Jurassic Park III and ½: The Lost Hat

Part III: Chapter VII

Around half an hour later, the humans had formulated yet another plan. One that involved sneaking, running, hiding, and other tactical maneuvers like that. Naturally, Billy had been elected to serve as the distraction and Trevor had been chosen to help him, while Alan did the 'dangerous' bit – in this case, grabbing the hat and making a run for it.

Here, however, the dangerous bit really was dangerous. Alan was decidedly nervous. True, the raptors didn't seem to have a use for the other hat, but looking at them, they certainly seemed as though any excuse you threw at them would be deemed insufficient – the sharp teeth and claws really didn't improve their image. Alan just hoped they were too busy with the celebrations to notice Hat #1's disappearance.

Soon, it was time.

Billy was hidden in some bushes with Trevor a little way off. Alan was situated far, far away, almost directly behind the hat. The plan, this time, was simple; the three (or two, Alan still didn't consider Trevor quite important enough to join in on the plan-making) of them had decided that simple would work best here.

All Billy and Trevor were going to do was rustle some bushes then run like hell, hoping the Velociraptors were close behind... or, preferably, not.

And, of course, while said Velociraptors were distracted, Alan would grab the hat and also run like hell. They would then meet at a rendezvous point… somewhere.

Frankly, all three were amazed that the raptors hadn't noticed them yet. This meant that the distraction might not work, in which case Alan would snatch the hat and run anyway.

Hidden a few meters behind the hat, Alan was twitching in anticipation. He could feel the hat's presence. It was there. Nothing else mattered now. They were so close…

Checking his watch, he found it was exactly one minute and seven seconds until the plan got put into action (they had thought it wise to synchronize their watches beforehand). Tick, tick, tick… the waiting was almost unbearable.

But he had to wait it out, if only for the hat.

.·•·.

Billy was slowly counting down the seconds on his watch.

Six… five… four…

Almost there…

Three… two… one!

Billy shook the bush for all he was worth, and threw in an extra whistle to boot before dashing off in the general direction of a very large tree.

The Velociraptors all paused, heads slowly turning towards the noise. A few long seconds passed; the lead Velociraptor barked an order, and three of his subjects broke away from the group to investigate the rustling.

When they reached the bushes, more rustling was heard, a little way away. They paused, confused, before darting off in that direction. By the time they reached there, however, it was already too late; Trevor had vanished.

While the raptors battled it out with confusion, Alan had taken the opportunity to grab his hat. He could just feel the radiance flowing from it. All of a sudden he was filled with a sense of elation. He felt he could accomplish anything, defeat anyone, even the Velociraptors.

And, of course, as expected, he was about to test that feeling – right in front of him stood the alpha male, head cocked, staring right at him with an expression (or at least, as close to an expression as Velociraptors could get) of confusion.

.·•·.

Alan should've done the smart thing, and ran. Unfortunately, he was still under the influence of the Hat, and therefore felt as confident as he ever did. He was ready for a fight.

The Velociraptor opened his mouth.

Insert a pause here while Alan digested this.

"Er," he said smartly, "bye."

He ran, expecting to feel something leaping on him at any moment. It didn't happen. He stopped, looked around. The Velociraptors had gone on with their celebrations.

Alan shrugged, then continued onwards to the rendezvous place at a much slower pace.

Hey, it wasn't his problem if the raptors didn't feel like attacking.

.·•·.

Twenty minutes later, they were all together again. Any questions Billy or Trevor may have had were silenced once they saw the hat.

They had all left Raptor territory, heading towards the beach. Nothing, for once, had attacked them and pretty soon they were on the shore, sitting down and watching the sea.

It was pretty, it was peaceful.

Alan, for one, felt right at home.

Hours passed, they sat in silence. Finally, the sun began to fall past the horizon, casting its pinky glow onto the faces of the three humans, two of which seemed to be so bored they had started repeated games of tic tac toe in the sand.

A few minutes later, Alan turned around to the other two, a big smile on his face. He seemed relaxed, happy, at peace with himself.

"C'mon, boys," he said, standing up. "Let's go home."

Trevor and Billy followed suit, trailing after Alan on the sand. They walked like this for a little while, before Billy suddenly stopped and stared at Alan.

"Er… Alan?"

"Yes, Billy?"

"How are we meant to get back?"

The smile on Alan's face froze.

Oh dear.

Here we go.

THE END

DISCLAIMER: I'm completely ownership-less. Sigh.
A/N: It's finished! Over! Done with! Thank you all, you've been so supportive. Thanks to everyone who's put this on their favourites list, and to everyone who submitted a review. I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I wanted this to be the best chapter yet - it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, but oh well. It'll do.
Again, thank you to everyone. I love the feedback you've given me.
Over and out, one last time.