Another one!
Guest: Well, it's my story, so there. Plus, I needed to get Brooklynn up to legal age because of the FBI guys who are watching my computer. Hi FBI agents. Of course I wouldn't make Darius in collage and he still dating Brooklynn who would be in High School in 2018.
Thanks everyone for reading! Hope yellow have a good day, stay home, stay safe.
The next afternoon, Darius and Brooklynn were hanging out with Ben and Sammy. Yaz had joined them because she was taking time off of training. Darius felt like everything was going right for once. It had been years since they all sat together. Ever since Kenji died. The adults were sitting around the table, playing cards. Darius had gotten really good at Poker. The current pot was twenty Oreos, forty MnM's, and eight skittles. Ben, Sammy, and Yaz folded. Brooklynn and Darius were trying to figure the other one out. Darius had her all figured out. He got her tell. She always played with her hair whenever she had a bad hand or when she was panicking. He smirked as he looked at his two pairs of 8s and 2s.
Brooklynn's phone started to ring, and she said, "I'll be back. I've gotta take this." Looking back at Darius, she said, "No peeking!" She went into the other room, and said, "What's up Claire?"
"Brooklynn, I just got done with my meeting with Lockwood and his assistant." Claire said. "They're going to get the dinosaurs out!"
"Oh my God! Really?!" Brooklynn screamed in disbelief.
"They have already got a team on their way to the island right now." Claire explained. "But here's the thing. They also want to get Blue out. And I wouldn't ask this if it was absolutely necessary, but in order to find her, they want you and Darius at least to help them. They said they need a guide."
Brooklynn said, "I want to be as much help as I can. I'm in. When do we leave?"
"Three days. There's a plane in L.A. that's willing to take us to Nublar." Clarie took another breath. "I'm currently in the process of recruiting ANOTHER member to the team. Owen knows how Blue thinks, so we'll see how that goes."
"Good luck. I'm going to see how things go on my end." Brooklynn told her.
"You too. I can only guess how Darius is going to react." With that, the two women hung up. Brooklynn went back to the living room.
"Who was that?" Sammy asked.
Brooklynn answered, "Just Claire." She sat down and picked up her cards.
Darius asked, "What did she want? Her meeting go okay?" He saw that she was really working on her hair, then went all in. "Call."
Brooklynn went all in as well. "Call." They flipped their cards, and Brooklynn showed three 6s. Darius's mouth fell. Brooklynn gave him a smile, and took the pot full of cookies and candy.
"You gave me the wrong tell, didn't you?" Darius said.
Brooklynn smirked. "Um, Claire said that Lockwood is going through with a rescue mission for the dinosaurs." Sammy and Ben gasped. "They're going to get as many out as they can. But, they also need guides. And Claire asked if we would like to go."
"I'm in." Ben said immediately. "I'm not leaving Bumpy to die. I'm gonna get her."
Sammy said, "I'm coming too."
Yaz said, "Sorry Brooklynn. I don't think I could ever step foot on that island ever again."
Brooklynn said, "Don't worry Yaz. I get it. Alright, Ben, Sammy, we leave with Claire in three days."
"Wait, 'we'?" Darius interrupted. "You're going back? You want to go back to that hell hole?"
"I do." Brooklynn said. "I know the island. We know the island. We spent months scouting and walking through the jungle together."
"Did you forget that we also ran into every possible death trap you could think of?" Darius countered. "Because I do."
"And we also know how to avoid them." Brooklynn said.
"You do realize that island has changed so much over the years, right?" Darius said. "An active volcano REALLY changes the behaviors of the dinosaurs."
"Which is why we have to be fast." Brooklynn said.
Darius sighed, shook his head, and said, "Do you not understand? Listen to this sentence. 'You want to go back to an island with dinosaurs to save them from an active volcano that could go off at any second.' Does that NOT sound crazy?"
"Why do you want Bumpy to die?" Ben suddenly turned on Darius.
