And the journey begins! :) and hey, two updates at a time, look at that.
Chapter 9
Two days later, the team departed on their trip around the island. No one knew how long it would last, so they racked rations for three weeks. It was a silent trip out; Owen, Sasha, and Emily in the first Jeep, the team of four InGen men that were required to come, and Greg riding with Dr. Halding in the last. Emily had persuaded them to let her come, determined to prove her ability to interact with the prehistoric animals. Sasha had switched off driving with Owen three hours in after she noticed his eyelids starting to droop. He had immediately passed out in the passenger seat, head leaning against the cool window, while Emily was also out in the back. Their first stop was four hours into the jungle, and they had around twenty minutes left before they arrived.
InGen had sectioned the island off into quadrants. While the soldiers walked the perimeter, Sasha, Owen, Emily, and Dr. Halding would walk the interior. Owen had brought his rifle, so if they found an infected animal it could be put down easily and quickly, and they wouldn't have to worry about calling the InGen soldiers. The first stop was a fairly open grassland, and the small caravan pulled to a halt at the edge so the vehicles remained hidden in the trees. Sasha jumped out and met the rest of the group as they walked up, followed by Emily who had woke when the vehicle stopped.
"Jeez, is he sleeping through all the slamming doors and noise?" Emily asked, glancing back at the Jeep where Owen remained unmoved. Sasha snorted.
"Yep. Owen sleeps like the dead on a normal day, let alone today when he had to get up early. He will sleep through anything" Sasha said.
"It's eight A.M. guys. We have around twelve hours of daylight left, so let's move quickly." The head trooper, Jack announced. Dr. Halding carried a veterinary bag and a tranquilizer gun, ready to help any injured or hurt animal, despite whether it was infected or not.
"Where's Chief Officer Grady?" One of the InGen men asked. Sasha paused, not having heard Owen's rank used with his name in a long time. She looked at the man.
"Sleeping. I'm gonna wake him up and we can head out." Sasha said, heading back towards their Jeep. She stopped and turned briefly, looking at the man again. "And a tip for you: don't use his Naval rank. He hates it, and I wouldn't put it past him to knock you on your ass.
The soldiers looked momentarily stunned at the tiny woman's words, but the one nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
Sasha was already walking back towards the Jeep, unzipping her thin coat because of the humid air. She glanced in the window, and quietly pulled open the door. Owen was still out, chin against his chest and eyes closed. Sasha unbuckled the seatbelt and shook his arm.
"Time to get up babe." She called and placed a hand on his cheek, feeling his short beard scratch her palm. Owen blinked at her owlishly, green eyes clouded with exhaustion. Neither of them had slept well the night before, nervous about the trip, and then they had to get up at four A.M. to leave.
"Where are we?" He asked, swinging his legs around so they were hanging of the side of the seat.
Sasha looked around. "The first quadrant. The rest of the troop is waiting; I wanted to let you get as much sleep as you could."
Owen nodded, pulling his jacket off and leaving him in a tight black t-shirt and blue jeans. He jumped out of the Jeep and laid a soft kiss on Sasha's cheek before grabbing his rifle out of the back and shutting the door. "Ready?" He asked.
"Yeah. I just hope that we don't find anything that's infected." She answered, matching Owen's fast pace.
"Agreed." Owen said. Sasha could tell Owen was tired- he was being short. She didn't comment on it though, and left the subject alone, not wanting to make him more cranky than he was already bound to be.
"Let's move out." Owen called, twirling a finger in the air. "Ain't got time to stand around all day." The InGen men nodded, not daring to argue with him. Emily, Halding, and Greg stayed where they were, looking at the couple. Owen looked at them, rubbing his forehead. "We all have radios. You three take the east side. Sash and I will take the west. If you find anything, radio us and we'll head over. You all have the GPS's on your belts and a tracker that shows where each person is. So let's go."
The five split up, Owen and Sasha following the sectioned map on the small tablet-type thing InGen had set up to show each quadrant. They walked along slowly, wary of all noises and sudden movements. The edge of the quadrant was a high cliffside, where it dropped down to a river at the bottom. A few Brachiosauruses roamed about, drinking from the water. Owen about jumped out of his skin when one swung her head over the edge of the cliff, appearing not three feet away to smell him. Sasha laughed and scratched its nose gently. Despite it being a 'wild' animal, she was quite docile. She puffed out air onto the couple, making their hair blow back a bit.
