2010.

It was hot, dry, and hadn't rained for weeks.

To Nell Kirkwood it was a beautiful day.

The wild animal reservation had experienced no hiccups in their daily procedures, which was always a good sign. Now it was the best time of the day, when she took her notebook and her dog and just observed.

"Home base, I'm heading out. Will most likely be staying central to the watering hole and following the elephants. Over." She radioed in to the "control station", if it could really be called that. It was the only room in the small shacks on the reserve that housed computers, a radio, and air conditioning.

"Alright, let us know if you need us. Over." Blake, the control room operator wired back.

Nell slapped on her safari hat. "Tuck!" she whistled, the Basenji trotting up to the worn Jeep and leaping in to his favorite spot in the passenger seat.

"We're going to go see the elephants today buddy!" she said excitedly, and Tuck crooned in response.

The ride to the reserve's large watering hole blasted hot air into her face but Nell and Tuck both hung their heads out of the car in the same excited manner, looking forward to their day.

Nell parked a ways from the watering hole. She could feel the Kenyan sun beat down on her back and a bead of sweat trickled down the center of her forehead. Mopping the bead with a cloth, she whistled at Tuck.

"Stay close boy." She tossed him a treat, which he swallowed whole and warbled in happiness, rubbing up against her legs. Pulling a few bales of dried grass out of her trunk, she trudged towards the epicenter of activity.

She could see the baby elephants in the shallow water, spraying mud on each other to keep their leathery skin cool in the dry heat. The mommas kept a close eye on them, standing around the watering hole. A few birds perched on the spines of the magnificent creatures, but they didn't mind. Nell took out her notebook, scrawling a few illegible notes before approaching the herd.

"Hello." Nell crooned carefully, approaching them carefully. They seemed to recognize her and let out a snort of some kind. She dropped the bales of grass and sliced the tie, letting it fall to the ground. The herd recognized the treat and began to lumber towards her, the mother elephants letting the calves eat first.

She sat in a relatively shady spot with Tuck, watching the elephants eat and play. The reserve couldn't afford trackers, they only tagged the animals that they were keeping an eye on, so it was very lucky that she was able to find the elephants quickly. It was a hot, dry day, however, and the massive animals usually favored the water.

After they had eaten, she got up to say hello closer in person.

"Hellllloooo Momma" She said to the biggest female, stroking her trunk gently. The elephant snorted in response and plopped her trunk on Nell's shoulder, causing the young woman to giggle.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see movement. Rhinos were in the distance, lumbering towards the watering hole.

"No fucking way." Nell whispered, and she raced to her bag to grab her camera. The Rhinoceros herd was much, much smaller than any other group of animals the reserve followed because they had been poached to near extinction. They hadn't been seen for weeks, even with relative monitoring of the watering hole.

"This is control. Nell, you have a visitor. A Simon Masrani. Over." The radio beeped.

"This is Nell. Masrani? As in Masrani Corporation? Why is the Jurassic Park guy here? Over."

"No idea, but he wants to talk to you. Over."

"Well, you'll have to bring him here or he'll have to wait. I just spotted the rhinos. I'm at the watering hole. Over."

"Ten-four. We'll bring him out. Over."

Nell stashed the radio back on her belt and lifted her camera to snap photos of the slowly arriving rhinoceros herd.

It was a small group, with three calves and maybe two mothers, more likely one mother and one recent adult.

They were almost the size of the elephants, but their armored skin and pointed horns made up for their slightly smaller size.

The babies lumbered over to the watering pool slowly, splashing in the water to cool down.

Nell stood back, clicking away at her camera and taking as many notes as she could one handedly.

The baby rhinos toddled up to the baby elephants that were on the other side of the watering hole and Nell immediately tensed.

Putting the camera back in her bag, she crouched down. Tuck, noticing something was wrong, came up and nuzzled her ear.

"Go back to the car boy." She whispered and he complied, racing back to the Jeep. He knew better than to stick around if it seemed like a dangerous fight with these animals.

The elephant and rhino babies played well together, but the second something seemed off the mommas could fight, and that would get dirty considering these were animals large enough and strong enough to have no real predator in the wild.

Suddenly, it seemed like one of the baby rhinos played a little too close to the baby elephants. The biggest elephant, the leader, reared back, fearing aggression towards her herd.

