BEGINNINGS

4 - In the Years Following

After a little over a year, things seemed to be going well until one night. It was almost three in the morning when he heard it. Muldoon groggily ran a hand over his eyes and grumbled, sitting up. He paused before he ultimately got up and listened to make sure what he heard wasn't one of Pet's nighttime chirps, barks or shrills she frequently did in her sleep. Then he heard it again. It sounded like a whimper of pain, and the man got up, trudging down the hall and to the next room where Pet's crib was. From the glow of the room's nightlight, he could see the baby squirming around in her bed with all the blankets kicked off.

Muldoon let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "It would help if you kept the damn blankets on." He reached into the bed to cover Pet back up when he felt it; felt her. She was hot and most likely with a temperature. He felt her forehead and noticed her nose seemed a bit runny. "Damn." He remembered when he used to help his sister take care of her son when he was sick with a fever once and recalled what she did. "Alright, Pet. Let me get a cool bath going for you, and hopefully, I still have some of that infant's painkiller from when you had that cold a few months back." He went to the bathroom and flicked on the light. Rummaging around in the medicine cabinet brought him to a small collection of baby medications. "Nasal spray...ear drops...Anbesol...thermometer! I'm going to need that." He pushed aside a bottle of Benadryl. "Ah hah, here we go. Infant's pain reliever and fever reducer." Keeping the bottle in his hand, Muldoon went to the tub and started the water. He was meticulous in making sure it was a comfortable temperature. A minute later, he checked the baby's fever and shook his head. "Ninety-six degrees, Pet. You definitely have a temp, kiddo."

Though ninety-six was a slightly low body temperature for the average person, it wasn't for the hybrid. Her normal temperature was ninety-two, so a ninety-six-degree body temperature to her was equivalent to a one hundred and three-degree temperature to others.

It wasn't long afterward he had the fever flustered Pet seated in the tub, who still whimpered in pain. He gave the baby a dose of the medicine, frowned, and got up to get a wash rag. Usually, the baby loved fighting him for the cloth, but this time she didn't even make an attempt or show interest in it.

He further frowned. "You really must feel like crap, Pet." Muldoon got the rag wet and wiped it over the baby's head, her chirp-barking in response. "Yeah, I know. I'm trying." Her weary, glazed over eyes drifted up as though silently begging him to make her feel better. "You're going to hate me in the morning, little one."

Throughout the rest of the night, neither of the two slept as the man regularly got up to check on the whimpering baby. He retook her temperature to find it had gone down to ninety-four degrees, but the baby still felt much warmer than he felt comfortable with. When six in the morning rolled around, he called Dr. Jacobs. Within the hour, Pet was seated in a specially designed medical examination room located not far from the genetics science lab as Jacobs studied her.

Muldoon was getting impatient. "Any idea what's wrong?"

Jacobs felt the baby's neck. "She seems to be showing the same symptoms of a head cold. Sort of like the one she had several months back." He listened to her chest and heartbeat. "There's some fluid in the chest, but not much." He then looked inside her ears, mouth and finally her nose. "Throat looks irritated, but that could be from the mucus draining from her sinuses."

"You think it's a head cold, then? No professional definite for sure?"

Jacobs draped the stethoscope around the back of his neck. "Look, Robert, I'm doing the best I can. I'm not even a certified pediatrician or veterinarian here. I'm a geneticist." The scientist accentuated the last word. "Okay?" His brown-eyed gaze fell on the angered blue one of the game warden. "If you want, take her to a hospital or somewhere with certified doctors if you think I'm not good enough. Just have fun explaining to them what she is when they ask you."

Beyond angered, Muldoon grabbed the man by the collar of his white lab coat and pinned him against a wall. "You will find out what is wrong with her or you will find your pathetic ass in the crocodile pond. Now you do whatever it is that you need to, but I want a legitimate answer on what the bloody hell is wrong with her by the end of the day. Understood?" Jacobs fervently nodded his head beneath the intimidating man's glare. "Good."


