Disclaimer: I do not own the Jurassic Park franchise or any of it's characters; I only own the characters and plots of my own mind.
10. A Jurassic Nightmare
Never before had the smell of drying paint seemed so welcoming. When Alan pushed the door to the visitor's center open, they were greeted with the acrid scent of paint and the cool rush of air conditioning. The air felt like an arctic breeze compared to the heated, humid hellscape that they'd been subjected to trekking through all day. It was so wonderful that Gwyn nearly dropped to her knees in relief. Instead, she walked into the spacious lobby just beside Alan. Tim was slumped against his shoulder exhaustedly, head lolled into the crook of the paleontologist's neck.
"Hello?" Alan called out, voice echoing.
The entire building seemed still. Quiet. Not a soul shuffled around upstairs or rushed to greet them. Any other day, that might have just been brushed off. Sometimes buildings were quiet. But the last twenty-four hours made them extremely weary, so they proceeded into the visitor's center with some caution, quietly sweeping each nook and cranny with their eyes as they went. They eventually approached the double-doors that led to the dining room. One was slightly ajar, evidence that at least someone had been in the building recently. Upon pulling it open, the empty dining room was revealed. There were a couple of food items and plates on a table in the center of the room, but otherwise, there was no evidence that anyone was around.
"Okay. I'm gonna have to find the others," Alan breathed. "Get you…" he walked over to one of the tables, and carefully deposited Tim atop it, "to a doctor." Lex sat down in a chair just behind Tim, the wicker creaking with the new weight. "Lex, you look after Tim."
"Yeah," Lex agreed easily.
Alan looked to Gwyn and arched a brow. "You look after Lex?"
"Sure thing." Gwyn nodded. He winked at her and mussed her already messy hair, which caused her to smile easily for the first time in hours. Her father then turned back to Tim with a gentle smile on his own face.
"Hey––your hair is all sticking up," he commented, patting down Tim's frazzled blond locks. He then pat the boy's shoulder and smiled a little more. "Big Tim, the human piece of toast. I'll be back soon, I promise." With that, he strode from the room, steps intent.
Gwyn turned her attention to the other side of the room, were the most beautiful display of food was laid out to them. Everything was there from bread to cake, but nothing had ever seemed more tempting than the pitchers of water on the first table. As Tim made a beeline for the confections table and Lex started to carefully load a plate with carefully selected items, Gwyn was set on drinking as much of that water as possible. The pitcher was glass and the water was warm, but the minute it touched her lips, its presentation and temperature didn't matter. She gulped down mouthful after mouthful of water, disregarding the use of a glass. Some of it spilled out of the corners of her mouth, dribbled down her chin, and splashed up against her nose; but all of that was surprisingly refreshing.
After the now half-empty pitcher was set aside, Gwyn looked up and straight into a rectangular mirror that hung over the table. She looked an absolute fright. Her hair was tangled and matted with sweat and mud. The tops of her cheeks, nose, and forehead were pink with sunburn. There was a nasty but shallow cut slicing across her left temple, around which blood had crusted and dried. Blood had also dried over an abrasion on her right cheek; and as she reached up to gently probe it with her fingers, she realized there were a couple cuts on her hands as well. There were a smattering of hairline scratches on her arms, but the majority of the damage on the rest of her body seemed to be smudges of dirt and dried mud. Gwyn also noted how tired she looked. She looked a lot more tired than any eleven year-old had the right to be. Her father would be right, she suspected––when they got home, she was definitely going to sleep for a week.
With her need for water momentarily satied, and her mirror gazing done, Gwyn followed Lex's lead and started to load a plate chock-full of food. They would take bites as they went, leaving what they didn't like, and making suggestions when something delicious hit their tongue. Gwyn ended up with an assortment of slightly stale beady, sweaty cheese slices, and some pastries. The kids all then sat themselves down at the table Alan had left them at and dug in. They didn't speak. They just ate and picked off each other's plates without inhibitions. They felt safe for the first time in hours. They felt happy for the first time in hours. It finally appeared that they could let their guards down and just stuff their faces with the most disgustingly delicious combination of foods. Any other day, Gwyn would have winced at the idea of swallowing a mouthful of cheese and apple pie, but she found it was surprisingly to her liking.
When the majority of the food on their plates had been most scarfed down, they all took to smiling at each other in happy relief. Lex beamed as she munched down on a strawberry. Tim grinned around a mouthful of melted ice cream. Gwyn laughed happily as she tore off a hunk of bread. But as she was about to pair the bread with some cheese, Gwyn noticed a sharp shift in Lex's demeanor and body language. The older girl had just scooped up some green jello and had raised the spoon to her mouth. But her shoulders had gone stiff, her mouth tense, and her eyes slowly began to widen. The jello in the spoon started to jiggle and dance and wobble as her hand trembled. A cold shiver ran up Gwyn's spine when she realized that Lex was looking at something. And that was when they heard it––the snorting. The heavy breathing of something bigger than them.
