JURASSIC PARK

6 - Unlike Anything Ever Seen Before

Muldoon grabbed his radio off his belt and called into it. His gray eyes peered into the raptor quarantine pen. "Pet, where the hell are you?" He hadn't seen her since the evening before, it now being mid-morning.

A minute later, the hybrid replied. "In the office. Where are you?"

The game warden mouthed something to himself under his breath. "Get your ass to the quarantine pens. It's getting close to feeding time."

"On my way."

"And make sure to wear your shoes. We're expecting visitors today." Muldoon could almost mentally picture the exact sour expression on the hybrid's face.

Pet's eyes rested on the pair of custom-made, brown leather boots and snorted. "I'll be there in a minute..." Pet forcefully clipped her radio to the waist of her shorts and grumbled in displeasure as she put on her socks and shoes.

Once outside, she held onto her radio in her sprinting down the dirt path leading from the back of the main complex and to the quarantine pen. She could hear the anxious raptors' screeching from within the electrified enclosure and ran up the stairs to the viewing platform where Muldoon waited. He opened his mouth to say something to the hybrid, but paused, arching a brow in question. Was she wearing makeup? Around her blue-green eyes was a smoky colored eyeshadow and her eyelids were defined by eyeliner and mascara. She even was wearing a rose-colored lip gloss, from what the man could tell, too.

"What the bloody hell did you do to your face?" He had never seen her look like this before and was thrown off by it.

Pet didn't visually acknowledge the man and cleared her throat. "It's called makeup."

"I know what it is..." He had to admit though, the hybrid did look very nice and more feminine. "Don't go turning all girly on me. I need you to stay with me on this, okay?"

Pet rolled her eyes over to the man and snorted. "Piss off."

"I'm warning you..." Muldoon pointed a finger in her face. "You start complaining of broken fingernails next, and I'm throwing you in there with the Big One."

She called out to the man from over another series of raptor screeches as he strode down the stairs and to the watchtower. "Good thing I don't have fingernails, then, huh?" She snickered and flexed her clawed fingers against the metal railing.

"Smart ass." Muldoon went inside the tower and peered outside the window just level with the top of the pen. He radioed over. "Keep an eye on the steer, will you?" Pet gave a thumbs up to the man. "Feeding team, proceed."

Pet turned her back to the tower and looked to a nearby crane, hoisting a black cow in a harness into the air. Behind her and emerging from the overgrowth surrounding the quarantine pen were the park's four visitors being escorted by Hammond. The first person Pet's attention locked onto was a very recognizable man in a blue button down shirt, khaki pants and a beige hat. Her eyes widened in a rush of excitement and sudden panic.

The first thing Dr. Grant's attention locked onto was the cow in the harness. Behind him came Hammond, calling out, "Dr. Grant! As I was saying, we laid on lunch for you before you got into the park." The older man's gaze instantly fell on Pet and he stopped in his tracks. He gazed at her feet, half expecting her to be barefoot but pleasantly found otherwise. And where the hell was Muldoon?

Grant neared the pen, questioning. "What are they doing?"

Hammond tried to keep a light hearted mood, despite his concerns with the hybrid's presence, and chuckled out, "Feeding them."

From on top of the tower, Muldoon could see the hybrid was distracted from her instructed task, and called to her over the radio. "Pet? The cow? How's everything look down there?"

Standing next to the senior game warden was a male park employee, watching the unfolding scene below. He stiffened back a laugh, shook his head, and took it upon himself to respond in Pet's stead. "You might want to get out here and get your girl before she makes a fool of herself."

Muldoon's face wrinkled in confusion. "What?"

Meanwhile, Grant proceeded up the stairs to the viewing platform. His eyes never left the cow as he strode to the other side of the hybrid to stand next to her. Thank God he was oblivious to her gawking at him. It was probably a good thing too because Pet's wide raptor eyes and gaping jaw exposing carnivorous teeth would have done more than startle the man. She quickly composed herself, however, when she saw Hammond nearby. She speedily but nonchalantly looked away and squeezed her eyes shut, digging her hands into the back pockets of her tan shorts.

Grant watched the top of the fence slide open, allowing the cow to be lowered into the brush. Once he was close enough to the edge and positioned just right, Muldoon was able to see the man.

The game warden grumbled. "Bloody hell." He looked at the man next to him. "Take over the controls, will you?" The other man nodded, allowing Muldoon to leave the tower.

The cow continued to moo, unaware of what was going to happen next unlike the spectators nearby. Once completely lowered in the pen and out of sight of the others, the plants violently shook as snarls and growls came from inside. A high-pitched attack shrill tore through the air. It was nowhere near loud enough, though, to mask the sounds of flesh being torn from the screaming cow.

