Author's note: SO sorry it's taken this long. This past week has been busy, and due to the nature of this chapter, I wanted to get all the emotions right, so several scenes were redone to make sure they were perfect. Which is why it's taken a long time. This is also the longest chapter to date, so...
Like I said in an earlier chapter, the closer they get to the rescue, the more intense and dark things get, and the more cliffhangers I give you. (And if the name of the chapter gives you any hint, this is going to be a very dark chapter. Minor suicidal themes in the end.) So in the words of Samuel Jackson in this particular fandom: "Hold onto your butts!"
Enjoy!
"Morning, fuzzy legs," Darius says, yawning.
Yasmina stares at him. "What did you just call me?"
"Fuzzy legs," Darius says, patting her legs.
Yasmina barks out a laugh. "Well, sorry for not shaving. These strong, fuzzy legs will have to save you all prickly because Brooklynn forgot to bring a razor."
"Wasn't useful," Brooklynn yawns sleepily.
"Morning, guys," Kenji lets out an obnoxious yawn. "What's the plan for today?"
"Not sure yet," Darius shrugs. "First things first, why don't we all wake up?"
"Bumpy's making sure of that," Ben groans, being pushed across the floor by the Ankylosaurus.
"I wanna sleep in," Sammy mumbles, curling into herself. The others leave her alone. It wasn't normal of the Texan to want to sleep in, or be by herself. But she had just been through a pretty traumatic day, so the others let her be.
"The only dreams I had were torture," Sammy thinks glumly to herself. "Come on! How can I be so confident in myself, and yet so afraid of making the wrong decision?! I'm normally not this indecisive! Then again, I've been wrong about every. Single. Guy. I've fallen in love with… Oh, Lord, I don't want to be making the wrong decision. Not for me, not for Kenji. What if us dating and then breaking up ruins our relationship? Should I have said no? Oh, God, please let me know the answer…"
Darius sits down next to her and leans down to talk to her. "I had a funny dream last night. About your family."
Sammy lifts her head in confusion. "Dream?"
"Yeah," Darius nods. "Your family wanted to test Kenji's worthiness or something, so this sweet girl befriended him and for two weeks or so tried to convince him to cheat on you or leave you. He finally just cut off their friendship and told you everything. And then your family revealed that she was actually some distant cousin that was just testing him, and he passed with flying colors. So he was good to marry you or something. I don't know. I was kind of just a spectator."
Sammy rolls onto her back, smiling. "What?" Darius asks.
"Nothing," she shakes her head. "There's no way he could know," she thinks. "I never told any of them about that test." It was a tradition in her family to test the guys and girls about to marry into the family. A distant cousin or a friend that the new member had never met would try to tempt them into being unfaithful. Or at least try to dissuade them from joining the family. The Gutierrez family valued loyalty, reliability, and trustworthiness. If they couldn't trust the new member to stay faithful, they weren't trusted to be part of the family.
"Still afraid that he'd leave you?" Darius asks.
"More of… I'm afraid that I'm making a bad choice," Sammy sighs. "I'm scared that my desperation for a husband is clouding my judgement."
"Ask God," Darius smiles.
"I did," she looks up at him. "I asked him for a sign. A dream. Some confirmation that I'm not making a bad mistake."
"Did you have a dream?" he asks innocently.
"Not me, you," Sammy chuckles. "I probably wouldn't trust the dream if I had it myself. Plus, it's hard to explain how you knew about my family's tradition."
"Wait, you guys actually do that?" Darius asks.
Sammy nods, and holds a finger to her lips. "Kenji can't know about it, it'll ruin the test. No one outside of our family is allowed to know about the tradition in case they'll marry into the family in the future. But I'm pretty sure you're set on Brooklynn."
Darius blushes. "Well, glad I could give you confirmation of some sorts. I was wondering why I dreamed about that."
Sammy smiles. "Thanks for passin' on the messa—"
"YASMINA FADOULA! THE GIRL ON FIRE!" Kenji shouts, scaring the whole group.
The dubbed "Girl on fire" looks up with wide eyes. "Why are you yelling at me, Caesar Flickerman?"
"You just look like Katniss with your bow like that," Kenji shrugs.
"Just making sure it's not broken from yesterday," Yasmina says, checking over her bow. "Other than this slight splintering where the tooth put pressure, I don't think it's broken. Not sure if this will affect how it shoots or not… And I only have three arrows left."
"At least the Baryonyx didn't destroy your bow, you're really good with it," Ben says.
"Crack," Kenji corrects.
"I'm not calling the Baryonyx a drug," Ben sighs.
"Maybe I was referring to the butt crack," Kenji sputters.
"What about Weed and Pot?" Ben asks, putting his hands on his hips.
"Maybe those are terms for butts… in Japanese," Kenji tilts his nose up and saunters over to the bathroom. "Finally, toilets!" he exclaims, making his friends laugh in agreement.
They hear a low rumbling. On edge, the campers stand up and look around. The rumbling comes from above. Scared, they run to the main room and look up through the glass and vines. A black shape soars overhead. "Wait," Darius says. "That's a helicopter!"
The kids start laughing and shouting with joy and race back to the dining room to collect their things and the dinos. "Kenji! Hurry up!" Yasmina shouts, pounding on the boys bathroom door.
"I'm POOPING!" he shouts. "Don't rush defecation!"
Yasmina and the group start laughing. "I'll give him credit, he's grown a lot from the spoiled brat we first met," she says to Sammy. "But he still isn't mature."
"Who actually grows out of bathroom humor, anyway?" the Texan shrugs.
"Kenji! There's a helicopter!" Darius shouts.
"I'M COMING!" he shouts, and within the time it takes for the group to pack up, he was out.
The group packs the Indoraptors onto the herbivores' backs and leaves the building. "You coming, Blue?" Darius asks.
The velociraptor looks up at the sky. She knew that those machines meant more humans were coming. It might be for her human charges, but it might not… Either way, she didn't want to meet humans who were armed and saw her as a threat. Besides, if the campers were going to be rescued, she wasn't bound to them anymore…
Blue croaks out a farewell and disappears into the old park building.
"I guess that's goodbye…" Brooklynn says, as the herbivore tanks begin to trod off in search of the helicopters.
Despite a rescue coming, the mood was somber. The campers realized that they wouldn't be able to bring their dino companions with them, and the thought was sad…
"I'm gonna miss you, Bumpy," Ben whispers, rubbing his Ankylosaurus's horns. Bumpy groans.
"We're all gonna miss them…" Sammy says as Tornado gallops towards the treeline.
Darius squints his eyes, before widening them. "Halt!" he shouts. Ben and Sammy pull on their dinosaurs, and the herbivores skid to a halt just within the trees. The campers look down into the field. "That's not a rescue mission," Darius whispers with a shiver.
Down below, what appeared to be an army base had been set up. Several large, tan tents had been set up. Along the sides of the tents wooden boxes of cargo and equipment were stacked. Next to the tents stood metal cages; some filled, some not. In one cage, the Majungasaurus roars in frustration, slamming her head on the bars. In the next cage, the Mapasaurus the campers saw within the first week of getting stranded growls at the humans caging her. The other cages were filled with an assortment of herbivores, moaning and bellowing pitifully. Helicopters with a strange logo on the side land in the field yards away from the tents.
"This is a mission to steal the dinos," Brooklynn breathes. "Who knows what they'll do with them after they've captured them."
"Who are they?" Ben asks.
"That's not InGen," Kenji and Darius say at the same time.
Sammy gulps. "That's Mantah Corp."
"What are they doing here?" Yasmina hisses, looking over Sammy's shoulder.
"Probably taking advantage of the wild dinos roaming freely around the island," the Texan whimpers. "Who knows what they'll do with these guys. Sell 'em… Torture 'em… Clone more…"
"What should we do?" Brooklynn asks.
"What can we do?!" Kenji hisses as he and Darius slide off of Bumpy. "They're a huge corporation with crazy machine guns! They forced Sammy to spy for them, so I already don't trust their morals."
"We can't just let them take the dinos! These guys are roaming around freely on this island for a reason," Brooklynn spits as she and Yasmina slide off of Tornado.
"Maybe we can sneak into their camp at night and free the dinos," Darius suggests. "Destroy their stuff. But we'll have to be extra careful because they're armed. What do you think, Sammy?"
"I think we should try to stop them in any way possible," she nods, feeling numb with fear and dread. Her heart pounded and her fingers went numb. Not here, not now. Not ever. She didn't want to face this corporation that took advantage of her family and offered breaking the law as a solution. She didn't want to know what their plans for the dinos were. A shiver of fear runs up her spine, taking her off guard when Tornado spooked.
