Claire Dearing stood in the elevator, tapping her foot anxiously as the floors passed by. She swirled the coffee in her hand, ice clinking against the side of the cup. Finally, the heard a ding and the doors opened to reveal the crowded of people all either typing away, or shouting to someone across the room, or speaking into a phone.

The Dinosaur Protection Group was made up of people from all types of backgrounds. From people who just wanted to help, to communications liaisons to deal with the press, to IT workers helping keep their systems up and running. They even had a paleoveterinarian on staff, which was proving to be a godsend with this infection.

Speaking of Zia, she was currently looking very frustrated, gripping the phone very tightly in her hand as she tried to get a word in around whoever she was speaking to. Claire smirked and made her way over, setting the other coffee on Zia's desk, holding her hand out for the phone. Zia handed it over thankfully, sighing exasperatedly.

Claire raised the phone to her ear and began, "Hello, um... "

Zia mouthed, "Congresswoman Delgado," and pressed her hands together like a prayer, thanking Claire in a whisper.

Claire grinned as she made her way toward quieter corner of the room. "Congresswoman Delgado, hello, this is Claire Dearing. I'm the lead organizer here."

The other woman hummed, and responded curtly, "Yes, well I've already spoken to that other girl and I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."

"Yes Ma'am, I appreciate that, but could I please just get a moment of your time?"

"I suppose."

"Great! Thank you very much." She rolled her eyes, keeping her tone chipper and upbeat. "So our mission here at the Dinosaur Protection Agency is to secure federal funding for testing at Isla Nublar and possible relocation to Site B. We believe the illness that the dinosaurs are suffering from is coming from the island, we're almost certain it's coming from the water source. But we can't be certain without testing."

"Miss Dearing, I think you can understand why we aren't very keen on allowing anybody near that island after the incident last year."

"Yes Ma'am, I understand. I was there. But these dinosaurs are just as alive as any other endangered species, and they deserve our protection too. And they're dying, it's starting going farther inland, affecting more and more of the dinosaurs."

"And that is very sad, Miss Dearing, however—"

"Can I ask you a question?" Claire interrupted. She needed to get through to this woman. She knew she had more power to help than she was letting on. "Do you have kids?"

There was a few seconds of hesitation. "Yes, I do."

"Okay. So your kids, an entire generation has grown up in a world where dinosaurs are living and breathing. And soon they're going to have to watch them go extinct again. Or not," she said, biting her lip. "If enough people like you make a difference."

More silence. Then, "I'll see what I can do. I can't guarantee anything but I'll speak to the other reps and let them know that you have my support."

Claire smiled. "Great! We're so thankful for your support. You won't regret it."

The call ended and she turned to Zia to give her a thumbs up as she returned the phone to her, giving her and Franklin a high five. "Yes!"

"Nice!"

Claire took a sip of her coffee. "So, anything new?"

Zia shook her head. "No, since the only cameras we have remote access to are the priority buildings security cams, we haven't seen many. A couple of pachys wandered into the old raptor paddock, but they're long gone. They seemed fine."

"What about the cams near the visitors center by the dock?"

Zia shrugged. "Nothing new. The stegosaurus is still over there, he isn't looking too good, but nothing else has gotten close enough."

Claire sighed, sipping her coffee again. "I just wish we had all of our cams, nearly every inch of the park was covered." She knew she'd said the same thing dozens of times, but it did nothing to dull her frustration.

"Me too," Zia responded. "But the only ones accessible remotely are the top priority ones at high risk places. The backup power was only hooked up to those ones since it was only for absolute emergencies, and they needed to conserve where they could."

"I know."

Zia looked at her sadly. "It'll be okay Claire. We'll save them."

Claire nodded but she didn't really believe it. There was so much working against them. She made her way to her office and sat in her chair, rubbing her hands over her face. Zia hadn't asked her why she was late like she did the few other times it had happened, and she was thankful for that. Claire was too exhausted to deal with that after a night of no sleep. The meds she was taking didn't help, and she thought maybe that was because she didn't want to sleep. With sleep came dreams, and those dreams were often nightmares. She'd either wake up screaming, her breath caught in her chest as she looked around her room, as though expecting to see the Indominus looming over her in her one bedroom apartment. Or she'd wake up sobbing, the hole in her chest too big and empty for her to bear, subconsciously reaching out for the empty space next to her in bed.

Last night was the latter, and she was just glad the redness and swelling in her eyes had gone down by the time she'd left her apartment. Zia's questioning would be relentless. Claire loved that girl but sometimes she was too curious for her own good.

Shaking her head, she pulled out her laptop and pushed out all the thoughts of the night before, focusing on her emails. She couldn't afford to be so distracted, not right now. People were counting on her, her friends were counting on her. The dinosaurs were counting on her.