JURASSIC PARK
12 - Surprise Field Study
Whine and complain. That's all Tim seemed to do as it's all he had done for roughly two hours. Pet wanted to stick something in her ears to drown out the sound but had nothing available. At first, she thought about following a little bit behind them. What good would that do? She'd end up being downwind from them and sound carried on the wind. If she decided to walk ahead of them, knowing her luck a carnivorous dinosaur would come out of nowhere and either kill one if not all of the people. Then she'd feel like crap for not keeping a better watch on them. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. Ugh.
She sighed, enjoying at least something of the trek. The sun. It felt good against her skin, and it warmed her up. The warmer she was, the better. Nights could be either cool or hot, depending, and since the storm had come through, the temperatures were slightly more relaxed. She didn't like being cool or anything to do with it unless of course, she was sick. In which case, bring on the air conditioning and ice packs.
"So, Veronica," Grant began, studying the woman from the corner of his eye. "How long have you been working here?"
She snorted. "Here? Four years. For John Hammond, a hell of a lot longer."
"Really?" He narrowed his gaze down on her. "You don't look to be that old. How old are you, anyway?"
"Uh...eighteen in human years. Nineteen, soon. As far as raptor goes, no idea. I know it's seven years for every one human year for a dog, but don't have the slightest idea what it'd be for a raptor. For all I know, I could be some old woman in their age."
The man chuckled. "You like working here?"
"Yeah. Beats the work I had to do in Kenya. There, it was all about chasing and tagging gazelle, zebra...wrestle a croc or two... track down an animal that had somehow managed to escape its enclosure." She brought a hand to her scarred shoulder when remembering her tussle with the leopard.
Lex spoke up. "I'd think working here would be a lot more dangerous."
"It can be. There are so many more safety protocols-" Pet stopped, snorting and shaking her head. "Well, were safety protocols in place..." She hissed and resumed her strides. "Only thing I don't like about here is the humidity. Wreaks havoc with molting and makes it hard to breathe, sometimes."
The group emerged from the patch of trees to find a dirt road cut through a grassy field. "Where does this lead?" The scientist pointed to it and looked at Pet for an answer.
"It's an access road the game wardens use."
"Where will it take us if we follow it?"
Pet shook her head and brought a hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun. "I wouldn't suggest it, honestly. Following it will take us the long way to where we want to go. Yeah sure it'll tie into the main road, eventually, but it'll also take us through the Dilophosaurus section." The man sighed in discouragement. "I say our best bet is to cut through the field and go over that rise over there." She pointed to a large hill in the distance, looking a bit unwelcoming for travel.
"Right. Come on, kids. This way." Grant motioned for the children to follow and they did, dragging their feet in exhaustion. Up a hill they trudged, their legs aching in protest to the traveling up the steep incline. Grant tossed a backward over shoulder glance to Tim, dragging behind the group a little bit. "Come on, Tim. Keep up."
The boy grumbled. "I'm tired. I'm hot."
Pet repositioned herself to help aide the boy by gently nudging him forward. "I'd say the visitor's center is just a mile..." Grant panted, feeling the weight of the previous night's and thus far travel. He always thought himself in decent shape, given the constant lifting of fossils of different sizes and weights as well as the constant walking to and from throughout his excavations. But this. This was something entirely different, and his body was quick to tell him he wasn't cut out for this. Panting again, he continued. "Just over that rise...Just keep-" His voice trailed off when seeing a formation of something break into view over the next hill. They were bipeds and fast. At first, he though velociraptor. No, the way they moved was all wrong. These were different. "What is that?"
Pet sprinted to join the man, curious to know what it was he saw. "Oh wow."
Grant motioned to Tim to join him, too, snapping his fingers in excitement. "Tim, can you tell me what they are?"
The boy watched the running animals, taking in every detail he could make out of them. "They're, uh," Dang it, what were they? It was right there. The word was right there! Why couldn't he think of it? "Gal, uh...Gal...Gallimimus!"
Lexi sidestepped closer to the scientist for cover should she need it. "Are those meat-eating? Uh, meat-a-sauruses?"
Pet blurted, "Yes," just to tease the girl's constant paranoia of carnivorous dinosaurs. Especially when using stupid terminologies like she was.
"No," Grant snapped out, hoping it'd reassure the girl. She'd already been through enough and didn't need more added onto it. The longer he watched the Gallimimus stampede through the vast field, the more lost he became in studying them as a professional. "Look at the wheeling. Uniform direction changes, just like a flock of birds evading a predator."
Maybe he nor the kids thought on the evading a predator part, but Pet did. For a mass number of animals to be running as fervently as these were, something had to have frightened them. But what? And where was it? "Uh, Doctor, perhaps we should go. I don't want to find out what spooked them."
The thundering of the medium dinosaurs' many feet grew louder the closer they got to the four people. Tim's awestruck smile quickly shifted to borderline horror. "They're flocking this way."
