ADAPTATIONS

22 - Blue is the New White

After resting for the better part of three days and trying to regain her strength, Pet still felt sore and overall fatigued. She was glad Derek still wasn't there because she knew he would do anything possible to annoy and antagonize her. He would probably make a jab at her in some crude way and not stop until she gave him the reaction he was after. She knew better than to fall for his baiting her, but she wasn't about to let him get by with it.

Pet sat outside on Quarantine's porch and was comfortably stretched out in one of the chairs. From behind her shades, her raptor eyes remained glued to the most obnoxious dog she had ever encountered. She usually loved animals no matter how ugly, vicious or otherwise annoying they could be but this particular Shih Tzu was the bane to her loving animals. It yapped in its high-pitched bark and occasionally growled as it neared closer to where the hybrid sat. She'd hiss a screech at it and while it would spook it for a moment, it would keep barking at her right after.

Pet remembered what Muldoon had said about the dog on more than one occasion and grumbled in protest. She had the perfect, newly conceived plan she wanted to execute. She was going to make sure the dog was going to learn a lesson one way or another. The hybrid went into the trailer and to the pantry where a box of small dog treats was kept. She usually kept them around for a couple of the dig site's more loveable dogs that made frequent passes by the trailer. One she absolutely adored was a half beagle, half Jack Russell terrier mix named Shelby.

Pet went back to Quarantine's open front door and waved the dog treat in the air. The Shih Zhu stopped barking and tilted its head to the side in a whimper. The more Pet went back into the trailer, the little dog followed.

"That's it, Sugar. Come get the treat..."


Right on time, a black Chevy Avalanche pulled up alongside the excavation and parked. Grant sighed and looked to Billy for assistance on this. "So help me, if this new museum curator is anything like the last one, I'll knock his damn teeth in."

Billy chuckled at his boss's comment until the driver of the Avalanche got out. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties and was a slender woman with near black tresses curtaining icy blue eyes that could be seen from across the dig site. She wore a navy-blue pinstripe dress suit that graciously flattered her body's curves and matching heeled shoes.

Both men went to approach the woman only to be distracted by a familiar Shih Zhu with patchy, blue dyed fur scampering past and whimpering. Billy watched the dog run to its owner's tent. "Uh, was that Sugar?"

"Yeah," Grant answered in confusion. They weren't the only ones to see it as trails of snickers and laugher broke in the passing dog's wake. "I have a feeling I'm going to hear about this later..."

"Who do you suppose did it?"

"Take a wild guess," Grant answered under his breath, watching the new museum curator close in on his position him.

Her rose red lips curled to a smile. "Dr. Grant?" The addressed man nodded. "Michelle Miller," she continued, out stretching a red manicured hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Doctor."

Out of courtesy, the senior scientist nodded his head in appreciation and accepted her hand in a shake. He checked her left hand's ring finger to see how he should address her before continuing. "Pleasure is all mine, Ms. Miller."

"Please, call me Shelly." Billy could see the fireworks dance in the woman's icy blue eyes that was directed at Grant. He anxiously smiled for his boss's sake. "This is quite the little dig site you have set up here. Blue dogs? Dare I ask?"

Billy chuckled with the memory of how Sugar looked. "Best not to," he answered.

Shelly forcibly peeled her attention off Grant only for the sake of professionalism when addressing someone else. "You must be Billy, right? Billy Brennan?"

"Yes ma'am. We spoke on the phone." Before he could finish speaking, her eyes were right back on the senior scientist.

Their conversing was interrupted, however, by an elderly, stocky woman. She sounded rather livid in her treading through the excavation site and straight for its over seer. "Dr. Grant, a word?" Tucked under an arm was Sugar, the blue colored Shih Zhu. It took everything Billy had to keep from laughing and turned to avoid drawing attention to his otherwise failing attempt. "Who did this?!" She extended the arm she had the dog resting on to emphasize her question.

