"Where are we?" Sammy asks as the group walks through the jungle.
"We might be getting close to the camp," Darius says, acting as if his suggestion was a fact.
As Brooklynn walks close to Darius—who was supporting Yasmina—to discuss where they were headed, Sammy hangs back a bit. Kenji, not wanting to walk with Darius, follows suit, causing a divide in the group.
"What were you and Darius fightin' over?" Sammy whispers to Kenji.
"Nothing," he shrugs, determined not to talk about it.
Sammy is quiet for a second. "Were you guys fighting over what to do?" Kenji doesn't say anything. "There's no need to fight over what to do; you guys could work together on it."
"Apparently not," Kenji shrugs. "We can't get through without insulting each other, because apparently, I'm just an idiot and Darius is a genius. No one needs my opinion."
"You're not an idiot," Sammy comes to Kenji's defense.
"It doesn't bother me," Kenji shrugs, trying to play it off. "I know who I am, he can insult me all he wants. It won't hurt. It would be nice if he hadn't ranted off on my 'mistakes.' It got us nowhere. Not that it bothered me at all."
Sammy nods encouragingly, knowing fully well that Kenji was lying. "I mean, it ain't even fair to say you're stupid. You do know your way around the park and you are pretty smart. The situation in the tunnel isn't a fair representation of you. You were stressed as all git-out and had the added grief of Ben, so of course you wouldn't think straight. If Darius said anything insulting to ya, it was probably out of stress and anger."
"Yeah," Kenji nods, then sighs. "And I probably didn't help." He grimaces. "He was pretty stressed, and I… kinda brought up the sinoceratops incident. He got really angry after that and that's when he started trying to insult me. My reaction was not helpful. Being angry at an angry person isn't going to make the situation any better. I need to work on that…"
"Anger can be a strong emotion," Sammy says. "Hard to control."
Kenji nods. "I just made the situation worse. From the way he talked, he's stressed about leading and doesn't want… doesn't want to lead us in the wrong direction."
"Understandable," Sammy shrugs. "But if he's stressed, we should try to help him out. If you were in his situation, what would you want us to do?"
Kenji purses his lips. "Probably just be supportive of my decisions. I mean… I'm confident in myself and know how to lead, but he seems to be questioning himself. So he would need people to support his decisions and make sure that he knows they trust him. It'd give him the confidence booster that he needs to lead the team, and affirm him that what he's doing is right. The only problem is, he's bound to make a mistake at some point. He just might not receive it well if we try to tell him where he went wrong."
"Well, stress makes it hard to think," Sammy states. "If we can encourage him and help him stay calm in a situation, he might be able to think straight. And if he really is making a bad decision, we could try to respectfully tell him that. We named him leader, therefore, he leads us."
Kenji nods, looking at the ground.
"I think you have more power to guide him than you think, Kenji," Sammy says softly. "You were the one who named him leader. You're the oldest, and he's the youngest. He probably looks to you for help when he doesn't know what to do. If you were to encourage him and show that you respect his decisions, it might make him feel better."
"I never thought about it that way," Kenji murmurs.
"You guys kinda have a brotherly relationship," Sammy says. "I think he looks up to you more than he shows. You're the confident, cool-headed guy who's trying to save the day and lead the team. Why wouldn't he look up to you?"
"You're right," Kenji nods. "I'll have to apologize to him when we have alone time. I just hate apologizing. It feels… uncomfortable."
"Well, just make sure he knows that you trust him," Sammy says. "I don't know how to help with the apology thing, I apologize too much."
Kenji laughs. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for existing!"
"I'm not that apologetic!" Sammy laughs, bumping him with her shoulder.
"Everyone's like, 'How is Sammy?' but then one person is like, 'Why is Sammy?' and then you're apologizing for existing," Kenji says.
"I'm not that apologetic!" Sammy exclaims again, laughing.
"What are we talking about? Marvel?" Brooklyn asks from up ahead.
"And existential conversations," Kenji laughs.
Brooklynn hangs back to talk with the goof offs. Darius mentally sighs with relief; she had yet again been pestering him with "the plan." "Good grief, do you not have confidence in me to lead us in the right direction?" Darius wonders.
"So, your fight with Kenji?" Yasmina asks, quirking an eyebrow.
