//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: The Blocked Road // Story: Friendship is Magic: Jurassic Park // by Triple B Studios //------------------------------// Fluttershy sat in Harding’s gasoline-powered Jeep with worry washing over her countenance. She along with the human trio were staring forward past the windshield flick wipers. In the yellow flare of the headlamps, a big fallen tree blocked the road. However, the big tree blocking the road was not what worried the timid pegasus. About a few minutes ago, she could’ve sworn she heard a distant loud bellow of a dinosaur from very far away. Fluttershy doesn’t know what species of said dinosaur that roar belongs to, but it sounded big and not friendly. “Oh damn,” Harding said. “Will you look at that.” “Must have been the lightning,” Gennaro said. “Hell of a tree.” “We can’t get past it,” Harding said. “I better tell Arnold in control.” He picked up the radio and twisted the channel dial. “Hello, John. Are you there, John?” There was nothing but steady hissing static. “I don’t understand,” he said. “The radio lines seem to be down.” “It must be the storm,” Gennaro guessed. “I suppose,” said Harding. “Try the Land Cruisers,” Ellie suggested. Harding opened the other channels, but there was no answer. “Nothing,” he said. “They’re probably back to camp by now, and outside the range of our little set. In any case, I don’t think we should stay here. It’ll be hours before Maintenance gets a crew out here to move that tree.” He turned the radio off, and put the Jeep into reverse. “What’re you going to do?” Ellie asked. “Go back to the turnout, and get onto the maintenance road. Fortunately there’s a second road system,” Harding explained. “We have one road for visitors, and a second road for animal handlers and feed trucks and so on. We’ll drive back on that maintenance road. It’s a little longer. And not so scenic. But you may find it interesting. If the rain lets up, we’ll get a glimpse of some of the animals at night. We should be back in thirty, forty minutes,” Harding said. “If I don’t get lost.” He turned the Jeep around in the night, and headed south again. Lightning flashed and every monitor in the control room went black. Arnold sat forward, his body rigid and tense. Of course, all the main power circuits were surge-protected, but Arnold wasn't sure about the modems Nedry was using for his data transmission. Most people didn't know it was possible to blow an entire system through a modem. If the lightning pulse climbed back into the computer through the telephone line, that’ll be it! No more motherboard, no more RAM, no more file server, no more computer. The screens flickered. And then, one by one, they came back on. Arnold sighed, and collapsed back in his chair. He wondered again where Nedry and Andre had gone. Five minutes ago, he’d sent guards to search the building for the two of them. The fat bastard was probably in the bathroom reading a comic book. Andre on the other hand, he wasn’t sure; he doesn’t know the guy that much. But the guards hadn’t come back, and they hadn’t called in. Five minutes. If Nedry and Andre were in the building, they should have found them by now. “Somebody took the damned Jeep,” Muldoon said as he and George came back into the room. “Have you talked to the Land Cruisers yet?” “Can’t raise them on the radio,” Arnold said, “I have to use this, because the main board is down. It’s weak, but it ought to work. I’ve tried on all six channels. I know they have radios in the cars, but they’re not answering.” “That’s not good,” George said. “If you two want to go out there, take one of the maintenance vehicles.” “We would,” Muldoon said, “but they’re all in the east garage, more than a mile from here. Where’s Harding?” “I assume he’s on his way back.” “Then he’ll pick up the people in the Land Cruisers on his way?” George inquired. “I assume so.” Arnold replied. “Anybody tell Hammond the kids aren’t back yet?” Muldoon asked. “Hell no,” Arnold replied. “I don’t want that son of a bitch running around here, screaming at me. Everything’s alright, for the moment. The Land Cruisers are just stuck in the rain. They can sit a while, until Harding brings them back. Or until we find Nedry, and make that little bastard turn the systems back on.” “You can’t get them back on?” George asked. Arnold shook his head. “I’ve been trying. But Nedry’s done something to the system. I can’t figure out what, but if I have to go into the code itself, that’ll take hours. We need Nedry. We’ve got to find the son of a bitch right away.” George stared out at the window. The rain was still pouring from outside. He prayed for everyone, including the pony’s safety. Nedry unlocked the gate with his bare hands as it swung wide. He went back to the Jeep, drove through the gate, and then walked back to close it behind him. Now he and Andre were inside the park itself, no more than a