Jurassic Park Read online

  Inside, Tim and Lex tumbled about as the car rolled over. Now it was upside down. Tim twisted around to look out the window. They were right by a cliff.

  The T. rex towered over the car. It put one leg on the frame and tore at the undercarriage of the car with its jaws. Biting at anything it could get ahold of, it ripped the rear axle free, tossed it aside, and bit a tire. Lex and Tim were trapped. And the dinosaur was about to push them over the cliff!

  Alan couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to do something! Jumping out of his car, he shouted, “Hey! Over here!” The dinosaur dropped the car and turned toward him. Alan waited to get its complete attention. Then he threw a flare over the cliff. The Tyrannosaurus lunged after it, but stopped inches from the edge.

  Ian Malcolm watched from the car. In a flash, he leaped out of the car, too. Quickly, he ran for the building. But he caught the dinosaur’s eye and the T. rex whirled around. As it did, its tail snapped behind it, striking Alan.

  Alan went flying. But the dinosaur only noticed Ian. It gave chase, bending close to the ground. Then, with one flick of its head, it nudged Ian from behind. The dinosaur didn’t use much of its strength. Still, Ian sailed through the air and smashed through a wood portion of the wall and into the building.

  Inside, Gennaro was cowering in a corner, next to a toilet. He was in a bathroom! Suddenly the Tyrannosaurus’s head broke through the wall. Wood chips and cement pieces flew everywhere. Crash! The roof collapsed. Ian and Gennaro were buried in the rubble.

  Slowly Alan got to his feet. He watched the T. rex nose around the fallen building. Then he saw it stop. It had found something. Alan couldn’t bear to watch. He turned away as Gennaro screamed.

  There was nothing Alan could do to save him. And Ian was probably a goner, too, he thought. But he could try to help the kids. He scrambled over to the smashed-up car. Reaching in through a broken window, he pulled out Lex.

  “Tim’s knocked out,” she told him.

  Boom! A giant T. rex foot landed right in front of them. Alan and Lex stood still as statues. There was nowhere to go. They were caught between the dinosaur and the cliff. The dinosaur bent down, inches away from them. Then, once again, it pushed the car.

  Tim opened his eyes. He saw one giant eye staring at him through the open hole of the sunroof. He screamed, and that seemed to fascinate the dinosaur. It stretched its long tongue through the hole. It was trying to wrap its tongue around Tim!

  Tim wedged himself tightly into the seat. He was just out of the dinosaur’s reach. Roaring in defeat, the T. rex lunged again. The car shifted, then began to roll. It was heading toward the cliff, gathering speed. And Lex and Alan were right in front of it!

  Alan grabbed Lex and swung her onto his back. Then he began to climb down the cliff. Seconds later, the car went over. Whizz! Alan pressed up against the cliffside. The car just missed them.

  “Timmy!” cried Lex as the car dropped through the air. Crash! It landed in a treetop—and hung there in the branches.

  The Tyrannosaurus gave one last roar. But everyone was beyond its reach. It turned away, leaving them alone. For now.

  Dennis Nedry jumped into a truck. He had to hurry if he was going to make that boat. Clutching the shaving cream can full of dinosaur specimens, he drove through the park gates. A moment later he came to another gate. This one said DANGER! ELECTRIFIED FENCE! THIS DOOR CANNOT BE OPENED WHEN FENCE IS ARMED! But Nedry knew the fence was turned off. He reached over and pushed it open. Then he raced toward the docks, driving deeper into the park.

  The rain beat against the vehicle. It was coming down so hard, Nedry could barely see. He stepped on the gas. Time was running out. He had to get to the ship!

  Ten minutes passed. “I should have been there by now,” Nedry muttered to himself. He checked his watch. When he looked up, there was a cement wall right in front of him! He slammed on the brakes.

  The truck skidded off the road, landing in a muddy ditch. Nedry put the truck in reverse. The tires spun, but the vehicle didn’t move. It was stuck. Nedry sighed as he got out. He’d have to push.

  Hoot, hoot! A soft noise came from the woods. Was it an owl? Nedry shined his flashlight into the trees. There was nothing there. Hoot, hoot! Nedry froze. This time he saw something. And it wasn’t an owl.