Sammy yelps as her head hits the back of Tornado's rough hide without warning. The next thing she knows, she's tumbling down the hill towards the field of Mantah Corp. Dazed, she lifts her head. Two Mantah Corp guards notice her and come towards her. She looks back up at her friends. Kenji and Yasmina are preparing to jump down to save her. Darius is as well, and Ben is sliding off of Bumpy. Brooklynn lifts her head up from diving down to avoid the spooked Triceratops.
Sammy makes a swiping motion at her neck, trying to convey to her friends that she didn't want them to save her. "Don't meet these guys," she hisses in her head.
"Sammy, no!" Kenji hisses, reaching for her as she flies off her dinos back. He just misses. Yasmina is quick to reach, but misses as well. The two look up to see that Mantah Corp has noticed the new arrival. "Oh, no!" they hiss at the same time, moving almost in sync to reach their friend. Darius follows, and Ben slides off Bumpy.
"I'm starting to really wish Sammy didn't pick that dino," Brooklynn lifts her head. She had barely missed having her head taken off by the thundering Triceratops.
Sammy motions for her friends to stop.
Darius winces. On one hand, he didn't want to leave Sammy in Mantah Corps hands, especially since they didn't know their ultimatum. On the other hand, she knew this company—how well was up for debate—and she might have a chance of being treated well due to her background. Furthermore, the only weapons they had were Ben's spear and Yasmina's bow. Kenji and Darius could use their rifles, but that might be more hazardous. The rifles were better left up to Sammy.
Making a decision that he really didn't want to, Darius grabs the backs of Yasmina and Kenji's shirts. "She wants us to leave her!" he hisses.
"No!" Kenji snaps at his friend. There was anger in his words, but fear in his eyes.
"Let's wait and see what they do," Darius says firmly, doubting whether it was a good decision or not. The campers lay down on their stomachs and hold down the Indoraptors. Bumpy backs up into the woods a bit on Ben's command.
"Please don't hurt her," Darius begs in his mind.
"You there! Stand up!" the first guard shouts.
Sammy winces and gets up, slowly turning to face them.
"Who are you and what are you doing here, kid?" the second guard asks.
She gulps. "Samantha Gutierrez." She wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans, nervous to be in the presence of armed guardsmen. "I've been stranded here since the Indominus incident."
The two guards' faces change drastically when they hear this. Sammy wasn't sure if it was the mention of her name or the fact that she had been here for almost two months. "Don't worry, Samantha," the second guard says, approaching her and putting his hand on her back protectively. "We'll protect you and bring you back to your family."
Sammy lets out a shaky breath and follows them into the middle tent. No doubt from their reaction, they were just guards here to do their job. They most likely had no idea that she had worked for them, or why she was stranded in the first place. Their immediate, compassionate reaction made her feel more comfortable, and even safe with them.
It was the head of the corporation she dreaded.
"See, they don't seem bent on harming her," Darius hisses to his friends, relieved that she wasn't immediately gunned down. "Looks like they just want to bring her home."
"We don't know what they want to do to her," Yasmina growls. "For all we know, they could turn on her as soon as she reveals what she knows."
That comment sparks an idea in Darius. "Then we need to find a way to make her important."
He climbs up onto Bumpy and offers a hand to Brooklynn. The others follow his lead. Kenji hesitates, and looks as if he was really contemplating disobeying Darius. "Kenji!" Darius snaps, not in the mood to have his orders defied.
"She's down there alone in the clutches of the company that made her spy," Kenji snarls at him. "I'm not leaving her, and I'd do it for any of you."
Darius bristles at the insinuation that he wouldn't do the same.
"Come on, you dumba**," Yasmina curses unapologetically, stressed by the fact that her friend was possibly in danger. "What are you going to do? Waltz in and demand her to be released with your wealth? Unless you've got some secret super power, the best bet we've got at saving Sammy is finding something to bargain with."
She gently, but firmly, squeezes Darius's shoulders, letting him know that she understood and agreed with his decision, no matter how much she wanted to rush into the field.
Darius and Kenji have a long look. The longer they stared, the more their facade broke. Kenji could see that his friend was just as scared as he was; Darius was afraid that he was making the wrong decision. But the alpha male also knew that Yasmina was right, he had no weapons or any means of rescuing Sammy. So far, Mantah Corp hadn't hurt her, and barreling in might be a suicide attempt for both of them.
Darius can see the anger in Kenji's eyes fade to fear and worry. He was desperate to save his friend; the memory of losing his grip on her in the cruise still fresh on his mind. But Darius was not about to back down, no matter how much his fear screamed otherwise. They wouldn't have any chance against the weapons of Mantah Corp without something to bargain with.
Kenji finally relents. "Please be right about this," he says, close to tears. Darius and Yasmina hold out their hands and pull their friend up. Toothless nuzzles her distraught father as Bumpy gallops away. It was crowded on the Ankylosaurus's back, between the five campers and five Indoraptors.
"Where are we going?" Brooklynn asks, holding on tightly to Darius and holding her head stiffly against his back to keep from hurting herself.
"Where's the nearest lab, Kenji? We need some sort of info to bargain with," Darius asks, almost clunking heads with Ben.
"Not sure, I don't know where the old park is on the—Ow!" he yelps as Bumpy skids to a halt and he clonks heads with Yasmina.
Bumpy shakes her head, snorting. She had stopped in front of a large lab hidden deep in the woods. She tries to look up at Ben, proud of herself for finding this human building. She didn't know what it was for; only that the campers were searching for it.
"Good girl, Bumpy!" Ben exclaims happily, scratching her on the back of the neck.
"Which lab is this?" Darius asks as they slide off the Ankylosaurus's back.
"Never seen it," Kenji says shakily. "Must've been top secret to be kept from Mr. VIP." He compulsively runs his hands through his hair, going into his egoistic nature as a stressful default.
Darius fiddles with the door handle, which won't budge. "Bumpy?" Ben gestures to the door. With a grunt, Bumpy swings her tail around and knocks the door inward. "Good girl," he rewards her with another scratch. Princess nuzzles her adopted sister, and the Ankylosaurus tolerates it.
"Let's go find a ransom," Darius says darkly, entering the lab.
His friends follow. Yasmina walks in front with Darius, clutching her bow tightly. Ben hangs in the back, gripping his spear in anticipation. Bumpy groans, wanting to come with them. "Stay here, Bumpy, we're coming back for you," Ben pats her head, then runs to catch up with his friends.
The lab is eerie quiet, and all they can hear is their footsteps and the pitter patter of the Indoraptors claws on the metal floor. Other than the red, blinking light from the fire alarms, there is nothing to light the way. Kenji and Brooklynn pull out flashlights and illuminate the pathway for their friends.
They arrive at a control room filled with dead monitors. Brooklynn sits down in the seat and tries to work the computers, but there is no power. "Come on," she mumbles. "We need power."
Kenji notices a faint green light peeping out from the crack of the power box panels. He opens it and in the dark, can see a button labeled, "Power." He pushes it and the monitors come to life.
"Kenji, you're a genius!" Brooklynn exclaims, her fingers turning into a storm as she tries to hack into Wu's sensitive files.
"I'm actually a geologenius," Mr. VIP says with a forced laugh. "That's—"
"A geologist who's also a genius," Yasmina finishes impatiently, setting her bow and quiver on the ground and coming to stand behind Brooklynn and Ben.
"Oh, you've seen that show," he mumbles, staring at the glowing green button. Curious, he presses it. Nothing happens. He begins to push it repeatedly.
"Kenji!" Yasmina snaps.
"What, if it doesn't work the first time, hit it again," he chuckles nervously.
"Must you insist on acting like a two year old?" the athlete groans in frustration. "We can't be babysitting you in a time like this!"
"Oh, I'm sorry for trying to actually do something around here instead of standing around!" Kenji snaps.
"I am doing something, keeping you from killing us by pushing unknown buttons!" Yasmina snarls.
"Ooh! You're so helpful! Like I'm going to set off an explosion or release a scary hybrid or something!" Kenji growls, pointing to the green button. It had stopped glowing.
"Yeah, that would be super helpful for Sammy!" Yasmina barks.
"Don't tell me what would help her, at least I can lead us around here!" Kenji yells. "All you can do is run!"
"Then why don't you find us some information and make up for letting Sammy drown!" Yasmina shoves him back with an angry shriek, his words striking a very sensitive nerve.
Kenji pushes back angrily, her words hitting him below the belt.
"Guys! Stop fighting!" Darius shouts as he and Ben get between the older two. "Neither of you are helping Sammy by arguing!"
"Look, you guys don't need to fight each other," Ben begins to mediate, grabbing Yasmina's right forearm and Kenji's left. "You guys aren't the enemies, Mantah Corp is. You're both in the same boat."
He turns to Yasmina. "Kenji is trying his best to help out. He's just as stressed as you are, and there's no need to lash out."
