Author's Note

Hey, sorry it's later in the day than usual. My day has been super busy, but I haven't forgotten about you guys.

This chapter is probably the most movie-compliant of them all, as I've said before, but there are a few add-ins and differences.

Go onward and enjoy!

Escape

When Owen picks her up they head back to his bungalow. He can't take her back to the paddock just in case Vic is still there and there's not much else work for him to do there anyway.

And Owen takes the time to show her the plans for the expansion of his bungalow.

"You plan on doing all this…for me?" Liv asks, unable to keep the astonishment out of her voice. She figured she'd just sleep on his couch or something, and she will have to do that while construction is underway, but he plans on adding a bedroom and extra bathroom for her.

"Of course I'm doing it for you," he says. "Your social worker said I can't adopt you unless I'm capable of supplying all of your basic needs, including an actual bedroom for you to sleep. The extra bathroom is because I figured we'd both like this more than having to share."

She looks over the schematics laid out on Owen's workbench in front of the front porch, still a little unbelieving. "How long is all of this going to take?"

"Couple months maybe? Though I've quietly asked a couple of people if they'd be willing to help out and I got quite a few volunteers."

Okay, her eyes are bugging out of her skull now. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. They care about you, Liv." He says it so matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders. "Vic may have made them keep their distance, but they still care about you. Speaking of which, I found out who's been keeping your ATV fueled up."

"Really? Who?" Ever since she's started riding around on the ATV someone has made sure it has a full tank of gas every time she comes back to the island. She's never known who and was always too afraid to try and find out.

"It's Hamada, the head of the ACU. He's one of the people who volunteered to help with the building, too."

She leans against the table, feeling a little unsteady on her feet all of a sudden. "Hamada? I-I know him. I've seen him hanging out with Vic sometimes. I thought he was one of his buddies?"

"Apparently not. He said he's only nice to Vic out of professional courtesy, but I got the feeling it's more like he has to be nice to him or risk losing his job. Vic is pretty much his boss, after all, since he's the head of security."

Liv is still trying to figure out how to process all of this when they hear a car pull up and they turn to see Claire stepping out of an SUV, her outfit white and perfect, and her heels as deadly as ever. But what is she doing here now?

Owen must be thinking the same thing because he asks, "The social worker isn't here already, is she?"

Because what other reason would Claire have for stopping by?

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Claire says with a shake of her head, her straight red hair swaying with the movement. "I actually need you to come take a look at something, Mr. Grady."

Owen turns a little wary and a bit insulted. "Why are you calling me 'Mr. Grady'?"

Liv can already see where this is going. Their first date may have failed but they both still like each other, though they may still be denying it to themselves. They flirt whenever they're around each other and their version of flirting is petty arguments, sarcasm, and banter.

"I'm just going to go inside," she says, though neither of them seem to hear her. She quickly retreats up the porch steps and through the door into the living room.

Holy crap, it's like watching her parents make moves on each other. Talk about awkward.

Wait, since when has she thought of Claire like that?

She plops down heavily on the couch, staring confusedly at the blank T.V. She already considers Owen her dad and if he really wants to get together with Claire, it's not that big of a stretch. If the two ever got married, Claire would essentially become her mom. But Liv likes Claire, always has, even though she can be a bit consumed with her work. Her real mom is a lot worse though. Claire at least still talks to her and seems to like her.

Yeah. She could definitely do worse.

A few minutes later Owen comes through the door, looking grim. She sits up straighter, worried. Did he and Claire have an actual fight or something? He sits down next to her on the couch and takes her hand, probably going for comfort but it's not really working right now. Instead, she freaks out just a little bit more.

"Owen, what's going on?" she asks, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach.

He takes a deep breath and says, "Claire wants me to take a look at a new dinosaur. Give my opinion on her and check the paddock for vulnerabilities." He squeezes her hand. "Liv, Claire said…Claire said they made a new dinosaur and it didn't sound like in the usual sense."

Liv's entire body turns cold. "It's the new predator I've been sensing, isn't it."

