Chapter 6: Consequences.
A/N: Hope you all enjoy.
It was late morning by the time Ben awoke, he sat up and yawned, rubbing his eyes.
"Guess I needed the rest." He chuckled to himself. The venom's effects were completely gone, except for a little leftover muscle weakness. Yawning again he pulled himself to his feet, slinging his firearm over his shoulder. Heading out of the control room, he scanned the rotunda. Still no Bumpy. He had developed the routine of climbing to the catwalk and having a look out over the jungle each morning. Not only did it give him a chance to see if predators were close by, but also he could look for Bumpy. This morning found the trio of dinosaurs still guarding the drain pipe.
"Boy, they don't give up do they." He said to himself. "I'd sure hate to be the one trapped in there." Moving to the back of the building, he watched the brachiosaurs herd for a few moments. They were closer today. Ben enjoyed watching the distant herbivores, their slow graceful movements and whale like songs were a welcome change from the sometimes fast paced, heart pounding business of day to day survival. Slowly he shifted his gaze to the banana grove where he'd set his snare the day before.
"I should probably check that." He thought. After one final scan for predators, he headed back down the ladder. Moments later he slipped out the back of the building. As he approached, he could see the loop of wire was missing. Ben stopped, he could see the other end of the wire still tied around the tree. Slowly he crept up to the area, unsure of what he would find. He followed the wire with his eyes to a small area of flattened brush. Still fifteen feet away, he could see a compy at the other end of the wire. He stared hard at the dinosaur's rib cage, there was no movement. Ben picked up a stick, slowly sneaking up close enough to poke the stick at the compy's eye, again, no response.
"I got one." He said in disbelief, kneeling to inspect the animal. "I actually got one." Removing the wire from the compy's neck, he stroked its side. Up close, it really was a beautiful animal, the feeling was bittersweet. On the one hand, this compy was the fresh meat that his body needed, he was proud of his kill, proud of himself, and had the roles been reversed, the compy wouldn't have thought twice about making a meal of Ben. But on the other hand, he was sad about taking its life, not guilty, just sad. After all the compy was only trying to find food and stay away from predators, no different than himself. Though Ben had never been hunting, he imagined that this must be how a hunter feels when they make a kill. Ben placed his hand on the compy's chest and closed his eyes.
"Thank you, for giving your life to help me survive. And thank you father, for providing me with this meal." He prayed. Standing, he draped the little dinosaur over his shoulder and headed for the kitchen. There he gathered his knife, the largest pot he could find, a rack from an oven, and an armload of wood. It took several trips but eventually he got all of his supplies up to the lookout.
"If I'm gonna be butchering and cooking meat, then this is the safest spot to do it." He thought to himself. He had never processed an animal before, but he had a general understanding of what needed to be done, gutting, skinning, cutting up, and cooking. Ben made an incision from the compy's vent clear up to its neck, slicing through the soft breastbone, allowing him to spread the rib cage and basically peel all the guts out at once. After rinsing the body cavity out with some water, he removed the hands, head, and feet. To his surprise, he found that the skin peeled off relatively easily. With the skinning and gutting out of the way, Ben turned his attention to making a fire. Using his knife, he made some holes in the bottom of the pot for air flow, then built a small fire inside. Once the fire was going well, he set the oven rack on top of the pot and cut a few strips of meat from the carcass, laying them on the rack to cook. Getting up, he watched the jungle as he waited. There were only two dinos at the pipe now.
"Hmm where's the third?" He wandered out loud. Ben glanced at the direction the smoke from his fire was rising from the window, he was down wind.
"They shouldn't have smelled me." He thought. As he watched, the third predator stepped out of the jungle and rejoined the group. As soon as it had returned, another left.
"They're taking turns." Ben thought. "probably getting water, They're trying to starve it out." He said out loud, feeling bad for whatever poor animal they had trapped, though there wasn't much he could do. Sitting down, he turned the meat on the grill, it was a white with a texture close to chicken. It really didn't smell bad as it cooked, just different. His stomach growled at the thought of fresh cooked meat.
"I hope this tastes as good as it smells." He said to himself. As the meat continued cooking, a strong gust of cold wind blew smoke back into the open windows, causing Ben to cough. He stood, looking out towards the horizon. In the distance, black clouds stretched as far as he could see. Though it was still sunny and hot at the visitors center, he could almost feel the temperature begin to fall.
