The Point of No Return
Adopted from 'Monsters-Need-Love-Too'. (Just found out that this person
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Chapter Five
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Timeline:
1992: The events of the first Jurassic Park.
1993: Hurricane Clarrissa his Isla Sorna, all staff are forced to evacuate, Doctor Laura Sorkin (Game character) releases the dinosaurs into the wild in order to give them a chance of survival. This includes three of the four unlisted breeding experiments, the Spinsaurus, the Troodons, and the aquatic Tylosaurus. The flying Pteranodon was deemed too dangerous to release into the wild and remained within the Aviary.
1994: (June) Harry crash lands on the island with Cedric's body. Takes his (Cedric's) wand and buries the body.
1997: The events of Jurassic Park 2. Set during Summer (As guessed by the San Diego scenes). Events that took place on the island lasted three to four days, during which Harry was ill with infection after a Troodon attack.
2001: The events of Jurassic Park 3.
July 18th: Eric and Ben land on the island. Harry rescues Eric from the Spinosaur, Ben dies of blood loss, internal bleeding of the lung, and concussion/brain haemorrhaging.
July 31st: Harry turns 21.
September 12th: Mr and Mrs Kirby abduct Dr Alan Grant and his student, landing on Isla Sorna.
September 13th: Alan spends the night sleeping in the water truck with Eric. Billy, along with Mr and Mrs Kirby sleep in a tree.
September 14th: Alan and the Kirbys are attacked by the Spinosaur during the night while on the river. They then reach the coast where they are rescued.
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Paul Kirby was thankful.
It was a hard thing to truly explain, but amidst the mind-numbing worry and fear of their situation and the desperate, desperate need to find and protect his son, he was thankful that Doctor Grant was with them. That they had this wild man with them.
Amanda wasn't happy, she was just as desperate to get Eric back in her arms as he was, and for some reason she bore a wariness that teetered on the edge of outright revulsion towards the young man guiding them. He supposed objectively he could understand, Harry was anything but civilised and he had been in the company of their young son without them. He had been here for six years, on his own, and that could twist the minds of even the kindest and most well-meaning of individuals. Amanda was the kind of helicopter mother that believed that the world was filled with sexual predators just waiting to pounce on her beloved son the second he was out of her sight. No doubt she was already thinking the worst of the wildman. That or she was worried for herself, the only woman in their group, and what kind of attention he would pay her because of it.
And once Amanda got an idea into her head, there was no getting it out.
Hence why they were even here.
It had been his idea to get Doctor Grant to come along, to hire Mister Udeski and his men as protection. Amanda wanted to get on a boat and sail there immediately, screw the consequences. And as always, it had been him who had to somehow find a way, by hook or by crook, to make it happen, to make it WORK.
And damnit all he had. Through less than honest means, but if he had to shake the hand of the Devil himself in order to get Eric back, then he would do it.
Doctor Grant and Billy may never forgive him, he may never forgive himself, but as long as Eric survived, was whole, and healthy, and safe, Paul would work every day to the end of his days to pay the Palaeontologist and his undergraduate the money he promised. He would apologise to the end of his days, and if they had a desire for help, they need only to snap their fingers and he would do everything in his meagre power to make it happen.
As for Harry, he didn't think there was anything he could do to thank the young man for finding and protecting Eric. He didn't think the young man would even want him to. He took them all under his care as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, took responsibility for them, even began to plan for them in the long term. He didn't even seem to think they would be leaving the island and just like that, decided he would take care of them.
He just wished Amanda would stop challenging him at every turn. Yes, of course he wanted to get to Eric as soon as possible, but Harry was the closest they had to a local. And if he didn't want to go near the InGen facilities, then there must have been more of a reason than the recalcitrant response they got when she demanded an explanation. For godsakes, he could see the hair on the wildman's arms stand straight as they began to move through the facility. How his knuckles went white on his spear and his eyes took on a whole new kind of watchfulness as he constantly shifted, watching their backs, sides, and even the front in a constantly rotating guard as they moved through the corridors to a staff breakroom.
"You'd think there would be bodies," Udeski murmured, squinting through the gloom.
