Before Jurassic World

Chapter 14

My cell phone rang at an ungodly hour the next morning.  I reached towards the nightstand without opening my eyes fumbling to find it.

"King," I croaked.  My mouth felt like it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper.

"Jo, wake up and take some aspirin.  We've got a situation. "  Why was Lowery yelling?

I sat up, switching on the bedside lamp and grimacing as the light flooded the room.  Looking at my phone I saw it was just after "why in the fuck are you awake?" and "go back to sleep you might still be drunk", or just after eight o'clock in the morning.  I saw a bottle of Gatorade and aspirin sitting on the bedside table that I didn't remember putting there.  I thought back to last night trying to recall what happened.

Like a movie reel images began flashing through my head.  Oh god, no.  This wasn't happening.  Bits and pieces of the night coming together to paint a pretty humiliating picture.  I vaguely remembered telling Owen he was pretty and that I loved his raptors.  I really hoped I was remembering it wrong. Otherwise I would need to find a rock to hide under for the rest of my life.

"Jo, are you still there?

"I'm here, unfortunately.  What's going on?" I answered, opening the aspirin bottle and pouring out a couple of pills.

"Remember the storm system I said was going to miss us?"

"You mean the hurricane?"  Just as I answered a loud crack of thunder sounded outside.  I could hear rain pounding against my house as the wind howled.

"Yeah, well, it didn't miss us.  We are getting hit hard with the tropical aftermath."

Thanks Captain Obvious.  "Are you calling me just to tell me the weather?"  A girl could hope.  I was already at my closet throwing on some clothes.

"A couple of technicians were out in the valley testing the new gyrosphere technology early this morning.  The storm turned unexpectedly cutting the test short.  All but one of the technicians has returned to base.  We can't reach him on comms."

"How long since his last transmission?"  I was dressed and pulling my hair back in a ponytail accutaely aware of the pounding in my head.  Maybe doing a keg stand with Marco's trashcan punch wasn't the best idea.

"Thirty minutes."

"Why not send ACU out?"  I bent down under the couch, sliding a go bag out.  My former life in the military and the F.B.I. dictating I remain vigilant and prepared.  Well that, or I was just slow to unpack.

"Most of the force was on the other side of the island for rock drills.  The storm washed out the roads and there's no ETA for their return.  You're all we have in the area," Lowery told me, apology in his tone.

I grabbed extra rain gear shoving it into my backpack along with some granola bars from my kitchen. "Send his last known coordinates to my phone.  I'm leaving now.  I'll let you know what I find when I get there."

I stepped outside, running for my Jeep in the torrential downpour.  The wind was whipping the trees around with incredible force, bending some so much I thought they might snap like toothpicks.  The surface of the sea was covered with white streaks and foam patches.  Each wave that crashed on the beach brought with it a whitish mass of spray that shot out onshore, dissipating into the air like a mist.

I jumped in the Jeep, slamming the door quickly checking my phone for the coordinates.  I tore off in the direction of the valley feeling my tires slip and slide on the muddy roads.  It took a half hour to make the journey, and when I got there I didn't see anyone.