Utter Chaos (IAN MALCOLM X OC)

CHAPTER SEVEN: Electricity In The Air

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We climbed the small hill with ragged breaths, making our way through the valley as quickly as we could. We were here once yesterday, the place where we saw a brachiosaur for the first time. I wished I could go back to then and refuse to go on the damn tour my uncle put together, but it was too late now. All I could do was manage to survive and go home to sleep for a whole week before seeing people again.

"Just keep going guys," Alan tried to give us some motivation. "We have a map, and it says that the visitors center is just about a mile over that rise there."

Another mile. I was so done with walking by now that I thought that Ian was right when he said we should sleep in... The memory of him holding me close to himself came crashing through my mind even though it only happened a few hours ago, and I felt my face heating up. I wasn't usually so quick to warm up to people and by warm up I mean cuddle them. Looking back on it, it felt super embarrassing.

Suddenly, I felt a hand shoot out in front of me, stopping me from moving forward. I stared at Ian in confusion, then saw what the fuss was about. A herd of gallimimuses were approaching, running closely together over the small hills.

"What are those..." Alan mumbled, snapping his fingers to get Tim's attention. "Tim, can you tell me what they are?"

"Ga- galla- gallimimus?" He attempted to pronounce it, looking at Alan and me for confirmation. I nodded.

"Are those, uh...meat-eating?" Lex questioned, her face going rigid with fear. "Meat-asauruses?"

"They mostly eat plants," I responded, not wanting to tell her that small animals were also on their menu. I just hoped we weren't seen as small animals in their eyes.

"Look at the wheeling, uniform direction changes..." Alan mused, stepping closer to see them better from on top of the hill. "Just like a flock of birds evading a predator."

I grabbed Ian's arm that was still in front of me, wanting to step next to Alan, but he didn't let me move, shooting me a confused look. I realized why soon, as they were changing directions and heading our way.

"Um, they are flocking this way!" Tim said in a panic, beginning to retreat.

I grabbed his hand, pushing Lex as well as we ran to a nearby tree, shoving them over the fallen trunk as the gallamimuses dashed past us with heavy steps, making the ground shake around us. Ian and Alan jumped over the trunk right after us, and now all of us were glued to the side of it, hoping we wouldn't be crushed by the rushing creatures.

Immediately after they were a few feet away, Lex and Tim crawled under a branch, going straight to the other side to use as a shield, and I followed them in a hurry, my heartbeat so loud that it filled my ears, blocking anything else. I leaned against the trunk with a shaky breath, jumping at the roar of a t-rex jumping out of the tree line, striking at the poor dinosaurs and successfully catching one to eat. We watched as it tore its head off easily, chewing on it slowly.

"I wanna go now," Tim whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at the animal.

"Look how it eats," Alan mumbled back with fascination, causing Ian and me to shoot him a strange look.

I liked dinosaurs, sure, but I wasn't as much of an enthusiast as Alan, who looked at the massive t-rex like it was some small kitten eating its treats. I now realized that I didn't particularly choose my job to get closer to dinosaurs, at least not to live ones, but to be left alone out in the middle of nothing with a brush and some bones.

"I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again," Alan said again, looking at the kids with a face that was way too at ease for the situation.

"Are you trying to create a phobia of birds?" I hissed over to him, not missing how Lex got even paler after his words.