Author's Note: I only own April, Juniper and Sim in this story. Please read and review. I hope you like it! Special thanks to Crocodilesmile55 for the idea that I implented into this chapter.
Chapter Four: Old and New Friends
The jungle night air was silent save for one thing which limped its way through the trees in the direction it supposed home to be. In reality, April was lost and scared. Her earlier encounter with the giganotosaurus had left her wounded and far from the bungalow. She moved slowly keeping one hand firmly pressed to her stomach where she had been pierced by a large piece glass. She had removed the shard from her midriff earlier and had wrapped the wound in a strip of cloth torn from her shirt.
Every few minutes she needed to stop as her still mending leg demanded it.
Soon, the last of her energy was spent and she collapsed under a tree. She closed her eyes and opened them to find herself standing in the bungalow staring outside at a giganotosaurus. It roared and charge the small structure destroying most of it in a single hit. April flung herself to one side and screamed in pain. She had landed awkwardly on her left side and jostled her still weak leg at little to hard. She shot to her feet and saw that the front door had been blocked by debris so she took the next best option. She hurled herself through the window.
Glass shards flew all around her and she grimaced as a few grazed her, but screamed when she landed. Sticking out of her midriff was a large piece of glass. With no time to worry about it she surged to her feet and limped as quickly as possible to the ATVs. She drove into the trees followed a few moments later by the super predator. Around trees she steered and deeper into the jungle she went even as the foliage began to swim in and out of focus.
She narrowly avoided the next tree before passing out and sliding sideways off the small motorized vehicle. When she woke, she knew that only a few minutes had passed and sat up. A sharp pain from her stomach reminded her that she still had glass embedded in her body. She reached down and grip the shard tightly before yanking it out with a cry of pain. Then she woke up, her heart racing as though she had just run a race. With groan she sat up and looked around. The first rays of morning sunshine were beginning to appear and the golden glow gave the jungle an almost magical feeling.
Slowly, she stood up and nearly passed out. She collapsed against a tree for a moment before straightening up to look around. She had no idea where she was, but she had a general idea of the direction she needed to go.
After a few hours of walking, she stopped, listening hard. She was certain she had heard something following her. A small growl floated out of some bushes behind and to the left of her. She slowly turned to the bushes as a family face appeared out of the foliage in question.
"Blue?" she said tentatively as the raptor stepped fully into the clearing.
Blue cocked her head to one side, staring at the human before her. April for her part raised her right hand, red with blood, in the fashion she had seen her father do so. Blue chirped and slowly moved forward. She lowered her snout into April's hand and purred, nuzzling the human hand as she did. April almost laughed at the gesture, but settled instead for a tired smile. Blue ducked under her arm and slipped under the other seeming to sense April's need for support.
"It's good to see you, old friend." April said as she began to walk.
Blue chirped back and looked in another direction.
"You want me to go that way?" April wasn't if the raptor would understand but Blue seemed to nod, "Okay, that way."
After this manner they traveled. April leaning Blue while the raptor guided her. After an hour of this, April wondered, for the tenth time, where the raptor was taking her. Their destination was revealed to be main street of the resort.
April took her arm off of Blue and leaned against a tree.
"Why did you lead me here?" she asked, turning to Blue, but the raptor was gone.
April vaguely wondered if she had imagined Blue, but a single track in the dirt beside her suggested otherwise. She turned back to main street and paused. For an instant, she thought she had seen someone. She waited a moment longer before stepping out of the trees. She limped across the pavement and gratefully sank into a chair at what appeared to be the only undisturbed table in the vicinity. As she sat there enjoying the opportunity to rest, laughter reached her ears making her look around.
Walking away from her with their backs to her were five people. April stood up slowly and limped after their retreating figures.
"Hey!" she shouted even as darkness started to creep in at the edges of her vision.
The five figures looked around and started toward her. One of them, a girl, ran towards her and was able to catch April before she hit the ground. When April woke, it was to find the five figures either standing or kneeling around her with looks of concern on their faces. They seemed an odd bunch to April. There was tall boy with dark hair who seemed full of himself, an athletic looking girl who seemed to be the fittest amongst the five, a skinny African-American boy who seemed to not entirely focused on her, a slightly heavy-set girl with a floral-patterned spaghetti strap shirt on, and a very skinny, slightly pale girl whose jacket was approximately the same shade of pink as her hair.
