Chapter 5: Breakdown
A/N: Ok everybody, it seems with my schedule, about 10 days between chapters is gonna be average. Thanks for the support, hope you enjoy.
Ben could see colors churning in the darkness, though he wasn't sure if his eyes were open or not. Everything felt like a dream, except the pain. The pain was his only indicator of reality. Every joint in his body ached, the pressure in his head was so great he worried his eyes would pop out. He tried to sit up but he couldn't get his muscles to cooperate. His body was overcome with a sort of Paralysis. Ben tried to force his arm to move but all he could achieve were a couple of spasms. Exhausted, darkness closed around him once again. The next time Ben's eyes opened it was daytime. He could see somewhat but couldn't focus, leaving everything a blur of rough shapes and colors. His mind was starting to clear a little, but it still took considerable effort to hold any real train of thought. He tried to check his heart rate, but he still hadn't regained enough muscle control. Frustrated, he tried to roll onto is side, it wasn't easy, but he eventually succeeded. He didn't know how long he'd been out, one day? Two days?, a week? He had no way of telling the date. Ben desperately wanted to check on Bumpy, the last he'd seen of her was the day he was bitten when she was grazing in the rotunda. However, he had barley been able to get onto his side, let alone to the control room door. Even if he could, he still couldn't see anything anyway. He still had a terrible headache and the chills, for the first time, he noticed he was soaked.
"Fever must have spiked" he thought. He felt horribly dehydrated but with his muscles doing whatever they wanted and the waves of nausea, he wasn't sure he could hold any fluids down, and he certainly wouldn't be able to open a bottle. And so Ben just laid there, on his side, basically stuck and blind. Soon tears began fall. Everything had been going so well before the bite. He had food, water, shelter, Bumpy for companionship, he was formidably armed, he'd just discovered an excellent lookout point and fresh fruit. It was the most confident he could ever remember being. But in that single millisecond when we reached for the banana, everything changed. He'd been so focused on protecting himself from dinosaurs that he'd forgotten the regular old non prehistoric threats the island was home to. Isla Nublar contained various species of venomous snakes, spiders, insects, and amphibians, with the fer-de-lance, wandering spider, bullet ant, and poison dart frogs leading the list. He should have know better, wandering spider bites were common among banana harvesters. Still, he was grateful. The spider had hit him with a heavy, but not lethal dose of venom, he was able to make it to safety before he was incapacitated, he still had his food, water, and shelter and he prayed that Bumpy was still feeding in the rotunda. He knew that the effects of the venom wouldn't be permanent and time was all he needed. Still to be so helpless was an awful feeling, it reminded him too much of the feeling of being paralyzed with fear he had carried for most of his life. Again Ben tried to move his arms, this time, to his surprise, they responded, slowly and shakily. Slowly he brought two fingers to his neck, his heart rate had finally steadied.
"I'm past the worst of it." He thought. Vision still blurred, he felt around for a bottle of water, hoping that getting his dehydration under control might speed his recovery. Finding a half full bottle, he fought through the shakes and jerks to get the cap off, flopping over onto his back, he brought the bottle to his lips, a spasm causing him to literally dump the water into his open mouth just as he was taking a breath. Ben sucked the water into his lungs and immediately started coughing violently. Stuck on his back he was unable to get the water out.
"Is this how I go out?" he thought. "I survive the bite of one of the world's most venomous spiders just to drown myself with a plastic water bottle?" Finally, he was able to desperately claw his way onto his stomach and expel the fluid. As Ben lay there, face down on the floor of the control room, gasping for breath, it occurred to him that he had learned two important life lessons. First, always, ALWAYS check the bananas. Second, never attempt to drink while on your back and half paralyzed.
"Genius" he said out loud to himself, as he lay there trying to catch his breath. "Just genius".
Yaz silently darted from shadow to shadow, heart pounding in her chest. She was betting everything on her ability to remain unseen. Her wrist hadn't even begun to heal yet and that arm would be useless in a fight. Her ankle was holding up for now, but with one misstep, she knew it would be over for her. Slowly she worked her way around the lagoon, heading for the innovation center. To her horror, she for the first time realized that many, many more people had been lost than just the few workers they knew of. Bodies were strewn hear and there along her path, making it difficult to concentrate on stealth. She did her best to block it all out and keep moving, but she was finding it hard not to check each body for signs of life. Half way around the lagoon she stopped at a small drink stand, slipping inside to rest for a moment.
'So far so good" she thought. Only then did she notice the man. He was laying on his side behind the counter facing away from her.
"Must have been the vendor" she thought grimly.
"Wait…is he…breathing?" she questioned. Yaz squinted her eyes, staring hard. She was sure now, his chest was moving. She scrambled over to the man, giving his shoulder a shake.
