Please keep all limbs inside the tram.
The curator would like to say a special word of thanks to the Head Keep of the ankylosaurus paddock for their help with this attraction.
Welcome...to the Hidden
Chapter 11
Hidden Away
The first cow should be around anytime now. His foot is tapping against the ground a hundred miles a minute. He's on edge about the raptors next to him. Blue's head is captured in the steel muzzle he hates, and she's growling at him like a savage beast. He can almost hear the why.
If Owen were to have a say, he'd get rid of the muzzles. It's a hazard just trying to get his girls' heads in the contraptions. It also makes it hard for him to maintain Blue's trust.
Walking to her, he reaches out a hand. With a snarl, her lips pull back, revealing sharp teeth. Owen's eyes widen, but he's not entirely surprised. He hasn't been around, and the first time she sees him, she's trapped—not to mention underweight.
He can't help his fists balling up. The fact someone has been starving his girls makes him angry—and by someone, he's pretty certain now it's InGen, and he doesn't understand why. Perhaps he shouldn't have fired Tanner. After all, the man was feeding Blue at least.
Taking a deep breath, Owen turns back to Blue.
She struggles to break free. The fact her cheekbones are starting to protrude has his blood pressure rising again.
He keeps his voice soft as he speaks to her. "Food is coming for you. I promise I'm getting you food."
Her gaze settles on him. There's a moment when the world seems to stop. For a second, he feels as if she'll follow him around, babbling at him again. Slowly, her lips cover her teeth. Blue's breathing slows, and she watches.
Reaching out a hand, his fingers trace over her skin. It's the closest he can get to her, and he'll take it. She studies him as her nose flares. After a while, she whimpers ever so softly.
"I miss you, too," he whispers. "I'm going to help you."
Barry moves into the breezeway and hands him part of a cowhide. "It is in place. All that is missing is them."
Taking the cowhide, Owen looks at Blue. "We're going to play hide and seek. And you're going to like this prize."
Her gaze slowly shifts from him to the hide he offers. With a deep breath, her maw begins to drip with saliva. Her pupils dilate as she growls. Blue whips her head in an attempt to break free. She tugs, and her growl grows louder.
"Let them out," Owen says and steps back. There's a sharp buzz like the end of a period at a hockey game.
Blue takes a step back and the others follow. Owen nods and crosses his arms. Turning, his eyes widen.
Ben is standing by the fence with Echo charging him.
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The metal jaws feel like death. They're constricting and leave me defenseless. I can't see behind me.
Charlie's whimpers have me growling. Why the fleshlings torture her is unknown to me. They know she's younger; they know she's not a killer. She is not a threat.
The wind shifts. A new scent rushes over me. I silence. My heart begins to race. No, it can't be.
Alpha appears. It can't be, though. He hasn't been around, hasn't been here. His heart does not beat anymore.
The not-real Alpha's talon taps against the ground. Am I sleeping? Is this another happened, but is not happening?
I growl louder. I have to wake up. I don't want to stay in this place where not-real Alpha is real Alpha. Kind Hand needs to wake us from the cave and let us enter the territory.
When not-real Alpha approaches and reaches out a hand, I snarl with a show of teeth. This not-really-happening will not touch me. I will not wake up whining with a chest that feels as if it's going to burst.
His claws ball up and there's a sense of anger from him. While he's distracted, I try to pull my head from the metal jaws. After a moment, he breathes and looks back at me. When he growls softly, I find my muscles unwinding. If this is not happening, it will hurt me much worse than Echo ever could.
But looking at him, is not-really Alpha…Alpha? My lips cover my teeth as my breathing slows. My muscles flinch slightly as he reaches out and runs a claw over my head. I look at him and I scent. The warm of his claw and his smell are nothing I've ever felt in any of the not happenings.
"You're alive?" I whimper, and my throat catches. He growls back to me and turns when Kind Hand growls to him.
They exchange something that looks furry and Alpha approaches me. He growls again and holds out the furry.
If I take my eyes off him, will he disappear? Will I wake up in my cold cave, alone in the dark?
Swallowing roughly, I look at the furry he offers. I've barely scented it before my jaw waters. A growl makes its way up my throat, and I shake my head. I need to get out. I need to hunt the furry. With a louder growl, I yank against the metal jaws.
There's a sharp growl around me, and the teeth release. With a shake of my head, I stretch my jaw and trot to the territory. My nose twitches as I look at my pack. Charlie stands near Delta as they adjust to being free by stretching.
My sight settles on Echo, who's rubbing her scarred eye. In two breaths, she stiffens and lunges. The large metal teeth shriek as she slams into them. Fleshlings are screeching. Something close to the gate has caught Echo's wrath.
While I want to find the furry, there's a metallic scent that fills the air. My tongue rolls over my teeth as Echo descends upon a male fleshling. Her claws easily slice through his skin. She pulls him closer, trying to get an arm through the jaws. She doesn't need the entire prey, there's enough meat on the arm to suffice for now.
The male shrieks as Echo slashes at the other side of him. Her snout is too large to fit, or we'd be feasting by now. As blood smears down her arms and snout, I step closer—the animal in my stomach snarling me on. What's the best way to rip both arms from his torso? Can we move him, so we tear into his legs?
