I don't got anything to really add other than that I hope you enjoy the story and to leave a review for whatever reason. And I apologize that this chapter took a while to post. I'm having to watch a kitten, so I can't spare all my free time to writing at the moment. Other than that, thank you, Foley700 for pointing out something for me. Now, on with the story.
"Hello.": Normal talking.
"HELLO.": Yelling.
"Hello" Speaking through radio.
'Hello': Thinking.
What: Putting emphasis on a word.
"HELLO": Signs and Warnings.
* bang *: Sound effects.
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It was the dead of night, and the sounds of a campfire crackling could be heard as its brilliant flame showers the campers in light. Darius could be heard speaking. "We thought it'd be fun. We thought we'd be safe, but… we didn't realize the… horror waiting for us on the island. Claws… Teeth… Screaming…"
Sammy lets out a gasp of fright as she tucks her knees into her chest.
"So much screaming." Darius continues.
"How much screaming?" Ben asks as he holds onto Kenji's right arm.
The older teen shushes him as he leans in. "He's getting to the good part."
"The T. rex stalked closer. He jaws opened wide." Darius says as he spreads his arms, and just as he was gonna continue…
* camera shutter * A flash is seen illuminating Darius, which ultimately pulls him and the other campers out of the mood. Brooklynn just points at her phone and says. "For the vlog. Keep telling your little story." Darius tries to get back into the mood that the story made.
"Oh, here we go." Kenji says as he quickly gets back into it.
"The T. rex sta-" Darius started but was cut off.
"Damn! Out of space. Wait, I'm sorry, hold on." Brooklynn says as she goes through her phone to clear space.
"Ugh!" Kenji just lets out a noise of complaint.
"I just don't wanna delete my selfie on Everest, you know?" The resident Super Star said as she showed Sammy the picture, the Texan just let out a noise of wow.
Darius on the other hand looked completely done with her at the moment. "Maybe I should start over."
Ben let out a sudden yell. "No! In fact, you can just stop."
"Dude, chill. He's not even telling the story right now. And how is your grip this strong?" Kenji asks the smaller teen as he tries to get his arm back.
Darius once again attempts to tell his story. "So, the T. rex stalked-"
Sammy was the one to interrupt him this time. "Shouldn't we call Yasmina over? I bet she'd love this story." She turned around to look at the girl as she leans against the railing of the balcony.
Darius just flopped onto the bench.
"Maybe she wants to be alone? Well… as alone as you can get while being around Cass." The pink haired girl said, and sure enough, Cass was leaning on the railing right beside her as they talked in hushed whispers. "Those two aren't exactly what you call "people persons", plus I think they're talking about something at the moment." Brooklynn said to her.
Sammy turned back towards the other campers. "I don't understand."
"You know how sometimes people just wanna be left alone?" Kenji asks the girl.
Sammy pauses and just laughs. "Kenji, you're hilarious. I think she's just shy and doesn't know how to make camp friends." She said completely ignoring Cass's presence in the situation.
Out of nowhere a crash of thunder is let out across the sky and lightning strikes somewhere on the island as a storm kicks up. The campers around the campfire let out cries of shock as they try to cover themselves from the rain.
"Maybe we should go inside." Sammy states the obvious.
"Way ahead of you!" Ben practically screeches as he runs towards the door. The other four campers soon follow, well, Darius takes the longest as he just lets the rain hit him for a bit.
"Oh, it's coming down fast." Sammy says as she goes up the stairs.
"Well, that was a waste of time." Says Brooklynn.
Darius just scoffs and sits up. "Thanks, Brooklynn." He says as he gets up and goes inside.
Yasmina and Cass were already on one of the couches of the living room. Cass sees the other campers start walking their way and says to Yasmina. "Until next time, Yaz." He hands the girl her art book back with a smile and heads off to his room. The other campers finally make their way to the living room.
"Darius, it wasn't that great of a story. I wasn't engrossed or anything." Ben tries to play off.
"Just don't touch my phone. How does that sound?" Brooklynn says to Kenji.
"Let's decide this with a game of foosball?" He challenges in response.
Yasmina is looking at the art book in her hands. Suddenly, Sammy jumps onto the couch right beside her, and says a bit too loud, scaring Yaz. "You need a friend!"
Yaz's only response was to yelp and say. "What?" She scoots away while holding her book to her chest.
"I'm such a dumbass. You're alone. And when I feel alone, having a friend around sure is nice. I could use a friend, and you probably could, too. So I thought, "Yasmina needs someone to make the first friendship move," so, here I am!" Sammy practically barrages the poor girl.
"Um… One, I lost you around "dumbass". Two, I do have a friend. I mean… I think we're friends at the very least."
"Who? Cass? He don't count, I'm talking about a real friend. A friend like me." Sammy says but gasps as she looks down. "Is that a scrapbook? I love scrapbooking. We can make one together. Pull you out of your shell."
"I'm pretty happy in my shell." Yasmina says as she clutched her book closer to her chest and leaned away.
But of course, the extrovert of the two didn't believe that. "No one likes the shell. It stops people from getting to know you."
"Exactly." Is all Yaz said as she got up and walked away from Sammy.
"I know you're just shy!" Sammy yells.
"Can't hear you in my shell!" Was Yasmina's response.
Cass was just around the corner when Yaz and Sammy had their conversation. He knew what Sammy meant by "real friend", but he just didn't like the way she worded it. But ultimately, he agreed. Yasmina needs a friend. She deserves one. So whether it'd be him or Sammy, he'd let Yasmina make her decision.
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THE NEXT DAY
The storm has cleared for now, but the sky is still filled with clouds that don't let too much light through. The campers are in an open field with a herd of dinosaurs just over 100 feet away from them. Dave and Roxie are with them as they explain what is happening.
"Yes!" Darius yells out in excitement.
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Sammy says in agreement.
"Oh, man! I'm driving." Ben says.
"We get to drive gyrospheres? Cool!" Darius says out loud. And sure enough, there's three gyrospheres before them.
"Saddle up, dudes and dudettes. We're going on a cattle drive, but with dinosaurs! It's a dino drive!" Dave excitedly told the group of campers.
