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Jurassic Park Shadows of History Stage Three
By JPJunkee
THIRD STAGE
"Evil is probably one of the most realistic
characteristics on the planet. There is no such thing as
a born evil. Evil is not born, it is brewed."
--Kyle Warner--
CHAPTER 11
Wu brushed a branch away from his face. It was approaching dawn, and the jungle was beginning to come alive. All around him, he heard noises. Chirps, squawks, growls, roars, along with the over bearing and retched screaming. It was an evil place, and he knew he had no business being here.
Out of nowhere, a metal fence appeared. They approached the fence, it was laced with spikes and barb wire at its top. And the criss-crossing of chains was also spiked. They quietly moved along the fence, till they reached a door.
The grand door was about twenty feet high, and thirty feet wide. Made of steel, it looked nearly impenetrable. One of the guides swept a card through a slot beside the door, and a light blinked, then he heard a soft click. At that moment, the guide opened the door with his bare hand.
Wu followed the guides through the door and once he had passed through it, he looked back at it from the inside.
On the inside, it looked much different. Scratches and scars laced the bottom, while dents the size of a small child covered the top. Amazing it didn't show through to the other side. Amazing that whatever had attacked the door, had not gotten through!
Wu turned around and followed the guides down a dirt path.
After a few quick moments, they had reached the Compound. It too was quite enormous.
All of its walls were fortified with shining steel, and large spikes. Around the Compound, was another fence, this one of a different origin. It hummed softly, and had flashing lights at the top. It stood eight feet high, and looked very imposing.
But the Compound itself -- that was the true wonder! It was shaped like a big gray octagon. It was about three stories high, with very few windows, giving it a sort of confined and even prison-like appearance.
But that was just where the tests were done, and where all the people stayed, and studied. Beside the octagon, surrounded by its own humming fence, was where they kept the animals. There were cages, some of them nearly as big as the octagon Compound. Some of them had tops to the cages, some were just very tall.
There were about eleven cages, but Wu knew there were more. He had been told that some were kept underground in another complex. And indeed, he saw a door that led underground near all of the cages, but that's not what had his eye.
What had his true attention, was what was inside one of the largest cages. The creature was enormous!
Instantly, he remembered his days in Jurassic Park, but none of his dinosaurs looked anything like what he was staring at now. Even more chilling, was that the creature was staring back at him.
CHAPTER 12
Arnold Smith slowed the Ford Explorer to a stop, inside a small gas station in a beat up old town, called La Pieda.
They all got out of the Explorer, and looked around. The town looked like a tornado had just torn through.
"What are we doing here?" Orlando Harris asked.
Grant thought the question was foolish. Wasn't it obvious? Still, Grant aswered, "We're here to look at the body."
Harris nodded as if he knew what he meant, but Grant had a pretty good idea that the man was lost.
Grant led the men to a small shop. Here, they asked an old man who spoke somewhat understandable English, if he knew where the body was being kept.
The man told them that the demon's body hadn't been moved. That they were to short on hands to move it, so they had left it to rot.
Grant frowned at this. There was a chance that there may not be enough body left to determining the species. Many predators roamed the jungle, and a free meal was not to be skipped.
Nevertheless, Grant and the others held their hopes high, and they set out to look for the body. They had to be quick, though, since they hadn't even started their actual mission yet.
As they searched for the body in the misty foliage, Malcolm calmly commented, "Uh, you know what? What we're doing here may be in fact very dangerous."
Amused, Brunell said, "And why is that?"
"Simple really. All along, I had calculated that this would happen. That someday, no matter how impossible or insane it seemed, someone else would make the same mistakes, and another catastrophe would occur."
Brunell shook his head, "No catastrophe has happened."
Malcolm looked shocked, "No? Over the last year, there have been almost thirty deaths in this area, and all of them have been unsolved. To me it's a horrible thing to live in a world where thirty deaths of unknown origin can be dismissed as anything less than a catastrophe."
"But, what makes what we're doing so dangerous?" Brunell asked.
Malcolm sighed, "About ten years ago, InGen had problems with their park, and they needed experts or anyone else in the type of field, to sign off on the island, so that it could continue its progress into reality. That was when Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, and myself were called in to inspect the island. And, as I had calculated then, accidents would occur, and lives would be lost. In the end, the animals were destroyed, as were the facilities.
