Clawen ♡ Second Time's the Charm

Chapter 8: Anything for Them

Chaos was threatening to erupt in the control room. Lowery was panicking as he fumbled with buttons in an attempt to locate the Indominus once more, a task that proved nearly impossible now that she had clawed out her tracking implant.

Vivian was contacting on-duty attraction employees and asking them if they had seen anything abnormal. The baffled employees tried to ask questions, but she had already moved on to the next attraction at Claire's orders. Mr. Masrani stood a distance away, deep in thought.

Claire turned around to face him almost angrily. But she kept her temper in check as she spoke. "We must find a way to contain her effectively. Either that, or we must use lethal weapons." Unfortunately, her boss made no attempt to calm his own temper.

"We will not be using lethals!" he half-shouted before taking a visibly deep breath. "I will speak to our employees in the lab. They know this asset better than any of us here. Together, we'll form a plan to contain her. You are not to send anyone after her until I return."

Claire barely had time to nod as he stormed off into the elevator. She fought to keep her composure as everyone looked at her, willing to do anything she told them to do. Of course, he leaves me to direct twenty people while he goes off to do whatever he wants. Typical. She turned to everyone determinedly.

"I'm going to close everything north of the resort," Claire decided. She turned to Vivian. "This is a phase one real world. Bring everyone in." Vivian nodded and pressed a button on her radio earpiece.

"This is a phase one real world. I repeat, this is a phase one real world. Bring everybody inside now," she spoke into it clearly.

Claire faced Lowery. "Have you found her yet? There are cameras almost everywhere on this island!"

Lowery shook his head. "Not in the forests. That's probably where she is now." Claire thought for a moment.

"Alright. Keep monitoring the cameras." She gestured a few other people over. "I need you to stay here and continue to monitor the park cameras until we find her." Claire raised her voice to address everyone in the room. "Are everyone's radios working?" After a brief moment of checking their radios, the employees nodded.

Then, Claire felt Owen's hand on her shoulder. She turned around. "Which attraction is she closest to?" he asked.

"We're not sure because we're not able to track her anymore. But Lowery and a few others are keeping an eye on the park cameras in hopes that we'll be able to spot her soon. Yet even if we do, Mr. Masrani has ordered for us not to send anyone to contain her until he gets back," Claire said with a sigh.

"What is his plan?"

Claire shook her head helplessly. "No one knows. If only he would include us and just tell us what he has in mind. And if only he'd listen to some of us! I know he's the one in charge and all, but sometimes he can be so... so dense!" she spat, her eyes surveying the other workers but not really paying attention to what they were doing.

Owen leaned closer to her and spoke quietly in her ear. "I didn't really like the way he talked to you either." Every hair on Claire's body stood at this and her neck tingled where his warm breath had kissed her skin.

She looked at him when he said, "He should have at least listened to you." Claire tried to ignore the fast beating of her heart, tried to concentrate on finding the Indominus.

"Hey, one of the kids in the Lost and Found was just reunited with his mom!" Lowery announced as he observed the pair through one of the cameras. Claire moved away from Owen to see for herself.

Indeed, a camera in the Innovation Center showed a little boy running into a woman's arms. The woman, his mother presumably, lifted him into the air and covered his plump cheeks with kisses. Claire watched as the mother set him down before running her hands through his curly hair. She couldn't help feeling that amid the chaos of the Indominus, she was forgetting something.