JURASSIC PARK
9 - InGen's Other Experiment
Pet forced herself upwards and glanced over her shoulder to see the Tyrannosaur completely push the car over the ledge. She roared out in anger and mustered what strength she could to lunge back onto the animal and claw at its thigh. The Rex stamped its foot and pawed at the ground, Pet digging her claws deeper into the muscle. She knew it was a losing fight and cried out in pain when she collided with the barricade after being shaken off again. She crawled up onto the top of the barricade wall and was about to attempt to leap onto the Tyrannosaur's snout when she saw Grant and Lex from the corner of her eye.
Grant had taken a cable and was sliding down it with the girl wrapped around his back, the hybrid relieved. It seemed like a good idea to Pet and she grabbed a cable herself. Just as the Rex's powerful jaws were closing in, the hybrid propelled down the cable and safely to the ground below.
Grant watched the descending young woman and backed away in uncertainty. "Get behind me, Lex," but she didn't need telling because she was already taking cover behind him.
Pet landed on the ground and stumbled, hissing a shrill in pain. She stood there a minute, leaning onto her knees and trying to catch her breath. Her body hurt all over, especially her side after falling on it the way she did. She brought a hand to the source of the pain and whimpered. A few feet behind her were the two people staring at her in bewilderment and slowly distancing themselves from where she stood. The hybrid could smell their fear and glanced over her shoulder to see them stop in their back peddling, afraid of what she would do next.
Pet snorted and fully turned to face the two, Grant getting a better head to toe visual examination of his strange hero. Her slimmed, raptor-like eyes stood out in contrast behind loose strands of hair and the streaks of bloody mud running down her face. Her once white tank top and tan shorts were splotched with blood stains as beads of red fell from her clawed fingers. Trails of pink water sailed down her muscular legs and to her raptor-like feet, Grant trying to grasp what he was seeing. Blood covered, raptor-like, sickle-shaped claws stared back and he brought his attention back up to the chilling eyes unblinking on him.
He hoarsely questioned. "What the hell are you?"
Pet barked a snort and curled her upper lip to partially bare her carnivorous teeth. "InGen's other experiment." She took a step towards the two and felt somewhat offended when they recoiled away from her. She slowly held up her hands on either side of her to reiterate her next words. "I'm not going to hurt you, Dr. Grant, or the kids." Speaking of which, she cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows in curiosity. "Where's the boy?"
The horror of the moment had Lex shamefully forgetting about her little brother for the moment. She shrieked, "Tim!" and glanced up to where the vehicle headlights shined through the tree limbs. "TIMMY!"
Pet saw the glow of the vehicle's lights and winced in dread. "Oh."
Grant wiped away the muddy water running into his eyes and couldn't really say he was surprised when he saw traces of blood on his hands. After everything he had just gone through, he was more amazed that he was still alive than suffering a minor injury. Which reminded him… His cautious watch on the mysterious experimental woman in front of him returned to her. He half expected her to attack him should he turn his back on her, and sidestepped over to a nearby drain pipe.
Pet could sense his extreme unease around her, and couldn't blame him. It hurt a bit, sure, that her hero she idolized so much was so apprehensive of her. Then again, what did she expect? Whatever. This wasn't the time to dwell on it. Putting her self pity back in her pocket, Pet broke her watch off of the revered scientist to look back up into the Ford Explorer decorated tree. She thinned her lips in skepticism. What were the chances of the little boy still being alive, if not severely injured?
Lexi's hysterically repeating, "He left us! He left us!" got the hybrid's attention. Pet quietly gawked at the frightened teen. The two weren't that much different in age, which made Pet realize the extreme differences in their lifestyles.
Grant smiled reassuringly at the wide eyed blonde girl. "But that's not what I'm going to do." He studied Lexi, still on the verge of hyperventilating. "Okay?" She nodded her head, though not sure why. At this point, it was probably due to muscle memory when hearing someone trying to provide comfort. "Stay here," Grant stated, and strode over to where Pet stood.
He was cautious of her, at most, but knew because of the situation he had no choice. Hopefully she would know the park layout. The scientist studied the questionable person as she gazed upwards into the tree limbs where the vehicle headlights rested.
