I WAS SHIVERING and exhausted by the time I made it back to shore.
It would have been nice to have a little help getting back to the beach. I thought wryly, lifting my sore arms to wring the salt water out my hair.
Fortunately, my phone and shoes were still waiting for me on the shore. I guess none of the runners felt like stealing today. I thought briefly, examining my items and the people passing by on the beach, going about their day with only a brief glance at the soaked girl clad in business slacks and a blouse.
Though now to think of it, I acted carelessly. There was no guarantee that the creature would have saved me again, and yet I put my life at risk anyway. Just for another chance to speak to the creature that miraculously saved me.
Still, I hoped that it heard my warning. By the way it reacted when I said Dr. Grant's name, I knew there had to be history between them. Violent history.
If anything, this confirmed all my suspicions. The creature out there knew Dr. Grant, so it was definitely the very same creature that escaped the compound. The question I had know was why it still stuck around? It escaped confinement, and yet it lingered a few hundred feet away in the ocean across the road.
Why?
"I can't, not yet" the creature had said when I had asked why it hadn't left.
What does that mean? Why wait?
With a frustrated groan, I picked up my shoes and phone and made my way up the beach to my car. I didn't ask to be thrown into all of this. If I would have known that C.R.O.S.S. Laboratories was built on nothing but shady and convoluted lies, I would have never applied for the internship position. I applied for a fresh start, to make a new life away from the trauma of my past.
But now that I was here...now that I knew...I was afraid I was in too deep to back out now.
The more I learned about C.R.O.S.S. Labs, the more I realized just how much I still didn't know. It was endlessly frustrating and fascinating at the same time.
Either way, the creature had saved me. Twice now. And I hoped that my warning could return part of the favor. After all, Dr. Grant was coming, and who knows what he'll do when he finds out his 'special request' experiment has escaped.
Judging by Flip's fearful look earlier and the panic that spread throughout the compound, Dr. Grant wasn't going to take this lightly, and I was determined to be there when he striked.