Nightmare
It was now Wednesday and the InGen rep would be there tomorrow to check on the Indominus to see if she would be safe for the park. But, the rep had to keep in mind that it had only been a few days, so the hybrid wouldn't have a sudden change of heart when they showed up.
The Indominus was walking around her 'home' as she continued to think about Red One. She kept remembering when she said that she was terrified of the hybrid. It hurt the Indominus a little when she said that. She didn't trust her, but it was fine, since the Indominus still had a hatred against Red One. She needed to swallow down the hate and put away some of her pride. She was beginning to tolerate Red One, so it's at least a start. The hybrid turned her head and saw Red One standing in the viewing room standing next to Owen and a human wearing glasses and had some kind of small, fuzzy animal on his upper lip.
Lowery stiffened a little when the Indominus stared at him.
"She looking at me?" he asked.
"Looks like it," replied Owen.
"Why? Is she planning on eating me?"
"Lowery, don't be so naive. You know that she can hear you from here, right?* asked Claire.
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, we don't know her range of hearing, but we know that she can hear from good distances."
"So, what do you plan on doing with her?"
"The InGen rep is going to check on her tomorrow. If they say she's fine, then it's likely that we'll get the green light to reopen."
"Good. I'd like to have my regular job back."
"Lowery, what do you do exactly?"
"I do lots of things Owen."
"Nothing super specific?"
"Nope."
"Eh, sounds...interesting."
"Yeah, well, here's a thought."
"What?"
"Claire told me about how it's your job to get closer to the Indominus, right? So, maybe a way to get closer to her is...naming her."
"Naming her?"
"Yeah, you really think that we should just keep calling her Indominus? That's wierd."
"What name should we give her?"
"I don't know. But, it can't be all that hard."
"But, what's in a name?"
"A name is everything, Claire. A name defines you and who you are. It builds your self-esteem. Names are everything when it comes to humans."
"But, it's a dinosaur."
"Well, Owen named his raptors right?"
"Yeah I did."
"And, how'd you come up with their names?"
"I followed the NATO phonetic alphabet. I'm Alpha, then there's Blue, except the next one would've actually been Bravo but I liked Blue better. Then there's Charlie, Delta, and Echo. The next one would be...Foxtrot."
"Yeah, we're not naming the Indominus that."
"Well, how about we just give her a simple nickname while we think of a name for her?"
"Okay, sure."
"So, what's her nickname going to be?"
"Well, it's a little unoriginal, but so is Rexy's. So, how about, for now, we call her...Indy?"
"Owen, does she look like a tomb raider to you?"
"What?"
"Indiana Jones? They call him Indie."
"Well, she's adventurous."
"Owen."
"Look, it'll be just for a little bit. Maybe we can think of a name by tomorrow or maybe Friday."
"Okay, fine. For now, her name is Indy."
"Okay."
"Lowery, you should head back to Control. The new head of security is about to show up and he'd like to know everyone at Control."
"Okay. See you later guys."
Lowery then left the viewing room and then the Indominus stepped out of the brush and got very close to the glass and stared at Claire again. This time, Claire didn't hide behind Owen, but she did get close to him. She was still scared, but she knew that this creature was trying her best to be friendly.
Who was this Indy they were talking about? The name seemed very strange to the Indominus. She heard that they were going to call her that for a little bit, but she didn't like how it sounded at all. Indy the Indominus Rex. It was slightly catchy, but that still didn't satisfy the Indominus. She'd have to get used to that name for a while, hopefully not for too long. She looked at Owen, who then said through the glass, "So, are you okay that we call you Indy for a little bit?"
The Indominus wanted to shake her head, but to show them that she was getting a little bit better at trusting them, she slowly nodded her head and gave a garble. Owen gave a small smile as he then stepped a little bit away from Red One.
"Say something to her," he said.
"What? Are you crazy?" she asked.
"Come on, Claire! She needs to know that you're growing fond of her, as she is with you. Try using the nickname with what you say."
"Okay."
Claire stepped forward a little bit and continued to stare at the Indominus. She then took a deep breath before speaking.
"H-Hi, Indy," she said slowly and softly.
The Indominus responded with a small chitter. She liked that Red One greeted her, even if it was with the strange nickname.
"Hey, she seems to like it," said Owen.
"Or she just told me to go to hell," said Claire.
"Geez, Claire, why the negativity?"
"Sorry, I just need some time to adjust."
"Well, could you adjust if I took you out to dinner tonight?"
"Owen Grady, are you asking me out on a date?"
"Maybe I am. What do you say?"
"I don't know."
"Well then, you don't have to think about it as a date then, think about it as simply a friend helping another friend, over some chow of course."
Claire smiled and rolled her eyes at Owen before saying, "You're lucky that I don't have any plans for this evening, well I do now I suppose."
"Great. So, after I'm done today, I'll meet you up at the restaurant of your choosing? And I promise you, I won't wear board shorts this time."
Claire gave a soft chuckle at Owen's words and then nodded her head in agreement.
"Well, I'm going to go to Control and see how things are holding up. Don't forget to come up with a name for Indy."
