Lovisa (doorchic) wrote in yegods, @ 2012-01-25 19:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, c: lovisa, c: shuro |
WHO Dr. Lovisa Jansen and Lt. Shuro Shimizu
WHERE Jurassic Park
WHEN Day after the T-rex chase into the jungle
RATING PG
SUMMARY Something is quite not right with these doors...
STATUS Complete
The first thought that crossed Dr. Lovisa Jansen’s mind as she woke from her restless sleep was of the nest at the base of the tree. They had escaped the T-rex the night before, the massive dinosaur blocking their path to the generator room. The auxiliary power could only be connected manually, and though Ray Arnold had made the first attempt to get to the small building set behind the center, knowing the risk that the building was also close to the raptor den.
With Shuro leading the way, they almost made it to the room when the T-rex appeared, making their only chance to survive was the uncertain forest. After managing to lose the rex, they found themselves lost themselves. Taking refuge in a massively tall tree, they hoped with a little rest, the path back to the center would become clear by daylight. Stretching out from the tightly curled ball that she slept in, Lovisa glanced over at Shuro, her voice still thick with sleep and a very heavy Swedish accent.
“Good morning, did I slept long?”
Shuro had not been a fool. The bunker had a cupboard filled with weapons, and Shuro had taken two rifles and a box of bullets, which rattled in his jacket pocket. They had managed to evade the T-rex by standing still, and causing distractions, but Shuro knew the jungle held other dangers. Things that would not announce their presence, things that they wouldn’t know where there until it was too late.
Which was one of the main reasons he had not actually slept that night. He had sat up, with a rifle in hand, listening, watching the jungle around them. He had also looked up at the moon, which, while not full, had rewarded him some sense of comfort. He was not sure why. Perhaps it had been looking down on him while he was serving overseas. Something about it reminded him of home.
“You slept long enough,” he said, his voice serious and slightly stern. “Take a few minutes and then we’ve got to get moving. They need that power to restart the system.”
She nodded without much complaint, the first thing she had quickly caught on from the seasoned solider was to not question the person who was charged with keeping her alive. After all, most of what she knew about dinosaurs was limited to their genetic code. What she would do if she could be in her sanitized lab with her aggravatingly slow interns. This world was far too fast. “I hope Dr. Malcolm is still alive, his condition was not good.”
Stretching her legs to increase the blood flow, knowing that at any second they would find themselves on the run again. Her stomach faintly gurgled, though she doubted she had much of an appetite after the sights they had seen the night before. “I am ready when you are.”
Shuro gave her a brief glance at the comment on Dr. Malcolm. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew Malcolm was not that important. Something about him, about everyone not in that tree was different and it made their suffering less important. Shuro didn’t worry about Malcolm, something told him he didn’t have to.
He nodded to her and slung the rifle over his shoulder with the other one, searched the forest floor, the surroundings, and began to climb down. He stood at the base of the tree and looked in all directions from there before signaling her to join him and getting the rifle back in his hands.
“There was some movement during the night, I couldn’t see what, but be careful. The generator room is this way. Try to move quietly,” he whispered.
She waited anxiously for the signal, then made the slow descent back to the ground. It seemed easier on the trek up the tree, now gravity seemed to be wanting her to get down the tree faster than she wanted to. Releasing her hold a foot or so from the ground, she landed beside Shuro with a faint hop, wincing as her footfall made more noise than she intended.
“Sorry,” she mouthed silently, glancing around them to see if anything came running out from the bushes before making her way to the path that Shuro pointed out to her. .
Shuro went first, making sure Lovisa was behind him. He wasn’t really supposed to be here in a military capacity. He’d been asked his opinion and now he had a rifle in his hands. Before the t-rex had shown up, he had been thinking about the torn open raptor cage. And now that the ground was not shaking around them, he was thinking about the raptors again. The game warden was probably out of his league. He’d been right, the raptors think, they plan, they figure things out. The game warden had hunted every animal in the world, but Shuro had been a soldier. The game warden might had hunted wild animals, but Shuro was used to being hunted by things with a plan, with a strategy.