What's happening now, is the same thing. It's what I call a Shadow of History. Where the events of the past are duplicated, but for the second time with far worse results."
Brunell looked confused, "What does InGen's misfourtunes have to do with what we're planning to do?"
"Just like ten years ago, someone else is taking the same risks, and once again, people are being called in to inspect it. But, when InGen had their accidents, there was minimal, yet at the same time, horrible loss of life. InGen lost about twenty people. But here, there has already been thirty or so people killed. And, the inspection hasn't even started yet!" Malcolm paused for a moment then said, "Fear for your lives gentlemen, the worst is yet to come."
CHAPTER 13
Grant tried to block out Malcolm's constant jibberish, but to no prevail. The man could talk all day, about the same damned thing. Grant was angered that Brunell kept asking questions, it only egged him on!
Then, abruptly, Malcolm stopped. After a second, he noticed everyone else had stopped speaking as well. Suddenly, it hit him.
The smell was horrible, like something out of a trash heap, only it had a distinct biological smell. Sweet and sour, the smell of decay. It was like a smack in the face to smell it.
They pushed back some ferns, and laying before them, was the immense body of a fallen creature. A dinosaur!
Grant moved swifly towards the body, to start his inspection, trying his best to ignore the smell.
He first moved to the head. There, he would be able to determine the species the quickest. He was amazed at how much meat was left. The only place that looked to even be tampered with, was the belly. It was split open, and the viscera from within had been ravaged beyond recognition.
Grant was curious about why nothing had tried to eat it. Almost alarmed. But, he had to continue his work. He leaned in close to the head.
Ian Malcolm stood, looking down at the beast's long powerful tail. Next, he looked to Grant, the man was working feverously at the head of the carnivore. He smiled, Ian had always thought that Grant was kind of funny. Malcolm shook his head letting out a slight chuckle, then he glanced at the other men.
They were standing around looking in the bushes. Only one of them, was looking at the dinosaur, it was Harris. Harris was a weird one, Malcolm decided. He seemed to not know anything about the mission. Ian wondered if he would be of any help at all.
Slowly, Malcolm noticed, that the three men were withdrawing guns from their back packs. Then, he noticed that Smith and Harris were moving towards Grant, in a very slow and sneaky manner. And that Brunell, was walking towards himself. What was going on?
Grant stared at the lifeless head of the dinosaur. He knew what it was! He took in a deep breath, Hammond had given him a sheet of all the dinosaurs that they had bred. (Even the secret ones like the spinosaurus) But, what he was looking at, was not on the list. There was another faciltity, he thought to himself, as he stared down at the carcharadontasaurus.
Brunell moved slowly in Malcolm's direction. What should he do? This wasn't normal! Brunell stepped three feet away from him, and said, "No sudden movements."
The man held his assault rifle at about chest height, ready to fire. "What's going on?" Malcolm asked in a steady, but fearful voice. This was one thing he surely hadn't calculated.
In a voice that was hardly audible, "We're not alone."
Just as he said it, two black monsters exploded from the forest and rushed to the points in which the humans stood. Immediately, Brunell fired mutiple rounds at the nearest of the creatures.
The two behemoths split up, one heading towards Malcolm and Brunell, the other towards Grant and the other men.
Grant stood up, and got behind Smith and Harris. The two men were firing assault rifles at the approaching animal, that was almost identical to the one on the ground.
The black creature opened its jaws, and bellowed at the humans. It wasn't hard not to hit the beast. It was huge! But, it seemed that the bullets its hide received, had little effect. Grant yelled in terror as the approaching beast grew closer.
Brunell was the best shot of the bunch, but there was only one of him, sadly his true aim seemed to not make much of a difference. Brunell pelted the beast in the shoulder, then chest, then leg. It roared at him, and was almost upon him. That's when Brunell steadied his aim and pace, and fired once more.
There was a sickening squish, then silence. The carchar stood motionless for a moment, breathing deeply. Then it fell to the ground, shaking the earth beneath it.
Malcolm stared at the beast as it took desperate breaths, but his admiration for the nearly unstoppable creature was cut by gun fire, as Brunell joined the others in killing the other carchar.
