Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The salty, sea air carried along the edge of the boat, moving upwards toward the outside deck and causing the brunette strands of Chip’s hair to ripple in sync with the waves of gentle water that beat against the hull. Chip stood there with his elbows rested on the railing, looking out at the island that they were slowly approaching. The bustle and chattiness of the excited crowd around him served as his white noise, distracting him from the dreaded thoughts about his father.

Soon enough, they arrived upon the island and the ship pulled up to the dock. The giddy tourists poured out from the deck and spread out amongst the entrance to the park, taking their cameras out and snapping pictures of anything they found mildly interesting. Chip elbowed through the crowd until he could stand without being bumped into and he stared up at the big, blue sign that spelled out Jurassic World.

He took a deep breath and soaked it all in. He was finally here, and shockingly enough, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it’d be. Although, he’d just arrived, and there was plenty of more time for something to go terribly wrong. Chip crossed his fingers and rested his arms by his sides, finding the courage to walk through the sign and into the main park.

First things first, he’d have to find someone in charge. He wasn’t exactly sure on how to get a job at a place like this, much less a job working with dinosaurs, but he was determined to find some sort of position here. After all, it would only help him come closer to finding the truth about his dad.

Chip wasn’t sure how he felt about dinosaurs. He definitely didn’t hate them, but the thought of something that was extinct millions of years ago suddenly brought back to life again just didn’t sit right with him. He supposed they were more-so just big lizards with sharp teeth, but he didn’t exactly trust the people who were in charge of all the sciencey parts that came with their existence. He didn’t think people should have the power to create life if they were just going to mistreat them like every other damn species that was already alive on this planet.

-

At some point, Chip found himself sitting in an empty room with nothing but a giant table and a circle of chairs surrounding it in front of a large blank screen. He wasn’t sure if the person who brought him here was an intern or some employee trying to get rid of him,, but he knew he was supposed to sit here until someone came to see him.

After about thirty minutes of him twirling his fingers and whistling dumb songs, a woman finally walked in. She was dressed in a sleek, white suit and red tie, and her platinum-blonde hair was pulled up in a neat ponytail. She had golden earrings hanging from her ears and freckles that peppered across her cheeks. Chip thought she looked as if a unicorn had been turned into a human being, which at this point, Chip wouldn’t be surprised if these maniac scientists had already created unicorns in this godforsaken place.

The woman introduced herself as Kira and said that she was one of the many directors at Jurassic World. Apparently, she was here to give Chip the grand tour, while also showing off all the different job opportunities that the park had to offer. Chip wasn’t all that impressed, but he stood up and followed her anyway.

“Is this your first time visiting Jurassic World?” Kira asked, holding a clipboard and a pen with the park’s name on it.

“Nope, it’s my first time.” Chip put his hands in his pockets, humming and looking around at the different buildings as they walked, “Pretty big place…”

“Oh yes! We have many enclosures and exhibits! Each one has a different team of excellent employees, trained specifically for the job! Which, if you happen to find a position you’re interested in, we can go ahead and start the paperwork for your application and the setup for your training schedule!”

“Awesome…” Chip glanced to the side. Working with dinosaurs didn’t sound like the safest job, and he had no clue what the training entailed, but he’d power through it. It would all be worth it for what he’s trying to uncover.

Kira snapped Chip out of his thoughts, and her smile could be heard in her voice, “Next we can stop by the lab! I’m not sure what your qualifications are..”
She stared down at Chip, who was wearing a loose, beige, lazily unbuttoned collared shirt, which probably hadn’t been washed in a day or two, as well as some dark brown, baggy pants. He could’ve sworn he saw Kira physically cringe at him before continuing,

“But! It’s still important for all our employees to know the general layout of the park, and hell, who doesn’t want a free tour of our brilliant labs here at Jurassic World?”

Chip wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand the constant promotion in her every sentence, but the sooner this was over with the better. Maybe he’d find some place to split off after the visit to the lab or find an actual hiring manager.

Chip was led to a Jurassic World-branded jeep and Kira drove both him and a few other random employees to one of the other labs that was further out in the jungle, rather than the main public one. Chip thought it was sort of weird that some of the lab buildings were just randomly placed in the middle of the island, away from the main park, but he guessed they didn’t want just anyone snooping around.

On their way there, they drove through several different small gates. Nothing too huge, which helped Chip’s paranoia of him being lured out to some carnivore pit. However, on the left side of the jeep, Chip watched as a small herd of Triceratops bellowed and grumbled through the thick trees beyond the dirt road they were on.

Chip couldn’t help but stare at the huge creatures. He hadn’t actually seen any of the dinosaurs in person yet. It was so hard to fathom something that had previously been thought to be impossible now walking alongside him.

Almost like cattle, the large beasts heaved forward with their long frills and sharp horns as the jeep grew further away from them. Chip glanced back at the others in the vehicle, hopeful to see some sort of shared reaction, however, the employees only seemed interested in their phones. Chip rolled his eyes with a huff and slumped in his seat, staring back at the road rather than the thicket of the jungle off to the side,

“Incredible, right?” came Kira’s voice from the driver's seat.

Chip looked over at her for a split second before looking down again, “Yeah, it’s- pretty amazing. Don’t think these chumps agree though.” He gestured to the two men in the back.

They looked up from their phones with annoyed glances and Chip just replied with a shrug.

“Ah- well-” Kira awkwardly cleared her throat, perking back up, “Oh well look at that, we’re here already!” She exclaimed, quickly parking the car next to the biggest tree Chip’s probably ever seen in his life.

