Alrighty, I don't have too much to say other than I appreciate those of you that are still reading my story and that I hope you all are enjoying it so far and will stick around for more to come.
"Hello.": Normal talking.
"HELLO.": Yelling.
"Hello" Speaking through the radio.
'Hello': Thinking.
What: Emphasizing a word.
"HELLO": Signs and Warnings.
* bang * Sound effects.
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* trilling and snarling *
Suddenly two Baryonyx jumped over a fallen tree before coming to a stop and let out a few calls and screeches. Whipping their heads in different directions and continued to repeat these actions, like they were trying to find someone or something.
* distant roaring screech *
The two Baryonyx took off in the direction that they heard the noise from and one let out another screech, almost like a confirmation that they heard them. And with that, the two disappeared into the jungle in search of their fellow Baryonyx.
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Darius was laying down on a branch that was up in a tree as he looked through a pair of binoculars. He noticed the Baryonyx pair running away into the jungle as he heard faint screeching coming from a group of pteranodons that were flying over some trees.
Darius looked over at the flying reptiles and let out a defeated sigh.
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Down below the tree that Darius was looking from, the rest of the campers were gathered around waiting for their leader to come back down and tell them what he saw.
Brooklynn, Sammy, Yasmina, And Cass were all around the same tree. Brooklynn was standing up and leaning against the tree with her arms crossed. Sammy was sitting down on one of the roots of the tree like it was a bench while looking through one of their bags. Yasmina was sitting down on the ground and was using one of the roots like a backrest while also crossing her arms as she tried to be semi-comfortable. Cass was laying down to the left of Yasmina and used the same root like a headrest as he took one of his small power naps that the group has gotten used to him taking.
Kenji on the other hand was sitting down with his back against the tree that Darius was currently in as he kept throwing rocks at the other campers' tree to try and sate his boredom for the moment.
* clack *
* clack *
* clack *
Kenji repeated the process over and over again, almost mindlessly at this point. Though it was starting to annoy Yasmina as the boy had been throwing the rocks near her head, so the noise was louder and a lot more irritating for her than it was for the others.
But Yasmina had enough of Kenji's annoying little game that he was playing and right before the next rock could make contact with the tree, Yaz had turned around and snatched it out of the air as she gave the boy a look of annoyance. Kenji was about to throw another rock but dropped it in both shock and fright because he wasn't expecting her to do that.
Cass let out a sigh as opened his eyes and looked up at the tree leaves above him. "Kenji." He said in a tired but serious voice.
"Uh… yes?" Said boy responded with hesitation.
"I don't ask much from you, hell, I don't ask much from anyone. But the next time that you purposely become annoying or make noise while I'm trying to sleep, I will shove my sledgehammer up your ass and use you like a damn scarecrow. Do you understand?" Cass asked with a slight growl to his tone as he glared up at the incoming sunlight.
"G-Got it, man. I'll try to not do it anymore." Kenji says to the scariest person that he's met.
"Good." Was Cass's only response as he sat up and popped his neck before standing up and popping/stretching the rest of his body.
"You get enough sleep?" Yasmina asked as she looked up at him.
"Hmm? Yeah… I've got enough for the next 6-8 hours." Cass casually tells her.
"What? How? You only slept for like… 20 minutes?" Yasmina asked him incredulously.
"I have no fucking clue. Probably from you know… stuff, but I guess my body just adjusted to need less sleep? Don't get me wrong, I'm still dead tired at all times, but I can still fully function." Cass told the girl to his right.
Yasmina knew what he meant by stuff, but she could only shake her head as she gave him a small smile. "I can't tell whether you're lucky or not."
Cass looked down at the girl and returned the smile. "Neither can I."
And it was at this moment that Darius climbed down from his tree and returned to the group. He let out a sigh as he placed his hands on his knees and caught his breath.
"Good news?" Sammy asked as she and Brooklynn walked toward their leader.
"The pteranodons are nesting on the eastern mountains, so that's out." Darius tells them.
"Ugh! Bad news." Sammy says as she reaches into her bag and pulls out the map that they've been using, showing a couple of X's on the map.
"So, we can't stay on Main Street because of dinosaurs." Brooklynn said as she walked behind Sammy and started to point at certain locations on the map. "The mountains, grasslands, and jungle are out because of dinosaurs."
"And Kenji's penthouse is out because he's bad at math." Yasmina spoke up as she came over and pointed at the map.
"Hey, I didn't think my dad was serious about changing the locks if I failed algebra. That is not my fault." Kenji said as he raised his hands as if trying to appear innocent.
"That's actually completely your fault." Yasmina told the boy as she pointed at him.
"And for some reason, you wouldn't just let me break into it." Cass says as he walks up behind the girls and looks down at the map.
"Because it's expensive, duh." Kenji said as if it was the obvious answer. "But none of that matters. The whole island is full of dinosaurs. We're fucked."
"We can't give up yet. We set off the emergency beacon. We just need to find somewhere safe to hole up until rescue arrives." Sammy says to them.
"Where? It's been days. We're out of options." Yaz said to her.
"Actually… there is one place that I brought to Darius's attention, but we've kinda been holding off on it hoping we could find someplace else. But it seems that we're shit out of luck for all our other options." Cass told the campers'.
"He's right, but I'm not sure you're gonna like it." Darius added to his statement.
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The campers had set off in the direction of wherever Cass and Darius figured would be a good place for them to stay, they had been walking for a few hours in order to get there and the sight that greeted them was the destroyed remains of what was once Camp Cretaceous.
"Are you serious? Didn't we specifically run away from here?" Kenji asked the two that led them all here.
