Jurassic Wildflower (A Jurassic World AU)

Chapter three

"I think it's time you left," Rose said, looking at the sky, which was slowly turning violet from the setting sun. "You've met my dinosaurs, that's all you wanted, right?"

"Well... um... yes," Anna said haltingly. She couldn't find a good excuse to stay, and honestly, she didn't want to. Rose was hostile, sharp and not particularly kind or gentle, and Anna didn't find any of those things endearing. "But there are still things I haven't learned. If I were to spend a day in the raptors' area by myself, they'd kill me in minutes, how do you make them obey you?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Who sent you, again?"

"Uh... Doctor Jonah, Doctor Watson and Agent Leanne were all at the meeting."

"Doctor Watson?"

Anna nodded.

"Hm," muttered Rose, turning away from the edge of the platform, where Terrance still paced far below. "She say much?"

"No, almost nothing," Anna replied. "Why?"

Rose seemed to zone out for a few seconds, staring blankly at the T-rex growling up at them. Her gaze flickered around the rest of the enclosure, as though she was looking for something.

"Rose?" Anna asked.

Rose jumped and shook her head. "It's not important. Come on." She walked back across the platform, through the door, to the ladder, where she stood, tapping one foot impatiently until Anna dragged her gaze away from the dinosaur below her and followed, pulling the heavy door shut behind her.

"I need to feed the dinosaurs," Rose said as Anna started down the ladder. "You should go home. I'll talk to Doctor Watson about whether you're coming back tomorrow."

Anna nodded as her feet hit the ground. She looked behind her and spotted the flicker of a raptor in the bushes not far away. She swallowed hard, glancing up at Rose as she began climbing down the ladder. It was several metres high, so it would take her over a minute to reach the ground. Anna heard low growls as three of the four raptors emerged from the foliage, flexing their claws with their snake-like eyes fixed on Anna.

"Rose," Anna called up, not taking her eyes off the raptors. The largest of the three, his red-tinted feathers bristling, stepped toward her, hissing. What did Rose say his name was? She thought frantically. "Pyro!" She said on a stroke of memory. "Back!"

Her heart pounded in her chest, as though it too wanted to escape. Pyro didn't respond to Anna's command, instead he took another step, the sickle-claw on his foot twitching. Anna backed away a pace, her gaze locked with the serpentine eyes of the dinosaur.

"Whoa!" Rose jumped the last few rungs of the ladder, landing in a roll that brought her barely a foot away from the red-feathered Raptor. "Back up," she said firmly, her eyes flicking to the three raptors she could see. A rustle sounded from the bushes to her left and her head whipped towards it. "I see you Lynx," she spun in the other direction. "And you Libra. Back up, all of you."

She locked eyes with Pyro. The raptor held her gaze for only a moment before lowering his head in submission. The other two did the same, retreating back into the bushes. Pyro stayed, his yellow eyes still on the ground at Rose's feet.

"Good boy, Pyro," Rose said after a moment, rummaging in one of the pouches on her belt and holding out a strip of some sort of dried meat. The raptor snapped it up hungrily, then followed the rest of his pack into the forest.

Rose stared at the gently swaying branches where he had vanished for a moment longer, then turned to Anna. "Are you alright?"

Anna nodded. "Yes."