Chapter 4: Venom
A/N: I hope you enjoy the chapter.
The sun hung low in the sky as the campers made their way down the hill. Kenji took one last look behind them before catching up to Darius.
"Ok, level with me." He said in a hushed voice, "what did you see back there?"
"Just…some movement in the brush." Darius answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Like I said probably just a bird."
"It ain't a bird, I don't know what it was but it ain't a bird." Kenji insisted. "Somethings been following us since the dock, I can feel it."
"I don't know what it would be, you'd think if it was a carnivore it would have attacked by now." Darius reasoned.
"I don't know bruh, I don't have an explanation, I just know something is out there." Kenji said
"Wouldn't hurt us to keep a little better watch to the rear, just in case. You wanna take up the rear guard, Kenji?" Darius asked.
"I already have been, but yeah, I can keep a little closer watch." Kenji agreed.
"Good, shouldn't have to worry about it once we make it to the hotel." Darius said. Kenji drifted back to the rear of the group, looking over his shoulder more often. Darius looked back at Brooklynn, the poor girl was an absolute mess. He still couldn't look her in the face, and worse yet, she had noticed. He couldn't even explain why to her as he didn't even understand it himself, fortunately she hadn't confronted him about it. Soon the terrain began to level off and the jungle opened up a bit.
"We're almost there guys." Sammy spouted happily.
"Too easy…"Kenji muttered to himself, head on a swivel. The group stumbled out of the jungle onto a paved road.
"Oh thank God." Yaz sighed, having a much easier time with her crutch on pavement than in the jungle.
"So close." Brooklynn moaned, looking like an extra from the walking dead.
"This is it guys, this road goes straight to the hotel." Darius announced. Sammy drifted back to walk with Kenji.
"You look as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." She pointed out.
"This when it all goes wrong." He said, watching the tree line. Just when we're almost safe, that's just the way this goes, how many times has that been proven?" Sammy wasn't pessimistic by nature, but he did have a point.
"Maybe this time will be different, you gotta think positively." She chided. Kenji looked at the Texan for a second.
"Ok, I'm positive something bad is about to happen." He stated. Sammy rolled her eyes.
"Not what I meant." She said, bumping his shoulder with hers. "Why do you keep lookin back there?"
"Somethings been following us." He said. "I can feel it."
"What do you think it is?" she asked quietly.
"No idea, haven't seen anything yet, but I know it's there." He admitted.
"As long as it stays out there and leaves us alone, it can follow us all it wants. But if it does attack, I know we have you and Darius to keep us safe." Sammy smiled.
"Ben thought we'd keep him safe too." He responded dryly. Sammy froze. She had meant it as a compliment, a way to show him that she had faith in him. The last thing she wanted to do was bring up Ben, that subject was still too painful for all of them.
"Kenji" Sammy started, "what happened to Ben wasn't your fault." Yasmina's head cocked slightly towards them.
"On the monorail, we..we all froze. It was nobody's fault, we were all in shock. But today, you didn't hesitate, if it wasn't for you that dinosaur would be digesting Brooklynn right now."
"But…" Kenji tried to start.
"No buts," Sammy cut him off, "what was it you told me? You're more than the sum of your past mistakes, Kenji Kon, so much more." Kenji looked over at her and pulled her into a side hug.
"Thanks cowgirl." He said, giving her shoulder a rub. For a moment there was a tickle in Sammy's stomach that she couldn't explain.
"Sammy's right." Yasmina thought. "We all froze, but I shouldn't have. I've been through shock, I've been through trauma, I should have reacted. He should be alive and with us right now." She closed her eyes, trying to forget, but all she saw were images of him. "I should have told him." She thought. "Told him how much I respected him for having the courage to be himself, how much I respected his compassion and sincerity, I wish he would have known that before he died."
"The one person I've ever met that I might possibly be able to open up to, and I let him die." She lamented to herself. Yasmina pushed her thoughts back below the surface. She couldn't chance dwelling on it, she might get distracted and someone else could die as a result. No, best to do what she always did, bottle it up and lock it away.
