Chapter 9: Labyrinth
A/N: I know, I know, it took another month, in my defense, I was pretty much out of action for about 10 days due to breaking my dang phone. I don't have a computer so I need my phone to write. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, and hopefully the next one is quicker…but it's hay season so idk.
It was late afternoon on Isla Nublar. Ben sat up at the lookout, watching the Brachiosaurs herd and enjoying their songs. He'd spent most of the afternoon stringing together a necklace of primarily Dimorphodon teeth, accented with Troodon teeth and Dimorphodon finger bones. When he had finished, he tied it around his neck. There was a certain feeling that came with creating art from the very teeth that had savaged him only the day before. He wouldn't call his necklace a trophy really, more like a tribute. After all, he felt no anger, no grudge, no desire for revenge against these animals, they were simply doing what they do. On this island it was literally kill or be killed, and this time he'd been victorious, but of course, there were no guarantees about the next time, or the time after that.
" Eventually my luck will run out." He thought. "Eventually it'll be my bones on the rotunda floor".
Scary part was, he was okay with that, he was secure in his beliefs, confident that if his end came on this island, that it would be for a greater purpose, even if he didn't know what that was yet. That being said, he didn't want to die. Though he looked forward to one day being reunited with his loved ones who had passed away, he really wanted a chance to use this experience to help others. In a way, this island was the best thing that had ever happened to him, it seemed as though his life only began the night he fell from the monorail. He'd had no other choice than to rely on God and himself only, and God had proven faithful by relieving him of his anxieties and granting him the courage to go on. As a result, his faith had grown exponentially. Though he wanted to avoid death, he no longer feared it. He was also learning to accept the things that he couldn't change and be content in whatever situation he was in. Honestly, mentally, spiritually, and physically, he wasn't just surviving, he was thriving.
The sound of feathery wings broke him from his thoughts.
"Hey, your back!" Ben exclaimed. "I know what you are now, you're an Archaeopteryx." He said decidedly, pointing to the picture in his dinosaur book. "What do ya got there?" The little dinosaur was trying to gnaw its way into a still wrapped candy bar, the wrapper was familiar but he couldn't immediately place it.
"Need some help with that, little guy?" he asked. The Archaeopteryx dropped the candy at his feet and cocked its head, almost as if he understood. Ben stared at the candy.
"Is that….one of my carob bars?..Where did you find this?" he asked in confusion. Ben studied the bar, turning it over in his hands.
"It's not even opened, there's only one place this could have came from..my fanny pack." He thought.
"Did you take a trip to the monorail? Go digging around in a certain fanny pack?" He asked.
"That has to be it, I left it on the monorail when I climbed onto the roof, it must still be there…wherever "there" is." He thought. The Archaeopteryx squawked impatiently at him looking from him to the food and back again.
"Okay okay sheesh, not big on patience are we?" he asked, tearing the wrapper off and handing the carob bar back to the dinosaur. The Archaeopteryx grabbed the bar with it's tiny clawed hands and eagerly took a bite. The creature stopped suddenly, blinking at Ben, before dropping the piece of carob from its mouth and shaking it's head.
"Oh come on, you too? Why does everybody keep doing that?" He complained. "Carob not only tastes great, but its good for you!" the dino bird puffed up his feathers and gave an irritated squawk.
"Alright fine, you win." He sighed in defeat, pulling another piece of jerky from his pocket. The dinosaur immediately dropped the carob bar and snatched the meat from Ben's hand.
"Is that better? He laughed, as the creature hungrily devoured the jerky. "Why don't you slow down and actually enjoy it?" the Archaeopteryx looked up and gave a half squawk half trill before attacking the meat again.
"Pretty sure he just told me to shut up." He thought to himself.
While the animal ate, Ben picked up the carob bar from the catwalk and inspected it. One corner was bitten off and it was covered in tiny tooth marks from the creature's attempt to open it, but other than that, it seemed okay.
"Eh, it'll be fine." He said to himself, taking a bite. "Mmm, good trade." He finished the carob bar at about the same time as the Archaeopteryx finished the jerky. Slowly, Ben reached out his hand. The Archaeopteryx tilted its head and trilled at him, but made no move to escape. Slowly, and gently he stretched out a finger a slid it down the back of the animal, waiting a second before repeating.
"It's actually letting me pet it!" Ben thought to himself as he stroked the little dino bird. He pulled out another small piece of jerky and set it on his lap, making sure the the animal saw it.
"Come here." He beckoned. "If you want it, come and get it." The Archaeopteryx looked from Ben to the jerky and back again, evidently deciding that Ben wasn't a threat, it flitted down from the railing, landing in his lap. Gently, he petted the animal as he would a cat. In return, the animal uttered a soft trill, almost like a cats purr.
"You like that? Does that feel good?" Ben asked as he continued to stroke the animal, confidence slowly building.
"Never been petted before huh? Don't really know what to think do ya?" he smiled. Finished with the meat and trilling softly, the dino bird folded its legs underneath it's body and sat down, obviously enjoying the five star treatment. Ben scratched its head, and then under its chin, causing the animal to close its eyes, and push its neck towards him, tilting it's head.
"Yeah, that's Bumpy's favorite spot too." He said quietly.
'Bumpy…I really wish I knew what happened to her." He thought sadly.
"Hmm, so what should I call you?" he asked. The little animal looked up at him in confusion.
"How about Archie? Archie the Archaeopteryx?" he laughed. Archie seemed thoroughly unimpressed.
"What'the matter? Don't like it?" He asked, scratching to top of the dinosaur's head. A quiet squawk was his answer.
"I don't care what you call me, as long as you have food and chin scratches." Ben translated in his best Archie voice. He stopped for a moment, as a realization hit him.
"Great, I've gone from talking to dinosaurs, to talking for dinosaurs!" he said out loud. "Hmmm, maybe I've been alone too long." The thought triggered memories of his friends to come flooding back. Most of the time he tried not to think about the other campers, thinking about them distracted him and made him miss them, missing them, in turn made him wish they were there with him, and wishing they were there made him feel like a selfish heel. Though he did often wonder what things would be like had they not made it to the docks in time. He wondered if they would have found him, though he knew it would have been unlikely with the distance he'd been carried. Maybe they still would have been separated after all, for all he knew, they could still be on the island.
"They probably would have gone back to the park to scavenge, that would be the smart move." He thought. For the first time, Ben allowed himself to consider the possibility that he wasn't actually alone on the island.
"Wait! I switched the track….were we even still heading to the south dock? What if that track took them right back where we came from?" He was beginning to have serious doubts about everything he'd been assuming.
"The monorail had to stop somewhere, how else would Bumpy have gotten off? But..why was she alone? If the others were still on the Island they wouldn't have just abandoned her….would they?...unless something happened, something bad." The grimmest of scenarios played out in his mind.
" What if the monorail went back to the park and Toro was waiting? What if they came to look for me? What if they were attacked? What if Bumpy came to find me because….I was the only one left?" Ben rejected this entirely.
"No, they had to have made it, they just had to." He tried to convince himself, drawing a confused look from Archie. "Still…." He trailed off, staring at the carob bar wrapper with a new interest, "maybe it's time I start exploring." With the last of the daylight fading, he looked out over the jungle, suddenly movement caught his eye. Ben jumped to his feet, sending the poor Archaeopteryx tumbling.
"Sorry" he said quickly, as Archie squawked angrily and nipped at Ben's shin in protest. He stared intently at the spot near the banana grove, there was no more movement. He was almost sure he'd seen the clubbed tail of an Ankylosaur swing through the foliage.
"BUMPYYY" he yelled, waiting for any kind of response. "BUUUMPYYY" he called again, still there was nothing. He desperately wanted to run down there and search, but as night fell, he knew it would be pointless. Reluctantly, he accepted the fact that he'd have to wait until morning, then he'd be able to search for tracks and possibly follow them. Archie had curled up on the catwalk, tucking his head next to his wing and wrapping his feathered tail around himself.