He and Lexi turned on a heel and began running from the still idle paleontologist and hybrid, watching the stampede. Only when they were feet from them did Grant and Pet follow suit after the children. The hybrid had a bit of an advantage as she raced past the kids. They might've been running from the stampede, but she was running from whatever it was that had potentially scared them and make an appearance next.
The ground vibrated beneath their feet, and the shrieking of the dinosaurs fill their ears. If this wasn't a good enough field observation of the animals for Grant, then Pet was clueless on what would suffice. Up ahead was a fallen tree trunk, Pet jumping over it and taking cover behind it. She waved the others to join her, and they did, the older man trying to shield them from danger.
Once the last of the Gallimimus had cleared the fallen tree, the four crawled underneath it to take cover from the other side. Their hearts were racing as fast as the herd had been traveling, them still able to feel the vibrations on the ground. It was a fantastic sight until the moment was broken by an all too familiar roar piercing the air.
The Tyrannosaur erupted through the trees and into the herd of Gallimimus, scattering them in all different directions from the fearsome predator. One tripped in its scurrying to get away, the T-Rex lunging for it. Bones of the smaller animal snapped against the strength of the sharp-toothed jaws tearing into it.
"Look at how it eats." The scientist was back to analyzing the creatures, Lex staring at him as though he had momentarily lost his mind.
Pet poised herself for any defensive attacks she'd need to act on should the Rex's attention find the four people. "Run, get out of here," she growled to her companions.
Tim was too amazed to even listen to what was being said. "Look at how much blood." The boy was quickly dragged from the tree and away from the nightmarish sight, Pet keeping an eye on the Rex.
Slowly so as not to draw immediate attention to them, the four took for cover amongst the undergrowth and shrubbery. The hybrid kept a keen eye and an alert ear open for possible danger until convinced they were well out of harm's way.
She barked a snort in annoyance at the man and his reckless actions. "Learn anything from your little field studies, Dr. Grant?"
He could hear her sarcasm and didn't quite appreciate it. He wanted to argue with her and justify his reasons for wanting to observe the animals in an unhindered environment. He knew it'd be no use. After being with Ellie as long as he had, he'd come to learn that arguing with a woman would get nowhere fast. They wouldn't stop and would only keep going until they'd won the argument. No, he'd leave this alone. This wasn't the time nor place to argue.
"Look, there it is!" Lexi pointed to the visitor center lying in the distance below them.
Grant huffed a smile and looked to Tim excitedly cheering next to him. Pet was quick to put a stop to his celebrating. "Shh! There's no telling what is out there and the last thing any of us need is to be found. So, keep your voice down."
"Right. Sorry," the little boy mumbled and hung his head low.
The much older man patted him on the shoulder in comfort. "It's no worries, Tim. In just a few minutes, we'll be at the visitor center, and you can celebrate to your heart's content." That brought something of Tim's smile back as he beamed at the scientist.
"Come on" Pet urged, trudging down the hill. "Watch your step. It's a bit steep."
Out into the unknown Muldoon and Ellie went, the warden keeping his gun close at hand. Steadily, he led them away from the emergency bunker and past the raptor pen. That's when they saw it. The once electrified fencing running the top perimeter of the pen was destroyed and undoubtedly by the highly intelligent creatures the fencing was meant to keep caged. His blue eyes drifted to the loose, dirty ground beneath him to find four sets of tracks leading away from the pen and into the forest undergrowth. This was not good at all.
"Oh God." Even Ellie could tell something wasn't right and looked horrifically to the warden.
Muldoon became angered. "The shutdown must've turned off all the fences. Damn it, even Nedry knew better than to mess with the Raptor Pen." He slid off his signature safari hat in a moment of silence for the pen workers and anyone else subjected to the carnivore's wrath. "Come on, this way." He slid his hat back on and stood up, motioning for Ellie to stay close.
Cautiously they tiptoed into the bit of forest growth. Their attempt at silent steps only echoed the hauntingly quiet, humid, filled air as the soft dirt became littered with fallen leaves. Crunch after leafy crunch. There was no way of being completely quiet, at this point. Every sound the two heard, they would turn to look for the source. It was just birds, startled by the two people. Or was it only because of the two people?
Ellie sidestepped to a fallen palm tree, squinting her eyes to focus through the wafts of steam lingering in the foliage. She heaved a sigh of great relief and turned to face her male companion. "I can see the shed from here." But his attention was elsewhere. She watched him raise his rifle and was startled by this. "We can make it if we run."
"No. We can't." And they couldn't. He furrowed beneath his hat and slimmed his gaze down on a barely noticeable golden yellow eye staring at the both of them through the shrubbery.
Ellie felt her heart start to race faster as if it couldn't get any quicker already, and breathlessly questioned, "Why not?" She could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to stand on end and a gut feeling she didn't want to see what the warden was looking at. Everything about this man's demeanor had quickly changed, and she was unnerved by it.
