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“Pull over, I need to use the bathroom.”
“Can’t you hold it? We’ll lose our hotel room.”
Kenji shoved his phone into his face.
“It’s fine, we’ll figure something out.”
“Ben! It’s the only hotel in this town. This place isn’t even a town, it's so small it could be a village.”
Ben ignored him and pulled over. He gave him a grateful look as he rushed into the gas station. Outside, he could hear Kenji looking at his phone, worried about their hotel room. Ben looked tired as he listened, clearly exhausted from the long drive, and he felt bad for having them stop. Especially if it means they had to sleep in Ben's van again.
After finishing, he decided to get something for Ben and maybe Kenji. Quickly scanning the aisles, he found their favorite candy and brought it to the cash register.
The cashier stared blankly as they scanned the candy he bought, obviously bored and wishing he were somewhere else. He could relate and found himself glancing at his friends. Even though he loved hanging out with them, he didn’t like that they were hanging out because their lives were in danger again, and they’d been forced on the run.
He looked around, hypervigilant ever since he’d been trapped on an island with dinosaurs. You had to be to survive.
He immediately noticed when a man got in line behind him. Using a nearby mirror, he looked behind him to see who it was and make sure they hadn’t been found by their attackers.
He was shocked to find the man behind him was none other than Owen Grady, the raptor trainer. He looked at the candy, debating whether he should talk to him or leave him alone. His curiosity ended up beating him to it because he turned around to ask.
“Owen Grady?”
The man looked confused and a little distrustful.
“Do I know you?”
“Not exactly, but I know you.”
The man tensed and stared him down. His posture shifted to become hostile and closed off.
“Who are you?”
“I was there at Jurassic World when it all went down.”
He blurted out, knowing Owen would understand even if it put him at risk.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, kid.”
Owen looked around and threw cash at the cashier before grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the gas station.
“Who are you?”
“I’m…”
“Darius, who’s that?”
He glanced over and noticed his friends glaring at Owen, who was still holding him.
“It's Owen Grady.”
Both of them gasped and looked the man over.
“It really is him.”
“The raptor trainer.”
The man frowned, giving all three of them distrustful looks.
“Who are you? What do you want with me?”
“Have you ever heard of the Nublar six?”
Owen froze and looked the three of them over.
“You’re those kids who got left behind.”
He nodded, and Owen cursed, letting him go. One of his hands moved to his hair as he looked them over.
“Sorry about that. I’ve had… Problems in the past with people hunting me and my family.”
“Tell us about it.”
Kenji muttered.
“Why don’t you three come back to my cabin, and we can talk about Jurassic World and everything else happening.
All three of them glanced at each other, and he could tell Kenji and Ben didn’t trust him, which was fair after how many times they’d been betrayed. However, he had so many questions, and he had a feeling they could trust him.
“Sure. We were going to stay here for a night anyway.”
He could feel his friends glaring at him, and he ignored them, deciding to trust his instinct.
“Where do you live?”
“Whoa, wait a moment. We can’t go to a stranger's house? How do we know he’s trustworthy?”
“Trust me, Kenji, and if I’m wrong, we’ll deal with it.”
The man shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable to have them talking about him as though he wasn’t there.
“Fine, but he's coming with us, so that way he can’t speed ahead and plan an ambush.”
“Fine.”
He gave Owen an apologetic look and noticed the raptor tamer looked resigned.
“Claire is going to kill me.”
He mumbled, following him into the van.
The two of them sat together in the back while Ben waited for his car to start.
“I can take a look at that if you want.”
“Quiet.”
He gave Kenji a look for being rude.
“When we were trapped on the island, we went to a lab, and I saw videos of you and the raptors. We met the one with a blue strip.”
“Blue?”
Owen looked at them in surprise.
“Yeah…”
Darius rubbed the back of his neck when he admitted.
“We almost got her killed.”
Seeing the look on Owens' face, he added.
“But we saved her, don’t worry.”
“Thank you for that.”
He shifted, wondering if he should ask or not. Owen seemed to notice and nudged him.
“It's fine. I’ll tell you if I can’t or won’t answer your questions.
“Was Blue one of the dinosaurs rescued before the Island erupted?”
Owen nodded, and he could tell the others looked shocked and a little nervous.
“I’m glad to know she's safe.”
“Me too.”
Owen stared off into the distance, and he decided to ask something else.
“We’re not the only ones who saw your training videos. Other people did, and they’ve been replicating it.”
Owen's face turned grim.
“I know. I’ve seen it.”
They all looked at him in surprise.
“Just like you, it seems I can’t escape the past. I helped in the rescue operation on Isla Nublar and got caught up in some stuff…”
“Were you at the Lockwood manor?”
Owen hesitated and then nodded.
“It was all a setup. They weren’t rescuing the dinosaurs; they were selling them on the black market. Dr. Wu made another hybrid called the Indoraptor. Blue took care of it.”
Owen added at the end to reassure them, and the car finally started.
“He’s been doing a lot more experimenting than anyone realized.
Keji stared out the window, thinking about the hybrids they met.
“What?”
“We ran into some of his prototypes on the island.”
“I wish that didn’t surprise me; I should have known there were more.”
“Where do I go?”
Ben glanced in his rear-view mirror.
“I live outside of town. Just follow the road until we reach the bridge.”
Owen gave all three of them a serious look.
“You can’t tell anyone where I live. People aren’t just after me. They’re after my daughter.”
“Daughter?”
Kenji and Ben looked confused when he suddenly realized what he was talking about.
“Are you talking about the missing girl?”
Owen hesitated and then nodded.
“I don’t want to lie to you, mostly because I have a feeling we’ll meet again, and this might be important information for you to know.”
“Will we ever be able to escape the past?”
Kenji muttered, rubbing his face.
“I don’t think so. I moved all the way out here for peace and quiet after Jurassic World. Then, when I was offered to go back and save the dinosaurs… Save Blue, I took it.”
“We just can’t stay away.”
“You can say that again, although I think dinosaurs just find us. Blue managed to find me.”
“What?”
All three of them looked at him in shock, and Owen nodded.
“She built her nest by my house and is always watching over me and my family.”
“Do you think… She’ll recognize us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Blue is smart. She’ll recognize your scent.”
All of them glanced at each other, having no idea what they were about to walk into.
“She won’t hurt you.
Owen reassured them as they drove past the bridge, and he gave them directions to his house. When they finally arrived, all three of them were so busy looking for blue they almost missed Claire Dearing and the missing girl.
“You’re dating Claire Dearing?”
Kenji looked at Owen in surprise.
“Did you meet her before everything went down?”
“Yeah, but only for a moment.”
“She seems… Different.”
“She's changed a lot from back then.”
“Owen!”
Claire called, and he stepped out quickly to reassure his family that everything was okay. He scanned the woods and noticed Blue watching them. Owen must have noticed as well because he shook his head, and she left after being told they weren’t a threat.