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On a slight side note, I posted a prequel to this story, so feel free to check that out!
Shoving aside some very tall grass, Emily stepped out into the open and found herself standing atop a large cliff, the glass aviary glinting in the distance. Owen stepped out behind her and slung his gun over his shoulder.
Emily shoved her phone into her jean shorts pocket, both her and Owen watching as a helicopter flew directly over them and toward the glistening aviary. The paleontologist sucked in a steadying breath. This was their chance to kill this thing. This monster. To put an end to its deadly rampage.
The helicopter opened fire, the noise of the machine gun echoing out over the jungle. Emily could see smoke and dust rising just above the treetops. But the loud roar of the Indominus confirmed that it hadn't been hit, hadn't been killed. And with another roar, it busted its way into the aviary, the machine gun fire stopping.
Owen swore, muttering, "Could this get any worse?"
"Don't jinx us, Grady." Emily didn't take her eyes off the aviary, except to occasionally glance at the now circling helicopter. Which was why she immediately noticed when Pteranodons and Dimorphodons started pouring out of the gaping hole at the base of the aviary.
The paleontologist had been told enough stories by her father and Billy Brennan, hell, even Eric Kirby once or twice, to know how deadly and dangerous those creatures where. So, Emily kept a very sharp eye on them and murmured to Owen, "If they come this way, run for the trees."
"Yes ma'am."
Had they been in any other situation, Emily would've socked him on the shoulder. She settled for rolling her eyes instead. But as the Pteranodons and Dimorphodons shot upward toward the helicopter, the paleontologist took a step forward, her left hand subconsciously finding the scar on her opposite arm.
The predators swarmed the helicopter, the machine gun opening fire for a few more seconds before falling silent. And it only took ten more seconds of swarming predators for the helicopter to begin a spiraling descent downwards, and right into the top of the aviary.
Beside Emily, Owen let out a breath. A few seconds passed, and the faint boom and distant light revealed that the helicopter had exploded, taking Simon Masrani with it.
Emily had only spoken to the man a handful of times, mainly out of business reasons. But he'd been kind, energetic and very considerate of her history with the island. But she and Owen had other concerns, because more pterosaurs were heading right for them.
Emily just breathed out, "Run!" and took off, Owen right behind her. They made it to the trees before the pterosaurs caught up to them.
Emily risked a glance over her shoulder and was greeted by a screeching Pteranodon. Both the paleontologist and the raptor trainer flattened themselves to the ground, barely avoiding the diving predator. Her hat blew off her head as another Pteranodon swept overhead.
But the pterosaurs didn't pay them any heed, and in what felt like hours but must have been only a couple minutes, the last of them flew past above Emily's head, heading in the direction of the resort, she thought. The paleontologist stood and bent to retrieve her fedora. She brushed the dirt off it, and picked off a stray leaf, "Now what?"
Owen sighed next to her, "We're by the aviary, so, if I remember park maps correctly, then there should be a gate that way." He pointed into the jungle and added, "Gate Five I think."
Emily nodded, "Then let's get going." The paleontologist took the lead, her footsteps steady, despite the danger she knew they were in. Strangely, her head felt clearer than it had since her speech that morning, though it felt more like it had been a lifetime ago.
The strange clearing of her head was something Emily remembered well from Jurassic Park. There was the initial shock and terror, then maybe some more shock and terror. But eventually, her nine-year-old self's head had cleared, and it might have been one of the only reasons she had survived.
Emily just hoped it would be enough this time.
Emily had one hand on top of her fedora, keeping it from flying off her head as she sat behind Owen on an ATV, racing through the concrete and steel maze of employee access routes. They'd reached gate five and been given the ATV there.
Now, Emily could hear alarms blaring and a lot of screaming, too much for her liking. Owen stopped the ATV with a lurch and jumped off. Emily followed him, nearly running into several of the tons of various employees running every which way around them.
She glanced upward, seeing pterosaurs flying all over the place, and nearly missed Owen holding his rifle out to her. Emily awkwardly took it, jogging after Owen, who called over his shoulder, "Can you shoot that?!"
