By Your Side {Owen Grady/Jurassic World}

Chapter Eight

Hadley

I led Owen and Claire out of the jungle and followed the footprints that led to a waterfall. Claw marks curved over the edge, but large prints left the area, indicating that the Indominus was hopefully long gone. Claire rushed over to the edge of the waterfall, nearly launching herself into the water.

"Oh my God," she whispered, eyes searching the water. "They jumped."

"Brave kids," Owen muttered, slinging the strap of his gun onto his shoulder.

"Zach! Gray!" Claire began to yell. I sent a glare her way and shushed her. She was just asking for us to get eaten alive. "Hey! I am not one of your damn animals!"

"Listen, those kids are still alive, but the three of us will not be if you continue to scream like that," Owen growled.

"So you can pick up their scent, can't you?" She asked. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Track their footprints?"

"I was with the Navy, not the Navajo," Owen said, furrowing his eyebrows at her ridiculous question.

"So then what do we do?"

"You get back, Hadley and I will find them," Owen said, gesturing to me. Claire looked as if he had just told her to jump in with the Mosasaurus.

"No, I'll find them too," she said, crossing her arms.

"You'll last two minutes in there," Owen argued. "Even less in those ridiculous shoes."

"At least someone other than me feels the same way about them. Might as well take them off now," I muttered, eyeing the heels. Claire took a step back and began partially undressing in front of us. "Whoa, I meant the shoes not your clothes."

She ignored me and took off her belt, then unbuttoning her shirt and tying the bottom ends together to reveal a light purple tank top. She rolled up her sleeves and propped her hands on her waist, looking at us expectantly. Owen looked over at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. I shrugged, running a hand through my longish chestnut ponytail.

"No idea,"

"It means I'm ready to go," she said, as if that changed anything.

"Let's get one thing straight then," Owen said. "Hadley and I are in charge here. You do everything we say, exactly how and when we say it."

"Excuse me?"

"What, you can't handle not being in charge for once?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. Claire gave me a dumbfounded look as if she couldn't believe what I was saying, although I could easily say it was pretty believable.

"Just relax," Owen said to Claire, who looked like she was about to blow a gasket. Owen flipped his gun off of his shoulder and walked over to me. I gently leaned into him, brushing my hand against his. He looked down at me briefly before sliding his hand down my wrist and lacing our fingers together. "It's just like taking a stroll through the woods. 65 million years ago."

I took a final glance at the huge footprints before following Owen down the path.
•
Zach

Gray and I had crawled out of the water and followed a trail that led back into the jungle, hoping that it would bring us to the park.

As we were walking, Gray spotted something and jogged up to it. When he turned towards me, he had a white safety helmet in his hands that was bloody and broken. I took it from him and tossed it to the side before looking around the brush for something that could potentially be helpful to us.