Amethyst gawked wide-eyed and mouth open at the daunting fence line, the looming metal strands casting thin shadows across her face. It was like a giant spider web waiting to ensnare her small form within its wires along with the trapped, splintered debris from the previous evening's storm. A gentle, warm breeze softly rattled the danger sign, engraving the fact that the fence was once highly electrified within the woman's mind. All of those warning signs she had been seeing around the park came flooding back, crashing against her and drowning her thoughts. Although they were once installed for the safety of the people, all Amy felt now was an unsteady sense of unease. The woman swallowed hard, her fingers clenching and unclenching with her silent turmoil. "Heights... Why is it always heights with you?"

"Come on, it's not that high," Alan tried sounding comforting, but Amy only scrunched her nose at the statement. Alan picked up a stick from the ground. Then he placed his hands against the top of the cemented platform and with a single jump, he crawled up to the bottom of the fencing.

"Alan," Amy warned, yet she couldn't bring herself to move, her feet rooted to the floor. The power had gone out at the Tyrannosaurus enclosure, but there was no real way to know for sure just how much of the park's system had gone down. For all they knew, this fence could still be active. She'd be damned to survive a raging dinosaur and a fifty-foot fall down a concrete moat only to die from electrocution.

"It's okay," Alan said while using the stick to point up at a pair of orange and blue lights high on the fence line. Then, he tossed the stick. It slapped against the wires and fell. Nothing else happened. Alan turned to Amy and he shrugged, "I guess that means the power's off." He turned back to the fence and lifted his hands. Before Amy could even process what was happening, Alan gripped the wires and almost instantly he began violently yelling and shaking. Amy jumped back and closed her eyes, her own scream scrambling from deep within her chest as the kids clutched at her clothes and hid their faces.

The screaming stopped and everything was silent. It took everything Amy had to muster up the courage to open her eyes, and when she did, she nearly collapsed to the floor. Alan still stood and his hands were still gripped around the wires, yet his previous terror had been replaced with a mischievous smirk and a cocked brow.

"Was zur Hölle... war das..?" Amy breathed out, her chest still rumbling like a thousand wild horses stampeding within herself.

"That's not funny," huffed Lex as she, too, tried to regain her senses.

Tim's face broke out into a large, toothy smile and he began to laugh, though he still sounded a bit shaken. "That was great!"

"Damn it, Alan," Amy grumbled and began to climb up onto the platform with the man, her face furrowed with deep lines of agitation. "I should break your nose for that." Despite the harsh words, she couldn't help but to smile and shake her head at the boyish look on his face. God, was he irritating. Yet somehow, Amy found it somewhat charming. Even if he did almost give her a heart attack.

Alan turned his attention back to the fence. He pulled at the wires and tried fitting his head through them, searching for any way to possibly break them apart. "Maybe we could-" his words were cut off by an all-too familiar prehistoric bellow, one that was far too close for comfort. Amy's body went rigid and her eyes jerked in the direction of the noise, her mind flashing with every instinctual warning.

The distant call slowly died off with the sounds of the chirping birds and singing insects. The silence that followed did not last long, as the four humans suddenly jumped into gear, like a bomb had gone off right before them. The kids dived at the platform, their little arms scrambling for any sort of leverage that would get them off the ground. Amy lunged at Lex and she dragged the girl up by her arms as Alan did the same for Tim. Then, they began to climb.

Amy wasn't sure what caused her to tremble more; the oncoming Tyrannosaur or the fact that the fence was far higher than what she first thought. Each step she took wobbled and swayed and she wondered if this was what seasickness felt like. Luckily, Tim seemed to be doing far better with climbing than he had the night before, but he was still slower than Alan and Lex. The boy was only a few steps higher than Amy herself. She was happy that he was managing so well, however, the higher they climbed, the slower his pace became, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Lex kept glancing down at her younger brother, her worry clear upon her young, round face. She would stop, wait for Tim to get a few steps closer, then continue on. The process continued multiple times until, finally, she spoke. "Timmy, I bet I could climb over to the top and get to the other side before you even get to the top," she said. Amy guessed it was Lex's way of motivating her kid brother. It seemed to work.