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” he whispered. “If you see anything move, if you think you see anything move, you tell me.”
Though her nerves were on edge, she felt grateful at having Shuro following behind her with his rifle. She doubted she would’ve made it that far without him. Nodding silently at his request, she clutched what remained of her supply bag to her chest. The closer their steps brought them to the visitor’s center, she could practically feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise. The sound of a twig snapping to the right of her, just a few feet away, made her freeze and slowly turned her head to glance back at him.
He heard it too, and came to stand between her and the sound. Shuro didn’t need to ask her to be quiet. He listened, eyes open. He searched the jungle around them, because raptors didn’t come alone. It was best to assume they had just stepped into a trap. In a way he preferred the t-rex.
“Keep moving,” Shuro whispered, prepared to nudge her along if he needed to. “And when I say so you start running, and don’t stop until you reach the generator. And don’t look back.” She might be the last chance they had at reaching civilisation yet.
”Okay,” she whispered, her voice almost inaudible as she stepped forward. The rustling of the foliage around them could be attributed to the wind, but Lovisa had her misgivings. It was hard waiting for Shuro’s signal to run ahead, her footsteps picking up the pace though she did her best to keep close to the taller man as possible. For all she knew, sprinting too soon would put her in the direct path of whatever was out there.
It didn’t sound like wind to Shuro. It sounded like an attack, as obvious and as violent as a tank rolling through the forest. He looked everywhere. There was a big one, right? A smart one? The leader. He knew he should shoot her first, but this point they were all dangerous. And he wasn’t sure shooting them would even work. He’d have to aim for their heads.
He began to push at Lovisa’s back, causing her to move faster. They were surrounded, every direction would have raptors. Shuro thought, not for the first time in his life, that he wished he had a grenade. “Run!” Shuro yelled, his muscles too tense from the stress of waiting. He wanted to get this over with, in whatever way it would end.
She briefly stumbled forward when he pushed her forward, almost swinging back at him thinking that he was a raptor himself. Or worse, but at that moment she couldn’t imagine what that was. By the time he shouted for her to run she had already began to run ahead, but the urgent sound of his voice made her launch into a full sprint. Keeping her eyes on things that might trip her feet and the door that lead to the generator room, Lovisa did not once look back. Shuro would catch up to her, he had to. If he was caught, she had no idea how she could save him. Getting the power back on and radioing for help, that was all she could do.
She grasped onto the door of the generator door, practically running into it as she frantically twisted the knob. Shaken by adrenaline and pure fright, it took a few turns to get the door open. Stepping inside, and quickly pulling the door shut, she braced herself for what she might find laying on the steps leading to the generator controls...only to find herself in a small dark space. Fumbling around in her bag for a flashlight, she flipped it on and found herself surrounded by mops, an industrial bucket, and brooms. She knew the park management was inefficient, but who in their right mind would confuse a janitor’s supply closet with a generator room.
She needed to go outside again even though every thought in her mind told her she needed to stay inside where it’s safe. Turning the knob, she opened the door. Once she stepped beyond it, she did not find the forest as she expected, but her bedroom in the center.
Shuro opened fire into the brush, running, turning, firing, running. He caught glimpses of the raptors as soon as Lovisa took off running. He could hear their strange, bird-like chatter as they ripped through the forest. He didn’t know how many of them there were, he just kept firing, hoping to injure them enough to slow them down, maybe he’d get lucky and they’d turn on their injured.
He was moving so fast he slammed into the closed generator door, breathing hard, a familiar rush of life or death running through his body. “It’s me!” he yelled at the closed door, in case Lovisa would think he was a raptor. Well, he nearly was, as a raptor had just stepped into view running toward him. Shuro fired a few shots toward its head, hit it a few times, but the raptor barely slowed down.