Kira walked into the building with her fellow employees as Chip stared up at this tree. He wondered how old the tree must be to even grow that tall. It had vines strangling around the trunk all the way to the top and small marks in the bark from where herbivores had probably scraped their horns. Chip wondered if this tree had been here when Arlin was. Maybe he’d looked at the tree too, taking in how tall it was. The tree had probably been a bit smaller at that point, though. After all, it’s been nearly twenty years since then.

Chip heard a loud cough from the door to the building and whipped his head around to see Kira staring at him impatiently, with also a hint of confusion. Chip took one last look at the tree before jogging over to the door and walking inside with Kira. That could probably qualify for one of the top ten most embarrassing moments of his life. He hoped it wouldn’t reflect badly on his application: ‘Chip, aged twenty-seven, stares at trees in free time.’ Maybe it’d be useful for something. Probably not though.

They entered the lab and it was pretty much exactly what Chip had expected. Screens everywhere, blinding fluorescent lights, everything white, tanks with small animals, weird machines that Chip didn’t understand… He couldn’t help but look at (and judge) everything in the terrifyingly sterile room.

He followed Kira over to a specific room filled with these giant, disk-like incubators. While the building was crawling with scientists, it seemed like he was being led to a certain one. There was a girl, who seemed to be in her late twenties, holding a clipboard in front of some smaller eggs.

She was wearing a long white lab coat, as was everyone else in this room, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail, similar to Kira’s, except this woman’s hair was a very noticeable fiery orange.

“This is Dr. Ferin! Right now, she’s overseeing the new Compsognathus hatchlings!” Kira said excitedly.

“C’mon Kira, I told you, just call me Jay- oh.” The woman, or Jay, turned around to look at the two. Her voice had started with a sort of admiration but it had ended abruptly at her apparent notice of Chip. Man, he really needed a new shirt.

“Ouch, I don’t think I’ve heard a more disappointed reaction to my presence before.” Chip pocketed his hands, studying the assumed scientist more.

She had blue eyes and dark freckles, and her expression seemed unimpressed with him. She also had a pendant on her lab coat. It was a yellow circle with a silhouette of a flying pterosaur. The symbol looked vaguely familiar, however, it was her last name that caught Chip’s attention.

She was a Ferin. Chip did a lot of research before coming here, and he knew the Ferins were a large generation of brilliant scientists who were responsible for most of the research and experiments that were run here, including the careful creation of all the dinosaurs in the park, as well as the ones currently in the works. Chip could tell she was probably an important person here, so her immediate disturbed expression in his presence wasn’t very promising.

“Sorry,” Jay responded to his somewhat depressing comment, “I wasn’t expecting a tourist… or janitor?”

Kira laughed, though a bit awkwardly, “This is Chip James, he’s here looking for a job!”

Jay didn’t seem very convinced, and almost confused, “A job.. here?”

“Oh, no no!” Kira quickly exclaimed, “I was just giving him a tour of our facilities! Unless.. You’re not looking for a job here, are you?”

Chip had never felt more insulted, “No… I don’t really have the uh- ‘qualifications’ for that, or whatever.” Chip blew one of the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. If it wasn’t obvious already, Chip did not have a degree in anything sciency... or anything at all for that matter. However, he assumed that all the reactions he’s had about his questionable clothing, messy hair, and terrible posture meant that it probably was very obvious.

“Yes, I assumed so..” Jay cleared her throat, “Well, welcome to our hatching facility. You’re actually just in time to see these little ones hatch.”

There was a small smile on her lips as she moved the light further away from the eggs. She readied her clipboard and looked over at Kira, who gave her a wink in return.

“Pretty lucky if you ask me, right Jay-Jay?” Her accent seemed to carry the nickname beautifully and it caused Jay a quick distraction from whatever she had been writing down.

Chip honestly felt like he was interrupting something with the two just staring at each other. He pursed his lips and crouched down closer to the eggs just in time to see the first crack begin to form. The cracking noises seemed to pull Jay out from whatever world she’d lost herself to and she immediately snapped her attention back to the eggs. She knelt down next to Chip and observed the egg he was also staring at.

“This particular egg actually has more of a rose-colored tint to it than the others if you look close enough, so I’m excited to see if there are any unique genes in this specific hatchling.” Jay pointed out to him.

Chip smiled a bit as the cracks grew larger. She was right, it was a slightly different hue than the others. He wondered what genes they’d even put inside these things that would cause something like that.

A chirping noise eventually joined the cracking in the egg as the small Compy clawed its way out of the shell. After about a minute, she fell out with a small squeak. Kira and Jay’s eyes were both as wide as Chip’s grin.

“She’s pink!” Chip exclaimed, laughing in astonishment. Not only did he just watch a baby dinosaur hatch, but she was pink! Did dinosaurs even come in that color?

Jay was writing down about a million bullet points while whispering to either herself or maybe Kira, while Kira just stood there, rubbing her chin in thought while staring at the little Compsognathus.

The pink Compy looked up at them, chirping and tilting her head to the side curiously. Chip almost went to pick her up before Jay slapped his hand away with her pen.

“She may look cute, but Compys will tear your finger off if you’re not careful.”

“Psh.. C’mon, she was just born.” Chip rolled his eyes but didn’t try again. She was probably right, being a super important scientist and all.

“I just can’t see how this is even.. Possible?” Kira stared down at the thing.

There was more murmur as the hatchling caught more than just the three’s attention, as other researchers and scientists started walking over to witness this phenomenon.

The commotion didn’t last long before a stiff, burly man caused the crowd to split apart. His shadow hovered above the other scientists, his sheer height and demeanor alone being intimidating as Chip watched him step toward them. His hair was the same fiery orange as Jay’s and he adorned a matching pendant to hers on his lab coat as well. He approached the incubation table with command and the small Compsognathus cowered in fear, backing up into one of the other eggs.

