Categories > Movies > Jurassic Park > For Those of The Five Deaths
SGTLEGENDKILLER
‘For Those of The Five Deaths’
A Jurassic Park Fanfiction
Act I Chapter I
“Miss October”
Danielle sat propped up on the top of the 1973 Chevrolet Blazer’s roll bar perfectly still. She breathed quietly as she watched a small herd of Stegosaurus through the zoom lens in her hands. She had been waiting for the perfect moment; the perfect shot. It had only been a short while since she set herself up on a slight ridge across the field in a mildly dense tree line. At this distance the dinosaurs would pay her no mind. She lightly adjusted herself as she refocused her aim at the Stegosaurus herd.
“Come on…” She whispered very lightly as a cool breeze brushed through her short and dark afro. “Just pick your head up…”
After another moment or so, she watched two of the older Stegosaurus’ move closer to the small group of much smaller and younger ones in the herd. The young ones were safe and content as they grazed on the field grass, and the larger ones mingled around casually while keeping their eyes out for any threat to the herd. One of the three young ones eased themselves down to lay down in the warm grass, and one of the adults of the herd lifted their head up to peer towards the east; away from Danielle’s location. Perfect. She thought. Danielle pressed the button on her Canon Eos 650, taking several pictures while the moment was just right.
She took a final set of photos and lowered the camera and its long lens. “Hell yes!” She exclaimed quietly as she let the camera hang off her neck.
Reaching down into the passenger seat of the open top Blazer, Danielle picked up her clipboard and pulled out her field journal and a gel pen. She checked her watch and began a new entry was started.
‘6/28/1989 2:05 p.m., Ms. Danielle Arnold.
Was out with a small list of things from Dr. Harding and decided on trying to get some more pictures for the 1990 calendar like I’ve been talking nonstop about. Yesterday I got a few good shots of the Packy B group and the Carno girls chasing an alpaca… Might not use those last ones but they were badass! Today I managed to get several great shots of the Stego groups. I also have observed that the several differently aged groups have formed an entire herd together, the oldest ones taking in the youngest ones in as if they were family. That was one of the theories kicking around the lab, but it is cool to see it pan out that way… I’ll study the artificial family dynamics at a later time. I have to get one or two more things done and stop by one of the small carnivore paddocks on the way back to the Vet Depot. It is two little girl’s birthday!
Will add more to today later if need be…
Also: Avoid tuna sandwiches for lunch. It’s a bit too pungent for the dinosaurs. If they are giving me dirty looks then I don’t think I should be eating it.’
Danielle chuckled at the last part and set the clipboard down with the paged up so the ink would dry. She then stood up straight and stretched her arms out as she looked around. It had been a good and productive day. She had gotten quite a bit done and the weather was fantastic; both of which were of the norm, however today just seemed all around pleasant. Especially since she had nearly gotten enough pictures for the calendar. She sighed and lowered herself down into the driver's seat of the truck. After collecting her things, she set everything down where it should be nice and orderly before sliding into the driver seat. After the large 5.7L motor began warming up she was soon ready to leave. She put the vehicle into gear and started off towards the exit of the large herbivore paddock.
As she left, she honked the horn twice to let the Stegosaurus herd know she was leaving; it was simply a courtesy that she tried to do for all of the dinosaurs so they would be conditioned to know that the two horn beeps would know they would stop being so closely watched. It seemed to work well enough for them, and in turn they seemed to respect the specific vehicle’s presence whenever Danielle would be around. She called it the ‘1 & 2’ pattern; One beep for approach, two for leaving. Some argued it was pointless, but she however would smirk all the way to the bank for she knew that she was one of the few people that were able to get so close to the dinosaurs without being sedated. After a decent drive through some mostly smooth grassy fields, she soon approached the paddock gate. Once she stopped nearby, she unlocked and opened the large gate before driving through. Once on the other side, she hopped back out of the Blazer, closed and relocked the paddock gate before driving off down the trail to the north.
After a few short minutes of driving, she came to a stop near one of the few acclimation paddocks closer towards the center of the island. These were the paddocks that they would put new dinosaurs into, either grouped or individually, so that they could learn the habits of being fed from the feeders, get used to the trees and types of grass that were on the island. They would be placed in these once they were old enough to fend for themselves, and once they had typically hit a decent state of adulthood, which was typically one to two years old, they would be sedated and transported into the appropriate regional paddock. There were several regional paddocks that had different purposes; there were two or three for herbivores depending on their size and needs, and several more for individual carnivore groups as they typically didn’t play well together. Today, however, Danielle was here to visit a specific acclimation paddock housing a pair of Allosaurus sisters. The two were from the last attempted batch of Allosaurus eggs that were made, and were the only two viable results from the eight eggs that were made. Despite one of them having an issue or two with being sick, thus being a hair smaller than the other, the two were perfectly fine and healthy dinosaurs. Danielle honked the horn of the Blazer and got out after parking near the viewing platform built over the fence.
She got out of the truck and went to the Blazer’s short bed to grab a heavy large bag before reclosing the hatch of the truck. With a slight grunt she hefted the bag’s strap onto her shoulder and made her way to the viewing platform. By the time she had made it up the several sets up stairs, she stepped up into the sturdy platform that overlooked most of the open area of the paddock. The platform had a metal roof that covered most of the 12x18 foot platform except for the lip that faced the paddock. The rest of the platform had a frame with decently sturdy walls on the side looking away from the paddock; just enough to block out some of the elements in case someone needed to do an extended study with the dinosaurs. Danielle set the bag down onto the small work table on the platform with a thud, and walked over to the inner edge of the viewing platform. Looking down over the railing, she could see the Allosaurus sisters glancing around, making some noise as they were watching and waiting for something to happen. They had heard the vehicle and its horn, as well as the metallic footsteps of Danielle going up the stairs, but they hadn’t seen her yet.
Danielle whistled loudly. “Up here, girls!” She called down enthusiastically.
The two Allosaurus’ both snapped their gaze upward towards the viewing platform as they heard the noise, warbling and tilting their heads as they tried to identify the Human.
“That’s it…” Danielle couldn’t help but grin. Despite what people said, she always loved watching the carnivores figure things out. “Good afternoon! How are the both of you beautiful girls?” The two dinosaurs seemed to take a quick glance at each other before coming closer to the viewing platform, craning their necks up a bit more to watch Danielle. “Aww…. Not talkative today? Well… that’s alright, cause it’s a special day! I have something for the both of you.” Danielle spoke with the most cheerful voice as she was talking to them.
The larger of the two sisters seemed to make a rumbling sound up at her, as if she understood partially of what Danielle had said. It was most likely just the ‘have’ and ‘something’ part.
“Yeah!” She replied as if she was holding an actual conversation with the creatures. “Give me one sec.” She said as she stepped away from the railing to go back to the bag. She pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on before opening the bag to inspect the contents. The bag was full of a few dozen pounds of meat, mainly being large flank and tenderloin cuts. With her gloves on, she picked up a pair of the cuts of beef and returned to the railing. The sisters looked up more intently now as they saw her return after grabbing the ‘something.’ They were quite interested now.
Danielle looked down at them and watched them for a second, looking at each of their crimson colored eyes. Once she was ready she leaned forward and loudly clicked the inside of her right cheek to get their attention.
The two dinosaurs seemed to stiffen and quiet down, waiting to see what was to happen.
“Good…” She smiled. “You see this?” She lifted up one of the cuts of meat for them to see, keeping the second behind her back.
The sisters snorted loudly and made a few low chittering sounds. Danielle noticed the larger one calm after a second before taking a step back so that her smaller sister would get the first one; this was a behavior Danielle had noticed before.
“Here…. Happy birthday, Girl!” She called down softly as she lightly tossed the meat down to the little one, who very happily hopped up to catch it in her mouth. “Good! And now you, big girl.” She said, soothing in tone, as she pulled the other piece and tossed it down for the other.