"I don't want her to die Ben." Darius defended himself. "But I also don't want to risk losing you, Sammy OR Brooklynn. And if it came down to losing dinosaurs or you guys, I would much rather lose Bumpy."
"Darius, I love you. But I AM going to Nublar with Claire. The plane leaves in three days at 8 A.M. Be there, or don't. I've gotta go pack." Without another word, she walked out.
Darius groaned. "She's crazy. Why would you want to go BACK?"
"What happened to you?" Sammy asked. "What happened to the Darius Bowman that wasn't afraid of anything?"
"Okay, you know that's not it." Yaz said, defending her friend. "We know he's not afraid to go back. He's just afraid of losing her."
"But why though?" Ben asked as well. "He knows she can take care of herself."
"Wouldn't YOU be scared to lose someone if YOU lost everyone Ben?" Yaz countered. "We're lucky. We haven't lost our entire family. All he has is his brother and Brooklynn. He has every right to be afraid."
Ben sighed. "I'm gonna leave. I've got my stuff to pack." Sammy quickly left as well.
Darius shook his head. "Thank you for defending me. I probably would have just gotten mad at them."
"That's kind of why I spoke up." Yaz told him. Darius chuckled. "Darius, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. You've done enough. And, that's partly why I don't want to go back. I'm scared of going back and I also think that I've done enough. We took on the burden of protecting the dinosaurs for six months. You took that responsibility longer than us. You have every right to feel like you've done enough."
"She won't listen to me." Darius said with a sigh. "It's almost like she doesn't care."
"What are you gonna do?" Yaz asked.
"I don't know." Darius answered honestly. "If I let her go with Ben and Sammy, who's to say that they won't do what needs to be done to keep them safe? Or what if they get caught with the volcano? But if I go with them, all I will be able to think about would be Brooklynn. I wouldn't be able to think about anything else. It was fun hanging out Yaz. Thanks for coming over."
"Don't sweat it. And even if they don't like what you decide, Brooklynn will still love you. They just don't understand everything that you've been through." With that, Yaz headed out the door.
Over the next few days, Darius ignored Brooklynn's texts. She sent him messages saying when they would leave, where to meet if he wanted to come. He didn't know what to do. Owen had called him earlier today. Owen told Darius how Claire tried to recruit him to go and save Blue. Darius had gotten pissed at Claire. He wondered if Brooklynn knew.
This presented him with a whole new thought process. If they were going to be rescuing Blue, Brooklynn wasn't going to be much help. Neither were Sammy and Ben. Darius had a semi stable relationship with her. But she was still very unpredictable. What if he didn't go, and Brooklynn got killed because of him?
With that, he sighed. "Fuck it." He grabbed a bag, put some pants, shirts, socks and underwear in the bag, grabbed his phone and its charger, and got on his motorcycle. He had taken an interest in motorcycles after he had to deal with L.A. traffic during the first few months he lived in California. He got to the airstrip that Brooklynn told him they would be. He parked his bike in a safe spot, and headed down to the plane.
He was surprised to see Owen a few meters ahead of him. "Hey Owen!"
"So, you decided to come along after all?" Owen asked the younger man when he turned around.
"I figured if I got eaten, I could blame Brooklynn for it." Darius said. The two men chuckled. "What changed YOUR mind?"
"Claire appealed to my better nature." Owen simply told him.
"You have a better nature?" Darius asked the older man.
"I guess." Owen said as he stepped onto the plane.
Darius set himself in the pilot seat, and reclined his seat down. Owen had set himself in the back row and laid down. A few short hours later, the sun was rising. Darius woke up and stretched himself out. Looking behind at Owen, he saw that the man was fast asleep snoring. It kind of reminded him of Kenji. He could only wonder now what Kenji would think.
