Falcon || Jurassic World

Five

The scientists are not kind to me. They operate; scanning and slicing to see what is different about my body and when they talk, their words are harsh and rough. They never smell like anything but chemicals and cleanliness. It is disheartening, confronting and increasingly terrifying.

I wake up on the table only once, and let out a shriek that sends the scientists that are cutting into my flesh reeling backwards. Straps hold me down and there's a loose muzzle on my face that limits my movements. I have just enough time to assess the pain I feel before someone sends me back under.

I grow used to the routine and slowly, my hope for freedoms fades. Owen hasn't come for me. He hasn't fought to free me. If I was anything less than what I am, I would be sent feral.

There are days where the scientists leave me be, and those are the days where I wait by the bars, crooning sadly when night falls and still I am alone and Owen isn't here. Then I am drugged and wake up later with new stitches in my side.

The comprehension tests are more stable and do not cause me physical pain. A scientist, different smelling to the others and less cruel, sits by the bars and asks me things. His name is Carlson and he smells like cinnamon and fresh air.

"Good Morning Falcon," he greets, sitting down. I chirp happily at the name and he smiles. He has a nice smile. "Were focusing on Owen Grady today."

My cheeriness vanishes, a wholly familiar bitter ache in my heart. Owen had abandoned me, Owen hasn't come for me. Owen doesn't love me anymore.

Carlson notes something down. "He is your Alpha, yes?"

"He is my betrayer," I hiss but Carlson doesn't understand and I stomp my feet angrily. Owen is my Alpha, he was there when I survived birth. He has taught me life and love and now he has left me in here, left me to die at the hands of Vic Hoskins and Jamber the scientist. Owen is my Alpha, but he is not my friend.

"He has been asking after you," Carlson tells me. "He misses you."

The growl that has been building in my throat stops and I trill, confused and hopeful but still angry and hurt. It is an intricate combination of emotions that makes me think I should have been born like my sisters, just so I didn't have to feel.

"I tell him how you are," Carlson continues jovially, writing on his clipboard. I despise his clipboard. "In return, he tells me about your sisters. They're doing well, finally listening to him and obeying him."

I am pleased because finally they have listened, but I am suffering because they started listening when I wasn't there.

"They give you to Hoskins next week." Carlson suddenly smells like sadness and guilt, and I whine, butting my head softly on the bars. He reaches through and rests his palm on my forehead. The touch is soothing. Owen never made contact with me after I grew up. Is he scared of me? "I don't want you to go with him," Carlson whispers. "He's cruel and vain and he will hurt you if you don't listen."

"Help me," I plead. Carlson only sighs.

"There is an asset loose in the park," he says lowly, retracting his hand. "Surely, I cannot be blamed for accidentally leaving your cage unlocked if I am panicked about a rogue dinosaur."

I do not understand what he is trying to say. He reaches for the lock that holds me here and opens it, huffing slightly as he stands up. "Falcon," he says, and I coo up at him. "Give 'em hell."

Then he leaves.

I wait for ten painful minutes to go by, then I nose the door of my cage and watch it swing open soundlessly. Freedom beckons and I want to go, but I am afraid to return to my paddock. Owen did not come for me. Why should I go back to him?

But I cannot roam free on the island. The others will find me and I will be put away again. Vic will take me away and I will never see my sisters again. I must return to Owen and see past his abandonment.

I let out a cry and charge straight towards the door.

There is yelling and clanging and the door isn't open but then Carlson is there and he gives me a nod and a smile as he opens it up just as I dash past. I vaguely hear cursing and then the door closes and I am free.

The building I am in is far from the park and is only a small square. There are no stories to it, no intricate hallways or stairways I have to go through. There is another door but it is open and nobody is there to stop me. The outside world is bright and sudden and loud, overwhelming scents forcing me to stop and wait.

I am so, so tempted to stay out here and never go back to the walls. I can live without Owen and my sisters. I can do it. I can be free.

I move quickly, losing myself in shadows and memories and hope for the future

-

Owen still smells like car fluid when he storms into the control room, face contorted in fury. He had nearly died, had watched someone else get eaten. The only other dinosaur that he'd seen with such intelligence had been Falcon. He ignores the security guard and closes in on Claire.

"What the happened out there?" He barks, angry and scared. "There are thermal cameras all over the paddock. She did not just disappear!"

Claire sighs. "It must have been some kind of a technical malfunction."

Owen can feel his anger surging. "Were you not watching? She marked up that wall as distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped!"

"Hold on. We are talking about an animal here."

"A highly intelligent animal," Owen snaps. "You've made one before." And they had. They'd given him Falcon and told him to train her, to nurture her, to keep her alive. She'd been different, special, smart, empathetic, and now they'd taken her from him. He keeps watching the cameras and his blood sparks uncomfortably. "You're going after her with non-lethals."

And so begins the arguments, Owen yelling, Claire yelling, everyone is yelling and still Owen just watches the cameras. Everyone who goes after the Indominous dies. Owen thinks that it's horrible to feel smug about it.

A different radio crackles. "We have another one out of containment. Subject 288 is free."

Subject 288.

Owen smiles, because Falcon is free and it's the best thing he's ever heard.