JURASSIC PARK

8 - Window of Opportunity

Hammond's once excited smile had now fallen into a grim frown. His attention rested on the computer displaying the storm with concern of what dangers it brought his visitors. "Robert, what's the status of the storm?"

Before anyone could get to the phone, Pet had picked it up and was dialing it. Not asking, Muldoon took it from the hybrid and waited for an answer. He focused on the monitor, not liking how things were looking. Finally, an answer came. "National Weather Service, how can I help you?"

The man answered back. "Yes, what is the status of the tropical storm near Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna?" Arnold's coal black eyes settled on the warden, not liking how he seemed more on edge than usual. This was a man who could keep his calm in the face of almost anything dangerous, yet here he was, pacing about the room with restless energy. "Yeah, I got that." He glanced down to the slightly curled weather report printouts nearby and lowered the phone, talking to the people gathered around. "That storm center hasn't dissipated or changed course. We're gonna have to cut the tour short. We'll pick it up again tomorrow where we left off."

Hammond looked up to the man with sad, sunken eyes and further frowned. So far, every plan he had made was backfiring. "Are you sure we have to?"

Arnold cut in. "It's not worth taking the chance."

Hammond's frown turned into a scowl as he was now beyond pissed. "Tell them when they get back in the cars." Arnold nodded as Muldoon hung up the phone. "Damn!" barked Hammond as he slammed his cane onto the floor.

Minutes later, a loud crackle of thunder could be heard from within the control room. Pet sighed. "Well, there's the storm." She visually checked at the computer to see the storm cell damn near blanketing the entire island of Isla Nublar. "Just as the Weather Service predicted.

Arnold continued in an exhaled breath. "Visitor vehicles are returning to the garage."

"So much for our first tour," Hammond grumbled, while staring at his cane. "Two no-shows and one sick Triceratops."

All eyes fell on the man. Pet hung her head low with the thought of having to endure the man on a sulking trip. She rubbed two of her fingers together, as though playing a small violin. Muldoon harshly jabbed her in the side with his elbow. "Owe."

Taking a puff of his cigarette, Arnold replied. "It could've been worse, John. A lot worse."


Dennis nervously wiped his sweaty palms on the knees of his pants, unsure about the plan. He reached for the shaving cream can next to his computer and slid it into his jacket pocket. It was now or never, and he got up, making an excuse. "Anybody want a soda or something?" Tense stares fell on the unstable, oversized man. "I'm going up to the machine. I thought maybe I'd get someone something." He gulped, seeing the suspicious raptor-like eyes of the hybrid slim down on him. If he feared getting caught by anyone, it was her. "I've had only sweets, and I'm gonna get something salty." Nedry wiped his hands off on his pants again, mind barely able to process words. "Oh, I uh...I finished debugging the phones." He tried to calm him, only to fail when he heard Pet snort out a bark in growing annoyance. He stammered for words. "I was...uh...said...I was going to so I, uh...I did." Muldoon peeled his gaze off the overweight man and over to his counterpart, wondering what it was that had her so worked up all of a sudden. "So I debugged the phones, and I thought maybe..."

Pet sat motionless and unblinking, her smelling more than just fear pouring out of the sweating man. Sure, everyone in the room reeked of nervousness and anxiety, but Nedry was something else. He was up to something, this she was sure.

Muldoon whispered to the hybrid. "What's gotten into you?"

She didn't respond as she slowly rose to her feet, her head lowering but her eyes still locked on the man. Nedry sidestepped closer to the ramp leading to the door. "I should tell you the system will be compiling for eighteen to twenty minutes so some of the minor systems, they might go on and off for a while, but it's nothing to worry about."

He reached over and guided the computer mouse icon over the screen, starting a program while beginning a stopwatch on his wristwatch. Not wasting any more time, nor liking the predatory gaze of the girl, the man scurried out of the control room and out into the hallway.

Pet snorted at the man as he strode by, him nearly jumping over the railing at the sound. Her eyes stayed locked onto Nedry until he was out of the room and out of site. Muldoon grabbed the challenging hybrid's arm, forcefully spinning her around to face him. "What in the bloody hell has gotten into you?"

She snarled. "Don't tell me I'm the only one here, suspecting something."

Hammond's focus was now on the computer screens again, watching the security cameras. "You're always suspecting something, Pet." He tapped on a button on the keypad, the camera view changing to show his grandkids looking bummed in the backseat of the vehicle. "I blame it on hanging around Robert too much. The both of you could make a statue nervous."