"What would you give me?" he countered with a new child-like competitiveness.

"Respect."

"Come on, guys, it's not a race," Alan said from over his shoulder. Amy supposed Alan was right in saying that. After all, with how flimsy the wires were, it would have been easy to slip and fall. Still, she was grateful for Tim's new increase in speed, however small an increase it was.

Alan, Lex, and Tim had finally reached the top of the fence. One by one, they kicked their legs over and began their descent. However, Amy was still stuck on the opposite side. The fence shook and wavered with their movements and it nearly caused the woman to stagger. Amy's hands gripped the fence tightly, now overly aware of just how sweaty her palms were. "Come on, Amy, you can do it," she heard Alan's encouragement from above, though it did little to quicken her pace. "Do you want me to wait up here for you?"

She shook her head, "no, get the kids down first. I'll be fine." Amy took a gulp of air and continued up. She was finally nearing the top, though it was becoming near impossible to force her hands and feet forward as the kids clambered clumsily along the wires below her. Every little tremble of the fence nearly sent her into a panic, the fear of somehow misplacing her next step shadowing over all other thoughts. There was a sudden hand against her arm and she flinched. She was so focused on climbing that she hadn't realized Alan passing by, or when he stopped beside her.

The man placed his face between the gaps of the wiring. His blue eyes were striking against his dusty skin, and they drew Amy in. "Hey, it's okay," he spoke softly, soothingly. "You're almost there. Take your time and find your footing." Amy bit her lip hard and she found herself wanting to cry. However, she forced that thought away and she nodded her head forcefully, the action a failed attempt at convincing herself that he was right; that she would be okay. Alan smiled and he gave her arm a comforting pat. Then, he followed after the children.

Once Amy finally reached the top, Alan and Lex were almost at the bottom. Tim's burst of determination had dwindled quickly and he was only around half way down. The sight of the struggling boy urged Amy on and she made it her new mission to reach him, though her own speed only increased ever so slightly. She forced her eyes to see nothing but her hands, focusing solely on where her next placement would be. She didn't dare to see where her feet were, trusting to only lower herself down after blindly settling her foot on a lower wire. It was a slow process, but it was working.

Suddenly, there was a loud alarm sounding off from above her head. Amy's eyes bounced to her right where she saw the lights Alan had pointed out before. They were flashing now, blinking a sickening orange and blue. The power was coming back on. There was the sound of shouting and the fence shook terribly and Amy yelped in surprise. Tim had slipped, though he thankfully had caught himself. Now the child was gripping his small body around the wires, curling himself against his only safety. Amy shouted for the boy and she went to climb down to him, though the moment her eyes looked down, her world began spinning. How was she still so high up?

From the ground below, Alan and Lex were shouting up to Amy and Tim, though Amy couldn't understand a word of it. The only thing she could bring herself to understand was that she was still so high up. The fence swayed and shook and Amy glanced between her arms to see Tim scrambling down, and once he was close enough to do so, he jumped. Amy was the only one left on the fence.

The poor woman forced herself down further, each muscle rutting against the other as her own body fought against her. Her new frightened state worked in quickening her pace, though her carefulness was overshadowed. Very suddenly, her toes slipped against the flimsy wired surface and she fell. She only slid down a few inches, but her mind only processed the fact that she fell. That was enough for her limbs to give up. Amy forced her arms through the wires and she hugged herself against them tightly, clutching her arms around herself and the fence desperately as she began to cry. Alan and the kids continued yelling, their shouts a terrible jumbled mess of incoherent sounds, though she did hear one, singular word; "jump!"

"Are you crazy? I'm not doing that!" she cried.

"Amy, I'll catch you!" Alan yelled back. The desperation in his voice alone only made Amy cling to the fence tighter.

"No, no Alan I can't, I can't!"

"Amethyst, you're just going to have to trust me! Here, I'll count to three. One, two, three!" Tears dribbled down her flushed cheeks and she sobbed, shaking her head as unintelligible muttering fell from her throat in disarranged chaos. "I'm coming up. I'm coming up to get you!" That caused something to stir deep within Amy. The thought of Alan putting himself at risk somehow overruled her fear. Or, at least, she got a boost of pathetic confidence.

