Author's Note: So, I'm here to answer some questions...
Do you by chance have a person in mind when you picture her? Marianne is an OC purely created out of my own conscience, pieced together and designed by yours truly. But, if there would be a woman to compare her with, it would be Lexi Placourakis, a plus size model. Just keep in mind Marianne isn't a model, and she has imperfections in her hair and skin, and she wears glasses. I created a board on Pinterest entitled "Fanfiction", so you can follow the link on my profile page for visual aids.
Will she have opportunities to bond with the raptors? Yes. Considering that Marianne will be working very close to Owen, it is inevitable that she gets to know the girls over time. Actually, she'll get to them in quite a few different ways-scary, dangerous ways-but ways nonetheless. But no spoilers here.
Sophie, Zach, and Gray: These are what are known as minor characters, or in the movie world, B-story characters. What that basically means is while they are not our heroes and heroines, they are the second half of the equation, the other side of the coin. The story will follow them somewhat, but not as extensively as Marianne and Owen. They will make appearances.
Is this set a year before the fiasco, or during?This story takes place over the summer of the attack. We're starting in early May after school ends, and running through August before school would begin. The Indominus comes in right around the middle somewhere, depending on the pace and how long I decide to beat around the bush.
Any more questions, please let me know! Thanks!
Chapter Six
It was well after six thirty when Marianne stumbled through the door of Owen's office the next morning.
She'd pummeled open the door as if her life had depended on it, Owen reclined in his desk chair with the latest copy of Rider magazine, intent on reading about engine carburetor installation. Barry was in his office bumming time on his computer. When she staggered through the door, he jerked a look at her, to find she'd taken his advice and put on pants and boots, as well as a button down shirt that tied at the waist. Her curls hung in dripping strands around her face, a sunburn grazing her nose gently.
Tossing the magazine and letting his boots drop to the floor, he got up and gave her a smirk. "Good morning."
She nodded to him, "Morning," she managed. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked exhausted-like tourists did their first night, with the time change and climate differences. She looked utterly wiped, and he decided he'd spare her the tardiness lecture, as he himself hadn't stumbled through the door until ten after, Sophie being the reason he'd been late. He hadn't expected an eight year old to be so difficult to get out of bed. At least not yet.
"Get home ok?" He slipped past her, waving her to follow him out the door and down the steps. It was quiet this morning, the heat stronger than usual, the girls unmoving in the paddock. Usually at six they were quiet as they awaited a morning skin check. Moving down the stairs, Owen led her from the paddock across the way to the supply building, which was doorless and more of a lean-to than a building. Strangely enough their time clock was out here, but he didn't question the engineering. She followed him willingly, minding her step around a bush, and smelling of...gardenias?
"Yeah, it was a good drive. Didn't get too lost," she said lightly, "Yourself?" He stopped at the time clock, which was just around the corner inside. He and turned around, only to find she'd put her hair up into a bun and left curls to fall around her face. He shrugged a shoulder, draped an arm over the box on the wall, and crossed his legs at the ankles. He pondered her statement.
"A good drive?" He stressed. "You have a car already?"
She shrugged a shoulder, then reached into a pocket to retrieve the lanyard hanging at her side. Pulling it out, she twisted it around her fisted hand awkwardly, "Yeah. I have my own vehicle on the island."
He quirked a brow, "Really."
"Uh-huh. It was a stipulation I made sure was not ignored." She looked to the touch-screen he was leaning on and nodded to it, then gestured with the ID, "Am I using this or what?"
Owen, straightening, nodded and touched the screen with a calloused thumb. He brought up the login screen and stepped back from it, gesturing her forward. "Just slide it across the scanner on top and you'll be set to go." Once completed, the screen flashed green and then he set up the fingerprint scanner, explaining, "Then just press your thumb in that box and you'll be set to go for fingerprints."
"Fingerprints?" She asked, giving him a side-look as she pressed her thumb into the allotted box. He nodded once, and once she finished, turned and began heading towards the door.
"Yeah. Most of the doors and gate accesses have fingerprint back-ups," he stretched his neck from side to side, "Y'know, in case something happens or the badges don't work,"
She snorted, "Or if one of them gets out,"
He stopped, swung around, and gave her a slick smile, "Yeah, well, that hasn't happened yet."
