A Beacon of Hope

ROOOAAARRR!

This was the worst idea that anyone ever had. Let's just run through the Parasaurolophus herd, not knowing that Rexy had broken free and already established hunting grounds. We run through the jungle, a stray Parasaurolophus had diverted from the herd, following us into the jungle. Darius leads from the front as Sammy and Brooklynn help carry Yaz. Me and Kenji trail behind. "Don't look back, keep going!" I shout out to the others. "Is the Parasaurolophus still behind us?" Brooklynn asks as me and Kenji look back to see said Parasaurolophus dodge out of the way of the ambushing Tyrannosaur. I pull Kenji out of the way of her snapping jaws. "Not anymore!" Kenji yells out. We run to an overturned log. I see Rexy bite down of the lone hadrasaur spine then grabs the neck. Rexy throws her head up, lifting her catch in the air before slamming it to the ground. I dove over the log, press my back to it as we hear the crunch of bone and ripping of flesh.

Darius looks over the log to see Rexy pulling her kill away. "They're gone." We all sigh in relief. "Why are their so many dinosaurs around." Kenji complains. "Because the power is down and also, I don't know if you noticed but this is Isla Nublar, of course there dinosaurs around." I say sarcastically as Kenji glares at me. "We need to find some cover, scavenger predators will always pick off a kill from a hunter. We do not want to be around for that." I say as i get up. "I just want a sandwich." Yaz says as she gets to her feet. "We haven't had anything to eat ever since those awful carob that Ben..." She stopped herself as she gives a apologetic look to everyone. We all have sombre expression remembering our fallen friend. "We can't think like that. Not now. We need to find some food and shelter, only then can we mourn." I say sadly, the survival of the group has to be the first priority. "But there is nowhere to go, dinosaurs have taken every piece of this island. We need food and shelter. We can't keep running like this." Yaz says as Sammy and Brooklynn help her up. Darius calls out from the clearing. "We don't have to. We can get all our supplies from Main Street. There's bound to be food, water and way to get contact the mainland...come on." He says as we run towards Main Street.

We come out to find a ruined and filled with rumble Main Street. The restaurant on the end had been half destroyed. The amber display and fake Rex skull. Even the Spinosaurus skeleton had been broken in half. "What happened here?" Kenji asks. We are look towards the ruined restaurant. "I'm going to say...dinosaurs." Yaz replies sarcastically. "It's more than that. A fight took place here." I say as me and Darius inspect the damaged gift shop opposite the restaurant. "Judging by the height damage...I'm guessing the T-Rex and...something bigger." I look to him, agreeing. "The Indominus Rex." I hear Brooklynn say from the broken fence of Moses lagoon. "Looks like we don't have to worry about it anymore." She says as I see four massive claw marks etched into the concrete. "Looks like Moses saw an opportunity and took it. Good news for us." "Guys." We jump as Sammy comes from out of nowhere." "You guys have to see this."

This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. A electronic store with a Brooklynn cardboard cutout. We all look bewildered. We laugh at the ridiculousness of it. "Oh wow, can't believe I forgot that I agreed to that." I turn to her while glancing at the cutout. "Do you have only one outfit?" "What it's my signature look." I look across the street and see an intact clothes shop. I look at my torn baggy pants, navy blue shirt ripped and dirty. "What you think about?" Yaz asks me. I look at her. "Just thinking that we have been wearing the same clothes for the past day and I need a change." She nods in understanding. Yaz and I walk over to the clothes shop.

We seperate into different sections of the store. I find a navy blue, skin tight sweat shirt, a pair of long stretchy shorts. I switch out my dirted shoes for a brand new pair of socks and runners. I look over to Yaz looking in the...lady section. I look away, finding a change-room. I change out of my clothes, as I was about to put my shirt on, I hear a gasp behind me. "My God." I turn to see Yaz completely changed. Her getup is similar to her pervious clothes. A black pair of running pants with silver highlights with a matching zip up jacket like her one from before. She is wide eyed as her eyes gaze over my torso. Fuck. My stomach, chest and back is covered in scars. The biggest one is three parrellel scars running down from my left pectoral to my right hip, a bite mark on my right shoulder, nicks and scratches from falls, bruises from the fall the monorail. She traces her hand over the large scar on my chest. "How?" She quietly asks, her voice is filled with sadness. "A Utahraptor. She escaped from her pen so I was called in with a trainer for hands on experience. She got me before she went down." I reply sadly. She is worried for me. I'm conflicted, I'm happy that she cares but I don't want her to worry about me. I grab her hand. "Yaz, I have been through thick and thin even before meeting you. These scars are proof that I do not give up easily and that nothing can keep me down. I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere." I say reassuring her that I'm always going to be there for her.

