Disclaimer: Jurassic World and the Jurassic Park franchise are the property of Universal Studios, Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow. I own nothing from this story aside from the plot.
Authors Note: Hello! And apologies first and foremost for the delay and keeping you all in the dark about what's going on. It was just a very hectic month with travelling and then new years and then with a new semester starting, it doesn't give a ton of free time to work on this so after this update, I'm not sure when the next though I am planning on it coming out around February or so. So that's all, and please enjoy the latest chapter, it's a lot longer to make up for the wait.
Comments, criticisms and suggestions are always welcome, I always love reading them. Feel free to point out any mistakes, grammatical or otherwise.
She always argued against leaving the building in shambles, this place had a profound history to it and it would be a shame to leave it in its current state.
The three of them made their way to the staircase, stepping over a tattered WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH banner. Zach and Gray sat down at the base of the steps as Zara surveyed the area around them.
"I guess we can wait here until help arrives," she said, more for their benefit than for hers. With the Indominus loose, security would be tied up for some time so it would be a while before anyone would come and that's even if anyone noticed their distress signal.
She went closer to Gray, took off her sunglasses and unslung her backpack and rifle, crouching down so she could look him over. Fortunately, the only injuries he sustained were nothing major, just a cut on his forehead, from when he fell in the car. She unzipped the pack and stowed her sunglasses inside, then she pulled out a small first aid kit, taking out a box of antiseptic wipes and some adhesive bandages.
Zara started by taking out some of the wipes from the box. "This will sting a little," she said as she gently dabbed at the wound with the wipes to clean it, softly muttering, "Just relax," as he started to flinch from the pain.
As she applied the bandage to his head, Zach asked, "So, what was it that attacked us? I've never seen a dinosaur like that before."
She paused, considering whether or not to answer the question. The Indominus' existence was kept highly classified from the public and she was under a non-disclosure agreement even knowing that it existed.
But given the circumstances they were facing, Zara decided to tell them anyway, it was only right.
"That's because you're not supposed to see it, not yet anyway. It's called the Indominus Rex and it was built in a lab, designed specifically to be as mean and terrifying as possible, it was our new main attraction. We were going to unveil it next month." She said, smoothing the bandage and pressing a kiss to his forehead, "Better?"
Gray nodded, smiling at her, then he asked "But why?"
"Well, the marketing department decided we needed a new attraction to attract more visitors. So the boys in the lab cooked that up," She said as she sat down next to him, taking off her shoes to give her feet some much needed relief. Trying to outrun a super predator in high heels wasn't the best idea she ever had.
"I mean why did they have to build one, couldn't you just have picked one that already existed?"
"Well, we did have some existing animals we were planning to use; real classics like the Allosaurus, Carnotaur, Plesiosaur and the Diplodocus. But none of them tested well with the focus groups. They wanted something bigger, badder, more teeth."
Gray gave her an "Uh-huh." While Zach just shook his head, disappointed at the reasoning behind it.
Then out of the blue Gray asked, "If Mom and Dad get divorced, you and Aunt Claire will still come visit us right?"
That caught her off guard, her posture noticeably stiffening, it completely blindsided her but she tried to maintain composure, "What makes you say that?"
"Because they are, they're getting letters from two different lawyers and they're always yelling at each other and-and..." His upper lip trembled, tears spilling from his eyes.
She held the crying boy in her arms, running her hands through his hair, trying to comfort him.
"Oh Gray, I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes these things happen, parents will sometimes just stop loving each other and maybe what they need is a little time away you know?," She said, remembering the times that Karen confided in her about her and David's deteriorating relationship.
"And well, try to look on the bright side, at least now you'll get two birthdays."
"But I don't want two of everything….I just want one…." he said, tears rolling down his face as he sobbed. Zara's heart nearly broke at what the poor boy was going through, wishing there was more that she could do.