Arnold prepared to light another cigarette when a beep from the computer got his attention. He looked to see what it was and slapped his Zippo lighter closed. "That's odd."

Hammond mumbled behind his hand, propping up his head. "What?"

"Door security systems are shutting down." Arnold pointed to the screen to show what he was referring to.

Pet scampered to the piled down workstation where Nedry sat to see, what exactly he had done. Her eyes scanned the screen for anything suspicious, her shaking her head in confusion. Hammond continued. "Well Nedry said a few systems would go offline, didn't he?"

Muldoon joined the hybrid and leaned in over her shoulder to see the same thing she was looking at. "Looks like everything he said he was doing, to me."

Pet grumbled. "I knew I should've taken that computer course for dummies last year."

"There are dummies, Pet, and then there's you." Muldoon cocked a sideways smile, the hybrid backhanding him in the gut. "Brat."

Hammond sighed while watching the camera feed when it suddenly shut off. His attention instantly fell on the two game wardens. "What the hell did you two touch?"

Pet held up her hands, Muldoon shaking his head and answering. "Nothing, why?"

About that time, the power to the perimeter fences started to go down. This startled everyone in the room. The hybrid's stern features morphed to horror. "Oh shit."

Arnold took a deep breath in to calm his nerves, mumbling, "What the hell, what the hell..."

Hammond looked from the screen and over to the engineer. "What now?"

"Fences are failing all over the park."

"Find Nedry!" The angered, older man ordered. "Check the vending machines."

Pet scoffed. "This is great." She aimed a finger at Hammond. "I knew that fat bastard was up to no good!" She leaped over the railing and continued ranting, "But no! I'm overreacting!" and left the room, running off down the hallway.


"Look at this workstation!" Arnold shoved stacks of papers, empty candy wrappers, and an empty soda can off the desk and onto the floor. "What a complete slob."

Muldoon analyzed the computer screens. "The raptor fences aren't out, are they?"

From Nedry's disaster pile of a computer desk, Arnold accessed the appropriate systems, shaking his head. "No, no. They're still on."

It made no sense to the park CO. "Why the hell would he turn the other ones off?"

Pet ran into the room, lightly panting for air as she announced, "I checked the machines and the kitchen." She shook her head. "I didn't see Nedry anywhere."

Hammond's white knuckles shined in contrast against his cane and ordered Arnold, "Find out what the hell he did and fix it, if possible."

Pet joined the three men. "And quickly, before all hell breaks loose."

The engineer frantically typed away on the keyboard, feeling disgusted at how his fingers stuck to some of the keys. "Access main security," he mumbled behind a smoking cigarette. "Access main program grid." Nothing seemed to work, the man getting irritated. "Permission denied?! What the-"

A moment later, the message 'You Didn't Say the Magic Word!' continuously scrolled across the screen followed by a cartoon image of Nedry popping up on the other screen, repeating the spammed message.

Arnold raged out, "Please! Damn it, I hate this hacker crap."

It didn't look like things were going to improve to the hybrid and she went back over to the computer to see where the tour vehicles stopped. She frowned. Why, of all the places, did it have to be the Tyrannosaur paddock? Paranoia and a bad nagging feeling chewed away the hybrid's insides, her leaving the control room.

Hammond glanced over to Muldoon, a fearful expression on his face. "Where did the vehicles stop?"

The game warden looked back towards the computers, about to ask the hybrid, only to find her gone. "Great. Where the hell did Pet go?"

A clawed hand dug around the canvas bag strapped to the top of a red and gray painted four-wheeler, the hybrid growling to herself. It was raining outside and was very cold as it pelted her bare arms and ran down her back in sheets. She released a shiver against the wet chill and in frustration, yanked out almost everything, except for the medical kit, from the bag to find the ATV key. Not wanting to waste any more time, she cranked it up and drove off, following the track in the road she knew would lead her to the T-Rex paddock.


Meanwhile...

Grant and Malcolm watched Gennaro hysterically run to the small hut housing the restrooms, curious. "Where does he think he's going?"

Malcolm shrugged. "When you got to go, you got to go."

And then they heard it; a loud thud coming from the paddock. Both men brought their focus to the enclosure, eyes widening when watching the cables be snapped like string. This wasn't good, and the fence creaked against the sway of something monstrous. A moment later, the form of an escaped Tyrannosaur was visible in the vehicle headlights, Malcolm stating, "Man do I hate being right all the time."

