Italicized text can represent several things (dialogue in another language, inner thoughts, flashbacks, etc.) please be aware of this and the context to better understand what is happening!
"What they didn't know at the time is that the soft tissue is preserved because the iron in the blood generates free radicals and those are highly reactive, so the proteins and the cell membranes get all mixed up, and," Jack looked up from his phone, he had to Google half of what Gray was saying so it was easier to just have in his hands. He might've been smart, but Gray was a whole different kind of smart. It was refreshing talking to someone who was smart that wasn't someone in his family or close to his family. And since Gray was around his age, it was almost easier to follow along with what he was saying.
Almost.
Then he noticed that Zach had not noticed or been paying attention to Gray. The younger boy hung onto the gate between them and the loading platform to the gyrospheres. He reached up and grabbed the back of Gray's shirt to pull him back down onto the ground and looked around Zach.
"Of course." Jack wanted to roll his eyes. Zach was looking at a group of girls, probably four of them. They looked to be around Zach's age, maybe older.
"And act as a natural preservative." Gray didn't seem to mind Jack pulling him back down, he just kept talking. "DNA can survive for a millennium that way."
Jack's phone buzzed again.
From: Dad
You heading back to the park yet? Mom's wound up. She think's an emergency has happened.
Jack frowned.
Have you heard anything about an emergency?
He didn't have time to put his phone away before his phone buzzed again.
From: Dad
No, but you should still head back.
Jack sighed and texted him back.
I'll be back as soon as possible.
He got an immediate response but looked up at Gray to let the other kid know he was still paying attention to him.
"So now, even if the amber mines dry up, they'll still have bones—,"
Zach subtly waved at his brother to get his attention, "Shut up."
Gray scrunched his nose up irritably. He followed his brother's line of sight and then looked back at Jack questioningly. Zach was staring at a group of girls in the standard line. Jack shrugged. Gray looked back at his brother, "What do you think's gonna happen from you just staring at them?" He asked, pointedly keeping his voice loud so the girls could hear them.
Zach stiffened as the girls giggled and stepped onto the loading platform and got into their two gyrospheres. "Thanks, man." He deadpanned, staring in the middle distance as if he was contemplating his whole life.
"You're welcome." Gray smiled sincerely, which made Jack chuckle. The gyrospheres rolled out of the loading dock. The gates to the regular line closed and the VIP line gates opened. Jack, Gray, and Zach stepped onto the loading platform. "Give Jack your number so we can talk." Gray said suddenly, tugging at Zach's arm.
"What?" Zach asked, his eyebrows furrowing. He looked incredulously between Gray's hand on his arm and Gray's wide-eyed face.
"Two to a gyrosphere, please." The woman working the platform smiled at them. Jack stepped to the left, allowing Zach and Gray to have the first gyrosphere that rolled into the docking area. The guests inside the gyrospheres got out, excitedly talking about the crazy encounters they'd had, and the three were allowed inside.
"Number!" Gray insisted.
"Okay, okay, chill." Zach huffed and rolled his eyes. "You ready?" He asked, turning to Jack.
"Sure," Jack swiped away a second message that popped up on his screen and went to his contacts list. He typed in Zach's number as he read it out loud and then, to test it. He called Zach while they were getting ready to step into the gyrosphere.
Zach sighed but answered and put it on speaker phone, "Yeah?"
"Cool. It works." Jack said. Knowing Gray wanted to use the phones as a way to communicate, he turned on the speaker phone as well and climbed into the gyrosphere. Jack sat on the far side of his gyrosphere so he could steer with his dominant hand. The gyrosphere was like a giant hamster ball made of thick glass with two seats inside. Smooth, blue, metal supports inside the ball secured two glass doors to the gyrosphere and allied the doors to be opened from both the inside and outside. The seats rested on a platform at the bottom of the ball that kept the seats upright.