"And just to be clear, all the dinosaurs are herbivores, right?" Ben asked the two counselors in worry.
"Well, they only chewed on the last kid a little, so we're, like 99 percent sure they're cool." Roxie said as she wanted to mess with the scared teen. "Park personnel are moving a group of dinosaurs to fresh grazing lands across the island, and we get to ride along behind the herd." She explained to them.
"Are you kidding me? Dinosaur migration patterns are my jam!" Darius exclaimed as he got excited.
Kenji put his hand on Darius's shoulder, leaned in and said. "You may wanna consider a new jam, bro." He walked over and stood between Dave and Roxie as he put his arms around their shoulders. "So, uh, you sure these things are waterproof? Looking pretty grim out here and hair this awesome does not come easy."
"Your hair is gonna be fine, Kenji. Storm has already moved up the coast away from us." Dave said as he walks away towards the jeep.
"Cool! Time to show these fools what a gyrosphere master can do." He says as he tries to claim one.
"No way!" Roxie stops him. "You are riding with Ben, as a passenger."
"But- Seriously? But he's so, uh…" Kenji tried to explain to her as they both turned towards Ben, who just lightly pressed the gas, and flew forward into the glass.
"Live it up, tough guy." Roxie says to the resident rich kid as he just groans.
Yasmina buckles herself into one of the gyrospheres after putting in one of the ear pieces. "This is gonna be so sick."
"Right? Now we're in a shell together. A shell for two." Sammy says as she gets into the passenger seat.
"Yay." Yasmina lets out unenthusiastically.
Yasmina just looks straight ahead and tries to find Cass. She spots him hanging around the jeep talking to Dave, though he does feel her staring at him. So he looks back at her and notices her partner for the activity, and all he could do was mouth an apology as he looks sorry for the introverted girl.
"I noticed there's only three gyrospheres, but seven of us, why is that?" Cass asks Roxie who got back to the jeep.
"Well, there was supposed to be four. But they apparently miscalculated how many were available, so you're gonna have to ride with us. That's not a problem, is it?" Roxie responds.
"No ma'am. I was just curious. Could you… hand me one of those ear pieces?" Cass asks his counselor.
"Well, yes. But why do you need one?" Roxie asks him with a raised eyebrow.
"With how often some of these kids get into trouble, I'd rather be able to know what's happening." Cass explains to her.
"Good point." Was all she said as she handed him an ear piece.
Cass puts in the piece of equipment and vaults into the bed of the truck to take a seat and watch his fellow campers.
"Everyone, seat belts at all times." Dave yells out to the campers. "Well, what you waiting for, bud?" He asks Darius, who still hasn't gotten into his seat.
"Right. Um, is there a gyrosphere I could drive solo or-" Darius says to the older man.
"Darius, you need to ride with your fellow campers. Bond, live the camp life, share your story, man." Dave tells the youngest of the campers.
"Yeah, I tried that last night, but um… not everyone was on board." He says as he looks back at Brooklynn, who's on her phone in the gyrosphere.
"Dude, you can't give up. You need to get out there and you show those other kids what you got." Dave gives a little pep talk.
"Be yourself, Darius." Roxie came over to check on everyone but heard the conversation. "Teenagers can be very accepting if you give them half a chance." She says to the boy as she gives him a little shove towards the gyrosphere.
Dave just looks over at his co-head counselor and asks. "Do they not have teenagers in England?"
Darius walks over to his gyrosphere and sits in the driver seat. "Hey, Brooklynn. Are you as stoked as I am for our gyrosphere adventure?" He asks in an attempt to make conversation with the girl.
"Sure, whatever." Was Brooklynn's response as she chewed a piece of gum and kept staring at her phone.
The door to the gyrosphere hisses shut as Darius just looks forward.
Soon enough, Roxie and Dave got into their respective seats in the truck and started driving.
"All righty, campers." Dave calls into the radio to grab the teens attention.
Roxie put her finger to her ear piece and said. "The headsets are for emergencies. You can always reach us on channel six."
"Let the herding begin!" Dave says into the microphone of the radio.
As soon as the campers heard that, they blazed past the truck letting out cheers of excitement. Well… except Ben and Kenji's, it slammed into the back of the truck, jolting Cass, Roxie, and Dave. Though it was apparent that Ben had absolutely no control over it as he just kept spinning in circles as he moved past the truck and slowly went to the others. Kenji just made eye contact with the two counselors and stared at them with no emotion on his face. The three adults in the truck just smirked at him while Cass chuckles at his expense.
We see the herd of dinosaurs being lead to their new feeding grounds, and every now and then, one would try to break off. But luckily, some park personnel are there on ATVs' in order to corral them and keep them together.
Darius drives right beside one of the Brachiosaurus and looks up at it as he hears it bellow out. "Are you seeing this?" He asks out loud. "Whoa." He says in amazement at the giant creature before him.
Now we're over at Sammy and Yasmina's gyrosphere and let's just say… it went as well as you'd expect. "What's your favorite color? Favorite food? Favorite color of food?" Sammy barraged Yasmina with questions and the girl had a simple answer.
"Orange, orange, and orange." Yaz said in a deadpan voice as she really didn't want to be around her at the moment… or at all for that matter.
Sammy just lets out a laugh as she playfully elbows Yasmina in the arm. "Jokes. I love jokes. Ooh, what do you and your friends do for fun?" She asks.
"I train… alone… quietly." Yaz says as she looks over at her passenger.
"Really? Damn! I'm used to people all around 24-7. My sisters, Daddy, Mama, Abuela, the cattle." Sammy lets out a chuckle as she keeps talking. "My mom says I have a knack for dealing with critters, and that in— Whoa!" She suddenly calls out as Yaz had enough of the girl talking and jerked the vehicle to the side. It got the desired results as Sammy quit talking.
"How cool is this? We're, like, so close!" Darius says to the girl beside him, but didn't receive an answer. "Brooklynn?" He asks as he looks over to her, but sees she's looking down at her phone.