mile from the east dock. He stepped on the accelerator and hunched forward over the steering wheel, peering through the rain-slashed windshield as he drove the Jeep down the narrow road. He was driving fast—too fast—but they had to keep to their timetable and they were surrounded on all sides by black jungle, but soon they should be able to see the beach and the ocean off to his left. This damned storm, he thought. It might screw up everything. Andre folded his arms and glanced at the window. If Dodgson's boat wasn’t waiting for them at the east dock when he and Nedry got there, the whole plan would be ruined. They couldn’t wait very long, or they would be missed back at the control room. The whole idea behind the plan was that they could drive to the east dock, drop off the embryos, and be back in a few minutes, before anyone noticed. It was a good plan, a clever plan. Nedry had reassured Andre twice that he worked on it carefully, refining every detail. This plan was going to make both of them a million and a half dollars, one point five meg. That was ten years of income in a single tax-free shot, and it was going to change their lives. Nedry's been damned careful, even to the point of making Andre and Dodgson meet him in the San Francisco Airport at the last minute with an excuse about wanting to see the money. Actually, Nedry wanted to record his conversation with Dodgson, and mention him by name on the tape. Just so that Dodgson wouldn’t forget he owed the rest of the money, Nedry was including a copy of the tape with the embryos. In short, Nedry had thought of everything. Except this damned storm. Something dashed across the road, a white flash in his headlights. It looked like a large rat. It scurried into the underbrush, dragging a fat tail. Possum. Amazing that a possum could survive here. You’d think the dinosaurs would get an animal like that. “Nedry… you’re positive we’re going the right way, right?” Andre asked, glancing at his chubby companion. Nedry waved him off dismissively. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure.” Nedry replied. “Had you taken a wrong turn?” “I don’t think so. I hadn’t seen any forks in the road at all.” “Then where is the dock?” “I don’t know! If I’d known we’d be there by now, now would we?” They came around a corner and saw that the road terminated in a gray concrete barrier, six feet tall and streaked dark with rain. Nedry slammed on the brakes, and the Jeep fishtailed, losing traction in an end-to-end spin, and for a horrified moment the pair thought they were going to smash into the barrier. Nedry knew they were going to smash—and he spun the wheel frantically, and the Jeep slid to a stop, the headlamps just a foot from the concrete wall. Andre and Nedry paused there, listening to the rhythmic flick of the wipers. The pair took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He looked back down the road. Nedry obviously took a wrong turn somewhere, much to Andre’s disappointment. They could retrace their steps, but that would take too long. They’d better try and find out where they were. Andre and Nedry got out of the Jeep, feeling heavy raindrops spatter their heads. It was a real tropical storm, raining so hard that it hurt. Nedry glanced at his watch, pushing the button to illuminate the digital dial. Six minutes gone. Where the hell are we? Nedry thought. Andre walked around the concrete barrier and on the other side, along with the rain, he heard the sound of gurgling water. Could it be the ocean? Nedry hurried behind Andre, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as they went. Dense jungle on all sides. Raindrops slapping on the leaves. The gurgling sound became louder, drawing the pair forward, and suddenly they came out of the foliage and felt their feet sink into soft earth and saw the dark currents of the river. The river! They were at the jungle river! Damn, he thought. At the river where? Andre looked around the dark area. The river ran for miles through the island. He checked his watch. Seven minutes gone. “You have a problem, Dennis,” Nedry said aloud. Somewhere in the darkness there was a soft hooting cry in the forest. Nedry hardly noticed; he was worrying about his plan. The plain fact was that time had run out. There wasn’t a choice any more. He and Andre would have to abandon the original plan. All he could do was go back to the control room, restore the computer, and somehow try to contact Dodgson, to set up the drop at the east dock for the following night. Nedry would have to scramble to make that work, but he thought he could pull it off. Nedry would have to scramble to make that work, but he thought he could pull it off. The computer automatically logged all calls; after Nedry got through to Dodgson, he’d have to go back into the computer and erase the record of the call. But one thing was sure—he and Andre couldn’t stay out in the park any longer, or