Disclaimer, I am not from Hamilton, Montana. At all. I apologize if I mess up or offend those from Hamilton with not knowing any names, or messing up on building locations. I really did my best research into that area before writing the chapter. Shout out to my Montana readers! Love you guys.

bla: I can't! It's impossible now! Plus, I don't want to.

Stay home, stay safe.

Darius chuckled as he heard Brooklynn gulp down her entire cup of cappuccino. She sighed in happiness and felt content, glad to have caffeine in her system again after so long. Her parents had thought that she learned to live without coffee on the island. But let's be honest, once you get a taste of caffeine, regular Cola and Pep just don't cut it. Your body has learned to burn through soda, which is the only reason why you drink coffee in the first place. But she wouldn't tell her parents that she drank coffee again. Not yet anyways.

The older teen pulled over to the side of the road. He got out, and opened Brooklynn's door and helped her down. "Welcome to Hamilton Farmers Market. You can usually find good fruit and vegetables here." Darius lead her through the many booths of fruit, veggies, and even a hat booth.

Brooklyn had picked a couple of apples, onions, some bracelets, and a hat. The girl was so amazed at how everyone was so kind to each other. She was used to living in big cities where everyone was in a rush to get from point A to point S. It was really nice to just slow down and enjoy everything. She has only lived here for not even a week, and she already loved it here.

Darius turned around and handed her a slice of bakery. She looked at him, expecting him to tell her what it was. "Just try it. You'll love it." She raised an eyebrow, making sure he wasn't pranking her. He took a smaller piece from her slice, and put it in his mouth. "Come on, try it."

She took a bite and was amazed at the taste. Brooklynn had expected Darius to try to pull a prank. "What is this?" she asked, taking another bite of the bread.

"It's Rosemary Olive bread." he said.

"It's amazing." Brooklynn admitted. Darius smiled, glad that she appeared to enjoy his small town. After wandering around for a little bit, Brooklynn found a little flower shop. She picked out a purple flower, and decided to buy it. "What flower is this? There wasn't a sign."

Darius answered, "It's called a Sweet William." She smirked at how fast he was able to answer. "I had to draw a picture for it in seventh grade. It was for a science proje- you know what? I don't have to defend myself from you." Her smirk grew into a smile as she watched him get flustered about it. Suddenly, the older teen had another idea. "Hey, there's a flower shop I can take you to. It's like a mile from here. It's only gonna be a twenty minute walk at the most. Want to go?"

"Sure." She said with a smile. The two teens walked to the floral shop, just enjoying each other's company. Nothing needed to be said as Darius and Brooklynn kept their arms interlocked. In all honesty, Darius couldn't believe that this was going better than he had hoped. Thanks to his brother, and everyone else who complimented him on planning a date, he started to get inside his head that he was doing the right thing. But thanks to Brooklynn, and her immense curiosity about his town, they were enjoying their time together.

A little later, the two teens came across a brown house with an extension. Darius lead her into the shop, and they were met with an old woman. The woman heard the bell on the door ring, signaling someone was here. She turned around, and saw Darius. She gasped and smiled. The teen and woman went to each other for a hug. She wrapped her old arms tightly around the teen. "Oh Darius. It's so good to see you again."

"It's great to see you Mrs. Johannsson." he said.

"I was so sad when I heard what happened to you and those kids." Mrs. Johannsson said, tears forming in her eyes. "But you're here now. And those kids are safe as well." Brooklynn watched with a smile. The older woman noticed that she was there with him as well. Pulling away from the hug, Mrs. Johannsson asked, "I remember seeing you on the Television as well. Remind me your name again."

"I'm Brooklynn." the teen said as Brooklynn extended her hand for a shake. The older woman shook with both her hands.

Mrs. Johannsson asked, "Are you visiting Darius?"

"My parents and I just moved here last week." Brooklynn explained.

"And how are you enjoying our small town?" the older woman continued.

"I'm enjoying it." Brooklynn answered honestly. "Darius has been showing me around today. We just came from the Farmers Market."

