Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 31: Survival Not Guaranteed
A/N: Guess what. Since I'm late in publishing a chapter, I'm gonna go ahead and publish 2! But beware: this chapter's going to be a loooooooooooooong one. In fact, it's almost twice as long as my usual chapters. I did this because I didn't want to take another four weeks to finish this story. Hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
Claire and Dr. Sorkin watched in horror as POV video feeds from the troopers turned to static as raptors took them down, one by one. Finally, Claire had to look away. She sighed and stared out the window.
"None of this was supposed to happen," Claire said.
"I knew from the moment you guys started tampering with DNA that things had the potential to go downhill," said Dr. Sorkin. "First, you decided to take short-cuts and use frog DNA to clone the dinosaurs faster, then you started using the DNA of other modern animals; finally, you made a true hybrid. It wasn't enough to bring back to life something that's been dead for eons, you had to do more. It was that desire to do more that's been working against this park ever since."
"Not necessarily. We just made a few errors along the way–"
"Errors? Ha, they're more than errors."
Claire scowled, "We might have had a glitch or two along the way Dr. Sorkin, but–"
"More like a hundred glitches! The automation park systems were used against us by that foolhead Nedry, your hyper-intelligent hybrid now reigns supreme through the park and countless people have died today. All because of those 'glitches' in this system. I had doubts about your methods from the beginning Claire."
"Don't you dare bring that up again!"
"Claire, I will no longer be shushed! I've been shushed and shoved off ever since I decided that using DNA from different animals to clone the dinosaurs was a bad idea. No one listened to me!"
"You brought that on yourself! If you weren't being so arrogant about it than maybe we would have considered your input!"
"Being arrogant had nothing to do with it! You should recall, since you were there, that I presented my opinions and they were rejected long before we started working on separate projects!"
"We were a team! You're not supposed to just leave the team if you don't agree with the other parties. It's your own fault for giving yourself the status you now have!"
The two women were silent for a moment, looking outside their respective windows.
Claire was the first to break silence. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. It's been a long day and I'm just stressed out."
Dr. Sorkin sighed. "I'm sorry too. It's been a hard day for both of us. Maybe we should let bygones be bygones."
"You're right. Besides, when has arguing and bickering ever gotten us anywhere anyway." She cleared her throat. "Look where we are now. We're sitting inside a mobile vet truck, ACU and InGen Security troopers are getting killed right and left out there and this park's a mess. What are we going to do?"
"Do what I've been doing for the past year – surviving the circumstances. You think it was easy for me to adjust to working on my own; working on different projects, working with conflicting motives? Working with my parasaurs all the time has taught me a few things. We just have to wait and see what the future holds for us and this park."
Claire nodded. It's been a long time since I've had a conversation with Dr. Sorkin. Maybe she really was right all along about a lot of things. "You know, Laura," she said, "I think I really underestimated you. I've been treating you like some kind of orthodox scientist who's afraid to try something new. There's really a lot more to you than meets the eye. Lately I've just been so wrapped up in my personal–"
"Shh! Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
A distant reptilian shriek was heard. To Claire, it was a sound that was all too familiar.
"Claire!" it was Masrani. He and Hammond (who was holding Dianthus in one of his arms) were running toward the truck as fast as they could. "Start the truck! Start the truck!"
Claire quickly turned the ignition on and pressed the gas pedal. Masrani and Hammond climbed on just in time as the truck jolted forward. It was just in time too, for half a second later a pair of Velociraptors darted from the jungle and tore toward the truck at top speed.
"Must go faster!" Masrani exclaimed. The truck's back doors were left ajar, for there was no time to close them before the truck drove off and certainly no way to close them now. That meant that Hammond, Masrani and Dianthus had a perfect view of the raptors as they ran after the truck at top speed. The raptors snapped their jaws aggressively as they approached.
"Can't you go any faster?" Hammond asked.
"I'm trying to stay on the road Mr. Hammond. Driving down these jungle roads isn't as easy as it looks!"
Dianthus trumpeted and hid underneath the bench near the back of the trunk. One of the two raptors was getting increasingly close to the truck. Then it leaped forward to land in the truck! Hammond lifted his cane and struck the raptor aside the head. The raptor yelped and fell to the ground outside of the truck.