Gwyn slowly followed Lex's gaze and found her own eyes blowing wide in horror. On the wall behind Tim, which was painted with the mural, there was a shadow. One that almost perfectly mimicked the painted image of the velociraptor. The shadow's head shifted as it started to look around, its approach slow and its arrival inevitable. A shocked gasp tore from Tim's throat as he, too, spotted the shadow. Gwyn slowly began to get out of her chair, trying not to bump the table with her knees.
"Kitchen," was all she said, pointing to the door at the back of the room. Lex nodded and quietly deposited the jello and spoon on the table. Gwyn kept her eyes locked on the shadow as she helped Tim out of his chair and ushered him towards his sister. Then they make a break for it, running on their toes in hopes that would be quiet enough.
After entering the kitchen, Lex leaned back on the door to shut it. It closed noisily, much to their distress. Lex had Tim pulled against her with a protective arm, and Gwyn stood beside them, her back braced against the metal door. The kitchen was large and filled with stainless steel preparation areas. There were four lines of metal counters topped with various items abandoned in the stress of the day prior, aisles of space separating them. A door to a walk-in freezer was situated all the way across the kitchen to their right. Lex switched the lights of with a couple swipes of her hand. The industrial refrigerator buzzed lowly. They ran down the first aisle in a crouch, before they all dropped into a huddle at the end of the first row of counters. They all clung to each other, nervous fingers grasping tightly as they waited.
They listened to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the kitchen door. There was a low chittering sound as the footsteps stopped. Moving as slowly as humanly possible, Gwyn and Tim leaned around the edge of the counter and looked towards the kitchen door. There was a circular window towards the top of it, and through that window peered the narrowed eye of a velociraptor. It shifted till it peered down its snout, a sharp exhale of hot breath fogging up the window. At that, Gwyn and Tim retreated to their hiding spot, breathing hard. Gwyn felt like her heart was going to explode. There was a pause of complete silence. And then a peculiar sound filled the room. A repeated, heavy clicking. With furrowed brows, Gwyn peered around the counter a second time and nearly cried at what she saw.
The lever handle on the door was dancing up and down as the velociraptor on the other side pushed at it.
There was one final click and a squeal as the door was pushed just slightly ajar. Gwyn quickly retreated and pressed a hand over her mouth and nose. Her eyes stung with tears of terror and her chest convulsed in an attempt to sob. From behind the darkness of her eyelids, she listened to the door hinges squeal open and shut, open and shut. She listened to the sound of the velociraptor butting its head against the door in an attempt to open it fully. And then, accompanied by a throaty cry, she heard the door swing open.
"Timmy, what is it?" Lex asked in a hissed whisper.
"It's a velociraptor," was his quiet reply.
"It's inside…"
"It's not good…" Gwyn squeaked out, hand dropping.
After a brief pause, in which Gwyn opened her eyes again, the most spine-chilling sound filled the kitchen. It was low and throaty, almost like a cough, but more resonant and rattling. It was followed by a secondary whining sound. Gwyn realized with utter horror, as two sets of heavy feet tromped into the kitchen, that they'd just heard the velociraptor's hunting call. There was a chorus of hissing, chittering, and growling as the two velociraptors snapped at each other. Lex craned her head up and over the counter briefly before she gasped, sat back down, and let out a terrified breath.
"Follow me," she whispered. She shifted onto her hands and knees and crawled diligently towards the next row of counters.
Gwyn urged Tim to follow before she took up the rear, trembling––no, shaking hands padding against the floor. Her knees bit against the cold tile floor as she crawled. She silently told herself not to look to the right, but morbid curiosity got the best of her and she looked anyways. She saw the two swiveling heads of the raptors, their eyes narrowing and widening as they intelligently took stock of their surroundings. Every word her father had ever said regarding the intelligence of a velociraptor flooded her head. It put into perspective just how bad of a situation they were in. They had thought they'd been in deep shit with the tyrannosaurus-rex; they were in an even worse spot now.
Just as the three started to crawl up the aisle between the second and third set of counters, Gwyn heard something pacing up on the opposite side. It was breathing heavily. It was growling. It was walking with a slow deliberateness that terrified her. When it hissed a particularly loud growl, they all immediately threw themselves flush against the counter, hoping it would not notice they were there.
Thud. Thud.
Click-click. Click-click-click.
The sound of claw tapping against tile.