It was almost noon before the worry stricken Muldoon heard anything back from Jacobs. He had taken the day off from work, seeing how he personally wanted to keep a close eye on Pet in case her condition worsened. A knock at the small trailer door woke the man from his nodding off where he sat on the couch. Stretched out next to him was the sleeping hybrid. Not wanting to wake the baby, he slowly got up and answered the door. He squinted his eyes against the bright sun shining overhead to see Jacobs.

"And?" Muldoon questioned.

Jacobs sighed and handed the man a couple of pieces of paper having blood test results printed on them. "I ran today's blood test against the one from several months ago. It seems like this is going to be a recurring thing."

"Recurring?" Jacobs nodded. "As in-"

"It's been almost seven months since the first 'attack,' I guess you could say." Jacobs pointed to the date on the top of the first result's page.

Confusion passed over the game warden's face. "But she didn't have such a high fever with it then like she's had this time."

"Exactly."

Muldoon slimmed his gaze down on the man in front of him. "Exactly what Dr. Jacobs? What are you saying?"

The doctor winced in anticipation of how he thought the concerned man would respond. "From what I see so far after just two attacks, it's getting worse and will continue to do so..."

"It? What is it?" Muldoon wasn't sure how much longer he could go without punching the man.

"It is what she was apparently created with from the raptor's DNA. I went back and analyzed the cataloged DNA sample to see for myself if, by chance, it was something linked to that sample. It was. Now, something like this happened a few years back when a chimp was cloned when it was sick. The first chimp was only sick just that once, but the clone was sick almost all the time until it died less than two years later because of complications." That was the wrong thing to say, and Jacobs could see it when he saw Muldoon's face shine red with anger. "I'm not saying what Pet has will kill her, as she could grow out of it. But so far what I see between these two tests is that it will get worse before it gets better. With today's technology and medicines advancing, a cure for this possibly could come about, too."

Muldoon neared the man and pointed a finger in his face, threateningly. "If she dies, I'm blaming you and exposing everything you and In-Gen did to the press."

The game warden shoved the papers back in the doctor's chest, almost knocking him down, and went back inside the trailer. The slamming of the door behind him caused the sleeping hybrid to jerk in her sleep in response. Muldoon feared he might have woken her. He froze where he stood, watching her settle back down and mentally cursed to himself. Once he was satisfied the baby was soundly sleeping again, he returned to the couch and slowly sat back down. He never took his eyes off the baby, heart melting in his chest at the thought of how much worse she could get with the next sickness.

Ever so tenderly, he ran a thumb over the Barney dinosaur band-aid on the baby's leg from where Jacobs took the blood test and blinked back a tear. "No matter what, Pet, I'll always be here for you." He gently kissed the baby's forehead before finally drifting back to sleep.


Over the course of Pet's childhood years, Muldoon taught the hybrid several basic fundamentals like sitting up to walking, to even more advanced things like reading, writing and recognizing shapes. The more Muldoon and doctors worked with her they found Pet was color blind to some colors like red, orange, yellow and pink. Colors like that would show up as brown, gray or various shades of black. She was a quick learner and quick-tempered, Muldoon already having issues trying to raise her.

Pet could sense unease from Hammond and that he didn't like her. Several times she wanted to show him she meant no harm, but he wouldn't change his mind about her. When it came to Lockwood, things were completely different.

Anytime he planned to visit, he would call Muldoon. Seeing how the game warden was charged with tending to the hybrid child, Lockwood felt it best to discuss matters pertaining to her with him rather than with Hammond. At least that way, he got actual answers about her health and overall intellectual progress whereas Hammond would just hang up on him.

Pet loved it when Lockwood would come to visit, too. He always brought her something, whether it be a puzzle to build on her smarts -as he called it-, a crayon book for the giggles of it or a stuffed animal to cuddle with at night. During one trip in particular, he brought her a fluffy stuffed rabbit as a get-well gift when sick with a stomach bug.