"Just hear me out." Darius says as he raises his hands and tries to explain to the other four campers of their decision. "There's a stream for fresh water. We've got trees and mountains to protect us from the worst of weather and dinosaur attacks."
Brooklynn just cleared her throat as she and the others gave him a look not believing him.
Darius glanced back at the wreckage behind him before turning forward again. "Okay, not all dinosaur attacks. But if you were coming to rescue a bunch of campers, wouldn't camp be the first place you looked." Darius said as Kenji and Sammy looked at each other as they were starting to see why they chose this place. "And we've even got supplies to build a shelter right here. They're, uh, broken supplies, but we could do it!" He says as he gestures to the giant pile of wood and metal. "Right, Brooklynn?"
"What?" Said girl asks simply as she still doesn't like the plan.
"I mean, you must've made one video about building a shelter, right?" Darius asks her.
"Right. All you do is videos." Kenji gave his input as he was starting to like this plan.
"Excuse me, I do lots of things other than videos. I have a whole life of other things! But, yes, okay, I did help raise that barn for "Unboxing Amish Country". Just saying so…" Brooklyn said as she trailed off.
"Knew it." Yasmina said in the background.
"Oh, I love that one!" Sammy exclaimed.
"There you go." Kenji said from beside her.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's clear that stuff!" Yasmina said as she walked forward and stood next to Cass.
"Sammy. Map." Was the simple command that Cass gave the Texan girl who did what he said and handed him the map. "Alright, further up north is a small clinic. Whether it be for people or for dinosaurs, who fucking knows, but what we need are the basics. Gauze, rubbing alcohol, bandages, you know, simple shit. Because with how accident-prone that you kids are, as well as your ability to get into trouble, I'd be a little less stressed if I knew that we had medical supplies on hand should we need them." Cass told them as he handed the map back to the girl who put it back in her bag.
"Good thinking, Cass. Because if we're gonna be staying here, we need to make sure we're supplied for anything." Darius agreed with his thinking.
"So who's gonna go?" Brooklynn spoke up.
"Hmm. I guess Yaz and I could stay here to start sorting this stuff so that we can find what's good and what's not. Or at the very least organize the shit." Cass told them.
"Just you two? Wouldn't it be better if you had Kenji with you? Or even Sammy?" Darius asked.
"Darius, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'd have a higher chance of getting a dinosaur to start clearing this shit than I would Kenji. And Sammy… well I don't think Sammy would be much help when it comes to lifting half of this stuff." Cass told the young leader. "No offense, Sammy."
"None was taken, big guy." The Texan girl replied. "Plus, I'd rather go on this little adventure anyway." She tells the giant who just nods back in understanding.
"So that means it's me, Brooklynn, and Sammy that is going to the clinic. And then you and Yaz are staying here?" Darius asked.
"Sounds about right." Yasmina answered him.
"Wait, what about me?" Kenji cut in.
"That's up to you. Whether you're staying here with us or going with them." Cass told him.
"I… think I'll stay here with you guys?" Kenji said with some hesitation in his voice. Because on one hand, physical labor, on the other hand, also physical labor but with the chance of dinosaurs.
"Alright, then it's settled. The three of us will go out and get some medical supplies, while you three stay here and sort through this rubble for usable pieces so we can build a base." Darius said to the group and everyone nodded in acceptance.
As the three youngest campers' of the group begin to head off, Brooklynn found three broken planks on the ground that would be perfect defense weapons for them. So she picked them up and tossed Darius and Sammy theirs, and the two teens caught them with Darius giving a practice swing with his.
And with that, the small expedition for medical supplies has begun.
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IN THE JUNGLE
The small group of three has been walking for possibly 10 minutes now in the direction of the clinic. With Darius leading them, Sammy being in the middle, and Brooklynn holding up the rear. Each camper looked around with their planks in both hands just in case something happened to jump out at them.
"Wow!" Darius quietly let out as he walked up and placed his hand on a tree that had been slightly debarked in a small area due to some kind of dinosaur if the scratches on the wood were any indication.
"Hey, Darius, look at this!" Sammy called out to him as she knelt on the ground looking at something.
The younger boy rushed over to the girl and knelt with her. "Whoa! It's a stegosaurus plate! They shed them as they grow." Darius explained to her as he ran a hand across the plate.
"Oh, like a deer shedding antlers?" Sammy asked using the closest example that she knew of. "'Round March, you can't walk two feet without stumbling over 'em back home. Me and my sister compete to see who can find the most." She explained this to the boy with a smile and he smiled back. "You know, these look just like the marks deer make. Helps them with the shedding. Maybe the dinosaurs do the same thing!" Sammy excitedly said to Darius as the two of them walked back over to the debarked tree.
"This could be new behavior! That's so cool!" Darius said as he was letting his dino-nerd side run free for a moment.
"Know what would be even cooler? If there was dung nearby, we could see what this stego ate for lunch!" Sammy matched Darius's enthusiasm as she was an animal lover herself.
Brooklynn walked by just at that moment and made a face of disgust at the thought of dinosaur feces and continued to walk away from them.
"Brooklynn, we're gonna see if there's any dung!" Sammy called out to the other girl as she and Darius walked off in their search for the substance.
Brooklynn let out a sigh as she whispered to herself. "Just keep walking. They cannot make you look at dung if you just keep walking."
* whirring *
Suddenly Brooklynn heard a noise which caused her to stop in her tracks and look around with her weapon at the ready. "Uh… Guys, do you hear that?" she asked out loud, grabbing the other's attention.
Darius and Sammy heard the girl and rushed over to her.