They waited till they heard the raptor pace in the opposite direction they were headed, and started to crawl again. Then, following another hunting cry, a leathery skinned tail whipped out and knocked a pile of pots and pans into the kids' path. Gwyn let out a cry of instinctive surprise. Her heart leapt into her throat as they started the mad scramble to clear the aisle, the pots and pans clattering as they shoved past them, covering the sounds of flesh slapping against tile. Tim was anxiously waving at Gwyn to hide at the end of the third row of counters. When she slid in beside, he leaned back––straight into a set of hanging cooking utensils. With a gasp, he raised his hands to silence them. Everything was momentarily quiet. And then fate saw a ladle fall from the rack behind Tim and Gwyn. It hit the floor with a sharp clatter and an excitable chatter was heard from the velociraptors. Lex, who was just around the corner in the third aisle, tugged on Gwyn's arm.
There was a loud clang as something heavy dropped atop one of the counters. The footsteps were louder, noisier––quicker.
Gwyn and Lex had made it to the end of the third, with Gwyn dashing to hide at the end of the fourth, and Lex hiding at the end of the third. Tim had taken his sister's initial place, back braced against the counter. The girls anxiously waved at him, pleaded him with their eyes, but he just shook his head as the velociraptors chattered. With quick thinking, Lex snagged a kitchen utensil, reached out, and tapped at the end of the aisle they'd just escaped from. She then crawled into a small cabinet space that had a door that would slide down to hide her. Gwyn waved at Tim again, mouthing 'come on' anxiously. He shook his head once again.
An ecstatic snarling erupted, filling the kitchen with its high-pitched warbling. It was followed by quick footsteps as one of the velociraptors made a run for Lex––or, in reality, her panicked reflection in the kitchen unit. Gwyn watched as the raptor ran into it head-on, the thin sheet metal crinkling upon impact. She seized this moment to scramble back down to Tim, huddling up beside him as the kitchen was plunged into silence once more. They watched as Lex dashed towards the fourth aisle. Gwyn, through her terror, realized that Tim had spotted something. She craned her head to the side and noticed what he did––the freezer door. It was open. There was another velociraptor just behind them, she could hear it. Then, Gwyn noticed Tim start to shift his weight to his feet.
"No!" she hissed in a panicked whisper. "Tim, no!"
But before Gwyn could grab the back of his shirt, Tim was up on his still wobbly legs and hobbling towards the freezer. At Tim's sudden burst of movement, there was a loud snarling sound from behind Gwyn. The counter shook and she was horrified to look up and see one of the raptor's feet braced against the corner of the counter. She was jostled as the velociraptor launched itself after Tim.
"No, no, no," Gwyn muttered like a mantra, scrambling to get to her feet. Once she was even slightly standing, she took off after both the raptor and Tim.
Gwyn watched from behind as Tim, screaming, hobbled into the freezer with the raptor hot on his heels. The raptor slipped on the watery, icy flooring and crashed into a rack of half-thawed food. Then, to Gwyn's utter horror, she watched Tim slip and fall. He struggled to get back to his feet, the toes of his shoes slipping in the slush on the floor. Gwyn let out something akin to a war cry, caught herself on the freezer door, and grabbed Tim by the back of the shirt. She practically through the young boy out of the walk-in before she scrambled to grab the door. Wide-eyed, she made eye-contact with the velociraptor in the freezer. It snarled at her. It growled. It let out its hunting cry as it rushed at her. Screaming, Gwyn pushed on the door, hoping to shut it before the dinosaur slipped through. The door closed, but it closed on the raptor's snout. Its razor sharp teeth snapped as Gwyn pushed as hard as she could. Its breath smelled of rancid blood and decaying flesh. Tim was suddenly at her side, helping her shove as one of the velociraptor's arms worked its way through the crack in the door. It was scrabbling to find purchase on something, lashing out in a primal panic. It was then, As Gwyn pushed her whole body against the freezer door that she felt it.
Something wickedly sharp pierced the flesh of her chest unforgivingly. There was a violent pull as that sharpness jaggedly sliced diagonally across the expanse of exposed skin; Gwyn shrieked in agony. She could feel the tip of the velociraptor's claw slice through her flesh, inch by agonizing inch. The claw would stop, stuck briefly, before it was violently yanked again to continue its path along her chest. Skin was separated, torn apart in a single violent motion that seemed to last for hours. Gwyn felt like she was being torn in two, the indescribably, breath taking pain seizing every muscle in her her body. She didn't even know if she was screaming any more. There was one last painful yank as the claw disappeared.
