OWEN WATCHED AS YOU entered Foxtrot's habitat, biting his lip as he obviously fought the urge to join you. He had a tranquilizer in his hand, ready in the case of an emergency.

Despite how much you had tried to comfort him, he was still wary of the dinosaur. Which was to be expected; his girls were far less docile as Foxtrot. His were much more animalistic, retaining the alpha pack structure firmly. Whereas Foxtrot had never had another velociraptor to teach him such structure, and solely depended on you for socialization.

The shrubs rustled, the noise and feeling always made your hair stand on end. No matter how familiar you were with the raptor, he still made you feel like prey at times. The feeling subsided as his head emerged from the bushes nearby, cocked inquisitively at you.

You held out the feeding bucket, whistling for him to join you. You set the bucket down, and he approached, sniffing the air intensely before diving his head into the bucket of rats. The squelching noise made your stomach churn, but you ignored it to look toward Owen.

His brow was twitching. You couldn't help the smirk from crawling onto your face as you made a point of running your hand over Foxtrot's neck and shoulder. You could feel the awe and jealousy of Owen, even from the platform above. This was one of the very few things you had over Owen, one of the few things you could be proud of, but the way he was looking at you--it somehow killed that feeling entirely.

Foxtrot paused, gaining your attention as you watched his tail sway gently. He slowly lifted his head from his bucket, looking directly at Owen. It must have been then that he had caught Owen's scent, his nostrils flaring to distinguish it. His head cocked, and he took a step toward Owen.

You could almost see the gears turning in his head as he gauged how high the jump would be, and you instinctively threw yourself in front of him to break his view. "Foxtrot," your voice was low, but panicked. His stare transferred to you, which he held for much longer than you'd liked.

Foxtrot abruptly turned away and disappeared into his foliage with a low, rumbling chirp, leaving his bucket half-finished. This left a horrible churning feeling in your stomach, but you shrugged it off as you quickly exited the paddock and returned to Owen.

"That--" Owen started.

"Don't," you growled. Surprisingly, he stopped.

"Claire asked me to meet her today," he changed the subject as you climbed onto his bike behind him.

"For what?" you weren't very interested in the conversation, still trying to make sense of why Foxtrot had shown such sudden interest in Owen. It had scared you, the way he had so intensely stared. The way you could almost see him thinking... planning. You had never witnessed such intelligence from him before.

"She wants me to see whatever is in Paddock 11," Owen yelled over his shoulder as he started the bike, following the overgrown dirt road toward Main Street.

"Paddock 11??" you yelled back, your heart jumping into your throat. You knew the higher numbered paddocks meant larger animals, like how Paddock 9 was the queen herself, Rexy. What would 11 be? A giganotosaurus, maybe? A spinosaurus? "Why?"

"She needs a predator behavioral expert," he replied, "there's been some issues with the animal that don't make much sense to her team."

"Can I come?"

"Nope."

"But--"

"You'll be babysitting her nephews again," Owen interrupted, "Zara isn't feeling well today."

"But that's not--"

"I don't care. That's what you'll be spending your evening doing."

"Fine."

You fought hard to conceal your disappointment as you led the Mitchell brothers through the crowded Main Street once more, feeling your phone vibrate with a message from your group chat with Rift, Liam, and Liam's little sister, Lizbeth. You sighed as you checked the message, which was simply Rift sending a picture of her with her favorite triceratops. You exhaled a faint smile, sending a heart emoji before shutting back off your phone and entering the gyrosphere ride.

"So what is this?" Zach asked, his hands tucked into his pockets. You noticed a girl waving at him, but as you looked over your shoulder, you saw his eyes honed on you.

It made you falter. You'd seen the way Zach ogled girls, so it was incredibly surprising to see him either blatantly ignore or simply not notice her.

"It's like a hamster ball type of thing," Gray piped up in your silence, "It's super cool. I read about it online; you get to go into the enclosures in them!"

"Yeah," another notification went off, gaining your attention. Liam asked what you were out doing before sending a picture of himself at his pool in the group chat. You lifted your phone, turning on the camera, you snapped a quick picture of the overhead sign for the ride. After sending it, you tucked your phone away once more.

"You doing okay?" Zach leaned over your shoulder, his face only inches from yours. The height difference between you made him have to slouch to be eye level with you. "You've been pretty quiet all morning."

"O-oh," you flinched, startled by the sudden proximity. Your mind trailed back to Owen, and then you shook your head clear of the thoughts. "It's nothing, I'm just tired."