Over the next few minutes, Danielle tossed most of the meat down to the two Allosaurus sisters. The two seemed very delighted for the pleasantries and the treats; it was rare that they had such a treatment from any of the InGen staff. With two remaining cuts of meat, Danielle had wanted to try a small experiment. She pulled out a small container of some light lemon pepper seasoning and dusted the meat with it. She had always wondered if the dinosaurs would care about flavors for a while now, and it was just recently that Dr. Harding had given her the ‘ok’ for such a thing. This was after she argued that the carnivores seemed to each have preferences on what cuts of meat they liked, so why couldn’t they have a preference and affinity for flavoring? Henry Wu had a good laugh when he heard them talking about it near the administration facilities whenever Danielle proposed it. After she had cross referenced what the Allosaurus’ could have with Dr. Harding, she picked a season out and waiting for a trial.
“This last one is special, ok?” She asked as she stood back up to the railing. She noticed a curious look in both of their eyes as the smelt the aroma of the seasoning. “Now if you don’t like it, you can spit it out. Here you go…” She said, tossing them both down their bits of meat.
To her surprise, the sisters both caught their pieces of meat, only to pause once they caught it as if puzzled. Both of them then leaned down slightly and tilted their heads over so they could gnaw and tenderize the meat with their rear teeth, taking several moments before finally swallowing the last of the meat. They enjoyed it; she had been right!
“Now alright, girls… I am gonna have to leave in a minute or two…” She spoke down at the dinosaurs below as if they would care. “I really should be getting back to the Vet Depot… I’ve got a paper to write.”
The smaller Allosaurus made a slight whining huff noise up at her, tilting its head.
“Oh, I know… I wish I could sit and chat with you two the whole day, but then I wouldn’t get any work done.” Danielle said, sighing. “And I don’t get work done then I can’t stay on the island and see you beautiful gals.”
As it always was with the two Allosaurus sisters, the smallest one was always the more curious sort compared to her larger sister, who now was swiftly losing interest in Danielle based on the fact they were getting no more treats. So with a deep rumble, the larger sister looked away from the Human above and began to trot off for more interesting things. The smaller one glanced between her sister and Danielle and made another series of warbling noises towards Danielle.
Danielle smirked slightly and lightly shook her head. “It’s alright. I’ll see you two later. Go have fun, Girly.” She said, waving lightly at the Allosaurus. The Carnivore seemed to take the hint and turned to quickly follow her sister. Danielle watched for a moment further and yet again sighed. She sometimes wished she could join them somehow. Life was simple for these creatures, and Danielle wished she could have that. No course work or responsibilities; they could just roam about, eat, and experience the breathtaking island. Alright Danielle. She thought. Enough wishful daydreaming. You got shit to do. With a final sigh, she turned and left the tower to head back to the Vet Depot.
A little bit later, Danielle pulled the Blazer into the farthest vehicle bay in the Vet Depot’s three vehicle garage. The right bay was for Dr. Harding’s 85’ Chevrolet Suburban, and the middle bay was left open for loading and prep. The raised area beyond the vehicle bays was where the Vet staff’s lounge, workspace, and kitchenette was. It was a fairly small space but they did with what they had. They kept all of their supplies and equipment on standby in a 53ft ocean container that was built into the building; access was behind Dr. Harding’s vehicle bay with a direct path to the center bay if more than just his vehicle was needed. Other than that, there was a set of stairs on the furthest back wall to a small loft that served as Dr. Harding’s office. As she came to a stop in the vehicle bay, she could see Ashley Davis, the Chief Vet’s assistant who mostly just ran the Depot and kept track of everything, standing at the main table messing with some equipment. She turned the Blazer off and undid her seat belt.
“Welcome back!” The Assistant said as he turned to face her, leaving whatever he was working on at the table.
“Hey there…” Danielle smirked as she pulled herself up by the Blazer’s roll bar to stand up over the windshield. “Oh Ashley. You owe me a hundred bucks!” She declared, grinning.
The man scoured at his name; he hated when people called him by either his first or middle. Ashley Tyler Davis. He thought it was a stupid name, and so he would tell everyone to just call him either ‘Davis’ or ‘Dave.’ “Agh. What. What is it??” He asked, annoyed.
Danielle smirked even wider. “Seasoning.” She answered simply.
The word itself caused Davis to tilt his head backwards with the heaviest eye roll he could possibly muster. “This shit again??” He asked before giving a sharp, annoyed exhale.
“Oh you bet your sweet ass ‘this shit again’!” Danielle shot back, pointing an excited finger at the exasperated man. “I was right.”
“Whatever, Danielle.” He sighed again before turning back to the table. “I have better things to do than talk about stupid bets with you.”
“Oh no you don’t! Oh hell no!” Danielle said loudly with a laugh as she slipped out of the Blazer and quickly grabbed the empty bag that the meat had been in. “We are talking about it!” She announced as she nearly jogged up the steps to the elevated area to join him. “Here… My proof.” She said as she dug a bottle of lemon pepper seasoning and presented the half bottle of it.
Davis took a decent look over at the seasoning bottle. “...You took my seasoning…”
“Yeah. I did.” She replied with a heavy dose of sass on top. “I fed it to the Allosaurus sisters.”
“Bull shit!”
“What?! Do you think I just kicked back and did nothing today? Had a little cookout on the island with the dinosaurs using your stuff without inviting you, Dave? Do you really think I’m that cold?” She demanded, with hand on hip.
“No… Of course not…” He said. To be fair, she did just call him by his first name.
“I put it on two large cuts of meat and let it soak in all day and fed it to the two Allosaurus sisters. It’s their birthday today after all.”
“...And?”
“They loved it.” Danielle smirked with an excited chuckle as she crossed her arms.
Davis looked down at the seasoning jar in thought. He had been duped. “Well… good for them.” He said casually as he set the seasoning down on the table, trying to skirt around the topic.
“Uh uh.” Danielle cocked an eyebrow. “You’re gonna pay up.”
“I am not giving you 100$ over a petty bet over some dinosaur treats.” He said definitively.
“You can’t just back out of a bet like that!” Danielle pressed further, getting closer to the man.
“Oh, I just did.” He said, looking down slightly at her. “What are you going to do about it?”
Danielle thought for a second before snorting. “Would you prefer to be called Ashley or Tyler?”
The man’s face turned red in frustration. He was about to retaliate with something snarky, but the two were interrupted by a small yet abrupt sound; a low chuckling from Dr. Harding’s office above. Gerry Harding was known for being a man of steel nerves and never ending patience, if he was even to grin at something said it would grind the whole room to a halt in shock.
“If you don’t pay her I will make you power wash the depot every day for the rest of the month.” Dr. Harding spoke firmly despite the humor in his voice, speaking loud enough for it to carry through the depot so all could hear.
The words hit Davis’ ears and he looked up to the heavens above and with an aggravated sigh, he looked down helplessly at the table. “Alright, fine! A bet is a bet!” He said as he ran his fingers through his short dirty blond hair. If there was one thing that he hated, it was washing the building. The water just got everywhere and he absolutely despised being wet. “I can pay you tomorrow after I get back to Town.”
“Sounds good. Thank you, Davis” Danielle smirked.
At this point, Dr. Harding was coming down the stairs to check in on fully what was going on. “So the carnivores like seasoned meat, mmm?” The much older, grey haired man asked as he joined them at the table.
“Yes. Very much so!” Danielle answered him. “They even seemed to chew on the stuff for a bit.”
“Well I’ll be damned… I knew they would.” He gave her a slight proud nod.
“Wait… How did you know?” Davis demanded, turning back to the table.
“When the first batch of Raptors was growing I used to sit up on top of the platform and watch them… I’d get bored and toss some meat from my lunch sometimes… they always seemed to want my jerky the most… even though the sugar probably wasn’t good for their teeth…” Dr. Harding hummed in thought.
“What…” Davis shot him a look. “You used to toss the raptors jerky?!”