She sighed, hugging him a bit tighter to her, "I know, but sometimes life doesn't give you that choice, all you can do is just be strong and try to face it as best as you can."
Silence hung in the air then as she allowed Gray to let it all out. Shifting her gaze right, she saw Zach staring straight ahead, mostly keeping to himself. She wanted to talk to him about it, but decided against it, reasoning that he needed some space to himself at the moment.
"Aunt Zara?" Gray asked, sniffling.
"Yes?" she said, turning her attention to him again.
"You won't leave us, right?"
She shook her head, pressing a soft kiss into his hair "No, of course not, I promise you as long as I live I'll never leave your side, ever."
"Promise?"
"You have my word."
Gray said nothing, just burrowed himself further into her. Zara squeezed him a little bit tighter to reassure him that she wasn't going anywhere. She could only imagine what he was going through, like he was caught in the middle of a raging ocean, barely hanging on; just overwhelmed from the situation he was going through.
As his tears subsided, Gray noticed a glint in the corner of his eye and saw something pinned to her blouse.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the badge on her collar. It was a downward pointing sword, wreathed in flames and wrapped around the blade was a cloth with an inscription on it.
"Oh, this?" She unclipped it and showed it to him, "It's an SAS cap badge, the kind you pin to a beret. My grandfather received it from his time in the Special Air Service during World War 2. Then he passed it down to my father before he was deployed to the Falklands."
"How did you get it?"
Zara smiled, remembering the day the badge was given to her. "My father gave it to me before I went to college, said it was for good luck. He told me it kept him going even when everything was at their bleakest, because it reminded him what he was really fighting for back home."
He took a closer look at the inscription on the cloth that wrapped around the sword, "Who dares wins. What does it mean?"
"It means that those who dare to try will always succeed, that you should never just let life pass you by. If you wanted something and you had the opportunity to get it, you take it. It's helped a lot in my life, gave me that little push I needed to get something done when I had little to no motivation."
She recalled many late nights in college, where she was almost dead tired from fatigue working on her papers but looking at the badge reminded her of her parents, and gave her a momentary burst of adrenaline she needed to get things done or how the mantra repeated itself in her head on that fateful night, many years ago when her face was only inches away from Claire's and she decided to risk it all by pressing her lips against hers.
They lapsed into silence again, broken by Zach asking, "So, what is this place exactly?"
"This is the visitor center for the original park, it was the first stop for all the park's guests before they would go on the tour."
"So this was where all the dinosaurs were made?" Gray asked.
"Well, yes and no. While this park did have the technology to clone the animals, it was nothing more than a showroom. Most of the production took place on-"
"Isla Sorna, Site B." Zach answered, remembering the time he asked the same question.
"That's correct, most of the animals were grown and raised on Sorna and when they were mature enough were shipped over here to be exhibited." She said. "So, who wants to take a look around?"
"Really?" Gray asked, excited at the prospect of exploring the derelict building, wondering what they could find.
"Beat's sitting around here." Zach replied.
Zara slipped her shoes back on as the two boys got to their feet. She took the electric lantern from the backpack and stowed the first aid kit back inside, zipping the bag closed. That done, she slipped her arms through the bag's straps and took her rifle, slinging it across her shoulders.
She looked around the building, wondering where they should head first and elected to explore the upper floors since that was where the labs were. The British woman led the two of them up the stairs, activating the lantern to illuminate the path ahead. She took careful steps as she ascended, unsure what effects of two decades of elemental exposure had on them.
As the trio stepped onto the upper floor landing, Zara saw a pack of Compys eating from a carcass of some animal. They scurried off when they saw the group approach.
She led them to a metal door marked DECONTAMINATION AIRLOCK and slid it open, the lack of power had left the electric locks non-functional.
The three of them walked into a large room, the lantern illuminating the dark room. Just like the rest of the building, the lab was similarly overgrown with vines, dust and cobwebs covering some of the walls and the lab equipment.
