Ch 13:
It was obvious that the first step to getting one of the old Jeeps, which were 23 years old, running again was finding some kind of power source. Which is why Zach, Sierra, and Gray wandered back out of the old visitor center and into the jungle. Luckily, their destination was just outside the large front door.
The trashed, much newer jeep against the tree outside was still sparking a bit. There was no way they could get the damaged vehicle running, but they could salvage some of the parts. So, Sierra and Zach popped open the hood of the small jeep, and then while Zach pried the square, black battery from inside, Sierra grabbed the small jug of gasoline off the back of the jeep.
There was a snapping sound, and some creature cried out deep in the jungle. All three jumpy kids spun around, eyes frantically searching the undergrowth for signs of danger.
"Think it's out there?" Zach asked, his tone clearly freaked out. Sierra turned to look at him before glancing at Gray. The poor kid was staring at his brother with wide, scared eyes. Before Sierra could try to point out how that sentence was totally not helping, Zach seemed to get it on his own.
He glanced down casually. "I mean, I know for a fact it is definitely not out there. Alright? Totally safe." He stepped toward Gray and passed the bulky battery into Gray's skinny arms. "Here. You take this. You're stronger than me."
Avoiding eye contact, Zach grabbed the jeep's spark plugs and lead the way back into the visitor center. Sierra watched him go for a moment, her head tilted slightly and a small, soft smile on her face. After a moment, she shook herself out of her thoughts and followed Zach and Gray back inside and into the garage.
Inside, Zach had already popped open the hood of the old jeep when her and Gray had joined him. Gray set the new battery on a nearby work bench while Sierra approached one of the far walls, which she could see had a table and what looked like a tool box. She popped open the rusted old box, barely able to pry the lid up thanks to the rusted joints. She sifted through most of the tools inside, like a hammer, screwdriver, and a level. Finally, she found a couple tools that might be useful: pliers and a couple different sized socket wrenches. She also grabbed a lug wrench from nearby, too.
Turning with her find in-hand, she joined Zach at the front of the jeep. He'd taken off his sweatshirt, leaving him in worn jeans and a red t-shirt. He was removing the negative and positive cables from the old battery as she joined him.
"I found some pliers, a couple socket wrenches, and a lug wrench. Also, there're several spare tires against the back wall for us to use." she told him, making him glance at her with wide eyes, his brows high on his forehead in obvious surprise. She smirked slightly. "What? Surprised a girl knows a thing or two about cars?"
"I-no, that's not-I mean." Zach stuttered, his cheeks turning red. She snorted before she could stop herself.
"Relax, I'm kidding. I'm far from being a mechanic, but my ex-Navy big brother insisted I at least know the basics of fixing cars, including a thing or two about changing a car battery and tires." she informed him, making him relax and grin at her.
"Cool." he responded before carefully lifting the old battery from inside the car. He set it on the ground off to the side. He used a dry yet crusty rag to mostly clean off the connectors. He wanted to leave them for a bit to make sure they were completely dry, so the three worked together to start changing the tires and pour the gas into the tank.
Thanks to their scrawny arms and the horribly rusted lug nuts on each old tire, Sierra and Gray worked together to get one tire off the jeep in the same time for Zach to get two off by himself. Then, Zach started putting the spare tires on the jeep while Sierra and Gray took off the last tire. And while Zach replaced that last tire, Sierra carefully poured the gasoline into the tank.
Then, all they needed to do was replace the battery. And, fingers crossed, they should get the jeep running.
Sierra passed the new battery to Zach so he could set it in the correct spot. He reached up and wiped his hand over his forehead, likely trying to brush a strand of sweaty hair off the spot. But he just ended up smudging what looking like some grease or oil over the spot. Sierra stifled an amuse grin at the sight, which he noticed when he reached for a socket wrench.
"What?" he asked.
"Um, you got a little something right there." she admitted, gesturing toward her own forehead. He reached up and wipe at his forehead, which only smeared more of the black stuff across his sweaty skin. Sierra laughed. "No, you-here." Without thought, she grabbed the rag he'd used earlier and used the cleanest spot on the cloth to wipe his forehead. She noticed his red face at the same moment she realized what she was doing. Jerking her hand back, she blushed and stuttered. "Oh-um, I-uh, here." she thrust the rag at him, and he barely caught it in his fumbling hands. Now, both teens were bright red as Zach wiped the rag over his forehead, cleaning most of the grease off his skin.
