Stay Alive (Completed) [Owen Grady/ Jurassic World]

Chapter 5: The Raptors' Paddock

I made my way to the raptors' blocks, earning a few quizzical glances from the workers that passed by me as I ascended the stairs. Averted my eyes, I held onto the paper lunch bag and found myself standing behind a line of people against the rail.

Judging from their ragged clothes and sweat beaded necks, I guessed they were part of the raptors' trainer team as well. Barry was the first one to spot me, thankfully, and I avoided the whole awkward situation of standing around and not knowing anybody.

"Stacey," the man greeted with a firm pat on my shoulder. He was grinning from ear to ear as he nodded towards the centre of the metal bridge right above the raptors' block. "Owen's told me about you little adventure this morning." When Barry spoke, his voice was low. I eyed the bridge, which was the attention of the gawking audience.

"What's happening?" I whispered a question. Instead of answering me, Barry led me to the end of the rail, where we could have our own spaces while watching Owen training his raptors.

My paper lunch bag was forgotten in my hands as I watched, my eyes widened slightly in amusement and my breaths eluded me. Owen, with his expression grave and tight, was walking across the bridge. His eyes were set and hard on the raptors, suggesting that he meant business.

"Eyes up!" He called out, raising his right hand while clicking a button in his left. To my surprise, all four of the raptors, Charlie, Blue, Echo and Delta, snapped their heads up under Owen's commands. I stared, unable to grasp the idea that this man in front of us was the same one who almost burnt his bungalow trying to cook pasta last night.

"This is amazing," I murmured, "The raptors listen?" I meant, I was the trainer of Rexy, and sometimes he did listen to me. Sometimes. Most of the time, I was only wrestling power struggles with Rexy. He was the top of the food chain and hitting a teenager phrase. I didn't blame him.

But the raptors? I knew they hunted as a group. Within their pact, they always had a leader. But now that they listened to Owen, didn't that make him the chief of the group?

Owen was distributing dead mice to the raptors one by one, addressing each one of them individually. It wasn't hard to see that Owen knew what he was doing, and he was confident about it. "Now, go!" Owen instructed, putting his hands down once the feeding was done.

Fast like the wind, the raptors shot away from underneath us. A beam found itself onto my lips as I clapped with the others. Barry was already gone from my side to congratulate Owen. Rocking on my heels for a beat, I picked up my courage and walked up to them with the paper lunch bag in my hands as well.

Owen was smiling at Barry, but his eyes lit up the moment I came into his line of sight. Though it could just be a trick of the lights. "Hey," he greeted instantly, wiping his hands on a dirty cloth that had been hiding in his back pocket throughout the training session.

"That was really good," I complimented, enthusiastically ignoring the burn in my cheeks. The man's smile brightened and he attempted to shrug it off. Barry was glancing between the two of us, then he decided he had better finished his previous work before catching up with us.

"I will talk to you guys soon," he waved and walked away, making it fully obvious that he thought we were going to hit up on each other. This time, my cheeks were glowing under the sun. I rolled my eyes and rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. Chuckling quietly, Owen glanced down at me with his lips still curved upwards.

"What's that?" Owen questioned, slipping the piece of cloth back into his back pocket swiftly as he peered down at the paper lunch bag that was still in my hand. I bit the inside of my cheek and held it out.