"Nice one!" Masrani said.
"Thank you. Let's show these raptors what we're made of!"
Masrani noticed a rack of cattle prods to his right. He snatched one and prepared for the next raptor attack. As the raptor leaped toward the truck, Masrani hit it with the prod and it electrocuted the creature. Unfortunately, the raptors were resilient and had picked themselves up off the ground and were back in the chase in a few moments. Hammond turned to Masrani.
"I don't think we can keep this up for long," Hammond said.
"Me neither."
Claire turned around a bend in the road, causing the entire truck to jerk. Hammond and Masrani clung to the walls of the truck to avoid falling out. The raptors were approaching fast with relative ease. They weren't going to give up easily!
"Do you know where you're going?" Dr. Sorkin asked.
"Not really!" Claire responded.
Suddenly, Claire's window was shattered in smithereens when the head of a third Velociraptor crashed right through it. Claire screamed in terror as the raptor snapped and snarled inches from her face, struggling to cling to the side of the truck. Dr. Sorkin watched helplessly as Claire struggled to stay on the road. The truck swerved from the right and to the left in a wild fashion. Finally the raptor fell out of the window. Claire found it hard to catch her breath.
"Are you OK?" Dr. Sorkin asked.
"Barely."
Behind the truck, the raptors were trying to get in again and Hammond and Masrani did their best to fight them off. The raptors however knew what to expect from the two men and were dodging their lunges. As Masrani swung his electric prod, a raptor swiped it out of his hand with her claws. She roared and leaped forward, clinging to the truck. The vehicle went over a bump, causing Hammond to fall away from the open doors until he his the wall on his left. The raptor retained grip, barely. It looked up at Masrani and Hammond and snarled.
"What an ugly creature," Masrani breathed.
Claire looked in her sideview mirror to find that one of the raptors was still running alongside the truck. She would probably try to attack Claire through the window when the chance arose. Dr. Sorkin looked out her window.
"We've got another raptor over here," Dr. Sorkin alerted.
"Great." Claire noticed that there were some large trees near the side of the road up ahead. Once the truck reached them, she moved to the truck to the left, slamming the raptor into the jungle foliage and leaving it behind. "Ha! Take that, overgrown lizard!"
In the back of the truck, the raptor gained her footing. Slowly she stood, gazing at her several meal options. She turned to Masrani, who was clinging to the side of the truck for dear life, and roared. Suddenly a web of electrical currents enveloped the dinosaur as gave a surprised growl. The raptor, knocked out, fell from the back of the truck. Masrani and Hammond looked up to see Billy and Oscar approaching on the four-wheeler. While Billy was driving, Oscar was holding an EMD in his hands, as he'd just fired the shot.
"Need some help, guys?" Billy called.
Masrani chuckled. "The cavalry's arrived."
"Perfect timing," Hammond said.
Then, coming from alongside the four-wheeler was Owen on his motorcycle. Running alongside him was Charlie. Owen and Charlie sped up, rapidly approaching the other raptor that was chasing the truck.
"Sic her, Charlie!" Owen cried.
Charlie raced forward and leaped for the other raptor. The raptor looked back in time to see Charlie crash into her and pin her to the ground. Oscar meanwhile fired another shot with the EMD at the raptor running alongside Dr. Sorkin's side of the vehicle. Owen pulled up alongside Claire.
"You guys alright?" he asked.
"We're fine," Claire answered. "How close is the Innovation Center from here?
"Not too far. Follow me."
Owen went ahead of the mobile vet truck to lead them out of the jungle. Charlie was close behind, not wanting to be left out here with raptors many times stronger than she was, followed by Oscar and Billy. As they rode off, the three other raptors watched their prey escape. Echoing in the distance, they heard the loud roar of their new alpha, the Indominus rex. The raptors called back in reply. Then, having their next plan, they ran off into the jungle.
Sarah Harding and the others watched the static on the large monitor from the cameras of troopers who'd been killed by the raptors from the safety of the Control Room (she got a ride back here with Hoskins). Owen's raptors had mostly dispersed or been taken down, and the Indominus rex had six raptors at her disposal. Could things get any worse?
