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Jurassic Park Shadows of History Stage Seven
By JPJunkee
SEVENTH STAGE
"Our beliefs keep us going. Beleifs offer us
hope, understanding, and sometimes happiness.
But do we realize, that is for our beleifs that
we are involved in so many wars?
Is it good to beleive? Is it wrong to realize?"
--Kyle Warner--
CHAPTER 33
Wu led Grant, to one of the larger holding cells. This one, was about twenty feet high, and forty feet wide, it was huge!
"What is it?" Grant asked Wu as they approached the cell.
"While you guys were resting, I thought I'd look around, see if I could find anything useful."
"What did you find?"
"Take a look for yourself." Wu waved Grant into the cell.
Grant couldn't believe his eyes. Lying on the floor, was a spinosaurus. Except, it was disfigured, like the raptors were. Its stomach was torn open, and its viscera was spread about the large cell. Its sail had no skin covering the bones, only a slim film-like substance.
"What the hell happened here?" Harris asked, as he walked into the cell.
Grant knelt down next to the beast's stomach. "The raptors got to it," Grant informed them,"It probably got killed, before it even awoke."
Harris walked next to the creature's big paws. They were brown and covered in the same strange film stuff that was on the sail. He looked down and began to feel the giant talons.
Grant looked up to Wu,"Henry, what is wrong with these dinosaurs? Why do they look like this? It isn't natural."
Wu stepped over a piece of intestine,"Biosyn was short on time and money. They got the few embryos from me, and were able to extract some DNA from amber on their own. But, that wasn't enough for them. They began to make a second generation of clones, by cloning the original clones. Obviously, mistakes were made. But, they decided not to terminate the mutated subjects. Instead, they kept them, and experimented."
Malcolm walked into the cell,"Holy. . . ."
Wu looked at Malcolm,"Who's taking care of Madison and Brunell?"
"Leah is, she didn't want to see any of this. And Brunell acts like he doesn't need any help."
Grant looked closely at the beast's head. Its tongue was still ridged, and not drooping from its mouth. That was odd. He shook his head, then walked over to the sail. He set his gun down and looked over the creature, that had nearly taken his life a year ago. Of course, this wasn't the same entity. But, it was the same species. He felt sweat break out all over him. A creature so powerful, and so incredible, was now lying dead before him.
Harris squeezed the film between his fingers. It felt like a stretchy rubber. He ran his hand over the talon, and up the big finger. Then, the finger moved. It moved ever so slightly, and brushed up against his leg. Quickly he jumped to his feet.
Wu was with Malcolm, looking at the tail. Grant was looking at the great sail. Harris stood motionless, as he looked over at the big crocodilian head. He felt his blood go cold, when he saw the eyelid slowly open.
Harris couldn't move, he slowly opened his mouth, and whispered the words, "Guys, it's alive."
Wu looked at him quizzically, "What did you say?"
Harris spoke a little louder now, still not moving, "I said, it's alive."
And, just on cue, the creature's head snapped up, and bellowed at the humans intruding on its cell. It swung its massive hand, and smacked Harris into the cell's wall. Then, with one quick swipe, it brought its long tail around, and hit Malcolm and Wu to the ground.
Grant stared, as the creature began to stand. This was impossible! Its stomach was ripped open! Still, it was happening. The spinosaurus roared, as it put its large arms underneath it, to help it stand up.
Grant yelled out of the cell,"Brunell, we need the grenade!"
Brunell had heard the roars, and was running to the cell, when the pain in his back over took him, and he collapsed to the floor. Leah came running up beside him.
He saw her, and took out the grenade, "Take this! Give it to Grant, he'll know what to do!"
She nodded, and took off down the hall. The grenade, heavy in her hand.
She reached the cell, and screamed when the saw the creature standing within it.
The spinosaurus howled in pain, as it stepped onto its own intestine. Then, it swung its body around, and attempted to bite onto Malcolm. Ian dodged low, and made a dash to the exit of the cell.
He saw Leah, and yelled to her, "Don't throw the grenade! We need to get the others out!"