The girl in question is looking at her latest video and they results weren't great. It showed that she had 12k likes, but had 35k dislikes… She's distracted by the comments. "Used to be cool."? "You made Jurassic World boring."? "Lame." "Lame." "No one likes you anymore." She reads them with a hint of sadness in her voice not used to such negativity in her feed.
Darius hears her read the comments and tries to cheer her up the only way he knows how, with dino facts. "Uh, hey, can you believe that an ankylosaurus' tail is strong enough to shatter bone?" He told her with a smile.
"Can you believe I don't care?" She says in response as she looks at him. His face dropped and the smile was nowhere to be found, and he just turned back and faced forward with a frown now on his features.
Brooklynn glances over at him and lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I- I'm just… having one of those days." She tries to explain to him. "There's a lot of pressure when your whole life is about being popular, and I'm not like you. I can't just tell a lame story and move on."
"It wasn't that lame." Darius quietly says.
"Trust me, it was. It totally was, but you're not even fazed. I just need people to… to like m-" She couldn't get the words out. "You wouldn't understand." She says as she looks away.
"Of course I don't understand, 'cause you are literally the worst driver I've ever seen, bruh." Kenji says to Ben.
"If by "worst" you mean "safest", then, yes, yes, I am." The resident twig of the group said as he pushed the throttle forward with one finger, so he doesn't go too fast.
"So not a compliment. Now, come on. Faster, faster, faster!" Kenji begs as he leans back into his chair and lets out a groan of complaint.
The clouds above have now darkened and the sound of thunder could be heard rumbling up above.
"I thought you said the storm rolled up the coast." Roxie says as she looks out the window to see the sky.
"Oh, it must have rolled back down. It's okay. Other than mussing up Kenji's hair, what's the worst that could happen?" Dave stated.
* thunder crashes *
"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Was all that Cass said as he facepalmed at Dave's act of jinxing them.
And because of the crash of thunder, it spooked some (if not most) of the dinosaurs. A stegosaurus bellowed out in fright and accidentally smacked an ankylosaurus in the face with its tail. The two bellowed and growled at each other as a result.
Roxie pulled the truck in front of the group, effectively making them stop. Dave opened up his door and called out to the campers. "Hey, gang, new plan. Storm's getting worse, so we're all going back to camp. Fun, right?" All but the oldest camper made their complaints known as they didn't want to stop. "Don't blame me. Blame the storm." Was Dave's response.
"I blame them both." Roxie quickly cut in.
"Same." Was Cass's word of agreement from the bed of the truck.
"We're not gonna let a little rain stop us, are we? When else will we get the chance to ride alongside a herd of dinosaurs?" Darius asked as he turned to face his fellow campers.
"Sorry, can't risk it." Was Dave's quick cut answer.
"But, Dave, I'm sure under you and Roxie's capable leadership, we'll-" Darius tried to convince the two.
"This is not up for discussion." Roxie said, cutting off the boy. She grabbed the radio and called into it. "Hello, hello! Roxie here. Can you hear me? Anyone?"
* static crackles * There was some indistinct chatter on the other end.
Dave and Roxie looked at each other, and looked back towards the campers. "Okay, new, new plan. Storm's interfering with the radio, so Rox, Cass, and I will drive ahead and tell the others we're pulling out. We'll be right back. Stay together and stay behind the herd." Dave said as he got back into the jeep and closed his door as Roxie took off.
The campers got back into their respective gyrospheres just as another clap of thunder echoed through the sky, Darius sees a sinoceratops bellow out a call in fear, and run off in a random direction. "That sinoceratops is gonna get lost. We need to go after her." He says while turning towards Brooklynn.
"You heard Dave. Let's just chill out and wait here." Was the girls response.
"I've read everything about sinoceratops' behavior. We can get her. Plus, your followers might really love a thrilling dino-chase." He adds making an attempt to convince the girl. And convince her he did, because the two took off in the direction of the scared dino.
Sammy put her hand on the headset and tried to call out to them. "Wait, are you guys going after her? I really don't think that's a good idea. I've seen cattle spook before, and-"
"Uh-huh. Let's go." Yasmina as having none of it as she cut Sammy off and followed after the other two.
"Wait, why are we following them?" Sammy asks but gets no answer.
Ben and Kenji share a look before Ben tries to argue. "Oh, no! There's no way I'm-"
Kenji cut him off by taking control of the vehicle. "Great! I'll drive." He says while going full throttle.
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WITH THE NOW SPOOKED SINOCERATOPS
The scared creature was running at full speed in her attempt to find a location she deemed "safe". Of course, having three gyrospheres full of teenagers chase you down wasn't exactly helping her feel safe. She let out a roar as she turned left, trying to get away.
Darius followed right behind the dino, trying to match it's speed while Brooklynn kept her phone steady as she recorded the beast. "Almost got you, girl." Darius says as he speeds up the gyrosphere. With them being right behind the sino, and with it quickly turning left, the two almost slammed straight into some rocks, but Darius managed to turn the sphere and ricochet off of them. Because of the sudden and violent shake to the vehicle, Brooklynn almost dropped her phone, juggling it a few times before she managed to catch it.
"Sorry. That was close." Darius apologized as he kept driving.
The pink haired superstar just smirked at him as she pulled the gum from her mouth and stuck it to the back of her phone, then attached it to the center console. "Voilà! Instant phone mount."
"Great idea. And also, ew." Darius says in all honesty
"Well, just keep driving, dino-nerd." She says to him.
"Sure thing, superstar." Was his response. Brooklynn just let out a giggle as Darius sped up again.
"Um, let's just everybody settle down a bit. We don't wanna get too close or-" Sammy said but both her and Yasmina let out screams as they had to pull away because Ben and Kenji's gyrosphere almost ran into them.
"Watch it, Ben. You almost hit us!" Yaz yelled at him through the headset.
"It wasn't me!" The poor teen yelled as he looked back at the two girls. "You're gonna get us both killed!" He yells out at Kenji as he tries to get control of the gyro again.
"With you driving, we'll die of boredom." Kenji says as he slaps Ben's hand away.
"Give me!" The smaller teen screams.
"Just get off!" He yells back as the fight over the controls, which causes them to slightly lose control and turn away from the others.