"Roosting here tonight buddy?" He asked as he took one long last look towards the banana grove, before heading to the ladder. Archie didn't respond, apparently still miffed about being sent rolling.
"Probably never let me pet him again after that." He thought as he gently climbed down the ladder, babying his injured shoulder. Moments later he laid down in the control room, unable to forget what he was almost sure he'd seen.
"It was too big to be Bumpy, well maybe, depending how much she's grown. But even if it wasn't, maybe Bumpy is with the bigger one, heck there could have been a whole herd of Ankylosaurs in there and I'd have never seen them through the jungle." He reasoned.
"Father in heaven, thank you for another day, thank you for bringing Archie back here, its nice having a little companionship again. Lord, I pray that the others made it home safely and that they aren't stuck somewhere on this island, and if they are, please grant them them the same blessings and protections you've granted to me. Oh, and Father, if its in your will, could you maybe let me find Bumpy? These things I pray in Jesus name, amen.
Yasmina sat curled up on the couch, staring at the now darkened lights, hoping against hope that they would flicker back to life. The pit of dread in her stomach expanded, threatening to take over her whole body. Nearly every fiber of her was telling her to run, run to the tunnels, find them at all costs, it was the same impulsive instinct she had followed when she went to search for Ben, a decision she now recognized as a mistake. But this time, along side that impulsive urge, there was a voice of reason, it wasn't exactly strong, but it was there.
She'd always been impulsive, it was a trait that had served her well over her life. Sure sometimes it got her in a bit of trouble, but for the most part, it had helped to keep her safe, safe from those who would do her harm. But lately it was different, her impulsiveness had somehow become recklessness. It wasn't keeping her safe anymore, instead it was getting her injured, and worse yet, it was putting people she cared for at risk.
So many things changed when Ben fell. Ever since that night, since helplessly watching him disappear into the jungle, she'd suffered blow after blow. Ben, the Spinosaurus, the fall, and now this. She learned long ago to burry her emotions, never letting them show, but as of late, she was losing her ability to control it. Unfortunately, adding insult to injury, she was coming up on her time this month, another problem she absolutely did not want to deal with, especially with the added hormones playing against her.
"Okay Yaz, focus" she told herself, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. She tried to remember the time she spent in the tunnels, specifically the hatch. She could vaguely remember a lever on the bottom of the hatch, next to the open/close button. Unfortunately her head injury had rendered her memory unreliable.
"The only thing that lever could have been for was to manually open the hatch. That means if they can get to a ladder they can get out." She thought.
"Come on, keep it together." She told herself. "Those four are without a doubt, the smartest, most resourceful people I've ever met, of course they'll find a way out, its just a matter of time." Yasmina's eyes drifted down to broken radio.
"Ugh, Yaz you idiot." She hissed at herself, scrambling over to the device.
"Please work" she breathed, reinstalling the power pack and battery cover. Anxiously, she twisted the power knob, the screen lit up and the radio beeped. She clutched the raido tightly to her chest, throwing her head back and closing her eyes in relief.
"Thank you" she whispered through a deep breath.
"Kenji, can you hear me? Tell me you all made it out." She called into the radio. There was no response.
"Kenji, answer me d* it!" she tried again, as her voice began to crack.
"Alright, get ahold of yourself, nothings changed. You already assumed they were stuck in the tunnels, and you know the radio doesn't reach them there. Calm down and stay focused." She reasoned to herself. Yaz took a deep breath, staring down at the radio in her lap. Suddenly a thought popped into her head.
"Could it be like a cell phone? I could move around and maybe find someplace where my signal will get through." She thought. "Wait, the roof!, that would be perfect, no walls, higher up, it's definitely worth a shot." Yasmina jumped to her feet and immediately regretted it. The whole world spun around her, for a moment she couldn't tell if she was standing or falling.
"Ugh! stupid ear drum, stupid equilibrium!" She ranted to herself. "I don't have time for this." Putting both hands against the wall, she began making her way toward the door. Finally, using a combination of her crutch, the wall, and sheer concentration, she slipped out the door, dropping a towel in the way of the door to keep it from latching. To her surprise, the key card locks on the the room doors were all still lit up red.
"Wait, how are these?...ah, battery backup." She thought as she located the battery cover on their room's card lock. "I wonder If the security gates….no, they would have figured that out already." Carefully, she made her way down the hall to the stairwell. One step at a time, she ascended towards the roof.
The stairwell was very dimly lit, with the only source of light being a skylight above the stairs. She was thankful for what daylight remained, the stairs were hard enough to climb with her dizziness, doing it in the dark would be that much worse.
Fresh air filled her lungs as she burst through the door and onto the hotel roof. She quickly moved to the edge of the roof, as though being on the edge would somehow give her better signal.
"Kenji, Darius, Brooklynn, Sammy, can you hear me? Are you okay?" she pleaded into the microphone, again she heard only silence.
"Guys come on, please." She tried again, defeat edging into her voice. Yasmina's heart sank as she waited in silence, a sigh of disappointment escaping her lips.
"..az ..e…ear yo….an …u he…us" Kenji's broken, static filled voice came through the speaker. Yaz gasped in disbelief and excitement.
"Kenji" she shrieked, "Kenji, I hear you, are you guys okay? Where are you?"
"Yaz….…e're all….ine for n…. we're trap……hind th……..curity…….tes. ……klynn's try……o…..ick the lock ……..not…orking we………eed the key." Came the broken up response. Yaz took a moment, trying to decipher what he had said.
"Kenji, your really broken up, did you say your trapped behind the gates and need a key?" she asked
"…es.." he responded.
"Okay, don't worry, I'll find it, wherever it is." She called back.
"NO…….asmina your….oing……stay…….hote…….eed to…heal……….we…..igure……..out…….on't worry." Darius' voice commanded her. Yasmina's lower lip popped out, and her shoulders slumped.
"Darius, I can't just sit here while you guys are trapped." She complained.
"We'll be…ine…..ust stay….ere …." Darius' voice trailed off, but he was still transmitting. Through the static she heard the unmistakable sound of Brooklynn screaming, followed by inaudible shouts. She was sure she'd heard Sammy's voice yelling the word "shoot" Kenji's saying "two left" Brooklynn saying the words "out of here" and finally Darius shouting the word "RUN" seconds later, the transmission stopped.
"Darius! What's happening?" she yelled into the mic…. Silence.
"Kenji, please!" She tried again desperately. Still nothing. They didn't need to respond, she knew what was happening, the tunnels weren't exactly dinosaur proof.
Yaz could only hope that the security gates that trapped them, would also keep them safe. Clenching her fists and letting out a scream of frustration, she collapsed against the stairwell door, fighting hard not to lose it completely. Anger surged within her, anger at Masrani Global, anger at her injuries, anger at the situation, and perhaps most intense of all, anger at herself. Somewhere on this island, her friends were trapped in an underground maze, in the dark, fighting against an attacker or attackers they couldn't see. It didn't take much to figure out what their chances of survival were.
"Kenji said they needed a key." She remembered. Yaz forced her mind back into the tunnels, desperately trying to replay an image of the security gate's card lock. The image was hazy, but it was there. If she was remembering correctly, there had been a keyhole near the bottom of the card lock mechanism.
"That's why they don't have a battery backup like the hotel, the gates were designed with a physical key for a backup instead. That's the key Kenji was talking about!" she concluded.
"Command center." She said aloud, "that's where the key would be, and weapons, and the map, and tunnel access." She thought.
"Gotta get to the command center." She told herself as she slowly got to her feet.
Rexy's roar echoed across the Mosasaur lagoon as the last remaining daylight faded. Her shoulders slumped at the sound. She was nowhere near physically ready for this, and this time she knew it.
"Doesn't matter, I have to try, they're counting on me." She told herself.
"Actually, they're counting on you to stay here and heal." The voice of reason countered.
"If I don't get them out of there, they're as good as dead." She argued.
"Your not giving them enough credit, they can handle this. You barely made it to the innovation center the first time when you could run. Now you can barley even walk without falling over, it would be suicide." Came the counter point.
