Chương 14: Indominus Rex (14)

The air over the island grew increasingly heavy with moisture. The cooling wind carried the salt of the sea. Thickening clouds pressed the birds' wings lower, and uneasy waves rolled through the forest. An abandoned nest swayed on a branch as though it might fall at any moment. A storm was approaching. Asset entered the old transport cage ahead of time. Through rust-eaten holes and gaps tangled with vines, she quietly watched the sky. Before long, muffled thunder began to roll.

The storm arrived exactly as expected. Torrential rain hammered the roof of the cage while mountain winds shook the electric fence. Asset lay silently on the ground, watching with a trace of awe as lightning tore heaven and earth apart. The branching arcs resembled the crown of a tree and looked even more vicious than the scar across her belly. Faintly, she heard dinosaurs crying out in the distance. Their voices rose and fell, filled with helplessness before the disaster and terror at the prospect of death.

For one brief moment, Asset seemed to return to a familiar scene. She could not tell whether it had been a dream or reality, but she felt as though she had once witnessed the end of the world descending in catastrophe. The dinosaurs had raced toward her, passed through her, and embraced extinction. For reasons she could not explain, she began to see the storm differently. It was an immense force that could be predicted but never truly avoided. It belonged to no one.

It belonged only to this world, to the heavens and the earth. Like fire falling from the sky or a body succumbing to disease, it was an invisible and merciless means of reshuffling every living thing. Humans, animals, and Asset herself all existed within it, each an inseparable part of the same whole. She could not express this realization in words. Asset did not even fully understand what her mind now believed about "disaster," nor could she explain the reverence and fear rising inside her.

She knew only that storms were not new to her two years of conscious life. Yet the previous storm and this one alone had given her entirely new experiences. It was almost as though she had lived another life—transforming from an ignorant beast that understood nothing beyond eating, drinking, and relieving itself into a new form of life with the beginnings of awareness. While her thoughts wandered, a bolt of lightning dropped vertically from the sky.

It struck the crown of the tree with perfect accuracy, and the current spread to the diseased dinosaur carcass beside the pool. Her preparations had not been wasted. That should be enough, she thought. Once her plan succeeded, Asset finally closed her eyes and fell asleep to the rolling thunder. Roughly half an hour later, she awakened again. Lightning had struck her food a second time. The next morning, the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped. The concentration of negative ions in the air had increased.

Their freshness mingled with the scent of broken vegetation and the rich fragrance of roots exposed by the rain-soaked soil. Asset emerged from the cage and approached the food that had been struck twice by lightning. She first lowered her head and smelled the charred flesh. Deciding that the flavor would be tolerable, she began tearing away chunks and swallowing them in large mouthfuls. There was no denying it. Meat struck by lightning tasted better.

Perhaps the heat had sterilized it, or perhaps cooked meat simply tasted better. Either way, Asset quickly finished the diseased dinosaur flesh without experiencing any discomfort. She flicked her tail. From now on, she decided, she would make the same preparations whenever a storm approached. Only then would the flesh of diseased dinosaurs become easier to digest, while the risk of infection after eating it would be reduced. Unfortunately, opportunities like that were rare.

Whenever she had meat, there was no thunder. Whenever thunder came, there was no meat. What Asset never expected was for the humans to become so "considerate." Once they discovered that she responded well to dinosaur meat, they refrigerated every dinosaur killed by lightning and transported the bodies to her in batches. There was too much. She could not possibly finish it all.

Over the course of her prolonged diet, Asset also confirmed one thing: meat "processed" by lightning truly was more compatible with her body. She began growing at a frightening rate, looking different from one month to the next. After only three months, she had surpassed the size of the velociraptors that once lived there. The rusted transport cages could no longer contain her. That was not the only change. Her tolerance for electricity was also increasing.

By now, she could grip the electric fence for a count of fifteen and still retain basic awareness after releasing it. But the pads of her claws did not withstand electricity well. Holding the fence for too long left them burned, preventing her from taking her training any further. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. There was no easy solution. To overcome this weakness, she could only practice without limit using the limited resources available to her.

