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Jurassic Park Shadows of History Stage Five
By JPJunkee
STAGE FIVE
Dreams are an ability, that all of us use.
We power it with our imaginations, and
use it to build our lives into something more.
Why is it, that most of us never
fully realize our dreams? And that we
never want to share them with others?
--Kyle Warner--
CHAPTER 23
Wu stepped through the door, and walked into the main compound's lobby. Oddly enough, it was empty. When he had been here earlier, it was very busy. But now, it was night, and nobody was here. This was a good turn of events. With any luck, he wouldn't run into anybody.
He knew where he needed to get to. The Control Room. There, he would find out if his suspicions were true. That somebody had stumbled upon this compound, and was being held captive. He didn't want to think about the fact that he could be wrong.
From the lobby, he walked into a hall, that led to the control room. Lining the hall, were vacant offices. Some doors open, others closed.
He could see the Control Room door, at the end of the hall. The lights were on, obviously someone was inside.
He slowly walked down the hall, and towards the Control Room. Then, the door opened. Wu jumped out of the way, and into an open office. He was sure that he must have been seen or heard. But, the man walked out of the Control Room, and past Wu's office.
Wu waited a moment, making sure the man had truly left the hall, then he got up from the office floor, and continued to the Control Room. Cocking the gun, he took in a deep breath, and opened the door.
Lewis Dodgson smiled in the shadows. He watched as Henry Wu made his way to the Control Room. Wu was more tenacious than he had expected. It was a shame, that Wu would have to die with the others. He regreted having to kill Wu, but it was necessary. Unfortuante, but necessary.
Wu slowly stepped through the door, his gun drawn. Inside, he saw only one person. It was the fat engineer, Mac Brenson.
Wu slowly crept up behind Brenson, then spun Brenson's chair around. Aiming the gun in his face.
"Holy shit! Where'd you get that!" Mac yelled in surprise.
"No time for happy greetings, tell me now, where are the hostages?"
Mac's face turned white. "How the fuck did you----"
"Where are they." Wu said sternly, as he rose the gun's barrel to Mac's left eye.
"The TV crew's in Hallway B, Room 11. The others are in the containment cell," Mac said with his chubby hands above his head.
"How many are there?"
"Two TV guys, and about five guys from a different group."
"Who's closer?"
"Fuck you!" Mac said and spun his chair around.
Wu kicked the chair, and Mac fell to the floor. "Who is closer?"
"The TV guys. The containment room is heavily guarded."
Wu nodded and walked to the Control Room exit.
"You know that as soon as you leave, I'm gonna call Dodgson."
Wu slowly turned, "You're right."
After taping Mac to his chair, stealing all of the keys that he was carrying, and then locking him into a janitor's closet, Wu left the Control Room. He headed for Hallway B, Room 11. As he walked away, he could here Mac mumbling inaudible words through the gag in his mouth.
Wu smiled, maybe he could make up for what he had done wrong, by saving these people.
Maybe he could forgive himself.
CHAPTER 24
Sitting in his cell, Alan Grant slowly drifted off to sleep. He was so tired. It felt good to close his eyes. . . .
His dreams shifted from views of his life back home, then to his past love Ellie, then to the nightmares of Isla Sorna and Costa Rica. But, the constant shifting began to slow. Until it settled on a single dream.
Alan was stepping into the bathroom of his trailer at the dig site. Alan bent down and reached underneath the sink to grab a razor. Then he stood again, and looked into the mirror.
The face staring back at him, was not that of his own. Instead it was his fathers. His father shaved the excess facial hair from his chin, then left the bathroom.
His father left the trailer and walked into the hot summer sun. The dream was so real, Alan could practically feel the heat. But, why was he his father?
In the dream, his father waved at Ellie, she waved back and smiled as she walked over to him.
"Where's Alan?" his father asked.
Ellie frowned, "He didn't tell you? He had to leave early today, to go make some lectures in Georgia and Florida. He won't be back for a week."
His father shook his head,"No, I wasn't told."
"Sorry."
"It's not your fault."
Ellie smiled and pushed her long hair from her eyes.
"Uh, I'm gonna go for a while," he said.
"Where to?"
Alan's father smiled,"Wherever the wind takes me."
His father turned and walked away from Ellie and towards his car. He took off his hat, that looked exactly like Alan's, and stepped into the car.
Alan had never been present for these events, why was he seeing this? Why now?