"Come on, Darius, get closer!" Brooklynn excitedly said to the boy.
"Someone flank her on the other side and we can lead her back to the herd." Darius calls out across the comms.
"Wait, you'll scare her. Ah!" Sammy said as Yaz pulled back so Kenji wouldn't hit them.
"Let the big dogs handle this, cowgirl." Kenji cockily said as he maneuvered the giant hamster ball over to the sino's right. "Sino sandwich, baby! Hoo!"
Of course the big girl wasn't having it as she growled in aggravation and tried to run faster. Brooklynn was giggling her ass off as Darius spoke into the mic. "I'll cut her off. It'll be fine, Sammy."
"No, he's gonna make her bolt. This isn't the way to do this. We gotta calm her down." Sammy tried to explain, but obviously, none of them were listening to her.
Darius pulled in front of the dino, which in turn made her stop. But she bellowed out at them and turned back towards the herd and started running again.
"Listen up, y'all. We gotta get her before she goes and spooks the whole herd. Stay to the outside or-" Sammy didn't get to finish as both Darius and Kenji already took off to chase the animal.
"Relax. Darius knows dinosaurs." Yasmina said to her as she followed after the others.
Darius once again pulls in front of sinoceratops, but this time, she had a more… aggressive approach. Because she growled at the gyrosphere ahead of her and slammed her head into it. Which in turn, sent the ball at the herd of dinos, hitting a parasaur and a stegosaurus. This set off a chain reaction among the dinosaurs as they started to accidentally hit each other in panic and began to run away. Darius and Brooklynn were now sitting in the fetal position, screaming in fright.
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FURTHER UP THE HERD
Dave, Roxie, and Cass were all standing around and talking to one of the herding personnel, telling them that the group would have to call it wraps on the activity. Cass though… he just pinched the bridge of his nose as the other three talked, because even though the storm basically made all radios useless after a certain distance, he could just feel the trouble that his fellow campers caused. Mumbling to himself. "This was supposed to be a vacation of sorts. But it's starting to become a headache."
"They're disappointed, but they'll get over it. Better safe than…" Dave was saying to his fellow park worker before the bellows of multiple dinosaurs cut him off as they tried to get away.
"We've got multiple assets straying from the herd." The park personnel said into their walkie-talkie as they ran back to their ATV in order to round up the dinos.
Both Roxie and Dave let out a gasp and said at the same time. "The kids!" They turned to look back up to their truck that was parked on a hill behind them, but they saw a parasaur walking on it and jumping off. But that's not the bad thing, no, it was the sinoceratops that hit it and pushed the vehicle off the hill.
"Move!" Roxie yelled as she pushed Dave and herself closer to the cliff. Luckily Cass heard the woman as he turned and saw the vehicle coming down, so he backed away from the cliff and got just out of reach as it landed. The jeep landed at an angle, so it was essentially trapping both Roxie and Dave against the rocks.
"Cass are you alright?" Roxie yelled out to to her camper.
"Yeah, I'm alright. What about you two? Other than being trapped." Cass responds to her as he takes a step closer to the truck. "How am I gonna get you guys out?" He asks.
"You're not. We need you to go and find the other kids. Make sure they're safe." Roxie said to him as she looked over herself and Dave for injuries.
"I'm sorry, what?" Was Cass's bewildered response.
"I agree. What?" Dave chimed in.
"In case you haven't noticed, you two are trapped. And I'm a good 20-30 minute sprint away from them, and they will be moving around constantly do to them having gyrospheres." Cass explains to her. "There's no point in me leaving you. It'll just be a waste of time. I'd rather get you two out of there and we search for them together in the truck."
"I second this plan. Because I would rather not be here any longer than I have to be." Dave said as he leaned up against the rocks.
"Fine. Then help us figure out a way to either move the truck, or move us out from underneath it." Roxie accepted his reasoning.
"Alright, just give me a moment." Cass calls out to them. He walks around the truck and starts looking for gaps big enough for him to pull them out of. There was none at the front, back or bottom, but there was one at the top. He just needed to balance on the rocks and be careful so that he neither slips on the rocks and joins them, or accidentally put too much pressure on the vehicle, causing it to slide further down.
"Okay, I found an opening big enough to pull you two out of." He says as he starts to climb up the side of the rocks so he can get into position. Once he gets there, he lets them know. "I'm ready to pull you out, so who's first?" He asks as he leans down and adjusts his footing to pull them up.
"That would be me." Was Roxie's answer as she moved over to the opening and reached her arms up.
Cass just nodded as he reached down to grab her hands and pull. Thing is, he didn't realize how much force he put into the pull, nor how light Roxie actually was compared to his strength. So when he pulled her out, she collided with him and made him tumble back and fall down the rocks. Roxie let out a yelp of surprise while Cass just grunted at the collision. Cass put his left arm around her waist and his right arm behind her head and neck so she wouldn't get seriously hurt during the fall, of course this meant that Rox threw her arms around his neck so they'd land together.
They hit a few rocks. And by they, I mean Cass. Then they rolled a few times with Roxie laying on her back, looking up at Cass, arms still around his neck. And Cass above her, with is arms on either side of her face. And in their position, they didn't say anything, they kinda just… looked at each other.
"Are you okay?" Cass asks the woman as he's the one to break the silence.
"Um, yeah. You?" She responds.
"Never better." He says. "Look, as much as I'm enjoying this, I still need to go save Dave. So, uh… I'm gonna need you to let go."
"Huh?" Was all that Roxie said before she noticed her arms still around him. "Oh, shit, sorry." She let out as she quickly took her hands off him.
"Appreciate it." Cass responded as he stood up and then help her up as well. "Check yourself for injuries, adrenaline can make you blind to them." He then walked back up to the rocks and reached down into the hole and pulled Dave out. The two guys carefully slid down the rocks, and once they were on solid ground, Dave bro-hugged Cass.
"I knew you were my favorite for a reason, you even saved me." Dave said as he comically held onto the poor man.
Cass just looked slightly confused as he tried to pry the almost weeping man off of him. And once that was over, he looked at both Roxie and Dave and asked again. "You two good? No injuries?"
