Down in The Darkness

Exploration is key to understanding the risk of danger in the surrounding area of your position of comfort. Exploring vast areas can lead you into finding better shelter, resources, weapons etc. Exploring Isla Nublar is necessary but dangerous, backtracking can take you in circles and that can be fatal if it leads you into the mouth of a hungry predator. Our base is situated to the north but south of the mountain range that blocks off the restricted area. The Chardon from a few days ago tells me that new species that I've never seen are around and most likely coming from the north. New animals always pose a threat...even ones from a bygone time. Such as these...

Everyone was sitting around, trying to pass time. Darius was obviously with his field guide. I had ripped into him, the day after the Chardon mess, about thinking of the guide rather than his life. Sammy was talking with Ben about his experiences with Bumpy. Myself and Brooklynn were designing a raft that could carry the seven of us back to the mainland. Yaz was helping us out with drawing the design and Kenji was being annoying with popping his mouth. I grab a cushion and throw it at him. "Oof. What was that for?" He exclaims. "You are being annoying...now shut up." I reply back while going back to Yaz's drawing. It's a simple square raft with a mast at the front and vines that secure the bags and boxes that carry our supplies. "We need to find something to tie the mast down. We don't want the wind to catch and rip it off." I say as the other two nod. "So we need something that can keep tied but flexible enough to catch the wind." Brooklynn says. I nod my head. "Time to go out and find something to tie it down." I say.

"Hey guys...not to be a downer but could we maybe...explore the island?" Darius says which everyone turns to look at him. "Why?" Ben says. Darius looks nervous as he clutches his guide closer. Come on mate. "It's just...these dinosaurs are wild now and we have an opportunity to document them, we can find out stuff that no one was ever discovered before." Darius tries to reason. "Darius...I get it. Your curious and that's fine but we have to get off this island. We don't have time to document them. We don't belong here." I say. It upsets me to be the bearer of bad news but we can't get side tracked. "Just for today, please?" Darius asks and I see that he desperately wants this. He's a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. I sigh in defeat. "Fine...but only for today, tomorrow, we get everything ready to get off this island." I finalise which he than nods and gives me a big hug. "Thank you Ryan, thank so much." I stand there shocked and confused. "Y-yeah all good mate." He breaks from me and runs to get ready. "Do you really think that was wise?" Yaz says next to me. "No...but he's a good kid with a good dream and it's only for today." I reply back. She nods in agreement. "I still think that we could have taken the helicopter." She says which I groan at. "Are you still on about that?" I say, looking at her with a 'are you serious' face. "So what, it was a good plan." I look at her incredulously. "Yeah because I'm pretty sure, you've never learnt how to fly a helicopter and I wanted to live." I say cheekily which she playfully punch's, quite hard mind you, my shoulder.

We are ready. It was agreed that me and Yaz would go with Darius on his research exploration. While the rest will scour the forest and jungle to find something to tie the sail to the mast and the floor of the raft. "Now remember, Brooklynn is in charge, Kenji, talking to you." He rolls his eyes. "And that the strongest vines are the ones that you have to cut down, so please don't use any weak ones." I finish as I pass Sammy my combat knife for cutting. I swing the machete of the left shoulder and the bow and quiver over my right. "Let's go." I say as myself, Yaz and Darius walk north towards the watering hole and surrounding jungle. I look over and see the others had south towards the gyrosphere valley.

We had found a spot to the far north. Walking here was tedious but Darius was living his dream. He had written down everything from herbivores to carnivores. From big to small. He was happy. "He likes it here." I say which Yaz looks at me like I'm crazy. "Not like that but just being here, looking at these animals. He enjoys seeing them." I reason back which she nods. "I don't like it but even I can admit that they are amazing things. Just don't like when they try and eat me." I laugh at that. For all their terrifying qualities. Dinosaurs are just animals, live, breath, eat, shit and sleep just like the rest of the world. Their are just bigger that's all.

