Albert Raptor

by Akktri

An "autosaurography" of a velociraptor.

9. Chapter 9: Underground Access

The T-Rex charged. We'd probably make for a light snack, but the monster was hungry.

"Run!" Cassie cried.

I did, but I soon got winded. This had been more exercise than I'd ever done in my life. My chest burned, I could barely breathe. I mostly gasped. My pace slowed to a jog.

The T-Rex stomped closer.

"Run, Albert!" the girl shouted. "It's going to eat us!"

"...Can't!" I wheezed. "Tired!"

The T-Rex roared. The ground shook beneath my feet.

Cassie hopped off my back, rushing to a nearby fence.

"Wait!" I gasped. "Where are you going?"

"Doing what small mammals do to not get eaten! The power's out!"

Cassie reached for the top of a concrete barrier, but couldn't quite make it. "A little help?"

"I hope you're right about the power. Dinosaur sized voltage might kill you." I propped her up, and she wiggled beneath a cable into the darkness.

Her wounded arm left a trail of blood, but that was the least of my worries.

Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled. I came close to sprawling on the pavement as an earthquake sized tremor shook the ground.

The absence of rain to my left side did not bode well, nor the wave of warm stinky air. I spotted a wall of scaly flesh. A wall sized wall.

Summoning my last bit of strength, I leapt at the fence, squeezing between the wires.

I shrieked in agony as a massive set of teeth sunk into the end of my tail.

The T-Rex pulled, but I gritted my teeth and hammered my feet against the concrete barrier.

A T-Rex behaves a lot like an alligator or crocodile when attacking. It likes to shake things.

Fortunately, my tail happened to be the only part of me on the other side of the fence, so when `Rexy' gave me a shake, I caught some wires with my claws and rubber banded her in the face.

Rexy didn't completely let go of my tail. I shoved off the concrete barrier with as much force as I could, screaming as a chunk of flesh came off in the huge toothy maw.

I somersaulted through leafy foliage, splashing down in a grimy, algae thick lake.

I've never been allowed to go swimming. No one ever taught me how. I flailed my little arms and inhaled water.

If I didn't have a log beneath me, this would have been the end of the story. There's no way Cassie could have dragged my big body up on the shore without a winch or a friendly dinosaur or a human adult helping her. Underwater air pockets - if I knew to use something like that, I'd know enough to actually swim. I imagine the only thing that could have saved me from such a fate would be a miraculous bolt of lightning, provided it didn't boil me into Raptor Soup.

I coughed, sputtered, hopped from the log to a muddy ridge of sediment, doing a faceplant on a swampy shore.

Everything burned. My tail from the filthy water getting into my wounds, my legs from exercise, my lungs from the workout and breathing that gross water. At least my eyes felt okay - my nictating eyelids kept the sludge out. I sprawled, semi-conscious, like Robinson Crusoe after his famous shipwreck.

Cassie screamed.

Groaning and weary, I pushed myself up out of the mire, eyes searching the rainy darkness for signs of the child.

The Proceratosauruses had found her again. Growling, they encircled Cassie from all sides, ready to make a meal out of her.

Wish there had been some adult human present to help us, but no. The girl shrieked as One Eyed Willie caught a mouthful of her raincoat and pulled.

I looked around for weapons. No boomerangs, batarangs, guns, swords, nunchucks or cattle prods.

I had...rocks, sticks and mud. There appeared to be a sewer grate, and a pillbox looking thing a few kilometers out, maybe a sprinkler head, but you can't use a sprinkler head as a weapon without removing it with special tools. It appeared I would have to go about things the old fashioned way.

Still exhausted, I stomped up to my foes like a weary grizzly bear being disturbed during hibernation.

Shockingly, Cassie seemed to possess some martial arts training, for she gave the one eyed dinosaur a sudden elbow strike to the face, and a hammer fist to the teeth, freeing her raincoat and herself from its grip.

She tried to slip away, but its healthier companion stepped in her path.

I made a weary grizzly bear attack on the reptile, clawing and biting in a slow but vicious manner.

When was the last time I'd eaten? Not sure, but I must have been a bit...peckish, because raw Proceratosaurus meat seemed really good to me at the time.

The other Proceratosauruses backed away from us. I thought for a moment it had been due to the startling change they saw in me, and how they noticed their dead friend and decided not to play anymore, but Cassie blurted, "Albert!"