"That went well," Zach said.
Anthony turned to Hoskins. "Is this what you had in mind, Hoskins? I don't think that went quite as well as we all–"
"I know it didn't work as planned, alright?" Hoskins snapped. "We just had a bad run."
"A bad run? Hoskins, people died out there."
Hoskins sighed. "I'm gonna run out and get a soda right quick. Anyone else want one?"
"I'll take one," Jess said. Alaina, Tom, Zach, Kelly and Cheryl also requested one.
"Alright. I'll be right back."
Five minutes or so after Hoskins left, Kelly looked over at the place where her dad was resting 50 minutes ago or so. "I hope Dad's leg heals up, OK," she told herself. Malcolm had been taken back to the first aid station so that the nurses could look at his leg again. Kelly then walked over to where Arnold was working on Nedry's computers. One of the monitors still had the annoying cartoon shown on it.
"Won't that thing ever go off?" Kelly asked him.
"I wish it did, kid," Arnold told her. "Nedry's screwed up this computer system so much I can't seem to get it back online."
"So what's all this I hear about Nedry?" Gerry Harding asked. "Where's he been anyway? I haven't seen him most of the day?"
"It turned out that our old pal Nedry was a traitor," Arnold told him. "Nedry was working for another bioengineering company called Biosyn. They're similar to InGen, except they're well-known for stealing the work of other bioengineering companies and patenting their work. That's why they have fewer scientists and more lawyers."
"What did he do to us?"
"Turns out he's been stealing our dinosaur embryos and DNA for years, I'm assuming so that Biosyn can conduct their own research. It's sick."
"Is there any good news?" Cheryl asked.
"I wish there was. We can't really get this park back in order without me getting this system back up and running. Unfortunately, the only way I can conceivably do that is to shut down the entire system."
"Wait," Billy interjected, joining Cheryl, Sarah, Gerry and Arnold's conversation. "You're saying that shutting down the system will fix everything?"
"Not everything, but it would be a start."
"Hey, that's a great idea," Anthony said. "Let's shut down the system."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Anthony, we already discussed why we never want to shut down the entire system–"
"Yeah, I know. But that's the only option we have left, isn't it?"
"You can get someone else to do it, cause I won't."
"You and I both know that Nedry's covered his tracks far too well for us to find what line of code he used to put our system on the fritz. Shutting down the entire system will wipe out everything he did. Since he's not here to undo his actions himself, our only option is to shut down the–"
"What's the big deal about rebooting the system?" Sarah asked.
Arnold replied, "If we shut down the system, the park essentially is knocked back to the Stone Age. Power to the buildings and fences are turned off."
"And that would allow many of the carnivores that have already been returned to their enclosures to be released," Harding concluded.
"Yes, and it's worse than that. We've never shut down the entire system before. It may not even come back on at all."
"That includes fences, huh?" Sarah asked.
"Yes, unfortunately."
Billy groaned and lightly kicked the floor. "There's gotta be something we can do...say, where's Hoskins? He should be back by now. The soda machine's right around the corner. I'll be right back."
Billy walked out of the Control Room and just as he was about to turn toward the drink machine, he saw a creature standing in the hallway – a Velociraptor. Not just any raptor, but Big One! She was crouched, sniffing the ground. Billy was so shocked and terrified at the sight of the animal that he froze. The raptor's gazed looked up at him. She shrieked and rushed at him! Billy turned and ran back toward the Control Room door. He went inside the room and shoved it closed.
"Billy, what's wrong?" Cheryl demanded with concern.
Before Billy could answer, the door was flung open and the Velociraptor stood at the doorway, hissing. Billy was quick to recover however and threw himself back at the door, the raptor growled and pushed back with all her might. Cheryl, Gerry and Sarah rushed to the door to help Billy keep it closed. Through the window on the door, Billy saw the Big One's cold-blooded, hungry eyes and vicious teeth. The raptor hissed and snapped her jaws – apparently she saw him too.
"Where's the lock on this door?" Cheryl yelled.
"I have to lock it from the computer," Arnold answered. "I'm trying to get to it now."
