#534 words

[startanewdream]

#2 - Fossil, for April AU @jilymicrofics

Theme: Jurassic Park AU (or the one AU nobody ever asked for, but how could I resist?)

James had never put much faith into his father’s work — or obsession, as his mother would call — but he could admire the structure he had built on that remote island, the visitor’s centre, the resort. It would be splendid — as long as no accident happened, and with the things his father was breeding, James knew that they couldn’t take any risks.

Which was why he had been called; risk management was his specialty, even though, of course, he had never dealt with that.  No one had. Dinosaurs—or something close to it.

That was an old discussion, though, one that he wouldn’t entertain now; he had come to analyse the enclosures and to define how to better guarantee the animals would never get out of their space—they were already out of their time by millions of years…

But he shook his head and tried to focus on the blueprints, thinking out loud. “If we could reduce the enclosure for those sauropods—”

“You wouldn’t want to do that,” said a female voice; James lifted his head to find a woman looking at him, probably one of the scientists for the white cloak she wore. With her red hair combed in a loose bun, pink lips, and smart green eyes, she was easily the prettiest woman he had ever seen. His heart skipped a beat, not helping when she got near, pointing to the line in the blueprint. “The sauropods need a large space, they—”

“They can reach up to 130 feet,” he finished for her. You couldn’t be the son of Fleamont Potter without knowing something about dinosaurs.

But she just raised her eyebrows. “That too, but actually the problem is their behaviour. Sauropods tend to form social groups and they do not engage well with outsiders.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, neither did we until we saw their interactions.” She smiled, eyes shining. “Have you seen them already?”

“The dinosaurs? Yes. In the museum. As fossils.” He bit his lips. “I don’t actually believe they should have been breed.” The ethical discussion about genetics was the only thing his father and he ever disagreed upon. “It’s not real.”

“They seem real enough,” she assured him. “They breathe and they eat and they are very much solid. It’s just science.” She stole a glance at his security badge. “Something that I hoped Mr. Potter would know.”

He shrugged. “Mr. Potter is my dad. I’m James.”

She offered her hand. “Lily Evans.”

“Evans? Doctor Evans? As in—”

“The lead geneticist of the Jurassic Park program, yeah.”

“I thought you would be older, like Doctor McGonagall.”

Doctor Evans laughed. “No, Doctor McGonagall was my professor at the university. She warned me that your father’s idea was absurd—and yet—”

“And yet you are playing with fabricated genetic creatures now.”

“I usually call them dinosaurs,” Evans said. She grabbed a keychain inside her coat. “My jeep is parked outside, let’s go for a ride. You need to meet them to understand how to better protect them.”

“I thought we were protecting the visitors.”

“You’ll understand,” she said, cryptically. “You never forget the magic of seeing your first brontosaurus walking down the ground.”

[justasuicidecase]

