Jurassic Wildflower (A Jurassic World AU)

Chapter two

Three days later

Rose received word of the visitor approximately five minutes before said visitor's arrival. And she was not happy about it.

One indignant scramble through the forest later, she reached the small door used for people to get in and out of the enclosure only a few seconds before it opened.

A young woman – probably no older than Rose herself – stood in the doorway. Rose had to admit, she had been expecting a park manager, one of the ones who always wore stupidly short skirts, precariously high heels and flimsy cardigans, as though it didn't occur to them how difficult it would be to escape any form of danger in such attire.

But no. This woman wore strong boots, trousers and a collared t-shirt, and held a denim jacket over one shoulder. Her light blond hair was tied in a braid and she had the sun-bronzed skin of someone who spent their days outside. "Hi," she said to Rose, sticking out her free hand. "I'm Anna."

"Rose," Rose responded, reluctantly shaking Anna's hand. "Sorry if I sound blunt, but why are you here?"

"Oh, um..." Anna hesitated, looking around the forested enclosure. The trees and bushes were so dense she couldn't see the walls of the area. "I was asked to meet your dinosaurs, to... gain a better understanding of dinosaurs outside my own field."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Right," she said slowly. She looked over her shoulder, spotting a flicker of movement in the surrounding foliage. "Follow me, and stay close. And for God's sake, please don't try to play How to Train Your Dragon with them, they'll take your hand off."

"I'm not that stupid," Anna said defensively. "I train dinosaurs too."

"Sure," Rose said, turning and walking directly into a patch of bushes. Much to her surprise, Anna walked straight in after her, not even trying to find a less-prickly way through the thorny bushes.

Anna was sure she heard footsteps following them, but every time she turned, all she saw were trees and leaves and more trees and leaves. They came to a halt in a small clearing between several trees. Rose raised her hand and clicked three times.

With growling snarls, four dinosaurs emerged from the foliage all around them. They were the same dinosaurs, Anna noticed, as the ones in the footage she had seen. They were all different sizes, some had feathers while others didn't, but all four of them had a sharp, curved claw on each foot.

Anna instinctively turned around, eying each of the dinosaurs but unable to see them all at once because of the way they surrounded her and Rose. She caught a glimpse of the other woman, looking mildly amused. "Relax, sweetheart, they won't hurt you," she said. She looked at the largest of the dinosaurs and growled low in her throat. The dinosaur backed off a pace, letting out a growl of his own and looking at the other three. They all took a step back as well.

"They're... Velociraptors, right?" Anna asked Rose, still eying the four raptors.

Rose snorted. "No, they're all different raptor species, and they're all smaller than Velociraptors."

"Oh..." Anna said. She felt heat rise in her cheeks. She should have known Velociraptors were bigger than these dinosaurs.

Rose turned to her with narrowed eyes. "Which division do you work with again?"

"HDD," Anna said, holding her head high. Most of the other divisions looked down on the Herbivorous Dinosaurs Division, assuming that all the dinosaurs there were docile and calm, but Anna had put years of her life into training those dinosaurs and knew they were far more formidable than anyone gave them credit for.