“Yeah. I did…” Dr. Harding nodded with a raised eyebrow, reflecting on the good ol’ times before looking back at the younger man. “You should pay more attention… I have actually told you that before…”
“You have!?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “When stuck with angry carnivores, throw jerky. It should work every time.” Danielle remembered him saying something like that. “If the jerky is worth a damn it will be tastier than an entire person.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Well… It will be at tastier than your attitude, Dave.” Dr. Harding smirked towards Davis.
Danielle snorted as she held back a laugh.
“Uh. I am taking a walk!” Davis declared loudly and made a quick exit out of the depot. Once he had left, Dr. Harding chuckled again.
“You are on a roll today, sir.” Danielle chuckle as she shook her head, seeing an ever elusive Dr. Harding joke.
“Ahh... it was nothing.” Dr. Harding brushed it off as he looked down at whatever Davis was working on at the table. “So… other than your visit with the Allosaurus pair, how were the paddocks today?” He asked with genuine interest as he looked back up to her.
“Quiet, honestly…” She kind of shrugged. “I pretty much had a few hours of just chilling with the herbivores… I got some great pictures of the Stegosaurus groups…”
“What month are they going to be?” Dr. Harding asked, one of his eyebrows cocking upward curiously.
Danielle thought for a second. “October… definitely October. I got the Carno group chasing food yesterday for November… so that leaves December…” She added. “And I have no idea what I am going to do for that.”
“You’ll figure it out.” He said with a proud smile, supportive as always. “Anything else?”
“Uh… Actually yes.” She nodded. “It seems like the Stegosaurus groups have all kinda formed a single herd.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah… The older groups seem to have taken on the role as the guardians of the youngest batch.”
“Like adopting? Surrogacy?” He asked, crossing his arms, truly interested.
“Kind of.” She said, thinking back on it. “I know we were talking about that maybe happening, but it didn’t happen with the Packies.”
“No…” He looked down in thought, shifting his jaw slightly. “Well. Maybe it is a good thing… we will just have to check on them daily to make sure they stay nice with each other.”
Danielle nodded.
“As for that… You are done for the day. You probably have things to do so clean up and get out of here.” He told her.
“I just have an assignment to write… You sure you don’t need me for anything else?” She asked. It wouldn’t bother her in the slightest. Even if she had to crunch assignments after work, she was doing what she loved to do.
Dr. Harding smiled. “The fact that you still ask that after every day even after being here for six months is one of the things I love about you, Danielle; you are always willing to help no matter what you have going on.” He paused in thought. “Hell, Dave stopped asking after the second day.” He shook his head half seriously. As much as he would pick, he was fine with Davis.
“Well its how dad raised me.” She shrugged. “I’ll grab my stuff and get going. Maybe I can hit the 4:25 Bus.”
Dr. Harding shook his head for a moment. “Screw the Island Express, take the Blazer.”
Danielle’s heart stopped for a moment, not believing what she just heard.
“Yeah. You’re the only one who uses it anyway, so it’s fine. I trust you.” He smiled. “Just take some money from the cash box and fill her up.”
“Thank you, Dr. Harding!” She said, still in shock he would let her just take one of the vet vehicles home.
“Yeah, yeah. Now get out of her before I put you back to work.” He lightly joked and waved her away before heading back towards his office. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Danielle gave him a nod and shook her head; being with InGen for only six and a half months and she was already being trusted to take home company equipment was a little surprising to her. To be honest, she knew that if it wasn’t for her willingness to hop-to and get things done with a good attitude, Dr. Harding wouldn’t have grown to trust her so highly. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she took a fifty dollar bill from the cash box before going back to the Blazer to leave. With a honk of the horn, she waved and drove off for the Boroughs.
The road from the Vet Depot was well worn; unlike the other dirt roads of Isla Sorna. It hadn’t been flattened down and settled by the tires of hundreds of vehicles each week. It was pretty much just Dr. Harding’s Suburban and the Vet Blazer, with the occasional exception where someone would come to the depot with dinosaur health questions. If you knew where the ruts and dips were, it wasn’t too rough of a trail to drive on. After a few minutes the trail met the main route to the area. If she would turn left she would further the hill to the other side of a small mountain that the Vet Depot was located. At the end of the road was the Administration and Lab facilities of the island, and to the right, the road curved down the hill towards the North East Docks and further on to the Boroughs.
Turning the Blazer to the right, she drove down the side of the hill. Further down the hill, the North East Docks became visible through the trees as the road banked left and steepened slightly. The Docks had been built on an inlet just off the main road between the Labs and the Boroughs for the logistical ease of getting food and supplies to the town for the residents while being close enough to have only a quick trip up the hill for equipment going to the hilltop facilities. There was currently a small freighter being offloaded in the middle of the three piers. By the specific pier and by the Atlantic Transportation and Starline ocean containers, Danielle knew that this shipment would have mostly supplies for the Town. At least that is what she remembered from several conversations with the Winscott brothers, who were the two main employees responsible for unloading and unpacking the containers that came from the freighters. The two had told her that the system that Chris Fris, the Island’s Freight Manager, had set it up. One dock was for equipment for the facilities, one was for general goods, food, and other things for the civilian side of things, and the third dock was for livestock and food for the dinosaurs on the island. The two of them had been very sure to also mention that the freighters would never go to the wrong pier. According to them, the freight manager was very ‘Anal Retentive,’ or something similar sounding to that. The brothers were usually a few beers gone by that point in the story; they were a respectable bunch and polite but hell or high water the two could stir up some noise.
She pulled up to the vehicle gate that separated the Dock and the Facility area. Once stopped, Danielle leaned out to press a nearby intercom button. After waiting for a few moments, the intercom speaker made a few buzzing noises as it connected to the line to the security office in the small InGen building near the Docks. Eventually the unexpected voice of a Harold Finch came through. “Gate Security.” He spoke to the point and low in a grumble of sorts.
“Mr. Finch. What are you doing manning the gate?” Danielle asked, looking towards the camera positioned to the top left of the gate.
He scoffed lightly. “I should ask you what you are doing driving the truck.” He proposed, more actually asking than proposing of course. “Did Harding say you could borrow that?”
Danielle looked upwards through her sunglasses and smirked. “No. I stole it.”
“Right.” She could almost feel his smirk on the other end of the intercom. “Well… I’ll let you through... Stay out of trouble, Miss Arnold.”
“Thank you!” Soon the gate slid open and she continued towards the Boroughs.
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful; unlike most of the trails around the island, the main route was paved and decently maintained. The road to town, while short, was a smooth and casual drive with only a few gradual bends as it went up and down another small hill. The traffic was usually light on the route; the only vehicles typically seen were those belonging to important people, Security, or one of the three Island Transportation buses going between the facilities and town.
Once the road started up another hill, there was a tall metal wall with a large double set of vehicle gates on the hilltop. The wall was meant to separate the area between the docks and a regional paddock designated to smaller herbivores; most of the dinosaurs in this regional paddock where shorter in head height to that of a regular sized person. Two of the species that lived there were the flocks of Gallimimus and small herd of Pachycephalosaurus. InGen had purposefully placed the more gentle and easier to handle types of animals closer to the Town, while the carnivore paddocks tended to be further away from the facilities and residencies of the island. All for just a bit more of a sense of security.
Once her vehicle approached the gate, the man in the small security tower nearby opened the gate for her, a buzzer beeped, letting her know to drive through. Just on the other side of the gate began a road named ‘Rue de Jules Verne,’ named after the great adventure novelist of the 1800s, and appropriately named so as it was the only established road that left the Town’s perimeter. As Danielle turned down this road, she could see the top of a small hydropower dam that had been built to create a rain reservoir to provide fresh water and electricity to most of the Island. She continued the drive further into the valley, getting closer and closer to the Boroughs. As she passed halfway between the dam and town she spotted a group of Gallimimus drinking from the small stream from the spillway; she could that they were having the time of their lives as it would seem. Once she got to town, she drove through the final gate and made her way towards the center of town.