"Nope, all good." Dave replied.
"Same here." Roxie said in agreement.
"Okay, now I've just gotta get the truck unfucked, and then we'll be good to go." The resident life saver said. He climbed back up the rocks and over to the passenger side door and opened it. With the vehicle essentially being on its side, it was gonna be very hard to get into the driver seat and hit the gas so the truck will move. He slowly lowered himself into the jeep, so he wouldn't just fall down and break the window. Once he was in, he had to figure out a way to sit so he wouldn't be thrown about when the truck landed on all four tires.
"So… what took you and Cass so long?" Dave randomly asked Roxie.
"What?" Was her response to the random question.
"Well, you saw how quickly he got me out. Why did it take you two longer?" Dave asked again.
"Oh, um, that's because-" Roxie got cut off by the sound of the truck's engine starting.
The two counselors watched as Cass hit the gas and launch the jeep off the rocks. It landed back on all four tires and Cass whipped it around and brought it closer to the two of them.
"Alright, hop in." Cass says from the driver seat. Roxie walked over and sat in the passenger side seat, Dave was about to open the door to the back, but the oldest camper stopped him. "Here." He hands him a pair of binoculars. "Hop in the back and keep an eye out for the kids, yeah?"
Dave just looks at him and nods. "Good idea, we'll be able to find them easier this way." Cass listens to his response and nods back. So Dave goes to the bed and hops in, banging on the roof of the jeep as the signal that he's good to go.
Roxie turns to Cass and asks. "You know how to drive this thing?"
"I wouldn't be in this seat if I didn't." He said. "So just rest yourself and keep a look out."
Rox just rested in the seat as she gave a nod.
And with that, the three made their way off to find the campers.
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BACK WITH THE KIDS
Brooklynn and Darius are still screaming as their gyrosphere is knocked around and spinning in circles. It comes to a sudden stop, letting them catch their breath, but only for a second. Because it was slapped by a dinos tail, and sent rolling and spinning away.
Yasmina and Sammy are fairing a bit better, as they weave in between the dinosaurs.
"Watch out!" Sammy yells.
"This thing's not going fast enough." Yaz told her as she bobbed left and right, dodging the big beast around them.
"Stego, 12 o'clock! Tail, tail, tail!" Sammy once again yelled out.
"Hang on!" Yaz said as she sped up as much as she could.
"Ah! I wanna go home!" Ben randomly screamed out among the chaos.
Darius and Brooklynn were looking behind them for… whatever reason they were doing that. But Brooklynns scream made Darius look forward as they collided with an ankylosaur. Darius stopped the vehicle and looked back, he saw a group of dinosaurs running straight at them.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Brooklynn calls out as she too saw the dinos.
Darius thrust the control lever forward, and they barely managed to pick up the speed necessary to outpace the stampede. He along with Yasmina and Kenji, drove the gyrospheres into the jungle as a way to get away from the panicked herd.
"Low branch coming right at us!" Sammy exclaimed in fear.
"I see it. Let me concentrate." Yasmina tells her.
The storm seems to be getting worse as the sky got darker and another clap of thunder was heard and lightning lit up the sky. Yaz and Sammy took their eyes off the road for only a second to look up at the sky, but that's all it takes. Lightning struck a tree, causing it to collapse into their way. They both let out a scream as Yasmina pulls back on the lever, they knocked into the tree and went backwards where they hit another fallen tree.
They both gasp and pant as they try to catch their breath after being both scared and jolted around.
"Are we… alive?" Sammy asks with a sigh.
The two girls look around and notice that they're on their own as lightning crashes and thunder claps.
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Kenji screams and grunts as once again, he and Ben are fighting over the controls.
"Left! Back to right!" Ben yelled at Kenji.
"Right! Back to left!" Kenji yelled back.
"Fine, you drive!" Ben said as he let go of the controls and crossed his arms. "Just get us out of here!"
"Finally! Let me show you how it's-" Kenji started cockily but immediately crashes as he wasn't paying attention.
The two were now upside down from hitting a rock. The engine could be heard hissing as it took damage from a rock. Ben just stares at Kenji in contempt for their situation. All the older boy could do is meet his gaze.
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Darius and Brooklynn slowly traveled down one of the dirt roads on the island before coming to a complete stop. Both panting in exhaustion.
"I think we lost them." Darius says as he slumps into his chair.
"I think we lost everyone." Brooklynn states as she looks around.
Darius lets out a gasp as he reaches over and shakes his passenger. "Look!" He rotates the gyrosphere to the left, and lo and behold, the sinoceratops that they wanted to corral was grazing right in front of them.
"Okay, think. Sinoceratops are fast on open ground, so we just need to corner her, then we can get her back to the herd."
While Darius was saying all of that, Brooklynn was unbuckling herself from her seat. "Great. Here we go! Another Brooklynn exclusive! Keep watching, 'cause it's about to get real!" She exclaims while showing her face on camera. The girl then opens up the doors and steps out.
"Wait, wait! Brooklynn, wait!" Darius calls out to her as he quickly unbuckles himself to follow her.
The sinoceratops spots them and lets out one of her well known bellows at this point. The teens scream in fear as they run back to the gyrosphere and buckle back up.
"Too real! Too real!" Brooklynn screams.
Darius is panicking while putting on the last buckle of his seat belt. "Come on!" But he didn't get the chance to buckle up fully because the sino charged at the vehicle and rammed its horn through the front of it. The sino then lifts the giant hamster ball up and begins to shake it back and forth. Both Brooklynn and Darius are letting out whimpers and shouts of no at the creature. Suddenly, the dino launches the sphere away from it and bellows out another call as she watches the gyro soar through the air.
Darius and Brooklynn let out their respective screams and closed their eyes as they spun through the air, but they slowly came to a stop, and once they did, Darius was the first to open his eyes and he saw sunlight poking through the hole that the sinoceratops made. He let out a sigh of relief as he sat forward and undid his seat belt, soon, Brooklynn does the same. After a few seconds, they look at each other and start chuckling. But then they notice the gyrosphere creaking and slowly sinking into a mud pit.
