Chapter 24: Get Out Alive
This was not what I was thinking of. For nearly 6 months this story has been in stasis. And with this chapter it will shaken it.
After what I got based on Fallen Kingdom I noticed that the direction of this story was almost similar to what FK is only the roles are reversed in some cases. Though the story isn't. This story itself is a couple of years old now and only reached this far. The farthest a story has gotten for me was 36 chapters, and with my other story now at 24 out of 30 both are gonna be in a mini race on what can get out first.
I got some inspiration from a song called 'Out Alive' by Divide on youtube that went along with the Fallen Kingdom premise that I felt was Owen trying to convince Blue to help lead her out of danger and survive. And that has sparked something in me to get this going.
Recap…
CRASH!
Snapping her head in the direction of the sound, half expecting to either see a building collapse or the remaining humans come back, she was a bit surprised when 4 forms came running from the dark vegetation. 3 of which were what Rexy could clearly identify as the Raptor Sisters. Seeing the shine tinkle from Delia's eyes as she was ahead of the 3, but Blue was missing. Inda came charging in with ferocious speeds nearly knocking down trees, poles and narrowly stepping on Charlie when she slagged behind some.
Everyone stopped doing what they were to see the hybrid coming to a screeching halt. Flinging a small spray of blood out onto the ground that quickly caught the attention of most of the carnivores present. All eyes landing onto her claws; two limp forms held tightly yet loose enough that it didn't cause damage. Both were completely still; however, the body in her left claw laid limp with the clear sign of crimson liquid leaking out.
"We need a doctor!" She roared. But not of anger, but of that of pure and utter desperation.
The squad ran. They ran as fast as they could despite their heavy gear.
The moment the body hit the ground, the other seemed to lock up from just pure shock at what happened. It was this little mistake that they immediately fired a tranquilizer that they hoped wouldn't kill the still standing being. It worked for the most part, exhaustion had already given its hand in the strange pair that another would of no doubt knock them out for a while.
But with a gunshot, from a high caliber bullet that went straight through their torso, the amount of blood leaking onto the ground wasn't startling. It was meant to deal maximum damage, but yet still keep the target alive. Though that depended on where the shot entered and exited. And judging by the hole in the t-shirt, the victim would possibly have hours before complete death from internal blood loss.
Present…
Owen was right, it really was a war on Nublar.
He was still in the thick of the forest trying to bushwhack his way back to the park. Inwardly groaning has he wished he still had his motorcycle that could easily tear through this jungle. But he remembered that it was lost somewhere during the Indominus Incident. Making himself inwardly kick himself in the ass for losing something like his only real means of getting around this island.
At times Grady had to stop and try to bring up a mental map of the island from his home to the park and everything in between. He couldn't try the paddock, no doubt Blue would be anywhere but near where she was kept for most of her life. He was sure that the T-Rex pretty much stacked out the resort itself leaving the vast sectors of jungle that dominated this spit of land. He needed to find one of the park's computers, if anything find a way up to the control center and he could find Blue on a portable tracker.
But he had no idea where that was relative to his current position. Now he really was starting to regret bailing out on those guys in favor of trying to find her himself.
He was in the middle of a clearing when he heard it, the distant sounds of of two distinct explosions with the cries and calls of other dinosaurs in the area. Gun fire, roars, and a massive sound of something crashing echoed across the night. If Owen had to guess the main team that went through the port just got their asses kicked in some form. He wanted to laugh at the idea, but he also knew it was bad that they just lost another group to get to the command center to get this place a bit organized again.
Coming upon a small stream that trickled through the trees Grady slowed his pace. Minding to avoid stepping on something that could snap or splash in the water. He was coming up upon a clearing, where just ahead of him in a beam of light he saw a mass that was heavily out of place in the jungle.
Stepping closer he found himself in a moderate clearing with the moist soil with the stream cutting through it surrounded by shrubs. He moved closer, having to blink just a little to readjust his eyes to the changing light, and saw what was clearly a vehicle. Turned onto its roof crushed and rusted. The paint, though heavily weathered, was still present with yellows, blacks, reds and greens with a large black logo like the Jurassic World logo on the door.