Gwyn stumbled back from the door, the world numb and dim around her. Tim and Lex's cries as the pushed at the door were muffled. The velociraptor's screeching was distant. Gwyn gasped in a rattling breath as warmth gushed down the front of her torso in a steady trickle. That was when she fell. Now collapsed on the floor with tears blurring her eyes, she looked down at her chest and nearly vomited. There was a long, ragged gash in her chest, freely bleeding as it throbbed with her erratic heartbeat. Another agonized cry ripped from her mouth and she instinctively brought her hands up to press against the wound. She was going to die. She knew it. Right there, on the kitchen floor, she would die. It was the second time in twenty-four hours Gwyn Fiona Grant had had that thought, but this time, she was sure it was true. The entire world had become painful. It was a pain that didn't seem to have end, and Gwyn was trying not to succumb to it––but she didn't know how long she could keep that up.
In this haze of pain, Gwyn barely registered the fact that Tim and Lex had grabbed her by the arms and dragged her through the kitchen. She didn't know that the blood on her hands was slithering down her wrists and onto the Murphys' fingers. She couldn't hear them sobbing her name. The last thing Gwyn saw before she was dragged from the kitchen was the looming form of a velociraptor on the opposite side of the kitchen.
OOOO
The last thing Alan and Ellie had expected to see upon entering the dining room was Lex and Tim dragging Gwyn out of the kitchen. They were crying––sobbing––as they pulled, their hands tightly curled around the other girl's wrists. Alan's brows crunched together as premature panic started to well up in his throat. His gun was still bared, but it slowly lowered upon realizing that something was very, very wrong.
"She's hurt, she's really hurt!" Lex sobbed.
"Oh my god––Alan…" Ellie rushed out in a shocked hush, eyes wide and locked on the girl the Murphys were dragging.
Alan scrambled to his knees, gun hanging from his shoulder by its strap, scooping his daughter into his lap and his arms. He paled and gaped at what he saw. Panic, full blown and hot, washed through his body upon seeing the bloody wound that gaped across Gwyn's chest. The front of her shirt was drenched in blood, her skin was pale, and she appeared barely conscious. She was actively bleeding––she was bleeding so much. In a panic, Alan pressed his hands to the crooked, jagged slice, wincing at the pained cry that Gwyn gave at the added pressure.
"Gwyn?" Alan questioned in a panic. For a terrifying moment, she didn't seem responsive to the sound of his voice, and he felt his heart stop. But then she shook with a pained, terrified sob, and raised a bloody hand to weakly grasp his wrist.
"Dad…" Gwyn sobbed. Alan felt his hands starting to shake, he felt fearful tears start to prick at his eyes. He lifted one hand, now slick with his own daughter's blood, and shakily smoothed tangled hair out of her face. He was hushing her with stuttered, panicked 'shh's, trying to keep her calm.
"I-It was the velociraptor!" Tim exclaimed, grabbing onto Ellie's arm.
"It's in there!" Lex cried, pointing back towards the kitchen.
"Control room," Ellie managed to get out, voice steadfast but shaking. Tim had leapt into her arms, and he clung to her like a koala. Lex had a handful of Ellie's tanktop fisted in her hand, eyes wide and focused on the kitchen. "Alan, we have to go now."
Alan started to shift his arms around Gwyn, trying to figure out the best way to pick her up. There would be no easy way to do it––she was going to be in pain any way that he went about it. "I'm gonna have to move you, sweetie…" he murmured, shifting an arm under her knees. He braced the other across her back, hand clutching her shoulder tightly; probably too tight, but he felt as though if he held her any looser, he'd lose her. "It's not gonna feel good, but I have to do it. You're gonna be okay… you're gonna be alright."
Without a warning, which wouldn't have done good anyway, Alan hoisted Gwyn into his arms, cradling her half-limp, bloody body to his chest. As predicted, she cried out in pain, a fresh flush of tears streaming from her eyes. Alan had never been so scared in his life. A cruel, cruel part of his brain kept reminding him that there was a chance that Gwyn would not make it. That they wouldn't get off the island on time, she wouldn't receive the medical attention she needed, and that he would lose the only thing that had ever really mattered to him. Alan had never felt more helpless than he did listening to her whimpers as they sprinted back to the control room. There was nothing he could do to take away her pain. He muttered a mantra of 'it's going to be okay' under his breath as they moved; Alan was saying it for both himself and his partially lucid daughter.
The group dashed into the control room, which was dead silent and perfectly empty. Alan kicked the door shut behind him, the sole of his boot rough and unforgiving with the metal. He rushed to put Gwyn down, propping her up in a swiveling desk chair. He looked around the room frantically as he continued to press a hand to her wound. On the desk he'd seated Gwyn at, there was bright red t-shirt with the Jurassic Park logo blazoned across the chest. Damning that logo violently for all it had done to him, and to his family, Alan grabbed the shirt and pressed it against Gwyn's chest. The bleeding had seemed to slow, but he was not about to take any chances.