He turns to Kenji. "Yasmina cares about Sammy, too. She feels just as helpless as you, and you don't need to attack her for it."
"Sorry," the two mumble, calming down a bit.
"You both react to stress and feeling helpless with anger," Ben says. "Recognize that, and don't aim it at each other."
"Okay," Kenji sighs.
"Yeah," Yasmina mumbles.
Kenji pulls up his tough guy facade out of habit and comes to stand next Darius behind Brooklynn. Ben takes Yasmina's shaking hand. "He was just angry in general. Kenji doesn't mean what he said."
"But he's right," Yasmina mutters. "I'm terrible at leading; that's why I'm not the SIC. I'm the athlete. If I can't save Sammy by racing in there and drawing away the bullets, or something that uses my strength, what good am I to her?"
"You're not just strength and speed," Ben says. "And you're not the only one who can't help Sammy right now. Don't beat yourself up just because this mission requires information instead of strength. It's not your fault and it doesn't reflect on you."
Yasmina gives him a small smile.
"Ugh!" Brooklynn snaps, slamming her hands on the monitor. "I can't hack into E750's files! It won't let me! What else could we use?!"
"Something physical," Darius says determinedly and leaves the room. The others follow him as he speed walks through the halls, glancing into every door he finds. Yasmina neglects to grab her bow and quiver.
Darius finds what seemed to be a freezer room. In the center, a cylindrical container was sealed shut. Darius struggles with it and finally opens it. He grabs a few of the little vials with dinosaur names on the sides and walks out of the freezer room.
"What are those?" Brooklynn asks.
"Embryos," he answers. "If Mantah Corp wants dino DNA samples, maybe we can bargain for Sammy with them."
"So we're just giving them the tools to make new dinosaurs?" Kenji asks.
"The embryos are dead at this point," Darius says. "They'd have to clone the embryos. That's why I only picked herbivores."
"What are we going to do about the Indoraptors?" Brooklynn asks. Indigo blinks up at her mother as she trots along, trying to keep up with Darius's speed walking. "Mantah Corp will want them."
"We said that we would kill them if they were ever in danger of being captured or used," Ben gulps, looking down at Princess.
"We can't kill them," Brooklynn says, blinking back tears. "No, we have to find a different way."
"Well, we'd have to find a way to hide them from Mantah Corp," Darius says. "But we might have to face the fact that we might have to kill them."
The teens begin to argue. As they do, Yasmina's sensitive hearing picks up on something. Faint, whispery breathing. It was soft and raspy, and so faint that it drove her even more nuts. "Come on!" she shouts in her head, covering her ears with her hands. "You can't be annoyed now! Just ignore it; it won't hurt you!"
Even so, her flight or fight response is turned on, and she compulsively tries to find the source of the sound triggering her. None of the campers were breathing softly; most of their breath was coming out in words. The Indoraptors were silent, minus the occasional grunt or snort. None of her companions were making the sound.
Yasmina begins to panic, and for once, didn't feel stupid about it. "Where is the sound coming from?! Who's making it?! Who's breathing like this?!" How could she hear breathing if it didn't come from her friends or the Indoraptors? Unless…
"Guys," she interrupts the arguing with trepidation. "Remember how breathing could stress me out sometimes?"
Kenji sighs in frustration. "I get that you can't control it, but now is not the time!"
"None of you are making the sound," Yasmina whimpers.
The others sense her fear and dread and hold their breaths. With their arguing finished, Yasmina can clearly hear the sound of breathing. It was coming from down the hall, and it was getting louder…
"I think I hear footsteps," Brooklynn whispers, shaking in fear.
"Run," Darius whispers. He puts the vials in the backpack and picks up Mocha. The others pick up their Indoraptors and quietly run away from the source of the noise. The campers hide behind a doorway and listen. They hear the clink of claws on the metal floor. Brooklynn looks at Darius. His eyes are closed. "It's a Theropod," he whispers after listening to the gait.
The campers hear sniffing. The sound comes closer and closer to them, and the Indoraptors start to growl. The teens clamp their hands over their snouts and quietly run away. They run a certain distance and stop. After a few minutes, they can hear the sniffing again. "What's it tracking?" Darius whispers to himself.
He looks down at the ground. In the dark, it was hard to see, but he was almost one hundred percent sure there were dark, small puddles on the ground. Nervous, he crouches down, struggles to hold Mocha in one arm, and touches the tiny puddle. Blood comes away on his fingers.
"What the…" he whispers, following the trail of blood. It leads to Yasmina, and Darius can just see garnet red blood running down the athlete's legs.
Yasmina's eyes follow Darius's gaze and she panics. "Curse these useless periods!" she wants to shout.
The campers hold their breath. There was no sound. No clink of claws, no sniffing. Just dead silence. They can hear their hearts pounding in the ears as they hold their breaths.
Darius slowly moves around to look out the doorway.
He comes face-to-face with red, slitted eyes.
"Sit down," the second guard says. "Rest up. We'll protect you."
"Do you want something to drink?" the first guard asks, grabbing a bottle of water from a cooler. "You must be very dehydrated."
"I guess," Sammy mumbles, sitting down on a cooler and taking a sip of water. She drinks more than she thought she would. "Guess he's right," she thinks.
"So, Samantha, tell me," the second guard says, scratching his dark, curly beard. "How did you survive here for almost two months?"
"I… found food and water, and shelter…" she says vaguely, leaving out her friends. She was afraid of what would happen if she told them about the others.
"You're very brave," he nods, a twinkle of fear in his dark brown eyes. "I can't even imagine the state your family must be in."
"Yeah, they must miss me somethang awful," Sammy nods. She looks between the two guardsmen. The first guard didn't look much older than mid-twenties. He had black, straight hair that stuck out in every direction. To go along with his hair, he had this goofy, lopsided grin and these sparky brown eyes that disappeared when he smiled at her. He radiated Kenji energy.
The second guard had to be much older, probably in his late forties. He had a warm, chocolate tone and broad shoulders. His brown, soulful eyes shined with empathy and concern. In a way, the second guard reminded Sammy of Darius. From their eyes to their smile, she wouldn't be surprised if they were distantly related…
Trusting that these men were good, she says, "I was part of a summer camp program Jurassic World was hosting—"
"Camp Cretaceous?" the first guard butts in. She nods. "Told ya we would find them eventually, David," he grins, good-naturedly punching the second guard's arm.
"I never said we wouldn't," David chuckles.
"You guys know about us?" Sammy asks.
"Us? So the other five are alive?" David asks. Once again, Sammy nods.
"You kids have been all over the news!" the goofy guard exclaims. "Your families and Camp leaders have been pushing hard over the past two months. Talking to Ambassadors, amassing support, setting up a rescue mission."
"Really?" Sammy smiles. "Are you guys here to help?"
"I wish," the first guard says. "We're here for the dinos, but I'm glad we found you guys. I'm Shan, by the way," he moves to shake her hand. "This is David, here."
"Howdy," she nods, shaking his hand. "What are you guys doing here again?"
"Rescuing the dinos and moving them to a safe location where they can roam around without human interference," David explains. "I wondered if this was going to be a rescue mission to find you guys. The boss hinted that there was more to this mission than initially told."
Sammy winces. She had a feeling that Mantah Corp's true colors were above these guards pay grade. "Do you guys have families?"
"Three daughters and two sons," David chuckles. "As wild as they can get. Course, they grew up in the woods of Michigan."
"I'm twenty-four and counting," Shan laughs. "No wife yet. I'm too goofy to keep a girlfriend. I do have an overprotective mother who's been trying to call me ever since I came here, though."
Sammy chuckles.
A loud bellow startles the Texan. The Mantah Corp agents can be heard struggling outside of the tent, and Sammy recognizes the dino's call. "Torni," she whispers under her breath, leaving the tent. Tornado is struggling to escape the chains Mantah Corp had thrown over her.
"Stay back," David says, protectively grabbing her arm. "This one's more wild than most Triceratops'."
"She's unpredictable, alright," Sammy smirks wryly, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp.
"Relax, you've had enough dino encounters to last a lifetime," Shan says, grabbing her other arm and helping David pull her back into the tent. "Just sit down and relax, you'll be home soon."
"I raised that dino since her hatching," Sammy explains.
"Oh, well, maybe you'll be able to see her after we move her," David shrugs.
"Not if she's in the hands of Mantah Corp," Sammy shakes her head.
The two men share a look of confusion. "How did you know our company was Mantah Corp?" Shan asks.
Before Sammy can explain, the tent flap is lifted up. Her breath hitches when she sees a familiar face.
"Run!" Darius shouts, whipping his head back as the mysterious dinosaur snaps at it. The campers and Indoraptors scatter as the dinosaur jumps into the room. They run for the exit and try to open the locked door. Kenji lets out a scream, a mixture of fear and anger, as the door handle won't budge.
