History Revived

"Hey Peter, tell me more about the raptors." Race scannned the area around him. "Are they as dangerous as we’ve heard?"

The two men had gone back almost up to the lake again, and was once more trying to sweep the area for tracks and signs of the young trio.

"Worse." Peter said, eyeing the terrain in front of them. "They’re really intelligent, they learn, they adapt their behavior to new situations. Besides from that, they’re lethal."

Race gave a low whistle. "Just wanna know what we’re up against."

He looked at the gun in his hand. "Can they take a bullet from one of these?"

"Depends on where you hitting them. These babies should get them down, though."

"SHOULD!?"

Peter nodded silently again.

* * * * *

Back at the Center, Bill and Keith were busy trying again to re-program the computers to get the electricity in the raptor-fence back again. Hammond and Benton was impatiently standing nearby.

"Damn!" Bill snorted.

"What?" Benton and Hammond said in chorus.

Bill pointed at the screen. "Somehow, the re-start didn’t work to a 100%. There are still parts that doesn’t work - like the raptor cage. The other fences are up, but it might be too late…" He looked at Benton and Hammond.

"How about the other things?" Hammond asked.

"Well, there are breaches in the security here at base, so some of the electronic locks are still out."

Hammond sighed. "Then let’s pray that the raptors doesn’t find their way back here."

"How many people are there in the building?" Benton asked.

"Not very many, luckily enough", Hammond answered. Most of them left with the boat for the weekend yesterday, and the rest should be leaving today. There are the people at the Weather Centre, one or two lads there, but that should be it. Oh, there might be some of the girls taking care of the guest-rooms and kitchen left. They have their own rooms and sometimes they stay here overnight."

"We better check that out as soon as possible." Benton turned to Hammond. "Where is the Questoid?"

"The…?" Hammond seemed confused. "Oh, the plane. It’s down in the hangar I would guess, unless the staff left it outside."

"We better gather everyone that is still in the building and the minute Race and Peter gets back with the kids, we fly out of here."

Hammond nodded and looked at Bill. "Are the phone-lines up?"

Bill nodded.

"Good. You and Keith call around and see how many are still here. Tell them to come here as soon as possible. Do NOT tell them anything else than that we had a electricity failure but that it has been taken care of." He sighed. "I do not like to lie, but it is more important not to start a panic…"

Bill and Keith hurried to their task. Hammond sat down at a table and buried his face in his hands. The pressure and the feeling of having failed his responsibility seemed to torment the old man, once so proud of his astonishing park. Benton walked over to him and squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Now John, don’t lose it. We have to stay calm. We can make this, if we just stay calm." He made the old scientist meet his eye.

"Everything will be alright. Nothing have happened to the kids. They’ll be back."

"Yeah, Schwarzenegger was in "Terminator 2"... Why wouldn’t we?"

The four men in the room jumped at the young voice and swung around. In the doorway stood Jonny, his face and clothes covered in a thick layer of mud and dirt, and behind him Jessie and Hadji, they too with dirty faces and torn clothes.

"JONNY!"

Benton cried out and ran up to his son, embracing him and the two other teens violently. Hammond and the others came up to them as well, smiling wide.

"Oh, my dear children, I have been so worried about you… Are you alright?"

"Yes", Jessie said returning the embrace.

"We’re fine, Dr. Quest", Hadji answered.

"Except from being totally starving, everything is just slammin’!" Jonny said as he broke free from the hug. "We haven’t eaten anything today except for some blackberries and rainwater."

Hammond smiled. "Well then, we better take care of that won’t we… There is plenty of food left in the kitchen by the dining-room. Would you like me to show you?"

"No, it’s okay, we’ll find it", Jonny said. "I can smell food from miles away right now."

"Where’s dad?" Jessie asked Benton.

"He and Peter are out looking for you. But I’ll radio them and tell them to get back right away."

Jessie nodded and the teens headed to the kitchen. Benton looked after them and sighed deeply.

"I have never been so scared in my life, or so happy as when I heard Jonnys voice just now."

Hammond smiled and now it was his time to squeeze his friend’s shoulder. "Well, they are back whole and safe, and as soon as Peter and Mr. Bannon gets back and the crew on the Weather Central gets down here, we are leaving."

* * * * *

"Full house! Jack’s and Ten’s." Chris Matkins put his cards on the table and smiled smugly at his boss. Patrick Becker threw his cards down. "Dammit! I don’t seem to have any luck today." He made a sour face. Pat hadn’t had a very good day. He hadn’t slept, due to stomach troubles, the phones didn’t work, and no-one seemed to fix them, and he was bored.

