The rain continued pouring down in buckets. Electricity spotty. Half the time, I could only see when lightning flashed.
I trotted into a large enclosure, penned in along both sides by towering electric fences. Their red lights sometimes provided illumination.
No dinosaurs of any kind within sight so far, just a lot of jungle ferns. I would have enjoyed the beautiful night stroll, if not for the rain and storm winds.
At first, a straight shot along the electric tram tracks, no guesswork. I saw...okay in the dark. Although not presented with a lot of opportunities to test my night vision, my eyes adjusted pretty well to the night. Plus I had no difficulty catching the rust and oil scents exuded by the equipment.
Unfortunately, we came to a fork in the road, and in between humans not getting out of their vehicles and leaving scents, not knowing which vehicle to sniff after, and rain washing everything off, I didn't know where to go next.
Not one of those walk-around type zoos that I saw in magazines, more like those `car safari' places, and a lot cleaner...inconveniently clean.
Cassie pulled a small pen light out of her pocket, shining it about.
A sign pointing right said `Proceratosaurus.' The left one read `Parasaurolophus.' Though I loved my Parasaurolophus doll, I was supposed to help Cassie. "Which way do you think we should go?"
"Don't you have any hunting instincts?"
"You're asking me to hunt an automobile. There's no people smells around here." I sniffed. "Except some mechanic guy who came in here a year ago."
She pointed the flashlight at the ground. "What about all that mess over there?"
To the right I spotted fallen branches, wood and leaves flattened by something heavy, a glob of mud with a tire impression. "Wow. You sure you're not a dinosaur? Those are great hunting instincts."
"Um, I don't know. I learn stuff from my dad."
"A few minutes ago, I fooled your dad into thinking I was a statue."
Cassie chortled. "You did not!"
I shrugged.
She giggled. "I'd like to see that. You think it's on the security cameras?"
"I...don't know." I blew a raspberry, getting serious again. "I guess we're visiting the..." I stared at the sign. "Procer, protero, prosero..."
"Proceratosaurus," she corrected.
"Yeah, that thing, whatever it is."
"I thought you had dinosaur dolls."
"I do, but children don't generally tell their parents, `Hey mom, I want a Protoserus doll.'"
"Proceratosaurus...You actually have a mom? I thought you were made in a lab.
"Okay, so Mr. Hammond never gave me one. They're not a big seller in the toy world."
"Anyway, I'm sure we'll get to see one soon enough."
"Hopefully safe behind a fence." I marked a section of ground with my scent.
"You don't even know what one looks like...did you just pee?"
"Um, no?"
"You peed!"
"Yeah, so what? I had to go!"
Cassie tapped my sides with her galoshes.
"Kid, I'm not literally a horse. You can give me verbal instructions."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Shaking my head, padded forward. The girl pointed out some burnt rubber and swerving tire tracks, obscured by fallen tree debris.
"Great job, Cassie! You're a regular Sherlock Holmes!"
"You know about that too?" she groaned.
"I told you I read."
A dead goose lay next to the fence, head and neck strangely missing. I swallowed, hoping we wouldn't meet the thing that killed it.
"You think dad found the Nedry guy yet?"
I shrugged. "It sounded like he was being tugged in all kinds of directions. In fact, I remember seeing people going out here in one of those electric cars...and I saw one of them flipped upside down on a security camera."
She sat up, startled. I could feel her fingernails driving into my back. "And when were you going to tell me that?"
"I don't know. You seemed super excited to see the T-Rex, so I didn't see the point of adding more terrifying tasks to do."
I followed the erratic, semi-fishtailing tracks for a quarter mile, kind of whistling to myself.
Cassie leaned in. "What are you humming?"
"Cantad al Señor. Why?"
"That's a Jesus song."
"So?"
"You're a dinosaur. You lived millions of years ago. Why would you sing a Jesus song?"
"Um, because it's catchy? There aren't many radio stations out here."
She opened her mouth to say something, but I'd just caught a glimpse of eyes in the darkness, behind a fence...a fence that seemed inactive. "Shhh!"
I threw her off my back, pushing her behind me.
"What do you see?" she whispered.
I squinted at the rustling foliage. "Not sure. I think it's those...Procetosauruses."
"Proceratosaurus—"
I elbowed her, hoping she'd get the hint.
"At least we got an electric fence."
A stripey green head and fin bearing snoot poked out between gaps in the allegedly electrified wires.
It bared a mouth of pointy teeth, hissing like an angry cat, but with fearsome volume.
"Um, about that..."