The hotel was on the south side of the mosasaurus lagoon facing north, giving guests a great view of the park across the water. The road they were on was coming up behind the hotel from the south. The campers pace quickened as they came up behind the five story building. Circling around the front, they burst through the front doors into the lobby. The group stood there, hugging one another in relief and disbelief. The power was on, the lobby was nice and cool thanks to the climate control systems still Being operational, and most of all, they finally felt somewhat safe. Even Kenji and Yasmina were grinning. Kenji stepped behind the front desk and started digging through the drawers.
"What are you looking for?" Darius asked.
"Ah ha! Found em', I was looking for these." He replied, holding up two key cards. "master keys, they'll open any door in the hotel."
"Follow me" Kenji said. "I know exactly where to go." The group followed as he headed for the elevator. There was a bit of hesitation as the doors slid open.
"What if it stops?" Yaz asked. "Power could go down at any time."
"If you want to hobble your way up five flights of stairs, be my guest." Kenji laughed. A death glare was his response as Yaz piled into the elevator with the others. Sammy let out a soft whimper as it started to move, causing Brooklynn to glance her way.
"Never liked these things much." She explained quietly. A few moments later the elevator stopped on the fifth floor. Kenji led the group down the hallway to the very last door, slipping the card key into the slot, he turned and grinned.
"Welcome my friends, to the VIP suite!" he announced, throwing the door open. The campers mouths hung open in awe as they entered the room. The suite was enormous, lavishly furnished with floor to ceiling windows along the outside wall. After surviving with nothing, the suite seemed overwhelming. Exhausted, Yaz, Brooklynn, Darius, and Sammy collapsed onto the couch.
"Oh my gosh, it's SO comfortable." Sammy sighed
"Mmmm" Brooklynn moaned in agreement. Kenji returned from the kitchen with a case of Pepsi from the refrigerator.
"Who's thirsty?" he asked, setting the case on the coffee table. Everyone grabbed a soda. The caffeine and sugar was exactly what they needed to get perked back up. Brooklynn sat forward and glanced at Kenji, then Sammy.
"Ok I'll start" she began. "Darius, I want you to know how much I appreciate you. You work so hard to give us the best chance of survival. You risk your own life over and over to save ours, even when it's our fault we're in danger in the first place. I really don't know how you put up with us, but I'm glad that you do. Just know that whatever happens, we never would have gotten this far without you. We are proud to call you our leader. Merry Christmas, dino nerd." Darius' jaw dropped. Before he could say anything, Kenji spoke.
"Darius, you really do put up with a lot from us. I probably wouldn't hang out with us if I was you, I mean it's not like you really have a choice, we're kinda stranded on a dinosaur filled island, but that's not the point. The point is that you're a great leader and a better friend…I just wanted you to know that. Merry Christmas bruh." Then it was Sammy's turn.
"Darius, we all love you so much, we all see your selflessness, your always putting us ahead of yourself. You always know how to bring us together. Please don't stress yourself to much about us, we all know your doing the absolute best possible. We really appreciate you. Merry Christmas Darius. Yaz shot a glare at the other three, obviously this had been a plan and nobody bothered to tell her about it.
"Darius" she started, "thank you for being a good leader. Umm…I would be really sad if you got eaten…um..merry Christmas." Yaz sunk back into the couch. She was extremely uncomfortable with expressing emotion, but she did want Darius to know she appreciated him. Darius was taken aback. He was genuinely touched by their words.
"Guys, I don't know what to say." Darius started.
"Then don't say anything." Brooklynn interrupted. "We've all noticed how much of yourself you put into leading us, we wanted to give back but as Kenji pointed out, we're stuck on dino island so all we could do was make sure you know how we feel." Darius smiled, pulling her into a hug.
"Thanks you guys, It means a lot." Hs said. I'm going to do my best to be the leader you guys think I am, merry Christmas to you guys too. It may not be the Christmas we were expecting, but at least we're together."
"Hey!" Sammy exclaimed. "That's Darius' present to us, leading us safely to the hotel where we're safe and together."
