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Jurassic Park Shadows of History Stage One
By JPJunkee
FIRST STAGE
"Life is a belief that almost none of us ever
actually realize. Life can pass us all by. And we would never
even be aware of it. It scares me to think, that many of us
have a life, but have not ever lived it."
--Kyle Warner--
CHAPTER 1
Summer 2002
Grant sat shaking his head, as he watched the graphic images on the television in his hot trailer. The TV showed clips of the terror that happened over the weekend down in Costa Rica. Houses were torn apart, and there were shreds of clothing and other human things thrown everywhere.
An American reporter walked along the dirt road of the small, destroyed village. The camera was focused on the reporter, but on the side of the screen, Grant could see a pile of lifeless human bodies. The reporter looked strangely detached. Like she couldn't see any of the horrific mayhem surrounding her.
The reporter turned back to the camera, and said, "Hello, this is Leah Owens, reporting to you down in the small town of La Pieda, in Costa Rica. Last night, this peaceful town was attacked by creatures straight out of the depths of hell."
The camera cut to Owens interviewing an old Costa Rican woman, that spoke English. "Please, explain what you saw," Leah told the woman.
The woman stuttered for a moment, and fear welled up in her eyes, then she said, "There were many of them. Hordes of them. They attacked my house, and my neighbor's house. I was lucky, as was my family, but they took my dog."
"What did they look like?" Owens asked, trying to sound calming, but instead sounding impatient.
The woman hesitated for a moment, then told Owens in a whimpering voice, "They were demons."
The camera switched to Leah Owens crouching over the sand of the village. "The attackers left no signs as to what they might be. No fur, no blood, no teeth that may have fallen out. Except for this." The camera moved from Owens' face to the sand below her. In the sand, a foot away from Leah was a footprint.
Grant leaned in closer to see the foot print better; fearing what he had already known to be true.
The footprint showed a three towed imprint, about two and a half feet long. Leah began to speak, "As you can see, there is no way to tell for sure what these creatures were. But, it seems very possible that it may be some of the creatures from Isla Sorna. The island populated by InGen's dinosaurs. Was what attacked this peace-loving village, a dinosaur? Stay tuned as I will remain here until this mystery is solved."
The story ended, and showed the newsroom where the other reporters began speaking about other news.
Grant sighed. It was happening again. Since his escape from Isla Sorna a year ago, there had been a few instances, where unexplained events, including unidentified creatures, had occurred. Some of them resulted in loss of life, all occurring in or around Costa Rica. But for six months, such instances had ceased.
Until now.
Grant knew that it could be nothing other than one of InGen's dinosaurs that was behind this. And judging from the footprint, it was likely a large group of carnosaurs. It was impossible to determine anything else.
Grant turned off the TV, and stood up from his dirty ragged sofa. After escaping Isla Sorna last time, he was paid for his services by the Kirby's and had even got a small chunk of change from the near bankrupt InGen. The money was enough to keep him going for a while, but, it was now starting to run out.
Thankfully though, people's interest in dinosaurs had begun to rise again, and funding was a little easier to find, if you searched for it. He was near broke again, and he would need to find more funds within a month, or his dig sites would be shut down. Soon, he would be finding himself in the unemployment line.
He thought again about the Costa Rican incident. Something had to be done. The killings had to stop! But he was not the man for the job. He had spent enough time around living dinosaurs to know that it wasn't worth going back to. There was no way, that he'd ever go down to Costa Rica.
CHAPTER 2
Leah Owens stood in the shade of a big tree. It was hot here, hot and humid. Mosquitoes filled the air, making it a chore to breathe, and not suck one in. She hated Costa Rica, she hated the jungle, and she hated the outdoors. Why had her boss picked her?
Sure, this story would prove to be very good for her career. But, she would honestly rather be covering a different one. Maybe something indoors, and in New York or something. Ah, civilization. She missed it.
Sure, she was in civilization now, but it was uncivilized civilization. If there was such a thing.
Her cameraman walked over to her. Aaron Madison was built like an Olympic weight lifter. And he kind of had to be, carrying that big old camera around all day. Owens had worked alongside Aaron Madison for almost a year now. He wasn't exactly what you'd call a friend, but he was someone to talk to.
Madison sat down on a large rock across from Leah, laid his camera atop his lap, and sighed. His skin was red, and sweat dripped from his face to his chest. He was hot, too.
Leah was about to complain about something, when Madison spoke, "Leah, you better come look at this. I found something you'd want to see."
The two of them walked through the village, and out through it's other side. Then, Madison led Owens through a patch of thick jungle, for about five minutes. Until finally, they reached what Madison had found.
Lying before them, surrounded by the forest’s thick unforgiving foliage, was a body.