Alpha's roar is lost in the din as my talons slide through the mulch. My lungs fill for a screech when a female fleshling joins the disarray.
Her muscles aren't strong enough to pull the male from Echo's grasp. She will be an easy target as well. Echo isn't pleased with the distraction. She slashes with a snarl.
The wind picks up as I reach the gate and hits me dead on.
My nose flares.
I know that scent, but I'm not sure which fleshling it belongs to.
"Echo!" I shriek. "Stop!"
In the next breath, I see a lightning stick charge the fence. My heart begins to race. I'm stumbling backward with a roar.
"Back up!"
Before she has time to register my command, Echo's met with the lightning stick. Tumbling back, she can barely growl as she shivers.
In a blink, I'm in front of her, snarling. Delta's not far behind. She quickly takes position next to me. The fleshling with the lightning stick trembles as he attempts to hold his ground.
Alpha shoves the fleshling back, grabbing the stick from him. He then chucks it away from us. He holds up a hand in an attempt to calm me.
Ignoring him, I notice the male Echo attacked is being dragged off. My gaze flicks to the fleshling who shocked Echo. The male is desperately trying to put as many metal jaws between us and him as possible. His fear is thick in the air. Clearly, he recognizes the mistake he's made.
A mistake I will kill him for.
My gaze shifts to the bleeding female.
It's hard to tell how hurt she is. We tend to bleed and heal quickly. My fight with Echo being an exception. Fleshlings, though, fleshlings have soft skin and bleed a lot.
I stiffen slightly as Alpha goes to her, lifts her from the ground. Is he going to harm her? Has Echo harmed her? Where is he taking her? My heart begins to pound.
Will Meat Bringer return?
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He lives by the quote: in the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
That's how he watches the events unfold in slow motion and how he continues to see it now as he rushes to the office.
Owen enters the room and heads to the filing cabinet in the corner. It groans as it opens, and he shoves files out of the way. Finally, he reaches Ben's and throws that on the small table behind him. Doe's and Tanner's quickly follow.
He keeps running the event through his head but finds himself repeating another quote instead: chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered.
Chaos was everywhere in the paddock. Ben was too close to the fence—didn't anyone listen to what he said? Echo lunged; claws sliced into him like butter. She'd pulled him flush to the gate before he even knew what hit him.
Shaking his head, Owen opens Tanner's file. The man was a hard worker and had worked with animals previously. Somewhere in the hiring frenzy, he'd missed the notation that Tanner had been fired previously for inappropriate comments to coworkers. How did he skip that?
As Owen flips open Ben's and Doe's files, his fingers tremble.
Blood was everywhere. All over the gate, all over Echo, all over Ben… His skin was ribboned in areas, bone glistened white in others. Owen can feel his stomach turning, and he wonders if that's what he'd looked like when Echo had gotten a hold of him. He shakes his head.
He knows he looked a lot worse.
Ben's resume shows all the man's accomplishments and his degrees. However, none of his previous jobs support his degree. True, he'd worked at several zoos, but in admissions.
Admissions!
Owen somehow had missed that and is now kicking himself because it's no wonder the ticket giver was attacked. It's a surprise it didn't happen sooner.
While his degrees look spotless, it's been five years since he's earned them. Five! And not a single job to show for it in his chosen field!
Owen shakes his head as blood flashes across his sight again. He stumbles into the chair and sinks his face in his hands. Doe tried to tug Ben out of Echo's grasp. Blue tensed for attack. The wind shifted the blood scent from him to Blue, and she froze.
Looking at Doe's file, he's not even sure why he'd hired her. There's nothing in her file that should have gotten her the job. He must have really been tired when he said yes to her. Although, it was probably because she had no family. At the time, he saw that as a plus.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Owen can't believe he'd let all this go by the wayside. In the hurry to hire people, he's made so many mistakes. Closing his eyes, he bows his head and the blood continues to pour over him again and again until he's drowning in it.
His clothes are covered in it.
Echo attacked Ben. Blue was right up next to her. They were going to kill Ben. Doe tugged at Ben. Blue shifted to attack. The wind changed direction. Blue immediately backed up and shrieked at Echo. Blue was trying to stop Echo. The ACU stepped in.
He looks at her application again. Doe's worked two jobs; one a grocery store and the other Walmart. She'd worked register at both places. She's thirty and this is the most intense job she's had. No wonder she hangs around Ben all the time; he's telling her what to do.
Owen stops and blinks.
Suddenly, the door swings open and in walks Dearing. Her eyes are wide, and she opens her mouth to speak, but doesn't. She crosses the small room and sits across from him. Her eyes trace over the files before she looks at him. There's a deep breath.
"Ben is in surgery. They think he'll make it."
He finds himself nodding.
The clock in the corner snaps loudly. It must be counting down to the next killing. It drinks the blood of the victims. The ticking is its growling stomach…
Dearing shifts uncomfortably in the chair. Eyes dart around the floor. It's like she's never heard of death before.
Finally, she clears her throat. "Do you want to go to the mainland tonight?"
Anywhere but here is good. He doesn't want to keep seeing the blood. He doesn't want the screams echoing in his ears. Owen wants to be a million miles from this place. And Claire can get him there.
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