Ch 1:
Sierra Grady sighed heavily, scratching the chin of Homer, the office cat, on her way through the vet clinic waiting room. She turned off the lights on her way, double-checking that everything was, indeed, turned off before shutting and locking the front door behind her. Her eyes couldn't help lingering on the corner of the small building, remembering early that morning, before the sun was even up, when a battered van was parked there, just out of sight.
Flashback (More than 14 hours earlier)
Sierra rushed through the small vet clinic in the small California town, turning on a couple lights and tossing her bag and jacket haphazardly onto the floor.
She'd been working there as a vet assistant for the last few years while finishing her degree online, and as one of only three employees, she had her own set of keys to the building. Which came in handy given what she did when she was off the clock.
She'd only been in the building for about four minutes when she heard a car pull up outside. Grabbing a bag of general medical equipment, she rushed out the front door and around the corner of the building. A battered van was parked there, and Claire was getting out of the drivers seat as Sierra came into view, the redhead dressed all in black with a hat and everything.
"Okay, fill me in." Sierra ordered quietly as the two women rounded the corner of the van. Claire pulled open the back doors to reveal the small, sickly baby Nasutoceratops. It blearily lifted it's head at the appearance of the two humans, but it's head almost seemed too heavy and it soon dropped onto the floor of the van.
Claire explained a more detailed version of what she'd explained on the phone. "Zia, Franklin, and I broke into an illegal breeding facility in Nevada and found what we thought we'd find, but worse. They were being kept in horrible conditions, the babies were all in cages to cut down costs. We got plenty of footage and Zia's making sure it gets sent anonymously to the Department of Fish and Wildlife so we can shut that place down."
Sierra nodded as she sat inside the van, checking the baby over with her stethoscope.
"This one was kept away from the others, and Zia suspects it wouldn't survive the night if we left it there. So,…we deviated from the plan a little bit." she admitted.
"A little bit?" Sierra repeated knowingly.
"Well, we couldn't just leave him there." Claire insisted.
Sierra nodded, knowing she would have made the same call if she'd gone. She'd only gone with Claire, Zia, and Franklin on a few occasions. Mostly, she was medical backup. Like today.
Sierra checked the baby's breathing, heartbeat, and then used a small light to check his eyes. He didn't look good, but if he got proper care in the next 24 hours, he should be fine.
"I'll give him a small antibiotic. That should at least give him a fighting chance until he gets to Biosyn." she explained as she prepped a syringe with the medicine. "I already made the call for pickup after I got off the phone with you." she added. In situations like this, it helped to know a variety of people they could trust. Passing the baby to a few different people to get him where he needed to go ensured no one would find out who or where they were.
And considering Claire and Sierra had been in hiding since 2018, that part was necessary.
"Owen and Maisie don't know where you are, right?" Claire checked worriedly.
"I left quietly, they were still asleep. I left a note that said I had a work emergency and would try to be back by morning, just in case they wake up before I get back to the cabin." Sierra explained. Being one of only two vet assistants in the small town she worked in, it wasn't unheard of for Sierra to get called in in the middle of the night. Animals and pets had medical emergencies, too, of course. Especially since their vet clinic was the only one for about a hundred miles.
After the antibiotics, Sierra put a small IV into the baby's leg to try and get fluids into his system since he was dehydrated. She would only keep it in until his next ride showed up, not wanting to leave the needle in his leg during a potentially long, bumpy drive.
Claire sat down next to her in the back of the van, watching as Sierra sat with the baby's head resting on her lap. She was gently stroking her fingers over his curved beak and up between his eyes, then retracing the trail all over again. The soothing motion seemed to be putting the baby to sleep.
"That's it, little Naruto. Just rest." Sierra murmured.
"Naruto?" Claire smirked.
"Shut up. Naruto. Nasutoceratops. It fits." Sierra stuck her tongue out for a moment before turning serious. "So,…Zia and Franklin are done, huh?"
Claire sighed, nodding her head. "Yeah. It was getting too dangerous. And Franklin got a new job."
"Well, you couldn't expect them to do it forever." Sierra pointed out. "And you can't really, either." When Claire gave her a stubborn look, Sierra returned it. "You have Maisie back home, Claire. She's basically your daughter now. And she's been struggling lately. What happens if on one of your missions, you get arrested or hurt or killed? Or what if they manage to follow you back here one day? All kinds of horrible people are looking for her. Maisie's safety and wellbeing needs to be our top priority."
