Chapter 9: The Park


“It’s got to be them…”

The jeep was following the Park roads as she watched. “Now what? I’ve found them…Do I wait here? Or go after them? I have no way to drive.”

The blue dot stopped to the north-east part of the island, still on the road. She clicked the sector NE-026, but the camera was out. On the map, a small building was near where the jeep had stopped.

As she watched, the blue dot disappeared. “They aren’t moving anymore.”

She backed away from the computer. “Ok Anne…They’re out there, you know where they are. It’d just be a matter of following the road until you find them; you can get to them before they get moving again. Don’t need a car, just hurry.”

What if they do take off?

“I’ll just come back here. Try and find them again. Or something…”

But…

“But I can’t just sit here and wait…They may never come…I have a plan and I’m going to stick with it.”

—–

Ten minutes later Anne found herself in front of the Visitor’s Center, having returned the way she had gone through. She had left everything the same, just in case she was coming back.

If I’m lucky, I won’t have to…At least, not alone…

She had made a quick search for weapons in visible range, but other than the one from the floor she had found nothing. Her mind was set on reaching the others before they moved again.

Anne started walking down the road, which bent away around the pond towards a large, looming gate in the distance she had seen earlier. The path she had also come down after crossing the plains was off to her right.

After a silent walk down the road, sticking to the left of the metal track in the center, Anne reached the gates. The two massive doors comprising the entrance to the park were partially open: wide enough to let a vehicle pass through, but not completely open.

Sprawled in an arch above the doors read: “Jurassic Park.”

On the vertical face of the gate support-ways were lighting planters, where she could see from a lower one that something had once been lit in each.

Probably fire…

Through the opening of the gates, she could see the road stretching on into the jungle which pressed in from both sides beyond the gate. A slow mountain peak rose in the distance against the lightly clouded sky.

“Well, I guess its time to take a walk in the park…”

She passed through the wide opening of the ajar gates, instantly entering a more enclosed space than the road behind her.

In continuing silence, she began her walk through the park.

—–

Here and there beyond the trees to the right side of the road, she could see fencing hidden behind the foliage.

“The first paddock on the tour…”

It was a short couple of minutes before Anne could fully see the fence, and the area around the road widened up, allowing more space. To the left she could see a large stretch of fence rising up. Voltage warning signs that had been rusted over clung to it.

On the right side of the road was a large expanse of grass shut off on the far side by more jungle. A large, styled sign in the grass stuck up, catching her attention. It had a concrete base, with a large, pointed slab of slick rock jutting upward. Labeled on both sides of it was a picture of a fossilized head: an odd creature with some sort of crest running along the top of its head; and a name labeled with it.

“Dilophosaurus…”

She turned her gaze to the road ahead, which once again closed off to the left as the jungle wrapped around the grass to come back alongside the road. On the right, a section of fencing was ripped off, pulled down opposite the road due to a fallen tree from the paddock’s interior. It was caught and twisted in the wires, resting amongst a cluster of plants. The missing fence allowed a fairly large opening between the road and the paddock.

On the opposite side of the fence she could see a solid layer of plants, shadowed in several trees rising up amongst them. To her, it seemed eerie.

She started down the road toward the opening, her curiosity growing as she drew closer. The tree was small, but something had knocked it into the fence with force. It was long dead, and must have fallen back, pulling the fence with it into the paddock. Wires were strewn and still hanging from the remaining fence to the fallen fence, showing that it had not completely been ripped off.

“Just enough damage to loosen it…”

There was blood on the concrete base still standing where the fence had been attached to. It dripped over it, and she reached down, touching it.

It stuck to her hands.

It’s fresh!

The blood trail loosely crossed the road, before disappearing into the jungle on the other side.

“Something was hurt…”

She faintly heard the distant crash of leaves. It was somewhere in the jungle ahead of the road, not on the paddock side.

Whatever it was, it was ahead of her and coming closer.

