Chapter Text
Hayden
I liked these sessions so much it made my hands hurt. The office was really basic, warm colors should be soothing, but I didn’t believe in that shit. There were two couches, not really facing each other, but at a slight angle. Nearest to my couch, a side table had Kleenex wipes if I needed, which was never the case, not in front of a therapist.
Speaking of her, she was in her 40s, looking at me expectantly.
“It’s been a while since we last spoke.” Mrs. Brown spoke with a gentle tone, as always.
“My bad.” I shrunk, guilty for canceling at the last minute.
“It happens.” She offered me a smile. “So, have you had any episodes since we last saw each other?”
Episodes… a fancy way of saying flashbacks. I had them at random, part of the PTSD diagnosis. They were always about Hawkes. The feeling of being choked… the pain… his laughter… usually lasted a few seconds like a flash before my eyes, but sometimes it lasted longer like I was trapped back at that moment.
I groaned, remembering the flashback that made me late to class yesterday. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“No worries, we don’t need to. So, what about the dream journal, have you been keeping it?”
Again, I shrunk, averting my gaze. It’s not that I hadn’t, well I hadn’t, but it was because the nightmares were generally the same. Writing about it wasn’t going to help. I was busy, college, Camp Fam, friends… I was on my exams week and managed to make time for therapy, that was a win already.
Mrs. Brown saw right through me with her expression, understanding but slightly disappointing. It really made me want to look away.
“How are the nightmares?” She went on.
“Not as frequent.”
“That’s good.” She crossed her legs. “And the dream journal?”
“Eh… they’re all the same.”
“They don’t seem to be the same recurring dream from what you told me.”
I shrugged. “Same dream, different people in it. So, basically the same.”
“Want to tell me about the last one?”
I took a breath, leaning back on her couch. “I was back on Nublar.” I scoffed. “I’m always back on Nublar. Yaz and I are running, not from something or at something, just running. It’s nice, the weather is good, it is early morning so it’s chilly. The grass in the morning always gets that dew that makes everything sparkle. Yaz is laughing, ‘cause I slipped on the wet grass.” I smiled. “Anyways, we’re running. She has a lead on me, always the fastest one. I can’t keep up. It’s fun, even though she has a full five seconds on me. That’s when I realize something is wrong. There’s a hoarse growl, a shadow on the corner of my eyes. It’s like all the colors became muted, like it’s twilight all the sudden.” A sting of pain from my hands almost made me stop, but I continued. “I try to yell at her, to get her attention, but I can’t, my lungs won’t let me. That’s when the shadow lunges at her. I run faster, but it’s like I’m on a treadmill. The Scorpios has its teeth deep into her skin and she’s screaming and it’s so fucking loud, her screams, the hybrid’s slashing and biting. She cries for me, but I’m still on the treadmill, I can’t get to her.” Remembering made my heart squeeze painfully in my chest, pressure behind my eyes, prompting me to cry just like I had in my dream.
“I never get to them. And there’s so much blood, the grass turned crimson, the dew mixing up with the blood. She stopped moving by now. The hoarse growl turns into a snarl, but much more human. The Scorpios is not the Scorpios anymore, it’s Hawkes. Standing over my friend with that smile of his.” Piercing, red eyes looking at me, laughing at me as I yell for Yasmina, but I knew she was dead. Nobody survives losing that much blood. Her face’s unrecognizable by now. Gashes deep in her chest, gut open and limbs contorted. My whole-body shivers, bringing me back to the couch I was sitting on. “Anyway, that’s when I wake up.”
The Kleenex ever so tempting near me, but I pushed the tears down. I wasn’t crying.
“You’re clenching your fists.” Mrs. Brown pointed out, voice soothing.
I glanced down, knuckles white and nails deep in my skin. ‘Oh, so that’s why it hurts.’ I unclenched my fists, grabbing some wipes to clean the little blood. I didn’t think the blood bothered anymore, not that I went around to test it. If therapy was good for something, it was that. Not that I’d ever confess to that out loud. Supposedly my aversion to blood in my hands had to do with my guilt. ‘Duh.’ But I managed to work through that.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve been meaning to cut my nails…” I trailed it off. Mrs. Brown only looked at me expectantly. “But that’s not the problem, is it?”
“You don’t go around and stop fearing things.”
“Then why am I here?”
She smiled, knowingly. “Fear is a normal human reaction, while emotions are rather illogical, we can usually make sense of the reason behind it. The fear of darkness for example, when the primitive man went out at nighttime, they usually didn’t make it back, hence the fear of the dark. When fire was discovered, it surely helped, but people still remembered when they used to suffer in the dark. In the end, fear keeps us alive, keeps us from going in the dark, from poking the bear, but we can’t let it be crippling.”
“I’m not crippled.” I snapped back.
“Not in the sense you think, you’re not, Hayden. My point is, you shouldn’t ignore it. Sometimes naming your fear out loud helps.”
I scoffed. “What? Do you want me to just say it?”
“It’s the first step, but by naming it you can take steps to overcome it.”
I paused, words flashing across my mind, but none seemed the correct one.
“Worthlessness.” I tried it out, then rolled my eyes, that wasn’t quite it either. Not to mention it felt stupid. “This is bullshit. Fear of being worthless while my friends get hurt, fear of letting them down for not doing anything, of failing them. It’s pretty logical don’t you think? Of course my lame ass fear would be because of what happened in the monorail. I already know that!”
‘It always goes back to that.’
“That’s good.” She smiled as if she knew more she was letting on. “It’s a good start.”
I groaned. ‘I really hate that smile.’
Years of doing therapy and that shit still didn’t make sense. The rest of the session wasn’t that bad, she seemed satisfied with whatever progress we made, so she settled to talk about the dream and insisted on me keeping a dream journal.
Mrs. Brown’s place was miles away from my university and dorm, that was one of the reasons I chose her. I get to drive around. I usually took the long way home, feeling the air whipping at me as I accelerated on my bike. It was a sports bike, a black Ducati with details in gold. It was stupid fast and I had to take classes to know how to drive it properly. My mom thought I had a death wish and ordered to give it back, but you don’t really give presents back.
Kenji liked to spoil me like that. I have long stopped feeling bad for accepting his gifts, like he said, it was his dad’s money, not his. That and his dad liked me a lot too. Unfortunately for me, Kenji had learned to drive properly; I still teased him, though. He liked cars, and I liked riding with him behind me. Riding alone made me miss him so much. Last time we rode together was months ago, ‘cause I was usually the one heading out for Chicago.
So, today I opted for the long way home, speeding in between cars and feeling the wind. It was nice to feel adrenaline this way, not because I was being chased by dinosaurs in a God forsaken island, had to fight to survive, for food and for shelter. It made me feel free.
…
Thursday, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I just left my social studies exam, to find my friends outside. Back at the first day of university, it reminded me of the first day of middle school, or high school for that matter. A bunch of kids in an unfamiliar place, trying to make friends. Me and my friends, Rachel and Mary bonded over looking for the library, like one normally did.
“How are you guys feeling about the exam?” I asked. “It was easier than I thought.”
“A walk in the park.” Mary answered, grinning. Her smile always made it look like she was closing her eyes. She honestly reminded me of a small teddy bear, every day she had a new oversized sweatshirt, it didn’t matter the weather.
“Yeah, it was all textbook.” Rachel replied, she towered over me with her platform boots and her long blond hair. She could totally pass as a punk rock singer. “What did you get for ten?”
“C.”
“A.” I said together with Mary. “Oh. What about number 15? I was torn between C and E.”
“That was a tricky one.” She paused, as if recalling the answer. “I think I went for E.”
“Same.” Rachel and Mary high-fived.
I just nodded and smiled. ‘I put C. Shit.’
The conversation went on as my mood turned gloom. Mary and Rachel had very similar answers. I didn’t know how much they had studied for this exam, but I didn’t like my chances.
“You joining us for lunch?” Rachel smiled, invitingly.
I checked the time on my phone. “Um… maybe next time. I need to run by my dorm.” That and I couldn’t bear spending lunch discussing the finals.
“If you change your mind, just text us and we’ll save you a seat.” Mary said.
I waved them goodbye as they disappeared into the hallways.
I picked up my pace, my dorm was a bit far from my current building. UC Berkeley was old, but beautiful. White buildings with huge windows, some had Greek columns and arches to decorate. There were wide paths for us to walk from one building to the other, with well-kept grass all over. I still got lost, but I tried to use a tall clock tower for reference.
In my dorm, I locked eyes with the notebook I had come to pick up, but I turned on the TV for background noise instead, then I slumped face down into my bed.
My dorm wasn’t much, a single bed, desk, closet and a huge window. The curtains were closed, keeping the Californian sun out of the room. The space was small and cramped with my things. The TV, a minifridge and a portable air conditioner, all gifts from Kenji. He was the one who convinced me to come to university in the first place. Studying in Berkeley University was always my mom’s dream since she went here, so I figured I could at least do that for her.
I was 19 years old and the first one of the seven of us to grow out of high school. Kenji was waiting on his university letters and Yasmina was going to enter her last year of high school, even though she was 18 already. We all had lost half of a school year, some were able to stay in their grades, others had to restart the year. In my case, it was the former and now I was in university. On the plus side, Darius and Ben lived just a few hours away. Kenji lived in Chicago with his dad. It was far, but when your parent is stupid rich and you have a private jet, distances didn’t matter much. We made it work.
Summer break was coming, it was just a finals’ week away, and I couldn’t wait for the next Camp Fam reunion.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I groaned as I pulled it out. A single text message popped on the screen.
‘How was the exam?’ From Kenji.
‘Bad.’ I replied, not bothering to elaborate.
Next thing I know. Kenji’s picture came up. Video call.
I quickly sat up, fixing my hair and straightening my clothes. I still liked to play with my hair color; right now, my shoulder length hair was dark blue, almost black. I usually dressed comfy for classes, wide jeans and my favorite Blink-182 graphic tee. Of course, I couldn’t not wear my new necklace, another present from Kenji. Silver with a black flower pendant.
I picked up the call and a concerned Kenji faced me. “What do you mean ‘bad’? You studied so hard for it.” Kenji was letting his hair grow and the beard was gone (I might’ve blackmailed him on that one). Even if Kenji was of Japanese descent, he looked like one of those K-pop artists with his hair parted in the middle, and it looked very handsome.
“Yeah, I mean at first I thought I went okay…”
Kenji was showing just his face on the screen, but I recognized the background as his living room. White leather sofa with mahogany shelves full of books, boat models and some pieces of art decorating.
“Did you sleep well the night before? Drink water? Did you have breakfast?” He shot one question after the other, which made me smile at how worried he could get. “You know it’s the most important meal of the day.”
“Yes, yes and yes, but I don’t know about ‘most important’. People who say that clearly never had dinner before.”
“And did you answer all the questions? You gotta look for the questions on the back. And I speak from experience.” He nodded, knowingly.
I chuckled. “I answered everything, don’t worry. I just have a bad feeling.”
“I know you crushed it, Hays.”
“I hope so.” I sighed, sinking into the cushion on my bed. “But how about you? How’s it going with your dad?”
“I’m so excited, you don’t even know.” He beamed, again making me smile. “Like, I haven’t really started yet, but I got to meet the guys from his office, they are so cool.”
“Do you have to wear a suit?” I leaned in. I discovered I had a thing for men in suits when I was caught off guard by one of Kenji’s Instagram posts. Well, maybe I just had a thing for Kenji.
He grinned, knowing very well how I felt about it. “It’s mandatory.”
“I won’t forgive you if you don’t send a pic. Seriously.”
“You want to see me in a suit that bad?” His voice was low, teasing.
I just nodded. “In a suit and in person, preferably.”
“In person, yeah? Any particular reason why?”
“So, I can kiss that smirk off of your face.”
Kenji’s smirk grew. “Yeah? And what if I was wearing one right now.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’d say it is unfair you haven’t shown me already.”
“I have that shirt you gave me.” Kenji distanced himself from the camera, framing his torso where I could see him in a gray suit, slightly unbuttoned black shirt underneath, no tie.
I sucked my breath, regretting us being thousands of miles apart. “Shit, you can’t go to work with that.”
“Why not?” He laughed.
“It’s too hot for a workplace, HR will have your ass.”
“It’s not for work, I’m going to lunch with some friends to a fancy place. I’d take you there next time you’re here, but I know it’s not your scene.”
I grinned. “It is if I get to see you in a suit.”
“That easy?” His voice was teasing again.
I shrugged. “I’m just not eating gold with my food, never again.”
“If anything, we can go for fries later.”
“Deal.” We both smiled.
“So, have you had your lunch yet? Or are you spending all your lunch break talking with your handsome boyfriend?”
“Not yet, I’ll take a sandwich to go.” I frowned as he repositioned his phone so only his face was visible again. “No, no, no. What are you doing? Full body view, please. Your house has a thousand mirrors, go find one.”
“So bossy.”
“Please.” I quickly added, but he was already on the move, going upstairs.
“What are you planning for the weekend? Today I’m busy, but I could drop by Saturday.” Kenji said.
I hesitated. “There’s a party tomorrow. I was thinking of going.”
“You got invited to a party?” I sensed the tension on his voice.
“It’s not really an invitation type of party, pretty much if you bring booze, you’re in.” I tried to brush it off. “My friends are going so, yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Girl friends.” I clarified.
“Ah.” He nodded, seemingly forgetting about showing me the suit. Not that it mattered anymore. I knew he was upset and he had the right to be jealous but-
“It’s just a party.”
His eyes were suspicious. “I thought you didn’t like crowded places.”
“You’re not wrong, but parties are the exception, mostly because you are with your friends, but you know, what’s university without a party or two.” I laughed it off, but his face hardened as soon as the words left my mouth.
“I wouldn’t want you missing out on those experiences.” His voice was dry.
“Kenji, that’s not what I meant, you know that.” I pleaded, but he remained silent. “I want to have those experiences with you .”
He pursed his lips. “I’m not there.”
I was about to reply when a voice called Kenji on his side of the call. Kenji dismissed the person and returned his attention to me.
That gave me time to take a deep breath. “I know, but I can’t just not leave my dorm because you’re not here. We’ve talked about this.” Over and over again. Long-distance relationships were hard, even more so when I seemed like Kenji didn’t trust me. I never complained when he went out with his friends, why could he do the same for me? It pained that he thought I could hurt him like that.
“I know.” Kenji ran his fingers through his long hair, sounding defeated. “It’s just… I worry.”
“You trust me, don’t you?”
“I do.” He said without hesitation, which made me give him a small smile.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Risking sounding like a parent, I don’t- I just don’t trust the people around you.” He said, but it didn’t come out very honest. He said he trusted me, but every time it was the same conversation.
“If anyone tries something, I’ll break their face.”
That seemed to lighten his mood. “I bet you will.” The voice called Kenji again and he frowned at that. “Look Hays, I gotta go. My car is here.”
“Oh, okay. So, are you coming Saturday?”
“Do you want me to?” He asked, uncertain.
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll see what I can do.” Kenji opened a smile.
I smiled back. “I won’t keep you then, have a great lunch, Kenji. Love you.”
“Love you too.” He hung up.
I sighed as I laid in my bed with the phone resting against my chest. I yearned for the day Kenji would move closer to the west coast. His dad wanted him to go to an Ivy League, but Kenji wanted Stanford. It was prestigious enough to please his dad and close to me. And his dad had the money and influence to make that happen. The question remained if he wanted to.
…
I remained the rest of my lunch break in my bed, scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, when a word pulled me out of my phone. Nublar. I turned up the volume of the TV.
A British blond woman sat behind a big table staring straight into the camera. “…earthquakes were felt on the coast of Costa Rica over the past months, however the activity showed great increase this week. While seismic activity is common in the area, this is the first evidence of activity from the volcano in Isla Nublar. Jackson has the latest.”
The camera switched to a middle-aged white man with a sunburn. He was clearly in front of a green screen, because behind him, pictures of people running and evacuating a city were seen. “On Tuesday, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake originated on the Isla Nublar, west of Costa Rica, followed by a 6.6 quake on Wednesday and a 7.1 today. Tsunami alerts were triggered across the Pacific and sent residents fleeing along the west coast of Costa Rica.” Pictures of the island as I knew flashed on the screen, mountains covered in green, rocky cliffs, rivers and waterfalls, but then a new image came up, a lot of smoke coming out of the lone mountain on the north of the island.
“Isla Nublar sits on the Ring of Fire of the Pacific, an area prone to seismic activity. Volcanologists previously deemed Mt. Sibo as inactive, but this was clearly proven incorrect over the past months.” The image panned closer. “It is still unsure if or when it will erupt, specialists are still working on it, but the matter at hand, Phillipa, is what about the dinosaurs left behind on that island after the Jurassic World incident? I got word that the United Nations will do an emergency meeting regarding the specimens still alive on the island. We will report as the situation develops. Back to you Phillipa.”
The initial woman came into frame again and I couldn’t stop staring at the TV, my heart beating fast. There was a volcano on Nublar? Who the hell thought it was a good idea to build a dinosaur’s park on top of a volcano? What about the dinosaurs? What about Bumpy?
The news wasn’t even done with the report when my phone lit up with our group video call. ‘Camp Fam’ was written on the screen.
I picked up the call right away. And this was the most chaotic video call we had ever had, everybody was talking over each other.
“Guys, guys, guys…” Ben’s voice was the first one to come through.
“Are you seeing this?” Kenji asked.
“Y’all…” Sammy cried.
“It’s on every channel.” Darius said.
“A fucking volcano?” I glanced at the TV.
“This can’t be real.” Yasmina shook her head.
“Damn, I can’t even…” Brooklynn groaned. “Look at this Phillipa lady, she’s, like, bored talking about it.”
Everyone was on their little square trying to talk as we watched the news together, everybody from their corner of the US. Camp Fam had grown up so much in two years. Kenji was in what seemed to be a bathroom, clearly his lunch got interrupted. Ben looked to be in his room, he had let his hair grow more even than Kenji, and now Ben also had a shallow beard on his chin, we liked to tease him that he looked like a hipster college student still in high school. Darius looked much the same, just a new haircut, a kinda square with a fade. Sammy and Yasmina were exactly the same, and Brooklynn was the one who changed the most. She still had her pink hair, but it was cut short on a pixie cut; it made her look more mature, and it really suited her.
“Do you think the UN will do something about it?” Kenji said.
“They have to.” Darius seemed confident.
Yasmina rolled her eyes. “What will a bunch of white old men do? I wonder…”
“And who builds a park on a volcano?” I wanted to facepalm myself.
“How much time do they have?”
“It’s all getting destroyed.” Sammy sniffed.
“The P-house.”
“Camp too.”
“The whole island.”
“The dinosaurs.”
“Bumpy…” Ben had his head in his hands, gripping his hair.
“What are we gonna do, fam?” Sammy asked.
“What can we do?” I shook my head. “It’s a volcano.”
“We could protest, then maybe the UN will do something.” Darius suggested. “Rescue the dinosaurs.”
“DPG could help.” Yasmina chirped in. And maybe she was right, the Dinosaur Protection Group was very vocal about the dinosaur rights, I bet they wouldn’t sit and watch.
Darius smiled. “Yeah B., you’re friends with them, ask for help.”
Brooklynn fixed her hair. “Eh, I’d say ‘acquaintances’ and they are already on it, I’m sure.”
“I’m doing a video about it, they can’t just let the dinosaurs go extinct again.” Darius crossed his arms, speaking as if he was in one of his Youtube videos. Now he was the group’s internet sensation with his channel about dinosaurs. “It was a major breakthrough in science, they need to be preserved. I’m sure if we come together, we can do something. Help them.”
“The breakthrough is gonna become barbecue, bro.”
“Kenji…” I said through my clenched jaw.
“Oh, right.” He scratched his neck.
Ben sighed. “Bumpy is there, I left her behind.”
“It was the right call at the time, Ben. You know that.” I insisted.
“Doesn’t change the fact that in a few days she’ll be dead.” Ben glanced away from the phone, probably to the TV in his room. “They don’t even talk like they are real living beings… specimens…”
It was frustrating how nonchalant the journalist was being about it, of how the dinosaurs were going to be killed by a volcano. Correction: dinosaur. I couldn’t care less about all those animals, Bumpy’s future was the only one that made my stomach turn.
“These types of journalists are vultures.” Brooklynn said. “I’m gonna look into it, no way someone didn’t know Mt. Sibo was active. And a lot of people have lots of money invested on those dinos, I’m sure they won’t be happy about it.” Everyone nodded along. “And Kenji, does your father still have contacts with the Masrani Corporation, they might know something.” As usual, she already had an angle to the story to explore as an amateur Investigative Journalist, and she usually didn’t miss.
“Yeah, I’ll ask, B.”
“I’ll have to reach out to some contacts…”
“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” I said.
Darius nodded. “We should wait for the UN to say the final word.” I almost chuckled out loud, it was a weird feeling having Darius agreeing with me.
“We need to do something!” Ben practically yelled. By the looks of it, he was a second away from throwing the phone into the TV.
“There’s nothing to do, Camp Fam. I know Bumpy is…” Sammy’s voice cracked. “She’s Bumpy, we all loved her, but-” Sammy sobbed.
“It’s okay, Sammy.” Yasmina said softly, looking like she wanted to be there next to her.
I know that everybody liked Bumpy, but for Ben it was different. Not even I was that close to the little Ankylo. And he was not taking it lightly. I wasn’t doing much better to be honest, I had to take a deep breath and count to ten. Just to think we left Bumpy behind, I didn’t even say goodbye, and now she was going to be gone, for good. If I could, I’d dunk the whole ocean on the fucking volcano… okay maybe count to fifty.
The video call didn’t last long since there was no new information, the news only kept repeating stuff. Also, it was Thursday morning, everyone was busy with their lives. It wasn’t very productive, but at least we got to vent. Brooklynn had her conspiracy theories as always, but we learned not to doubt her. I was worried about Ben, he was taking it the hardest. I guess I wasn’t that far behind, as Kenji was quick to promise to call me tonight.
The day couldn’t get any worse, so I decided to ditch my class and go get a coffee. I didn’t have the mental capacity to sit and listen to Mr. Jenkins lecturing about bioorganic compounds. The looks I got on campus were almost as bad as the ones I got when I went back to high school. I guess it’s not normal to come back from the dead. Pity, sadness, curiosity and even some ‘Hey, how psyched are you for the firework show?’ Like it was a great party that Bumpy was going die to a volcano. I wanted to punch every single person in front of me, but I settled for ignoring them all.
I was wandering aimlessly in the campus, my idea of getting a coffee all forgotten when I found myself in a green area surrounded by huge Eucalyptus trees. Ever since Nublar, I have missed being in nature, the trees here were far from the tropical ones they had on the island, but it smelled nice.
I was sitting on a bench when a Starbucks cup showed up in front of me. I frowned, looking up to find my friend holding the coffee.
“You look like you need this, Hays.”
“So, you skipped work to bring me coffee?” I chuckled, accepting the drink.
“I’m on my break.”
“You’re the best, Zia.” I smiled brightly.
She always reminded me of Brooklynn in a way. She was way older than me, in her 20s, but she was shorter. She’s Latina and clearly cuts and styles her own short brown hair, it was pretty, but a bit messy. She was wearing the boring clothes she had to use as a Starbucks’ barista, but she had a styled varsity jacket on top.
“Not a problem.” She slumped next to me. “I saw the news, so I figured I’d find you here.”
“Yeah, not feeling like going to class.”
“Classes are overrated, the university only wants to suck the money out of you with useless courses.” I hummed in agreement as I took a sip of my coffee. “So, how are you doing with all this? It’s pretty sad.”
I scoffed. “Sad?”
“Animals dying…” Zia said. ‘There it is her Greenpeace mentality coming through.’ I didn’t know why she didn’t join DPG already.
“Dinosaurs.” I corrected her.
“Still are animals.” She fixed her glasses.
I shrugged. “Couldn’t care less.” I was not in the mood to admit to other people that actually I cared, just about Bumpy, but I did. Camp Fam understood and I’m sure the n°1 DPG fan would too, but I just wasn’t in the mood to explain myself.
“I get it.” Her voice was more serious than normal, but I didn’t bat an eye, she always got like that about dinosaurs. Not that the topic came up much, she was practically the only person that didn’t bring it up. I guess that’s why we became friends in the first place. Well, today it was impossible not to talk about that, though. “I’m glad that I found you today, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
My phone beeped; my alarm was letting me know I had 15 minutes to get to my next class. “So, you didn’t walk from your job just to give me coffee? And here I thought you were being nice.” I grinned.
“It’s serious…” Her tone didn’t sound too promising, but I really couldn’t afford to miss this class. “I need to talk to you.”
“I gotta run or I’ll be late.” I was already up, calculating if I had to actually run to make it. “But text me and we can meet up.”
“Wait. It’s too important to-”
‘Shit, I have 14 minutes now.’
“Thanks for the coffee!” I took off. “Later!”
“Yeah, later…” Zia’s voice faded as I ran off.
Notes:
You didn’t really think I’d let Bumpy die to a volcano, now did ya?
Chapter 2: Gates of Change
Summary:
Bumpy’s fate is decided.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
One of the best things about university was that my dorm was close to the sports facility. I just had a very intense solo training session, all that I needed to clear my head from yesterday’s events. After taking a shower, I met my friends for a morning coffee at Starbucks.
I greeted the barista, an older guy with an impeccable beard. “Hey Chris, is Zia working today?” I came here way too often and usually she was on the clock.
“Girl, I’m covering for her. She bailed us last minute, when you see her, tell her she owes me big time.”
I chuckled and headed for the back of the coffee shop.
Mary and Rachel were waiting for me, so I sat next to them, greeting them with a wide smile. On the other side of the table, Mack was sipping on his macchiato. He was very tanned with brown short hair. I usually saw him training at the gym for the swimming team. I said hello to Mack and my eyes locked on a slightly smaller man next to him. Sand colored hair, a few freckles and a hesitant smile. He had the same lean build as Mack, broad shoulders and a lot of muscles, probably his buddy from the swim team.
“This is Liam.” Mack motioned to the shy guy, who waved awkwardly. “From the Swim Team.”
I smiled. “What’s up?” Everybody already had their coffees, Mary with her vanilla Frappuccino, Rachel, like Mack, had a caramel macchiato. Liam had Matcha Tea and in front of my seat was my usual cold brew. “Thanks for the order.” I beamed, sipping on the coffee.
“I’m keeping tab.” Rachel snickered.
“Yeah? And what about those times I was your personal Uber driver?” I counted on my fingers. “There was one… two… five… twenty times I dropped you off on Southside.”
“It’s not even that far and your bike always messes with my hair anyway.” Rachel tossed her hair over her shoulder with a pout.
“Then walk. Or have you broken your legs?”
“You wish.”
We smiled at each other and returned our attention to our coffee. The new guy was watching us going back and forth as Mary only rolled her eyes.
“Don’t worry Liam, they aren’t always like this.”
Liam leaned forwards. “You have a Bike? What kind?”
“I think it’s a Ducati um… black?” I frowned. “That’s about it, I know nothing about motorcycles.”
Rachel coughed. “Present from her sugar daddy.”
“What?” I dropped my coffee a bit too hard, spilling some. “Kenji is not the daddy of the relationship.”
“He showers you with expensive gifts…” She said dreamy.
“And has you flying to him in a private jet…” Mary added.
I groaned. “Oh, shut up.”
“Sounds like a sugar daddy.” Mack grinned.
“Not you too!” I snapped. Liam opened his mouth, but I shushed him right away. “Don’t you dare agree.” He smiled, raising his arms in surrender. “Besides, I’m older than him, so not a sugar daddy.” I crossed my arms.
Somewhere in the coffee shop someone raised the volume of the TV and my smile fell. I had almost forgotten about it, almost .
The news anchor, Philippa, spoke. “Three years after the fall of Jurassic World, the debate over Isla Nublar rages on.” I lower my cup, not that invested in my coffee. “The island’s long dormant volcano, reclassified as active, has shown considerate unrest in recent months. Geologists now predict an extinct level event will kill off the last living dinosaurs on the planet.” Old CCTV images from Pteranodons attacking the public in Main Street was shown. “Since the disaster that shocked the world in 2015, InGen, the Masrani Corporation subsidiary, has paid out more than 800 million in damages to settle class-action lawsuits brought by survivors.”
I scoffed out loud, making my friends take notice of the TV.
I remembered the lawyers after coming home. So many lawyers. Masrani Corporation came heavy on top of the matter, trying to close deals with all seven of us. Luckily, Yasmina’s mom, also a lawyer, wasn’t having it. Right now, Masrani Global was indirectly paying my university tuition, but unfortunately the settlement wasn’t enough to suck them dry into bankruptcy.
Philippa went on, as images of crowded streets appeared. “Activist groups have mobilized around the globe in what has become the flashpoint animal’s rights issue of our time. With an eruption expected at any moment, the United Nations has convened a special committee to answer a grave moral question. Do dinosaurs deserve the same protections given to other endangered species or should they be left to die?”
I shook my head. ‘How exactly could politicians decide on that? It isn’t up to them.’
The image changed for a conference room, a semicircle of government representatives faced the Secretary-General sitting by a high desk. He was a white old man full of wrinkles and behind him there was the UN symbol. In front of him, a tall man in a black suit with gray hair and beard sat relaxed. He looked like a teacher, talked like one and the old representatives were his students.
‘Dr. Malcom’ was the name on the plaque in front of him, and he didn’t hesitate to speak his mind.
“I think that we should allow our magnificent glorious dinosaurs to be taken out by the volcano.”
How nonchalant he was about it, too smug. That’s when I decided I didn’t like the guy. I recognized him, everyone did. Dr. Ian Malcom was involved in the 1972 Jurassic Park incident, and he had made millions because of it and his book.
Hushed whispers were heard across the conference room, like me, not everybody was sympathetic to Dr. Malcom’s opinion.
“Silence, please.” The Secretary-General in the center, Mr. Guterres silenced the murmurs with a thick accent I couldn’t pin out. It reminded me of something from Latin America with a European twist.
“As deeply sad as that would be, we altered the course of natural history. This is a correction.”
“Are you suggesting the Almighty is taking matters into his own hands? ” Mr. Guterres was cynical, but Dr. Malcom remained unphased.
“Secretary-General, with all due respect, God has not part of the equation, no. What I mean is that in the last century, we amassed landmark technological power and we’ve consistently proven ourselves incapable of handling that power. Eighty years ago, who could’ve predicted nuclear proliferation? But there it was. And now we’ve got genetic power, so how long is it gonna take for that to spread around the globe and what’s gonna be done with it? It ain’t gonna stop with the de-extinction of the dinosaurs.”
Mr. Guterres leaned forward in his seat. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about man-made cataclysmic change.”
“What kind of change?”
A shadow crossed Dr. Malcom's face and his expression hardened, a look I recognized too well, after all I saw it in the mirror sometimes. “Change is like death. You don’t know what it looks like until you’re standing at the gates.”
“What does this guy know?” Mack huffed. “Right?”
“He sounds smart, but he’s an idiot.” I said, already grimacing. I honestly couldn’t care less about the other dinosaurs, let the Almighty do its thing, just leave Bumpy out of it.
Mary nodded. “They didn’t ask to be brought to life, they are just wild animals.”
“I don’t know, they went extinct for a reason.” Rachel said next to me.
“It’s a difficult topic.” Mary glanced at me warily.
I chuckled. “You can talk about it, ya know.”
“It’s just that you never talk about it.” Mack said. I just shrugged.
“I thought that you of all people would agree with Ian Malcom.” Rachel said.
“I guess- it’s complicated. Dinosaurs are just animals at the end of the day.” I didn’t care if I was a hypocrite or whatever. Bumpy was not like other dinosaurs.
Mack cleared his throat. “I saw the interviews, you guys seemed so young...” Liam elbowed him, making me chuckle, they didn’t need to walk on eggshells. “Ow, what I’m just saying-”
“It’s fine.” I interrupted him. “It’s been just two years, I don’t think I've grown that much since then, but I suppose we were young… the youngest of us was 12, but”
“Wow, that’s Darius right? How did he outrun dinosaurs with such little legs?”
That made me burst out laughing. “I guess he does have little legs. Had. He’s almost as tall as me now.” I frowned, that felt so wrong. “But you gotta pick your battles, not every dinosaur you can run from. Some you gotta hide, some are surprisingly uncoordinated, and you just go in zigzag and be fine.” I sighed, thinking back. “Others… you gotta be lucky.”
“You met the Indominus, right?” Mary asked, hesitant.
I nodded. “Real piece of work. It helped that we found a van. Then, the van got stolen, the carjacker got eaten and we crashed the van afterwards. But yeah, the van helped.” I laughed it off.
“What about the T. rex?”
“That one you hide. Great sense of smell, though. Tricky.” I was surprised at how nonchalant I was being about it. ‘Mr. Brown would be proud.’
“What was the worst one?”
“Um…” Many flashed across my mind, Pteranodons who took Ben from us; The Mosasaurus that had Yasmina risking her life; Toro, of course; the T. rex, always between us and food; Parasaurolophus chasing us down at every chance; Compies stealing our food; and the Indominus, the one that started it all. “The Scorpios, for sure.” I ended up saying, after all it was the only one that stuck with me. I leaned back on my seat, crossing my arms and my hands brushed against the scar on my forearm. “That one… well, not even luck might not be enough.”
“It’s gone, right? Dead?” Rachel asked.
“They’re gone. It was two, right?” Mack said.
I didn’t know why they were asking about it, if they knew all the facts already. I know for a fact all of them had seen the interviews. After we came back, obviously we told the authorities about what happened with the Scorpios, Wu and Hawkes. Then came the interviews, Darius, Brooklynn and Kenji had the time of their life being in the spotlight. I gladly skipped those.
I hummed. “Yeah, two of them. No need to worry about them anymore.”
“That must have been so hard.” Liam gave me a half smile.
Rachel must’ve caught on the mood, cause bumped shoulders with me. “But I heard you ate bugs, like for real? I could never.” She laughed.
“Oh, hell no! I never even touched those disgusting slimy- urgh.” I physically shivered as my friends laughed. “Ben was the one who ate grubs and bragged about it! That nerd.” I chuckled. “No, we found food in the park. I have, like, a massive debt with Starbucks, don’t tell them.” I finished with a whisper.
“You should get free coffees for life from them.”
I scoffed. “Their pantry was the worst! No wonder they always run out of products.”
“Guys, it’s back.” Mary drew our attention once again to the TV, where ‘breaking news’ letters flashes before the image changed to Secretary-General Guterres giving a press conference.
“Yo, turn it up!” A shout from the coffee shop was enough for the news to be audible again.
“After thorough deliberations…” Mr. Guterres said. “…the committee has resolved not to recommend any action regarding the de-extinct creatures on Isla Nublar. This is an act of God. And while, of course, we feel great sympathy for these animals, we cannot condone our involvement on what amounts to a privately-owned venture.”
That’s when I stopped paying attention. ‘How could they-’ I knew they were set in this decision long ago, it was obvious. But that meant they were leaving Bumpy to die. I left her to die .
I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, but even that, I ignored.
“Politicians decided on doing nothing. Shocker.” Someone behind me said.
Another person shot back. “What? You expected them to save those dinosaurs? They’re wild animals that overstayed their welcome, it’s just that this time it won’t be a meteor.”
A scoff. “Of course you would say that.”
“Some people don’t have an ounce of common sense.” Rachel tsked.
I kept quiet.
“I should get going, can’t be late for Calculus.” Mack said.
Liam coughed. “Again.”
“It’s too loud in here anyways.” Mary nodded as we all exited the Starbucks.
The boys walked ahead as we girls hung back. Mary and Rachel were having a discussion about where to study for the next exam. Mary wanted to do it at the library, but Rachel didn’t think she could focus there. I just sipped on my coffee, trying not to think about the fate of my favorite dino.
“Hey.” Rachel bumped shoulders with me. “Are you sure you’re okay with everything?”
“Yup.” I tossed my cup in the trash. “All good.”
She frowned, but nodded. She was way too observant, that one. “We’ll meet for lunch, right? You need to help me find a cute fit for the party tonight.”
“Weren’t you set on the black dress?” Mary asked.
Rachel shrugged. “I’m not in a dress mood anymore.”
“What are you in the mood for, then?” I said.
Rachel grinned, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer. “That’s what you’ll help me decide.”
Mary laughed and I tried to do the same, awfully aware of how her arm closed around my neck. The tightness, the ghostly hands wrapping itself around my neck, squeezing the air out of me.
I side stepped, getting off from under her with a smile plastered on my face. “G-great, um, same place for lunch?”
They didn’t seem to notice it. We waved goodbye and I went off with my hands shoved inside my pockets. I was feeling that familiar sting in the palm of my hand, my knuckles were probably white as bone from me clenching it so hard.
‘Breathing exercise, 1…2…3… come on, you can do it.’ I took deep breaths until it was safe to remove my hands from the pockets, cleaning the bit of blood on my pants.
…
I ended up on the same path of trees as yesterday. My study material was left untouched in my backpack as I scrolled through my phone. There were lots of messages in the Camp Fam text group, all about the UN's decision, but I wasn't in the mood for that. My parents also texted me on the family group, I had to answer that later. Both my sister, Kenji and Brooklynn texted me in private, to which I shot a quick text in reply, all saying pretty much the same.
It was almost lunch time when Zia showed up, two coffee cups in hand and talking way too excited. "Yo, yo, Hays." I think she was trying to be funny.
"Hey."
"Oh, someone's moody today."
"That's because I haven't had my coffee yet." A blatant lie, but I was already eyeing the coffee she had brought. "Thanks." I happily accepted the cup.
"You sure this isn't about what's on the news?" She asked and I shrugged in response. We remained in silence for a long time, me sipping while she fidgeted with her cup, she seemed more nervous than usual. "Do you miss it?"
I almost choked on my coffee. "Why would I miss being chased by dinosaurs every day?"
"I guess you have a point... good thing then that Nublar is going to implode." Zia glanced at me like a teacher would a cheating student, trying to catch me in flagrant.
"Pretty much." I put my coffee down and got up. She was being way too weird. Way too nosy.
"Hey, where are you going?" She jumped up.
"Forgot I have this early class."
"You don't have classes right now."
'Shit. Yeah, I don't.'
I chuckled. "Stalker much?"
"Maybe." She smiled mischievously.
That made me truly laugh out loud, a first for the day I was having. "If you admit to having a whole wall covered with pictures of me, I'm out." I teased.
"Nothing like that..." She waved it off, but then her expression got serious again. "...but I do have a proposition."
"I already have a boyfriend."
"Will you let me speak?" She fidgeted with her coffee again, as if getting ready to drop a major bomb. "How would you like front row seats to the firework show?"
"What do you mean?" I laughed from the absurdity. "Nublar?"
"If you could go back, would you?"
"I've already-"
"I know what you said, but would you?" She pressed.
I shook my head. "What the hell are you even going on about, Zia? Like hypothetically?"
"Like for real." Her tone was serious.
"I'm-" I paused, thinking at the possibilities. She couldn't be serious, but a little part of me grew curious. "I'm listening."
What came next was the most far fetched story I've ever heard. And I lived through a mad scientist, conspiracy theories and self-replicating dinosaurs. She was my friend, so I listened to her patiently. When Zia was done, I remained in silence while she looked at me expectantly. Truth was, I found all of that very hard to believe, my mind was torn between thinking she was playing with me or trying to torture me with hypotheticals.
I slowly shook my head. "You want me to believe that you are this dinosaur veterinarian that used to work for Jurassic World and now work on a Starbucks?"
She crossed her arms defensively. "I almost worked for them, and there's not much of a dino vet market nowadays."
I laughed to myself, she sure did know how to spin a story. "And that you're friends with Dearing? The Claire Dearing that started all this bullshit?"
"It was not her fault, she-"
I ignored her. "And that you're going back there to save the dinosaurs?"
"And that we're with the DPG. Well, we started the DPG." Zia nodded. "But that sums it up."
"Right." I calmly got up. "You're full of bullshit." I walked away.
Zia held me by my arm, her eyes pleading as mine were deadly, going from her hand to her eyes. "Wouldn't you go back, even for Bumpy?"
"The fuck?" I snatched my arm back. "What the fuck do you even know about her?"
"Honestly, not much." She took a few steps back, with an apologetical smile. "Only what I've heard in the interviews. But I know you care about her."
I narrowed my gaze. "That's low, even for you."
She backed up, arms raised in a clear surrender. "But you know I'm right. Can you honestly stand and do nothing while Bumpy is about to be wiped from the face of the earth?"
I groaned, pacing back and forth. I didn't look her in the eyes, afraid I was going to start yelling out my frustration, or worse. But, man, did she deserve it for bringing up Bumpy. "What do you even need me for? You want to get the dinosaurs, right? Just track them by their implant."
"Um, that was supposed to be classified... but if you know about that, then you know that the system is down, and until we get it going, we need a guide. Not to mention the possibility of having dinosaurs without the implant, they could've reproduced... they could've lost it in a fight... We don't know how the island has changed, how the dinosaurs behave in the wild."
"Yeah, and I know." I concluded for her.
"The Nublar Seven were the last ones on that island, you know the terrain better." She pressed, as if logic was going to convince me.
I scoffed. "There are six other people that fit your description."
Zia snickered. "You mean the underaged kids I'm totally not friends with? Sure, let me get to it."
"Great friend you are, getting close to me just to ask for this." There was more hurt in my voice than I wanted to let on. She was one of the first people I became friends here, and now she asks me this? Did she even know what she was asking?
"I would never do that!" Zia raised her voice. "Of course, I knew who you were, but I was afraid you wouldn't want nothing to do with me if you knew I'm with the DPG."
"I wouldn't do that." I mumbled.
"Are you sure?" She pressed and I shrunk at that, maybe she had a point. "Besides, I got word yesterday that we are going back."
"When do you leave?" The curious part of me was winning. Growing to accept the wild possibility that she was telling the truth. To think that I could have Bumpy back. She would be with us again. Ben wouldn't have to be sad all the time and the nightmares-
Maybe...
"Tomorrow morning. Are you coming?"
I grunted, pacing in a circle. A million thoughts going through my mind. My parents would be so mad. My sister would freak out. I couldn't go back. Not there. The source of all my nightmares. I fought for a long time to get over them, even now I still had one or two lingering ones...
Zia was fidgeting, glancing at me expectantly. I had been pacing in silence for a while now... Who was I kidding? My mind was already set.
"Hypothetically... if I were to come with you. I would have two requests." Zia raised an eyebrow at that, waiting for me to continue. "Bumpy is coming back with me. There's no negotiation on that one."
"I can promise we'll do our best to get her. We'll try to take as many dinosaurs as we can, but the volcano... it's unpredictable."
I nodded, if they didn't make sure, I would. "But she's a priority. Promise she'll be a priority."
"I promise." She smiled. "What's the other request?"
This one I knew would be tricky. "My friends get to come along if they want, I need someone to have my back."
She frowned. "Um... We can't be responsible for your friends, for one, they are legally kids..." Not exactly true, both Kenji and Yasmina are 18, but I understood that they would be more difficult to reach. "...and two, we don't have enough space on the plane."
I crossed my arms, defiantly. "Well, make it happen if you want me to be your guide. Besides, some of them know the island better than me."
"You'll be putting their lives in danger, is that what you want?" Zia said in a stern tone, which silenced me. She did have a point there. Going back there I'd be subjecting them to the horrors of Nublar all over again. Everybody had a hard time after it. I'd be putting them through that again. Not to mention that with dinosaurs, survival was never certain. "I'm right, you know that. And that's your only chance of saving Bumpy." She pressed.
I groaned. "Great." I needed more time to think. "So, that's what you were going to talk to me about yesterday?"
"No, I didn't know about any of this yesterday, I wanted you to join the DPG. I had a whole speech ready. Oscar worthy." She gave me a half smile. "So, are you coming?" She glanced at me, expectantly.
"I-" I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "Yes, I'm coming."
…
Maisie
‘ 6…7…8…9! ’ I grinned, resting my hands on my knees as I caught my breath. 9 seconds to run the second-floor hallway. A new record. I couldn’t wait to tell grandpa. I was going to do exactly that when I heard the doorbell ring. It echoed through the whole house. A strange sound for a house that never had guests over. It was just me, grandpa, Iris and Mr. Mills. It was lonely not having someone my age, but I had my dinosaurs.
I followed the hallway to the stairs that led to the front door. Mr. Mills had just showed up on the top of the stairs. He had a blue suit and lighter blue shirt. It really complimented his blue eyes behind his glasses. He wasn’t wearing a tie today, which was odd. He hadn’t seen me, he was looking at the woman instead. She had beautiful red hair, tight in a bun, a white pullover and gray skirt. She looked fixated on a painting of grandpa’s old friend, Mr. Hammond.
“John Alfred Hammond, the father of Jurassic World.” Mr. Mills said, with an excited tone to his voice. The red-haired lady turned with a surprise look. “But of course you knew that.” He went down the stairs. “Hello, Claire. I’m Eli Mills. I work for Ben Lockwood. We actually met once, seven, eight years ago, and you don’t remember-”
“Of course I remember.” Claire smiled. “Haven’t you run his foundation since-”
“Since college, yeah. You remember?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Cool. He wanted someone young and idealistic to spend his fortune… and I used to be both.” He cracked a laugh, making Claire do the same. “Follow me.”
Such an unusual sight, seeing Mr. Mills laughing like that. He usually was more reserved, never talked to me much. He was always nice, but not as nice as he was with the Claire lady.
Both of them walked inside the ballroom. Well, it was a ballroom according to Iris, but now it was the Dinosaur Den. Not much of a den, but I liked the name. The lower floor was filled with fossils, the centerpiece being a huge Triceratops skull and behind it, a model of an island. It was a new addition to the place. It didn’t really match. It’s not like it was the model for Nublar or Sorna.
“This is where it all began. Before the island, Sorna, Jurassic Park, all of it. Hammond and Lockwood built a custom lab in the sub-basement, extracted the first DNA from amber right beneath our feet…” Mr. Mills' voice disappeared as they entered the Den.
I scrambled back to the long hallway, almost beating my 9 second record and eager to listen to their conversation. Going up the stairs, I was back to my bedroom on the fifth floor, a wide bed as the centerpiece, a wide balcony and tons of toys on the floor. Near the door, there was a dumbwaiter, a small elevator that used to transport food. The right size to also carry me .
I crawled inside and soon enough I found myself on the Den’s second floor. It opened to the floor below, tight hallways surrounding the room as a balcony, with spiral staircases encased in a metal railing. It really reminded me of a spiral birdcage.
By crouching by the railing, I had a perfect view of downstairs. I had lost quite a bit of the conversation as it seemed. Claire and Mr. Mills were standing by the island model.
“You’re gonna get them out? You’re gonna save them?” Claire asked, in awe.
“No, Ms. Dearing.” Grandpa's voice came out of nowhere and I had to crane my neck to see him enter the room in his wheelchair. “I’m going to save us.”
You see, grandpa was old. Really old. He could walk, but it was hard for him, so he kept to the wheelchair. He was slim, with a lot of wrinkles like a rug. His hair, well, half of it was missing, but he had a beautiful white beard. He liked to wear shirts, today it was a white one and a wool sweater on top. He was even wearing his handkerchief on his neck. I had helped pick the color, since red was my favorite.
Grandpa approached Claire and Mr. Mills, blanket over his legs and Mr. Hammons’ cane on the side. “We could both use a touch of redemption, couldn’t we?” They shook hands. “Lovely to see you again.”
“And you, Mr. Lockwood.”
“This was all John Hammond’s dream. To let these creatures live in peace. So, we have created a sanctuary.” He motioned to the island. “No fences, no cages, no tourists. Just as Mother Nature intended. John said it best, ‘These creatures don’t need our protection, they need our absence.’.”
Grandpa had a really sad expression, but he always got like that talking about his friend. Claire looked up to the second floor, her eyes trailing the bookshelves until she locked her eyes on me.
‘Dang it, Iris is going to kill me.’ I hurried to my feet, back into the dumbwaiter. Iris always said not to eavesdrop. ‘It is not the behavior of a lady’, she would say with her thick British accent.
I threw myself on top of my bed, jumping slightly with the mattress. Picking up my Brachiosaurus plushie, I raised it to my face.
“How cool is grandpa, right Littlefoot? He’s gonna save the dinosaurs.” I smiled. “I wish I could see them, though.”
Notes:
I’m doing Maisie’s scenes too. Most of them. I’m not changing much right now. Actually, Maisie’s arc will remain like in the movie for most of it.
Chapter 3: Dinosaur Protection Group
Summary:
The wheels are spinning and there’s no time to waste.
Notes:
Camp Fam video call what-what!
So, there’s A LOT of dialog in this one. I know I usually do a lot of dialog, but this chapter takes the crown.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
Zia had dragged me all across town to introduce me to Claire Dearing. Along with Wu and Masrani, she was responsible for Jurassic World. The one responsible for the Indominus escape and me and my friends being left behind. I didn’t look forward to meeting her. But if she was trying to atone, why not start by saving Bumpy?
Zia talked non stop on the way over to the Dinosaur Protection Group headquarters. The place was a dump and I meant that in the nicest way possible, but I wasn’t the one who would tell her that. The building seemed to be falling to pieces in the industrial part of San Francisco. The elevator opened to a loft, or at least tried to. The doors got stuck and we had to squeeze through.
The room was chaotic. There was loud chatter all across the room, a dozen people, looking fresh out of college, were on the phone, discussing the recent news, trying to find donations and organizing protests. The brick walls were covered in pamphlets, banners and maps of Nublar. There were desks with computers and a lot of clutter, papers, old food wrappings and coffee cups, and for some reason there were several cacti in vases around the room.
As soon as I stepped in the loft, I saw a few curious glances my way and the chatter diminished. I sighed internally, it had been 3 years and I still got the looks. ‘Oh my God, it was awful what you’ve been through.’ ‘I’m so sorry for you.’ ‘What’s your favorite dinosaur?’ But I bet any seven of us entering a DPG HQ would get a few looks.
“Back to work, you coffee freaks.” Zia said and everybody looked away.
She walked straight into a young man’s desk. He was tanned and smiled a bit nervously. He had very curly hair and prescription glasses. He was probably in his early 20s, but looked younger, however, he was dressed very neatly with a dark blue tweed jacket and pants.
“You actually convinced her? Your people skills are getting better.” The guy said to Zia.
“Seriously, stop letting your mom shop for you.” Zia shot back.
“You don’t need to insult me every time I state a fact.”
“Want to talk about facts? The last time your clothes were in fashion, men were inventing the plane.”
“It’s vintage.”
“Old and pretty means vintage. Old and well… this… ” She motioned to his clothes . “That’s a whole other thing.”
“Agree to disagree.” The man crossed his arms.
“Is Claire back? She explained everything on the phone, but I hoped she’d be back by now.” Zia said.
“Not yet.” Vintage guy was looking at me, almost analyzing me.
“Oh, right. Franklin this is Hays. Hays, Franklin.” I cleared my throat at that. “Right, Hayden. She has a thing with nicknames.”
“Nice to meet another suicidal fellow.” Franklin shook my hand.
“Speak for yourself. I’m coming back very much alive.” I huffed. “So, you’ve been there before?”
“I worked on IT. Didn’t get to see much, thank God.” He laughed nervously. “And when the incident happened, I-”
“You got out.” I stated. It was weird meeting another person that was there when it happened.
He nodded. “Yeah. Now, I’m here.”
“Most of the people here were ex-Jurassic World.” Zia said. “Do you know how hard it is to have them on your resume? They aren’t exactly giving out recommendations.”
I looked around, most of the people here seemed to be in their mid-20s, some were older.
“I still can’t believe we’re going back to Nublar.” Franklin whispered, glancing around warily.
“You coming?” I almost laughed, but managed to keep it in. He reminded Ben when I first met him, albeit a little less agoraphobic. The last person to volunteer for this.
“He’s our tech nerd, unfortunately.” Zia sighed. “I’m ordering food from that vegan place, you guys want some?”
…
The place thinned out at lunch time, but still, it was a weird lunch. While Zia and Franklin bickered, the glances came back. It was like they were expecting me to grow a third arm or something. Needless to say, I glared back until they got embarrassed and gave up.
I felt bad for canceling the lunch with my friends, texting them that something came up. I felt bad for lying, but it wasn’t really a lie. Speaking of lying, Kenji would be furious at me, the whole Camp Fam would. I shook myself, I couldn’t think about them right now. A certain dinosaur had priority.
“Hey, Zia.” I spun on the desk chair to meet her. “How come you’re a dino vet if you've never even seen one?”
She dropped her fork, glaring at me almost as deadly as Yasmina would.
“I wouldn’t mention that again if I were you.” Franklin chuckled. “Sensitive topic.”
“I scored an internship to work on the island, but the Indominus rex attacked and-
“Ah, yes. Terrible.” I laughed.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s fine.” I waved at her dismissively, actually finding it funny how wide her eyes got. “How about you?” I turned to Franklin.
“I was an IT for the park.”
“You mentioned, but I mean why do you care about the dinosaurs? Don’t get me wrong, I bet you’re very good with computers, but you don’t strike me as a guy who would volunteer to a field trip.”
“Dinosaurs truly terrify me, but they have the right to exist just as we do, just like a lion does or a snake.” He paused. “And I guess I want to make a difference, that’s why.”
I nodded, he sounded braver than he looked. Hopefully he wouldn’t scream and freeze when time came. Zia, on the other hand, would probably run towards the dinosaur, offering a hug and warm blanket. I just needed to get them in and out, alive. Easy.
“How about you?” Franklin asked. I glanced at Zia, who shrugged. I guess she hadn’t said anything about that to them.
“I owe a dinosaur a rescue.” I simply said. “She helped us through our months on the island, now is my time to help Bumpy.”
Franklin nodded and returned his attention to his food. I was done with my food and was getting my third coffee of the day when the elevator dinged. This time the doors opened fully and a ginger woman entered the loft. Claire Dearing. She had bangs and a ponytail, wearing a black shirt and jeans with a beige overcoat and heels. She walked in with her eyes glued to her phone, dodging tables like this place was her home.
Her eyes panned over to Zia and Franklin, then they stopped on me for a long second before she nodded and waved us over to a door on the side. The three of us followed her into an office, which seemed to be used as a storage area, full of boxes and stacks of paper.
“I’m Claire.” She offered her hand, which I shook hesitantly.
“Dearing, right?” I gave her a look over. “Yeah, I heard about you.”
“Good things I hope.” Franklin laughed nervously.
I gritted my teeth. “Eh, nothing worth mentioning.” Just the one responsible for arguably the worst thing that ever happened to me.
“Right…”
“I’ve worked with your mother, a brilliant woman.” Dearing said it with a smile on her face.
My mom was on the list of people who would be pissed at me, something I didn’t really want to think about right now. “Then you know that if she knew what’s going on here, she would kill me, kill you and come to beat up our ghosts.” I tried to sound easygoing. I wasn’t successful on that front.
“You don’t need to come if you don’t want to.” Dearing said, smile unmoving as Zia tensed up next to me.
Franklin groaned. “See I told you this wasn’t a good idea.”
“Shut up, Franklin, we need her.” Zia said.
I smiled at that. “And I told you what my mom would do, and I’m not my mother. Sorry, but you’re stuck with me now. Nublar and I have unfinished business.” I crossed my arms, daring them to say otherwise.
“Great.” Dearing nodded. “Welcome to the team, Hayden. We have some dinosaurs to save. Now that we’re on the same page, there’s a charter flight leaving tomorrow morning. Zia will send you the details. But for now, we should call it a day and have some rest.”
“How was it out there with Owen?” Zia asked.
Dearing’s face fell. “Hopefully he’ll be there.”
“He will, he has to.” Zia said. “How about Nick, is he joining us?”
Dearing shook her head. “I asked, but he said he’s tied up at the moment.”
My eyes went from one person to the other as they motioned to leave the room. ‘That’s it? No op details, no nothing?’
I huffed. “I’m sorry, just like that?”
“What do you mean?” Dearing turned to me.
“Are we going back to Nublar just like that?” I shook my head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m game, but we got abandoned in that place because an old fat man decided it should be a restricted area, a no flight zone. You didn’t even bother to go back and check if there were survivors…” She flinched at that, but I kept going. “…the Costa Rica government has eyes on it at all times. Now that the UN is condemning the place and the dinosaurs, all the previous limitations are lifted? I don’t know if I’m supposed to be offended or suspicious.”
Dearing sighed. “The limitations aren’t exactly lifted.”
“They're not?” Zia widened her eyes.
“It would be really nice to not get our plane shot down for breaking international laws.” Franklin’s voice went up an octave.
“Sir Lockwood is paying for our way in and out of the island.”
“As in billionaire philanthropist Sir Benjamin Lockwood? John Hammond’s partner?” Franklin’s mouth fell open. I wasn’t familiar with Lockwood, but Hammond, that one I had heard of. The one that cloned the first dinosaur and started Jurassic Park.
Dearing went on. “Lucky for us, he’s very invested in protecting the dinosaurs, sparing no expense. Moving endangered species isn’t exactly legal, but is the right thing to do, we all know that.” She glanced at us, which was met with nods of confirmation. “They have a secondary island, a sanctuary. Where these animals can live without human interference. They need our help to track them so they can capture them safely. They need our expertise. I’ve worked in the park since it’s opening, but Hayden, you know the island.”
I nodded. “Damn straight.”
“How are they getting the dinosaurs out?” Zia asked.
“With boats and lots of sedatives.” Dearing said. “They said they can save eleven species for sure, but the volcano is unpredictable.”
“Are the Ankylosaurus included?” I asked, my jaw tense.
“Yes, it is one of the eleven, but they are really set on one particular dinosaur… The Raptor.”
I laughed. “Blue?” Dearing widened her eyes at me for a second, as if surprised I knew her name. “They’ll never catch her.”
She nodded, but I noticed how she straightened her back, uncomfortable. “That’s up to them, what we need to do is reach this facility on the north of the island…” She pulled out her phone, showing an ‘X’ on the map of Nublar, close to the Watering Hole, close to Wu’s secret lab and close to-
“Isn’t the north of the island where the volcano is?” Franklin waved his arms frantically. “Why would they build it so close-”
“I stopped asking myself why Jurassic World does things a long time ago.” I sighed. That would make things harder, for sure.
“That’s the only place where we can get power to turn the system back online, without tracking the dinosaurs… they’ll never find Blue.”
And maybe they wouldn’t find Bumpy…
“It’s doable.” I glanced at the map. Time wasn’t on our side, though.
“We’ll save them.” Zia said, confidently. “All of them.” She placed a hand on my shoulder.
…
The ride home was silent. I guess the nerves were catching on. For me, the anxiety often hits on the night before a big event, which meant I was going to sleep like shit. I was drumming my fingers on my knees when we reached the campus. It was just after noon, the sun was high in the sky. How was I supposed to go to classes while tomorrow I would be back there ?
I sat with Zia in her car, waiting for her to unlock the door. “So…”
“I texted you the address, but I can give you a ride.” She said.
“I’ll catch my own, don’t worry.” She hummed in response. “Nervous?”
“I’ll see my first dinosaur tomorrow.” Zia said with a dreamy smile on her face.
‘Of course.’
“Ah.” I laughed. “Let’s just hope it’s not a deadly one.”
I finally left the car and watched Zia drive away from the parking lot. As soon as she was out of sight, I rushed for my phone. Dearing made it clear it was a secret, but my finger hovered over the contacts of my phone. Camp Fam, they would all freak out, trying to stop me or come with. Kenji, he would fly over in an instant to keep me from going. Brooklynn, she would most definitely join me, ranting about her crusade of saving dinosaurs, that hadn’t changed since then.
“Dammit.” I cursed out loud.
Finally, I pressed on a name. He deserved to know what was happening. And he deserved a chance. The phone rang two times before he picked up and I didn’t even let him speak.
“Ben, how fast can you get to San Francisco?”
…
I threw myself face first into my bed. The day was filled with reviews for the upcoming exams, yet I couldn’t focus. All I could think about is that by this time tomorrow I’d be back on Nublar. Another thing I was counting down to was 7 p.m., our Camp Fam meeting. Why we scheduled that on a Friday was beyond me.
The phone in my hand vibrated with the incoming video call. I dreaded having to lie to them, but my mind was set. I couldn’t have them putting themselves in danger.
Kenji’s voice was the first one to come through. “I swear if anyone asks me again about the volcano, I’ll murder them.” Kenji was sitting by his desk, with the entirety of his room in the background. And it was huge, trust me. King size bed with golden details, a walk-in closet bigger than my dorm and a huge balcony.
“At least they moved on from ‘what’s your favorite dinosaur?’” Yasmina mocked. She and Sammy were on the same screen, they mentioned something about spending summer vacation together. I’m glad that worked out.
“That’s an easy one.” Sammy said. Their background was a simple wooden wall, so probably they were in Sammy’s place.
Ben hummed. “Bumpy, no questions there.” He was sitting in the front seat of a car. He seemed awfully tense, but I couldn’t blame him.
He wasn’t the only one that seemed tense. It was like everyone was making real effort not to bring up the real subject they wanted to discuss. Nublar. After Kenji’s fit, that would probably not happen today, which was a blessing since I’d have to be extra careful with my words if that was the case. But they’ve been discussing it all afternoon in the group chat, to which I had remained silent. It’s not like there was something I could add to the convo.
“That’s not the point.” Kenji groaned.
“Better than being asked about the Indominus.” Brooklynn jumped in. Her screen was dark, you couldn’t really see the background, only her face.
“Or how awesome the T. rex was.” Yasmina said in a fake happy voice.
I scoffed. “Don’t even get me started with people asking about the scars. Bitch, when did that become an okay thing to do?”
“Leeches.” Kenji grunted.
“Damn clout chasers.” Brooklynn said.
“Well, we are the Nublar Seven… people are curious.” Darius smiled cautiously.
“Don’t even start with that name, my dad won’t stop introducing to his business partners by that title. One more time and imma for sure murder someone.” Kenji ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he had acquired with his long hair.
Yasmina laughed. “Careful, Kenji. Hays’ murderous tendencies are rubbing off on you.”
I chuckled. “About time, he’s too damn nice.”
“Yeah, and we agreed on no N-word here.” Kenji pointed out.
Brooklynn shrugged. “I prefer Camp Fam anyways.”
“Nice coming from you, B. You started this.”
“I’ll admit, the title got a tiny bit out of hand.” Brooklynn smiled awkwardly. “The Brooklanders kinda took over.”
“Stuff like this has a life of its own.” Sammy nodded.
“I still think we should embrace it, people like it, at least in my comment section.” Darius said.
“Pro tip to our new Youtube sensation, don’t respond to comments.” Brooklynn said.
“But-”
“No, never.” She didn’t even give him a chance to speak.
“The Brooklanders are always nice still, they won’t stop asking when you’ll be back, B.” Darius smiled fondly.
She laughed. “Probably never, but don’t tell them that.”
“Aw, I miss your unboxing videos.” Sammy got so close to the camera that Yasmina had to pull her back.
“Me too, a little bit. But I have this hot story coming up. I won’t spoil it, but it’s like the mother of conspiracy theories.” She grinned.
“I’m so proud of our little investigative journalist.” Sammy giggled.
“Little?” Brooklynn sounded outraged.
I laughed. “Just accept it, shortstack.”
Brooklynn rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I agree with Darius, the title isn’t that bad. You wouldn’t imagine the privileges it gives you in the right crowd. I have this lead-”
“Aham, this is a Camp Fam zone only!” Kenji raised his voice.
“It’s our brand.” Darius pleaded.
“Pass.” He crossed his arms.
“Alright Camp Fam, moving on. It’s been exactly one week, what are y’all up to?” Sammy said. “Ben, did you like the cake I sent you?”
“Oh, yes!” Ben snapped his head towards the camera, almost surprised to hear his name being called. “It was the best carob cake I’ve ever had, even mom liked it. It’s totally Pincus approved. She wants the recipe.”
Ben was talking to Sammy, but it was like I could feel his eyes on me. He was kinda stiff in his car, two hands clutching the wheel. He was probably on his way here right now, talking to us while on the freeway.
‘Great, that kid will get himself killed even before going to Nublar.’
“Aw, that warms my heart.” Sammy placed her hand over her chest. “My nana helped, it was fun explainin’ to her that carob was in fact, edible.”
“Forget about the carob, is nobody going to comment on Yaz's new hair?” Brooklynn grinned. “Looking good, girl!”
At that my attention went from Ben to Yasmina, who was shying away from the camera. ‘How didn’t I notice that?’ She had cut her hair. The long and full hair was now at shoulder length, much waiver now. It was beautiful. It somehow matched her better than the long hair.
“Thanks, it’s my first time with short hair, it feels like something is missing.” She combed her hair with her fingers.
“I think it suits you better.” I said.
“Yep, I didn’t regret cutting mine, you’ll never want long hair ever again.” Brooklynn showed off her pixie cut.
“How’s the ranch?” Darius asked with a smile.
“I got here last night, way too long of a flight, but it was worth it.” She glanced at Sammy, who in return gave her a side hug. “It’s pretty cozy and there’s a trail nearby. I’m still trying to convince Sammy to join me on a run.”
“Nah-ah. I’ve already ran enough for a whole lifetime.” Sammy shook her head emphatically.
“I’m glad you’re having fun, I just hope it wasn’t Sammy who cut your hair, no offense.” Brooklynn chuckled.
“You’re too funny Brooklynn!” Sammy laughed. “Yaz doesn’t let anyone other than her hairstylist cut her hair. I know, I offered.”
“It’s not like that!” Yasmina shoved Sammy playfully. “But yeah, I went to a saloon.”
“I totally get you Yaz, only pros touch this masterpiece.” Kenji ran his finger through his hair.
“We know. You talk more about your hair than you do Hays.” Brooklynn rolled her eyes.
I nodded. “At least you lost the beard, it was not a good look on you.”
“Oh, come on.” Kenji smirked. “You liked it.”
“How many times do I have to say it? No. And that thing better not make a comeback.”
“Maybe I should let another thing make a comeback.” Kenji tried to style his hair up like he used to.
I shook my head, smiling. “You know you’d look hot with a samurai bun.”
“I’d look hot in any hair style.” He posed for the camera, making me laugh.
“Try shaving it clean off.” Yasmina suggested with a grin. “Want help?”
I gasped. “Over my dead body. Not saying that Kenji wouldn’t be pretty bald, but, Yaz, I’m flying to Texas to whoop your ass if that’s the case.”
“Aw, I love you too, Hays.” Kenji winked.
Yasmina chuckled. “You letting your girlfriend fight your battles now, Mr. VIP?”
“Hardly a battle…” I muttered.
“You know me… why would I stop my hot girlfriend from coming to my rescue?” He leaned back on his chair, laughing to himself. “Besides, Hays has enough energy to fight my battles and her own.”
“I guess.” I smirked, playing with my hair. “Well, I need to use up that pent up energy somehow since you’re not here.”
Grunts and groans took over the call, while Kenji and I just laughed, him throwing me another wink.
“Why did you have to say it like that?” Ben was looking awfully blushed.
“I’m barfing, give me a second.” Yasmina moved off camera to fake throw up.
“What? Like that how?” Darius frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Get a room, you two.” Brooklynn made a disgusted face.
“We would, but dad wants me home. He’s teaching me the ropes.” Kenji said. “Besides, I'm dropping by tomorrow.”
I glanced at Ben through the screen. He was most definitely looking at me. “Oh, um… I have this exam on Monday, my professor is such a pain.” I tried to laugh it off. “The library will be my home for the weekend.”
“Oh, so you’ll be studying tonight?” His eyes widened slightly.
I groaned. “Tonight, tomorrow and the day after that. But for sure I can visit you on summer break.”
“Yeah, totes! It’s a date!”
“That reminds me, Yaz and I went to see Incredibles 2 last night, it was incredible!” Sammy was trembling with excitement. “Then, we went to dinner and it was so romantic, she bought me this-”
“They don’t need to know the details, Sammy.” Yasmina said through clenched teeth and an uncomfortable smile.
“Oh, details, please.” I held my phone closer.
Brooklynn beamed. “Aw, I love how cute you two are. I still can’t believe our Yaz came out of her shell.”
“About damn time.” Kenji said.
“Being apart was difficult, but oh, how I loved the winter break.” Sammy pulled Yasmina closer, who hugged her back.
“Are you saying that because it was the first Camp Fam reunion or because…” Darius trailed off.
Brooklynn sighed. “Obvi the second option, Dino Nerd.”
“I’ll have to agree with Sammy, it was the best winter break ever.” Kenji and I exchanged glances.
“You’re one to say.” Darius laughed. “You and Kenji only got apart to go to the bathroom.”
Kenji shrugged. “It was a great bathroom, and that’s coming from me.”
Ben cleared his throat. “Do I need to deep clean my bathroom? Cause I’ll never invite you over again.”
“Bro! I would never.”
I chuckled. “Chill, Ben. Not the bathroom.”
“Not the- What do I need to clean?” Ben snapped at his phone so fast he swerved with the car a bit.
“Ben, are you driving?” Darius narrowed his eyes.
Ben scoffed. “What? Me? No, of course not. That’s definitely not a safe thing to do.”
“Is that the blinker I hear?” He pressed.
Sammy gasped. “Ben Pincus, do not drive and video call!”
“Yeah, bro. Not safe.”
Ben sighed. “I just need to be somewhere by tonight.”
“Where are you going that you need to multitask?” Yasmina asked.
“Oh, is it a date? No one is worth crashing for.” Brooklynn said.
“It’s not a date.” Ben glanced, worried at his phone. “Don’t worry I’m almost there anyhow.”
I nodded inconspicuously.
“Nope, you stop the car.” Sammy furrowed her brows.
“You better do what she says Ben, you don’t want to see Sammy mad, it’s scary.” Yasmina whispered intensely into the camera.
“Maybe we should end it for today.” I laughed nervously. “Ben clearly won’t drop it and I kinda need to study.”
“Ah, we barely started talking, it’s been only… Wow, yeah, okay, I’m surprised mom hasn’t called us for dinner yet.” Sammy nodded.
“We should do this again next week.” Darius said.
“Yeah, I hope I can make it, I still have to find a job for the summer break.” I groaned.
“Same here.” Sammy chuckled. “But I’ll probably help on the ranch.”
“I’m still looking into universities.” Yasmina sighed.
Kenji leaned back on his chair. “My dad got me a summer job in the company, says it’ll look good for uni.”
Sammy clutched Yasmina’s arm. “Ah, I hoped we all went to the same university… lived together…”
“Our video calls are not that bad.” Brooklynn smiled.
“It could be bad if someone crashed his car.” Darius rolled his eyes. “Ben, I’m talking to you.”
He sighed. “Fine, I’m getting out of the call.”
“No, just stop the car.” Sammy pressed.
“This reminds me of the time we went to the zoo and you freaked out on me about the lizards, you were speeding all the way home.” Darius chuckled.
Ben shook his head. “I didn’t freak out, that lizard was just staring into my eyes like Toro, I would’ve taught him a lesson if you hadn’t stopped me.”
“Aw, you two went on a date?” Brooklynn got way too close to the camera.
“Not a date!” Ben and Darius exclaimed together, making us all laugh.
“Them lizards be creepy.” Kenji nodded.
“Chickens are creepier.” Darius mumbled.
“What do you have against chickens?” Sammy sounded really offended. “They are super friendly!”
“Not when they chase you, trying to peek your eyes out, then you have to use your luggage as a shield, so that’s now ruined and you have to buy a new one.” Yasmina grimaced. “And I talk from experience.”
Sammy pouted. “That was a rooster and I apologized for him.”
“Well, chickens are the closer relatives to a T. rex, so…”
“No way, bro! Have you seen a croc? You can’t tell me that isn’t a dino in disguise. I wouldn’t go see one even if they paid me.” Kenji shook his head emphatically.
“Of course not, you don’t need the money, Mr. VIP.” Brooklynn laughed.
“Neither do you, Superstar.”
“I’d go either way.” She shrugged.
“Would not, unless they are involved in some great conspiracy.” I cracked a laugh.
“Hey, when have I ever been wrong?” She said, smugly.
“Not the point.” I rolled my eyes.
“Crocodiles aren’t that bad.” Ben laughed.
“Yeah, cause you weren’t chased by a croc wannabe, Jungle Boy.” Kenji shivered at the memory.
“Damn you driving maniac, you’ll end up killing someone.” Yasmina snapped at Ben.
“Probably yourself.” Brooklynn mumbled.
“I am an excellent driver.” Ben huffed, both hands on the wheel.
I rolled my eyes. “I remember Kenji saying the same and we all know how that turned out.” He smiled at that.
“Where are you going anyway?” Darius asked, sounding a bit suspicious.
“Just um… an errant I need to run… for mom.” Ben replied with an awkward laugh.
“Well, does she know your law-abiding tendencies?” Yasmina said.
Kenji gasped. “Guys, I just googled what a chicken looks like without feathers and… I get it now.”
“Send a pic!” Sammy excitedly requested.
Kenji sent the photo to our group chat and what I saw made me grimace at it. “Urgh, yeah, I see the resemblance.”
“I told you guys, it’s like a mini T. rex.” Darius chuckled.
Sammy sniffed. “Y’all, I’ll never be able to see a chicken the same way again.”
Yasmina patted Sammy on the back. “Way to go Kenji, you ruined the chickens for her.”
“What? I was curious and dino-nerd said they were like cousins, and I was, like, ‘no way, bro, you tripping’.”
“You tripping?” Brooklynn laughed.
“Yeah, so I searched for it and damn… dino birds.” Kenji frowned. “Are chicken birds?”