"I-I have this left over from helping Ian…" Ellie crouched down on Gwyn's other side. She pulled out a skimpy roll of bandages from her pocket and started to set about securing the wadded up t-shirt to Gwyn's chest. While she did so, Alan clasped Gwyn's face in his hands, which he'd wiped off on his shirt; the denim wash of said shirt was now forever ruined by large splotches and erratic smears of blood.
"Gwyn, can you look at me? Hey, sweetheart, can you look at me?" he murmured gently. Gwyn's bleary eyes came into slow focus on her father's face. There was a glazed look in her eyes, one that scared him. Yet, he somehow managed a smile. "Hey, there. Now, look, I'm gonna need you to keep awake, okay? No sleeping, no matter how much you want to. I want you to… I…"
"Count as high as you can, okay, Gwyn? Can you do that?" Ellie asked. She tied off the bandage tightly and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Gwyn, seeming a little more responsive, looked to Ellie. The paleobotanist also tried for a smile, but it came out a little more pained, a little more teary. "Just keep counting, see as high as you can go." Gwyn nodded weakly, a hand rising to rest on her makeshift bandaging. She started to count under her breath.
"One… two… three…"
"Are we gonna call for help?" Lex asked, suddenly, pacing nervously by the door.
"We have to reboot the system first!" Ellie informed frantically, limping over to the bay of computers. Alan pressed a long, loving kiss to Gwyn's forehead before he returned to the door to lock it––but he couldn't. The locks weren't manual, they were electronic.
"The door locks!" he called to Ellie. He shifted the gun back into his grip, a new surge of determination washing through his body. They will get off the island, Gwyn will get the attention she needs, they will survive. Alan ducked his head to see if he could push them free, but he couldn't. "Ellie, boot up the door locks!" When he looked back up, there was a flare of breath against the window––and he turned to find a velociraptor glaring right at him.
He watched, wide-eyed, as it bent its head towards the handle of the door. Slowly, the lever handle started to press down. With a gritted 'no,' Alan grabbed the handle and pushed the whole of his weight against the door. It was useless, however, as the beast on the other side trilled angrily and forced it open. Alan grunted in surprise and flung himself back at the door, which slammed it shut. The gun was tossed from his hand.
Gwyn, still counting muffledly under her breath, could barely make sense of what was happening around her. There was shouting as Alan and Ellie pushed themselves against the door. There was excitable chattering as Lex and Tim crowded around the computer beside her. The door slammed open and closed as the velociraptor behind it fought to get it open. All the while, Gwyn counted higher and higher, focusing on staying lucid. By the time she reached forty, she felt more awake than she had been. Things were coming into a little more focus, but god did she feel drained. Words were starting to sound clearer.
"I can't get it unless I move!"
"This might be the right file…"
Suddenly, there was a triumphant chirping, a final slam of the door, and a cheer. Lex had done it––she had rebooted the system. Locked the doors. Catching ear of this, Gwyn smiled blearily.
"You're one good hacker…" she muttered, which sent Lex into excited laughter.
Gwyn felt herself being scooped up, a comforting hand cradling her head to a shoulder.
"I've got you…" Ellie murmured, "You're gonna be okay…"
"Thanks, mom…" Gwyn muttered into Ellie's neck. It had just slipped out, she hadn't meant to say it––but it felt right. She could feel a small gasp jolt the woman's chest. The arms holding her held her tighter. A pair of lips was pressed firmly to her temple, another silent promise that everything would turn out okay.
"What works?" Alan asked hurriedly.
"All security systems enabled––we got it!" Lex enthused, voice breathy.
There was a rattle and some clicking sounds––the sound of a phone being lifted from its cradle, and buttons being pressed. There was a pause, where Gwyn thought she heard Tim muttering 'come on, come on' accompanied by the sound of a small hand hitting a chair. "Mr. Hammond––the phones are working." A beat. "Lex and Timmy are fine," it was here his voice broke, "but we've gotta get Gwyn to a hospital now. Call the mainland. Tell them to send the damn helicopters."
There was a shattering sound.
"It's gonna come through the glass!" Ellie cried in terror. Gwyn felt herself clutched tighter.
If she had only just been coming back into a state of fuller lucidity, Gwyn was forced into further awareness at the sound of gunshots. She screamed, shaking arms finding their way around Ellie's neck. Eyes wide, Gwyn looked around with a hammering heart, the adrenaline flushing through her system the only thing making her feel so awake. Two more shots were fired before Alan tossed the gun aside, grabbed a large industrial ladder, and set it up in the middle of the room.
"Everyone up, now!" he yelled.
Tim and Lex scrambled up one side, and Ellie carried Gwyn up on the other. A metal grated ceiling tile had been shoved aside to allow them access to the crawl spaces. Tim and Lex each helped Gwyn extract herself from Ellie's arms and crawl in beside them. The uneven line of her wound throbbed violently, painfully, unignorable. But she had to try and ignore it; because survival was more important than pain. A grunt passed her lips as she, Lex, Tim, and Ellie hustled aside to allow Allan to pull himself into the ceiling. Once he did, he kicked the ladder over with a clatter. A shiver rolled down Gwyn's spine as, beneath them, the velociraptor wheezed in displeasure.
