I'm starting to see that my story isn't doing so well as of late, which is okay, but it's kind of disheartening to see how many people don't enjoy what I'm writing compared to those that do enjoy my work. So to all of you who are enjoying the story so far, I appreciate every last one of you and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story.
And I apologize if this chapter is/was later than usual, I'm helping some friends and family do some things, so I can't dedicate all my time to this.
EDIT: Yeah, holy shit this took a whole lot longer to write than I wanted it to and I apologize for any inconvenience that the delay might have caused. But I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
EDIT 2: Sorry for delaying this chapter even more. I had gotten sick for a few days so I didn't have any energy to write. But I'm feeling a bit better and I'm gonna try to get this chapter out to y'all soon.
"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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It was a new day on Isla Nublar and the campers had started to properly adjust to life on the island. Sure, they didn't to be here, but they were starting to get into the swing of things while getting used to the survivor lifestyle.
Darius is seen laying prone on the ground as he watched a small group of Compies lay down and cuddle each other like a group of weird prehistoric puppies. One of the small dinos let out a yawn before readjusting itself and going back to sleep. Darius took note of this action and wrote it down in the journal that he acquired.
As Darius continued to write down the behavior of the Compsognathus, Kenji stomped over to the small dinosaurs and began to yell at them. "Shoo, shoo, you retro iguanas!" Kenji said as he scared off the Compies and snatched up the towel that they were using and shook it free of any dirt and dust that it may now hold. And with that, he climbed up the ladder to their base.
Darius could only let out a sigh of both disappointment and irritation at what just happened before closing his journal and following the older teen back to base. By the time the young leader had gotten up to the platform and sat down on the couch that they pulled from the remnants of camp, Kenji had already taken his clothes off and gotten into the shower.
"Yagh! Does this water ever get warm?" Kenji shouted out as he was struck by cold water from their makeshift shower.
While that was happening, Cass and Yasmina walked down from the upper platform and down the makeshift stairs while having a conversation between themselves as they passed by the others.
Brooklynn tossed and turned in her bunk as she tried so hard to not be woken up. "Five more minutes." She mumbles out.
"Come on, just open!" Sammy whispered to herself as she desperately tried to open up the canned fruit with an ice cream scoop, but wasn't getting anywhere at the moment.
Yasmina walked past the girl and grabbed a piece of chalk as she went over to their chalkboard. And just as she walked past the table, Sammy's grip on the can slipped and sent it rolling across the table and onto the floor, and knocking against Yaz's heel.
"Oh! Sorry, Yaz!" Sammy shouted out apologetically to her friend.
Yasmina gave a small laugh. "It's cool." Before turning back around and drew a mark on the board. "And another one." She said to herself as she marked their 22nd day being on the island before going over and sitting down on the couch.
Cass had grabbed the can of fruit and handed it back to the Texan girl before he joined her by sitting in a chair next to her while giving the girl a nod.
* thump *
Kenji had thrown the now empty water jug out of the shower and onto the table, which it bounced off of and landed on the floor. "No mas agua. A little help." He called out.
"I got you, Kenj." Darius said as he set his pen and notebook down on the table he got up and grabbed the water jug.
"If you keep doing that for him, he'll never learn to do it for himself." Yasmina told the younger boy as she leaned forward.
Darius just shrugged his shoulders as he sat down and went down the slide that they added for quick access to the ground. He walked over to the water before coming to a slow stop and dropping the jug with a thump. "Uh, guys!"
Sammy, Brooklynn, Yasmina, and Cass all looked at their leader from the base before coming down and joining up with him in order to see the problem that he found, and it was a pretty big problem.
"Where'd all the water go?" Sammy questioned as she and the others stared at the now dried-up river.
"Why don't we ask Mr. 45-Minute Shower?" Yasmina said as she looked back at Kenji as he joined the group.
"Hey, looking good is part of my brand. And no way I drained a whole river." Kenji defended his apparent need for long showers.
"You might want to find a new brand then." Cass said as he and Yasmina rolled their eyes at his response before the oldest teen moved closer to the empty river.
Brooklynn dropped down into the river bed and stuck her hand into a small remaining puddle of water before something caught her attention.
* faint humming *
"Guys, we better figure out what's up. We're gonna run out of water. Let's-" Darius was explaining to the others before being cut off.
Brooklynn turned around a shushed the boy as silence rang out for a few seconds. "I hear that hum again." She told them and the only response she got was a collective groan from her fellow campers. "The river must have been drowning it out. If I follow that, I can find-"
"Frozen patch of flowers." The other campers collectively finished her sentence.
"Oh. I've mentioned it, huh?" Brooklynn asked with embarrassment as she clutched her arm.
"The frozen flowers you saw once but have never found again? Yeah. A few hundred times." Kenji said as he picked his ear while Yasmina and Cass stared at the girl.
"Uh, I'm sorry for wanting to get to the bottom of all this weirdness on the island. I came here to unbox-" Brooklynn started.
"Unbox Jurassic World, and that's what I'm gonna do." Were the collective words spoken by the other campers.
"If you're gonna go look for the noise, I'll come too." Sammy said to her as she ran to the girl. "If that's okay. It'd be nice to have an adventure for a fun reason and not a fleeing dinosaurs or facing imminent death reason." Sammy told her.
"I'll go if Sammy is." Yasmina spoke up as she rushed forward toward the other girls. "And Brooklynn too."
"Ooh, it's a Camp Cretaceous girl adventure!" Sammy exclaimed in excitement that got the other two girls to smile.
"Great! And while you do that. Kenji and I will figure out why the river stopped." Darius said to the girls.
"Sorry, Kenji do what, now?" Was said boy's reaction.
"You wanna keep up your shower habit, don't you? And, you know, also survive? Let's go unbox the mystery of the missing water." Darius said to the older boy.
"Ugh. Fine, I'm in. It makes sense. I know this entire island like the-" Kenji began.
"The back of my VIP hand." Was the collective response from the others.
"We have been spending way too much time together." Kenji told them.
"Cass, what about you?" Yasmina asked the young adult but didn't get an answer. "Cass?"
Said camper was staring off into nothing before regaining control of his senses again and looked over to the girl. "Sorry, I uh… I'll probably just make a trip back to Main Street, you know, try and get some supplies that we're low on or missing." He told her.
"You don't wanna come with us?" Yaz asked. "Or even with the other boys?"
