*Indominus Rex*
Later that day.
I got to Owen's bungalow not long after, and spotted Claire speaking to him. I got off my dirt bike and walked over, just to walk into an argument I didn't want to be a part of.
"What? You made a new dinosaur?" Owen questioned. Claire sighed as she said, "Yeah. Its what we do here. Mr. Masrani asked me to consult with you...to see if the paddock has any vulnerabilities." She explained to him. Owen got up from cleaning his motorbike and said, "You want to consult with me here, or, in my bungalow?"
I rolled my eyes at that, no way Claire would take up on that. "That's not funny." Claire finally muttered. Owen chuckled, "It's a little funny." He ran up the staircase and disappeared behind his bungalow.
"Why me?!" He called as Claire followed him up the stairs.
"Well...maybe he thinks since you can control the raptors, you'd be fit for the job." She said as he walked back.
"See, it's all about control with you, I don't control the raptors, it's a relationship based on mutual respect, something you clearly don't have." He corrected her. "That's why you and I never went on a second date." Owen muttered as he climbed down the stairs. Claire scoffed and said, "Excuse me, I never wanted a second date."
"Right, but I mean, what kind of diet doesn't allow tequila?" Owen argued. Claire rolled her eyes while saying, "All of them, actually. And who shows up to a date in board shorts?" She pointed out. I couldn't help but laugh, this was entertaining. Luckily they didn't hear me.
"What, it's Central America, it's hot." Owen claimed.
"Can we just focus on the asset, please?" Claire said frustratedly.
"The asset?" Owen said getting back up. He walked over to her. "Look, I know your job, you have to make a lot of tough decisions, so it's easier to think these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet, but they're not. They're alive."
Claire scoffed again and said, "I'm very well aware they're alive."
"They may have been made in a test tube, but they don't know that. They're thinking, I gotta eat, I gotta hunt, I gotta-" he made a gesture with his fist.
I decided to approach them. "Really, Owen?" I said crossing my arms. He glanced at me and smirked before going back to Claire. "You can relate to at least, one of those things, right?"
Claire rolled her eyes again before saying, "Look, I don't really have time with this, Mr. Masrani has scheduled the new asset to be released to the public in three weeks time, and he could really use your help."
Owen sighed in defeat, and said, "Fine. I'll go. Just give me a minute."
"I'll be in the car. And, you may want to change your shirt. They're sensitive to smell." Claire mocked.
He smirked at her before he ran up inside his home and closed the door behind him. Claire groaned and turned to me. "How can you stand this guy in the first place?" She asked walking back down. I chuckled and leaned on the tree.
Amber's Pov
I made it to the park in time, but there were already tourists everywhere now. "I thought it wasn't supposed to open until noon?" I grumbled to myself, and searched around. Claire had said their names were Zach and Gray Mitchell. Alright. I guess I need to find them.
I pulled out my phone and called Claire, hoping she'd pick up. It rung for a few seconds before she finally picked up. "Amber, you're on speaker, hurry up because we're busy." She sternly said.
I groaned and asked, "I have no idea how your nephews look like. Indigo said the park opened at twelve, why are tourists here already?"
"It opens at eleven, not twelve..." She said sighing. "Well, it's fine, I got my assistant Zara to watch them, but knowing her, she'll loose them easily. I'll call her and find out where they are, I'll call you back." She said quickly and hung up. I sighed and scouted the main street, trying to get around the crowd of people. A few minutes later, my phone rung again.
I answered, "So?" I asked.
"They're at the mosasaurs feeding, you might want to get there soon. They'll be in the splash zone." She said.
"Wait, is my sister there with you?" I asked. It took a moment before she responded, "Yeah, but-" she got cut off, then there was another voice. "Hey Amber, we're about to go the paddock you got in trouble at. Sound familiar? Okay, I have to go now, don't get lost!" Indigo said before hanging up. I rolled my eyes and strolled over to the mosasaurs tank.
I managed to sneak in to the VIP area without being noticed, also known as the splash zone. I looked around and spotted a woman in a white long sleeved shirt with a name tag that said Zara, and two boys with her.
"Hey, I'm Amber. I was supposed to give you two a tour before this girl came. Claire sent me." I said standing in front of them. The younger one stared for a second before saying, "I'm Gray! This is my brother Zach." He sounded like a nice kid.
"We don't need any more babysitters." Zach muttered looking at his phone. I looked over to Zara, who was busy speaking on her phone. I scoffed at her, and turned back to the boys. "I can sneak you away from her." I offered crossing my arms. Zach's eyes lit up as he said, "Yes! Please." He groaned. Zara wasn't even paying attention at us. I scowled and sat down beside Zach.