The Boroughs was the name of the small worker town that served as the main place of lodging for most of the InGen employees. It was a humble spot only a few city blocks in size that was surrounded by a tall and rugged electrified fence. It had everything that regular town could need; a gas station, store, town hall and chapel, a restaurant, and plenty of small houses for everything. The furthest south building was the Operation Center, where the oversight of the north end of Isla Sorna took place. The headquarters was where the Security, Maintenance, and Animal Control offices were located. Main St. headed North through the center of town from there, and beyond all the other stops of interest John Hammond’s residency was the furthest north building of town. Once she had entered the north east gate, Danielle drove towards the center of town and turned down Main St. to head towards the gas station and restaurant in town. After passing the General Store and Tavern, she took a left turn into the Town’s gas station.
She parked the Blazer next to the single set of gas pumps and turned the truck off. She got out and headed into the gas station’s front desk to pay for some fuel. After she passed under the ‘Seano’s InGen Gas & Repair’ sign above the door as she walked in. Inside the small building was dark haired man behind a small clerk counter standing in front of a stock of whatever liquid a vehicle would need from coolant to axle oil. As Danielle closed the door, the man smiled and gave a hearty ‘Good afternoon, Lass,’ in a heavy Scottish accent.
“Hey Sean.” She smiled and approached the counter.
“Good ‘afternoon, Missie!” He grinned. “Ey see you ‘ave a truck now.”
“Yeah... Dr. Harding is letting me drive the secondary truck home now.” She explained, friendly as always to everyone.
“Ay… An’ she looks thirsty!” He commented with a chuckle.
“That she is… Fifty dollars on the pump for her, please.” Danielle said, sliding the large bill across the counter to the man.
“Oh! Of course, Lass. Now you ‘ave a nice day!” He called to her as she left to go fill up the Blazer.
Once she had finished, Danielle got back into the truck and turning it back around to head back the way she came. Once she got to the intersection after the General Store and Tavern, she turned left onto Boroughs Ct. to drive a very short distance before turning left again onto Wells Pl., the road she lived on. Danielle’s home was the second house on the right, just a small place that was no bigger than a Studio apartment; however as small is it may be, it was home. She parked the Blazer in the grass next to the white fence that surrounded the small home, and got out. She put the truck’s cloth top up before heading inside. The main room of the small house was an area that served as a bedroom and living room. On the left half was the living room, which had a desk and computer near the bathroom. The other side was where her dresser, closet, and bed were.
With a sigh, Danielle set her bag down on the ground and fell onto her bed, just wanting to enjoy her mattress for a few minutes of staring at the ceiling before figuring out what she wanted to do. The minutes quickly stretched to a few to a few dozen and after a not-so-short while, she sat up forcefully with an exaggerated sigh. She knew full well that she had things to do before she went to bed in a few hours; she had course work to do and on top of that she was soon to be hungry. She sighed again before checking the clock on her desk next to her computer. “It’s almost dinner time anyway…” Danielle said, sighing one final time as she got up and left her house for food
Maisey’s Restaurant, the Town’s main eatery, was just a quick walk across the street from Danielle’s home. Along with being a functioning diner, the place also was set up to make large batches of food to package ‘To-Go’ meals in an almost cafeteria fashion. Whether it be for breakfast at 8:00am, Lunch at 12:45pm, or dinner at 6:00pm, the staff always seemed to be somehow prepared and ready to serve at each meal. There were plenty of residents and workers alike who prefer not to stick around in the restaurant and eat, so for a small fee, one could just walk up, order one of the ‘quick’ meals, and then get a brown bag full of food in moments. It was quite convenient to say the least, and each of the meals that came from that kitchen was made with passion. The woman who ran the diner was a jolly heavier set women from Texas named Maisey Peters. This was a woman who was tough, reliable, and at the end of every day, lived for cooking. No matter what ever seemed to happen she was always in high spirits and ready to help anyone make a better day for themselves. The only one who seemed to have any issues with her was Sean’o Arter, whose gas station was right across the road from the restaurant… however there was some suspicions that there was more to those two than they seemed to show.
Danielle entered the Diner to find a surprisingly lack of people around, especially for a dinner time. There were a few workers waiting for To-Go meals, and a few others scattered around the restaurant. Near the counter, sat a British man in tan shorts and vest, with a tan slouch hat sat next to his plate of strange looking food; this was Robert Muldoon, the island’s Wildlife Supervisor and head of Animal Control. He was always a grim s.o.b. and he was never afraid to tell people the dangers of everything on the island. Honestly, Danielle sort of liked the man, as abrasive as he might be, behind his scowl it was obvious that he had everyone’s wellbeing far above his own. “Good evening, Danielle!” Maisey called out to Danielle as she came around the corner from inside the bustling kitchen behind the counter top.
“Hello!” Danielle said back.
“Come for dinner?”
“Of course…” Danielle said, nodding. “To go, please.”
“Alright! I was just about to ask!” Maisey nodded with a smile. “I should’ve figured. It’s what you always get.”
“Well the food is great either way.” Danielle said honestly. “So I leave it up to the expert.”
Maisey blushed slightly. “Oh stop it… Don’t flatter me like that, Sugar.” She smiled before changing gears immediately to Muldoon. “And how is your… ‘Eyreyo’ Robert?”
Muldoon kind of bobbed his head from side to side, thinking over the plate of food. “It is well enough. You did a stellar job on the actual Irio…” He said, looking down at the mixture of mashed peas and potatoes. “Though it is quite the bizarre pairing to put it with your fried hash…”
“Oh I hope it isn’t too much!” Maisey said, with only a slight sense of worry in her voice. “I ain’t so well versed in Kenyan food, Robert.”
“I know… and I appreciate you trying… It does the job of reminding me of Africa....” As Danielle had heard before, Muldoon had worked with John Hammond for years as a Warden at several African preserves that Hammond owned.
“Well if you ever want me to try something else just let me know.” Maisey said as she took Danielle’s money and checked her out.
“And how are you, miss… Arnold, is it?” Muldoon asked, looking up at Danielle.
“Yes.” She nodded, giving him a smile. They had met a few times directly, and more in passing, while around the Town or when Muldoon would visit the Vet Depot on rare occasions. “I am fine.”
“Ah. I remember now: You are Ray’s girl, right?” He asked.
“Yeah… He helped me get the internship here on the island.” She added.
“Very good. Well… You have a pleasant day.” He nodded before returning to his food. He seemed to just want to confirm her face to her name.
“There you go, sweetie.” Maisey said as she finished cashing Danielle out and sliding a weighty brown paper bag across the counter.
“Thanks, ma’am!” Danielle smiled as she took the bag from the counter.
“Come back anytime.” Maisey smiled back, telling Danielle what she told everyone who was leaving her restaurant
With food in hand, Danielle would return to her little home back across the street. She was excited to see what food was today’s ‘To-Go’ meal. Usually the To-Go meals weren’t overly complicated, typically being simple things that could be made en-mass with little work such as cheeseburgers or macaroni & cheese. Though on occasion, Maisey would fire up the pair of large smokers she had behind the restaurant and surprise everyone to a treat; all the while she usually never told anyone, just on the fact she liked seeing the reactions of everyone. When Danielle got home, she took the bag of food to her computer desk and moved the keyboard of her Macintosh II computer so she could spread the food out. As she laid the contents out on the desk she was surprised to find a shredded BBQ steak sandwich on a Kaiser bun, a large baked potato, a slice of pecan pie, and several other fixings such as salt, butter, and sour cream for the potato; tonight’s To-Go meal was a great one. The meal, paired with a can of Coke Classic, was quite satisfying. Danielle wouldn’t be having any of that ’New Coke’ shit.
She took her time to enjoy her meal before pulling her keyboard down after cleaning the desk. Now that she had eaten and relaxed for a little while, she had some assignments to finish for her course work and for InGen. She leaned over and grabbed a cassette tape out of a box beside the desk and looked at it: Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey. She gave a smirk as she thought before pulling the tape out and sliding it into a stereo she had on the other side of the desk. She booted up the computer, and as the sounds of industrial rock she got ready to get some work done.