I see Darius take a fall down a steep hill. "Darius!" I shout out as I run over to him. I take a controlled slide down the slippery hill and come out to see Darius standing next to an old maintenance door. "You ok?" I ask him as I gaze at the door. "Yeah I'm alright." He answers back as I hear Yaz slide down and catch up. "You good?" She questions which Darius nods. I turn my attention to the door. This isn't a Jurassic World maintenance she'd but one of the old parks. An uneasy feeling wells in my stomach. "What is it?" I hear Darius ask. "Its nothing. We should go." I say but Yaz opens the door. "What if there are zip ties or something. We could use them to tie the sail down." She says as she walks into the shed. Darius follows. I don't like this one bit. I take my axe out. Ready for anything.

The shed is small, barely fitting anything. The ladder at end unnerved me. A passage to the old parks tunnels. They were closed off and sealed by the clean up crew decades ago. All reports about them were destroyed. That is something that confused the shit out of me. "What's down there?" Darius asks. "The old parks tunnels." I reply back quietly. We shouldn't go down there. My gut is telling me not to go. "Well maybe there's left over supplies, let's just have I look and see." He says as Yaz starts to climb down. I look to my right and see a Jurassic World flare kit. What are you doing here? I grab the kit and take about three and place them in my pants before handing the box to Darius. "Carry these for me will ya?" I say as I climb down.

I reach the button and it's pitch black. I light a flare and Yaz faces pops out of nowhere. "Fucking hell!" I cry out which in turn she laughs. "Don't ever do that again." I quietly but grittly tell her. "You should have see your face." She says while still chuckling. Darius then drops down from above. "Still have those flares?" I ask him for which he holds up the box. "Good...now let's look around and find what we need and get the hell out of here." I say quietly. Yaz and Darius look at which other weirdly before glancing back at my. They're curious as to why I'm skittish down here. Honestly...I'm wondering it myself.

We walk for about...5 minutes before we found something that shocks us. "What the hell is it?" I hear Yaz say as she points out a pile of bones. I move the flare downward. The bones are brown and weathered. "These bones have been here for a while." I say as I move what appears to be the arm and spot a sickle claw. I pick up the foot and it falls apart. "That's a sickle claw. Velociraptor?" I hear Darius ask but I shake my head. "The skull is too small and narrower. This is something else." I say as I move the flare over and spot another body, and another and another. "They're everywhere." I hear Yaz say. I walk forward and another two bodies, only these only are different compared to the others.

The bones are interlocking with each other. One of the bodies foot was close to the stomach and the sickle claw was wrapped around the lowest rib. The other body had its teeth and jaws wrapped around the neck. "They killed each other...died fighting against each other." I say as I lean down and caress one of the skulls. What kind of dinosaur would kill its own kind even in the face of its own death. I light another flare and see a long corridor with an ominous door at the end of it. The scariest thing was the dozens of skeletons lining the corridor. Some by themselves, others interlocked in combat. We walk down the corridor, the pitch black darkness was surrounding the comforting red glow of the flare.

We reach the door and I shakily open it. The pit of stomach is being pulled out in absolute terror. We really shouldn't be here. I enter the room and it looks like a supply store. The lockers to my left are pulled down over the open vent. To my right is an open vent on the wall and crates. A single grate is in front of me. Open. But the most unnerving thing was the skeleton in the corner. The bones were an ugly yellow and brown, buried under a lot of vegetation. The clothes were torn and had old dried blood covering it. "What the hell?" I hear Yaz exclaim, shielding her eyes from the skeleton. "What happened to him...do you think that whatever the other skeletons are got him?" Darius asks as he keeps his distance from the body. "It's possible." I say as I kneel down beside the body.