Darius winces. Should he tell her or not? "Yaz isn't the type to panic. And she's definitely one of the stronger survivalists in the group. Plus, if I hide this from her, I'll get yelled at like Sammy…"
"We were fighting over whether to tell you guys or not," Darius grimaces.
"Tell us what?" Yasmina frowns.
"That… we found raptor tracks in our camp," Darius says reluctantly.
Yasmina's face pales. "So… it wasn't a hallucination."
"Yeah," Darius whispers.
"Why wouldn't Kenji want to tell us?" Yasmina asks accusatively.
"He… he did," Darius winces. "I was the one who didn't want to tell you guys."
Yasmina stares at him in unbelief. "If the raptor didn't eat us last night, there's no reason for it to go after us again," Darius starts rambling to explain himself. "Why wait when you could eat then? It doesn't make any sense, so I figured that it wasn't coming back. And then there's no reason to worry about it, so why cause panic among the group?"
"Darius, even if the dinosaur didn't eat us last night, it could always come back," Yasmina hisses. "There's always a chance that we could be eaten, and we all need to know about that chance."
"You wanna tell Brooklynn and Sammy?" Darius asks. "The worse things get, the more Sammy tries to stay happy. The more Brooklynn's worried, the more she asks questions. Relationships are already strained as they are, and panic could make them worse."
"I get your point," Yasmina grumbles. "I still agree with Kenji; the others should know. Gosh, never thought I'd say that."
Darius winces. "I know. I just don't want them to panic. I really don't think there's anything to worry about. The raptor left."
"On an island filled with dinosaurs, there's always something to worry about," Yasmina says. Darius can't dispute her.
The group reaches a clearing and arrives at their camp ground. The treehouse still remained splintered and destroyed. The group steers clear of the van where Ben had found the dead workers.
"Maybe we could try to salvage something from the wreckage," Sammy suggests. "Food, survival kits, supplies for…" She trails off as Brooklynn glares at her.
"I…" Darius hesitates, remembering his dream from the night. It wasn't a bad idea, but he was afraid they would get hurt. "Be very, very careful. It's not stable at all."
"What, do you think we'll be reckless?" Kenji shrugs.
Darius shudders. "I… need to go… yeah."
"All right, do your duty," Kenji says. "I'm good."
"Shouldn't you go with him?" Sammy asks.
"It's fine, I won't be going too far away," Darius says, and walks off quickly into the woods. "It's just a dream, just a dream," he tells himself. "They're not going to get hurt, or impaled, or fall off the treehouse. It was just a dream."
After Darius leaves, Brooklynn gathers the group. "Does Darius seem more stressed than usual."
Kenji winces.
"Yeah," Sammy nods. "But, I mean, that's to be expected on this island, right?"
"I wish there was a way we could fix that," Yasmina says. "Give him a way to relieve his stress. Drawing helps me, but I don't know what he does."
"He really loved his necklace," Brooklynn says. "The one that reminds him of his father. If we could give him that, maybe it would make him feel better."
"But it's still up in the treehouse," Yasmina argues. "We'd have to climb up the tree and into the room to get it."
Brooklynn smirks. "Yaz, are you afraid of heights?"
"No," Yasmina frowns. "Heights don't bother me."
"You're an all around athlete, can you rock climb?" Brooklynn asks.
Yasmina narrows her eyebrows, a small grin crawling onto her face. "You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?"
Brooklynn grins deviously. "I've rock climbed without gear before."
"I've tried parkour," Yasmina smirks. "Between the two of us, we might just be able to get up there. The elevator shaft could have great hand holds for us."
"And if not, the tree bark could work," Brooklynn nods quickly.
Sammy and Kenji look between the two. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Kenji states. "I wouldn't even do that!"
"If you guys fall, you're done for," Sammy says. "And what about your ankle?"
"It's feeling better," Yasmina shrugs.
"Yaz, no!" Kenji says firmly.
"Yaz, yes!" Yasmina nods firmly. "Not only is Darius's necklace up there, but other supplies and food. It's just an extension of searching for useful items."
"What did Darius tell us to do?" Sammy reminds them as the two girls begin to climb on top of the wreckage to get to the elevator shaft.
"Be very, very careful," Brooklynn says. "Which we are. The cables to the elevator shaft are still intact. We can climb up those."
"It's like climbing a rope," Yasmina says, grabbing a hold of the taunt cable and starting to climb as fast as she can. Brooklynn follows suit.
