"Hold on!"
Inside the BioSyn Ecological Zone, the Jeep carrying Grant, Malcolm, Ellie, and Maisie slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt at the edge of a forty-five-degree slope.
The front-right tire sank, leaving only three wheels resting on flat ground and causing the entire vehicle to tilt precariously.
"I know this looks dangerous, but... we're dangling by a thread."
As a mathematician, Malcolm seemed particularly fond of analyzing the current situation, though he immediately followed up with a completely pointless piece of stating-the-obvious:
"Uh... shouldn't we lean to the left?"
"Brilliant, wonderful suggestion. Thank you, Ian."
Why did it feel like the Ian-virus had infected everyone around him? Everything he said and did carried an inexplicable trace of dark humor.
Ellie and Maisie, seated on the right side of the vehicle, slowly shifted their weight and leaned toward the left, causing the Jeep to creak with slight friction.
"See? We're fine."
"Ian, I'm pretty sure this model of Jeep is four-wheel drive..."
Dr. Grant tried to remind Malcolm that the three tires still on flat ground could easily save them. But the Jeep gave him zero chances, flipping over sideways and tumbling down the slope.
Clank... crash... rumble, bang!
The car spun 360 degrees down the hillside, coming to a dead stop upside down right next to an observation outpost.
Because everyone had been buckled up, they were left hanging upside down in their seats rather than suffering the misfortune of snapping their necks.
"Why am I putting up with this shit at my age..."
Grant muttered under his breath. Staring at his blurry vision, he suddenly felt that spending the rest of his days surrounded by a bunch of dinosaur skeletons wouldn't have been such a bad gig.
"Help! Help!"
Maisie, hanging upside down right beside him, spotted something and screamed. Well, leave it to the youth, even recovering from a car crash happened at zero-frame startup.
Dr. Grant, whose hearing was still ringing painfully, wasn't so lucky.
"Help!"
The girl's screech could probably rival a Tyrannosaurus rex, though the three people climbing down from the outpost immediately recognized her.
"Maisie!"
Owen and Claire bolted out of the gate…wait, was Claire actually faster than Owen?
Maisie scrambled out of the wreckage like a zombie, utilizing a young person's signature instant-start maneuver to rush forward and embrace the two of them.
Ground-shaking rumble.
The ground trembled slightly, though no one present paid attention. Malcolm, old yet spry, was busy helping his two old friends crawl out of the car. The Grady family was lost in a blissful reunion... only Kayla seemed to sense something was amiss.
Don't tell me it's him again?
"They're the ones who helped me escape."
Amidst this rare moment of leisure, Maisie "introduced" the three academic legends to her parents.
However, Grant and his group didn't seem particularly inclined to introduce themselves, perhaps because they hadn't fully recovered from the car crash yet.
THUD!
A sudden, deafening crash echoed across the landscape! Its distinctiveness was so unmistakable that nobody even needed to look to know whose handiwork it was!
Rustling leaves.
"Don't move!" x2
Grant and Owen moved in unison to shield the others, issuing a synchronized warning.
The trees were scorched and blackened, floating embers danced through the air, and fires of all sizes dotted the forest, it was a terrifying wildfire. And towering above it all was an even more terrifying behemoth.
Massive, three-toed feet stamped across the earth, making heaven and earth tremble in unison.
"What is that?"
"Undisputedly the apex predator of this world."
Everyone wore grim expressions. Owen remained relatively relaxed, knowing that the creature probably wouldn't deign to notice someone of his size.
Dr. Grant analyzed the situation from a biological standpoint, figuring the predator wouldn't waste energy hunting them when the caloric intake gained wouldn't even cover the effort of swallowing.
Only Ian Malcolm wore an expression nearing total psychological collapse. Having locked eyes with the beast moments ago, he half-suspected it had come looking for him specifically.
No! This thing is intelligent! It won't let static objects cloud its judgment!
Malcolm frantically retraced his memories, recalling his harrowing past encounter of having the creature's snout inches from his face, and immediately made a decisive choice! He resolved to buy the others time to escape!
"Ian?!"
He grabbed a spear-like branch and jammed it straight into a burning locust carcass on the ground! Then he yanked it up, brandishing it through the air like a theatrical magician!
"Run!"
Low growl.
The outpost sat high up on a hillside near the BioSyn headquarters, giving Carlo a bird's-eye view of the entire valley, which was why he had come here.
"Look over here! Look over here!"
His gaze swept across the mountain forest, where the green canopy had been entirely replaced by a new ocean of fire.
The morning or evening glow still lingered on the horizon, and even with the bright moon overhead, the sky below glowed with an eerie red radiance.
Locusts filled the heavens in a pitch-black blanket, accompanied by a relentless rain of fire. They showed no signs of leaving, their intentions unfathomable.
"Look over here! Look over here!"
