Chapter 2: Meet Peyton's Pets
Valentina was walking through the busy airport alongside Josh and Abigail. With them was Child Service agent Adalyn Walker, an Afro-American woman in her 40s. She will be the one accompanying Valentina to Jurassic World to check for any faults in Owen and Peyton's house and to see if it's a place for a toddler to grow up. Valentina was wearing a blue t-shirt with a cartoon anthropomorphic T-Rex, dark brown shorts, baby grey sneakers, a blue backpack, her mother's red scarf which Abigail adjusted for her. The little girl's hair were tied in pigtails which bounced each time she walked or hopped.
They made their way to a queue of persons being checked by the ICE agents and US Air National guardsmen. Valentina was however nervous, as she barely saw her uncle and cousin whom she feared would mess up, even if Josh and Abigail told her everything would be just fine. Before Adalyn and Valentina left, Josh and Abigail bid farewell to Valentina.
"Bye, Sweet Pea. I'm gonna miss you so much." Abigail told Valentina hugging her.
"Me too. By the way, your parents wanted to give you this for Christmas." Josh added before letting out a box with a pink ribbon on it.
Valentina gently took away the box from him and opened it. Inside was a fossilized Utahraptor claw hanging from a necklace. The little girl happily put it around her neck, as she loved Utahraptors after reading Alan Grant's book about the Utahraptor behavior.
"YAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOW YOUW GIFT, JOSH! YOU AND ABIGAIL AWE THE BEST BABYSITTEWS EVEW!" Abigail yelled hugging Josh, attracting the attention of two patroling Air National guardsmembers, who just shook their head.
"Did she learn not to yell in public?" a national guardsmember, a woman in her late 20s, asked
"Apparently not. But I heard the Captain had some friends of his who could teach that motherfucking brat to be polite." the other one, a man in his early 30s, replied.
"Yeah. Civie kids are fucking undisciplined nowadays." the guardswoman kept on.
*"True. But it's not gonna last long, my friend. It's not gonna last long. At the very least for that little fucker." the guardsman replied as both walked away./
Valentina and Adalyn, however, heard these two servicemembers talking. Valentina silently cried, feeling offended and hated, as Adalyn shook her head, scandalized someone could speak in such a crude manner in front of a child.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, next flight to Costa Rica will leave in twenty-five minutes." the announcer said on the loudspeaker.
"Time to go" Adalyn said before turning to the little girl. "I know it's tough, but we gotta go now, Valentina."
Valentina nodded in understanding, still sad the two US Air National guardsmembers told bad things about her. She followed Adalyn as Josh and his sister waved them goodbye.
When Adalyn and Valentina went aboard the plane, they took their seat at the middle row, and waited patiently while their plane took off to Costa Rica. Adalyn was reading a book peacefully while Valentina, who wasn't the normal type of kids, wondered whether people would accept her for who she was or not.
Owen was in his house, finally finished making Valentina's bedroom and turning the guest room into his daughter's new bedroom. Peyton's former bedroom had a blue ceiling, pink walls, stuffed toy dinosaurs, a princess-like chest, a pink mini-desk with a book shelf filled with kid books and coloring books, pink curtains, a wooden chair and a pink closet.
Peyton's room on the other hand contained a green closet filled with military surplus clothes, green walls and ceiling, a military storage box acting like a chest full of military-themed video games, a military footlocker full of military-related movies, a green desk with a book shelf filled with military-related books and school books, a camouflage netting acting as a curtain and a computer.
Even after child-proofing their house and sending Matt and Alma Grady's will to Child Services, Peyton and her father were nervous, as everyone living in Jurassic World was to know weapon handling, which could handicap them for the custody of Valentina.
Speaking of which, Owen and his daughter were already waiting for his niece at the docks while Peyont's friends prepared for a karaoke night. Owen also made sure to smell good to give a good impression to the Child Service agent accompanying his niece. Peyton had her SIG-Sauer P225 pistol in a leg holster and a Colt M4A1 carbine in her hands. Her carbine was fitted with a DBAL aiming module, a Pentagon M3D light, a Magpul CTR stock, an EoTech XPS-2 holosight, an EoTech G-33 magnifier and a vertical foregrip. While her father wore blue jeans, a blue shirt, brown hiking boots and a belt with a Beretta 92FS pistol, the teenager wore a Woodland MARPAT jacket, Lowland ERDL camouflage trousers, a pair of Brown combat boots and a Choco Chip-dyed boonie hat. Both were waiting for Valentina.