Malcolm heard another bellow, and turned in time to see the other beast fall to the forest floor. Everyone was okay.
Malcolm turned back to the carchar at his feet, that was still gasping for life. It wheezed with each breath it took. It couldn't see him, because the eye was bleeding from where Brunell had shot it. But Malcolm was pretty sure that it knew of his presense. Brunell and the others walked over to him.
Brunell looked down at the dying animal. Wes Brunell spat on it, and unloaded a few more rounds into the dinosaur's head.
The extra cruelty was not needed, but Malcolm kept his mouth shut.
"We must move quickly. If there are more of these, they'll be here shortly. And, the gun fire may rouse suspicion of the creators of these beasts. Now, follow me."
Brunell led them even deeper into the jungle. Malcolm wondered if he had any idea where he was going.
Ian Malcolm shivered, what happened explained why nothing had eaten any of the body. He could imagine a jaguar trying to fend off the gigantic creatures that had attacked them.
He feared that this was becoming much worse than he had expected. But still, he had calculated that there would be deaths. He frowned at the thought:
It had only just begun.
CHAPTER 14
Aaron Madison and Leah Owens heard the gun shots, and quickly got out of their van. Madison was thoughtful enough to grab his camera and bring it with them.
They arrived where they believed the shooting had started. It was where they had found the dinosaur body. Except now, there were three bodies instead of one.
Madison moved closer to one of the new bodies. Its thick pebbled skin was punctured with bullet holes. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all?
"What are you waiting for?" Leah asked already walking deeper into the jungle, away from him. "We're going to lose them. Come on!"
Madison reluctantly obeyed and followed her as she followed the footprints that the armed men had left behind.
Dr. Henry Wu sat in Dodgson's office. Dodgson wasn't there yet, but he never had kept him waiting long before. Sure enough, the door swung open, and in stepped Lewis Dodgson.
"Hello Henry, so glad you could make it," Dodgson said extending a hand.
Wu got up and shook Dodgson's hand, "Oh, it was no bother."
Dodgson nodded as he walked around the desk to sit behind it. "Good, good. I like it when the people I work with are comfortable. It makes them more reliable." Dodgson's face creased as a wicked smile sprouted upon it, "So, do you have the papers I wanted?"
"Yes, I've got them right here," Wu opened up his breifcase and handed the papers across the desk to Dodgson. "You must understand, I was only a geneticist, I didn't have much to do with the security."
"Yes, I know. But, any knowledge, is acceptable knowledge." Dodgson shuffled through the papers, then sat them down on the desk.
"If there is nothing more, should I be leaving now?" Wu had hoped to leave quickly, but was sure that Dodgson would want to play with his emotions and hold him here longer.
"But, wouldn't you like to see the animals that you helped create?" Dodgson said, with evil eyes that seemed to pierce Wu's soul.
"Not really, I---"
"Oh, but I insist," Dodgson's smile told Wu, that it was no use to resist. Dodgson always won.
Always.
Wu followed Dodgson down a path, that led to the multiple cages. The day was growing darker, and the animals within the cages were becoming harder to see from his vantage point.
Even though he could not see them, he could definitely hear them. The snorts, and heavy breathing followed by a soft growl. He could remember his days at the Park.
He had created the creatures, but even though everyone else thought of them to be magnificent beautiful giants. Wu could see the inner demons lurking inside the creatures. He could see their true intent. A murderous intent.
Henry Wu had often times begged Hammond to allow him to destroy the animals, and create more docile, and controllable animals. But, the old man was stubborn. And, Wu's fears came true when the animals broke free from their restraining cages, and many lives were lost.
In the end, the animals were destroyed, as was InGen. If only the old man had listened to him, Jurassic Park would have undoubtedly been one of the most popular attractions in history.
He had always wished that he'd never have to look upon one of the creature's horrific faces, ever again. But, here he was.
And as he walked closer to the cages before him, he regretted the deal he had made with Biosyn. He regretted creating the dinosaurs in the first place. He regretted becoming a geneticist.
He regretted being born.
