Out of the Blue (fanfiction and art by me)

Owen Grady whacked his ax down on another log. The stack of chopped firewood had already piled up to his hip. He tossed the freshly cut piece and moved onto another. It felt like another normal day to him.
After the Biosyn Valley incident of 2022 - he could hardly believe that it had already been five whole years - Owen and his wife, Claire, had gone from fugitives to heroes, almost overnight. Their adoptive daughter, Maisie Lockwood, had won a college scholarship to Berkeley, just now starting her sophomore year.
Despite all the television fame - and even a few generous assets from California senators - Owen and Claire still decided to live in their small bungalow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Although, now that they could work honest jobs without fear of being arrested, they had enough money to do some much-needed reno projects. Owen was now a wrangler at a nearby dinosaur refuge, and Claire was a manager for a restaurant called the “Dinersaur” in town. They even had a two year-old daughter, Riley.
As Owen grabbed another log to be split, he heard a familiar noise in the distance. The call of a Velociraptor. He froze, unsure what to do. He knew that Blue and her daughter, Beta, were still living in the area. But there were also several Sornaensis raptors on the mainland as well - known for being unpredictable and deadly. Just to be safe, Owen placed his other hand firmly on the ax as well.
The calls continued, reaching closer and closer every passing second. They were clear enough that Owen recognized what they meant now. It was a cry for help.
Soon enough, a Velociraptor burst forth from the trees. At first, Owen thought it was Blue herself. But this raptor, although she looked identical to Grady’s old friend, was more spritely and lithe than her. He realized it must be Beta, now five years old and in the prime of her life. Owen placed the ax down.
“Hey there, girl,” he said, extending an open palm out to her. “How’s it been?”
Instead of taking Owen’s peace offering, Beta let out another frantic chirp and jerked her head back towards the trees. With nothing but another chirp, she ran off into the forest again.

Owen quickly ran over to one of his motorcycles - he had gotten back into his hobby of maintaining vehicles - and drove off in pursuit of the young raptor. Navigating the snowy forest was a challenge, but Owen, having lived there for almost a decade now, knew all the different side trails and open clearings by heart. It took a while, but he eventually spotted Beta and drove up astride her.
She continued running through the forest for a while longer, then suddenly stopped. Owen threw the brake lever and slid his cycle to a halt. He was glad he did so, because just twenty yards away was a steep ravine.
Beta ran over to the edge and kept shouting her alarm chirps. Owen dismounted, looked down into the ravine to see what was happening… and was so shocked that he almost slipped off the cliff face.
About forty feet down, lying prone in a snowbank, was Blue.
Owen immediately began looking for a way down, his mind filling with panic. After a few minutes of frantic searching, he found a slope leading into the ravine, gentle and not covered in too much snow. Slowly and carefully, he began his descent, with Beta following close behind him. Owen reached the bottom quickly and ran through the wide canyon to the place that Blue lay.
She was still alive, but barely. Her leg had an ugly bruise on it, a clear sign that something had broken. Owen ran up to her and wrapped an arm around her muzzle. It was only then that he noticed more bruises across her torso.
“You took a nasty tumble, didn’t you, girl?” Owen said, trying to be cautiously optimistic about the situation. He grabbed a satellite phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

“Hello?”
“Hey, Zia. It’s me, Owen. Are you nearby?”
“Yeah, I was just opening the dinosaur clinic at the refuge for the morning. Why?”
“I need you to get to these coordinates now. It… it’s Blue. Something’s wrong.”
“Got it. I’ll be there right away.”
The call ended, and Owen began stroking his old Velociraptor friend. He began to tell her stories of their adventures over the years, with Beta listening intently as well.
He told about how he had first watched Blue hatch from her egg, along with her sisters. He told about his time bonding with her during Jurassic World’s IBRIS program. He told about the Indominus Rex incident, when her loyalty overcame the hybrid monster’s orders. He told about rescuing her off Isla Nublar during the Mt. Sibo eruption. And he told about how he had gone to great lengths to rescue Blue’s daughter from Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn.
Blue’s breathing, although still rather shallow, was growing stronger. By the time Zia Rodriguez - the refuge’s paleovet and a coworker of Owen’s - arrived on the scene, Blue was even able to sit upright on her bum leg.
“What happened?” Zia asked as she came down from the slope.
“I think Blue fell from the ravine,” Owen explained. “She has a broken leg and several bruises across her chest.”
“I’ll take a look.” Zia pulled out her medical kit and began monitoring Blue’s vital signs. The old raptor didn’t resist at all, either because she was too weak or she recognized Dr. Rodriguez as someone who had saved her life in the past. In any case, Zia was able to record her data and give it to Owen.
“She has a broken femur, and possibly a few fractured ribs as well. Her heart and lungs are weakening, but still functioning as normal. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but if we get her back to the refuge clinic now, she might just make it.”
Owen gave her a glance of skepticism.
Zia sighed. “However… the average lifespan of a Velociraptor is only fifteen to twenty years - and that’s in captivity. Blue’s been living in the unrelenting wilds for eight years, without any kind of pack to hunt with her. Even if she does survive this injury… she still might not live much longer.”
Owen nodded in understanding. “Let’s get her to your vet unit. I’m willing to accept whatever happens.”