The Rex fiercely roared, Pet hearing it from off in the distance and sped up. She was already going faster than she felt comfortable with, especially on such muddy roads.

Grant froze where he sat, daring to breathe only because he needed to, and watched the dinosaur. "Keep absolutely still. Its vision is based on movement." The Rex nudged the second car with its snout and growled, finding it uninteresting. However, it took an interest in the first one further ahead upon seeing movement from within and went towards it. The two men could see the light's beam cut through the darkness, Grant muttering to himself, "Turn the light off."

Again, another roar from the massive beast echoed the air, there no denying something was wrong. Pet could see the paddock perimeter fence ahead and came to an abrupt stop when she saw the escaped Rex tear through the bathroom hut. Through the air Malcolm flew, landing harshly on the ground, but Gennaro wasn't so lucky. The hybrid clawed at the laces of her boots with trembling hands from either the cold or out of fright, she wasn't sure and tossed them aside. She could see one of the vehicles flipped over and resting on the hood as Grant fought to get the children out from within it.

From inside the flipped over car, Lex cried, desperately clutching to Grant for assistance. Tim wiggled around in the mud, attempting to climb out as well, only to find himself pinned down. "I'm stuck," he whimpered. "The seat's got my feet."

With a little bit of pulling on Grant's part, Lex was finally free, the teenager hardly recognizable beneath the mud caked on her face and matted in her hair. The horror-stricken girl got to her knees, relieved to finally be free from the car, but screamed a moment later when seeing the Rex. Grant, acting on impulse, quickly wrapped a hand around the girl's mouth to shut her up.

The Rex turned its attention to the source of the scream and neared the overturned vehicle, searching for its next meal. Pet saw this, and her breath caught in her chest, already tight with a rush of fear. The snout of the monstrous carnivore was now mere inches from Grant and Lexi, snorting in their faces and blowing the man's hat off his head. Pet's eyes widened and loudly shrilled, tearing off into a run aimed at the dinosaur.

Grant heard the blood-freezing shrill, him remembering the sound coming from an attacking raptor, as he had heard earlier in the day. Great. Just what the situation needed; loose raptors. From the corner of his eye, he saw the swift form tear through the mud and lunge onto the Rex's haunches, shrilling again. The Rex roared out in pain and anger and thrashed about to try and shake off its attacker, but Pet wouldn't have it.

Using her footing she had on the Rex, she lunged onto the back of the creature and dug her claws into its neck. Again, the dinosaur roared out in pain and shook its head, even slamming it into the battered car. Pet felt her grip loosen and she fell to the ground, landing almost next to where Grant and Lexi watched, utterly appalled at the scene. Grant's unblinking gaze tore from the Rex and on its attacker, disbelieving what he was seeing. It was the intern from the raptor pen, earlier, but looking nothing as she did previously. His eyes instantly fell on the prominent sickle claw, visible through the blood and mud splattered on her feet.

The Tyrannosaur roared out as Pet roared back in response, her flexing her clawed hands into the muddy earth. She yelled out to the wide-eyed scientist. "Get the kids and get out of here! Go! Run!"

The Rex lunged at the hybrid, but she avoided the attack to leap back onto the ravenous creature. She drove her sickle claws into the soft skin of the beast's neck and with everything she could, kicked out with one of her feet to slash at the throat. The Rex threw its head into the car again, this time spinning it and knocking over the two huddled people.

Quickly Grant drug Lex behind him as he crawled around the vehicle for cover, never taking his gaze off the dinosaur's attacker. What in the living hell was that thing? Her... It? The Rex managed to fling the hybrid off its neck and roared triumphantly. Pet hit the ground with a hard thud and slid a couple of feet, her screeching in pain at the impact. Grant's mind seized up in panic when he saw the girl ball up on the ground as the Rex was now back to solely focusing on its previous task.

It nudged the car with its snout, almost pinning Grant and Lex between it and the concrete wall in the process. Still inside the vehicle was Tim who yelled out in fear, crying for help. Grant wanted nothing more than to help him, but at that exact moment, he was more concerned about not falling off the paddock barricade. Things went from bad to worse, though, when he saw the dinosaur start to push the car onto the ledge.

He grabbed one of the broken fencing cables and motioned for Lex to get on his back, her doing so. Carefully, the man proceeded down the wire, gurgling to the girl unintentionally choking him. "Lex, you're choking me!" She didn't seem to relax her grasp as Grant looked up at the car, now teetering on the barricade wall's ledge.