Whether Malcolm had completely lost his mind was anyone's guess, but Carlo ignored him entirely. Instead, his gaze sharpened as he looked deeper, spotting one unyielding figure after another beneath the flames.
"What is he looking at?"
Snapping sound.
Carlo granted Malcolm's wish by snapping up a burning locust in a single bite, chewing it down along with the wooden branch it was impaled on.
Grant, Owen, and the others had climbed up onto the observation tower, following Carlo's line of sight toward the distance.
Pouring sand.
Fine, white sand spilled from shattered, rotting logs onto the earth, blanketing the burning brush and undergrowth to pave a narrow, slender path.
These grains of sand were the most common type found along the riverbanks of the BioSyn Ecological Zone.
They smothered the flames, reducing the arrogant wildfire to weak, sputtering embers while cutting off a portion of the intense heat and halting the fire's spread.
Clap...
A broken log hit the ground, coated in a scattering of fine sand. Beside it stood rows of fully laden "sand-carrying basins."
Giga Dad picked up another clever firefighting tool in his jaws, completely unbothered by the stray grains of sand that tumbled into his mouth.
Were they running away? No, not at all.
Under his leadership, the Giga family was attempting to rise above a natural disaster.
The narrow path built of fine sand acted like a safe passage, carving out a lifeline for the dinosaurs trapped within the sea of flames.
They were defying a natural disaster... just like Carlo had done in the past.
"Aunnng!"
Parasaurolophus cried out in panic. They feared predators, but they feared the searing flames far more, rushing out of the fire's encirclement along the sandy trail and fleeing down the riverbank.
Trees collapsed and fire surged, looking like the impotent rage of a natural disaster.
The Giga family certainly had no obligation to rescue other dinosaurs, but... Carlo was a protector. He would save the other dinosaurs, and that alone was reason enough to drive their actions.
Was lightening the burden for his family really such a strange thing to do?
Rushing water.
Mr. Spino and a family of beavers swam side-by-side down the river channel. Above them stretched the red glow of death, accompanied by pairs of furiously thrashing feet.
The river was his territory, an otherworldly sanctuary cut off from hell. He couldn't save the other dinosaurs, nor would he risk his life to rescue them, but...
When disaster struck, the ferocious sovereign tolerated the refugees trampling through his domain and clinging to life within it. In itself, that was a form of mercy.
"ROAR—"
A Mapusaurus roared to the sky, its blood-red cloak of battle shedding under the extreme heat.
Countless herbivores brushed past their flanks, an act that would never have been permitted under normal circumstances, yet was granted amnesty today.
Three Mapusaurus launched an assault against the swarm of locusts attempting to violate their territory and attack their food source.
The injured locusts signaled their distress, drawing the attention of even more of the swarm.
They engaged in an unequal duel with the Mapusaurus across the grassland, dazzling and breathtaking in its ferocity.
The brutal sovereign had always been, and remained, a protective shield for the refugees.
"Aunnng—"
Magyarosaurus of all sizes charged blindly at fallen timber, smashing through roadblocks to clear a pathway for their own herd and for alien species alike.
No matter their size, they were sauropods, possessing the inherent pride and dignity unique to their kind.
Plaintive wail.
A young Tyrannosaurus rex crouched atop his nest. The neural chip in his brain pulsed with currents urging him to leave, while biological instinct screamed at him to flee.
A burning log crashed against his body, tumbling off to the side and hitting the dirt.
Yet he did not budge.
He was too young, too immature to provide enough food during the female's nesting period, let alone afterward, but right now... he was a qualified father, even if his offspring had yet to hatch.
He was a cold-blooded monster in the eyes of humans, yet a tender family member in the eyes of his own kind.
Thud.
It was time to move.
Carlo strode forward at a measured pace, ensuring he stamped out every trace of fire along his path.
Whatever dinosaurs could do, they had already done. Whatever dinosaurs couldn't do... he would handle.
He would not allow a natural disaster to arbitrarily pillage lives.
"Oh, God..."
Dr. Grant watched in stunned silence as Carlo stepped directly into the flames, fires that towered higher than the creature itself.
Another action that completely defied biological instinct... Do humans really understand animals at all?
Poetry, music, fables... humans arbitrarily projected their own emotions onto animals. Science, research, observation... framed animal behavior in mechanical, emotionless terms.
Humans prided themselves on being the apex species, lording over all living things, but what was the fundamental difference between us and them?
Humans have societies, kinship, rich emotions and consciousness, do these animals not?
Humans use tools, challenge the unknown, and rescue companions, do these animals not?
Perhaps humans should simply be grateful that they seized the opportunities of development and evolution, allowing them to look down upon all other life forms from the dizzying heights of advanced technology and individual consciousness.
The human definition of nature is finite; no matter how far it is stretched, it remains bound by limits.
And nature itself is infinite. It will forever shatter our perceptions and reveal the impossible.
"I think... humans are no longer the only creatures daring to stand against natural disasters."