"You say something?" Sammy asks.
Once again, Brooklynn began looking around in hopes of finding the origin of the noise but this time with the help of Darius and Sammy. But after a few seconds, they heard nothing out of the ordinary.
"It- It's nothing. Must have been a weird bird or…" Brooklynn trailed off as she walked away in the direction of the clinic.
The other two campers shared a glance before deciding to follow after their third member.
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BACK AT THE REMAINS OF CAMP
Cass and Yasmina had begun to sort through some of the piles of wood, throwing the useless pieces that were either too small or too damaged to be of any worth and starting a pile of some of the more moderate and larger pieces that were still solid and could be used for building the base.
"Hey, help me with this one." Yasmina said to her current partner in the activity.
Cass merely grunted in acceptance to the girl as he walked over and helped her pick up a particularly heavy chunk of wood. The two of them gave a nod to each other as they adjusted their grip before lifting it with a decent amount of force on their end, but they managed to pick it up before slowly walking with it and setting it down next to the other piles.
Once they had set it down and had gotten a better look at it, they finally realized why it was so heavy. It was about 10 feet in length, around 5 feet in width, and had some metal bars bolted to them for support. It was probably a piece of one of the floors that managed to stay intact from when the Indominus attacked the camp.
"Well, no wonder you needed help. This thing was easily over 200 pounds of wood and metal." Cass said as he looked over at Yaz, who was currently taking deep breaths and stretching out her muscles.
"I've never had to pick up something that heavy before." Yasmina told the older boy.
"I wouldn't think so. You did Track and Field, not competitive weight lifting." Cass chuckled out to the girl as he walked around her and back towards the pile of materials.
"Oh, and you did?" Yasmina questioned.
"Not exactly. But I focused my workouts on how much bigger I was compared to other people, so… you know, being able to lift heavy shit was going to be natural." Cass explained as he picked up another piece of wood and put it in the pile.
"I see. So you didn't do anything like sports or clubs while you had the chance?" Yaz asked as she went back and continued to help him.
"Not really. I never was a people person, even when I was younger. And I never exactly had the time to be able to do these things for fun, you know?" Cass tossed a piece of wood into the pile before giving Yasmina a look.
And Yaz immediately knew what he meant by that. 'I almost forgot. Between what's happened to his family and him being on the streets for a few years, he wouldn't exactly have time or the chance to do things other kids got to do.' Yasmina thought to herself. "I'm sorry, Cass. It kinda just slipped my mind that you never got to experience things… normally, while growing up."
"It's fine, Yaz. It's not exactly like I'm shouting out my past to the heavens. It's easy to forget things when you're not being constantly reminded of them." Cass told her with a smile on his lips as he tossed some of the smaller pieces away.
Yasmina smiled back at him and give the young adult a thankful smile. "You're right, but I would like to hear more of your past one day. We are friends after all." She said as she walked over to him and placed her hand on his arm.
Cass looked down at her hand before returning his gaze to her face. "Friends, huh?" He gained a teasing smirk on his lips. "You still do owe me that hug, Yaz. Some special one-on-one physical contact with each other." He leaned down into the girl's face and said in a deeper more smooth tone of voice. "Sounds fun, yeah?"
Though Yasmina wasn't exactly ready for his sudden change of tone paired with his teasing so she kinda just shut down. "I – You- We-" She turned around to hide her face from the older boy as she didn't want him to see the beginnings of a blush upon her cheeks as she wasn't prepared for what he suggested.
Cass gained a smirk on his face as his teasing worked on the girl, before letting out a chuckle as he placed his hand on her head and playfully patted her head. "I was teasing you, Yaz. No need to shut down on me." He said as he removed his hand from her and put them both in his pockets as he waited for her to turn around and face him.
It took a few moments, but Yasmina had finally managed to regain her cool and collected exterior before turning around and looking up at the young adult. "You can be an ass sometimes, you know that?" Yaz joked with him as she crossed her arms and gave a small pout.
Cass heard her wording and immediately let another smirk come to his face but this time was because he was ready to say something stupid. "I am what I eat, Yaz." He said with a small chuckle at the stupid joke that he made.
"What?" Yasmina said as it took a moment for his words to properly register with her. "I- You-" She had gained a look of shock on her face as a small hint of blush appeared on her cheeks. "You. No more talking." Yaz said as she walked past him and to the pile of wood to distract herself from Cass.
Cass just let out a laugh at the girl's reaction to his words before calming himself and going to help her. "Yes ma'am."
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BACK WITH THE OTHER CAMPERS
Brooklynn, Darius, and Sammy continued to walk through the jungle until finally, they made it into a small clearing where they saw a small shed that had the clinic marking they were looking for.
"Let's make this quick." Darius said as he and the other two got inside the gated area and started to pull boxes out of the shed in order to find what they were looking for. "Anything that might be—" He was cut off by Brooklynn.
"Food!" She said as she raised it in the air like a sacred relic.
"Never thought I'd be excited to see canned fruit, but check out all of this canned fruit." Sammy said as she reached into the same box and pulled out two more cans while simultaneously putting some in the bag she was carrying.
"Finally, something other than soggy pizza!" Brooklynn rejoiced as she and the others had gotten tired of eating the same thing over and over. 'Maybe I could get Cass to go back to Main Street to get some other foods for us… I'll have to run that by him and Darius sometime. But for now, canned fruit is better than nothing.' Brooklynn thought to herself as she went through the items that were in the container.
Darius came over and began searching through the same container as the girls but found something that caught his eye. It was a small pocket journal with a light brown cover, and as he flipped through the pages, he figured out that no one had used it. So with that, he pocket the journal and went to look through some other boxes.
