JURASSIC PARK/WORLD AU - sneak peak

Hey guys! Here's the first part of the Jurassic World/Park Kalluzeb AU I have been working on for me and Mudkip (and the two other people who like this crazy idea). I hope you guys enjoy and it isn't too out there of an AU. I think Jurassic Park (OG) was my first fandom obsession (other than star wars) so it holds a special place in my heart. I think Jurassic World premise holds more fun a setting and characters for Kallus and Zeb to play.

Please don't mind my [notes to myself] 😅

~~~🦖~~~

She was restless.

She may not have understood the concept of a cage, but she understood the feeling of being trapped, of the same gray of the concrete that stole away a horizon she had never seen, except in a distant, fuzzy memory when the world seemed so much bigger. Now it was small, everything was small, especially the boney, salty creatures behind the glass.

She knew they were tart, barely any meat on them, hardly worth the chase, she thinks, now that she was so much larger than them.

At one time, they were frightening and tall, her first memories distant and forgotten except for the unpleasant crunch that had hurt her sensitive baby teeth upon an unstoppable instinct to thwart and to taste one of those limbs that kept insisting they touch her. They did stop touching her after that, the only thing she felt now was a thunderless lightning bolt when she did something wrong or went somewhere they didn’t like, which seemed often.

Hunger wasn’t something she knew. At least not in the way most animals relied on to survive. Food wasn’t interesting or different. The moving ones were too much effort to chase in a circle, making her dizzy, as she was able to cover the span of her area in 10 strides.

Besides, it was much more stimulating, once one was caught, to simply chew, suck and drink the juices and then spit out and watch the carcass decompose.

The downside to that was, once so many were accumulated, a heavy fog would fill her area, and the sting of needle-like bites would poke her until she fell into a heavy sleep, one that was hard to wake from, leaving her grumpy and uneasy well after she woke. The carcasses would also be gone.

Her rival, long forgotten as a sibling, would often scavenge the leftovers she left. It was smaller than her, but aggressive, often snapping at her when they would get too close to each other in the small space. It had been feisty but stupid, refusing any probing pack behaviors it was shown and unable to figure out on its own where the food came from. It had begun to smell different too, stronger and off-putting, its feces and urine so overpowering and everywhere.

She made the rival into food one day, when the other had surprised her with an act of dominance as it bit her neck and tried to mount her. When she had thrown it off and snapped back, latching her teeth into its tail, the sweetness of its flesh had made her see nothing but fury and brilliant, beautiful red.

The ensuing battle was over quickly, the bloodlust that pumped through her body making it easy to overpower the smaller one once she found and held onto a part that bled the most.

She had consumed all of it, as much as she could, even when her belly was full and hurting. There was a need to be one, the only one, that was satisfying and primal in a way she had never felt before. They let her keep this carcass, as she had made a nest of the remains.

She was fed cold, unmoving food ever since she ate the rival. This meat was more bland, with less juice, and did nothing but curb her appetite. The unalive arm that fed her was hard and cold too.

It had also been a bit lonely after that as well, however she didn’t know or need the concept of regret; she only knew that now she was restless.

She had the taste for something she couldn’t name, a thirst for more. And so she began to hunt for that, any way that she could.

~~~🦖~~~

The drive north towards the restricted sectors of the island was not one Alexsandr Kallus had to take often. Being Jurassic World's head of security had more of an interior territory for the former agent of the MI5 [maybe mention later], and was a job he excelled at.

Even in its interior, the park was sprawling and extensive, and Kallus thrived on the leg work, the constant movement and attention he could afford to every nuance of the park was just as thrilling as the impossible animals Jurassic World had to offer. Kallus took pride in his job, it gave him a purpose, kept him busy.

Between keeping the guests, scientists, and other personnel safe, it was also part of his job to be sure the animals themselves were contained, that the paddocks were secure and that the Asset Containment squads were equipped and well-trained. Kallus could easily go to Operations and be back from a lab nursery with a failing cage within a half hour, and then be tasked to see to all manner of things that took him all over the park during the day. [Work on this paragraph]

There was never a dull day in Jurassic World. That was just the nature of the beast.

But sometimes the beast would most definitely try to take a bite out of him.

The newest owner of the park had arrived with an iron fist around much of the management. He fired most of the original staff in Operations, brought in his own teams, and streamlined new attractions, mostly playing up the predators of the park, pushing aside the more family-friendly, educational exhibits in favor of something with more thrill, more teeth.

Kallus had survived the wave of lay-offs, the eat or be eaten irony not lost to him as he made no attempt to defy anything that may have seemed unjust and did not hesitate to throw anyone under the bus when it came to the newest authority. To Kallus, he had fought hard to earn Mr. Skywalker’s trust, and he wasn’t about to throw that away to be loyal to people that would have stabbed him in the back. Besides, he was good at his job, unlike so many others, and he knew it; so did Mr. Skywalker.

It should have been no surprise then that he had tasked Kallus with this newest obstacle that needed solving.

There was a new asset: a dinosaur, a chimera more like, concocted by the most brilliant scientist Jurassic World had to offer. Even Kallus was not privy to the exact makings of the animal, he was only tasked to work out the logistics of the newest assest's enclosure and it's subsequent future inclusion to the main park.

"No, I don't want or need a committee to decide this, Kallus," Mr. Skywalker had told him earlier that morning. "We both know that will take too long. Get the raptor guy, you know the one-"

"Garazeb Orrelios," Kallus had supplied, almost forgetting not to say the name with dripping venom.

"Yeah that guy, the [ex-military Aussie?]. Get him to sign off on any of it. That should satisfy the investors enough. I want this executed swiftly Kallus, do whatever you have to to get me results," Mr. Skywalker had said, pointing a finger at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, my children just arrived for a personal tour."