"Hey, are you ok?" she whispered, her mind racing. A compy jumped up onto the man's hip and screeched in her face, sending her scrambling backwards in shock, while a second compy pulled itself out of the man's rib cage, a large piece of what looked like lung tissue in its mouth. The two dinosaurs bolted over the counter and into the night, leaving Yasmina and the partially eaten corpse behind. Yaz sat there against the counter, paralyzed with shock. The man hadn't been breathing at all, it was the compys inside his chest cavity causing the movement. A feeling of hopelessness began to grow in her stomach. She could feel her eyes sting as the tears welled up. Yaz pulled her knees up to her chest and let out a quiet sob. How could they expect to survive when so many others didn't, how could she even hope that Ben survived. If she found him, he would be like the vendor, partially eaten and decomposing, was she really strong enough to see that? Yaz had her doubts that she was, but it didn't matter, she had a job to do. One way or another, she needed to know the truth, without that, she couldn't move on. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself back into her mission focused mindset. Slowly she peeked above the counter top, scanning for movement or predators, in the moonlight she caught a glimpse of the mosasaurs back gently breaking the surface of the water, sending a small wake lapping against the edge of the lagoon. Yaz suppressed a shiver as she remembered how close its jaws had come to her. Quietly, she exited the drink stand and slipped back into the shadows. Unbeknownst to Yaz, slitted amber-yellow eyes watched her every move from the shadow of a nearby building. Claws impatiently tapped at the pavement.
"It's the wounded female" she thought. "Why is she separating from her pack? Why did she leave the big building where she was safe?" The answers didn't really matter, the fact was unavoidable, she had made a fatal miscalculation. Yaz was completely unaware as the predator slowly and carefully closed in on her.
"Almost to main street." Yaz told herself as she moved from cover to cover. She nervously glanced at the position of the moon in the sky, she knew she was racing the clock. In a few hours her friends would wake and find her missing. Darius would know exactly where she went and at first light they would be searching for her. She needed to find Ben and get back before they could put themselves into any more danger than necessary. Suddenly about a hundred yards behind her, a group of compys scattered from a body they had been feeding on. Yaz furrowed her brow in confusion. Slowly a grim realization washed over her.
"Oh no" she whimpered, defeat edging in her voice. She looked to the innovation center, four hundred yards separated her from the door.
"Way too far." She told herself, looking back to where the compys had been. Yaz was seriously regretting her decisions, not because of what she was sure was about to happen, but because she knew the effect it would have on her friends. They would surly find her remains when they came to look for her, she dared not think what condition her body would be in. She felt guilty for putting Darius through the loss of another team member, especially since he had placed a great deal of faith in her. Yaz couldn't see what was stalking her, but she knew without a doubt it was there, waiting for the right moment. She looked back and fourth between the darkness and the innovation center steps. There were only two options, run and be chased down like the prey that she was, or sit tight and wait for death to come to her.
"No!" She said definitely to the darkness. "I will not cower, if you want me, come and get me!" With that she exploded from the shadows in an all out sprint for the main doors.
"Finally" the predator thought excitedly, launching towards it's prey. It took only seconds to close to within striking distance of the lone human, even though she was noticeably faster than most. As she prepared to leap onto her victims back, a familiar scent filled her nostrils. Immediately she broke off her chase, glaring as the human continued to run.
"Next time" she thought, snarling. The predator whirled around and darted off the direction she had come. She had crossed into a territory that wasn't hers and it wasn't worth the fight, not for one skinny human. Yaz could hear the claws pounding the ground behind her, she stared straight ahead focused on her goal, even though she knew it was only feet behind her. But then, as she ran the last two hundred yards, the sound of the claws disappeared. She didn't understand, she was sure the attack was only seconds away, why did it stop? A deafening roar from the left gave her answer. She was seventy five yards from the door now. Yaz made her choice. Gritting her teeth, she pushed every last ounce of energy she had into her legs. As she hit the steps she could feel the tyrannosaur shaking the ground as it approached. Still she dared not look. She put her good shoulder into the door at full speed knocking it open wide. The impact threw her off balance, causing her to trip. Yaz hit the floor hard, doing her best to roll to the side, out of sight. The moment she looked back, the tyrannosaur stepped out onto main street, casting an inquisitive look at the door that had just shut itself. Taking a step toward the building she paused, Yaz could see the nostrils flare as she sniffed the air. They tyrannosaur's massive head snapped back in the direction of main street. Sniffing the air again, she let out another deafening roar and stomped down the street, in search of the predator that dared breach her territory. Yaz breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she watched the queen of dinosaurs disappear down the road.
"Darius wake up." Sammy cried, shaking him by the shoulder. Darius shot up, nearly knocking Brooklynn out of bed.
"What's wrong, what's going on?" he asked, scanning the room.
"Yaz is gone" she cried, "I got up early, cause I was gonna make you guys breakfast and coffee, and I noticed she wasn't in bed. I figured she went to the bathroom but she's not there, she's not anywhere, not in the room at least."