"Yaz….jus...eep…talking." Kenji's determined voice rang out from the speaker.
"Um, what do you mean." She asked in confusion.
"JUST TALK." He yelled, coming through crystal clear.
"Oh, ok, uhhh. I'm gonna find that key, I'm gonna get you guys out of there." She started out.
The wounded athlete spoke for ten minutes straight, covering topics like the weather on the island, to singing "Twinkle twinkle little star, before she finally released the mic button. As soon as she did, a short transmission came through, but there were no voices, only heavy breathing, and what sounded like teeth on the radio, finally there was a crunching noise and the transmission stopped.
"Oh God, was that bones breaking?" she questioned herself.
"Come on Yaz, use your brain. That was the radio being bitten, Kenji told you to keep talking, obviously he was going to use the raido as a distraction. It clearly worked." Explained her reasonable side.
Yaz took a deep breath, the light was completely gone now, but her mind was already made up. Throwing open the stairwell door, she stepped inside and immediately nearly went head over heels. The entire staircase was pitch black, and with her equilibrium off, she was completely disoriented. Yaz pressed herself against the wall and gripped the railing. She had the sensation she was spinning, she knew she wasn't, as she was gripping the rail, but with the darkness robbing her of her sight, her mind simply couldn't overcome the sensation.
"UGH! How am I going to do this, how am I going to make it down six stories like this." She thought. "Gotta suck it up, can't let them all die because of a little dizzy spell?"
Letting out a uncomfortable sigh, she slowly began working her way down the first flight of stairs, step by step. After what seemed like forever, Yasmina's feet touched down on the landing between the roof and the sixth floor.
"Finally, one flight down, eleven more to the lobby." She thought triumphantly, moving along the wall to the next flight. Unfortunately she was even more disoriented than she realized, she took a step were there should have been floor, however her foot found only empty space. The next few moments felt like an hour, as she felt impact after impact slam into her already damaged body. She felt as if she was blindfolded inside a washing machine, pain racked nearly every part of her, suddenly a blinding light flashed across her vision as she felt the top of her head hit something hard, there was a loud pop in her neck as she felt the vertibre compress. Finally the impacts stopped, but the spinning didn't.
Yaz lay there in silence, breathing heavily, trying to process her situation. She could feel the steps in her back, telling her she'd stopped mid flight, but she had no idea how far she'd fallen. She tried wiggling her fingers and toes, everything still worked. It was moving her head from side to side that sent stabbing pains straight to her brain.
"It's just jammed, not broke, get up! gotta keep moving." She told herself.
"STOP! This is pointless, you couldn't make it down one floor without nearly killing yourself. What's it going to take for you to realized the best way to help them is to help yourself." Her common sense urged.
Yaz felt like she was losing it, why did it feel like there were there were three of her? Her impulsiveness on one side, her logic on the other, and herself, stuck right in the middle. If the world would just stop spinning, maybe she could sort this out. But it was only getting worse, in fact, it was starting to make her nauseous.
"Wait, why am I nauseous?" She asked herself, as her thoughts became more distracted and incoherent.
" Gotta get up! Kenji said they need that key, they're going to die down there and it's going to be my fault." She thought again.
Before she could move, Yasmina rolled to her side vomited violently.
"Get up now, your murdering them….same as you did to Ben." Her eyes shot open, this voice wasn't like the other two, it was different, alien, dark. For the first time, she realized that voice wasn't hers.
"This is suicide." She admitted silently. "I have to stop, this is beyond my control. Darius said to stay, he must have a plan, he always has a plan, he'll keep them safe. Yasmina's mind drifted back to memories much more painful than her injuries.
"If I keep pushing, I'm going to end up like him." She thought darkly, as drowsiness began to overwhelm her.
"I can't let that happen, not if there's another way." She concluded.
"I want to help….I can't. Once again, I'm helpless to save those I love. It's up to you Darius." She said quietly in the darkness.
Moments later, her battered body reached the point where it could no longer fight the drowsiness. Slowly, against her will, her eyes closed and she slept.
"I…I don't know Brooke." Darius admitted, defeat evident in his voice. Her hand found his shoulder in the dark as she kneeled down next to him.
"Every hotel I've ever stayed in with a card key, has had a certain amount of time it would work without power, I think they use batteries, could there maybe be like a switch or something, something that turns on the batteries?" She asked.
"With those type of locks, the door unlocks when the battery dies, It takes power to keep them locked. But these are lockdown gates, designed to secure the tunnels in case of a disaster. It takes power to lock or unlock these, kinda like in a car. So if you lose power…." Darius explained.
"The lock stays however it was before the outage." Brooklynn finished.
"Correct" Darrius affirmed.
"So if the power goes out, the tunnels become useless? That seems kinda dumb for "maintenance" tunnels. You'd think they would want those working so repair men could get to wherever the damage was." Sammy pointed out.
"I think the whole tunnel system would have been connected to the emergency generator system, the same one that powers the fences in case a storm knocks out the power." Darius reasoned.
"But the backup generators should have come on the second the main power failed. I've seen it tested, takes like two seconds, tops." Kenji added.
"Wait Kenji, do you know where the generators are?" Darius asked.
"No, I watched the test from the control room. They did say something about the generators being like super loud, so they were on top of a hill near the…."
"Let me guess, communications building?" Sammy interrupted.
"Yeah." He confirmed sadly.
"Hey, wait!" Brooklynn said suddenly. Activating the flashlight on the phone she'd used to take a picture of the map.
"Good thinking Brooke." Darius told her, as she stared at the lock.
"Wait, it's got a keyhole." Brooklynn smiled.
"Ah, a mechanical backup instead of electric, that makes sense." Darius nodded. Just then several bursts of static came from the raido.
"Yaz must be trying to check on us again." Kenji guessed.
"Well hopefully you'll be able to call her back in a couple minutes." Brooklynn said pulling a hair pin from her hair and getting to work on the lock. "Here, hold this for me." She said to Darius, handing him the phone.
Sweat formed on the pink haired girls brow as she worked the lock. This one was unlike the others, she could get the tumblers to pop down, but not all the way. She knew what it meant, but wasn't quite ready to give up.
Darius could feel the frustration rising in her as she worked without success. He could see it in her hands, her movements becoming more desperate, and less calculated.
"Brooke." He said gently.
"Don't distract me Darius, give me time." She thought irritatedly.
"Brooke." He said just a bit louder
"I'm serious Darius, let me concentrate." She hissed in her mind.
"Brooklynn." He tried again, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I can do this!" she snapped, shaking his hand off of her. Darius took a step back, somewhat shocked at her reaction.
"I'm sorry." She sighed without turning around. "It's just…this is a security gate, the tumblers are designed to resist being picked. If I had a proper lock pick set…."
"It's okay Brooke, this isn't on you, you did your best, that's all anyone expects." He tried to comfort her.
"Thank you,"she said dejectedly, "if you don't mind, I'd like to keep trying, at least a bit longer."
"Of course." He said, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. Only then did he feel just how sweaty she was getting.
"She's putting way too much pressure on herself. " he thought to himself. Suddenly the raido crackled to life.
"Ken……..rius, Brookl……..ammy, can you…..ear me, are…ou……kay." Came the broken transmission. All eyes were on the radio, even Brooklynn and Darius.
"How the heck did she get through?" Kenji asked, dumbfounded. Darius looked up at the electrical conduit running along the walls.
"Maybe with the power out, there's not as much electromagnetic interference? Maybe that's how she's getting through….ish." He suggested.
"Guy……ome on….ease" Yaz called again.
"You better answer her." Sammy said, nodding to the radio.
"Oh right!" he answered, breaking out of his shock. "Yaz, we hear you, can you hear us?" he asked into the microphone. Brooklynn, nudged Darius' arm, nodding for him to shine the light back on the lock.
"How's the battery looking." She asked softly.
"Um, forty-eight percent" he answered.
"Turn the brightness down a bit." She said. "Make it last longer."
