TRIGGER WARNING! Panic attacks. (forgive me for putting that in all caps, I want to make sure people notice)


Emily drained the last of her water as she sat on the steps of the Innovation Center. She sighed, it was only nine o'clock, and it was already sweltering. Hopefully, wherever she was going today would have air conditioning. Masrani had left her there not ten minutes ago, with instructions that the handler of the last paddock she'd be touring would be picking her up. And, of course, nothing on who the handler was or what their name was.

She screwed the cap back on her bottle and dropped her arm to hang by her side. She scanned the crowd, trying to discern if anyone was looking for her.

Sure enough, she spotted a well-muscled man scanning the steps. He had an employee badge clipped to his belt, and a sweat stained Henley on.

Emily grabbed her satchel and stood, making her way down the steps to him. She extended a hand as she approached, "Dr. Emily Grant, consulting paleontologist."

He shook her hand firmly, "Owen Grady, animal behaviorist. I was starting to wonder how I'd find you."

"Masrani wasn't exactly clear on that part."

Owen nodded, "So, consulting paleontologist. That's a new position."

Emily nodded, "What do you do here at the park?"

"Animal handler. Or trainer of sorts. It's easier to see than to explain."

"Let's get going then."

He nodded and led her to a mud splattered jeep. "It's a bit of a ride, and not a smooth one."

"I'm well used to that."

"Right, should've figured. Paleontologist and all." Owen flashed her a grin as he started his jeep. "Where are you based?"

They started down a dirt road as Emily responded, "Montana mostly, though I do occasionally end up in Wyoming."

Owen nodded, "You work for a museum, or are you independent?"

"Museum of the Rockies. Bozeman, MT."

He nodded, navigating around a corner, "I was really into paleontology when I was kid."

"So, you know a fair bit then?"

"Some. Enough to know that most of the dinosaurs here aren't entirely natural."

"Correct. They should have at least some feathers." Emily took off her hat. "And they've got DNA from other animals, like frogs."

"Shouldn't they be able to change sex then?"

Emily smiled a little as she redid her ponytail, "I like the way you think. I would assume the geneticists have a way to fix that. But my lab tour was cut short, so I wouldn't know."

Owen flashed her yet another grin, "Not all of us here are entirely stupid."

"Good."


They spent most of the jeep ride trading facts and stories, till Emily felt like she was chatting with one of her dig team members. Except she still didn't know what dinosaur Owen worked with when they pulled up to the paddock.

Just like all the other non-visitor paddock she'd been to, the walls were tall, and definitely not built to look fancy, but to be practical.

Owen jumped out first, and Emily followed, donning her sunglasses and hat. Owen led her to a small office, opening the door, "Ladies first."

Emily was sorely tempted to tell him to go through first then but decided that probably wasn't the best first impression. She shot him a glare instead as she stepped through the door and into the blissfully cool office.

She removed her sunglasses as Owen stepped through behind her.

"This is Barry, our caretaker."

Emily shook Barry's hand, pocketing her sunglasses, "Dr. Emily Grant, consulting paleontologist."

Barry's handshake was firm, and Owen said, "Normally I'd let you get to know each other, but our assistant trainer is about to start her first session. Which would—" he nodded to Emily, "—make a great chance for you to get to know the girls."

Barry moved past them, "By girls he means the raptors."

Every muscle in Emily's body froze, and she had to swallow hard before she could speak, "Raptors? As in velociraptors?"

Owen nodded, grabbing something off his desk.

Emily took a deep breath, "Right."

She followed him out of the office and up some stairs. She was here to overcome her fears. Raptors were part of that. And Owen seemed sensible, so she was probably safe.

She could stand on the catwalk and watch them.

She could do this.

Owen jarred her out of her thoughts, "You can stand here, so you aren't in Lizzy's way, or somewhere the girls will get too distracted by you."

Emily nodded, slipping on her sunglasses again.

Owen continued walking, passing whatever he had grabbed to a woman, Lizzy probably, in the center of the catwalks. Below them was the paddock, half of which was filled with lush jungle, and the other half was relatively open, a mulch covering the ground.

Emily was relieved that there were no raptors in sight and pulled out her notebook and pen with shaking hands. She swallowed, clicking her pen, and flipping to a blank page. Still shaking, she wrote, "Velociraptors," at the top of the page and underlined it.

She looked up as the woman nodded, and somewhere below in the paddock, Emily heard a pig squealing.

And a raptor screeched. And then another one answered.

Emily's breath hitched, and all she could hear were Tim's limping footsteps on that kitchen floor, and the velociraptor scrabbling on the freezer floor. The scent of blood filled her nostrils and the brief sensation of hot, putrid breath on her arm.

The hand holding her notebook moved to her right arm and covered the scar there.

The pig burst from the foliage and scampered across the opening to a small door in the wall. The door slammed shut.

And four velociraptors burst from the foliage. Four.

Emily's pen fell from her hand and clattered on catwalk.

She could hear Robert Muldoon's warning echoing through her mind;

"They're lethal at eight months. And I do mean lethal."

She could see the velociraptor's breath fogging up the little round window in the kitchen door. The way its claws clicked on the floor, Lex's screams, the silvery metal cabinets.

The velociraptor's teeth sinking into her arm.