"Guys, no!" Kenji exclaims, trying to grab them. The girls had already climbed out of reach for him. He tries to climb up after them, but gives up. "Ugggggh, Brooklynn's crazy, and Yaz loves a good, physically challenging thrill. Not a good combo. I speak from experience here."
"Get back down here!" Sammy shouts.
"No!" Yasmina shouts back down, and continues to climb.
Sammy and Kenji back up and watch them climb higher and higher. "I guess there's no stopping them now," Kenji puts his hands on his hips.
"How are they going to get back down, though?" Sammy asks.
"They're not thinking straight to begin with," Kenji sputters.
Darius comes back, murmuring to himself. "It was just a dream, Brooklynn and Yaz aren't going to be in the treehouse…" He looks to see Sammy and Kenji talking to each other. "Where's Brooklynn and Yaz?" he asks.
Kenji rolls his eyes and Sammy points to the tree. Darius follows her hand and sees the girls halfway up the tree. "What the?!" Darius exclaims, panic rising up in him. "What are they doing up there?!"
"They thought they should check the rest of the tree house for useful things," Sammy says, shaking her head.
"And you let them go?!" Darius yells.
"Dude, we tried to stop them," Kenji raises his hands. "But do you want to physically grab Miss Period and Thrill Chaser?"
Darius's panic manifests in anger. "Brooklynn…" he starts to yell, then trails off angrily.
"Monell," Sammy offers him Brooklynn's last name.
"Brooklynn Monell and Yasmina Fadoula!" Darius shouts at the top of his lungs. "What in Jurassic World do you think you're doing?!"
"Did he just call us by our full names?" Yasmina asks.
"I don't know," Brooklynn says. "I'm focused on moving. I'm not in super good shape like you."
"This is the most reckless, hairbrained idea you guys have ever had!" Darius shouts, fuming. "This is worse than your sneaking into Wu's lab, Brooklynn! And way worse than your strand yourself in the middle of the Mosasaurus lagoon, Yasmina! That's how you injured yourself in the first place! If this goes south, you'll break more than your ankle, Miss Fadoula!"
"He's got a point, we thought about the end game, but not how we'll get down," Brooklynn pants.
"I've got a plan," Yasmina says vaguely. She steps onto the ledge and carefully walks over to Brooklynn's cable and grabs on. "Keep climbing, I'll catch you if you slip." The two continue to climb the cable koala bear style. Brooklynn was not as athletic as Yasmina, so the athlete lets the pink haired girl use her hands as a footstep. By the time they crawled up through the treehouse, Brooklynn was exhausted and Yasmina's hands hurt.
Darius growls in anger. "This is by far one of the stupidest ideas that this group has ever had! I think Yasmina is tied with you, Kenji. This stunt ties with the jump-into-the-dino-pen idea you had the first night we came! If the fall doesn't kill them, I will."
Sammy and Kenji watch him fume with awe. "Well, Brooklynn has rock climbed without gear, and Yasmina is athletic in general."
"So!" Darius turns on them. "That doesn't mean they should just climb up a hundred something foot tree! We only take risks if it's necessary. This is not necessary!"
Back up in the treehouse, Yasmina and Brooklynn were searching through the rickety tree house. Brooklynn searches for food and Darius's necklace while Yasmina finds the maintenance closet. She finds long, strong pieces of rope, spare elevator cables and extension cords. "Aha!" she smirks. She begins to tie the rope, cables, and cords together to form a very long line. She ties one end securely around her waist and her thighs, then ties a weight to the other end. As Brooklynn searches, Yasmina swings the other end around like a lasso and throws it. The weight sails over a sturdy branch slightly higher than the tree house and falls.
The weighted end hits the wreckage and piles up. Darius and the other two examine the length. "She's still going to need more if she wants to rappel down," Kenji says. "Otherwise she'll have to drop down a ways."
"You need more rope!" Sammy shouts.
Yasmina sighs. "It's not long enough," she mutters. The athlete takes the last piece of cable, ties a weight at the end and tries to throw it at the other end of the rope. The weight gently wraps itself around the other line, and Yasmina pulls it towards her. After securing the long end, she unties herself and extends the rope with the last piece of cable. Then she re-ties it around her waist and thighs. "That's gonna have to be enough," she sighs.
Brooklynn finds a backpack and fills it with food and water bottles. After that, she heads to the bedroom and finds Darius's bunk. The pink-haired girl finds his raptor tooth necklace triumphantly. "Kapow!" she exclaims, slipping the necklace over her head and under her shirt. "I'll keep it a surprise until we get down," she says to herself. "Darius is going to be furious with us."
