Chapter Four: Keepsakes.
Owen's POV
I stomped down the hallway towards the Control Room, intent on finding Claire and getting some freaking answers. I entered the elevator and rode down, entering the control room, spotting Dearing instantly. I walked up to her, ignoring the security guard asking for my badge, she spun, glaring at me.
"What the hell happened out there?" I demanded,
"There are thermal cameras all over that paddock! She did not just disappear!" I snapped, the guard stepped between Claire and I, who spun back around the face the monitors, ACU was on their way, but I knew it wasn't going to end well. God, how many more people have to die before this chick understands?
"It must have been some kind of technical malfunction." She reasoned,
"Were you not watching?! She marked up that wall as a distraction! She wanted us to think she escaped!" I pointed out, why wasn't she understanding this?
"Hold on, we are talking about an animal here!" Claire rounded on me,
"A highly intelligent animal!" I countered back.
"400 meters to the beacon!" a girl spoke up. I noticed that ACU were now getting out of their vehicles,
"You're going after her with non-lethals?!" I breathed out.
"We have 26 million dollars invested in that asset, we can't just kill it." The man next to Claire spoke, I recognized him as Mr. Masrani, the man who took over the park after the original owner, Mr. Hammond.
"Those men are going to die…" I sighed,
"300 meters out!" The girl spoke up.
"You need to call this mission off right now!" I demanded,
"They're right on top of it!" A guy said,
"Call it off right now!" I demanded them,
"You are not in control here!" Claire exclaimed. I gave her a harsh look, she didn't realize just what was at stake did she?! We watched as the men walked closer and closer to the beacon, soon, the monitor showed a clump of skin…
"What is that?" Masrani asked,
"That's her tracking beacon…. She clawed it out…" I pointed out,
"How would it know to do that?" Claire asked
"She remembered where they put it in!" I replied, one by one, the ACU went down, I spun to face Claire and Masrani.
"Evacuate the island…" I said,
"We'd never re-open…" Claire replied,
"You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity… She is seeing all of this for the first time, she doesn't even know what she is! She will kill everything that moves!" I pointed out.
"You think the animal is contemplating its own existence?" Masrani asked,
"She is learning where she fits in the food chain and I don't think you want her to figure that out!" I countered,
"Now! Asset Containment can use live ammunition when necessary! You have an M14 in your armory now put in on a chopper and smoke this thing!" I exclaimed,
"We have families here! We are not going to turn this place into some kind of warzone!" Claire snapped, I instantly thought of Nik… Where was she? Oh my God…
"You already have!" I snapped back.
"Mr. Grady if you are not going to help there is no reason for you to be in here!" Claire exclaimed, I scoffed, and began to walk out of the room, stopping when I got Masrani. I leaned close to him.
"I'd have a word with those people in your lab…. That thing they created… Is no dinosaur…" I didn't let him respond as I walked out the room, I needed to find my niece. It wasn't too much longer before I spotted Claire.
"Claire?" I asked, she spun around.
"I need you!" She said.
"Okay.." I nodded.
"I need your help! My nephews are out in the valley! Please! If anything happens to them!" I pulled her towards the door.
"How old?" I asked,
"Um, the older one is uh… High school age… And the younger one…He's a few years…" She held her hands up at different levels, clearly clueless…
"You don't know how old your nephews are?" I asked, I knew everything about Nik… Then again, I pretty much raised her while her parents ran around doing whatever….
"Like you know all your siblings kids…" She challenge back.
"My niece is Nikana, she's 15 years old, loves pizza, mashed potatoes tacos, and cookies and cream ice cream, and is currently here at the park with her best friend Zach and his brother Gray." I replied, her eyes widened.
"Those are my nephews! She must be with them!" My eyes widened. She was in the valley… That beast was on the loose.
"We have to move. Now." I demanded, dragging her through the crowd of people.
Nik's POV
The beast was feasting on the Ankylosaur of its choice, and none of us could seem to look away.
"We're safe in here right?" Gray asked,
"Yeah, totally safe…" Zach assured.
"Zach…" I hiccupped, tears subsiding. We were so dead. Completely and utterly, without a doubt, dead.
"We're stuck." I stated.
"No we're not." Zach replied, going to move the Gyrosphere, but we remained in our position…
"No, no, no!" He groaned.
"What are we going to do?" I asked. Then the next sound made my heart stop, Zach's phone vibrating. I looked down, it was on the roof. It was definitely going to get the beast's attention.
"Oh no…" I whispered, Zach stretched his arm down, but he couldn't quite reach it. I looked up to find the beast in front of us. It stared in at us, and I almost passed out from fright. I grabbed onto Gray's shoulder, he was whimpering with fright.
"It's gonna be okay…" I assured him, but it was a long shot. The beast all of a sudden rolled us over so we were facing it. It lifted a claw and smashed it against the glass, it splintered under the pressure, and I lost all composure at that point. I screamed as its jaw clamped around our pod…. When it realized it wasn't getting anywhere, it proceeded to pick us up and slam us into the ground…As it slammed us twice and I had begun to give up. I noticed Zach reaching for Gray's seatbelt. I followed suit and undid my own. I hit the ground first, the boys next.