Mrs. Johannsson nodded. "Oh, I hope Darius bought you a bite of Olivia's Rosemary Oliver bread." After all the introductions were over, Brooklynn started walking around the shop. The old woman asked, "Is there any flower you're looking for in particular dear?"

"I was thinking of a yellow or orange flower. Those are my favorite colors." Brooklynn explained.

Mrs. Johannsson gave a small gasp and nod. "Come with me. I have just the thing."

Darius smiled as he picked out a small bunch of Yellow Irises. After making sure that he had enough money for himself and Brooklynn, he waited for the two girls to come back to the front.

Mrs. Johannsson lead Brooklynn to a different part of the store, and showed her a flower with yellow and orange petals. Brooklynn smiled and gasped. "They're beautiful." she said as she smelled one of them. "What are they called?"

"Coreopsis." Mrs. Johannsson told her. "Once you said yellow and orange, I thought of these. Do you like them?"

Brooklynn nodded. "They're beautiful."

Mrs. Johannsson smiled, and said, "Grab a couple, then we will get you and Darius on your way."

Brooklynn followed Mrs. Johannsson back to the register. She noticed that Darius had grabbed a bundle of Yellow Irises. The older woman noticed them too. Mrs. Johannsson gave Darius a sad smile. "Are you going to visit today?"

The teen nodded. "I didn't get a chance because I was stuck on the island. I feel bad about it." Brooklynn stayed silent so as not to say the wrong thing or ask the wrong question. She started thinking about what the significance for those flowers might mean. "How much for the Coreopsis?" Brooklynn gave him an eyebrow. Darius noticed, and explained, "I was in seventh grade. I had to do a project for scho-, you know what? I don't need to explain myself to you." Brooklynn just shook her head with a smile.

The old florist said, "Those are on the house. Save your money and take Brooklynn out for a nice dinner. God knows that both of you could use a decent meal after all this time."

Darius gave a light chuckle. He knew that it was going to be useless to argue with the old woman. Once she said something, she might as well have written it in stone. The older teen gave the florist the cash, and carried the Irises and Brooklynn grabbed her Coreopsis. "Thanks Mrs. Johannsson."

The woman waved goodbye. "I'll see you at your first game! We're rooting for you."

Darius smiled and lead Brooklynn back to his Jeep. After deciding that they were hungry, the two teens agreed to eat at BJ's Family Restaurant. Darius parked his jeep, helped Brooklynn out of the car, and got seated at a table. Darius encouraged her to get one of the subs and he would share some of his shrimp dinner.

As they waited for their food to come, Brooklynn asked, "The Irises, they're for your mom, right?"

Darius stopped sipping on his Coke. After swallowing his drink, he nodded, "Yeah. I'm gonna drop them off later. I felt bad about not being able to. I get that we were stuck on an island with no communications. It's just... Something I need to do."

Brooklynn nodded. After a few moments of silence, their food came. Before she started eating, she said, "You don't have to go alone. I'll come with you."

Darius was about to object, but once he saw the look on her face, he realized that there was no point in trying to stop her. It was one of the many things he fell in love with about her. Instead, he smiled and said, "Thank you."

After eating, Darius drove him and Brooklynn to the cemetery where his mom laid. The two teens exited the car, and the older teen grabbed the flowers. Darius leads Brooklynn a little ways before stopping at a tombstone that read,

Sarah Bowman
Loving mother and sister
1974 - 2014

Darius knelt down, and set the flowers down on the corner of the headstone. He stayed there, and said, "Hey Mom. Sorry for not coming earlier. I've kind of been busy. You're not going to believe this, but I ended up going to Jurassic World after all. I managed to beat that video game that you used to complain was unscientific, and that it was a bunch of science fiction bull. I guess you ended up being right. About the game. No, the park itself was alright. I ended up getting a free invitation to stay there for six months. Can you believe that? The chance to be the first to live among dinosaurs for six months. I would say the experience was amazing, but... Not really a big fan of running for five hours a day."

