CHAPTER 96

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You're dead, buddy! You are so dead! Hey! You can't do that!" Gary slammed down his Super Nintendo controller.

"I just did." Seth leaned back on the couch and stretched his arms over his head.

"That ain't fair." Gary picked up his controller. "Alright. I'm not gonna go easy on you any more."

"Yeah. Sure. You just don't know when to quit."

"Whatever you say, buddy, but you're about to feel my wrath."

"Hey, it's your funeral."

As the two of them got into another round of the game Dianna appeared at the doorway. She didn't say anything for a while. She just watched them play. Chocolate candy bar wrappers and half empty bags of chips were sprawled across a coffee table in front of them. There were at least six open soda cans that she could see. As the two of them twisted and turned their game controllers with the action on the television screen the wires kept whipping through the mess of junk food. It was the first time in a long time that Dianna had seen Seth look like he was enjoying himself.

"Having fun?" She finally said.

Gary paused the game. He looked startled. "Hey, Dr. Johnson. We were just playing some Top Gear." He noticed that his dirty magazine was sitting on the couch in plain sight. He stuffed it under his thigh, but he was pretty sure she had seen it. "I wasn't filling your kid's head with garbage, I swear."

Dianna cracked a smile. "No, just his stomach."

"We're growin' boys, Dr. Johnson." Gary looked at his wrist. He thought he was wearing a watch, but he wasn't. "What time is it?"

"Quarter past four."

"Holy crow. Hey, Seth, I better go take care of a few things. Good playing, kid." He rocked himself off the couch and slipped by Dianna.

"Thanks, Gary," She whispered as he left.

Seth looked up at his mom from the couch. She didn't appear to be mad. He put the controller down and waited for her to make a move.

Dianna came and sat down beside him. "I had forgotten about the man cave." She smiled. "Gary and a few others hang out here." She paused with a sigh. "Look, Seth, I don't want to argue about what happened. Let's just forget about it for the time being. We'll discuss things when we get home."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've decided to leave INGEN. There are just too many things happening here that I don't agree with."

Seth nodded. He actually understood. He wasn't going to like going home, but it was pretty obvious that the situation on Isla Sorna had gone down the crapper. He knew they couldn't stay, or more accurately knew his mother too well to think that she would tolerate it any longer.

"Ok?" Dianna gave him a hard stare as though she were trying to read his thoughts.

"Ok." Seth nodded again.

"Here." Dianna handed him a folded article of clothing.

As Seth undid it he found himself looking at an olive green jumpsuit with the INGEN logo stenciled on the left breast pocket.

Dianna said, "It was all I could find, and I didn't think you wanted to keep running around in Hector's grungy flannel. Sorry there's no showers here."

"Not as sorry as I am." Seth rolled his eyes up as he pretended to take a whiff of the shirt. "Also, I have the added bonus of smelling like dinosaur crap on top of it all."

"We all do, sweetie." She patted his head. They both chuckled as Dianna got up from the couch. "You haven't got a wink of sleep, have you?"

Seth shook his head.

"Try." Dianna turned off the TV and flicked the light switch. "No more junk food."

"Sure, mom."

"I mean it."

"Ok."

Dianna turned and left.