Author's Note: This is my first posted FanFiction. I hope you like it. Please read and review. I welcome the feedback
Chapter Two: Main Street Gambit and Family Strife
The next morning dawned dull and overcast. Juniper brought April breakfast as thunder rolled overhead.
"Good morning!" Juniper practically sang as she entered the room.
April just groaned and shifted slightly. Juniper frowned it seemed the weather outside was a physical manifestation of April's mood. April opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Juniper holding the breakfast tray.
Perhaps I was wrong. Juniper thought as she carefully placed the tray down and helped ease her sister into a sitting position. Then, she picked up the tray and set it on April's lap.
"Thanks, Junny." April said sincerely before starting on breakfast.
April was halfway through eating when she spoke up.
"Junny?"
"Um yeah?"
"I need to use the bathroom." April said quietly.
Juniper slid off the bed and April placed her arm around Juniper's shoulders. Leaning heavily on her sister April hopped into the bathroom and sat down. Juniper excused herself and sat down on the bed to wait. A flush and a call of 'Junny!' Signaled April's readiness to return to the bed. A few minutes later April was back in her bed still sitting up while Juniper checked the bandages.
"We'll replace them tomorrow." Juniper informed April.
Two days later April wanted to take a shower.
"April, your stitches need to stay dry." Juniper argued
"What about a sponge bath?" April countered "I feel filthy."
Juniper glowered momentarily before suddenly laughing. April shot her an annoyed look as she raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"You definitely inherited dad's stubbornness." She explained
"Yeah and it was dad that got us into this situation." April huffed, looking away from Juniper who stiffened.
"Hold on, dad is not at fault here." Juniper said calmly despite the anger building up within her.
April snorted "If he hadn't made us come on the Indominus Rex hunt with him we might have made it off the island."
"We had no way of knowing that we wouldn't make it off the island." Juniper responded beginning to shake with rage.
April was completely oblivious to the effect that her words were having upon her sister and was unknowingly treading dangerous territory.
"I hate dad." She almost spat "He was an idiot to make us come with him."
That put Juniper over the top and she snapped. With a savage howl of anger she launched herself on top of her sister hammering April with her fists.
"Don't. Insult. Our. Father!" She snarled driving each word home with a punch.
Caught off guard, April had no chance to defend her and cried out in pain as the stitches in her back broke.
Juniper continued to smash her fists into April's face blind with rage. Juniper felt something crack in her left hand but ignored it. April screamed again but was cut short when Juniper's right fist struck her jaw. The door burst open and Sim appeared framed in the doorway. He stood there for a single moment and was over to the bed attempting to get Juniper off of April in the next.
It was no easy feat. Juniper kept squirming and hitting him every time he grabbed her. Finally he heaved Juniper up and out of the room. He tossed her on the couch and looked her in the eyes.
"You need to cool down." He snapped looking livid, "Stay away from your sister until you've got control of your temper."
He let her go and entered the bedroom to check on April. Juniper glared at the closed door before exiting the bungalow and plopping into a chair on the porch. Her anger flowing away like smoke on the wind. Her hand suddenly gave a painful twinge and she remembered that she had hurt it when she had-
"April!" She whispered horrified as she realized what she had done.
Juniper ran back inside and to her sister in the bedroom. She paused outside the door for a moment then taking a deep breath she opened the door.
April looked a mess. Blood ran freely from her nose even as Sim mopped it up. Her cheeks were bruised and the skin had split in multiple places. Juniper approached Sim and her un-moving sister hesitantly.
"Is she okay?" She asked timidly
"Juniper, you know full well she's not. You almost broke her nose and she's unconscious." Sim said not looking at her, "The stitches in her back broke as well."
Sim hadn't shouted but Juniper still felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She had never lost control like that before but had come close whenever Hoskins had been around. A groan from April pulled Juniper free of her musings and April opened her eyes. She looked at Juniper, a hint of fear on her face and looked away.
"April, I'm sorry." Juniper said "I-I-I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."
April ignored her, the hurt she was feeling clearly visible in her eyes. Juniper turned and ran from the room tears streaming down her face.