"Looks like it's going to be a bad night" he thought, adding more meat to the grill. Finally the first few strips of meat seemed cooked well enough to eat. Carefully he moved them to a spot on the outside edge of the grill, replacing them with more strips. His intention was to cook all of the meat at once to keep it from spoiling. After processing, there was really only a couple pounds of meat anyway, and he should be able to eat it before it went bad. After it had cooled Ben picked up a piece. He stared at it for a minute, somewhat concerned about possible parasites, eventually his hunger won out over his caution, closing his eyes, he took a bite. The meat was in fact very bird like, it was slightly greyer than chicken and a little more fibrous. The taste was actually quite good, almost like a mix between ruffed grouse and rabbit. He only knew that because his grandfather had once tricked him into eating rabbit, and his uncle Larry was a bird hunter, and often gave meat to his parents.
"Mmmm, ok that's actually good." He said to himself, stuffing another piece in his mouth. Over the next few hours he cooked all the meat, and ate over half of it. The sky had turned dark and the wind was really starting to blow. He could smell the rain coming and could see the lightening flashing in distance. Ben watched as his tiny fire burned itself out. As soon as it had, he closed the window and packed up the rest of his cooked meat. Carefully, he climbed down and headed for the control room. Though the storm moving in looked like it was going to be especially bad, Ben was safe and warm in the control room. His belly almost uncomfortably full, his eyelids grew heavy. Before drifting off he gave thanks.
"Thank you Father, for another day and for blessing my trap. Thank you for providing me with everything I need. Please watch over Bumpy and lead him back here. Please watch over my family and friends and keep them safe in all they do. Amen.
A cold wind ruffled Yasmina's hair, startling her awake. Groggily, she sat up, pulling her knees to her chest for warmth. She looked around, blinking hard.
"Where am I?" she thought, beginning to panic before the sight of the monorail trestle brought it all flooding back. She remembered everything now, she had failed to find Ben and had collapsed in exhaustion and emotion. She was thankful the others hadn't seen her breakdown. Speaking of the others, they were likely closing in on her by now. She didn't know exactly how long she had slept, but it seemed to be late afternoon. The sky was dark and the wind drove a chill into her bones.
"What happened to the weather?" she thought, as the first rain drop hit her tear streaked face.
"Time to move." She said out loud to herself, as she got to her feet. Yaz only took one step before collapsing.
"AHHHH." She growled, rolling to her side and grabbing her ankle. She knew she had pushed too hard, it was badly swollen and very stiff. Even with the compression bandage, it had been throbbing while she searched for Ben, but she had simply pushed through the pain, but when she slept, it had time to swell. Now she could barely put weight on it and to make matters worse, the rain was really starting to come down.
"Come on Yaz, GET UP!" she thought, as she forced the injured ankle to take her weight. Already she was soaked all the way though from the cold rain. He teeth chattered as she hobbled along, desperately trying to get back to the tunnel entrance. The last of the daylight had been swallowed by the storm, and even if it hadn't, Yaz could barely see through the driving rain. The only sound now was the wind and rain, punctuated by claps of thunder. She knew she was only a few hundred yards from the safety of the tunnel, but it might as well have been miles, she could barely walk, couldn't hear, could only see during the occasional flash of lightning, and even with that she was beginning to shiver so badly that it interfered with her sight.
"Okay, okay, this whole idea was stupid, I should have waited for the others, I can't do this alone." She finally admitted to herself. Bitter tears mixed with the rain as the realization that she may need to be rescued dawned on her.
"What if they actually went to the communications building." She thought, "what if they actually listened to me." In a flash of lightning, she could see the monorail track above her.
"Okay, as long as I follow the track, it should take me back to the entrance." She said to herself. Slowly she crawled, on her one good hand and Her knees, looking up with every flash to make sure she was headed the right direction.
"Even if they did follow me, if I'm not right next to the entrance, they'd never be able to find me in this storm. She thought. Soon she could smell the burnt wreckage of the other train, no longer smoldering due to the rain.
"Okay, getting closer." She thought. She crawled her way to the next trestle and waited for the lightening. When it finally flashed, she caught a glimpse of the stone shaped entrance in the distance, but something was wrong, she had thought she saw something else as well, but with the rain and her uncontrollable shivering she wasn't sure. Yasmina dared not move, frozen, waiting for the next flash. When the lightning lit the sky again, her fears were confirmed. A huge carnivore, smaller than the tyrannosaur, but not by much, sniffed at the entrance to the tunnel system. She flattened against ground, praying that the dinosaur couldn't see any better than she could. Unfortunately, the next bolt of lightning dashed any hopes she had of remaining undetected. To her horror, the flash revealed the predator staring directly at her. Back in darkness, she heard it roar and felt the ground shake as it charged. Yaz tried to run, but immediately collapsed as her ankle finally gave out completely.
