Note: A little later on the update but I hope you enjoy!
Warning for dubious medical science as it pertains to shapeshifters that have a big difference in mass between their forms.
Thank you everyone who provided feedback on this chapter!
Summary: Fiona gets to know the Indominus.
Chapter 18
Playmates
The Indominus tripped over the smaller body like a football player over some poor unattended toddler that wandered onto the field during a game and was promptly gifted a brutal lesson on the conservation of momentum and irresponsible parenting.
It hurt like hell for both of them.
Powerful legs slammed into the smaller one, likely breaking ribs or at least bruising them. The Indominus heard a wheeze and caught a glimpse of her unexpected enemy shaking their head.
The Indominus didn't exactly escape either. She unceremoniously crashed into the ground, shaking the earth beneath her. Her snout drove into the ground while her claws gouged the dirt in a failed attempt to break her fall. She breathed in the dirt and tried to cough it out, tasting the gritty soil mixed with small pieces of plants.
She paused for a moment at the novelty of it all. The type of pain she was feeling was altogether new. It wasn't like the sharp stings of the weapons she had experienced already. She had fallen many times before when she was young (younger) and unsteady in her limbs, which grew faster than her muscles and nerves could handle. She still remembered night after night of terrible aches and restless muscles that kept her sleepless and pacing in an enclosure far too small for someone desperate to run. That wasn't very long ago.
GET UP!
The words clearly weren't for her, but it was a good idea, so she did so anyway. She turned and snarled, finally getting a good look at the creature that she had to assume was responsible for the taste of earth and her aching legs.
She knew the words. Human. Person. Man. Woman. He. She. Them. She grasped enough to understand that those words all floated around each other in their meaning. She was very very sure that the stupid little prey that had unwisely stopped running a moment ago was a human. Female. Like her. She could tell by the smell. Humans looked so different and they weren't consistent with the words she had assumed meant male or female, so it was hard to tell. Sometimes a human was a weird mix of smells. But usually, she could tell.
The creature before her was that same human from a moment ago. She knew it. While she was inquisitive, shock was not a considered option on the wheel of emotions. Why should it be?
She didn't have enough understanding of how the world was supposed to be. Biases didn't get in the way of what her senses were telling her directly. She believed her eyes and nose. She didn't have any reason to think it was out of the ordinary for a human to be able to turn into another kind of being, larger and not so weak as before.
It amused her, actually. How come other humans didn't make themselves larger to defend themselves against her? Not that claws and teeth would do much in the end anyway.
The older being she had met earlier came to mind. That creature had a peculiar smell. It was similar to the smell that lingered in the air around this younger human. She was aware the elder could do the same thing; change its shape to something more impressive.
The woman before her—that was one word she learned rather recently—was young. Like her. She had teeth like her. And claws. A predator. A competitor?
She was still pathetically small, though. Larger than the old female she met earlier, but still.
The Indominus eyed the sail sprouting from the spine of her new playmate. It was a tempting target. She didn't really know the words for it, but she knew it looked fragile. That didn't mean it actually was. She didn't care for caution, though.
The Indominus didn't attack immediately, which gave her enemy the time to push to her feet and hiss, baring her long teeth and claws.
It was a vicious hiss, incredibly loud, and might have sent prey into a state of frozen fear or panicked scrambling. She could feel it in her bones.
This would be fun.
They circled, the Indominus flexing its claws. It seemed far more at ease than Fiona. Confident.
Fiona knew she shouldn't let it get to her, but it did. Did the Indominus know something she didn't? It didn't seem very put off by her transformation, and Fiona was not sure how to feel about that.
Fiona tried not to calculate the chances of her winning. The damn thing was at least three times her size! Its arms were bigger than hers. Its everything was bigger than hers. Except it didn't have a sail.
Her sail, while one of her favorite features, was an uncomfortably large and somewhat delicate target at the moment. Fiona was painfully aware of that.