"Kenji…….nji I hea……u…….re yo…..uys okay…..ere are you." Yasmina asked.
"Umm…did you catch any of that?" he asked Sammy.
"She asked if we're okay and where are we." Sammy translated.
"Yaz, we're all fine for now. We're trapped behind the security gates. Brooklynn's trying to pick the lock but it's not working, we need the key." He said into the radio.
"It'll work, I just need more time." Brooklynn told herself, as she feverishly worked the lock's tumblers. She was far too focused on what she was doing to notice the two small reflective orbs in the distance beyond her.
"Kenj……our……ally broken up…….say your tra……..behind the gat…… need ……ey?" Yaz responded. Again Kenji looked to Sammy in the dim light of the phone, unable to understand what Yaz was saying.
"She said your broken up and wants you to confirm your trapped and need a key." Sammy explained, rolling her eyes. "At least she doesn't seem to need a translator."
"Yes" he said into the mic. Sammy knit her brow.
"Kenji, you really should be careful what you say to her, you kinda made it sound like she needs to find the key for us, and she's just stubborn enough to try." She warned him.
"What? No way, that's not happening, she can barley even walk, she's not going to leave the hotel." He laughed, shaking his head.
"…kay…..on't……orry, I'll find it, ……ever it is." Came her response. Even Kenji understood that one.
"Why does she have to be right all the time?" he thought, unwilling to meet Sammy's eyes. He could already make out the "I told you so" look on her face out of the corner of his eyes.
"Give me the radio." Darius sighed, also failing to notice the ever multiplying orbs in the distance.
"NO Yasmina, your going to stay at the hotel, you need to heal. We will figure this out, don't worry." He commanded.
"Almost got it, two tumblers left and we're home free." Brooklynn thought to herself, still oblivious to the six sets of reflective eyes moving down the tunnel towards her.
"Dari……can't…..ust….it here while….ou guys ar…..rapped." She protested.
"Allright guys, nobody breathe. Just got this last tumbler and we're outta here" Brooklynn said over her shoulder. As she turned back to the lock, she found herself face to face a snout full of sharp teeth and large, highly reflective eyes. Before she could even process what she was seeing, the animal lunged.
"We'll be fine just stay there…." He said before Brooklynn's scream cut him off. Darius whipped his head towards her just in time to see jaws lunging through the bars at her face. Thankfully she fell back on her butt and scrambled backwards. No less than six small theropods swarmed the security gate, sending the campers into a panic.
"Kenji, your dart rifle, can you shoot them?" Sammy squealed.
"I've only got two left." He said, shouldering the weapon.
"They're Troodons, highly intelligent, highly venomous, excellent night vision." Darius explained. Kenji aimed his rifle and fired. The dart slammed into the card lock and ricocheted harmlessly to the left. By that time the Troodon that had lunged at Brooklynn, possibly the alpha of the pack, had begun to squeeze between the bars of the gate.
"We've got to get out of here!" Brooklynn shouted. A second Troodon began squeezing through.
"RUN" Darrius ordered. Kenji fired his last dart, this time striking the alpha in the chest. The animal let out a horrible screech and clawed at the dart knocking it free, but it was too late, the tranquilizer had been administered, no sooner then the alpha squeezed through the gate, it collapsed.
"I'm empty." Kenji yelled.
"The vents." Brooklynn yelled, "they're our only shot." Darius shoved the radio back into Kenji's hands and ran to the vent, using his cattle prod to pry off the grate. Another Troodon was nearly through the gate.
"Go on, we'll hold em off." Sammy commanded. In the midst of everything, Kenji couldn't help but stare at her. In the dim light of Brooklynn's phone, he could see her Jaw was set, a look of determination on her normally smiling face. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with him, tazer rifle sights set on the Troodon that was just wiggling free of the gate. Time seemed in slow motion as he watched her shoulder absorb the recoil. How could she be so sweet and innocent one minute, and a battle hardened warrior the next. Kenji was so lost in the moment that he didn't even realized she was shouting something to him.
"Huh? What?" He asked, flushing a little with embarrassment.
"The night vision, pull the night vision off that thing, we're gonna need it." She repeated, nodding to his dart rifle.
"How does it come off?" he asked quickly.
"There'll be a quick detach lever at the base." She replied. Finding the lever, Kenji rotated it one hundred eighty degrees, allowing the PVS-14 to simply drop into his hands.
"Got it." He confirmed. The dim light they'd been relying on disappeared as Brooklynn crawled into the vent, followed by Darius.
"I think that's our cue." Sammy said, walking backwards towards the vent, tazer rifle still shouldered. Kenji looked through the device and gasped. The Troodon Sammy had nailed with the shock charge was already trying to get up, at the same time, two more were squeezing through the gate.
"Uh I don't think we've got the time to climb into the vent." He said, concern rising in his voice. "Sammy, shoot another charge."
"But I can't see." She argued.
"Just do it." He shouted, "NOW." Trusting his judgment, Sammy pulled the trigger. The charge slammed into one of the bars of the gate, sending it's twelve amp payload through the entire metal structure, temporarily stunning the two Troodons trying to get through.
"Great shot, now unless you feel like being an entre, we gotta go." Kenji said, grabbing Sammy by the hand and running with her past the vent and down the tunnel. After putting some distance between them, he chanced a look behind them. In the green light of the PVS-14, he could see the pack splitting, with three Troodons climbing into the vent that Brooklynn and Darius had taken, and two more closing on him and Sammy.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Sammy panted in the darkness as they cut down a tunnel to the left.
"None whatsoever." He answered honestly, only concerned with getting away from the venomous theropods chasing them.
"Alright Kenji, now what are you gonna do." He asked himself. He could hear Sammy panting behind him, if fact, he wasn't breathing the best himself, long distance running was not a strength either of them possessed. Looking back again, the troodons were closer now, the most infuriating part of it was that they weren't even running, they were simply trotting after them, letting them tire themselves out. Their tactic was working sickeningly well.
"Kenji." Sammy called breathlessly. "You need to let me go."
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.
"Kenji, I can't keep running, I'm slowing you down and they're catching up. You can still make it though." She said, defeat obvious in her voice.
"What? By just letting you die? You've got to be freaking kidding, we'll figure out a way." He argued.
"You have to, there's no choice, there is no other way." She cried desperately. Ahead, through the night vision, he could see the tunnel was coming up to a four way intersection and it gave him an idea.
"How many rounds you have left?" he asked.
"Two." She answered.
"Okay, when I let go of your hand, fire one at them. We don't need to stop them, just slow them down." He told her.
"Kenji, it's pitch black in here, I only know where you are because you've got my hand, how am I supposed to shoot at them if I don't even know where the are?" She worried.
"They're about sixty feet and closing, middle of the tunnel. Are you ready?" He asked.
"I guess so." She lied.
"NOW!" he yelled, dropping her hand. Sammy spun on a dime and raised the tazer rifle, firing at her best guess of where the dinosaurs were. The shock charge slammed into the ground a few feet before the Troodons, shorting itself out and letting off a blinding flash and crackle of electricity. In the flash, Sammy saw the predators screech and shake their heads, then turning back and running the way they'd came.
"Nice shot Sammy." He said, grabbing her hand and continuing to run. Kenji prayed that the distraction would buy him enough time for his plan to work, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the radio.
"Yaz, just keep talking." He called into the microphone.
"Um…… at………you……ean." Came her response a second later.
"JUST TALK" he shouted back as he and Sammy reached the intersection. Kenji slid the radio down the tunnel on the right as far and hard as he could.
"Thank you Yaz." He thought as he heard it crackle to life in the distance. Grabbing Sammy's hand again he led her down the left tunnel, taking the first right, then the next left. Finally he used the barrel of Sammy's tazer rifle to pry the grate off of a vent and boosted Sammy up to it. After handing the rifle and grate up to her, he pulled himself in and eased the grate back in place. Silently they crawled through the vent system until they were a good distance and several turns away from the tunnel they'd climbed in from.
