Chapter Five

by Della

 

Eric could see the Island in the distance. He wanted to whoop his excitement, but didn't. They hadn't been in the air for long; he could still see the speedboat making off in the opposite direction; the memory of the last time he'd seen that was not far from his thoughts; but far enough away not to spoil his feelings completely. He looked back towards the Island and his heart skipped their beats, here and there, with the excitement he felt. Soon he was going to see all that he dreamed of, up close and personal; without the fear of the unknown that he'd previously had.

 

He wanted down now, right now, but he wasn't in control. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to where a finger pointed. There, a little way from him, he could see a clearing. No trees, but also no Dinosaurs either. He wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. Still, he nodded and soon felt the change of direction. His legs swayed a little with the force of the change but he clenched his thigh muscles and soon had them where they should be; ready for a landing.

 

"Brace yourself, Eric..." Billy shouted at him.

 

He nodded in response and held his legs a little higher.

 

The ground rushed up at them both as the sail of the chute dipped and turned with Billy's yanks and pulls. Then they were both running as fast as their legs could move.

 

Eric suddenly felt air beneath his feet, and then the jarring force of them hitting the ground. His teeth painfully chattered against the sensation; then he was running again. He could feel against his body, Billy's strong muscles clenching as he continued to turn the sail above them both. He also heard the grunts of effort it was taking him to get the sail to the ground.

 

Eric then fell and felt himself being pulled along the ground. He heard a click and suddenly he stopped; out of breath and a little bruised. He lay where he'd stopped trying to get enough breath back in his body so that he could stand, but it was painful. As he continued to pant and wheeze the breath into his lungs, he heard a second click and then a buzzing sound, much like a zip being unfastened.

 

Eric looked up from where he lay and saw Billy pulling in the lines that were attached to the sail. He marvelled at how he appeared unaffected with the landing, which prompted a thought; well, more a debate within himself. He was trying to decide just what had been the most horrible of landings. This one or the one that had left Ben stranded in a tree...

 

A hand upon his shoulder stopped all further thought and he looked up at the owner.

 

Billy looked down at him and smiled, "You okay...?"

 

Eric nodded and returned the smile, with a blush of embarrassment on his cheeks. "Yeah, sorry, just a bit... bit winded..."

 

Billy chuckled at that, then stood and looked around. "Okay, Eric, which way do you wanna go...?"

 

Eric looked around from the ground. It all looked the same to him. Just trees circling the spot of ground he and Billy were in. He shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno... Anywhere 's alright by me... We're bound to see some Dino's sooner or later..." Then he had a thought, "How about if we try and find the complex... See how things were done...?"

 

Billy turned back to him, held out a hand and said, "Alright, let's get started then, though I doubt we'll find much..."

 

Eric smiled at him, feeling the excitement rise in him again. He nodded a little breathlessly, though for a different reason, and took the hand that was offered him. Once standing, he brushed some leaves and a bit of dirt from his clothes and started after Billy.

 

Both could feel the anticipation grow and the excitement that their dream was about to be fulfilled...

 

Eric was counting the minutes it might be before he saw his first intended sight of a dinosaur... Billy was counting the years a Raptor egg might finance his and Alan Grant's dig...

 

****

 

Alan Grant continued to look out of the plane's tiny window, though what he saw from there did not register with him. His thoughts fluttered from Ellie and their first visit to Isla Nublar; to shortly after that time; to the day she left him and then right up to this moment in time...

 

Then his thoughts shifted to their imminent return to the place that had been the foundation of their friendship, but had also been their worst nightmare; and the reason for Ellie's ultimate leaving him.

 

More than anything he had wanted to be able to be all that she had wanted him to be. He might have said that children were so far away from his thoughts and that he didn't want them, but when they'd had their discussion on the hill in Montana, he had started to truly think about whether his initial feelings had in fact been true to him.

 

But their horrific visit to Jurassic had then tainted his thoughts and the thought of rearing a child within the confines of something like his and Ellie's chosen field on Palaeontology had frightened him. All his thoughts, he realised now, had been selfish in nature. He had thought of only himself at the time; that the child would cause disruption and anxiety within a place that almost demanded peace and serenity.

 

His thoughts then returned to Jurassic and he shivered slightly at the thought of the return. He knew what to expect, but instead of it fusing him with a sense of calm anticipation, it had him shivering with fear and anxiety. More than anything, he now wanted this visit to be over and done with as soon as it was possible.