Speaking of whom, the little girl and Adalyn were inside the ferry heading towards Isla Nublar, where Jurassic World was located, after getting out of the plane and boarding the ferry after arriving in Costa Rica. Sitting near the window with Adalyn at her side, Valentina heard laughter and saw two sisters and their mother, excited to go to Jurassic World. Valentina silently cried, as she now knew she didn't have any family apart from her uncle and cousin.
The ferry landed and opened its gangplanks, allowing the passengers to get out. Holding Adalyn's hand, Valentina walked to the docks. Adalyn knew where she was going, as she saw a man dressed in blue and a teenager looking like Peyton holding a rifle, and made her way through the crowd with Valentina in tail.
"You must be Peyton Grady, with her father Owen Grady, right? Adalyn Walker, Child Services." Adalyn asked the female teen.
"Yep. And as you can see, everyone living on the island, including the security guards overseeing the crowd, must have a weapon. Cause dinosaurs don't wait before escaping." Peyton politely explained, as there also were Jurassic World Park Rangers carrying M16A2 rifles and HK416 rifles standing guard.
"I see. Thanks for mailing us your aunt and uncle's will. I just came her to see if you child-proofed your house." Adalyn reassured.
As Peyton checked the -empty- chamber of her carbine, Valentina peaked out from behind Adalyn Walker to see her uncle and cousin. She was both excited and nervous to be there. Then Peyton saw her cousin looking at her shyly and waved towards her.
"Hey, there. Welcome to your new home." Peyton said in a cold voice.
"Hi." Valentina greated shyly.
"Ready to see your new room?" Owen asked his niece.
Valentina nodded and the quartet walked through the busy alleyways of Main Street, with Peyton ahead. The three-year old saw lively shops and cafés there. Valentina also saw a huge Tylosaurus jumping out of an enormous pond like a missile and grab a huge chunk of meat before diving down, reminding her of how dolphins were trained at the Ocean World. Valentina was in awe in front of the huge animal before she heard Peyton's voice.
"Hey Baby Smurf. You got a room to visit. And we're not gonna stay here tonight." Peyton angrily yelled.
Valentina sadly left to head for Peyton's black 2010 GMC Suburban SUV. The little girl sadly mounted her cousin's vehicle, as she wanted to see more dinosaurs. Adalyn mounted in the rear passenger seat while Owen helped Valentina get in the baby seat with his daughter driving.
The drive to the Grady house was earily silent, as Valentina sadly looked at her raptor necklace, wishing her parents were there and wondering if her uncle and cousin would accept her as she was. Once they finally reached their destination, Valentina saw a simple but friendly-looking house through the windown. Adalyn also saw the house, but asked some questions anyway./
"Mr. Grady, after seeing everyone on this island must be armed, I wonder if your weapon locker is concealed." Adalyn told Owen.
"Yes, it is. The only key of the tool shed is out of a child's reach and Peyton always has safety off and empty barrel." Owen explained.
"Right. Gun safety rules are followed, as are domestic safety ones." Adalyn correctly deduced.
After parking the car, Peyton stepped out of the vehicle and opened the door, showing to Adalyn and Valentina a dining room with a blue sofa, a green carpet, a coffee table and a television. The kitchen was simple and austere-looking. They walked inside the house where Owen helped his three-year-old niece to get her stuff and move into her new bedroom.
Meanwhile, Adalyn looked at Peyton, who didn't feel it.
"Ms. Grady, may I ask you a few questions?" the agent asked.
"Yeah. But be louder so Dad and the kid may hear." the teen politely instructed.
"Your father is a dinosaur trainer, right?" Adalyn asked.
