Chapter Text
Though my wings are clipped,
My fury still burns bright,
A fire forever untamed.
The horizon to the south was a dark, angry grey with the outstretched fingers of the slowly approaching storm threatening to dig in. While tropical storm Nolan was still several days out, the park was already in the process of hunkering down. Emergency generators were being moved to the Creation Lab and any other buildings with sensitive contents. For Dustin, this was an entirely new experience and he regretted skipping this part of the orientation. Still, he managed to stumble his way through it, mostly just by acting as dumb muscle and helping people move things.
Despite how much time there was till the storm was scheduled to hit, there was a thick tension in the air. The normally busy park was subdued; no new guests were being admitted till after the storm had passed and any damage could be assessed. Those who chose to remain had needed to sign a waiver that released the park from liability in the case of injury or death.
Even a large number of the park staff would be leaving soon, leaving only essential staff…Specifically, those involved with the dinosaurs and the crucial park systems. Given how he was tied up with dinosaur stuff, Dustin hadn’t been one of those who were allowed to leave. He wasn’t entirely worried, only partially, and just figured he’d rough it in the building attached to Murder’s enclosure.
Honestly, he still wondered if the…Thing had a human name instead of the project name assigned to him. Dustin had never bothered to ask once he’d been given the name ‘Murder’. Honestly, it was a pretty fitting name anyway and he didn’t think anything else would really work well. Still, he had more questions than answers. The orientation to the capture mission had given some information, but it all pointed to some very morally fucked things. If Murder had been made, what other things had InGen played with?
Sure, the hybrid was supposedly unsanctioned by the company, but still. The whole thing had been fishier than a sushi bar. Especially since Steve, the head of the ACU sent to Sorna, had let it slip that none of the mercs had meant to survive. Once more, Dustin’s impeccable luck had saved his ass, but also had to wonder how far that luck would carry him.
As he worked to tie a tarp down, he mused over the events on Sorna. First the fucking hybrid had spared him after killing the others with him, then followed him to the camp, proceeded to slam him face first into the dirt, and then demanded he be led to the others; Dustin finished with the first knot and started on the second. Since he hadn’t any other choices, he had done so. Murder then lured the remaining mercs out, killed them, and…Got his ass shot up with tranqs once he went out into the opening.
Dustin stood up and stretched his back. Now, he was sort of stuck taking care of the guy. Could Murder even be considered that? Whatever. As far as Dustin knew, the hybrid had been on Sorna for nearly twenty years. He looked older than that, but for all he knew Murder had been born in a test tube or some shit. The orientation had been fairly vague on the creature’s origin beyond ‘created by a mad scientist that we fired’. Frankly, Dustin was surprised that he could even talk. Sure, it was somewhat broken and Murder tended to use the wrong words, but Dustin usually managed to understand what was being said.
Overall, it was a damn weird situation and not one he’d ever expected to be in. At this point, however, all he could really do was run with it. Especially considering InGen currently held his leash. It was a long leash at least, but unlike many of the employees, he wasn’t allowed to leave the island unless he had a babysitter. Something about being a liability.
With the enclosure he’d been working on secure, Dustin slipped away to get lunch…Plus a little something extra for Murder. The food he happened to slip the freak was probably why he got away with so much. From his understanding, Murder had been kind of buddying up to Owen until the man started trying to get him to be ‘trained’. While the guy knew Murder was incredibly intelligent, he still thought he was an animal. Something the hybrid had found to be incredibly insulting.
Frankly, Dustin wasn’t going to tell him any different. There was no telling what would happen to Murder if it slipped on what he actually was. As it was, the critter seemed content to be in the enclosure, if a bit bored. Dustin had seen the mock-ups for the planned paddock and was actually a bit jealous because it sounded hella nice.
With the bag of mozzarella sticks in hand, plus his own lunch, Dustin made his way north to the restricted portion of the park. Since the crane that lifted Murder’s food had been dismantled for the moment, they’d taken to shooing in live steer…Something the hybrid seemed to enjoy immensely since it gave him an opportunity to hunt. As Dustin wandered down the hallway towards the shelter, he could hear Murder’s impatient huffs. He was late and figured he’d be grumped at for that.