"Shit shit shit shit!" Nell watched horrified as the mother rhino responded to the aggression from the elephants, and the two mothers stamped the ground, looking at each other viciously. Her heart pounded and she froze.

Shaking herself out of it, hearing her heart pound in her ears, she pulled the radio out.

"Control I have a possible violent fight breaking out between the rhinos and the elephants. I need back up, over."

"We'll get to you as soon as we can Nell, over."

Nell scrambled back to her Jeep and grabbed her rifle, loading it up with drugged darts. As a second thought she also grabbed another bale of dried grass.

Moving quickly, she ran back to the watering hole. The massive animals were inching towards each other, stomping and scuffling. They began to circle each other, which was a bad sign.

She ran to the top of the watering hole and sliced the bales again.

"Hey!" She said to the other animals that were in the herd, "Come get a snack!" the calves separated themselves from the herd, excited for the food. She grabbed half of the bale, and caught the attention of the rhino babies, separating them from the elephants. The other adults who weren't fighting also moved away from their group to eat the grass. Nell backed up from the other animals so as not to frighten them.

Planting her leg on a rock she leaned down and took aim, firing two darts at each animal. Both the rhinoceros and the elephant wobbled a little, but didn't fall down. Two darts couldn't take down mammals that weighed more than an eighteen wheeler.

But it did slow them down. They were suddenly sluggish, and no longer in the mood to fight. Almost dizzily, the two turned from each other and separated to the other sides of the watering hole. After a few minutes of eating the grass and cooling off the rhinoceros herd began to leave the hole.

Nell could hear slow clapping behind her and she turned to see Iris, one of the reserve's managers, and a handsome, well dressed Indian man, who had been the one clapping.

Her hands loosened their hold on the rifle and slung it over her shoulder as she made her way to the two people.

"I've heard much about you, Doctor Kirkwood, but I must say it was a pleasure to see you in action."

Nell's eyebrows quirked up. "You saw that?" She gestured back to the watering hole casually. "Well, we're lucky they were distracted by the sleeping darts. There's no way to physically intervene with animals that big, your only hope is distraction."

The man nodded, his mouth settling into a smile. "Now why didn't the darts make them go to sleep?"

Nell laughed.

"Those animals weigh upwards of two tons. The fully grown elephants even more. It would take more than all the ketamine we have on hand to actually put them to sleep. It was just a distraction."

"You're very knowledgeable Doctor Kirkwood." Nell glanced at Iris, who shrugged back.

"Alright, I know you're Simon Masrani. Let's cut the bullshit – what are you doing here?"

Simon smiled. "I wanted to speak to you about possible employment opportunities." Nell shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I'm pretty happy with my employment now, thanks."

"Ah, but Doctor Kirkwood, you haven't even heard me out yet." Nell examined him, his eye protected by sunglasses that made it almost impossible to read him. "At least let me tell you my offer." His words dripped with charm.

Nell sighed. Tuck crooned at her from the passenger seat of the Jeep. She walked over, putting the rifle in the trunk and tossing her dog a treat.

"Alright, but let's do this back at base. I need a drink and I think Tuck does too."

Simon nodded. "Of course. Is this your dog?" He walked up to Tuck, who stiffened.

"Offer him your hand to sniff. He doesn't like strangers." Simon offered Tuck his hand, and the basenji sniffed it before allowing the man to pet him.

"I'll take Mr. Masrani back to base." Iris said, putting her sunglasses on. Nell nodded, adjusting her hat.

What the hell does he have to say to me?

It was in the mess hall that Nell met Mr. Masrani again. Iris told her to call her if needed, giving her a look that said not to mess things up with the important man.

Tuck was at her side, chewing on a bone while Nell nursed a beer from her horde of alcohol. It was limited out in the middle of nowhere when most supplies drops were to get them food. Mr. Masrani arrived, looking as crisp and clean as he did out in the grassland reserve, not a speck of dust on him.

How does he do it?

"So, you mentioned you knew me, Doctor."

"Of course, everyone knows about the grand reopening of Jurassic Park. Just because I've been out in the middle of nowhere for almost five years doesn't mean I haven't heard anything."

Simon chuckled. "It's Jurassic World, please. We try to avoid association with the failed incarnation, seeing as we have been operating well for five years now."

Nell nodded. "Yes of course."

He looked down at Tuck, grimacing. "Is he… eating a raw bone?" The basenji looked up from his bone, panting happily.

