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Henry Loomis couldn’t sleep that night on the boat. Maybe it was because of what Zora had said to him that not sleeping before something was something you got used to, and that meant they did a good job. Henry wanted this to be over though.
He wanted this hell to be over.
God knows where his passport went but he was pretty sure that he and Zora were being taken back to the United States in a less than legal way, much like how they weren’t supposed to even be on those islands. He needed this to be over. He glanced down at the briefcase that Zora was borderline cuddling in her sleep while they waited for Duncan to manage to find them a way back to the United States without alerting the authorities because technically, they’d never left.
The museum curator was going to kill him for disappearing like that.
Actually, his boyfriend was probably going to kill him. At least he had the chance to say that he was probably going to be gone for a few days and warn them. It had been at least three at this point, and Duncan had said they might need another couple days just to get back into the United States, let alone to New York.
Yet, somehow, they managed to get put on a cargo plane heading for New York. Somehow, they managed to get back into the United States. Somehow, they managed to stretch Henry's morals even more than they had been before all this. Somehow, Henry managed to get a taxi with the little cash he had, the driver seeming to take pity on him with it being late at night and the shape he was in. He didn’t have the opportunity to take a shower really, and he honestly didn’t want to face how bad he truly looked right now.
Zora had his number and the briefcase. He trusted her to do the right thing and to call him in the morning when they were both feeling better about life. Right now, nothing sounded better than taking a shower, eating real damn food, and falling asleep next to his boyfriend.
Henry paid the taxi driver as he got out, just handing him all the cash he had. It was easier than trying to count it out while he could barely process numbers or anything. He managed to get out and not fall on the ground, trudging up the stairs and finding his door. Going to grab his key to unlock it, he realized one crucial thing. He’d lost his keys. Letting his head fall against the door, he raised his hand, praying that Antonio was home, and knocked.
It was weak, but he could hear shuffling behind the door after a few moments and the chain unlocking, so he lifted up his head so it wouldn’t fall forward. The door opened, and his extremely confused boyfriend stood on the other side in his pajamas, curly hair wrapped up in a towel.
The confusion turned into concern as he rushed to speak, “Carinõ, what happened to you?”
Henry walked in, and heard the door shutting behind him, and he couldn’t help but turn, and collapse into Antonios arm, arms half connecting behind his back, so he could lay his head on his shoulder.
“I missed you.” Henry sighed.
“Where did you go? What the hell happened to you?” Antonio asked, hugging back hesitantly, almost questioning everything about him right now. “I thought that you had a bag with you when you left. Where- Baby, you’re bleeding.”
“No, I’m- I’m not bleeding anymore.” Henry managed. He wasn’t going to tell Antonio about the bruises and dried blood on his back if he could. The man didn’t need to worry about that and he hadn’t even told anyone else about how much his back had been bothering him.
Antonio pulled out of the hug, holding him by the shoulders and looking over him.
“Here, let’s get you a shower, and some food.” Antonio murmured, letting Henry hold onto him so he wouldn’t collapse.
Somehow, the two of them made it to the bathroom, and the shower started while Henry sat on the toilet, trying to muster up the strength to stay standing long enough to clean all the grime off of him. He needed a moment alone to just think. Just think about what had happened without worrying about the other people around him.
“I can take a shower alone.” Henry whispered when he noted that Antonio was getting out two towels despite the fact that Henry knew he’d already taken one.
“Are you sure?” Antonio asked while looking at him apprehensively.
“I’m sure.” Henry nodded.
Antonio seemed hesitant to leave him alone, because then he said, “Let me go get you some fresher clothes for after then, and I’ll make you some food.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.” Henry said. This normally would’ve been when he pressed a kiss to the other man’s cheek but he couldn’t think straight right now. Every time he blinked, he kept seeing the helicopter getting closer and then the fog cleared to see it in the jaws of that abomination. They never should’ve kept that thing alive, science be damned. It was inhumane to keep that thing alive.
“Henry?” Antonio asked, and Henry blinked, and he was back in his bathroom. “Are you alright?”