"Go, go, go!" Zach sprang up, pulling Gray and I with him, we started sprinting as fast as we could. The dinosaur's roar shook the ground as we pushed forward. We made it to the clearing, and I dared to look back, it was hot on our tail. We rushed forward and made it to a cliff face. There was a pool of water below us.
"We have to jump!" Zach shouted. It was insane, but our only other option was to get eaten.
"Are you ready?" Zach asked us.
"On 3!" I nodded,
"1…. 2…." We couldn't make to three before he grabbed each of our hands and the three of us jumped forward, plunging into the icy water below. I had let go of their hands on the way down, so I swam upwards, eyes quickly finding the beast. It let out an angry roar before turning around. I looked for the boys and found them both alive. We swam towards the edge of the lake; we climbed onto the muddy bank, resting for just a moment.
"We jumped… We actually jumped!" Zach laughed. I nodded, catching my breath.
"We lived." I agreed, looking over at him. He hugged Gray tightly and then turned to me
"Hugs later when we make it to the resort." I said, he nodded and the three of us set off into the woods, putting as much distance as we could between ourselves and the beast. We trekked through the woods. Gray had a vice grip on my hand as we stumbled through the unfamiliar terrain.
"Which way can we go?" I asked as we stopped to catch our breath. I wasn't sure how long we had been running, or where the beast was….
"I don't know. It doesn't look like this place has been touched in a while." Zach said, and it was true, there were parts of the park that weren't used for anything but travel.
"Come on, we don't know if that thing can track." I nodded forward. We began trekking yet again. We came upon a path, and decided to follow it. We eventually came upon the remains of a cart. A recent cart. I picked up the helmet on the ground, and it had been chomped through, blood and dirt now covering it.
"Gross.." I hissed, tossing it back down. Zach grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb over the back. It calmed me down a bit, I noticed the cart, now demolished, sparking close by. The three of us inched closer.
"Guys, look at this." Gray pointed upwards; I followed his finger and looked up. We were outside some sort of arch way.
"Let's go." Zach said, we walked through the archway and pushed open the door. I gasped when I saw the inside. It was the old welcome center from the original Jurassic Park.
"Wow…" I whispered, 22 years of vegetation had grown, making the place almost unrecognizable. Gray picked up a banner and I noticed there was a T-Rex skeleton. Zach picked up a bone.
"Gray, do you still have those matches?" He asked, Gray nodded, reaching into his little fanny pack. He handed them to Zach.
"Here ya go." He said. Soon, we had a torch.
"This is the welcome center" I explained as we made our way through the massive room.
We wandered, taking everything in. I found a door and went through it, we were in a garage type thing.
"No way!" Gray gasped, rushing forward. He whipped off the covering to reveal a Jeep. This definitely was from the original park. Wow.
"1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara… Sand Beige…" Gray whispered in amazement, the car seemed to be in great shape.
"Do you think these things can still run?" I asked, running my hand over the hood. Zach smacked it lightly and turned to us.
"You remember when we fixed Grandpa's old Malibu, right?" He asked,
"Yeah.." Gray and I nodded.
"Alright, then Gray come with me, Nika, pop the hood and see if you can't find a flashlight." Zach instructed, the two boys disappeared and I began my own search. I dug through the leaves and found nothing. I moved onto the second shelf and my hand hit something. I lifted it up and found it was a helmet.
"Cool…" I whispered, I placed it in the Jeep; it was totally going to be my keepsake from this trip… Ya know… If I make it out alive that is….
"Did you find a flashlight?" Zach's voice sounded from behind me. I spun to see him and Gray lugging in a battery.
"No, but I think we can open up this door right here." I tapped the metal with my fingers. He nodded and threw off his hoodie. I opened up the door and light flooded the space. The boys instantly set to work, while I watched in curiosity. As I waited for them to finish their little project, I found myself drifting into sleep. I shut my eyes and I'm not sure how much time had passed, but I woke up to hear Gray and Zach talking.
"Do you love Nik?" Gray asked all of a sudden, there was the sound of something dropping.
"What?" Zach asked,
"Do you love Nik?" Gray repeated.
"Of course I do! She's my best my friend." Zach replied,
"No, I mean, are you in love with her…. Like how Mom and Dad used to be." I tried to keep my breathing steady as I waited to hear Zach's response. Could he see me as more than a friend? Do I see him as more than a friend?
"Nika is…. Beautiful, smart, funny…. She's just amazing Gray…. I mean… I guess I am a bit… But, I know she'd never look at me that way." Zach replied.
"I think she's in love with you too… The way she looks at you makes it kind of obvious." Oh I should throw something at him, the little rat. It is not obvious!
"Really?" Zach sounded hopeful, and I could picture his cute little grin, a little twinkle in his eye…Okay, stopping there…
"Yeah! That's why I don't get why you're with Megan? I mean none of us like her, and we all love Nik." Gray was most definitely wise beyond his years.
"Yeah… Well… I'm with Meg, and I'm not a cheater…" That seemed to end the conversation. Now, how on Earth do I take this information?!
What did you guys think? Good, bad, eh? Let me know! I should have the next chapter out within a few days! Thank you guys so much for all the support and encouragement! Hope ya'll like it!
Quick question, do you guys want me to continue after the movie? I was thinking about it, but only if you guys want! So, do let me know!
Much Love,
Rhey!