Darius let out a gasp as he opened up another box. "Look!" He called out to the girls and they came over at his call.
"Gauze and bandages! This is exactly what Cass asked for!" Sammy said as she picked up the large rolls. "All 20 feet of it." She said in an unsure voice about its size.
"But there's no rubbing alcohol or disinfectants. Not even wipes." Brooklynn brought to their attention as she searched through the box but found nothing of use.
* bellowing *
The three teens let out gasps as they heard the tell-tale sign of a dinosaur being near them, so obviously they went to check it out. They put the supplies inside Sammy's bag and they all picked up their wooden weapons as they walked the perimeter of the fence as they searched for the dinosaur that made the bellow. Eventually, they came across an opening in the fence and saw a sinoceratops inside a cage that was currently asleep, if the snoring coming from it was any indication.
Sammy let out a small gasp as she and Darius shared a glance before walking toward the dino.
"What is this place?" Brooklynn asked as she followed after her companions in this endeavor.
And not even ten steps forward were they right up on the cage that held the sinoceratops. The dino was letting out its low groans as it slept while continuing to snore.
"This must be a veterinary station for herbivores. I guess when everyone was evacuated, they got left behind." Darius said as he looked into the cage at the dinosaur. 'That explains the size of the bandages.' He thought to himself.
"Like us." Was Sammy's simple response. "They're out of food and water, too. You poor thing." She says as she reaches into the cage and rubs the sino's leg after noticing the empty buckets next to the dinosaur.
The sino let out a low groan as it looked back at the girl.
* groan *
The three once again heard a groaning noise come from a dinosaur, but this time it wasn't from the sinoceratops, they looked over to their left and noticed that some more herbivores were stuck in their cages just like the sino.
"We have to do something!" Sammy said as she suddenly stood up.
"We saw that Sinoceratops herd in the grasslands. If we let her out…" Darius trailed off.
"She could go be with them and east all the grass she'll ever want!" Sammy finished up his sentence.
"Wait! What happened to making this quick? Cass isn't gonna like us coming back later than we should have." Brooklynn warns the others as she didn't like this plan.
"We're adapting, Brooklynn! Cass will understand." Sammy turns and says to the other girl. "New mission: free the dinos!" She said as she reached over to the latch and lifted it before pulling the gate open.
The sinoceratops noticed the now open door to its cage and let out a groan.
"Be free!" Sammy excitedly exclaimed as she gestured for the dino to leave.
And ever so slowly and shakily, the sino managed to stand up on all four legs while letting out a groan of protest. It slowly began to walk out of the cage but stopped about halfway out before letting out another groan followed by a snort.
"That's fine. Be free to hang around here." Sammy said as she and the others watched the dinosaur not immediately run away from this place.
"Next up: stegosauruses." Darius says as he and Sammy head off toward the other dinos.
"Yep, totally what we came here to do. Haven't lost track of our goals at all." Brooklynn sarcastically said as she lagged behind the others but nonetheless followed them.
Darius and Sammy went to go free the stegosauruses. Darius practically threw the gate open for the dinosaur while Sammy gave it a bit more time as she slowly opened up the gate for her stego. But while she was doing that, Darius walked over to another cage and freed a parasaurolophus.
* load groan *
Now that noise caught the campers' attention as it didn't exactly sound like any herbivore they'd heard before.
* growls *
"Uh, guys?" Sammy called out as she saw something in a cage further back than the others.
* trills and snarls *
The three campers slowly made their way closer to the cage to figure out what kind of dinosaur was inside, but the tree overhead was casting a shadow on the cage. And said beast was pacing around its cage while letting out its little passive trills. Sammy took a few steps closer to the cage, and the dino saw that as it lunged forward against the metal bars and let out a roar.
The teens all jumped back in fright and they let out their screams as the dinosaur that was previously hidden by the shadows showed its face by stepping into the light.
"This one seems meaner than the others." Brooklynn simply stated.
* roar *
"That's a Baryonyx." Darius said as he was able to identify the dinosaur in the cage. "Predator."
"Predator?" Brooklynn asked. "Uh, what exactly are we planning on doing with it?" She wondered with a sense of caution.
"Well, it's kind of a no-brainer." Sammy said as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at the caged beast.
"Totally." Darius agreed as he was doing the same pose as the girl next to him.
"Obviously, we should free it." Sammy said at the same time as Darius.
"We should leave it." Darius said at the same time as Sammy.
"Wait. What?" Both Darius and Sammy said in unison after hearing the other's answer.
"Interesting." Brooklynn said as she glanced between the two considering they had two very different opinions on what to do with the Baryonyx.
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BACK AT CAMP
Yaz and Cass had gotten through roughly a fourth of the wreckage so far, well… through the stuff, they could actually move. It's been about 30-45 minutes since the others had left to head out to the clinic. So that left the two physically fit campers busy as they've practically been doing this since they left. As for Kenji though…
* snoring *
He's been sleeping for the last 20 or so minutes. At first, Cass had told him to help with the sorting but in typical Kenji fashion, he didn't do anything and went off to be lazy.
"Shouldn't we wake him up and make him help? It's not fair that we've got to bust our asses off while he just gets to lay around." Yasmina complained to the young adult to her right as they sat in the shade of a tree while taking a break from their work.
Cass looked over at the snoring boy before looking back to Yasmina. "As much as another pair of hands would be helpful… I'd rather them come from anyone else. Nothing against Kenji in particular, it's just that people who grew up rich have no idea what to do outside of being rich. So asking him to help us haul this shit around would be a waste of time in my own opinion." Cass told the girl as he leaned back into the shade.
