Dinosaur Creek Part 3

Chapter 9: Play the Game

 Emily got plenty of rest after her harrowing day at yesterday's festival. Despite returning home to her father, Police Commissioner Bryce Brach, she still had to report to him in his office at the Hell Creek Police Department. With Owen present in his office, Emily explained the long report of how the Dinosaur Rebellion uncovered the use of tar in the company, Hero potentially creating mindless feral paleo monsters, Blaster confronting his brother, and Tex's unfortunate mid-tar transformation and basement rampage. She also detailed her time with the defective dinosaur Buckley. Emily bonded with her and learned information about treating Terrarium's defective dinosaurs. However, she had to include her traumatic attack while accidentally locked inside the basement closet.

"And that was pretty much it. We escaped without getting caught or exposing anything to the public. Though I kinda fear Blaster's fight with his brother may have attracted the company's newsreel" she awkwardly concluded.

"I see," Bryce spoke, breaking his silence. "Well, you kids certainly went through a lot yesterday, but all that has paid off. The information you learned regarding these tar-infected animals is no doubt a serious threat we should investigate."

"Hero making monsters while operating an entire billion-dollar company with trained paleoid soldiers should give us a reason that these world domination plans he has are conclusive. Though, I wonder why he would need trained soldiers to help out if mindless paleo animals will do the destructive job themselves" Owen elaborated.

"Leo has always been ambitious, Owen," Bryce answered. "Despite nearly 30 years of pulling off the ultimate fraud scandal, he can still be prone to impatience. Plus, just like what the rebellion did, there's a good chance he fears some paleoids might turn on him if they found out they were being trained to harm civilians, which went against their moral code. From here on, we must understand how much tar he has and how many animals he's infected. And if there is a chance to cure them, we must utilize it as soon as possible. You kids should be lucky you were able to save young Tex from such a disease."

Hearing about Tex's infection brought sorrow to Emily's eyes.

"With all due respect, Dad, Tex wasn't completely cured."

"True, but your friends at least stopped the disease from destroying his mind and making him into the destructive beast Hero wanted him to be. You slowed it down long enough to find time to save him further. That's an accomplishment you should feel good about, dear. Don't forget that," Bryce reassured. He hoped his inspiring words would give Emily hope, although her eyes stayed sorrowful from other bad thoughts internally. It was then Bryce who took notice in concern.

"Emily, while I'm glad you made a new friend and survived this oviraptor girl's electric compulsions, are you feeling okay at all regarding what happened in the closet?"

That dark closet ignited Emily's deepest fears. Being locked in an enclosed room with little oxygen, minimal light, and images of carnivorous people trying to eat her in her mind continued to plague Emily with trauma. She could no longer lie to herself regarding her inner demons. She was suffering.

"To be honest, not really," she started, to Bryce and Owen's worry. "It seems like, no matter where I go or what I do now, I can't stop thinking about what will happen if I'm stuck in a situation where I'm overpowered by paleoids bigger, stronger, and more dangerous than me. If I can't even handle being in situations that have those small details reminding me of Bone Cabin Quarry, then maybe...maybe I'm not well enough to be in the field. I don't think I can handle any mission this seriously if it's going to make me fear death every time I'm in one. The worst part is I don't know when it will end."

"Emily," Owen softly spoke out. "Trauma isn't something people plan to end at a certain time. These things heal depending on how you handle them. It seems obvious that these dino-themed missions might not be best for you right now. But hey, I don't want to say stop them all together. That's your choice, not mine," he awkwardly ended, hoping to not cross any boundaries.