hamster balls
On the monorail ride out to their next park destination, Zach was talking to a group of girls. He was asking them all sorts of questions, just trying to make good conversation. Flirting was apparently his favorite past time. Elliot couldn't help but notice that Gray's mood had deteriorated slightly since the mosasaurus show. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but before she could, he turned to Zach and started to talk to him.
"If Mom and Dad get divorced will one of us be with Mom and the other with Dad?"
Elliot had to admit, that definitely wasn't what she had been expecting. Not wanting to get involved, she turned towards the front of the monorail and glanced down at her cell phone. With so many people on their phones in one place, the connection was pretty poor. Not to mention they were on a pretty remote island, of course there wasn't going to be great cell coverage out here.
Zach seemed caught pretty off guard by his younger brother's question, because it was enough to tear his attention away from the group of girls he had been talking to. "No, they're not getting—they're not getting divorced," He said. "Look, you haven't been around long enough, they've always been that way—"
"They get mail from two different lawyers," Gray said.
Zach hesitated before shaking his head. "That doesn't mean anything."
Gray's eyes began to water as his voice trembled. "I Googled, they're divorce lawyers."
Elliot glanced over her shoulder at the two and saw that Gray was actually crying. And Zach? Well, he wasn't exactly being a supportive big brother. "Alright, whatever. You know what? It doesn't matter, okay?" He began. "I'm gonna be gone in two years anyway. I mean, all of my friends' parents are divorced. Hey, knock it off—" He noticed Gray's tears. "You're gonna cry? Look, you're gonna get two of everything, two birthdays, two Christmases, two Thanksgivings—"
"I don't want two of everything," Gray said.
Zach huffed. "Yeah, well, it's not up to you—there's a certain point you have to grow up."
That seemed to be the end of that conversation. Elliot thought that was absolute garbage what Zach had just said to his brother, but it wasn't exactly any of her business. It wasn't like she could just turn around and insert herself into the situation—except she could, and she did.
"My parents got divorced when I was pretty young," She said.
Gray looked up at her after having been glancing out the window. "They did?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, my dad left when I was seven, so it was just me and my mom for a while," Elliot continued. "Some people just aren't right for each other, but that doesn't mean..." She trailed off, thinking of the pictures her dad still kept of him and her mom. He had them all over the bungalow, he never got rid of them. "That doesn't mean they stop loving each other, you know? Or you. They'll never stop loving you, even if they aren't right for each other."
Elliot decided not to bring up the second, more complicated half of her personal life, which involved her dead mother and raptor training father. Sometimes it was enough just to offer the advice. It seemed to help Gray out, because he offered a small smile and Zach twiddled with his thumbs, unsure of what to say.
"Thanks, Elliot," Gray said softly.
She smiled in return. "No problem. Now come on, only smiles for the rest of the day, because our next stop is the my favorite part of the park."
***
They arrived at the valley for their next ride about ten minutes later. There was an incredibly long wait, but thanks to Claire's VIP wristbands, they were able to breeze to the front of the line easily. As they got up close, Gray started to realize what they were doing.
"We're going in the gyrospheres?" He asked excitedly. "This is so cool!"
They still had to wait in line for a little while in order to get a four-seater gyrosphere, instead of the typical two-seaters. They weren't a family of four, but it was close enough. Zach entertained himself by looking at a few of the girls who were in line, while Gray continued his ramblings about dinosaur facts.
"Did you know the soft tissue is preserved because the iron in the dinosaur's blood generates free radicals, and those are highly reactive. So, the proteins and the cell membranes get all mixed up, and—and uh—act as a natural preservative. DNA can survive for a millennia that way."
Elliot had to admit, he was a pretty smart kid.
When Gray realized that Zach was ignoring him in favor of flirting with a few of the random girls in line, he rolled his eyes. "What do you think's gonna happen from you just staring at them?" He asked. The girls laughed and climbed into the gyrosphere ride.
Zach glared at Gray. "Thanks, man."
Gray just grinned. "You're welcome."
Elliot snorted, ducking her head as Zach shot her a glare.
Finally, a few moments later, a four-seat gyrosphere came rolling to a stop in front of them. Elliot climbed in first, getting in the back row, followed by Zach and then Gray in the front. They buckled themselves in and went rolling out into the valley while a safety briefing from Jimmy Fallon played in the background.
So far, they hadn't seen any dinosaurs, and although it had only been about three minutes, they were all getting a little bit impatient. "Where are they?" Zach asked as he steered the gyrosphere further into the valley.
Gray craned his neck, trying to get a better look at the valley. Elliot was also glancing around. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere," She said. "Here, head that way—there's a clearing."
Zach followed her instructions and in an instant, they were surrounded by dozens of fully grown dinosaurs. brachiosauruses, triceratopses, and stegosauruses were just some of the few that were out and about with them.
"Whoa!" Gray exclaimed as they moved along with the dinosaurs.