"Don't worry Sammy." Kenji yawned. "I highly doubt she went for a midnight stroll on dino island, I'm sure she's in the building, probably raiding other rooms for supplies or something."
"You really think so?" Sammy asked, starting to calm down.
"She probably couldn't sleep, and she hates just sitting still, so yeah, she probably started getting ready, probably went searching for whatever she could find while we slept." Darius added.
"I sure hope so." She agreed.
"Kenji, you want to go find her with me?" Darius asked.
"Sure" he responded. "Just give me a second to wake up"
"Oh, let me make you guys some coffee real quick" Sammy offered
"Ooo that would be awesome" Kenji accepted thankfully.
"None for me thanks." Darius added.
"Darius, are you sure everything's ok?" Brooklynn asked worriedly.
"I'm sure she's fine, go back to sleep if your tired, I'll let you know when we find her." He reassured her.
"Ok, as long as your sure." She relented, flopping back down on the bed. A few moments later, she was ever so lightly snoring. Darius and Kenji followed Sammy to the kitchen. Sammy got the coffee started, and pulled a dozen eggs out of the refrigerator.
"Darius" Kenji called quietly, while Sammy was busy.
"What'd you find?" he asked, joining him at the table. Kenji pointed to the master key cards.
"If she was searching the other rooms, wouldn't she have needed one of these?" he asked. Darius glanced over his shoulder, seeing Sammy still busy with the coffee.
"Ok, I have my suspicions." He admitted. "But no sense in freaking out the girls until we've checked the building, plus we couldn't go after her till daylight anyway."
"Go after her?" Kenji asked. "Where do you think she went?" Darius sighed.
"If I had to guess, probably to look for Ben." He said.
"But we were all going this morning anyway, why couldn't she have waited?" Kenji persisted.
"Have you noticed that every time Ben's name is brought up, her mood changes?" Darius questioned. "It's personal for all of us, but for Yaz it's even deeper, she's never stopped blaming herself for what happened. She may feel like this is her responsibility, nobody else's." Kenji nodded.
"Still though, to just leave in the middle of the night like that, to go do something so dangerous alone, that's just super reckless." Darius raised an eyebrow at Kenji. "And it's absolutely something Yaz would do" Kenji admitted with a sigh.
"Here ya go Kenji" Sammy said, handing him a cup of black coffee. "And Darius, I know you said no coffee so I brought you a pepsi."
"Sammy, your our friend, not our maid, you don't have to do any of this." Darius protested. Sammy just shrugged.
"I like doing things for my friends." She said, heading back to the bacon frying on the stove.
"Well, I guess we better go find her." Darius said, throwing in some optimism for Sammy's sake.
"Alright, let's go." Kenji agreed, picking up his coffee.
"Tell her I've got bacon and eggs for her when she gets back." Sammy called, as Kenji and Darius headed out the door. In the hallway, Kenji and Darius started searching every room that didn't need a key card. It wasn't long before the fifth floor was clear. Heading for the elevator, Darius stopped, tilting his head in thought.
"What'd you think of." Kenji asked, noticing his expression.
"She went to the first floor." Darius answered.
"What? How do you know that? Kenji asked, confused.
"The elevator" he explained, pointing at the lit up number one above the doors. "The elevator in on the first floor, it should still be up here on the fifth floor, the only way it should be on the first…."
"Is if someone rode it to the first floor." Kenji finished. Darius pressed the button and waited, watching each number light up as the elevator approached. Finally the doors slid open and they stepped inside, pressing the button for the first floor.
"Please be in the lobby, please be in the lobby." Kenji kept repeating as the elevator descended. On the first floor, the doors opened to an empty lobby.
"Yaz? Yaz, where are you?" Kenji called out, disappointment eclipsing his optimism. Darius slowly walked to the front doors, peering out into the darkness.
"Don't bother, Kenji, she's gone." He said sadly.
"Uuhhgg" Kenji groaned, holding his head. "Why does she have to be so dang stubborn? Why did she have to go and pull this crap?
"Because that's what she felt she had to do." Darius guessed. "We better get back up there and let Sammy and Brooklynn know." Kenji and Darius reluctantly headed back to the suite. Sammy and Brooklynn were half way finished with their breakfast when the boys walked in. Sammy read their faces immediately.
"She's gone isn't she?" Sammy asked, getting right to the point.
"Yeah" Darius replied simply.
"I knew it!" Brooklynn cried. "I knew it, I'm sorry Sammy, it's good, but I can't eat anymore." She said dropping her fork.
"Do you know where she went?" Sammy asked, standing up.
"No" he admitted, gazing out the window at the innovation center across the lagoon. "But I've got a pretty good idea where to look."
Ben's vision was finally beginning to clear, he could see well enough to identify things but the edges were still blurred. He located his case of bottled water and dragged himself over to it. After a couple of failed attempts, he successfully pushed himself up into the sitting position.
