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Jurassic Park: Prelude to Chaos (1-4) Rereleased
By Ian Malcolm X
[[THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 2/12/2002. I'M REPOSTING IT SO IT IS BROUGHT BACK OUT INTO THE LIGHT FOR PEOPLE TO READ. ALSO, I HOPE TO GET LOTS OF COMMENTS ON IT SO I MAY BE MOTIVATED ENOUGH TO FINALLY TRUDGE THROUGH THE REST OF THE STORY, ALREADY MAPPED OUT.]]
[[THANK YOU AND ENJOY.]]
Episode I- The Call
-----------------------------------
Isla Sorna
Main compound
June 12, 1993 (one day after the events of Jurassic Park)
DAY 1 -7:48 a.m.
-----------------------------------
Most nights I wished that I actually had some work to do that day. I had no business
being there at that moment. I was supposed to only drop off my shipment, sign the
papers, and leave on the helicopter. But instead, I thought of some reason to do my job
quickly, too quickly in fact that I had five minutes to spare before the chopper was ready.
So I decided to fish thought my pocket and pull out a few quarters and see what these
scientists had loaded in their vending machines.
I came out off the main hallway and passed the front desk, which I happened to notice
was empty. That secretary that had done the paperwork with me had left on break,
probably to go look in the door that said “Nursery” on it, which I’ve heard her doing a lot.
A nursery in this place? What did the scientists decide to bring their kids along as they
figured out life’s mysteries? And what mysteries were they working on? I had no clue
what this whole entire island was for. On the front gate of the compound, and on a sign
nearby, it had said “InGen Corporation, Site B, Isla Sorna” which made no sense to me.
Some big-bucks genetics company decided to reside here for what? Location? To make
this island their little resort during their free time?
I didn’t know then but I know now what it was all for, and I have the scars to prove it. So
there I was, standing infront of three vending machines making my selection when I heard
a phone call. It was that annoying tone that you would here in doctors’ offices and the
like. That kind where you would expect hearing some blonde answer in a New York
accent. It kept ringing and ringing, digging and digging into my nerves. I couldn’t think
about candy bars anymore. All I wanted was the ringing to stop. So I put away my
change and stormed back into the lobby. There I saw the phone’s light flashing and the
tone was getting louder. Nobody must have heard it or it would have been answered by
now. And the person on the other end must had been persistent to wait this long for
someone to answer. Thinking it must be an important call, I took the liberty to go over
and pick up the receiver.
“Hello, Site B main desk.”
“Who is this?”
I was a little bit caught offguard by the sudden question, but I continued. “This is Derek
Henderson, a--”
“Look, son. (I didn’t like him calling me ‘son’ Give the phone to the secretary or one of
the staff around you.”
I looked around, already knowing that there was nobody around right now. I tried not to
show my dislike of this guy right off the bat. “Just let me take a message and I be sure to
get it to the right person.”
“It’s not for just one person. It’s for everyone on Isla Sorna. Is someone there of any
importance--”
“You’re speaking to one.” The man fell silent for a minute. Needless to say, I was a little
perturbed. Just as I was about to say another cocky comment to this guy, the secretary
came into the lobby with a weird look on her face.
“Sir, only staff may answ--”
“Look,” I interrupted, for I was instantly not in a good mood. “I just did you a favor and
did this guy a favor also by putting him in his place. Now he says he has something
important--” I then heard the guy yelling over the earpiece and took a moment to yell,
“Shut up! I’m telling her!” before continuing, “--that he feels needs to be shared.” I then
held the phone over to her and smiled as nice as I could possibly be then.
Without speaking and still giving the weird look, she took the phone from me and I then
leaned on the side of the front desk, listening to her conversation. I soon thought it’d be
best, and I know now that it would have been, if I go back to the vending machines to
finish my selection. But then...
“What?!” the woman exclaimed. A sudden look of confusion and half-fear took her over.
“Evacuate?? Now?! But why?...... They broke out? Oh my go.... No, no...... Are they
all right?..... But.... But wait a.... I’ll go tell Mr. Pierce!” She then set the phone down on
the side and ran off behind a black door. A few minutes later, she returned even more
confused and picked the phone back up. “I can’t find him! He went off to the river some
hour ago.... I can’t go!.... But I.... Who?.... Him?... He’s right here...”