"Yeah. Dad and I -at least, when I got some free time after homework- train four Utahraptors." Peyton explained, fearing she infuriated Adalyn Walker, who had heard all the details of the 1993 incident in Jurassic Park, which remained closed, as well as the 1997 San Diego Incident, which involved a T-Rex a crazy guy named Peter Ludlow brought back from Isla Sorna rampaging through the city before a badass woman named Sarah Harding traquilized the dinosaur, which was brought back to Sorna by the US Navy. Walker also knew Masrani was allowed to exploit Isla Nublar after the 2001 Isla Sorna Incident.
"You know about what happened in these islands, right?" Adalyn asked narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah. I'm fucking aware of that. And I'm fucking aware of the danger such dinosaurs can represent." Peyton said on a polite but stern tone while showing a big scar on her left forearm.
"Where did you get this?" Adalyn asked alarmed.
"A Utahraptor named Echo attacked and bit me when I was about to feed her at age fourteen. She was one year old and already bullied her other sisters. But I distracted her by calling out Blue, the beta. Blue won the ensuing fight and Echo got the lesson." Peyton summed up.
"A pretty impressive tale for a sixteen-year old. Here's my card, in case there's a problem." Adalyn admitted. She now knew she could trust Peyton and her father.
With that done, Adalyn shook Peyton's hand before leaving with Peyton driving her back to the ferry.
"Is Mrs. Wawkew going?" Valentina asked her uncle worriedly.
"Yes. Peyton and her were finalizing the custody procedure. But Peyton kept her card in case." Owen told his niece.
Owen picked his niece up and brought her to the bathroom, where he would have her take a shower while waiting for Peyton to come back home. After a while waiting, Owen heard a car stop in the alleyway and saw his daughter opening the door of the house.
"Time for a pizza, everyone." Peyton said.
With that, the teen went to the bathroom to take a shower while her father prepared three dinner plates, three sets of table cutlery and three glasses. When Peyton finished putting on a pair of green cargo shorts, a green t-shirt and a green baseball cap, her father nodded to her as she came in the kitchen. The teenager nodded back, meaning she knew the pizza was in the oven cooking.
"I don't want to eat meat. This is gwoss to eat animaws. I want to eat vegetabwes and fwuits!" pouted Valentina.
"You eat whatever you are served. And there were fresh tomatoes anyway." Peyton said washing a bucket of tomatoes.
Valentina was a little reassured about eating veggies, but when Owen took the pizza out of the oven, Peyton saw it was her and her father's favorite topping, which was pepperoni with cheese and yellow pepper. The two of them then set the pizza on the table and sat the toddler on her baby chair before taking a seat themselves.
"You'we going to have scuwvy." Valentina told her cousin in a mocking tone while eating only tomatoes and yellow pepper.
"Shut the hell up and eat EVERYTHING in your plate." Peyton replied before taking another pizza slice and three other tomatoes.
"I don't want to eat peppewoni ow cheese. I want veggies and fwuit." Valentina insisted.
"Do what Peyton said, or you won't have a dessert." Owen reprimanded his niece, who reluctantly ate her pizza slice.
The dinner went on, after which Peyton washed the dishes, unhappy to have such a spoiled cousin, and washed her teeth before going in her bedroom to tidy up and switch the light off. Owen then helped his niece to wash her teeth and put on pyjamas, which was a big pink shirt with a white rabbit on it and a pair of pink pants. Peyton then appeared in the doorframe to the stairs and came into the room saying nothing before she set the nightlight on as her father tucked the toddler into her bed.
"Good night, Valentina." Owen told his niece before going away.
"Nighty-night, kid." Peyton told before switching the light off.
"Good night." Valentina yawned as her cousin walked to the door. As the teenager was about to reach the door, she heard the toddler's scared little voice calling out.
"Peyton?"
"Yes what?" she asked turning to the 3-year-old girl.
"Can you stay with me fow tonight? I'm scawed to be alone one mowe time." Valentina pleeded.
"Sure. But watch where you step, because I'll sleep on the floor." the teen warned.
As she laid next to the little girl's bed who let a small yawn before going to bed, Peyton, not feeling too tired, took some photos of her younger grandfather and his squad when he was a US Marine during the Vietnam War in 1968. On the picture was her great-uncle who died in 1969, a year after the photos were taken.