His father drove off into the morning sun of Montana. The car was a small little Chevy Corsica. The paint had been worn away by the harsh sandy winds of Montana. He drove the car onto a two lane highway, driving the speed limit of sixty miles per hour.
Michael Grant, was sixty-seven years old. A veteran paleontologist, the man who had brought Alan into the field, and made him the intelligent man he is today.
Michael frowned. Alan was like this a lot during these days of the early nineties.
Living this dream, Alan knew what was coming next. . . .
Michael heard a constant honking of a horn behind him, he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw a pick up truck, driving like a bat out of hell, towards him.
Michael acted quickly, and pulled off the road. The other drivers were quite obviously drunk. He waited at the edge of the road, and was going to allow them to pass, when the trucks swerved from the road and began racing towards his car.
The truck collided with the back of Michael's stopped car. The drunk driver was killed instantly Alan knew, and some passengers were injured. Michael's body was rushed to a hospital, where he died three hours later.
Alan had been told the details of the story by Ellie, who had visited Michael while he was dying. Before he took his last breath, he had told Ellie something that neither her or Alan had ever understood,"We all have a choice. Choose wisely, my dear. The endless road to sanity is ever twisting, as is the truth of existence."
Alan Grant quickly awoke from his odd dream. Why had he seen this? Why was he his father in the dream?
He decided not to worry about that now. His dad had died a long time ago, he had moved on. He had other things going on in front of him, that were more important. Like the reason he was here in Costa Rica.
Why? Why had he come? He didn't need this. The money wasn't worth it. So, why had he come?
Grant had been asking himself the same question since he was thrown into the cell. Even though his body told him that he needed more sleep. His mind could do nothing other than think. And criticize him for the act of lunacy that he had just commited his life to.
Grant stroked his hands through his hair that was soaked in his own sweat. He hated to admit it, but he needed to talk to Malcolm.
Grant slowly moved his body over to where Malcolm sat in the corner. "How are you doing?" he asked.
Malcolm's eyes were slightly glazed over. He had a look upon him, that didn't suit his normal personality. In a low grumble, Malcolm replied, "How do you think I'm doing?"
Grant smiled,"Better than I am."
Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Can't you see?"
Grant was confused,"See what?"
"What is going on here. What's going on with you, what's going on with me. What's going on outside that door." Malcolm pointed at the cell door.
"I don't understand."
"Of course you don't."
"Could you please tell me?"
Malcolm sighed,"I had calculated all of this. That InGen would fail, and that people would die. Then I calculated, that it would be attempted again, and again it would fail. But the second time, even more miserably. Yet, knowing this, I'm still here. I'm missing in both of these equations. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm the one thing, that wasn't supposed to be present on Jurassic Park. You were supposed to be there, so was Hammond, Dr. Sattler, the kids. But I wasn't. I was however, supposed to be on Isla Sorna. But here. . . . I am not meant to be here. You are, Brunell is and so is everyone else. But I'm not." Malcolm took in a deep breath, "But knowing all of this, I'm still here. In the wrong place again. The missing equation."
"I don't quite understand---"
"You know for being a paleontologist, you're very blind."
"Wha---"
"A paleontologist is a dreamer. He dreams about the past. What life was like back then. He always sees things clearly. Maybe the things he sees, are incorrect. But, to him, they are as true as the Sun. But you . . . . you don't seem to see anything. It all just passes you by. You stare out into the night sky, and you don't wonder how, if, or when. You wonder why. You wonder why you can't make the big discoveries. Well, to me it's very plain and simple. You can't see the discovery, because the facts are always blinding you. Steering you away. That's why you're here. You saw the money, but you didn't think enough about the danger. Yet, you're a paleontologist," Malcolm paused,"I find this very troubling."
They were silent for a moment, then Grant said,"Why should you not be here?"
"Because, I know of this place's danger. I knew of it before it was ever even constructed. I knew that if I came here, I would likely die. But still, I'm here." He turned to Grant and smiled,"Suicide maybe?"
Grant frowned then looked away. Malcolm began to stare at the wall, and mumble, "We all die. Death is imminent. Soon we'll all be just a statistic." Malcolm shook his head, "The essence of chaos."
Grant looked over at Brunell. He was tensing his muscles, and looking down at the laces on his boots.
"Wes?" Grant said.
"Yeah?"
"What are we doing?"
"Waiting."
"For what?"
"Time."