As she says that, the treehouse groans. The two girls' hearts stop. "It's coming down," Yasmina breathes. "Brooklynn! Get over here! It's coming down!"
Brooklynn whimpers and runs to the doorway of the room. Her half of the treehouse starts to tilt down. The pink-haired girl grabs onto the doorway and freezes in fear. Yasmina sees Brooklynn. "Brooklynn! Get over here!"
"I can't move!" Brooklynn trembles.
"We have to get out!" Yasmina shouts.
"My body's not cooperating," Brooklynn says, barely above a whisper.
Yasmina sighs, then yelps as the treehouse shifts. She grabs the other end of the rope determinedly and starts to make her way to her friend. The treehouse groans as she carefully walks towards Brooklynn. "Come on!" she urges.
Brooklynn whimpers and begins to pry herself from the doorway. She steps on an unsteady floor board and it cracks. She grabs the doorway again with a scream.
"You're not going to fall through if it breaks," Yasmina hisses. "There's many layers between us and the bottom."
Brooklynn looks at her with wide eyes, freaked out. "I'm going to throw up," she whispers.
Anger in Yasmina's eyes gives way to compassion. In her fearful state, the annoying, Youtube brat looked five years younger than her actual age. In a way, Brooklynn's trembling, frozen state reminded Yasmina of her younger sister. "It's okay," Yasmina says more gently. "Give me your hand. We're getting out of here before it comes down."
Brooklynn carefully extends her hand, and Yasmina yanks her forward. The pinkette wraps her arms tightly around the athlete's torso. "Let's get out of here," Yasmina says.
The treehouse starts to shift. "Run!" she shouts. The two girls start running for the open end of the camp with Brooklynn having a good hold on Yasmina in case they don't make it. "Hold on!" Yasmina shouts as the treehouse falls. Brooklynn hangs onto the athlete's midsection as she jumps out of the falling building. The girls momentum sends them swinging away from the falling treehouse.
"Move!" Darius shouts, seeing the treehouse come down. The three sprint for their lives as the other half of the building comes down. The rest of the Camp Cretaceous headquarters crashes with a loud boom. As the sawdust and debris settles, the three campers on the ground pant. Brooklynn and Yasmina swing in the air. The athlete's arms were taunt as she grips the other side of the rope. "That was a very close one," she breathes. "Do not let go."
"You think I will?" Brooklynn asks, gripping Yasmina's waist tighter with her left arm and grabbing the rope wrapped around the athlete's waist with her right. "Nice going, Trackstar."
"Eh, eh, eh, don't you blame this on me!" Yasmina spits as they swing. "I wouldn't have thought of coming up here if it weren't for you. This was your idea to climb up, Brooklynn! At least I learned from my run-in with the Mosasaurus and thought about how we would get out. Had I not, we would be down there in the rubble!"
"And how exactly are we getting down?" Brooklynn asks.
"Rappelling," Yasmina says as they slow to a gentle swing. She begins to lower the two of them down.
"They'll have to drop down," Sammy says.
"We gotta catch them!" Darius says, panicking again. The three climb up onto the wreckage and stand underneath the girls as they come down.
"Brooklynn, you're not as heavy as I thought you'd be," Yasmina says as she lowers them to the ground. "Like, seriously, you're super light. I'm kinda concerned."
"I'm not that light," Brooklynn hisses.
"Uhh, you feel as heavy as my nine year old sister," Yasmina argues. "That's pretty light!"
"We've all been starving, okay! Of course I'd lose some weight!" Brooklynn hisses angrily.
"You do not lose weight that fast," Yasmina says. "With the exercise we've been doing and the diet we have, I'd say you'd lose at most three pounds a day. And I'm not even sure that's correct. You should not be this frickin' light!"
"It's fine!" Brooklynn spits; her face heating up.
"I don't think it's—Ah!" Yasmina shouts. In the heat of the argument, Yasmina had loosened her grip and the rope slips out of her hands. The two girls begin to fall quickly.
"No!" Darius shouts, knowing that if he, Kenji, and Sammy were to try to catch them, it wouldn't do any good.
Yasmina scrambles to grab the rope. She grabs it quickly as they drop and burns her hands. The weight she tied to it hits her hands and she clamps down, yelping in pain. The two girls hang in the air, unable to get down.