Owen was half surprised to find something from the old park. Claire's nephews came racing back to the park in a old Jeep and that some facilities that were scattered around were still there but hidden by the plant life. He vaguely remembered reading it in Alan Grant's book about the original park that a tourist vehicle got tossed off the side of a paddock wall by the T-Rex and was left abandoned in the jungle. Grady could swear this was the car with how crushed it is and the one tire looking like something tried ripping it apart.
There was movement just ahead, behind the vehicle with the plants taller than him jerking around as if something was moving in there trying to hide.
He moved closer; expecting to either see his raptor or a herbivore just moving by. What he got was a swarm of chirps as a mess of at least a dozen Canopies ran past him from around and through the car. Making the fully grown man jump back as they scurried by.
Than there was the screech that made him actually jump and snap back to the car.
The dark mass landed with its full body weight onto the car causing it to shake and sink further onto its crushed roof. Owen honestly felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart skip a beat or two. His eyes coming face to face with ember eyes that were slitted to being almost just a black line as flesh tearing teeth stayed just a small distance apart waiting to be triggered like a spring trap with razor sharp claws dug into the rusted steel as it crouched low. From streams of moon light from the trees the man could just see the long dark lines that went down either side of the body.
"Blue…"
Some time ago…
Blue slowly felt her senses return. First it was smell and taste; she felt her lips dry and instinctively reached out her tongue and wet them just a bit. The smell of the jungle around her flooded her nostrils with the smell that told her that she was laying on the ground.
Next came her hearing and sight; the sounds of bugs and frogs surrounded her with a slight ringing sound still in her ears. It was almost like what happened when she would wait for Tracks to do what they needed to do and she would stare into nothingness as the sound of the lights and breathing was the only things that accompanied her if alone. Her eyes slowly cracked up, blinking a few times to readjust to the blur that as gradually going away to the darkness and moon light.
Then came the sense of feeling like there were thousands of insects with pins for legs all over her.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" She yelled/screeched jumping to her feet. Though the action was met with opposite results as she collapsed to the ground. She didn't care about the dirt, all she did care was to get rid of that ungodly feeling.
She rolled around, like a door pivoting on their back against carpet or grass, though she was trying frantically to get every spot that she wanted the dirt to get rid of the itch. She thought of something to just comb over her hid and sooth her pain. She really hoped that Alex had some kind way to help.
Alex…
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull, "ALEX!?"
She looked around every direction. Trying to get a visual sense of her surroundings. There was a disturbance in the ground that showed human movement; several different sets of tracks all the same with a large skid dug into the ground. Like they were dragging something heavy. She lifted her nose up, trying to get a lock or trace of his scent. But all she got was the smell of blood and dirt. Blue looked back to her left side to see that it wasn't so blue anymore. A large splatter of red covered part of her chest all the way to her thigh. Though she felt no pain, nothing out of the ordinary or even a cut or hole that would result in her bleeding.
She took a whiff. It was Alex, something else and more dirt.
She took a deep breath, trying to force the soil away from around her snout so that she could smell easier. That was when she felt a toe touch metal. A glance down bestowed her the sight of what was a bullet casing. Something that they would see from the humans' guns when firing. It was something they were quickly caught up on when adjusting to their human forms that they learn some key stuff like the weapons that in no matter what form was a threat.
Who ever had used this for their weapon had Alex, she was sure of it.
She took a few sniffs to try to get the mix scent of the case and the trails of the other humans. Both pointing her in the direction back towards the river.
Without hesitation Blue bolted into the bush. Going as fast as her still recollecting body would allow her. She weaved around the large stuff while not caring to just bash through shrubs, tall grass or protruding branches that smacked up against her. Her mind was on overdrive over the thought of what happened to her Alex. She would tear them all apart for making him bleed and taking him away from her.
It wasn't until another minute or two until she returned to the spot that held what was the best night of her life to date. Ruined by those humans. The scent was stronger, they had taking the way they came back to where they came from. Following the river downstream it was clear that they moved in a tight group. Side by side if she had to guess the way the tracks were. It went on for several yards before banking sharp left towards the river. She was hoping they were there. Either preparing themselves for something or just loading into their boats. There was nothing. The scent ended at the river's shore. They were gone.
Blue wanted to cry out, reach for the first living thing she saw and just tear it till it was nothing but a blob of flesh on the ground and collapse to let the built up mass of tears to escape.