Grant sighed. He knew it was coming, but hoped it was later rather than sooner. "Mrs. Thompson, I-"

"I want to know who did this to my Sugar!"

Billy gestured for Shelly to follow, the woman a mix of leaving the lead scientist's presence but eager to get away from the tempered elderly woman. Grant held his hands up to try and calm the woman. "I will find out who did this and-"

"It was that bastard of a prankster, wasn't it? You know I'm talking about...Darrel?"

"Derek," Grant grumbled.

"Yes! Him!"

"Mrs. Thompson, he hasn't been present at the dig site in the past few days so I doubt it was him."

Wait, Derek hadn't returned unnoticed, had he? Nah. Couldn't have. Derek seemed like the kind of person to let everyone know, regardless of who, that he was back in the area. He knew Muldoon loathed the dog, but also knew he wasn't the kind of person to have done this. Tranquilize it, yes. Dye it blue? No. Only one person left, Veronica. Of all the people to draw attention to themselves.

Pet calling in the distance for Grant got the angry woman's attention. Mrs. Thompson aimed a trembling finger at the young woman. "You had a hand in this didn't you?"

The hybrid planted her hands on her hips and smirked. "Now what would make you think I would do such a thing?" Sugar growled at Pet that matched Grant's scowling at her as well. "Besides, blue is the new white, right? I mean, isn't that the latest uproar I've been hearing? White and blue, black and gold... I don't know. It's whatever to me. I could care less about the specifics. Anyway, Alan..." Pet ignored the woman about to go nuclear in anger and turned to face the annoyed scientist. "There's some readouts to go over I thought you might like to take a look at when you get the chance."

Grant rolled his attention over to where his protégé and the new curator stood. "It'll have to wait till later, Veronica. The new curator is here and there's some things I need to discuss with her first."

Pet studied the rather attractive woman and cocked a brow at her. A light growl echoed her throat and she nodded in forced acceptance. "Alright."

Grant left Mrs. Thompson and Pet alone together and rejoined Billy and Shelly at the dig site canopy. The hybrid got herself into this which meant she was going to handle it herself. Both women looked to the other, Pet's nostrils flaring.


Pet and Billy watched Grant lead the new curator around the dig site, it being only a matter of time before the well-dressed woman lost her balance in her heels. The terrain was very unfavorable to heels, something she should've taken into account prior to coming to the excavation.

Billy questioned the hybrid next to him. "What exactly did you do to Sugar to turn her blue?"

Pet shrugged. "I decided to clean Quarantine's toilet. Maybe I used a little too much toilet bowl cleaner." She nodded while wearing a scheming smile.

"Seriously?" The junior scientist laughed.

"You asked," Pet sneered, meeting the man's gaze. "At least the toilet is clean, now and so is that yappy ass fur ball." The two shared a laugh before looking back at the strolling professionals. "How long has she been here?"

"Not long." Billy drove his hands into his cargo pants pockets and was taken by surprise when finding stuff buried within them. He extracted the contents, so far being a metal pick and small paint brush, and continued. "She showed up just before you came around."

"I don't like her," Pet stated in a low growl.

Billy gave the woman a sideways glare in question, digging around in his pocket to find a bunch of dirt. "I see nothing wrong with her." Another odd sound came from the woman.

"I just don't like her. Ever get that feeling of someone?" She met the junior scientist's hazel eyes. "You can take one look at someone and know you're not going to like them at all?"

Billy lightly laughed as he turned his pocket inside out to shake out the dirt. "Sure, I suppose." Pet crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. He swapped hands holding the tools to dig around in his other pocket.

Joining the two from the side was Terrence, him pulling off thick leather gloves heavily caked in plaster. He held his gloves and rested his hands on his hips. "Who's the new girl? A sponsor?"

"The new museum curator," Pet grumbled.

"Ah, okay. She's pretty."

The hybrid hissed a frustrated snort and strode back to Quarantine. She went into the trailer, waking Muldoon who had been napping on the couch. It looked like he had been watching TV, but fell asleep at one point.