Pet could tell he was staring at her with eyes wide as large marbles and rolled her attention towards him. "Are you and the girl hurt?"
Grant shook his head, still in disbelief to what he was seeing; a human-raptor hybrid? How? "We're okay. Lexi is shaken up, but uninjured." Before he immediately knew what he was doing, he caught himself staring at the hybrid's sickle clawed feet. How? He snapped his focus back on the moment and grimaced at the damaged vehicle in the tree. "What are the chances of someone surviving that?"
Pet shrugged. "Depends on how well secured he was and if or how he impacted a hard surface upon landing."
Grant stepped around the strange woman to steadily approach the tree. "Timmy?"
He was now under the vehicle's location and in its direct path should it dislodge from being snagged and crash to the ground. It was a thought he'd instead not think about. Right now, he needed to remain calm and focused for the boy.
Pet could not only smell but sense the man's fear. He took hold of a vine snaking down the trunk of the tree and readied himself to begin climbing. "Want me to go, instead?"
"Huh?" Grant turned and met the unnerving raptor eyed gaze. "Oh, no I think I can get it."
"Okaaaay," Pet stated in a sing-song type tone. As soon as she said it, she mentally kicked herself in the ass at the mocking tone it carried.
Grant took a moment to scowl at the woman before proceeding upwards, using the vine and limbs as grips and steps. "Tim?" Silence. "You hear me? I'm coming up."
Pet cocked her head to the side in thought. If he fell, there was no way she'd be able to catch him. She could hear Grant mumble something under his breath as he ascended the tree and shook her head, turning to check on the teen girl. It was hard to believe that technically, in some way, she was Lexi and Tim's aunt. Afterall, their mother would be her half-sister.
Wanting to ease the tension of the moment, Pet slowly approached the teen. "Hey. How are you holding up?" Lexi couldn't answer. She was too wound up from the excitement and the anticipation of her brother's condition. Pet weakly smiled. "Everything will be alright. You'll see." She patted the girl on the shoulder, not intending to spook her.
Lexi's horrified blue eyes instantly fell on the clawed hand on her shoulder, and she shrieked. "Get away from me!" She almost fell to the ground when trying to slide away from Pet's reach.
Pet instantly backed up to give the other teen some space. "It's okay. No worries."
For what felt like a torturously long time, Pet stayed close but not too close, to the nerve rattled Lexi. All the while, she kept visually checking Dr. Grant in the tree. It took taking a few steps forward to see what she could of him. He was at the vehicle and from what she could tell, communicating with the boy. She took it as a good sign that the boy was still alive. But what condition was he in? After giving it a couple of minutes to observe the worrisome sight, she would return to stand near Lexi.
A creaking from the tree captured Pet's keen hearing, and her head snapped around on her shoulders. What was that? What happened? Or what was happening? Her heart started to pick up in tempo. She sprinted to where she had found to be a magic spot while checking on Dr. Grant and Tim's progress. She shielded her eyes from the rain water dripping off the leaves and onto her face.
Pet called out. "Everything alright up there?" No answer. Another series of creaks, Pet not liking the sound of it. It was just the weight of the vehicle shifting, is all. The boy was out of it, now, and it was creaking because of. Nothing to worry about. She watched the two start to climb down when she heard it; a limb snapping. Her heart sank as her stomach lunged into her throat. Fear turned her blood to ice and she gasped. "Shit," she blurted under her breath. "Get down from there! Come on, hurry up!"
Grant huffed out, "Oh no," and looked at the little boy. "Tim, GO!"
Frantically the two wove through the branches and raced down, desperate to escape the vehicle easing down snapping limbs to get to them. Had it not been for a thicker branch slowing its pursuit, it was sure to have collided with them. Tim yelped, Grant urging him to keep going.
The limb was starting to give as Tim went against his better judgment to look upwards. Headlights bathed him in their fluorescence, and he was momentarily blinded by it. He looked like a deer in their spotlight and whimpered in panic.
