Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 30: Raptors Strike Back
A/N: If you've seen the movie, you might be in for a few surprises in this chapter! It generally follows the plot of the movie, but I've thrown in a couple different plot points to make it a new experience for you guys so it's not like you're reading a book version of the movie, action-for-action if you know what I mean. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
12:05 a.m.
Control Room
"So what do you think you'd rather fight?" Gray asked. "A pack of chicken-sized raptors, or a pack of raptor-sized chickens? Remember that you have no weapons to use to fight them."
"That's a good one." Tom shrugged. "I'd have to go with raptor-sized chickens."
"Raptor-sized chickens?" Owen asked. "That's an interesting concept."
The other teens laughed.
Tom nudged Brianna. "Hey."
"Hey," she responded.
"You OK after what happened earlier?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine now. Of course I'll be even better when we get off this island."
Masrani frowned as he looked at the map of his co-owned park. All the blue dots indicating tourists were located in the South Dock Monorail Station, while all the carnivores and herbivorous dinosaurs had been returned to their paddocks, except the raptors and of course, Indominus rex. "What happened?"
"What didn't," Dr. Sorkin muttered
"What do you mean 'what happened'?" Malcolm asked.
"The park was running smoothly and orderly before," Masrani explained. "Now everything's spiraling out of control."
"Uh, allow me to explain this, um, situation in one short phrase: One man, one dinosaur...*explosion sound*...chaos effect."
"Very funny," Arnold said. He was still at Nedry's computer, trying to fix the mess he had made concerning his computer virus. He looked at the monitor with the cartoon Nedry on it. "Uh, uh, uh! You didn't say the magic word..."
"Can you turn that thing off already?" Zach asked. "It's driving me nuts."
"I would if I could, kid. I've been trying to get rid of it all day. It's the work of a hacker."
"What's that?" Owen asked, looking up at the monitor on the wall. Oscar, Billy and D-Caf made their way next to Owen. On the screen, vehicles were driving up to the paddock and armed men were pouring out of them. From above, a helicopter was even preparing to land near the other vehicles.
"No, not that," Owen said. "Look on the monitor, the raptor paddock camera...it looks like someone's there."
"Those are InGen Security vehicles," Billy identified. "Looks like whatever they're doing, they're..." He looked at Owen. "Do you think that's..."
"Hoskins." Owen got his cellphone and was about to call when Arnold said, "I'll do it."
Arnold called Hoskins' number on his computer and waited.
"Hey, this is Hoskins."
"This is Arnold."
"Hey, man. What's up?"
"Do you care to explain what you and your men are doing at the raptor paddock?"
There was silence for a couple seconds. "We're not doing anything. We're just checking up on the raptors."
Owen snarled under his breath, "That guy better not be doing what I think he's doing."
"Checking up on the raptors?" Arnold asked. "You have ACU and InGen Security troopers from the mainland to check on just four Velociraptors?"
Hoskins sighed. "Look, there's only one way to deal with that hybrid. We're gonna use the raptors, alright?"
Owen's brows furrowed and he clenched his fists.
"Don't you think you should consult with Owen first?"
"Owen's too stubborn, and we don't have time for arguing. We need to go out there and take down that monster before anyone else dies. You just keep doing whatever it is you do in the Control Room, and I'll mind my own business out here. Just don't tell Owen about this. Got it?"
Arnold rubbed his forehead and sighed.
"I'm gonna take that as a yes." Then he hung up.
Owen scowled. "That little parasite. I'm going out there."
Owen quickly left the Control Room. The other adults all looked at each other.
"I'll get in touch with Hammond and Claire," Masrani said, "to meet us at the raptor paddock." He turned to Oscar, D-Caf and Billy. "You three come with me."
"What about the kids?" Oscar asked. "They should probably stay in here where its safe."
"We can't come?" Jess asked, a little disappointed.
"Sorry, kid," Billy told her. "It's dangerous out there. You kids have been through enough today."
"Dad, make him take us with them."
"Jess," Harding said, "he's right. You can't go out there."
Jess sighed and crossed his arms.
"You want us to stay here too?" Billy Brennan asked.
"Not a bad idea," Masrani said.
"We should probably get going," Billy said, "otherwise Hoskins might not be alive if Owen gets to him first."