Darius sighed. “Yes, Kenji. Chickens are birds.”
“Then how come dinos aren’t?”
“Oh my God!”
“See?”
A knock in my door brought my attention away from them bickering. My eyes went from the door to Ben, who was still very much in his car. I rushed to open the door, finding Rachel and Mary standing outside, in fancy party clothes and angry gazes.
“So, I gather you’re not ready?” Mary looked me up and down. I was still wearing the same clothes I went to class with.
“We texted you like a hundred times. We thought you died.” Rachel was tapping her foot angrily.
“You texted, huh?” I scratched the back of my neck with a half-smile.
“Who’s that?” Brooklynn’s voice came out of my phone.
I faced the screen once again. “My friends, um… guys, I kinda have to go, so see you guys next week, probably.”
“Not probably, till next week.” Kenji said it, all serious, but then opened a smile and winked at me.
“Sure, I’ll do my best.” I chuckled nervously.
“I have to go too.” Ben said.
“Bye guys.”
“Buh-bye.”
“Darius, be on the lookout for your cake!” Sammy exclaimed.
“Yes, ma’am.” Darius smiled.
“And good luck on Monday, Hays!” Kenji ushered.
“Yeah, good luck on the exam!” Brooklynn echoed.
“Thanks guys.” I tried not to show sadness through my smile. “Later.”
“Ben, stop that car right-” Darius' voice got cut when I pressed the ‘end call’ button.
The room was finally filled with silence, but that didn’t last long as a shriek made me jump.
“What exam? We have an exam on Monday? I’m so screwed.” Rachel widened her eyes.
“I do… it’s um…” I scored my mind for a class we didn’t have together. “Physiology exam, yeah, the professor just switched the dates.”
“Bummer.” Mary pouted.
“But don’t tell me you’re going tonight with that outfit… no hate, but it’s, well…”
“About that…”
It took me a while, but I convinced them that the exam was more important than the party. I know they were looking forward to it and I was too, but I didn’t like lying. After a quick shower and a clean set of clothes, I laid in bed, alone with my thoughts while I waited for Ben. All I could think was that I needed to pack.
‘What three things would you take to a desert island?’ I chuckled out loud.
A knife, a helicopter and a pilot.
Bottle of water, a fire starter, a tent.
GPS phone, fishing net, flashlight.
Swiss knife, boot knife, a machete.
The possibilities were endless, but I didn’t have the time to go on a shopping spree. Did they even have a utility store near here? I needed to wait for Ben first.
I just had to think of him that my phone vibrated with an upcoming text.
‘I’m out front.’ From Ben.
…
I engulfed him in a tight hug as soon as I laid eyes on him. He was wearing camouflage pants, boots and a plain white shirt. Honestly, he looked like he was going to war, not a jungle.
“You didn’t need to almost crash your car to come here.” I laughed as I let him go.
“I didn’t do that. I followed the speed limit.” He crossed his arms.
“And how did you convince your mom to let you come? Aren’t you, like, gonna miss classes?”
I shrugged. “I’m already on summer break. And I simply told her I came to spend some time with you. She trusts you and well, she was a bit too happy to see me leaving the house.”
“Oh. Damn.” I sighed. ‘No pressure to disappoint mama Pincus.’
“Which is why I ask, are you sure we’re not telling them?” His look was inquisitorial and full of doubt. He didn’t like lying much more than I did.
I leaned against his car. “You know how Kenji is, you can’t even say the island’s name in front of him. Darius and Brooklynn would jump on it and want to come with. And Sammy and Yaz … they are happy.”
“Aren’t you?”
“I am.” I glanced at my feet, scrapping the asphalt. “It’s been great, Kenji, uni, you guys, but-”
“Bumpy, I know. I’m glad you called me, but what about the others?” He pressed.
“There’s no extra seats on the plane?” I chuckled nervously, making it sound like a question. Ben just glared at me, not amused. “Okay, okay, I just can’t ask them that… to go back.”
He shook his head. “You said it yourself, Darius and Brooklynn would be up for this. This feels wrong. Lying.”
“I know.” I groaned. “But I don’t want to put them in danger. I just called you cause it's Bumpy we’re talking about. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“I’m glad you did and I get it, but still. It feels wrong. Especially lying to Darius.” Both of us stayed shoulder to shoulder against the car while we watched the college students going out to enjoy their Friday. Neither of us tried to move, we just stood still until Ben spoke again. “I know you. Why aren’t you telling me?”
I dreaded having to be honest with him, but I guess I owed him that. Honestly, I didn’t like being honest with myself, but I couldn’t deny it.
“It’s just that, about Darius and Brooklynn, mostly Darius… I know how you feel about him, but-”
He pushed himself off the car, looking at me with wide eyes. “I don’t- there’s nothing-”
“It’s okay, everybody knows.” I laughed softly.
“What?” Ben was beet-red.
“You guys are cute together and not discreet at all.”
“Oh.” His mouth was in a ‘o’ shape as he remained in stupor.
“And when we come back, I want all the details.” I grinned.
Ben laughed to himself then shook his head, his face serious again. “So, what about him?”
I looked away, not wanting to face him. “I’m just not sure if I can trust his decisions anymore, not after- not after Hawkes. I can’t trust him to put our needs first, to put Bumpy first.” I sighed. “And if I’m going back to Nublar, I need someone who I know will have my back.”
Ben stayed silent after that. I knew that he knew where I was coming from. But I could trust Ben. I knew I could, especially if it came to Bumpy. But Ben and Darius’ relationship was a new development, technically Ben didn’t confirm it, but I was worried he’d take his side on this. Would that make him tell on me? I couldn’t have that.
“What would you feel like if something went wrong and he got hurt?” I tried using the same argument Zia used on me. It wasn’t my best look but his silence was making me desperate. “It’s fucking Nublar, someone always gets hurt. I couldn’t have it be Kenji. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll kill you if you get hurt, Ben. I just called you because you’d probably never forgive me if I benched you regarding Bumpy. But they will. They’ll get over it, while being safe and sound. There’s no need to put the people we love in danger.”
“I know, but-”
“We barely got over what happened last time. You almost died, then Darius almost died, then me. We might not talk about it that often, but we all still have nightmares.” I continued. “We can’t make them go through that again.”
“I know! It’s just… he’ll be pissed. All of them will.” He sighed, sounding exhausted.
I stood in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. “It was my idea, they’ll be pissed at me , don’t worry about that.”
“Kenji will kill you. And Darius… he’ll probably never talk to me again.” He groaned.
“Ben, you don’t have to come.” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
He looked me dead in the eye and nodded, confidently. “Yeah, I do. Bumpy needs me.”
With his mind set. I helped him bring his stuff to my dorm. Ben brought a huge duffel bag and backpack, dropping them on the floor with a thud. I don’t think Ben had ever been here, but he didn’t waste time and got to business.
“So, I’ve got water, protein bars, rope, knives, a spare of clothes, flashlights and walkie talkies.” Ben stated.
“Um…” I glanced around, I had nothing in my closet that would help me on a deserted island.
Ben grinned. “I knew it, that’s why I brought enough for two.”
“Did you have your bag already packed?”
“It was a security measure.”
I cracked a laugh. “Sounds like you were ready to go even before I called you.”
“Yep, thanks for the ride.” He patted me on the shoulder.
“You’re impossible, you know that, right? And you were giving me shit for not telling them!”
“I was going to tell everybody once I had a way to the island, I wasn’t going to abandon Bumpy.” His grin grew.
“Damn you, Jungle Boy.” I laughed, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. “Come on, let’s get some food and I’ll fill you in.”
Notes:
Shit starts next chapter!
Chapter 4: Isla Nublar
Summary:
Back to the place that it all began.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
I had been tossing and turning in my bed for a while now. I think the most I was going to get to sleep this night was one, two hours tops. Ben was sleeping on the floor by my bed on a thin mattress I rarely used. I tried to match my breathing to his, maybe that would make it easier for me to fall asleep. But every time I tried, I felt like I was going to die suffocated.
I made a mental note to pack some energy drinks as I listen to the night sounds. There was a party far away, because I could hear faint electronic music, in a dorm close by, someone was snoring and in another one there was some pounding I chose to ignore.
I don't know when I was able to match our breathings, but suddenly it was much easier to breathe.
"Hays?" Ben whispered. "Are you awake?"
"Can't sleep?" I whispered back. Somehow it felt wrong to talk in a normal voice.
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Same."
"What if something goes wrong?" He spoke so quietly I almost didn't catch it.
A lot of things could go wrong. With our ride into the island, with our ride out of it, with the volcano or the dinosaurs, or... there were too many variables. All of that was needless to say, but another wild variable was Camp Fam, what if they figured out our plan... they would totally come to help.
"Nobody knows we are going there." He continued. "If something bad happens, I don't want my mom wondering. Not knowing, holding onto hope. I don't want to break her heart, but I also want to help Bumpy."
"I get it. I don't care if it's selfish, I want to help Bumpy too." I said. "But knowing our families and Camp Fam, they would go hell and back for us." And that was what I was afraid of. I didn't want them getting hurt and putting themselves in danger for a choice that I made. If my therapist were here, she would say something about me having zero self-preservation when it came to my friends and family. I never really cared what happened to me if it meant they'd be okay. That was what had gotten me here in the first place.
Just because now I knew how my mind worked, it didn't change the facts that my choices remained. I was not apologetic. They'd be mad, but that will pass. What mattered was their safety. My family's and Camp Fam's. And that included Bumpy.
"We could write letters." Ben's voice was choked. "I guess this would be the first place someone would come looking for us... so we could explain, hopefully they'll never read it, but-"
"It's a good idea, letters... okay." I got up slowly and headed for my desk.
The room was lit only by my desk lamp. Behind me, Ben scribbled furiously in a notebook. The sound of pen on paper filling the room. Yet, all I could do was stare at a blank page. There were a lot of thoughts running wild in my mind, but none concrete enough to be worth writing down. By the time we were supposed to be getting up, my pen finally began to move.
...
The address Zia had given me was of an airstrip in the middle of nowhere. The flat land was surrounded by mountains on one side and a eucalyptus forest on the other. Our uber driver made a weird face dropping Ben and I here, I guess he wasn't used to dropping people in an airstrip that looked like it was used for smuggling drugs.
Another thing that could be used for some illegal activity was the plane. It was old and very small. It was a single-engine airplane with a propeller in the front; the wings connected to the ceiling of the plane and the whole thing was on top of normal car sized tires. The white plane had blue and red stripes on the side and the white painting reflected the sun rising over the mountains.
Mornings in California were a bit chilly, even if we were approaching summer. Ben had his same outfit from yesterday plus a blue jacket with a lot of pockets, no fanny bag this time. I had a black, short sleeve crop top, black cargo pants and running shoes. I also had a thin jacket on top, where the pocket knife Ben had brought me was secured in my right pocket.
A lone Mexican man greeted us with a nod. He was smoking a cigarette near the metal stair leading to the door. That must be the pilot.
"You can drop your bags there." He said with a thick accent, pointing to a cart.
We did as he said but couldn't help but notice we seemed to be early.
"Are we the first ones here?" I asked with a friendly smile.
"No." His response was flat.
"Okay..." I frowned, the inside of the plane seemed empty and there wasn't anyone around. Ben and I motioned to climb up to enter the plane, but the pilot cleared his throat.
"Names?" He pulled out a crumpled paper from his pocket.
"Hayden Simmons."
He nodded, without raising his head.
"I'm Ben Pincus." Ben said with an overly friendly voice.
"You're not on the manifest."
Ben glanced at me with a puzzled face. "But-"
"It was a last-minute change, Dearing said it was okay." I rushed to say.
The pilot glanced inside his plane, looking like he was doing some calculations in his head. From what I could see from the outside, it looked like a 10-seater, it was more than enough space for Dearing, Zia, Franklin, Ben and me.
Finally, the pilot shrugged and mumbled something about not being paid enough to deal with kids, waving us to go inside. The interior was white with blue leather seats, the last row was like in a bus, then the next two rows of seats faced each other, and the last ones were right behind the pilot. The back row had bags on it, so Ben and I sat on the window, facing each other.
"They know I'm coming too, right?" Ben asked.
"They're about to." I chuckled nervously.
"Hays..."
"What are they going to do, kick you out?"
Someone groaned behind me. "Oh, boy." A man emerged from the bags on the back seat. Turned out it wasn't really bags; it was just his jacket. He was tan, like he worked under the sun, short brown hair and undone beard. But what really caught my attention was his blue eyes. He wore all tactical black clothes and would be a bit scary if not for his kind eyes.
"Oh, um... Hi, I'm Hayden Simmons and this is Ben Pincus." I introduced ourselves.
"Hello." Ben waved.
The man sat up straight, with a polite smile. "I'm Owen. Owen Grady." The man offered his hand. "How are you doing?" As soon as his eyes locked on us, I knew he recognized us. His eyes turned a bit sad in an expression I knew very well. Pity.
"Good, good." His hand was rough, but the handshake was firm. I was asking myself why he was here when loud voices came from outside. Looking out the window, Zia, Franklin and Dearing were dropping their bags on the cart.
"Relax. You're more likely to die riding a horse than in a plane." Zia said. She was wearing these black leggings that imitated jeans, a mustard t-shirt and a dark jacket.
"No, I'm not, because I won't even get on a horse. My chances are zero." Franklin exasperated. He was wearing brand new hiking clothes, beige pants, blue shirt and dark green jacket.
"Planes are the safest way to travel." Zia shot back.
"You call this a plane? My cousin has a bigger drone than this."
Dearing had her back to the plane, watching the road to the airstrip. She wore simple clothes, leggings and a beige jacket on top of a plain shirt. When she finally made her way inside, she stopped dead in her tracks, wide eyes locked on the guy behind us.
"Owen!" She gasped, then sat next to me, the closest seat to him.
"Didn't think you were gonna ever show up." Owen said, nonchalant.
"Franklin, you wiener, get on the plane." Zia made her way inside, sitting across from Dearing and flashing me a smile.
"Oh, um..." Dearing finally got her eyes off of Owen. "This is Zia Rodriguez. Dinosaur expert."
"Zia." Owen offered her a handshake.
"Hey, how are you doing?
"Yeah, real good. How are you?"
"I see you've met Hayden Simmons, she'll be our guide on the island." Dearing smiled at me, to which I only nodded. Then her eyes turned to Ben. "And, um..."
"Ben Pincus, the better guide." Ben offered his hand, which Dearing shook hesitantly.
I scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"Um, Hays..." Zia glared at me.
"Ben's coming."
"My mom says wonderful things about you." Ben smiled, innocently.
"Pincus... right, I knew it sounded familiar." Dearing nodded, glancing at me. My posture remained confident, daring her to say anything, but she finally sighed in defeat.
"So, this is Franklin Webb. Systems analyst." Dearing moved on, introduced him. Franklin sat on the front, buckling his seatbelt tight and clutching his laptop bag, looking like he was about to puke at any minute.
"Nervous flier?" Owen tried to hide an amused smile.
"Would you ride a thousand-pound horse that's been abused all his life?"
"I rode my motorcycle through the jungle with a pack of Raptors." Owen said.
"I rode with a pack of Baryonyxes. More like 'from' than 'with', but same thing." I shrugged.
"I rode an actual dinosaur, so..." Ben grinned, earning a curious glance from Owen.
"We're not compatible." Franklin shrunk on his seat, turning his back to us.
Right as he said that, the pilot closed the door and told us we were about to take off. I saw Ben fidgeting almost as much as Franklin, it appears Nublar hadn't cured his motion sickness.
Ben gasped lightly and I was ready to search for a plastic bag for him to puke when he waved me closer. "I knew his name sounded familiar. That's Grady, the dinosaur trainer! Darius talks about him all the time."
I raised an eyebrow, vaguely familiar with Darius having mentioned the name some time.
"I only train Raptors actually." Owen said behind us.
"You trained Blue?" Ben's eyes glowed.
"You know her?"
"We crossed paths a few times." I chuckled.
"I consider myself somewhat of a dinosaur whisperer myself." Ben smugly said.
"You don't say." Owen grinned.
...
The hours passed slowly, Owen and Ben went on about training dinosaurs, positive reinforcements and keeping a tight schedule. I switched seats so they'd be closer and so I could chat with Zia. Dearing made sure to keep repeating step by step what we were going to do on the island. She was a bit bossy, I'm sure Owen thought the same for the faces he was making. Franklin and Zia bickered a lot, which was a good distraction; and after a while, Ben was sleeping soundly. I don't know how he did that on those uncomfortable seats, but I tried to copy him.
Flying in a single-engine plane wasn't the same as Kenji's private jet, the trip down to Costa Rica was going to be double the time of my last one. I caught myself imagining Kenji's reactions to this plane to kill time. No air conditioning. The insufferable loud engine noise. The tack-tack-tack of the propeller. The hard seat with no leg space. 'He would totally hate it.' I laughed as the necklace he gifted me grew heavy on my neck. 'He will totally hate me for doing this.' I grimaced. When Kenji got mad, he got mad. That really didn't happen often and I don't remember the last time we had a huge fight. It usually was about small things, having a long distance relationship was hard and he was a bit jealous. But when we met up it was always amazing, like a first date jitters all over again. A warmth spread on my chest as I remembered the first time I said 'I love you', of course I had to do it, because he would never grow the balls to do it. It was six months after Nublar, our first Camp Fam meeting and our first time seeing each other properly since being away from too long. It was out of the blue and not romantic at all, but that was a rule in our relationship it seemed.
I jolted awake from a bit of turbulence. The sun was setting and everybody was either sleeping or staring quietly out the window. Nobody seemed to care that we were going to another country without going through customs. I mean, I brought my passport, but I doubted it was going to be of any use.
We stopped for fuel and bathroom breaks a couple of times. By the time the pilot informed us we were in Costa Rican airspace, it was already night. We passed over big cities with lots of lights, then the coast and its fishing villages almost in the dark.
40 minutes to Nublar.
My smart watch was marking 11:23 p.m., but that didn't account for the difference in time zones. Either way, the full moon was high up in the sky, its reflection was visible in the ocean below. I could see the clouds, the shadow of the continent we were leaving behind and the funnel dark cloud in the distance. Not a cloud. Smoke.
There sat the island. 120 miles off of the coast of Costa Rica. The inverted tear-drop had its wide part to the north, where the lone mountain expelled smoke. The moonlight barely penetrated through the cloud that hung over the island.
Its tropical jungle gave way to green plains, mountains covered in velvet green and rocky cliffs to the east. Waterfalls decorated the landscape, together with sandy beaches and the old park's buildings. A true paradise in disguise. Of course I could see none of that since it was dark, but it was all tattooed in my brain nonetheless.
I grew more anxious by the second. Every negative feeling I had successfully shoved in the back of my mind was resurfacing with the familiar view. The restless nights watching out for dinosaurs; the days we spent starving, when we hadn't figured out our food situation yet; fighting against storms to keep our camp in one piece; the running for our lives, so much running... and so many teeth, claws and blood were spilled on that island.
A hand touched my knee lightly and I looked up to see Ben glancing at me with a shaky yet determined expression.
"Are you ready for this?"
"For Nublar?" I chuckled, putting on a brave face. "Never."
'Just wait, Bumpy. We're coming.'
…
Kenji
It was Saturday afternoon and I juggled two pizza boxes, diet cokes, bags and my spare key keys to open the door, but still, I couldn’t stop grinning in anticipation.
Pushing the door open, I spoke up. “Who’s the dopest delivery man? I came bringing pizza!” A dark and empty dorm room stood before me. The room was small, way too small for my taste, but Hayden wouldn’t let me rent her a proper apartment downtown. So stubborn. She’s always been, but at least she didn’t deny me giving her gifts. Not that any gift would ever be enough.
“Oh, man. I totally should’ve called first.” I placed everything on the floor near the door and pulled out my phone. Voice mail. “Hey Hays, I’m at your place, I know you said you needed to study, but I came bringing food for the all nighter I know you’re gonna pull. And before you say it, I don’t care if it’s a four-hour flight, my pilot doesn’t mind.” I laughed into the phone. “So, give me a call, the pizza is getting cold. Wait! Maybe you’re in the library studying, then don’t give me a call, text me. Love you, bye.” I finished the voice mail, still with a smile on my lips, imagining the surprise on her face when she listened to that voice mail.
I sat on her bed, promising to myself that I would not take a slice of pizza before she arrived.
‘Is it a bad idea to bring pizza to the library?’ I did not need old librarians screaming at me, that was one of my top five nightmares, along with dinosaurs… and nuns…
I let my eyes wander, taking in her room. It’s been months since I’ve been here, and it looked all the same on the surface. But some details that I hadn’t noticed when I barged in caught my eye. Hayden’s bed was undone, that never really happened, and there was a makeshift bed on the floor, thin mattress and her second pillow. That also never happened, when I came over we’d share a bed and I didn’t think she was much fan of her friends sleeping over.
‘ut that’s it. One of her girlfriends slept over.’ I thought. ‘Yeah, that has to be it.’ Our talk about her going to a party last night flashed through my mind. ‘Is this related? But she said she wasn’t going…’
Moving onto her desk, I noticed a piece of paper carefully folded with my name on it. That was her handwriting, that I was sure of, but what was this? Who writes letters nowadays? Why didn’t she text or something?
I was smiling thinking of how she wrote me a letter, so I took my time unfolding the piece of paper, then a sense of dread filled me. ‘It’s not like I’m snooping on her stuff, it has my name on it, right? ’
Hey, Kenji.
I’m sitting here on my desk trying to figure out what to say to you, there’s so much to say, yet I can’t really form the words. Right now all I can think of was our first official date. You gave me a tour of your city, I got so excited with the tourist traps that we missed the reservation on your favorite restaurant. I still had a million photos of us on the reflection of the Bean. But you weren’t sad or upset, you were thinking of me the entire day.
I smiled at that. I didn’t care about a stupid reservation.
I’m punching myself for not being able to do the same now. There’s no easy way to say it, so I’ll just rip the band-aid. I went back to Nublar.
I froze, my smile disappearing completely. My breathing accelerated just by reading that sentence. I wanted to let go of the letter and go find Hayden in the library, but I pushed that feeling aside and kept reading.
If you’re reading this, it means my plan didn’t work. I was supposed to be back by the end of the week. I was supposed to get Bumpy to safety, and to bring Ben back too. And I was supposed to do all that without worrying you. No such luck, I guess.
I know that after everything we’ve been through, we said we’d never go back there, and I meant it, but how could I plan for a volcano of all things? When we left Bumpy, she was supposed to be safe. You know I love her and it still pains me that I never got to say goodbye. I owe it to her. Bumpy needs me. Us . Ben was not doing well without her either, you know that. And he would do anything to see her again. Ben’s by my side right now, writing his own letter.
‘Ben? She spoke with Ben and not me?’ All logical thoughts were fleeing my mind. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why she’d be back there, now of all times.
My friend Zia reached out yesterday, apparently Benjamin Lockwood is getting the dinosaurs out of the island and Claire Dearing asked my help as a guide of sorts. Yes, that Claire Dearing. I’m not a fan, but they promised me they’ll get Bumpy, I couldn’t pass on that. Just the thought of her on that island… I just couldn’t let her die. You know that.
I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you and I’m sorry that I have to do this through a letter, but I knew if I told you, you’d never let me go or worse, you’d wanna come with me. I know how much that island took from us, all of us, I wouldn’t have it happen again. I know that you’re angry, and you have all the right to be, I just hope you’ll forgive me eventually.
“Angry? Damn right I’m angry!” I shouted in the empty room. She always did that, dive headfirst into danger without any regard for herself, or the people she left behind. It drove me crazy, yet it was one of the reasons I fell for her. But right now, it was driving me crazy! ‘How could she simply leave me?’ My chest tightened.
I’m really bad with this sappy stuff, I was never much of a writer either, but I just want you to know that I did everything I could to get back. Get back to you. I love you, Kenji, never forget that.
Love,
Hayden
The piece of paper crumpled in a ball under my fist, flying across the room in frustration, anger, dread and sadness… everything swirling inside of me as the pizzas turned cold. Forgotten.
…
Hayden
We landed on a dirt runway in the middle of the grassland plains. A few lights indicated the path. The landing was rough, it was like we could feel every bump on the freshly built airstrip, every rock on the way. The plane kept going slowly until the end of the runway, where more lights were visible. There were several tents, where people dressed as military were coming and going, several military trucks for transport were parked mindlessly and some containers were spread around. I noticed solar panels connected to the tents and with the help of the moon light, a fortified fence setting the perimeter.
‘Is that enough?’ That fence wasn’t that sturdy. And how much energy could solar panels generate? Enough to power the fence against the larger predators? I doubt it. It was beyond me how these soldier dudes felt safe here. Maybe it was the guns. I saw every and each one of them carrying some type of rifle, although it was difficult to see it from afar. Did guns help? Sure. But not so much when it was a blitz dinosaur attack or a sneaky one in the middle of the night. Dinosaur reflexes tend to be faster than human’s. And they did love to cause chaos.
As we exited the plane, we were greeted by seven big, scruffy looking dudes. All were dressed in shades of green, beige and brown, with vests, boots and carrying assault rifles comfortably. It looked like they were all tranquilizer guns, but still…
“Claire.” The scruffy dude in the middle called. He was the oldest by far, with white hair showing under his cap. He smiled, showing a whole lot of wrinkles and offered his hand. “Ken Wheatley. Welcome back.”
“Quite an operation you’ve got going on here.” Dearing took off her outer jacket.
Two things I had forgotten about Nublar, the weather and how dark it got. It was humid and hot, even at night; and outside of this little camp they had going on, it was pure darkness. I couldn’t even see the outline of the mountains surrounding us. Not even the full moon’s light penetrated the thick cloud above us.
While they took care of the introductions, our baggage had already been pulled out, so I grabbed my backpack, shoving my jacket inside. I nodded briefly to them as Dearing introduced me; and Ben did a shy wave.
“Mr. Lockwood takes his humanitarian efforts very seriously.” Wheatley said. “Where’s the, uh… Raptor wrangler.”
“Animal behaviorist.” Owen stepped forward, offering his hand. “Owen Grady.”
“Hey, Owen. Ken Wheatley.”
“And you are the Great White Hunter?”
“I guess.” Wheatley chuckled. “I’m the expedition facilitator.”
“Oh, God! It’s hot!” Franklin groaned, taking off his jacket dramatically.
Owen glanced at the ominous smoke cloud in the distance. “It’s about to get a whole lot hotter.”
“That’s why we gotta move.” Wheatley said, serious. “We have the transport ready, we were just waiting on you.”
“We’re going right now?” Franklin gasped. “At nighttime? Is that a good idea?” He glanced warily at me.
I shrugged. “Nope.”
“Most carnivores are nocturnal.” Owen said.
“Good thing we have some guns this time, huh.” I shoved Ben playfully. He didn’t look very amused looking at the men with guns. I reached out to his arm, squeezing reassuringly. “Come on, we’ve got this.” Ben reluctantly nodded.
Wheatley led us to two trucks, one had a cage on the back, with bars as thick as my arm to hold Blue; the other was for us, a fully armored vehicle. It was a sturdy beast that truck, I’ll give them that, which put my mind at ease as we settled inside. So far so good. We were on the move pretty quickly after arriving. Out of the ‘safety’ of the camp. We had to go through several gates with sentries on the sides. Sentries that I only now came to acknowledge. Maybe I was too quick to judge. Not too bad of a fence after all.
A few seconds out of the camp, Franklin pulled out a spray bottle from his bag and started spraying his arm with it. The strong chemical smell impregnated the interior of the truck.
“Need some bug spray?” He offered, while all the military guys glared at him as if he was crazy. “Bug spray?”
“Brought my own.” Ben grinned, pulling out a vial too. “Want some?” He turned to me.
“Please.” I accepted, remembering Nublar mosquitos.
“The T. rex would be dead by now, right?” Franklin asked, his voice shaky.
I chuckled, exchanging amused glances with Ben. ‘Oh, one could only hope.’
“No, it’s impossible to know the max lifespan of a clone in a completely different environment.” Zia said. “Take a caveman that would’ve lived 20 years. Feed him prime meals, give him health care, he’s gonna live five times as long.”
Franklin was breathing heavily. “So, she’d be dead by now, right?”
The dirt road we followed was dark, lit only by the truck’s potent head light. The grassland soon changed to the tropical jungle. By the location of the runway we landed in, and the road we were following… we were going straight to-
“Woah, woah, woah. Stop the truck!” Ben was on his feet, yelling at the driver. The truck came to a halt and Wheatley was up on a second, hand on the revolver in his holster. That most certainly wasn’t a tranq gun.
“What are you doing going to Main Street?” I joined Ben, motioning for Wheatley to take the hand off his gun. ‘Is he serious?’
“Who are you again?” He sounded impatient, glaring at me and Ben, but he let go of the gun.
“I’m Ben Pincus and this is Hayden Simmons.” Ben crossed his arms, acting all smug. “Consider us locals.”
“We need to get past it to get to the Comms station.” Wheatley eyes us suspiciously.
“This is T. rex territory, you don’t go through here at night. At daytime, sure, cause she’s usually out, but never at nighttime.” I shook my head.
Franklin gasped. “T. rex?”
“We’ve been meaning to capture her, good to know.” Wheatley nodded. “We’ll be ready for the T. rex.”
“May I see your map?” Ben asked and Wheatley handed it over a piece of paper reluctantly.
Wheatley sat back down. “Alright, we need to get to a facility on the north of the island to get the tracking system back online. There’s a road that cuts through here and goes straight there.” He pointed to the map.
Ben chuckled to himself. “Except it doesn’t.”
“What’s that, boy?” He glared at Ben, who glared back.
I jumped in before Ben could say something that would make the Hothead actually use his gun. “The road is blocked, the Brachios took down a bunch of trees escaping the Scorpios.”
A little choking sound came from Dearing, who was looking at Ben and me quite alarmed. Exchanging a brief glance with her, I rolled my eyes at her surprised look. She might’ve thought that the scientist got rid of Scorpios by Masrani’s orders, but she was one of the people that authorized its creation in the first place.
“We won’t pass through there by car.” Ben continued examining the map, ignoring the old man having a fit over his bad plan.
Wheatley gritted his teeth. “Okay, there’s a maintenance road following the river.”
“Oh, not that river, we almost died there a bunch of times. It’s full of carnivores, especially at night.” I brushed him off, focusing on the map. It was easier to get around when we didn’t have to account for a truck.
“Great, we can take those.” Wheatley knocked twice on the ceiling. “Let’s roll.”
“I thought the goal was to get the system back online as fast as possible. The focus is to get Blue, is it not? You can send another team to that part of the jungle, and we’ll be on our merry way.” Owen said with a polite smile on his face, yet his tone was bordering on annoyance at Wheatley. Owen briefly exchanged glances with Ben and me, to which I nodded, thankful for the help.
“We can go through the grasslands.” Ben concluded, smiling discreetly at me.
“Too exposed.” Wheatley shook his head.
“Is the fastest path.” I pressed, knowing very well why Ben wanted to go through there. But it was true. With trucks this size, the grasslands would’ve been easier. The road around the east side of the island passed through Camp Cretaceous and if we kept going, it circled the volcano near the facility we had to go to.
Wheatley reluctantly motioned for the driver, and he changed our course. We advanced slowly, shaking on our seats as the grasslands had more irregular terrain than the roads. We couldn’t afford a truck to break down.
Outside, the moon barely illuminated our path, sometimes it appeared through a break in the clouds, but the strong headlight made up for it. In the distance, the monorail tracks cut through the landscape, but no dinosaur made an appearance. Everybody was looking outside, trying to discern our surroundings, well everybody except Franklin, who had his eyes glued to his lap. My eyes were focusing on the outside as well, so were Ben’s. We knew we’d have more chances of finding Bumpy in the plains where the herbivores hang. And of course, it was a much safer route too.
By now we had reached the place where grasslands turned back into jungle and we were traveling by the border between habitats towards the east, looking for the road. A distant rumble echoed through the night. It got really quiet on the inside of the truck, all of us were trying to listen.
The truck came to a stop.
“What was that?” Franklin’s eyes widened. “Is it the T. rex?”
A loud stomping had the ground shaking and a bellow filled the night.
“You’re in luck, City Boy.” Ben grinned. “Not a T. rex.”
Next, were the sound of trees parting to give way to large animals.
Zia glued her eyes to the window. “I have to see this.” She was out the door before anyone could react.
“Hey, Miss? Miss!” Wheatley ran after her. “This area is not secured.”
We followed, coming to halt before the creatures. It was straight out of a painting, the moon peeked from the clouds and shone behind the Brachiosaurus head, giving it a halo as it walked, every footstep making the ground shake. There were three of them, two adults and a smaller one, a juvenile. Long tails swung in the air as they took turns bellowing. Every now and then, they lowered their long necks to munch on some trees.
Zia was quite literally mouth agape as I went to stand next to her.
“Look at that.” Her voice cracked, as if she was about to cry. “Never thought I’d see one in real life.” Dearing came to stand on her other side “She’s beautiful.”
“Woo!” Ben had his hands around his mouth, mimicking the dinosaurs. At that, the front Brachio turned its head, bellowing back and making Zia gasp.
“Come on, Ben. Stop showing off.” I laughed.
He smiled, proud. “Hey, at least their first dinosaur was a cool one, ours was a Compy.”
“I remember you screaming at that.”
“That was the old me.” He shrugged, still with a smile on his lips.
“Uh, guys… can we…” Franklin trailed off, motioning for us to go back to the truck.
Ben ignored him, bellowing again at the Brachios. This time, the dinosaur didn’t bellow back. The tree dinosaurs turned their head in synchro to the jungle, towards the volcano. It was not the glooming mountain that worried me, though. It was the chirping sound. No, not chirping, it was deeper than that. Clicking.
“What is that?” Owen asked, coming to stand next to Dearing.
“You remember that sound, right?” Ben grabbed my arm.
“I do.”
“Is it the T. rex?” Franklin shrieked behind us.
“Get back to the truck!” I ushered them, keeping my voice low.
“What? What is it?” Sensing our tension, Wheatley and his men had their guns drawn in a circle around us, eyes scanning the dark jungle.
“Back to the truck!” I pressed. “Now!”
“Are you kidding?” Zia didn’t take her eyes off the animals. “This is the most-”
A growl had the Brachiosaurus bellowing madly. They reared in their back legs as a shadow emerged from the jungle. A dark and red shadow, now illuminated by the trucks’ lights. The Brachiosaurus let their front legs down in an earthquake, dashing at full speed towards us.
Our group scattered in the middle of the stampede, Ben was pulling Franklin along, while I did the same for Zia and Dearing. Wheatley tried to bark orders; there were gunshots, screams and a roar. Then came the crash. The tail of a Brachio slammed against our truck, denting the metal and making it roll down a hill until it came to a stop. Upside down.
The dark and red shadow approached, growling and trying to bite the herbivores. It stood on its hind and powerful legs, with spikes going from the tail to its bulky head. Its yellow eyes darted around, looking for prey behind the permanent frown it had. The Tarbosaurus charged, earning a bite off the leg of the young Brachio, who cried out.
Amidst the chaos, our group hid behind the truck carrying the cage and we heard it when the Brachiosaurus hit the floor. There were sounds of flesh being ripped off as the Tarbosaurus enjoyed its meal. The Brachiosaurus’ cries slowly died down as we remained on guard, crouched by the truck.
“If we don’t move, it won’t see us, right?” One of the scruffy guys said.
“In what world do you live in?” Zia snapped at him, mouth agape as she watched the dinosaur eating.
Looking around, Dearing’s eyes were about to bug out her face. Owen had a stoic expression, shoulders tense while his arm wrapped around Dearing, protectively. Franklin was mumbling something under his breath, maybe praying. Ben was trying to take a peek over the hood and my eyes found Wheatley. It appeared he was analyzing our group just as I was.
He grinned as he adjusted his weapon. I shook my head, motioning for him to wait. Soon the Tarbo would be full from its meal, and it would go away. We don’t mess with a dinosaur that’s eating, it gets too territorial after its fresh food. Wheatley pointed at his watch as if reminding me of our tight schedule. With a movement of his wrist, our military escort moved out coordinately. They shot one dart after the other, but many bounced off the Tarbosaurus thick skin.
“Aim at the soft spots!” Owen yelled.
At that the darts started to hit the dinosaur’s belly and mouth. But it was too late, the Tarbo roared, slamming one of its feet on the hood of the truck, denting it until smoke came out of it. With the impact, the back of the truck jumped, and we were forced to get away from it. The carnivore walked around the truck, saliva everywhere as it roared. It charged at the guys with the guns, who rolled out the way, avoiding the teeth by a hair. There was no indication of the Tarbo slowing down.
A panicked scream drew my attention away from the chaos. Franklin was running full speed to the jungle. My eyes met Ben’s and he nodded before I ran after our Tech Boy. Running in the dark, it took a while for me to reach him, but when I did, I found him face down on the grass, struggling to get up.
“Whoa, Franklin. Calm down.” I said, but his breathing was erratic. “They got it under control.”
“That’s a T. rex… they are the worst dinosaur… we can’t hold our own against it.” He wheezed.
“Does it help if I say it’s not a T. rex?”
“It’s not?” His breath hitched.
Loud thumping of footsteps approached us, but they didn’t sound normal, they were wobblier than a charging dinosaur. Loud yells came next, taunting the dinosaur and ordering a cease fire. I pulled Franklin behind a tree, where we could see the men with flashlights cornering the Tarbo, who took one final step before collapsing.
“Did we kill it?” One man asked.
“Not many shots actually made it through.” Wheatley approached the dinosaur, nudging its snout with his feet. “Jones, call for a pick up.”
“Roger that, Sir.” A black and bald man, looking like an even more jacked Mike Tyson, left in a hurry.
“Now that you put us through all this trouble…” Wheatley glanced down at the helpless dinosaur. Its head laid on the floor, reaching Wheatley’s chest, but he didn’t seem impressed. “…a little reward is the least you can do. Am I right, fellas?” There were approving grunts as Wheatley approached the Tarbo’s mouth.
“What is he doing?” Franklin whispered.
I shushed him and leaned closer to try and see what was going on, the men had just a few flashlights, but it was enough. Wheatly got up, laughing like he’d just won the lottery, holding big pliers and a dinosaur tooth, dripping blood.
“What the-”
“Come on.” I pulled Franklin back towards the trucks.
‘That’s so wrong.’ The sight of Wheatley holding that tooth and smiling made my stomach churn. It was wrong in so many ways. Who the hell rips a tooth out as a trophy? Or whatever that was.
We got back to the group and minutes later Wheatley and the other joined us. I didn’t want to think about how many teeth that equated.
“Great job, Stormtroopers.” Zia clapped her hands, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Have you thought about, I don’t know… not giving dinosaurs a tranquilizer overdose?”
“Would you rather end up like the big one there?” Wheatley dismissed her, pointing at the young Brachio. Dead and with a leg missing. The only hint that there was ever a leg was the white of the bone poking out amidst the layers of muscle.
Jones came forth with a broken equipment in hand. “The long-range comms was on the truck, Sir.”
“Any hope for transport?”
“The trucks took a heavy hit, we need a mechanic up here.” One of the military guys said.
Wheatley cursed under his breath. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do, we'll go on foot. Forget about the dinosaur, we got bigger fish to catch.” He fixed his rifle, turning to Franklin. “With the system back online, can we communicate with our camp?”
“I- um, yes. I can boost the radio signal off the comms tower.” He nodded.
“Traveling through the jungle with no vehicle at night.” Owen shook his head. “That’s asking for an ambush.”
“I’m sure the locals can get us there in no time.” There was a coldness to Wheatley's voice as he looked at Ben and me.
“I’d listen to the animal expert over here.” I motioned to Owen. “There was a reason we didn’t usually go out at night.”
“A shelter then.” Dearing spoke with authority, seemingly recovered from the dinosaur attack.
“Then we might have the perfect place.” Ben smiled brightly.
Notes:
I really don’t know how to write a letter, so Hayden doesn’t either lol. It was a shitty letter, Ben did a way better job.
Chapter 5: Camp Cretaceous
Summary:
Home, sweet home.
Chapter Text
Hayden
Flashlights illuminated our path and somehow, even at nighttime, the jungle got more familiar by the minute. A tree bent in a known angle, a patch of grass in a particular shape, of course everything was overgrown, the grass was taller and the trees wider, but it was still our slice of the jungle. It was when we crossed a familiar bridge going across a river, I knew we were close. The same river that Yasmina and I used to run along in the mornings, the same river I almost drowned running from the Scorpios, the same one we used for drinking water and chill on a hot day. There were several memories flooding my mind at the same time. Over the years I had learned to only hold onto the positive one.
Ben was probably feeling the same since he picked up his pace. Going past the last overgrown fern, he came to a halt. A stopped beside him, our shoulders brushing lightly as I smiled at the sight.
There it stood, high up in a tree.
“Welcome to Camp Cretaceous.” Ben grinned, puffed chest and hands on his hip.
“I can’t believe it’s still here.” I said in awe.
The mesh fence stood around the tall, old tree. Our old camp was built around it, high up from the ground and made out of the rest of the original camp. A ladder and slide gave us access to an open area. In the center, there was a table supported by a T. rex skull, a green couch and chairs. To the left, there was the shower with an empty support for the gallon of water; and every other free space were bunk beds or crates for storage.
“Let’s set a perimeter.” Wheatley said and his men moved out. “What is this place?” He turned to me.
“Summer camp.” I said, walking along with Ben.
“You did this yourselves?” Owen asked, sounding truly surprised.
“You know, after we activated the useless distress beacon and we realized we were left stranded…” I glared at Dearing, who averted my gaze. “We had a lot of time in our hands.”
Ben chuckled. “Too bad you didn’t let me do any upgrades.”
“We told you a tree is not a place for a dinosaur.” I reached for the gate.
“Ah, ah, ah. Careful.” Ben stopped me.
“It’s been almost three years, the battery ran out.” I touched the metal that once upon a time was electrified, pulling the gate open, it got stuck as usual, but it opened alright.
“It’s never bad to be safe.” He followed me in.
“You electrified the fence?” Wheatley asked, and for the first time I, too, saw surprise in his eyes.
“Yeah?”
“That’s impressive.” Owen nodded, approvingly and Wheatley laughed to himself.
“What? Hard to believe kids could hook a car battery to a fence? It’s not rocket science.” Ben snickered at him.
“No, I agree with Owen.” He simply said.
Ben mumbled something unintelligibly and proceeded to go up the ladder, followed by me. The wood creaked under our feet, but it held strong. The place was dusty and smelling like mold. It looked like it survived a few storms in our absence. Ben went to his bunk, going up a stair of crates to an improvised second floor and I headed for my bunk, right next to the center table.
“Is that- did you kill the T. rex?” Zia asked, motioning at the table.
“What?” I laughed at the absurdity. “No, that was a fossil from the original Camp C, you know the one way high up.” I pointed to the sky. Flashlights illuminated the tree canopy, where it was still possible to see the old camp skeleton. Wood decks, metal beams and pieces of a building hanging from the tree. “That was the Indominus, our best guess is that by taking down the elevator shaft, it all came crashing down.” I shrugged. “I’m just glad we weren’t up there.”
“And what did this?” Wheatley picked up a piece of broken railing. The wood railing was in pieces scattered around us, there was also a missing piece of roof and claw marks deep in the wood everywhere.
Zia crouched down by the claw marks. “Three-fingered dinosaur… Obviously not an herbivore, so not a Gallimimus, these are too big to be a Velociraptor’s and too small to be from the Indominus rex. What did this?” She glanced up at me, eyes wide in curiosity.
My eyes weren’t on her, they were on Dearing, trying to see if she put the pieces together. “I don’t know. Dearing, you have one guess…”
Dearing looked at me and at the claws, her eyes went from puzzled to shocked. “The Scorpios rex.”
I chuckled, not amused at all. “Make yourselves at home.” I turned my back at them and headed for my bunk bed. There were vines hanging from the ceiling and I had to rip those off; moss was growing on the wood and in some places the structure was looking rotten.
‘How fast mother nature takes over when humans aren’t around...’ I tossed my old blanket around until I found what I was looking for. A green plushie of an Ankylosaur. I smiled as I picked it up, removing the dirt and thinking back to Kenji as I did so. Camp Fam would be happy to see that camp still stood strong.
Ben approached me quietly, leaning to whisper in my ear into my ear. “I think I saw something, come on.”
I followed him, no questions asked. We stepped out of the fence, there were a few flashlights in the distance, no doubt Wheatley’s men doing their jobs securing the perimeter. Ben led me away from them, to an area where the grass gave way to some mud. My heart beat faster just by seeing it, the little bit of hope that I had growing stronger by the second. There, at the end of our flashlights’ beam, there were imprints on the mud. Fresh imprints. Looking like small elephant footprints, circular and fat indents with four nubs for toes. Footsteps of a single Ankylosaurus.
…
I had just refilled my water bottle and was coming from the river when I came across Wheatley leaning against the turned over Jeep, slicing an apple with his pocket knife.
I was about to walk past him with just a nod when he spoke. “Six months. I respect that.”
I scoffed. “Wow, you can't imagine how much that means to me.”
“Aren’t you a Ray of Sunshine.” He snarked, munching on his apple. “What Claire said before, about the Scorpion…”
“Scorpios rex.” I corrected him, paying no mind to his previous comment.
“I don’t know any dinosaur by that name.”
I sighed. “It was a hybrid, the first one.”
“Was?” He looked at me very intently.
I glanced at him, defiantly. “Dead, like the Indominus.”
“You kids killed it?” He raised an eyebrow, making all of his forehead wrinkle.
“You surprised?”
Wheatley hummed, slicing his apple silently. I wanted to go back to camp and leave him here, but something told me he wouldn’t take it lightly if I flat out left as he wasn’t done.
“Like the Indominus, huh? I bet it’s on the bottom of that lagoon with the big fish, right?” He laughed. And that didn’t sound anything like the laugh he gave when he ripped a tooth from a living dinosaur. Not genuine at all.
I just shrugged. His tone was friendly and laid back, but his gaze on me was almost analytical, like he was fishing for something, reading between the lines of everything I said. That didn’t make me like him more, at all . I didn’t know what he wanted, but I was going to have the satisfaction of not giving him whatever it was.
“I get it.” He pushed off the jeep and stood with his back straight. “I was harsh before, but I’m just doing my job and I didn’t know who you and your friend were.”
“And now you know.”
“Claire brought me up to speed.”
“And…?” I trailed off. ‘And why should I care?’
“And now I know that the information you give me is reliable. Knowing who to trust is vital in my line of work.”
“You’ve got that right.” I nodded, giving him my best friendly smile. “What is your line of work, may I ask?”
“Money.” Wheatley laughed light-heartedly, leaving towards the jungle.
‘And here I thought I was the vague one.’ I shook my head and went back to camp.
Up, near the slide. I caught a part of the conversation between Zia and Owen. Something about dinosaur behavior.
“So, what did Commander Asshat want?” Zia asked.
I chuckled, leaning on what was left of the railings. “I’m not sure… The guy is weird. His vibe is… I don’t know.”
“It’s this thing with military, we’ve seen too much.” Owen said, gloomy, which made me raise an eyebrow. “Navy SEAL, long time ago.” He explained.
“Dude!” Zia exclaimed, moving her shirt so we’d see her ‘Semper Fi’ tattoo on her collarbone, the U.S. Marines motto. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
“I thought it was dinosaurs.” He chuckled.
“That too, that too. Your work with the Raptors will be forever legendary!”
“Careful, soon you’ll be entering groupie territory.” I laughed.
“As if.” She punched me lightly on the arm. “Speaking of which, Ben told me all about the T. rex and Main Street, why did you not tell me about that before! A real Tyrannosaurus nest!”
“You remind me of someone.” I chuckled. “But did you ask him about Toro? That’s a way better story.”
“I don’t think he likes me that much.” She glanced at where Ben, Franklin and Dearing were talking by the table.
“I think you also remind him of someone. And trust me, he’s going to tell you about Toro.”
I laughed as I watched Zia making her way to the table. Soon, Ben took over the conversation, speaking proudly of how he defeated Toro.
“Toro, the Carnotaurus.” Owen laughed softly beside me, eavesdropping on the conversation.
“Too on the nose, huh?” I laughed along.
“What about you? What’s your Toro?” He asked, a bit shy, making me chuckle. “What? I get curious…” He mumbled.
‘Well, my Toro isn’t a dinosaur really…’ But I wasn’t telling him that. “So, probably the time where I killed a Monolophosaurus with a kitchen knife.”
Owen raised his brow, surprised and Zia shrieked behind me. “You did what ?” Apparently, Ben had finished his storytime already and everybody was listening in.
“Killed a Monolophosaurus with a kitchen knife.” I turned around with a smirk on my lips.
“Oh, she did more than just that.” Ben smirked too. “There were three Monolophosaurus, one left unconscious, one blind and the other dead.” He ran his finger through his throat in a slashing motion.
I felt my cheeks heating up when all eyes turned to me with mixtures of amazement, surprise and skepticism. “You’re being dramatic.” I mumbled.
“In the dark! She did that in the dark too!” Ben beamed. “And she didn’t even get scratched, not a single injury.”
“Holy fuckery, how did you manage that?” Zia laughed.
“Say that to Kenji and Yaz.” I rolled my eyes, a smile growing in my lips at Ben’s antics.
“They lived.” He brushed it off. “So?” Cocking his head, he was asking if I was going to tell the story, but I only shrugged and smiled, letting him do it. He was the best storyteller anyways. “Okay!” Ben clasped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention. “Imagine this… we had a boat, but no gas… we knew where the gas was , but the place was crawling with Monos…” Ben went on to tell them all about our time in Kenji's penthouse, but of course I had to help him up with the parts he wasn’t there for. Obviously, I left out the part where I was scared shitless for my friends’ lives.
Long after we were done with the story, the crowd thinned out, everybody going off to sleep. Owen and I remained in the same place, not really talking, just watching the dark jungle. I didn’t really feel the need to fill the silence, but I had to. I had to discuss that with someone. I didn’t trust Wheatley, I didn’t trust his buddies, matter of fact I didn’t trust anyone who hurt animals, dinosaur or not. And I didn’t trust Dearing, not with her being responsible for the park, she approved the creation of the Indominus and Scorpios. Right now, I really needed someone other than Ben on my side.
“So, what are your thoughts on Wheatley?” I finally spoke, careful so no one would hear us this time.
“Too soon to tell…”
“But?”
“But there’s something with him, I can’t really put my finger on it. He’s holding back on something.” His voice was serious and low, even though none of his men were around.
“I saw him before… with the Tarbosaurus, he ripped its teeth out as a hunter’s trophy or something, probably to make some money on the side.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I don’t trust him.”
He nodded, his brows furrowed as he assimilated what I said. “I should tell Claire.”
“I don’t trust her either.”
Owen sighed. “I’ve known her for a long time… she’s not perfect, but she’s trying to make it up for all of it.”
“I’m not obligated to like her just because she wants to atone or whatever.” I snapped at him. “Her choices made my life a living hell.”
“She’s paying for that to this day.” His posture was sad, defeated even, as if he felt guilty as well. But I was done caring about that.
“She’s not the only one.” With that, I left him alone.
…
The camp was quiet. Wheatley’s men mostly kept to the ground, watching the perimeter and taking shifts to sleep. For once, I didn’t need to do that, I let the armed escort be the security. Zia was sleeping in my bed, Franklin was on Darius’ and Dearing was fighting to keep awake on the couch, being joined by Owen. I didn’t spare her a glance as I walked up the crates to where Ben’s bunk was. He was laying there with his hands under his head, wide awake, so I laid on the bed across from him, Brooklynn’s.
“Nice crib you got there.” I commented.
Ben grinned. “Thanks, my friends made it for me. Is yours taken?”
“Zia.”
“Ah.” He laughed. “Here.” Ben offered me a handful of Nublar berries.
“When did you have time to grab that?” I beamed.
“I made time.”
“I should probably do the same.” Sweetness exploded in my mouth as soon as I bit into it. “Oh, my God, I missed this taste.”
Ben hummed. “Tastes like home.”
I could only agree. “How are you doing? Being back and all?”
“Everything is different, but at the same time… not.” He said and I nodded along. “But I’m too excited to find Bumpy to care about the other dinosaurs.”
I chuckled. “I know what you mean, but we have Wheatley and the Stormtroopers for that.”
“Those bucketheads are so incompetent.” He deadpanned.
“Right?” I cracked a laugh.
Munching on a few berries, I took out my little Ankylo and laid with my belly down in the bed, resting on my elbows and playing with the plushie. That thing was meeting a washing machine first thing back home. I grimaced. Days on Nublar were always long, was it yesterday that I was waking up on my own bed back at my dorm? Seemed so long ago.
My hand met my necklace dangling from my neck. Kenji must think I was ghosting him. Today was what? Still Saturday or almost Sunday morning? We might not video call every day, but we texted a lot. Not as much as in the beginning of the relationship, but still.
I fidgeted with the flower pendant. The beginning of the relationship was the best… and the worst. Kenji almost flunked in school because we spend too much time online. We had these study sessions that never turned out to be very studious. Our parents got involved and it was a pain. At least at the time, now we got a hang on this whole long-distance thing. At least, I thought we did, Kenji was being weird lately. More jealous than usual. And he was a jealous boyfriend, which I actually liked, but it was getting out of hand these days.
“What are you thinking about?” Ben asked.
“Kenji.” I looked at him, resting my chin on my hands and swirling the pendant in my fingers.
“Ah, are you guys, okay?”
“What do you mean?”
He averted my gaze. “In the video call, well, usually you flirt more.”
I snorted. “We don’t flirt that much.”
“It’s nauseating.” Ben shook his head.
I sighed. “It’s just that I don’t like lying to him as much as you do Darius. And well, Kenji’s being a little intense lately.”
“How come?”
“Well, it was ever since I entered uni actually. He just grew more jealous and controlling. Nothing that I can’t deal with, but I don’t know what I did for him to be like that.”
Ben turned to look at me. “I don’t think it’s your fault. Sammy never said it, but Yaz used to get super jealous with her friends. I guess it’s a thing with long distance relationships.”
I tilted my head. “I didn’t know that. What did Sammy do?”
“They talked, I think. Then there were those months where they practically visited each other every weekend.”
‘Oh, yeah, I remember those. I also remember doing that with Kenji, but the reason wasn’t jealousy.’ I frowned. “So, Kenji just misses me? Doesn’t feel like it, I know we don’t see each other as much as we did, but damn, my high school schedule was way better. Now I’m busy all the time.”
“How is he when you’re together?”
“Normal. Neither of us really addressed the jealousy.”
“Talk to him.”
I smirked. “Um, he’s really good at distracting me.”
“Hays and Kenji, sitting in a tree.” Ben sang.
“Damn right we’re sitting in a tree.” I laughed. “We fucking love the tree. Or couch, or bed, anywhere really.”
He groaned. “I don’t need any details.”
That only made me grin. “That wasn’t detailed at all, but if you want some, I can tell you-”
“Don’t you utter another word!” Ben hastily got up, looking very flushed and uncomfortable.
“Prude.” I giggled, turning to my side. “And talking of prude, how about you and Darius? How is that going?”
He laid back down, not really looking at me. “It’s not really going like that.” He mumbled.
“I can give you some pointers if you want.”
“No! Thanks, I’m good! We need to actually kiss so that can happen.” He shrugged.
I almost choked on a berry. “You haven’t kissed yet?”
“Uh, no.”
“What are you waiting for? And don’t say the right time.” I raised my voice.
“I’m waiting for the right time.”
I threw my pillow at him. “Ben Pincus, I’m going over to your bed and I’m punching some sense into you. When we make it back, you’re kissing Darius. You’re gonna show up with Bumpy, and you’re gonna kiss the hell out of him.” I was about to throw my plushie next when he raised his arms in surrender.
“Alright, alright.”
I nodded, laying down with my arms under my head and gazing at the stars above. The ceiling that was supposed to be there, wasn’t. Probably a strong storm, or several. But it was nice to lay in bed and actually see the stars. Some were occluded by clouds, or smoke, but I didn’t want to think about that now. The sky in Nublar was always breathtaking, back home I could barely see any constellation from the light pollution, here I could barely identify any constellation because the sky was so crowded with stars.
As I was trying to fall asleep, my thoughts brought me back to the events of today. The pieces weren’t adding up and that made me feel uneasy. How come someone that wants to save the dinosaurs would hire someone like Wheatley? The bitch must’ve lied in the resumé. It made me sick to be associated with a guy like him.
“We’re doing the right thing here, right?” I spoke before I could help myself.
“Are you second guessing yourself?” Ben chuckled. “Now?”
“That’s not it.” I proceeded to tell him about everything it went down with Wheatley. All throughout that, I could hear Ben grinding his teeth, outraged at the animal cruelty. “I get why we’re here, but them …? I just want to be on the right side of things.”
He hummed in response, taking a long minute to speak again. “You know, he reminds me of…” He paused, seemingly cautious with his words. “...Hawkes.”
I grunted. I haven’t put two and two together, but now that he’d said it. It was crystal clear. “Mercenaries. I really hate mercenaries.”
Ben reached out with his hand, almost falling off the bed to clasp my hand in his. “I won’t let any of that happen again, Hays. I promise. And we’ll find Bumpy. Nobody is touching her teeth.” His voice was confident, just like when he stood up for Bumpy, when he challenged Hap or when he faced the Allosaurus. It made me chuckle at the memories, he hadn’t talked like that in a while now, and it was comforting. Almost as comforting as his breathing settling down, a dead giveaway he had fallen asleep, so I decided to do the same.
I felt myself drift off, my eyes fluttering close as my body got heavy, but then the pain came. White light exploded in my vision as I felt like someone sat on my chest; hands closed around my neck. My head was being split open from the searing pain, my lungs were working overtime and failing, all the blood was drained from my head, leaving the world fuzzy. Teal. And a laughter, a sick laughter made fun of my desperation.
I jolted up, panting as I got my bearings. The sky full of stairs above me, the hard mattress under me, Ben’s hand on my own. ‘It’s fine, you’re safe.’ I carefully softened the grasp on his hand, hoping not to wake Ben up. ‘Just a flashback, it’s not real.’ Just because my therapist taught me to recognize the symptoms, it didn’t make it any easier. The alertness state of my body, the balling of my fists and clenching of my teeth. I was on fight mode. My mind wasn’t all that rational at these times, so I forced myself to stay put, holding Ben’s hand to ground myself. But by how fast my heart was beating, it was safe to say I wasn’t getting much sleep tonight.
…
Right before sunrise, everybody was up and ready to go. We followed a dirt road that was almost swallowed by nature, grass and trees disguising it, but we kept our path to Northeast, towards the volcano. After A few minutes of hiking, my clothes were already sticking to me because of sweat. The air was stuffy and I knew it would only get worse.
Our group was sandwiched by Wheatley’s men on the front and back, but they kept their distance as we walked in the middle. With the first rays of sunshine, we could hear the choir of birds, the buzzing of mosquitoes and the occasional chirping from Compies. The day had barely begun and I could already see people were looking tired.
“Yesterday was crazy.” Zia commented.
“That’s one way to put it.” Franklin grunted, slapping mosquitoes away. “You people are crazy.”
“Was it like that everyday for when you kids were here?” Dearing asked.
I huffed at the question. “We usually didn’t have guys with guns protecting us.”
“But we didn’t purposely attack an adult Tarbosaurus while feeding either.” Ben deadpanned.
“Yes, that was incredibly stupid.” Owen shook his head. “Carnivores are highly more aggressive when defending a kill. It’s their food, their territory…”
“Not to mention when they are defending their offspring.” I pointed out.
Ben’s eyes lit up on the possibility of telling yet another war story. “Ah yeah, once we had the Tarbo chase us across the island because Darius stumbled upon its nest.”
“Yes, terrible, but ‘offspring’?” Zia ignored him, getting strung on one word. “Is it confirmed then? The dinosaurs are reproducing?
Dearing nodded solemnly. “The Brachiosaurus yesterday, the one that died was an infant. 6 months old by the looks of it.”
I frowned at the information that was right before our eyes. “The Tarbosaurus had eggs in its nest, Darius confirmed that. And Ben, the Compy’s nest back at the old Visitor Center, did they have eggs?”
“Um… I guess so, I was a little preoccupied at the moment.” Ben laughed dryly.
Franklin groaned. “Great, just great.”
Zia cleared her throat. “So what are we talking? Parthenogenesis or sex change? Sex change it’s widespread among many invertebrates, even some fish and frogs. Usually when the environment is saturated with one sex. Like an island with only female dinosaurs.”
“The little I got to chat with Dr. Wu when he paid us a visit, he was suspecting parthenogenesis, but we were talking about the Scorpios, which originally had only one specimen.” I commented, earning a curious glance from Owen, and a freaked out by Dearing. But before any of them could speak, I ignored Dearing and answered Owen’s silent question. “Last time I saw Blue, she was solo.” He nodded.
Dearing had a weird grimace to her face. “I- the- I was told that Hammond and Wu were struggling with the cloning process. Many embryos were dying because they didn’t have the dinosaurs’ complete genome. So, they took a shortcut, they filled the genome gaps with frog DNA, an easy and uncomplicated solution… at the time.”
“We knew it was a possibility that the dinosaurs were breeding, but we have actual evidence now…” Zia trailed off.
“How many are we talking?” Owen inquired. “What’s the reproduction rate?”
“Hard to tell.” She scratched the back of her neck. “Nobody knows if the incubation period in vitro is the same as in the wild. Then there is the fertility issue and the larger the animal the less offspring actually survives to adulthood, not without parental care. I’m not even taking into account predation here.”
“Zia, how many?” Dearing pressed.
“My best guess is that it ranges from the same amount there was originally in the park, to around 25% more dinosaurs.”
“That’s a lot.” I mumbled to myself.
“I have zero data regarding that number, I just want to make that clear.” She spoke in a rush.
Owen swiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “On an island this small. That many dinosaurs… with these many species as apex predators…” He thought out loud. “Well, look at the bright side-”
“Is there one?” Franklin whined.
“-if Zia’s calculations are wrong, she probably overestimated it.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.” He clapped in the air, killing a mosquito. “Thanks.”
Our group remained silent after that. Wheatley was in the front, not really talking, but the guys in the back were joking around without any regard to whether dinosaurs could hear it. Not that we had encountered many, there were some Compies here and there, and a rabbit, which didn’t count. Ben and I were near the back, trying to walk around the mud puddles. I felt eyes on me though, Dearing kept glancing back every minute or so.
I leaned closer to Ben. “What do you think she wants?”
“I think she just feels bad.” He shrugged.
“Well, it’s rude to stare.” It took two minutes for her to gather the courage, so now she was slowing down to walk with us. ‘ Oh, great. ’
“Hi.” Dearing said, uncomfortably. “Ben… Hayden… Can we talk?”
‘I don’t know, can we?’ I refrained from rolling my eyes. “What’s up, Dearing?”
“Sure.” Ben said, with a polite smile.
“You can call me Claire if you want.”
I stared straight in her eyes, repeating myself. “What’s up, Dearing?”
She nodded and took a deep breath. “I- I wanted to say I’m sorry. Everything you and your friends went through, none of that should ever have happened. I was the one responsible for the park, and well… It was my fault. The Indominus was a mistake, we never should’ve played with genetics like that. We tried to keep it contained to the north of the island, but everything we tried, failed.” Dearing shook her head. “When the Indominus reached Main Street, it was too late, but we still tried to keep the dinosaurs from the aviary away and help with the evacuation. We thought all the park’s tourists and personnel had made it. We- We didn’t know.” She choked on her words.
I scoffed. “You didn’t fucking check.”
She didn’t even react to me cursing, she just took it with her head hung low. “No, we didn’t. After we made it to the mainland, it was out of my hands. The Costan Rican government and the UN took over. People wanted to go back, but-”
I laughed at her face. “People? You mean ‘not you’, right? You’re full of bullshit. You come back to Nublar when dinosaurs need you, to save the itty bitty dinos like like it would look good for you in the press. But when people, actual people, no, kids are left behind, you don’t bat an eye. You’re fucking-”
Ben placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it a bit too hard. “What Hays means is that while we appreciate what you're doing for the dinosaurs, the whole being left behind thing still stings a bit. But don’t worry, despite the trashitude of the situation, in the end we didn’t need any help. We got out just fine on our own.” He smiled, cocky.
“A little help would’ve been appreciated.” I mumbled, earning another squeeze from Ben.
Dearing sighed, defeated. “I’m sorry, I really am. I would’ve done everything different if I could go back. You mentioned the Scorpios and you have to believe me, that wasn’t supposed to happen. As far as I know, Wu had gotten rid of it, I had no idea how it was here on the island with you.”
“We figured as much.” Ben shrugged. “We know Masrani ordered it to be destroyed, but Dr. Wu being the evil scientist, he kept it frozen in his lab underground. We think the park was running on auxiliary power, it still had energy in some places, but the Compies figured that out too. They like to bite power cords… nasty little buggers.” He chuckled. “Anyhow, with the loss of power, the ice holding the Scorpios melted, setting it free.”
“Not even Wu knew they could reproduce.” I said. “Like you said, Dearing, you shouldn’t ever have played God.”
She nodded at that, spending a few seconds in silence until she spoke again, her voice small. “What happened to them?”
“Oh, you should’ve seen it.” Ben laughed in a way I knew he would go into one of his story rants. “We were cornered by the Scorpions in the Old Visitor’s Center, then boom! Another Scorpios!” And off he went with the story.
We’ve been walking for an hour, trying to follow the overgrown road, mostly uphill. Just as I thought the mountain was bound to come up anytime now, the trees gave way to tall grass and we found what we were looking for.
“... the ceiling started to come down, like big chunks of cement aimed at us, then Blue-”
“Come on, we’re here.” I nudged Ben.
On the mountainside, there was a concrete entrance of a bunker. Huge metal doors were at the center and grated vents decorated the exterior. On top of it, there was one of those telephone towers, painted white and orange. There was vine growing all over it, roots going into the vents and some type of weed with purple flowers covering a whole wall.
Looking down the mountain, the jungle was covered in the usual morning mist, dew covering the grass. However, as we looked up, the white mist turned gray, then black. The volcano summit was closer than ever, which only made me want to hurry them up.
Near the facility’s doors, there was an electric panel Franklin was trying to access with his laptop. Wheatley and Dearing hovered around him, all of us seemed to be in a hurry.
“Come on, Tiger. Do you know what you’re doing?” Wheatley asked.
“Main system… and turn on controls… it should be working.” Franklin mumbled to himself as he typed away. “Any time now…” He typed some numbers and a warming ‘Doors disarmed’ flashed in red on a screen of the panel. Both doors slowly crept open automatically and Franklin grinned. “After you, Tiger.”
The doors opened to a ramp going into the mountain, it didn’t go deep, though. A big square room stood before our group. The lights over us were dangling by the wires and roots were entering from the vents. This room was tall, with a metal ladder leading to a whole in the ceiling.
Franklin rushed to a small command center on the far wall, with several screens in front of a desk and racks and more racks of computer hardware. After Franklin turned on the breaker, those servers lit up like a Christmas tree.
On our right, a huge entrance caught my eye. The circular tunnel was two times my height and led to complete darkness. I wondered if that connected with the rest of the park, with the tunnels. I bet it did.
“Are we sure these biometric chips are still transmitting?” Zia asked. “Battery would be dead by now.”
“The dinosaur is the battery.” Dearing said. “They’re powered by body heat and movement.”
Ben and I hung back, not really able to contribute with the technical conversation. I caught him eyeing the tunnel’s entrance, then glancing at me as if asking ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
I looked back at him. ‘That’s exactly what I’m thinking.’
He shook his head, then returned his attention to the people in the room.
Franklin connected his laptop to one of the terminals and snapped his fingers. “Hand.”
Dearing rushed to a biometric scan on the wall and placed her hand there. “How much longer until…”
She didn’t even finish the phrase and we heard what sounded like a huge computer’s fan working overtime. All of the screens lit up at the same time. The center one, there was the map of Nublar with several dots representing individual dinosaurs; on the left, CCTV image; and on the right, satellite imaging.
“There’s a large concentration on the East Dock.” Franklin pointed out. There was a cluster of dinosaur dots not far from us.
“That’s our boat.” Wheatley said. “We’ve already captured a bunch of them.”
“Without the tracking system?” Dearing turned to him, surprised.
“Big herbivores are easy to find.” He said, nonchalant.
“You did a great job picking the dock closest to the volcano.” Ben snickered.
“Can you isolate that raptor?” Wheatley turned to Franklin.
“I need a specie’s code.”
“D-9.” Dearing stated.
Franklin entered the code and a red dot popped up on the map, west of us.
“There she is.” Owen said, approaching the screen. “I’m leaving right away.”
“Count me in.” I said.
“Owen?” Dearing called. “Be careful, okay?”
Owen carefully made his way to Dearing, with a serious look on his face. “If I don’t make it back…” He got really close, and her eyes widened at the proximity. “…remember, you’re the one who made me come.” He chuckled at her shocked face. “I’ll be alright.” He turned his back, leaving a speechless Dearing behind.
I fought not to laugh, and I wasn’t the only one. Franklin was focusing way too hard on his computer and Ben was inspecting the walls.
“I’m coming too.” Zia said, strapping her backpack tight. “We don’t know what kind of condition she might be in.”
“Miss, things could get hairy out there.” Wheatley protested.
Zia marched towards Wheatley, who looked close to losing his patience. He had several tranq darts attached to a leather strap across his chest, they were a blue liquid in a glass vial with a syringe on the front. Zia took one in her hand. “These are powerful sedatives. One too many and she could have respiratory failure. You’d know that if you asked me before shooting that Tarbosaurus. Also, I’m not as soft and witless as your compliment implies.” She put the tranquilizer back, heading out the room. “Let’s go, Beefcake!”
Wheatley sighed and his annoyed eyes found me. “Try not to lag behind, old man.” I smirked, following Zia.
We swiftly made our way down the mountain. Me, Owen, Ben, Wheatley and all of his men; Dearing and Franklin would keep the door closed, so they didn’t really need guns. Wheatley had his walkie on channel 9 for as soon as Franklin was able to boost the signal with the telephone tower, then we’d be able to know where Blue was all the time.
But we weren’t even out of view of the Comms station’s entrance when Ben pulled me aside, making us fall behind for a second.
“Hays, can we talk for a second?”
“Try not to lag behind. We ain’t waiting for you, Sunshine.” Wheatley shouted from the front.
I rolled my eyes and followed Ben out of the path as they kept going.
He cleared his throat, fidgeting with his fingers as I waited for him say what ever it was. "I think we should split up." I raised a brow at that. "Don't get me wrong, but I don’t think being on babysitting duty will get us to Bumpy.”
I pursed my lips together and sighed. “I promised them.”
“I know, but I didn’t.” Ben grinned, standing straighter, with his shoulders back. “You have the walkie, right?”
I nodded. "But Ben-"
“Channel 7. I think I’ll check the Watering Hole first.” Ben fumbled with his earpiece.
"I get the 'why', but I still don't like you going off on your own."
"Like I'd let Nublar keep me from Bumpy."
I let out a deep breath, dreading his decision. I knew he was right, chasing Blue and staying with Wheatley would only drive us further away from Bumpy, wherever she was.
Ben's eyes darted from the path ahead of us, where the group had disapeared into, back to me. Looking at me funny. “She means well, you know.” I just looked at him puzzled. “Claire.” He clarified.
I shrugged. “They always do. But never mind her.” I held him still by the shoulders. “You’ll be okay on your own, right?”
“You know I will.” He gave me a cheeky smile.
“Alright, but if there’s anything that you need, if you need help, a ride or if there’s anything you can’t handle, give me a call, yeah?”
“Same goes for you.”
“Good luck, Ben.” I hugged him tightly, dreading having to be separated from him in Nublar. The hug ended too fast and with a wave, Ben walked into the jungle. I watched as he disappeared into the trees, already having the urge to pick up the radio and call him. Despite that, I turned around and ran to catch up with my group.
“Where’s your friend?” Wheatley raised an eyebrow at me.
I shrugged. “He decided to help out with the comms instead.” Wheatley tsked, but didn’t ask any other questions.
…
Maisie
My grandpa's house, well, my house was really big and old. It got really cold even in the summer. Right now I was in my favorite place of the house, the Safari. On the Den, there was this exposition of real sized dinosaur replicas in their respective environments. From the Cretaceous to the Jurassic, herbivores to carnivores, swamp to forest.
I liked to play pretend, create these exciting stories in my head. Today, it involved a very hungry T. rex.
“Maisie!” Iris called.
‘Oh, dang.’ I hid behind a bush. ‘She’s gonna get eaten by the T. rex at this rate.’
“Maisie!” Iris entered the Den, mumbling under her breath. But the T. rex already had her eyes on Iris. While Iris kept calling my name, the T. rex crept closed. She had her back turned to me, she was never gonna see that coming.
On my tippy toes, I ran out. “Boo!”
Iris jumped around, hand clasping her chest. “You silly sausage.” Making me giggle. “You’ll be the death of me. You know one day, my heart might really stop. Then, what would you do? Go and live in the forest with the lions?”
I could only laugh. “There are no lions in the forest.”
“Your grandfather’s been asking for you.”
“Really?” I smiled at that.
Iris combed through my hair with her fingers, fixing up the strands. “So, you go see your grandfather, and then you go straight to your bath.”
I sighed. “I don’t want a bath.” My accent leaned towards the American one.
“A what!” Iris gasped. “Queen’s English girl. Bath.” She enunciated the British accent.
“Bath.” I repeated.
“Bath.”
“Bath. Not ‘bath’, you’re not a wild animal.”
