Thought I heard a-rumbling, calling to my name...
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Thought I heard a-rumbling, calling to my name...
Isla Nublar: 2017
A piercing roar split the jungles of Isla Nublar. Birds along with a few Dimorphodon squawked and screeched and flew away in clusters from the treetops as loud and heavy footsteps belonging to some colossal creature thundered through the swampy wilderness. An engine belonging to a powerful jeep rumbled down a dirt path that had rarely been used and its driver pushed the machine to its limits as it scrambled through the jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival playing on the radio.
“Whoa thought it was a nightmare
Lord it was so true
They told me don't go walking slow
The devil's on the loose…”
The driver smirked and adjusted her red tinted sunglasses as she smashed her Range Rover through a battered old tree that had fallen during last night’s storm.
“Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Whoa don't look back to see…”
Target smirked and turned to her companion, a white skinned female with blue hair.
“Lightning, are the shotguns loaded?” She asked firmly.
“Y-Yes, but I thought we were going to tranq this creature, not kill it.” White Lightning, a fellow member of Jurassic World’s ACU (Asset Containment Unit) stuttered out in surprise.
“That is the plan, yes.” Target replied. “But if it becomes necessary to kill this creature, I just want to be ready. As a famous big game hunter once said, “Somewhere on this island is the greatest predator there ever lived. The second greatest predator must take him down.” That means us, by the way. So I ask again, are the shotguns loaded and ready?”
“Y-Yeah.” Lightning confirmed.
“Okay, good. Now, we just need to find the creature. I’m hoping Grape Vine’s coordinates where he last saw the creature are right, and he didn’t muck up like the last time a creature escaped. There’s a good reason he got demoted to crap cleaning duty and feeding.” Target remarked with a shake of her head and a wry chuckle.
“When you say crap cleaning, you don’t mean…?” White Lightning trailed off.
“Yeah, I do. I’m being quite literal here.” Target said as she pulled around a corner turning the steering wheel quite hard and sending mud flying everywhere and in one case, directly into the face of a very annoyed Ankylosaurus which made it quite mad indeed. In an instance, it’s tail swung out to the left and with a mighty crash the hammer like appendage sent a very tall palm tree toppling over and it landed right where Target’s Range Rover was a few moments before.
“Fun fact. If that tree was a T-Rex that swing would have shattered it’s bones in it’s leg. No movement, no hunting. Take a wild guess what would happen next to it Lightning.” Target commented in an offhand manner. Target’s fellow ACU member shuddered.
“Doubt Claire would be happy if that was Rexie, considering she saved all of our asses when the Spinosaurus broke out and went on a rampage last year. Thank God for her and the I-Rex. Never thought I'd say that in my lifetime.” Lightning commented. Target chuckled.
“And look at her now. She’s a completely different beast. They’ve even given her a name. Imagine, that thing having human DNA in it. No wonder everyone kept their traps shut when everyone started asking what it was made of.” Target chuckled.
“Yeah… It’s frightening really. But she is a wonder to watch. No wonder Dr. Grant’s so fascinated with her.”
“Not to mention Owen fawning all over her like she’s his own daughter.” Target put in. “He’s a crazy guy.”
“Yeah, I think taming Velociraptors and making them into his pack puts you squarely into that category.” Lightning stated in reply. “...And things haven’t gotten gory with them yet? It’s simply freaking amazing.”
“I don’t know, that idiot Vic Hoskins kind of got what was coming to him when he wanted to make them into weapons. Him being ripped to shreds was simply karma to him. I hate people like that, those who think they can take living animals and make them into weapons and experiment on them. There’s a reason I got Wu lined up in my sights.” Target growled.
“I presume those who created the Indominus are on that hit list as well?” Lightning asked nervously.
“In a word, yes.” Target snarled and Lightning moved as far away from her as she could, despite being strapped into her seat. Then, the car pulled to a halt. In front of them was a giant electrified cage, or at least that was what they were supposed to be seeing. Now normally, the bars were crackling with several million volts of electricity but somehow, someone with a micro-sized brain in Target’s mind had forgot to charge the cage earlier this morning and the Saber-Toothed Tiger also known as the Smilodon in latin had escaped and was now on the loose. It had ripped through the bars with it’s infamous teeth and was now somewhere on the island. Target and Lightning, as they stepped out of the car cocked their tranq guns.
“We’re here.” Target muttered and aimed her rifle into the bushes as she saw them ruffle and fired off a few rounds. Something groaned and hit the dirt with a loud thud.
“Was it Smiley?” Lightning asked, referring to the park’s pet name for the Cat. Target went into the bushes and sighed.
“No… It was just another ACU member, like us. Oh, Clare’s going to have my head for this… Probably feed me to the Mosasaurus.” Target muttered as Lightning snickered. Target threw a dirty glare her way.
“It’s not funny! Those things are supposed to have an extra set of teeth on top of their palette. I don’t want to get skewered to death thank you very much!”
“Relax, I doubt Claire would throw you to the Mosasaurus just for accidently shooting one of your men.” Lightning reassured.
“Point…” Target admitted. “But if this damn cat kills every living thing on the island, asset or human being alike she WILL throw me into the tank then.”
“You say that, but wouldn’t Claire be dead in that proposed scenario? Along with the Mosasaurus?” Lightning asked. Target grumbled something under her breath, sounding suspiciously like throwing Lightning into the tank after shooting her point blank with a shotgun.