It was warm inside the gyrosphere, and there were no AC or air vents that he could see. Sighing, Jack pushed his sleeves up and buckled himself in. He grabbed the joystick that sat upright on the center console between the two seats. However, the gyrosphere began to move automatically as soon as the doors lowered themselves and hissed shut.
Ahead, Zach looked back at him, "Can you hear us?" He asked.
"For now." Jack answered with a nod.
Masrani walked through the Innovation Center, opposite the flow of traffic as guests begrudgingly obliged to the safety warnings blaring across the whole damn island. Owen Grady and Sara's words to him about the Indominus Rex had finally wiggled the worm of suspicion deep enough under his skin that he needed to speak with Henry.
Henry was right where Masrani thought he would be. Hidden away in his lab, his staff uncaring that an asset had breached containment and that the park was on the verge of evacuation.
"Cracks in the foundation." Ian and Sara's words haunted him now.
Henry was the crack.
One he intended to patch.
He watched Henry inside his lab, pausing as he made eye contact with Masrani before he moved on to the small hot pad by his desk. He'd been making tea. Masrani didn't bother to excuse himself as he pushed through the crowd to enter the lab.
"Henry." Masrani didn't need to announce himself to his employee, but he wanted the man to actually look at him.
"Would you like some tea, sir?" Henry asked.
"We have an asset out of containment, Henry. Which should not be possible." Masrani's voice was tight. He really thought today had been perfectly planned. Visit the asset, get the photos from Sara, chat with the board about projects for the upcoming year, have a nice dinner, and be back to his penthouse for a quick sleep before heading for home bright and early tomorrow morning.
Instead, today had been a disaster, the asset escaped, he'd nearly caused Sara to have a breakdown (risking the exchange of photos), because of the asset escape he was now late to the board meeting, and he highly doubted he'd be out of his meeting in time for a nice dinner, which meant eating late and getting to bed late and being miserable for his flight tomorrow.
Henry paused in taking his tea off his hot pad, but did not turn back, "An asset out of containment?" He responded instead. "Should we really be concerned?"
"It was the Indominus Rex, Henry." Masrani said flatly.
At that, Henry turned around, "Was it?" He asked, his eyebrows up in shock.
"What did you put into that animal?" Masrani demanded to know.
Henry poured himself a glass of tea, "You know I'm not at liberty to reveal an asset's genetic makeup." He poured a glass for Masrani and slid it to him before setting his glass teapot down.
Masrani wanted to hurl the hunk of amber sitting on Henry's desk into his forehead. Henry answered to him! He wasn't some low-level lab tech, or some green-gilled tour guide. He was Simon Masrani! Head of Masrani Global, CEO of InGen and Jurassic World, and the biggest shareholder that paid for Henry to do any of his work in the first place! The hell he meant, 'not at liberty to reveal'? Instead, Masrani crossed his arms and clenched his jaw to keep from doing or saying something he might regret.
"Modified animals are known to be unpredictable." Henry said plainly, as if that explained anything.
"It's killed people, Henry." Masrani, trying hard to keep his voice level and flat.
Henry looked up at him, only mildly surprised, "That's unfortunate." He said in the way one might say, 'it's unfortunate you've got mud on your brand-new shoes'.
"What purpose could we have for a dinosaur that can camouflage?" Masrani asked. He remembered watching as the animal slinked out of the trees, suddenly changing from green to white. It had been completely hidden. Undetectable.
Henry thought for a moment before answering, "Cuttlefish genes were added to help her withstand an accelerated growth rate." The animal was three years old, and still growing, just how big and how fast would she continue to grow? Masrani took a seat on the other side of Henry's desk, resting one arm on the tabletop to drum his fingers on the surface. "Cuttlefish have chromatophores that allow the skin to change color."
"It hid from thermal technology." Masrani pointed out. Maybe Henry didn't get updates in his cushy little lab. At least, not like what the Control Room got, but the fact that the emergency alarm was going off, and that their biggest, strongest, nastiest asset was out of containment didn't seem to bother Henry made Masrani mad.
Henry quickly pulled his teacup away from his mouth and swallowed. "Really?" He asked, genuinely surprised.
