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Jurassic Park IV: Costa Rica (Part 4)
By Carnotaur3
PART 4
CHAPTER 9: ROAD TO SHELTER
Feet scampered on the muddy trail in Heredia – or maybe they passed it—not much was certain anymore. Drinnan felt like loosing it about an hour ago. If it wasn’t for Knox who had stopped him and calmed him down, they wouldn’t be walking this trail. Neither would Knox. This situation made them grow closer as friends.
That was their fault before. They were both mad at each other because one wouldn’t respect the other. Terrible things can grow friendship. That was something people always said, just that now it actually meant something.
Knox and Drinnan saw before them the sign that Joseph was talking about all along. It was wooden, kind of old wood, and read:
PALMER SCIENTIFIC STUDIES RESEARCH CENTER
NO TRESPESSING
Drinnan gulped, “Not many people ever ventured this far in the jungle…and now we find this.”
“The Costa Rican government is gonna love this.” Knox suggested.
Knox ran off onto the trail. Many things puzzled him. Why would the Costa Rican government want one FBI agent to come here? Why couldn’t they? Was there something, they didn’t want to do for themselves, dangerous? One way to find out, he must go to the facility. He walked up the trail, anxious to see what it was. Dinosaurs or not, it didn’t matter.
“Wait, where are you going,” asked Drinnan.
“The hell out of here and to shelter. I’m not going to get attacked again by that thing.”
Drinnan followed him after he turned around to walk. After he caught up, Drinnan found he had so much on his mind. This has to do with something with Lopez. That dinosaur probably killed him. Who knows, maybe he’s still alive…somewhere.
“Tell me what it is that supposed to be in that facility.”
“To tell you the truth, we have no idea. All I know is that Costa Rica did not authorize it. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that thing that attacked us was in fact what they were making.”
“It’s got to be. Dinosaurs aren’t alive unless scientists made them. Remember Jurassic Park?”
“Who doesn’t. I have feeling this has a lot to do with Jurassic Park. Let me tell you what I know so far. Ingen’s bankrupt, that’s for sure, but there are a lot of companies trying to get out their dough and bake it. This is what I heard, do not tell a soul. Embryos were stolen from an Ingen facility about five years ago, back when Ingen was still going, but barely hanging. I’m betting this facility made these dinosaurs out of those same embryos.”
“You going to bust them off the spot?”
“I can’t do anything without further conclusive and solid evidence. That’s why I have this recorder in my pocket.”
It was all making since now. The dinosaurs were made here. They didn’t survive from extinction. This research center was probably dodging lawsuits by the millions. It’s amazing with what a bunch of money can get you in life...trouble.
Knox stopped dead in his tracks. There it was, Palmer Scientific Studies Research Center. There were dozen of people roaming about it. He saw a chopper being lifted off and two people, a man and a woman, greeting some others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moonlit clouds hung over the solid black sky, something that was giving light to the two people who were running to greet their friends and the others. They looked so bright and young. The man, Kyle Johnson, was in his early 20s. The woman, Anne O’Malley, was as well. Two bright young people who enjoyed the little things, in this case it was big. Anne was the happiest of the two. She looked like she couldn’t contain herself.
“Can you believe it Dr. Baron, real dinosaurs,” announced Anne.
Baron was confused. How could they have already seen them?
“Yeah, we saw them from the helicopter. They told us everything about them and how they found them.” Kyle said still smiling.
Greg found his way to them and shook their hands.
“I’m Greg Palmer, and I own this center. I’ll be giving you a tour guide; his name is John Bakker. He’ll be leading you most of the way…” John cut off Greg.
John started to whisper. “We have an hour till night time here. We don’t have time for a tour. If you like we could put them in that new resort up the road.”
“But I want them to see them now,” demanded Greg.
“A new and bright day tomorrow, Greg.”
Greg rolled his eyes then announced: “Folks, were going to have to put the tour off for tomorrow. Follow me to the resort.”
Up ahead of them, Drinnan and Knox were sprinting. Knox was going to know what this place holds and he was going to be held up for that information too long. The both of them, bloodied as hell, found their way to Greg. Knox studied Greg, from head to toe.
“You the head of this facility?” Knox asked.
Greg gulped, unbuttoned his collar, and spoke, “Yes.” He didn’t seem to notice the scars and bruises on their bodies.
Knox smiled. “Great, I’ve been looking all over for you. A couple of scientists here invited us along. Were here to see the animals.”
Greg blew a fresh air of relief.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible for today. But tomorrow, you may. Now, you follow me because we are just about to put some of these people in rooms up at the resort for tonight.”
“Actually, I’d like a conversation with you about this place, if that isn’t too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all, Mr…”
“Howard Jenkins.” Knox said.