"What do you mean, time?"
"We have to wait until someone comes to check on us. Then, we break out of the room."
"You make it sound so simple."
"I know."
"Will it work?"
"Why shouldn't it?"
"It's too simple."
"All the simplest things in life, are the most successful."
"And after we get out of the room?"
Brunell didn't answer.
Arnold Smith sat in the other corner of the room, watching all the other men with wary eyes. He only trusted one person here, and that was Harris.
He and Harris had worked together for almost four years. They had done lots of intense shit. But nothing like this. Never had they been captured, never had they been held at gun-point, and never had they been surrounded by dinosaurs. It was like something out of a nightmare.
Then, you throw in the fact, that this time, they have a superior in their mission. Wes Brunell. They had never met Brunell before. Nor, had they ever heard of him. But here they were, taking orders from him, and look where it had gotten them. In a cell!
He listened, as Brunell spoke with Grant about how they'd get out. He rolled his eyes at the plan. Who was this guy? Thinking that plan would actually work was absurd. Well, if it did, Smith had his own plan about what to do next. He and Harris weren't going to be taking anymore orders from Brunell. If they actually got out of this room, there was going to be a new team leader. That much, he was sure.
CHAPTER 25
Henry Wu had found Hallway B easily enough. Now, as he walked down it, he found it was also very easy to find Room 11. It was the only one with the lights on.
Quietly, he walked over to it, and used one of Mac's keys to open the door. Inside, he saw a woman sleeping, and a muscular man, staring up at him with hatred.
Wu closed the door behind him and stepped into the small bedroom,"It's okay, I'm here to help."
Wu took out a pistol, and tossed it to the man. "Wake her up please."
The man walked over to the woman and began to shake her. "Who are you?"
"There's no time to explain, we have to save the other hostages. Hurry."
The woman woke up groggily, and when she saw Wu with the gun, she almost screamed. But the other man, covered her mouth and said,"It's okay, he's here to help. Come on, we need to go."
The woman sat up, and Wu handed her a pistol. She looked at it, and frowned. "I can't shoot a gun."
The muscular man comforted her, "Sure you can. Just aim and pull the trigger."
"I can't shoot at a human being."
Wu stepped in, "Why don't you carry two guns. Mr. . . . "
"Madison, and this is Ms. Leah Owens." Madison took Leah's gun and then picked up his camera from the bed.
"Why are you taking that?" Wu said.
"It may come in handy," Madison said with a slight smile.
"Have her carry it."
Madison handed the camera over to Leah. And she took it reluctantly.
Wu opened the door, and walked into the hallway, with Madison and Leah trailing closely behind him.
They were walking silently, when Leah asked in a whisper,"Who are you?"
"I'm Dr. Henry Wu."
"Do you work here?"
"No."
"Why are you here?"
"Mistake."
"Are you here with Grant and Malcolm?"
Wu stopped walking. "Grant and Malcolm?"
"Yeah, they're the other hostages."
"Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm."
"Yeah."
Wu's face turned sour. This was not going to be fun.
"Do you know them?" Leah asked.
"Yes."
"How?"
"I ruined their careers."
Then, a person stepped out of an office, at the other end of the hall, and said, "Just like you're trying to ruin mine?"
The hall lights turned on, and Wu saw Lewis Dodgson aiming a gun at him, about a hundred yards away.
Leah held the camera close, and stepped into an open office door, hiding herself.
"You've gone too far Dodgson." Wu said. Beside him, Madison was holding both guns up in the air, ready to fire.
"Oh, have I now?" All around Dodgson, office doors opened, and out of them stepped over a dozen guards, all holding machine guns.
Wu began to sweat, but he noticed that Madison was completely cool.
"You realize this is mutiny." Dodgson said.
"You were going to kill me. As well as all the hostages."
"Life is expendable."
"Not to me."
Dodgson smiled,"You surprise me, my friend. I knew you had a strong heart. But, this is very out of character for you."
Wu looked over at Madison, and Madison caught his eye, and nodded. Then Wu looked back at Dodgson, "I was never your friend."
Wu opened fire, pelting three guards, before he dove into Leah's open office door. Madison, fired off six rounds, before he took shelter in an office parallel from Wu's.
The guards returned fire, and moved their four wounded out of the hall. Dodgson walked to the back of the group, and fired his pistol at Wu's office whenever he saw anything move.
"What now?" Aaron Madison yelled over the gun fire.