"And I got you into this VIP suite." Kenji pointed out. "Merry Christmas guys." Everyone shared a laugh.
"Hey" Darius said, holding up the TV remote control. Ya think it still works? Darius pushed the power button and the TV on the wall clicked, lighting up to reveal a blue screen that read "check satellite connection. Error #30H1B."
"Guess the satellite service is down." Sammy sighed. Suddenly there was an electronic beep from the dining room. Brooklynn's eyes went wide.
"PHONE!" She squealed racing toward the sound. Within two seconds she snatched up a black cell phone from the dining room table.
"Fifteen percent battery, I can work with that!" she exclaimed. Everyone gathered around her as she furiously tapped at the screen. After a few seconds she threw her head back, grunting in frustration.
"No service, no internet, no GPS, I can't even get 911 on this thing, and it doesn't even make sense, it's T Mobil, same as I had and I had full service and internet and everything." Brooklynn complained.
"Hmm, cell, internet, and satellite all down at the same time." Darius pondered, looking over at the blue screen on the TV.
"Let's hit some of the other rooms, they evacuated so quickly people didn't even get a chance to come back for their stuff, there's bound to be more cell phones. Maybe a Sprint one will work, or Verizon, or AT , it's worth a shot isn't it?" Kenji asked handing Darius a master key.
"Absolutely" Darius agreed. "Yaz, Sammy, Brook, you guys try to get some rest. We'll check for phones and be right back."
"Fine by me, I could use some guy free time." Yasmina said dryly, Sammy and Brooklynn giggling in agreement.
"Ok then, if anything happens just, you know, scream." Kenji laughed as he and Darius disappeared out the door.
"Pshh, he's the one more likely to be screaming." Yaz protested, plopping back down on the couch.
"Oh for sure!" Brooklynn agreed. She and Sammy moved to explore a room opposite the couch near the TV. Brooklynn opened the door and flipped on the light. The girls jaws both dropped, before them was the biggest, most luxurious bathroom they had ever seen. Slowly they made their way to a large whirlpool bathtub. Brooklynn reached out and turned the hot water knob, warm water began filling the tub.
"Get out." Brooklynn said, without looking up from the water.
"W..what?" Sammy stuttered.
"It's nothing personal Sammy, I NEED this bath, get out." She said
"But I…." Sammy began.
"Out, out, out, out, out." Brooklynn repeated, pushing Sammy into the living room and slamming the door behind her. A bewildered Sammy stared at an amused Yasmina, both erupted into laughter. Back in the bathroom, Brooklynn adjusted the water temperature. Noticing the bottles on the edge of the tub, she inspected each one.
"Shampoo…..conditioner……hmm, bubble bath, why not?" she giggled to herself, pouring in some in the water. She walked over and leaned on the counter, staring at herself in the mirror. Her pink hair was a rats nest of leaves twigs and rotted wood. Her right eye was nearly swollen shut, with a dark shade of purplish yellow setting in beneath it. Her face was covered with dried blood from the gash on her head and her nose. Not just her face but her tee shirt was covered in her blood as well. Her jeans were even worse, stained with not only hers, but also Yasmina's blood.
"No wander Darius won't even look at me" she sighed to herself, "I might as well change my name to Quasimodo." Brooklynn pulled her tee shirt over her head and tossed it aside. Again she stared at herself in the mirror. Deep scrapes marred the skin on her belly, sides, and back, a few were fairly deep.
"God, I'm a train wreck." She sighed again. By now the tub was full. Brooklynn turned the water off, undressed and slipped into the bubbles.
Sammy headed into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich, as she passed the dining room she noticed the cell phone. Picking it up she stared at it for a moment, then tapped gallery. The phones gallery was full of family pictures taken at Jurassic World. The family consisted of a boy of about five years old, a girl in her early teens, about Brooklynn's size, a mother and a father. In most of the pictures the father wore an absolutely ridiculous light blue shirt with white flowers. Sammy chuckled to herself.
