User:Nardek/The Island

Overview: The island is the product of a recent volcanic explosion, one of the largest in history. A scientist has made it his research headquarters, and has made sure that the island doesn't make it onto any map. His research involves dinosaur cloning from unfossilized bones which he found in Alaska, some even with red blood cells still inside them.

[edit] Chapter One Thunder crashed, and bright flashes of lightning streaked across the blackened sky. Torrents of rain were blown across the ocean, which was wild with the monstrous crests of huge waves. The wind and rain buffetted a single, small life raft. Inside the life raft was the single survivor of a terrible plane wreck. His clothes were torn and burned, his hair was partially singed, and he was practically unconcious. As his raft rode up on a wave, his I.D. card fell out. On the card was printed the name "Ray Parker".

Suddenly, the raft struck something hard. Ray was jolted back into wakefulness, and he looked up to see a monstrous black mass in front of him. It was a rock. "Land," he managed to say. "Land!" He felt the rock, and climbed slowly out of his raft and onto the top, dragging the raft with him. Finally, exhausted and gasping for breath, he collapsed.

He was awakened by a fresh, cool wind blowing on his face. He opened his eyes, and quickly shut them again. The sunlight was too bright for him. Then he heard the crashing of the surf nearby, and knew that land was near. He slowly reopened his eyes to allow them to get used to the light, and then faintly saw a sandy beach in the distance. "I have to get over there," he said to himself, trying to stand up. He saw that he was in a large bay, and that a series of big rocks, one of which he was on, were sticking up from the bottom of the bay. The island was very attractive; a white beach was in the immediate front, backed by large palm and coconut trees. The rest of it was hidden by thick forests. On the far side of the bay, Ray could see a large landmass connected to the island, but partially hidden by a thin mist. It appeared to be a small range of mountains, but all were dwarfed by a large volcano-like cone in the center. "That's funny," said Ray to himself. "I never remember that island ever showing up on the satellite before. How could they have missed it?"

But it wasn't the time to ponder such things now. He was fortunate to have come across such an island, and now his goal was to get across the bay. He placed the raft into the water, then lowered himself into it and started paddling toward the shore. It looked quite a bit farther now, since he had had a high view from the top of the rock. But he continued pushing against the water.

Suddenly, he saw something on the beach. A small, dark shape was walking across the sand, close to the treeline. Ray squinted, but the creature suddenly darted back into the trees. "Good," he thought. "There'll be food on this island!" Little did he realize that he was soon to be the hunted.

It was about noon by the time he reached shore. The sun was bright and warm, and there was no hint that there had even been a storm. Ray tugged the raft up onto shore and walked up to the treeline. Sure enough, there was a series of small footprints heading along the outside of the trees, and then entering the forest. Ray studied them extensively. "They look like a large bird," he said. "But there's something reptilian about them. What could it be?"

Suddenly, from deep within the forest, there came a distant bellow. Ray jumped. "What on earth?" he said to himself. "That sounded like an elephant, only about ten times louder!" He looked around, but there was no other sign of life anywhere, save for the flock of seagulls that were circling overhead.

"I need to get some food," Ray told himself. He hadn't eaten since last night, and that had been a mere bologna sandwich and a bag of peanuts. Then he turned toward the water. "Fish!" he said exitedly. "I just wish I had a pole. Oh well, I guess I'll have to improvise." He looked into the forest, and then saw a long, slender branch lying in the foliage. "Of course!" he thought. "That'll make for a good spear." He walked slowly into the forest, looking this way and that, making sure that the forest was as empty as it seemed. He picked up the branch and then ran back out onto the beach.

Then he sat down beside the raft and, taking his pocket knife, began to carve at the end of the branch. Soon he had fashioned a handsome point. "Perfect," he thought. Spearing fish wasn't easy, but fortunately Ray knew how to throw a javelin fairly well. Wading out into the shallows, he looked for anything that might swim by.

Suddenly, he spotted a fairly large perch. "Yes!" he thought, aiming the spear. The fish came closer to the shallows, but it looked rather panicked. Ray thought it may have been being chased. And soon he found he was right.

