows of sharp fangs and gave a certain shimmer to its wet scaly skin. The dinosaur had been standing above him the whole time, camouflaged against the green background.
With a roar Indominus lunged at Hamada, grabbing him with her four-fingered hands. The soldiers took action and started shooting the dinosaur with their EMD's. Hamada screamed as he was lifted into the air and the dinosaur bellowed in pain from each shot.
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" Hamada cried.
The soldiers continued to obey, but Indominus refused to go down. She roared again and charged toward the soldiers. Her head knocked several of the men out of her way as she ran off through the forest, carrying Hamada with her. The soldiers pursued the beast, chasing it right through the trees and the torrential rain.
Another soldier named Roger took up Hamada's place. "Hoskins, she's heading straight back toward the perimeter fence! We can block her off!"
"Excellent! Keep it up!"
"What's happening now?" Hammond asked, watching the screen.
"Great stuff," Arnold said. "They're trapping her against the perimeter fence!"
Claire smiled. "So she'll be trapped against the electric fence?"
"Exactly! There's no way she can withstand the pressure from the EMD's AND the 20,000-volt electric fence. The ACU is so ingenious."
Masrani laughed and crossed his arms. "See? What did I tell you all? The ACU can handle this with ease."
Owen wasn't impressed yet. "I dunno, something's not right with this scene."
The Indominus skidded to a stop upon reaching the fence. Her skin was tough, making it difficult for the EMD blasts to penetrate, but given enough time, they certainly would. Roger smiled – there was was nowhere else for her to go. For once, someone had finally outsmarted this creature.
"We've got her now!" Roger yelled. "Fire it up!"
The EMD's continued to fire at I. rex. Growling with determination, she lifted Hamada up and suddenly threw him at the fence! Hamada cried out as he hit the fence and flopped to the ground, but he received no electric shock! With a snort, she ran toward the fence, stomping down on Hamada in the process, and smashed right through it with her head!
Roger's jaw dropped, not believing what he just witnessed, as the other soldiers chased after the beast. How could that dinosaur break through a 20,000-volt electric fence? But then, he noticed something startling about the fence – the lights on top of each fence post (that were supposed to stay on 24/7) were off.
There's no power going to the fences! he thought.
"What? How?" Claire asked in alarm. "How did it do that."
Hammond turned to Henry. "Is there any possible way...?"
"No. She has a lot of abilities," Henry answered, "but she's not immune to electric shocks."
"What in the world is going on here?" Arnold bellowed, turning his attention to the computer screen on his desk. Everyone moved closer to him to see what was going on. "We've got more trouble on our hands than I realized."
"What now?" Hammond asked.
"I don't believe it! Fences are off."
"Are you sure perimeter fence is off?" Anthony asked.
"Not just the perimeter fence. Fences are failing all over the park."
Hammond shook his head in amazement. "This is crazy! I know Nedry said a few systems would go offline, but powerless fences are unacceptable. Anthony, find Nedry! Check the vending machines!"
Anthony got up from his chair and nodded. "Yes, sir."
As Anthony left, Owen continued to watch the screen, reflecting on what he just observed. From what he saw, it appeared the I. rex had used Hamada to actually check the fence to see if it was still electric. "No, you're definitely not a dinosaur," he said to himself.
Roger and the other soldiers raced after the fleeing Indominus rex. The intelligent creature had figured out how to make sure the fence wouldn't harm her before breaking through. Roger was positive that he had really underestimated just what this animal was capable of. Another breakage had occurred further down the fence, indicating the dinosaur went back into the restricted area. The troop of soldiers followed her into the jungle. The men stopped. Without her tracking implant, there was no way of knowing where their quarry was.
"Anyone see anything?" Roger asked.
"Indominus at 4:00!" another soldier answered.
True to his word, the monster rushed from cover and attacked again. This time she grabbed a soldier in her claws and threw him into her mouth, crunching him to death and causing a mixture of blood and water to stream from her mouth.
"Turn your EMD's all the way up!" Roger ordered. "To level 10!"
"But we're not supposed to kill her," came an argument from another soldier.
"No choice! Light it up!"
The men shot, but the Indominus rex didn't stop her rampage. She killed another soldier with her jaws, and another and another. Solider after soldier went down as the dinosaur swiped her claws from the right and the left. As with the Gyrosphere Valley, the jungle too, she had turned into a bloodbath. Screams of terror and agony ripped through the forest that afternoon as men died. As long as the theropod didn't stay still, there was no hope in firing at it enough times in the same spot to bring it down. Two men tried to come up from behind the Indominus, only to be whacked aside with her tail and flung into the mud. Even a soldier that tried to net the creature's jaws shut with a net-gun failed and was killed within seconds.
"This is no use!" Roger yelled. "Retreat! Retreat!"
As the soldiers hurried to flee the jungle as fast as they could. Thunderclapped as Indominus rex issued a mighty roar into the rainy sky.
A/N: Wow...this was definitely one of my new favorite chapters to write! I decided a few twists during this chapter would be refreshing to you guys, my readers, especially if you've seen the Jurassic World movie. I especially liked writing the part where Indominus uses Hamada to check the fence to make sure she won't get zapped if she touches it. During those intense parts of this chapter, my fingers must have been punching my keyboard at a million miles per hour! If you enjoyed this chapter, just you wait till I publish Chapter 18 in two weeks! In the meantime, be sure to favorite, follow and review on this story and I'll see you guys next time. Spare no expense!