A statement, not a question, because they both know there haven't been any other new dinosaurs.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, what else could she be? At least now we'll finally find out what the heck she is. But I wanted to ask, and you can totally say no if you want, but I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with."

Her eyes widen and her mouth stutters incomprehensibly trying to get a word out but words seem to be failing her. He's asking her to go near that thing? Granted, she's tried to do that on her own before, but it can still see her, especially when she gets close, and she's only ever been as far as the perimeter gate. She's been trying to learn to hide her own aura from the dinosaur's sight but it's exhausting. She's only ever managed it a few minutes at a time.

What would it be like to actually be in front of that thing?

"You can say no," Owen reminds her quickly. "It's just, I'm kind of nervous leaving you out here on your own with Vic still on the loose. It's up to you though. You can stay here or come with us and find out what this thing is."

Both choices are their own versions of horrifying. What if Vic finally comes looking for her? She wouldn't put it past him to look in all the places Owen frequents, including his home. But allowing that dinosaur to see her with her real eyes? Does she dare risk it just to finally find out exactly what she is? What will she do once she sees Liv? The dinosaur is already extremely curious about her. Will she try to break out of her paddock?

But the paddocks are supposed to be secure, using the most advanced technology in the world. It should be safe, at least, safer than risking Vic finding her.

"Alright," she says quietly and with a fair amount of trepidation. "I'll go."

"Good." He tries to smile at her but it falls short a little bit. By the worried look in his eyes, he knows it. "Come on. Claire's waiting for us."

They stand to leave but at the last moment Liv digs in her backpack and grabs her little bag of seeds she always carries around with her. She's not sure what good they'd do, but she'd rather be fully armed, so to speak, than have nothing at all.

The three of them pile into Claire's car, with Claire driving, Owen in the passenger's seat, and Liv in the back. As Claire starts the car, Liv asks, "So what is this dinosaur called?"

"The Indominus Rex," she replies, sounding a bit proud.

The Indominus Rex.

Finally, the monster has a name.

As soon as they're through the gate Liv feels the monster lock "eyes" on her. It sends a chill down her spine that doesn't completely go away. She's extremely uneasy, having something so dangerous be so focused solely on her. She knows the Indominus is big, bigger than the T-Rex, and she's fully grown already which should be impossible. She reached maturity faster than the raptors and in only a fraction of the time it usually takes the big dinosaurs. Just what did those scientists do?

Claire parks the car outside the paddock near a set of stairs leading inside to what is probably some sort of control room. The three of them get out and Liv can't help but stare at the massive paddock, with walls much taller than the raptor paddock. And it's still under construction.

Yeah, there goes all her bravery. She doesn't want to get any closer to this thing, at least until the paddock is actually finished.

"Hey, Owen?" she says, her voice sounding a lot smaller than it usually does. "Do you mind if I stay out here?"

His eyes are full of understanding as he leans down to kiss the top of her head. "That's fine, honey. Just stick close to the car. We shouldn't be too long."

She nods numbly, leaning against the hood of the car as they climb the stairs and go inside. The Indominus's eyes are still on her, the feeling of being watched hasn't wavered at all. She refuses to look at the auras and see if the dinosaur is also physically turned her way, trying to see her with her real eyes. This is already creepy enough as it is. She just wants Owen to find out exactly what the Indominus is, make sure she won't ever get out, and then get the heck out of here.

But then, after several minutes, Claire comes bursting out the door and down the stairs, looking like the T-Rex is chasing her.

Or something else.

"Claire, what's going on?" Liv asks when the woman is close enough, never once tripping in her high heels as she runs.

"The Indominus has escaped," Claire says, her voice surprisingly calm even though panic fills her eyes. "I'm going back to the Control Room to track it while Owen and some of the others are go inside to find out how it escaped." She yanks the car door open and slips into the driver's seat. "Just stay here and wait for Owen. It shouldn't come back this way."

And with that Claire drives off, speeding towards the Control Room.

Leaving Liv outside with a dangerous dinosaur on the loose. She gulps heavily, trying to stay calm, but she still feels those eyes on her, knows without looking that the Indominus has to be close. Why hasn't she showed herself yet? With a shaky breath, she opens herself up to the auras. What she sees confuses her.