I grunted with a mouthful of Proceratosaurus meat. "Hmm?"

She tapped my shoulder. "Lunch time's over. We got trouble."

I gnawed another hunk of Proceratosaurus sushi (well, that's how I described it to myself), glancing over my shoulder.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the gargantuan body pressing up against the inactive electric fencing.

Cables snapped, fasteners breaking off the posts.

The huge reptilian body lunged over the concrete barrier, right into our enclosure.

Our foes scattered as the giant dropped from the air.

Sploosh! The T-Rex hit water.

Pretty impressive splashdown. I'd give her a 10.

Being part of a volcanic island and all, it seemed the lake had some depth to it. Lucky thing my body just so happened to hit those logs just right, and had the optimal amount of weight.

T-Rex...not so much. Although not the largest lake horizontally, the effect reminded me of a tall man dropped into a dunk tank. Rather comical, seeing only that giant head poking out of the water.

...Not a permanent solution, obviously. Rexy's feet rested on the bottom, as if in a wading pool. You'd think a good dunk would cool off a hot tempered dinosaur, but she'd already gotten a shower in the storm. Already I saw the monster scrambling to get out.

I rushed Cassie behind some foliage, putting distance between us and Rexy.

"If you see any more of those Proce, Proceroses," I whispered. "Don't scream, that'll draw attention to yourself...how's your arm?"

"Still...bleeding." I noticed she staggered somewhat. "I...I'm fine. Just...tired."

She didn't seem fine to me. "We...need to get you somewhere safe and get those wounds looked at."

"There's a door over there." Cassie waved her arm in the direction of a pillbox. I didn't like how slowly. "Power's out. Door could be unlocked."

"Here. Get on my back."

She slumped over me, and I hefted her up the rest of the way, rushing for the pillbox.

Proceratosaurus heads popped up from behind leafy foliage, snarling at me. Clenching my teeth, and still fighting all that burning I previously described, I dashed between them, but they closed in fast, having more energy than me.

Rexy roared and bellowed from...the hole. We all glanced back.

Even through the leaves, when lightning flashed, we could see the big lummox frantically digging out.

The Proceratosauruses retreated in fright, allowing me enough space to dash to the pillbox and try the handle.

Clank. Didn't open. I frowned at the handle and door plate.

No keyholes, just an electronic keycard slot like a hotel door.

"It's probably rusty from weather," Cassie groaned.

She got off my back, turned the handle and shoved forward. It cracked a little.

I had to help push.

When it finally gave way, Cassie fell on the concrete floor, and the damn door nearly smashed my face in.

I jumped inside, shoved the door closed behind me. The heavy clank sound indicated that our foes would have difficulty getting inside without knowledge of how door handles work. Well, except for Rexy, who could open anything with enough force.

We couldn't see anything. Even with my night vision, the...underground place had no natural light.

"Light switch," Cassie muttered.

I felt along the wall, but found nothing. "I think this might be one of those...parking garage things."

Cassie didn't say anything.

"Are you okay, kid?"

"Just...tired."

"You're losing blood."

"It's okay. I've seen people donate before. Just get me some cookies, orange juice and Nutter Butters."

Something banged against the door. Dinosaurs shrieked.

Seconds later, earthquake tremors rocked the walls and flooring.

Horrified, I rushed deeper into the darkness, and immediately encountered a staircase. I slipped and fell.

One advantage of being a creature who didn't walk completely upright: When you take a spill, you don't do a backflip. Although my passenger fell from my back, I didn't crush her, and she only received a slight bruise.

The building shook again. T-Rex roared. Difficult to say if it knew our location, or what Rexy was doing.

I picked Cassie back up, walked a couple steps, and bumped into...something with wheels.

"What's that?" Cassie asked.

I felt around the object, felt a canopied roof. "Um, I think it's a golf cart."

"Check for a light."

"Nobody golfs in the dark! Why would it have a light?"

The girl only sighed.

I fumbled around for a minute, accidentally beeped the horn and flipped the wipers on before I got the headlights working.

A commotion above me made me wonder if we'd been heard. I held my breath for a moment.

Nothing pounded on the door.

Still couldn't see that far in front of us, but thanks to the golf cart, I had a rough idea of our surroundings.

