Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 25: Dinosaur Chase

The sound, I find, is coming from Dr. Wu's genetics lab.

No longer is the building elegant in the midst of an exotic scene of green trees and blue sky. Now, it's completely taken over by the overgrown plantation and dirt from the once clear road leading to the front doors. Blue barrels are tipped over, shipping containers' spilled contents trashing the jungle floor.

It was the opposite image of what it was only two weeks ago.

The soft humming thumps against the ground, reminding me of my task. I push past the undergrowth into the clearing where the building is settled, and walk through the trash and grass until I reach the ripped metal doors that once sealed off the lab. One was completely torn off by an unknown source, while the other is dented inward, tearing half of it off its hinges.

The room up ahead is dark, but I collect myself enough to push myself into the empty hallway.

————

I eventually find myself in the main laboratory, which is almost completely empty.

If not without all the fossils and materials that once belonged inside, then it was trashed. Pieces of garbage and broken equipment were scattered all over the room, and a cool breeze flows through the area.

Strange...The power should be off.

After searching through the room and finding nothing, I search through other rooms and other hallways. I explore as many corners of the lab as I can reach, every crevice and space until I find myself back in the room where we'd talked to the van-stealing man — Eddie, if I recall?

Two pieces of the birthday cake are left, but are stale as boards. A photograph of Eddie with Wu is also abandoned on the room floor, among dozens of abandoned pages filled with illegible writing.

Nothing. There's nothing leading me to whatever the heck is causing the flowers to freeze and the vents to run.

This whole thing was pointless.

A strike of coughs hits me, powerful enough to make my knees buckle and send me to the floor. I gasp and cry as the coughs keep going and going, never pausing until I'm writhing in pain on the floor, gripping my chest and neck as if it'd stop it.

My lungs...my chest, my stomach...it all burns!

The coughing fit eventually slows to the point I can push myself up to my knees and actually breath, the silence in the air finally starting to affect me.

I'm alone in the dark, lost in a labyrinth lab that I'm unfamiliar with.

I shouldn't have left them...I should've have-

"Blake? Blake, are you-"

"Shhh, Sammy! You don't want to attract any dinosaurs."

"But what if she's in trouble? What if-"

They're here.

Oh, thank God...

"Guys? B-Brooklyn?"

"Blake!"

Their three shadowy figures are in the room in seconds, Sammy and Yaz joining me on the floor and asking me questions all at once. It's overwhelming how close they are to me, and I push away from their arms as I start to shake. They finally seem to understand and back away a bit, leaving room, unfortunately, for Brooklyn to talk.

"Where did you go? We thought you'd been eaten!"

I cringe. They had noticed me...that was pretty shocking.

"I...I'm sorry, I just-"

I didn't get a chance to explain myself before the girl started ranting. Ranting about how it was stupid for me to run off on my own and how I could've gotten myself killed. The questions she asked couldn't even be answered because they'd soon be followed by another.