CHAPTER 15
The darkness engulfed the group, as they moved through the dense jungle. They had been walking all day, and when Grant asked Brunell how much longer he thought that it would be (Brunell seemed to know exactly where he was going), Brunell simply shrugged, saying, "Hard to tell, we'll probably reach there by morning. Or, if we're lucky, we'll make it in the middle of the night."
Since they had been walking all day, they decided that it was time for a well deserved break.
They came upon a small pond, that had a waterfall coming over a hill, and running into it. The group set their bags down, and took the time to rest their aching bodies.
Harris and Smith were standing around the group, with their guns raised, in case of another attack. Brunell was going through his backpack, looking for something to eat. Grant and Malcolm were at the pond, splashing water into their faces, trying to keep themselves awake.
After Grant was satisfied, he sat back against a rock, and whispered to Malcolm, "Did you notice anything odd, about our fellow companions?"
Malcolm, still rinsing his face replied, "Who couldn't?"
"They acted as if they didn't know anything about InGen, or about the animals."
"Of course they didn't."
Grant's brow creased, "What do you mean?"
Malcolm leaned in close to Grant, "They're not from InGen."
Grant was confused, "But Hammond said----"
"It doesn't matter what Hammond said. These guys are mercenaries. Hired guns. They don't know what the hell they're doing out here. They're just here for money. Hammond's money."
It suddennly made sense. Why hadn't he figured this out before? "What do we do?"
"Same thing we were doing before. These guys are basically here to protect us. Brunell's the only one that has any idea what he's actually doing though. But, be careful. Since they're just mercenaries, they won't have any loyalty to Hammond, or to us. And lack of loyalty, causes lack of trust."
"I must have been insane to except Hammond's offer. All for money," Grant said with a look of disgust.
Malcolm smiled, "No, not insane. Just. . . .human."
"Everybody ready?" Brunell asked.
Grant and Malcolm nodded, and stood. Grant felt a little unsure about the whole plan now. Before he had thought he was working with people that Hammond trusted, and therefore, he could trust. But now, all of his thoughts had changed.
They grabbed their backpacks, and left the waterfall and pond behind, as they moved further into the jungle.
Leah and Madison could hear movement in front of them. They moved cautiously, and slowly onward.
She could hear the faint trickle of water ahead of them. Then, voices.
They were right beyond this bush! She listened as they moved away. They couln't give away their presence by following them so closely. So, Madison took a break at the waterfall, then after about ten minutes, they continued to follow the tracks that the men had left behind.
It was hard to follow the tracks in the dark, but Madison had been smart enough to grab a small flashlight. They were careful not to point the light's beam anywhere but down.
Wu stood two feet away from the humming bars. He looked in through the bars, trying to see the beast within them.
It was dark, a little too dark to see much of anything. Then Dodgson abruptly switched on his flahlight, shining light into the cage.
The attack was so fast, Wu hardly had time to act. The creature within the cage, threw its body into the bars, spewing sparks and smoke everywhere.
Wu hurled himself to the ground, trying to avoid the talons and sparks that shot towards him. He quickly curled himself into a ball in the dirt, and once the sparks had stopped flying, he heard silence. Then. . . . laughing.
Wu looked up to see Dodgson looking down at him laughing. Then, Wu looked to the cage. The bars were slightly bent, and smoke was still hanging in the air.
But, at the end of the cage, he saw his attacker. It layed upon the dirt floor, licking its burns.
It slowly licked its foot, which was what it had used to attack. A chill ran down Wu's back. He recognized that foot. The big sickle claw. He had seen it used on workers at the park. It was a velociraptor.
Wu stood up, Dodgson was no longer laughing, he was simply looking in at the raptor. Wu hated the raptors most of all. They were vicious killing machines, with no remorse. And no fear. He should have never made them.
"Don't worry about her," Dodgson said, "She'll be okay. They always lick their feet first. It is their primary weapon after all."
"Why did you make raptors?" Wu asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I specifically told you not to make raptors."
Dodgson stepped closer to Wu, "You think it matters what you said? What you say, doesn't mean shit. You understand me? I know you told me that they were dangerous. But hey! Everyone loves danger right?"
Dodgson slapped Wu on the back, then he grabbed the hair on the back of Wu's head, and shoved him towards the bars.