"Who are you?" the African-American boy asked
"My name is April Grady." April said as she tried sitting up, "and you guys?"
"I'm Darius." The African-American boy said as the pink haired girl gently placed a hand on April's shoulder to prevent her from sitting up. "The girl holding you down is Brooklyn."
Brooklyn smiled and nodded in acknowledgement of the introduction before the smile faded.
"April it's best you don't move with an injury like yours." She said and April ceased trying to sit up.
The larger girl took April's hand and shook it enthusiastically
"I'm, Sammy Gutierrez." She spoke her introduction loudly with a pronounced western possibly Texan accent. She gestured to the last two, "That's Kenji and Yasmina."
"Nice to meet you all." April said tiredly, "But right now I'd some medical attention."
Sammy, Yasmina, Kenji and Darius left search for first aid kits and any other medical supplies they find while Brooklyn remained at April's side.
"What happened?" the Pinkett asked.
"Had a run in with a giganotosaurus."
"What?!"
After hours of searching with no results, Juniper was close to hysterics. It was all Sim could do to keep her calm. He had found, lost, found again, lost again, and found a third time April's trail. Juniper had trudged on behind him almost listlessly for a few hours before becoming nearly hysterical when they found more blood. Sim knew he had a lot on his proverbial plate at the moment. He silently cursed as he lost the trail for the third time that day.
He looked around and then rubbed his eyes tiredly. Where did she go? She wasn't dead he was quite certain of that. April, where are you? He thought before turning to Juniper.
"I need a break. We'll rest here for a few minutes."
She nodded and plopped down on the jungle floor. She drew her knees up to her chin, looking absolutely miserable.
By the time the others returned with the supplies or at least most of the others had supplies, April had learned that they were the campers from Camp Cretaceous and that there had been six. Ben was the camper they had lost a number weeks ago. April had heard about the camp and even been invited to attend it by Claire. April in turn had told Brooklyn about how she had lived on the island and about training raptors. April had even managed to recount her adventures of the previous night before the others returned.
Brooklyn, it transpired had been a famous character with a fan base and everything. She had some medical training from 'unboxing' a few different hospitals around the world. She was the one who sorted the supplies and with Sammy, who had helped with medical procedures on her farm back home, Brooklyn set to helping April. Yasmina collected a few umbrellas and with the boys' help made a make shift shelter for April.
Unfortunately, there were anesthetics so instead Yasmina went to a nearby shop and returned with a shirt for April to bite on. Brooklyn cleaned the wound and stitched it closed. Sammy gingerly and gently placed pad over the wound with one hand wile wrapping gauze around April's midriff.
When Sammy tied off the bandages Brooklyn pulled her aside
"Could you find some food? She looks starved and she needs the nourishment."
Sammy nodded and Brooklyn watched her go before returning to April's side.
"How do you feel?" She asked, her green eyes full of concern.
"Better now that I'm resting rather than staggering through a jungle." April responded wearily.
"How's our patient?" Both April and Brooklyn looked up to see Yasmina standing by April's feet.
"She's on the mend." Brooklyn glanced at April then back at the athlete "What brings you over here?"
"To talk with April." Yasmina crossed her arms.
Brooklyn nodded and stood to leave.
"Brooklyn you can stay." Yasmina said uncrossing her arms, "I wasn't shooing you away."
Brooklyn sat back down and Yasmina took a seat on the other side of April.
"What did you want to talk about?" April asked
"I was curious. How did you end up trapped on the island?"
April nodded and launched into her story. She started with the night they hunted the Indominus and it horrific failure it was. She continued to the Indominus Rex's attack on the transport and arriving at the docks just after sunrise.
"You must have arrived before us." Yasmina interrupted "We arrived probably just minutes after that."
Brooklyn nodded in agreement before focusing on April again, "Please continue your story."
April took a deep breath before speaking again. She told them about the ceratosaurus attack, the injuries that came with it and the subsequent fight with Juniper. She told them about recovery and the giganotosaurus attack. Finally about Blue's taking her here to main street. When she finished Yasmina remarked
"Well, sounds like Blue saved your life."
