Jurassic Park: The Other Island

Status
Not open for further replies.
Leah took note to stay completely still. She was swamped with remorse with what she'd done, to both Michael and the raptor. You fucked it up, Leah. You shouldn't have come down here, she thought. Stop. This isn't about you, Leah. It's about Atreyu and the rest of the group. Stashing away her thoughts, she watched the rest of the group with nervous eyes.
 
He had to be careful and cautious. If Saoirse shot the Raptor, none of them would trust him again. He couldn't allow that. His job was built on trust with each of the Dinosaurs he cared for. Without a baseline of trust, there was no way he could help the creatures in this park. He let out one more sigh. realizing this was the moment of truth. Michael held up his right hand near the Raptor's snout, blood still gushing from his left forearm. The Juvenile eyed his extremity with curiosity. As he finally decided his next move, Atreyu cooed once more. He slowly closed his eyes and moved his snout into Michael's palm.

Michael breathed a sigh of relief with this. He even chuckled a bit before moving his hand down the dinosaur's rough skin. He could have sworn the creature purred at him, but Michael immediately dismissed the thought.

"That's it Atreyu, there you go," Michael whispered to the prehistoric predator. It was at this time that he remembered what Aly had said.

"Atreyu is most relaxed when you rub his neck and under his chin."

His hand soon found the rough scales that covered Atreyu's neck. The predator's eyes closed once more as he pushed himself into Michael's hands.

"Oh, like that do ya?" Michael asked the Raptor.

Eventually, his hand found the blood-soaked bandage. Slowly and gingerly, Michael removed the wrap, examining his wound.
 
"Check if there's any swelling or pus," Saoirse whispered. "The bandages are in my backpack."
 
He nodded slowly to Saoirse behind him, taking a closer look at Atreyu's wounds. As he examined the gash, he continued to rub underneath the Raptor's chin. Hopefully, this will keep him calm long enough for me to get a good look, Michael thought to himself. The dinosaur softly purred as Michael cared for him. The wound looked better than before. A bit of pus, but no swelling. This was a good sign.

"Good," Michael whispered to himself. "It's healing up nicely."

With this, Michael took a bottle of water and some cloth out of his bag.

"I'm gonna clean it, ok?" he said to Atreyu and Saorise both.

He then dumped a small amount of water onto the rag and began to gingerly stroke the wound, cleaning it and the surrounding area. The Raptor winced every once in a while, but he generally stood still.

"Good Atreyu, almost done bud."

He wanted to use the bandages Saoirse brought, but he feared stepping away and having to redo the interaction again. I'll have to use the old ones in my bag, Michael thought. After 5 minutes or so, the wound was fully cleaned, wrapped, and cared for. The gate to the rest of the exhibit opened, and the new Atreyu happily galloped away into the brush, joining his family. Once the door closed again, Michael made his way back to the group.
 
Saoirse let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad that went well," she said, picking her bag up and moving over to Michael. "Now I can see what I'm working with..."
 
"Yeah," Michael started. "I'm glad it did too. Could have been a lot worse then a minor bite to the arm."
 
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she teased with a small smile, taking his arm gently in her hand and examining it. "You're right, though. It's just minor, but you're going to need stitches." She rummaged through her bag and produced the necessary supplies. "Hold still," she murmured as she cleaned the wound, stitched it up and bandaged what wasn't stitched, all of which took minutes. When she was done she put away her things, brushed her hands off with her shorts and grinned. "There, that wasn't so bad."
 
Michael chuckled out loud when she said he would need stitches.

"Always something, right? Well, at least I'll have a new battle scar eh?"

The stitches were painful, causing him to wince and grumble through most of it. But, it was done quick enough and he was all taken care of now.

"Thanks," he said kindly to Saoirse. "Glad you were here."
 
"So am I, and you did better than ol' Brachiosaurus this morning." With a light chuckle she moved toward the gate and looked at the whole group. "Is anyone else hungry?"
 
Watching Michael get stitched up made a remorse-fileld lump grow in Leah's throat. "I'm sorry, guys," she said, voice cracking when tears began to sting her eyes, and she shook her head at her own sensitivity. Stop acting like such a child, she scolded herself. Hearing Saoirse speak, Leah blinked, forced a smile, and nodded just a bit too enthusiastically at Saoirse's question.
 