"I'm pretty sure Sammy called it a girl adventure, and uh… I'm not a girl. So you three have fun with that. As for the other two, I'm liable to drown Kenji once we find the water again." Cass told her with a small smirk.
"Yeah, please don't." Kenji quietly spoke up.
"Are you sure you wanna go on your own? It's pretty dangerous." Darius spoke up as he wasn't sure about this plan.
"I can take care of myself, D. I did it for years before, I'm sure I can do it for a handful of hours. So you guys go on your little adventures and I'll go on a little shopping spree." Cass told them with a smile.
The other campers didn't know what he meant by him taking care of himself for years, but Yasmina knew exactly what he meant because he told her about the time that he was on the streets. But since none of them had any real reason to doubt their powerhouse of a camp member, they nodded and accepted that he'd go out on his own.
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DARIUS AND KENJI
The two boys have been following the riverbed since they left camp, which was possibly ten minutes ago. Kenji, in his desperate attempt at wanting to defend himself from possible threats, brought a knife with him. Was it a useful knife? Nope, it was a butter knife. And the scared teen held it in front of him as he walked in the hopes that just the sight of the knife would scare away any would-be attackers.
Darius on the other hand wasn't nearly as worried as he looked at his surroundings as he took notes and wrote in his journal about the world around them. He of course also brought a weapon with him, and it was a medium-sized branch that he had collected a few days back. But Darius wasn't paying attention as he walked backward and ended up poking Kenji in the back with the pointy end of the stick.
Kenji lets out a yelp as he turns around. "Dude, this is the tenth tree on a tree that you've written about. How can you be so obsessed with trees growing out of other trees?" The older boy asked as he was getting tired of it.
"These ferns are an important part of the triceratops' food chain. Oh, you're gonna love this. They contain neochrome which allows-" Darius began explaining before getting cut off.
"Wasn't really looking for an answer." Kenji plainly stated as he took out an empty water bottle and head toward the riverbed and began to scoop up some of the remaining water that was left in the puddles.
Darius just gave the boy a deadpan look after being cut off but soon followed him down into the river. "Kenji, I know you like to pretend this place isn't cool, but look around! How crazy is it that we are straight up living with dinosaurs?" Darius excitedly asked the older teen.
* grunting *
And that noise caught their attention as not even 30 feet away was a trio of parasaurolophuses who were trying to get a quick drink out of the remaining water. But the dinosaurs noticed the boys spotting them before turning away and running in the opposite direction.
"When they're not trying to eat us." Darius said with a small chuckle before letting out a gasp and running up the river bank and onto the hill. "Dinosaurs sometimes compete over geothermal vents to use as incubation chambers for their eggs! See? Cool." Darius said as he knelt beside said geothermal vent.
"Dirt and steam may be never-ending sources of wonder for you, but my standards are a little higher." Kenji told him as he walked away.
Darius let out a sigh. "How can I…" He stood up and followed the other boy before walking in front of him. "Broseph, only VIP dinos with mad connects can get primo egg cribs." Darius said in a really shitty attempt at sounding cool.
Kenji just continued to walk past him and said. "Didn't we talk about you and the bro-talk?"
Darius just let out a grunt before once again chasing after the teen. "You know, I feel bad for you. You can't see what makes this place so amazing."
Kenji let out a sigh. "I have seen it. All of it. Like, a gazillion times." He once again uses the made-up measurement. "Oh, and those ferns you're so psyched about?" Kenji asked as he moved some of the leaves out of the way. "There to hide speakers. Sorry, bro, but I am way over Isla Nublar. There's nothing here for me." Kenji says as he walks away.
Darius gains a look of disbelief as he looked at the now-covered speaker before walking over to the plants and moving them again.
"Whoa, Darius! You were right." Kenji called out to the young leader which caused him to run over toward his fellow camper. "I can't believe it! It's… It's… It's… a dead end? This place is the coolest!" Kenji sarcastically dragged out with mock excitement before gaining a bored expression.
"It's a waterfall. Or should be." Darius said as he stepped toward the wall of stone before them as he tried to ignore the older camper's attitude. There wasn't any water coming through at the moment… well, not enough for it to mean anything. Darius turned around and spoke to his partner. "You know what this means! Who's up for rock climbing? That's cool, right?" He asked as he raised his hand for a high five. "Don't leave me hanging.
Kenji just silently walked past the younger boy as he made his way to the rocks. And Darius just dropped his hand back down to his side as a frown graced his lips.
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WITH THE GIRLS
Laughter could be heard as the three girls made their way through the jungle. Sammy and Yasmina were talking and laughing a few feet behind Brooklynn as she led them on their journey and they followed her.
"Favorite place?" Yasmina asked her friend as they walked side-by-side.
"High school." Was Sammy's immediate answer to the question that was asked.
"Your favorite place in the world is high school?" Yasmina asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Sammy responded like it was an obvious answer. "There's lockers, dances, passing notes in class, getting detention for passing notes in class." She listed off her reasons for liking it.
"No!" Yasmina protested. "School is where you do a bunch of boring stuff before comin' back the next day and doing it all over again." She tried to tell her why it wasn't the greatest place.
Sammy just looked at her and smirked as she gave a look of not believing her.
Yasmina stared at her for a second before whispering her response. "I may like square pizza day in the cafeteria."
"Oh, please! Your favorite is orange, orange, and orange." Sammy said as she joked about the answer Yaz gave her when they first came to camp, which caused the two girls to start giggling and laughing with each other.
But they were soon accompanied by the sound of Brooklynn's obvious fake laughter as she slowed down to their pace and walked beside them. The two girls stopped laughing as they quietly stared and listened to the girl.
"Oh, wow! Yeah! Pizza is orange. So funny, right?" Brooklynn said to them as it was obvious that she had absolutely no clue what the fuck they were talking about, but wanted to be included.
"Oh… no. It was kinda something Yaz said before." Sammy told the girl as both she and Yasmina just looked at the girl with confusion and raised eyebrows.
"Oh. Cool. Yeah, cool." Brooklynn said as she tried to play off her embarrassment and walked faster to put some distance between them as she held her baseball bat closer to herself.
Sammy and Yasmina watched the girl walk away before turning toward each other and Sammy started to jerk her head in Brooklynn's direction as if silently telling Yasmina to say something to the girl. And Yaz being able to pick up on the hint just let out a sigh as she prepared to speak up.