“I’m…” Henry couldn’t even lie and say he was fine because he looked like he went through hell and back in the few days he was gone. “I’m alive.”
That was really the only thing that could sum up how he was feeling. Henry was alive. He wasn’t okay or happy or upset. He was just alive.
“Are you sure you want to be alone?” Antonio asked.
For better or for worse, Henry had been in constant contact with people for the better part of a week now, and he needed a shower where he could just not think and do something repetitive like washing his hair, and getting all the dirt off of him.
“Yeah, ‘Toni, sweetheart, I’m not going to drown in the shower.” Henry managed, somehow getting a smile out of his boyfriend. God, he missed that smile.
“Okay.” Antonio whispered, and disappeared from the room.
Henry stared at the wall in front of him before pulling his leg on top of his knee and untying his boot laces with shaking hands. Taking the first one off, he did the same with his other boot, before pulling his socks off. He could see a couple bruises forming around his ankles, which didn’t surprise him. There were probably going to be bruises all over him from various trips and falls.
Standing up, he managed to pull off his shirt and glance at his back in the mirror, seeing greens and purples staining it, some red where there had been blood from various times he’d hit his back. It was more than likely from when he hit the rocks, and the bruises had only been perpetuated by falling into the river. Some part of him knew that he shouldn’t have been able to survive that nearly 200 foot fall because he remembered crashing into the water and then hitting the bottom a few seconds later.
“Holy shit, Henry. What the fuck?” A voice sounded.
Henry pulled himself back to reality again, and looked at the door, seeing his boyfriend standing there with clean clothes, mouth agape, and staring at his back in horror.
“Were you just going to hide this?” Antonio asked, putting down the clothes with his hands drifting to Henry’s back but he seemed too worried to actually touch his skin, almost as if he was scared that was going to hurt him if he did.
“Didn’t know it was this bad.” He murmured.
Antonio looked him in the eyes, only an inch or so shorter than him, searching for answers that Henry couldn’t say, not yet, “You’re going to tell me what happened after right? You’re going to let me clean these?”
“Yeah, of course.” Henry said, reaching forward and finally being able to give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek, chasing the warmth from the other man.
“Henry.” Antonio warned.
“I’m sorry, I’m just…” Henry struggled to bring the words into his mouth. “A lot happened. I’ll tell you, I promise.”
“What do you want to eat?” Antonio asked softly.
“I will…honestly eat anything you give me right now except eggs.” Henry said. He’s not sure he could ever look at eggs and want to eat them. At least, not for a long time.
Antonio nodded, and he was left alone in the bathroom. Honestly, Henry couldn’t look at his back anymore, so he shedded the rest of his clothes, placed his glasses on the counter, and got in the shower.
He hissed as the hot water made contact with the various cuts he had, and turned it down so it would burn less. He just needed to get all this sweat and dirt off of him. Grabbing the hand towel, he managed to get some soap on it, and lather it, scrubbing at his arms, trying to get it all off. He kept seeing the Quetzalcoatlus’ beak in the corner of his vision, screaming at him, and spraying mucus all over him, threatening to tear down the shower curtain and eat him next. He knew that most of it had to be off at this point but that didn’t stop him from continuing to try and scrub every last bit of it off.
Henry forced himself to blink, feeling the warm water rush over him and it honestly wasn’t too unlike the humid terrain he’d been in for days. Forcing himself to breathe, Henry moved on to scrubbing it all off his legs, and then his neck. He didn’t want to deal with his back, but he would have to do it. It stung but he knew that it would be cleaner this way, less risk of infection. He should seek out Dr. Grant and ask him how he dealt with all this. He felt like every time he so much as blinked he saw that damn thing again.
Maybe it was because that thing wasn’t an actual dinosaur and was something out of an actual nightmares. God, how many people had he watched die? At least four, and he didn’t even know how many of them were in the helicopter. At least two had been in there.