‘For Those of The Five Deaths’
A Jurassic Park Fanfiction
Act I Chapter I
“Miss October”
Danielle sat propped up on the top of the 1973 Chevrolet Blazer’s roll bar perfectly still. She breathed quietly as she watched a small herd of Stegosaurus through the zoom lens in her hands. She had been waiting for the perfect moment; the perfect shot. It had only been a short while since she set herself up on a slight ridge across the field in a mildly dense tree line. At this distance the dinosaurs would pay her no mind. She lightly adjusted herself as she refocused her aim at the Stegosaurus herd.
“Come on…” She whispered very lightly as a cool breeze brushed through her short and dark afro. “Just pick your head up…”
After another moment or so, she watched two of the older Stegosaurus’ move closer to the small group of much smaller and younger ones in the herd. The young ones were safe and content as they grazed on the field grass, and the larger ones mingled around casually while keeping their eyes out for any threat to the herd. One of the three young ones eased themselves down to lay down in the warm grass, and one of the adults of the herd lifted their head up to peer towards the east; away from Danielle’s location. Perfect. She thought. Danielle pressed the button on her Canon Eos 650, taking several pictures while the moment was just right.
She took a final set of photos and lowered the camera and its long lens. “Hell yes!” She exclaimed quietly as she let the camera hang off her neck.
Reaching down into the passenger seat of the open top Blazer, Danielle picked up her clipboard and pulled out her field journal and a gel pen. She checked her watch and began a new entry was started.
‘6/28/1989 2:05 p.m., Ms. Danielle Arnold.
Was out with a small list of things from Dr. Harding and decided on trying to get some more pictures for the 1990 calendar like I’ve been talking nonstop about. Yesterday I got a few good shots of the Packy B group and the Carno girls chasing an alpaca… Might not use those last ones but they were badass! Today I managed to get several great shots of the Stego groups. I also have observed that the several differently aged groups have formed an entire herd together, the oldest ones taking in the youngest ones in as if they were family. That was one of the theories kicking around the lab, but it is cool to see it pan out that way… I’ll study the artificial family dynamics at a later time. I have to get one or two more things done and stop by one of the small carnivore paddocks on the way back to the Vet Depot. It is two little girl’s birthday!
Will add more to today later if need be…
Also: Avoid tuna sandwiches for lunch. It’s a bit too pungent for the dinosaurs. If they are giving me dirty looks then I don’t think I should be eating it.’
Danielle chuckled at the last part and set the clipboard down with the paged up so the ink would dry. She then stood up straight and stretched her arms out as she looked around. It had been a good and productive day. She had gotten quite a bit done and the weather was fantastic; both of which were of the norm, however today just seemed all around pleasant. Especially since she had nearly gotten enough pictures for the calendar. She sighed and lowered herself down into the driver's seat of the truck. After collecting her things, she set everything down where it should be nice and orderly before sliding into the driver seat. After the large 5.7L motor began warming up she was soon ready to leave. She put the vehicle into gear and started off towards the exit of the large herbivore paddock.
As she left, she honked the horn twice to let the Stegosaurus herd know she was leaving; it was simply a courtesy that she tried to do for all of the dinosaurs so they would be conditioned to know that the two horn beeps would know they would stop being so closely watched. It seemed to work well enough for them, and in turn they seemed to respect the specific vehicle’s presence whenever Danielle would be around. She called it the ‘1 & 2’ pattern; One beep for approach, two for leaving. Some argued it was pointless, but she however would smirk all the way to the bank for she knew that she was one of the few people that were able to get so close to the dinosaurs without being sedated. After a decent drive through some mostly smooth grassy fields, she soon approached the paddock gate. Once she stopped nearby, she unlocked and opened the large gate before driving through. Once on the other side, she hopped back out of the Blazer, closed and relocked the paddock gate before driving off down the trail to the north.
After a few short minutes of driving, she came to a stop near one of the few acclimation paddocks closer towards the center of the island. These were the paddocks that they would put new dinosaurs into, either grouped or individually, so that they could learn the habits of being fed from the feeders, get used to the trees and types of grass that were on the island. They would be placed in these once they were old enough to fend for themselves, and once they had typically hit a decent state of adulthood, which was typically one to two years old, they would be sedated and transported into the appropriate regional paddock. There were several regional paddocks that had different purposes; there were two or three for herbivores depending on their size and needs, and several more for individual carnivore groups as they typically didn’t play well together. Today, however, Danielle was here to visit a specific acclimation paddock housing a pair of Allosaurus sisters. The two were from the last attempted batch of Allosaurus eggs that were made, and were the only two viable results from the eight eggs that were made. Despite one of them having an issue or two with being sick, thus being a hair smaller than the other, the two were perfectly fine and healthy dinosaurs. Danielle honked the horn of the Blazer and got out after parking near the viewing platform built over the fence.
She got out of the truck and went to the Blazer’s short bed to grab a heavy large bag before reclosing the hatch of the truck. With a slight grunt she hefted the bag’s strap onto her shoulder and made her way to the viewing platform. By the time she had made it up the several sets up stairs, she stepped up into the sturdy platform that overlooked most of the open area of the paddock. The platform had a metal roof that covered most of the 12x18 foot platform except for the lip that faced the paddock. The rest of the platform had a frame with decently sturdy walls on the side looking away from the paddock; just enough to block out some of the elements in case someone needed to do an extended study with the dinosaurs. Danielle set the bag down onto the small work table on the platform with a thud, and walked over to the inner edge of the viewing platform. Looking down over the railing, she could see the Allosaurus sisters glancing around, making some noise as they were watching and waiting for something to happen. They had heard the vehicle and its horn, as well as the metallic footsteps of Danielle going up the stairs, but they hadn’t seen her yet.
Danielle whistled loudly. “Up here, girls!” She called down enthusiastically.
The two Allosaurus’ both snapped their gaze upward towards the viewing platform as they heard the noise, warbling and tilting their heads as they tried to identify the Human.
“That’s it…” Danielle couldn’t help but grin. Despite what people said, she always loved watching the carnivores figure things out. “Good afternoon! How are the both of you beautiful girls?” The two dinosaurs seemed to take a quick glance at each other before coming closer to the viewing platform, craning their necks up a bit more to watch Danielle. “Aww…. Not talkative today? Well… that’s alright, cause it’s a special day! I have something for the both of you.” Danielle spoke with the most cheerful voice as she was talking to them.
The larger of the two sisters seemed to make a rumbling sound up at her, as if she understood partially of what Danielle had said. It was most likely just the ‘have’ and ‘something’ part.
“Yeah!” She replied as if she was holding an actual conversation with the creatures. “Give me one sec.” She said as she stepped away from the railing to go back to the bag. She pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on before opening the bag to inspect the contents. The bag was full of a few dozen pounds of meat, mainly being large flank and tenderloin cuts. With her gloves on, she picked up a pair of the cuts of beef and returned to the railing. The sisters looked up more intently now as they saw her return after grabbing the ‘something.’ They were quite interested now.
Danielle looked down at them and watched them for a second, looking at each of their crimson colored eyes. Once she was ready she leaned forward and loudly clicked the inside of her right cheek to get their attention.
The two dinosaurs seemed to stiffen and quiet down, waiting to see what was to happen.
“Good…” She smiled. “You see this?” She lifted up one of the cuts of meat for them to see, keeping the second behind her back.
The sisters snorted loudly and made a few low chittering sounds. Danielle noticed the larger one calm after a second before taking a step back so that her smaller sister would get the first one; this was a behavior Danielle had noticed before.
“Here…. Happy birthday, Girl!” She called down softly as she lightly tossed the meat down to the little one, who very happily hopped up to catch it in her mouth. “Good! And now you, big girl.” She said, soothing in tone, as she pulled the other piece and tossed it down for the other.
