The trudge through the escape tunnel was long and dark. It was very fortunate that Owen had dug this tunnel in the basement, as they had felt the ground shake above them that night. Two nights ago, to be precise. It was a night Owen did not see coming. Those Biosyn men must've thought they were dead because he never heard anyone else in the tunnels with them.
Luckily, Jan was able to walk now that her injury was healed . Regardless, Gray had stuck beside her every step of the way. Zach held his phone in his pocket as they followed Owen's light. None of them had anticipated being presumed dead by a government force. Neither did they predict being saved by a Velociraptor.
The Mitchell brothers remembered Blue from the Island all those years ago. They would have been lying to themselves if they told each other that it was not exactly fun while it lasted. Before the Hybrid broke loose. Before InGen went into hiding. They had heard the stories about the first park back in 1993. At least in that experience, there weren't sizable crowds of guests flying into a panic.
But in no way was news of this event discreet. The books. The news reports. The talk shows. My goodness, the concept of drawing people on the talk shows were nothing like the real thing. Gray could definitely draw better than that. Even Zach could admit that. Even now, when the world knew about the real thing.
"Owen." Barry's voice echoes through the tunnel way. "Do you even know where we're going?"
"Hopefully somewhere where those grunts'll never find us." Owen replied, leading the way with his flashlight. "How're you all holding up?"
"Good, good." Came the replies of Barry and the three young adults.
Barry walked closer next to his old friend and spoke softly to him, ensuring that the children could not hear him. (For convenience , I'm going to call Gray, Zach and Jan children. Even though they're young adults.) "Seriously, do you know where this tunnel leads?"
"I built this tunnel back when I was first making that cabin." Owen led on. "I finished it after the white Lockwood Fiasco. It took a while, but I finally got it where I wanted it. Near the shoreline."
"You sure had a lot of time on your hands," Barry said impressed. "I'm sorry we haven't been in touch, man."
"I get it. You were busy too. We both came a long way since the Army, haven't we?"
"Sure enough."
"Question: Why the heck was Baselton here?" Owen asked. "Additional question: What the heck was he doing working for Biosyn?"
"Must've gotten promoted after the Navy." Barry shook his head. "Darn, I remember when he was stationed with us. Never saw him use that Bazooka since Hudson Bay." He then gave a chuckle. "Hate to have been the sap who cleaned that up."
"Probably scarred him. "Owen joked.
Before more jokes about this past event could be reminisced, Owen quickened his pace once he saw what was ahead. It looked as if it were a vault door hanging on the wall at the end of the tunnel. It had been quite a while since Owen had used this tunnel last, so he was just winging it up to this point.
The group quickened their pace at the sight of this door. Owen kept his light directly on it as he placed his hands on the large turning wheel. He began turning it clockwise as this seemed to be the way to open it. After a few moments of turning, the door slowly opened. The welcome sight and feeling of sunlight was recognized by the weary travelers. Owen led the way out as they greeted the day once again. Each of them were very eager to see the outside world once again.
And what they saw was exactly what Owen explained.
The rolling waves of the ocean before them came from the best water they had seen in days. The water in the escape tunnel was not the cleanest of hydration. Luckily, Barry had the initiative to bring cleaner bottled drinks with them for their track through the tunnel.
The water of the ocean was a beautiful sapphire blue. A mysterious part of the ecosystem, the ocean was just as dangerous as it was beautiful. Sharks, Octopi, Swordfish, Needlefish, Eels, to name a few. And that was all from the parts that the world of biology had explored. There were still the darkest of trenches at the bottom of this vast, alien percent of their world that had yet to be explored.
But ever since what had happened with Mills and his little conspiracy, Dinosaurs had reintroduced themselves into not only the land, but the waters as well. The Mosasaurus was a prime example of this fact. The animal best known for killing the dreaded Indominus Rex six years prior had been released accidentally and had entered the natural order, becoming top of the Ocean's food chain.
Owen and Barry stood beside each other as they watched the ocean rocking itself forth and back. The children all looked around at their surroundings, trying to see if there was any part of civilization near them.
"What should we do now?" Gray asked.
"I vote we stay here," Zach replied in his tired tone of voice. "It's safer here than it is out there."
"Well it won't be safe anywhere for long," Jan said as she sat down on a rock. "With Biosyn making their move, it's only a matter of time before they take over everything from here to Puerto Rico."
"What about mom?" Gray asked. "Do you think she's alright?"
"She must be," Zach said as he tried to get a signal on his phone. "She couldn't have chosen a better time to go out." The night the three were attacked and saves by Barry was a very traumatic experience for each of them. Jan especially, since she had gotten wounded by that Dilophosaurus.