  It was a dinosaur. Nedry peered at it through the rain. He didn’t think it looked dangerous. Only four feet tall, it was spotted and had a bright crest on its head. And it was hopping around like a kangaroo. Nedry almost laughed. He didn’t know it was a Dilophosaurus—the dinosaur with the poisonous spit.

  “Nice boy,” said Nedry. “Now run along. I have to move the truck.”

  The dinosaur didn’t listen. It circled Nedry playfully. Hoot, hoot! it called. It was acting like it wanted to play. But it was getting in Nedry’s way.

  “Go on!” said Nedry. “Go home! Dinnertime! Aren’t you hungry?”

  The dinosaur just stared at him.

  Nedry spied a stick on the ground. Picking it up, he shouted, “Fetch!” Then he tossed it behind a tree.

  The Dilophosaurus leaped behind the tree. But a second later it was back. Hoot! it called, jumping right in front of Nedry. Nedry was so startled, he fell backward. He didn’t feel like laughing now. He was angry.

  “I said, beat it!” Nedry picked up a rock and threw it at the dinosaur.

  The Dilophosaurus hooted softly. It sounded sad, almost as if its feelings were hurt. Then it hopped away.

  Finally, Nedry set to work on the truck. He almost had it out of the ditch when he heard the hooting again. The Dilophosaurus was standing a few feet away. Suddenly, it reared back its head, then snapped it forward. Splat! A big glob of spit smacked Nedry in the chest. Splat! Another glob hit him in the face.

  “Ahh!” screamed Nedry. The first shot had just felt strange. But the spit that hit his face seeped into his eyes. Nedry felt a shooting pain there. An incredible shooting pain. A second passed, and Nedry realized he couldn’t see. He was blind! Feeling his way around, he stumbled into the truck. He sat, clutching his eyes in pain. Then he heard a hissing noise. The Dilophosaurus was in the vehicle, too! Nedry shrieked in horror. But no one could help him now.

  On the other side of the park, Alan and Lex had managed to scramble down the cliff. It had stopped raining, and they were looking up at the tree. The car was still stuck in the branches. But it didn’t look very secure. A branch broke. The car fell a few feet. Then it stopped, held up by more branches.

  Lex was shaking. She could barely breathe. Her brother was up there! Please let Timmy be okay. Please let Timmy be okay, she kept saying to herself.

  “I have to go help your brother,” Alan said. Lex shook even more. She didn’t want to be left alone. Gennaro had left them alone, and look what happened.

  Alan wanted to comfort her. But he didn’t know how. Feeling clumsy, he patted her on the head. Lex threw her arms around his waist and wouldn’t let go. Alan looked around. A large drainpipe ran along the ground. He led Lex over to it.

  “Shh, shh. I’ll take care of you,” he told her. “I’m not going to leave. Just stay here for a few minutes while I help Tim. You’ll be okay.”

  Alan coaxed Lex a bit more, and finally she crawled into the pipe.

  Alan made sure Lex was safely inside; then he walked back to the tree. He took a breath and began to climb. Up, up, up. The tree seemed unbelievably tall, but at last he reached the car. Carefully, Alan opened the driver’s door. Tim was huddled on the other side, hugging his knees. His face was streaked with blood and tears. He looked so frightened! Alan’s heart went out to him.

  “I threw up,” said Tim, ashamed.

  “That’s okay. Just give me your hand.”

  Tim didn’t move.

  “Come on, Tim. I won’t tell anyone you threw up. Now please give me your hand.”

  Tim reached out. But just as Alan got h
old of him, the car lurched and Tim tumbled out the door. He fell against Alan, and they both dropped down a few branches. They were right below the car. Suddenly they heard a groan—the branch that held the car was giving way!

  “Let’s go!” said Alan.

  Together, they half climbed, half fell down the tree. Snap! Snap! More branches broke. The car was falling. It was heading right for them!

  They jumped. Alan and Tim hit the ground—hard. But the car was almost on top of them, so Alan grabbed Tim and rolled to the side. A second later the car landed—right where they had been. The car stood upright, its roof inches from Alan and Tim. Then it tipped over….

  Tim squeezed his eyes shut. After all that, the car was still going to fall on them! Thud! Tim felt a rush of air. But that was all. How strange, he thought, opening his eyes. He realized he was inside the car. They’d been saved by the hole in the sunroof.