"Right, see you tonight Claire."
She smiled and nodded and then exited the viewing room, leaving Owen, who was being stared at by the Indominus.
What on Earth was a date? What did Red One mean by that word? Humans were strange when they talked amongst themselves. Indy never understood their conversations. Sure, she could understand most of what they were saying, but there were some things that she had never heard of before. Did Owen fall into a trap or something? We're they going to talk about Indy and what her name should be? Many questions rolled through the hybrid's head as she pondered on the conversation that had just happened.
Owen looked at Indy, who was dozing off due to her thinking about the conversation. Owen wanted to snap her from her thoughts, but then just let her continue to think. It was good for the Indominus to have questions in her head and it was good that Owen could still teach her about what she didn't know. He didn't know if he was cool with explaining what a date was, but, if it helps in any way to get closer to her, then so be it.
"You don't know what a date is do you?" he asked her.
Indy snapped from her thoughts as she focused on the question at hand. She then shook her head in response.
"Well, a date is sort of like when two beings that are attracted to one another get together to talk and get to know each other better," he said.
Dates sounded terrible. Why would two people talk to each other to know each other better? Shouldn't it be if two beings are attracted to each other, then they should simply mate for life? These questions were going through Indy's mind as Owen continued to explain what a date was. So, this meant that he was attracted to Red One? Did he have poor taste? Or poor judgement? Why would anyone go out with such a hated human being? The Indominus shook the last few thoughts from her head and focused on what was hood about Red One. Stoving off this hatred wasn't going to be easy.
"Don't think about it too hard Indy," said Owen.
The Indominus then looked at Owen and gave a small chitter. She was grateful to see that Owen was starting to care more about her. She finally seemed to have a friend. Her trust was starting to grow on Owen, but she still didn't trust him fully. She was happy knowing that it was starting to build. They gave her a nickname, but she would feel better when they gave her a real name. The hybrid gave a chirp and then turned around to walk off into the brush, and left Owen to simply stare at her as she walked away.
Owen watched as the Indominus disappeared into the brush and then began to think about how their relationship was starting to grow ever so slowly. From the moment he touched her snout that night of the Indominus Incident to giving her a nickname at this point in time. Their bond was growing, and that made Owen happy. Owen then looked down at his watch and then saw that he had a good amount of time before meeting up with Claire and decided to go see the raptors.
It was dark, extremely dark. The Indominus couldn't see anything. She felt, compressed, squished. She decided to try to stretch out her arms, and made small progress when she saw a small crack of light. She then tried stretching out again, and the crack of light grew into a hole of light. The Indominus could hear something. It was a...soft growl. She tried figuring out where the sound was coming from, but she couldn't see where. She could hear her heart beat with every second that passed as she pulled off the thing that was blocking her vision. When she pulled it off, she could finally see. She was in some kind of white room, with many humans dressed in these long white robes and walking around holding tubes, pieces of wood, and eggs. She could see that there was an egg near her, and a small arm extended out of it and trying to brush the eggshell off. The growl was coming from that egg. It looked like...another Indominus Rex. Indy then finally broke out of the egg shell and began to move all of her body. She did this so that she could get used to moving around. It was strange that she didn't know how to move, heck it was strange that she hatched again. She was six years old for Pete's sake! She looked over at the other Indominus, who was halfway out of its shell. Then, the Indominus couldn't explain what was going on, but she felt something deep inside of her. She began to approach the other Indominus and wondered where this other one came from. She thought she was the only Indominus in the park, how was there a second one? Then, Indy looked into the other Indominus's eyes and saw fear. But, Indy didn't know what she was doing when she opened her mouth, revealing sharp, ivory daggers. Before anything else happened, right when Indy bit down and heard the blood curdling screech of the other Indominus, her eyes shot open and she let out an anxious bark as she shot up to her feet. Her heart rate was accelerated, her eyes were bloodshot, even though you couldn't tell due to her eyes being a scarlet color. She was panting deeply, her teeth were more bared than usual and she began to look around. What the hell just happened? Who was that other Indominus? Did that happen when she hatched?
Owen drove over to the only restaurant that was still intact on the island and that was being used to give everyone on the island food. The restaurant was a sit down restaurant. Owen saw Claire sitting at a booth and then walked over to her and sat across from her.
"You look nice tonight," said Claire.
"Thanks. You look nice, too," replied Owen.
"So, have you thought of anything else to call Indy?"
"No. I'm trying to think of a name that's strange, but unique and beautiful."
"Well, maybe if you searched up strange yet unique baby names for girls, then you could find one."
"Nah, I'd rather think of one on my own."
"Okay. How are your raptors?"
"As crazy as ever. They really want to see Indy again, but I can't let that happen, because God knows what in the world would happen if they crossed paths again."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
"They're going to hate you for that."
"Whatever, I'm not letting it bother me when I'm with them. I told them that they can't see her and that's final."
"Wow, it's nice to see that you're still an Alpha."
Owen rolled his eyes before saying, "What about you? How're you doing?"