"Welcome to the main lab, where Jurassic Park's scientists made the impossible, possible." Zara said. The two boys looked awestruck as they looked around.
Ahead of them, there was a large glass chamber where the embryos would have been kept. A small staircase that led down to the main floor of the lab, where the rest of the labs equipment was. At the center of it was an incubator for the dinosaur eggs.
They entered the glass chamber. Inside there were two cylindrical metal towers that stored the dinosaur embryos under cold storage. They were attached to two nitrogen tanks. Zara set the lantern down on a nearby table and opened each of the towers and a rack of tubes slid out of each one. She was somewhat glad that the cooling system was no longer working or else her hands would have been frozen solid.
"What are those?" Gray asked, puzzled at the small glass tubes that lined the interior. They were all filled with a strange liquid and were labeled by species: Tyranosaurus, Stegasaurus, Triceratops, Brachiosaurus, Velociraptor. Each row was filled with thin glass containers, a plastic stopper topped each one.
"These are the dinosaur's embryos. After the geneticists extracted the dinosaur blood from the amber, they were developed into a viable embryo then implanted into an artificial egg." Zara explained, giving a simplified version of it.
"So we can still use these to make dinosaurs?" Zach asked.
She shook her head, "No, these embryos have already decayed. They've been out in the open for far too long. They're useless now, any useful genetic material they could've had disappeared a long time ago."
She closed the towers, then led the two boys out of the chamber and down the staircase to the main lab floor.
Through what little light there was, Gray could see the incubator. It was a large circular table with a heat lamp above it and next to it was some sort of robotic arm. Inside, it was decorated to look like real nest with various pieces of grass, sticks and leaves scattered throughout.
"This was what the embryos were implanted into," Zara said, passing Gray an already broken egg. "Unfertilized ostrich eggs, these sit under a heat lamp for about a month or so and that," She pointed to the robotic arm, "Turns the eggs every once in a while so they get even amounts of heat. And after that, the egg hatches and voila! You have yourself a dinosaur. Amazing isn't it?"
"Wow," was all Gray could say. Zach meanwhile tuned out the explanation, he already heard the same thing about a million times before.
After a stop at the control room, the three headed back down the stairs, taking right at the bottom to go through a corridor.
At the end of the dark hallway, Zara saw a door. The trio made their way across it, the lantern's light glinting off of framed posters lining the walls, gleefully advertising upcoming rides to a park that didn't exist anymore.
"So, how did you escape from the Indominus?" Zach asked as the three of them traversed the hall, his voice echoing throughout the empty hallway.
"When I was running away from it, my leg was tangled in some vines and then I fell, it almost ate me too. Not the best thing to have on your epitaph, mind you."
She suppressed a chuckle at the thought of having 'here lies Zara Young, eaten by a dinosaur because she forgot to look down' written on her headstone, knowing that the thought of her acting as bait for the massive carnivore and almost certainly dying was fresh in their minds so she continued, "Then Royce came out of the jungle, he managed to ward it off."
"Speaking of Royce, where is he?"
Zara stopped mid-stride, tightly gripping the backpack's strap as she considered her words. Hesitation clear on her face. What was she going to say, that she condemned her friend to his death just by virtue of him doing his job? The thought of it made her feel uncomfortable; that it was just 'part of the job' to throw away his life like that.
But then again, all of the troopers knew that. It came with the turf really. You either retire with a few broken bones and scars at best, or you go home in a body bag at worst.
She started, a little hesitantly at first. "He-uh-he didn't make it. He stayed back to hold off the Indominus while I escaped."
"I-uh-I'm sorry to hear that, Aunt Zara." Zach said sincerely. Gray bowed his head in respect.
Zara took a deep breath, wiping away tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. "It's ok, let's just keep moving."
As they arrived at the door, Zara cleared away the vegetation that covered it. She saw that it was marked GARAGE in faded black lettering and below it was a sign that read NO ENTRY, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Passing the lantern to Zach, she bashed the door open with her shoulder.