Even with Saoirse trying to change the subject, it was clear Leah was upset by the whole situation. She obviously blamed herself for his minor injury. Michael had a big heart so he hated seeing his friends feel bad. Before they could go eat, it was clear that Michael had to assure Leah everything was ok and she was not the one at fault.

"Hey," Michael started, looking over at Leah to see her head down. "It wasn't your fault! Could've happened to anyone. I'm all stitched up and I'm gonna be fine," he said standing up with a chuckle and stepping closer to her. He softly brought her head up to meet his gaze. "Don't beat yourself up, alright?" With this, he gave her a genuine, charming smile to show her everything was ok.
 
Aly watched the interaction from her post by the gate. She tried to stay relaxed, but it was a tense moment for both her and Atreyu. The young Raptor had never been around this many people before and was clearly distressed. She silently cursed herself for not having that object she had found near her house that made Raptor sounds when she blew into one end of it. She had found that some vocalizations calmed the Raptors in a stressful situation. She saw the signs that preluded an attack, but the behavior was still tentative with Atreyu. He didn't latch onto Michael's arm like the adults would have, instead he let go. It had only been a warning. After the bite, Atreyu retreated to a corner, clearly shaken and frightened. Aly chewed her lip nervously. She knew Michael could regain control of the situation. Her heart pounded when Saoirse pulled out Michael's tranq gun. She hoped that she didn't pull the trigger. The dose might be too much and could kill Atreyu. Aly tried to avoid tranquilizing her animals. Cherry was the only one who really needed in if things started going south. She could regain the attention and control of the others quickly.
 
Saoirse could see that Leah was still upset, and she ran a hand through her hair calming herself down. The choices she had made in an emergency weren't the best, and she regretted them, but she realized there was no point in dwelling on it. She would be better the next time, if there was a next time, she reassured herself as she rejoined the group. For now it was good to have people like Michael who could think differently than Saoirse, working better with Raptors and other dangerous dinosaurs. But Saoirse loved animals, why was she so quick to pull the tranquilizer out? She stood at the edge of the circle, playing with a zipper on her bag, deep in thought.
 
Still shaken up, Leah rubbed a trembling hand over her face before releasing a breath through her nostrils. "How about that food? Sounds good right about now," she said numbly, eyes fixated on anything and everything but the group's eyes.
 
Michael slowly withdrew his hand, a little hurt Leah had ignored him. Perhaps dinner would calm everything down and do the group some good.

"Right," Michael began. "Let's get some lunch."
 
"There's a great place in the Hub that makes quesadillas. How about there?" Saoirse picked up her bag, shook her head as if she were shaking away her bad thoughts and smiled cheerfully back at the others. There would be time later for her to think, but now she had to keep the morale of the group up instead of everyone staying fearful and anxious, not to mention hungry.
 
"I'm fine. You guys go on ahead." Aly said. "I had an early lunch." The young woman was already tidying up the indoor holding cells for the Raptors. Aly could be such a workaholic sometimes.
 
"Oh, come on, Aly, you're not married to the raptors, they can survive an hour with you gone," Saoirse teased. "Besides, I think it'd be good for you to be around people who can talk and not roar back."
 
Aly sighed. "The problem isn't thier survival, it's their behavior." She said. "I've noticed more recently that they have been attacking the fences. Cherry especially." She put things away in cabinets in the keeper's storage room. "I think the voltage on the electric fences should be increased, and every inch of it fortified. They have a bite force of fifteen thousand pounds per square inch."

(I just finished the first book. Reading the second now. I'll have plenty of facts on them once they appear again in The Lost World. The first book, Jurassic Park, even has nesting habits and even references of migration. I'll find ways to work all of it in.)
 
Saoirse followed Aly and nodded. "I've heard of their immense power, but never put a number to it. Geez, maybe we should stop by the old bosses' office after lunch? Surely she can get people on board to upgrade the fence. I mean, these animals aren't dogs, they're cold-blooded killers." The thought of an escape from any of the dinosaurs, but especially the raptors, made her shiver, but she was never one to really show that kind of emotion. With a shake of her head she smiled. "We can talk about that over pancakes, though. I'm starving."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back