"InGen cleared out. Year before I got here. Facilities were hit by a hurricane. One of the scientists released the specimens. The island went feral. Won't be much left soon," Harry grunted as he glared down the corridor behind them where they came from, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"What makes you say that?" Billy asked curiously.
"Not enough vegetation for the sheer weight of herbivore numbers. Raptors breeding. Not enough space. Over Predation. Thirty, fifty years, no resources left. Large herbivores and carnivores will die out, starve to death," he explained flatly as they came to a stop in front of several vending machines.
Paul dug into his pockets, they were all pretty hungry, some sugar would be appreciated – even if it was out of date and probably far from the best testing thing to eat right now (best thing about candy from yester-year, next to no regulations on the amount of preservatives in the mix, they were probably still in date he guessed).
"Who's got some change? This thing only takes quarters. I got – I got a buck – buck ten," he muttered change clinking in his palms as he squinted at the vending machine. It quite escaped him that without power the things wouldn't be working, and that change would just be eaten without effect.
Billy took a step back and rammed a foot through the aged and weary plexiglass cover of the second vending machine, shattering it under his heavy doc-martin workboots. He ignored the startled yell from Mrs Kirby as he dug out several bags of chocolate and threw them on one of the rickety tables.
Harry watched as the group divvied up the chocolate, casting a glance at Mister Kirby when he tried to copy the younger male, only to hurt himself and bounce off the glass. Not much physical strength, nor as much intelligence as Doctor Grant. Primary caretaker, he decided. Mister Kirby would remain with Eric and his wife when they made a safe-territory. Mrs Kirby was... not suited to life here. She would likely die soon. Too brightly coloured, too loud, neither smart, nor strong, nor even particularly fast. She would be targeted too strongly, her and Eric most. And Harry would always look to Eric's wellbeing first.
Then they made their way into the labs.
Harry grimaced, he hated this room. It had disturbed and fascinated him the first time he walked in, given him some idea of what had even happened on this island, how it became the way it was, and where it was. But now, this room where the very laws of life and nature were twisted... he felt uncomfortable.
Then it caught the edge of his ears.
"Stop," he commanded, twisting his head.
The others immediately froze, glancing around and then at him. But he wasn't paying attention to them. Something caught his ears, just the edge, light, near silent. But not silent enough. A dull takking sound. And a noise not unlike bare feet on cement.
"We aren't alone," he warned them quietly as he twisted around them, "We move quickly. They do not know we are aware of them. When I say run, you run. Do not ask questions," he snarled when he caught sight of Mrs Kirby's mouth opening. She shut up with a click of her teeth and an expression of deep offence scrawling itself across her face.
Harry lead the way as before, he knew that whatever was stalking them would be wary of making an attack simply due to his presence, they had learned to fear or at least be wary of his scent masked as it was with herbs and mud. But he still didn't know what he was dealing with. White Eyes wouldn't follow them out of the facility at this time of day, meaning that once they were in the open they were relatively safe. If it were a Raptor, they would need to get out, and get out fast and get up high before the rest of the pack caught up if they hadn't already. The raptors didn't normally bother with the InGen facilities, not enough prey wandered in there, and the White Eyes had almost exclusively taken up shop in those gloomy places where they could shelter and sleep in relative safety until nightfall when they could hunt and scavenge in peace.
He caught a glimpse of him in the corner of his eye, through the reflections of the embryo tanks.
Spike the vividly red patterned alpha male of the central pack that called this area their territory.
Harry allowed his eyes to cant over him as if he didn't see the creature, inwardly swearing. Spike was a climber. Not very good, but given enough vines he could pick his way up some trees with enough time and motivation. He must have caught their scent passing through the nest and now sought to either drive them from their territories, or kill one of them for baby's first fleshy meal. Those eggs were hard. Meaning they would be hatching within a few days. And what was better to feed the precious little ones than already soft, semi-putrefied flesh?
He could hear it clear as day now, the sound of Spike's padding foot-falls behind them, to the side of them, until they reached the back-cages for the juvenile specimens.
Harry closed one of the gates behind them once he made sure that they had all gotten through.
Spike saw him and hissed, lunging forward.
Mrs Kirby screamed.
"RUN!" Harry roared, with the gate barred, it would take half a minute, if not longer, for Spike to scale it. That was long enough for them to get out of the facility.