Masrani nodded, "How is that possible?"
Henry thought for a moment, then stood up and went to his table where he studied various animal cells from living and paleo animals. "Tree frogs can modulate their infrared output." He leaned on the table, not facing Masrani, "We used strands from their DNA to adapt her to a tropical climate," Masrani could feel a headache coming on and he rubbed his forehead with one hand, "but I never imagined—,"
"Who authorized you to do this?" Masrani asked.
Henry turned around, his expression cool and relaxed, "You did." He answered. "Bigger. Scarier." A wide smile broke apart on Henry's face, "uhh, 'cooler', I believe," Henry pointed accusingly at him, "is the word you used in your memo." Masrani looked away, lowering his hand as he looked across both labs. "You cannot have an animal with exaggerated predatory features without the corresponding behavioral traits!"
"What you're doing here." Masrani still couldn't look Henry in the eye, "What you've done," He shook his head and stood up.
"Oh, please," Henry scoffed irritably, "You sound like Malcolm and the Webb girl. What we are doing is no different than what any zoo in the world has done for hundreds of years!"
"You have created an animal we have no hope of containing!" Masrani shouted. "You have created panic." Sure, the guests didn't know it, but everyone in the Control Room did. Who knows what kind of repercussions that could have on their business down the line? An employee might find another flaw in their system and more people might get killed, someone could release the footage of the A.C.U. team and those poor bastards at paddock eleven getting eaten, sales and profit would plummet! And there would be no going back.
"You have caused the foundation of trust we have built with the people—with our people—to crack!" He couldn't keep his voice down much longer.
"Indominus isn't our first failed hybrid!" Henry reminded him, "We will improve ourselves on the next one. That is what we do here."
"The next one?" Masrani asked incredulously. "There won't be a next one." He finally looked at Henry, "The board will shut down this park, seize your work, everything you've built." He began to step out, but stopped and looked back at him, "And Hammond won't be there to protect you this time."
"All of this exists because of me." Henry said, his voice low and almost desperate for control, "If I don't innovate, somebody else will."
Masrani didn't care, "You are to cease all activity here immediately." He ordered. Henry might've lost control, but Masrani hadn't.
Henry did his best to collect himself, "You are acting like we are engaged in some kind of mad science." Masrani turned back to look at him and put a hand on his hip to show that Henry was now wasting his time. "But we are doing what we have done from the beginning."
He shook his head, gesturing to everything around them, "Nothing in Jurassic World is natural. We have always filled the gaps in the genome with the DNA of other animals. And," He added with a knowing nod to his head, "if their genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different." Henry began to walk towards Masrani, glaring up at him, "But you didn't ask for reality, you asked for more teeth!"
"I never asked for a monster!" Masrani shouted back at him.
"'Monster' is a relative term." Henry pointed out, his voice low, "To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being a cat."
Jack frowned as he steered his gyrosphere to follow Zach and Gray's vehicle. "Do you guys see anything up there?" He asked.
"Nope." Zach sighed over the phone, clearly disappointed.
"Nothing yet." Gray agreed. Jack could see Gray in the gyrosphere ahead, looking every which way as they slowly climbed their way up a slope.
"Hey there," Jimmy Fallon popped up on the little screen that sat between the two seats, "I'm Jimmy Fallon. Welcome aboard the Gyrosphere, an amazing machine made possible by science." Jack rolled his eyes and continued to gently press the joystick controller forward to keep up with Zach and Gray. "Your safety is our main concern." Fallon was dressed in a lab coat with goggles, standing in what looked like a cliche school science lab. Zach turned around in his seat and made an over dramatic face of boredom and disgust. Jack snorted and Zach turned back around. "Which is why you're behind our invisible barrier system, which protects you from things like dilophosaurus venom."
That caught Jack's attention. "They're not out here, are they?" He wondered out loud.
"Doubtful." Gray sighed. "Like you said, there's too much risk with their venom."
