Chapter Eighteen
There's the breaking of glass and Claire's screams. I hear the snapping of jaws and a thump and the van going faster. I see one of the raptors getting off the floor and following behind us. I put myself in front of the boys and instruct them to stay behind me. Then another comes up as well. There's shuffling behind me and the boys hand me something. I look at the gas canister
"Good idea"
I roll it off and into the raptors path. She screeches angrily and picks up speed running towards the front while the other hangs back. Gray makes a sound and I turn back to see that he has one of the taser sticks
"What are you doing kid?"
"I have an idea"
Gray and Zach try to figure out how the thing works while I keep an eye on the approaching raptor. She leaps towards us and manages to scrape on and I shove at her. She looks me in the eye and I shake my head at her, flashing amber at her. She pauses and that is all the time the boys need to use the taser on her, leaving her shaking on the ground as the van speeds off.
"Are you guys okay?"
Zach and Gray are overwhelmed with adrenaline and Zach speaks first
"Hey, did you see that?"
"I can't wait to tell mom"
Claire looks as if though she would have a conniption at the thought of telling their mother what exactly is going on and I second her
"I don't think it's a good idea boys. I think what happens on the island should stay on the island"
The boys are still smiling but say nothing else. Then there's light on the three of us in the back. I hadn't noticed Owen's cycle behind us from the rushing sound in my ears. The boys call for him but Owen's eyes are on me. I lift my head up higher and turn towards Gray who is practically in my lap. Owen drives to the front and tells Claire that we need to get indoors.
Claire drives us into the park and I help the boys to get off the back. I push them in front of me and start jogging behind them and Claire directs us to where we need to go
"Where were you?"
Owen says to me almost breathless. I ignore him but he grabs my arm
"Where were you?"
"I needed to clear my head so I went for a run"
I pull my arm out of his grip
"I'm helping you guys get off the island and like I told Claire, afterwards we act as if we never knew each other"
He grabs me again
"It's not what you think"
"Try another card"
I pull away from him completely and run after the others. We get into the lab only to find it empty
"They evacuated the lab"
Claire makes to walk in front but I put an arm in front of her before taking the lead. I scent that there are a few men in the room not far from us but they aren't a threat yet. We take a look at all the animals they have used in order to fill the gaps in the DNA of the dinosaurs. A hissing sound makes us all look in that direction and we see men opening the freezers and removing things from the lab
"What are you doing?"
I smell Hoskins and growl low in my throat
"I'm afraid that's above your pay grade honey"
Claire asks about Dr Wu. I had the unfortunate chance of meeting him several times during the various growth spurts Rex had experience in his journey towards adulthood. Dr Wu gave me the creeps most days and I felt dirty after meeting him.
"Dr Wu works for us"
Gray looks at the computer screen
"That's not a real dinosaur"
"No it ain't kid"
Que his spiel about a dinosaur that was better in every way imaginable and I cut him off
"Basically you want a weapon that does your bidding"
He looks at me
"I knew I always liked you for a reason"
He comes closer and I stand in front of Gray
"Not just smart but pretty too. You should join me"
"Sorry I'm not into old and senile"
He doesn't look offended
"Millions of years of evolution, and what did we learn? Nature is the gift that-"
He breaks of into a yell when Delta jumps in front of us. Hoskins holds a hand out speaking lowly like Owen when he was training them. He tries to persuade Delta into not eating him and that doesn't last very long since Delta seemed to have had enough of his crap and attacks him anyway.
We run out of there and into the main passage and Claire directs us one way. We stop short when the raptor throws itself into our path and head in the other direction. Gray hits one of the tablet screens and I hear the sound of a dinosaur. I look over my shoulder and see that he had activated a hologram. I smile at that and keep running slightly behind Owen
"What's so funny?"
"Gray activated a hologram"
It is only then Owen realises that we aren't exactly being chased anymore.
We burst through the door and run down the stairs only to be stopped by another two raptors. I look over my shoulder and the third appears too. I look at them with amber eyes, keeping the others crowded behind me. They come closer to us but Owen is having none of that
"So that's how it is, huh?"