And instantly I knew she was talking about me. I should have ran at that point. But the
distraught look of this poor young woman got the best of me. I then asked, “What’s
going on?”
She said into the phone, “Hold on just a minute.” and then looked at me. “I need you to
go out and find Dr. Pierce! He left in a gas jeep not too long ago and should be near the
river. Here!” she reached below the desk and I could hear the sound of keys rustling. She
then pulled up a set of keys and tossed it to me. “This is the keys to the jeep just outside.
Please go and get him quickly!” She then stopped as another man stepped into the room
from the black door.
“Give me the phone.” he said and pulled the receiver from her before she could respond.
He then entered a long conversation that I couldn’t here with the anonymous man. All I
could get out of it was that the guy was named Ludlow. What a ignorant prick! I thought
and stepped outside.
Just as she said there was a Jeep sitting right outside the door. I hadn’t noticed it when I
came in, but I jumped in from the side and stuck the car key into the ignition and cranked
it on. The motor came on beautifully and two seconds later I was speeding out of the
compound gate. I noticed that sitting next to me was a bottle of water, unopened. So I
took it and opened it. There I was, speeding down a jungle road with one hand on the
wheel and another hand squirting water into my mouth. The humidity here was killing
me!
As I came around a bend I noticed that the road split in half with one going along a ridge
and one going down into the valley of the island. I saw that the one going down ended
near the trees so I took the high road. About ten or fifteen minutes later, after swerving
through the zig-zaggy road, I came out onto a grassy meadow. Off in the distance I saw
and heard water running so I through the Jeep in overdrive and curved off of the road. I
then turned and ran myself parallel with the river. I sped over bumps and eventually saw
the other Jeep across the river up ahead. I then swerved over and crossed at a shallow
part, spraying water everywhere. I pulled up next to the other jeep and noticed that it was
empty. Standing up in the Jeep and looking out around me, I yelled out as loud as I
could, “Dr. Pierce!!!”
A couple meters in front of me, in the middle of some tall grass, a hand waved a hat back
and forth. Along with it, I heard a loud whisper, “Shut up!” A little more perturbed than
I was, I hopped out of my vehicle and walked over there. “Get down!” the voice called,
so I crouched down till my head was half way over the grass. Up ahead, a man--Dr.
Pierce--was crouched low and silent. In his hands he held a large rifle that he aimed over
at the trees nearby. I started to speak but he shushed me and slowly said, “Quiet, she’s
coming.” Who was he talking about? The secretary?? Did he purposely try to escape
this woman by driving out here? And knowing she’d try to find him, he came prepared?
These scientists were weird people.
But then I was silenced. For I had placed the water bottle I had with me on the ground
before me, and I noticed something strange. The bottle was half-full (or half-empty for
all you pessimists), but that wasn’t the strange thing. Every five seconds or so, the
surface of the water would ripple. Ripple. Ripple. Synchronized with that was a low
thumping noise that shook the ground. A flock of birds suddenly flew out of the trees and
Pierce cocked the rifle and aimed. I then looked, and the other half of the water nearly
came out in my pants. “Oh... my....God!”
Episode II- Rude Awakening
-----------------------------------
Isla Sorna
River
June 12, 1993
DAY 1 -8:13 a.m.
-----------------------------------
As Dr. Pierce sat there with his rifle aimed and I there about wetting my pants, the trees
began to shake and low and behold, a large animal came bursting out of the foliage. I
about screamed then. The thing stood on two monstrous feet, had two short little arms
and a large square-shaped head. My mind ran quickly through names of animals that I
knew and could not come up with what it was, until... the full body came out and then I
instantly knew what I was seeing.
A dinosaur. Tyrannosaurus rex, to be exact. A damn dinosaur!
The tyrannosaur must have been not quite an adult, because it looked smaller than most
t-rex skeletons I had seen in museums. The dino growled softly and walked over near the
jeeps, as Pierce followed it with the rifle. It hadn’t noticed us yet, and I thank that to
God. But yet he was cutting off any possible escape to the vehicles.