"Well that's progress, at least." He said to himself, as he worked to open a fresh bottle. The water was great when it wasn't trying to kill him, he drank the first bottle in one drink. He wandered how long it had been since he drank last, at least not since the bite, though he still didn't know how long ago that had been. He opened another bottle and took a drink. The water was working, the more he drank, the better he was beginning to feel. Within a couple of hours, he had regained most of the muscle control in his arms, hands, and fingers, though they were still somewhat numb. Ben tried to get his feet under him, eventually standing up. The moment he stood felt like an unbelievable victory, the feeling was short-lived however, as he had to sit right back down due to dizziness. After resting for a few moments, he tried again. Getting to his feet once again, Ben steadied himself against the wall until the dizziness subsided.
"Ok" he thought. "I'm standing, more progress." He tried to take a step and ended up in a heap on the ground.
"Fail!" he thought, chuckling at himself. It was easier to get to his feet this time, as his muscles relearned how they were supposed to work. Ben again tried to take a step, this time he succeeded.
"Alright, a few more of those and I'll really be getting somewhere." He thought, pleased with his progress. He slowly and deliberately took baby steps, one after another, until he'd made his was to the control room door. Opening the door, he slowly shuffled his way to the rotunda. Ben's heart sank, Bumpy was nowhere in sight. Disappointed, he made his way back to the control room. He didn't really feel like eating with Bumpy missing, but he knew his body needed food to heal, there was no way he could search for his ankylosaur friend in his current condition. After some fumbling with the lighter, he was able to get some candles lit under a pot of water. When the water was boiling, Ben stirred in some dried beans and rice.
"A little protein and carbs should do the trick" he thought as the mixture boiled. It wasn't the best meal in the world, but it was edible. Most importantly, about twenty minutes after he'd eaten, Ben had a noticeable improvement in his motor functions. His balance was returning, along with his coordination, even his vision was beginning to sharpen. By late afternoon, he was mostly back to normal, still weak, but he could see and move again. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his shotgun, slung it over his shoulder, and headed back to the rotunda. Once there, he headed for the stairs leading to the ladder to the catwalk. It took him a little longer than normal, but Ben made it safely to his lookout. He scanned the area around the visitors center, searching for Bumpy. Down the road a ways, he could see the three predators talking turns growling into a drainage pipe.
"They must have something cornered in there." He thought. "At least it's not Bumpy, pipes too small." Looking out the back of the building, he could see his fateful banana grove, and the brachiosaurs herd a mile or so behind it. Ben's stomach growled. He was craving meat, the beans contained protein, but not enough. He didn't usually eat a lot of meat, but this was a different life. First he needed protein to help his body to heal, second survival was burning way more calories than he usually did. If he was going to stay healthy, meat would need to be on the menu. He thought about using his shotgun to hunt, but he was extremely limited on ammunition. No, he needed a way to get meat that didn't involve his gun, the sound of a shot would draw too much attention anyway. He tried hard to remember what his grandfather had shown him during their annual camping trips. His grandfather was a direct descendant of chief Joseph of the Santiam tribe of the Kalapuya nation. He always tried to teach Ben about how his ancestors had lived, the ways they hunted, the foods they gathered, how they worked with nature, not against it. Ben had tried to act interested but camping just wasn't his thing, too unsanitary, too unsafe. Now, he wished he'd paid more attention.
"I could sure use some of that wisdom now, grandpa." He said sadly, glancing towards the sky. He closed his eyes and thought hard. He vaguely remembered how to make a snare, though he'd never actually tried it himself.
"Well, I guess it's worth a try" he thought to himself. Climbing down from the catwalk. Ben searched the building, looking for any wire he could use for a snare, finally settling on a fifty foot extension cord. He took the cord to the kitchen, using one of the chefs knives to put a slice in the insulation of the cord, allowing him to pull out the three small diameter wires.
"Perfect" he thought. "Now all I need is bait." Ben searched the cabinets of spoiled food, finding a few cans of canned pork.
"Hmm, this might attract a compy" he said out loud to himself. Grabbing the knife and a can opener Ben took his wire and his bait out the back of the building, heading straight back to the banana grove where everything had gone so horribly wrong. He inspected the ground, looking for small compy sized trails. Finding one that looked promising not too far away from the tree where he'd been bitten. Ben made a loop in the wire and tested it on his hand, it tightened easy enough. Using twigs he propped up the loop so that anything reaching for the bait would have to go through it, when finished he tied the other end of the wire to a small tree.