It swung open to reveal a room filled with cabinets and shelves, dirty and covered in vines. In a corner there were two jeeps, parked facing an open garage door. They were grey with a diagonal red stripe painted on them. The British woman recalled that the jeeps were painted that way to discourage the trikes from charging at them.
The trio passed an equipment cabinet, the doors were open and it was lined with racks of walkie-talkies. Gray paused to take a look at an odd pair of goggles he saw inside it, closer examination revealed that they were night vision goggles. They suddenly whirred to life when he picked them up, startling him and making him step back, dropping them.
As they approached the cars, Gray started rattling off details about them.
"1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, sand beige."
"Looks like it's in decent shape. Zach, can you pop open the bonnet?" Zara said, dropping her backpack and rifle against the side of the car and giving the vehicle a quick once over.
He stared at her for a second, head tilted in confusion.
"Sorry, I meant the hood."
The teen reached down and pulled the hood release. Zara thanked him, pushing the hood of the car up to examine the engine bay. Her father had taught her a little bit about fixing cars so she could see that the engine could still work, but it would need a lot of repairs to be functioning again: it needed a new battery for one and probably an oil change, some fuel wouldn't hurt either.
"Have you two fixed a car before?"
"Well, we fixed up Grandpa's old Mustang once, why?" Zach replied.
"We can get this jeep running again, but it needs some repairs."
"But I thought you said we should wait until help gets here?"
"I did, but with the Indominus roaming around I'm not sure how long we would have to wait. And that's even if anyone noticed the distress signal I sent. We could be here for half an hour or even until tomorrow morning."
Zach nodded, conceding her point. "But what are we going to use for parts? It's not like anything here is still working."
"What about the ATV outside?" Gray said. "Maybe we could scavenge some parts from that?"
Zara removed her jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist, looking determined. "Ok, then let's get to work.
"What just happened?" Claire asked, staring at the digital map.
"What do you mean?" Owen said, eyes focused on the road.
"It's their trackers, they just disappeared."
Owen glanced at the map, and Claire was right; the trio's signal was nowhere to be seen. He looked at the top right corner of the map and his suspicions were confirmed; there was no GPS signal.
"Looks like the jungle canopy's too thick around here, the satellite isn't coming through."
Claire leaned back into her sighed. "That's just great..."
The road curved then ran up a hill, as they came down, Claire and Owen could see the road ahead of them, where the attack took place.
"Jesus," Owen whispered.
Claire leaned forward in her seat to get a better look and saw a Mercedes SUV lying on its back at the center of the road. The roof was crumpled, as if an animal had stepped onto the car and the underside was mangled and torn to pieces. Ahead of it was a wrecked ACU van, lying on its side and behind the car was a fallen tree.
As the car slowed to a stop near the fallen tree, Owen cautiously observed their surroundings and started formulating a plan in his head.
"Ok, here's what were gonna do, we don't know where the Indominus is yet so we have to approach the car slowly and cautiously. Alright, Claire? Claire?"
Confused at the silence that suddenly filled the car, he turned to the passenger seat to find the passenger door left ajar and Claire bolting towards the wreck of the SUV, screaming Zara's name at the top of her lungs.
He sighed, "Or we could go in running and screaming."
Taking his rifle, a scoped Marlin Model 1895SBL, from the back, Owen opened the driver side door and began running towards Claire, calling out to her, "CLAIRE! CLAIRE, SLOW DOWN!"
Claire just disregarded his calls as she clambered over the fallen tree, the British woman and her nephews were the only thing on her mind. She had to make sure they were okay, they had to be.
'I'm stupid, so stupid. Should've been there, shouldn't have left them alone.'
Her heart sank as she approached the overturned car. No one was responding to her, so she called out again only to be interrupted with a hand clamping down over her mouth. Turning to her left, she saw Owen looking at her, a finger pressed against his mouth, telling her to keep quiet.