They took a while to soak in the sound of the soft, blowing wind, coupled with the crashing waves. They were relieved to have escaped another brush with death. That is what these sounds brought them. Comfort in a world rapidly changing by the hand of fate and malice. The power of the military doubled by their new weapons meant the possibility of what had already changed much of their world today.
War.
And this was not some average war with nuclear weapons and mass terrorism. This kind of war was a lot more serious than that. Dinosaurs under the influence of some torturous form of manipulation. It was a weapon unlike any other used before. Barry had told them everything he knew about what Biosyn was planning, what they were doing. But he did not know about what exactly was controlling the group of infected Dinosaurs they called "The Pack." There had to have been an Alpha. There was no way a human could control something as dangerous as these experiments. So what could it have been?
The peaceful sounds around them were suddenly combined with the sound of tires rolling across pavement. The three of them raised their heads once they heard it and listened for where it was coming from. From the sound of it, they came from the other side of the hill from which they had just come from.
Barry and Owen heard it as well and asked up the side along with the children. But when they got to the too, they were very lucky they were laying down.
What they saw from their hilltop view was what could be seen as some sort of loading dock. There were dozens of workers gathered to load several of the large crates on their forklifts. Some of them were merely carrying around smaller loads with their bare hands.
"Get it up there and get it to headquarters!" The chief called out to them. "Ms. Dearing is expecting this delivery by Wednesday."
At first, the group thought that these people were part of Biosyn's little party. However, from what the chief was saying, this had denied their beliefs. And of course, there was the InGen symbol on their uniforms.
"Any suggestions, Owen?" Barry asked.
"We gotta stay discreet so word doesn't get out." Owen whispered. "If those men see us, no doubt it's gonna spread and Biosyn'll track us down. We need one of those jeeps."
"And how do we get it?" Jan asked as she watched with the group.
"Behind those crates," Owen pointed down to the large row of crates on their side of the zone. "We stay as low as possible. We take that one on the left. And then we get as far away from civilization as possible."
He then got up and quickly but silently ran down the hill towards the zone, soon being followed by Barry and the others. They kept themselves behind the crates and their heads ducked low. They heard the chattering of the InGen workers as they were loading whatever was in their supply crates onto their lifts.
The Jeep Owen had in mind was dead ahead, near the others that belonged to the workers. A large, black-wire fence was all that separated the loading zone from the parking lot. Owen slowly began to rounded the side of the stacks of crates as he motioned for the others to follow. Barry rolled forward past a gap between two crates. Being a former Mercenary, it was a trick that seemed like routine for our good friend Mr. Sembéne.
Before Owen could roll forward himself, staying as under wraps as he could, there was the feeling of rumbling under his feet. He merely shrugged it off, believing it to be the forklifts being driven nearby. As he continued forward, however, only Gray stopped to put his hand on Jan's shoulder. His face bore a strange expression of puzzlement.
"You feel that?"
Barry raised his eyebrow as he and Zach stopped to see what it was that Gray was feeling. At first, they were with Owen, thinking it as the sound of the moving vehicles nearby. But when they had stopped, they had felt it differently than before. It felt more like a kind of distant thumping. And then when they listened more intently, they could here something else. A faint, booming sound, like Fireworks being shot off from far away. And then they looked forward, where a small puddle stood before them.
The water was moving.
Owen peeked his head around the crates to see if any of the InGen workers could see him. They were all too preoccupied with their duties to be bothered with their vehicles. Thank God. As he stepped forward to get to the Jeep before him, he could hear frantic whispering. He turned to see Barry and the others waving their arms quietly and shaking their heads.
"Owen, don't move!" Barry whispered sharply. "Get back over here!"
"What's the matter?" Owen asked. "I can't hear you-"
The rumbling got louder.
And closer.
Owen looked at the puddle as the water suddenly stopped moving. His blood ran cold as he tried not to imagine what kind of creature was near him. He then looked back at the Jeep. It was so close. If they could just reach it, if they were fast enough…
He dashed for it.
But when he got there, he saw something behind the parking lot. It was some sort of tree trunk. But this trunk looked different then the others around it. It looked more marbled, scalier. Wait a minute, what? At this moment, how he wished he didn't run out into view. And oh, how he wished he didn't look up at the top of this weird trunk.
At the face of the Spinosaurus staring down at him.
The beats let out a shrill roar before lunging forward. Its mighty foot launched the Jeep Owen tried to steal right towards him. He quickly ducked out of the way as it impacted with another one of the vehicles, resulting in a large explosion that immediately made him sweat. The Spinosaur turned its Ghost-White eyes towards the InGen crew, who quickly took notice of it and began to scatter in fear.