"Hey. What's your favorite thing about school, Brooklynn?" Yasmina asked with a slightly strained, if not sarcastic tone to her voice.
"Oh, wow. How to pick just one? I mean- I really love the big… uh… food fights? Big food fights?" Brooklynn slowly and hesitantly dragged out that sentence as she turned around and stopped as she said it. But it was obvious she had no idea what she was trying to say.
Yasmina and Sammy had stopped to hear the girl's answer but as they heard it, they knew something was up. Yasmina just stood still as she shook her head side to side at her answer.
"You've never been in a high school in your life, have you?" Yaz asked her.
Brooklynn decided to just come clean. "No. A hundred percent online tutors." She said dejectedly. "Oh, but I dropped a scone in front of the queen while making my "Unboxing Buckingham Palace" video! Total food fight, right?" Brooklynn said to them.
"Um, sorta." Yaz answered as she glanced at Sammy before looking toward Brooklynn.
"Sure." Sammy said with a bit more energy as she repeated the process that Yasmina took.
Brooklynn looked between her fellow campers as she got slightly embarrassed again. "Um… We should keep moving." She said as she turned around and took a few steps.
* thumps *
Brooklynn glances down and notices she stepped on something, and that something was none other than a white flower. Sammy and Yasmina walked up behind her and looked around.
Brooklynn crouches down as she inspects the flower. "I think this is the place." She confidently says.
* faint humming *
The sound spooked the knelt girl causing her to fall on her ass. All three campers let out their respective gasp at the sound.
"The hum!" Sammy says excitedly.
"I hear it." Yasmina chimes in.
"I told you guys!" Brooklynn shoots back at finally being able to prove she wasn't going crazy. She sat up and placed her hands over the flowers that were visibly moving. "It's super cold air. And the ground's vibrating?" She asks herself before sticking her hands into the flowerbed and moving them aside, revealing a bulky air conditioning grille.
"What?" Sammy drew out the word at the sight of the grill. With her and the other girls questioning it being there.
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WITH CASS
The young adult made his way through the jungle with his sledgehammer over his shoulder as he lazily glanced at his surroundings, noticing that for some reason or another, most dinosaurs don't bother coming close to their camp. Besides the Compies of course, then again, they're basically the rats of the dino world. And there could be a lot worse things than rats.
'No point in looking a gift horse in the mouth.' Cass thought as he looked up at the rays of light that shone through the canopy of leaves above him. "It's kinda beautiful once I'm not running for my life." He said to himself before closing his eyes as he tried to relax on the walk to Main Street.
* faint giggling *
Cass's facial features immediately change from that of relaxation to that of confusion and worry. 'Either I'm finally losing my shit, or someone just… giggled?' He asked himself. 'You know what? Just ignore it, not my problem.' He thought before relaxing his features once more and continued his trek to Main Street.
He had left camp roughly 45 minutes ago, so that places him about a third of the way there. "So if I keep at my current pace, I should get there in an hour and a half? Yeah, something like that." Cass mumbled to himself as he opened his eyes and observed the island that he and the others have come to call home for the last month.
"Has it really been that long since we were left behind..?" He asked out loud as he fidgeted with the hammer in his hands. "Yeah… I guess it has been." Cass vaulted over one of the dozens of fallen trees that litter the island with a grunt.
"That means it's been about two months since Ms. Ayesha and Florence passed…" Cass mumbled to himself somberly. "Probably not even that long…" He took a few deep breaths as he tried to regain control of his thoughts as he didn't want to distract himself with sadness. 'I miss you both dearly. But I can mourn you properly once I'm sure I won't get eaten in the next 24 hours.' The young man said with a halfhearted chuckle towards the end of that statement.
* faint giggling *
Cass snapped his eyes open as he looked around for the origin of the noise. "I swear if the girls' decided to fuck with me instead of going on their little adventure, there will be hell to pay." He whispered to himself before readjusting his grip on his hammer and began to lightly jog. 'The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can stop hearing voices… hopefully.'
The oldest camper jogged his way through the jungle as he leaped, vaulted, ducked, and slid under obstacles that were in his way as he focused on his breathing so that he wouldn't be completely breathless once he arrived on Main Street. And at his new pace, he figured that he'd arrive earlier as well.
'That just gives me more time to rest when I get back.' Cass thought to himself. 'Knowing Yaz and Sammy, they'd probably force me to get some rest whether I wanted to or not.' He chuckled with a small smile at the thought of the two girls. 'Maybe I can find them a thank you gift…? I'll probably have to get the others something so they don't get jealous.' Cass suddenly began to laugh at the thought of his fellow campers becoming jealous over such a small thing.
"That was good, thank you stupid thoughts, I needed that." The Giant of Camp Cretaceous spoke to himself.
* distant roaring *
Now that noise cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. And with that audible sound, Cass cut his momentum and slid to a halt as he checked his surroundings.
"You know, I'm not sure whether that's better or worse than hearing disembodied giggling." He sarcastically spoke to himself as he readjusted his grip on the hammer. "Whatever or whoever it's coming from can fuck off. I have shit to do."
And with that, the young adult once again took off in the direction of Main Street in hopes of finding both much-needed and much-wanted supplies for him and his fellow survivors.
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WITH DARIUS AND KENJI
* grunting *
Ever so slowly both Darius and Kenji finally managed to climb their way to the top of the waterfall before unceremoniously collapsing up at the top as they tried to catch their breath.
"That was so great." Darius breathlessly got out as he huffed and puffed.
"Yeah." Kenji said as he attempted to regain the lost oxygen that was once in his lungs. "Who needs actual enjoyment when you have that? He sarcastically said before panting once more.
Darius quickly spun around and sat up as he turned to face the connecting river and saw that some rocks and logs have blocked the waterway. "That explains our water problem. Okay, so, all we have to do is move that tree, and we should be good to go. It's gonna be lit!" Darius exclaimed to the other boy in an attempt to get him hyped as well.
"You're seriously going to try to convince me this will be cool?" Kenji asked before reaching up and pushing down on his fellow camper's head as he forced himself up. "Let's just get this over with." He says as both he and the younger boy walk over to the fallen tree.
But try as they may, the two boys were not going to be moving the tree. They grunted and groaned as they used every last bit of strength that they had in their bodies to push the giant obstacle, but they didn't even move it an inch. Eventually, Kenji put too much pressure into his pushing and just flew right over the log and landed on his ass.