As the raptor tried to get in, she began making loud bark-chirping calls. These were answered by similar calls when yet two more Velociraptors came to her aid. The trio of ravenous predators pushed against the door, making it hard for even four adult humans to keep it closed.
"We can't keep this up!" Gerry yelled. "You guys need to find us another way out of here!"
Anthony got up from his desk and turned to the teenagers. "Quickly," he said, "look for a grate or a hole in the wall or something!"
The teens and Anthony began to frantically search the room while Arnold tried to get through the quirky computer system so he could enable door locks. Meanwhile, the raptors were certainly gaining ground; by now, Gerry, Sarah, Cheryl and Billy could barely a few inches from being closed. The clawed hands of one of the raptors gripped on the side of the door, missing Gerry's pant leg by a few inches. Gerry slammed his thigh on the raptor's hands and it recoiled.
Tom, Brianna and Alaina glanced at Arnold, watching him frantically try to lock the door. "Come on, where are you stupid door locks?!" Arnold groaned.
"Found anything yet?" Alaina asked the others.
"Nothing," Kelly said. "Maybe there's a ventilation shaft or something."
"Wait," Brianna said, "up there!" Brianna pointed to a ventilation shaft daft on the ceiling. She traced it with her eyes and saw that it descended along the wall on the far side of the room behind a bookcase.
Zach and Tom rushed to the bookcase and knocked it over, sending an avalanche of books onto the floor. And yes – there was a register grill behind it! Instinctively, Zach grabbed a screw driver from a nearby table and began to unscrew it from the wall. "Drat! Someone get me a Philips!"
"On it!" Gray found one and handed it to his brother.
"I found it!" Arnold said as he prepared to press the button that would turn on the doorlocks. But then Nedry's cartoon appeared on the screen.
"Uh, uh, uh! You didn't say the magic words!"
Arnold slammed his fist on the keyboard. "PLEASE! GET OFF THE SCREEN YOU STUPID HACKER!"
"Hurry up guys!" Billy called. One of the raptors reared back and kicked the door with her foot. This nearly sent the humans flying away from the door. "We can't keep this up much longer!"
"I got it!" Zach said. He yanked the grill from the wall, exposing forked ventilation duct – one went up and the other went straight into the wall. "Come on, bro. You first."
Gray quickly crawled into the duct, followed by Kelly, Brianna, Alaina, Tom, Jess and then Zach. Anthony yelled, "Guys, you've gotta get in here now!"
"OK," Billy said. "We're gonna run for the grill on three. One...two..."
But all of a sudden, one of the raptors stepped back and rushed to the door headfirst. This blow was powerful enough to knock everyone from the door and they collapsed onto the hard floor. Billy acted fast, he quickly removed a small manual from his pocket and lunged it at the nearest raptor. Big One caught it in her jaws, perhaps thinking it was edible. The raptor next to her bit down on the part of the book hanging out of her mouth and tried to tear it away. In the process, she knocked the third raptor's head with her tail. The third raptor snapped at the second.
This distraction gave the four humans enough time to get up and race to the grill. The raptors were not on hold for long. They leaped over a rail separating them from the rest of the Control Room, ready to kill. Arnold shot up from his desk to join the others, but tripped as he ran into a chair in the middle of the pathway and fell to the floor.
"Arnold!" Billy called.
"Just go!" Arnold told him. "Save the kids!"
Big One cleared a desk and attacked Arnold. The sounds of Arnold's torment rose through the room as he was being torn apart by razor-sharp teeth and claws. The other two raptors soon joined Big One in feasting upon their new victim. Billy was struck with grief as he watched the technician become a meal for the predators. He flinched when he felt an hand grab his arm.
"Come on!" Cheryl told him. She pulled her boyfriend toward the duct just as Big One looked up. She roared and all three raptors charged toward the escaping humans. Billy pulled his legs out of the way just in time to avoid Big One's snapping jaws. The three raptors grasped for Billy and the others, but they were too big to fit.
Even still, Billy didn't want to be anywhere close to these dangerous animals, so he followed the others through the tight passageway.
"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Beth asked.