I can’t go on…What if it’s a carnivore? Then I’m trapped between the fence and it. I can’t even go back, otherwise I’ll lose Lisa…

There was a soft hoot from the jungle.

The paddock! I’ll follow the inside fence…If whatever it is is on the road, it won’t be able to get to me…There’s go to be another break somewhere, or I can just climb the fence…

“Go,” she whispered to herself. She turned, stepping over the concrete base, her foot disappearing underneath the layer of plants.

The ground was sloped; she could tell even though the plant cover blocked out any view of the ground. She looked at the tree, and she began to realize that it, too, was lying in more cover at the top than the base.

She began cutting her path through the plants, which slowly began to rise up to her knees as she made her way around the fallen tree.

She came to the opposite side of the fallen tree, and looked back through the fence toward the opening. Another hoot filled the air, bringing to her mind the thought of a giant owl coming to get her.

Leaves began to rustle nearby in the jungle on the opposite side of the fence. She whipped her head around, realizing she was in open view if the animal was to pop out facing her.

She began stepping backwards, the plants quickly rising as the slope increased.

There was a tree just a little ways behind her. “If I can make it there, I can hide and then cut a path next to the fence in the jungle…”

Just a few more steps.

Another hoot cut through the air.

“Almost there.”

The slope dramatically decreased when the plants passed her waist, just a foot away from the tree. She lost her footing, falling backward moments before something emerged from the jungle on the opposite side of the fence and road.

—–

She tumbled once backwards, glimpsing the base of the tree on the decline and hundreds of plants whipping by as she went down.

When she stopped, the plants had leveled off in a closely shadowed area. She picked herself up from her quick fall that had been lightened by the plants, and looked up the small incline she had come down.

Behind her, the leveled area was surrounded by jungle.

“Great,” she muttered.

She stopped, listening, as more noise broke her thoughts. The rustle and crunch of leaves from above made her heart sink.

Whatever had come out of the jungle had come through the opening.

And now it’s headed straight for me!

Running parallel to the fence that was out of view, she hurried off into the jungle, attempting to get as far away from the dinosaur and her, even though she hadn’t seen it.

Let’s keep it that way…

A hoot floated over the jungle around her, growing distant as she continued on. Her path was linear as she cut through the dense foliage, and she still felt her path was still alongside the fence to some degree.

Soon the only noise she could hear was her own breathing, the crunch of her footsteps on the earth, and the rustle of leaves as she pushed through them. Whatever dinosaur had been behind her hadn’t picked up on her, and she felt like it had been several minutes since she had entered the jungle.

She was warm, tired, hungry, and thirsty.

“Good job Anne…Couldn’t have stopped to find some sort of vending machine or something…”

What am I thinking? Whatever’s in those vending machines would probably be over long nasty…It’s been what, twelve years since anyone’s restocked them?

“Still could’ve gotten a water bottle or something…There had to be one somewhere, maybe the restaurant…”

Well, too late now…

—–

”Anne,” Sandra Jones muttered after opening her front door. William Jones was standing behind her, unable to speak yet. Bill backed away as his wife helped their daughter inside, leading her to the couch.

Anne sat, watching her father take her suitcase and set it near the stairs, before returning to the couch next to her and her mother.

“It’s still so close…I tried to forget, but I can’t…I had to get away…”

Sandra nodded. “I can only begin to understand. Something like that is bound to leave scars…In time, hopefully they will pass.”

Bill spoke up. “Until then, you can stay with us…Learn to live life again. Away from the city.”

“Back home in the Mansion I suppose…It’s been awhile,” Anne said with a smile.

Sandra smiled in return. “Back here you are safe…You’re home…What you’ve been through was a step to the future that brought you back to us…While it wasn’t good by any means, you’re here.” She paused. “And it will never happen again.”

Anne only nodded.

Looks like you were wrong Mom…Looks like we were all wrong…

Six years had passed since Anne had returned to her childhood home in 1998, and she was glad her family did their best to stray away from mention of what had happened, despite some people’s curiosity over her return.