Murder stood in the opening of his shelter and eyed the skies above. It was clear and sunny to the north, but the southern skies were dark. He’d weathered several tropical storms and a handful of hurricanes. They’d all been relatively mild, as far as storms went. Sure, they had turned the island into a mess, but the dinosaurs who’d been killed had made for easy food.
He glanced towards the hallway to his right and rolled his eyes. Dustin was late with the pre-lunch snack. Quite honestly, he’d been perfectly fine with the shift in staff, especially since Dustin tended to bring him tasty things. While he wasn’t a fan of the man’s constant bitching, it was better than Owen always trying to get him to do things. Sure, he understood the reasoning, but it was the principle of the matter.
The sound of footsteps alerted him to Dustin’s arrival and he moved to the inner gate, impatiently. Each day brought a different snack, most of which the man picked out for him. Murder made a few requests every now and then, but he wasn’t really that picky of an eater. Besides, everything he’d been offered so far had been pretty damn good. So, he didn’t have any reason to shake up the current routine.
As the man approached, Murder scented the air but huffed when he wasn’t able to smell what he’d been brought. Frustrated, he lightly pushed against the gate and reached out to Dustin in order to make grabby hands at him.
“Christ, you over grown lizard. Chill.” Dustin ducked the claws, but let out an annoyed sound and held his hat away from Murder. “Keep that shit up and you won’t get anything.”
This caused Murder to growl loudly, but he pulled his hand away and laid down with a huff. While he wasn’t a fan of ‘obeying’, he also knew Dustin would follow through with his threat. About a week ago, he stole the man’s hat and didn’t get any sort of ‘treats’ that day, despite having given the hat back. So, it sort of paid to ‘play nice’…At least until he got the food.
Dustin sat down in front of him and opened up the slightly crumpled paper bag, then fished out the breaded sticks before he held it out behind him. Curiously, Murder took one in his mouth and rolled it around on his tongue. The flavor seemed familiar.
“Mozzarella bread sticks. The pickings are going to be slim for the next few days. Whole park is shutting down.” Dustin paused to sip on his drink. “They’re going to be shipping out non-essential staff tomorrow ‘cause of the tropical storm. He’s not weakening, and they think he might hit Cat 1 status late tonight. Could be Cat 2 when he hits the park.”
Murder quietly rumbled at this news. He wasn’t really familiar with the grading of storms, but figured that the higher numbers meant the storm was stronger. Instead, he nosed Dustin’s back for another cheese stick. For the most part, he tuned the man out while he complained about everything he’d been doing to help with the storm. The only thing he cared about was a steady supply of food being delivered to his mouth.
Unfortunately, the hand feeding session came to an abrupt end when Owen walked around the corner. Immediately, Dustin was given a disapproving look. The raptor trainer made it no secret that he abhorred Dustin’s blatant disregard for the rules he’d laid out, but at the same time there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it.
“One of these days, he’s going to be in a mood and you’re going to get your back ripped up.” Owen leaned against the wall with a frown.
“Haven’t we done this song and dance before?” Dustin simply held out another cheese stick. “Or are you just pissy that the big, bad Utahraptor isn’t buddy-buddy with you anymore? Can’t call yourself the only raptor trainer in the park now.”
Owen made a frustrated noise, “I don’t care that he’s bonding with you. What I do care about is you purposely putting yourself in danger.”
“Him? Nah. He’s just an oversized lizard that likes junk food.”
“You really…” Finally, Owen just sighed. With the shit eating grin on Dustin’s face, it just wasn’t worth it. He went through this argument on a near day to day basis with the man. Somehow, Dustin hadn’t been violently mutilated by Alpha. Frankly, Owen was just waiting for the day when all he found at the gate was the man’s fucking cowboy hat.
“Aaaand you ate all your cheese sticks.” Dustin commented as he peered into the back. Then, he made a yell of surprise when the raptor suddenly shoved at his back with his nose. “Fucker! I’m not sharing my lunch.”