The man, which Chip could only assume was one of the many Dr. Ferins on the island, grabbed the Compy from the table, keeping its mouth shut with his spare hand. He examined it closely before setting it back down on the table, where it quickly ran to curl up behind its eggshell.

Chip hadn’t noticed until now that Jay looked incredibly tense at this man’s presence. He assumed they were related, obviously, but she looked almost fearful.

“This batch is faulty. Make sure this genetic imperfection doesn’t happen again.” The man glared at Jay with some form of disappointment.

Jay lowered her head and wrote something down, “Yes sir.”

“What?” Chip exclaimed in confusion. Imperfection? “She’s not faulty. What the hell are you talking about?”

Everyone in the room seemed to tense up more than they already were. The large man, which Chip figured out his name was Dr. Jayson Ferin by squinting at his nametag, merely spared Chip a small annoyed glance before looking back at Jay.

“Find out who designed this batch and figure out where they went wrong, I will not allow any genetics mistakes in my lab. This thing is an eyesore.” He said almost tiredly, gesturing to the hatchling.

“What’s wrong with her being pink? It’s just a color.” Chip spoke up again, and this time Dr. Ferin switched his glare fully over to Chip.

“Excuse me?” The man turned fully to face him.

“Why do you have any say in what’s considered a ‘genetic mistake?’” Chip crossed his arms, “It’s not like it's harming her, she’s just fuckin pink.”

Dr. Ferin stepped closer to him, his heavy footsteps making Chip feel like he was about to get thrown into the wall and fed to the Velociraptors.

“This is my lab, boy. And I suggest you leave the commentary to the professionals.”

Chip scoffed, “Yeah, because hating a literal animal for being pink is sooo professional.”

Jay stared over at Chip in disbelief. There was disapproval in her eyes, but why would Chip care? These scientists thought they were so much better than everybody. They got to play god and now they think they can just treat any imperfect creature like garbage after they’re the ones who brought it into the world.

Dr. Ferin huffed in anger, “Get out of my lab, kid.”

Kira awkwardly piped up, “I am so sorry Dr. Ferin, he was just in here for a tour! Terrible oversight on my part! I’ll take him elsewhere right away, this is clearly not his department.” She forced a smile and started to gently push him toward the exit.

Jay pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at the pink Compsognathus with grief in her eyes.

Dr. Ferin just hummed in disapproval and turned toward Jay once more, “Just use these ones as food for the baby Tyrannosaurus. The kids love a good show.” He waved her off and began to walk away.

Chip overheard and tried stopping Kira from pushing him out, though for some reason she was incredibly strong, “What!? You can’t just do that! They were just born you fuckin monster!”

Chip continued to protest as other employees started to force him out of the building. After the door slammed shut, Chip balled his hands into fists and yelled incoherently, kicking the dirt up from the ground and punching the tree he had been so fascinated with earlier.

“Sir- I’m going to have to ask you to calm down-” Kira tried, hesitant to walk near him.

Chip just groaned and rolled his eyes, looking at the loose bark that had fallen off the tree from where he punched into it. A stupid decision, now his fist hurt. He really needed to control himself, and maybe it wasn’t the worst thing ever that a few small dinosaurs were going to be used as T-Rex food, but Chip felt like it was unfair.

He thought a pink Compy was brilliant, what did it matter the color anyway? It made him question the ethics of this company. Did they just kill whatever they felt was a ‘genetic imperfection’ until they got it exactly how they wanted? They were live animals, not some sort of science project.

This was not what this park was built for, at least not originally. Arlin’s stories about the genuine curiosity and wonder humanity had in learning about these creatures had given Chip a childish fascination with dinosaurs as a kid. Since then, and Arlin’s disappearance, Chip had lost faith in anyone running a place like this. These creatures are smart and resilient. He didn’t understand people like Dr. Ferin… this just wasn’t right.

Chip eventually took a deep breath and calmed down, finding his way back over to the passenger seat of the jeep they drove here on. Kira slowly sat next to him, watching his demeanor.

“You alright, hun?” She asked.

“He can’t just decide which animals live and die based on what fuckin color they are. It’s- ugh!” Chip slumped in his seat.

Kira just sighed and started driving, heading down a separate dirt road from the one they came from. “Dr. Ferin can be a little intense, but he’s the boss! And if you wanna work here, I advise you learn to just accept that what he says goes.”

Chip just rolled his eyes and looked back into the jungle.

Kira pursed her lips and just drove silently until they arrived at their next destination.

-

The next place they arrived at was guarded by an abnormally large gate. There were workers on the other side adorned in large, baggy, construction-looking clothes who opened up the gate for them. Whatever was in front of them looked like some sort of quarry or dig site, although it definitely wasn’t, as in the center there were large walls that made up what seemed to be some sort of enclosure. There were mounds of dirt lying around and large bags filled with who knows what. There were also forklifts and other heavy-lifting vehicles surrounding the walls.

Kira hopped out and Chip followed, being led up to some sort of gate entrance to whatever this enclosure was. There was an older man standing there, short and with noticeably no hair under his bright yellow hard hat. He was yelling commands at people in neon vests as they seemed to lift and carry non-stop.

Kira stood there with her hands clasped together, her clean white suit drastically standing out amongst all the mud-covered overalls. She cleared her throat uncomfortably, which made the old man turn around.

“Eh? What do ya want?” The man crossed his arms, short enough to have to look up at both of them.

“Hello Mister… uhh..”