The body was huge. It was about twenty feet long, and was covered in thick black scales. Owens walked closer to the dead animal. Then, the stench hit her. It was so horrible, it caused bile to rise in her throat. She gagged for a moment, and then walked closer.
The beast had been dead for a while, that much was certain. It was lying with its back to her, so she slowly moved around the carcass, so she could see its underside.
She moved along the muscular tail, and walked slowly past the long birdlike legs, then she saw the reason for the vile smell.
The behemoth's stomach had been torn open, its innards were spilled out onto the ground. She took a quick step back, but couldn't avert her stare from the shredded viscera that had been taken out of the great creature's belly. Whatever had cut it open, had taken time to destroy all that came out.
She shivered.
Leah looked past the stomach to the arms. They were long and nimble, with three fingers per hand. Then she moved her gaze to the creature’s thick powerful neck. Then her eyes became fixed upon the head.
It was enormous. Long and narrow, with serrated dagger-like teeth protruding from the incredible maw. Its eyes were open, and a steady feeling of terror and hate consumed them.
She was staring at a demon.
CHAPTER 3
Grant stood in the hot blistering sun. He looked down at his newest discovery. Last week he had found a skeleton of a Carnotaurus. He wasn't to fond of the carnivores lately, except for maybe the Velociraptors. But Carnotaurus had always been one of his biggest fascinations in the world of dinosaurs.
One reason was the appearance. Carnotaurs stood about twelve feet high, and were a little over twenty feet long. They had very muscular tails and legs, but the rest of the body seemed rather weak.
Their arms were stubby little things that probably had a smaller use, than a rexes to itself. Their necks were powerful, but not nearly enough to make up for the jaw.
A Carnotaur's head is much boxier in appearance than many other carnosaurs, it had small pointed horns above each eye that earned the dinosaur its name, "meat-eating bull".
The eyes were small, and in a world where seeing the other guy first meant everything, vision was a must.
And, its jaw was even more puzzling. The lower jaw was thin and weak. And, its teeth were also thin. Sharp? Yes, but not nearly strong enough to crunch bone.
Carnotaurus was such a successful carnivore. But, it had none of the weapons that would seem to make it so. Maybe it was a scavenger?
Possible. But Grant hated to demote these great hunters of the past, and to think of them as mere scavengers. Which is why he hated the theory about T-Rex being a scavenger. After all, he had proof that it wasn't. He had nearly been eaten by one on several occasions.
He shook his head. If only bones could talk, he'd have all the answers. Or, a whisper in the back of his mind told him, you could go to Isla Sorna, it would tell you all the answers.
No! He had had enough of seeing real dinosaurs in the flesh. He would not go back, not ever!
Slowly his mind drifted to Billy Brennan. His star pupil, and one of his only true friends. Billy had left the dig site after he graduated late last year, to begin his own dig sites. They kept in touch, but not nearly as much as they should. But, that came with the job. Paleontology it seemed, was becoming a profession of loneliness and despair. Where nothing you wanted ever came true. Like becoming wealthy.
He had once thought that by going to Isla Sorna and Nublar, would give him a little fame. And, with fame came money, and with money came a life.
Grant realized now, that he had no life, and that until he retired he would never have one. Paleontology, it seemed, owned his life, and was too greedy to share.
Grant heard footsteps behind him, and he turned around. Walking up the hill behind him, was one of his diggers, he was carrying a phone.
Grant couldn't believe it, he was standing in his trailer, talking on the phone, with John Hammond.
Hammond was saying, "Grant, I know you're not to fond of me, but listen. It wasn't me. It wasn't InGen. We never bred one. Okay?"
"Hold on a second, what are you talking about? You never bred what?"
"You haven't heard?" asked Hammond. He sounded relieved.
"About what? "Grant asked, he was becoming impatient. He assumed that the old man was talking about the Costa Rican incident, but he wasn't sure.
Hammond sighed, then said, "Turn your TV to CNN."
Grant turned on his TV. It was still on CNN, since he had been watching it earlier.
It showed the same reporter, except now she was standing in the middle of a jungle, and behind her was a----
"You see? We never bred one," Hammond said.
"What the hell do you mean you never bred one? That looks like a dinosaur to me John," Grant surprised himself, he was almost shouting.
"Of course it's a dinosaur, but it's not ours, we never bred one."
"How can you say that? Of course it's yours! Nobody else ever made a dinosaur!" That's when it hit him.
There was a moment of silence. Grant could practically see the old man smiling on the other end.
Hammond said, "Look closely at it. Define it."
Grant did so. He peered closer at the image of the dinosaur behind the woman. It was about twenty feet long. Long legs, long arms, narrow snout. "It looks like an Allosaurus or something. . . ." Grant said in a dreamy voice.
"Correct!"
"You never made an Allosaur?"