That was my cue. I roared loudly, making Iris yelp and jump, and I giggled even more.
…
Grandpa's bedroom was awesome. It was a bit messy, it had pictures of me all around and a whole model of Jurassic Park on a table. There was the Visitor’s Center, the T. rex enclosure, the Jeep attraction, crossing the whole park.
In the center of the bedroom, grandpa sat on the bed, journal in hand and a warm smile as he saw me.
“Ah, there you are. Come sit by me.” He said. “I missed you.”
“I was on the Safari, all the way from the Cretaceous to the Jurassic in one day.”
He smiled. “Oh, my. What’d you see?”
“Mostly herbivores. There was one T. rex, though.” I sighed. “Casualties, of course. Iris included. She jumped out of her skin.”
He chuckled. “You have your mother’s wicked sense of humor.”
I glanced down at grandpa’s journal, where pictures were poking out of, just not enough for me to get a good look. I wondered if they were pictures of my mother. “Do I look like her?”
“Oh, yes.” He looked at me, with a bit of sadness. “You could be a mirror image.”
I looked at the park model. “Did my mother ever visit the park?”
“Once, a long time ago.” Grandpa followed my gaze. “She would’ve saved them too, you know. She would’ve saved them all.”
Chapter 6: Search and Rescue
Summary:
To find one dinosaur in a deadly tropical paradise, how hard can it be?
Notes:
I don't talk much here and I don't know if anyone reads these, but I'm so excited and nervous I want to share. I'm going to move to the UK to do my phd, I got accepted so late that I had lost hope already, but now I just got word that the visa went through and everything is happening too fast ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't feel like I'm ready, but I think I'm at the same time. I'm gonna miss my home here in Brazil. I'm brazilian by the way, and here is soooo different from the UK, the people... the food.... THE FOOD! oh well. I hope everything goes smoothly. I'm so nervous I'm gonna die
I just needed to get that out of my system, for those who read this, hi :)
Now there's the new chapter, it was a fun one to write, I'll be switching more POVs for now on
Chapter Text
Ben
Seeing Camp Cretaceous had me smiling like I was 14 years old all over again. The usual sounds of the jungle, the cicadas, the birds chirping, even the occasional Compy… Home. I still thought of Nublar as home, even if the rest of Camp Fam didn’t.
‘Jungle Boy’s back.’ I smiled, walking through the jungle.
Ever since Hayden’s phone call, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I am going to see Bumpy again! All those days worrying about the friend I’d abandoned, family I left behind. It’d all be okay. I didn’t need to have nightmares anymore, because I was going to save her. Nothing was going to ruin my plan, my mood, not even Wheatley and his mercenaries. But that thought did sour the mood a little bit, but for a completely different reason. I did not like Wheatley, not one bit. And to think Hayden was staying back with them, it made my stomach churn. My days on this island taught me to trust my instincts, and they told me to watch out for Wheatley.
The memory was still fresh on my mind, how Hayden was there for me even when I was Old Ben. How she encouraged me on that obstacle course; how she stood up for me and Bumpy; the pain in her eyes when I fell off the monorail. It all was branded into my mind, but so was the smile and hug we shared when I got back to Camp Fam. She was my first real best friend and I hated to see her hurt. Nublar changed everybody, like Hayden said, I changed the most, which I was proud of. But she changed too, even if she didn’t see it. She continued to be the most courageous person I know, but she was quieter and didn’t tease and told jokes that much, well except with Kenji, she didn’t change around him.
‘Did she change around us?’ That made more sense now. It pained me to admit part of it was my fault for going along with Darius’ plan. Because of that my two favorite people in the world were at odds. My thoughts drifted to Darius, the one he’d been texting good morning and good night every day. He’d know something was wrong when the texts stopped coming. It’s not like there was service on Nublar. Now, my phone was just a deadweight on my backpack.
‘What if something went wrong and he got hurt?’ Hayden’s words echoed in my mind. ‘What if? What if…?’ She was right. I knew she was right, but all I wanted to do right now was to call Darius and tell him everything. It hurt how much I wanted that.
‘We got out together. We’ll get through this like we always do.’ The shadow of Darius’ hand holding my own lingered and I was back at that night tormented by nightmares. The rest of Camp Fam was sound asleep around us.
‘Darius was always by my side, yet I betrayed him. I lied to him.’ Anger boiled inside me, making me sucker punch a thick leaf in the way. ‘I did it. The mood is ruined.’ I sighed. ‘All by my lonesome again.’
…
The gyrosphere’s garage was right where I remembered it. Brooklynn had found several garages throughout the island, this one had four gyrospheres left. Regretting not having my trusted spear with me, I cleared the garage for any threats with my small knife in hand. Now I only had to see which vehicle was still working. The first and second gyrospheres I tried didn't even turn on; the third had 74% battery left; and the fourth had 33%. Taking the third one for a ride, I followed north through maintenance roads. Kenji would be proud of my driving, because I didn’t hit the brakes not even once. Not until I reached the Watering Hole, where there was a natural truce between dinosaurs so they could drink water.
Already out of the jungle, the lake came into view. And from far away, it was packed with dinosaurs by the water and chilling on the grass. Carnivores and herbivores alike, there were around fifteen Parasaurolophuses, Allosaurus, Sinoceratops, Apatosaurus and Ceratosaurus.
“That’s weird.” I thought back to the map on the Comms facility. ‘There weren’t many dinosaur dots in this region.’
As I got closer, the sense of dread only got worse. Stopping the gyrosphere closer to the herbivores, they didn’t raise their heads towards me, they just kept doing their thing. Slumped on the grass, head dunked on the water, flies buzzing…
“Fu...dge.” I didn't swear much, but… “Holy fudge!”
The dinosaurs were dead. Every single one was dead.
I stood inside my hamster ball for a long while, trying to make sense of the sight. They didn’t appear to be injured, there wasn’t any blood. They all just looked like they dropped dead.
When I first heard about what was happening on Nublar, I turned to research. I did a little digging about volcanoes and found out crater lakes can turn into a very strong acid, enough to burn skin. Besides that, when in contact with water, the magma released toxic gasses.
‘The Watering Hole isn’t a crater lake, though.’
“Why did this happen?” I asked out loud. ‘Toxic gasses, that must be it. The lake is somehow connected with the volcano, we can’t possibly know how deep it goes.’ If it was the case, I needed to get out of there. Despite the urgency, my thoughts were on Bumpy. She could be one of the dinosaurs laying on the grass. I couldn’t think ‘dead’. Bumpy couldn’t be. I had to check.
With my knife, I cut off a long strip of my T-shirt and poured some of the drinking water on it. I knew breathing through the wet cloth worked with smoke, but I could only hope it would work on toxic gas. The whole field smelled like a rotten egg. I had to pick up the pace, taking shallow breaths as I searched for an armored dinosaur. Luckily, there were no Ankylosaurus around. Dizziness started to creep in when I returned to the gyrosphere, so I took off, away from the Watering Hole of death.
Next stop, the grasslands. Herbivores liked to hang there and on the edge of the jungle, eating grass and some bushes that grew on there. It was the last place I’d seen Bumpy, where I left her with the Ankylosaurus’ herd. If I was going to find her, that was the place. Too bad it wasn’t. The grasslands were empty.
Wheatley had mentioned they managed to capture most of the herbivores, and with lots of them being dead by the Watering Hole, no wonder I couldn’t find a single grass eating dinosaur. There was the chance Bumpy was already on the ship, but I needed to check the rest of the island first. I thought about asking Franklin to check if he could find Bumpy on the map, but I didn’t know her species code. I didn’t like to think of Bumpy having a tracker to begin with, it was unnatural. Besides, I didn’t need help finding my Ankylosaurus.
A few miles away from my next destination, my earpiece came to life. It startled me for a second since I had forgotten about it, but Hayden’s voice soon made me relax.
“Hey, Ben. You there? Do you copy?”
I brought his walkie close to his mouth. “Loud and clear.”
“Great. We found Blue, she’s hurt so we’re taking her to the east dock. Any luck on your end?”
I smiled, an encounter with the Raptor was always unpredictable, and I was glad Hayden was okay.
“No luck yet, but I feel that I’m close.”
“Where are you?”
“Near Main Street.”
“Just don’t go too far south, okay?” I could hear the worry in her voice.
“Found a gyrosphere. Those things still work, do you believe it?” I laughed it off.
“You make it back before the volcano goes off, you hear me, Jungle Boy?” There was a smile on her voice, but she couldn’t suppress her worry.
I glanced up, the sky was a mixture of white fluffy clouds, gray ones and smoke. The sun found its way through, but barely. I used to walk the jungle at night, with no flashlight. This was nothing.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there in time and with company.” I smiled. “Jungle Boy, out.”
…
The gyrosphere’s battery was down to 51% when I reached the Salamander Stream. It was mine and Bumpy’s favorite berry spot next to a stream. When I was separated from my friends, I spent a lot of time here. It was the place I had been forced to survive alone, forced to grow strong, where Bumpy taught me which berries to pick and what grubs were the tastier.
There were a lot of Nublar grubs in the area, but also, there were a lot of salamanders. They had the same color and size of the grubs, but they were more slippery and hard to catch. To this day I hadn’t managed to capture a single Salamander, I didn’t even know if they were edible, but I came to like the challenge. There were a lot of rocks and exposed roots near the stream, so I opted to continue on foot. I had to push out of the way many ferns and walk around overgrown bushes, but it was still the same place. Our place.
A mile up the stream, I froze. There was a round footprint deep on the mud.
‘This is it!’ My heart did a somersault.
I considered calling for Bumpy, but I knew better. Instead, I followed the footprints, which were going up the stream. Past some bushes, I saw it. A lone Parasaurolophus drinking water up ahead.
‘I do not need this right now.’ I backed up, but I must’ve stepped on a loose rock, because the Parasaurolophus looked up, eyes locked on mine. They were very territorial herbivores. I still remembered how they almost drowned us on River Adventure. Both the Parasaurolophus and I stood frozen, until the dinosaur lowered its head and resumed drinking water.
‘They really are far from their territory.’ I justified the action, backing up. Resuming searching for Bumpy down the river, I must’ve spent hours trekking on rocks before I took defeat. She was not here.
I slumped back on his gyrosphere, munching on a granola bar. What would I do if I didn’t find her? I didn’t want to think about it, but what if she wasn’t here? What if the T. rex or another carnivore… I had left her all alone, my best friend. Back then, I thought I was being brave leaving Bumpy to be with her kind, in her home. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t brave, or fast, or strong. Bumpy was those things, without her, I was back to Old Ben. Weak.
I pressed the palm of my hands to my eyes, almost choking on the granola.
I was a failure. An imposter. I got to live my life while my friend suffered because of me. And I was trying… so hard. Trying to find Bumpy and make it right. Trying to be here for her.
‘One, two, three, four, five… In. Out. In. Out.’ I breathed deeply. ‘Come on, you can do this, you’re not weak. You’re not Old Ben. You can do this.’ I watched my surroundings, the leaves were green, the sky was gray, and the water was translucent. ‘I can do this. Just wait, Bumpy. Wait a little longer.’
…
It was a long ride to the south of the island. Back on the gyrosphere, I followed the only road I knew didn’t go through Main Street. I couldn’t afford an encounter with the T. rex. Down the road, trees blocked the path, looking like a tropical storm had ripped all the trees from the ground, exposing the roots to the air. I had to go around. The trees started to change, getting thinner and with these huge roots in arches in the air.
Once, when I was exploring, I discovered the Botanical Gardens on the southeast. Very near to it, there was a river with a swamp. The gyrosphere wasn’t good on swamps. There wasn’t much traction on the mud, and I didn’t want to get stuck, so I needed to be extra careful. I could smell the rotting stench of the swamp. Oh, how I wished the gyrosphere came with air conditioner and better air seal. While complaining to myself of how poorly Jurassic World designed things, my mind told me something was up. My senses were going on overdrive trying to figure out what. Dinosaur, it had to be it. But where?
In the corner of my eye, I saw it. Multiple shadows were dashing from one tree to the other, always out of sight. They weren’t big, like medium size dinosaurs, but in Nublar, even the smallest Compie could be deadly. When I first got a hint of color, I knew what I was up against. Dilophosaurus. A whole pack of it. Back in the day, they only had one brief encounter with them, but it was memorable. I pushed on the vehicle joystick and then, I realized my mistake. The mud was soft and deep and the gyrosphere was now spinning in the same place, smudging mud all over the glass.
With my sight compromised, I could barely see the Dilophosaurus pack. A shadow here and there, a claw, red and orange, colorful frill. Fear didn’t really cross my mind, I was more preoccupied with not being able to get to Bumpy in time. The Dilophosaurus weren’t strong enough to break the glass, they couldn’t get to me, I was just stuck. Going out there was out of question, I’d be slow in the mud with only a knife to defend myself against five or six poison spitting dinosaurs. I scoured his mind for a solution. In the past, whenever he found himself in a situation like this, he counted on Bumpy to help me or my friends.
I picked up the walkie and was about to radio Hayden when the gyrosphere jolted sideways. The walkie flew off my hand and it took a while for the vehicle’s gyroscope to bring me back to an upright position. There was a black goo covering the glass, thick and dark. The Dilophosaurus grew brave, hitting the gyrosphere and spitting poison into it. I tried to regain my balance, reaching for the walkie as I spun around. Barely any light entered the gyrosphere now, it was completely covered in mud and dark goo.
I let out a scream of frustration, but that didn’t do anything to stop the dinosaurs. I made so much noise, the whole island was going to hear me, screaming and hitting the glass, imagining I was again face to face with Toro, letting out his best battle cry.
The assault stopped.
“Ha! Take that you disgusting, snot spitting excuses for a dinosaur!” I celebrated. “That’s right, you better fear me!” Through a brown and black filter, I could see little of the world outside, but I saw the dinosaurs moving away. My celebration was short-lived as the gyrosphere started to shake again.
‘What is this?’ I held on to the seat.
There was no dinosaur slamming into him, no snarls, no goo… it was like the ground was…
‘Earthquake.’ I gritted my teeth. I lived in California, I was used to the mild earthquakes now and then, but this one? I could hear the cracking of trees, the rattling leaves, and screeches of animals in the distance. Unlike when I was being tossed from side to side by the dinosaurs, it was like the ground had come to life. The soft mud was shaking with me, making way for the gyrosphere to slowly sink.
I napped my eyes open when it was finally over. Half of the gyrosphere was under the mud. The sense of déjà vu had me grimacing, but this time I was the one inside the hamster ball. There was no time to think, I needed to get out of there. I tossed all his stuff inside his backpack and pressed the ‘open doors’ button. The circular doors moved a couple of inches, but the mud was holding it in place. Slamming my shoulder against the door, one, two, three times… I moved enough mud so the door could open on its own. The swamp’s smell impregnated my nose. My feet sank into the cold mud, making a suction noise every time I took a step, but I picked up the pace, hoping the Dilophosaurus wouldn’t return.
Walking in the deep mud was tiring. I didn’t consider myself as being out of shape, in fact I made a point of putting on some muscle after I left Nublar, but walking like this was making me so out of breath it looked like I had asthma. I considered crawling, with more surface area, it was bound to be easier to move on the swamp. But Nublar’s swamp was small, so I had to be reaching the end of it.
I fell on his knees when he finally reached the grass. Taking long and deep breaths was enough for my heart to get back to a normal rhythm. My backpack was heavy on my shoulders, but I fixed the straps and kept going. The next hope of finding Bumpy was west of here, the golf course. Hayden, Kenji and Darius were the ones to tell me about it, they found the Ankylosaurus herd there one time. It made sense for them to be there again, lots of grass and away from the volcano. I only hoped Bumpy had stayed with the herd. If she hadn’t, there were the plains near the east dock I could check out and the ship itself.
Looking south, the sky seemed less angry. The clouds were sparser and whiter, with the sun shone over the deep blue ocean. To the north, Mt. Sibo was visible from miles away, the cloud of smoke as a reminder I needed to hurry up. I ran between trees, dodging low branches and jumping over logs. I could see the hills of the World Class 18-hole Jurassic Golf Course. My excitement only made my legs go faster. Dashing past some last palm trees, the sun blinded me. With my hands over my eyes, I blinked the brightness away, slowly taking notice of my surroundings. Green grass, a small lake with a rocky shore, many palm trees… but on the hills in the distance I saw it. A herd of armored dinosaurs.
My heart was beating so fast I couldn’t believe it.
“Bumpy?” I whispered. “Bumpy!” I called louder, my feet moving on their own.
I didn’t care if I was perceived as a threat charging towards wild dinosaurs. I didn’t care about the thick armor, the spikes or the powerful club by the end of their tail. I only cared about the bumps on the head of a certain Ankylosaur.
The herd froze as I approached, body low to the ground and eyes focused on me. The logical side of my brain told me to pause too.
“Bumpy?” I called again. “Are you here girl? It’s me, Ben. I’m back. Bumpy?”
I liked to think I’d recognize my dinosaur anywhere, but standing here before a herd of identical dinosaurs, I began to second guess myself. The initial hope and excitement were giving way to panic as I continued to call for Bumpy.
With a bellow, the Ankylosaurus moved, opening a path for one of them in the middle of the herd. A grown Ankylosaurus stood in the middle, her spikes had gotten bigger and sharper, the green of her scales had changed to a deep moss green, and her triangular head was bigger too, as were the bumps. However, she remained asymmetrical, one bump larger than the other.
Smiling, I ran to the dinosaur. “Bumpy!”
The adult Ankylosaurus slowly walked down the hill, hesitant. But as soon as my arms wrapped around her head and she smelled my scent again, she was bellowing with happiness. Her tails wailed in the air as she pushed me with her snout. I ended up on the floor, the two of us were a mixture of tears and dinosaur saliva as Bumpy licked my face.
“I missed you, Bumpercar.” I laughed cheerfully, not ever bothering to clean my face. Bumpy bellowed, trying to crush me with her weight in the most affectionate way. “I know, it’s been too long. And look how big you’ve got!” Soft laughter and bellows filled the air. My chest was buzzing in sweet joy as we hugged.
After a while, the other Ankylosaurus must’ve gotten used to my presence, some of them even might have a vague memory of our previous encounter, because they didn’t seem tense anymore.
I got up and patted Bumpy’s head. “I’m going to save you, Bumpy.” The dinosaur looked at me intently. “We just need to go there.” I pointed at the north of the island, where the volcano expelled more smoke.
Bumpy protested, bellowing and nudging me. I scratched the back of my neck. “I know, girl. I know. But you have to trust me. Now, I just need to find a way to get all of you to the other side of the island. Any ideas?”
Bumpy nudged at my backpack.
“That might just work.” I grinned, opening the backpack. “Good thing I came prepared with my secret weapon!” I pulled out a mango and Bumpy immediately tried to take a bite off it, I raised it out of reach. “Mango supremacy, let’s go!”
…
Hayden
We’d been following Franklin and Dearing’s directions for about an hour now. Blue didn’t seem to be moving much, keeping to the northwest of the island. Wheatley and Owen had the short-range walkie talkies to communicate with the Comms facility, while I kept mine hidden. Ben and I agreed to only use it for emergencies, but a little update here and there wouldn’t hurt.
“Hold up!” Wheatley ordered.
In front of the group, Owen was kneeling down in some mud. It was a clear imprint of a Raptor’s footprint, three long fingers in a triangle deep in the mud.
“This is fresh, we’re on her territory.” Owen said.
“How far is she?” Wheatley said into the walkie.
“She stopped half a mile ahead of you.” Dearing said.
“If you wanted a silver lining of us losing the trucks, Blue would’ve seen us coming from a mile away.” Owen gave us a half-smile.
“And now?” Zia raised a brow.
“A half mile, give or take.”
“Load out people. Look alive. Stay alive.” At Wheatley’s words, all his men fixed their hold on their rifles.
“I’ll approach her first, you should stand back and wait for my signal. Hopefully she’ll cooperate if it’s just me.” Owen said.
“We got your back, brother.” Wheatley nodded.
“Yeah.” Owen sighed. “Claire, I’m going to have to track her alone. I’ll need you to be my eyes if she runs. Copy?”
“Copy that.” Dearing’s voice came through.
With a last glance at Zia and me, Owen took off. He started to follow a creek into the woods until he disappeared between the trees. The rest of us walked at a slower pace, eyes and ears sharp for any threat. I tried not to step on the water, but it was inevitable as it was the only place without ferns and palms slapping you in the face. ‘ Great, wet socks for the rest of the day. ’ There were dragonflies everywhere, buzzing around, and the air was thicker and more humid here. The morning chill was giving way to the tropical heat, and I was starting to sweat because of it.
There were plenty of plants growing near the water that I recognized. There were those trees with wide leaves the Brachiosaurus liked to eat, but also were very useful to hide from Pteranodons. The ferns dinosaurs never ate, probably poisonous according to Darius. There were shrubs with Nublar berries. I promptly shoved a few red ones in my pocket, careful not to take the purple ones. I even spotted some grubs, making me think back to Ben. I really hope he’s doing okay, but I knew if someone could find Bumpy, it was him.
As we entered the jungle, the trees were so close together we couldn’t see the sky that well, the high canopy blocking much of the light. Right when we were passing through a rare open area, loud and obnoxious screeches came from above.
“Take cover under the foliage!” I ushered them and everybody crouched near a tree as shadows crossed the sky. Looking up the shadows looked the size of my palm, gray and orange in the distance. But I know the reality up close, with the wingspan of a school bus and beaks like spears, the Pteranodons were among my least favorite dinosaurs.
It took a while for the shadows to disappear, it looked like the whole flock was on the move. We were northwest, a weird place for the flying lizards to be at, considering that their nests were on the east mountains; but with the volcano, this whole island was out of whack.
“Good thing I keep you around.” Wheatley gave me a creepy smile as we resumed walking.
“Is that so? Then wouldn’t you say I’ve earned a gun?” I smirked, laying my hand out. At that, he only laughed. “So, what’s your plan for capturing the flying lizards? I doubt you managed to do so without the tracking system.”
“It’s true we didn’t have much luck with them and for some reason we can’t find any Dimorphodons. Boss won’t be happy.” He shook his head, to which I held my laugh. ‘ Ops. ’ “Any insights?”
“Do I get a gun?”
“I like you, Sunshine, but not that much.” He laughed and some of his men joined. But I figured I should stay in good graces with him.
“Try using some bait. They like shining things. Flashlights in the dark should do the trick.”
“Noted.” He smiled.
“Wheatley, I’m on fresh sign again. Wait for my signal.” Owen spoke through the radio.
“Let’s pick up the pace, ladies.” Wheatley ordered.
The jungle got denser the more we walked, thicker trees and vines hanging everywhere. The sky was completely replaced by the canopy, and we couldn’t walk two steps without having to shove plats off our faces. That was never a good sign. The group walked in silence, following the same creek Owen did. When we first caught a sign of him, Owen was standing on a clearing with an overturned Jeep, and in front of him, there was Blue.
The stench hit me immediately, the foul smell of rotten animal carcasses. It made me breathe through my mouth and reminded me of the Tyrannosaurus’ nest. Around the Jeep, there were small bones, probably from Compies or other animals. A few bones weren’t completely white, but had this black and rotten flesh still sticking to it. Blue was stepping on some of them, her head was high, and her neck was strained, staring right at Owen with her yellow eyes. She was flexing her big, curved claws and the toe claws were tapping the ground.
Our group remained hidden on the foliage while Blue snarled and screeched at every movement Owen made. He had one hand up in the air, palm to her, just as Darius did that one time. He slowly pulled out a piece of meat, a treat, letting Blue take a good look. Owen tossed it to her, but she didn’t take it, instead, the treat hit her snout. If a dinosaur could look annoyed, that was exactly how Blue looked like. She narrowed her eyes and snarled at Owen, showing the row of sharp teeth. Owen backed up, always maintaining eye contact and the hand between them.
“He’s losing her.” Zia commented.
With one hand movement from Wheatley, his men fanned out, circling the clearing.
Owen seemed to be talking to Blue, but I couldn’t really hear from here. They circled each other until Owen held his ground and Blue stopped screeching. They were closer now, Blue inched closer, almost touching her snout to Owen’s hand when I heard a whoosh. A tranq dart hit Blue on the neck and she growled, shaking her head desperately. She spun around so fast her tail hit Owen’s legs, sending him to the ground.
“I told you to wait for my signal!” Owen shouted, getting back up.
All the mercenaries moved in at once, guns aimed at a struggling Blue, screeching in desperation. Zia and I stayed behind Wheatley, who only watched at the Raptor seemed to be losing her strength. I grimaced at how distressed Blue was feeling, but how do you explain to a dinosaur that it was for her good?
Owen remained on guard near Blue, trying to calm her down while speaking to Wheatley. “Back your men up right now.” He ushered as Blue stopped crying and started stumbling.
One man’s decision ruined everything. Everybody saw the slight movement of his gun, but nobody reacted in time. The guy behind Owen was on the Raptors field of vision, and Blue didn’t like guns. The mercenary raised his rifle as her narrow eyes locked on him. With a furious roar and a precise jump, Blue was on top of him. The man let out desperate screams as the dinosaur attacked. His rifle was lost in the bushes as teeth sunk on his shoulder.
With another whoosh, Wheatley landed a dart on Blue again, causing her to release the man’s shoulder and raise her head to us.
“That’s too much!” Zia protested, motioned to move forward, but I held her back as the Raptor’s eyes were locked on us now.
Blue roared, with saliva and blood dripping everywhere. The man under her was quiet, but still moving. He pulled out a handgun, a real one this time.
“No, wait!” Owen yelled.
“No, no, no! Don’t shoot her!” Wheatley shouted.
With a well-placed movement of a curved claw, Blue ripped open the man’s gut. The whole ground turned scarlet as the man, with a final strident scream, squeezed the trigger. Blue dropped with a thud as silence filled the jungle. Not even the cicadas bothered with us right now. Quick glances were exchanged between Wheatley and his men as Zia and I focused on Owen.
He dashed to Blue’s side, ignoring the dead man next to her. “Blue!” His hand found a wound on her side, being quickly covered in blood. “Zia!” He looked up at her, eyes wide, pleading.
She rushed to him, already searching for something on her backpack. ‘Does she carry dinosaur’s first aid around?’
“Wheatley, you son of a bitch! What the hell was that?” Owen yelled, getting up with hands balled up in fists. The mercenaries raised their rifles at the sudden outburst, but Wheatley motioned them to lower their weapons. “You were supposed to wait for my signal and now Blue’s shot by your man! This is on you.”
“What do you want me to do, punish him?” Wheatley glanced at the dead man, annoyed. Then he focused back on the Raptor. “Can you fix her?”
“She’s losing blood too fast. I can’t treat her in the middle of the jungle.” Zia said, already with some gauze on the dinosaur’s wound.
Wheatley pulled out his walkie. “Claire, come in. How are comms coming along?”
“Franklin here. Just say the word.” Franklin replied.
“Owen, did you find Blue?” Dearing asked.
“Send a chopper to retrieve the Raptor at our location.” Wheatley ordered.
“Copy.”
It was like watching a car accident taking place, you couldn’t really take your eyes off it. The blood kept spilling and filling every crevice of the ground in a pool of crimson. One distinct Raptor’s muddy footprint was slowly filling up with the thick liquid. Blue was bleeding too, her wrappings didn’t stay white for long. But most of the blood belonged to the man she killed, whom nobody even moved, he was just there, guts spilled on the ground and face disfigured. The ground was painted red, so bright it looked fake.
‘People aren’t supposed to see internal organs like that, hence internal.’
I literally just stood there, not knowing what to do. Zia and Owen were taking care of Blue; Wheatley was coordinating our transport; his men were setting the perimeter; and I just, well, I was just there. So, I stepped out from that little circle of doom and took out my radio.
“Hey, Ben. You there? Do you copy?”
“Loud and clear.” His voice came through.
“Great. We found Blue, she’s hurt so we’re taking her to the east dock. Any luck on your end?”
“No luck yet, but I feel that I’m close.”
“Where are you?”
“Near Main Street.”
I found myself pacing in a circle. “Just don’t go too far south, okay?”
“Found a gyrosphere. Those things still work, do you believe it?” Ben laughed.
‘That only meant Ben would be going even further away, the battery on those things were the most reliable.’ I groaned. “You make it back before the volcano goes off, you hear me, Jungle Boy?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there in time and with company! Jungle Boy out.” I heard the smile on his voice and the line went dead.
Smiling, I shook my head as I turned to walk back, but I froze midway. ‘Something isn’t right.’ I fidgeted with my backpack straps, glancing around to what was making me feel uneasy. I hadn’t gone too far out, I could hear Wheatley barking orders; Zia and Owen discussing whether to remove the bullet; someone’s footsteps to my right, probably setting the perimeter. The jungle was dense, and I couldn’t see much beyond the trees around me. But there was something missing, something important. I picked up the pace as I ushered back.
“Everybody quiet!” I whispered urgently.
“What is it?” Wheatley picked up on my tone immediately, Owen looked up with the same curiosity.
“I’m not a magician, I can’t work with no first aid equipment. Where is that helicopter?” Zia whined.
“Zia.” I shushed her. “Listen.”
They did as I said. Owen cocked his head and his eyes went wide, Wheatley was close behind noticing how quiet the jungle got. Every two or three seconds, a deep and far thump could be heard and soon, ripples were forming on the footprint shaped pool of blood. Zia stared at it for a long while before looking up at me, eyes wide.
“We gotta go. Now.” I pressed.
“Tech Boy, is there another dinosaur near us?” Wheatley talked into the walkie.
“What? There’s just Blue on the map and… oh. Oh! OH!” I could hear the desperation building in Franklin's voice.
“Oh?”
“You see, I had the map focusing on the Raptor, so the other dots sort of disappeared, but…” He trailed off.
“Franklin!” Owen called on his walkie.
“Right, yeah.” We could hear Franklin’s breathing into the mic.
Dearing finally took over. “She’s coming from the south and she’s coming fast… Owen… it’s the Tyrannosaur.”
My body was tingling all over, I could feel the adrenaline spreading, something that didn’t happen with the Raptor. That was because with Blue, we had the advantage, but with Rexy… the situation was very different. The footsteps were getting closer, the stomping getting louder, shaking me to my core like a heavy bass.
“We need to draw her away from here.” I stated and a couple of eyes stared at me like I was crazy. “What? Isn’t the mission keeping Blue alive?”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing. And no live ammunition! That’s an order! Or I’ll feed you to the T. rex myself.” Wheatley gritted his teeth. “Aim at the belly and mouth…”
“That shouldn’t be too hard. Right, Stormtroopers?” Zia chuckled, unamused.
“You two stay back and take care of the Raptor, do not let her die.” Wheatley's gaze went from Zia and Owen to me. “The rest of us are capturing me a T. rex.” He gave me a wide smile, showing his yellow teeth.
‘Oh, great.’ I sighed.
The rhythmic thumping shook the whole ground, the ripples on the blood pool were getting crazy and we could hear some trees cracking from the distance, the jungle moved like it was alive, trees parted as Rexy seemed to be going through it at full speed.
The leaves ruffled on a fern on the edge of the clearing and all eyes turned to it.
“Incoming!” The closest man yelled.
Before we could formulate a proper plan or move away from Blue, a Stegosaurus emerged from the jungle, knocking the man to the ground in a crazy frenzy. Its spiky tail waved in the air and no one dared to approach it, much more preoccupied with what was chasing it. Behind the Stegosaurus, the trees literally moved, cracking and giving way to a much larger dinosaur. The Tyrannosaur rex came into view with all her glory, massive head with teeth the size of a forearm, powerful hindlegs and thick leathery skin covered in old scars. She charged towards us with her long tail whipping behind it; the yellow eyes were locked on her prey.
The Stego wailed, dashing away from her. Unfortunately for the unconscious man that had been knocked down by the herbivore, the T. rex’s feet chose that spot to step on. With both dinosaurs charging towards Wheatley and me, shots were fired. I saw two darts bouncing off the T. rex’s thick skin before I had to roll out of the way, running to the opposite side from the dinosaur.
Rexy must’ve noticed the darts too, letting the Stego go and turning around with such speed her tail whipped in the air, hitting one of the mercenaries. The man went flying and disappeared into the jungle, he didn’t utter a sound, but we all heard as his body hit a tree. The T. rex roared so loud I had to put my hand over my ears, even then, I could feel the sound vibrations in my bones. The stench of a lifetime without brushing her teeth was nauseating, spreading in the clearing as she roared. This was bad . I was sure the roar could easily be heard a mile away, and the only reason for a roar this loud and angry was that the T. rex was about to fucking murder us.
In the seconds that it took this powerful demonstration, nobody moved, then another whoosh was heard, and two darts landed on her tongue. That earned another rageful roar, much shorter as the dinosaur lunged at the man who took the shot. The mercenary took off running into the jungle, the dinosaur not far behind.
Unfortunately, that gave me an idea.
“Dammit.” Wheatley cursed next to me.
“How long till she goes down?”
“A few minutes. I can only risk one more dart. I need this one alive.”
I dropped my backpack and pulled out my flashlight. “I’ll draw her out, just make sure they are safe.” I motioned to Zia and Owen.
“No, Hays!” Zia protested.
“The T. rex ain’t going near the Raptor.” Wheatley raised his rifle.
I huffed. “You better hit the mark, old man.”
The clearing felt empty without two huge dinosaurs in it, but I could see the T. rex shadow in the jungle pursuing a man’s screams. Then, the screams stopped as Rexy lowered her head, most likely chewing on her snack. As the dinosaur made her way back to us, Wheatley backed away from me. My legs were shaking from the adrenaline, but I knew it was good, it meant I was ready to run. I lit up my flashlight. The trees were so close together around us that little sunlight passed through, so I’d get Rexy’s attention easily.
The T. rex head poked out of the trees, and I aimed the light beam at her face. Thank Ben for the expensive flashlights.
“Yo, Teethzilla! Over here!” I yelled. “Come and get me!”
It didn’t take much for her to do exactly that.
I heard darts being fired left and right, but I didn’t stand there to see if any had landed. It wasn’t much fun to have a 10 tons dinosaur chasing after you, but I had some tricks up my sleeve. Zig-zags. Don’t get me wrong, the T. rex was faster than me, more agile and stronger. Usually, I would hide from a T. rex, but in such a dense jungle, she couldn’t move freely, she had to take down trees to follow me. Plus, the tranquilizer was taking effect, slowing her down.
I made one sharp turn after the other, aware of the shaking ground and growls following me. The grass was wet with mud all over and I slipped and fell a couple of times. Roots and bushes blocked my way, but I jumped over those; low hanging branches had me ducking to the mud; and random trees had me dodging. I was covered in sweat and mud, and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, but I picked up the pace. That or the tranquilizer was taking effect cause every time I looked back, the distance between me and the dinosaur was increasing.
I continued to run as fast as I could, not bothering with how my legs hurt or my lungs protested. I heard male screams behind me, but couldn’t really discern what they were saying.
‘How much longer?’
The shapes and colors of the jungle rushed past me like a blur. My feet slipped on some mud and I slid for a few meters with my hand on the ground for balance. The flashlight long gone. My hand got caught on something, it stung, as I changed directions, sprinting once again. I figured I must’ve been going back towards the clearing by now. I heard the deafening cracking of trees behind me, and the earth shook like an earthquake. Except, it was short and loud, like a timber going down. A huge, 10 tons timber. Glancing back, Rexy was struggling to get up, her feet giving out under her. She slipped and fell again, but I continued on a slower pace back to the clearing.
Zia and Owen were the only ones left there. I saw clear relief in their eyes when they spotted me.
“What was that? Are you crazy?” Zia greeted me.
I collapsed on the grass beside them, making sure not to lay on the blood. “Okay… That was okay… phew… let’s not do that again.” I said in between ragged breaths. “How’s Blue?”
“She’s hanging in there.” Owen said, stern.
“The T. rex?”
“Sleeping.” I took a deep breath, finally normalizing my breathing. I suddenly realized how sticky I felt, sweat and mud, I really hated that combination. “I forgot how…” I groaned. “I need a shower.”
“Today is a good day, fellas!” Wheatley appeared, fixing his backpack, which was hanging on only one of his shoulders, looking heavy. “Two for the price of one.”
I raised my head from the ground, glancing at his smiling face. ‘With the price being four of his men, he seems awfully cheerful.’
“You call this a good day? Half of your men are dead, Hays almost died and Blue is dying!” Zia raised her voice while maintaining pressure on Blue’s wound.
“Calm down, Missy. Everybody knew the risks of the job.” Wheatley dismissed her.
“That reminds me.” I sat up motioning Owen to toss me his walkie. “Gimme.” He gladly did so. “Damn you, Franklin! Any other surprises we need to be aware of?”
Static came through before Franklin’s hesitant voice came through. “No, um… All clear.”
I groaned, tossing the walkie back to Owen.
Dearing spoke next. “All dinosaurs seem to be keeping away from the volcano. I don’t know why the T. rex didn’t.”
“It was hunting a Stegosaurus.” Owen explained.
“It didn’t appear on the map.” Dearing sounded confused.
“What’s the status of our transport?” Wheatley asked. “We’ll need an extra one for the Big Girl.”
“The helicopter is 2 minutes out.” Dearing said.
Wheatley grinned. “Like I said.” He placed his hand on my shoulder, to which I fought not to slap away. “A good day.”
Chapter 7: Wolf in Disguise
Summary:
When the masks truly start to come off.
Notes:
I apologize for my chaotic self from the last chapter, so here is an even more chaotic chapter hehe
Chapter Text
Hayden
It was my first time riding a helicopter. The thing was loud. The helicopter was all black with two rotors, one on the front and the other on the back. It was one of those helicopters you only see in war movies and it definitely fit a whole battalion inside it. The ride to the east dock took five minutes and it was bumpy. Between having a Raptor dangling in the air and the pilot mentioning the volcano was messing up the rotor, there was some turbulence to be expected.
The east dock was made for moving cargo. There was a tall fence much similar to that of dinosaur’s paddocks, containers were spread everywhere and there were two piers going far into the ocean. Different from the other dock I had been to on this island, this one had the longest piers, enough to hold a medium size cargo ship. Said ship, SS Arcadia, stood on the end of one pier, the back of it opened up in such a way vehicles could enter with ease in the cargo hold. There were several cages inside the cargo hold, the top deck and the pier. All different sizes with different dinosaurs. From the sky, I could see a Triceratops in a cage with its baby, three Sinoceratops and three Gallimimus… I recognized all of the herbivores, but there were no carnivores in sight. Cranes moved the cages, a particular one the size of a container had an Apatosaurus struggling against the ropes.
It took a while to land, as they had to get Blue first. The T. rex must be right behind us on another helicopter. We landed on the empty pier rather smoothly. Zia was the first one to jump out, without even waiting for the rotor to slow down. I went last, waiting for Wheatley and his men to go first. Owen had returned to check on Dearing and Franklin, and they were set to walk to the dock once they were done guiding the men to the rest of the dinosaurs.
“Take the Raptor to my truck on the cargo hold. She needs medical assistance.” Wheatley ordered the men transporting Blue on the pier.
Zia followed in a hurry, complaining that the men were being too rough with Blue. I stood on the pier, uncertain where to go. The dock was chaotic, but there were some order to it. Men running around with more ropes to tie the Apatosaurus, others trying to calm down two newly arrived Stegosaurus, someone yelling they spotted the Pteranodons near the eastern mountains.
“Round up the boys, we’ll have some carnivores arriving shortly.” Wheatley said to the remaining three men. He finally glanced at me. “The more the merrier.”
‘More teeth, he means.’ I shook my head. “I’m helping Zia.” I walked away.
Down the pier, I passed the Stegosauruses, both of them were on top of trucks with a tarp covering the kite shaped pates and spiked tail. The dinosaurs were unmoving, but they had their eyes open, they were probably taken down with the tranquilizer. The closest dinosaur followed me with its eye, the pupils were dilated to the limit and I swear I saw a tear.
A lump formed on my throat. ‘It’s for the best.’ I told myself. ‘It has to be. Otherwise, what are we doing here?’
I picked up the pace and entered the ship’s cargo hold. Mercenaries stared at me as I passed through, some looks made me feel more uncomfortable than others, but I kept my posture straight. There were more dinosaurs down here, three Stygimolochs and four Parasaurolophuses. Honestly, from the many dinosaurs on the island, they had to get a whole family of the annoying glow in the dark Elvis wannabes? Not to mention the several little crates of Compies, I lost count of how many there were.
The ship was bigger than I anticipated, but it made sense to harbor this many heavy dinosaurs. It was a maze of trucks and cages, there were more empty ones than full. Lucky for me, I could hear Zia’s voice barking orders over the ship’s noises. Following that, I came to a military truck with the back covered in a camouflaged tarp. Peeking inside, there was a table to which Blue was strapped to, and old, yellow overhead lamps illuminated the place. Zia had blue surgical gloves on and looked like she was monitoring the dinosaurs’ heartbeat, and next to her a man held pressure to the bullet wound.
“Hayden! I need your help!” She shot me a glance, then pointed with her chin to a corner table. “There’re gloves there.”
“Um… what do I do?” My hands were covered in dry mud and some blood, so I just put the gloves over it.
“I need to get the bullet out while she’s unconscious.” Zia said. “She seems stable, but with the trip back… I don’t know how much longer she’ll take with a bullet inside of her.”
“Where do you need me, Zia?”
“I don’t have the instruments.” She glanced around frantically.
“I can get you some from the infirmary.” The man said, making me pay attention to him for the first time. He was a lot taller than me and around my age. I gave him two years older than me, tops. He reminded me of a surfer, blond hair and tan skin. I could see the muscles under his white shirt, so I guess he had taken his military training seriously. Not that I cared about it, I only cared if he was going to help Blue. “Just tell me what you need.” The guy nodded firmly at Zia.
She sighed, pausing for a moment to think. “Right, I need a scalpel, gauze, lots of gauze… suture kit, an IV kit if you can find one and something to disinfect the wound.” She turned to me. “Hays, take over for… what’s your name?” She frowned at the guy.
“Cameron.” He replied with his deep voice, making way for me to come closer.
“Take over for Cameron.” She literally took over my hand and guided it to where I had to apply pressure. “Steady pressure.”
Cameron left in a hurry and then there were just the two of us. Zia was mumbling to herself, while monitoring Blue as I kept my hands firmly in place. The gauze I had on my hands was blood red, but no new blood was coming out of the wound. Blue’s skin reminded me much of Bumpy’s, thick and scaly, even through the gloves.
“Have you done this before?” I asked.
She laughed. “If I have ever removed a bullet from a living dinosaur?”
“Yeah.” I returned my eyes to the wound. “Stupid question.”
Silence ensued as Zia paced back and forth. I wasn’t nervous before, but seeing Zia like this wasn’t helping.
‘Performing surgery on a Raptor. No biggie.’ I felt bad for her. Seeing dinosaurs was her dream and now she had to save one without proper instruments and a sterile environment. I honestly didn’t know how Zia would react if Blue died.
A few minutes later, Cameron was back carrying a whole hospital in his arms, everything Zia requested. After that, I didn’t have to do much. Zia found a vein and introduced fluids to Blue. Cameron and I just passed her the tools she needed. Scalpel, to make a bigger whole. Forceps to pull out the bullet. Gauze, to clean out the new blood. And the suture kit to close it and dress the wound.
I didn’t know why she was so nervous about, she made it look easy. After making sure Blue was stable, Zia patted the unconscious dinosaur on the snout, letting out a heavy sigh.
“She’s gonna be okay.” Zia smiled brightly, cleaning the sweat from her forehead.
The three of us exchanged smiles as we observed the dinosaur’s chest going up and down rhythmically.
“That was amazing, Zia!” I beamed.
“It really was.” She breathed out, baffled at herself.
Since she didn’t need any more help with Blue, I went to find somewhere to clean my muddy hands. Right in the middle of the cargo hold, there was a new container with its door ajar. It took me one peek to quickly back away, pinching my nose at the stink. I didn’t want to be that close to a T. rex ever again, even if she was sound asleep. Moving over from Rexy, I finally found a faucet on a corner. Judging by how the cut on my hand stung, it was salt water, but it did the trick. Soon, my hands were mud free and I could analyze the cut closely. It was just a minor injury by my index finger, but there were a couple of splinters around it.
“You’re that dinosaur girl.” A voice made me turn around only to find Cameron standing there with a friendly smile on his face. “Nublar Seven, was it?”
I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment, but decided to let it go. “I’ll take it.” I shrugged.
He handed out a plastic-wrapped sandwich. “Lunch? I stole from the kitchen for you guys.”
“Peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” I took it. “Is that what you eat in the army? You are military, right?”
“Ex-military. Pretty much everyone here is.” He shrugged, taking a huge bite off his own sandwich.
Deeming it safe, I took a small bite from mine. “So where are you taking the dinosaurs to? I heard that there’s a sanctuary…” I trailed off, trying to keep my best poker face. Cameron was the only other guy here that I had talked to other than Wheatley. The only chance I had to gather some information about this whole operation. Whoever hired someone like Wheatley had to be either blind or have other intentions.
Cameron spoke with his mouth full. “I don’t really get paid to know that stuff.” I nodded, disappointed. “Besides, no one tells the new guy anything. I’m just here cause… dinosaurs.” He smiled.
I chuckled, leaning on the wall. “Fulfilling that childhood dream, huh? How’s it going?”
“More awesome than I imagined.” His smile grew, but then he wrinkled his nose. “And smelly.”
“You got that right.” I cracked a laugh. I still wasn’t that hungry after stopping by the T. rex cage. Carnivores’ stink was nauseating.
What first got my attention was how suddenly loud the dinosaurs got. Half of them were put to sleep. But the other half was desperately bellowing and slamming into their cages. The ship went over a wave and leaned sideways for a second. I had to hold on not to fall as the waves didn’t stop coming. Like we were traveling in a choppy sea while docked on the pier.
“What the hell is this?” I asked.
“Earthquake.” Cameron simply said, without even needing to hold on.
“How often does that happen?”
“Is getting more frequent.” He sighed, looking around.
In the ship, everything was either attached to the walls or floor, so there was nothing loose. But the dinosaurs were panicked. The Parasaurolophuses were still unconscious, but the Stygimoloch family was desperately charging into the bars that held them. They had this modified thick dome on their head, crowned by a row of spikes. I’ve seen them using it to attack other dinosaurs, but a metal bar? It must hurt.
“Shut up you stupid headbutter.” One scruffy looking dude slammed the back of his tranq rifle into the bars. “Don’t make me waste a dart on you.”
The closest Stygimoloch cowered from the man, while its friends headbutted more aggressively. The man raised the rifle, aiming between the bars.
“Hey!” I yelled, rushing to put myself between the man and the dinosaurs. “They’re scared. You’re not helping.”
The man huffed as he lowered the weapon. “They’re fucking annoying, that’s what they are.”
The man towered over me, but I didn’t let it intimidate me, I held my ground as he stared down at me. “I’ll handle this.”
“Suit yourself. But when I return and the headbutter here is still acting out. I’m putting it to sleep.” He growled at me.
“I’ll handle it.” I repeated, gritting my teeth.
I stared at the man until he was out of sight, then I turned my attention to the little Stygimolochs, who were still going crazy.
I crouched down by the cage. “Hey, buddy.” I said with my best soothing voice. “The earthquake is over, you’re safe.” I put my hand out, palm to them. Not really like Owen did to Blue, more like motioning for a dog to come over. One of the dinosaurs stared at me with her big, sad eyes, before slamming its head against the bars in front of me. “Don’t be like that.” I remembered I had a few berries in my pocket, so I pulled them out. “Here, I think this will help.”
One Stygimoloch sniffed at my hand and with no hesitation, took a few berries. When the dinosaur calmed down, the others followed suit. So, everybody got some juicy berries.
I smiled, petting the snout of one of them.
“Whoa, how did you do that?” Cameron was by my side, watching with his mouth agape.
“I just gave them berries.” I shrugged. “The trick to handling dinosaurs… it’s their stomach, they love a snack.”
“Can I?” He motioned to the dinosaurs. I was out of berries, but they seemed calm enough. So, I gave the go ahead. Cameron hesitantly reached for a Stygimoloch, waiting for the dinosaur to come to him. When she did, he beamed like a little kid, making me smile too. Compared to the other scruffy military on the ship, Cameron seemed alright. He seemed truly happy to be around dinosaurs and didn’t mistreat them. Besides, he looked like he showered, I swear the other guys smelled as bad as the T. rex cage.
“So, your friends are really nice.” I said, bitter.
“They’re not all like that.” He raised his head from the dinosaur, sounding very protective. “Some are really here because of the dinosaurs, but the rest…”
I sighed. “They just want the paycheck.”
He hummed in response and resumed petting the dinosaurs. The Stygimoloch with the darker shade of brown really liked belly rubs as it appeared.
“They don’t let anyone near them.” Cameron said in awe.
I shrugged. “You gotta feed them.”
“We do.” He pointed to a bucket with something that resembled dog food.
“They’re not used to that. They like fresh leaves and fruits. Mangoes really do the trick if you have it.” I smiled at the memory of Bumpy going crazy on Mangoes.
“I’ll tell the higher ups, hopefully we have time to go fetch some of those berries.”
“Red ones only.” I said mindlessly, my eyes were already scanning the place for Zia. I hadn’t seen her for a while, and with the earthquake, I wanted to make sure she and Blue were okay.
Someone screamed Cameron’s name out on the pier, something about a new Apatosaurus being captured and they needed all hands on deck.
“I should go.” He got up, dusting his hands on his camo pants. “You wouldn’t have some more berries with you, would you?”
“I’m out.” I chuckled at him looking apprehensive at the prospect of handling an Apatosaurus. “I don’t think all the berries of the island would be enough for the big girl, but they like this tree with wide leaves that grows near water. You should try that.”
“Thanks for the tip.” He beamed.
I nodded, smiling politely. “It was nice meeting you, Cameron.”
“You too, Hayden.” He waved as he ran to the pier.
…
Now that I was free to go check on Zia, the obvious place to check was with Blue. But the truck was empty, only with Blue breathing soundly while tied to the table. Imagining she was on a bathroom break, I waited there for a while.
In the meantime, I pulled out my radio. “Jungle Boy, do you copy?”
After a while, his excited voice came through. “Hays! I found Bumpy!”
I gasped. “Oh, my God! Really?” I laughed loudly, throwing a celebratory punch in the air. “That’s incredible, I knew you could do it. How is she?”
“We’re going back right now. I’m so happy to have found her, she’s too! You won’t believe how big she’s gotten. She still likes mangoes, though.” I could hear the smile on his voice.
“That sounds-”
“…it’s taking a while to get the whole herd to the east dock. But I’m doing it. They actually listen to me. Eh, listen to Bumpy, who listens to me. They’re not fans of the volcano so it’s hard.”
I chuckled. “I believe in you. I’m at the ship right now, it’s a little cramped up, but there are a lot of free cages.”
“ Cages? ” Ben sounded apprehensive.
“I know, I don’t like it either, but I don’t think people are going to feel safe in a ship with a loose Ankylo.”
“Make that 9.”
“Besides, Bumpy doesn’t like boats.”
“Yeah.”
“So, Blue is doing better, she’s stable. Owen, Dearing and Franklin are still at Comms, helping them bring in more dinosaurs.”
“How’s that going?”
“We've got Blue, Rexy, most of the herbivores. More carnivores should be coming in.”
“That’s good. They better have enough space in that sanctuary.” I hummed in response. “So, I gotta go, the herd is off track, again. See you soon. Jungle Boy, out.”
“See ya, Ben.” I had a smile on my face. ‘For once, everything was going well on the damn island.’
Giving up on waiting for Zia, I went searching for her myself. I walked all over the cargo deck, the only thing I found there were more caged herbivores and an occasional Compy running rampant.
‘Funny place to be a stowaway.’ I laughed to myself.
On the upper deck, there were the dinosaurs I saw on the helicopter, Triceratops, Sinoceratops and Gallimimus. They had moved the Stegosaurus up here too. Inspecting it closer, the dinosaurs had some dried blood on their mouth and chin.
‘So, Wheatley passed through here already.’ I grimaced. These dinosaurs didn’t deserve to be treated like this. I wanted to throw Wheatley in a pit full of Compies, unfortunately, I still needed him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have anything to do with the sanctuary these dinosaurs were going to.
Several cages were covered with tarps, so naturally, I peeked inside. One held two Suchomimus still drowsy from the tranquilizer, they barely raised their glances at me. All the other cages held Pteranodons; they were cramped up, one laying over the other unconscious. The mercs managed to capture them after all. The dinosaurs seemed ever bigger close by and clearly the cage was too small for them. On the other side of the deck, there was a vertical structure I assumed were the accommodations, the bridge and the captain’s cabin. I started to make my way there when I heard voices near the side deck by a lifeboat.
“This is not a good sign, I’m telling you, it’s angry with us.” A hoarse voice said.
I don’t know why, but my first instinct was to hide behind a container and eavesdrop on the conversation.
“We are getting paid for this, I don’t care what the spirits are telling you.” Another voice shot back.
There was a blow, like someone was smoking. “Don’t ignore the native legends. This island only brings death.”
Footsteps on the metal floor approached the voices. “What is going on here?” Wheatley asked.
“Captain’s having cold feet.” The second voice said.
“Doing this to these animals is wrong.” The captain said, disapproving. “Being here is wrong.”
“That’s the job, isn’t it? I don’t care what the pompous rich nitwit is doing with these animals… sell it, turn it into a purse, a trophy, whatever. We are all getting paid to deliver.” Wheatley said harshly, like he was tired of the captain’s complaints.
The captain huffed. “These animals should be respected, not sold.”
I had to put my hands over my mouth to muffle my gasp. ‘Sold? They are selling the dinosaur!? We are supposed to save them, send them to a sanctuary… ’
Wheatley chuckled. “Oh, I respect them and how much money they are making me. So, we’re staying on the island until we’re filled to the brim with these stinking beasts.”
“Mother nature is not forgiving.”
“It’d be nice to have a shot at the auction, but my only concern is my commission per dinosaur's head.”
Footsteps echoed my way.
“Not to worry, Captain. We’ll be out of here before the volcano…”
I was out of there before I could hear the rest of the sentence. I could barely see from the rage growing inside of me. I was throwing that motherfucker of a mercenary to the Pteranodons, no, to the Compies, scratch that, to the Suchomimus. Never mind, I was killing him myself. I’m going to punch him to a pulp. Was Dearing in on this? Of course she was, Lockwood went to her personally. Fucking bitch. All that talk about atoning, she almost had me fooled. I clenched my fists to my side, fighting not to punch a metal cage. Who did they think they were to sell Bumpy? To hurt her? Just the thought of her being sold to a creeper who would do terrible experiments on her, using her as a thing to show off, or- Ugh, I wanted to fucking scream!
I’m sure the vein on my forehead was throbbing dangerously as my thoughts spun around in my mind. I gathered Wheatley was taking his souvenirs to earn some money on the side. It was wrong, but I could turn a blind eye if it meant Bumpy would be saved. But this? Selling the dinosaurs we were going to save? Selling Bumpy? It made my blood boil. I couldn’t have that.
But I didn’t have the luxury of lashing out right now. The people who were going to sell Bumpy were coming my way, and I had to play nice. ‘No murderer tendencies right now, you just helped save Blue, you did your job, it’s all good. All good.’I was pretending to check on the Pteranodons when I heard the men approaching.
“Oi, I was looking for you.” Wheatley’s voice almost made me jump, but I forced myself to put a smile on. “What’s your name again, Sunshine?” He didn’t even give me time to answer. “Oh, Hayden, right? I see you’re getting close to our fresh capture. Captain, this is the one I mentioned. Thanks to her we were able to capture the Pteranodons.” I greeted the captain with a nod, to which he reciprocated. He was a tall and thin man, tanned from the years on the sea. “We’re keeping those bastards sedated, they killed a few of my men.”
I lost my smile. “Sorry about your men.” I said, polite.
Wheatley dismissed me with his hand. “Also, I got word some Allosaurus are coming in and I have a squad chasing a Carnotaurus as we speak. Things are going smoothly.” He smiled.
“We are on schedule, I hope. Just say the word and I’ll take us off this God forsaken island.” With a short nod, the captain turned his back to us.
I laughed. “I take he doesn’t like Nublar.”
“The captain is an old superstitious man.” Wheatley grunted, walking towards the railing. ‘Just a push…’ I pondered whether to follow him, but he spoke again. “Your friend Zia really pulled through. Is she always so…” He appeared to struggle to find an adjective.
I cracked a laugh at him, leaning on the railing. “Lovely? Yes.”
He huffed and turned to face the ocean. The waves below us lazily hit the ship, the color of the ocean mirrored that of the sky. Grey. Which also matched my mood right now. He cleared his throat and was about to speak again when white noise came out of his radio.
“Wheatley? This is Claire! ” Her voice came out a bit desperate.
Catching on, he quickly pulled out this radio. “Wheatley speaking. Go on.”
“We’re being attacked by a pack of Monolophosaurus.” Dearing said, clearly. “We need back up! We're holding them off for now, but it's just a matter of time before they swarm the station. ”
“Hold on tight, approaching on wheels.” Wheatley was already on the move, with me right behind him.
“No helicopter?”
“Negative.”
Dearing groaned. “Understood.”
Wheatley raced down the pier, with me right behind him. “Come on, we don’t wanna miss the action.”
“Why can’t we go by helicopter?” If they were being run down by dinosaurs, we needed to hurry.
“I’ve been told there’s too much ash in the air right now, we can’t risk flying.” He replied, already barking orders to his men to get transport ready.
“We can’t risk losing Comms.” I nodded along. ‘Or the people in it.’ Whatever Wheatley was up to would have to wait.
…
Owen
“Franklin!” I yelled, shoulder pushing against the metal door. The sound of snarls and claws scratching metal echoed inside the building.I could feel the force of the dinosaurs pushing the door, my feet skidding on the ground, doing my best to keep that door closed.
“I’m going as fast as I can!” He yelled back, working on the electric panel that controlled the locking mechanisms.
Sparks and smoke came out of the bundle of cables, making Franklin yelp and jump back.
“What was that?” I asked.
“It wasn’t me! The dinosaurs must’ve messed it up from the other side.”
“Wheatley is coming!” Claire said. “We just need to hold on until he arrives.”
“If we don’t die first.” Franklin was hyperventilating at this point.
‘Think, Owen.’ I scoured my mind for a solution. ‘Think like a mission. You just need to keep your team alive till extraction.’ No helicopter meant backup was going to take at least 20 minutes. There were no weapons. The locks were busted. The doors were strong, but I couldn’t compete with that many dinosaurs.
“Get chairs, tables, anything to block the door!” I ordered.
Claire listened right away, while Franklin was too busy having a mental breakdown. I tried not to snap at the guy, it was not his fault he was scared, it was his first time in a life-or-death situation after all.
I chuckled, thinking back at Claire’s first life or death situation. She didn’t hesitate once. Not against the Indominus, or the Raptors, or even when all hell broke loose with the aviary…
“Are you going to stay there laughing or are you helping me?” Claire said, her voice was stern, but I saw the smile in her eyes.
I cocked my head, seeing her stacking the furniture by the door. “I think you’re doing a good job.”
“Franklin, give me a hand here.” Claire yelled. “Franklin!”
The poor guy was leaning on the wall, his breathing getting more erratically by the second.
“Hey, dude. How did you unlock the door before?” I put on my best soothing voice, trying to sound genuinely curious.
“The door?” He frowned, eyes focusing on me.
Claire looked at me like I was crazy, but I kept egging him. “Yeah, I don’t really understand all this tech stuff.”
“It’s easier than it sounds… um…” He took a deep breath. “…by connecting my laptop to the panel, I just used the Crowbar program to bypass the security measures, the alarms and lockdown system. Since I had access to the park’s system, I had a script running all the possible codes on the grid.” By the end of his explanation his breathing had returned to normal, and he looked very surprised at himself.
“Franklin? Are you okay to help me here?” Claire said.
“Right, right.” Franklin quickly helped Claire pick up the table and put it against the door.
With all of the loose furniture blocking the door. I could finally rest from holding the door. Taking a look around, I analyzed our situation. Claire seemed to be doing better than Franklin, who wasn’t panicking too much, that was good. I wasn’t the best with technology, but I gathered that Franklin had managed to link his laptop with the park’s system. So, we’d get mobile access to it while the facility was online. The main door wasn’t going to hold for much longer, some of the furniture was already being pushed off. There was the obvious other exit from here, the huge dark tunnel, and a ladder going up to a hatch on the ceiling. Considering that the hatch would probably open right to where the dinosaurs were, I’d take my chances with the tunnel.
“Does that tunnel connect to the rest of the park?” I glanced at Claire.
“Yes, we can get anywhere through there.” She paused, shaking her head. “The park got on lockdown when the Indominus got out, as a safety measure, there’ll be gates blocking our way.”
A chair being used to barricade the door fell down with a strident sound, making all of us flinch.
“Franklin, can you open those?” I hurriedly said.
He nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I can do that.” He sat by the computer, entering lines of code on a command prompt. “Weird… the containment gates are already open.”
Claire frowned at the information, but I rather think that it wasn’t more bad news.
“Let’s take that as a sign for us to get the hell out of here.” I already proceeded to walk to the entrance, followed by Claire.
“I’m not going in there!” Franklin grabbed his laptop bag, hugging It close to his chest.
The sound of a wooden table being dragged through concrete filled our ears. The dinosaurs were getting through, there was an enough gap between the doors that I could see a curious lean snout poking through it. It’s nostrils flaring as the jaws snapped in the air.
“Franklin, get in here!” Claire ordered through a clenched jaw.
…
The tunnel was slippery and dark, amplifying the sounds we had left behind. A loud crash could’ve been mistaken for another earthquake, but I knew it meant the dinosaurs made it through the door. Soon they would, too, adventure into the tunnel.
Looking back, I couldn’t see the room we had escaped from anymore. The tunnel probably wasn’t in a straight line. In my head the tunnel entrance was going east, but who knows where we were now. Only with one flashlight to guide us, the tunnel turned from the pipe looking structure to square concrete walls. There were smaller pipes on the bare walls and old emergency lights long out of battery. The place was humid and smelled like mold, the concrete cracked from the earthquakes or lack of maintenance, probably both. There were turns after turns. If initially we were going east, now I calculated north. The Monolophasaurus didn’t seem to have caught onto us, but the noises of claws hitting the ground on the tunnel behind us, made us walk faster. But the prospective of making a lot of noise kept us from running. The tunnel was wide enough so Claire could walk beside me, I sneaked a few glances at her. As always, she looked in perfect control. Her hair was slightly messy, but she looked more beautiful like that.
‘I have to stop thinking like that.’ I sighed.
Behind us, Franklin held his laptop bag to his chest, mumbling something to himself.
“…a campaign. It’s just a campaign.” He repeated it like a mantra.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just a game I play, Dungeons and Dragons, do you know it?”
“You lost me there.” I gave him a sad smile.
He sighed. “It’s okay, but it makes the situation less terrible if I imagine this is just a game.”
“I’m sure we’ll find the exit soon enough, Franklin.” Claire said with her soothing voice.
There was a new turn approaching us. I frowned at the sound of something dragging on the concrete. For a second, I thought it was Franklin dragging his feet. The next sound made me halt, it was coming from around the turn in front of us. I glanced at Claire and was met with wide eyes. I motioned for her to be quiet and reached for her hand. She hesitated, but I didn’t have time for that, the Monolophasaurus had somehow got in front of us.
I turned off the flashlight and was engulfed in total darkness. Franklin let out a whimper as Claire gasped softly. I too didn’t like being so vulnerable. The only thing that told me I wasn’t floating on a void was the ground below my feet and Claire’s hand on my own. I pulled her close until she was behind me. I took a deep breath, making use of the adrenaline coursing through my veins and held the flashlight as a weapon, ready to turn the corner.
“What are you doing?” A bright light shone in my face. The voice spoke in front of me as a high-pitched scream came from behind me. Claire clutched my jacket and I confess it took all in me not to lower the flashlight straight into the voice.
“Jesus fucking Christ, do you want to serve an all you can eat buffet next, Franklin? I’m sure the Monos will line up eagerly.” The beam of light moved away from my eyes and we came face to face with Hayden.
“Don’t do that again, Hayden. I almost hit you.” I struggle to keep the shakiness off my voice.
She just glanced at my flashlight and chuckled. “Funny.”
“How are you here?” Claire asked, getting back to my side.
Hayden narrowed her eyes. “Do you want to catch up or get out of here?” The usual hostile tone she used on Claire was unusually worse.
She turned her back and didn’t even wait for us. We were quick to follow, taking off in a run as the snarling and clawing was getting closer. We followed Hayden turn after turn before she stopped at a ladder going up to a hatch. I don’t even know how she knew where to go, let alone how she found us.
“After you.” She motioned.
As I didn’t know what to expect out there, I was the first one to climb out of the tunnels, followed by Claire, Franklin and Hayden. We were in the middle of the jungle, the trees weren’t that sparse, but I could see a bit of the sky. Every time I looked at it, it seemed darker. Hayden dropped the hatch unceremoniously, it was this fake material that mimicked a rock. I knew that the park had maintenance tunnels everywhere, but that explains why I never found one. I wondered how she did…
“So, Wheatley is taking care of the Monolophasaurus that-a-way.” She pointed behind us. “We cut through Main Street to get here faster, since you seemed desperate and all. When we saw the Monos had breached, I figured you had escaped through the tunnels, so here I am. Questions?” She looked at each of us, her gaze hardening as she reached Claire.
‘What’s wrong?’ It had to be something for her to be acting so annoyed all of the sudden, but what came out was a different question. “Blue?”
Hayden nodded. “She’s fine. Zia removed the bullet, she’s stable.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“…and Zia?” Claire said.
“With Blue.”
“Where’s Ben?” I asked, not seeing him anywhere.
“With Bumpy.” Hayden smiled, the first genuine one.
“You found her?” Franklin gasped.
She crossed her arms, looking very proud of the fact. “Ben did. He should be on his way back right now.”
“That’s great news, but we should get going. You mentioned Wheatley is that way? He’ll be happy to know that we can still track the dinosaurs while on the move, just as long as the communication tower is functioning.” Claire motioned to Franklin who nodded eagerly.
Hayden's facial expression changed so suddenly that it made me want to step between her and Claire.
“Is there something wrong?” Claire asked, noticing it too.
Hayden scoffed, her voice venomous. “You would know, wouldn’t you, Dearing?”
Claire took a step closer, which made Hayden tense up. “Look, I’m sorry about what I did when I worked for the park, but after everything… I really am trying to do the right thing.”
“I’m tired of people doing shitty things for ‘the right thing’.” Hayden spat, as a vein throbbed on her forehead as a warning.
“What do you mean?”
She seemed to take a moment to think, before shaking her head. “I don’t even care anymore.” She pointed an accusatory finger at Claire. “What don’t you explain to them what this is really about, huh?” Claire frowned in confusion. Honestly, I was very confused myself at the outburst. Hayden snickered at the lack of response. “I heard Wheatley talking about your plan. You’re not taking the dinosaurs to a sanctuary, you’re taking them to be auctioned away to the highest bidder. So, tell me, is that ‘the right thing’?” Hayden’s finger poked at Claire’s shoulder so hard she had to take a few steps back.
“What are you talking about?” I frowned, torn between getting in the middle of the two and looking at Claire for answers.
Claire shook her head emphatically. “No, I talked to Lockwood. They have an island ready- are you sure you heard it right?”
“Am I sure-” Hayden scoffed, taking a step closer to Claire and speaking in a low threatening voice. “Listen to me, Dearing, you try to pull this shit on Bumpy and you’re going to have to use all that fucking blood money on hospital expenses.”
Claire just stood there, taking in the words with widened eyes. “I- I didn’t know.” She glanced at me, looking truly lost. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
I pursed my lips, refraining from talking. This being true… it changed everything.
Hayden analyzed Claire for a long minute, as she was trying to make sense of everything herself. It truly didn’t surprise me Wheatley would do something like that. But someone went through great lengths to deceive Claire into giving them Blue. They needed her for something and I wasn’t the one to let them have my Beta. My fists clenched at the thought.
“Fine.” Hayden grunted, backing away.
Claire stuttered. “If they really are animal traffickers-”
“We need to stop them.” I placed my hand on her shoulder.
“How?” Franklin shrieked, looking very pale.
“We need that ship.” I said.
“Is the only way out of here.” Hayden nodded, still glancing suspiciously at Claire.
Claire pinched the bridge of her nose. “If Wheatley if working with Mills and Lockwood, this is bigger-”
“Wait, who’s the other guy?” Hayden blinked several times, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Mills. He runs-”
“Mills!?” She yelled. “As in the guy that hired Wu and the mercenaries that kidnapped my friend and me, almost killing us ? That Mills?”
Claire gasped. “Why didn’t you say it before?”
“Why didn’t I- ugh why didn’t you !?” Hayden wailed her arms in the air.
I crossed my arms, wary of these new discoveries. “We need to be careful. They are more dangerous than we thought.”
Hayden groaned, taking a few breaths to calm down. “He’s gonna be suspicious if I take too long to bring you back.” She gazed towards the direction Wheatley was.
“The key is Wheatley, he is at the top of the chain of command here.” I said, trying to think of a plan. I put Claire, Blue and my emotions aside as I was trained to.
“Some of his men would stand with us. The captain too.” Hayden said.
‘Yeah, having more men by our side will make things easier. But we need to take over the whole ship. With the captain on our side, that is half of the way. We need a distraction.’
Franklin cleared his throat. “Um…I know it’s just a game, but when I’m in a situation like this on DnD, I look for the path of least resistance. I get others to do the work for me.” He scratched the back of his neck.
Hayden sighed. “There’s no one else, Franklin.”
‘That’s it!’ I smiled. “But there are… lots of them… Okay, I have a plan.” I thought about it better. “It’s not a great plan.”
“Since when are your plans great?” Claire smirked at me.
I shrugged, smiling back. ‘Usually everything turns out okay.’
I clasped my hands. “We use the dinosaurs as a distraction. We somehow wake them all up and set them free so we can take control of the ship. If the captain is on board as you said, we can lock ourselves on the bridge.”
“He’s not here, but Ben will help.” Hayden grinned. “He has some experience in causing chaos.”
“Then what? We bring the dinosaurs home with us?” Franklin pointed out.
‘Yeah, that’s not happening.’
Claire gasped. “The Sanctuary.”
Hayden rolled her eyes. “We already established that was a big fat lie, so…”
“It doesn’t have to be!” Claire beamed. “This information is not out to the public, but way back then, Hammond and Lockwood, when they formed InGen, they bought a whole archipelago other than Nublar, Las Cinco Muertes. It’s east of here and one particular island, Isla Sorna, was also populated by dinosaurs. The Site-B, they called, is where they did the firsts experiments, the cloning and nursery of the dinosaurs. It’s to the west of Nublar and it’s abandoned.”
“Abandoned? As in…” Franklin trailed off.
“Initially, all Nublar’s dinosaurs came from there, like the Velociraptors. All the first generation.” She glanced at me. “There were many incidents and poachers found out about it, so it became too expensive to keep up the security of a whole island that didn’t give the park any real profit. So, all assets were transported here, and the island was abandoned.” She crossed her arms. “But then there were rumors… stories from locals… It appears that Sorna isn’t as abandoned as we hoped for. There were sightings, but when Masrani started to take these rumors seriously, well… there’s nothing he can do about it anymore.”
“Great.” Franklin groaned.
Claire went on. “It’s technically owned by Masrani Global right now, only Masrani, Wu and I knew about it.”
“What about Lockwood?” I asked.
“That complicates things.” Hayden sighed.
Morale was down and the plan seemed impossible. I took a deep breath before bringing out the voice I usually used on Blue. “Okay, listen up! The only easy day was yesterday. This will work, but we need to hurry, like Hayden said, Wheatley is waiting for us. We’ll take control of the ship, drop the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna then head out to California. We’ll figure out an escape plan until then.”
“And deal with Lockwood and Mills.” Hayden reminded us.
“Then that.” I nodded.
…
Going back to the Comms facility, we were met by the sight of three trucks and a Jeep parked in front of the entrance. Around 6 men hung around, while the whole Monolophasaurus’ pack laid on the ground, unconscious.
Wheatley came out of the facility, rifle propped on his shoulders.
“Did you take the leisure route?” He sounded as smug as always.
“Dinosaurs make things complicated, old man. We are here, aren’t we?” Hayden replied, snarky. I tensed up for a second. Antagonizing Wheatley right now wasn’t the best idea. But to my surprise, Wheatley laughed.
Then he turned to me and Claire, his smile disappearing. “Why did you take so long to call us? Didn’t you see them coming on the map?”
“That’s the thing. No.” Claire sighed. “The proximity alert didn’t work. Most of them don’t seem to be chipped.”
“Well, they’re going to be bagged either way.” Wheatley shrugged. “Load them up, boys.”
I felt Hayden’s eyes on me, in a glare that read ‘I told you so’. I just nodded, now that I knew their real plan, Wheatley’s actions and approach to the dinosaurs made more sense.
There were more dinosaurs than cages. Two of the trucks had cages in it, while the other was purely for people. The cages were for a large carnivore, which meant it fitted three to four Monolophasaurus inside of it. Not the most comfortable enclosure, but I figured Wheatley didn’t care for that. While his men loaded the trucks unceremoniously, Wheatley questioned us about the tracking system.
“Franklin managed to link his laptop to the system, so we can track the dinosaurs from anywhere on the island.” Claire said.
Wheatley groaned. “We are missing three species, Carnotaurus, Ankylosaurus and Baryonyx. We aren’t leaving without them.”