"I get that, I do. But… we're all in this together, yeah? Shouldn't we all be helping each other survive by pulling our own weight?" Yasmina asked as she looked at the young adult.
Cass just closed his eyes and let out a sigh. 'There goes my break.' He thought. "Alright, fine. We can go bug the little shit." Cass told her as he stood up and stretch his back.
She gave a triumphant smile and a little fist pump at her ability to convince the older boy to do something about Kenji's lack of effort in their project at the moment. She stood up and followed after him as they headed toward the sleeping teen's position.
* snoring *
"Wake up." Cass simply said as he kicked the boy in the side of the leg to wake him up. He and Yaz stood on either side of Kenji's form.
Kenji woke with a start at the sudden and not-so-gentle contact that was made to his leg. He looked up and noticed the two of them standing over him. "What the hell, guys! I was trying to sleep." He said to them.
"Uh-huh? Well, it's time for you to wake up, sleeping beauty, because we still have a job to do. And you chose to stay here, so that means you're gonna start working. So get your ass up, we still have shit to do." Cass said as he crossed his arms and stared down at him.
"Seriously, Kenji. You haven't even tried to help us. You looked at some of the wood and then decided that you had done enough and went to sleep." Yasmina told him as she put her hands on her hips. "You've gotta start pulling your own weight around here like the rest of us."
"What's the point of doing something when you could just get someone else to do it for you? Example: I've never cleaned my room. I wait for it to get messy enough that my dad's assistant caves and he makes one of the maids do it for me. Win-win." Kenji told them.
"And you're proud of this?" Yasmina asks as she glances at Cass before looking back down at the other boy.
"Obvi, otherwise I wouldn't have told you about it. Now leave me alone so I can go back to sleep." Kenji responds as he lays back down and closes his eyes.
Yasmina was about to speak up and say something else but was stopped by Cass's hand on her shoulder stopping her as he prepared to say his next words. "Fine, if you want to continue to be useless, then so be it, you've let down this group numerous times already, Kenji. Even Ben is more useful than you, and he's dead." Cass dropped that bombshell of a statement on him as he walked away.
Saying the dead camper's name instantly caught both Yasmina's and Kenji's attention. Especially the last words that Cass had said. Dead. Ben is dead. It's not something they liked thinking of or even openly talked about. So hearing Cass say those words shook both of them in a way they hadn't expected.
Kenji flinched at the statement as well as the thought of the boy. And now with this pool of negative feelings forming in his gut, the teen didn't think he'd be going back to sleep as soon as he had thought. Kenji opened his eyes as he looked up at Yasmina with clear hurt and sadness in his eyes.
Yaz glanced down at Kenji as she held the same feeling in her eyes before tearing he eyes away and followed after the oldest of the group. She couldn't really believe that Cass would say those things to Kenji. Sure, the boy needed to start pulling his weight or at the very least pitch in, but to straight-up call him useless and drop Ben's name on him was a bit too far for the situation.
"What the hell was that?" Yasmina asked in a hushed tone as she got back over to the materials and saw Cass sorting through them. "Did you really have to say those things to him?" She asked as she just stood there and waited for an answer.
"I get what I said was harsh, probably even unnecessary. But trust me, it'll give him the push that he needs to start getting out of his funk and start helping us and the others." Cass responded to her in a similar hushed tone as he continued to work.
"But what if-" Yasmina started but was cut off as Cass turned and grabbed both of her shoulders.
"Have I ever been wrong about anything from the moment you met me?" He asked as he stared the girl in the eyes.
Yaz stared back into his eyes as she tried desperately to search her memory for him being wrong about anything, but nothing came to mind. "N-No…" She said as she reached up and placed her hands on his forearms.
"Then please trust me." He said she slowly took his hands off the girl. "I know that I'm not exactly the… best person. But I am trying to make sure that everyone gets home safe and sound. Well, those of us that are left…" Cass trailed off.
And that's when it clicked for her. 'He's not really upset with Kenji… he's upset with himself. He thinks he's failed… and he's taking the loss of Ben harder than the rest of us, next to Darius.' Yasmina thought to herself. 'Those things he said to Kenji… Were they really pointed at Kenji, or to himself…?'
Yasmina smiled softly as she looked in his eyes before giving the young adult a comforting squeeze on the arm. "Okay. I'll trust you." She said in a reassuring tone as she wanted him to believe her.
Cass gave her a thankful smile and gave a small nod. "Thank you." He said softly before letting out a sigh. "We should probably get back to work now."
"Whatever you say, big guy." Yaz addressed him with a wink as she walked past him and grabbed a piece of the wreckage.
Cass chuckled lightly as he joined the girl. 'Maybe having a friend isn't so bad… especially her.' He thought.
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BACK AT THE CLINIC
"We can't free the predators!" Darius yelled out as he walked away from the Baryonyx cage.
"But why?" Sammy asked as she looked back and forth between Darius and the Baryonyx before chasing after the boy. "I thought you cared about these animals." She says to him.
"I do, but I also care about going home, you know, uneaten?" Darius informed the girl that was following him.
"What do you think, Brooklynn?" They both asked at the same time as they stopped behind said girl.
Though Brooklynn wasn't exactly paying attention as once again, a noise caught her attention. "Do you hear that?"
"Way to help, B." Darius sarcastically said with a bit of attitude as he walked away.
"But, Darius!" Sammy called out as she chased him once more.
"No, guys, I actually hear…" Brooklynn tried to explain before just letting out a scoff and following after the two.