In the meantime, Jacobs worked tirelessly to find a cure for her illness and finally found something that would suppress it, but not cure it. After several tests, Jacobs found the virus wasn't communicable as long as Pet didn't bite or scratch anyone while the virus was active.


Hammond's head swam with an agenda of things to do for the day. It was already eight in the morning and though it still early, it felt as though there wasn't enough time for everything needing to be done. He sighed and continued drudging through the hallway, returning from checking on a cloned tiger cub when he heard it. From amongst the bustling and chatting of scientists striding through the corridor he had managed to listen to a child's voice. But it wasn't just any child he heard and in curiosity, followed the sound to the source.

Seated on an animal examination table was four-year-old Pet, giggling at a female veterinarian examining her with a stethoscope. Standing next to the two was Muldoon, looking as stern-faced as usual.

The brunette woman smiled at the hybrid and spoke. "Word has it you can say your ABCs. Is that true?" Pet giggled again and shyly nodded. "Oh wow! I want to hear! Can you tell them to me?"

The hybrid blushed and looked to her guardian, Muldoon nodding to her. "Go on. Give Miss Liz a show."

Hearing the child made Hammond's heart weigh heavily in his chest with guilt. He couldn't help but tear up at the sight of the little girl in realizing she wasn't just some abomination. Since the day she was revealed, he held nothing but malice for the creation, never once giving her a second thought. Until now. For the first time since nearly deciding to eliminate her existence, his usual ice-clad heartless features for the hybrid melted away in the form of a tear streaming down his bearded face.

Liz clapped her hands and gave Pet a high five. "Good job! That was great! I think that deserves a treat. What do you say, Robert?"

Wide, raptor-like eyes shot over to the game warden as the little girl bounced where she sat excitedly. "Yes, yes, please?"

Muldoon sighed and rolled his glare from Pet to where the older woman stood, smiling innocently. "Fine, but just one!"

"Yay!" Pet cheered as Liz helped her down off the table and guided her towards an office.

Once the two were out of sight, Muldoon's attention fell on Hammond standing barely within view in the hall. The warden's faint smile quickly faded to a scowl, but when seeing the saddened eyes of his employer, became confused.

He joined the other man and crossed his arms over his chest, defensively. "What brings you here, hmm? Surely it's not because of Pet."

Hammond was still watching the office where the child had disappeared into and solemnly shook his head. "No, no. I was on my way back from checking on the cloned cub when I..." he trailed off and looked at the ground moderately embarrassed in appearance. "I heard Liz and the child. I had no idea she had grown up so much." His watch returned to the office. "The child, I mean. ABCs, hmm? Interesting."

Muldoon could see something drastically different versus before when studying the man and wasn't quite sure how to take it. It seemed as though he almost cared for the little girl. "That's not all she knows, either. I'm taking her to a child's education consultant to see how she places in comparison to other children her age. She already knows so much and learns things so quickly. She's damn smart, she is, and a hell of a problem solver. I'm finding it more difficult to stay one step ahead of her before she figures things out."

"Is that so?" The question sounded more like an outspoken thought than anything, Hammond continuing. "Robert, do me a favor, will you?" The two men locked gazes, Hammond's appearing pleading. "I want to be notified of any scheduled appointments for Pet and be informed of the results, should I not be able to make it."

Muldoon's brow raised in surprise. Was this the same John Hammond he had been working for all these years? And did he just address the kid by name? This was a first, and he nodded at the request. "Alright."

Pet scampering up to the two interrupted the moment as she waved her cherry-flavored sucker in the warden's face. "Look what Miss Liz gave me!"

Muldoon waved a hand in the air to dismiss the already hyper enough hybrid that jumped up and down. "Yes, yes, I see it, Pet, now get it out of my face. It's just what you need, more sugar."