She nods as she retracts her hand. I put the shirt on over my head, covering the scars from her view. As she turns away, she stops. She looks back at me before bringing me in a hug. I return her hug...how the fuck does her hair smell so nice. I hear her sniffle. "Yaz, why are you crying?" "Because it was my fault. If I had gotten there sooner I could have helped you and...Ben." I now understood. She blames herself, I shake my head. "It's not anyone's fault. Do not blame yourself for what happened. Ben was the heart of the group so don't let his death be the thing that breaks your own." She nods softly while disengaging from the hug. "Let's get back to the others, maybe they have found something." I say h her walk away. Out of everyone, I'm most close with Yaz, but I feel it's more than that. She's strong, brave, confident, beautiful, caring, protective but also unafraid to show her fears or insecurities, and that makes me...oh my god, I'm attracted to her. I've never really had this happen to me, what do I do? I push what happened to the back of my mind, it's probably nothing.

We come out to see the others looking in every nook and cranny. "What are you guys doing?" Yaz says. Sammy rushes over explaining that while they didn't find a phone, they did find that Masrani had a EDB, emergency distress beacon, installed on Main Street, would have loved to know that one before everything went to shit. The only problem is that, they can't find it, thence the need to look everywhere. Brooklynn begins recording with a camera that she found. She has an obsession, she needs help. We look all morning and find no trace nor clue about the beacon. We found some tables and umbrellas and set up an eating area. Me and Darius were inspecting some of the bars and fast food stores for any food. Turns out, the food was on its last stock before the Indominus broke out so...no food. I sit at the table with my combat knife out, just tracing on the wood to keep myself from boredom. Kenji had found some pizzas that we tried out. They looked frozen so I don't know why everyone thought they could eat it. Desperate times, desperate measures.

"How much longer before the pizzas thawed out?" Sammy asks as a stack of pizzas are sitting in the sun. You still have to cook it somehow sooooo, I don't know if they thought of that yet. Kenji goes to check but a Compy had jumped out and nearly took his finger off. Everyone jumps as more of them pop up. I grip the blade of my knife as a male compy closes in on Kenji. I throw my knife at it.

Sknit!

"Gotcha." I say as everyone looks at me. "What?" Darius then asks almost angrily. "Why did you do that?" I could understand why his upset but we need food, and frozen pizzas aren't going to cut it. "Darius, I now it's upsetting but we need to eat and when the pizzas thaw out, they're going to be undercooked. By doing what I did, we can eat." I say as I pick up the unlucky Compy, pulling the knife out of its small body. "Now this next part isn't for the ones that faint at the sight of skinned animals, so if it bothers you, look away. Oh and someone set up a fire, we'll need to cook the meat." I say as I sit down and begin skinny the dino. Darius, although unhappy, with help from Sammy has set up a makeshift fire on the concrete with broken pieces of wood, some stones and box of matches that were in the medkit. I stick six good size pieces of the compy on sticks on a makeshift grill to stand over the fire.

"How did you learn how to do that?" Brooklynn asks me as I rotate the sticks. "My parents, they were both military. My dad was special forces while my mother was a para rescue jumper. They taught me how to build makeshift anything if I'm ever lost or stuck out in the wild. My dad thought it would be good knowledge to have, especially since I was trying get a position in ACU." Everyone looks at me in amazement. "So your parents are like badasses huh." Brooklynn says as my face turns sombre. "My dad...passed a few months ago. My mum has resigned from the military and is now working in private security." I notice Kenji stiffened at the mention of my dad. Brooklynn looks apologetic, I wave her off. "It's fine, you didn't know. I'm not...a very social person." I eye Yaz as she nods in acceptance of my reasoning. I look to see the sticks are ready. "Lunch is ready." I pass a stick to each of them, as they all take a bite out of their respected 'kebab' stick. "Wow, Ryan, this isn't amazing." Sammy says as Darius adds on. "Tastes like chicken." The irony at that statement wasn't lost on anyone.