Fallon was speckled with a thick, tar-like substance. "One drop of this could paralyze you, so watch out. Is this real?" He asked. "It is?" And he fainted backwards before the scene cut and he was standing upright once more, "And for added protection, each vehicle is surrounded by aluminum oxynitride glass. So tough, it can stop a fifty-caliber bullet." Fallon raised a gun and shot at a display glass, which did stop the bullet. But the blowback knocked Fallon backwards onto the counter and knocked the display glass into the shelves behind it. The scene cut again.
Jack went back to scanning the large field. Briefly, he wondered if this was anywhere near where his mom had once walked. He remembered her telling him about the large field they'd traversed when a herd of gallimimuses flocked towards her and the others, how they'd had to run for cover and escape a stalking T-Rex.
"Where are they?" Gray asked.
"Still nothing ahead?" Jack asked, talking over Fallon as he talked about the technology that kept the gyrosphere upright at all times.
"Oh, man." Zach stopped his gyrosphere. His voice was quiet, awestruck. "Kid, get up here." He said.
Jack steered his gyrosphere to come up beside Zach and Gray's, hearing the muffled bellow of an animal as he came up over the crest of the slope. To his right, what Jack thought was a rock, was actually a triceratops that was basking in the sunlight.
It squinted at Jack and bellowed, shaking its head as Jack slowed to a stop. He could feel a slight tremor in the joystick control as the triceratops got up, but Jack's eyes were on the field ahead of him.
There were whole herds of dinosaurs, basking in the sun, grazing on the thick grass, or dawdling around in little socialization groups.
"Apatosaurus, stegosaurus, parasaurolophus, triceratops," Jack's mind identified each creature as he looked at them. "Way cooler than skeletons." He'd pretty much grown up in museums. His mom had always told him that real dinosaurs had lived over sixty-five million years ago, and that all that remained of real dinosaurs was their bones. "But these animals," Jack arched his head back as an apatosaurus walked around them, its massive body nearly blocking out the sun, "They look pretty damn real to me." He finally let go of the breath he'd been holding.
Zach moved his gyrosphere forward into the herd, and Jack slowly followed. He watched each animal closely, the layers and folds of their pebbly, leathery skin, the way they moved and breathed and made sound.
None of them spoke.
They were too awestruck.
The speakers behind his ears beeped and Jack stopped his gyrosphere to look down at the flashing screen.
"Due to technical difficulties," A female voice said as Fallon jumped and dodged mini explosions going off on set, "all our exhibits are now closed." The Jurassic World logo popped up on screen reading:
RIDE CLOSED
Please return to the Gyrosphere Station
"Please, disembark all rides, and return to the resort." The voice finished before the screen went black.
Jack sighed and sat back in his seat. He turned and wistfully stared out the gyrosphere at the animals. How he wished he could get out and pet one! He could hear Gray sigh over the phone.
"Come on, no, we can stay out a couple more minutes." Zach dismissed the announcement.
"But they said it was closed." Gray pointed out.
"Yeah…" Jack half-heartedly agreed, though he didn't grab his joystick to turn around. Instead, he came up beside the other gyrosphere and looked over at Zach and Gray. He continued to watch the animals.
"Uh yeah, but we've got these special wristbands." Zach looked between Gray and Jack, holding up his wrist to show off his VIP band. "We're VIPs, dudes." He turned to Jack, as if looking for assistance in persuading Gray.
Gray peeked around Zach at Jack.
Part of Jack remembered his parents' texts, and his mother's frantic call. But another part of him wanted to see more of the dinosaurs. "Well…if everyone's going back to the park at the same time, the monorail will be crowded." He reasoned. "We'll probably have to stand around a wait for a long time."
"Yes, exactly!" Zach nodded, he turned to Gray, "Come on, it'll be fun." And he pressed forward on the joystick.
Jack followed him.