The Indominus is still in the paddock. She hasn't escaped at all. Why do they think she's out?

Her eyes fly open, staring at the paddock in horror. "Owen." She runs towards the paddock, unsure what to do. He's still in there, the Indominus is still in there, they're trapped in there together. Without other options, she screams, "Owen, get out! Get out now! The Indominus is in there! She's still in there with you!"

The most terrifying roar she's ever heard is her only response. Her blood runs cold.

It's a tense few seconds as she waits for something to happen and when something does her breath stops. The paddock doors begin to open, an overweight man running out as soon as the crack is wide enough.

There, running right towards her and practically nipping at Owen's heels, is the largest predator she's ever seen besides the Mosasaurus. She almost looks like a T-Rex except she's larger, with longer arms, white skin, and her head is shaped different, almost like a Velociraptor. There's yelling but she can't understand what the words are or if it's just guttural screaming.

She forgets how to move. How does she make her legs run again?

Owen suddenly grabs her and yanks her away, pulling her down to lie under a vehicle she vaguely recognizes as a crane, probably what they were using to feed the Indominus. With Owen beside her and the Indominus out of her direct line of sight she finally blinks and takes in a breath of air. Owen grabs her hand, squeezes. His eyes are just as scared as she feels and that makes her feel smaller, in a way. Owen isn't supposed to be scared. He's supposed to know what to do. He's supposed to be the one with a plan to get them out of this.

They will get out of this, right?

Over Owen's chest she sees the first man who ran out. He's sitting in front of a nearby truck in an effort to hide, holding some sort of necklace in his hand. She thinks he must be praying. They all should be because there's a very real possibility they're all about to die. The Indominus then bats the truck away like a toy car. The man just sits there. There's no sense in running. He knows what's about to happen. She does too so she closes her eyes. But she can still hear, can hear the cut-off screams and the sickening crunch of the man being eaten alive.

Owen's hands fly up into the underbelly of the crane they're hiding under, sifting through pipes until he finds the one he's looking for. He yanks it down and then severs it with a knife. Liquid comes pouring out, it's strong odor identifying it as gasoline, and he pours it over them both, rubbing it into their clothes, their skin. Masking their scent.

But not their auras.

The Indominus should still be able to see her. She doesn't know if the dinosaur can see other auras, too, but she wouldn't be surprised at this point. Tightly gripping to Owen's hand, she screws her eyes shut and concentrates. She practically throws her aura over his, faster than she's ever connected to another aura before, and then concentrates on bringing them both inward into their bodies. Auras glow on the outside of the body whenever Liv looks at them. Now, she slowly draws the auras inside themselves until every single spot of light is buried beneath skin, out of sight. She then holds it, unsure how long she can keep this up. She's only ever done this with her own aura, and never for very long. How long can she hold two?

There's loud sniffing a few feet away and her breath catches again. She must be close, so close, but does she know they're there?

She bites her lip, trying to hold in her whimper of fear, trying to hold her grip on their auras, but she can feel them starting to slip.

Then the ground vibrates with the heavy footfalls of the Indominus walking away and Owen lets out a sigh of relief next to her. "She's gone," he confirms, and Liv opens her eyes, letting their auras free again.

The Indominus, thankfully, doesn't turn back around. Either she's lost interest in Liv, finally, or she has more pressing things to do. Like what, Liv has no idea.

Owen drags her out from under the crane and then crushes her to him in a hug. She grabs onto him just as fiercely, her heart still beating incredibly fast.

"She didn't eat us," she says aloud, needing to hear it. "She didn't eat us. Why didn't she eat us? She knew we were out here and must have guessed at where we were hiding. Why didn't she tip over the crane like she did the truck?"

Owen pulls back and starts to lead her towards the only remaining car, never letting go of her hand. "To the Indominus, that crane equaled food. It was the only positive relationship she had and must have been unwilling to hurt it because of that."

Liv balks. "She didn't kill us because she cared about a crane?"