We had spent the entire day looking for this beacon and have found nothing. The sun has beginning to set. "Come on guys, I cook up some dinner and after that we can get some sleep." I say as everyone agrees. Darius looking jittery, like something is weighing down on him. After dinner, we all find somewhere comfortable to sleep. Yaz volunteers for first watch. "Fine but wake me up in 2 hours." Yaz rolls her eyes. "Alright tough guy have it your way." I throw an abandoned T-Rex toy at her. We laugh as she throws it back. I fall asleep, exhaustion taking over my body. Running for nearly 48 hours will do that to you.

I wake up and see that no one is around. "Guys." I look around and find no trace of anybody. Why would they just leave. "Ryan?" I hear Yaz call out me name but her tone is filled with dread. I found her in the middle of Main Street. She is shaking like a leaf but she can't move. "Help me." She says quietly, her tears free falling. I go to step...why can't I move.

RROOAARR!

No. No she can't be here. An Allosaurus walks up behind Yaz, it's gaze is burning a hole through me. It's burnt face is curling up in a twisted demonic smile. It's arm and fingers begin caressing Yaz who is bawling her eyes out, begging me to help her. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yell out, trying to force myself to run to her. The dinosaur curls her lips and bites down on Yaz.

"NOOOO!" I wake up with a jump. Luckily my scream didn't wake the others. That was a different one. The nightmares were always just replays of that day but this one, it felt real not a memory. I see that Darius and Yaz aren't here. Might as well go look for them. I hear voices coming from the discovery walk, of course. "Hey guys not to be a downer but what are you doing?" I say as they both turn towards me. "Just going for a walk." Yaz replies. I raise an eyebrow at that. "So you decided to go for a walk, at night on a dinosaur infested island and didn't wake me up so I could take over watch shift because you wanted to go for a walk?" I say sarcastically. The both quirm, they know their in trouble now. "I had a bad dream. Yaz was helping me out." Darius points out, taking the bullet. "I understand, more than you know but don't just wander off without telling someone, ok. I don't want to wake up in the morning to see both of you gone and not come back." They put their heads down on shame but nod in understanding. "Now, from what I overheard, you found something useful." I say as Darius brightens up. "Yes but I'll wait in the morning, let everyone get some sleep." He says, fair enough, I suppose. He walks back to the store to catch some sleep. Yaz walks up to me with a worried expression. I already knew what she was going to say. "We'll talk later." I say as she relucently nods her head. "Come on, let's get some shut eye."

The next day, Darius had gathered us to explain that yes, while we did look on Main Street for the beacon, we didn't 'look'. The beacon was hidden, camouflaged. We begin searching through every piece of nature that was displayed on the street. I see Yas slip on her ankle and balance herself on a tree.

CLANG!

"Ever heard a tree do that?" She says as we come up to the tree. Sammy pulls the hatch open, storage fitted into the tree, genius. "Let's open up the others." I say as Brooklynn and Sammy make a cringey video take. I laugh on the inside at their antics. We all check the trees and find no beacon. "Welcome aboard the fail boat. All these trees are empty, broesph." Kenji says to Darius. I notice a tree that is missing. "This one's gone." I notice the trail marks, everyone gathers as I follow the markings. Through the broken Spinosaurus skeleton and down the long access pathway. I see Paddock 9's gate is open not broken, the trail marks lead into the enclosure. We hear snarling coming from the Innovation Centre. We gasp in fright. "Up the stairway, get to the top." I say as I point to the personnel access stairs. We get to the top, I look down into the paddock and see a strange structure that Rexy has built, what has she been up too. We see the mighty Tyrannosaur walking down the pathway with a large tree trunk in her mouth, dragging it. She enters her paddock, throwing the trunk in place. She turns before dragging her feet back like a cat. She bellows. "She has built a lair." I say as Darius thinks aloud. "There have been fossilised nests but she never did this when the park was open. We are witnessing new behaviour. This is great." He say excitedly. We all look at him like he was crazy. "This is terrible. She has built her lair on Main Street." I narrow my eyes at the fake tree at the top of the structure.

