Ch. 42 Old Laboratory

Ch. 42 Old Laboratory

= "Dr. Grant!"

He nods for the others to take a look at this. They head over, Alan was at the rear with his hand now softly gripping Madison's and as he approaches, Billy is packing up the rest of the chute in a backpack. He stops short from what he sees.

Looking down, here they find a strange, hollowed-out construction made of sod and branches. Maybe six feet around.

Just now noticing the others' stare, Paul looks down into one of the bowls at his feet, a half-buried nest. It's filled with football-sized eggs, laid in a spiral. And this isn't the only nest. Amanda counts twelve in all, laid out in an oddly symmetrical pattern. The last to arrive, Grant identifies the species in a horrified instant.

"Raptors." Alan's voice was cautious and as he says the words, off in the distance, all of them could hear the cry of some herbivores, around by the chorus of snarls.

The party blasts quickly through the forest, trying to keep up with the anxious Alan whose grip only just get tighter much to the dislike of Madison.

"Alan- you're hurting my hand." Madison tells the man who only spares a singular glance to the woman while Bumble and Ezra looks to one another with skeptical looks.

"They don't look that big. I mean, comparatively." Udesky presumes while Alan shakes his head.

"If we came across one, we might live." He tells them. Stopping to look at Paul and Udesky.

"Well that's good!" Paul laughs triumphantly.

"But you never came across just one." Madison adds, countering the man's thoughts and he just stares deflated at the girl.

"Wait! Where's Billy?" Amanda calls from the back and they all stop. The only one not there was Billy and Alan Grant started to become agitated and worried as he thankfully let's go off the girls hand.

"Billy! Billy!" Alan yells.

With confusion, Amanda watches the man before turning to the others. "I thought we weren't suppose to yell."

"Here!" He comes in from the left. Excited, he explains to Alan, Madison taking the moment to have her hand released pulls out an iron flask and begins drinking it, hiding it away from the male. "I got some great pictures of the nest. You know this proves raptors raised their young in colonies."

Madison could feel that something was off about the 25 year old man and Alan was truthfully furious with his student so he once again grabs Madison's hand once more and just keeps moving. There's no time to stand around and argue.

"This speaks to a larger social structure, the possibility of Darwinian altruism. It changes everything." Billy tells the man from where he stands beside Madison. He looks to her with a warm smile. "We could co-write a paper."

"Ah yes, the first rule of academics. Publish or perish." Madison responds, taking the words from Alan who continues to drag her.

The group emerges from the jungles and enters the compound. They walk through an overgrown parking lot, littered with abandoned vehicles. Some are lying on their side. Others are overturned completely.

Madison watches as a troubled Alan Grant peers through a windshield, partially caved in, like some giant head butted the glass and the group finally approaches the front doors of an enormous building.

They now finally find themselves in a sparse, one quietly opulent corporate lobby now in the process of being reclaimed by the jungle and the roots and ivy poke through the floor and walls.

In the waiting area, the cushions of a sofas and chairs have been gnawed at and pulled apart. Dusty coffee mugs and filled ashtrays lie on the table. The water has turned brackish in a near by cooler.

Sudden flapping is heard and Madison looks up and see birds nesting in the rafters. It is an eerie, haunted place. Paul calls out. "Eric! Are you here?"

"Eric!" They all listen for a response. Nothing. Paul and Amanda exchange a despondent look.

Sitting on the reception counter is an official-looking telephone. Amanda moves over while muttering "What the hell." Amanda puts the receiver to her ear. Nothing.

With Alan and Madison in the lead, they head deeper into the building. They find a couple vending machines stand at the one end of this long hallway covered with vines and Paul notices them and pulls change from his pocket.

"Let's see. I've got about a dollar seventy- five. How about you guys?" Paul asks the group before Madison moves, releasing herself from the males grip much to his dismay and reaches the man. "You still got money?"

Madison shakes her head, violently elbowing the screen of one of the three vending machines along with Billy smashing in the window of another with his boot and they both picks through the glass. Madison picks a whole selection without checking the expiration date while Billy checks.

"Thank God for preservatives." Billy sighs, tossing the food to a few while Madison holds out a selection to Alan.

"Thank you, why don't you check the dates?" Alan asks the girl curiously as she opens a pack of plain digestives and passes it to both Ezra and Bumble.

"Food is food." She says, walking away comfortably with him catching up to her. Alan went to grab her hand again but she pulls away. "You don't need to hold my hand, Grant."

"Sorry." Alan responds. Paul now turns to his own vending machine and smashes it with his heal but for Paul, the glass refuses to break.

Kicking open a door, Madison guides the group into a room with much of the same equipment we recognized from the first island, although the sheer size of this place dwarfs any of the facilities seen previously.

"Seems as though you've been in this lab before, Madison." Amanda remarks, looming over to check the girl while the two Sabertooths walked in front the group.

"This is where I got Zion, Ezra, Bumble and Renee." Madison says. Ignoring the look from Alan as she looks around.

The group walks down the ramp and onto the floor, they begin to absorb the incredible array of technology, enormous cryonic freezer, their plug having been pulled years ago, empty incubators; tanks of formaldehyde with dinosaur fetuses and body parts.

Machines with intricate tubing and wing arms stand beside conveyer belts cris crossing the room at different levels.

"This is how you make dinosaurs?" Amanda asks, tapping a glass of a machine while Madison ruffles the head of Ezra and Bumble.

"This is how you play God." Alan retorts, popping a piece of food into his mouth. Glancing off to Madison whose face dulled at that fact. Elbowing her side, Alan asks. "Are you okay Madison?"

"Yea I'm fine." She nods and they see Billy looking around the lab and he couldn't help but be impressed.

"Okay if I take pictures?" Billy asks Alan who looks to Madison, she shrugs so Alan simply nods and Billy sets his lucky camera back down on the worktable.

Two years from now, astute observers of the DVD will not that Billy doesn't actually take his camera from the bag; he was carrying it because there wasn't any room inside.

Billy pulls a new roll of film from the bag and zips it shut. Madison wanders over to see what he was doing but was stopped when she hears the sound of clicking. Her face paling at the sound.

"Ezra, Bumble! Get out now!" Madison yells, causing people to look to her. Mainly out of confusion, the two Smilodons nod and rush out. Not without looking backwards when they reach the top of the stairs where Madison is seen scrambling towards.

"Where are you going Maddy!?" Alan shouts.

Looking back, Madison has her eyes widened as she ran back down and grabbed his wrist. Just as a scream is heard, heads turning to find how a velociraptor struggled to get between two closely spaced tanks.

"Amanda!" Paul shouts.

"Back out! Move!" Alan goes and grabs the two people, ignoring the stretched out hand of the girl.

"Shit!" Madison curses, the velociraptor chasing the group out while she was just crouched behind a table. Confused on what to do.

END OF CHAPTER FOURTY-TWO