"You're telling me," Owen began, watching Claire closely to make sure she was listening to him. "That you put a six-year-old child inside a Dinosaur paddock?"
He almost couldn't believe it when she'd told him the story firsthand. Claire hadn't experienced the experiment, but she had been there to read about the results and tell Owen about them. Claire wiped some hair out of her face and took a sip of her cocktail, the bar around them buzzing with laughter and conversation.
"Yes," she said. "It happened before I worked there, so I had no control over it. The mother decided upon it for some unfathomable reason. So they put the child in with the three Baryonyxes."
"You can't be serious?" Owen asked, grip on his beer bottle almost white-knuckled.
Claire pulled a face, showing she was very serious. Owen rolled his eyes and wanted to slam his head into the table from stupidity. How were these people such complete morons? Who would ever, in their right mind, place a child with a wild animal?
Then again, the world had seen weirder things. Such as people raised among wolves and children found in the wild, completely unreasonable. He wasn't that surprised, but he wasn't happy about it either. There wasn't much he could do now, though.
"What happened?" he asked curiously.
On the one hand, he really wanted to know what had been the result of the experiment, on the other hand, he really didn't, and he found it to be very inhumane. He had no idea what to expect from this story, and it could have a very bad ending to it. Owen wasn't sure if he wanted to know it.
"She bonded with them," Claire said quietly. "It was a little like how you had a bond with Blue and the others. But this girl – she had a true, deep bond with them. They were raised together, and since the girl had already been raised pretty wild, she fit right in. She didn't care that her mother left her behind or that she had no human contact besides the handlers. She thrived, along with the three Baryonyxes. It was truly amazing," she explained.
"And you saw her?" Owen asked, astounded.
"Yes, I did," Claire admitted. "I was pretty upset about it, but I could see that they wouldn't be the same if we separated them. The girl was too wild to even be reasoned with, so there was no point. And those three protected her like she was their actual sibling."
"What was she like?" Owen asked as he waved over a waitress for a new drink.
Claire bit her lip for a moment, thinking about her answer. Owen could see she was uncertain about what she wanted to say, and he knew that whatever she said was important. This was new, and they needed to know all of these things if they ever encountered her or the Dinosaurs again. Owen knew it was very unlikely that he would go back, but who knew, maybe something weird would happen.
There was always a chance.
Finally, Claire seemed to know what to say and she took another sip of her drink, pushing around the straw and the umbrella in the pink liquid. She frowned for a moment and then sighed.
"She was... interesting. Her hair is white – probably due to some genetic defect – and extremely long. She never cut it, not even once. Her eyes are blue and the reports said she could see a great distance, further than any normal human. She's extremely nimble and can climb a tree in under ten seconds. I saw her fight over food, growling and snarling in their language. She can communicate with them. It was extraordinary."
Owen was silent for a moment. He thought about what Claire had said and realized it all sounded so surreal. He barely believed it. But since it came from her, he did. It was just... unbelievable. He couldn't fathom leaving a child with dangerous wild animals like this. He wondered what the girl's mother had been thinking.
"Where is she now?" Owen asked curiously, looking at Claire's face to see if he could guess the answer.
Claire shot him a simple, yet all-knowing look that said exactly what Owen did not want to hear. This girl, this wild person, was still very much on the island. She was on Isla Nublar, where no other human remained and Dinosaurs roamed free.
Owen groaned and let his head fall on the table. He really, really couldn't believe this.
OOO
Serenity growled lowly in the back of her throat, eyes narrowing to slits. Her perch in the tree was perfect, and she was completely concealed from the trespassers. Five... children, she guessed, were here on the island. She hadn't thought that anyone else was here, but she was apparently wrong. Ever since Indy had been released, all the humans had gone, and she had been left. Not that she minded, but still. And Indy had been killed by the Mosasaurus after fighting Roberta...
Serenity had really thought that there were no humans left on the island, but she was wrong. These kids, they were here, and she didn't know how long they had been here in the first place. She knew they weren't supposed to be here. They were thoroughly out of place and had no idea how to hide from prey or conceal themselves. They were loud and annoying and scared away other Dinosaurs. Serenity did not like them.