One crew member tried to get to the large crane at the center of the zone, but was beaten to it by another Dinosaur. It was the red shape of the Hurisym-infected Carnotaurus. While not as big as the Spinosaurus, the Carno still had every big of aggression and fury, jaws open wide to snap around the poor worker. The children looked away as they heard the sickening crunch of bones.
This was a sound the Mitchell brothers remembered all too well from the dreaded Jurassic World incident they were forced to have endured. They quickly rushed towards an opened crate, hoping they could hide in there. The ground rumbled with the footsteps of the sail backed terror outside. They heard it snarl as it ripped its claws through anything in sight.
Owen tried to make it to the crate with them, but was cut off by the face of the Carnotaurus. It snarled as blood from its latest victim dripped from its fangs. He knew it was ready for some more. Luckily, he saw a way to escape it. A ladder on the side of another crate. It was a whole lot closer than that Jeep was. He scrambled to it as fast as his legs could carry him, swiftly climbing it faster than he had ever climbed before.
A metallic crunching sound, coupled by a foul stench behind him was all it took for him to figure that devil dino was right behind him. Those two horns on his head as sharp as his fangs, the bloodthirsty Dinosaur growled as he tried to reach him. Once Owen had reached the top of the Crate, the ladder below him was pulled from its hinges by the sheer might of the creature's jaws.
One of the most savage creatures in history, that's what it was. It made Owen think he was looking at the face of the devil himself. Heck, he didn't even know which would be worse at this point. Those Zombie-like eyes sent a shiver down his spine as they both locked with each other. He didn't even know if they were looking at him when they were this white. At times like this, a man would have to ask himself a very important question: What is more terrifying? A man with the spirit of a beast, or a beast with the soul of a devil?
He saw nothing but a contorted mind being turned against its own will to attack for its puppeteers. And if he thought he was in trouble on the ground, now his troubles truly began. The Dinosaur had leapt from the ground with those limber legs and clenched its jaws onto the side of the crate.
'Time to run.' Owen thought as he leaped to another crate from another stack. A roar from behind told him the Carno was now right behind him.
In their own crate, Gray and the other children saw as men fled at the sight of the Spinosaurus. One man ran to their crate, presumably having the same idea as them. Hiding. They yelled at him to hurry, but from behind him, the Spino had spotted him and stomped his thunderous stomps as he followed him. Soon, those crocodile-like jaws snatched him up as his screams were replaced by those horrible crunching sounds.
And once that was finished, the only thing that scared them now was the giant super-predator glaring at them with those lifeless eyes. With a growl, it lunged forward and rammed its jaws into the cate. However, they were too large to fit all the way inside. The children screamed in terror as the crate was slung around by the furious dinosaur. Their screams coupled with its roars and growls.
And then they felt the crate be lifted off the ground by the might of the beast. The three of them held onto the bars on the walls, hoping to avoid being caught in those jaws like that unfortunate worker was. Soaked in blood and smelling foul, the inside of the Spino's mouth was not something anyone would want to be faced with. The very smell of it made them want to hurl.
After much thrashing, the crate was flung from the jaws of the super predator and back onto the ground, where it was sent rolling. Feeling themselves roll out of control, the children also could feel when the crate came to a stop. They heard the Spino growl in anticipation as they felt its footsteps approaching.
Gray looked to his side to see Zach lying unconscious next to him, bruised and battered from the impact. He put his hand to his head when he was hit by a wave of dizziness himself. He felt the warm feeling of blood on his forehead. Jan, however, was just sitting there. Staring outside. She had just watched people get eaten. It didn't have to be said that she was in shock. The shaking of the ground was like the sound of death to them. They knew the creature was right outside, and it knew they were in there.
The giant foot of the reptilian terror dropped in front of the crate. Its claws dug into the earth as a rumbled came from the top of the crate. They knew its blade-like fingers were grasping the top, right above their heads. And then they saw them break through the roof slowly, flexing with anticipation. They felt him drag it around in some sort of sadistic pleasure. From a hole in the roof that was caused from the impact, they could see the zombie-like eye of the dinosaur. Most likely being in control of its own actions, this animal had been changed from one that only attacked of its own will to a feral monster under the influence of a force behind its control.
As it let out another roar, the Spino then craned its neck downward and clamped its jaws onto the side of the crate, pushing the sides in with its mighty jaw muscles. At this moment, neither Gray or Jan had an idea as to what to do. If they stayed there, they were dead. If they ran, they were dead. But if they could make it out and find a place to hide, then there was a remote chance that they could evade their demise. With Zach over his shoulder, and Jan helping carry him, they did it.
They ran.