Over the next few minutes, Danielle tossed most of the meat down to the two Allosaurus sisters. The two seemed very delighted for the pleasantries and the treats; it was rare that they had such a treatment from any of the InGen staff. With two remaining cuts of meat, Danielle had wanted to try a small experiment. She pulled out a small container of some light lemon pepper seasoning and dusted the meat with it. She had always wondered if the dinosaurs would care about flavors for a while now, and it was just recently that Dr. Harding had given her the ‘ok’ for such a thing. This was after she argued that the carnivores seemed to each have preferences on what cuts of meat they liked, so why couldn’t they have a preference and affinity for flavoring? Henry Wu had a good laugh when he heard them talking about it near the administration facilities whenever Danielle proposed it. After she had cross referenced what the Allosaurus’ could have with Dr. Harding, she picked a season out and waiting for a trial.
“This last one is special, ok?” She asked as she stood back up to the railing. She noticed a curious look in both of their eyes as the smelt the aroma of the seasoning. “Now if you don’t like it, you can spit it out. Here you go…” She said, tossing them both down their bits of meat.
To her surprise, the sisters both caught their pieces of meat, only to pause once they caught it as if puzzled. Both of them then leaned down slightly and tilted their heads over so they could gnaw and tenderize the meat with their rear teeth, taking several moments before finally swallowing the last of the meat. They enjoyed it; she had been right!
“Now alright, girls… I am gonna have to leave in a minute or two…” She spoke down at the dinosaurs below as if they would care. “I really should be getting back to the Vet Depot… I’ve got a paper to write.”
The smaller Allosaurus made a slight whining huff noise up at her, tilting its head.
“Oh, I know… I wish I could sit and chat with you two the whole day, but then I wouldn’t get any work done.” Danielle said, sighing. “And I don’t get work done then I can’t stay on the island and see you beautiful gals.”
As it always was with the two Allosaurus sisters, the smallest one was always the more curious sort compared to her larger sister, who now was swiftly losing interest in Danielle based on the fact they were getting no more treats. So with a deep rumble, the larger sister looked away from the Human above and began to trot off for more interesting things. The smaller one glanced between her sister and Danielle and made another series of warbling noises towards Danielle.
Danielle smirked slightly and lightly shook her head. “It’s alright. I’ll see you two later. Go have fun, Girly.” She said, waving lightly at the Allosaurus. The Carnivore seemed to take the hint and turned to quickly follow her sister. Danielle watched for a moment further and yet again sighed. She sometimes wished she could join them somehow. Life was simple for these creatures, and Danielle wished she could have that. No course work or responsibilities; they could just roam about, eat, and experience the breathtaking island. Alright Danielle. She thought. Enough wishful daydreaming. You got shit to do. With a final sigh, she turned and left the tower to head back to the Vet Depot.
A little bit later, Danielle pulled the Blazer into the farthest vehicle bay in the Vet Depot’s three vehicle garage. The right bay was for Dr. Harding’s 85’ Chevrolet Suburban, and the middle bay was left open for loading and prep. The raised area beyond the vehicle bays was where the Vet staff’s lounge, workspace, and kitchenette was. It was a fairly small space but they did with what they had. They kept all of their supplies and equipment on standby in a 53ft ocean container that was built into the building; access was behind Dr. Harding’s vehicle bay with a direct path to the center bay if more than just his vehicle was needed. Other than that, there was a set of stairs on the furthest back wall to a small loft that served as Dr. Harding’s office. As she came to a stop in the vehicle bay, she could see Ashley Davis, the Chief Vet’s assistant who mostly just ran the Depot and kept track of everything, standing at the main table messing with some equipment. She turned the Blazer off and undid her seat belt.
“Welcome back!” The Assistant said as he turned to face her, leaving whatever he was working on at the table.
“Hey there…” Danielle smirked as she pulled herself up by the Blazer’s roll bar to stand up over the windshield. “Oh Ashley. You owe me a hundred bucks!” She declared, grinning.
The man scoured at his name; he hated when people called him by either his first or middle. Ashley Tyler Davis. He thought it was a stupid name, and so he would tell everyone to just call him either ‘Davis’ or ‘Dave.’ “Agh. What. What is it??” He asked, annoyed.
Danielle smirked even wider. “Seasoning.” She answered simply.
The word itself caused Davis to tilt his head backwards with the heaviest eye roll he could possibly muster. “This shit again??” He asked before giving a sharp, annoyed exhale.
“Oh you bet your sweet ass ‘this shit again’!” Danielle shot back, pointing an excited finger at the exasperated man. “I was right.”
“Whatever, Danielle.” He sighed again before turning back to the table. “I have better things to do than talk about stupid bets with you.”
“Oh no you don’t! Oh hell no!” Danielle said loudly with a laugh as she slipped out of the Blazer and quickly grabbed the empty bag that the meat had been in. “We are talking about it!” She announced as she nearly jogged up the steps to the elevated area to join him. “Here… My proof.” She said as she dug a bottle of lemon pepper seasoning and presented the half bottle of it.
Davis took a decent look over at the seasoning bottle. “...You took my seasoning…”
“Yeah. I did.” She replied with a heavy dose of sass on top. “I fed it to the Allosaurus sisters.”
“Bull shit!”
“What?! Do you think I just kicked back and did nothing today? Had a little cookout on the island with the dinosaurs using your stuff without inviting you, Dave? Do you really think I’m that cold?” She demanded, with hand on hip.
“No… Of course not…” He said. To be fair, she did just call him by his first name.
“I put it on two large cuts of meat and let it soak in all day and fed it to the two Allosaurus sisters. It’s their birthday today after all.”
“...And?”
“They loved it.” Danielle smirked with an excited chuckle as she crossed her arms.
Davis looked down at the seasoning jar in thought. He had been duped. “Well… good for them.” He said casually as he set the seasoning down on the table, trying to skirt around the topic.
“Uh uh.” Danielle cocked an eyebrow. “You’re gonna pay up.”
“I am not giving you 100$ over a petty bet over some dinosaur treats.” He said definitively.
“You can’t just back out of a bet like that!” Danielle pressed further, getting closer to the man.
“Oh, I just did.” He said, looking down slightly at her. “What are you going to do about it?”
Danielle thought for a second before snorting. “Would you prefer to be called Ashley or Tyler?”
The man’s face turned red in frustration. He was about to retaliate with something snarky, but the two were interrupted by a small yet abrupt sound; a low chuckling from Dr. Harding’s office above. Gerry Harding was known for being a man of steel nerves and never ending patience, if he was even to grin at something said it would grind the whole room to a halt in shock.
“If you don’t pay her I will make you power wash the depot every day for the rest of the month.” Dr. Harding spoke firmly despite the humor in his voice, speaking loud enough for it to carry through the depot so all could hear.
The words hit Davis’ ears and he looked up to the heavens above and with an aggravated sigh, he looked down helplessly at the table. “Alright, fine! A bet is a bet!” He said as he ran his fingers through his short dirty blond hair. If there was one thing that he hated, it was washing the building. The water just got everywhere and he absolutely despised being wet. “I can pay you tomorrow after I get back to Town.”
“Sounds good. Thank you, Davis” Danielle smirked.
At this point, Dr. Harding was coming down the stairs to check in on fully what was going on. “So the carnivores like seasoned meat, mmm?” The much older, grey haired man asked as he joined them at the table.
“Yes. Very much so!” Danielle answered him. “They even seemed to chew on the stuff for a bit.”
“Well I’ll be damned… I knew they would.” He gave her a slight proud nod.
“Wait… How did you know?” Davis demanded, turning back to the table.
“When the first batch of Raptors was growing I used to sit up on top of the platform and watch them… I’d get bored and toss some meat from my lunch sometimes… they always seemed to want my jerky the most… even though the sugar probably wasn’t good for their teeth…” Dr. Harding hummed in thought.
“What…” Davis shot him a look. “You used to toss the raptors jerky?!”