Wu thought about it for a second. He should have expected something like this. What do they do now?
A guard ran towards Wu's office, when Wu wasn't looking. He seized Wu by the shoulder, and pulled him to his feet. Then, the guard went limp, and slumped to the floor, blood gushing from his neck. Wu looked over to Madison, and saw his gun smoking.
"Thanks," Wu said, breathless.
"The least I could do."
Suddennly, Wu remembered something. "Hold them off for a moment, I have an idea."
Madison nodded, then began to fire his pistols out into the hall. "I'm gonna need some ammo soon."
Barely hearing him, Wu slid his machine gun across the hall, over to Madison. Madison quickly picked it up, and began to fire every which way, hitting one of the guards in the chest.
Wu reached into his pocket. It was there, the grenade! He pulled it out, and read the label.
Leah whispered to him,"Is that a grenade?"
Wu didn't answer. He pulled the ring from the grenade, then chucked it down the hall, aiming at Dodgson.
"Grenade!" Dodgson yelled.
Everyone of the guards turned to Dodgson when he yelled. Allowing Madison a good shot.
Madison stepped out of his office, and began to fire down at the guards. He hit one in the back, and by the time they realized they were being shot at, the grenade blew up.
Bodies flew everywhere. Madison was sent flying from his feet, and landed hard on his back.
The gun fire had ceased. Wu sat for a moment, waiting for the smoke to clear. His ears were ringing, and his bones felt like they were literally vibrating. But, he was okay.
Once the smoke had dissipated, he stepped out of his hiding spot, and walked towards where he had thrown the grenade. Blood and viscera were thrown all about the walls. It was normaly a sight that his weak stomach would have never handled. But, he oddly felt detached. As if he was watching himself in a film or something.
Stepping over the dead and wounded bodies of the guards, he noticed at the end of the hall, slammed against the wall, was Lewis Dodgson.
Wu looked down at Dodgson's body. The evil man looked much more peacful and child-like now. Much smaller than he had just seemed. Blood flowed from a gash above his eyebrow. And another puddle was spreading underneath his legs.
Wu frowned. He hated Dodgson with his life. But, he never had wanted to kill him. He knelt down, and reached into Dodgson's front jacket pocket. Just as he expected, he was wearing a key card. And Dodgson had the highest level of security. Now, they could save the others.
Wu stood back up, and walked back to Leah, where she was helping Madison to his feet.
"Aaron, you okay?" Leah asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My ass hurts like hell though." Madison looked up to see Wu, "That was good thinking with the grenade."
"We have to keep moving. Reinforcements will be coming soon. Help me grab some of their weapons."
Leah pocketed Madison's two pistols, while still carrying the camera. Madison picked up two more machine guns. And Wu grabbed a machine gun, as well as the only shotgun.
Together, they left the bloodied hall, and made their way to containment room.
CHAPTER 26
Mac Brenson, sat sweating in the janitor's closet. He had been there for only fifteen minutes, but already he was feeling claustrophobic. He was beginning to think that he would be stuck in here forever, when he heard foot steps outside the closet door.
Frantically, he began to make as much noise as he could. Banging his chair into the shelves that lined the wall, causing everything to fall loudly to the ground. He continued this for another minute, then stopped.
He could no longer hear the foot steps. He sighed, he was going to be forgotten in here.
Then, he heard a soft voice coming from outside the door,"Hello?"
Mac banged into more stuff, and tried to mumble as much as he could through the gag he was wearing.
"Is someone in here?" Asked the gentle voice outside the closet.
Then the door creaked open just a bit, so the person could look in. When the person saw it was Mac, the door opened all the way. "Mac? What are you doing in here?"
Mac gave the skinny man an angry look, and the man began to cut the rope and tape. "Who did this?" the man asked.
Mac spat the gag from his mouth, then wiped his lips clean. "Dodgson's in trouble. Wu is going to save the hostages."
The man looked alarmed,"What hostages?"
"It doesn't matter Benny. Just help me, and you might stay alive long enough to go home again."
"What's Wu going to do to Lewis?" Benny asked, his face childish and scared.
"The same thing he's going to do to you and me, if we don't stop him. Now come on." Mac led Benny from the closet and into the Control Room.
"What are we gonna do, Mac?" Benny asked.
"Wu's going to the containment room. And we're going to leave him a little present." Mac typed a few commands on the computer terminal he was using. "Are there anymore staff left in that area?"
