Jurassic Park^TM III Novelization by Scott Ciencin

PROLOGUE
    T HIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD E RIC K IRBY hung high in the sky. Below him, his running shoes dangled over brilliant blue waves. Above him, a colorful parasail fluttered like a giant wing.
    “This is so awesome!” Eric shouted as the wind rustled his thick brown hair and whipped through his loose red shirt. “We’re going to see dinosaurs!”
    Strapped beside Eric in the two-person harness, Ben Hildebrand raised his camcorder. “And we’ll be able to prove it!”
    Whooping with laughter, Eric took in the lush tropical coastline of Isla Sorna, 120 miles west of Costa Rica. Several years ago, genetic engineers had brought dinosaurs back to life here, hoping to create a sort of dinosaur zoo.
    But Jurassic Park had never opened to the public. A number of accidental deaths had spooked the owners, and Costa Rican and United Nations authorities had declared both Isla Sorna and its companion island, Isla Nublar, a no-flying, no-boating zone.
    Of course, Enrique, the driver of the Dino-Soar speedboat now towing them, didn’t care about that. And neither did Eric. This was his chance to finally see
live
dinosaurs, and he was taking it!
    Turning his head, Eric smiled at the man who was treating him to this adventure—Ben Hildebrand.
    Ben was kind of old, at least thirty, but he was pretty cool despite that. The two of them had done a lot of exciting things together since Ben had started seeing Eric’s mom—and, hey, ever since Eric’s mom and dad had separated, he’d take whatever attention he could get.
    Ben was an extreme-sports sort of dude, which meant he was the complete opposite of Eric’s father. And that, Eric had pretty much guessed, was one of the big reasons why his mom and dad had separated. His dad had just gotten boring or something to his mom.
    But Eric didn’t want to think about that stuff. Not today.
    The riskier the better!
was Ben’s motto, and Eric loved that sort of thinking. Of course, he loved his dad, too, but his supercautious father was the
last
person who’d try something as dangerous as this!
    And maybe Ben was right when he said:
What does risk matter when you can live a dream come true?
    Suddenly, Eric felt a sharp tug on the towline securing them to the speedboat below.
    “Whoa!” Ben yelled.
    Looking down, Eric saw that the Dino-Soar tour boat had disappeared into a low bank of fog. When it emerged, there was no sign of their driver. But there was one thing they
could
see, one horrifying sight: The deck was splattered with blood!
    “Ben!” Eric called.
    Ben stared, gape-mouthed.
    Below them, the boat was heading north, into the open ocean—and the nearest shore was a thousand miles away!
    “I’m going to unclip us!” Ben called, then frantically unfastened the lines securing them to the driverless boat.
    As the parasailers floated upward, a strong wind sent them wafting over the daunting cliffs of Isla Sorna.
    Eric felt a terrible chill.
    He was going to see dinosaurs.
Live
dinosaurs.
    Only—it was no longer a dream come true.
    It had just become a nightmare.

CHAPTER 1
    G RRRR-AHHRRRRRR !
    A spike-backed Ankylosaurus smashed against the flank of a long-necked dinosaur in a suburban backyard. Plastic clicked and scraped against plastic as the child who owned the toys roared ferociously.
    Dr. Alan Grant squatted next to three-year-old Charlie, watching with great delight as the little boy played in his sandbox. Ellie Satler’s pretty face smiled down at the two. She held an infant in her slender arms. The group looked like a perfect family.
    “Actually, Charlie, those two are herbivores,” Alan said, squinting in the harsh late afternoon sunlight. “They eat plants. They wouldn’t be interested in fighting each other. But these—”
    The paleontologist picked up a plastic Tyrannosaurus rex and a Carnotaurus. “See, Charlie,
these
are carnivores,” he said. “They eat meat. This one here—see its claws—this one here uses its claws to gouge out the throat of its