Leah looked from Malcolm and then to the cell. In it, the spino was now turning slowly, in an attempt to grab onto Grant and Wu, who were both trying to make their way to the unconscious Harris.
"Help me," Malcolm said, and ran back to the cell. Leah followed him, and together they grabbed onto Harris' limp body and dragged him from the cell.
Wu and Grant saw them take Harris, and sprinted to the cell's exit. The spino turned again, and roared violently, spitting up blood as it did so. More organs fell from its open belly, as it gave pursuit.
Grant fired his machine gun up at the following dinosaur, but the bullets seemed to have no effect.
Grant and Wu reached the cell's exit, and jumped out of danger. Leah quickly pulled the ring from the grenade, and threw it into the cell.
The grenade hit the creature in the chest, then bounced to the floor. Nothing happened. No explosion. Then, the grenade started spewing yellow gas. And the spino immediately stopped in its tracks.
The leviathan looked down at the yellow gas rising from the floor. It brought its head down, and sniffed the air. And, in one quick instant, it fell to the floor, gasping for air.
Grant and the others, watched in horror, as blood began to flow from the animal's eyes and nostrils. Then, fluid began to seep its way through the animal's skin pores. It was only then, that they realized, the gas was making its way out of the cell.
"Out of the tunnel!" Grant yelled to the others. He and Malcolm helped carry Harris, as they made their way to the door at the tunnel's end.
On the way, Wu and Leah picked up Brunell, and continued to run.
"What is it?" Madison yelled from the end of the tunnel.
"It was a gas grenade!" Grant yelled back.
"Shit!"
They reached the door, and Brunell took out his card, he swiped it through the lock, and the door opened. Everyone ran though, and then shut the door.
"What now?" Leah asked.
"We need to keep moving," Malcolm said, "the gas may find a way around the door. We need to get more space between us and it."
They looked around, to see where they were. The room was dark, and looked somewhat like a cafeteria. In the back of the room, they saw stairs leading up.
"We need to take the stairs," Grant said.
They all made there way to, and up the stairs. It led one floor up. They knew they were still underground, when they realized there were no windows. To one side of the top of the stairs, was a map.
The map informed them, that they were on the third lowest floor. There were still two more above them, then there was another pair of stairs, that led into the open air, into freedom. They were now on the study and containment level, the next level was the biogenetics lab, and the highest level was offices and sleeping quarters.
"We need to get here," Wu put his finger on the highest flight of stairs on the map.
"After that?" the now conscious Orlando Harris asked. Harris had been hurt, and the back of his head was bleeding, but he was still better off than Brunell or Madison.
"After that, we get the hell out of here."
Harris looked to Grant and Malcolm, "What about the mission? I better get paid for this!"
Malcolm smiled, "The mission is over. We know who's making the dinosaurs. We even have one of the conspirators in custody."
Wu frowned, "I assume you're speaking about me?"
Malcolm nodded, "You may be helping us. But, you're still in a heap of shit. Especially when we get out of here."
"If we get out of here," Madison corrected him, "If we get out."
Grant looked at Madison, "You don't think we'll make it?"
"Well, things sure as hell ain't looking to good for us."
Brunell spoke up, "Well, either way, we need to keep moving," he looked again at the map, "This says, that we have about a fifteen minute walk, before we reach the next flight of stairs. I suggest we start our walk now."
The others said nothing, but they all nodded. Malcolm helped Madison walk. Wu and Grant together helped Brunell to his feet.
CHAPTER 34
Walking through the biogenetics lab, Wu realized how much he missed the lab. It had never occurred to him, that he may one day miss it all. All the possibilities, all the competition with yourself.
They walked past a table with eggs and egg turners. The power was on, but the turner was not in operation. Wu stopped here, and touched one of the eggs.
So small, so innocent were these things, that could one day grow to such incredible sizes, and specialize in killing others. The small gray egg he touched, had a label on it: Suchomimus Terrensis/G2/Dec11. So this was a second generation clone? Wu hated what Dodgson had done to these animals. Once they were beautiful in their own respects, but now . . .
