• 9 •

Alan Grant: "Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the slightest idea of what to expect?"

— Jurassic Park

•••

WITH A LOUD GROAN, CLAIRE OPENED THE BACK DOORS OF ONE OF THE JURASSIC WORLD VANS, revealing not much more than some containers filled with god-knows-what and various pieces equipment.

"See? Totally safe."

Zach and Liana looked at the inside of the van, then at each other, then back at the van, not quite believing Claire's words. Zach let out a breath and Liana cocked her head to the side, trying to gauge how "safe" they were actually going to be.

"Alright, get in," Claire said, already moving to help Gray into the van. "Come on." Zach followed after Gray, and offered a hand to Liana as she jumped up into the van. Gray went to sit on top of a container, and Zach sat next to him. Liana settled for just sitting on the floor and leaning up against the wall.

"If you need me, I'll be right up from. Just open that window." Claire pointed to a sliding window situated above Zach and Gray's heads before continuing. "Okay, put your seatbelts on."

The three all glanced around the van, Zach and Gray even reached around the sides of where they were sitting, only to find nothing that vaguely resembled a seatbelt. There was nothing. This was clearly a vehicle made for transporting inanimate objects- not teenagers.

Claire released a small sigh of defeat. "Okay, so just- hold hands," she said finally, closing the doors and heading towards the front of the van as the three teens just glanced at each other in the darkness. After a few seconds, Gray held out both hands, one for Zach, and one for Lia.

Liana laughed softly and grabbed the boy's hand, whereas Zach just glanced at his brother's hand, which was now hitting him on the arm softly.

"Come on, Zach, you heard your aunt," Lia said, smirking softly at him.

"Fine," he muttered, taking hold of Gray's hand and smiling weakly at the younger boy.

The three were sitting in silence, all too drained and exhausted to even try to start a conversation. You could have heard a pin drop until the silence was broken by the sound of some very riled up raptors.

"Nothing's getting in here, right?" Gray asked, his eyes staring at the doors directly across from him.

"Of course not," Liana muttered. Though she wasn't sure if that was true, she wanted to comfort Gray. And in all honestly, saying it out loud brought her some slight comfort. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Gray nodded weakly, but he still didn't seem convinced as his eyes lingered on the doors as the raptors continued to shriek outside. Zach looked at him for a few seconds before speaking up.

"Hey- you remember that ghost at the old house? Remember, the one in the garage? I protected you, right?"

"You made a battle-axe out of a ruler and a paper plate."

Zach smiled as his brother recalled the story. "Yeah. And see, nothing's gonna get you when I'm around," he said as he put a hand on Gray's shoulder. "Okay?"

"But you're not always gonna be around."

"Yeah I will."

Gray still looked unsure, so Zach looked him straight in the eye as he continued speaking.

"Hey, we're brothers, okay? And we'll always be brothers and we'll always come back to one another. No matter what."

"No matter what," Gray repeated.

"No matter what."

As the two brothers gave one another a small hug, Liana smiled fondly at the two of them until her mind wandered back to her own family and her heart sank. Her mom. Her dad. Ryleigh. Daniel. She kept hoping they were safe and sound back at the resort, but there was no way of knowing for sure that all four of them were okay, especially after everything that had happened with the pterosaurs. She would just have to keep thinking positive or else she would drive herself crazy with guilt. Even if they were all okay, they had no idea where she was. The last time they saw her was earlier that morning before all the chaos even broke out. She was worrying about them, and there was no doubt that they were worrying just as much about her. If all went according to the plan with the raptors, Liana hoped she would be reunited with her family in no time.

•••

Once the raptors were let loose and followed by Owen's team into the jungle, Liana was still able to hear the sounds of the raptors, though it was faint.

"W-why can I still hear them?" She asked the boys.

"I think I know." Zach motioned Lia to join him and Gray under the window, and Gray slowly slid it open, hoping that Claire wouldn't notice them. She was holding a screen, watching the action from the safety of the vehicle. The screen showed the raptors running throughout the jungle alongside Owen and his team as they searched for the dinosaur that had attacked them earlier in the gyrosphere.

"Your boyfriend's a badass." Zach said. Lia and Gray just nodded in agreement, unable to tear their eyes away from the screen.

As the men with guns came into frame and the raptors started to pick something up, Claire turned around.