"Huh. Thought that'd be easier." Darius said as he looked at Kenji and then the tree.
* roaring *
The two boys let out a gasp of fright as they heard the tell-tale sound that a dinosaur was near and Darius hopped over the log and joined Kenji behind cover.
* grunting *
Two stegosauruses were seen taking shots at one another, usually in the form of a spinning tail swing. Both grunted and groaned as they fought.
Darius and Kenji popped their heads up from behind cover to watch the scene before them. "They're fighting for dominance! Stegos are super territorial." Darius whispered to the teen beside him.
But both boys soon let out short screams as they ducked behind cover because one of the stegos tail swings missed their intended target and hit a rock, sending it flying toward the campers and smashing against the tree. Darius looked down and spotted a broken-off stick that came from the impact before peaking around the corner to look at the stegos once again, this time the other dino sent a rock speeding toward the tree.
"I know how to fix our water problem!" Darius whispered as he rushed out from behind cover.
"What? No, no, D-Darius!" Kenji stuttered out as he called for the young leader.
"Hey! Over here!" Darius shouted as he waved his arms in an attempt to get the dinosaurs' attention.
Kenji facepalmed with a groan as he went out to try and pull the younger teen back behind cover. Darius wasn't having it as he just shook out of his grasp before trying to mimic the stegos call. Both boys noticed that it wasn't having any sort of effect on the two dinos that were battling it out.
* whistles *
Kenji decided that he needed to give it a shot, and lo-and-behold, his whistle instantly gained the attention of one of the stegosaurus because it snapped its head in their direction and began to charge them while letting out grunts.
The two campers weren't expecting that kind of reaction as they started to scream and run back towards the fallen tree. Darius slid to a stop as he grabbed Kenji and held him close. "Hold." Was the only word he said as the older teen let out a gasp at the sight of an angry dinosaur charging them.
* roar *
"Hold." Darius repeated as he waited for the dino to get closer. Finally, the stego came to a stop and reared its tail back for a powerful swing. "Now!" Darius shouted as he and Kenji ran for their lives.
And with great force, the blow from the stegos tail was enough to dislodge the fallen tree and allowed the water to once again continue to flow.
Darius looked back as he and his partner ran, and he noticed the water flowing back towards camp. "We got it!" But he was immediately pulled to the ground as Kenji got him out of the way of the stegosaurus that was now chasing them.
"Great! Now how do we get rid of it?" Kenji shouted in reference to the stego still chasing them down one of the jungle paths.
Thankfully, the second stegosaurus seemed to answer his call as it came running and slammed into its fellow dinosaur in an attempt to continue their fight from earlier. Which bought the two enough time to run far enough away that they could finally catch their breath through their panting.
"Cool." Was the only word that Kenji said as Darius gave a nod in agreement.
* stomping *
And coming to a stop right in front of them, was a large carnivorous dinosaur that stared them down as it let out a growl.
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WITH THE GIRLS
"I knew we'd find it!" Brooklynn exclaimed as she and the others discovered the grille. "Wait. If there's no electricity on the island, what's powering this?" She asked in confusion.
"Well, didn't the freezers that both Kenji and Cass found still work even after the park went down? Maybe it's a backup generator of some kind?" Yasmina pointed out those two facts.
"Well whatever it is, this place keeps getting weirder and weirder." Brooklynn stated as she continued to examine the air vent.
Sammy let out a load and deep gasp as she grabbed onto her friend's arm. "Yaz, Yaz, Yaz! This is just like that episode where Esther follows that graffiti trail." She said excitedly while basically shaking the poor girl but stopped once she saw Brooklynn turn around and look at them. "Sorry, Yaz and I were talking before about this show we love called…"
"Esther Stone: High School P.I. Episode 23- when she exposed a cryptocurrency ring. I've seen every episode like 80 times!" Brooklynn cut her off in excitement.
Sammy and Yasmina looked shocked as they looked at the girl in front of them before sharing a look between each other and going back to looking at their third member.
"No way! You watch Esther Stone?" Sammy asked as she walked forward and grabbed the girl's hands.
"Huh. Famous people are just like us." Yasmina said with a smirk and a hint of sarcasm.
"A K-pop group turned me onto it when I was touring Asia with them." Brooklynn explained as she and Sammy's hands were still locked.
"Ish. Like us-ish." Yaz corrected her earlier statement with a roll of her eyes.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Sammy asked as she brought both girls into a group hug with one arm around each girl's shoulders. "It's time to investigate…"
"A Stone-cold mystery!" All three of them said in unison as they repeated the catchphrase from their favorite show.
"Spread out. See if you can feel any more vibrations" Brooklynn said in the hopes that they'd find more.
Brooklynn, Sammy, and Yasmina all split up to cover a wider area at the chance of feeling more vibrations or hearing more hums. Brooklynn began searing through the nearby foliage, Sammy was doing the same but roughly 15 feet away from her, and Yasmina was searching a clear field that was also roughly 15 feet away from the others.
"Hey! I hear something." Yaz whispers to her fellow campers.
* faint humming *
The two girls meet up with her and listen to the sound as well, identifying it as the same hum from before. "Follow that hum!" Sammy shouts in excitement. And with that, the three girls ran off in the direction that they believed it was coming from.
Brooklynn knelt to the ground and placed her palm on the grass. "The vibrations are getting stronger."
"We're on the right track. This way!" Sammy shouted as she pointed off in the presumably correct direction of the vibrations. And once again, the three campers rushed off to find out the origin of this mystery.
"Hey, remember when Esther figured out the superintendent's phone vibrating was actually Morse code?" Brooklynn asked as she led the group of female misfits.
"And that killer chase scene in the abandoned warehouse?" Yasmina added on as she followed their leader on this little expedition.
"But still made it to prom in that amazing dress? So good!" Sammy finished up as she took up the rear.
"I love that episode when she finds the… genetics lab?" Brooklynn asks questioningly as she and the others come to a halt.
"Yeah, but that was in season two, and we don't talk about season two." Sammy said as she wasn't exactly paying attention.
"Not that lab." Brooklynn corrected her. "That lab." And sure enough, the three girls found themselves standing before Dr. Wu's genetics lab.
