Chapter Nine : The Original Park

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YOUR EYES FLUTTERED open, birdsong filling your ears. The scent of the jungle was soothing, and the only thing that reminded you of the reason you were there was the faint scent of cologne and the warmth of someone's arms around you.

You yawned and went to sit up, but Zach's head rested in the crook of your neck, and you didn't want to wake him.

You were debating what to do when you heard the crunch of a wrapper and looked up to see Gray with more granola bars and a bottle of water.

"Mornin'," you smiled, finally able to slip from Zach's grip. You crawled to Gray's side and he handed you a granola bar and the water bottle.

"Good morning," he replied, "It looked like you were comfortable~"

Omg, this kid..!

"Pfft, comfortable? What chu talkin' about?" You turned away as your cheeks became pink. You shoved the granola bar into your mouth and gulped some of the water before handing it back to Gray.

"Okay, whatever you say, Y/n." Gray grinned at you, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Hmph," you crossed your arms and looked away.

A groan gained your attention and you couldn't help but laugh when Zach rolled over and nearly fell out of the tree. He jumped in surprise and scrambled away from the edge.

"Mornin', Zach," you sang.

"Ah, morning," he scratched his head before crawling over to have breakfast.

The three of you waited a few more minutes after Zach had finished his breakfast, reluctant to climbed down to the ground with that thing still roaming freely. Or was it? Had the creature been captured, killed?

Pushing those thoughts out of your head, you returned to the damp earth and assisted Gray down, as Zach was too "manly" to receive your help.

"Which way do we go?" Gray turned in a circle, pointing in random directions, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Uhm," you flicked a glance around then sighed several moments of decision, "What about the direction we were heading yesterday?"

"Sounds like a decent plan," Zach nodded and began leading your group through the thick foliage.

"Decent? I think it's marvelous!" You joked, although you couldn't keep the nervousness from entering your voice. You twirled a few strands of your (color) hair around your fingers anxiously. That was when you finally realized that you were still wearing Zach's sweatshirt.

"Oh, uh, Zach?" Your face flushed.

"Yeah?" He called from a little ways ahead of you.

"Do you―do you want your jacket back?"

"Nah, you can keep it," Zach didn't turn to look at you, actually he was trying to hide his red face from your view, which worked because you were oblivious to his expression.

"A-alright," you murmured, tugging at the grey sleeves.

"I ship itttttt," Gray fanboyed underneath his breath.

"What did you say?" Zach asked his brother in curiosity.

"Oh, just trying to identify the plant species!" Gray said a little too quickly as he skipped ahead, bending over a wide fern.

You chuckled as Zach frowned. Time blurred as small talk bloomed between the three of you. Boredom was killing you, but paranoia kept you from being too boisterous.

Then Gray saw something and ran ahead. At first, you and Zach simply followed him at a much slower pace, at least until you heard his scream. Instantaneously, the two of you were scrambling past some thick shrubbery and falling into some sort of clearing.

Gray was a few yards in front of you, on his knees. He was brushing dirt from his shirt casually.

"Oh, hey guys," he said when he looked up and saw you, "What happened?"

"You screamed!" You huffed, sitting up and rubbing your head. Your temple had smacked the stone beneath you.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I kinda.. fell," Gray smiled in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"Uh, guys..."

"That's why you shouldn't wander off, I thought you fell off a cliff or somrthing!" You scolded sternly.

"Guys..."

"I'm sorry, Y/n, I really am," Gray apologized sincerely, giving you a sweet puppy-dog look.

"GUYS!"

Finally, you and Gray turned to see Zach standing, his gaze directed toward the center of the clearing. A dilapidated building stood there, half covered in flora.

"Whoa," you and Gray spoke in unison, awestruck at the ruined structure. It looked quite old and the front doors were propped open by the roots of a tree.

"Let's check it out," Zach leaned down to help you to your feet, "It might have something helpful."

"Or something really, really old," you added, following Gray, who had already bounded up the stone steps and was entering through the large doors.

There was barely any light inside, and Zach startled you when he wrapped a piece of cloth around a stick and lit it with some of Gray's matches. The torch illuminated part of the room you were standing in.

A few remaining pillars ran from the ceiling to the floor, tree roots and vines concealed most of the place. But what caught your eye the most was one of the walls; it had a mural painting of a Parasaurolophus and a Velociraptor, but the rest of it was hidden behind a layer of thick plants.

"It's like going back in time," you murmured, running your hands over the painting in amazement.

"So some rundown building makes you feel like you're time travelling, but dinosaurs don't?" Zach teased as he came to stand behind you, studying the wall over your shoulder. You could feel the warmth radiating from his body.

You flushed and moved to look at something else, the closeness making shivers run down your spine. What was this feeling? Butterflies?

"This must have been part of the old park," Gray commented from the other side of the room.

"What do you mean?" Zach questioned.

"The first one. Jurassic Park. It's Jurassic World's predecessor, the one John Hammond created himself. But then a man named Denis Nedry doomed the park when he turned off the power," Gray explained, plucking some binocular-like thing from a shelf. "The T-rex got free, killed a lawyer. Then the Velociraptors escaped. Eventually, the survivors got cornered by the Raptors, but then the T-rex came in and basically saved them. They escaped."

"What happened then?" You queried, curious. You had never heard of another dinosaur amusement park before! When did this happen?

"Well, the island was apparently nuked. But then a pair of civilians crashed onto Isla Sorna. The man died, while the boy was stranded. His parents came looking for him and most of the search party was killed by Velociraptors and a Spinosaurus." Gray continued, pausing to glance over at the silent Zach and you, "Then a group later returned to the island to salvage the park. They captured one of the seven T-rexes and brought it to Chicago, where it broke free and destroyed about half of it. It was recaptured and returned to Isla Sorna afterwards."

"Damn," Zach's eyes were wide as he reached for your hand, turning his head to gaze at your dirty face, "History's repeating itself."

You were about to ask for him to explain, but Gray spoke up, taking a step towards you both. His eyes were wide as well, "We're at the bottom of the food chain."

"Each dinosaur park is doomed," the brothers said in unison, blinking fervently. Despite the seriousness of the situation, you felt warmth in your chest at their bond. It reminded you of Owen and your own sibling bond, which made you begin to miss him terribly.

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