“Shoot it.” I simply said. I tried to speak as softly and quietly as I could. Pierce didn’t
respond so I poked him on the shoulder. “What are you doing?”
Pierce obviously dismissed my question. He kept his eye on the rex and said to me, “Isn’t
it astounding? I bet this is the first time you’ve seen one of these.” What was this man
talking about? He spoke as if he seen these every day here. That couldn’t possibly be.
Dinosaurs alive and well on the earth still. I thought they all kicked the bucket when the
massive rock hit Mexico some millions of years ago. Yet this one was standing tall over
the jeeps and sniffing them like a dog. Suddenly, I became overwhelmed in fear. The
back of my throat was beginning to itch, I felt a cough coming. Pierce looked over and
could see it in my eyes. “Don’t do it, mate.” I pushed two fingers against my throat and
tried to swallow it away. But something went down the wrong tube and I half-coughed
and hacked.
The rex’s head came up abruptly. It had heard me, and began turning it’s monstrous head
around in our direction. Without warning, the animal roared peculiarly, as if something
was causing him pain. I then saw it, behind his left arm: a small red dart. Someone shot
it. Over in the distance, I could see two men getting up and running down the river away
from the rex. The tyrannosaur soon turned back and stomped after them quickly. Pierce
swore and raised up out of the grass and took aim. He fired yet the rex didn’t stop nor
seem to react to the shot.
“Bloody damn!” Pierce swore again and fished out a box from the grass beside him.
Inside was two more darts, apparently loaded with some sort of sedative or toxin. I
couldn’t tell. Ahead down the stream, I could hear terrifying screams and shrieks
followed by a brief moment of silence. Then I heard the deafening roar.
Pierce abandoned fussing with the box and sprinted over to the vehicle. Not having a
clue of what to do, I found myself sprinting after him. I just about made my way into the
passenger seat when I saw the tyrannosaur reemerge from the trees where it had last been
seen chasing those men. It took one look at us, lowered its head and roared again and
charged. Pierce through the jeep in full overdrive and spun out. Two seconds later, the
wheels finally got friction and we were on our way, the tyrannosaur close behind us. I
kept looking from the front to the back, watching the dinosaur. When I again looked
ahead, I noticed we’re heading to a small road that disappeared into the jungle.
Soon we were encompassed with trees and jungle fronds that slapped us as we sped past.
The rex was still close behind, I could still feel the impacts of its large feet. I again heard
the roar and was surprised to see the rex burst around the corner and rapidly gain on us.
“S***! DRIVE FASTER!!!” I yelled.
Pierce apparently heard me and cranked down on the accelerator. Soon, the pursuing rex
was far behind and had given up. By that time I was out of breath while Pierce kept
driving fast. I looked over at him and said, “Man, I think it’s gone.” and leaned back in
my seat. He, on the other hand, still kept driving as fast as he could while looking over to
the right.
We had driven up and out of the jungle and had curved up onto a ridge road. It looked as
if we were going south, because we were following the river’s direction far below. On
our left side was a steep muddy hill while on our right, just five feet up, was some more
jungle elevated on a small cliff. I looked over and noticed that we were on the complete
opposite side of the island, Great! I thought. I had missed the chopper probably and
would have to wait before I catch the next one.
Pierce next to me slowly turned his facial expression and with one hand, reached pack
and pulled something from the back of the jeep. He placed it in my lap and I noticed that
it was some model of a rifle. “Get ready,” he then said and pointed for me to look
forward. He then glanced over and up at the jungle above us on the ridge.
“What? What do I need this f--” I was suddenly cut off by the thundering impact tremor
in front of us as a different tyrannosaur suddenly leaped from the ridge above to the road
before us. It turned its head and then bellowed a deafening roar. I tried to cover my ears
but Pierce hit me and yelled, “Shoot him!!” I then quickly took aim and fired, yet my aim
was poor. It only shot dust up from the ground below the rex’s belly, yet the dino didn’t
seem to care as it then charged forward at us.