The mystery creature—not that much bigger than Blue—races towards them.
Taking action, Yasmina punches the firefighters glass case and grabs the axe inside. Swinging it around with a battle cry, she slices it's snout.
The dinosaur stumbles back, and the campers get the chance to have a look at it. It was hard to tell what color it's scales were in the dark, but it appeared to be dark grey or green. It had red eyes and sharp teeth. It's snout began to bleed where the axe sliced it. Small, feather-like spines ran along it's head like the Indoraptors. It stood on it's back legs like a T-rex. But it's forearms were a peculiar shape. They took the form of a scorpion's claws. Instead of rough scales, it's back was plated in shiny sections overlapping each other. The overlapping plates ran all the way to the end of its tail, which turned into bubble-like sections. The tail ended in a curled up scorpion stinger. The campers did not want to find out what that stinger did.
The hybrid lets out a shrill cry and snaps it's foreclaws. Two sharp mandibles stick out from the sides of its fanged mouth, adding insult to injury. Mocha lets out a velociraptor-like croak, and the Indoraptors fall into a hunting position, crawling in front of their human companions. Mocha calls out commands and the Indos hiss.
The strange dino tilts its head in confusion. As it leans closer to look at the small pack, Mocha looks at Darius. "Hunt," he commands.
Mocha whips her head back around and shrieks. Rima is the first to attack, attaching her jaws to the mysterious dino's neck. The scorpion-like dino cries out in surprise. The other Indoraptors attack, biting and clawing at the bigger dino. The creature grabs Princess in her jaws and flings her against the wall.
"Move!" Darius shouts, running to the door they entered. Ben picks up Princess and follows the campers. Due to Darius being unable to whistle, Kenji does it for him and the Indoraptors abandon the creature and race down the halls with the humans.
They run down the halls, climb up the stairs, and hide in a new room. Brooklynn looks around and tugs on Ben's sleeve. "That must be where it came from."
The campers look. In the corner of the room, a glass cylinder was shattered. They gasp, and head to take a closer look. "Looks like a Kryo gas chamber," Kenji murmurs. "What? There were rumors that they kept a few dinos in it," he explains when the others look at him.
"Look at this," Brooklynn says, having picked the lock on the cabinet next to it and grabbed the files inside. "Codename E750!" she exclaims. "The Scorpius Rex, a mix of the T-rex and a scorpion, mainly."
"Yep, definitely what we ran into," Ben nods.
"E750," Brooklynn murmurs. "E…"
"Evan," Kenji says solemnly. "I've never met a nice Evan in my life."
"You done naming the monstrosity?" Ben frowns.
"This thing might be crossing a line," Brooklynn breathes. "More so than the Indominus or the Indoraptors."
"Just imagine what else he's created," Kenji gulps.
"I don't want to," Ben shudders.
A wave of dread washes over Darius. "We shouldn't have ran up the stairs. We've trapped ourselves in the lab."
"How has it not found us, yet?" Ben asks. "I can't hear it. Did it lose Yasmina's scent?"
"Yaz?" Darius asks, realizing with horror that they were missing a teammate.
"Who is this?" the head of Mantah Corp asks the guards. He had on a floppy tan hat, a blue shirt and khaki pants.
"Samantha Gutierrez," Shan says. "One of the campers stranded here."
"Oh, my," the man sighs. "I'm so glad we found you. Your parents are worried sick, Sammy. I'm Mitch Banks." He holds out his hand to shake.
Sammy stares at his hand. "Samantha," she corrects, looking into his blue eyes with fear.
"Right," Mitch says, pulling back his hand. "Um, do you want anything to drink?" He looks down at the water bottle in her hands. "I guess not. Maybe something to eat?"
He pulls out a protein bar, a stick of beef jerky, and a couple peppermints and places them on the table in front of her. Shan facepalms in frustration. Why didn't they think of that?
Sammy's stomach is full of fear and dread. Nothing looked appetizing. Trying to quell her turning stomach, she shakily grabs a mint to suck on.
"Right, you must be disoriented," Mitch shakes his head. Sammy's eye twitches at his wording. "Well, you won't be here much longer, we're going to bring you back to your parents. You must miss them terribly. You must miss your whole family, your ranch, everything."
Sammy continues to stare at him in fear.
"You're a lot quieter than I remember," Mitch continues to talk. "Must be the trauma. Even when you lost your cattle, you were still gabbling on."
Sammy has a flashback to the first time she met Mitch Banks. "Don't worry," he said, shaking her fathers hand. He was dressed in a crisp suit and tie. "We'll give you as much time to pay off the loan as you need."
"Will we lose the ranch, Sammy?" Shelby whimpered, clutching her older sisters hand tightly.
Sammy looked out over their land. A fire had started in the shed where the cattle slept at night. By the time they had reacted, they had lost half of their cattle to the fire. The other half was injured and spooked. Most of the building was burned by the time the firefighters came. Even then, it was still smoking a bit.
"Nah, we won't lose the ranch," Sammy smiled hopefully. "We'll get back on our feet. Right now, it'll just take a bit of help."
"That's right," Mitch butted in. "We'll help you guys back on your feet. Pretty soon, this loan won't even be a problem to pay back."
"This must be even more difficult to deal with than seeing your farm burn to the ground," Mitch says sympathetically. His word choice made Sammy squirm, though. "I promise that we'll get you home safely."
"What do I have to do in exchange?" Sammy asks bitterly.
"N-nothing," Mitch stutters. "We're here to help you."
"That's what you said when you loaned us money, and look what happened there," the Texan spits. "I had to spy on InGen for Mantah Corp because we couldn't pay it back in time—even though you said take as much time as you needed—and here I am. Stuck on Isla Nublar separated from my family. So forgive me if I don't trust your words. What's the payment for gettin' back home?"
"Spy?" David whispers. "What—"
"Could you two leave us to chat," Mitch interrupts before he can question.
"What's the payment?" Sammy asks again, knowing there would be a catch to being brought off the island.
"If you absolutely must do something for us to repay this debt," Mitch says, taking advantage of her words, "you could finish the job you started and tell us what you learned."
"So you sent her here to spy and now you're making her work for her rescue?" David asks in horror.
"This is above your pay grade," Mitch says, trying to keep a cool composure. "As for you, Sammy, this will help the world. You see, the Indominus rex was illegal. And I'm sure that there are many more illegal hybrids Wu created in there." Sammy refuses to answer either way. "Wu cannot be allowed to get away with this," Mitch explains like an adult to a toddler. "We have to bring evidence against him and stop this madness once and for all. That was what your job was. That was why we sent you here."
"Then why did I have to steal skin samples?" Sammy counters. "From a Sinoceratops? They aren't illegal hybrids."
"Well…" Mitch starts, trying to think of an argument. Sammy and the two guards don't buy his excuses. "Okay, we are trying to bring accusations against Wu," Mitch explains. "But… we might be trying to perfect the dinos genes. Maybe if we can control their genes, they'd be easier to control and we wouldn't have this type of accident."
"So you're going to create more hybrids under the idea that you're 'helpin' the world,'" Sammy hisses. "You're doing the exact same thing Wu is doing."
"And if you say anything about it, or talk about what we made you do outside of the story we give you, no one will be able to find you," Mitch says, giving up on the nice guy act.
"Woah, hold on, this is not what we signed up for," David interrupts.
"Out of the tent!" Mitch snaps. "This doesn't concern you."
"So you're just going to abandon her if she doesn't do exactly as you want her to?" Shan asks.
"Cross the line and you'll have the same fate," Mitch snarls.
"I won't tell you anythang," Sammy states firmly, crossing her arms.
"If you don't, you and your little summer camp friends will be stuck here," Mantah Corps head growls. "We will tell your families that we tried to save you and there will be no rescue mission coming for you. Think about your friends."
"I'm thinkin' about the world and what it will come to if you're in charge of dino genetics," Sammy spits. "And I ain't tellin' ya anything!"
Mitch slams his hands on the table. "Do you want to be trapped on this island forever?!"
"Might as well be!" Sammy shouts. "Survived two months here, I can take a couple more!"
Mitch reaches over the table, grabs the front of her shirt and pulls her close. "You will regret this."
"Yasmina!" Ben shouts, not caring if Evan the Scorpius rex heard him.
"Yaz!" Darius shouts. Kenji and Brooklynn follow suit.
"She must've separated from us," Brooklynn shivers.
Darius and Ben race down the stairs and follow the path they took. At a fork in the lab, they find tiny drops of blood heading in the opposite direction they went. The E750 dinosaur's shrill roar can be heard in the distance. "Yasmina!" Ben and Darius shout.
The all-star athlete looks behind her as she runs down the hallways. She can hear the mysterious dinosaur speeding through the halls after her. "At least, it's not tracking the others," she thinks, satisfied.