Wu frowned, then crashed his fist down on the egg, spilling the egg's insides across the table. He looked at the embryonic goo on his hand. This was all a dream, it had to be.
For the last couple of years, he had lived a dream. No, rather a nightmare. All those people. His career. These animals.
Why exchange all that, for money? Why?
Henry Wu shook his head. His life was over. It was time to except it.
Grant looked at Wu thoughtfully. In truth, Wu and InGen had helped flush Alan's career down the toilet. But yet, he felt sorry for the man.
He closed his eyes, and looked away from Wu. When he opened them, he saw Leah.
Who was this woman? And why did he feel this way towards her?
What did he feel?
He wasn't sure himself. But he felt something. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. Not since . . . .
"You okay Alan?" Malcolm said. Ian walked up beside Grant and put a hand on his shoulder. "You zoned out for a minute."
Grant shook his head,"Sorry, just thinking."
Malcolm nodded, then looked to where Grant had been looking. Ian smiled,"You were doing more than thinking."
Grant sighed.
"Am I right?" Malcolm said, with cocked eyebrows.
Grant looked up at the taller man,"You're a real ass you know?"
Ian laughed quietly,"I may be an ass. But I'm the friendliest and smartest ass you've ever met."
Grant smiled and shook his head, then continued walking.
Together they walked out of the lab, and into another holding chamber. It looked like a dog kennel. The cages were only about four feet high and seven feet deep. Everything was quiet.
Thankfully the cells were still closed.
Grant walked up to the closest cell. Inside was a heavy breathing little dinosaur, he recognized it as a protoceratops. The animal was laying on its stomach, its eyes filled with an uncertain fear.
Grant frowned and put his hand on the cages door. With blazing speed the protoceratops jumped up and head butted the door. Grant lurched back, and saved his hand from the creature's beak. Immediately, the room was engulfed in loud cries of other caged animals.
Malcolm sighed, "Alan, look at this."
Grant got up, staring at the protoceratops, then walked over to Ian. Malcolm pointed at a low cage, and Grant looked down to see into it.
Inside was a border collie, wagging its tail happily. "What the hell is this doing here?"
Malcolm smiled in his natural disgust, "That's not all. It gets better." Ian pointed to another cage at the other side of the room.
Grant walked over to it slowly, and almost turned back, when he saw Madison walk away from the cell, gagging.
Alan stopped in front of the cell, and looked in it. Inside, sat a creature, of incredible disgust. On the floor, panting with its long tongue out, was a hybrid of what had to be a dog and a dinosaur. It had a long thick tail, covered in pebbly skin, and a little bit of hair. It had long ears, and a beak on its long snout. Its feet had sharp claws. And its eyes were the color of snow.
"Oh my God," Grant whispered.
Wu looked in the cell, "I had no idea. If I had known . . . ."
"How many more are there like this?" Grant said.
Wu looked at the floor, "Two, one of them is mixed with a cat. The other with a monkey."
Grant almost yelled, "A monkey?" Quickly, he got to his feet and went over to where Malcolm was standing.
Malcolm looked in at the monkey creature, "It's surprising that it has stayed alive this long actually." He pointed at a tag on the cage: Chimpanzee-Ceolophysis/G1/July18. It had only been alive for a few months.
The creature was huddled in the back of the cell. Its arms were disfigured and too short. Its legs were long, and resembled a frogs. Its tail was long and curled. Its neck was thin, and twisting. But, the most frightening and distorted thing about the animal, was the creature's face. It was something out of a nightmare. Twisted and demented. Its eyes had an innocent rage to them.
Grant looked away from the chimp, and towards the others. Leah was weeping in a corner, while the others were silent. Grant said, "We're going to kill them, end their suffering."
Harris shook his head, "This is disgusting."
Malcolm sighed, "The world is disgusting. We can help and make it a little better." Malcolm whipped out his pistol, and aimed it at the chimp creature.