“We can easily assist your team from the ship.”
Wheatley scowled at that.
“We don’t want you to derail from capturing the dinosaurs if the Comms facility gets compromised again.” I glanced knowingly. “I know how important it is to stick to a mission’s schedule.”
“It does seem more practical.” Wheatley nodded, considering my point. “You should go back to the ship, then.”
One of his men approached. “All good, sir. We are ready to go.”
“Let’s roll.”
At the order, most of the military men headed for the driver and passenger’s seat of the trucks, leaving the back of the one truck for us, assuming that Wheatley would go on the Jeep. Making our way to the truck, Wheatley cleared his throat.
“Not you, Hayden. I need a hand with something.”
She had her back to me, but I saw how she tensed up slightly. Wheatley stood there with a weird expectant smile. Come to think of it, it was the first time I heard him calling someone by their name other than Claire and me. As it seemed, I wasn’t the only one to notice as Claire glared at him.
After a moment of hesitation, Hayden shrugged, walking into his direction. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
As the two of them distanced themselves, the three of us got to our seats on the truck.
Claire started to speak. “What do you think-”
I shook my head, silencing her. This wasn’t the place to discuss this as the driver could hear every single word.
The sound of the truck’s engine turning on had the whole vehicle shaking.
“Wait, Hayden and Wheatley aren’t back yet.” Claire got up, leaning closer to the driver.
“They’ll meet us back on the ship.” He simply said it as the truck started to move.
I crossed my arms, trying not to ball my hands into fists. Claire sat back down next to me, placing her hand on my knee, squeezing it lightly. While I appreciated it, I couldn’t bother to listen to my gut.
‘Things are going off the rails before it even begins.’
Chapter 8: Mother Nature
Summary:
The one where Hayden doesn’t know what a ‘brake’ is, and Ben can’t stop freaking out.
Notes:
I had major writer’s block in this chapter. Honestly, that’s every time I write from Ben’s POV, I just can’t get inside his head. I hope this chapter came out somewhat okay.
AND you know me, I have to kill at least one Ceratosaurus. Sorry, not sorry.ALSO I'm moving Monday. Why the hell are checked baggages so damn expensive on airplanes? And since when is 23kg enough? I don't get it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
Concern filled me as the trucks left without us. The notion of having to share a Jeep with Wheatley did little to placate that. Although Wheatley did seem very comfortable leaning on a tree, eyes piercing as he stared. I grew uncomfortable under his gaze. I was relieved when Claire turned out not to be involved, and by coming up with an actual plan, it soothed my nerves. However, being separated from them right now only made it worse. Not to mention being held back by Wheatley for a mysterious reason.
He finally got his eyes off me, watching the rest of the unconscious dinosaurs. “Such a pity we can’t bring every animal.”
‘Yeah, such a pity you won’t make some extra cash.’ I forced myself to remain with a poker face, letting my eyes follow his.
He continued. “It was a pleasant surprise when Claire called. These Monolophosaurus will be a great addition.” I only hummed in response. “Of course, you were a pleasant surprise as well. I had my doubts first, but I must confess you became an asset on this island.” He smiled, while I remained cool. “But still, I wonder how much it took for Claire to convince you to come back here.” Wheatley looked at me, clearly expecting a reaction out of me.
“You’d like to know.” I snorted. “I’m not one to brag, but let’s say she was very convincing.”
“I’m glad to hear.” His smile grew. “Speaking of which, I wanted to share with you a business opportunity.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Business opportunity?”
‘If he really thinks I’m going to help him sell dinosaurs...’
He sighed, pushing away from the tree and walking towards the Jeep. I had no choice other than to follow him. “The economy these days doesn't really favor independent contractors like myself. You look like you must be in college, I’m sure it must be hard with loans and student debt. People need to be creative to make money.” He looked at me expectantly.
I groaned. “Tell me about it! The banks have no mercy. People tell you to go to college and get a good job to make money… how are we doing that if we need money to even go to college? Fucking vultures.”
Wheatley nodded with an unwavering smile. “That brings me to what I want to talk to you about. It’s a delicate subject you see, not all my men are money-driven like you and me.” I just nodded along. “It’s about that dinosaur you mentioned, the Scorpios.”
“What about it?” I didn’t have to fake surprise there.
“Saving dinosaurs is all fun and games, but profit is really what matters.”
I stared at him for a while, he really seems to trust me for whatever twisted reason. I smirked. “I’m listening.”
“I knew you would.” He laughed out loud. “Many people would pay a fat amount for a living dinosaur. I can’t really do that, I’m paid to get these specimens to their destination, but a dead one… a dead hybrid? There isn’t really a market for that, so I’m making the market.” Wheatley had on a sick smile that made me shiver. “I already have offers, some rich bastards and some companies, InGen’s competition. I can offer you a percentage if you help me out.”
I frowned. “So, you need the Scorpios?”
“What’s left of it.” Wheatley shrugged. “We don’t have time or resources to get to the Indominus, besides I know the Scorpios isn’t on the bottom of the lagoon like you said.” His smile turned sly.
I returned with the same coin. “I never said that, you assumed it.”
“You’re a sneaky one, aren’t you, Hayden? In my line of work, that is a compliment.”
I cracked a laugh. “Ah, yes, money.” I paused for a moment, narrowing my eyes. “And how much are we talking?”
“10%.”
I scoffed. “You wouldn’t know where to begin to look for the Scorpios. 50%.”
It was Wheatley’s time to laugh. “I’ll be doing all the hard work. 20%.”
“Unless you want off this island only with teeth for souvenirs, 40%.” I grinned.
He lost his smile with the mention of the teeth, his facial expression hardening. He took a long pause before speaking again. “25%.”
“30%.” I held his gaze. “I’m not going lower than that.”
“Deal.”
…
With Wheatley on the wheel, I led him south, trying to wrap my head around what the play was here. He didn’t seem to know there were two Scorpios, but he knew more than he was letting on. I guess his greed was beyond dinosaur teeth. I was traveling into dangerous waters every time I dodged one of Wheatley’s questions. And there were many. About the hybrids… camp… I knew he was growing annoyed at my vague answers. He wanted the details and some of those I wasn’t going to give him. And I wasn’t giving him the Scorpios. I couldn’t. I’d rather jump head first into Mt. Sibo for that matter.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed your friend wasn’t back with them.” Wheatley said, with a threatening tone.
“He’s off doing his own thing.” I shrugged. “Plus, he’s bringing back a herd of Ankylosauruses to the ship. No harm there I imagine.”
He groaned. “I’m not responsible for the little prick, know that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Ben can handle himself and a herd of Ankylos.”
Wheatley’s grimace disappeared, being replaced by a knowing expression. “They must mean a lot for him, he went on his own to find them after all.”
‘There isn’t escaping that one.’
I sighed. “In our time on the island, we made friends with an Ankylosaurus. Ben was the closest to her.”
“The boy has a pet dinosaur?” He laughed.
“Something like that.”
“How about you? Are you close to her?” His tone was inquisitorial.
I rolled my eyes, trying to sound annoyed. “You know… she was useful at that time, now Ben won’t stop yapping about her so off he goes.”
“How exactly did you make friends with a dinosaur?”
Honestly, I never knew Ken Wheatley would be this talkative. Fucking annoying mercenary. I had to measure my words about Bumpy, I couldn’t really let him know how much she meant to me. A man like him would use that against me first thing after he realized I wasn’t leading him to the old Visitors’ Center, where the Scorpios were killed. I was running out of options. Having Wheatley away from the ship would make things easier for Owen and the rest. I really hoped Ben was already back at the ship. The radio weighed down my backpack as I knew I couldn’t talk to him. So, I settled for thinking like Ben.
‘What would Ben do?’
‘Feed Wheatley to the Mosasaurus?’
‘I wish I could.’
But the reality was that with Wheatley dead, our chances would skyrocketed. I grimaced at the thought of killing him. As quickly as it crossed my mind, the thought vanished.
‘I can’t do that.’ But it was like Frankin said, ‘Get others to do the work for me.’
A plan started hatching. Luckily, it all led to a nearby place.
…
Wheatley parked close to the building’s entrance. My eyes quickly darted at the ignition, where he had left the keys.
I grinned. ‘Who’s gonna steal it? A dinosaur?’ He probably used that same reasoning Kenji did all those years ago. A fair reasoning, but when in Nublar, expect the worst.
One look at the building and I knew time hadn’t been kind with it. The place was weathered. Dark stains covered the once upon a time white walls. Cracks ran down the walls with pieces of it missing, revealing the concrete underneath. Vines grew everywhere and the grass reached my knees.
I walked carefully, ears sharp for any sound resembling a dinosaur, knowing very well only one type lurked around these parts.
“What is this place?”
“Once it was a Genetics Lab. Now, it’s a graveyard.” I motioned to the entrance. “The remains are inside. Dinosaurs don’t hang much around here, but-”
“Why the hold up, then?” He picked up the pace.
“It should be fine.” I shrugged, letting him go in first.
The dark entrance hallway was just like we left it, a mess made by the ones evacuating. The one thing that had changed was a light coming from deep into the building. There were claw marks all up the walls, I could hear the flies buzzing from the distance and the stench that came with it. This place smelled like death. Either way, we kept going. Entering the main office area of the Genetics Lab, the first thing I noticed was the caved in ceiling, natural lighting shone through the hole. While one half of the room was covered in debris, the other had some new grass growing through the cracks on the floor. Mother nature was fast.
Wheatley raised an eyebrow at me, glancing back at the caved in ceiling.
“Yeah, that was the Scorpios. It ended up under the rubble.” I said. Not a lie if you consider that was exactly how both Scorpios died, just not here… but he didn’t need to know that.
“I’m regretting not bringing my men right now.” Wheatley kicked one rock out of the way.
“And share the profits?” I smirked.
While Wheatley’s attention was purely on removing those debris, mine was on the rest of the room. There were bones scattered everywhere, lucky I could just claim that it was because the Scorpios had nested here, but Wheatley didn’t bother to ask. The problem was the pieces of bones with flesh still in it, slowly decomposing and filling the air with its lovely smell. Which meant the Baryonyxes still came here. Wheatley grew irritable with the heavy parts of the ceiling and with the fact that there was no sign of the Scorpios. I’m surprised he didn’t doubt me, he just kept digging. I helped, kinda, I was more focused on watching the entrance for Chaos and Limbo. I was so focused on the door that I didn’t notice the ground beginning to shake. It started slow, but soon the tremors of the reverberating earthquake sent me to the ground.
“Just an earthquake. Backup to the wall!” Wheatley ordered, doing just that.
I glanced at the wall behind me, the rumble from the ground shook the wall as cracks formed on the concrete. I opted to keep away from them, crawling on top of the rubble, where I only had the sky above me.
“This doesn’t look like just an earthquake.” I grunted after minutes of it.
“It’ll pass soon!” Wheatley didn’t sound that sure anymore.
The angry rumbling suddenly stopped.
“What did I tell you?” He grinned, already moving away from the cracking wall.
I slowly got up, dusting my clothes. “You know-”
Without warning, the ground shook again with double the intensity. A crushing tightness to my chest had me gasping for air as a deafening explosion had me clasping my hands over my ears. Without the conscious decision, I found myself dropping to the ground, coughing at the dust cloud. The sky above me lit up with lightning, but its sound was suppressed by what I could only imagine was the volcano exploding.
Wheatley had no color to his face, in a situation much like mine, but he was shouting. However, I could only hear the ringing in my ears. With my hearing coming back, the first thing I focused back on wasn’t his voice, it was the growls. Two Baryonyxes barged into the room. Long snouts, sharp teeth and crocodile eyes. One had a blue and gray complexion, Chaos. The other was more of a reddish brown and yellow, Limbo. They seemed surprised at seeing Wheatley and me here, already clenching their claws at us in response.
Wheatley pulled out his rifle. “Get back!”
I didn’t know if he was talking to me or the dinosaurs, but I let him stand between me and the Baryonyxes. Chaos and Limbo, flanked us, eyes fixed on Wheatley. They were ready to pounce when a crack had us all looking up.
The ceiling looked like a jigsaw puzzle. Small pieces were the first thing to come down, then wood, concrete boulders and metal pipes came plummeting down towards us. I quickly backed up to be under the dark sky, but Wheatley wasn’t so lucky, a big piece of ceiling blocked my vision of him. Limbo roared when a big boulder landed on its tail. Chaos motioned to try and help, but dodging the upcoming debris was more important.
When the dust settled, I heard Wheatley coughing, still alive. While keeping my eye on Chaos, I circled towards Wheatley, his left arm was completely under a huge piece of ceiling. He cursed under his breath as he pulled on his arm. The debris didn’t move. I glanced back at Chaos, who was busy getting the pieces of ceiling off her.
“Don’t just stand there!” Wheatley yelled.
“Right, yeah.” I forced myself to move, trying to lift the thing off his arm.
The debris didn’t seem to be sitting on top of his arm, more like leaning on it. However, thick red blood had started to pool under him, not much, but it looked serious nonetheless.
‘If you just leave him here, the Baryonyxes would do the rest for me.’ I thought. ‘When the perfect situation presents itself, might as well take it.’
I already wasn’t putting all my effort into moving the concrete, so I stopped it completely with a grunt. “I can’t move it, it’s too heavy.”
“Don’t you dare, Hayden.” He said through gritted teeth.
“Okay.” I pressed my hands against the concrete once again. “But don’t just lay there, help me push.”
I grunted with the effort, doing my best to sound believable.
‘What does someone say when abandoning the other to die?’ A low snarl pulled me out of my thoughts. Behind me, Chaos had her eyes glued on me, showing her teeth with her body close to the ground like a cat ready to strike.
“On second thought, I need your gun.” I almost tripped, jumping for the rifle as Chaos charged.
I ran behind a big piece of concrete, to which Chaos simply jumped over. With my back to the concrete, I raised the rifle and squeezed the trigger. The dart hit her belly, sticking to the skin. That only seemed to anger Chaos, as she charged. I rolled out of the way, going for the hallway entrance. Limbo snapped her jaws at me, but I quickly dodged her, seeing she was still stuck.
“Wheatley, dammit, how do you reload this thing?” I fumbled with the gun.
“Get me out from under here and I’ll show you.” He grunted, struggling with his arm.
“Now is not the time, for fucks’ sake!” I dodged Chaos once again, backing away to the exit. It helped that the Baryonyx kept stumbling on loose debris. Wheatley had all the darts, so I let the useless rifle hang on my shoulders and grabbed the first thing I saw. A piece of white bone the size of my arm.
“Hey, girl. Catch!” I threw her the bone. It was a great throw, Kenji would probably give me a high five if he saw that. But it only dazed Chaos for a second.
‘Time to cut my losses.’
“This is nothing personal.” I mumbled, sprinting out of there.
I heard Wheatley cursing at me and calling my name, but what did he expect? Sucks to be him right now.
It wasn’t great to be me right now either. Chaos right on my tail. Useless gun. I had my knives on my backpack, but the time it would take for me to get them, Chaos would be on top of me.
The hallway was narrow for a dinosaur. With every turn, she slammed into the walls. I could time where she was behind me based on the claws scratching the floor and angry snarls. I was putting all my chips on the walls being weak from the earthquake, a recycled plan, but all I had. Nublar dinosaurs had a flair for the dramatic if you ask me. Whatever Wu had put on their DNA, it was flashy and prone to end a prey with well-timed lunges. Teeth and claws everywhere. I had to be careful and wait for the next turn, the last one before the exit. My brain screamed at me to speed up, but I did the opposite, hoping Chaos would take the bait.
As soon as I turned the corner, I dashed out of there. Behind me, the sound of cracking concrete and tumbling rocks joined a pained roar. Looking back, all I saw was a hole on the wall.
I reached the Jeep in seconds, jumping in the driver’s seat, I turned the key and the engine rumbled for me. As I floored out of there, Chaos slammed against the passenger’s side, glass raining inside the car.
“Give it a rest already!” I yelled at her, while she tried to squeeze through the window. Her fat jaw didn’t let her, but Chaos was persistent. The sound of scrapping metal pained my ears as she clawed at the car, trying to keep up with the speed. The velocimeter marked 30 mph. It was useless, a Baryonyx wasn’t that fast. Chaos fell off the car, rolling in the ground and roaring at me in the rearview mirror. Going that fast on uneven ground might be dangerous, but ashen clouds covered the sky and lightning struck once again, prompting me to go as fast as I could.
…
Ben
“What is wrong with you?” I shoved a mercenary away from an Ankylosaurus he was trying to get into a cage by force. “She’s just scared.”
“Yeah?” The man yelled, towering over me. “You think?” The man pointed at the red mountain outside, expelling smoke and fire as we spoke. “If this dumb dinosaur knew what was best for her, she’d get into the cage.”
It wasn’t Bumpy who he was referring to, but it might as well be. I balled my fists. “Who are you calling dumb. You-”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down guys.” Owen got in between the man and me. “Well deal with the Ankylosaurus, I think your friends need help over there.” Owen pointed at a freaked-out Apatosaurus.
The man cursed under his breath, but left.
I nodded, thankful at Owen and proceeded to calm down the poor Ankylo, coercing her into the cage with some berries. In the cage behind me, the sound of a club slamming against the metal drew my attention.
“Hey, Bumps.” I gave her some berries too. “I know this situation is less than optimal, but it’s the best I can do.” She bellowed and I petted her on the snout. “I’m getting you out of here.”
I turned to Owen, who just stood there staring at Bumpy and me with a funny face. “Now that all the Ankylos are safe… what is going on?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Claire told you about what they are doing to the dinosaurs, right?”
I nodded curtly, motioning for him to get to the point already. The single thought of people making money out of Bumpy had my blood boiling, but I didn’t have the option of losing it right now.
Owen continued. “Cameron is getting some epinephrine since he has access to the infirmary-”
I narrowed my eyes. “Do we trust this Cameron?”
“Zia does and we can’t afford to turn down help right now.” He sighed. “If we can get the dinosaurs to wake up and cause a distraction… of course we won’t have enough doses for all of them, so we’ll have to pick carefully…” Owen trailed off, more talking out loud at this point. “…and there’s the volcano, our priority is to get away from this island, we should hold our plan until we’re at a safer distance. I should talk to the captain first, test the waters. Hayden says he'll probably be on our side, but it doesn’t hurt to talk…”
“Where is she?” I jumped on it, talking louder than I should've, but everybody was busy loading the ship to care about our conversation. “Hays said she was on the ship.”
He looked almost apologetic as he averted my gaze. “She’s out there with Wheatley.” His eyes landed on the jungle.
“She’s where!?” I widened my eyes at the island. “With who!?”
The volcano now sat with a trail of glowing orange lava oozing down its side, with dark smoke rising from it. It was a silent development from the smoky monster from before, without the dinosaurs’ protest, we probably wouldn’t have noticed it.
It had been years since I felt this scared, like Old Ben. With the dinosaurs reacting like this to the volcano, the New Ben knew the worst was close. Yet, I felt helpless. Bumpy was safe, but Hayden wasn’t, she wasn’t here… The fear slowly crept in. She was out there as the volcano was about to blow up. She was out there because of Wheatley. Because of…
“And you let her?” I shrieked, thinking of how it would be when the volcano explodes. Fireballs… lava… dinosaurs… Hayden in the midst of all that.
“It wasn’t like that. We didn’t know the volcano was going to stir up right now. And she’s with Wheatley.”
I scoffed. “Like that makes it better.”
I pulled out my radio, ready to make contact with her, when Bumpy bellowed, panicked. I snapped my head at the sound. It only meant two things, either she was constipated, or danger was coming.
The ripples hit the ship first, rocking us slightly. Dinosaurs bellowed and I had to hold onto Bumpy’s cage to keep upright, by my side, Owen did the same. Outside, the trees shook, men fell to the ground and a thick smoke cloud raised from the peak of the volcano. The whole metal ship sounded like a Lego box shaking with its loose parts.
The earth calmed down and silence followed. Even the dinosaurs were silent, I reached out to pet Bumpy, but she didn’t even react to me. Her pupils were shot as she had her tail between her legs. Just when the murmurs from the men outside were heard, a new sound had everybody dropping to the ground with hands covering their ears. I had never heard anything like it, but I figured that it sounded like an atom bomb. Piercing through my ears enough to hurt.
Next came the wind, a glass shattering wind that made me glue my head to the floor. I just noticed I had my eyes closed, when a hand shook my shoulder. I raised my head to see Owen’s mouth moving, but no sound came from it. I recognized him mouthing Claire’s name, so I just nodded. With one look outside, he left. I reckon I didn’t know Owen for long, but that was the first time I saw fear in his eyes.
I glanced outside, to whatever had him reacting like that.
I forgot how to breathe at the sight, my heart surely had stopped. My hands shook as I reached for Bumpy, but for the first time no comfort came for her as she was seeing the same as me.
Fire.
I only saw fire.
…
The smoky stench filled the air as all hell broke loose. This sight of Nublar was so unfamiliar, it made my stomach churn. Once upon a mountain was missing half of its side, being blown up into the air. My ears were still ringing from that. The sky above us had become as dark as night, surely all that smoke and ash reached the space, so high it went. But everything that goes up must come down. The rocks that were once part of the mountain, rained down on the island.
The earth wasn’t shaking anymore, but every time a fireball landed near, it caused a mini earthquake. We were lucky to be on the east dock, the few mountains between us and the volcano seemed to protect us, but the rest of the island… The whole north of it was covered in smoke and fire, the jungle was ablaze and certainly dinosaurs had perished because of it.
I don’t know how long I stayed on the ground watching the rainfire, enough for my ears to work again, that’s for sure.
Men yelled, dinosaurs bellowed, and fireballs hit the ground like little explosions. One had hit a pyramid of containers on the dock, making it all come tumbling down, metal burning like ember. One truck had a gray Ceratosaurus biting the bars that held it and a fireball went straight to it. In a split second, there was no truck anymore, no Ceratosaurus, just a black hole on the dock, embers everywhere.
I scrambled to my feet, something dropping from my lap as I did so. A little black radio was on the ground.
My eyes went incredibly wide as I picked it up.
“Hayden! Hays! Are you there?” I yelled into it. Nothing. “Hayden, pick up!” Silence. Every passing moment of radio silence had my heart growing heavy and my chest so tight I couldn’t breathe. “Hays, please answer me.” I was pleading at that point.
“I’m a little busy trying to drive away from a volcano!” Her voice had me sighing so hard I leaned on Bumpy’s cage.
“You’re alive! Thank God!”
“Please tell me the ship’s still there.”
“We are, but not for long.” I looked at the dock. Trucks were rushing inside as men ran for their lives, with the occasional Compy in their midst. The ship under me shook rhythmically, but I was unsure whether it was from an earthquake, waves, or the engine being turned on. “Where are you? Hurry up.”
“Believe me, I’m going as fast as possible, unless you want me to go through- Hey!” Hayden yelled, followed by honking. “Did you not see me here?”
“What?”
“Brachiosauruses are blind.” She grunted.
I chuckled. “Did you just honk at a Brachio?”
“It ignored me, so… Anyway, you better hold that ship, I’m almost there!”
I squinted at the distance, trying to see past the fire and chaos. A long neck with a small head on top stood out between the trees.
“I see you! I mean, I see the Brachio. You’re almost here!”
I had a huge smile on my face as I saw the Jeep on the dirt road. However, my smile died in a second. A scream drew my attention back to the mountain, the cloud of ash being expelled from the volcano was making its way down the mountain, covering the valley in a gray blanket. A super-heated blanket made out of ash and rocks capable of killing anything instantly.
“Don’t look in your rear-view mirror! Just go faster!” I yelled, feeling my eyes wet.
“Fuck!” Hayden shrieked, panic in her voice. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“You looked.” I cried into the radio.
“Of course, I looked! When you say it like that… urgh!” With a groan the sound cut out.
I still only had my eyes on her Jeep, as it left the Brachiosaurus behind.
The dock was being cleared out, people rushing in, leaving trucks, equipment, everything behind. I glanced at a crying Parasaurolophus left behind in a cage. I motioned to help it, but someone grabbed my shoulder.
“Where’s Hayden?” Claire’s voice came from my right as Owen stood on my left.
I pointed at the Jeep entering the dock at full speed.
Claire gasped. “They’re closing the gates! Owen!”
I only came to acknowledge that now. Men gathered on the end of the cargo hold, handling a mechanical apparatus to close the gates. They didn’t seem to care that there were still military men out there, dinosaurs or Hayden for that matter. We rushed to them, luckily with Owen and Claire’s help we were able to stop them. Most recognized they acted out of pure panic, and I couldn’t really blame them, but as soon as Owen reminded them that in the military, they don’t leave their man behind, they complied, albeit a little hesitant.
The pyroclastic flow rushed past the mountains near us, but it didn’t matter as Hayden was already on the pier. She drove fast and dangerously, slamming past the crates in the way. The Jeep had the passenger’s side windows shattered, claw marks decorated the door and the front bumper was gone as it entered the ship. People screamed and dove out of the way as Hayden didn’t seem to know what a ‘brake’ was.
The Jeep skidded, tire markings on the floor, but it just came to a stop when it hit the back of a truck.
“Hayden!” I screamed, rushing to the driver’s door. The hood was bent and there was smoke coming out of it. In the driver’s seat, the white balloon that was the airbag didn’t let me see her, but I heard her groan. Owen quickly pulled out a knife and deflated the airbag. Hayden slapped the thing away from her face, cursing under her breath. I pulled the door open. I couldn’t really pull her out because of the seatbelt, so I jumped in the car, my arms around her on a bone-crushing hug. I only realized I was shaking when her hands wrapped around me.
“You’re covered in mud.” She whined, but I heard a smile on her voice as she hugged me back.
“Don’t do that again.” I muttered into her hair.
“Don’t plan to.”
I pulled away to her smiling at me, but I couldn’t reciprocate as I saw the bruises. The left side of her jaw was dark red, bordering purple, as was her neck with a bruise the shape of a seat belt.
I raised my hand to her jaw, but refrained from touching, afraid I’d hurt her. “Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me, Jungle Boy.” She ruffled my hair, to which I groaned and pulled back.
Getting out of the car, we were greeted by Owen and Claire looking awfully concerned. Before they could utter a word, a loud scream of ‘Close it!’ had all of us turning to the back. Somehow, I had missed the part where the ship had sailed away from the dock, the back slowly closing as we departed.
An iron fist closed around my heart as I watched the island being swallowed by the ashen cloud. An island I once called home reduced to nothing. My sight turned hazy at the jungle being covered with the cloud, trees burning orange. I blinked the tears out of my eyes as it reached the docks. Dinosaurs on a last attempt to flee the mountain were on the pier, having followed us. A Sinoceratops, in a panicked spell, dove into the sea. It’s cries forever branded in my brain as it struggled against the waves.
‘Is that the same Sinoceratops we met on Camp Cretaceous?’ We returned her to her herd only for her to die like this?
A hand closed around my heart.
A metal clanging drew my attention. The Parasaurolophus was banging its head against its cage, huge dark eyes filled with fear. Again, I wondered if we had crossed paths before. Was it one of those we met in the cave? Glowing in the dark like fairies. Even beautiful dinosaurs are going to have a fate like this.
The hand clenched around my heart, squeezing it tighter.
By this point there was nothing to be done. The ashen blanket covered everything. The only thing I could see in front of me was the Brachiosaurus at the end of the pier, crying for us. For help.
I recalled my first time meeting a Brachiosaurus. I couldn’t bear to have that be the same Brachio, not the first dinosaur that actually didn’t make me afraid. Even if back then I was more afraid of the zipline than the dinosaurs, it was a feat. But it was one of the first moments I felt like I belonged with my friends, I wouldn’t have it tarnished. The gates were slowly closing, just not fast enough to block the view. A lump formed on my throat, but I couldn’t look away. The burning cloud finally reached the dinosaur, seemingly stopping at the coldness of the ocean.
The Brachiosaurus shrieked as the cloud covered the lower part of her body. I cried alongside her, unstoppable tears rolling down my cheeks. Such a majestic dinosaur crying for us, yet we stood still. I stood still.
The hand around my heart dug its nails into the muscle, so hard that my chest hurt.
I had my hands in fists when something warm wrapped around them, slowly coaxing me to relax and take her hand in my own, grounding me.
The air glowed orange around the Brachiosaurus’ body, just like the trees, burning. The bellows filled the air, louder than the engine or the volcano, begging not to die as her whole body was engulfed by the ashes. All but her silhouette was visible now, a gray figure glowing the color of fire. Heart breaking wails as it burned alive right in front of my eyes.
The gates closed with a clank, darkness engulfing us. I hastily wiped the tears off my face, while the other remained clasped around Hayden’s. I turned to see her with a stoic look on her face, eyes watery but no tears falling.
“Hayden.” Claire called, tears in her eyes. “Wheatley… I have to ask.”
Hayden's face turned stern, her hand squeezing mine hard. “I don’t think he’ll be a problem anymore.”
Claire looked taken aback, but Owen just nodded solemnly.
I tugged on her hand. “Come on, someone’s eager to meet you.”
Pulling a dumbfounded Hayden along with me was easy and she let out the most girlish scream as she laid eyes on Bumpy. I was ready to use that against her in the future, but for now I was happy to see her almost squeeze through the bars to hug Bumpy, talking in a baby voice of how much she missed her. Bumpy licked Hayden’s face, who giggled. She was covered in soot, and it surely didn’t taste very good, but Bumpy didn’t seem to mind.
Hayden turned to me, tears now rolling down her face. “You did it, Ben!” She motioned with her hand. “Come here!”
Before I knew I was pulled into a triple hug, my heart aching with happiness, all the previous events evaporating from my mind. I don’t know how long we spent there, crouched down by Bumpy’s head, but Hayden wanted to know everything. How have I found Bumpy? Where? Was she with a herd? Was she happy? How did I bring her back?
However, as soon as I asked what she had been up to on the island, her face hardened. With plans to find Owen she rushed back to the gates, with me close behind. We eventually found them on the Raptors truck.
Hayden halted, making me collide with her back. “What happened?”
“Hayden! Pass me the gauze, over there!” Zia ordered frantically, pointing at a side table.
Hayden reacted quickly, doing as she was asked. “What happened?” She pressed.
Zia, Franklin, Owen and Claire crowded the table Blue was strapped into. The dinosaur struggled against her restraints, blood soaked the gauze and through Zia’s hands, it pooled on the floor. Blue snapped her jaws while Owen tried to muzzle her.
“She woke up with the volcano. She’s hemorrhaging even worse than before, I don’t have any IV fluid left and can’t find Cameron. Oh, you look great by the way, I’m glad you’re alive.” Zia spoke lightning fast.
Hayden chuckled. “I feel like I slept on the wrong side of my neck.” She brought her hand to her neck, touching it carefully. “How can I help?”
“Do you know how to find a vein?”
“Um…”
Blue kicked and snarled, trying to bite Owen’s hand off.
“Hey.” Owen petted Blue along the neck, shushing her with a soothing voice. She finally calmed down enough for Owen to put the muzzle in place.
“She’s losing too much blood, at this rate just an IV won’t cut it. I need to find the source of the bleeding and she needs a blood transfusion.” Zia sighed while keeping pressure on.
“Oh, I did a blood drive for the Red Cross.” Claire said.
Zia stared at her for a second, before giving up with a sigh. “Great.”
“I can help.” I stepped forward. ‘The seven of us really do have a debt with Blue.’
“Uh-uh, not you, Mudman.” She pointed her bloody, gloved finger at me. “You aren’t getting close to an open wound.”
I frowned, glancing down at my clothes covered in dried mud. ‘It isn’t that bad.’
She groaned. “Where is Cameron when I need him?”
“I’ll go find him.” Owen volunteered.
“Is he on board?” Hayden said.
Owen nodded. “I still haven't talked to the captain, but it’s chaos out there right now.”
“Speaking of? What was that deal with G.I Jerk? What did he want with you?” Zia asked.
All the eyes turned to Hayden as she let out a harsh sigh. She went on about how Wheatley was after the Scorpios, to sell it on the black market. I felt my breathing going out of control. A hybrid was the most dangerous creature, out of control and unpredictable, to think of people creating more like it was infuriating. But not as infuriating as when I heard Hayden was going along with the plan. I almost interrupted her right then and there. A flash of hurt crossed her eyes from my reaction, but she raised her hand to stop me from interrupting, telling me she had taken him to see some dinosaurs alright, right in the Genetics Lab.
‘Brilliant.’ A laugh escaped me together with a sting of regret from questioning her.
Hayden told us how with the earthquake, the Genetics Lab’s ceiling caved in. Wheatley was trapped under the rubble. She didn’t give many details about that, she just went on to explain she was chased out by Chaos and left in the Jeep.
“I’m glad you made it out.” Claire opened a warm smile, to which Hayden only hummed in response.
“That might work in our favor.” Owen nodded, hand caressing Blue still.
“I figured as much.” She crossed her arms.
A huge wave had the whole ship tilting for a second. Before everyone regained their balance, Zia was already yelling for more gauze as blood oozed through the old ones.
“We need a transfusion, now!” Zia groaned. “We need to find a tetanuran, the blood type should be close enough. Preferably carnivores, with two or three fingers. No more than three.”
“I can do that!” I jumped in.
“Great.” She turned to Owen. “And we really need Cameron to bring a transfusion kit.”
“I’ll find him.”
“Nobody is going anywhere.” A cold voice sounded from behind me.
I barely turned to look when I was shoved out the way. Hayden spun around only to be faced with a silver revolver pointing right to her forehead. I stumbled to my feet and a big hand pressed against my chest, keeping me in place.
Hayden’s eyes widened. “Wheatley! Oh my God, you’re alive!” She beamed on a high pitch.
Wheatley grabbed by her shirt’s collar, the revolver pressing against her skin. “Don’t sound so surprised, Sunshine.” He snarled.
He looked awful, covered in soot, dirt and dry blood. His shirt was torn on the left side, with bandages covering his skin. Next to him, stood the man holding me back, blond hair, tanned skin and very muscular. His arm was double the size of mine and he was even taller than Kenji.
I bawled my fists, but I stayed put. I wasn’t getting past him that easily, mostly because of the gun pointed at my friend.
“Wheatley, what are you doing?” Owen asked with a low grunt, body tense as if he was ready to punch Wheatley.
Wheatley didn’t take his eyes from Hayden, who had a faltering smile on her lips. “You earned us a couple of Baryonyxes, I’ll give you that. But that wasn’t what we agreed on.”
“Put down the gun.” Owen said.
“Now, Sunshine, why should I?” Wheatley chuckled, cocking the gun. “You and I both know you could’ve moved that rock and that you lied to me.”
Hayden scoffed. “Did you hit your head? I was busy running from a dinosaur.”
“I’m done playing games.” He growled, pulling on her shirt until she had to stand on the tip of her toes.
“So are we, Wheatley.” Claire cut in, looking angrier than I’ve ever seen her. “We are not blind, look how you’re treating them. What are you really doing with these dinosaurs?”
I pushed against the hand holding me, but the guy stayed put, almost with an apologetic look on his eyes. I only glared back. “I really hate mercenaries, you only think about money. They are living creatures and you’re going to sell them…?”
Zia huffed, shooting daggers at Wheatley. “Not Blue, you need her for something else, don’t you?”
“You’re an observant one, aren’t you?” Wheatley snickered. “I am getting them to Lockwood, like I was paid to do. You should’ve stayed blind and just done your damn job.” He finally pulled the revolver out of Hayden’s face. I saw her shoulders instantly relaxing, but it was our time to tense up as the gun turned at us. “Now, you’re all coming with me.”
“If you want to keep your trophy Raptor alive, you’ll listen to me and go get me a transfusion kit. Otherwise, she’ll never make it back to wherever it is you’re taking us.” Zia shot back.
Wheatley seemed to ponder for a while, glancing at the struggling dinosaur then back at us. “Alright.” He relented.
“Remember… carnivore, two or three fingers.” Zia said, now looking at Claire, who nodded.
Wheatley cracked a sick laugh. “Oh, I have just the one.” He pulled Hayden with him out of the truck. “Let’s go.”
Owen, Claire and I followed them. Wheatley talked to the tanned guy. He called him Cameron and asked for him to grab a blood transfusion kit. I shot daggers at his back as he walked away to follow the orders.
‘Go trip and fall overboard. The sharks will have a field day with you.’ I wished. If that was Cameron… What the hell was he doing looking awfully chill when a gun was being pointed at us?
Another one I’d like to be eaten alive by sharks was Wheatley, who still had Hayden at gunpoint. I kept trying to make her look at me, but she kept her eyes distant in a poker face not even I could decipher. So, I turned to Owen, who also harbored a similar look, his eyes darted everywhere, thinking… analyzing. But as soon as he looked at me, I knew he didn’t have a plan. I motioned to a dinosaur cage, for us to follow the original plan. He quickly shut me down, pointing at Hayden with his chin.
I don’t know where Wheatley was taking us, but it seemed to be on the opposite side of the ship. Passing a cage, the sight of a scarred snout and red charred skin made me halt, blood pumping through my veins like ice.
Toro.
I watched as the Carnotaurus exhaled, sleeping. ‘It’s fine, Ben. All good. It’s locked away.’ I forced myself to take a deep breath. Owen motioned for me to keep going, so I did while keeping a wary eye on the red dinosaur, glad that Wheatley didn’t plan on taking blood from this one. But the reality was even worse. Wheatley stopped by a huge container, when he opened it, a foul smell hit me. A mixture of decomposing flesh with excrement and bad breath. The Tyrannosaurus rex laid unconscious, flies buzzing around her head.
Claire gasped. “You gotta be kidding me.”
Cameron came back right then, kit in hand and glancing warily to the sleeping beast.
“I’d hurry up if I were you.” Wheatley ushered us, while pulling Hayden away with him. Her poker face cracked for a second, looking at me with panic in her eyes.
“Wait! Where are you taking her?” I yelled, my eyes reflecting her own. Flashes of her laying on the grass, covered in blood crossed my minds. Kenji’s pleas for help that day still had me flinching.
“Just a safeguard, so you won’t try anything.” Wheatley grinned, walking away clutching Hayden by the arm and with Cameron right behind him.
I was running after them before I could think. “Wait-” Owen grabbed me, holding me in place and shaking his head ’no’. “I promised her I wouldn’t let this happen again.” My voice cracked.
“He won’t hurt her as long as we do our part.” Owen said, stoic as ever.
“How’d you know?”
“I just do.” He sighed, almost grimacing. “Now, come on, we have a T. rex to take care of.”
Notes:
I really don’t think I did the Brachiosaurus’ scene justice, but I tried. And although it’s a very fun scene and one of my favorites, I had to delete the volcano and gyrosphere scene. I’m sorry, but just because you’re Chris Pratt, it doesn’t mean you can outrun a volcano. The math wasn’t mathing. And I like to keep things physically accurate to our universe… to an extent…
Chapter 9: Unexpected Complication
Summary:
Traveling across the ocean in style.
Notes:
I made it to the UK! and it's raining lol. But yeah, getting used to uni here, the campus is very pretty, my accomodation is kinda shitty, but yeah all good. I'll probably be veeery busy going forward and I'll probably won't have much time to write chaos theory, I'm down 4 chapters so far and with season 2 coming, we'll see. Eventually I'll post it.
Now to what matters... Second part of Fallen Kingdom starts now-ish. Lockwood Estate and Indoraptor, here we go! But first a more chill chapter (not at first, but yeah). Also from now on we get more of Camp Fam.
TW: Torture. But is it really? Kinda torturous. Super PG torture then…
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Kenji
I sat on Darius’ bed, reading and rereading Hayden’s letter. I tried to flatten the paper back, but it was a half-assed job. Darius’ bedroom was small and cramped. Darius was on his desk, eyes wide as he read Ben’s letter. He was wearing simple clothes, a yellow t-shirt and jeans. Brooklynn was hovering next to me, it was too hot for her trademark jacket so she settled for a pink tank top. She was reading Hayden’s letter not so discreetly, over my shoulder. Yasmina and Sammy were there too, Yasmina wore her usual leggings and fitness tank top, that girl always looked like she was ready for a sprint; Sammy looked more comfortable, worn down jeans, boots that had seen better days and a red flannel on top of everything. They both were near the window, whispering to each other, seemingly waiting for their turn with the letters.
I couldn’t care less for what I was wearing, I still had yesterday’s clothes, dark jeans and a fitted shirt Hayden had picked for me. It was all crumpled and unbuttoned on the top, where I had ripped the tie off. All of this because I was in a hurry to meet everyone. It was tricky to get them together at the last minute, but the urgency of the situation called for an in-person meeting. In the background, the TV was on with the news channel. We kept tuning in to hear about Nublar, but there was no actual new information.
Brooklynn cleared her throat. “So, a letter?”
“That’s all I got.” I shrugged.
“At least you got something.” She huffed.
Darius cleared his throat. “Did Ben really go with her?”
I rolled my eyes. ‘I don’t know why he’s asking, he just read Ben’s letter.’
“I called his mom, Ben went to see Hays last minute. She doesn’t suspect a thing. I think that’s where he was driving to on our last call.” Yasmina said.
“They lied to our faces.” I threw the letter across the room, once again in a ball of paper. “Hays knew she was going back to Nublar on that video call and she didn’t say anything.”
Sammy was quick to pick it up, flatting it out carefully. “But she said she’d be back by the end of the week. The news didn’t say nothin’ new about Nublar. Maybe everythin’ is fine, and Kenji wasn’t supposed to find the letter yet.”
“I was not supposed to find it? My fucking name is on the envelope!” I yelled out.
Yasmina glared at me. “What Sammy is trying to say is that the letter was a safeguard if she didn’t come back. Maybe everything is going according to her plan and both of them will be back just like she said in the letter.”
I crossed my arms. “How am I supposed to trust that?”
Darius sighed. “We have to. I- look, I’m mad too, but Hays never let us down and she must’ve known what she was doing only getting Ben in on this.”
“You’re damn right she never let us down!” My voice came out a growl as I stared Darius down. “But she should’ve told us!”
Sammy leaned on the wall, hugging herself as if she was cold on the summer night. “Hays did that to protect us, she’s always the one protecting us.”
“It’s not fair!” I got up in a flash. “She didn’t even give us a choice, we could’ve helped.”
Sammy shook her head. “I bet she knows that, but she did it anyway to keep us from going back there.”
“She told Ben. Ben ! But she didn’t even bother to call me?”
“Stop being jealous, Kenji.” Brooklynn said. “That’s different-”
“It’s not jealousy.” I groaned. “And stop defending her.”
“Well, what would’ve you done if you were in her place?” Yasmina asked.
“I would’ve never gone back there!” I yelled with the urge to punch the hell out of the nearest wall.
“And she knew that, she would’ve never asked you to. Any of us.” Sammy said, her voice calm.
“I’m confused how someone would want to go through that again, it’s like ‘please punch me again! It might not hurt this time!’” I grunted. Sammy looked at me with such gentle eyes that all the anger left me, instead I was filled with sadness. Sitting back on the bed, I let my head fall to my hands. “Maybe I would go back… for her… I don’t know.”
Darius placed his letter gently on his desk and took a deep breath. “Face it, she and Ben were the ones closer to Bumpy. The volcano… it changed everything.”
Brooklynn sat next to me, hand on my shoulder. “But still, I would’ve helped.”
“Yeah, me too.” Yasmina said.
“It’s Bumpy, she’s part of the Fam.” Sammy nodded.
“If it was up to me, I’d be flying there right now, but…” Darius hugged himself. “There’s nothing we can do if they are all the way in Nublar. I don’t know how they got in, but it’s a no-flight zone, now even more than before. We should wait and trust them to be back safely.”
I raised my head. “I’m not gonna sit back and wait.”
Brooklynn echoed my thoughts. “There must be something we can do. I have some contacts from DPG, maybe they know something.”
Dad still had some contacts in Masrani Corporation. And they owned dad big time. “Nowhere is totally inaccessible with the right amount of money, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Hold your horses.” Sammy said.
“You wanna go back there?” Yasmina asked, hesitantly.
“I don’t know Kenji, we could mess up whatever plan Hays’ got going on.” Brooklynn said. “We should wait.”
I stood up, hands in tight fists on my side. “I’m not going to sit back while Hayden and Ben are back in that place. I’m helping.”
“If that’s what you want.” Darius stood in front of me with a confident smile. “I’m in.”
“It’s on! Camp Fam: rescue mission!” Sammy beamed, trying to pull all of us to a group hug. Yasmina was the one that held her ground, not letting Sammy pull her in. “Yaz?”
Yasmina had a haunted look on her face, white as a ghost with her eyes fixed on the TV. “Someone turn the volume up!”
All eyes snapped at the TV and the mute was turned off. The news anchor, Philippa, had a serious look on her face as the bold letters of ‘Breaking News’ flashed across the screen.
“Later this afternoon, we received word that Mt. Sibo on Isla Nublar erupted.” Images of a thick ashen-gray cloud rising from an island in the distance. Lighting and fire illuminated the cloud as it rose up to the sky. “It was the single most powerful eruption after Krakatoa in 1883. The explosion was heard from Ecuador to Mexico. Reports are still coming in about the real magnitude of the explosion, but it was calculated that at least half of the island should be underwater by now.” The video zoomed in, while the quality was good, we couldn’t see much past the cloud. “Apologies for the quality of our images, the ash of the volcano doesn’t permit us to get our drone-”
“No.” With barely a whisper, Brooklynn fell back to the bed.
“It’s too soon.” Darius shook his head in denial.
“Maybe they got out, maybe-” Sammy fell to the ground, tears rolling free across her face.
Yasmina joined Sammy, eyes blank. “They- no…”
“This can’t be happening.” My eyes were locked on the screen. My hand shot up to my chest as a ripping pain stabbed me in the heart. “Fuck! This can’t be happening!”
…
Hayden
My forehead was resting against the window, the coldness relieving some of my headache. I had lost the sense of time by now, sitting on the passenger side of this truck. I had my right hand tied to the door handle, my feet up on the dashboard, not even bothering how muddy my running shoes were.
From behind me, hushed whispers and an eventual snarl were heard, but I had closed the partition between us long ago. The plans to escape and help the dinosaurs were getting crazier by the minute, and none were feasible. So here I was, trying to take a nap. The cargo hold was completely isolated from outside, no natural light coming in, so I had no idea if it was daytime still. Closing my eyes, I focused on the ship’s movement, as it went up and down the waves.
While I tried to focus on that, my mind betrayed me going back to hours ago.
After leaving Ben, Owen and Claire to deal with the T. rex, Wheatley brought me to the upper deck, where many dinosaurs lay unconscious inside crates. We stopped in front of two particularly familiar Baryonyxes.
I stood there, sitting with my back to the iron bars while Wheatley talked to his mercenaries. He was mainly doing a show, telling them not to let me out of their sights or they would be swimming home. When he started to go on about the technicalities of the dinosaurs, the trip back to California and other useless shit, I stopped paying attention. Instead, I analyzed my surroundings. Nobody had their guns aimed at me, but I was sure with any sudden movement from me, the situation would change. Not that those were real guns, but I didn’t look forward to being tranqed, once in a lifetime was good enough for me.
The ship’s railing was chest high, I could easily jump off. ‘Would I survive the fall?’ Probably yes, with some broken bones, but yes. I didn’t look forward to swimming all the way to Costa Rica, though. Also, there was the matter of my friends onboard… so not a great idea.
It was so fucking stupid to leave Wheatley. I could’ve easily helped him out from under those rocks, so he could’ve tranqed Chaos. Granted, I thought the volcano would’ve taken him out, but still.
‘How didn’t the volcano kill him? How is he even here?’ I took the only vehicle, to which he was stupid enough to leave the keys on the ignition. ‘Wheatley was asking for it, if you ask me.’ All that bullshit about the Scorpios and the business opportunity. ‘Fuck him.’
I didn’t have much time to think at the time, now I had anything but time. I confess that my first reaction was ‘So what? Let him have the Scorpios.’ But soon came the dread of letting down Camp Fam, they wouldn’t let him get his hands on it. I had some feeling of ownership… not that not the right word… responsibility? …emotional attachment?... We all fought so hard to take down the Scorpios just to Wheatley come and take it for him? It helped that I didn’t want future Scorpios 2.0 running around on my conscience.
‘How hypocrite.’ This situation is pretty similar to Hawkes’.
‘Yet, my ticket out of Nublar isn’t at stake this time.’ A voice in my head echoed.
‘True, but I will have to fight to get home eventually.’
‘And the Scorpios had no part in it. People don’t get to have this hybrid.’ Especially not old mercenaries intending on selling it. It would be used to who knows what nefarious experiment, I bet.
‘Now our plan is compromised because this motherfucker made it back. We are compromised because of it.’ I glared at Wheatley.
“Don’t give me that look.” He looked honestly uncomfortable while he made his way to me, his men keeping their distance. I smirked, making him avert his gaze. “You’re being a real pain in the ass, you know that?”
“I try.” I look down to his arm, all wrapped in bandages under his torn clothes with some dry blood decorating the fabric.
He kneeled next to me, eyes on the Baryonyxes. Pulling out thick pliers, he scratched his chin with the metal. “Now, what should I do with you?” He said, thinking to himself. “I don’t take betrayal lightly.”
I itched to do something. A well-placed knee to the head would do the trick, but I was well aware of the guns surrounding me.
“A betrayal implies trust.” I crossed my arms. “We never had that to begin with.”
“We made a deal.”
“Like you would honor that. I know the likes of you-” My run in with Mitch and Tiff crossed my mind. “-you would’ve betrayed me at the first chance, so I did it first.” I grinned. “Sucks that you didn’t see it coming, asshole.”
“I wouldn’t be that snarky in your position.” Wheatley clipped one of Limbo’s teeth and pulled it out with a grunt. The dinosaur didn’t even flinch.
“What?” I shrugged, trying my best not to show any shakiness in my voice. “You clearly aren’t going to kill me, or you would’ve done it already.”
“We have all the time in the world. Four days ‘till California…” He flashed me a sick smile, bloody teeth in hand. “But you’re right, of course. I rather not have to deal with you, no… I’ll hand you all over with the dinosaurs.”
I almost sighed out loud. “What would Lockwood want with us?
He snickered. “That won’t be my problem, Sunshine. Maybe they’ll feed you to the T. rex, I don’t know.”
‘Eh, there’s worst ways to go.’ Being gutted by a Raptor or eaten alive by Compies, for example. At least with Rexy it always looked fast. A chomp and you’re gone.
“How did you even get out?” Curiosity got the best of me.
Satisfied with the several teeth he pulled out, he put them away and finally rose up to look me in the eyes. “You forget my men are loyal to me. All I had to do was call on the radio and they sent a helo.”
“I thought they couldn’t fly with the volcano.”
“They made an exception. It was a bumpy ride, I’ll tell you that. Never had an engine fail that bad, but we made it back just in time.”
“How unfortunate.” I muttered under my breath.
“I’ll make sure you don’t forget leaving me to die, Sunshine.” He growled, getting really close with a deadly glare. I guess it was supposed to be intimidating, and it would’ve been if I wasn’t tired of his bullshit. He already admitted he was not going to kill me, so what? Did he want to get even?
‘Boo hoo! Get over it.’ I just glared back, Yasmina style.
He moved way too fast for an old man. One second he was looking at me, the other, his fist made contact with my chin, hitting right where I was bruised for crashing the Jeep. I clenched my teeth, the metallic taste invading my mouth. I motioned to get him back for it, but two pairs of strong arms held me back, now pulling me up.
‘I fucking hate mercenaries.’
“I think I told you not to give me that look.” Wheatley grunted. I balled my fists, hands shaking with the adrenaline coursing through my veins. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction to know that the shakiness was fear, better him believing that I was eager to punch him. Not a complete lie there. I chuckled, shaking my head at him feeding into my own delusion that everything was fine. At that, he smiled, moving in front of me. His left leg was in front, while he raised his arms in a loose guard. Feet firmly on the ground.
That was the thing with people holding back my arms, they never expected me to use my legs. From this distance I could easily kick Wheatley in the head. I bet I could knock him out. But that wouldn’t accomplish shit, only add more to the pain that was coming next.
I guess I was going to have to endure this. ‘Well, fuck my life.’
I saw it coming from mile away, but when his fist made contact to my ribs, I already had my abs flexed to absorb the hit.
‘Okay, understandable. The guy almost died because of me. But him showing off to his buddies was getting annoying.’
I was proud to say I didn’t even grunt at the punches, even though I really wanted to scream. ‘Oh, how I love being trained for body shots.’ He was strong, but he didn’t place his punches that well, so the pain was bearable. I let my eyes skim the place, watching the dinosaurs, the tarps over the cages flapping with the wind, the blue ocean surrounding us, anything to take my mind off things. Wheatley grew irritated as he couldn’t get a reaction out of me. When he finally took a break, both of us were out of breath.
“Boxing guy, huh?” I smirked and Wheatley huffed. “You hit like a grandpa.”
“Jones.” Wheatley stepped out and a massive man appeared, the guy that looked like Mike Tyson and The Rock mixed together. I think he was on the first team to take us to the comms facility.
Jones hesitated, looking at me with pity. “Are you sure, Sir? She’s just a kid.”
“Do I need to tell you again?” Wheatley growled.
This Jones guy was huge, but he gave me more of a gentle giant vibe. “Just not the face, ey?” I gave him a knowing smile. I felt a bit sorry for him, but I did not look forward to being hit by that beast. His hands were twice the size of mine!
I took a deep breath, readying myself. Turns out nothing could’ve prepared me for that punch. I hissed as soon as his fist connected with my solar plexus. The wind got knocked out of me, white hot agony filled me as I heard a ‘pop’. I didn’t even bother trying to stand upright, so the two mercenaries holding me struggled to keep me in place from the power behind the punch.
‘Motherfucker.’ I tried to catch my breath, but my lungs betrayed me as the sharp pain traveled across my body. I tried to keep a poker face, recomposing myself. Already expecting the next assault.
The next hit wasn’t a punch, but a fucking freight train aimed for my gut. The train rearranged the whole of my internal organs and a boned deep nausea hit me, making my knees turn into jelly and black spots cloud my vision. My whole body collapsed into itself, bringing me to a fetal position. The mercenaries must’ve let me go, cause I was on the floor, gasping for air as the most excruciating pain filled me.
‘Liver shots… I really hate liver shots.’
Wheatley kneeled next to my head, a few dinosaur teeth in his hand. “You know… I still don’t have an Ankylosaurus in my collection.”
I stiffened, my eyes widening slightly before turning ice cold. “Don’t you fucking dare!” I growled, not as menacing while I couldn’t breathe. He raised one white pointy tooth with the root glistened red right in front of my eyes. I flicked my wrist so fast, slapping his hand away. The tooth went flying and landed at his men's feet, who raised their guns.
With a motion from him, his men lowered their guns. “Maybe I’ll let you watch-”
“Sir!” A shout made both of us look. Cameron came out, breathing like he just ran all the way here. He hesitated when he laid eyes on me, but soon his attention was all on Wheatley. “The Tyranosaurus is awake, she’s tearing down the cage.”
My breath hitched. “Is Ben…?”
“They are okay, but-”
Wheatley groaned. “Then, what are you waiting for? Put it back to sleep.”
“Right… Yes, Sir. Right away.”
After that, our little one-on-one was over, although Wheatley did gift me with a few well-placed kicks for good measure.
I’ll make sure you don’t forget leaving me to die, Sunshine. Wheatley really took it personally being left behind, cause now I stood tied up to a door, bored out of my mind. Being dragged all the way to the truck wasn’t any fun when I could barely walk. I didn’t have to look to know my whole abdomen was an explosion of red and purple bruises to match my face. I had broken ribs before, but everything just felt like it hurt too much. To stand, to breathe, to walk, to think…
As soon as I was back on the truck I was showered with questions. I made sure they knew nothing happened. I couldn’t have them pitying me and me looking weak right now. Knowing Ben, he was going to do something stupid. Not that different from me after all. If Wheatley laid hands on Zia, Ben or Bumpy, I honestly was responsible for my actions, even tied up. I’d make him regret making it back to the ship. If he touched Bumpy, I’d throw him to the Baryonyxes and I was going to laugh as he was being ripped apart. That I knew.
Yet, it had been hours with no word from him. I’m glad he wasn’t up for round two, but his disappearance had me worrying even more. The fact that Wheatley thought delivering us to Lockwood was enough punishment, it made me dread the billionaire. Or even worse, his associate, Mills. The thought of having to face Mills had me wishing Camp Fam was here, I knew they’d have my back this time. Yet, I felt bad by wishing that, cause that meant they would be in the same situation as Ben and I right now. I already tried to push away the guilt of having put Ben in this position, while sweet Ben seemed more worried about me.
‘I really don’t deserve him.’
As soon as Wheatley brought me back to the truck. Owen, Claire and Ben were already back from getting the T. rex’s blood, successfully helping Blue, who was stable. But Ben being Ben, he was more worried about me. Albeit I did meet him with a sour face, Wheatley recently having threatened Bumpy. Even if I didn’t explain the extent of the threat, Ben almost jumped on Wheatley, being held back by Owen. It just proved my point, if Ben knew Wheatley used me as his personal punching bag, he would certainly lose it. I didn’t have a great track record with mercenaries after all. Although, it gave me a warm feeling knowing Ben was as much protective towards me, as I was towards him, the whole Camp Fam really. While I trusted Owen, to say that about Claire and Franklin was a stretch. People I really trusted were the minority here and I wasn’t used to it. They were assets, no doubt. I was glad I had Owen in my corner, he was calm, but very scary when needed be. Claire and Franklin… well… Let’s just say I was happy that Owen was here.
Another one I would be happy to have by my side was Kenji. I missed him so much it hurt. I could really use a hug from him right now. I had talked to him three days ago and last I’d seen him personally was two weeks ago. I was used to the distance, but being back on Nublar really brought back memories. Good ones. Like when I had to drag his ass across the jungle, because he got himself bitten by Compies. Or the many times we trained under the sun. Our trips to Main Street, playing with luck to avoid Rexy. He was the one that got me back the Bumpy plushie, which was now on my backpack… Wheatley had taken it and the radio, he probably dumped it on the sea. ‘Piece of shit.’
Kenji would be pissed when we meet again. I had to believe we were meeting again, ‘cause the other possibility brought tears to my eyes. So, I ignored that and focused on the future conversation between us. Kenji would be angry and hurt, which was totally his right, but I wasn’t sorry for coming back to Nublar. I tended to do that. While I knew I had to compromise sometimes, not when my family was in danger. Bumpy was family. I wasn’t going to let her die when I could do something about it, preferably putting the least amount of people in danger, hence why I only brought Ben. Another choice I was beginning to regret.
I quickly shot that thought down. Ben was the reason Bumpy was out of Nublar, while I had to play babysitter, he did the hard job. What I regretted was Wheatley coming back and putting us in this position.
…
I think I dozed off, because when I opened my eyes the world was a bit darker and my neck was stiff as a board. I took a deep breath and soon regretted it. My whole body seized up, a burning sensation erupting from my ribs. I brought my free hand to my right side, feeling the area. It was hot and throbbing. So, I kept my breathing shallow and legs up to the dashboard. Having my body curled up was the only position somewhat comfortable.
I wondered if it were the voices that woke me up, so I opened the partition back up.
“…definitely a Wizard.” Franklin said.
“I like the Druid, skilled in animal handling.” Ben grinned.
“Oh, you play? I thought you’d be a Ranger.”
‘What are they on about?’ I couldn’t see much from through the little square, but Franklin and Ben were talking animatedly, while Owen and Claire were on the back, whispering and I couldn’t really see Zia.
“Oh, hey, Hays.” Ben finally noticed me, eyes lingering on my bruises from the car crash for a second. “Question, have you played Dungeons and Dragons?”
I frowned. “No?”
“Thought so.”
“You’d be a Barbarian.” Franklin deadpanned.
I paused, trying not to be offended. “A what?”
Ben shook his head. “She’s a Monk all the way.”
“What about Zia…”
“Really, Franklin? What about this-” I could only see Zia’s arms flailing around. “-makes you think about a game?”
“A lot actually, I played one campaign that-”
She groaned. “Shut up, Franklin, you nerd.”
“ You are definitely a Barbarian.” Franklin mumbled.
Zia’s head popped up on the partition. “You need to be assertive, or he’ll never stop. He blabs when he’s scared.”
“I’m not-”
“Wiener.” Zia cut him off.
“What I’m trying to-”
She interrupted him again. “What I’m trying to say is that Franklin I such a-”
“Stop it you two.” Claire said, voice stern and loud.
“Oh, she used the ‘mom’ voice.” Zia muttered, winking at me and making me crack a laugh.
Despite Claire’s protests, the banter continued. It was nice to hear it in a moment like this. I had a smile on my lips as Ben’s head popped in the partition.
“Hey, Druid.” I greeted.
“Monk.” He nodded curtly, but with a smirk.
“Is that a good thing?” I laughed.
“It’s not bad, neither good. It’s just… I guess it doesn’t matter much.” He glared at me. “How are you?” He lowered his voice.
“I really don’t like being tied up.” I chuckled, not really amused. The zip tie was already cutting the circulation on my right hand.
“They got all my knives and my backpack.” Ben grimaced.
“It’s fine. I expected worse since Hawkes, but Wheatley likes to talk, not really an action man.” I gave him a sad smile. ‘No, he likes to have his men do all the action. Pussy.’
Ben’s frown only deepened, picking apart my words. “What did he say? Did he threaten you?” There was anger in his voice.
“He's just petty, but…”
“But?”
I sighed. “He did threaten to get some teeth from Bumpy.” Ben’s face went from shock to anger, then furious, but I spoke before he started yelling threats of his own. “Just don’t try anything and Bumpy will be alright.”
“But if I don’t try anything, he’ll hand us over to Lockwood and Mills.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, taking a deep breath. ‘Damn, that hurt.’ I winced. “I just- I don’t know what to do this time.” I admitted. “What does Owen think?”
“I don’t think he knows either. He said we should look for an opening while being transported to Lockwood Estate, because we have eyes on us right now.” Every half an hour or so, one of the mercenaries walked around the truck. He probably was stationed a bit in the distance, but yeah, there were eyes on us all the time. “That Cameron guy said he can’t make a move right now, but I don’t trust him.”
“He’s alright... I think.”
Ben promptly ignored me. “I’m thinking of sneaking out to see Bumpy, she must be so afraid and hungry.”
“Ben, don’t.” I pleaded. “It’s better if we play it cool for now, like Owen said.”
He sighed. “Fine. But I’ll kill Wheatley if he touches her.”
“Good.” I smirked. “Cause I’ll join you.”
…
We were past the second day at sea. At least that’s what I thought since I couldn’t really tell the time. Every now and then, we got a sandwich and a bottle of water. My last sandwich remained untouched as I had this nausea that didn’t seem to pass. I never had much motion sickness, but that had to be it. Also, it didn’t help that my body decided to betray me. Every little movement caused pain, the stabbing feel usually started in my upper abdomen and traveled up to my right shoulder. Sometimes it even felt like my liver was cramping up, blazing hot pain. I didn’t even know it could do that! But I wasn’t degrading myself into asking for pain meds.
I usually didn’t manage to hold back a groan of pain, so I often closed the partition, also tired of hearing Franklin blabbing and Zia snapping at him. Ben talked to me the most, but we soon grew quiet. Most of the talks was him insisting on seeing Bumpy, me talking him down from it. Then I would share my concern of how our friends, mainly Kenji would react, then Ben would freak out thinking Darius would kill him.
Mercenaries kept their rounds around the truck, every now and then, one of them would come to tranq Blue, who was doing fine since the blood transfusion. I hadn’t seen Cameron since that first day, that was until Ben decided to pay Bumpy a visit. Safe to say, he didn’t get far. A scruffy looking mercenary, double the size of Ben, threw him back inside the truck. He made one third of the way before getting caught. After making sure he was okay, I snapped the partition shut, fuming at him. Luckily, there wasn’t a violent response from Wheatley, I just got some company.
The door on the driver’s seat opened and Cameron dropped a bag between the seats. While I was aware Cameron was also one of the mercenaries, he was supposed to be on our side. Wasn’t he? Despite the doubts in my head, I was too bored not to smile, welcoming.
“Are you moving in?” I chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “I should’ve cleaned the place, look at this, it’s a mess.”
“You look like you’re doing good. All things considered.” He gave me a half smile. “I’m in charge of making sure you don’t try anything else.”
“Ah, it’s nice to have a chatty jailer. I was growing bored.” And sore and hungry and thirsty, but I was just complaining about one thing right now. They usually came to pick us up for a bathroom break and to drop some sandwiches, but it wasn’t a set schedule.
He shrugged. “I’ve seen worse jails.”
His bag was half open, the contents of it almost falling out of it from being tossed around. A rusted red and blue can caught my eye, the white letters of ‘Barbasol’ stood out.
“I see you brought your own hygiene products. I’d kill for a bathroom break.” I glanced at him, expectantly.
“What, this old thing?” Cameron sat down, picking up the Barbasol can. “Nah, I just found it laying around.”
I motioned to grab the old, rusty looking can to inspect it, but Cameron shoved it back inside his bag. “Didn’t know you were a hoarder.”
He laughed. “I’ll see what I can do about a bathroom break.”
As soon as I stepped out of the truck, I had to double over from the pain. I couldn’t stand straight without feeling like I was being stabbed with a white-hot poke on my right side. Cameron pretended he didn’t see it, giving me privacy until I recovered, which was all I could ask for at the moment.
After a very much deserved bathroom break, it was good to stretch my legs. Yet, my hand was fixed guarding my side at all times. Cameron managed to do a detour to have me see Bumpy. She was sleeping soundly, no indication of Wheatley having paid her a visit. But before I knew it, I was back at the truck. It was kinda of a relief as I could tuck my legs to my chest again.
“It’s really nice to see I’m not the only one that cares about dinosaurs.” Cameron said.
I snorted. ‘Is that supposed to be a joke?’ While I was beginning to trust him, he was in the strategic position to actually help, but he didn’t.
“I mean it.” He insisted. “The way you helped the Stygo and how you stood up to Wheatley.”
I shrugged. “There wasn’t really any other option.”
“You could’ve done nothing.”
“Like you?” I snickered. While, yes, I liked Cameron, some of Ben’s suspicions had gotten through me.
“I am trying to help. What can I do for you to believe in me?” I wiggled my tied hand, with a half-smile of my face. Cameron sighed. “I can’t do that.”
I raised a brow. “Why not? I thought you were helping us.”
“I am, but Wheatley is keeping an eye on me as much as he is on you. I- he wanted to throw you all overboard, safe Zia of course, he needs Blue alive, but I convinced him not to.” He fidgeted in place.
“So, you convinced him to what? Punch me a little bit?”
“I- that shouldn’t have happened.” He pinched between the bridge of his nose, looking genuinely concerned.
“I have a tendency to annoy my kidnappers, don’t beat yourself up.” I laughed it off, feeling bad.
“Kidnappers? Plural?” His eyes widened.
Damn, can’t be caught slipping like this. “A story for another time, perhaps.” I shrugged.
“Does it have to do with the fact you haven’t told your friends about what Wheatley did?”
“I just don’t want them to worry. But it’s nothing really, just some bruised ribs.”
Cameron sighed, nodding. “I’m not saying anything, then.”
I shot him a thankful smile. “Maybe you could explain it better how exactly you convinced Wheatley into not getting rid of us. Not that I’m not grateful, I’m just curious.”
“Since the boss talked personally to Claire, I thought he might not appreciate it if she didn’t return in one piece. I embellished it a little bit, enough to have Wheatley reconsider it.”
“Is that true?” I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t that familiar with Cameron to know when he was lying, but to think he had that much influence on Wheatley? It didn’t seem right.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, it was a long shot, but you’re still here, aren’t you? But I get the sense Wheatley doesn’t trust me anymore. That’s why I’m here, I think, so he can keep an eye on me too.”
‘He really seems to have gone through great lengths…’ I sighed, leaning back on my seat. “Um… I guess I- we owe you one.”
He smiled at that, dissolving some of the tension. “I think I can think of a way for you to pay me back.”
“Do tell.” I looked at him, curious.
“Tell me about dinosaurs.” He leaned in.
I cracked a laugh. “Oh, so you really are one of those dino-freaks, aren’t you?”
He beamed. “I blame my uncle for it.”
We spend a long-time discussing details about dinosaurs. Cameron knew a lot, but mainly from books. I knew how they actually behaved outside the pages. He was worse than Darius, I swear. The way his eyes sparkled at any new fact, a grown man beaming at me like a child. It was a good change of pace to talk about the good side of Nublar. Of course, Cameron also seemed awfully interested in the bad stuff. The time we nearly died to the Mosasaurus. Our encounters with the T. rex. Toro was his favorite, which seemed weird since Ben didn’t seem to like Cameron one bit, but he was amazed that we almost killed a fully grown Carnotaurus. Not as amazed as my little stabbing take at the Monos, though, but he was flattering me at this point.
I had to admit it felt good to talk about it so freely with someone so excited about it. I wasn’t one to brag, but it was nice when someone, other than Kenji, complemented my actions. Because I did my best to keep my family safe. Most of the time, it worked. And I was hella proud of that.
Cameron nodded, amused. “It makes sense that you’re this protective of them. For what it sounds like, you’re the reason they made it back in one piece.”
‘Right?’ “I was not the only reason, but yeah. It’s nice that someone sees that.” I smiled. ‘ Instead of selling me out for a damn laptop. ’
“Is that how you got this?” He pointed at my temple, where a scar clashed with the rest of my face. It began on my temple, disappearing into the hairline.
“Oh, this… um, I fell headfirst into a rock.” I laughed as if it was nothing, brushing my fingers against the thin line. “There was blood everywhere.”
He threw his head back, laughing. “Never thought you for clumsy.” I gave him a deadly stare. ‘ Bitch, what? I’m not clumsy. ’ He tried to suppress his laugh. “Was that while you were on Nublar?”
I crossed my arms. “Yeah, I gave my friends a real scare.”
“Not the ideal place to be clumsy.”
‘The audacity of this one.’ I snorted. “What about you, huh?” I motioned to his lips. There was a scar on the corner of his upper lip, almost imperceptible if you didn’t pay attention. ‘I bet he was that clumsy kid that fell from the swing.’
He shrugged, smile gone. “I got into a bar fight.”
“Oh, so you’re that guy, Cameron?” I rolled my eyes.
“Not usually. But I do admit I was a bit drunk.” I kept silent, waiting for him. Cameron hesitated before speaking. “It was when I was in the military. There was this old, white haired dude, those that get all red when drunk, you know?” I nodded. “Anyways, he approached a girl that was alone. I think she was one rank below me, a recent transfer. I couldn’t hear what he said over the music, but I knew she was uncomfortable right away. He was clearly my superior and hers, so I guess she felt obliged to humor him. I don’t know.” He sighed, looking angrier by the second. I grimaced as well, already knowing where the story was leading. “By one point, he grabbed her by the arm, trying to pull her to the bathrooms. I was baffled no one seemed to notice them. I didn’t even try to talk to the guy, I just punched him. Turns out he wasn’t alone at the bar. I woke up in the hospital the next day.”
A heavy silence filled the air. After all that , I felt bad for lying about my scar. I just didn’t want to explain Hawkes considering Cameron was a mercenary himself. Of course, they were different people, but still…
“Was she okay? The girl?” I asked, my voice quiet.
“Yeah, she went to see me the next day. Said thanks and told me she wasn’t pressing charges.” He scoffed.
“What? Why not?”
“They pressured her into covering it up.” He shook his head, a half-smile, half-grimace of his face. “I was actually happy when they kicked me out.”
“I wouldn’t want to be associated with those bastards either.” I grunted, approvingly. “Although, I still don’t know why you chose to hang around people like Wheatley.”
“It wasn’t really a choice.” He paused, lost in thought before glancing back at me. “My uncle got me this job. He was the original dino-freak of the family and he passed that onto me. I guess it is the price to pay so I can see the animals I love.” He flashed me a sad smile.
I decided to poke around. “You know that the animals you love are being treated like shit and are going to be sold illegally, right?”
“I get that. I don’t think Owen’s plan will work anymore… Wheatley is onto us.” Cameron cracked a chuckle, which turned into a full blown laugh.
“Why are you laughing about?” I couldn’t help but smile.
“Here you are, tied up to a door and worrying about dinosaurs, not yourself.”
“Some people might say that I’m bad with self-preservation plays.”
“It’s a good thing.”
“Again, some people might think otherwise.” My thoughts went automatically to Kenji and I caught myself fidgeting with my necklace, guilt filling me.
“Is that how this happened?” Cameron glanced down to my forearm, and I followed his eyes. There was a very visible and ragged scar crossed it diagonally. A gift from the Scorpios. While the hybrid usually haunted my nightmares, the day I got this scar was a happy-ish day. The scar was the price to pay for Brooklynn’s safety. I’d do that again in a heartbeat. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but you don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Cameron must’ve interpreted my silence as reluctance, but I flashed him a smile, making sure he knew it was okay. “Like I said, zero self-preservation. We had this plan to escape the island. We had a boat, we were making our escape to it, but the Scorpios started to chase us.”
“Scorpios?” He interrupted.
“The original hybrid.” I explained. “Think an ugly pug faced dinosaur straight out of a horror movie. Claws like a Raptor, size of a Baryonyx and with poison quills all over.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Yikes.”
“It was chasing us, but we had to ditch all our supplies to get to the boat. All the food, first aid, necessities, all gone. Brooklynn gave the idea to go back for our stuff, and I wasn’t going to let her go alone. We thought the thing would be long gone. We were wrong.” I shook my head. “We were making our way back when it popped out of nowhere. Brooklynn was 13 at the time, I was 16 with no self-preservation so the choice was already made. I told her to run away while I was the bait. The damn thing got a claw in me before I could escape.”
