A/N
This is the third installment to my most popular series, after Jackson. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it, as it was really fun to make! I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I had fun writing it. Like I said, I'm going on a mini vacation to recover my sanity, but I'll still be posting as best I can. Enjoy the chapter and have a great rest of your day!
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Big thanks to the inventors of pillows and blankets. You keep us safe, comfy, and warm while we sleep and make our sleep better. Most of us wouldn't exist if you hadn't found a way to make our health and sanity reappear so fast after sleep. Big thanks to you, but please find a way to make me fall asleep at the snap of a fingers and actually wake up refreshed instead of tired.
…
Chapter 3
Michelle and Lawrence ran into the room, hearts pounding. Darcy, the red headed twin, was sitting on the ground, clutching her ankle and crying while all the other kids sat on the table watching her with fear.
Michelle saw a thin tail disappear into a hole in the wall next to a cabinet. A pencil was on the ground next to it. Her mind gears began churning, piecing together what had happened.
Darcy had put her pencil down on the table. Someone, maybe Darcy herself, had stretched or done something to knock it off the table. It had rolled to net to the cabinet- and the hole. She had walked to pick it up, and the snake, probably under the cabinet, felt threatened at her proximity and had struck, biting her ankle.
She rushed up to the distraught girl, seeing that blood was starting to drip out of her hand. As Michelle knelt down to tend to the poor child, the snake returned.
It lashed out at the pair, who moved to get away from it. but it never had a chance to get near them, as Lawrence, watching the wall closely, had his rifle already cocked, and had blown the head off the vile serpent before it could do more damage.
The kids were screaming again, from the mangled serpent, to Darcy starting to go into shock from the bite, to the gunshot. Their nerves were already frayed from the crash, and the subsequent Rex attack.
They were alone, scared, and traumatized. They were just kids. They didn't deserve to go through this ordeal.
Michelle shook her head, snapping herself out of it. She picked Darcy up gently and laid her on the table. Lawrence grabbed pillows and blankets he found, shaking them out first to get the dust and insects off, then laid them around her, to get her comfortable.
Michele inspected the wound. To clean, clear puncture marks. There was bruising around the area, and it was bloody. She leaned back as if to walk away, but Lawrence thumped first aid kits in front of her. She smiled. Her cousin always knew exactly what she needed.
She nodded at her cousin, "Try and calm the kids down. And put that snake next to me. If I can identify it I can treat her better."
He nodded, gently picking the corpse up and placing it next to her. She saw the diamond marking on the scales, and the bandied tail. It was a Rattlesnake. Deadly to adults if not treated quickly or correctly. But a child Darcy's size…
Michelle flipped open every first aid kit she had. She grabbed some alcohol wipes and laid them next to the twitching girl.
She looked down gently into the girl's face, "You're going to be okay Darcy. Try to stay still. The more you move, the faster the venom will hurt you. What I'm about to do is going to hurt a lot, but it will help you. Try to stay calm, still, and not scream."
She took a towel, drying up as much blood as she could. She opened a couple packets of wipes, swiping over the area. Darcy's body tensed and she let a hiss of breath out from between clenched teeth. Michelle kept rubbing and swiping until the red was almost entirely gone.
The wound underneath was not pretty. It was still bruised, all black and purple. But now, it was turning yellow and green from the venom of the serpent. She gently wrapped the area in gauze with disinfectant cream, then turned back to her kits. Luckily, there were plenty of Rattlesnake anti-venoms, and plenty of anti-biotics.
She pulled a syringe out of its package, filling it with the anti-venom.
She looked down at Darcy, gently grabbing her arm, wiping it with another pad, squeezing gently to show the veins.
She met the scared girl's eyes, already starting to mist over, "Alright sweetie. I'm almost done. You just need some anti-venom and some medicine and we'll be good to get you out of here. I need to give you a shot. It'll be over before you know it. It's like a bee sting. You probably won't feel it with your ankle. I'm giving you the shot now. Be a good, big, brave girl for me, ok?"
Darcy nodded through her pain, closing her eyes and turning her head as Michelle carefully punctured the skin with her needle. She pressed the syringe tube down carefully, watching as the liquid started coursing into her. She took it out, wiped the area with another alcohol pad, the put a Band-Aid on it.
She repeated the process a little higher on the arm, but with anti-biotics to help fight infections. She patted the girl's hair down softly. Darcy opened her eyes and looked groggily up at michelle.
"is it over?"
"Yeah sweet pea. It's over. I'll have to give you more shots later so you can stay healthy. But you're good for now."
She laid her head back, closing her eyes. Michelle turned around, looking for the others. Lawrence had the kids huddled around him by another table. He was sitting on it cross legged, while they all sat on chairs with their knees tucked under their chins.
She walked forward, smiling as she caught his words. Their trip to the Carlsbad Caverns, when they had kayaked down the underground river. It wasn't usually allowed, but the right amount of money could open any pockets. They had fun that trip, finding a species of creature no-one knew existed until then.
She and Lawrence always loved danger and excitement. It's who they were. But they didn't expect anyone else to come with them. These kids weren't prepared for this. They shouldn't even have to think about danger at this age. They didn't deserve this.
They were all distracted from their thoughts by a distant roar.
The rexes.
Michelle sighed, "Chill out guys. They're far away from us. And if they did track us to here, we'd just have to wait them out. And if they are tracking us, we could leave and be far away as soon as they got here. It's going to be ok-"
Her words were cut off by a huge crack of thunder. They could hear the rain pound on the roof of the building, pinging off the van outside. Michelle groaned. Of course. Of freaking course it would rain.
It wasn't like they had other problems with the rexes, the dangerous animals and insects and spiders, and the sick kid. They now had to deal with mud holes, sinkholes, slippery ground, and of course, all the other problems that came with a storm. The thunder was almost continuous at this point.