“Earl.”

“Yes! Mr. Earl. I have a young man here looking for a job and-”

“Can he use a shovel?”

“Wh-”

“Can he use a shovel?”
Kira seemed lost and just looked toward Chip for some sort of answer.

Chip had barely been paying attention, examining the amount of workers around, the buttons to open the gates, what he wanted for lunch… He realized that he was supposed to answer this question for himself. Whoops.

“Uh.. Yes?”

“Great!” The old man, Earl, shouted. “You’re hired!”

Kira looked between Chip and Earl helplessly, “Wh- I mean surely there’s some sort of paperwork he needs to accomplish first-”

Earl looked at Kira, scratching his beard mindlessly, “Oh, ya mean in case he gets eaten or somethin? Yeah, we’ll get to that later.”

Chip snapped back into reality, “Wait, what? What even is my job- Wait, hold on a second, there’s been a misunderstanding.” Chip looked over at Kira, “You’re not just gonna drop me off here with this guy- are you-? I-”

Chip paused for a second. Maybe this could be his chance. No one here seemed to totally care about much of anything, especially not the old man who seemed to be… their boss? It was sort of a red flag on the company’s part, but this gave Chip the opportunity to go off on his own and find things out for himself. He had only come here for one reason, but the questionable ethics of the head scientists made him feel like there was more going on here.

“You know what, I’ll take it!” Chip gave Kira a large grin, who only seemed to be highly concerned but also thrilled she could finally get out of there.

“Well, alright!” Kira clapped her hands together, “Uh.. good luck! Welcome to the crew!” She half-heartedly returned the smile and got back on the jeep, driving away as fast as she could.

Chip sort of waved her off and looked back at Earl, “So! What’s uh- What’s first?”

Earl was busy looking at a dirty clipboard, walking over to a cart full of supplies. Chip had no choice but to quickly follow him.

“Uhh… sir? I- Ow!” Chip was suddenly hit with a giant shovel being shoved into his arms, which Earl had apparently thrown at him from five feet away. Chip gripped onto the handle, grimacing from the impact.
“You see that pile of shit over there?” Earl gestured over by the edge of the dirt area, closer towards the jungle.

Chip furrowed his eyebrows in disgust, “Uhm… yeah?”

“Shovel it into this wagon.” A cart was pushed in Chip’s direction, bumping hard into his side.

“Ow- What? What about my training? Or- wait, did you say ‘ get eaten’ earlier?”

“Your training starts now! Get to it or I’m throwin’ ya into the Velociraptor pit!” Earl spat.

“Sheesh! Okay, okay!” Chip readjusted the shovel in his hands and started to drag the extremely dirty wagon over to the large pile of… dinosaur waste.

This isn’t exactly what Chip had expected, but he guessed it was better than nothing. Still, maybe nothing actually was better than shoveling shit.

Chip ended up getting about halfway done with his task, now realizing he sort of wished he could take a shower right about now, which was something he didn’t usually worry about much, but this was probably the grossest thing he’d done.

He looked around at all the other workers, busy in their own little worlds, doing other hard-lifting tasks. He looked over to where Earl was, yelling complaints at some poor unsuspecting soul.

Chip felt like he could finally take this opportunity to slip away. He slowly set his shovel on the ground and started stepping quietly backward away from the site. However, once he turned around, he was met with a very large, very hairy, very intimidating man.

Chip almost squeaked at the utter shock of this guy. How did he stand there so quietly?

“Jeez, man!” Chip nearly stumbled back.

The broad man huffed, “Where are you going?” His voice sounded like he was in a constant state of grouchiness. This man also had long braided hair that was peppered both black and white, the unbraided bits of his hair falling loosely in the back and his beard covering most of his face. His expression seemed very… well, not friendly, and the shotgun strapped to his back didn’t exactly help either.

“I was just uh- I forgot my overalls! I was just about to go get some-” Chip awkwardly smiled at the man.

The man huffed again, or maybe growled? It was all he seemed to do so far, “We need your help moving those crates over there.”

“Oh! Cool cool- Just uh… Warn a guy next time you wanna sneak up on him like that.”

The man just glared at him for a moment before tossing a yellow vest at him. Chip only just barely caught it before it fell into the pile of shit.

“Let’s go.” He grunted, starting to walk toward a tower of crates in the corner of the work site.

Chip slipped on the vest with ease and quickly followed him, “Never uh- Never caught your name?”

The man just glanced at him and kept walking, begrudgingly huffing out an answer, “Gryffon.”

“Hey, I mean that’s a pretty cool name. I’m Chip, which- is probably less cool than that, but I make up for it in other places.” Chip tried a small laugh and grinned at him.

Gryffon stared at him blankly and then looked back at the rest of the crew, walking faster.

“Great going Chip…” Chip grumbled to himself.

Once he got with all the other workers, they ended up just pushing crates of food and other things onto the forklift to then carry it over to the padlocked gate of the enclosure. Chip found out that this particular enclosure didn’t actually hold anything… yet.

Apparently, it was being set up for some new “hybrid” dinosaurs- which also wouldn’t be the first, because there was also some sort of crazy large, T-Rex-sized dinosaur in a different paddock. Chip didn’t catch the name of it, but the idea of a hybrid dinosaur just didn’t sit right with him, and neither did anything else on this stupid island.

Chip had also found out that they were on the very edge of the “restricted section.” What sort of theme park/zoo has a restricted section? Chip was even more suspicious now. Who knew what kind of other messed up things they were doing on this island. Of course, Chip had no idea what those messed up things could be since all he’d seen was some elitist scientist behavior, but something had to be wrong here. He was sure that whoever had been running this place for the past thirty years was responsible for Arlin’s disappearance and he was determined to find answers.