“Christ!!” Pierce yelled and swerved off of the road, down the steep muddy hill. He spun
the wheel back and forth but had no control of the car. Down below, I saw a fallen log
and knew that we were going to hit it. So I jumped up and out of the car just as it
collided with the tree. Pierce did the same and we both sailed over the log and tumbled
into the mud below. I then looked up at the horror.
The rex had watched our folly with great interest and then decided to follow us down. It
stepped one large foot down onto the slippery slope, which began to give way. And soon,
this large carnivore was sliding down on its feet towards us, jaws open. We both yelled
(Pierce and I) and started to run down the rest of the slope as fast as we could. I slid and
fell face first into the dirt, staggered in getting up and resulted in just jumping and sliding
the rest of the way. In front of me, Pierce had somehow disappeared farther down and my
fear shot up. I was alone with a large predator chasing me, wanting to eat me.
As I then slid over a small ledge in the hill, I was surprised when I felt a hand reach out
and pull me under it. I was glad to see that it was Pierce and even more glad to notice
that we were in a small cave dug into the hillside. “Why didn’t you shoot it?!!!” Pierce
yelled at me. “Don’t you know how to use a gun??”
“I’m a friggin’ FedEx worker!!!” I yelled right back. We continued arguing until we
both heard a strange sound. It sounded like if you took your hand and scratched it down a
chalkboard mixed with the sound of metal scraping. Then I noticed the sound’s origin
too late. The opening of the cave was suddenly eclipsed by the smashed form of the jeep,
upside-down. The rex had thrown the car! We then braced ourselves as the whole cave
shook as the rex stepped over top of us. The car slipped down the hill slightly but it was
still in view until....
The large foot smashed the ground between us and it. The rex roared again and we heard
the scraping sound again. But this time, once the foot had stepped to the side, we no
longer saw the jeep. I began to notice that the shape of the rex was changing, it was
turning around. It knew where we were and was determined to get us. It stuck its large
head into the mouth of the cave and opened its mouth. Pierce and I ran quickly to the
back in fear. The rex continued to try and wedge its massive head into the cave but
failed. Once we had turned around a corner, I began to hear its sound fading and the
impact tremors coming and fading. It was leaving.
I then began to take notice into what the cave looked like. This was no ordinary cave, I
mean, no natural one. This was obviously man-made. It had boxes and shelves lining
this second hallway, while nothing was in the first (the mouth of the cave). Pierce began
to explain to me, “This is one of the emergency bunkers we had built around the island.
In case of such an event as today, we would have a place of shelter to hide in. Plus we
use them as little bases for our experiments instead of driving all the way back to the
complex.”
“Are they connected somehow with the compound?” I asked hopefully. If there was
anything: a phone, a radio, or a tunnel, we could probably get back quickly or have
ourselves rescued in time that I could get off this wretched island.
“There should be a phonebox somewhere nearby,” Pierce said. We then spent the next
half an hour looking for the damn phonebox. Finally, Pierce pushed over a crate and said,
“Aha!” I then quit fussing with the pile I was working on and stepped over. It was a
speaker phone. Almost looking small enough to be an intercom. Pierce pushed a few
buttons.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“Front desk. They should be able to help us.” When I heard that, inwardly I laughed.
The secretary was off doing who-knows-what and I had to answer the damn phone. But
now I’m out here and I was the one calling. But the answer surprised me.
“This is Dr. Patrick Jenkins, Site B facility director.” I noticed that this was the guy I saw
earlier who took the phone away from the secretary. Also, Pierce tried to talk into the
speaker, yet the guy didn’t react nor even seem to notice it.
It was a stupid recording!
“We have at the moment evacuated our facilities here on Isla Sorna. Over on Site A, the
park, there has been a terrible accident due to a storm. Right now, the storm is heading
directly our way. System trouble at the park also accounted for the accident. So we are
taking no chances and are evacuating immediately. If you happen to be on the island
yourself and are trying to seek help, phone the rescue chopper on its radio frequency
marked in your manuals located in the compartment of all vehicles. Good luck to all of
you.” Both Pierce and I looked at each other, the jeep was destroyed! There was no way
either of us were going out there to try and get it, with the rex probably still nearby.
