Prologue: The Dark Isles
Part One: Here There be Monsters.
Isla Sorna was a wet place. Rains pounded the island at least once a week, and heavy mists and fog stuck until around noon even after the storms left. Tornadoes occasionally wracked the island, though one hadn’t been spotted by the US troops at the base for quite some time. However, they didn’t so much mind the rain after being stationed here for nigh on a year. It was kind of like a reminder that this new home of theirs was imperfect, and that was heartening to the soldiers and the scientists.
But we aren’t a garrison. reflected Eric Rawlings. He leaned back in his chair, running a hand along his chin and feeling the stubble of his twenty-one year old child beard. His sharp and clear blue eyes regarded the table in front of him intently, though he had folded from the game already. Two of his five companions were in a similar state, while James Wilford, Robert Mackenzie and Bullard Shaw were still holding cards. Richard “Ricky” King shook his head as he watched.
“You three just won’t stop!” he exclaimed, “I thought it was fool luck last time but – damn, you’re just incredible at this game!”
“Not anymore.” Bullard smirked and laid his cards down – the Nine of Hearts, the Nine of Spades, the Nine of Diamonds, the Nine of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts. “My game. Unless someone has a Straight Flush or another Four of a Kind?”
Robert raised his hand and deposited the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of Diamonds on the table. Bullard’s jaw dropped. Robert smiled, as did James, though his was a bit rueful; he had committed more to the pot then the others. James folded and stood, shaking his head. Bullard leaned back into his chair and dropped his head in his hands as Robert swept up the hundred and sixty-two dollars and twenty cents that the soldiers had together delivered into the pot and set them in his wallet.
“Round three?” he asked. Bullard shook his head.
“You’ve just beaten us all twice in a row – you expect a repeat? Sorry, but no. Not that stupid.”
“It was worth a shot.” Robert shrugged and stood up himself. He moved over to the window on the second story of the building and stared out at the base, the rain lashing it viciously.
“So, have the beasts been acting up lately?” Eric inquired, standing and moving to the window.
“No.” Joe “Joey” Sylvester answered. “I had watch right before this storm hit and I know that the beasts were well clear of the fence and back in the forest. They want to keep shelter in the trees.”
“Good.” Eric said. The US military complex on Isla Sorna had been established as a scientific outpost where scientists could study the creatures that the company InGen had released onto the island. The animals were dinosaurs, brought back to life by advanced cloning technologies. InGen had set a large population loose onto Isla Sorna in the hopes of them establishing an ecosystem and allowing scientists to study their behavior. The US scientists were there for specifically that reason, and guarded by a contingent of ten soldiers. The three scientists were downstairs, studying the corpse of a baby Utahraptor. The young animal had been found in the ruins of a nest on one of the team’s many safari expeditions into the wild.
The guards all laughed and joked about the memorable moments of the poker game then, relieving the boredom with tales from their pasts. There were only six, Bullard, Eric, Robert, Joey, James and Ricky. The Captain and the other three men were in the headquarters building, probably discussing the scientific findings. Everyone here was by now an amateur paleontologist – either that or miss out on the conversations with everybody else, as other then dinosaur discussion and reliving card games (something that everyone was also getting good at) there was nothing to really say.
A sound filled the air; a peculiar thump that was difficult to place. Eric paused, wondering if the scientists had started brawling.
“Sounded like that came from the fence.” Robert said slowly, frowning.
Eric sighed, walked over to the arms locker and pulled a pair of Springfields out. He handed one to Bullard, one to James, then let Joey and Ricky take Thompson submachineguns out. He passed a pistol and two grenades to everybody as well, then pulled the last two Springfields out and held one out for Robert while he checked the ammo on the other.
“Robert, your gun.” He said after a moment when Robert didn’t take it.
“Eric.” Robert said slowly. Eric looked up and his heart stopped.
Outside the window was a giant yellow eye in a scaly face. A moment later, the eye narrowed and the head withdrew. Robert snatched the gun and checked his ammo, starting to shake with fear.