About an hour later, Darius could hear people coming over to the plane. He recognized everyone. Franklin, Ben, Sammy, and Zia had sat down, talking about weather it was safer on the ground or in the air. Due to past experiences, and ESPECIALLY considering where they were going, he would have to say it was safer in the air.
Claire and Brooklynn were talking while climbing onto the plane. Owen woke up finally, and surprised Claire by saying, "Was beginning to think you wouldn't ever get here."
Hearing Claire's happy reaction to seeing Owen, Darius decided to reveal himself to Brooklynn. "Yeah, that goes for me too. These seats are worse than the futon Kenji had in his game room."
Darius climbed over to the others. Brooklynn wrapped her arms in a hug around him. "You came."
"First, that's what she said." Darius said. "Second, I figured I could always blame you if I get eaten." He sat down next to Brooklynn and got set. The pilot got into his seat a minute later.
Noticing how tense Franklin looked, Owen asked, "You a nervous flier?"
"You ever ridden a two thousand pound metal horse that's been abused all it's life?" Franklin countered.
"I rode a motorcycle through the jungle with a pack of raptors." Owen responded.
Franklin just said, "We're not compatible." Looking at Darius, he asked, "You?"
"I fought two hybrid dinosaurs with a pistol and one of the raptors from said pack." Darius said.
Franklin let out an audible groan. After the plane had taken off, Claire said, "Oh, um, Owen. This is Franklin, our tech expert and hacker. This is Zia, our paleo-veterinarian. Sammy, Ben, and Brooklynn. They have the most recent intel of the island for us. And of course, you know Darius. Sammy, Ben, Brooklynn, this is Owen."
"So, you're the raptor wrangler?" Sammy asked.
Owen nodded. "That's me. They want me to help find Blue and get her out."
With nothing left to say, everyone just waited for them to be on the island. They didn't realize what was in store for them. A few long hours later, the island came into view. Darius saw that the river that lead to the Mosasaurs had gotten bigger. It also appeared that the water level had risen over the last few years. He figured that made sense. He and the others who had been on Nublar were taking in the sight. Darius then noticed the volcano steaming with smoke. I have a bad feeling about this.
The plane landed, and everyone got out pretty quickly. Darius took his bag, and made sure everyone else had gotten off safely before he got off. He noticed a man walking towards them with a bunch of other people. The first thing Darius noticed was the guns. Looking at Brooklynn, Sammy and Ben, they realized that they were in the presence of mercs. Not again. Darius thought as Owen and Claire introduced themselves to the head man. Darius saw his name tag. Wheatly. I'll have to remember that.
"Oh God! It's hot!" Franklin groaned as he took off his jacket.
Darius noticed the volcano and knew they didn't have much time left. "We need to move. We don't have a lot of time before it gets a whole lot hotter." Darius said.
"We'll be giving the orders here kid." Wheatly told him. "Who the hell are you?"
"Darius Bowman." he said, introducing himself. "Me and a few of my friends back there lived on this island for six months before escaping. Now, I hear that you're looking for a particular Raptor. And I happen to know where her last nest was. So, you could be smart and use me and my friend's knowledge of the island to help achieve your goal faster OR we could continue wasting time seeing who's got the bigger gun barrel. Your choice. But again, we don't have a lot of time. So what's the plan boss?"
Wheatly gave Darius a smirk and smile. "You've got some pretty big balls, I'll give you that. You can debrief us along the way." With that, the people loaded up into one of the transport vehicles. "The plan is for us to head to the communications outpost and hack into the tracking system of the dinosaurs. We'll be able to see where every dinosaur is. Even Blue. We have to cut through Main Street since it's the quickest way to where we wanna be."
"That's a bad idea." Darius said with a scoff. "The T. Rex lives on Main Street. You're gonna wanna head North-West to our old camp. The outpost you're talking about is going to be only a few miles from there. We can show you where."
Wheatly took out his walkie talkie. "Where exactly is that going to be on our map?"
