Chapter 7: Dawn


The sounds of birds chirping and the ocean waves lazily lapping up on the shore greeted Anne as she woke up on her perch in the tree.

She yawned, feeling the chilly morning air interacting with her damp clothes. Sunlight was filtering down through the trees, warming her up.

For anyone else, she thought, this might seem serene: alone on an island with a beautiful morning welcoming her; the sounds of birds and a wonderful sea filling the peaceful air.

But anyone else isn’t here…

She slowly flung herself over the thick branch, making her way down to the base. Her feet crunched on warm earth and leaves, and a shiver went down her spine from the chill around her body.

To her right, she could see the ocean, gleaming in the sunlight as it extended off into the horizon. Back to safety.

To her left, the jungle continued on, deeper into the island. “This is it Anne…No turning back now…It’s not like I have a choice anyway…”

As morning began to stretch across the sky, Anne Jones left the tree she had slept in and into the jungle.

—–

Anne’s body dropped; her chest hitting the ground first.

The rex—which she had thought had gotten her—was still behind, and she clamored up. The jungle still surrounded her, and she could hear the cracks of branches as the rex continued its pursuit.

She entered a clearing, still feeling the urge to run, but compelled to stop. The rex roared behind her, entering the clearing.

“Anne.”

She turned, seeing that the rex was gone. Instead, Marquez Santiago stood at the edge of the clearing.

He’s unhurt, dressed and walking casually as she had seen him the first time they had met. He had been on the beach in Jaco, offered to buy her lunch and then take her on a wonderful tourist flight over the offshore islands.

Now he walked over to her, extending his arms, setting his palms on her shoulders. “Anne, are you ok? We need to find a way off of this island.”

Anne shook her head, trying to get away from him. His grasp grew tighter on her shoulders.

“Anne…” His face remained unchanged.

Call for help.

”Marty!”

Marquez loosened his grip. “I’ll be back Anne.”

She blinked, feeling the pressure gone from her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, Marty Guitierrez looked back at her.

“Everything alright?”

“Marty, we need to get out of here…I don’t know how…”

“Don’t worry Anne, you’ll be safe.”

“We need to find…”

“It’s all taken care off. No need to be worried.”

“What?”

“You’ll be safe, just keep running.”

“How will I be safe? I don’t know where to go!”

“You’ll be fine.”

“You have to come with me…”

“I can’t.”

“But you can’t just stay here!”

“You can’t either.”

What is he talking about? Doesn’t he have a clue what’s going on?

”You’ll know when to stop running.”

Anne tried to shake him, but he place his hands on her shoulders. “Anne…”

She felt herself being shoved by Guitierrez, before—in a single instant as she started falling backward—the rex snapped down where she had been, its head lunging forward.

Guitierrez was gone; replaced by the rex as he had replace Marquez.

Anne got up, rolling out of the way as the rex’s foot came down on the ground.

Just keep running.

But why?

”Go…” Anne shoved herself up, taking off into the jungle in no specific direction, unable to think about the path ahead, what Guitierrez had said, or even the things that filled the jungle around, waiting for her.

Just get away from the rex.

—–

Anne’s thoughts of the dream she had had in the tree could go no further, for her dream had ended in her last thought:

Just get away from the rex.

“Just dreams,” she muttered.

Her mind drifted back and forth between the dream and the jungle ahead, which had begun to lessen after an hour of walking.

She had seen no life other than something slithering she had guessed was a snake, and the unmistakable sound of birds in the canopy.

The light from above the canopy was also beginning to grow as the trek through the jungle continued.

Anne had been walking for shortly over an hour when a small ruffle of leaves in the trees made her stop. She could hear light breathing: like something was trying to hold back its breath after running.

She looked up, searching the trees, but could see nothing.

To her right, the branches shook lightly, and she instantly began scanning them, unable to make out what had caused them to do so.

Again she heard the breathing, but this time it sounded as if there were more than one.

When the leaves rustled again, it happened twice, letting Anne know there were more than one of the unseen creatures.

She squinted, trying to spot the tree-creatures.

There!

She shifted her head to see a small creature hidden amongst the branches above her. She couldn’t tell how big it truly was, but it seemed just around a meter tall, balancing on the branch as it watched her only for a split second before leaping away from view.

In the instant she had locked onto it, it had seemed to be dark, mottled green, but she knew she couldn’t be sure. Its small, seemingly beak-like head had been pointing down at her; two eyes that she knew were watching her behind it.

She had not seen this creature before on Sorna, and she stood in the middle of the jungle trying to figure out what it was. She could barely follow where it leapt off to, but as it did, several more did so in unison.

They were quiet, except only for the faint ruffle of leaves as they moved on away from her, their curiosity over her seemingly subsided.

They had seemed to be docile and most likely herbivores, since she knew that—had they been carnivores—their non-countable number probably could’ve taken her down.

Or they’re just not hungry.

She followed the sounds of their movements, hoping they’d lead her somewhere, even if it was not directly the end of the jungle.

—–

When she finally got a glimpse of the creatures’ full bodies, they were already leaping back up into the trees on the other side of a stream weaving its way in a parting through the jungle.

They were all around a meter in height. Each was dark-green, but she noticed some varied in different dominations of either green or brown while still mixing the two. They moved amazingly quick, with slender tails that seemed to point downward as they jumped, propelling themselves off their little back legs. Two arms and the rounded, parrot-like front head apparently rounded off the last of their features.

The stream current—although barely a current at all—appeared to be traveling to her left.

Going south, maybe…

She pondered following it, but stuck with the creatures instead, hurrying to catch up as they continued into the jungle on the opposite side.

