Outlast

Mine

AN: Here we are with Outlast, chapter one! I'm thrilled to be writing a sequel, and I'm so thankful to every single one of you guys that wanted a sequel to Survival. You (and God) made this possible for me! Love you all!

Claire had been curious about Isla Sorna for years. She had forgotten her curiosity somewhat when she had been promoted to park manager six years ago; running Jurassic World had been her top priority. No time to think about anything else. But ever since uncovering Project K, the ever-mysterious Isla Sorna had been running nonstop through Claire's mind.

It was the perfect place for InGen to form an illegal plan, to conduct risky, unauthorized experiments. It had been abandoned since hurricane Clarissa, almost twenty years ago, and InGen technically owned the island anyways. It was just close enough to Isla Nublar that InGen could use Jurassic World's technology, but isolated enough that nobody would dare go near the place. Not with the rumors of wild velociraptors and who-knows-what-else roaming around the island.

Owen agreed with Claire. Isla Sorna had to be explored, and soon, if they wanted to get any leads on the buyer that had proposed Project K to Dr. Wu. The trail had probably gone cold, but rebuilding Jurassic World had taken every bit of Claire and Owen's time over the past year. Owen had new raptors to train, new responsibilities to shoulder, new freedom to explore. He no longer worked for InGen since the company had been shut down; Claire had named him an official high-level Jurassic World employee. He trained raptors simply because he wanted to, not because they were going to be used as living weapons for anybody's military.

Claire had executives to meet with on a daily basis, sponsors to impress, staff meetings to conduct. She had numbers to watch, dinosaurs to look after, guests to satisfy. But, like Owen's, Claire's job had changed too. Or, at least, the way she viewed her job had changed. Claire realized she was simply the caretaker of creatures she couldn't begin to explain, or control. And she loved every second of it.

Of course, the year after the InGen scandal hadn't been entirely about work. Claire and Owen had married fast, and both of them knew that it had been the right decision. They had come to the stark realization that neither of them seemed to function as well without the other. They needed each other. Served each other. Loved each other.

And now Jurassic World had been reopened for a month and it was more popular than ever, despite the media rumors of bad security and dinosaur mistreatment. Claire knew her dinosaurs were happy, and after she had asked Owen to do a press conference with her, most reporters had been scared away by his abruptness.

Yet still Project K haunted the both of them. Wu wasn't giving up any information from his high-tech solitary prison cell. He simply sat there and wrote in notebooks all day long, never complaining about anything except the lack of hot tea in the prison. Jurassic World's lawyers had tried everything, even offering to shorten Wu's sentence if he would give up the name, but Wu kept his mouth shut.

So Claire and Owen had decided to do the investigating themselves, starting with Isla Sorna.

...

Claire made her way carefully over the dusty gravel to Paddock 7, hoping to surprise Owen before he headed home. He had been working late into the night recently, what with four new raptors and all. Blue had just started being docile towards them, but only when Owen's eyes were on her. The moment he glanced away, or turned his attention to one of the younger raptors, she would go into aggression mode, hissing and screeching at the intruders until Owen managed to calm her down.

Her heels tried to sink into the dirt, but Claire had become the master of walking on soft ground in heels. Claire's trick was to step lightly and put most of her weight on the balls of her feet, keeping the sharp points of the shoes out of the dirt. Owen thought she was ridiculous, wearing the things around all day, but Claire loved them and she knew that Owen secretly admired her resilience.