"Brooklynn, drop down," Darius calls up, panting in fear. "We'll catch you!"
Brooklynn looks down. She was about five feet above the other three. Shutting her eyes tight, she lets go of Yasmina and falls into the others arms. The four fall down with a grunt. "You said you'd catch me," Brooklynn groans.
"I mean, we technically did," Kenji argues. "We just didn't stay standing."
"Let go of the weight, Yaz!" Darius calls up.
Yasmina sighs, takes a deep breath and lets go. The four almost catch her without falling. Brooklynn flops down next to Yasmina and chuckles. "That was scary."
Darius's panic turns to anger again. "What in blazes were you two fartknockers thinking?!"
Yasmina and Brooklynn flinch.
"You two could've been killed in more ways than one!" Darius yells. "You two decided to climb up into a HUNDRED SOMETHING FOOT TREE, search through an UNSTEADY TREEHOUSE, and rappel down the tree with a rope THAT WASN'T EVEN LONG ENOUGH! Of ALL your stupid, idiotic, RECKLESS ideas, THIS IS THE WORST! What even possessed you to do something like that?! You two have some serious explaining to do! What do you two have to say for yourself?!"
Brooklynn slips Darius's necklace off of her head and gives it to him. His expression of pure anger turns into something unreadable. "We knew you wanted your necklace back," Brooklynn says.
"And we figured there were more useful items up there than down here," Yasmina adds.
Darius looks between the two. "So… you decided to risk your lives to bring me back my reminder of my deceased father?"
The two nod.
"Do EITHER of you see the irony in that situation!" Darius shouts. "Thank you for bringing me back my necklace, but don't EVER risk your life like that again!"
"We'll try not to be so reckless again," Yasmina nods, lowering her head in slight shame.
"We only wanted you to be happy," Brooklynn says, looking down.
"If it'll keep you safe, treat me like crap," Darius shakes his head in disappointment. "I don't even know what to do with you two."
"You're going to punish us?" Yasmina and Brooklynn say, frowning in disbelief.
"I said, BE CAREFUL!" Darius shouts. "You two disobeyed a direct order from your leader and put your lives in danger! Thank you for bringing me back my necklace, but it was not worth the risk. This cannot go unattended, but I don't know what to do. It's not like I can take away your phone or anything, and I can't take away dinner like my Mom does. I'm not sure how to go about this."
"I can carry Yaz," Kenji suggests. "Since she's so keen on walking."
"That would suffice right now," Darius nods. "I don't know what I'll do for Brooklynn."
"I think your anger towards her is a good enough punishment, since we can't do anything else," Sammy suggests.
"I suppose there's nothing else I can do," Darius sighs. "I'm very disappointed in both of you. At least with your Mosasaurus stunt, you were saving Sammy and I."
Yasmina and Brooklynn look down in shame, a bit surprised by Darius's reaction. They had never seen him get angry before, nor yell at them.
"Come on," Darius grunts. "Let's find where we are, Kenji."
The two boys take out the map and try to find their camp on the map while Sammy wraps up Yasmina's hands. Afterwards, the group heads in the direction of the park. Kenji carries Yasmina on his back again, and she submits without complaint.
As night falls, the group settles down to sleep. The whole group is wary of Darius, who is still radiating anger. After minutes of silence, Brooklynn apologizes. "I'm sorry, Darius. We just wanted to cheer you up."
"We kinda got carried away," Yasmina says quietly.
"Thank you for bringing me back my necklace," Darius says, finally looking up at them. "But I have memories of my father in my heart, this is just a physical reminder. And when you put your lives in danger, it means absolutely nothing. Your lives are not worth getting this back."
"I'm sorry," Brooklynn and Yasmina say together.
"Please don't ever do that again," Darius says, anger starting to give way to sadness. "You scared me. I thought you guys would die."
"We won't try it again," Yasmina nods.
"Good," Darius says. He can feel his irritation starting to turn to uncontrollable emotion, and he didn't want to cry in front of the others. "I'm going to check the perimeter."
"You want me to come with you?" Yasmina asks.
"I'm going alone," Darius says. "First off, you of all people should understand that. Second, you're still grounded. And third, I'm still irritated at you."
Yasmina nods, chuckling slightly.