He tore the door open and dashed inside, pulling it shut behind him. Well it looked like a generator room to him. But he couldn’t find Lovisa. He made sure the door was latched tightly behind him before walking out down the hall. “Dr. Jansen?” he called out.
Something was very wrong. No matter what door she opened, what she expected to find on the other side was replaced by something else. She was going crazy, she had to be. There was no science that she could think of to explain the phenomena or why it was happening now of all times, but she had to get back to the generator room. After finding herself in a very cold pantry with the sounds of clawed feet wandering around on the other side of the metallic door, she backed away from the door as far as she could. Fumbling for her phone, she quickly dialed Shuro’s number and began to pray for an answer on the other end.
He did not have a lot of time to really worry about her. She had come into the generator, he was certain of that. Maybe she was just up ahead of him, following the cables toward the main switches they needed to flip back on. He thought he was just about there when his phone rang. It took him a moment to realize it was his phone, but he reached into his pocket and answered it. “Hello?” he asked, continuing to make his way toward the switches.
”Shuro!” she whispered into the phone, her voice trembling as she held back a sob. When she spoke again, her words flew out in a rush. “I-I, there’s something wrong. None of the doors, I can’t get to the generator room. I’m in some refrigerator and there is something at the other side, is this still the center...” Lovisa started uttering to herself, trying to read the labels on the pallet. “I’m in the center somewhere, I don’t know where. The kitchen, I don’t want to go through another. Please help me-”
Shuro stopped in his tracks for two reasons. One, what Lovisa was telling him. And two, he had just come across Arnold’s remains. Parts of him. Shuro swallowed, closed his eyes, and returned his attention to the phone. “What do you mean you’re in the center? How did you manage that?” he asked, though a part of him thought it was not so strange.
He stepped over Arnold’s arm and kept his way toward the brakers for the power. “Just remain calm,” he told her, looking around, thinking he probably wasn’t as alone here as he thought. “I need to turn the power back on first, and then I’ll come find you. Just keep the door closed and don’t let anything inside.”
“I don’t know,” Lovisa replied, her pitch rising. “I can’t get through the doors, I end up somewhere else.” She paused as a hypothesis formed in her mind. Somehow, she knew what could make the doors work again. As the thought passed, she felt an odd calm wash over her. The doors won’t work for her, but they would if it was for someone else. “I need you here, I think.” She went quiet as she heard scratches on the handle that held the freezer shut. There was a loud clamor as the creature must’ve thrown it’s whole body against it, causing Lovisa to hold her breath and back farther into her corner. A second, then another, then the sound grew faint. Once it was silent again, she spoke into the phone again. “Get the power, I’m not going anywhere.”
Shuro was about to tell her that he was a little busy at the moment and could not rush to where ever she was, but she seemed to understand that. He opened the wire wall around the circuits and pulled open the brand new gray door over them, revealing a wall of switches and buttons. He had a very good memory, he remembered what Hammond told him he needed to do here. “I’m at the grid, so just hang tight. It’s probably not any safer out here anyway.”
He pumped the one lever until it switched on, then another lever. Then he began pressing a series of buttons, sending electricity through the park. “You said you’re in a refrigerator?” he asked his phone. “Well... bundle up. Hopefully the reptiles will avoid the cold.”
”The biggest one in the center, by my guess.” She could not tell that the power had returned to the park by any lights coming on, but the hum as the HVAC kicking on and the cool air that was filtered into the enclosed space. “Well, they are cold blooded.” Lovisa answered dryly as she stood and began to jog in place. So long as she kept her heart-rate up, she hopefully wouldn’t freeze over. “There may be something in the kitchen, be careful.” And hurry, she thought to herself, though rushing and getting killed would do neither of them favors.
Shuro hit the last of the buttons, thought for a moment to make sure he had remembered everything, before taking his rifle in hand again.
And using it immediately.