Susan could no longer visit. The keepers arrived according to schedule, and the researchers were too lazy to repair the cameras. Asset had vast amounts of time to fill every day. If she did not find something to occupy herself, she would probably go insane from confinement. After searching the enclosure, she selected a large boulder. To test its hardness, she extended one long claw and drove it into the surface, leaving a small indentation. Acceptable. It would do.

With that thought, she spread her claws, exposed the pad of her palm, and struck the boulder with an open-handed blow. She reasoned that if she battered the pad of her claw until it split, it should grow back thicker after healing. At two years and eight months old, Asset saw Jurassic Park's new operations manager for the first time— Claire Dearing. From a human perspective, she was a striking and commanding woman. Her orange-red hair fell to her shoulders, and she wore a sharp black suit with high heels.

She crossed the muddy ground at an unhurried pace, carrying herself with steady authority. From a dinosaur's perspective, however, she was an exceptionally healthy and vigorous piece of food. She smelled delicious. Her body was rich with blood and vitality, radiating remarkable energy and life. She was difficult to ignore. But Asset had removed "humans" from her diet long ago. No matter how appetizing the visitor smelled, Asset would only look. Perhaps for slightly longer than usual.

"The second one is kept here?"

"Yes, Ms. Dearing. It's inside."

"Then why can't I see it?"

"That's a good thing," the keeper replied with a smile.

"If you enter a forest and see a tiger, believe me, it's because the tiger has chosen to let you see it. If it doesn't want to be found, you never will. Concealment is one of a predator's greatest skills."

"When does it usually appear?" Claire asked.

"At feeding time… My apologies. I take that back. It's coming out now." Claire paused and immediately turned toward the sound. Dense foliage parted in succession as a dinosaur pushed through the trees. It had brown, slit-pupiled eyes and silver-gray skin. Half of its body emerged from the vegetation, and it stared directly at Claire. It did not roar or threaten her. It neither attacked nor approached. It simply remained at a distance that felt safe to both sides and observed the humans in silence.

For a moment, Claire wondered if she was imagining things. She could have sworn she saw something "human" in the dinosaur. Then she laughed at herself for thinking too much.

"Compared with the first one, it doesn't appear particularly aggressive. It's also somewhat smaller." She touched her chin thoughtfully.

"The first one may have the more marketable appearance, but the second seems temperamentally better suited to being displayed before crowds."

"No, its temperament is far from pleasant when it hunts," the keeper replied.

"It behaves even more viciously than the other one, and it's far more possessive of its food. Sometimes it also feels unpredictable. The other one, at least, is consistently violent."

"What do you mean by 'unpredictable'?" Claire asked. The keeper spread his hands.

"I don't know. It's only a subjective impression, not objective evidence." Claire asked no further questions. Instead, she boldly approached the electric fence and began walking along the edge of the enclosure. The keeper thought her behavior was too dangerous and tried several times to stop her. Claire dismissed his concerns.

"When visitors arrive, they'll come even closer than I am. Are you planning to stop every one of them individually?" The keeper stopped interfering. Claire and the dinosaur watched each other from a distance, but she still detected no intention to attack in its eyes. Claire deliberately turned her back and continued walking around the enclosure without looking behind her. Even then, the dinosaur made no attempt to attack from behind. It had not lost its predatory instincts. It simply did not regard humans as food.

Once Claire realized that, her brows drew together.

"I stand by my original assessment. This one is better suited for public display, even if its appearance is less remarkable." But she also understood that the company would inevitably reject her recommendation. The dinosaur withdrew into the forest and soon vanished from sight. Claire adjusted her collar and prepared to leave the old sector. Then something caught her eye, and her gaze settled upon a large boulder. It was not the natural pattern of the rock that attracted her attention.

It was the dense collection of indentations covering its surface. The sight was deeply unsettling. Dried blood remained in some of the holes, and ants crawled across them, adding an even more disturbing quality to the scene.