Since she had come back from the island, things began to change: she would have haunting memories or she’d jump at certain things. Stuff that bothered her, causing her to make a change in life to clear it all up.

Originally she had had to relive her story several times, excluding certain points, and she had no knowledge of what had been sparked in her cousin Lisa’s mind after hearing Anne’s accounts.

Not until her uncle had come to her parents’ home all those years later.

God…It was only a couple of days ago.

Everything she had worked to forget—and all her beliefs that it was behind her—were destroyed.

Why?

Why Lisa? You know what I went through, and yet you’ve risked your life just to see what I meant. Wasn’t it warning to you enough?

Anne pictured her mother. “Back here you are safe…You’re home…What you’ve been through was a step to the future that brought you back to us…While it wasn’t good by any means, you’re here.” She paused. “And it will never happen again.”

Yeah…Right.

—–

When the jungle finally cleared up, Anne was welcomed to the sight of a fence, stretching away in both directions. A large, three- or four-foot wide moat was on both sides, with huge chunks of odd, brown muck floating atop the surface.

“Looks like a public bathroom…” The sight of it disgusted her, just wondering what it was.

The moat followed the fence in both directions, occasionally brimmed with the muck. She began trailing it left, keeping a distance from it.

A quick walk led her to the paddock corner, with the road hidden a short distance away from the other side of the fence, tucked beyond some plants that would’ve blocked a good view of the fence.

Luckily, the moat ended at the corner, not bending off to continue its route alongside the fence. She moved up to the fence, stepping onto the concrete base and ascending upwards, grasping each wire of the fence mesh, which reminded her of a large, fortified chain-link which allowed for footing.

At the bottom of the other side, she moved through the plants on a return to the road. Down the road was a large concrete structure built around the road, forcing it into a tunnel. “Great…Out of silence and into darkness…”

On the contrary, the silence continued as she made her way down the road and into the tunnel. It was a quick walk, and soon after entering the dark, light appeared on the other end.

Her eyes adjusted as she came out onto a long stretch of straight road. To the left was a great fence, with a large portion of it destroyed: smashed through onto the road and pulled apart. Mountains stretched in the distance, with the jungle stretching on.

A vehicle stood pushed against the concrete base. It was green and red, with the Park’s logo and a car number on it. It was detailed greatly, and as she drew closer it became apparent that the Land Cruiser in front of her was some sort of tour vehicle.

It had been pushed off the main track, and its windows were smashed. Some of the paint was wearing off, and the closest tire was popped.

Glass, metal, and other trash was scattered about the area, and off to the right of the road was a lone sign reading: “Bathrooms.” Littered amongst it was the dried remains of some sort of hut-like building, and a sink, toilet, and papers were piled around it.

“This place got destroyed…The fence, the bathroom, the car…Jeez…”

She was beginning to feel spooked, almost like if she lingered there the same fate everything else had faced here would become hers.

Without looking back, she continued down the road.

—–

Eventually the road gradually bent around, with the scenery becoming more brown than green: a more forested area, seemingly.

The light brown area definitely contrasted the jungle, but as she followed the road, a small, wooden fence appeared to her left, at the end of a series of large plants. It rested on an overlook hill from the road, and beyond was a wide expanse of short grass.

At the far side of the plain, the forest was green again. Near the right end of the plain was a sizeable building that poked out among the grass, blending in amongst a large cluster of plants.

But, most noticeably, was a small herd of Triceratops loosely lingering apart the plain. There were several of adults, but she could see a small, fair number of juveniles sticking close to the adults.

Her gaze fixed to the building near the forest. “I’ll stop over there…Maybe there’s something I can use…A flare or something, to call their attention…”

What’s another five minutes? If there’s nothing, I’ll get moving…

She started off across the plains in a line for the building, while keeping a fair expanse between herself and the herd.