Darius heads into the woods and sits down behind a tree as his emotions overwhelm him. The fear of losing his friends comes back, along with the unattended grief of his father's death. "God, I want to be the leader they think I am, but I can't do this!" he prays in his head. "This is too much. They almost died, and I can't be with them every second of the day if I'm still upset about Dad! I need help. They know that I'm struggling, and they almost got themselves killed trying to help. I have to pretend like nothing's wrong. They can't know that I'm having trouble. They can't doubt my leadership. They can't think they need to help me. I have to be strong for them. I can't be breaking down in front of them. Help me, God."
Darius curls up into a ball, sobbing as the overwhelming grief of his father's death and the suffocating fear of losing his friends takes over.
Ben carefully walks into a restricted room. Stun guns, spears, and various other weapons lined the walls. "This must be the security room," he mumbles to himself. He finds himself an electric spear and twirls it. He hits himself in the face. "Oww…" he groans. "Glad no one saw that."
Chuckling to himself, he heads outside and finds Bumpy knocking around empty barrels. Ben sees red targets spray painted onto them. "I guess this is where they had target practice," he says as he gently puts his hands on his hips.
He looks around and gets an idea. With Bumpy's help—or lack thereof—he sets up barrels in small groups. Then he climbs on top of Bumpy and the two learn how to coordinate headbutts and his spear. For the rest of the morning, he trains with Bumpy. Riding an Ankylosaurus was not as easy as he had thought, especially when she was easily distracted.
Around the afternoon, Ben takes a break to eat and drink. In the security room, he searches the open lockers for anything useful. He opens up one locker and finds lots of files on dinosaurs, particularly velociraptors. "Owen Grady," Ben mumbles to himself, reading off the name of the writer. "Looks like quite the dino nerd. I wonder if Darius knows anything about him.
Ben sits down on a bench and looks over Own Grady's files as he eats. He learns interesting things about raptor behavior and biology. While Owen Grady seemed to focus more on raptors, he also branches into all dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus rex, Compsothagnaus, Brachiosaurus. Ben couldn't find anything on Ankylosaurus, but he did find a particularly interesting paper on sounds. "Darius would really like this Owen Grady," Ben smirks to himself.
The paper he found most interesting was about how to imitate dinosaur sounds. Ben finds out which sounds scared off which dinosaurs, and what calls would direct the velociraptors. After several attempts and many references to the paper, Ben can make what he thinks is a pretty accurate impression of a T-rex. He tries a couple different raptor sounds as well as a Brachiosaurus. "Huh, I think I sound better than Darius!" Ben laughs to himself, remembering the young boy attempting a Brachiosaurus on the watchtower.
Ben leaves the security and room and walks down the streets, trying to find his Ankylosaurus companion. The camper comes around a corner and finds Compies scavenging the food stands.
He looks at his spear and again at the Compies. "Let's put my spearing skills to the test," he says, and sneaks up behind them. The tiny dinosaurs spook and start to run. Ben is able to spear one before the others try to jump on him. "Oop, bad idea! Bad idea!" he exclaims as the little dinosaurs surround him.
Thinking fast—as his spear wasn't doing much good—he imitates a T-rex sound. The Compies dart away in fear, leaving him alone. Ben whoops in victory, then looks at the tiny dino at the end of his spear. "I sort of feel bad for you," he sighs. "You're just trying to survive like me."
Bumpy comes bounding up to him with her strange waddle/gallop. She bellows happily and licks his face. Ben chuckles. "I shouldn't feel bad for you, what am I saying? It's survival of the fittest. It's just nature."
Ben says the words, but they don't sit right with him. "Oh, come on!" he mentally beats himself. "These dinosaurs could eat you for Pete's sake! Stop feeling sorry for them! You told yourself that you would toughen up, so do it! Of all the things you could be compassionate towards, a Compy?!"
Ben shakes his head, disappointed in how his "tough guy" act was going. "Then again, Bumpy's the only one who could possibly judge me, and you're not going to do that, right?"
Bumpy sneezes.
"I guess I can feel some compassion for them," Ben frowns. "It's kind of hard not to. I just need to stop being so overly mushy."
Bumpy coos.
"Oh, don't do that," Ben plants his hands on his hips. "I need to be a tough guy. Wimpy Ben didn't get me anywhere on this island."
Bumpy waddles off.
Ben sighs. "Okay, I guess it got me you. I'll give you that."