Their faster speed attracted the attention of the lazily grazing animals. They bleated and bellowed, suddenly turning to run alongside the gyrospheres. Jack smiled as he felt the tremor in the stampede that ran around him. He ignored the beeping in the speakers behind his head that told him he was going too fast, and he laughed as he heard Zach and Gray's whooping and cheering. Dust and dirt were kicked up into the air by the stampede, but Zach and Jack just swerved their gyrospheres away from the main herd. They'd gotten to the far end of the valley, reaching the tall fence that separated the valley from the rest of the island.
They slowed their gyrosphere's down, and Jack turned to watch the stampede continue out, circling back around the valley the way they'd come.
"What the?" Zach's voice came over the phone.
"What's up?" Jack asked absentmindedly.
"My aunt's calling." Zach sighed. Jack turned and saw Zach pick his phone up and hit a button.
For a second, Jack figured Zach had hung up on their call to answer his aunt, but then he heard Gray ask, "Why'd you do that?"
"Because," Zach said, "We're already on a call."
"What if it's important?" Gray asked.
"Then she'll leave a message or call back." Zach reasoned, then he suddenly stopped moving forward and Jack's gyrosphere beeped and stopped automatically. "Whoa-ho." Zach chuckled slightly, he turned and veered his gyrosphere closer to the fence. "What happened here?"
Jack moved his gyrosphere around Zach and Grays. A gate had been busted open and beyond it was thick jungle. It was clearly an area not meant for guests.
"We should go back." Jack finally said. A creeping sense of dread filling his stomach. They were safe on this side of the fence.
"Dude," Zach said, "Off-road."
"Jack's right," Gray's voice was so quiet over the phone, the sound nearly cut off, "they told us to go back. We should go."
Zach sighed, "I'm just worried that you two babies aren't getting the full Jurassic World experience." Jack hated that Zach constantly pointed out their age difference. But, he frowned because Zach did have a point. He'd heard so many stories from classmates who visited the parks. And no two stories were the same. But what was Jack going to take home? Stories of experiences his classmates already had? Or would he take home the story of the time he went off-road in a gyrosphere?
He turned to look at the brothers, who were looking back at him. "I mean…just a quick ride won't hurt." He rationalized. Plus, if the dinosaurs could get through the jungle, then so could their gyrospheres. And if the gyrospheres were half as good as Jimmy Fallon claimed them to be, they should be safe…right?
"Yes!" Zach fist pumped as he drove first through the gate. Jack hesitated for a second but was quickly pushing his gyrosphere forward.
"The nerve of that man." Sara huffed as they left the lab area of the innovation center. She'd since gone back to the hotel to grab her camera bag. But when she'd gotten back and met up with Owen—as she finally learned Grady's first name—the security officer from the Control Room was blocking their path to the lab. It was also the path to the Monorail station and the Control Room, and Owen had made it clear that he intended to have a conversation with Dr. Wu before they made their hike north. But they had been blocked.
Turning back to take another route, Owen had given her a funny look for carrying the raggedy camera bag, but she didn't feel a need to defend herself to him. The camera bag held her camera, her inhaler, and her phone. She wasn't going to risk losing anything while hiking across the island, nor was she keen on being without her lucky bag. She wished she'd packed hiking boots, or at least seen if her old steel-toed boots still fit—though last Sara knew, the soles had ripped off of one. She didn't know why she still kept them.
The Innovation Center was packed, frequent messages that blared throughout the park's P.A. system advised guests in several languages that the park was in the midst of an emergency situation, and for guests to remain calm and follow the directions of park staff. And even though it was December, Central America was hot and people were trying to keep cool.
"So," Sara sighed as they pushed back through the waves of people, "Is there another path that will lead us North?" She asked.
"A few," Owen answered. "What the—?" Something in the crowd caught his eye and he slowed down.
Sara turned and spotted Claire. She was practically spinning in circles, she looked near hysterical. "Claire?" She called out. What could've happened to make her leave the Control Room? Sara's heart thudded dully to a stop.
Claire whipped around at the sound of her name, and she visibly relaxed upon seeing them, "Ms. Webb, Owen." She practically ran at them, and Sara held out her hands to catch Claire and keep her from stumbling and falling over.