"No, no, no, no." she whimpered, trying again to get up and again falling to the ground. In desperation, she scrambled on hands and knees to the trestle, pulling herself up on the alternating pegs sticking out of the side. She climbed as fast as she could, ignoring the tearing sensation in her injured wrist, she had no choice, though she couldn't see it, she could sense it was right on top of her. As if in confirmation, she heard and felt it's jaws slam shut just inches below her foot, so close she could feel it's hot breath on the bare skin of her legs. Yaz could only climb a few pegs higher, her wrist and ankle simply wouldn't allow any more. Between her injuries, the wind and the driving rain, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold on for long. The dinosaur knew it too. In another flash of lightning, she glanced down. It stood below her, huge jaws just feet from her legs, staring intently at her, waiting, just waiting, as if it could sense her body weakening. Yasmina now hoped desperately that her friends had indeed gone to the communications building, the last thing on earth she wanted was for them to pop out of that entrance in the darkness, the carnivore would be on them before they even knew it was there. Her strength fading, she did her best to shift her weight to her good hand and ankle, hoping to hang on long enough for the dinosaur to get bored and leave. It was now a simple waiting game, but she feared the predator could hold out for longer than she could.
"Brooklynn, grab a paper and write down the directions." Darius ordered, nodding toward the map. "Kenji, grab those radios and put them in the pack, they'll come in handy. Kenji hurriedly opened their pack and started grabbed the radios.
"Make sure to grab a couple chargers too." Darius added as he leaned over Kenji to grab the security cards. He handed a card to each of them before clipping one to his own belt loop.
"Done" Brooklynn stated, "there's an exit almost right at the track switch, that's probably where she went. There's also an exit close to the hotel too. When we've got more time we should really copy this whole map." She added.
"that's a really good idea, Brooke" Darius said, coming to stand beside her. Brooklynn showed him the tunnels she was speaking of and how by using the complex they could travel almost anywhere they needed.
"Once we find Yaz and get her home, that's one of the very next things we should do." Darius added, giving Brooklynn a pat on the shoulder.
"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Kenji exclaimed, pulling a dart rifle from the rack. Brooklynn, Darius and Sammy exchanged uneasy glances at the sight of Kenji armed.
"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Brooklynn asked narrowing her eyes.
"Of course I…hey I can't see through the scope." He complained.
"That's not a scope, it's a PVS-14 night vision, you have to turn it on." Sammy said, twisting the switch on the front of the device, a green glow emanating from the eyepiece.
"Whoa cool, thanks." Kenji said, sounding like a little kid with a new Christmas present.
"Keep the rubber cap on the lens during the day or when your around lights, only take it off at night, or you'll burn it out." She warned. Darius and Brooklynn stared at the Texan.
"What?" she asked suddenly feeling self conscious.
"Um..exactly what kind of training did you get from Mantah Corp?" Darius asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, how the heck did you know that?" Brooklynn chimed in.
"Oh!" Sammy laughed. "My dad has one, it's not on a rifle like that but it's the same thing, we use it to keep tabs on the coyotes during calving season, make sure they stay away from the herd."
"Okay that makes more sense." Darius laughed.
"I was going to ask if she knew five different ways to kill a person with pressure points." Brooklynn laughed, causing Darius to laugh again.
"Oh don't be ridiculous Brooklynn" Sammy cackled, "I only know three." Brooklynn and Darius stopped laughing, shooting each other concerned glances.
"Kenji has a point though, last time we went in the tunnels, we ran into Toro." Sammy said, grabbing a tazer rifle for herself. "maybe it's better if we're a bit more prepared."
"She's not wrong." Darius admitted, shrugging to Brooklynn. "What do you want to carry?"
"Umm..I think I'll stick with a cattle prod, less chance I'll accidentally shoot myself with that…or one of you guys for that matter." She said, giving Kenji a nervous glance.
"Agreed." Darius affirmed, handing Brooklynn a prod and grabbing one for himself. Darius opened the door to the tunnel system.
"Is everybody ready for this?" he asked looking back at his team. Kenji and Sammy nodded, Brooklynn pressed the button on her prod, letting the electricity crackle.
"Bring it on!" she smiled.
Down in the tunnels, Darius and Kenji naturally took the lead, with Sammy and Brooklynn trailing behind.