She comes to a dead end. "I did not think this through," she breathes. "Again."
Yasmina listens. It was dead silent. She begins to wonder if the monster had lost her scent when she hears the faint breathing again. It gets louder and more ragged. The athlete backs up into the wall, clutching the firefighters axe.
The ragged, whispering breath is accompanied by the clink of claws on metal. A shiver runs up Yasmina's spine, and she prepares to be attacked. "Wait…" she shivers in horror. The sound was coming from in front of her, to the side, behind her, and above her. The breath of the creature echoed around in the metal lab halls, tormenting her mind. "This isn't possible," she shudders. "It shouldn't echo this much!"
Hyperventilating, Yasmina squints in the darkness. It was petrifying enough to be hunted by a mysterious, horrifying hybrid with who knows what abilities. It was torture on top to be tormented by the noise that usually was so harmless. To add to the chilling, unnerving feeling of the situation, the creature's eerie breath echoing around the halls gave her the impression that it could pop out anywhere. The usually cool and controlled athlete whimpers in terror, shaking as she spins around, searching for her antagonist. Yasmina felt like she was in a supernatural horror movie, being psychologically tortured by the beast. And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
Something strikes her from above. She screams and swings the axe around as she falls. The metal grate covering above her clangs on the ground and the mysterious dinosaur begins to crawl out of the vent, snarling at her.
Yasmina screams again and bolts down the hallway. The predator falls down and chases after her. The athlete's feet strike the ground as she races for her life. She had never had the incentive to run so fast, and was most likely crushing her track record right now.
Time feels as if it slowed down for Yasmina. Her vision begins to blurr and she can hear herself gasping for air. It vaguely registers that she was hyperventilating while running, and her body didn't have enough oxygen. She closes her eyes as she tilts to the side. When she opens her eyes again, she's laying on metal stairs leading to the second floor. Only a few seconds must've passed since she blacked out because the Scorpius Rex came barreling through the doorway.
Yasmina's eyes widen and she grabs the handle of the axe. She swings it around with a scream and cuts it's snout again. The predator lets out it's shrill cry and tries to bite her. The athlete swings at it again, letting out a battlecry that was becoming more of a deranged, scared shriek. She begins to climb up, pushing herself up the hard, cold stairs with her legs as she swung wildly at the dinosaur.
The Scorpius Rex continues to snap at her. Yasmina fights back flashbacks from when Toro tried to eat her on the stairs.
Hollering, Yasmina tries again to cut it's neck. The Scorpius rex grabs the axe with its jaws. The athlete is only allowed a moment of horror before it starts to shake her. She lets go and her head slams into the metal stairs. Yasmina grabs the stair and pulls herself up to the second floor.
Gasping for air, she stands to her feet shakily and watches with anguish as the seemingly unstoppable monster climbs up the stairs. Yasmina slowly backs up, practically convulsing with fear. She was the athlete of the group, and not even she could escape it. She blinked back tears before giving it one last, suicidal effort.
With an unhinged scream, she runs towards it. The Scorpius Rex whips its head around and headbutts her back into the metal wall. Yasmina crumbles to the floor as the hybrid stands over her. It brings down its stinger. Yasmina pulls her knees to her chest, trying to protect her torso. The sharp stinger penetrates her right calf with agonizing pain and releases venom into her leg. Yasmina lets out a blood-curdling scream.
A series of loud, booming noises makes Yasmina's heart miss a beat. The Scorpius rex's head whips around and it roars in fury before running off. She slowly lets her body uncurl as Darius and Brooklynn rush to her side. Kenji appears with a rifle aimed at the retreating hybrid. Ben holds his spear, ready for an attack. But his attention is on Yasmina.
"We need to get her to the kryo gas room, fast," Brooklynn says, examining her leg. "I saw antivenom for this thing in there."
Darius and Brooklynn reach under Yasmina's arms and pick her up. With their help, she hobbles next to the railing as they try to find the room E750 was housed in. Indigo and Toothless lead the way with their sense of smell. The longer they walk, the weaker Yasmina gets. By the time they find the room, Darius and Brooklynn are dragging her with Ben's help.
They lay her on the ground as she begins to convulse with a seizure. "Where's the antivenom, Brooklynn?!" Darius panics, rolling his friend onto her side as she jerks.
Brooklynn grabs the tube of antivenom. It was held in the form of an Epi-pen. "Easy enough," she thinks. "Hold her leg down!" she commands. Kenji kneels on Yasmina's right hip and he and Ben hold her leg steady. Brooklynn stabs Yasmina's thigh with the antivenom and massages the area for ten seconds. What felt like hours later, the seizure subsided and Yasmina is still.
She blinks up at her friends, letting out a shaky sigh.
"Come on, we need to get out of here before it comes back," Darius says. Kenji passes the rifle over to Darius and picks up Yasmina. Ben moves forward first, his spear ready for defense. Brooklynn carries the flashlight next, and Kenji follows with their disoriented friend. Darius follows up last, turning around with his rifle aimed at the darkness occasionally. The Indoraptors scamper ahead, searching for signs of their enemy.
Finally, after heading down a series of dizzying halls, the campers find the exit and are greeted by an elated Bumpy. Kenji sets Yasmina down to walk. She has recovered enough to limp and understand what was going on. "We've got the dino embryos," Darius says. "Plus a couple of new injuries. Let's go find Sammy."
"I ain't talkin'," Sammy hisses defiantly, gulping as she tries to stand her ground.
"We'll see about that," Mitch growls. He walks around the table and seizes her neck. She grabs onto his hand and tries to pull him off of her. He then pulls out his pocket knife and slashes her left cheek. Sammy lets out a pained shriek, struggling in his grasp.
David rears back and strikes Mitch's cheek, sending the smaller man reeling. "Do you want to be left on this island or worse?!" Mitch howls.
"You can't threaten me," David snarls, somehow looking taller. Sammy steps behind him. The guard reminded her of her father, and standing behind David quelled her shaking.
Mitch reaches into his pocket and whips out a pistol. Just as quickly, David lifts his rifle and aims it at Mitch's head. Shan takes David's side and aims his rifle at the side of Mitch's head. Sammy can see the young man shaking.
"I don't want to have to shoot you, David," Mitch says, giving Shan a side eye as he aims at David's broad chest. "You're a good guy. Just back down and we don't have to have any blood on our hands."
"You already do," the guard growls, gesturing at Mitch's bloody pocket knife with his head.
"Just put the pistol down," Shan says, his voice trembling. "We don't want to shoot you anymore than you do. M-maybe we can find a solution that doesn't involve torturing Samantha."
"Like rescuing her without payment," David barks.
"You can't order me around," Mitch says haughtily. "That's above your pay grade."
"I don't give a s*** about my pay grade!" David roars. "All I care about is getting this young girl back to her family safe and sound!"
"We can shoot faster than you can, and there's two of us," Shan says, on the verge of tears. "We don't wanna have to do this."
"Neither do I," Mitch says, lowering his pistol and slowly putting it back in his pocket. "Let's talk this out like civilized men." Subtly, he presses a button on a device in his pocket.
"I'll tell you how this is gonna go," David growls, never lowering the rifle. "We're gonna bring Samantha back to her family, and there ain't gonna be anything in it for you. No torturing her, no threatening her, just bringing her home. Like a civilized gentleman should."
"Lower your guns," a new voice barks. Two new guards run in with rifles ready. Sammy knew that they were paid more than Shan and David, and were deeper in the swamp of Mantah Corp. They wouldn't show her mercy.
David glares at the newcomers and comes to the same conclusion. "Run," he mouths to Sammy, then nods to Shan. The younger guard whips his gun around to shoot at the new guards. David runs toward them, grabbing their rifles as they try to avoid Shan's gunfire. Sammy sprints to the back exit and tears through the tent flap. She can hear what sounds like fireworks going off inside the tent and prays that David and Shan would make it.
She trips over a pair of feet and is caught by the person she tripped over. Sammy looks up into the face of a pretty blonde woman. She had blue eyes, pink lips, and a pink bandana underneath her tan shirt. "Woah, what's going on?" she asks.
Mitch lifts the tent flap, tenderly touching the side of his face where David hit it. "You're not getting away," he snarls, grabbing Sammy's arm and pulling her back into the tent. She screams and struggles against him. A couple Mantah Corp agents outside the tent hear the commotion and look concerned, but a sinister glance from their superiors keeps them from moving to her aid.
Sammy continues to thrash in Mitch's grasp as a third guard grabs her other arm and pulls her into the tent. The guard throws her to the ground and points his rifle at her chest. Sammy pants, and lets out a sob as David and Shan are dragged out of the tent, bloody and limp. One of the guards they attacked was dragged out, as well. Sammy didn't know if she should be happy about it.