"Of course it was," Logan countered. He, the girls, Matt and John were hiding in a tight corner behind a dumpster somewhere on Main Street. Instead of evacuating with all the other tourists to the South Monorail Station, he suggested that they all hide out until everyone had left the park. "Now we've got the entire park to ourselves! Do you really think anyone's around this time of night?"
"Maybe," Chloe said. "They could have security guards."
"Everyone was told to evacuate, remember? That includes park staff. If anyone's here, it's going to be only skeleton staff – park managers, dinosaur caretakers, Control Room people – that's it. And none of them are going to be out here. We'll be fine."
"But all the attractions are closed and locked up," Isabelle said. "How are we gonna do anything?"
"That's why we've got John here. He's good at hacking locks. Come on. Let's get from behind this dumpster."
"I think I'll pass out if I stay back here any longer," Beth said. "How do you all handle that smell?"
Logan led the others into Main Street. To the left was the Isla Nublar Lagoon, and to the right were shops and restaurants, all closed at this time of night.
"Don't you think they closed the park for a good reason?" Matt asked. "I mean, remember the pterodactyls and T. rexes that were running all over the place earlier?"
"They're back in containment," Logan assured him. "Trust me. It's completely safe out here."
Logan suggested that they check out the seemingly abandoned Innovation center. They walked up the steps and went through the double doors (surprisingly left unlocked) to find it empty. Strangely, it didn't look like the place was shut down for the night; more like everyone just got up and left. Jimmy Fallon's voice was heard from speakers on the ceiling. "...and that brings us to one of the newest discovered dinosaurs, called Yi qi. Unlike most dinosaurs, Yi qi..."
Matt took interest in the hologram control board. He pressed on one of the dinosaur icons and holographic Triceratops appeared on the platform in the center of the room. The Triceratops shook its frilled head and bellowed. Matt grinned as he pressed another icon and a Velociraptor appeared.
"What kind of dinosaur is that?" Beth asked. Everyone looked at her. "What?"
"You don't know what a Velociraptor is?" Logan said. "It's only one of the most well-known dinosaurs ever. It's fast, aggressive and really intelligent." Logan took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. "Of course, even a Velociraptor is no match for Logan Mullings!"
The girls giggled.
"Hey guys!" John called. "Let's check out the Hammond Creation Lab."
"Isn't that the room where they talk about genetics?" Chloe asked. "Boring."
"But no one's here! We can go backstage and check out all the cool technology they've got back there. Hey, maybe they've even got some dinosaur eggs we can check out."
Logan grinned. "John's got an excellent point. See what happens since we stayed after hours! Come on!"
They hurried into the Creation Lab and, to their surprise, found the doors into the lab itself, beyond the observation windows, was left open. Logan gave the girls a "see, I told you" look. They slowly walked over to a cart filled with large eggs – dinosaur eggs. The girls were speechless.
"Now this is cool," Logan stated.
"Tell me about it," Anna said. "I'm gonna get a picture."
"Hey! You kids shouldn't be in here!"
The teens turned around to see a barrel-chested man walking towards them.
"Sorry, sir!" Beth cried.
"What makes you think you can tell us where we should or shouldn't be?" Logan asked, crossing his arms. "Who do you think you are?"
"Vic Hoskins. Head of InGen Security."
Chloe glared at Logan. "See what you got us into?"
"Why aren't you wearing a uniform or something?" John asked.
"I'm one of the guys in charge. But never mind that now. We need to get out of here immediately."
"It's not like we were gonna steal anything," Logan muttered.
"No you don't understand. I don't know where you kids were when the announcement was made, but we've got assets out of containment."
The teens exchanged worried glances. Emily asked, "What kind of assets?"
"Dinosaurs, kid," Hoskins explained. "There's at least four or five Velociraptors roaming around this building. And believe me, you don't wanna be spotted by one of them. They'll tear you to shreds before you have a chance to run."
"Oh dear," Matt said. "I knew we shouldn't have come in here."
"Shut up, Matt," Logan hissed.
"Now," Hoskins said, "if you kids will just follow me–"
A reptilian hiss alerted everyone to turn and see a dinosaur exit a nearby door. A Velociraptor had the teens and Hoskins in her sights. Hoskins gasped as he saw her teal-colored skin. Though many of the girls (especially Beth) were starting to get extremely panicked, the teens managed to slowly start backing away. The raptor's glare was upon Hoskins. She backed Hoskins into a corner.
