Project Orpheus: A Tale of Blood and Feathers

Chapter 25: The Reunion

Chester wheezed and cried, looking at his son's remains. He needed to get his son home, but he couldn't bring himself to touch what little of him was left. He could probably fit all of him but his skull in a suitcase. What was he going to do?

Static suddenly caught his ear, as the radio from the car picked up and produced a voice.

"Chester, are you there?"

He motioned to Maddox to bring the thing closer to him. Maddox obliged.

"Chester, you need to answer now." He recognized the voice, it was Dr. Noh's.

He was absolutely furious with her, this was all her fault. Her fault for making these dinosaurs, her fault for not getting the security systems up to snuff, her fault fo-

"I know you're in a tough spot, Chester. Your son's dead, but we've got a track on Specimen 421 and it's heading straight for your location. You need to get to Central, now. If you wanna live anyway."

If he wanted to live...he was seriously considering that, but hearing about 421 made him realize that yes, this was bad. He slowly grabbed the radio and after a moment to catch his breath and steady his voice said, "how did it get out?"

"The Deinonychus tried to make a nest in security. Fancy that, the terminal I told you to put in Central to reroute the power would've really come in handy and stopped all of this."

He clenched his fists tight in rage. "Are you trying to blame this on me!?"

"I'm not trying to, Chester, I am. We can collect your son's remains later, move."

He snarled at shook the radio in his hand violently, his snarl becoming a scream, before he took in a breath and realized that she was probably right.

"She's right, Maddox. Let's get to Central, double time."

"Of course sir."

Derek and Orenda zoomed down the road, making the best time they could to Central.

"So, what's next?" Derek asked.

"Not sure," Orenda said, "but Noh's the type of person to have something together. So we'll get to Central and go from there."

"You have a lot of faith in her." Derek noted.

"I wouldn't call it faith. Faith implies a level of trust. I don't trust Noh - I just know that she's always thinking ahead when it comes to these sorts of things, it's in her nature. I'd call it...reliance."

Derek nodded. That seemed good enough, for now.

"What about you? How'd you get involved with all of this?" Derek asked.

She looked at the wheel of the car for a moment, lost in thought.

"I was very good at taking care of animals. I've loved them, ever since I was a kid. I'm good at understanding them. He bought out my former employer and assigned me here."

"So you didn't really have a choice." Derek noted.

"Not really. But I can't say I'm unhappy with the animals here. They're great, and have wonderful personalities. But we've had to learn everything we know about their behavior from trial and terror. I also do miss my other animals. Especially the chimps at the colony. What about you?"

Derek cocked an eyebrow upon hearing this."What about me?"

"You're an actor. You're famous. Is that what you wanted with your life?"

Derek scratched his chin in thought. It hadn't been exactly what he had expected, but he couldn't say he was displeased with it. It had its ups and downs.

"When I grew up, I didn't think to myself, 'hey, I wanna become a famous wrestler and a famous actor.' I just wanted to make people happy. Make them feel better on a bad day. Make them feel anything. So it wasn't really what I wanted to do, but in a way the life I live is kinda perfect for me. I like to keep active, and I like to entertain. Being an action hero is a great way to accomplish both."

"What about all the tabloids and paparazzi?" She asked.

"Every job has its ups and downs. I'm sure you don't enjoy cleaning up dinoshit." He said. "Yeah it's annoying having my private life constantly prodded, and I'd love it if it didn't, but there are ways to handle the worst of it."

"I suppose you're right," she cut herself off as they pulled into the lot at Central. "Ah, good, we're here. Let's do this."

"Right!"

They headed in, just in time to see Chester come after.