"Okay, so what happened between you and Darius back on main street?" Sammy pushed, nudging Brooklynn's shoulder.
"I kinda freaked out on Darius, accused him of calling me ugly, and genuinely made a complete idiot of myself." She answered shamefully.
"Oh…I see." Sammy nodded. The two walked in silence for a few moments.
"Okay no, that's not gonna cut it, I'm gonna need a much better explanation than that." Sammy blurted out. Brooklynn rolled her eyes and sighed.
"You remember our conversation in the bathroom last night?" Brooklynn started.
"Yeah" she affirmed.
"Well he started it again, and I called him out on it" Brooklynn said.
"And what did he say?" she asked.
"That my face was the problem." Brooklynn said simply. Sammy's jaw dropped.
"He did not say that!" she snapped in disbelief.
"Oh yes he did, but that wasn't what he meant. But I took it the way your taking it." She explained.
"So what did he mean?" she asked
"I guess it triggers him to see me look like I got beat up, said it makes him angry." She continued.
"Aww he's being protective, and yeah you do kinda look like someone punched you." Sammy admitted.
"Yeah, I didn't wait for that part, as soon as he said it was my face, I got mad and tried to run, but he grabbed me and shook me." Brooklynn continued.
"Wait, he grabbed you and shook you, that's not ok." Sammy frowned.
"No, not like that, not a bad grab and shake, he was gentle, just trying to get me to calm down and listen for a second." She explained.
"OK and what did he say?" Sammy asked.
"He said there was nothing wrong with my face and that I'm….that I'm beautiful." Brooklynn smiled sheepishly.
"Oh my gosh, the poor guy. He accidentally tells you there's a problem with your face, then panics and tells you your beautiful. He really has no idea how to talk to girls does he?" Sammy laughed. Brooklynn's shoulders slumped, the smile draining from her face.
"Yea…yeah, he panicked… that's why he said that." She said softly, looking down. Only then did Sammy realize her mistake.
"Oh no, Brooklynn, I didn't mean it like that…he wouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it." Sammy backpedaled.
"No Sammy it's fine, a relief actually." She said, trying to convince herself more than Sammy. "I don't want Darius to look at me like that anyway, it would just be weird."
"Um, yeah, I guess your right." Sammy relented, feeling horrible and wishing her legs were long enough to kick her own butt.
"Dude, what was up with you and Brooklynn back there?" Kenji asked quietly enough that the girls wouldn't hear.
"Man I don't even know." Darius admitted. "First she fell on top of me when we dove over the counter, I mean, it was kinda awkward, but I didn't think it was a big deal, but she kinda acted like it was."
"How so." Kenji asked.
"I don't know, she just got kinda flustered and red faced, kept apologizing, that kinda thing." He answered.
"Hmm, so how did you guys get to yelling at each other?" Kenji pushed.
"Well, I haven't really been able to look at her since she got hurt, she looks like someone beat her up and it just…I just..I don't know it just triggers something and makes me angry, so I just try not to look at her. She finally asked why."
"Awww someone's getting protective over Brooklynn." Kenji laughed.
"Shut up, it's not like that, I'd feel the same about any of you." He snapped.
"I highly doubt that." Kenji challenged. "Anyway, what did you tell her?"
"When she asked what was wrong with her I.. I told her it was her face." Darius said, hanging his head. Kenji's jaw dropped.
"Wait, you seriously said that to her?" Kenji asked in disbelief.
"Hey I was panicking ok?" he argued defensively, "I didn't mean it to sound like that, but that's how she took it, and I saw how bad it hurt her, so I just blurted out that she was beautiful."
"So first you tell her face is messed up, then tell her she's beautiful?" Kenji clarified. "And you thought that would work?"
"I guess, but I didn't mean to tell her that, I just didn't want her to think there was anything wrong with her. I just needed to get her attention so I could explain what I meant." Darius explained.
"Did you mean it?" he asked.
"Mean what? Darius questioned.
"What you told Brooklynn, do you really think she's beautiful?" Kenji asked. Darius went red.
"I…um..I mean…well she is, but I didn't want to say that to her, I didn't want her to get the wrong idea." He stuttered.
"Oh you mean the idea that you like her?" Kenji teased.
"I don't like her like that, she's my friend, that's it." Darius insisted.
"Okay bruh, whatever you say." he laughed.
"How much further do we have?" Darius asked, changing the subject.
"A few miles, I think, it's kinda hard to read Brooklynn's map." He admitted.