The growing Ankylosaurus makes a chuckle-sounding noise. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going crazy!" Ben sputters. "Talking to an Ankylosaurus like she could understand me."
Bumpy shakes her head. Ben stares at her then shakes his head with a chuckle. "I almost thought you would talk back to me. I really need to get off this island."
"All right, I have a proposal to make," Kenji says, clapping his hands after Darius leaves. "I know that we all love Darius. He's our great friend and leader. Personally? He's like my younger brother. Am I the only one who feels that way?"
Sammy and Yasmina nod in agreement.
"Why not make it official and adopt him as our younger brother!" Kenji suggests happily.
"Official?" Yasmina quirks an eyebrow. "So we're going to have our parents take him away from his mother?"
Kenji sputters. "He'll be a brother from another mother. I mean, we just officially say that we're his siblings."
"I like that idea," Sammy nods. "Make sure he knows he's part of the family for all of us."
"I've already told him, but I'll say it again," Yasmina smirks.
"He'll never see me as anything but a sister if I do," Brooklynn mumbles to herself, shaking her head.
"Scuse me," Kenji asks, raising his eyebrows.
"Umm…" Brooklynn stutters, starting to blush.
"Oooooh," Kenji grins obnoxiously. "You don't want him to see you as a sIstEr!"
"Kenji, shut up!" Brooklynn spits.
"I sense a little something developing here," Kenji snickers. "Something romantic."
"If you don't shut up, I will murder you with your butter knife!" Brooklynn hisses.
"Oh, ho, ho, she's got a crush on Darius," Yasmina chuckles sinisterly.
"I do not!" Brooklynn exclaims, but her flushed face said otherwise.
"Aww, that's sweet," Sammy smiles with a giggle.
"She's afraid of being sister-zoned," Yasmina snickers.
"Yaz!" Brooklynn spits. "So what? I have a crush on him, big deal!"
"Yes, it is a big deal!" Kenji exclaims. "YoU lIkE DaRiUs!"
"Stop it with your stupid voice crack!" Brooklynn growls.
"Guys, stop," Sammy says. "Leave her be."
"Yeah, or I'll ship Yaz and Kenji," Brooklynn crosses her arms.
Kenji and Yasmina laugh. "Ah, we're just teasing you," Kenji waves his hand. "It's cute. But what are you going to tell him when we say he's our brother and you don't?"
"I'll think of something," Brooklynn hisses.
Darius has wiped away his tears and composed himself. He patrols the area around their camp ground to give his bloodshot eyes and red nose time to change back to their normal color. He didn't want the others to know he was crying.
Darius walks up to the others and they all stare solemnly at him. "What's wrong?" he asks, sitting down next to Kenji.
"Darius," Kenji says, putting his hands together with a sigh. "We have come to a decision."
"Do you guys hate the way I lead? What have you decided?!" Darius panics. "O-okay?" he stutters.
"Kenji, you're scaring him!" Sammy exclaims.
The alpha male laughs. "We've decided that we're your older siblings!"
"What?" Darius's panic turns to confusion.
"We're adopting you as our younger sibling," Kenji states. "You have another older brother and two older sisters. This is not up for debate. You have no choice."
"This is a dictatorship, and you have no say in this decision," Yasmina quips.
"First off, how long have you wanted to say that?" Darius asks. "And second, what about Brooklynn? Third, just… what?"
"We all love you, Darius," Sammy says, sliding up next to him and holding his hand. "And you're like a young brother to us. So we decided to actually tell you how we feel."
"I don't like my older brother," Brooklynn makes up an excuse. "He can be a jerk. I don't want to associate you with him."
Darius chuckles. "I mean, thanks guys. I didn't expect this."
"You're still our leader and we'll follow you on this island," Kenji adds. "Just remember, if anyone bullies you or makes fun of you, we will PUNCH THEM!"
"MURDER THEM!" Yasmina shouts with a little twinkle in her eye.
"RUN 'EM OVER WITH CATTLE!" Sammy exclaims with a laugh.
"EMBARRASS THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA!" Brooklynn joins in.
"Wha?" Darius chuckles nervously.
"We'll beat them up, embarrass them on social media, then run them over with cattle," Kenji says. "If they survive being run over, Yaz and I will murder them and hide the body."
"I have a lake behind my house that would do," Yasmina grins.
"The detective won't be able to find them!" Kenji exclaims.