He stared in front of him, wrinkling his brow. "Matkins, shouldn’t that door be closed? He nodded at the main entrance to the Weather Control Office, that now was slightly open. Matkins looked up.

"Yeah, it should, eh… Sir. Wait, I’ll shut it." He got up and went over to the door.

Pat took up the carddeck, flipping through it. He had lost every game the last hour, that Matkins had a fantastic ability to get great cards. And when he didn’t, he bluffed through and won nevertheless.

A muffled sound woke him out of his thoughts.

"Matkins?" he called, seeing no sign of him. He rose and walked to the door. "Where the heck did he go off to now?"

He groaned and held a hand to his stomach. "Ouch, this thing’s KILLING me! Well, at least, it can’t get any worse."

He looked out down the corridor, and stopped dead. Chris Matkins lay on the floor a few feet away in a wide pile of blood, his face and body horribly distorted and shattered. He rushed up to him, feeling sick at the sight.

"Oh my God, Matkins!" A sound made him turn around.

Before him stood a velociraptor, nailing him with its cruel eyes, with blood and bits of flesh on the long teeth. The beast seemed to grin at him, an evil, evil grin.

Pat took a deep breath. "I guess I was wrong." The raptor jumped him. "Oh shit!"

* * * * *

"John? There’s none of the other staff left here, but I can’t get an answer from the Weather Central. You think they have left too?"

"That’s odd… No, they would have left a final prognosis to me if they left yesterday."

"So… you think something is wrong?" Keith asked. "What could have happened?"

"I do not know… But I don’t like it…"

Hammond walked back and forth across the room. They had broke the good news to Race and Peter and the two men had been very relieved and were making their way back to the base. Still, Hammond felt very uneasy for some reason.

* * * * *

Jonny, Hadji and Jessie sat in the dining room eagerly eating. They had raided the kitchen quite thoroughly and the table was heavy laid with all sorts of food.

"This is a bit better than black-berries and rain-water, huh?" Jonny said, chewing on a chicken.

"Definitely", Hadji agreed, he voice muffled from deep inside a huge watermelon.

"I kinda liked the berries though", Jessie said and giggled, wiping off some blueberry-pie from her chin.

"Ya know… it wasn’t really that bad after all, was it?"

Jessie looked at Jonny. "Oh YES IT WAS! That T-Rex was NOT the nicest thing to be around" She shivered. "Dad and Mr. Hunt should be back soon, shouldn’t they? I mean… I know dad can take care of himself, and Peter is used to deal with the dinos, but still…"

"Don’t worry, Jessie" Hadji said comforting. "They will be back before long."

"Yeah, there’s no dino in the world that can pick on Race Bannon and get away with it."

Jessie smiled. "Thanks guys", she said. "I’m glad you’re here."

Hadji smiled a little embarrassed and Jonny flashed his usual loopside grin - although this time, it was partly to hide the fact that he was as embarrassed and touched as Hadji.

A sound suddenly made them stop eating and freezing where they sat. It sounded like the purrs of a cat, although judging by the loudness it must have been an enormous cat. They turned around, and the doorway stood a dinosaur. They had never seen this one before, it was a little taller than them, and it looked kind of scrawny. It didn’t look hostile, and it watched them curiously, moving its head from side to side.

"Um… " Jonny gulped. "I don’t think they are supposed to run around free in here, do you?"

Hadji and Jessie shook their heads.

"It doesn’t seem very angry or violent though… maybe it’s a herbivor."

"Yeah, go up to it with a chicken and a carrot and ask it to choose… I think we should leave here as quickly as we can…"

"What do we do?" Jessie whispered to the others, not taking her eyes off the dinosaur.

"We gotta divert it somehow… Let’s spread out and try to get around it."

They slowly left the table, walking apart from each other. The dinosaur watched them intently, turning its head back and forth between them. Then it started to move further into the room, towards Jonny.

"Um… guys… I think it has it in for me…" Jonny said nervously as he backed up against the table. "Anyone have an idea how I get out of this?"

Jessie and Hadji had gone passed the animal, and stood by the door. The dino had apparently selected Jonny as its target, and didn’t seem to care about the other two any longer.

It kept making that purring sound, and Jonny was hoping that it was a friendly purr.

Then, suddenly, the dinosaur shrieked, and a skin collar spread out around its neck, and Jonny saw that the mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth.

"Oh shit!" he breathed and tried to get further away from it, but hit his back in the table.

Desperately he groped with his hands behind his back for something on the table to use as a weapon, and he found the bowl of vanilla-sauce for the blueberry-pie. The dino jumped forward, and he instinctively grasped the bowl and hurled it on the dinosaur. The dino got the white, creamy sauce right in the face, and Jonny ducked and leaped to the side. Then he ran for life.

