And the story continues... enter the dinosaurs!
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The first rays of the morning sun over the lake had encouraged Owen and he made true on his promise, showing Maisie the ropes of building a house after breakfast. This brought attention to his lack of a well-stocked fridge, but they'd save a trip into town for the afternoon. Food, and extra clothing for the girls. Claire was wearing another of his shirts over her jeans, and Maisie had been stuck in the same purple shirt for three days. They'd need to make a list. If anyone didn't know by now that dinosaurs roamed free again, they were living on an island that wasn't Isla Nublar.
Before Claire breaks both her thumbs. Owen thought behind a grin. He'd ceased teasing Claire aloud about it after she'd threatened to bruise his shoulder with said hammer. He found it hard to picture her throwing a perfect cast from a fishing boat when she was so sporadic with a hammer. And I thought her ride on the T-rex was ridiculous!
Luckily Claire wasn't joining him and Maisie on the roof, due to her leg. Owen had put her on dimension duty. Armed with a pencil and a level, she was in charge of marking the boards to be mounded up on the sides. Course, Owen hadn't counted on having to check- and re-check- all of her markings. How many times had he gone up and down this ladder?
Claire was taking a break now though. She nursed her thigh on the northwest corner, talking rapidly on her cell. Something about re-configuring the DPG office space. Apparently, the change in their mission affected whose desk went where. Owen went between watching her and keeping his balance as he and Maisie progressed toward the end of the roof. He hadn't been able to get the girl to stop all morning; she was gobbling the idea of manual labor up. His kind of woman.
Maisie pounded the last corner nail in, securing the board to the stud. She looked up with a big, accomplished grin. "Ready for the next one!"
Owen chuckled, forgetting Claire and drawing the next plank around. "Ease up, hoss. You need to go easy or you might split the wood." He took a nail from his belt. "You'll wanna prevent that by dulling the point of the nail, here... just enough to keep it from splitting, but still hold it in place."
Maisie's eyes followed the nail, hammer poised as he set it into place on the next corner. "Where'd you learn so much, Owen?"
"My dad and uncle ran a tree farm together." Owen paused to realign the board. "They know all things wood; had me building and carving before I would walk."
He nodded and Maisie hammered- gently- the nail in. "Is that why you like it so much? Because they taught you?"
Owen marveled at the way her questions seemed to go deeper then her words. Maybe it was the accent. He readied the next nail. "I guess so. I chose to join the Navy on my own though."
Maisie's pigtails bounced over her shoulders as she hammered the nail in. "How did you chose to-"
An low groan rising above the tree line cut her sentence short. They both stilled, Maisie's eyes going big as Owen's throat tightened. He stood up slowly to where he could see the trees that cowered the west bank of the lake. It stayed quiet... until there was movement and the snapping of branches.
"Stay here." Owen told Maisie, one foot already down the ladder. "Claire!"
She looked up, eyes transmitting her annoyance at being interrupted. Apparently she was too concerned with desks to notice anything! Owen dropped from the ladder and darted over as the second groan sounded from along the lake. This one, Claire heard. "Zia, I'll call you ba-"
Owen hoisted her up bridal-style and got them to the ladder as the echo of large, galloping footsteps came closer. There was an foot hill that set the cabin above the lake; it might work to their advantage, make their movements less noticeable... if the dinosaur stayed by the lake. Claire managed to climb as Owen supported her weak side. He prepared to follow when he caught sight of the sinoceratops. It was coming up, nearer and nearer the cabin, though it hugged the edge of the lake... looking for a good spot to drink?
"Owen." Claire hissed. But Owen remained still until the sinoceratops had turned its head and bent down for a drink to climb up. Claire grabbed his hand as he joined her and Maisie. They laid on their stomachs across the boards, Maisie between them, all eyes forward for a better view of the dino trespasser. Its massive head rose up, gave a contented noise, then lumbered from side to side... like taking in its surroundings. Claire and Maisie looked somewhere between awe and on edge, wondering what it was going to do. Owen just held his breath. It was an herbivore... only had one horn...
The sinocertops turned up the bank, headed for the timber frame of the cabin. Owen groaned. "Oh boy."
"Nobody's seen the sino since the auction." Claire risked a whisper over Maisie's head. "Maybe it's the last one to be tracked."
Owen watched the dinosaur stagger closer. "Have they tracked them all?"
