Author's Note: Heyo! Thank you all for reading! The next chapter has a lot of work before it's ready but I should be posting it sometime next week.

Reminder to read and review! I'll try to do a stream of Camp Cretaceous Season 3 sometime this week so join my discord server if you want to watch with me and probably a couple of other people.

Chapter 15

Calling for Help

They were walking just off the edge of the road as Aaron tried to get a good radio signal on a channel that wasn't full of clueless staff demanding answers. His radio was barely working and partially crushed. He had to hold the antenna a certain way to pick anything up. It was hard to hold it to his mouth while walking. No one was listening to him when he said he needed to contact the control room or ACU.

He said the Indominus was out. Code 19. Yeah, they knew that. He tried to say it ran them off the road and it could camouflage. Eventually, he just had to hope the operator he managed to get for a few seconds would pass the message along. He emphasized the camouflage. The ACU needed to know that as soon as possible.

The ranger he got a hold of briefly told him he would pass the info on before Aaron lost the signal again.

Aaron did his best not to devolve into a stream of rude words as he tried to force the antenna back into place. Even without his tech issues, this was far more disorganized than all those damn emergency training videos management shoved on them made him expect.

Ms Moynihan was on the lookout, her head on a swivel as Aaron busied himself with the technology. When he was done, then she could check in on her students.

Eventually, Aaron was (moderately) successful in getting through to an operator in the control room, who hilariously told them to stay put until help arrived, even after Aaron made it very clear that staying near the scene where they had been run off the road was not an option. Then the poor operator had the gall to tell him they needed to go back and wait by the car for help!

"Were you not listening to me?!"

"Sir, please. The situation is being handl—"

"HANDLED, MY ASS!" Aaron snapped. "Put Lowery or Vivian on right now! I know they are there."

"Sir, there really is no reason to yell…" the operator said, and in a moment of clarity (and noticing Ms Moynihan's mildly disapproving look out the corner of his eye) Aaron heard the shake in the person's voice.

"Look, I'm sorry," Aaron said, trying his absolute best not to let his gritted teeth be heard. "We just were nearly eaten. Okay? Excuse me if I'm stressed. I know you're doing your best. Please put Lowery or Vivian on right now."

Thankfully for Aaron's sanity, they didn't reply. He could hear some movement, though.

Someone took the microphone away from the operator. "Aaron? You were attacked?"

The voice sounded a little disbelieving and Aaron wasn't entirely sure why he felt a little insulted.

"Lowery?" Aaron asked as he recognized the new voice. "Your guy just told us to stay put. Like hell that's happening. My guest and I are already heading toward the park. I lost my pass, so the gate guys are going to need to know we're coming."

"I got you, man," Lowery replied. He sounded distracted, like he was trying to listen to both Aaron and something going on in the room with him all at once. "Things are just a little…tense at the moment, okay? We can't really do anything for you right this moment. They're about to catch the thing."

Aaron froze, continuing when Ms Moynihan subtly nudged his shoulder to keep him moving. "Wait, ACU already found it? The Indominus?" Aaron asked for clarification, dread creeping into his spine. That seemed a little too quick. He glanced at the woods alongside him and Joanne.

How close was ACU to them? How close was the Indominus? He took a breath to calm down. The ACU guys could handle it…

Ms Moynihan tensed as Lowery spoke but didn't interrupt yet.

"Yeah, these guys—" There was a pause, which didn't help the unease. Lowery's next words were slow and cautious as he apparently forgot to let go of the talk button to respond to someone in the room with him. "What the fuck is that?"

"What's happening?" Aaron demanded.

"…Uh," Lowery lowered his voice. "We were tracking her. ACU guys just found her tracker."

Aaron didn't really process why his panic was rising, but he was at least partly aware it was because his subconscious had made a connection that he wasn't completely aware of just yet. And he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it when he realized what was bothering him.

"Her tracker? Just her tracker!?"

Ms Moynihan looked at the radio sharply. She narrowed her eyes at the device and—for the briefest moment—Aaron wondered if her eyes changed.

Maybe that was just his adrenaline spiking. His teacher's eyes remained a very mammalian olive green.

"Hold on…" Lowery was gone for a few irritating seconds. He was still holding the talk button, so Aaron got the faint whisper of Claire Dearing's voice asking a question, followed by a tense voice he recognized as Owen's. He wondered when the raptor trainer had left the arena. They hadn't passed him on the road, so it had to be a while ago.

"Um…Raptor dude is saying she…clawed her tracker out," Lowery eventually relayed, sounding more than a little freaked out.

Ms Moynihan grabbed Aaron's arm to halt him. "It's a trap," she breathed, urgency in her voice along with…guilt?

