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Freeze

The sun was just coming up over the horizon when the ACU team arrived at the Raptor's holding. Liz took in the simple concrete building as they jumped out of the truck.

"Doesn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies." Craig came up to stand beside her. He wasn't wrong. It looked more like a World War 2 era bunker than holding for five juvenile carnivores. Even through the thick concrete walls she could hear them. The noise sent shivers down her spine and made her hair stand on end. Deep rooted instincts made her want to turn tail and run. DANGER! They screamed.

Owen trotted around the corner. "I need six bodies!" He bellowed, using shorthand for needing help from six people.

Liz wasn't sure if it was training or the desire to see Owen work that made her lurch forward and disregard instinct. During her basic training, when a Drill Sergeant asked for a body, everybody ran. Because if no one moved, everyone did pushups. Liz hated pushups. Owen raised an eyebrow when she joined the group, but said nothing to her directly. Instead he addressed the gaggle that had formed.

"You six are going in with me as safety. I don't think I'm going to need it, but in order for this to go through we have to follow InGen policies. If any of you have any issues with that, back out now." He gave everyone a hard look, and wasn't surprised when a few peeled off from the group to be replaced by those up for the challenge.

When the shifting was complete, Owen settled into explaining how moving the raptors from their current holding to transport units would work. Liz watched him as he spoke, taking in how passionate he was about his animals. His girls, she thought. There was so much pride in his work, so much love. He didn't speak in the cocky way she had seen him before. He was direct and informative. And a hell of a leader.

"Just do exactly as I said and you'll be fine." Owen finished and looked for the all clear from Hamada. The commander signaled that the rest of the unit was in place before Owen moved to the building, expecting the team of six to follow. He slid his ID badge into the reader, making the monstrous metal gate buzz and start to open. They slipped through quickly, waiting for it to close before opening the door at the end of the small cage. As they walked down a tight corridor, Liz's anxiety began to rise. The raptors were wrestles, their vocalization reverberated down the hall and into her bones.

Owen held a hand up, signaling them to freeze just outside a steel door. He slid the window open and clicked something in his hand Liz hadn't seen him holding. "Alright, ladies. Eyes Up!" He grabbed a small bucket full of dead mice hanging next to the door. Liz shouldered her rifle.

Showtime.

The six safeties had been ordered shortest to tallest to enter, then were directed to fan out behind Owen to fill the back wall of the small area. After that, they weren't to move. As they filed in, Liz got her first full look at the raptors. There were four of them, and they were….

Tiny. Liz realized. Full grown, she knew they would stand at eye level with Owen, but for now, they were only the size of a California Condor. It was easy to see why they were being moved. Though small in comparison to their full size height, they had outgrown the small training area that they were currently being housed in. They stood at hip height, with incredibly intelligent eyes trained on Owen. He talked to them in reassuring, but firm tones, bringing anyone who's eyes strayed back to attention with a click and a sharp, "Hey!" He seemed far more cautious than Liz thought he needed to be. One look at the talons the girls were sporting told her why. They were like bear claws. Massive in comparison to the little bodies, and they clicked in a way that made her stomach flip unconsciously.

"Okay, here we go." Owen flipped a couple pieces of meat to each raptor before hitting the clicker five times. He held up a fist, "Echo!" He waited a beat for the smallest raptor to acknowledge her name. "Holding!" He dropped his fist and Echo spun and whizzed into a door at the far end of the room at a shocking speed. The others chattered nervously after their sister, and it took a minute for Owen to get them back under control. Liz could see sweat beading on his neck and down his shirt. This was just as nerve wracking for him.

He repeated the motions with one called Delta. Amused, Liz started to see the pattern in names. That would make the next one Charlie, and she felt a little thrill at being right when he called her name. This one knew something was up. Her eyes darted wildly between the other humans, Owen, and the remaining raptor. Owen called her name again with more force and clicked until she looked directly at him.

Everything felt like it happened in slow motion. A single bead of sweat ran into Liz's eye, making her jump and shake her head just as Owen dropped his fist. Charlie feinted a turn toward the doors but spun at the last second, coming at Liz with claws and teeth and shrieks. Liz screamed, a deep bellowing battle cry as she used her rifle to keep the snapping jaws away from her face. She could feel the weight of the raptor on her chest as it sunk claws into her Kevlar. Blinding pain shot through her right arm, but pure adrenaline made her keep hold of the rifle aloft. Little pinpricks of pain started in her chest when she realized Charlie had gotten through her vest.