"Okay... Okay, I'll jump!" Amy began to lean herself backward. Every inch she pushed caused her aching muscles to burn and quake from beneath the surface of her hot skin. Her hands blanched from the steel grip she had against the wires, her fingers clamped so tightly that her knuckles could have split from the pure tightness of the tension. Her fingers twitched and jerked as she eased her grip open, allowing herself to slip further and further. Amy now hung on only by the creases of her fingertips. The woman's eyes scrunched close and she whimpered an encouraging mantra, though she had no clue what she was actually saying. "Okay, okay, oh God, okay. One, two... Jesus Christ! Okay, one, two-" she stopped.

Everything around Amy went black. Pitch, inky black with strobe-like, white flashes. She could almost compare it to driving through a blizzard at night with snow hitting the windshield in an infinitely bright white splatter. Simultaneously, the only sound she could hear was a deafeningly loud kind of mechanical sounding crackling deep within her eardrums. Amy could feel no surroundings, though there was an odd fluttering inside her guts. The bright flickers of light began to blink slower and slower until finally, she saw nothing.

Amy's limp body had barreled directly into Alan's arms, knocking him off his feet and forcing the air harshly from his lungs. Alan rolled his body, pushing Amy off of him so that he could properly breathe. The moment he could get a grasp on what had just happened, he jumped into action like a live, burning wire had been set ablaze below his feet.

Alan crawled over to the woman and he placed his hands against her cheeks. "Amy?" He tapped her face. She didn't move. "Amethyst?" He tapped her again. She didn't even twitch. Alan placed his head against her chest and he waited and he waited. Then, a coldness flooded through him like a crashing mountain of destruction. "She's not breathing."

The man's body went into a sort of auto pilot. He had no control over his next actions, like he was watching a movie play out. Alan tipped Amy's rolling head and pinched her nose and he placed his lips against her own, forcing two breaths down her throat. Then he placed the heels of his hands in the center of her chest and he pressed down in multiple hard, short bursts. "Amethyst!" the man cried out. The sound was horrible, desperate, and pleading. He gave her two more breaths and pumped against her chest. "No, Amy!"

The woman's battered body suddenly gave a shutter, followed by violent coughs and gasps. Alan went rigid and his mind stuttered. Then, he was holding Amy's body hard against his own, clutching at her clothes and brushing hands down her arms and running his fingers through her hair. He pulled away and he took in her features almost as though he would never see her again, taking in every last wrinkle on her sweaty face and the little misplaced hairs as he smiled a smile that caused his cheeks to hurt.

Amy shuttered and sputtered, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as she groaned. "I... I should call my parents..." Alan drew her back into his chest as bubbles of baffled, quivering laughter escaped him. Amy could only limply lay her arms around Alan's shoulders, utterly confused at what had just happened. Her bleary eyes skimmed from Alan's deep, furrowed brows to Lex's and Tim's scrunched, weeping faces. Her heart was racing at an incomprehensible speed and she faintly wondered if a simple flex of her finger would send her into a full-blown heart attack. There was an odd prickling radiating from her hands that was steadily inching up her arms and she could feel it beginning to burn. "Alan," she murmured weakly, her eyes gazing up at him with a significant, exhausted disorientation. "Did... was I just electrocuted..?"

Alan only laughed more. His clammy palms brushed away her splayed hair and he placed a kiss against her brow. The touch lingered, warm and lovely, and she found herself laughing at the entire situation, too. The sound must have set off a switch within the kids, something that let them know everything truly was okay, and they both attacked Amy and Alan. They threw their arms around the two adults and they weeped. Amy still couldn't properly feel her arms and all she could do to comfort the terrified children was to brush her cheek against the tops of their heads and shush them while Alan enveloped them all within a tight hug.