"This must be the family that was renting this room." She thought. "I hope they all made it out ok." Suddenly she had a thought, the daughters clothes would probably fit Brooklynn, she could really use some different clothing, hers was by far the bloodiest, mainly due to holding Yasmina in her lap in the boat. Her own head injury earlier had only added to that. Sammy started checking the bedrooms, looking for the daughters suitcase.
Kenji walked through the front door and dumped a pillowcase full of about fifteen cell phones on the coffee table.
"None, not a single one has any service whatsoever." He complained, heading for the bathroom. As soon as he opened the door and stepped in, he noticed the pile of bloody clothing on the floor. It took a few moments before Kenji's exhausted brain could process that he recognized the clothing, it was Brooklynn's. Just then a pink head popped up and out of the water in the bathtub. Kenji froze in shock. Brooklynn wiped the water from her eyes and saw him.
"GET OUT!!" she shrieked, covering her chest with her arms.
"Brooklynn!…I didn't…I'm sorry…" he stammered.
"KENJI, GET OUT!" she screamed again.
"Of…of course." He sputtered, spinning around and crashing face first into the edge of the still open door, knocking himself to the ground.
"GO!" she screamed. A shampoo bottle narrowly missing Kenji's head. Kenji scrambled out of the bathroom on his hands and knees, slamming the door behind him. As he laid there against the door panting, he caught Yaz grinning at him.
"Oh hey, Brooklynn's in there." She chirped helpfully. Kenji glared at the athlete.
"Would have been great to know that before I walked in there." He half yelled.
"Where's the fun in that?" she asked innocently. Just then Darius walked in.
"So I checked about two dozen cell phones and….why are you on the floor Kenji?" Darius asked, confused.
"He walked in on Brooklynn in the bathtub." Yaz tattled.
"And he's still alive?" Darius asked.
"Barley." Kenji grumbled.
"Ok so none of the phones I checked had any service." Darius said, getting back to business.
"Same." Kenji agreed, pulling himself to his feet and giving the bathroom door a wary look. Darius frowned.
"It just doesn't make any sense that all cellular and all satellite services would go down at once." Darius said, shaking his head.
"Kenji, you know the park. Do they have any sort of back up radio or other communication systems that you know about?" he asked.
"Well there's phones direct to the mainland in the main control room, but other than that there's a comms building next to the veterinary facility on a hilltop east of here, if there were backup systems, that's where they would be, that's where all the equipment and towers and everything are." Kenji explained.
"We need to check it out." Darius decided. "Tomorrow morning, can you get us there?"
"And what about Ben." Yasmina asked from across the room. The campers fell silent.
"The plan….was to rest and resupply and then look for Ben." She asserted. Darius just stared at her.
"Our priority, is to keep each other alive. Rescue second." She growled, fire beginning to flash in her eyes.
"She's right." Darius relented. We need to look for Ben."
"OK we'll need a map of the monorail system." He said.
"The lobby, hotels usually have maps." Sammy pointed out, carrying a suitcase out of a bedroom.
"On it!" Kenji exclaimed as he headed for the lobby, thankful for a reason not to be in the room when Brooklynn got out of the bath. Darius frowned at Sammy.
"Are you moving out?, What's with the suitcase?" Darius questioned.
"No, definitely not." Sammy laughed, I found some clothes that might fit Brooklynn, I'm taking them to her before she puts those dirty bloody clothes back on."
"Good idea" Darius nodded, predators could probably smell her coming a mile away." Sammy knocked on the bathroom door.
"That better not be you, Kenji!" Brooklynn's voice roared from inside.
"No Brooke, it's me. I've got some clothes for you to try." She explained.
"Just a minute" Brooklynn called. "Ok come in." Sammy walked in and set the suitcase next to the counter. Brooklynn had covered herself with the bubbles in the water.
"Sammy, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you out like that, that was really rude." She apologized.