“What was that?” He asked, jittery.
“Dinosaur.” Joey said flatly. “I’d say either a T. Rex, a Carcharadontosaur or a Spinosaurus.”
“Dinosaur?” Eric demanded. “What about the fence!?”
“I think that was the noise.” Robert said, looking away from the window, where he had been staring.
Suddenly the window blew inwards and the building’s stone walls dissolved, sending particles slamming all around the room. A massive head with snapping, vicious jaws shot in and seized Robert’s entire upper body, lifting him out of the building and flipping him away. The head – which belonged to a Tyrannosaurus Rex – returned, roaring at the US soldiers. Eric broke the spell of shock and terror that consumed the guards. Acting almost entirely on adrenaline, he raised his rifle, aimed into that opened maw, and fired. The bullet shot in and slammed into the upper jaw of the T. Rex, which pulled back, its roar transformed to one of pain and anger.
“GO!” Eric yelled to his companions, and they raced out of the room, weapons in hand, and slammed the metal security door shut behind them. They didn’t pause, though the death of Robert – and he had to be dead – weighed upon them. As they reached the bottom of the stairs they ran into the three scientists – Mary Williams, Penelope Carter, and their manager Arthur Harris.
“What was that?” Harris demanded. “It sounded like a T. Rex broke in.”
“That’s exactly what happened.” Eric said grimly, the pain of his buddy’s death evident in his voice.
Harris’ jaw dropped almost comically. “My good boy, I didn’t mean for you to tear me with such sarcasm!” He quite ignored that his initial statement had been just as sarcastic.
“No joke, doctor.” Joey added. “It broke through the wall and . . . and got Robert.” He choked the last bit out; the reality was catching up to him.
Harris looked as though he didn’t believe the US soldiers. However, he never got the chance to say anything about it.
The Utahraptor dropped from the balcony at the top of the stairs and landed on him, sending his form sliding back down the stairs. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but that noise was quickly silenced in a ripping noise as the raptor snapped his neck. Eric’s first shot was automatic, and took the creature in the side, sending it flying. Joey’s caught it in the head, and it went down, kicking spasmodically.
“Get to the lower floor!” Eric yelled, having taken control of the party quite by accident. The rest followed him and as they got there he whirled, hearing a hiss from the stairs. The Utahraptor shot down, arrowing in on Eric, who fired and missed. Ricky stitched it with a barrage from his Thompson.
“How’d they get in here?” demanded Joey, who fired at another that leapt from the stairwell and riddled it with bullets. “We locked the door – numerical keypad. No way they could beat through that!”
“Unless they typed in the combination.” Eric said. He had intended sarcasm to lighten the mood, but he realized that was the only way that the creatures could have gotten past the door. His rational mind struggled with it, simultaneously certain that it had to be the answer and that it couldn’t be.
Suddenly he heard a barking hiss from behind him and spun, saw the glowing yellow eyes of the Utahraptor as it charged from behind the computer desks and leapt on top of Joey, who screamed in agony as the claws and teeth of the monster ripped into him. He was dead too. Eric didn’t shoot, but stepped forward and rammed the bayonet of the rifle into the raptor’s flank, withdrew it bloody and plunged it in again. The creature fell away writhing in pain. Eric swept up Joey’s tommy gun and crouched over the body of his friend for a moment. There was no denying his death, and Eric swore angrily.
He shoved the tommy gun to Mary, who jumped slightly at being passed the gore-stained weapon, and then said, “We have one chance. We have to get to the Captain, then get the helicopter and get out of here. We can get to the InGen park and get some specialists on this – we don’t know how they got through the electrified fence like that. But we have to get out of here first.”
The others nodded at him. Eric motioned towards the door, hoping to get outside and then to the HQ as quickly as possible.
