Bow Ties and Chickens

Karen

Karen gasped. 

"Abby?" Forest asked. 

"What? I still don't actually know whats going on," Thomas said. 

"Tests," he said. "They ran tests on her." 

"Who's they?" Thomas asked. 

"How dare they," Forest growled, eyes going dark. "When I find her, I'll make them pay." 

That rhymes, Karen thought. Never knew Forest was a poet. Maybe only when he's angry? 

"I have a feeling it isn't that easy," Karen said. "If she's still alive, and they know about us, they'll have her hidden." 

Mr. Smith looked uncomfortable, and Karen had a feeling he was hiding something. But she didn't say anything; if Smith was going to share this information with them, he was sure to be trusted enough for this. 

"Exactly," he said. "But I think we should find out more about our enemy before we look for her." 

Forest begrudgingly agreed, and they wandered around the warehouse for a time. 

It was mostly full of chickens, in various stages of... something. 

Some of them had scales, some had teeth, and the entire thing was beginning to get pretty creepy. 

"Why are they like this?" Forest wondered. 

Realization struck Karen. 

"Chickens are the Tyrannosaurus's closest living relatives," she whispered quietly. "I bet that Tyrell upstairs was one of these chickens at some point."

Forest growled something under his breath about this entire operation being 'inhumane' and under different circumstances Karen would've laughed at that remark. 

Finally Karen found something underneath a chicken cage. 

"Look at this," she said. "It's a checklist." 

The others gathered around her, crowding to see what it said. 

There were a few check-boxes; 'First Tests', 'Injection', and 'Gas'. The first box had a check in it, the second box had an 'X', and the last one also had a check. 

"What?" Thomas asked. "What does that mean?" 

"Read the other side," Karen whispered, flipping over the paper. "It says 'TEST SUBJECT - HUMAN' and 'NAME - ABIGAIL'."

"What did they do to her?" Forest grabbed the paper. "Why doesn't it say what they did?" 

"They are way too smart for that," Karen said. "We'll have to do more searching in order to find out what they did. But why did they do it at a museum? Why here? What's the motive?" What's her connection to Tyrell? her thoughts whispered. 

"Hide," Thomas yelped as two people came in. 

Mr. Smith grabbed them by the arms and hid under a desk.

"Hows the dinosaur doing?" a slithery voice asked which made Karen want to punch it's owner in the face. 

"Good, sir. I hope you won't fire me now, sir," a woman said.

"No, you're safe," the voice replied smoothly. "As for the dinosaur... it could prove dangerous to our entire operation. I know that having a human subject was a bad idea." 

"It doesn't work with chickens," the woman said. "Look around you - what do you think we are to accomplish?" 

"Are they saying..." Realization flashed across Forest's face, then it only filled with rage. "They all better run for their lives." 

"Forest, no!" Karen cried. But he was already upon them. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" he screamed, landing squarely on the man's chest. The man looked up from the floor with a glare of hatred, and Forest stumbled back.

"...Dad?"

"WHAT," Thomas said.

"I'm sorry... you... know... each other?" the woman asked.

"Family troubles," Karen muttered.

"Why would you do... whatever you did to Abigail?" Forest hissed.

"To make her pay," his father replied. "Your mother betrayed me, Forest."

"I know you are all having a moment, but what exactly did you do to Abigail?" Karen asked.

"Restrain her," Forest's father ordered. Someone came out of the shadows and put their hand over her mouth. She went limp in his arms, unconscious. She was dragged away, and what happened next was out of her power.