When the jungle finally ended, Anne found herself on a grassy field. The green valley stretched on, surrounded by jungle in certain places, over several small hill rises. Several large trees were scattered across it, and the sky—filled with several, white clouds—was a beautiful blue, fresh from its own slumber.

Most all of the creatures remained in the trees, yet several dropped down and crossed over the valley, darting away from her.

She slowed down, glad to have made it out of the jungle. She watched the creatures cross up a small rise toward a light crop of the large trees.

Curious, Anne hurried after, even after losing sight of them. She crossed up the rise, seeing that on the other side the trees were even larger than she had thought.

Running slightly next to the trees was a beaten path that curved away to her left behind the trees, bushes, and jungle, while stretching across the valley to her right.

But it was not the path that had maintained her sight.

—–

Past the trees and the trail, a slope ran downward into the valley to a large lagoon. The sunlight glistened off of the water as large herds of animals rimmed the lagoon, while several of the dinosaurs actually waded inside.

“This is…” she whispered. Amazing.

The scene was beautiful, she thought. Her other thoughts and worries were gone, and she could only focus in on the various herbivores at the lagoon.

Distant trumpets, honks, and calls were carried by the wind, and even a flock of birds swooped low over the water.

“Parasaurs, Brachiosaurs…” She listed. She noted there was another species she couldn’t recognize. The adults were nine or ten meters long, with large tails and a beautiful finesse reminiscent of the Parasaurolophus. They also had young with them, and Anne could see that the adults were nurturing to them in the way they interacted.

Several of the younger dinosaurs she didn’t know playfully crossed the shore of the water, once in awhile playfully nudging a young Parasaur.

The adults occasionally waded out several yards before returning, but several Brachiosaurs were making their way through the water together. They were easily large enough to walk out to the center, Anne assumed.

As Anne walked toward the beaten trail, one of the Parasaurs let out a soft honk, which settled peacefully into the setting.

—–

The trail was starting to be overgrown, but the light dirt setting that must have been easily noticed when it had been made, did help indicate it to Anne.

It was wide enough for a vehicle to follow, and she supposed that’s exactly what it had been for.

Welcome tourists one and all to Jurassic Park…Keep running or else you’re dead.

She began following it to the right, heading past the slow drop to the lagoon below, and from her new vantage she could overlook the grace of the herbivores below. She could see smaller younglings sticking underneath the adult’s feet, unless, like she had seen before, they’d chance it out and run through the shallow depths of the water.

“Time to get going…”

Anne looked back down the trail, which she had seen curved away and back toward the jungle. Ahead of her, it bent around the curve-drop to the lagoon and across the plains. From here, she thought, it looked pretty straightforward until it reached the ends of the plains.

With one more glance to the lagoon, Anne started off down the trail.

For no real reason, she thought: Just keep running.

“But why?”

She wasn’t expecting an answer, and after she didn’t, she wasn’t surprised.

—–

I wonder if they’re even here…

For the first time since she had been stranded, Anne began to think about her purpose for being on Isla Nublar.

After all, this isn’t just an accident like last time…Yet, no one knows I’m here but those three…And chances are they won’t tell anyone else…

She looked across the green plains toward the jungle. Unless I find Lisa, no one’s going to come get me…

But what if they’re not here?

I just won’t have to worry about it, not yet at least. Marty said they left—he wouldn’t lie.

I’ll just have to search.

She sighed, realizing she had crossed much of the plains faster than she thought.

But these photographers…Why would they want to come here if the island was said to be destroyed? There would be no point. Obviously, it never was, but they would’ve had to have known beforehand that the dinosaurs had survived.

Ah, maybe they did…I wouldn’t be surprised…Some above-ground photos…Flyby or satellite or something…

Ahead, she could see that the jungle opened up, the trail continuing inward.

“Well, I must be headed in the right direction at least…”

When she reached the entryway to the jungle, the brightness of the plains behind seemed to disappear entirely. The ground was shaded by the plant-life on both sides, and a distant chirping of bugs and the drone of cicadas was the only noise in the air.

She continued down the path, seeing that it formed a T-section with a paved road ahead, running both left and right. When she reached it, she saw that a silver, metallic beam ran down the center of the road in either direction, unbroken.

“That must be the beam the tour vehicles traveled on…”

She walked out to it, tapping it with her foot as she looked right, farther down the road. It extended away, toward a massive set of open gates leading the way deeper into the jungle. There were letters printed above the gates that she could barely make out, but she knew what they said: “Jurassic Park.”

To her left, the road bent right around a murky pond with lily pads floating atop and leaves covering a various portion of the surface.

On the other side of the road, opposite to the pond was a large building, apparently unfinished due to construction ladders and supplies tied down to the side of the building or resting in shambles in the grass.

It was a dark grey, looking sleek underneath a large growth of green, dome-shaped trees overhanging it. Directly front and center were a set of stairs leading upward to a brown set of doors.

On each side of the stairs was a set of rolling waterfalls, like stairs themselves, which were ended on the far side by a planter. Around the doors’ entryway was an art backing of a fossilized Tyrannosaur. On both sides of the entryway, behind the waterfalls and planters were six blackened windows—three on each side—with one heavily cracked on the left.

On the roof were three, straw-covered domes. One massive dome sat in the center, while two smaller domes—each on a turret—rested on its sides.

Anne had taken much of this in by the time she had reached the base of the stairs. The road continued on past the trees, hidden from view and bending left: the jungle where it would’ve been had it gone straight ahead.

She looked up the stairs at the rex fossilization above the entryway, and couldn’t help but smile at the detail, before ascending up the stairs.