Hide (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)

Chapter 7

The volcano rumbles behind us. Branches hit me in the face and scrape at my skin as we sprint through the forest, trying to outrun the final eruption.

To my left is Owen, keeping pace with me. To my right is a flock of dinosaurs, running for their lives right beside us.

A loud explosion shakes the ground, and I almost trip. Owen glances towards me and slows down until I can regain speed. We continue running, jumping over rocks and fallen branches, continuing our rhythm. That is, until fiery rocks start raining down from the sky.

I cry out as a large rock collides with the ground a few feet away from me, breaking into pieces. The force and the shock knocks me down, and I tumble for about fifteen feet through the brush.

"Sadie!"

My arm ignites in pain as a small chunk of the rock imbeds itself in my skin, burning me. I stop rolling and slowly start to rise, dizzy, disoriented, and in pain. I look down at my arm to see it smoking. I wince as I quickly separate the rock from my skin and try to brush any debris away, whimpering as I brush over the fresh wound.

"Sadie!"

I look up to see Owen running towards me, concern etched into his features.

"I'm okay," I say, and his eyes catch the wound on my arm.

"We don't have time," I say, and he understands, grabbing my hand. He pulls me with him as we start running again, and I try my best to not trip through the dizziness that hangs onto me.

We finally break through the forest, and I can see the open sky starting to fill with smoke. Rocks still crash to the ground around us, and dinosaurs run past us, as we're just in their way. My heart swells with relief when I see Claire and Franklin standing in the clearing.

"Run!" Owen screams from beside me. The two turn around to face us with wide eyes.

"Run!"

They understand as we reach them and they start sprinting away, and soon we're in pace with them. We enter another small patch of forest and the world around us spirals further into chaos.

The ground rumbles beneath our feet, from the volcano erupting and from the dinosaurs trying to escape. I can hear trees cracking and falling behind us. Flaming rocks continue to crash around us, some getting dangerously close. Dinosaurs of all sizes run past us, some almost trampling us. We all see a giant log ahead of us and we all get the same idea.

I manage to crawl under the log, frantically trying to get through. I feel Owen grab my arm and he pulls me to the side, behind a lone gyrosphere. The four of us manage to crowd behind it, having a bit of refuge from the stampede. Slowly but surely the log is broken apart and destroyed by the animals crashing into it and stepping on it, and it's a miracle none of them step on us. One dinosaur pushes the gyrosphere forward, pushing us as well. We all turn to see the ball now upright. Claire and Franklin stand closest to the ball, and once again we all get the same idea.

"Go!" Owen shouts, pushing them forwards.

"Get in!" I shout to Franklin, helping him crawl in the seat. Him and Claire buckle their seatbelts, and Claire turns to us.

"Get in!"

I move to crawl in, but something catches my eye, and my heart skips a beat.

I freeze.

A large, red, carnivorous dinosaur stands only a matter of feet away from us, staring right at us.

A Carnotaurus.

Owen gently grabs my hand and starts pulling me backwards, around to the other side of the gyrosphere. She gets ever closer, and I can feel my heart pounding rapidly in my chest. I squeeze Owen's hand, for reassurance and out of fear. She roars and starts running at us, and for a second I think she's going to eat us. But Owen pulls me behind the sphere and the Carnotaurus runs past us, going after a triceratops instead.

I can't help but feel bad for the poor creature. I know it could be us instead, but I still don't like seeing these animals get hurt.

We slowly start backing away as the triceratops starts fighting back, ramming her attacker with her horns and eventually knocking her to the ground. The two get closer to us and Owen has to pull me out of the way as they slam into the gyrosphere, pushing it a few feet back. We both turn to see the triceratops knock the Carnotaurus onto her back and run off.

We turn to hear Claire and Franklin shouting, and Owen runs over to the ball as it rolls one last time, the doors closing and sealing shut. My stomach sinks. We're trapped out here.

I slowly turn around as the Carnotaurus lets out a deafening roar. My eyes widen as it shakes its head and focuses on us. I take a few slow steps back, jumping as I collide with Owen. He slowly grabs my arm and pushes me behind him, and I grip his arm, terrified. I take a shaky breath as he slowly tries to move us around the gyrosphere.

We're going to die. We are so going to die.

I gasp and my whole body clenches as she roars again, running towards us. The ground shakes beneath her feet and all I can focus on is her open mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth. I'm too focused on her to notice the other dinosaur running towards her.

I cry out in shock as a larger dinosaur suddenly slams into the Carnotaurus, clamping her mouth on her neck and ramming her into the ground. My eyes dart over our savior and my jaw drops, my heart swelling.

Bella.

She releases the smaller dinosaur and raises her head into the air, roaring. I watch her in awe as that familiar chill runs down my spine.

Bella is here. She is alive.

She lowers her gaze to us for a moment, and she meets my eyes. We stand still like that for a couple moments as I will her to recognize me, to remember me.

The volcano releases a blast again, bringing me back to our situation. Bella shakes her head as the ground shakes and she walks off towards the trees. I barely notice her leg bump into the gyrosphere as I watch her leave us, mixed emotions rattling around in my head. Of course I want her to stay. All I want to do in this moment is stay here with her and remind her of me, and relive all those moments we shared back in her paddock. But Owen calling my name jolts me back into reality, and I remember we're on an island in the process of destroying itself.

"Sadie!" I turn to Owen's voice to see him staring at me with fear in his eyes. One look behind him tells me why.

The gyrosphere has begun rolling downhill away from us, leaving us behind.

Shit.

"Come on! We have to go!" He shouts at me, trying to get me to run. I nod my head in understanding and we start sprinting after Claire and Franklin.

I glance behind us, my mind filling with panic as I see the cloud of smoke overtaking everything. Another stampede of dinosaurs converges on us, the ground shaking again. Ahead of us the sphere gets even further away, leaving us in the dust. We get closer and closer to the cliff as the smoke gets closer and closer to us. When we're about thirty feet from the cliff I see the grey clouding the corners of my vision. Owen grabs my hand as the smoke surrounds us completely, absorbing us into the cloud.

We're running blind.