Just as he was about to throw his spear, a strange, snakelike creature suddenly came into view, gliding up from the deeps. But soon Ray could see it was no snake. A reptilian head was fixed at the end of a long, slender neck, which was attached to a stout body. The creature had flippers, which it used to propell itself through the water. Ray watched as the strange beast grabbed his fish in its jaws. "Hey!" he shouted indignantly, throwing his spear. It landed in the sand right next to the animal, which quickly darted away.

Ray was stunned. He had never seen anything like this before. "That looked like some kind of aquatic dinosaur!" he said, almost jokingly. "But it can't be. All the dinosaurs went exctinct sixty-five million years ago!" He waded out into the deeper water to retrieve his spear. "I wonder if it wasn't some kind of undiscovered reptile," he said. "This is an uncharted island, so I guess anything's possible!"

As the afternoon wore on and evening set in, it began to grow chilly, and Ray knew that if there were any wild animals on the island he would need to keep them away. So he took some dry palm leaves and piled them on the sand. Then he began to gather old, dead wood he found on the fringes of the forest and began to pile them up on top of the branches. "That's the easy part," he told himself. "Now comes the difficulty." Finding two large dry twigs, he began to rub them together vigorously. After rubbing them for several minutes, he grew very tired. "Come on, come one!" he urged the sticks. "Let's see some fire!"

But the twigs seemed to be determined not to light. Eventually, Ray began to get discouraged. "Blast it," he said. "Maybe I have some matches left." He fished around in his pockets, but there was nothing there except his handkercheif and his soggy wallet. "Great," he said examining it. "This wallet cost me fifty bucks! Now it's ruined." He opened it and found a few damp dollar bills. "I wonder if I can use these," he thought to himself. "But that's not important right now."

He began to rub the twigs together again. This time, they were warmer and after a few minutes a flame appeared. "Yes!" he shouted gleefully. "Yes! That's the way!" He quickly lit the palm leaves, and they began to burn. Soon, the wood began to catch. "All riight!" Ray exclaimed, and went back along the fringes of the now very dark woods in an attempt to find more.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of sinister, unblinking eyes were staring at him from the darkness of the forest. Sharp, knife-like teeth gleamed in the nearby firelight as their owner anticipated its next meal. It quickly dashed off through the woods to notify the rest of its pack.

Ray began to set up a temporary shelter. Taking to long branches, he fixed them in the sand and then propped up the raft on the top ends. He then took several palm leaves and spread them underneath the raft, and then lay down and watched the fire. He soon found himself slowly drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, he was awakened by a rustling noise. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep; but however long it had been, the fire was still going. The rustling came again. Ray looked over to the trees, and saw several of them shaking. "Uh oh," he thought. "Doesn't look good."

And it didn't look good. In fact, when the creature finally emerged a few seconds later, it was hideous. A lizardlike head with a long, hunched neck and slender body stood on the beach in front of him. Its two long legs terminated in two three-clawed toes, with a sickle-claw on the big toe of each. It glared at him with its horrible, yellow eyes. Ray stared back for a moment; he couldn't believe what he saw. Could this be a dream?

Since Ray had majored in herpetology, he knew exactly what this was. "That's a deinonychus!" he exclaimed. But he didn't have much time to examine it, for the deinonychus was advancing toward him. "He looks hungry," he thought to himself. "I have to ward him off!" He looked toward the fire, and without a second thought dashed over to it and grabbed one of the burning branches. Then he held it out towards the hungry dinosaur. "Stay back!" he shouted. The deinonychus paused, observing the flame.

Then Ray remembered what he had learned about these dinosaurs. "They hunt in packs," he said. "Great! That means there'll be more of them!" And he was right. No sooner had he said this, than suddenly a deinonychus jumped out of the foliage right beside him, nearly knocking him to the ground. "BACK!" he shouted, now fearing for his life. "Get back!" He waved the torch in the carnivore's direction. The dinosaur looked at it then slowly backed away.

However, that wasn't nearly the end of it. From behind him, Ray heard the sound of yet another dinosaur jumping out. Now he was surrounded. He waved the torch around crazily, trying to get the deinonychus to back off. But the continued to advance on him. All seemed lost, until suddenly from the trees there came another loud roar, and this time it was much closer. The pack suddenly lost their interest in Ray and looked up, their eyes much wider. Then they took off across the beach and back into the trees much farther down.