  Alan brought Tim over to the drainpipe where Lex was hiding. Then he peered inside. Lex was curled into a ball, shaking with fright. She was too terrified to crawl back out.

  “Come on, Lex,” Alan said in a soothing voice. “Hiding isn’t the answer. We have to get moving and improve our situation.”

  Lex just stared at him, not budging an inch. Tim rolled his eyes. Lex could be so ridiculous!

  Alan tried again. “Tim’s out here. He’s okay.”

  Still there was no response.

  Then Alan tried something else. “Of course you could just wait in there while we go back and get help.”

  “Yeah,” Tim said quickly. “Let’s go.”

  “You’ll probably be safe alone,” Alan went on. “But I couldn’t say for sure.”

  “You’re a liar!” shouted Lex. “You said you wouldn’t leave me.”

  “I’m using psychology on you,” said Alan. Lex just kept staring at him. Didn’t he know things like psychology never work?

  Alan took a deep breath. “Okay. We’re going to walk back. Together. But we won’t go near the road. The T. rex probably staked that out as a feeding range. That means this whole paddock is empty. It’s safe. So we’ll walk through here. What do you say?”

  In answer, Lex crawled out of the pipe. Alan sounded so sure of himself. He made everything seem okay. But as they began to walk, Alan made a mistake: he kept talking.

  “It might be a little slow going. But it can’t be more than three or four miles to the Visitor’s Center. Maybe the T. rex is done feeding. No, no. Let’s not kid ourselves. A carnivore can eat twenty-five percent of its weight in just one sitting. So really, it’s probably just up to the main course and—”

  Alan stopped in midsentence. Both kids were in the drainpipe now.

  Back at the control room, Mr. Hammond, Ray Arnold, Robert Muldoon, and Ellie, who had gotten a ride back from Dr. Harding, had realized that Nedry was gone for good. Without him, they couldn’t turn the power back on. So there was nothing else to do. They had to go into the jungle and search for the others.

  Now Ellie and Muldoon were driving down the dark park road.

  “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Ellie said to Muldoon. She had a feeling that something terrible had happened. At last they came to the broken Tyrannosaurus fence.

  “Oh no!” cried Ellie. Things looked worse than she’d imagined. One electric car was gone. The other was empty, its doors hanging open. Muldoon ran over to the wrecked building. Then he saw Gennaro’s body and stopped short.

  Roar! They could hear the Tyrannosaurus in the distance. Ellie joined Muldoon, frightened.

  “The T. rex could be anywhere,” Muldoon said to her. They heard another sound nearby, but this one was human. It sounded like a moan.

  “It’s Malcolm!” Muldoon cried. Ian Malcolm was half buried under the rubble. He was alive but in bad shape. He was barely conscious, and one leg was covered with blood.

  Roar! The Tyrannosaurus was closer now.

  “Can we risk moving him?” Ellie asked.

  “Please. Risk it,” Malcolm croaked.

  Carefully, they carried him to the backseat of the truck. Then Ellie went back to the empty electric car. She wouldn’t give up! Desperately, she looked for clues. What could have happened? “Look!” she said. There were three sets of footprints. Alan and the kids were alive!

  ROAR! The Tyrannosaurus was getting closer. The earth shook with each thundering step. The booming noise grew louder—and faster.

  Still, Ellie couldn’t leave the spot. Maybe Alan was nearby. She had to find him! Suddenly the charging Tyrannosaurus burst onto the road!

  “Come on!” shouted Ian with all his might.

  Ellie leaped into the truck. Muldoon was already behind the wheel. He hit the gas, and they were off. But the vehicle was slow to pick up speed. And the Tyrannosaurus was coming after them—fast! Ellie looked back. It was closing the gap!

  The vehicle smashed through branches and careened over rocks. Finally it picked up speed. The T. rex fell behind, then faded from sight.

  For a few moments, they drove in silence. Then Ian gave a little laugh.

  “Think they’ll have that on the tour?” he asked.