"Because we're being hunted" Muldoon answered, daring to not blink for fear of losing eye contact with the creature should it move. "In the bushes. Straight ahead." He could hear the woman's heavy breathing and knew the unrestrained pack hunters could too. "Run. Towards the shed." He took a step closer to the wood line. "I've got her." Why was Ellie still standing there? He'd told her to go to the shed. "Go. Now!"
Not needing to be told again, the woman took off in an adrenaline-fueled run towards the shed, jumping over trees in the process.
Large, metal support posts came more so into sight the further up a washed-out incline Pet, and her exhausted traveling companions went. "Thank goodness, we're finally here" Tim wheezed out, panting for breath. The last bit of the trail was more of a climbing excursion than a hike.
Pet's attention went to the status lights, first, and saw them off. "Looks like the fence is inoperable."
Grant wasn't paying attention to the status lights, but the warning sign that displayed ten-thousand volts in bold, black lettering. "Only one way to find out for sure."
He picked up a stick laying on the ground and climbed the concrete foundation for the perimeter fence. Checking for himself, he finally gave the status lights a passing glance for safe measure. Here goes nothing. He tossed the stick onto the fence to find nothing happening. Perhaps it was inoperable.
Grant turned and shrugged at the two kids and impatient hybrid. "I guess that means the power is off."
Pet snorted. "Did your doctorate tell you that or maybe common sense? Could it be-"
"Enough!" Grant barked out, glaring at the raptor eyed hybrid.
He shook his head and grumbled under his breath. He closed the distance between him and the fence and reached out to take the chest high cables in his hands. He screamed, and his body convulsed, sending the other three people into a panic attack.
Their screams were loud and filled the air. After a few more moments, Grant stopped in his yelling to deviously smile over his shoulder. There was something shameless in his eye and Pet snorted a shriek in anger. "Bastard."
Lexi shook her head in disapproval. "That's not funny."
Tim giggled. "That was great."
Pet crossed her clawed hands over her chest and growled, "Don't encourage him." The roaring of the Tyrannosaur echoed throughout the gorge stretching alongside the visitor center. "Oh, shi-" Pet started to say, Grant interrupting.
"Come on, come on!" Grant helped Tim climb up the wall as Lexi raced past the two to get a head start.
The hybrid leaped up onto the foundation and too began scaling the cable fencing, wincing at the discomfort of the wires pressing into the balls of her feet. Though she greatly hated shoes, this would be one of the few times she'd welcome wearing them. Gradually they climbed, occasionally plucking bits of palm tree leaves and other plant life from the wires if it was in their way.
Pet had to stop at one point to massage her feet, one foot at a time to relieve some of the discomforts. "You okay over there, Veronica?" The hybrid glanced up and to the side to see the scientist watch her in question.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Come on. Keep going."
Up and over the fence the group went, hearts filling with hope the closer they got to the ground.
Ready to get off the cables, Pet chose to leap down the rest of the twelve feet of being shy from the ground and fell to her knees. The landing hurt a little bit more than she expected, given her feet were extremely sore, now. Grant chose to continue taking his time downwards as safely as possible.
Buzzing. What was buzzing? "Oh no," Pet whispered to herself and quickly spun around to stare at the source of the foreboding sound. "Uh, guys..."
Tim attempted to hurry and in trying to quicken his climb down, lost his footing. He screamed in fear and tightly clung onto the table with all his might. At his height, he knew he'd been in for a painful landing if he let go. Pet's eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing? Get down from there! Come on, don't stop! The fence is getting ready to power up! Get down!"
Grant and Lexi ran at the fence, calling to the boy. "You're gonna have to jump!"
"You crazy?" Tim shot a confused and fear-stricken glare at the people on the ground. "I'm not gonna jump!"
Pet barked a screech. "Either jump or hurry it the hell up and get down!"
Grant mumbled to her, "You're not helping."
Lexi cried out. "Do what Dr. Grant says!"
"I'm going to count to three! One, two, three!" Still, Tim desperately held onto the cables. "I'm coming up to get you!" Both girls grabbed onto the man to stop him, knowing it was dangerous. "I've got to get Tim!" He twisted out of their clutches and reached for the fence.
Pet raged. "You'll get your ass electrocuted if you do!"
Tim whimpered and started to cry. He couldn't stay up there, especially hearing how someone was going to risk their life to save him. Again. "Okay. I'm going to count to three."
"One...Two..." ZAP!
A high electric current running through the lines hit the boy and sent him flying backward from a dizzying height. Pet shrieked out and collided with Grant as they both ran to catch him. Both people fell to the ground in a cloud of dust from Tim's inertia's impact, the older man gasping back for the air knocking from his lungs. Pet coughed and tugged her leg out from under the man's.
Tim! Blocking out Lexi's cries for her little brother, Grant began checking over the boy. He was unconscious. No. "He's not breathing..." The scientist immediately started CPR and managed to successfully revive him after what felt like an eternity of chest compressions and mouth to mouth
The boy coughed, "Three," much to the delight of the relieved people.
