JURASSIC PARK

2 - Welcome to Paradise Isle

Pet hated it and snarled a frown at her ID card's picture. "It's official. I am not a photogenic person..."

Mr. Arnold lightly laughed and reached into a drawer of his computer desk, retrieving a badge clip. "I don't think the dinosaurs are going to care what you look like versus how you taste." Pet arched a brow at the man's attempt to be funny and huffed a soft toned shriek. He smirked. "Welcome to Paradise Isle, Pet."

She grumbled and trudged away back to the hallway, clipping her badge to the waist of her shorts. She remembered Hammond telling her the left way led to the genetics lab and holding pens, Pet deciding to go there. The closer she got to the lab, the more she felt like she was back in Kenya as the familiar smells of 'science,' as Jacobs called it, filled her sense of smell. She was curious, though, how many people working on the island knew about her every time she saw someone look at her strangely.

Pet paused at the top of the embryo admittance lab when she heard a very familiar voice echo the air. "What in the bloody dazes is the matter with you?"

A woman's distressed voice replied. "I'm sorry, I-"

Muldoon continued. "Shut up!" About that time, a juvenile Gallimimus bolted into view and ran around the lab, dodging and weaving through the equipment. Scientists dove out of the way of the frantic, chest high dinosaur as the game warden continued. "Get out of the way, people!" He raised a tranquilizing rifle only to curse to himself when the target escaped his line of sight. Muldoon lowered the gun and ran after the panicked dinosaur. "Open the door! Get her outside!"

A man huddled beside an egg warmer scurried to the door and slammed down on a green button to activate the mechanical door opening. It took a couple of the more fearless scientists corralling around the Gallimimus before it ran outside.

Meanwhile, Pet was running back down the hallway and to the complex's lobby as she fought with her boot laces to untie them. By the time she got to the double glass doors, she was barefoot and able to run faster. She could see the panicked dinosaur run around the courtyard, both it and the gate personnel unsure of what to do in response to the other. Pet ran down the stairs and towards the dinosaur, leaping into the air with a shrill.

From within the lab, Muldoon ran outside through the mechanical doors and raised his gun, preparing to fire when he heard it. Leaping into view was the one person he wasn't expecting and cocked a smile. Both Pet and the Gallimimus tumbled to the ground, kicking up chunks of dirt in the process of wrestling around. The dinosaur cried out in desperation and kicked about, trying to escape the dominating hybrid.

Seeing an open opportunity, Muldoon fired a tranquilizing dart at the helpless juvenile, commenting to his partner running up behind him. "See that, Cynthia? That is how you restrain an animal."

The woman panted, "Sydney. My name is..." but the man was already out of earshot range and jogging over to the dinosaur. "Sydney...But whatever." She heaved a breath and joined him.

Pet stayed poised over the young dinosaur. One of her clawed feet held down the ankle of one leg while her other clawed toe curled around the calf muscle of the other leg. Meanwhile, a clawed hand held down its wrists as her other clawed hand was tightly gripped around its snout. During all this, Pet was using her body weight to hold the animal down. Muldoon slung his gun over his shoulder and knelt down beside the hybrid.

"It's about bloody time you get here." Both friends locked gazes, the man continuing. "Given too much longer and Barbie Island Adventure, over there, would have gone missing." Pet chuckled and got off the now sedated juvenile Gallimimus. Muldoon saw Sydney approach him and stretched a hand out towards her, as though expecting something to be handed to him. "Restraints."

Sydney's eyes widened. "Oh uh, I left them in the pens." She recoiled backward a few steps in the heat of the man's cold glare, wiping her hands on her khaki pants.

"What? Again!? How many times do I need to tell you-"

"Always be prepared for the job. Right. I'll go get them," and the woman quickly ran back inside the building.

Pet studied the man with a slightly amused smile and shook her head. The last time she saw him this way was when training an intern back in Kenya that kept trying his patience. The intern, however, only lasted two weeks before requesting a reassignment elsewhere due to hostilities within the game warden job field.

The hybrid snickered at the memory. "Seems like you've been having fun."

Muldoon scowled at the teen. "I'd rather work with Mr. Personality."

"No, you wouldn't." Sydney returned to the two people and handed Muldoon leather booties and buckle restraints, her panting and leaning against her knees. He took another look in disbelief at the woman before tossing a pair of booties and restraints to Pet. Pet continued her conversation with Muldoon while securing the animal. "You know that bastard shot me with a tranquilizer? In the ass, no less!"