"I made a bunch of friends too. There's this kid named Ben. Super cool guy. He actually had the biggest change out of all of us. Went from complete germaphobe to Arnold Schwarzenegger Predator badass. Then there's Sammy, a farmgirl from Texas. She's very energetic. Yazmina who's also an athlete. She's a total badass from start to finish. Then there was Kenji. A super cool dude. I wish I could have done more for him, but... I failed him."

"And then there's Brooklynn. She's amazing. I wish you could have met her. Just once. Just once. She's amazing. She's strong, smart, funny. She makes me feel amazing. I can't imagine living without her. You would have loved each and every one of them."

"I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry for how I dealt with your death. You would have been disappointed with me. I'm sorry that I haven't been the man that you did your best to raise. But I'm trying, Mom. I swear that I'm trying to be better. I love you."

Darius stood up, and stood in front of the tomb for another minute. Brooklynn wrapped her hands around his right arm, and lay her head on his shoulder. After another minute, Darius started walking back to the car. As he did, he turned to Brooklynn. "I meant every word. I love you."

"I love you too." Brooklynn said, keeping her head on his shoulder.

A little while later, Darius pulled back up into Brooklynn's house. He parked on the curb and walked her up. "I had a great time today. Thanks for letting me show you around."

"I'm glad you did." Brooklynn said. "It felt great to just walk for fun, hang out without having to worry about anything." The two teens smiled. They got up to the door, and Darius knocked.

A few seconds later, Tim opened the door. "Hey you two, you're, like, twenty minutes early."

"We wanted to make sure we beat the traffic." Darius said as Brooklynn went into the house.

"Well, I'm glad that Brooklynn managed to look around town." the man said. "Oh, pretty flowers sweetheart."

"Thanks." she said. "They were a gift from this florist Darius knew."

"Oh, that was sweet of them." Turning his attention back to Darius, the man asked, "Would you like to come inside? We're going to be making dinner in a little bit."

"That sounds like fun, but I need to be heading back. But we should definitely plan a dinner soon." Darius offered. "You guys get a chance to meet my Uncle and Aunt."

"Okay, well, I won't keep you any longer." Tim assured. "Drive safe Darius, alright?"

"Yes sir." Darius looked back at Brooklynn. "I love you."

"Love you too." Brooklynn responded. "Call me tomorrow?"

He nodded. "I'll see you Monday latest if we can't hang out tomorrow." With that, Darius drove home.

That Evening

RRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOARRH!

Darius knew that he and Brooklynn were surrounded. They were the only campers left on the island. Ben had died in the initial attack, thinking that direct combat would be best to fight. Sammy got her arm bitten by that spawn, and because of no modern medicine or hospital, she quickly bled out. Yaz had gotten hit with the poison. Darius had used the remainder of the antidote to save Brooklynn, but that was three days ago. Kenji tried to jump over the waterfall, thinking if he could stay under long enough, he could buy himself a little more time. He didn't expect that the monster would jump in after him.

The older teen whipped his shotgun around, trying to get himself a clear shot. Brooklynn made sure to crouch low to the ground to not be easily seen. Darius made a motion for her to be VERY quite. She nodded. The older teen heard the branches and leaves above crack and snap. He pointed his gun thinking it was the Scorpius, but a flock of birds flew away. Darius knew that the demon was close by. He just didn't know if they had managed to outrun it, which was highly unlikely, or if it decided to drag it's hunting game on longer than Darius and Brooklynn wanted to.

Darius kept inspecting the surrounding area. He saw nothing that indicated the monster was near them. He still didn't buy it. He turned around to let Brooklynn know that it was okay for her to get up. But he didn't expect to see her lifeless body, her skin pale, throat chewed out, and her intestines, and blood to be spread around her. Her pink jacket now torn, and splattered with Scarlett red.

The Scorpius stood up on it's hind legs. It's black snout was covered in blood. Brooklynn's blood. It looked at Darius, and wiped it's mouth, like a human who had just enjoyed a meal, making a over-the-top gesture to show that it was a good meal. Darius's heart raced as the Scorpius growled. The teen didn't even want to run anymore. Without her, he had nothing to lose. The Scorpius walked closer, and closer, almost expecting him to run. It stared at him, almost BEGGING it to run. But Darius stood still and dropped his gun. The Scorpius gave an almost unhappy huff, before opening it's jaws.