“Yeah. I did…” Dr. Harding nodded with a raised eyebrow, reflecting on the good ol’ times before looking back at the younger man. “You should pay more attention… I have actually told you that before…”
“You have!?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “When stuck with angry carnivores, throw jerky. It should work every time.” Danielle remembered him saying something like that. “If the jerky is worth a damn it will be tastier than an entire person.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Well… It will be at tastier than your attitude, Dave.” Dr. Harding smirked towards Davis.
Danielle snorted as she held back a laugh.
“Uh. I am taking a walk!” Davis declared loudly and made a quick exit out of the depot. Once he had left, Dr. Harding chuckled again.
“You are on a roll today, sir.” Danielle chuckle as she shook her head, seeing an ever elusive Dr. Harding joke.
“Ahh... it was nothing.” Dr. Harding brushed it off as he looked down at whatever Davis was working on at the table. “So… other than your visit with the Allosaurus pair, how were the paddocks today?” He asked with genuine interest as he looked back up to her.
“Quiet, honestly…” She kind of shrugged. “I pretty much had a few hours of just chilling with the herbivores… I got some great pictures of the Stegosaurus groups…”
“What month are they going to be?” Dr. Harding asked, one of his eyebrows cocking upward curiously.
Danielle thought for a second. “October… definitely October. I got the Carno group chasing food yesterday for November… so that leaves December…” She added. “And I have no idea what I am going to do for that.”
“You’ll figure it out.” He said with a proud smile, supportive as always. “Anything else?”
“Uh… Actually yes.” She nodded. “It seems like the Stegosaurus groups have all kinda formed a single herd.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah… The older groups seem to have taken on the role as the guardians of the youngest batch.”
“Like adopting? Surrogacy?” He asked, crossing his arms, truly interested.
“Kind of.” She said, thinking back on it. “I know we were talking about that maybe happening, but it didn’t happen with the Packies.”
“No…” He looked down in thought, shifting his jaw slightly. “Well. Maybe it is a good thing… we will just have to check on them daily to make sure they stay nice with each other.”
Danielle nodded.
“As for that… You are done for the day. You probably have things to do so clean up and get out of here.” He told her.
“I just have an assignment to write… You sure you don’t need me for anything else?” She asked. It wouldn’t bother her in the slightest. Even if she had to crunch assignments after work, she was doing what she loved to do.
Dr. Harding smiled. “The fact that you still ask that after every day even after being here for six months is one of the things I love about you, Danielle; you are always willing to help no matter what you have going on.” He paused in thought. “Hell, Dave stopped asking after the second day.” He shook his head half seriously. As much as he would pick, he was fine with Davis.
“Well its how dad raised me.” She shrugged. “I’ll grab my stuff and get going. Maybe I can hit the 4:25 Bus.”
Dr. Harding shook his head for a moment. “Screw the Island Express, take the Blazer.”
Danielle’s heart stopped for a moment, not believing what she just heard.
“Yeah. You’re the only one who uses it anyway, so it’s fine. I trust you.” He smiled. “Just take some money from the cash box and fill her up.”
“Thank you, Dr. Harding!” She said, still in shock he would let her just take one of the vet vehicles home.
“Yeah, yeah. Now get out of her before I put you back to work.” He lightly joked and waved her away before heading back towards his office. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Danielle gave him a nod and shook her head; being with InGen for only six and a half months and she was already being trusted to take home company equipment was a little surprising to her. To be honest, she knew that if it wasn’t for her willingness to hop-to and get things done with a good attitude, Dr. Harding wouldn’t have grown to trust her so highly. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she took a fifty dollar bill from the cash box before going back to the Blazer to leave. With a honk of the horn, she waved and drove off for the Boroughs.
The road from the Vet Depot was well worn; unlike the other dirt roads of Isla Sorna. It hadn’t been flattened down and settled by the tires of hundreds of vehicles each week. It was pretty much just Dr. Harding’s Suburban and the Vet Blazer, with the occasional exception where someone would come to the depot with dinosaur health questions. If you knew where the ruts and dips were, it wasn’t too rough of a trail to drive on. After a few minutes the trail met the main route to the area. If she would turn left she would further the hill to the other side of a small mountain that the Vet Depot was located. At the end of the road was the Administration and Lab facilities of the island, and to the right, the road curved down the hill towards the North East Docks and further on to the Boroughs.
Turning the Blazer to the right, she drove down the side of the hill. Further down the hill, the North East Docks became visible through the trees as the road banked left and steepened slightly. The Docks had been built on an inlet just off the main road between the Labs and the Boroughs for the logistical ease of getting food and supplies to the town for the residents while being close enough to have only a quick trip up the hill for equipment going to the hilltop facilities. There was currently a small freighter being offloaded in the middle of the three piers. By the specific pier and by the Atlantic Transportation and Starline ocean containers, Danielle knew that this shipment would have mostly supplies for the Town. At least that is what she remembered from several conversations with the Winscott brothers, who were the two main employees responsible for unloading and unpacking the containers that came from the freighters. The two had told her that the system that Chris Fris, the Island’s Freight Manager, had set it up. One dock was for equipment for the facilities, one was for general goods, food, and other things for the civilian side of things, and the third dock was for livestock and food for the dinosaurs on the island. The two of them had been very sure to also mention that the freighters would never go to the wrong pier. According to them, the freight manager was very ‘Anal Retentive,’ or something similar sounding to that. The brothers were usually a few beers gone by that point in the story; they were a respectable bunch and polite but hell or high water the two could stir up some noise.
She pulled up to the vehicle gate that separated the Dock and the Facility area. Once stopped, Danielle leaned out to press a nearby intercom button. After waiting for a few moments, the intercom speaker made a few buzzing noises as it connected to the line to the security office in the small InGen building near the Docks. Eventually the unexpected voice of a Harold Finch came through. “Gate Security.” He spoke to the point and low in a grumble of sorts.
“Mr. Finch. What are you doing manning the gate?” Danielle asked, looking towards the camera positioned to the top left of the gate.
He scoffed lightly. “I should ask you what you are doing driving the truck.” He proposed, more actually asking than proposing of course. “Did Harding say you could borrow that?”
Danielle looked upwards through her sunglasses and smirked. “No. I stole it.”
“Right.” She could almost feel his smirk on the other end of the intercom. “Well… I’ll let you through... Stay out of trouble, Miss Arnold.”
“Thank you!” Soon the gate slid open and she continued towards the Boroughs.
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful; unlike most of the trails around the island, the main route was paved and decently maintained. The road to town, while short, was a smooth and casual drive with only a few gradual bends as it went up and down another small hill. The traffic was usually light on the route; the only vehicles typically seen were those belonging to important people, Security, or one of the three Island Transportation buses going between the facilities and town.
Once the road started up another hill, there was a tall metal wall with a large double set of vehicle gates on the hilltop. The wall was meant to separate the area between the docks and a regional paddock designated to smaller herbivores; most of the dinosaurs in this regional paddock where shorter in head height to that of a regular sized person. Two of the species that lived there were the flocks of Gallimimus and small herd of Pachycephalosaurus. InGen had purposefully placed the more gentle and easier to handle types of animals closer to the Town, while the carnivore paddocks tended to be further away from the facilities and residencies of the island. All for just a bit more of a sense of security.
Once her vehicle approached the gate, the man in the small security tower nearby opened the gate for her, a buzzer beeped, letting her know to drive through. Just on the other side of the gate began a road named ‘Rue de Jules Verne,’ named after the great adventure novelist of the 1800s, and appropriately named so as it was the only established road that left the Town’s perimeter. As Danielle turned down this road, she could see the top of a small hydropower dam that had been built to create a rain reservoir to provide fresh water and electricity to most of the Island. She continued the drive further into the valley, getting closer and closer to the Boroughs. As she passed halfway between the dam and town she spotted a group of Gallimimus drinking from the small stream from the spillway; she could that they were having the time of their lives as it would seem. Once she got to town, she drove through the final gate and made her way towards the center of town.