But why would the vibrations come from there? Whatever the reason, this place only brings back bad memories.
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WITH DARIUS AND KENJI
Kenji and Darius let out gasps of fear as they whimpered and huddled together as they stared back at the carnivore all the while Kenji pulled out the butter knife and held it before him in some sort of an attempt to scare the much larger beast away. The dinosaur snorted and let out a growl as it continued to stare down the boys from behind its singular horned nose before huffing a small gust of wind into their faces.
(And if anyone is wondering, the dinosaur is a Ceratosaurus, they just don't address it in this episode. Or any really…?)
And with a shaky hand, Kenji reached up and fixed his hair that was affected by the force of the breath as he continued to shakily hold the knife before him with a whimper. The man-eating dinosaur let out one more growl before deciding that it had better things to do and turned away from the boys and walked away to continue whatever it was doing beforehand.
Darius and Kenji panted out deep breaths as they shared a look. They knew for a fact that they should have either been eaten or at the very least, chased somewhere else. But why didn't the dinosaur do either one of those? Well, the only way they'd find out is if they followed after the beast, and not even 30 feet away was the hill that the dino had crossed over. So with that, they silently agreed to make it over that hill, and once they did, a surprise awaited them.
"A watering hole." Darius gasped out in amazement at the sight before him. Groups of brachiosaurus, ankylosaurus, stegosaurus, parasaurolophus, sinoceratops, Compies, and even the single carnivore all gathered around or in the water as they all just relaxed and had a drink of the cool water that was provided. "Dr. Grant theorized they could be neutral ground for predators and prey under the right conditions. Now, without any fences or people around, we might be the first people to ever see something like this." Darius explained. "Wow…!" He whispered to himself before rushing forward toward the congregation of prehistoric life.
Kenji was distracted by the sheer beauty of the sight before him before noticing his partner running away. "Wait, where are you going?" He asked in a semi-hushed tone.
"Come on!" That was all Darius exclaimed as he waved for Kenji to join him as he kept running toward the watering hole.
The older teen could only let out a sigh of defeat as he realized he didn't have much choice as he held the knife close to him and walked slowly after the younger teen.
As the two boys got closer and closer to the water, that meant that they had to get closer and closer to the dinosaurs as well. With the growls and bellowing coming from the much larger and more dangerous creatures, it made Kenji especially uneasy. Darius knelt at the edge of the water as he looked out and gazed at the dinosaurs before him. Kenji stood to his side and noticed the carnivore staring at him as it drank its water.
"Uh, dude, are you sure this is safe?" Kenji asked with worry as he knelt beside his fellow camper and held the knife at the ready. Darius merely turned to look at him and placed a hand on his, making him lower the not-so-effective weapon as they both stared out at the large amounts of herbivores that were drinking alongside the carnivore.
* groaning, squawking, bellowing *
All the dinosaurs seemed to be at peace here, and with that, the two boys shared a smile as they too began to drink from the watering hole as they scooped it up with their hands.
* sniffling *
"Kenji?" Darius asked as he heard the noise off to his right.
Said older teen had tears in his eyes as he looked upon the serenity that played out before him. "It's just so majestic." He said in a wobbly tone of voice.
Darius placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as the two shared a smile at this experience that will bind them.
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WITH THE GIRLS
* crash *
Brooklynn slid open the door that led to Dr. Wu's private lab so that she and the other girls could enter and hopefully find some clues, though there didn't appear to be much in there but a desk, chair, whiteboard, filing cabinet, and some monitors mounted on the wall.
"Indominus rex, the hum, Mantah Corp?" Brooklynn says out loud as she walks into the room.
"Mantah Corp?" Sammy questions with a worried look and tone as she follows in behind her.
"Yeah. It all connects here. Dr. Wu was up to something big, something secret." Brooklynn responds as she crouches next to the desk and checks under it.
* switch clicks *
"No power." Yasmina says in a slightly irritated tone as she flicked the light switch up and down.
"Who- who do you think took everything?" Sammy asked as she looked around the room and noticed a significant lack of all previous documents and such items in the room, making it essentially barren.
"Something's gotta be here." The pink-haired superstar said with confidence as she rushed out of the room then turned to her left and ran down the hall and was soon followed by Yasmina and Sammy respectively.
* growling *
But they would soon find out that they weren't the only ones in the lab as a dinosaur's snout peeked out from behind a corner and let out a few sniffs of the air before letting out another growl.
The girls had wandered into one of the bigger circular rooms that the lab had to offer as they continued their search for clues. Brooklynn noticed something out of the corner of her eye and went to check it out. She saw that it was a piece of cake left out from the last time they were here, and gave the icing a little tap to test its consistency.
* tapping *
"Ugh!" Brooklynn shivers in disgust at the feeling of the rock-solid cake and tries to walk away from it.
* crunches *
The sound of glass being crunched under her shoe was heard and she looked down to see she had stepped on a picture frame that held a photo of Dr. Wu and the last scientist they met, Eddie, standing together. She knelt and picked up the frame and examined the photo.
"That birthday guy! Of course!" Brooklynn shouted out.
"Who?" Yasmina asked as she turned and looked at the girl.
"That van-stealing birthday weirdo, remember?" Brooklynn asked as she tossed the frame away and began looking through some of the papers left scattered on the floor. "He mentioned something about the "other guys". And that no one knew what was really going on here." She said out loud. "Could he have been working for Mantah Corp?" Brooklynn asked herself. "Again! Nothing!" She shouted as she threw some papers in the air from frustration as she sat down against a knocked-over desk and pulled her knees to her chest.
"Brooklynn. What did you expect to find?" Yasmina asked her with a slight hint of concern.
"I don't know. Something big. Something important. I came here to unbox Jurass…" She started rambling with a saddened tone to her voice and was about to repeat the phrase that she always said but stopped herself once she got a glance of her fellow campers. "You know."
Sammy and Yasmina shared a worried look between each other as they had witnessed the upset state of their friend.
* screeching *
All three girls let out a gasp of fear at the tell-tale sound of an incoming predator. So with that sound still fresh in their minds, they all rushed behind the flipped-over desk that Brooklynn was next to and hid behind it as cover.
* snarling *
Two Baryonyx was seen walking side-by-side down the hallway as they screeched and hissed at each other as they were somewhat searching the building for their potential prey. The Baryonyx on the right snapped its maw at the one on the left as if telling it to back off and search a different room before sticking its head through the doorway to the very room that the girls were hiding in.