Peyton was indeed from a military family, as her great-grandfather served in the Pacific Campaign in World War Two. Her grandfather then served as a US Marine in the Vietnam War from January 1968 to January 1971. Peyton's father then served as a Fleet Marine Force corpsman in Liberia, Afghanistan, Haiti, the Indian Ocean and Djibouti from 2002 to 2011. She in turn was looking forward to enlisting, either in the US Air Force or the US Marine Corps. but she also planned to be a war correspondant if she couldn't enlist.
Peyton looked at the pictures before putting them back in her pockets and falling asleep. Time flew by before Peyton got up very early to make breakfast and get ready to help out, as her teachers gave every students of Nublarian High School three weeks of Christmas vacation. But what worried her the most was how the security overseer, Vic Hoskins, and other personel would react to seeing Valentina.
Vic Hoskins, the man who expanded the Animal Containment Unit and upgraded its equipment so that the 1993 incident would never happen again. The man who saw the Utahraptor Arena as a gold mine for public presentations. A man Peyton could only bear because of his friendship with both Barry and Owen. On the one hand, the teenager felt trouble would come and get her should the little girl meet Hoskins, but on the other hand she knew she had no choice./
Peyton silently stood up and walked away before making some eggs and bacon for breakfast. In her room, Peyton's cousin was hugging Honey as she was still sleeping peacefully. In the kitchen, Peyton saw her father coming and nodded to him. Owen understood his daughter was secretly letting him know not to wait for her, as she was going to get dressed.
After putting on a MARPAT jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of US Woodland-dyed trousers and a pair of 2008 Gore-Tex Marine Corps Combat Boots, Peyton heard footsteps and saw Valentina rubbing her tired eyes while holding Honey.
"Hi, there. I made eggs and bacon." Peyton informed while tying her hair into a bun and putting on a blue baseball cap.
Valentina let ou a yawn and replied, "Good mowning, Peyton. But could you pwease eat my pawt of eggs and bacon? I don't wike meat."
"What did we say yesterday?" Peyton frustratingly answered.
Valentina headed to the kitchen bursting into tears, knowing she would eat meat again. Once in the kitchen, Peyton helped Valentina sit in her chair and forced her to eat her breakfast. Peyton in turn ate her breakfast at breakneck speed as she prefered to have a heated discussion with Hoskins than with her cousin. After breakfast was done, Peyton went to the armory, where she retrieved one of the five M4A1 carbines stored in. That one was fitted with a Crane buttstock, a Surefire M900 grip-light, an AN/PEQ-2 laser module and an AimPoint CompM4 scope. She loaded that carbine and did the same to her father's Marlin lever-action carbine. The teenager also prepared a Beretta 92FS for herself, plus ammunition and two earpieces.
Then, after she packed the weapons, Peyton locked the armory door and walked to her car. She suddenly heard her father, holding Valentina, calling. Valentina who was wearing a Utahraptor hoodie, a pink satchel, grey pants and miniature hiking sandals. The little girl was giggling, thinking she was a baby Utahraptor.
"Hey, Peyton. Did you pack weapons and equipment?"
"Yeah. A M4 and a Beretta 9mm for me, and your usual Marlin for you. Full magazine, safety off and empty barrel, as always." Peyton said giving her father his Marlin rifle and earpiece.
"Thanks." Owen told his daughter.
"Whewe awe we going?" Valentina asked.
"Don't ask. You'll see very soon." Peyton replied to her curious cousin while strapping her M4A1 carbine to her surplus-bought Ephod vest, which contained four spare magazines for her waist-strapped pistol and five magazines for her carbine./
Peyton then sat in the driver seat of her Suburban SUV while her father sat the toddler in the baby chair behind him, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Peyton then drove her car at a particular place where a paddock had just been re-arranged with an observation room. Once Peyton made it to her destination, she helped her cousin get out of the car while her father saw Barry and called the latter out.
"Barry, where's the old Vic?"
"Old Vic is waiting for us. On the catwalk." Barry said
"Tell him Peyton's in charge now. We're in B week." Owen told him before hearing Hoskins answering as he came closer.
