Ch 12:

The three kids made it to the top of the slope, pausing to survey the empty stretch of land. There was nothing but open grassland and trees for miles. It almost seemed hopeless.

"Hey. We got this." Zach announced, making Sierra look over Gray's head at him. He seemed to mostly be talking to his brother, who nodded. Gray then took a deep breath and continued walking, heading for the stretch of trees up ahead. Sierra and Zach followed behind him. She also noticed he pulled off his Jurassic World wrist band and tossed it aside.

"So, were you lying earlier?" Sierra asked quietly when she was sure Gray was just far enough ahead that they had some privacy.

Zach glanced at her in confusion. "About what?"

"When the ride was closed, and you said you just weren't ready to head back. You weren't telling the whole story." she explained briefly.

He grimaced, shoving his hands into his sweatshirt pockets. "Caught that, huh?"

"I know how to lie. And you are not very good at it." she explained lightly.

Zach sighed, his eyes fixed ahead on the back of Gray's head. "I just wanted to cheer Gray up. I…I'm not the best older brother. But earlier…Gray told me that he noticed our parents were getting mail from two different lawyers. And apparently he Googled them, and they're divorce lawyers."

Sierra grimaced sympathetically. "That's a horrible way to find that out. Has he talked to your parents?"

Zach shrugged. "I don't think so. I haven't heard anything about it until he mentioned it on the monorail earlier today. And I mean, it sucks but our parents are always fighting and yelling at each other. I wouldn't really care if they divorced." Sierra could smell that lie a mile away. "But Gray's different. He's just a kid. To him, our parents splitting is like the end of the world. And when they said the ride was closed…I just wanted him to have a good time on this trip."

Sierra smiled over at him. "That's really sweet of you. I think you're a bit hard on yourself, you sound like a good older brother."

She could have sworn Zach blushed, but it might have just been sunburn. "Thanks." He glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "So,…you have some experience with divorcing parents?"

"Not really." Sierra shrugged, shoving her hands into her shorts pockets similar to how Zach had. "My father…well, to put it bluntly, my father has always been a womanizing man-whore."

Zach snorted, ducking his head briefly. His shoulders shaking were a clear sign he was trying to suppress his laughter. Sierra fought a grin, bumping her elbow into his.

"Anyway,…him and Owen's mom dated in high school and got married soon after, since he got her pregnant. He was in the Air Force and slept around a lot when deployed. Enter my mother, who is almost as bad. He got her pregnant, and ended up divorcing Owen's mom to marry mine. Don't know why, but I guess I never really cared. Owen was fifteen when I was born. Obviously, I don't remember much of anything regarding the divorce process, since I think the divorce was finalized soon after I was born. But I do remember some of the custody issues they had about Owen. And I don't know your parents, but I'm really hoping they handle any of that much better than my family.

"And in regards to the yelling and screaming,…I get how horrible that is, too." she added quietly.

Zach glanced over at her again. "So,…how did you end up living here with your brother?" he asked curiously, casting a quick glance ahead to make sure Gray was still a few steps ahead.

Sierra focused straight ahead, her eyes scanning the trees they were approaching. "The screaming was the tip of the iceberg." she admitted quietly. "But there was some abuse. You know, emotional…physical." She shrugged awkwardly. "Owen found out and did what he had to do to get custody of me over my parents. Haven't seen them in almost five years."

Zach nodded slightly in understanding.

Thankfully, before the conversation could go any deeper, Sierra paused when she heard a familiar thundering sound. Her hand flew out to grab Zach's arm, making him stop while she listened.

Her eyes flew up to Gray's back. He'd also paused and was looking around. When he looked back at them, Sierra looked past him and spotted hopefully a safe place.

"Get to those rocks!" she yelled, tugging Zach's arm until they were both running. Gray faced forward and ran to the outcropping of rocks near the edge of the trees. They reached them just as a huge herd of Gallimimus came racing over the hill.