"I think we lost them, lets rest here a bit." Kenji whispered, breathing heavily.
"Okay" she panted back.
"I know I asked you this before, but do you have any idea where we are?" Sammy asked, after catching their breath.
"Together, wherever we are, we're together." He whispered back, taking her hand. She was suddenly very glad it was dark , not wanting Kenji to catch her blushing.
"By the way." He started. "Don't you ever tell me to leave you behind again."
"I was just trying to….." she tried.
"I know what you were trying to do." He said, cutting her off. "I'm telling you to never do it again. I'm not leaving you, no matter the circumstances. If that means neither of us make it…..then we'll go out together." He promised solemnly.
"What's just happened?" is he?...does he?...is he trying to…nah, he's just being a friend, your reading too much into it Sammy….uh oh, he's waiting for you to say something back….say something smart, say something funny, say something heartfelt……for the love of God girl, say SOMETHING!." Her brain screamed.
"Man, running from dinosaurs really makes a girl sweat!" She blurted out.
"D'OH!"……
"Umm, okay then…., let's keep moving." Kenji replied, confusion obvious in his voice.
"You're going to die alone Sammy Gutierrez, no way around it." She thought, crawling after him, head hung in shame.
"Well that was random." Kenji thought as he quietly led Sammy through the maintenance tunnel's vent system. He'd kinda been hoping that she'd have been touched by his display of loyalty to her, after all she'd been his biggest supporter the whole time, the only one to truly belive in him, there was no way he'd ever leave her behind. But instead she started talking about sweat.
"Oh well, maybe she wasn't paying attention, maybe she didn't even hear me. That's it, she was probably lost in her own thoughts." He rationalized. Still, he kinda felt a little dejected.
"You got bigger things to worry about right now anyway. First and foremost, how your gonna get the two of you to the surface." He thought to himself.
"Okay Sammy, I've got to level with you." He said, stopping and sitting back against the vent wall. "I have no idea what we're doing right now, my plan ended when we lost the Troodons. Do you have any ideas?"
She sat up against the wall next to him.
"Not really, I mean, I've pretty much been blind since Brooklynn and Darius got into the vent." She laughed.
"Here." He said, offering her the night vision. "Do you wanna take it for a while?" Sammy was shocked.
"But how are you going to see where we're going without it?" She asked.
"I won't, I'll just follow you like you've been following me." He answered simply, as if it was no big deal.
"Wait, so you trust me enough to blindly follow me through a dino infested tunnel system?" she asked a bit skeptically.
"Well….yeah, I mean, isn't that what you've been doing with me?" he asked in response.
"I can't believe he trusts me like this." She thought, taken aback.
"Why is she acting like this is such a big deal? He wondered."
"Uhh, okay then, if you're sure you want me to take the lead." She said, somewhat nervously.
"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm fine with following you, and I can take back over anytime if you don't wanna lead anymore, it's no big deal." He explained.
"For a guy who was supposedly narcissistic, it's a very big deal." She thought.
Sammy held the monocular to her eye, darkness became daylight through the device, thanks to the built in infrared illuminator.
"Gotta love generation three pinnacle." She said.
"Gotta love what?" Kenji questioned.
"Nothin, just talking about the night vision." She laughed, forgetting he didn't know much about these kind of things. "Are you ready?"
"Lead the way, I've got your back." He answered.
Ben found it difficult to sleep that night. Between the Ankylosaur sighting and the thought that the others may still be there…that Yaz may still be there, he just couldn't shut his brain down. Before today he simply hadn't questioned the fact that they'd made it home, but now….he wasn't so convinced.
Even though he prayed he was wrong, the one thing he couldn't let go of was the fact that he'd switched the track. Did that track go to the dock too? If so then they probably made it. But if not….they could have ended up anywhere. The simple fact was that eventually he was going to have to find Jurassic World and search for evidence. If they were alive, that's where they'd be.
The thought of leaving his sanctuary was unsettling. He knew the place well, the strengths and weaknesses, safe places and vulnerable, most anything he could need, he could find somewhere In the building. But truth be told, he knew the Jurassic world complex would have everything the visitors center had and much much more.
Slowly his mind drifted to what it would be like to see them again. He knew they would be shocked and overjoyed to see him alive, they'd probably be fighting over who hugged him first. But what if there weren't five?….What if there was only four….or two….or…only remains? The thought weighed heavy on his heart. What if he came across what was left of one of them? What if he came across what was left of Yasmina?…… Ben suddenly realized his heart rate had increased substantially.
"Why do you keep doing this to yourself? They're most likely home with their families, safe and sound. If by some crazy turn of events they ended up here, they're probably fine. Darius knows dinosaurs, Yaz is pretty much superhuman, Brooklynn knows technology and how to pick locks, and Kenji….is with them….and he knows the park pretty well too I guess…..Ugh, I'm never going to get to sleep." He thought.
When Ben opened his eyes it was already light inside the control room.
"When the heck did I even fall asleep?" He thought. "Oh well, doesn't matter, I've got to check the grove." Excitement washed over him at the thought of investigating last night's sighting, it was the first clue he'd had to Bumpy's fate.
Ben pulled himself out of bed and slung his shotgun, heading for the control room door. As he exited, he briefly considered just going straight to the grove, ignoring his morning ritual of climbing to the lookout and scanning for predators.
"No…better to be patient and check it out, no sense getting careless now." He told himself. A bit reluctantly, he dragged himself up the ladder to the catwalk and looked out over the surrounding jungle. There was no sign of predators, only the Brachiosaurus herd in the distance.
Archie was gone, with only a couple of blue feathers marking the spot where he'd slept. Ben wasn't surprised, he'd assumed Archie would be off with the sunrise, foraging for food.
"His belly is never full." He chuckled to himself. "As much as he eats I'm surprised he can still fly."
Now confident it was safe, he hurried down the ladder and out the back of the visitors center, eager to begin his search. As soon as he'd entered the jungle he started finding evidence of large herbivore activity. Entire bushes were eaten all the way to the ground, trails were obvious, the occasional large pile of dino poo, and best of all, the tracks.
Ben recognized the tracks immediately, they were Ankylosaur. Best he could tell, it appeared to be a small herd, possibly a family group, maybe five animals at most. Stopping at a particularly fresh looking pile of poo, he pushed his finger into the dung.
"Don't over think it, it's just chewed up plants. Still warm, they can't be too far. Gah! I wish I had my hand sanitizer." He thought.
Wiping his finger on his shorts, he slowly spun three hundred sixty degrees, doing his best to take in the tracks, grazed vegetation, broken branches, and pushed over brush.
"How did this all play out?" he thought, trying to read the story that the land and the sign was showing him. The area in which Ben stood was pretty thoroughly destroyed. Most of the vegetation had at least been partially eaten, what hadn't been grazed was smashed and broken, tracks faced in every direction and there were several piles of dung. The entire area was maybe fifty yards by twenty yards.
"They've been feeding here." He concluded. "From the looks of their scat, for two days, maybe three."
Waking slowly through the feeding area, he could imagine the small herd lazily browsing and milling around here under the shade of the jungle canopy. At the end the area, he found a fairly well used trail. He noticed the brush was broken and pushed towards him, also almost every track he could see was facing towards him as well.
"This is where they've been coming in….Now where are they going?" He wondered.
Walking to the other end of the feeding area, he found his answer, another trail, just like the first only with all the sign leading away. Quietly and cautiously, he followed the trail deeper into the jungle. As he tracked the animals, a familiar squawk greeted him from the canopy.
"Archie, what ya doin up there? Huntin bugs?" He called up to the tiny dinosaur. Archie tilted his head and trilled, as if to say "And what are you doing down there? Trying to get eaten?"
"Crazy bird.. dinosaur..whatever." Ben chuckled to himself. Looking ahead, he could see the trail was leading to a clearing. Slowing down, he crept up to the tree line. He was nervous being so far from the visitors center, and going into a clearing just seemed like a bad idea, at least in the jungle there were trees to climb and cover to hide in.