So we had no choice. “I guess we have to lay low in here until we figure out what we’re
gonna do.” I said. Pierce agreed and we started to go through what we had to deal with.
Turns out, two hours later, that we had enough food to last us two weeks if we rationed
correctly, a few weapons, four small radios (that only communicated with each other,
which we figured out after an hour of trying), and a small computer. “You guys sure
know what to stock up for emergencies.”
“Of course.” Pierce said as he sat down at the terminal. He pushed the start button, yet no
power came on. “They must have turned off the geo-thermal power generator before they
left.” He said, and he then started to go farther back into the cave and later I heard metal
clanking noises.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Fussing with the damn backup power grid... OUCH!” and I heard something metal
clatter on the floor. As a reflex, I reached over and pulled one of the small rifles off the
shelf and peered into the darkness. Suddenly, lights came on in the low ceiling and I then
saw Pierce in the back, sucking on his finger. “I caught it in the thing when I twisted the
thing on! Youch!” He grasped his hand and stomped his foot in agony. He soon wore it
off and then resumed to his seat at the computer and pushed it on.
The screen remained black but a small rectangular box appeared that read, “InGen, Site B
Network Services”
We were into the system, but I couldn’t tell what system we were in. Soon, rows and
rows of icons appeared and I knew that we were looking at some sort of graphic interface
(I knew because I had done a lot of computer work at the office, yet never understood the
things well). Each icon had a little image on it, but I didn’t know what they were for.
Pierce must have known because he was clicking away through the system.
He clicked the top left box, which then transferred into what appeared to be the important
stuff. It had again twelve icons in three rows. This time it had icons that appeared to be
things that meant “Profiles, Staff, Schedule, Email”.... Email! I said, “Send out an email
for help!”
But Pierce shook his head and said, “That won’t help. Because the main generator is off,
we can’t communicate with the outside world, we’re limited to the island network alone.
The only person who could see it is someone else who’s stuck on the island and that is
using a bunker terminal.” My heart sank. I was stranded on an island where my life was
considered a rare delicacy. I wanted to go home.
“Well let’s see at least what we can find,” Pierce said and he exited out to the first screen.
He then clicked on an icon that lead to a screen with small video camera images in each
box. Then, each little icon transformed into living feeds from cameras that must have
been set up all over the island. Pierce clicked on a small box that showed a small video
of the buildings. The box expanded and eclipsed most of the icons showing its content.
The compound was empty. Nothing and nobody were seen anywhere. Pierce returned
and chose another video. This was set high on a ridge and overlooked the river valley we
had been in previously. We saw that the first jeep (my jeep) had been overturned into the
river. It wasn’t moving downstream though, for it appeared to be smashed into the river
bed. Pierce clicked back and to another camera also set up on the ridge. But this one was
different: it faced out from the island, looking at a convoy of boats and helicopters
leaving hastily.
We were stranded. Stranded on Isla Sorna with nobody to help us. Just then, we heard a
faint tyrannosaur roar over the computer’s speaker.
Episode III- Survival
-----------------------------------
Isla Sorna
Bunker
June 14, 1993
DAY 3 -3:48 p.m.
-----------------------------------
It had been two days since we were first stranded. Dr. Anthony Pierce and I had dared
not to venture out into the open yet. He and I began to divide up the space for our “living
quarters”. By and by, we also conversed on issues related to the island or not. We had a
heated argument over NFL teams (him liking the Chargers and I the Buccs). But later
that afternoon, I finally asked the question that had been eating me from the start, and I
don’t use that pun lightly.
“Tell me, what’s going on? What is this whole place?” I asked. Pierce sort of looked
over my shoulder then into my eyes.
“You don’t know? Oh, well... A few years ago, this rich entrepreneur named John
Hammond established the company in Palo Alto, California. He mostly focused the
company’s assets on acquiring most of the amber in the world--”
I butted in, “What’s amber?”
“Hardened tree sap. Over time, the sap solidifies and becomes this glowing yellow piece
of rock. Now sometimes, something will get trapped in the amber, such as flies, small
frogs, and even mosquitos. That’s where we get the dinosaur DNA from.”