As Beta looked on, Owen and Zia hoisted Blue to her feet and helped her walk up the slope. They got her to the vet unit - an ambulance gifted by the Department of Prehistoric Wildlife - and hoisted her up into the back. Zia started the vehicle, Owen hopped back on his motorcycle, and Beta cantered after them. The group drove north towards the reserve.
As they drove through the forest trails, a loud roar pierced through the chilly air. Beta, still running next to Owen, let out a snarl.
“What was that?” Owen said nervously.
“Not sure. I don’t recognize the sound, so it might be an illegally bred species.”
“Do me a favor and drive faster.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
As the vet unit began to pick up speed, the roar sounded again. Owen glanced around just in time to see a medium-sized feathered dinosaur burst out of the shadows and ram into the ambulance. The vehicle toppled over, rolling through the snow and underbrush, and eventually came to a stop on its side.
“ZIA! BLUE!” Owen slammed his motorbike to a halt and ran over to the vet unit. The rear doors had been knocked off, and Blue lay barely conscious on the “wall.” Owen dashed to the cab to check on Zia.
“Owen…” her voice groaned.
The windshields on the cab had shattered. Zia was still buckled into the driver’s seat, but hanging a few feet above the ground and bearing some fresh scars on her face and arms.
“I’ve got you,” Owen said, helping her out through the now nonexistent windshield.
“Is… Blue safe?”
“She’s still alive, in the back.”
The dinosaur that rammed into the vet unit roared again, stalking towards the wrecked vehicle. It looked a lot like a T-Rex, but with bluish-gray scales on its face and white feathers covering its entire body.
“Nanuqsaurus,” Zia guessed. “Wrong size and face shape for a Yutyrannus.”
The Nanuqsaurus spotted the two humans and charged at them. Owen and Zia got out of the way as fast as they could, heading towards the back of the downed ambulance where Blue was slowly getting to her feet again.

Blue!” Owen shouted. “You have to get out of here! It’s not safe for-”
The Nanuqsaurus interrupted him by ripping the wall - now technically the roof - of the vet unit clean off. It tossed the metal aside like a frisbee and roared.
Zia pulled a tranquilizer pistol out of her pocket, only to realize that it wasn’t loaded. The darts were in the vet unit, but they had all been crushed on impact. Her and Owen were defenseless.
Almost defenseless.
Blue hobbled forward, somehow still looking majestic as she dragged her bum leg behind her. She stared straight up at the Nanuqsaurus and snarled. The arctic Tyrannosaur roared back.
“Blue, don’t do this!” Owen pleaded. “You’re too weak.”
His raptor friend looked back at him. She gave him one last look, a look that seemed to speak a clear sentence.
𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.
Blue turned back to the Nanuqsaurus, gave a screech, and pounced onto its muzzle. Granted, it was a very clumsy pounce, but it worked. Blue began clawing at the Nanuqsaurus’ eyes, biting at its snout, shrieking in its ear. The large dinosaur flung Blue off its head, and she landed with a sickening crunch against a large rock. The Nanuqsaurus roared and stomped off back into the forest.

Owen rushed to Blue’s side. When he saw the large gash in her chest, he almost threw up. Blood was flowing from the wound, making the snow around look like a cherry slush. Her breathing was raspy, and her eyes looked ready to roll back into her skull.
“She’s losing too much blood,” Zia said. “She’s… she’s dying.”
Owen felt tears coming to his eyes. “Come… come on. There has to be something… something… something you can do. Please… please… please please please please please…”
“OWEN!” she shouted in his ear. “Owen. There’s nothing that can help.”
Beta dashed over to her mother’s side, letting out frightened yelps into the air. She nuzzled Blue’s snout, something in her eyes that Owen swore looked like genuine sorrow.
Blue pushed her daughter away and glanced at Owen instead. He understood the message, walking over and placing Blue’s head in his lap.
“It’s okay, girl. I’m right here. Right here. Right here.”
He kept repeating it to her like a mantra. Blue looked up at him, an unintelligible look dancing in her scarlet eye. A look that… almost seemed like love. Compassion. Loyalty.
Their special bond.
“I’m right here girl,” Owen whispered. “I’m right here. You’re… you’re safe. Safe forever.”
Blue looked up at the canopy far above her. She inhaled one last heave of a breath, then peacefully let it out. Her body went limp. Her eyes glazed over.
It was over.

“Owen,” Zia said cautiously. “Owen… I’m so sorry.”
He wasn’t prepared for the rush of emotions that burst from his heart. He kept telling himself in his mind not to cry, to keep a stiff upper lip, to act like a man. But as he held the lifeless body of his dinosaur companion in his arms, everything let loose.
Owen sobbed. He cried and he wept and he let the tears pour down his face like waterfalls. Beta snuggled up against him and gave a mournful howl into the dawn. Zia came to stroke Blue’s bright cobalt stripe one last time, while Owen held the raptor’s limp, clawed hand.
“You’re safe now, girl. You’re safe forever. Safe with me. Safe with me. Saved me. You… you saved me.”
Owen kept crying and crying and crying until it felt like his eyes had been drained of every last drop of teary moisture. And then, he cried some more.

A funeral was held for Blue three days later, at a small clearing on the Grady’s property. Along with Owen and Claire were Zia, her boyfriend Franklin Webb, the refuge’s entire staff, and Beta - who stood, surprisingly tame, by Owen’s side. A couple of unexpected guests were there too. Maisie had driven from Berkeley University on short notice, and Kayla Watts, the (former) smuggler who assisted in rescuing Beta, flew into the nearby airstrip to attend.
Owen gave a short but powerful eulogy about Blue, her life, and how she had died protecting him. After that, everybody helped to lower the Velociraptor into her grave and each dropped a flower on top of her body. They covered up the wound, and Owen thought it made Blue look like she was young and alive again.
After that, the guests each took turns shoveling soil on top of Blue. Owen was the first and last person to scoop a pile of it in, and tears trickled the whole time he did it. After it was fully covered, Owen picked up a gravestone that had been set down nearby. At his request, the local monumental mason had carved it from the same rock that the Nanuqsaurus had thrown Blue against. Owen set the gravestone down on top of his friend's final resting place. The message on it was simple, but it said all that needed to be said.

𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦
2012-2027
𝘔𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦.