I'm sorry it's been so long! I really am! Other stories intervened and begged for attention and then the rest of my life went insane so yeah… I'm sorry. I also promised myself that I wouldn't post any more of my multi-chapter stories until I had finished writing them, so that I wouldn't ever leave you guys hanging forever. As you can guess, that took a bit of extra time. I'll be uploading the rest of this story within the next hour!
Blue glanced behind her. The jungle was silent except for the occasional sway of leaves from the breeze. She looked over at the raptor by her side. Despite her many attempts, Blue would still make a bit of noise as she moved through the dense foliage. Not so with Red. The creature made absolutely no sound as he padded alongside her. It had originally given her the creeps, but at this point she didn't mind it. As long as it helped them to avoid whatever other predators were out there, she was fine.
Suddenly Red stopped. He pointed his maw up in the air, his tiny nostrils flaring as he sniffed. Blue watched him, fascinated. It was hard not to be a bit entranced by the animal, watching him move and sense and think. And he could think – very well. Sometimes Blue would look over at him and swore she could see the thoughts running across his mind. Nobody had ever gotten to see this creature at work before. She was the first to behold this behavior.
"What is it, boy?" She asked quietly.
Red looked at her as if to tell her to shut up. Then he sniffed the air again. He turned his head away from her, towards something else. Without a word, he began to stalk in that direction.
"Hey!" Blue whispered fiercely. "Where do you think you're going?"
The raptor ignored her and continued in the direction he'd chosen. Rolling her eyes and mumbling exasperatedly, Blue followed after him as best she could, clambering over fallen branches and carefully avoiding gigantic, muddy footprints.
Red continued to hurry through the jungle, giving little thought to the girl racing to keep up with him. Although not fully grown, his strides were long and powerful, and Blue was scrambling to stay with him. After a couple minutes of this, the raptor suddenly stopped. Blue, startled, nearly poked herself in the eye with his tail.
"Watch it!" She hissed. She moved around the appendage and came to stand next to Red. "What is it?" She asked.
The raptor looked at her, then outwards. Blue saw that they were at the edge of the forest, looking at a huge clearing. Several pods of herbivorous dinosaurs were grazing. Blue sighed. "Are you telling me you're hungry?" She asked.
Red cocked his head at her. Blue mimed eating. "Hungry?" She repeated.
The raptor bobbed his head happily. Blue rolled her eyes. "Okay then. Go. Hunt. Eat your little raptor heart out."
Red continued to look at her with his head tilted, and Blue realized what was up. "Oh, wait – you hunt in packs, don't you?" She sighed. "Hoo boy. This is not going to be fun."
She looked around and saw a small family of… what were those things? Gallimimus? Well, they looked small and weak enough. Long, thing legs though… that meant they were quick…
"Okay – here's what we're going to do." Blue said. She outlined the plan a few times, miming every step and gesturing. She was pretty sure by the gleam in Red's eyes that he understood, but she wouldn't be certain until they were actually moving.
Creeping through the brush at the edge of the forest, Blue made her way towards the herbivores. She kept downwind of them – or what she thought was downwind. She certainly hoped that it was. It would be just her luck for them to smell her before she got close.
Luck was on her side, though, and she got within a few feet of them without being noticed. With a shout, Blue launched herself at them, waving her arms and yelling. The animals scattered, frantic and startled. One of them, small and young dashed away like the others. It got too close to the forest and with a flash so quick Blue would have missed it if she'd blinked, Red leapt onto the unfortunate youngster and slashed its stomach open. The creature fell to the ground, twitching and writhing.
Red made to tear into its stomach but Blue ran up and stopped him, holding up her hand and yelling, "Stop!"
To her surprise, the raptor obeyed. Red stared at her curiously.
"We're going to kill our food before we eat it." Blue said. She pointed to the prey's neck and mimed biting it.
Red bent down and took the thin neck in his jaws. He bit down and twisted a little. There was a sickening crunching and snapping sound, and the formerly struggling creature lay still. Red looked up at Blue.
"Hold." Blue said. She kept making the stop motion with her hand. "Hold… hold…"
Red kept staring at her.
"Go!" Blue dropped her hand.
She was pretty sure it was the dropping of the hand motion, which Red recognized, rather than her words that made him obey her. The raptor tore into the carcass; greedily eating every scrap of meat he could get his jaws on.
"This is like one of those nature shows." Blue muttered.
Within ten minutes, almost the entire young dinosaur had been consumed. Red finished, his tongue coming out to lick the blood on his maw. He rolled onto his back on the grass, making a noise of contentment. On a whim, Blue bent down and lightly scratched his underside. Red made a noise of happiness and stretched, exposing more of his stomach. Blue scratched some more as the raptor's eyes slid shut happily.
After a couple minutes of this, Blue stood up. "C'mon." She said. "I'm going to teach you a few things."
It had occurred to her that this was a young raptor; last night's massacre was probably his first hunt out of the nest. After all, those things became huge, and Red was barely up to Blue's height, which was definitely on the short side. The way Red behaved around her, listening to her and turning to her for advice, suggested that in the absence of his pack, he was looking to her as the adult from which to learn. This presented an opportunity. It was nice having company and possible protection, but what good were those if the raptor didn't listen, or couldn't understand her, or ended up killing her over a misunderstanding?
And so Blue decided to train him.
It didn't take nearly as long as she expected. Dr. Grant had no idea how right he was about raptor intelligence. Red recognized smells immediately, even if he'd only encountered them once before. He could tell different species, even different individuals, of dinosaurs apart and could pick said individuals out of the crowd. If Blue named a kind of dinosaur, he could then indicate that species when she called out the name. He could even tell a couple different colors apart.