"Already know, my friend. Your daughter's the boss, now. I'm just the security dude. And I also convinced Masrani to appoint you Director of Project IBRIS."
"How are you old buddy?" Owen, taking his niece, gently asked Hoskins.
"Who's this?" Hoskins told his friend in a surprised voice.
"To make it short, my aunt and uncle died and their will was me and Dad to take custody of that little girl named Valentina Grady." Peyton told Hoskins while packing some food.
"I see. Sorry to learn about it. But I don't think it's a good idea to bring a toddler here. The Utahraptors saw Peyton as a threat, so a toddler can be thought of as a meal." Hoskins told in a sincerely sad voice.
"I agree. But whatever. Let's begin the test." Barry suggested.
"Good idea!" Owen said as he, still holding his niece, Barry and Hoskins went into the observation room.
Once in the observation room, Valentina asked her uncle, "Whewe awe we?"
"Where your uncle works. And your cousin helps out when she's bored." Hoskins vouched for his friend.
"What's youw job? And who awe these pewsons?" the little girl kept asking.
"We're animal behaviorists, meaning we train dinosaurs for entertainment. And these people are workers." Barry answered.
"What type of dinosauws?" the little girl asked over-excitedly.
"Calm down. Just watch Peyton and just enjoy the show. And watch out for the audio, you can hear everything in there." Owen told his niece.
Meanwhile, Peyton went on the catwalk, let out a clicker from her pocket and turned to a young worker named Leon and yelled, "Release Piggy!"
Leon pushed on a button, which released a pig out of a cage. The pink animal, dubbed Piggy, ran through the jungle, squealing in fear. Valentina bursted into tears, fearing for the safety of the pig, while the adults in the room watched without any trace of sadness. Then, she and the others saw the undergrowth moving and the pig making it to the safety of its cage as it closed behind him. Valentina was relieved to the see the pig was okay, but heard her cousin yell.
"Hold!"
Valentina gasped in amazement as she saw four Utahraptors bursting out of the undergrowth. The first one had blue feather covering its body, the second one was covered with green feather, the third one had brown feather and the last one was gray. The gray-feathered Utahraptor also had a scar on her snout, similar to Peyton's own scar on the teen's left forearm.
"Hey!" Peyton called the four Utahraptors.
The four feathered dinosaurs then stopped in their tracks and looked at Peyton, who was using her clicker to give commands.
"Alright! Eyes on me!" Peyton yelled loud enough for everyone to hear before calling out the blue-feathered Utahraptor "Blue!".
Blue raised her eyes and gazed at the teenager with dead seriousness in her eyes. "Watch it! Charlie!"
The green Utahraptor, which Peyton had the closest bond with, raised her eyes and snapped her jaws at Peyton who remained unfazed and told on a stern voice, "Don't give me that fuck!"
"Delta, lock it up! Echo! Don't even try challenging me!" Peyton scolded the remaining Utahraptors.
The four dinosaurs now focused on the teenage girl, who called them out.
"And... We're moving!"
The dinosaurs followed her to the other end of the catwalk, where Peyton strapped her bag of food before opening it.
"Hold!" Peyton yelled, not impressed by the way the Utahraptors were looking at her.
"That's good. That's fucking damn good." Peyton told the four carnivores.
Peyton then took a huge rat from the bag, which disgusted Valentina, who reluctantly ate meat. She found even grosser to have dead rats taken from a fridge.
"Charlie, you got this!" Peyton yelled at Charlie, who jumped, caught the rat and ate it./
"Echo, here's your food!" The scarred Utahraptor jumped and swallowed her meal, as did Delta.
Peyton then turned to Blue and called out, "Blue?" Blue looks at the rat in Peyton's fist as the teenager said, "That one's yours!" Peyton tossed the rat and Blue swallowed it like a biscuit.
"Hold! Eyes up!" Peyton ordered as the Utahraptor did as ordered, before the teen gave the signal "Go!"
And with that, the dinosaurs ran under Peyton, who looked bellow and saw her father, with her cousin in his arms, Barry and Hoskins coming, as well as the workers cheering.
Barry gave Peyton a big grin "You finally did it!" he said.