"Ha, don't worry about it. Gave Yaz and I a good laugh." Sammy assured her. "Anyway the family that was staying here before the evacuation had a girl about your size, so I brought you her suitcase, her clothes might fit you….yours are kinda…"
"Yeah I know, I'm walking bait." Brooklynn sighed. "I'm such a mess Darius won't even look at me anymore." Sammy's eyes narrowed a little.
"Wait, do you want Darius to look at you, like look, look at you?" she asked.
"What? No of course not" Brooklynn snapped a little too defensively.
"It's just…..kinda tough on the self image when you're such a wreck that your guy friends won't even make eye contact with you anymore." She added sadly.
"Brooke, I don't think it's that, I mean do you really think Darius is that shallow? She asked.
"No" Brooklynn admitted. "But ever since the ceratosaurus attack its been different, even when he asked if I was ok, he wouldn't look at me…. Wait, maybe that's it. Maybe he's mad at me for being stupid and running the wrong way, I almost got him killed." Sammy furrowed her brow.
"I don't think that's it either, but your right, it did start after the attack." She said. Brooklynn's eyes widened Slightly.
"Wait, you …" she started
"Yes, I noticed it too." Sammy admitted, cutting her off. "Maybe that freaked him out, coming so close to losing you, especially after Ben."
"Maybe." Brooklynn shrugged. "I guess I'll know he's mad at me if he doesn't let me snuggle with him tonight." Sammy narrowed her eyes at her friend once again.
"What? It's about security, nothing more." Brooklynn protested. Saying it out loud made her realize just how weak that excuse sounded. Sammy laughed and headed for the door.
"Whatever you say Brooke, whatever you say." She teased as she left.
The control room was so much better than the explorer for sleeping. All in all Ben was quite comfortable, with his belly full , he had closed his eyes to sleep. He was nearly out when a new distant sound made its way to his ears. It almost sounded like the roar of an airliner overhead, but that didn't make any sense. He knew the airspace around the island was a no fly zone. The only aircraft that had any reason to be in the vicinity would be search and rescue, and there was no way they would be conducting ops at night. More likely it was the sound of an over pressurized boiler venting steam somewhere, that made much more sense. A few seconds later there were several booms in the distance.
"Well I guess whatever was over pressurizing finally blew." He thought to himself. Silence had returned. Ben closed his eyes and slept. The next morning Ben was awakened by Bumpy nudging him.
"Ok ok, I'm up girl." He yawned, scratching the dinosaur's neck. Rubbing his eyes, he got to his feet and unlocked the control room door, sending Bumpy scampering happily to munch on vegetation in the rotunda. Ben went back to retrieve his shotgun from the bed side and followed Bumpy. Down in the rotunda, Ben watched the ankylosaur eat. She was now the size of a large four wheeler. Soon it would be time to see if she'd let him ride her. He yawned again, arching his back in a stretch. As he looked up he noticed a catwalk completely circling the top of the building, a large line of windows along side it. Following the catwalk with his eyes, he saw the ladder coming down to the top of a staircase on the right side of the building. Ben looked around, all seemed ok. He slung the firearm over his shoulder and headed for the stairs. As he claimed onto the catwalk he glanced down to Bumpy. She seemed so small down there, the catwalk was probably sixty feet up. Ben looked out over the terrain.
"Its an observation deck." He thought to himself. Form that vantage point he could see three hundred and sixty degrees around the building. He could see a good amount of the road he and Bumpy had followed to get there, not to mention other roads as well. In the distance smoke rolled up into the sky from a hill top to the south east.
"That must be what I heard last night, probably the work of the Indominus." He thought. Looking back to the road, he could see the three predators stalking their way toward the visitors center. Ben looked down, there was no way they could get to him on the catwalk. The only way up involved a twenty foot ladder that he was sure they couldn't climb, even if they could, he'd just pick them off one at a time with his shotgun. Bumpy on the other hand would be a sitting duck if they were to get inside. Slowly he unslung the SPAS 12 and unfolded the stock, keeping close watch on the predators. They were nearly to where the stairs met the road, moving slowly, chattering and growling at each other from time to time. The carnivores stuck to the road, passing in front of the visitors center without issue. Ben breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared down the road into the jungle.
