Warning : This chapter contains gore.

Chapter Ten - Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

Adelaide

Adelaide had been hungover before, many times.

It usually caused her head to throb, mouth to feel as dry as the Sahara Desert and her stomach to churn ceaselessly.

As she forced open her eyes, Adelaide felt at least four times worse than the worst hangover she'd ever experienced. Her whole body ached, the throbbing agony of both limbs making it difficult to think straight.

It took a while, she did not know exactly how long, to sit up in the back of the jeep. She was weakened and fatigued from blood loss, and she let out a shrill cry as she saw the damage the rex had done to her right leg and conveniently her right arm, too.

Her bicep had been severed in two and a chunk of flesh hung freely from the bone. Adelaide forced herself to take several deep breaths, knowing it would do her no good to panic. Her blouse had been shredded in the incident, so she ripped it from her body and wrapped the rag as best she could around her arm.

Her leg wound was deep and full of mud. She spied Ian's flask lying abandoned on the front seat and grabbed it. Tipping it over, she attempted to clean and partially sterilise the laceration, only to find it empty. Cursing, Adelaide threw it aside in frustration, using the other part of her blouse to bind that wound too.

Checking to make sure the rex had indeed wondered off, she she slowly hopped from the safety of the vehicle. After all the screaming and chaos, now there was only deathly, unnerving silence.

"Dr Grant?" She whispered. "Lex? Tim?"

Adelaide noticed in terror that the first car had completely disappeared. She limped over to the edge of the T-Rex paddock, staring over the ledge to find a good 30 metre drop below. The car lay at the at the bottom, upside down in a crumpled heap.

"Alan? Lex?!" She called, her voice breaking. "Tim!?"

Still no answer. Adelaide sat down on the concrete ledge with a sob, feeling the fraught stabs of sheer panic and shock invading every one of her senses. What if he kids hadn't made it? What if they were injured? Alone in the park without anyone to help them?

Her eyes fell to the direction she last seen Ian running in. He and Alan had blindly thrown themselves in harms way just to give Adelaide and the kids a chance – she owed each of them her life, but they may have already paid for their actions with their own lives.

Staggering to her feet, Adelaide limped over to the remains of what used to be bathroom stalls. So this was where Gennaro had run off to, perhaps? As much as she wanted to be angry for his cowardice, facing a fully-grown T-Rex was not something to be taken lightly, and part of Adelaide understood why he'd fled.

Her thoughts subsided, however, when she noticed what else was strewn around the destroyed bathroom.

Human…entrails.

Whose pieces of torn up flesh, bone and organ were these? Ian's? She felt like vomiting and crying all at the same time. "Ian? Ian?!"

Adelaide jumped wildly at the sound of someone groaning. Following the noise quickly, she sank down to her knees and pulled away a pile of bamboo and dried palm leaves, to reveal Ian lying beneath. Relief hit her like a bullet as she placed her hand on his cheek. "Ian! Ian, oh my god,"

"Tree frog. Nice to see you," The man murmured deeply, his eyes opening slowly. Adelaide scanned over his body and noticed his leg was bleeding profusely.

"Your leg, Ian,"

"Have to…stem the bleeding…" He started to pull at his belt slightly. "Tried to make a tourniquet, but I erm…I uh passed….passed out,"

She nodded, swiftly undoing his belt buckle. Ian chuckled. "Could at least buy me a drink first,"

"Stop talking, you're exhausted," Adelaide instructed, though soon found tying a belt around his thigh difficult with only one working arm. "You're gonna have to help me,"

"You said stop talking,"

"Ian."

"Alright," With his help, they managed to secure the belt around his upper leg. Ian took his turn to assess her wellbeing, his eyes widening as he spotted her arm. "That's bleeding um, badly,"

Adelaide's blouse was drenched in blood, the hot liquid oozing down her arm like a river. "The muscle is severed…it's hanging off my arm…" She stopped talking for a moment as she felt bile rise to her throat. "Alan and the kids are missing. I have no idea where they are but the rex, I think it pushed them over the ledge. I went to try and get the radio working and passed out in the jeep…I just passed out and god knows what happened to them!"