Her nostrils flared, there was another scent. It branched off away from the group and headed back towards the park. It was just a different scent that she had trouble figuring out if it was one of them, Alex, or someone else on the island. Spinning on her heels she hightailed it back into the jungle. Nose in the air for brief moments to take in the air around and try the scent trail. It was moving, she was sure of it.
Blue picked up the pace; her predator instincts taking hold as she was dead set on reaching her target who ever it was. She didn't know where her sister of even Inda was, she was stuck on either them returning to the resort, looking for her and Alex or they too encountered a group of humans. It wasn't long till another quick sniff of the air told her that whatever her target was was close, and coming towards her.
Pulling back from her run, taking a couple of much needed deep breaths, Blue looked around the clearing she found herself in. The target from the scent was coming her. Turning around she started brewing up a plan of attack. To her it was honestly starting to feel like the first time she was alone on the island when she thought her sisters were gone. Having to hunt by herself for herself.
She waited in the thick bushes; hearing footsteps closing in, slow and steady against rock coming towards the vehicle. She couldn't see who it was, but they had a mixed scent. Something about it was… familiar. The other was that of a musk and the scent she got from the casing.
There was a mass of chirps behind her. Causing her to shake the bush. She froze, feeling stupid that her cover was possibly blown, even hearing the human whisper like he knew she was there. Anger was starting to quickly build; her sight cast down at the canopies that were clearly feral as they hadn't said anything to her. Baring her teeth she thrusted forward, snapping her jaw quickly that sent the canopies running around her out of the bush. There was a noise from what she suspected was the human, a male from the sound it made.
She readied herself, crouching down as she leaped through the green onto the old vehicle letting out a screech that definitely surprised the human even more.
Present…
The raptor screeched hit him; flexing her claws in anticipation for him to make the wrong move. Owen wasn't sure what to think right now; the fact that he, or really she found him, alive and standing in front of him with the look of a killer or the splatter of what he could easily tell was fresh blood painted across her hide. He saw no visible injury that could of been the result of so much blood. She probably was eating something before she got here.
He slowly raised his arm he with his palm facing towards the ground in Blue's direction, "Hey girl… you miss me?"
His answer was her jumping down from the car in front of him. Snarling as she began moving to his left, "Easy, Hey, Hey." He reached down into on of his vest pockets. Fishing out what his hand felt as the largest piece of beef jerky. Being a pack of that, nutritional bars and his canister of water since they all thought it would be best to stay in a group and be more mobile by carrying less.
"I brought you something." He held the jerky forward, startling Blue for a second at the sudden movement making her snarl again. But after seeing it wasn't a threat she eased up slightly. "There you go… that's right."
He gently threw the piece at her. Expecting her to catch it in a snap and swallow it whole in one bite. But the piece simply bounced off her lower jaw onto the ground we her flinching just a little with a hiss following that quickly gear in into a growl.
"Okay…"Own quickly returned his into a calm open position with his left hand hanging near his belt. Feeling what he wanted he brought it up so that Blue would possibly see it; a little black clicker.
As she moved with him not taking his eyes off hers she screech out. Owen, doing slow but steady clips, "You know me…" Blue sniffed the air, stopping as if his words was actually getting to her.
"Eyes on me…"
Slowly she worked closer to him. Keeping her head level as he held strong. She snout was just a foot away from his palm and closing in. The rage in her eyes subsiding as a sense of calm washed over the area
But than a bush to his left rustled. Causing Blue to immediately withdraw from Owen's hand and get in a attack stance for whatever was coming. He instantly went for his rifle, but Blue turned her gaze to him again and screeched once more. Making him stop and pull back his hand from the handle. Something was coming, Blue was either helping him or distracting him and he couldn't get his gun out.
The rustling split up, now there was three different areas of movement that he had to keep darting back and forth from the bush to Blue.
Blue screeched again, but this time to the bushes. The rustling stopped, and then three forms came jumping out in a similar pose that Blue had on the car. And even though it was dark, under the trees with a bright and shining moon, Owen felt that this island was just trying to purposefully give him a heart attack. He was seriously questioning if he was seeing ghosts or he already died on this island and haven't realized it.
Sandy brown, dark green with a mix of black, and a lighter shade that ran down like water streaks, three more raptors joined Blue has they began forming a semi-circle around the man. Chattering, snarling, and clipping as they communicated back and forth between each other.
