Chapter 9

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     "The Mosasaurus was thought to have hunted near the surface of the water where it preyed on anything it could sink its teeth into, including turtles, large fish, even smaller Mosasaurs," the Mosasaurus handler started, Zach was on his phone uninterested.

     Marlo glanced across from Gray to Zach and noticed his phone in his hands, her eyes quickly looked from his face to his phone again, she took note of the either annoyed or unhappy face he held. On his phone was a picture of a girl wearing winter clothes with a sign saying 'miss you' with a pouty face.

     Marlo had to stop herself from physically getting sick at the major cringe of a picture by trying to close her mouth from gagging. She closed her eyes and moved her head to face the front while she tried to get rid of the pained expression she had, she didn't know what it was but anything 'cliché' or 'lovey dovey' made her want to yack up her insides, maybe it was because she never liked or 'loved' someone enough for her to do something like it.

     "Marlo? Are you okay?" Gray shook the girl's shoulder which made her snap out of her daydream, she looked over at his worried expression and smiled reassuringly.

     "Uh, yeah." She nodded to his and ruffled his hair before placing her right arm over his shoulders, she was pretty sure he bit back a smile as his cheeks flushed red once again.

     "You're not going to get sick are you?" Marlo chuckled as his voice squeaked slightly.

     "Nope. Don't worry, I wouldn't get sick on you even if I was to get sick. The show is about to start soon...I think."

     Marlo never really went to any of the shows that went on in the park because she was always doing one of three things;

     A. She was either with Lowery in the control room talking endlessly about dinosaurs, looking online to see if they could order more mini dinosaur figurines for his desk, rambling on about the old park.

     B. Getting employee discount for drinks at the bar, although no matter how many times she tried to persuade the workers they never gave her any alcohol, which resulted in a hard glare from herself. Sure she was underage, but what was the harm in one drink? She always ended up leaving the bar with hot wings and some fruit drink, though, she never understood how she managed to do that.

     Or.

     Finally.

     C. She was doing small jobs for Claire, usually doing things that Zara couldn't do. She would also be with the T. Rex, or with the Raptors. Usually, she was on the catwalk talking to them, although they obviously only understood commands and not the entire script to The Bee movie or Spy Kids, which sucked.

     So all of this was new to her, she didn't even know if it was going to be 'cool', she just hoped that the visitors words reigned true as they walked around the park talking about it. It was strange, she did love all of the dinosaurs but never went to shows or any of the rides, maybe she should start going to them.

     Marlo snapped out of her daydream once again when Gray slapped her leg lightly a bunch of times and bounced in his seat, she looked over and saw a woman walking across the platform to start the show. Marlo didn't even know her former colleagues name, although there was no doubt she knew Marlo's.

     "Okay, folks. Let's see if she's still hungry after eating today. She's a little shy." One of the overhead wires held a large great white shark from its tail as it dangled over the Mosasaurus tank limply. The machines hum came to a stop when a clink locked it in place. "So be nice and give her a hand when she comes out," she finished just as a dark shadow began to get closer underneath the surface of the water.

     People began to gasp, bright flashes went off as people took pictures on phones and iPads. Some people near the front of the arena wore clear ponchos to protect themselves from the water.

     "Zach, Zach!" Gray nudged his brother who is still looking at the picture of the girl. "The Mosasaurus!" Zach looked up.

     As soon as 'Mo' the Mosasaurus broke the skin of the water and opened her jaws, she let out a loud but low roar as she pushed her body up and out of the water and snapped her jaws onto the lifeless shark.

     All around Marlo she heard screams of excitement, especially the fat man next to her with a far too small light pink 'I LOVE JESUS' shirt and clear poncho. He had a hotdog in his hand and wiggled in his seat making the onion toppings fall to the floor, the shirt should have said 'I LOVE FOOD' as in Marlo's mind it would have been far more accurate.

     Mo, who was now the centre of Marlo's attention, slammed back down into the water creating a large wave of water to slash into the rows of visitors, including the boys and herself. Once again people screamed out in excitement and joy, Marlo heard the two runaways laugh and look to each other then to Marlo who had a—almost impossible to see—smile on her face.

     Gray grinned at her happily and Zach looked at her in a slight awe. Rather than a smirk he actually smiled at her even though she couldn't see because she wasn't looking at him, she was busy fawning over Gray, who was ecstatic.

     "My God!" Gray yelled. "That was awesome!" Marlo nudged him and winked.

     "I don't think it's over just yet, Gray."

     "Hold on tight. We're gonna give you an even closer look at our Mosasaurus," the handler told them.

     As some people began to get up they were thrown back down as the seat level began to descend down with a mechanical hum, which was the first thing that Marlo actually laugh at, Zach laughed quietly to himself while Gray smiled at Marlo when he heard her laugh.

     When it came to a stop, the large glass walls showed Mo shaking the shark in half while swimming away with one piece before coming back and closing her jaws around the other half. Marlo knew that at her size she could have easily swallowed it whole but like the other colleague had said, she had eaten before and was probably not as hungry.

     "It has 88 teeth!" Gray told both of the sixteen-year-olds excitedly, Zach laughed and clapped while Marlo just grinned.

     Zach grinned and spoke up, "Wanna see something else cool?"

     "Yeah!" Gray yelled back.

     "What about you Mars? Care to join us?" Zach patted her shoulder.

     "Someone's gotta save your asses if something goes wrong, I'm all in if it means I skip some more work." Marlo nodded, her hair was drenched and her clothes clung to her body, which she knew would soon become annoying and uncomfortable.

     People still cheered and clapped as the platform began to rise up and go back to its original place, the three kids got up out of their seats and looked at each other with wide grins. They were soaking wet head-to-toe but they didn't care one bit. Marlo placed her arm over Gray's shoulder as they walked through the other visitors in the park.

     She wondered what else the day had to offer, hopefully only good things.

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