Sierra glanced around and her eyes landed on Gray, who was sitting in the drivers seat of the jeep. She noticed him smirking slightly at her, and she quickly looked away.
Zach cleared his throat. "Well, I better get this started."
"Right, of course." Sierra agreed, staying a couple steps back and watching as Zach attached the cables to the terminals on the battery. And she most definitely did not look at his arms when he used the socket wrench to tighten the cables in place.
Once finished, he stepped back and peaked into the car. "Alright, turn it over." he called to Gray, who did as told.
The car stuttered and Sierra held her breath for a long second before the engine roared to life. Their faces all lit up.
"It worked!" Gray cheered, bouncing slightly in the seat.
"Yes!" Sierra climbed into the back of the jeep while Gray scooted into the front passenger seat. Zach slammed the hood shut before getting behind the wheel. All three quickly buckled their seatbelts.
"I thought you failed your drivers test." Gray announced.
"Yeah, only the driving part." Zach answered, tossing a slight smirk over his shoulder at Sierra. She didn't know whether to laugh or be worried. She settled for a bit of both; a slightly-hysterical laugh and her hands clenching on the front seats. She was tempted to offer to drive, but she only really had experience driving four-wheelers, not jeeps.
The tires squealed as Zach peeled out of the garage.
Sierra sat forward, putting her head between the two front seats. "Okay, so I think this road should take us straight back to the park. Or at least in the right direction."
Zach nodded, putting more pressure on the gas pedal.
They drove for a few minutes in relative silence before Gray turned around in his seat to look back at Sierra where she'd sat back in her seat.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked, to which she nodded. "You said earlier your brother is part of some research project here. What's he doing? What's he researching?"
Sierra smiled slightly. "He's an animal behaviorist, and InGen hired him out of the Navy to do that kind of work here. He's been studying the intelligence and behavior of a small Velociraptor pack."
"Really? I didn't know they had any Velociraptors at Jurassic World after what happened at the original park." Gray admitted, looking confused. "They aren't listed on the species list."
"They're not part of a public exhibit." Sierra explained. "They're part of a research project, away from the public. InGen mostly just wants to see if they can take orders, but it's more complicated than that. Owen's more focusing on the pack behavior and hierarchy."
"Isn't that dangerous, though?" Zach asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. "Didn't they figure out that raptors are super smart at the last park? Like, opening doors and stuff?"
"Yeah, and they are super smart." Sierra agreed. "But you also have to look at how they're raised and treated. Those raptors were just fed, but they're hunters and pack animals. They need that outlet, to hunt and fight for their food."
"Have you been around the raptors a lot?" Gray asked.
"Yeah, I have. I've helped Owen with a lot of research and stuff. I've been around since they were eggs." Sierra admitted, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the engine. "It's a long story."
They followed the winding jungle path in what was about half an hour. Soon, a tall electric fence came into view. Sierra expected Zach to stop at the gate so they could get out and open it. Instead, he gunned it until the front bumper bashed into the gates, sending them flying open.
Sierra couldn't help laughing like the boys up front. The gate was a good sign. The park couldn't be much farther away. They were almost home free. They were almost safe.
That relief was short-lived as she watched Gray slowly turn around in his seat. Instead of his eyes searching hers out, they were aimed up toward the sky. The complete disbelief and growing terror had Sierra turning around and looking toward the sky.
Through the canopy of leaf-bare tree branches, Sierra could see at least several pterosaurs flying through the sky.
Gray turned around and started yelling at Zach to go faster, banging his hands on the dashboard. When Zach looked back at what they'd spotted, he cursed and drove faster, shifting the gear and gunning it. Within seconds they left the trees behind, driving out into an open space. Not far ahead, Sierra could see a tall concrete wall with a big blue door labeled Gate 5. She could make out two armed guards standing at the top of the wall.
