man destroys god || i. malcolm

16

InGen's men were filming some promotional video or other, and everyone was completely distracted by it.

Nick and Aria stepped out of the bushes and headed to the cages. The dinosaurs were growling and moving around, trying to break from their cages.

Nick unlocked the first cage, opening the door carefully and hurrying off to the next one. Aria started at the other end, working her way back to the middle where she met Nick at the last cage. The dinosaurs wouldn't stop howling, which was unhelpful to their stealth strategy.

The two friends ran for the trees as soon as the last dinosaur was free, waiting to hear the chaos of the camp being ambushed and destroyed.

Nick snapped his head to the right, then ran off. Aria didn't notice until he was gone. "Nick?" She called out, as loud as she dared.

"Here! It's hurt!"

Aria followed his voice and found him in a clearing with an injured baby T-Rex. He was freeing it from where it had been chained down. "Nick, no. Leave it, you can't bring this with you."

"Its leg is broken, Aria. Come on, let's go!" Nick picked up the animal swiftly and started running back to their car. Aria followed, protesting the entire way.

He got it to the car, where Sarah was waiting. "Are you out of your mind?"

"It's got a broken leg." Nick continued to ignore the arguments coming from the two women and got in the driver's seat.

"Nick, I promise you, this is going to end so poorly. This thing has parents, and it's yelling for help." Aria grabbed her friend's shoulder. "Come on, Nick. You know I'm right." The man kept his eyes forward and shook his head silently.

They pulled into base camp and Sarah and Nick grabbed the T-Rex out of the car. Aria refused to help, or to touch it. Just the dinosaur she was convinced she wouldn't have to see on this trip.

Aria opened the trailer door first, ten seconds ahead of the others. "Ian, I tried to stop them."

"Tried to — what, what?" He spun to face her, dropping the radio he was trying to figure out, but the howls of the dinosaur coming from outside told him everything. His face fell. "They didn't."

Nick carried the dinosaur to the table at the far and of the trailer.

"Ian, he's hurt." Sarah explained. "Kelly, stand back."

"Okay, there you go." Nick laid the dinosaur down, trying to quiet its screams. Sarah grabbed a first aid kit and got to work on setting the animal's broken leg. Nick used his belt to muzzle it.

"Other animals are gonna hear this..." Kelly said, stepping back. She backed into Aria, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

She began rubbing Kelly's arm. "It's okay, Kel. It'll be fine."

"I gotta get out of here, Dad," Kelly grabbed Ian's sleeve. "Please, I wanna get out of here."

Ian was still busy trying to contact the boat. He tried to shake her off. "I'm calling the boat, honey."

"I don't want to be here," She pleaded. "I want to be somewhere safe."

Aria approached the two. "I'll take her to the High Hide, Ian. You keep trying the boat."

Ian shook his head. "Neither of you are going out there without me," He placed down the radio and grabbed Aria's arm lightly. "Come on."

The three stepped out into the dark and walked over to the High Hide. Eddie was already standing in it. "What? What's going on? Information, please, what?"

"You're much happier not knowing. Get us up." Ian opened the small gate and the three of them joined Eddie.

Eddie started the machine up and the platform began to rise. Kelly was muttering in fear, and Ian was trying to comfort her, but he wasn't doing a great job.

Aria pulled Kelly into a hug, whispering empty reassurances. She knew that they weren't safe. Not high, not in the trailer. Not until they were on that boat and headed home. But Kelly didn't need to know that.

"You're just trying to make me feel better," She turned to Ian. "I remember all those stories you told."

"You told her about it?" Aria hissed at Ian. "She's twelve!"

"Oh, this is nothing like that. We're in a completely different situation right now."

As if to spite Ian, an all too familiar bellow came from their left.

"Fuck." Aria muttered, to avoid Kelly hearing it. "We're back."

Suddenly Aria felt much more anxious being in the sky.

"Eddie," Ian began. "Is there any way we can communicate with the trailer?"

Eddie handed him a phone. It rang through. "No answer, what a surprise. How do I get down?"

"Tie this belt around you." Eddie handed Ian a harness.

"Stay here, come on, stay here, Dad!" Kelly pleaded.

"Aria is staying with you, she'll keep you safe."

"You can't keep me here, Ian," Aria warned, lowering her voice. "I can't let you do this alone."

"Please, Aria. Just do this, for me." Ian held her face. "I'll be right back."

Eddie kept giving him instructions on how to get down, and Kelly kept protesting.

Ian sighed, and got down to his daughter's level. "Honey, the queen? The goddess?"

"Your inspiration." Kelly finished.

"Now you're talking," He took the rope, then paused.

"One more thing." He turned to Aria, grabbed her waist, and kissed her hard. "Don't follow me."

Aria didn't have time to even kiss him back before he turned away again. He dropped down too fast, crashing onto the ground. The three remaining in the High Hide cringed.

Eddie pulled the harness back up. "You're following him, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

•

eep kiss!