Prompt #14 "Kindness? The very thing goes against your nature."

Nedry's Hidden Virtue

Robert Muldoon admitted he was shocked that Dennis Nedry had any virtues. Especially after spending so much time despising him for betraying InGen, making everyone's lives on Isla Nublar a living hell, and of course, the worst of the worst: Nedry purposely releasing the raptors which ended with John Hammond suffering from a debilitating stroke.

Sometime after that, Nedry had a change of heart and tried to leave Dodgson and warn InGen of Biosyn's nefarious plot to take over Jurassic Park. It didn't go the way he planned. Arnold and Muldoon had captured him in front of the visitor center. They stopped him from starting more trouble on the island. Then they interrogated him and that didn't go over well either. Especially not with Muldoon using Nedry as a punching bag, and Nedry pulling every insult from his bag of tricks to infuriate Muldoon.

Dodgson's Biosyn team had kidnapped them that same night and left them stranded on Isla Sorna in the hopes that they would strangle each other. After more than a month of their rivalry intensifying, an unexpected occurrence happened. From that point on, Nedry and Muldoon found themselves understanding each other. In fact, they even started viewing each other as human beings. Right now, they were hanging out on the beach and working on their raft—while having a decent conversation without trading insults. We've come a long way, Muldoon thought.

"I have a question for you," Muldoon said as he watched Nedry tying the vines into strong knots. He was surprised to see Nedry had followed his instructions. That was another unexpected occurrence for Muldoon: Nedry following his directions.

"I have an answer for you," Nedry said in a sing-song voice.

"Why'd you visit John in the hospital?"

Nedry put down his vines and sent Muldoon a long stare. He wanted to answer the question, but he also instinctively knew that Muldoon wouldn't believe a word he said. He decided to try anyway.

"I wanted to make sure he was doing better."

"Really?" Muldoon didn't intend for his skepticism to be obvious, but he didn't hold back with what he said next. "You were actually concerned about him?"

Nedry picked up the vines again. He was purposely avoiding Muldoon's piercing stare. "I'm a greedy fool who's thrown everyone's lives to the wind countless times. I guess I wanted to do something right—something kind."

"Kindness? The very thing goes against your nature."

"It does. I guess you can say I'm ninety percent selfish jerk with a sliver of ten percent of trying to be good."

"Trying?"

"Yeah, trying. Are my best efforts successful?"

Nedry's question was sincere. Muldoon could see he wanted confirmation that he wasn't always viewed in a negative light. It wasn't approval…more like affirmation. For someone like Nedry, who was surly and always walked around with a bad attitude, and who enjoyed getting revenge on those he felt wronged him—he could, quite surprisingly, turn around and do the right thing. His recent "best effort" wasn't even when he visited Hammond in the hospital.

It was when he saved Muldoon's life on Isla Sorna.

Several days ago, Muldoon had fallen down a hill and ended up in a river unconscious after hitting his head on a rock. If Nedry hadn't pulled him out in time, he would've drowned. He would've died and existed only as a memory. Muldoon still couldn't wrap his mind around that fact, especially since he and Nedry had fought before. Their fight was brutal, and they had nearly ripped each other apart. He also believed for a long time that Nedry had deliberately set out to harm everyone on Isla Nublar—especially John Hammond—when he released the raptors for Biosyn.

Considering those recent events, Nedry saving his life was no small matter. Muldoon was extremely grateful for what he had done. It was the last situation he ever imagined would happen, and truthfully, it was difficult to keep despising a person who risked their life to save his. That was the turning point in how they related to each other. From then on, they had more civil interactions. Respectful, even. Muldoon decided to keep his answer short and straight to the point.

"I'm alive because of your best efforts."

Nedry smiled to himself as he tied another knot with the vines. "Thank you for noticing!"