ADAPTATIONS

4 – The Arrival

After three days of being confined to a vehicle, Pet was ready to be at the excavation site. She stretched in the front passenger seat of the Jeep and grumbled, digging her dulled claws into the back of her seat's headrest.

Sitting behind her was Derek, his eyes shifting up from his reading a magazine and to the clawed hands just a couple feet from his face. Though he still considered her dangerous, he felt somewhat better around her at the moment seeing how her claws were filed down. That, of course, was no easy achievement. It took almost an entire day of listening to his Uncle Rob and Pet argue about why she should file her claws down to resemble long manicured finger nails instead.

Derek checked his watch and continued to read his magazine. He was running out of stuff to do, next, and what else he could do to kill time.

The hybrid sighed and looked over to Muldoon, driving, and questioned. "Can I drive?"

The man scoffed. "Are you asking if you can drive or asking if I will let you drive?" He never took his eyes off the road while responding.

"I'm saying pull over and let me drive." Pet shifted in the front passenger seat to better stare at the man with raptor eyes slimmed down on him. "So, pull over." Derek glanced up and shifted his observing from the hybrid and over to his uncle, curious to know where this would go. He had a feeling, but still found it entertaining to watch unfold. Muldoon, himself, readjusted in his seat as though both showing and telling the hybrid his answer was no. "Don't make me ask again." She toed off her boots in the floorboard of the Jeep, followed by her socks, next.

"You can ask all you want, but the answer will still be no."

Pet screeched. "Damn it, Robert, I'm bored! I haven't driven once in the entire three days we've been on this road trip and it sucks because this is technically my Jeep!"

Derek flipped another page in his magazine while fighting back a threatening smile. "Says who? Last I checked, everything was under Hammond's name."

The hybrid snorted and she rolled her eyes. "Well it has to be seeing how I don't officially exist and am not a registered citizen of anywhere."

Muldoon cut in. "Will you two shut up? I don't want to hear you two bitch about this again."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Pet leaned onto the center arm rest and stared intently at the scarred man next to her. "Are you going to pull over? Because if you do, I'm driving next."

Derek rolled up his magazine and swatted the hybrid in the back of the head with it. Muldoon chuckled and looked to the annoyed, snorting young woman. "Serves you right, you brat."

Pet slouched back in the passenger seat and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring out of the window. "I still want to drive."

"And the answer is still no."

In the backseat, Derek unzipped his duffle bag he had resting in the floorboard at his feet and questioned. "Hey Uncle Rob...how much longer till we get there?"

Pet snidely questioned, "Aw does the poor baby need to pee?"

Muldoon tossed a punch at the hybrid's arm, her wincing at the pain. He answered. "About two hours, why?" The man tried to look in the rear view mirror at what his nephew was doing, but was unable to clearly see him.

Derek answered. "Was just wondering." He shoved a bottle back into his bag and leaned in closer to the front passenger seat. "Hey Pet..."

"What?" She clearly sounded irritated.

"What does this smell like to you?"

The hybrid's face wrinkled in confusion. "What?" About that time, Derek quickly reached into the front seat with a rag in his hand and firmly held it against the hybrid's face.

Muldoon yelled out, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" as he hastily pulled over to the side of the road.

The hybrid brought her hands to Derek's and tried clawing at his hands, forgetting she had them filed down. She shrilled behind the rag and kicked at the dashboard with a clawed foot, trying to get free. Derek had her held into the seat with one arm wrapped around the top of her chest with his other pressing the rag into her face. Within moments, the hybrid started to relax before completely going limp in the seat.

Muldoon looked at the now sleeping hybrid seated next to him and to his nephew in horror. Derek proudly smiled and shoved the rag into a plastic bag he retrieved from his duffle bag. "Chloroform...gets 'em every time."

"Where did you get that?" He reached into the bag and soon found the bottle after feeling around for it.

Derek shrugged and yanked the bottle from his uncle. "You use tranquilizers, I use chloroform. We're both hunters in our respective areas. Each to their own."

Muldoon took another look at the hybrid and frowned. "She's going to be pissed when she wakes up." He put the vehicle in gear and drove back onto the highway.

"I'm sure she got a big enough whiff to be out for about an hour and a half or so. I'll worry about it then." Derek lounged back in the seat and continued to read his magazine as though nothing ever happened.


An hour and forty-five minutes later, tents and trailers surrounding an expedition were visible in the valley below. Derek leaned into the front seat to get a better look. "There it is."

"Yep," Muldoon answered back and he looked over to Pet. "Don't suppose you have any smelling salts in that bag of yours, do you?"

