Project Orpheus: A Tale of Blood and Feathers

Chapter 21: The Division

Orenda wanted to catch the stray dinosaurs, but she knew Noh was right - Central was the only place they could go that they could possibly reset everything. They could clean up the escapees after they prevented more of them from getting out. They made their way to the end of the generator building, and opened the door, only to find King Gidorah mauling the bus.

Derek wasted no time, taking out his weapon and firing it at the dinosaur. A bolt of electricity erupted from it, and charged through the air and into the dinosaur. The dinosaur let out a distress call, turned towards him, and warily stumbled in an attempt to charge him, but it fell over and collapsed, unconscious.

"Oh, wow. It actually works." Derek said.

"Of course it does. I wouldn't have stored it on the bus if it didn't. I am impressed it took it down in one hit though."

Derek nodded, and slung the weapon over his shoulder again. "About how long until it wakes up?"

"3 hours, give or take. C'mon, let's look at the damage."

He nodded, and the two approached the bus. The first thing they noticed was the smell. Blood, gasoline, and...body spray? Awful, strong body spray. The next thing they saw was Ashton's lifeless corpse, sitting in a pool of its own blood, a sizable chunk blown out of him, only a thin wall of flesh and sinew keeping him from falling in two pieces. He was stabbed no less than 5 times by the triceratops. His death had, at least, been relatively swift.

"Oh my god," Derek said. "I can't believe it. This man is dead."

"You see this all the time in your line of work, don't you?" Orenda teased.

"Yeah, but when I'm done shooting a scene the guy who got mauled gets back up and peels the prosthetics off. Also, film violence is...different."

Orenda nodded, "sorry, just...trying to look at the bright side."

"Understandable. I was trying to too."

Orenda leaned in to the broken window and pulled out the body, making sure not to damage it any more as she did.

"Yeah. You can blame it on Chester."

Derek looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "Really? You don't think any of this is the doctor's fault?"

"Well, in the sense that this whole park wouldn't exist without her, sure. She's crazy, but she's not stupid."

"It's hard to put a finger on her, yeah." Derek admitted. "I don't think she's evil, though. I mean, just from what I seen."

"I'd call that a fair assessment." Orenda agreed. "She just seems to think that some things are more valuable than life or comfort. She told me she only took this job because the idea of bringing back extinct species after the War appealed to her, as well as it helping her with her own personal projects."

"Any idea what those are?"

"None whatsoever."

Derek helped her lift up the body, with a kind and gentle "I got this."

"You sure?" She asked.

"I do this all the time, don't worry." He teased.

Orenda smirked and shifted the weight into his arms. He cradled the body a bit, and Orenda began looking around. She noticed bent grass...kicked up sand.

"They ran," she noted. "They probably realized he was upset with the bus."

"Where to?"

"Well, if they listened, they'll be headed to Central. We should go there too."

Orenda took out her walkie talkie and twisted the knob to open a call.

"Attention all hands! This is Orenda, I'm at the generator and I need as quick a ride as possible to Central. I'd also like a status update."

"This is Central. There's a jeep not far from you, I'll send it your way. As for the report, the Giganotosaurus got out, and deinonychus are out, 1 Triceratops, and Specimen #421."

Orenda narrowed her eyes. "Alright. I want all handlers at their stations, prepared to tranquilize any incidents. I want a Code Red Emergency Order put out."

"Roger that."

She hung up the walkie and smiled. "Alright, we should be getting our ride soon. Let's get to Central - we can deal with it from there."

Anise and Myrtle had made it far enough away from the dinosaur that they could stop and catch their breath. Myrtle was not exactly used to this sort of strenuous physical activity, so she was grateful that Anise noticed and slowed down for her.

"I think...we can walk from here...." She said.

"Yes...goodness...we made it, I can't believe we made it!" Myrtle cheered. "Oh, but I am so cross!"

She saw Anise take in a breath. The woman's skin had lost a slight bit of its color, and her eyes were fixed on their surroundings.

"Cross? Haven't heard that one a while."

"Well I absolutely am!" She said. "Chester and the Doctor should have never done any of this! This sort of break down was inevitable!"

Anise just nodded, and waved her hand for her to follow her through the jungle thicket.

"We're going to...what did they call it, Central?" Anise asked.

"Yes, but are we sure we'll be safe there? Everything else they've told us so far has been a lie or a problem!"

Anise tilted her head at this remark, but just kept going. "At this point what else are we going to do? There's not much else to do."

"I suppose not. But you must agree with me that this is a travesty!"

"It's a lot of things," Anise agreed, "but I don't think it's all bad."

Myrtle frowned. "The way they're tampering in the realm of god, nature always lashes back out against these things. Surely they couldn't have expected this to go well?"

"I mean, no. But don't you think it's a bit much to just lump all of them together like that?"

"Well they are all on some level responsible!"

"I mean we're all responsible for a lot of stuff," Anise said "butterfly effect 'n all that. I don't know, I don't think you can blame everyone for the actions of a group."

"Maybe, maybe not," Myrtle admitted, "but this is something that never should have happened."

"Hey, there's a bridge this way, let's go." Anise said, smiling.

"Of course," Myrtle said, "we should focus on the task at hand."

Neither of them noticed the gentle rustling of the bushes behind them.