Alive ➳ Zach Mitchell

V

The rays of the morning sun perturbed Adelaide's sleep, eventually waking her up. With a stifled yawn, the teenager tried sitting up, but failed—there was a weight on her abdomen that kept her from prevailing. With a quick glance, she discovered that the weight was actually Zach's arm, snaked around her in a protective manner. Adelaide couldn't contain a smile as she averted her surprised gaze, looking around. Gray was already awake, and he had noticed the girl's similar state.

He wasted no time. "Good morning. Shouldn't we get going? We need to get back to the Innovation Center."

Adelaide nodded, rubbing at her eyes to dispel the drowsiness from them. "I'll wake Zach up and we'll get a move on."

Zach was softly snoring next to her, mouth agape. Although the sight was so peaceful that Adelaide was loathe to ruin it, she shook his shoulder, at first gently, then harder, earning a groan from the boy. "What?" Zach stirred, throwing his other arm across his eyes as to shield them from the light.

"It's time to go," Adelaide cooed.

At the sound of her voice, the boy shot up, wide awake. "Huh? Oh, Adelaide, good morning." The confusion had faded from his voice, hoarse with sleep, and he silently assured himself none of the two people who were with him—
and whom he cared for—had been injured during the night.

After stretching and sharing whatever edible snacks the boys scavenged from ransacking their pockets, the trio made their slow descent towards the ground, the whole ordeal delayed by the already hot and humid air of the jungle and their prudence as to not land near any dinosaurs.

"But what about the Indominus? What if it's still free, roaming around, ready to kill us?" questioned Gray.

Adelaide rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him.

"Hey, do you think something that huge would go unnoticed for long? It's probably already back in its pen," spoke Zach before Adelaide could, looking at her from the corner of his eye, awaiting for confirmation.

"Yeah, Zach's right. Asset Containtment does their job every time, so we're safe."

She didn't know whether she wanted to believe that for Gray's sake or for hers. It hadn't been a lie, but Asset Containtment's only method of eliminating the threat would have been killing the Indominus. And Adelaide wasn't quite sure if Claire and Mr. Masrani would be willing to let the millions of dollars invested in the man-made creature go to waste.

"Guys, you forgot the bigger problem. How the hell do we return to the park? We have no idea of where we are," stated Gray.

Adelaide peered down at her watch. It also had four thin letters engraved on the sides of it: N, S, W, E. She'd never had any use for them, but now she was more than thankful to see them on the silver edge of the device.

"I say we go towards North-East. We can go back without returning to the Gyrospheres."

For lack of a better plan, the three began walking, aching with hunger and thirst and muscle soreness.

Making their way through the dense tropical forest wasn't an easy feat, but Gray, Zach and Adelaide were determined to get to safety. Real safety. The younger child was leading the way, Adelaide and Zach trailing behind him, their fingers occasionally brushing. The teenage girl's cautious concentration, set upon Gray, was disturbed by Zach, who cleared his throat in a manner that suggested he had something to say.

"Yes, Zachary?" Adelaide smirked, feeling victorious as she noticed the boy's scrunched nose.

He playfully elbowed her. "Oh, don't you Zachary me." The two chuckled, but then Zach's mien became serious again. "What are we? I mean, not the existential type of question, but considering we kissed and—"

"What do you want us to be?" replied Adelaide, training her eyes on Gray to avoid looking at the boy next to her.

"Well, I . . . I like you. A lot. And my mood would improve significantly if you considered being my girlfriend."

A surge of heat washed over Adelaide. She slowly intertwined her fingers with Zach's, feeling him slightly tense up, only to visibly relax and squeeze her fingers gently.

"It would be my pleasure," she whispered.

Zach grinned broadly.

"Oh, stop with the love declarations already, would you? Look what I found," Gray chimed in—it was almost a habit now—earning flustered looks from the pair behind him.

When they neared the younger boy, his finger pointed towards something indistinguishable, Adelaide's mouth opened, for she could recognize the two gates in front of them. "It's the old park," she said, excitement lacing her words.

The three ran towards the doors. They pushed, and were greeted by utter darkness. Shuffling around, Adelaide found an old piece of banner that Zach used to create a torch, after obtaining some matches from his brother. It wasn't long until the three spotted a small source of light and headed towards it, like moths drawn by fire. What laid in front of them brought a wide-eyed look from the Mitchells.

"1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara..." Gray muttered, awed, ogling at the two vehicles in the room.

Adelaide considered Zach, whose eyes were betraying that he was cooking up a plan.

Oh, it was going to be fun.

* * *

With her basic knowledge on cars, Adelaide helped as much as she could, even if she had to admit that the boys were many times better than her. She caught Zach stare at her a few times, which made her cheeks slightly heat up, but she focused on the more important matter. In less than half an hour of moving around to fetch tools and trying to recall what Owen had told her, the engine let out a roar, making the three shout triumphantly. But the small moment of joy didn't last, for a roar boomed in the air, so close that it was easy to determine who it belonged to. It was the Indominus' roar.

"Did you hear that too?" Gray's voice trembled, and the other two didn't respond, peering into the jungle right as a massive, curved claw appeared out of nowhere.

Adelaide grabbed the brothers and ducked behind one of the cars, breath trapped in her throat. She felt the carnivore sniff the air and mentally prayed that somehow, a miracle allowed them to escape unscathed. Seconds passed, feeling like terrifyingly slow hours, and Adelaide thought they were undoubtedly trapped - but, with a furious growl, the Indominus Rex stormed off, its steps making the ground quake.

When the noise completely vanished, the three emerged, holding tightly onto each other, still shaking after the encounter with danger itself.

"Looks like safety isn't yet ensured," Adelaide said.