* growls and screeches *
"It's Chaos! I named the Baryonyxes "Chaos", "Grim", and "Limbo"." Sammy whispered to the girl next to her.
"After the hacker gang in episode 68?" Brooklynn asks in reference to the show they were talking about earlier.
Yasmina quickly grabbed their attention by putting a hand on Brooklynn's shoulder before putting a finger against her lips as a sign to be quiet.
* Chaos gurgles and snarls*
Chaos entered the room as she began to huff and chatter to herself as she walked near the fallen desk before turning and walking away from it to search a different part of the room while letting out more gurgles and snarls.
And with the small opening that was given to them, the three girls begin to crawl away from the table and further from the screeching Baryonyx. Yasmina led them with Sammy following soon after, Brooklynn began to crawl but once again crunched some glass. Thankfully it wasn't loud enough to catch the dinosaur's attention but it did make her look down, and to her surprise, she spotted a manila envelope that had fallen from the back of the picture frame.
* Chaos screeches *
Brooklynn hurriedly grabs the envelope and rushed off quietly with the others as Chaos began snorting and sniffing the ground in an attempt to see if she could catch a whiff of any potential food. The girls all quietly ran further into the room and behind some more flipped-over desks and hid behind them.
* Chaos gurgles and snarls *
Brooklynn sat down and flipped the envelope over and saw it was marked with a four-digit code labeled "E750". "E750? I know that number. It was on Wu's computer." She whispered to the other girls but was hushed by Yasmina.
Sammy peeked her head over the top of the table she was behind before quickly ducking back down as she tried not o hyperventilate as the Baryonyx whipped its head up and began to look elsewhere in the room. They figured that then would be a good time to move further away, but halfway through moving to some further cover, Brooklynn stopped and let out a gasp as she looked at the envelope but didn't have time to voice her findings as the other two girls grabbed her and quickly pulled her behind a new set of cover.
Good thing too, because Chaos had finally made her way over to their previous hiding spot and began to let out growls as she sniffed the air and some of the surrounding furniture but soon knocked into the side of the desk and sent Brooklynn's bat rolling across the floor. And with Chaos still being just an animal, she stomped off and followed after it in curiosity.
The girls were all huddled together behind the center-shelved wall that semi-divided the room. They got up to leave, but Brooklynn tripped and fell, causing her to grunt out in pain and drop the manila envelope.
* snarls *
Sadly, Chaos heard the noise and stomped over to the divider and looked at the girls, and let out a roar.
"Go, go, go!" Sammy yelled out as she helped up the fallen girl and they all began running while screaming with the Baryonyx chasing after them and said dinosaur headbutted a desk that was in its way and sent it across the room and let out a screech as it chased the campers around the circular room.
Brooklynn and Yaz both grabbed items from the shelf that was next to them and threw them back at the dino and hit her in the head. Chaos let out a roar of frustration as she saw Brooklynn, Sammy, and Yasmina start to get away, with the pink-haired girl grab her bat, and the three ran for the door. But unluckily for the Baryonyx, she slipped and fell to the ground, giving the campers a bigger opportunity to escape.
"Quick! Outside!" Yasmina shouted out as they all booked it to the exit with Chaos roaring behind them. But the three campers let out screams of both fear and surprise as the second Baryonyx was to their immediate right, so the girls took a hard left and ran. And just as the second one was gonna give chase, Chaos slid through the doorway and into her sister, essentially trapping them in the hallway as they snapped and screeched at each other in irritation.
But due to them not paying attention, it allowed the campers to escape danger and make their way back to camp.
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WITH CASS
Cass had arrived at Main Street roughly 30 minutes ago and had already begun to search the outskirts of the small hub of civilization that now sat devoid of human life. He already had one tote bag half-full of some canned food and a can opener that he had found in one of the small restaurants that were on Main Street.
'That can opener will be useful for both this stuff and the cans we have back at camp. That way the others don't have to rely on me to open it for them, or you know, fail at getting it open themselves.' Cass thought to himself as he snuck through the streets in search of his next building to loot.
* thud *
* thud *
* thud *
'Stomping. I've gotta hide.' Cass thought with slightly widened eyes as he rushed off into an alley between two buildings. And sure enough, something was stomping through the streets, and the only dinosaur confident enough to do so was none other than the Tyrant Queen (or Rexy if you asked Sammy), the T. rex, who was currently making her way through the streets while dragging a parasaurolophus towards her den.
'Hello, girl. I can see that you're eating dinner, so if you could just be a dear and not eat me as well, that'd be great.' Cass sarcastically thought to himself as he leaned against a wall and took a peek at the colossal carnivore making her way through the small town area.
And once the coast was clear and he was sure that he was once again alone, Cass stepped out of the alley and looked up into the sky to gauge the time based on the sun's position and lighting. "It's about… six, maybe seven in the evening. I can comfortably keep searching for another hour before I have to leave, no point in wasting time or trying to sneak through the jungle at night." Cass spoke to himself as he quietly walked through the streets and stopped in front of yet another store, but this one wasn't food, no, it was clothes. And that was something that he and his fellow campers needed more of.
"Please be unlocked. Please be unlocked." Cass mumbled to himself in a chanting sort of rhythm as he reached for the door and went to pull it open, and lo-and-behold, the door was actually unlocked as he pulled it open and stepped into the store.
"Alright. Time to see if I can find any clothes that'll actually fit anyone." Cass said as he stalked his way through the racks and aisles as he searched for some of the more necessary articles of clothing, like underwear and socks. "Speaking of necessary… if I get this stuff done fast, I could hopefully find some hygiene products for the girls… last time they had their periods was not good and I ended up having to make an emergency run with Kenji." He spoke to himself with a slight look of discomfort at how… unpleasant the girls acted before getting irritated. "But on another note, fuck you, Kenji. Making me carry all that shit on my own just because you're a pussy and can't handle the thought of feminine hygiene products." At this point, Cass was just cursing Kenji to oblivion as he gathered some undergarments for his fellow campers before stuffing them in a different tote bag and began looking for more clothes, like shirts, pants/shorts, and possible some jackets or hoodies for some of the colder nights or if it rains again.
