Chapter 3 of Like A Rose
Chapter 3: Re-Introductions
Raylen was still curled around her stuffed dog. Her breathing was even, but her muscles tense. She was dreaming a rather odd dream… but she didn't know what to think of it.
She ran faster than she had ever run before. She was in the late Maastrichtian, and was running from something she probably wouldn't survive unless an anomaly opened at that very instant—the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, which if she did happen to miraculously survive, she could safely and first handedly tell Nick that the dinosaurs were wiped out because of a meteor storm which half landed near some of the most active volcanoes of the age and caused them to erupt and cause a nuclear winter. But right now she was running from one of the crashing meteorites that were landing beside what in present day would Yellowstone National Park in America.
Anomaly would be nice! Anomaly would be nice! She screamed in her head as she continued running through the Cretaceous jungle, dinosaurs joining her in her mad dash away from the area. Herbivores and Carnivores alike ran through the trees, all scrambling, none paying attention to what was running beside them or under them. No doubt any nests by now would be filled with hardboiled eggs, and any young and old creatures dead from the heat of the incoming projectile.
Then…suddenly… there was silence. The dinosaurs kept running. But she stopped.
She knew she shouldn't have, she knew she should have kept running. But that damn human curiosity made her turn around as a shock wave came towards her as she watch dust, smoke and earth rise into the prehistoric sky.
Move. Her subconscious told her as the wave came closer. Run. The shockwave was a mile away. Get Away. The earth and trees were becoming ripped up and thrown back as it came at her. FIND AN ANOMALY NOW!
She finally moved. She spun and started running after the vast group of dinos, almost tripping over some that had literally ran themselves to death.
Her heart was pounding in her ears as she felt the first hint of the wind in front of the shockwave catching up to her.
Then it caught her. Square in the back. She went flying forward, the force of the impact shattering every bone in her lower body. Her head then went into a large boulder, followed by her shoulders, which were also broke upon impact.
So she lay there, broken, frightened, and utterly alone as some of the stragglers of the dinos met similar fates to her, only they seemed to have the luck to be dead upon impact.
Why did she have to be the one creature that had to watch every moment for her final seconds? Why couldn't she have broken her neck? Or get impaled like that poor duckbilled creature just meters from her?
Why did she have to watch as that volcanic plume erupted, and the pyroclastic cloud came tearing towards her? The ever growing cloud of rocks, dirt and heat coming at God knows how many kilometers per hour…
Did God even exist at this time? She wondered to herself. Would a prayer even matter?
"God… if you can hear me from this time… Please… keep the team safe… and let them remember me as a good friend… Dad… your little Raylen is gonna be with you soon," Raylen said softly as the pyroclastic cloud fell upon her…
Raylen shot awake as a hand rested on her shoulder to shake her, her terrified eyes staring at the wall in front of her while her arms hugged the stuffed animal to her chest.
Stephen grabbed her shoulder. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"
She looked at him panting and then took a deep breath. "Nothing. Very bad dream. What's up?"
"The team's here. They wanted to check on you."
She blinked, then rubbed her temple. "Ok… um… Give me a minute?"
"Yes," he gave her shoulder a squeeze, then got up and walked back to the living room.
Raylen meanwhile was trying to shake the sick feeling she felt after her dream. She had felt as if she had died… but she hadn't right? She was still there and alive…
She shook her head and went to the dresser to find a clean set of clothes, and walked out of her room in a pair of semi-tight jeans, a black tank top, and a pair of black boots.
Peeking into the room, she saw Nick, Abby, Connor, a soldier, and a woman she was tempted to call Jenny. Stephen sat in his chair looking slightly concerned, but refused to answer the questions from Nick and "Jenny."
She backed off and looked up at the ceiling with her back to the wall. I can do this. They are my original team, just… different timeline… she took a deep breath, then stepped into the living room.
The conversation stopped, and Raylen felt like she had just become the main attraction at a fun house. She rubbed her arm, her body shaking in anxiety as she waited for someone to speak. Her nerves seemed to be running high thanks to that weird dream she had had during her nap.
Nick stepped forward. "It's good to have you back, Raylen. We were starting to fear the worse."
She nodded mutely as the older man embraced her.
Then Connor and Abby hugged her at the same time. "We missed you! It's good to see you!"
"Yea… You too," she replied with a nervous tone.
They released her and the woman she thought was Jenny came over. "We were really worried about you know."
"I bet, Jenny," she said automatically.
The room froze and she stared back at them. "What?"
"Raylen. This is Claudia Brown," Nick said slightly firm.