"Hey, hey it's alright. Alan, uh, knows what to do, the kids will be fine with him," Ian pushed himself into a sitting position with a heavy groan, taking hold of her injured arm gently. His fingers pressed slightly too hard and she let out a cry of agony. "Sorry! I was trying to get this uh, shirt a bit tighter,"

Tears rolled down her face. "Ian…we need to get out of here,"

"I know." He agreed, not looking at her as he succeeded in binding up her wound much better than she had. "I can't walk. But you er, you know can, just about. You need to go and get help,"

Adelaide's eyes widened considerably. "No, I'm not leaving you here,"

"It's not up for debate, Adelaide. You need to go. You have far more of a chance than I do,"

"I said, I'm not leaving you here." She growled through gritted teeth, not missing his use of her full name. "It's not going to happen, so you might as well shut up,"

Ian opened his mouth to respond when the sound of a car skidding along the road silenced him. Adelaide heard the breaks screech to a halt before Ellie's voice sounded through the trees.

"Thank the sweet baby Jesus!" She said (Ian flashed an amused smile at her choice of words), before hobbling up to her feet. "Ellie! We're here!"

Two sets of footsteps were heard scurrying through the brush, before Ellie and Robert burst into view. "Oh my God!" Dr Sattler breathed, disdained by the appearance of both Adelaide and Ian. "What happened?!"

"The bloody Rex, that's what," Adelaide pointed to Ian. "His leg is injured, we have to move him quickly-" the sound of the tyrannosaurus roaring in the distance made her falter, her face going a ghostly white. "Now. We have to go, now,"

"Where's Alan, the kids?" Ellie stressed, her face as equally drained of colour.

"I don't know," Adelaide replied as they started to manoeuvre Ian towards Muldoon's jeep. It took all three of them to haul the 6 ft 3 male into the back of the car. Ian cursed creatively, sliding himself backwards into a seated position with his injured leg alleviated as pain laced his face.

The effort of helping him had taken it out of Adelaide, who slumped down by the side of the truck, her hand grasping the side to prevent herself from hitting the floor. She placed her palm against her forehead and groaned.

"Aida, don't er, pass out on us now," Ian said, his voice threaded with concern.

"Alright, up we go then," Robert scooped the young girl easily into his arms, lifting her over the back of the jeep so she could rest next to Malcolm.

"Thanks," Adelaide said to Muldoon, her head lolling a bit.

"Well you were far easier than that heavy son of a bitch," The man gestured to Ian, who gave a sardonic laugh. Adelaide smiled slightly, not having much strength to do much else. She jumped as the Rex's cry echoed around them again, feeling Ian also bristle besides her.

"Guys we need uh, go,"

"I just want to go check the other car, two minutes I promise!" Ellie yelled before taking off into the trees, Muldoon hesitating before following her quickly. Ian let out another string of expletives, Adelaide laughing lightly as her head fell to rest on his shoulder.

"Don't you uh, go falling asleep now, you might have a concussion too…from when the erm…the car flipped," Ian's voice went slightly edgy, as if just remembering it made his nerves stand on end. Adelaide felt the exact same way, her heart in her throat as she recounted the kids screaming and her blood spurting all over the glass.

The echoing footfall proceeded to get louder. "Do they er…not hear that? It's an erm, it's an impact tremor, is what it is. I'm fairly alarmed here," Ian's narration was not making Adelaide feel any easier, her eyes falling on the figures of Ellie and Muldoon who finally came hurtling back through the bush.

"Come on! Come we have to go, we have to move now, now!" Ian practically bellowed, the two careening into the front of the jeep. Adelaide let out an alarmed cry as the T-Rex sauntered from amongst the trees, a flock of birds roosting in the branches scattering up into the air and squawking in panic.

It thundered towards them as the car began to drive.

She scrambled back as far as she could go, Ian having the same idea. "We must go faster," He alerted as Ellie let of a shrill round of 'oh shits' at top volume. Ian threw his arm over Adelaide as the creature swung its head, knocking into the side of the jeep to upturn it. All she could hear was Ellie screaming, Ian yelling and the loud beat of blood pounding in her eardrums. She saw the Rex run straight through a large, thick tree branch overhanging the road, the wood splintering in all directions but not impeding the dinosaur in the slightest.

Adelaide closed her eyes. This was the second time she'd been staring eye to eye with the animal, and this time round, she didn't want to see those huge teeth as they came down and bit her in half. By the sheer grace of god and the fact Ian had moved off the gear stick, the vehicle sped up and Adelaide heard the relieved sighs of all the occupants. The tyrannosaur was left in the dust, giving a loud roar of frustration.

Finally opening her eyes, Adelaide couldn't stop a flood of tears running down her face.

"Do you think they'll have that on the tour?" Ian said breathlessly. Adelaide smacked him on the arm, making a sound that was a mixture between laughing and crying, not protesting as he took hold of her hand and gripped it tightly.

…