Wait.
She watched a glass of water one of the kids had set down. Ripples were racing through it.
She looked at Lawrence. He didn't notice anything wrong, holding Darcy in his lap, stroking her hair while she dozed. The kids were enthralled in another of his stories. She looked back to the cup. It was still making ripples, but no one saw anything.
She heard a faint roar from the rexes in the distance. The others didn't look up. The rain and Lawrence's talking must have drowned the sound out.
Michelle quietly picked up the rifle Lawrence had abandoned, edging to the door. The thunder was getting louder. Except, that wasn't thunder. She could see out the window on the door as the light pooled on the concrete outside as the water rippled more and more.
They were getting close.
Too close.
Michelle looked to the others. They still weren't paying attention. She turned to the light switch by the door. She turned off all the lights but the one over the group. They looked up at her as she dimmed it just enough that they could see, but nothing noticeable showed up outside.
Lawrence frowned at her, "What are you doing?"
She glared at him, "We don't know how much power we have. We should conserve what we have instead of having every light in the building at the brightness of a thousand suns." She turned back to the window, watching the ripples grow faster and warped in the light of the flashes of lightning, "Oh and the rexes are coming this way, and I would not like to be lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve for a hungry creature that reacts to light."
The group sat is shocked silence, and they heard, finally, the thundering footsteps of the rexes. It was louder than the thunder at this point. The pools outside were dancing from the impact tremors. The rexes were close.
Very close.
They roared suddenly and the kids yelped, jumping to hide under the blankets and the table. Lawrence jumped up, rushing over to the light switch, switching it off. The cousins watched in silence, shushing the kids as they whimpered, as the dark forms of the rexes lumbered into the clearing.
They sniffed at the fence, stepping over it. They walked around the van, eyeing it, nosing it as they sniffed. The buck roared loudly, making the group cover their ears. Then, the female noticed the building.
The cousins backed away, climbing under the table as the Rex pushed the door open with her snout. They could hear the colossal breaths of the creature, see as the nostrils grew and shrunk with the breathing. They saw the skin peel back from the giant, yellowed teeth as it growled softly, taking massive breaths in, possibly soaking up their scent.
It withdrew its head, putting an eye up to the door. The yellow bulb searched the area, passing several times over the group huddled under the table. The kids were too scared to whimper at this point, barely breathing, hoping the beast would leave.
The female roared at the door, then stood up, walking away with its mate. They heard the faint roar as they retreated. The rain was almost deafening at this point, coming down in sheets. It was pouring into the building through the open door.
Michelle clutched the rifle, edging out from under the table. She snuck to the door, only to stop halfway there when a small creature ran up to the door, looking in.
They stood in silence for a minute, staring at each other. Then the creature snarled, frill opening up around its head. Michelle ducked to the side as it shot some sort of goop a her, which landed on the tabletop.
The kid yelped as Lawrence herded them farther into the building.
Dilophosaurus. Small, not as dangerous as a Velociraptor, but just as fast, and smart. If shot a paralyzing venom from its mouth, immobilizing prey so it could be eaten alive.
Not a creature you want to meet in a rainstorm while trying to protect a lot of kids and avoid detection by T-Rexes.
Speaking of, they chose that moment to roar in the distance, reminding the group that they were still there, and they were still hungry.
Michelle cocked and aimed the rifle at the approaching dino, but she hesitated. She could just swing the gun at the creature, making it scuttle away. Dilophosaurus were notorious cowards. But she would get hit by the venom and go blind, paralyzed. It would then have free rein to terrorize the rest of the group as it wished.
She could shoot it, but the door was open. The sound would reverberate through the forest, alerting everything, including the rexes, that they were there.
What option did she have?
She quickly made her decision as it lept for her, frills open, snarling, getting ready for another attack. She pulled the trigger, sound echoing of the walls of the room, speeding out into the forest. The Dilophosaurus fell to the ground, limp.
Michelle snuck forward, poking it with the barrel.
Nothing.
It was dead.
She sighed in relief, picking it up and tossing it into the mud outside. She looked up, getting drenched, as the rexes roared again. They were coming back, and they were much closer. She looked at the puddle around her feet. The ripples were huge, and moving fast.
The rexes were running. She dashed inside, closing and locking the door, moving the table across the door. She shoved everyone under blankets under the other table, placing the chairs around them for extra protection.
The rexes thundered into camp as she climbed onto the table to peer out the window. They searched the area with fervor, roaring ear-splittingly the entire time. The female eyed the door as her partner sniffed the Dilophosaurus, picking it up and eating it whole.
She tried to barge through the door again, but was stopped. The door shook with the impact and the table screeched back a bit. She roared in anger and attempted to attack the building. The building shook with her rage, dust raining from the roof, chips of concrete flying from the walls.
Michelle checked her watch, the face lighting up in the dark. 6:15 PM. The sun had set, and they had survived their first day. The rexes roared in anger and frustration.
Now, to survive the night, and the next day. She set out a pad of pillows and blanket, putting the two table together to form an extra roof, putting the chars around it to form walls. She made everyone crawl in and go to sleep as she gave Darcy another shot of anti-venom and biotics.
She held Darcy to her chest as she crawled under the tables into their nest. She had changed out of her wet things into an old ACU outfit. The kids had fallen asleep mostly, despite the angry roars and creaking of the building.
Lawrence nodded at her as she crawled in. He took Darcy, letting her cuddle up against his side. Michelle laid down, curled around the edge of the group. The blankets draped around the chairs had trapped their warmth, so it was soft, fluffy and cozy together.
Despite the danger and deafening sound, she found her eyes drifting shut in spite of herself. She fell into a deep sleep to the sound of rain, thunder, and pissed of rexes.