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Once more, the sky lets out its booms of thunder and lightning as Yasmina and Sammy remove branches from off of and around the gyrosphere.
"Good news, this gives us a lot more time to get to know each other." Sammy says as she dusts off her hands and looks over at Yasmina.
"We should do that… later." Said the girl in question. "Much, much later. First, we need to-" Yaz was cut off by the headset in the gyrosphere going off.
"Help! Can you hear us? We're stuck… mudhole and we're sinking! Help!" Brooklynn's words could be heard coming from the headset, though it did have some static.
Sammy and Yasmina rush over to the ear pieces and put them in.
"Brooklynn? Brooklynn, can you hear me?" Sammy says through the headset. "Where are you?"
But all they received was static. No voices to be heard. Yaz and Sammy shared a look of worry before getting out of the gyrosphere.
"We gotta find them." Sammy says. "Brooklynn? Darius?" She calls out their names in hopes that she'd hear them. "Can you hear us?"
Yasmina joins in and calls out to them. "Guys?" But after no response she runs back over to the gyrosphere. "Keep clearing away the b- No, wait." Yaz cuts herself off as she comes up with an idea. "Pile it up. Pile it up. All of it. Just keep piling. Come on." She said as she rushed around to gather the branches.
"Okay." Was Sammy's answer as she helped out. And after a few minutes of gathering all the branches and propping them up against one of the fallen trees, the girls made a ramp so that they could get the gyrosphere out. The two then got in and Yasmina thrust the lever forward, making them hit the ramp and sail right over the tree.
"We're coming, Brooklynn!" Sammy says once they land and keep driving.
Yasmina just spoke into the headset again. "Hello? Hello? Can anybody hear me?"
Sammy lets out a huff. "Still no sign of- Ben and Kenji?" She asks questioningly. And sure enough, the two boys were walking right in the middle of the road. Yasmina pulled back in order to stop the gyro, but Kenji tackled Ben out of the way, well attempted to. But Yaz managed to stop it right in front of them.
Kenji was struggling to stand up because Ben was holding onto him. But he managed to do so, and tried to get the scaredy cat off of him but his grip is abnormally strong.
"No." Was all that Ben said as he held onto the older boy.
Kenji just dropped his arms and stared at the girls with a deadpan expression. In response, the girls looked at each other with a raised eyebrow because of the situation. Eventually, all four of them are now packed into the singular gyrosphere. With Kenji and Sammy sharing the passenger seat, and Yasmina and Ben sharing the driver seat.
"I'm pretty sure we're exceeding the maximum occupancy in here." Ben said while holding onto the seat belt.
"I lost them. It's just static." Sammy says as she checks the ear piece again.
Yasmina brings the gyro to a stop just as lightning and thunder are thrown throughout the sky.
The teens could barely hear it, but they were sure they heard Darius and Brooklynn calling for help.
"I hear them! They're over there!" Kenji says as he points to his right. So Yasmina follows his direction and heads that way in the attempt to find their fellow campers.
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Brooklynn and Darius were both panting in exhaustion as they relentlessly beat on the glass of the gyrosphere.
"It won't budge. The mud is jamming the door shut." Darius said to Brooklynn.
"Try driving out again." She said with a hint of panic in her voice.
"We'll only sink deeper." Was the boys response.
"Then you think of something, Mr. Let's-Go-Corner-the-Dinosaur!" Brooklynn yelled at the boy as she leaned forward, which caused the gyro to rotate in the mud and sink a little deeper. They went back to pounding on the glass, calling out for help. After a few more seconds of pounding, Darius just let out a sigh of resignation as he started to give up. He looked over at Brooklynn, and the girl looked back at him, its just that… she had tears in her eyes and she was barely keeping herself from crying. Darius could only stare at her as he could do nothing.
"Brooklynn? Darius?" Sammy called out from the headsets. They two trapped teens let out gasps as they activated their mics.
"Hello? Sammy?" Darius said.
"Do you read me? We're coming to help!" Sammy says, and sure enough, the gyrosphere breaks through the boundary of the jungle and into the opening the two were trapped in. Brooklynn and Darius called out for help as the others arrived on scene.
"Roxie! Dave! Cass! We've got a real emergency here!" Ben calls through the headset as Kenji, Sammy, and Yasmina all hop out.
Yaz and Kenji get into the mud and try to push the ball out, to no avail.
"I can't grab ahold of it." Yasmina says with a grunt.
"It's too heavy." Kenji says as he pushes with all his might.
Ben yells at them. "It's gonna pull you under!" And as he said that, Kenji and Yasmina immediately let go and got out of the mud.
"Uh, guys?" Ben says to the group as they all look up to see what he's talking about. And right in front of them was the sinoceratops that caused all of this. Ben tried to back away from it, but tripped on a branch and fell on his face.
The giant beast let out a bellowing call, which made Sammy fall to the ground and make everyone who could hear it turn away.
"What if… I've got an idea." Sammy said as she stood up and walked up to the dinosaur.
"What are you doing?" Yasmina asked as she crawled a bit forward.
"What? Wait!" Ben said in an attempt to stop the cowgirl. But she just walked past him and picked up the branch he tripped over.
The girl held the branch in front of her as an offering to the creature, as it still had leaves on it. But the more she moved forward, the dino moved back. It roared at her in an attempt to get her to stop, but all the roar did was cause Sammy to let out a small scream of fright, only to try again.
"Hey." She said gently to the sino. "I get it." The sinoceratops stopped moving. "It's hard to trust strangers. It's a scary world out there. But… I'll trust you if you trust me."
Yasmina widened her eyes a bit at those last words.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." Sammy said as she reached forward with her left hand to touch the dino. She hesitated, but soon found the courage to do so as she placed her hand on the dinosaurs face. The sinoceratops leaned forward and took the branch out of Sammy's hand and began eating it.
"Whoa." Was all Yaz said after watching all that unfold.
"Guys?" Darius said catching their attention again.
"Real touching and all but we're still gonna die!" Brooklynn yells out.