The Tyrannosaurus smashed in the entire wall, sending rubble flying out in deadly patterns. One chunk hit Ricky in the legs and he flipped, slamming into a pile on his back. The T. rex roared in a hunter’s fury. Eric fired at it once, then twice. The creature flinched, then snapped at him. He barely missed its jaws as Mary fired a burst wildly at the monster. She mostly missed, but the creature was distracted.
Eric leapt past the beast, sprinted over to Ricky. The others all were dodging the creature, which roared in frustration as gunfire slashed it from one direction, then another as it moved towards the first shots. Most of the others were grouped near the hole in the wall, and Eric came to get Ricky moving.
“Can’t.” Ricky said even before Eric opened his mouth. His voice was filled with suppressed pain, but no fear. He gestured at his legs, which sat at an odd angle. “Both of them are broken. You guys go on – I’ll keep the beast off you.”
“No! Ricky, we’re not leaving you behind.”
“Go, Eric! Just go!” He smiled. “I always wanted to die a hero.”
It killed Eric to do it, but he had to leave Ricky there. Otherwise they would all die. He jumped out and dodged around the T. Rex, which he heard turning to come after him. A burst of tommy gun fire ripped through the night – Ricky.
“Come on, you big, ugly reptilian sack of crap!” Another spate of gunfire echoed out from Ricky. “Yeah, that’s how we play in Minnesota! Come get some!”
The T. Rex roared furiously, then lunged forward. Ricky bellowed some obscenities, but then he was cut short as the Rex bit into him. Eric swore too, then suddenly a pair of concussions triggered inside the Rex, and it squealed in pain, then collapsed to the floor, twitching, blood running from the wounds in its head and throat.
Ricky blew his grenades. What a brave guy – even if the Rex didn’t eat him the blast surely got him. What a brave guy. Eric shook his head in wonder, the tears flowing down his cheeks. First Robert, then Joey and now Ricky – was anyone going to get off this island alive?
Part One: Here There be Monsters.
Isla Sorna was a wet place. Rains pounded the island at least once a week, and heavy mists and fog stuck until around noon even after the storms left. Tornadoes occasionally wracked the island, though one hadn’t been spotted by the US troops at the base for quite some time. However, they didn’t so much mind the rain after being stationed here for nigh on a year. It was kind of like a reminder that this new home of theirs was imperfect, and that was heartening to the soldiers and the scientists.
But we aren’t a garrison. reflected Eric Rawlings. He leaned back in his chair, running a hand along his chin and feeling the stubble of his twenty-one year old child beard. His sharp and clear blue eyes regarded the table in front of him intently, though he had folded from the game already. Two of his five companions were in a similar state, while James Wilford, Robert Mackenzie and Bullard Shaw were still holding cards. Richard “Ricky” King shook his head as he watched.
“You three just won’t stop!” he exclaimed, “I thought it was fool luck last time but – damn, you’re just incredible at this game!”
“Not anymore.” Bullard smirked and laid his cards down – the Nine of Hearts, the Nine of Spades, the Nine of Diamonds, the Nine of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts. “My game. Unless someone has a Straight Flush or another Four of a Kind?”
Robert raised his hand and deposited the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of Diamonds on the table. Bullard’s jaw dropped. Robert smiled, as did James, though his was a bit rueful; he had committed more to the pot then the others. James folded and stood, shaking his head. Bullard leaned back into his chair and dropped his head in his hands as Robert swept up the hundred and sixty-two dollars and twenty cents that the soldiers had together delivered into the pot and set them in his wallet.
“Round three?” he asked. Bullard shook his head.
“You’ve just beaten us all twice in a row – you expect a repeat? Sorry, but no. Not that stupid.”
“It was worth a shot.” Robert shrugged and stood up himself. He moved over to the window on the second story of the building and stared out at the base, the rain lashing it viciously.
“So, have the beasts been acting up lately?” Eric inquired, standing and moving to the window.
“No.” Joe “Joey” Sylvester answered. “I had watch right before this storm hit and I know that the beasts were well clear of the fence and back in the forest. They want to keep shelter in the trees.”