SMPtober; Build

The sun fell asleep, shielded behind sloping, blue mountains, each smaller than the one before. The trees were strong, black soldiers, standing in an unmoving row. Sam wiped the sweat off his brow as he turned attention to the setting sun and to his newly finished build. Stripped logs stacked on top of each other. Large windows that overlooked the rest of the dark forest provided loads of natural light. It was larger than he expected, but the cabin had plenty of room for the entire group—Wilbur, Angel, Ty, Poke, Dashell, and himself—to spend the night. "’Kay guys, it’s done!” Sam called to his friends. They approached, gawking at the grand building. Each complimented the build and Sam’s ability, which he gladly accepted. Darkness swallowed any colour once in the sky; the friends piled into the house. When he entered his creation, a chill crept down his spine, he pushed it off. Nothing really happened after that; Everyone a bed and slept peacefully through the night. But the next morning, everyone began their separate experiences. Sam opened his eyes. He was sleeping on his side; Back against the wall, facing a large window overlooking the layers of trees that stretched along the rolling green hills. It was a beautiful sight to wake to—until the man realised an unknown presence paralyzed him. Horror over took him. A shadowy figure of a large man overtook the pleasant view. The blood pounded in his ears. His heart thudded in his chest. His vision disfigured, as if he were looking through a fish-eye lens. He had to get away. He couldn’t stay in the damned house any longer. Breathing was hard. Hard. As if he’d just run a marathon. He cried harder, his chest growing tight as bile rose in his throat. Sam squeezed his eyes shut and willed the figment to leave. Much to Sam’s relief, the shadow left and his muscles loosened, but he still had paranoid thoughts about the man. Sam shot up out of bed, still believing people would break into the cabin. Screams tore through the mute house as he raced towards the front door. Without thinking, the long-haired man broke through the trees. He swore he heard several others follow him, none being his friends. Lone twigs scraped against any exposed skin they could while the undergrowth attempted to trip him any chance they got. The footsteps followed close behind. It was around mid-day and he was still being chased. Blood seeping into his eyes, Sam squinted to find where he could hide—the first time in hours he had stopped running. The footsteps were faint now, but still too near for him to relax. Bringing a hand up to his scared forehead, Sam wiped the fresh blood as he leaned against one of the tall spruces. Allowing his over-exerted legs a chance to rest, the blonde sat on the forest floor. Sweat dried against his pale skin as he panted. Out of exhaustion, Sam fell out of consciousness in the middle of the woods; Hours upon hours of straight running had finally taken its toll on the tired man.

[cassie-villani-blog]

Ramifications

Three different people in three different places and times are not connected in the slightest and their experiences are all vastly different.

Chenguang slowly opened her eyes, ‘is the sun rising already?’ she wondered. She swung her legs off her bed and sat for a moment, staring at the completed maths homework on her desk and letting the rising sun’s burning rays touch her back. A flash of light caught her eye, reflected off the badge attached to her navy blue uniform hanging over the back of her chair.

‘Tianjin Primary School’ it read.

The sun burned brighter and brighter every second. Sunrises were usually slow and graceful, peaking over Tianjin’s cluttered skyline of factories and apartments. This sunrise however, carried something sinister in its blistering light and Chenguang quickly sensed it.

She snapped her head around to stare out her window; there was no sun, it was the middle of the night and what she saw instead ignited a fear in her heart like she’d never known.

“Ma Ma! Ba Ba!” she shrieked. She pushed herself off the bed and sprinted out of her room across the small hallway and into her parents’ room, bursting through the door and violently shaking her groggy parents awake.

“Something is happening to the factory outside! It’s burning- it’s burning like the sun!”

Immediately sensing the urgency in her voice, her parents hastily stood. Chenguang led them to the lounge room where the window faced east like her own.

Ma Ma’s eyes widened in shock and Ba Ba shouted a word Chenguang had never heard before as they ogled at the petrol factory across the road. The raging fire burned angrily.

The blazing mass grew violently and suddenly as Ma Ma and Ba Ba grabbed Chenguang and held her very tightly. Between their shoulders Chenguang watched in horror and confusion as the inferno engulfed everything. She squeezed her eyes shut. Ma Ma screamed and-

-

Catherine looked around her at the devastation and then at the camera. She ran her fingers quickly through her blonde hair.

“Three, two -” said the man holding the camera.

“A factory located in a densely populated residential area here in Tianjin, China exploded last night leaving hundreds dead. Scientists speculate-”

Catherine stopped; a flash of light caught her eye. It was a badge, still attached to a tattered navy blue remnant of fabric. ‘Tianjin Primary School’

-

Bianca looked at the map of the USA on her wall. It was a map that showed the country floating in blue, no countries could be seen around it, Canada and Mexico were non-existent. She swung her legs off her bed mechanically, she wanted to sleep in but the slow warm sun told her it was time for school again.

She got dressed and put on her school uniform, then went downstairs. Her Mom put a paper bag labelled “Bianca’s lunch” on the counter.

As Bianca made her way to the front door she stopped for a moment to listen to the news on TV. A woman quickly ran her hand through her blonde hair in front of wreckage. “A factory located in a densely populated residential area here in Tianjin, China exploded last night, leaving-” Bianca didn’t listen to the rest, she left for school and never had to think of it again.

End.