The Nublar Six: Before they knew
Welcome back fellow campers! Today our adventure continues, so hold tight and enjoy!
The campers advanced, but not fast enough. The Indominus Rex slowed them down, and now, someone's survival is unsure…
Chapter 06: Cornered again
Yasmina was slowly walking through the school gates onto the playground. She looked around and saw some of her classmates. All avoided eye contact.
She then passed by a group of girls, also from her class. Yaz looked up at them for a moment. All the girls gathered in a circle and on purpose talked loudly about her.
"Oh right, she still exists."
"Didn't even notice her absence. Was it the whole week already?"
"Just running, pfuh, how boring!"
"And so anti-social!"
Yasmina sighed and went on. She approached a bench. Someone else, a boy, was sitting there. When Yasmina sat down and wanted to look at him, he already disappeared.
"Why are they like that? Why are people so mean? Ugh… You'll never understand Yaz. People…"
A group of boys passed behind her and noticed Yasmina talking to herself.
"Oooh, it's the athletic weirdo again!"
"Talking to the voices in her head haha!"
"What a lame lone loser haha!" And they just continued as if nothing happened.
Yasmina sighed deeply, but wasn't crying. She was used to it after so long. Her sigh was mostly of annoyance.
She waited for the bell. But she arrived early, so it could still take some minutes.
In the meantime, while waiting, Yasmina noticed a person approaching her bench. She didn't pay attention to it. But that person came closer and ultimately sat down next to her. Yasmina suddenly felt a weird mix of anger and sadness. She widened her eyes.
"Yaz! I'm so happy to see you!" A familiar voice said.
Yasmina turned her head, and saw Sammy, smiling as always.
"S-Sammy?"
"Yaz, are you okay?" Sammy asked worryingly.
Yasmina exhaled deeply and looked away. "Sammy… I'm, sorry."
"Sorry for what?" Sammy felt preoccupied by her friend's behaviour.
"For, letting you die… I'm sorry… I could've saved you, if I was there faster. I let my only friend die… The one I treated so badly, the one I didn't know was my friend… I'm not worthy…"
Sammy frowned sadly. She put her hand on Yasmina's shoulder, trying to console her. Tears rolled over Yaz's cheeks.
"Aww, Yaz… Don't be sad like that."
"I let you die Sammy! How can't I be sad?"
Sammy smiled. "Yaz. Open your eyes. Just open them, and I'll be there."
"Cough cough! Ehem, ugh!"
Yasmina opened her eyes. The rest looked up too.
"S-sammy? Sammy!" Yasmina shouted.
Everyone gathered around the two. Yasmina held her friend up a bit as she continued coughing water.
"Sammy! You didn't—" Yasmina stopped speaking and hugged her friend. "I was so scared, that you, that you—"
"I'm back now," Sammy softly replied.
The rest looked in relief. Kenji put his arm on Darius' shoulder. But Sammy's return got suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion. Yasmina released from the hug and looked around.
"You heard that too?"
"It was an explosion, coming from… that way!" Brooklyn told.
The campers ran towards it through the jungle. Yasmina put Sammy's arm around her and helped her stand up.
"Let me help you!"
"Eh Yaz, that's kind, but I can walk."
"Oh, well then… I'll just, stay by your side, if you get tired…"
Sammy smiled, and the two caught up with the rest. They stopped on the side of a cliff with a magnificent view of the nature. Against a mountain was a big glass dome.
"The explosion must've come from there!" Brooklyn added.
"An aviary?" Darius asked himself. He looked and saw a hole in the dome.
Flying reptiles started to appear and spread across the sky, followed by a loud roar.
"It, survived?" Darius questioned.
"That was the Indominus, right?!" Ben said panicking again.
"Ahh, relax. Look how far away it is. It won't hurt us any more!" Kenji replied.
"But according to the map, that direction is the fastest way to reach the docks. And with the limited time, I think it's best we take the fastest way, right?" Brooklyn explained. Kenji looked away.
"Yeah, how much time do we have left?" Darius asked.
"Approximately three hours I guess…" Ben said. Darius sighed.
"We, don't really have the choice, do we?"
"No way I'm going back in that scary jungle! Too, many, close, calls! Argh!" Ben complained.
"Ben's right. I don't wanna get eaten!" Sammy added.
"Yeah and she's too weak to run right now!" Yasmina added too.
"Do you want to wait for them to come find us? It won't happen! Everyone will have left the island for good! Why would they want to come back? This place is doomed!" Darius replied.