"May I ask what left those marks on the rock?" Claire said.

"Are they bullet holes?" She had heard that velociraptors once occupied the old enclosure and that an escape had occurred there. Perhaps the bullets had been fired during that incident. The keeper, however, gave her an unexpected answer.

"Bullet holes? Oh, no. They aren't…" He hurried closer and examined the stone.

"No, no. This rock was completely intact before—at least, it was a week ago. What happened to it? Have rock ants been nesting here?" Rock ants tended to inhabit areas with abundant stone. They especially favored cracks in rocks as nesting sites and preferred meat-based food. Only a specialist could say whether rock ants lived on Isla Nublar. But from the keeper's perspective, a carnivorous dinosaur's enclosure provided exactly the right conditions for such insects. Their presence seemed entirely plausible.

Therefore, the matter appeared "normal"—certainly not important enough to warrant concern. Claire disagreed. The day after leaving, she returned with researchers from the laboratory. But before they could tranquilize the dinosaur, they discovered that the suspicious boulder had disappeared. After searching the surrounding area, they found it submerged in the pool beside the electric fence. It had sunk to the bottom. Was it worth retrieving? No. The matter was dropped.

Claire alone remained suspicious, although she could not explain what felt wrong. In that moment of uncertainty, she thought she finally understood what the keeper had meant by saying the dinosaur was "unpredictable." After storm season ended, reconstruction began across Isla Nublar. Claire never returned to the old sector. Three months later, the dinosaur park reopened, and Asset's life finally returned to normal.

She resumed her daily routine of enduring electrical shocks, eating dinosaur meat, and striking the boulder. When the mood took her, she also submerged her head in the pool and practiced holding her breath. Aside from the keepers, no one approached the old sector. Asset entertained herself this way for a long time— Until the familiar keeper failed to appear for two consecutive days. Then, unexpectedly, Susan returned. She looked exhausted and uneasy.

"It's been a long time, good girl." Susan placed chunks of dinosaur flesh onto the feeding crane and sighed.

"I'm glad you still remember me." She had been absent for so long that she assumed even a dinosaur with an excellent memory would have forgotten her. But the moment Susan's scent arrived on the wind, the dense forest began shaking violently. Her dinosaur friend had already rushed to the edge of the enclosure. She still remembered her. That was wonderful. But perhaps it was not entirely wonderful. If Asset's memory was so strong, the other dinosaur's memory might be just as good.

"One of your keepers, George, won't be coming back," Susan said, bringing sorrowful news.

"He went to feed the other one of your kind. Just as it did with me, it nearly dragged him into the enclosure."

"Fortunately, both of us survived."

"Unfortunately, George lost an arm."

"He won't be coming back."

"They've finally abandoned the idea of feeding the other one by hand. They should have done that long ago." From Susan's complaints, Asset finally understood why the humans had continued insisting on hand-feeding the other dinosaur despite knowing how exceptionally vicious it was. One attraction in the park was highly profitable. It was called Become a Keeper. The arrangement was simple. Visitors paid for the opportunity to carry a bucket and feed a dinosaur themselves, earning a "Keeper" badge in return.

The badge for feeding a carnivore was the largest and most popular. Asset did not understand what "money" was. Even so, she could tell that this humiliating treatment of predators was astonishingly idiotic. For the humans to organize such an activity was practically the same as volunteering to die. If they truly lined up to feed her, each carrying a bucket and pouring its contents into her mouth while teasing her— Fine. She would immediately strike "humans are not food" from her principles.

Then she would begin slaughtering them and eat until not even fragments of bone remained.

"One feeding costs ten dollars," Susan said.

"It's enormously profitable, and the company won't give up an opportunity like that."

"Unfortunately, the other one of your kind has already tasted human flesh. If they let visitors feed it during an exhibition, it would probably swallow the people along with their buckets."

"So they're planning to put you on display instead and use you to make money from the feeding attraction." Asset fell silent. It appeared the humans had grown tired of living.