"If we free the herbivores, we should free the predators. It's only fair." Sammy said as she ran ahead and stopped in front of Darius.
"You wanna free something that wants to have us for dinner?" Darius asked as he walked around the girl.
Sammy reached out and grabbed onto his shoulder to stop him. "We found them, which makes us responsible. So if we can't let them go, we'll have to come back every day to feed them." She tried to negotiate with him.
"With what?" Darius asked. "Baryonyxes eat more than 100 pounds of meat a day." He explained.
"With this!" Sammy confidently said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a can.
"Peaches? They're carnivores, not omnivores." Darius informed the stubborn girl once again as he tries to walk away.
"Okay, fine, then. Where do we get that much meat?" Sammy asked him.
Darius simply turned to face her as he gestured at the sinoceratops that they released, and the dino let out a low groan just as he did.
Sammy ran in front of Darius and threw out her arms in an attempt to block Darius from the sino. "No!" She said with a gasp.
"Don't look at me like that. She's what they eat." Darius told her as the sinoceratops let out another groan.
"We're not feeding Maria to them." Sammy exclaimed to the boy.
"Wait, you named-? Ugh. Doesn't matter." Darius could already feel the headache coming from this argument. "They aren't going to eat canned fruit or frozen pizza." He explained to her.
"If I can't feed them, then we go back to plan A: release them into the wild." Sammy said as she rushed back over to the Baryonyx cage with Darius chasing after her.
"We're not releasing them. Why would you want to?" Darius asked as he got in front of the girl.
"Because they should get to go home. These guys didn't ask to be here. But they are, and now they're trapped, away from their families." Sammy explained to him with a saddened tone of voice, and Darius was starting to understand as his facial features changed to one of sadness as well.
"Run, run, run!" Brooklynn suddenly shouted out as she sprinted by the other two campers'.
* stomp *
* stomp *
* stomp *
And with that, Darius and Sammy turned toward the noise and let out screams at what they saw.
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BACK AT CAMP
Cass and Yasmina had gotten back to work after their little… talk with Kenji, and between the three of them, it's been pretty silent as the two worked and the other boy laid down as he grew restless. The oldest teen suddenly straightened his back and looked around as he turned his head to the left and right.
'Something isn't right…' Cass thought trailed off as he got the same feeling he had back at the dino drive. 'That means- oh shit.'
"Cass? You good?" Yasmina asked as she noticed the older boy stop working and looked distracted.
"It's the others. Something went wrong… like back at the dino drive." Cass turned and looked at the shorter girl who spoke to him.
"Shit." Was her one-word response.
"Shit, indeed. On one hand, I want to believe that they can handle themselves. On the other hand, I want to go help them." Cass told Yasmina.
"I understand that. But we can't be anymore spread out than we already are, especially with you going out on your own." Yasmina told him as she placed a hand on his shoulder, which in itself was kinda hard seeing as how the young adult was almost an entire foot taller than her.
"I know that, I just… don't want to take any chances, you know?" Cass said with a sigh as he looked down at her before looking away.
"I get what you're saying. But have some faith in them, okay? At the very least they can rely on Darius's dinosaur knowledge to get out safe." She said as she took her hand off him.
"Yeah, you're right. Just kinda… stressed. As usual, I guess." Cass mumbled to himself but Yaz heard him regardless.
"Look, you've done a lot these past few days. For both yourself and all of us. So why don't you go take a walk by the stream? Or even take a nap? Just get some rest, please?" She asked gently.
Cass was gonna try and argue about needing to take a break as he looked down at her but saw that she wasn't gonna take no as an answer. "I guess I could chill out for a moment…" He trailed off s he scratched the back of his head.
"Good, now get going. I can handle this on my own for now." Yasmina confidently told him so as to further convince him.
The young adult merely gave her a nod and a small smile as he turned around and walked off to find a place to have his break, but what he would do was something he could ask himself while he walked.
Yaz watched him leave before letting out a small sigh and turning back to the pile of junk that she had to sort through. She had walked over to a piece of wood and tried to lift it, but couldn't due to its weight. "Great, just when he leaves, I need him again." Yasmina grumbled with a sigh but something catches her attention. No, not something, someone.
Kenji had walked over and grabbed onto the other side of the piece of wood that she was trying to lift. Both he and Yaz shared a look but didn't say a word as they both focused their attention back on the material in their hands and began to lift. They struggled slightly due to its weight but managed to move it over to its appropriate pile.
"Thanks, Kenji." Yasmina said to the boy as she looked over at him.
"No problem. Is there… anything else I can do to help?" Kenji asked in a tone that didn't have his usual energy. "Kinda want to start pulling my own weight and all that…" He trailed off.
Yasmina just looked at the boy and smiled as she figured he was still feeling bad about what Cass had said about him. "Yeah, just help me sort this wood until the others get back." She said as she went back and continued to work. Kenji just nodded and followed her example as he began to work.
It had been a few minutes since they had begun working together and the silence was starting to get to the both of them. Without Cass, Yasmina didn't know what to really talk about. And Kenji didn't exactly know what to say at the moment in general.
Finally, Yasmina had had enough as she let out a sigh. "Look… I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, or at all really. But Cass didn't mean those things he said to you. Well, at least he didn't mean to say them to you." Yaz said to him.
And that caught Kenji's attention. Because one, Yasmina didn't seem the type to talk about someone behind their back, and two, Cass was a pretty serious person so why wouldn't he mean what he said? "What do you mean?" Kenji asked as he set down a piece of wood.
"He's probably gonna kill me if I say anything, so please don't tell anyone about this, but… all those things about being useless and letting people down? He wasn't saying those things to you, he was saying them at you." Yasmina explained to the teen.
