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JP Seek and Destroy Ch.4-8 (Reprint)
By rexbeatsspino
Ch.4-Small Talk
Hammond's Office
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The butler shut the door behind them. Hammond spoke. "That will be all, Stefan." The butler left. "Have a seat. Who are these? You must be Billy and Chuckie. I've heard a lot about you. It's been a while, Grant. Three years since that ordeal with Isla Norte. That was an adventure. Well, let's get down to business.
"You see, I have been being faced with many lawsuits. Many casualties on Sorna lately. Families are suing, and demanding I destroy the island. The island could be used again, so I just plan to destroy the dinosaurs. With your help.
"I called you to cash in on an old favor. I funded your dig. You went to my island. We were even. Then, I doubled your funding, and what did you give me? Nothing! You owe me, Grant. Without me, you and all paleontologists would be out of a job.
I'm asking you a favor and I'm paying you millions! Go to the island with my pre-assembled team of experts, destroy the dinosaurs, and each one of you will get five million dollars! How simple is that! I'll even provide you with supplies! What do you say Grant? Now that you've learned to live with the fact that you're eventually going to go back to Sorna, why don't you do it anyway and get paid for it?"
"I don't know...Who else is going?"
"Chuckie and Billy, if they want to. Also, there're survivalists Eric and Amanda Kirby, mercenaries Ed Grady, Tony Edgar, and Burt Walters, cryogenist Jamelle Butler, physician Rosco Baker, chaotician Ian Malcolm-"
"No way! I hate Malcolm!"
"Lighten up, Grant. You hate everyone. There's weapons expert Sidney Slater, documentarian Nick van Owen, technician Jack Holtz, hunters Uri Oromov and Cody McBogart, ship captain Freddy Farrell, mechanic Kirk Donahue, and an assassin known only as Duke."
"You're endangering the lives of all those people?!" Grant asked impatiently.
"Remember Grant, safety in numbers. I need as many people as I can get. It will cost a lot, but I won't get sued if they sign a waiver. So, do you accept my offer?"
"Well, we do have a money problem, so...I guess we'll go."
"Splendid! You're the team leader. Today's Saturday, so be here at eight AM on Monday. I'll get you a room here in Palo Alto so you won't have to go back to Montana." Hammond put some files in a cabinet and gestured at a picture of a charter bus. "We'll all board my private buses and drive to my pier in San Francisco. Then you'll board the boat, and be on your way."
They started to shake hands as Hammond led them down into the warehouse, but they stopped and ducked as a tire flew where their heads had been. A machine in the corner blew up, and a missile shot forwards. It hit a gas grenade rack, and smoke filled the room. Then there was silence. Hammond was mad.
"Peter, you're fired!"
Ch.5-Not Monday
The Hotel
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It was Saturday.
Grant lay back in the recliner, turned on the TV, and put it on the sports channel. "Two more days," Grant thought aloud. Billy was in the adjacent room. They were going to pizza in an hour.
Suddenly the phone rang. It was Hammond.
"What do you want now?" Grant asked angrily.
Hammond replied, "Get Billy, and come to the mansion. We're leaving in one hour."
"One hour?! We're not supposed to leave until-"
"No time to explain. Pack up and come to my house. NOW! Or the deal's off."
Grant was about to talk, but Hammond hung up. Grant phoned Billy and started packing.
Hammond phoned everyone, and told them to be there in an hour. They were all mad, except Slater. He was in Scotland Yard. Going on this trip would be Community Service, and Hammond was paying the prison's boss to let him come. Somehow, they all managed to arrive on time.
The barge stood tall and graceful against the foggy San Francisco sky. The ramp came down. A line of twenty-one people stood, waiting to board the giant boat. Its gates opened, waiting for a crew to board its hulking deck. They were anxious, and Hammond got ready to do some explaining.
Ch.6-Hammond
The Dock
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"ALRIGHT, PEOPLE! QUIET DOWN!" Hammond yelled at the talking group. "I have called you all early due to slight complications. Our nice captain Mr. Farrell has informed me of a hurricane headed between where we stand now and our destination. If we leave now, we can make it before the storm hits. If we leave Monday, we could be in serious danger-"
"We ARE in danger! We're going to Isla Sorna!" Grant interrupted.
Hammond cleared his throat and glared at Grant. "As I was saying, we leave now or we leave never. Anyone who has changed their mind about going can leave now."
A few of them turned around and started to walk away. Hammond continued, "And they won't get their five million dollars." The people walked back into line. Hammond finished,"I am putting Dr. Grant here in charge. You will follow his orders, and if anything should happen to him," Grant looked at Hammond angrily. "Chuckie Grisham will be in charge. Got it? Good. I'll be leaving now, so have a good trip. Bye-bye!"
Ch.7-Barge
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The barge sailed through the sea. Grant felt queasy as he stared over the railing. He was listening to the voices of Ed Grady, Burt Walters, and Tony Edgar as they ran a routine vehicle safety check.
"APC?"
"Check!"
"Tomahawk?"
"Check!"
"MCS?"
"Check!"
"Mega-station? Bradley? Mini-jet? High-hide?"
"Check, check, check, check! Looks like we got everything working!"
"Good, let's go tell Dr. Grant!"
Grant heard them running towards him. Ed tapped him on the shoulder. "We're done, Dr. Grant! All the vehicles are in working order! Now what do you need us to do?"