Hadji and Jessie had started too when the dino spread out the collar, and now they darted out the room. Jonny was last, and as he passed the door, he slammed it shut. The next second he felt something bumping into the door, hard, and he almost lost control over the door.

"Quick!" he shouted. "Get something to block the door! NOW!!!"

Another blow hit the door, and Jonny tried desperately to keep it shut. Meanwhile, Hadji and Jessie found a heavy desk that they tried to shove across the floor to the door.

"Hurry up with that!" he shouted. "I can’t hold this forever!"

Finally, they managed to push the desk infront of the door, and they all took a few step back, watching the door. A blow struck it from the inside, then another one. But the desk seemed to hold it shut. They exchanged a quick glance

"Let’s get out of here!"

They sprinted back to the computer-room, finding Dr. Quest and the others around the computers. When they heard the steps of the trio, they turned around.

"They are inside!" Jonny panted. "There was a dino in the dining-room."

"What? Oh no…" Hammond turned pale.

"Can we lock this door?" Benton asked the computer engineers.

Bill shook his head. "No…" the security program for the doors and locks are still non-functional."

At that moment, Race and Peter rushed through the door. Race ran up to his daughter and swung he up in a tight hug.

"Oh, ponchita… Thank God you’re here…"

Jessie returned the hug violently. "Dad!"

"Roger, Peter! We must hurry. They have found a way inside. We must get out of here now!"

"Where to? The plane?" Race asked, but Hammond shook his head.

"We must see if Chris and Patrick at the Weather Central are alright. They did not respond to our call, but they should still be here…" Hammond looked at the others. "We cannot just leave them…"

Race nodded. "Then let’s go. Are there any more weapons here?"

Peter went over to a locker and got out some more ammo and two more automatic guns. He gave them to Bill and Keith. Benton chose not to carry a gun, and he wouldn’t let Jonny carry one.

Carefully they exited the computer room and made their way towards the Weather Central part of the building.

When they turned around the corner to the corridor where the Central was, they all stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh my God!" Hammond said, shocked at the sight of the remainings of the two men lying on the blood-drenched floor.

Peter went up to the biggest part of what once had been Chris Matkins and sat down on his heels.

"Raptors…", he mumbled and stood up. "Okay, we gotta be extremely careful here. There’s atleast one velociraptor out here, and if there’s one, there is most likely more. They hunt in packs of twos or threes, one attracting the prey’s attention, and the others attacking from the sides. That’s what makes them so dangerous.

Race nodded and cocked his gun. "A bullet through the head should slow them down though, huh?"

Peter looked straight at him. "If you hit it, yes. But they are very agile and moves darn fast. And you only get one try…"

"So, what do we do now?" Jonny asked, looking at the torn carcasses with a sick feeling rising in his stomach.

"Well", Benton said. "There’s only us left here, right John? So I suggest we make it down to the Questoid as fast as possible and get out of here."

The others nodded. "Good idea."

They started back down the hall, when a shriek made them turn around. At the other end of the corridor stood a raptor, it’s cruel mouth slightly opened and the fearfully intelligent eyes locked at them.

"Go!" Peter said in a low, but firm voice. When they didn’t obey him, he turned his head to them. "Get to the elevator! Now!"

The other slowly backed, but Race stood still at the Warden’s side.

"Not without you", Hammond said.

"Pardon me saying so, Mr. Hammond, but you’re no match for a raptor… Now go!"

Benton still hesitated, but Race shot him a glance over his shoulder.

"Benton, as your lifeguard, I’m ordering you. Take the kids to the elevator! We’ll cover your back and meet you at the hangar."

The raptor started to move towards them down the hall.

"GO!" Race said, and Benton and the others started towards the elevators, not willing to leave the two men alone.

They reached the elevator and enterred. Benton pushed the ground level button and the doors closed.

Jessie looked pale. Although she knew better than anybody that her father was capable of dealing with almost any situation, she knew that this was a situation he hadn’t encountered before. Her hands were clasped tight, and she stayed close to Jonny and Hadji.

None of them spoke. They all knew what the two men up in the corridor was facing, but there was nothing comforting to say. ’ They will be alright ’ felt quite shallow…

Then it came a thud from above, and the elevator cage shook.

"What the…" Bill said.

Benton looked up. "We’ve got company…"

"Oh no…"

Bill cocked the gun and pointed it upwards, not sure of where to aim. A blow hit the ceiling, and a ten inch claw broke through the ceiling, making a long crack.

"It’s getting through!" Keith shouted. "IT’S GETTING THROUGH!!!…"

* * * * *