She angrily shoved his hand away, lips pressed into a tight scowl, "Don't you shush me Owen! Zara and my nephews are out there and they could be in danger. I have to find them."
Owen carefully laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. To his surprise, she didn't slap it away or scream at him again.
"Claire," He started, slowly, trying to carefully pick the words he was going to say, "I know you're worried about them, I'm worried too, but running and screaming in the middle of the jungle isn't going to help them."
She sighed, clenching her fists to stem the tide of emotions going through her head.
Her face softened taking a deep breath and recomposing herself, "Then what do you suggest we do?"
"We can start by analyzing the clues here, starting with that." He said, shifting his gaze downwards to a handbag that lay on the ground nearby.
"This is Zara's handbag." Claire said, picking it up to take a closer look.
"And the zip is open. Check inside, see if there's anything missing."
Claire rummaged through it, finding a park map, Zara's staff ID, purse, a makeup kit and a copy of Ian Malcom's book, God Creates Dinosaurs.
"Her phone's missing, is that important?"
"Yeah, it means they're alive."
"How do you know that?" She squinted her eyes at the statement, doubting his analysis of their condition from Zara's handbag alone.
"Simple, the missing phone and the fact that her handbag is just lying on the ground outside." Owen said, "They prove it."
"She could've opened it at any time, even before the attack and her bag could've been tossed out when it happened."
"Think about it. If you were attacked by a large carnivore like the Indominus, would you take the time to open your handbag and grab your cellphone? And besides, there's nothing else out here except for that. No," Owen said. "This all happened after the attack."
Seeing the doubtful look she cast him, he continued, "Does she have any personal effects? Something she always has on her?"
"Yeah, she has this umm…badge her father gave her, some military insignia or something. She usually keeps it in here." Claire rummaged through the bag but couldn't find the object. "It's not here."
"There you go." He said, matter of fact.
"Then where is she? Cause I'd stay right here and wait for someone to come get me."
"You're right on that part," He replied, "But maybe Zara and the two boys couldn't wait here. The Indominus could've come back or some other animal might have been sniffing around. In any case, something made them leave."
Crouching down, Owen peered inside the wrecked car for more clues of the incident. His eyes widened when he noticed that the passenger side door had been kicked open.
"Claire, you should take a look at this."
The operations manager watched as Owen walked to the passenger side and crouched down, gaze swinging from the door to the ground, focused on his search.
"You see these footprints?" He asked, gaze focused on the ground.
"What prints?" Claire said.
He pointed to the ground, "These footprints, see 'em? Going away from the car? They look like adult sized prints, high heels from the looks of it and another set, medium sized. Looks like some kind of sneaker."
Claire desperately wanted to believe him, hoping that they were safe but all she could see was the wet mud, puddles catching the light coming from the sun above.
"Where do you think they might be?" She asked.
"I'm willing to bet that they're holed up in the old visitor center, it's the safest place around here."
"So, what are we waiting here for? We should be heading there right now."
"Woah, woah, no." He protested, shaking his head, "You get back, I'll go find them. It's too dangerous for you out here."
She dropped the handbag and angrily moved forward, gripping him by the jacket, "Now you listen to me. WE," She gestured between them, brows furrowed in anger, "are going to go in there and find them, OK?! I have too much at stake here Owen, and I am not going to just sit on the sidelines and watch. So like it or not I'm coming with you, do you understand?"
She let go of him, crossing her arms and looking him dead in the eye.
Owen sighed, "Claire, you'll survive 2 minutes out there. Less in those hee-Uh what are you doing?" He added as Claire began to unclip the belt that held her blouse, tying the hem around her waist which showed off her purple undershirt. Then she rolled up her sleeves, crossing her arms and looking at Owen dead in the eye when she was done.
"I'm getting ready to go." She said simply.
He sighed for a second time, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Just let me make one thing clear." He pointed to the jungle beyond them, "When we're in there, I'm in charge. You do everything I say exactly as I say-"
"Excuse me?" She cut in.