With a concerned tone, Cameron asked. “How did you escape?”
“I eventually jumped into the ocean when Brooklynn was safe. The Scorpios couldn’t swim so, yeah.” My fingers were mindlessly scratching the edge of my scar. “I barely felt it at the time.”
“It’s a sick looking scar, with an incredible reason behind it. You should be proud.” Cameron said, sounding so sincere, I smiled back at him. He hesitantly reached out with his hand, glancing at me for permission and when I did nothing, his hand touched my arm delicately. Fingertips grazing the sensitive skin. “She must be happy to have you as a friend.”
‘Why does scarring tissue have to be so damn sensitive?’ I remained still as the shivers traveled up my arm.
The sound of a throat being cleared drew my attention. Ben was looking through the partition with a very angry looking scowl.
“I wanted to check on you.” Ben glared at me. “Didn’t know you had company still.” His eyes turned to Cameron.
“I’m fine.” I said, rolling my eyes at his reaction.
Cameron returned to his seat calmly, not bothered by Ben. “Hey, Ben. Yesterday, I smuggled some fruits from the kitchen. Your Ankylosaur really liked it.” He smiled.
“Well, since your buddies are probably starving her, I guess she would accept food from anybody at this point.” Ben said, ice cold, shooting me a glance before shutting the partition.
I sighed. “He didn’t mean anything by it. Ben… he can be overprotective in certain situations.”
“Like you, huh?”
Ben was way higher on the overprotective scale if you tell me. But it was understandable since I know Cameron a tiny bit more than he does. Ben never really was good at meeting new people.
The conversation remained tamed throughout the rest of the day, until we decided to sleep. I depended on Cameron to give me a status on the time and on the trip. I was glad when I found out we were already in U.S. waters. One more day to go.
Notes:
I had to fix the barbasol problem since I’m pretending season 5 didn’t exist. So, there you go. And I don’t know how to be subtle at all. So, did y’all find out who Cameron is by now? He’s an OC, but still...
PS: I know nothing about DnD, sorry if I got anythign wrong.
Chapter 10: Lockwood Estate
Summary:
It’s always nice to see familiar faces.
Notes:
How are you guys doing? Chaos Theory season 2 just came out, have you seen it? I haven't, but heard many good things about it. No spoilers please, but is it good?
So about this chapter... And old face makes an apperance (that was fun to write) and we do get more of Camp Fam, that's always nice.
But I had writer's block again. I’m still on the fence about the first half. Too much of Maisie, not that I don’t like it, but I still haven’t thought of a way to change it from the movies. (tldr) I pretty much had to push through it, i don't blame you for skipping it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Maisie
I was hanging out in the Triassic period when I heard voices. One was Mr. Mills, but the other I had never heard of before. I crawled out of the jungle biome, over the Nothosaurus and came into full view of the Den. I poked my head around a pillar. A really short man, just a tad bit taller than me, was being very rude to Mr. Mills.
“Where are the dinosaurs?” The little man said in a condescending tone.
“The dinosaurs are, eh, en route.” Mr. Mills smiled politely.
“Oh, so, am I supposed to sell these ones?” He pointed to the fossils around.
“You don’t need to worry, okay? They’ll be here soon.”
I frowned at what they were talking about. ‘They’ll be here soon?’ Who would be here soon? The dinosaurs? Weren’t they going to the Sanctuary Island? The one, which model stood right beside them. And what was this talk of ‘selling’?
The man scoffed. “I don’t really work with amateurs, so I’m gonna contact my buyers and call this off.”
“They’ll be here tomorrow and your buyers won’t be disappointed, Mr. Eversoll.” Mr. Mills smiled politely while the short man pulled out his phone to make a call. “Trust me, whatever their interest, agricultural, industrial, sports hunting… we’ll have something that suits them. Eleven species, each with unique biopharmaceutical properties. I estimate 100 million per species.”
I froze at that, my breath hitching. ‘Selling… the dinosaurs?’
Eversoll looked away from his phone. “100 million is a slow Thursday where I’m from. You’re wasting my time and my money.”
Mr. Mills grinned. “You ever made 1 billion on a Thursday?” Eversoll cracked a condescending laugh, shaking his head. “All this is in the past. I wanna talk to you about the future.”
The man sighed, considering it. “I’ll give you ten minutes.”
Mr. Mills’ grin grew at that, and they made their way to the wall opposite from the entrance. I knew the wooden walls were in fact an elevator to grandpa’s old laboratory, but that was supposed to be closed off.
“The whole point of selling Isla Nublar dinosaurs is to finance our future operations here. It’s, uh, seed money. Call it an overture to something more ambitious.” Mills stopped in front of a keypad near the wall.
“Yeah, and more lucrative, I guess.” Eversoll commented.
I craned my neck so I could see what Mills typed in. 7337# and the doors opened to the interior of a modern elevator. “Right, we’ve reactivated the old facilities, updated the technology and imported the best geneticists from around the world. This operation has been many years in the planning. Genetic power is an uncharted frontier.”
When the doors closed, the voices disappeared, and I could finally breathe again. My heart was beating out of my chest.
‘Grandpa has to know.’
I took off to grandpa’s bedroom right away. I couldn’t run, ‘cause that would be too much noise. It was late and I was supposed to be sleeping, Iris would be so angry if she found out. So, I tiptoed all the way to the third flood, standing still in front of the door for just a second before opening just a crack.
“Grandpa?” I whispered, hearing him snoring.
I pushed it open all the way, entering the room and calling for him again. Grandpa was sitting on the bed, leaning forward with his oxygen tube on his nose, sleeping. His journal was opened on his lap, a few pictures of people I didn’t know on display. The curiosity took the best of me and I reached for it.
Before I could do anything, he snorted loudly and woke up. “Grandpa!”
He looked at me, confused. “Maisie? What are you doing up?”
I didn’t waste any time. “There was a man here today with Mr. Mills.”
“It was probably just some business about the sanctuary. That’s all.”
“I heard them talking. They’re going to sell the dinosaurs. They’re bringing them here!”
He frowned for a second, then his face relaxed. “Oh, I’m sure you misunderstood.”
“I know what I heard, Grandpa.” I pressed. ‘He needs to know, he needs to stop Mr. Mills.’
“Maisie, it’s way past your bedtime. Let’s talk about this in the morning.” His voice was calm and gentle.
“But-”
“Maisie, I’ll find out tomorrow.” He turned stern. “Go to bed.”
‘Grandpa doesn’t believe me.’ I bit the insides of my cheeks. “Good night.” I said hastily, turning my back and walking away.
“Good night, my heart.”
…
If grandpa didn’t believe me, I was going to prove it to him.
I waited all day for the Den to be empty, and it was afternoon when it finally was. I rushed past the dinosaurs, standing on the tip of my toes to reach for the keypad. 7337#. The door opened without trouble. There were four basement levels, I hit a random one, -3.
It was quiet when the doors opened. I peeked out the elevator, but there was no one there. The elevator had opened up to a wide room. It was like a smaller Den, but mostly made of bricks and metal, no sun reached the basement. The upper area were hallways surrounding the gap that led to a lower level, up here there was this huge laboratory to one side, and on the other there were cells like a prison. Downstairs, it was more of the same, more cells.
A glass door with the words ‘restricted access’ led to the laboratory. It was dark, there were a lot of fridges with some weird vials, some centrifuges, with more vials, also there were a lot of x-ray pictures of dinosaurs. There were microscopes too and real incubators with real dinosaur eggs in it! I rushed to those ones, placing my hand on the glass. It was so warm compared with the coldness of the laboratory. Moving on from those, I walked deeper into the room. It went on forever, but finally I reached a desk with a computer turned on. There was a video player open, so I pressed play.
I was wary of the sound ratting me out, but I kept watching. In the video, there was a man kneeled next to a baby gray Raptor, the size of a little dog.
“This is Delta. She’s one of the holdover theropods, one of the survivors from the second group. Now watch this. I show any sign of weakness whatsoever…” The man lowered his head, whimpering like a crying animal. As soon as Delta noticed, she jumped him, jaws closing around the leather protection on the man’s forearm.
“See that?” The man raised his arm, where the Raptor still had her teeth latched on.
The image changed to the man sitting in an office. “Day 176. Blue is showing unprecedented levels of compliance.” The image returned to the original, but it wasn’t Delta, but another Raptor standing near the man. The raptor had a blue stripe on the lateral of her body. “Here I am with Blue. She’s a theropod from the new group. I show signs of weakness…” He did the same as before, but instead of attacking, Blue chirped, getting closer and nuzzling him gently. “Hey.” The man raised his head to look at Blue. “I’m okay.” Blue chirped, cocking her head.
The man was in his office again. “She’s pretty extraordinary.” He chuckled. “Blue’s displaying levels of interest, concern, hyper-intelligence, cognitive bonding.” The image now was of the man and Blue facing each other, she was imitating his head movements. “See that? She’s tilting her head, she’s craning forward. Increased eye movement. She’s curious. She’s showing empathy.”
He petted her under the chin. “Blue is the key. You have Blue, you get these Raptors to do anything.”
The door to the lab shot open, making me jump. Luckily, there was a partition between me and the door and whoever just entered, didn’t see me yet. I quickly hid behind the partition, peeking to see who it was. Mr. Mills entered the laboratory with another man, he was of Asian descent and looked to be older than Mr. Mills. He wore a black turtleneck, and his hair was jet black with some white strands on the sides.
“You sure she’ll live?” The man said.
“If it dies, we’ll have blood samples.” Mr. Mills was nonchalant.
“No, no, no. That’s not good enough. The Raptor is a behavioral specimen. We need her in good health.”
“I didn’t shoot the damn thing!” Mr. Mills yelled, making me flinch back. “What do you want me to do, huh?”
I frowned. ‘A Raptor had been shot? Was it Blue?’
The man groaned. “You don’t have the faintest comprehension of what I’m doing here. Do you understand the complexity of creating an entirely new life form?”
“No, but I understand the complexity of paying for it, okay?” Mr. Mills snapped at him. “All your money will have been wasted if I don’t get Blue here in good health.”
The men were coming my way, so I had to be quick. I crawled under the table to the next partition over, which luckily had access to a side door to the hallways outside.
“To get the next iteration under control, it needs to form a familial bond with a closely related genetic link.” The man trailed behind Mr. Mills, who was heading to the end of the laboratory. I followed through the hallway, keeping my ears sharp.
“Henry, English for fuck’s sake.”
“It needs a mother! Blue’s DNA will be part of the next Indoraptor’s makeup. So, it will be genetically coded to recognize her authority and assume her traits. Empathy. Obedience. Everything the prototype you have now is missing.”
I was pretty sure ‘Indoraptor’ was not the name of any dinosaur. It was weird that they were talking as if the thing was real… they couldn’t have right? No, grandpa would never allow it.
They were both right on the door, so not to be spotted, I had to get down the spiral staircase behind me, hiding in the steps.
“Okay, so how long is this gonna take?”
Henry scoffed. “It’s not a sprint, Mr. Mills. It’s a marathon.”
“A marathon sounds expensive.” Mr. Mills proceeded to go down the stairs. The very stairs I was hiding on. I made it to the bottom floor unnoticed and turned the first corner, a dark hallway, where I could hide. “Besides, time is running out, and so is my patience, Henry.”
“You have to understand, this is all uncharted territory. A wolf, genetically, is barely distinguishable from a bulldog, but within that gray area… is art.” Henry said in awe.
Both of them were in my field of vision, but I kept to the shadows, taking quiet steps away from them.
Mr. Mills groaned, turning to face him. “Spare me the poetry, Henry. Can you do it? Can you do it, dammit?” he was becoming exasperated.
“Yes, I can do it.” Henry said calmly.
“Well, then do it.”
“Thank you.” Henry said, before turning his back and leaving.
“God, you’re a pain in the ass.” Mr. Mills pinched the bridge of his nose and also left, crossing the entrance to the hallway I was in. All he needed to do was look left and he would spot me, but he didn’t, he just walked away.
‘Finally.’ I let out a deep breath. ‘I am telling grandpa all about this Henry guy, about Blue and this new Raptor. I’ll bring him down here if I have to.’
I felt my hair move.
I frowned. ‘The wind? No, there’s no wind down here.’ When I turned to look, my heart stopped. In the shadows of a dark cage, a massive mouth opened wide. The skin was scaly like a lizard; the rows of teeth were ragged and sharp, the mouth opened so wide and unnatural, I thought it might break. There was saliva flying towards me, the smell of rotten food hit me, then the guttural roar.
An uncontrollable scream rose from within me, transpiring my panic. My legs were moving before I could think. I sprinted out of there, leaving the monster behind. When I turned the corner, I bumped right into Mr. Mills.
“Hey. Hey! Maisie.” He held me by my shoulders.
I glanced down the hallway, there was a growl, but it was hidden in the shadows. “What is that? What is it?” I practically yelled.
No matter how much I protested, I got dragged out by the arm. Mr. Mills didn’t utter a word as he pulled me upstairs. He was leading me to my room, that I knew. My protests got louder, hoping it would get Iris’ or grandpa’s attention, but Mr. Mills' hold on me only tightened. He pushed me inside roughly, making me land on my knees. Mr. Mills stood, blocking the doorway and I spotted Iris behind him, looking appalled.
“Iris!” I called.
That was when he shut the door with a click, indicating it was locked.
“Keep her in there and keep the door locked.” Mr. Mills’ voice was muffled by the closed door.
Iris gasped. “You want to keep her locked in?”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
I sat on the floor, trying not to hyperventilate. I’ve never seen Mr. Mills get violent, angry, yes, but never with me. And they had a living dinosaur in the house? Right below us? Below grandpa? A new dinosaur that they created. Was that what Mr. Mills and Henry were talking about, the Indoraptor?
…
Hayden
Four days at sea. At least that was what it looked like, as I had four really long naps. My neck was fused together by this point, every little turn with my head had me groaning in pain. My ribs were up on the pain level, though. Being in a car crash and punched repeatedly, not a good combo.
I was shaken awake. My eyes opened slowly, feeling like I had sandpaper for eyelids. Expecting to be my chatty jailor, the seat next to me was empty, even his bag was gone. Instead, Ben had reached out from the back to wake me.
I was wide awake in a second. “Ben, what’s wrong?”
“Morning, Hays.” He smiled. “Seems like we’re almost there.” Around us, the movement really had increased. There were men running around, carrying crates and loading trucks. “How are you doing?”
“Like I’ve been sleeping in the same position for a week.” I sighed, looking up at him. “Sore. How about you? How’s life back there?”
“More comfortable. Owen is awake, but the rest is asleep. Blue’s stable, Zia thinks she’ll pull through.”
“Good, that’s good.” I hummed, glancing back to the empty spot next to me. “Where’s Cameron?”
“Like I know.” Ben grunted. “Are you sure you’re okay, being trapped here with him?”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“He’s one of the guys keeping us hostage.”
I sighed. “It’s complicated and you know it. He’s on our side, he’s just waiting for an opportunity, like the rest of us.” He rolled his eyes. “Can we not do this?” I pleaded. I was tired, sore and too annoyed to keep up with this conversation.
Ben pressed his head closer to the partition. “He didn’t do anything, right? He didn’t hurt you?” His voice was low and full of anger.
“Course not!”
He reached out, placing his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it lightly. “I promised I was going to keep you safe from these guys. I am going to keep you safe, okay? They aren’t touching a hair on your head.”
That truly broke my heart, partly because I knew exactly what it was to feel like that, but also because I had to lie so he wouldn’t feel guilty. I turned sideways, reaching to his hand with my free one.
“Ben-” I winced as my side flared up in pain. White hot pain making me squirm.
“What? What’s wrong?”
I clenched my teeth. “Car crash, remember? I’m still sore, but it’s fine. But Ben, you know I love you, right?” I squeezed his hand, waiting for a reply. He finally gave me an annoyed nod. “So don’t do this, me getting hurt will never be on you. If you keep carrying this weight, I’ll be worried about you and I’ll end up carrying the weight of you carrying the weight cause I brought you in this mess to begin with.”
Ben took his time to think before answering with a mumble. “That’s a lot of weight going around.”
“So, don’t worry about a promise you made when you were half asleep.” I insisted.
He nodded. “No more weights. And that goes for you too, I chose to come here.”
“Deal.” I smiled.
Ben squeezed my hand, then frowned. He turned my palm towards him, inspecting the scars there. Of course, there was the scratch I got from escaping the T. rex, but also the many crescent marks of my nails, still smudged in blood.
“What’s this?”
“Um…” Okay, I definitely wasn’t admitting that I clenched my fists so hard when the pain from my ribs got too bad. So… “Nightmares.” I ended up saying. Which would’ve been true, if we would’ve had this conversation last week. Somehow my mind was giving me a break this time, it knew I couldn’t afford nightmares at a situation like this, no, it would hit me with double the strength when I was safe and sound.
“I- I haven’t been sleeping that well either.” Ben admitted.
I clasped his hand. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. “Maybe when this is over.”
“Do you wanna jump up front?” I asked.
“Don’t you think they’ll notice?”
We glanced around. With the chaos outside, I don’t think there were many eyes on us. Even if there were, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.
I grinned. “They seem pretty busy.”
Ben was about to try and squeeze himself through the partition when the loudest horn echoed inside the ship, making me jump slightly.
“We’re slowing down.” Ben commented and a groan came from the back. “Yeah, that’ll wake everybody up real quick.”
There was an announcement over the ship’s public address system, something about the ship docking right away. The mercenaries outside got really loud and trucks were being turned on everywhere.
“Just get in your truck and let’s go.” Wheatley appeared on the driver’s seat. He grinned at me. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, Sunshine.”
“Thank you, Major Asshole, sir.” I saluted him with my free hand.
Wheatley looked annoyed, but turned his attention to the back. “You got a heartbeat?” He asked.
“Yeah. Do you?” I could hear Zia’s sarcasm from over here, making me laugh.
“I need blood samples.”
“I’m not here to help you reset the food chain, so take your own damn samples.” Zia said.
Wheatley groaned, closing the partition and settling on the driver’s seat. “What a nasty woman.”
Minutes later, the ship had stopped, and the cargo hold doors had opened. Wheatley quickly guided the truck outside. It was nighttime on what looked like a private dock on a secluded bay. On the opposite side of the bay, up a hill, there was a lighthouse illuminating the water. And there were many mercenaries. Dinosaurs were being craned out, their containers turned cages were being put in trucks and every vehicle was exiting the dock in a row.
We followed through a dirt road, no lights to illuminate our path beside the trucks’. But the trees were familiar, we were definitely back in California. If Wheatley was good on his word, we really were heading straight to Lockwood estate. I wondered if Owen was going to play his hand, or even if Cameron would. I couldn’t do much sitting at arm’s length from Wheatley, then I guessed Owen was the same.
It finally dawned on me. ‘There isn’t a way out.’
It took us fifteen minutes, riding in a dirt road, mainly up a mountain, but finally the trees gave way to an imponent house on a hillside. It looked like a castle really, walls made of stone and pointy roofs. The manor had an old English style, around five stories high and wide Victorian windows. It had actual wings, north, south, east and west. I didn’t get to see the front since the road led us straight to the side, a rectangular building obscuring my view from the manor.
Assuming this was the garage, it has the same Victorian look to it, with its hangar doors wide open. The interior was a clash of old and new, with metal structures ideal to connect to the trucks and transport the containers. Ahead of us, the T. rex was being loaded into a new cage. With the incentive of electrical rods and a goat for snack, Rexy relented after a roar or two. This new cage lowered itself into the ground, an elevator.
As soon as Wheatley parked the truck, the mercenaries rounded us up on the back while Blue was unloaded. She was still out of it and strapped down. I, on the other hand, was struggling to catch a full breath, with my hand always guarding my right side. The pain had diminished enough so I could stand upright without giving it away.
The men weren’t too polite telling us to move, but they guided us inside the garage. There was no point in running, we were surrounded. Our group was walking very closely to each other, Owen and Claire in the front; Ben next to me, so close our shoulders were brushing together, he didn’t seem to be doing great, fidgeting and glancing around nonstop, so I purposely bumped into him, telling him I was there. Behind Ben and me was Franklin and Zia, keeping close to Blue, who was strapped to a huge gurney, still unconscious. The men led us through a narrow hallway then a set of stairs going down into the ground. Lucky me that I wasn’t claustrophobic, cause going down those stairs was pretty much like going to a concrete mausoleum. The stairs led us to another hallway, which opened up to an enormous room, much like an underground hanger, three stories high. The walls were made of bricks and concrete, with cells all around like a prison. However the cell’s bars were the size of my arm, those weren’t made for humans, but for dinosaurs.
Some already had inmates in it. A Triceratops slamming her horns against the metal, a Gallimimus lying unconscious, the Tyrannosaurus eating a goat. There was even this huge three-story high cell, probably for the Apatosaurus. Slowly, the place was being filled with dinosaurs. What was weird was the glass room on the wall, seemingly on a second story level. The room was a control center of sorts, with computers and one man behind a desk.
The mercenaries ushered us to keep walking, so we passed through a double set of heavy-duty metal doors, leading to a much smaller version of the hangar. There were more cells on the first floor, dark hallways leading to probably more cells. The second floor was a balcony with spiral staircases leading up to it. We stopped before a cell, metal hinges squeaking as the door opened.
One of the mercenaries had his rifle poking at Owen’s ribs. “Get in.” Lacking a better option Owen did as ordered, followed by Claire, Ben and when it was my time, the mercenary held me back by the arm. “Not, you. You two are coming with me.” He motioned to Zia and me.
‘ Come again? ’ I whipped my head at the man.
“What? No!” Ben protested, trying to get to me just to be shoved back inside.
“Where are you taking them?” Claire asked, her voice tense.
With a grunt, the mercenary that was holding onto me pushed Franklin inside the cell and shut the door. Behind me, Zia was quiet, an eerie sight to be honest. Claire kept trying to talk to the mercenaries, with no luck. Ben rushed to the metal bars, gripping them so hard his knuckles turned white. Mine were the same, clenched into a fist beside me. Just the thought of being held in another place than him made my stomach churn.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” I gave him a half-smile. Ben clearly didn’t believe me, his face pretty much mirrored what I was feeling inside. The worry in his eyes was the last thing I saw from him as the mercenaries pushed us to another set of metal doors, which opened to reveal an elevator. It was wide enough to fit Blue, Zia, me and four other huge guys. One floor up, the doors opened again.
I found myself on the second-floor balcony, not that far from where they were holding Ben. The hallway led to a very well-lit room. A laboratory. The walls were all white, desks and fridges with weird vials in it decorated the place, along with some creepy X-ray pictures of dinosaur bones. It smelled like sanitizer, which unfortunately reminded me of a hospital. There were windows to the hallway outside, making the place look less claustrophobic. There was an incubator in the center with around a dozen elongated spherical eggs. Dinosaur eggs. And a particular bone was encased by a glass, red lights illuminated it as it sat on top of a table.
I glanced at Zia, who looked back with wide eyes. ‘They’re actually doing it again.’
We weren’t alone, there were a few people wearing lab coats and looking busy. Looking through a microscope and working on a computer. We walked past all of them, eyes following us. We were led to the end of the lab, a Raptor sized cell stood beside two huge gas tanks with hazardous signs, including ‘toxic’ and ‘flammable’. Pipes seemed to connect the tanks to the rest of the building.
The mercenaries were putting Blue in the cell as I heard footsteps approaching. With one look, a loud groan escaped my lips.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Miss Simmons!” Dr. Wu opened a sly smile. “I heard you were around.” He looked just as I remembered, just a few white hairs added to his black ones. As usual, he wore a black turtleneck, with a gray coat over it.
“We need to stop meeting like this, Doc.” I forced myself to smile.
“However unfortunate, yes, but I’m glad that you and your friends made it out of the island.” He shoved his hands inside his pockets, sounding hesitant. “You’re looking better than last time.”
‘Ah, yes. Wu was the one that pulled on Hawkes’ leash.’ I raised a brow. “Do you want a thank you card?” I scoffed. “What the hell am I doing here anyways?”
Wu cleared his throat. “I- well… asked you to be brought up here, because Mr. Mills can be… passionate about his goals.”
“How thoughtful.” Zia said through a clenched jaw.
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t let him fool you, he feels guilty for last time.”
“While, yes, our previous situation got out of hand, but I’ve been told you are the reason Blue is here.” He motioned to the unconscious dinosaur beside us.
“That’s a stretch, Zia is the only reason Blue is alive.”
“Ah, the paleoveterinarian. I believe a ‘thank you’ is in order.” Wu nodded at Zia, looking genuinely grateful.
She snorted. “I don’t give a flying fuck about a ‘thank you’ coming from you. If you think I saved Blue so you could get your hands on her… you’re delusional. She’s not at fault for one of your men shooting her. She was a dinosaur who needed help, so I did.”
Wu remained unphased, just nodding. “We are lucky to have you around.”
“I wish I could say the same, Dr. Wu. Wait, do you still go by that, or have you finally changed to Dr. Doom?” Zia grinned, while Wu’s eyebrow twitched. “So, I gather you’re still on your ‘making dinosaurs business’. Is that for money? You’re cloning dinosaurs to sell them? That’s why you’re auctioning all of the Nublar dinosaurs?”
I snorted. “He’s not cloning dinosaurs. He’s creating new ones.” I paused, hoping Wu would correct it for me. “That’s why you needed the Indominus sample and your research back. You want to make more hybrids.”
“Cause that worked perfectly the first time around.” Zia raised her voice. “It’s unnatural. The Indominus was a failure and the-”
“The Indominus rex was not a failure!” Dr. Wu yelled, seeming surprised with himself. After a few seconds he resumed talking in a much calmer manner. “It worked perfectly, too perfectly . It was highly intelligent, so much so it escaped from Masrani incompetent hands. He had me create a circus freak to show off in his park. Mr. Mills has other uses for a hybrid, he gives me more scientific leeway to create an ideal dinosaur, one that does not just kill for the thrill, like a rabid animal. The aim is for a much more centered dinosaur that follows commands. If I can replicate that through genetics… nobody is not even close to doing that in my field. I will be the first one to achieve perfection.”
“So, you can tell who to kill this time?” I shook my head.
“You just want a weapon.” Zia spat.
Wu had his trademark smirk, the one where he thinks he’s the smartest one in the room. “I’m sure you think so, but a gun is not inherently bad. It’s an instrument. It is not the fault of the gun’s manufacturer how people choose to use the gun.”
Zia cracked a laugh. “Spoken like a true American.”
I crossed my arms. “A gun has only one use and it’s violence. You can create whatever story you want to help you sleep at night, but you’re still responsible for whoever that thing kills.”
Wu sighed. “I do not take appreciation for my creations being used in that manner, but every major scientific breakthrough was made in wartime, when there was a need for weapons. The penicillin, jet engine, microwave, computers-”
“The atom bomb?” Zia shot back. “What, you want to be the next Oppenheimer? Working yourself up the damn kill list?”
“Like it or not, the atomic age is the reason we have atomic energy, radio therapy, and many advances in medicine are thanks to our nuclear knowledge. But for progress, science needs money. If I need to align myself to Mr. Mills’ objectives to push the boundaries in the genetics’ field, so be it. The science I’m doing here will create a new era in the world. My greatest achievement… It towers above your comprehension, but no matter, the world will be grateful for my work.”
“Is that why you are selling the dinosaurs? To fund your little science experiment?” I asked. He really thought he was doing the world a favor. Toying with genetics to create a murder machine. Fucking scientist with a loaded God complex. He just liked being the last fucking cookie in the package.
Dr. Wu nodded. “Precisely. Like I said, it is expensive to be a visionary.”
Zia snickered. “Darwin is turning on his grave.”
“My work does not negate Darwin’s. Because of what I accomplished, the human species now owns evolution itself.” Arrogance stained his words.
I scoffed, crossing my arms. “This God complex you’ve got is growing old. What’s that saying… doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”
“Or stupidity, if you ask me…” Zia mumbled.
“I see why you’d think history is repeating itself, but I assure you, the Indoraptor is nothing like my previous creations. The results will be different this time.”
I clenched my fists at his condescending tone. “And the worst thing is, you actually believe the words coming out of your mouth.”
“Perhaps your resistance is-”
“For fuck’s sake! Step down from the high horse, Wu.” I yelled, causing one mercenary to put himself between Wu and me. “You’re like a textbook villain thinking they are in the right. You think you’re the damn hero of your story. News flash: you’re not!”
With one hand motion, the mercenary was dismissed, and Wu turned back to me with a sad expression. “I am not the bad guy here.”
I scoffed. “Are you really here justifying yourself to the person you kidnapped?”
“I did not kidnap you.” He truly seemed offended at that.
“Call it what you want. I feel kidnapped, don’t you Zia?” I raised a brow at her.
She smiled, nodding. “For sure. Held at gunpoint… an evil plot... and there’s the part where we can’t leave .”
When Wu opened his mouth to reply, a young man barged into the lab. He looked like a scientist, probably one of Wu’s subordinates. “Dr. Wu, Mr. Mills is requesting your presence. The auction is about to start.”
“Ah, yes.” Wu had a sly smirk back on. “I should get going.”
With a nod, the mercenaries grabbed us by the arm, pulling Zia and me to the back of the room, near Blue’s cell. My natural reaction was to protest, which earned me to have my arms twisted behind my back. That didn’t hurt as much as being shoved to the ground, one of the pipes pressing hard against my already hurt ribs. An involuntary cry escaped me as my wrist was being handcuffed to a pipe.
“What is wrong with you?” Wu asked, standing over us.
I groaned, straightening my body so I could look at him. I considered lying, but the truth would probably make him feel bad, so I put a nonchalant face on. “Ah, you know, Wheatley borrowed a page out of Hawkes’ handbook.” I chuckled. “I guess Wheatley can be as passionate to meet his goal as your boss, it makes sense they are working together.”
Wu mumbled something unintelligible and walked to a desk, rummaging through a draw. Zia shot me a confused glance, but I just waved my hand dismissively. There was no point in fussing over it.
Wu stood in front of us again, handing me a pill and a bottle of water. “I apologize for the brutes that I work with.”
My eyebrows shot up. That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. At. All.
“Hays, don’t accept drugs from Dr. Frankenstein.” Zia said.
‘Dr. Wu wouldn’t gain anything for drugging me, right?’
“It’s fine, we go way back…” I reached for it, hesitantly. “This won’t knock me out, right Doc?”
He shook his head, with a blank look. “It’s for migraines, I don’t have anything stronger, but this should help.”
“You go way back…?” Zia looked at me with even more confused eyes.
I shrugged. “Yeah, he kidnapped me before, but it’s all good.” I glanced up at Wu and chuckled. “Sorry, not kidnapped, an unexpected complication.”
“I am sorry about that.” His voice was tense with regret.
‘He sure does say ‘sorry’ a lot for a guy that thinks he’s in the right.’ I cocked my head, feigning confusion. “Last time or this one?”
Wu sighed, choosing to keep silent. With one last nod, he left the lab, taking the mercenaries along with him. The lab was now deserted, the metal on the handcuffs was digging into my skin and there wasn’t anything around to try and pry it open. Accepting it, I just leaned back onto the wall, waiting for the painkiller to do its thing.
“What happened?” Zia asked, eyes going from my own to my hands gripping my side still.
I tried to relax so she wouldn’t worry, even though the stabbing pain on my side was still very much present. “Well, Wheatley wasn’t all that happy that I left him behind with the Baryonyxes.”
“Hays…”
“Zia, it’s fine. Really.” I pressed. She didn’t sound all that convinced, but our attention was drawn to movement of the cell, where Blue was stirring awake. “She’s looking better.” I commented.
Zia nodded. “Noticed how he spoke as if he had a hybrid already.”
“I don’t doubt it.” I sighed. “Did you see the eggs? They have something cooking up.”
“But an actual grown hybrid… Do you think it’s here? With us? On the Lockwood Estate?”
“They don’t have the greatest track record of keeping tabs on their dinosaurs, but yes, probably.”
She had her thinking frown on. “A new hybrid… that must be tricky, they probably only have a prototype.”
“How did you figure that?”
“They need Blue for something, no? Not just any dinosaur, but the most intelligent dinosaur ever.” She kept motioning with her hands as she talked. “Wu mentioned that they want to have the hybrid following commands and Blue is the only one that does.”
“Bumpy does too, if she feels like it and you have enough food.” I chuckled. “But go on.”
“They probably need Blue’s DNA for the next batch and probably Owen to train it. Or maybe just his methods.”
“Owen would never do it.” I shook my head.
Zia’s eyes widened. “Maybe that’s why they brought us here.”
“They need you and Owen, the rest of us are expendable.” Just the thought that we were probably going to be used to enforce Zia and Owen cooperated… “Urgh, I really hate being kidnapped.”
“Yeah, what’s this about Wu kidnapping you before?”
“Oh, it’s a whole thing…” I chuckled and rested my chin on my knee.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She pulled on her handcuffs.
I sighed, glancing at her. “It was by the end of our time in Nublar... Wu showed up with some mercenaries, they were after a DNA sample of the Indominus and his old laptop that had all his research in it. Later we found out that they were there at Mills’ orders.” Zia widened her eyes. “Yeah, so, we couldn’t do anything about the sample, but my friends were dead set on keeping Wu’s laptop away from him. Pretty much because they thought Wu would do exactly what he’s doing right now.” Funny thing how Wu did it without the laptop, right? Fighting him off that time was like delaying the inevitable. Pointless. I groaned. Looking back, I should’ve pressed harder against Darius’ plan. “So, there we went to stop him. We found the laptop, but henchman number uno: Hawkes, caught us red handed. Brooklynn and I ended up as hostages while the rest managed to flee with the laptop.” Zia reached out, clasping my hand tightly, which I appreciated, squeezing it back. “There was going to be a trade, us for the laptop. Of course, Darius managed to fuck that up, he thought keeping Wu from possibly continuing his research was more important than our lives and I ended up having to fight off Hawkes one on one… just ‘cause they wouldn’t hand over the fucking laptop.” Anger was seeping through my voice by now.
“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She mumbled.
I let go of her hand, noticing how hard I was crushing her fingers. “It’s not something I talk about.” It’s not something she could’ve learned in the interviews either, at my request, they never mentioned it to the public. Of course, the police knew; not that it changed anything since nobody was arrested. It makes sense they never found Wu. Who would’ve thought to look for him in a rich guy’s basement?
“For what’s worth, this Darius kid sounds like a dick.” Zia cracked a smile.
I snorted. “Yeah.” I tried to make light of it, but I honestly wasn’t in the mood for it. Even after so much time, thinking back at it made my blood boil. “I really thought I was going to die that day. Worst thing is, I’d have no problem doing that for my friends, but for a stupid laptop? It fucking pisses me off.” I huffed. “In the end, Wu left the island with no laptop, no research and, still, here we are. Another hybrid was born.”
Zia hummed. “I saw the pictures, I guess I just figured all those injuries were caused by dinosaurs.”
“I guess a few stab wounds could pass for a dinosaur bite from afar.” I said, bitter.
She suddenly sat up straight, startling both me and Blue, who raised her head from her cell. “Shit, I- I didn’t know and I asked you to go back to Nublar. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself, it was my decision. Bumpy is worth it.” I cracked a smile.
“You say that, but here you are tied up to a dinosaur cage in the hands of a man that almost got you killed and left you behind on that island.”
“Wu didn’t lay a hand on me, besides, he knew we had a way out.” I frowned. “I think… He had to know we had a boat. Right?”
Zia rolled her eyes. “Are you really justifying his actions?”
“It’s not like that!” I protested. I’ve never felt the need to defend Wu before, but I don’t know… I did feel like we had an understanding. He wanted to do his research and I didn’t want any part of it as long as my friends didn’t get hurt. He just made it awfully hard for me, seeing that people I cared about keep getting pulled into this dinosaur mess. “Wu is a terrible person, but he’s not violent. I think he despises violence, and he did get Hawkes to back down, so at least I owe him the benefit of the doubt.”
“You don’t fucking owe Dr. Frankenstein anything.” She hissed.
“I know . I know. It’s just that from the evil guys I’ve met, he’s the lesser evil one.”
“Do you get how fucked up that is, right?” She had her hands on her head.
I laughed. “You worry too much.”
“‘Cause you don’t worry enough, not when it comes to you at least.” She groaned. “Besides, I am seriously concerned by the people you meet, Hays… lesser evil, my ass.” She wiggled at her handcuffs again, making her point with a metallic clank.
“I don’t know, I’ve met some really cool people.” I smirked at her.
She smiled widely at that. “Aw! Look at us, trauma bonding.”
Zia reached out to give me a hug, even though it was useless with our hands tied up.
“Hey! Do not underestimate trauma bonding!” I failed to sound serious.
“Don’t whine, cuff buddy.” She laughed.
I grimaced. “Sounds kinky, don’t call me that.”
The next hour was filled with discussions of what nickname to call us and snarling from Blue, who felt good enough to stand up. She did try to claw at us a few times, but she realized we were out of reach. Also, she too took a dislike to her cell, trying to bite the metal bars, or she was just hungry. I never knew it with her.
…
Kenji
I sat on the porch outside Darius’ house. It was hot, the cicadas were being noisy, and mosquitos were being annoying. I kept staring at the insects swarming the streetlight. Every now and then the light would flicker, and the street would go dark.
The door opened behind me, but I didn’t move.
“Is Brooklynn not back yet?” Yasmina sat next to me.
“No.”
“I wish she told us what lead she got from the GDP.” She said, and I only hummed in response. “I know she told us it was a long shot, but I wish someone had gone with her. I didn’t even know she knew people in the GDP, did you?” Yasmina waited for a reply, so I shrugged. “It makes sense, she knows a lot of people. But who the hell is called Nick van Owen? Sounds like a 90s villain.” She chuckled softly, pausing again. Did she really expect to make me laugh? She sighed. “But what’s really weird is that I’m doing all the talking.” She bumped shoulders with me.
I groaned. “I keep thinking about the last thing I said to her, and I can’t remember.” I shook my head. “She was probably a bit mad ‘cause we had an argument, well, not really an argument. It was stupid, I was stupid.”
“You keep talking like she’s dead.”
I scoffed. “It was a vol-ca-no. Do you get that, Yaz? Put Hays in a cage with the Scorpios, I know she’s coming out alive, but against a volcano?”
She nodded, knowingly. “You’re right, you’re stupid. Don’t go making claims before we have confirmation.”
“I can’t sit and wait.” I raised my voice. ‘Yet, it’s exactly what I’m doing.’
“Then think.” Yasmina pressed. “Whoever brought Hays to the island, was counting on getting out, since they wanted the dinosaurs. Do you know how far Costa Rica is? Do you see them transporting dinosaurs in planes? No? Neither do I. So, the other option is a ship. They could’ve been long gone when the volcano erupted. They probably are taking their time because they need to get the dinos to wherever place they have set, so they can be safe.”
“It’s almost the end of the week. She said in the letter she would be back by the end of the week.” My voice came out as tired as I was feeling, so I rested my head on my knees, taking a peek at Yasmina. “It’s weird when you’re the optimistic one.”
“It’s weird when you’re the moody one.” She copied my stance, hugging her knees.
Yasmina was probably right. I knew that. But I hated not knowing, I hated that Hayden felt like she couldn’t tell me what she was up to. But most importantly, I hated that she was in danger yet again. I hadn’t managed to get a good night’s sleep ever since, so I kept waiting for her to walk in the door or for my phone to ring.
“You probably said good luck on the exam.” Yasmina said all of the sudden.
“What?”
“The last thing you said to her, at least on the video call.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right, the exam she lied about it so I wouldn’t come visit.”
“Is that what you fought about? You going over?”
I sat up straight at that. “No, eh… she said she was invited to this party and was going with her friends. And I- I got a little jealous.”
“ You , jealous?” Her voice was laced with good and old sarcasm. “So, you got jealous of her friends or because you thought what…? That she would cheat?”
“What? No!” I protested. “She wouldn’t do that.”
Yasmina nodded. “I’m glad you know. That girl really loves you, dingus.”
I groaned, resting my chin on my knee again. “I guess I hate missing out, I feel like she’s outgrowing me and I’m just waiting for the boot.”
“Um… I get it, it’s hard to be far from Sammy too.” She sighed. “We create these ridiculous scenarios and read too much into things that don’t really matter. Don’t spiral in your head, talk to her.”
“I know that.”
She went on. “The thing with long distance is that you need a goal for the distance not to be long anymore. I have plans to study next to Sammy next year. Weren’t you doing the same?”
“I- fuck.” I breathed out. “That’s exactly why I went to see Hays, I- I didn’t get into Stanford. I got the email after our video call and I wanted to tell her in person, but- but I only found her letter instead.”
“Oh.” She placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing It lightly. “I’m sorry, Kenji.”
“My dad is ecstatic that I got into an Ivy League in New York. He says it’s stupid to compromise my education because of a girl. Urgh, I really hate him right now. She’s not any girl, she’s Hayden.” I slammed my fist into the ground. Yasmina seemed lost for words, and I didn’t blame her. “If she comes back… I know she’ll break up with me. Like you said, the point of the long distance is to not be long distance in the future, but that’s all we’ll ever be.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself. It sucks, it really does, but you’ll need to talk it out when she comes back.” She groaned, already getting up. “I should really go get Sammy, she’s better with this stuff then me.”
I grabbed her wrist. “No, I- I wanted to tell Hays first, you weren’t supposed to know and-”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thanks.” I gave her a half-smile.
Yasmina paused before opening the door. “The others are worried about you, Kenji. They send me here to get you back inside actually.”
I looked up to her. “It’s okay if I need a few more minutes?” With a nod, she left me to my thoughts.
Notes:
Ah I feel so bad about making Kenji go through this. But in Hayden’s defense, she thinks no one knows they are back on the island yet. Worst case scenario, Kenji might think she’s ghosting him.
But I wanted to have you guys' opininon, how do you like the story so far?
Next chapter is going to be a fun one, more on Camp Fam, and shit will start to go down by Ben's POV. And there'll be a special apperance of an OG character from the Jurassic Park movies... any guesses? (it's probably not who you think haha)
Chapter 11: Dungeons and Dinosaurs
Summary:
Splitting up is never a good idea
Notes:
I keep writing Indominus instead of Indoraptor lol I hope I fixed it all.
Plus, a little Jurassic Park II call back.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Brooklynn
I just pulled up on Darius' driveway. Brandon, his brother was traveling, so he left his car, which Darius generously lent to me. Not that I gave him much of a choice. I had a learner’s permit and an adult by my side. Technically, he was just by my side since I picked him up from the airport, but it still counted.
I met Nick van Owen on the internet almost a year ago. I was suspicious at first, but he introduced me to the DPG and helped me put together our Nublar Seven story so I could publish it. He’s really been sort of an online mentor, but this was actually the first time meeting the guy in person.
The driveway seemed deserted, but there were still lights on the house. They must’ve heard the car, ‘cause they all came out to greet me. I hadn’t explained much to them when I left for the airport, so I already expected them to be curious.
Stepping out of the car, I waited for Nick to stand by my side.
“Guys this is Nick van Owen, he’s an environmentalist.” I motioned to the older man. Nick had an average height and white hairs showing his age. He wore jeans and a gray plaid shirt with a white t-shirt under it.
Nick nodded in a greeting. “Field photographer. Combat, wildlife, dinosaurs, you name it. I was in Africa, Middle East, Costa Rica. I used to volunteer in Greenpeace back in the day, I still do some non-governmental, mainly DPG.”
“You’ve been to Costa Rica?” Darius asked.
“Isla Sorna. Fun place.” He chuckled, not amused. “Hey, do you have a cigarette?”
“I’m 14.” Darius deadpanned.
Nick shrugged. “Kids, you never know. Dammit, I forgot mine.”
“Um, no offense, but why is he here, Brooklynn?” Kenji turned to me with a deep frown.
“He has information.” I simply said, with a smirk.
Yasmina crossed her arms. “Have you heard of a phone? Anyone?”
“And miss out on all the action? I was the first one to publish professional photographs of live dinosaurs in the wild. I would’ve won a Pulitzer if the San Diego incident hadn’t happened. That’s what a few mistakes get me.” He huffed.
“So, do you expect to take more dinosaur pictures? Nublar is gone.” Kenji bitterly said.
“Nublar is not the only place out there with dinosaurs.” Nick said, cryptically, making me roll my eyes. “But no, dinosaurs have become obsolete nowadays. Everybody has a selfie with one. I’m more interested in the story Brooklynn here brought to my attention.” He motioned at me.
“You owe me.” I grinned.
“You owed me first, so we’re even.”
“Just tell them what you told me.” I ushered. I wanted to do it myself, but maybe it would be best if they heard it directly from the source.
Nick turned back to my friends. “Claire told me the basics. As soon as Mt. Sibo became a real threat, Lockwood reached out to her to save the dinosaurs from extinction. He needed her to access the park’s GPS tracking system to capture the dinosaurs safely. They were pretty set on capturing Blue. She’s one of a kind that one. I‘ve seen videos… so smart… my friend Sarah thinks there’s human DNA in that Raptor. She can’t possibly be-” I cleared my throat. He liked getting off track. “Right. Where was I? Claire was free to bring whoever she needed to help her on the island. She was trying to convince Grady to join her. And Zia for sure, that one wouldn’t miss the chance to see dinosaurs. They are overrated if you ask me. Once they try to kill you for the hundredth time it gets annoying, but look who am I talking to.” He was met with unimpressed gazes. “Yeah, I think Zia mentioned having a guide. Nublar being Nublar they would need one. From what I heard from Brooklyn, that’s your friend.”
“Hayden.” Kenji corrected him.
“And Ben.” Darius added.
Nick continued. “Claire said something about sending the dinosaurs to a new island, a sanctuary. I bet you that’s Sorna.”
“Sorna?” Darius asked. “The one you’ve been to?”
He hummed in agreement. “Site B, the original island where Hammond cloned the dinosaurs. Nublar was the park, but Sorna was the real deal, the laboratory. Hammond sent me there along with some friends to document dinosaurs back in the day.” He had a serious look on his face as he reminisced. “So, when Brooklynn reached out, I did some digging. My sixth sense is never wrong, apparently neither is hers. After the second Nublar incident, there have been some weird operations around Lockwood’s manor. He usually focuses on non-governmental work and his foundation, but recently there were many money transactions... buying some technology that raised some red flags in some circles. In the past year there have been lots of purchases of lab equipment, reagents used in genetic research, incubators, the whole ordeal.”
I gasped. “You have access to his bank transactions?”
Nick gave me a sly smile. “I have my means. From the purchases, it looked like he was building a lab and a big one at that.”
“A lab? What for?” Sammy asked.
Nick shrugged. “Making more dinosaurs?”
“Why would Lockwood do that? Didn’t he see what happened the last two times?” Yasmina said.
Darius was pacing back and forth by this point. “Lockwood and Hammond were friends, right? Partners. They founded InGen, they started the dinosaur business. Maybe he got jealous, he got the shorter stick in the past and now he sees an opening to take back the business.” He thought out loud.
Nick snorted. “Great hypothesis, but not exactly. I knew John Hammond, he wouldn’t be friends with someone like that. No, Lockwood has been out of the spotlight for a while now. He’s old and ill. All his estate is being controlled by Eli Mills. Whatever is happening, Mills is behind it.”
“Mills?” Darius stopped dead on his tracks, face frozen in shock as the rest of Camp Fam. “As in…?”
“I think so.” I jumped in, nodding emphatically.
“Wu’s boss? That Mills? The one responsible for getting the Indominus sample?” Darius’ eyes got impossibly wide, and he resumed pacing.
“He hired Hawkes.” Kenji mumbled in disbelief.
“You think Hays agreed to work with Mills to save Bumpy?” Sammy said, barely a whisper.
“I don’t see that happening.” Yasmina was quick to shake her head ‘no’.
“She would never.” Kenji joined in.
“Neither would Ben.” Darius muttered.
“Maybe they were desperate y’all, they would do anythin’ for Bumpy. Maybe that’s why they didn’t tell us nothin’.” Sammy went on.
“I don’t know why we are still discussing this.” Kenji snapped, glaring at Sammy, then at Nick. “Lockwood estate, that’s where Mills is, right? Do you know where it is?”
Nick spoke without a rush in the world. “I do. He lives in Humbolt County, Northern California.”
“That’s close from here.” Darius said and I watched him walk around us.
“Darius, stop pacing, I’m dizzy just by looking at you.” I groaned and he stopped with an apologetic smile.
“I have some contacts in the Sea Sheperds, word is that a ship docked on a private port a few hours ago near Lockwood estate.” Nick added. “Apparently such place was just renovated to be able to harbor cargo ships.”
“They brought the dinosaurs here?” I hissed. To the continent? ‘That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard!’
Nick clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Hard to say, but they brought in something alright.”
“What are we waiting for, then?” Kenji raised his voice. “Darius, can we take your brother’s car?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can say that we’re going to- um… what do I say to mom?”
Yasmina scoffed. “’Hey Mrs. Bowman, can we borrow Brandon’s car to travel across the state to save our friends from evil bastards accompanied by an old man we just met?’ Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it.”
“I’ll call for a second car.” Kenji was already on his phone.
“Your mom loves me D. I’ve got this.” Sammy smiled, already heading inside.
“We’re stopping for cigarettes.” Nick added.
…
Maisie
‘Almost there… almost there…’ I was on my fourth try. Using an old bent metal hanger, I was slowly pushing the key out of the keyhole. Hopefully it would fall on the paper I had slipped under the door and- ‘Yes!’
The key fell off with a muffled thump. Quickly pulling the key towards me, I got the door open, but just an inch so I could see if there was anyone outside. A man I’ve never seen before stood in a dark corner on the stairs, dressed all in black and looking a tad bit creepy.
“Buyers on approach. Looks like a full house.” A staticky voice sounded out of nowhere.
“Roger that.” The creepy man said into a radio.
I quietly shut the door. ‘I need another escape plan.’
I know Mr. Mills said he was going to sell the dinosaurs and that he was going to do that ‘soon’, but I never figured it was going to be this soon. So, I rushed to my small balcony to make sure what I heard was correct. The night was dark, no stars or moon in the sky, only clouds; and it was very windy, I could smell the rain coming in. Speaking of coming in, a dozen cars were pulling in the driveway. Many men were entering the house, dressed in fancy suits and with briefcases, looking like spies from those old movies. They were all being welcomed by Mr. Mills and his friend, Mr. Eversol.
‘No way Grandpa would ignore me this time.’
I was determined to help the dinosaurs and to be proven right. Unfortunately, the only proper way out of my room was blocked. Good thing that Iris wasn’t here to watch me climb off my balcony.
‘This is for the dinosaurs.’ I gulped, looking down at the ground below. ‘I can do this.’
I raised my head, searching for crevices to hold on to. My feet barely fit on the edge of the bricks; and my hand gripped the window shrouds. I went around the wall, glued to it until I reached the roof. I let out a heavy sigh as I finally reached something solid to stand on. But I couldn’t dwell much, Grandpa’s quarters were just on the next wing over. Like I was walking on a tightrope, I crossed the roof through the peak ridge, one foot after the other until I reached his window.
I could see him on his bed, tucked under the covers, sleeping.
“Grandpa!” I called in a hushed whisper, opening the window. No response. I tiptoed inside, wary of Mr. Mills' men being outside as well.
“Grandpa? Grandpa, wake up.” I tried again, shaking him slightly. That was odd, he usually was a light sleeper. That didn’t stop me from shaking him even more.
Grandpa was just lying there, looking a tad pale. He was scaringly unmoving. His journal was placed over his chest. Still. His chest wasn’t moving. Was he holding his breath? Was he playing a prank on me? That wasn’t like him.
My breath hitched as panic started to set in. Now I desperately shook him while calling for him to wake up.
Nothing worked.
Tears clouded my vision as I turned to look at the monitor by the wall. The monitor that was supposed to be measuring his heartbeats was still, just a flat line in the dark screen.
I gasped loudly at the meaning of it.
Mr. Mills' voice made me jump. “Iris!” He was close.
I froze for a second, my heart hurting too much for me to think. But the footsteps approaching the room brought me out of my stupor. I quickly snatched Grandpa’s journal and dashed for the dumbwaiter on the wall. I lowered the hatch as the door clicked open.
I heard Mr. Mills’ footsteps on the wooden floor, stopping short of Grandpa’s bed. “Iris!” He called again and a new set of footsteps came in, rushed heels clicking on the floor. “It’s over.” Mr. Mills said, his voice still. “What a tragedy.” Iris’ footsteps got really slow as she entered the room. “I suppose now he’s gone, you’ll be looking for another situation.”
‘No!’ I held in my sobs, my eyes burning and my throat hurting.
“No.” Iris echoed my thoughts. “Maisie needs me.”
I hugged myself, the journal tight against my chest. A paper scratched me, the edge of a photo peeking out of the pages.
“I’m her guardian now.” Mr. Mills said as I pulled out the photo. “What she needs it’s no longer your concern.”
“You don’t understand her the way I do.” Iris protested.
The photo was completely out right now, drawing my attention away from their conversation. It was Iris in the photo, a younger looking Iris, her skin was smooth, fancy with her hair pulled back in a bun like she always does. But she wasn’t alone, next to her there was… me.
“I understand her value.”
“But I raised her.” Iris’ voice was laced with grief. “I raised both of them.”
‘Both of… What was this? Who was this?’ I stared at the ‘me’ in the picture.
“Please, Mr. Mills.”
“Goodbye, Iris.” He said, sharp and definitive.
Iris’ heels echoed in the wood. A sad pang after the other.
I started to work on the dumbwaiter’s ropes, so I’d go down. I had never been to this particular dumbwaiter, so I didn’t know where it led, but anywhere was better than here. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to stay with Mr. Mills. I needed to talk to Iris. I needed answers. I need to… I needed Grandpa.
...
Ben
It had been only a few minutes since I’d last seen Hayden and I could not sit still. Together with Claire, I circled the whole cell, looking for a way out. The cell was big enough to hold Bumpy, probably projected for that; gray brick wall, metal door to one side where the dinosaur could enter, and metal bars on the other, with the small door we were pushed in through. There were little openings like windows on the top of the wall, lined with more bars; there were also two benches for us to sit, where Franklin and Owen were brooding.
I was too busy examining each crevice on the wall to notice that we had company.
“Hi, Claire.” A voice made me spin around. A man stood outside our cell, neat suit and combed hair. He was cleaning the lens of his glasses without a care in the world, like he was ready to go on a stroll in the park. Behind him, stood Wheatley. “I just wanted to come and apologize.” The man put his glasses back on and approached our cell. “I didn’t wanna bring you into any of this…” His demeanor had me fuming inside. ‘Is he the one that wants to sell Bumpy? Who took Hays away?’ I’d kick his ass if I wasn’t inside this cell. Claire must’ve thought the same, since she made a move towards him. “…but it was the only way that we could get that Raptor.” He stepped out of Claire’s reach, as her arms tried to grab him in between the bars.
“Come on, Claire.” Owen pulled her away from the metal bars.
“We needed it.” The guy in the suit said.
I stood on the back with Franklin, who had wide eyes looking at them.
“So, what? This is it?” Owen took one step closer, calm as always. “I mean, you’re a smart guy, you could’ve started a foundation, cured cancer, but instead you, what?”
Claire scoffed. “Does Lockwood even know what’s going on, Mills?” I froze. ‘Is this the guy behind it all?’ Hayden had mentioned it back at the truck, but seeing him right in front of me, a rich and pompous guy with gel on his hair. I never would’ve imagined. Claire went on. “He would never get behind this. Selling dinosaurs for profit? This is his life’s work.”
“Don’t talk to me about ‘life’s work’.” Mills spat. “I saved these animals.” He said matter-of-factly.
“You betrayed Lockwood, a dying man, for what? Money?” Claire exasperated.
Mills chuckled, placing a hand on his chest. “Claire, I admire your idealism, but we both exploited these animals. At least I have the integrity to admit it.”
“I never, ever did anything remotely illegal.”
“You authorized the creation of the Indominus rex. You exploited a living thing in a cage for money. How’s that different? Huh?” Mills said, then turned to Owen. “And you, the man who proved raptors can follow orders. You never thought about the applications of your research, Owen? How many millions a trained predator might be worth?” He got real close to the bars, where Owen was glaring at him. “You two, you’re the parents of the new world.”
There was a second of silence. I saw Claire clenching her fists to her side and Owen was standing abnormally straight, with a calm and threatening aura to him. In the next second, Owen got hold of Mills’ arm and pulled against the bars at an odd angle.
“Hey! Let him go!” Wheatley aimed a revolver at Owen, who had a smile, watching Mills squirm in pain.
“Owen.” Claire was next to him.
“I think I’ll break it.” He said, amused.
“Let him go.” Wheatley warned.
Owen smirked and with one last pull, he let go of Mills. All my expectations fleeting with a sigh. I really wanted to see this Mills guy squirming some more.
Mills was panting a bit. “Claire, I just want-” Claire reached in between the bars, grabbing hold of his tie and pulling. His head made a clank sound as it hit the metal, his glasses breaking and a loud yelp escaping him.
Owen let out a wholehearted laugh, making me join him and even Franklin crack a smile. Mills, on the other hand, backed off, checking his improved glasses.
Wheatley looked at him with a bored look. “Say, how we gonna end this?”
Mills raised his eyes from his glasses, eyes going from Claire to Owen and back. “Well, as far as everybody else is concerned, they burned up on the island.”
“Mills you can’t- there’s kids here.” Claire groaned. “Come on.”
Mills’ eyes focused on me through his broken glasses. “Then he must be feeling really hopeless having put his faith in you.” Claire visibly backed away at that, Owen placing a hand on her shoulder.
I crossed my arms. “How about you don’t tell me how I feel, Mills.” I growled, his name leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
“This one is on you, Claire.” Mills glanced at her with a pity look, but he quickly stepped out of range from her, having learned his lesson. Failing on getting a response from Claire, Mills and Wheatley left.
There weren't many words exchanged after that. Claire sat next to Franklin while Owen settled for the floor on the opposite side. I remained on the back, leaning on the wall. The mercenaries seemed busy as a lot of the cells were being filled. The cell in front of us now held a mama Triceratops and her baby, next to us the sound of the metal door was heard, indicating that we had company also. All around us there were dinosaurs’ whimpers, roars and snores. It made me wonder where Bumpy was. How close was she?
I despised Mills so much it was hard to stand still. Who did he think he was? Selling my dinosaur? My friend? Although I recognized this prospect was better than being left to die at Nublar, it still made me angry and hopeless. There was no way out of here.
It was a while before any of us uttered a word. “Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur?” Claire asked, looking over to the Triceratops family, where the little one was biting the metal bars with its little beak. “First time you see them, it’s like a miracle. You read about them in books, you see the bones in museums, but you don’t really believe it.” She turned to Owen. “They’re like myths. And then you see that first one alive…”
While she looked really sad, I had to hold my laughter a bit. That was not my dinosaur experience at all. First time I saw a dinosaur I wasn’t bewildered and amazed, I was utterly terrified at the Compy jumping at me. The amazement came way later, when I met the herbivores, Bumpy in particular.
“This is not your fault.” Owen said.
“But it is.” Claire’s voice was barely a whisper.
“No.” Owen shook his head. “This one's on me. I showed them the way.”
I cleared my throat. “So, I may not know you guys for long, but I know men like Mills. It’s his fault, not yours.”
“Ben’s right.” Franklin backed me up.
Owen did a small nod and got up. “Listen, Claire. We’re gonna have plenty of time to talk about this later.” He went over to the door.
“If there’s a later.” Claire sighed.
“Yes, there is.” Owen was quick to shut her down. “I’ve got a cabin to finish.”
‘And I’ve got an Ankylosaur to save.’
A growl on the next cell over had us all perking our heads. Curious, I grabbed onto the high window bars and pulled myself up so I could take a peek. A Stygimoloch was in the cell next to us, walking in circles and shaking its head as if it was annoyed at his new home. Owen, then, pulled himself up next to me.
“Our thick headed friend just woke up.” I grinned, an idea already forming in my mind. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We’re getting out of here.” He smirked back.
With a whistle, the dinosaur looked at us. “Here, little Stiggy.” I called. The dinosaur roared and charged at the wall, ratting the whole cell.
Owen and I jumped back down. “We’re definitely getting out of here.” He smiled. With another whistle, the whole wall shook.
“What are you doing?” Claire shrieked.
“Escaping.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Nope.” Owen whistled again.
“Um… what is that?” Franklin trembled. “Not a carnivore, is it?”
“No, just a Stygimoloch.” I smiled as Owen kept egging on the dinosaur. “Friendly, but they like to headbutt when threatened.”
“Well, I’m feeling threatened.” He hugged himself.
Owen kept on whistling. A few more headbutts and the wall was bulging, more whistles and some bricks fell out. We backed up to the farthest wall as the Stygimoloch was almost getting through, Owen positioned himself in front of the cell’s door, whistling again. With a crashing sound, a hole the size of a person appeared on the wall, bricks tumbling over. The Stygimoloch stood at the hole, looking a bit dazed but still angry. Before the dinosaur could focus on any of us, Owen whistled again.
The dinosaur charged at the sound and Owen jumped off the path at the last second. With a metallic clank the Stiggy barreled through the door with no problem, busting the lock open. The dinosaur put so much strength into the hit that it kept going until it hit a metal beam in the center of the hangar.
We rushed outside as the dinosaur stumbled in a daze. “You’re welcome!” I waved as the dinosaur turned the corner. “That was easy, wouldn’t you say, guys?” I chuckled as Owen shook his head at me with a smile.
“Hey, wait!” Claire yelled, making us spin around. A little red shadow disappeared in the other hallway, Claire not far behind.
“Claire!” Owen took off after her, so did Franklin and me.
“Wait!” Claire pleaded. “Please, wait.” In the end of the hallway, a little girl entered a dumbwaiter mounted on a wall. She had jeans and a red sweatshirt, really straight brown hair and eyes filled with tears. Claire paused at a safe distance. “That’s Lockwood’s granddaughter.” She whispered.
“Hey. Hey, kid.” Owen said. “You wanna come down out of there?”
The kid shook her head ‘no’ emphatically. Now I noticed she wasn’t just crying, she was sobbing, her face was all red and puffy, and she was breathing hard. The four of us exchanged a glance, not really knowing what to do.
“Do you remember me?” Claire took small steps towards her. The kid nodded. “My name is Claire. What’s yours?”
“Maisie.” She mumbled. “Maisie Lockwood.” She said more clearly, in a British accent.
“Oh, Maisie. This is my friends, Franklin, Ben…” Claire motioned to each of us, who stood back and waved with an awkward smile. “And this is Owen.”
“I saw you with the Velociraptors. Blue.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah?” Owen smiled. “Uh… you like dinosaurs?” Maisie nodded. “Hey, so do I. Tell you what, you come down from there, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Blue. That sounds alright?” Another nod. “Alright, yeah. Come on down.”
She hesitantly stepped down.
Claire got to her eye level. “Sweety, we need some help finding your grandfather. Can you take us to him?”
Maisie sniffed, shaking her head hard. “No.” She was on the brink of starting to sob again.
“You made it down here all by yourself, huh?” Owen said.
“That’s brave, Maisie.” I said with an honest smile.
“You look like you could use a friend.” Franklin did the same.
Maisie’s eyes darted between each of us, finally locking on Owen. She rushed in and hugged his waist. “He’s gone.” She sobbed. “Grandpa is gone.”
Claire glanced warily at Owen, then at us. Claire had faith that Lockwood had no part in kidnapping us and selling the dinosaurs, and now with him dead, Mills is free to do whatever he wanted. Pretty much explained the situation we were in.
“Listen, I’ll tell you what.” Owen spoke, making Maisie look up. “We were just about to go find our friends and then get the heck out of here. You wanna come with us?”
“We could use a friend too.” Claire said.
She sniffed one final time and nodded.
“Okay, we can’t stay here.” Owen said, checking the corner. “If they find out- this way.” He walked down a dark hallway with us following him closely. “Okay, we need to get Zia and Hays, and go to the nearest town and call the cavalry.”
“And we need to go save the dinosaurs, I’m not letting them sell Bumpy.” I pressed.
“Ben, the best way to help her is to get the proper authorities down here.” Owen argued.
I wanted to help her now , not later. But really, what could I do? Barge in a room filled with mercenaries? Owen was right. “Then we split up. Half of us go get help and the other half go find our friends.”
I took note of how the hallway had changed. It was narrower, with more pipes in the walls, some releasing a bit of steam as we passed them.
“You seriously want to split up? In here?” Franklin shrieked.
“We’re in a time crunch.” Owen countered.
“Franklin and I can go get the girls.” Claire said and Franklin reluctantly nodded along.
While I wanted to go help Hayden, the possibility of Bumpy being sold off seemed more of a threat. I knew Hayden was going to be okay. She had to. And I trusted Claire enough to make sure of that.
I glanced at Owen. “Then the two of us…” Maisie clung into him. “… three of us will go get help.” I said.
“I think I saw a sign coming here. Orick should be the closest town, we’ll go get help and be right back. We’ll meet outside, okay?” Owen said.
“You- you can use the phone upstairs, but Mr. Mill’s friends are all over the place.” Maisie said, then gasped. “Iris! I need to make sure she’s alright.”
As we walked, the sounds of dinosaurs had become faint, with a voice growing louder up ahead.
“Good idea, Maisie.” He spoke slowly, as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. We didn’t find anyone down there with us, but a little window up ahead had the five of us stopping on our tracks.
“Do I hear 200? 200? Thank you. Thank you. Do I hear 210?” A male voice said. “Sold! 210 million for the gentleman.”
We looked into a room. It was very fancy, contrary to the concrete and bricks we’ve seen so far. Details in black marble and green tiles, reminding me of a creepy Department of Mysteries hallway. The room seemed bare as it barely had any furniture, only a podium of sorts with a small man with a judge’s hammer, next to him, Mills stood with a smirk on his face. Also in the room, there were around a hundred people in fancy attire sitting in rows. But the main thing that caught my eye was the cage in the middle of the room, with a Gallimimus in it. The cage sat on rails and was being railed out of the room through a double set of doors going all the way to the ceiling, controlled by a lever a man was operating.
The auction. It had already started.
‘Was Bumpy sold already?’ No, she couldn’t be. She had to be here somewhere.
“And now ladies and gentlemen.” The man on the podium spoke.
“That’s Mr. Eversoll, he met Mr. Mills a few days ago.” Maisie whispered.
“Before we can move on to what I know you really came here to see. We’d like to offer you a special treat to our discriminating buyers. This evening, we will preview a new asset that we’ve been developing. A creature of the future made from pieces of the past. Ladies and gentlemen please be warned this is the perfect blend of the two most dangerous creatures that have ever walked the earth.” A new cage emerged from the doors. “We call it… the Indoraptor.”
There were little gasps across the room, also from us, staring through the window. The dinosaur resembled many I’ve encountered before. It had a build of a Raptor, with its size closer to a big Baryonyx; the strong jaw and ragged teeth of the Indominus; the quills on its back of the Scorpios; and the colorful stripe going down its side like Blue, but it was yellow, like its eyes. If a dinosaur ever looked like it preyed on humans, that was the Indoraptor. It had narrow eyes, like it was analyzing everything it set its eyes on, and its mouth was pulled up almost in a smirk, like it was imagining the most gruesome way to kill its prey. If the Indominus and the Scorpios were already damn right terrifying, the Indoraptor was the boogeyman.
The sight made shivers run down my spine. I terribly tried to control my shaking hands as sweat trickled down my neck.
“The perfect weapon for the modern age. Build for combat. With tactical responses more acute than any human soldier.” Eversoll went on.
“What is that thing?” Claire whispered.
The Indoraptor was slowly analyzing the whole room. One mercenary hit it with an electric rod, making it roar loudly. Hoarse like the Scorpios.
“The third hybrid.” I gasped.
“They made it.” Maisie nodded. “Mr. Mills and the other man.”
“What man?” Claire asked.
“Him.” Maisie pointed down to a man sitting close to the podium, back straight like he was the most important person in the room and he was wearing a turtleneck.
“Designed by Dr. Henry Wu.” The man pointed at Wu, who smiled at the attention. My fists clenched just by seeing him, not shaking anymore.
“He really did it again.” I huffed, looking at Claire who had the same shocked expression as me. ‘Like he said he would.’
“With an intelligence quotient comparable to the Velociraptor. Biospecs include a heightened sense of smell, trained to respond to a pulse-coded laser targeting system, enabling it to isolate and track prey in complex environments. Voilà.” Eversoll opened his arms and a nearby mercenary aimed a rifle at a guest, the red laser hitting him on the chest. “Now first, the laser sets the target.” As soon as the hybrid saw the laser, all its demeanor changed, body tense and eyes locked on target. “The acoustic signal triggers an attack.” The mercenary hit a button and a high-pitched sound was heard.
The Indoraptor went crazy, clawing and biting at the bars, saliva going everywhere. The targeted man fell off his chair much like the nearby guests. The Indoraptor growled, trying to squeeze between the bars and get his target at any cost, even if it got hurt in the process.
“This animal is relentless.” Eversoll laughed.
Amongst the fear I felt seeing the Indoraptor… the laser idea was almost… amusing. “My mom’s cat does that too.” I mumbled, startling myself. I looked around to the faces staring at me. “Oh, did I say that out loud?” I chuckled. “I mean, the hybrid is scary, sure… but if you’re already pointing a gun at the target, just shoot it already. No?”
“The kid has a point.” Owen nodded. I scowled at being called a kid, but at least he got it.
“It’s only a prototype.” Claire said.
“But what I want to know is if those quills have poison. The Scorpios had poison.” I leaned into the window, trying to listen more.
“Now, modifications are still being made-”
“500 million!” A guest yelled with a thick Russian accent.
Him and Mills exchanged a glance. “No-no, this is a prototype. Uh, not for sale.”
“600!” An old Asian man raised his hand.
“Well, it is still a prototype, but…”
The numbers kept rising. Dr. Wu had a grimace, glaring at Mills, who was silently exchanging words with Eversoll. With a final nod from him, the man returned to the podium.
“900!”
“900 million. Do I hear more?” Eversoll had a smile on his face.
“One billion dollars.” The Russian guys made the room gasp.
“That thing can’t leave this building.” Owen said, looking slightly panicked.
‘I can already imagine the chaos that would ensue if it did.’ I sighed. This wasn’t all that different from taking down the Scorpioses. “I’ll help you.” I nodded at Owen.
He turned to Claire. “Claire, you take Franklin and Maisie, find Zia and Hays and try to call for help.”
Claire groaned “Owen…”
“It’s a hybrid, Claire. A hybrid that can follow orders, it can’t get loose.” Owen pressed. They exchanged glances, having a whole conversation in silence as we waited for them.
Finally, Claire relented. “Be safe.”
With a firm nod, we split up.
…
Owen was walking so fast, I had to jog to keep up.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.
“Thinking of one.”
“I particularly work best with no plan.” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
“We need a diversion, maybe shut the power down.” He thought out loud, stopping by an electrical box.
On the other side of the hallway, a ding made us freeze. The doors of the elevator were opening. Fortunately, it was empty. Then, another sound made us spin around, a growl. The Stygimoloch came barreling in the corner, hitting the wall filled with pipes and rupturing them, sending steam everywhere.
“Look at that.” I laughed. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Owen glanced at me with a smile, then back at the dinosaur. “Hey, buddy!”
It took a little convincing, since I didn’t have any berries on me, but eventually we got the Stygimoloch to join us at the elevator. Owen pressed the button while I tried not to be sandwiched between the wall and a dinosaur.
“Okay.” I groaned. “Is that what you wanted, Bud?” I petted her on the neck, making her tail wag.
“You’re good with dinosaurs, huh?” Owen chuckled.
“Bumpy would agree.” I smiled.
“I have to meet her properly someday.”
Our chuckles died as the elevator stopped. Owen and I hid on the sides of the door, while I pushed the Stiggy to the center. “Come on, Bud. Do your thing, just like we talked about.”
She bellowed and the doors opened.
“Sold! To the Russian friend.” The host’s voice was heard, followed by applause. “Well done, sir and congratulations…”
Buddy stood still at the new sight and sounds, then with a whistle from Owen, she charged into the room. It was chaos… growling… screaming… crashing. After a few seconds, Owen and I peeked inside. People were running, stumbling over chairs and other people. I didn’t see Buddy, but I saw one or two people flying from being headbutted, so she was fine. In the center of the room, the Indoraptor was restless, eyes darting everywhere as it walked in circles.
One mercenary appeared in front of us, rifle in hand and aimed at Buddy. Owen was faster than me, grabbing hold of his gun and pointing it to the ceiling. A series of gunshots made the room panic more, people running to the exits on the sides. Owen had the upper hand with the merc and threw him over his shoulder. But another one was coming at him with an electric rod. While I left Owen to deal with him, the first merc was getting up. I sprinted ahead and kicked his head like a football and he went back down with a grunt. He was out.
“Kid! A little hand?” Owen called. He was pinned against the wall near the exit’s stairs, with a nasty looking cut on his eyebrow and the merc was choking him with the rod. I scramble to find something to help him with, settling for the first merc’s rifle.
Having never used a gun, I swung that thing like a baseball bat, hitting the guy in the head. Strike two. Owen smiled approvingly at me and before he could say something, a new mercenary appeared from the stairs. Owen moved so fast the guy didn’t have time to pull the trigger. With one punch, he was also down.
