Jump | Zach Mitchell

twenty-eight

"OKAY, guys. We're safe now."

I snort at Zach's statement as we drive back to civilization. "Yeah, finally."

Gray is being abnormally quiet, given the circumstances. I wiggle around in my seat so that I can comfortably look at him. "You good, buddy?"

"I'm focusing," he says.

My brow furrows. "On what?"

His cheeks turn pink – well, darker than they already are due to the heat. "Holding my pee."

I start to laugh, but it dies in my throat when I see something in the distance, just over the top of Gray's curly head. Broad specks in the sky, moving up and down, in and out of the stretching trees.

I frown and squint, trying to get a better idea of what that is. More specks join it, and they seem to be getting closer to us. Some kind of bird, maybe?

I look a little harder and my stomach drops.

Definitely not a bird.

My hand comes down on the dashboard, slapping repeatedly. "Go, go go!" I scream, unable to tear my eyes away.

"What the hell are you-"

A loud screech drowns out the rest of Zach's question.

"Oh, shit!"

---

"SO, what were the three of you doing out there again?"

After spotting the Pteranodons and Dimorphodons – as Gray identified them as – we high-tailed it to the nearest entrance to the park, which was guarded by two sentries. They let us in when they saw the flying dinosaurs.

Now we're in a bright white room, being given water bottles and crackers.

"It's kind of a long story-" Zach starts.

"We're sorry!" Gray breaks down under the pressure of being stared at by two authority figures. "We were on the Gyrospheres and the ride closed but Jonelle said that it would be okay to stay out for five more minutes and then Zach found this destroyed gate so we went inside but then we were attacked by a dinosaur and then we had to jump off a cliff and then we found the old park and then we fixed the Jeep and then we drove-"

One of the security guards, James, holds up a gloved hand. "Whoa," he says. "Slow down, kid."

The second guard, Rick, adds on to what his colleague said. "Yeah, you're not in trouble. We just want to understand what happened-"

"-because we're in trouble." I cut him off, raising an eyebrow.

Zach snickers. I send him a grin.

James shakes his head. "We figure you're going to be in enough trouble with your aunt, Ms. Dearing."

My stomach drops and the smile leaves my face.

"What are you talking about?" Zach presses, expression hard.

Rick takes the available seat to my left. "Claire Dearing is the Park Operations Director. When the outbreak happened, she was supposed to take charge. Figure out what to do about it and get it under control. Instead of doing her job, she went off looking for you guys."

I sit back in my seat, stunned. Zach runs his fingers through his hair, looking blankly at his feet.

Gray frowns. "Did you say... outbreak?"

"Yeah," James leans against the wall. "The Indominous Rex got out of her enclosure. She's been killing off many of our herbivores and just broke into the Aviary. We just sent in a team to try to take her out."

"The Indominous Rex?" Gray echoes. He seems to be racking his brain, trying to place the name. "I've never heard of that dinosaur."

"That's because it's new," James explains. "We created it."

My breath catches in my throat. "You made a new dinosaur?" I shake my head, disbelieving. "That's impossible."

"No, it isn't." Gray's mouth is in a tight line. "But just because it is possible, doesn't mean that it should be acted on."

Zach starts suddenly, lurching in his seat to look at us. "That has to be what attacked us!" His eyes are feverish. "Think about it-"

"Hold on." Rick glances over the three of us curiously. "You guys survived an Indominous Rex attack?"

We nod solemnly.

He sputters. "How? Our previous team-"

"-got eaten. Yeah. We saw the wreckage." I purse my lips.

Rick leans forward. "So, how did you do it? How did you escape?"

"We ran. Then we found this waterfall, and we jumped into it." I cross my arms, fighting the urge to shudder at the memory. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Zach fidget in his seat. I know he wants to be next to me, but these security guards are too strict.

James raises his eyebrows. "That's it?"

I scoff. "Well, we couldn't exactly fight it, could we?"

He and Rick exchange a look.

"I don't know what kind of dinosaur you guys created," Gray says. "But whatever it is... you should never have made it."

---

WE'RE questioned for about ten more minutes before Rick's radio goes off. There's more flying dinosaurs in route to Jurassic World, and they're needed on the roofs for 'asset management.'

They wait with us until Zara comes, crying as she gives us all hugs. "How could you do that?" She sobs, stroking Gray's gnarly hair as he stares at her with wide eyes. "I was so terrified! What were you lot thinking?"

"Um..." Gray says. The three of us exchange looks. "We're... sorry?" He offers, but I don't think he really means it.

She sniffles, wiping her cheeks. "You could've made me lose my job. You could've been killed."

Zach and I exchange a look.

"Gee, Zara, I didn't realize that you cared that much," he retorts, rolling his eyes.

"But of course I do!" She wails. "Oh, you had me so worried!"

"...about us, or about your job?" I dare to question.

She sends me a steely glance. "Let's get you three back to the hotel. You'll be safe there, and you can change out of these damp clothes. You'll catch something if you don't."