The three ducked down behind the rocks as the stampede raced by. It was quick, and they weren't in too much danger. But Sierra didn't feel like getting trampled on top of everything else.

Sierra sighed when the herd had passed.

"Why are the Gallimimus way over here?" Gray asked from where he'd sat against one of the rocks. "Isn't their area way back the other way?"

Sierra nodded. "Yeah. But I'm guessing having a huge carnivore on the loose has changed a few things. Maybe they're trying to find someplace they feel safe."

"Well, I suggest we do the same." Zach suggested, offering his hands to help pull Sierra and Gray to their feet. "This way?" he guessed, waving into the trees ahead of them.

"Yep. Should be straight ahead." Sierra agreed, and the three continued on, back into the trees.

Meanwhile:

Seeing the pristine, flawless, normally-put-together Claire Dearing covered in dino shit was not something Owen ever expected to see. And he was still trying not to laugh every time he glanced at her. I mean, she didn't need to smear it on her face.

"So, what did you mean?" Claire asked, breaking the silence as they made their way through the jungle, stepping over fallen trees and rocks. "When you said it's messy having people in your life?"

Owen glanced over at her, but tried to keep most of his focus on their surroundings, his gun still in hand. Or at least make it seem like his focus was on their surroundings.

"I should think it's a fairly obvious statement." he answered.

"Well, clearly your sister is the exception." Claire guessed.

"Obviously." he responded dryly.

"So, any particular people you think are too messy?"

Owen smirked over at her. "You mean like the woman I had one date with after she managed to pencil me into her busy schedule, only to frown at my board shorts?"

Claire narrowed her eyes at him. "Will you just-"

"Alright, relax." Owen chuckled before sighing. "Honestly, if it wasn't for my sister, I would have cut ties with my father when I turned 18. The only reason I kept in touch and kept coming around was for Sierra. But even then I kept our interactions to a minimum. And I haven't spoken to him much since I got custody of Sierra. We've spoken a few times, mainly out of necessity or because of extended family issues, but that was it. My mom's only a little better. We talk a few times a year, like Christmas and birthdays. But there's some bad blood there, too. She was always a bit bitter that my father could pursue a career in the Air Force while she had to be the stay-at-home wife and mother with whatever part-time job she could get instead of going to college and having a career. And some of that bitterness was usually directed at me when I was little. Kinda tainted any relationship I could've had with her. Last I heard, she got a four-year degree in something and a full-time job. She might be dating someone?"

Claire nodded slowly, putting a hand on a tree trunk to step over a tangle of branches and bushes. "Is that partially why you took a job out here?" she asked curiously. "Way out on an island, researching a pack of raptors?"

"Well, I've always liked animals. Did a lot of behavioral research in the Navy." Owen explained. "So, the job was actually kinda perfect for me. I get to work with animals, do something I love, and, yeah, the limited human contact is a bonus." he added jokingly. "Though, a little less interaction with Hoskins would be nice, too."

Claire grimaced slightly. "Yeah, he's not my favorite person, either."

"Would you look at that." Owen joked, turning to look at her. "We actually agree on something."

Claire tried to smother her grin, giving his shoulder a shove as she moved past him.

Meanwhile:

Sierra stepped out of the dense foliage onto a narrow muddy path, Zach and Gray just ahead of her. It felt like they'd been walking forever, and it had to have been over an hour at least. She repeatedly checked the trees as they walked, ensuring they were still going the right direction.

Gray suddenly hurried ahead of them, scooping something up off the ground. Zach and Sierra picked up the pace to catch up to him. Whatever he was holding seemed to have caused him to panic, his shoulders heaving with quick breaths.

Zach snatched the item from his brother, and Sierra got a good look at it. It was a cracked, dirty, white hard hat with the park logo some of the employees wore.

There was fresh blood dripping from it.

The three looked around, panicked, for any sign of the attacker. But the only sign was straight ahead; a battered jeep that had clearly been smacked into a tree. Zach blindly put his arm out, pushing Gray behind him.