Focus, she snarled at herself, letting some of it out against the Indominus in her snarl.
Fiona hadn't been in an actual fight before (not including the sparring Ms Moynihan insisted on). Even Veloci had never been serious about hurting them during the rare occasions both parties ran into each other as dinosaurs. He was cautious about damaging his potential "specimens." Any mutants she and the guys fought were more scared of them and just frightened animals trying to survive and lashing out accordingly. They never needed to hurt the mutants and actively tried not to. The poor things rarely tried to eat people! Most animals seemed to understand that going after humans in the long run was suicide.
So why was this animal different?
The pale dinosaur must have noticed her hesitation and moved. It was fast. Or maybe that was just its size working for it. One stride was three of hers.
Fiona dodged the bite at her neck, but that left her side open.
The Indominus attacked when the playmate took another step as if thinking they would circle for a moment longer, sizing each other up before properly attacking.
The Indominus didn't bother. She knew she would win, anyway. Not taking the time to look for other weaknesses meant her playmate was another puzzle to solve during the fight.
She liked puzzles.
But it seemed her playmate wouldn't be surprised so easily. Jaws missed a sinewy neck by a breath.
But her claws raked a yellow hide, cutting through flesh smoothly until one claw caught on something.
Pressure.
It vaguely surprised Fiona that she didn't actually feel the claws at first, but that was probably adrenaline's fault. Then a fiery jolt of agony caught against a vertebra near the base of her sail where her spine met her ribs. She didn't really know if she screamed or not.
Her playmate shrieked in pain and pulled away, three deep scratches arcing from the base of the sail and across the left shoulder.
In the midst of that screech, the Indominus heard whispers. New words floated across the bloody turf beneath the two giants, along with their meanings.
She was paying too much attention to the whispers. Powerful jaws latched onto her nose.
Fiona bit down as hard as she possibly could and tasted blood, but she didn't have as much purchase as she needed and felt it immediately. Her teeth were more for holding slippery fish than the tough skin of another dinosaur.
The Indominus seemed a little surprised that Fiona had landed the bite and jerked back and upward. She raised her head to lift Fiona up and expose the underside of her neck. However, she probably hadn't dealt with such an active prey of Fiona's weight before.
Fiona had to let go as she noticed bloodstained claws reaching for her eyes. She released. While the Indominus stumbled back from the sudden loss of weight, Fiona dropped her head and rammed into the I-Rex's chest.
Her neck hurt from the force. That pressure was back and she felt claws along both her shoulders, digging them in as it attempted to pull her with it. Then…
Fiona was partially expecting it. She still didn't really hear the crack so much as felt it like lightning striking through her spinal sail through the ends of her claws. Didn't make it hurt any less or make her any less frantic in her attempts to get away.
She felt the pressure on the edge of her sail lessened through the agony, probably as the Indominus readjusted her bite. Her back felt warm and wet, yet cold all at once. Fiona managed to rip away, dearly hoping she didn't just rip up her sail more by doing so.
She'd worry about it later.
She didn't hesitate, swinging her long body around with enough force to slam her very muscular swimmer's tail into a mouth full of teeth stained with her blood.
The Indominus' curious, scattered, young thoughts that didn't actually use all of the words she understood were halted by an explosion of pain across her face. A crack reverberated through her skull.
She stumbled back as her playmate hissed again, somehow louder and more guttural, warning her to back off.
She was angry now.
There was an audible crack, but Fiona wasn't sure if it was the white dinosaur's jaw or her tail. Her tail didn't hurt very much, but she suspected a lot of things didn't hurt at the moment that would catch up to her later. If she got out of this alive.
Whatever the case, her powerful tail got the claws out of her shoulders and the teeth out of her back. She let out an eerie mix of a mammalian roar and a hiss that was more accurate for her species. As a human, it might have been a scream of pain, but she refused to let it be so obvious. She put as much rage as possible into the bone-chilling sound. She had listened to a recording of her own vocalizations and even knowing her own voice; it had been unsettling.