"There" He said, satisfied with himself. "Now all I have to do is bait it." He opened the can of pork, which surprisingly still looked and smelled decent. After briefly considering just eating the pork, he poured it onto the ground just through the loop. Ben stood and admired his trap. He hated the thought of killing anything but this was survival and his body needed more than beans, rice, and macaroni. The thought of food made him look over at the banana tree again, staring at it for a long moment. Slowly he inched closer to the same bunch of bananas that had hidden the spider. Ben poked, prodded, and jiggled the bunch with the barrel of his shotgun, nothing moved. Shouldering his weapon, he slashed the stem with his knife, sending the bunch to the jungle floor. Carefully he moved and inspected each banana with the tip of his blade, no hiding arachnids. The taste of his personal victory was even better than the taste of the banana. Before, he probably would have sworn off bananas for life after an experience like that, but not anymore. No, today, just hours after basically learning to walk again, he'd come back to the same tree and finished what he'd set out to do in the first place. After cutting down and inspecting a couple more bunches, he gathered them up and returned to the control room. Though Ben was very proud of his accomplishments, his heart still hurt for Bumpy. "I sure hope your safe, wherever you are." He said sadly, looking at the spot where Bumpy had slept. It was getting dark, and all he could do was hope that Bumpy had just wandered off grazing. In spite of Bumpy's absence, Ben could feel his confidence returning. The effects of the spider venom were now almost completely gone, he had added fresh fruit to his inventory , he even had a plan in place to get meat. For the first time, he felt a sort of connection to his native ancestors. Ben was only one eighth Kalapuya blood, but out here it felt like that blood was becoming stronger and stronger. He took a deep breath, ready for the challenges that he knew he would face.
"Heavenly Father" he prayed, please watch over Bumpy and keep her safe from those three ankylosaurs eating dinos, please watch over my family, and Darius, Brooklynn, Kenji, Sammy, and Yasmina….let her win gold in the Olympics one day, she's earned it. I pray that you keep me safe and carry me through this so I can see them all again…especially grandpa, I have some apologizing to do to him. In Jesus name I pray…amen.
Yasmina scrambled to the large map on the podium in the middle of the lobby, quickly finding the red arrow marked "you are here."
"Where is it, where is it?" She asked nervously, scanning the map. "Ah, here. Security/ACU command." She took a mental note of the map and hurried toward the command center. Within minutes she had found it. She tried the door, it was locked, a slot for a security clearance card was lit with bright red.
"UUUGGHH! I don't have time for this." She cried, pounding her good fist on the door. Yaz took a step back and took a deep breath, doing her best to think clearly.
"I'm not getting in without a card." She thought. "There's got to be a security card in this building somewhere, I've just got to find it." Searching room to room, Yaz was beginning to realize her body had not been ready for this. She hadn't slept since the dock, she'd barley eaten, her wrist throbbed, her ankle was beginning to swell again and now she was facing an adrenaline come down. The only thing keeping her going was her sheer unbreakable will. As she entered the Hammond creation lab, the smell of decomposition burned her nostrils. She plugged her nose, to keep from gagging. It didn't take long to find the source of the smell. She slowly approached the dismembered and mutilated body of man. He was unrecognizable, but had been wearing black pants and a kaki shirt and had obviously been dead for at least a couple days. As awful as the scene was, Yaz still breathed a sigh of relief, clipped to the man's belt loop, was a security card. Trying not to breathe, she leaned down and unclipped the card.
"Victor Hoskins, head of security." She read aloud. "I think this should work, thank you Victor." She added solemnly. She quickly made her way back to the command center and slipped the card into the slot. The red light turned green and the door clicked.
"YES!" she exclaimed, pushing open the door. At the end of the room was large screen showing the live feeds from multiple security cameras. Several computer stations stood between her and the main screen. On the wall to her right was the map of the island Kenji had mentioned. The door next to the map was marked "maintenance tunnel access." Behind her to the left of the main door was a large gray storage locker, which she assumed was weapons storage. To the right of the door, a large window looking into the hallway. Yaz stared at the map. She never would have guessed how many tunnels cut through the island, it appeared as if you could go almost anywhere in the park via tunnel system. She quickly found the point between the monorail track switch and the turn back where Ben would have fallen, there was a tunnel exit much nearer to the track switch than the one they had used to get to the dock. Yasmina grabbed a pen and some printer paper from a nearby work station, quickly writing down the series of turns and distances that would eventually lead her to what she assumed would be Ben's body. Looking back at the map she noticed the communications building that Darius had wanted to investigate. There was a tunnel that led to the veterinary building, which was adjacent to the comms building. She knew now that there was simply no way she was going to be back before her friends woke, and this was the first place they would be coming, grabbing another piece of paper, she began to write. Afterwards Yaz turned her attention to the weapons locker. To her surprise, it wasn't locked. Inside were tazer rifles, large cattle prods, net guns, and tranquilizer dart rifles. Along the bottom of the locker was several two way radios ,Ka-Bar knives, more key cards, and a first-aid kit. Yaz looked at her bandaged wrist, the gauze was turning red.
"Must have reopened it when I hit the door." She thought. In her mind she heard Sammy's voice.
"If it gets infected, we can just amputate the arm, right here." She had said. Grabbing the first aid kit, Yaz sat down on the floor in front of the locker, carefully cleaning and bandaging her wound. When done she wrapped her swelling ankle with a compression bandage. Satisfied with herself, she got up and grabbed a cattle prod.
