Chapter Eleven
"Ellie are you okay?" I checked on her. She shook her head, still crying. "Ellie, look at me." I turned her head to face me. "Are you okay?"
"My leg hurts, but I guess I'm okay, yeah." She answered a moment.
I nodded. "Can you stand?"
"Give me a minute and I'll try." She nodded.
"Okay."
"Ellie, Kerri, are you two okay?" Hammond's voice came over the walkie-talkie. I answered on mine.
"Uh, yeah we're fine. We were just chased by a fucking Velociraptor in the shed, but we're fine. We weren't bit or anything. Ellie did hurt herself, though, when she fell but she'll be alright. Also, uh, we found out what happened to Mr. Arnold."
"What happened?"
"Remember that Velociraptor I mentioned? He was his dinner."
I heard Ian groan on the other side of the line and heard John curse under his breath.
"Ray was a good man, he didn't deserve to go out like that." He said.
"I don't think anyone does." I looked back at Ellie. "Can you stand now?"
"Yeah," she nodded. I held a hand out, pulling her up. She groaned when she put weight on her leg, and I let her put her arm around me as we started back the way we came.
"Okay, we're on our way." I told them, setting my talkie on my belt.
"Be careful," Hammond's voice said as we kept walking through the brush.
"What do you think happened to Muldoon?" I asked. Ellie whimpered as I hopped over a log, helping her over soon after.
"No idea," she leaned on me and we began walking again. "I just hope he's okay."
"Yeah, me too." I nodded. "Me too."
We got out of the brush, looking around. Muldoon was nowhere in sight. "Which way did he go?" Ellie asked.
"I think that way." I pointed to the right. "But that leads towards the raptors."
"And it also leads to the emergency shed." Ellie groaned.
"Fuck… well can't go that way, can we?" I looked around as movement was heard in the brush. My eyes widened, and I looked at Ellie, who looked equally as terrified as I did.
"Wanna just get the hell out of here?" she asked.
"Good idea."
We hurried as fast as we could, just going straight. Ellie began to bend over more and more in pain, and she was sweating something horrible—in all honesty, the both of us were—half because she was in so much pain, the other half because it was so humid out here that I wanted to fall on the ground and die.
"God, I'm taking this off." Ellie got her arm off of my shoulders, taking her overshirt off and tossing it to the ground.
"You don't want it?"
"I'll get another one." She fanned her tank top a bit, and I did the same.
"Ellie, you got a hair tie?"
"Here." She yanked one off her arm, handing it to me. I bundled up my shirt, raising it a bit so that it was just under my ribs, and tied it in the back, hoping to not sweat as much and to cool off. We began walking again, me grabbing Ellie and helping her stand and walk. "So, I have a question," she looked around our surroundings, looking for raptors. I was doing the same, trying to stay focused on where we were going as well. Which I had no Goddamn idea at this point, we were just walking.
"Spill," I kept looking around.
"You and Ian… are you two together?"
Boy oh boy, kiddo, you have no idea of our history. "Well, let me just say this. I think we're giving it another go as soon as we get off this island." I started. "Ian and I have been together, technically, since we were about sixteen. I mean, we knew each other much longer than that because we grew up on the same street, but…" I trailed off for a second, thinking I heard something but didn't. "We got married when we were nineteen and were married for eleven years before we divorced. We've been divorced seven years, and now he wants to give it another go. Of course he says this after he fucks up his leg and we almost die." I rolled my eyes.
"What, you wish he would have said it sooner?"
"Seven years sooner, if you want me to be completely honest." I nodded. Before Ellie could say something else, we heard something move in the bushes, and Ellie stared at me with fear in her eyes.
"Kerri—" She started. and I held a hand up to keep her quiet.
"I don't think it's a raptor." I started. "Though I could be wrong."
A baby dinosaur bounced through the brush, letting out a little roar. My eyes widened. Ellie gasped.
"Oh my God," she said, smiling a bit. "It's a baby Ankylosaurus."
The baby Ankylosaurus let out another roar upon seeing us, not moving from its spot. I leaned down a bit, reaching my hand out.
"Kerri be careful," Ellie warned, trying to balance herself. She then knelt down next to me.
"I'll be okay." I said, keeping my hand out for the baby to sniff. The Ankylosaurus let out a tiny roar, examining my hand and sniffing it, almost like how a dog would do. It then leaned its head into my hand, and I smiled, petting it gently.
"See? Not so mean after all." I smiled. Ellie reached out, putting the baby underneath its chin, making it make a couple noises, which could have been the dinosaur equivalent of a purr. After a couple pets, the baby Ankylosaurus let out another tiny roar before hurrying off, most likely to find it's mother. I smiled a bit, standing up.
"Kerri," Ellie started. "I thought the dinosaurs weren't supposed to breed in the wild… How is it possible to have a baby Ankylosaurus?" She leaned on me again, and I let her.
I thought to myself, racking it over in my brain. I couldn't understand it either. "Like Ian said, Ellie, life finds a way."
"You think it has anything to do that with frog DNA?"
I stared at her, With the events of what has happened in the past few hours, the whole dinosaur and frog DNA mashup had completely slipped my mind. "You're right. There's a breed of frogs that can change their sex, isn't there?"
"Yeah."
We looked at each other, and I shook my head. "Life really did find a way, huh?"
Ellie shook her head in amazement. "Holy shit."