"No, and nothing else that even fits the appearance. The closest things would be the Ceratasaur, but it's red, and has a distinctive horn on its nose. The Carnotaurus, but it too looks dramatically different. This is someone else’s." Hammond sounded both relieved and happy, just as much as he sounded worried and angered.
There was another moment of silence, when Grant simply stared at the TV, looking at the body of the Allosaur lying there. He was mesmerized by its immense size. Finally, he said, "What are you planning to do?"
Hammond sighed again, then said, "You’re not going to like it."
CHAPTER 4
"You told me, it would never happen again! I trusted you Lewis!" Bill Rossiter was pacing his office, yelling loudly at his head Geneticist, Lewis Dodgson.
"It's not my fault," Dodgson shot back, "One of the guards was drunk, and he forgot to lock the gate. I told you we needed better employees. It's not my fault."
Rossiter shook his head, then sat down in his leather chair, behind his expensive desk. "You told me, that it would never, EVER happen again. Now, they found a body. They're going to start a search. If they find us, we'll be in serious trouble. Do you not understand any of this, Lewis?"
Dodgson took a deep breath. He hated his boss, but still respected him. He tried to calm his anger. His face began to turn red, and he forced himself to calm down. Then he spoke, "Our security is too lax. If we had gotten the security measures I suggested, maybe it would have never happened. So, don't blame me."
"Don't blame you? Don't blame you! Why shouldn't I blame you? This whole thing was your idea. 'Piece of cake', you said. 'No problem', you said. I went out on a limb, because I believed you! I spent almost ten million dollars to obtain the embryos and the technique. And so far, all that I've gotten in return, is guilt! How do I get paid back for all this? What, am I going to do!"
"InGen tried opening Jurassic Park, but failed because of their security. We can do the same thing as them, but we'll be more cautious. We . . .you could succeed, where InGen has failed."
Rossiter shook his head, "You still believe that? Is it still possible?"
A small hint of a smile grew across Dodgson's cruel face. "Of course it's still possible, if we act quickly. And above all, carefully."
Rossiter seemed to consider it for a moment, then said, "Fine, we'll begin planning immediately. And call Dr. Wu, tell him that if he has any of the information about Jurassic Park's security measures, that we'd like to have it." Rossiter stood, then Dodgson did as well. They shook hands, and Dodgson started for the door.
Before Dodgson could exit, Rossiter said, "Lewis, I'm still mad at you."
Then Dodgson closed the door and left.
CHAPTER 5
Dr. Henry Wu stood in his living room, talking on his cell phone. After selling the embryos and information to Biosyn almost four years ago, he had lived the good life.
He almost felt bad for being a 'traitor', but why should he? He didn't work for Hammond or InGen anymore. And what had InGen done for his career? After the incident, he hadn't been able to get any jobs worthwhile. It was truly, all InGen's fault.
My, how things had changed. For seven years after Jurassic Park, he had just barely made enough money. Nobody wanted to hire a Geneticist that had anything involved in something like Jurassic Park. No matter how much of a genius he was.
But after selling out to Dodgson and Biosyn, his life had been much smoother, much easier, much better. Better than he could ever imagine.
The embryos he gave them, were those of a few of the dinosaurs that InGen had discovered. All the embryos were destroyed on Nublar, when it was bombed, and most of the embryos were also lost on Sorna. But, every good Geneticist kept pieces of his work at his private lab. Wu had obtained about twenty of the embryos before he abandoned Nublar when the hurricane hit. He acted on the instant, thought that it would be a good idea, for insurance reasons. And after Nublar was bombed, nobody would miss the embryos, so he kept them for himself. He had figured that they could come in handy some day. And of course, he was right.
But, there were complications. Dodgson was one of them. The man freaked him out. And about every five months, he received a call from him. He hated to speak to Dodgson, all he ever asked for was information and techniques that the ill-fated InGen had used while breeding their dinosaurs.
Which was what he was calling for now. On the other line, Dodgson was saying, "---any of the papers, or documents about the security that InGen used at the park? If so, we would like to have them, for a fee of course."
Wu frowned, he hated giving them more information. The more he gave them, the guiltier he felt. But, he felt obligated as well, so he told Dodgson, that yes, he did have a few documents.
"Good, how much do you want for them?"
It didn't really matter how much, he already had enough money. And everything he gave them, he copied before hand. (Everything except for the embryos of course)
Wu named a figure. It was small, but worth his while.
Dodgson must have liked it, because he quickly said, "Good, good. You'll be able to deliver it then?"
Wu didn’t live far from Biosyn's HQ in California. Everything they ever asked for, he had to hand deliver to Dodgson himself. "Yes, I can deliver it."
"Good, I'll send you a plane ticket, I'll have somebody waiting for you."
Wu was suddenly alarmed, "A plane ticket? Where are you?"