Brooklynn took out the old map that the campers used the entire time they were scouting out Nublar. Brooklynn made a mark on his map showing where it was supposed to be. "You kept that?"
Brooklynn said, "I had this feeling it would come in handy later." And Wheatly set course for the camp.
The two vehicles got to camp, and Darius and the other former campers piled out. Out of instinct, Darius headed for the area with the guns. He grabbed some of the ammo, and realized that he didn't actually have a gun to put the bullets in. Nobody was looking his direction, so he decided to just put the ammo in his pockets and everywhere else he could. Darius walked back to the group to see Ben, Sammy and Brooklynn staring at the place that they called home. Darius breathed a sigh and placed his hand in Brooklynn's. "Bad memories?" Wheatly asked, showing some signs of humanity. But of course, they've seen that trick before.
"Some were good." he said, looking at Brooklynn. She smiled as he said he had good memories.
"We must have been on two different islands." Ben said. "This whole place was hell. Start to finish. The only good thing I had was Bumpy."
"So, not ALL the stuff was bad then, Ben?" Sammy asked with a smirk.
Suddenly, the bushes to the left started to rustle, and loud foot steps shook the ground. Darius pushed Brooklynn behind him. The mercs put their guns up, prepared to shoot whatever came out. An Ankylosaurs head came out, and gave a moan and growl. Ben immediately saw the two uneven head bumps. So did Darius. "Hold your fire!" Darius told them.
Ben rushed forward. "Bumpy!" he said. The Ankylo looked at the small human rushing for him. She gave him one sniff, and her whole demenor changed from stiff and confrontational to playful and protective. Ben gave her as tight a hug he could. "I missed you girl. Look at her guys. She's gotten big!" Sammy and Brooklynn had already hugged Bumpy after Ben was able to calm her down.
Darius walked up, and scratched her neck. "You look good Bumps." Looking back at Owen and the others, he said, "This one is special. We've got to get her out of here. I understand that Blue is top priority, but this needs to be number two if we're gonna help any farther."
Wheatly nodded. "I'll have two of my guys take it from here."
"I'm going too." Ben said. "She doesn't trust strangers. And I imprinted on her when she was born, albeit accidentally. But I'm the only person who can keep her calm or calm her down."
Wheatly gives a slightly audible sigh before he gives up. "Fine. But you have to understand that she is going in a cage. We can't have a big dinosaur just out in the open."
"I know." Ben said. "I'll put her in safely."
With that, Wheatly nodded at Ben, and pointed at two of his men. "You both go with him. We'll meet you back at the boat." The former Campers said good luck to Ben and bye to Bumpy.
"Alright, let's move." Darius says, leading the group with Brooklynn by his side.
Sammy laughs at this. "What's funny?" Claire asks her.
"Just like old times." Sammy says shaking her head.
After walking for an hour, they came across the bunker. "I tried getting in this place one time, but I couldn't get past the doors. Franklin, you're up." Darius instructs as he and Owen do a quick look around, scouting for any sort of threat. His eyes lock onto the monorail tracks and there was a couple of cars that were stopped. He wasn't sure if it was the same one he and the others tried to escape with, but the memories came back to him. Brooklynn must have been thinking the same thing, because she put her hand in his. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he started looking around again.
A moment later, Wheatly was getting impatient. "Come on kid. Do you even know what you're doin?"
Franklin's response was simply looking at the doors and watching them open. "After you." he said to the older man. Franklin made his way into the room with everyone else and found the computer that he needed. Darius began looking around the room in search of any kind of weapon. But he soon realized that it was a research area. A bunker for the nerds of Jurassic World. The chances of a gun of any sorts lying around would be slim.
As Franklin continued working, Zia asked, "Are we sure the biometric chips are still working? Wouldn't the battery be dead by now?"
"The dinosaur IS the battery." Claire explained. "The chip is powered by body heat and movement." Franklin motioned for Claire to give her finger print on a pad. "How much longer is this gonna-" before she could finish, the lights came on and the power started working again.