"Yeah! But it's been a while!" Emily had begged her father to teach her how to shoot after the San Diego incident, and he'd conceded. Mostly because being able to shoot a rifle came in handy on digs too. But she'd only been 14 at the time.
"That's fine, they don't want us to kill the things anyway!"
Emily fumbled with the rifle till she was holding it right. Or at least she thought she was holding it right. An ACU squad had joined her and Owen now, and they all ran out onto Main Street, which was a chaotic mess.
Tourists were running and screaming away from the pterosaurs, who just kept swooping back down. The ACU squad stopped in the middle of the street, Owen with them, and opened fire, tranquilizing the pterosaurs. Emily stopped with them, unsure of what to do. She couldn't use the rifle, because she wasn't supposed to kill them. But standing out in the open was a surefire way to get herself killed.
Over the screams of the tourists, Emily heard a woman shouting, but not in terror. Looking around, the paleontologist spotted none other than Claire, standing a top an overturned kiosk, shouting something Emily couldn't make out.
The paleontologist frowned, her brow furrowing. Claire was doing exactly what Emily had just mentally chided herself for. And she'd be dead herself before she willingly let this island kill another person.
"Owen, I see Claire!" Emily raised her voice to be heard over the gunfire and screaming.
The raptor trainer followed Emily's gaze, "You gonna get her down from there?!"
"Yeah!"
Owen just nodded, shooting her a look that spoke volumes; please don't get yourself killed.
Emily ducked a Dimorphodon, gun held at the ready. A tourist shoulder checked her, probably on accident, and she nearly lost her grip on the weapon. But she hurried as fast as she could toward Claire, now able to make out what she was shouting.
"Zach! Gray!"
Dodging a tourist, Emily raised her voice again, "Claire!"
The park operations manager paused, eyes scanning the crowd.
"Over here!" Emily watched recognition light up in Claire's eyes. She stopped next to the kiosk, squinting up at the younger woman, "Probably shouldn't stand up there. Makes you a target."
"Right." Claire climbed off the kiosk, "Zach and Gray came through Gate Five, so they should be here."
Emily nodded, eyes scanning the crowd, "What do they look like?"
"Zach's, got, uh, dark brown hair. I think his shirt was red. Gray's got blond hair, and a plaid shirt."
"Okay," Emily paused to pull Claire out of the way of a Pteranodon, "You see Owen over there?"
Claire nodded.
"Head that way and look for them. I'll head toward the Innovation Center."
"Right."
Emily and Claire split ways, the latter heading for Owen and the former heading toward the Innovation Center, eyes still scouring the crowd, though now she knew roughly what Claire's nephews looked like.
She paused in front of the Margaritaville building, turning in a slow circle to survey the screaming crowd of tourists. Just as Emily completed her 360 turn, there was a loud shout of, "Dr. Grant!"
Turning back around, Emily spotted a familiar face framed by short black hair with purple ends: Briana Rogers. Except now, the ACU woman was sporting a gash above her brow, crusted over with fresh blood. How the hell she had survived the Indominus was beyond Emily.
The paleontologist began to hurry toward the woman, who's eyes blew wide, "Dr. Grant, look out!"
Emily only managed to half whip around before a Pteranodon rammed into her. The predator knocked her over, slamming her left shoulder into the ground and sending her tumbling across the pavement. Owen's rifle went skidding across the pavement too, and a Dimorphodon quickly took advantage of her vulnerability. Landing on her, it snapped at her head, which Emily barely moved out of the way in time.
It hopped back with a screech, then went to snap at Emily again. She raised her arms in front of her face, only for a loud clang to sound, followed by a screech of pain from the Dimorphodon. Emily lowered her arms to find a kid in a plaid shirt holding what looked like an umbrella pole.
But whacking it with the pole had clearly not done much damage to the Dimorphodon, who screeched even louder at Emily and the kid. It hopped forward onto Emily's chest, and despite her best efforts, its claws scraped along the side of her neck. Emily gasped in pain, only for a tranq dart to hit the predator square in the throat.
Briana ran up behind her, gun still raised from firing the dart, and pulled Emily to her feet, "You okay?"