Mitch lets out a sharp, angry sigh. "Still want to hold out on us? Think of your friends. You'll all be stuck on this island and it'll be your fault."
"I'm not telling you," Sammy hisses, her voice shaking.
Mitch grabs the front of her shirt and pulls her to her feet. He painfully shoves her against the table and grabs her neck again. The scoundrel slashes her left cheek a second time, next to the first cut. Sammy screams, but grits her teeth. She would refuse to tell him anything. He cuts her for the third time and she still refuses.
Mitch hands the knife to a new guard and growls. "I will get this information out of you if I have to pry every single last word from you!"
"I'll make you work for it," Sammy hisses.
"We're not the bad guys," Mitch says, moving in close to hiss in her ear. His body is closer than she is comfortable with, and his hand moves down slightly from her neck. Sammy lets out an almost inaudible whimper; she didn't like this feeling. "When we perfect the dinosaurs' genes and learn to control them, the world will thank us. We will have fixed the problem John Hammond and Henry Wu started and saved the world. With dinosaurs under our control, we would be able to take out threats before they even start. This is the beginning of a new world."
"And how do you plan on choosing who's a threat?" Sammy asks.
"With advanced technology," Mitch shrugs. "It won't be hard to track who is a threat. Who plans to be one. We have everyone's personal information at our fingertips due to technology."
"So you're Hydra?" Sammy growls.
"We're Mantah Corp," Mitch spits. "And we need you to give up the information you know!"
"I can do this all day," Sammy taunts. She was almost proud of herself for her little pop culture reference that made Mitch seeth. She was sure that Kenji and Yasmina would've been proud of her wisebutt remark if they had been there to witness it.
"So patriotic of you, huh?" Mitch growls, infuriated that a teen girl was toying with him. He wraps his hands around her neck, cutting off her ability to breath. Sammy thrashes in his arms, trying to gasp for air. Mitch pulls her closer so that their lips are almost touching.
"Mitch," the woman Sammy bumped into butts in, putting her hand on his chest to separate the two.
"Tiff," the man says warningly.
"This is no way to go about things, babe," Tiff says, leading Sammy away from her. "Don't worry, sweetie, we're not going to choke you again."
"You're not?" Sammy asks, not really believing her.
"No," Tiff shakes her head. "We're not going to cut you. We're not going to shoot you. We're not going to assault you in any romantic way—" She gives her husband a look. "None of that."
Sammy gives her a cold stare, not believing a word she says.
"We're not going to, uh, burn you," Tiff says, trying to come up with every promise she could. "We're not going to feed you to the dinosaurs. We're not going to drown you."
The last comment makes Sammy's chest constrict. This change in the teen girls behavior is noticed by Tiff. The woman's sympathetic behavior disappears in the blink of an eye and she grabs the back of Sammy's neck. She pulls the Texan over to a large water barrel and dunks her head underwater.
Flashbacks to the day before hit Sammy like a train and she screams underwater. Thrashing around, she tries to kick Tiff and break the woman's strong grip on her neck. After what felt like hours, Tiff yanks Sammy's head out of the water. She gasps for air.
"What was the Indominus rex?" Tiff asks.
Dazed and traumatized, Sammy relents a bit. "Illegal. You knew that."
Tiff dunks Sammy under the water again, holding her under for a few seconds before pulling her back up. "What was used in it's genome?"
Sammy lets out a sob, trying to refuse.
Tiff dunks her underwater again and Sammy tells her all the dinosaurs used for the Indominus that she could remember.
"Any other illegal hybrids in there?" Mitch asks.
The Indoraptors pass through her mind, as well as E750. The last one, she had no idea what it was, but she still knew it existed. Even so, Sammy shakes her head, snivelling.
Tiff dunks her underwater for longer this time, and Sammy breathes in water. The psychotic woman pulls her up and the Texan chokes out the water. Flashbacks of the river mix with reality, and she trembles. "E750!" she chokes out before they can ask, her resolve to stay quiet breaking.
"What is that?" Mitch asks.
"I don't know," Sammy shakes her head with a sob. "The computer wouldn't let me into the file."
Tiff dunks her underwater again and Sammy gasps for air. "I swear, I don't know!" she wails. "I don't know what it is!"
"Think she's telling the truth, babe?" Tiff asks, a malevolent gleam in her eyes.
"She seems pretty scared," Mitch mumbles, leaning into Sammy's face.
"I couldn't learn much," Sammy blubbers. "I was scared that I would get caught." That wasn't entirely inaccurate.
"I think she's telling the truth," Mitch nods. "Guess we got all we could from you. What a waste of time."
"Well, she knows Mantah Corps ultimatum," Tiff says, letting go of Sammy's neck. "We can't let her go back home without promising to keep everything a secret, and if she's thrown a fit this long I wouldn't trust her."
"What do you suggest, babe?" Mitch asks.
"Kill her," Tiff says with a sickening smile.
Sammy looks behind her at the guards. They give her no sign of sympathy or compassion.
"Any last words, Sammy?" Mitch asks as he and Tiff come closer.
Sammy wanted to yell at them. Hit them, scream at them. She wanted to curse them to Hell to rot in their malignity. But Hell was a horrible place to rot in for eternity, and she wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone going there. As much as she hated the couple, her loving, caring nature won out, even in this tormenting situation. "I hope you'll be in Heaven," Sammy says. It took effort to say that, and the anger in her voice made it sound sarcastic.
Tiff laughs. "F*** you," she scoffs, flipping the Texan off.
Mitch punches Sammy in the side of the jaw. Sammy's head snaps back. She feels a jab of pain before everything goes dark and she falls unconscious.
Up in the treeline, a pair of amber eyes watches the Mantah Corp base. Blue tilts her head and grunts. She can hear what humans call gunfire, but can't see where it came from. From one of the tents, the raptor sees Sammy bolt out. She falls into the arms of another human female before being dragged back into the tent.
The velociraptor lets out a growl. Apparently, her job wasn't finished.
Shifting her gaze, she sees Tornado going ballistic inside a cage. Many other herbivores and two carnivores were trapped as well.
Sensing a timely distraction, Blue speeds off through the trees to ground level before creeping towards the cages.
"Hopefully, these embryos will be enough to bargain with," Darius says as they ride on Bumpy again. "We can't give them anything about E750."
"I just hope we're not too la—WOAH!" Brooklynn yelps as Bumpy narrowly misses ramming into a tree. The campers cling to Bumpy to stay on her back. Yasmina—who was in a daze—falls off of Bumpy's back. Kenji reaches for her and ends up falling off as well. With a little trill, Rima jumps off to keep tabs on her mother.
"Hold up, Bumpy!" Ben pulls on the Ankylosaurus's asymmetrical horns. Bumpy smacks a rock with her tail as she swings around to check on Yasmina. Rima shrieks as her tail gets stuck underneath the large rock.
"Rima," Yasmina says, shaking her head to bring herself back to reality.
"What are we going to do with the Indoraptors?" Brooklynn asks as she and the others slide off of Bumpy's back.
"We said we would kill them if they were ever in danger of being taken captive," the athlete says hollowly.
"We can't kill them!" Brooklynn argues with tears in her eyes.
"We can't let them fall into Mantah Corp's hands!" Ben argues sadly. "It won't be good for the world if they are in evil hands, and it won't be good for them. It would be… a mercy kill…"
"We don't know if they'll get captured," Kenji says. "We might be able to hide them on the island and they won't be bothered."
"With Mantah Corp on the island now and who knows who else coming in the future, those odds are low," Darius sighs heavily.
"Which is why we need to kill them mercifully now," Yasmina says, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"Then you do it," Brooklynn sobs. "Because I can't kill them!"
Yasmina shakily takes the spear from Ben and approaches Rima. The dirty white Indoraptor was squirming and crying out for her mother to help her. The athlete blinks back tears and points the spear at her dino baby. Rima looks up at her mother with piercing amber eyes. She lets out a vulnerable cheep, calling out for her mother to help her.
Yasmina lets out a sob and lowers the weapon. "I said I would do it," she cries, sinking down to scratch Rima's neck. "I can't."
"I don't think any of us can," Ben murmurs, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Then what are going to do with them?" Brooklynn sighs.
Rima grunts and the campers eyes widen with surprise as her tail detaches from her body. The tail flops around, still trapped underneath the rock.
Rima nuzzles her mother as Bumpy snorts and lifts the rock with her tail. The appendage flops around, making the campers jump back. "Like a lizard, they can detach their limbs to save themselves. Didn't know they could do that!" Darius says, forgetting his terror for a few seconds to geek out.
Bumpy snorts happily as she sees the tail flop around. Ben shakes his head. "Yes, very helpful. You let the tail get loose after Rima detaches." Bumpy doesn't see the difference and trills happily.
