Alongside You {Owen Grady/Jurassic World} (Sequel to By Your Side)

chapter ten

     Hadley, Owen, Claire and Macy quickly and quietly made their way through the cell-lined corridors, the terrified screeches of trapped dinosaurs piercing the stale air as they went. Hadley could only hope that Owen knew where he was leading them. The last thing they needed was to run directly into Wheatley and Mills, who would without a doubt gun them down without a second thought. Especially after Hadley had smashed Mills' head into the metal bars of the cell they had been locked in.

     Up ahead, Hadley could hear the echoing voice of a man shouting out, and then an even louder rumbling of what sounded like a crowd. Owen pressed a single finger against his lips and outstretched his other hand, motioning for the girls to stay in place. He then peeked around the corner of the stone-block wall, looking for a clear way out. Owen looked back toward Hadley and nodded, jerking his head in the direction of the voices. The four crept forward slowly with Owen still at the lead, the fingers of Hadley's left hand twisted into the back of his shirt, her right ones occupied by Macy's small, trembling hand. 

     "Do I hear twenty? How about twenty-one?" the voice was still muffled, but was now clear enough to decipher what was being said. "Sold! For twenty-one million dollars."

     "I can't believe them," Hadley whispered harshly, eyebrows furrowed. Owen shot her a look over his shoulder that was just as effective as telling her to shut it. She sighed and shook her head, wishing she could run up to the auctioneer and deck him straight in the teeth. 

     "Now, ladies and gentlemen, that we are halfway through the evening," the auctioneer said, a mischievous, playful tone coming to the forefront. "We'd like to offer a special treat to our discriminating buyers. This evening we will preview a new asset that we have been developing."

     Hadley's eyes went wide as something to her right caught her attention. She stopped short, tugging Owen to a halt with the hand that was still fastened to his shirt. He turned on his heel, eyebrow cocked. Claire stood next to Hadley on the other side of Macy, her lips pressed into a thin, firm line.

     "What, Ley?" Owen whispered, a look of concern spreading across his face when Hadley dropped her hand from him. "We've got to keep going."

     Hadley held up a hand, nodding her head in the direction of the voice, where the man it belonged to could now be seen through the thin metal grating that separated the cell block and what seemed to be a stage below them. 

     The auctioneer was a graying man in a black suit who stood at a podium to the right of the stage's runway. Spotlights focused on the large doors at the base of the stage, ready to showcase what was soon going to come through them. Whatever he was about to announce was not going to be pleasant, and the sickening feeling in Hadley's stomach began to rise at the thought. 

     "A creature of the future, made from pieces of the past," the crowd began to murmur intently. The man standing to the right of the auctioneer pulled a lever, causing the large doors at the base of the stage to open, revealing a large cage on a track system. "Ladies and gentlemen, please be warned; this is the perfect blend of the two most dangerous creatures that have ever walked the earth. We call it the Indoraptor."

     Claire's hand shot up across her mouth,  her eyes wide with shock and horror. Hadley scowled and looked up to Owen, whose face had become almost stone-like; his features cold and emotionless.

     There she stood inside her cage; a nearly perfect fifty-fifty mix between the Indominus Rex and a Velociraptor. She was smaller than the Indominus, but bigger than the Raptors, and a hundred times more frightening than either of the two. Dagger-sharp claws curled toward her body and long, jagged teeth erupted from her mouth, dripping with red-tinged drool. Her facial structure was sleek and intimidating. Her eyes were flicking between members of the crowd, probably trying to decide who to devour first, should she escape her confinements.