Claire's breathing picked up at the sight of the shattered gyrosphere. If anything happened to those boys…
She nervously climbed out of the Jeep and watched Owen pry a huge tooth the size of her hand out of the broken machine.
Her heart sank when she saw Zach's shattered phone. "No, no, no. No."
That was it. She was officially the worst aunt ever. She let her nephews get killed by a hybrid dinosaur. How was she ever going to explain this to her sister?
"Hey," Owen said to her. He pointed out three sets of footprints. "They made it out."
She breathed a sigh of relief. No need to plan the eulogy yet. Who was she kidding? If they died, there was no way Karen would ever let her attend the funeral.
Owen looked around a little more and found a small bag at the base of a nearby tree. "This can't be either of theirs," Owen said to Claire, taking note of the feminine quality of it.
"I—I think Zach said there was someone with them. Um…Aria."
"Well, if this is hers, then she's in trouble." Owen pulled out an inhaler, and Claire realized that Aria must have asthma. Owen tucked the inhaler into his jacket pocket in the hopes that he would find the kids alive and could get Aria her medication.
The two of them followed the tracks and found themselves by a waterfall.
"Oh, dear Lord, they jumped," Claire exclaimed.
"Brave kids," Owen remarked.
"ZACH! GRAY! ARIA!"
"Shh!" Owen quickly shushed her, looking around to see if she had drawn the attention of anything…like the Indominus.
"Hey, I am not one of your stupid animals!" Claire barked, losing her patience with the man.
"Listen, those kids are still alive, but you and I will not be if you continue to scream like that."
"So, you can pick up their scent, can't you? Track their footprints?"
"I was with the Navy, not the Navajo!"
"So then what should we do? What do you suggest we do?"
"You get back. I'll find them."
"No, we'll find them."
"You'll last two minutes in there. Less in those ridiculous shoes."
Claire gave him a pointed look before undoing her white button-up shirt, revealing the purple tank top underneath. She tied it in a knot at the bottom and then rolled up her sleeves and placed her hands on her hips.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Owen asked.
"It means I'm ready to go."
"Okay. Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge out here. You do everything I say, exactly as I say it."
"Excuse me?"
"Just relax. It's just like taking a stroll through the woods…65 million years ago."
Claire plowed ahead of him and Owen released a puff of air through his cheeks, trying to remind himself why he ever went on a date with that woman in the first place.
As Zach, Gray, and Aria trekked through the jungle, all of them were constantly checking behind them every three seconds, fearing the dinosaur would be back for them. Aria could feel Zach's eyes on her as they walked, worried she might have another attack. It was nice that he cared about her.
She couldn't get her mind off how she felt when he was helping her during her last attack. Or the fact that she felt…elated that he had been so close to her. As much as she tried to push those thoughts away, knowing he had Bethany in his life, they kept forcing their way in.
The thing was it wasn't the first time he had helped her with an attack. She had had them a lot more frequently when they were in elementary school, and she had coached him on what to do when she had her inhaler and when she didn't. Each time, he was there to help her.
So what was so different about this time?
Gray suddenly ran ahead of them and picked up a white worker hat. When Aria got closer, she realized that the hat was caked in blood and had a massive crack in it. It was pretty safe to assume that the owner of the hat wasn't alive anymore. Zach rushed forward and took the hat away from a frightened Gray.
A little ways ahead of them, they noticed a Jurassic World Jeep that had been smashed against a tree.
"Stay here," Zach said to both of them.
"Yeah, right," Aria muttered.
She and Gray both followed Zach over to the Jeep. It was completely torn up and more blood was on it. Whatever had gone on here certainly had not been good. It had to be a result of the dinosaur that had attacked them. What other explanation was there?
Zach looked up and when Aria followed his line of sight, she saw a heavy door up ahead of them.
They all went up to it and forced it open. Inside, overgrown plants and vines were everywhere which made it hard to tell what part was inside and what part was outside.
"Wow," Zach whispered.
They looked around them at the building lost to the rest of the world. Zach picked up an old bone, and then his foot went across a piece of a banner.
"This must've been part of Jurassic Park," Aria put together when she saw the sign. "This is insane. I mean, we're actually standing in one of the original buildings."
Zach picked up the part of the banner and looked at Gray. "You still have those matches?"
Gray opened his pouch and pulled out a matchbox. "Here you go."
"I will never be mad at anyone for being overprepared ever again," Aria told him.