Hoskins heard the sounds of the raptors as they hissed and snarled from within their harnesses. The ACU were applying laser-beamed, night-vision camera onto their heads so that others in the Control Room. Hoskins and Commander Roger walked over to Delta. She looked up at the men with aggression in her eyes. Hoskins smiled and snapped his fingers in front of the camera on her head. "Is it working?" he asked the men who were working on the cameras. "Can you guys see me?"
"Yep."
"Nice."
Roger said, "I don't like this idea."
"Well unfortunately for you, that doesn't matter too much, does it?" Hoskins asked. "I'm in charge here, so I call the shots. You and Owen are alike; you worry too much. I've got everything under control."
"But we already have seven raptors loose on the island. Do you really just wanna release more?"
"We're not releasing any old raptors, Roger. We're sending Owen's raptor squad out there. They're trained, remember. He's been working with these four since they were born. They're gonna go out there and kill that hybrid."
Roger wasn't convinced. "Owen's not gonna like this."
"It doesn't matter, cause he's not–"
Just then, an all-too familiar face pulled up to the raptor paddock on a motorcycle. Not far behind him was two cars, one of which was Claire's. Claire, Dr. Sorkin, Hammond, Masrani and Sarah Harding got out of her car and Oscar, Billy and D-Caf got out of the other vehicle. Owen quickly approached Hoskins, and he was clearly not in a happy mood.
"Speak of the devil," Roger said.
"Don't worry," Hoskins told him. "I'll handle this." He walked toward Owen and said, "Well, if it isn't the–"
Owen clenched his fist and slammed it into Hoskin's jaw. "What do you think you're doing?!" Owen asked. "Get out of here...and stay away from my girls!"
Hoskins rubbed his jaw. "How many more people are gonna have to die before this mission starts making sense to you?"
"It's not a mission, Hoskins. It's a field test."
"I thought we discussed this already, Hoskins," Masrani said. "I believe I clearly said–"
"I know, I know. But we've tried every other option except this one. We have no alternatives." He laughed. "I mean, come on guys! Do you seriously have a better plan? If so, I'm listening! The way I see it, if we don't go out and kill that I. rex, it's gonna come back and take more human and dinosaur lives. Hammond, do you wanna prevent that?"
"Well, of course, but–"
"Mr. Masrani?"
"Yes."
"OK, and do either of you have an idea how to kill that beast?"
The two men were silent.
"Don't you see? We have no other options here! Our only choice is to use the raptors."
"You ready to start this thing, Hoskins?" one of his men asked.
"Yeah, let's roll it out!" He turned back to Owen. Owen's haughty glare was upon Hoskins, but Hoskins knew his option was the only one available to them. "The choice is yours Owen. We're doing this thing. With...or without you."
Owen narrowed his eyes. "Alright...but if we do this...we do it my way."
"The Indominus rex was last located at the Aviary," Owen explained to the ACU and InGen Security troopers. "So she's probably not far from there. We're going to be playing a game called 'Cat and Mouse'. It's been performed thousands of times with these animals. Once they get the scent – and they will get the scent – wait to engage. Raptors are pack-animals; they use coordinated attack patterns to corner the prey into a secluded spot before going in for the attack. That's when they gang up on their victim. When engaging, we have one, and only one, target. Do not shoot my raptors. Please." Owen looked over his audience. "I think that's all I have to say."
"Question," Commander Roger said. "What do we do when we kill the I. rex? How are we going to get the raptors back in their cages?"
"Leave that to me." As his audience dispersed to carry out their duties, he muttered, "If we kill the Indominus."
Owen walked over to his girls, still harnessed. As he approached Blue, she hissed. "You don't scare me," he said.
"Owen?"
Owen looked up to see Sarah Harding and Claire. Sarah looked down at Blue and smiled. Owen raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
"It's just that I've never really seen these animals in the flesh until today," Sarah told him. "It's incredible to be this close to an animal that could end my life in a heartbeat. You had names for them didn't you? What were they?"
"This one's Blue, and over there are Echo, Charlie and Delta."
"And you've become they're alpha."
"Yeah. They're still dangerous animals though, even to me. You've got to read their body language and know how each one of them behaves or else you're dead."
"I know. I worked with African predators since I was 20." She lifted her hand above Blue. "May I?"
"Sure."
Lightly, she pressed her hand against Blue's pebbly skin. Blue growled in response, but could do nothing about it. Sarah continued to run her hand over the carnivorous reptile. This is something she wanted to do from the day she became a paleontologist. Now she had a chance.