"Wait. If he wasn't saying those things to me, then who was he saying them to?" Kenji asked as he really didn't understand at the moment.
"Himself." Yaz answered as she tossed some of the smaller pieces away.
Now that made Kenji stop. He knew Cass had every right to call him those things because whether he'd openly admit it or not, he knew he wasn't the most useful since they arrived on the island. But for Cass to be saying those things about himself…? That didn't make any sense to him.
"But… he's done so much. Hell, it's because of him and Darius that we're even still alive. So why would he-" Kenji was saying but was cut off.
"Because he thinks he's failed…" Yaz said as she looked away. "Back on the first day that everything went to shit, he made a promise that he'd get all of us back home. All of us. But after what happened on the monorail, he feels like he's failed not only himself but us as well." Yasmina explained to him. "At least… that's what I'm gathering…" She trailed off with a sigh.
And after that explanation, it began to all make sense for Kenji. How eager Cass was to get them all to safety first, how he was prepared to be around and face down some of the dinosaurs so they didn't have to, how he'd occasionally just stare off into nothing for a few seconds or try to simultaneously be with them at all times but also try to be alone to think.
"He's taking Ben's death harder than the rest of us… right up there with Darius, if not potentially worse." Yasmina added to her statement.
"He's trying to make up for what he lost… that's why he's been trying harder as of late. He doesn't want to lose anyone else." Kenji said as he got back to work.
"Exactly." Yaz said to him. 'I would say something about his family… but I'll let you be the one to tell them that, Cass.' She thought to herself before helping the boy to her left.
"Then I guess I better start pulling my weight around here. Try to take some of the weight off the big buy's shoulders, yeah?" Kenji said to her as he started to get back into his usual mood and tone.
"Mhm. That's all that any of us can do for him right now." Yasmina agreed as the two of them continued to work.
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BACK AT THE CLINIC
* roars *
Darius and Sammy began running away as they screamed and whimpered as they were chased by a Baryonyx that had suddenly appeared.
The Baryonyx let out its snarls as it chased the two campers and went to take a bite out of them but missed as they dodged to the right. But the dinosaur immediately stopped as it looked forward and began trilling and letting out screeches as the caged Baryonyx did the same in return.
"Guys, over here." Brooklynn whispered out as she waved the two over from her location. Not wanting to be in the open any longer than they had to, Darius and Sammy quickly rushed over to the girl and got behind cover.
* trills and screeches *
The three campers all looked over their current source of cover and watched the dinosaurs. The Baryonyx on the outside let out a screech as it proceeded to start slamming its head and body into the cage.
"It's trying to free the other Baryonyx." Darius whispered to the others.
They all got back behind cover before unanimously deciding that now would be the best time to sneak away since the dinos were now distracted. Darius got up and was followed by Brooklynn and Sammy as they tried to stay low and not make any noise as they moved around a fence.
* snarling *
Now that noise caught their attention as they all turned to look where it came from and spotted a third Baryonyx that walked out from behind one of the cages. The group let out whimpers as the dinosaur stopped and stared at them for a moment before letting out a roar and charging at them. The three teens let out their screams as they began to run for their lives.
The Baryonyx snapped its maw at the teens as it chased them away from its fellow carnivores and past the cages of the herbivores that were still locked up. But as they were being chased, Sammy got separated from the others as she dove behind a box in order to hide.
"Quick, up here!" Brooklynn yelled out as she pointed to the top of one of the cages that she and Darius could climb up on in hopes of getting away from the dinosaur.
Darius heard what she said and climbed up onto the cage with ease as he used the stacked boxes next to it and now all he had to do was wait for Brooklynn. As said girl was climbing up the boxes, the Baryonyx made its way over and slammed into them, causing the boxes to fall over with Brooklynn following suit.
But thankfully Darius managed to reach down and grab onto the girl's arm and pull her up onto the cage with him. The Baryonyx shook its head free of the slight stun that it received from the slam and tried to take a bit out of Brooklynn's legs just as she was pulled over the top, but ultimately didn't get her. So instead the carnivore jumped up and tried to reach them that way, but Brooklynn wasn't having it as she slammed her piece of wood into its face, causing the object to break in her hands.
The Baryonyx fell back to the ground and bounced its head off the side of the cage, which caused the stegosaurus inside to let out a groan at the meat-eating dinosaur as the Baryonyx ignored it and once again jumped up and tried to climb the side of the cage in its attempt to eat the teens.
Brooklynn let out screams and whimpers as she witnessed the dinosaur's head keep popping up and trying to take bites out of her. Darius though tried to not let the carnivore distract him as he looked for anything that could help them, and he noticed a pair of stegosauruses that were locked up together that was groaning out and letting out bellows.
Suddenly the cage they were standing on started to creak and shake as the Baryonyx started to not only try to jump up and grab them but also started to slam into the sides of it hoping they'd fall.
"Sammy! The stegosauruses!" Darius yelled out to the girl as he pointed in their direction. "Open the cage!"
Sammy gave him a nod as she ran toward the cage without alerting the carnivore and unlocked the gate and swung it open. "Now get." She whispered.
The Baryonyx let out a snarl as it took its focus off the kids and began to focus on the pair of stegos that were bellowing out at it. Sammy even released the third one for good measure.
"It's working! It's working!" Darius yelled out as he and Brooklynn got down from the cage and joined back up with Sammy.
The first Baryonyx that showed up turned around and noticed that its fellow species member was outnumbered and rushed over to join them with a screech. So that now made it a two against three.