"As long as you know where we're going." Darius said.
"No worries dino nerd, I know this place like the back of my hand, especially now that we can open the security gates."
The campers walked for nearly all day, keeping light conversation to pass the time, but the nagging feeling that they had gone too far, wouldn't leave Brooklynn's mind.
"We should have been there by now." She blurted out.
"Okay, I was thinking the same thing." Darius backed her up.
"Relax guys I got this, Kenji insisted, staring at the map, tilting it left then right. "Exit should be right around this bend." Darius and Brooklynn exchanged concerned looks, but followed him anyway. As they rounded the bend, a ladder came into view.
"Right here, see I told you it was here" Kenji gloated.
"Alright, let's find Yaz and get out of here." Darius said, starting up the ladder. The moment he climbed out of the hatch and on to the grass, he knew something was wrong. The smell of salt air, the cry of the gulls, the sound of the surf…they were at the coast, nowhere near the monorail. The rest of the campers crawled out of the tunnel, silently staring at the ocean.
"We're not even close to the monorail, are we?" Sammy asked quietly.
"How Kenji, just…how?" Brooklynn asked slowly, anger edging in her voice.
"Hey, it's not my fault you draw terrible maps." Kenji shot back.
"terrible maps?" she roared, stomping up to the VIP and snatching the paper from his hand. "How did you get lost with this"
"I did just like it said, go straight, passed five rights…." He tried.
"What do you mean, passed five rights?" she asked, cutting him off.
"These" he said, pointing to five small lines coming out from the main dark line that indicated the tunnel.
"Those aren't right turns, those are vents." She growled.
"Oh, well you should have made a map key." Kenji protested.
"I didn't need a map key, I labeled them with the word vent." Brooklynn hissed through gritted teeth.
"Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense now." Kenji conceded nonchalantly. Brooklynn briefly considered zapping him with her cattle prod, but decided there was a possibility that may be crossing a line.
"Can you remember the map, Brooke? Figure out where we are and where we need to go?" Darius asked softly. Brooklynn closed her eyes and concentrated.
"I…I think so, we need to backtrack, but we're way past were we needed to be, probably around three hours". Darius looked towards the sinking sun.
"We need to move, we're going to be racing daylight and the storm." He said pointing to the black clouds that were already rolling in. The campers piled back down the hatch and into the tunnels, this time with Darius and Brooklynn leading the way.
"It's okay Brooke, you've got this, you can do it." Darius pushed, sensing her doubt.
"I just hope I remember right." She confessed.
"I'm sure you will, you're a smart girl." He continued. The sudden compliments caused her to blush slightly, but also made her suspicious.
"He's trying to make up for lying to me." She thought.
"Look Darius" she started with a sigh. "You don't need to keep making things up to compliment me on, I know you didn't mean what you said. I get it, I was upset and you were just trying to calm me down so you could explain yourself. It's fine, I know I'm a hot mess right now, and I believe you on why you said you won't look at me, I'm not sure why it's such a big deal to you, but I do believe you. But you don't need to tell me I'm pretty or beautiful or smart or any of that just to make me feel better. I mean, we're friends right?, friends shouldn't feel like they need to stretch the truth with each other, even if it's to spare someone's feelings. Know what I mean?" Darius' cheeks flushed, he knew she didn't view herself in the best light, but if this was how she really felt, then the problem was worse than he assumed. He was only regretful of telling her she was beautiful because he was afraid she'd think he had a crush on her, he understood now that with her self image so low, that was the last assumption she'd ever make. For crying out loud, she couldn't take a simple compliment without thinking it was out of pity or guilt.
Your right Brooklynn, friends shouldn't ever feel the need to be dishonest. And yes I was just trying to calm you down, the your beautiful part just kind of slipped out." Darius began. Brooklynn's heart sank, she had known the truth since Sammy brought it up, but still, to hear Darius confirm it hurt.
"That being said." Darius continued, as your friend, I want you to know I meant every word I said to you. From telling you that your beautiful, to telling you that your smart. I genuinely feel that way, it's not just saying what I think you want to hear." Brooklynn blushed brightly, though it was hard to tell in the red lights of the tunnel.
"Okay Darius, I believe you." She lied, putting on a smile.
"It's not like I meant to misread the map." Kenji sulked. "I mean, I want to find Yaz too, I wouldn't deliberately waste time."
"I know you wouldn't." Sammy reassured him. "Brooklynn knows that too, she just has…a lot on her mind." She knew exactly why Brooklynn was in a bad mood and wished she hadn't went and opened her dang mouth.