"So they are actively hunting this road." He thought. "If I need to move, the jungle will be safer than the road. Looking out over the back of the building he could see several brachiosaurs grazing in the distance. Apart from the nearly getting eaten every few hours and the constant challenges of survival, this really was a beautiful island. Once again Ben's thoughts drifted to Yasmina.
"I wander if Yaz would think this view was as beautiful as I do?" He thought, wishing she was there to see it. Ben blinked hard, shaking his head.
"How can I possibly be so selfish?" He thought, thoroughly disgusted with himself. But still he couldn't help but wish she could see what he was seeing. Honestly he missed all of his friends, even Kenji. It was great having Bumpy, but he missed real conversations, heck he even missed watching Brooklynn do her ridiculous videos. He knew they would all be proud of his accomplishments so far and he couldn't wait to make it home and reconnect with each of them. As he stared out over the jungle, a small stand of trees about one hundred and fifty yards from the back of the building caught his attention. They looked like banana trees.
"Makes sense, Isla nublar isn't far from Costa Rica and Costa Rica is a leading exporter of bananas." he thought.. Ben headed down to investigate, the idea of fresh fruit was welcome. Stepping outside the unfinished section of wall in the back of the visitors center, he tried to spot the grove. He couldn't see it from the ground, but he knew the direction and distance. Shotgun at the ready, he quietly slipped into the jungle. Ben found the grove in no time, just as he had suspected, they were banana trees. The bananas were just starting to turn yellow. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed a banana, something slammed into the webbing between his thumb and pointer finger. Instinctively he jerked his hand away as something large fell to the ground. To his horror, a large brown spider, about six inches in diameter, raised its front legs at him in a threat display before scurrying into the underbrush. Ben looked down at his hand, there were two small puncture wounds. He started to panic, he knew from the size and color what it was.
"Brazilian wandering spider." He said to himself. "I've been bitten but one of the world's most toxic spiders." Ben immediately retreated towards the control room, trying to get himself under control. He had researched Isla Nublar's venomous snakes and insects before he came to camp, just in case. He knew the spider had plenty of venom to kill him, but he also knew wandering spiders seldom injected large amounts of venom. Only just over two percent of bites even required antivenin. On the other hand, antivenin wasn't an option for him. Ben's life depended on just how much venom the spider injected. The burning in his hand was beginning to intensify as he stumbled into the control room and collapsed into his makeshift bed. Laying on his back, Ben steadied his breathing, reducing his heart rate to slow the venom. This was it, no doctor, no antivenin, he would need to ride out the effects of the venom and pray he hadn't received a lethal dose. He pulled out a small notepad and a pen that he had taken from the gift shop, and proceeded to write a letter to each of his friends.
"Just in case I don't make it." He thought. Just as he finished his letter to Yaz, his symptoms intensified. Ben was sweating profusely, but also shivering at the same time, he brought his fingers to his neck to check his pulse. He felt his heart rate dropping, nausea washed over him. Only forty five minutes after being bitten, he was on the verge of unconsciousness. Ben focused on breathing, he could no longer keep his eyes open as his heart rate slowed even more. He was determined to survive, he wanted to see his friends again, to see Yasmina again, but this was beyond his control. In a strange way that thought comforted him.
"Your will be done, Father." Ben whispered, as he quietly slipped into unconsciousness.
Brooklynn wrapped herself in a towel as the water drained. It felt amazing to be clean again. She opened the suitcase that Sammy had brought her, Brooklynn squealed with delight.
"Make up, razor, deodorant, cute clothes." She listed off to herself. She really wasn't a fan of the idea of wearing someone else's underwear, but after a quick glance at the condition of her own undies she decided the clean ones were probably safer. Next she put on a pair of jeans that actually fit her better than her own. She began to dig for a top when she suddenly stopped, a familiar face stared back at her. Brooklynn slowly held up the "Brooklynn unboxes the world" t shirt.