“Good.” Eric said. The US military complex on Isla Sorna had been established as a scientific outpost where scientists could study the creatures that the company InGen had released onto the island. The animals were dinosaurs, brought back to life by advanced cloning technologies. InGen had set a large population loose onto Isla Sorna in the hopes of them establishing an ecosystem and allowing scientists to study their behavior. The US scientists were there for specifically that reason, and guarded by a contingent of ten soldiers. The three scientists were downstairs, studying the corpse of a baby Utahraptor. The young animal had been found in the ruins of a nest on one of the team’s many safari expeditions into the wild.
The guards all laughed and joked about the memorable moments of the poker game then, relieving the boredom with tales from their pasts. There were only six, Bullard, Eric, Robert, Joey, James and Ricky. The Captain and the other three men were in the headquarters building, probably discussing the scientific findings. Everyone here was by now an amateur paleontologist – either that or miss out on the conversations with everybody else, as other then dinosaur discussion and reliving card games (something that everyone was also getting good at) there was nothing to really say.
A sound filled the air; a peculiar thump that was difficult to place. Eric paused, wondering if the scientists had started brawling.
“Sounded like that came from the fence.” Robert said slowly, frowning.
Eric sighed, walked over to the arms locker and pulled a pair of Springfields out. He handed one to Bullard, one to James, then let Joey and Ricky take Thompson submachineguns out. He passed a pistol and two grenades to everybody as well, then pulled the last two Springfields out and held one out for Robert while he checked the ammo on the other.
“Robert, your gun.” He said after a moment when Robert didn’t take it.
“Eric.” Robert said slowly. Eric looked up and his heart stopped.
Outside the window was a giant yellow eye in a scaly face. A moment later, the eye narrowed and the head withdrew. Robert snatched the gun and checked his ammo, starting to shake with fear.
“What was that?” He asked, jittery.
“Dinosaur.” Joey said flatly. “I’d say either a T. Rex, a Carcharadontosaur or a Spinosaurus.”
“Dinosaur?” Eric demanded. “What about the fence!?”
“I think that was the noise.” Robert said, looking away from the window, where he had been staring.
Suddenly the window blew inwards and the building’s stone walls dissolved, sending particles slamming all around the room. A massive head with snapping, vicious jaws shot in and seized Robert’s entire upper body, lifting him out of the building and flipping him away. The head – which belonged to a Tyrannosaurus Rex – returned, roaring at the US soldiers. Eric broke the spell of shock and terror that consumed the guards. Acting almost entirely on adrenaline, he raised his rifle, aimed into that opened maw, and fired. The bullet shot in and slammed into the upper jaw of the T. Rex, which pulled back, its roar transformed to one of pain and anger.
“GO!” Eric yelled to his companions, and they raced out of the room, weapons in hand, and slammed the metal security door shut behind them. They didn’t pause, though the death of Robert – and he had to be dead – weighed upon them. As they reached the bottom of the stairs they ran into the three scientists – Mary Williams, Penelope Carter, and their manager Arthur Harris.
“What was that?” Harris demanded. “It sounded like a T. Rex broke in.”
“That’s exactly what happened.” Eric said grimly, the pain of his buddy’s death evident in his voice.
Harris’ jaw dropped almost comically. “My good boy, I didn’t mean for you to tear me with such sarcasm!” He quite ignored that his initial statement had been just as sarcastic.
“No joke, doctor.” Joey added. “It broke through the wall and . . . and got Robert.” He choked the last bit out; the reality was catching up to him.
Harris looked as though he didn’t believe the US soldiers. However, he never got the chance to say anything about it.
The Utahraptor dropped from the balcony at the top of the stairs and landed on him, sending his form sliding back down the stairs. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but that noise was quickly silenced in a ripping noise as the raptor snapped his neck. Eric’s first shot was automatic, and took the creature in the side, sending it flying. Joey’s caught it in the head, and it went down, kicking spasmodically.