The sino reached the cabin, sniffed at one of the corner post Claire had just been sitting at. Claire swallowed. "Franklin sent the files to himself when we were on the island, but he's running into problems with... converting stuff."
That sounded helpful, and like she hadn't gotten the whole story. No one did, so soon after the whole fiasco with Mills and his band of idiots holding a dinosaur auction! The dust had settled at Lockwood's estate, only to be stirred up again by the press and every local and federal boot print within the United States. A statewide lockdown had been announced this morning, California's borders armed and dangerous until the government could formulate a plan to 'corral' these dinosaurs. A reporter's words, not Owen's.
Corral. He thought, eyeing the sino as it snorted. Yeah, right.
The sinoceratops snorted again, backed up... and rammed its head into the post! Owen grabbed Maisie by the waist as the whole frame shook, gripping an exposed rafter with his other hand. The sino moaned, rubbing its head back and forth on the post.
"What's it doing?" Maisie cried as the cabin continued to rattle. Owen eyed Claire, who gave a helpless shrug. "It's... just got an itch. Or, something."
The sinoceratops moved from the corner post, giving them time to readjust their grip. Owen moved his hand, feeling a splinter dig into his palm. He eyed up to the ridge, where the frame for the 2nd story started. The posts he'd jointed there were eight inches apart, and sturdier then where they were now. He pointed up. "Maisie, grab one of those."
The girl scrambled up easily. Owen helped Claire sit up. "We'll have to wait her out-"
They were both thrown back as the sino found another post to head butt. Wood split as Claire screamed. Instinct had Owen reaching and catching her arms before she tumbled off the roof. The lower half of her body dangled in the air and her face clenched in pain as she stared intently at Owen. "I can't... Owen, I can't climb up-"
The sino sent another shockwave over the frame. Owen braced himself against the pull of gravity, dragging his closer to the edge of the eave. Flattening his weight against the boards, he scooted forward until his forehead touched Claire's. "Loop your arms around my neck."
The frame continued to shake and shift, but Claire did it, clutching Owen tight. He felt the fear in her breath as he bore down and pulled her back up. The roof wasn't wide enough yet, so he stretched them sideways; ending with Claire's torso over his. He watched the sky- ironic in its tranquil blue- and got his breath. He tried a laugh. "You can unlock that death grip now."
Claire turned her face, eyes close enough for him to count her eyelashes. "On second thought, you're good."
She gave him that Really, now? look, reaching up to grab the post beside Maisie. Owen sighed. Why were there always dinosaurs that interfered with their flirting?
The frame finally stilled. Nobody moved for several moments, until Maisie peeked past her lifeline. "I... I think it's bored now."
Owen and Claire shared a look, then sat up- slowly. Sure enough, the sino was making its way back toward the lake. Maisie risked sliding back in-between Owen and Claire, placing a trembling hand in Owen's. She either trusted too easily, or when she chose to trust, she did it wholeheartedly. Either way, Owen gave her a reassuring squeeze. They sat and waited ten more minutes, until the sino was on the other side of the lake, nibbling grass.
The ladder had been the first to topple over, so Owen had Maisie shimmy down on the bearing side, setting it back up for them. Claire batted Owen back, stating she could get down herself. Owen didn't fight her, distracted with the damage done to the back of the frame. What had been meant for a back door to a deck, was now a busted set of wooden stakes, the horizontal beam slanted over the opening. He walked over, but already knew it wasn't salvageable. He'd have to dismantle that part of the frame, measure and cut new logs... only to, what? Have a T-rex stomp a hole through the roof... preferably in the same spot he was planning to put a fireplace! But he should check Claire's stitches first, make sure they hadn't ripped. Then he needed to scout, see if any other prehistorics were hanging around. He needed to do a lot of things... and NONE of them were finishing his cabin!
Owen cursed, swinging a punch at the shattered wood. It hurt, but he swallowed any reaction and stalked toward the trailer.
"Owen?" Claire, leaning on Maisie, watched him walk by. "Where are you going?"
Owen turned with a huff. "Making a list, then going to town. We're going to have to set up a perimeter, a warning system of some kind."
Maisie's face fell. "Will we be fixing the cabin?"
"We'll see." Owen said, resuming his path to the trailer. The way he was feeling right now, he didn't want anyone near the cabin.
More to come (dinosaurs and character development). There's a lot of aftermath to get through and I'm loving every minute of it! Hope you guys are as well! Thanks for the reads and reviews!