"Hey, down boy!" Hoskins said. He held his hand out in the raptor's direction. "We're on the same side, right?"
Snarling, the raptor cocked her head to the side as she stalked closer and closer to Hoskins.
"Easy boy...I...I'm on your side...there, easy boy...eas–AH!"
With open jaws the raptor suddenly lunged forward and bit Hoskins' hand. Hoskins screamed in pain as he was violently thrown into an incubator table on his left. He and the table fell to the floor as splattered eggs covered the area around him. Then the raptor held Hoskins' head in her jaws and lifted her sickle claw before cutting open his stomach. The teens could only watch in utter horror as the raptor tore into Hoskins and began pulling out his innards; he was being eaten alive. This section of the laboratory quickly turned into a bloodbath as the Velociraptor ripped apart her prey. Logan could handle it no more and he ran for the exit door and began running further down the hallway, away from the Innovation Center's hub, followed by Beth, who was screaming at the top of her lungs. The other girls, Matt and John quickly followed suite.
We've gotta get out of here! Logan thought. "This way every–"
In front of them, the Velociraptor crashed through the window that looked into the lab and fell to the ground as she slipped on the broken shards of glass from the window. Logan and the others turned and began running towards the exit. Unfortunately for them, the raptor wasn't too far behind. As they ran past the hologram control panel, John pressed a random icon. A moment later, a holographic Dilophosaurus appeared on the platform. The raptor stopped dead in her tracks, thinking the spitter was real. The Dilophosaurus opened its neck frill and roared. The raptor roared in reply. This gave Logan and his friends enough time to escape the Innovation Center.
But just as they descended down the steps from the building, another Velociraptor rushed at them. This one was brown with dark blue striping, as well as having dark blue around her eyes. She roared at the teenagers. Logan and the others stopped dead in their tracks.
"What now?" Beth asked.
"Back into the building!" Anna exclaimed.
Too late – the other Velociraptor exited the Innovation Center, her mouth drenched in Hoskins' blood. Now Logan and the others were cornered. The brown raptor snarled as she looked hungrily at Logan and his friends. She flexed her fingers, ready to tear them to shreds. She hissed and–
"Hey, Echo! Delta!"
The raptors attention was quickly averted from the teens to a man running toward them from further down Main Street. Logan was shocked. Is that guy crazy? From behind the guy, another Velociraptor with dark green skin and black stripes down her back and tail was approaching, but she ran around him and toward the Innovation Center and the other raptors. When she reached the one called Echo, Echo snapped at her, asserting her dominance.
"Hey! Eyes on me!" the man said. He held out his hands, never taking his eyes off the raptors. The striped green raptor yelped at the man. "Charlie! Don't trash-talk me! Pay attention!"
Delta moved around the frightened teens and joined the rest of her pack as they slowly approached the man.
"What's the matter with that guy?" Matt asked. "Does he have a death wish or something?"
"I want to know why they aren't attacking him," Logan said. He noticed Beth was on the verge of running away and screaming her head off, so he grabbed her arms.
The man looked up at the teens. "You kids...slowly walk around the raptors and back that way (away from the Innovation Center). I'll occupy these girls."
Logan didn't know what was going on with this guy, but he didn't want to start an argument, so he and the others obeyed the man and got a safe distance away. The man snapped his fingers and began backing away in the other direction, and the raptors followed him.
"And we're moving..." the man told them. "Eyes on me! Eyes on me!" Surprisingly, the raptors obeyed. The man stopped, and so did the dinosaurs. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small, dead mouse. Holding it up made the raptors very excited. "And...release!"
He threw the mouse into Winston's Steak House and the raptors rushed into the restaurant to get it. Quickly, the man shut the door, used some rope from a nearby waiting line and tied it around the door handles. Sure the raptors would be able to find their way out, but at least not so soon.
"That was amazing!" Chloe cried.
"How did you do that?" Emily asked.
"Do you have a girlfriend already?" Katy inquired.
"What's you're name?" Anna questioned.
"Name's Owen," the man answered.