"I don't blame him. I know I've been tempted to, myself, on more than one occasion."

Sydney couldn't take her eyes off the teenage girl. "You're her, aren't you? The raptor girl..."

Pet slid the leather booties over the clawed hands of the Gallimimus and answered. "Last time I checked..." Once the booties were secured via the buckles, the hybrid began binding the wrists together with the restraints. "So where are we taking her?"

Muldoon responded while fastening the last of the buckles on the ankles. "I planned on feeding her to the baby Rex."

Pet heaved a sigh. "I mean the dinosaur."

"Oh." He stood up, ignoring the hateful gawk he was getting from Sydney. "There's a truck and trailer parked on the other side of the building. There's an herbivore containment site Hammond wants the smaller dinosaurs in for the time being." He unclipped a set of keys from around a belt loop and handed them to Sydney. "Make yourself useful and bring the truck around." Sydney took the keys and heaved another breath before running off again.

The hybrid raised a brow at the other woman, watching her round the complex's corner. "Has it really been that bad?"

"She's about as worthless as Jacobs, in my opinion." Everyone knew how much he loathed the geneticist. "She's reckless, irresponsible, forgetful, weak and has no endurance. She can get a small scratch and make it seem like she's lost a damn arm!" He groaned in annoyance. "She feels it's more important to paint her nails or fix her makeup versus tagging dinosaurs."

Pet giggled seeing the man's face turn red with growing fluster. "So, Barbie Adventure, huh?" The man didn't blink off the hybrid in his heated glare. "As Mr. Arnold told me, welcome to Paradise Isle!"

"Shoot me."


When the evening came around, Pet collapsed on her bed in her dorm room and flexed her toes. She wrinkled her nose at the fresh paint smell lingering in the air as well as the new carpet smell. Her sense of smell was already more keen than that of a regular person's, so any prominent smells were only intensified. She grumbled and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow.

Since her arrival, she had been busy nonstop with wrestling, chasing and tagging some of the smaller dinosaurs. It was a lot more work than what she imagined it would be, it being nothing like tagging zebras, catching snakes or wrestling the occasional escaped leopard or warthog. These were animals much stronger and unpredictable. At least, for now, anyway. Pet was sure in due time, she'd adapt to the new work demands, and things would gradually become easier. But until then, it was dealing with the stiff and sore muscles at the end of the day.

Dinner. It had to be close to dinner time as her stomach growled loudly in the quiet of the room. She looked at the digital clock by the bed and frowned. It blinked one thirty-two AM, which she knew wasn't right. Would it hurt people to set the time on the clocks once placed in the rooms? Her stomach growled again. She sat up from her laying down to look around for her duffle bag and backpack. She didn't own that much, seeing how she wasn't a materialistic person. All she ever cared to own was the company of good friends as well as a place to at least call home.

Not far from the bed were her bags, Pet getting up. Not caring about neatness at that moment, she pulled almost everything out of the backpack and tossed it onto the floor, soon finding the object of her desire. Happy, she went back to her bed and ripped open a bag of beef jerky. After the bag was devoured entirely did Pet's hunger feel satisfied for the most part. She wanted to lay back down and relax her tense body but knew she needed to unpack.

Unwillingly, she slid off the bed and started doing so. The duffle bag kicked up a light layer of dust off the chest of drawers, which made Pet sneeze. While the area was dusty, at least it wasn't like Kenya, where layers of dust were on everything, everywhere, no matter how often cleaned. Once unpacked, Pet sat back down on the bed and frowned at the lack of color there was in the room. At least in Kenya, there were vibrant colored African themed paintings and decorations in the room. Here, there was nothing. Just blank white walls, an empty computer desk, chest of drawers, a bed and nightstand.

She plopped back down onto the pillow, thinking how much like a prison cell her room was instead of a place of comfort and relaxation. At least she had a bathroom with doors, even if it was shared with someone else next door. About that time, a knock came at the joining kitchenette door.

Pet opened the door to see Sydney stare back at her, surprised. "Oh! I take it you're my new dorm mate." The woman's smile exceeded anything normal in the hybrid's opinion. "Excellent! Hopefully, we can get to know each other!"

Just when Pet didn't think anyone could surpass Terrence in excessive personality. The hybrid blinked at the jovial woman in a mix of confused thoughts. "Yeah, sure, great…Just not right now." With that, Pet shut the door in the other woman's face.