The Lost Dinosaur |2| Nublar Seven Series

Isla Nublar

Hayden

We landed on a dirt runway in the middle of the grassland plains. A few lights indicated the path. The landing was rough, it was like we could feel every bump on the freshly built airstrip, every rock on the way. The plane kept going slowly until the end of the runway, where more lights were visible. There were several tents, where people dressed as military were coming and going, several military trucks for transport were parked mindlessly and some containers were spread around. I noticed solar panels connected to the tents and with the help of the moon light, a fortified fence setting the perimeter.

'Is that enough?' That fence wasn't that sturdy. And how much energy could solar panels actually generate? Enough to power the fence against the larger predators? I doubt it. It was beyond me how these soldier dudes felt safe here. Maybe it was the guns. I saw every and each one of them carrying some type of rifle, although it was difficult to see it from afar. Did guns help? Sure. But not so much when it was a blitz dinosaur attack or a sneaky one in the middle of the night. Dinosaur reflexes tend to be faster than human's. And they did love to cause chaos.

As we exited the plane, we were greeted by seven big, scruffy looking dudes. All were dressed in shades of green, beige and brown, with vests, boots and carrying assault rifles comfortably. It looked like they were all tranquilizer guns, but still...

"Claire." The scruffy dude in the middle called. He was the oldest by far, with white hair showing under his cap. He smiled, showing a whole lot of wrinkles and offered his hand. "Ken Wheatley. Welcome back."

"Quite an operation you've got going on here." Dearing took off her outer jacket.

Two things I had forgotten about Nublar, the weather and how dark it got. It was humid and hot, even at night; and outside of this little camp they had going on, it was pure darkness. I couldn't even see the outline of the mountains surrounding us. Not even the full moon's light penetrated the thick cloud above us.

While they took care of the introductions, our baggage had already been pulled out, so I grabbed my backpack, shoving my jacket inside. I nodded briefly to them as Dearing introduced me; and Ben did a shy wave.

"Mr. Lockwood takes his humanitarian efforts very seriously." Wheatley said. "Where's the, uh... Raptor wrangler."

"Animal behaviorist." Owen stepped forward, offering his hand. "Owen Grady."

"Hey, Owen. Ken Wheatley."

"And you are the Great White Hunter?"

"I guess." Wheatley chuckled. "I'm the expedition facilitator."

"Oh, God! It's hot!" Franklin groaned, taking off his jacket dramatically.

Owen glanced at the ominous smoke cloud in the distance. "It's about to get a whole lot hotter."

"That's why we gotta move." Wheatley said, serious. "We have the transport ready, we were just waiting on you."

"We're going right now?" Franklin gasped. "At nighttime? Is that a good idea?" He glanced warily at me.

I shrugged. "Nope."

"Most carnivores are nocturnal." Owen said.

"Good thing we have some guns this time, huh." I shoved Ben playfully. He didn't look very amused looking at the men with guns. I reached out to his arm, squeezing reassuringly. "Come on, we've got this." Ben reluctantly nodded.

Wheatley led us to two trucks, one had a cage on the back, with bars as thick as my arm to hold Blue; the other was for us, a fully armored vehicle. It was a sturdy beast that truck, I'll give them that, which put my mind at ease as we settled inside. So far so good. We were on the move pretty quickly after arriving. Out of the 'safety' of the camp. We had to go through several gates with sentries on the sides. Sentries that I only now came to acknowledge. Maybe I was too quick to judge. Not too bad of a fence after all.