Even Zach looked mesmerized by the view. Elliot leaned forward in her seat and grinned. "Glad you came now?" She asked him.
He glanced back at her and rolled his eyes, but for once, with fondness and not annoyance. "Shut up, dinosaur girl," He said.
Elliot couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Did—did you just call me 'dinosaur girl'?" She asked, wiping tears away from her eyes.
Zach paused. "Yeah—it, uh, seemed funnier at the time."
"What are you talking about?" Elliot deadpanned. "That was the funniest thing I've ever heard."
"If you weren't in the backseat, I would so punch you in the arm right now," Zach sighed.
"I knew it—I knew you liked dinosaurs." Elliot said triumphantly. "I knew Gray wasn't the only nerd in your family. No offense, Gray."
Gray smiled brightly. "I like being called a nerd!"
"Of course you do." Zach sighed. "Come on, let's get a closer look—"
An automated voice came through the speakers asking them to return to the entrance of the ride, as it was closing for the rest of the day due to technical difficulties. Elliot raised an eyebrow. "That's weird..."
Zach glanced over at Gray, who looked pretty bummed out. He nudged his brother's arm. "Hey, come on, we can stay out a little while longer," He said.
"But they said it was closed," Gray said.
"Aunt Claire gave us special wristbands, right? We're VIP, dude, c'mon, it'll be fun," Zach assured his brother as he guided the gyrosphere further out into the valley.
Elliot didn't like the sound of any of this. "Hey, Zach, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," She warned. "They wouldn't have closed an attraction early if it wasn't serious—"
Zach scoffed and waved her off. "C'mon, where's your sense of adventure? I thought you were supposed to be the dinosaur adventurer one." Zach said.
"Okay, but there's a difference between adventure and breaking the rules."
"Adventure is breaking the rules!" Zach countered and if she was honest, Elliot really couldn't argue with that. She glanced over at Gray.
"Just a few more minutes," He said. "Please?"
Elliot groaned and let her head hang back for a moment before looking at them. "Fine, but if we get banned for life I'm blaming you two," She warned. Gray pumped his fist excitedly in the air and Zach grinned as he took them further out into the valley.
They were surrounded by dinosaurs big and small, and Elliot suddenly remembered why this was her favorite attraction in the entire park. There was nothing like getting up close and personal with a fully grown dinosaur. It was a rush, it made you realize just how very small you actually were. It was almost humbling, in a sense. But it was also just plain cool. Another reason to love it.
About ten minutes later, by the time Elliot had forgotten that they weren't even supposed to be out there anymore, Zach's phone began to buzz. He reached into his pocket, checked the caller ID, groaned and answered. "Hey, Claire." Elliot winced. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, uh, I can't really hear you—we're in the, uh, hamster ball."
"Gyrosphere," Elliot corrected, but Zach shushed her and waved her off.
"Hello?" Zach asked. "Hello?" He checked the screen and saw that the call had disconnected. "Hm."
"The signal in these things is terrible—even worse than the rest of the park," Elliot explained. "We probably won't be able to get ahold of anyone until we get back."
That's when they came upon a damaged gate on the outskirts of the valley. It looked as though it had been forced open. Elliot furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed Zach's jacket. "Hey, yeah, it's probably time for us to head back," She told him.
"C'mon, off road!" Zach said, fully intending to go past the gate.
"But they told us to go back," Gray said.
Zach shrugged. "I'm just worried you're not getting the full Jurassic World experience," He said and then held a finger up to his lips. "Shh..." They rolled past the gates and that's when Elliot's heart rate really started to pick up.
"Zach, seriously, we need to turn around," She tried.
"This is a bad idea!" Gray exclaimed as they went deeper into the forest.
"It's a great idea," Zach said.
Gray seemed very anxious as he quickly shook his head. "No! We're gonna get arrested, they'll shave our heads and we're gonna have to make root beer in a toilet!"
Both Elliot and Zach glanced over at Gray, confused expressions on their face. "Dude, what are you talking about?" Zach asked.
"I agree that this is all a terrible idea, but what?" Elliot added.
Finally, Zach brought the gyrosphere to a stop in front of a pack of ankylosauruses. He grinned triumphantly and gestured to the group. "See? I told you," He said. "You're welcome. Up close and personal with four... dinosauruses."
Gray sighed. "Ankylosauruses. We shouldn't be here, and there's five dinosaurs."
That's when Elliot saw it in the gyrosphere's reflection. Her heart skipped a beat. They weren't alone out here.
"Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something?" Zach asked. "Look, one, two, three, four—" He counted off the ankylosauruses.
Elliot pointed to the reflection. "Five."
That's when Zach noticed it. All three of them slowly turned around and came face to face with a dinosaur unlike any Elliot had ever seen. It was big enough to be a T-rex, but it was pure white. Like fresh snow. No dinosaur she knew of was white. Suddenly, the dinosaur roared—loudly—and they all panicked. Gray made Zach move the gyrosphere and he began trying to get it away as fast as possible, moving through the pack of ankylosauruses, who had also begun to panic.