"Stay here." he ordered quietly.

Instead of listening, Gray latched onto Zach's arm and followed him. Not wanting to get left behind, even only a few feet, Sierra followed them. They reached the jeep and looked around, finding no sign of life anywhere. The only relief Sierra felt was there wasn't a lot of blood. Gray didn't need to be anymore traumatized than he already was.

Sierra glanced over at Zach and realized he was staring intently into the trees up ahead. Sierra followed his gaze and couldn't see anything at first. But then she saw it. It was hidden by the overgrown trees, vines, and bushes, but there was a door.

Zach moved around the jeep to approach the door. Gray clung to his arm for a few steps before letting go and hesitating to follow. Sierra rested her hand on Gray's shoulder reassuringly, and the two followed in Zach's footsteps.

The stone steps were slick with wet leaves and algae, so they stepped carefully. Sierra tilted her head slightly to get a better view of the door around Zach's shoulders.

It looked like a wooden set of double doors with an interesting design. The handles seemed to form a sort of egg shape, and the design almost emulated sunbeams shining from the center. And above the doorway looked like a T-Rex skeleton carved into the stone. Bushes and leaves crowded around the door and vines hung around it, like nature was trying to reclaim the structure. It was clear no one had been here for many years.

Zach pushed at the door, but it took all three of them to push the heavy, creaking doors open. Inside almost gave the feel of ancient ruins. There were almost as many bushes inside as outside. Sunlight shone into the room from glass windows in the domed ceiling up above, though it still didn't offer a lot of light. In the center of the room looked like a broken skeleton.

Zach picked up a bone and dusted it off. When he brushed his foot over something, Sierra looked down and saw an old cloth banner.

"Do you still have those matches?" Zach asked Gray while Sierra picked up the filthy cloth and examined it. When her eyes read the writing she could make out, they went wide.

"I think I know where we are." she murmured, looking around the room with new eyes.

"Where?" Zach asked. "Are we close to getting back?"

"Oh, I didn't mean that, I just…this is the old visitor center. You know, from the original park? Jurassic Park, back in the '90s?" Sierra urged, holding up the banner for them to read the name on it. "The one that got destroyed? I knew they never really did anything with the old visitor center, but…I didn't realize it was just…sitting out here like this." she admitted, looking around.

Zach took the banner and wrapped it around the wider end of the bone, lighting it with one of Gray's matches and turning it into a makeshift torch. With him leading the way with light, the three wandered through the structure. Sierra kinda wanted to look around and explore. Zach mostly wanted to find something they could use to get back to the park. Gray was a bit of both.

But they all slowed down to admire the mural on the wall, portraying all kinds of dinosaurs out in the jungle.

A soft smile lit Sierra's face when she saw the painting of the Velociraptor. She paused next to the painting, her hand resting on the face of the portrait. The painting reminded her a bit of Charlie. Except the stripes weren't as obvious. The coloring was probably closer to Delta's.

"Hey!" Sierra jumped, and she noticed Gray did, too, where he'd paused next to her. Up ahead, Zach was standing in an open doorway. They hurried to catch up to him, following him into what looked like a garage. There were binoculars, goggles, helmets, and a few old cars.

Gray read the side of one of the cars. "1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, sand beige."

Sierra, walking on the other side of the car, glanced up from where she'd been admiring the original park logo on the side of the Jeep, as well as the number 29. She noticed Zach seemed to be getting an idea, his eyes going from the Jeep to his brother.

"You remember when we fixed up Grandpa's old Malibu, right?" Zach asked.

Gray turned and nodded, and Sierra felt hope flare in her chest. Maybe they could get out of here alive, after all.

AN: If you've never watched the deleted scenes for this movie, I totally recommend at least looking up the one where Owen and Claire smear dino poop on themselves. It's hilarious!

Let me know what you all thought of this chapter!