* faint giggling *
Cass stopped his hand midway from grabbing a shirt as once again, his ears caught the sound of feminine laughing reverberating around him. 'Okay… maybe I am losing my shit.' He thought as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in hopes that the sound will not echo through his mind for a while longer, and once he was done with that, he got back to searching for clothes.
'I guess this means I'm the unofficial big brother of the group…? I don't know. I'm not sure how these dynamics work.' Cass thought as he stashed the clothes in the tote bags and noticed that he picked everything out based on what he assumed everyone liked and what he thought their favorite color schemes would be. "I mean… my family always did say that I have an eye for this kind of thing." He mumbled to himself with a mixed feeling of joy and sadness.
* thud *
* thud *
* thud *
"Fuck." Was the only word that Cass had let out as the tell-tale noise of the T. rex approaching sounded out through Main Street as he grabbed all the bags and his sledgehammer so that he could carry it all back behind the counter so that he could hide from the passing dinosaur.
And after a few moments of Cass staying hidden and silent, the T. rex's footsteps grew more and more distant as she moved away from the store. Cass stood up and peeked over the counter to make sure the coast was clear, and with no sign of the large carnivore around, he let out a sigh of relief before reaching down and grabbing the bags and his hammer.
"Alrighty, time to get the hell out of here." Cass said to himself as he walked out of the building and took a left because although this path headed deeper into Main Street, it was also the opposite direction than what the T. rex chose. So it was the obvious choice.
The oldest camper walked his way down the street as he looked into the sky. 'The sun is already setting…? I didn't realize how long I was here. I guess I'll need to leave sooner than intended.' Cass thought to himself as he looked around at the many stores that littered this abandoned hub of civilization on the island, hell, there was even a hotel for visitors to stay at when they came to the island. 'That might not be a bad place to loot one of these days. Probably take someone with me and we could just camp there for a night.' He thought to himself with a nod.
* thud *
* thud *
Cass stopped in his tracks at the very familiar sound that he and the others have come to know. 'I only heard two legs… which means it's more than likely a carnivore.' He thought to himself as he slowly turned his head and looked over at the dinosaur that was currently staring at him, both in curiosity and hunger.
"You're probably an Allosaurus. Fuck." Cass mumbled out to no one in particular before slowly turning his head back forward and glanced to the hotel but then remembered that the back entrance to the Innovation Center was still unlocked. 'It's a bit further away, but at least I can guarantee that I'm able to get inside. ' He thought as he prepared himself to sprint to his destination.
And almost like it could see his muscles contract, the Allosaurus let out a growl as it prepared itself to chase after the young adult. The potential prey readied himself with a few deep breaths as his predator lowered its head and readjusted its legs as it let out a snarl.
* roar *
With the Allosaurus letting out its mighty roar, Cass jolted forward and ran as fast as he could towards the Innovation Center, with the carnivorous beast chasing after him almost instantly. The young adult focused solely on making it to the said building since it was more than likely the safest option out of every other structure in the park. He ran as fast as he could while simultaneously making sure that nothing came out of the bags, because if he lost these supplies, then this trip would've been for nothing.
If this chase would have been in the jungle, then it would've been a bit easier for Cass to have outpaced the dinosaur that was currently after him, but since it was essentially a straightaway from point A to point B, the Allosaurus had the upper hand in this situation.
'Come on, halfway there!' Cass thought to himself as he made it to the first set of stairs that led to the foundation the Innovation center was built, but he would have none of his usual luck, for the Allosaurus caught up to him a bit quicker than he anticipated and faster than any dinosaur of that size should be able to, shot its head forward bit down onto Cass's right shoulder area, with teeth sinking into some of his chest, back, and upper right arm.
Cass couldn't even let out a scream of pain, and instead let out a groan mixed with a gasp as he clinched and flexed the muscles in the area he was bitten, in hopes that it would stop the carnivore from completely ripping into him. He began to try and pull away from the beast, but it was quite obvious that it had more strength than he did at the moment.
But his momentary weakness would soon no longer be an issue. Because whether it be from the adrenaline or from the storm of pain and cussing that was brewing in his head, he didn't hear the footsteps of the one that would save him from this creature's maw. But he suddenly felt the Allosaurus pull back, or more accurately, be pulled back. And the only one that was big enough to accomplish that was none other than the Tyrant Queen herself as she had bitten into the Allosauruses back and began to pull it away from the young man that she had grown accustomed to seeing.
And with the Allosaurus being in obvious distress and pain, it loosened its grip it had on Cass's shoulder as it tried to pull its head back but at the same time, wanted to at least get a bite out of him, and with Cass not wanting to waste any more time and wanting to be as far away from this as possible, he had to turn himself and rip his entire right arm through the Allosauruses mouth, causing rips and tears to go down the whole length of his arm and hand.
But once he was free, he readjusted his grip on his belongings and continued his sprint towards the back entrance of the Innovation Center, all the while leaking and spilling blood as his right arm laid semi-limp to his side. The only noises that he could hear right now were his own beating heart and the clash of the two theropods behind him.
Cass managed to make it around the building and basically shoved the door open before quickly closing it and locking it behind him. At which he began panting as he tried to steady his breathing while slowly walking deeper into the structure. He set down his sledgehammer and the three bags of supplies that he had gathered on the row of seats against the wall.
* drip *
Cass heard that noise and looked down and noticed the puddle of blood that had begun to form from his wounds. He looked over to his right arm and shoulder area and noticed his completely ruined clothes from the mix of rips and being blood-stained. "Fuck me. At least I wasn't wearing my bracelets today. I'd be pissed if those got messed up." Cass weakly spoke as he let out a chuckle and stumbled a few feet away from his supplies.
* distant screaming *
'That sounded like…' The oldest camper couldn't even finish his thought as he finally collapsed due to fatigue and blood loss. With the lack of adrenaline in his system, the pain and stress that he went through finally caught up to him.
And now Cass lays unconscious and wounded in a pool of his own blood.
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WITH DARIUS AND KENJI
The two teenagers stood on the bank of the watering hole as they gazed at the many dinosaurs that surrounded the location and momentarily lived in harmony with each other, while occasionally letting out their bellows and groans.
"Darius, thanks. This is so…" Kenji began to say as he gave the younger boy a playful jab to the arm.
"Cool?" Darius finished the older teen's sentence.
Kenji could only shake his head and smirked. "Super cool." He said as he walked away and rested against a tree.
