Chapter 5: Choose to Die
Night fell when the raptors were ready. Javelin switched to his old crimson body armor while Owen went over the plan with the ACU force. He was about to put on his helmet when a thought crossed his mind. I need to let the girls know who I am. He walked to the chutes, his body remembering the feeling of the suit.
The girls screeched inside their cages at the approaching presence. "Easy, ladies. It's me." Javelin knelt as close as he could to each of them. "I've probably lost the pack scent. Take mine in so you know I'm with you." He felt them, heard them, sniff the air. "I will follow all of you tonight." He put on his helmet and pushed the visor down.
"Hopefully, they'll recognize this smell as the one to track, not yours," the raptor trainer said, holding a piece of the Indominus' flesh.
The paddock security chief stood up and looked at Owen. "They won't. I trust them." He walked off to one of the ACU vehicles. Owen just held the flesh in each cage, the raptors absorbing the odor.
Grady got onto his motorcycle and started it up. He gave the intern from the earlier incident a signal. The boy pressed a button and the raptors shot out.
The convoy followed Grady and the Raptor Squad through the jungle. Several minutes passed. Everyone with Javelin was restless. He made sure his rifle was handy and ready for what was to come. One nervous man glanced at the crimson-armored officer and asked, "Does that thing actually work?"
The inquired only chuckled under his helmet. "It's saved me from a few bullets. Claws, hopefully yes." His voice was softly carried through the helmet's headset and out of an external speaker.
The vehicle stopped and everyone got out. They took positions along roots, logs, and trees. Javelin half-walked, half-jogged to the raptors. He stopped next to Charlie.
A few tense seconds passed before Blue let out a challenging bark into the jungle. The Indominus Rex changed back to her white scales and approached the pack. Javelin kept his rifle ready, not aiming at the hybrid, but close enough to still be fast.
"Why isn't she attacking?" someone asked. Instead of rampaging through every living thing in sight, she seemed to take the situation in. The dinosaur then talked to the raptor squad. The paddock officer couldn't understand them, of course, but he caught glimpses of emotion within the I-Rex's roars and eyes.
Glimpses of sadness, anger, vengance. He remembered that the beast lived in isolation for its entire life. Call him an empath, but he swore he also caught the burden of loss somewhere in there. Judging by the severity of it, that loss was a close friend or sibling.
Sibling. His mind jumped to Drake's face, his squad. His squad, taken out by a corrupt army under a corrupt official of some sort. Another mental trigger. Corruption. The one evil he despised the most back in the special forces. A gut feeling told him to follow what he had sworn to do; to eradicate it.
Victor Hoskins was the final trigger. He always wanted the raptors for military purposes. Javelin, Owen, and Barry all stood up to him and refused.
Another feeling; Ingen was corrupt. Hammond had learned his lesson before he died, but his board still had yet to learn theirs.
He removed himself from his thoughts to see the pack looking at him. They're waiting for my choice. He looked at the ACU forces behind Owen and Barry. I choose the pack. "Sorry, Owen. But this is for your good... and mine." His voice was dark and heavy.
Fire soon erupted and the pack took cover in the trees. Owen got up with a look of disbelief, disappointment, and betrayal on his face. "Look sharp. Pack has a new alpha." The group slowly spread out, weapons ready. Owen's mind was racing. Why would Javelin do this? How?
While the raptor trainer was battling his thoughts, carnage ensued. The ACU men were no match for the pack. They leapt out from the trees and quickly silenced them. Some unfortunates were dragged off to be traps or meet a slow death.
Owen stalked alongside a clearing. He spotted a raptor tail swishing above the tall grass. Pointing his rifle at it, Grady was unsure which of his girls it was. The dinosaur's head popped up, the dark-green stripes revealing her to be Charlie. Owen aimed but didn't fire as Charlie merely stared at him.
The trees rustled behind him, and Owen barely caught a glimpse of Javelin as he ran towards Charlie. "CHARLIE, MOVE!" A RPG was fired at the raptor and the officer got to her and pushed her out of the way just before it hit.
The explosion blasted the two pack members back at Owen. Charlie seemed fine for the most part, just unconscious and a bit bloodied.
Javelin on the other hand, was a mess. Whatever was left of his right side was charred: his head, although saved by the now destroyed helmet, was horribly burned, His entire arm was gone as was part of his abdomen, and his leg was broken below the pelvis.
He felt death taking him, his body screaming of fire and pain. Before darkness covered his open eyes, he reached to Charlie with his nonresponding left arm. The last thought his mind held was for his brothers-in-arms and Charlie. I'm going home...
(A/N: Play All Gone: No Escape starting at 1:50 for feels)
Owen left his girl with regret. The screams of men in pain or need of help went through the jungle. Blue, Delta, and Echo heard the final words of their newest pack member followed by an explosion. When he spoke no more, the raptors felt a fire in their hearts. A growing inferno of rage. One of their own had been killed, never to be held or to speak again. They chased the remaining humans until they couldn't chase anymore.
No one noticed the aerial craft that hovered over Javelin's corpse. A harness was lowered down with two men. They quickly, but respectfully, placed him in and secured the straps. They were raised into the vehicle.
Once the cargo was secure, it flew off unnoticed. One of the men spoke softly, "Don't worry, brother. You're not done yet. You still have a promise to keep." He placed a gloved hand on the body's forehead. "And you never broke your promises."
She felt it.
The pack, pleased with their member's choice a few minutes ago, were silent for a brief moment. They smelled it, and so did she. Burnt flesh and the stink of death.
Then she heard it. They screeched a cry for vengance. They would kill everyone in a bloodlust.
She didn't understand at first. Yes, she smelled the youngest one's scent combined with blood, but death wasn't there. Why were they enraged that much?
Of course. It must have been the prey that stood with them when they joined. He was the one that had just died. She was glad that finally someone knew what it was like to be alone, to lose a close...
Her mind switched views. Something clawed at her heart, making her regret what had just happened.
That prey must have been family to the pack. The pack that had just joined her. The only time she felt this rage was when her sibling... died.
Any anger that had been in her blood was gone. Replaced with guilt. She was responsible for this. Not for escaping, but responsible for making others feel her pain.
But she had to release that pain somehow. Was the way she released it wrong?
With a heavy heart and conscious, she made her way through the jungle. She had to find a way to deal with her pain. Not the pain of loss, but that of regret.
(AN)- Hello, everyone. Hope you had (or will have) a good day. So... yeah, this was Javelin's death. But of what, hmm?
On a side note, two questions for you readers:
1- Should I have this last part in a chapter of its own or keep it here? Currently, Chapter 6 has given me a lot of freedom with what to do now. But on the other hand, I feel that part was unnecessary in this chapter and took away from the emotion.
2- I'd like to see what names you have for I. Rex. She is named Izzy for now, but it feels like a placeholder. So, if you'd like to, give name suggestions in reviews, please. However, I will NOT accept Alice or Elise. Those names have already been taken by TurtleMaster341 and SkullsandDuggery, both of whom I highly suggest following.
Please, feel free to tell me what you think and review. Before I go, there will be some lovey-dovey stuff in the future (still T). I'll leave you guys to guess what it will be.
As always, keep strong and keeping on, guys.