It took little time for Alan to gesture them in a direction, leading the way as they crawled under slews of wires and aluminum tubing. Gwyn felt shaky on her hands and knees, but it proved she was at least a little mobile. The grating shifted under her knees as she moved, the metal biting into her knees; but it was a dull, unimpressive pain that she could deal with. Breath hissed in and out of Gwyn's mouth steadily. It was what she focused on as she moved. She didn't focus on the throbbing in her chest, the wooziness in her head, or the fact that her hands were painted in blood. She focused on breathing in, breathing out, and following her father.
Suddenly, Lex screamed as the grate she'd been kneeling on was shoved upwards, balanced atop the head of a velociraptor. Gwyn heard her father yell, heard the solid contact of his boot meeting the dinosaur's skull, and then watched as it dropped away. And as the velociraptor fell, the grate and Lex went with it. Momentarily forgetting her injury, Gwyn cried out and reached for her friend, hands grabbing for her feet. But the violent flail of her arms sent a shockwave of pain through Gwyn's body, and caused her to crumple in on herself with a sob. By the time she looked back up, eyes blurred with tears, Alan and Ellie had pulled Lex back up, and they were all scrambling for a sturdier looking vent.
"C'mon, sweetie, we're almost there," Alan exhaled, helping Gwyn crawl into their escape route. He was quick to follow, muttering assurances as they moved.
That vent led out onto the scaffolding in the main lobby. Alan dropped down first and reached up to help Gwyn down. Once everyone was out of the ceiling, he slipped onto the next scaffold, which swayed on flimsy looking chains, and then dropped down to the third and final platform. Gwyn moved quicker than she thought she would have been able to, though she could feel the fatigue and exhaustion beginning to seep back into her limbs. By the time she'd collapsed into her father's side on the third set of scaffolding––the swaying of which was turning her stomach––there was a throaty, chittering growl from behind them. Swiveling her head, which was starting to swim, Gwyn spotted their hunter, glowering at them from the landing. There was no more scaffolding to climb onto––there was only the suspended skeletons. So it was there that they clambered.
Gwyn's trembling fingers clutched at the spine of the sauropod, Alan's hands aiding in steadying her as she found a spot to cling to. Just as she felt as steady as she could be, the skeleton swayed as the velociraptor jumped, knocked into it, and sent it rocking. The added weight and the violent motion sent the portions of the skeleton splitting apart. Gwyn cried out as she wound her arms around the poky vertebrae, the world twirling and spinning around her. It was especially disorienting to her, what with the fact that it had already felt like everything had been spinning. It wasn't long before the sounds of snapping cables filled the room. Bones started to drop to the floor in sudden slews, bringing with them the people that clung to them. But Gwyn kept holding on. Even as she felt the torso of the sauropod start to swing towards the ground, she clung to the bones with what strength she had left. A scream was jostled from her body as the ribcase of the skeleton made contact with the floor.
After a second of stillness, Gwyn allowed herself to slip off the decimated skeleton, her side making contact with the floor painfully. For a moment, all she wanted to do was lay there. Her body didn't want to move anymore. It wanted to rest. She wanted to rest. But the ear-tingling sound of a velociraptor's cry sent a wave of sheer terror through her body. Gwyn started to stumble to her feet, crying out when the first thing she laid eyes on upon standing up was the velociraptor itself. The first step she took backwards was unsteady, but Alan was there to catch her. He hoisted her up onto his back, hands clinging to the back of her knees with a vice-like grip. Gwyn wound her arms around his neck, locked her knees around his waist, and clung to him like her life depended on it. Alan started to shuffle backwards, bringing everyone along with him, bringing them away from the predator in front of them.
A scream ripped its way from Gwyn's mouth when a second velociraptor skid into the room. It seemed to scream right back. Everyone huddled together in a tight clump, hands clinging to arms and shirts, no one letting their back face either of the velociraptor. Gwyn stared wide-eyed at the creature, aware that they were very much trapped. There was nothing that they could do. Nowhere that they could run. A sob worked its way up in her chest, and she clung to her father tighter. At least this way, if they were going to die, they would die together. The sob broke from her lips as they all watched the first velociraptor bend low, stretch out its vicious claws, and bare its deadly teeth. It started to rush forward with a hissing cry––but something massive intervened.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the tyrannosaurus rex swept down and clamped the velociraptor in her jaws. Everyone gaped and watched as the smaller creature was thrashed about, tail whipping and head wagging. After a few stuttered, shocked steps, the group of frightened people skittered around the pile of bones and hid behind the rock the other skeleton still remained perched atop. The other velociraptor let out a hunting cry before rushing the tyrannosaurus, leaping up and clawing its way onto her back. The t-rex cried out wheezingly in pain and drew its bloody mouth away from the now dead velociraptor on the floor. The remaining raptor clawed at the larger creature's thick skin, leaving bloody gashed across its neck and shoulder. The t-rex thrashed about trying to rid itself of the painful nuisance, a roar rumbling in her throat.