"You can head back to your hotel, N/n," he combed a hand through his ebony hair, and you had to avert your eyes before you started staring. The nickname he bestowed you also made your heart flutter as you tucked loose strands of hair behind your ear. "I can show Gray around the park. Go, get some rest."

"No, no, I'll stay with you guys," you brushed him off when Gray glanced over his shoulder at you, clearly listening. You rubbed your temples, "I'm supposed to hang out with you guys today, anyway."

"But--" Zach was interrupted by the disinterested ride operator as he guided Zach and Gray into their gyrosphere.

Playfully, Zach patted his lap for you to join them, but you flushed and gave an indignant shake of your head as they launched from the station and a new gyrosphere appeared.

The ride operator insisted you rode with the sniffly, grody boy next in line, but you refused and showed him your staff card. Fortunately, he didn't press anymore and simply let you take the gyrosphere on your own.

The interaction took only 5-10 minutes, yet you were struggling on locating Zach and Gray as you began to glide over the open field that the herds of dinosaurs grazed and migrated in.

You expertly maneuvered through the legs of the animals, recalling the plenty of times that you, Liam, Rift, and Lizbeth had raced the gyrospheres. You smiled fondly to yourself at the sweet memories, briefly wondering how each of their days were going, especially Lizbeth, who was off with the first official campers of Camp Cretaceous.

Something caught your eye; there was a large hole torn into the fencing to the left. You paused in front of the gaping hole, which led straight into the jungle. Your jaw was hanging open at the sight.

"What could have done this?" you muttered to yourself, "the fences are electrified. Are they down?"

As you studied the claw marks and deep gouges in the metalwork, your gaze drifted to the ground, where you could still make out the faint trail of a gyrosphere in the grass. Your heart immediately sank; you had the most gut-wrenching feeling that you knew who it was.

You fished your phone from your pocket, trying to start a group chat call, but your service sucked in the fields. You cursed under your breath as you began to follow the trail into the jungle, swallowing the lump in your throat.

The jungle felt eerily quiet and still, the hair on your neck and arms rising with the anxiety. Sweat formed on your brow, and you wiped it away with your hand. Your guard was raised as you swiveled, trying to keep an eye on every direction.

A roar shook the jungle. Your breath caught in your throat.

You picked up speed, desperately searching for the boys. Your heart was pounding against your chest, almost threatening to break free as you entered a small clearing. You came to an abrupt halt at the sight of the dead ankylosaur and the destroyed gyrosphere.

You blinked back tears when you heard another roar, your head snapping to the left. You could faintly make out Gray's scream, and you jolted into action.

You raced toward the sounds, entering another open area near a river, where you could see the boys at the edge of a drop off, a large, unidentifiable dinosaur making a beeline for them.

Without much thinking, you chased after the dinosaur. You began screaming, trying to get its attention away from the boys, who saw you through the legs of the beast. You could make out the horror and relief on their faces.

You managed to dart between its legs before it noticed you, where it flung you aside with its massive claws. One of its claws easily punctured the gyrosphere, narrowly missing your face.

It leaned down on all fours, releasing a low roar as it studied you. Then it launched itself toward you.

As you regained composure, you glimpsed Zach waving toward the drop off before he jumped. You bit your lip, whipping the gyrosphere toward the drop off and reaching full speed toward it.

You squeezed your eyes shut, praying to make it before the dinosaur reached you. The gyrosphere made it to the edge before the beast whacked it from behind, sending it spiraling. Fortunately, it still tipped over the edge. Unfortunately, you couldn't tell which way was up and which was down before you hit the water.

The impact left you even more disoriented, making your head pound. Water was gushing through the holes the dinosaur had made, and it already reached your calves.

You scrambled to undo the seat belt, but your trembling fingers were working against you as you cursed. You finally got the clasp to release, but now the door wasn't budging. The water was at your thighs, and the sunlight was becoming dimmer the further you sank.

You were frantic as you tried to pry open the door, your fingers bruising and bleeding with the efforts. You were nearing a breakdown when a face startled you; Zach was there, and he had a knife.

He shoved the knife in the hinges, prying them off one by one, but the water was at your shoulders now.You fought to stay in the small air bubble left, but when Zach broke the door off, the air bubble dissipated.

You fought the urge to gasp as you were suddenly plunged into the cold waters, sealing your eyes shut from the burning sensation. Zach's arms wrapped around you, pulling you from the gyrosphere and dragging you upwards. You leaned into his touch, trying to ignore the pain in your chest and lungs.

