Alex laughed at Kenji and Darius, who both stood in front of a large pile of dinosaur feces, their faces contorted in shock and disgust at the smell.
"Enjoy cleaning this up, boys," Roxie told them, handing them shovels, while Dave gave them cologne to help with the stench.
After that, they left, heading to the Genetics Lab. On their way there, Brooklynn complained about her decreasing follower count.
"'When are we gonna see cool stuff?' Chill, dude. I just got here," she said, reading more and more comments from her followers.
Sammy suggested that she could film a baby dino video, since everyone loved those.
Not long after, they arrived at the genetics lab, following behind Roxie. Alex looked around in excitement, his gaze landing on an incubation chamber. He walked over and asked, "I thought the park already had raptors. Why are you making more?"
His voice startled the men standing there, as they hadn't noticed his presence until he spoke.
"Who are you, kid? Are you with the camp?" an older man asked. He wore the same lab coat as the others, but his hung loosely off his shoulders, paired with a black dress shirt and a blue tie that was just as loose.
"Yeah, I am. My name's Alex Mercer," he said, smiling a bit, though his focus drifted back to the larger-than-normal raptor egg.
"My name is Korin Amana," the man introduced himself proudly, but Alex's gaze never left the egg, his head tilting curiously.
He then looked up at Korin. "What's wrong with the egg? It doesn't seem unhealthy, nor does it show signs of embryo mortality. Actually, it seems very healthy. Is it because there are twins?" Korin stared at him in shock. "How did you know it was a raptor egg… and that there were twins?" "It's simple," Alex said. "The coloration, the shape of the egg, and the pattern inside—it matches a normal raptor egg perfectly, besides the color. They're usually off-white, but this one's a darker shade mixed with gray. And the egg itself is larger than normal, which usually indicates twins."
Korin blinked, stunned. "Are you some type of genius?" he asked, grabbing Alex's shoulder.
"Uh, not that I know of," Alex said, gently removing Korin's hand. "What exactly is different about these two?" Korin grabbed a nearby tablet and began explaining. "We managed to perfectly blend the genes in dogs that allow them to be trained, taught, and domesticated, with raptor DNA. The goal is to make them easier to train—maybe even keep as pets."
Alex's eyes lifted slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Brooklynn sneak off toward a restricted area. Not long after, Sammy followed—more discreet.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion.
I understand why Brooklynn's here—she's looking for content… but what the hell is a farm girl doing sneaking around InGen's genetics lab?
His mind reeled with questions, circling back to one thing: Sammy might have been sent to Camp Cretaceous to steal valuable dinosaur information.
But who would task a sixteen-year-old girl with something like that? And why?
He decided to head back, mentally filing it away for later.
When he returned, Korin looked excited. "Hey, kid, come check it out—the raptor egg is hatching!" Rushing over, Alex watched as cracks began to form along the shell. Pieces slowly fell away. A small baby raptor hand broke through one side, followed by a foot on the other. The egg rocked back and forth as more cracks spread, chunks falling away until two small baby raptors were revealed.
One had gray skin. The other was a darker off-white, matching the egg's shell.
Their gazes wandered at first, unfocused, until both landed on Alex. They tilted their heads—at the exact same angle—and bumped into each other.
They shook it off, then began biting at the shell, crawling more than walking as they made their way toward him.
Alex's eyes widened. He glanced at Korin, silently asking for permission.
Korin nodded.
Alex lifted the chamber door just as the baby raptors nearly tumbled out—but he caught them. He held them carefully in his palms as they nuzzled into his hands. His eyes lit up with pure joy.
Gently, he shifted them into his arms, petting them.
"Korin… could I name them?" he asked, looking down at the two as they played. His expression softened, something almost fatherly settling in.
"Go ahead, kid," Korin said with a nod.
"Kira—the gray one. And Nova—the darker one." Kira immediately tried nibbling on Alex's finger, while Nova curled against his chest, calm and content.
"Fascinating… it's like they've already formed a bond—with each other, and with you. And so quickly," Dr. Henry Wu said, approaching.
He had been on his way to escort the others out after catching Brooklynn in the restricted area, but stopped when he noticed Alex.
"Young man, what is your name?" Wu asked, studying him closely.
"His name is Alex Mercer, sir," Korin answered, noticing Alex was completely absorbed with Kira and Nova.
Roxie, Dave, and the others walked over, surprised at the sight.
"He named them himself, sir—if that's alright," Korin added. Wu waved it off. "It's fine. What did you name them?" He gestured as if to pick them up, but Kira resisted, trying to stay awake, while Nova had already fallen asleep against Alex's chest.
Kira's nibbling turned into something softer—she began sucking on his finger like a baby with a pacifier.
Brooklynn, unsurprisingly, took the opportunity to film everything.
"This is definitely gonna double my follower count," she said.
After a few more minutes, Kira and Nova were placed in a special chamber for monitoring. Alex managed to take a photo with them before Dr. Wu told him to return in a few days to run tests.
They wanted to study how the raptors reacted to him—he seemed to have imprinted on them in minutes, when the process usually took weeks, sometimes even a month.
When they returned to Kenji and Darius, the two were still dealing with their punishment.
Alex could say he felt bad… but he had warned them.
Not to sneak out.
And if they did—at least don't get caught.
Well… they got caught.
Though only the last part wasn't true.
But how was he supposed to know they were dumb enough to end up in the wrong pen, and ended up inside.