Suddenly, one of the ankylosauruses whipped its tail around and knocked into the gyrosphere, sending them spinning out of control. They all yelled in terror as the gyrosphere was suddenly knocked upside down. Zach tried to use the joystick to get them moving again, but sitting upside down meant that the controls wouldn't do them any good.
"Okay, okay, nobody panic!" Elliot said, but it was more for her benefit than the boys.
The giant white dinosaur pinned one of the ankylosauruses down and wrapped its jaw around the smaller dinosaurs neck before snapping it. Elliot squeezed her eyes shut and took several deep breaths. She wasn't in the car, she was in the gyrosphere, everything was fine. This wasn't the car, this wasn't the car—
"We're safe in here, right?" Gray asked, his voice sounded small and far away. Elliot couldn't afford to panic right now. They weren't out of danger yet.
Zach, who sounded unsure of himself, nodded anyway. "Y-yeah, totally safe," He said.
That's when his cell phone began to vibrate. Elliot glanced up at what was normally the top of the gyrosphere and saw Zach's cell phone vibrating against the glass. Zach was attempting to reach up and grab it, but couldn't quite reach. "Zach." Gray tried, but he was still trying to grab his phone.
"I almost got it—"
"Zach." Elliot said.
"Yeah?"
"Look."
He glanced up and came face to face with the white dinosaur's eye staring directly at them. It roared loudly, Elliot covered her ears, and then stabbed his claw through the glass, rotating the sphere until they had come face to face with the dinosaur. Then, it opened its mouth and wrapped its jaw around the gyrosphere. They had started screaming again as the dinosaur sank its teeth into the glass and began to smash the gyrosphere against the ground.
The glass behind them shattered, giving them a way out. Elliot could barely keep her thoughts straight. She wasn't in the car, this wasn't the car. She was on Isla Nublar in the gyrosphere, not in the car—
"Elliot!" Zach yelled, snapping her out of her panic. "Your seatbelt—on the count of three, undo it!" She nodded rapidly and pressed her fingers to the release button. "One... two.. three!" Zach unclipped he and Gray's seatbelts as Elliot unclipped her own. They all tumbled out the back of the gyrosphere and onto the ground.
The white dinosaur smashed the gyrosphere down on top of them, and then, as soon as she picked it up again, they ran. Elliot had never run so fast in her life. She felt lightheaded and a bit nauseous, but tried not to let that distract her as they came peeling into an open area with no tree coverage. The white dinosaur hadn't given up. It came out of the trees, racing after them.
Elliot was just barely behind the boys when they came screeching to a stop at the top of a waterfall. "We have to jump!" Elliot yelled at them.
Gray shook his head. "I can't!"
"We don't have time to debate this!" Elliot said as the white dinosaur was gaining on them. She grabbed ahold of Gray's right hand and Zach's left. "On three, ready?"
"No!"
"One, two, three!"
They leapt off the cliff and into the water below. Elliot had never been so happy to be soaking wet. They didn't come up for air immediately until Elliot was certain that the dinosaur would have given up and gone away. Finally though, the breached the surface, coughing and sputtering for air.
The group swam to the shore and crawled up into the mud. Elliot wasted no time getting to her feet, wiping the water from her eyes. Zach looked at his younger brother and laughed a bit. "You jumped." Gray seemed pretty proud of himself for that, but Elliot was pissed.
She turned on Zach, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "This never would have happened if we just went back when they told us to!" She yelled at him.
Zach got to his feet, equally as angry. "This isn't on me!" He exclaimed. "How was I supposed to know that there was gonna be some crazy man eating dinosaur in the woods?!"
Elliot threw her hands up in the air. "This is Jurassic World! What the hell else did you expect?! Of course there are dinosaurs in the woods!" She snapped. "I never should have let you talk either of us into going off road! I warned you that it was a bad idea and you still went and did it! Do you not realize that we could have all just been killed?!"
Zach scowled. "No, sorry, guess that thought never crossed my mind as I was running away from a giant man eating dinosaur!"
"Guys!" Gray said, stepping in between the two of them. "Fighting about it isn't gonna help! We need to get out of here before that thing hears you two yelling and comes back!"
Elliot took a few deep breaths before turning away. Gray was right, they weren't gonna accomplish anything by just standing around and fighting. They would be fine, all they had to do was make it back to the park and find her dad—her eyes shot open, her dad! She reached for her cell phone in her back pocket, only to find it missing.
She groaned, she must have lost it while they were running. She turned to Zach. "You didn't happen to grab your phone before we got out of there, did you?"
Zach had also taken a few calming breaths by then and shook his head. "No, sorry," He said.
"Great." Elliot groaned and looked up. "Guess that means we're walking back. C'mon, let's get moving."
So, the trio took off into the woods, unsure of what they might find waiting for them.