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The Hunter and the Hunted: Jurassic Park - Chapters 6-8
By Chaotician
6. DEPARTURE
It was 5:00 am.
Sophie Simpson hurried down the stairs of her hotel, dashing into the car park. Shit, she thought to herself as she clambered into her red sports car, I overslept.
Still chewing a mouthful of burnt toast from a rushed breakfast, Simpson sped out onto the road, hurrying to the InGen airfield. She didn't want to miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. Missing out had become an all-to-common occurrence in her life. Simpson was an exceedingly bright student back in her university days, impressing professors by her quick thinking. Being so young, she was considered to have a very promising career ahead of her.
Simpson was always getting offers to join major research projects, but she always got entangled in a passionate romance at the wrong time, and thus missed out on many opportunities, letting her academic career suffer. Once, one of her professors had come over to her hotel to offer Simpson the chance of lecturing her theories to a visiting group of world-famous scientists, only to find her in bed with his twenty-four year old son. Needless to say, that opportunity didn't last much longer.
Simpson had the brains and will to succeed, it was just that her erratic, disorganized personal life was letting her down. Somehow she had to learn to get her priorities sorted out, and maintain focus. That is why she jumped at the chance to be the first biologist to do a live study of dinosaurs interacting with the flora and fauna of the modern world. It was a sure ticket straight to the top.
Simpson felt butterflies in her stomach, nervous about the history-making journey to come. Leaving her every-day life and comforts behind for an uncertain period of time, to visit a potentially hazardous environment, was not a decision she took lightly. But in the end, it would all be more than worth it.
Simpson pulled into the InGen airfield and parked her car. She saw Stark, Taylor, Evans and Richards already there, talking excitedly.
"You finally made it, eh?" Stark smirked at Simpson as she trotted over.
Dieter Stark was wearing a lightly colored, button-up shirt with brown trousers. He had black boots and a khaki carry-jacket, which had pouches in the front to put equipment in.
It was very quiet in the airfield, there were only a few men packing equipment on the other side of the runway. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, casting soft streaks of orange across the clouds.
Stark spoke in a low tone, "Alright, the InGen team will be here in about forty-five minutes, so let's get you on board. My pilot is already sitting in there, making safety checks. I won't worry about hiding you from him because the pilot's job is only to drop us off, then he leaves. I don't think he'll tell you apart from the official InGen people."
Simpson and the geologist, Evans, climbed aboard. There wasn't a lot of space inside. There were several crates marked 'InGen' crammed together.
Up the front, the pilot turned his head fractionally. "Who are you?"
"We're members of the Sorna team," Evans said simply. "We're just getting ready early."
The pilot nodded absently and continued what he was doing.
Richards and Taylor lifted a large, wooden box into the chopper. It contained all their field-equipment.
Stark leaned in, seeing the four stowaways sitting in the corner of the chopper next to their box.
"Just stay here until we leave," Stark instructed. He gave a brief nod and then walked off to make his own preparations.
7. ISLA SORNA
By six O' clock the InGen airfield was abuzz with activity. Everyone seemed in high spirits, contributing to the distinct atmosphere that something extraordinary was getting underway. Peter Ludlow arrived in a limousine, sporting a very expensive-looking safari outfit consisting of a checkered, light-gray shirt, a khaki carry-jacket, and brown trousers. He had a cap on, and a pair of sunglasses.
There were a lot more men climbing into choppers than Stark remembered seeing yesterday. He guessed that they had been contacted before his own group.
Ludlow got on a megaphone and addressed the team. "Gentlemen, if you could just guide your attention this way for a minute. I just want to announce that Roland Tembo will be directing the hunt when we get there. By Roland's request, Dieter Stark over there will be the second-in-command. I will assume position of supervisor. If at any stage you have concerns or questions, don't hesitate to speak to one of us three. It should be an exciting experience. Let's go!"
Everyone boarded their designated copters. Stark clambered aboard his chopper, seeing Richards, Taylor, Evans and Simpson still huddled quietly in the corner. Stark sat next to the pilot. He put on a headset and waited. In a couple of minutes, the choppers began spinning their rotors, preparing for liftoff. Within moments, they left the ground behind, heading west over the ocean.
Stark looked back at the stowaways. The men seemed relaxed enough, but the blonde girl, Simpson, looked nervous. Stark settled in his chair for the journey, trying to mentally prepare himself for what would be the biggest, and possibly most dangerous, assignment of his career.
Four miles offshore, the choppers broke through some low hanging fog, into early morning sunlight. Stark looked at the ocean. Deep, blue water stretching as far as the eye could see. Dieter was staring at the horizon when he saw sheer cliffs rise out of the ocean, Isla Sorna dramatically came into view. The island was volcanic, thick jungle covered Sorna's craggy slopes. It was quite large, Stark estimated it was about nine miles long and four miles wide. The choppers dropped in altitude slightly as they flew over the island.
