Jurassic Park

The danger is finally subsiding on the island. Calls have been made to Costa Rica for help, and they plan to send a helicopter at some point soon. Eight people are dead, six are missing, and the other ten survived.

Grant makes a plan to bomb all the nests and prevent any more eggs from hatching, and then burn the island to the ground. Tim finds an unmarked storage room indicated on the computer, and the group goes there to find a large store of grenades. Grant admits that, while he has found fossilized reptile nests, he has no idea what live ones will be like. They take a baby raptor that was previously trapped and put a tracking collar around its neck, hoping it will lead them to the nest. The plan works, and the nest is a huge, black hole in the ground. Gennaro starts whining, “No way I’m going down there” (424), but Grant again reminds him of his responsibility. With endless courage, Grant descends first, reaches the bottom, and radios back in a “distinctly odd, almost awestruck” (425) voice that he is fine.

Hammond becomes anxious at the lodge as Malcolm slips into a coma. He feels like Malcolm dying would be the final rebuke and does not wish it to happen. Malcolm wakes up, completely delirious, and begins mumbling about a “paradigm shift” (430) and saying, “everything looks different… on the other side” (431). Malcolm is happy because he feels that the Jurassic Park disaster will cause a shift in the way humans view scientific inquiry.

Hammond goes outside and get some air, reflecting on the park and its problems. Hammond decides that the reasons for its failure are in the hands of his employees. As Hammond walks along the path to his bungalow, he hears the roar of a Tyrannosaurus all around him. He becomes frightened and starts to run, eventually leading to a steep hill and losing control. He tumbles down the hill and breaks his ankle. Then, he hears the children over the intercom and realizes it is just them fooling around with dinosaur noises. He becomes infuriated, thinking of the children as unwanted and useless, and assures himself there is “nothing wrong” (430). He sits and waits, calling for help.

Gennaro panics and Muldoon threatens to use a shock stick on him if he does not go down the hole. Gennaro thinks his fate will be terrible either way but plunges headfirst into the nest and falls, eventually landing on a concrete slab. Grant and Sattler are there, along with more than 30 raptors: six adults and many juveniles. Grant thinks they are not attacking because they either cannot see the humans in the darkness, or because they are relaxed after the hatching of the eggs. The three of them begin counting eggs, and then Sattler notices that the dinosaurs are moving in a sort of oriented pattern, like bees. They begin theorizing about what it could mean, when suddenly, all of the dinosaurs turn and bolt “into the darkness beyond” (438).

Hammond is making his way up the hill in pain, his ankle swollen and purple. He hears a faint chirping, and moments later a group of compys appear. At first, he thinks he is in no danger, but then he remembers that they have a poisonous bite they use to kill injured, defenseless animals. Realizing he falls into that category, he begins to panic. The compys surround him, and he tries to defend himself by throwing rocks and sticks at them. They back away for a moment, but then draw closer and attack. Hammond tries to fight them off with no success, and the poison, which makes a person feel “peaceful, dreamy” (440), begins to work on him. He sits down, once again thinking to himself how “Malcolm was quite incorrect in his analysis” (441) and nothing is really wrong. He feels only “very slight” (441) pain as he is eaten alive.

Grant and the others chase the raptors out to the tunnel and suddenly find themselves on the beach, looking at the Pacific Ocean. The raptors line up along the beach in a “matriarchal pecking order” (442) with one central, specially marked female in the center. Grant realizes that he is watching something most mysterious, and that no amount of fossil analysis could have predicted the behavior he is witnessing. Sattler believes the dinosaurs want to escape the island, and Grant, remembering that dinosaurs are “fundamentally birds” (443), replies that they likely want to migrate.

The helicopters appear through the fog with Muldoon and the children already on board. Malcolm did not survive, and Harding and a few workmen are aboard a separate helicopter. Grant, Sattler, and Gennaro board, and as the helicopter starts lifting off, bombs begin to drop. Grant catches one last glimpse of some hypsilophodonts “leaping gracefully as gazelles, moments before another explosion flared bright beneath them” (445). Grant feels sad and relieved simultaneously, knowing that the raptors can never migrate, and the dinosaurs will be destroyed. The helicopter heads towards the mainland as the island goes up in flames and smoke.

Grant and the other survivors are taken to a hotel in San Jose and forced to remain there indefinitely. One morning, an American man Grant has never met before approaches him, telling him about some mysterious animals who are eating crops and travelling in a seemingly migratory fashion across the country. He worries they could be dinosaurs, and Grant asks why he is not allowed to go help. The man offers no information on the matter, simply replying, “None of us are going anywhere, Dr. Grant” (448).