"I gotta keep walking now, missy." Sasha said as she tried to step around the massive animal's head. As if she understood, the Brachiosaurus moved her head back and allowed them to keep walking.
"They're smart." Owen commented, taking a couple steps away from the cliff ledge. Sasha nodded.
"And sweet, considering they've not really been around people." She said. They kept walking in silence, neither really feeling like sparking up a conversation. Both were looking forward to making camp and going to sleep later. There was no real 'camping, just a huge mattress that covered all the seats in the Jeeps when folded down. There were even pull-down dividers in the ceiling to make three separate areas; this company had put a lot of thought into their sleeping arrangements.
"How were the raptors this morning?" Sasha asked, breaking the silence between them.
"Good. None of the girls look like they're getting sick. Which is good according to Halding, because the disease spread so rapidly with the Triceratops." Owen said.
"That's good. It's just strange though. How could this kid have transferred it to the dinosaurs? The only thing I could think of is if one of them bit him and ingested infected blood. But again, CJD doesn't transfer back to animals." Sasha told him. She had read up more on the 'Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy', and it gave her a basic idea of the disease. Sasha had also looked up Jakob-Creutzfeldt Disease, refreshing her memory on it. She had learned about it in one of her classes, but she definitely needed the refresher.
"Maybe one of the babies clipped him with a paw and the older one got infected while cleaning the baby." Owen suggested. Sasha tapped her chin with a finger.
"That is possible. A lot of scenarios-"
"Guys." Emily's voice cut through the radio suddenly. Sasha pulled hers off her hip.
"What is it, Em?" She asked. Owen shifted the rifle that was slung over his shoulder, and watched Sasha.
"Come and see. It's not good."
/JURASSIC WORLD\\
When Owen and Sasha made it to Emily and the other two men, she almost gagged. Laying in front of them was a dead Parasaurolophus. It was already decomposing, with flies buzzing around its corpse. Dr. Halding was kneeling near its head.
"We have to be sure that it didn't die from this Spongiform Encephalopathy." Halding explained. Sasha covered her nose, not one to deal well with smell.
"What are you doin'?" Owen asked as Halding pulled out a small, electric bonesaw.
"A brain dissection." He replied quickly. "Now if you'll let me work."
Owen stiffened at the tone Halding used, and Sasha sensed this, running a hand up his back gently. A tired and cranky Owen was not a fun Owen. "Can we keep walking along? I don't particularly enjoy watching autopsies, even if they are just partial."
"Yeah." Owen said, grabbing Sasha's hand and tugging her along.
"You need to relax a bit, babe. It's not just you- everyone's overtired and stressed." Sasha said calmingly, stroking her thumb over Owen's knuckles.
"I know. And I'm sorry I've been an ass this mornin'." He muttered, though the apologetic tone he had take on was genuine. Sasha turned to him, only to find herself pulled into his embrace, arms wrapped around her waist tightly. She wound her arms around his neck and stroked the hair on the back of his neck gently, feeling him loosen up. Owen breathed in the scent of his wife and closed his eyes, letting himself relax. Sasha could always make him feel better on one of his 'crabby days', as she called it. Exhaling slowly, Owen released Sasha and locked eyes with her for a few moments before twining their hands together again.
"It's alright. You have an excuse for being crabby." She murmured, laying her head against his shoulder.
They continued walking like that for a few minutes, until Emily's voice floated through the radio.
"Halding's done, it's safe to return now." She said, adding the last part sarcastically. Sasha chuckled and lifted the radio to her mouth.
"Thanks Em. Be there in like three minutes."
When Owen and Sasha returned, Halding was placing a specimen contained in his bag.
"What's that?" Owen asked. Halding looked to the bigger man with a solemn expression.
"A sample of the Parasaurolophus's brain." He answered. Sasha's face fell.
"Did it…?"
Halding nodded. "Yes. She did."