Raylen's green eyes blinked. "But… she looks exactly like Jenny Lewis from my timeline…"
"Jenny Lewis?" Claudia asked. "Your timeline?"
Stephen stood. "I told you. She's from another timeline."
The soldier huffed. "That was obvious. I've never met her and I could tell. If she was close to you all as you said, she would have run out and hugged everyone."
Raylen's body tensed. "And you are, Soldier Boy?"
The soldier stood and walked over to her. "Captain H. Becker. The head of security."
"And the H stands for?" she asked with a huff.
"That is none of your business."
"It is if you're protecting my friends—even if they're not from my timeline I care about them."
Becker chuckled. "I'd rather you didn't know."
"Fine, but I will get it out of you," she said, then turned to everyone else. "Before I make another fool of myself… are you all still at Home Office? Or is the ARC in the midst of being built?"
They all looked at each other, then Stephen spoke. "The ARC is in the midst of being built."
She nodded. "Lester still cynical?"
"Yes," Nick said.
Before she could ask another word, her pocket began beeping, making them all jump and Becker to pull a hand gun as she fumbled with the handheld ADD. She turned it down for one, and then she fiddled with the switches. "There's an anomaly… about four clicks north of here."
Becker put his gun away and headed for the door while Connor examined the device while she tried to fine tune it on the detection of the anomaly.
"Is that a handheld of the ADD?" he asked curiously.
Raylen nodded. "Yea, my timeline's Connor got them nice and easy to conceal, and so we can turn down the beeping."
"Would you mind if I checked it out once we're done with this anomaly?" he asked, his brown eyes eager.
"Sure. As long as you give it back."
"Of course. I understand," he said as the group headed out to the trucks.
Stephen opened the passenger side of his truck, and Raylen got in while she fiddled more with her detector, not paying attention to what truck she was in until they started moving and passed Nick's.
"When do I turn?" the male tracker asked.
Her head snapped up and look at him. She blinked and tried to remember if she had been following him.
"When do I turn?" he repeated as he looked around at the streets.
"Oh, right," she looked down at her ADD and turned a dial. "Turn… LEFT NOW!"
Stephen turned the corner sharply, followed by Nick.
The next few turns were the same.
Pulling into the parking area of a small park, Stephen and Raylen got out of the truck and ran towards the trees as the others pulled in. The young woman led the older man at a good speed, weaving between the trees and leaping over the low undergrowth.
She skidded to a halt when she came face to face with the anomaly. "Found it."
Stephen stopped behind her and panted. "I've almost forgotten how fast you can run… I'm out of shape."
Raylen laughed. "No, no you're not. You forget I used to be a dancer. Sometimes we had to make runs back to the dressing rooms between dances, so I learned to be fast."
He chuckled and they looked around as the team got there, Becker with a rifle to his shoulder. Raylen looked around to try and find signs of a creature incursion. As Connor walked over to her, she found the first sign—footprints.
"We have a creature."
The rest came over and surrounded her, examining the prints.
Nick looked thoughtful. "Hadrosaur of some form."
Raylen nodded and pulled out a tranquilizer pistol. "And those are herbivores. I got it." She started to walk away.
Stephen stood. "Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Besides, two sets of eyes are better than one."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But wait til I tell you to shoot, Mr. Trigger Happy."
"Is this about me shooting you?!" he asked as they left the group.
"Maybe."
Raylen led the stalk, her feet silent and her body low to the ground so she could keep an eye on the tracks. Stephen was more on alert, keeping an eye out for anything that was potentially dangerous.
"Stephen."
"Hmm?"
"Look," the woman said, pointing forward at a young parasaurolophus grazing on ferns. "It's a Parasaurolophus, one of the largest Hadrosaurs. The horn on its head is hallowed and helps resonate its distress calls."
"Ah… you're worse than Connor some days…" Stephen sighed.
"Actually, when I was younger, I used to watch this American animated movie series called Land Before Time. One of the characters, Ducky, appeared to be a Parasaurolophus, and she was my favorite."
"I see."
Raylen stood and walked around to stand in front of the creature. "Hey you."
The duckbilled creature raised its head and looked at Raylen curiously, then honked softly.
"It's ok, big baby," she whispered, reaching a handful of ferns up to the prehistoric cow-like reptile.
The creature's lips wrapped around the leaves and started eating them with a hum like sound. While it ate, she rubbed its forehead with a soft crooning sound.
Stephen took his time to come to her side. "She's beautiful."
"Isn't she? Just amazing…" she whispered.