“Good, in 30 minutes then.”
Knox said, “I’ll be waiting.”
Knox knew something was suspicious about the guy. He was keeping something to himself. It was so obvious. Drinnan saw it to. The way the guy loosened his clothing meant he was heating up inside. When you heat up, your most likely nervous. They watched as the group headed up to the resort.
CHAPTER 10: ROOMS
Knox and Drinnan entered office of Greg Palmer. Greg would be in shortly, but for now they wanted to look it over. The office was nice.
Polished wooden desk, degrees in science hanging up on the walls, pictures of kids, a clock, and many other things. Drinnan noticed the picture on his desk. It was a child, about the age of six or seven. Bright little youngster, it was probably his child. The door opened again, this time it was Greg.
“Nice kid you have. He yours?” Drinnan asked.
“No, my nephew.” Greg said.
“Oh.”
“Drinks,” Asked Greg.
“Bourbon, please.” Knox said.
“Same here,” added Drinnan.
Going to get the drinks, Greg noticed how they had bloodied cloths on. Wait a minute, they had scars on them as well..
“Not everyday men come here from the jungle with torn up cloths and cuts. What happened?” Greg asked.
“Oh, um…a little car trouble.” Knox said taking his hand and switching on the tape recorder.
Greg sat the glasses of bourbon on the table for Drinnan and Knox. Drinnan rolled his eyes and took the bourbon in his hands and chugged it down. Boy, what a day was turning out with him.
“Who might you be, sir?” Greg said pointing at Drinnan.
“Nick Drinnan. I suppose you’re…Mr. Palmer.”
“I am… What sort of things would you like to know?”
“What we expect to see, Mr. Palmer.” Said Knox.
Greg bit his lip again.
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Room 217 opened revealing John Bakker and his two guests, Dr. Sam Baron and Dr. Jane Kristen. Baron was quite uncomfortable about a sleep over in a resort that had no other residents other than him and his three friends. But the rooms were kind of nice. They had curtains over the viewing window and a balcony to see over. The view wasn’t quite good, considering they were on the second floor. Jungle got in the way.
“I don’t exactly have any cloths to wear for tomorrow. I only packed stuff that…is important to me.” Said Baron, not at ease at all.
“Cloths isn’t important, Dr. Baron?”
Kristen burst out with laughter.
“He’ll be fine, Mr. Bakker.”
“Ok, your friends are in a room right next to you, whenever you want to talk with them this door to the side leads to their room.”
“Thanks, Mr. Bakker.” Said Kristen.
“You’re welcome.” He said leaving the room quietly.
Baron threw the luggage he had on the bed and jumped onto the left side. He bounced up and down.
“Comfortable.”
Kristen gave him a smirk.
“But you’re not.” Kristen said.
“I never am.”
Kristen loved Sam Baron, with all her heart. She had deep feelings for him that could not be expressed and she always worried about him. The guy was always worried about something. Whether it was an outsider who wanted to help dig with them or not. He never talked about his feelings toward this but she always knew.
One time when he was eating lunch with old friends and Kristen he noticed a guy with a trench coat on. He kept looking over at his table, or so he thought. Within the last hour Baron went up to the manager of the place to call the police cause he had a hunch that the guy was somehow dangerous. The manager noticed the TV next to Baron’s seat was on and that it had the football game on. The manager told him this and Baron felt so stupid. Things like this always worried Baron. Greg Palmer indeed looked suspicious to her, but he didn’t seem harmful in any way.
Suddenly, the door opened to the side scaring Baron and making him fall off the side of the bed. Beside the threshold was Kyle.
“Opps, sorry, Dr. Baron.” He said with a stupid look on his face.
Baron grunted, “That’s ok, Kyle.”
Kristen laughed again, then, she asked, “Where’s Anne?”
“She went to eat over at the cafeteria they have over at the facility. I can’t believe there are dinosaurs here.”
“One starts to wonder if this is legal. I remember a “so called” treaty about banning the cloning of dinosaurs…” Baron was soonly interrupted.
“Please, don’t ruin this for me, Dr. Baron.” Kyle said.
“I’m not. What I’m saying is that if the Costa Rican government find this out, we are also to blame. They’ll probably put us in prison. I say, after the tour tomorrow we’re leaving. Don’t say a word of this to anyone. I do not want to get in trouble with the authorities.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kristen thought, “He’s right. Something might happen to us if we’re caught here. Costa Rica isn’t a place with fair trials.”
“Well, I’m going to take a shower, then, I’m going to join Anne.” Kyle said.
“We’ll come with you…and talk.” Kristen said.
Baron looked to Kristen.