A smoothly bored underground tunnel, similar to others I'd seen in National Geographics about caverns and hydroelectric dams. The cart: Generic electric model, hard top, cream-white. No special logos - counterproductive and expensive to make visitors excited about underground access corridors...which smelled of meat.

I gently shunted Cassie into the wide rubbery seat, crammed my big body into the driver's, getting blood everywhere.

I knew the basics of driving from TV. Turn the ignition, push a pedal. The battery light showed charge in the middle yellow zone. We jerked forward a little when the cart started rolling on its own and I pushed what I believed to be the accelerator.

I depressed the correct pedal, but a little too hard, and we rocketed down the corridor, plowing into an overstocked shelving unit.

"Ow!" Cassie cried as she struck the dashboard. No seatbelts.

As I opened my mouth to apologize, a bunch of stuff crashed to the floor, plumbing and irrigation fixtures, tranquilizer darts and rounds (no guns), toilet paper and water bottles, scattering everywhere, light bulbs shattering. A defibrillator box hit the concrete with a loud crack. Empty travel toilets popped down.

A couple deluxe first aid kits lay among the mess. I cracked it open and found lots of useful supplies.

Um, you know how I mauled my...handler? I kinda bit the guy a couple times before that day, and, before getting shot with darts, I learned a few things about treatment: Clean the wound with alcohol, put some Neosporin on, wrap in gauze, and dose yourself with Amoxicillin.

Lucky for us, we had all the necessary supplies, so I got to work on her.

"How..." she groaned, half out of it. "What, did you watch someone do this on TV?"

"Yes and no. Albert is a bad girl." I held out a pill and a water bottle. "Here, take this."

"What...?"

"Amox...erillian. It's antibeeotic."

Cassie frowned. "You...aren't qualified to prescribe medication."

"Yeah, but what if I got the idea from a doctor treating someone with a dinosaur bite?...Like a me bite?"

She popped the pill, downed it with water, once I helped her get the cap off. "See any Nutter Butters? Orange juice?"

I frowned at the mess. "This isn't a...vending machine. Maybe we can take this cart further down and see if we can find something."

Cassie didn't reply. Again, her tiredness was worrisome.

...Of course, I didn't feel my best self with my tail injury either, but at least I'd eaten.

The back of the cart held an industrial push mop. I shoved the debris away the best I could, to make room for the cart.

When I turned back to get in, I found Cassie munching on a candy bar. "I found a Snickers in the back seat," she mumbled with her mouth full. "Think the Slim Fast will help too. You gonna fix your tail?"

A little difficult fixing something attached to your butt. I had to get Cassie's help on that. "You think you're going to need stitches?"

Cassie gulped Slim Fast. "Dunno. Maybe."

"Slim Fast? Isn't that a diet drink?"

"It's got vitamins, milk and sugar. Just about the same as drinking orange juice."

Patched up as well as we could manage, we piled the darts and water bottles into the golf cart, as well as a PVC pipe we thought we might use as a blowgun.

I climbed into the driver's seat, but Cassie said, "Unh-uh. Let me do it. You don't know what you're doing."

"You...seem better."

"I'm still kinda shaky, but I know I can still drive better than you."

I let her take over. She knew how to put it in reverse and steer correctly. The cart puttered along down the tunnel.

I seemed to recall watching a campy Doctor Who episode where people drove a lighted golf cart (or robots) down a shadowy tunnel like this. When I mentioned this to Cassie, she didn't know what I was talking about. She asked if it had anything to do with Bill and Ted, who also possessed a time traveling phone booth.

Judging by the markings on the wall, and the multiple wire boxes we drove past, we'd found a tunnel using for passing food to Proceratosauruses. A side door with tracks presumably sent the caged food up somewhere via machine so the feeder wouldn't themselves become a meal.

We reached a fork in the passage, and the corridor filled with blinding light.

"I thought the power was out."

Cassie shrugged. "Maybe it came back on...Or maybe someone just shut off the fences."

"Why would anyone shut off the fences?"

"Dunno. Maybe they were stupid."

The ceiling had collapsed in parts, rubble completely blocking passage to our left. "I'm...guessing we can't drive you back to the Visitor Center."

Cassie shook her head. "Looks like we can either drive further out or go straight."

"Okay, where's straight go?"

We rolled ahead, for what felt like miles. No forks in the tunnel, only security doors with red lights. Cassie tested a couple of them, but they didn't open without a special card key.