"GO, TIM, GO!" Grant grabbed him by a sleeve of his shirt to tug him to follow. Branches snapping under the weight of the descending vehicle echoed the air, the two people mere feet from feeling the wrath of. They were close to the ground, the man yelling, "JUMP!"
Together the two people leaped from the tree and onto the ground, hunkering down between two prominent roots. Just a few inches shy of them was the front end of the vehicle, the man once more tugging at Tim to follow him.
Pet screamed, "WATCH OUT!" just as the battered and beaten SUV started to fall forward. With a body wrenching crunch, it crashed to the mud-sodden forest floor. She dared not move, Lexi charging past her to the vehicle. Pet was barely able to grab her arm before out of reach and pulled her back to her. "Wait," she growled, staring intently at the teen. "Some things are best not seen by children."
She released the girl to venture to the vehicle. Voices. She could hear voices and stepped closer to listen to what was said. It was Tim, stating between pants of breath, "Well, we're back...in the car again..."
"At least you're out of the tree," Grant answered back in a sigh.
Pet's head drooped down. It looked like Dr. Grant had a sense of humor after all. She knelt down beside the driver's side of the Explorer, able to make out the huddled forms inside. "You two alright?" The oldest of the two shot her a glare. How could she ask that after what they had just been through? She extended her hand and Grant moved aside to let Tim go through first.
As soon as he was entirely out of the wreckage, Lexi scooped him up in her arms and cried in relief. Pet offered the man assistance, but he opted out and chose to climb out on his own. He wasn't about to take her hand. Something about those claws seemed a bit unwelcoming. The declining of his gesture stung at Pet a bit more than his earlier actions.
Her pained expression didn't go unnoticed by Grant, even with her avoiding eye contact.
Lexi collided into him, next, and sobbed into his muddy shirt. "Thank you, Dr. Grant. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Not quite sure how to respond, the man patted the teen on the back and awkwardly peeled her off him. "We need to get out of here and get somewhere safe. The T-Rex knows this area belongs to it and will likely come back." He turned towards the disgruntled hybrid still staring at the mangled SUV. "How well do you know this island?"
Pet lifted her head to study the scientist. Now he wanted her help? She had a right mind to say to hell with him but knew she wouldn't. Hammond would want his grandchildren back safely and would do whatever necessary to make it happen.
Pet shrugged. "Well enough, I suppose."
"We could use your help." Grant saw conflicted thoughts pass through the raptor eyed stare and hoped to persuade her. "I could use your help. Please..."
Gazing into those eyes dug at that vulnerable part of Pet she always tried her damnedest to keep protected. Fuck. The hybrid finally nodded and looked away. "Fine. Just…everyone try to stay close."
Pulling up to the rest area in front of the Tyrannosaur Paddock was not what Muldoon and Dr. Sattler were hoping to find. Two tourist vehicles full of anxious passengers, yes. What was discovered instead, no. Before even coming to a stop Muldoon could see the ravaged cables of the electrical fence and that one of the vehicles was unaccounted for. Seeing Pet's four-wheeler present at the scene both gave some relief as well as deeper dread.
Muldoon came to a stop near the second Explorer and quickly got out of the park's Jeep. Dr. Sattler was already frantically searching about, trying to locate the missing entourage as Muldoon was piecing together a possible scenario.
When the electricity went down, the Tyrannosaur tore through the fence lines. From there, everything and everyone was at her mercy. There was no way the first vehicle had been driven off. Since it wasn't parked alongside the second one, something had to have happened to it. Scattered about the ground were the splintered remains of the restroom facility.
Nearing it had Muldoon's stomach in knots and mind in a panic. A section of the facility's palm tree leafed roof had traces of still damp blood on it. Barely visible between the leaf points was what the game warden could identify as human remains. Anything, anything but Pet or any of the kids. Lifting the palm leaf revealed Gennaro's partial corpse.
Muldoon felt his head spin and knees about to give way beneath him in relief. Much to Dr. Sattler's disgust, she soon located the other half of the late lawyer.
An all too familiar roaring in the background of the wandering king of dinosaurs brought the game warden's hair on end. The last place he wanted to be was the dinosaur's territory should it come back.