Over the following two weeks April allowed Juniper to help her but was far from forgiving her sister. Juniper whose sadness had become anger refused to let April shower or clean herself. Although, Juniper had to admit that her sister was getting pretty smelly. April's pleas became more insistent when the stitches finally came out.
Juniper's only desire besides her sister's welfare was her forgiveness which seemed likely never to come. Then, about a month after April's accident, Juniper decided to get April a chair to use in the shower. She didn't tell Sim her plan wanting it to be a secret. So she snuck out to get the chair one day.
Sim was looking for Juniper, he need her to look after April while he went out to find more medical supplies,. But she was no where to be found. She was not in the bungalow, supply shed or armory. He stood outside surveying the area for any evidence of where she had disappeared to. His eyes traveled over the pair of ATVs they had scavenged only see that there was one. He dashed over to the second one and tapped into the tracking systems for the vehicles. He spotted her immediately. She was heading to main-street, but that was Rexy's territory!
Sim dashed back inside and to April's bedside. What was Juniper doing? Was she trying to kill herself? April visibly crumpled when Sim told her what Juniper had done.
April stared up at the ceiling. "What have I done?" She breathed
Sim carried her into the bathroom catching her by surprise.
"I'm going after her and I figured it would be better for you to be in here while I'm gone." He explained as he set her down on the ground.
He left, off to pursue Juniper.
Juniper flew through jungle as she approached main-street and review her plan. Get to main street grab a chair and bring it back. Give it to April to use when showering and April would love her again. She swerved around a tree and suddenly burst through the trees to arrive at main-street. She pulled off to the side and dismounted.
She moved carefully knowing that this was Rexy's territory and that the meat eater could appear at any moment. Juniper was not interested in becoming lunch for any dinosaur. She spotted a chair that seamed to be in good condition and made her way over to it to grab it. She had no sooner touched the warm and slightly weathered wood than she felt the ground tremble. She seized the chair and took off running back to the ATV the best she could.
The chair was a little cumbersome. Juniper slowed momentarily, she hadn't realized how far she had wandered from her ride. Then Rexy burst out of the trees of to one side and cut Juniper off from her ATV. Dragging the wooden chair behind her, Juniper ducked into a nearby shop to hide. Rexy let out a low growl and began to move slowly across the asphalt. The hunt was on and Juniper was not feeling particularly willing to become a snack for the aged Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Juniper thoughts strayed briefly to the current state of where her relationship with April and felt her eyes begin to burn. Juniper knew that if she died now April would struggle to forgive herself for as long as she lived. Had their positions been reversed Juniper knew she would react much the same if April died and the last thing she had done was give her sister the cold shoulder. You are an idiot, she thought as Rexy passed by a second time. She was yanked from her musings as Rexy's head came into few as she tried to see into the shop.
Juniper held her breath and held still despite all the inner clamoring for her to run. After a few minutes Rexy head disappeared. Juniper gave released her breath in a silent sigh of relief. The air had only just vacated her mouth when Rexy smashed through a wall with a bone rattling and deafening roar.
A roar coupled with the sound of glass shattering and bricks exploding reached Sim's ears as he sped through the jungle. He knew he was close to main street, they had gone there several times before, and he burst out of the trees just as a scream joined the roaring of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. He skidded to a stopped with a loud screeching noise and the growls of the super predator faltered momentarily before she roared again.
Juniper screamed and backed away from Rexy as quickly as could with the chair in tow. A quick frantic glance at the T-Rex caused her to back further. Then suddenly there was a loud screeching of tires and Rexy paused. The carnivorous giant roared and rushed off to hunt down the source of the noise leaving Juniper to sag against the wall as the adrenaline left her body like water from bucket with tiny holes in it. She gave a yelp of pain as her right arm suddenly stung and she raised it to look at it.
An angry three inch cut burned painfully along the inside of her forearm and it was red with blood. Thinking quickly she used her knife to cut a strip of fabric from a souvenir shirt emblazoned with the Jurassic World logo and wrapped it around wound as tightly as she could. Juniper seized the chair and made to drag it behind. Right as she pulled her cut gave a particularly nasty throb that made her cry out. Perhaps, she should leave the chair and get back to the bungalow. She had just decided that she would leave the chair when she heard gun shots.