Ray looked at the forest. Whatever it was, the deinonychus seemed to have recognized it as a danger. And whatever it was would no doubt be a danger to Ray as well. Suddenly, Ray could hear a distant crashing and crunching, as the beast approached. "Oh no, oh no! Lord, don't let it get me!"

He quickly put the torch back in the fire, and prepared to run. Then the roar came again. AAAAAAAAAAUUUURRRR!!!! Ray quickly ducked under the raft and lay as still as he possibly could. But then suddenly the noise stopped. Ray listened carefully, and then heard the beast take off in the same direction as the deinonychus had taken. It had apparently noticed them.

When the crashing faded from hearing, Ray slowly and carefully crawled out from under the raft. His heart must have been beating at 200 miles per hour, so loud it was. He was shaking all over. His breath was hard and heavy. "Oh man, that was so close! Thank you, Lord!" he kept whispering.

Sometime in the early morning, Ray awoke with a start. Smoke was blowing in his face from the fire. He moved the raft around so that it would block the smoke, and then was just about to lie down again when he spotted something on the horizon. It was a tiny, shining light. "A ship!" he said exitedly. The light was just visible against the lightening sky. Ray jumped up and down and waved his arms. "Hey!" he shouted. "I'm out here! Over here!" He looked toward his fire. "I've gotta get that blaze going higher!" he said. He ran toward the fringe of the woods and began gathering more wood.

Soon the fire was blazing quite high. Ray sat and waited patiently while he watched the light. He watched it for about an hour. However, it showed no signs of getting any nearer to the island. "Blast it," he cursed. "If only I had some fireworks!" He looked at the volcano across the bay. "Man, if that thing erupted, the whole ocean would probably know about it! But of course, it wouldn't really matter since it would probably kill me." He sat on the beach and watched the light continue on its course. "So much for an escape," he thought glumly. "I'm going to be t-rex chow!"

[edit] Chapter Two On another part of the island, almost a mile from where Ray was, another man was slowly climbing onto the beach. He had been clinging to a half of a jet intake, that had survived the explosion. Now, as he reached land, he collapsed on the sand. But he wasn't alone. Three pairs of sinister eyes glared at him from out of the trees. The three deinonychus made their way toward their next unsuspecting victim.

Ray decided to try and fish again. Taking his spear, he walked out into the blue Caribbean waters to try to impale another fish. He searched the water, looking for anything that might be moving. "I hope that plesiosaur doesn't show up again," he thought. Suddenly, he saw a nice-sized trout coming through the shallows. "Perfect," he thought, and quickly aimed his spear. Then he threw it.

The spear caught the fish through the side of the head, pinning it to the sand. Ray's time spent at scout camp had paid off; his spearing technique had finally proved to be life-saving. Ray quickly waded over. "Yes!" he shouted. "Finally!" He quickly pulled the spear out of the water, and carried it back to the shore. "Hee hee, it's gonna be fresh fish today!" He set the fish down next to the fire and began collecting more driftwood to pile on.

Suddenly, he heard that same bellow he had heard the previous day. He looked up and over to the direction the noise had come from. It was closer now. "That's not that carnivore," Ray said to himself. "Its noise isn't the same. That's some kind of herbivore! Perhaps, some kind of apatosaurus or brachiosaurus! This is incredible!" He took his fish and held it over the flames. "I guess I'll have to take the risk and go explore the island later on," he said to himself.

After having eaten his meal, he took his spear, sharpened it slightly and then set off into the woods. At first it was fairly thin, and he could still hear the surf and see the beach from a good distance. But after he had gone quite far, the trees began to grow closer together, yet still far apart enough in places to let an animal the size of tyrannosaurus to get through. Now and again Ray would come across a series of footprints in the soft ground, usually those of such as deinonychus but sometimes much larger. Once, he saw an immense footprint that was about three feet long and two feet wide, with the typical shape of a theropod. "This is incredible," he thought, looking at the intricate patterns embedded in the sandy dirt.