Derek dug around in his bag again, this time revealing a small vial. He cracked it open and handed it to his uncle. "Where's my rifle?" Blue eyes locked onto brown ones, the younger man confused. "What? If she comes after my ass, I want to be prepared!"

"There is no if. She will." Muldoon took the bottle and waved it under the hybrid's nose. "Besides, you should have thought about that before you knocked her out." Pet started to stir from where she slouched as her blue-green eyes lazily fluttered open. She blinked back the residual disorientation before remembering what happened.

She snorted as her eyes shifted to a raptor's. "Where is that piece of..." Pet grumbled and forced herself up, groaning against the headache pounding everywhere in her head. "Derek!"

The young man sat in the backseat, evilly smiling. "You deserved it." The hybrid shrilled and lunged for the man, but Muldoon was quick to grab her around her waist in an effort to at least try and save his nephew. Another loud shrill filled the interior of the Jeep and Derek gestured to the hybrid for her to take her best shot. The woman swung a hand at the backseat passenger as he leaned over in the seat, narrowly avoiding getting hit.

Derek snickered. "That's the best you got?"

Muldoon was now struggling to retrain the hybrid, trying his best to avoid the sickle claws from slashing his arms. "Damn it, Derek, I have a good mind to let her go! This is your mess, not mine!" Before Pet could take another attempt to swipe at Derek, she found herself harshly jerked back and slammed down in her seat. "Sit down!" The hybrid hissed a sharp snort while never taking her raptor eyes off the man seated behind her. "We're not far from the dig site. Try to keep control of yourself, will you?" Muldoon then looked to his nephew. "As for you... grow up. Stop antagonizing." The younger man held his hands up in the air, as though signaling a surrender, but the smile on his face stated otherwise.

Pet, face now flustered from frustration and her struggling, glanced out into to the valley to see the dig site. Her mind quickly shifted from her anger aimed at Derek to concern of what the dig site below would offer. So many thoughts filled her mind. He was down there and it made her nervous. Would he welcome her? Be afraid of her? Want her to leave? Thinking further into it drew a frown to her slightly curled, upper lip and her eyes to sink in sadness. What worried her the most was; would she be able to restrain herself in stressful situations?

Muldoon could almost feel the change in emotions radiating from the hybrid as well as Derek as both men looked to the other via the rear-view mirror. Hoping to retain their good terms, the backseat passenger leaned in closer to the hybrid and rested a chin on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Pet. I'm sure everything will work out fine." The woman whimpered and sunk further into the seat, skeptical.


Gradually, the site grew larger the closer the Jeep neared until they had finally arrived. Muldoon parked the vehicle amongst the others at the site and paused, looking to Pet. "Alright, let's get this over with, shall we?" He shot his nephew a stern look. "You, stay in the car."

"Okay. Whatever," and the younger man lounged back with his head on the back of the seat and his eyes closed. "Just holler if you need me and I'll come running with the gun."

Pet rolled her eyes and grabbed her sun shades laying on the dashboard. The game warden grabbed his own shades and signature hat from the dashboard and slid out of the car, waiting on the hybrid. Quickly, and with shaking hands, the young woman tugged her boots back on and joined the man.

Muldoon spoke. "Get your jacket on."

The hybrid grumbled and shoved her hands into the back pockets of her blue jeans. "It's ninety something degrees out here, Robert. The whole point is to not draw attention to myself." They locked gazes from behind their shades. Muldoon shook his head. "Now where in this shit hole is Grant?"

A man's voice called from nearby, which startled Pet. She turned to face the source of the voice, who was a hansom looking man and appearing to be in his mid-twenties. He was covered from head to toe in limestone dust, too. He smiled at the two people. "Can I help you with something?"

Before Pet could answer, Muldoon cut her off. "Yes, we're looking for Dr. Grant. Any chance you can show us where he is?"

"Absolutely." The man's hazel eyes examined the two newcomers. The first thing he noticed were the visible scars from behind the shades and beneath the man's hat. He then examined the younger woman, taking note of her golden tanned skinned. From what he could tell, these two people weren't museum curators. Site volunteers, maybe?

Or perhaps more people looking to ask more questions about the Jurassic Park incident. "I'm guessing one of you is the new specialist?"

Pet answered. "That would be me." She made sure to keep her lips parted to a bare minimum when speaking so as not to reveal her carnivorous like teeth.

"Excellent. I was afraid you guys might've been sight seers or another group of people wanting to know about the incident." Both Muldoon and Pet stared impatiently at the site worker, the hybrid digging her claws into her boots. "It's just..." the man continued awkwardly, "you don't look much like a specialist. No offense or anything."