Grabbing his 2 in 1, Henry ran his hands through his hair, eyes closed, only seeing the height and feeling the fall. The water crashed below him. He could register his hands were washing his hair, and then dipping his head in the water to wash it out, but that’s all he could see. He blinked his eyes open the moment all of it was out of his hair, seeing the blurry shower around him.
Henry turned off the shower, and stared at the water going down the drain. He couldn’t imagine being one of those kids. They were so much younger than him and this was how he was reacting. He could only imagine what it was like for them.
His knees burned, and so he got out of the shower, using the towel to dry himself off enough to get the basketball shorts and band t-shirt on that his boyfriend had left out. He winced as the shirt pressed against his back, but left the room, turning off the light and fan as he passed the door. He turned back and grabbed his glasses off the counter, slipping them back on, the comfortable metal weight a little cold.
There was a first aid kit on the couch when he went out, spotting Antonio in the kitchen putting something on a plate and he knew that he had perfect timing still. Henry couldn't fathom how his boyfriend was feeling about all of this. He could barely believe that this was happening right now. At this point, he was just grateful to be alive.
He sat down on the couch as Antonio brought out some enchiladas that were probably leftovers, but food none the same and he couldn't expect the man to cook a whole meal so late at night. That would be ridiculous. Taking the plate and fork, he placed them on the couch next to him while his boyfriend gestured for him to take the shirt off again. Maybe he shouldn't have put it on if Antonio was going to take care of the wounds that Henry was going to tell him about eventually. Just…not yet. It hadn't been time yet. He didn't want his boyfriend to freak out that much when he got home.
Henry ate, wincing every time Antonio brushed an alcohol wipe against his wounds to make sure they wouldn't get infected.
“What… How did this happen to your back, amor?” Antonio asked, as Henry felt a bandage being placed on one of the wounds.
“I- you're not going to believe me.” Henry laughed bitterly. “Its- it's so fucking insane. I don't- I don't even know if the last four days have been real.”
“I mean,” Antonio paused, focusing on a bandaid from what Henry could feel, “I haven't seen you in four days. So that makes it real. Here, I'm done.”
Henry pulled his shirt back on and kept picking at his food, leaning back against the couch and putting his head on Antonios shoulder, staring at the black screen, envisioning a phantom sight of a Quetzalcoatlus behind them. It went away when Antonio wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
“I got slammed against a rock cliff several times and then fell 200 feet into a river.” Henry said, still staring ahead of them. “At least, that’s what happened to my back.”
“What?” Antonio asked incredulously.
“These guys, They showed up to the museum awhile back talking about wanting my opinions on which dinosaurs,” He heard Antonio suck in his breath like he knew where this would be going, and where Henry had been for the past few days, “would have the best blood for arteries, heart tissue, and blood that could be manufactured into helping prevent heart diseases. I gave them my opinion, and told them which dinosaurs would be best for that and they went on their way.”
A pause.
“Then they showed back up five days ago and told me they couldn't identify the dinosaurs on their own. So, I got the wonderful pleasure of getting on a boat and going to the equator.” Henry said, knowing exactly how Antonio was going to react.
“What? You could have died!” Antonio said, but Henry only saw parts of his reflection on the TV from where he was laying against him.
“Yeah, I…I'm alive though.” Henry said.
From there, Henry told the man about what had happened. How the mosasaurus nearly tipped the boat, and had tipped another person's boat and then crashed it while they were being chased by spinosaurus’s. How amazing it was to see cohabitation and living through other animals, and yet being so terrified that they were going to turn around and he was going to be the next victim. He described the Titanosaurs, these giant gentle beasts who let him touch them without being annoyed, and let him go up to them without a second thought. Then getting to the cliffs.
“I would say that's the closest I was to death but it was nowhere near it.” He whispered, still hearing the screeching in his ear, it had made his ears ring and he could barely hear Zora for a few seconds after. “I think going down that cliff permanently made me scared of heights. I don't know what happened up there but I dropped like 40 feet in a few seconds before I was caught. Luckily, when we got to the nest there were no Quetzalcoatlus's in there because I think if there had been some to start with, we would've died right then and there.”