"What are you doing?" Wu screamed. His face was only a few inches from the electrified bars. He could smell the scorched flesh that the raptor had left lingering in the air. Wu looked up, the raptor was beginning to stand.
"Who's in charge here?" Dodgson demanded.
The raptor snarled, then began to charge the fence, where Wu's face was now within reach.
"Who is in charge here!" Dodgson yelled.
"You are!" Wu screamed.
Dodgson yanked back on Wu's hair, and threw him to the ground. Just as the raptor leaped into the fence, once again spewing sparks.
Wu was screaming. The raptor was snarling. The fence was sizzling. Sparks were flying.
Dodgson didn't blink once.
CHAPTER 16
In his mind, Dodgson was embarrassed. He had wanted to let Wu know who was in charge, but it got out of hand. He had a bad temper, and was often times a slave to it.
Dodgson's point in life, was the never-ending quest for power. Nothing would stand in his way from obtaining it.
Dodgson led Wu away from the raptor cage, and on to the next cage, while they walked, Dodgson asked Wu, "Why is it, that you increased the velociraptor's size? We used the embryo you gave us, and found our own, and we noticed, that InGen had increased the animal's size. Why, would you do that, especially to the raptor?"
"We increased the raptor's size, because we thought that it would bring a bigger audience draw, if the raptors were larger. You never told me you found your own raptor DNA," Wu said.
"Yes, we used your DNA, to make one of the larger raptor's, and we found our own, and made some smaller ones," Dodgson said, "The smaller ones are actually quite cute, for a lizard anyway."
Only Dodgson would think a raptor was cute, Wu thought. Then he said out loud, "How many raptors have you bred?" He was afraid of what the the answer would be.
With a smile, Dodgson replied, "We have four big ones, and six small ones."
Wu's jaw dropped, he had purposely given Dodgson only one raptor embryo. Therefore, he should have only one big raptor. Wu asked, "How do you have four big ones? I only gave you one embryo."
Dodgson nodded, "That you did. We only have one true, big raptor. The others are clones."
"Clones? You can't make a clone out of a clone. How did you do that?"
"It was no easy task. The embryo you gave us, along with others that we find anywhere, will all be used to bring back the dinosaur that died sixty million years ago, but as a clone." Dodgson paused for the briefest of moments, then continued, "Have you ever tried to make a copy of a copy? It doesn't work really well, now does it?"
"What are you implying?" Wu said.
"What I am saying, is that we have one, exact clone. And three, that have slight, oh how should I say it? Imperfections."
"You mean you have three unstable raptors?"
"No, not unstable. Just. . . . different. You'll see in a moment."
The two men stood in front of another cage. Inside, was a pair of protoceratops. Their yellow hides were very bright in the flashlight's beam.
Wu looked around at the other cages, that were close to them. And commented, "I notice you don't have that many herbivores."
"Who needs them? Predators are what people want to see. That, and predators are easier to feed too," Dodgson said.
Wu asked, "How so?"
"Well, what we know, is that predators will eat any type of meat. Anything that falls into their cage. But, the herbivores, they have certain tastes. They're kinda picky eaters. They like the sort of stuff they ate millions of years ago. So, instead we didn't bring back some of the prehistoric plants, like InGen did, spending lots of money in the process. We decided to make few herbys, and lots of carnys. I like the carnivores more anyway."
"What did you mean, by 'anything that falls in'?"
"I meant exactly what I said. They'll eat anything. I've seen proof."
Dodgson was scaring Wu, so Wu decided to change the subject. "Why is it, that you made clones of clones, like you did with the raptors?"
"That way, we wouldn't have to search all the world for another DNA sample if we wanted more than one of each species. But, mostly it was money. Money and time. It's what the world revolves around, isn't it? To make advances, you need money. To get money, you need time. To get time, you take shortcuts."
CHAPTER 17
Dodgson led Wu away from the cages, and to the stairs, that led underground. The stairs were blocked, by big metal doors, you needed a key card to get through them.
Dodgson used his card, and led Wu down the stairs. "This," Dodgson told Wu, "Is where you'll find our not so perfect animals. And, some of our work in progress. Would you like to see a sample?"
Wu would have said no, but before he could answer, Dodgson opened a door, and led him down a wide hallway, with cages on both sides. It looked like a high tech prison.