"Just relax, it'll be like taking a stroll through the woods. 65 Million years ago…"Owen said, giving her a cocky grin.
Claire brushed past him, unaware of him casting a wary glance at a footprint the Indominus left in the mud.
Zara was trying to dislodge the battery from the ATV's engine compartment while Zach rummaged around the car, looking for things that they could use. Gray stood watch, keeping an eye out for threats.
"I found a gas can," Zach called out from the rear.
"Any fuel left in it?" She asked.
The teen lifted the plastic fuel canister, trying to feel how much was still in it. "It's half empty."
"It'll do."
She finally managed to remove the battery and was passing it to Zach when suddenly the sound of a branch snapping travelled through the air, startling the three of them.
"You think it's out there?" he asked, earning him a fearful look from his brother. He looked at Zara, a pleading look on his face that said 'please help me,' but she just shook her head, turning her attention back to engine compartment. This was one problem he had to figure out for himself.
"Well, I know for a fact that it is definitely not out there, alright? It's totally safe." He said, trying to reassure his brother. Gray seemed to accept it, his expression relaxing slightly.
"Here, take this," he passed the battery to Gray. "You're a lot stronger than me."
As his brother walked away to head inside, Zach felt a hand settle on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. He looked back and saw his aunt staring at him with a look of pride.
"That was sweet of you Zach." She said. Then she whacked him upside the head.
He rubbed the back of his head in pain. "OW! What was that for?"
"That was for making your brother do the heavy lifting."
They proceeded slowly through the jungle, Owen kept his rifle pointed ahead while Claire followed him from behind. Then they heard a wheezing sound, like an animal in pain.
"What is that?" she whispered.
"Shhh…" Owen said.
They heard the wheezing again, more distinctly this time. The bushes ahead rustled with movement, parting to reveal a Dilophosaurus, about five feet tall and twenty feet long. An adult. The animal looked like it had gone through a wood chipper; its body was littered with claw marks, raw muscle and bone showing through in places, the left crest chipped and cracked. Its right frill was missing, a dripping wound on its neck the only sign that it had been there.
The Dilophosaur limped towards them then it toppled to the ground, wheezing and gasping for air. It looked at them, almost as if it was pleading for help.
Owen crouched over the animal to examine its injuries, studying it intensely. His gaze was somber as he looked over the carnivore's battered form. It was as he feared; the wounds were fatal, there was nothing he could do.
"It's alright, it's ok buddy, it's alright," The raptor handler stroked the dying animal, whispering words of comfort to try and ease some of the suffering it was going through. "Shh, I know, I know. Its ok, it's ok. It'll be over soon."
Claire kneeled opposite him, cautiously lowering her hand onto the Dilophosaur's head. She felt every bump and wrinkle on its skin, her hand travelling down to its chest as it rose and fell. And as she gazed at the animal, realization hit her, like a triceratops ramming into a car. This was a living, breathing creature that lay dying at her feet.
And she was powerless to do anything about it.
For the first time in her life, Claire Dearing felt helpless, at a loss for what to do and it scared her. She was always the one in control before, the one with the multitude of backup plans but when faced with this animal, she was at a complete loss.
The DIlophosaur lifted its head suddenly, making Claire and Owen recoil slightly. It let out one final cry before it collapsed back onto the ground and closed its eyes, exhaling its last breath. Owen just shook his head sadly at its passing.
Claire kept stroking the animal, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. She lifted her hand, palm facing upward and gasped at the blood that soaked it, trickling down her arm. Her face froze in shock as it hit her. This was all her fault, this animal was dead because of her.
"What have I done?" she muttered shakily, tremors in her fingers.
Owen got to his feet and crossed the bushes where the animal came from. The corpses of various dinosaurs were strewn across the forest floor; another dilopohosaur lay against a tree with its stomach torn open, guts spilling onto the ground, an ankylosaur with its head torn clean off and farther ahead there were many more, each more gruesome than the last. Claire came up behind him, gasping at the sight.