Max could be louder.
Even Ms Moynihan seemed a little confused (and maybe a little disturbed) when Fiona and Max made those noises, admitting that they must not be perfect dinosaurs like they appeared if they were able to make those mammalian roars. The current theory was that it was a subconscious mutation to their vocal cords that they forced upon themselves, their mammalian instincts too uncomfortable with the relative quiet their species were supposed to have with hisses and more birdlike noises. Ms Moynihan had compared it to how she was able to change her human features (if she liked), or how she had been able to stop growing feathers.
Even with the vague memory in the way, Fiona yanked her head back in time to avoid another swipe at her face. A claw grazed her snout, and she hissed. She tasted blood again, and this time it was hers.
Fiona was pissed. She was not losing. She utterly refused.
'At least avoid my face! I have yearbook pictures next month,' she snarled, unable to help the sarcasm despite her fear and frustration. How the hell was she supposed to get out of this?!
Her ram into the Indominus' chest barely shifted it, the only evidence being its lower stance and a gash of torn-up vegetation at their feet.
Even if she could get a good bite in, her jaw would snap before she did any damage in a neck hold.
She needed to be smart. Her best bet was to run away. Terri was safe from the Indominus, and she had to assume those two boys had enough of a head start now. She hadn't seen them throughout the fight, not that she could afford to look around for them. She just had to hope she hadn't stepped on them, if they were still there. She needed to run away. She would count that as a win. But she couldn't just turn her back and book it. What she needed was an opening.
The Indominus heard words she recognized. Indominus Rex. She knew that was her. She had heard the humans call her that, whether their mouths moved or not.
Her playmate was distracted, worried about the other smaller prey that had run off. Otherwise, the Indominus might not have heard or seen any of those thoughts. It was intriguing. She wanted to drag the fight out longer just to listen. To learn.
It was clear her playmate didn't realize she was being listened to. But she was hurt and aware her playmate was stronger than she assumed.
'What are you?'
Fiona stumbled at the words that rang through her skull. Red eyes met yellow and Fiona saw that amusement spread.
'What—' She halted, just for a moment. She hadn't been guarding her thoughts very well. It took up the concentration she needed for the fight and—
Any flickering hope for reasoning with her opponent was dashed as it smirked at her surprise. Or she felt like it smirked. She couldn't tell.
A moment later, it took a page out of her book and rammed her, the force from the much larger dinosaur throwing the smaller dinosaur across the clearing.
Water roared in Fiona's ears, louder than any sound she could make. A leg slipped on wet rock and Fiona scrambled to pull herself up from falling off a cliff she hadn't even noticed them approaching. She had no idea how far the drop was. She could assume it was a waterfall, but she didn't know if there was a deep pool or bone-breaking rocks below.
The Indominus was not so willing to let the fun leave so soon. It sunk its claws into a leg and pulled her back from the ledge. Definitely not to save Fiona. The pale dinosaur flexed, making Fiona snarl in pain as the claws dug deeper into the muscle.
'Oh, fuck you!' Fiona screeched at it. She didn't give a shit if it understood the meaning of her words, but she hoped the sentiment was coming across.
This was fun to it.
She reared her head up and clamped her jaws around the other's arm, tugging the much larger dinosaur down while her arms held the other set of claws away from her eyes. She wanted to get away, but if she was going over the cliff, she was taking her new friend with her. Buddy system and all that...
She didn't have the bite force that Max or this thing did, but she didn't give a shit. She bit through the pain, oddly aware that she had just lost at least three teeth. She absently hoped that wouldn't translate to missing human teeth. Dentures seemed a pain in the ass to maintain.
She would have laughed at herself if she had the time. She noticed that the Indominus wasn't trying to bite her anymore despite several obvious openings, and although she was only half-conscious of the detail, Fiona ran with it as hard as she could.