The chimp wheezed, and stared indifferently at the gun.
Ian looked away and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, then a soft thud as the animal fell. Leah jumped as the bang of the gun echoed through the room.
Malcolm walked up to the next cell, and unloaded another round into the cat hybrid. Then, he walked on to the dog hybrid, and shot it once. The only remaining animals in cells were pure bloods. Normal animals.
Grant looked at Malcolm as though he had never seen the man before. What had just happened had been horrible. But Ian had done it with such ease. He hadn't even blinked.
Harris pointed at the dog and normal animals, "What about them?"
Grant sighed,"We release them. Give them a chance to survive." Alan looked at the only two dinosaurs in the room, the protoceratops, and a small compy. "These two die though. All the animals here have to be destroyed."
Wu stepped forward, "That's not necessary Dr.Grant, and you know that."
"It's not necessary," Brunell said, "but, it's the right thing to do." Brunell cocked his shotgun, and shot both the animals a single time. The compy was completely blown away, while the protoceratops took the shot in the chest, slowly it fell.
Malcolm opened the other doors, releasing the normal animals. A cat ran from its cage, and into the biogenetics room. A rat scurried out of its small cage and ran underneath the other cages. A monkey bounded from its cage and ran away. While the last animal, the happy border collie jumped from its cage and immediately ran up to Leah. It licked her hands and whimpered to be petted.
Grant smiled,"I guess the dog's coming with us."
CHAPTER 35
They reached the new set of stairs and went up them. The dog followed them all the way. It hid behind Grant, with its tail between its legs.
Alan smiled down at the dog. When they reached the top of the stairs, he knelt down and began to pet the dog. The dog smiled. Its innocent eyes deep with animal instinct, yet dripping with love.
Alan had a dog like this once. He had owned the dog since it was a puppy. He got it when he was first starting out into paleontology. It stayed at the dig sites, and was Alan's only friend for a long time.
Then, one day, the dog slipped on some rocks on the edge of the camp. Its leg was broken. Alan cared for it for a week, but it never got any better. In the end, he took the dog to the vet and had it put to sleep.
It was truly the hardest thing he had ever done at the time.
The dog was more than just an animal. It was his friend, his companion. One of his only friends before he had met Ellie.
He had never gotten another dog. It would remind him too much of the last one, he told himself.
Alan patted this dog's back, then stood up. He saw that Leah had been watching him. When he looked her way, she quickly turned around.
There was something about her. What it was, he wasn't sure. He just couldn't get her face out of his mind, as she reminded him of . . . .
"It can't be," Wu whispered.
Together, Grant and Leah walked up to Wu. Around them, were office doors. The hall was dark, and had a fearful feel to it. Something was not right.
"What?" Grant asked. Then, he saw Wu standing over the dead body of a big human. The head had been blown away.
"Dodgson's here. He's the only one that would shoot the chief engineer. I thought I killed Dodgson though."
Brunell hobbled up to the dead body, and checked it for any weapons. There were none.
"If Dodgson's not dead, he's gotta be injured badly," Wu commented.
Aaron Madison looked around the office-filled hall, "What would he do, if he found us?"
Wu pointed at the engineer's open head.
"Point taken."
Brunell said, "Okay, keep moving. But be wary. This guy is obviously armed. And judging from this guy," Brunell pointed to the body, "is a pretty damn good shot."
Harris and Malcolm led the way, their guns drawn, ready for anything.
Grant looked at Brunell. The man's shirt was soaked in blood, and his face winced with each step he took.
It pained Alan to look at Brunell. Instead he looked at Leah, and was surprised to see her looking back at him.
Once again, like before, she quickly looked away.
The little games she was playing, made Alan think she may have felt the same way. But, what did he feel for her? It was all so confusing! He began to wonder how he could check to see if she felt the same way, but then quickly ceased the thoughts. This was lunacy! He shouldn't be thinking things like this now, about asking out some stranger that he had just met in a place of mayhem and violence!
