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Dr. Alan Grant stared out the window of the helicopter and shook his head incredulously. Beside him, Ellie tightened her grip on his hand.
“I cannot believe they would reopen the park again,” Alan muttered. “You’d think that after a few disasters they would learn that it’s not a good idea.”
“It’s like no one read my book,” Ian joked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Why did we agree to go back?” Ellie was starting to second guess their decision to visit Isla Nublar again. “We should have thrown away the invitations.”
“I personally have to admit that I’m kind of curious as to what this new park is like,” Ian replied.
The helicopter began to descend in erratic, frequent movements. Once it was settled on the launch pad, the three scientists carefully stepped out.
A red headed woman clad in a loose button up top, a crisp black pencil skirt, and deadly tall black high heels strode up to them, her hair blowing in the wind. In one hand she held a sleek folder, and she held out her free hand. “Hello, Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, Dr. Malcolm. I’m Claire Dearing, park manager. If you’ll step this way, please…”
They followed Claire to a large building, where they were greeted by a couple of secretaries who quickly ushered them into a spacious conference room. One of the secretaries, a young brunette, hovered nearby. “Please, sit down and make yourselves comfortable. Can we offer you any refreshments? Water, perhaps? Tea? Coffee?”
“Water, please,” Ellie requested.
Claire smiled at the group of people before her. “It is an honor to have such accomplished scientists here at Jurassic World. I’ll guide you through a brief presentation about the park.”
The lights dimmed, and the large flat screen TV lit up the room. Claire began with a simple introduction, explaining how the park was rebuilt. She tapped the clicker in her hand, and the next slide contained information about the dinosaur exhibits.
Halfway through Claire’s presentation, a young child burst into the room. “Mama,” the child cried.
A young man rushed in after her, holding a backpack. “Sorry for interrupting Aunt Claire, but she wouldn’t stop crying for you.”
“It’s fine Zach, thank you for watching her,” Claire replied. “I’ll see you later.”
The young man, Zach, nodded in acknowledgment before leaving.
Claire turned around. “I’m so sorry. My daughter Audrey has been acting up lately.”
“Oh it’s no problem,” Ellie said. “She’s adorable. How old is she?”
“She’s three,” Claire replied as she set her child down in a chair. She pulled out a dinosaur coloring book and crayons out of the backpack, setting them in front of Audrey. “Sweetie, Mommy needs to do some work, so you color the dinosaurs, okay?”
“Okay Mama,” Audrey complied, going to town on the dinosaurs.
Claire picked up the clicker off the table. “Back to where we were. As I was saying…”
Once the presentation was over, Ellie asked, “So, where are we heading now?”
“We’ll be visiting the velociraptor exhibit first.” Claire fussed with her daughter, not noticing the looks that the three friends exchange amongst one another.
“This should be interesting,” Alan said under his breath.
Ian merely raised his eyebrows.
Claire led the way, carrying her daughter. As they neared the raptor containment, Alan noticed that the little girl had started to squirm around in her mother’s arms. He was a bit uncomfortable too. He hadn’t been around a raptor for 25 years. He had never planned on seeing one again. Now here he was.
Ellie relaxed a bit, gesturing to the the child. “Isn’t she cute Alan?”
Alan felt less tense. Ellie always brought out the best in him. And besides, they did end up having a couple of kids together. She had convinced him to give fatherhood a chance after his journey with the John Hammond’s grandchildren.
Alan gave Audrey a slight wave. “Hi there. What’s your favorite dinosaur?”
“Waptors,” Audrey shouted happily. “Waptors! Waptors!”
Claire let out a laugh, kissing Audrey on the cheek. “She means the velociraptors. She’s been talking a lot more lately, but she struggles with the ‘r’ sound a bit.”
Alan felt a shiver run through his body, and he felt himself tensing up again.
When they reached the raptor cage, a handsome but slightly dirty man walked out to greet them. He smirked at Claire. “Ms. Dearing.”
