CHAPTER NINE
LOVE
Zach snatched the helmet from his brother's hands while Lo walked towards the boy and pulled him into her side to reassure him that they were okay. Looking around, the spotted a Jurassic Wold cart leaning against a tree with its wires hanging out and sparks coming off it. Loren had hoped to see nothing else that was dangerous for the day but the sight in front of her screamed 'danger, get out!'.
Zach held out his arm to stop the two from following him as he took a tentative step forward, "Stay here." He had instructed, but Gray had grabbed hold of his brother's arm and followed slowly causing the young teenage girl to shuffling along behind the boy. They stepped in front of the cart and looked it up and down, there was no way the cart would be able to start up and run again, leaving a three to sign in defeat. Looking past the cart, Loren saw two large doors and grabbed the two boy's arms to grab there attention.
"Look." She hissed, the two did as said. Zach, once again, led the group towards the potential danger, walking up towards the double wooden doors and giving them a small push, followed by a heavier push and grunt of resistance. Loren let a small smile fall to her lips as she watched in amusement. They looked old and heavy, he was never getting them open alone.
"Mind giving me a hand?" he asked, looking over to the girl, having heard a choked laugh leave her lips. She rolled her eyes before walking up beside her friend and the two gave each other a nod before simultaneously pushing on a door each. The doors let out a loud creaking and screeching sound as they were slowly pushed open enough for the three to enter. The doors obviously having been not opened in so long.
The old building was covered in moss and wild flowers growing up the walls, branches and leaves falling through the broken roof, allowing a little bit not enough light to be let through. The three split and looked around the room. Loren looked in awe, turning towards her best friend as he let out a content sigh of amusement. Zach was holding what seemed to be a dinosaur bone, looking down at an old sign. Loren walked towards the boy and began to read what was on the banner.
'Jurassic Park' was written in bold red letters rimmed in yellow. So this place was at least two decades old.
Zach picked up the banner and flung it once to shake away all dirt and dust. "Do you still have those matches?" he asked turning towards Gray, the young kid looked through his fanny pack and brought out a box of matches.
"Here you go." Zach took the matches and wrapped the banner around the bone, lighting it to create a small artificial orange glow to the room. The group continued to walk through the old exhibit. Zach had taken Loren's hand and started leading her around while Gray slowly followed the two behind.
"What?" Loren huffed out. Zach had been sending her off looked every now and gain and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't annoying her. Zach was acting protective over the girl, and she had noticed the slight character change easily.
"N-nothing." He was quick to answer and looked away, trying not to look back. It took all his effort to keep a straight look ahead of the girl.
"No it's not nothing, what's wrong?" She pushed, seeming to think there was something wrong, which there was. They were all going to be scared by today's events for years.
Zach let out a large sigh and look to the roof. "I can't help but think this is my fault." His grip tighter around the girl's hand in his.
"You're being so un Zach. Where is the real Zach? Who is this alien?" She joked towards the boy before her, trying the best to make him laugh so she could see that smile she loved very dearly. He did, and the girls smile widened as she watched his eyes crinkle, his laughter bouncing of the walls. "Ah, there's that smile I know and love." She smiled causing the boy's smile to falter and a sigh to leave his lips. "Zach, don't."
"'Zach, don't' what?" Another sigh left his lips. She growled at him, narrowing her eyes; if she had a penny for every time that he sighed she'd be rich.
"Zach, don't be annoying, what's on your mind?" Loren took hold of the torch in his hand, making sure their hands still stayed intertwined. She wanted him to focus on her and not trying to keep the damn torch in the air and out of the danger zone around their bodies.
"If I hadn't asked you to come... You wouldn't be in this mess. I can't help but feel like I'm at fault here, you almost died and for what? Because I didn't want to go back to my stupid Aunt. I wanted to have fun. I wanted us to have fun."
"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that we're okay now. We can go back into the past. What's done is done. At least we'll have a day to remember once we get out of here."
"I'm sorry." He said, hopefully for the last time. Lo let a small smile rest on her face, big enough to show of her white teeth and let her hand intertwined with his, she squeezed it for reassurance.
"I know." She said back, voice small as she looked towards their hands. A girl could get used to this.
As Zach watched the girl smiling at their intertwined hands, his heart skipped a beat and unconsciously pulled them closer together, a small smile also crossing his face as he found her smile contagious, however this wasn't new as it always had been. Gray let out a shrill squeal causing the two teens eyes to widen and snap their heads to look towards the area where the sound came from them towards each other. The torch in Loren's hands dropped to the ground, the teens hands breaking apart as they both bolted through the old building towards the boy's scream.
"Gray?!" Lo yelled out in worry as they followed the sound into a larger room that seemed to be filled with old uniforms, tracker gear and spare parts. Gray looked up from one of the gadgets a large smile plastered across his face, Lo signed in relief that he wasn't hurt but Zach was furious.
"What the hell, man?!" He yelled. "You could've been hurt or worse, dead!"
"Zach." Lo reached out and grabbed the boy's shoulder sending him a disproving look. "Gray, we were worried sick, please don't stray too far next time. That dinosaur is still on the loose."
"I'm sorry." Gray apologised, the girl sending the boy a small smile as she pulled the pre-teen into a hug.
"It's okay. Just please, don't do it again." She nodded, pulling away from the hug as Zach roamed the room. Loren and Gray followed the older boy and stopped at a object covered in a sheet. When it was pulled off, it revealed a car. Lo's head tilted in confusion while Gray said the brand of jeep and what year it was made. She was a smart girl but if anything was her weakness it'd be cars.
"You remember when we fixed grandpas old Malibu right?" Zach asked Gray. Lo's head tilted even more to the side at a new car name, Zach found it endearing to see. Gray and Zach began to fix the car while Loren sat inside the car occasionally making small talk. The older boy having stripped his jumper getting warm and Loren gladly took it, wrapping the fabric around her waist as she opened a new conversation about what movie they wanted to go watch in the cinema when they made it out alive.
"How can you two bicker on and on like an old married couple about what movie is better to go see? You know what just go watch both movies!" Gray spoke, eye twitching at their constant bantering.
"We don't fight like an old married couple." Zach rejected.
"Aha, tell that to the judge." Gray snapped back playfully as he continued to look under the bonnet and helped the older boy fix the old car. Loren had open the garage door to give the boys a larger light source, since she wasn't much help otherwise. Having the door open left the three teens to be fair game to whatever lived beyond the trees.
"Do you think it's still out there?" Zach asked out of curiosity, though he realised that was a mistake as he saw the others faces which showed nothing but fear. "Because I know for a fact that it is defiantly not out there, alright?" He rushed, Lo and Gray's rigid bodies relaxed.
Zach handed Gray the old battery. "Here, take this, you're stronger than me." Not too long after, Zach had Loren in the front seat, keys in the ignition as she waited for Zach's word, Gray beside her in the passenger seat. "Alright, turn it over." She started the car and it sputtered to life.
"Yeah!" she enthusiastically laughed and high-fived Gray. The older teen laughed, thankful that it worked and closed the bonnet walking over towards the driver's side.
"Alright girl-who-never-learned-to-drive, in the back." He ordered a smirk plastered across his face. Loren scowled and stuck her tong out as she climbed over the back.
"Hang on, didn't you fail your driving test?" she asked, spiteful of the boy she called her best friend.
"Only the driving part." He shrugged.