"Pretty sure everything on this island runs faster than me." He grumbled under his breath.
The clearing wasn't enormous, but it wasn't tiny either, twenty, twenty five acres if he had to guess. Three large boulders jutted up from the middle of the clearing, but aside from that, it was empty.
"They must have crossed into the jungle on the other side. If I keep going I'll be in the Brachiosaurus herd before long." He thought.
A loud squawk from Archie broke him out of his thoughts.
"Archie, shhhh, your gonna blow my cover." He hissed.
Archie kept squawking louder, seeming more and more agitated.
"Archie, what's gotten into you?" He asked in frustration. "Your acting like……"
Ben's eyes widened as his brain connected the dots. Before he could react, the jungle to his left exploded as an adult male Ankylosaur crashed through the vegetation, bellowing in anger.
"Your not Bumpy." He managed to blurt out as he scrambled backwards, tripping over a root and landing flat on his back. The dinosaur spun on a dime, swinging its massive clubbed tail toward the threat. Ben flattened himself against the ground as the club whizzed over his face, missing his nose by no more than an inch. Trying again, the normally peaceful herbivore raised its tail in an attempt to swat Ben like a fly. Fortunately he rolled to the side just as the club slammed into the ground where he'd been a split second before, leaving a foot and a half deep dent in the jungle floor.
Scrambling to his feet, he turned and ran, pulling his shotgun around in front of him. As he ran, he glanced out at the clearing. The boulders weren't boulders at all, what had looked like stone, was in fact the armored backs of three more Ankylosaurs, one adult and two sub adults.
"He's just protecting his family, I can't shoot him for that." He thought, shoving the firearm back behind him. The bull Ankylosaur had spun around and was now chasing him down, it wasn't even close to a race. Knowing that continuing to run was futile, Ben leapt for the nearest tree, climbing like a madman. Before he was even fifteen feet off the ground, the bull slammed into the trunk, uprooting it as if it were a sapling. Back on the ground, pinned in place by the trunk across his left leg, Ben accepted his fate, as the alpha male moved in to neutralize what he viewed as a threat to his family group. Just as he turned his tail toward him, another smaller, but not by much, Ankylosaur slammed into the old bull's side.
"BUMPY!" Ben yelled, recognizing the newcomer immediately. The two dinosaurs circled each other, sizing each other up. The old bull roared in dominance, swinging his tail side to side in warning. Bumpy bellowed in anger, shaking her head and slamming her tail into the ground repeatedly, in her own threat display. Ben's heart was slamming in his chest like a jackhammer, not only was his life on the line, but he knew full well that Bumpy didn't stand much chance against the larger and much more heavily muscled dominant male. The bull knew it too, sending one last bellow toward Ben before deciding that neither he nor Bumpy were worth the trouble.
Bumpy let out a sorrowful moan as the male crossed the clearing and regrouped with the rest of his herd before leading them away. She knew she'd forever be labeled as a traitor to the group.
"Where are they?" Brooklynn shrieked.
"I don't know, they should've been right behind me." Darius answered in confusion.
"We've gotta go back for them." She pleaded, shining the phones light back at the opening to the tunnel.
"Wait, I hear them, they're coming." Darius reassured her.
A pair of glowing eyes appeared momentarily in the opening before falling back down.
"That's not them!, Brooklynn, GO!" he shouted.
"We can't leave them!" she protested.
"We can't help them if we're dead, now MOVE!" He yelled. His forceful tone snapped her out of her panic, as she turned and crawled as fast as she could, Darius right behind her. Only a short distance away, she came to another grate leading into an adjacent tunnel. Turning and kicking the grate out, she dropped into the new tunnel, Darius followed suit.
"They're in the vent." He reported. "We've gotta slow them down or we'll never make it."
"Yeah, but how?" she asked.
"Run, I'll catch up." He ordered.
"What? No way, I'm not leaving you." She snapped.
"I wasn't asking, Brooklynn, GO, NOW!" He tried again, more forcefully this time.
"NO!" She shot back, just as forcefully.
Darius gritted his teeth and accepted defeat, there was no changing Brooklynn's mind once she'd reached this level of determination.
Locking the button on his cattle prod, he pushed the weapon, electrodes first into the open vent, hoping the crackling electricity would keep the Troodons from trying to get around it.
"Okay, let's go, I don't know how long that'll keep them off us." He warned. The pair ran down the tunnels, the sound of their own footfalls and heavy breathing deafening in their ears. They took the first cross tunnel to the left, following it till they hit a gate. Then as they had before, they used the vent system to jump over to a different tunnel. They repeated the process several times before Darius decided they were likely safe to slow down.
"I can't believe we didn't come across a ladder to the surface in all of that." Darius said in disbelief.
"That's not our only problem." Brooklynn replied. "Battery is at seventeen percent, most phones won't let you use the flashlight below ten or fifteen percent."
"Great, so on top of being lost and trapped, we're about to be completely blind….Awesome." He said sarcastically.
"Seriously it's like Daedalus' Labyrinth in here, only instead of being chased by the half man half bull Minotaur, we're being chased by super intelligent venomous dinosaurs with night vision." She mused.
"How did you know that?" Darius asked, a little impressed.
"Brooklynn unboxes Greek mythology." She explained with a shrug. "That one was kinda fun."
"What do you think happened to Sammy and Kenji?" she asked quietly a moment later.
"Well, I hope they made it into another vent…or someplace else safe." He said solemnly. "I know your worried, I am too, but with as much as these tunnels echo, if the worst would have happened…We would have heard Sammy screaming." He explained.
Brooklynn knew he was trying to put her mind at ease, but all that comment did was fill her head with images of her friends being torn to pieces while screaming in pain, too far away for her and Darius to hear.
"Wherever they are, at least they're together." Brooklynn said sadly.
"That's true, you could say the same for us." Darius agreed. There's nobody else I'd rather be trapped with.
"Really? You wouldn't rather be with Yaz or Kenji or Sammy?" she asked skeptically.
"Don't get me wrong, I love all of you guys more than anything, but Sammy can get a little… overly upbeat at times, Yaz…well honestly she terrifies me a little, and given the choice between you and Kenji, I'd much rather smell sweaty cotton candy all day than Kenji's teenage guy stink." He confessed. Brooklynn laughed out loud.
"So, in other words, the minute I start to smell like a taco truck your gonna leave me for the carnivores?." She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well….yeah." Darius replied nonchalantly.
"Darius Bowman, how dare you!" she gasped in mock outrage.
"Eh, I wouldn't worry. If you smell that bad I doubt the carnivores would have much to do with you, probably think you've spoiled. Even they have standards ya know." He teased, doing his best to keep a straight face.
Her Jaw dropped, staring at him in disbelief for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Yes, got her laughing again." He smiled to himself.
Suddenly the phone beeped and the light turned off.
"Uh oh, that's it, battery is down to fifteen percent, too low for the flashlight." She said, nervousness robbing the laughter from her voice.
"It's okay Brooke, I'm right here." He said, taking her hand in his. "Hold my hand so we don't get separated."
A new type of nervousness creeped into her mind as her palms began to sweat.
"Ugh! Stupid stress sweats are ruining my life!" She thought self consciously.
"Wait. Darius do you see that? Is that a light up ahead or am I hallucinating?" She asked in confusion.
"No, your not hallucinating, I see it too, it's definitely a light. Come on, let's go!" He said, picking up his pace to a jog.
Moments later they reached the light source. It was a room, somewhat reminiscent of the ACU command center, with a large window to the tunnel and a card lock door, only this card lock was still glowing red. The interior of the room was dimly lit with a yellowish light. Darius could see control panels and monitors, all of which were without power. The lettering on the door read "S.W.C. STATION 5"
"Of course, this door has battery backup, but none of the gates do." Brooklynn commented as Darius used his key card to get them inside.
"Hey, is there enough battery left on your phone to see if you can find this place on the map?" He asked, heading for a door on the other side of the room.