Everyone got silent for a moment. A little breeze appeared as the sun started to lower. It was probably in the later afternoon.
Bumpy fell asleep on Ben's feet. Tango was hunting down a big dragonfly in some nearby bushes.
Kenji was thinking again. He sighed and stood up. The rest looked at him. It looked like he was about to give an inspiring speech.
"Ehh, don't expect me to say anything meaningful. Just, gonna, take a leak…" Kenji slowly walked past the rest.
"Not really said anything meaningful since we met him…" Brooklyn mumbled dryly.
As he found the adequate tree for his needs, Kenji kept an eye on the environment. When done, he noticed a rock with an X marked on it, surrounded by some bushes.
What is this weird thing? He thought while inspecting the stone from all his sides. On one side he found a lever, and pulled it. The rock moved and revealed a ladder going down. Kenji looked up at the rest.
"Even if we didn't get eaten by the Indominus, the docks are still too far away…" Brooklyn noticed.
Darius took the map and observed it. He pointed to a specific place.
"If we go past the aviary, not far away should be a monorail station that will bring us to the docks on time. It's our last chance…"
"And how safe will that be? Not safe, at all!" Ben snapped back. Bumpy woke up and complained with a moan.
"Eh guys, you should come and look at this!" Kenji announced, returning.
The campers got up and followed him. All looked surprised at seeing the rock 'hatch' and the ladder.
"Looks like an underground tunnel complex…" Brooklyn mumbled.
"We could use it to reach the monorail station, in safety!" Kenji proposed. Ben and Darius looked at him.
"That dark place looks as scary as the jungle!" Ben complained.
"And we don't even know the right direction to take. It's probably a maze down there!" Yasmina added.
All looked at Darius. He sighed. "We must try it. It's a great chance to reach the docks. And I personally don't think there are dinos down there… It's, probably our best shot…"
Kenji crossed his arms. Ben sighed. After, the group got down the ladder, into the tunnels.
It was colder down there, and only a couple of red lights were lighting up the place. Kenji approached a wall with some indications on it.
"Sector, 13!"
"And what can we use that for?" Ben asked.
Darius and Kenji gathered around the map to search for sector 13.
"There's sector 11 to the other side here!" Brooklyn said from the other side of the T-junction.
"I found it!" Darius pointed at the map. "All the buildings shown on this map have a number under their logo. It corresponds with the sector they're in."
"The monorail station is located in sector 13! We must go that way then!" Kenji explained.
Everyone gathered again and started walking through all the hallways indicating sector 13.
In one tunnel, a red light was flickering. Brooklyn was walking a bit behind the group. She looked on her side and noticed several crates that caught her attention. She approached them.
Classified files and samples, authorized personnel only. Hmm… Brooklyn thought, seeing written on the outside of the crates. She opened on up and saw documents and cylinder glass containers.
E750, what could this all be? Brooklyn read on a sheet of paper. She took one glass container and noticed a bunch of thorns in them.
As she wanted to open it to touch them… "Brooklyn! You coming! Better stay together for the moment, Darius told her from a distance.
"Y-yes, I'm coming!" Brooklyn put the object back and caught up with the rest.
After some more walking, Ben was panting and sat down. Bumpy sat next to him. Tango got back to Sammy for attention.
"Is it, still, far away?" He asked.
"We've been walking for quite some time now. Maybe we should go back up," Brooklyn proposed, pointing at a ladder right next to the group.
The six climbed up the ladders. Darius first, he pushed the rock and stepped out of the tunnels. He was in a dense jungle, with large trees hiding the sky, and high rocks surrounding the place.
"Again just jungle…" Ben noticed.
"We should explore a bit to see where we are. It's soon gonna be dark. Let's go that way!" Darius ordered.
The campers walked across the jungle, trying to find an open space or building for orientation. Kenji was looking on the map.
"So like, we've been walking for half an hour underground, which should make us very close to that station…"
"Oh please don't talk about time!" Ben replied.
"What time is it How long have we even walked?" Sammy asked the rest.
"Feels like an eternity…" Yasmina reacted.
"Probably later afternoon. The sky isn't too bright any more," Brooklyn added.
The walk continued for a moment, until Darius pushed some leaves out of his way.
"Ehh, guys?"
"What's up?" Brooklyn asked. All gathered next to Darius. He pointed straight forward, then up, and around them. Everywhere, was glass.
"We've been walking in the aviary…" He whispered. "This isn't safe, we must go back now…"
As they wanted to turn around, the group heard noises coming closer. They looked up and saw several pteranodons and dimorphodons flying towards them.