"Alright! She's a little shy, so give her a hand!" The woman on the speaker announced. A few seconds later, it jumped out of the water and snatched a great white shark, and splashed us all over.
"That was awesome!" Gray cheered, along with everyone else here, while getting soaked. Zach laughed as we were lowered down to an underground viewing room where we could see the gigantic mosasaurus swimming around.
After that, we went to the T-Rex feeding. Zach hadn't been so amused by it, but Gray was eagerly jumping around to get a good view, and had run to the front. The tyrannosaurus rex stomped her way over. The ground rumbled while everyone cheered when she snatched up the goat.
I chuckled at Gray's eagerness to see the whole park. Then we went to the innovative center. There were a lot of people crowding the area, and messing around with holograms which told information about the dinosaurs. I glimpsed a sandbox area where a lot of little kids were digging up a dinosaur skeleton. This was actually a lot cooler then the first time I came around.
I looked behind me and saw Zara doing something on her phone.
"Guys, this would be the time to sneak away if we're going to." I whispered over to them. They nodded, and we quietly made are way through the crowd, and ran out of the building. I looked back to see Zara had lost us.
"Yes! Thank god, I didn't like her." Zach admitted. I nodded in agreement, and asked, "So guys, where to next?"
"Gyrospheres!" Gray suggested eagerly. I nodded, and began leading them out of the park, and headed to the train that took us straight to the gyrosphere ride.
Around an hour later, we made it to a clearing where a bunch of people were moving things around, and a large cement enclosure stood in front of us.
"So, the park is full of prehistoric dinosaurs, and people don't think that's enough? What else could they want?" Owen asked her as we walked up the stairs to the observatory room. "Well, not according to our ratings, no. After a couple years, people begin to get bored, so the Indominus Rex is supposed to bring the wow factor back up." Claire explained.
"The Indominus Rex." Owen repeated chuckling.
"We needed something bigger, and, easy to pronounce. You should hear a four year old trying to say archaeornithomimus." Claire said.
"Right, got it, can we move on?" I grumbled. Owen laughed again while Claire pursed her lips and opened the door into the observatory room. We walked inside and there was a large glass window covering the front wall, so we'd be able to see the inside the paddock. The whole enclosure was full of overgrown trees and brush, making it hard to see. It was a little dark too.
"So what kind of dinosaur is it?" I asked Claire.
"It's a hybrid, part tyrannosaurus rex, and...the rest is classified." She said. I looked at her confused and turned back to the window. She knocked on it three times, trying to find it, but it was no where in sight.
"Right, and where is it?" Owen asked. She knocked on the window again. "It's in there." She said and walked over to a guy sitting at a monitoring desk, he looked like a guard. "Lower the crane." She ordered him, and he pressed a few buttons.
There was a loud noise from inside the paddock, and the crane was lowered with a big chunk of meat hanging on it.
"How does it look like?" I asked her. She took a moment to glance around the paddock. "White." She simply said.
"Does she have any interaction with the people outside these walls, or just with the crane?" Owen asked.
"Not exactly, if we let people in there, she'd kill them. Last time someone went in there, he almost lost his arm."
"So she's never seen the outside?" He asked.
"No, we can't exactly walk it, Owen. How is that bad? Your raptors were raised in captivity." Claire replied.
"With siblings. They learn social skills." Owen told her.
"So what, are we supposed arrange play dates?" Claire said sarcastically.
"Probably not a good idea." Owen said looking out the window.
"Where is it?" I heard her mumble while she tapped on the window again. I sighed and crossed my arms, waiting for something to happen. "Uh, Claire? Were those claw marks there before?" Owen suddenly blurted. Claire snapped her gaze over and walked to where Owen was standing, I followed.
"Oh my god." She whispered. My eyes widened when I saw the large wall with claw markings going all the way to the top.
"You think she escaped?" I asked. Claire ran back to the guy at the monitors. "Check for heat signatures." She ordered. The guy did something with the monitors and slid back as he shrugged.
"She's not in there." He nervously said. Claire frantically paced around, trying to find out if she was still in there, but no success.
"Oh no...if she escaped.." I began to panic, and ran out of the observatory room. I heard Owen shout after me. "Where are you going?!"
"To the control room! I need to know where Amber is!" I said as I got on my dirt bike, and sped down the road. I didn't care I was going full speed, I just had to know if my sister was okay.