He drops the gun onto the ground and reaches out for Blue. Slowly he approaches her with a hand held out. The rest of us watch with bated breath as he does this. He reaches for the camera on her head and unclips it off of her before stepping back. Blue watches him in fascination as well as in understanding when their new alpha shows up. She roars at us and looks at Blue. Blue looks at her then at us before screeching her negative and is swiped ferociously into a pillar. She doesn't get off the floor but I can still hear her breathing. The others are not happy. Owen takes a stance in front, whistles and they attack the Indominus with battle cries.
Claire and I get the kids to safety while Owen takes shots at the hybrid making sure that every round counts. When the raptors are thrown off Gray says
"We need more"
"More what?"
Claire looks confused
"Teeth, we need more teeth"
Claire gets off the ground and grabs something from the emergency kit on the wall
"You guys wait here. It's gonna be fine"
She runs off and I watch the battle between the raptors and hybrid while keeping an eye on the boys. One of them is thrown off and I smell charred flesh and the other is chomped mercilessly. Owen jumps over and signals for us to be silent but the Indominus doesn't give us a fair chance before attacking and making everything around us collapse. I suddenly see red and I lash out, sinking my nails into her muzzle when she gets close enough. She pulls away with a roar and tries again and I attack her, making sure to try for her eyes the second time. She pulls away and I go with her, snarling and inflicting wounds on her face.
She still tries to reach them and I do something I never in my mind thought I would have to do. I sink my teeth into her flesh and rip a chunk right out of her. The warm blood makes me want to hurl but I keep going, digging my fingers into her flesh and spraying blood everywhere.
She gives a viciously hard shake and I feel myself being lifted off of her face and flying through the air. I feel glass breaking against my back and slide on the ground. My lungs feel as if though they are about to collapse from the hard landing on my back but I get up off the ground anyway and run out.
The Indominus sees me and attacks again, this time grabbing me with her claws and lifts me towards her face. Her jaws are wide open and in a moment I grab one of her teeth and pull hard enough that it breaks. She roars in pain and I'm flung onto the ground. I wheeze as the air comes out of me in a rush. I'm feeling too tired but then I turn my head and see Owen, Zach and Gray looking at me. I smile weakly and try to get up but then I hear a familiar roar. I see a flare hitting the Indominus and I look up to see Rex breaking through the display skeleton with a roar. He sniffs the air and looks down towards me, injured and bleeding. He roars even more ferociously when he can smell that the blood on the Indominus is mine.
They approach each other, circling slowly. Claire is not too far away, stuck in the circle of these two vicious predators. They attack each other, going straight for the throat and various things around them break as they fight. The Indominus has the advantage when it comes down to size but Rex is older. It leaves them at mostly a tie breaker, until the Indominus has my baby on the ground. She shakes him viciously and I force myself up onto shaky legs and I see Blue also managing to get herself up off the ground.
The Indominus knocks Rex into the building where Owen and the boys are hiding and Claire screams
"Run!"
They do and manage to get out just before the entire thing collapses. Rex lays there, bloody and drained. I look at Blue and she starts calling out to the Indominus and breaks into a run. I start running too, the Indominus' broken tooth in my hand. Blue runs up the Indominus' head and I leap onto her back using her tail that is swinging. Blue bites at her just out of reach from her jaws. I sink in my nails and climb up and up onto the back of her head.
"A mother always protects her young"
I take the tooth with both hands and strike down. She roars and tries to throw the both of us off of her. Since her attention is elsewhere, Rex attacks her and Blue and I are thrown off but we get back up and go for the hybrid's legs effectively tripping her. She falls and Rex towers over her and as she stands up and is about to get back into the fight, the Mosasaur leaps out of the water and clamps down onto her throat. The Indominus struggles and cries out, but the Mosasaur holds on and takes her into the water. She goes with one last cry that echoes in the air.
My knees give up on me and Rex is at my side nudging me gently with his muzzle. I place a hand on his face and lean into him. Blue stands in front of us nervously watching me as I interact with Rex. He looks at Blue and growls and I shush him
"Blue's a good girl"
Rex stops growling and goes back to paying attention to me. We all look up when we hear helicopters. I gently push Rex away
"Go, before they find you"
He grumbles but takes a step back, and gives Blue one last look before heading towards the trees of the park.
Blue looks to Owen and they have a moment, before she turns to me and approaches. I place a hand on her and help myself up
"Go" I urge and she goes too, a lone raptor.