What had she noticed that he didn't?

"Lowery. Lowery. Listen to me," Aaron snapped into the radio. "You need to get them out of there. Now! It can camouflage. Did no one hear me?! I tried to call it in!"

It was silent.

Aaron's blood ran cold. "Shit. Lowery!"

"Aaron," Ms Moynihan scolded sharply. "Lower your voice." She still sounded…bothered by something, other than her warning and the silence.

"Sorry. Lowery. Goddamnit! If you can't talk, then put Viv on!"

A few very long minutes later, another voice crackled through. "…Aaron?"

Ms Moynihan got front-row seats to a wave of relief that nearly knocked the man over at the sound of the woman's voice. The old woman had to slightly steady him, her hand still on his arm.

"Viv!" Aaron said. "Thank God. Did no one hear me?! What the hell is happening? Did ACU get it?"

They would hear the woman's breaths as she gathered herself, shaky and panicked.

Aaron waited, even though he could feel his blood pressure rising from anxiety.

Viv didn't talk for a few moments. "N-No…W-we know it can camouflage." She took a breath.

"They…" Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat before speaking in the most professional tone she could. "ACU failed. Asset is still out of containment.."

She was trying so very hard to keep a calm voice.

They were still on an open, though rarely used, channel. Now was the worst time to break communication rules. She had a job to do.

Aaron knew what she meant, though. He briefly closed his eyes and stopped walking, the radio against his head for a moment.

Some of the ACU guys were dead.

He just hoped it wasn't any of their friends.

Her tone didn't give him a lot of hope and he swallowed down a knot of anxiety and grief that rose in the back of his throat.

Ms Moynihan didn't urge him to walk, but she lent a comforting hand to his shoulder, eyes pained with sympathy.

A lot of the staff knew each other. They all lived on an island together, with many different departments in the same company-provided apartment complexes. It wasn't like Disney World where everyone went home a city away after work. The scientists, operations, and security personnel (at least the lower-pay-grade people) all mingled.

Vivian couldn't help her gasp as she realized why he was calling. "Aaron, are you alright?! Where are you?"

"I'm okay, Viv…" Aaron said, a little more subdued now. "My guest and I were on our way back from the raptor research arena when it forced us off the road. We're okay. Just a little banged up. We're heading back to the park right now."

There was a sharp crackle of static. "On foot?! I'll send someone to come get you. Hold on…"

Ms Moynihan shook her head.

Aaron looked at her questioningly.

Someone else cut in on the radio before Aaron could say anything. "We're stretched a little thin here, Ms Krill! Who's needing the transport?"

"Dr Aaron Okesty," Aaron said. "We're just off the main service road between Raptor Research and the Northwest gate. We are without a vehicle and sitting ducks out here."

"Roger that. Stay on the road. We'll send someone in your direction as soon as possible." There was a click as the man finished and supposedly switched channels again. Apparently, no one was really following radio etiquette.

"Aaron, I'll try to get someone out there," Vivian promised.

Ms Moynihan cleared her throat and Aaron let go of the talk button. "I recommend we make our way back to the raptor research arena. We are much closer to there than the main park."

She had a point. Neither of them wanted to be out in the open any more than necessary.

He didn't entirely like it, but Aaron told Vivian the new plan.

"Just…please be safe," Viv said after a long pause. "I…I have to go. Stay on the main emergency channel! I'm coordinating everything so if it's near you…" There was a pause and she got very quiet. "Be careful."

"Viv," Aaron said apologetically. "I have to turn my radio off. It makes too much noise. I'll check in periodically on channel 4, but I don't want to catch any unwanted attention."

Vivian did not sound happy about that. "Copy that. Be careful. Please?"

"I will. See you soon." He paused for a moment. "I love you."

Shockingly, he didn't hear anyone who might be eavesdropping crack a single crude joke or wolf whistle, nor did Vivian complain about him breaking the rules.

Fuck the rules. He almost died.

"...I love you too," Vivian said, much to Aaron's surprise.

"Talk later," Aaron smiled as he turned off the radio and looked at his cool high school science teacher. Frankly, cool wasn't a strong enough adjective. She was a little scary. Scary was good right now. However, she might take offense to that moniker. "Care to join me for a walk, Ms Moynihan?" He offered his arm.

"Gladly, Dr Okesty," Ms Moynihan said with a faint grin as she took his offered arm. "Now about this Vivian girl…"

Aaron groaned.

Ms. Moynihan laughed at Aaron and nudged him teasingly. "Alright, alright. You're lucky I have a call to make, young man."

Author's Note: Do you guys know what Ms Moynihan realized? She'll explain it in a later chapter.