"RUN!"
The flying reptiles screamed and approached the teens. One pteranodon dove under the trees and tried to attack the group.
"Behind us! Lay down!" Darius shouted.
Just on time, everyone glided on the grass, dodging the pteranodon's attack. It flew back up and the group resumed the running.
"Ughh! Where was that hatch again!" Yasmina complained.
"It gotta be around some rocks! There!" Kenji shouted, and pointed to his right. The group ran towards it.
Almost, almost… Aoush! Darius ran behind the rest, but stumbled over a small rock. Just in front of him, a dimorphodon landed and growled at him.
"Aaah!" Darius tried to crawl away, but wasn't fast enough.
The reptile roared again and was about to jump, but just before he wanted to bite Darius' face…
"Take that!" He heard. Ben stood behind him and had hit the reptile with a stick. It flew off.
"Ben!" Darius said happily. He stood up.
"No time to—"
Another pteranodon landed in front of the two. Ben looked at his stick and gulped. The reptile approached them slowly.
It tried to bite the boys with its beak several times, until Bumpy arrived and moaned loudly at the beast.
"Bumpy!" Ben shouted, mostly worried.
The two animals continued to exchange screams. The boys didn't move until…
"Hey big bird! Look over here!" Kenji shouted, and he and the other campers started throwing rocks at it.
The pteranodon panicked and started spreading its wings to fly off. But as Ben tried to grab Bumpy, one wing hit him away.
"Ben!" Darius yelled, running towards him.
"I'm okay, cough!" Ben said. Darius grabbed his arm to pull him up.
"Aoooush! It did hit my arm!"
"I'm sorry! But let us move now!" Darius took Ben's other arm and pulled him up.
"He's flying away! Haha!" Kenji celebrated.
"Good idea wasn't it, hmm?" Brooklyn replied.
"Let's leave before others arrive!" Yasmina told the rest.
The campers successfully climbed down the ladder, back in the dark tunnels. Darius took a look at the map.
"The aviary is just 3 kilometres away from the monorail station. We must continue that way," he explained, pointing at the hall in front of him.
"What are we waiting for? Let's hurry!" Yasmina replied fast. Sammy coughed behind her, making Yaz turn around quickly with a worried look.
"Oh, eh, maybe a one-minute break?"
The campers resumed their searching adventure across the tunnel system. This time more in a hurry, but without knowing how much time passed, they again stopped at a ladder, leading them to the surface.
Darius peaked his head out of the hatch and looked around.
"Do you see anything?" Sammy whispered from underneath.
Darius tilted his head, and through some jungle grass noticed something. He stretched his neck a bit to look better.
"The monorail track!" He said out of excitement.
As everyone got back on the surface, they ran towards the pillar they noticed.
"There! I see the station!" Kenji pointed behind him.
The group excitedly started following the track and arrived at their destination. The station was build on a concrete rectangle with a stairway going to the track's height.
"We're gonna get out alive!" Sammy celebrated while running up the stairs.
Kenji approached the screen with the times the monorail shuttles arrive. It was offline.
"How do I open you again…" Kenji mumbled. He pressed some buttons on the side, first calmly, but he became more and more impatient.
"Come on! I used you so often to flee from dad!"
Everyone raised an eyebrow at him. Kenji looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Eh, hehe! I… Just ignore that… The nerves!"
He proceeded to give it a punch, which would have worked, but instead he just ached his hand.
"Aouuwhh!" Kenji said of the pain.
Shame I couldn't take a picture of that face… Almost feel bad for him. Brooklyn thought. She approached the screen too.
"Eh, I do appreciate help, but I'm kinda a professional with this stuff, so maybe you should let—"
"Done!" Brooklyn said smiling at the screen. She turned to her friend. "Think about pressing the 'on' button next time!"
The next shuttle was in five minutes. All sat on the ground and just waited.
"191, 192, 193…"
"Kenji, what are you— Just what?" Brooklyn asked, sitting next to him.
"I'm counting how many seconds we've waited! Normally the shuttles arrive an average four seconds earlier."
"And that's important, why?"
Kenji continued counting. It was already quite dark outside. Brooklyn then noticed a light in the distance.
"Hah, looks like this shuttle is more than four seconds in advance!" She said.
"We're saved, finally!" Sammy said and hugged Yasmina.
"Not, yet, Sam!" Yasmina replied.
But as the monorail approached, the campers heard a loud footstep.