“Jesus, Henry.” Antonio whispered. “I thought you were just going on an impromptu work trip.”
“I never thought I'd be going with them.” He admitted.
Henry managed to tell him about the egg, and the ruins. Barely escaping the Quetzalcoatlus and then the rope snapping as he got to the sample and sent it rocketing into the air so they could make sure that they had it. Being tossed through the air and crashing into the leaves, how honestly those damn leaves were the only way hitting the water didn't kill him because they’d slowed his fall. The trek to the old facility and the Pteranodon lookalikes finding them. They ended up calling them some mutated name that he couldn’t remember off the top of his head.
Henry had never been more convinced that he was going to die than in that facility.
He faltered, pausing, staring into space as he remembered the power booting up in the facility, remembering the only moment they had before everything went incredibly wrong, worse than it had been going before.
“Henry?” Antonio asked softly.
“It was a testing lab from the early days of the park. That island was where they put all the genetic failures because they tried to play God. These combinations of dinosaurs and genetic mutations all living on this island. I saw their workspace. I saw it all.” A pause. “Then it showed up.”
“What is it?” Antonio asked.
“I don’t know.” Henry whispered, and he wasn’t lying. “My best guess was an attempt at a bigger, stronger Rex gone wrong. It had… four legs, and I knew- They crossed that thing with a human, Antonio. I know they did. It was too smart, could maneuver its hands like one. There was human DNA in that damn dinosaur.”
“You really think so?” Antonio asked.
“I know there was.” Henry said. “I swear that thing was- that was out of nightmares. I could see the elbows of its front legs. It had fucking elbows. I saw them. It had Ape or Human DNA. I know it. Then- The helicopter, it showed up, and y’know we had to get out of there so I had to go out, and get its attention. I did- Y’know there were flares near the helipad. I shot one and it started to turn around. Then- the smoke, the smoke, it showed their light coming closer, and they were already gone. The helicopter was in the jaws of the damn thing. I never heard anything. No metal crunching, no screams, they were just gone.”
“Amor, this is- this is insane.” Antonio breathed out.
“I- We got away from there because it turned away from me. I don’t think it saw me once the helicopter lights went out and I was able to run. I found the others- We- That Mutated Pteranodon almost got us, but we got out and the- the thing was back. It was back, and Duncan went off with a flare, taking it away from us while we got the boat down. We found him again after and left but oh my god. That thing- I don’t know what that thing was. It was one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen, I thought I was going to die.” Henry said, breathing out slowly.
A beat before Antonio said, “Well, that would ruin your plan of dying in a shallow ocean bed.”
Henry blinked before snorting, remembering when he’d asked how Antonio wanted to die on one of their first dates and Antonio had looked at him like he was insane for that, but he had an answer. Then of course his own answer proved to Antonio that he wasn’t a serial killer, just a nerd.
“Yeah, yeah, no it would.” He half-laughed, drawing his mind elsewhere. “I don’t even know how I’m going to explain this to my Boss.”
“I mean, you said you had the samples right?” Antonio asked. “Then you don’t really need an explanation, no?”
“No, I still do because I was supposed to be helping with the cleanup of the dinosaur exhibit.” Henry sighed, knowing that he probably had a bunch of messages on his phone which he’d been smart enough to leave here and not take with him to an island full of dinosaurs and genetic mutations.
He let his eyes close, still leaning on Antonio, trying to focus that he was half-asleep leaning on his boyfriend and not the side of a boat.
“I think that it’s going to be okay.” Antonio whispered against his temple. “You’re a little different right now but it’s okay. I understand. You’ll be alright. They’re never gonna get off those islands.”
Henry hummed, and let the rise and fall of his boyfriend and his hand running up and down his arm lull him further into sleep. The couch below was fairly uncomfortable but immensely more comfortable than anything else had been in days.
“Henry?” Antonio murmured, before sighing a little, and Henry felt the man take off his glasses and put them somewhere else, the drowse starting to fully pull him under. “Goodnight, Mi amor, sleep well.”