Emily ignored the question, turning to the kid in the plaid shirt, beside whom an older boy in a red shirt was standing, "Zach and Gray?"
The older kid, Zach, nodded, "Who are you?"
"Dr. Emily Grant. I can get you to your aunt, okay?"
They both nodded, Gray dropping the umbrella pole. Ignoring the throbbing pain from the wounds the Dimorphodon had dealt her, Emily grabbed the boys by the arms and began herding them toward Claire, Briana covering them the whole way.
Their group arrived just in time to watch Claire slammed a Dimorphodon off Owen with the butt of a gun, tranq and pull Owen to his feet, her hair now frizzled by what Emily figured was the humidity.
Gray piped up, "Is that Aunt Claire?"
Owen leaned forward and kissed Claire square on the lips.
"Yeah, that's your aunt," Emily deadpanned, earning an eye roll from Briana.
Emily followed Briana through an access door back into the employee access tunnels, Owen's rifle still in her hands. Claire and her nephews followed them through, Owen behind them.
The raptor trainer held his hands out, and Emily passed him his gun. "You alright Grant?"
"Yeah," the paleontologist gently touched the gashes on the side of her neck and pulled her hand back, finding her fingers stained with blood, "I'm fine."
Owen frowned, but didn't push it.
Claire dialed a number on her phone, "Lowery, I'm on my way back to you." She was silent for a moment, listening to Lowery on the other end of the phone. But the next thing she said sent chills down Emily's spine.
"What do you mean use the raptors?"
Owen stopped walking, and Emily nearly slammed into him, "Son of a bitch!"
Gray piped up from beside Emily, "You shouldn't say bitch."
Owen just turned around to face them all, "Take the kids, get someplace safe."
"If Hoskins is trying to use the raptors," Emily stepped forward, willing her voice to stay steady, "I'm coming with you."
Briana nodded, "So am I."
Thud.
Emily turned around.
Thud.
The massive double doors leading to Main Street were shaking.
Thud.
Emily whipped around, looking for somewhere for them to go. Her eyes landed on a company truck, "That truck!" She grabbed Zach by the arm, pulling him toward the truck. The teenager grabbed his younger brother's arm and towed him along as well.
Claire jumped into the passenger's seat, Owen into the driver's seat and Emily ushered the boys into the back, her and Briana squeezing in after them. Owen shifted the truck into reverse immediately and hit the gas.
The truck shot backward, Zach and Gray all but shouting encouragement to Owen. The raptor trainer spun the wheel, backing them into a side street with a lurch. Emily was thrown backward into her seat, and a pained hiss escaped her lips as the gashes on her neck throbbed.
Zach leaned forward, "This does not feel safe!"
"Can we stay with you?" Gray was watching the tourists stream past in front of them, still running and screaming.
Claire looked over her shoulder, breathing heavily, "I am never leaving you as long as I live."
"No, no, no," both Zach and Grant spoke up, "them." Gray reached forward and set a hand on Owen's shoulder, and Zach pointed at Emily and Briana.
Claire looked to Owen, then back at Gray as he said, "Definitely them."
Owen chuckled, "That works for me, but we need to get to the paddock."
"We should've known Hoskins would," Emily took a deep breath, "would use Masrani's death to his advantage like this."
Briana snorted, "That's for sure."
Owen frowned, "Lizzy's at the paddock, she'll at least stall him till we get there."
"You sure she's there?" Briana leaned forward, "Because I was there before I came here, and the only person I saw was Barry."
Emily's brow furrowed, "Why were you at the raptor paddock?"
"I managed to escape the Indominus, and Hoskin's ordered me there. But I didn't see Lizzy."
Emily felt like her heart was in her stomach. With Lizzy missing, nothing stood between Hoskins and setting lose the raptors but Barry. They'd have to hope that he was enough.
Oh no, whatever could have happened to Lizzy? Briana's back though. And, Zach and Gray have made their first appearance.
In case you didn't read the top bit, I've posted a prequel, so feel free to check that out! And feel free to leave a review, they really do help. And, you don't even need an account to leave one, in case you didn't know that.