Sim listen carefully and soon detected heavy footfalls approaching him. Rexy was coming! Sim quickly scanned the surrounding area before darting into a once decorative bush that now grew wild. He was pleased- the bush would provide cover and a position to give a surprise attack if necessary. Less than a minute later Rexy appeared. Her maw and snout were blood free; a good sign. Rexy stalked passed the bush sending up small puffs of dust. Sim felt his nose start to itch and knew he was going to sneeze. He silently battled against the impending sneeze for a few moments before the sensation passed. He silently sighed and shifted slightly then,
Atchoo!
Rexy roared and rushed his bush. Sim rolled to the side, pulling out his gun as he did so. He fired a shot, aiming high and when it didn't deter the dinosaur king he fired again at her legs. Sim rolled to the side again and let loose with more shots.
"Sim!"
Sim looked around and spotted Juniper running toward her ATV. She appeared to be fine although her face suggested otherwise. Sim fire another shot and shot to his ATV as Juniper drove into the jungle. Sim sped off and flinched a little as Rexy's jaws snapped shut behind him. He continued through the jungle as Rexy pursued him further. Suddenly she stopped and stomped off to main street. She must not have been hungry.
Juniper was the first to arrive back at the bungalow and collapsed into a chair at the kitchen. Sim walked in a few minutes later and immediately set about checking on her. He wordlessly undid the now blood soaked scrap of shirt to check on her arm. He cleaned the wound and stitched it up before wrapping it in bandages.
"What were you thinking?" He didn't yell, but the question still cut through her like a knife.
Juniper hung her head, "I wanted to get a chair for April to use." She looked up at Sim, "While she showers because of her leg."
Sim nodded "You should go to her." He said, "She'll be worried sick."
Juniper nodded and went to see April. April was ecstatic and relieved when Juniper entered the bathroom.
"Oh Junny," April sobbed, "I was so worried! All I could think about was Rexy eating you."
Juniper embraced her sister "I'm here now, April." Juniper said softly into April's shoulder.
Together, with Juniper supporting. April, they exited the bathroom and sat down on the bed. Upon sitting down, Juniper launched into recounting her experience; from getting trapped by Rexy to Sim's timely arrival to the reason she left in the first place. April sat silently through the story, picking at the blanket beneath them while she listened.
When Juniper concluded her story, April looked her in eyes, "So, does this mean I get a shower?"
Juniper smiled, then giggled before collapsing into laughter. April followed suit as she too began to shake with mirth. For the next few minutes both sisters continued to shake and trembled as their laughing fit wound to a close.
Juniper recovered first and sat up with a slight hiccup "Yes I suppose it does." She responded, "Just give me a moment."
Juniper slipped out of the room and passed Sim who was prepping for lunch.
"Sounds like you two have made up." He said cheerfully as he looked up.
"Yeah, we have." She agreed before stepping outside, "Back in a sec."
Standing on the porch of the bungalow, Juniper looked around for few minutes before spotting what she was looking for. She grabbed the bucket and ran inside to show to April.
"You can sit on this while you shower." Juniper said as she presented the plastic cylinder, "Just remember-" she entered bathroom and raised her voice slightly as set the bucket down inside the shower, "to keep your splint and broken leg area dry."
Juniper stepped out of the bathroom and helped her sister to her feet
"I'm sorry about what I said about dad." April said as they entered the bathroom "I was just angry and upset."
Juniper eased her sister onto the bucket and straightened up before speaking "I'm sorry too. I over reacted when I shouldn't have."
"Forgive me?" April asked
Juniper walked to the door then turned around "Of course, I do." She turned leave but stopped and looked back "And you?"
April's eyes met Juniper's, "Always."
Juniper smiled and exited the bathroom allowing herself to collapse on the bed. She needed a nap, running from Rexy had really worn her out. Her eyelids began to droop and a last sleepy thought crossed her mind: How much longer would they have to endure all of this?