"Take the shot! Take the fucking shot!" She screamed at the other ACU soldiers, trying desperately to roll out from under the raptor and out of the line of fire. Why the hell was no one moving!? One of Charlie's arms got through, ripping off Liz's helmet as it swiped. Searing pain had her seeing double as hot liquid poured down Liz's face. She could hear drill sergeants in her ears. "Don't you quit, Meyers!" They screamed like they had when she was in basic. She didn't quit. She fought like mad, trying to get her feet up under Charlie's belly to kick her off.

Just as suddenly as it started, Charlie was gone.

"Eyes on me!" Owen bellowed after he managed to hook an arm through the sinewy neck and effectively launch the small dinosaur. He stood over Liz, crouching like a predator, lips curled back. "Holding!" He snapped when Charlie hissed at him and tried to circle.

"Don't move." He said to Liz without looking at her. He clicked again, "Holding!" When it looked like Charlie was ready to strike again, the last raptor came up next to her. She eyed Owen carefully, then looked at Liz, then back at Owen; almost as if she was assessing the situation/ She gave a hiss that made Liz want to sob before chesting Charlie toward the door. She looked back at Owen, waiting for the command.

"Blue, Holding." He didn't wait for acknowledgement and the two raptors were through the doors before the command was finished.

On a shaky breath Owen dropped to his knees next to her, screaming for a medic. The five other safeties crowded to help, but he waved them off, fire burning in his eyes. "Where the fuck were you guys!? Safety my ass!" He was already pulling at her Kevlar, biting back bile that rose up when he saw the perfect little pinpricks of blood on her chest. Her right arm was soaked from shoulder to fingertips. There was so much blood on her face that Owen couldn't find the source of the bleed. He started cutting at what was left of her uniform with the knife he kept at his back. Liz protested weakly and tried to sit up.

"I'm fine damnit." Was that her voice? It sounded so weak. If she could only clean herself off a little she'd be fine. Maybe a few stitches on that arm and head and she'd be good as new. She hadn't quit. She had fucking won. Her head spun, leaning into Owen.

"You're not fine." Owen's voice was smooth, though his hands shook as he laid her back down when the medic swooped in. Hamada was close on his heels.

"Out." The order to the rest of the ACU soldiers was deadly calm. They stood frozen for a second before scurrying away like rats.

"I want the names of those five men." Owen's face gave nothing away as Liz searched it. The medic was throwing a field dressing on her arm and she dared to try and look, only to have her face gently pulled back. It didn't hurt that bad, maybe she really was okay.

"Hey, hey look at me, alright?" The way Owen's emotions were jumping around made Liz's anxiety rise. Her head was swimming and she clutched one of his hands with her good one. "You're in shock." He answered the question in her eyes. "Probably a good thing right now." He dabbed at some of the blood on her face with a rag he had pulled out of his pocket. Two more soldiers came in with a backboard and as the medic started to wrap her head, the switch flipped. She went from no pain to nothing BUT pain. It came in waves of fire, rolling from one injury to the next.

"Fuuuuuck." She moaned as they rolled her onto the board and strapped her in. Owen grabbed the part of the board next to her head as they lifted her up. "It wasn't Charlie's fault." She managed to get out as they carried her down the hall and into the double locked cage.

Owen's eyes were blazing as he turned them to her in surprise.

Pain was starting to take over rational thought. "I moved."

She faded in and out as they loaded her into the back of one of the trucks. She could hear someone try to stop Owen from getting in with her. He fought back hotly until someone he reffered to as Barry stepped up to say he would finish the transfer. Liz felt the truck sway when Owen hopped inside. Her head was strapped down, so she reached for him blindly.

"I'm scared." She whispered when his face came into view. He softened, as he gripped her hand. He was the calm in the storm, something she desperately needed right now. Meat-headedness be damned.

"They're gonna put you out, okay? It'd be one hell of a ride without it." Owen held her arm out so the medic could get an IV line in, his eyes never leaving hers.

Liz could hear his voice fading as the sedative started to take hold. "You'll be patched up and back to telling me to fuck myself in no time."

Darkness took her as she prayed he was right.