Zach lit up his makeshift torch, and they traversed deeper into the abandoned building. They ended up coming across an old picture of raptors painted onto the wall. Gray and Aria stared at the picture, wondering what it was like for the group of people who had been brought in to experience the park before it opened.
Aria hadn't been born at the time, but she had learned of the story of the unfortunate people who had suffered an awful fate at the original unopened Jurassic Park. There was a group of paleontologists and two children who were sent to test out the park. Long story short, it hadn't gone well for anyone, staff included. It seemed that history was about to repeat itself.
"Gray! Aria!" Zach called, breaking Aria out of her thoughts.
The two of them followed Zach and they all ended up in a garage with various worn Jurassic Park tools and a couple of old Jurassic Park Jeeps.
"1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, Sand Beige," Gray commented.
"You really know your stuff," Aria told him.
Zach looked over at his brother. "You remember when we fixed up Grandpa's old Malibu, right?"
"Yeah," Gray answered.
"You can't be serious," Aria scoffed. "You guys can get one of these started?"
"It's our best bet right now," Zach said.
Zach and Gray started working on the truck by finding what they needed around the garage.
"Zach," Aria called. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure."
Zach and Aria left the garage so they could get out of Gray's earshot. Once they were alone, Aria slapped Zach hard on the face.
"You are an idiot!" she yelled. "If you had just gone back like they told us to, none of us would be here right now!" When Zach started to say something, she held up her index finger. "No, let me finish! That being said, if a freaking dinosaur attack is what it takes to mend the awful relationship with your brother…then so be it because it's not like I can change it now."
"What are you talking about?" Zach said, finally getting a word in. "Gray and I don't have an awful relationship!"
"Um, did you not hear anything you said to him on the monorail? He was worried sick about his parents divorcing and you just made it ten times worse!"
"I did not!"
"Zach, couldn't you see how worried he was about losing you?"
Zach opened his mouth to answer her, but closed it again when he couldn't think of anything to say.
"His first question was about the possibility of you two being separated. And to put salt in the wound, you yelled at him for crying and told him that you would be gone in two years anyway!"
"I just…"
"I had to jump in and say something to comfort him before he completely lost it! Zach, don't you remember my parents going through their divorce?"
All too well, Zach thought. Aria's parents getting divorced was his first introduction to the whole act. He couldn't understand why parents would want to separate from each other. Who knew that he would be in the same situation just a few years later?
"I was about Gray's age," Aria continued. "And I spent almost all of my time at your house to get away from that. It's not an easy thing, and I didn't have any siblings to help me get through it. Gray needs you now more than ever."
Aria started to walk away from a speechless Zach. Then she turned back to him, her face much softer.
"Oh, and by the way, thanks…for helping me back there. You've still got it."
The two of them then headed back to the garage to continue fixing up the Jeep.
"What did you guys talk about?" Gray asked Aria.
She smiled at him. "Just teenage stuff."
The two boys began fixing up the Jeep as Aria watched, helping whenever she could. Occasionally, something would crunch, and all three heads would snap in the direction of the forest, hearts pounding. No one wanted a repeat of their dinosaur attack.
"You think it's out there?" Zach asked. After seeing Gray's terrified look, he added, "I mean, I know for a fact it is definitely not out there, all right? We're totally safe." He handed his little brother a car battery. "Here, take this. You're stronger than me."
Aria smiled. There was the Zach she remembered. She knew he had been in there somewhere. It just took a little (if a dinosaur attack could be considered 'little') coaxing to get him out.
Eventually, the humidity and the exertion from fixing up the Jeep forced Zach to take off his sweatshirt. Aria tried not to stare at his defined muscles. Had they always been there? When had Zach started looking so…
"All right," Zach said, shaking Aria out of her private moment. He looked at Gray who was in the driver's seat. "Turn it over."
Gray turned the key and to everyone's amazement and equal relief, the Jeep started up.
"It works!" Gray cheered.
Zach and Aria laughed together as Zach flipped the hood of the Jeep down, and hopped into the driver's seat while Aria got into the back.
"I thought you failed your driver's test," Gray said.
"No, only the driving part," Zach replied.
"Wait a minute, what?" Aria exclaimed. "You failed the driving portion? I'm gonna die. I survived a dinosaur and an asthma attack, and now I'm gonna die."
"Always the overdramatic one, aren't you?" Zach teased.
"Just get us back to the park without killing us."
With that, they pulled out of the garage and prayed they didn't run into any unfriendly creatures.