It was several long minutes before the four managed to calm themselves down, and it took even longer to finally pull away from each other. Amy wanted nothing more than to crawl under the shade of a bush and sleep for the next week, but with Alan's reminder of the visitors center being less than a half a mile away, she was able to gather the last of her strength and stand. Well, with Alan's help, of course. When Amy had first tried placing any amount of weight on her legs, she instantly crumbled and Alan had to catch her. He wrapped her arm around his neck and he lifted her. Amy had to lean nearly all her body weight against Alan's side to even somewhat walk. Her body felt like jell-o, all except for her arms and hands, which now throbbed like someone was jabbing her with a hot poker. Walking was slow work, but the group was back to making progress in their journey. The electric fences were back on, meaning their chances for survival had increased, and with how close they were to the visitor's center, Amy felt a sense of safety; a feeling she wasn't sure she would ever feel again.

After a while, Amy had unwrapped herself from Alan and was now walking on her own. He had insisted that he carry her the rest of the way, but she would not allow him to do such a thing, even with her new limp. She had been enough of an inconvenience to him as it was. "Ow!" she flinched when Alan touched on a particularly sensitive area of her arm. From her wrist up to her elbows, her skin was hot and tender with lightning-strike veins branching up her arms. It hurt to even sway her arms when she walked, and when Alan touched her it felt like a rattlesnake had struck her.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I just wanted to check on you. You're quiet."

Amy rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Well, being electrocuted doesn't exactly make you very chatty."

"Surprising," he joked, to which Amy shoved him lightly. She instantly regretted the action as a venom-like throb rattled through her. "Here," Alan offered her his hand, "let me see." Amy hesitated for a second, but she gave him her hand anyway. The man took her appendage tenderly, though Amy still grimaced and she had to avert her gaze from the sight. Her entire hand was a bloody red in color, all except for the creases of her fingertips, which were singed and blackened around a straight line of open blisters. Alan stopped in his tracks and he began to rummage in the front of his shirt. His free hand clutched the red cloth around his neck and his fingers worked to untie the knot.

Amy blinked dumbly and she laughed an awkward giggle. "Why am I only now realizing that that was a bandanna?" Alan smiled and shook his head, chuckling along with her. After a few more seconds, he was finally able to undo the knot and he wrapped the fabric around her hand, gently covering the damaged areas. Amy waited for the pain, yet she surprisingly couldn't feel much of anything. The pain only started from around her wrist and up, which could have been considered a bit of a relief if not for the added pain of her still broken wrist. Alan tied off the bandanna, then he went for her left hand. The bandanna from the night before was still crudely tied around her thumb and finger and it was only slightly burnt.

"Do you want me to re-tie it?" he asked.

Amy shrugged. "It was a nice thought. But with how much climbing you make me do, it doesn't really help much." Alan undid the tattered knot and began to instead tie it around her fingers just as he had with the other hand. Amy raised a curious brow around the winces of pain. "Do you always carry around two bandannas? Or do you have some secret stash I don't know about?"

"Well, this secret stash will help to keep away infection, so you're welcome." Finally, he tied it off.

Amy inspected the wrappings, a soft warmth emanating inside her. She raised up her hands and waved them lightly. "How's it look, doc?"

Alan smiled a smile; a sort of smile that caused Amy's heart to stutter. "Looks like you'll live."

Amy's own smile softened from that of banter to something different. She didn't quite understand the feeling she now felt. Part of her knew what it must have meant, though it was something utterly new and confusing to her. It wasn't something she had felt in a long time, or maybe she had never truly felt something like this before. The woman found herself wanting to do something about it. There was an odd desire to move about, but she hadn't a clue as to what movements that would be. Before she realized it, her body made that decision for her. Amy placed a hand against the side of Alan's warm cheek and she leaned forward. She stopped, hesitating for only a second, then continued with the action. Amy placed her lips against the corner of Alan's, giving him a delicate, fragile kiss; a thank you. The feeling Amy now felt was similar to that of being electrocuted, only without the pain. Through her closed eyelids, Amy saw dazzling sparkles fluttering through the darkness, like little lights glistening off of a butterfly's wing. Then, she pulled away, gave the man a kind smile, and she walked away.