"It didn't eat 'em." He said, brows furrowed in confusion. The raptor handler was surprised to say the least, a carnivore like the Indominus should have at least eaten to replenish its energy after a killing spree like this but no. All the corpses here lay untouched.
"It's killing for sport."
After replacing the battery, putting fresh gasoline and changing the oil (and getting more grease on herself than Zara would have liked) they were done fixing car. Gray sat in the driver's seat, ready to start the engine.
"Can you try starting it?" Zara said, keeping her fingers crossed. This was it, the moment of truth.
He turned the key and the car rumbled to life. "It works!"
Gray moved to the rear as Zara and Zach sat in the front. The British woman considered letting him drive but the last time she tried teaching him to do that, he crashed her (very expensive) rental car into a tree.
Putting the jeep into gear, she drove away from the garage.
The jeep sped through the jungle, its occupants breathing a sigh of relief as the park came into view. That was it, they were finally safe.
Then Gray looked back and the pit of his stomach dropped, seeing a flock of pterosaurs flying above the tree line. He turned back to the front and urged Zara to go faster, who mouthed 'oh shit' when she saw the rearview mirror and shifted the jeep into high gear, putting her foot to the floor.
As they arrived at the gate, Zara honked the horn to get the attention of the two guards that stood on top of it. Their relaxed expressions morphed into fear when they saw what was coming and they let the group inside, telling them to quickly find shelter.
It was absolute chaos in the park, people were running around everywhere in a panic to find shelter or escape the Pterosaurs and Dimorphodons that dived onto them like a pack of airborne piranhas.
The three of them exited the car, Zara stopping to take her rifle from the back as they made their way to Main Street. Then, she quickly pulled out her phone and called Claire.
"Zara thank god, where are you?"
"We're at the west gate, heading for the visitor center, where are you?"
"I'm on my way. Stay right with them, I'll meet you there."
Before she could reply, a panicked visitor accidentally shoved her to the ground, disorienting her and sending her phone skidding across the pavement. Shaking her vision clear, she saw Zach and Gray trying to reach her but the crowd was pushing them the other way. They struggled against the crowd but the maelstrom of people was too strong and by the time she stood up couldn't see them anymore, they were swallowed up by the stampede.
She ran down the street to try and catch sight of them, calling out their names at the top of her lungs, but it was no use, the loud mass of screaming people drowned out her voice.
Shoving her way past the hectic crowds, Zara caught sight of them in the middle of Main Street, they looked around frantically, lost and confused. Her face lit up with relief.
Then she looked up and her heart sunk.
A pterosaur was swooping down onto them. She burst into a sprint, yelling and motioning to them to get out of the way. When that didn't work, the raven haired woman sprinted faster, ramming into them with her shoulder, knocking the two boys onto the ground.
"GO, FIND CLAIRE!" she yelled as the pterosaur swooped down, claws outstretched.
Pain lanced through her body as the Pterosaur's claws clamped down onto her shoulders, tearing into her flesh with little resistance and lifted her up.
But then she felt something or someone was holding onto her. Looking down, she saw Gray holding onto her pant leg. Zach was holding onto him, his weight the only thing keeping Gray tethered to the ground.
"Gray, I'm going to need you to let go!" She didn't want to put them in harm's way anymore than she already had.
"I'm not letting go!" Gray insists, tears brimming in his eyes.
"You have to!" She gritted through her teeth, oh god did those claws hurt!
"But you promised you'd never leave us!"
"I know what I said, but right now, you have to let go of me, please!"
Seeing the desperate, pleading look in her eyes, he realized that he wasn't helping her by clinging on. So Gray reluctantly loosened his grip and let her go, sending him and his brother sprawling onto the street below.
They scrambled to their feet, watching helplessly as Zara was carried away.