The first and only chapter

"Mister Masrani? We have a situation."

Confused, Simon Masrani looked down at the phone in his hands. A situation? "Is there something wrong, Doctor Wu? What kind of situation are you talking about?"

"Project R-36C has gone …rogue", Wu said hesitantly.

Simon blinked. He didn't know any experiment of that number. And rogue? What- A feeling of dread formed in his guts. "Doctor Wu. Is there an asset loose in the park? And what the hell is Project R-36C?" He paused. "And why are you calling me, not Mr. Oswald? As the park operations manager he is supposed to contact me if there is any trouble."

A beat of silence. Then Wu answered, his voice sounding confused. "Mr. Oswald is busy with damage control and asked for my help seeing how I am involved. How are you not aware of Project R-36C? You personally signed off on it."

Simon frowned. He thought for a moment, before he shook his head, before remembering that the other man couldn't actually see him. "No. I never even heard about that project. What was it about? And you have yet to answer my question. Is there an asset loose on the island."

Once more silence reigned. Then a pained groan came from the phone. "Damn it, Hoskins." A deep breath. "Alright, Mister Masrani, I apologize, but apparently there has been a case of …miscommunication. If not criminal action. To put it mildly."

The bad feeling was getting worse. At this rate he would have to get a second operation to get rid of ulcers.

"Doctor Wu", Simon began slowly. "What exactly was that project?"

Another deep breath. "Well, Mister Masrani, to make it short, it was an experiment in socialization. Of Velociraptors."

Simon blinked. Twice. "Didn't we have an experiment about Raptor intelligence coming up?"

"Correct. These are the same Velociraptors that were planned for that experiment. The experiments were designed to run side by side."

Slowly, Simon nodded. "Alright, so far I can follow. How exactly did you test their socialization?"

"Well…" The bad feeling grew even stronger "…you see, I protested the experiment. Multiple times. I thought that it was mad. But then Hoskins told me it was all already signed off by you, and the documents were signed and-"

"Doctor Wu. Are you telling me Hoskins forged the documents for this experiment?", Simon interrupted. He had never liked the man – far too little care for the dinosaurs – and had only hired him for political reasons, but this would be outright criminal.

"…That is the only explanation I have, yes", Wu admitted.

"Alright", Simon nodded. Whatever else, the Doctor was no liar. If he said that Hoskins forged the signature, then something fishy was going on. He quickly sent a note to his secretary to get more information about this mess. If Hoskin really did forge his signature, who knew what else he did? "Please continue. What about the experiment was so bad that it disturbed you like this?"

"Project R-36C was supposed to have the Raptors imprint and be raised by humans." Alright, yes, Simon could see how that could be dangerous if it wasn't done careful- "More precisely by four children age 5 to 6."

For a moment Simon was frozen. Then he twitched. "…I am sorry. WHAT?!"

An uneasy chuckle came from the phone. "That was exactly my reaction when I learned about the experiment, yes."

"Are you really telling me that you had children near some of the most dangerous dinosaurs to ever exist?!", Simon shouted out.

"Like I said, not my idea. I even tried to call you back then but was told that you weren't available multiple times", Wu defended himself. "And with the signatures, I thought you had agreed to everything, so…"

Simon groaned. "I might be rather easy going at times, Doctor Wu, but I would never endanger children like this. I-" He paused. "Wait a moment. You said the project had gone rogue? Are the children…?"

"The children are fine", Wu was quick to reassure him. "…Somewhat." Or not.

"What exactly happened?"

"Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. We created the Velociraptors as planned. Then, about a week before the hatching date, Hoskins suddenly brought in a group of children", Wu began. "As you might expect, most of my scientists were… rather disturbed by this. But when we got told that you had signed everything off, we decided to run with it."

Simon nodded slowly. He would have preferred more than just a bit of protest, but so far it was all understandable.

"Then, the Velociraptors hatched and imprinted on some of the children. Those not chosen were sent home, the remaining four began to raise the Velociraptors."

The sound of paper being moved came from the phone.

"Of the four children, there were two boys and two girls. Owen Grady, aged 5, recently turned 6, Barry Sembène, aged 5. Claire Dearing, aged 6 and Zara Young aged 5."

Simon scowled at the ages, but nodded nonetheless. "I see. How exactly was the group chosen to begin with?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. From what I heard, Hoskins was paying their parents money for their participation on a 'study', but I don't know any details."

Simon wrote down another note. "I see. And they tried to raise the Raptors?"