"I wish Dr. Grant were here. He'd write the most amazing article about this." Darius said as he looked out at the congregation of dinos and sat next to Kenji.
"You don't need that guy. You got your nerd book." Kenji told him.
"This?" Darius asked as he pulled out said book. "No, I'm just messing around."
"If this really is something no one has ever seen, I bet you could make that doctor dork mad jealous that you saw it and he didn't." Kenji said in his attempt to convince his leader.
Darius gave the older boy a small smile before looking down at his journal and then looking back at him. "Wanna stay a little longer?" He asked.
"Why not?" Kenji laughed. "Place even has a sweet resting tree." He said as he put his arms behind his head and got comfortable.
Darius looked down at his journal and decided to label it "FIELD GUIDE". And with that, he once again began his observations of the prehistoric life that was right before him.
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WITH THE GIRLS
* all screaming *
The girls all ran as fast as they could away from the genetics lab in an attempt to escape but were soon halted due to the third Baryonyx stepping through some foliage and in front of the screaming girls, letting out some trills and growls.
"Grim!" Sammy yelled out in surprise and fear.
* roar *
Grim took a single step towards the campers before immediately stopping.
* distant roaring *
That noise caught the Baryonyxes attention as it looked towards the genetics lab and listened to the sound of its siblings roaring out to it. And with the sudden distraction, the three survivors ran away as fast as they could, but by the time Grim looked back to where they were, the girls were already gone.
* growls and screeches *
Grim let its irritation be known before rushing off to help their siblings.
All the girls began gasping and wheezing for air as they hid behind a tree until it slowly turned into laughing. Well… laughing for Sammy and Yasmina, Brooklynn had stayed as she pulled her knees to her chest and showed a face of sadness.
"What's wrong?" Yasmina asked her.
"It's just…" Brooklynn let out a sigh. "I was so close to finding something. But I dropped the envelope." She said with a tone of sadness.
Sammy walked towards the girl and knelt before her. "You mean this?" She asked as she pulled out the envelope from her back pocket.
"Sammy! You grabbed it?" Brooklynn asked in disbelief as she reached forward and grabbed it from her hand.
"Of course!" Was Sammy's response as she and Yaz sat on either side of the pink-haired girl so they could all view the contents of the envelope.
"Alright. A bunch of numbers, and letters…" Brooklynn said as she went through what looked to be plastic squares with some sort of code written on them. "And… this thing." She said as she pulled out a solid white rectangle that almost looked like an ID or a key card. "No answers. Just more questions. Maybe we should check-"
* roaring *
"Or we should go." Brooklynn whispered in response to the sudden roaring.
"Let's not push our luck." Sammy agreed as she and the other two girls ran off.
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BACK AT CAMP
Brooklynn, Sammy, and Yasmina climbed the ladder up towards the main floor of their base and saw Darius and Kenji already there sitting on the couch.
"Looks like someone solved the water sitch." Brooklynn said as she stepped out of the way so the other girls can climb up behind her.
"You're welcome. All me." Kenji jokingly said as he tried to take all the credit.
The girls all cheered at them having water again.
"Yeah! All right!" Brooklynn said.
"H20, baby!" Yaz cheered while pumping her fist upwards.
"And we found this!" Brooklynn exclaimed as she pulled out the plain white rectangle from earlier.
Darius and Kenji glanced at each other before looking back at the resident superstar.
"Was that something you were looking for?" Darius asked.
"Kinda." Brooklynn said as she turned to her right and gave Sammy a high five.
"Okay, awesome!" Darius halfheartedly congratulated the girls.
"Yeah, that thing." Kenji responded too as he had no clue what was going on.
"Have fun, whatever you're using that for." Darius said.
"You know, if Esther Stone was here, she'd say…" Sammy started what was presumably a quote from her favorite show.
"Life is hard, so any day that goes somewhat right deserves to be celebrated with a party." Surprisingly it was Kenji who knew the quote that Sammy was about to reference.
Brooklynn, Sammy, and Yasmina stared at the boy in shock and bewilderment that he knew about Esther Stone.
"What? It's a great show, okay?" Kenji said as he sat down and crossed his arms. "The relationship between Esther and her dad is really compelling."
"Uh, well, in the spirit of Esther Stone, let's…" Sammy begun.
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ROUGHLY AN HOUR LATER
* clinking *
"Party!" Kenji shouted out as the five of them sat down in their seats and held their mugs.
"I wish Cass was back so we could all celebrate together." Yasmina said as she looked into her mug.
"The big guy is probably taking his sweet time getting back, he's more than likely looking at the stars or taking a nap or some shit like that." Kenji said in an attempt to soothe the girl's mind.
"Yeah, Cass will probably show up sometime tonight and we won't even know until it's morning." Darius chimed in.
"He is pretty quiet despite how… big he is." Brooklynn said.
"Plus, that just means we can have another party, but next time, with some eye candy." Sammy jokingly said as she playfully elbowed Yaz's arm.
"Oh, shut up." Yasmina said with no real negativity behind those words as she shook her head and went to go draw in Darius's field guide for him.
And while Brooklyn, Sammy, and Kenji were all hanging out and talking, Darius went over to Yasmina and checked on her drawing to make sure she was sketching the dinosaurs correctly.
"Oh, that's great!" Darius said as he looked at the drawing of the watering hole that he described to her earlier. "Can you make the Parasaurolophus' crest a little bigger?" He asked.
"Mm-hmm. How's this?" Yasmina asked as she showed him the redrawn crest.
"Perfect." Darius said as he gave her a nod.
"Darius! Yaz! Come on!" Brooklynn called out as she rushed over to them and pulled Darius out of his seat.
"I'm gonna finish this first." Yaz said to the girl.
"Whoa! Look at that!" Sammy called out and got everyone's attention as she and some of the others let out gasps of wonder as they all looked into the night sky and saw shooting stars streaking across the twinkling night. All the campers looked at each other and smiled softly as they shared this moment together.
But their eyes soon drifted from the sight before them as something caught their attention.
"What is that?" Yasmina asked in a slight tone of worry and suspicion.
"A fire." Brooklynn plainly said.
"A campfire!" Sammy specified with a small gasp.
"Guys… we're not alone." Darius told them.
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Sweet fucking god, that took so long for me to write, and I thoroughly apologize to all of you that were waiting for this chapter to come out.
But it's out and I hope that you all enjoyed reading it.