"What's happened?" Sara asked. The other woman looked visibly shaken and there were tears in her eyes.
"I need you." Claire answered, looking between the two of them.
"Okay." Sara could hear the shock and surprise in Owen's voice.
"I need your help," Claire clarified, "My nephews, they're out in the Valley. Please, if anything happens to them—,"
"We know." Owen nodded.
"We're headed there now." Sara said.
Claire blinked, shocked, "Y—you are? How—How did you know?" She asked.
"I called Jack an hour ago." Sara narrowed her eyebrows confused. "I tried to contact the boys almost as soon as A.C.U. was alerted to—wasn't your secretary supposed to be watching them?" She asked quickly. Claire had certainly tried her damndest to get Sara to trust that woman with her child, where the hell was she?
"Oh boy." Owen took a deep breath.
"She—she was," Claire shook her head, "She said she'd lost sight of them and couldn't find them, that she'd been looking for them for hours—,"
"Hours?" Sara repeated, "Plural? Multiple hours?" She felt like she was going to have a heart attack! Her baby had been wandering around Isla Nublar for hours?! Unsupervised?! She pressed a hand to her chest where it ached, and Owen put a hand on her shoulder and separated the two women.
"Look, okay, we're going out into the park," He begrudgingly thumbed between Sara and himself, "what'd your nephews look like? What're their ages?" He asked.
"Uhh," Claire held her hand out horizontally beside her head, "The older one is about high school age, and has dark hair? The—the—the younger one has dark-ish hair? Blonde? And he's about middle school—,"
"You don't know how old your nephews are?" Owen asked incredulously. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Look. I will go into the park and I will try to find the kids." Owen said.
"We." Sara corrected.
"Fine." Owen huffed, "We are going into the park to find the kids." He looked at Claire, "You stay here and—,"
Claire began to vehemently shake her head, "No, no. I know where they are. I can help you find them."
"This isn't exactly a walk through the park." Owen deadpanned, aware of the irony.
"You can come," Sara spoke over Claire's next protest, "But if you so much as bend a blade of grass wrong, I will not hesitate to leave you at the mercy of the animals." Her son's life mattered much more to her than Owen's or Claire's lives. When Claire just stared at her with wide eyed horror, Sara took that as her answer, and she turned to Owen. "How do we get out to the park?"
"There's a garage on the west side of the park. We can get a jeep there." Owen said, blinking out of the stupor he was in from watching Sara talk. He took the lead and both women followed him.
"No, no. Bad ide—. —d idea!" Gray's voice was breaking up over the phone as they went deeper into the jungle.
The trees were tall, with spindly roots that made them appear as if they were on stilts. Thick vines with large leaves coated the trees and the jungle floor. The canopy of trees above them left them in the shade, and cooled off the inside of the gyrosphere a little bit. A mist seemed to be hanging on to the foliage of the jungle.
Jack's gyrosphere bounced and whirred along after Zach and Gray's gyrosphere. He craned his head around, trying to spot the gate behind him, but it was long gone, too far away to see.
"Gre— —ea." Zach's voice was calm.
"No!" Gray's voice was so static-y the speaker cut the sound off.
Jack sighed, he hung up on the brother's and put his phone in his pocket. The backside was warm to the touch, and he grimaced as they pushed forward. Thankfully, Zach slowly turned his gyrosphere to face a small clearing off to their right. Jack slowed his gyrosphere and turned to sit beside the brothers. His heart leapt into his throat.
"Ankylosaurus." He breathed out. Tears burned the corners of his eyes. Four ankylosauruses stood around grazing. One raised its head when it spotted them. It bleated loudly at them, and Jack was tempted to see if the door would open so he could climb out and get closer to one.
Their plated backs moved and shifted as the animals grazed on the short jungle grass. Their massive, club-like tails swung low behind their bodies. Carefully, slowly, he pulled his phone back out and pulled up his camera. He dismissed the low battery warning and snapped a few pictures, zooming in on the animal's pebbly teal-grey skin, their beak-like mouths, their fat tongues—which seemed to roll out of their mouths to aid in pulling up some of the grass.