The clothes are torn but the kevlar armour is still intact. I see a name badge that is dated but I could just glimpse the lettering. "Daniel...Cafaro." I say as the others turn to me. "Who?" They both say. "I'm guessing that it's this person's name. The bones are old so he must have been here for awhile and judging from where we are and the clothing his wearing. He could have been one of the soldiers that was sent to rescue the survivors of the old park." I say. I do know that mercenaries were hired to track and rescue left behind survivors after the collapse of Jurassic Park. This guy must have been snatched up by what ever those things are outside. I look to the left and see the open vent. I walk over and look pass the turned over lockers. The floor is dried with a lot of blood. The trail turns to the mound of vegetation. He was dragged here. "What is it?" Yaz asks over my shoulder. "He was dragged here...something wanted him alive but for what I don't know." I reply back. When a dinosaur keeps you alive, nothing can be good about what it wants from you.

CLICKING!

I pop up when the sound is heard. I hand my machete to Yaz. "Just in case." She nods and swings it over her shoulder before unsheathing it. I take my bow off an load an arrow. The clicking can be heard again and metal tapping. I look to the top vent. "Something is coming through the vent." I say as I pick up the discard vent cover on the ground and jump up the crates before slamming it in place. Just as something horrific slams against the cover. It had large white bulbous eyes and sharp serrated teeth. "What the fuck are you!?" I yell out as the dino screeches at me. "Find a way out." I shout out to the others. I grab a flare and throw into the vent. The dino screams in pain. I jump back down and light 3 flares and run out the door. Now I know what these skeletons are.

"Darius light some flares!" I yell out as Darius picks three from the kit and lights them. As we get to the intersection we look to our right and see dozens of these things. They are shaking their heads and keeping their eyes shut. "They're afraid of the light." Yaz says as I shoot one of them in the head. I pull the other two back towards the direction of where the ladder is. One of the dinos jumps at Yaz but she is quicker and swings the machete, cutting through the skinny neck, almost severing the freaks head off. "Keep a light going." I tell Darius as he hands a flare to Yaz who cuts at another one. I keep shooting any that came to close. "Fuck off, you fucking creepy ass fuckers!" I shout out as I take my axe and drill it into the skull of a dino. I yank it out before beheading another. "Ryan...the ladder is nearby." Darius says as I glimpse at the ladder before turning back and cut a dino before kicking it away. "Get up the ladder and get the hell out of here." I say as Darius begins to climb up the ladder. I holester my axe before taking an arrow and shooting it directly into one of the white eyes of the dino in front of me.

I see out of the corner of my eye seeing Yaz's flare begin to die out. "Quickly, get up the ladder!" I shout out as I shoot another. I hear claws clacking on steel. I turn behind me and see bright eyes in the darkness. Fuckin hell, there's more of them. I swing my bow over my shoulder and begin to climb the ladder. The freaky dinosaur are jumping and snapping at my ankles. I pull my ankle up just out of reach. I climb out and turn my bow and arrows back down and just keep shooting at any I see. "Darius, drop the kit back down and than drop a flare onto it." One of the creepy dinos tries to climb but I shoot it in the face, dropping back down on the others. Darius drops the kit with the caps off the other flares before lighting another one and dropping it down the hole. A massive explosion of bright red and white light blares out. We shield our eyes from the intense light.

The shrieks and cries of the monsters below echo against the withered metal walls of the shed. The light goes out and I look below and see the freaky animals backing away from the light. Suddenly one of dinos snaps its jaws around another one before bringing it down and tearing into it. "They're eating each other." I say with terror in my voice. I move back and pull the other two out of the shed away from whatever those things are. I shut the door and see a large log sitting nearby. I grab it by the roots and heave it up. "Ugh." I groan out as I drag the log over to the door, barricading those things inside.

"What the fuck were those things...Ryan?" I hear Yaz ask, she is breathing really heavily almost panicking. Darius is sitting on a rock trying to catch his breath. "I don't know...I've never seen anything like it before." I answer her question. They were not a dinosaur that Masrani or anyone would allow on the island. "I think I know why the old tunnels were sealed and all records of them destroyed." I figure that since the tunnels were so expansive and dark that finding and terminating those things would be a hassle. So the clean up crew decided to seal them in and hoped that they die out. "They must have adapted...killing and eating each other but still reproducing to keep the population up...now that I think about, it's absolutely distrubing." I say as I sit down against the log. Yaz comes over and sits beside me, still breathing heavily. I turn to her and hold her hand and shoulder. "Breath, Yaz, breath. Breath in." I say as she follows my instructions. "And out." I say as she exhales. She repeats the process and her breathing has calmed. I've seen this before. My dad used to get episodes of heavy breathing. It was an effect of his PTSD. Yaz is showing early symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress. I should talk to her when we get back at camp. I walk over to Darius and I see that he is crying silently.