"Girls..." he spoke in a tone that was border lining a whisper. All four of them snapped their attention to him, making him regret that decision again as he could hear a few low growls. Yeah, they definitely were not ghosts.
"Hey, Hey, come on now…" he got into a more familiar position he had hoped they would remember. It was when he was trying to protect the idiot who fell into the pen when trying to get a escaping pig. He honestly felt like this was a sense of déjà vu.
Echo, or who he hoped was Echo due to it being a bit hard to see the her colors in the dark, took a small step forward snapping out.
"HEY! Easy there. Delta I see you over there." he glanced at the blackish raptor that tried to go around his right side. The call out making her retract back into line. But that didn't discourage the raptor on the far left to start moving in the way Delta did.
He knew the look of this raptor; it was a younger face compared to the others, one that he honestly felt was the little sister that looked up to all of them for support.
"Charlie." He warned, using the same tone he used with Delta to get her to listen.
But the raptor came closer, now in the moonlight Owen could definitely confirm it was her. But he was more surprised by the fact that who was standing before him he last saw get blown up by a rocket. He could see very little signs of physical scars left, her legs seemingly different than what they should be, and yet a more confident stance that sent out a message that the others seemed to allow her to be the one to progress first.
She was moving in the same way Blue was earlier; making Grady have to back up a bit to make sure he kept them all within his sight. Charlie, with her nostrils flaring as she took in the sent of the human, felt herself draw closer to his hand. Having back up enough to have them visible all together he relax ever so slightly as the youngest raptor sniffed his hand.
"That's it… That's it, you know me." Taking one last intake Charlie paused for a moment. Her mind racking over the smells, voice, and when she looked up to his face, his eyes felt as though they had sparked something she thought was gone.
Without hesitation she pressed her snout against his palm. Purring in comfort at the sooth skin. Owen couldn't help but grin like a owner finding his lost dog that after so long remembered him. He rubbed his thumb across her head, gradually working his way under her chin where she turned her head some to allow him to rub the sides.
"There you go, Charlie. There you go…"
Her reaction was one Owen had hoped for, as the others all relaxed and approached themselves. The predator look in their eyes dissolving into that of a curiosity. This was it, a dream that he had thought would forever stay that way when he first left the island. And now, standing here back on this god forsaken, dinosaur covered rock, he couldn't be any happier to actually reunite with not just his Blue, but all his girls.
Soon Charlie withdrew from his hand, having both Owen's and her own minds groan in unison over the loss of contact. Though now standing straight up, just above his forehead, staring down into his eyes, the former marine could of sworn he saw, not just a shadow or ghost, but a legit smile form.
"Daddy?" a voice, a young sounding voice, came from the velociraptor in front of him. Owen felt as though the world literally froze in a second. He could of sworn he just saw his youngest girl called him 'daddy' with a jaw full of teeth actually moving to perfectly mouth the word with the sound.
Owen's only reaction was a long, slow blink before the raptor was pressing her head up rubbing against his chest. "DADDY! YOU CAME BACK!" The raptor was so into enjoying the feeling of being next to her 'father' that the man in question had adopted a look of a stone cold that screamed internal conflict with his imagination and sense of reality literally fighting each other with pitchforks.
Nope, he is dead. He was walking through the forest, tripped, fell and cracked his head and this is just the afterlife giving him what he wanted.
"I think you broke him." Another voice said drawing his attention to the source. He was stuck between Echo or Delta when the later replied back.
"Well what did you expect? He probably thought the 3 of us were dead."
"Still, what kind of Alpha just assumes his pack is dead?"
Delta gave her a deadpanned look, "One of us was almost blown to bits, you were nearly bitten in half and I was lite on fire. Blue was really the only one to walk away with him still seeing her alive."
"Still, would be nice to be thought of in the after life."
Grady honestly felt that he was about to faint any moment. Seeing and hearing two raptors have a conversation he could fully understand in perfect English about him was making his mind start to hurt and have a headache form. But then he turned to Blue; the one that hadn't made any attempt yet to speak or have contact. He felt as though she was actually here and was watching Owen look stupid with what one would think was his imagination or be shocked to see him standing before her after 2 long years.
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Her form more relaxed than he ever saw her. If the others could talk, if this was just his mind playing tricks on him, he wondered what she would sound like. Her jaw parted in the way someone wouldn't know how to start a conversation. However, a loud thundering boom made that opportunity vanish.
