Free Jurassic Park^TM III Novelization by Scott Ciencin Page B

shot up around it. It flailed, slamming with incredible force into the crane arm. Then it fled, disappearing into the jungle on the far side of the river.
    Alan and Eric watched in horror as Paul, still clinging to the toppling arm, rode it into the sea of fire below.
    “Paul!” Amanda shouted.
    “Dad!” Eric yelled. “DAD!”
    Alan, Amanda, and Eric called for Paul, but the only sound was the crackling flames along the water.
    “No,” Amanda said. “Oh, no. Please, please, no . . .”
    “DAAAD!” Eric screamed. “DAAAD!”
    Eric and Amanda’s anguished cries echoed in the night. Alan turned away.
    “We should keep moving,” he said. “That thing could circle back.”
    “No,” Eric said firmly. “No! We can’t leave Dad.”
    Eric’s mother knelt down and faced him. “Let me tell you a few things about your dad, okay? He’s very, very clever, very, very brave, and he loves you very, very much.”
    Eric blinked. His mother hadn’t said two nice words about his dad in months—maybe even
years.
    “He loves
you,
too, you know?” Eric told his mother pointedly. It was time she realized that.
    “Okay,” she agreed. “He loves
us
very, very much. And I know that right now more than anything, your dad would want to know that we’re safe. Okay?”
    Eric nodded. But it was a sad nod. What was he going to do without his dad? He suddenly felt more lost and alone than he had in all the weeks he’d spent isolated on this island.
    “We’re going to get out of this,” said Amanda, but tears were in her eyes, too. “Everything’s going to be all right, I promise.”
    Suddenly, a sound came from behind them. A crunch of sand. Eric tensed.
    Was it another predator?
    “Listen to your mother,” a voice called from over Eric’s shoulder.
    Eric turned. Out of the darkness stepped Paul Kirby.
    Eric ran straight into his father’s arms.
    “Good thing I’ve been swimming at the Y, huh?” Paul joked.
    As tears spilled from Amanda’s eyes, she hugged her husband and her son as if she’d never again let them go.

CHAPTER 13
    A T DAWN , A LAN LED THE GROUP in a hike along the river. They were exhausted, but trying to keep their spirits up.
    “You remember when we went fishing last summer?” Paul asked his son. “And I was trying to put the boat in the water and the trailer sank? And then the tow truck came and tried to pull it out but got dragged in? And the truck driver threatened to knock your dad’s lights out? So I said I was the governor, and he believed me?”
    “Yeah,” said Eric with a laugh.
    “That was a fun day,” said Paul.
    Amanda gazed at her laughing son and her smiling husband. “We should try fishing again,” she told them.
    “You mean it?” asked Paul.
    “I do. It’s worth another shot,” Amanda said, looking into her husband’s eyes. “Who knows? Things could turn out differently.”
    Eric saw his mother take his father’s hand.
There’s my cue to take a hike,
Eric decided, seeing Alan take the same cue by moving ahead.
After all, a guy’s got to know when to give his parents some privacy.
    Eric jogged to catch up with Alan.
    “The lady you called, how do you know she can help us?” Eric asked the scientist.
    “She’s one person I could always count on,” Alan said. “And she’s saved me more times than she realizes. I owe her everything.”
    They walked together in silence, Alan considering his words.
    “It strikes me now I never told her that,” Alan finally admitted.
    “You should,” Eric said.
    Alan nodded. “You’re right.”
    A sound drifted their way. A low murmur. A soft, familiar rush and a lazy crashing of waves.
    “Do you hear that?” Alan asked.
    Eric nodded excitedly. “It’s the ocean.”
    Alan called to the Kirbys and all four ran onward. Soon they emerged from the jungle into an area of thinner trees and sand. Rocky outcroppings dotted the landscape. The piercing cry of gulls rose over the gentle sounds of the surf.
    Suddenly, Alan noticed