Unpredictable

Chapter 7

                   

I looked over at the old man in confusion. I thought we picked everyone up on the way here?

He all but ran out into the hallway, the rest of us following at our own paces.

"I thought this was everyone?" I turned to Ian once we were in the light of the hallway.

"I, uh, thought so too," he scratched his head. "Apparently not."

I hummed in response and followed the group out into the parlour.

"Now, you lot are going to spend a little time in the park with our target audience," John said, smiling from halfway down the stairs.

"Grandpa!" A pair of voices yelled from across the room. I looked over to see a young boy around the age of seven or eight and a slightly older girl, maybe eleven or twelve, run towards us. They scaled the stairs in seconds and tackled John.

"Careful with the old man!" He laughed, embracing his grandchildren.

I could tell that Ellie was happy to have the company of children with us but Gennaro and Alan didn't look so pleased.

I wasn't opposed to having children along and it would give us a sense of how the general public would react to the creatures being displayed here but this wasn't a weekend excursion either.

This was a test run to make sure everything was going smoothly and it was an official inspection of the park.

I turned to Ian.

"What do you think about bringing kids along?"

"I don't see the, uh, problem," he replied, watching the family talk amongst each other.

"Alright you lot, let's get this tour started shall we?" John said, getting our attention.

He led us down the stairs and out the front door.

Two cars riding along a metal track in the middle of the road appeared, stopping just in front of the building.

"These will be your transports for the afternoon," John said happily.

"No drivers?" Gennaro asked.

"No. No drivers. They're electric. They run on this track in the middle of the roadway here," he replied, pointing to the protruding metal bar that ran along the middle of the road.

"Totally non-polluting. Top of the line. We spared no expense," he added, grinning wide.

The children, who's names I had yet to learn had already jumped into the first car.

"Look! It's a CD-ROM!" The girl said excitedly, turning to look at her brother in the back seat.

"You touch the screen and it tells you what you want to know," she explained, touching a section of the screen repeatedly.

"Doctor Sattler! Doctor Summers! Come with me," John said, catching my attention.

He led us over to the second car and opened the door.

"Doctor Grant! Come in the second car," He called out to Alan.

I watched as Ian said something to Alan which made him frown before he was distracted by the boy.

Ian came over and leant against the car, standing next to the passengers side and talking to the girl.

I opened the door on the other side and sat in the back of the car on the drivers side.

I saw the girl leave and Ellie bit her lip. I leant forward.

"What did you do?" I asked, grin splitting out across my face.