their absence would be noticed. Andre, however, was the only one that noticed the cry. Alarmed by the sudden hoot, Andre scanned their surroundings. Trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. Nedry glanced at Andre and raised a brow at him. “What’s got you so worked up?” Nedry asked, folding his arms. Andre glanced back at Nedry. “You mean you didn’t hear that?” Andre questioned, his tone laced with worry. “Hear what?” Nedry was bewildered. Another soft hooting cried once more. Nedry immediately paused, alarmed by the noise. That hadn’t really sounded like an owl. The eerie cry echoed throughout the forest until it gave way to silence. The pair glanced at each other. “We should head back.” Andre cautioned, gesturing his head towards the vessel not too far from them. Nedry nodded. “Yeah… let’s go.” Andre and Nedry started heading toward the glow of the car’s headlights. The pair were drenched and miserable. Then they heard another hooting cry again, and the pair paused. What concerned the two men was that it seemed to be close by, in the jungle somewhere off to their right. As they listened, Andre and Nedry heard a crashing sound in the underbrush. Then silence. The men waited, and heard it again. It sounded distinctly like something big, moving slowly through the jungle toward them. A terrifying realization dawned on them. Something big was heading towards them. Only one thought came in their minds: get out of there! Andre and Nedry began to run. They pumped their arms and kicked through the foliage while making a lot of noise as they ran, but even so they could hear the animal crashing through the foliage. The hooting cry trailed after them, ensuing the men to run faster. Andre refused to look back, but he could sense that It was coming closer. Stumbling over tree roots in the darkness, clawing their way past dripping branches. Andre and Nedry saw the Jeep ahead, and the lights shining around the vertical wall of the barrier made them feel better. In a moment they’d be in the car and then they’d get the hell out of here. The pair scrambled around the barrier and then they froze. The animal was already there. But it wasn’t close. The dinosaur stood forty feet away, at the edge of the illumination from the headlamps. Neither Nedry or Andre hadn’t taken the tour, so they hadn’t seen the different types of dinosaurs, but this one was strange-looking. The ten-foot-tall body was yellow with black spots, and along the head ran a pair of red V-shaped crests. The dinosaur didn’t move, but again gave its soft hooting cry. Nedry and Andre waited to see if it would attack. It didn’t. Perhaps the headlights from the Jeep frightened it, forcing it to keep its distance, like a fire. The dinosaur stared at the men and then snapped its head in a single swift motion. Nedry felt something smack wetly against his chest. He looked down and saw a dripping glob of foam on his rain-soaked shirt. He touched it curiously, not comprehending: It was spit. The dinosaur had spit on him. Ugh, Nedry thought. Disgusting Andre briefly stared at the spit Nedry was expecting before redirecting his gaze back at the dinosaur and saw the head snap again. Immediately another wet smack against Nedry’s neck, just above the shirt collar. Andre was shocked at what he saw. It happened so fast he didn’t have time to react. Andre watched Nedry try to wipe the glob away with his hand. But the skin of his neck was already starting to tingle and burn. And his hand was tingling, too. It was almost like he had been touched with acid. Andre immediately rounded around the car, opened the passenger door and embarked. “Get in!” Andre shouted. Nedry hesitated. Nedry opened the car door, glancing back at the dinosaur to make sure it wasn’t going to attack. He barely had time to react, when he felt a sudden, excruciating pain in his eyes, akin to spikes stabbing into the back of his skull. Nedry squeezed his eyes shut and gasped with the intensity of it and threw up his hands to cover his eyes and felt the slippery foam trickling down both sides of his nose. Spit. The dinosaur had spit in his eyes. Then came the pain. Followed by Nedry’s shriek. Even as he realized it, the pain overwhelmed him, and he dropped to his knees. Disoriented and wheezing. He collapsed onto his side, his cheek pressed to the wet ground, his breath coming in thin whistles through the constant, ever-screaming pain that caused flashing spots of light to appear behind his tightly shut eyelids. “Nedry!” Shouted Andre, disembarking from the car without thinking and sprinted around to reach him. Andre turned to his shoulder, and saw the dinosaur taking a step forward. Its footsteps shook the ground akin to a tree falling. Followed by a bone chilling, hooting cry. Despite the pain Nedry forced his eyes open and still he saw nothing but flashing spots against black. Slowly the realization came to him: he was