"Whats wrong mate?" He looks up and wipes his tears away. "It's nothing." I shake my head at his stubbornness. "Come on mate, you know that you can't lie to me." I say which he sighs in defeat. "This is my fault. I wanted to come out here and it was my idea to go down there and...it would have been my fault if you guys got eaten." He says as wraps his arms around his knees. He is filled with guilt for something that is not his fault. "We had no idea what we would fine down there, it was a risk that we played. We could have done things differently but we are here now and we are alive, and that's good enough for me." I say as I kneel to his level and place my hand on his shoulder, comforting him. He smiles in thanks. I feel Yaz's hand on my own shoulder and she places her other hand on Darius other shoulder. "None of this is your fault, Darius. We are alive and that is all that matters. Let's get back to camp and tell the others to avoid this place. And I especially don't want to come back here." She says. "I agree, let's get back."

We come back to camp to see the others with thin but healthy looking vines. "Good job guys." I say, alerting the others to our return. "Hey guys, how was your day?" Brooklynn asks. Me, Darius and Yaz look at each other with knowing looks. You have no idea.

We had spent the evening explaining to the others what we experienced. Their horror filled faces says are that needs to be said. "So for future walk abouts...DO...NOT...HEAD...in that direction." I say pointing to the north east. Everyone nods in fear, pretty sure that they are going to go to bead with nightmares on their brains. I see Yaz by herself at the verdana star gazing. I walk over and place my shoulder over her shoulder blade, alerting her to my presence. She looks at me. "You alright?" I ask with worry in my voice. "Yeah, I'm fine." She nods her head and returns to star gazing. She is avoiding the conversation. I grab her upper arm and turn her towards me. I brush some loose hair out of her eye. I pull her close into a comforting hug. She hestiates but falls into the comforting brace. "It's alright Yaz, I'm here for you." I whisper quietly to her. "I don't want to talk about it." She quietly says while sniffing. "Yaz, I'm not forcing you, I'm just saying that if you want to...I'm here." I say as I break from the hug but still hold her by the arms. She brushes the tears from her eyes. "I hate feeling like this." She says angrily. "I know...I've felt it too...but you can't let it get to you." I say which she just shakes her head at. "Yaz...you are one of the most brave, kind and caring person that I've ever met. You have a will that makes you keep going. This...what you are feeling...is not going to keep you down, you know why?" I ask for which she shakes her head no. "Because I believe in you...and because you are too stubborn to back down." She cry laughs at that. "Thank you Ryan...I needed that." She thanks. "Just remember, I'm here for you...if you want to talk, I'll listen."

I say as I give her another hug for which she instantly returns. I break from her and see her blush. She walks away, biding me good night. I know that I like her but I don't know if I should chase after it. Survival is more important and would we even work after we get off this island. As of right now, to me, just seems a goal that I can never reach or choose not to even try and reach. It pains me to not be able to hold her and say that I care about her more than just as a friend but I can't distract myself from the true goal of escaping this island alive and in one piece. I told her to keep the machete, not only because I thought she was capable but because I wanted her to be a safe as possible. I knew that she isn't a fragile, scared individual but a tough ass woman that would kick your arse if you pissed her off. But I worry for her...and I couldn't help it. I hate this indecision. I shake my head and head back to the sleeping areas. I get to my hammock and see Yaz climb the bunk before looking back at me and smiling. She is absolutely beautiful, inside and out. I unknowingly blush and smile back while avoiding her eyes. I'm truly hopeless. That was my last thought that went through my head when my skull hit the pillow. Lights outs immediately.