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“Alright, thank you.” Jo ended the call and walked into the common area of her and Henry’s rooms. He was leafing through promotional materials for the park. “It seems as though Masrani is currently in a piloting lesson and won’t have time to meet us until tomorrow evening, so we’ve got some time to check out the park.”
Henry closed the brochure and tossed it on the table, “ Couldn’t we have waited until he got back to New York?”
“ He said he’d talk to us, gave us two tickets for a weekend and the Leiu sent us on to check with him.” Jo leaned back against passageway wall.
“I’m not sure why I needed to be the one to join you on this excursion, why not Hanson?”
“Oh come on Henry, We both know you love going on field trips. Two tickets is what he gave us, and Hanson’s kids would have strung him up if he’d gone without them.“ She took him in and smirked. “What, not looking forward to seeing something older than you are?”
Shaking his head slightly, he replied. “They are genetically modified hybrid reproductions of things that are older than I am, not actually older than me.”
“Hrmm” She turned walking to the door, “ Come on, I’m sure there’s some items that’ll pique your interest - I mean dinosaurs, living dinosaurs.”
“ If we must,” Henry said, grabbing for his scarf and jacket as he followed her to the door.
“Leave it Henry.“ She held a hand out to him. “Seriously, it’s like eighty out there, you don’t need all those layers. We’re at an outdoor amusement park, not the office. You can dress down a bit.”
He raised an eyebrow, but complied.
----
The conference room emptied, the words hanging in the air: ‘Asset out of Containment’. Henry and Jo didn’t know which creature was out, but it didn’t sound good. There were hints that park employees were not going to be coming back to the command center.
“Jo, I’ve got to go, I’ve got to help”
Henry made for the door but she was standing between him and the exit, blocking the way. “Henry, no. Stay here, have you thought this out? Something big, dangerous and full of teeth is out of containment. “
“Better me than someone else. I can help, or at least distract it.” He felt compelled to go “Jo, I’ve got to help.“
“Henry, just stay here. Really it’s not a good idea, we aren't in New York, you don’t know the local terrain. We’ll assist in other ways.” She turned toward the main group of people who were starting to take an interest in the quiet argument they’d been having. Turning towards the rest of the room she pulled her badge out, “I’m NYPD, I can help.”
While Jo was busy convincing those at headquarters she could help with crowd control, and should be given a radio, Henry slipped out the door, unnoticed. Once she’d gotten her radio, Jo turned back toward the chairs. “Henr- really? Again?”
---
Sneaking out the back Henry made his way towards the last place he had seen the graphic indicating . . not a dinosaur, this thing was as much a dinosaur as twinkies were a food. He pulled the park map out of his jacket pocket. From the screens he saw in the conference room it was up near the gyroscope-hamster ball things. he looked at where he was, where the indicator on the map for the gyroscopes were. “This isn’t going to work”
As a truck blew past, he saw a woman in white and some guy wearing a pocketed vest, heading in the direction he wanted. He wasn’t sure he would be able to talk his way into a vehicle, but it did give him an idea. Not too far away, there were teams of security personnel gearing up to head out. He did a quick count of the trucks, and made his way to an outcrop of a building near by. As the last truck pulled by, Henry heaved himself onto the back, similar to the way he had during the war. He just hoped they wouldn’t notice him until they were too far out to bring him back. Clinging tightly as the truck went over service roads through the park, he waited, until they eventually they came to a stop. Henry released his hold and stepped off the bumper as the driver came around the back.
“And just who do you think you are?” He demanded.
“Dr.Henry Morgan, New York Medical Examiner“ Straightening himself, Henry held out a hand in greeting. “ I’m here with Detective Martinez - we heard about the trouble and thought I could be of assistance. I am a fully trained Doctor.”
Scowling, the driver took his hand and replied “Jeff Coleman, Security Team 3, “ He looked Henry up and down, sizing him up, and continued “You don’t have medical gear, you’re not in our employ. You should not be here,” he growled.
“Yes, but I am here, and I would assume there is at least a rudimentary field kit in your truck.” Henry continued in all seriousness “ I would like to be of assistance.”
Still glaring, Coleman went on “This thing is big, this is dangerous, it’s not a game, or another attraction at the park,” He sighed, “as much as I would like to send you back - any combat experience?” He finished with a sigh.
“Yes sir, Major Morgan, Royal Army Medical Corps, at your service..” Mr.Coleman didn’t need to know it was in the Second World world and not Afghanistan.
A sharp nod of acquiescence, then, “stick close and do as I say.”
“Yes sir.”
With a shake of his head, Coleman went back to the rest of the team. Having left the truck, they assembled around the back, and began unloading equipment. Big guns, huge guns - and lots of them. They came off the truck along with nets, grappling hooks, and harpoons of all things. Henry spared a moment to wonder just what it was they were after, and if he’d actually be able to do anything to assist them.
Coleman pulled down a screen in the truck’s back. “Alpha group last saw the Asset about half a mile to the west, but headquarters doesn’t know which way we should expect her to head. Alpha team reported finding her tracking device before we lost...” he paused, “ before we lost contact with them. They indicated that the tracking device was not attached to the Asset when they found it. We are to search this section, and report any anomalies back to headquarters. If we encounter the asset, we are to attempt to subdue her and return her to her enclosure.”
“What sort of markings would be indicative of the Asset’s activity?” Henry asked.
“Morgan - Just stick with us.”