"I'm doing...fine. Typical Operations Manager stuff. Meetings, statements, etcetera."
"Wait, you're still Operations Manager?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, it's just, I would have thought that you would have gotten a higher position job."
"Like what? CEO?"
"Well, yeah."
"Well, as much as I would honestly love that, it's not up to me. It's up to the board."
"Well, the board should get together and pick you as CEO."
"Thanks, Owen, but I don't think I'd be able to handle a job like that."
"Why not? You'd be doing what you've been doing this whole time over these past few days. Just, with a little more work on your plate."
"But, if I were to have that job, there wouldn't be enough time for us to be together."
"We can work a schedule out. After all, you're an organized woman right?"
Claire gave a wide smile and then stared into Owen's green eyes. She was happy that he wanted her to get a higher positioned job and that he really wanted things to work out between them. To be honest, Claire wanted the same. Not about the higher positioned job, but about working this relationship out with Owen. So much has happened between them since their first, horrific, date. This wasn't anything like their first date. It was better. They both listened to each other when they spoke and they cared about what each was talking about. Claire was disturbed from her thoughts when she heard the crackling of static. She looked at Owen, who pulled out a radio and then pressed a button and said, "Lowery, what's up?"
"Uh, Owen, it's the Indominus. Something's wrong with her," replied Lowery.
"What's going on?"
"Well, I don't know. I think she's having some kind of panic attack or something. She's barking loudly, panting rapidly, and she's looking around for something, or maybe she thinks that something will jump out at her."
"What? Well, we'll be right there."
"Okay."
Owen put the radio away and he looked at Claire, who heard every word. They both got up and they took Owen's motorcycle to the Indominus paddock. They arrived in about an hour, and they were wondering if the Indominus was still panicking. Owen and Claire ran into the viewing room and they saw that she was still freaking out.
"What do we do?" asked Claire.
"I don't know," said Owen.
They watched as they saw the Indominus step out of the brush and began to bark again and look around. Owen then saw that there was one solution, but he didn't know if it would work or not.
"I'm going down there," he said.
"What?" asked Claire.
"I'm going down there to talk to her."
"What?! Owen are you crazy?"
"It's the only thing I can think of doing."
"No, Owen, don't. We don't know what'll happen."
"If you want me to get closer to her, you're going to have to trust me."
Claire wanted to tie Owen down and not let him go anywhere. But, she had to let him do this. She gave a single nod of her head and then Owen went down into the paddock. The door opened and Owen saw the expanse of the paddock once again. A flashback of the first time he was in there came to him and he remembered checking the claw marks and being ambushed by Indy. That was not going to happen again. Owen walked forward and saw Indy, still freaking out. He didn't know what to do or say yet. He just stood and watched for a few seconds.
The Indominus was still freaking out over her strange dream. She thought it was ridiculous that she was still panicking over it, because she had the dream about an hour ago. She just wanted to know if there was another Indominus and if there was, what happened to it. She turned her head and saw Owen, but this time, he wasn't behind the glass of the viewing room. He was in her 'home.' Indy gave a bark at him, but he didn't move one bit. He then took a step forward and said, "It's okay."
Those two words brought a flashback to Indy of when he said that to her that night of her rampage, before they started the bond. But, this time, Owen was actually right. It was going to be okay.
Owen pulled out his radio and asked Lowery, "Lowery, what was she doing before panicking?"
"She was sleeping," he replied.
Owen got the picture once Lowery spoke those words. She was panicking over a nightmare.
"So, you had a bad dream, huh?" asked Owen gently.
The panicked Indominus nodded at his question and then her said, "It's okay. You just had a nightmare. That happens to humans, too. We get scared of them like you do, and we panic like you do. But, we soon realize that, it was only just a dream."
Indy didn't understand. How on Earth could humans have dreams that were horrifying? No, why could they have dreams that were horrifying?
"Nightmares come from our fears and traumatic experiences. Maybe, something happened to you in the past, that made you have this nightmare."
The human made sense. Indy went through a lot of rough stuff when she was younger and smaller. But, how could she not remember possibly eating another Indominus?
"It's okay, Indy. It was just a dream. You're safe and sound here. I'm here with you."
Those words made Indy feel better. This human really cared for her, and that's something that she's always wanted. She began to slowly breathe and then tried her best to simply relax. She'd get answers one day, but right now, she had to calm down. After calming down a little, she lowered her head to Owen's level and stared at him with the bright, scarlet orbs. Owen then stretched out his hand and placed it on the white scales of her snout. Indy, then gave a soft croon at Owen's touch.
Claire watched all of this unfold and was surprised with the results. Owen was finally getting through to Indy, and that made Claire put a small smile on her face. She was happy that Indy was receiving affection from someone. Now, the only thing left is for Claire to show Indy the same affection that Owen did.
Indy experienced her first nightmare, and she's only six! But hey, that nightmare helped her and Owen get closer. So, it's not all that bad, right?
A/N: Hey Guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you stick around for more! Leave reviews, good or bad, because I love reading what you guys think! And, stay tuned for more of this story!
'Til Next Time!-TM341