He put his phone away.
Jack felt like he couldn't blink or breathe for fear of missing something amazing.
And then, all four ankylosauruses stopped grazing and looked at the two gyrospheres.
They stopped chewing.
They stopped moving.
"That's odd." Jack thought, "I wonder if they see us as a threat—," He looked over at the other gyrosphere as a loud animal roared. The sound was something out of a nightmare! It was high pitched, almost like a scream, and Jack watched in horror as a strange animal ran from the tree line and kicked the other gyrosphere across the jungle floor like a soccer ball!
Jack screamed as he tried to turn his gyrosphere away, but the long tail of the creature whipped around and smacked against the backside of his vehicle. Jack's head snapped forward as he lost control of the gyrosphere. He quickly tried to straighten himself out, but he only succeeded in ramming full speed into one of the ankylosauruses. He screamed at the sudden jolt as his gyrosphere began to spin out of control! There was a sickening crack of glass and, as if in slow motion, Jack saw the horrified, screaming faces of Zach and Gray as their gyrosphere bounced off of his gyrosphere. He finally skid to a stop facing Zach and Gray.
To his right, an ankylosaurus turned around and slammed its tail on the ground. It was going to stand and fight.
To his left was…Jack had never seen such a creature. It looked like a T-Rex, but everything about it was wrong. Its skin looked like it was shrink-wrapped to its body, and it was white! Its arms were long, more like a spinosaurus or a therizinosaurus, and there were long quills on its arms, back, and tail.
God, his heart was pounding so hard he thought he was going to be sick.
He saw Zach and Gray shouting and they took off. Jack started to follow them, when the large dinosaur's clawed hand swatted at his gyrosphere in an attempt to hit the ankylosaurus. Jack screamed as sparks flew up around his seat. Suddenly, up was down, down was up, all the blood suddenly rushed to his head and now he really felt like he was going to be sick.
And then, as his seatbelts began to yank him one way and then another, he came to a sudden, jarring stop.
It had all happened so fast.
Jack's legs were shaking as he tightly gripped his seatbelt straps. "What the hell? What the hell, what the hell, what the hell?!" While humbled by Gray's knowledge of dinosaurs, Jack thought himself pretty knowledgeable about even the more obscure animals. But that thing? He had no idea what the hell that thing was! And it had just swatted and kicked at them like they were nothing.
Jack finally got sick. Hot vomit burned the back of his throat as his breakfast and lunch came back up.
And then, Jack realized he was sideways! All of his vomit pooled around the opposite door. Craning his neck back, Jack heard more screams. Animal screams. It sounded like the ankylosaurus was in pain! His hands were shaking as he tried to desperately rip his seatbelt straps off. He looked up and noticed the door beside him was where he must've hit the other gyrosphere. A large, spider-web crack ran all across the glass, with the highest concentrations right at the point of impact. It had shifted the door slightly open.
Jack licked his lips, which tasted like iron and salt, and he was finally able to unclip himself. Jack spread his legs, just barely catching himself on the curved edge of the gyrosphere before he splashed down into his own vomit. He looked up, squinting in the sunlight that penetrated the canopy above. He climbed on top of the center console, careful not to put weight on the joystick for fear of slipping. He bit his lip as he stuck his fingers under the rim of the door. Grunting, Jack managed to jerk the glass door open just enough for him to climb through.
He looked back down at his feet and made sure they were stable on the higher up seat before he jumped. He could now squeeze his shoulders out and he turned to get his bearings.
"Jesus Christ." Jack breathed. The ankylosaurus was on the ground, dying or dead from the massive deep gashes that ran down his hind legs, and from the deep, tooth-shaped gouges around its head. If he hadn't already thrown up everything, he would have gotten sick again.
But now, now the strange animal had the other gyrosphere in its mouth and it raised it up. Jack flinched as the animal slammed the gyrosphere into the ground once.