"I don't know. I'm just a janitor."
Mac gave him a stern look. "Did you see anybody there, when you were doing your rounds?"
Benny thought long and hard,"Well, the only guys I remember seeing, were two guards standing outside some room. Wait! Were they guarding the prisoners?"
"Yes."
"You want me to get them out of there?"
"No, it's too late for them." Mac typed more keys, and accessed the security command, to open all doors in the containment area, on Floor C. Mac waited a moment, to be sure that the command went through. He fiddled with a pen, flicking it on the desk, then a green box popped up on the screen. It said: "Command Accepted. All Doors Open in Containment Area on Floor C."
Mac smiled, then quickly set Floor C to be locked off Floor C from all the other floors once Wu had entered that floor.
There were four floors in the main compound. Floor B was ground level, Floor A above ground level. And Floor's C and D were below ground. Mac was aware, that by locking Floor C off, he was locking all the people of Floor D underground. But, it was necessary. Besides, Floor D had a tunnel, that you could use to walk to the research and study parts of the compound.
"Now what?" Benny asked.
"Now, you need to go and find Dodgson," Mac said, never looking up from the computer.
"Where is he?"
"How the fuck should I know? Just find him."
Wu ran with the others through the twisting corridors. Each time he rounded a corner, he read the sign, that told where it led.
All he knew, was that Grant was in the containment room. He didn't know which floor, or anything. Currently, they were on Floor C. They had just taken the stairs down a minute ago.
They ran past blank, empty offices, until finally, a door labeled: Containment Area. All Personnel Must Be Accompanied By A Co-Worker. No Exceptions.
They opened the door, and immediately began running again. They took another corner, and found themselves staring face to face with two guards. When the guards saw them, they raised their weapons, and yelled something in Spanish.
Wu and Madison began yelling back at them. "Put your weapons on the ground! Put your hands in the air!"
They continued yeling like this for nearly a minute, then Madison just shot. He fired the two machine guns, hitting both men in the chest. Blood sprayed about the small hallway.
Both men breathless, still staring at the two Spanish guards. "Nice shot," Wu told him.
Madison licked the sweat off his lips,"Yeah."
Wu ran over to the room that the guards were standing by. He looked in through the small peek hole. They were there! All of them!
Wu took out Dodgson's card and opened the door. Then he stepped inside. . . Only to be jumped on by two men. The men through him against the wall, and began choking him with a shirt. He gagged, and tried desperately to say who he was.
But, Madison was already taking care of that. Madison strode into the room, guns held high. "Drop him, or I pump you full of lead."
The man holding Wu looked up and saw the gun in his face. "You're not one of them."
Madison smiled, "No shit."
The man let go of Wu, and Wu fell gasping for air. "My name is Wes Brunell, thanks for coming for us."
"Don't thank me." Madison nodded to Wu.
Brunell picked Wu off the ground. And then shook his hand. "Sorry about that. Thought you were one of them."
Wu massaged his neck,"Do I look like one of them?"
"No. But who are you?"
"Henry Wu."
Grant and Malcolm stood up in the back of the room and approached him. Grant said,"Wu?"
Wu nodded.
Malcolm shook his head disappointed,"Wu. . . . I should have known."
"Hey I came here to help you guys."
Malcolm arched an eyebrow,"Yeah? Well thanks a lot, Henry." His words were drenched in sarcasm.
Brunell broke up the future fight, "And who might you be?"
"Aaron Madison, CNN. My partner, Ms. Owens is hiding in the hall."
Leah stepped into the room, and sat down the camera.
Smith walked up,"You're the ones that blew our cover."
"It was an accident," Leah pleaded.
"Accident my ass." Smith growled.
"Stop it, all of you," Brunell said,"We're all tired, but we need to work together. Now, Wu. How many weapons do you boys have with you?"
Wu presented the shotgun, and the machine gun. Brunell grabbed the shotgun. "Anything else?"
"Aaron's got two machine guns. And Leah's got two pistols. The guards outside had some weapons too. I also have a grenade."
Brunell stepped outside the door, and grabbed the guard's weapons. Two AK-47 machine guns.
He walked back into the room, and handed them both two Smith and Harris. Then he turned to Aaron,"Give one of your guns to Grant."
Aaron walked over to Grant, and handed him a machine gun.
Then Brunell said,"Ms. Owens, hand one of your pistols to Malcolm."