"At least I know how to use this." She said, pressing the button and watching the electricity crackle between the electrodes. Yasmina opened the door heading to the tunnels and disappeared down the stairs into the red glow. Moving as quickly as she could along the tunnels, she couldn't help but remember their race to the docks. The race they ultimately lost. It seemed like that had been forever ago. She took a deep breath and sighed, she wasn't sure if it was her exhaustion, or her trauma, that was causing her increasingly frequent emotional moments. This was totally unlike her, usually she was able to control her emotions pretty well, but she had cried more in the last three days than she had in the last five years of her life.
"Come on, pull yourself together." She growled. Forcing her mind back on track. Yasmina had dealt with her own dark thoughts for years, it was very seldom that they could catch any traction in her mind. But recently, they had been much harder to control. The harder she fought, the harder they pushed back, she was in a constant tug of war for control and every traumatic event of the past few days was adding its strength to the opposition, if something didn't go right, and soon….well, it wouldn't be pretty.
Yaz found her way blocked by one of the lock down gates.
"Hope this works." She said, waving Hoskins security card in front of the sensor. Like the command center, the red light turned green and the gate slid open.
"It's about time." She sighed, thankful that it had worked. As a test, she tried the card again on the other side, the gate slammed shut. She closed each gate She passed, ensuring nothing would be sneaking up on her from behind. Progress seemed painfully slow, thankfully though, uneventful. It was hours before she finally reached what she was sure was the right ladder. Looking up at the hatch, Yaz took a deep breath in an attempt to prepare for what she feared was up there. Slowly, she climbed the ladder and opened the hatch. Immediately the smell of the jungle mixed with hints of acrid smoke filled her lungs. Yasmina stood next the hatch, surrounded by jungle, she jumped as the rock shaped hatch door closed automatically. The sun was just coming up, which allowed her to get her bearings fairly quickly. The hatch was about twenty yards from a monorail trestle, Yaz, with heart racing, followed the monorail. Looking up she could see where the track split up ahead, thin wisps of smoke rising from the still smoldering wreckage of the second monorail train. She quickened her pace to a jog, knowing Ben must have landed within the next few hundred yards. She could see quite well now, with the sun rising higher.
"The others will be looking for me any time now." She thought, feeling more than a little guilty for leaving them the way she did. In almost no time she had passed the wreckage.
"This is it, he's got to be here somewhere." She thought, sniffing the air for the first hint of decomposition. Suddenly she caught the sunlight glinting off something on the ground, it was glass. From the amount and the location, the glass could only have come from the attack. Yaz slowed, walking slowly and carefully, looking for any signs of Ben, some blood, some ripped clothing, bones, anything. She searched all the way to where they had jumped. She found nothing.
"No" she said, shaking her head. "I must have missed something, he has to be here." She retraced her steps all the way back to the glass and back again. She hadn't missed anything, there was simply nothing. Yasmina fell to her knees, beaten. She had hoped against hope to find Ben alive, she had mentally prepared to find him dead, but she had never considered the possibility of finding nothing at all. Tears fell as her unbreakable will began to crumble, this was the last straw, all of the hurt and trauma that she had been fighting hit her at once. There, alone in the middle of jungle Yasmina's armor cracked and her defenses fell. For the first time in a long time she alowed herself to cry. She absolutely hated how weak she was being, but she knew she couldn't run from it anymore. Ben was gone, just gone, there was no changing it, there was no hope, there was no escape. There were only facts. The fact that he was dead, the fact that she could have stopped it, the fact that she had to stop fighting and accept her guilt. She had to accept it and learn from it, be better next time, or there was no telling who would die next because of her inaction. Sobbing bitterly, Yaz laid down in the grass, next to the broken glass and pulled her knees up to her chest. She cried for what seemed like forever, eyes closed, laying on the jungle floor until exhaustion, mental, emotional, and physical overtook her. Finally, in the grass under the monorail, Yasmina slept.
"We've got to go after her!" Brooklynn pleaded.
"Brooke, I know how you feel, I feel the same, but it's just too dangerous right now. We'll leave at first light." Darius stated sadly
"But God knows what might have happened to her by then." Brooklynn argued. She had a point, he had the same worry himself. Still he couldn't put the rest of the group in unnecessary risk, especially since Yaz had made the choice to put herself in danger.
"Why would she leave? What was she thinking? Sammy asked.
"I don't know" Darius answered. "I think she went to look for Ben, but I don't understand why she couldn't wait for us"
"I want to drop everything and go after her too, but Darius is right, it's too dangerous until daylight." Sammy agreed.
"Out of all of us, Yaz would be the most likely to survive the park at night." Kenji added.
"Well normally I'd agree." Sammy started. "But I don't think she's slept since Kenji's shed, or really eaten, and with her wrist and her ankle….she's not exactly in peak condition."