"Shh! What's that?" Brooklynn hisses, looking around. The other campers hear it, too.
"Mantah Corp," Kenji says.
"Rexy," Darius says at the same time. The two look at each other. "That's Rexy's footsteps," the leader points into the woods. The teens can hear the almighty stomps of the queen of dinos.
"There's humans coming from there," Kenji points in the opposite direction. The kids can hear human voices.
"We're trapped!" Brooklynn whimpers.
Darius groans, trying to think of a solution. Seeing Rima's detached tail, he gets an idea. "Put the Indoraptors on top of Bumpy," he orders, and the campers do so. "Send Bumpy back to the camp," he hisses to Ben. "We don't need them in the middle of this."
With some firm coxing, Ben is able to get Bumpy to race off into the jungles, leaving the campers to fend off Rexy and Mantah Corp. The queen of dinosaurs starts to appear through the trees. Ben holds his spear in front of him and Kenji lifts the rifle. "What do we do, Darius?" Kenji asks, trying to hold the rifle steady.
Darius grabs Rima's tail—with some difficulty—and stands in between Kenji and Ben. Yasmina and Brooklynn stand behind the boys. "She's coming," Brooklynn whimpers.
"Hold," Darius orders, listening to the approaching humans.
"Darius," Ben says warningly as Rexy spots them.
"Hold," he orders again.
"They're coming," Yasmina hisses, seeing the approaching company.
"Run!" Darius shouts, pushing the girls in the direction of Mantah Corp. Ben and Kenji follow, but Darius does not. Rexy snaps at the young boy, and he throws her the squirming tail as soldiers with rifles burst through the trees.
"Shoot her!" one of the men orders, and the campers dive to the ground as they openfire on Rexy. The queen of dinos jerks her head and roars at them, forcing the humans back into the jungles as she follows.
"Fall in formation!" the commander shouts. The gunners get down on one knee and aim their rifles at the oncoming T-rex. The campers hide behind the men with the commander. The big, grizzled man lifts his heavy rifle and aims as well. "Fire!" he shouts. A line of bullets shower Rexy and she takes a step back. The two sides stare at each other for a few minutes, sizing each other up.
"InGen," Darius whispers with revelation, seeing the symbol on their vests.
The queen of dinosaurs grunts at the humans. The gunners ready their rifles. Rexy isn't stupid; she knows what that sound means. She had felt the humans spit fire from those sticks before. Snapping her jaws and licking her chops, she attempts to get Rima's detached tail into her mouth. It was stuck in her teeth and dangling outside her mouth. The T-rex stomps off, snapping and licking in an attempt to get this annoying morsel in her mouth. It wasn't worth the piercing fire to eat those humans.
InGen's fieldmen sigh with relief as the large predator leaves them alone. The commander turns to the kids. "What are you doing here?"
"We were abandoned here during the incident," Darius explains. "We were part of the summer program, Camp Cretaceous."
"I remember Wu talking about you guys," the man humphs. "Particularly the nosy, pink-haired Youtuber."
Brooklynn tschs.
"He sees you as a threat to the company," the commander continues. "Considering that some of you snuck back into his lab and learned sensitive information."
The campers gulp.
"Do you kids know anything about hybrid eggs, perhaps?" he growls. "Perhaps five eggs hidden in the same lab you guys decided to explore unauthorized?"
"I don't know about eggs, but maybe a foot tall mix between..." Darius says, pretending to think for a second. "Maybe a velociraptor and the Indominus rex? Or the T-rex? It's really hard to tell when you're surrounded by five tiny, snapping carnivores. But they certainly looked like a hybrid. Didn't recognize their species."
"And where are they?" the commander asks.
"The belly of Rexy," Darius says, gesturing to the direction the T-rex disappeared. "We ran into those hybrids today and Rexy decided to pop in. Of course, it's a benefit that we could let Rexy eat the monstrosities when they were babies while we got away. Unfortunately, the snack wasn't good enough for her and you guys pop up just in time to save us."
The campers give each other discreet glances. They never knew that Darius was such a good liar, especially when he had to come up with the lie on the fly.
"You fed the Indoraptors to the Tyrannosaurus?" the man growls.
"I guess?" Darius shrugs. "Can you blame us? We're just trying to survive out here! I couldn't care less if another hybrid is dead, the hybrids are the reason we're stuck here in the first place!"
"Take them back to camp," the commander snaps. "I'm going to discuss our next move with Dr. Wu."
The campers are brought back to InGen's camp and forced into a cage inside a tent. They huddle together in fear. They're left to be guarded by a burly, gray haired man with a scar over his left eye. The guard approaches the cage and offers a couple bottles of water to the campers. "Drink up," he says with an Australian accent.
"What are you guys doing here?" Brooklynn asks. "Retrieving all the illegal dinosaurs before Wu gets in trouble for making them?"
"Smart kid," the man grunts. "But ya might want to shut your trap before it gets you in more trouble than ya already are."
"Can you blame us for doing what we could to survive?" Darius hisses.
"I was talkin' about the nosy pinkie," the man nods to Brooklynn before sitting down in a chair to watch them.
"Maybe I was just trying to find out what illegal stuff was going on in this death park!" Brooklynn huffs.
"Maybe you should shut your mouth so that your words aren't used against ya!" the man snaps.
Brooklynn quiets down. "And who can I thank for this life saving advice?" she asks sarcastically.
"Hap," the man shrugs.
"We have complications," the commander says.
"What complications, Commander Shwartz?" Dr. Wu asks through the phone.
"The summer camp kids ran into the pack of Indoraptors," Commander Shwartz explains. "They allowed the hybrids to be eaten by the Tyrannosaurus. I saw the remininets of one of them in her teeth."
Dr. Wu sighs. "Then find DNA from the Indominus rex. Those hybrids were expensive to make!" He thinks for a second. "Oh, and we don't need these children telling the world what we're doing here. Exterminate them."
Dr. Wu ends the call. Commander Shwartz's face contorts in discomfort. He didn't feel comfortable killing off innocent kids, even if they could cause more trouble. Sighing, he convinces himself that it was just like hunting dinosaurs and heads back into the tent.
"We have orders from Wu to exterminate the kids," Commander Shwartz announces as he comes into the tent. The campers gulp. Commander Shwartz folds his hands behind his back. "Commence fire, Hap."
"Never," Hap says with no hesitation.
"Did I ask a question, soldier?" Commander Shwartz growls. "Exterminate the campers."
"Why?" Hap snaps. "They haven't done anything. It's understandable for them to do what they could to survive. They're just kids."
"We hired you because you were a skilled hunter and mercenary!" the commander shouts, slamming his hand on the table.
"I hunted down threats, not children!" Hap argues, standing a couple inches taller than the other man. "If ya want the job done, get it done yaself."
Commander Shwartz hesitates for a split second.
"You don't wanna do it," Hap accuses. "You don't want the blood of these kids on your hands, so ya hand the job off to me. I ain't doin' it."
"Fine, I will do it myself," Commander Shwartz snarls, lifting his rifle.
"Not on my watch," Hap growls, grabbing the barrel of the gun.
"Out of line, soldier!" Commander Shwartz shouts, swinging the gun around to point at Hap. The campers shake and huddle closer.
"I will make sure these kids get home even if I have to take your fire for them!" Hap roars, covering the front of the rifle with his hand.
Before Commander Shwartz can fire his weapon, a loud bellow startles the group. A Stegosaurus barrels into the tent, followed by two Triceratops'. The horned dinos knock over the cage the campers were in and send them rolling. Hap is able to narrowly avoid being trampled in the stampede. Shwartz isn't so lucky.
The campers grunt as they fall on top of each other as the cage stops rolling. They scream as galloping Brachiosaurus steps on their cage and crushes it inward halfway. Hap appears at the door to the cage and with difficulty, opens the door. "Come on!" he beckons, helping the teens out of the cage.
All around them, a stampede of wild herbivores desecrates the InGen campsite. InGen workers are getting trampled and a couple unfortunate dinos get shot down. "What's going on?!" Brooklynn shouts, moving closer to Hap and Darius.
"Stampede!" Hap shouts as he shoves the campers out of the way of a spooked Stegosaurus. "But what spooked them?!"
Soon enough, the cause of the ruckus was revealed. At the top of the hill, the Giganotosaurus roars, pushing all the herbivores to race into the camp. The remaining survivors try to sort out their guns and shoot at the predator.
"Stay back," Hap orders, taking off his rifle and aiming at the oncoming predator.
Another roar originates from the far side of the camp. Stomping out of the treeline comes another Carnotaurus.
"Another?!" Darius wails, not so happy to see yet another predator.
"This can't get any worse," Yasmina breathes.