With a smirk, Owen grabbed that man’s rifle and put it in my hands, discarding the real rifle. “Here, have this one.”
It was much lighter than the first one. And a semi-automatic tranq gun. I beamed. “Thanks.”
We looked around the room. There were around ten mercenaries in the room, some were dealing with the Stiggy, others were pulling the Indoraptor back and the rest were guarding the podium, where Mills stood.
We locked eyes with him and his eyes went wide like a goldfish. “Get this thing out of here!” He shouted at the mercenary who pulled the lever and the cage with the Indoraptor started to reel back.
“Ben, cover me!” Owen charged at the man, pushing one crazed guest to the ground.
Mills ran and got lost in the crowd, but the Indominus was our focus at the moment. While Owen charged, three mercenaries came to face him. Owen kicked and punched; one being hit with a chair on the head, other being kicked way too closely to his private parts, and the other was taken out by a sucker punch to the jaw.
After they went down, I hit each one of them with a dart, just to be sure. But more were coming out of nowhere. While Owen was taking care of the merc on the lever, I was shooting mercenaries left and right.
“Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” I let out a laugh as I pulled the trigger. They didn’t drop unconscious immediately, though; but that’s why I had Buddy for.
When Owen got hold of the lever and pulled on the electrical cables connecting to it, the room was almost deserted, only us, the mercenaries on the floor, Buddy asking for more pets and the Indoraptor in its cage.
I kneeled down to pat the Stygimoloch. “You did well, Buddy. Now go, you’re free.” I ushered her to go up the stairs. She didn’t hesitate.
“You seemed to be having fun.” Owen chuckled.
I rested the tranq rifle on my shoulder. “You’re imagining it.” I grinned. “But what are we doing with the hybrid?”
“I busted the railing system, it ain’t going anywhere. We need to find Claire and the rest of them, make sure they’re okay.”
“Right.” I mumbled as Owen started to move. “Owen, I- I’m going after Bumpy.”
He turned to look at me with a frown. “We can do that after we make sure everyone is okay.”
I shook my head. “I need to do this now. What if she is being loaded to a truck as we speak? If she was sold, I’ll never see her again.” I pleaded.
Owen paused for a long second, studying my face. “Are you gonna be okay alone?”
“I will.” I smiled and fixed the rifle on my shoulder. “Just make sure Hays is alright. Find her, okay?”
“You got it, Ben.” With a nod, he ran to the exit near the podium. “Good luck.”
…
It wasn’t hard finding the garage, I just followed the shouts of a frantic crowd. I exited it from a different door than I had entered, but it was easy enough to get around. I kept to the dark corners and behind pillars as I didn’t exactly fit in, but the chaos was so great that nobody bothered me. All the people from the auction seemed to be there, running for their lives as Buddy chased them. It was dark and raging outside, a full-blown storm. The rain was loud against the metal roof.
Wheatley was there too, standing clear of the rain with arms crossed as people ran past him. He observed the Stygimoloch having the time of her life, headbutting people and fleeing into the woods. He headed inside, and I made sure to keep out of his way. Also, there were many trucks leaving, but none big enough to hold an Ankylosaurus, which filled my heart with hope. Wheatley went down the stairs I had come in, so I headed for the first set of stairs we were escorted through earlier today.
I had the rifle hanging on my back, jumping down two steps at a time; it was my fault really. I was careless. I thought everybody would be outside. I wasn’t counting on mercenaries being on these stairs. I turned the corner and heard the gunshot before I saw him. A searing pain shot through my arm, making me stumble back and away from the man’s line of sight. Doing my best to ignore the pain, I fumbled to get my rifle, propping it up on the corner, I blindly shot at the man. When he yelped, I knew I had hit him.
His footsteps rushed up the stairs, the tranquilizer hadn’t taken effect yet. Adrenaline rushed in my veins as my heart throbbed in my ears. I didn’t have time to think, so I held the rifle like a baseball bat and charged downstairs, screaming while at it. The mercenary had his gun aimed at me, but he hesitated. He was dressed in all black like his friends, but what caught my eye was that he wasn’t that older than me, just a few years. Too bad. I used his hesitation to throw my rifle at him, which really startled him. While he was blocking the rifle, his own was aimed at the floor, so I jumped. Not really jumped, but dived for him.
I grabbed him over the chest, locking his arms. My momentum slammed us on the ground, him underneath. His head smacked the cement, so while he was dazed, I kicked the guns away. I tried to remember the fighting tips I had picked up from Hayden.
‘Oh, I should’ve joined her classes on the island.’ Okay, so nose, temple, solar plexus and groin. On the ground… keep pressure, stay on top. I panicked as the guy was coming to, so I punched him on the nose with my good arm. It wasn't powerful since I did it with my left arm, so I did it again, until he stopped moving.
‘Owen made it look so easy.’ Panting, I climbed off him, throwing myself to the ground. As the adrenaline wore off, I chuckled, proud of myself. But along came the pain. I winced as I sat down to look at my arm, there was a little hole in the front of my biceps, another, bigger one, on the back. A single trail of blood leaving each bullet hole.
‘In and out. Not too bad.’ I gave myself one minute to recompose, but soon I did my best to block the pain. I had an Ankylosaurus to rescue.
The sound of a muffled explosion had me freezing and the walls shaking.
‘That’s not promising.’
I had to find Bumpy. The best thing I could do was to shove my right hand on my pocket to keep it from moving too much and move along.
Being a lot more careful now, I exited the door we first went through. The huge hangar was exactly the place I was looking for, if Bumpy was here, that was the place. I paused when I stepped into the room, part because my arm was killing me and I had to take a breather, but also to find the Ankylosaurus without having to run around. Even though I knew some dinosaurs had already been auctioned off, the place was still packed. Herbivores and carnivores, more than one dinosaur per cell.
Near the Apatosaurus, I spotted a familiar club at the end of a tail. But before I could head that way, the door behind me clicked. I frowned as I tried the door. It didn’t even move. All the other doors were closed shut, including the one leading to our previous cell.
‘That’s even less promising.’ Deciding that I was going to deal with that later, I ran towards the Ankylosaurus. I had to navigate in between crates, but surely, I reached the three cells on the far corner. There were less Ankylosaurus than I was expecting, but before I could panic, I spotted her. I almost cried of relief seeing those asymmetric bumps.
“Bumpy!” I reached in between the bars, laughing as she licked my hand. “I’m so glad to find you, girl.” She bellowed at me, staring at me with sad eyes. “I know.” She bumped into the bars, trying to nudge her snout into my bleeding arm. “What, this? It’s just a scratch. I’m fine.” She bellowed as if saying ‘liar’ and I just chuckled, petting her snout. “Come on, I need to find you a way out of here.”
Notes:
Ben and Bumpy rereunion!! What-what!
Okay... next chapter is going to be a big one. We all know what happens next, don't we?
I might've gone overboard and made a 10k chapter, so the bad new is... I'm not posting it in two weeks time, but three. So expect the next chapter on he 23rd. Sorry about that, but it will be worth the wait. I'm sure you'll like the next chapter as much as I did writing it hahahaAlso, I updated the summary, it was looking bleak. And I updated the tags. I do like to get very specific with the tags. What do you prefer? Less tags and more vagueness? Or very specific and borderline spoilery?
Chapter 12: The Boogeyman
Summary:
A Scooby-doo chase is in order.
Notes:
10k words of pure dinosaur madness. All the deaths that I couldn’t write in Assets, I’m doing it in here hahaha
TW: gore, ppl dying, blood, severed limbs. Some tags are only for this chapter. Look at the title, it’s the fucking boogeyman haha
Also question: how many missing limbs is too many?
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
The lab was busy. If before I had only Zia and Blue for company; now, scientists and mercenaries were coming in and out, packing everything in crates, the hard drives, vials, eggs… They were frantically cleaning the place out.
Wu entered the lab, fidgeting and looking panicked. ‘That can’t be good.’ He stopped in front of the white bone encased by glass, staring at it for a long minute.
“Get this to Mills.” He ushered one of the scientists. “Be careful, it’s extremely valuable.” He sounded as panicked as he looked. One guy in a lab coat walked in front of him and Wu grabbed him by the arm. “You, I need blood samples from the Raptor. Go grab me a phlebotomy kit.” With a nod, the scientist went over to a desk to grab it.
Wu walked over to us, fumbling with some keys. “I need this Raptor’s blood.” Blue snarled and tried to claw at him, making Wu jump away.
“Sure.” Zia chuckled. “Go ahead.”
“Where is that kit?” Wu yelled over his shoulder, making me raise a brow. I’ve never seen him this worked up. “Okay, now listen to me. It is better for you to cooperate. I’m gonna get this blood with or without your help.”
“This blood is contaminated.” Zia said, matter-of-factly.
Dr. Wu scowled. “I designed this animal myself. Every cell on her body was created in the most controlled environment under the most demanding of conditions. It is pure.”
“Yeah, but I did an intravenous blood transfusion with a T. rex, so it’s a sock drawer in there.”
Wu gasped. “You what?” He looked at me as if asking for confirmation, to which I simply nodded. “You have any idea what you’ve done?”
Zia shrugged. “I saved a dinosaur’s life if that’s what you’re referring to.”
“What’s going on, Doc?” I asked.
Many emotions crossed his face as he had an internal breakdown, but he finally focused back on me. “We are evacuating.”
“Because…”
“Some room temperature IQ moron decided it was best to open the Indoraptor’s cage.” Wu hissed.
My mouth hung agape and my brain short-circuited right there.
“You’re telling me that we are trapped underground with a murder machine you created on the loose?” Zia was trying to take deep breaths.
“Precisely.” Wu sighed. “Now I need that blood-”
“You created this thing, any chance you can, I don’t know, get a fucking hold of the situation?” I snapped at him. “Tranq it, shoot it, blow it up… kill the thing!”
Wu pinched the bridge of his nose. “My hands are tied.”
“How terrible.” I pulled on my handcuffed hand, the metal clanking. “We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”
“Where is that kit?” He yelled back at the scientist.
“Hey, Henry.” A familiar voice called. All heads turned to the person walking in the side door. She was smiling, ginger hair pulled on a ponytail, bangs crazy messy as she held a tranq rifle straight at Wu.
Wu turned slowly, his face a midst of shock and confusion. “Claire?”
Zia and I beamed, amazed when, with a bright smile, Claire pulled the trigger. Wu gasped, holding his neck where the dart hit.
“How you’ve been?” Claire said. A smile on her face as Wu dropped to the floor.
“Claire! What are you doing?” Zia shrieked. The room was full of mercenaries, but because of the generalized chaos, they hadn’t noticed Wu yet.
“Saving your life.” Franklin came out from around the corner, along with a little kid that clung to Claire.
“Keys!” I pointed at Wu, unconscious. “In his pockets.”
Franklin grabbed the keys and stumbled his way to Zia. As soon as she was free, she brought her hands to Franklin’s face, squishing his cheeks together in excitement. “Yes!” She laughed.
“Who’s the kid?” I asked, as Franklin got me free.
“Maisie Lockwood.” Claire placed a hand on her shoulder. I raised a brow at that. “Long story.”
“Stop!” Two mercenaries stood in front of us in tactical gear and holding electrical rods. “Don’t move.” The guy closer to us, turned on his rod, the crackling sound of electricity making Franklin yelp and Maisie cower behind Claire.
I moved slowly to place myself in the front, next to Claire. Two more mercenaries joined them, unarmed and heading for Wu on the floor. We remained in place, watching Wu being carried out of there. The room was still busy with people packing stuff, but soon we’d have more than two mercs on us.
One of them took one step closer to Claire, pointing his rod at her, menacingly. “Now drop the rifle and step away from that cage. This way no one gets hurt.”
“If you don’t want kids, say ‘what’.” I said quickly in one breath.
“What?” The guy muttered, shifting his attention to me.
I smirked as my shin hit his balls with all the power I could muster. Four days being held by mercenaries… all my pent-up anger was on that kick. The mercenary bent over; the electric rod long forgotten as he had his hands between his legs. His head was low, right in the path of my knee, which hit him square in the face. One down, one to go.
My smile grew as I faced the second mercenary. “How ‘bout you?”
He screamed as he stabbed the rod at my face, the electricity buzzing in the air. With a simple sidestep, I was next to him, and with a well-placed kick to the back of the knee, he went down. I barely gave him the chance to get up, he was on all fours when I grabbed a fistful of hair and slammed his head against a table. He fell limp on the floor.
“And that makes it two.” I laughed, jumping side to side, feeling my blood pumping. ‘ Oh, how I love the adrenaline. ’ I couldn’t even feel the pain from my injuries or the stiffness of my body from sleeping on a truck for days. I felt great!
“Holy shit! Where did that come from?” Zia crackled.
“That was amazing!” Franklin smiled.
I threw a few punches in the air. “Being held hostage makes me moody, so… yeah.” I chuckled.
“Yes, very amazing.” Claire said, sounding tense. “Can you do it again?” She motioned to the other side of the room.
About seven new mercenaries had entered the lab. Scientists were scouring away as the mercs tried to make their way past them. The two from before looked to be middle aged, as old as Claire or Owen, but these new ones were much younger, as old as Cameron. This time they didn’t have electric rods, but rifles and handguns, and those did not look like the tranq type.
“Come on, seriously?” Franklin backed up.
“Damn, does Mills hire his goons straight out of middle school?” Zia mumbled.
I picked up the rods and gave them to them. “Here.”
Zia accepted the rod, but smirked at me. “I have a better idea.” She proceeded to grab Blue’s cage handle. “Get behind me.”
Claire gasped. “Are you crazy?”
“Since when releasing a predator in a confined space is a good idea?” Franklin whined.
“I never said anything about ‘good idea’, I said ‘better’.” Zia shrugged.
I did not like my chances against those mercs, so Zia’s plan it was. The four of us rushed behind her. Blue was right at the door, eager to get out, but she didn’t even try to bite Zia, almost aware of the situation. The mercenaries were screaming at us when Zia opened the cage, Blue quickly jumping out. The door opened outwards and worked as a barrier between the Raptor and us, whose backs were pressed against the wall. The first thing the dinosaur did was snarl at the five of us cowering behind the door, but then her attention turned to the screams from the mercenaries.
With a jump, she was on top of them. Screams increased in volume, guns slid through the floor and blood splattered everywhere on the white lab. Someone screamed to not use live ammunition on the Raptor, but I guess everybody decided to collectively say ‘fuck it’, because gunshots were heard. None made contact, though, as Blue jumped over tables, under them, biting, clawing and whipping people with her tail.
Almost all the mercenaries were down, bodies piling up on the floor, when more came in through the door Claire had used. Not noticing us, they focused on Blue, guns aimed at her. I made my way out of the safety to help, after all, I owed Blue big time. I charged at the closest mercenary, tackling him to the ground. Gunshots echoed like fireworks, hitting the ceiling instead of Blue.
Someone pulled me up by the back of the shirt and I raised my arms to defend against a punch. I threw my own punches back without thinking, then kicks, ducking from a pair of claws and spinning around to kick some more. I had to crawl under a table to escape Blue’s jaws, tackle some other guys that tried to shoot at her and pay attention to Zia and Franklin that, yet hesitant, had joined the brawl with their rods.
The world was a blur of gunshots, blood and claws. Not so surprisingly, I caught myself laughing as I smashed mercenaries’ heads in. Every single punch made me feel vindicated. But as the adrenaline wore off, I could feel my body ache, especially when a mercenary pinned me against a wall. He was grabbing me by my waist, his head on a headlock that I desperately tried to regulate so he would pass out already.
“Hey, Claire?” I gritted my teeth as the mercenary landed a punch to my already sore ribs. “Is that rifle-thing working?”
She was standing back with Maisie behind her. “Yes, yes. Okay.”
I grinned as she hit the guy on the ass with a dart. After a few seconds I felt his body going limp and he dropped to my feet. My eyes were already on a merc aiming a rifle at Blue, who had another guy’s head on her jaw. I grabbed a stapler from a desk, sending it across the lab to hit the rifle guy on the forehead.
“Hey, Hayden?” Claire called. I watched as the guy looked back at me, baffled at the red spot on his forehead.
“I’m a little busy!” I shouted back. His aim changed from Blue to me, and I had to hide under a desk not to be hit by bullets. From my hiding spot, I saw Zia zap the guy, a smirk plastered on her face.
“What?” I came out from under the table, thinking Claire needed help.
“You called me ‘Claire’.” She smiled at me.
I rolled my eyes, huffing. “Don’t be weird about it.”
Zia’s scream made me snap my head at her. Blue was locked on her, narrow eyes, blood dripping from her teeth and outstretched claws; I guess those electric shocks brought back some memories for her, because she was in a frenzy. Zia tripped over a fallen merc, then crawled under a desk, throwing her rod at Blue to get away. Luckily, a mercenary attacked Blue with his own electric rod. He ended up on the floor, one leg missing and a pool of blood around him, like a crimson mirror. If before the lab was white and pristine, smelling like cleaning products, now it was like a scene straight out of a horror movie, Saw to be more exact. The bright red stained the white, and the metallic smell impregnated my nose.
“Guys we gotta go!” Franklin yelled.
‘Yeah, no shit.’ A few mercenaries were still standing, but Blue was taking them down swiftly. Claire and the little girl were as far from an exit as they could be. Claire was trying to calm down Maisie, who had her eyes shut and was shaking her head vehemently.
‘ Okay, it’s not like a dozen men just died in front of a little kid… she’ll be fine. ’ I proceeded to make my way to them.
“Duck!” Zia shouted.
I didn’t even turn to look, I just crouched to the ground. Several bullets flew over my head, hitting the wall next to the cage and the gas tanks. The last mercenary, the one that had just taken those shots, was being disemboweled by Blue at the moment, the long, curved claws ripping the skin like butter, the blood glistening as it splattered around, screams slowly dying. I never in my lifetime thought I’d be seeing this many internal organs… on the outside.
I didn’t have time to take in the details because Zia was screaming. “Run! Run!”
The tanks had several bullet holes in it and the gas was escaping with a hiss. I didn’t need to be a genius to decipher all those warning signs on the tanks. Danger, a.k.a. not good. Claire dragged Maisie by the hand, tossing me the rifle and we followed Zia and Franklin out of the lab. We dashed out of there without even looking where we were going, turning on the first hallway we found. It wasn’t long before the explosion came, it rattled the walls, the floor shook, and we all fell to the ground. Luckily, we made it out of the danger zone, so did Blue it seemed, since we heard her snarling and running away after everything went quiet.
As soon as I realized I wasn’t on fire, I got up. I winced slightly, with the adrenaline wearing off. My body was aching. “Come on, we gotta move. There’s a hybrid on the loose.” With the back of my hand, I cleaned some blood from my nose, probably a punch I didn’t remember.
Claire helped Maisie up. “The Indoraptor got loose?” Claire looked at me, mortified.
“I thought you knew.” Zia dusted her pants.
Claire gasped. “Owen and Ben were in the same room with that thing.”
“Do you remember where it was?” I asked, clenching my fists around the rifle, trying not to panic.
“I can do you one better.” Franklin rushed ahead.
There was some sort of control room, one desk in the middle and a dozen screens. The wall on the other side was glass, giving a view of a huge hangar with dinosaurs in their cells. The screens were half of CCTV, and the other half were some complicated systems and codes.
“HCN.” Franklin gasped, pointing at one screen. There was some sort of blueprint of the facility, one central room was red and the words ‘HCN detected’ were flashing on the screen. “That’s hydrogen cyanide.”
I frowned. “The stuff spies used?”
“No, this is the gas, way more deadly.”
“Wonderful.” I gritted my teeth. “This is ridiculous, a hybrid… now poison gas… Why would they have cyanide just laying around in the basement?”
“Hydrogen cyanide is used in some of the chemical synthesis needed in genetic engineering, particularly if you want to create new life.” Zia explained.
Franklin pulled a chair and started to type away. “The ventilation system is down, I’ll try to bring it back up, maybe if I isolate the HVAC system…” He started blabbing as he worked.
Claire was on the other side of the desk, looking at the CCTV, while Zia kept Franklin company, I went to join Claire and Maisie.
“That’s the room.” Maisie pointed at a screen on the corner. It was an image of a room filled with fallen chairs, people laying on the floor and one big cage in the middle. The cage had its door open, one disfigured body was lying inside it, limbs missing and blood covering the entirety of the cage. I did not want to go in that room, but if that’s where Ben was, I would have to.
“I think I can go back to see what happened.” Claire pushed a few buttons and soon the clock on the screen went back 30 minutes. The auctions appeared to be taking place. We watched as a Stygimoloch entered the room, causing chaos and was followed by Owen and Ben, who absolutely wrecked the mercenaries there. Mills was there too, but he escaped as the coward he was. And 30 minutes ago, the cage in the middle of the room held a dinosaur. The Indoraptor.
Shivers traveled up my spine at how similar that thing was to the Scorpios. Of course I could see the changes they made, it wasn’t as grotesque and Frankenstein-like, but it was clearly unnatural. Body lean and muscular like a Raptor on steroids and even through the screen, its eyes seemed smart and calculating, like the Indominus. It had every single feature that made a dinosaur lethal, they converged it all in one animal. The ultimate hybrid.
The room was eventually cleared out, Owen and Ben avoided the Indoraptor to be taken away from its buyer and now there were just the two standing in the room. They had a quick conversation and each of them ran out their separate ways.
“Fuck, I bet Ben went after Bumpy.” I thought out loud.
“Who’s that?” Maisie asked.
“Our Ankylosaurus friend.” I smiled softly at her.
“No, Ben headed outside.” Claire stated, pointed at another camera which showed the garage. “Those stairs lead that way.”
“Good.” I sighed. At least it wasn't at the same place as the poison gas. But Bumpy was.
‘ Fuck! Bumpy! ’
“I’m going to try and find Owen.”
“Wait.” Maisie said, pointing at the auction room camera.
Wheatley appeared on the screen, entering the room and staring at the Indoraptor, a twisted smile on his face. The video had no sound, but we already saw how the cage ended up. Fucking Wheatley was responsible for letting that thing loose. Just like that, he shot two darts at the hybrid, and after waiting for it to pass out, the idiot joined the thing in her cage .
Claire gasped. “Is it pretending to be sleeping?”
Wheatley was kneeling next to its head, pliers in hand as he tried to grab a tooth as a souvenir. Behind his back, the Indoraptor was wailing its tail in the air. Wheatley turned to look, but the tail was already back on the floor, the hybrid breathing soundly. I didn’t know what kind of monster was smart enough to do that, but I did not want to meet it. My eyes were glued to the camera when the tail went up again, but this time the Indoraptor didn’t go back to pretending. When Wheatley noticed it, it was too late. With a jerk of its head, the Indoraptor had Wheatley’s arms on its mouth.
The thing got up on its hind legs, raising Wheatley in the air by the arm, his mouth opened in a silent scream while he kicked like a little kid. It wasn’t long before Wheatley fell down, no souvenir teeth and no arm.
“Op- yeah, no.” Claire fumbled with the controls and the screen went black.
I snorted, surprising to find amusing justice being done. “At least the idiot is dead.”
“Hayden.” Claire glared at me, motioning at Maisie staring at the screen in shock.
“What? It’s true!” I shrugged. ‘It’s not like she didn’t just witness a room full of people get slaughtered.’ “Besides, you must be a fucking idiot to get in a cell with a hybrid. If he wanted to die, shut the damn door first.” It was incredible the stupid lengths people go for money.
Claire didn’t have time to lecture me, because Franklin was sighing out loud. “I did my best. The gas is restricted to the containment level for now.”
“Where the dinosaurs are…” Maisie said quietly.
“Well… yes.” Franklin scratched the back of his neck.
‘Where Bumpy is.’
“Franklin, can’t you, I don’t know, send the toxic gas outside?” I ushered.
“The explosion literally jammed part of the ventilation system. If I don’t send it to where the dinosaurs are, I’d have to send it here… where we are.”
“It’s fine.” Zia groaned, her voice strained. She was leaning on the table, looking pale. “Hydrogen cyanide is lighter than air, it will start filling up the room from top to bottom.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. ‘Great, so when the Apatosauruses start dropping dead we know to hurry.’
“That will give us some time.” Claire sighed. “Let’s meet up with Owen and find Ben.”
“Then, let’s get a move on already.” Zia pressed.
“Uh, are you okay, Zia?” I stood next to her. I did not like how pale she was.
“Never better.” She gritted her teeth, turning her body at an angle that finally let us see the red blotch on her clothes. Right above her waist, the left side of her yellow t-shirt was growing red.
“Zia!” Claire rushed over.
Zia raised one hand up in the air, stopping Claire. “It’s just a scratch. One of Blue’s claws got to me with all the chaos, but more important things first… Owen and Ben.”
“Can you walk?” I asked.
“Yes, come on.” She pushed away from the table and headed out the door, no wincing or stumbling.
Claire and I exchanged a concerned glance, but then I shrugged and fixed the rifle on my shoulder, following Zia out.
…
With the adrenaline-high gone, I was growing very uncomfortable. Each breath incited a new sharp pain from my right side; it traveled up my torso and to my shoulder for some reason. It had me gritting my teeth not to double over. But the need to know if Ben and Bumpy were okay pushed me forward. Although the memory of Wheatley’s painful death did serve as solace.
It was hard to judge if Zia was worse than me or not, she did mutter some complaints under her breath, but she didn’t lower her pace, not once. The red blotch in her clothes had stopped growing at least. She looked pale still, but Franklin was looking paler, probably from fear. I did not judge him.
I had the tranq rifle in my hands, walking in front with Claire, who was leading us. She seemed confident while doing so, that’s why I didn’t say a thing when we did a full circle after taking four left turns. Maisie couldn’t really help, even if it was technically her basement, she had never been down here. So, it took a while for us to find Owen.
We didn’t find any mercenaries down there. Wu must’ve been right, and they were evacuating. The only person we met was Owen, running down a deserted hallway. He looked all the same, plus a deep cut on his eyebrow, blood trailing down to his chin. As it was with head cuts, it always looked worse than it actually was.
“Owen!” Claire called, making him stop and turn around.
They hugged so hard I thought they were going to fall over. When half a minute had passed, I glanced back at Zia and Franklin, raising one eyebrow. They just shrugged and smiled.
Zia cleared her throat. “Do you want us to leave you two alone for a moment? ‘Cause we can go…” She smirked.
“What? No…” Claire blushed, stepping away from Owen, who looked stoic as ever, giving us an acknowledging nod.
“Owen, where’s Ben?” I promptly asked.
“He went to find Bumpy.”
‘Of course he did… and I have no way of contacting him.’ I groaned. “Great… does he know we have a hybrid problem?”
“And a toxic gas problem…” Franklin added. We quickly put Owen up to speed, and I’ll have to say, the guy took it better than I was expecting.
Owen placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find him.”
“He was going outside, so we just need to find some stairs…” Claire went to try one door next to a hallway corner.
“Don’t!” A yell had all of us spinning around.
Mills emerged from a hallway bifurcation, coming to stop in front of us at the opening to yet another hallway. Two mercenaries accompanied him with semi-automatic rifles pointed at us.
Of course, my reaction was to raise my own tranq rifle.
“Drop it!” Mills growled and both guns turned to me.
“Do it.” Owen hastily whispered.
With a groan, I did what he said.
“Kick it over.”
I rolled my eyes, but complied. Owen went to stand in front of the group, while the rest hung back, Zia and Franklin behind me, and Maisie clinging to Claire.
“You two deserve each other.” Mills turned his attention to Owen and Claire, then at Maisie. “Maisie, come with me.” He motioned with his finger.
“You got your money, now walk away.” Owen said, his voice strained.
Mills rolled his eyes. “Oh, what are you gonna do, huh?”
“We’re gonna stop this.” Claire hissed. “All of it.”
“How?” He raised his voice, making his goons fix the aim on their rifles, taking a few steps closer to us. “What, are you gonna go back in time before Hammond decided to play God? You can’t put it back in the box!”
“We have to try.” Claire pressed, hugging Maisie closer.
“It’s too late.” He shook his head. “Maisie, come.” He called her like a dog. Our group’s despise of him was clear seeing that everybody inched closer to Maisie, to keep him away from her. He laughed at that. “Oh! So, you’re gonna take care of her now? You have no idea what she is.” Mills scoffed. “What do you think drove Hammond and Lockwood apart, huh? Lockwood never had a grandchild.” He spoke slowly, letting it sink in. But that didn’t make any sense. Was she adopted? “He just wanted his daughter back. And he had the technology.”
Our group was all wide eyes and gasps, Maisie included, who seemed to be in shock. If that’s true… Lockwood, he- he cloned a human… Maisie. The technology was there, they’ve done it before, dinosaurs, elephants, other animals… but human? Looking at Maisie all I could see was a small and very scared girl.
Mills was still entrapped in his little monologue. “Lockwood created another one. Another daughter. He made her again.”
A shadow crossed our vision. It pounced the two mercenaries at once, coming from the side hallway they were standing in front of. I hadn’t had time to even react, screams automatically filled the room, as well as growls. A squirt of blood reached the ceiling when the Indoraptor ripped one mercenary’s throat, him falling limp on the floor; the other didn’t go that far, as jaws closed around his head.
Mills dove for a rifle one of the mercs dropped on the floor, while we dashed for the door. While we were squeezing through the side door in a hurry, the sudden quietness made me look back. As I passed through the doorway, I spotted Mills aiming a laser at Owen, who was coming in last. The Indoraptor was locked on him, eyes in slits and foaming at the mouth, crimson foam. A high-pitched sound was the last thing I heard before the door shut. It was a small hallway with metal lockers all around, many of which we used to barricade the door. A door that was rattling under the assault from the other side, metal was being scratched, jaws snapping… all noises to fuel my nightmares. We didn’t stick around. With rushed yells of ‘go!’ and ‘come on!’, we made our way away from the hybrid. Owen literally picked up a wide-eyed, frozen Maisie, who was borderline having a panic attack, running with her in his arms.
When the sound of a door being busted open reached our ears, we were already turning the corner. These hallways reminded me of the tunnels on Nublar, pipes covering the walls, lights placed unnecessary far from each other, so everything seemed darker than it should. And it was a maze. Bifurcations, doors… most were locked, but the first one we found open led us to a wider hallway.
‘Everything looks fucking the same!’ I wanted to scream. My ribcage hurt every time it expanded, so I had to keep my breathing shallow, probably the reason I was dizzy; my legs were shaking under me, either from exhaustion, adrenaline or fear; and we could find a way out of this maze!
The pace of our group was slowing down. Owen wasn’t carrying Maisie anymore, now she was okay enough to run along. Zia was lagging behind, so I nudged Franklin, motioning at Zia. With a nod, each of us grabbed one of her arms and put over our shoulders. Despite her protests, she was able to run faster like that. It did wonders to the pain in my ribs, though, I’ll tell you that.
“Did we lose it?” Franklin panted.
We stood quiet for a second. No sound of guttural snarls, no hoarse roars, no claws scratching against the concrete floor. No hybrid.
“Sounds like it.” Owen whispered.
“We need to find the elevator.” Claire said.
“There.” Zia pointed with her chin. “Stairs will work just fine.”
The metal door had ‘stairs’ written in yellow, it was one of the heavy fire doors that closed on itself and it mustn’t be used that often because the sound it made hurt my ears. The metal-on-metal creaking was loud, echoing through the empty hallways. Owen had to stop midway through to listen for any sounds from the Indoraptor. Satisfied, he opened it completely, revealing a set of stairs similar to those we entered the underground.
Owen, Maisie and Claire rushed in first, then since Franklin and I were carrying Zia, we had to go sideways, me first then Zia. Franklin had one leg in when the hoarse roar made my blood run cold. A shadow crossed Franklin’s features and I was yanked sideways. Zia was holding onto me, while also holding onto Franklin. His face was twisted in terror and pain. Powerful jaws were closed around his chest, lifting him up so he was floating at eye level.
“No! Franklin!” Zia was clutching his hand so hard I had to lower myself and hold her so she wouldn’t be pulled by the dinosaur too. I heard screams behind me, but there wasn’t space for any more hands to reach for him. Franklin tried to speak, but blood gushed out of his mouth all over Zia.
The fire door was trying to close in, making it harder for Zia to hold on. I desperately held onto Zia, but we were being pulled. My feet were slipping on the dusted floor, I didn’t have any traction. Someone held me by the waist, trying to keep me grounded. Someone was screaming, begging and crying, but in a power match, dinosaurs always won. We could only see Franklin’s face and one arm by now, behind him were leathery skin and teeth. And his was a face I’ll never forget, panic didn’t even describe it; his eyes were bugging out, tears rolling down freely; pink foam on his nose and mouth as he tried to breathe; all the color had drained from his face, making the glistening red even more contrasting.
It was a tug of war, but it only lasted for a second. The pull on him loosened up for a moment, like Franklin was dropped, then the ragged teeth closed down hard again with a hungered growl. I fell back with Zia in my arms, she screamed so loud, I went deaf. In her hand the only part that was left, the only thing that ever pointed towards Franklin ever being there was his hand.
It was still gripping Zia’s. The hand was severed at the wrist, white bone poked out of the bottom, shattered. The member still bled, dark and viscous blood dripping from the stump, where the muscle and tendons were exposed. By the way Zia was holding, a couple inches higher the Indoraptor would have bitten her hand off too.
I took notice of Owen throwing himself against the door; Claire was half screaming, half sobbing while hugging Maisie and keeping her face away from the scene; Zia was frozen in my arms, not crying, not uttering a sound, just frozen. I carefully removed Franklin’s hand from her grip and pulled her up with me. I wished I could be more careful, more understanding, but I could still hear the desperate roars as the Indoraptor tried to get in, dented claw marks were already forming on the metal door.
“Owen, we’re going one floor up, how long can you hold it?” I said, throwing one of Zia’s arms over me.
“I can hold it, just go!” He grunted.
“Claire!” I yelled to pull her out of her daze. “You go first. Up! Go!”
She obliged, her eyes soon becoming more focused. Zia wasn’t walking all that much, so I shamelessly dragged her up the stairs, not having the time to process if it caused me any pain.
The door opened to another similar hallway, this one had the familiar shape of an elevator by the end of it. I told Claire to go ahead and call the elevator, while I waited for Owen. His groans and the Indominus’ roars were getting more desperate by the minute. When I heard the elevator ding, I yelled down to him. The sight of him jumping up those stairs would be comical if not for the hybrid following him. But Owen had the advantage, the dinosaur was too big for the narrow stairs. As soon as Owen made it through the door, I pulled it shut and the dinosaur slammed against the metal. Considering that a dinosaur without opposable thumbs would have a hard time pulling a handle, we had some time before it busted down with brute force. Owen helped me carry Zia to the elevator, which I was not surprised to see trails of blood on the floor and walls. Inside the elevator, the doors closed before we could have the pleasure of seeing the Indoraptor’s face again.
…
Maisie somehow knew the code for the elevator, and swiftly, the silver box was bringing us up. With an unnecessary loud ding, the doors opened to a dark and empty room. It looked like a museum, fossils and reconstructed models of dinosaurs showcased behind glass. The centerpiece was what caught my eye, Horatio’s distant cousin, a Triceratops skull on top of a pedestal. Unfortunately, this one was not made of gold, just bone. There was a balcony for a second floor, spiral staircases leading up to it. The ceiling was a dome of glass, it was clearly weathered down and now was yellow-ish. Rain pelted down on the glass, hard; the wind howled on the windows; and lightning illuminated the night; a storm had formed since we’d been down on the dungeons of Lockwood manor.
“This is the Den.” Maisie whispered as we tiptoed to the door on the other side. “My Grandpa’s office is this way, there’s bound to have a phone there.”
Although the elevator worked, this area of the house seemed to be without power. Owen tried the switch, but nothing happened. Either from the storm or the explosion before, the manor was in the dark. The wood floor was terribly loud, our footsteps echoing in the empty room even with the storm raging outside. We exited the room, through a pretty wooden archway, with too many details for me to pay attention right now. Owen and Claire were up front with Maisie while I dragged Zia along. I fought the urge to look back to check on Franklin, who usually went last.
The entrance hall seemed to be from a castle, the walls were made of stone here, with details in dark wood; there were columns securing the high ceiling; a huge wooden front door; portraits of old people covering the walls, and a wood staircase opposite of the main door.
We all visibly gasped when a beam of light blinded us, shining from the top of the staircase.
“What is going on here? Who are you people?” A hoarse female voice shrieked. When the beam of light left our eye, we could see the person the voice belonged to. She was an old woman, thin and frail, even if her expression looked anything but. She was wearing an old school night gown, hugging herself as the flashlight shook in her hand. Her eyes lingered on Zia, whose yellow t-shirt looked to have changed colors to red, only a few untouched yellow blotches. “I’m calling the police.” She stuttered.
“Please do.” Zia mumbled next to me, her first words since it all went down. That had to be a good sign.
“Iris!” Maisie beamed.
Iris gasped. “Maisie, what on earth-” A horse growl made her freeze up. Before we could utter a word, warn her or even run, the Indoraptor reached her. With a flash of red, now two glowing yellow eyes glared at us right where Iris was just standing.
‘How the hell did it get here?’
Maisie screamed so loud I bet even the hybrid got startled, because it took a while for it to chase us inside the Den. We skid to a stop on the Triceratops’ central piece, the only thing close enough for us to hide behind. The five of us crouched down, squeezing in the space behind the pedestal as we waited for the eventual hybrid to come after us. The thing didn’t seem to be in a hurry, its steps were slow, claws scratching the wood as it entered the room. The thought of the predator methodically stalking us made my heart race at the memories coming back. I had my hand over my mouth, trying to calm my breathing; Zia was next to me, clinging into my arm tightly; Maisie had her eyes closed shut, praying or maybe crying; Claire was in a crouched position, ready to run and take Maisie with her; and Owen had one finger over his mouth, telling us to be quiet, then proceeding to take a peek at the corner. All too of a familiar situation that I experienced a thousand times with Camp Fam. The nostalgia wasn’t welcomed.
There was a loud huff behind us, then a sniff. It was hunting. ‘Has it spotted us? Was it creeping in closer?’ I couldn’t tell. Its snarls turned into something familiar, a croaking sound of sorts, like Blue did. Now that I think about it, I could hear the tapping of a claw on the wood as the Indoraptor walked, her features were very close to a Velociraptor. It explained why they needed Blue so desperately. I already knew that Wu had used Raptor’s genes when creating the thing, hence the name, but I never thought it would be so damn similar. It only made me dread the hybrid even more, because I always thought that if we had been stuck in Nublar with a pack or Raptors, we wouldn’t have made it.
That claw tapping on wood was making me crazy, saying ‘I’m gonna get you and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ But I had to stay still, even though all my nerves were begging me to run.
Owen guided us to crawl left, while the tapping and sniffing was going right. Then, it stopped. The silence was deafening, no tapping, no sniffing or growling, just the rain hitting the glass. My mouth was dry, and my heart was threatening to explode in my chest, I bet the hybrid could hear that . A squeaking was heard, then a huff right above our heads. Zia was crunching my arm under her grasp by this point. Slowly, all five heads looked up. There, propped up on the Triceratop’s skull, was the Indoraptor.
Lightning cracked so loud and fast the air filled with ozone. The light was so bright it illuminated the hybrid, who looked up. I could see all the ridges of its scaly skin; the pointy quills on its elbow; the yellow stripe going down its side, now stained in red; and the long curved claws, scratching the fossil. The thunder was so loud and sudden, some of us could’ve helped but flinch. A tiny and almost imperceptible gasp escaped Maisie.
But not imperceptible enough for a bioengineered killing machine. The Indoraptor roared so loud it turned my legs into jelly, that hoarse roar that was tattooed on my brain, a gift from the Scorpios. Its glare pierced down us, dark slits moved by killer instincts. Those yellow eyes glowed at me just like its other version did.
‘No dying today, Hayden.’ I quickly pushed past that feeling and bolted out of there with Zia attached to me. While Owen, Claire and Maisie headed to the spiral staircase, I pulled Zia to the door. For our sake, the Indoraptor chose to follow the three of them instead. Zia was weighing me down and I was pretty much solely carrying her at this point. I tried to ignore the screams and crashing metal in the other room. My eyes darted around the hall, looking for something I could use as a weapon or somewhere we could hide.
“Come on.” I groaned, pulling Zia to the side of the stairs, where a little door was hidden in the dark. ‘To the Harry Potter room.’ The room under the stairs was just a storage area, and I scrunched my nose at the smell of old shoes. As soon as I shut the door, darkness engulfed us. Zia whimpered lightly, crushing my arm under her grip while I tried to focus on what was happening in the Den. It got quiet all of a sudden. There were no screams, but also no sounds from the hybrid. It was terrifyingly quiet.
Even if I had no clue where the Indoraptor was, I felt myself calming down. My breathing wasn’t as erratically, and my heart was settling down with the adrenaline wearing off. After a few minutes in complete darkness, Zia was the first one to speak.
“What do you think is happening out there?” Zia whispered right by my ear.
“They must be hiding too, otherwise we’d heard something by now.” I hoped. “How’s your cut?”
“It’s bleeding again.”
“Let me see if there’s something I can use.” I kept the tone as barely audible as I searched the room for some clothes or towels.
“I’m not using some moldy, old-”
“Zia, just take it.” I hissed, shoving a coat at her. While we were literally sitting on shoes, coats were hanging from the walls. “How’s the pain?”
She snorted. “What pain? I got sidetracked by the complete horror that was the Indoraptor.”
I chuckled quietly at that. “That’s so relatable, it’s scary.” Even now, my own pain was an afterthought, nudging at me and wanting to flare up, but not really important when running for my life.
My chuckle died down and we were in silence again. I tried to search my exhausted brain for a solution, something… We didn’t have any weapons, no one even knew we were here to come and help us… there was no escaping the Indominus, it was literally built for the hunt.
“Hays… what are we gonna do here? What’s the plan?” Zia rested her head on my shoulder.
I hugged her lightly, mindful of her wounds. “I- I don’t know.”
Light flooded the outside, the silhouette of the door now visible. It was so sudden that it made me jump. The power had returned to the manor. The first thing that came with the light was a scream. A loud and blood curdling scream I knew came from Maisie. The Indominus growled next, and glass shattered from the other room. I felt Zia tensing up next to me as the screaming went on, together with something heavy crashing down. Maisie’s screams got closer, her feet stomped hard on the wood above our heads, then came a much worse sound, the whole staircase shook so hard I thought it would come down. Wood cracked as if an explosion happened above our heads as the hoarse roars got up to the second floor, after Maisie.
I motioned to the door, but Zia pulled me back down. “What are you doing?” She hissed.
“Going out there, she needs help.” I whispered back. I felt her glare at me even in the dark. Maisie’s screams had stopped upstairs, which could mean at least two things. So, maybe Zia had a point. “Let’s go check on Claire and Owen then.” With a groan, she relented, letting me pull her out of our hiding place.
Turned out an explosion was a good comparison to the state of the hall. Portraits weren’t on the walls anymore; the stairs didn’t have a railing, all the wood was splintered and on the floor; and new claw marks decorated the stairs. It all just made us rush back to the Den, where we found Owen and Claire at one of the dinosaur’s showcases. It was a jungle biome. Thick fern bushes decorated the place, along with trees and a Dilophosaurus replica, but it was chaos, the replica was headless on the ground and the two of the biggest logs had fallen, one on top of Claire.
“Thank God, you’re okay!” Claire gasped.
“Help me out here.” Owen motioned to me, I left Zia to fend for herself as I rushed to them. “On three. 1, 2, 3!”
“Oh, shit.” I grunted, trying to remember proper lifting form. With the log finally off Claire, she was breathing heavily, crawling away from the log or at least trying to, seeing a huge gash on her thigh.
“Put pressure on it.” Owen took Claire’s hands on his own and placed them over the wound. The cut was so deep that I could see muscle and probably bone, and believe me, now I knew what human bone looked like. Her brown pants were quickly stained with blood. Claire couldn’t take her eyes out of the injury, looking dazed; her breathing was growing erratic, hyperventilating. “Don’t look at it. Look at me. Look at me.” Owen commanded until she did so.
Claire’s eyes went back to focusing, with a determination I never saw in her before. “You have to go find her.”
“I can’t leave you here.” Owen frantically said, pleading with a glint of desperation in his eyes.
Determination was behind Claire’s gaze as she looked into Owen’s eyes. She reached for the back of Owen's neck and pulled him into a desperate kiss. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but I’m sure the temperature in the room was a few degrees higher by the time they were done. I fidgeted with my fingers, feeling weird for staring.
Claire pulled back and stared deeply into Owen’s eyes. “Go. Go, I’ll be fine.”
“Zia and I will take care of her.” I jumped in, even though I wanted to go help him. If someone could help Maisie, it was Owen. He seemed to remember that Zia and I were in the room, so with a determinate nod, he raced out the Den.
I motioned for Zia to pass me her coat and I grabbed one sharp shard of glass. Cutting a big enough piece, I started to tie it around the wound on Claire’s leg, keeping the pressure there. Zia sat next to Claire, both holding hands as I was not sure who was consoling who. Concern was written all across their faces.
“He’ll be okay.” I tried to be reassuring. Claire gave me the smallest nod, not looking very convinced. “But I can go help him-”
“No!” Zia reached for me, gripping my hand. “Like you said, he’ll be okay.” Well, she seemed as sure as I when I said that phrase.
The three of us fell into the most tense silence ever, listening for the noises of the house, watching out for a roar or a scream. I caught myself analyzing Zia, she did seem way paler than before, yet the cut on her side didn’t seem to be bleeding a whole lot more. She could barely walk, that’s for sure. Claire seemed to be doing alright, after the initial shock, I could see that she was more worried for Owen and Maisie than for herself.
Zia seemed to want to fill the silence with something not as depressing as she asked. “So, what’s with the lights? Did you turn it on?”
“We didn’t, maybe the generator kicked in, I’m not sure.” Claire shook her head, frowning. “But what I don’t understand is why the Indoraptor went after Maisie.”
I frowned back. “Because it’s a dinosaur and Maisie was screaming like a banshee?” I shrugged. “I mean, no hate. If I was her age, I’d probably be screaming like that too.”
“No, Mills put the target on Owen. It shouldn’t be chasing Maisie.”
“Uh… you lost me.” Both Zia and I looked at Claire, confused.
“From what I gathered, the Indoraptor can follow orders to an extent. They have this rifle equipped with a laser, they mark the target and with the press of a button, it emits a high-pitched signal for the hybrid to go off.”
I held back a laugh. “So, like a cat chasing a laser?”
Claire cracked a smile. “Ben said the same.”
My face fell, it had been such hectic moments that Ben had slipped my mind. I wished Owen and Maisie would come back already, safe and sound so we could go check on Ben. I didn’t even know how much time had passed since we discovered the gas, nor where Ben was. He did appear to be going to the garage, so that’s where I’d have to start.
“Wu said something about getting it to follow orders, but I never thought it’d be a laser activated bioweapon.” Zia grunted.
“They said it’s a prototype, maybe it can’t follow orders that well.” Claire said.
Zia hummed. “That’s why they needed Blue.” But she wasn’t that interested in the conversation, her eyes were to the ceiling, where I could hear the rain really picking up. She gasped. “What the hell?”
I followed her gaze. There were shadows in the glass ceiling. One big man and a child walking on the metal supports of the ceiling, following them, there was a much larger shadow, walking on all fours. The large shadow stepped onto the glass, it broke with the pressure and the dinosaur claw hung in the air for a second, then it resumed walking on the metal.
“Owen!” Claire called, but her voice was overpowered by the hoarse roar of the Indoraptor.
“You guys stay here.” I was up and running already, no protest against it seeing the situation.
With a new wave of, very welcomed, adrenaline, I sprinted up the stairs two steps at a time. I imagined that it’d be hard to navigate a house this size, but I followed the destruction the Indoraptor left in its path. I tried not to look as I jumped over the old lady’s body, I followed the claw marks in the wood. I went up two more sets of stairs, also finding some mercenaries here, which I rushed over, not looking at the blood pooling below them.
It all led me to a room, seemingly on the top of the manor. It was a child’s room, Maisie’s. To my right there was a canopy bed, a desk and many toys sprawled out on the floor; the balcony had its door wide open, raining in; the windows were mostly of a blue stained glass, one of which was shattered. A hurricane seemed to have passed through the room, a couch was in pieces, wood was splintered everywhere, and glass and claw marks on the floor. On the foot of the bed a semi-automatic rifle was laying on the floor.
‘It’s heavier than I thought it would be.’ I picked it up. I didn’t know much about guns, but they had a few extra buttons I’ve never seen before.
Looking out the window, my heart fell. Owen and Maisie were on the extreme end of the glass dome structure, with no way out. The Indoraptor was struggling to get a footing, since the glass kept breaking under it, but it was creeping in closer through the metal bars supporting the dome. Without wasting any more time, I climbed out the window to the roof right underneath it. The tiles were slippery with the rain, and I had to get on my ass to controllably slide to a little rooftop with access to the glass roof. What I did not think I was going to find here was Blue, lying unconscious with glass all around her.
‘Please don’t wake up.’ I carefully stepped over her. ‘Please don’t bite me.
A panicked scream had me snapping my head at the glass roof. Maisie had slipped, glanding on the other side, with only Owen to hold her. Owen managed to grab onto a metal pole but still, both of them were dangling three stories up. I rushed to climb to the glass dome too, careful not to slip on the little metal stair going up the dome, I had the rifle pointing at the hybrid. I readied myself for the recoil, but when I squeezed the trigger, nothing happened. ‘Fuck.’ I had no idea how to get the safety off, or where the safety was on the thing. The Indoraptor crawled on all fours to them, while Owen fought to pull himself up.
I gritted my teeth as the loud thoughts in my head wouldn’t let me think straight. Fat raindrops hit my face, making me squint my eyes. I came all the way here, just for both of them to die. I was painfully aware of Zia and Claire probably watching it play down from right below us.
‘That’s it!’ What Claire had said about the Indoraptor following commands, that’s why this gun was all wonky and weird.
“Yo, pug fucker!” I yelled, hitting the rifle to the metal stair. The clanking echoed in the night, overpowering the storm, Maisie’s screams and the hybrid’s growls. My hands were shaking when the glowing yellow eyes locked on me, her mouth smiling in a snarl, but I raised the gun, aiming it at the Indoraptor. ‘Red for laser, right?’ I pressed the red button and a red laser pointed at its chest, its eyes following the laser.
“Let’s find out if you have an auto destruction button, shall we?” I pressed the yellow button, and a high-pitched ringing was heard. The Indoraptor bared its teeth at me, snarling as its eyes turned into slits. “No? Of fucking course not.” I chuckled nervously, taking a step back and almost slipping. A movement behind the monster caught my eye. Owen and Maisie had managed to climb back up. Owen was desperately trying to get my attention, so I averted my eyes from the snarling hybrid approaching me. Owen motioned to himself, making finger guns aimed at his chest.
‘You’re crazy.’ I shook my head vehemently, but he only motioned to himself more frantically. With a groan I relented, nodding, and he readied himself, getting into a sprinting position.
I once again turned on the laser. The Indoraptor stopped snarling immediately, following the laser beam to Owen, who opened his arms, inviting the hybrid. The Indoraptor was crouched down, claws flexing and ready to pounce and waiting for my signal. With a determined nod to Owen, I pressed the yellow button. My heart stopped as the dinosaur charged. Owen, with his crazy plan, sprinted towards it. Right when the Indoraptor jumped, Owen slid. With the help of the rain, he slid under the hybrid to the safety of the roof top to the side. On the other hand, the Indoraptor landed back on the glass dome, so hard it shattered under its weight.
My whole body relaxed at the sight, and I almost cracked a laugh remembering what stood right below us, the Den’s center piece, a Triceratops skull with its sharp horns pointing at the sky. However, soon I was tensing up again, seeing a claw hooking onto the metal structure. The Indoraptor slowly pulled itself up, balancing its body on what was left of the glass roof, just a slim metal beam. It glared at Owen, with pure hatred in its eyes.
Owen was frozen in place, mouth slightly agape while blood trickled down his face from the previous cut. Maisie was pretty much in the same paralyzed state, holding onto a pole across from me at the other side of the roof. I was breathing heavily at this point, the hybrid was ready to strike Owen and that’s all because I went along with his stupid plan. I was almost trying for the Indoraptor to self-destruct again when a new roar made all heads turn.
Blue was standing on the edge of a close by roof, high over our heads. Its claws gripped the tiles as she roared into the storm, a loud and very welcomed screech. She jumped from the roof and landed on the Indoraptor back, deep gashes appearing, but most importantly, the metal caved in with the new weight. Glass, metal and two dinosaurs were plummeting to the floor below.
It all ended with a thud and a victorious roar from Blue. The Indoraptor was impaled by two of the Triceratops horns, its body limp as a new center piece.
I rushed down, Maisie doing the same as we met Owen, who was staring at the mess below. The rain made the whole Den floor glisten red. Blue led out a last screeching roar and took off. After the Raptor left, two heads poked out from behind a fallen log.
“Hey!” Owen called.
“Owen!” Claire called back.
“You good?” Zia laughed.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “You?”
“That was-” Claire and Zia exchanged a glance. “But we still have a problem downstairs!” Claire yelled out.
…
The control room was fairly close to the elevator, so we got there in no time. It had become easy to ignore all the blood and corpses in the way, my mind was too preoccupied with Bumpy and Ben to mind that. To my relief, the toxic gas hadn’t killed off the dinosaurs, they were still in their cells as the CCTV showed, all very angry and banging against the metal bars.
“You mentioned a toxic gas?” Owen wondered, looking down into the hanger through the glass wall. “The dinosaurs seem agitated, but-”
“Cyanide is colorless, but trust me, it’s slowly filling up that room. Soon, the concentration will be enough to…” Zia glanced down at Maisie. “You know…”
Claire placed her hand over her chest. “They are all dying.”
My eyes traveled from the warning flashing signs on the main console to the CCTV. There were three Apatosaurus, if I remember correctly, but I could only see two of them. Did they sell one? No, I could spot an Apatosaurus lying in its cage. ‘Shit we’re running out of time.’ The taller Apatosaurus seemed to be a little wobbly on its feet, and the third one, a juvenile, seemed fine for now.
“The blast damaged the ventilation system, we-” Zia stopped herself, growing even paler than she already was. “Franklin did everything he could.”
I hugged Zia closer, letting her lean on me. My eyes moved from the long neck dinosaurs to search for a certain Ankylosaur.
“I can open the gates from here.” Claire was clicking one button after the other, opening the cell doors, so the dinosaurs could walk freely inside the hangar.
“Do you smell almonds?” Zia mumbled close to my ear.
Claire’s hand hovered over the button that opened the hangar doors. The only thing standing between the dinosaurs and the outside world.
“Claire, be careful. You press that button, there’s no going back.” Owen warned. “We’re not on an island anymore.”
‘Easy for him to say, Blue was already safe and sound.’ I groaned, giving up on the CCTV and heading to the window to search for Bumpy. Maybe it’d be better if she had already been sold off. I never thought I’d think that, but I desperately hoped Bumpy had been sold off. This way she wouldn’t have to die to poison gas. I wondered if it hurt…
I gasped out loud when my eyes landed on an Ankylosaur escaping her cell. Bumpy was there in all her asymmetric glory, with Ben sitting on her back.
“Ben!” I yelled, slamming my fist on the glass. “Ben!” He didn’t even seem to hear me with the chaos around him. He looked exactly like the last time I’d seen him, except for an injury on his arm. A cloth was tied around his upper arm, where blood was oozing out, trailing down his arm. His face was twisted with pain as he tried to keep pressure on the wound, but Bumpy was too agitated and he had to hold on.
“Claire, open the doors!” I pleaded.
“Hayden.” Owen called me with concern in his voice.
Claire’s hand that once was hovering the big red ‘open outer doors’ button, came to hang on her side in a fist. “Hayden, we can’t- the dinosaurs… Owen is right.”
Dinosaurs getting out was bad, yeah. But there must be a way… ‘Will you stop beating so damn fast, heart? I need to think!’ There must be a way to save them both, to save them, only them.
I spun around to face Zia, who was leaning on the table. “Okay, okay, then… you got the gas to go there, get it to come back here!” I felt a pressure building up behind my eyes, tears that wanted to fall. “Right, you can do that, right?” My voice came out desperate, without hope at this point since I already knew her answer.
She averted my gaze. “I- Franklin did it, I don’t know how…”
‘I saw that coming. It’s all fine.’ I tried taking a deep breath. It did not help. Last resort it is, but I’m taking Ben back home with me. Alive. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to calm down. ‘I can do this. If Ben got in there, I can too.’ I told myself. “Fine. Okay, yeah, so I’m going to get him myself.” I announced, already darting to the door.
I heard Claire’s protests and saw Owen already moving towards me, but none of them were the reason why I stopped dead in my tracks. No, it was the barrel of the gun aiming right between my eyes that made me stop.
“Nobody is going anywhere.” Mills spoke, gun aiming at my head.
Notes:
Yikes... now that that's is done... next chapter will be the heaviest one yet. Honestly, next chapter is the sole reason why I wanted to do the Lost Dino, looking forward to see if you guys will like it. It's also 10k. So, it's coming out in three weeks, on the 14 th dec.
Chapter 13: The Storm and the Beast
Summary:
There’s a T. rex loose in California. Again.
Notes:
Another 10k chapter, hope you don’t mind. I wrote this one so fast it didn’t feel like 10k. A certain reunion that happens here is the sole reason why I chose to write the Lost Dino, I had this in my mind for so long and it’s finally out!
TW: PTSD episode goes wild.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
“Get back inside.” Mills barked, poking his handgun onto my forehead. He was drenched, glasses broken, and his tidy suit was in disarray. He was alone this time, just him and a gun. I was already imagining what movements I’d have to do to disarm him and get onto helping Ben, but Owen had other plans. He pulled me back by the arm, giving me a stern look to which I returned it tenfold, yanking my arm back, but behaving. For now.
Mill’s aim shifted to Owen. “You! You killed my hybrid! Ruined my auction! And made a mockery out of me!”
Owen grinned. “You don’t really need help doing that.”
“You two. My patience is running thin with you two!” He spat, the weapon now aimed at Claire, but Owen promptly got in front of her. “You ruined my chance. Do you understand how much these creature’s cost? These dinosaurs are my property, the only thing that’s left from Hammond and Lockwood. My hybrid was my gold mine and-” Something in his eyes shifted from crazy maniac to hopeful. Straightening his back, he smiled maniacally. “But never mind that now, there’s opportunity in everything. Many of the auctions went through and maybe not everything is lost. I just need one thing… Maisie, get over here!” He motioned with his gun.
Maisie cowered behind Claire, while Owen took a bold step closer to Mills and the barrel of that gun. “You’re not touching her.” He growled.
“Like I fucking said.” He cocked the gun as Owen remained like a wall before him. “My patience is wearing thin! Maisie, you’re coming with me, right now!”
I could see Owen fists clenching, he was ready to move, and so was I. Certainly the ex-marine could deal with that, as soon as he moved, I was out of there. I would fucking stomp Mills’ face in myself, the guy who was keeping me in here, while Ben was down there breathing poison gas. I would end him myself if that wouldn’t take me precious time to get to Ben.
“God dammit!” Mills kicked a chair in a rage. “Just get over-”
A loud bang had me flinching back. A gunshot echoed in the tiny room, making my ears ring. Mills dropped to the floor with a thud, clutching his abdomen as his suit turned crimson. The five of us turned to face the door, where a tall, blond man stood, handgun aimed at the mess wailing on the floor.
“Cameron?” I said after the shock passed.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” He holstered his gun. “He seemed to be about to shoot.” He shrugged, kicking Mill’s gun out of reach. Mill’s screams were quick to die down to mere whimpers.
“Thank you.” Owen offered a handshake.
“What a waste of oxygen.” Zia chuckled, all the tension seemingly escaping her as she dropped to the desk’s chair.
“Yes, the dick is down, now can we hurry up?” The howls and growls coming from the hangar below were drilling into my brain, reminding me that time was running out. I peeked in the hangar, the dinosaurs were very much alive, trying to fit all in one confined space. Ben was still on Bumpy’s back, looking around frantically. There was still time!
“What’s going on?” Cameron asked, motioning to the dinosaur’s bellow.
“They’re dying.” Claire said.
Zia nodded along. “Cyanide poisoning, the gas is filling the hangar.”
“And Ben it’s down there.” I grunted. Stepping over an unconscious Mills and towards the door, when again, Owen grabbed me by the arm. “Why the fuck are you trying to stop me?” I hissed, trying to free my arm.
“It’s too dangerous, let me do it.” Owen softened his hold. “I let him go after your dinosaur-”
“Are you in position?” Cameron said, seemingly to nobody.
I didn’t have time to think what he was on about as I was too busy rolling my eyes at Owen. “Just come with me dammit, let’s go-”
“The assets are coming your way.” Cameron pressed the red button.
My breath hitched as an alarm blared along with the loud sound of the immense hangar doors opening. The whole room had their mouth gaping and wide eyes staring at Cameron, who was glancing down at the dinosaurs, looking proud of himself.
“Are you crazy?” Zia shrieked.
“What’s the matter with you?” Claire gasped.
My breath got caught on my throat. “Cameron, you…” The dinosaurs slowly made their way out of the hangar. ‘You saved Ben.’ My heart seemed to have stopped beating as a wave of exhilarating euphoria filled me. ‘Ben’s gonna be okay.’
“And they’re coming in hot.” Cameron spoke, hand on his ear as if he was talking into an earpiece. I gripped his forearm, trying to find the words to thank him. “I hope Ben’s okay.” He simply said with a smile.
“Thank you.” My voice out just a whisper as I gave him a hug that he awkwardly reciprocated. I was too happy to bother if it was weird.
I truly believed that my plan of getting in there and whisking Ben out of there was going to work. I had my doubts about fitting Bumpy through the door, but I’d think of something. But now, I didn’t have to. I didn’t care if the dinosaurs were getting out. To be honest, I did care a bit. Was it bad? Terrible? A total clusterfuck? Totally. But Ben and Bumpy were going to live.
…
I only had Ben and Bumpy on my mind as I ran through the halls. I exited the elevator in a flash and went past the dead Indoraptor without batting an eye, just jumping over the pool of blood on the floor. I left everybody back at the control room, so there wasn’t a single soul around, just my loud footsteps echoing on the wooden floor.
I pushed the front door open; having not been at the front of the house, it took me a few seconds to get situated. There was a huge staircase by the front door, made of a white stone. The night was stormy, even worse than before; a whole ass cloud covered the redwood forest surrounding the manor. It rained so hard it hurt, fat raindrops hit my face, dozens at a time as I became even more drenched. The loud sound of the rain was all I could hear. And it was dark too, the whole woods were a dark blanket. Besides the lights coming from inside the manor, the only other bright area was to my right, through the woods.
‘That has to be it.’ The smell of wet earth filled my nose as I made my way down the stairs, everything wet and slippery. I sprinted away to that section of the woods, passing a few luxury cars parked on the gravel driveway.
As I approached the woods, a flashlight came from behind a tree, blinding me.
Raising my hand to block the light, I skid to a stop. A dry laugh reached my ears, making my blood run cold. “Look who’s here.” The voice said. “Long time no see, kid.”
‘No…’ My breath hitched.
The taste of blood invaded my mouth as I stared at his face. A tanned skin from days under the sun, a shallow beard and a harsh expression, even more so as he snarled in rage. His nose was crooked, blood spewing everywhere. His lips curled up like a dog, ready to strike. Unlike a dog, he didn’t have claws, but his hands were weapons still. Hands that closed easily around my neck.
“Don’t think I forgot about you.” The pressure, the pain, the nausea… it all hit me at once. His hand was rough on my neck, callused, and his grip was strong, blocking my airways.
Desperation set in quickly. He had his whole body weight on my neck, not much to do other than gasp for air and try to scream. No sound came out. My wrists hurt as I tried to fight him. My leg burned hot almost as bad as my throat. My whole head swelled up, pressure building behind my eyes.
The world was blurry. Teal.
“Teal was pretty. Pretty...”
“Pathetic.” His laugh was seared into my brain. Smug and twisted. Mocking me as my body sized up in a world of excruciating pain.
Like a glitch to the system, that image was gone.
Hawkes, the real Hawkes, was walking towards me. My feet were frozen in place. My hands were fists beside me. My breathing was so shallow I could barely register it. The pounding in my chest accelerated with every step he took in my direction.
“I have to say I’m not surprised that you brats made it out of that place.” Hawkes said. He looked the same. Dressed the same. Sounded the same. Those same hands were the one that almost killed me. Did he have a knife this time too?
My leg was numb under me. Useless. Deadweight. A warm liquid trickled down my leg. Thick blood. I dug my nails on my palms. No. He didn’t look the same. His hair was even shorter now, almost a buzzcut and his nose was crooked to the right.
“Are you just gonna stare at me? No snarky remark? No comment? That’s an improvement if you ask me.” He snickered, shooting daggers at me. “I hoped I’d meet you again… you and your friends. I got fired, you know? You kids ruined my mission and I got fucking fired! You cost me everything!” He barked, making me flinch. “My reputation, my contract. I’m stuck working for pennies here. Working security...” He huffed.
Somehow my mind brushed over all the aggressiveness to focus on the facts. “Mills fired you?”
“She speaks.” Hawkes barked a laugh.
“Then what are you doing here?”
“Ah, yes. You do like to stick your nose on things that don’t concern you. But tell me, where are your friends? If I remember correctly, they are always close by.” I could only stare at him. I was alone this time. “Hays. That's what the brat called you, right? So where are they, Hays?”
“Hayden. It’s Hayden.” I muttered under a clenched jaw.
Hawkes snorted. “I figured you are not giving them up.” I watched as his hand reached for me. Right for my neck. I didn’t breathe at that moment; my heart probably stopped beating right then and there. “No matter.”
‘Fucking move, dammit!’ But I couldn’t. I was paralyzed. All those times I met Hawkes in my dreams, he always reached for me and no matter how I fought, it never worked. I went through all of it again and again. The pain, the pressure… knowing there was nothing I could do. No sound, no breath left me as he inched closer.
His hand closed around the collar of my cropped, yanking at it. “I wish I could say and talk, but you’re not allowed to be out here. I’ll find your friends and maybe then we can have a little reunion, just us, what do you think?” He grinned menacingly.
My fists clenched tighter. A shout. Sammy had a frozen and terrified expression on her face, hugging Yasmina close as they stood at the aim of Hawkes. Cornered.
His grin only grew. “I’d like to see your pink-haired friend again, what’s her name? The brat. All she did was annoy me, such a cry-baby.”
My eye twitched as I narrowed my gaze. “Do you ever stay silent?” A short scream of pain. Brooklynn. Hawkes was hitting her head against a wall.
Hawkes went on. “And that boyfriend of yours, huh? Pathetic kid that one. Couldn’t even take a punch. One hit and he went down. So full of himself, he actually thought he could help you…”
Tingles traveled through my body, my fists shaking. Kenji cried out in pain as a punch landed him on his back. Again and again. Punches aimed at his face.
A ghostly pain on my own knuckles flared out. “I’m really beginning to hate you.” My own voice echoed in my mind. ‘I hate you.’ I hate you so fucking much. I hate you for hurting my friends! I hate the nightmares you brought! I hate the scars that you gave me! I hate you for still being a fucking constant in my life!
The sight of two-years-ago Hawkes shifted before my eyes, now the present Hawkes stood before me. The rain almost fell in slow motion. He was holding me so close by the collar that I could feel him breathing. The way he huffed with every breath, mocking my friends. An angry twitch of an eye. The wrinkles as he smiled.
“…Wu stopped me that time, but now I’ve got a second chance. You’re here. And I’m sure your friends aren’t that far behind. I’ll find them and I’ll show how I can get the job done.” He laughed, his sickening laugh that haunted me. “I’ll leave you for last, you'll watch as I choke the life out of each one of them, starting with that pink-haired…”
‘The fuckface is going to pay.’ I was practically hyperventilating by this point. My whole body tensed up at his every word. My hands hurt at how my nails dug into my skin, but the pain was welcomed. I wasn’t frozen anymore, just waiting for the perfect moment.
“Wouldn’t you like to hurt me? For hurting the pinked haired brat? Or that weak boyfriend of yours?” His voice coaxed me to do it.
‘Damn right, I would.’
“Yeah, I’ll enjoy that. Brooke, was it?” He crackled up like a madman, dreaming about getting his hands on my friends. My family.
I gripped the wrist of the hand holding me. “You’re not fucking touching any them.” I growled.
He didn’t see it coming, didn’t even blink as my elbow made contact with his face. Hawkes stumbled back, hand shooting up to where blood started to gush out of his eyebrow. It felt good. So good that I surprised myself by smiling at the sight of a caught out of guard Hawkes. His face twisted in rage as he threw a punch. I was too busy smiling to raise my hands to defend. His knuckles landed square in my jaw, making me taste blood. I saw the next one coming and managed to raise my guard, my fists tight in front of my face. Hawkes proceeded to throw one punch after the other. If it even hurt, it didn’t register with me.
He had a good sense of gravity and had some pretty consistent punches. So consistent that I saw it coming from a mile away. I still had a smile plastered on my face as I stepped out of the right hook and shoved him away. I circled him, quick in my feet as he remained rooted in place.
“You didn’t get any better from the last time, old man.” I spat, all my disgust transpiring with my words. I couldn’t believe this was the man that haunted my dreams, he couldn’t even do shit without his buddies around. And this time, there wasn’t anyone here to knock me out from the back. My hands were not tied.
“It’s pathetic.” I put all my strength into a kick to his thigh. My shin hit his leg with a loud snapping sound, making him hiss and back away. “Stings, right? I bet it does.” I laughed, getting closer to him. A second and even more powerful kick had him limping away. “You’re pathetic. A fucking wimp. I can’t believe I lost sleep because of you.”
He showed his teeth like a fucking dog he was. “I’ll kill you, kid.” He barked. Hawkes charged at me without a second thought; his arms backing up to throw another punch. I almost laughed at the situation. Planting my feet to the ground, I lowered my body, waiting. As soon as I had my shot, I grabbed his wrist and a fistful of his shirt, throwing him over my shoulder with his momentum. Slipping on the wet grass, I dove for him in a heartbeat. A well-placed knee to the ribs made him stay on the ground, while I already had my fists aimed at his face. One after the other. I didn’t relent. Hawkes tried to guard his face with his hands, but I locked one of them under my knee. With his left hand still free, he punched aimlessly, not even close to reach my face.
I gritted my teeth. “You are not going to touch me.” I landed a shot on his eye. “You’re not going to touch my friends.” I lowered my fist so hard his head whipped back and hit the ground. “You’re not even going to think about them.” His nose cracked under my fist. “Do you hear me!?” I yelled as the adrenaline coursed through my veins. “Not…” Punch. “…a single…” Punch. “…thought!” Punch.
Hawkes was all I could see. A huge target for my fists. His left arm was still free, delivering body shots as he tried to escape from under me. A pop on my ribcage made me slow down, that’s when I switched to elbows instead. Hawkes’ eyes rolling back at my assault.
It was hard to think. The world was spinning around me, all the colors fusing together. My lungs begged for air; my head pounded as dark spots filled my vision. My mouth opened in a silent scream; it was too much. It was all too much.
“Pathetic.” Hawkes laughed at my attempts to get free. His laugh swirled around me, he was actually having fun choking the life out of me.
I lost count of how many punches I had landed. All I could focus on was his laugh, smiling down at my pain. “You motherfucker. Are you laughing?” I punched his jaw, blood splattering everywhere and getting mixed in with the rain. “Are you laughing now, huh?”
A movement caught my eye. Hawkes had managed to get his right arm free, and he had pulled out a pistol. I slapped that thing away so fast it disappeared into the night, but not before a strident gunshot was heard.
“Son of a bitch. This is a fist fight, nobody ever taught you manners?” Hawkes grunted in response, spitting blood at my face. I couldn’t even breathe with the hatred I was feeling at the moment. I couldn’t even think of anything other than hurting him. I placed both of my hands on his neck and squeezed. My fingers clenched, digging into his skin until Hawkes was gasping, and his eyes were bugging out. “Does it feel good, old fucker? Does it!? For me it does.”
Hawkes’ lips were torn and bloody, curling up in a smile. His sadistic laugh still rung in my ears. I screamed to the rain with the rest of my strength. It was muffled by the storm, but I let out all the pent-up fear, frustration and anger. I punched him until I couldn’t hear him laughing anymore. I got lost in the red. Lost at how Hawkes became unresponsive. At how my fists felt like punching his face. My fingers around his neck. I first became aware we weren’t alone when someone tried to hold my arm back. That didn’t work and I quickly got my arm free. His friends wouldn’t be so nice seeing me with their buddy like this.
If someone said anything, I didn’t hear it; all I could hear was the blood rushing through my head. Hands were on me again and I remember shoving someone so I could get back to the laughing man below me. Next thing I know, I was full on tackled to the ground. My face was pressed against the wet grass. The taste of wet earth invaded my mouth. The loose grass being blown into my mouth from the strong winds. It had just rained, but now the sun was out. The sun hurt my eyes, just not as much as the sound of the chopping blades of a helicopter cruising above me. My temple exploded in pain. A body, pressed against me.
‘Not again.’ I wasn’t going to let it.
With a grunt, I managed to get on my knees, twisting my body so I could grab them by the shoulders and shove them down. My left hand went automatically to their neck, while my other one pulled back, ready to keep punching. Two pairs of hands held me back, only making me fight harder.
“Hayden!” Someone yelled right up my ear.
“Stop!” A cry.
The whole world shifted; what before was out of focus, became vivid. If before I was on top of Hawkes, now I was trying to beat up a much more familiar figure. Yasmina .