“How?”
“Well, we first drill into the amber carefully, then take a syringe and extract whatever is
in the stomach of the insect and see what we’ve got.”
“But isn’t that a long process. I mean, I don’t know that much about genetics and
science, but how are you sure the mosquito has dinosaur DNA from sixty-some million
years ago and not some mouse DNA in it from two hundred years ago?”
“A lot of trial and error. But we lucked out and recovered many different genomes, er..
DNA codes that turned out to be dinosaurs when we injected them into eggs and hatched
them. Over time, we then took the DNA from the successful hatchings and began to
make more from them. But later on in the process, we noticed a glitch in the genetic
code, or the animal was behaving profoundly, so we went back and modified the DNA
slightly and hatched some more. Each batch we gave a different version, see?” He
pointed to a chart on the screen he was working on at the computer. It listed many
species of dinosaurs:
Species Version
Tyrannosaurs 4.1
Maiasaurs 3.3
Stegosaurs 3.9
Triceratops 3.1
Procompsognathids 3.9
Othnelia 3.1
Velociraptors 3.0
Apatosaurs 3.1
Hadrosaurs 3.1
Dilophosaurs 4.3
Pterosaurs 4.3
Gallimimus 4.0
Hypsilophodontids 2.9
Euoplocephalids 4.0
Styracosaurs 3.9
Microceratops 4.1
“Wow,” I said. That was a lot of dinosaurs for this company to have recovered from
amber. “But why? What for?”
“Simple. To make money. John Hammond was focused more on making these dinosaurs
realistic so they could be presented to the admiring public on a nearby island, Isla Nublar
to be exact. They named it Jurassic Park.”
“Hmm...”
“What you’re on is Site B. This is where we get our hands dirty trying to perfect the
dinosaurs genes. The factory floor. Lately, we’ve been witnessing a lot of dinosaur
defects in the genes.”
“Defects? What do you mean?”
“Lately, we’ve been observing over-aggressiveness. We were trying to tag down the
female rex just about the time you showed up.” I felt stupid at that time. “We were to
fire at the same time, on my mark. Steven and Joe were my two assistants, it’s really too
bad about their demise. That rex proved to be too aggressive.”
“It looked too hungry to me.”
“It wasn’t. It was actually quite full. We’ve watched the behavior of that rex for some
time and we notice that it fed on a stego or a trike and filled up on that. What it did was
attack and kill two of our men without needing to.”
“Have you figured out the problem yet?” I asked. I was really getting into this stuff.
“No and we probably never will. If everyone has evacuated, it must be for some very
important reason and most likely they won’t be coming back. That reminds me, we have
to get a copy of that manual to be able to call out for rescue.”
“How will we do that? We don’t have a radio and if we did, we could just send S.O.S. on
each frequency.”
“That will take too long. We don’t have enough time to do that. We might not even last
that long. We need to find that manual.”
“Well, who’s going?”
“You are. I have to stay here and direct you by radio headset. I can cover you by
scanning the area around you in case of danger. You’ll have to take one of those M-16s
over there and find the jeep the rex tossed. It should have a manual in it.” While he was
explaining what I was to do, I tried to squeeze a word in edgewise in protest. I didn’t
want to go out there at all. But finally I agreed and we began to prepare to exit the
bunker. Looking at the rifle I was to use, that rex had better not cross MY path.
Episode IV- Venturing Out
-----------------------------------
Isla Sorna
Bunker
June 16, 1993
DAY 5 -1:29 p.m.
-----------------------------------
After loading and readying my weapon, I peered out of the small hole that was our front
door. We had been preparing over the last few days for this and we would not like it if I
was to eaten right when I came out, I felt that way especially. We had ran constant drills
on what could possibly happen out there (to our knowledge, that is). The plan was this: I
was to have a radio clipped onto my belt and have a headset on connected to that. Back at
the bunker, Dr. Pierce was to monitor the various cameras and be my lookout. He would
also, over the headset, guide me where to go and what to do. Even as ludicrous as this
whole situation seemed, I agreed to those conditions and awaited for a good time to act.