"Hurry!" Sammy says as she grabs some vines and ties them together. Ben grabs them from her and rushes over to Kenji and throws them up to him as he tosses them over the giant branch that he's on. The vine is now in Yasmina's hands as she rushes over to the sinking gyrosphere and tosses it to the hole. Brooklynn reaches up and pulls it in and lowers it to Darius, who ties it around the seats and console. Once he's done, he gives a thumbs up through the hole as a sign that they're ready, just before the gyrosphere sank under the mud.
"Hurry, Sammy!" Ben yells in a high pitched tone.
"On it!" Was the girls response as she finished tying the other end around the sinoceratops. "Come on, girl. Easy." She says as she grabs another branch and leads the dino away. "That's it, nice and slow. Let's go. You've got this." Sammy encourages the dino as she keeps leading it away. Soon enough, the gyrosphere is now out of the mud and onto dry land. And once that was the case, Yaz used a branch to pry open the door. And sitting there, almost completely fine, was Darius and Brooklynn.
"Hey." Was all that the boy said. Brooklynn just smiled and Yasmina fell to the ground laughing as everyone cheered at the successful rescue mission.
"It worked." Ben said.
"Whoo-hoo!" Sammy chuckled. "All right! All right!" She said as she she did a little victory dance.
"Cowgirl for the win." Kenji said giving the girl a high five.
* vehicle braking * "Hey, look! It's Dave, Roxie and Cass." Sammy called out.
The three adults looked at the cluster fuck of a situation before them and just sat in silence. Cass and Roxie gave each other a side glance before Cass just pinched the bridge of his nose and shook is head.
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SEVERAL HOURS LATER BACK AT CAMP
"You could have been killed! What were you thinking?" Roxie yelled at the kids as she opened the door to the elevator.
"That we found a lost dinosaur… and Darius and Brooklynn." Sammy said in confidence.
"Don't asks me how I did it, but I did it." Kenji said in full cockiness as he and the others walked into the elevator.
Brooklynn just laughed at him. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!"
"Now stay in your bunks, you hear me?" Roxie said as she sent them up. "And you." She said as she turned to Cass who was looking at the sky with his hands in his pockets. "You better not say anything about what happened today, you hear me? I don't need people getting the wrong idea, for either of our sake." She said but noticed that he wasn't paying attention, he was still just staring up at the sky with a small smile on his face.
Roxie walked over to him and reached up to grab his shoulder. "Cass? Are you alright?" She asks him.
The physical contact from her finally caught his attention. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm good." He says as he looks away from the sky and down to the woman beside him. "I was just remembering something my sister said." He explained as he reached up and grabbed the necklace that was on him, he just let another smile reach his face, but this one seemed… sad. "But, you said something, yeah?" He clears his face and looks at Roxie.
She just sighs and lets go of him. "Just take care and try not to get in any trouble. Actually, try to keep the others out of trouble more than anything."
Cass let out a chuckle. "No promises, ma'am. But I'll see what I can do."
"Good. Now go up there and get some sleep. It's been an exhausting day." Roxie lets out a yawn.
"You too." Was his response as he went to the elevator and rode his way up.
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WITH SAMMY AND YASMINA
Sammy was out on the balcony leaning on the railing as she looked out into the sky. But soon enough, Yasmina comes out and walks up to her. She clears hear throat to get the other girls attention. Sammy and Yasmina share a couple of glances.
"Um…" Yaz clears her throat again. "I… If everyone would have listened to you… If I had listened, we wouldn't have had any problems." She says to Sammy. "I'm not so great at trusting new people." She pauses before she continues. "So, my favorite color is black, my favorite food is pizza, and… this is what I was doing before." Yaz hands Sammy her art book.
Sammy takes the book from her and opens it up. And she sees well done drawings of dinosaurs. "I started drawing to kill time during track meets. I'm not very good, so you probably… probably won't even like them." Yasmina says.
"I don't like them. I love them!" Sammy says. "I knew we were gonna be friends!" She goes and hugs the poor introvert.
"Not really a- a hugger." Yasmina tries to say.
"You are now!" Sammy says as she bounces a little while still hugging the girl.
Yasmina just accepts the hug and puts a hand on Sammy's back.
"Aw, Sammy got the first hug? I'm jealous." Cass jokingly says with a chuckle as he walks over to them.
That caused the two girls to let go, as his sudden appearance surprised them.
"Uh, hey. What are you doing out here?" Yasmina asks as she rubs her arm.
"Well, after everything that happened today, I wanted to check up on you." Cass says as he walks over to them. "And it appears that you made yourself a friend too."
"Yep! Her first friend." Sammy says proudly.
"Hate to break it to you, Sammy. But I'm Yaz's first friend." Cass says with a smirk as he patted Yasmina's head.
"Wait, what?" Sammy asks.
"I told you this last night." Yasmina says to the girl.
"I… I thought you were joking. I mean look at him, he's not exactly "teenage girl's first friend" material. No offense." She says as she gestures to Cass.
"None taken." The man in question said. "But yeah, we've been friends since yesterday morning. But we talked a few times before then." He explained.
"We usually were together when it came to the activities, you know, because I didn't like talking, and he was completely understanding. Then he saw my art pad, and after talking about it and some other things, we kinda just… clicked?" Yasmina said as she looked up at the older camper.
"Mhm. And now we're the best of friends." Cass joked with a wink as he rested his arm on Yasmina's head, using the shorter girl as an arm rest. "But the question is… where is my hug? Sammy got one, when do I get mine?" Cass looked down at Yaz and asked with a smirk.
"Uh, I, um…" Yasmina couldn't find the words to respond but soon stopped as she heard Cass laughing.
"I'm just messing with you." He said between chuckles. "I'll get mine when you're ready."
Yasmina just nodded with a small smile on her face.
"But in all seriousness, I'm glad that you two are friends now." Cass said as he caught the two girls off guard.
"Really?" Sammy asked.
"Of course. I'm sure you'd feel a lot better if you had a friend, and Yaz here needed one." Cass explained. "So now that she has the two of us, maybe she'll have a bit more fun."
"You're absolutely right! Why didn't I think of that before?" Sammy says out loud.
"Now…" Cass says. "How about you two explain to me what happened while I was gone."