While the rest of the workers went on their lunch break, Chip snuck around back behind one of the larger crates, checking extra hard this time to make sure no one was standing right behind him. He stayed quiet for a long moment before finally slipping away into the jungle, promptly ignoring every sign that might've said “Restricted,” “Warning,” or “Danger.”

He was going to find out what happened to Arlin, no matter the cost.

Chapter Text

Jay was stressed out.

Not only did some random, scruffy, man piss off her father, but she still had so much work left to do. Pages and pages of genetics information, lists of complaints and problems coming from the scientists who were trying to configure the genes for new dinosaurs, several different projects she was supposed to be overseeing… and now she had to deal with these faulty Compys.

It’s not exactly what she had planned out for the day.

She had been so excited for these baby Compsognathuses to hatch. She wished she could keep the pink one to study… the other ones didn’t even turn out pink. Her father still wanted all of them disposed of, but she saw it as a wasted learning opportunity. Plus, the pink color might have appealed nicely to little kids and make the dinosaurs seem less scary.

But that’s not what her father wanted. She knew he wanted them scarier, larger, and more of a crowd pleaser. He also wanted to design them to be weapons, but they weren’t weapons, they were animals. Though it was hard for Jay to see these dinosaurs as more than the small pieces of code she had delicately connected together, she was still conflicted about everything.

She loaded the baby Compsognathuses into small crates that you’d usually see used for cats and moved them to the truck out back that was preparing to take them to the T-Rex exhibit.

She checked each crate door, making sure each was properly locked. There had been six eggs, but only five of them hatched. Five baby Compys who had barely even gotten the chance to survive, now on their way to be Tyrannosaurus food.

The guilt was eating Jay alive. She hadn’t been the one to design these specific Compys, but for some reason, she still felt like this was all her fault.

If she could just do more, check twice as much, and help out even more, maybe an oversight like this wouldn't happen again, and her dad would be happier with her. She wasn’t sure if that could ever happen though.

She’s asked her father on multiple occasions for a higher position, to help out in the restricted sections where they did more intense genetics testing and labor since it seemed like they really needed more help over there.

Despite her offers, her father severely refused to let her anywhere near the restricted sections. She wasn’t sure why, but she had no choice other than to do what he wished of her.

When Jay got to the pink Compsognathus, she hesitated while double-checking the lock. The small creature stared at her with big eyes, almost like it was begging her for all the answers, like it could even understand a single thing Jay was going through.

She knew this was wrong, and her Uncle Drey would have agreed. He had pretty much been the only Ferin who refused to join the family legacy. Jay’s grandma hadn’t been very thrilled about it. Jay hadn’t seen her uncle in a very long time.

Jay sighed and knelt down to look at the small Compy in the crate. She felt like she had no control over her life. It had been decided for her from the minute she was born, like everyone else in her family.

She hadn’t really stopped and considered if she ever wanted anything different than this. She liked science and she liked building things from scratch, but everything else that surrounded this stupid job was nothing like she wanted.

What did she want? Well, she wanted to be like her sister. Ava was a lead scientist and paleontologist. She was the coolest person Jay knew, but she was always really busy, so Jay never had the time to sit down with her and ask for sisterly advice.

Right now, Ava was part of the Indominus Rex project, which was one of the many projects Jayson wouldn’t let Jay work on.

Jay had the small things, barely, but they were there. She might still feel trapped, like this poor pink Compsognathus in front of her, but someday she was going to prove herself worthy enough of freedom.

The Compy chirped at her depressingly, which shook her from her thoughts. The truck started to run and the man in the driver's seat called back at her,

“Hurry it up back there.”

Jay inhaled sharply and looked at the Compy with determination in her eyes. It had started chewing at the lock with its small teeth in a desperate attempt to escape. Jay slowly brought her hand up and unlocked the cage halfway, hoping the little Compsognathus was clever enough to figure out the rest. She didn’t doubt it.

The truck started to puff out a cloud of black smoke, and the jagged movement of the vehicle recklessly shook the crates. Jay stepped back abruptly and watched as the truck drove away, the Compsognathuses with it.

Jay saw as the pink Compy’s crate door flew open while the truck was already far down the road. She smiled softly and began to walk back inside. If that Compsognathus could be free, so could she.

-

Walking back into the lab, Jay was stopped by a technician in large black overalls, long black gloves, a dirty tank top, and a prosthetic leg. The woman brushed curly purple hair out from her eyes to look at Jay.

“Yo, Jay, you’re needed girl.”

“Ensa? What are you doing down here? I thought you were helping with the Indominus Rex’s new door?” Jay walked around her to go and pick up a few stacks of paper, along with her clipboard.

“Yeah, well we’ve been needin’ someone from the genetics department to come check out a few things with her. Mrs. Dearings already out findin’ a behavior specialist for her, but we think it’d be good if you were there too.”

“Oh.” Jay held her clipboard under her arm, “Is my sister not available? This seems like her job.”

She didn’t want to seem rude, but that was Ava’s department. Jay’s never been asked to do stuff like this.

Ensa shrugs and pockets her hands, leaning against the wall, “Apparently she’s caught up with something already, so you’re our next best choice. Plus, the big boss specifically requested it, so it’s not like we can just sit and wait, ya know?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jay sighs, “Alright fine, but it’s your head if my dad finds out you’re the one who asked me. You know he doesn’t want me to have anything to do with the Indominus, and you know even more how much I’m not allowed in the restricted section.”