Malcolm, having climbed up to the observation tower a moment later, missed the most spectacular sights, but offered this half-admiring remark as he stared at Carlo's retreating back.
"They haven't been for a long time... Are you guys coming in? The air outside is a bit harsh, and we're about to close the door."
Maisie poked her head out from the doorway, interrupting the two doctors' philosophical musings and motioning for them to step inside the outpost.
"Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, your water... I'm Owen Grady."
Owen looked eager enough as he handed over bottles of water while casually introducing himself.
Though he had caught a distant glimpse of the two during the initial construction of the Primeval Ecological Zone, their paths had never crossed; back then, he was just a regular low-level employee, albeit one who happened to handle raptors.
"I'm a huge fan of yours. I read your books all the time... well, the audiobooks, anyway."
"Owen Grady? Owen Grady! I know who you are! You train Velociraptors!"
Dr. Grant seemed to remember something, his voice rising in delighted surprise... though he conveniently left out the part about being trained by a Velociraptor himself.
"Wait... you folks are from Jurassic World?"
Dr. Sattler seemed to realize something, her gaze darting back and forth between Owen and Claire.
She didn't remember Owen, but Claire, she knew Claire all too well. Only, the change... was massive.
Malcolm watched the group as they began chatting cheerfully, feeling inexplicably left out. He shot a sidelong glare at Owen.
Kid, you don't read my books, do you?
That's right, Malcolm firmly believed mathematical theory was reading material fit for civilized people.
"Everyone, shouldn't we figure out a way to get out of here?"
"Right."
Once the pleasantries wrapped up, Kayla brought up the main agenda. Owen enthusiastically chimed in, stepping over to inspect a map.
"There's a helicopter on the outer perimeter of BioSyn headquarters. All we need to do is reboot the ADS, and we can fly home."
Kayla outlined the general direction. Malcolm wore a deeply ominous expression upon hearing that the ADS was offline, but Ellie and the others, unfamiliar with technical acronyms, immediately asked:
"ADS? What's that?"
"Aerial Deterrent System... Uh, you know? Scare off things like pterosaurs and keep them away from the chopper."
Everyone had their lightbulb moment, save for Malcolm, whose expression remained subtle as he caught the unspoken subtext:
Pterosaurs eating airplanes was apparently a completely normal occurrence.
"How do we reboot it?"
"Well... all systems can be controlled from the control room on the third floor."
Owen couldn't make heads or tails of the system schematics, so he handed them over to Claire, who predictably figured out the answer.
"And these outposts are all connected via underground maintenance tunnels..."
The solution was self-evident. They would take the underground tunnels to the main control room, reboot the ADS, and head home.
The group reached a silent consensus. Grant and Owen teamed up to pry open the iron door leading to the subterranean passage, while Malcolm... took the opportunity to pick up Owen's lever-action rifle, savoring the comforting reassurance provided by human industrial technology.
"Easy there, Mambo."
Owen carefully relieved Malcolm of the firearm. He hadn't engaged the safety yet, and though it was loaded with tranquilizer rounds, an accidental discharge... well, that wouldn't be pretty.
With Claire taking the lead holding a glowing flare, the group climbed down the ladder into the underground tunnel... entirely unaware that a slender figure was currently scaling the observation tower balcony above.
Dodgson picked up a can of shaving cream from a nearby display shelf, his movements pausing momentarily as memories washed over him.
It was an old relic he had smuggled out of Jurassic Park, which once contained the dinosaur DNA stolen by Dennis Nedry... the very seed capital that had launched BioSyn.
Door opens.
"Oh! Damn... It's you. Perfect timing."
Ramsay walked into Dodgson's office, casting a glance at the suitcase sitting on the desk... the executive's intentions needed no explanation.
"My thinking is we can start over, you and me. I can get money... getting money these days is easy..."
Dodgson muttered to himself, sorting through his upcoming plans, but Ramsay didn't say a word, just stared straight at him.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't worry, every crisis is an opportunity, I taught you that."
Dodgson waved dismissively, entirely unbothered by the sea of fire raging outside, and picked up his briefcase to hand to Ramsay.
"I think... you can be the CEO this time. You've got what it takes. Take it..."
Files hitting the floor.
Ramsay didn't reach out to take it, causing the briefcase to slip from Dodgson's hands and crash to the floor, scattering documents everywhere and instantly driving Dodgson's blood pressure through the roof.
"What is your problem?!"
Ramsay still said nothing. Instead, Dodgson's pupils suddenly dilated as realization struck him.
"It was you... It was you all along... You're the one who told Malcolm, you're... you set this up! You framed me?!"
He was panicking now.
"I gave you opportunities I never even had... There was an unwritten understanding between us, you can't break it... I didn't break it, why?!"
"I'm not you."
The red glow of the fire illuminated Ramsay's face. Leaving behind that single, deeply layered sentence, he turned and walked away.
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This fanfic is now complete! If you want to read the whole story ahead of everyone else, head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]