"Open the gate!" Sierra screamed, her voice echoed by the boys'. The guards just seemed to stare like idiots until they looked up and noticed what was following them. Thankfully, there was then a flurry of activity. Guards were running around on top of the wall, appearing to talk into phones or radios. Then the door slowly slid open to reveal even more activity inside.
It didn't matter how fast Zach drove, the pterosaurs flew over the wall about the same time the jeep passed through the gate. They would reach the park, and the vulnerable guests, within a few minutes.
"Hey, what were you kids doing out there?" a guard demanded loudly over the rest of the chaos. "Don't you know that part of the park was closed down hours ago?"
"You mean because of a rampaging, murderous dinosaur being on the loose?" Zach asked rhetorically as the three climbed out of the jeep.
"You need to contact our families, they've probably been looking for us." Sierra cut in before the guard could retort. "My brother is Owen Grady, he works with the raptor research project. Their aunt is Claire Dearing. You know, the park's Operations Manager." She emphasized Claire's name and title, since that would probably get the guard's attention. After all, Claire was basically their boss, just much higher up on the food chain.
The guard pursed his lips for a moment before looking around and calling over another guard.
After that, it was a flurry of movement and chaos. One of the guards contacted Claire's assistant, Zara, who agreed to meet them halfway to pick them all up. The rest of the guards got in jeeps and four-wheelers to make their way toward the park. Sierra could distantly hear the sirens going off on Main Street, and as they rode in the back of a guard's jeep, she could make out the pterosaurs diving toward the ground, likely attacking the people below.
They reached the edge of Main Street, where the guard dropped them off with Zara and they were basically left to find safety on foot.
"Go. To the Innovation Center." Zara ordered, basically shoving the three of them ahead of her. The three kids did as told, though Sierra was uncertain about doing so, especially when they came upon Main Street. It was complete chaos. People were running, screaming, scattered. Pterosaurs were swooping in and snatching people up or crashing through windows of shops.
Getting jostled by panicked people brought Sierra back to the here and now, and suddenly a hand was clamped on her wrist and pulling her right into the thick of it. Zach had hold of both her and Gray's wrists, keeping the three of them together as they dodged in and out of crowds. She heard Zara yell something at them from behind, but it was lost in the yelling and screeching.
They came out from between a couple stores and jerked to a stop right in the middle of the street. Sierra spun around, her eyes frantically looking for which direction to go next, the two boys doing the same next to her. Gray tried to run one way and Zach yanked him out of the way of a pterosaur just in time. Sierra latched onto Zach's arm to try and pull him toward the Innovation Center.
"Don't just stand there!" Zara yelled at them, having paused next to them. In a blink, she was snatched off the ground.
Sierra was frozen in terror, her eyes solely fixed up in air, on Zara's black hair and white outfit as a dinosaur carried her away. A second pterosaur stole her from the first, her screaming piercing through all the others. Then it dropped her…
Right into the lagoon.
Without thought, Sierra was running down the street toward the lagoon, as if by some miracle she might be able to help. Though the sight of pterosaurs diving in after Zara made that a rather small possibility.
Her, Zach, and Gray reached the edge of the lagoon to the sight of a pteranodon trying to carry Zara out of the water, only for the Mosasaur to come up and clamp his jaws down on Zara and the pterosaur.
Zach grabbed both their arms and yanked them away. "Get inside! Now!"
They were running again, Zach with a hand on Sierra's wrist and a hand clinging to the back of Gray's shirt.
There was a small break in the crowd up ahead, and Sierra spotted a line of men with guns aimed above the people's heads, possibly tranquilizers. She could almost swear she could hear the zing of the darts flying over her head, and the crashes of the downed dinosaurs.
Then she saw him. Her eyes found Owen the same moment she was sure he spotted her. It happened fast. His eyes went noticeably wide and he went to yell something. A pterosaur crashed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Before Sierra could think to fear for him, she found herself instinctively glancing over her shoulder.
It was right behind them, crashing to the ground. Sierra dove for the ground, only partially because Zach's grip on her hand yanked her down. They all hit the ground and crawled and scrabbled across the hot pavement. The crashed pteranodon slid across the pavement, already unconscious. Sierra and Zach continued scooting backward, Zach pushing Gray until their backs were to the wall, unable to go any farther. The sharp beak of the pteranodon luckily stopped mere inches from Gray's nose.