"she's a brooklander." She giggled. She remembered making these shirts with her mom. It was a limited run, just two hundred and fifty made. They were sold as a fundraiser when her mom had to have surgery and couldn't work for a couple weeks. Brooklynn smiled at the memory, gently folding the shirt and placing back in the suitcase. After retrieving her own bra and putting it back on, she finally settled on a cute pink and black sleeveless top. She took a few moments to admire her outfit in the mirror.
"Hmm, not bad, this girl has taste." She murmured to herself. "Just one thing left to fix." She added, grabbing the make up bag.
Before long Kenji returned with a map of Jurassic World .
"Here" Darius offered, cleaning off the coffee table. The two boys spread the map out on the table. Sammy and Yasmina leaned in close.
"This is us, right here." Kenji said, pointing out the hotel on the map.
"And this is where we got on the monorail, here behind the mosasaurus stadium." Darius added. Just then the bathroom door opened and Brooklynn walked out brushing out her damp hair.
"Hey guys, what are we doing?" she asked, kneeling down around the table next to their leader. Darius' concentration was blown. He'd never seen Brooklynn with her hair down before, it was longer than he had assumed, almost to the middle of her back. She caught him before he could break his stare.
"What?" she asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?" All eyes shifted to Darius who immediately started to blush, causing Yaz to raise an eyebrow.
"Uh..nothi..I just..eye…your black eye is gone." He recovered.
"Oh" she giggled. "The magic of make up."
"Looks good" he complimented, immediately mentally slapping himself. He glanced around to see if anyone had caught that, but his friends eyes had drifted back to the map, all except Yaz, she wasn't buying it for a second.
"Anyway, we're going to look for Ben tomorrow, so we're trying to work out where he fell." Darius filled Brooklynn in.
"We left the station this direction." Sammy said, tracing the track with her finger. "Here, here's where the trick splits."
"And here's where the track turns back to the park." Yaz added. "So Ben fell somewhere between the turn back and the track switch, right here." She said, marking a circle on the map. Darius pointed to the islands coast just to the east of the circle.
"This cove, I'm pretty sure this is where the east dock is." He said.
"Wait" Kenji interjected, "So you mean the whole time we were at the dock, we were only about a mile east of where Ben fell?"
"Looks that way." Darius confirmed.
"Ok, so all we have to do is get back to the dock, then head west through the jungle till we hit the monorail track, that should put us close to the right place." Yaz summed up. Nobody said a word.
"What's the problem?" Yasmina challenged.
"Walking the road back to the dock is suicide. Kenji said quietly.
"We barely survived that hike the first time." Sammy added.
"So what, you just want to leave him out there?" Yaz asked, raising her voice.
"Of course not, be we don't want to die either." Sammy shot back defensively.
"Then by all means, if your scared, stay here where it's safe, but tomorrow morning I'm going to look for Ben, with or without the rest of you." She shouted, eyes ablaze.
"What about the tunnels?" Brooklynn asked quietly. Everyone shut up and stared at her.
"The entrance we used to get to the ferry dock isn't that far from where he fell, and if we can find another entrance somewhere close by, we could spend almost the whole trip down there, it would be faster and safe….provided Toro isn't still down there." She reasoned.
"Kenji" Darius asked, breaking the silence. "have you ever seen a map of the tunnel system? Kenji smiled.
"ACU command center." He said triumphantly. "They've got a great big map of the island including the tunnel system and monorail on the wall over there. Not to mention weapons, a main entrance to the tunnel system, and security clearance cards that should open the tunnel gates."
"Perfect!, where is the command center?" Darius asked.
"Right there" he answered, pointing across the mosasaur lagoon to the main building.
"OK then, first thing in the morning, that's where we're headed." Darius declared. "Everybody good with that?" everyone, including Yasmina, nodded. The rest of the night the campers took turns showering, washing clothes, and eating their fill from the refrigerator and freezer. It was nice to feel somewhat human again. The suite had three bedrooms but after some discussion, it became apparent that none of them was big on the idea of sleeping alone, except for maybe Yasmina, but even she didn't jump at the chance for her own room. The campers gathered in the master bedroom, thoroughly exhausted. Yaz was first into the middle of the king size bed. Kenji crawled in on her left and Darius on her right. Brooklynn approached Darius who immediately scooted toward Yaz to make room for her. Brooklynn snuggled in next to Darius, throwing a leg over him and wedging her head up under his chin.