It felt like hours passed before you reached the surface, the humid jungle air filling your deprived lungs. You and Zach coughed and gagged as he pulled you to the shore. He helped you out of the water, where you both collapsed. Gray scrambled to you, diligently checking you over.

When he was satisfied, he sat back, staring at the both of you with admiration. "You guys are awesome."

"All I did was save her," Zach said, "She saved us."

But you weren't in the mood for talking as you were trying to calm your heart and allow the pain and burning feelings dissipate, taking long, deep breaths. Your hands were still shaking, from being soaked or from the near-death experience, you didn't know.

Something heavy was placed on your shoulders, and you noticed it was Zach's jacket. Although it was soaked, the gesture was pleasant. He reached forward to squeeze your shaking hand.

"It's okay, N/n. I've got you," he gave you a gentle smile. You took a deep breath, nodding at his words.

"Okay," you mumbled as Gray reached forward to hug you.

"Y/n, you're the best," Gray said against your shoulder. Then, in a lower tone, he whispered, "I can't wait for you to be my sister."

Your face flushed as he pulled away, what did he mean by that? You glanced at Zach, but hid your face as you began to regain your composure. You guys may have escaped the dinosaur, but there was still a jungle filled with creatures, and possibly even more escaped dinosaurs.

"Come on, let's get moving," Zach stood, reaching for yours and Gray's hands to pull you both to your feet. "I'd rather not be here after dark."

"Y-yeah, we should get back to Main Street. Owen will know what's going on."

"Are you doing okay?" Zach bumped your shoulder as you began to trudge through the thick jungle foliage, swatting away bugs that were much too big for your liking.

"Stop asking about me," you huffed, "how are you guys doing? What even happened?"

"Well--"

"Zach decided he was going to drive us right through that giant hole in the fence--"

"Not my best idea," Zach admitted with a sheepish expression, ducking his head. Your brows furrowed in slight amusement.

"--and then we saw this awesome ankylosaur! She was so pretty, but then this giant dinosaur appeared and it--it killed it and then it tried to kill us, and its claw stabbed through the gyrosphere, and then we managed to escape the sphere, but then it started--"

"Okay, buddy, let's take a breath." Zach patted Gray's back, "It just chased us to that waterfall when you found us. Glad you did; I was starting to think we wouldn't outrun the damn thing."

You glanced between the two; the panting Gray and the nonchalant Zach, both dripping with sweat just like yourself. They were stranded in the middle of a dangerous jungle on the verge of dusk, and yet here they were, finding some reason to laugh it off. You exhaled a smile, shaking your head; these two would never cease to amuse you.

Despite the false light-heartedness, your mind drifted back to the horrifying animal. Was that even a dinosaur? You had never seen one like that, or even heard of one that looked like it. The closest you could get to it was a giganotosaurus, but the head shape was... wrong. Was it a failed recreation?

"Do you know what that thing was?" it was as if Gray had read your mind as he looked to you expectantly, nearly colliding with a tree.

You shook your head. Was that what was in Paddock 11? Your thought trains began to multiply, running in chaotic patterns that you couldn't follow. Was Owen okay? Where was he? What about Liam and Rift? Lizbeth? Claire? Was the park still open? Has the animal been captured? What about Foxtrot? What would happen to him if the park closed? Would they euthanize him?

"Y/n?" you became aware of Gray's small hand around yours. As you blinked rapidly, processing your surroundings again, you realized you were stopped, both Mitchell boys standing before you with concern etched into their faces.

Gray squeezed your hand, "I-I know it's scary--I'm scared too, but it's okay. We have each other, so we'll be okay."

You felt a lump in your throat form at the sight of Gray's watery eyes, and you pulled him in for a hug. He was so brave for just a boy. As you two pulled apart, Zach took a step closer.

"Look, I know I haven't been the best. But I promise I'm going to keep the both of you safe," he said, glancing between you and Gray. Gray jumped to his arms for a hug.

You reached into your pocket for your phone, but it was fried from being submerged. As you tried to turn it on, an electrical current shocked your hand, making you throw it. Your yelp made the boys turn back to you inquisitively.

"Just a zap," you brushed them off, cursing in your head at the pain.

As they started up trudging through the jungle foliage once more, you reached down to grab your phone; you prayed that your gallery was saveable.

You jogged to catch back up with them.