CRUNCH!

Darius shot out of his bed, gasping for air. He couldn't believe what he saw. He sighed, and put his head in his hands. She's okay. She's alright. You were just with her today.

Looking at his clock, he saw that it was 3:37. Darius continued to take deep breaths. He wasn't sure what to do. Did he risk going back to bed? Or did he do something to take his mind off of it? He decided that pushups was a good place to start. He did as many as he could. He felt the fear leave his body, being replaced with physical exhaustion. He looked back at his clock, and saw that it was 3:55. Looks like I REALLY needed to get it out.

Being hot, he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and drank half of it before heading back up to his room. He drank the rest of it before he laid back down on his bed. He fell asleep again pretty quickly.

The next morning, he was on the phone again with Jones. More accurately, he was sent to voice mail. In all honesty, Darius should have expected Jones to change his number. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell Sammy. Maybe he would leave it be for a little bit. They were all safe now, not exactly a HUGE reason to hurry. Yes, Wu was still at large, but it wasn't like he was able to build the next hybrid. At least not yet.

Over the next few weeks, Darius would be preparing for his Comeback Debut, as the internet had dubbed it. Amazingly, on the videos that Brooklynn and the school posted, people from all over the country were excited to hear how Darius Bowman, the top pick for the NFL Draft when he tried out, would handle being back.

Speaking of the NFL, a new video had gone viral of Peyton Manning in a recent interview with ESPN. The interviewer asked, "You've retired from football after an amazing eighteen year run. What do you think the future holds for you now?"

"Well, I mean, I love football. It's always gonna be a passion of mine." Manning answered. "I think the best thing I can do is to, kind of, take on the role of guiding these new young players. You know, help them to feel confident, showing them my support."

"Are there any players that you have in mind? Anyone that stands out to you?" another person asked.

"Well, It's hard for me to pick just one, but the first person that comes to my mind is this kid from Hamilton, Montana. He was in the news recently, about how he and his friends came back from the dead from Jurassic World. Darius Bowman, I think his name is." Manning continued. "I mean, I had a chance to look at this kid's stats. He's getting 3,000, 4,000 yard seasons. And this kid is in High School. With him going into his last season of High School football, I can't wait to see what this kid does in his collage and hopefully his NFL career."

First Game

Darius sat in the locker room like he always did before a game. His coach was giving out instructions, strong words of encouragement, pumping them up. He wanted this first game to send a strong message to the other schools and teams. Darius was back. And he was here for one more try at victory.

Their first game today was against the Salmon Savages. The Broncs had home field advantage today, so they were a little less anxious. The teens all stood up, and made their way to the field. Darius, as usual, took point. His head didn't ring. It was all muffled up. He looked to his right, Shawn by his side as always. Looking back to his left, he saw Blake. He had two of his best players and friends next to him.

"And ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome back to The Broncs and the return of Darius Bowman!" the announcer said.

Darius ran through the inflated tunnel, and pushed through the thick paper the cheerleaders were holding up. The stadium erupted into cheers as Darius came into view. He nodded at each and every one he saw, but he was only looking for one. After scanning the home crowd, he saw Brooklynn next to Tim and Jake. She waved, and all Darius could hear was her. Pointing towards her with his helmet, he mouthed, "I love you."

"I love you too." she mouthed back.

Darius was glad that she was close enough to the field that she could see him. She wasn't super close, but she was close enough. Before he knew it, the National Anthem had ended, and it was time for the kick off. Blake had managed to get the ball down to the 23 yard line. Darius took the field, and everyone huddled around him as he picked a play. He had studied the defense for the Savages. He knew the ins and outs. He picked a play that could get Blake to the opponent's 45 yard line at it's best. Blake would juke up the middle and cut back to the left, headed for the side lines. Darius called break, and the teams all got set.

The teen's breathing was heavy. He had to calm himself down. He knew what was at stake. Potential scholarships. But he had to block out all those distractions. After making sure the defense and offense were set, he hiked the ball.