"Why are you guys so violent?" Darius's eyes widen in fright. "I don't need you to—"
"THE FLOOR WILL BE THEIR FRIEND!" Kenji shouts, getting a little too excited. He pulls out a baseball bat and starts hitting the ground in front of him.
Everyone freezes for a second, before they burst out into uncontrollable laughter. "You make no sense!" Yasmina barks out between guffaws.
"Where did you get the bat?!" Brooklynn wheezes.
"I… I don't even know," Kenji laughs. "It was probably in the bushes."
"I think Kenji has the power to pull out random objects when he gets super excited," Sammy snorts. "I mean, he randomly pulled out a butter knife, and now a baseball bat?"
"We'll be fighting a T-rex and I'll pull out a plunger," Kenji laughs. "Or a cookie jar."
"That's not useful in a fight," Yasmina says.
"Everything is useful if you yeet it," Kenji grins, sending the others into another fit of laughter.
"I can see that happening," Sammy sighs as they calm down. "He pulls out a plunger and sticks it onto a velociraptors face."
The group chuckles. "Takes us two hours to get a fire going," Brooklynn laughs. "Then he pulls out a fire starter and says, 'Guess we won't be needing this.'"
"We're running from a T-rex and he disappears," Yasmina laughs. "Comes back with a tiny, pink corvette toddlers ride around in."
"Pops out of a bush in a hot dog costume," Darius wheezes.
"Kenji looks way too natural in a hot dog costume in my head," Yasmina says, almost in a concerned way.
The group holds their sides in pain. "Well, I'm glad I could be your entertainment," Kenji sighs, wiping away a tear.
"Let's settle down," Darius says. He thinks for a moment. "All right, I said that you couldn't walk as a punishment, but in case we need to make a quick getaway, let's brace your ankle, Yaz."
Sammy and Brooklynn use small, thin pieces of rope to tie sticks around Yasmina's ankle, bracing it. Sammy gives Darius a thumbs up. "All right, Hot dog boy, you want the first shift?" Darius smirks.
"Sure," Kenji sighs, leaning back against a tree.
The group lays down and is silent. Pretty soon, the girls were asleep. Darius, on the other hand, sat up and decided to shadow Kenji's shift. All is quiet until he breaks the silence. "I told Yaz about it."
"How'd she react?" Kenji whispers.
"She didn't panic," Darius says. "She was angry, but not as angry as if she found out another way." He bites his lip. "Once we get to the park, we can tell the other two. We'd be safer there; maybe it'll help quell the panic."
Unbeknownst to the two boys, Sammy was actually awake. "So there was more to the fight than they let on," she thinks to herself.
"Probably better to let them calm down before telling them," Kenji nods. "If we told them the moment we found out, the fear would be worse than when we let it settle."
"What would we be afraid of?" Sammy wonders.
"I just hope that they won't be too mad," Darius says. "I hope they trust me enough and realize that my decisions are always going to be with their safety in mind."
"You hope that they trust your abilities enough that they won't question your decisions?" Kenji asks. "You want them to understand that sometimes withholding information might be a better decision and that sometimes you won't tell them stuff right at that moment."
"Yeah," Darius nods. "I know we need to be honest with each other, but there's a time and a place for certain information. I just hope they understand that."
"Look, man," Kenji grimaces, uncomfortable. "I'm sorry for this morning. I'll try to trust your judgment more often. You're the leader, and ultimately you have the final say in how things go around here. I named you leader back when we were lost. It was probably the best decision I've ever made. And I shouldn't doubt your decisions. I'll follow more and question less, okay?"
Darius smiles. "Thanks, Kenji." He thinks for a moment. "I… I'm sorry for calling you stupid. You're not actually stupid, you just don't think through your actions sometimes. And I look to you a lot more often than you think, especially with your knowledge of Jurassic World. While I do want you to trust me more and question me less, I still want your input. I want to hear everyone's input."
"It's stressful being the leader?" Kenji raises an eyebrow.
"You could say that," Darius nods. "You're kinda like my second in command."
"Kinda?" Kenji raises both eyebrows.
"You and Yaz share it," Darius chuckles. "Just trust me more often. It would be really helpful."
"Yessir," Sammy thinks to herself. "If you need more trust, then I'll trust you blindly, come Hell or highwater. Both of you."
Kenji nods with a small smile. The two boys are quiet. Kenji starts to say something when Darius shushes him. The three awake campers listen, and hear faint, but huge footsteps.