Oh, no… Brooklyn thought.
Not again! Kenji also thought. They looked at each other.
The footsteps were followed by leaves and wood getting pushed away or crushed. The group crouched behind the security fences. Darius then peaked over it.
"It's the Indominus!" He whispered.
"The monorail will turn his attention to us!" Ben replied softly.
"We should just get in and hope it's fast enough," Yasmina proposed.
The Indominus was sniffling around the place. It looked over at the monorail station, making Darius quickly hide.
It didn't see me, it didn't see me. Please say it didn't see me! Darius thought, immobilizing himself.
The shuttle arrived, and the doors opened automatically.
"We get in quietly now!" Yasmina ordered.
"Station 13, the aviary! Have a nice time seeing our flying miracles!" The voice-over mentioned.
The Indominus looked over and roared loudly.
"Change in plans, get in quickly!" Yasmina shouted.
Everyone entered. The Indominus growled and hit the stairs, breaking a part of it.
"Come on doors, close! Close, close, close!" Sammy said jumping.
"Next stop, the docks!" The voice-over added, and the gates closed.
The monorail started driving. The Indominus noticed and bumped its head against a track pillar, but didn't break it. The beast tried to pursue the shuttle, but wasn't fast enough and slowly lost ground, until it disappeared completely.
All the campers, sitting or standing, looked at each other after breathing intensively. All burst in laughter and relaxed a bit.
"We've done it! We're officially on our way home! I can't believe it!" Darius exclaimed.
"Can't wait to see my mom back!"
"And my dad and siblings!"
Everyone was happy, but Kenji turned around and looked outside. He touched the window. Home… And, dad… Sigh.
"And what are you gonna do first when arriving home, Kenji?"
Kenji quickly turned around. "I'm sorry, what was your question?"
"A thought crossed your mind? We really had an effect on him!" Brooklyn joked. Everyone laughed.
Kenji sat down. "I don't know… I might, tell my dad what happened. If he's home, if he doesn't know already…"
A moment of silence took place. Brooklyn raised an eyebrow at Kenji's answer.
"Ehm, we should also exchange numbers to keep in touch!" Sammy proposed.
Yasmina looked at her and smiled. "Of course! This was really, a unique adventure!"
"Yaz getting emotional, that's also new!" Brooklyn replied.
"And you're not harassing people with your phone any more, good progress!" The girls laughed.
"But won't you be happy to see your audience back?" Sammy asked.
Brooklyn tilted her head to Kenji, but he didn't look back. She looked down for a moment.
"Y-yeah, but my audience never left me, you and Yaz are here!"
"Wait, you too!" Sammy said to Yasmina.
"Okay! Yeah…" Yasmina replied. Everyone laughed.
"Camp fam for life!" Sammy yelled.
"What did you call us?" Ben asked.
"Camp fam! I had it on my mind for a long time, but didn't know when to say it."
"Oh well, camp fam!" Ben added.
Everyone gathered for a group hug, but after some moments, the shuttle's lights died and the monorail abruptly stopped, making everyone fall on the ground.
"What the hell?" Kenji said, rubbing the back of his head. Brooklyn had fallen on him, he looked up at her.
"Uh, could y—"
Before everyone could stand up, they heard loud footsteps again. Brooklyn and Kenji looked at each other in fear again.
"No one moves! We're in the dark, it can't—" Darius whispered.
Sammy pointed in silence behind him. Darius carefully looked over his shoulder, and saw the Indominus looking inside the shuttle. It didn't do anything, just released some soft growls.
Tango noticed the predator outside, and growled at her through the glass.
"No, Tango, don't!" Sammy whispered.
But Tango growled louder. The Indominus noticed and roared back, making everyone cover their ears. Then it bumped against the shuttle.
"It noticed us!" Ben yelled. Everyone finally stood up.
"We must exit this shuttle, or it'll push us off!" Darius ordered. He looked up at the emergency hatch, but it was closed.
"How do we unlock it?! Kenji open it!" Brooklyn asked in panic, shaking him.
"Hey I don't know how to! I never had to use it!"
The carnivore continued pushing the monorail, and it started to get off the track.
"We're gonna fall!" Yasmina shared.
"Hold on tight then!" Darius shouted as he looked at the jungle under him.
The shuttle continued to glide off the tracks, and after one final blow, the Indominus managed to push off the monorail with everyone inside.
And this is where it ends… Yasmina thought…
Like Yaz said, this is where the chapter ends. Will the group make it out alive?
I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and I'll see you next time!