While this battle began, Ellie scooped Tim into her arms, Alan shifted Gwyn around to cradle to his chest, and Lex clung to one of his arms. They made a mad dash for the doors, which were shoved open violently to allow them access to the blinding sunlight outside. The sudden onslaught of heat and light sent Gwyn's brain into a tizzy. Her eyelids fluttered, her stomach rolled, and the throbbing returned. She bounced in his arms as he jogged down the steps.
"Mr. Hammond!" Her father's voice sounded strangely muffled with her ear pressed against his chest. Gwyn's eyes slammed shut exhaustedly when she was jostled once more as Alan maneuvered them both into an open-topped car. She was too tired to groan or grunt at the pain that shot through her body. "After careful consideration, I've decided not to endorse your park!"
"So have I."
There was a lurch as the car started to move, and Gwyn tightened a hand into the front of Alan's shirt. He started to murmur things, but it sounded like a warm much of sounds rather than words. They sounded like they might have been comforting. Gwyn could feel hands––gentle, loving hand––smooth hair out of her face. Other voices joined Alan's, and they seemed to grow progressively more panicked as time went on. She thought she recognized Ian's voice, but she wasn't sure––she distantly wondered where Ian had been and if he was okay. All Gwyn knew was that talking took too much energy, energy that she simply didn't have. Everything was a numb, dull blur around her body and closed eyes. The rocking of the car as it trundled along soothed her into a state of rest. Gwyn knew that Alan had told her not to fall asleep, but she couldn't help it––she needed to sleep. The last thing she heard, before succumbing to the sleep that so gently beckoned to her, was the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex, victorious and haunting.
OOOO
Gwyn awoke to a steady beeping sound. It was constant in pitch and spacing, and it was coaxing her out of the dark blanket of quiet that she had been wrapped in. Wherever she was smelled too sterile––it stung her nose and caused it to twitch. There was a dull ache in her chest, a far cry from what it had felt like before. Before… what had been 'before?' It all flooded back to her, then, in a rush of gory, horrifying images––blood, teeth, jungle, rain, dinosaurs. Her nose started to sting again, but not because of the smell of cleanliness; it stung with the remembrance of blood, viscera, rotting flesh, and heat. Her ears rang with metal grating against metal, screams of pain and fear, and the most primal snarling, growling, and roaring. With a startled, terrified, gasping scream, Gwyn's eyes shot open, and she shot forward. The steady beeping became more rapid, the ache in her chest worsened, and something pulled at her nose.
"Gwyn! Gwyn, darling, it's okay, it's okay!" It was her father. Alan's wide-eyed, concerned face dipped into her visual field, his hands rising to cup her cheeks. "You're okay… sweetheart, you're okay."
"Wh… where…"
It was the only word that she could get out, her teary eyes wide and focused on the only familiar thing––her dad. The cut on his forehead was patched together in butterfly strips, but his hair still seemed a mess. He was wearing a plain grey t-shirt that still had the size sticker plastered to the front. One of Alan's hands, warm and comforting, smoothed along her cheek, his thumb flicking over the length of her cheekbone.
"You're in the hospital, sweetheart. We're not at that awful place anymore," he assured her, tone low and firm, yet gentle and reassuring. His hands then fell to her shoulders as he helped her relax back into her hospital bed. The beeping sound––her heart monitor––started to return to a normal, steady beating. Gwyn blinked in a daze, staring at the blank white wall opposite her bed. They weren't on Isla Nublar any more… they'd gotten away from Jurassic Park and all of the creatures that inhabited it.
"We're alive…" she murmured.
"We're alive." Alan reached out and fixed the plastic tubing of her nasal cannula, which had slipped over one of her ears. His hand lingered on her cheek again, and Gwyn could see tears start to gather in his eyes. "You're alive…" Alan's voice had broken a little, in all of its softness. A smile danced across his face then, his gaze dropping a little lower than her head. "You, uh… you got stitches. You're going to have to take some medicine for a while, help it heal… help with the pain. You're not gonna be able to do much for a while."
Gwyn ducked her chin and looked down at her chest. When last she'd looked at it, a ragged, nausea inducing tear had been ripped into her skin. Now, there were layers of thick bandaging and gauze, wrapped over her shoulders and around the top half of her chest like football padding. It was uncomfortable. After silently blinking at the bandages, still feeling a little woozy, a little dazed, a little confused, Gwyn looked over at her dad and blinked.