Blue taught him her name, and his. She taught him different species so that she could tell him which kind to hunt and to avoid. She taught him commands, accompanied by hand signals. It got so that she could give him the signal silently and he could do it, or just the word with no signal. There was "stop", "go", "come", "hold" (wherein he held the same position, whatever it was, until Blue gave another command), "jump", "leap" (similar to "jump", only this one meant specifically to leap onto someone), "attack" (in whatever form the raptor preferred), "hide", "run", "roll over", and "nuzzle", which was where the raptor nuzzled Blue's face and she put her arms around his neck. She also taught him the difference between "good" and "bad" actions, although the moral and philosophical parts she kept away from. Obeying her, being quiet, and not picking her up by the scruff of her t-shirt were all "good". Ignoring her, snapping at her, and peeing on her shoe were all "bad".
By the time dusk was approaching, Red had learned several signals and commands, various other random things, and basically could communicate with Blue in simple ways. Blue felt quite proud. Who else in this world could say that they had trained a raptor?
The herbivores around the clearing were finishing their grazing; a few were beginning to wander towards their chosen sleeping areas. Blue lay down on the grass, feeling content. She still needed to find her stepbrother, but that could wait. For now, she was happy having an afternoon with her new… pet? Friend? Whatever Red was.
Of course, thinking about Nathan brought up questions about Red. How would he react upon seeing his sister accompanied by a killing machine? What would they do with Red once they were reunited? They couldn't exactly take him with them. Blue was certain that even if the media didn't manage to get all over this like with the San Diego debacle, then the government would find a way to get a hold of Red and experiment with him. She had no doubt that scientists would be fascinated with him and while Blue was all for the expansion of knowledge, nobody was going to touch her raptor.
It was while contemplating these heavy thoughts that Blue noticed Red had stood up. He had formally been lounging with his head on her chest. He seemed to like hearing her breathing. Perhaps it reminded him of cuddling up with his pack back home? But now he was standing, looking around warily and sniffing the air.
Blue sat up. "What is it?" She asked. She'd taught Red what that meant, and it was his queue to indicate whatever he was looking at or smelled or whatever. But this time he ignored her, looking around and peering into the trees surrounding the clearing.
Blue didn't like the looks of it. She stood up. "What is it?" She repeated, forcefully.
A terrible, ear-splitting roar shook Blue's entire body. Forget spine tingling; this made her spine vibrate violently and her entire body tremble. She looked around frantically.
"Red? What is it? Is that what I think it is?" Blue whispered, suddenly afraid to move.
Another roar shattered the air, as the herbivores grouped around them began to lower fretfully and hurry away from the sound. Red bumped his head against Blue's back, the indication for her to move. Blue felt frozen, like a character in a horror film who knows the killer is coming but isn't sure where from.
Red bumped his head against her back again. Suddenly, through the trees burst an enormous dinosaur, its face instantly recognizable. Despite seeing the skeletons of such a creature in museums, Blue still wasn't fully prepared for its immense size.
"Oh… my… God…" She breathed.
The T-Rex lunged forward, trying to get a hold of a Hadrasaur of some kind that was emerging itself in the pond. He missed, and the dinosaur swam to the safety of the middle of the pond. Unable to swim, the T-Rex could not follow. The carnivore let out a disappointed roar.
"Run." Blue whispered. "Run, Red, run!"
They tore away, booking it towards the safety of the trees. Blue was absolutely terrified. This was supposed to be cool. This was supposed to be fun. She loved dinosaurs; watching a T-Rex hunt should be one of the greatest things she'd ever witnessed. But she wasn't safely in a viewing box or something. She was right there, in the middle of it, and she could very well be the next victim.
The roar sounded again, this time closer, and Blue felt the ground periodically shake as the creature took huge steps. She panted, frantically picking up her pace. She was certain that the T-Rex was following her.
Just another twenty feet and she'd reach the trees where she could hide… just another twenty feet…
She was so focused on her goal that she wasn't watching where her feet were going. With an involuntary gasp, Blue tripped over a protruding root and fell, face-first, into the dirt. She immediately scrambled to her feet, but a triumphant roar over her head alerted her to the danger. It was too late.
Rolling over, Blue gaped at the towering creature above her. Oh God, it was so huge, and those teeth were so sharp and immense, and she was never going to see Nathan again, and oh fucking God…
The T-Rex roared in pain, stepping back, swinging his head around. Blue saw Red, growling and shrieking in that distinctly raptor way of his, fiercely attacking the massive dinosaur's ankles. The T-Rex turned, trying to see what was biting and clawing at him. Red ran around the side of the creature and picked Blue up by the scruff of her t-shirt.
Blue had never before appreciated just how strong raptors were. Red carried her, her clothing held securely but gently in her jaws, sprinting as if he didn't have a one hundred and some-odd pounds girl dangling from his mouth.
They reached the safety of the trees in a few seconds, but Red didn't stop. He kept running, dodging trees and jumping over plants until the frustrated roars of the T-Rex could no longer be heard. Then, and only then, did he drop Blue. She fell to the ground, landing on her butt with a thump. She looked up at Red. The raptor hung his head. He'd carried her by her clothing, which as she'd taught him was "bad". He was expecting a reprimand.
Blue stood up, wrapping her arms around the raptor that had just saved her life. "Good boy." She whispered, choking up. "You were such a good boy, Red. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Red nuzzled her happily.
Some of you may recall that in Jurassic Park, the T-Rex can't see you if you don't move. This was the theory of most scientists at the time of the book's writing and the first film's release, but after that it was discovered that while not gifted with the best vision, a T-Rex would still see you even if you weren't moving, so having Blue hold still wouldn't have worked. So in case any of you were wondering why I didn't have her freeze, that's why.