Hide (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)

Chapter 9

"It was all a lie!"

I'm finally snapped out of my trance by Claire shouting.

I take a final deep breath and manage to push myself up, digging the heels of my hands into the wet sand for support. I turn towards Owen and meet his eyes as he turns to me as well, concern still etched into his features. He goes to speak but I beat him to it.

"I'm fine." I nod reassuringly. "I'm okay."

His eyes scan my body, looking for anything to be concerned about, before meeting my eyes again and sighing in relief.

The volcano rumbles again, drawing our attention. Lava pours down the side of the mountain, and half the sky is obscured behind the thick smoke. A helicopter appears out of the smog, carrying a large and angry dinosaur underneath it. She roars, and I recognize her instantly.

Bella.

I use the rock next to me to stand and I watch in anger as she is taken to the dock. Taken from me. Everything that just happened is erased from my mind as the new urge to run after her and help her takes over me.

A hand slips into mine and I turn towards Owen. He gives me a look of understanding. Blue was taken from him too.

"We need to get closer," he says, still looking at me but addressing everyone.

I nod and we start towards the dock, clumsily climbing over rocks and up a small hill until we reach a good outcrop of stone that overlooks the dock. We lie down to stay out of sight and Owen releases my hand as he grabs a pair of binoculars.

I gaze upwards as another helicopter passes overhead, this one carrying a Baryonyx. Everything on the dock is small and hard to see, but I can see the dinosaur knocking boxes down with her tail as she tries swiping at the workers. Good girl.

"What's happening down there?" Claire asks, and I can tell she's clearly concerned.

"They got Zia down there, and they're loading out." Oh, yeah. I kind of forgot about her.

"If they already had the dinosaurs, why did they need us?" Franklin asks.

I tap Owen and gesture towards the binoculars, asking to use them. He hands them to me and I gaze down at the dock.

My blood boils at the sight of all those dinosaurs locked in cages. The workers don't even seem to care that they're hurting living animals. I scan the dock, looking for Bella, and my heart sinks as I don't see her anywhere.

"They needed the tracking system to capture Blue," Claire responds. I lower the binoculars. Anger surges through me at the thought of being used like that. Used for this shitty reason, used to hurt these animals. Owen takes the binoculars back and searches the docks again.

"There she is," he says, referring to Blue. "She doesn't look good." He looks away as the volcano rumbles behind us again, more smoke and rocks pouring out of the top.

"We have to get on that boat!" He shouts at us, and he stands up. I push myself up right away, and Owen and I start running down the hill. I glance behind us to see Claire following and Franklin finally rising from the rock. We all sprint towards the boat, going as fast as our tired legs can carry us. I almost trip on the rocks a few times, and it's a miracle I don't fall. We finally make it onto the dock, onto flat ground, and then the barrage of flaming rocks is upon us again.

We just can't catch a break, can we?

Giant rocks, even bigger than last time, crash around us, sending shockwaves into the ground. One collides with a group of barrels thirty feet away from us, resulting in an explosion nearly missing us.

"Are we going to make this?" I call out to Owen, noticing we still have quite a ways to go and the ship's horn is sounding.

"We can make it!" He shouts back. As if he jinxed us, another explosion erupts from nearby barrels, and we all hear a shout and turn to see Franklin lying on the ground, having been blasted by the fire.

All of us start to run towards him, but Owen stops Claire and me.

"Get that truck going!" He points to a truck behind us and he keeps running to Franklin. Claire and I bolt towards the truck, her climbing into the driver's seat and me into the passenger seat. Claire starts the engine and takes off towards the ship, assuming the other two will catch up. I turn around an watch as Owen and Franklin run after the truck.

My stomach churns in fear as the truck picks up speed. I climb into the back and hold my hand out to them, and Owen grabs my hand, climbing onto the back of the truck. He extends his hand to Franklin who just barely catches up with the truck. The two of them crawl inside the truck bed and collapse, panting heavily.

"Hold on!" Claire screams from the front, and I glance out the windshield to see the ship separating from the dock.

Well, shit.

Claire shifts gears and we speed up only a little bit, but it was enough. My stomach drops as we fly off the dock and onto the metal ramp on the back of the ship, and we just sit there. I look out the back to see the tires treading on the water, the edge of the ocean right about to claim the tail end of our vehicle. But Claire shifts the gears again and we lurch forward, driving into the safety of the ship. She brakes suddenly and we're thrown around as the truck stops.

The three of us exchange glances. We're safe. We actually made it.

A cry from the dock grabs our attention. The three of us turn towards the island, and I crawl to the edge of the truck bed to get a better look.

A Brachiosaurus stands on the edge of the dock, watching us as we slowly sail further away. The entire island is now submerged in lava and suffocating smoke. She steps as close as she can to the edge of the dock, but she knows she won't survive the water. She cries out again, and I feel my heart shatter.

Tears well up in my eyes and my nose burns. Owen slowly shuffles up next to me and slips his hand into mine, trying to comfort me. All we can do is watch her in agony as she keeps crying out, begging for help, but having no escape. All we can do is watch as the smoke claims her, the lava inching towards her and illuminating her silhouette for a few brief moments before the dock, too, is claimed by the volcano. Slowly the doors of the ship close, and only when they're shut tight do I let a sob escape me. I close my eyes and let a few more tears fall as Owen wraps his arms around me. I'm quick to hug him back as I sniffle a couple times, the tears dripping from my chin onto my legs.

We could have saved her. We could have saved all of them, if these people actually thought about something other than themselves for one goddamn second.

They are going to pay.