Twice.
Glass shattered everywhere.
"I need to get the hell out of here!" Jack thought. He squirmed his way out, secretly grateful the animal didn't seem to notice him. He lifted himself out of the gyrosphere—it had gotten stuck in the roots of one of the tall trees—and was about to jump down when he heard Zach and Gray's screams. He looked up and noticed they'd somehow slipped out the back of their gyrosphere. Zach held his brother tight, covering Gray's body with his own. The gyrosphere slammed down on them again. Jack felt his heart in his throat. He wanted to do something, wasn't that always a part of his mother's stories—even though she was terrified, she somehow was able to know just what to do to save someone else?! Why couldn't Jack think of anything?!
"Go! Go!" Zach shouted as soon as the gyrosphere was lifted off of them.
Jack jumped down and ran after the brothers. With nothing to keep the dinosaur's attention, it would soon turn to Jack, and he wanted to be as far away as possible when that happened.
They ran towards the sunlight and Jack prayed they'd be back at the park once they were out of the jungle. Unfortunately, it seemed to just lead to a small cliffside field. He kept running, even as the birds in the trees took off in a panic, even as the ground shook underneath him! Zach made sure to push Jack and Gray in front of him, looking over his shoulder while simultaneously shouting, "Don't look back!"
Gray was screaming, no words, just noise as he ran alongside Jack.
Jack couldn't scream even if he wanted to. His chest felt tight, like he couldn't breathe!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Zach grabbed the back of his jacket, stopping Jack and Gray from slipping down headfirst over a waterfall. The three turned around, holding onto each other to keep their footing.
The animal roared, racing out of the jungle at them with its mouth wide open, almost unhinged.
"We're gonna have to jump!" Zach said.
"I can't!" Gray shook his head.
"Guys!" Jack screamed. The animal was quickly closing in.
"Ready? One, two," Zach counted.
Jack screamed, he wasn't going to wait for a countdown, the dinosaur was gonna get them!
He turned and jumped off of the rocks, hoping and praying the pool below was deep enough to catch him and deep enough he wouldn't hit the bottom. At the last second, Jack remembered to hold onto his glasses and plug his nose.
He hit the water with a hard SMACK!
Jack forced his eyes open underwater to see if Zach and Gray had jumped too. To his immense relief they had. They'd made it a little further out into the pool than he had, and Jack could hear the pounding of the waterfall overhead. Zach held onto Gray, who wanted to immediately surface for air.
"Oh my God, the thing is going to wait for us!" Jack realized. His eyes began to burn and he forced them shut. With one hand still on his glasses, he used his free hand to push the water above him, desperately hoping to stay underwater. "How long will it wait?" Jack wondered, terrified that he was going to run out of air and be eaten.
After what felt like a burning eternity, Jack heard a watery roar and could feel the vibrations of something large moving further and further away. Desperate for air, Jack clawed at the water until he finally breached the surface. He gasped for air, shaking his hair out of his face in an attempt to see.
His glasses were speckled with water droplets, but he could still see just fine. Zach and Gray surfaced a second later. The three thrashed in the water for a bit, bobbing like busted rubber ducks before they began the short swim to shore.
They made it to the muddy shore. Zach all but pulled his brother up out of the water, but the three pretty much collapsed right there on the muddy shore.
Jack rolled over onto his back and blinked blearily at the sky.
Had it always been so bright?
Had it always been so quiet?
Zach began to laugh, "You jumped." He said to his brother. Gray looked at him for a moment before he began to laugh as well. "And you?" Zach looked over Gray at Jack, "You jumped, too!" He smiled.
Jack snorted and then began to laugh as well, "We jumped!" He cheered. And the three fell back down into the mud, laughing gleefully at life.
So sorry, I did not mean to let this story sit for as long as it did. I got my dream job, so I've been working nonstop for about a month. I don't know how frequent updates will be from now on, but I see people are still reading this so I wanted to get another chapter out.