"I'm in the compound in Costa Rica. Don't worry, everything's secure, you'll be in and out of here before you know it." Dodgson could sense Wu's concern, "Hey, look on the bright side, you'll finally be able to see your creations again. And just so it doesn't surprise you, I added a few personal touches. See you in a couple of days!"
Dodgson hung up.
Wu had seen the coverage of the village attacks on the news yesterday, and he knew that Biosyn must have had another breakout. He had a strong feeling he wasn't going to like this.
CHAPTER 6
Grant looked at Hammond's new, considerably smaller mansion. He rang the doorbell, then after a moment, the butler, dressed in an expensive black suit, came to the door.
"Ah, Dr. Grant, Mr. Hammond has been expecting you." The butler signaled for Grant to enter. Then the butler left the room, and hurried to the kitchen.
Grant looked around at the beautiful mansion. It was even nicer on the inside. He was admiring the mahogany staircase, when he heard the butler returning.
The butler was pushing a wheel chair, whose owner Grant hardly recognized. But, when the chair came closer, Grant realized that it was Hammond, and he forced a smile to come upon his face.
"Ah, Alan my boy, how have you been?" Hammond said with the same smile that he had come to recognize as one of a kind.
Grant removed his hat and said, "Been better, how are you?" As soon as he asked it, he knew he would regret it.
"I've been younger!" Hammond said still smiling, and then he laughed. A chuckle of an old man, with the mind of an innocent fifteen year old.
Grant couldn't help but laugh. He really didn't like Hammond, but the old man had a certain quality, that no one he had ever met could match.
After Hammond finally stopped laughing, he said, "You know Alan, you really don't need to do this. But, I truly appreciate it."
Grant nodded, he must be going crazy.
"I want you to meet somebody," Hammond signaled the butler to go and get the person.
When the butler returned, he came with another man. The other man was tall and strong. The man wore green cargo jeans, and a gray safari vest.
"Meet Wes Brunell. He will be accompanying you to Costa Rica."
Grant stepped towards Brunell, and shook his hand. Brunell's grip was strong and hurt Grant's hand. Alan tried his best not to show it.
"I've heard a lot about you," said Brunell, "It will be a pleasure working with you."
"Thank you." Grant replied with a smile.
Hammond spoke up, "Mr. Brunell will help you with the supplies. He is very well trained I assure you and very resourceful."
Grant shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry no offence, but just the two of us won't be enough.
Hammond and Brunell laughed, and Hammond said, "Of course it isn't enough. You'll be meeting the rest of the team when you get there."
"How will I identify them?" Grant asked, curious.
Hammond's smile grew even larger, "Oh, you'll know. Trust me, you'll know.
Grant's eyes narrowed, but he asked no more questions.
Alan Grant was to stay the night at Hammond's estate. The gentle man had set up one of the five extra bedrooms for Alan to sleep in.
It was now eleven o'clock and he was exhausted. He had a lot to do tomorrow. He should be going up to his room. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep.
Grant sighed as he walked into the bathroom. He stepped into the large room and admired the brass moldings around the sink. "Damn rich people."
He walked past the sink and eyed the shower. Did he really need a shower? He was going to be in the jungle soon, he didn't find a shower to be necessary.
He looked into the mirror and was shocked to see such a grotesque man staring back at him. He splashed water on his face and sighed as he looked at his sleepy face again.
"What am I doing this for? I'm forty-five years old, why did I agree to go on this thing?" he mumbled to himself. But in the back of his mind, he knew the answer.
He considered his life to be over already. What did he have back home? His job? No, his job was going to be over within a matter of weeks, agreeing to do this helped his job.
His family? He really didn't have much of a family. He was an only child, and his mother had died while he was very young, and his father had died in a car crash ten years ago.
His love life? He had none. And would probably never have one again. Ellie was his first major love. And most likely his last. He would miss her above everything else.
Because in truth, he didn't expect to return. His life had struck an abrupt end, and he had nothing left to lose.
Grant held his chin high, as thousands of thoughts raced through his mind. It was then, that he noticed in the mirror, that there was a rack of liquor bottles stuck to the wall behind him.
Grant smiled, "Damn lucky rich people."
With the bottle of scotch held at his waist. He slowly made his way up the staircase and into his room.
He flicked the light on in his room and wasn't surprised to read a clock that told him it was after two AM.
He grimaced as he walked to the bed and looked at the light blue comforter. Then, he looked beside the bed, and saw a desk and chair.
He walked over to the desk and saw that there was a pile of stationary on it. Grant sighed as he put the bottle on the table and sat down.
He picked up a piece of paper and an exquisite pen, and wrote at the top of the page; Dear Ellie
-- JPJunkee
12/4/2002 10:26:14 AM
(Updated: 12/4/2002 10:57:00 PM)
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