Grant stared at them. Ed was a red-head in his twenties. He had an ammo belt across his chest and a grey jacket. It had a southern Confederate flag stitched on the back. He had a gun holster on the side of his black jeans. He looked ready for action. Burt had a grey mustache and short grey hair. He had ammo belts on a dark green suit. He was about forty-eight. Tony had a green camo costume strung with bullets, pistols, and grenades. He had a green skateboard helmet on with a little flashlight duct-taped to it. His face was plain and boring.
"Go stare at the water." Grant said. "Yes, sir." they replied and walked away.
Grant found Billy and asked him if he wanted anything to eat. Billy said, "No thanks. I feel sick."
Grant walked towards the door to the main building. Another redhead approached him and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Rosco Baker.I'm the team doctor. If you start to feel sick, come see me in room-"
There was a ringing sound, and Rosco looked at his pocket. "Sorry, emergency. See ya later!" He walked away. Grant yelled, "Wait, what's your room number?" but it was too late. Rosco was out of sight.
Grant walked upstairs to the control room. He saw Farrell at the wheel. He had a green camo suit and a cannon mounted on his shoulder. He had a little hat on that looked like a mix between a baseball cap and an accordion. Grant looked at the other people in the control room. There were Duke, Cody, Kirk, and Uri.
Duke was wearing a high-tech red-and-black suit and a laser-targeting visor that almost touched his black beard. Cody was bald with a black mustache and a green-and-black tiger-striped shirt. He was muscular, and had beige pants with many pistol holsters. Kirk was wearing a turquoise shirt with orange pants. His blonde hair fell over his eyes. A toolbox sat next to him. Uri had a tall Russian hat and a green wool suit strung with ammo. He had a red beard and red hair.
Grant walked over to Farrell. "Hey, do you know what room Rosco Baker is in?"
Farrell replied, " I believe he's in room 33."
"Thanks." Grant said as he walked down the stairs. He got to the bottom hallway and read a sign on the wall. It showed an arrow going left and an arrow going right. Above the left one, it read "Rooms 1-20." Above the right it said "Rooms 21-40." Grant went right.
As he approached door 29, the boat shook and the lights started blinking. Grant started to run. The lights went off completely. Grant ran into a pipe and rolled. The ship shook hard. He rolled through an open doorway and fell. As he fell, he realized his head was bleeding. He reached towards the blood, and suddenly THUMP! He hit the concrete and blacked out in the completely black room.
Ch.8-Pterosaurs
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Grant woke up. The lights were back on. He realized he had rolled into the engine room and off a catwalk to another catwalk thirty feet below. He looked for a ladder and found one on the wall. He climbed up to the first catwalk and walked to the now-closed door. He pulled at the knob. It was locked. He heard screams from above. We must be near the island, he thought.
He walked to a door on the other side of the catwalk. It was unlocked. He opened it and came outside onto a platform suspended twenty feet above the ocean. Twenty-four inch pegs stood out from the wall. It was a ladder! He was about to climb when he heard gunshots. He turned around and looked across the ocean. There was a small fishing ship half a mile away. He could see the small crew aiming shotguns at the sky and screaming. Grant's eyes followed the shotgun shells to the sky and saw something that terrified him. Pteranodons!
It's those three that escaped from the island, he thought. I'd better get on deck. Then another thought ocurred: There were only two pteras attacking the boat; where was the other one?
Kaaaawwwwww! A blue pterosaur swooped down at him. It opened its jaws. Grant ducked. The ptera hit its head on the steel wall and fell onto the platform. Grant jumped for the bottom peg. He couldn't reach it. He climbed onto the railing and then jumped for it. He grabbed on and pulled himself up.
As he climbed, he heard the ptera getting up behind him. He climbed faster. Whoosh! It flew up past him. The ptera hovered in the air for minute, looking down at Grant. Then it divebombed him. He swung over to the other side and the ptera crashed into the platform. Grant scrambled up the rungs and got to the deck. He saw Chuckie standing there with a rocket launcher. "Grant, duck!" he yelled.
Grant ducked as a rocket roared past his head and blew off the ptera's wing. It screamed in pain and hurtled down towards Chuckie. Grant knocked Chuckie out of the way as the kamikaze pteranodon crashed into the ground and exploded.
The two men ran towards the control room stairs.
Kaaaaaw! Kaaaaaaaaaaaaw! they heard behind them. They turned and saw the fishing boat capsized and the two pteranodons heading towards them. They reached the control room.
Farrell was at the wheel humming softly. Everyone else was gone. "What are you doing?!" Grant screamed.
"We're fine." Farrell replied.
"FINE?!" Grant pointed out the window. The two pteras were flying straight towards the big control room windows. "Activate the electrified floors for this room! Set them to go on in ten seconds!" Farrell fumbled with the buttons. "HURRY!"
Chuckie bolted down the stairs. Grant ran behind him. Farrell flipped a switch. "ELECTRIFIED FLOORS WILL ACTIVATE IN TEN SECONDS." Farrell set the autopilot for Isla Sorna. "SEVEN..." He checked to make sure all systems were running. "FOUR..."
The windows shattered. The pteranodons burst in.
"THREE..." "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Farrell screamed.
"TWO..." The pteras pecked at him.
"ONE..." "AAAAAAAAAAAAH-" his heart stopped beating.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The floors turned on. Sparks flew out of the pteras' feet. They turned black and started to crackle.
Ten minutes passed. The ptera bodies slumped onto the floor, blackened and barbequed. The ship crashed onto the shore of the island.
6/11/2003 10:38:28 PM
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