"Comfy?" he asked, giving her a little squeeze.
"Mmm hmm" she answered happily.
"Guess he's not mad." She thought. Sammy sat down on the edge of the bed next to Kenji who stared at her suspiciously. After a few moments he scooted over for her.
"Ok, get in here Sammy." He laughed, holding an arm up for her to cuddle in to him. "We're gonna end up like this anyway, might as well start out cuddling too." Sammy accepted his invitation and snuggled up to him. Yaz looked over at Brooklynn and Darius, then to Kenji and Sammy.
"Well darn, guess there's nobody left for me to cuddle with." She joked.
"Well, lucky for you little lady, there's plenty of Kenji to go around." He said, attempting to slip an arm around the athlete. In the blink of an eye Yaz had Kenji by the wrist, bending it backwards.
"First of all" Yaz growled. I was being sarcastic, second, I DON'T CUDDLE!, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!"
"Understood." Kenji squeaked. After a moment of silence, the entire group erupted in laugher.
"Got further than I thought he would." Darius laughed.
"I'm surprised she let him keep the hand." Brooklynn added.
"Eh, I was feeling generous." Yaz said dryly.
"Maybe you should just stick to cuddling me." Sammy suggested.
"Agreed" Kenji said. Soon after they were all asleep, all except Yaz. Yaz stared at the ceiling, thankful to have a chance to gather her thoughts. She had a lot of anxiety about tomorrow's search, but was unsure of what she was more scared of, not finding Ben, or actually finding him. At this point she had lost hope in finding him alive, even if he had somehow survived the fall, he would have been injured, compys would have found him by now. The logical part of her brain told her that looking for him now was a completely unnecessary risk. Best case scenario was they found some remains that they could burry. No, Darius was right, the communications building was the smart move, exactly what a good leader should prioritize. She really did appreciate Darius, she knew he could see that she was still struggling with Ben's death and that the only reason he'd agreed to tomorrow's search was he wanted her to have the chance to find some closure. That knowledge made her feel guilty. If someone got hurt, or worse, tomorrow then the blame would be hers entirely. Taking a long look at her sleeping friends, the reality of the danger she was putting them in began to overwhelm her. She already harbored the guilt of Ben's death, if someone else died because of her she would never forgive herself. The whole thing was so confusing to her, honestly she had barley known Ben, it wasn't like they were best friends or grew up together or anything like that. He was just a kid she met at camp, so why couldn't her mind let go of him? It didn't make sense, why did she miss him so badly? There were so many questions that she couldn't answer. She had to know, what if by some million to one chance he was out there, injured, dying slowly. If she could find him, she could undo the past, make up for letting him fall. Maybe that's what this was about, freeing herself of the crushing guilt, though another feeling, even deeper inside, made her doubt it was that simple. Looking again at her friends who had sacrificed so much already for her, she knew what she had to do. She couldn't let them risk their lives for her to have peace of mind. Slowly, quietly, she inched her way out of bed and made her way to the bedroom door and slipped out. In the living room she hurriedly gathered a few supplies into a small pack that had once belonged to the family renting the room. As she closed the zipper, she looked up again at the door to the bedroom that contained her friends. They were all she had left in the world and she already missed them.
"Stay strong Yasmina, get this done so they don't have to." She told herself. Before she could over think it she crept out the door into the hallway, silently jogging to the elevator. As it carried her to the lobby, she worked her ankle. She was reasonably sure she was ready. The doors slid open and she headed directly for the exit. Slowly she placed her good hand on the glass and took a deep breath, a thousand emotions swirling in her brain. Yasmina blinked hard, forcing herself to focus on her goal. Before she could change her mind she pushed the door open and sprinted into the night.