"Hang on, let me try." She answered, pulling the dying phone from her pocket. After a few moments of tapping at the screen, she found what she was looking for.
"Storm Water Control Station #5, right here." She said triumphantly, pointing to the screen.
"Uh, Brooklynn? If this is Daedalus' Labyrinth, I think I just found the river Styx." He said, motioning for her to join him at the door.
The door led to a catwalk crossing a ten foot wide storm drain. Darius wasn't entirely sure of the purpose of the catwalk, as it dead ended against the wall on the other side.
"Probably for taking samples, testing flow rate, that kinda thing." He thought to himself.
Brooklynn could barely see the water, as the only light source was a dying battery powered emergency light above the exit, but she could hear it rushing and feel the wind it generated.
"Hop in." She teased. "According to mythology, taking a dip in the Styx makes you invulnerable."
"Yeah I'll pass." He laughed. "That waters gotta be moving at least twenty miles an hour, I'm a decent swimmer but….I'm pretty sure becoming invulnerable would be the last thing that would happen to me if I jumped in there."
"So where does this go?" She asked.
"Um, there's a schematic on the wall over there, let's find out." He suggested, closing the door.
"Looks like it empties into the river. If it were moving slower, we could find something to float on and ride it to the surface." Brooklynn explained a few moments later.
"Wouldn't that be nice." Darius mused. "Of course, this is Jurassic World so NOTHING is going to be that easy."
"Don't worry Darius." She said softly, sensing his frustration. "You'll get us out of here, I trust you.
"If only I had as much confidence in myself as you have in me." He thought to himself.
"Thanks Brooke, and speaking of trust, when I tell you to run, I really need you to run…okay?" He said, attempting to address her earlier defiance.
"What, you mean back at the vent? When you told me to run and leave you behind?...Yeah that wasn't going to happen." She said stubbornly.
"Brooke, you could've gotten a head start." He sighed. "I told you I'd catch up, but in case it didn't work….at least you'd have had a fighting chance." He explained.
"And you would've been dead." She countered dryly.
"Yes, but you wouldn't have been. Listen, if something happened to you, I wouldn't………" He tried.
"And how do you think I feel?" She snapped, cutting him off. "Darius, I'd rather die by your side than do this alone, can't you see that?" She cried, her voice beginning to crack.
Sensing he'd hit a nerve, Darius pulled her into a reassuring hug.
"You're not going to do this alone. We're going to get through this together okay?" He comforted her.
Brooklynn sighed, squeezing Darius tighter as she attempted to fight down her anxiety.
"It's gonna be okay, don't wo….." Darius stopped mid sentence. Behind Brooklynn, on the other side of the window to the tunnel, three sets of glowing eyes watched them.
"What's going on?" Brooklynn asked in alarm, immediately picking up that something was wrong.
Darius didn't answer, he just stared behind her, frozen. She pulled herself out of his arms and spun, coming face to face with the same eyes that Darius was staring at.
"How did they find us?" She whispered.
"Must have followed our scent." Darius guessed.
"Can they get in here?" She asked, a little more solemnly.
"No, I don't think so, not as long as the battery in the card lock holds out." He replied.
BOOM..a Troodon jumped against the window, shaking the entire room.
"Uhh, Darius?" She asked in concern.
BOOM
"I wasn't counting on this." He admitted, taking a few steps back.
BOOM
This time a crack formed in the glass.
"Darius?" Brooklynn asked again, clutching his upper arm and pulling him further from the window.
BOOM
The glass spider webbed.
"It's gonna come through the glass!" She cried out.
With no other options, Darius turned and fled through the door to the catwalk, pulling Brooklynn with him.
CRASH
The window shattered and glass exploded into the room as Brooklynn slammed the door behind her. The pair stood side by side on the catwalk, staring down into the raging waters below. In the dim light Darius could see a tear rolling down Brooklynn's cheek.
"I….I'm not a great swimmer." She confessed without looking up.
"That's okay Brooke, I'll hold on to you, help you." He said in a calming voice.
BOOM….the Troodons were now ramming the door.
"But you said.. " She started
"Forget what I said." He snapped cutting her off. "We're gonna make it, we always do, but we can't stay here." He pleaded, climbing over the railing, coaxing her to do the same.
BOOM
"Darius…I'm scared." She admitted weakly, reluctantly climbing over the rail to join him.
"That's okay, I am too, but we're doing this together." He reminded her.
"Be..before we do this, I have to tell you something." She started. "Just in case this goes……in case I don't…."
"Save it for when we're safe." He interrupted.
BOOM….wood splintered as the door swung open.
"HOLD ON TO ME." Darius shouted, hooking an arm around Brooklynn's waist and pushing off the railing. She was ripped from his arms the moment they hit the water.
He tumbled and rolled beneath the surface, bouncing several times off the smooth bottom. Finally his head broke the surface.
"WHERE ARE YOU?" He shouted in a panic, praying she was okay.
"DARIU…" She tried to scream as she was pulled under again. It was pitch black, she was completely disoriented, and she was out of air. Just as she thought her lungs couldn't take it anymore, her head popped out of the water. Gulping air, she cried out for her friend again. The constant roar of the rushing water was her only reply.
Darius groped blindly in the water, desperately feeling for any sign of Brooklynn.
"It's my fault, it's my fault, I didn't hold her tight enough, she told me she wasn't a good swimmer, told me she was scared. I told her it would be ok, she trusted me…..I let her go…." He lamented in his mind.
Colors flashed as the current drove his head into the side of the concrete tunnel. Darius went limp.
"If I don't shake it off and swim, it's over" He thought as his body drifted along with the current. "Why bother, Brooklynn is dead because of me, how am I supposed to live with that. I should just let go, we'll go out side by side just like she said." Suddenly he felt a burning pain in his scalp, his head bursting through the surface.
"DARIUS!" Brooklynn sobbed, her fist wrapped tightly in Darius' curly hair.
"Brooklynn?...Your ALIVE!" He cried, throwing his arms around her, thankful that the water hid his tears. "I'm so sorry, I lost my grip, I'm so so sorry."
"Don't be dumb, it wasn't your fault." She assured him.
The relentless current continued to batter the pair, driving them against wall after wall, pulling them under till they nearly drowned, doing its best to separate them, yet their hold on each other never failed.
"I think it's getting faster." Brooklynn shouted over the increasing roar of the water.
"It is, I think we're getting close to the river." He shouted back.
Moments later the couple were slammed into an iron grate at the mouth of the tunnel. They were pinned face to face, Brooklynn's back against the iron, unable to move against the force of the water. Just beyond the grate, the full moon lit up the river, in what almost seemed like daylight compared to the darkness of the tunnel. Brooklynn tried to draw a breath but couldn't, the rushing water was pushing Darius' body against her with so much force that it was nearly impossible to expand her lungs, worst of all Darius didn't know she couldn't breath. In desperation she slapped his back repeatedly, trying to convey her situation. He looked at her in confusion as she struggled, before finally catching on to what was happening. With all of his strength, he locked his knees and arms against the iron grate, pushing himself backwards into the torrent, relieving the pressure from Brooklynn's chest.
The girl gasped for breath, sucking in oxygen greedily.
"What do we do?" she panicked.
Before he could respond, a weight like a semi truck slammed into him from behind, buckling his arms and legs, and crushing him against Brooklynn once again, only now with more than twice the pressure. Darius was powerless, he tried again to push himself off of her but it was no use, Rexy might as well have been standing on his back.
The only sound Brooklynn was able to make was a pathetic squeak as the overwhelming force crushed her into the metal. There was no relief, it was only getting stronger, inhaling was no longer an option as she felt her chest flexing inward. A lightning bolt of pain shot through her as the first of her ribs cracked, in that moment, she knew it was over.
"This is it…" She thought as the enormous pressure squeezed the last of the air from her lungs. "It won't be long now."
"Good morning to you, good morning to you." Yasmina's dad sang to the tune of happy birthday. Sleepily, she opened her eyes and smiled up at him from her crib.
