𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 ▸ Lowery Cruthers [1]

012

About ten minutes into the drive Ellis was forced to turn the headlights on as the dense foliage of trees, ferns and god only knows what else almost completely blocked the sun's rays from filtering down and illuminating the dirt track she was currently driving along. The Land Cruiser she was driving paved a pathway for itself through the branches and for a moment Ellis forgot about the mortal peril she presently found herself in and found herself admiring the view – or lack thereof.

She'd always known Isla Nublar was a beautiful island, she'd known it the moment the fog had lifted the day she and Masrani took the ferry from the mainland, she'd known it when they'd driven to the Hammond Centre via the maintenance roads that were closed off from the public and gave an even closer up view of the animals. Somehow, today, it looked even more magnificent than ever. She was surrounded on all sides by black jungle and driving fast – probably too fast – but she was still able to distinguish the various types of ferns and flora that she sped past, some very rare, others very poisonous and she made a mental note to tell her pseudo aunt Ellie Sattler all about them when she got off the island, if she ever got off the island.

In truth Ellis wasn't really worried about her own safety as she sped through the trees, she had a rifle on the spare seat and enough magazines to put up a damn good fight should she need to. That, and Ellis Grant had survival in her blood. Her father, Alan, had survived worse than this, not once but twice. Alan Grant was notorious for his ability to get out of dangerous situations, Billy had once told her about the time her father had been lost in the Montana Badlands for four days after a cliff gave way and he and his Jeep fell over one hundred feet into a ravine. He'd broken his leg in the fall, had no water or rations to speak of and still he walked back the four days back to camp. Ellis smiled at the thought of her father, and felt comforted by the knowledge that his blood ran through her veins. She was a Grant, she'd survive this. The kids that she was looking for however...

The crackle of the radio that was still holstered to her jean shorts dragged her from whatever dark thoughts she was about to have about Zach and Gray Mitchell and she took one hand off the wheel to turn up the volume.

"E...Ellis?" The all too familiar voice of Lowery Cruthers crackled through the radio. The static noise was loud and distorted his words, but she'd know that voice anywhere and a smile spread across her face at the sound of it.

Unclipping the small handheld radio from her shorts she brought it up to her lips and holding down the transmit button on the side she grinned. "Yeah, yeah you got me."

The radio crackled again and Ellis took a quick moment to check she was tuned into the right frequency before deciding that the poor signal was due to the dense forest she currently found herself driving through and not through a fault of her own. "Oh thank god..." Lowery's voice flooded out of the small speaker again. "Barry told me you're not at the paddock, where are you?"

"I'm uh...driving."

"Where to? To the paddock?"

"No, no..." Ellis sighed heavily, "I'm helping Claire and Owen look for Claire's nephews, their gyro went missing in the valley."

"You're with Owen, that's okay I guess. The last ping on the cameras of the I-Rex was somewhere in the forest so steer clear of there."

Ellis eased up a little on the accelerator, suddenly becoming all too aware of how much noise the Jeep was making as it thundered through the blacked out forest. "I'm not with Owen, he went to the valley with Claire to look for the boys."

"Ellis." Lowery's voice turned serious, something that was rarely heard and something that sounded altogether very wrong. "Where are you." It was more of a demand than a question.