"She just acts like I don't care, nobody ever takes me seriously." He complained.
"Well, not to sound rude….but did you ever think it might have something to do with the image you put off?" she asked. Kenji's shoulders slumped.
"I had a feeling you might say that." He sighed.
"So why keep up the act?" she asked softly, "we both know that isn't really you."
"I don't know, I don't really try to, it's just…I've been the class clown so long it just comes out. How do I even know what the real me is?" he asked.
"Well let's start with this, you're upset because Brooklynn got so mad right?" she asked.
"Well yeah, it's not like I misread her map on purpose." He snorted.
"Okay and what was the first thing you did when you realized we weren't where we were supposed to be?" she questioned.
"Blamed Brooklynn and her map." Kenji acknowledged shamefully.
"And was it really her fault?" She pushed
"No…that was my bad, even if I was confused, it's not like I couldn't have asked her." He replied, looking down.
"Exactly, we're all stressed and worried about Yaz, every minute is valuable right now. You made a mistake, which is fine, none of us are prefect, but rather than own up to it, you acted like you were too good to make mistakes and blamed Brooklynn instead. Ya see how that comes across? and why she's upset?" Sammy explained. Kenji nodded.
"I get that, I know it's wrong, I just don't know why I do it. I felt so stupid and guilty when we came out on the coast that…I don't know, that all just came out." He said sadly.
"Hmm, I think that's your defense mechanism." Sammy deduced. "When something happens that makes you look or feel dumb or bad, you turn it around and try to put it on someone else."
"It sounds terrible when you say it like that." Kenji muttered.
"Well it's definitely not a good thing, I can see through it, but the others….not so much. If you really want them to see you differently, then that's where we should start." Sammy continued.
"We?" he asked rising an eyebrow.
"Of course, it would be really tough to make a change on your own, most things you probably don't even notice. But I want to help you, your better than they think you are and I'm tired of being the only one who sees it." She explained. Kenji's heart melted. Nobody had ever believed in him like that before, nobody had ever even noticed that there was another side to him at all, not even his family. And yet here was this young country girl from Texas, reading him like an open book. Kenji fought hard to control his emotions, finally he knew what it felt like to have a real friend.
"I'm not gonna let you down, with your encouragement, I know I can be who I want to be, it just might take some time, I don't know if you've noticed….but I can be a little hard headed sometimes." He laughed.
"Just start by taking responsibility for your mistakes, no excuses, no blaming anyone else, oh and it really wouldn't hurt to stop rubbing your wealth in people's faces, those two things would be a great first step." She advised.
"Yes ma'am" he stated, giving Sammy a curt salute, causing her to laugh and give him a gentle shove. They walked in silence for a moment before Kenji grabbed Sammy's hand and squeezed it gently.
"Thank you Sammy" he said, looking her dead in the eyes. "Thank you for seeing the good in me that nobody else sees, thank you for believing in me when nobody else does, thank you for showing me what it's like to have a best friend." Sammy's cheeks felt like they were on fire. She struggled to find words as her stomach summersaulted into her chest cavity.
"You…your…welcome." Was all she could manage to squeak out. Kenji smiled and gave her hand another gentle squeeze before quickly releasing it, his palm oddly beginning to sweat.
Two and a half hours after they had arrived at the coast, the group stopped beneath another ladder to the surface.
"Okay, I think this is it" Brooklynn said taking a deep breath.
"I'll check it out" Darius said, starting up the ladder. As soon as he opened the hatch, driving rain poured down the opening, the sky was pitch black. Darius squinted in the darkness before climbing back down in frustration.
"I can't see anything, it's just too dark." He said, shaking his head. Immediately Kenji headed up the ladder.
"It's too dark, what are you doing?" Brooklynn asked.
"The night vision, remember?" he answered excitedly, wedging himself in the opening of the hatch, so that he could bring the weapon to his shoulder.
"I can barely see anything." Kenji called down, confused.
"It's night out there Kenji, take the daytime cover off." Sammy yelled back.
"Oh…right." Kenji chuckled sheepishly. With the cover off, darkness became daytime in the eyepiece of the device. Immediately he saw the dinosaur, about two hundred yards away, it was staring up at a monorail trestle. Kenji strained his eyes at the trestle, there had to be a reason the dinosaur was so interested, but it was at the extreme end of the night vision's range. Finally, just above the dinosaur's reach, Kenji saw movement.
