Grudge Match Part 1: Origins

A.N: This will be the first of a three part miniseries within the story. This will explore Ryan's backstory and PTSD.

Camp Cretaceous Treehouse:

"We have been trapped on this island for an eternity...we have travelled far and wide, we have scavenged for scraps...now we lick our lips at the tasty desire of each oth-." "Ok that's enough." I say l interrupting Kenji's scary story. I look around, Darius has a large fern covering his eyes, Brooklynn is picking some fruit out of a can, Sammy is hugging close to Yaz who is wide eyed at both Kenji's story and Sammy. Only myself and Ben seem unfazed. "What, why?" Kenji says as he dims the torch in his hand. I get up and walk over to him. "Because I said so, you don't like it...you can sleep on the ground." I say leaning over him as he backs away.

I walk away climbing the ladder to my bed. The story wasn't even that good. I place my axe down on a box near the bed. It wasn't even a bed but a hammock, I drew the short end of the stick with this, I should have kicked Kenji off the couch. I take my shaving kit and head to the 'bathroom', it was just a recovered broken mirror from the genetics lab. I begin to trim my beard, and my hair. After my work done, I check myself in the mirror. Beard is cut short but not gone and my short has been chipped short. I see a hateful amber eye staring back at me through the mirror. I quickly turn and see nothing. I catch my breath from the fright. I'm seeing shit again. I shake my head, it's probably nothing.

"Run, just run!" I say as me and Kenji continue running through the heavy dense forest. The roar of the carnivore had blasted through the trees. "Keep going, don't look back!" I yell to my screaming companion. Suddenly a massive head breaks through the trees, her massive jaws open wide. The teeth come closer, this is the end.

My eyes break open as I reach for my axe. "Ahh." I grunt out as I hold the axe in front of me. A hand reaches out and caresses my arm. I jump and point at the person. It's Yaz, she looks frightened but worried. I pull the axe down away from her. She takes it from my hand as I get my breathing under control. "I'm sorry." I say quickly, apologizing for pointing my axe at her. "It's ok...are you alright." She says as she sits on the box. "I'm fine." I say as I lay back down before rolling away from her. "Ryan...you were mumbling something in your sleep, what's going on?" She says trying to get me to talk. "It's nothing." I say finally. She gets up and leaves. Out of everyone, Yaz is the only one that I feel comfortable telling but something is holding me back and I'm ok with that. It's better if they don't know.

Next day:

Sleep did come easy but it did come however shitty it was. I see Darius and Brooklynn working on a raft design. Kenji is taking one of his 45 minute showers. Sammy is packing some cans of fruit for the journey back to the mainland. Ben is playing with Bumpy down in the courtyard. I see Yaz look at me with a worried expression. I look away and had down the slide. I call out to everyone. "Hey, if we are going by raft, we will need some wood tovbuild so get your asses down here." I shout out. Darius and Brooklynn come down the slide as Yaz comes down the ladder. I groan at Kenji taking a long time. "Kenji, hurry up." "Give me a minute." He says, I don't have time for his bullshit. "If your not down here in the next 15 seconds, I'll drag you down by your hair." I threaten. I hear scuffling and see Kenji with his towel and shirt, drying and clothing himself at the same time. He falls down the slide, bumping his head. "Oww." He says. "About time, let's go." I say as I holester my axe and grab my new spear. Everyone grabs their own spears and makeshift hatchets. I made hatchets a few weeks ago, so everyone can help cut and shape pieces of wood. Also secondary weapons if we lose our spears.

We spend the next few hours, traversing the jungle, we found a good spot. "Ok, let's get to work, remember, medium size trees, we don't need to kill ourselves cutting thick trees." I say as everyone nods and heads off. I find a good spot and begin chopping away at a good one. It takes about 2 hours before we have enough for a foundation for the raft. I look to notice a particular part of the forest that jogs a memory.

We turn to see a narrow pass between a large rock and a thick tree. "There!" I say as I point and pull Kenji towards the narrow pass. The dinosaur head almost snaps us but we just dodge at the last second. The pass is too small for the predators head.

I begin walking in the direction of the pass, feelings of guilt and shame build up in my chest. I continue forward leaving the group behind. "Where did Ryan go?" I hear Sammy say but I don't acknowledge it. I come upon a large clearing, rocks ripped up and trees knocked over. To my horror, I see a small cave to the edge of the clearing. I walk slowly over seeing the turned up dirt and burn marks on the rocks. I stand there not knowing what to do. I hear the others come up beside me.

P.O.V Change: Yasmina

We find Ryan in a large clearing, staring aimlessly at a small cave. His hands are shaking. I come up to him and place my hand over his own, ceasing the shaking. "What's wrong?" I whisper to him as everyone gets closer, for some reason, Kenji has a sad look on his face as he gazes between Ryan and the cave. "Did you ever have one really bad day and everything you believed was right with the world suddenly wasn't anymore." Ryan says with a quiet voice. He is never like this, quiet and withdrawn, well not anymore. He sighs as he sniffles. He brushes his hand against his eyes. "What I'm going to tell you is something that I've never really explained to anyone. Kenji is the only one that knows what happened." Ryan says as everyone looks at him. Kenji downcast his eyes in sadness, what is going on?

