Fearless ≫ Zach Mitchell

xii.

t w e l v e

~

Darkness engulfed the Velociraptor paddock, making Ashton feel uneasy. Since the raptors were not yet trained for public viewing, their home was located in the middle of Jurassic World's restricted area- meaning that the Indominus Rex could have been very well likely right in the shadows of the forest that surrounded the paddock.

Her blood boiling from anger, Ashton slipped through the gate and into the area where the workers handled the raptors. All four dinosaurs were set in their muzzles, growling at the InGen workers as they strapped electronic tracking devices and cameras around their scaly heads.

Forcing herself to remain calm around the InGen employees, Ashton quickly approached Echo, near the end of the line of dinosaurs. Thankfully, no one was around her raptor, though a large, black camera was strapped around her sandy-colored head. Licking her lips, Ashton slowly approached the creature, running her hand along her soft snout.

She closely studied the Velociraptor that she had taken care of for the past four years, taking in every little detail. The scar running along Echo's face, just under neath her golden eye, reminded Ashton of her fight for dominance against Blue. When they were only a year or so old, the two raptors fought each other for dominance. Of course, Blue won, leaving Echo with a nasty scar along with a permanently off-set jaw. Because of her jaw injury, the trainers had to build a special muzzle for the raptor, so that she would actually be able to fit in it whilst being comfortable. Because of her dislocated jaw, the right side of Echo's teeth tended to be visible, even with her mouth was completely closed. Owen often joked around about the dinosaur having a permanent sneer, resulting in the nickname "Elvis", which most of the trainers called her.

"Owen!" At the sound of the familiar voice, Ashton turned away from her raptor. She noticed that Zach and Gray had joined her and her uncle, though on the other side of the heavy duty metallic fence. Their arms were wrapped around the bars, their faces peering through the gaps at the dinosaurs. Zach's lips curled into his signature half-smile as he gazed at Ashton, admiring how calm she was around the raptors. He knew she must have cared about them a lot.

"Are they safe?" Gray asked Owen slowly, referring to the Velociraptors. Zach forced his attention away from Ashton and focused on Owen, where he stood beside a blue-colored raptor.

"No, they're not," the older man responded with a sad shake of his head. He patted the dinosaur on the head before approaching the boys, Ashton doing the same. She stopped in front of Zach and grinned, though he could tell it was forced.

"What are their names?" Zach questioned, hoping that if Ashton began talking about the dinosaurs she cared so much about, it would put her mind off of the bad things- perhaps even make her happier.

"Well, you've got Charlie." Owen pointed towards the light green Raptor on the far end of the pen. He then continued to point at the creatures in turn, sounding almost proud. "There's Echo. Here is Delta. And this one's called Blue." His gaze lingered on the last Velociraptor, a small smile forming on his lips. "She's the beta."

"Who's the alpha?" Gray asked, cocking his head to the side.

"You're looking at him, kid," Owen responded, smirking.

"Well, technically, he's Blue, Delta and Charlie's alpha," Ashton spoke up, playfully nudging her uncle in the ribs. "I'm Echo's alpha. He doesn't want to admit it, but she only listens to me."

"That's hot." Zach didn't realize he had spoken the words aloud until he felt the gazes of the two other boys on him. Tearing his gaze away from Ashton, whose cheeks were the color of a tomato, he looked between Owen and Gray. Despite the embarrassment that he felt, he found himself smirking. "Just saying."