Claire sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "I know." she murmured. "I know you're right. But I've been fighting for these dinosaurs for as long as I can remember. I just don't know if I can just walk away from that."
"There are other ways to help the dinosaurs." Sierra pointed out, carefully gesturing with her hand to the clinic behind them, mindful of the sleeping baby on her lap. One of the reasons she'd gotten hired at the clinic wasn't only because of her vet assistant degree, but because of her minor in Paleontology. With all kinds of dinosaurs randomly turning up all over the country, her boss, Brad, figured her skill set would come in handy. Without knowing exactly who she was, of course. Thankfully, he didn't ask a lot of questions.
"Well, I don't have a vet degree." Claire pointed out.
"Fair point." Sierra agreed. Their conversation was cut off when another car pulled in, backing into the small space next to Claire's van. Sierra and Claire got out of the van, carefully so as not to wake the baby.
Rounding the new van, they watched as another redhead climbed out of the drivers seat. A middle-aged red-haired woman, maybe twenty some years older than Claire, faced them with a smile in greeting.
"Sarah. Thanks for coming on such short notice." Sierra greeted her with a smile in return.
Dr. Sarah Harding-Malcolm.
Sierra met Sarah, an animal behaviorist like Owen, less than a year after the dinosaurs were set free. She'd managed to track Sierra down, randomly showing up outside the vet clinic, which she'd just started working at during that time. It'd caused Sierra to nearly panic at the idea that some random person could track her down so easily, considering she was in hiding with her brother and the others.
But Sarah had assured Sierra that they were on the same side. Sarah only wanted the best for the dinosaurs, maybe to study them and how they might change their behavior in a new environment.
But when it became clear that some people were abusing dinosaurs or having illegal breeding or black-market enterprises, Sarah decided she wanted to do more than study them.
Which is what lead to the three women standing outside the vet clinic on this early morning. Sometimes Sarah's step-daughter Kelly Curtis-Malcolm would join her, but it didn't happen often.
"Morning, Sierra, Claire." Sarah nodded at the two in greeting. The three had frequently worked together in similar situations. "So you mentioned a sick baby?"
Claire nodded, leading the way to the back of her van again. "Yeah, a Nasutoceratops. Without proper care, we suspected he wouldn't make it through the night, so we took him."
Sarah leaned down, gently resting her palm on the baby's forehead as if checking his temperature. "Poor thing. And you got pictures of the place?"
"Yeah, and Zia's already handling that end of things. I suspect that place will be shut down in the next few days." Claire answered.
"Good." Sarah nodded firmly, standing straight again. "Well, let's get this baby in my car."
It was quite a bit of awkward maneuvering to get the baby from Claire's van to the back seat of Sarah's car. It was a small car, but she'd dropped the back seats back to form a flat, cushioned surface with a blanket on top for the baby to rest on. They draped another blanket over top of the baby, and then strapped the seatbelts over him to hopefully hold him in place.
With that over, the women made short goodbyes before they went their separate ways, Claire and Sierra heading back to the cabin and hoping Owen wasn't awake yet.
End of Flashback
Sighing, Sierra shook her head of the memories. She pocketed her office keys and pulled her car keys out of her shoulder bag. She turned around to head across the street, but when she looked up she froze.
There was a truck parked behind her car across the street from her job. And leaning against it was a man.
A familiar man.
Claire's nephew.
Sierra's ex-boyfriend.
Zach Mitchell.
AN: Bet you weren't expecting that ending! Hopefully no one hates the idea of me adding in Zach, and later Gray, to the story. Because they're in there and not going anywhere. I was genuinely disappointed they weren't included in the movie after the number of teasers that they might be.
And I included Sarah Harding from the Lost World, mostly as a sort of Easter egg. She likely won't make another appearance.
And hopefully everyone likes what Sierra is doing. I know a few people wanted her to go her own way from Owen and Claire, but considering they're all kind of in hiding she would have probably been arrested or tracked or something if she tried going off on her own, in order to use her to find Maisie. And I figured this would be the best way for her to do her own thing, but also help Claire or Owen. I debated between her helping Claire or Owen in this first chapter, because I so wanted her on horseback with Owen like in the movie! But this works, too, I suppose.
Let me know what you think! Any theories on Zach's sudden appearance?