The hybrid didn't bother asking for permission and plopped down on the couch's armrest by his socked feet. He could see something was wrong. "What's got you bothered this time? Your little prank with that neurotic dog come back and bite you in the ass?"

Pet shook her head. "The museum's new curator is here and of course, she's pretty, so all the guys are falling over themselves."

"Since when did you get all jealous of some twit?" Muldoon sat up, Pet shrugging. "You're too soft on me, Pet. Where that's doesn't give a shit attitude, I raised you with?" Pet giggled. A thought occurred to him and it greatly bothered him trying to accept it. "It's about Derek isn't it? You miss him."

Pet was baffled and met her best friend's inquiring stare. "What? No! Why would this have anything to do with that little shit?"

"Don't think I don't know what happened between you two at the bunker."

A mortified look passed over Pet's face. "Y-you do?" Talking was hard. Swallowing the nervous knot in her throat was harder. "How?"

Muldoon watched the color drain out of the hybrid's otherwise dark-skinned complexion. "He told me shortly after we got here."

She could see the man was keeping his anger tethered and attempted to swallow the ball of nerves in her throat. Pet buried her face in her hands and loudly groaned. She wished for nothing more than to disappear into the couch.


A week and a half later, Derek returned to the dig site and in his red Dodge Challenger. He parked it amongst the Jeep and Terrence's white 4runner and locked it. He was walking between his car and the Jeep when it donned on it; they were both red. In his defense, he had his red car before Pet got the red Jeep. He preferred red for a sports car as it tended to get more attention from the ladies. Meanwhile, Pet's Jeep really didn't get her any attention, but then again she really wasn't allowed to drive it.

Derek went into the trailer and saw Billy at the kitchenette bar making a peanut butter sandwich. Brown eyes met hazel. "I see you're still a thing."

"Jealous?" Derek scoffed and Billy humorously smiled behind him. Derek saw Pet's bedroom door open and looked inside it to see Pet buried under a pile of blankets and asleep. Billy explained. "She's been sleeping more the cooler outside it's been getting." He put the knife in the peanut jar and folded the piece of bread in half. "I think it feels nice outside. It's been maybe sixty something degrees during the day with a low of forty something at night."

Derek quietly sat his duffle bag on the floor by a bar stool. "She's also partially cold blooded."

"How? Dinosaurs evolved into birds. Birds aren't cold blooded. Reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, some insects and fish are, though." Billy took a bite of his fold over sandwich, seeing Derek laughing and shaking his head at him. "What?"

"You're such a nerd. Look, I don't know what her deal is. I'm not the one who created her. Besides, you have to think, Pet's been living on a tropical island that might drop to a low of seventy-five degrees at night. With her being partially cold blooded on top of the dropping temperatures, here, she'll be sleeping a lot. Unless you or the Doc have a big ass heat lamp she can use to keep herself warm with during the day." Derek slid off his sneakers and tip toed to the foot of Pet's bed. He gently shook the lump under the covers he knew to be her foot to see if she was awake. No response.

Billy questioned. "What are you doing?"

Derek held up a finger to hush the other and carefully crawled into the bed, trying not to laugh. He draped an arm over her blanket smothered, sleeping form and nuzzled his face into her neck.

He eventually got her to wake up and she squirmed against him, not realizing it was him. Pet lazily mumbled, "Hey, baby."

Derek crooned, "Aww, you called me baby." She knew that voice and it was not Billy's voice. Pet's blue-green eyes flew open and instantly changed to a raptor's. By the time she had the blankets tossed off of her, Derek was flying out of Quarantine's front door, laughing, "Shit, shit, shit!"

Billy absolutely hated that little shit's pranks and horsing around with his girlfriend, but also greatly enjoyed watching her tear into him the few times she caught him. Pet glared at Billy with animalistic eyes and snorted. She then reached into her nightstand to take out her .9 Beretta pistol and placed it in plain sight on her nightstand. Immediately afterward, she cocooned herself back within her blankets.