"Yet?" She stopped abruptly and then he pointed both his index fingers at stacks of crates along the walls. She turned to look at them, then stepped back to stand beside him, her eyes scanning. Changing the subject, he explained.
"We keep all the supplies here. Meds, transfer gear, first aides, all that jazz," he turned to the right, then made his way to the freezer door in the corner. Motioning her to follow, she came quickly, and he popped open the latch. Instantly a cold blast of air bombarded them, and he stepped inside.
The huge room was frosted over with ice and hard snow, really the only part of the building which was really structural. The metal shelves organized into daily food allowances and dieting. Each were color coded and labeled per animal, as each of the girls had a different diet depending on weight, health, and age. He outstretched his arms as if showcasing a new car.
"This is where we keep the goodies," he chuckled, "Each of the girls have their own diet, and we keep their food separated according to weight and whatever, following a weekly schedule. Most of the time we inject their medications and vitamins and whatever into the carcasses-makes it easier, and they don't taste it." Marianne nodded, scanning the room. He headed forward, walking the length of the room until he arrived doubled back and headed towards the door.
She nodded her understanding, and Owen led her from the freezer and back into the supply room. After leaving, he left the lean-to and approached another bigger, full-sized building with large garage stalls. Both open with Briggs and Silas checking off a daily inspection list, he gestured to the two vehicles-one Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV, the other a traditional two door, topless Jeep Wrangler. Owen, nodding to the guys who had stopped working to gape at Marianne, continued his tour, "We keep the two main cars here, but there's a Vet unit that we have on the other side of the Paddock. These we just use to get around and do drills."
"Drills?" She asked, following him back towards the paddock. He nodded and slowed his gait for her to keep up. He noticed she did well in keeping pace with her, and they headed towards the stairs, her question still lingering.
"Yeah, every once in awhile we do some scent drills to get the girls out in the open and test their instincts, see how they're doing in their communication and social skills, and let them establish themselves outside their paddock. Makes for good interaction and therapy I guess," he shrugged and led her back towards the office, "It stretches they're legs I guess you can say."
Her brows rose a few inches, but she said nothing, only stopping back inside the office. "Well ok then. I assume those...drills are pretty safe?"
He snorted, "That's a relative term, sweetheart. Nothing with the girls is safe," he stopped, put his hands on his hips and stared at the heaping desk, "But we do our best to make sure no one looses a limb." He gave her a half smile as if it were to be funny. She just stared at him and then his desk.
"This is where you'll start," he reached for a file, "Once this stuff has been organized and filed away there," he sharply pointed to an empty, black file cabinet, "We'll have you start on field work. This'll take about a week-"
She gave him a surprised look, "A week?" Stepping towards it, she grabbed a paper stack off the desk and began scanning through them, "These are basic progress reports and analysis charts. And these," she wrinkled her brows at a stack of folders with a green sticky note with Daily Logs written in his handwriting pasted on top. She flipped the top file open, "Are...food journals? For each of the animals?" She nodded, "All they really need are categorized according to date, and I'm assuming animal." She gave him a look, "Not difficult, Mr. Grad-"
"Owen," he stopped her short, his tone disbelieving, "Why does everyone insist on calling me Mr. Grady? My name's Owen, and that's what you'll call me." He pointed at her and then seated himself in his chair. She smiled at him and set the file she had at hand in the windowsill, out of the way.
"Well then. You can call me Marianne." She grabbed a pen, then found the sticky note stack and ripped one off. Scribbling something, she stuck it to the files in the windowsill and put the pen behind her ear. "Anyway, I can have this done in a day or two. I hope you weren't expecting it to take me a week, and if you did, I'm afraid you're wasting your money." She began flipping through another folder, "There's four drawers on that file cabinet. Each animal will have their own drawer, and corresponding files within each. Not too tough to manage I don't think."
He stared at her, brows quirked. That was fast.
"Yeah, that's the plan-"
"And I'm assuming you want electronic copies of all this?" She looked at him from over the top of her glasses.
He nodded slowly, giving her a sideways looks, "If you think you do it, yeah."