Claire crossed her arms. "So, Owen, this is who you spend all your time with."
"Yeah." Owen paused and glanced over at the men who were getting ready to disembark. "This isn't a good idea. Especially if it works."
Owen held the piece of flesh with the Indominus' tracking implant in it in front of the enclosure holding the raptors. The raptors sniffed the aroma of flesh and grew excited inside their cage, as evidenced by their snarling and growling. Then Owen hopped on his motorcycle and revved it up. He looked up at the mobile vet truck parked nearby. Inside it, Claire and Dr. Sorkin were watching the feed from POV cameras on a hand-held monitor. Beside him, Billy was riding a four-wheeler while everyone else was inside a military jeep. Masrani and Hammond were watching the action from outside and Hoskins had returned to the Control Room with Sarah Harding. One of the raptor handlers was by the gate, ready to press the button and release the raptors.
"We ready?" the handler asked.
"Ready," Owen answered.
The gates swung open and the four Velociraptors erupted from containment. They raced from the paddock and toward the jungle. Owen pressed the gas on his bike and roared after them, followed by Billy and the military jeep. They were quickly surrounded by jungle. At top speed the raptors must have been going at least 40 mph, maybe even 50. With agility they dodged trees and leaped over logs and other obstacles. Blue led them forward, calling to her pack using bird-like noises.
They smell the target, Owen thought.
"Look at 'em go," Hoskins said, leaning back in his chair as and the others in the Control Room watched the large wall monitor. There were several smaller boxes on screen, some showing the POV of the raptors, others of the troopers. Everything was tinted green by the night-vision of the cameras.
"You really think they can bring down that thing?" Harding asked. "I mean, we know how big Rexy is. I. rex is supposed to be bigger."
"Wait," Billy Brennan said. "So what's this 'I. rex' everyone keeps referring to?"
"Indominus rex," Anthony told him. "It was supposed to be the park's newest dinosaur."
Billy winced. "I've never heard of it."
"That's because it's a hybrid dinosaur, created by geneticists. The base genome is T. rex, but I've also been told its been combined with tree frog, Giganotosaurus, Carnotaurus, Rugops, Majungasaurus, and cuttlefish. Its a terrible predator, so it's able to camouflage and detect thermal heat like a snake." Anthony explained to Billy what had happened concerning the hybrid over the course of the day. "...so that's why it needs to be killed."
"Wow. That's unsettling."
As the raptors continued to run toward their target, everyone watched with great interest and anticipation.
"So..." Kelly began, "...you sure those raptors can take down the I. rex?"
"Absolutely," Hoskins said. "Raptors are pack-hunters. I wish we had some of these guys in Vietnam. They could run straight for the enemy and eat them; belt, buckle and all!"
Brianna looked up at the screen and shivered when she heard the bird-like calls the raptors made. Tom and Alaina were by her side as the action took place.
"You OK?" Alaina asked.
"Sure. I was just thinking about what those raptors would have done to us if we didn't get out of the water tower...and then the Indominus attacked us again. Do you think we'll get out of this nightmare alive?"
"Of course we will. Of course we will. We just need to think positive and be alert and we'll be off this island and back home in Montana before you know it." Alaina looked at Tom. "Right?" she whispered.
"I hope." Tom gasped. "Hey...is it just me, or are the raptors slowing down?"
Owen rode right through the dense nighttime jungle with his raptors by his side. Focused on prey, they had no intention on killing him even though he was among them. Blue yelped and increased her speed, urging her sisters to follow. Finally, as the raptors came into a small clearing they slowed down.
Owen said into his radio, "They found something."
He brought his bike to a stop and held up his fist, signaling for everyone to halt and prepare to engage. Troopers exited the vehicles and lined up along a log, facing the clearing. Even Billy and Oscar were ready. D-Caf was in the jeep, ready to evacuate if the need arose. Before them, the raptor squad stood, looking at the dense jungle foliage in front of them. Blue cawed nervously as she twitched her tail. The other raptors looked around the clearing, scanning for signs of movement.
They're nervous, Owen thought. Those are signs of nervousness.