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
“I’m kind of tired…”
“We’re going.”
Baron shut up. He learned earlier in his life that there was no since in arguing with her. That time had come yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, you have no idea where they came from?” Knox asked with a surprised look.
“Hell, no. For all we know they came from here. Right in Costa Rica.” Greg finished.
Knox decided to chug his bourbon down too. One drink and it was gone. Drinnan nodded.
“Do you avoid those rumors about the two-legged lizards?” Drinnan asked.
“We don’t know about those. To tell you the truth, we don’t know if there are carnivores around here. Yes, I’ve heard the rumors. Infants being unattended in the bedroom and the creatures eating on them. I’ve heard the same case with others. It sounds like recycled trash. What they were describing though seems to be Procompsygnathids.”
“Either way, Mr. Palmer. You did not get permission to build this facility.” Drinnan explained.
“Money keeps things quiet around here.” Greg said.
“Which is what I’m afraid of,” said Knox pulling out his recorder and tapping the stop button.
Greg was soon offended.
“What the hell is this,” yelled Greg.
Knox flipped out his badge, “I’m not who I said I was, I’m FBI agent Knox. And I think you’re under arrest.”
“Wait a minute, you don’t have a warrant for this!” Drinnan exclaimed.
“Like you said, Detective, rules don’t apply when you’re across the border.” Knox said, getting behind Greg and handcuffing him.
“This is ridicules. Son of a bitch, you can’t do this to me.” Greg yelled even more now.
“Bail isn’t going to save your ass anymore, is it?” Knox said giving him a kick with his knee in the back.
Greg walked forward out the door with Knox right behind him. Drinnan shrugged, chugged another drink, and followed right behind the two.
CHAPTER 11: THE TRAGEDY
Baron, Kyle, and Kristen stopped on the jungle floor in front of the facility when they saw Anne come out. It was now dark outside and they could hear every cricket chirp and every other animal that scurried around. Anne came out of the door with about 1/3 of a hamburger still in her hand and was eating it like crazy, savoring each bit as if it would become her last.
“Hey, Anne!” Kyle said waving his hands in the air.
“Boy I’m starving,” said Anne, eating some more of the beef.
“I’m just tired. I say we spend a few minutes out here and talk or something and then head off to bed.” Kristen said, thinking it over.
“Suits me just fine.” Baron said.
Baron heard commotion coming from the facility’s hall. It was coming closer. In fact, it was right at the front door. There they were, the two strange men who were gone to speak to Greg about the tour. And they had in handcuffed. Dozens of scientists followed the three men out.
“Shit, I have lawyers who can chew your ass up.” Greg was yelling over and over again.
Finally, Knox answered it, “Maybe, but you’ll be gone before that happens. Does anybody know how to operate the helicopter? Anybody?”
Baron felt like running back to the resort. Greg was caught, which meant they’d all be caught sooner of later. They were in deep shit. What would become of them?
“Sir, I didn’t know this guy had these creature here, honest to God, I didn’t.” Baron said walking with Knox and Greg.
“Sir, I understand, don’t worry. He’s made a fool of all these people.”
A loud crash came from the perimeter fence. It was very loud, busting Kristen’s eardrums. It came from behind the facility and near the gate. Sparks started to fly and the lights that were keeping the jungle lit in the dark were fading ever so slowly till nothing was left but darkness. Even the lights in the building had cut off.
Greg stood in silence watching what Knox would do or say.
“What’s going on?” Knox questioned.
“It’s a power failure. Just take the cuffs off me and let me find the electrician.” Greg muttered to him.
“No… no… I don’t think it takes an Albert Einstein to do that. I can do it myself. Is there an electrician anywhere? Anybody an electrician?”
Drinnan became really frightened. It was like the power to just fail like that. Something must have done something. The scientist stood clear when the electrician finally came and told Knox. Then, the guy went to the gate and opened it with a card and a code. The gate opened immediately giving him full access to the generator, which was on the left side right behind the building.
The electrician took the light and pointed it at the generator, making sure if it was all right. It wasn’t. There were a dozen claw marks from a foot and anything else. It was torn to pieces. Sparks still flew making a hissing noise.
The electrician stood for a minute. Something was wrong. He felt some sort of heat pressing against his face, and the smell. What was that awful decay that he could smell? Suddenly, he had the weirdest feeling that he wasn’t alone and he stood as still as could be when he realized that he was hearing a breathing noise on the right side of him. It was coming in heavy and hard, but it wasn’t forced, making him to believe it was from something much bigger than what he was, way bigger.
He turned his head over ever so slightly with the frightful sensation and the thumping of his heart. Then, he saw the face, the face of a carnivorous dinosaur looking straight at him. Its mouth gapped open, as if it just wanted him to climb right in its mouth. The fear was so great that the electrician decided to run and he did. He ran right through the gate and towards the scientists who were all pilled up in a group.