 

His nightmare still rattled him, remaining vivid in his memory. He was afraid that it might come to fruition and that Ellie would die down on the island that had already proved inhospitable and frightening. He could feel his heart ache at that thought and almost burst a whole in his chest. He clutched a hand there and gritted his teeth against a moan of anguish that surfaced. Right then, he made a silent pact with himself that the one thing he would do, even if it were to be his last moment on earth, would be to ensure that Ellie would survive this up and coming ordeal.

 

"Alan...?"

 

He heard his name whispered at him and recognised it immediately... It was Ellie... He also noted a hint of fear. He pushed his nightmare to the dark recesses of his mind, forcefully controlled the anguish he had felt and turned to her, plastering a smile on his face. Ellie returned his smile, though her eyes, he could see, still held the fear her voice had whispered at him. "Alright, Ellie...?" He smiled for real this time when she nodded.

 

"We're nearly there, Alan..." she eventually whispered back.

 

"Ah, right..." With that said, he turned away from her and looked from the window again. This time when the Island came into view, he saw it all. He felt the seat beside him dip a little and knew that Ellie had remained. He reached to the side of him and held a hand above her knees. When he felt her grasp it, he squeezed her hand once, reassuringly, and then placed them both on his thigh.

 

He felt her head move to rest on his shoulder and he sighed, forgetting for a moment that her husband was only a few feet away. He was grateful for the moment, but knew it could to last. He was thankful, for the first and only time he knew, for the emergence of a flock of Pterodactyls suddenly appearing beside the plane.

 

He turned to Ellie and said, "Better have a word with the Pilot..." He then, reluctantly, let go of her hand, stood and silently moved past her.

 

Once Alan had got past her, Ellie also stood and whispered, "I'll let Mark know..."

 

Alan nodded once and then continued on to the cockpit. Once there, he sat in the empty chair beside the Pilot and said, "Don't worry, but you're about to encounter a large flock of Pterodactyls..."

 

The Pilot suddenly turned to him, his face registering all the fear he suddenly felt. "Shit... Pterodactyls...?"

 

Alan nodded...

 

The pilot then looked out of the front window and then to the side. "Shit..." he whispered, when a couple of Dactyls glided towards them. "Shit..."

 

Alan couldn't help the chuckle. He knew the feeling, you see. He turned in the chair and faced front... and almost swallowed his tongue. There, in the distance, but still looking like the size of the Empire State Building, was another Dactyl flying towards them; the huge wings slowly rising and falling in flight. Alan turned again, to face the Pilot, and quickly said, "You'd better start climbing..."

 

The Pilot looked at him with puzzlement, but then with fear when he followed, with his eyes, where Alan was pointing. "Holy Shit..." he suddenly muttered, then pulling hard on the controls in front of him, he quickly added, "You'd better get the others to put on their parachutes... Just in case..."

 

Alan briefly fell against the back of his chair, but at the Pilot's words, he nodded, forced himself to stand and started to make his way back towards Ellie and the others. A sudden shift to his right threw him against the bulkhead, which was followed by the Pilot's sudden shout of "Fuck..."

 

He ignored the shout and the pain he felt when he fell against the bulkhead, and continued on. He stood just at the end of the cockpit and yelled at them all to get their chutes on, then went to his own seat and retrieved his own. Just at the moment when he was giving up on ever understanding how to put his chute on, a Commando suddenly stood before him and pulled him to his feet.

 

He was turned and then he felt the chute being put onto his back. Two strong hands then moved around to the front of his body and clicked a buckle into place. He was then turned back to face the commando, who chuckled at him and then patted him on the shoulder.

 

"There..." the Commando laughed, "All ready to fly..."

 

Alan gulped back his fear. If he had thought that his climbing stint; and subsequent rushed descent with Tim; from the tree on Jurassic had been frightening, he knew now that he had been kidding himself.

 

The plane suddenly jolted to the right again and all thoughts of fear went the same way as the air from his body, when he found himself sprawled on the floor of the jet. As he choked and forced the air back into his lungs, he heard the Pilot yell at them all to get out, that he didn't think he could hold the plane in the air too much longer.

 

Someone was then pulling at him, urging him to stand. He did, but not without falling again. With the help of an unknown hand he found himself standing and then being shoved from behind. Before he could turn to find out just who it was, he was standing at an opened door looking out into the sky, and then down, to see the Island beneath him. His stomach clenched and rolled with fear and nausea.

 

He tried to turn back, but a sudden shove in his back, propelled him forward and to the lip of the door. He looked back once, instantly finding Ellie and then smiled. He wanted to whisper that he loved her, but just beyond her, was Mark, so he tried to convey his love for her with his eyes. Then, without any other thought other than his love for Ellie, he took the step beyond the plane and plummeted towards the Island.

 

*****

 

End Of Chapter Five