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In the middle of the day, under the blazing sun in the middle of a grassy valley that never ended, you finally gave up.
It was over. There was no possible way you were making it out of this godforsaken island alive. The gashes all over your stomach and legs from when Rexy had thrashed you around in her enormous jaws– the memory of being lifted into the air and her hot breath on your face had haunted you during your restless sleep the previous night– would surely be infected right now. If death didn’t come from this baking heat or dehydration, it would be from blood poisoning. There was no more use fighting it. The realization came almost as a relief; you wouldn’t have to keep dragging myself through this unbearably humid jungle, and you wouldn’t have to keep still and quiet in fear whenever you heard something that could be a dinosaur nearby. You sprawled out on the ground, taking in the sight of the clear blue sky and mountains around you, closed your eyes and sighed happily. Soon there wouldn’t be any more fighting or pain. It was all going to be over before you knew it.
But it wasn’t over. You were just beginning to drift off into a blissful slumber when there was suddenly a hand tugging at your aching arm, and someone leaning over you. You heard your name shouted over and over, and when you forced your eyes open, there was a familiar face looking anxiously into your eyes. “Oh, thank god,” you heard, and then you finally recognized the person who’d so rudely yanked you out of your reverie. You remembered his face alongside the terror and darkness that had accompanied the last time he and you had been together– his eyes wide with fear as the rain poured and the tyrannosaur enclosure’s fence snapped open wire by wire.
“Dr. Malcolm,” you murmured. Even though he’d lost his glasses, it was definitely the chaotician.
He said your name again, and then shook your arm. “C’mon. It’s gonna be okay. You’re– you’re gonna be fine. I found you–”
“Leave me alone.” You shook your arm free from his grip and closed your eyes again. “Look at me, I’m a goner. Just let me be here in peace, okay?”
“Hey, no. No. Wake up.” He grabbed your shoulders this time, rocking you back and forth insistently until you angrily grunted and sat up. “You think you’re the only one who got attacked? Look at my leg, I– I can barely walk on it. God knows what happened to Grant. If you’re screwed, so am I, but do you see me giving up?”
“What do you want from me?”
Ian sighed and glanced away at the horizon, sweeping his dark, damp curls out of his face with one hand. When he met your eyes again, his expression was tender. “I can’t just leave you out here to die. I’m– I’m taking you to the visitor’s center with me. It’s only, uh, maybe a mile, I know we can make it.” You took a long, hard look at him; he seemed genuinely hopeful. “It’s at least worth a shot, right? If we make it, we’ll both get out of this hellhole in one piece.”
You made sure he heard your irritated huff, and then you threw your weight forward, trying to see if you could stand up without pain from your wounds searing through your body. Ian grabbed hold of your arm and helped you get up, holding your shoulder with his other hand to help keep you steady. When you winced and gave him a thumbs-up, the both of you began the slow but steady process of walking together, leaning on each other for support.
—
Neither of you knew how many hours you’d been walking or exactly how far you’d gone. You’d just escaped the blazing heat of the valley; now you were within a much cooler and moister jungle. Birds and probably bird-like dinosaurs sung all around you, and the wetter air felt amazing on your wounds and relieved at least a little of the pain. Getting away from the heat had drastically improved both of your moods. You and Ian were beginning to chat and share stories from your lives before this terrible weekend had changed them forever– you’d even shared a few laughs, making a game out of swatting mosquitoes off each other. Even if your mind might change later, you were beginning to be just a little glad that you had made it out of the valley after all.
“So, three kids, huh?” you asked, remembering the conversation you’d overheard in the Explorer last night, and then yelped in surprise as you almost tripped over a huge tree root. Ian dove forward to keep you from toppling to the ground, and once he’d gotten you back on your feet, you resumed your pace.
“Yep, two girls and a boy. Victoria, Kelly and Colin, in that order.” You couldn’t help noticing that he raised his head higher when he talked about them, and the unmistakable pride in his voice. “They’re, uh, growing every day. Colin’s in elementary school, the girls are in middle. They all wanna be scientists, except for Kelly. She wants to be a scientist and a gymnast.”
“Wow, you sure love them, don’t you?”
“They’re the best kids in the world.”
You paused for a moment, listening to the sounds of the jungle echoing around you. “I guess that’s why you wanna make it out so bad, huh? For them?”
“Absolutely,” he said without a second’s hesitation. “I’d give anything for my kids. How about you? What’s your family like?”
“Oh, you know. Mom and dad. I’m not married or anything, too focused on my career. Maybe someday.”
“Maybe someday,” he echoed, and then stopped, glancing critically at your chest and legs. “How are you feeling? No chills or anything, no fever?”
“Nope, hasn’t gotten to me yet. You?”
He nodded approvingly. “I’m doin’ fine. Glad you’re okay.” You resumed walking– you on his left side, leaning on each other, each taking steps on your least-injured legs– but Ian took a moment to speak again. “I’m– I’m really glad I found you, you know. We didn’t get to talk much in the Explorer, but, uh… you seemed like the only other one in this island with any sense in you. It’s a good thing you survived.”
You couldn’t help smiling and glancing at him again. “I’m pretty glad you found me, too. Sure would’ve sucked to have been stuck out there with the big bird-things.”
He gave you a crooked, amused grin. “The bird things?”
“You know, those big brown things that look like ostriches. I saw a bunch of them in the valley. You know what I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I saw one or two of ‘em. Don’t know the name, though.”
“Yeah, me either. I don’t want to know the name.” You kicked at a clump of dirt in front of you. “Man, I really hate dinosaurs.”
In your peripheral vision, you could see him grinning. “I, um, second that motion.”
“Maybe I don’t hate that triceratops we saw. That thing never hurt anyone. Maybe it speared someone with its horns once, but not us.”
He laughed. “Nope, just lay there like a big, fat bump on a log.”
“Did Ellie ever figure out what was wrong with that thing, by the–” you started, but Ian shushed you and tightened his grip on your arm. You opened your mouth to complain, but he just pointed ahead of you. When you finally saw what he wanted you to look at, your mouth fell open, and you almost dropped to the ground.
It was the giant, white visitor’s center building, tall and shining in front of you like the gates of heaven. All you had to do was walk around the little lake in front of you, and you’d be inside and safe. “We finally made it,” you whispered, and if you hadn’t been so dehydrated, you might have cried. “Ian… we’re safe. We made it.”
You walked the home stretch to the safety of the building, but not before you and Ian stood for a moment at the edge of the jungle, hugging each other as tightly as you could.