Murder growled and nipped the brim of Dustin’s hat before yanking it through the bars. Then, he stood up and moved out of the man’s reach as he tried to grab it. Quietly, he laughed. The sound was a throaty chittering and prompted Dustin to let out a long string of curses that started in English but quickly shifted into Spanish mingled with a few other languages.
Owen watched his for a long moment before he shook his head. “I was going to ask how Alpha’s doing with the incoming storm, but I guess he’s doing fine.”
With a final curse, Dustin finally snatched back his hat, then critically examined the brim before settling it back on his head. “He’s doing fucking fine. Why do you ask?”
“A lot of the dinosaurs who haven’t gone through a storm are getting anxious. My girls are pacing their pen and I’m worried they might need to be sedated a bit. I was concerned Alpha might be doing the same, but…” Owen shrugged slightly.
“I know what you’re talking about…But, no. Besides being an asshole, he’s being pretty chill. Hasn’t gone off food or anything.” Dustin glared at the raptor as he wandered out of the shelter, then looked back to Owen. “I’ll let you and Kaitlyn know if he starts freaking out. I’m planning on weathering out the storm here, anyway. I just need to cart up some food to eat.”
When Owen simply nodded, Dustinraised an eyebrow. “Not gonna try and talk me out of it?”
“Not really. Going to do the same thing with my girls.”
“Color me surprised.” Dustin commented as he bent down to pick up his trash. “Anyway. Gotta go. Have a laundry list of shit I gotta deal with.”
True to what Dustin had said, Tropical Storm Nolan strengthened into a Category 1 storm and showed signs of strengthening further. The park’s command center kept a close eye on the storm and had NOAA’s Hurricane Center webpage up on the screen at all times in order to send out frequent text updates to the park staff.
Dustin grimaced when his phone went off while he was in the middle of cleaning Murder’s shelter. He fished it out of his pocket and frowned at the update. Not only had Nolan continued to strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane, it had also shifted enough for a direct hit on the park and was forecasted to hit sometime in the early morning hours. Already the outer bands of the storm were brushing over the park and the southern portion of the island was getting rain. The only good news was the storm wasn’t expected to get any stronger and the command center expected only minimal damage. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and tossed a bale of shavings onto the floor.
As he cut open the bale, Murder came to the outer gate and snuffled the fresh shavings. Dustin flipped his knife shut and pocketed it. “Worried about the storm?”
Murder shook his head.
“Been through a few?” Dustin pulled the plastic off of the bale and started kicking the shavings around. Murder sneezed from the dust, but nodded his head.
“Huh. Figure you would've since you were on Sorna and all. Probably didn’t have a fancy building like this to hunker down in.” He briefly walked to the wheelbarrow to grab another bale. Much like the first, he tossed it into the shelter so he could cut it open. When he went to cut it open, Murder had already wandered off.
It was later in the evening when Dustin dumped his things into the breakroom and sat down by the inner gate. He wasn’t sure where Murder was; it was raining pretty heavily already. Dustin figured that the raptor would have bedded down in the shelter, but apparently not. Thankfully, with how the shelter door was designed, the risk of Dustin getting wet from rain was next to nothing. Yawning, he turned his tablet on and thumbed through his apps to find the book he’d been reading.
A half chapter later and a loud clap of thunder caused Dustin to jump. Seconds later he heard the heavy footfalls of something running and Murder ducked into the shelter. Apparently, that had been more than enough to cause the freak to run for cover. “Getting bad out there?”
Murder nodded before he kicked around some of the bedding and laid down. While he wasn’t opposed to the idea of weathering the storm outside, it was kind of dumb to do so when he had a perfectly good shelter to sleep in. Once he’d settled in the pseudo nest, he stretched out and flopped onto his side. He wasn’t entirely sure on why Dustin had decided to spend the night since the storm wasn’t that bad, but as long as the man didn’t disturb his sleep, he really didn’t care. After another moment, he lifted his head long enough to yawn before he settled again. This time, he closed his eyes.
Since the raptor was intent on sleeping, Dustin simply went back to his book. He wasn’t quite tired yet, and besides that, he was a bit anxious over sitting through his first hurricane. Since his room was a few floors up in the worker apartments, he wasn’t about to weather the storm there…And the command center hadn’t been keen on the idea of him bunking there. So, hanging out with Murder was the next best choice.