She let go of the arm and head-butted the Indominus in the chin before it could scratch her face off with the now free arm, which she then promptly bit down on again.
It roared in pain, which was good. It let go of Fiona, which was also good. It clawed her shoulder and neck, which wasn't great. With such little space between them, she saw the crooked lower jaw.
Some less panicky part of her was very pleased to see she got some good hits in, despite it mostly being her blood she could smell in the air. She had knocked some of the Indominus' teeth out. There was a very bite mark on the nose and now some blood trailing from the mouth.
She didn't have time to celebrate as the Indominus finally yanked its arm free, taking yet a few more of Fiona's teeth with it, and not before angrily shoving the side of Fiona's head sharply into the ground.
Fiona saw stars, and the ringing was back and far more unbearable. She fought through the stunned blindness, even though she had no idea if hits were landing. Something brushed against her foot and she kicked it as hard as she possibly could. She couldn't roll over with her spine in the way and if she was pushed any further, she worried she might actually fracture it at the base if it wasn't already.
But then she was slipping. Then she was falling. Even so, the adrenaline slowed those few precious seconds down enough to allow her just enough time to make one, or two, decisions.
If there were rocks below her, she was dead anyway. If it was a pool, then shallower water would cushion a human body better than her current one, if the drop wasn't too far and she could manage to twist around to hit the water feet first. But she was still tougher as a Spinosaurus so what should she—
She slammed into the water, the impact smacking her already concussed head. She was very aware that she morphed some time before she hit the water. But maybe that was a bad decision.
The exhaustion from shapeshifting merged with the exhaustion from fighting for her life and it all slammed into her all at once.
She internally laughed at the irony even as her lungs ached for oxygen and her arms and legs refused to cooperate. She didn't have the strength to move. She had burned through so much energy going dino and she definitely hadn't met the calorie minimum she needed that day or the day before.
She shouldn't have skipped lunch. Breakfast on the plane had been pitiful.
She needed air...
The few long seconds between the body hitting the water and the dinosaur finally deciding to leave were torture.
Zach had only looked up from checking Gray just in time to see the girl hit the water. He couldn't tell if she was even in one piece or not.
She didn't immediately resurface, just like them.
They had almost been caught in the eddies from the waterfall and dragged back down. But they had jumped far enough out from the cliffside that they avoided the worst of the current. At least, that was Zach's guess.
Zach kept his hand over Gray's mouth, though it wasn't necessary. They stayed still, shivering in the reeds and mud.
The person wasn't coming up.
Just when it seemed like it would never leave, the pale dinosaur that had attacked them roared and left the cliff.
Zack figured it was going after the ruddy yellow dinosaur he had barely caught a glimpse of when he and Gray jumped.
Gray suddenly scrambled to his feet, but Zach pulled him back down. "Gray!" he hissed. "What the heck are you—!"
"There!"
Zach saw a flash of a yellow and brown jacket deep in the water near the falls.
Zach couldn't hear whatever Gray was saying and frantically waded into the water. He dove.
Zach had mixed feelings about lifeguards now. He heaved the girl up onto the bank and collapsed into the mud on his back beside her, gasping in air. He had considered being a lifeguard as a summer job. Girls liked lifeguards. But he had second doubts now. His respect for it as an actual job was pretty high at the moment.
If he had put any more thought into how stupid what he just did was, he might not have been able to drag the girl up to the surface. She was heavy! How?! He believed those stories about people being able to lift cars to save someone now. Although, he was pretty sure that would still be impossible for him.
"Is she dead?!"
Gray's panicking voice pulled him out of the void of non-thoughts as he desperately tried to get his breath back.
He rolled over and pushed up to his elbows. He was lucky the girl was already in the process of getting spit out by the waterfall when he reached her.