"I don't need a gun, so he can have both." Leah tried to explain.
"Everyone needs a gun. Survival is all we want right now. My men and I will try our best to protect you, but you must also protect yourself."
Malcolm took a pistol from Leah, and patted the woman on the shoulder.
"Dr. Wu, I better have that grenade."
Wu handed Brunell the grenade, and asked,"What now?"
Brunell sighed. "I have no frickin idea. But perhaps we should sit for a while, and talk about that."
Leah looked around the room with a feel of uncertainty. These other men didn't like the fact, that she and Aaron had gotten them caught. She couldn't blame them though. She'd be mad too.
But now, as she looked at everyone in the room, she was beginning to hate herself for even following Grant and Malcolm to this place. Looking at these men, she didn't think they stood much of a chance of ever escaping this place.
In the center of the room, Wes Brunell was discussing their escape with Smith, Madison and Harris. While Malcolm sat by the door, with his pistol at his hip. Malcolm was supposed to be watching for other guards, but he looked more like he was day-dreaming. And then, in a corner of the room, Alan Grant sat with his head in his hands.
Leah frowned and walked slowly over to Grant.
He looked up, when he heard her walking over to him. His eyes were red and his face was pale. He looked horrible.
"Are you okay?" Leah asked in the most comforting tone she could possibly manage at her current state.
A weak (and probably fake) smile appeared on the edges of Grant's face. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Leah said.
Grant chuckled softly, "Oh yeah? Well, maybe you're right." Grant shook his head, trying to get rid of his memories of the dreams he had had in this cell.
Leah sat down beside him, and brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes. "So, how long have you been a paleontologist?"
"Since paleontology was still a respectable field," he said, his face was sour.
"When did it change from respectable, to. . . not?" she asked, not sure of what to say.
"Since the incident on Jurassic Park," Grant looked up at the ceiling as if he were remembering something from long ago, "I've been a paleontologist for too long."
"You're one of the best," Leah reassured him.
Grant laughed, "I'm one of the last."
There was a pause, in which none of them said a thing. Leah needed to continue talking. She needed the comfort of another person. This place frightened her, so she quickly thought up something else to say, "Where are you from?"
"Montana. I've lived their all my life. And you?"
"I don't really live anywhere, I just go where my job takes me," she smiled.
"And why are you here?" Grant got the feeling that Leah needed to talk to someone, and in truth, so did he.
"I was covering this story. I needed to get as close to the truth as I
possibly could. Following you here, was the only way I could do that."
Grant nodded, and looked away.
"You don't care much for reporters, do you?" She asked with a smile.
Grant chuckled, "Was it obvious."
"Probably only to me. I can point out everybody who hates reporters, it's in my blood. I just don't understand why most people do."
Grant smiled, but said nothing.
"Why do you hate reporters?"
"I don't."
"Sure you do," she said, teasing him.
Grant smiled, "Okay, so I do a little."
"Why?"
"Why are you so interested?"
Leah laughed, "I don't know. I guess I'm trying to get my mind off dying."
Grant's face turned grim, "I was going to propose to my girlfriend of three years. Then . . . . we went to Isla Nublar. When we got home, everything had changed. The media tagged along, everywhere we went. Especially after Malcolm let the truth go public. Reporters always asking us about what real dinosaurs looked like, what the truth was behind the InGen incident, how some of the men died on the island. All the stupid stuff. They even called in the middle of the night. Eventually . . . she and I broke up, it was for the best really. I never proposed."
Leah hadn't ever taken the time to listen to the other side of any story that she ever worked on. It was always just about her and her dedication to get the story at any cost. She had never given a single thought to the lives she could possibly ruin in the process. She was silent for a long time, till she said, "I'm sorry."
Grant looked away again and mumbled softly, "It's not your fault."
"Well, I was one of the reporters tailing you. So, yes it kind of is my fault in a sense."
Grant looked back to her, and stared at her for a moment, not saying a word. She could see that he was thinking about what she had just said, but it also looked as though he had drifted away into the past at the same time.
"What happened to your girlfriend?" Leah asked.
"She married another man, back in 98. She and I are still friends."
"That's good to hear."
Grant gave a painful smile, but that was all.
"Did you ever propose to anyone else?" Leah asked. As soon as she had asked the question, she realized how silly it sounded. She felt like she was in junior high, trying to find out something about that certain elusive boy that no one knew anything about.