A raptor burst out from the circuit board at him and by instinct Shuro placed the nuzzle of the rifle under its chin and fired upward. He took a step backward as the raptor took another swipe at him, but Shuro aimed properly and fired again. The raptor fell limp in front of him and for a moment he just looked at it. Then he blinked and ran back out to the door he’d come in. “I’m on my way,” he said into his phone before going back out into the jungle.
He saw nothing, and heard nothing, so made his way slowly out down the path, thinking, rifle ready. They could die, he could kill them, that made him slightly more confident. When he got closer to the center he finally just broke out into a run, not looking behind him but slamming the front doors closed behind him. He knew where the kitchen was, he had cooked in it, it’d been very clean. He made his way through the large dining room, still filled with treats and desserts and things that made him hungry.
When he got to the door to the kitchen he stopped and looked inside. He could see two raptors clawing at something, probably the fridge. He slowly opened the door and waited for one of the raptors to stop moving, and aimed for its eye.
He fired, the raptor screeched out loud and high in pain and the other turned to the direction the sound had come from. Shuro grabbed the other rifle and opened fire as the raptor charged at him.
At the sound of gunfire, Lovisa felt emboldened to move closer to the door. She made no move to open it, instead reaching for a meat hook from the rack to tap against the metal surface. “I’m in here!” There was no guarantee that she could even be heard over the gunfire or insulated walls, but she hoped that it would save Shuro time locating the right fridge. The odds that if there was a raptor might hear the noise and try to open the door instead, though it might be the distraction needed to take them down. She was aware that once they were take care of that the noise would ultimately bring more into the kitchen in search of a good meal, but she did not intend to get back to the bunker conventionally. Deep down, she knew her plan would work.
She continued to make enough racket but kept her body turned in the event she needed to run. “Hello! Quickly, Shuro! Try to get in here!”
Shuro failed to get a head shot at the raptor coming toward him, and instead had to duck out of its way, grabbed a large frying pan and smashed at the raptors head, which only accomplished getting its head away from Shuro’s face, which was enough for him. He could barely make out the sound of Lovisa’s voice, but he could hear it clearer as he got closer to her.
The raptor he had got in the eye had finally gone down, a lump on the floor, bleeding from what was left of the side of its head. Shuro continued firing on the one still advancing on him, figuring he’d hit it at least six times in the body. He felt like swearing, but did not.
“Can you open the door?” Shuro yelled, having found the refrigerator with her in it.
”I can’t! You have to open it on the other side!” She shouted, then tentatively reached for the latch holding the door closed. Taking a deep breath, though she could still hear the gunfire on the other end, she knew the other side would lead her to someplace else. There was no guarantee, no, that wasn’t quite right. With a bit more concentration, she could see the incubators and the monitor of the workstation that Dr. Wu was sitting at before all of this went all downhill. “It’ll take me to Dr. Wu’s lab if I do! Wait! I think I understand...”
She let go of the handle and focused on her feet. “Just a door, not going anywhere, just opening the door.” Lovisa chanted under her breath. Gripping the meat hook with one hand, she turned the handle with the other, swinging the door open just wide enough to see...Shuro fighting a raptor in the kitchen. “Quickly! In here!”
Shuro looked behind him toward the door just long enough to see the handle and push down hard on it. He had to stop firing to do that, but he and Lovisa got the door open quickly and Shuro began to fall back inside the fridge when then raptor advanced. Shuro yelled out in pain as the raptor got some teeth into his left shoulder, but knew pain well enough to still be able to bash the raptor on the head with the frying pan a few times, mixing its blood with his across his jacket. The raptor let go and Shuro fell into the fridge onto his knees. “Close it!” he yelled, angry at the pain in his shoulder.
She yanked the door closed with a yell, catching the raptor’s claw in the process. At the moment, she felt no sympathy. Taking the dropped pan, she edged the door open, ready to slam it against the dinosaur’s head, but it was more than ready to retreat and lick it’s wounds. After she secured the latch, she knelt by Shuro, taking a look at the wound on his shoulder. “Looks like it only pierced the skin, we need to get you to the bunker to stitch you up.” She explained as she pulled out gauze to press against his shoulder. “Can you stand?”