______
Another group of prey taken care of - they kept trying to corner her, catch her, kill her. They had kept her locked up and now she was free. Free to eat. Free to hunt. It was confusing though. One of them, when she grabbed at it, scraped it, bit it, had disappeared. Disappeared before she could swallow it. That’s not how it was supposed to work. Was it? That was not how this prey normally behaved. Was it a new tactic - perhaps she should see if other prey acted the same way. No consequence, prey was tracked, hunted. She was superior. She was indomitable.
------
Breaking the surface of the water, Henry took stock of his surroundings. He gasped for breath and steadied himself. A waterfall roared to his right, the idyllic setting belying the situation of moments before. A medic was no help for the security personnel he had just been with. They were either dead or beyond his help, and soon would be. Momentarily closing his eyes, Henry started towards a shore. Might as well keep moving.. He assumed he was still on the island, but where exactly in relation to where he wanted to be, he’d have to figure out. His map was either back with the rest of Security Team 3, or wherever his clothes went when he re-awoke. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about modesty for a while, he didn’t think there would be anyone else - mammalian - in the area.
Or maybe he would.
As he pulled himself up on the bank, there were markings in the mud. It looked like two people, probably adolescents, had pulled themselves out to here recently. Even if they hadn’t known where they were going, if he followed them, perhaps, he might be able to help. They may be hurt, or in need of assistance. At least it gave him a direction he could start in. It was an island after all, at some point he’d have to come to an edge or a beach as he walked he could find other indicators to help get his bearings. He kept on those thoughts and tried not to remind himself that Britain was also considered an island and applying his same logic there would be laughable.
Ahead of him ranged a long walk, with what looked like not only grassy plains, but forested areas. He missed sidewalks, mowed lawns, civilization and of all things - the possibility of a police pick up for indecent exposure. Maybe he should have thought this through a bit more.
---
Having finally convinced them to let her help, - regardless of Henry’s conspicuous absence, Jo had spent some time studying maps of the island. There were multiple locations that would keep people out of harm's way if she could get them there without panicking. The decision to keep the ‘guests’ in the dark as long as possible, but to allow them freedom of movement in the ‘safe’ areas was not hers. She was going to have to make do with what she had and be as prepared as she could. Until then, all she could do was fall back on old stand-bys. Jo patrolled. So far things were relatively quiet along the main thoroughfares of the park. People were getting anxious at attractions being closed. They seemed to know something was up, just not what. Jo, on the other hand, knew something was happening outside the safe areas of the park. She had access to a radio, and was listening to the chatter back at headquarters.
It seemed Henry had met up with a security detail. Unfortunately Security team 3 had stopped reporting after a run-in with the asset, and were presumed dead, along with Henry. . Meaning that, in actuality,Henry was somewhere on island in need of a pickup she couldn’t provide. She just had to assume his condition wasn’t akin to a cat’s nine lives, and he’d not meet some arbitrary limit. He’d have to fend for himself until this thing was over. At least any damage wouldn’t be permanent.
Radio chatter picked up, pulling Jo out of her thoughts. Something had happened at one of the outlier buildings. A new set of biologically adapted creatures had escaped and were starting to cause havoc - and these, it seemed could fly.
As all hell broke loose Jo was able to gather guests out of exposed areas and into the underwater observatory area. Finding cover was the primary goal at this point. Keeping everyone around her calm was also a worthy, if more challenging, goal. Which is why, when she glanced into the viewing area at the exact moment a man’s shape materialize in the water, she simply closed her eyes, swallowed and kept everyone moving. When she glanced back there was only the Mosasaurus where Henry had been.
She gulped. Knowing and seeing were two different things. She supposed she should ask about placement and proximity of the awakening, as he prefered it to be called, to the death.
---
Henry finally pulled himself over the side of the pool. Something much larger had taken the water creature’s interest, and the recursive cycle had finally ended. For a moment, he clung to the ground.
He looked up in time for a pterodactyl to pick him up - His momentary thought as he was raised and dropped like a pot of petunias, was a weary‘ Oh no not again’.
Later it seemed things were calming down, The swarms of flying beasts seemed to have dissipated, and the park was nearly empty.
Out of habit he ducked and hid, doing his best not to expose himself as he found the stall he was looking for. For today’s goings on, the park was defunct, and no one would be looking for missing clothing from the souvenir shop. Finding what he could on the tumbled racks, he went to find Jo and get out of here.
-----
The final ship was filling up, most everyone was accounted for, Jo helped on a woman in a stained white skirt suit with two adolescent boys, and an Indiana Jones type. They like most others on the ship, wrung out and exhausted. She turned back to the island and there he was. He wore cargo shorts, a Jurassic World T-Shirt, flip flops, and a hollow look on his face.
“C’mon Henry, Let’s get out of here.” With a quiet that nearly unnerved her, he merely nodded and followed her further onto the boat. Secluded in a quiet spot, he said nothing as they left the island. She found a blanket and something for him to drink. Leaning against the wall near where he sat Jo filled him in “It looks like we won’t be meeting with Masrani, here, or back in New York. He didn’t make it. Helicopter crashed not long after the aviary was compromised. He was trying to assist in the containment. So back to other leads when we get home.”
After a while she sighed “ I don’t suppose that in the future, when I ask you to stay with me that you will?”
Still silent, Henry pulled the blanket around him tighter, sipping from the mug. He just looked up at her almost a glare, but even that lacked energy.
Shaking her head she continued “At least you got something new for that journal of yours.” This time it was a tilt to the head, and a lift of one corner of his mouth - more grimace than smirk - accompanied by a slight nod. “How many times, Henry?”
This time his pout turned to a huff “I lost count, but significantly more than I cared for.”