The twosome stepped into the cage and looked around. All around them was jungle trees and brush. Lightning swallowed. There was a very good possibility that Target, for all her knowledge hadn’t considered. The Saber-Tooth may have doubled back and could very well now be in there with them.
“No sign of the damn thing.” Target grumbled before reaching for her radio strapped to her vest. “Grape, are you sure this is where you last saw this bloody thing?”
“Yeah, Ah can confirm that when I saw it mauling it’s fellow tiger to death and biting down on it’s neck. It’s rabid, just so y’all know. Thought it might be a good thing to mention. Barely escaped with mah life, thanks for asking by the way. Though ya picked a reaaaallly bad time to call.” Grape shouted, his voice sounding somewhat muffled.
“Why’s that?”
Grape groaned.
“Elasmosaurus feeding. God, the stench of these sharks you have to feed them. Dead fish do not smell good. At all. I pity the fool, which in mah case is me, who has to lower them into Nessie’s tank.”
“You signed yourself up for this when that Triceratops escaped and nearly skewered it’s handler.” Target remarked, all the while keeping her eye out for movement as she walked through the muck, her boots squelching in the mud under them. She slapped a mosquito off her face that was trying to suck blood.
“Damn heat, attracts these buggers like moths to a flame.” She thought in irritation.
“Point taken.” Grape said over the radio before he muttered “Alright Bruce, in you go! Eat up, Nessie! Chow time!”
Suddenly, Target spotted tufts of fur lying on the ground in front of her and bent down to inspect them.
“Okay, so she’s shed recently.” Target muttered and went over to a tree which had deep gauge marks in it.
“Territorial marking. Okay, so I’m in a cage with one of the most sharp toothed animals ever to live possibly in the same cage with me, or worse, chowing down on visitors.” Target muttered to herself, gripping her tranq gun tightly.
“...Why did we sign up for this job again?” Lightning called in wonderment.
“I seem to recall you thought it would be exciting to be around formerly extinct creatures.” Target answered.
“Yeah, well I take that back. It’s stupid!” Lightning retorted in frustration. Suddenly, from out of the brush a truly gigantic brown furred blur jumped and pinned White Lightning to the ground, it’s mouth foaming and teeth glinting in the sunlight. Target reacted fast and fired off a few rounds, the shots echoing through the jungle and soon the Saber-Tooth slumped to the ground dead, deep crimson blood oozing from it’s wounds.
“So…” Lightning asked as she picked herself off the ground and wiped a bit of mud, along with some blood from her face. “Was that it? Over and done with?”
“Seems so.” Target remarked. She was soon proven wrong however when her radio crackled to life. A raspy, female voice sounding terrified for her life called out over it.
“If… If anyone can hear me, this is Gilda Griffonstone on the south end! It’s the Sabertooth! It’s going to town on one of the Saltasauruses!”
Target swallowed. Estimated at maximum length to be 8.5 metres, and the weight at 2.5 tonnes, the Saltasaurus was not easy to take down, but it could happen if the Saber-Tooth got lucky and bit down on it’s neck.
“We need to move, now!” Target shouted urgently and ran for the Range Rover, Lightning following close behind. Target gunned the engine and tore off through the jungle and within less of an hour thanks to Target’s frantic, some would say almost manic driving style they had reached the Saltasaurus fields. True to Gilda’s words, the Saber-Tooth was ripping into the side of one of the titanic creatures, blood flowing from the wounds the from the rabid Saber-Tooth's claws had dug in. Target at once went to the back of the Rover and pulled out a big box and began assembling what was inside. Soon, in her hands as she laid down on a hilltop several hundred meters away was a Kalekalıp KNT-308 bolt action sniper rifle. Target grinned as she lined up her shot and fired, the shot hitting dead on in the Saber-Tooth’s skull going clean through and it fell to the ground with a loud thud, blood oozing from it’s head wound.
“Damn, talk about an ace shot…” Gilda remarked in admiration.
“It’s what I do. Why do you think I’m named Target?” The green skinned woman grinned. “Hell of a time explaining this to the boss though…”
“...Well, don’t expect me to back you up. You’re on your own for that.” Gilda said with a smirk.
Later that day, just as soon as Target was explaining what went down to Claire, a man with a scarred face and greying and nearly bald hair walked in.
“See, I told you bringing back prehistoric predators was a bloody bad idea and you went ahead against my advice and did it anyways! I feel like someone should be getting the Golden Cock for stupidity around here!” Roland Tembo snapped, and both Claire and Target sighed, feeling a headache coming on. White Lightning meanwhile, just smirked.
END
"Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Whoa don't look back to see..."
Author's Note
Okay, first off, happy belated birthday Ingen! Hope you like it, see if you can identify all of the prehistoric creatures mentioned or shown here. Hell, I challenge anyone who reads this to do that. Secondly, credit to the I-Rex having Human DNA and becoming a regular park exhibit goes to SkullsandDuggery and the fantastic fanfic It's not the Raptor DNA (Well worth a read, fantastic fanfic! I cannot overstate this.) while the lyrics to Run through the Jungle belong to John Fogerty and CCR and of course, Target Quartermane goes to Ingen Hunter Enigma. To the rest of you, enjoy!