"They did. And were rather successful, in fact. Hell, at one point they even taught the Velociraptors soccer. Soccer, Mr. Masrani. They did everything together. The kids ate with the assets, played with them, and in one case even slept in the same room, though we reprimanded them for that. Far too dangerous, you see."

Simon grimaced. Yes, that much was obvious. "I understand. How exactly does that translate to the experiment going rogue?" And what exactly was that supposed to mean? "So far it sounds like it was a complete success, if morally questionable at best."

"…The main reason Hoskins wanted to use children was that he claimed that it would lead to a better bond between asset and their caretaker if they grew up together", Wu began. "And, to be fair, that seemed to have worked. But, well, it worked a bit too much." An uncomfortable pause as Simon tried to figure out what the hell the man was meaning by that. "Have you ever heard the story of Gua the chimpanzee?"

Simon blinked. "I don't think so, no."

"Neither did I. If I did, I would have protested more. Then again, I am not a behaviorist, so perhaps it isn't surprising. Doctor Phenex really should have known…" A sigh. "Anyway, Gua was part of an experiment back in the 1930s. A couple tried to raise her together with their own child, trying to figure out how that would affect the animal. Or perhaps they hoped that the chimpanzee would show human behavior and understanding. Who knows. Anyway, in the end, the couple canceled the experiment. Not because of the chimpanzee, but because their own child started to imitate the animal and they were getting worried that it would negatively affect him."

Simon frowned. Alright, that was interesting, but what was that- wait a moment. "Doctor Wu, are you really saying that the children-"

"Yes. It started slow, but after a few months, the children started to imitate the Velociraptors. They started to use clicks and hisses in their language, their body language shifted, biting and scratching during play fights, it was… rather unsettling. At the same time, however, they started to …I am honestly not sure how to say it, understand the Velociraptors better, perhaps? The children and the assets began to act as a unit. Like a pack. The Velociraptors listened to them. It was… as fascinating as it was worrying."

"I- I see. And then? What happened then?", Simon asked nervously. The more he learned, the more his worry grew. How the hell had he missed something like this?

Wu sighed. "The behaviorist for the project – a Doctor Phenex – started having concerns about the children. Which was understandable, I suppose. But Hoskins refused to stop the project. That is, until one of the children – Grady, I think – decided to take one of the assets out of containment and took it with him on a joyride through the park, passing off the asset as a stuffed doll." Against his will, Simon found himself smiling at the image. "That, coupled with the steadily increasing… behavioral issues of the children finally was enough to convince Hoskins to stop the project. Or so we thought."

"What happened?", Simon asked worriedly.

"Apparently instead of stopping the project, his solution to the problems was to threaten the children into behaving", Wu said dryly.

Simon blinked. "He threatened the children?", he asked incredulous.

"In a roundabout way. He threatened to have the Velociraptors killed if they wouldn't behave like he wanted."

Simon facepalmed. "Fuck." Yeah, that wouldn't go over well.

"Quite. Frankly, I don't think Mister Hoskins ever had contact with children, or he would have known that that would never work", Wu said. "Though the way it backfired was… rather unexpected, to be honest."

"The children let out the Raptors, didn't they?", Simon said.

"No. Sadly not", Wu said seriously. Which did nothing to help the sinking feeling in Simon's guts. "Instead, the children kind of… went feral, I suppose?"

"…Feral?", Simon asked confused.

"…look, there is no easy way to say this, but… well, they locked themselves in with Hoskins and… kinda tore him apart? And then ate him? Look, I am a geneticist, this is a bit outside of my field, you know?"

"…What?!", Simon asked. "They did…"

"Tear him apart, then ate him, yes. Or parts of him. Though that might have been bites while they attacked him, we aren't sure. It was all rather messy. I guess they really did spent too much time with the Velociraptors. Especially the pig hunts. Anyway, that's why I am calling. ACU is equipped to deal with dinosaurs, not four crazed children. They evaded capture twice already and an hour ago they broke the Velociraptors out of their paddock. I have no idea where they are now. They might already be on the ferry to the mainland or still be on the island. Anything is possible at this point. Please send help."

With a click, the phone went dead. For a moment Simon stared at the darkened screen, then he groaned and pinched the root of his nose. Feral children lose in Jurassic World with a pack of Velociraptors. And the children seemed to be the more dangerous part of the combination. Fuck. He could already see the headlines.

"Janice, cancel every meeting today. I need to go catch some kids."

This was going to be ugly.