The hybrid took a step towards the man, continuing. "You're looking at two people who probably know more about dinosaurs, raptors especially, then you do."

He seemed offended and his hazel eyes momentarily slimmed down on the woman as he forced a smile. "Right, right." He scratched his head, slightly annoyed. "By the way, I'm Billy…Billy Brennan. I'm Dr. Grant's protégé, I guess you could say."

Pet was already finding it hard to restrain herself as she stopped herself from hissing a snort. "Charmed. Now where's Dr. Grant?"

Billy lightly nodded and turned. "Follow me, then."

They two people did as Pet felt herself become flustered with excitement and anxiety. They wove between tents, people and equipment, until finally arriving at a large, white canopy where two computers sat on fold out tables. There, leaning over some computer print-outs were Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, discussing something to themselves. Dr. Sattler saw the three walk up from the corner of her eye and turned to face them. The welcoming smile she wore sunk into shock and horror when she saw the two familiar faces. Pet, however, wasn't paying attention to the other woman as her gawk was honed onto Dr. Grant, who hadn't yet turned to face them.

Ellie immediately remembered Muldoon and recognized the hybrid from the Jurassic Park island and started to tap the man next to her on the shoulder. She continued to force a smile for courtesy sake as she spoke. "Alan…turn around." He didn't pay Ellie any attention and continued to talk to himself about the readouts. "Turn around, honey, we have company."

Again, he ignored Ellie, Billy speaking up. "Our raptor specialist is here, Dr. Grant."

The scientist finally spoke in acknowledgement, but still didn't turn around. "Excellent. I'm glad you finally arrived. From what Mr. Hammond was saying you were supposed to get here earlier this morning." Grant checked the time on his watch to see it was now late morning.

Pet shifted her stance uncomfortably and looked to Muldoon. "Yeah well, we got lost along the way. Not to mention a few pit stops here and there." The game warden glared at the hybrid and she knew he was mentally cussing at her in his head. She sneered.

Grant continued. "Been working out of state then, I take? Mongolia? I hear there is a nice little chain of excavations going on there."

Pet briefly met the worried stare of Ellie, who was now politely jabbing the man in the side with her elbow to get his attention. The hybrid answered. "No, actually, I've been doing observational research the past few years or so years on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna."

Grant paused in his flipping through the readouts and slowly turn his head a bit to look over his shoulder from beneath the brim of his hat. His eyes fell on the scarred, strict features of Muldoon before rolling his attention to the hybrid.

He straightened and turned to completely face Pet, the shocked expression on his face causing Pet's to turn into worry. She forced a smile and sighed. "Hello, Dr. Grant."

"You…" He neared the hybrid as though disbelieving what he was seeing. "I thought you were dead."

Pet pressed her lips together and swallowed. "Yeah I've been getting that a lot, lately." Billy looked puzzled to his mentor and over to the new arrival as Ellie quickly guided him off. Both Grant and Pet starred at each other, unable to speak for several moments. Seeing the look in his blue eyes burned the young woman inside and she frowned, regretfully. "I take it Hammond didn't tell you it was me. I was under the impression you knew this whole time..."

Grant shook his head and swallowed. "No, he didn't. He made no mention it was going to be you." He neared her to examine her more, still unsure he was seeing what he was seeing. "How did you…?"

Pet shrugged. "I've just depended on my own survival instincts and survival knowledge Robert and my godfather taught me to get me through. It worked, I guess. I'm still alive."

"The T-Rex…I heard you scream before we drove off…I thought…we thought you were dead."

"I know. Ian told me when I saw him not too terribly long ago." Pet slid her shades off to reveal blue-green eyes. She felt awkward in the spotlight of the man's shocked stare and dug her hands at the inside of her pants pockets. "But yet no one bothered to wait and see if I was or wasn't…or even if I was just needing help getting out."

"Hammond didn't want to risk the lives of everyone still alive for one person." Grant starred into her eyes and studied them. "I'm surprised your eyes aren't different." There was a distance in his voice when he spoke, as though he were fascinated by the fact her eyes seemed so normal, given what she was. A faint smile tugged at his mouth, Pet feeling her insides start to melt.

She cleared her throat and looked away, nodding. "I've been practicing my self-control."

Grant remembered what Hammond had told him in the helicopter as they were leaving the island and flying back to mainland. She always had a weakness for him ever since she was younger when she first saw him doing his documentary. The thought of made him extremely uncomfortable and his smile faded.

Grant grabbed her arm and led her to the tent Ellie had just gone inside of. "Dr. Sattler can I please speak with you?"