The two girls didn't know why, but they didn't exactly feel safe with the way that Cass was smiling. But the only thing they could do was to tell him the truth and hope they see the next day.
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Darius sat down on one of the couches and looked up at the T. rex statue that was in the living room.
Brooklynn walked up to him and said. "I managed to get all the mud off, which is more than I can say for these fingernails. Never a dull day at Camp Cretaceous, right?" She flopped down onto the couch next to him.
Darius just leaned forward and let out a sigh as he looked to the ground.
"Hey, what's up?" Brooklynn asked worriedly.
"I thought I knew everything about dinosaurs, but… all I did was mess up today." Darius lets out a sigh. "I… I just wanted…"
"People to like you?" Brooklynn cuts in.
Darius turns to her and smiles. "Yeah. Guess we have that in common." He jokes.
"Well, tomorrow's a new day. And, thanks to you, I've got a new video to show the Brooklanders, so, um, I'm gonna go edit it and post." Brooklynn says as she gets up and chuckles. "Later, dino-nerd."
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Brooklynn was in her room resting on the small couch, as she looked through the video footage that she got that day. But something caught her attention. So she rewound the video and zoomed in. What she saw was not something she was expecting. It showed Sammy taking a swab sample from the sinoceratops and putting it in a small container as she checked around and made sure no one saw her.
"What the…?" Brooklynn said out loud as she questioned what she was seeing.
The thing is… Sammy walked into the room just as Brooklynn found out. And all the Texan girl could do was back up in horror.
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Alright, that was a long ass chapter and I really hope I never have to do that again. Because, what the actual fuck. Who knew writing that much would physically hurt?
But I want to thank everyone who is reading my story, and I hope that you stick around for the rest of it. Don't forget that I do appreciate any reviews that you leave and I will read and respond to them, to the best of my ability.
Now though, a bonus scene.
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BONUS SCENE
Cass was sitting on one of the couches in the living room as Darius, Kenji, Ben, Sammy, and Brooklynn all went outside to tell stories. He figured that he'd finally have a moment to himself to just… breathe. But the world had it out for him as he heard footsteps from behind him that seemed to travel to his left, he then felt the weight of someone sitting to his left. And sure enough, Yasmina was sitting just a foot or so away from him.
The girl glanced at him and down to her book a few times, like she was trying to think of something to say.
Cass just looked at her and thought to himself. 'She seems interested in something? But what-' Then it clicked that she wasn't interested in him per say, but more in his necklace. So he held it up and asked. "Is this what you're looking at?"
"Oh! Um, yes actually." Yasmina said nervously. "I was wondering, why is it sideways..? Like, I know what a normal cross means, but what about yours?" She asked as she turned towards him.
He just let a small smile come to his face as he held it in front of his face and started to explain. "Well the Christian's say that it's a sign of carrying your respective burden, the Norse on the other hand… it's a symbol of mourning." He says as he tightens his grip on the wire. "Both are correct in my case." Cass said quietly as he leaned forward and dropped his necklace, letting it slap against his chest.
"Mourning? Which means…" Yasmina started but couldn't finish.
"I lost someone very important to me. I've lost plenty of people important to me." He said to her as he stared at his hands before closing his eyes and taking a deep breathe.
"I'm sorry. I didn't-" She attempted to say but was cut off.
"It's okay. I wasn't exactly trying to hide it, you're just the first person here to bother asking." Cass explained. "What? You thought I wore all this black because it looks good?" He jokingly said to her to lighten the mood.
Yasmina let out a little chuckle in response. "Could… Could you tell me about them?" She asked hesitantly.
He took a few seconds before replying. "Sure, lets go outside for a sec." Cass stands up and starts walking to the balcony with Yaz following him. They were now out near the railing, a good 20 or so feet away from the others.
"So… Who did you lose first…?" Yasmina asked the much taller boy to her left in a hushed tone.
He just sighed as he stared up at the night sky. "The first person I lost was my dad. He was in the military, and overseas at the time that it happened, vehicle he was in got struck in the gas tank, and the whole thing blew up. I was six… maybe seven when he died." He continues to the next one. "The next people I lost were my mother and sister. They…" He let out a shaky breathe. "They were murdered in our home while I was out getting things from the local store. I was eleven when I lost them."
Yasmina could only look at him in shock as she felt her eyes dampen. 'He lost his family that young?'
"I was on my own for a few years, living on the streets, doing what I needed to do in order keep living. I was fifteen when all of that changed. A woman and her daughter offered me a place to stay when they found out that I was homeless." Cass lets a smile reach his face. "I still feel like I didn't deserve them." He stretches and heads back inside. Yasmina followed after him and they got back into their original positions and Cass started again. "I lived with them as they had basically taken me in. They were my new family, and I was theirs."
Yasmina didn't like the feeling that she was getting as she kept listening.
"We went out to eat as a celebration for me getting to come here, and for my sister for graduating early. On our way back… There was a drunk driver behind the wheel of a semi-truck. He didn't stop when the light turned red, and then… everything went black for me. I woke up in a hospital bed, the doctors and police came in and told me I was out for three days. Then they broke the news to me."
Cass closed his eyes and recited the police said to him. "They said "I'm sorry, son. But, you're the only one who made it out. The semi hit the vehicle too fast and just… I'm sorry. They died on impact, they didn't feel any pain." and then they left the room. I couldn't breathe after hearing those words and I just… I shut down." He tells her.
"How long ago was that?" Yasmina quietly asked.
"It hasn't even been three weeks." He said he opens his eyes and looks over to her.
"I'm so sorry. I…" Yaz attempted to say as she tried not to tear up.
"It's alright. I'm just glad I got someone to talk about this with." He chuckles to himself. "I should be the one to apologize, you just asked about my necklace and I dumped all that on you."
"It's okay." She said as she pulled out her book and placed it on his lap, Cass just raised an eyebrow as he took it and looked through the pages. "You showed me something personal, this is the least I can do in return." She says to him as she looks away.
"These are really good. Like, really, really good." Cass complemented as he took in all the details.
And just as Yasmina was about to say something, they both heard the others come into the room. Cass just looks at her and hands the book back to her with a small smile. "Until next time, Yaz."