Ensa just chuckles, “Oh, c’mon girl, you need to live on the edge a bit more! Plus, it’s more fun when somethin’s off limits.” She gently punched Jay’s shoulder, “I’d like to see your dad try to take me down.”

Jay snorted and covered her mouth, “Yeah? You think so?”

Ensa grinned, “Fuck yeah! You gotta learn to take some risks girl! Now let’s go.” She roughly patted Jay on the back and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. The two laughed and made their way out of the building towards the jeep that Ensa drove her.

-

Jay let the wind blow through her hair, watching the blur of the trees on the side of the road. She’d only snuck off with Ensa a few times during work, only because Ensa is a bad influence.

Ensa would take her to the construction sites all over the island that she was working on, the watering holes in the middle of the jungle, and sometimes she’d even take her to the border of the restricted section just so she could pull Jay across the line and freak her out.

It wasn’t a super often occurrence, but when they did sneak off to hang out, it was probably the most fun Jay’s ever had in her life. Ensa knew how to bring Jay out of her shell and give her that small taste of freedom she wanted so bad. Jay wondered what it would be like to be out here in the island jungles all day like Ensa was.

Well, at least the construction sites that were in the jungle anyway. There was a nice breeze, fresh air, friendly old herbivores, and a blue sky. No blinding lights or twenty pages of genetic code to be sorted out. Jay loved genetics, but sometimes she just got so sick of it.

While looking off into the trees, Jay hoped that maybe she’d see that pink Compsognathus, giving her proof that the little thing really did make it out of there. Her thoughts were interrupted by Ensa laughing and looking over at her.

“Hey Jay, guess what?”

Jay rolled her eyes and smiled, “What?”

Ensa just gestured her head toward the road. Jay’s eyes trailed over and she saw the sign for the restricted section, the fence, and the warning signs. All the same as she remembered, except for the fact that the gate was open this time.

Ensa shot Jay a grin and pressed down on the gas pedal, speeding across the line faster and farther than Jay’d ever been in her entire life. She held onto the ceiling handle for dear life, praying to Aster that she wouldn’t fall out of the jeep.

Despite the questionable speed that Ensa was driving at, the two laughed and enjoyed the whole rest of the ride to the Indominus paddock, Ensa just barely taking control enough of the wheel to properly park outside the gate.

There was some crazy construction going on, which Jay had noticed almost immediately. From what she’d heard, they had to start building the walls to the enclosure higher, which was a bit concerning, but it made sense if she was growing larger than expected.

Ensa walked Jay to the door to the observation room and gave her a salute.

“Good luck in there, bluebird.” Ensa smiled at her.

Jay laughed as she went to turn the doorknob, “Thanks Enz.”

With that, Ensa went back to work and Jay entered the building, walking up the stairs to the control room or whatever they called it. She was greeted by a larger man who gestured towards the small computers by the window and the window into the enclosure itself.

Jay looked into the enclosure, trying to spot the dinosaur, but it was no use.

“Is she usually this difficult to spot?” Jay questioned the guard.

The man just shrugged, “I can’t tell where she is half the time, but I can sure hear her.”

Jay hummed in discomfort, and only when she had looked over at the guard was when she noticed the large crack in the glass. A shiver ran down her spine and she stepped back further from the window.

“Is this room… safe?” Jay hesitated to ask.

The man just laughed, “That’s some pretty expensive glass, so it pretty damn well better be.”

Jay rolled her eyes, “What is it that I was needed for?”

“Oh yeah.” The man mumbled through bites of a sandwich. He stood up and handed her a tablet with a list of the Indominus’ genes on it. Jay squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of it. However, whenever she attempted to go further into the system and look into certain traits and genome information, it was behind a restricted firewall.

“Do you know how to get past these firewalls?” Jay turned the screen over to the man.

He stared at her and shrugged, “I dunno lady, I just work here.”

“Right.” Jay mumbled, “So, what exactly is wrong with her?”

“Nothin really wrong with her, she’s just, ya know.”

“Just.. what?” Jay questioned suspiciously.

“She’s actin off. Behaving weirdly.”

“Well,” Jay started, “I hope that behavior specialist you’re calling over can do something about it, because without the proper information about her DNA, I can’t tell you anything.”

“So, you’ve wasted my time then?” He said bluntly.

“What? No! I just don’t- have access to this information I guess.” Jay felt the embarrassment starting to take over.

“Great, amazing, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” The man said with obvious sarcasm.

Jay groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. Maybe they really should’ve waited for her sister to have some free time. She probably had access to this information and now Jay just looked stupid in front of this… guy.

Jay crossed her arms in a sort of self-hug and nervously looked into the enclosure again, still not spotting the Indominus anywhere. The man suddenly stood up and handed another device to her.

“Stay here will ya? I’ll be right back.” He said, leaving before Jay even had time to process it.

“Wh- Wait! I can’t-”

Jay scoffed as the door slammed behind him. She looked down at the device she was given and it seemed to be some sort of tracking device. There was a map of the enclosure and a red, blinking dot that she assumed represented the Indominus.

What a foreboding name that was… Jay never understood why they started naming the hybrids such strange, dreary names. It seemed like overkill to her, but she didn’t exactly have a say in such things.

The tracker implied that the dino was still safely in her enclosure, so Jay took it upon herself to step up to the glass to attempt another look. She shouldn’t be too hard to spot, right? After all, she was white and her entire surrounding environment was green. If anything, she should stick out like a sore thumb. Something was definitely… off.

Jay put her hand on the glass with a sigh. Nothing she did seemed to be right. Whether it was her fault or not, she couldn’t help but feel guilty for every mistake around her. It was silly, and maybe even a bit selfish, for her to take responsibility for everything, but she couldn’t help it.

