man destroys god || i. malcolm

2

Tim grabbed Gennaro's collar through the headrest and pulled hard.

"What the hell, kid?" The lawyer exclaimed as his head hit the headrest sharply.

"Don't talk to him like that." Aria warned.

"He assaulted me!"

"Oh, please." Lex rolled her eyes. "Shut up, maybe?"

Tim was grinning through the whole situation. Aria turned to him to reprimand him for Gennaro's sake, but winked at Tim to make sure he knew that she approved greatly.

The car rolled to a stop in front of the Dilophosaurus enclosure. Both kids pressed their faces up against the glass to get a look at the dinosaurs through the thick plants. Aria would be lying if she said she wasn't curious as well. She leaned over, trying to get a glimpse.

"One of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous, spitting its venom at its prey, causing blindness and eventually paralysis, allowing the carnivore to eat at its leisure."

Aria shuddered. She already was feeling iffy about the entire concept, but hearing about the dangers that lay within meters of her turned her stomach.

"This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."

They stayed there for a few minutes before Hammond accepted that there would be no Dilophosaurus appearances.

Tim and Lex sighed, turning back to sit in their seats.

Aria was skeptical. She had not seen a single dinosaur yet, and had no idea what to expect. She wasn't exactly an expert on the subject. Not like the adults in the other car. She knew that Alan studied dinosaurs, that much was clear. Tim had made her read Dr. Grant's book as a bedtime story once. She stopped after fifteen pages when Tim kept correcting her pronunciation.

Ellie, she wasn't sure. The paleo prefix of her title made Aria think dinosaur, but she knew that botanists were different. And she couldn't even begin to imagine what a chaotician was.

As the car started moving again, she had the time to reflect. Clearly, this was an incredibly well-orchestrated idea. And well-executed, too. But there's always a flaw, and this was definitely one of them. A tour of the dinosaur theme park without any dinosaurs. Not to mention whatever other attractions John Hammond would lock wild, extinct animals in for the entertainment of the public. Overall, Aria hated it. But what she didn't hate, was the Murphy kids. And the money she'd be getting for the trip.

The cars drove slowly under a tunnel, then emerged in an open road next to an enormous fence. A fence, nothing more. Electric, but certainly breakable. The car stopped.

Everyone, again, moved to the window. Nothing but birds chirping. It was a beautiful view of the mountains, but not of the Tyrannosaurus Rex it supposedly housed.

"We'll try to tempt the Rex now," A man's voice sounded over the radio. "Keep watching the fence."

A cage started rising from the ground, and as soon as Aria recognized what it was, she reached a hand back to cover Lex's eyes and pull her back into her seat.

A goat started to bleat, chained to the ground as bait for the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Aria scoffed and sat back in her seat. She didn't want to witness such a gruesome killing. Where were the fun little herbivores? The baby dinosaurs that weren't killers?

Lex gasped. "He's gonna eat the goat?" She turned to Aria, frightened.

"Excellent." Tim grinned. Aria hit his shoulder to quiet him as his sister got more distraught.

"What's the matter, kid? You never had lamb chops?" Gennaro didn't take his eyes off the fence.

"I happen to be a vegetarian." Lex shot back. The goat continued to bleat, but eventually gave up laid down.

Aria couldn't help but feel pity for the animal. Both animals, in fact. The goat for being used simply as bait, as a prop for this sick park. And the Tyrannosaurus Rex, for being fed by a cage without any hunting or exercise.

Again, another no-show. The T-Rex stayed well within her large enclosure. That was one thing Aria would give Hammond. At least he wasn't keeping them in a zoo.

Once they'd all resigned to the fact that there would be no dinosaur at this section either, Gennaro opened his stupid mouth.

"Hey, uh, Miss Mayfield."

She turned to him and glared. Again, he clearly didn't acknowledge the hint.

"You know, Hammond has me signing off on this park. It'll be making plenty of money. I'll be making plenty of money. You got a man back home?"

That was the worst pitch any man had ever given to Aria. Ever.

"Seriously, Gennaro? You're gonna try that? With the kids in the car?"

He just kept looking at her. Well, at part of her.

"I have a boyfriend. I know, boo hoo, right?" Aria rolled her eyes and turned away from the lawyer. She had an entire fake boyfriend all set up for these situations. His name is Mark, and they met while she was completing her Master's. They lived together with a golden retriever named Sunny.

But no one ever asked for those details. Aria liked having them just in case. Once she mentioned Mark, one of two things would happen. The guy would back off and apologize (or not) or he would say, "I don't see him. Why isn't he here with you?"

One guess which Gennaro chose.

"Obviously he's not here, I'm working. He's at home."

But what is a lawyer if not stubborn, manipulative, and rude? Gennaro continued his advances, even with the kids in the car. It was only when he reached out to touch Aria's leg did she reach out and hit him right in the jaw.

"Bitch!" He hissed, nursing his bruising jaw.

"Not in front of the kids, asshole."

Aria pulled her over-shirt tighter around her and climbed into the backseat with the kids. She called them closer to whisper. "Three things. Don't ever hit people, don't say either of those words, and don't tell your mother that I did both of those things."

Both children were grinning, clearly glad with the entire situation. Aria was happy that she'd made them laugh because this dinosaur tour was turning out to be quite disappointing.

Hammond's exasperated voice sounded over the radio. "Hands to yourself, both of you please. And no foul language."