"Don't—" Kenji starts, ever being superstitious. A screech behind him makes his fears relevant. "Jinx it," he sighs, turning around to see the two remaining Baryonyxes stepping out of the woods behind them.
"It's about to get very chaotic!" Hap shouts. "Run!"
With no other choice, the campers run straight into the demolished campsite. Hap fires off a round at the Baryonyxes. The two remaining members of the trio learned from their sisters death and had a craving for vengeance. They split up and surround the hunter, forcing him to try to shoot them both at the same time.
As they run Brooklynn turns around to see the two predators pounce on him. "No!" she wails.
Kenji grabs her arm, knowing that there was no way to save the mercenary. "Come on," he says, pulling her to catch up with the group.
The campers stop in the middle of the campsite. "Where do we go?" Ben asks as the Giganotosaurus comes from one side, the new Carnotaurus from another, and the two Baryonyxes from where they came.
"Follow the herd!" Darius says as the InGen survivors raise what little rifles they have and fire. The campers dive to the ground to avoid being shot and cover their ears.
A loud, terrifying roar is the only warning they get before the Giganotosaurus nearly steps on them. The campers scream and scatter to avoid being flattened. Kenji rolls and almost gets stepped on by the new Carnotaurus as she steps up to battle Gigi. Darius and Brooklynn roll out of the way and almost run straight into the gunfire. Yasmina and Ben scramble back and come face to face with the Baryonyxes.
With a yelp, Kenji scrambles backwards to avoid getting stepped on again. The Carnotaurus forces him to keep moving back as she fights Gigi. Carno steps down and slices his ankle with her back claw, as Gigi bites her neck. Kenji gets up and limps away as fast as he can. The Giganotosaurus knocks the Carnotaurus backwards and the Carno's leg strikes Kenji in the jaw. He falls to the ground and clutches his jaw. Searing pain shoots through his back tooth and he fights back tears.
Darius and Brooklynn fall to the ground as InGen's surviving workers fire at the clashing titans. The boy guides his friend as they crawl away from the battle towards Kenji. Brooklynn was shaking in fear and covered her ears when she could stand up. Darius can feel panic and fear rising up but he couldn't succumb to it. He had to stay strong until they escaped.
The two Baryonyxes begin to devour the humans within reach with rage. Ben and Yasmina are caught up in the frenzy and attempt to escape. Weed steps on the two campers, trapping them under her grasp and leaving them completely in her mercy. Pot snaps at an escaping InGen worker and the Baryonyx trapping the campers seizes the man. Her jaws cronch his torso and his ribs break with a sickening crack. The man cries out in anguish as the Baryonyx breaks him.
Yasmina and Ben sob as the carnivore devours the man above them. Ben wraps his left arm around the athlete's shoulder and holds her close. The two tremble and close their eyes tightly as they wait for the traumatizing moment to end. Yasmina whimpers and closes her mouth as blood from the Baryonyx's innocent victim runs down her face.
Weed drops the body on top of the campers as she gobbles down a chunk of him. Ben and Yasmina hold each other close, shaking in dismay and anguish. The Baryonyx begins to ravage the body again. Ben notices that the predator was beginning to move her feet as she ate, and waits for her to lift her foot trapping them. When she lifts her foot and the body, Ben pulls Yasmina with him as he rolls out from under her. Busy with ravaging the worker, Weed doesn't notice that her prey escaped.
"Yaz, we have to go!" Ben urges. The athlete was standing on her hands and knees, staring at the ground in shock. Her face was covered in blood from the Baryonyx's victim and she was panting. "Yaz!" he grabs her shoulders and shakes her. "We have to move!"
She blinks her eyes and meets his. "Yeah," she nods, spitting out blood that was not her own. Ben takes her left arm, slings it over his shoulder, and leads her through the battlefield to their friends. Darius leads the group into the treeline and races to find Mantah Corp's camp. They just missed Blue arriving on the scene of the attack, searching for her human companions.
"Dang it!" Mitch stomps the ground, watching as all the herbivores that they captured stampede down the hill. The Mapusaurus and Majungasaurus that they had captured raced into the woods, wanting to escape more than they wanted a meal. The rest of the Mantah Corp agents climb into their helicopters to leave the forsaken island.
The couple lays Sammy on the ground. She was still unconscious from Mitch's punch. "What should we do with her?" Mitch asks.
"If we don't bring back proof that she's dead, her family is going to come back and look for her," Tiff says. "If she isn't dead, she'll tell everyone what we were doing here."
"Any suggestions, babe?" Mitch asks.
"We could frame her death," the woman smiles viciously. "Her knife wounds look like claw marks. We could take a picture and say that her remininets were the only thing we could find. Pretend like the other kids were too torn up to be taken back."
"That's a pretty good idea, babe," Mitch smirks. They take a picture of Sammy from the chest up. With her scratch marks slowly oozing, and her jaw bruised up, she didn't look dead enough for the couple. Tiff makes a long cut mark on Sammy's arm and wipes blood on her face, neck, and shirt.
"That should do the trick," Tiff smiles. Mitch takes another picture. "What should we do with her?" Tiff asks. "Should we just kill her, or bring her back to the lab? She would make an excellent test subject."
"And if the law catches us, we'd be in even worse trouble than before," Mitch argues. "It'd be better to kill her now and let people find her body."
Before the couple can try anything on Sammy, Tornado spots her mother and bellows. The couple looks up. The ballistic Triceratops runs straight towards them, anger flaring in her eyes. "We'll let nature run its course!" Mitch yelps as he and Tiff race to climb into a helicopter. Tornado sputters and nudges her mother.
The five other campers find Mantah Corp's camp in disarray. They find Sammy laying in the grass. She was in a daze and staring up at the sky as the sun began to dip below the horizon. "Sammy!" Kenji exclaims, rushing to her side.
Sammy sits up slowly and stares at her hands, in a daze. Tornado nuzzles the Texan. "What happened?" Darius asks.
Sammy shakes her head, not wanting to talk about it.
They hear a helicopter overhead and look up. The campers could barely make out the InGen symbol on the helicopter; it was very far away. The helicopter flies towards the docks at the main park.
"Will InGen save us?" Sammy asks shakily.
"Wu ordered them to kill us so that we couldn't tell anyone what's going on," Ben sighs.
"Mantah Corp is going to tell our families that we're dead…" Sammy sniffs. "They're gonna make sure that the rescue mission doesn't come for us."
The thought of no rescue is the final straw in a day of traumatizing events for Yasmina. She lets out a sob and starts shaking.
"Yaz?" Brooklynn sniffs.
The tears start to flow and the athlete starts sobbing uncontrollably. Her chest contracts violently and her nose runs as much as her tears. "I-I c-c-an't-t t-t-ta-a-ke thi-i-is any-y-ymo-o-re," she says, her saliva running down her chin. "N-not the-e de-e-ath. N-not the-e run-un-uning. N-not the-e fe-e-ear. I…" her sobs turn to wailing as her mental willpower to survive—to carry on despite the hardships—slowly cracks into a thousand pieces.
She had kept it together. She had stayed strong when they were left at the docks. She had kept it together when they thought no help was coming. She had stayed tough when it looked like they wouldn't make it. But she had always pushed through it; she was the athlete. She could push her body to take it and get through the pain. But Yasmina couldn't make it through the Scorpius rex attack. She couldn't escape the carnage of the dino attack at InGen's camp. She couldn't do it anymore. And the thought that there was no help coming to relieve them of their suffering meant there was no finish line to cross…
The campers watch in agony as the mentally strongest of the group breaks before their very eyes. Sammy—always the one to be positive—breaks down and weeps with her friend. After being traumatized the other day, then tortured the next, she already had a heavy weight on her chest. But to see her friend—who always pushed through the pain and odds even when she shouldn't—break into a wailing mess, all hope felt like it was lost.
Brooklynn starts sobbing, leaning on Darius's shoulder. She was depressed and feeling hopeless. Her life didn't seem to matter to her. Now with no rescue coming, why should she move on? What hope was there when Yasmina—her new role model of a sorts and older sister figure—couldn't take on the challenge?
Kenji wraps his arms around Sammy, shakily holding her as she weeps. No help coming… what did they do then? How could they continue? How could he comfort his friends? With all hope lost, should he comfort them? Would it be better to give up? Kenji closes his eyes and lets out a whimper. With new injuries tacking up and no help coming, maybe Brooklynn had the right idea to kill herself…
Ben sat there, lost in thought, watching his best friends break down. He didn't know how to comfort them or how to give them hope. What can you do when there is no hope?
Darius holds Brooklynn as she cries. Silent tears slide down his cheeks as his thoughts race like a tornado. "I can't help them. I can't keep them all alive. I can't get them to safety now."
"What do we do now?" Kenji asks, depressed.
"I don't know," Darius admits for the first time. "I don't know."