  Alan had finally convinced Lex and Tim to come out of the drainpipe. And now, slowly but surely, they were making their way through Jurassic Park. A full moon lit the jungle, so they were able to see. The strange light made everything look spooky. But they didn’t have a choice—they had to keep going. They had to get to the Visitor’s Center. So Alan, Lex, and Tim hiked and climbed through the night, always on the lookout for dinosaurs.

  There was no power anywhere in the park. That meant the dinosaurs were still on the loose…including the T. rex.

  Alan checked a map he’d taken from the Visitor’s Center. Was that only this morning? It seemed like they’d been walking for a million years.

  “Looks like we’re heading west,” he said. “That’s good, I think. We should definitely hit the Visitor’s Center this way.”

  Lex took his hand. They walked side by side for a moment. Then Alan turned to Tim. “You want to hold my other hand?” he asked.

  Tim just shook his head. He was determined to make it on his own.

  “He’ll never hold anybody’s hand,” said Lex. “Timmy is a dinosaur. A jerkosaurus.”

  “Straight A–brainiac,” Tim shot back.

  “Dorkatops!”

  Roar! The sound silenced everyone.

  “You both look pretty tired. I think we should find someplace to rest,” Alan said.

  ROAR!

  “Now!”

  Once again, Alan climbed a tree. But this time, Tim and Lex were right behind him. When they reached the top, they were awestruck by the view. The park stretched for miles around. The trees, the meadows, the herds of dinosaurs—it was all a beautiful sight. Lex thought it was romantic, too.

  “Are you and Dr. Sattler married?” Lex asked, settling in the branches.

  “Well, we’re…”

  “Those are brachiosaurs,” Tim said, trying to change the subject. He pointed out the dozens of plant-eating dinosaurs. Their long, graceful necks towered above the trees.

  “Yes, they are brachiosaurs,” Alan told him. “It’s a great name. It means ‘arm lizard.’ ”

  Lex leaned forward. “Don’t listen to him,” she said to Alan. “Timmy always talks about dinosaurs when he thinks something is mushy.”

  “That’s okay,” said Alan. “So do I.”

  Tim thought they should go back to talking about dinosaurs. He had a question. “How could dinosaurs turn into birds? Birds don’t have teeth and some dinosaurs do.”

  “Simple evolution,” explained Alan. “As birds evolved, they lost their teeth. They began to use gizzard stones instead, like the Triceratops.”

  “Yeah, but…” Tim was excited. He thought he could outsmart Alan. “But shouldn’t there be a missing link?
After the dinosaurs disappeared, shouldn’t there have been birds with teeth?”

  “There were,” Alan answered. “Toothed seabirds. They were found in Kansas in the 1800s.”

  Tim thought about that for a second. Satisfied, he stopped his questioning and the three fell silent. They could hear the animals calling each other. Some calls sounded just like music. Alan smiled at the pretty sounds. But after a moment, his smile faded. Were those mating calls? he wondered. And how could that be? All the dinosaurs were supposed to be female.

  His thoughts were interrupted by Lex. “What if the dinosaurs come while we’re sleeping?”

  “I’ll stay awake,” Alan promised. Lex came closer and crawled under his arm. Tim hesitated for a second, then curled under Alan’s other arm. Tim and Lex leaned back against the tree trunk. Minutes later they were fast asleep.

  Alan looked down at the sleeping kids. Who would have thought that he’d be sitting here with two children under his arms? He sighed. Maybe kids weren’t so terrible after all. He just hoped he wouldn’t let them down.

  The next morning, Alan and the kids woke with a start. A Brachiosaurus was munching on leaves—right by their heads. Lex opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

  “It’s okay,” said Tim. “It’s a Brachiosaurus, Lex. A veggiesaurus.”

  He climbed up to a higher branch so he could pat the dinosaur’s head. Alan, meanwhile, was inspecting its mouth. The dinosaur didn’t seem to mind. It just continued munching. Feeling a little braver, Lex edged closer. She was just in front of the dinosaur’s head. She reached out, gently patting its nose.

  Achoo! The dinosaur sneezed. But it was more like an explosion.

  “Eew!” said Lex in disgust. She was dripping wet from head to toe.

  Lex dropped to the ground and stomped away.

  “Oh, great,” Tim said to Alan as they climbed down, too. “Now she’ll never try anything again. She’ll just sit in her room with her computer for the rest of her life.”