Michael Crichton's Jurassic World

Chapter IV: Tourist Trap

The roar of the crashing waves seemed to beckon a trio of teenagers to the shore. They were on summer vacation, boating with their parents near Playa Carrillo. The surrounding towns had been evacuated and the area was labeled for quarantine. It was a strange occurrence, but not uncommon in recent years. The medium sized yacht was stationary in the lagoon. Nothing like an off-limits beach to up the thrill factor. Lucas Graham, a young man in his early twenties, floated on his back as he thought about what he was going to do for school. His parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps and go to an Ivy League college, but Lucas wanted to go small. He didn't want to be this stuck up rich kid, always relying on mom and dad's money. He wanted to make something for himself.

Lucas felt a gentle ripple of the water, followed by the soft sand underneath him. He had floated all the way to shore and not realized. Lucas quickly sat up and looked around. His two brothers were still splashing around in the shallows and his parents were back on the yacht having the time of their lives. He shrugged and got up. If nothing else, he could at least look around the beautiful jungle that lay in front of him. It almost seemed like it was tempting him forward. The soft calls of tropical birds echoed through the trees. The forest itself seemed alive. Lucas looked back at the cascading sunset before plunging into another world. It was like he was stepping through time. It looked like nothing had been touched by man. It was a whole new feeling.

However, in that very moment of wonder, Lucas could not help but feel a sense of terror. Like he was not supposed to be there. He stalked through the undergrowth, trying to be as quiet as he could be. The forest was still inviting him deeper. Like the Greek sirens from the Odyssey.

Suddenly a fowl odor made Lucas stop in his tracks. He almost threw up at the rush of the surprising stench. It was like being hit in the nose with rotten meat and moldy food. He turned to his right and saw the decaying remains of a feral pig. He was no scientist, but he watched Animal Planet enough to know that it was a peccary. Something had torn into the animal's stomach and ate its internal organs. The most nutritional ones anyway. The face was covered in maggots and a swarm of flies. Lucas wanted to look away, but something small and green caught his eye in the peccary's open stomach. It looked like a small bipedal lizard with grasping three clawed fingers. It cocked its head curiously at Lucas before squeaking and darting off into the bushes.

"What the hell?" Lucas said under his breath. But his sentence was cut short as a chill ran down his spine. In his peripheral vision, he could make out a pair of eyes staring in his direction. The sun had lit them up briefly before they shifted out of the light. If it wasn't for the sun, he would have never seen them. They were cold and fixed on him. Every muscle in his body screamed for him to move, but he was frozen in fear. Only after the creature moved again, this time toward him, did Lucas take off toward the direction of the boat. He could hear a low reptilian hissing sound followed by whatever it was running after him. The sound of crashing foliage behind him only made him run harder. He did not know what it was, but he had to get away. Maybe if he zigzagged through the jungle, he could lose it. Fat chance as he heard it closing in on him. Whatever it was it was fast on its feet. Lucas was sweating bullets. The lagoon was in sight. He could feel the sand again underneath his feet. He screamed for his brothers to run.

But at that moment, he felt the weight of whatever was chasing him knock him to the ground. A sharp pain stabbed into his back, and then another and another. He was being clawed to death. He screamed again, but this time coughing up blood. There was nothing he could do. Tears welled up in his eyes as he realized that he was dying. Another reptilian growl could be heard and the slashing on his back stopped. A scaly foot appeared beside his head. The only thing he could see was a curved talon like claw on the inner toe before he blacked out.