“I’m fine,” he said, looking at his shoulder but really much more concerned about what they were going to do now. His shoulder looked worse than it was, mostly because it wasn’t all his blood. He managed to get into a standing position with his other arm, rifles still over his shoulders. He took a deep, long breath and repeated, “I’m fine. But what now?”
Shuro looked around, trying to see if there was anything useful in this place. It wasn’t hot jungle, that was nice. The cold air felt nice. He looked down at Lovisa. “How the hell did you get here?”
”I don’t know, it was just where it took me,” Lovisa replied as Shuro stood. Though she had been frightened and confused by all of the wildly connected rooms, she realized there was a pattern to all of them. “I can...” Her voice trailed off as she snapped her fingers thoughtfully. She could get them out of here. Pointing at Shuro, she asked carefully, “Where do you want us to go next?”
Shuro was still sort of distracted by the pain in his shoulder and had to blink a few times while looking at her. “Home would be nice. But we need to get to the control room to turn all of the systems back on to call the ship back so we can get there.” Blood felt warm as it rolled down his arm, but he ignored it.
”Control room, okay,” she murmured as she walked over to the door and took hold of the handle once more. The birdlike chirps and echoing clatter of sharp claws as the raptors converged into the kitchen could be heard, but for a change that didn’t bother her one iota. She could almost feel the connection to the room outside separate and move beneath her fingertips. It was a gut instinct that told her that when she opened the door, it would not be the raptors or the kitchen greeting them. Sure enough, once she turned the knob and opened the doorway, their vantage point was the steps leading into the control room. “This way to the control room, lieutenant.”
The pain caused him to take awhile to realize she was about to open the door. The idea was a bit like death, and he moved to stop her too late. He stood there and looked out at the not-kitchen. He needed to blink a few times, to make sure it was really there. Slowly he took a few steps out of the fridge, not sure if the illusion would disappear once he stepped into it.
It did not. He walked up the steps toward the control room, and turned around to look at her, his eyes a bit wide. “You are not like other geneticists, are you?”
”Apparently not,” Lovisa quipped, stepping through the doorway. Just like that, her connection to the kitchen was gone. She should feel unnerved by that revelation, yet somehow it seemed to harken back to something that she just could not get her finger on. “When we return home, I should run a full analysis on myself. But first, let’s hail Anne B to return to the harbor.” Though he stated he was fine, she could tell by a glance that Shuro must be in considerable pain. “If you could tell me how that works, I will do it.”
Shuro entered into the control room and closed the door behind them. It did not lock. They would need to get the center up and running first. He looked down the hall the way they had come and saw nothing, so he left the door to head toward one of the computers, not sure if he knew what to do. “I’ll do it, you watch for... guests.”
He sat down in front of the computer, glad to sit, and manged to get his arm up toward the keyboard and began to type and click through the system. He was clever, he remembered, he could do this because he was clever. “We’ll need to call the bunker, and find Grant and the children.”
He clicked on the right thing, and heard the lock of the door click shut. He sighed in relief. “I’ll call the Anne B if you call the bunker.”
Lovisa nodded and took guard near the doorway. For now, she would take comfort in the silence. So long as Shuro could get the electronic locks working before the raptors caught wise that their dinner had relocated to the other side of the building, they will be okay. She watched from her vantage point, ready to move if something came down the hallway, then visibly relaxed when she heard the click from the locks.
Walking over to stand at the station near Shuro, she turned to the deskphone and picked up the handset. ”I’ll call them,” she said as she pressed the extension connected to the the bunker. When the line picked up on the end, she smiled as she heard the older man’s voice. “Mr. Hammond? It is Lovisa. Shuro is with me in the control room.”
“Thank goodness you are alive! How did you get to the control room?”
“That is a long story.”