The pilot pointed to a large, grassy field. "You'll be dropped off there," he said.
The copters descended slowly onto the field and finally touched down. Stark waited as the rhythmic thumping of the rotors faded, then died.
Dieter hurried out of the chopper onto the grass. Now came the difficult part, getting Richards' team away from his own party. Fortunately, the choppers had landed a fair distance from each other to avoid collision, so nobody was looking at them. Taylor, the field-equipment expert, and the paleontologist Richards grabbed their box of gear and placed it outside. Simpson and the geologist, Evans, hopped out too.
"Right," Richards said. "We'll load this box into that wrangler over there and be on our way." He pointed to a jeep that had been unloaded.
"Wait a minute!" Stark protested, "you never mentioned you were going to take one of our jeeps!"
"How else do you expect us to get around?" Richards smiled confidently. "What do you think we paid you all that money for?"
Stark shook his head in resignation. "Yeah, alright. Just make it quick."
They loaded the box into the jeep and Simpson, Taylor and Evans climbed in.
Richards held out a small satellite phone to Stark. "We have a phone too. When your team is ready to leave the island, call us and we'll drive to your location. Other than that, we won't interrupt you at all."
"Good, now get going," Stark said, nervously staring over to the other members of the InGen team, who were busy unloading, paying them no attention.
Richards trotted over to the jeep, got in, and they drove slowly away through the foliage, away from the InGen team.
Stark breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around at the environment, there were enormously tall trees scattered around. It was very quiet, just the steady drone of cicadas. Stark wondered to himself, were there really any dinosaurs here?
After the team had unloaded, the pilots started the rotors going again, and soon the choppers had lifted out of sight.
Stark went over to Roland, who was busy unpacking his rifle and ammunition.
"Hey, Roland," Stark said. "When do the copters come back for us?"
"In a way, they don't," Roland said, not looking up from his work. "We have to call them to get us. Considering what we’re dealing with here, it’s too difficult to make an exact time-frame."
Ludlow called out, "Gather around, everybody! The sooner we start, the sooner we can leave. Our tracking devices show that a cluster of suitably attainable animals are actually not far from here. You'll all pay attention to Roland's instructions via headphone radios in the jeeps."
Ludlow then showed the group how to operate the extravagantly-designed wranglers. One had a large, metal arm with a padded claw, which extended out to grasp the animals, others had enormous cages built on the backs.
Roland designated the hunters vehicles in which they would ride. Dieter was assigned a jeep with no doors, since the passenger seat extended out so that he could get a better shot a his quarry.
Stark was to ride shotgun, as he was also given a driver. The driver was a short, native Costa Rican, with a black beard, named Carter.
"Greetings, senor Stark," Carter said, smiling. "You just tell me where you want me to drive, and I'll go there. You’re the boss"
"Good," Stark said. "Let's get in."
Roland got into the first jeep with Ludlow. His jeep headed off and the other seven vehicles followed.
They rumbled forward through Isla Sorna.
8. THE HUNT
David Richards sweated under the penetrating glare of the sun. Wearing a white oxford shirt with khaki shorts, he was sitting in the front passenger seat of the jeep wrangler as Kevin Taylor drove. Simpson and Evans sat in the back.
“I just had a thought,” Richards said. “I’m actually curious as to what InGen is exactly doing. How about before we start our work we watch them from a distance to see how they go about it.”
“Good idea,” Evans said from the back. “I’m interested too, now that you mention it.”
“You got it,” Taylor said, swinging the wheel and driving back the way they had come.
Dieter Stark and Carter drove along at a relatively slow pace, following the others. Stark had put his sunglasses and cap on, and was staring intently ahead.
Suddenly, Roland’s jeep stopped. The other vehicles halted too. Carter shut off the ignition and sat back, waiting.
Stark heard Roland’s voice through the headphones. “There’s our quarry, gentlemen.”
Dieter leaned out the side of the jeep to get a better look. They had stopped on the edge of a small rise, overlooking the rest of the expansive, grassy plain.
Then he saw them.
A hundred yards in front of the team was a herd of about thirty dinosaurs. There were many different varieties, with some the size of a small bus, and others resembling ostriches. They were grazing on the grass peacefully, reminding Stark of farm cows.
One of the larger dinosaurs, with a flat-billed snout and head crest, raised it’s neck and gave a deep, resonate honking noise. Several other dinosaurs responded in unison.
“I’ll be damned,” Stark said quietly. There really were dinosaurs here, and they were as real as could be. He turned to look at Carter, who was gaping forward in awe, his eyes wide.
“Magnifico,” Carter said dreamily.