…
Brooklynn
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” I took my eyes off the dirt road to glance at Nick on the back seat.
“Yeah, this is the middle of nowhere.” Darius nodded, on the passenger side.
“Trust me, Lockwood’s property should be coming up any time now.” Nick said, nonchalant.
Kenji, Yasmina and Sammy were in the car behind us, exchanging the same concerns through texts. We had been on the road for four hours now, the clock on the car marked just past 1 a.m. and I could barely see where the road was. The dirt road had no street lamps and on top of that, it was raining so hard I was leaning on the steering wheel to try and see in front of me. The car headlights weren’t doing much with the rain and mist. We were in the middle of californian redwood forest, thick sequoias all around. Moss and mist covered the ground, like in a horror movie, or Twilight, whatever’s creepier.
Several more minutes on that road and we came in view of a gate. Tall and made out of a dark metal, the gate connected to a fence that surrounded the whole property. It was wide open, inviting us in.
“Uh, I don’t like this.” Nick mumbled. “You’d think that they’d have heavy security if some precious dinosaurs were here.”
Darius nodded along. “I hate to agree, this is sketchy. Who leaves their gate open like this?”
“We came all this way…” I drove through the gate. The road slowly became wider and we crossed a stone bridge over a creek. There were lights shining through the woods, so we were getting closer.
“We should go on foot.” Nick suggested.
I parked the car on the curb, killing the lights, and Kenji did the same behind me. We didn’t say much as we walked over to the manor, too busy trying not to trip and fall.
‘Why I keep doing this in white shoes is beyond me.’ The road was covered in mud, and we only turned on our flashlights for a few seconds, trying not to gather attention. We didn’t come across anybody, strange enough that I began to doubt Nick’s intel. ‘What if we are just trespassing in an old man’s house?’
Turning a corner, the manor came into view, in all its Victorian glory. A stone staircase led to the front door, and several luxury SUVs and limousines were parked in a gravel entryway, enough for a party I’d say. But the manor didn’t have that many lights on, what was really drawing my attention was a building further down the woods.
“I’m heading that way.” Nick pointed at the lights. “You’re going to go look for your friends?”
“We’ll try the house, right?” I glanced at Darius, who nodded.
“We’ll look for them in the house first, then we move to the other building.” He agreed.
“Call me if anything happens.” With a wave, Nick disappeared in the woods, camera in hand.
Sammy sighed in relief, gripping Yasmina’s hand. “Yeah, let’s definitely leave the creepy woods for later.”
“Let’s go.” Kenji took the lead, turning his flashlight on.
“Okay, it’s a big house, maybe we need to split up.” Darius pondered.
“Uh-uh, haven’t you seen any scary movie, Darius?” Sammy shivered.
“Come on, Sammy. It’s gonna be fine.” Yasmina hugged her reassuringly.
“What if we run in with the house’s owner?” I asked.
Kenji chuckled. “Just smile and say, ‘we’ve been trying to reach you about your car extended warranty’.”
I groaned. “Stop meming.”
Kenji huffed. “Your friend said he’s an old man, just ignore the guy.”
“He could have guns…” Darius said.
“And what if he calls the police on us, dingus?” Yasmina shot back.
“Then we ask them to help us find Hayden and Ben.” Kenji shrugged.
I was about to argue back when an unknown voice called. “Who’s there?” Two flashlights’ beams locked on us.
“Dammit.” Yasmina muttered.
“Oh, great.” I sighed.
Kenji cleared his throat. “Hi, we’ve been trying to reach you-”
“Not now, Kenji.” Darius ushered.
Kenji was quick to shut up as soon as he realized it wasn’t an old man, but three guys dressed in all black with very scary guns pointed at us. They looked to be in their 20s, they had bulletproof vests and a windproof jacket with a logo that read ‘Biosyn’ on the chest. I frowned at that, as far as I knew, Biosyn was Masrani’s competition since he acquired InGen. ‘Is Lockwood working with them?’ No, more likely Mills was.
“This is private property.” The guy on the right said, stern.
The middle one lowered his gun. “Look at them dude, they’re just kids.”
The other huffed. “I don’t care, they shouldn’t be here. This area is off limits. Those were our orders.”
“Relax.” The nice one motioned for them to lower their weapons as well. “What are you five doing up here anyways?”
Our group was visibly tense, having guns pointed at us. Of course, in these situations, Darius was the first to speak.
“Hi, I’m Darius.” He smiled. “I’m sorry, we didn’t know we couldn’t be here.” He tried to laugh it off. “See, we are looking for our friends. Have you seen them? They’re-”
We were on the edge of the woods, the manor was well visible now and movement on the front door caught my eye. I gasped when I saw the familiar figure running out the door.
“Darius!” I gripped his arm.
“Hays!” Kenji yelled, already taking a step forward, just to be shoved back by one of the men.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? This is off limits!” The guy yelled back.
Our path was being blocked by the three-armed men, now aiming back at us as we tried to go past them. While at first, I felt relief seeing Hayden, now I could only worry. She was running weirdly, limping… no, more like hunched over, guarding her side, and she was covered in blood. ‘Why is she always covered in blood?’ This time it didn’t seem to be hers at least.
“Y’all!” Sammy gasped. “Y’all, look!”
“No…” Yasmina breathed out.
Hayden had stopped in the middle of the grass field, halfway to reach the lights beyond the woods. Another familiar figure was blocking her way. A figure I last saw in my nightmares. Hawkes . Only the name brough shivers down my spine.
I wouldn’t let her face him alone. Not again.
“Hawkes is here? Why the hell is he here?” I glanced at them, eyes widening.
“Get out of my way.” Kenji tried to forcibly get past the men, only to end up on the ground.
I felt myself in a game of tag, only our group was losing. Every time we tried to run past them, we were shoved back; we tried to sneak through an opening, we were blocked by the barrel of a gun. I looked over at Hayden, Hawkes was holding her by the collar of her shirt, but one of the Biosyn guys was trying to immobilize Darius and I had to help him. Next time I looked over, Hayden and Hawkes were throwing punches.
Anxiety was building up inside of me as we couldn’t move past the wall of three men. Kenji, surprising us all, threw a spinning kick that hit one of them square in the jaw, dropping him ice cold. ‘Hayden would totally be proud of that.’ While one of them was out cold on the ground, another tackled Kenji, and the other was tackled by Darius.
“Go!” Kenji yelled. Even though he was below the guy, Kenji was locking the guy in place, keeping him from reaching for his gun or even getting out. Darius was in a much similar situation, albeit less successful. “Go help her!” Kenji pleaded.
With a nod between us girls, we darted in Hayden’s direction. At the distance, Hayden was on top of Hawkes, the rain pouring on them as she punched him nonstop. I almost chuckled at the situation, we rushed to help her, but in the end, she didn’t need any.
Maybe I spoke too soon, because when we reached her, she didn’t even bat an eye towards us.
“Hays!” I called. She didn’t even look at me, she was just punching the unmoving mercenary below her. But the look on her face was something I’ve ever seen before, her face was twisted in a scowl, her breathing erratic in a rage fit. “Hays… stop.” I tried again.
“It’s over, stop it.” Sammy spoke. “Please.”
“It’s not worth it, come on.” Yasmina said.
She didn’t even react to us. Hayden just kept on punching. Every time she did, it was like punching a pool of blood, it splattered everywhere. Her arms, face and clothes were covered in it. And Hawkes laid sprawled out under her, unconscious. Honestly, I only knew it was Hawkes because I saw him earlier, by now he was just a bloody pulp.
“She’s killin’ him.” Sammy cried.
“Come on Hays, snap out of it.” I tried to hold her arm back. Wrong thing to do, because without even looking at me, I was shoved back. I gasped as I hit the ground. Not because it hurt, but because the Hayden I knew would never hurt me… or any of us.
“Brooklynn!” Sammy rushed to my side.
“Dammit!” Yasmina grunted as she tackled Hayden down.
They were a mess of limbs, Yasmina coming out on top with Hayden’s face glued to the grass. I was relieved for a moment, but Hayden turned Yasmina around so fast, with such ease, like she was a ragdoll. With a surprised yelp from Yasmina, Hayden was on top just like she did with Hawkes. One hand on Yasmina’s neck, the other threatening a punch, like a feral animal.
“Hayden!” I yelled, already on my feet, holding her arm back.
“Stop!” Sammy pleaded, joining me.
Hayden tensed up and froze in place, panting. Yasmina dug her nails into Hayden’s wrist, looked as shocked as we did with the turn of events, but slowly Hayden seemed to be coming to it. Her hand let go of Yasmina faster than if she was touching a hot stove.
“I- Yaz?” Hayden's voice cracked, glancing back to see Sammy and me. “I’m sorry. I- I didn’t mean to. I’m- I’m sorry.” She choked, her eyes tearing up as she relaxed on our hold. We finally let go of her and she was off Yasmina just as fast.
While I was worried about Yasmina, I knew she was okay; I was more concerned for Hayden right now. She sat on the grass with her back turned to us, staring at Hawkes. He was unrecognizable. Eyes were swollen shut, purple; his nose was doing a zig-zag, a snotty red mess; a few cuts were dripping blood from his eyebrow and head. His chest went up and down irregularly, sometimes a groan erupted from him, followed by bloody bubbles from his nose and mouth. My mind couldn’t wrap around the fact Hayden had done that to him. Not that he didn’t deserve it, if someone did, it was him. But I didn’t know Hayden had it in her. His nose was probably broken in multiple places, there were gashes gushing out blood. She would’ve killed him if we hadn’t intervened. I had no doubt about it. But how did she manage to do that much damage just with her bare hands?
I glanced down at her. The rain was slowly carrying the blood away, the black clothes didn’t show much, but her hands were less bloody by the second. Her left hand seemed fine, but the right one had begun to swell up. Hayden was shaking, like visibly shaking. Eyes locked on Hawkes.
I approached her slowly, kneeling beside her.
“Brooklynn.” Yasmina called, cautious, but I ignored her.
“Hays.” I placed my hand on Hayden’s shoulder. She flinched at the touch but didn’t react otherwise. “Hays, look at me.” I said softly.
“Is he dead?” She asked, eyes in a daze.
Hawkes’ breathing was shallow, but he was very much alive, just unconscious. “He’s alive.”
Hayden hummed in response. I could see her still breathing heavily, borderline hyperventilating, shaking under my touch. My chest hurt so much seeing her like this that I wanted to cry. I promptly got between her and Hawkes, blocking her view and forcing her to look at me. She looked at me alright, but it was like her eyes didn’t see me. I pulled her into a hug, expecting her to start sobbing, but it was the exact opposite. And that really scared me. Still shaking, she let her hands fall limp to her side, not touching me. I only hugged her tighter, her head against my chest. To my side, Sammy was hugging Yasmina, both doing a double take on Hawkes’ state. On the other side of the property, Darius and Kenji were running our way, seemingly screaming something, but the storm was just too loud.
I just concentrated on holding Hayden. Her breathing had normalized a bit, but she was still shaking, so much that I shook with her until it felt like the ground itself was shaking. Rhythmically, like drums every second or so. Then came a cracking noise, like lightning, but not exactly. A tree snapping in half so loud, the sound cut through the storm.
I froze, raising my eyes in time to see a silhouette against the lights in the woods. A Tyrannosaurus sized shadow was charging through the trees, right at us.
My mouth hung open. A dinosaur. A dinosaur in California? A Tyrannosaur!
While I was still too busy staring at the thing, Yasmina yelled in panic. “Come on, we gotta go!”
While the three of us were ready to run out of there, Hayden remained unaware of the dinosaur barreling through the trees.
“He’s moving.” She was staring at Hawkes, who indeed was moving his hand a bit.
“Hayden! There’s a T. rex coming to eat us. Move! Your! Ass!” Yasmina shouted.
She raised her head, finally snapping out of the daze she was in. “Oh.”
Both Yasmina and I yanked Hayden by each arm, earning a wince from her, but she let herself be pulled up. Sprinting towards the manor’s entrance, we slipped on the wet grass, with the wind practically working against us. Hayden kept falling behind, which was scaringly unusual for her, so I grabbed her by the hand, pulling her with me. The Tyrannosaur broke through the tree line, and with a roar, I knew Rexy had spotted us. Kenji and Darius waved us over from the front door, way too far away, we weren’t winning that race. The ground shook with every step from the ten tons dinosaur.
“The cars!” I yelled, pointing at the luxury SUV parked closer to us. It was the only way.
“Get in! Get in!” Yasmina was trying the doors.
‘Thank God rich people for leaving things unlocked.’ While Yaz and Sammy entered one silver Range Rover, I helped Hayden into a black one. ‘No keys.’ I took notice. Although the black tint on the windows was a nice touch, with the rain, Rexy would have a problem catching our scent, so she would be relying more on her sight. Even so, we crouched down on our seats.
Before we could grab onto something, before we could even move, the Range Rover spun around. The world tilted crazily as the T. rex hit the back side with full force. I’m sure I screamed at that, but I was more concerned that we wouldn’t stop spinning. With a jolt that made my head hit the window, the car ended up upside down, my face smooched against the ceiling. I heard another crash to our side and a deafening roar made me clasp my hands over my ears, a sound that I wished I would never hear again. So loud that my bones shook along with it. Or was it just my hands? I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.
The roar stopped and a ringing in my ears followed. I groaned in pain, tasting blood in my mouth as I pulled myself into a sitting position. My shoulder hurt in a way I knew it would bruise. Little pieces of glass the shape of cubes pricked my skin, leaving bloody scratches everywhere.
“You okay, B?” Hayden asked. She was laying on her side, hair full of glass.
“I’m-” Another roar cut me off. Looking through the shattered window, the Tyrannosaurus was inspecting another car, and by inspecting, I mean she was clawing at the thing, bending and scraping the metal. I gasped. “Is that Yaz and Sammy’s?”
“Shit.” Hayden tried to get up, but winced, falling back down and gripping her side.
“Did you get hurt?” I crawled over to her, the glass digging in my elbows.
“It’s not too bad.” She gave me a smile that looked a lot more like a grimace.
“Liar.” I brushed the glass off her.
She chuckled, slowly getting up to her knees. “Any ideas how to get the T. rex to back off?”
I glanced back at the dinosaur. She didn’t seem to be taking the car apart, more like curious. Now she was sniffing the trunk, like she smelled a snack.
“Um… We could try to find a car with the keys, and draw her out.” The T. rex turned around. “Never mind.” She was coming our way.
The footsteps made the earth shake, little glass shards falling from the window with every step. Hayden and I held our breaths as the dinosaur stopped right before our window. The leathery skin wet with the rain and the feet with thick claws sunk in the grass. I couldn’t see Yaz and Sammy’s car anymore, my view was blocked by the muscular and leathery legs of the dinosaur.
The rain drummed loudly on the belly of the Range Rover, now the roof. A whole minute passed and no movement. Then it was chaos. The Range Rover was lifted in the air only to be smacked back down, causing a surprise cry from both Hayden and me. The sound lost in the thunderstorm. We clung at each other as the car shook. The Tyrannosaurus’ head duck down, so her sharp teeth were right at our window. Maybe she was trying to get a look into the car, but since we were upside down, I couldn’t see her eye, just her lower jaw, where her sharp and thick teeth pointed upwards. Teeth that would shred us to pieces, with such strength that would snap us in half without effort.
I forced myself to be quiet, but my breathing was coming out ragged. It’s been two years since my life was dinosaur free. I had no problem talking about it, matter of fact, I made a point of doing so. Talking helped me move past the billions of times that dinosaurs almost killed me and my friends. If Hayden had asked me to join her on going back to Nublar, I was certain I’d have accepted it. But right now, as we were being hunted by yet another dinosaur, as the terrifying sensation of pure panic filled me… I wasn’t that sure anymore.
Hayden reached out and squeezed my hand. Her hand was warm. Slightly comforting in the midst of chaos. ‘How is she so calm?’ Fucking hell, all I could do was clung into her and hope the T. rex would leave. The car had stopped jostling around and a new cacophony of sounds surrounded us. The denting of metal, a metallic scrape, a tire bursting. She was playing with the car. Playing with us.
“Are the seats coming closer?” Hayden hissed. She was lying alongside me on a car ceiling, right at the back seats. The sound of screeching metal made me grit my teeth. My mouth hung open at the leather seats inching closer, the windows frames bending outwards, the car rapidly being compressed flat with us inside.
My breathing grew erratic, like the air was thin. “Either we go outside and get eaten or we stay and get crushed.” The seats were less than an arm of distance.
“Over here.” Hayden pulled me with her, moving so fast it made me think I had imagined her wincing in pain before. There was still space by where the passenger’s leg would be, so that’s where we crawled to. The seats were so close I had to lay flat on my back, with Hayden on top of me. I noticed her trying to get her weight on her elbows, but she crumpled on top of me when the seats pressed against her back.
We were getting crushed, I couldn’t even take a full breath when surprisingly, it all stopped. While I had gotten used to the smell of wet earth and the rain, a new smell hit me. Gas. The dinosaurs snorted above us. All I could see was part of her tail out the broken window, whipping crazily through the air. There were loud huffs and the earth shook, one, two, three times. The footsteps disappearing into the distance.
I felt dizzy. Claustrophobic. I struggled to fill my lungs with air with Hayden on top of me and the car pressed on top of us. The area of the ceiling we were before simply disappeared; the only place left was the leg space. The only light coming in was from the manor; the door by our head was bent outwards, letting some air in.
“I’m gonna try to lift the seat, see if you can crawl out of here.” Hayden said in my ear. I grunted as I tried to push with my hands, Hayden breathed hard, trying to do the same. “Just a push up, come on.” She mumbled to herself.
Her arms shook beside me, but slowly some space was created between us at her expense. I wiggled backwards, my head poking out of the door and the rain hitting my face. I smiled at the fresh air.
A shadow blocked the rain. “Kenji!” I shrieked, reaching for him.
“Pull her out!” Darius was there too.
Hands wrapped around mine and finally I was out of the car, kneeling on the grass as I could finally breathe again.
“Hayden!” Kenji called.
“In here!”
“Brooklynn!” Sammy engulfed me in a hug, Yasmina standing behind her.
“How are you guys?” I asked, noticing torn clothes and a bit of blood on Yasmina’s hand.
“Better than you by the looks of it.” Yasmina grinned.
I glanced back and sighed in relief, Hayden was out of the car and being hugged by a desperate Kenji, both still on the ground. Around us, the row of cars was a mess, there was broken glass everywhere, our Range Rover had been reduced to half its size, and Yaz and Sammy’s was resting on top of another SUV.
Yas had lots of cuts on her hand and arm, even more than me; Sammy looked a little woozy and had a big rip on the side of her pants. Hayden was, well… most of the blood from before had washed away with the rain. She was wearing all black, her pants were ripped on the knees and there were a few cuts and bruises all over her, pretty standard for Nublar. What wasn’t standard was the huge bruise on her chin, going down her neck and disappearing down her collar. Her crop top did show some skin on her waist, also colored in red and purple bruises. I noticed her wincing at every little movement before, and now, she tried to hide her grimace as Kenji hugged her tightly.
“Let her breathe, Kenji.” I said in concern.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Hayden laughed it off.
“Nothing about this is fine.” Kenji groaned, cupping her face carefully and analyzing her injuries.
Before we could inquire about what happened, Hayden asked. “How did you get the T. rex to back off?”
“We didn’t do anything, big Rexy just doesn’t like the taste of gasoline.” Darius chuckled. “If I ever seen a dinosaur gag, that was it.”
“Where did she go?” I asked.
“Into the woods that-a-way.” Darius pointed at the road we entered the property.
Yasmina groaned. “Great, there’s a T. rex free in California.”
“More importantly…” I turned to Hayden. “Hays, why the fuck is there a T. rex in California?”
“Yeah, what the heck goin’ on?” Sammy joined.
“Where’s Ben?” Darius asked.
At that Hayden’s eye went wide. “Shit.”
“What?” Darius shrieked.
“Come on.” She untangled herself from Kenji and took off running in the direction the T. rex had come from. “I promise that I’ll explain everything, but I need to find Ben first.”
“Hold up.” Kenji ran after her and we all followed.
Hayden hesitated for a second when we crossed paths with Hawkes on the ground. The boys had shocked expressions on their faces, but Ben was the priority, seeing that Hayden was already running past the man.
“You don’t know where he is?” Darius asked, bewildered.
“I know where he kinda is.” Hayden hesitated. “Probably.”
“What does that mean?” He asked, alarmed.
“Means: follow me.” She sped up.
Sammy whimpered. “Towards where the T. rex came from?”
We followed her into the woods. For someone in a hurry, it was fairly easy to keep up, she still was running kinda weird, guarding her side and taking very shallow breaths. I took a mental note to ask about what the hell was that about. But that would be later, because we reached the lights on the other side of the woods. Hayden stopped abruptly, frowning at the sight. There was a hangar-like garage, on the far back there was a huge opening with a ramp leading down to darkness. There was a stampede of dinosaurs coming out of there. Stegosaurus, Gallimimus, Parasaurolophuses, Compies, Stygimolochs, Allosaurus, Pteranodons every single species from the island seemed to be here.
Sammy gasped at the sight of two Baryonyxes. “Chaos and Limbo!”
“A Triceratops with its baby!” Darius pointed out.
Yasmina groaned. “Monolophosaurus.”
“And Compies.” Kenji scoffed.
I couldn’t even count how many per species, but more were coming out of the garage by the second. They were stampeding right across from us, entering the woods to our left. There were clear red spots on the ground where someone was stomped over, and many cars were looking similar to our Range Rover, smooshed. My eyes weren’t on any of that, though. Right on the dinosaurs’ path there were several black trucks with the Biosyn logo on the side. There were people with tranq rifles, nets and electric rods trying to hit the dinosaurs and capture them.
“Who are them?” Kenji asked.
“Biosyn.” Darius said, to which I nodded.
“They are capturin’ the dinosaurs, keepin’ them from getting’ free.” Sammy said.
“Not all of them.” Yasmina pointed out. Dinosaurs were dropping unconscious left and right, but many ran away unscathed. Fleeting to the woods.
“Keep an eye out for Ben and Bumpy.” Hayden said.
‘Why would Ben be in the middle of all this? Why is Biosyn here? Is Mills working with them?’ I groaned. “I have so many questions.”
“There ain’t no-” Sammy gasped. “Brachiosaurus!” Some of the long neck dinosaurs exited the garage.
“Apatosaurus really.” Hayden mumbled.
“There! Ankylosaurus!” Kenji pointed at the garage entrance.
All eyes were on the herd of armored dinosaurs leaving together. It was impossible not to notice the figure sitting tall on the back of one, trying to hold onto the spikes of an Ankylosaur with asymmetric bumps.
“Ben!” Darius yelled.
“He’s okay.” Hayden sighed in relief, smiling.
Ben had a freaked out look to him, but I guess anyone would be in the middle of a stampede. He was covered in mud and blood. A piece of cloth was wrapped around his biceps, blood trailing down his arm. But we didn’t have time to lose. The herd of Ankylosaurus were heading straight to Biosyn.
“Come on, we gotta help him.” Darius took off running, leading us this time. We approached the stampede, careful not to get in front of a too dangerous dinosaur. Most importantly, we were getting close to Ben. We kept shouting his name, waving our arms and trying to make him notice us while dodging the charging animals. Biosyn had noticed the Ankylosauruses too, but no tranq dart would get past their armor.
“Ben!”
At that Ben’s eyes locked on us, mostly on Darius, and a smile grew on his lips in recognition. When Ben opened his mouth to say something, he and the Ankylosaurus’ herd disappeared into the woods, Ben and Bumpy with them.
“We need to go after them.” Darius was ready to run after him.
“What we need is to get out of the middle of a stampede!” Yasmina argued.
“Watch out!” Hayden shouted.
A Carnotaurus covered in burn marks and scarred snout was barreling right at us. The dinosaur body slammed a car out of the way and almost stepped on a Gallimimus.
Kenji gasped. “Toro!”
The six of us rushed back to the cover of the trees, with Toro dashing past us towards Biosyn. There were screams, tranq darts were fired, people were stomped on and ripped in half by powerful jaws, but the Carnotaurus got away, no dart to match its speed. While the attention was turned to the carnivore, many more dinosaurs managed to escape. We would’ve stayed and watched, but Darius was already making his way back to the manor, mumbling something about following Ben in his brother’s car. I didn’t know how he’d do that, we didn’t even know where Bumpy was going and if there were roads that led that way.
While a second ago she was worried for Ben, now Hayden seemed awfully determined to go back to the manor, perhaps not for the same reasons as Darius. We were out of the woods, the manor in sight when Hayden halted, seemingly noticing something.
“Where is he?” She looked around. “Where’s Hawkes?”
I cursed under my breath when I noticed that he, indeed, wasn’t where we left him. He had to be here somewhere. Had the T. rex come back and finished the job? Had he regained consciousness and walked off? No, he was in too bad of a condition to do that.
Hayden was frantically searching for him when Kenji cleared his throat. “Um… there.”
He pointed to the edge of the woods, where a dark mound laid on the grass. It could be someone, but it could easily be a rock. With a click, Darius lit up his flashlight, illuminating the figure. Hawkes had crawled all the way there… only to be eaten by Compies. Hawkes was laying on his back, there were around seven dinosaurs around him, little snouts covered in red digging in and ripping out flesh. One was deep into his eye socket, the other was ripping his lip open, a couple were aiming to open up his throat, while the rest gorged in his guts. There seemed to be the act of a bigger dinosaur by the damage, but in the end, Hawkes was left to the rats.
“Dude, put that away.” Kenji slapped the flashlight out of Darius’ hand, turning back to a shocked Hayden.
“I did that.” Hayden muttered, eyes still on the dark mound in the distance.
“Don’t say that.” Kenji hugged her tight against his chest, blinding her from the view.
“You didn’t. He did that to himself.” I rubbed her back, desperately trying to make her feel better.
“But if I hadn’t-”
“Hey, listen to me, Haydie.” Kenji cupped her face, locking eyes with her. “This wasn’t your fault. Do you hear me? He kidnapped and almost killed you. This was karma. You don’t deserve to suffer because of him, okay? Not one minute. It’s not your fault dinosaurs were here. They killed Hawkes, not you.”
Hayden’s eyes were filled with tears. “I might as well have pressed the button myself.” She mumbled.
“I have no idea what that means, but I’m going on a whim here that you’re blaming yourself for something out of your control, like always, may I add.” Kenji earned a snorted laugh from Hayden. “See, you know I’m right, baby.” Kenji kissed her forehead softly. “I’m always right, now get that in that stubborn head of yours…” Kenji rested his forehead on hers. “…that dinosaurs killed Hawkes, not you. Come on, say it.”
She hesitated for a moment. “...Dinosaurs killed Hawkes, not me.” She sighed, leaning on Kenji.
“Good.” He hummed. “I love you, okay?”
“Love you too, Kenj.” She got on the tip of her toes to get on the same head level of him, so she could kiss him.
I awkwardly glanced away, seeing that the rest of us were doing the same and giving them space.
“Y’all, I hate to break an emotional moment, you know I love those, but um…” Sammy motioned to the staircase by the main door.
Darius gasped. “Blue!”
Four people were standing on the stairs, a woman, which I recognized as Claire Dearing, ex-operations manager of Jurassic World. There was also a kid clutched to her as they watched the man. The guy was up front, approaching Blue with an outstretched arm. The Raptor cocked her head, croaking softly as she let the man come to her. She was wobbly on her feet, limping like she was hurt. The rain had finally slowed down as we stood and watched, almost mesmerized as the man took one step after the other, no fear of the dinosaur, who seemed almost eager to meet him.
“Is that Owen Grady?” Darius shrieked.
“Yeah, that’s Owen.” Hayden said, resting her head on Kenji’s shoulder, who had one arm circling her waist.
“Aw, they are friends.” Sammy beamed, taking hold of Yasmina’s hand.
Owen was petting Blue on the snout as the dinosaur leaned into his touch. The guy was talking to the Raptor, and she was making croaking sounds back. A conversation. With a final loud croaking, it was Owen’s time to cock his head. Blue slowly stepped back, and with one final look she turned her back, running out to the wood. Owen lowered his head at that, and Claire came limping over to give him a hug, being followed close by the kid.
“Come on.” Hayden said, pulling Kenji by the hand to meet the people by the stairs.
“Hays!” The woman in the back called, leaning on the stair’s railing to get down.
“Is Ben…” Owen trailed off.
“He’s fine.” She cracked a smile. “He got away along with Bumpy.”
“That’s good.” Claire sighed. “But the dinosaurs… they all got out.”
“Most of them, Biosyn was here to grab a few for them.” I mentioned, which raised many eyebrows.
“Speaking of… where is Cameron?” Hayden asked.
“He went off on his own.” Owen frowned, glancing back and forth to Hayden and me. His eyes finally focused on me. “What do you mean Biosyn?”
“They were outside of the garage thing, ready to capture the dinosaurs with tranq guns and electrical rods, putting them away in transport trucks.” Darius quickly explained. “Hi, I’m Darius by the way! And you’re Owen Grady. The Owen Grady. Wow, I read all your work on Velociraptors. It’s really amazing how you’ve been with Blue from birth and-”
“Dude, chill.” Kenji lightly shoved him.
“Hey, Darius.” Owen awkwardly smiled, earning a chuckle from Hayden.
Claire suddenly gasped. “Nick! What are you doing here?”
We all turned on our heels, only to be met with a flash of a camera. Nick van Owen was standing there, camera aimed at us as he took a puff out of his cigarette.
“Nice seeing you, Claire.” Nick grinned.
There was a moment of introductions of pretty much Hayden going around saying our names. The woman in the back looking white as paper was called Zia, and the little kid was Maisie Lockwood, as in granddaughter of Benjamin Lockwood, who was apparently dead. Sammy sat next to her, who looked terrified of everyone and everything; Hayden went over to Zia, with a concerned frown on her face while the adults were talking on the side.
“It’s worse, isn’t it?” Hayden placed a hand on Zia’s arm, who was leaning heavily on the railing.
“By worse do you mean that I’m slowly bleeding out and can barely stand straight?” Zia’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “Yeah.”
“We’re getting you to a hospital.” Hayden glanced around, all the fancy cars were either upside down or torn to pieces. “Do you guys have a car?” She turned to us.
“Right that way.” I pointed at the road.
“So, are we not going to talk about how you ran off to Nublar?” Yasmina pitched in.
“Yeah, without telling us!” I crossed my arm, glaring at Hayden.
“Guys, maybe now it’s not the time…” Darius tried to reason.
“Yeah, cool it y’all.” Sammy said.
Kenji, who one second ago was attached to Hayden’s hip, now stepped away from her, fists bawled on his side. “Like, I’m really glad that you’re okay, but what was up with you going off to danger without any regards to your own safety? You always do that! You do your thing without thinking of anyone else.”
Hayden straightened up her posture. “Everything I do is thinking of Camp Fam. You know that.”
Kenji groaned. “That’s not what I meant. We could’ve helped if you had told us. It's like you want to go through all of that again. You brush past things that happened like it didn’t hurt you, when it obviously did. And you never tell me what’s going on.” Kenji was letting all his frustration out, turning a deep shade of red.
“I was just trying to-”
“Protect me. I know.” Kenji cut her off. “I don’t need any protecting. You don’t get to make decisions for me.”
Hayden visibly gulped down at that, while her friend chuckled.
“Hays, your boyfriend is kinda stupid.” Zia slurred her words.
“Shut up, Zia.” Hayden snapped at her. “You’re the one who convinced me not to tell him in the first place.”
“But he has a point. You didn’t even tell anymore you got tortured on the ship.” Zia said, matter-of-factly.
“What?” Kenji shrieked so loud all the heads turned, even the adults seemed focused on our conversation.
My eyebrows shot up. “You what?”
Sammy gasped. “Jesus Christ on a T. rex. Is that true, Hays?”
“Nice one, Zia.” Hayden groaned, then turned back to us. “She’s exaggerating it. Wheatley didn’t torture me, it was just a few punches. I didn’t tell anyone ‘cause it wasn’t a big deal.”
She was clearly trying to soften the blow, and I wasn’t having it. “Is that why you can’t even walk straight?” I placed one hand on my hip.
“And the bruises in your face.” Yasmina pointed out.
“Those are from when I crashed a car escaping the volcano. From the punches maybe… a few broken ribs.” Hayden’s voice got really quiet.
“A few- are you fucking serious!?” Kenji yelled.
“Kenji, inside voices, please.” Sammy said. “Is it bad, sure, but-”
“Fighting Hawkes probably didn’t help.” Yasmina rolled her eyes.
“Being tossed around inside a car because of Rexy didn’t help either, right?” Darius nodded knowingly.
“Being tossed, what now?” Zia muttered.
Hayden sighed deeply, massaging her temple like she had a headache. ‘She kinda deserves it after the headache she gave us.’
Sammy shot upright, scaring the bejesus out of Maisie. “God dang it! I’m near about done with y’all! Why are all y’all gangin’ up on her right now?” Sammy’s outburst had every single one of us turning silent, her voice like thunder making us cower back. The Texan accent getting thicker with each word. “Y’all say that you’re worried for her but don’t act like it. Wake up. None of this matters now, so stop with the dadgum lecture!” Sammy’s gaze was fierce, staring at each of us, calling us out. After a second or so, her voice turned back to its normal volume. “Darn turd monkeys, she needs a hospital, all ‘em do.”
“I- I’m gonna get the car.” Darius mumbled, escaping Sammy’s gaze.
Yasmina ran her hand up and down Sammy’s back, trying to calm her down. “I’m sorry, Sammy, you’re right. Now is not the time.”
Kenji had changed his whole demeanor with Sammy’s words, going back to stand by Hayden, holding her gently. “Does it hurt too bad, Hays?”
She gave him a half-smile. “When I breathe, a little bit.”
I scoffed. “That’s a lie.”
“Brooklynn.” Sammy said my name as a warming.
‘Fucking Yaz teaching Sammy the death glare.’
I stomped my foot. “What? She’s clearly lying!”
With a huff, Sammy’s death glare panned over to Hayden, who cowered before it. “Jeez, okay, okay, don’t look at me like that. It hurts! Hurts a lot.” She admitted.
“Hays, you have really loud friends, and that’s coming from me.” Zia muttered, sounding a lot more slurred than before. “Seriously, I can’t even pass out in peace from all the noise.”
She must be waiting to time out the moment cause her eyes rolled back instantly. Her body went limp on top of Hayden, who, with a ‘oof’, almost fell backwards in the stairs if not by Kenji holding both of them. Hayden cried out for Claire and everybody crowded Zia, with more concrete plans to head out to the hospital.
Notes:
I never bought the Maisie-feels-compasion-for-the-dinos-because-she’s-an-clone-too-so-let’s-fuck-this-shit-up storyline. I feel she’s too smart for that, like obviously freeing the dinosaurs is bonkers, sure you can get sad they are gonna die, but come on! So, I changed it all and blamed on a third party. Hope it made sense.
And since Hawkes died in canon, I thought it was fitting he would die here too. Although, I had a more Lost World novel approach. Which is always my favorite approach if you hadn’t already noticed bwahahaha
Also in case you didn’t notice, I’m a sucker for a classic Jurassic Park car scene.
Aaaand we are back to normal posting days. Each two weeks. We are getting to the end of this fic, 3 more chapters to go so I can tie things up. I still don’t know how to feel about that, but don’t worry, I still have one or two surprises up my sleeve.
Chapter 14: Waiting Game
Summary:
Turns out claws and fangs aren’t the only threat from dinosaurs.
Notes:
It's the 28th, but merry christmas to those who celebrated, and happy new year in a couple days
Chapter Text
Hayden
Time wasn’t moving fast enough. It pained me that I didn’t pay much attention to Zia. Her collapsing shouldn’t have been a shock, all the signs were there, but I overlooked them all. Now that things had calmed down, my thoughts traveled to the car in front of us, wondering how she was holding up. There were only two cars for us all, so I ended up cramped in Darius' brother’s car with Camp Fam, except for Ben, who had his own ride. We still hadn’t heard from him, I’m not even sure how we’d hear from him, but he was with Bumpy, and breathing fresh air, so I trusted he was fine. I had to trust he was fine.
From what Yasmina said, the nearest hospital was 40 minutes away, so all I could do was get comfortable. And let me tell you, it was an impossible task, now that I wasn’t in a life-threatening danger, all the pain came crashing in like a 100 tons Brachiosaurus. If I moved, I swear I discovered new muscles every time; even my toes were hurting. ‘What’s that about?’
I wanted to take a nap, but my restless mind didn’t let me. The glooming silence in the car didn’t help either. Not even the radio was on. Yasmina was driving with Sammy on the passenger’s side, I was on a window on the back, sitting on Kenji’s lap with my legs on Brooklynn’s, and on the other window sat Darius.
“Rexy seems as friendly as I remember her to be.” Sammy broke the silence.
“Yeah, dinosaurs in California… who would’ve thought.” Darius said, almost in a daydreaming state looking out the window.
“That’s gonna be a hell of a problem…” Brooklynn trailed off, peeking at me with the corner of her eye.
Kenji hummed. “A ginormous one, yes.”
The tension on the car just went up a notch, with all eyes on me. I snuggled myself into Kenji, resting my head on his shoulder.
“Is that you guys’ way to ask what happened?” I asked.
Sammy hesitated. “You’re worried about your friend, and we didn’t want to pressure you…”
“But, yeah, spit it out.” Yasmina finished with grace.
“Smooth.” I sighed.
Telling them all the story was faster than I imagined it. There weren’t many interruptions. They were happy to know that our camp had survived two years on its own. Not my best moment, but I told them how I went off on Claire when I found out about Wheatley’s real orders, then about our plan. Naturally, they were baffled at Wheatley trying to buy me to get the Scorpios remains, and I did get some praise with the Genetics’ lab trick. It obviously didn’t play out how I hoped, but they didn’t chastise me for leaving him to die, after all, the volcano was going off. Not that I knew it would do that, but still… In the end, there was nothing I could do against mother nature. I skimmed past what happened as the boat left the island. That pier… even thinking back at all those dinosaurs dying, their cries made my stomach churn, and I didn’t want those images in their minds.
The cat was out of the bag at this point, Zia had mentioned it already. But did I downplay what happened with Wheatley? Yes. Did Brooklynn call me out on it? Also, yes.
Now Lockwood estate was a creepy place. They seemed to agree with me that it was weird to get ‘special treatment’ from Wu. This time I didn’t tone down on the brawl that went on in that lab. Blue was a killing machine, a nice one though… most of the time… and if Owen was around. They didn’t hold back on their comments when I explained the toxic gas problem, but that was quickly overshadowed by the Indoraptor. Kenji’s hold on me tightened at every close call, to the point that I had to ask him to relax a bit and be delicate with my ribs.
My voice faltered when I told them about Franklin, Kenji’s hand returning to a tight hold that I didn’t push away this time, leaning into the warmth coming from his body. It was easier to talk about how the Indoraptor died. Darius let out a comment about how Blue is always saving the day, I couldn’t agree more, even if she had injured Zia.
Then came the matter of the toxic gas. Before I could mention Ben, Brooklynn and Darius said pushing the button was the right thing to do. Although I doubt they would actually push that button if it came to it, or at least hoped. So, when I told them about Ben, everyone would have pushed it. I became a bit frantic talking about Owen and Claire’s reluctance, and then came relief with Cameron. I didn’t care what his agenda was, I was grateful.
Worrying that Ben had breathed in some of the toxic gas, I was anxious as hell, and I had to make sure he was okay. That’s when I found Hawkes. I didn’t actually remember much of it, which was freaky even for my standards. I only remember the rage running through my veins.
The silence was loud, and I realized I had stopped talking as I mentioned Hawkes’ name.
“So, um…” I cleared my throat. “They rest you know.”
“That was… a lot.” Brooklynn sighed.
“It’s over now.” Kenji mumbled, cupping my cheek and kissing my forehead lightly. I hummed in response, shutting my eyes as I melted up to his side. We were all soaked from the rain still, so it was a relief to feel his warmth. It was cozy. Even more now that hints of Kenji cologne reached me. Woody and sweet.
Even if I felt drowsy and tired, I didn’t feel like it was over. Not because dinosaurs were now running free, but because Zia was hurt, and Ben wasn’t with us. They already knew we saved Bumpy, so I left that part out, hoping Ben would tell them all about it when we meet again. Also, I didn’t mention anything about Maisie. I didn’t know I could really trust any information coming from Mills and truthfully, it freaked me out a bit that they could create a human like that. Not belittling Maisie, she seemed like a nice kid, but it’s just like Wu said, the last great scientific breakthrough was the atom bomb and look how that turned out, I imagine the ramifications that human cloning will have…
I let out a deep breath, my eyes burning with exhaustion. “Can we continue this later? I think I’ll take a nap.” I said. “Yaz, please, try not to crash on a rock this time.”
She scoffed from the driver’s seat, while Kenji shook me until I opened my eyes with a groan.
“I don’t even know how bad you’re hurt, it’s best if a doctor takes a look at you first.” Kenji said. I could hear the concern in his voice, but also some coldness to it. And I’ve been hearing this since the first words we exchanged today. The thing was, I didn’t blame him, I’d be angry at me too.
Sammy turned to us, nodding. “Yep, they always say to stay awake in movies.”
“Guys.” I sighed. “I’m just ‘tired’ tired, not ‘I’m gonna die’ tired. I should know the difference by now.”
“Will you stop making jokes at your own expense?” Brooklynn smacked my leg.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re too bossy for your size.” She smacked me again with a scowl “What? I’m not joking at my expense this time.” I protested.
“She’s got you there, B.” Darius chuckled.
Kenji was adjusting his hold on me, matter of fact he was doing it so often that I was becoming a bit self-conscious about my weight. “Sammy, can you get the lights?” He said.
“Sure can.” She flicked the switch and I had to blink the bright lights away.
Kenji’s breath hitched under me. “Hays, you’re bleeding.” He raised his hand from my waist, his fingers now painted red.
“That’s probably Zia’s… or Hawkes’.” I brushed it off. Between the days in Nublar, the rain and all the blood that was spilled tonight, I did feel dirty. “Sorry, I must be getting all on you.”
“No, it’s fresh.” He pressed, his hand returning to my waist.
I hissed at how it stung. “Easy there!”
“Let me see.” Brooklynn leaned in, lowering the waist of my pants a bit. It only took a second, but just by whatever injury entering in contact with air, it burned like a son of a bitch. “You got shot?” Brooklynn yelped, followed by small gasps from the others. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“What?” I froze as somewhat of a silence filled the car, everyone hooked on Brooklynn’s words. ‘I don’t feel shot.’ I remember being shot at, but I don’t think any bullet hit me.
“It’s only a graze, but that’s a bullet wound for sure.” She went on.
My shoulders relaxed instantly. ‘Just a graze then…’
“Holy cow!” Sammy sighed, hand over her heart.
“Yeah, next time start with that, Brooklynn.” Yasmina reached for Sammy’s free hand.
I was grabbed, punched, tackled, jostled around and shot at so many times tonight that it all was a blur in my mind. Many guns went off in the lab, but most were aimed at Blue. I don’t think that was it. Maybe it wasn’t a bullet graze, maybe Blue or the Indoraptor’s claws just came too close at some point… or was it more recent?
“Oh, I think Hawkes had a gun at some point.” I finally said.
“You think?” Kenji exasperated.
I shrunk under his tone. “I don’t know, he might’ve.”
“Either he did or he didn’t. So what was it?”
I frowned deeply, my gaze focused on the back of Yasmina’s seat as I tried to recall what went down between Hawkes and me. Did he have a gun? I remember him punching me, not shooting. Maybe towards the end. “I mean, it all happened so fast. But it doesn’t really matter anymore.” I got quieter with each word, struggling to remember exactly what happened.
Kenji huffed. “My ass it doesn’t matter! He shot you!”
“I don’t know if he did. Maybe it was another mercenary… I don’t know.”
“How do you-”
“Kenji! Just drop it, okay?” Brooklynn cut him off. Kenji huffed, but complied. “Hays is right, it doesn’t really matter.” She pulled a first aid kit from her backpack, and with a bunch of gauze, she pressed on my waist.
“Ow! That hurts!” I flinched away.
She glared at me. “Good.”
…
The hospital wasn’t much, a beige, one floor building in a little town in California. It didn’t matter though, as long as they helped Zia. She was still unconscious. Owen carried her into the emergency room while we followed. Brooklynn’s friend, Nick, was helping Claire walk while Kenji did the same for me.
Thank God the place was open 24 hours, and that the ER was empty, so Zia got to see a doctor right away. I didn’t pay much attention to him, other than he being very tall, because a nurse came to speak to me, looking very alarmed. While she talked to me, I let Kenji answer it, as I was too busy peeking beyond her to see where the doctor was pulling Zia away on a gurney. ‘Did he say something? I should learn to read lips at this point. He doesn’t look chill, though.’ Before I could decipher what Zia’s doctor was saying, I was put on a gurney myself and a lot of equipment was hooked onto me.
“She might be in shock. We’ll have to wait for the doctor to come.” The nurse said, turning to Kenji. “Are you with her? What exactly-”
“I’m not in shock.” I protested, even though my heart rate was peeking 120 bpm while laying down. “It’s just painful to breathe. Now, is my friend gonna be okay?”
Even though I asked multiple times, I didn’t get any answers. Instead, I got separated from Camp Fam, with a curtain drawn around me while the doctors poked, probed and asked a million questions. It got annoying real fast. ‘Why do they need to know how an injury happened? Just treat the injury and move on, people!’ When it got to the point where their questions became to give away that they thought my boyfriend did it, I had to be more forthcoming. No need to tell them about dinosaurs though, since they wouldn’t believe me anyways. Not that it mattered, soon everybody would find out. What saved my ass was that I was over 18 and they didn’t need to call my parents. Now that was a conversation I did not look forward to. Considering the amount of tests they were running on me, I’d have to do it sooner rather than later. I couldn’t help but worry about how much this would cost. CT scans, X-rays, blood tests… all the works.
At some point it was just me in a hospital room, feeling awfully vulnerable wearing the hospital gown and only a thin blanket to cover me. I don’t know how I fell asleep like that, but next thing I knew I was waking up with Brooklynn sitting next to me, nose deep on her phone.
“What? No jello this time?” I chuckled, my voice hoarse from sleep.
“Finally.” She looked up at me. Behind her, the window showed me that the sun was rising, so I wasn’t out for that long. She cracked a smile. “Never make us drag you to the hospital again, the paperwork is a pain.”
“I’ll do my best.” I smiled back. Whatever medicine the doctor had given me, it was still doing its thing. It wasn’t magic, I could still feel my sore ribs, the burning on my waist and my aching bones, but it was all partially numbed. “Where is everybody?”
“In the waiting room. Visiting hours ended a long time ago, but they made an exception. Only one person is allowed at a time.”
“Oh.” I simply said, disappointed. Not that I didn’t like having Brooklynn on my hospital bed, but she wasn’t exactly the person that I wanted to see right now.
“He thought it was best if I came.” She explained, as if reading my mind.
“Oh.” I repeated, sighing. “Kenji’s mad at me, right?”
“That’s an understatement.” She huffed, returning her attention to her phone.
Brooklynn’s clothes looked dry, so it really had been a while since we had been in the hospital. There were tiny cuts all over her hand, arms and some of her face; all looking clean and taken care off. Of course, I knew those were from the T. rex attack, but still, in the back of my mind I asked myself if I had done that to her. And the guilt was eating me alive.
“Hey, B.” I called. She hummed in response, but didn’t raise her eyes from her phone. “Brooklynn.” I tried again. Maybe it was her full name or the serious tone in my voice, but she finally looked up with a concerned frown. “Are you hurt? Did you get checked out?”
“I did, nothing too bad.” She dismissed me with a wave of her hand.
My mouth was dry all of the sudden. “Did- did I hurt you?”
She chuckled. “You probably saved my life, if it weren’t for you, I’d be sandwiched by the car.”
“No, I mean… before.” I cleared my throat, hesitating for a bit. “With Hawkes. My memory it’s a bit fuzzy on the details, but I think I- I pushed you.”
“Yeah.” Her voice was small.
My ribs protested as I tried to get up. “Look, I really didn’t mean it, okay? I’m so sorry. I swear I would never-” I only managed to get on my elbows before Brooklynn placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“I know.” She said softly. “You weren’t yourself. It’s all good.”
“But seriously, I would never do that to you. To any of you. That’s never happening again, you hear me? Never.” I said, decidedly.
I looked at me with her big sad eyes. “I won’t hold it against you, but… you got me worried there for a second.”
“I got worried too.” I lied back down, letting my head sink on the pillow. “Thanks for showing up when you did.” She squeezed my shoulder reassuringly, while the other had her unlocked phone angled towards me. “What’s that?” I asked, eager to change the subject and curious about what had her so focused before.
“It’s this new site that came up right after Mt. Sibo news, Dark Jurassic.” She showed the phone which was opened in a page much similar to reddit. “There’s already been some sightings around this area, dinosaur sightings.” She let out a heavy sigh, putting the phone away and leaning back on her chair. “Everybody thinks those are pranks so far, but things are going to get bad out there.”
“It can’t be that bad right… there aren’t that many dinosaurs after all…” I trailed off, hopeful. Well, the glance Brooklynn shot back at me wasn’t hopeful at all.
We were interrupted by a doctor coming into the room, looking awfully tired behind her wide glasses and somewhat messy hair. Either way, she opened a smile. “Ms. Simmons, I’m glad you’re up. We finally have your test results back and I have to say, it was a hell of a car crash.” She chuckled lightly, paying no mind to Brooklynn’s and my awkward laughs. “As I told you, I already suspected of broken ribs, you have one on the left side and four on the right ride; due to the violence of the crash, you were lucky, the ribs kept in place and did not perforate the lungs, but there is a contusion on your right lung.” I nodded along. Nothing I didn’t expect. “Also, both in the imaging and the blood work accused of a liver laceration from the blunt trauma, it’s a grade II, so no surgery is required.”
“That’s good… I think.” From her look it really wasn’t. “And the pain on my shoulder?” I inquired.
“Ah, yes. Often the pain from the liver can shoot up to the shoulder, it should diminish as your liver and ribs heal.” She explained, to which I nodded. “The nurses patched up the graze on your waist, no stitching required since it was not that deep of a wound.”
“And her hand?” Brooklynn asked.
“The fifth metacarpal bone is broken unfortunately. It’s a boxer’s fracture but also pretty common if you had your hands on the steering wheel while crashing the car. I’ll prescribe something for the swelling and pain. The bones are in place, so you’ll just have to wear a splint for approximately six weeks.”
‘Rather a splint than a cast.’ I raised a brow. “How about the ribs and liver? How long ‘till it’s back to normal?”
“Your ribs should heal on their own after 6 weeks or so, but when it comes to the liver… 4 months in your case, at a minimum. I can prescribe some pain medication, but that’s really all there is to it. We’ll keep you for overnight observation with the IV hydration, and we’ll reevaluate again in the morning.”
‘Bitch, what…’ That had to be a joke. 4 months? ‘Ain’t no way.’
“So, bed rest, painkillers and keep the splint on the hand, is that it?” I listed the things in my head.
She nodded. “Yes, any more questions?”
“Where do I sign my discharge papers?” I promptly asked.
“Hayden.” Brooklynn glared at me, judgment clear in her tone.
“I advise you to stay overnight, if-”
“I really mean no offense here, doc, but I can stay on bed rest at any bed.” I tried to put a smile on my face.
The Doctor sighed. “Do you understand that your discharge would be against medical advice, right?”
“I do.”
She nodded. “I’ll inform your nurse and she’ll get everything ready. I assume you’ll need a doctor’s notice for your classes…” I gestured ‘yes’. “Right, the nurse will give you the prescription for the painkillers and she’ll print all the necessary care you’ll have to take for your injuries. I can not stress it enough, bed rest. Strict bed rest for at least the first week. And hydrate a lot!” She insisted.
I beamed at her. “You got it, thanks doc!”
The doctor had barely left the room and Brooklynn was already huffing at me.
“This is so dumb.”
I chuckled. “Come on, help me find my clothes.”
…
The waiting room of the small hospital was crowded by our group. Owen, Claire, Maisie and Nick were on the corner, where Darius was trying to converse with Owen. Claire had her pants ripped to the wound on her thigh, where it was neatly wrapped in bandages, while Owen had the cut above his eye stitched shut. Sammy had her eyes closed and head resting on Yasmina’s shoulder, who looked to be sitting uncomfortably straight. Both of them looked similar to Brooklynn as in with tiny glass cuts all over, but they seemed to also have been cleaned. Kenji was unharmed, sitting on the other corner, shoulders tense and knee bobbing up and down.
As soon as we stepped into the room the air changed. Claire and Owen tensed up, glancing at me as if expecting somebody else; and Kenji hurried to my side.
“What are you doing here?”
I frowned at his wording, but decided to ignore it. “I got discharged.” I stated.
As always, Brooklynn corrected me. “She discharged herself.”
“Never mind that, any news on Zia?” I turned to Owen and Claire.
Claire sighed. “She’s just got out of surgery, turns out the cut was deeper than she let on and she was bleeding internally. We’re waiting for her to wake up.”
It took me a while to take in her words. I wanted to scream at how stupid Zia was to let it get to this point, but only the thought of raising my voice made my ribs ache. I dropped to the hard chair next to Kenji, my bones still sore from exhaustion. Much to my annoyance, my eyes automatically closed as I rested my head on his shoulder, maybe ‘bed rest’ wasn’t really a bad idea. But I fought against sleep. I wouldn’t fall asleep when at any minute I could hear from Zia.
I sensed Kenji had tensed up beside me. I really wanted for him to wrap me in a hug right now, even if there was an armchair between us. Since it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, I contented myself on leaning on him.
“Thank you for coming for me, Kenj.” I whispered, hoping to break the ice.
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Hayden.” Kenji lovingly rested his head on mine, but his words came strained, and he called me by my name, which was always a tell. I really didn’t have much to say after that, not in a room full of people, or maybe I just wasn’t feeling that confrontational after the day I had.
Against my wishes, I dozed off, but I woke up with my neck stiff as a board and the room with much more natural light. Kenji was asleep next to me, head leaned back on the wall. On my other side, Brooklyn was much the same. I think only Owen and Darius were up, talking quietly.
Looking at the clock mounted on the wall, it was close to noon, and apparently there was no news on Zia. I carefully got off Kenji, hoping he wouldn’t wake up. I was moved solely by the rumbling on my stomach, so with a nod to Owen and Darius, I went to find a bathroom then something to eat. The bathroom was easy enough to find and I took my time fixing my hair and getting most of the blood from my clothes. Next up, I followed the scent of fresh coffee. It was next to the hospital’s entrance, something that I totally overlooked first coming in. The cafeteria was a nice break from the whiteness of the hospital’s wall. My mouth was salivating at all that breakfast food on display, but alas I didn’t have any money. I was sighing in defeat when I heard my name being called.
“Hayden?”
“Cameron?” I turned around in surprise. “How are you here?”
He shrugged. “This was the closest hospital, and after everything that went down, I figured this would be your first stop. I’m glad that I was right.” He opened a bright smile, to which I just stared dumbfoundingly. “I came to get you your stuff since Wheatley won’t be needing it anymore.” He cracked a laugh.
“You know about that, huh?” I smiled.
“Not only that. I’m sorry about Franklin.” His face turned serious. “And how’s Zia doing?”
I averted my gaze. “She’s out of surgery, we’re waiting for her to wake up.”
“I hope she gets better.” Cameron said, sounding honest.
A weird tense silence built between us. He clearly wanted to say something else, and I was torn between thanking him again for saving Ben and asking what the hell was all that about.
“So, um… I have your backpacks in my car.” He motioned to the door.
“Thanks.” I mumbled as I followed him outside. “You didn’t have to do this.”
He mumbled something unintelligible in response. “I guess I never asked, cause you look fine, but how are you? Jones can pack a mean punch.”
I shrugged. “Eh, a few broken ribs, I’ll live.”
Cameron nodded as we walked in silence. He was slowing down to match my speed, even with the painkillers, the pain flaring up from my ribs was ever present. Some part of my mind couldn’t help but be suspicious of Carmeron, he had come out of his way to allegedly check on us? There has to be something else to it. Did he still have that gun he used to take down Mills? He hadn’t even blinked while doing it. I know he was military, but that just seemed extra heartless, no? But again, it was Mills. Nobody in their right mind would regret pulling that trigger. Just as I wasn’t sad that Wheatley met his end the way he did. Perhaps the same could apply to Hawkes. Not that I was happy he was dead, but I still dreaded how it happened. And the part I played in it. I wondered how much experience you have to have to do something like shoot a person and not even blink. I glanced up at Cameron; he looked calm, happy even. I guess whatever plan he was hiding from us worked.
“You’re with BioSyn.” I blurted out, not as a question, but as a fact. Nothing else would explain his actions. While I wanted to believe that he pushed that button because he loved dinosaurs, or because of Ben… Him being BioSyn was the only explanation.
Camreon took a deep breath, turning to face me. His expression didn’t betray any emotion, though. “It’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
“I’m not with BioSyn, not really. I was just doing someone a favor. Family…” He sighed, his shoulders hunching over. “...can be complicated, but I owed it to my uncle. But part of me really was there for the dinosaurs, it was going to be my only chance to see them.”
I nodded. “Police are going to ask how the dinosaurs got out.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sticking around for that, but it’ll be wrong to lie to the cops.”
“So…”
“Tell them the truth.” Cameron stated, stopping in front of a dark sedan, looking like a rental. I watched him open the door and pull out two backpacks, mine and Ben’s.
“Did you know about the auction from the start?” I asked. As he gave me the backpacks, I had the urge to check if everything was in there, a rather rude thing to do in front of him, so I just dropped them to my feet.
He leaned on his car. “No, I first heard it from you guys.”
I scoffed. “Could’ve fooled me.”
“BioSyn wasn’t interested in selling the dinosaurs, they wanted them captured. My job was to get the location of the Sanctuary, but when it was clear that the place never existed, then plans changed.”
“You pressed that button so BioSyn could get their hands on the dinosaurs.” I concluded, trying not to be judgmental. In the end, BioSyn looked to be the same as the rest…
Cameron nodded. “Those were my orders, the dinosaurs are too valuable to die like that. The goal was to capture as many as possible, but… well, things got out of hand. We are still looking for the dinosaurs that escaped, but many escaped…”
“Any luck with the Ankylosauruses?” I cut in, eager for some news on Ben.
He grinned mischievously. “For some reason, we couldn’t get a hand on any Ankylo. BioSyn thinks it’s better if they focus on the carnivore ones, do some damage control. Statistically speaking, it’s unlikely that we’ll find them all. I’ll make sure your friend is not a priority.” He rested his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, your dinosaur will be safe.”
I smiled brightly at the news. “Thank you. I have no idea why you are doing this, but thank you.”
“People tend to judge BioSyn because of mistakes of the past, they want to make things right. So do I, you didn’t deserve what Wheatley did to you, nor what the Indoraptor did.” It was hard to read the mask on Camreon’s face when he sounded so honest.
“You say you’re not with BioSyn, but you’re quick to defend them.”
“Family is complicated. My uncle is complicated, you don’t get to be CEO without getting your hands dirty somehow, but he really means well.”
“BioSyn, Mantah Corp, InGen, Masrani… they all want the same thing, and it always ends up with new hybrids being created or people dying… often both.” I shook my head.
“They want to preserve these animals. The original ones, not create hybrids.” He said confidently. “They understand the value of these creatures. They are strictly about research, they want to offer sanctuary, a true one, not like Mills, so they can study their immune systems. Hopes for diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's. They’ll be in the saving lives business.”
It all just sounded like propaganda to me, yet Cameron truly seemed to believe it. All I could do was to give him a sad smile. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
With a squeeze on my shoulder, he let go, looking past me. “I should go, your friends don’t seem that happy that you’re out here with me. I put my number on your phone, update me on Zia, will you?”
“You got it.” I glanced back to see Brooklynn and Kenji walking fast in our direction. They did not look happy. I dreaded the inevitable lecture that would come. With the sound of his car turning on, I looked back at him. “And Cameron… thanks again.”
He smiled. “Bye, Hayden.” With that he closed his door and pulled out of the parking spot.
“There you are!” Brooklynn glared at me.
“Who was that?” Kenji asked, stern.
“Cameron.” I said. “He came to drop these off.” I motioned to the backpacks.
“Is that all he came to do?” Kenji inquired.
“And to check on Zia.”
“Don’t walk out on us like that.” Brooklynn crossed her arms at me.
“I’m sorry, I was looking for the cafeteria.” I explained.
Both of them looked skeptical. “Come on, your friend is awake.”
She didn’t need to say anything further to get me to walk back inside. The visiting hours were already open, so Owen, Claire, Maisie and Nick were already in Zia's room while the rest of the Camp Fam stayed in the waiting area. I followed a nurse to the room. I tried to get at least Brooklynn to come with me, but she thought it would be weird.
I was not ready for what I saw in that hospital room. Zia looked even worse than when we had dropped her off with the doctors. She looked so frail, with bags under her eyes, the machine connected to her had her heartbeat crazy high and the IV was almost dry. No way the doctors just left her here like that.
“Why are you just standing there, Hays? Get over here before I die.” Zia uttered, in clear discomfort.
“Jesus, don’t say that, Zia.” I huffed, getting to the side of her bed.
“Weiner.” She chuckled.
“Take this more seriously, Zia. You almost died.” Claire said.
“So, what’s the verdict?” She asked.
“The doctor said the surgery went well.” Claire explained.
“Then why do I feel like shit?” Zia
“You also look like shit.” I added with a smirk.
“Right back at you, damn zombie.” Zia cracked a smile.
I gasped. “Who are you calling zombie? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”
“We should take a picture together, no?” She laughed, but soon her laugh became a scowl of pain.
“Maybe later.” I mumbled, reaching out to hold her hand.
The sound of the door opening had all of us turning to look. The tall doctor that tended to Zia first, was back, looking very dreadful to have good news.
“Doctor.” Claire gasped. “How is she?”
The man went right to it. “Ms. Rodriguez had a perforation of the small intestines, some we had to remove. But like I said before, the surgery went well.”
“That’s not the face of a successful surgery.” Zia muttered.
“Well, there is some bad news… the fever, high heart rate and your general pain and discomfort are tell tales of a major infection. The blood work confirmed it and while we gave you the antibiotics for what is causing this systematic infection, it appears to be of a resistant strain, so the usual medication just won’t have the desired effect.”
“What happens if nothing works?” Claire asked.
“She will go into sepsis.” The man said, matter-of-factly. “But for us to prevent that, I really need to know how exactly she got infected, what was the cause of the injury? Depending on how, we can rule out some resistant strains.”
All of us exchanged wary glances. But after all, the cat would be out of the bag soon, so Claire ended up telling him.
“Dinosaurs?” The Doctor deadpanned. “The injury was caused by a dinosaur claw? How… the news!” His face lit up in recognition. “So, is it really true?”
“Yes, it is.” Owen replied, sour. Apparently, while we were sleeping in the waiting room, many more dinosaur sightings were reported across California, too many that the morning news couldn’t turn a blind eye.
The doctor went on. “If that’s the case, I’m sure dinosaurs have a very particular microbiome, like every species does. Who knows what disease they are carrying? People don’t usually survive a dinosaur attack.”
“You’re looking at her.” I showed him my arm, where the Scorpios scar ran ragged across my skin. “But this never happened to me.”
The doctor furrowed his brows, thinking. “Um… different dinosaurs must have different microbiomes… Who knows what kind of new bacteria they have… We have to run more tests, a thorough antibiotic sensibility test.” He was talking to himself at this point. “Yes, but for now we’ll give you a cocktail for the typical resistant strains we know of. I’m confident we can fight this off, Ms. Rodriguez.” His words did not match the look on his face, though.
As soon as the doctor left, the room was filled in a dreadful silence. Before all of this, while I was worried about Zia, it never occurred to me that she could actually die. Now it pained my heart to see her so fragile because of what? Bacteria? Wasn’t it enough that dinosaurs tried to kill us with teeth and claws, but they had to pull this card now? Un-fucking-believable!
It was half-past noon when the door opened again. Brooklynn peaked inside the room, almost apologetic.
“We’ve got news on Ben.” She opened a bright smile, and at that the whole room’s mood improved.
“Is he okay?” Owen asked.
“Yeah, he called. Seems like the Ankylosaur herd finally stopped. He’s in Oregon, apparently.”
I frowned. “He called?”
“Turns out he stole a mercenary’s phone.” She chuckled. “So, everybody is talking about going to meet him…”
“Uh…” I glanced back and forth between Zia and Brooklynn.
Zia rolled her eyes, with an amused smile on her lips. “I won’t go anywhere. Just go make sure Mudman is okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, yeah, go.” She ushered.
I leaned into a quick hug. “Don’t you dare die, okay?”
“It’s not on my to do list.” She smirked.
Chapter 15: Handle with Care
Summary:
The chapter where words are said
Notes:
I have zero notion of US geography, my source is google maps, if anything its wrong take it up with google xD
About this chapter… a little bit of fluff, a little bit of humor, a little bit of raw emotional suffering. DON’T HATE ME! please
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
These were not the circumstances where I imagined Camp Fam doing our first road trip. Even before it began, the air was gloom, shadowed by the previous incidents. Honestly, I was in the greatest mood of us, which was saying something. I had no doubt that Ben was alright, and Zia waking up was also a good sign, even if she wasn’t totally out of the woods yet.
Since everybody else was staying back at the hospital, we took both cars. Yasmina, Sammy and Darius took his brother’s car, while Kenji, Brooklynn and I took Kenji’s rental. Darius kept rushing us, but the girl here had to at least change her clothes and brush her teeth. Thank God for Cameron dropping my backpack, now at least I felt somewhat clean. I mercilessly threw my blood-stained clothes on the trash, settling for the black ripped jeans and red crop top I had on my backpack.
I still felt like shit, though. I blackmailed Brooklynn with control of the radio so I could have the three back seats for myself. So, while she blasted Taylor Swift on repeat, I got to lie down to sleep. While I wanted to sit next to Kenji, he understood. I think secretly he must’ve liked that better from his face. I really didn’t know what was going on with him, I had to make sure to catch him alone sometime soon.
I wish I could’ve said that I slept wonderfully, but it was hell. The uneven seats didn’t let me find a comfortable position, and the seatbelt buckles kept digging into my sore ribs. Lying in my back, almost falling off the seat to escape the evil buckles was the way. While my eyes were heavy and my brain was begging for me to sleep, I didn’t have such luck. In the past two years, I thought about crossing paths with Hawkes more than I’d like to admit, but I never thought it would end with me almost punching the hell out of Yasmina and with him dead. I thought I’d be more in control, but the reality was everything but that. I barely remember what went on, I didn’t even recall him having a gun until Kenji pointed out my injury. And even now, I’m not sure how that happened. It was weird to think back and not have memories of it, just the bitterness of the anger and despair I felt. I had glimpses, how it felt to punch him, how his laugh filled the air, the way I gave into his taunts… or maybe none of that happened and it was my mind playing tricks on me.
But Hawkes was dead. I knew that was real. Dinosaurs had done it, but the truth was that wouldn’t have happened without me rendering him unconscious in the first place. At the same time that I was relieved, I felt guilty. I was scared of what would’ve happened if the girls hadn’t stepped in. Would I have killed him? He caught me by surprise. While yes, I had imagined encountering him again, I never thought I would. Not really. After everything on the island, with the Indoraptor, Franklin and Ben, I was not ready for Hawkes too. It was so bad my PTSD was acting up, probably the reason why I lashed out on him. It was like having this continuous trauma induced flashback, every bad thing associated with Hawkes… all the pain and terror… it blended with reality in such a way that my memory was foggy.
I could see the worry in Brooklynn's eyes even if she tried to hide it. Yasmina too, but I thought that it had more to do with how I almost hurt her. Sammy was treating me as always, maybe a bit more motherly than usual. Kenji was a big question mark, he was clearly keeping his distance, being all quiet and brooding. I didn’t blame them; I was worried myself. I never had such a strong dissociating episode like that, I guess I should be seeing my therapist more often. But now that the dust had settled, I was trying not to think about it too much. But every time I closed my eyes, while listening to Taylor Swift and laying in the uncomfortable back seat, Hawkes’ face appeared on my closed eyelids. Either laughing maniacally or lying unconscious under me, my hands covered in his dirty blood.
I tried to focus on the happy tunes as I stared out the window, watching the world pass by in a rush. There was no vestige of yesterday’s storm, instead the sky was blue with lazy and puffy clouds trailing by. For a long while, we followed the coast north with the ocean to our left and pine trees to our right. Ben had called Darius, telling them that Bumpy and the herd ran all night until they stopped somewhere in Oregon, Ben had managed to read a sign saying, ‘Mount Hood National Forest’, which was close to Portland. We had a long drive ahead of us, but if we hurried, we could get there at sundown. I almost laughed thinking at the Ankylosaurus chilling at a National Park, it sounded perfect actually, minus the tourists that would probably freak out.
We couldn’t ride for long on empty stomachs, though. Soon, we stopped at a cafe on a rest stop, somewhere in Oregon. The boys rushed ahead, Brooklynn was literally keeping me at an arm’s length, to which I smiled, not minding it at all. Yasmina and Sammy were taking their sweet time still in their car, so I figured that would be as good a time as any.
“Hey, B. Can you go ahead and save us a table? I want to talk to Sammy and Yaz real quick.”
With one look she already knew what this was about, so she just nodded. “Sure.”
I watched Brooklynn walk inside while I gathered my courage, waiting for Sammy and Yasmina to walk my way.
“Hey.” I greeted them. “Any news on Ben?”
Sammy smiled. “He called again, Bumpy’s sleeping, the poor thing.”
“And he mentioned he was shot on the arm, but he says he’s fine.” Yasmina added.
‘That’s new.’ I frowned at the information. I trusted Ben to seek help if he needed to, but that only put us in a more of a rush. We walked to the café in silence, until I took courage to speak up.
“I just wanted to say sorry about before.” I stopped walking, forcing them to face me. “With Hawkes.” I added, quickly. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you, Yaz.”
She smirked. “You need more than that to hurt me.”
“I’m serious. If Sammy and Brooklynn hadn’t held me back… well… I- uh, my head was all messed up. I-I don’t even want to think what could’ve happened.” I sounded like a toddler stuttering.
“We were really worried.” Sammy reached to my uninjured hand, squeezing it. “I get that you were pretty angry at Hawkes, but I don’t know… that was scary.”
“I know, I- I was scared too. You shouldn’t have had to see that, but I’m really glad that you stopped me.” I squeezed Sammy’s hand back. “So, thanks.”
“Aw, you’re welcomed.” She pulled me to a warm hug.
Relieved, I laughed, but it quickly turned into whimpers at how tight the hug was. Sammy pulled away, ushering apologies, which I quickly dismissed with a smile.
“At least he got what he deserved.” Yasmina commented. “Karma’s a bitch.”
Sammy gasped. “Yaz!”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I won’t lie, part of me is happy that he’s gone, I just don’t like the part that played on it.”
“I’m not comfortable bein’ happy someone’s dead.” Sammy crossed her arms.
“Good, cause I’d have you take a DNA test if you did.” Yasmina chuckled, pulling Sammy to a side hug. “Never change, Sammy.”
She turned to me. “Brooklynn told us about what your doctor said. It all sounds pretty gnarly and painful.”
I refrained from shrugging, since it would only cause more pain. “I’m managing.” I said, my hand hovering my right side.
Yasmina snorted. “But Hays, what I want to know is… how do you always end up kidnapped and tied up?”
“It’s her charming personality, I’ve seen it firsthand.” Brooklynn appeared by our side, laughing.
“Hey!” I protested. “It’s not my fault people take things personally!”
“That ain’t her fault.” Sammy agreed.
I smiled. “Thanks, Sammy.”
“She’s just a bit prone to violence, our friend.” She quickly added with a not so apologetic smile.
“Wow.” I deadpanned. “You too?”
“You can’t deny facts, Rocky.” Yasmina cracked a laugh as we entered the café.
…
I felt the waiters’ eyes on me, particularly on the bruising on my face. That didn’t keep me from absolutely devouring a cheeseburger, though. I still remember our first real meal after Nublar two years ago; this felt much like it, a nostalgic silence, where we were more busy placating our hunger. I ate so much that my ribs were hurting even worse, and my eyes were closing on their own.
We were on a rush, so I wasn’t the only one inhaling food. Our stop was quick, and we were back on the road in no time. I offered to drive, but I was bluntly ignored; Kenji offered it too, but Brooklynn wasn’t having it. The 15 year old was having way too much fun driving, since I knew for a fact her parents didn’t have time to drive with her. So, with a smirk, I asked Kenji to join me in the back seat. And to much of Brooklynn’s protests, not wanting to be alone on the front, Kenji relented. As a form of protest, Brooklynn was playing the same Taylor’s playlist on repeat. Too bad for her, cause I actually liked those songs.
Kenji sat on the window with me next to him. I smiled as he wrapped one arm around me, my head resting on his shoulder. Sitting with my side pressed into him was so warm and cozy that my eyes were fluttering close. However, with every passing minute I grew more uncomfortable. My muscles ached, my ribs throbbed and the graze on my waist stung. My right side was the worst, a warm sensation that had me wondering if I had a match lit to my skin. Come to think about it, that happened after I ate, that’s why I mostly declined the sandwiches back at the ship.
‘Oh, I totally shouldn’t have eaten so much.’
“Are you comfortable?” Kenji asked softly, as if sensing my discomfort.