"She didn't even take her crutch." Brooklynn added quietly, nodding toward the driftwood leaning against the couch. The group went quiet, worst case scenarios playing in their minds.
"Ok daylight is only an hour away, and Sammy has a point. She's not in the best shape, but we are gonna need to be. We all need to eat, whether we feel like it or not, we are going to need the energy. We'll eat, you guys get some more coffee, and we'll head out at first light, we are going to find her, I believe it, we have to." Darius said. The campers reluctantly sat down at the table, a little too worried to have an appetite, but they all finished their plates anyway. Kenji poured his second cup of coffee before Brooklynn finished it off. She was getting pretty energetic.
"How many cups is that for you Brooklynn? Kenji asked, rising an eyebrow.
"Uh.. I didn't count, two or three maybe." She replied, way to fast.
"Five." Sammy corrected. "That's number six." Darius and Kenji's jaws dropped.
"This is going to get interesting." Darius said, shaking his head.
"Hey she's your responsibility now." Kenji laughed.
"I served my time while you guys looked for Yaz." Sammy added. Darius sighed, looking over at Brooklynn, whose muscle movements were beginning to look more like a hummingbirds than a humans.
"Come on Brooke, let's get you a glass of water. He sighed again. Several glasses of water and about an hour later, the group arrived in the lobby. They all hesitated at the front doors. The hotel was the first place they had felt safe since the Indominus attacked the zip line.
"Alright guys, are you ready to do this?" Darius asked, making eye contact with each member. They all nodded. Together, they left the hotel and started making their way around the lagoon. They hadn't gone far before they passed the first body. The realization slowly dawned on them that this had been a much, much bigger catastrophe than they had imagined. Their morale dipped lower and lower with each body they passed, nobody said a word, but they could feel each other's sorrow. They were almost to main street when Brooklynn broke the silence.
"Theres..so many" she said sadly, tears in her eyes.
"I didn't realize it was this bad." Kenji agreed.
"All these poor families." Sammy squeaked, trying her best to keep it together.
"I've never seen anything like this, not even in a movie." Darius agreed. "Try not to look, just keep moving." As they started up main street, a familiar pattern caught Sammy's eye. Near one of the booths, was a pile of bodies, looked like four people in total. To Sammy's horror the body on top was a man in a light blue shirt with white flowers, stained reddish brown with dried blood, it looked as if he'd died trying to protect those beneath him. She took a few steps toward the man, sending three compys scattering, about three feet of intestines dragging behind the last one.
"Sammy, come on." Darius called back to her. She quickly rejoined the group.
"No, it must have been someone else." She lied to herself. "I'm sure the family from our room is fine." Main street had been utterly destroyed, the campers gathered around a destroyed gas barbecue grill, the charred remains of a velociraptor draped across it.
"What happened here?" Brooklynn asked in shock.
"There was a fight." Darius answered. "Judging by the height of the damage, I'm going to guess the Indominus fought the raptors here. Looks like the Indominus won." He added, nodding toward the burned corpse. Suddenly birds exploded from the nearby jungle, the sounds of trees and brush breaking followed.
"HIDE!" Darius half yelled. Sammy and Kenji dove for a shopkeepers booth and flattened themselves against the ground. Darius grabbed Brooklynn by the wrist and dragged her over the counter of another booth, she landed on top of him causing him to let out a grunt. Brooklynn blushed.
"Darius!" she squeaked, lifting her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"
"shhhhhhh." He cut her off, gently pulling her head back down next to his. "Don't move" Heavy footsteps thundered towards them. The tyrannosaur stood in the middle of main street, separating Sammy and Kenji and Brooklynn and Darius. She swung her giant head back and fourth between the two booths, she could smell something was there. In the other booth, Sammy and Kenji were sprawled out on the ground, face to face, flat on their stomachs. Kenji locked eyes with his terrified friend. Sammy was holding it together at least as well, if not better than himself. He slowly reached out and took her hand in his.
"Its going to be alright, we'll be ok." He mouthed. Sammy nodded, squeezing his hand. Back on the other side of main street, Brooklynn lay there, on top of Darius, feeling his chest rise and fall beneath her. She could hear the dinosaur sniffing the air just outside the booth, it was obvious she could sense them. Darius could barely see the tyrannosaur, through the joint where two counters came together. He could tell that she was covered in bites and deep scratches, there was only one dinosaur that could have made marks like that on her, the Indominus.
"She fought the Indominus." Darius whispered in Brooklynn's ear. "If she's still alive, then the Indominus probably isn't."