Grant shook his head, "You mean, did I ever get married? No, and I don't plan on it ever happening again."
Leah frowned and put a hand on Grant's shoulder to try and comfort him. At first, he almost jumped with the sudden contact, but then he settled, and looked into her eyes.
Then Brunell walked over to them, and said, "Come on, let's get moving."
CHAPTER 27
The group walked slowly out of the room, and into the bloody hall. Brunell led the group, with Madison at his side, holding his camera.
In the back of the group, were Smith and Harris. They had agreed on what they needed to do, they just needed the proper time to do it. Now, seemed like the proper time.
Brunell was leading the group to where Wu had made it in. While, in the back, Harris and Smith, began to walk the other direction.
Brunell opened the door that separated the Containment Area from the rest of Floor C. And when he did, he looked back, and saw Harris and Smith walking away.
"Where do you think you two are going?" Brunell called out to them.
They didn't answer, they just kept walking. Making their way over the bodies of the fallen guards.
"Hey!" Brunell, started running after them.
When he got too close, the two other mercenaries turned around, their guns aimed at Brunell's head.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Brunell asked.
"You're not our boss, we follow our own orders." Smith said.
"Wha---"
The two men turned and strode off. Turning a corner, and walkng out of sight.
Brunell muttered underneath his breath, "Fine. See you in hell."
Brunell began walking back to where everyone else was standing.
Malcolm asked, "What was that about?"
"Oh, they're just---"
A scream from down the hallway cut him off. He turned around, and looked back to where Smith and Harris had just departed.
He saw nothing, just heard the screams. Then Harris came around the corner, screaming, his shirt was stained with blood. He hit the wall, then he began to run towards Brunell and the others.
When he reached Brunell, he grabbed his arm, "It got Arnold!"
Brunell shook Harris off him, "What did?"
Brunell heard a snarl, then he looked up. Coming around the corner, walking slowly, its oddly shaped head bobbing up and down. The creature stood about eight feet tall, and was black colored in the dark hallway. When the creature saw Brunell and the others, it snarled, then let out an eerie hooting noise. Then, its neck fanned out to either side, and its head snapped forward.
Brunell felt something smack his chest, he looked down, and saw some sort of black goo dripping down his chest. He touched the goo, and immediately he began to feel a burning sensation on his hand. He shook what he could off his hand, then he looked back at the dinosaur.
It was slowly walking forward, getting closer to them with every step.
"What is this thing?" Brunell yelled.
Grant answered,"A dilophosaurus!"
"What should we do about it?" Brunell called back, pulling his shotgun up, and aiming it at the dinosaur's weird head.
Grant was about to answer, when two other dilophosaurs rounded the corner, and began to creep towards the people. Now there were three!
Brunell began to step backwards, still aiming his gun at the first dinosaur. Harris hid behind his back, unarmed and defenseless. "What should we do?" Brunell called again.
Grant stuttered, but Madison said it for him,"I think running would be a good idea!"
Without acknowledgment, everyone began to run through the door. Brunell fired the shotgun as he ran, hitting one of the dinosaur's necks, and slicing holes through its colorful fan.
Once everyone was through the door, they shut it, and Wu locked it with Dodgson's keycard. A glob of black spit hit the door's little window.
The dilophosaurs screamed and hooted their eerie calls at them, but they could not get through the reinforced door.
Everyone took a quick sigh of relief.
Brunell asked Wu, "How do we get out of here?"
"We're on Floor C. We need to get to Floor B. From there, we could try and get to the Control Room, then maybe we might find a way to get out."
"Where are the stairs?" Grant asked.
Wu led them down the twisting halls, to where he remembered the stairs to be. They were walking for nearly fifteen minutes, when Wu suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Brunell asked.
"I forgot the way."
Malcolm smiled, then sat down on the cold floor.
Brunell turned to Leah and Madison, "Do you guys remember?"
They shook their heads, Leah said, "We were running so fast."
Brunell shook his head. "Well, I guess we'll have to find a different way up then."
Brunell began walking, and the rest followed.
Grant helped Malcolm up, "Any thoughts?" Grant asked.
Malcolm laughed,"Yes, but you don't want to hear them."
"Why not?"
Malcolm sighed,"Trust me, you don't want to know."
Grant nodded his head.
1/18/2003 12:57:31 AM
(Updated: 1/18/2003 1:25:43 AM)
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