“That’s a relative term.” I gave him a tired smile. “But having you as a pillow is as comfortable as I’ll ever be.” I closed my eyes, whimpering softly as a sharp pain traveled up my shoulder.
He groaned. “I hate seeing you like this.” I kept my eyes closed, suddenly flinching as an icy-cold hand made its way under my shirt. “Sorry. Does this hurt?”
“Feels good.” I hummed, content with the cold sensation bringing a momentary relief. “Like you’re my very own ice pack.”
“I’m honored, but that’s on the AC.”
The coldness of his hand placated the heat coming from my bruises, at least for a while. The heat gave way to a tightness that had me holding my breath. Every movement had the iron grip around my liver clenching even more. The soft tunes coming from the radio got mixed up with my gasps for air, trying to work through the cramping on my side.
“What’s wrong?” Brooklynn’s voice came from up front. I could picture the frown of her brows as she looked at me through the rearview mirror. But I kept my eyes shut and breathing shallow as I tried to glide through the wave of pain.
“I don’t know. Hays, talk to me.” Kenji's tone spoke of his concern as he shook my shoulder gently.
‘Fucking fuck.’ I groaned and hissed at the organs twisting inside me, the white hot ache had my muscles spasming until I was forced to bend over, falling on Kenji’s lap as my hand gripped my side, as if it would make it any better.
“Hays!” Kenji gasped.
“Is she going to pass out? I’m pulling over.” I could already feel the car slowing down.
“No, I- ugh – it’s gonna be fine, I just… need a second.” I was panting while trying to hold my breath at the same time. My cheeks burned almost as hot as my side, as I tried to hide my face on Kenji’s leg, feeling the tears building up.
Kenji rubbed my back softly, while I tried my best not to cry out. I don’t know how long it took, but after several songs, the waves toned it down and the heat cooled to just a warm reminder. Opening my eyes, one stubborn tear fell, staining Kenji’s pants.
“Did you take your painkillers?” Brooklynn asked, taking the eyes of the road to glance at me with the exact match of a frown I had pictured.
“Yeah.” I breathed out.
She sighed, her grip on the steering wheel loosing up. “That’s why the doctor prescribed bed rest, Hays.”
I cracked a smile. “Yep, I’m starting to get it now.”
“Come here.” Kenji held me, pulling me close gently until I was half laying across his lap, my head resting comfortably on his chest. “How bad is it?”
I smiled at the dimple showing on his concern expression. “The pain is back to a manageable level.” My face was already so close to his, so I didn’t hold back and placed a light kiss on his chin dimple. “Sorry that I worried you.”
Kenji groaned in frustration, lowering his head until our foreheads touched. On the driver’s seat, Brooklynn turned up the radio, blasting Back to December to deafening volumes. It was perfect though, because it gave us a fake sense of privacy. Enough that a second tear fell, trickling down my cheek. I groaned, shutting my eyes to prevent another damn tear from doing the same. Kenji’s thumb brushed across my cheek, taking my lone tear with it.
I groaned even deeper. “I hate this...”
“I know.” Kenji hummed.
“Being this fragile… this vulnerable.”
“You can be vulnerable with me.” He stated, so heartfelt that he had me smiling with my eyes closed.
‘That’s always true.’
“I love you.” I said, still smiling cause it was the truth. But one drop had my cheek wet again, making me flutter my eyes open, facing a crying Kenji with a concerned frown. “Kenj, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He chuckled his tears away, giving me a sad looking smile. His long lashes held little tears, as a faint flush appeared in his cheek. “I-I just love you too, Hays.”
I felt warm for all different reasons. I wanted to crawl inside of him just to be as close to him as humanly possible. His thumb drew circles in the exposed part of my waist, caressing my skin lazily. It almost had me squealing like a little girl. I snuggled closer to him, hearing his heartbeat under my ear. I’d always say that his heart rate was too fast, but he’d countered saying that it was my fault. Kenji was always cute like that. But even now where we were supposed to just be cuddling, he still had his concern frown on. His eyes were distant, glancing out the window; his jaw was locked, making it look even sharper. I reached up, bopping his nose playfully until he looked down. With a grin, I brought my fingers to his forehead, massaging it so his frown would go away.
Kenji's features softened as he caught on to me, sneaking a kiss to the palm of my hand. Then, he lowered himself so our lips would meet in a warm and gentle kiss. He didn’t linger much, just enough for me to melt even more into his embrace. With the way he held me, he had me wishing we could cuddle forever, his warm and strong embrace had all my worries and stress washed away. Synchronizing my breathing with his was always soothing, just like having his heart so close to me. It was so familiar. I loved it.
“I really like listening to your heart, you know that?” I whispered.
“That’s why you always lie on my chest?” Kenji threw me a cheeky grin.
I hummed in response. “Ever since our last night on Nublar. It calms me.” I gasped, this time of excitement. “Speaking of which…” He glanced curiously at me as I dug my hand inside my backpack on the floor. “Look what I found.” I pulled out the Ankylosaur plushie I had brought back.
Kenji beamed. “Little Bumpy! How-”
I gave him a smug smile. “It was still on my bunk, just like I left it.”
Kenji took it in his hand. “That’s amazing... Amazingly dirty, she needs a shower.” He deadpanned.
“Yup.” I laughed. “I still remember when you went to grab it for me, no fear of the T. rex.”
“You looked sad back then, so I thought it was going to cheer you up.” Kenji pulled me even closer, his face dug to the crook of my neck as the plushie fell on my lap.
“You thought right.” I reached out to comb my fingers through his hair, to which he hummed happily. “Thank you for that.”
Kenji didn’t move from this position, and I really couldn’t complain. With his lips brushing my skin, he sounded so heartbroken that it hurt. “I miss you.”
I sighed. “I’m really sorry, you know… for everything.”
“I know, you’ve said it already.” He finally pulled away, his face hardened again.
‘ Ouch. ’ I pursed my lips. “I’ll keep saying it, ‘cause I get the feeling that you don’t believe me.”
“Can we not do this right now?” Kenji breathed out through his nose.
“We’ll have to, eventually.” I said.
“Later, okay?” He glanced down, pleading. I nodded in response, so he gave me one last smooch on the lips before adjusting his hold on me. “Try to get comfortable, we still have a long way to go.”
I hummed, cuddling close to his chest as he caressed my hair gently. It was pointless to fight, his steady heartbeat and breathing were always quick to make me drowsy. Kenji was doing this on purpose, caressing my hair the way I liked it as waves of relaxation took over my body. My eyes fluttered close. I forced myself to stay awake longer though, to bathe in this bubble Kenji always created when we were together. I sneaked a peek or two up to his face; he always had this indecipherable look to his eyes. I wasn’t used to that, but again, I wasn’t used to fighting with him. I was just glad that Kenji wasn’t mad to the point of denying me of his cuddles.
By the time I matched our breathing rhythms together, I couldn’t fight it anymore. Falling asleep in his arms was always better than sleeping on my own bed. Comfortable and safe. Sweet sleep was pulling me in, but the sudden change of pace of Kenji’s hands on my hair had some of my consciousness slithering back to the back seat of the car.
His hand reached to my own, intertwining our fingers together. Kenji whispered to my ear. “Love you, Hays.” Placing a longing kiss in my temple, spreading a warm feeling to my heart.
‘Love you too.’ I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.
…
“I think I reinvented the term third wheeling.” Brooklynn exasperated, glaring at Kenji and me. “I felt like an uber driver for the two sleepy heads the whole way.”
“I offered to drive.” I said, failing to suppress a yawn. Apparently, I had slept through hours of a tedious road trip that included a two-hour traffic jam thanks to a car crash. Best sleep ever.
“Oh, please, I’m not that mean.” Brooklynn rolled her eyes at me.
“That’s news to me.” I grinned.
“It shouldn’t be, that’s the sole reason why I’m not smacking you in the head right now.”
I put my hand over my chest, dramatically. “Aw, B. you’re so sweet.”
“Right?” She gave me a fake laugh.
Sammy, Yasmina and Darius joined us at the parking lot of a roadside motel. It was nighttime already, somewhere in Oregon, hopefully somewhere near Ben.
“So, I think Ben doesn’t have signal, but he texted a while back. He's near a lake north of the highest mountain.” Darius explained.
“So, I’m guessing Mount Hood?” Yasmina said, obviously referring to the park’s name.
“Us three were thinkin’ on leavin’ early mornin’. We get a map and try to find Ben with some daylight.” Sammy said.
“Yes, but Ben’s hurt, remember? We should get to him as fast as possible.”
“Oi, broseph, we don’t know the woods here, besides I do not want to come face to face with a hungry dinosaur at night.” Kenji quickly interjected. “‘Cause that’s a thing again.”
“He has a point.” Brooklynn mumbled.
“Ben would’ve sought help if his injury was too bad.” I said.
“He’s not the best at taking care of himself.” Darius commented.
Yasmina laughed. “You’re a bad influence on him, Hays.”
I scoffed in response, crossing my arms.
“Either way, it’s safest to go in the mornin’, y’all.” Sammy said as everybody nodded along.
“Darius and I will go check us in.” Kenji nudged Darius.
We watched them walk towards the motel’s reception. It was a cozy place for a motel, it had a rustic, mountain lodge look to it, probably aimed at hikers and campers looking for an adventure. We wanted everything but. I was tired of adventures. I just wanted to make sure Ben and Bumpy were okay and be done already.
Yasmina cleared her throat. “So… just to make sure… Ben is okay, Bumpy is okay, and Hays is okay.” She counted on her fingers.
“Ish.” I shrugged.
“Good enough.” Yasmina nodded to Sammy, who was looking at me funny.
I frowned as Sammy took a deep breath. “Oh my gosh, what were y’all thinking?” She screeched, making my shoulders shrink at the sudden outburst. “Have you lost your mind? Goin’ to a place like Nublar all alone and without tellin’ us!”
I groaned. “I kinda feel Ben should be here for this.”
“Oh, I’ll have words with him.” Sammy said, ominous. “But y’all left out of the blue! Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t write us a letter. We were this-” She pinched her thumb and indicator together. “-close to coming down there ourselves. But- but the volcano… and we heard about Mills. Mills!” She was turning a dangerous shade of red.
“Breathe, Sammy.” Yasmina said soothingly, then turned to me, dead serious again. “But seriously, what were you thinking, Hayden?”
Brooklynn also joined the ‘lecture Hayden’ train. “She wasn’t thinking, that’s the point.”
“You almost gave us a God dang heart attack.” Sammy engulfed me in a sudden hug. “Bumpy’s our family too.” She whined.
I sighed in defeat, resting my chin on her shoulder as I hugged her close. “I know, I shouldn’t have gone behind your back, I just wanted to spare you from getting your hopes up or from feeling pressured to go back there.”
Brooklynn groaned, joining the hug on my side. “Will you stop trying to be a human shield? And I mean it both physically and figuratively.”
“I- I’ll try.” I chuckled awkwardly.
“Yaz, group hug.” Sammy ordered when she noticed Yasmina hadn’t moved. I laughed and she reluctantly joined us and Sammy smiled, content. “Thank goodness you came back, Hays.”
After a way too long hug session, we headed out to our rooms. Kenji and I would be sharing a double room, so was Sammy and Yasmina, Brooklynn and Darius also were in the same room, but each had their own bed.
I was sitting on the edge of our bed, having finished all the snacks I had on my backpack, which weren’t much. I was watching Kenji pace around the room. It had been going on for ages, like a switch had been turned on as soon as we crossed the doorway and were alone. He was so uncharacteristically silent, it was scary. I could see from here how tense his back was, a huge 180 from how sweet he was on the ride over. But I figured he needed to get out with whatever he was brewing in that pretty head of his. The lectures were getting annoying, but I owed him as much.
“The bedroom is nice, huh? For a motel anyways.” I commented, trying to fill the silence, the tension so intense it was almost palpable. Kenji hummed in response, not even looking at me. “Like, it’s clean, cozy-”
“I’m mad at you.” Kenji blurted out, halting in place with his back turned to me. I kept silent, waiting for him to speak up. “You seriously expect me to be okay with you running of with Ben to fucking Nublar of all places?” He spun on his heels, his jaw locked as he tried to control his voice. “Then you barely make it back looking like you went through hell, hurt and… I hate seeing you in pain. Last time I couldn’t do anything, this time I didn’t even get to try.” His nostrils flared as he spoke, his hands were fists at his side, practically shaking. “Do you know how it felt when Nublar exploded, and I knew you were there? I thought you died!” He yelled, breathing heavily.
I gulped, wanting to disappear under the covers. I never really thought about it this way. “I’m sorry, Kenji. I know I should’ve told you in person. I didn’t mean for you to find out like that.” My voice barely came out from the intensity of his stare.
“The hell you didn’t!” He hissed. “You wrote me a letter, remember?”
“That was like a contingency plan if I didn’t make it back, and a big mistake, I know that.” I tried to explain, but the scowl on his face told me I was doing a shitty job. “But what was I supposed to do? Leave Bumpy to die?” I exasperated, my breathing turning as erratically as his.
Kenji grunted. “Maybe get the decency of telling me what’s up before doing your own thing…like you always do.” He huffed. “You just go off on your own without thinking of how you can get seriously hurt and without thinking about how that affects others.”
I took a deep breath, stabbing pain shooting up my ribs momentarily. Looking up, I held his gaze as it tore through me. “What would you have done, Kenji? If I told you about it?”
“Now it’s too late.” He muttered under his breath, his face contorting in a mix of emotions as he resumed pacing, his feet stomping on the wooden floor.
“I know how you feel about Nublar, Kenji.” I got up, taking decidedly steps towards him and gripping his hand so he’d stay still. “Of course, I wouldn’t have asked you that. I just didn’t want you to have to make that decision. I know it was a shitty thing to do, but it’s the truth.”
He ripped his hand from my grasp, his eyes growing dark with pain as he pointed accusingly at me. “So, your first instinct is to lie every time I won’t agree with you? You lied to me about going to Nublar, what else are you lying to me about?”
I gasped, taking a step back. “Nothing! I was just trying to protect you.”
“I get that this distance thing is not ideal, and you were alone in your first year of college… Don’t think I don’t see how other guys look at you.”
I took a physical and mental step back. “Woah, woah, woah, where’s this coming from?” I shook my head, asking myself if I heard him correctly.
“I don’t know.” Kenji shrugged, his tone ice-cold. “You tell me.”
I slowly blinked in astonishment, his eyes studying me. My face grew hot under his gaze, but not out of shame, how he probably thought, but out of pure anger of what he was insinuating. “That’s not what we’re arguing about, is it? Our relationship? I thought we were good.” I tried to keep my voice leveled, giving him an out.
“Yeah, I thought so too until you ran off with Ben.”
My breath hitched as my mouth hung agape. “It was not like that, I would never… fuck you, Kenji!” I yelled out my frustration, my heart pounding in my ear. I never snapped at him like that, but I wasn’t going to let him accuse me like this. “I would never cheat on you if that’s what you think.”
“Yeah? Could’ve fooled me, cause I thought we told each other everything.” Kenji bared his teeth.
“We do.” I said through my clenched jaw, holding back another curse.
He raised a brow at me, judgment written all over his face. “Then who’s that blond friend of yours? Cameron, is it? He came out of his way to do what? Give you your stuff back? Bullshit .” He spat.
I physically recoiled from his sharp tone. ‘Where is all of this coming from?’ I was taken aback for the thousandth time this past minute. Blindsided by allegations after allegations. The lecture had turned into a full-blown fight and I wasn’t mentally ready for it. I was fucking tired, fucking sore, fucking pissed and I wasn’t having none of it.
“Are you shitting me right now?” I growled. “He’s fucking nobody! I told you who he is already, he saved Ben’s life.” Kenji scoffed at that. “What? Am I not allowed to thank him for that?” He remained silent at my question, but the hurt and betrayal in his eyes told me everything. “Is that it? You don’t trust me anymore?” I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him until he looked away with a huff, without uttering a word. His silence said everything I needed to know. No point in talking with a wall if he already had his mind set about me. “Great. Fucking great!” I yelled out, already walking fast to get the fuck away from him.
“Where are you going?”
With my hand on the door handle, I scoffed. Turning to look at him over my shoulder, I let all the outrage I was feeling seep through in a venomous tone. “Don’t worry I won’t go around hooking up behind your back.”
I swiftly pushed the door open. “Hayden, wait!” Kenji called with a desperate note to it.
I slammed the door, the sound echoing through the night.
Clenching my fists, my breathing came out as huffs from my nose, the damn stabbing pain on my ribs burning with every movement. Much to my annoyance, there was no such thing as privacy as I was met with four pairs of eyes peeking through a crack on the door of the next room.
“Hays, where are you going?” Brooklynn was the first to speak.
“Out.” I curtly said as I walked past all the rooms. Anywhere was better than stay here and be fucking accused. Hell, Nublar was better than this. Being chased by a T. rex was better than this. Dinosaurs didn’t talk and threw absurd accusations at my face.
I took rushed and angry steps away from everybody. I didn’t even stop after my name was being called behind me. I heard a door open and close; Kenji was calling after me too. Brooklynn was cussing Kenji out, then Sammy. Something about thin walls. Well, I didn’t stay to watch that. I chose a random direction, walking until I could no longer hear their voices. I wanted to punch the hell out of something, but I couldn’t afford to break yet another hand, so I settled for walking until my legs gave out or my ribs did, whichever came first.
…
The answer: my ribs. They gave out first. After all the adrenaline wore off, I was left with tears streaming down my face and my chest aching, miles away from the motel. Our fight was playing like a movie in my head over and over again, I still didn’t understand how we went from discussing Nublar to him basically accusing me of cheating. I didn’t even know where he got the idea from; and he was dead-ass serious about it. I wondered if those thoughts just came up to him with the heat of the moment or they were brewing inside of him for a while. By how cold he was, my money was on the second option. It was weird to associate the word ‘cold’ with Kenji, because he was everything but. I guess you never really know someone until you have a fight.
Just the thought of going back tonight made me want to walk further. No way I was sleeping on the same bed as him after all that. I didn’t have the strength or patience to argue more tonight.
‘I’m fucking sleeping in the car tonight. I got plenty of practice after all.’
I knew I had to come back eventually, but it wasn’t going to be so soon. My heart craved the comfort of eating a bucket full of ice cream in one sitting, but the best I could find was a popsicle from a gas station. I was surprised that the run-down gas station was open at this hour. The attendant was half asleep and didn’t even ask for ID when I bought half a dozen White Claws.
‘Oh, how I love the countryside.’
There wasn’t anyone around, so I walked to a bus stop I’d seen coming in. I sat with my knees to my chest, sighing in relief when I pressed a cold can to my aching ribs, the stabbing agony slowly fading away. The agony in my heart didn’t waver, but that was what the popsicle and alcohol were for. Was it the best idea? Probably not. But I couldn’t care less as I took a sip of the fresh, bubbly drink. The taste of black cherry from the drink and lemon from the popsicle created a fun mixture in my mouth.
I wasn’t one to feel sorry for myself, but right now all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. Feeling quite isolated in the middle of nowhere, the darkness of the woods around me gave me the privacy I needed to cry in peace. Yet, I couldn’t even do that because every sob was accompanied with the sensation of my ribs being torn apart, so my only choice was to drown myself on the cheap alcohol, already regretting not getting something stronger.
‘Fuck my life.’ I wanted to be done with this endless day. The cold mountain air chilled me to the bone, even in summer. I didn’t drink any water all day, only when I started drinking that I realized how thirsty I really was, not to mention hungry. Itching to fix my dry throat, I was done with the White Claws pretty fast. When I was pondering whether to go buy some more, a dark car pulled up in front of me.
Dread filled me as I saw the silhouette of the lone male driver. ‘I’m not ready for this shit again.’ Lucky for me, I had made the not so conscious decision to stop crying a couple cans ago.
Kenji stepped out of the car, hunched over with eyes locked to his feet as he walked over to sit next to me. I didn’t get a glimpse of his face and he didn’t really look at me. I caught him analyzing the surroundings, empty cans in a trashy bus stop.
Kenji’s eyes found the popsicle wrapper when he finally spoke, his voice strained. “A popsicle?”
I shrugged, keeping my gaze forward. “The only place open that sells ice cream and alcohol.”
“You’re not 21.”
I scoffed, snapping my head at him. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you mad cause I lied to the attendant?”
He shrunk under my glare. “I-I didn’t come here to fight.”
Kenji locked eyes with me and I immediately regretted giving him attitude. His chocolatey eyes were tumultuous, but honest, with a very tired tint to it, which I was pretty sure reflected on my own.
I sighed. “Sorry.”
Kenji ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up, something he only did when he was really feeling desperate. “I’m the one that wanted to say that.” He breathed out. “I’m sorry about before, for yelling and for doubting you. You-you never gave me reason to, but you told Ben and not me, and that really makes me jealous.” He finished it off in a rushed tone, as if eager to get it off his chest.
“You get that the fact that I told him doesn’t have to do with us, just with the fact that he deserved to know. It was Bumpy.” I repeated myself, even if I knew it wasn’t a good enough reason.
“And I didn’t deserve to know?” He pleaded, eyes widening.
“You did!” I reached for his hand, holding it firmly. “I know that, but I couldn’t risk it, you begging me not to go or even worse, wanting to come with. It was already hard enough to bring Ben, cause that meant I’d be putting him in danger. I couldn’t bear putting you in danger too, Kenji.”
He pursed his lips together. “You don’t get to make decisions for me.” He stated, to which I nodded along, knowing very well that he was right. “And all I got was a letter, a pretty crappy one at that.”
“I acknowledged its crappiness on the letter itself.” I mumbled, letting my head fall, my hair covering my eyes like a curtain.
“I know, I read it, like, 10 times.”
“It was a coward's choice not to tell you. I know that.”
Kenji reached out to gently raise my head back up, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Can you please promise you’ll come for help before going off on your own again?”
I let out a long sigh, leaning towards the warmth of his hand cupping my cheek. “I promise.”
Immediate relief came to his face with the form of a shy smile, but that didn’t quite reach his eyes, which was really weird considering that he was pulling me into his arms. Kenji hugged me tightly, not enough that it would hurt me, but enough that I wasn’t all that cold anymore. He sweetly whispered apologies to my ear. His words and his touch were the most comfortable thing right now. Despite the uncertainty still lingering between us, I didn’t doubt Kenji meant his words. I whispered my own reassuring and apologetic words, hoping that I could make him feel the same I was feeling.
I buried my head on the crook of his neck. Taking his smell in, I sighed in content. Kenji really gave the best hugs. So familiar and warm. Pulling out slightly, I created enough space that I could reach up to the nape of his neck and Kenji let himself be pulled down to me.
We kissed. Kenji’s lips were sweet and soft, just like I remembered. I felt like forever since we had kissed last, not a fleeting kiss or a quick peck on the lips, a real kiss. Our lips found a comfortable rhythm immediately, used to one another. His lips parted passionately for me, so I indulged him, slipping my tongue so he could also taste the fruitiness that lingered from the drink. The pent-up frustration from our fight was released into our kiss. I gripped his shirt, feeling the hard muscle underneath at the same time I brought him impossibly closer. Any thought of deepening the kiss left my mind as Kenji pulled away. He kept his eyes closed as he rested his forehead against my own. I watched, confused, as his eyebrows knitted together with a sigh. When he finally opened his eyes, they were sad. There was sadness behind those chocolatey eyes. That had me even more confused than the sudden kiss interruption. I really thought this was the end of our fight, why did he look so hurt and sad still?
“We should head back.”
“Sure.” I mumbled, eyeing him carefully.
Already up, he offered me a hand, carefully pulling me up. I felt the world spinning a little bit, the light buzz from the drinks I had. Mindlessly, I reached out to his hair, combing my fingers through it like I knew he loved. Kenji watched me, amusement flashing across his gloomy eyes as I fixed the mess both of us had made. When I was satisfied, with a last peck on the lips, we got into the car.
The drive took longer than I thought, and my mind was restless all the way back. Had I done something wrong? Like, beside the whole Nublar thing? Or was he lying to me that he was fine, and he was mad still. I couldn’t get my mind around his demeanor and the growing silence between us.
I don’t know if it was the alcohol buzz or if I really was entitled to feeling this puzzled, but I really couldn’t put the pieces together. First, he’s all sweet on the trip over, which okay, made sense since I had just left a hospital and all. Then there was the whole lecture that turned into a fight, that I still thought he was a bit delusional to be this jealous, he was jealous of Ben for God’s sake. I can get behind most of what he said, it was in the heat of the moment. But we made up, no? Why was he so stiff and tense still?
I hesitantly reached out and brought his free hand to my lap, playing with his fingers while he drove. I counted five seconds before he squeezed my knee lightly and returned his hand to the wheel. That action had me pursing my lips. It's not like he had to forgive me right now, but don’t just lie about it. ‘Did I go too far?’ Was lying about Nublar such big of a deal that he had to behave like this?
“I’ll make it up to you, okay?” I said finally. “We’ll have the whole summer together, you’ll even get bored of me. We could go to that fancy restaurant you always talk about. The one with the Michelin stars, what’s its name?”
“Smyth.” His voice came out barely audible.
“That one.” I forced myself to smile, more confused than ever. “I promise I’ll actually wear a dress this time. And we can marathon Fast and Furious again, I know you like to show off your home theater. And we’ll hit all your favorite spots in the city, ‘kay? How does that sound like?” I glanced over, expecting a response, but instead I was met with silence, his somber eyes locked on the road ahead of us as we pulled up on the motel.
Kenji shut the engine off after we parked, yet he didn’t move a muscle to leave his seat.
“It’s okay.” I tried again. “Next semester I’ll help you move to uni and I can show you all the places that I like, some you already know, but it’ll be fun.” Kenji’s hand clasped mine so suddenly, it had me flinching. “Did- did I say anything wrong?”
“You don’t deserve this.” Kenji muttered.
“What?” I struggled to catch his words.
He cleared his throat, posture straightening up and hand gripping mine harder than ever. “I’m just saying you deserve to have somebody who’s there for you 24/7 and I can’t do that on the other side of the country.” He finally turned to face me, and my heart dropped. His beautiful eyes were filled with tears, threatening to fall at any moment.
I frowned, wanting to reach out to cup his face, but my hands were locked in place, under his. “If that’s because you think you weren’t there for me when I was in Nublar, that was all on me. I didn’t give you the chance to be there.”
“No. That’s not about that.” Kenji gulped down like his throat was dry. “This- this long-distance relationship we’ve got going on is never going to be nothing but that, long distance.”
He could’ve punched me right then and there, and it would’ve had the same effect. The same pain as those words. “What?” It was all I could muster.
“I didn’t get into Stanford, okay?” I watched as the first tear fell, trailing down his cheek, a wet spot on his shirt. “I always had my future planned out, my father made sure of that, and when I decided to do something for me, for us… something I wanted.” Like a dam had opened, many tears followed that first one. “I failed.” He sobbed. “I wanted to be there with you, go through college, meet your friends. To spend more than a day or two together, to go on dates without worry if you’ll make it your flight back. I wanted to-”
“We can still do that.” I pleaded, but was met with an aggressive head shake from him. My heart ached in anger and sorrow as I felt my own tears filling up my eyes, blurring my vision. “You’re giving up on us?” I spoke slowly, testing the words.
‘He doesn’t really mean it, does he? No, he can’t mean that.’ I almost choked myself trying to hold back my tears, welcoming the stabbing pain that it caused my ribs. Any physical pain was ten times better than Kenji hand squeezing the hell out of my heart.
I swallowed hard, stuttering my words. “I can- I can try and get a transfer, or you can try Stanford again next year. Please, Kenji. You don’t need to be this drastic… we can work this out.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, warm against my skin. Kenji’s eyes glowed in a heartbroken and desperate resolve as I said those words.
My breath hitched in realization. ‘He’s already made up his mind.’ That was all it took for my denial to shatter. The quickly growing lump on my throat ached, and the tears in my eyes burned.
“I’m not enough, is that it?” I choked on the words I couldn’t say. My sobs joined his in the cramped car.
“No!” Kenji jolted, his hands cradled my face like I was a porcelain doll. “I’m not enough. I’ve been selfish trying to hold on to you, but… I’m pulling you down. So, I-I’m choosing to let you go.” He spoke in between sobs, his voice hoarse and desolated. “You’ll be happier without me to weigh you down.”
My breath hitched at his statement, and I pulled away from the hands that tried to console me. ‘The audacity…’ With all that was brewing inside of me, my outrage was what came on top. Breathlessly, I clenched my fists, letting the pain that caused and my tears fuel me.
“How about I get to decide what makes me happy?” I gritted my teeth, my chin trembling as I forcibly wiped the tears off my face, while I pulled away from Kenji’s hands. “You got angry because I ‘chose’ for you not to go to Nublar. Now you’re choosing for me. Is that-” I choked on my own words, shutting my eyes tightly and letting my head fall. “Is that what you’re doing?”
“I would never do that!” Kenji cried out, panic in his voice. “Listen to me.” He tried to cup my cheek and make me look at him, but I kept pushing him away. I finally relented when he leaned into my seat, looking at him through the blurriness of my tears. “Hey, I love you, Hayden. I will always love you. I just want you to look me in the eye and tell me- tell me that this works… us.”
I did not trust my voice. How could he say that he loved me while breaking up with me? How could he be so sweet while breaking my heart? Was he being selfish for holding on? Was I? Fuck this. Fuck selflessness.
I sniffled. “You’re giving up on us.”
“I’m trying to do the right thing.” Kenji’s thumb caressed my wet cheek soothingly, as if that would make things any better.
I shut my eyes, yet my tears kept rolling down my cheek with all the sadness, anger and desperation for him to take back his words. ‘The right thing…’ I snapped my eyes open, anger prevailing. “It doesn’t have to be. Fuck this! Fuck being selfless, or whatever it is you trying to do. Fuck doing the right thing- who told you breaking up is the right thing? Stop lying to yourself and telling this is right, you’re just plain giving up and you know it.” Kenji let his hands fall from my face, looking away with pain behind his eyes. “Why can’t we just try?” I whispered, with all anger fleeting me.
“We’ve been trying! And-” Kenji brought his hand to cup my face again. “I really am trying to do the right thing here.” He pleaded.
“I hate when people say that.” I mumbled in between ragged breaths.
“I know, but I mean it.”
“Please don’t- don’t do this, Kenj.” I begged, leaning into his warm touch.
“I have to.” A pained sobbed escaped his lips, so he pressed them together in a thin line. “I love you and I know how much you love me…” I held my breath and all I could do was nod. “…but it’s over.”
“Kenji, no-”
“It has to be.” His hands shook against my face, his whole body shook, actually, trying to hold in his own tears. I did the same, shutting my eyes and frantically shaking my head ‘no’. “Hays, please don’t make me say it again.” Palpable pain and desperation seeped through his words.
Kenji rested his forehead on my own, trembling as he sobbed. His tormented eyes flashing with misery, but also full of concern. I couldn’t look at those eyes any longer. My breathing was a mess; my thoughts were chaotic; and my chest… it ached in such a way it never had before. With no idea what to do, or what to say, I stood silent, listening to our desperate sobs.
This couldn’t be happening. We didn’t go through everything to end like this. There was too much history between us. Was this the end?
‘Please, don’t let this be it.’
“Kenji, please.” I whispered. My hands found his face, nervously and gently touching his cheek.
His breath hitched and he swallowed hard. “Haydie, please don’t fight me on this.”
“Kenji.” I said again, barely a whisper.
‘How can I not fight you on this?’
Kenji’s breath tickled my lips, so close, yet so far away. He was running away. He was doing this to me. Before I could sink into the chaos of my mind, Kenji pulled me closer. In a rush of hopelessness and tortured passion, our lips met.
I could taste the sadness, the desperation and the pain. I could taste the tears, warm and salty. Feel how his finger dug in my skin, pulling me closer at an attempt to merge our bodies as one. My own fingers combed through his hair, more tears falling down my face. I knew that was the last time I would be doing that. Our lips moved soft and slowly, both of us savoring the moment so it could be branded in our brains forever. What was soft at first, got swiftly more intense. His urgent mouth parted my shaking lips, our tongues meeting in such a familiar way it made me faint to think this was the end. I clung to him, hands gripping whatever I could reach, the only solid thing in a dazed world. Taking in one last smell, one last taste, one last kiss. Our farewell kiss ended too soon. Kenji’s strong arms around my waist, while mine hugged his neck. Neither pushing away or pulling close. Just there as we breathed deeply, forehead together once again. It took a while for our breathing to resume a normal rhythm, although there was not much I could do for the pounding in my heart or the tears that would never stop falling.
I didn’t want this to be real. But his dark and pleating eyes begged me to accept his words. Against all my instincts, I felt myself nodding. I didn’t trust my voice, so all I did was nod. With one last deep sigh, I savored how tightly he held me, how he smelled and how my lips felt. Before I could let myself think, I opened the car door, letting his hands fall around me. I got out into the chill night, feeling colder than I’ve ever felt.
Notes:
First time writing a break up scene, so eh
Okay, in my defense… I think most of the relationships that come out of trauma, aka being left for dead on an island full of dinosaurs, are doomed to fail in the real world (Not yasammy, they are endgame). I just think Kenji and Hayden are both too immature to manage a long distance relationship at their age. I didn’t do, like, a slice of life to explore their relationship, but trust me, in my head it was far from perfect from both sides. But yeah, i don’t think this is the end for them, there’s still CT, but we’ll see if it works out.
PS: I watched too many episodes of vampire diaries to write this.
Chapter 16: Reunion
Summary:
A bittersweet welcome home.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
My only wish was to bury myself under the covers all on my lonesome, but no… I could never get what I wanted. As soon as I opened the door to my room, previously the room I shared with Kenji, Brooklynn welcomed me with her high-pitched voice.
“Oh, thank God you two have the decency of keeping your clothes on and not traumatizing me. I’ve been waiting for hours! Took you long-” She took one look at me and froze at the feet of the bed. “What happened?” She shrieked, finally looking at me.
I honestly didn’t have the strength for this. Brooklynn reached out for me, probably a hug, but I wouldn’t know since I just walked past her, aiming for the bed. I kicked my shoes away and dove for the bed, pulling the covers over my head as I laid on my side with my knees to my chest. I let myself sink into the soft mattress, all my weight on my side. I sighed in relief, welcoming the white-hot pain emerging from it, a brief distraction.
The bed dipped near my head, followed by Brooklynn’s hesitant voice. “Hays, what happened?”
“We broke up.” I stated, muffled by the cover. With the confession, it was like the knife that was lodged into my heart was shoved in deeper, twisted, pulled out and stabbed me again and again. There was no blood. No. A physical injury would be much easier to deal with. Instead, I just had my tears, dampening my face, my shirt and now the covers.
“Kenji did what!?” Brooklynn shrieked. “I sent him to fix things after the ass he was to you. Was this because of the fight? He’s beyond stupid for breaking up over that…” She paused. I get that she was curious and wanted me to say something, but all I could do was clench my jaw, trying to stop my chin from trembling. Sobs desperately wanted to escape me, but I did my best to force them down, breathing instead. “Did you break up with him because of that? ‘Cause I can totally get behind that, but-”
“Brooklynn?” I called, the shakiness of my voice undeniable.
“Yeah?”
“Please, shut up.”
“Okay, yeah. Yeah, I can do that.” Finally in silence, I reached out from under the covers and pulled her by the waist, craving something warm to hold me. She silently relented, joining me under the covers and hugging me back with the same intensity. “What can I do? Do you want me to call Sammy and Yaz?”
“No.” I mumbled, barely audible. “Just- just don’t leave, okay?”
“I’m here.” She held me as I buried my head on her neck.
Everything was just gone. Our plans to move in together, our future… out of the blue it was all just gone… in a moment. I didn’t see the signs, now I was left here picking up the pieces of one of the few sure things I had going on in my life. Kenji didn’t even want to try! He didn’t even give me a chance, he just gave up… blaming on being selfless. It was complete fucking bullshit. Because of that, I lost my best friend and the guy I love. The most important person in my life threw me out like that.
There weren't enough tears to fix it, but I sure as hell tried. I clung into Brooklynn even tighter, dampening her shirt with my tears. I was used to hugging Brooklynn, and it was always a nice hug. She was a nice hugger if that is even a thing, but it didn’t feel right. She was smaller than me, not as warm as I wanted, not as much as the hug from the person that I actually wanted right now. But it was the only one I would get moving forward.
…
Fuck. This.
Fuck. This.
Fuck. This.
I chanted as I put one foot after the other. How beautiful the trail was looking seemed like a mockery to my current mood. We had left the motel right before sunrise; now, in the middle of a damn hiking trail, the first sun rays shined through the trees, illuminating our path and reflecting golden flecks off the stream we were following up the trail.
Do not hike wearing tight denim, people. It was hell. Also don’t hike with broken ribs and a lacerated liver. It was an even worse hell. And do not hike mere meters away from the person responsible for you spending the whole night bawling your eyes out. Fucking hell.
I’m sure I looked like trash, bags under my puffy red eyes, swollen face and breathing heavily. I only took solace that Kenji didn’t look much better, not that I was paying attention. No, I actively kept my eyes off him. But everyone else didn’t seem that shy. Brooklynn updated Sammy and Yasmina in hushed whispers; and apparently Kenji had slept in Darius' room. So, yay! Everybody knew. Sammy and Yasmina tried to talk to me, but I was quick to shut that down, blaming on how hard it was to breathe and talk at the same time while nurturing broken bones.
We’d been hiking for hours, and while we felt like Ben could be just around the corner and this was coming to an end, so was my will to live. Seriously, why were these painkillers not working? With every breath and every step, I could feel every single contraction of muscle pressuring my ribcage. My liver had cramped up half a dozen times already and I had to fall to my knees to grip my side, holding back the nausea.
I felt myself inadvertently hanging back, walking hunched over like an old lady and wheezing for air.
‘Why couldn’t Ben have guided Bumpy towards a shopping mall? …or somewhere with roads?’
“Hays, do you need a minute?” Darius asked, clear concern in his eyes.
I panted, leaning on a tree. “So, so badly.”
Sammy placed a hand on my shoulder. “I hate to say it Hays, but ya really should’ve sat this one out.”
Yasmina nodded. “It’s like we’re just throwing the actual doctor’s recommendation out of the window.”
“Key word: recommendation.” I pointed out.
“What about strict bed rest?” Brooklynn shot back.
“There’s been zero resting.” Darius agreed.
I huffed. “Yeah, I’ll rest when-”
“Do not finish that sentence!” Brooklynn pointed an accusatory finger at me.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I know you are in a hurry, go find Ben and I’ll catch up.”
“As if.” She placed her hand on her waist.
The next few minutes were followed by many hushed whispers, they even walked away a bit so I couldn’t hear. They were plotting something, but I was too tired to care, too focused on breathing. I was delusional to think that this physical pain was welcoming. While, yes, I didn’t have time to think about last night while I focused on not passing out, this was another hell altogether. I must’ve closed my eyes while leaning on the tree, because when I opened them again, I was alone in the trail. No, ‘alone’ would be too good to be true, I wasn’t alone. Kenji was standing a few steps from me, glancing at me with worry in his puffy eyes.
“Uh…”
“They ended up going ahead since we are probably close to Ben like you suggested.” Kenji quickly explained, averting my gaze.
“Why are you here?” I asked in a monotone, trying but failing to keep my emotions at bay. Mr. Self-righteous here seemed very keen on torturing me with his presence.
“So, you won’t be alone.”
“Okay, but why are you here?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again, like a fish out of water. “Come on, we gotta keep going if we want to catch up.” He ended up saying, crouching in front of me and motioning for me to get on his back.
“Uh… I rather walk.” I backed away from him, crossing my arms.
“That’s not happening.”
“No, this is not happening.” I scoffed, pushing myself off the tree and taking wide steps away from Kenji. “Come on, we’re gonna lose them.”
Kenji kept me at an annoyingly arm’s length. What was his deal? I swear, if my mind was shambles before, now it was making twists and turns trying to figure out his behavior. I really thought I was done crying, after all I was at it for the whole night, but to no avail, I was already feeling the burning sensation behind my eyes. I really tried to focus on being angry. He was the one giving up out of the blue. But being angry was like a burst of adrenaline that wore off quickly, only to leave me utterly devastated.
Fuck. This.
I had to focus on something else.
My body protested at each step, but I pushed harder. My whole right side was burning in hot agony, like tendrils of pure electricity originated right under my ribs, enveloping my shoulder, arms and traveling down past my knee. I narrowed my eyes at the path in front of me, trying to make it refocus while yelling at my heavy legs to move it.
At one minute, my feet were dragging on the gravel, the other, I found myself kissing the dirt.
I groaned, my breathing blowing away the dry leaves before my face. ‘Did I trip on the ground itself? Wow, that’s a new low even for me.’
“Hays, will you stop?” Kenji was next to me in a flash, helping me to a sitting position. “You’re making this worse. You’re hurting yourself.”
I pushed his hands away, keeping my eyes to the ground. ‘You’re the one making this worse, dammit.’ I brushed the gravel and leaves off my clothes.
“Why don’t you let me help?” He cried.
I grunted. “Like you don’t know the reason for it.”
“So, you’ll end up in the hospital again before letting me help.” Kenji argued, offering his hand.
After staring at his hands for a while, I relented. “I do not like hospitals.”
Couldn’t be anyone else? Really? Why did it have to be Kenji the one to carry me? I would’ve accepted even Darius at this point. I gripped Kenji's back like a monkey, hoping he wouldn’t drop me in the rough terrain. His hands gripped under my thighs, while I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my face right up to his neck. He was sweaty, but underneath that I could faintly smell his perfume.
‘Fucking why?’ I groaned.
The hair on the back of his head was damp, locks of hair were sticking to his neck, the skin glistened with sweat. A droplet traveled all the way down his neck. I gulped as I watched it disappear into his fitted shirt. With another groan, rested my head on his shoulder, shutting my eyes. Except now I was focusing on all the wrong senses: my chest to his back; his muscles flexing with every step; his hands firmly holding my thighs; each of his fingers digging into my skin, sending butterfly-like shocks all across my body when Kenji readjusted his hold.
“So… how are you doing?” Kenji asked, his breathing starting to pick up.
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see it. Albeit a little thankful to have something else to focus on. “Wow, it’s been like eight hours and you’re asking me that?”
“Five actually.” He corrected me.
“It’s a bit too soon to tell.”
“This is awkward, no?”
“What? The fact that you broke up with me five hours ago and know we’re stuck together in the woods for an indeterminate period of time? No. Not awkward at all.” I laughed sarcastically. “Not to mention that all the girls seem to have collectively decided to leave me hanging so you could give me a piggyback ride?” I laughed again, in disbelief. “And the fact that you volunteered ? Even less awkward.”
“I may have blackmailed them into giving us some time alone.” Kenji hesitantly confessed.
I sighed, my mental exhaustion besting me. “You have to see how confusing this is to me... It’s been five hours. Five!”
“I get that.” He mumbled. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about- I mean, you are- were my best friend. I don’t even know anymore. How is this gonna be from now on? Us?”
“There’s no more ‘us’ if I recall correctly.” I said, the words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. “You made sure of that.”
“Right. I know, yeah…” Kenji trailed off, mumbling how he always did when he wanted to keep talking but didn’t know what to say.
‘ Is this his way of wanting to get back together? ’ The little pang of hope hurt more than anything, even though I didn’t actually believe it. Kenji seemed awfully decisive yesterday.
I closed my eyes for another brief moment. It pained me to have Kenji being ripped out of my life so suddenly. The truth was that I still wanted to be friends, I didn’t care how much it would hurt, I didn’t want to lose him. I just wasn’t sure how that would play out. Neither did he apparently.
I slowly opened my eyes again with a sigh. “But we were friends first, no? Camp Fam… if that’s what you want…”
“Yes!” Kenji exclaimed, making me jump on his back at the scare. “I mean, yeah… that sounds nice.” He toned down a notch, almost making me laugh at his cute reaction.
“I’m just not sure if I can be your ‘best friend’ so soon.” I clarified. ‘Or ever.’
“How long?” He asked, full of expectation on his voice.
‘How do I even answer that?’ I groaned. “I don’t know, Kenji.”
“But eventually?”
“Hopefully.”
“Great, yeah, I can do eventually!” I could hear his smile in his voice. “But only if you keep your hands to yourself.” He chuckled at an attempt of being playful.
My face heated up like a hot-air balloon as I realized my hands weren’t holding his shoulder anymore, but they were wrapped comfortably around his neck. I quickly returned them to a much more adequate place, cursing at myself. “You’re the one that jumped at the opportunity to be alone with me, which is still hella confusing.” I shot back.
“I wanted to see how you were doing.”
“Physically or emotionally? Cause the answer is pretty much the same for both.” I sighed deeply, adjusting my breathing to that shallow rhythm that bothered my ribs the least. He muttered something unintelligible as the air grew continuously tense between us.
“I’m sorry.” Kenji pleaded; his voice breathy, making my heart ache. “Promise we’ll stay friends. I just- I don’t want to lose you.” His tone was serious, probably accompanied by a deep frown and pursed lips, showing that dimple of his.
‘I really hope I can keep this promise.’ My eyes burned at the stubborn tears forming there. I rested my forehead on his shoulder, shutting my eyes at the warmth coming off him. ‘Why does he have to make things so difficult?’ I couldn’t say ‘no’ him; I could never say ‘no’ when he talked like that.
“I promise.” I bit my lip at how I choked on the narrowing of my throat.
“Hays-”
I was saved by the familiar voices coming from up ahead. “I think I’ll give walking a shot.”
…
We were met with curious and apologetic glances, which I returned with a death stare, still feeling fucking betrayed from being left behind with Kenji. Brooklynn shrunk away from me as I mostly glared at her.
We were walking again sooner than I would’ve liked. Truthfully, me walking did not last long and almost immediately I was being carried by Yasmina. Then, Sammy; then Yasmina again. Thank God Kenji didn’t offer, because I would’ve accepted in a heartbeat, only to be close to him one last time. Could I be less pathetic? He breaks my heart and I can’t even be angry at the guy, not for more than a few minutes that was.
Thank God, it did not take long for us to reach the end of the woods. The huge mountain topped in white snow was behind us as a very far away landscape; any other day, it would’ve been a pretty sight against the blue sky. But not today. We stopped on the top of a hill. The ground was pure rock and gravel, but it had the eventual grass patch. A spiky blanket of dark green pine trees extended in all directions, safe from the valley below. The valley had a deep blue lake in the center, all the area surrounding it was covered in grass with a few splashes of color here and there, white, red and pink in the shape of little wildflowers.
Darius gasped. “There! I see Ben!” He took off so fast he only left dust behind. “Come on!”
At the lake’s shore, a herd of armored dinosaurs chilled in the sun, one smaller, bipedal silhouette walking among them. It was too far to distinguish what Ben was doing, or if he had seen us, so we rushed down the hill. This time I forced myself to walk, even if I was going to be left behind.
Brooklynn surprised me by staying back. Smiling nervously, she offered to help me, so I threw an arm around her shoulders for support, while she hugged my waist, careful of the bandages there.
“So… did you manage to work things out?”
I scoffed. “That’s what you thought you were doing?”
“Well, did you?” She pressed.
I sighed. “No, we are not back together if that’s what you wanna know, but we did talk some things through.”
“Good things?”
“Hopefully…”
We walked downhill in silence after that. From afar, the hills looked smooth as a blanket; reality was anything but. There was loose gravel, tall grass, spiky shrubs and damn bees everywhere. But either way, it's all downhill from here onwards.
Laughs and bellows welcomed us. Camp fam was a little bubble inside the dinosaur herd, Sammy and Yasmina were holding hands, Kenji was glued to Bumpy, while Ben was not so discreetly glued to Darius. The scene made me smile so much I would’ve stopped to appreciate it if it weren’t for Brooklynn pulling me along. I was carefully watching my steps when Brooklynn gasped next to me. Looking up, I found Ben and Darius in a tight embrace, with their lips interlocked together. Ben had his hands on Darius' waist, who pulled Ben closer by the neck. Sammy was cheering, jumping and waving her arms up, while Yasmina was trying to hold her down so the boys could have their moment.
“Finally!” I chuckled as Brooklynn squealed.
Ben and Darius finally came apart, blushing heavily and staring each other eyes in a way that made me feel like puking. Don’t get me wrong, I was super happy for them. Ben finally got the courage to kiss Darius, but inside me there was a sharp stab of jealousy that I just couldn’t shake. All I could do was avert my gaze, while putting on my best fake smile. Invertedly, I caught my eyes drifting to Kenji, who was paying way too much attention to Bumpy.
“Yes!” Sammy laughed.
“What? We can’t get a tiny bit of privacy?” Darius laughed, his face still red.
“You two picked the wrong place for privacy.” Yasmina smirked.
“Y’all picked the perfect place!” Sammy sighed dramatically. “This flower field is so romantic.” She beamed, crouching down to capture a yellow wildflower in her hand. She turned to Yasmina, placing a loose lock of her hair behind her ear, along with the flower. I think I never saw Yasmina blushing and smiling so brightly as she cupped Sammy’s face and leaned into a kiss.
“Kill me. Now.” I mumbled out loud, luckily, only Brooklynn was close enough to hear me.
“Don’t think about them.” Brooklynn pulled me away. “I’m getting you back to Berkeley, and I’m buying you a boatload of alcohol, well…” She chuckled. “I’m too young for that, but you’re in college, we’ll figure it out. By ‘we’, I mean ‘you’.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Try as I might, I couldn’t disguise the scowl on my face.
It didn’t last for long, though, as I took notice of the Ankylosaurus heading my way, a five tons dinosaur running at us in all her puppy excitement. I hadn’t noticed, ‘cause I only saw her cramped up in a cell, but she had grown so big. Her head reached the height of my own now, not to mention how the spikes in her back and club were now terrifyingly massive. She was still Bumps, though. Puppy on the inside, tank on the outside, with zero sense of her own size. She hit me like a truck to what I could only assume was supposed to be her nuzzling me. With an ‘oof’ I was forced to hug her head so as not to fall off as I was raised from the ground like a bull, laughing even amongst the pain.
“You okay?” Brooklynn laughed.
“Rough love, huh, Bumps?” I groaned, smiling even as a single tear escaped my eye. It was a struggle to get back down and dodge the affectionate licks. “I missed you too, girl.” I petted her roughly on her neck and she practically squealed like she was a baby again. “But you’re still the same…”
“Smells the same.” Brooklynn joked, but was quick to join in on the pets.
It wasn’t long since Bumpy had moved on to greet Brooklynn that I was hit by yet another truck, his arms engulfing me in a deadly grip. “Ben…” I gasped at how tightly he was hugging me. “Stop… squeezing me… to death.” I said in between breaths.
“Sorry.” He mumbled. Ben eased up on the hug, but still kept his arms tightly around me, breathing heavily. When he finally pulled away, his eyes were glistening with tears. “Hays, I’m so sorry I left you. It all happened so fast. A Stiggy got us out, I was going to look for you, but there was the auction. I couldn’t let them sell Bumpy.” He gasped, spitting out words faster than he could breathe. “And there was a hybrid! It was- it was really scary and Owen- we needed to-”
“Okay, it’s alright. Calm down, Ben.” I chuckled, holding him by the shoulders. “Claire and Franklin came to bust me and Zia out.”
“It should’ve been me. I’m so sorry, Hays.” He wheezed.
“No need to be sorry.”
Then he suddenly frowned. “You- you called Claire by her name?”
“To be fair, Dearing is her name too.” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “But, what can I say, she grew on me.”
“About time. I told you she’s not that bad.” Ben took one long look at me, frowning. “You look- well… uh, not good.”
I glanced down at myself, splint on my hand and bruises decorating my skin; my crop top wasn’t long enough to hide the lower part of the nasty bruises I got on my right side from way too many punches, nor the bandage on my waist where the bullet grazed my skin. But he wasn’t all that great either. There wasn’t a trail of blood in his arm anymore, but he had an improvised bandage made out of moss and a ripped fabric. His arm hung somewhat limp to his side in what looked to be a painful way.
“Right back at you, Jungle Boy.”
“What happened?” Ben asked, eyes wide and curious.
I sighed, stepping out of the hug as everybody came to join us. “I swear I’ll tell you all about it-”
“Is everyone okay?” He cut me off, to which I averted my gaze. ‘Of course he didn’t know.’ I sighed. “Hays? What’s wrong? Are they okay?” Ben begged, raising his voice in alarm.
“Zia’s in the hospital, Blue scratched her pretty badly. But I really think she’ll pull through. Owen and Claire are fine, they are keeping her company. Maisie’s with them too. And um…’
“Franklin?”
“H-he didn’t make it.” I choked out, averting my gaze.
“What?” Ben shrieked, his face frozen in shock. “But- How?”
It was unavoidable, so I did my best to summarize what happened. Turns out he had no idea about the Indoraptor getting loose or how many deaths really happened that night. Camp Fam helped me with the final details, jumping in to explain their side of the story. Whether it was unconsciously, I left Maise out of the conversation again, I didn’t know how much Ben knew about her. By the time I was done, Ben’s mouth was hitting the floor in astonishment.
“So, the Indoraptor’s dead?” Ben checked.
“Yes.”
“And Wheatley?”
“Dead.”
Ben groaned. “I really wished you told me about him before.”
“There was nothing to be done.”
He huffed in a way I knew meant he wasn’t done talking about it. “At least karma got to Mills too.” He moved on. I snorted bitterly, nodding along. Ben huffed again, stomping his feet. “I should’ve been there with you.”
“Hey, you got Bumpy out.” Darius shoved him playfully with his shoulder.
“And without dying to toxic gas, bro! That’s a win in my book.” Kenji pointed out.
“Yeah, Ben. Don’t think like that, I’m really, really happy you made it out.” I said, to which Ben nodded.
There was a peaceful silence after that, the only noise was the wind rusting the leaves, making all the flowers dance around us. The lake reflected the sun high up in the sky, with the occasional ripples from the wind. It all was too bittersweet. The picture before us was a huge contrast with the turmoil inside me. It seemed like it had been a month ago that I first boarded the plane to Nublar, not mere days. Too many bad things had happened, but it all led to this moment with Camp Fam finally reunited. I took a deep breath, looking up to the sky and smelling the perfume of the wildflowers surrounding us. I guess I could get past all the bad stuff.
‘Eventually.’
‘Hopefully.’
“Camp Fam…” Darius sighed with a smile on his face, throwing one arm around Ben and the other around Kenji. We all did the same standing in a small circle; I had Brooklynn on my side, and Bumpy on the other. “I’m so happy we all get to be here. We’ve been through a lot together and we always came out on top. That doesn’t happen often. People say how lucky we are for having survived, but I think they are wrong. Nublar doesn’t define us.” His smile grew wide, prompting us to smile too. “The truth is, it’s what happens when we’re not running from a dinosaur or fighting for our lives that define who we are.”
Yasmina chuckled. “Like going on a run by my favorite river.”
“Or going off to unbox yet another secret.” Brooklynn grinned.
“Perfecting the most complete field guide ever!” Darius said.
“Chilling in the grass with my favorite dinosaur. Right, Bumpercar?” Ben petted Bumpy on the snout.
“I don’t know who’s luckier, but Camp Fam, it warms my heart to have us together again with the missin’ piece of our family here, and that everyone is safe.” Sammy beamed.
“Hear, hear.” Kenji cheered loudly.
“And to Hays and Ben, who are beyond stupid, but it’s because of them that we can have this little moment.” Brooklynn smiled at the both of us.
“And to Bumpy, welcome to your new home!” I added, earning a bellow from the Ankylo.
“I feel like we should’ve brought some carob juice.” Darius cracked a laugh.
“Your speeches are getting better, Dino-nerd.” Ben grinned, shoving him by the waist.
The seven of us laughed heartily, the chill breeze carrying our voices around, to which many Ankylosaurus raised their heads, curious.
“Y’all, I don’t know where we’re keepin’ them Ankylosaurs, and I don’t know how they like cows, but I can work somethin’ out in my parents’ ranch.” Sammy said.
“My dad may be able to help with that.” Kenji nodded eagerly.
“I never thought I’d see the day that dinosaurs, real dinosaurs, would roam free in our home.” Darius said, glancing over to the herd grazing the grass lazily.
“I get a feeling they are here to stay.” I said.
Brooklynn sighed. “It’s their home now too.”
“This is going to be so hard.”
Yasmina nodded. “People are going to freak out, no doubt about it.”
“Someone’s going to have to teach them how to coexist from now on.” Darius’ smile grew.
“Yeah, everything’s gonna change now, isn’t it?” I shoved my hands into my pockets, watching the dinosaurs. Ankylosaurus lazing about in a National Park, soon to be discovered by the whole world.
“Not everything.” Brooklynn hooked her arm with mine, fishing my mind from the future to focus on the now.
Darius nodded knowingly. “We’re still gonna be here.”
Notes:
And here we are, the end of the Lost Dino, with everybody mostly safe and sound. Did you like it?
It’s weird seeing how my writing style changed since Assets, it’s evolving way too fast haha hopefully for the better.
But I’d like to hear from you. Is there something you’d like to see in my version of Chaos Theory? More original characters? Thoughts on Hayden and Kenji? Any ships? Any deaths? (I’m not past killing anyone at this point bwahaha). And did you like the new POVs? Honestly, my fav is still Hays POV, but how about you?
So many questions, I know, feel free to drop a comment and I promise to take it all into account for the next story (Yes, CT is coming)PS: I wasn’t going to do it, but now I have a little epilogue coming in two weeks (did I write a whole ass epilogue just because I forgot to tell y’all if Zia is alive or not? most definitely) I know you guys prob know it already but wrote it anyways since i’m not sure she’ll make an appearance in CT
Chapter 17: Epilogue: The Funeral
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Hayden
The following days passed in a blur. The secret was out of the box. Every single person knew dinosaurs were let loose in California, people weren’t happy. Sightings were being reported from the West Coast to the Midwest, from Canada and all the way down to Mexico. Dinosaurs knew no borders. There was no use keeping things from our parents, so Sammy and Yasmina had to return home, Kenji went back to Chicago too, but Brooklynn and Darius stayed. Ben and I didn’t really get to go anywhere, the police wanted to question us.
I felt mostly numb. Maybe was the strict bed rest Brooklynn had instated, or the many drinks I poured in my glass, or sleeping 16 hours straight. I had Brooklynn as a roommate for it all. Zia had been transferred to a hospital in San Francisco, and Owen and Maisie were staying at Claire’s. Ben and Darius went to Ben’s house, which was closer. His mother was pissed out of her mind. I was avoiding her as much as our group was avoiding the media. Vultures. I guess since we weren’t little kids anymore, they didn’t need to tone down the creepiness. Campus security had to kick out a bunch that were stalking my place.
Brooklyn had the idea to tape a GPS tracker to Bumpy’s back, so we could always have her location. The Ankylosaurus’ herd moved on to Colorado last time we checked. They seemed alright, no one was bothering them as far as I knew. Cameron held on to his words after all.
Today was the first day I saw everybody again, Owen, Claire, Maisie, Ben, Darius and Brooklynn. Dressed in all black as we stood in a freshly cut lawn. Huge sequoia and pine trees decorated the place, a bunch of rose bushes circled the fenced area, and even more impressive flowers decorated the gravestones. The day was beautiful, a bright blue sky and the sun shining through the trees. Many tears rolled down people’s faces during Franklin’s funeral. Our group stood in the back, away from his friends and family. Dirty looks were directed towards us, so we figured we’d lay low. At the end of the ceremony, Claire went with Owen to talk to people, leaving the rest of us under the shade of a tree. I was shoulder to shoulder with Brooklynn on one side and Zia on the other. She looked a lot better. The color was back to her face and she could walk without grimacing too much, although she looked incredibly sad.
“It’s ironic, no? How Franklin was scared of his own shadow, but he ended up being the reason we all are alive.” Zia said, barely a whisper.
“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.” I solemnly nodded along, capturing her hand on my own and squeezing it reassuringly.
“I can’t annoy the hell out of him anymore.” Zia sniffled, hugging my arm.
“It was funny how worked up he got everytime you two would bicker.” Ben appeared on her other side, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Such a weiner.” She laughed amongst the tears. “I can’t believe he’s gone.” She choked. I hugged her in a weird sideways angle, careful not to raise my arms too much as my ribs still hurt. “He’d be happy, though, about what the DPG has lined up to help the dinosaurs.”
“Mr. Kon reached out, then? Is the ranch really happening?” Brooklynn asked.
“An Ankylosaur ranch, that’s a first.” Darius laughed, trying to keep the spirits up.
“Bumpy will be happy there.” Ben smiled.
I squeezed Zia’s hand. “You’re working there then? Paleoveterinarian at last.”
“I bet the world will need more of those from now on.” Darius said.
“All I ever wanted.” Zia smiled, but no happiness reached her eyes.
“Bet Grandpa would’ve liked to see that ranch.” Maisie spoke in a tiny voice. She had certainly lost more than everybody here today. The funeral of the billionaire Benjamin Lockwood was just yesterday, and her caretaker Iris was just after. I thought it was weird that our group got invited, but I think that was Maisie’s decision. It was a close ceremony, Maisie, us and a few other fancy people in suits. It was really sad really and an awful little amount of people for a philanthropist. Maisie had cried the whole day, and now the tears seemed to have dried out.
“Sorry, Maisie.” I said. “About your Grandfather and Iris.”
“Yeah…” She shrugged, averting her gaze to hide the tears. “It’s quite alright, not your fault.”
‘I spoke too soon.’ I grimaced, I never knew what to do with crying kids… or kids in general.
“No, but it is not alright.” Zia closed her eyes as she rested her head on my shoulder.
“No.” The little girl’s voice was barely a whisper.
There’s not much to be said after that. What could we really say? She was not even a teenager yet and she’d lost her entire family in one single night, a massive secret had been thrown at her face, revealing she was actually a clone of Lockwood's actual daughter, and that now dinosaurs roamed free in the world. All of that tracked down to one person. Mills. Last thing I heard from him was that he was brought to the hospital after being shot by Cameron. Unfortunately, he made it through surgery and probably would end up in prison. Although it would be nice to see him suffer in a penitentiary, I didn’t see it lasting long, not with the present justice system. Speaking of justice, Wu was on the wind. Again. That guy was harder to capture than a fucking superintelligent Raptor colored blue. I wondered in which rich guy’s basement he’ll end up this time.
All we could do now was stay in the shade, watching the crowd thin out, the people that loved Franklin leaving now that his casket was on the ground. Our little group felt out of place. And judging by their faces, Claire and Owen felt the same as they approached us again.
“Hey, kid, ready to go?” Owen placed a fatherly hand on Maisie’s shoulder.
“Go?” She frowned.
He cleared his throat, looking a bit embarrassed. “Well, Claire and I thought, with everything… if you…”
“If you’d like to come live with us.” Claire finished the sentence for him, smiling warmly.
Still frowning, Maisie stuttered. “I- I don’t know, hm… okay?”
“Okay?”
With a strong nod that made all of her hair wave, she spoke with a newfound determination. “Yes.”
“Great!” Claire almost squealed like a little girl, slapping Owen excitedly on his arm. “Owen, she agreed, did you hear that?”
“Yeah, I did.” He chuckled, rubbing his arm for a while before smiling brightly and pulling Maisie for a hug.
Ben was smiling ear to ear. “So are you two… together?”
Underneath the dark sunglasses, I rolled my eyes. That had become a thing apparently… Ben and Darius, Claire and Owen. Everybody was happy. Of course everybody was fucking happy.
Claire and Owen smiled at each other, and she hugged his arm. “Yeah, we figured it was time.”
“Fucking finally!” Zia cheered.
“Zia!” Claire exclaimed, clasping her hands over Maisie’s ears.
“Sorry, Maisie.” She chuckled. “But, finally.”
“You staying in the Bay Area?” I asked Claire.
“No… I’ll still be involved with the DPG, but maybe it will be best if we stay away from prying eyes for a while.”
“That’s probably best…” Owen glanced at Maisie with worry in his eyes. “...for everybody.”
“We’ll keep in touch.” Claire said.
Owen nodded. “If you need anything, just ask.”
“Thanks.” I said.
“You too, Mr. Grady!” Darius excitedly waved as they walked away.
“Later, Mudman.” Zia nodded at Ben. “Hays, coffee next week? You should come too, Brooklynn, if you’re still around.”
“At the rate this one is going…” Brooklyn chuckled, shoving me lightly with her shoulder. “We’ll be roommates for a long while.”
I deadpanned. “Very nice to see you two bonding already.”
“Hey, Zia. Your ride is going to leave you behind.” Ben laughed, seeing that Claire, Owen and Maisie were already in their car.
“Oh, shit. Yeah, I should go. Later weiners.” She took off.
And just like that there were four. As soon as I stepped out of the shade of the tree, I frowned and dropped my head, keeping my eyes away from the sun. Not even the sunglasses were enough to keep the headache away.
‘I’m never drinking again.’ I groaned as I followed everybody to Ben’s car, well his mother’s actually. He had picked Booklynn and I up at uni and we came together to the funeral. The strong and nauseating smell of vanilla invaded me as I entered it, not helping at all with the hangover induced headache I had right now.
I groaned as I sat on the back seat with Brooklynn. “I miss my bike.”
She snorted. “Well, next time don’t break your ribs.”
“You say it like it was on purpose.” I rolled my eyes.
In the front, the boys laughed, and Ben drove off. “So… how has it been having a roommate?” Darius asked.
“Awesome.” She said.
“Eh.” I mumbled.
“Eh? Just ‘Eh’?” She gasped, baffled at me. “If it weren’t for me you’d be eating instant noodles and drinking that cheap vodka all day.”
“Living that student life.” I nudged her on the leg, smiling so she’d know I was kidding about the roommate thing. “But thanks for buying bagels.”
“Honestly.” She huffed, crossing her arms and legs.
I couldn’t care less about food. I wasn’t hungry. The blackhole left in my chest didn’t really strive for food. Nor did it strive for alcohol really, but that helped numb the sinking feeling. The feeling that wouldn’t fade away, wondering if he was hurting like I was, dreading a future that didn't include him. There was no use hoping we’d get back together, it was his choice and not mine. A foolish choice fueled by all the mistakes that I made. Yep.. and just like that the urge to cry was back, burning in the back of my eyes. I had to go and screw up the best thing that ever happened to me, the first person that truly loved me and I had the delight to say that I loved him too. I knew without a doubt that Kenji was the one and only, I’d never love anyone like that again.
Ben’s voice brought me back from my thoughts. “So, Hays… how are you doing?” He asked, awkward hesitation in his words.
I grumbled incoherently as I slid down on my seat, hiding from his concerned eyes in the rearview mirror behind my shades. I focused my gaze on the world outside, blue and bright sky, the waves crashing in the ocean, right below the road we were driving through.
“Bagels and expensive vodka.” Brooklynn laughed. “That’s progress, trust me. She still hasn’t earned her phone rights back, though.”
I groaned. “I just wanted to see how he was doing.”
“And I’m here to stop you from being cringe and drunk dialing Kenji.”
I promptly ignored her and leaned over to the front seats.“Have you two heard anything? Is he okay?”
“We reached out, but he didn’t say much.” Darius said.
“Hays…” Brooklynn said, the warning clear in her voice. She’d always do that when I mentioned him. ‘Fucking annoying roomate that I had.’
“Fine.” I scoffed, leaning back in my seat and giving up… for now.
“But how about you two, any plans for summer vacay?” She asked.
“We’re spending it together in Darius’ place. I’ll be helping him with his youtube videos.” Ben beamed.
Darius practically vibrated in excitement. “You have no idea the plans I have for my channel. Now that the dinosaurs-” He paused so abruptly that it had all of us looking up.
“What?”
“Pteranodons…” He mumbled, his eyes on the sky outside.
Everybody looked as two adult Pteranodons soared through the sky, matching the speed of the car. They flapped their wings, stretching and arching them in a way that the massive reptile remained in flight. It looked impossible. An animal that size, wings outstretched to the size of a school bus, could seemingly glide in the air. They were flying parallel to the ocean and the road, close enough that I saw the details on their triangular shaped head, their beak and the colorful orange pattern of their wings.
“That’s… wow.”
“This is the first time I've seen a dinosaur since Bumpy.” Ben said.
“Yeah.”
“Me too.”
“Yep, not getting used to it.” Brooklynn, who was leaning over me to look outside, plopped down back at her seat.
“I’m not a fan of Pteranodons.” Ben mumbled.
I nodded along. “We know, we don’t like them either, Ben.”
“Still, something about them out in the distance, at a safe distance, they can be pretty amazing.” Darius said, almost in a daze.
“I know what you mean.” I said.
“I just wish more people would see them like we do.” He snorted. “My dad would lose his mind if he could see this.”
Ben removed one hand from the steering wheel to confort Darius, but he paused with it mid-air, then pointed. “What’s that on its claw?”
“It’s carrying something...” I thought out loud.
“Dino-nerd?” Brooklynn called.
“Is that wood? A branch?” Darius gasped. “It’s building a nest!”
I pretty much rolled my eyes out of my sockets. “They sure don’t waste any time.”
“This is really happening, huh?” Ben chuckled, nervous.
We weren’t the only one’s to notice the dinosaurs either. Rows of cars were stopping by the road’s shoulder, people running out, snapping pictures and pretty much having their jaws on the floor. The amazement that I first felt seeing a prehistoric dinosaur was still fresh in my mind. Those first days at camp, the simplicity of hanging out with six other kids, laughing, running around and causing chaos. Back then, we didn’t know what true chaos was. Neither did the world apparently. Unfortunately, they were bound to find out.
“Kansas is starting to look a bit off, isn’t it?” Brooklynn said, apprehension seeping through her tone.
“Yeah, we truly are not alone anymore.” Darius sighed, then chuckled with a sad amusement. “Welcome to Jurassic World.”
Notes:
And so officially this one comes to an end. It was short and not so sweet, but fun to write. There’s more to come, my version of Chaos Theory is in the works.
But please be patient, I’m struggling to find time and energy to write right now, life is busy. Know that I’ll for sure reach the end of the series, but it might take a while longer this time…
Just so I don’t completely leave you hanging… right now I’m in the lasts chapters of season 1, still got a lot of reviewing and plotting for the original bits I’ll do. I think I might be able to start posting season 1 before season 3 comes out (when is that?). Oh my, I don’t even have a working title for it hahahaha anyways… I’m yapping
See you in the next one!
One month later... It's March! And the next one is here: Survivors of the Apex Age, third part of the series, is out now! It follows Hayden and the campers through the Chaos Theory storyline. Updates twice a month. Go check it out!
Pages Navigation
deathXbeforeXdisco on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Jun 2024 12:12AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Jun 2024 10:06AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 25 Jun 2024 11:20AM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 3 Thu 18 Jul 2024 03:02AM UTC
Comment Actions
nazu on Chapter 3 Thu 12 Sep 2024 08:14AM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 4 Sat 27 Jul 2024 04:03PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 4 Sat 27 Jul 2024 04:13PM UTC
Comment Actions
nazu on Chapter 4 Thu 12 Sep 2024 08:33AM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 5 Sat 10 Aug 2024 05:05PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 5 Sat 10 Aug 2024 05:46PM UTC
Last Edited Sat 10 Aug 2024 05:46PM UTC
Comment Actions
nazu on Chapter 5 Thu 12 Sep 2024 08:52AM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 6 Sat 24 Aug 2024 03:11PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 6 Sun 25 Aug 2024 01:52PM UTC
Comment Actions
deathXbeforeXdisco on Chapter 6 Sun 25 Aug 2024 12:26PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 6 Sun 25 Aug 2024 01:49PM UTC
Last Edited Sun 25 Aug 2024 01:50PM UTC
Comment Actions
Comuna_popular on Chapter 6 Sun 25 Aug 2024 09:59PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 6 Mon 26 Aug 2024 01:34AM UTC
Comment Actions
Jejejeje on Chapter 6 Sat 07 Sep 2024 04:21PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 6 Sat 07 Sep 2024 04:31PM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 7 Sat 07 Sep 2024 04:42PM UTC
Last Edited Sat 07 Sep 2024 04:43PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 7 Sun 08 Sep 2024 09:52PM UTC
Comment Actions
deathXbeforeXdisco on Chapter 7 Sun 08 Sep 2024 12:26PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 7 Sun 08 Sep 2024 09:54PM UTC
Comment Actions
Comuna_popular on Chapter 7 Mon 09 Sep 2024 03:13AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 7 Mon 09 Sep 2024 02:08PM UTC
Comment Actions
nazu on Chapter 7 Thu 12 Sep 2024 09:14AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 7 Thu 12 Sep 2024 12:07PM UTC
Comment Actions
deathXbeforeXdisco on Chapter 8 Mon 30 Sep 2024 10:41AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 8 Mon 30 Sep 2024 03:41PM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 12 Sat 23 Nov 2024 03:49PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 12 Sat 23 Nov 2024 04:51PM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 13 Sun 15 Dec 2024 03:12AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 13 Sun 15 Dec 2024 12:03PM UTC
Comment Actions
blestjupiter on Chapter 14 Sat 28 Dec 2024 02:38PM UTC
Comment Actions
123456789 (Guest) on Chapter 15 Sat 25 Jan 2025 10:40AM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 15 Sat 25 Jan 2025 12:12PM UTC
Comment Actions
123456789 (Guest) on Chapter 15 Sat 25 Jan 2025 12:14PM UTC
Comment Actions
introvertedcaterpie on Chapter 15 Sat 25 Jan 2025 12:23PM UTC
Last Edited Sat 25 Jan 2025 12:24PM UTC
Comment Actions
Pages Navigation