Jurassic World
Page 8
The Indoraptor managed to hang on to a window strut. He began to pull himself back up onto the roof, where he would easily be able to attack Owen and Maisie, but then, from atop the nearby chimney, Blue flung herself onto the Indoraptor’s back with a loud screech, causing the awful predator to lose his grip, and both of them plummeted into the library. In midair, Blue reacted quickly and moved to turn the Indoraptor over just in time for—
WHUMP! The Indoraptor landed right on the Triceratops skull, impaled on its horns.
Moments later, the elevator doors opened and Zia and Franklin ran into the library. They were stunned to see the dead Indoraptor…and also Blue running down another hallway out of the room.
Franklin stared up through the broken skylight and saw Owen, Claire, and Maisie looking down at him. “You good?” he asked.
“Nah,” Owen admitted. “You?”
Franklin shook his head. “Nope.”
Zia called up to them, “We’ve got a problem downstairs. You need to see this.”
Eighty years ago, nobody could have predicted nuclear proliferation. But then, there it was. And now we’ve got genetic power. So—how long is it going to take for that to spread around the globe?
—Dr. Ian Malcolm
Mills opened the door to the lab and was shocked to see smoke and flames. He could smell gas. He started to leave, but spotted something on the ground: the glass case holding the Indominus bone. With its DNA, maybe he could start over. He covered his mouth with his handkerchief, darted to the case, and carried it out of the lab.
At the same time, Claire, Owen, Maisie, Zia, and Franklin entered the glass-walled control room perched above the dinosaur cells. Computer screens flashed: VENTILATION SYSTEM FAILURE!
Below them, in the containment cells, small fires burned. A cloud of hydrogen cyanide gas from the lab explosion hung near the ceiling. The dinosaurs ducked their heads down to the floor to avoid the deadly gas.
On another screen, an alert flashed: CONTAMINATION ALERT—HYDROGEN CYANIDE DETECTED!
Through the glass, they watched in horror as the dinosaurs choked on the growing cloud of poisonous gas. “They’re dying!” Claire cried.
Owen picked Maisie up and held her. He turned her away from the awful sight of the dying dinosaurs. Claire studied a control board, swiping through a touch screen. She found the command she was looking for. “We can open the cell doors from here.”
“Wait, Claire—” Owen said.
She hit the command. The bars on the individual cell doors rose. Dinosaurs hurried out of their cells, gathering in the center of the cavernous chamber. But there was nowhere to go. As the gas moved toward them, they crowded against the main door to the outside.
Claire put her hand over a large red button labeled OPEN OUTER DOORS. She hesitated, torn.
“You push that button,” Owen warned, “there’s no turning back.”
“We can’t let them die,” Claire said.
“Think about what you’re doing,” Owen said.
Claire struggled with her decision. To release the dinosaurs into the world was a reckless, dangerous act—probably criminal. But to just stand there and watch them die in agony, roaring and coughing, seemed inhuman.
“Is this who we are?” Claire asked.
“It is today,” Owen answered, backing his and Claire’s hands away from the button that would release all the dinosaurs into the world. They both exhaled slowly. But then—
BRAAAAANK! BRAAAAANK! BRAAAAANK!
An alarm sounded! A red light flashed! The massive doors swung open and the dinosaurs looked out into the open air.
Owen and Claire spun to see Maisie with her small hand on the big red button. She had tears in her eyes. “I had to. They’re alive. Like us.”
Below, the dinosaurs scrambled out through the doors and into the world. They were free.
Near the loading dock, Mills headed toward a van, still carrying the Indominus bone in its glass case. Two guards followed him. Mills heard a rumbling sound and turned around. A Pteranodon swept down out of the night sky, picked up one of the guards, and dropped him on the van. SMASH!
Now Mills saw where the rumbling was coming from: a horde of dinosaurs was thundering straight toward him. The other guard was crushed in the stampede. Mills dove under the van, avoiding the pounding feet and swinging horns of the animals.
WHAM! Dinosaurs sideswiped the van, sending it sliding. Mills was exposed. He desperately crawled under the van again, leaving the glass case behind, and barely avoiding a stomping dinosaur foot. WHOMP!
The van was rocked and hit, and though two of its tires blew, Mills somehow managed to stay safe underneath. The stampede passed. Everything was quiet. Mills breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Then he spotted something a few yards away: the Indominus bone in its glass case. It hadn’t been smashed. And it was still worth a fortune….
Smiling greedily, Mills looked around to make sure it was safe and then crawled out from under the van. He walked over, picked up the case, and grinned.
CHOMP! Out of nowhere, the T. rex appeared and bit Mills clean in two! Her massive foot smashed the glass case and the Indominus bone into a thousand pieces. Then she turned and stomped off into the night with a triumphant roar.
Humans and dinosaurs are now going to be forced to coexist. We will have to adjust to new threats we can’t imagine. These creatures were here before us, and if we’re not careful, they’ll be here after. We’ve entered a new era. Welcome to Jurassic World.
—Dr. Ian Malcolm
Owen, Claire, Franklin, Zia, and Maisie left the mansion through the front door and headed down the steps of the entryway. Owen carried Maisie, wrapped in a blanket, in his arms. Claire limped, wounded but glad to be alive.
Maisie’s eyes went wide. She gasped, afraid. Blue stood right in front of them.
“Shh,” Owen said. “It’s okay.”
He carefully set Maisie down on her feet. Claire put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“She won’t hurt us,” Owen reassured Maisie. “She’s not like the others.” He looked Blue in the eye. “Right, girl?”
He spotted an empty cage truck. He slowly moved toward Blue. “See? She’s smart. She knows she can’t stay here.” He beckoned Blue toward the truck as Claire, Maisie, Franklin, and Zia backed away.
“Blue,” Owen said firmly, “I need you to come with me. We’re gonna go someplace safe.”
Blue looked over Owen’s shoulder at the cage truck. She’d seen one of those before.
“Blue?” Owen said. “Come with me.”
Blue looked at Owen. Then she looked at the line of trees behind her. Freedom. She gave Owen one last look.
Then the sleek predator darted off into the woods toward an uncertain future.
As they watched her go, they realized everything had changed. They now lived on a planet where dinosaurs roamed freely. They could be anywhere—in the forests, in the oceans, and even in the towns.
The group huddled closer together at this thought, and watched as the sun rose on a new world….
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