blind. The hooting was louder as Nedry scrambled to his feet and staggered back against the side panel of the car, as a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over him. Andre came to his side and helped Nedry up to his feet. He shifted his gaze and saw that the dinosaur was close now, four more steps and they’re dead. Andre grabbed a stick from the ground and waved it in the air for the dinosaur to see. “See the stick?” Andre waved the stick side-to-side in front of the theropod. “The stick, stupid! Get the stick!” Andre hurled the stick over the dinosaur’s head, over the forest. The beast turned its head to watch the stick, then looked back to Andre and Nedry. The pair were already sprinting into the jungle, dodging through trees and foliage. The dinosaur hooted and gave chase. Andre perceived the conclusion of the forest a few meters beyond a cluster of trees. He came to a halt at the edge of a precipice, and Nedry stumbled alongside him, his heart pounding with trepidation. Their feet sank into soft earth and were greeted by the dark currents of the river again. “We have to swim!” Andre shouted. Nedry hesitated. The eerie cry of the dinosaur reached their ears. Andre turned his head towards the end of the forest where the bushes were being smashed through. The sight that met his eyes was that of the beast, with its jaws spread wide, and its teeth glinting in the moonlight. Subsequently, Nedry and Andre yelped and leapt into the river. The cold shocked them and they thrust their heads out of the water, panting and shivering. Strong current swept them downstream at full speed, the cold water lapping at their faces and necks. They struggled as the water pulled them away from shore, trying to keep themselves afloat. Andre looked over his shoulder, and saw the dinosaur sprinting along the shore. It didn’t pursue them into the water, and if he had to guess it probably can’t swim. But that didn’t stop it from chasing after them from a safe distance. Wherever the current will take its prey it’ll follow; and it’ll be there waiting for him. Nedry held on close to Andre for dear life as the current dragged them deeper into the unknown. Both men tried to grab purchase onto anything they could, desperately trying to stay afloat. The river continued pulling them further out, into darker waters, and farther from land. With the sounds of the hooting dinosaur chasing them. Andre glanced over his shoulder and was shocked when he saw that the dinosaur was gone. The Jeep screeched to a stop. In the headlamps, Fluttershy saw a herd of apatosaurs lumbering across the road. There were six animals, each the size of a house, and a baby as large as a full-grown horse. The apatosaurs moved in unhurried silence, never looking toward the Jeep and its glowing headlamps. At one point, the baby stopped to lap water from a puddle in the road, then moved on. A comparable herd of elephants would have been startled by the arrival of a car, would have trumpeted and circled to protect the baby. But these animals showed no fear. “Don’t they see us?” Fluttershy asked. “Not exactly, Fluttershy,” Harding replied. “Of course, in a literal sense they do see us, but we don’t really mean anything to them. We hardly ever take cars out at night, and so they have no experience of them. We are just a strange, smelly object in their environment. Representing no threat, and therefore no interest. I’ve occasionally been out at night, visiting a sick animal, and on my way back these fellows blocked the road for an hour or more.” “What do you do?” Ellie asked Harding grinned. “Play a recorded tyrannosaur roar. That gets them moving. Not that they care much about tyrannosaurs. These apatosaurs are so big they don’t really have any predators. They can break a tyrannosaur’s neck with a swipe of their tail. And they know it. So does the tyrannosaur.” Fluttershy frowned at that solution. She didn’t like the idea of scaring the animals off the road. That kind of idea was cruel, and it didn’t sit well with her. Not one bit. “But they do see us. I mean, if we were to get out of the car…” Ellie said, trailing off. Harding shrugged. “They probably wouldn’t react. Dinosaurs have excellent visual acuity, but they have a basic amphibian visual system: it’s attuned to movement. They don’t see unmoving things well at all.” Ellie parted her lips to ask more, until she and the others heard the sound of a door opening. They swung their heads in time to see Fluttershy stepping out through the open door, starting forward towards the group of apatosaurs. Ellie immediately disembarked from the jeep as she saw Fluttershy drawing nearer to the dinosaurs. “Fluttershy!” Ellie called. “What’re you doing?!” Fluttershy glanced at Ellie over her shoulder with a smile gracing her lips. “It’s okay, Mrs. Sattler. I’m just gonna ask them to move aside so we can go through.” Fluttershy said. Gennaro stared at Fluttershy