"If none of this has been entered, that may take awhile, but I can do a bit every day and get it done in a few days, probably. Then we can talk about field work and whatever else you need me for." She wrote out another sticky note and then stopped to sigh, giving him a look, "Since, I'm assuming you don't have a specific job description for me."
He sat back in his chair, flabbergasted. She'd just organized his life in three minutes.
"Uh...not exactly."
She nodded, gave him the "I thought so" look, and shrugged, "I figured as much. So, if you'll give me about an hour to get this stuff sorted out, I'll get things moving. I'll call you if I need anything."
"You don't want to go over any of this stuff, what it means, any of it?" He couldn't believe she was ready to delve into this so quickly, but he guessed she was used of it, working at a paleontological site most of her career, where he assumed things were equally or worse off.
She shook her head. "I'll find you if I need you."
"Ok," he raised his hands in surrender, Barry suddenly appearing in the doorway, a smirk on his face. He leaned against the doorjamb, watching Marianne from behind. He winked at Owen, shook his head, and walked out the door. "If you want me gone, I'll go. Holler if you need anything."
She smiled at him softly, "I sure will." She scrunched up her face and grabbed another stack of papers, "But I doubt I will."
With that, she rounded to the other side of the desk, began riffling through papers, and he walked out the door.
. . .
"Come on, man! It's the feeding! The T-Rex is actually feeding!"
Zach Mitchell gave his younger brother a blank stare, looking up from his phone only momentarily to watch the boy bounce over the Tyrannosaur Kingdom gate. He had so much excitement whizzing through his body it was enough to kill the previously mentioned lizard, as well as keep Zach up most of the night while he read through the park's map and information brochure.
Stuffing the phone into his pocket, Zach slipped by a boy and girl leaving the Kingdom and watched Grey burst through the entrance as if God himself had stepped out of heaven just inside. Puffing out a sigh, he slipped his hands into his pockets and followed Gray deeper into the attraction, mazing around people and weaving in and out of crowds. His blue Jurassic World band rubbed his skin, but he didn't really care.
What really rubbed him the wrong way was his Aunt Claire leaving them alone for the day. After she'd come to get them at the docks yesterday afternoon, she'd left them until dinner, insisting she had an important investor's meeting to check on and calls to make. So, they'd spent the better half of the afternoon looking around the Innovation Center, Gray geeking out about every scientific thing known to man. It had caused him some embarrassment, but that wasn't unusual for Zach when he was around Gray. The kid could embarrass a mud fence if he was given the opportunity.
Gray led him towards the observation deck, which actually was constructed into the paddock, cleverly designed to look like a huge, fallen tree with a one-way glass. The tube where visitor's where allowed to witness the feeding of the giant animal was packed with eager and bright young eyes all waiting for their turn to glimpse the king of the lizards, the mighty Rex. Zach stood from the back, a head taller than most of the little kids, as Gray pushed his way to the front.
The ground shook beneath his feet, rhythmically.
His heart pitched into his throat.
Coming from the east, the mighty animal came into view among the fronds and branches of the trees. Giant compared to any living thing Zach had ever seen, it's keen eyes were smart, scanning the log as if it could sense their presence. Zach swallowed, bristling where he stood, as if his feet had sunk into the floor. The animal watched them for a few moments, lowering its head and scanning its side of the glass. Even though Zach knew the Rex couldn't see them, his heart still hammered, sweat forming on his palms and between his shoulders.
Close. Much to close.
Satisfied she was alone, the Rex dipped her head and devoured the goat which had been awaiting its doom. The children "oohed" and "awwed", cheering and pointing and snapping pictures. Zach just stood, in awe, as the Rex swallowed the goat whole, stopping to stare at the glass again, pondering. Wondering. Thinking.
Blood dripped from its teeth, tauntingly.
Then, she turned from them and lumbered slowly back into the foliage.
Gray burst from the mob of kids, all watching and whispering and chatting, his body trembling with excitement. His eyes wide with wonder, he stared up at Zach as if he'd just witnessed the most amazing thing ever. Zach stared down at him, released his breathe, and reached into his pocket with a shaky, unsteady hand. Gray shook his head excitedly and hurried past Zach, farther down the tube, as if to keep up with the animal. "Come on," he called to Zach, "We can see it's nest!"
Zach, much to his dismay, followed.