"Worse still, is that the beacon is in there as well." I say as everyone looks, they groan at the situation. "How are you suppose to get to the beacon now? Kenji says. I look back at him. "We...you too mate." "No way, I prefer to live, and that means not walking into a T-Rex lair." He says angrily. "So wait, does this mean we can't get the signal out to folks?" Sammy asks as they all look dejected. I look back at Rexy. I notice her shape, her ribs are showing, she's atrophied. An idea pops into my head. "We have a chance." Everyone looks at me like I'm in insane. "How do you figure?" Brooklynn questions. "Rexy is atrophied, she will need nourishment and a whole lot of meat to gain back her mass, so she's going to have to hunt alot to build that muscle back up. When she leaves to hunt, we will sneak into the lair and turn the beacon on and get the hell out of here. I don't know about you, I don't want to be around when an old and experienced Tyrannosaur gets mad when she founds out we have trespassed."

"It's a sound plan." Yaz says agreeing with the plan. Darius perks up in having an idea. "Kenji, are there any more walkie talkies in that gift shop?" The plan goes ahead. Sammy with keep track of Rexy while Darius and Kenji will head into the paddock and turn on the beacon. Me, Yaz and Brooklynn will wait up on the wall keeping a look out of the access way. Rexy is leaving the paddock, heading off to hunt. "Sammy, she's heading your way." Yaz tells Sammy over the walkie talkie. We wait a while for Sammy's report.

"She has just passed. Coast is clear. Go for it."

"Go, and be quick about it." I say as Kenji replies. "Relax, we'll get it done." They climb down the pipes on the wall. They head off into the enclosure, Darius leading as he begins climbing the nest. "We will have to leave Main Street." I say to Yaz and Brooklynn. "Why?" Brooklynn asks, I look at her like 'are you serious'. "Because Rexy has made her home here on Main Street, the Parasaurolophus fields are already her hunting grounds but she will expand. Her territory will surround Main Street. And I don't want to sleep where a T-Rex can get me, thank you." She realises that she had asked a stupid question. "Sorry."

"Next time, I'm spraining my ankle and I'm staying behind."

Yaz replies back to Kenji smugly. "You wouldn't be able to handle it." I laugh at that. Kenji would whine and bitch about how injured he is if he had a sprained ankle.

"Rexy's headed back to her lair. She's heading back. Y'all need to get out of there."

The three of us have scared expressions. Yaz tries to contact the guys. "Guys, you need to get out of there, Rexy's coming back right now. Mayday. Guys. Oh I knew Kenji would waste the battery." I look towards the entrance way. "We have to stall her. Any ideas?" I say. Brooklynn thinks about it than pops her head up. She runs off to the stairway. I bring Yaz down low, as I hear giant stomping approaching. We see Rexy walking down the access way. She enters the paddock.

"What's up, Brooklanders?"

Rexy turns sharply around before walking back out. What the hell is Brooklynn doing. I move to the edge to see what's going on. I see the cardboard cut out of Brooklynn holding the camera.

RRROOOOAARRR!

Rexy gives off an angry roar at the supposed intruder. She charges the cut out. I look back to see Darius, Kenji and Sammy all together. "The SOS has been sent out." I turn to Yaz, helping her down from her perch. We meet up with the others and Brooklynn. We run off into the jungle as Rexy give off a mighty below of a roar.

RRRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!

We find the log from before. We all celebrate knowing that the signal went out. Someone must pick it up from somewhere. "Hey Darius, where are we going to go. We obviously can't go back to Main Street." Sammy asks as Darius replies. "We just have to hole up somewhere until help arrives. We just gotta stay alive long enough until then." I smile at the leadership that this kid naturally has. If he ever gets off this island. He will go far in life.

Elsewhere on the island: Allison P.O.V

The trees speak to me, they tell me of all they've heard. I knock over a tree that said 'seen small two legs pass by'. Two legs are the most annoying, disgusting creatures I've ever seen. The one that burnt my face is the bane of my existence. I'll find him, and make sure he suffers before I devour him. Two legs taste disgusting but I'll power through the filthy taste for that particular two leg.