"You know what, no, no, no- no, no. You guys are not gonna watch this. Keep the window closed," she said, sliding the window closed in the face of the three teens, ignoring all of their protests as she focused back on the screen herself.

Despite the window being closed, it didn't stop any of them from hearing Claire mutter a small "oh my god," nor did it stop them from hearing the screams and shrieks coming from the screen. They couldn't know for sure what was going on, but they knew it wasn't good. Putting a finger up to her lips to signal the boys to be quiet, Liana slid open the door slowly, thankful that Claire was too distracted by what was happening on the screen to hear them. Zach and Gray joined her and peered through the window, watching in horror at what was happening on the screen. It looked as if the raptors had turned on their trainers in favour of the Indominus - at least half of the men were dead, if not more.

"Oh my God," Claire muttered again, her breathing heavy.

"Is everybody dead?"

Hearing Gray's voice caused Claire to jump slightly and hide the screen from their view. "No, no, no, everyone is fine."

"Don't lie to him!" Zach said, raising his voice.

"He's scared. It's okay to lie when people are scared!"

"I wanna go home," Gray said to his aunt. Claire put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"Oh, sweetheart, you will. Okay? I promise. Tomorrow you will be home and your mother will never let me see you again-"

Claire was cut off by a bloody hand slamming against her window. She let out a shriek and Zach quickly closed the window, the three teens sliding down to their seats and holding each other close.

"GET OUT OF HERE! GO!" The bloodied man outside yelled, causing Lia to grab onto Zach and Gray's hands out of fear. Claire stopped screaming and put the key into the ignition, ready to speed off. The man opened the back doors, trying to get to safety, but causing Zach, Gray, and Lia to jump.

"They're coming!" The man yelled as he tried to get up into the truck, but before any of them could help him, a raptor jumped onto his back and dug it's teeth into his shoulder.

Zach held his arm out across Lia and Gray, trying to stay calm as the latter screamed like no tomorrow. As Claire started driving, the man and the raptor tumbled out of the vehicle. As the raptor began to devour him, his screams got louder and louder and Lia put a hand over her mouth, feeling both scared out of her mind and sick to her stomach.

"JUST HOLD ON BACK THERE!" Claire yelled back, though her words were followed by the shattering of glass and another loud scream. Thankfully, from outside, they heard a thud and a few cries, and hoped that they had lost the raptor.

They were all proved wrong as the doors flapped open, revealing two angry dinosaurs heading straight towards the van.

"What do we do?" Gray yelled.

Zach grabbed the first heavy thing he saw- a metal air tank, and shoved it out the doors at the raptors. They swiftly dodged it, and Lia and Gray were sent flying towards the opposite side of the van as Claire swerved, injuring one of the two raptors.

"One down," Liana said, breathing heavily.

"Still one left," Gray said.

Liana turned to the side and saw two long metal rods. She wasn't sure what they were, but they sure as hell seemed better than nothing. She passed one to Zach and took the other for herself. Gray crouched down near Zach and the two tried to figure out how to get it to work as she looked closely at her own.

"TURN IT ON!" Gray yelled.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Zach replied,

The raptor jumped up onto the edge of the van, and Lia pushed a switch on the rod, causing it to come alive with electricity.

"Move," she told the boys, shoving the rod at the raptor and instantly electrocuting it, causing it to fall backwards and land in the middle of the road.

"Holy shit," Zach said, staring at Lia with a hint of admiration in his eyes as she blew a piece of hair out of her face. He and Gray scooted back towards the window as she leaned against the wall and began to catch her breath.

"I try," she said, flashing a brief smile in Zach's direction.

"Are you guys okay?" Claire called back.

Zach slid open the window though he was still sitting on the ground, trying to steady his breathing. "Hey- did you see that?"

"Zach's girlfriend's a badass too!" Gray said.

"Hey- what?!" Zach and Lia both said at the same time, avoiding eye contact and hiding their flushing cheeks.

"I can't wait to tell mom!" Gray said excitedly.

"Oh, please, no. Do not tell your mother about that ever."

Before either boy could reply to their aunt, they were interrupted by the sound of Owen heading towards them on his motorcycle. They all began to scream his name, both out of relief and excitement. Things were starting to look as if they just might be okay.