Jump | Zach Mitchell

thirty-three

WHEN Claire shows us the new vehicle that we're going to be riding in, I have half of a mind to ask her if she's serious.

...it's an ambulance that only has two seats.

She opens the back to show us the storage area. "See?" She lets her arms drop down by her sides. "Totally safe."

"You want us to sit back there?" Zach questions.

"Yeah. Get in." She herds Gray toward the steps, then Zach. "Come on."

Gray hops in eagerly, thankful to be somewhere that someone has deemed safe.

Zach hops in and turns to give me a boost up.

"Actually, since Jonelle is hurt, she's going to sit up front with me." Claire pushes my hair back and then rests her hand on my shoulder. "She'll be safe."

"I want to stay with her," Zach says. He won't look at me.

"She'll be okay. Look, there's a little window that you can open in the back so you can talk to her. Show him, Gray." Claire gestures anxiously.

Gray slides the small plastic covering aside, revealing a tiny square.

Zach sighs but shuffles back, taking a seat. I stare at his lanky form, wishing he would make eye contact with me.

"Good!" She nods sharply, bob bouncing from the movement. "Now put your seatbelts on and we'll be ready to go."

"There... there are no seatbelts." Gray pats the sides of the ambulance dramatically.

"Okay... so just... hold hands."

Zach and I both snort at the same time. Claire begins to shut the doors. He catches my eye right before he disappears from view.

---

"OKAY, sweetheart, let's get you settled." Claire opens my door and allows me to lean against her while I struggle to climb up into the ambulance. "There, good girl. Put your seatbelt on." She slams my door shut and hurries around the side of the ambulance.

I can faintly hear Zach and Gray whispering to each other. I strain my ears to make out what they're saying.

"...I protected you, right?" Zach mutters, his voice deep.

"Yeah... you made a battle-ax out of a ruler and a paper plate."

I smile, remembering the days that Zach was obsessed with knights. Gray would always be a wizard, and I would be a jester. My old Basset Hound, Cinnamon, was the queen. That was back when we were much younger, when the Mitchells lived a little farther away, when Zach and I had first become friends.

"Yeah... yeah, see? Nothing's going to get you when I'm around, okay?" I can hear Zach's smile from the way his words twist.

"...but you're not always going to be around," Gray counters.

Zach sighs. "Yeah, well..." he trails off.

Gray rambles on. "You're going to go to college, and so is Jonelle, and I'm never going to see you guys." His voice trembles.

Someone shifts, knee knocking against the floor. "We're brothers, okay?" Zach states. "We'll always be brothers and we'll always come back to one another."

"But what about Jonelle?"

A light chuckle. "Don't worry about Jonelle, all right? I'll take care of her too, and I'll drag her ass back to see you."

"You shouldn't say 'ass.'"

Zach sighs, but it's more out of habit than impatience. "I'm serious, Gray. No matter what: I will always come back to you, and I'll always protect you." There's a quick pause. "And before you ask, yes, Jonelle too."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

Claire opens her door, causing me to jump. The boys go quiet. "Okay," she says. "I think they're about to be ready. Let me just..." She picks up the electronic tablet on the dashboard and taps in the key. When it unlocks, she opens an app that shows four boxes. Suddenly they blink to life, showing the jungle in night-vision. This must be footage from the cameras that were attached to the Velociraptors.

"It's happening," Claire mumbles. She presses a hand to her mouth while the other grips the side of the tablet tightly.

When a four-wheeler swerves into view on one of the screens, Claire quickly taps on it. That single feed fills the screen. Upon closer inspection, I realize that it's Owen.

"Your boyfriend's a badass," Zach remarks.

Claire just smiles, but the happy expression falters when the tablet crackles with the declaration, "They found something!"

"You know what? No. You guys are not going to watch this. It's too much." The boys voice protests as Claire slides the viewing window shut. She turns to me. "You too, Jonelle. Why don't you stare out the window?"

I scoff. "How old do you think I am?"

"Not eighteen." She points to the window. "So look away."

Grumbling, I do as she says.

Of course, she talks through the whole thing, so it's as if I never looked away.

"Oh no," she whispers. "This is bad. I didn't know that they could do that."

"What the hell are you babbling about?" I snap.

"The Indominous... it's a cross between a T-Rex and a Velociraptor..." She takes a ragged breath, trying to calm herself. "...and somehow it's able to communicate with the Raptors."

The window whips open sharply, both of the boys poking their heads through.

I raise an eyebrow. "What, like, turning them against Owen? How would that be possible? I thought he was their Alpha."

"He was," Claire admits. "But now-"

"Engage!" Gunfire begins to sound from the tablet. We all crane our necks to see the action.

The team of Jurassic World employees are firing on the Indominous. There's an explosion that we can feel all the way over here as the blaze lights up the screen.

When the flare settles, the Indominous can be seen lumbering off into the trees.

"Watch your six!" Owen's voice comes through the speakers. "Raptors' got a new Alpha!"