Emily stubbled back, colliding with the paddock railing. Her notebook dropped as well, and all she could see was the silver kitchen. Someone, something touched her, and she flinched away.

Her father's words from twenty years ago were the only thing she could hear.

"Hang on Em. Just hang on."


Elizabeth Greene thought her first training was going well. She'd gotten the raptor's attention pretty much right away and hadn't lost it yet.

That was, until something clanged on the catwalk to Lizzy's left.

That drew the raptor's attention, and their heads snapped that direction, away from Lizzy. Lizzy looked that way as well and discovered that the raptors had focused on a woman standing next to Owen. She'd known that someone was coming to evaluate the paddock, and Owen had said that it wasn't unusual for the raptors to freak someone out.

But this woman appeared to have stumbled back into the railing and as Lizzy watched, she sank down to the catwalk floor, pale and shaking.

But Owen motioned for Lizzy to continue the training. So, she squeezed the clicker, shouting down to the raptors, "Eyes on me!" She tried again, trying extra hard to copy Owen's tone when he worked with the raptors, "Hey! I said eyes on me!"

Still no response. The raptors were focused on Owen, who was trying to get the woman to respond to him.

"Screw it," Lizzy hissed before shouting, "Blue, Echo, Charlie, Delta! Get your sorry butts over here! Now!"


The moment Lizzy was done with the training, she left Barry to finish up, and raced down the catwalk. Owen had moved the woman into the office and set her in Lizzy's desk chair.

"Is she okay?"

"Not sure." Owen straightened. "I thought it might've been heat exhaustion, but she's not responding. Grab some water and the first aid kit, will you?"

"Sure." Lizzy nodded and quickly grabbed both things. By the time she got back, the woman was coherent enough that Owen was able to help her drink some water and sit up properly.

"Sorry," the woman murmured softly, "I, haven't seen a velociraptor in a long time…"

Lizzy frowned. Where would the woman have seen a velociraptor before? Come to think of it, she had looked scared of the velociraptors. And God, she looked familiar. But Lizzy could not figure out where she might have seen her before.

"Hey," Owen quietly murmured as he walked past. "Have her take her flannel off and try to calm her down some more. I'm going to call medical."

"Got it."

Owen left, and Lizzy sat down on top of her desk, facing the woman.

"You should take your flannel off; you look pretty warm."

"Right," the woman murmured, "that's smart…" She removed the fedora still perched on her head and tugged off her flannel.

Revealing a large scar on her right arm. A bite mark scar.

Lizzy's eyes widened, and she gasped.

"Oh my gosh, you're Emily Grant!"


Lizzy's eyes widened, and she gasped, saying, "Oh my gosh, you're Emily Grant!"

Emily inwardly groaned. Her mouth was dry, her heart was still pounding, and her head hurt. She really did not want to have to deal with this right now. The paleontologist ran a hand through her hair. Lizzy was already talking again, her voice loud and slightly high pitched, making Emily's head pound even worse.

"Why are you here?! What are you doing?!" Lizzy hopped off the desk, beginning to pace. "You're my idol, you're the one who inspired me to work with dinosaurs! You're the reason I'm here right now! Isn't it crazy you're here?!"

Emily's hands clenched the arms of the chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. She'd inspired this kid, who could barely be out of college, to work with dinosaurs? She'd inspire someone to work with raptors. She could feel herself beginning to sweat, Lizzy had no idea how dangerous those monsters were, she thought-

"Oh my gosh, is that your scar?! From Jurassic Park?" Lizzy extends her hand to touch it, jarring Emily from her thoughts, "I can't believe a raptor would do that! They're so –"

Emily snapped, snatching her arm away, "Stop."

Lizzy recoiled; eyes wide.

"You don't have any idea what raptors are capable of, do you?" Emily stood, legs steady, voice shaking. "You have no idea. They are, vicious monsters who hunted three kids, because they could. They destroyed my life for years, and you—" Emily had to stop and suck in a couple of deep breaths.

Lizzy tried to say something but Emily forged ahead. She wasn't done.

"You have the nerve to look at this," Emily held up her arm, "and marvel that raptors couldn't have possible done that. You're, you're naïve, and incredibly rude. My trauma is not something for you to admire."

The office door opened, revealing Owen.

Emily snatched up her hat and flannel with shaking hands. "I'm leaving."


3:00 AM.

She needed her father to answer the phone. God, she needed him to.

Emily sucked in a breath, hands shaking as she hit call for the fifth time.

And he answered, sounding groggy and confused.

"Em? It's three in the morning, what's going—"

And Emily was sobbing, her head dropping to rest in her hands, her emotions hitting her like a truck.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Her father immediately sounded awake and alert. "What's going on sweetheart?"

Emily sucked in a breath, and slowly let it out. And then she did it again.

"That's it, just breath. It'll be alright."

She scrubbed the tears off her cheeks for what seemed like the billionth time that day and leaned back against the headboard of her bed.

"Emily? Can you tell me what's going on kiddo?"

Emily swallowed, fumbling for her phone. She found it, overturned on the sheets next to her. She hated calling him for this, she knew he would worry even more once she told him, but she had to.

"They, they have raptors Dad."

"Oh God…"

"And, I saw them…" Emily's voice broke and she sucked in a breath, heart pounding.

"Emily…"

"I can't do this Dad. I, I can't."


I'm not sorry.