"Uncle Owen, why does Peyton has the scaw on hew awm? And why does the gway dinosauw has the same on hew snout?" Valentina asked.
"I was filling the dinos' manger in their paddock when Echo bit my left arm. But I called out Blue who jumped on Echo, which triggered a fight allowing me to escape and Blue to assert her position as beta of the group. Which means Dad is Alpha #1 and me Alpha #2." Peyton explained.
"You'we lucky." Valentina joyfully told.
"Hey, I'm right-handed but left-eye dominant, meaning I shoot with my left hand. I also had to carry a sling for ten days straight." Peyton corrected before heading out.
"How about our paychecks?" Hoskins asked Owen.
"Yeah, let's tell the park operations manager to give these damn paychecks to us now. It's been three days since the higher-ranking guys had theirs." Owen said putting down his niece.
Barry, Hoskins and Owen then walked down the stairs as Valentina caught up with Peyton. The curious little girl then asked out to her cousin.
"Why awe the dinosauws named Bwue, Chawlie, Dewta and Echo?"
"Marine Corps alphabet. Blue fitted the beta better than Bravo, so we kept it." Peyton said to her cousin while moving to the place where she hung her bag. Suddenly, an employee called Peyton.
"Hey, Peyton. Pig pen button's busted. I need help."
"Kay, coming." Peyton answered before turning to her cousin. "Stay here. And DON'T CLIMB ON THE RAILINGS."
"Okie-dokie." Valentina responded putting Honey in her satchel, actually planning to do exactly the opposite of Peyton's orders.
Once Peyton was busy helping the worker repairing the pig pen button, Valentina jumped at the chance to stand upon the railing, causing the Utahraptors to look up and spot Valentina. The little girl was totally unaware that, by purposely disobeying her cousin, she had just put herself in danger. Indeed, Leon saw the pig running and called out to everyone
"Pig loose!"
Peyton and the worker turned around and saw Valentina stading on the railing too close to Leon, who tried to grab the pig. But Echo caught the pink animal first and caused both Leon and the little girl to fall. Peyton, grabbing her M4A1 carbine, rushed towards the gate, pressed the open button, and rushed inside the paddock. Two guard followed her and stopped to interrupt the gate raising process.
Blue and her pack came closer when Peyton yelled out, "Hey, watch me!"
Echo recognized the second alpha and gazed at her while Charlie, Delta and Blue turned their head towards Peyton who walked backwards. This distraction allowed the first guard to drag Leon out of the paddock while the guard carried a giggling Valentina and her satchel with Honey inside towards the barbican. Leon then pushed the button, starting to close the gate.
""That's it. Stay where you are!" Peyton told the Utahraptors, who kept looking at Valentina
This gave a chance Peyton immediately jumped on to slide under the gate with a remarkable dexterity. After that, she stood up by herself, while the four Utahraptors kept looking curiously at the still-giggling Valentina. Peyton, however, didn't see anything funny in that ordeal and exploded in anger, as her patience had been stretched to its thinest.
"VALENTINA! I TOLD YOU NOT TO STEP ON THE FUCKING RAILING, BUT YOU DID IT WHEN I WAS BUSY! UNCLE MATT AND AUNT ALMA GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANTED, BUT NOW YOUR FUCKING COMFORTABLE SPOILED BRAT LIFE IS OVER! NOW, YOU'RE IN MY WORLD AND YOU WILL FOLLOW MY RULES! UNDERSTOOD?"
"Yes, I wiww. I pwomise it won't happen anymowe." Valentina said as she bursted in tears and began to cry as she nodded, meaning she now learned the hard way to take other persons' advice.
"You'd better. If it happens again, I call Child Services and tell them everything." Peyton threatened as she saw the guards and Leon giving Valentina an angry gaze for putting herself in danger./
The guards also nodded, with a severe look on their face as they knew Peyton was right. Exiting the barbican, she saw her father, Hoskins and Barry winking at her. They knew Peyton was just being a responsible person who patched things up after making a mess.
The teenager took her cousin for a ride in the park, and carried her to her Suburban, where the teen strapped the still crying Valentina to the baby chair before closing the door, taking the wheel and driving straight towards Jurassic World.