"I'm in." Franklin confirmed. Everyone looked at the screen. "There's already a large concentration at the East Dock."
"That's our boat." Wheatly mentioned. "We've already captured a bunch of them."
"Without the trackers?" Brooklynn asked.
"The big herbivores are easy to find." Changing the subject, he asked Franklin, "Can you isolate the raptor?"
"I need a species code." Franklin responded.
"D-9." Claire gave him.
Brooklynn and Darius shared a look. Looking back at Sammy, the three agreed that they didn't like the situation one bit. But that was probably the trust issues they developed over the months on Nublar. "There she is." Owen said, pointing to where the red dot stayed.
"That's not too far from the Visitor's Center for the old park." Darius said. "I know the fastest way possible."
"I'm coming with you guys." Zia said. "We don't know what condition she might be in."
"Me too." Brooklynn said.
Darius pulled her aside as Zia and Wheatly started arguing. "I need you and Sammy to stay here with Claire and Franklin. They're far too trusting for my liking. They probably don't suspect anything, so I need you and Sammy to watch their backs. I'll be back though. But Owen himself is a little too trusting."
Brooklynn was about to protest, but Zia said, "Let's go boys."
Brooklynn sighed and nodded. "Be safe."
"Always." Darius said, giving her a small kiss. "Sammy, keep an eye on her."
The Texas girl smirked. "Who's gonna keep an eye on YOU?" she countered.
Darius shrugged. "Fair." Another hour later, Darius and the others were almost at the spot that Blue was. Or at least, last was. Darius let Owen take the lead and track Blue. They heard what sounded like a raptor call. "Stay here. If she smells you, she's going to be pissed." Darius told the others.
"What about you?" Zia asked. "Why are you going?"
"Because I know this place. I lived here for six unpleasant months as I am constantly reminded." Darius answered. "Plus, me and Blue have sort of a mutual understanding. At least, I hope that truce is still in effect. We've had somewhat of a rocky history."
Darius and Owen went deeper into the jungle. Darius watched as Owen started looking for any signs of prints. "So, what's the full history with Blue?" Owen asked.
The younger man explained, "I met her the first night we were at camp. One of the other campers had accidentally jumped into the cage, and I jumped in to save him. She tried to eat me, but ended up hitting her face on the fence. After that, we didn't interact with each other until we accidentally stumbled across her nest. I saved her from a pack of Compies after she we had injured her when she attacked us. And then there was that time with the Scorpius Rexes. We kind of left each other on a mutual note, but it's been a few years. I don't know if she'll even remember YOU."
Owen suddenly stopped a moment later, and knelt down to the ground. The older man had found something. Darius saw the print, and Owen continued to inspect it. Taking out his walkie talkie, Owen said, "I've got a fresh sign. Wait for my signal."
The two men kept walking a little ways. Darius this entire time got a funny feeling. Keeping his voice just at a whisper, he said to Owen, "I get the feeling someone is following us."
"Do you get this feeling a lot?" Owen said. "It's okay to be nervous after all this time."
"It's not nerves." Darius confirmed. "And I only get this feeling when I feel like I'm being watched. I'm gonna double back in case something is following us."
"How are you gonna get back?" Owen asked.
Darius answered, "I'll climb a tree. And, they said that their boat is at the East Dock. I also know where that is too." Darius went the other direction. He put some distance between he and Owen. He hoped that everything was alright. A few minutes later, he climbed a tree and saw a cliff. Looking below him, he saw another man from Wheatly's team. He was searching for something with his gun ready to shoot. Darius saw the Glock and rifle. He just wanted the Glock. But he also wanted information from the man. Darius gently climbed down the tree, and grabbed a couple of long vines from the trees.
