Abstraction ➳ Owen Grady

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CORRUPT LEADERS, BUSINESS men, and arms dealers all sat within the auction room. Bidding millions as caged dinosaurs were wheeled out on a moving track. For the moment, the bidding had stopped and silence engulfed the room. Ally leaned against the air grate in the maintenance hall as the broker announced the presentation of a genetically modified prototype.

The first things she thought upon seeing the hybrid was it looked like a monster, with gleaming black scales and two yellow stripes running down the length of its body. She would have called it a raptor, but something else was lurking under the sharp rows of teeth and tough hide that made it more weapon than dinosaur.

Claire was leaning against one of the vents too, looking down in horror. "What is that thing?" She whispered. A moment later, that question was answered. It was dubbed the Indoraptor. Owen and Ally exchanged worried looks as the pieces clicked. The monstrosity was a mix of a velociraptor and the Indominous Rex.

Buyers in the audience gave horrified gasps and started cries when the hybrid growled, baring conical teeth stained with blood. "They made it," Maisie told them, pointing to Eli Mills and a man in a grey suit and black turtleneck. It was Dr. Henry Wu, the lead geneticist of both Jurassic Park and World.

Cold, unadulterated fear shot through Ally's blood as people began bidding. "That thing can't leave this building," Owen muttered, taking off back down the service hall.

Ally followed him down the hall, a limp and wobble in her step. She heard his deep sigh before he turned back. Owen gripped onto her shoulder with one hand, the other cupped her bruised cheek. "Stay with Claire," he told her, but she instantly began shaking her head. He let out a soft sigh. "Just for once don't be so stubborn."

Dr. Sattler bit down on her bottom lip. "Fine," she said, and he gave an approving nod before turning down one of the adjacent halls. Ally returned to Claire and Maisie, continuing to watch the auction as the bids grew higher.

The doors to the elevator at the far side of the room slide open. Stiggy bolted from the elevator and into the gut of one of the guards, sending him airborne. Owen dropped down from the ceiling and rushed out after, fists flying. The Indoraptor's cage was still moving forward. "I can't just watch!" Ally snapped.

"Ally!" Claire shouted, unable to stop her thick-headed friend as she stomped off down the dim corridor.

✹✹✹

Hell had broken loose inside of the Lockwood Estate. They'd been chased through the basement and containment cells by the Indoraptor and by Mill's men. Ally wasn't sure which of those two wanted to kill them the most.

Now they were pressed against the base of the stand holding the skull of a Triceratops. Owen held Maisie, one of his hands covering her mouth. Claire and Ally exchanged frightened glances at the eerie silence of the large room.

There was a crack, followed by the sound of metal creaking and groaning.

Dr. Sattler looked up and saw the Raptor had crawled on top of the skull and was staring down at the four of them, teeth bared in waiting. The only thought that crossed her mind was they were going to die. There didn't seem to be a way out this time. Ally couldn't restrain the scream rising in her throat.

Three feet in front of them was a radio and before she could scream, it came to life with a static growl. The Indoraptor answered with a growl of his own. "Run!" Owen shouted, pushing off the display's base toward the set of stairs in the corner. They clambered up a set of cast iron stairs to the second floor and Maisie pulled them to a hidden panel in the wall. 

Ally leaned her head back against the wall. Owen was next to her, back pressed against the rough stone, breathing hard. Claire squeezed Maisie's shoulder. Outside, the Indoraptor's call was low and guttural and would haunt the dreams of even the strongest person. Owen cracked the panel door, peering out to the second floor. The beast had slunk off in the dark to find his next victim. 

The girl knew most, if not all of the secret passages of Lockwood Estate. The hidden corridors were a maze that she could easily navigate. Twists and turns led to what looked like a dead-end, but a door was mounted to the floor with a ladder leading down into one of the dioramas of the first floor. 

Owen dropped down first and was followed by Claire and Maisie when he gave an all-clear. Ally was the last to descend. He squeezed her hand as he helped her down. Each momentary and fleeting touch felt like it had the potential to be their last. 

Behind them was a power distribution board. Owen pulled the door off the power box and flipped the system grid off. One after another the displays darkened. Three displays down there was another door. It felt too easy. 

The silence was interrupted by the Indoraptor tapped its sickle-shaped claw against the tile and wood floor. Each time Ally heard that sound she froze. Ellie had told her that was one of the most unnerving things about her encounters at the first park. The raptors were impatient hunters. Owen slid against the painted murals and halfway through the first display he paused, motioning for the three girls to follow along. 

The lights were out. But when they came back on Maisie screamed and glass shattered. The replica of a large tree came crashing down, pinning Ally and Claire beneath it as the monster stepped into the display case. Owen was thrown back against the wall. The Indoraptor inched forward.

Both Alysanne and Claire screamed as they tried to push Maisie out of the way. The Indoraptor's sickle-shaped hind claw was pressing into Claire's thigh. Its talons tearing into Ally's left arm in her attempt to shield her face from gnashing, bloody teeth.

The young girl let out a shriek, running from the display toward a set of spiral stairs. The Indoraptor rose and turned, setting its murderous gaze wholly upon Maisie Lockwood.

Owen pushed the replica tree off of the two women. He knelt in front of Ally, not liking the amount of blood covering her arm and shirt. When she looked down at the damage that had been done, she was thankful to see the blood was dark and steadily flowing. The raptor's claw hadn't damaged an artery. That didn't mean it was painless, though.

"Look at me," Owen said, cupping her cheek.

She was breathing hard with tears trailing down her cheeks, shaking her head. "You have to find her." Her voice was a rasp. 

Maisie was just a girl. A scared girl with an engineered monster hunting her. Owen took Ally's face in both of his hands. He didn't think he was capable of leaving her in this state, bleeding and hurting. "I can't leave you."

Ally pushed on his shoulder. "I'll be fine." He looked unconvinced as she cradled her bloodied arm to her chest. It was dripping onto her field pants and the painted water, coating his hands. "Go find her," she said, hiding the tremble in her voice.

Owen rose and stepped out of the display, he looked over his shoulder and saw that Claire was shrugging off her jacket to wrap it around Ally's arm. He turned back, following in the direction that Maisie had run off in.

Alysanne Sattler wanted this horrific day to end. She had been knocked out, drowned, and now attacked by a hybrid of a raptor and the Indominous Rex. Exhausted, she leaned back against the broken plaster tree.

"You're going to be okay," Claire told her friend. It sounded like an empty promise in truth. Ally looked down at the redhead's thigh and frowned at the sight of torn tan canvas and blood.

"Your leg," she pointed out. Claire shook her head and helped apply pressure to the deepest part of Ally's wound.

"Isn't close to being as bad as your arm." She helped the paleontologist stand and move farther back in the display, half-hidden by plastic foliage and away from the broken glass. Then Claire slumped down beside her and pressed her own hand against the bloody spot on her thigh.

A disturbing type of silence lasted in the mansion for less than a minute, perforated by gunfire and roaring. Ally sat up straight, alert. Claire did the same. Dr. Sattler skimmed over the large room, trying to find any signs of movement, but all was still.

By the skull of the Triceratops was a gun, though. The same one that could be used to set the Indoraptor on a target. "Claire, the gun." That could be their chance to stop the monster, or at least contain it. The redhead looked where Alysanne pointed.

"Stay here," she told Ally as if she were in a position to run after the I. Raptor. Claire adjusted the strip of fabric she'd tied around her wounded leg with a grimace as she stood. "You'll be totally safe," she assured her friend before retrieving the weapon and racing off to find Owen and Maisie.