Suddenly the forest began to come alive. Foliage moved, followed by the sound of snapping branches and heavy footfalls. Something big was approaching. Then, a pair of glowing eyes appeared in front of the raptors. Then another and another and another. There were six pairs of eyes upon Owen's girls. Blue snarled defensively; whatever creatures were watching them answered back with similar calls. Finally the dinosaurs could be made out – it was Big One and her pack! But that's not all, behind them came a humongous predator, larger than any Blue, Charlie, Delta or Echo had seen before. Its skin slowly turned from green and brown to a pale gray, making it more visible. No doubt, this was the Indominus rex.
Billy bit his lip. "Gosh, why aren't they attacking?"
"Something's wrong," Owen predicted. Surely, Owen thought his raptors would attack Big One and her pack, but they made no move for each other. Why didn't the I. rex attack Big One? It would be an easy kill.
Then, the I. rex bent her head down and made a raptor-like growling sound several times. Blue responded with a similar call of her own. She then snarled and made her bark-chirp call. The I. rex bark-chirped back. Yes, something was definitely wrong!
"They're communicating," Owen said. "I know why they wouldn't tell us what that thing's made of."
"Why?" Billy asked.
"Cause it's part raptor."
Blue snarled back at the I. rex before turning back, her eyes went straight to Owen. She cawed. Owen glared at her. Don't you dare...he thought. Then Blue turned back toward the I. rex. She raised her tail and made a high-pitched roar. Big One's raptors became excited and they roared, growled and snarled back. Echo, Charlie and Delta snapped aggressively at the I. rex's new pack. Indominus didn't like this. After emitting a deep bellow she used her hand to sweep Blue off her feet and knock her to the side. Blue crashed into a tree and fell to the ground. Big One's pack grew very aggressive indeed. They ran toward the other raptors and began their attack. Big One leaped upon Blue while she was down, ready to tear her to shreds.
"What are you guys waiting for?!" Hoskins yelled from a radio. "Light it up!"
"Engage!" Commander Austin exclaimed.
Everyone began shooting at the I. rex and her raptor pack. The raptors knew they were under attack and scattered. The I. rex gave a warning roar to the humans, telling them to back off. "It's time for the big boy!" Oscar concluded. Beside him he had a large bazooka. He launched the bazooka and it shot through the air, hitting the hybrid predator and causing it to fall to the ground. The forest lit up when the rocket exploded. But the Indominus' heavy armor-plated skin protected her from death. She yelped and rose to her feet before running off into the jungle.
Owen led the troopers forward into the now empty clearing. Some vegetation burned with fire from the bazooka, but otherwise, there was no other sign of life. "Watch your sixes!" Owen said. "The I. rex has got backup."
"This is just great," Billy muttered. "Not only do we have raptors AND Indominus rex, but they're working together now."
Owen noticed a raptor-like shape creeping through the shrubbery to the left. "Raptor on your left!"
Suddenly a raptor leaped up from the right and tackled a trooper to the ground. Another raptor attacked and again a trooper went down. Troopers began shooting blindly in all directions as raptors launched their attacks on the humans. Owen, Billy and Oscar crept behind a tree as a trooper died from a raptor attack no more than ten feet away.
"I knew this was a bad idea," Owen breathed. "This wasn't meant to happen."
"None of it was," Oscar said. "But it's too late now. We need to get out of here!"
"No kidding," said Billy. "Hey, let's get to the vehicles!"
The three of them rushed toward Owen's motorcycle and the four-wheeler. Billy and Oscar got on the four-wheeler while Owen got on his motorcycle.
"We'll meet you back at the Control Room, Owen," Billy said as he drove away.
"Got it," Owen answered. Suddenly, Owen saw a trooper get killed by a Velociraptor with a swift bite to the neck. But it wasn't one of Big One's pack – it was Charlie. "Charlie!"
Charlie looked up; blood was around her mouth from her kill. As the most inexperienced of Owen's squad, it made sense that she would also be the first to act on pure killer instinct. Owen whistled, revved the motorcycle engine and began driving away. Charlie growled and followed.
A/N: Interesting plot twist, huh? In this story, Owen has a closer relationship with his raptors than he does in the movie (you'll see why this is important for the story later on), so the raptors were more reluctant to join the Indominus rex, who in this story has acquired herself a little raptor army! With the raptors by her side, she almost literally has no shortcomings! Expect more plot twists along the way. How do you think this story is going to end? Please let me know in the comments. Also make sure to follow and favorite this story if you haven't already and I'll publish another chapter next week.