"This is our first G2 raptor." Dodgson said, waving a hand at a cage to Wu's right.
Wu stared into the cage at the raptor. It was lying on its side sleeping, and looked just the same as any other raptor. "What does G2 stand for?"
"G2, is the code name that we've given the clones of the clones. It stands for Second Generation. I know, it doesn't make much sense. But, I didn't choose the name, so don't blame me."
Wu watched with faint interest, as the raptor snored on its hay bedding. "Doesn't look any different from the others."
Dodgson smiled, and began to bang his flashlight on the raptors cage bars. Obviously, these cages weren't electrified.
Slowly, the raptor began to awaken. That's when Wu noticed something different about it. Normal raptors, like the one outside, were so quick and agile. They would have sprang up, and attacked the cage, before their eyes had even opened. But, not this raptor.
Once the slow moving raptor had gotten to its feet, it hobbled, as it turned to face them. That was when he noticed the difference in appearence.
It had one normal eye, and one much smaller eye, that seemed to have a hard time staying open. Then, at the tip of the nose, there was barely even any skin. It looked like bare bone. It was hideous.
"Those are just some of the differences," Dodgson was explaining, "There are others, that aren't obvious to the untrained eye. Plus, there are a few internal abnormalties. This particular subject, has an oversized heart, which means it can't work or run for too long without collapsing. An undersized small intestine, a slightly misshaped pair of lungs, screwed up muscles in the tail. And its brain. . . . it's all gone to hell. This animal, is very insane, within its own rights."
Wu shook his head, he had always hated raptors. But, he felt sorry for this animal. Sorry for its pain, sorry for its suffering. "Is it aware of our presence?"
"Very much so. It can see us, at least with its one good eye, the other eye doesn't seem to have much of a function. It can also smell us rather well, actually, in fact, it can smell better than the normal raptors. But, its sense of sound, seems to be leaving it by the day." Dodgson paused, and let Wu observe the still raptor, then said, "Come on, let me show you the others."
Dodgson led Wu by the rest of the deformed raptors. They were all basically the same, since they were afterall, clones of the same being. All except for one.
Wu stepped in front of the next cage. Inside, stood a black raptor with red stripes, that was standing erect, facing the opposite wall. Dodgson leaned close to Wu, and whispered into his ear,"This is our only G3 animal."
"What is a G3?" Wu asked, still staring at the black raptor.
Still whispering, Dodgson answered, "Just as an experiment, we created a clone, from the blood of a G2. We only made one G3, for obvious reasons." Slowly, Dodgson raised his flashlight, and turned it on. The beam highlighted where the black raptor was staring---
The raptor didn't move. Dodgson moved the light all over the cell, still the raptor made no inclination that it knew the beam was there. Then, Dodgson moved into a different angle, and shined the beam into the raptors eye. . . it didn't flinch.
Then Dodgson turned off the flashlight, and walked towards the bars. And with the quickest of movements, he struck the flashlight over three bars. The result was sudden, and bone chilling.
The raptor screeched, and Wu blinked. When he opened his eyes, the creature was attached to the bars, biting and kicking through at them. Wu pressed himself as far back from the black raptor as he could.
The attack went on for three minutes, and once the snarls had finally ceased, Wu stepped forward. He had expected to hear Dodgson laughing, instead he was staring madly in at the black raptor.
"What's wrong with it?" Wu asked, already partly knowing the answer.
Dodgson continued to stare at the raptor, that was now pacing back in forth in a small circle. "Not as much as you might expect. It is actually one of the most acute of all the raptors, when it comes to intelligence. But, it's extremely violent. Partly because it's blind."
For the first time, Wu noticed the white glaze over the eyes that the raptor was hopelessly using to try and find Wu and Dodgson with.
The two men continued to stare in at the raptor in the cage, then Dodgson broke the silence,"It should never have been created."
Dodgson took Wu through the rest of the corridors with more of the disformed animals. The entire lower area, was mainly used to house them, and create them.
Wu looked in at the G2 versions of such species as; dilophosaurus (which was created from one of his embryos), carnotaurus, parasolophosus (which was as well), compsognathus, and stegosaurus (which was as well).
He had helped create hell on earth.
1/2/2003 1:00:43 AM
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