"This way!" Mister Kirby shouted as he took a wrong turn.
"THIS WAY!" Harry roared, correcting them as he tore off down an even dirtier and wetter looking concrete and steel corridor. He could hear the footsteps of the others behind him and the sound of the rattling gate as Spike climbed and whickered furiously at them – his distressed and angry calls echoing throughout the facility. If Pearl heard any of that –
Harry refrained from cursing as they burst out into the light on the otherside of the facility, "Into the trees! Stay together! Herbivore plains ahead!" he explained shortly as they tore through the undergrowth, leaping over vegetation and wrestling with low-hanging vines.
Barking echoed at them from behind. Spike calling to the rest of the pack.
The group burst out into a herd of the axe-head herbivores, startling the beasts into stampeding – though the distant hunting moans of the raptors echoing throughout the trees were not helping matters. The whole herd went into a panic.
He did his best, but he couldn't keep track of everyone.
He dragged Billy up off the ground when he fell, pulling him onwards even though he pulled somewhat to go back, likely towards Doctor Grant whom was somewhere behind them tumbling down to avoid the panicked body slams of the dinosaurs around them.
He managed to catch Udeski before the man split off too far from the group, yanking the backpack weighing him down from his shoulders and shoving him towards the Kirbys', managing to herd the three most helpless of his charges into the treeline.
He lost track of Doctor Grant.
"Up! Up!" he commanded, skidding to a stop beneath a good one. Enough vines for them to climb with their hands, but not enough for Spike to even consider an attempt, and high enough that they couldn't jump it with wide sturdy branches. He had sheltered in this tree before, and it's nearest neighbour. They had a small cache of his supplies hidden within a bag in a small hallow. He placed his back to the trunk and watched as Mister Kirby and Mrs Kirby climbed. Udeski was breathing hard, his face ruddy and sweaty, he shook his head when he saw the tree, looking dismayed.
Harry didn't even need him to speak to understand the problem. He couldn't climb. Either because he didn't know how, or didn't have the coordination. But he couldn't.
He grabbed the man's protective vest and yanked him close before leaping onto the vines. His arm strained, tendons and muscle popping into stark relief on his arm as he growled and began to scale the vines.
Udeski got the idea quickly enough. He latched his arms around Harry's waist and allowed him to let go of his jacket – the climbing was much easier with both arms as he quickly reached the higher branches where the Kirbys were sat watching in stunned awe.
There was silence for a time.
"Mister Kirby!" Billy's voice called from one of the neighbouring trees.
"Billy!" Paul was fairly sure his knees would have gone weak if he hadn't needed them so much to keep him in that tree.
"Alan with you?" the young post-graduate asked, visible just through the foliage, crouched on a thick tree limb not too far away. Paul shook his head, grimacing unhappily.
"Harry?" he asked.
"Behind you," the wildman answered suddenly, making the other man yelp and nearly drop out of the tree in shock. Even Mrs Kirby squealed.
"How did you get over there?" Udeski squawked in disbelief. Just what the hell was this kid? He practically carried him halfway up the tree with one arm and now he was in the other tree before any of them had even noticed? The fuck?
"I climbed. I have supplies in this tree," he explained as he climbed somewhat higher and vanished out of sight.
"Did you see where Alan got to?" Billy asked desperately, gripping a higher branch as he climbed to his full height.
"Towards the water-truck. He will be in the grass-lands by now. If he keeps his head about him, he should pass unnoticed. Most of the raptor pack are beneath us anyway," Harry's voice explained and a moment later, he was swinging down with a... model cage in his hand?
"What do you mean, 'beneath us'?" Mrs Kirby shrieked.
Harry shot her a look before digging into one of the many pouches at his hip and withdrawing a smooth polished riverstone.
He then threw it into the bushes with enough force that the crack and reptilian screech of pain was impressive.
Seven raptors burst out of the bushes and scrambled in different directions with hissing roars and shrieks, one of them streaming blood from its snout.
"Oh my god," Paul murmured weakly, feeling sick as he felt Amanda's hand latch onto his elbow with enough force to leave bruises.