"That mean I can't go to the dig?" she asked. Alan grinned broadly, chuckling at her inquiry. He scooped her hand up into his and gave her fingers a squeeze.
"No paleontology for you for a while. But… when we both go back, I'll get you your own set of tools, alright?" He affectionately smoothed some hair out of her face, a fatherly smile on his face. "I'll keep teaching you what I know."
"You better hold him to that," said Ellie, who was stood in the doorway of the room, smiling gently. That smile easily morphed into one filled with relief, and she swept into the room with her eyes trained on Gwyn. She perched herself on the edge of the bed and placed a hand atop Gwyn's free hand. "How do you feel, sweetie?"
"Tired." Gwyn recalled something faintly, fuzzily. She locked eyes with Ellie. "Sorry I called you 'mom.'" To her right, Alan seemed to tense, just a little, his eyes darting to the woman on the opposite side of the bed.
Ellie let out a quiet but affectioned 'oh,' and she leaned forward to kiss Gwyn's forehead. All the while, the smile never left her face. "You don't have to apologize for that, Gwyn. You can call me 'mom' as much as you like, okay?"
A smile bloomed across Gwyn's face for the first time since she'd woken up. Her head bobbed gently against her pillow. "Okay."
Alan and Ellie took each other's free hand, their fingers interlacing other Gwyn's lap. It was there that they sat, talking of whatever came to mind. Alan told Gwyn that once the doctors cleared her––which would probably be in a day or two––that they'd be flying home to Montana. Just in time for her birthday, in fact. She was assured that they would watch her favorite movies, and indulge in her favorite foods, because it looked like her twelfth birthday would be spend couch-bound as she recovered. She was told that Lex and Tim were okay, and that Ian was alive and recovering from surgery. Hammond dropped in to check in on her, apologizing profusely in his gentle voice. He insisted he pay for her medical bills, which Alan thanked him for. Eventually the doctor came in to check in on her, and gently explain in a thick Costa Rican accent what it was she'd need to do once she was home––change the bandages, get the stitches removed, apply antibiotic ointment. He said that it would scar, and that there wasn't much they could do about that.
When the day, which had seemed deceptively long, started to wind down, Alan and Ellie started to talk about travel arrangements. While they did so, sipping at some hospital coffee, Gwyn quietly picked at her blankets. They were scratchy and uncomfortable. Her eyes slowly began to close, exhaustion claiming her attention once more. But every time they'd shut, she swore she could see the snarling maw of a velociraptor snapping at her, jolting her back into consciousness. Confused, Gwyn tried to keep herself awake. She tried watching the television that quietly hummed on the opposite side of the room, but she didn't understand what anyone was saying. Eventually, Gwyn's eyes drifted shut and stayed shut; she listened to the warm, familiar, comforting sounds of Ellie and Alan's voice and let that lull her into sleep. But she would dream of Jurassic Park. It would have been such a glorious dream.
But it had become such a glorious nightmare.
Afterword: This chapter… was a TIME to write. It was emotionally draining and also really difficult to try and figure out how to write the end of the movie from the point of view of someone half-conscious and in shock. But… I hope it's a fitting end to this chapter of her life!
Review Replies!
Evaline101: The next chapter is here! I hope that you enjoyed the emotional rollercoaster! Thanks again!
ArtemisLuna85: Just updated Damnable Place, felt on a roll with Gwyn, and decided to post this! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
NicoleR85: Thank you; I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter!
monkeybaby: Thanks! I hope that you enjoyed the newest installment!
SabakuNoGaara426: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, and have enjoyed the story! There are still a few more chapters, so there's more fun to be had. I hope you enjoyed the newest installment! Thanks again!
supboyyyyy93: It was the chapter everyone was waiting for––that I was waiting for––and BOY was it a ride. I had a (macabre) blast to write the kitchen scene and a trial to write the rest of it. And there will probably be three more chapters––one for Lost World, one for JP III, and probably a bonus one of Gwyn getting offered the job at Jurassic World. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks again!
nette0602: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!
And thank you for those who added this to their follows/favorites; it means a lot!
Alrighty! THIS IS NOT THE END! I have been toying on-and-off with having a few more chapters, and after watching the original trilogy the other day, I was like 'I've got ideas, let's do it.' SO, we will have about three more chapters: the next one will take place during Lost World, seeing how Gwyn and Alan react to that, one to see how Gwyn reacts during JP III (and we'll meet Billy!), and then one just prior to Damnable Place. I hope y'all will stick around to read a couple more chapters from different parts of Gwyn's life! Thanks again!
~Mary