Amazingly for Darius, the snap was complete garbage. Too short, not enough distance back to him. The teen quickly picked up the ball as his pocket quickly closed. He ran a few yards back, away from first down yardage. He knew that he was getting boxed in. The plan as he knew it was shot. Or so he thought. Blake had managed to find an opening, not on the right, but on the left. He threw the ball just before he got tackled to the ground.

He wasn't even sure if he threw a catchable ball. He barely heard the whistle signaling the play had ended. He looked around as people were cheering loudly. His offensive linemen were going crazy, and engulfed him into a bear hug. Darius was so confused until he managed to get a look at the score board. 6 points were up on the board. In eight seconds, the play went from dead to a Touchdown. His first touchdown back.

Darius's smile grew as he walked back to the sideline. The coach gave him a pat on the back and a good job. Blake sat down next to Darius, and handed him the football. "Your first of MANY touchdowns this season. Man, I thought you weren't even gonna look my way."

Darius laughed. "I actually thought I had wobbled the pass."

Blake shook his head. "No. It was PERFECT. Right on the money. 77 yard TD, what a way to open up the season."

After a long drive from the Savages, who managed to make it down to the Bronc's 33 yard line, the home team managed to score three points. On the next drive for the Broncs, with just barely seven minutes left in the first quarter, Darius handed the ball off to his half back, who managed to get some good yardage. Darius had managed to get a good 15 yard run when he didn't like the way the defense was looking in the Zone. He actually thought his time on Nublar helped him develop more speed and endurance. After managing to put up 34 more passing yards, the drive ended with a ten yard TD run for their half back.

The ball went back and forth through the entire game, with the Savages only managing to kick a field goal here or there or getting stopped at the fifty yard line, everyone on both teams were getting tired. Everyone except for Darius. He was still doing good. And he was playing good too.

It was now the fourth quarter, and Darius had managed to so far rack up 334 yards, and four TD's. The score sat at 42 to 15, Broncs winning. The only reason the Savages have points is because of their kicker. He was actually good, Darius had to admit.

With less than a minute on the clock, and sitting at the opponent's 22 yard line, it could have been easy for Darius to just take a knee, or let the kicker get some points. But he wanted to make sure people knew that he was out for blood this season.

Darius watched the play clock get to five before snapping the ball. His pocket had gotten sturdier throughout the game, so he was able to get more time to scan. He saw Blake had once again managed to outrun the middle defense. He threw another pass, which was caught once again. This made Darius's fifth TD pass for the night, and gave Blake three TD catches. The entire offense went crazy over how well Darius has been playing.

Darius looked over at Brooklynn and smiled. After the extra point, there were two seconds left on the clock. Due to regulations, they had to do another kickoff. But the other team just ran out of bounds once the time ran out. The two teams met in the middle of the field, and shook hands. Once everyone else was able to be let onto the field, Darius quickly tried to find Brooklynn among the crowds. He didn't get a chance to see her before the game aside from at school.

Once he did manage to find her, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a hug, kissing her on the cheek. They walked towards their parents and aunt and uncle. Darius noticed that they were sitting next to each other during the game. He was glad that Josh and his aunt were so far welcoming of Brooklynn and her parents.

Darius was engulfed in a hug with Josh and his aunt, and Tim gave him a hug as well. Jake gave him a hand shake and a smile. Darius was glad that he's been making slow progress with Jake. After a small celebration, the two families went home. Darius called his brother and told him everything that had happened. "You'd better get your ass down here as soon as possible. We need you. The QB sucks. His passing percentage is below 60."

"Don't worry. I'll be there. We'll set a bunch of records together." Darius assured his brother.

"We'll get drafted and play a few seasons against each other." Brand continued.

The two brothers finished, "And finish our careers together."

"Alright, well, I'll let you get to bed." Brandon said. "Tell Blake good job on the catches. I knew he would shine."

And that's where I'm ending. A shorter chapter than usual, but you know how it is. Anyways, hope school is going well for everyone. Would hate for anyone's year to start poorly. Stay home, stay safe.