"WHERE IS HE!?" A familiar voice to the sister roared out as trees where bulldozed out of the way by a huge, bright white, fast moving tornado with teeth of a creature, named Inda, came charging into the clearing with her sight dead set on Owen.
Despite the night the giant was fully visible as he barely had time to react when a large claw swiped him off his feet, making all girls suddenly jump back from her sheer size nearly taking up half the clearing, as he felt the sharp claws suddenly dig into his sides. He felt them easily penetrate his clothes and felt his skin burn when he knew that blood had been drawn. He was held up a good 10 feet off the ground when he was turned to face the red iris of what he had prayed to god wasn't the murderous hybrid from 2 years ago staring down at him.
Inda was not happy. Having heard the distant explosions she knew there was a fight going on without her. She loved a good fight. There wasn't many things on this island that could really go claw to claw with her. She was able to convince the 3 raptors to follow her back to help, but than the gun shot behind her made her stop. Blue and Alex was still out there, and while she still didn't like the blue featherless chicken to be around her man she was the only real protection he add.
She took a long, deep whiff of the air. There were humans, humans that was not her Alex and where clearly coming from two different sources if the wind was any help. And there was a strong scent back near the river they were at. She sent the three to find them as she personally want to hunt down the humans. Following their scent she stayed hidden yet plowed her way through the forest the river. Following it down stream from where the scent was the strongest to the shore.
There was nothing when she arrived there. Only the signs that they were definitely there. She mentally punched herself for missing what could of been a fun hunt. But then the other scent caught her attention; it branched off into the jungle and from what she smelled Blue was following the same trail. The scent in general smelled familiar, the kind of familiar she felt was something that would make her blood boil.
She followed Blue's scent, quickly catching the others as she came near the area they were gathered. But the human's scent made her angry; it wasn't her Alex. It was something that she felt she would attempt and succeed in killing before the night was out.
And oh was she right. The scent was familiar, of the musky, dirty bastard that had several times tried to lead attacks to kill her. Though she must admit, if it wasn't for him she wouldn't have her freedom from that god forsaken prison.
But Inda could easily look over that last part, for right now she wanted something from him. "Where. Is. My. ALEX." She hissed in his face. Making him flinch back when he felt the hot breath blow at his face.
She tightened her hold on him when he didn't say anything. Feeling him squirm as his body tried resisting it. She wasn't gonna kill him, she wanted as much information out of this poor excuse of a alpha to tell her what happened to her Alex, and then kill him.
Owen was starting to feel light headed from the sheering pain that was driving his body bonkers. He didn't know how to react to not only being held in the hands of the Indominus Rex or that the fact that it, or he guess she as what he voice had in tone, also spoke. Though before she could cause more pain to the main a new voice spoke.
"Put him down." all eyes turned towards the ground. Landing on the blue raptor that stood between Inda with her sisters behind her. Owen for a second was surprised to hear Blue speak in a voice that almost mirrored the kind of tone he would use on them in training. The look of authority was dominate as she growled her next word, "Now."
Before Inda could counter her statement as to why she should even let this particular human live, she spun quickly around to face the pack. But with such suddenly move she didn't expect her tail to arch out so far and collide with a mass that was sent flying into a tree. When the thump of impact made them all turn around, Inda visibly flinched in embarrassment at seeing Blue not on her back laying on the ground completely out cold.
"Crap…"
So with how Fallen Kingdom is set up I felt that this story almost made itself to be a Prelude to the movie. With how the beginning on the island was it was mostly like how I pictured it at the beginning of this story (though a bit more fixed up in some form) and that the humans mission here is just like that in the movie.
Some might be thinking how come Owen didn't understand the girls when they first encountered each other. This has a simple explanation; they weren't speaking English. They may be able to speak like a human but that doesn't mean they can't still communicate like their animal sides did. However I will not say what they were saying to each other before Charlie spoke first.
As seen from this chapter I incorporated parts of FK with some changes, I do not know if this will continue to the end as while people have said that I've been pointing to Alex becoming a hybrid himself. With how Blue and the Indoraptor are in the film this has put into question if I should or not go with the hybrid idea, has I can already see a way of working it in as him becoming the Indo by mutation, but that will most likely be for a later debate.
And as I think of this, with Nublar basically a volcano that within a year of when this story takes place, who knows what the future will hold.