"Basically, yeah." They climb into the car, thankfully finding the keys in the glove box, and race down the road. "We better get to the Control Room. It's gonna be all hands on deck to catch this thing."

The security guard just inside the Control Room tries to stop Owen from entering, but when he sees Liv she just gives him one look and he lets them through without trouble. Inside, the room is a flurry of activity, and on the big screens down front she can see separate feeds from live cameras and the jagged lines of heart monitors next to men's faces. She recognizes Hamada's name and realizes it's the ACU team, going after the Indominus.

"What happened out there?" Owen demands, going straight to Claire. "There are thermal cameras all over that paddock. She did not just disappear."

Claire visibly readies herself and turns to face him with a calm voice. "It must have been some kind of a technical malfunction."

"Were you not watching? She marked up that wall as a distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped."

Liv can practically feel her face pale at that. She always knew this dinosaur was smart, can tell by the shade of her aura, but that's…that's scary smart. Almost human smart.

"Hold on," Claire says, more biting now. "We are talking about an animal here."

"A highly intelligent animal."

And that makes all the difference, doesn't it? Any animal can be dangerous, but give it intelligence? It could do anything.

"Four-hundred meters to the beacon," one of the computer techs says and Owen finally looks up at the screens.

"You're going after her with non-lethals?" Owen asks, his astonishment at their stupidity crystal clear.

"We have twenty-six billion dollars invested in that asset," an Indian man in an expensive suit says, gesturing towards the screen, and Liv realizes a bit belatedly that it's Simon Masrani, owner of the park. She wonders what he's doing here, it's not like he lives on the island, but that hardly matters now. "We can't just kill it."

"These men are gonna die," Owen says quietly but in full honesty.

Liv tunes them out, stepping closer towards the screen. It doesn't matter what anyone does now. They already made it to the Indominus.

The ACU team walks slowly, getting closer to the beacon, but even this far away Liv can see that they are not getting all that closer to the Indominus.

"She's tricking them," Liv says, throat constricting in fear. She wants to look away and yet she can't.

"How do you know that?" Masrani asks, but then they all see it for themselves. Hamada bends down and picks something up, a hunk of flesh clearly belonging to the Indominus, and buried in it is a pill-shaped device. "What is that?"

"That's her tracking implant," Owen answers in surprise, coming to stand next to her. "She clawed it out."

"How would it know to do that?" Claire asks.

"She remembered where they put it in."

"It can camouflage!" Hamada yells and then there's yelling and blood. Owen quickly grabs her arm and spins her around, holding her with her face buried in his chest, but she already saw more than she wanted to.

Hamada is dead. The man who was kind to her without her even knowing it. And based on those screams, the others are dying one by one as well.

She should be crying or something but all she can do is stand there, listening.

"Evacuate the island," Owen says when the sounds of death recede and Liv can sense the Indominus moving on.

"We'd never reopen," Claire protests, but weakly. Even she sounds small in this moment. Broken. Helpless.

Owen lets out a frustrated huff, holding her closer. "You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity. She is seeing all of this for the first time. She does not even know what she is. She will kill everything that moves."

"Do you think the animal is contemplating its own existence?" Masrani asks, curiosity in his voice.

"She is learning where she fits in the food chain. And I'm not sure you want her to figure that out."

Liv already knows where the Indominus considers herself. She thinks of herself as the top. She knows she is bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything else on this island. She sees it all as hers and she plans on taking what she wants.

Including Liv, as soon as she gets the chance.

Author's Note

I'm not sure where the thing with Hamada came from. I mean, someone filling up her ATV, that's something way back from chapter one, but I didn't decide who it was until I was writing this chapter. But I liked it, even though it made me really sad that Hamada still had to die though.

Hope this chapter wasn't too boring for you considering how much of it I took directly from the movie. The next few chapters definitely aren't this close though. Not in the slightest.

Next chapter will be Friday. We get to the part where I first made the decision to make this fic, the part with the Apatosaurus. It made me so sad watching that dinosaur die and then seeing what the Indominus did to the rest of the herd. That scene gave me the first push and watching Charlie, Delta, and Echo die shoved me over the cliff. Now here we are.

Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!