Jay’s eyes wandered back down towards the tracker. Maybe if she pinpointed the exact location of the dot, she could find the Indominus more easily. She brought the tablet closer to her face to examine the map. She located the dot and zoomed in as close as she could to see where the dinosaur was.

However, when she zoomed in, the red dot was placed right in front of where the window to the observation room would be. That was odd, Jay couldn’t see her at all, and the tablet wanted her to believe it was right in front of her face? Very funny.

She refreshed the application but the dot remained in the same place. Seriously? She wasn't sure how much more stress she could take today.

Jay let out a huff of frustration and her heavy breath fogged up the window in a small circle. Jay rolled her eyes and moved her sleeve up above her hand so she could rub the fog off the glass, however, when she went to wipe it off, it didn’t seem to go away. Her eyebrows furrowed and she tried again with her other sleeve, but the fogged glass still didn’t clear up.

Suddenly, Jay heard a low growl. Her body tensed up almost immediately, her hands balling up into fists. A small gasp left her throat at the noise and the sudden pickup in her heartbeat started to match up with the rhythm of the tracking device that beeped eerily on the desk she had set it on.

Her eyes slowly trailed upwards from the small fog cloud, and where there had previously been nothing, she watched as the scales of this giant creature in front of her twitched and deformed back into the scaly white skin of the Indominus Rex.

Jay’s face was aligned perfectly with her curious eyes, the dino’s teeth lined jaggedly along the sides of her jaw that fell slightly open, the heat of her breath only causing the fogging of the window to expand.

Jay swallowed thickly. It could camouflage. She had no idea why that gene would be helpful to this specific species, especially for its purpose. She wondered if anyone else even knew it could camouflage. This seemed like something she probably could’ve figured out if there hadn’t been a firewall blocking any possible useful information.

It then occurred to her that maybe they didn’t want anyone to know what the Indominus’ genes were. After all, she wasn’t told what they were, and if it was blocked on the main database, it must’ve been deliberate, not wanting any of the workers, employees, or lower-level scientists to know about the details.

Jay tried to think of why they’d hide information like that. It was possible that they saw other science and genetics organizations as competition. That had to be it, because Jay couldn’t imagine that her family would have any sort of other dark secret, because they were good people.

She’d like to think her family consisted of good people anyway, because it was all in the name of science and education, nothing unethical or greedy… or, again, she’d like to think so…

The Indominus Rex let out a loud sniff and a trickle of clicks ruptured up from her throat. Jay stared at her, now remembering the large crack in the window just a bit to the left of her face. Jay sucked in a breath and started to slowly back away, keeping eye contact the entire time. The Indominus only seemed to stare curiously back at her, but it was a threatening glare nonetheless.

Jay tried not to break her stare, but walking backward, she nearly tripped over a pen that had fallen on the floor. She quickly looked down to catch her balance and also to see what she’d tripped on, out of habit, and as soon as she did she heard a loud screech and an aggressive thud that shook the entire room. The shaking is what caused her to actually fall backward, watching as the Indominus shakes her head from the impact and slinks back into the trees of her enclosure.

There was no new crack made where she had presumably banged her nose against, however, the already existing crack did seem to splinter a bit more.

All Jay could hear was her own heavy breathing, staring back through the window to make sure the dinosaur wasn’t planning on charging back through. When she thought it was safe, she stood back up and gathered her breath, giving a huge sigh of relief.

She ran a hand through her orange hair and walked over to the tracking tablet to see that the red dot was a safe distance away from the glass. She groaned and tossed the tablet onto the cushioned chair the man had been sitting on and rested her head up against the glass, staring down at her feet. She should really make a report on this glass, it was not safe.

After collecting herself a bit more, Jay walked over to the spider-webbed crack in the window to inspect it. She refrained from touching it, in fear of making the crack worse, and just settled for taking a picture of it and reporting it later. She did not want a repeat of what just happened to her to happen to anyone else, to say the least.

After finishing the glass inspection, she backed up and looked over at the surveillance screens. Thankfully, she could see that the Indominus had gone on to lie down in the back of her habitat. Jay’s eyes wandered down to the surveillance screens that showed the outside of the enclosure, being the walls and surrounding jungle.

She scanned the one screen for a certain purple-haired girl and immediately spotted her carrying some metal beams, stopping to yell at two men who had been hanging upside down on the scaffolding.

The sight made Jay laugh a little, which certainly helped lighten the mood of being terrorized by a giant hybrid dinosaur.

Jay looked over to the other monitors that were surveying the jungle, just to see if anything interesting was happening. What she saw was… definitely not anything she expected to see.

The man from earlier that day, who had argued with her dad in the lab and got kicked out, the scraggly one named… What was it again? Chibo or something? She couldn’t remember, but for some reason, this guy was sneaking around in the jungle, most likely unauthorized and unattended, and not to mention he was in the restricted section.

What was this guy doing? He had no reason to be snooping around an area that was closed off to the public, with dangerous dinosaurs in the area, and scientific information and studies that he has no legality to see. She was going to have to confront this guy.

As soon as Jay turned around to leave, the man from earlier walked in, but she didn’t care. She immediately rushed past him, shoulder-checking him on her way out, whether purposely or not, it didn’t matter, and she ran down the stairs as fast as she could, ignoring the yells and questioning coming from the guy upstairs, all except for responding with a quick,
“I’m filing a report on those windows!”

As soon as she made it outside, she mildly startled two other people. One of them she recognized as Mrs. Dearing, the other was… Some man? Probably that animal behavioral specialist or whatever Ensa and the other guy had said. She didn’t have time to chat though, and they seemed to pay her no mind as they entered the building together, so it didn’t bother her at all.