“Mr. Grady.” She gave a slight tilt of her head.
Audrey stretched her tiny arms out. “Daddy!”
“Hey, how is my little button?” Owen exclaimed enthusiastically.
Claire set the child down, and she stumbled eagerly to her father.
Owen picked Audrey up and strolled over to his girlfriend, kissing her soundly. “Hi, Claire.”
“Hey to you too,” Claire responded, smacking him lightly on the chest. She turned. “Owen, this is Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, and Dr. Malcolm.”
She gestured to Owen. “This is Owen Grady, head of the velociraptor exhibit and our velociraptor trainer.”
There was an exchange of handshakes.
“Velociraptor trainer,” Alan mused. “How exactly can you train them?”
“Come take a look,” Owen replied. The group of people followed him up a set of stairs that led to pathways overlooking the raptor containment
Alan peered over the edge of the railings. Four velociraptors circled below, eyeing the visitors curiously. The railings surrounding the pathways were not high enough in Alan’s eyes.
Owen leaned over and pointed the tan raptor with dark brown stripes marking its entire body. “That’s Fable. She was created using brown basilisk DNA.”
He directed his attention to another raptor, this one a greenish hue with yellow stripes running down its body. “This here is Glyph. Her DNA was completed with an iguana’s.”
“And last but not least, Helix. She has some bird in her.” The last animal was a mix of green, grey, and brown.
Then he pointed at the largest raptor, a grey creature with prominent blue markings. “And that right there is Blue, the beta of the pack.”
“Why are the others smaller than Blue?” Ellie inquired.
Owen’s expression tightened for a second before smoothing out. “They’re younger. Their clutch was created after the reopening of this park. Blue is from…Blue was already here before the accident. Her sisters didn’t make it.” The tone of voice made it clear that he wasn’t going into further detail. Beside him, Claire gave his arm a comforting squeeze.
“Anyways, let me show you guys what I do.” Owen jogged down the stairs and unlocked a door that led to the entrance of the enclosure.
“Show us what you-“ Alan felt the air leave his lungs. “Is he going to enter the cage with them?”
“Don’t worry,” Claire responded calmly. “It’s all under control.”
“Don’t fool yourselves,” Alan said grimly. “You can trap wild animals, but you can’t tame them.” He wasn’t quite ready to see this man get torn apart by a pack of velociraptors.
Owen opened the gate and walked in. Blue was the first one to run over to him. She bumped him in the arm with her head, nuzzling him.
“Hey Blue,” he said affectionately. He slowly stroked her head. “Hey girl.”
The others followed suit, surrounding him. He stroked each of them and talked to them. They responded with trills and screeches. The sound was unsettling to Alan. Even if this man had insisted that he “trained” the raptors, they were still feral creatures, ready to kill. Alan watched as Owen grabbed some meat and tossed chunks in the air, having them catch the bits. Claire stood close to the edge, holding her daughter tightly.
Audrey stretched her small body as close as she could to the railing, having spotted her father and the velociraptors. She flapped her arms. “Daddy play with waptors! Hi waptors!”
To Alan’s astonishment, the velociraptors looked up and called to her. The young girl giggled and flailed around happily. After being fed and played with, Fable, Glyph, and Helix wandered off, leaving Blue alone with Owen.
“I’m going to leave now, alright girl? I’ll be back later.” Owen gently stroked her once more. Blue keened quietly, then trotted off.
Owen carefully slipped out of the enclosure. As he walked up the stairs, he held out his arms. “How about it, huh?”
“That was the most insane thing I've ever seen." Alan's face was a mask of incredulousness.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Owen chuckled, taking Audrey from Claire’s arms.
“Shall we move on to the next exhibit?” Claire intercepted smoothly.
The velociraptors emitted some more shrill squawks.
Alan hoped he would never have to see another raptor again. He still hated those creatures.