as if she grew three heads. “You’re going to talk to the dinosaurs? Are you insane?!” Gennaro was not convinced. Fluttershy’s smile didn’t wavered. “It’ll be okay; trust me.” Fluttershy assured, turning away towards the group of apatosaurs. Gennaro and Harding called for Fluttershy, insisting her to come back to the jeep. But their words went deaf ears. Fluttershy drew a deep breath before slowly making her way back out onto the trail. The lead apatosaur was drinking a small puddle. Fluttershy spread her wings before flapping them once. Lifting herself up in the air. She stopped in front of the giant hadrosaur, mustering up the courage to speak. “Hello.” Fluttershy greeted softly. The lead apatosaurus immediately lifted its head up. The animal stared forward at the direction of the sudden voice that greeted it. Even though the apatosaurus couldn’t see Fluttershy, it knew she was there. The five other apatosaurs also shifted their gaze at the direction of Fluttershy’s soft voice. “We were just on our way until we saw you guys blocking the road,” she began softly, loud enough to be heard but quiet enough so as not to upset the animal. “We’re not here to hurt you, we promise.” The lead apatosaur let out a short call in response. It was alarmed no longer, now the animal was staring at Fluttershy. Its wide eyes blinked at her. “I can understand that you’re a bit alarmed, but we’re friends,” Fluttershy continued with a warm smile. “If you like, we’ll give you and your herd plenty of room to pass on by.” The lead apatosaurus grunted with a nod. Shifting its gaze towards the five members of its herd. He let out a few short grunts before calling loudly. Fluttershy flew back down and rejoined the three humans who had gone silent. “They’re going to pass by,” she whispered. “Let’s just give them plenty of room.” Harding repositioned the jeep to the side to allow room for the herd. The herd mobilized once more, and began to plod along the trail. As the lead apatosaurus passed the jeep, he seemed to bow his head with a grunt before leading his herd onwards, an act which Fluttershy subconsciously returned. She and the humans stood absolutely still as the rest of the apatosaurs passed by. They watched the herd make its way down the trail, waiting until they could no longer see them. “God,” Gennaro breathed softly. “That was… incredible. Magical even!” Ellie was amazed. “It was really magical.” Fluttershy had the biggest grin on her face. Harding turned to look at Fluttershy. “I can’t believe how well it interacted with you. That apatosaur understood you so well.” “I can hardly believe it myself,” Fluttershy agreed. “Sometimes it takes me a while to understand new species but as soon as I said hello to the big one I knew I could speak to them.” “Well, at least we have our own little dinosaur whisperer.” Gennaro said. “Alright, let’s keep going. With the apatosaurs out of the way now, we should proceed forward easily.” Harding said, sliding the key into the ignition then twisted it. The jeep roared to life and drove forward down the road again. In the backseat of the Jeep, Fluttershy stared out the window. They had been driving through rain-drenched jungle for the last twenty minutes, and had seen nothing since the apatosaurs crossed the road. “We’re near the jungle river now,” Harding announced, as he drove. “It’s off there somewhere to our left.” Abruptly he slammed on the brakes again. The car skidded to a stop in front of a flock of small green animals. Fluttershy observed the small creatures in awe and wonderment. “Well, you’re getting quite a show tonight,” he said. “Those are compys.” “What are they?” Fluttershy asked Ellie briefly glanced at Fluttershy before looking back at the small animals. “Those are Procompsognathids,” Ellie replied. “This was the animal me and Grant had seen in the fax, back in Montana.” The little dark green procompsognathids scurried to the other side of the road. It squatted on their hind legs to look at the car. The small creature chittered briefly, before hurrying onward into the night. “Odd,” Harding said. “Wonder where they’re off to? Compys don’t usually move at night, you know. They climb up in a tree and wait for daylight.” “Then why are they out now?” Fluttershy asked. Ellie turned at Harding, also wanting to know as well. “I can’t imagine. You know compys are scavengers, like buzzards. They’re attracted to a dying animal, and they have a tremendously sensitive smell. They can smell a dying animal for miles.” Harding replied. “Then they’re going to a dying animal?” Ellie asked. “Dying, or already dead.” Harding assumed. “Should we follow them?” Ellie suggested. “I’d be curious,” Harding said. “Yes, why not? Let’s go see where they’re going.” He turned the car around and headed back toward the compys. All the while Fluttershy stared out the window with worry. She hoped that Twilight, Applejack, and the others were okay.