Love In the Time of Dinosaurs [Zach Mitchell]

Chapter Three

Of course, something had to go wrong.

Normally, she'd stew about it for a while, but unfortunately, she couldn't get that luxury right now. Pain flared up and down her back as she hit the ground hard, the new guy landing beside her, screaming the whole way down. Dots blurred in Lia's vision. She groaned in pain, rolling slowly onto her side to get to her feet. She could barely hear the raptors calling out, and Lia winced as they got louder. Then the gravity of her situation hit her like a ton of bricks.

The raptors.

Shit.

"LIA!"

Her uncle's shout got her to scramble into action. She practically flew to her feet, side by side with the new guy, who was still on the ground, scrambling away. She couldn't focus on him right now. All that mattered was keeping the raptors away from them so they wouldn't end up velociraptor meat. A familiar click reached Lia's ears, making her look up, and what she saw nearly made her facepalm. Two men were lined along the catwalk, holding guns that didn't look particularly lethal.

Just then, Owen came bursting into the paddock. "Oh no, no. Hold your fire!" he shouted frantically, holding a hand to the armed men. "Hold your fire! Do not fire!"

His other arm swept out, pushing Lia further behind him and away from the raptor in front of him, which happened to be Blue. She stumbled back, almost tripping over the new guy, who was hauled to his feet by Barry. Shrugging Barry's hand off of her shoulder, she surged forward, pivoting around so that she was back-to-back with Owen and facing Charlie, the one raptor who was most likely to listen to her.

"Lia, what the hell are you doing?" her uncle hissed, not taking his eyes off the raptor in front of him.

"I'm helping you. What does it look like I'm doing?" Lia hissed back, holding up a hand to Charlie, who was hissing and spitting at her. She could feel her uncle sighing in defeat behind her, knowing that this wasn't the time to argue with her. Not this time, at least.

"Put 12 amps in these animals, they're never gonna trust us again," Owen said warningly to the men, still not taking his eyes off Blue, his hand outstretched. Lia was the same way, only with Charlie.

"Blue," he said sternly. "Stand down. Stand down."

Blue snapped at him with her powerful jaws. "Hey! Hey!" Owen snapped. "What did I just say?"

"Delta," Lia said warningly, holding her other hand out to the raptor. "I see you. Back up." Lia moved so that she was no longer back-to-back with Owen but on his right side so that she was in a better position to see Charlie and Delta.

"Good," Owen said slowly, backing up slowly towards the gate. Lia followed him, holding her hands out to Charlie and Delta.

"Charlie!" Lia said sharply. "Stay right there." The raptor did as she was told, albeit reluctantly. That was progress, believe it or not. "Good."

Owen didn't look away as he spoke to Barry. "Close the gate."

Lia stilled just as Barry shouted, "Are you crazy?!"

Her heart was pounding, but Lia felt Owen's hand gently brushing her own, a silent signal. She exhaled sharply, getting ready for what they were about to do.

"Just trust us, okay?" she said calmly, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"Close the gate!" the new guy screeched, and with a curse in French, Barry reluctantly did as he was told. The gate started to close, and a long moment passed... two... three...

In unison, Lia and Owen dove toward the gate at the last moment, rolling under it just as it closed behind them. Leaning back against the gate, Lia flinched as the raptors, who had charged at them the moment they moved, hit the gate head first, snarling and snapping their jaws. They slowly backed away from the gate when they realized their prey was out of reach. One by one, they all ambled away, except for Echo, who was probably a little peeved about how her 'extra lunchtime' was interrupted. She was currently lingering at the gate, right behind the new guy, who was still panting and probably reevaluating his life choices when he decided to apply for this job.