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them. But as Gray ran, he felt a numbing pain in his leg. With horror, he realized that his leg was sprained. But he had to keep going. His brother and girlfriend were in danger. They dared not to look back, out of fear of the terror of the Dinosaur freezing g them in place
They saw Barry up ahead in a Jeep that he salvaged from the parking lot. Apparently, he had found the keys among the remains of one of the unfortunate workers who were caught by either the Spino or the Carno. He hurriedly waved for them to get in the vehicle, which they did without a second thought. They looked back to see the Spino still rummaging through the crate they were In.
"What about Owen?" Gray asked.
"We'll go somewhere he can find us," Barry said as he started the car. Soon, it had turned on, and Barry quickly slammed the gas and drove out of there as fast as he could. He hoped he was right about his assumption about Owen catching up with them.
~Meanwhile~
Owen had hidden himself behind a large blue crate as he heard the panting breath of the Carno from the other side. He peeked his head around to see if the devil Dinosaur was any closer. He saw it turning its head the other way as it sniffed the air. The worst part about those eyes, aside from the fact that they looked lifeless and void of any consciousness, was that you could not tell where exactly they were looking. Eventually, just before it could turn its head back to where he was hiding, a sound caught its attention.
It was a sound Owen knew all too well.
The barking of a Raptor.
When he looked down to see what it was, he could not believe his eyes. It was, indeed a Velociraptor, but it looked like some mechanism was stuck on the side of its head. The device made a sort of buzzing sound, earning an irritated snarl from the intelligent creature. It then barked again. At an instant, the Carno jumped down from the crates and landed next to it. It bowed its head down to it, as if it were becoming submissive.
What?
Soon enough, another sight caught Owen's attention. The remaining InGen workers, estimated around Nine, were being marched at gunpoint by none other than those green-suited grunts from Biosyn. The chief of the workers was forced onto his knees by one of the Mercs, while the other eight followed suit.
And then there came another sound. It sounded an awful lot like clapping. And soon enough, Owen saw the source. A man with light Brown hair and a green Biosyn T-shirt walked before the chief, clapping his hands together as he was joined by a younger looking man with darker hair. And next to them was none other than that jerk who bombed Owen's cabin, Baselton.
"You know, I've got to hand it to Wu." The first man said as he held his hands together, ceasing his clapping. "He sure knows how to make 'em."
"Lewis Dodgson." The chief glared up at him as the Raptor stood by the side of the second Biosyn official, visibly disturbing him. "So Biosyn's finally returned. I thought you all went bankrupt years ago. What's the matter? Steingarten run out of ideas?"
"Unfortunately, Mr. Steingarten has recently retired." Dodgson replied. "Our new head of business has proven to be a much more valuable asset to our cause."
"And what cause is that exactly?" The chief asked mockingly.
"To give the world something it has always needed but has been lacking the most." Dodgson straightened up his posture. "A Government whose firm grip clasps the world in a tight embrace. Keeping natural order intact and reigning in a smaller chance of war." He patted the Raptor on the head. "As you can see by our new asset, our little creation, Hurisym, has created coordinated attacks that have clearly bested the Military defenses you know today. However," He lifted a small object that looked like a detonator. "Hurisym has caused our project, which the public has chosen to call "The Pack", to run out of our control. But watch and be amazed." He then pressed the button on his detonator, which caused the InGen workers to duck and flinch, expecting an explosion.
But there came none.
Only a buzzing sound, which caused the raptor to snarl in pain again before letting out a few more barks. The Spino soon came stomping into view and knelt down to it just like the Carno did.
Dodgson smirked with pride. "Now, it is truly perfected."
The chief looked aghast at this revelation. "You are a madman. You have bent these creatures out of their true boundaries and have shaped them to your own liking. John Hammond would never have allowed this to happen. You will all fall for this!"
BANG!
With the mighty sound of a gunshot, the chief fell on his back, dead as dust. Dodgson glanced down at the gun he had taken from the younger man beside him with a small smirk. "Thanks, King."
Howard King just stood there in silence. He seemed as if what Dodgson had just done was not exactly something he agreed with. Baselton took no notice of this and turned to Dodgson. "What should we do with the rest of 'em?"
Dodgson took one look at the remaining eight InGen men before turning to walk away. "Wu made it clear to me. No loose ends."
Baselton clearly knew what this meant and nodded to his men. They all aimed their guns at the worker's heads as Dodgson, King, Z667S and the Carno and Spino departed from their sight. They all ignored the sounds of gunshots echoing through the graveyard that was once a loading zone.
Hey all JP/W fans! Sorry for the long wait, I hope you all had a great Halloween! Well how about this chapter huh? Pretty long, I know. But very satisfying. We now have a name for this new Raptor under Biosyn's control, Asset Z667S, AKA Zeus. He, along with the Pack, is a tragic character and is not Pure evil like the humans who torture him. What will become of our heroes now that they've once again escaped death? How will Claire and the others fare when they find Sorna? Stay tuned to find out!