𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 || 𝑨𝑳𝑨𝑵 𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑻

UN | undiscovered underground

CHAPTER ONE
south dakota

     I STARED AT the computer screen like a kid in a candy store. there it was, a full image of the pachycephalosaurus fossil my team had just stumbled upon. well, i mean, technically we were looking for fossils, but we didn't expect to find this specific one. we never genuinely expected to find any—paleontology was a luck-based field. everything had to be just right.

"why is it's head shaped like that?"

i looked down at the preteen who had her full body weight resting against my hip boredly. my beloved niece who couldn't give two craps about dinosaurs. she was often at the dig site solely because my sister was a single mom who worked a job that gave her a good pay, yet required her to be out of the house for most of the day, nearly every day. i was more than happy to play babysitter, free of charge. all that little girl—named sabrina—had to do was not run off and not destroy my finds and all was good.

i rested my hand on her head as i explained, "it's called a pachycephalosaurus and it's from the late cretaceous period. it's skull is shaped this way in order to absorb blunt force when it would ram into things."

"so, it would just run into things all day?" she questioned, making a face that was a mix of confusion and disgust. "sounds like a stupid dinosaur."

i shook my head. "no, it's just like deer antlers or ram horns—even elephant tusks. maybe they used their skulls to have head-butting contests, for fighting, or even just display. i don't think it ran into things like we run into walls. or else they'd turn out like danny."

at my joke, she laughed. danny was her friend who was at every family gathering. he was actually pretty intelligent, yet was stupid for the sake of comedy. i admired it, his ability to take a joke so easily. then again, he was a kid, and half the time kids would take everything as jokes. sabrina took her father's attempts to contact her as jokes since he left her mom once she told him she was pregnant—and my sister did not dance around the details with her daughter.

the distant sound of a helicopter that had been idly in the background became louder. sabrina pushed herself off of my side and squinted as she looked up. then she pointed at the sky. "look! it's landing!"

"landing? what? no," i brushed off, following her line of sight with my own eyes. then, my face fell. "holy shit, it is landing. why the hell is it landing?!"

"why the hell would i lie?!" she asked incredulously, a hand on her hip.

i threw my arms up in the air. "you're a kid! kids lie!" i took off towards the helicopter, but stopped. i turned around and pointed my finger at her, yelling, "and don't say hell!" before taking off again.

i gave the pilot a questioning look, gesturing to the copter. he shrugged and gestured to my trailer. i sighed, knowing it meant i had to walk further, and so i made my way to my temporary home for the summer.

i saw an old man rummaging through my fridge. i snickered as i realized he looked like a raccoon doing it. "john, what now, here to finally offer me a job like everyone else?"

let me rewind this for you for a minute. with genetic engineering on the rise, my Ph.D in genetics was highly sought after. i got offers from loads of companies for jobs, some offering huge sums of money, but genetics wasn't my passion.

sure, i loved it enough to go through the process of getting a Ph.D in it, but i had many other Ph.Ds—for example: paleontology, botany, and evolutionary biology. genetics wasn't inherently special.

"a job? no, not exactly," the old man began, taking my opened wine bottle from last night and pouring us both glasses. "more of a consult."

"who's the rich douche with the helicopter?" sabrina asked as she stepped into the trailer.

i gasped and placed my hand over her mouth. "sabrina, we don't call people douches!" i scolded. then, i leaned in towards her ear and whispered, "not to their face." i pulled my hand away and then decided i should introduce them, "brina, this is john hammond, a friend of mine. john, this is my niece, sabrina."

"oh, wonderful to meet you, dear!" john exclaimed, extending his hand and shaking sabrina's. "i have a grandson around your age!"

"nice to meet you too, sir," sabrina responded, looking as if she was defaulting to factory settings. she wasn't the type to enjoy meeting new people, nor did she really enjoy being around old people—even though they loved her because she was so full of youth.

"but, gwen, i'll get straight to the point for time's sake," john began, turning to me. he handed me my glass and i thanked him quietly with a smile. sabrina went off to the side and started messing around in my stuff since she just loved to snoop in things that didn't involve her. "i have my own island i lease from the government off the coast of costa rica. for the last five years, i've been setting up somewhat of a biological preserve. i've spared no expense  and there is no doubt it will be popular among the children. but, not just kids, everyone. we're planning on opening next year if the lawyers don't kill me first! i've never cared much for lawyers."

sabrina snorted from the corner. "my dad's a lawyer! that's probably why my mom hates him so much."

i immediately butted in, "why do you always overshare? and she doesn't hate him because he's a lawyer, she hates him because he's a deadbeat asshole. now, keep searching my stuff like a tsa agent and i got you some capri suns in the fridge if you want them."

her face lit up and she silently scrambled over. she stabbed the straw in and started to guzzle it down. maybe it would distract her. john hammond doesn't need to know my sister's business. i loved brina, but she was willing to share any information to anyone. hell, she'd probably tell a police officer everything she perceived i did as wrong even if he pulled me over because a tail-light was out.

"that just proves my point of not liking lawyers too much," john stated, quickly pushing past my family lore. he seemed super excited about what he was telling me, and it made me wonder how he managed to keep it a secret for the past three years. "my investors insist i need outside opinions on the park, and, well, you're the smartest person i've come to know i'm my life, and you specialize in just the fields this park is related to! if you, and these two other brilliant minds i've compiled, would sign off on the park, maybe give a small testimony, and endorse it, then i could get back on schedule!"

i nodded slowly. "i mean, john, i would love to, but i don't know if i can quite leave the dig site. i mean, we just found a full skeleton under the ground a hundred feet that way." i gestured over my shoulder with my thumb.

"it would be just for the weekend," he insisted, "and i can compensate you by fully funding your dig for the next three years."

brina even turned to look with wide eyes, knowing it was a lot of money. i made eye contact with her and she nodded rapidly, telling me to take the offer. i bit my lip and then conceded. "alright, john, sounds like i'll be going on this mini-vacation with you."

"brilliant!" he exclaimed, smiling widely. "i have a jet standing by in rapid city!"

i hesitated, my mind running at a thousand miles per hour. "i need to contact my sister so she can pick up sabrina, i need to pack, i have to alert everyone here—"

"why not bring sabrina along?" he offered, "the park is mainly targeted towards kids, of course."

"it's a biology preserve?" she questioned. i nodded and she made a face. "but it's a park?" she clarified, "it has rides?"

"of course it does!" john confirmed.

sabrina shrugged. "okay, if mom says yes, i'll go."

with wide eyes i nodded and sighed. "i'll go call angie. and start packing a bag."

"wonderful! i'll be waiting in rapid city!" john stated before leaving the trailer.

what the hell just happened?