Sierra, like the boys, sat there breathing heavily, her eyes just fixed on the dinosaur for a moment. That beak was sharp enough it could have skewered any of them. But where it was pointing,…it would have gone right through Gray's face.
That poor kid was definitely going to need therapy.
A familiar yell brought Sierra out of her frozen state, and her head spun around in search of it.
"Owen!" she yelled clambering to her feet at the sight of a Dimorphodon on top of her brother, snapping it's jaws in his face while his hands at it's neck barely kept it out of reach.
Then someone hit it. Claire hit the dinosaur with the butt of a gun, knocking it off Owen before shooting it repeatedly with the tranq gun.
Sierra felt her shoulders drop with relief as Zach and Gray joined her on either side.
"Is that Aunt Claire?" Zach asked in disbelief, making Sierra snort slightly in her own disbelief. Claire then helped Owen to his feet,…and Owen kissed her.
Sierra wasn't sure whether to laugh, cover her eyes, or yell that this clearly wasn't the time. Before she could decide, the two parted and Claire noticed her nephews. She then ran to them, somewhat hysterically, and hugged them and checked them for injuries, all the while babbling and crying.
"Who's that?" Zach finally cut off her rambling, nodding over Claire's shoulder to where Owen stood. Sierra wanted to run to her brother, but she also wanted to hear what Claire answered.
"We work together." she finally said, making the boys look at her in disbelief.
Unable to hold back anymore, Sierra ran to her brother and he wrapped her tightly in his arms, practically crushing the air from her lungs.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he grumbled into her ear. "Going out into the jungle like that? I told you to go back to the paddock."
"Yell at me later, okay? We should get out of here." Sierra pointed out, finally pulling away.
Owen nodded, putting a hand on her back and leading her, Claire, and the boys off to the side and through a large door. They were now surrounded by tall concrete walls with big, blue doors. This was how a lot of employees moved from one part of the park to the other without getting held up by guests. There were already people running around back here, but not nearly as many as out on Main Street. As they rounded one of the many corners, Claire got a call on her cell phone.
"Larry, I'm on my way back to you." Claire said into the phone, one hand covering her opposite ear since it was so loud. She listened to Larry talk on the other line for a bit before her tone turned confused. "What do you mean, 'use the raptors'?" she asked, making Sierra's stomach drop.
Owen stopped in front of them. "Son of a bitch." A helicopter flew by over their heads, and suddenly the doors behind them started banging and creaking.
"You shouldn't say 'bitch'." Gray told him distractedly as they all turned around to look at the doors.
"Take the kids." Owen ordered Claire. "Get 'em someplace safe."
The doors cracked open, and they all turned and ran as the doors burst open. Sierra reached out and grabbed Gray's hand just in case. Owen ran for an abandoned jeep and got in the driver's side, so Sierra pushed Gray into the backseat and followed, Zach pushing in behind her so she was sandwiched between the two. Claire got in the front passenger side and Owen reversed.
Zach and Gray were yelling instructions at Owen while Sierra just clenched her hands down on the two front seats, her eyes wide. Owen spun around a corner backwards and jerked to a stop just out of the way of the panicked crowd running by them.
"This does not feel safe." Zach decided, his head surprisingly close to Sierra's as he leaned forward to look between the front seats with her.
"Can we stay with you?" Gray asked.
"I'm never leaving you as long as you live." Claire announced, turning to look back at them.
"No, no,"
"No."
"No, him." Gray and Zach quickly responded, both pointing at Owen. Sierra fought a small smile despite the situation. "Yeah, definitely him."
"Now what do we do?" Sierra asked her brother, hoping the answer was what she thought it might be.
Owen shifted the gears. "We're going to see our girls."
AN: I want it on record I know nothing about cars or fixing them. Everything Sierra and the boys did in this chapter to get that jeep running was stuff I found on the internet and Youtube.
And how was Sierra and Zack's interactions? I tried to make them adorably awkward without making it too awkward or cliché. Not sure how well I did on that. Let me know! Thanks!