Stark breathed out through his teeth, the initial intrigue of actually seeing live dinosaurs had worn off already. Now he was itching to get into the hunt.
They heard Roland’s voice on the radio. “The only way we can do this is to rush them, causing a stampede. It’s a wide field so we’ll have plenty of room to maneuver the vehicles around to capture some of them. Here we go!”
Roland’s vehicle started up, the others did the same.
Ludlow’s voice came over the radio. “Just remember how valuable these creatures are. Be careful and try not to damage them.”
Stark snorted. “Sorry, buddy. I don’t know how to be careful.”
With a roar, the vehicles exploded over the terrain, kicking up dirt and dust. They sped toward the grazing herd. Instantaneously all the dinosaurs’ heads looked up in alarm. The animals wheeled and stampeded, thundering ahead of the pursuing vehicles. Some hunters were riding motorcycles, and they closed in on the herd rapidly.
Stark felt his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body. He glanced at Carter, who was looking ahead, face intense.
“Cycle, break a stray off from the herd and flush him to the right!” Roland directed over the radio headphones. “Snagger, stay ready. He’s bringing it out to you. It’ll be the pach…pacha…oh, hell,” Roland struggled with the pachycephalosaur’s name. “The fat head with the bald spot! Friar Tuck!”
Stark watched as a hunter on a motorcycle veered off into the herd, aiming straight for a small dinosaur with a domed skull. The animal turned sharply, deserting the herd and headed straight for the foliage surrounding the field. Most of the vehicles roared past to pursue the rest of the herd, but the jeep with the mechanical arm drove up behind the pachy as a couple of cycles surrounded it from the front. The animal backed away, sqealing in fear. The large claw of the jeep descended around the pachy, trapping it.
Richards, Simpson, Taylor and Evans lay in the foliage on the edge of the grassy field, watching the InGen team a few yards in front of them.
Simpson shook her head. “This just doesn’t seem right. The tactics they use on these dinosaurs are just so brutal.”
Taylor was viewing the spectacle through binoculars. “Some of those dinos are pretty ornery, Soph. They gotta ensure no mistakes happen, and – holy shit!”
“What is it?”, the others turned to look at Taylor.
“Look up there,” Taylor spluttered, pointing to a large ridge which was on the other side of the field. It was a few hundred metres high. On the ridge were actually five people, staring down at the hunt.
“Jesus,” Richards said. “Who the hell are they?”
“I recognize one of them!” Taylor shouted. “The short guy in the blue jacket, holding the lindstradt air rifle. It’s Eddie Carr!”
“Who?”
“Carr’s a field-equipment expert like me. He’s damn near one of the best in the business. Whatever those people are doing here, it must be pretty big if they’ve got Eddie.”
“See the man in black, with his arm around that dark girl?” Simpson said, excitedly.
“Yeah.”
“He’s that scientist who was on television a couple of years ago, claiming that these dinosaurs existed, and nobody believed him.”
“You’re right,” Taylor said. “I wonder what he’s doing here?”
“I guess they’re doing the same thing all of us are,” Richards smiled. “Trying to get in on the act first.”
Dieter Stark was awestruck as two long-necked dinosaurs, the size of buildings, lumbered out of the foliage into the path of the hunters. He watched as a hunter on a motorcycle drove right under the enormous animals’ legs.
Roland’s voice crackled in his ears.” Dieter! Get into the outrigger. You’re closing in on a corin…coronin…” Roland struggled to say corinthosaur.
Stark spoke back. “Say that again, say that again, Roland. A what?”
“The one…the one with the big red horn. The pompadour! Elvis!”
Stark laughed at Roland’s reference, but understood.
“Take me out, Carter.” Dieter grabbed the tranquilizer rifle as his seat extended out the side of the jeep. He had a clear shot at the large dinosaur. Stark aimed at the neck, feeling the nervous perspiration dot his forehead.
He fired, hitting the carinthosaur in the upper neck. The animal trumpeted in alarm and pain, staggering off from the herd. Several vehicles pulled up, and hunters hurried out, surrounding the distressed creature.
Carter shut off the gas, and Dieter scrambled out to direct the catch.
“Go for the legs! The legs!” Stark shouted. “Watch the tail!”
One hunter flung a rope lasso around the huge animal’s neck, as did another. The carinthosaur roared and flung it’s head upward, the two hunters were lifted into air as well. Another couple of hunters wrapped ropes around the dinosaur’s legs. Eventually, the tranquilizer took effect and the carinthosaur collapsed heavily to the ground in a heap of dust.
Stark smiled to himself. It was really satisfying to overwhelm an animal this large.
“Let’s get this bad boy locked up.”
- Further chapters coming soon
11/20/2002 7:16:49 PM
(Updated: 7/7/2003 11:11:35 PM)
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