Ellie followed the bits of debris to the center point of the damaged perimeter fence and peered over the concrete wall. "It's the other car!"
It looked as though she were about to climb down the wall using a fence cable, but Muldoon stopped her. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I have to get down there," she cried in borderline hysteria. "Alan, the kids... I can't stay here. I have to get down there."
"Fine, that's fine, but I'd suggest using the access ladder." Ellie paused to study the game warden, eyes wide in slight hope. "It's over here." Muldoon motioned her to the right and passed the remaining vehicle "Careful, though. It goes about thirty feet down and is probably slippery after all this rain."
Malcolm sat up to the best of his ability to watch the two. "Whoa, whoa what are you two doing? You can't go down there!"
Ellie glowered at the injured man. "Watch me," and crawled under the loose cables to proceed downwards.
Muldoon eyeballed the chaotician. "You'll be alright up here by yourself, won't you?"
"It's not me I'm worried about." The two men exchanged glances before Muldoon followed suit behind Ellie. She was already on the ground by the time he was halfway there.
Ellie was hysterical and no longer able to restrain her sobs. A part of her tried to stop her from going to the wreckage, fearful of what she'd find, but the other part of her was stronger. She rounded the back of the car and to the open driver's side door, flashing her light inside. "Alan?"
Muldoon skipped the last step by jumping down to take his own analysis of the car. "They're not here," he breathed out, shining his flashlight through the front, shattered windshield.
No, no, no. Ellie stiffened back another sob and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Had the T-Rex come to finish what it started? She hung her head low in grief and stood up, refusing to accept the missing people as being gone. She was about to join Muldoon on the other side of the vehicle when she saw it from the corner of her eye. The woman brought her light over to the indention of footprints in the mud leading away from the car. Her breath caught in her chest. One, two, three... four? Four sets of footprints? She could place the larger set belonging to Alan and the second largest as Lexi's with the smallest being Tim's. But what were those?
Ellie tilted her head to the side and knelt down to study the differently styled tracks. She had seen that type print before. "Robert..." she called.
Hearing his name, the warden rushed to where the woman knelt. "What? What is it?" He brought his attention to the prints glistening in the mud.
"Please don't tell me those aren't what I think they are..." A trembling finger was pointed at the distinct animal-like prints. "Those are Velociraptor, aren't they?"
Muldoon huffed a laugh as an evident smile upturned his stressed features. "Pet, you crazy kid."
"What?" Ellie stood up. Her brow wrinkled when studying her companion. Why was he smiling? "Pet? What's Pet? What are you talking about?"
The warden's eyes lit up with hope. "Not to worry, Dr. Sattler. It appears our missing company is in safe hands." Ellie opened her mouth to question what he meant, but no words would come out. Over and over she tried to get her thoughts out. Finally, she gave up. Muldoon knelt down to study the tracks. "These tracks aren't that old. Maybe thirty minutes, at most."
"Can we catch up to them?" Ellie followed them around the back of the vehicle until they became obscured by forest floor foliage.
"We could," Muldoon sighed out, "but by now they've already got a good head start on us. Knowing Pet and how fast she travels, no telling how far they are. Besides," he joined the woman beside the bushes. "We still need to get Dr. Malcolm back to the visitor center and his wounds treated."
"You can go. I'll try to find the others."
"Absolutely not!" Muldoon's voice had shifted from calm to loud and demanding. "There's no telling what all is loose out there and you are unarmed. You'd be traveling in a Tyrannosaur paddock by yourself."
Ellie stared at the man disbelievingly, realizing how absurd the idea sounded in the first place. She nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She gazed out into the thick underbrush and frowned. "You think they're okay?"
It was Muldoon's turn to nod. "I'm almost certain of it. Pet wouldn't chance traveling with someone if she didn't think it wise."
"Wait, wait... who is this Pet you keep mentioning?"
Water standing in a nearby puddle started to ripple, it getting the warden's immediate attention. "I think it's time we get going."
Ellie followed the man's stare aimed at the puddle and waited to see what it was. Ripples. "Good idea," she stated in agreement and followed the warden back up the access ladder.
