Welcome to Jurassic World

Chapter 3

With both of them in fresh clothes, they stepped out of Claire's car, Owen grumbling as he got out of the back seat after losing to Anya in a vicious game of rock, paper, scissors.

"We've been pre-booking tickets for months," Claire began to explain as the duo observed the ongoing construction site. "The park needs a new attraction every few years to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program. Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor."

"They're dinosaurs. Wow enough," Anya retorted as they followed Claire up a set of stairs.

"Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus Rex makes us relevant again," Claire replied and Owen and Anya glanced at each other as they couldn't help but laugh.

"The Indominus Rex," Owen mocked.

"We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four-year-old try to say Archaeornithomimus," Claire said as she reached the top of the stairs and punched a code in that allowed a steel door to open.

"You should hear you try to say it," Owen muttered under his breath, making Anya chuckle as she'd heard him.

"So, what is this thing made of?" Anya asked as Claire headed for a control panel and Owen and Anya stood at the glass wall, a security guard in a blue hard hat sitting on the far left of the room.

"The base genome is a T-rex. And the rest is classified," Claire answered as she adjusted her hair.

"You made a new dinosaur, but you don't even know what it is?" Owen criticised.

"The lab delivers us finished assets and we show them to the public. Can we drop a steer please?" Claire asked and the security guard began tapping away at his desk.

"How long has the animal been in here?" Owen questioned as Anya observed the paddock, taking note of the cracked glass that separated them from a deadly dinosaur.

"All its life," Claire replied.

"Never seen anything outside these walls?"

"We can't exactly walk it."

"And you feed it with that?" Owen judged as he pointed at the steel cable that lowered a portion of a cow's carcass into the enclosure.

"Is there a problem?" Claire asked as she turned to Owen.

"Animals raised in isolation aren't always the most functional," Anya piped up and Claire's eyes fell on her.

"Your raptors are born in captivity," she pointed out.

"With siblings. They learn social skills," Anya informed.

"And we imprinted on them when they were born. There's trust," Owen finished.

"The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane. At least she knows that means food," Anya observed.

"So, she needs a friend. We should schedule playdates? That sort of thing?" Claire said sarcastically before tapping on the glass impatiently.

"Probably not a good idea," Anya pointed out.

"Where is it?" Claire wondered out loud.

"Yeah, what, is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs? Maybe it's in the rec room," Owen joked and Anya gently backhanded his shoulder in reprimand as she smiled, and he returned it.

"It was just here. We were just here," Claire persisted, ignoring the moment between the two as she stomped back over to the control panel and tapped on it a few times, Anya's gaze catching something that she then drew Owen's attention to.

Buzzers sounded as the security guard said something to Claire.

Anya only looked gravely to Owen who then turned to Claire as he asked, "Were those claw marks always there?"

Claire slowly moved towards them, mouth slightly agape as she said, "You think it.... oh, God."

You could see the panic flood Claire as she began to hurriedly walk towards the door, heels clicking on the floor like a timer counting down to disaster. 

"She has an implant in her back. I can track it from the control room."

After Claire practically ran from the room, Owen turned to Anya and he saw something in her that he genuinely hadn't seen before.

Fear.

"Are you ok?" he asked softly, and she took a deep breath, exhaling through her mouth as she stared at the scratch marks on the wall.

"This is just...it's a lot bigger than our raptors."

Owen squeezed her hand and she looked up to him.

There were no words for him to say right now because it was true. This was a lot bigger than anything either of them had done. And to be honest he was scared too.

But both of them sucked it up as Owen turned to the guard and asked, "Where's the door to the enclosure? We wanna check out those claw marks."

"Do you have clearance?" the guard asked, and Anya rolled her eyes as she pulled out her ID badge from her back pocket.

"I'm Anya Masrani. My clearance level is ten times higher than yours. Now show us where the damn door is," she said annoyed as she flashed him her badge and he only stuttered an apology before getting to his feet and speaking into his radio.

"What?" she asked as she turned to Owen who was smiling at her, a soft chuckle coming from his lips.

"That's my Anya," he teased, and she couldn't help but smile as he playfully threw an arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug.

But all smiles faded as the dark tunnel they walked through led to a bright light and they walked into the paddock.