But he wasn't asking her out . . . . was he? He stopped himself from thinking about it. Why did he -----
Loud gun shots rang through the hall. The bullets flew from one of the office's closed doors.
Everyone got down to avoid the gun shots. The dog barked in alarm.
Grant looked around him, and saw where the shots were coming from. A closed door at the other end of the hall. Behind the door, he was sure he saw the shadow of a tall human being.
Grant yelled as he shot his gun at the door. He continued to shoot, until his gun abruptly ran out of ammo. He heard a loud thud and he presumed it must have been Dodgson falling to the ground.
There was silence.
Grant looked around him, everyone was okay, then he saw Wu. The man had four bullet holes in his chest.
Grant crawled over to him. Wu coughed softly, blood dripping out of the corners of his mouth. Wu looked at Grant, he looked very much at peace. "I'm sorry, Alan," Alan said, "I'm sorry for what I've done to you and yours. I was wrong."
"No, no, Henry. It's okay. And you hold on, okay? You're going to make it." Grant knew his words were not true, he knew Wu was dying, but he tried to comfort him the best he could.
"Alan, kill Dodgson. Kill him please."
"Yes."
"And you lead the others to safety. You survive. . . ." Wu removed a small black object from a pocket on his pants, and handed it to Grant. Then, Wu's eyes closed and he stopped coughing. Now, blood dripped slowly out of his motionless mouth.
Alan held his head low as he got to his feet. He looked at the black object in his hand, and saw that it was a small tape with a CNN label on the side. He put it away.
Leah held the dog close to her, as they stayed low to the ground.
Grant picked up Wu's gun, and began walking over to the office door that Dodgson had been shooting from. "Alan, he might still be alive," Leah whispered in a concerned way. Alan glanced at her, nodded, and continued to carefully walk toward the door.
The office was at the end of the hall, near the steps they had just come from. Dodgson had waited for the
correct time to kill Wu. It had all been planned.
He was almost to the door, when from around the corner, a shadow appeared on the office door. The shadow was big, and showed the outline of a two legged dinosaur.
Grant stopped in his tracks, "Oh shit."
Grant turned around and ran for the others, just as the dinosaur rounded the corner and revealed itself. A raptor, this one normal and a pure bred. The raptor looked around for a moment, then saw Grant running away. Its eyes flashed with hate. Then it turned its head to the ceiling and began to call for others of its kind.
Grant picked Leah off the floor and began to run with her. "Raptors! We have to go!" The dog saw the raptor and instantly the dog darted for the opposite end of the hall.
Harris and Malcolm picked Brunell off the ground and helped him run. Madison ran full speed, despite his ugly limp. The dog led them all, whimpering as it ran.
At the other end of the hall, the single raptor was joined by five other raptors. They stood motionless for a second, then with a single screech, sprinted towards the humans.
Grant ran holding Leah's hand with his left hand, and the pistol with the right hand. He looked ahead of them. There was only one way to go, up the final set of stairs.
Grant reached the stairs and looked back to see the others. Madison was running fine, but Brunell was slowing Malcolm and Harris down. Grant looked to Leah,"Go up now! I'm going to give them some help."
Grant walked away from the steps and aimed his gun at the running raptors. He fired twice at the fastest one, but to no avail. It took the hits in the chest and fell back, but got back up quickly.
Madison ran past Grant and up the stairs. The dog was scratching at the door, trying to go through it. Grant ran back to the stairs, and fired again at the closest raptor. Then ran to the top of the stairs. Malcolm, Harris, and Brunell ran up the stairs and reached the awaiting door. Brunell swiped his card through the lock and the door hissed open. Grant fired more at the approaching animals, then jumped through the door after the others.
On the other side of the door, they were welcomed by sweet fresh air. But they had no time to admire it. Quickly, Brunell closed the door, and locked it again.
The raptors slammed their bodies into the door, snarling with hatred and rage.
Grant and the others looked around. They had never been here before and the only one who would know where to go was Wu . . . .
Comments are appreciated!
2/4/2003 11:33:57 PM
Comment on this fan fiction!
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