While I'm Alive (An Owen Grady Story)

Chapter Five

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello my people! I just have a few quick words...I'm leaving for a week on Sunday so I've decided to just post another chapter before I leave either tomorrow night or Saturday morning and then I'll post another chapter the Sunday I get back to make up for being gone. Cool? Cool. Also, I just wanna say how happy and appreciative I am of you guys. All of the reviews, favorites and follows are awesome! I'm kinda obsessed with Rylan and Owen soooo. There's gonna be a fair amount of fluff in here before things get serious. Sorry not sorry.

That's all. You guys are the best! Leave me a review!

-Nikki

CHAPTER FIVE

"EVEN MORE IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE WAS THE WAY HE SMELLED, LIKE SWEAT AND DIRT BUT WITH AN UNDERLYING HINT OF SOMETHING THAT REMINDED ME OF PEPPERMINT"

SONG TO LISTEN TO: MOLECULES BY ATLAST GENIUS

The next day, I headed to the control room with two cups of Starbucks coffee in my hands. I side stepped a pair of a kids, not much older than six or seven, as they rushed past me in their hurry to get to the dinosaur hologram that took center stage in the visitor's center. Their parents smiled apologetically at me as they hurried to keep up with them. Crowds were pressed against the glass on either side of the long hallway, watching as the scientists worked, looking every bit the part in their white lab coats and protective goggles. It was still a mystery to me how they did what they did. I had had the pleasure of meeting Henry Wu, the man in charge of the labs, and his explanation hadn't helped much. All those scienc-y techno-jargon words went right over my head.

I pressed the button to the elevator and the doors whooshed open immediately, revealing the empty interior. I stepped inside and pressed the button I had remembered Claire using when she had first shown me around. The ride up was silent, no music to fill the emptiness which I preferred. Most forms of elevator music gave me a headache anyways. The elevator 'pinged' when I finally reached my floor and the doors slid open to reveal a tall, burly looking security guard in a clean, black suit.

"Identification, miss?" He asked.

I nodded towards the employee badge around my neck. "Um, I'm here to see Claire?" God, why did I always do that? End sentences like they were a question when they weren't supposed to be?

"It's okay, you can let her in!" Claire's familiar voice came from behind him. He stepped out of the way just as Claire appeared, looking incredibly put together as usual in her red pencil skirt and white top. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the coffee cups in my hands. "Thank god, you're a life saver."

"I know." I said simply, passing her the steaming cup.

I followed her further into the control room, still unable to keep from gawking at the giant screen that took up one entire wall. Dozens of people busied themselves in front of their desks, chattering in headphones and swiping their fingers on their touch screen monitors.

"Hey! It's Claire's friend!" One of them swiveled in their chairs to greet me. I remembered him clearly from the first day we met, probably due to the banter between him and Claire about cleaning up his work space. He hadn't listened, as it was still chaotic and messy. The only neat part about it was the line of little dinosaur figurines strategically placed at the edge of the table.

"Her name is Rylan, Lowery." Claire corrected him, coming to stand next to his desk. Her arms were crossed over her chest as her eyes flickered between the different screens on the wall.