"Pearl and Spike's pack is ten strong. Seven are here. If Alan is smart, he can avoid the three already on his trail," Harry explained, "I will get you settled, then find him. He knows how to survive, he's done it before. You haven't," he explained when he saw Billy give him a Look and open his mouth to protest.
He then used a stick to make the model cage the size of a mini-bus.
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A water-truck.
A tiny figure in a familiar vest made of grasses and vines.
The smell of herbs under gas.
He choked, coughing hard, feeling his lungs rattle in his chest as young Eric Kirby pushed him in, and jumped down after him, peering anxiously out of the still open hatch as Alan flopped back on a bed-pallet stuffed with pleasant smelling grasses, making sure they hadn't been followed.
"Thank," he managed to get out before another coughing and hacking fit seized him. Oh, he was getting too old for this kind of excitement, never mind the gas-canisters wreaking havoc on his lungs. "Thanks a lot, Eric," he wheezed, dragging his hat off his head in the hopes of fanning some more air towards himself.
The boy paused and then slid back into the truck warily, "You – know who I am?" he asked, voice suspicious as he peered down at Alan from a surprisingly clean face.
Alan nodded continuing to cough. "Yeah," he rasped, "Your parents are here. They're looking for you. We had the good fortune of running into Harry fairly early on, he was taking us to you when we got separated," he explained before having to break off and hack up a lung.
Eric stared at him with a kind of incomprehension that bordered on disbelief.
"Together?" he finally clarified. Alan nodded through his coughing and Eric made a noise of disgust as he leaned back in disappointment. "That's not good. They don't do so well together," he grumbled.
Alan couldn't help but agree, the two had been nothing but a pain in his ass since they first showed up at his Dig-site. However, if there was one thing about them that he could respect, it was their desire to rescue their son. That alone made them redeemable in his eyes.
"Y-you'd be surprised what people can do... when – when they have to," he wheezed out defensively. Those two had thrown everything they had into rescuing this child, and he wasn't about to let them get bad mouthed for it. Not when his own parents were such failures in the area of childcare that they often forgot they even had a son, unless there was an occasion to show off what a perfect family they were. He broke off into another coughing fit as Eric decided not to answer. Instead, the youngster rummaged a second halogen light from somewhere amidst the pile of assorted odds and ends behind them to brighten up the water-truck that the first light was failing to do.
Eric paused as he sat back down, finally getting a good look at the old guy he'd just rescued from becoming Raptor-Chow.
"You're... Alan Grant," he realised. The first 'official' Dinosaur Island survivor. A man he had been following for years, even before that. Back when he was writing childrens' books on dinosaurs – he had been the one that had even gotten Eric interested in dinosaurs and Jurassic Park and Palaeontology. "What are you doing here?" he had to ask.
Doctor Grand had made it inescapably clear that no money in the world could get him back involved with any of InGen or John Hammond's so called 'dinosaurs'. The only way someone would have gotten him involved with Isla Sorna would have been via hostile kidnapping!
And judging by the reluctant bitter smirk that tugged the man's lips, Eric wasn't far off.
"Your parents... err, invited me along," he explained, wheezing back a cough.
Invited. Meaning abducted.
Holy shit, his parents abducted Alan Grant and dragged him to the second Jurassic Park island.
Awesome.
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Lizard Chickens: Compys
Sail-fin: Spinosaurus
White Eyes: Troodons
Axe-heads/Duck-bills: Parasaurolophus
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I wanted to write some more, but I wanted to sleep even more than I wanted to write. So I'm leaving this here, along with an apology for taking so long on the update. The streaming website I used for watching the third film went down, so I lost interest.
Jurassic World came out, and my homobaby little brother decided he wanted to watch it for his 25 birthday. So we went out for the day, food, geeking out, we went to the dinosaur exhibit at the local museum where we saw the animatronics (fifteen years old, they were due to be upgraded sometime next year but they would have been moved to a different museum by then). And then we went to go and watch Jurassic World. Which rekindled my interest.
So yeah, this fic, it will be continued up to and beyond Jurassic World.
Pairings. At the moment I'm leaning on Alan/Harry. It's not an end-game pairing. Harry's not in any kind of position mentally for that kind of shit. But as a nice current development I quite like it. What are your thoughts?