Kallus's only choice had been to nod and carry out the order, and clear his schedule to allow for proper negotiations between him and the raptor handler. He had put in an urgent request for a personal vehicle, and after a short reprieve, he had been off.

The lush green of the island began to thin out as he approached the inlet lakeside that housed the individual bungalows plopped down for the more permanent staff. Kallus had been offered one, but had turned it down to stay in one of the hotel's suites, to be able to stay closer to the heart of the park. He could be more productive when it was a simple 5 minute walk to operations, versus the 30 minute drive out to the various residences. Kallus was rarely in his suite anyway, working long hours and preferring to eat and relax from his station in operations, under the dim lights and bustle of the park machinations. At least it was what he constituted as relaxing, despite what his peers said about him behind his back. So what if he always had his master tablet with him? He was simply efficient with his time.

Kallus pulled up to the bungalow furthest down the road, in a secluded nook right by the lake’s edge. The structure was an eyesore in the daylight, looking like some patched shipwreck of a wooden shed and a rusted trailer.

The last time he had been here, it had almost seemed romantic; the string of lights hanging from the adjacent trees leading up the steps and to the soft glow of the inside had been alluring and warm. But the last time he had been here, it had also been at night. Anything can appear to be romantic in the dark; it was easier to miss all the glaring flaws.

The man was outside, working on a motorbike when Kallus parked the car. The bigger man was glaring over his shoulder at him until he turned off the engine. When he turned back around to refocus on his work, Kallus did a quick vanity check in the mirror, before rolling his eyes at himself and exited the vehicle post haste.

“Mr. Orrelios,” Kallus greeted, keeping his tone neutral. He needed to be as succinct and polite as possible. “I would like for you to accompany me to Paddock X and provide some insight on a matter of park security.”

“You got a funny way’a askin’ me for a second date, Kal.” The man stood up from his perch on an upturned pail and pulled a purple handkerchief from his back pocket to wipe at his greasy hands.

Kallus ignored the heat that immediately flushed to his cheeks. “Mr. Orrelios–”

“Zeb, my name’s Zeb.” He said it to him with condescending slowness.

“Zeb. Short for Garazeb, I know,” Kallus replied, his exasperation no longer in check. That didn’t take long. “To be clear, even if it was -and it isn’t- it would not be a second date because the first one was never finished–”

Zeb snorted. “We both definitely finished.”

“We didn’t even make it past the first course before we decided it wasn’t going to work!” Kallus argued, trying to pointedly ignore the memory of what Zeb had just spoken of.

Kallus had been an honorable man when they both had deemed the date unsalvageable, and had offered to drive Zeb back since he had not driven himself to the restaurant. They had continued to disagree on everything while on the way; everything except when Zeb had offered a round of no-strings-attached sex.

“I said it then, and I’ll say it again, I’m not a fan of Chilean sea bass,” Zeb said, breaking into Kallus’s drifting concentration. With a shrug of his shoulders and a smug look on his face, the bigger man gave him a long, leering look, almost like he was deliberately trying to make Kallus remember their tryst even more than he already was.

“And I’m not a fan of you choosing to wear board shorts on our date.” Kallus folded his arms across his chest; anything to keep them still. He had too strong a temptation to jump into action, his instincts almost always fight over flight.

“It’s Central America, Kal, it’s hot! Them girls next to us were in tube tops, weren’t they?” Zeb asked, and in truth Kallus didn’t want to admit that no, he hadn’t noticed the girls next to them, because he was too focused on him.

“That’s not the point–”

“Wasn’t it? A restaurant isn’t ‘fine dining’ when you also have people in fanny-packs carrying margaritas with lil umbrellas all around you.” Zeb mimed the description.

Kallus pinched the bridge of his nose and took in a long breath. "I'm not here to argue or reminisce over past mistakes. Can we focus? There's an attraction–"

"Is there now?" Zeb asked with a little too much sass. He had almost looked offended over the 'mistakes' comment.

"Not what I–" Kallus was getting very tired of being interrupted by this man. He always found a way to get under his skin; and that one night, all over it. Kallus cleared his throat. "Mr. Skywalker has asked for your consultation on a new attraction he hopes to open in three weeks."

There was a blessed pause as Zeb had finally seemed to take things seriously. He might have been infuriating at times, but he wasn't completely stupid or unprofessional, despite what his big, brawny appearance said otherwise. "Why me?"

"You've shown results with the velociraptors. Learning their behaviors, training them. Those results have garnered respect from the investors, especially when it comes to [what to expect from the unexpected / the impossible],” Kallus said, looking into the hazel-green of Zeb’s eyes. Zeb was matching his eye contact, his expression curious and calculating.

[add more]

“What, exactly, have they been cookin’ up in that lab of theirs?”

“Come with me and find out.”

“Hm, alright,” Zeb answered after a long pause. He made no move to prepare, however, and Kallus flicked his eyes up and down at the other man’s appearance: sweat stained shirt open down his chest, hands still covered in grime.

“You might want to consider changing,” Kallus started with a patronizing sneer, “I hear the animals are very sensitive to smell.”

Zeb smirked at him. Then without hesitation, the man was removing his shirt and tossing it over his shoulder.

Kallus’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened in an aborted protest. Zeb was all but glistening in the midday sun, his muscles defined with a soft sheen of sweat, dark curls of hair thicker than he remembered, and his tattoo stripes across his shoulders and upper arms on full display.

When Kallus found Zeb’s eyes again, he knew he had been caught in his blatant staring, the smirk was bigger now.

“I’ll be in the car,” Kallus managed to say, before walking on the suddenly very unstable ground back to his vehicle, not daring to look back. He heard the door to Zeb’s bungalow creak open just as he was mashing repeatedly on his key fob.