She had a visitor pass of some sort, but it didn't work in the scanner, and mine, unfortunately, had fallen off my neck during the scuffles outside.

We often heard strange noises, thundering, rumbling sounds (possible earthquake tremors), rushing water, mechanical humming and grinding, bleating...Cassie had no guesses. It could be anything.

The battery died a mile down the line. We stuffed as many things as would fit into a rucksack we found in the cart and set off on foot. Had to be a little careful with the tranquilizers, of course.

Cassie tired out, and I carried her again.

We reached another split in the tunnel. Once more we found the left blocked off, this time with giant steel double doors. A badge would be required.

I slowly shuffled down the tunnel ahead, but stopped, exhausted, leaning against a wall. "Can't...go...on. Gotta rest. Please."

Cassie climbed off, stretching. She frowned at the damaged looking devices on a nearby security door. "All right."

She tried her badge in the scanner. Again, no luck. She dug a library card out of her pocket.

"Forget it, kid. Let's just sleep on the—"

To my surprise, the card scanner actually beeped when she stuck the library card in. It didn't open, but she kept scanning and jiggling the handle anyway.

"Give it a rest. You're—"

The scanner made an odd chirp. When she pulled down this time, the locking mechanism clanked and the door swung inward.

"Well that was amazing!"

We rushed in, flipping the light switch.

Janitorial supplies, and a giant floor buffer resembling a Zamboni. The room smelled of chemicals.

I blew a raspberry. "Not much better than the hallway."

"At least nothing can come in and attack us."

"They couldn't come after us before."

"You sure? In case you hadn't noticed, there's lots of tunnels."

I rolled my eyes, closing the door.

Obviously not a motel, but Cassie found an army cot in the corner, and once we had it unfolded, she stretched out, using a package of new, unused cleaning rags for a pillow. She thought about using toilet paper or paper towels, but we only found sandpapery industrial rolls of the items.

I sprawled on the concrete next to her cot, trying not to worry about what inhaling bleach and other chemical fumes would do to us.

Cassie rolled over on her side. "Why do you know Spanish Jesus songs?"

"I got a radio in my cage. It doesn't pick up very much out here, mostly dumb theme park stuff they play on a loop all day. So I listen to Ministerio Montaña Del Fuego."

"Are you a Christian dinosaur?"

"Um, I don't know...but Jesus is definitely my friend."

"How can he be your friend? Dinosaurs aren't even in the bible."

I frowned. "I...noticed that. But the man on the radio said Jesus loves me, and it doesn't matter who I am, or what I've done, I can be forgiven."

"The man on the radio didn't know you were a dinosaur. You're made in a science lab. I don't even think you have a soul."

"I got a human brain! Why wouldn't I have a soul?"

"Umm..."

"See? You don't know!"

"I don't think you know either." Cassie rolled over and snored.

I laid awake thinking about that for some time. Was I really saved? Would I be taken with the elect in the Rapture? Or would there be no...Velocirapture?

Somehow I slept, despite those existential worries. Well, I had been exhausted.

I awoke to the sound of pounding on the door.

When I found Cassie's cot empty, I got alarmed, but once I had the door open, I ungasped.

A filled travel toilet had been placed next to the wall, explaining her absence. "Got any Wet Wipes in there?"

"Not sure." I let her in. "Couldn't find a bathroom?"

She actually found the wipes. "I don't know where the bathrooms are. Glad I thought to grab a couple pee mugs."

"Do you know where we are yet?"

"Um...I think we got sidetracked a little. We might be under the T-Rex exhibit."

"That's a relief! If we go up top, we'll be in an empty enclosure!"

Cassie furrowed her brow. "...Maybe."

Whilst on her potty break outside, Cassie had busied herself taking apart door panels with a screwdriver she'd found somewhere. Although she ruined one, permanently locking herself out, a second door she took apart with more care, and got the wires...rewired in such a way to allow its unlocking.

An underground goat farm. Guess they had to get their dinosaur food supply from somewhere.

Very noisy. Lots of cute, bleating goats. Smelled like goat poop and hay real strong.

The poop increased when they saw me and ran away, several bolting into the outer hallway.

Not too much of use in the place, unless you like pellets and hay. Guess the goat farmer guy was out that evening, I didn't see anybody working.