All they could here was the word “shit” being said over and over and then the unexpected crunch of bone as the carnotaurus lifted the helpless man up in the air through the gate. It became clear at that moment that nothing could stop this animal, not even a fence.
Their worst fear came true. It tore through the fence like it was paper making the wire’s fling everywhere. Some managed to slap a couple of scientists and cuts off limbs. The carnotaurus gaped towards the humans and in no time, they all scattered. Baron took Kristen’s hand and led Kyle and Anne somewhere safe around the facility. Greg was pulled back into the facility by Knox and Drinnan. Dozen’s of scientist followed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the left side of the facility, Baron and the rest stopped to catch breath. Kyle’s body was in a state of shock. He fell to the ground and landed on his rear.
“What is this? This can’t be happening.” Kyle said.
“Sorry, kid. It’s happening.” Baron corrected.
The roar became close again. And when they looked up ahead from where they were running the carnotaur was coming this way chasing one of the employees. They ran towards the fence where another gate was, and then they waited for the employee to get there to type in the code.
He did, he stuck in the card and typed it in quickly causing the gate to be open. The five took off into the jungle, not hesitant and thinking if they were doing the right thing. They just kept moving. Kristen screamed when she found her body to fall on the ground and her leg to get stuck in the thick mud. She got it out, but had to dodge the carnivore’s mouth. Baron noticed this and saw her run another way, the way the carnotaur first came into the facility. She was safe for the time being. But the rest weren’t.
Anne kept screaming off her head. If she didn’t stop she would probably attract others. Then, they got a break. The employee tripped and couldn't get up. They didn’t notice until it was too late. They looked back to see the man being lifted and then falling straight down to the ground on his head. They could hear the skull cave in on itself and the dinosaur decided to stop and eat off it’s prey giving the rest time to run off into the jungle out of its way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where’s the headquarters? Do you have a computer room or something,” asked Knox.
“Take off the cuffs.”
“I refuse to.”
“I suggest it.”
“Just take off the damn cuffs, Knox.” Drinnan said getting annoyed by the two.
Knox did so. Greg proceeded to rub his hands. Then, out of the blue, they heard the helicopter’s propellers. No, it was two of them. They looked outside, their expression turning from terror to surprising. They could barely make it out, but the choppers were being lifted off and with most of the scientists and facility employees.
“We’ve been deceived. They are leaving us.” Greg announced.
“Probably for good.” Drinnan added.
“The wusses. Come on, I’ll show you where it is. We might be able to switch on the back up power source.” Greg said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baron sat on a broken tree limb in the middle of Costa Rican’s rain forest. Kyle and Anne wouldn’t sit; they were too fidgety. Baron’s eyes were fixed on the ground. “Ok, Baron, what are you and the guys gonna do now? You’ve put yourself and others into a dangerous situation. You should’ve just guided them into the facility. What were you thinking?” Baron said to himself.
Kyle noticed Baron’s sad expression.
“It’s not your fault, Dr. Baron.” Kyle said when he figured out what he was probably thinking.
Baron turned the other way. Anne was humbling herself up. She knew that they should think clearly. And tomorrow morning would start that off. It was night and they had to think of some place to go and sleep.
The moon’s bright light beamed onto their faces, casting also on the leaves of the dense jungle. Baron looked up to the stars. “So many stars,” Baron wondered. “Who can count them all.” Baron usually thought about something nice to knock out something in his mind that was bad.
“Anne, do you still have that cell phone?” Kyle said.
Anne checked her pockets in a hurry.
“Oh, no! I left it on the table at the cafeteria.”
“We need to find a place to sleep. Oh, where the hell are we?” Baron said looking around the jungle.
“First thing in the morning, we’ll go and find some way back to the facility,” said Anne.
“I’m guessing you know some place to sleep without getting your ass eaten on.” Kyle said directing to Anne.
Baron looked behind him. There was something-odd back there. It was brown. He could tell that because of the moonlight shinning upon it. It looked to be something flat.
“What’s that back there, could that be something,” said Baron moving towards the object.
They followed behind him, curious as to what it might be. When they came into clear view of it they found it to be a roof. Better view made it turn to a shed. “A shed out in the middle of the jungle,” thought Baron. “They must be in a paddock. It was the parasaur paddock. It was right in the side and back of the facility. He remembered the parasaur. Sure they were herbivores, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The power is off of the electric fences. A carnivore could break through at anytime. Actually, the carnotaurus already has.
“That shed will have to do.” Baron said.
6/16/2002 7:19:28 PM
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