Soon Ray began to find himself descending rapidly. "I must be entering some sort of valley," he thought. And indeed he was right. The ground was sloping downward at a rather sharp angle, and the trees were getting much farther between. Soon, Ray found himself scrambling down a rocky slope. When he reached the bottom, he could see he was in a small canyon, which was not very wide but stretched endlessly in each direction. "This is incredible!" he exclaimed. "I wonder where it leads?" He looked down in one direction, and saw a bend. "I'll see what's over that way," he said, and began walking.

As he rounded the bend, Ray saw that the path went abruptly uphill. He continued on, walking slowly but surely upwards until he reached what looked like the top. But instead of finding a continuation, he discovered that it terminated in a large clearing. Large palm trees were dotted here and there throughout the large meadow, but what got Ray's immediate attention were the animals grazing here. The young man's jaw dropped almost to the ground as he observed a herd of monstrous sauropods eating the leaves off of the immense trees. "Oh—me—word!" he finally said, watching one of the huge dinosaurs going past. Its neck was long, stretching upwards for what looked to be about twenty feet. Its body was humongous; Ray was hardly an ant when compared to the enormous girth. It was supported by four powerful pillar-like legs, which almost shook the ground as the creature passed.

"I cannot believe I'm seeing this," Ray said, completely taken aback. "That's a diplodocus! I never, ever thought I'd live to see one of those!" He couldn't tear his eyes off of the enormous creatures as they coninued to tear and eat leaves off of the gigantic trees. Suddenly, there was a rustling in a thick clump of trees close to the stone wall. Ray turned his head in that direction, and just barely caught a glimpse of something moving rapidly through the foliage. "Uh oh," he thought.

Suddenly, the diplodocus that had just passed by Ray stopped eating and began making agitated noises. The rest of the herd immediately stopped their eating, and began to move quickly toward the wall. Suddenly, a large creature burst into the clearing. Ray immediately recognized it as a theropod. It was smaller than a tyrannosuarus, but big nonetheless. Two thick ridges were in front of its eyes, and it had a shorter neck which grew from a longer, more slender body. "ALlosaurus!" Ray exclaimed. Suddenly, another allosaurus burst into the clearing next to its partner. The two made for the nearest diplodocus they could find.

The whole herd was moving rapidly now, straight for the canyon Ray was in. "Oh my word," Ray said, horrified. "I'm gonna get trampled!" He turned away from the clearing and ran like mad, back in the direction he had come. When he had finally rounded the bend, he stopped for a breath. But suddenly the ground began shaking. "Noo!" Ray looked upwards, trying to find a way out of the canyon. However, he couldn't find the way he had come down by. Looking back, he saw the first few diplodocus stampeding around the bend. He quickly took off, further down the canyon.

The herd was overtaking him quickly, however. Soon, Ray could hear them trampling the ground right behind him. To make matters worse, he was almost completely out of breath. He was just on the verge of giving up, when he suddenly came upon a small niche in the canyon wall, just large enough to allow him in. He quickly ducked into the little opening, while the herd thundered past.

It wasn't long before the rest of the diplodocus were gone, because it wasn't a particularly large herd. Ray quietly stepped out of the little grotto, almost collapsing because of his rapidly beating heart and lack of breath. He was about to assume the coast was clear, when suddenly he saw the two allosaurs coming through the canyon. He quickly tried to duck back in, but it was too late; the allosaurs had spotted him.

Ray pushed back as far as he could, while one of the allosaurs eyed him sinisterly. Saliva dripped from its open mouth as it tried to grab at him. Ray aimed his spear at the creature. "Get back!" he shouted. The monster took one look at the wooden stick and grabbed it in its huge jaws, biting it in half. Ray was stunned. Now he had no weapon.

The allosaurus continued to try to dig into the small niche, to get at its prize. Suddenly, however, there was a loud bellow and then a straggler diplodocus came around the bend. The allosaurs immediately forgot about Ray and ran back toward their new victim. Ray nearly collapsed with relief. While the two carnivores were distracted with trying to bring the huge animal down, Ray took off in the direction the rest of the herd had taken. This time he settled for a fast pace, since his heart was still racing and his breathing heavy. "Man, I almost had it in there!" he said to himself.

Ray continued down the canyon, which had become suddenly very rough. "Ouch," he said as he began stepping on the sharp rocks. He made for the side, which was more dusty and less rocky than the middle. He could make out the gigantic footprints the monstrous sauropods had recently left behind.