Nell snorted.

"Of course. What else could he get out here? Purina?"

"Yes. My apologies." They sat in silence for a moment.

"Why'd you come all the way out here to speak to me? You're a long ways from your park, Mr. Masrani." Nell asked, ripping the label off of her beer bottle.

"As I mentioned before, I have an employment opportunity for you," he said smoothly, taking of his sunglasses and looking her square in the eye. "I recently had to let my Herbivore Division Manager go as she proved that she could not manage in a crisis."

Nell raised an eyebrow, dubious. "Crisis?"

"Our Brachiosaurus herd got into a fight with each other and she failed to manage the situation. One of them ended up getting injured and has been in recovery for weeks now." He paused, folding his hands on the table. "These are million dollar assets, Doctor Kirkwood. We can't have any of them hurt so badly that they are out of commission."

"Not only that, but they're living beings too." Nell answered sarcastically at his use of the word "asset", but he ignored her.

"Of course." He paused to take a drink of water. "I wish to replace her with someone who knows how to handle animals in crisis. I've read about your previous work."

Nell stiffened, feeling her back tighten at his words. "And what did you think?" She gritted out. Tuck whined, noticing her stress.

"I think you handled yourself wisely, Nell – may I call you Nell?" He barreled through her even answering yes or no. "You were not dealt the best hand with the situation. And today, you proved yourself again to think on your feet. You understand animals, Nell. I want you to work for me."

"What if I want to stay here? What If I prefer animals that actually should be alive instead of walking proof of scientific madness?" Nell tilted her head, folding her arms across her body.

Mr. Masrani chuckled. "Of course," he leaned back, obviously still in control of the situation. "I can sweeten the pot for you."

Nell said nothing, only raising an eyebrow.

"This… reserve you love so much, is losing money, is it not?" He motioned around to the poorly taken care of tent, the dingy mess hall, all ear markers of low funds. "The government of Kenya doesn't want to give you money, and the United States doesn't care about this place with only one of its citizens working here." He smiled, baring his teeth in a way Nell recognized as sly. This man didn't become one of the richest men in the world by being nice.

"Yes, we are pretty low on money."

"I can help with that." He smiled. "If you come to work for me as Director of the Herbivore Division at Jurassic World, I will write a check for… oh, ten thousand? One hundred thousand? One million? Whatever you want. To this reserve to do with what they wish. It's all a drop in the bucket of Masrani Corporations."

Nell bounced her foot up and down, one hand on Tuck to keep him calm and another on her beer bottle.

One million dollars could pay for this reserve for a long time.

"You're willing to pay that much money to hire me?" She muttered in disbelief.

Masrani smiled, knowing he had hooked her. "Your work speaks for itself, Doctor Kirkwood. I especially loved your reports on the lionesses-"

"Let's be clear." Nell stopped him. "I will be working with herbivores only. I am not working with carnivores.

"Of course." Mr. Masrani complied. "You will be with mostly herbivores in person. We may ask you to consult on other types of dinosaur training and habitats, however…"

"Herbivores only." Nell gritted through her teeth. "no carnivores."

"Your dog is a carnivore." Masrani stated simply.

"My dog is not a dinosaur, Mr. Masrani."

Nell paused, looking again at her beer bottle.

"I will come work for you if you donate to the reserve, but I have stipulations. One," She held up a finger, "You pay and take care of my relocation."

"Of course – "

"I'm not done. Two, I am in the field at all times. This "Manager" position sounds awfully full of paperwork and I will not be behind a desk. Three, all my reports and research are my own, if I choose to publish it."

"We'll have to make sure you do not breach any forms of NDAs, but of course."

"And four," She held up a fourth finger, and glanced lovingly at Tuck who had gone back to gnawing on his bone. "I bring my dog. He gets to go everywhere with me."

Masrani nodded. "I'll make sure my right hand woman, Ms. Dearing, writes him into your insurance."

Nell smiled. "Then you have a deal." She shook hands with him.

"Can you start next month? That gives you time to get organized and relocate to Isla Nublar."

"Sure."

"Wonderful." He stood up, no longer needing her company as he had gotten what he wanted. "I'll write the check before I leave, and I must get going." Buttoning the front of his white linen suit jacket, he nodded at her.

"Welcome to the Jurassic World team, Doctor Kirkwood."