"Good." Brooklynn whispered back. With everything happening at that moment, all her mind wanted to dwell on was the fact that her face was an inch away from Darius' and she had forgotten to brush her teeth this morning. The tyrannosaur stood up straight and roared, challenging anything in the area. Sammy and Kenji both squeezed their eyes shut, waiting for the massive head to burst into the shop. Brooklynn whimpered and covered her ears with her hands while Darius protectively hugged her a little tighter. The tyrannosaur, seemingly losing interest in the new smells, picked up the dead velociraptor in its jaws and headed towards the lagoon, turning at the end of main street and disappearing back into the jungle. Brooklynn picked her head up again, awkwardly rolling off of Darius.
"Sorry, that was awkward, I.. I wasn't…" Brooklynn stammered.
"Brooklynn!" Darius cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a gentle shake. "It's fine, we were hiding from the greatest predator this planet has ever seen, that's just how you landed, no reason to feel awkward." As Darius looked her in the eyes, he couldn't help but notice her make up wearing off, revealing her black eye. His eyes locked onto her bruised skin. Brooklynn noticed.
"Does it really look that bad?" she asked quietly "So bad that you can't even look at me?" Darius swallowed hard.
"Brooke, you don't look bad, I promise. It's just…I don't know how to describe it. I just..its just…its hard for me to see you hurt like that." He tried to explain.
"But Yaz is hurt way worse than me, and you can still look at her." She protested. "Whats so wrong with me."
"Nothing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you Brooke, it's just….your face." Darius tried again, immediately realizing how that comment had sounded. Brooklynn's jaw dropped in shock, tears immediately welling up in her eyes. She turned to run, but Darius grabbed her by the forearm.
"No, Brooklynn wait, that's not what I meant." He pleaded.
"Its fine Darius, I get it. Now let go of me." She snapped, tears already flowing.
"No Brooklynn you don't get it." He argued, voice starting to raise.
"Just let me go!" she hissed in response. Darius pulled her back to face him grabbing her shoulders with both hands.
"Your face is beautiful, your beautiful, I wish you could see that." He nearly yelled, heart pounding in his chest. Brooklynn immediately stopped struggling.
"W..what? But you said…" she croaked.
"When I look at your face right now, it really looks like someone beat the crap out of you." Darius explained. "The thought that someone did that too you, triggers something, I can't describe it, but it makes me angry, so I just try not to look." He elaborated.
"But nobody touched me, I fell." She reminded him, getting confused.
"I know you did, that's why it's so weird, I can't help it, it's just there, how was I supposed to explain it to you when I can't even understand it myself." He continued.
"So let me get this straight." Brooklynn started. "You can't look at me because it makes you angry that a rock beat me up?"
"I guess that sums it up." Darius chuckled, feeling the tension start to melt. Brooklynn pulled him into a hug.
"I'll make sure to put on my makeup from now on, so you don't have to fight the rock." She giggled, ruffling his hair.
"You don't have to do that, its my weird problem, I need to get over it." He insisted.
"Umm…is everything cool over here?" Kenji asked.
"Yeah, just a misunderstanding, it's all better now." Brooklynn smiled, wiping her eyes.
"Good, okay then, we should probably get moving, in case you know who decides to come back, right? Kenji asked.
"Absolutely." Darius responded, helping Brooklynn over the counter before climbing out himself. Quickly they made their way to the innovation center.
"ACU command center is thus way, follow me." Kenji called back, taking the lead. A few minutes later they reached their destination. Darius went for the door while Sammy peered through the window.
"She's been here." Sammy exclaimed. " there's an open first aid kit, and bloody bandages, that's gotta be her."
"Door's locked, we need a security card. Kenji, do you know where.." Darius started.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY, KENJI SMASH!" Kenji yelled, throwing a large fire extinguished through the window, shattering it to pieces.
"Never mind." Darius corrected.
"Huh..well that was effective." Sammy pointed out.
"Kenji smash?" Brooklynn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah." He chuckled sheepishly, "I've always wanted to say that." Kenji hopped through the shattered window and opened the door. Sammy immediately inspected the first aid kit.
"Well her wrist is bleeding again." She said. "But it looks like she redressed it herself. Hmm. I'm actually kinda proud of her."
"Looks like she's armed too." Kenji pointed out, looking in the weapons locker. "There's a cattle prod missing."
"Um Darius." Brooklynn started. "She left a note…it's for you." Everyone fell silent, staring at Darius as he moved forward to read the note out loud.
Darius
I'm sorry. I wanted to be back before you guys woke up. Please don't follow me, there's no point in you guys putting yourselves in danger just to prove what we already know. You were right Darius, the smarter choice was to investigate the communications building, you're a good leader. There's a tunnel that goes there, that's where you need to go. Once I find Ben, I'll meet you back at the hotel. If something happens…..know that I love you guys, even if I don't show it. That goes for all of you, even you Kenji. Good luck at the communications building, hopefully I'll see you soon.
Yaz.
The campers were silent. After a long moment, Kenji spoke up.
"Well fearless leader, what's it going to be? Follow her, or see if we can find a radio and get outta here?"
"That's not even a question." Darius responded, staring at the note. "We find Yaz."