It came to that day, almost a week after the evacuation had taken place, when we noticed
that they weren’t sending anyone back to retrieve unaccounted for persons. So we
decided to get help on our own. I was to quickly race around through the nearby jungle,
searching for that jeep the rex had overturned and thrown about like a cheap rag doll.
Once I had found it, I was supposed to somehow retrieve the manual from the glove
compartment. How I was ever to accomplish this was beyond me. After all, I was a
friggin’ FedEx worker.
After carefully scanning the area around me several times, I decided to step out onto the
side of the hill. Since Day 1 (we were numbering our days on the island now), the muddy
hill had hardened and cracked, presenting some amount of traction. I lifted the barrel of
my weapon out and again scanned my surroundings. Once I finally decided it was clear, I
slowly made my way down the slope. It was just past noon (I could tell by the position of
the sun and shadows) and the humidity was intense. It had felt, once I had stepped out
from the bunker, as if someone threw a hot wet towel in my face. The temporary shock
hit me so hard I had a harder time breathing, but once I got the hang of it, it actually was
good fresh air. After all my years of smoking, this island was probably my rehab.
I finally made it down to the base of the hill and began to enter the forest. I reached over
to my side and flipped the switch on the radio. Inside the headset, I could hear the light
fuzz of the open channel between me and Pierce.
“Derek, are you alright?” I heard him say. I tapped the microphone near my mouth to
confirm him. I didn’t want to risk talking out loud for fear of what might be nearby that
could hear me. “Hold on just a minute,” Pierce continued. “I’m trying to find you on the
cameras... No.... Oh there you are. Let’s see, I’m plugging your signal into the island
tracking network. I will be able to see a window of you while also view the island map
with the dinosaurs tagged on it.” I again tapped confirmation.
“Now, continue straight forward for some time. That path is clear, but be careful and
quiet.” Again, tap. I stepped over a fallen branch and lifted my weapon till it stuck out
sideways from my chest area. My head cocked back and forth, looking in various
directions where I had heard any small noise.
After a while, I began to see the grassy field and the river through the treeline. “Stop!”
My foot paused in mid-air in between steps. I scanned around quickly for any sign of
danger. “Just had to switch cameras, you were out of range of the first one.” I tapped an
acknowledgement and continued. I decided to keep it low and did a crouched walk,
where my knees were bent and I stepped side to side, trying to stay somewhat concealed
underneath the tall grass.
Suddenly I heard the tyrannosaur roar and I aimed my weapon in each possible direction.
In my ear I heard, “Don’t worry. The rex is far on the other side of the island. Go ahead
and approach the jeep in the river. I’m still searching through cams to find the other
jeep.” I acknowledged and started to high-tail it over to the river. I entered the river,
holding the radio out of the water, and even though it was shallow and came up to my
knees, I lowered my whole body into it to try and reduce my exposure. Half swimming
and half crawling my other hand along the river bottom, I made my way over to what was
left of the jeep. It was upside-down, with the bottom of the car dented inwards as did the
other jeep. The rex must have flipped it and then stomped on it with his big foot.
Gasoline and oil was leaking out and into the river.
I knew I was going to half to duck underneath the water and search the underside. And
having to do that, I also knew I was going to have to remove my radio so it wouldn’t short
in the water. So I finally got myself into depriving myself of my link to Pierce and placed
the radio on the “top” of the car. Ducking underneath, I could barely see in the river
water. I did however make out the features of the jeeps inside. I opened what was the
door and pulled myself farther inside. Thank God there was a small air pocket near the
brake and accelerator. I went up for a small breath and ducked back underneath and
began to search the car. To my misfortune, the glove compartment was already opened
and was bare. There was nothing here of use.
I came back up outside the car and picked up the radio. Standing up, I placed the radio
back on my belt and pulled up the headset by the wire. Once I put it on, I heard, “--ide
Derek, they’re coming right towards you!” I picked up my rifle and noticed some
shadows and forms moving upstream. “Hide Derek!”
(to be continued....)
12/24/2003 5:19:18 AM
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