"Let's go. I don't see any..." I froze, suddenly noticing a gun rack along the back wall.

No ammo, and not that many weapons, but I did find a rifle that accepted tranquilizer darts. We also found a box of stale donuts in a back office, which Cassie made short work of, washing it down with a warm can of Coke someone had left nearby.

We found an electrified dogcatcher thing too, but I left it. Too many bad memories.

We continued on.

"Baa."

I glanced back in slight annoyance. I and Cassie had made the mistake of feeding one of the creatures.

"Baa."

"Oh great."

"Looks like we've got a pet. What should we call him?"

I shrugged. "Billy?"

"C'mon, you gave those other dinosaurs creative names."

Rolling my eyes, I examined our pet and invented one. "Brigadier."

"He's a goat."

"Fine. You make up one."

"Umm..."

"How about Rumpole?"

Cassie snickered. "Okay."

"So where are we going? If we go back the way we came, we'll meet all those Procerotoses and the T-Rex, and I don't even know that's the way the Nedry guy went."

"We could still follow the tire tracks."

"Baa," Rumpole bleated.

"What about your dad? You've been out all night. He's probably looking for you."

The girl sighed.

"Anyway, I think we're too late to save Nedry. He didn't look so good on that security feed."

"He still could have something useful in his pockets. They might need that to fix the fences."

"Baa."

"His pockets will probably be all over the jungle by now."

Cassie frowned. I think she agreed with me, at least a little. "I...guess if we go back the way we came, those things will be waiting for us..."

"Honestly, I don't even know where we are. Do you?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"Baa."

"You know if they got any maps up there? Map displays?"

"I guess we can take a look."

"Baa."

Cassie led me through a tunnel and up a staircase to another security door.

I crept outside, chambering tranquilizer rounds into the rifle with a heroic ka-chunk.

We'd emerged from within a towering concrete wall, beneath an electric fence.

Early morning. Pterodactyls shrieked from the sky above us. At least the rain had stopped.

Cassie propped the door open with a rock, following close at my tail.

Oh, and "Baa." Yep, Rumpole still followed us.

Clank! The girl should have chosen a better rock, or watched Rumpole more carefully. Our doorstop had fallen sideways, allowing the heavy door to lock on us. We tried the handle, but this one required an actual key.

"Baa."

I groaned in frustration. "C'mon."

A few yards out, we came across a damaged tree. Lots of broken branches, destroyed fencing dangling near the canopy. Caked mud retained the impressions of tire prints.

"Look!" Cassie pointed.

A stripey yellow-green vehicle had gone turtle nearby, windows smashed, fluids dripping.

"That...doesn't look good."

The girl crossed her arms, furrowing her brow.

"You think that's Nedry's vehicle?"

"I...don't think so. I mean, why would he be part of the tour group?"

"Um, to relax?"

Cassie looked at me like I were an idiot.

"Hey, I never met the guy."

"Neither have I, but I don't think staff would have time to tour."

Rumpole padded up to the machine, hopped up on the chassis. "Baa."

Cassie peered through the window frames, pulled out a pair of fancy binoculars. Stripey green and yellow, painted with the park logo.

"Cool! Those might come in handy."

I picked up a book that had fallen out of the car. Something about Chaos Theory. Big nosed curly haired guy on the cover. He appeared to be trying very hard to look like a rock star. "Cassie, do you...know who...Ian Malcolm is?"

"Umm...no?"

I tossed the book aside.

"Baa."

I jumped when the car started talking.

Automated tour guide. James Earl Jones describing Metriacanthosaurus Parkeri. Not sure if that particular dinosaur could be found nearby, or if the machine had glitched out.

Cassie climbed atop the vehicle, adjusting the focus on the binoculars. "I see something."

"Baa."

I joined Cassie on the car's underbelly. "What did you find?"

She handed the binoculars over, but, alas, I don't have binocular vision. I attempted using them sideways like a telescope.

I flinched when I spotted a figure in a blue shirt and khakis wandering around the foot of a tree. Red neckerchief, clothes kind of rumply. Couldn't make out too many details.

"There's some kids up in that tree!" Cassie jumped up and down, waving her arms. "Hey!"

The TV in the car crackled with static. "Cassie?"

I jumped down, staring at the screen.

The face of the man in the slouch hat appeared...upside down, of course.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then the screen filled with snow.