"ABC. Airway. Breathing. Circulation. She's not breathing," Gray said. "Do you have to kiss her?" His voice was frantic and shaky.
"That's CPR," Zack wheezed.
The pointless, time-wasting argument didn't continue for much longer when the sound of gurgling interrupted them.
Now Zack panicked. He didn't know what to do! He realized he probably should have been panicking the whole time but the situation was just a tad hard to process. It felt like he was seeing from someone else's eyes, his feelings not belonging to him.
Gray gasped and did his best to roll the girl over, his cold, shaking hands gripping the girl's sleeves as he pulled with all his strength, which wasn't much.
"What the hell are you—?"
"She's gonna choke!" his little brother interrupted him, sounding like he was trying not to cry from fear. "Help me!"
Zach didn't argue and helped his brother turn the stranger on her side where she proceeded to vomit water and whatever else was in her stomach all over Zach.
There was a lot of blood in her vomit.
He resisted the urge to hurl himself.
Gray paled.
"Hey! Wake up!" Zach said, lightly shaking the girl who seemed around his age as she coughed and wheezed. He yanked his hand away when he touched something warm and stiffened at the blood now coating his hand.
It was coming from her mouth and mostly her back. There was a cut across her nose and left cheek that was still bleeding and getting blood in her eyes that she was trying to open.
Weirdly, her clothes seemed relatively fine. Just wet and muddy. Blood was darkening the fabric on her back but there was no gash in the fabric that Zach could see skin through.
"We…need to…"
The boys jumped, shocked that she could talk.
She coughed, the movement clearly painful.
"Hey, what's your name? Can you get up?!"
She weakly shook her head and coughed again. She mumbled something.
"What?"
They caught it the second time.
"See what?" Zach asked, frustrated and confused. "We saw you fall off a cliff and two dinosaurs that almost ate us!"
Gray pursed his lips and anxiously glanced up at the top of the waterfall.
Zach noticed, but Gray had a habit of focusing on odd things at the wrong time so he ignored it.
Zach's answer seemed to satisfy the girl, though. Maybe. It was hard to tell if she even heard him.
Her jacket was steadily staining red from the blood.
Zach swallowed. "L-look, you're really hurt. We need to get to the park," Zach tried. "I don't know how long we can wait here. That thing might come back. Or it might be coming looking for a way down here. You need to get up."
"...I don't think that's happening…" she muttered, struggling to keep her eyes open. She still managed to glare at him. Her eyes were unfocused.
"Hey! Stay awake. If you die, I'm leaving you here. I didn't sign up for corpse delivery!"
"Zach," Gray grabbed his arm, horrified.
Yeah, it was really rude. The girl might be dying. He'd regret it if that was the last thing she heard. But he was freaking out a little bit.
The threat didn't seem to work.
The girl didn't answer, passed out entirely.
"Shit. Shit," Zach hissed, frantically trying to remember anything from the Wilderness First Aid course his dad had forced him to sit through to get a merit badge.
"T-two liters," Gray said quietly, staring at the red. He still looked a little sick and stepped back.
"What?"
Gray swallowed, trying to explain. "Humans have an average of five liters of blood. If they lose forty percent…"
"Okay okay, I get it," Zach said, peeling off his waterlogged hoodie. It was all they had. He sucked in a breath in an attempt to steel himself. He didn't sign up for any of this.
Note:
The next chapter might be a while but I'm still aiming for next week. It needs a lot of work. Let me know what other tags I should include for this story.
Thank you so much for the comments! I love when you guys ask questions. You can still join my server if you want to sit in on my research/movie nights. I STILL haven't finished Season 3 of CC and it's important for the plot later. I've been so busy.
On Ao3 is a link to a google doc of this chapter you can comment on if you want, though I don't know why. Maybe there's a mistake or you wanted to commented on something specific. Whatever you want. It was used to get feedback for this chapter before I posted. The google account is not my real name by the way. I have an account made specially for fanfic stuff.