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We walked on for a little longer, Ellie holding on to me as her leg was getting worse and worse. We were walking in silence, looking around for any kind of Velociraptors along the way. Or even the Tyrannosaurus if she ever came by.
I heard movement in the brush and Ellie and I exchanged looks, hurrying off as quick as we could. I could see the top of the Visitor's Center.
"We're almost there, Ellie, hold on." I told her. Ellie began panting as
In the distance, we could see a man looking around.
"Ellie!"
Ellie's breath caught in her throat, and she left my side. She began to lean down, gasping a bit, and at this the man heard it and turned.
It was Dr. Alan Grant.
"Run." Ellie forced out.
"Ellie!"
The two ran to each other, and I stayed behind to let them have their moment, looking around to make sure we weren't in any more danger.
"Where have you been?" Dr. Grant scooped Ellie up in his arms, and Ellie wrapped her legs around him, clinging to him. I looked around, before walking towards them.
"Dr. Grant, I'm so glad to see you're alright," I smiled a bit as Alan set Ellie down.
"Dr. Hensen," Alan nodded his head. "I'm glad to se you're alright too. After you fainted and the whole thing with the T. rex I didn't have time to get over to you."
"Don't worry, I understand. Are the kids okay?"
"The kids are fine. Tim might need a doctor because he got a bit of a shock earlier, but he'll be okay."
"Good," I sighed in relief as we made our way back to the emergency bunker. Ellie began to lean on Alan as we made our way back, and she told him everything. The T. rex chase, Ian breaking his leg, her, Muldoon and I going to turn the power back on in the park, finding Ray's severed arm. Even the raptor chase and the baby Ankylosaurus. But, even with the happy ending with the baby dinosaur, Alan himself didn't look too happy at all.
As we stopped in front of the bunker, Alan looked less happy and wearier than someone who had just been reunited with someone he loved should have been.
"It's gonna be okay. We just gotta get off the island, that's all." I said.
"Well, that's easier said than done." Alan opened the door. "But we have to try."
He let us in first, and I saw Ian relax as much as he could as I hurried over to him, taking his hand.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Ian said, though I could tell he was lying through the pain, gritting his teeth when repeated himself. "How are you? Are you hurt?"
"No, no I'm fine. How's the leg?" I went to look at his leg, lifting the bandage up and making him groan.
"Don't-don't do that please…" He winced.
"Oh, Ian, you definitely need a doctor, and soon." I fixed his bandage and looked over at Hammond. "Has Muldoon returned?"
"No, no he has not."
I looked at Ellie, who looked saddened by this fact. "I guess we know what happened to him, huh?"
"Sadly…" Ellie nodded, going over to where Ian and I were. Alan opened the cabinet, getting another shotgun out.
"It's just the two raptors, right?" He asked, turning to look at Ellie, who had his back to him and checking on Ian. "You're sure the third one's contained?"
"Yes." Ellie looked at him. "Unless they figure out how to open doors."
"Those raptors are highly intelligent. At this point, I wouldn't doubt anything like that." I said, holding Ian's hand. I looked at Alan. "What're you gonna do? Shoot it or scare it with that thing?"
"Well, what did you have in mind?"
"Staying in here until we were able to leave."
"That-that's not possible, you know that." Ian spoke up.
"Besides, one of us has to go out there to get Lex and Tim, we can't just leave them behind." Ellie added.
"No, I know, I meant staying in here after we got them. They're kids, they can't defend themselves from dinosaurs. Especially raptors." I said. "It's just… it's like he's gearing up for war almost."
"Well, at this point, it's almost how it feels." Alan loaded the gun. "I promised those kids I wouldn't leave them like Gennaro did. And I intend to keep that promise."
Ellie looked at him, surprised. "You like kids now?" She joked.
"I didn't say I liked kids." Alan retorted, even though he was lying. "I just said I promised them I wouldn't leave them. There's a difference."
"Well, regardless, I'm going with you and you can't stop me." Ellie put her hands on her hips.
"Ellie, what about your leg—"
"Screw the leg, I'll be fine. I've made it this far, right?" She smiled a bit. "Besides, I just found you, I don't want you to leave my sights again." She kissed him, pulling away quickly and turning around to look at the rest of us as we watched them. "What?"
I shook my head, taking my switchblade out. "I'm going with you. John," I faced Hammond again, who was currently tending to Ian's wound for the one hundredth time that day, it seemed. He was losing so much blood… I swallowed hard. "I'm going with them. Keep an eye on Ian, please?"
"Yes, yes," Hammond waved his hand at me. I started to leave but stopped, kissing Ian gently, cupping his cheek. His hand squeezed mine for a minute before I pulled away.
"I'll be back soon. I promise."
"I know." Ian nodded. We looked at each other, and it seemed as if Ian wanted to say something but didn't. Instead, he said, "Uh… be safe."
"I will be." I nodded.
I walked over to Alan and Ellie. Alan looked at me, an eyebrow cocked as I walked out of the emergency bunker.
"I thought you two were divorced." He inquired.
"It's complicated." I smiled a bit as we made our way back to the Visitor's Center. I opened my switchblade, holding it tightly. Now of all times, I wish I had my brother back. It'd be nice to have his guidance at this time. He'd know what to do. And not just with Ian, but with this whole situation. I know he wouldn't have a damn clue about dinosaurs, but he'd probably have a good idea on how to evade them.
Sadly, he was one of the many casualties of Vietnam. It was a hell of a war.
"Are you ready for this?" I heard Ellie ask. Alan shook his head.
"Hell no."