"It was one of my early days in my training. Me and an inspector that was observing me had gone down in the tunnels for a routine inspection...when we were about to leave, I see someone squeaking around, I told my supervisor who claimed I didn't see anything." Ryan says as he glances at Kenji. So that's how they met. Ryan begins crying softly.

"I had snuck away from my supervisor and followed the person, just to see what he was doing. I saw him climbing a ladder that led into one of the restricted paddocks. Three guesses for each one." Ryan says sarcastically. Allison. I hold his hand as my other one rubs his shoulder, he shows no reaction to me and continues to stare at the cave.

"I followed him, it was in my training to keep park goers away from restricted areas and out of harm's way. I climbed the ladder and entered the paddock. I had studied every single enclosure that was operation on this island, including the restricted animals. Toro was to the northeast of the resort. We were to the south of the restricted zone. Only one animal was caged there. An irate and frecious Allosaurus."

"Allison was bred for the Allosaurus exhibit but her levels of aggression were so high, she was classed in the same high tier group of extremely dangerous species, like Velociraptors. Allison hates everything, trees, rocks, animals even birds. While in her enclosure, she would kill everything that she encountered. She just despised everything." Ryan explains the reasoning of why Allison was locked away. I've only seen Allison twice and both times, I was absolutely terrified at the sheer aggression and hate that poured off the animal.

"I had found Kenji walking aimlessly through the forest. When I caught up to him, I angrily told him that he shouldn't be here. But like the arrogant person he is, he ignored me. All until a roar broke through the trees." Ryan continues as he glares at Kenji who backs away in fear and shame.

"Allison had found us. I wasn't deep in my training so I had no weapons, only my dads lucky lighter...we ran for our lives, Allison would not let up and barrelled through trees and rocks just trying to get to us. I told Kenji to run for the tunnel hatch but he had panicked and ran here." Ryan says as he points to the small cave. Everyone looks between Kenji, Ryan and the cave. I continue to try and comfort Ryan who still hasn't acknowledged me or anyone. It's like he's thinking out loud.

"I ran over to him saying that the cave won't protect you. Allison has a gas tank that can last all day. It's fueled by natural stamina, rage and...hate. We became trapped as Allison had found us, her head barely fitting through the cave entrance. I had pushed myself and Kenji up against the cave wall away from Allison's teeth. She tried to push her way in, cutting herself along the sharp rocks. Her roar was deafening in the small space. Somehow, miraculously, Kenji had a small hairspray bottle in his pocket. I just reacted without thinking."

Ryans monologue had reached a point that we knew was going to change everything we knew about him.

"I reached for the bottle and my dads lighter, the flame and chemical mix together. Makeshift flamethrower." We were shocked at the level of sheer will that Ryan had to be able to do that. Ryan voice began to crack.

"Allison had pulled away in pain, at the same time, ACU had rolled up. My mentor Hamada and my dad, Stephen Johnson. A team of 12 men had tried to pull the angry Allosaurus away from me and Kenji. I looked to see my dad shooting tranq darts at her. Allison didn't seemed fazed. She was swinging her head and tail around, looking to snap up or bash any wayward soul. My dad never saw her tail coming."

Ryan falls to his knees and tears begin to freefall from his eyes. "I yelled for him to look out but it was too late. He was sent flying into that tree over there." Ryan sobs as he points to the thickest tree not far from the cave.

"Allison had been tranq, and I had ran straight for my dad. He was breathing very heavily, a medic nearby had said that he had broken his back and had internal bleeding." Ryan just sits there and begins bawling his eyes out. Tears well in my own as everyone tries to feel the fraction of the pain that Ryan is feeling.

"My dad died in my arms, trying to save me. His last words were that he was proud of me." Ryan sobs as I kneel down and hug him from the side. "I could have done something, I could ha-." He doesn't finish as a new wave of tears come.

P.O.V. Change: Ryan

All the memories and pain come back as I tell my story. Yaz is trying to comfort me but nothing will ever free me from this. I hear scuffling as look to see Kenji. Rage and hate wells up inside and I just let it out. "You did this!" I angrily shout as I get up and punch Kenji across the face. "Ryan!" I hear Brooklynn say but I ignore her. I push Kenji to the ground as I punch again across the cheek. I place my knee on his chest as I grab my axe and hold it to his throat. "Ryan let him go!" Darius shouts but all my focus is only on Kenji. "This is all your fault. Your fault!" I scream out at him. He is quivering in absolute terror. "You're right, it is my fault. I shouldn't have been in the paddock. I should have listened to you but I didn't. I'm sorry." He says apologetically with terror and guilt laced in his voice. He is sorry...but I don't care. "I don't want your apology, I want my dad back." I say with hate, I raise my axe above my head and bring it down. "NNNNNNOOOOOOOO, RYAN!"