Logan started to feel a little jealous when the girls began showering Owen with attention. Even still, he couldn't help but be amazed by this guy – after all, he single-handedly dealt with a pack of raptors!
"How did you control the raptors like that?" Logan asked him.
"It's not control really. I have a relationship with those raptors based on mutual respect. There's a difference."
Owen glanced at all the teens. Shouldn't they be at the South Monorail Station. "I have a question for you guys though: how did you guys get out here?"
The teens exchanged nervous glances. Chloe pushed Logan forward.
"Well...I...I mean we–"
"Oh my gosh!" Owen turned to see Claire, Hammond, Masrani, Billy, Oscar, Dr. Sorkin and the lot from the Control Room (minus Arnold); after exiting the ventilation ducts and getting outside the building, they ran into Owen and those with him. Claire continued, "There are more kids! How did all these kids get left behind? I'm sure the evacuation must have taken care of everyone."
"I want to know how this happened too," Masrani said.
Owen nodded. "Yeah, I was about to get an explanation." He turned to Logan. "Care to explain, kid?"
Logan stuttered. "W-well, we kinda missed the last monorail." Owen glared. "Alright! Alright! We wanted to stay in the park after dark so we kinda hid out until everyone left."
"Tonight's about the worst night to do that sort of thing, I'm afraid," Hammond told them. "We have dinosaurs running around the island everywhere you look."
"He's right," Billy Yoder confirmed. "Rexes, pterosaurs, raptors, you name it, we've got it."
"Yeah, we know," Isabelle said. She elbowed Logan and said, "So much for being able to take on a Velociraptor, huh?"
"I said one Velociraptor," Logan argued. "One!"
Tom, Alaina and Brianna pushed past the others to get a look at Logan and his friends. "Wait, Logan?" Tom asked.
"Tom!" Logan said in surprise.
"You two know each other?" Owen asked.
"Yeah," Tom said. "We go to the same school."
Masrani turned to Gerry Harding. "Gerry, have you seen Hoskins? I haven't seen that weasel since we let the raptors loose."
Harding shrugged. "Last I saw he went out to get a soda."
"You mean Vic Hoskins?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, you seen him?"
"He found us in the Creation Lab, but then he was killed by one of the raptors."
Owen raised his eyebrows. "I guess there's justice in the world after all." Claire shot him a glare.
Dr. Sorkin said, "It's not safe here. We need to get inside."
"Not in the Innovation Center!" Billy said. "There's raptors all in that place!"
"There's an emergency bunker nearby," Claire told the others. "We can go hide in there so–"
Echo leaped out of the Winston's Steak House with a beef thigh clenched in her jaws. She was followed by Delta and Charlie. Owen got everyone to stand behind him, just in case. However, the raptors weren't focused on them. After Echo dropped her thigh, she and the rest of the pack began to sniff the air and caw nervously, twitching their tails. A chill went down Owen's spine.
"What are they doing?" Sarah asked.
Before Owen could answer, a raptor's shriek was carried through Main Street. From around the side of the Innovation Center came a pair of Velociraptors, one of them being Big One. The raptors growled as they made their slow approach. Then more raptors appeared from around a nearby corner further from the Innovation Center. There were six raptors in all, and they were beginning to surround both the humans and the raptor squad.
And as if this weren't enough, further down the street from the Innovation Center was the alpha of the pack – the Indominus rex herself. She growled as she walked into view, making heavy footfalls with each step. Owen groaned.
"Great," Owen breathed. "We've got a problem...a huge problem."
A/N: Ooh! Looks like a great setup for a fight scene – ten Velociraptors, 20 humans and an Indominus rex. Safety certainly is not guaranteed! Though I absolutely love working on this story, I am also excited to start my next one. If you guys like Jurassic World: Apocalypse, you'll definitely like the next one. I won't reveal what it is yet, but it's going to be even more epic than this one, if all goes as planned. Anyway, since we're getting into the final chapters here, how do you think this story's gonna end? Kinda like the movie...or something a little different? Dun, dun, DUN! I'd usually make you guys wait another week, but I owe you guys two chapters by now...so what are you still reading this for? Start reading chapter 32!