April opened her mouth to reply but at that precise moment Sammy returned with some food. Not just for April but for everyone. Darius and Kenji joined them a few minutes later. April listened half-heartedly before she drifted off to sleep and woke screaming ten minute later.
"The giganotosaurus! It's back!" She screamed, thrashing around.
Immediately Darius, Brooklyn and Sammy were at her side, trying their best to calm April down. Ten minutes, approximately four bruises and one split lip later, April was again asleep this time more peacefully.
Darius and Brooklyn stood off to one side of her ready to react in case April woke up screaming again.
"Did you know about the giganotosaurus?" Darius asked as he eyed the sleeping girl.
"I did and trust me it was that bad." Brooklyn whispered back.
They fell silent and Darius focused on his thoughts l. Darius was torn between wanting to help April and finding a way off the island. April could be a valuable for helping them get off the island.
"How bad was her cut?" He asked softly.
"Bad enough that she hadn't received medical attention she probably would have died." Brooklyn responded gravely, "She has a sister here on the island and a friend named Sim."
"I'll take Kenji and Yaz with to look. You and Sammy are in charge of April." Darius decided before going to the others.
"Hey Yaz, Kenji, so Brooklyn told me that April wasn't alone on the island." Darius looked at each in turn, " Both if you are coming with me to do them. Sammy you stay with Brooklyn to help her with April."
They parted ways with Darius leading the way.
"So tell me, why is finding these people so important?" Kenji asked lazily as they walked through the jungle.
"Kenji one of them is April's sister." Yasmina shook her head how he had made it to high school she didn't know.
They moved quickly yet cautiously, watching the shadows and listening carefully.
Back on main street, Brooklyn and Sammy had moved April into the Innovation Center. They sat side by side watching April. Sammy eventually started wandering around looking at the various displays that were still intact. April began to twitch and shiver. "Sammy!" Brooklyn said in a loud whisper. Sammy returned to her side and looked at April.
"Why is she twitchin' like that?" Sammy asked
"I don't know." Brooklyn responded
"No, no, please no, daddy it can't be true!" April wailed still quite asleep, "She promised me she would come home." April slipped into indistinct mutterings before falling silent.
"What was that all about?" Sammy asked loudly, forgetting the need to be quiet.
Fortunately, April just shifted and didn't wake up.
"I don't know." Brooklyn whispered again, "But what I do know is you almost woke her up."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Sammy replied in a soft sheepish voice.
They looked back at April, both wondering what was going inside her mind.
Night was falling and Sim had just found the trail again after an hour looking he'd found it. He hopped back o to the van and turned the key in the ignition. The went forward and they burst through the tree onto main street.
"I thought the area seemed familiar." Juniper remarked.
"Just so." Sim agreed as he turned off the vehicle.
Juniper hopped out and felt a ghost twinge on her arm where she had cut it during her run in with Rexy. The bushes to their right rustled and Sim raised his gun as three people stepped out of the undergrowth.
"You must be Juniper and Sim." One of them stated.
"If you know who we are," Sim began
"You know where April is!" Juniper said excitedly.
"Sure do." Came the reply, "Follow us."
Sim and Juniper followed the trio to the Innovation Center. Inside were three girls; one laying on the floor and two sitting close to her. The two girls were quietly chatting and looked around when the large group entered the building.
"Darius you found them!" The girl with pink hair whispered with large smile on her face.
"They arrived a little before us, Brooklyn." The African-American boy replied.
Juniper followed the girl that had lead her and Sim over to April's side.
"How is she, Sammy?" The girl asked looking up at the short haired girl.
"She's fine, Yaz." Sammy responded with a smile.
"Your name is Sammy?" Juniper asked her
"Yes."
"Are you certain my sister is okay?" Juniper said, sounding concerned.
"You must be Juniper." Sammy replied "Don't worry she'll be fine."
April shifted slightly before being still once more. They all looked down at her for a moment before Yasmina and Juniper went to rejoin the others who had just finished introductions. Juniper sat down next to Yasmina, but found herself staring at her sister, grateful that she was alive.