“Get to the lower floor!” Eric yelled, having taken control of the party quite by accident. The rest followed him and as they got there he whirled, hearing a hiss from the stairs. The Utahraptor shot down, arrowing in on Eric, who fired and missed. Ricky stitched it with a barrage from his Thompson.
“How’d they get in here?” demanded Joey, who fired at another that leapt from the stairwell and riddled it with bullets. “We locked the door – numerical keypad. No way they could beat through that!”
“Unless they typed in the combination.” Eric said. He had intended sarcasm to lighten the mood, but he realized that was the only way that the creatures could have gotten past the door. His rational mind struggled with it, simultaneously certain that it had to be the answer and that it couldn’t be.
Suddenly he heard a barking hiss from behind him and spun, saw the glowing yellow eyes of the Utahraptor as it charged from behind the computer desks and leapt on top of Joey, who screamed in agony as the claws and teeth of the monster ripped into him. He was dead too. Eric didn’t shoot, but stepped forward and rammed the bayonet of the rifle into the raptor’s flank, withdrew it bloody and plunged it in again. The creature fell away writhing in pain. Eric swept up Joey’s tommy gun and crouched over the body of his friend for a moment. There was no denying his death, and Eric swore angrily.
He shoved the tommy gun to Mary, who jumped slightly at being passed the gore-stained weapon, and then said, “We have one chance. We have to get to the Captain, then get the helicopter and get out of here. We can get to the InGen park and get some specialists on this – we don’t know how they got through the electrified fence like that. But we have to get out of here first.”
The others nodded at him. Eric motioned towards the door, hoping to get outside and then to the HQ as quickly as possible.
The Tyrannosaurus smashed in the entire wall, sending rubble flying out in deadly patterns. One chunk hit Ricky in the legs and he flipped, slamming into a pile on his back. The T. rex roared in a hunter’s fury. Eric fired at it once, then twice. The creature flinched, then snapped at him. He barely missed its jaws as Mary fired a burst wildly at the monster. She mostly missed, but the creature was distracted.
Eric leapt past the beast, sprinted over to Ricky. The others all were dodging the creature, which roared in frustration as gunfire slashed it from one direction, then another as it moved towards the first shots. Most of the others were grouped near the hole in the wall, and Eric came to get Ricky moving.
“Can’t.” Ricky said even before Eric opened his mouth. His voice was filled with suppressed pain, but no fear. He gestured at his legs, which sat at an odd angle. “Both of them are broken. You guys go on – I’ll keep the beast off you.”
“No! Ricky, we’re not leaving you behind.”
“Go, Eric! Just go!” He smiled. “I always wanted to die a hero.”
It killed Eric to do it, but he had to leave Ricky there. Otherwise they would all die. He jumped out and dodged around the T. Rex, which he heard turning to come after him. A burst of tommy gun fire ripped through the night – Ricky.
“Come on, you big, ugly reptilian sack of crap!” Another spate of gunfire echoed out from Ricky. “Yeah, that’s how we play in Minnesota! Come get some!”
The T. Rex roared furiously, then lunged forward. Ricky bellowed some obscenities, but then he was cut short as the Rex bit into him. Eric swore too, then suddenly a pair of concussions triggered inside the Rex, and it squealed in pain, then collapsed to the floor, twitching, blood running from the wounds in its head and throat.
Ricky blew his grenades. What a brave guy – even if the Rex didn’t eat him the blast surely got him. What a brave guy. Eric shook his head in wonder, the tears flowing down his cheeks. First Robert, then Joey and now Ricky – was anyone going to get off this island alive?
) I got the idea of a Jurassic Park AAR a while ago but discarded it as an idea. Well, after rediscovering the "alien invaders" function and cracking a certain joke in Jurassic Park Operation Genesis I realized that I could have a whole lot of fun with a similar idea. I'm playing the 1941 scenario as the USA with the intent to . . . well, you'll see!