The Boroughs was the name of the small worker town that served as the main place of lodging for most of the InGen employees. It was a humble spot only a few city blocks in size that was surrounded by a tall and rugged electrified fence. It had everything that regular town could need; a gas station, store, town hall and chapel, a restaurant, and plenty of small houses for everything. The furthest south building was the Operation Center, where the oversight of the north end of Isla Sorna took place. The headquarters was where the Security, Maintenance, and Animal Control offices were located. Main St. headed North through the center of town from there, and beyond all the other stops of interest John Hammond’s residency was the furthest north building of town. Once she had entered the north east gate, Danielle drove towards the center of town and turned down Main St. to head towards the gas station and restaurant in town. After passing the General Store and Tavern, she took a left turn into the Town’s gas station.
She parked the Blazer next to the single set of gas pumps and turned the truck off. She got out and headed into the gas station’s front desk to pay for some fuel. After she passed under the ‘Seano’s InGen Gas & Repair’ sign above the door as she walked in. Inside the small building was dark haired man behind a small clerk counter standing in front of a stock of whatever liquid a vehicle would need from coolant to axle oil. As Danielle closed the door, the man smiled and gave a hearty ‘Good afternoon, Lass,’ in a heavy Scottish accent.
“Hey Sean.” She smiled and approached the counter.
“Good ‘afternoon, Missie!” He grinned. “Ey see you ‘ave a truck now.”
“Yeah... Dr. Harding is letting me drive the secondary truck home now.” She explained, friendly as always to everyone.
“Ay… An’ she looks thirsty!” He commented with a chuckle.
“That she is… Fifty dollars on the pump for her, please.” Danielle said, sliding the large bill across the counter to the man.
“Oh! Of course, Lass. Now you ‘ave a nice day!” He called to her as she left to go fill up the Blazer.
Once she had finished, Danielle got back into the truck and turning it back around to head back the way she came. Once she got to the intersection after the General Store and Tavern, she turned left onto Boroughs Ct. to drive a very short distance before turning left again onto Wells Pl., the road she lived on. Danielle’s home was the second house on the right, just a small place that was no bigger than a Studio apartment; however as small is it may be, it was home. She parked the Blazer in the grass next to the white fence that surrounded the small home, and got out. She put the truck’s cloth top up before heading inside. The main room of the small house was an area that served as a bedroom and living room. On the left half was the living room, which had a desk and computer near the bathroom. The other side was where her dresser, closet, and bed were.
With a sigh, Danielle set her bag down on the ground and fell onto her bed, just wanting to enjoy her mattress for a few minutes of staring at the ceiling before figuring out what she wanted to do. The minutes quickly stretched to a few to a few dozen and after a not-so-short while, she sat up forcefully with an exaggerated sigh. She knew full well that she had things to do before she went to bed in a few hours; she had course work to do and on top of that she was soon to be hungry. She sighed again before checking the clock on her desk next to her computer. “It’s almost dinner time anyway…” Danielle said, sighing one final time as she got up and left her house for food
Maisey’s Restaurant, the Town’s main eatery, was just a quick walk across the street from Danielle’s home. Along with being a functioning diner, the place also was set up to make large batches of food to package ‘To-Go’ meals in an almost cafeteria fashion. Whether it be for breakfast at 8:00am, Lunch at 12:45pm, or dinner at 6:00pm, the staff always seemed to be somehow prepared and ready to serve at each meal. There were plenty of residents and workers alike who prefer not to stick around in the restaurant and eat, so for a small fee, one could just walk up, order one of the ‘quick’ meals, and then get a brown bag full of food in moments. It was quite convenient to say the least, and each of the meals that came from that kitchen was made with passion. The woman who ran the diner was a jolly heavier set women from Texas named Maisey Peters. This was a woman who was tough, reliable, and at the end of every day, lived for cooking. No matter what ever seemed to happen she was always in high spirits and ready to help anyone make a better day for themselves. The only one who seemed to have any issues with her was Sean’o Arter, whose gas station was right across the road from the restaurant… however there was some suspicions that there was more to those two than they seemed to show.
Danielle entered the Diner to find a surprisingly lack of people around, especially for a dinner time. There were a few workers waiting for To-Go meals, and a few others scattered around the restaurant. Near the counter, sat a British man in tan shorts and vest, with a tan slouch hat sat next to his plate of strange looking food; this was Robert Muldoon, the island’s Wildlife Supervisor and head of Animal Control. He was always a grim s.o.b. and he was never afraid to tell people the dangers of everything on the island. Honestly, Danielle sort of liked the man, as abrasive as he might be, behind his scowl it was obvious that he had everyone’s wellbeing far above his own. “Good evening, Danielle!” Maisey called out to Danielle as she came around the corner from inside the bustling kitchen behind the counter top.
“Hello!” Danielle said back.
“Come for dinner?”
“Of course…” Danielle said, nodding. “To go, please.”
“Alright! I was just about to ask!” Maisey nodded with a smile. “I should’ve figured. It’s what you always get.”
“Well the food is great either way.” Danielle said honestly. “So I leave it up to the expert.”
Maisey blushed slightly. “Oh stop it… Don’t flatter me like that, Sugar.” She smiled before changing gears immediately to Muldoon. “And how is your… ‘Eyreyo’ Robert?”
Muldoon kind of bobbed his head from side to side, thinking over the plate of food. “It is well enough. You did a stellar job on the actual Irio…” He said, looking down at the mixture of mashed peas and potatoes. “Though it is quite the bizarre pairing to put it with your fried hash…”
“Oh I hope it isn’t too much!” Maisey said, with only a slight sense of worry in her voice. “I ain’t so well versed in Kenyan food, Robert.”
“I know… and I appreciate you trying… It does the job of reminding me of Africa....” As Danielle had heard before, Muldoon had worked with John Hammond for years as a Warden at several African preserves that Hammond owned.
“Well if you ever want me to try something else just let me know.” Maisey said as she took Danielle’s money and checked her out.
“And how are you, miss… Arnold, is it?” Muldoon asked, looking up at Danielle.
“Yes.” She nodded, giving him a smile. They had met a few times directly, and more in passing, while around the Town or when Muldoon would visit the Vet Depot on rare occasions. “I am fine.”
“Ah. I remember now: You are Ray’s girl, right?” He asked.
“Yeah… He helped me get the internship here on the island.” She added.
“Very good. Well… You have a pleasant day.” He nodded before returning to his food. He seemed to just want to confirm her face to her name.
“There you go, sweetie.” Maisey said as she finished cashing Danielle out and sliding a weighty brown paper bag across the counter.
“Thanks, ma’am!” Danielle smiled as she took the bag from the counter.
“Come back anytime.” Maisey smiled back, telling Danielle what she told everyone who was leaving her restaurant
With food in hand, Danielle would return to her little home back across the street. She was excited to see what food was today’s ‘To-Go’ meal. Usually the To-Go meals weren’t overly complicated, typically being simple things that could be made en-mass with little work such as cheeseburgers or macaroni & cheese. Though on occasion, Maisey would fire up the pair of large smokers she had behind the restaurant and surprise everyone to a treat; all the while she usually never told anyone, just on the fact she liked seeing the reactions of everyone. When Danielle got home, she took the bag of food to her computer desk and moved the keyboard of her Macintosh II computer so she could spread the food out. As she laid the contents out on the desk she was surprised to find a shredded BBQ steak sandwich on a Kaiser bun, a large baked potato, a slice of pecan pie, and several other fixings such as salt, butter, and sour cream for the potato; tonight’s To-Go meal was a great one. The meal, paired with a can of Coke Classic, was quite satisfying. Danielle wouldn’t be having any of that ’New Coke’ shit.
She took her time to enjoy her meal before pulling her keyboard down after cleaning the desk. Now that she had eaten and relaxed for a little while, she had some assignments to finish for her course work and for InGen. She leaned over and grabbed a cassette tape out of a box beside the desk and looked at it: Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey. She gave a smirk as she thought before pulling the tape out and sliding it into a stereo she had on the other side of the desk. She booted up the computer, and as the sounds of industrial rock she got ready to get some work done.
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