"I see her." He called down. The campers started cheering.
"She's trapped." Kenji said solemnly. "I don't know what it is, bigger than Toro, smaller than T-rex, whatever it is has her trapped up a monorail trestle." The cheering stopped.
"Kenji, do you think you can hit it from here?Darius asked. Kenji had completely forgotten he was holding an air rifle full of tranquilizer darts, not just a night vision device.
"Um I don't know, I can try, I have no idea what kind of range this thing has." He called back. Kenji took a deep breath, steadying himself. Slowly he lined up the carnivore in the center of his eyepiece.
"Please let this work." He thought. Carefully, Kenji squeezed the trigger.
Yaz had been holding tight to the pegs for over an hour, enduring the wind and rain, chills and pains in the hopes that this beast would give up and leave her alone. But now, with her legendary strength and stamina failing, it had become clear that it wasn't going anywhere. She was just beginning lose hope completely, when she heard the sound, a somewhat loud "thwump" sound followed by a soft thud, some distance away. Looking for the source of the noise, she could immediately see shadows moving in the red glow coming from the open entrance to the tunnel.
"Oh no, not now." She thought, as the predator beneath her roared and charged.
"RUN!" she screamed. "GET OUT OF HERE!" Panicking, Yaz tried to climb down, desperate to help her friends. Unfortunately, her hands and feet had grown numb in the cold wind and rain. She was still sixteen feet off the ground when she lost her grip on the peg.
"This is gonna hurt." She thought as she toppled backwards off of the trestle to the hard packed ground below.
"CRAP!" Kenji exclaimed as he watched his dart smack into the ground, still seventy-five yards away from his target. The dinosaur's head snapped towards him, hearing the shot.
"Did you hit it? Brooklynn asked frantically.
"No, too far away." Kenji answered.
"We need to get closer." Darius exclaimed. The dinosaur roared and charged.
"Don't think that's gonna be a problem." Kenji muttered. Suddenly, over the wind and rain, he heard Yasmina's voice, she was yelling something but he couldn't understand her. As he aimed at the charging carnivore, Yaz's movement drew his attention.
"Oh, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck. He repeated as he watched Yaz start climbing down the trestle. To his horror, he watched as she lost her grip and fell, landing in motionless heap on the ground.
"YASMINA!" Kenji screamed.
"What happened?" Sammy shrieked.
"She fell!" He answered
"Oh my God!" Brooklynn cried, "Is she okay?"
"I….I don't know, she's not moving." Kenji cried back.
"We've got to find a way to get her out of there." Darius shouted. Another roar snapped Kenji's attention back to the attacking theropod, it was almost on top of him. Kenji jerked the barrel towards the animal and fired twice.
Time slowed as Yaz fell, just like when she fell from the spinosaur's jaws, except this time it wasn't water beneath her. She hit the ground hard, flat on her back. A flash of light blinded her as the back of her head hit the ground, her rib cage felt as though it had been crushed, she tried to take a breath and couldn't, her body jerking back and fourth as she gasped for air, slowly she was able to get some air back in her lungs. She was dazed from the impact, sounds were muted with a steady ringing in her ears. The edges of her vision were blurred and she was so dizzy that the world seemed to spin around her. Yaz let her head flop in the direction of her friends. Though blurry, she could still see the shadow of someone in the hatchway. The dinosaur was almost there, why hadn't they dropped back into the tunnel? She heard a thwump , thwump as the shadow fired again at the beast, but it was too late. Yasmina's heart broke as the dinosaur lunged, grabbing the shadow and shaking it like a pit bull, before throwing it to the side, roaring in victory.
"No" she whimpered, Weakly reaching toward her fallen friend. It had happened again, another one of her friends was dead because of her.
"I'm sorry" she sobbed, barely audible over the ringing in her ears. Mercifully her injuries and grief overwhelmed her as Yasmina slipped into unconsciousness.
Kenji watched as the two darts slammed into the chest of the charging carnivore, but it was too little too late. At the last moment he dropped his rifle and slid down the ladder, just as the massive jaws slammed shut on the hatch door, ripping it free and shaking it back and fourth.
"Got two darts in it." He panted, as the campers gathered around him.
"Where is she, how far?" Darius asked.
"At the trestle, about two hundred yards." Kenji answered, as the dinosaur roared down at them.
"allosaurus." Darius said, looking up at the beast. "Brooklynn, do you remember if there's any other tunnel exits close to here?"