Pet's attention darted to the inside of the pen, and she smiled viciously. She could smell the scent of fresh blood fill the air, and almost let the animal part of her overcome her, but she refrained. Instead, she brought her gaze to focus on the paleontologist just an arm's each from her, his stare still locked on the pen. There was a glow of boyish excitement on his face, and it danced in his eyes. The others of the group, however, weren't too fascinated by the scene. A woman Pet could identify as Dr. Ellie Sattler appeared somewhat repulsed and on the verge of being sick while another man, clad in black, grabbed at his stomach in discomfort.

Pansies. Pet had managed to get her eyes to return to a blue-green, despite the extreme difficulty she was having at keeping them that way and met Hammond's mischievous sneer.

Muldoon strode up the stairs, calling, "They should all be destroyed."

Everyone's attention shifted to the newcomer, his gaze locked on Pet. He couldn't help but be fearful of her careless exposure around the others. He ran through a mental checklist in his head. Eyes normal? Check. Shoes? Double check. Hands? Tucked away, out of sight in her back pockets. Good. The only things that seemed out of place were her arms and legs. If anything, they could always say it was an unbalanced tan.

Hammond announced, gesturing for the other man to join them. "Robert Muldoon. My game warden from Kenya. Bit of an alarmist, but knows more about raptors than anyone." Aside from Pet, but he couldn't say that.

Grant made a beeline for Muldoon, hoping to get answers to the many questions he had building in his head. Pet, too, strode towards him as she wasn't too fond of standing next to the lawyer. She took a place next to Grant and across from Hammond. The scientist questioned. "What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"

Time for twenty questions. Muldoon had a feeling it was going to happen, especially after Hammond announced him being the most knowledgeable on the creatures. "They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal." His gaze shifted over to Pet, him not surprised to find her almost drooling over the paleontologist. "I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these move..." He peered into the pen.

Grant continued to bombard the game warden with questions. "Fast for a biped?"

The warden nodded. "Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open."

Pet cut in, not meaning to be rude. "And those are speeds clocked on the adults. Juvenile speeds vary anywhere from thirty to forty miles per hour."

Grant glanced to his right to see the teenaged young woman. "And you are?"

Hammond forced a smile and answered for the hybrid. "She's an intern, here at the park who I'm sure has somewhere else to be." The people's gazes locked. Pet slimmed her eyes on Hammond and made it known she had absolutely no intention of going anywhere by leaning against the railing.

Muldoon continued, hoping to refocus tthe esteemed guest's attention to the raptor topic. "They're astonishing jumpers, too."

Hammond could see the concern growing on the visitors' faces and quickly turned his attention away from Pet. "Yes, yes, yes, that's why we're taking extreme precautions."

The hybrid turned her attention back to Muldoon, who smiled at his distraction working. Grant continued, his curiosity bouncing between the 'intern' and the game warden for a hopeful answer. "Do they show intelligence? Was their brain cavity-"

"They show extreme intelligence," Muldoon interrupted. "Even problem-solving intelligence."

Pet cut in yet again. "Most likely smarter than most other intelligent animals out there, like dolphins."

The game warden nodded in agreement. "Especially the Big One." Grant tilted his head to the side, eager to hear more. "We bred eight, originally, but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others." Hammond and Ellie stopped conversing to hear what the warden had to say. "That one, when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out." The air seemed to linger with a haunting silence as no birds or crickets were chirping. Even the raptor pen had gone completely quiet, Pet leaning forward to peer inside it. "That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."

Ellie spoke up next. "But the fences are electrified, right?"

Pet nodded as Muldoon pressed on in his explanation. "That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically." Muldoon smiled and arched his brow. "They remember."

Pet grabbed at the radio clipped to her waist and cued it. "Alright, raise the crane."

Malcolm's dark eyes fell on the girl's hands and became alarmed at what he saw. He wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing but knew it couldn't be normal. The girl's fingernails almost looked like claws as he brought a hand to his face to rub his tense mouth. What was going on, here?

Pet's blue-green eyes met the chocolate brown ones of the chaotician standing almost across from her and knew immediately what he was staring at. A sly smile crept over her features, for she knew the man's history after researching information on him. The crane came back to life and slowly raised the now bloodstained and shredded harness from the enclosure.

Pet re-clipped the radio to her shorts. "Excuse me, gentlemen." She nodded to Ellie. "Ma'am. Work calls." She gave a final look at the man dressed in black and cocked a sideways smile as her eyes briefly shifted into a raptor's.

Malcolm stood up straighter in disbelief and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Hammond loudly asking, "Who's hungry?"