"Come on!" Sammy whispered out as she and the others were ready to make their escape.
* screech *
That noise caught Darius's attention as he looked back and saw that the original Baryonyx was still trapped in its cage. "We can't leave her. They're a family." He whispered to himself before running over to the cage.
"What are you doing?" Brooklynn yelled out after the young leader.
Darius stopped in front of the cage and gave the dinosaur a scared look as it snarled and growled at him, but he already made up his mind as he reached forward and opened up the gate. The Baryonyx paid him no mind as it rushed out the newly opened gate and going its family as they faced the stegosauruses.
"Aw." Sammy said as she watched the dinosaurs have their little reunion with each other before she and her fellow campers let out their screams as the carnivores scared off the stegos and began to chase after them. The problem was that the stegosauruses were running in the same direction as the teens, so now they were all being chased by the trio of Baryonyx.
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BACK AT CAMP
Yasmina and Kenji had contentiously worked for the last 10-15 minutes that Cass had been gone, though they did need his help for a few things, they decided it'd be best to just leave them until he got back. The two had made small talk here and there about random topics to fill the air with something other than silence.
"I'm not sure if anyone has asked you this already, but, uh, why do you hang around Cass so much…? Like, how did that become a thing?" Kenji asked the girl the question that's been on his mind for a while.
"What do you mean? We're friends, so of course, we're gonna be around each other." Yasmina played it off.
"No, I mean like… you guys hung out even before you two were considered friends. So what is it?" Kenji specified what he was asking.
"Oh, that. I don't really know how to answer that. We just kinda… clicked? Had the some of the same interest, both liked the quiet, you know, basic stuff that gets you a friend..?" Yasmina told him as she set down a piece of wood. 'Also doesn't help that he's hot.' She thought to herself as she'd never admit it out loud.
* distant rumbling *
"What was that?" Kenji asked as he looked up and around to see if anything was coming their way.
"I don't know, but it doesn't seem to be getting louder… so hopefully whatever it is, it's not coming towards us." Yaz said to him.
"Cass needs to get his ass back here, man. I'd rather not have to fight a dinosaur." Kenji said as he had a look of slight worry in his eyes.
"And the others?" Yasmina asked.
"Yeah, them too." The boy said in response as he tried to get back to work.
* rustling *
Both Kenji and Yasmina whipped around to the sound of rustling and watched with bated breath as they readied themselves for a dinosaur to come out of the foliage…
…but thankfully it was not a dinosaur, it was Cass. And in tow, he had Darius, Brooklynn, and Sammy with him.
"Guys! Welcome back!" Yaz yelled out as she and Kenji ran forward to greet the returning campers.
"It's good to be back, especially after what happened today." Darius said with a small smile.
"Wait, what happened today?" Kenji asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We freed some dinosaurs!" Sammy excitedly told them.
"Then we were chased by those dinosaurs." Brooklynn sums up their experience.
"And then I saved them. Like usual." Cass says as he turns and looks at the three campers out the corner of his eye as they chuckle nervously.
"You know, that's probably why they made camp up in a tree, so they wouldn't have to worry about being run over by the dinos." Sammy said out loud.
Hearing the word tree gave Yaz an idea as she fished through Sammy's bag and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and began to draw something. Everyone else raised their eyebrows before moving around the girl as they wanted to see what she was drawing.
"There. We could make the base into a tree house again, that way we don't have to worry about the dinosaurs as much." Yasmina explained as she showed them the sketch/blueprint of the base.
"It's great! But we definitely need a lookout tower." Darius gave his input.
"And an awesome girls' bunk! The boys can have whatever." Brooklynn said as looked at the drawing.
"A place for storing food, so the dinos don't get it." Sammy gave her opinion as Yasmina began redrawing the blueprint in order to incorporate their wants and needs into the base.
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A FEW HOURS LATER
The sun had finally begun to set as everyone was working on something at camp. Yasmina was sitting under a tree as she continued to adjust the blueprint for their base with every bit of material that they discovered in the wreckage. Darius was sorting through the bags that they had brought with them from Main Street and the things they brought back from the clinic. Kenji and Brooklynn were helping each other move some pieces of wood around as Cass was sorting the building materials as well as helping them with the heavier parts. And Sammy was searching through the rubble for anything that would be of use.
Finally, after a few minutes of searching, she spotted something that made her let out a small gasp. "Hey, Darius?" She asked as she walked over to the boy who was currently setting out some mugs on a makeshift table. Darius stopped what he was doing and turned around to let her know she had his attention.
Sammy smiled softly as she looked into her palm and back at the boy. "I found this." And in her hand, was Darius's raptor tooth necklace. It took Darius a moment to actually register that his necklace was there, but when he did, he gratefully took it from her hand and put it on. And without another word between the two, they shared a hug.
"We need some more vines." Yasmina told the others.
"On it!" Brooklynn yelled back as she went off into the nearby jungle to find some.
* whirring *
But once again, that noise caught her attention, and it seemed that only she could hear it. So with that in mind, she set off to try and find the mysterious noise. She walked for a few minutes into the jungle and spotted something that caught her attention. There was a patch of flowers before her with it being two separate colors, the outer ring being a mix of orange and red while the center circle was white.
The girl headed over to the patch of flowers, not even noticing the whirring has stopped, and checked out the plants. Though when she knelt, she noticed that something wasn't right with the white flowers. So she carefully and gently reached forward to touch a petal, only for it to shatter and crumble at her touch.
Brooklynn pulled her hand back and asked herself. "They're… frozen?"
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I appreciate that you all are still reading this, and I hope that you enjoying it. I'll start working on the next chapter soon.