"I think the closest one is the one we used to get to the dock, it's probably at least a mile." She answered sadly. The allosaur roared again in frustration before noticing its original prey was now on the ground.
"It sees her!" Kenji yelled in panic
"LEAVE HER ALONE! Sammy shrieked, firing a shock charge from her tazer rifle into the allosaur's bottom jaw. Immediately the predator's muscles seized and it collapsed, convulsing as the charge emptied its energy into the animal. The campers stared as the dinosaur tried to stand, but collapsed again, it's huge jaws partially blocking the hatchway. No longer moving, the allosaur's breathing slowed and steadied.
"I think the tranquilizer took effect." Darius said quietly.
"I'll get her" Kenji said, slinging his dart gun and starting up the ladder.
"Kenji wait!" Darius commanded. "We have no idea what dosage of tranquilizer you gave that thing, it could be down for an hour or down for a minute. If it wakes up with you up there, you won't stand a chance."
"Oh believe me I know, I really, really hate this almost getting eaten thing. But if it wakes up and Yaz is still out….." Kenji didn't need to finish.
"Just be careful okay?" Darius urged.
Kenji gave their leader a smile and continued climbing, pushing past the sleeping allosaur's jaws to reach the grass. Running as fast as he could in the dark to where the girl lay, he collapsed on top of her, putting his ear tight against her chest.
"Oh thank you God!" He said out loud after having heard her heart beating. Gently he lifted her head, lightly slapping her cheeks.
"Wake up Yaz" he pleaded. "Come on, please wake up" there was no response. A low growl from the allosaur told him he was running out of time. As quickly as he could, he pulled the limp girl up and over his shoulder. The two hundred yards to the tunnel seemed to take forever but finally he reached the hatch. To his horror the allosaur began to stir, kicking its feet and flaring its nostrils.
"Guys, get ready to catch her!" Kenji yelled in desperation, sliding Yasmina's unconscious body into the hatch, letting her dangle by her good arm. As soon as his friends were in position he let go, watching her drop into the campers arms causing them to collapse in a heap at the base of the ladder. Kenji breathed a sigh of relief as he shoved his way past the waking allosaurus and climbed down to his friends. However the look on their faces confirmed his fears. For the first time he got a look at Yasmina's condition, and it wasn't reassuring. She was unconscious, soaked and shivering, her wrist was bleeding through her bandages, her ankle was double the size that it should be. And she was bleeding from the back of her head, along with a tiny trickle of blood from her right ear.
"We've got to move" Darius said solemnly. We're not safe down here with that hatch ripped off. Together Kenji and Sammy carried Yasmina as the group hurriedly made its way toward the command center.
"Hold up, guys, hold up" Darius called, coming to a stop. "We aren't gonna make it tonight, let's just get to the next security gate and lock ourselves behind it, we can sleep there."
"Yeah, I don't think we should keep moving Yaz like this, we've got no idea what's going on internally." Sammy added.
"And she's shivering really bad, we need to try and get her warm….soon." Kenji pressed.
"Okay it's settled, next gate, we stop." Darius promised. Fortunately the next gate turned out to be only a few hundred yards away. "Alright team, this is it." Darius said, as he used his security card to lock the gate behind them. Kenji and Sammy carefully laid Yasmina on the floor and rolled her on her side.
"All we can do is sandwich her between us and hope our body heat is enough to keep her from going hypothermic." Darius reasoned.
"Kenji lay down behind her and spooned into her back, wrapping an arm around her.
"Come on Yaz, it would be really awesome if you'd wake up and beat me up for cuddling you right now." He said sadly.
"As funny as that would be to watch, I'll just be happy if she wakes up at all." Darius added glumly, sliding his back against Yaz's chest, sandwiching her tightly between himself and Kenji.
"Me too" Brooklynn agreed as she slid her back up against Darius in the same fashion.
"I hope for her sake, there's no brain damage. But the blood from her ear scares me." Sammy added, snuggling into Kenji's back. The mention of brain damage weighed heavy on the campers minds…in some ways that could be worse than not waking up at all. One by one they succumbed to their exhaustion, leaving only Darius awake. With a heavy heart and tears welling up in his eyes, he reached behind him, taking Yasmina's hand in his own. Quietly he prayed aloud.
"Father, I pray that you would heal her, I know that you're able, and have faith that you're willing. Please, it doesn't look good for her right now, but in you all things are possible. In Jesus name I pray, amen." Only once he had finished praying did Darius allow himself to sleep, even though in the back of his mind, he was terrified of what the morning may bring.