"Good morning Yazzy, did you sleep good?" He asked sweetly, reaching in and picking her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he gently swayed back and fourth with her.
"Do you wanna go to the park with daddy? Come on, let's get you a diaper and get you dressed." He said.
Yazzy nuzzled into her dad's neck, closing her eyes contently. At that moment her mother walked in, wrapping her arms around her dad from behind and kissing his neck.
"Mmm good morning baby." She said, her smile fading slightly when she saw Yasmina. "What are you getting ready to do?"
"I'm getting Yazzy ready to go to the park, you should come with." He suggested.
"Oh..no, I'll sit this one out. You and I can just do something later, drop her at the sitter.
His shoulders slumped a bit.
"Yeah….sure…sounds good." He said, with a hint of sadness. Just then an electronic tone rang out from downstairs, causing them to lock eyes.
"Here, Yazzy needs a diaper, can you change her for me? I've gotta check this." He asked, handing the baby to her mother and disappearing down the stairs.
"Yeah, not gonna happen." She muttered, laying Yasmina back in her crib. A moment later her dad reappeared at the top of the stairs, keys in hand.
"What is it?" she asked, knowing it was a bad call from the look on his face.
"An airliner just hit the World Trade Center….all those people…all that jet fuel.." He said in disbelief.
"Mark please, not this call, not this time.. this one….feels different." She pleaded.
"I have to, They're counting on me, there's people trapped, burning, dying..we've gotta get them out." He explained.
"There's how many firefighters in New York? They aren't going to miss one. I need you here, Yasmina needs you, God knows I can't take care of her…I just can't." She cried.
"Samira." Mark said sternly. "What happened to you was awful, but it wasn't her fault, she had nothing to do with it, you can't keep holding it against her, she's your daughter for crying out loud."
"Don't you think I know that? Do you think I want to feel like this? If I'd have known that I'd feel like this…I wouldn't have had her….I only did because you wanted her anyway…I never did." She snapped.
Mark sighed, kissing her on the cheek.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." He promised
He leaned into the crib and kissed Yazzy's forehead.
"Daddy loves you baby, I'll be back soon" he told her. Before giving Samira one last kiss and disappearing down the stairs.
Yasmina's eyes shot open bringing a moment of panic as she tried to remember where she was and how she'd gotten there.
"I hate that dream." She grumbled to herself.
The stairwell was hot, judging by the heat and light, Yasmina guessed it was mid day….but what day?
"How long have I been here?" She thought. The dried out puddle of vomit next to her indicated that she'd been there for at least a day, maybe more, no way it would be that dried out and crusty if it had only come up the night before, even with as hot as it was in there. Painfully, she sat up and rubbed her temples. Her head was pounding and it hurt to move her neck, but thankfully her fingers and toes all seemed to work fine.
"Three flights." She thought, looking up. "I fell down three flights of stairs."
"Stupid." She mumbled to herself, shaking her head.
" I couldn't even get down the stairs, how the heck did I think I was going to make it all the way to ACU command. I'd have been picked off before I got within five hundred yards of the innovation center, if I even survived making it out of the hotel." She thought.
As she leaned forward, in an attempt to stand, she felt a familiar but annoying sensation.
"Great, just what I need, it's early…I think." She thought, noticing the stain on her shorts.
Slowly, she got to her feet and descended the few steps to the fourth floor landing. The dizziness was still somewhat there, but nowhere near like it was. Pushing the door to the fourth floor open, she stepped into the hallway, looking for the closest women's restroom, hoping she may find feminine supplies.
To her surprise, none of the room doors card locks had their red lights on. Out of curiosity she tried the door to one of the rooms, it opened easily. She stepped inside and headed for the bathroom. After using the facilities, she cleaned herself up the best she could and searched the cabinets for supplies. All she found were toothbrush, tooth paste, floss, some mouthwash, soap, towels, etc. Nothing that she immediately needed, though brushing her teeth would have been tempting had she been able to get past the idea of using someone else's toothbrush.
Frustrated, she left the bathroom and headed for the master bedroom.
"When I travel for meets, I keep my stuff in my luggage, so maybe…." She thought, opening the bedroom door. Immediately she spotted a feminine looking suitcase by the bed, tossing it up onto the mattress, she opened it and started digging. In a zippered mesh pocket in the lid, she found what she was looking for, along with a toothbrush, still in the box.
"Yes! It's been way too long." She thought, clutching the toothbrush.
Continuing to pick through the contents on the suitcase, she held up a pair of denim shorts.
"Huh, even my size." She thought, looking down at her own, blood stained and ripped shorts. Suddenly she noticed a container of pills tucked into the mesh as well.
"Ibuprofen! God yes!" she exclaimed, grabbing the medicine, the shorts, a clean pair of underwear, and the box of feminine products. A few moments later, Yaz stepped out of the bathroom with her new denim shorts, her purple tank top actually went fairly well with her new article of clothing, at least she thought it did….fashion wasn't exactly her strong point.
The athlete made her way into the kitchen, checking the refrigerator for anything she could eat. The smell when she opened the door, changed her mind, though she did salvage an unopened two liter of Pepsi.
Taking a long drink of the soda, she stepped out on the balcony, staring towards the innovation center. She could see pterosaurs swarming the area like vultures over a decomposing cow. And then she realized, that's exactly what they were doing, feeding on the rotting bodies of the park goers who didn't make it. She worried that her friends were some of those being devoured, knowing just how close she came to being one herself.
Taking her Pepsi with her, Yasmina retreated back to the bedroom, it was cooler in there, maybe sixty eight or seventy degrees while the rest of the hotel room was probably in the eighties.
Kicking her shoes and socks off, she climbed onto the bed and waited for the pain killers to kick in. After spending an untold amount of time unconscious in the middle of a flight of stairs, the memory foam mattress and feather down pillow felt like heaven. Near a half hour later, Yaz could literally feel the Ibuprofen take effect. It was the first bit of pain relief she'd had since she injured her ankle escaping the Mosasaur.
She took a deep breath as the pain melted, allowing her body more relaxation than she'd had in a while. As she relaxed into the mattress, guilt began to overwhelm her.
Here she lay, doing nothing to help her friends, who were lost and trapped, possibly dying, possibly already dead. But this time it was different, she had tried, as foolish as it was, she had tried. Her injuries were simply too severe, she wanted to help with all her heart but she just physically couldn't. She was finally beginning to accept that some situations were simply beyond her control.
Her mind slipped back to the dream she had after she fell from the trestle. She remembered how she heard everyone praying for her, she never asked if that had actually happened. She knew that when Sammy felt anxious about something she had no control over, she would pray.
Yaz didn't believe in a God, but she did know that at least Sammy would want someone to pray for her, Darius too maybe, she really didn't know what he believed. After all, if the others really did pray for her like in her dream, then that meant Kenji and Brooklynn had prayed, and she was pretty sure they didn't believe.
"Oh well, I guess it can't really hurt anything." She decided.
"Alright, how do I do this?" She asked herself, climbing off of the bed and moving down to kneel at the foot of the bed like she'd seen in television shows.
Folding her hands in front of her, she closed her eyes and bowed her head.
"Um God…if you exist, could you please get my friends out of the tunnels and bring them back here safely…for them I mean? I already know I'm not exactly your favorite person, but the others…the others are good people. They don't deserve to die down there….and God…if your real, and souls are real, which I'm not admitting to by the way, but just in case they are…could you watch over Ben's soul. He was a really good person….He deserved better. If you would do those things….I promise I'll try to be a better person, maybe try to be……nicer. Uh I guess that's it….sooo amen I guess.
When she had finished, Yaz climbed back onto the bed. Part of her felt like she had actually accomplished something, while another part of her felt like an idiot.
"Doesn't matter, Sammy and Darius probably would have appreciated it, and it's not like anyone saw or heard me." She rationalized.
Completely out of ideas, Yaz lay back, sinking into the pillow, staring at the ceiling.
"Well, I guess the only thing left for me to do…..is wait."