At the moment, the storm didn’t seem much worse than a severe thunderstorm, but still. Another loud clap of thunder caused him to flinch and look up. To his left, Murder made a grumpy noise and climbed to his feet in order to move over to the wall. There, he laid down again. A few seconds later, small bits of hail bounced off the ground and into the opening of the shelter. Dustin let out a shaky exhale. This prompted a curious noise from Murder.
“Like I said the other day: never been through a hurricane before. Doesn’t seem too bad, but…” He gave a one shouldered shrug. "I'm from central Texas, so the coast will sometimes get hurricanes but by the time they reached where I was at, they were glorified thunderstorms."
Murder simply grunted before curling up a bit to rest his head on his flank. There, he closed his eyes and made a content rumble. Dustin just shook his head and tried to focus back on his book. At least the building was secure, and the hurricane wasn’t really all that strong, all things considered.
Since the power remained uninterrupted, Dustin switched to his phone while his tablet charged and continued reading. Murder had long since passed out, which he found surprising...Considering how noisy the storm was. That same noise masked the sound of Owen as the raptor trainer made his way down the hallway.
Dustin jumped when his name was said and he spat out a curse in Spanish before he glared at Owen. “What?”
Owen gave him an amused look, “I swung by to see how Alpha’s doing, but I guess I didn’t need to.” He gestured at the sleeping raptor.
“Him? Pft. He’s been asleep for probably the last two hours. How’s your girls?”
“Had to mildly sedate them. This is the first hurricane they’ve been through and they were freaked out. Finally made the call to have them sedated because I was worried they’d hurt themselves.” He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. “I guess with Alpha being wild that he’s seen a few storms…Since we don’t know how old he is.”
“Oh, yeah. He spent most of the time outside till the storm started getting really loud. Then he came in and passed out.”
Owen nodded and was tempted to remark about how close Dustin was to the gate, but figured it’d just be a waste of time. “Going to bed here for the night?”
“Yeah. Didn’t know how he was gonna react, so I decided to camp out just in case.” Dustin wasn’t about to mention the actual reason since he figured he'd get some shit for it.
“Good call. Alright, I’m going to head back to the other pen while we’re still in the eye. Kaitlyn’s on call, so if he does start freaking out…There’s a tranq gun in the breakroom. She’ll be able to tell you how much to dose up.”
Dustin side eyed Murder. While the raptor looked asleep, he was pretty sure he saw the critter slightly open an eye. “I don’t think I’ll need to do that. He slept through most of the storm so far. I don’t see that changing.”
“I don’t either, but figured I’d let you know.” Owen gave the other man a slight nod before he left.
Dustin managed to stay up another hour before he finally dragged himself to the breakroom in order to flop out on the too short couch. Hurricane Nolan had turned out to be anything but impressive. As soon as it had hit the island, it’d started losing a bit of steam and was currently flirting with the idea of being downgraded to a Category 1.
With a sigh, Dustin tugged his hat down so that it covered his eyes in order to block out the overhead light. The couch wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing in the world, but he’d slept on much, much worse. Despite the rumbles of thunder above, he managed to fall asleep.
Morning arrived far, far quicker than he would have liked. It wasn’t the storm that woke him, oh no. The loud, echoing bellow of Murder demanding breakfast was what did it. Groaning, Dustin rolled off the couch and nearly fell in the floor thanks to his left leg being asleep. He started limping out of the breakroom. “Shut the fuck up, you fucking lizard!”
This only prompted Murder to bellow louder. Scowling, Dustin stalked to the inner gate and glared at the hybrid who glared right back. Finally, he hit the button to close the outside gate. “I’ll see about finding someone to help me with the steer.”
Unfortunately, the idea of waiting didn’t appeal to Murder who simply started making a godawful screech. The screeching, bellyaching, and overall temper tantrum didn’t end until the raptor had been released from the shelter to eat. Dustin rubbed the side of his head and quietly wondered how the hell he’d ended up caring for something that could be such a literal child at times.