Alan and Ellie: a Jurassic Park prequel (1991 through 1993)

TWELVE - Nightmares

Chapter 12: Nightmares

July 7, 1991 - Sunday

He fell on the jagged rocks with a thud, landing on his good side, if that was possible. Every part of his body was in agony as he tried with all his might, to sit up again. Somewhere very close by, he could hear water trickling down. He hadn't had a drop of water in a day and he was very interested in knowing where the sound originated from. He stretched his neck around to see what was ahead of him, in the darkness. The crutch he had made had disappeared as he collapsed. He would have used that to stand up, but he had no idea where it had went.

He crawled blindly toward the sound of water. The path to the pleasing sound was a rocky one, though. He navigated as careful as he could manage, but some of the rocks were pretty sharp and steep. After several minutes, and to his pleasant surprise, his right hand came into contact with the cold water. Quickly finding the source, he placed his mouth under the flowing water, as it was playfully falling down through the rocks in the cliff side. He guessed that he was pretty far up the side of the cliff by now, but he didn't care at the moment.

The tiny trickles of water were clean and brisk. They were cold and refreshing. As he drank, he could actually feel the water traveling through his beaten and tired body, recharging him. Just then, the rock that his left hand was leaning on gave away, causing him to slide forward and down head first. He tumbled and tumbled, screaming in pain. Very abruptly, his forward movement came to an end, as he was slammed into another rock.

Trying to regain his senses, he looked all around. Nothing but blackness. The sound of water falling on the rocks was gone now. In fact, he could hear nothing but the sound of his own heart beating heavily in his chest. He attempted to move his right leg. That wasn't a good idea. The pain was too intense. He tried to sit up instead. He was fairly successful. As he was getting up, sudden claps of thunder echoed in his head, while a drizzle of rain fell from the dark sky. Another damned storm. He was growing tired of the constant annoyance from mother nature.

Still trying to sit up, he moved his body sideways, stretching as far as he could. Lightning lit up the surrounding area and that's when he caught a glimpse of his immediate area. It was quite frightening, as the lightning quickly lit it up again, and then quickly disappeared, leaving him in blackness once again. The images pressed into his mind involved a very steep cliff just beyond where he was. He was leaning on a medium sized rock, protruding from the ledge to his left. That one lonely rock was the only thing between himself and that very, very long descent, downward into oblivion.

As if it were happening in slow motion, that medium sized rock began to move from under his back. He tried to move his body away from the rock, but it was already too late. The rock was ready for its plummet to the earth far below. And Alan was going with it. He felt himself gently fall backwards, as the rock went searching for a new place to call home.

His stomach felt like it was about to betray him, as he fell into the abyss. This was it. This was how he would die. This would be his last memory on earth . . . the sickening drop, increasing in speed, as the ground below grew closer to his frail body. A swosh of fear swept across his body, as he continued to free-fall, waiting for the inevitable clash with the hard ground. He couldn't see anything. Total blackness surrounded him. It was taking forever to make contact. He began to think that this feeling of falling would last for eternity. He couldn't take the waiting any longer. He wanted to get it over with already. Suddenly, with another flash of lightning, the ground was seen. It was very close. Too close. He braced his body for impact and then . . .