Everyone cheered and shouted with joy.

"YEAH!"

"WOOHOO!"

"ALRIGHT!"

"Now I'll actually be able to sleep at night," Yasmina said.

"This calls for a toast," Darius proclaimed. The crew got their drinks. Water, milk, soda, juice, it didn't matter. Ryan and Chris watched on the side, sensing this was personal for the campers.

"To the mosasaurus, even though it almost ate us!"

Everyone chuckled, then repeated the toast.

"To the mosasaurus, even though it almost ate us!" they exclaimed in unison.

Later that night, while the campers were asleep, Darius woke up to get something to drink. He noticed the front door was open, and saw Ryan sitting on the stairs, gazing up at the full moon shining overhead.

"Hey there, Darius," Ryan said without turning around.

Darius said nothing, and instead took a seat next to Ryan.

"I heard you won a trip here by being the first to finish that virtual reality game. Congrats."

"Yeah, it's just… I really wish my dad came as well." Darius then looked down at the ground.

"Oh. I heard. I'm sorry."

"Thanks. It's just that ever since he died, I've never felt so alone, you know? I mean, I still got my brother and mom, but…"

"You feel like a piece of yourself died with your dad?" Ryan interrupted.

Slowly, Darius nodded.

"Trust me, I know. Chris and I both went through that. You feel like a chunk of your soul was torn out. You feel like you're standing by yourself in darkness. But don't worry. You aren't alone, Darius. If you ever need your father, he's right here. If you need a beacon of light in the darkness, he'll always be here, waiting for you."

Ryan pointed to Darius' chest. The teen wiped his eyes of tears.

"Now c'mon, it's time to hit the sack. I'll take first watch."

Ryan and Darius closed the doors behind them, and reinforced them with tables, chairs, and whatever they could find. As Darius went back to bed, Ryan stayed up all night acting as a sentry.

Early the next morning, the campers woke up to Ryan scavenging throughout the lab. Among his findings were a pair of flip flops, a talking Mr. DNA plushie, and an ukulele.

"Dude, what do you plan on doing with all of that?" Kenji noticed as Ryan stuffed the items into his backpack.

"You never know," Ryan responded. "All kinds of junk saved me back when I was in Afghanistan."

"Wait, you were in the military?" Brooklynn asked, joining in the conversation.

Ryan nodded. "So was Chris. We were in the U.S. Army's 1st Division. The 'Big Red One,' or 'The Bloody First,' as they called it."

He then rolled up his right sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a big red number one on his bicep, along with the division's motto: "No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great. Duty first."

By then, everyone gathered to listen to Ryan.

"I met Chris while on the flight to Afghanistan, a couple of years ago. The very first thing we talked about was dinosaurs. In fact, even though they never met, Chris' mother and my father actually worked at Jurassic Park, which was built here on Isla Nublar in the 90s, although it was never completed.

"Wow, that is so cool," Darius excitedly squealed, his inner geek coming out.

"Anyway, it wasn't even a week into our tour before we were in our Humvee out on patrol. And then, BOOM! Our vehicle is hit by an IED, a homemade road bomb. Our driver, Dave, died in the explosion. His wife announced the birth of their son earlier that day, it's all he would talk about."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Ryan continued.

"We're all disoriented and struggling to put two and two together, when a group of enemy insurgents came charging towards us in an ambush. Chris is the first to regain his senses, and he drags me towards a hillside nearby. Our other buddy, Jack, is right behind us. We got onto the hill and held them off for several minutes before a friendly convoy came across us and provided support. We were relieved, they drove the insurgents away. I told Ryan and Jack to get ready to head home, when…"

"When what?" Ben asked.

"I turned to my right, towards Jack. I happily said, 'Jack! We're going home buddy!' But silence. So, I call his name again, but he still didn't say anything. I took a closer look and saw blood pouring from his head. There was no pulse nor movement. He was dead."

The campers gasped.

"It turned out he died during the shootout, right next to us," Chris answered. "But he didn't say anything. I guess he didn't want us to worry about him."

Ryan opened a small pocket in his ACU vest and revealed a picture of him, Chris, Jack and Dave together in front of their Humvee. They were smiling and laughing, seeming to forget what kind of a place they were in.

"It… It's so unfair. They never came home, but we did. Who… decides such things?"

Ryan's voice began to tremble, tears dropping onto the photo he clutched. He collapsed and sat on the floor.

Chris turned away, obviously failing to suppress the painful memories. Sensing this, Bumpy ran up to him, trying her best to comfort him.

"We were rushed back to base and flown to a hospital in Los Angeles. Our tour was over, and we were discharged from the army. We didn't care, we were just looking to get away, far away. Then, of all people, we ran into Simon Masrani at a Chinese restaurant on the dame day. Said he wanted to personally recruit us for for some "cool prehistoric amusement park." We both love dinosaurs, so we took it. And the rest is history."

"I'm sorry," Sammy said. She was the first to muster words together.

"We all are," Yasmina added, and the teenagers embraced and hugged two ACU agents.

"Thanks, you guys. Losing your buddies is just something that will haunt you forever. But you can never forget the sacrifice they made. They died, so you could live. You keep moving on, never giving up." Ryan kept his intense stare on the photo.

Remembering what his father told him, and what he told his fellow campers, Darius nodded, and offered his hand to Ryan. Without hesitation, Ryan took it, got back up and dusted himself off.

"Now, what's the plan for today, boss?" Kenji asked Darius.

"There are resorts on the island, right? We can head there for food and shelter…"

THUMP.

The front doors thundered a loud rattle. Everyone went silent and simultaneously shot their heads in the same direction.

THUMP.

This time, it was stronger, enough to knock some of the makeshift barricade down.

BANG!

The doors blasted open, sending the chairs and tables flying.

"Uh, guys? Is… is that…" Ben stammered.

"Yeah. It is," Kenji said fearfully.

Toro stomped through the doors, marching forward. His entire body possessed a blanket of burns, still fresh from his last encounter with the campers. If he was in pain, he surely wasn't showing it.

"You just don't go down, do you?" Darius whispered to himself.

The campers and ACU squadmates could only stare up in horror as the angry carnotaurus let out a bloodcurdling roar.