Hiding in the bushes, Darius waited as the man came out into the open. The man muttered a curse and something else. While his back was turned, Darius took that as his chance to jump him. He wrapped the vines around the man's neck, and pushed him forwards towards the cliff. The man dropped his rifle, and Darius grabbed the Glock from his holster. The man screamed as he was suddenly leaning face forward over a cliff. "Alright. Now, I know you aren't here on some sort of rescue mission. Otherwise you would have waited for Owen to give you a signal. Not to mention, you were stalking me. So, what is REALLY going on here?" The man continued to whimper. "Start talking." Darius said. "Otherwise I'll let go of the vines currently holding your neck, and you'll be the test subject for Tom Hanks' Cast Away suicide plan."
The man breathed, and said, "We're here for the raptor and a bunch of other species. None in particular aside from the raptor."
"Who hired you?" Darius asked.
"Some guy. He works at Lockwood's Estate. Wheatly has been on the phone on and off the past few days." the man reveals.
"Do you have a name?" Darius asked.
"I don't know." Darius moved him forward a few inches over. "I DON'T KNOW! I SWEAR I don't know!"
Darius sighed. "You better give me SOMEthing!"
"I-I- I think he's named Mills!" the man said, his breath quickening. But after taking a minute to think, he says, "Yeah, some guy named Mills."
The name clicks in Darius's mind. So if you DON'T want to make Mills disappointed, you'll help. Me. Look. Darius remembered the name from Wu and Hawkes when they tried to get the laptop. The man saw that Darius was thinking, and didn't appear to be paying attention to him. So, he moved his arm slowly, and tried to reach for his knife. Darius was pulled out of his trance just in time to see the man's arm come up. Darius instinctively pushed him, and stepped back, letting go of the vines. The man screamed, but they were quickly replaced by choking, and his body hitting the rocks on the side. Darius was trying to look for a way to help him, but a gunshot was heard in the direction Owen went. He looked back down at the man, and saw the merc was struggling and thrashing. His body was also bloody. Darius sighed, and decided there was nothing he could do for him. The young man raced to help Owen.
Darius heard Blue snarl and moan. He climbed a tree, and saw Wheatly and Zia along with the rest of Wheatly's men taking a wounded Blue. Looking where they came from, he waited for them to get far away from him. Wheatly took out a walkie talkie. "Johnson, what's the status on Bowman? Is he dead?" No response. "Johnson, come in. What's your status?" Still no response. Wheatly looked around, and sighed. "Keep an eye out for Bowman. He could be anywhere."
A few minutes later, the men were gone. Darius realized that he still had the gun he stole from Johnson apparently. He took it out, and loaded one of the mags. Suddenly, the volcano started cracking and making noise. The smoke became black. Darius knew they didn't have much time left. He made his way to Owen, and saw a trike licking his face. Darius put a hand on his mouth to keep himself from making any sudden noise. A few seconds later, the trike must have gotten singed by the ash, because it quickly ran away.
Darius saw the lava creep closer to Owen. The younger man rushed forward to help him. "Hey. What happened?" Owen moaned something. "Yeah, I can't understand you. What did they hit you with?" The lava got closer. "Okay. I'm gonna carry you, okay?" Owen just groaned. Darius swung Owen's arm around him, and lifted him up. Darius managed to get Owen on his shoulders, and started running.
After a few minutes, Owen started moaning again. He started getting movement in his hands again. Now all he needed was his legs. Once he finally got some movement, he said, "Thanks for the save kid."
"No problem." Darius said as he kept running.
Owen looked at him up and down and said, "You can put me down now."
Darius stopped as he said, "Ooooooh." After Owen was on his feet, he was a little wobbly, but was able to use them.
"Did you know this was gonna happen?" Owen asked as they started running again.
"Nope." Darius answered. "But me and the others have experience with mercs. Bad ones if you can't tell. I just hope that they made it out of the bunker without the mercs betraying them."
Aaaaaaaand SCENE. Good Lord. Hope y'all have a good day, stay home, stay safe. stopped struggling, and was bloody. He sighed, and raced to help Owen.