Chaos wasn't going to like this... Not that Serenity thought she would have. But there was one thing that she wanted to enforce. She might not have liked humans, but she wasn't going to actively hunt these five. They were just kids, like she was. They were similar, but not entirely.
Serenity rolled her eyes at her thoughts and she wiped her white hair out of her face, climbing down the tree and stalking a little closer to where the humans were discussing something. She hid in a bush and listened closely, unused to the human tongue. She could still understand some of it, though most of her vocabulary was gone now. She hadn't spoken any human language since age six. She was much older now. She guessed that about ten years had passed since she had met Chaos, Grim, and Limbo.
"We can't stay here, we have to find a safe place to camp," the pink-haired girl said.
"Yeah, but everythin'... and how can we be sure there won't be any Dino's there."
Serenity frowned as some words floated by that she didn't recognize, but she guessed that these people weren't a threat to her or her siblings. She would leave them alone. She crept away from the bush and slipped around several trees before she ran back to their temporary nest. She made some clicking sounds when she arrived, and Limbo lifted her head to greet her as she returned to them.
There are some humans here, Serenity growled.
Should we hunt them? Limbo asked curiously, a glint in her eyes.
Serenity shook her head. She didn't want to hunt them. And they had plenty of food to go around. These humans wouldn't be a bother to them. They'd just stay out of their way.
I don't want to, and we do not need to. There is plenty of food to go around. Roberta should know not to hunt them either, but I don't think she will care. I could speak with her, but I'm not sure I can reason with her, Serenity said as she plopped down beside Limbo and leaned into her scaly hide.
That is true, Limbo agreed.
Did someone say humans? Grim asked as she and Chaos returned to the nest.
Chaos was dragging a dead Para behind her and Limbo stood to help her get it in the nest. Serenity rolled her eyes and moved aside so they had more space. Chaos dropped the carcass and then looked at Serenity with a scrutinizing gaze.
Humans in our territory? What do they want here? she wondered.
I'm not sure, but they're just kids. They're no threat to us. I think they might be stuck here, Serenity explained as she moved over to the kill.
She tore a piece of flesh off the body and bit into it, blood coating her chin and the front of her torn shirt. It was covered in dirt and blood and other things Serenity didn't care to name. She would soon have to find a new one. Pants, too.
Chaos shrugged and bit into the carcass, filling her belly. Her sisters dug in as well and Serenity took her piece up a tree, glancing over the vast fields and the buildings of Main Street that she could see in the distance.
She wondered where the little humans would set up camp, and perhaps she could look for them and find out so that they could stay away from them. And perhaps they would encounter them someday, maybe at the watering hole.
She could hear Roberta roaring in the distance and smiled. She was retiring for the night as well. Somewhere else, she knew Blue was trying to find her sisters, though she would have no luck. Serenity hadn't dared to tell her what had happened to them. It was too sad. But Blue would be fine, and they all would.
We are going to rest, Chaos called up the tree.
Serenity looked down at her and growled her reply, climbing out of the tree as night fell shortly. She clambered in between the pile of tails and warm bodies and snuggled into her sisters until she was comfortable.
Good night, she said to them.
Sleep well, Limbo said, swiping her tongue over Serenity's leg once.
I'll keep watch, Grim said quietly, though she seemed all too eager to sleep.
Wake me for takeover, Chaos told her as she laid her head on her sister's tail, closing her eyes.
Serenity looked to the stars that she could see through the canopy for a little while longer. A smile curved her lips and she knew that the days to come would be interesting and full of discovery. She had no idea what was in store for any of them, but she was ready to begin a new chapter in her life. She snuggled further into the warmth her sisters provided and felt sleep tug at her eyelids. She closed them and was soon greeted again by the light of a new day.
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Hello everyone! I'm back with a new story. I've posted five chapters of this already on AO3 so if you want to see how it continues, pop over there for a peek. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this story and leave a comment or a vote to let me know what you think.
Please enjoy.
Rebecca