The park was quiet.
Tourists had already left due to the early closure. Announcements had been made well in advance, especially on the ferry. The Hilton had had electronic posters up and throughout the park, more of those posters informed every single visitor. Of course there had been those who still complained that they had neither seen it on the website where they had ordered their tickets, nor read the emails containing the ticket codes, the schedule handed to them, the posters or anywhere else.
Not that it helped. Everyone had had to leave.
The Innovation Center was shut down, the loudspeakers quiet, and only the ambient lights were on. At the end of Main Street, the lagoon lay silent, deep and dark. The Main Street itself was empty of life, a long, wide stretch of pavement that normally bustled with people from ten to ten.
Once a year, when an inventory had to be run, things were like that. And traditionally it would start with the company barbecue.
Restaurants, kiosks and souvenir stores had locked up already, the buildings mostly dark. Here or there employees were still cleaning up the last areas. Only Winston's and Margaritaville would be open. Winston's would fire up the grill for the barbecue and Margaritaville would be dispensing drinks
Not this evening.
Where the barbecue should have been, there was no one around. Word had spread quickly that something had happened, something involving Owen Grady, the pack, and two teams of troopers led by Carter himself. Rumors had started to fly immediately and it had been a unanimous decision to stop the planned party.
No updates had been given for hours.
People had either gone home, milled around a little longer, or found together in one of the employee breakrooms.
Around midnight, only the most hardy were left, all of them Owen's closest friends, and they were gathering intel. Lowery had worked on getting any kind of news from the InGen security teams, until finally one of the guys had been exasperated enough to let him know the basics.
"Poachers?" Nancy exclaimed.
"And Owen in the middle," Reggie sighed. "Bloody hell, that man!"
"He went out into the restricted area to run with the pack," Nancy reminded him, frowning. "He wasn't there to hunt for intruders."
"Still found them."
"And Carter went after him with two assault teams," Lowery added. "That's so not good."
"For the poachers it isn't," Serena predicted. "The girls won't tolerate trespassers."
x XX JW XX x
Fifteen minutes past midnight all hell broke loose in the t-rex paddock.
Followed by M rising out of the water with a shrill warbling scream, nearly hitting the plaza as she landed, one flipper catching the railing and flattening it.
The apatosaurs trumpeted loudly, their voices echoing in the night, a chorus of stegosaurs and triceratopes joining in.
In the Aviary, the pteranodons and dimorphodons took to the air, an aggressive swam that seemed intent on breaking the glass.
x XX JW XX x
People looked around, confused, wondering what the hell was going on. Laurel was already running toward the Kingdom, calling for Josh on her radio.
"What the hell is going on?!" she screamed.
"I have no fucking idea! Sue's trying to... I don't know... She's hitting her head against trees, the wall, and the observatory!"
YOU ARE READING
Threshold shift
Fanfictionsequel to Tainted. Nothing about working at Jurassic World is routine. Especially when you're the alpha of a raptor pack. Owen Grady would never make the mistake to think every day is the same. He also didn't want students traipsing around his enclo...