She made her way out around the other side of the enclosure where the open jungle was, away from all the vehicles and construction, and out to where she had seen the guy on the security screen. She pushed through a few tall weeds and vines, looking around for footprints or signs of messy hair, listening for whispering or whatever else this guy did.

Eventually, she did find him. It hadn’t been too hard, since he wasn’t the best at covering up his tracks or cracking his knuckles any quieter.

He was peering around a tree and Jay came up behind him quietly. She didn’t really think about how she was going to approach him, so she ended up just awkwardly standing there. She crossed her arms to try to come off as more intimidating, but she wasn’t sure how good that was working out for her.

She cleared her throat loudly, trying to fix her posture at the same time.

Chip practically jumped at the sound, taking on a full flinch and quickly turning around to see who had discovered him.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Jay rolled her eyes and walked up to him, “What are you doing out here? This is the restricted section. You can’t be here.”

“Jeez. relax! I was just uh- looking for the bathroom?” Chip tried.

Jay wasn’t impressed, “Try again.”

“Look, I work here now, okay? I just strayed a little far from my team, honest!”

“Uh huh.” Jay groaned, “Look, I’m gonna have to escort you back to the main park. You’ve already caused too much trouble today and I do not need you adding onto my list of stressful things I’ve had to deal with.”

“Yikes, that sounds deep. Wanna talk about it?”

“No. I’ve heard you talk enough today.”

“Oh, do you mean the lab thing? Look, you can’t tell me what he was doing wasn’t unethical and also just fuckin stupid. I mean, sorry I guess you’re both Ferins. What is he, your cousin?”

“He’s my dad.”

“Oohh… Yikes. My condolences.”

Jay groaned and grabbed Chip’s wrist, “C’mon, let’s go.”

“What? No!” Chip ripped his arm away from her and stumbled back, “I mean- uh. I was sent out here for a reason, okay?”

“For some reason, I don’t believe you.” She huffed in annoyance.

“I’m out here for a good reason, okay? I’m not trying to steal secrets or whatever it is you scientists are worried about-”

“It’s also dangerous out here for people who don’t know what they’re doing, you could seriously injure yourself.”

“Hey, quit playin that professional bullshit on me, okay? You were the one in a jeep going, what, like ninety miles an hour down these dirt roads? Seems like you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Jay was taken aback, and she felt the raging embarrassment seep back into her. “Wh- How did you-? You know what, that’s none of your business!”

“Seems plenty like my business if you're gonna be a hypocrite!” Chip accused.

“I am not being a hypocrite. You’re the one who’s illegally sneaking around back here. I was asked to come here.”

“And why is this section restricted in the first place? Maybe I just wanted to take a nice stroll with some dinosaurs! What, do you science freaks have some big, dark secrets you don’t want the public knowing about?” Chip crossed his arms and leaned against a tree.

“What? No! Everything we do here is completely ethical!” Jay defended, but part of her questioned whether or not it was true.

“Uh huh, suuuure. I totally believe that.” Chip rolled his eyes and mindlessly stuck his tongue out.

“Ugh! You’re so- Ugh!” This was stressing Jay out even more. She was just going to have to go back around to the other side of the paddock and tell someone that there was a weird guy sneaking around in the woods, up to no good.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Chip dismissed.

“Look, you’re making this incredibly difficult for me, and it really doesn’t have to be. I don't know if you’re one of those weird conspiracy theorists or just a guy with some really weird hobbies, or maybe you’re just incredibly and moronically stupid-”

“Hey.”

“-but I can assure you, being a scientist and researcher myself, I can attest that we don’t have any crazy dark web secrets, or whatever you call them, okay? We’re just trying to make new discoveries and share them with the world, for the sake of curiosity!”

“Okay, sure. But what if they’re not telling you what’s really going on either?” Chip proposed.

Jay thought that was a stretch. It was really unlikely that her entire family wouldn’t clue her in on something that could be considered extremely important. Well, now that she thought about it, there were a few odd things, but those don’t add up to a huge conspiracy.

“I highly doubt that.” Is what Jay had decided to respond with finally.

“Hey, it’s your funeral. I know there’s something going on here, and I’m going to figure out what it is.”

“So, you didn’t stray from your team then?” Jay raised an eyebrow.

Chip groaned, “You know what, whatever. Take me back to the worksite, the main park, the boat, wherever! I’ll still figure this out!”

“Listen, Chibo-”

“Chip.”

“Chip. I think you’re delusional.”

“Gee, how kind of you.” Chip offered a fake, forced smile.

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get you out of h-”

Jay was cut off by a painfully loud noise. It sounded like an earthquake or like a demolition of some sort, which wouldn’t make sense because those workers would never demolish that wall.
The sound caused the ground to shake, and Chip had grabbed onto a nearby tree to stay on his feet.

Jay had stumbled backward but managed to keep her ground, frantically looking around to see if she could get any idea of what was going on. She’s had enough scares today.

“What the hell was that!?” Chip exclaimed, slowly letting go of the tree. He looked at Jay as if she was supposed to know what that horrible noise was.

It was then that the two of them began to hear some distant commotion. Cars screeching, more crashing noises, like large things were being knocked over. There was also the distant sound of yelling and screaming.

As if they had both come to the same conclusion at the same exact time, Chip and Jay both slowly turned to stare at each other with wide, fearful eyes. That’s when they felt the thudding of unspeakably large footsteps shaking the Earth, and the loud screeches and groans of none other than the one and only Indominus Rex.

She had gotten out.