escape. ➳ jurassic world

nine

the old park

Hiking through the wilderness on an island filled with prehistoric predators was not exactly what one might call a 'soothing nature walk.' Especially after having a literal brush with death. But, they really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, as it was either hike onwards and hope they found somewhere to hole up or wait around for a dinosaur to eat them. So yeah. Nature walk it was.

Elliot's adrenaline was still pretty high, though she could feel herself coming down from it as they continued on. She was beginning to feel a little bad about the way she had snapped at Zach after they escaped, but it was sort of his fault. Not that he had any idea that there would be a dinosaur that dangerous anywhere off the trail.

She sighed, glancing up ahead of her. Gray and Zach were both leading the way—though she doubted either of them had any real idea of where they were headed—and she was trailing behind, caught up in her own thoughts. She barely knew either of them, but they were stuck together for the time being, and Elliot knew it wouldn't do them any good for her to be pissed at Zach.

If they wanted to make it back to the park and make sure they got off this island in one piece, they were going to have to work together.

Elliot picked up her pace until she was only a few steps behind the boys. She cleared her throat. "Hey—uh—Zach," She said, tapping on his shoulder.

Zach stopped, turning to look at her with a (still rather) annoyed expression on his face. "Gonna yell at me some more?" He asked, sounding exasperated. "About what a screw up I am? Go ahead. It's nothing I haven't heard before."

She winced slightly, looking over at Gray, who was furrowing his eyebrows at his older brother and watching their conversation closely. Elliot took a deep breath, shaking her head at Zach. "No, I'm—look, I'm sorry I got so worked up," She said. "It's not—none of this is your fault. You were just trying to make Gray feel better and—there's no way you could have known about the—whatever dinosaur that was. I was just—freaked out and I shouldn't have yelled."

Elliot had just been so scared, being thrown around in the gyrosphere. It was just like the car crash. It had brought back so many unpleasant memories. "I just don't—it was just—it reminded me of something I'd rather not think about," She finally admitted, surprising herself.

She never talked about the car crash with anyone other than her dad, and even then the topic was rare and only breached when she was having a particularly bad day. Elliot had gone to therapy after the initial incident, obviously. When she and her dad were back in the States during his off months, she always went—and there was even a psychological counseling program for the employees at the park that she used from time to time whenever she felt like she really needed it.

The gyrosphere had just been so sudden. She hadn't been expecting it at all. It felt like all of the progress she had been making had been ripped out from beneath her feet and sent her falling straight back to that day.

"So... yeah. Sorry." Elliot paused as Zach absorbed her words.

His arms were crossed defensively in front of him and for a moment, Elliot thought he might have something snappy to say again. But then, he deflated, his arms falling down to his sides with a sigh. "I mean, to be fair, I did sort of lead us right to that thing," Zach said at last, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I don't blame you for yelling."

"I still shouldn't have," Elliot insisted. "Being mad at each other isn't going to help us get through this."

The two teens stared at each other for a moment before Zach nodded, clearing his throat. "Well—thanks—uh, for apologizing," He said. "For what it's worth—I'm sorry, too."